Trey Givens
A Blog about a Hero
Harry Reid (D – Nevada): Income Tax is Voluntary!
Mar 9th
Check out the rationalization behind this madness!
Hat tip: Blue Owl
I Hope You’re Sitting Down, I Hope in a Restaurant
Mar 9th
I realize there are people who never tire of bossing other people around and minding other people’s business, but I am of the opinion that such people should be kept far from me or any other sane person if not simply flogged and set on fire. And yet, YET, they continue to be elected to public office.
The Center for Consumer Freedom: New York Considers Legislation to Ban Salt in Restaurants
Not content with just trying to tax soft drinks, New York’s nanny-state politicians are also considering legislation to prohibit the use of salt in the preparation of restaurant food. Assemblyman Felix Ortiz introduced this absurdist bill on March 5. Ortiz is one of New York’s more strident food cops, having already introduced strict restaurant menu labeling proposals in the past. He is also following in the steps of fellow food nanny Mayor Michael Bloomberg who went so far as to compare salt to carcinogenic asbestos.
The Blue Owl likes when I tell you he sent me something, so please take note that this story was sent to me by the Blue Owl.
Take note: this bill isn’t simply about allowing restaurants to put salt on the table, but prohibits the use of salt in the preparation of food. There is absolutely no way that this bill can pass.
Salt is a critical element in the preparation of innumerable recipes. It’s used EVERYWHERE. When I make ice-cream, I even use salt. It helps with the chemistry of the custards. It is a natural preservative and it’s one of the ways a number of people get iodine in their diet. (Iodine is essential to thyroid health.) Salt can, in some cases, be used to reduce cooking time. I imagine some things simply cannot be made without salt.
Even though there’s no way this can pass (today) it’s outrageous to me that anyone would even propose it. Aside from being absurd, it’s such a clear invasion of our personal rights that anyone claiming to support our rights as such must be guilty of rationalization on a spectacular scale. It’s preposterous, fantastic, ridiculous, outrageous, and ludicrous. And yet, here Mr. Felix Ortiz is suggesting it to us with a straight face.
“I’m Chiquita Banana and I’ve Come to Say…”
Mar 9th
“Bananas have to ripen in a certain way!
When they’re flecked with brown and have a golden hue
bananas taste the best and are the best for you!”
I love the Chiquita Banana song.
Anywhoodles, the point of this post is really just to tell you about Chiquita Banana’s latest campaign/rebrand. They engaged CP+B in Colorado for the project and Art Director, DJ Neff, drove the refresh with new, fun stickers as the cornerstone of the effort.
![chiquita-banana-redesign-sticker-set[1]](http://treygivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/chiquita-banana-redesign-sticker-set1-300x227.jpg "chiquita-banana-redesign-sticker-set[1]")
I’ve run into these stickers in my Google Reader feed a lot lately and shared them about 25% of the time because I think they’re super-fun and cool. They manage to be playful and edgy and by maintaining the classic CB colors retain a clear connection to the brand.
So, basically, I love these stickers and wanted to share. I so rarely actually talk about marketing and advertising on this blog. I really should make more of an effort to do that…
Update: OH! And I forgot to direct you to this interview with DJ Neff about the project, which was the whole reason I mentioned his name up above in the first place. Anyway, check it out. Pretty interesting stuff.
I am Together and Wise
Mar 8th
I found this quiz over at Gus Van Horn’s place, who got it here.
You Are Together and Wise
You have a broad, mature outlook on life. You know that there are ups and downs, and you feel like you can weather them.You feel like you can’t depend on anyone but yourself in this world. You feel quite alone sometimes.
You feel exhausted about your past and those you have loved. It’s been a long, hard road.
You succeed by tapping into your reserves. You have an extraordinary amount of energy and endurance.
While you’re over there, check out Gus’s comments under the heading of “Wrong Metric” which discusses how people look at and measure the growth of a political movement. The interesting part to me is his comments regarding political parties outside of the main two.
Re-Making Fetch Happen
Mar 8th
Peikoff #102
Mar 7th
Number 102 is up in time to distract me from the endless Oscar updates on Twitter!
- Should the husband of a female pilot rational for being jealous of the men who get to spend so much time with his lady because she’s out of town so much?
- What does the expression “the Devil is in the details” mean? Is it true?
- Should a 21 year old suffer in order to become more independent after a life of being spoiled by his parents?
Tax Refunds as Income
Mar 7th
I’m working on my taxes a little this evening and I just got to the part where I have to declare my previous year’s refunds as income.
