Today's Quotes: Ludwig von Mises Edition

A little trivia, there's a good chance that Ludwig von Drake was an homage to Ludwig von Mises. (pic via Wiki)

If one rejects laissez faire on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.
-- Ludwig von Mises

Collectivism is a doctrine of war, intolerance, and persecution. If any of the collectivist creeds should succeed in its endeavors, all people but the great dictator would be deprived of their essential human quality. They would become mere soulless pawns in the hands of a monster.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The comparatively greater prosperity of the United States is an outcome of the fact that the New Deal did not come in 1900 or 1910, but only in 1933.
-- Ludwig von Mises

War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings. The earthquake means good business for construction workers, and cholera improves the business of physicians, pharmacists, and undertakers; but no one has for that reason yet sought to celebrate earthquakes and cholera as stimulators of the productive forces in the general interest.
-- Ludwig von Mises

It is a widespread fallacy that skillful advertising can talk the consumers into buying everything that the advertiser wants them to buy. The consumer is, according to this legend, simply defenseless against high-pressure advertising. If this were true, success or failure in business would depend on the mode of advertising only.
-- Ludwig von Mises

...it is solely bigness in business which makes it possible to supply the masses with all those products the present-day American common man does not want to do without. Luxury goods for the few can be produced in small shops. Luxury goods for the many require big business.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The first condition for the establishment of perpetual peace is the general adoption of the principles of laissez-faire capitalism.
-- Ludwig von Mises

It is impossible to understand the history of economic thought if one does not pay attention to the fact that economics as such is a challenge to the conceit of those in power.
-- Ludwig von Mises

...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics.
-- Ludwig von Mises

Progress cannot be organized.
-- Ludwig von Mises

Manufacturing and commercial monopolies owe their origin not to a tendency imminent in a capitalist economy but to governmental interventionist policy directed against free trade and laissez faire.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments.
-- Ludwig von Mises

Economic calculation can only take place by means of money prices established in the market for production goods in a society resting on private property in the means of production.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The characteristic mark of economic history under capitalism is unceasing economic progress, a steady increase in the quantity of capital goods available, and a continuous trend toward an improvement in the general standard of living.
-- Ludwig von Mises

Grumblers may blame Western civilization for its materialism and may assert that it gratified nobody but a small class of rugged exploiters. But their laments cannot wipe out the facts. Millions of mothers have been made happier by the drop in infant mortality. Famines have disappeared and epidemics have been curbed.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The capitalist system of production is an economic democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote. The consumers are the sovereign people. The capitalists, the entrepreneurs, and the farmers are the peoples mandatories.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The capitalistic social order, therefore, is an economic democracy in the strictest sense of the word. In the last analysis, all decisions are dependent on the will of the people as consumers. Thus, whenever there is a conflict between the consumers views and those of the business managers, market pressures assure that the views of the consumers win out eventually.
-- Ludwig von Mises

The market economy needs no apologists and propagandists. It can apply to itself the words of Sir Christopher Wrens epitaph in St. Pauls: Si monumentum requiris, circumspice. [If you seek his monument, look around.]
-- Ludwig von Mises

Friday Grab Bag of Links ...

Architecture / Design. (pic via Contemporist)
The Desert Wing House by Brent Kendle
Travel With Frank Gehry
Kathi's Doll House
Stone House Plans – unusual cave house
Round Hill, Estate of the Day
Apartment in Barcelona - CoolBoom

Travel.
Around the world, how far can you get with $10?

Style.
A Suitable Wardrobe: Style & the Man, Take Two
Midrange Game (Part III): The Tweed Blazer

Food.
The #1 food you should eat (and probably don't)
Copenhagen's Noma Named World's Best Restaurant
BBC News - What does it take to be a good restaurant critic?
Don’t Sweat, It’s Mango Season - India Real Time
22 Sausages from Around the World
Good Old Vine Wines - On Wine

Travel.
HotelChatter's Annual Hotel WiFi Report 2010

Gadgets.
DigiZoid ZO Personal Subwoofer
Review: McIntosh Laboratory MXA60
Wall-mountable washing machine - Boing Boing
HTC Droid Incredible arrives as promised (Update: not yet!)
The Return to Hi-Fi: The Best Equipment for Better Sound

Computers.
Flash 10.1 "Gala" Gives Mac Users Hardware-Accelerated Streaming Video
Cool Websites and Tools [April 28th]
BurnAware Free 3 Beta Improves Burning Performance, Supports Tons of Formats
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Review

Watches.
Bremont Supermarine 500 Dive Watch Hands-On (more)
The A. Lange That Got Away
Jaeger-LeCoultre Watches On Tony Stark In Iron Man 2
My Horological Collection
New Arrival!!! Habring2 COS Chrono Ti
Tucker: One Watch
Orient STI Collaboration Limited Edition Watch
A tribute to myself. :) - JLC

Fountain Pens / Writing.
LAMY safari white – The cool colour is back!
Creating Password Storage with a Leuchtturm Mini
Notebook Stories: The Endless Notebook
notebookism: Minor Notebook Obssesion
Rouge Hematite: Ink, blood, and sailors
The Office Supply Store That Time Forgot
a fine dinner...

