- No surprise at all: economic freedom creates personal happiness.
- One documentarian’s fight against the absurd (and profitable) copyright on “Happy Birthday.” Looks as if she now has some powerful ammo.
- Love it. A rogue Dairy Queen has been going its own way since 1949 (though why it doesn’t just go independent and avoid the franchise fees is a question). (H/T Jim B. in comments)
- As jed noted when he sent this item: good news, but not fast enough. 🙂
- Bovard on how disability law went nuts
- Lessons learned (although probably mostly not learned) from the stupid, lying, inept drug raid that burned Baby BouBou.
- #TenThingsNottoSaytoAWriter” (ever changing Twitter feed). My contributions: “You’re just in it for the money” and “You’re so lucky to be able to sit home all day.” (H/T JB)
Fyi, another crack in the wall;
http://thenewamerican.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c04ec41b5d35ccecc84c13ce6&id=9787b2bd8f&e=fc20a82f6c
Re-ADA: “Congress vastly expanded that definition to include […] people who have significant troubles […] reading, concentrating, thinking and communicating.”
Oh. IOW… Congresscritters.
Re-10 Things:
11. “Those aren’t your words.”
12. “Information wants be free; I don’t have to pay. When does the sequel come out?”
13. [If you’re going to expound upon what a writer really meant, and tell the other guy who disagrees with you that he’s wrong, first check to see if that other guy is the writer. (That one was kinda funny.)]
14…
Can’t read the twitter link from work, but one of those should include any kind of amateur psychoanalysis looking for coded messages.
Any time my mom got hold of anything I’d written, she interpreted it to be some kind of personal insult, either against her or someone else we both knew.
Heh. A few years back, some woman apparently convinced herself that one of my characters was her. And wasn’t happy. I never found out for sure which one she thought was her, but I hope it wasn’t the pissed off, .357-toting lady in “Point of Honor”. [grin]
“Economic Freedom Makes People Happy”
The Top Ten Countries with the Highest Values for Life Satisfaction and Life Control
Life Satisfaction: #2 is Mexico
Life Control: #1 is Mexico
So, all the malcontents have left for the US?
ada and associated “disability” definitions gives us the 30 year old male who is healty and mentally functional but is on ssi for adhd and has never held a job in his life. (my daughters half brother) the rules of welfare mean he has no incentive to even try.
I always thought it was interesting that in the Declaration it’s “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and in the Fifth Amendment it’s “life, liberty, and property.” Abstract v concrete, I suppose.
The lesson we need to learn from BouBou is don’t get mad at the cops, get mad at the governments that pass the laws and write the policies law enforcement follows.
Recently I was travelling, and really got a craving for an Orange Julius. I knew there was a DQ in the next small town, so I pulled in, went inside (stretching) and ordered one.
“We don’t serve those at this location.”
I didn’t quite shoot up the place.
The conference I was attending included a lunch speaker, so we adjourned to “Andy’s Steak and Seafood.” The meal turned out to be a scoop of chicken salad on a fruit plate. Had I been served such any place else and had I not spent the morning anticipating steak/seafood it would have been a pretty good meal.
I can see the corporation’s point.
15: “My life story would make a wonderful book.” (So you ‘write what you know.’)
16: “One of these days I’ll finish reading your book.” (If you can lay it aside in the middle of the story, the book failed.)
17: “Am I a character in your story?” (Not yet* [evil grin])
*Well, except for Claire and Mama Liberty.
About the DQ, I expect the reason they didn’t go full independent is the supply chain.
As for the ADA, I’ve had serious misgivings about that, when I heard about it was being signed by Bush. I thought that it might actually make it harder for the disabled to get jobs. And I was right. The unemployment rate for the Deaf alone before the ADA was just slightly more than 51%, after it climbed above 61%. How is that for incentive? Corporations have armies of Lawyers waiting and able to advise them on how to proceed. They are probably afraid to hire them in fear they won’t be able to get rid o them. Something that’s important to them.
15: “My life story would make a wonderful book.”
