Sunday, February 20, 2011

Things to consider when printing

One aspect many don't stop to consider when they are buying a printer is to compare the prices of the ink cartridges before buying. If several printers you are considering are all within the same quality range and a similar price range, checking to see how much it's going to cost you to actually use the printer is something you should look at. It's also important to check your settings. While that color laserjet 3500 may give you beautiful color portraits similar to photo quality, if you are printing something that doesn't require that depth of color, using the quality settings on your printer will save you ink and money.

Would CPAC's Vetting Process Kick Out Libertarians?

That's the question posed by David Weigel, and it is a very valid one to ask, you can read his post in full as well as his previous linked material - here.

Personally I've never believed that CPAC and the Libertarian Party held the same values despite the fact some Republicans like to claim they are Libertarians. There is a difference and on issues like Weigel raises, they are important issues:

ACU President Al Cardenas's "vetting" process for CPAC, and his statement that support for gay marriage or opposition to DADT are not "within the scope of what we believe the three legs of the stool of the movement are."

The "Republican Wall of Shame"

WASHINGTON - At their booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Libertarian Party is displaying a "Republican Wall of Shame." (View low-res JPG or high-res PDF.)

These are the prominent Republicans featured on the Wall of Shame:
  • Mitt Romney, supporter of the RomneyCare socialized medicine program in

Marketing curiousity

A popular marketing technique designed to take advantage of our natural curiosity are ones that advise you to click here without telling you what you are clicking on. Unfortunately hackers and those with less than honorable intentions have taken advantage of this natural curiosity as well, which means if you do decide to click here or there, if you are asked to download something? Don't do it unless you are certain it's safe. I recently experienced this on classmates.com where some spy scam pop up began. So don't just assume if it's a place you believed to be credible that it's okay, it may not be.

Rupert Boneham for Governor?

The latest political rumor in Indiana is that the Indiana Libertarians are trying to recruit Rupert Boneham as a candidate. 
Boneham, nationally known as Rupert, is a popular Survivor television show contestant.  In 2004, he received 10 million votes from television viewers as the most popular contestant (and was awarded one million dollars).
The rumor became public yesterday morning when Indianapolis talk show host Abdul Hakim-Shabazz (WXNT 1430 AM) blogged that Indiana Libertarians may be recruiting Rupert as a Libertarian candidate.
There is now a Facebook page on this, Rupert for Governor?.
A source of the rumor may be the web site of the Libertarian Party of Indiana.  Rupert is an announced guest at the Saturday night Poker Tournament fund raiser at the LPIN's upcoming state convention.
In Indianapolis, Rupert is known for his work with at-risk youth, through Rupert's Kids.

LP criticizes Obama administration on military spending

The Libertarian Party criticizes the Obama administration's recent statement demanding more military spending from House Republicans.
The administration claims that the Republican spending bill currently under debate does not provide enough military funding. According to the administration, "The bill...would reduce funding for the Department of Defense to a level that would leave the Department without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements."
As a percentage of GDP, military spending under Obama has been higher than it was during any year of the hawkish George W. Bush administration.
Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle said, "Apparently the Republican spending bill isn't military-friendly enough for President Obama.
Hinkle continued, "Liberals are supposed to want schools, not bombs, but Obama wants all the bombs he can get.
"The Republican bill actually increases Defense Department spending 1-2% over 2010 levels, but the administration calls that a reduction.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

By candle light


I love the look of candles and lamps that use the candelabra style light bulb and yes, some of those are also made to be energy efficient. One company that makes this style of light as well as others is hudson valley lighting, the lamp pictured here is one of their lights designed for a foyer area of the home. They also have some additional lamps that use candelabra bulbs as well as traditional bulbs. If you are looking for something that creates a little "light" drama in your home, then have fun searching through the different lights they offer, you may find just the one you've been looking for.

Hey, idiots! Stop pointing lasers at planes!

Recommended article from Time where I admit I tend to agree that creating another law doesn't appear to be the real solution. Though as the daughter of a former pilot I completely understand the dangers, this part was entertaining as a visual:

It takes only about five seconds of thought to see that Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's amendment to impose federal penalties — up to a five-year prison sentence — for attempted plane zapping would be completely useless. How exactly would it be enforced? Would pilots who get lasered in the air contact a federal anti-laser-pointer task force on the ground? Would Tommy Lee Jones be recruited to lead the manhunts? And if a local cop somehow caught a 12-year-old goof-off trying to Luke Skywalker a 747 with a laser pointer he stole from his corporate mom, would the kid go to the federal pen? Sure, it's conceivable that someone with truly menacing intentions would point a laser into a cockpit. But does Congress think there's nothing in the existing federal code that would allow him to be prosecuted for trying to blind a pilot in midflight?

Friday, February 04, 2011

Golden internets

When you read that you can buy gold online, you may think, 'of course you can, gold jewelry' -- however that's not the only kind of gold you can buy online, you can actually buy ingots, bullion, and gold in other forms that's designed for a monetary value as opposed to a bling one. Some investors believe that owning gold is a smart part of their portfolio, others opt for other types of precious metals to hedge against any kind of a large economic failure where traditionally precious metals would be more valuable as to paper items such as dollars, notes or bonds.

He's not a Reagan fan...

Some have raised the image of the former president to such a high level that it's no wonder some take issue -- this piece by Jeff Riggenbach is one that looks at some of the things people like to credit Reagan for and how he disagrees. One small part:
Like most Republican politicians since the early 1930s, Ronald Reagan always portrayed himself throughout his political career as a champion of limited government, individual rights, and free enterprise — the classical-liberal values, which, of course, he absurdly described as "conservative." But, like almost all Republican politicians since the early 1930s, he seemed to forget all about these values once he got into office and assumed the reins of power. Consider, as a case in point, Reagan's eight years (1966–1974) as governor of California. As Murray Rothbard noted in 1980,

Despite his bravado about having stopped the growth of state government, the actual story is that the California budget grew by 122 percent during his eight years as governor, not much of an improvement on the growth rate of 130 percent during the preceding two terms of free-spending liberal Pat Brown. The state bureaucracy increased during Reagan's administration from 158,000 to 192,000, a rise of nearly 22 percent — hardly squaring with Reagan's boast of having "stopped the bureaucracy cold."

President Reagan was very good at one aspect of politics, salesmanship ...

Libertarian paternalism is "in" again

It's interesting to watch words and catch phrases return. Libertarian paternalism is one of those, it's also referred to as "soft paternalism" meaning government can:

help you make the choices you would make for yourself—if only you had the strength of will as well as the sharpness of mind. But unlike 'hard' paternalists, who ban some things and mandate others, the softer kind aims only to skew your decisions, without infringing greatly on your freedom of choice

Some credit Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein from their book "Nudge" -- but the reality is the term has been around much longer.

Even before Thaler and Sunstein wrote a 2003 piece for the Chicago Law review, "Libertarian Paternalism Is Not An Oxymoron" -- However most seem to have not noticed that.