Photography.
25 Stunning Images of Spiral Staircases
Views of Canada - Vues du Canada (1858-1935)
First Look: Leather Lumix GF-1 Ever-Ready Case
Acadalus, The $5,000 Self-Leveling Tripod Head
DIY Canon DSLR Equipped R/C Helicopter For Dirt Cheap Aerial Photography
Custom Dress Shirt Canclini Light Blue Windowpane

Economics.
Crop Insurance Subsidies May Be Reduced

Recession / Financial Crisis.
Gambling with Other People's Money
Populist Rage Aimed at Wall Street as Democrat-Controlled GSEs Ignored

Healthcare.
More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart
States Face Their First ObamaCare Test

Luxury.
Childrens Playhouses - Outdoor Playhouse
Richard Branson's underwater plane on show at luxury private island

Unions.
How to Tackle Government Labor Costs - WSJ.com

Misc.
A Square Coke Bottle = Smaller Environmental Footprint
50 Germiest Things & Places in the World
BBC News - Dating by blood type in Japan

Admongo.Gov - FTC wants tweens to think critically about advertising

This story is just dripping w/ irony. The feds are worried that people will be easy prey for advertisers. I think by far the biggest source of charlatanism and general quackery is the government itself.

If the FTC wants to create a database of web sites with half-truths, manipulative messages, and less than truthful stories ... I concede that this list is anything but exhaustive, but it seems like a solid start.
The White House
BarackObama.com
GOP.gov
Official Home of Lou Dobbs On The Web
The Democratic Party
Senator Harry Reid
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
John McCain for U.S. Senate

FTC wants tweens to think critically about advertising: "Tweens can now create their own avatar inside a neon, virtual world of media advertising to learn what ads are all about. The Federal Trade Commission wants tweens -- those kids between the ages of 9 and 12 -- to understand the flashy, roaring advertisements that pop up between episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and iCarly. An 'Ad-ucation' for these pre-adolescents aims to get kids to think critically and become smarter consumers through the government site Admongo.gov. ... The Federal Trade Commission works to prevent deception, fraud and unfair business practices."

Additional links:
Admongo.gov
FTC Helps Prepare Kids for a World Where Advertising is Everywhere

Markets In Everything: Used Hermès Bags & Tank Driving

Thank God for markets! ;-) (pic via DaT)

Drive A Tank: "Have you ever thought it would be awesome to own your very own tank? Have you ever thought it would be awesome to be able to drive your very own tank down town to the burger joint with nine of your friends on a summer day? Here is your chance."

Fashionphile, Yoogi's Closet, Strictly Pursonal and Covet Shop help sellers of used designer handbags - WSJ.com: "If it's love at first sight that makes a woman drop $1,000 on a designer handbag, what should she do when the affair is over? Several new online services have sprung up specifically to cater to sellers of used "it" bags—particularly, women who want to extricate themselves from a relationship with an expensive pocketbook and recoup some of the purchase price as efficiently as possible. In the down economy, there's more demand for used high-end purses from labels like Chanel, Hermès and Louis Vuitton—leading to more competition for suppliers. These sites bring buyers and sellers of pre-owned designer bags together, making the transaction as hassle-free as possible for both."

Plunder or Enterprise: The World's Choice ...

An excellent thought-provoking piece from Dr. Tom Woods.

Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole—with their common aim of legal plunder—constitute socialism.

But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.
-- Frederic Bastiat

Plunder or Enterprise: The World's Choice by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: "Public protests against globalization – protests that occur by and large in the prosperous West – denounce free trade and the mobility of capital as instruments of exploitation and oppression. The great development economist Peter Bauer used to say that if that were the case, then we should find the greatest prosperity among those less-developed countries that have the fewest economic connections to the West, and that those places that are altogether isolated – and therefore suffer from none of this alleged exploitation at all – should be paradise on earth. Needless to say, that is not even close to what we find, and most serious observers know it."

Thursday Grab Bag Of Links ...

Architecture. (pic via Freshome)
“Home for Life” in Denmark Produces More Energy
Tempe Urban Living by Baldinger Architectural
Interesting Wooden Building on Lauterhofen Golf Field
Woodstock Farm - CoolBoom
Chikuzen House / Design nico Architect Associates

Photography.
The Frame: Lawmakers brawl in Ukraine

Luxury.
Mega-Yacht Includes Missile Defense System, Laser Shield

Unions.
All Shook Down - Cato @ Liberty

Computers.
The Best Free Facebook Proxies
Spiffy new version of Opera hits Mac (both Intel and PPC)
BBC News - The mystery of the mega-selling floppy disk

Food.
In Defense Of Marmite : NPR
Cast About for a Great Kitchen Griddle
Wagyu Beef in Short Supply in New York Amid Temporary Ban
Cooking Sous Vide: Helping the Home Cook
10 Foods You Should Always Splurge On
Rye Whiskey Is Back! (PDF)

Travel.
Armani Hotel Dubai - Acquire
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali on Cool Hunting

Fountain Pens / Writing.
Pocket Blonde: Uni-Ball Fusion in Ruby
Uniball Power Tank Smart Series Pen for Hot and Cold Weather
Review: Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.3mm Blue Black
Ink Nouveau: Is it disrespectful to write in red ink?
The inspiration behind J. Herbin’s Rouge Hematite
Lexikaliker - LAMY plus
Whatever: Paper Review - Biblio from the UK

Economics.
John Stossel : Everyone Prospers With Free Trade
Ridley - Living Like A King

Goldman-Sachs.
Wisdom from Richard Epstein
Who paid John Paulson?
10 Things You Don’t Know (or were misinformed) About the GS Case

Cars.
Winding Road - Driven: 2010 Cadillac CTS-V
Dutch driver gets Bugatti Veyron confiscated for doing 50 mph over. He's 20.