LOL! I can’t count the number of times somebody has “offered” to “let” me ghostwrite their autobiography for nothing but a share of the glorious eventual proceeds. The royalties are going to be in the millions because of course all books earn that.
LarryA – really? Want a picture to go with that? LOL I’ll edit for free too.
The disability business has become a real racket. I don’t remember the figures of what percentage really shouldn’t be on disability, but it was both believable and astonishingly high. One could also say that an astonishingly high percentage of people seeking disability who go to physicians have with them, as a coach and mentor, someone who is already on disability. And quite often neither look the least bit impaired.
18. Why don’t you DO something instead of just write?
Rearden Conner, who wrote Shake Hands With the Devil about the Irish Revolution, also wrote an autobiography entitled A Plain Tale From the Bogs. After the Revolution, he moved to England and lived with the homeless for some time and did numerous types of work; he became quite adept at gardening. He won a national level literary prize in the U.S.; he said that he had no idea what it meant at the time. One of his clients was a well-to-do lady whose son spent his time at a desk trying to write something that would be successful. She lamented to Conner the irony that her gardener had become a successful author while her son had not. It’s quite simple, he had put years of effort into it and had intense life experiences.
Very scary passport story, RW.
Just finally read that ADA article. I still stand by my opinion that the ADA is a clusterf*k. This is an issue that has deep meaning to me, so I know what I’m talking about.
i also hate that it made people “invent” more disabilities and end up screwing what I consider the Real Disabled.
It’s so bad that I would advise a Disabled to try doing a small business they can do. Even if they have to do it “underground”.
[Corporations have armies of Lawyers waiting and able to advise them on how to proceed. They are probably afraid to hire them in fear they won’t be able to get rid o them.]
Easy to fire means easy to hire. I guess that doesn’t occur to the SJWs.
But government is full of programs that are alleged to help but actually hurt. The entire government schooling institution is a perfect example. Why should ADA be different?
Government programs are for the benefit of the people in government. There is no mystery to it.
LarryA – really? Want a picture to go with that? LOL I’ll edit for free too.
I think I already showed it to you. The Lemon Tree?
Ma Prescott, who runs Wolfe’s Den.
Was this one in there?
“You’re writing a book? Cool! Send me a copy when it comes out and I’ll read it for you.”
Could be, Larry. The problem is that this old lady just doesn’t remember. I’d love to see it. Would I find it in the TMM Wolfepedia? Is “Wolfe’s Den” still available on line? Seems ages since I saw it.
One of the (dubious) benefits of growing old is that so many things at least seem new, and I get to meet lots of “new” friends. LOL
Well, I do remember The Lemon Tree and I enjoyed it. Needed a little polish at the time I saw it, and perhaps some fleshing out. But a great beginning — whether or not ML and I were featured or not.
Being physically disabled I can tell you that in my experience the ada hurt more than help.
Before the act passed I could get work just about anywhere as the employer knew that if i could not to the job to his satisfaction he could fire me.
After passage employers were afraid to hire me because they would then be stuck with my crippled butt.
With small business owners I could make a gentleman’s agreement that if they did not like my work I would leave with no problems. Corporations on the other hand shunned me, as is their right.
Lemon Tree is yet unpublished, ML. Email to larry@talonsite.com for a copy.
Some companies get extra perks from the government for hiring disabled or “unemployable” employees. Some people make the most of that, others just prove why they were unemployable in the first place.
I’m at such a place now. I’m grateful for the paycheck and the experience I can add to my resume. But it is downright insulting to know that the main reason they hired me was because I filled out the “disabled” spot on their checklist!
Elsewhere on the floor, morale is in the pits, because so many people know they can’t be fired. They steal, lie, get high on their breaks, and then rub it in the faces of the people just trying to work.
It’s no way to run a business.
A good example of what happens to a good cop that won’t keep his mouth shut:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-nypd-abused-citizens-in-the-name-of-data-and-how-one-cop-exposed-it-all/
There’s also a ‘This American Life’ piece on it from a few years back: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent (the piece on NYPD starts at 16:30)