You guys probably noticed a new appearance around here. I'm using a new template called Curves in Red by Bryan Buchs. I'll be tweaking font sizes and spacings over the next few days until I'm satisfied with the details. I also changed my blog description from "Adventures of a soldier living with another soldier who spews forth bad ideas about politics, economics, academics, relationships, and religion" to what it is now, because my possible coblogger is a law student and not a soldier.
Also, I'll be going back and retroactively editing my posts to differentiate between my posts and anyone else's posts. I'm thinking of maybe labeling them "Bad Barracks Idea #x" or something like that. Or maybe giving my current roommate some kind of pseudonym. Suggestions/comments are welcome.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Bad Idea #22 - Forgetting that it takes two to agree on a transaction
My roommate is getting rid of all his books, and he asks me if I want to read any of them. I ask about a few, and only one sounded interesting to me. I tell him I'm moderately interested in that one he mentioned, and then forget about the conversation.
The next day, I come back home to the book sitting on my desk. I think, cool, I'll check it out when I have time. The roommate peeks his head out and says
"Hey, it's sitting on your desk. I think you'd enjoy it."
"Cool, thanks."
"But the thing is...it's a textbook so..."
"Oh no worries. I don't have a problem with reading textbooks - I'm kinda a nerd like that."
"No, not that. It's just that it cost a lot, so..."
"Wait did you want me to buy it from you?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Oh well in that case, no, I'm not going to buy a book from you."
So he took it back. And I will probably never get a chance to read it. What a bitch.
The next day, I come back home to the book sitting on my desk. I think, cool, I'll check it out when I have time. The roommate peeks his head out and says
"Hey, it's sitting on your desk. I think you'd enjoy it."
"Cool, thanks."
"But the thing is...it's a textbook so..."
"Oh no worries. I don't have a problem with reading textbooks - I'm kinda a nerd like that."
"No, not that. It's just that it cost a lot, so..."
"Wait did you want me to buy it from you?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Oh well in that case, no, I'm not going to buy a book from you."
So he took it back. And I will probably never get a chance to read it. What a bitch.
My friends have roommates, too.
One of my college buddies (and a former roommate) just started law school in NY. The combination of me running out of material from my own roommate, and the fact that he started complaining about his roommates means that I think he's going to be posting here, too.
I'll have more details to follow, as I figure out how to incorporate new bloggers on this site. I may reformat my old posts so they don't get confusing as to who is talking about who.
I'll have more details to follow, as I figure out how to incorporate new bloggers on this site. I may reformat my old posts so they don't get confusing as to who is talking about who.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Bad Idea #21 - Talking about Star Wars and expecting me not to make fun of him.
21. Talking about Star Wars trivia in my presence and getting offended when I call him out on it.
I was walking the other day, and noticed my roommate's voice was behind me, talking to someone else. He got closer, and I could start making out what he was saying:
Roommate - "What was...Ben Kenobi so impressed with the first time he met Anakin?"
Me (turning around) - "He was impressed with the fact that you're a huge freaking dork."
Roommate's friend - "Hey f--- you!"
And then silence.
Two hours later while we were quietly doing our own thing in our room, my roommate abruptly looked up from a comic book graphic novel to start this conversation-
Roommate - "Hey, you know, I would really appreciate it if you didn't call me a dork in front of other people."
Me - "Fine."
Roommate - "Well, do you think I'm a dork?"
Me - "I think it's ridiculously dorky to talk about Star Wars trivia in public and not expect to get called out on it."
Roommate - "Well I didn't think it was funny."
Great. Now he's easily offended. I wonder what he will think if he discovers this blog. Oh well, I'll deal with it then.
I was walking the other day, and noticed my roommate's voice was behind me, talking to someone else. He got closer, and I could start making out what he was saying:
Roommate - "What was...Ben Kenobi so impressed with the first time he met Anakin?"
Me (turning around) - "He was impressed with the fact that you're a huge freaking dork."
Roommate's friend - "Hey f--- you!"
And then silence.
Two hours later while we were quietly doing our own thing in our room, my roommate abruptly looked up from a comic book graphic novel to start this conversation-
Roommate - "Hey, you know, I would really appreciate it if you didn't call me a dork in front of other people."
Me - "Fine."
Roommate - "Well, do you think I'm a dork?"
Me - "I think it's ridiculously dorky to talk about Star Wars trivia in public and not expect to get called out on it."
Roommate - "Well I didn't think it was funny."
Great. Now he's easily offended. I wonder what he will think if he discovers this blog. Oh well, I'll deal with it then.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Bad Idea #20 - No consensual crime should be illegal.
