Saturday 24 December 2011

Link Tank 24/12

Just one more sleep.

"In freedom lies the risk of failure. But in statism lies the certainty of stagnation."

The state steps in to bar voluntary agreements

Why TomTom could be in trouble in Switzerland

In search of Santa

Melbourne bans Twenty20 cricket

Michelle Obama's health drive leads to kids "eating more junk food now than last year."

Why beer deserves the same kind of expertise as wine

Tell your Mum she won't need to be scared of the dentist soon

What's the best wine to complement human flesh?

Super brainy spiders


9 comments:

Manu said...

Good (if that's the right word) set of links this week DP. Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

All the best for Christmas and the New Year. Enjoy the break with your family!
Nil carborundum illegitimus!!
Alan Bates

Anonymous said...

From the 'melbourne ban 20/20 cricket' article:

Cricketers have been banned from playing Twenty20 so as to minimise the risk of injury and property damage.

Boroondara Council says the new rules - which apply even to some league cricket clubs - arose from a risk review of its sports grounds.

It is believed a car window shattered by a soaring ball prompted the ban.


The whole report brings up more questions than answers:

Why on earth was a car in the park adjacent to where people were playing cricket?
Was the car in a carpark?
Was the game being played on a cricket pitch?
Was, indeed, the ball which broke the car window a cricket ball?

Again, we see the march of anti-freedom, risk-averse apparchniks. It is the same argument which created the smoking ban: "The Government is responsible for protecting people from SHS. If it does not, then it can be sued"
Much the same thing as the letter to employers from ASH: "If you allow smoking, you are responsible for adverse health consequences."

All utter crap.

Anonymous said...

As I may not be looking at too many blogs over the festive period, may I take this opportunity to say thank you for an excellent body of thought over this past year, I greatly enjoy, I was going to say DP, but for fear of misunderstanding lets say Mr Puddlecote

It is amongst perhaps two dozen that I look at more or less daily, so thank you and Merry Christmas

Mr A said...

Merry Christmas Dick!! Yours is the first blog I visit (before heading over to Leg Iron's and Frank Davis') and is required daily reading. Keep up the good work in 2012!!

Anonymous said...

Dick,

"The state steps in to bar voluntary agreements" link really is a little more complex than the black/white issue you're suggesting it to be. There is a real risk that children fathered by the same donor might later meet and have children, with all the associated problems of incest. I can see there are arguments for limiting the number of conceptions per donor. However it seems the state is after him for reasons other than this. A plague on all their houses I guess.

Angry Exile said...

Re: the Twenty20 Cricket ban. Quite right too. It should be full test format. If they're not smashing knuckles and breaking windows for at least three days it doesn't seem worth the effort.
;-)

Angry Exile said...

PS (and no need to publish this, DP), oh fuck me, another moderated blog. That troll still around, huh?

Dick Puddlecote said...

AE: I set it up for posts over a certain number of days so I don't miss the comments. :)