Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Time	Event
12:17p	panurge entériné Spanish designer Isabel Mastache introduced these devices at Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week for Fall 2010. Be it prosthetic or protective, their martial fashion vindicates the position of Panurge: Au reguard du hault de chausses, ma grande tante Laurence jadis me disoit, qu’il estoit faict pour la braguette. Je le croy, en pareille induction, que le gentil falot Galen lib. 9. de l’usage de nos membres, dict la teste estre faicte pour les yeulx. —François Rabelais, Tiers livre des faictz et dictz Heroïques du noble Pantagruel, Chapitre 7: « Comment Panurge avoit la pusse en l’aureille, & desista porter sa magnificque braguette. » In what concerneth the breeches, my great-aunt Laurence did long ago tell me, that the breeches were only ordained for the use of the codpiece, and to no other end; which I, upon a no less forcible consequence, give credit to every whit, as well as to the saying of the fine fellow Galen, who in his ninth book, Of the Use and Employment of our Members, allegeth that the head was made for the eyes. —Gargantua and Pantagruel, The Third Book, Chapter VII: “How Panurge had a flea in his ear, and forbore to wear any longer his magnificent codpiece.” Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and Peter Antony Motteux. By parity of reason, the hand was made for the penis, whereby handspan coordinates with phallic girth, and we may rectify them both in one fell swoop. (5 Comments | Comment on this)
5:15p	the poverty of libertarianism A problem for libertarians: Following Aristotle and Aquinas, it is customary to distinguish commutative justice, which deals with the relations that arise between individuals, between individuals and groups, and between groups that comprise any given community, from distributive justice, which deals with the overarching relation of that community as a whole to all of its constituent individuals and groups. ( Read more... ) Some inadvertent long range prognostications: MZ: Suppose that Lefty the hedge fund manager is a compulsive gambler who has been rescued from the brink of ruin by a bunch of wealthy arsehole buddies in the investment banking industry, owing to their government connections. Suppose further that Lefty, bloodied but unbowed, and certainly none the wiser, is continuing to make leveraged bets to the tune of 80% of your government’s budget. Suppose finally that there are some 100,000,000 Righties encumbered with the usual variable rate credit obligations. What does Lefty owe to the Righties at the point of his financial collapse precipitating a global credit crunch? PMJ: I can’t see that Lefty owes the Righties anything. If a credit crunch is a relative unwillingness (compared to the status quo ante) of credit vendors to extend credit at the previous rates, then to consider the occurrence of this a compensatable cost is tantamount to saying that the Righties somehow had a right to the continuance of the credit vendors’ willingness to offer credit at the previous rates, which notion seems to me to be absurd on its face.     It is a commonplace that bad consequences can result from people acting entirely within their rights. Often, A’s coming to terms with B forecloses C’s dearly cherished hope. This is called “bad fortune“. MZ: But if Lefty trades in legal tender, i.e. goods backed by fictitious mortgages upon public properties, his trades perforce manipulate very real mortgages that bind millions of Righties. Such manipulation can warrant commutative compensation even before you decide how you feel about property taxes.     Consider another example: Soros shorting the pound sterling and the ringgit to enrich himself and precipitate economic turmoil in Great Britain and Malaysia.     “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” 29 March—18 April 1999 (1 Comment | Comment on this)

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