Education.
Teacher Absences Plague City Schools
The Cartel Movie - A Film by Bob Bowdon

Starbucks.
Starbucks gives Frappuccino new life for hot summer sales

Style.
What is the Difference Between a Trench Coat and a Mac?
Right Tie, Wrong Shirt - From The Waist Up

Shoes / Boots.
New John Lobb Models for 2010

Gadgets / Gear.
8 Things Every Guy Should Have in His Desk Drawer
ICON - Light Designed
Mixed Metaphor Coffee Cup: Somebody Is Going to Die

Animals.
Thunder the Golden Retriever - Daily Puppy
Softshell Turtle Rides Roomba [VIDEO]
Tiny Tortoise Comes When Called — Cute Overload
Pictures: "Rarest of the Rare" Species Named

Misc.
How-To: Make a shrimp from a bendy straw
Micro-Supercapacitors Could Boost Lifetime of Portable Devices
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Making Sense on Ending the “Slavery Blame-Game”

Liberty & Govt. At Work: Salt, Barrel Shrouds, Derivatives, & More

Some good stuff today.

Ignorance ain't bliss - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A former student recently sent me a video of U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) being interviewed three years ago on MSNBC by Tucker Carlson. Rep. McCarthy had just introduced the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007. If enacted, that bill would have banned, among other things, weapons with barrel shrouds. Carlson asked McCarthy if she knew what a barrel shroud is. After dodging the question for a few moments, she eventually confessed: 'No, I actually don't know what a barrel shroud is.' She then ventured a guess, which Carlson informed her was wrong."

Salt Tyrants by Walter E. Williams: "America's tyrants have now turned their attention to salt, as reported in the Washington Post's article 'FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons' (April 19, 2010). Why do food processors put a certain quantity of salt in their products? The answer is the people who buy their product like it and they earn profits by pleasing customers."

Gambling with Other People's Money - Mercatus: "In the United States we like to believe we are a capitalist society based on individual responsibility. But we are what we do. Not what we say we are. Not what we wish to be. But what we do. And what we do in the United States is make it easy to gamble with other people’s money—particularly borrowed money—by making sure that almost everybody who makes bad loans gets his money back anyway."

Is Financial Innovation the Enemy? - WSJ.com: "Whether Goldman is bad, very bad or very, very good depends on what business you think it should be in. But its troubles have also brought out the dime-store Jeremiahs declaiming on the perniciousness of 'derivatives.' First off, no security is more derivative than a share of stock, which is not really ownership of a company (though it's usually claimed so) but merely a right to whatever cash management deigns to share, plus a right to whatever is left over in a bankruptcy, plus a right to participate in corporate governance in whatever limited ways a company's bylaws permit."

Meddlers at the Gate by David Harsanyi: "No. Legislators never would employ crude and simplistic sloganeering like those rowdy anti-gummint protesters. Just ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who this week offered up this eloquent gem: 'A party that stands with Wall Street is a party that stands against families and against fairness.'"

Raw Milk Crackdown - The Daily Caller: "After tooling around, the cars showed up Allgyer’s property. “They all got out of their vehicles – five men all together–with big bright flashlights they were shining all around. My wife and family were still asleep. When they couldn’t find anybody, they prepared to knock on the door of my darkened house. Just before they got to the house I stepped out of the barn and hollered at them, then they came up to me and introduced themselves.”"

How to renounce your American citizenship. - Slate Magazine: "The saga of Bobby Fischer, whom the United States is trying to extradite from Japan, keeps getting weirder and weirder. The former chess champ, who ran afoul of U.S. law by playing a tournament in the former Yugoslavia 12 years ago, now wants to renounce his American citizenship. How does an American go about renouncing his citizenship?"

Additional links:
Poor Dopes vs. Secret Agents
No more fast food toys in one California county
Hear no evil
Russian oligarchs 'preparing to flee Britain because of Labour's tax policies'

Wristwatch Updates: Chanel, Breitling, Jean Dunand, & More!

I like this Chanel. Great Longines interview. (pic via The Watch Lounge)

Weird Watch Wednesday: Chanel and High Watchmaking? Oui - The Watch Lounge: "The manual winding calibre RMT-10, developed by Renaud and Papi exclusively for Chanel in celebration of the J12’s 10th anniversary, contains a power reserve of 10 days when fully wound. The Rétrograde Mystérieuse mechanism is a delight to see in action that needs to be seen to be believed!"

TimeZone: Interview with Mr. Walter von Känel, Longines...: "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. von Känel last month in Basel. The result was a half-hour interview where he talks about Longines's global position in the luxury watch marketplace. After the interview, a photo-session with Mr. Patrick Linder of Longines, where I had a chance to photographs a few of the latest Longines watches introduced at this year Baselworld fair."

(TAG) Heuer Monaco - old and new: "Since the first Heuer Monaco was released in March of 1969, all of them had a plexi crystal. The Heuer Monaco reference 1133 was the first automatic chronograph to be released and it was the first chronograph ever to appear in a square case. So you can easily say it’s quite a remarkable watch."

The Palace by Jean Dunand - The Best of BaselWorld 2010: "This year, Suryia Hill arranged another meeting with Thierry Oulevay of Jean Dunand to show us something even more mind boggling, a time piece called the ‘Palace’. Now, before I am going to write about the Palace, I think it is useful to understand the brand’s name, Jean Dunand."

1960s Breitling Navitimer Issued To the Iraqi Air Force on eBay - Hodinkee: "So this is already a great watch, but we haven't even gotten to the really good part yet, the part that makes us WANT this thing. This Navitimer was issued to the Iraqi Air Force, and features their insignia on the case back. Saddam Hussein called him pilots 'The Flying Eagles' and that is exactly what you'll find on this Breitling. Talk about interesting provenance!"

