Thursday, August 26, 2010
War Art: Learning History Through Theater–The Great Game
Friday, August 13, 2010
Cool Stuff: The Peltzman Effect, Spontaneous Order, And The Roundabout
I read this article a couple of days ago, but this little snippet was what stuck in my head. It was cool to see John Stossel build a ‘snow mobile’ out of these ideas, and to learn about Spontaneous Order and the Peltzman Effect. You learn something new all the time, and perhaps some of you out there, or even myself, will build something out of these concepts in the future?
One thing that I would like to add to this article is the ‘roundabout‘. I like the roundabout, because it is the best mixture of channeling traffic efficiently as well as putting more decision making in the minds of drivers. You enter the thing, you are channeled throughout the entire process, and you decide when to turn out. There is also a faster flow of traffic, and less idle time which equates to better fuel usage in those areas that use the system. And according to these guys, they are safer and more efficient. There are some signs for the roundabout, like to indicate it is coming up or to yield to oncoming traffic, but it is not nearly as sign intensive or as confusing as the standard traffic stop in the US or elsewhere. –Matt
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From John Stossel’s Private Industry Does It Better, Page 2
August 5th, 2010
It’s Friedrich Hayek’s “spontaneous” order in action: Instead of sitting at a mechanized light waiting to be told when to go, drivers meet in an intersection and negotiate their way through by making eye contact and gesturing. The secret is that drivers must pay attention to their surroundings — to pedestrians and other cars — rather than just to signs and signals. It demonstrates the “Peltzman Effect” (named after retired University of Chicago economist Sam Peltzman): People tend to behave more recklessly when their sense of safety is increased. By removing signs, lights and barriers, drivers feel less safe, so they drive more carefully. They pay more attention.
In Drachten, Holland, lights and signs were removed from an intersection handling about 30,000 cars a day. Average waiting times dropped from 50 seconds to less than 30 seconds. Accidents dropped from an average of eight per year to just one.
On Kensington High Street in London, after pedestrian railing and other traffic markers were removed, accidents dropped by 44 percent.
“What these signs are doing is treating the driver as if they were an idiot,” says traffic architect Ben Hamilton-Baillie. “If you do so, drivers exhibit no intelligence.”
Story here.
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By Wikipedia
The Peltzman effect is the hypothesized tendency of people to react to a safety regulation by increasing other risky behavior, offsetting some or all of the benefit of the regulation. It is named after Sam Peltzman, a professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
From the foreword of a talk by Peltzman at the American Enterprise Institute:
Sam Peltzman is one of the few economists, and probably the only regulatory economist, to have an effect named after him — the “Peltzman effect.” The Peltzman effect arises when people adjust their behavior to a regulation in ways that counteract the intended effect of the regulation. So, for example, when the government passes a seatbelt law, some drivers may respond by driving less safely. It turns out that the Peltzman effect has widespread application and has spawned, like much of Professor Peltzman’s other work, a veritable cottage industry for economists.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Cool Stuff: Eagle Scout And Secretary Of Defense Gates Speaks At A Jamboree
This is cool. I remember going to AP Hill when I was a young Boy Scout for a Jamboree and it was quite the experience. But we definitely did not have a guy like Secretary Gates speaking at our Jamboree.
So with that said, here is the speech he gave at this year’s Jamboree. It is a fantastic speech and I agree with everything he said. All I have to say is that if you have boys in your family and you are looking for a way to prepare them for life and for being excellent citizens/leaders, I highly recommend the Scouting Program. –Matt
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Boy Scout Jamboree
As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates,
Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia,
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Good morning jamboree! Do you all want to sit down? Thank you Anthony, for that kind introduction.
It is an honor to be with you here today and to have the chance to share a few thoughts about scouting with you. I know how much you enjoy sitting in the sun, so I won’t take too long.
First, as you know, at this moment, there are hundreds of thousands of men and women in our military all over the world – but especially in Iraq and Afghanistan – who are putting their lives on the line to defend you, your families and our freedom. They have put their dreams aside to protect your dreams. Many of them are members of your families. So, would every Scout who has a mom or a dad or a brother or a sister or an uncle or an aunt in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard please stand? That’s what I figured. Please tell your family member from me thank you for their sacrifice – and thank you and your families for supporting them. You can sit down again.
