We make drugs illegal to save people from themselves, right? Well what about this? How false is my dichotomy if i propose we legalize drugs or depart on the slippery slope of banning or restricting access to anything people are using to get high. Then it’ll be jenkem or bust.

as promised, here is a math problem ogre called me with yesterday.

I you drew a straight line between St Louis and Chicago, through the earth, what would be the maximum height of the earth’s surface above your line?

Put another way, if you dug a perfectly straight tunnel between St Louis and Chicago, and someone dug straight down from the surface to intercept you halfway along, how far would they have to dig?

I have formulated an answer, based on some fairly broad assumptions, all readers feel free to do the same. I feel I should tell to give other folks a chance before chiming in. Possibly respond in email, and I will post his answer with mine in a day or two. Anyone else who wishes to respond in email it’s zaxecivobuny+math@gmail.com with or without the +math.

So. My car broke down on the way to libertarian book club tuesday. Veen was with me, long story short, I owe shelli $140 for the tow he payed for so I could get it to this guy’s house who fixes the cabs.
Yesterday, Mary and I went to pick up the car, and we couldn’t find her phone before we left. oh well, we went with my phone only. I was late with my sprint bill, so they’d shut off outgoing calls and texts, but I could receive calls just fine. We picked up my car, and it broke down when we got about six miles from the guy’s house. Luckily, he called me to check up, then he wound up coming out and towing my car with a tow rope. Long story short(part 2) we left the car with him at his house, and took Mary’s car home. She noticed on the way that her front brakes were GRINDING. not good.
Back at Mary’s house, we turned the place upside down and were unable to find her phone. It HAD to be here, as she and I had both used it from home tuesday night, and not left. This morning I got up and couldn’t find my phone. I called it from jen’s(mary’s roommate) phone a bunch, but didn’t hear it ringing. I checked my voice mail and had THREE NEW MESSAGES FROM MARY’S PHONE. The first two were mostly silence and not very long, but the third was very clearly a conversation between about four ghetto people. So, our phones were stolen. They also stole the $2 from my wallet.
I drove mary’s car to autozone three blocks away and set to work repairing said brakes, her lug nuts were practically rusted on, so long story short(part 3) I got the driver’s side brakes fixed only(they were the ones grinding) and now she needs at least one new lug bolt. Her car is at this time semi-driveable.
also on my voicemail this morning was a message from the repair guy saying that he finished the car, so it’s done(and 20 miles away).
Mary and I now officially have no car or phone between us.

Coming up next, OGRE’S MATH CHALLENGE!!

teflonspyder pointed me t’ward this. Here’s why the author is an asshole.
First of all, experiments in social science are INCREDIBLY difficult to perform. People on either side of the political spectrum must admit that, while the importance of empiricism in selecting social policy can hardly be understated, it is quite tough to control for all the inputs when conducting such experiments. Economies and societies are simply too complicated. I am not saying that conclusive results can not be obtained, but the correlation::causation of dereg::bad economy simply doesn’t jibe.

Moreover, just because companies are clamoring for more regulation doesn’t mean that it is good economics.”People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” Adam Smith, the first economist, said that. The point is, just because businesses want something, doesn’t mean it is in the public’s best interest. The history of business regulation in this country is a detailed story of businesses collaborating to reduce competition(in order to raise prices or profits) or getting explicit permission to sell less or at a higher price. Agriculture offers several frightening examples, and the current state of affairs with sugar in this country is repulsive. You can’t trust businesses if they are trying to get the government on their side. Yes, this may allow for short term gain by some, which brings me to my final point.

Economics is the science of trade-offs. Every time you enforce something new, something is lost. Every time you stop enforcing something, something is lost. The question is whether it is better to allow companies to compete and lead the way with better and/or cheaper products, or to regulate the industry to control their output. I can’t claim to have the numbers to say which is better, I only know what my ideology tells me, and that is that People may not know what is best for them, but they probably have a better idea than some asshole in DC(or LJ) who claims his rules will fix their life.
I prefer the type of freedom where companies can make what they want, and people can buy what they want, and, unless someone willfully hurts someone else, punishment only comes in the form of people not buying what you’re selling.

PS. Economists will put you to sleep with nauseating repeats of the phrase “people respond to incentives,” but here’s another application: If you mete out harsh enough punishment for selling a dangerous product, COMPANIES WILL SPEND MORE ON TESTING BEFORE RELEASING HARMFUL STUFF. Companies, like individuals should always be performing cost-benefit analysis.

But it was too long, so I’m putting it here.

I thought Milton Friedman was the first person to point out the miracle of the pencil. Turns out it was some other guy, Friedman was just a fan.

I, Pencil

so, here’s my ljmindmap:

MindMap

It’s a dell refurbished inspiron 1501. Here are the statistics for people who understand such things. I don’t.
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cut to protect me