I am acting in a movie, here is the trailer!

So I can now add actor to the list of the things I can claim to be besides math geek, software developer, real estate investor, model agent, rock band manager, and nightlife promoter. I am acting in a movie, Looking for Lucid, written and directed by Helen Peros and produced by Cornered Tumbleweed Productions. The trailer just came out, the movie should be ready by the summer of 2010. Here it is:

¿Que Tiene Que Decir La Filosofía Acerca De La Imigración?

Para mis amigos que piensan que la filosofía es algo abstracto que no tiene mucho que decir acerca de nuestras vidas y nuestros problemas cotidianos, aqui les va un artículo que escribió Craig Biddle acerca de la imigración. Es el mejor argumento que he visto hasta ahorita para que se legalize a todo mundo, se abran las fronteras, y eliminen por completo las restricciones a las personas que vienen a trabajar a Estados Unidos. El argumento de Craig Biddle funciona, y ofrece la solución mas sensata, porque es un argumento filosófico basado en el principio de derechos individuales, no en las emociones de los dos partidos que ahorita estan peleando el asunto y ofreciendo soluciones tontas. Léanlo, y pásenlo mas delante, y si les gusta su estilo, vengan a ver a Craig Biddle en su plática gratuita este 21 de Septiembre en el campus de Auraria!!

La filosofía en la que se basa este articulo es el Objetivismo, la filosofía de Ayn Rand. El Objetivismo está a favor la imigración porque está a favor de los derechos individuales como principio político, está a favor de los derechos individuales porque está a favor del egoismo racional como principio ético, y está a favor del egoismo racional porque está a favor de la razón como principio epistemológico. Si les interesa aprender mas acerca del Objetivismo vengan al Club Objetivista del Campus de Auraria, nos reunimos todos los martes de 6 a 7:30!!

An American's Creed, by Dean Alfange

A Brazilian friend of mine had a portion of this quoted in her orkut profile, I really liked it, so I looked it up.  It's an elegant quote, from a more civilized age...

  

An American's Creed, by Dean Alfange:

I do not choose to be a common man
It is my right to be uncommon...
If I can. I seek opportunity... Not security.

I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
Humbled and dulled by having the state to dream and build, to
Fail and succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole.
I prefer the challenges of life to the
Guaranteed existence; the thrill of
Fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a hand out. I will
Never cower before any master nor bend
to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect,
proud, and unafraid; to think and act for
myself; enjoy the benefits of my
creations; and to face the world boldly
and say, "This I have done with my own hand,
I am a man. I am an American".

The new element, Governmentium (Gv)

Check out this press release for a discovery of far reaching implications!!  Thanks to my friend CJ for sending it to me!!

----

The New Element, Governmentium (Gv)

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Dear Abby

Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat.

He has cheated on me from the beginning, and, when I confront him, he denies everything.

What's worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me.

It is so humiliating.

Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn't even looked for a new one.

All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and shoot the bull with his buddies, while I have to work to pay the bills.

Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me, and even hints that I may be a lesbian.

What should I do?

Signed: Clueless



Dear Clueless:

Grow up and dump him. Good grief woman!

You don't need him anymore!

You're a Senator from New York running for President of the United States.

Act like one.

Happy Halloween! Dictator quotes quiz

AND NOW .. HOW ABOUT A LITTLE QUIZ? A little history lesson: If you don't know the answer make your best guess. Answer all the questions before looking at the answers. Who said it?


"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above


2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."

A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above


3) "(We)...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."

A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Jose f Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above


4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own...in order to create this common ground."

A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above


5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."

A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above


6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above











Answers:

(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004
(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007
(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005


Be afraid. Be very, very afraid!

My Annual Rant on Taxes

Every year around tax time I get very annoyed with how the tax code is structured, and every year I post the same rant. If the government is going to continue doing the same dumb things every year, I don't see why I shouldn't continue making the same criticism every year. By the way, this is not around April 15 because I got an extension until October 15, and I just took care of that dirty job last week.

It's not that I don't believe in taxes, I know we have a government which should do some things (way less than what they currently do, but that's a different rant), and that it needs to collect money from people in order to do the things it should do. What annoys me is the wasted time, money, and effort that happens every year because of the way money is collected.

First of all, tax deductions. If everybody just had to pay the same amount or the same percentage with no deductions for anybody on anything, we would all just pay and be done with it. But since tax deductions exist, in order to take advantage of them one needs to become a part time accountant, keeping track of every little expense and car trip. And what for? How does it benefit individuals, the government, or the economy in general to have everybody waste their time keeping track of miles and expenses? But given that the deductions exist we end up wasting our time trying to protect our money from being over taxed.

Second, the complexity. If we had to pay the same amount or the same percentage, the tax forms would be very simple. We wouldn't have to hire tax preparers or accountants just to figure out how much of the money we make we get to keep, and how much tribute congress demands in exchange for the privilege of staying out of the royal dungeons. Our taxes are so complex that there isn't one person in the world who knows all of the tax rules, regulations, and loopholes. It's easier to understand all of general relativity, quantum mechanics, and super string theory than it is to understand the tax code. And why do we need that? Nobody benefits from all of us trying to understand such a monstruosity.

Third, the waste. Because of the complexity of our monster tax system, we have a whole industry dedicated to preparing taxes. There are millions of people who all they do all year long is prepare taxes! What is the economic value added of that? When people make cars, grow plants, write software, make movies, paint portraits, discover laws of nature, etc. they create value, because they bring something new to the economy that wasn't there to begin with, and we all are richer because of that. But when millions of people spend their time deciphering a byzantine code that countless other millions of people spend their time writing, nothing is being produced. That is pure wasted effort! It is like having millions of people making holes on the street, and another set of millions of people covering those holes. If the tax system was simple, we would have no need for the majority of IRS agents, tax auditors, tax lawyers, and accountants. They could move on, and spend their time doing productive work instead of wasting their lives and their talents on something that creates nothing.

Finally, progressive taxes on income. Why should we be taxed on the creation of value? And why should those who create the most value be taxed the most? Whenever you tax something you create a disincentive for that particular something. In Denmark people have a steep car tax, so people tend to have less cars. If you tax productivity, then people will tend to be less productive. When the CEO of a fortune 500 company is deciding whether to spend the 50th hour of the week working vs. relaxing, his effective pay for that 50th hour will influence that decision. If he is heavily taxed he will probably decide to relax instead of work. That choice to relax one extra hour of every week might make the difference between company success and company failure, which would make the difference between economic growth in the region where that company operates and stagnation, and would have a direct impact in the lives of all the employees, customers, suppliers, and vendors to that company. A much better way to get tax revenue would be to tax the destruction of value. So don't tax us when we make the money, tax us when we spend it. That way our incentives to produce and make the economy richer continue at full force, and we just have to pay more for the things we consume. Another benefit of that approach is that we don't have to keep track of taxes, because those selling us things would do that for us.


So what can we do? There is a proposal out there that would have most of the features I want, the fair tax proposal. They want to eliminate income tax, capital gains tax, dividend tax, etc. and make all tax revenue come from a national sales tax. The only potential downside I see to this proposal is if the government decides to implement the national sales tax without getting rid of the income tax. If we can't get the fair tax, at least a flat tax would be much better than what we have now.