Wednesday

Random

Have you downloaded your copy of The Adventures of Beer Man yet? The response has been good so far. Last night, a friend called to say she couldn't get the book to download. "Wow," I thought to myself, "demand for Beer Man is crashing the Amazon servers." It turns out that she was using the wrong password, but hey. At least it turned into another order. Please buy a copy and post a review at Amazon. It ain't no Proust, but it's a fun little book with a lot of drinking facts thrown into the dialogue. If you like beer, you'll like the book. * * * * * * * By the way, are you declining to buy because you don't have a Kindle? I just learned that you can download Kindle to your PC. Here's the link. A friend told me that he downloaded Beer Man this way and is reading it on his PC. Even if you don't want to buy Beer Man (i.e., even if you are queer), you might be able to use the Kindle for PC program to access library books online when that feature becomes available later this year, plus there are all sorts of free and cheap books at Amazon. Consider this a public service announcement (and not just a way to drive more sales of Beer Man). * * * * * * * The man who stole my youth is dead: "Sherwood Schwartz, the prolific television writer and producer best known as the creator of the iconic sitcoms 'Gilligan's Island' and 'The Brady Bunch,' died Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. He was 94." Link. He's survived by his wife of 70 years. I wonder how many 70-year marriages Hollywood can boast. * * * * * * * Precious metals are ticking upward again: Gold hits new high after Fed indicates it might do more QE. Link. * * * * * * * Funny Leno: "President Obama's staff got raises of 8 percent, more than double the average for regular Americans, which is 3 percent. But to be fair, many of them will be unemployed next November." Thing is, the joke reflects a deep reality: In a democracy, rulers have an incentive to rape while the rapin's good. They can't pass their public offices to their children and grandchildren, like monarchs, so they have an extremely short time-preference. This perverse incentive system results in all sorts of problems, from the government level to society in general. That's the central observation of Hoppe's outstanding Democracy, the God that Failed.