Paul M. Jones

Don't listen to the crowd, they say "jump."

Passenger could be asked to give drink samples to TSA

Abolish the TSA.

"The water or or the juices or anything you buy here in the airport, TSA is going to come over and look and check and test it? That's just ridiculous," world traveler Thomas Burgard said.

We asked the TSA about the drink testings and they said, "TSA employees have many layers of security throughout airports. Passengers may be randomly selected for additional screening measures at the checkpoint or in the gate at any time."

Passengers we spoke to also said they think the price of drinks are too expensive. If security is going to test them, it should be before they are purchased, so they do not waste their money.

via Passenger could be asked to give drink samples to TSA | News - Home.



Jersey Shore, Emily Whitehurst, and Merit

So what's the least-bad answer to the "How come Snooki's big and I'm not" challenge?  Probably: "Because the masses aren't good enough for you."  Millions want to watch eight idiots get drunk in a hot tub.  Only tens of thousands want to watch Emily Whitehurst sing.  The market gives people what they want, not what deserves to be wanted.

via Jersey Shore, Emily Whitehurst, and Merit, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty.


Milton Friedman Responds to ObamACAre ... in 1978

"I’m going to talk today about the economics of medical care. This in an area, in which we all know there has been a trend toward ever-greater government involvement. One step in this area inevitably leads to another. We have had an expansion of government involvement in the spending of money – Medicare, Medicaid funds, expenditures by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for other medical purposes have been growing by leaps and bounds. They have gone from a very tiny portion of the total national expenditures on medical care to a substantial portion. If this trend continues, it inevitably leads to completely socialized medicine. I believe that this trend is very much against the interest of patients, physicians, and other health care personnel. And in the brief time I have to today, I want to explain why I believe the trend is so much against their interest, why it has occurred, and what, if anything can be done about it."

Six videos ensue. Great stuff. Via CARPE DIEM: Milton Friedman's Response to Obamacare? The "Economics of Medical Care" from 1978 at Mayo.


The Declaration of Independence, Annotated

The assumption of natural rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence can be summed up by the following proposition:  “first comes rights, then comes government.”  According to this view: (1) the rights of individuals do not originate with any government, but preexist its formation;  (2) The protection of these rights is the first duty of government; and (3) Even after government is formed, these rights provide a standard by which its performance is measured and, in extreme cases, its systemic failure to protect rights -- or its systematice violation of rights -- can justify its alteration or abolition; (4) At least some of these rights are so fundamental that they are “inalienable,” meaning they are so intimately connected to one’s nature as a human being that they cannot be transferred to another even if one consents to do so.  This is powerful stuff.

Really, read the whole thing. Great stuff. Via The Volokh Conspiracy » The Declaration of Independence Annotated.


When Possible, Use File *Resources* Instead Of File *Names*

In testing the Aura.Http package, I have realized that it's much more flexible, testing wise, to pass around file resources (a.k.a. handles, pointers, or streams) than it is to pass around file names. When you do that, you can use a php://memory stream instead of attempting to touch the file system. For example:

<?php
// $this->save('/path/to/file.txt', 'Hello World!');
public function save($file, $data)
{
    file_put_contents($file, $data);
}

The test would have to be something like this

<?php
public function testSave()
{
    $file = '/path/to/file.txt';
    $data = 'Hello World!';
    $this->system_under_test->save($file, $data);
    $this->assertTrue(file_exists($file));
    $actual = file_get_contents($file);
    $this->assertSame($data, $actual);
    unlink($file);
}

All sorts of things can go wrong with that, starting with file permissions. It's also against testing dogma, in that you touch the file system.

However, if you rewrite the method to use a file resource instead of a file name ...

<?php
// $fp = fopen('/path/to/file.txt', 'w+');
// $this->save($fp, 'Hello World!');
public function save($resource, $data)
{
    fwrite($resource, $data);
}

This places control of the file creation in your hands directly, not under the control of the system under test. Then the test looks like this (with a helper method):

<?php
protected function readResource($resource)
{
    rewind($resource);
    $data = null;
    while (! feof($resource)) {
        $data .= fread($resource, 8192);
    }
    return $data;
}

public function testSave()
{
    $fp = fopen('php://memory');
    $data = 'Hello World!';
    $this->system_under_test->save($fp, $data);

    $actual = $this->readResource($fp)
    $this->assertSame($data, $actual);
}

Voila! No more touching the file system.



The Gun Mandate

That being said, there will be some who still don’t want to own a gun. And that’s fine! The government won’t require you to purchase a gun. But if you choose not to purchase a gun--thus leaving yourself more likely to be a victim of crime and necessitating higher police costs, putting a drain on public resources and shirking your responsibility--you will have to pay a penalty or a tax. The IRS will collect it; it’ll just be a line on your 1040. Between $500 and $5,000 a year, depending on how much you make and where you live, should get the job done.

via The Gun Mandate.


Cop Fired for Planting Dope, Says He Did That and More Under Orders

In Crestview, Florida, Police Street Crimes Unit investigator Tim White is out of a job for swiping grass from an evidence locker and planting it at a residence to beef up the grounds for a search warrant application. Even more interesting, he says he did so on orders from a supervisor. And that's just the beginning of the interesting revelations White turned over in a letter to David Cable, mayor of the city of 21,000. In fact, it's that letter that led to his newly unemployed status, and may lead to so much more.

You mean you can't trust the police because of the war on drugs? Via Florida Cop Fired for Planting Dope, Says He Did That and More Under Orders - Hit & Run : Reason.com.


Declaration of Internet Freedom

We believe freedom to be an essential condition of human flourishing and technological progress. We see the Internet (and digital services in general) as the vehicle for the greatest expansion of freedom in human history to date. Yet we recognize that the “Internet” of tomorrow may look nothing like the Internet of today. No one can plan the Internet’s evolution. The best policymakers can do is to respect the following core principles of “Internet Freedom”:

Humility. First, do no harm. ...

Rule of Law. When you must intervene, start small. Regulation and legislation are broad, inflexible, and prone to capture by incumbent firms and entrenched interests. ...

Free Expression. Don’t stifle the free flow of information, compel speech, or hold intermediaries (e.g., ISPs, social networks) responsible for the speech they carry. ...

Innovation. Protect the freedom to innovate and create without government’s permission, provided others’ rights are respected. Don’t block -- or mandate -- new technologies. Don’t punish innovators for their users’ actions.

Broadband. Government is the greatest obstacle to the emergence of fast and affordable broadband networks. Rather than subsidizing yesterday’s networks, free the market to build tomorrow’s. End central planning of spectrum and legal barriers to competition.

Openness. Open systems and networks aren’t always better for consumers. “Closed” systems like the iPhone should be free to compete with more open systems, like Android. ...

Competition. Antitrust is regulation. ...

Privacy. Don’t coerce private companies to disclose consumers’ data. ...

via Declaration of Internet Freedom.


UK Health Care is US Future Under ObamACAre

A young patient who died of dehydration at a leading teaching hospital phoned police from his bed because he was so thirsty, an inquest heard yesterday.

Officers arrived at Kane Gorny's bedside, but were told by nurses that he was in a confused state and were sent away.

The keen footballer and runner, 22, died of dehydration a few hours later.

via Patient dying of thirst rang 999: Inquest hears of mother's fury at nurses who neglected son | Mail Online.