KronosBlog: THE HALDA CONCEPT: "The watch looks quite impressive from the renders. The functions are tuned to space missions and remind me of the functionality of Omega's now retired X-33. There is all sorts of features related to mission objectives like mission timers, countdowns, double timezone, alarms and a G-Force counter that will store the different accelerations in a memory bank."

Cartier’s Calibre Worth Considering?: "When we say Cartier watch, you’ll say either “Tank”, “Santos” or “women’s watch”. With the introduction of the Santos 100 Cartier at least got some attention from the big public (and male)."

Additional links:
The Sartorial Way: Attention to Detail
Robert Downey Jr To Wear Jaeger-LeCoultre In The Upcoming Iron Man 2!
Antoine Preziuso Mega Tourbillon
welldressed - Singular Straps
TimeZone: Omega: Any pics of this Speedy?
My New Habring Time Only w/ Power Reserve
Welcome to MinuteMachines.com
Portuguese 2000 Desktop Wallpaper - WatchingHorology

We Don't Have Free Markets, Get Over It ...

I continue to read and hear from others what appears to be a consistent theme of those who are distrustful of markets and liberty, and I would guess ignorant of economics. I don’t intend that last comment to be pejorative or provocative, but rather a simple description. (pic via Wiki)

The theme centers around the idea that since we can not and do not have perfect competition in markets (emphasis on “perfect”), we have no choice but to have a government presence in the economy. Examples include:

“There is no such thing as a perfectly free-market.”

"Perfect competition doesn't exist in the real world."

“Those free-market ideas are great in theory, but they fail in the real world in which we don’t have perfect competition.”

"Without the government every market would turn into a private monopoly and prey on consumers."

Here is what I think the confusion might be. The people who make the above claims may be looking at freedom and competition in markets along a continuum, with complete monopoly at one end of the spectrum (let’s say the left side) and perfect competition at the other end of the spectrum (let’s say the right). I don’t have a problem with this. I think the error is believing that anything short of a perfect competition is a so-called market-failure and requires government intervention. In this world view, perfectly-competitive markets only exist in theory and in practice pretty much everything requires government intervention to correct these so-called market failures.

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
-- Austrian Economist Murray Rothbard.

I see the market continuum in a similar manner. But I don't believe that anything short of absolute perfect competition to be a problem requiring government action/interference . The closer we are to the right side (perfect competition), the better off we all are. We do not need to be at the endpoint to benefit from free markets. To the right is always preferred to any point further left. [NB, I don’t use the terms “left” and “right” here in the common political sense at all, please do no read them that way ;-) ] And just about anywhere on the continuum is preferred to government interference in a market.

Also worth noting I think … those who posit the above arguments seem to consistently presume the worst of free-markets, while at the same time assuming only the best of political entities/actors. They generally assume (implicit in their arguments) that once a government entity is involved it will be looking out for the best interests of people and will not be subjected to political or lobbyist pressure. I think this view is wholly separated from reality, with the reality being borne out by history over and over. (be sure to read So You Want to be a Masonomist) Even giving government actors the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they will always act with the very best of intentions, there's also the huge insurmountable knowledge problem (see Hayek's concept of the Fatal Conceit).

And a quick thought on monopolies ... the majority of monopolies that I can think of right now, are created by the government, in fact, I can't even think of any non-government monopolies.

Update, a comment from a trusted friend and economics professor:

"Whatever failings of various market institutions there might be (and I would argue they are overstated) if you believe that political figures are rational economic actors as well, then every criticism of markets applies doubly to government – because the information and incentive problems are worse there when there are no (or muted) feedback mechanisms to discipline behavior."

A look at "market failure":
The Market Failure Myth - D.W. MacKenzie
The Myth of Market Failure - Christopher Westley
Market Failure Again? - Gene Callahan

Related links:
So You Want to be a Masonomist - TCS Daily
The anti-market narrative of the crisis
Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society

Wednesday Grab Bag of Links ...

Architecture. (pic via Trendir)
Modern Island Home in Amsterdam Nature Reserve
B House / Anderson Anderson Architecture
Mono Office Space - CoolBoom
The Eels Lake Residence by Altius

Fountain Pens / Writing.
Pocket Blonde: Muji Gel Ink RT (Steel Blue)
The Writers' Project - Exaclair, Inc.
Exciting Porsche Design Yacht Nearing Completion
Public space reinvented - Moleskine

Computers.
Mini Altair 8800 looks authentic, runs Windows 7
How to Seamlessly Run That One Windows App You Need on a Mac
Opera 10.52 Brings Windows Speed Improvements to the Mac (and More)

Cars.
BaT Exclusive: Carrera-Proven 1958 Volvo 444 Racer
Chinese mechanic builds $3000 replica Lamborghini
World Superbike Favoring Four Cylinders Over Two?
Total Wuss Uses Viper To Tow Viper-Powered Motorcycle

Art.
See Every Painting in the Museum of Modern Art in Two Minutes

Animals.
A wandering family of ducks gets an escort home
I have been… and always shall be… YOUR FRIEND
Teen saves dog with mouth-to-snout resuscitation
Follow Your Nose: It’s Tapir Day! — Cute Overload
Jellyfish Survival Story - Yahoo! Buzz

Economics.
I, Slide Rule - The Freeman

Education.
Fun Facts to Know and Tell – Learning Disabilities Edition

Photography.
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED
Polaroid SX70 First Flush (NOTCOT)
Nikon’s New $7,000, 200-400mm Monster
The Frame: Shanghai World Expo set to open

Gadgets / Gear.
ICON Flashlights
Nokia N8 unveiled with Symbian 3
iRetrofone Base
Spyderco Amsterdam Meet 2010 Report
Verizon Droid Incredible by HTC Hands-On Review
George Cleverley – Russian Leather Gladstone Bag

