Self-importance is a prelude to decline. Pride comes before a fall.

An explanation on Google’s associating me with Tyler Cowen: Ben Casnocha. Casnocha has reviewed Cowen and is among that Libertarian camp. He’s also the only person to write about my blog until you did.

Drop me a line if you’re ever down here!

I agree though – it does look very odd.

W

We are still in the age of insidious cross-subsidisation in the online world. Yes the costs of distributing online are lower – but reporters, editors, legal teams, developers and hosting are not free.

I think some of the web giants have got a lot to answer for here, using their dominance in search to control the flow of other people’s intellectual property. It also gives everyone the impression that online everything is and should be free. This fiction needs to be addressed you don’t get owt for nowt.

The BBC may be funded by a tax – but at least its a business model.

Savile Row is a magical name in tailoring, as you already know, and aggressive and ambitious young chaps, not content with their ever-growing client books, crave greater exclusivity not only for brand prestige but also greater profit margins. The whole point about grabbing some lower-ground floor space on the Row is to steal some of the sparkling ‘fairy-dust’ from the likes of Henry Poole, Huntsman and Gieves & Hawkes and sprinkle it over a suit made in Shanghai.

The reason why the old tailoring hands are angry is not just because their famous talents and reputations are being used to sell items of, lets face it, an inferior standard but because the whole basis for Savile Row bespoke tailoring is that a) it is English tailoring b) it is completed on the premises. If the old hands like Huntsman and Anderson & Sheppard were merely a front for the business i.e. they’d never cut a square of cloth in their lives and actually sent their suits off to be made by a few Ukrainian seamstresses in Barnet, they’d have to keep quiet.

They sell Product A and charge price X.

The cowboys sell Product B and represent it as Product A in order to charge price X when really they should be selling it at price Y.

What I was trying to get at was the notion of an unknowing death – where you have no idea that you are going to die in the short term. Two examples of ‘unknowing’ may be standing next to the bomb on a train, or being poisoned in one’s sleep. My question is: if I think I am going to wake up tomorrow, and go to bed happy, what does it matter (to me) if I do not? I think Galen Strawson is arguing that it doesn’t – that the future forgone – the unseen tomorrow – was never mine to own, and so I cannot mourn its loss to me.

I would also be interested to know if people naturally over-estimate the calorie count in the food they consume. Perhaps people have been ‘nicely surprised’ to learn of the calorie count in their choices under the new regime.

‘Wow…a burger is only 912 calories not 1100 – I can probably super-size on my fries or get a pie!’

Furthermore, if the calorie counts are not directly displayed against any kind of recommended daily intake (it doesn’t look like they are http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/2432190538_6b68c37629.jpg) people will not easily make a fully informed assessment of their meal choices. Of course, they should know that an adult male should stick to around 2500 calories a day, but at the point of choice this is easily forgotten or ignored without that prompt.

If this law is to nudge in the right direction, this prompt is vital.

And even then, how to keep track? You might forget the sneaky kit kat you had at tea-time, blowing your daily allowance. Perhaps people will start using smartphones or other personal devices to keep a daily or weekly running total! If there aren’t any apps out there for this, I’m Col. Sanders…

The interview was certainly one of the most entertaining and amusing parts of the experience!

Indeed, using a new Amex Platinum and going through quidco.com would earn you almost 10 points on a holiday booked with expedia.co.uk or ebookers.com

“he” is correct.

You haven’t shown my summary of Rand’s axiom is a straw man (nor have I shown it isn’t – it’s a summary, after all). It may well be that the only life Ayn Rand cared about was her own, but that clearly is not part of the argument in that essay, which is all I’m talking about. I hence stand by my claim that she’s being inconsistent.

The way he word is usually used, happiness has a lot to do with quality of life, but she uses it in a very special meaning in that essay which I have a funny feeling you have not read recently.

You seem to have completely misread the last bit you quote. I said, or meant to say, that I could not have an opinion on Rand’s body of work precisely because I wouldn’t read any of her other stuff – the reason being that I’m trying to allocate my time rationally, which means I will not read texts which I have to guess on the basis of experience will not yield a lot of utility for me.

To me that is an introductory university interview question, which should be followed up with questions aimed at the analysis of what kind of goods with positive externalities will be supplied more than others.

http://www.newstatesman.com/2008/05/india-caste-manual-dry-work

He was also involved in this (not brilliant but educational) film:

http://www.eden.co.uk/shop/indias-hidden-slavery-dvd-1098600.html

The premiere of which I went to, which was also attended by Claire Short and disgraced former MP turned christian and prison rights campaigner Jonathan Aitken.

And if you’d like to help educate some untouchables, why not support:

daliteducation.org

Time to make a difference. Microfinancing has shown to work (if managed properly ;-) )

Peter