Whatever

Get used to America, we just may not be that unique.

An interesting approach to limit wasteful exchanges of political favors during election cycles. "In ancient Athens, not only juries but many office-holders were selected by lot. But the most intriguing unpredictable election process was probably that of the medieval Venetian Republic. In Venice, many political offices were selected by a repeated cycle of lottery, vote, .... lottery, vote."

The Ukrainian power grid was hit by Russian-sponsored hackers late last year. Kim Zetter has the compelling story. The scary part - "the control systems in Ukraine were surprisingly more secure than some in the US, since they were well-segmented from the control center business networks with robust firewalls."

Oh France! Why? "[T]he French National Assembly has amended a pending counterterrorism bill to impose heavy penalties on technology companies that fail to cooperate in decrypting communications relating to terrorism investigations."

Science is messy. "An influential psychological theory, borne out in hundreds of experiments, may have just been debunked. How can so many scientists have been so wrong?"

Artificial "octopus skin" for robots - what more needs to be said.

While bitcoin is having some success, maybe it's the blockchain that will be the real 'game changer.' "Goldman Sachs says the technology 'has the potential to redefine transactions' and can change 'everything.'"

"Legal marijuana may be doing at least one thing that a decades-long drug war couldn't: taking a bite out of Mexican drug cartels' profits."

Could the insurance industry help reform American policing? Radley Balko found "several examples in which insurers had demanded changes to policies regarding the use of SWAT teams, usually after one or more incidents that resulted in a payout to someone shot or injured during a police raid...[T]he financial incentives insurers can offer to cities and towns for good policing are powerful."

Bonds by William Dupre
All that we look to spend
To suit a legacy
With others there to lend
The bonds that are not free.
The sense we must abuse
And trespass to for-give
On lies we like to use
For lives we long to live.
We must, but no alone,
End the art to deceive,
Lest what we love be gone
And we ourselves take leave
Of senses that are the
Guise of what is to be.

Whatever

• Surprise! (not really) PATRIOT ACT expanded beyond terrorism investigations
• U.S. Marshals using stingray devices for cellphone surveillance. Taking a note from above, how long before this is used for...well...whatever.
• Military-funded study predicts when you'll protest on Twitter
• Recording cops isn't necessarily protected by the First Amendment. A dangerous precedent here basically saying that speech is only protected if it is some form of challenge or criticism.
• The Sony hack wasn't just a one-off. The Lazarus group has been causing mayhem for years.
• Apple may look to the Fifth Amendment for protection against the government. "If this legal argument sounds novel, it's because the government's claim is unprecedented." But they may actually get protection from an existing wiretapping statute.
• Bitcoin, Hai!
• I'll care about gravitational waves when I can surf them 

Little Lies by William Dupre
We can't escape
Having a little of what we hate
Of others within ourselves. 

Yet we let the lie reside
Lest we make light the biases
We desire to hide --

The Hypocrisy doesn't wear well
As we tell stories of the self.

Whatever

• How can you not love dogs?
• I've always loved good slight of hand card tricks. Ed Brayton links to some YouTube videos of Ricky Jay doing some amazing stuff.
• The future is so disappointing
• Ah! What would a new technology be without a call for "government action." This quote is priceless: "I do think government has an almost infinite ability to screw up things when they can't see the future."
• I wonder if this school teaches bad acting as well
• Just cut their pay
• When markets governments fail, government markets must step in
  

Whatever

• If you are reading this then the LHC worked. You might want to keep checking, though.
• 30 nanoseconds?! But I want it now!
• The Darwin Stain
• When markets governments fail the government market must step in. "[I]t was proving increasingly difficult for Britons to get anything beyond basic dental care from Britain's National Health Service." (HT: Carpe Diem)
  
• It is a shame that this question even has to be asked
• Yeah, Google is soooo bad for consumers. Oh wait, antitrust is not about consumers.
• Wow! Is anything legal in Britain? At least you can still vote with your feet.
  

