The French Voting No on the EU Constitution

I think that Bastiat summed up the reason why the French voted no on the EU Constitution. Here’s a quote:

In the midst of this tumult, and after the country had changed its “state” two or three times for not having satisfied all these demands, I tried to point out that they were contradictory. Good Lord! What was I thinking of? Could I not keep this unfortunate remark to myself?

So here I am, discredited forever; and it is now an accepted fact that I am a heartless, pitiless man, a dry philosopher, an individualist, a bourgeois – in a word, an economist of the English or American school.

Oh, pardon me, sublime writers, whom nothing stops, not even contradictions. I am wrong, no doubt, and I retract my error with all my heart. I demand nothing better, you may be sure, than that you should really have discovered outside of us a benevolent and inexhaustible being, calling itself The State, which has bread for all mouths, work for all hands, capital for all enterprises, credit for all projects, ointment for all wounds, balm for all suffering, advice for all perplexities, solutions for all problems, truths for all minds, distractions for all varieties of boredom, milk for children and wine for old age, which provides for all our needs, foresees all our desires, satisfies all our curiosity, corrects all our errors, amends all our faults, and exempts us all henceforth from the need for foresight, prudence, judgment, sagacity, experience, order, economy, temperance, and industry.

And why should I not desire it? Heaven forgive me! The more I reflect on it, the more I find how easy the whole thing is; and I, too, long to have at hand that inexhaustible source of riches and enlightenment, that universal physician, that limitless treasure, that infallible counselor, that you call The State.

Now Fortunes in Fortuen Cookies Get Written

Here’s an article about the guy that writes the fortunes for Wonton Foods, Inc. the largest maker of fortune cookies in the U.S.

Security Guy is Switching to Macs

Winn Schwartau is swtiching to Macs becuase Windows computers with Intel processors aren’t secure. I’m not the biggest fan of Microsoft or Intel, but I think Winn is a bit coo-coo.

I expected to find some a decent explanation of the problems with Windows, but Winn doesn’t do it. Here’s the explanatory part of his column:

Even though I’m a security guy going on 22 years now, my day-to-day work is pretty much like everyone else’s. I live on laptops and use my desktops at home and the office for geeking and experimenting. My two day-to-day laptops (two, for 24/7 backup) are my business machines. I don’t need them to do a whole lot – except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel.
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I want my computer to function every time I turn it on. I want my computer to not corrupt data when it does crash. I use a handful of applications: Microsoft Office, e-mail, browser, FTP client and some multimedia toys. Regardless of format, they should work without crashing.

I live on the ‘Net. I do not want my browser to eat up all of my memory. In the WinTel world I need an assortment of third-party tools to try to keep my PC alive. That’s just crazy.

Why does WinTel have these problems? I have heard all sorts of explanations, and I don’t subscribe to any of them. I’ve come up with my own (hopefully rational) reasons WinTel will fail – and has to fail:

Windows is complex, trying to be everything to everyone. This complexity comes at a terrible price: downtime, help desks, upgrades, patches and the inevitable failures.

When a new operating system or service pack is released, there are tons of changes to the functionality.

WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS. They are not all equal, nor do they all have the same level of compatibility.

Some Windows software applications are well written; others take shortcuts. Shortcuts may work in some environments, but not all, and ultimately the consumer pays in lost time, availability and productivity.

Hardware. There are hundreds of “WinTel-compatible” motherboards, each claiming to be better than the next. Whatever.

Memory. Not all RAM is equal. Some works well. Cheap stuff doesn’t.

Hard disks. Same problem: cheap or reliable. Your call.

I know that hard drive crash and corrupt data, but that’s never been a problem for me or for anyone I know. Ever since I switched to Windows XP, crashing as been a thing of the past. My main personal computer has crashed a few times, but it is overclocked and when you overclock a processor, you can expect that kind of thing to happen. It makes we wonder if Winn is running Windows 98 or Windows Me or a piece of crap operating system like that.

Winn’s most convincing complaint is about service packs. I have read that some people have problems with Windows XP SP2, but I haven’t seen problems in my personal experience. He also complains about bioses, and other hardware issues like memory and hard drives. All I can tell him is that you get what you pay for. If you buy crap hardware, don’t get pissy when it breaks down.

I was hoping for a real explanation of the problem and all I got from Winn were generalized complaints. I assume that he used crap hardware, a computer crashed and he lost something important. It isn’t WinIntel’s fault if that happened. One of the reasons Windows computers are cheaper than Macs is because there are many manufacturers. When you buy Mac, you are paying for a premium experience–a premium that is more expensive than a premium Windows machine.

