Interesting Links for 8-6-2011

[andrewducker]

• Why You Can’t Get My Book in [Insert Country Here] (Scalzi on regionalisation)
  (tags: books publishing)
• Women warriors show psychological resilience similar to men
  (tags: psychology trauma military war gender)
• Frankenstein Superstar - a rather spiffy webcomic. Not suitable for reading in work, but well worth reading at home.
  (tags: frankenstein webcomic comic funny)
• A warning to Scottish separatists. If you're not careful you'll end up like Norway!
  (tags: norway scotland independence)
• Dr Who renewed for another 14 episodes with Matt Smith.
  (tags: DrWho StevenMoffat)
• Samsung Delivers Galaxy S II to CyanogenMod Dev, Says Get to Work
  (tags: android samsung opensource awesome)
• Russian President Proposes Creative Commons-Style Rules Baked Directly Into Copyright
  (tags: copyright russia)
• Jilted ex-boyfriend puts up abortion billboard.
  (tags: privacy freespeech abortion)
• Okay. Now I want a pirate cinema. Arrrrr!
  (tags: cinema design awesome)
• 12 Unusual and Creative Home Theaters. I want the Batman one.
  (tags: design movies awesome)

Comments

[anef.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to the "crime, poverty, pollution and monolingualism" when we go to Norway and Sweden later this month.

[andrewducker]

Oh, exciting! Norway/Sweden are definitely on the list for me and Julie.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

$3,000,000 home theater. That's enough argument for a higher top tax rate.

[andrewducker]

How high would you go?

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

it used to be something like 90% after you earned your first $250,000. I don't think that's extreme.

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

Taxing anyone at 90% is insane. Why create an economy based on reward & incentives, then apply some sort of a bizarre communist ethic to the upper middle classes? Effectively you're saying 'you can earn this much and no more' (unless you're rich enough to afford to move to a tax haven).

Also, if you're talking about the individual, there aren't that many people who earn that much, so it's not going to solve poverty. If you're talking about households, it's probably still not a huge chunk, except that there could be two people working their asses off to hit that figure: depending on where you live (& I'm thinking UK equivalent), it may be extremely comfortable, but I'm not even sure it would be considered 'wealthy' as a household income.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with the government keeping 90% after the first $250K. There's still an incentive to work, and plenty to live on. People making that much aren't really in it just for the money, they're in it to win.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

my work ethic arguments are based around the fact that a $250K executive is not working 10 times harder than a $25K schoolteacher.

[andrewducker]

But they may well be 10 times as rare, or able to produce ten times as much value.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

I just don't believe that. And strongly disbelieve that.

Leaving aside the question of equivalence...

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Is there something inherently wrong with saying 'you can earn this much and no more', do you think?

Re: Leaving aside the question of equivalence...

[andrewducker]

I think there is. I think, generally, that it's not sometihng other people should control.

Taxes are fine - we take money from richer people to pay for essentials for people who can't afford it, and for necessary infrastructure. But caring that other people have more than you is just jealousy.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

and no deductions, no way no how

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I think if you decide, as the US Constitution does, to have untrammelled free speech, then the decision to order the removal of the billboard is incorrect. It is unconstitutional and changing one aspect of the constitution in isolation unbalances the system of rights and duties that the constitution creates.

I think on balance I applaud his entry to the debate on parental rights and gender roles whilst thinking that he is probably wrong.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

It's really not all that untrammelled, though. There are various classes of 'speech' that the state is allowed to interfere with.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

How I wished I lived in a small, highly skilled energy rich democracy with a left-wing consensus.

[andrewducker]

Move to Future-Scotland, ya pinko!

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I have my passport, my letter of introduction from President for Life Connery and my time machine. I've learned all the words to Flower of Scotland and The People's Flag.

All set and ready to go.

See you on the other side.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

This has reminded me of one of the few times I came close to getting detention at school.

In my economics class we had two particular girls. One, L, was very cool, left-wing intellectual slightly gothic.

L was putting forward a (probably) Marxist critique of some element of neo-classical economics. M was outraged. “Do you really believe that?” L said she thought it was an interesting point of view and she probably did believe it. “You, you, you, COMMUNIST, you” spluttered M.

“Now, now,” said our teacher, “there’s no need to insult anyone.”

L leant forward and very coolly said “I am a communist, why on earth would you think I would find that insulting.”

I laughed so much I had to cover my head with my blazer and was nearly sent out of the room.

[andrewducker]

That's fantastic!

I hope that L went on to great things.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I don't know what happened to her.

I'm not frantically googling her and looking for her on Facebook.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

My Modern Studies teacher (closest I did to economics) was a communist. Most of Higher Mod Studs was a protracted rant about the damage done by Thatcherism and unfettered global capitalism.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

That's the syllabus for Higher Modern Studies isn't it?

[marrog.livejournal.com]

If only.

No title

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User eatsoylentgreen referenced to your post from No title saying: [...] ics has broken out on Andrew Ducker's journal: http://andrewducker.livejournal.com/2430894.html [...]