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DVD Late-Winter Preview 2008

		Top Specialty Titles • Torchwood: First Season • The Last Emperor (Criterion Collection) • El Cid • Family Guy: Blue Harvest • Dragonlance: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight • Personal Best ›  See all

Did you catch the standout title there?
Nope not Torchwood good as it is.
Much as I'd like to see The Last Emperor, it's not that one either. A couple more down.
Family Guy? sure i'd watch but would I post about it? not really likely is it?

Yeah there it is... Dragonlance.
wow.
Sounds from the amazon reviews that it's pretty budget fare... but as soon as used copies are going for $3 I'm gonna be all over that.
I reread some of the books about 6 years ago... they weren't nearly as good as they had been when I was 14 but...

Yeah. such a blast from the past.
Exciting stuff....
now I just need to figure out how to get my cut if anyone follows those links :P
--
about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters.

food labeling

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/greenview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10563590
I'd love to add at the end of the first paragraph, some about how similar failure to account for future "externalities" also leads to massive national health burdens from unhealthy products.
of course that's not at all what the article is about.... I just decided today that high taxes on fatty/unhealthy/etc food would be a very effective way to get people to eat healthier and simultaneously fund the health care system. I think it's a thought I've had before.
unfortunately the food industry would lobby really really hard to prevent that from happening.
<sigh>

Anyway... ummm my life? I had a really nice bath on sunday. and totally almost went to a concert last night. but if the pizza we had before not getting into the concert had been twice as expensive I probably would have eaten half as much.

--
about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters.

Drug Taxes

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/nyregion/24drugs.html - So New York is considering a Tax on illegal drugs. They don't actually expect anyone to pay it until they are caught when it just becomes an easier way to confiscate funds.

But apparently Illinois (among others) has had something similar for years - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DA153AF934A35752C0A96E948260
Who Knew? (but apparently as of 1996 is no longer being enforced. http://www.revenue.state.il.us/legalinformation/letter/rulings/st/1997/sg970143.pdf )

Doesn't this just get priced into the risk equation in deciding if it's worth it to be a dealer, and if so how much to charge/markup your prices?

At any rate, This guy has got the right idea: 

 

--
about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters.

More Politics stuff

Damn.. it seems that despite my intentions I'm writing more about politics than anything else... hmmm I guess that's what happens when most of my current news viewing to either about the race or coloured by thoughts along the lines on "So why haven't any of the candidates said anything about how we can fix this?"

My favourite was a thought I had last night while watching some BBC news about the newly released UN study on infant mortality: "It's too bad that no one in politics has the courage [even though I probably said "balls"] to step up to the mic and say 'How can we even live with ourselves. We should be doing more to help these people and resolve this inequality." I feel that it's time not just to rethink politics but also to rethink our moral obligations in the world. and that sentiment in no way applies only to the US, but to everyone who isn't struggling to survive.

Now on to the articles I read over lunch:
Hillary and Say's Law - I disagree with the conclusion because it would reinforce inequality, but I do agree with most of the early stuff about "free money" from the government. Tax the "rich" (much more than they currently are) by all means, but use the money to fund infrastructure programs that will benefit the country in the future and stimulate the economy by giving people jobs. Of course I understand that this will not help with the "immediate need" to stimulate the economy but... well I haven't thought it out much.... maybe it's already too late for a quick fix. last point before moving on: last time I checked.. companies (many? most?) had just come out of a period of record earnings, and if so then in theory giving them more resources with which to invest shouldn't have much impact at all.

Obama's Clinton Education - Bah! Makes. me. angry. Seriously that's just dirty pool. Kudos to the Journal for raising it but the broader media establishment needs to take a more active leadership role in clarifying the facts and actually "doing some journalism". Let's get investigative guys.
[Edit] Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so.[/Edit]

Clinton's No. 1 Surrogate Clashes With No. 1 Rival - I've not read this one yet but seem to be similar in to the previous one, but might let Hillary off the hook for the actions of her agents. Oh... Have I mentioned how much I dislike the idea of dynasties in democracies?

And that's enough for now.
One day something interesting is going to happen in my life that will encourage me to post something besides politics and links but... for now just remember that I'm going to meet someone cooler than you tomorrow. And I'll ignore them because they're not worth my time.
--
about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters.

So I really do try not to just post links on here but I feel that this
article is a pretty worthwhile read:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
Change that... It's not a pretty worthwhile read it's a very worthwhile read.

I've been busy posting it around at the various social news sites
etc... here are the things I wrote (yes this really is just my
desperate attempt to not have a post which is just a link... I've
kinda been doing that more than I've been doing real posts recently.
:(

Reddit: http://reddit.com/info/5zp3d/comments/
I just read this (despite parts now feeling a little out of date).
This take on the historical context of American politics was very
interesting as someone who wasn't around for it. Even if you disagree
with Sullivan's conclusion, the issues raised are worth considering.
Highly recomended.

Digg: http://digg.com/politics/Goodbye_to_All_That_3
This take on the historical context of American politics (and the
culture wars) was very interesting as someone who wasn't around for
it. Sullivan reaches the conclusion that Obama is uniquely qualified
to bridge that divide and simultaneously reach out to the rest of the
world. Even if you disagree with Sullivan's conclusion, the issues
raised are worth considering. Highly recommended.

StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
Very good article adressing Americas culture wars, their origins,
context development and the interplay with politics. Sullivan
concludes that Obama has a chance of bridging the divide. Even if you
don't agree with the conclusions of the article it's well worth
reading just for the history and the rarely addressed issues that are
raised.

And just for general interest here's a site
http://www.electoralcompass.com/ (not the one I was looking for) which
might help you figure out who you agree with. Which might be different
than who you like, and might also have nothing to do with how they
would actually behave once in power. After all: damn can't find the
one I wanted. This one is close but most of the campaign ads from
1999/2000 on youtube are edited and spliced with other stuff to make
the videographers point. :( I just want to know what he was saying at
the time. As I say this one is close but is more militairily focused
than the one I found last week. ah well. it almost sounds good when he
says it this way. not as good as the other ad (can you tell I'm
annoyed that I can't find it?) http://youtube.com/watch?v=N3L17PxLytQ

If you want something less automatic:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/elections/us/08/issues/html/republicans.stm
and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/elections/us/08/issues/html/democrats.stm

Have a great day everyone. Now I need to get back to work.

--
There are many mysteries still unsolved. I figure, you know... I'll do
some of that.