Happy Hour at Reason's DC HQ with Virginia Postrel and FIRE, Tuesday, 1/28!

Please join us to meet columnist and author Virginia Postrel, who will sign copies of her new book, The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion. Postrel is a regular columnist for Bloomberg View as well as a former Reason editor in chief and a current FIRE board member. She's been called "a master D.J. who sequences the latest riffs from the hard sciences, the social sciences, business, and technology, to name only a few sources." Copies of her book will be available for purchase.

We're also giving the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) a big "Welcome to DC!" shout-out as they set up their first-ever satellite office in the district. Come out, enjoy some food and drinks, and join in the fun!

• What: Happy Hour with Virginia Postrel, FIRE, & Reason
• When: Tuesday, January 28th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Where: Reason DC headquarters, 1747 Connecticut Ave. NW (map)

Attendance is free but RSVPs are required. Please let us know if you can make it by filling out our Eventbrite form: http://bit.ly/1dw7Ni1

If you have questions about the event, please contact Cynthia Bell at [e-mail].

We look forward to seeing you!

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Are you sure Postrel wants reason commenters there?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Won't she be too drunk to care?

Kidding!

[Sunmonocle Backwards Tophat]

I was gonna ask if they'd have tequila at this happy hour, but I don't want to imply they're a bunch of drunks or anything.

[JW]

Hey! The Postrel Store called. They're out of something.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Ms Postrel hates us, cause we have potty mouths.

[John]

It is because someone said something bad about her hair. She is such a girl.

[Francisco d Anconia]

TIWTANFL!

[Caleb Turberville]

I guess I side with Postrel that about comment decorum. However, in defense of the commenters that were here on that day, it was a long Reason TV post. As most of us are too busy to actually watch the videos during the day, the comment sections for those posts can be a bit rowdy to let off some steam from the midday boredom.

But to be fair to Gillespie and the folks at ReasonTV, those Mike Rowe and Postrel videos were some of their best work.

[Apatheist ?_??]

drink?

[SIV]

YOU'RE WHY SHE HATES US

[Almanian (yeah, I said it)]

*sign on door*

"No Jerks Allowed"

[Francisco d Anconia]

*hangs head, turns around, leaves*

[C. Anacreon]

FdA, you should be fine. It says no jerk(s) allowed. That means one jerk is fine.

You'll recall this bylaw from the No Homers Club, in which Homer Glumplich is allowed, but they can't have more than one -- so no Homer Simpson.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Jerkstore called, they're all outta YOU!

[Almanian (yeah, I said it)]

In Soviet Russia, jerks allow YOU!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

**laughs at FdA and walks in**

[Francisco d Anconia]

Dick.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

It said "No Jerks Allowed", it didn't say anything about dicks!

[M. Samuels]

We're not jerks. We're crude, unfunny assholes.

Libertarians are...

[JW]

Oh Mary, you're so fucking pathetic.

[Almanian (yeah, I said it)]

We look forward to seeing you!

I'd take you at your word, but I don't think you do look forward to seeing any of us. You just want my check.

But I can't quit you....

*looks longingly into screen until eyes start to hurt and realizes its a screen and not a magazine - also, not wearing reading glasses...shit!*

[Caleb Turberville]

I think she was mostly critical of us for not watching the video. I actually went and bought The Future and It's Enemies not too long ago.

[Dweebston]

Now with extra punctuation?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Warren Miller movies inspire me.

[William of Purple]

Russ Meyer movies inspire me.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Mudhoney may just be the best film ever made.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

OT: Man discovers how to fix San Francisco's class warfare problems: a land tax!

Unlike income taxes, sales taxes, or corporate taxes, the Henry George Tax has no chance of choking off economic activity; after all, the amount of land is fixed, so you can't tax it out of existence. Also, unlike the property taxes we have now, a Henry George Tax actually encourages landlords to build useful, valuable stuff on top of the land they own. Conventional property tax pays people not to build things on their land, since doing so will mean having to pay more tax. But the Henry George Tax?which would replace conventional property taxes?makes buildings and other productive structures tax-free, thus encouraging landowners to build more of them.

