NONarchist

Concerted and professional bootlegging and piracy is, of course, a different matter – like many PC-centric experiences, Minecraft has had to formulate a response to piracy. Admittedly from a position of already being very successful, Persson has effectively given moral permission to individuals who want to play Minecraft but cannot afford it, responding thus to a Twitter request for a free account: “Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. Also don’t forget to feel bad. ;)” While this attitude is infuriating to major publishers who are selling not just the code but also the disc, the box and the logistical chain that delivers it to the store, and who would like to see all software creators putting up a united front, it makes perfect sense. Small studios – even hugely successful ones – cannot afford to persecute individual malefactors, or direct their time and money in implementing digital rights management (DRM), or employing support staff and PR agencies when the DRM fails and locks out legitimate users. Instead of lamenting immediate sales that would not happen – of game copies or official merchandise – Mojang uses individual bottlegging or crafted products to build cultural awareness. Which leads to growth in awareness and brand capital…

baseballlibertarian:

Self ownership: Where everyone has exclusive ownership of themselves. No one can tell anyone else what they can or can not do to themselves with out it being an act of aggression. People are free to sell their own labor to whom they wish. They are free to do with and what to their own person with…

terrorofexistence:

I see the School referred to all the time on here, and no one really seems to have any fucking clue what they are talking about.

The Austrian School’s main difference between themselves and any other school of economics is due to their foundational…

self-ownership:

Watch these videos if you’re interested in praxeology and Austrian economics. I found them very informative and easy on the eyes.

eltigrechico:

The US is already in a truly major depression and on the edge of financial chaos and a currency meltdown. The sociopaths in government will react by redoubling the pace toward a police state domestically and starting a major war abroad. To me, this is completely predictable. It’s what sociopaths do.

There are seven characteristics I can think of that define a sociopath, although I’m sure the list could be extended.

1. Sociopaths completely lack a conscience or any capacity for real regret about hurting people. Although they pretend the opposite.
2. Sociopaths put their own desires and wants on a totally different level from those of other people. Their wants are incommensurate. They truly believe their ends justify their means. Although they pretend the opposite.
3. Sociopaths consider themselves superior to everyone else, because they aren’t burdened by the emotions and ethics others have – they’re above all that. They’re arrogant. Although they pretend the opposite.
4. Sociopaths never accept the slightest responsibility for anything that goes wrong, even though they’re responsible for almost everything that goes wrong. You’ll never hear a sincere apology from them.
5. Sociopaths have a lopsided notion of property rights. What’s theirs is theirs, and what’s yours is theirs too. They therefore defend currency inflation and taxation as good things.
6. Sociopaths usually pick the wrong target to attack. If they lose their wallet, they kick the dog. If 16 Saudis fly planes into buildings, they attack Afghanistan.
7. Sociopaths traffic in disturbing news, they love to pass on destructive rumors and they’ll falsify information to damage others.

The fact that they’re chronic, extremely convincing and even enthusiastic liars, who often believe their own lies, means they aren’t easy to spot, because normal people naturally assume another person is telling the truth. They rarely have handlebar mustaches or chortle like Snidely Whiplash. Instead, they cultivate a social veneer or a mask of sanity that diverts suspicion.

That moment when you are going to post a great article and LaLiberty beats you to it. Son-of-a-dingbat!

baseballlibertarian:

Another great example why private enterprise is always better than public.

The Supreme Court is going to consider the constitutionality of ObamaCare in the coming weeks, but the government takeover of healthcare didn’t start with the current president, but with Harry Truman decades ago.

We’re told the nation’s health care needs fixed: That the free market isn’t providing for this vital service adequately.  However, America’s healthcare hasn’t been left to the free market since World War II.   The president has promised that more government will make healthcare cheaper and more available.

A comparison of two capitol hill barber shops will shed some light on whether the president has it right.  The Senate and the House of Representatives each have a barbershop for member use.  In 1994, the House barbershop was privatized by Republicans who had taken over control of the House that year for the first time in decades.  The Senate shop has remained a government operation.

Before it was turned into a private enterprise, the House shop employed 16 barbers, each of whom received federal pensions and benefits. Now the shop has three employees, one of which is part-time.

“We’ve gone through a lot of changes, with members going back to their districts on the weekends and fewer customers because of the extra security that the House has put up after 9/11, but we’re all self-employed,” long-time House barber Joe Quattrone says. “Money’s not everything. I love coming to work every day. Would you rather go to a job you hated for $50,000 or one you liked for $40,000?”

The House shop actually turned a profit last year, despite occupying an inferior location in the Rayburn House Office Building, farther from the two adjoining House buildings than is the Senate’s barbershop.

Meanwhile, the Senate Hair Care Services, the formal name for the Senate barbershop, with its 11 employees, required a $300,000 taxpayer bailout to keep its barber pole lighted, despite not having to pay the government a dime in rent.

Having the advantage of government subsidy, one might assume senators pay less for their haircuts and shaves than House members.  Not hardly.  While the Senate barbershop charges $23 for a trim with water but no shampoo and $20 for a shave, the House barbershop charges $17 and $10.

So while many lawmakers are all for having the government take over healthcare and other things that private enterprise can provide better and cheaper, the inefficiency of the Senate barbershop has at least one big government cheerleader wondering.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is no fan of free markets, but says “I would like to know why the Senate barbershop is running its business into the red.”

tumblrspharmacist:

myancientworld:

A collection of some I found the best.

‘Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!’ - Bar/Brothel of Innulus and Papilio

‘Restitutus says: “Restituta, take off your tunic, take off…