Results for “markets in everything”
1878 found

Department of Duh

Justin, a loyal MR reader, writes to me:

Funny
new story
. Near the end it mentions citizen's group that wants to
remove cameras from a highway because, in their words, "It's nothing
but a speed tax".

I liked the opening paragraph of the piece:

A driver has racked up dozens of speeding tickets in photo-radar zones on Phoenix-area freeways while sporting monkey and
giraffe masks, and is fighting every one by claiming the costumes make
it impossible for authorities to prove he was behind the wheel.

Monkey masks I can see.  But giraffe masks?  That's good enough for a markets in everything.  Who, other than this guy, buys a giraffe mask?  And how is this for governmental wisdom?

…It took Arizona state police months to realize the same driver was involved

And the guy's car?

…has black-and-white checkered racing stickers on its sides and a sticker on the windshield that reads "Bucktooth Racin'."

The state now has surveillance photos of him putting on a mask before driving but vonTesmar, the driver, offers up a novel defense:

…[he] said if the Department of Public Safety
does have surveillance photos of him on the road, it proves he's not a
danger to other drivers. If he were, officers would have pulled him
over, he said.

The cameras remain unpopular in Arizona:

Arizonans have used sticky notes, Silly String and even a pickax to sabotage the cameras.

Many
believe the shooting death of speed-enforcement van operator Doug
Georgianni on April 19 on a Phoenix freeway was a result of anger over
the cameras, although authorities haven't made that direct allegation.

Three separate citizens groups are targeting the cameras in initiatives for the 2010 ballot.

As you can see, the local government blogging marathon continues.  Soon I'll offer up some posts on crime.

Assorted links

1. Is Viagra bankrupting Brazilian pensions?

2. The decline of the super-rich.

3. Markets in everything: North Korean restaurant comes to NYC.

4. Brahms Complete Edition, 46 discs for $62.

5. Via Chris Masse, Hal Varian on how the web challenges managers (for the video version click on "launch interactive" and "all videos").  Chris also refers us to the Avatar trailer, which he describes as the best science fiction movie ever.

6. The Singapore model: sign me up too.

Assorted links

1. Via Chris Masse, one account of life as a fashion model.

2. Countercyclical asset of the day: building sheds.

3. Me, on the future of libraries and related matters.

4. NeighborhoodEffects, a blog.

5. How much should blog writers disclose about their personal lives?

6. Old people are less interested in health care reform: the numbers.

7. Markets in everything: de-baptism, done with a hair dryer.

Mobile, Alabama bleg

I'll be there soon and I'll have a free day — maybe even a day and a half — and I'm wondering what to do.  For all the talk about markets in everything, I can't find a good guide book on Alabama.  This worries me only a little.  There is Alabama Off the Beaten Path but first I would like to know the path.  Your suggestions are very much welcome and since they are coming in an intellectual vacuum they will have even more influence than usual.  (Imagine handing Road to Serfdom to a thirteen-year-old.)  What and where does one eat?  I'll also be driving on to a talk in Biloxi, in case you know of anything interesting, or any good food, on the Mobile-Biloxi route.

I am, in fact, very excited to be visiting Mobile for the first time.