Music neither free nor particularly close

Thanks to Alan Hogan (www.alanhogan.com is still under reconstruction), I now can freely admit that I was sucked in by the hype. It turns out Qtrax has not, in fact, signed deals with the four major record labels, but rather has signed a deal with none of them.

So much for my hope for free music.

I didn’t even know he was gay

More Intelligent Life has an article up about the sex diaries of John Maynard Keynes. The article is interesting, even if the author seems a little daft in some of his speculations.

“To buttress my theory that this second tabulated diary records anonymous sex (or attempts at anonymous sex), and not on-going sex with a stable partner, there is another, very puzzling number attached to each quarterly increment. First, Keynes adds up all the three categories of activities—”C” plus “A” plus “W”—and then he attaches a number that doesn’t seem to relate to any of them. These numbers range from 65 to 100. Doesn’t that sound to you like a grade?

Keynes was a young don, barely out of university, so my guess is that he’s grading himself on performance. Most of his grades (if that’s what they are) are in the 70s and 80s. That is, he attained pretty good sex but nothing to write home about. Only rarely does he award himself a grade of 95 or above (no grade-inflation here), but there is a 100 and there’s even one 104. That 104 either disproves my theory or indicates a quarter-term of quite spectacular A+ sex.”

I don’t know any guy who would ever rate the quality of their sex for a month as over 100. I mean, good sex is good sex, but day in day out for a month? And what are the four bonus points for? Extra credit?

As of right now, I think the diary remains pretty well coded.

This makes me feel better about being Veggie

Article in the times about the political and social relationships in a few species of animals.

I’m reminded of the lecture I went to last semester by Dr. Andrew Sih of UCLA who discussed the development of personality in animals (fish, insects, salamanders). I was astounded by the similarities between my friends and the social dynamics of water-striders.  We can learn a lot about our own social structures, forms of communication, and intra personal relationships from the animals we evolved from. I’m interested in seeing more research heading in this direction.

Hookers for Jesus

Probably the only group of evangelicals I’d be interested in talking to.

 Via Sex Drugs and Water Utilities.

FREE (and legal) MUSIC

25,000,000 songs free and legal! (with just a few strings)

Via the Drudge Report, it seems that music industry has realized that it will never be able to defeat P2P sharing, and is now releasing it’s own free music download service. Qtrax it’s called, and the beta version is available for download at midnight EST. Unfortunately, the music will be embedded with Digital Rights Management software, preventing it from playing on your ipod. Supposedly this will allow the Qtrax player to upload to the record companies what songs you’ve played, how frequently, and when.

FINALLY: a great idea. “Give away the music and sell the show” will be the new mantra for the music industry because that’s the only way they’ll be able to make any money. Intellectual property rights are quickly becoming a thing of the past. If you want people to use your software/watch your movie/listen to your music, you have to assume that they will want to change it, play it on their ipod, and give it away to their friends for free. The proliferation of technology has made this easier and as soon as the next version of DRM comes out a new batch of programmers will develop a decoder. The one thing the internet can’t effectively emulate, can’t provide a viable substitute for, is a live show. So that has to be the future of the industry. I predict a few things:

• More interactive concerts. I’m not sure how this will be accomplished, but I feel like the distance between the artists and the fans will quickly shrink.
• More concert venues: There will be more places locally to see concerts. The demand for venues will increase as most bands shift their focus away from writing and towards concerts.
• Less Music: Unfortunately, as bands shift their focus away from recording new music, less music will be recorded. Bands that don’t put on a good show will be unprofitable.

Update: as of now, still can’t download Qtrax…hopefully soon.

Contra Huckabee

It’s not that I hate Mike Huckabee so much as I hate the entire system of thought which he stands for. He is the candidate who best represents the broken political philosophy which has guided the current administration for the past 7 years. While his folksy blend of baptist pastor and good ol’ boy pleasantly reminds most rural Americans of their own quickly fading dreams, his anti-intellectualism and populist economic pandering make him a much better candidate for cable-news-talks-how-host than president.

I truly believe that the Republicans desperate hold on the evangelical vote is destroying the party. Structuring their platform around something so subjective as a religious relationship is destined to end only in failure as the fervent believers realize that they have less in common with their esteemed leader than they originally believed–then they stop drinking the kool-aide.

As political contests stray from intellectual ideological competition towards gladiatorial showmanship my faith in the future of the country circles the drain. Last year I went to a democratic rally because Barack Obama was scheduled to speak, and, while not completely unknown, the country had not yet been gripped by Obamamania. We commented on the local democratic candidates, skeptically placing bets on how many times the word “change” would be uttered that afternoon. We were verbally accosted by a couple of fevered democrats who seemed to be much less interested in policy positions than screaming their hearts out for anyone wearing a blue tie. All because we dared, politely, to discuss the pros and cons of a candidates policy positions at a rally.