Liberty / Govt.
Honoring Ike: Enough Already - John Stossel
Big Government’s Cronies - The Freeman
The Census: Vehicle for Social Engineering - The Freeman
Libertarian Celebrities & VIPs

Style.
Garb: Madison Trad
Your Signature Flourish
Dandies Online: Close Up And Private
Archival Clothing: Archival Housekeeping
Suit Yourself Award: Rudolph Valentino
The Most Imitated Shirt in the World - Bold Stripes

Shoes / Boots.
Spring boots - Gentleman’s Corner
Alden Shoes – The Barrie V-Tip : Leather Soul Hawaii

Watches.
CWC Chronograph (Valjoux Cal. 7733)…
Glashutte Original Senator Diary Watch
The Palace by Jean Dunand - The Best of BaselWorld 2010
Jeweller Magazine - Swatch in trouble
N E W M o d e l – Pulsar Limited Edition Chronograph PR7003X1
DWATCH Custom Divers: Your Chance To Design Your Own Amphibious Companion
Blancpain top luxury watch among ultra-wealthy

Healthcare.
Why Carrying an Extra 10 Pounds Might Not Hurt

Food.
What’s the Difference Between Jelly, Jam, Marmalade, Preserves, and Fruit Spread?
Foodista Blog - 14 great single-topic blogs
Heirloom and Hyrbid Tomatoes: Ingredients
And the Rice Cooker Goes To...
Pairing Beer and Pastries - Blog - - CHOW
World's 50 best restaurants list released - CNN.com

Starbucks.
Can Starbucks Find a Way to Recycle 4 Billion Cups?

Misc.
Underwater 'safe' protects £5m shipwreck treasures
Long lost Soviet rover discovered on the moon's surface

Environmentalism Updates: Gisele, Wind Farms, Ehrlich, and More

These quotes are allegedly from the first Earth Day circa 1970. And on Paul Ehrlich in particular ... how can anyone take this guy seriously any longer? Bill Buckner and Mitch Williams had to move away and live in obscurity for years for their "sins." But for some reason Ehrlich is still listened to as an authority, almost a religious figure to some.

Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.
-- Paul Ehrlich

By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.
-- Paul Ehrlich

By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’
-- Kenneth Watt, Ecologist

Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.
-- Sen. Gaylord Nelson

Gisele the Environmentalist - John Stossel: "When supermodel Gisele Bundchen was appointed United Nations environmental ambassador last year, she told reporters what inspired her activism. 'I started paying attention to what was happening with the environment when I had a visit to the Xingu area of the Amazon in 2003. I spent a week with an Indian tribe...' Now the environmental ambassador and her husband Tom Brady are building a 20,000 square-foot home with a six-car garage, an elevator and a lagoon. And an elevator - although that contradicts environmental advice Bundchen offers on her Web site: “take the stairs.”"

Book review: Power Hungry - WSJ.com: "So you want to build a wind farm? OK, Mr. Bryce says, to start you'll need 45 times the land mass of a nuclear power station to produce a comparable amount of power; and because you are in the middle of nowhere you'll also need hundreds of miles of high-voltage lines to get the energy to your customers. This 'energy sprawl' of giant turbines and pylons will require far greater amounts of concrete and steel than conventional power plants—figure on anywhere from 870 to 956 cubic feet of concrete per megawatt of electricity and 460 tons of steel (32 times more concrete and 139 times as much steel as a gas-fired plant)."

Were American Indians Really Environmentalists? by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: "The Indians' real record on the environment was actually mixed, and I give the details in my new book, 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask. Among other things, they engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture, destroyed forests and grasslands, and wiped out entire animal populations (on the assumption that animals felled in a hunt would be reanimated in even larger numbers). On the other hand, the Indians often succeeded in being good stewards of the environment – but not in the way people generally suppose."

Additional links:
Earth Day Round-Up ...
Earth Day: Julian Simon, George Carlin, DDT, & More
Dr. Don Boudreaux on Earth Hour
Science: Another Ice Age? - TIME

Today's Quotes: Sowell, Mencken, & Heinlein

All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man.
-- H. L. Mencken,

Looking at history in general, I am simply amazed at how many people just cannot leave other people alone.
-- Thomas Sowell to Walter E. Williams, April 2, 2004

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H.L. Mencken

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
-- Robert Heinlein

Tuesday Grab Bag of Links ...

Architecture. (pic via Luxist)
Beverly Grove, Estate of the Day
For a Mars Explorer, a Solar Studio
Torres House / GLR Arquitectos
Villa Matilija, Estate of the Day
Floating Steel: Bridge-to-Nowhere Cantilever House

Healthcare.
Reassuring the Boiling Frog
ObamaCare Mulligan: Readying Price Controls for Insurance

Animals.
This goat is soooo small — Cute Overload
Charlotte the Siberian Husky - Daily Puppy
Video: More Otters Juggling - Cute Otters
Pictures: Strange Sea Species Found Off Greenland
Checking in with The National Zoo's Leopard Cubs
Meet Einstein, the world's smallest horse who weighs less than a newborn baby

Education.
Fun Facts to Know and Tell
The education debate

Union Shenanigans.
The Big Brown Union Bailout: UPS and the Teamsters vs. FedEx

Style.
Made To Measure Suits Up Jeff Powell
Indochino Buena Vista Linen Suit
Hamilton 1883 – Its A Whole New Old World

Computers.
10 Things You May Not Know About Twitter
HOW TO: Spring Clean Your Twitter Account
A guide to protecting your information on the New Facebook
5 geeky, free Windows programs non-geeks should know about