And, as Henry George himself pointed out, the tax redistributes wealth from the rich to the poor without punishing rich people for creating wealth. Tax Mark Zuckerberg on his Facebook profits, and you're punishing him for creating Facebook. But tax a San Francisco landlord on the value of the land under her buildings, and you're just canceling out her good luck. It appeals to our principles of fairness.

I like how profiting from investing in property is written off as 'luck'.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Landlords don't create land; a location will be there no matter who collects rent on it. By getting paid just for being in the right place at the right time, he reasoned, landlords suck value out of the productive economy. George suggested that the fair thing to do would be to tax the value of the land?not the structures built on top of it, but only the land itself?and distribute the proceeds to the poor, or use them for infrastructure and other public improvements.

But it was not until a century later that economists realized that the land value tax (or Henry George Tax) was not just fair?it was efficient as well. That discovery came about through the work of two Nobel Prize-winning economists you may have heard of: Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman.

Stiglitz realized that one reason locations have value is because local governments provide "public goods"?things like trains and parks and sewage systems. They showed that if the value of a location comes from public goods, then it makes sense for the city to tax the value of land itself to pay for things like infrastructure. In other words, the people getting the benefit of the public spending that makes a place good to live in should also be the ones paying the costs.

Right, they don't create the land, they just improve it and assume legal and financial responsibility for it. That's a totally not-meaningless distinction to justify theft.

That's a pretty big IF in the bolded section.

[Roger the Shrubber]

In other words, the people getting the benefit of the public spending that makes a place good to live in should also be the ones paying the costs.

Only property owners benefit from public infrastructure?

[cavalier973]

OT:

Ha Ha! Those stupid conservative Protestants and their "defense of traditional marriage"! As it turns out, that passel of hypocrites actually get divorced at much higher rates than non-believers!

Wait, what was that, again?

[steve baker]

Maybe because they get married at an even higher rate than non-whatevers?

[cavalier973]

NO! It's because they believe in an invisible Sky Daddy and so are Stupid!

They don't teach their kids to rut with abandon, and so the kids only get married so they can have sex, and then realize too late that they're not really compatible!

The Progressive States have the right idea: have a string of cohabitation-style relationships until you're sure that you have found someone you can stand for the next several decades!

[Hyperion]

have a string of cohabitation-style relationships until you're sure that you have found someone you can stand for the next several decades!

Out of all the bad things that progressives believe in, I am not convinced at all that this is one of them(bad things).

It's because they believe in an invisible Sky Daddy

Proggies mistake is that they rule out the possibility of invisible Sky Daddy all together, as their own religion, without admitting that it is their own religion, based solely on refutation of the religion of 'the other team'.

SoCons mistake is that they claim to know WHO or WHAT the Sky Daddy is.

[General Butt Naked]

You do realize that a vast majority of liberals believe in god.

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on libertarian being the averred political affiliation of greatest percentage of atheists.

[cavalier973]

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on libertarian being the averred political affiliation of greatest percentage of atheists.

I would agree with you, there.

The "god" of liberals, however, is the FedGov. They have to have a god they can see, and who can exact his punishment temporally, rather than rely on some possible future torment.

[Hyperion]

The "god" of liberals, however, is the FedGov.

This is very true, I've said it a hundred times on this site.

[General Butt Naked]

This is very true, I've said it a hundred times on this site.

Who's the god of right wing religious statists? Is that the real god?

[Hyperion]

Who's the god of right wing religious statists? Is that the real god?

Yes, GBN, the one and only true god. They stole him fair and square from the Jews, you know, who in turn let him be stolen by the Muslims.

[Hyperion]

Maybe.

All I'm saying is that it seems to be a team thing with both the atheist and the true believers(aka, religious folks).

I'm not an atheist. And I'm not religious.

You know why? Knowing what we do today, it is very easy to believe that everything we see today(our universe) was created by a vastly more advanced technology. I don't see how any thinking person can dismiss this idea.

[cavalier973]

I dismiss it...THUS! *kicks book lying on the floor; makes field goal signal as book sails over wife's head into next room*

[cavalier973]

Really, reading between the lines of the study, it's clear to me that the authors' main beef is that Red States don't spend enough on education. They need to raise taxes and make sure that the precious younguns are placed in gov't-approved indoctrination centers.

[Hyperion]

They need to raise taxes

And there you have it, no need to think more about it.