20. Any action in which nobody is harmed against his own consent, should not be made illegal.
My roommate's worldview is fairly impractical. He believes that no law should make any action where people's freedom to harm themselves should be made illegal. He believes that all drugs, regardless of how they are used, should be made freely available to adults. Basically he doesn't believe that the government should punish us when we make decisions that the government believes is harmful - prostitution, drugs, not wearing seatbelts, and pornography should not be illegal.
He believes that the role of government is to protect each individual from the encroachment of rights by others, not to make things best for society at large. Actually, he's probably never thought it through, and thinks that these two ideas are the same thing. I'm not going to address that problem, though, and instead will focus on how behavior that generally is harmful should be illegal.
His view is simple - if it harms someone that has no choice in the matter, it should be illegal. Unfortunately, his definitions of "harm" and "choice" are poorly conceived. I have given him hypothetical scenarios in which someone does what he believes should be legal, and I explain why it still harms others. He probably has never thought about concepts like Cass Mastern's Spider Web theory, or the butterfly effect, or anything at all about unintended consequences.
This is a pretty standard dialogue between me and him.
Me - "So you think that if a man wants to smoke crack cocaine that should be perfectly legal?"
Him - "Yes. Absolutely, what right does someone have to tell someone else what to do?"
Me - "But don't you think that causes harm to others?"
Him - "No, I don't think so."
Me - "And who will take care of his children? Should his employer be able to collect damages for him not fulfilling his employment contract? Who pays for the task of cleaning up the mess he leaves behind, if his own estate has already been plundered by his drug habit?"
Him - "Uh...I don't know. I'll talk to you about it later."
I've had this conversation about workplace safety as well. I don't believe that profit-minded entities can be trusted to do the right thing and provide for workplace safety in a transparent and fair manner, when it would be easier to maintain the status quo.
The best part was when I got him to say that auctioning off citizen votes in an election should be legal. I led him down that path for a bit and ultimately got him to uncomfortably admit that outright bribery of politicians should be legal. His reasoning was that the rest of society was free to bribe the politician NOT to take the other bribe, if they wanted it enough. But finally he conceded that the stakes were too high and that it would ultimately be bad for a society to allow bribery to take place. Seriously, when someone has to debate and convince you that bribing politicians should be illegal, your ideas are probably terrible.
My roommate's worldview is fairly impractical. He believes that no law should make any action where people's freedom to harm themselves should be made illegal. He believes that all drugs, regardless of how they are used, should be made freely available to adults. Basically he doesn't believe that the government should punish us when we make decisions that the government believes is harmful - prostitution, drugs, not wearing seatbelts, and pornography should not be illegal.
He believes that the role of government is to protect each individual from the encroachment of rights by others, not to make things best for society at large. Actually, he's probably never thought it through, and thinks that these two ideas are the same thing. I'm not going to address that problem, though, and instead will focus on how behavior that generally is harmful should be illegal.
His view is simple - if it harms someone that has no choice in the matter, it should be illegal. Unfortunately, his definitions of "harm" and "choice" are poorly conceived. I have given him hypothetical scenarios in which someone does what he believes should be legal, and I explain why it still harms others. He probably has never thought about concepts like Cass Mastern's Spider Web theory, or the butterfly effect, or anything at all about unintended consequences.
This is a pretty standard dialogue between me and him.
Me - "So you think that if a man wants to smoke crack cocaine that should be perfectly legal?"
Him - "Yes. Absolutely, what right does someone have to tell someone else what to do?"
Me - "But don't you think that causes harm to others?"
Him - "No, I don't think so."
Me - "And who will take care of his children? Should his employer be able to collect damages for him not fulfilling his employment contract? Who pays for the task of cleaning up the mess he leaves behind, if his own estate has already been plundered by his drug habit?"
Him - "Uh...I don't know. I'll talk to you about it later."
I've had this conversation about workplace safety as well. I don't believe that profit-minded entities can be trusted to do the right thing and provide for workplace safety in a transparent and fair manner, when it would be easier to maintain the status quo.
The best part was when I got him to say that auctioning off citizen votes in an election should be legal. I led him down that path for a bit and ultimately got him to uncomfortably admit that outright bribery of politicians should be legal. His reasoning was that the rest of society was free to bribe the politician NOT to take the other bribe, if they wanted it enough. But finally he conceded that the stakes were too high and that it would ultimately be bad for a society to allow bribery to take place. Seriously, when someone has to debate and convince you that bribing politicians should be illegal, your ideas are probably terrible.
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