Exile From the Herd Comments

Simon: Life as a lemming

nospam@example.com (Simon) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:31:30 -0400

In response to the amazing deal offered by Rogers for the iPhone (amazing in the sense that I am in awe at how insulting and cynical it is) Andrew and I were talking about OpenMoko this aft;

http://www.openmoko.com/

It's very difficult to express your creativity from a black box and I think our kids are going to have a lower tolerance for un-hackable corporate lozenges than we do.

Richard Metcalfe: easySPF: an ajax enabled SPF wizard

nospam@example.com (Richard Metcalfe) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:47:50 -0400

I have been using that Mootools Framework i like it for the cross browser ability. As i use Firefox as my web browser but the population still under control of IE 6 & 7.

kiwano: What would Eckhart Tolle do with incontrovertible proof that 9/11 was an "inside job"?

nospam@example.com (kiwano) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:15:07 -0400

if i'm following these seven rules, how closely have i examined what i'm actually doing.

(just a reminder that the rules are grist for the mill, and not actual instructions, for all subsequent readers. you're welcome)

Tony King: Damn Right Your Dad Drank It

nospam@example.com (Tony King) — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:38:57 -0400

Alas, sadly my late father fell, or rather slipped, into the latter category.

'Tho he was good man. In any physical fight, my mother usually got the better of him.

Maybe I'll make a swf of this and post it on one o my websites. Will let you know.

- Tony (the guy who would NEVER be caught wearing a ballcap backwards! - except on a bike)

M. Thomas Southerland: Q: How do you get out of a mess? A: don't cause one.

nospam@example.com (M. Thomas Southerland) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:32:08 -0400

Way too impressed to comment... Though of course I'll try.

Not often do I encounter such brilliance, not that you need stoking.

I think I like it. Yup, I feel inspired enough to write a subtle dity about stupidity.

Hey Did that rhyme?

We yanks just don't seem to get that not being able to afford something means just that. But after all, we haven't had to account for our debt since the East India trading company..

Was that last call? Really?? I was in the bathroom.. And I'm with the band dude!...

Ariel Ozick: Q: How do you get out of a mess? A: don't cause one.

nospam@example.com (Ariel Ozick) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:49:30 -0400

Great Video! It's fascinating how CNBC can't get the message.

Blog more!

Mark Jeftovic: Buy now, pay later, buy now, pay forever...

nospam@example.com (Mark Jeftovic) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:40:44 -0400

Yeah I know, very ironic. And because I'm in the domain name/DNS business and sometimes blog about that there are often ads for competing companies on my blog.

The other weird thing about it is very often the ads on the main page are for hair replacement and male pattern balding and when I see them I reflexively touch that expanding horseshoe at the back of my head and wonder "How do they know?"

adeger: Buy now, pay later, buy now, pay forever...

nospam@example.com (adeger) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:31:42 -0400

Ironic that (when I read this at least) your Google ad sidebar links were all for getting credit cards and one was even for getting a credit card when one's credit was already bad.

Yes, I get how Google's "intelligence" put the ads there..

mefisto: iPhone unlocked on the Fido network using Turbo Sim card

nospam@example.com (mefisto) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:42:59 -0400

I have an iPhone, bought on eBay, it is unlocked, I can make phonecalls, I can go to internet (5 cent/kb) etc. but there is one BIG problem with FIDO, I have prepaid sevice and therefore I can't use unlimited internet, I just called them asking to change to monthly package so I could go for unlimited internet on it, but FIDO said that "they cannot guarantee that unlimited package will work, as far as iPhone is not a FIDO handset"

is there any chance in Canada to have iPhone with unlimited internet (EDGE-GPRS)???

And another question - can I get games and applications installed on iPhone directly from computer, without need to go to internet?

JasonG: The Grand Swindle

nospam@example.com (JasonG) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:22:45 -0400

Yea, I'm just waiting for the whole bubble to burst and everyone being forced to come to their senses and start saving. Can't say I see it happening anytime soon. It seems like an inevitable series of mini-bursts and an economy that sort of limps along indefinitely.

RE: The Media... Interesting book I got turned onto a couple weeks back Flat Earth News by Nick Davies http://www.flatearthnews.net/ I'm only about an eighth of the way through it but I feel the similarly as this reviewer: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/02/26/journalism-drivel

anonymous: The Economy: Time to Panic? (Not yet, but wear diapers)

nospam@example.com (anonymous) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:12:27 -0400

Everything below is a guess regardless of langauge to the contrary. In the interest of brevity, I shall not keep typing "I guess".

One dollar of Monopoly money has no gold backing. One dollar of U.S. money has only about one cent of gold backing. This is not a big difference. Furthermore, no one cannot get get the U.S. government to give even that tiny amount of gold, one cent's worth, for a dollar. If one goes to the U.S. Treasury with Monopoly money or U.S. money, the amount of gold one will be given in exchange is the same.

Moreover, some other countries back their money with the U.S. dollar. How valuable is a currency which is backed by the U.S. dollar, which has about as much backing as a Monopoly dollar?

It is sometimes said that the American economy has immense strengths. If someone is dying of liver cancer, it matters little that his lungs and pancreas work well. Worhtless money is perilous for a country.

In theory, the U.S. government could cure the currency problem by measures such as buying huge amounts of bullion and paying off much of the U.S. national government's debt. This is highly unlikely.

