Escape From Pianosa

I just finished The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, which I enjoyed. This was my favorite passage:

“Why do you tend a flock of sheep?”

“Because I like to travel.”

The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza. “When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he’s an old man, he’s going to spend a month in Africa. He never realized that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

“He should have decided to become a shepherd,” the boy said.

“Well, he thought about that, ” the old man said. “But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds.”

Many people seem incredulous when I tell them about the “rubber rooms” that the NYC public school system has set up for its incompetent, dangerous, and sexually predatory teachers that cannot be fired because of the powerful teachers’ union and the onerous firing process. It’s so hard to fire a teacher there that it’s easier to just pay them their salary to sit and do nothing, away from students. Well I shouldn’t say nothing… Labor Pains reports that one of the teachers has been secretly filming a documentary of what goes on:

Garrett’s documentary is called “The Rubber Room”, and its website advertises that “sleeping in a sleeping bag,” “practicing karate on file cabinets,” and “running a small business” all occur within the rubber room’s confines. I’m sure the movie will be both hilarious and depressing.

That sounds nothing like what went on at my government job, although I don’t remember needing a special room. Guess our union wasn’t up to snuff.

What a great idea… just show up at the University and start taking classes. No need to register. Or pay. You get a free education but no credentials.

Hey everyone, I changed the URL of my blog, although everything else is pretty much the same. If you were subscribed to the old feed, then you should be subscribed to the new feed as well. In fact, every post might show up twice in your reader, something that should stop happening in 28 days, once FeedBurner switches permanently to the new feed. Enjoy!

I used to be really pro gun-control, back when I was a card-carrying Democrat. I don’t think I ever put much thought to the issue, except that the idea of everyone walking around with guns seemed frightening. I shot pistols and shotguns and rifles as a kid, but I’ve never had the desire to own one myself.

Anyway, in the wake of the horror at Virginia Tech this past week, I’ve been reading a lot about what people have to say about guns. As a libertarian, I don’t have an issue with a university banning guns on the premises, although I think it’s a bad idea. A no-guns allowed policy doesn’t guarantee a killing spree, but it certainly makes it easier. If you don’t believe me, read about how many similar incidents ended differently because of armed civilian resistance.

What I’ve often heard in response to this week’s violence is a generic call for more gun control. But imagine a world in which owing a firearm was not only illegal, but impossible. Meaning that government enforcement of the law was so efficient (please, use your imagination for this exercise) that nobody was able to find a gun on the black market. Imagine a world where only the police and Mr. Bush have the guns. Does that feel safe to you? It feels like a dictatorship to me.

Come to think of it, that’s exactly how things were, gun-wise, in Orwell’s 1984. They couldn’t have revolted even if they wanted to, for a total lack of firepower.

Now, removing your ‘imagination cap’, we realize that the government is not efficient and that even with all guns outlawed, their would still be a thriving black market. A black market where only criminals, by definition, would purchase firearms. So, in addition to Mr. Bush and the police, you can add criminals to the classes of people owing guns. Does that make you feel safer?

My favorite band of the last few months, The Decemberists, are coming to Merriweather in Columbia, MD on July 14th. I was just lamenting the fact that I missed their last show in March and they’re playing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. I’m not so into live music but I just love their sound (The Decemberists, not the BSO) and I think they will sound fantastic in a live show.

My only question is… am I too old to revive the old tradition of hopping the fence at Merriweather? The tickets are $41 just for the lawn!

Huh? Apparently the state of Arizona doesn’t want Zillow.com competing with its home appraisers:

Since its inception, the popular real estate appraisal website Zillow has been attacked by those in the realty profession, since it has the potential to break up the monopoly that brokers and agents have on real estate information. Now the state of Arizona has issued a cease & deist against the site, because it delivers home price estimates without having appraiser license in the state of Arizona. This is nothing more than a baldfaced attempt to protect members of a certain profession against a new service that might undercut their profits.

I’m not really a fan of Zillow; I don’t believe that their estimates can be trusted. In a free market, I think the appraisers win out–can you imagine a bank saying “oh don’t worry about the appraisal, we’ll just grab the Zestimate!” Well maybe on a government-guaranteed loan…

Still, this is an asinine use of state power and obviously designed to protect a few people with licenses vs. the millions of Arizonans who may purchase homes some day. What’s next? eBay outlawed for competing with local retailers? Gmail banned for competing with the local telephone companies?

I may have told you this weekend with great excitement about a groundbreaking new sitcom that takes places in a terrorist training camp. The terrorists were all named Abdul, and everyone was portrayed as an hapless idiot–a terrorist parody. Edgy but hilarious.

And unfortunately, not real. Turns out it was an April fool’s day hoax from NPR’s On The Media. I’m disappointed, as I was looking forward to the show…