[cavalier973]

So, basically, Progressives get divorced (practically speaking) three or four or more times, just not legally, until they find that special someone that has a lot of money, power and influence that they would be stupid to ever divorce, and this means that said Progressives are successful at marriage.

[lap83]

"Out of all the bad things that progressives believe in, I am not convinced at all that this is one of them(bad things)."

I think the compatibility thing is overrated in marriage. The truth is that you have to be extremely patient and compromising to stay with anyone for long. If you're always thinking "what can this person do for me?", your relationships will never last.

[Hyperion]

I think the compatibility thing is overrated in marriage. The truth is that you have to be extremely patient and compromising to stay with anyone for long. If you're always thinking "what can this person do for me?", your relationships will never last

Yes, I agree, it's a give/take situation. If you can't give as well as take, it probably will not work out.

The real problem is government getting itself involved in this. Their best accomplishment in this regard is taking a miserable situation and turning it into a life ruining disaster. And from that best case scenario, it gets much worse.

[Sunmonocle Backwards Tophat]

You forgot step 2 of the progressive plan: starting a family! Cradling that eight pound bundle of joy, you and your life partner will never regret your "adoption" of little Ginsberg the Boston terrier.

Related question: who has to peel off the stick figure sticker from the SUV when a family member or pet dies?

[Hyperion]

Related question: who has to peel off the stick figure sticker from the SUV when a family member or pet dies?

The undocumented Mexican at the carwash, dude. ($3 wheel shine, $2 family member sticker removal) Jerbz, that's what Murika is all about, you know, FUCK YEAH! Don't forget to tip...

[Sunmonocle Backwards Tophat]

Well, Murika is all about American Jobs ?. And I believe tips only apply to attractive waitresses whose artificial friendliness we misunderstand as flirting.

[General Butt Naked]

Is this an issue that anyone actually cares about?

[cavalier973]

You haven't been hearing the three day (and counting) immodest orgasm coming from the Progressive blogs?

[lap83]

The worst part of this study is, even if it's true that the religious divorce more, how horrible are progressives for celebrating it? Why is it good for ANY segment of the population to divorce at a high rate? Shouldn't this be concerning? Or do they not care about divorce, in and of itself, except where it makes their opponents look bad?

[Hyperion]

You only become a progressive for one reason. The reason is that you are a bitter and miserable wretch who blames all of your misery on someone, something else besides yourself. And the government is the tool by which you avenge yourself of all your grievances, real or imaginary, on all of your enemies, real or imaginary.

[William of Purple]

Yeah this won't escalate rapidly.

[Hyperion]

I have 2 resolutions.

A.(libertarian solution)Immediately declare the islands an independent territory and let the people there decide what they want to do.

B.(statist solution) pizzing contest between 2 countries, the first of which doesn't need more land, and the 2nd which doesn't need more people, until it escalates into a world destroying nuclear holocaust.

Yeah, I know, libertarians are so silly and don't have real solutions to anything.

[Apatheist ?_??]

The islands are uninhabited...

[William of Purple]

So a dude at my gym owns a Subaru Forester. I saw him getting out last weekend, and it's parked there all the time.
Yet he keeps hitting on the hot chicks.

I'm so confused. Is he a lesbian?

[Hyperion]

Hitting on != wiminz score.

I used to get plenty of them with my beat up old 1994 Jeep though, so car is also not necessarily = sex with doable wiminz.

[cavalier973]

Another OT:

The son of my College Advisor (from twenty years ago) is running for Congress in Kentucky.

[Hyperion]

Bolin added that his campaign got a boost from The Progressive Change Campaign Committee

2 out of 3 of our current best congress critters, are from KY.

From the little snippet I just quoted above, this guy is not striving to be the 3rd.

[William of Purple]

Jonathan Banks is the greatest new cast member of Community.

[Calidissident]

MSNBC interrupts congresswoman talking about the NSA for an update on Justin Bieber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH68bSJXGE8

[cavalier973]

You gotta stay relevant, you know.

[lap83]

Why won't the media just let him enjoy retirement?

[William of Purple]

Glamour!?!

[Francisco d Anconia]

The Sex Awards is on Showtime. Shhhh.

[TheZeitgeist]

When is Happy Hour at reason office in LA? Stop holding out.

[Snark Plissken]

Last!

[Francisco d Anconia]

Good fucking point.