As the introduction made clear, scouting has been a big part of my life and my family’s life. Of course my family’s life – and our kid’s lives – have been a bit unusual, in no small part because I have had armed body guards for so much of my professional career.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cool Stuff: GPal, Inc.
I like it! GPal or Gun Pal is an alternative online payment system that you can use to purchase anything ‘legal’. So if you want to buy a firearm from someone using GPal, you can do that and your account will not be frozen. With the other online payment groups, they are not at all gun or ammo friendly, so GPal is definitely a gun friendly alternative. (for US folks)
The other important tidbit to mention here, is that you don’t have to use it for firearms or ammunition. You can use it just like you use Paypal, to buy all types of things or services ‘that are legal’. As you can see with the name change, they had to make it less specific of a title to symbolize it’s utility. Customers might get the impression that it is purely for gun or ammo purchases, and that is not the case.
Good move and I hope it takes off. I would be curious if any of the readers have signed up for GPal and what their thoughts were about the service? –Matt
Facebook for GPal here.
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HEALDSBURG, CA – May 13, 2010 (For Immediate Release)
GUNPAL, the leader in transaction-neutral online payment processing, is now operating as GPal, Inc. at the website https://www.gpal.net/
In order to appeal to a broader market and offer superior products and services, we are reorganizing under GPal, Inc. Our users will find familiar functionality and feel, secured by our Verisign EV SSL Certificate, the strongest in the world.
Only the name is evolving to better serve our user base and provide a growth path for expansion. All buttons, links and banners will continue to work but will be redirected to gpal.net. Thank you for your support thus far in providing a transaction-neutral payment service.
Sincerely, Ben Cannon
Chairman/CEO
GPal, Inc.
About GPal:
GPal is an online payments and money transfer service that allows you to send money to anyone with an email address in a transaction-neutral environment. GPal has revolutionized the transfer of money in heavily regulated industries and deals with fraud in a unique and very successful way. Accounts at GPal are FDIC insured. The company is expected to expand its offerings internationally in the near future. For more information please visit https://www.gpal.net/ or contact pr@gpal.net
*****
HEALDSBURG, CA – October 29, 2009 (For Immediate Release)
“GUNPAL, Inc. is a transaction-neutral online payments platform with a philanthropic spirit,” announces Founder/CEO Ben Cannon. “It is also the first serious competitor for PayPal Inc.”
A percentage of each transaction is donated to a selected charity at no additional cost to the user. The initial list of organizations includes the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, and the Supercomputing Disease Research Center. Users can also suggest charities for consideration.
An avid supporter of constitutional rights, Cannon created a discrimination-free online payments application, starting with the recognition of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Prohibited by PayPal’s “Acceptable Use Policy”, the $3 billion firearms and accessories industry has adopted GUNPAL as the payments platform of choice. “Firearms can only be sold by licensed dealers. GUNPAL is more convenient than other forms of payment as its comprehensive transaction tracking system is secure and reliable for our audits,” says Mitchel Chapman of WBtactical.com, a licensed firearms dealer.
An estimated one hundred million firearm owners nationwide now have a platform with which they can trade ammunition, scopes, and other accessories securely and hassle-free. As a socially responsible company, GUNPAL directs its firearm buyers to government documentation on current firearm laws and regulations and will provide licensed dealer listings by buyers’ zip codes in a future release. Having dominated the firearms niche, GUNPAL is already targeting other under-served markets with several new projects under way.
With every line of code written in-house, most of the engineering effort has been dedicated to fraud prevention. GUNPAL’s unique anti-fraud and anti-phishing systems take a finer-toothed comb through customer data for maximum privacy and security. Reduced fraud cuts operating costs resulting in lower fees for most common transactions as compared to PAYPAL. Cannon’s first company, GeoVario, LLC, was the natural choice for web-hosting services.
Founded in 2004, GUNPAL is a transaction-neutral online payment system that allows easy transfer of funds to anyone with an email address. Privately funded, GUNPAL has revolutionized the transfer of money with its pro-constitutional voice, unique anti-fraud approach, and philanthropic spirit. The company is expected to expand its services internationally in the near future.