Fox News reports that Mike Nifong could get jail time as a result of his actions in the Duke rape case scandal. I for one would push for jail time in this instance for many reasons.
For starters, he nearly ruined the lives of those he sought to prosecute and cost their families millions of dollars in legal fees. He lied, withheld evidence and interfered with the administration of justice. He brought shame and dishonor to the legal profession. As a consequence, Nifong was disbarred. I’m unsure as to whether there is a good chance of Nifong serving jail time, but given the egregious nature of the case and the national attention it received there is definitely a larger chance that North Carolina will seek to make an example out of this disgraceful man.
Over at the Freakonomics blog is a mention of a book by Cornell economics professor Robert Frank entitled The Economic Naturalist. The book is a compilation real-world economics questions along with answers. Here is one of the interesting questions along with answer:
Why do fast food places promise a free meal if you aren’t given a receipt at the time of purchase?
To deter theft, owners of restaurants and other retail establishments require cashiers to reconcile the total amount of cash collected during their shift with the total volume of sales rung up at their register … One way cashiers can circumvent this control is by neglecting to ring up a proportion of their transactions … Thus if a cashier failed to ring up a customer’s $20 meal, he or she could pocket the $20 without creating an accounting discrepancy … By offering a complimentary meal to anyone who fails to receive a receipt, owners provide an economic incentive for customers to monitor cashiers for free.
I was totally unaware that some fast food places will give a free meal if you don’t get a receipt. I also think it’s cool that this economic incentive actually works.
Jim Sinclair has written a short summary of the history of technical analysis (TA) of stocks and the stock market. What he describes is basically that only very few people in the brokerage houses used TA in the mid 20th century, but with the advent of the internet, TA has become widely accepted. Here’s a snippet from the beginning of the article: Continue reading ‘The Evolution of Technical Analysis’
The Polish PM recently said at the opening of the EU Summit, “If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million.”
The brashness and brazenness of that statement made me laugh out loud. Yes, it’s probably a true statement. Yes, the Germans were a bunch of Jew-killing Nazis back then. But this sort of statement is not going to solve any problems. It’s a case of severe whining. Instead of pointing out the obvious, Poland’s PM needs to get on with life and make do with the population he has right now.
This is a good article about Congressman Ron Paul in The American Conservative. I feel like Ron Paul has better principles than any of the other Republicans out there. He is also much more principled than any other lawmaker out there (hence the “Ron Paul exception” which the article mentions). He’s right on nearly every issue, but my main beef with him is his stance on foreign policy. Continue reading ‘The Exception of Ron Paul’
Last week I read an article entitled “How the Reagan Administration Taught Iran the Wrong Lessons.” I feel like I learned a lot about the U.S.’s dealings with Iran in the 80s and I was greatly saddened by what went on, especially so because this happened under Reagan. Our dealings with what the administration deemed to be “moderates” during the hostage situations and the constant reneging of promises are proof enough to me that Iran does not deserve anyone’s trust. Continue reading ‘Capitulation, Gullibility, Incompetence’
Here’s a little article I never thought I would see: “Hurray For High Gas Prices!” It’s written by Freakonomics co-author Stephen Levitt and it draws attention to some of the negative externalities associated with driving. The three he discusses are increases in driving congestion, the possibility of crashing and contributions to global warming.
At the moment I wouldn’t mind if the tax on gas were to double. I do not doubt that it would take more people off the roads which would mean less idiots with which I must deal.
I’ve been on forced hiatus ever since my domain name, adustylife.com, expired and someone snatched it up. Now I’m back as Yes and Not Yes, a phrase I took from my Con Law professor at Mercer University’s Law School. I can’t really explain the concept as well as he can, but suffice it to say that words have meaning and there is no absolute “truth.” We think we are speaking words, but the words actually speaking us. My professor was a very Zen kind of person, but I took his words to heart and here I am blogging again under a more appropriate caption I suppose.
I’ve worked hard on setting up the blog again and designing what you see here right now. I hope you enjoy.
