11 Responses to “Diversions calendar, April 11”

1. Everitt says on April 12th, 2008 at 8:07 pm :
   

   Actually, I think it is. If we allow internet gambling, we make something like futarchy possible.Right now, politicians with a variety of vested interests argue the facts of various issues. Is global warming for real, what would actually work to counter terrorism, etc etc. Much of this argument is polluted by lobbyists, who want people to believe something that’s actually false.If, instead, we allowed people to bet on such things, we end up with pretty accurate odds. It’s pretty hard to beat the line on sports bets, or for even professional money managers to do better than the general market. “Wisdom of the crowds” works. Intrade is more accurate than professional pollsters.So we set up markets that let people put their money where their mouths are. Then, even if we don’t change our form of government, we can use those results to make more informed judgments in the voting booth.But it doesn’t work very well with play money, so it can’t happen unless we repeal the internet gambling ban.

2. Magdalen says on April 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pm :
   

   Anything that involves more than one state has federal jurisdiction. How would the states decide to handle things? The whole purpose of the Union was to eliminate conflict between states by resolving issues with conflicting jurisdictions via the central government.By “interstates” are you referring to interstate highways? If so, you should know that the Constitution gave the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce in 1787, while the first interstate highway was built in 1956.

3. Macy says on April 12th, 2008 at 9:48 pm :
   

   I hate upmodding this since it’s submitted by mortgage-foreclosure and it’ll decrease his time-between-posts due to the karma system, but I like suspending the internet gambling ban. Unfortunately, as you can tell from the link to “Ron Paul” in the article being the link to his previous article about Ron Paul (from April 5, 2008) mentioning that he’s dropped out (despite 4 comments mentioning he’s not), the person who runs this site doesn’t actually read the comments.So, obviously the submitter is just spamming reddit (mortgage-foreclosure, please). Reporting.I wish there was an article on a site that has nothing to gain from it that I could submit in it’s place.

4. Tilda says on April 12th, 2008 at 10:38 pm :
   

   Gambling should be handled just like drugs - make it legal everywhere but tax the hell out of it and make the public aware of the societal costs.Honesty and an open market does more than prohibition ever will.

5. Peronel says on April 12th, 2008 at 11:29 pm :
   

   I don’t generally worry about points too much but I’m curious why people are downmodding this one.It’s not crazy talk, there are corporations doing exactly this internally.

6. Davie says on April 13th, 2008 at 12:19 am :
   

   Then you sue them and, since you made it easy for them to contact you to get permission, the judge determines that you were not unreachable. Then normal copyright penalties apply. And don’t call it stealing. It’s copyright infringement.

7. Racheal says on April 13th, 2008 at 1:10 am :
   

   No, what I meant was that, assuming other people think like I do, people are going to use seatbelts because they save your life, not because of some law.

8. Rue says on April 13th, 2008 at 2:01 am :
   

   Gosh I hope this goes through.I have a lot of stock in a few Internet gambling sites. This goes through, the stock will soar!

9. Mat says on April 13th, 2008 at 2:51 am :
   

   …I think it’s very clearly an enforcement issue.

10. Justin says on April 13th, 2008 at 3:42 am :
    

    Bill Stickers is Innocent!