Photography.
Yushu Earthquake, 12 days later - The Big Picture
Beautiful Pictures of Volcanos - Abduzeedo
Underwater case for a Leica M8 – who’s got $8000 to spare?
ACL Kodachromes Part III - A Continuous Lean

Food.
Milkshakes at Burgerville in the Pacific Northwest
Postcards from Germany: Hiedehof Restaurant
Breville Tea Brewer
Whisk(e)y Your Way
BBC NEWS - Tea 'healthier' drink than water
HTJ's Kitchen - Paccheri with Shrimp & Lentils

Fountain Pens / Writing.
rhodia notebook – a minireview - lady dandelion
Uniball Jetstream Color Series – Orange :: OfficeSupplyGeek
Bic: Artist recreates a masterpiece using a single pen
Paper Mate PhD Ultra Mechanical Pencil Review
25 Inked Moleskine Covers
New and improved Rhodia Webbie 3.0 :: Rhodia Drive

Travel.
DIY sailor launches homemade boat after 30 years
How great things age: Globe-Trotter luggage
Oyster Hotel Reviews (more)

Cars.
2011 Ford Fiesta: First Drive
TLC Icon CJ3B - Gear Patrol
Inside Ferrari's Factory in Maranello, Italy
Simeone Museum Ferrari Demo Day and a very special Ferrari
Citroën Metropolis Concept: First Real Life Photos
2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS Hurls a Value Gauntlet at Toyota Camry, Honda Accord

Gadgets.
EDC Blog
Manix 2 Breakdown - Spyderco Forums
Review: Nomadic CB-01 Wise-Walker Day Pack
BlackBerry Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G hit the web a bit early
Manix 2 Photo Spread - Spyderco Forums

Misc.
Newmark's Door: "How Restaurants Get You Drunk"
Spammers Paying Others to Solve Captchas
68-Year-Old Hawaiian Survives Shark Attack... By Surfing the Shark
“Officialdom’s Apocalyptic Thinking”
The 35 Best Costumes At The 2010 London Marathon

Wristwatch Updates: Bulova, Rolex Deap Sea, Speedmaster, & More!

I've been VERY curious about this Bulova quartz w/ a sweep second hand. Around Basel there was a vague press release and no other info that I could find. More fantastic Patek pics. (pic via Perpetuelle)

The Rolex Deep Sea Special – An Exclusive Report - Perpetuelle: "Yes, that’s right — 35,840 feet deep, or about 11,000 meters — is how deep the Rolex Deep Sea Special has been. That’s the equivalent of almost 7 miles below the surface. In fact it was to the bottom of the deepest part of Ocean — the southern end of the Mariana Trench ..."

The Patek 5170: Charm from the past - Patek Philippe: "Without any doubt, the Patek Chronograph 5170 was one of the stars of the 2010 Basel Fair. Its reference number may suggest it is the successor of the 5070 and it is actually the case because: it is the new handwind chronograph of the brand after all. But can we say so when we compare them? They are so different and moreover, they don't share the same caliber."

Novelties - Luxury Watches, Valued for What’s on the Inside - NYTimes.com: "In the general public, these watches aren’t likely to draw attention the way a jewel-encrusted timepiece might. “If you wear a million-dollar mechanical watch, or even a $40,000 one, in the average room no one will know,” Professor Drèze said. “The watches are actually examples of inconspicuous consumption.” The new materials allow for extremely lightweight components and cases, Mr. Thompson said. “These watches are so light and wispy that when you have them on your wrist, you forget they are there,” he said, speaking of watches from Richard Mille that are made from carbon nanofibers."

TX 530 World Time Airport Lounge Watch Review - aBlogtoRead: "The watch movement is a special German designed proprietary quartz movement for TX. Another nice feature it has is the ability to adjust the date in both directions. So while you have a quartz movement, TX can at least claim it is an in-house quartz movement that no one else can use."

The Bulova Accutron Deep Sea 666: A Movement So Good, It Had To Be Hidden From The Russians - Hodinkee: "Ten years into the life of the original Bulova Accutron came the Deap Sea diver you see here. This is really a great looking and exotic instance of a Bulova. The case is a compressor with inner rotating bezel (thus the dual crowns, both of which are original and signed), the dial is orange, black, and grey, and it's rated to 666 feet."

The Explorer is the only current model in the Rolex portfolio worth buying - The Prodigal Guide: "We’ve coveted an Explorer for years now. What self-respecting watch fan hasn’t? After all, this is perhaps the most important model in Rolex’s back-catalogue, the quintessential Rolex. It has all the ‘tool watch’ qualities without any of the bling."

Interview With Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot - The Watch Lounge: "We were very interested to hear how these exciting partnerships came about and so we decided to go straight to the source. Fortunately for us (and you), Hublot CEO, Mr Jean-Claude Biver, was gracious enough to grant us the opportunity to ask a few questions about these recent announcements and what they mean to Hublot."

The Montblanc boutique Beverly Hills . . . : "was the scene of a pleasant coincidence Saturday. Daos met mrsnak and myself at the vintage Omega store and planned to go out for lunch afterwards, but I had to make a stop at the Montblanc boutique to return the ..."

Additional links:
YouTube - Bulova (baselworld 2010)
A visit to the NYC Patek Boutique...with the new models! (Modem Torcher)
Omega: My Favorite Anniversary Speedy - 35th
INDUSTRY NEWS – RGM Watch – The First American Tourbillon
Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Silicon Escapement
Paneristi: I've met a long-standing fan of Panerai! Mr. SLY TECH himself!
Jaeger-LeCoultre: A JLC watch from last night's Toronto GTG...
GMT 9 - Plus Minus Zero Wrist Watch
HH Journal: "Watchmaking is all I know how to do"
TimeZone: Public Forum: The Master. Be Afraid. Very Afraid ...