Whatever

• The inhumanity of some people
• Robert Samuelson reports on contrary evidence regarding American living standards. I think there is a lesson to be learned here about drawing conclusions from aggregate numbers in a diverse and dynamic society. (HT: CafeHayek)
• More bureaucracy, more spending, and more crony capitalism all in the name of science. I am still trying to figure out what Obama means by "change."
• When you devalue the currency, people go primitive
• Art by paint ball
• Here's an investment tip for you...stay away from renewable energy companies (Investment tips are for sarcastic purposes only. Blogger is not responsible for your money problems)
• Don't laugh, they think they are dying
• The Libertarian Party - where ex-Republicans go to get mocked
  

Whatever

• The high price of energy is a political, not economic, problem. "Windfall" profit taxes and consumer subsidies, i.e. more politics, will only exacerbate the problem. And along with those economic inefficiencies comes corruption.
  
• Um, whoops?
• Ok, I take back what I said last week about science making Science Fiction boring
• Sometimes you win by just letting your enemies be themselves
  

Whatever

• Yes, let's give a stupid movie that will literaly have 15 minutes of fame more attention that it deserves
• Science is making Science Fiction boring
• Ah, rent seeking at its finest (pun intended, of course). So, is the problem here that businesses are lobbying those who will attain power or the power itself?
• This is why Obama was marginally appealing to me
• Man! If you can't rely on the "Republicans are in the pocket of Big Oil" shibboleth what can you rely on
  

Whatever

• Obama wants to tax (i.e., reduce) the production of and subsidise (i.e., increase) the demand for oil. People, this is not hard: reducing the supply of or increasing the demand for a good, ceteris paribus, means the price will increase. Encouraging both as a plan to ease higher prices should be a sign of insanity (or political prowess).
• What's the big deal? We weren't using the Fourth Amendment anyway.
• Oooh! LHC is sexy (in a sciency sort of way)
• An interesting video explaining why, even if you are 100% innocent, you should never talk to the police (HT: Bruce Schneier)
• I agree with Perry's comment at the end of this blog post, but it won't be long before it is considered anti-social
• More significant than the iPhone?? How dare you say such things!
• The food industry, in an effort to avoid dealing with a problem itself, calls for more regulation. "More important than the financial loss is the loss of consumer confidence," says an industry representative. Well, getting consumers confident in your product is a cost you should have to bear. Calling for government to regulate makes you sound noble, but it has the added "benefit," I'm sure, of pushing out marginal competitors.
• Don't think that raising the minimum wage had no part is bringing this and this about
  

Whatever

• This is all we as libertarians ask. Instead we get this mess. And have I mentioned that markets work?
  
• Radley Balko asks some good questions of McCain and Obama
• A "political air show" (HT: The Agitator)
  
• Cue the conspiracy nuts. First we had the "Face on Mars" now the "Footprint on Titan."
• Sanity in Singapore
• Take a deep breath -- and thank Mt. Everest?
• We need more cow bell

Whatever

• Carbon Nanotubes seem to be the duct tape of science
• Now this is my kind of town
• Oil 2.0
  
• Time to break out the aerosol cans again
• Oh how cute. Cuba is joining the Twentieth Century.
• Yeah, you know you're curious
• This is just unfortunate
• I should keep my witty comments to myself on this one because my wife reads this blog (but I'd love one of these)
  

Whatever

• Surprise yourself!
  
• Markets adapt, government exacerbates (HT: EconLog). More of the same.
  
• i cn se whi she hat a sezur
• Gee, raising the minimum wage is hurting unskilled workers. Who'd thought that?
• Minesweeper, The Movie
• Man-made Global Shaking?
• Goosh!
  

Whatever

• Paying taxes is patriotic? Boy, have we come a long way!
• Yeah, I know I said that if I had to vote then I would probably vote for Obama, but his pandering and economic ignorance is really why I can't vote for him (HT: Q&O)
• "You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"
• An Obama-gasm
  
• If you can't laugh at Manifest Destiny what can you laugh at?
• The Twenty-First Century's Nineteenth Century problem
• More socialized health care problems in the UK. And one of our own.
  

Whatever

• Ha! Unintended my behind!
• It's Easter, so it must be time for Peeps
• Holding the sun
• Looks like a dog, sounds like a big ass bee
• What did you do at work today?