Christianity hijacked? Democrats, the bible and entitlements

Roger Banks writes an interesting op-ed in today’s DC Examiner arguing that the Bible’s teaches not support the welfare state. He concludes:

Largely unarticulated, however, is the way the entitlement system serves to obviate individual good will. Misguided government efforts to constrain the quality of mercy have a chilling effect on charity, resulting in an increasingly uncompassionate society. The absurd, implied premise of the Bible-quoting liberals is that bigger government is a way to love one’s neighbor. In fact, government programs encourage a life profoundly centered on self, and make us increasingly spectators to the plight of our neighbors.

The incongruity between big government theology and the teachings of the Bible is readily apparent. Entitlements place primary importance on material needs. Christ teaches followers to “seek ye first the kingdom of God … and all these things [food, clothing, et al.] will be added unto you.” Whereas the biblical standard requires the gift of faith, welfare subsists on fears that voluntary giving alone would be insufficient.

Welfare proponents also worry about the unfairness of voluntary giving, as many choose not to give. The God of the Bible satisfies material and spiritual needs simultaneously, by conferring blessings on those who give voluntarily and sacrificially.

Lileks on Team America, Star Wars IV, and The Incredibles

James Lileks is brillant. Read the entire post sometime. And here’s the good stuff about The Incredibles:

Then,

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Tyler Cowen and Radley Balko on XM Radio

Like Tyler and Radley Balko I really like XM radio and I agree with their dissatisfaction with XM as well.

I want a good eclectic mix of music and XM really doesn’t have it on any one station. This is why Radio Paradise is still my favorite station. Here’s part of the playlist that I really enjoyed last night:
7:10 pm – Zwan – Friends as Lovers
7:16 pm – Secret Machines – Nowhere Again
7:20 pm – Thievery Corporation – Doors Of Perception (Feat Gunjan)
7:23 pm – Tracy Chapman – Heaven’s Here on Earth
7:29 pm – Mark Knopfler – Don’t You Get It
7:34 pm – Stevie Ray Vaughan – Pipeline
7:37 pm – The Durutti Column – Requiem For Mother
7:41 pm – Robert Plant – The Enchanter
7:46 pm – Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun
7:59 pm – Porcupine Tree – Half-Light
8:05 pm – Trail of Dead – Let It Dive
8:09 pm – Violent Femmes – Color Me Once
8:13 pm – Eddie Vedder – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
8:15 pm – Beatles – One After 909

Great stuff and better than any station on XM.

As Good As Lord of the Rings, Except for the Writing

Here’s Orson Scott Card’s review of Revenege of the Sith. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but his review sounds right on.

John McCain–Athletes’ Nanny

I despise John McCain. He wish he would believe in freedom or liberty or one of those important principles (like free speech). Now he wants to regulate steroids in professional sports. What will he want to regulate next?

Jared Diamond

It is sad that Jared Diamond fails to understand some of the most important human institutions and his understanding of markets and property rights is so facile, especially since his new book purports to explain the collapse of civilizations.

Muslim Overreaction

There’s a lot of talk right now about Newsweek retracting its story about the military in Guantanamo Bay flushing the Koran down the toilet. Yes Newsweek completely messed up, but what about the overreactions by the Muslim world. If people were to flush a book that I consider holy, or otherwise desecrate things I consider to be holy, is that justification for me to engage in wanton destruction? I don’t think so. I would be upset that someone would desecrate something I hold sacred, but my God is resilient enough that he doesn’t need me to go nuts because of someone’s idiotic actions.

Considers this from a Reuters story:

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan dismissed on Tuesday as inadequate an apology and retraction by the Newsweek magazine of a report that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran.

The report in the magazine’s May 9 issue sparked protests across the Muslim world, from Afghanistan, where 16 people were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Gaza.

“The apology and retraction are not enough,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters.

“They should understand the sentiments of Muslims and think 101 times before publishing news which hurt feelings of Muslims.”

The magazine retracted the story on Monday.

Newsweek shouldn’t have to consider if its story would “hurt the feelings of Muslims.” There a lot of stories that are newsworthy and true and as a direct result they “hurt the feelings of” many groups. Newsweek should be concerned about reporting the truth and reporting newsworthy material–not about hurting people’s feelings. I hope these riots and Pakistan’s Information Minister’s comments aren’t mainstream, because these Muslims need thicker skin.