Liberty & Govt. At Work: Ron Paul, Charts, Disappearing, & More

The Bankrupting America video is pretty good. Ron Paul's column is a must-read.

Congressman Ron Paul - Socialism vs Corporatism: "Lately many have characterized this administration as socialist, or having strong socialist leanings. I differ with this characterization. This is not to say Mr. Obama believes in free-markets by any means. On the contrary, he has done and said much that demonstrates his fundamental misunderstanding and hostility towards the truly free market. But a closer, honest examination of his policies and actions in office reveals that, much like the previous administration, he is very much a corporatist. This in many ways can be more insidious and worse than being an outright socialist."

CHART OF THE DAY: Your Parents Would Be Stunned At The Taxes You're Paying: "Households across America are spending more on taxes per year than they ever have in history. The inflation adjusted numbers point to a $30,000 growth in household spending, per year, since 1965."

Can you disappear in surveillance Britain? - Times Online: "Back in January last year, David Bond packed a rucksack, kissed his pregnant wife Katie and toddler Ivy, climbed into his Toyota Prius and drove away from home. Nobody knew where he was going – he didn’t even know himself. One thing he was sure about was this: “I’m going to leave my life behind and disappear,” he said."

Taxpayers and the Dodd Bill - WSJ.com: "If the Dodd-Obama resolution plan is ever actually put to use, the direct or indirect costs could be many times greater. For example, the bill authorizes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to borrow from the Treasury 'up to 90 percent of the fair value of assets' of any company the FDIC is resolving. Yet one institution alone—Citigroup—has assets currently valued at about $1.8 trillion. The potential costs of resolving it (not to mention others) would be spectacularly higher than $50 billion. In short, the $50 billion in the resolution fund is a political number—a fraction of what the FDIC is authorized to borrow and spend."

Additional links:
YouTube - Is Washington Bankrupting America?
Why Ruling Coalitions Can Be Surprisingly Small in Corrupt Autocracies

Today's Quotes: Sowell, Paul, Rothbard, & More

More frightening than any particular beliefs or policies is an utter lack of any sense of a need to test those beliefs and policies against hard evidence. Mistakes can be corrected by those who pay attention to facts ... dogmatism will not be corrected by those who are wedded to a vision.
-- Thomas Sowell

The greater the desire to perform humanitarian deeds through legislation, the greater the violence required to achieve it.
-- Ron Paul

It is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost.
-- Murray N. Rothbard

Helping the poor through the government is like feeding the sparrows through cows.
-- Walter Williams

Monday Grab Bag of Links ...

Architecture. (Pic via B-B)
James Robertson House - Pittwater Bay, Australia
Wow Chow: 10 Radical Restaurant, Bistro and Cafe Designs
Hong Kong architect turns shoebox apartment into 24 rooms
Casa Orquidea by Andrés Remy Architects
Office Building with Training Workshop
Benetton Nursery / Alberto Campo Baeza
Habitat 825 - Home
Cozy Home Interior Design in Sandareed, Sweden

Travel.
Hidden France: the Cévennes mountains - The Guardian

Unions.
More Forced Unionization - John Stossel

Gadgets.
PocketToolX - MAKO Bike Tool

Animals.
New Species Discovered in Borneo: Photos : Discovery News
Buddy the dog saves owners home from fire - Telegraph
12 Amazing Stories of Animals Saving Men - Oddee.com

Photography.
Old New York in Colour - Part 1 - Downtown
Leica V-Lux 20 Camera at Sybarites
Earth Day 2010 - a set on Flickr
Awe-inspiring aerial panorama of San Francisco in ruins, 1906…
Scenes From the Night Shift - Opinionator Blog

Computers.
Photographs of Vintage Computers - Photo Essays - TIME

Healthcare.
YouTube - Milton Friedman - Socialized Medicine

History.
Captured: The 65th Anniversary of D-Day on the Normandy Beaches

Watches.
YouTube - Panerai PAM 21
Well…I finally did it …Seiko GS SD in the house and glad too
OceanicTime: AZIMUTH Xtreme-1 Deep Diver (prototype)
Urban Jürgensen & Sønner at Baselworld (more)
TimeZone: Different, different, and well ... different !

Economics.
Kids Prefer Cheese: Why Give It Away? Do They Love Us?
Kids Prefer Cheese: Video on Price Gouging

Food.
The best sandwich ever?
Competition! Design the Haggis beast that roams Scotland

Style.
Delaware Blue Blazer: I wish I was Sailing
Admiral Cod: Office Kit
The Sartorialist: A Single Man, Vintage Photo Contest
An Affordable Wardrobe: Periwinkle
Not Giving Up My Day Job - From The Waist Up
Michael Caine - the impossible cool
Where to find L.A.’s preppy scene - latimes.com

Shoes / Boots.
Sartorially Inclined: Attn: Bass Barret
Alden Ultimate Indy Boots – New and at Two Years
Leffot Blog - The Great White Way

Fountain Pens / Writing.
3x22 – review of my stipula ventidues - lady dandelion
How to pronounce the name "Moleskine"?
Inkyjournal: Visconti Homo Sapiens (stub-nib)
andrea joseph's sketchblog: the world is turning
Why the tech columnist loves fountain pens
Pocket Blonde: Kuretake Bimoji Felt Tip Brush Pen
Sometimes You Need Professional Help - Peaceable Writer

Computers.
The Secret Origin of Windows

NASA.
Nerd Alert - Apollo 11 in HD - A Continuous Lean

Luxury.
Estate Rents for $250,000 a Week
Hilton Maldives Offering Underwater Sleeping

