Monthly Archives: February 2009

Stupid security tricks

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mule-artIf you run a mule-drawn canal boat (at 2 mph, max), you need biometric security identification, according to the TSA. This is a prime example of security over-kill and unthinking application of rules literally as written. (h/t BoingBoing)

Yes, so-called mule skinners — in this case, seasonal workers who dress in colonial garb at a historical park in Easton, Pa. — must apply for biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC), according to the Transportation Security Administration, which says it is bound by federal law.

The requirement has officials of the Hugh Moore Historical Park perplexed.

“We have one boat. It’s pulled by two mules. On a good day they might go 2 miles per hour,” said Sarah B. Hays, the park’s director of operations.

The park’s two-mile canal does not pass any military bases, nuclear power plants or other sensitive facilities. And, park officials say, the mules could be considered weapons of mass destruction only if they were aimed at something resembling food.

Music industry lies

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At the trial of The Pirate Bay in Sweden, a witness for the music industry claimed that every illegally traded song file on the net represented a lost sale. This is patently false. May file sharers may download a song they are interested in, play it once and delete it.  Basic economics teaches that if the price of a product is zero more people will take the product than if the prices is, say, 99 cents. Jesus!

That’s the topic that The Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm explored on Wednesday when John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, testified that every MP3 file that is swapped online represents a lost sale. The IFPI is the Recording Industry Association of America’s international affiliate.

Kennedy answered “Yes” to Pirate Bay defense attorneys when asked whether that was true, to peals of laughter from less-than-sympathetic spectators, according to news reports.

***

The music industry’s statistics have been called into question before: a 2006 government report obtained by The Australian says copyright owners “failed to explain” how they reached such dire conclusions. A report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that losses due to counterfeiting and piracy are much lower than estimated by business groups. (In a related industry, The Economist has assailed software piracy statistics.)

Is change in the air?

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According to Byron York, the Republicans are set to roll out a major doctrinal change over the next few days, all in reaction to President Obama’s speech last night.  The Republicans apparently believe they dominated the news cycle in the stimulus bill debate, but did not win any political advantage. Fancy that. Straight up opposition and ridicule of a plan to deal with the most serious economic situation facing the country since the 1930′s, with no contra plan, failed to catch fire among Americans who are scared to death. Scared in a way beyond that of 9/11, in fact. So to the purported change I say: Big deal.

Just a few weeks ago, House Republicans cheered and high-fived each other for unanimously opposing the stimulus.  Now, having realized they won the soundbite contest but lost the war, they don’t want to talk about it.  That is a major shift indeed.

Will Obama's plan work?

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The answer: Probably.

The short answer is yes. The short reason is that spending works—eras when some group or other gets excited about future prospects and starts spending money like water are eras in which production and employment are high and unemployment low. And the government, in this respect, is just like any other group of starry-eyed optimists whose eagerness to spend pulls the economy into a high-employment high-pressure boom.

Will Obama’s plan work?

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The answer: Probably.

The short answer is yes. The short reason is that spending works—eras when some group or other gets excited about future prospects and starts spending money like water are eras in which production and employment are high and unemployment low. And the government, in this respect, is just like any other group of starry-eyed optimists whose eagerness to spend pulls the economy into a high-employment high-pressure boom.

Oh my! (updated)

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Even Fox News concluded that Bobby Jindal’s GOP response to the Presidents speech was a failure.

BRIT HUME: “The speech read a lot better than it sounded. This was not Bobby Jindal’s greatest oratorical moment.”

NINA EASTON: “The delivery was not exactly terrific.”

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “Jindal didn’t have a chance. He follows Obama, who in making speeches, is in a league of his own. He’s in a Reagan-esque league. … [Jindal] tried the best he could.”

JUAN WILLIAMS: “It came off as amateurish, and even the tempo in which he spoke was sing-songy. He was telling stories that seemed very simplistic and almost childish.”

Andrew Sullivan has his own take.

Stylistically, he got better as he went along but there was, alas, a slightly high-school debate team feel to the beginning. And there was a patronizing feel to it as well – as if he were talking to kindergartners – that made Obama’s adult approach so much more striking. And I’m not sure that the best example for private enterprise is responding to a natural calamity that even Ron Paul believes is a responsibility for the federal government. And really: does a Republican seriously want to bring up Katrina? As for the biography, it felt like Obama-lite. With far less political skill.

Update: David Brooks joins the chorus and calls the speech “insane”:

More on Wall \f1 \uc0\u8729 \f0 E

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John Gruber has the same view as I do regarding Wall
\f1 \uc0\u8729
\f0 E. It should have won best picture at the Academy Awards.
\

I\’92ll put it in writing: the best motion picture released last year was WALL-E. Like 2001 \’97 which WALL-E pays significant homage to \’97 it wasn\’92t even nominated for best picture. But it effectively couldn\’92t be nominated \’97 and that\’92s the real crime. Instead, WALL-E was nominated for and awarded the prize for \’93best animated film\’94.

More on Wall∙E

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John Gruber has the same view as I do regarding Wall∙E. It should have won best picture at the Academy Awards.

I’ll put it in writing: the best motion picture released last year was WALL-E. Like 2001 — which WALL-E pays significant homage to — it wasn’t even nominated for best picture. But it effectively couldn’t be nominated — and that’s the real crime. Instead, WALL-E was nominated for and awarded the prize for “best animated film”.