Moonlapse

http://www.reason.tv/video/show/683.html

They were 'police actions' by the UN/NATO consistent with a policy of foreign interventionism.

Our school system does exactly what it was designed to do.

This makes my stomach hurt from laughing:

I'm sure that one morning he'll wake up to see his yard dug up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

If you can find it, I'd recommend a dry mead/honey wine. That and pinot (grigio and noir) are my favorite types of wine.

Happy birthday

Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt This is the most outstanding and lucid introduction to economics that I know of.

Second Level of Hell You have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind bellows as the sea does in a tempest. This is the realm where the lustful spend eternity. Here, sinners are blown around endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. The infernal hurricane that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine, whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. You have betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and so here you are doomed to remain. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are two that share in your fate. Booya!

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php?semesterid=2009-B There's a few new courses in there, weee Oxford http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ has podcast from Bryan Ward-Perkins on the Fall of the Roman Empire: http://rss.oucs.ox.ac.uk/oxitems/generater...estination=poau Stanford http://itunes.stanford.edu/rss.html has lectures on Hannibal, Virgil's Aeneid, and Historical Jesus: http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.w...372.01374259374 http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.w...057.01292339062 http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.w...182.01291405187 Dr. Steve Brule More Dr. Steve Brule

Gotta love guys, right? Speaking for myself, I'm almost completely romantically indifferent to women unless they're sharp, confident, and passionate about something. Even if they're a 'knockout.'

Happy birthday!

"Wait a minute, what if I hold the sword like this? Does my hair look ok?"

Here's some more for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-duqsCFXxc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyJfHU4GoOQ&fmt=22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ovoPCZSQw Music starts about 4 minutes into that last one, and it gets very strange.

There's nothing as tasty as malted horsehaunch with a little cajun kick. Whoa.... -- Nephele

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine Sweet lord. This is a fucking punch in the head compared to Flying Dog's Horn Dog Barleywine. Horn dog is sweet and malty, this stuff is more like a strong bock. Then again its 15% alcohol. There's definitely more hops and it has a somewhat bitter and citrusy taste underneath the noticeable alcohol, but not enough to outdo the barley. Each sip warms the full length of your gullet and in no time, you'll try to stand up and nearly crash through the coffee table. Break out the black light, its time to trip out. 1.618 The music really starts at 2:17

Personally, I think this is a good overview of fascism: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html

Ok, those are very vague and general. If a central government bank or a banking cartel has a monopoly on legal tender and the supply of it, is that considered 'capitalist'? If the government gives to certain people the type of special privileges that have been historically considered fraud, is that 'capitalist'? If a government uses its monopoly of the use of force to confiscate money and determine its distribution and its specific uses, is that considered 'capitalist'? If the government is considered to have the duty and power to control the economy in such a way that ensures prosperity, is that considered 'capitalist'? In my opinion we haven't had capitalism, except perhaps something close to it around the turn of the 19th century in America. After that, we had turned towards mercantilism, which has been increasingly incorporated with aspects of both fascism and socialism over the past century. If you define capitalism in the context of fascist/socialist-mercantilism, then you end up with endless definitions of what capitalism actually is. The word can describe almost anything to anyone and be used for any purpose.

I'm curious to know everyone's definition of capitalism.

As you said, it actually isn't capitalism, but I wouldn't call it managerialism.

Good question. I would tend to think that it's not unlikely. I mean, the legionaries were serving as executioners, there's no reason to think that they were in the practice of fetching nice clean sponges in order to give dying criminals a drink. One of the common causes of death during crucifixion was dehydration, so requests for something to drink must have been quite frequent.

Somewhat relevant to the topic: Inflation and the Fall of the Roman Empire

Rates: When Zero Is Way Too High I believe the article is mistaken on a lot of things but, they are correct about increasing credit expansion in order to prevent the onset of recession. In fact, the rate has to increase exponentially. However, that can't happen indefinitely. A deep recession cannot be avoided, only postponed and exacerbated.The Theoretical Explanation of the Process of Stagflation (according to Austrian school economics - Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, etc): I believe we have experienced A, are now experiencing B, and are heading into C. Meaning we are trying to indefinitely postpone the consequences of the previous boom with an even larger and ever accelerating monetary boom. In fact, the last boom was the postponement of the 'dot-com' bust. This doesn't hinge on nominal percentage rates of interest though, there are multitudes of ways to initiate credit expansion. BTW, these are the six microeconomic reversion effects (apply it to the housing market during the boom):1. The rise in the price of the original means of production.2. The subsequent rise in the price of consumer goods.3. The substantial relative increase in the accounting profits of the companies from the stages closest to final consumption.4. The "Ricardo Effect." (inflation pushing down the real value of wages, causing an incentive to use labor instead of capital goods and intermediate products)5. The increase in the loan rate of interest. Rates even exceed pre credit-expansion levels.6. The appearance of accounting losses in companies operating in the stages relatively more distant from consumption: the inevitable advent of the crisis.

I think he was horrible, but I consider him only slightly worse than most other presidents.