Gadgets.
Lotuff & Clegg English Brief

Misc.
Top Spanish bullfighter gored in Mexico
Lives - Objects of Accumulation - NYTimes.com

Today's Quotes: Murray Rothbard Edition

It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power,
in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society.
-- Murray Rothbard

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized
discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it
is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic
subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
-- Murray Rothbard

There is one good thing about Marx: he was not a Keynesian.
-- Murray Rothbard

On the free market, everyone earns according to his productive value in
satisfying consumer desires. Under statist distribution, everyone earns
in proportion to the amount he can plunder from the producers.
-- Murray Rothbard

It’s true: greed has had a very bad press. I frankly don’t see anything wrong
with greed. I think that the people who are always attacking greed would be
more consistent with their position if they refused their next salary increase.
I don’t see even the most Left-Wing scholar in this country scornfully burning
his salary check. In other words, "greed" simply means that you are trying to
relieve the nature given scarcity that man was born with. Greed will continue
until the Garden of Eden arrives, when everything is superabundant, and we don’t
have to worry about economics at all. We haven’t of course reached that point yet;
we haven’t reached the point where everybody is burning his salary increases,
or salary checks in general.
-- Murray Rothbard

Liberty & Govt. At Work: War Protests, Where Is Cindy Sheehan?, & More

A few questions/comments going forward ...

1. Where are the protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we saw from Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, and others? Where have they been of late? They seem to have gone silent since approx. Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

2. What are the U.S. troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan as of April 2010? I think I remember reading that we are below the peak in Iraq, but have added troops to Afghanistan in the last year?

3. Do we really need to be in either place any more (or at all)?

4. Ron Paul has good advice on Iran.

5. Wasn't Gitmo supposed to have been closed by now?

Sanctioning Iran Is an Act of War by Rep. Ron Paul -- Antiwar.com: "We hear war advocates today on the Floor scare-mongering about reports that in one year Iran will have missiles that can hit the United States. Where have we heard this bombast before? Anyone remember the claims that Iraqi drones were going to fly over the United States and attack us? These 'drones' ended up being pure propaganda – the UN chief weapons inspector concluded in 2004 that there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein had ever developed unpiloted drones for use on enemy targets. Of course by then the propagandists had ..." (more)

U.S. targeted killing: Putting an American on a CIA hit list - latimes.com: "Since when has the fate of an American citizen — his privacy, his liberty, his life — rested solely within the hands of the executive branch of government? Under our Constitution, life, liberty and property cannot be taken from us without due process of law. Due process means very different things in different contexts, but it usually involves judges."

Dellums downplays stimulus funds audit: "Chick's auditors found that Oakland, which has struggled with an 18.3 percent unemployment rate, did not properly account for about $830,000 of the $3 million in stimulus grants it received last year for summer youth, adult and dislocated-worker programs. Auditors found the city arbitrarily used the funds, inflated job numbers and made serious accounting mistakes that made it difficult for them to track how the money was spent. Auditors also rejected the city's contention that some of the funds were properly spent, including $2,806 used to send youths to places that included the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and a Concord water park."

GM Repaid TARP Loans With TARP Money, Republican Senator Says: "(CNSNews.com) – A Republican senator is questioning General Motors’ claim that it has repaid its taxpayer-funded loans in full." (more)

Capitalism vs. Capitalists - Jonah Goldberg: "And that was one of the reasons why the hard socialism of the Soviet Union failed, and it is why the soft socialism of Western Europe is so anemic. At the end of the day, it is entirely natural for humans to work the system — any system — for their own betterment, whatever kind of system that may be. That’s why the black-market economy of the Soviet Union might have in fact been bigger than the official socialist economy. That is why devoted socialists worked the bureaucracy to get the best homes, get their kids into the best schools, and provide their families with the best food, clothes, and amenities they could. Just like people in capitalist countries."

Additional links:
A Reality Check for Neo-Malthusians
This Isn't The End Of The Crisis For Greece, Or For Europe - NPR
Property and Plunder, circa 2010 - The Beacon
Fun Facts to Know and Tell - The Unbroken Window

Is Noam Chomsky A Corporation Loving Capitalist?

Is Noam Chomsky a corporation loving capitalist? It would seem so, at least when it's convenient, and lucrative. (pic via Wiki)

A brief and eye-opening column.

Hoover Digest - Noam Chomsky, Closet Capitalist: "Chomsky favors the estate tax and massive income redistribution—just not the redistribution of his income. No reason to let radical politics get in the way of sound estate planning. ... Chomsky’s business works something like this. He gives speeches on college campuses around the country at $12,000 a pop, often dozens of times a year. Can’t go and hear him in person? No problem: you can go online and download clips from earlier speeches—for a fee. You can hear Chomsky talk for one minute about “Property Rights”; it will cost you 79 cents. You can also buy a CD with clips from previous speeches for $12.99. ... Chomsky’s marketing efforts shortly after September 11 give new meaning to the term war profiteer. In the days after the tragedy, he raised his speaking fee from $9,000 to $12,000 because he was suddenly in greater demand. ... Chomsky has even gone the extra mile to protect the copyright to some of his material by transferring ownership to his children. Profits from those works will thus be taxed at his children’s lower rate. He also extends the length of time that the family is able to hold onto the copyright and protect his intellectual assets. In October 2002, radicals gathered in Philadelphia for a benefit entitled “Noam Chomsky: Media and Democracy.” Sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Democratic Left, for a fee of $15 you could attend the speech and hear the great man ruminate on the evils of capitalism. For another $35, you could attend a post-talk reception and he would speak directly with you."