Back in 2000 pundits gave George W. a lot of credit for being that candidate “a guy could have a beer with.” THAT IS A BAD REASON TO ELECT A PRESIDENT. The most important role the president plays is to act as a face for the American government. A single representative who faces foreign dignitaries while representing the interests of the United States. A representative who surveys the country for the ailments which congressmen, with their limited scope, fail to see.

Somewhere, something went wrong. At some point people started voting on a candidates amiability rather than their ability to perform the functions of the office. I’m not saying the president should be a standoffish intellectual (see: Gordon Brown), but rather, as a representative of a functioning American democracy, he should exude intelligence and a willingness to innovate.

When the president is meeting with the leaders of Pakistan, Iran, Israel, or Palestine to broker peace while representing the interests of America…Do you really want that man to be a bible-toting, guitar-playing,  evangelical?

Tyler Cowen on Unintended Consequences

Excellent post reacting to Levitt and Dubner in the New York Times.

Those Damn Liberals

There seems to be some confusion in the comments section regarding the term “classical liberal.” Unlike the government loving welfare enthusiasts our commenter so rabidly (perhaps rightfully) attacks, classical liberals (think J. S. Mill’s On Liberty) value laissez-faire capitalism and individual rights.

This loyal reader chastises my last post for a lack of protection for privacy and “arms-bearing.” Privacy I buy. I guess I was assuming “privacy” would be included under the property rights bullet, but, upon reflection, I think that we should establish explicit protection for privacy in terms of telephone calls, emails, and private conversations.

As far as arms-bearing is concerned, I respectfully disagree. I’m very skeptical of the notion that what prevents the government from usurping power and ruling us poor citizens with totalitarian authority are the few guns which an increasingly shrinking percentage of the population own.

Let’s be honest here: if the government wanted to use the whole force of the United States armed services to prevent free speech/protests/voting/gay marriage/abortions, private gun owners would not be able to stop them. Or even come close. I hate to say it, but a revolt against the Orwellian super-government with merely the arms currently owned by citizens in the U.S. would be extremely short-lived.

The “protecting ourselves against the government” argument is absurd. Most of the powers which the government has taken for itself in the past few decades, unfortunately, the people as a majority have supported. I do not think this is right or O.K. But that’s how it works. The Patriot Act passed with loads of support in congress and across the nation as a whole. The people were willing to give up their rights. I would like to see more safeguards against these kinds of actions, but I don’t think that my ability to personally assassinate a senator would have had any affect on this piece of legislation.

The best (and only) way to prevent the government from taking our rights is to elect politicians who won’t. And if they try, raise hell until they stop. Threating violent overthrow will do no one any good because they know they could win.

Besides, I don’t even know how to shoot.

Obama’s Economics Advisor and Megan McArdle

Here.

My Rights

Last post I discussed the constitutional basis for the Roe decision, and promised that I would try to compile a list of individual liberties which I believe should be protected by the constitution (against infringement by both the State and Federal government). All of these only apply to citizens (18 and older, both men and women etc.)

1. Right to private property: This is by far and away the most important. No eminent domain, no estate taxes. This would encompass the third amendment.
2. Right to contract: The government should not have the ability to interfere with consensual contracts between two citizens. This includes marriage.
3. Right to consumption: A citizen should have the right to consume anything he chooses. That includes drugs (of all kinds), cigarettes, alcohol etc.
4. Freedom of speech (with limitations along the lines of the Schenck)
5. Freedom of press (severe libel being the only notable exception)
6. No unreasonable searches or seizures.
7. Right to Due process
8. Equal protection under the laws.

These are rights which I would like to see stronger protection for. Obviously many would disagree with me. It will be interesting for some to note that I don’t have any protection for the right to bear arms. That’s because I’ve decided that owning guns should be illegal.

Being fairly classically liberal, I generally argue against most government action by saying that when a government imposes a law it’s because they think that you (and all of the other citizens) are too stupid to take care of yourself (the nanny-state argument). I think people are too stupid to own guns. Period. People blow themselves, their friends, their spouses, their pets away both on accident and on purpose on an astoundingly regular basis.

I think that here in the United States we have given “gun ownership” a pretty fair trial. But we’ve failed. There are too many deaths and crimes facilitated solely by gun ownership that are easily preventable. I feel like I’m a fairly good judge of character and have a decent understanding for human behavior. As a species we’re too greedy and emotional to handle such powerful instruments of death on an individual basis. For the same reason nuclear weapons shouldn’t be spread around the globe were any maniacal leader can get their hands on them, guns shouldn’t be so widely available that everyone in America should be able to own one.

That turned into a kind of rant on guns which I wasn’t expecting, but so it goes.

Update: A wise (and handsome) commenter has noted that I missed a few important rights. 1) The right to assembly. I’m not sure how I let this one slip by. 2) The right to participate in the government. I guess I just thought this would be implied by the nature of the republic, but it’s a good point nonetheless. 3) (and this is where the old man makes the best point) The right to access the internet. This is by far the most important right which the people of the future will relish. The internet is quickly becoming the most powerful tool for social change, and freedom of communication on the internet is a right the importance of which must not be forgotten.