American money is widely used in international commerce even for transactions in which no participant is American. I think that most American dollars are outsiee America, not in America. However, international commerce gradually is shifting toward the use of other cuurencies instead of the U.S. dollar.

For a long time, the value of the U.S. dollar has been going down.

Why didn't America have a severe depression 30 years ago, 10 years ago, or two years ago? I don't know.

Jim Berry: Domain Aftermarket Overdue for an "Asset Repricing"

nospam@example.com (Jim Berry) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:53:22 -0500

Regarding this comment: "In the domain aftermarket returns of 30-50% a year are commonplace. It's almost a certainty that $65k [for ] will turn into a $100k within six months from my experience.

A similar comment came to me from a friend back in 1999 who had loaded up on stocks like Pets.com, CMGI, Level 3 and dozens of other "sterling companies". She actually admitted to expecting a 10% PER DAY RETURN!

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Mark Jeftovic: He says that like it's a bad thing...

nospam@example.com (Mark Jeftovic) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:06:58 -0500

Hi, thanks for stopping by and commenting.

I don't claim that conservatives and leftists (the two camps I seem to prattle on about) don't hold personal responsibility high on their list, but they are often guilty of having that priority trumped by their peculiar camp's ideologies:

Conservatives want to tell everybody else how to live their lives while Leftists think they know how we all should live. Both taken to extremes cause much havoc and my suggestion is the Libertarian maxim that we should worry about running our own lives more than running other people's lives is less selfish than others make it out to be.

I am having difficulty parsing this statement:

"In fact, this idea that people would not be charitable, or forthcoming with taxes --sufficient for agreed upon goals--absent State intervention, or some "crazy" progressive ideaology that only some people carry, is bogus."

Granted I'm on 2 hours sleep here, but are you saying that the idea that people won't be charitable absent state intervention is bogus? You're right, people do not need a State to make them co-operate with one another, pool resources and respect each other's differences. But is that then "a crazy progressive ideology that only some people carry?" Am I one of the crazy progressives then but you're not? (Are you saying we do need the state because without it only nutcase Libertarians would be nice to other people ?) - like I said, I'm on no sleep.

I always find the US desire for universal healthcare quite interesting from the Canadian perspective, where we have it. On one hand I hear too many heartbreak stories about Americans who can't afford to pay their medical bills and are basically bankrupted by illness or injury.

Then up here in Canada, yay, free health care. But what about wanting access to better healthcare and are willing to pay for it? No dice. You can't if you wanted to. Basically I'd welcome a two-tier system and I think it's inevitable but it's the objections to it I find very typical of the left. They have the strange quirk where asking that we all pool resources and work together to lift the disadvantaged means we also have to drag back anybody who manages to get ahead.

You say you're not anti-taxes. Up here in Canada the highest marginal tax rate is close to 50%, and that's not when you're earning 10 million dollars a year, that kicks in under 100K / year. It's like living through a perpetual divorce, you just keep handing half your money over to an unaccountable beaurocracy that goes and blows it on idiotic affairs I had no say in, like foreign wars.

Here we are agreement:

"But you know you would. And you know they would. And you don't need the threat of force by a State to make it happen. You just need transparency and shared normative values; things human nature and technology can and does provide *today*."

which is why I have some trouble parsing your comment, I just call myself a libertarian because I feel to a statist the state is the end in itself. Similar to the way people who are not very financially literate become obsessed with money, which is really just a medium of exchange (it isn't even a store of value anymore), the government apparatus should just be the mechanism by which we all pitch-in and play nice together.

But that isn't how it works these days, now is it?

: He says that like it's a bad thing...

nospam@example.com () — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:18:02 -0500

"The state owes me healthcare (because I'd rather spend my money on cigarettes, twinkies and soft drinks)"

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Actually, I do find your conception of libertarianism a tad childish. That everybody is responsible for themselves is a given; its childish to think that "liberals" or "progressives" don't also feel that "personal responsibility", whatever that means, is high on their list of priorities, maybe even the highest.

The problem with Ayn Rand and other libertarians is (1) there's no necessity to point fingers and judge people (2) because universal healthcare, universal education, et al, can be had by the free association of individuals, without the necessity of a State which can break down your down and throw in jail with a key.

In fact, this idea that people would not be charitable, or forthcoming with taxes --sufficient for agreed upon goals--absent State intervention, or some "crazy" progressive ideaology that only some people carry, is bogus.

This isn't the 18th century. The vast majority, of Americans at least, have sufficient access to food, shelter and clothing. Arguably, all Americans have sufficient access, by anything but the most lofty contemporary measures. And you know what: none of it is provided by the State. What the State provides is actually in addition to the base welfare that churches, non-profits, etc, already provide.

I'm not anti-taxes or anti-anything. If somebody wants to eat twinkies and soda and freeload healthcare. Fine! You know what; only the most pessimistic individual would think that all people are that way, all the time. We are all a little, and maybe that's why too many doubt that their fellow neighbor would help them in need--because they're afraid they wouldn't help their neighbor.

But you know you would. And you know they would. And you don't need the threat of force by a State to make it happen. You just need transparency and shared normative values; things human nature and technology can and does provide *today*.

Sieg Pedde: He says that like it's a bad thing...

nospam@example.com (Sieg Pedde) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:45:03 -0500

beautifully put. and oh so true.