- More surprises from the most transparent administration in history.
- That DoJ gag order against Reason was even more unreasonable than it seemed.
- Though I gasp at his apparent belief that U.S. cops aren’t hardass enough, Kevin D. Williamson is once again perspicacious. He says we’re seeing “peak leftism.” We can surely hope so, because if the current crop of ranters and banners goes much farther, we’ll end up with full-blown fascism.
- Drug addiction: It isn’t what we’ve been told. (This book by the writer of that article looks like a must read: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.)
- Ah, so impressive. Four percent compliance. That’s how free people do it, baby. 🙂
- What if book authors got paid according to what readers actually read? Some writers are about to find out.
And don’t forget to v*te for The Zelman Partisans!
Authors getting paid for what the reader reads is nonsense.
First of all, it’s nobody’s business what we read, least of all Amazon, the seller – and it will be Amazon who knows how many pages we read, and will make that decision of how much to pay the author.
Secondly, that short-book format will discourage research and thinking on the part of many authors (the article says that journalists are already lining up to have their say in the Who-What-When-Why-How approach); and will encourage readers to read without retaining information (a la TV). Very few writers can combine organization, plot/purpose, or philosophy in a short story or long essay, whether fiction or non-fiction, without turning into all action or all description – and that ends in no substance or no forward movement.
Thirdly, too many people skim a book and reject it before knowing what it’s really about. They lose patience if it isn’t in black-and-white. If the author has something to say he surely wants to get paid for saying it. He has an interest in seeing that the book — short OR long — hangs around long enough to be read and appreciated. Amazon’s policy will not encourage that kind of readership over the long haul.
PPP: This also requires that every Kindle be online, something that a lot of people don’t do; what with the general privacy issues, along with all the times Amazon got caught deleting books from people’s devices. I was given a Kindle a few years back, and I certainly keep wifi turned off.
Addiction: That tends to match my own informal observations, a lot of reading on the subject, and exactly what happens with alcohol consumption in places like the old Soviet Union and — more and more — the US.
When I buy a Kindle book, the first thing I do is strip off the DRM and put it in my Calibre library, from where it’s sent to the Kindle. The original file downloaded from Amazon never touches the device, which would probably keep their pay by the page scheme from working even if I didn’t leave wifi off at all times.
Thanks for that link on addiction. I may actually have use for that information.
One point about noncompliance – it may actually be an underestimate. Just because 4% have registered, does not mean they have registered ALL their “assault weapons”. They may for example, have registered only a gun they shoot a lot, so they wouldn’t be bothered by police on the rifle range.
Excellent point, Paul. In fact, from things I heard back when, I’m certain that several people did just that. And I suspect that’s the majority of the people who registered something.
Here’s a guy looking to get rid of a B*tch.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/girlfriend-says-its-dog—5942578
4% is indeed a good figure. But I am a bit concerned by the statement near the end of the article that a recent poll showed that “62% of voters supported the SAFE Act.” Granted, like many such polls it might be slanted toward achieving the desired result, but it’s still troubling that a large number of New Yorkers have apparently been taken in by the lies of the anti-gun zealots. I’m glad I don’t live there!
As to the Reason Magazine subpoena, to me the most troubling part of this whole sorry episode is the rubber-stamped gag order. Gag orders should be extremely rare events, and judges should take extra care when issuing them, especially in ex parte proceedings (where the recipient has no opportunity to argue against it). It’s pretty clear in this case (Ken White describes it well) that the judge made absolutely no independent investigation into the merits of the request; certainly he issued no “findings of fact” to justify it, but merely regurgitated the text of the statute. That is a clear dereliction of his judicial duties. I doubt that the order would have withstood an appeal, but that takes time (and money) so the order had its intended effect. I think that Reason should file a complaint with the state judicial ethics committee. It probably would do no good, but it would at least raise the issue and place a formal complaint in this judge’s file, which could impede his chances of promotion in the future.
And in addition: cavier-covered Twinkee.
What Paul said. I thought at the time that if I were in that state and if I had any ‘assault weapons’ – which of course I never ever would, because they’re so icky – I could possibly be tempted to go ahead and register one just so I could use it in public. But certainly not more than one.
Laird,
the 62% the article mentions most likely includes more voters from NYC than upstate NY. That is unfortunately the problem we have here: The City votes for all of New York. The only reason Cuomo got reelected was his strong lead in the five counties that make up NYC. Almost all of upstate (and if I remember correct, even one of the Long Island counties) went to Astorino.
One of our conservative radio talk shows dug a little deeper into the stats and it appears that most of the registered AW’s are from police officers (now there’s a bit of irony) and competetive shooters who travel around.
I’ve heard of a lot of AW’s getting “lost”, being “sold” out of state or “falling out of a boat” during a hunting trip 😉 . And judging by the amount of shooting going on out in the country on the weekends, the 8-round-magazine-limit isn’t being followed too closely either 😀 .
Oh, WTF.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/zen-dogs-dog-photos-stress_n_7637044.html
[But I am a bit concerned by the statement near the end of the article that a recent poll showed that “62% of voters supported the SAFE Act.]
Remember, Washington state just got a registration law via ballot measure. It’s normal for the unwashed masses to be ignorant and thus led by the nose. That’s what the Ministry of Propaganda is for. But guess what? It doesn’t matter what they think, any more than it matters what the legiscritters think.
The DoJ’s behavior is just more government overreach with support from a puppet judiciary. It’s so commonplace that it’s hardly an outrage any more. The outrage is that most of us still think it’s too soon to shoot the bastards.
NY’s 4% complliance is pretty similar to CT’s. As intended by law, there is no way to accurately guess the number of subject guns in any state, but CT’s own Office of Legislative Research estimated – before the law passed – that the state could have as many as 500k AR-15s alone out of the list of ‘must register’ weapons. Last I read, they had well under 40k registrations. The magazine registration effort resulted in even less compliance. Yet they keep threatening to confiscate weapons.
I wonder what the compliance rate has been in Washington, or Colorado? And I wonder if these remarkable FAILS of government to control citizens is the reason there has not been much more of these attempts in the commie states?