Let me get this straight: in the previous year, the government taxed me in excess of what it should and the process of returning that interest-free loan to me is regarded as income on the current year?
I can’t claim surprise because I believe this has been the case for some time and also we’re talking about the IRS, which isn’t a paragon of rationality or anything. It’s just such an obvious swindle that I’m simply outraged by it.
Financial Evasion and Disintegration
Mar 7th
Ugh. I’ve been avoiding looking at my credit card bills. Every week, I send money to my credit card accounts in excess of the minimum payment, but every week I also seem to spend a little more than the amount I paid plus the interest on the remaining balance. Of course, I wasn’t utterly ignorant of the total balance, but I chose not to look at it because I knew it was bad news and I really didn’t feel like trying to come up with a solution. Yup, I was evading my credit cards.
Last January, February, and March were not pleasant times for me as I struggled to pay off my credit cards. I was successful at it, but I did it in a way that just was not sustainable. Flash forward to this January, February, March in which I’ve managed to drive my credit card balance up to more than TWICE the total it was a year ago when I went on my push to pay them off.
When I think about the sum of money that I’ve paid toward credit cards in the last 12 months, I am absolutely gob-smacked.
Had I practiced a bit more restraint, nay, rationality with regard to my finances, the question of doing fun things like going on vacation, vacations like OCON, would not be a challenge at all.
I think the problem is that I really haven’t integrated “money” into my life properly.
I grew up with very little money. I don’t want to get into details about it because I think my mother would probably not appreciate that being out on the internets for the world to see. Just suffice it to say that we didn’t have a lot of money in our household. My mother was a financial wizard with what we had, though, and she made it work.
My father is an absolute nutcase about money. In his mind, houses should not cost more than $50,000 and you should pay for them in cash all at once. It’s like he got his ideas about the price of things from 1948, which is before he was even born, and just stopped checking in on things. While I agree that prices would be lower if we’d maintained the gold standard, we didn’t do that and prices have risen with the amount of fiat money on the market. This is just the context we live in.
Somehow, amid all of that crazy, I somehow got the idea that there are really only two approaches to one’s finances: spend like there is no tomorrow or scrimp and save like you hate life itself. And the lesson I’m only just now waking up to is the fact that both of these approaches lead to misery and death. And that is not fun at all.
So, although I have a zillion dollars in credit card debt again, I am going to attempt a much more reasoned approach to my money. First, I’m putting myself on a tight monthly budget. That will allow me to increase my credit card payments each week. (I pay my credit cards weekly because my credit card companies shifted the payment cycles around so that if I pay monthly, there are periods when my monthly payment is late.)
When something comes up that I want very badly, I will weigh it carefully and, if it still seems like a very good thing, then I’ll buy it. For the time being, that means buying with my credit cards, but eventually, it will mean buying things with cash.
The idea here is that I need to develop a stronger sense of my financial self, my position, my budget. And I need to work within the bounds of that context in order to achieve happiness in my life. I wouldn’t behave as if I can block bullets and stop trains with my bare hands, would I? So, why behave with my money as if I’m a cuter version of Donald Trump?
So, anyway, I’m doing that. It’s boring and unfun to talk about, but them’s the breaks. Onward and upward!
What Do I Think of Trans-Folk?
Mar 7th
A reader wrote me an email asking me about transsexuality. Apparently, he has a friend who is in the process of transitioning to male and he isn’t quite sure what to make of it. This is what I wrote back to him:
Hi, there!
First, thanks for reading my blogs. I always appreciate hearing from my readers and I am pleased that the airing of my thoughts has interested you.
Regarding transgendered people, I actually don’t have a lot to say. Before I get into what I do have to say about it, one of my online friends is an transgendered Objectivist and you might also check out her blog and try to get her perspective on it as well. http://raemeg.net/ Unfortunately, she’s not terribly prolific.
I think trans-folk are in a very tough spot. For me, who I am is linked very tightly with my physical being including the fact that I am male and have all the bait and tackle that comes with being male. For trans-people, though, there is a disjunction between their mental identity and their physical identity. It’s important to note that this dismorphia does not necessarily extend to sexuality. Some men become women and are then lesbians. It’s primarily an issue with their personal views of their own gender.
I could not even begin to speculate about the causes of transsexuality and I am not qualified to remark on that even if I could imagine something that could lead to that. It just strikes me as an extremely difficult situation to have on your hands. Life is challenging enough without having inner turmoil like that simmering in your skull.
Morally, I see no grounds for any sort of evaluation at all. Like homosexuality, I don’t believe anyone really consciously chooses to be transgendered, although I suppose it’s possible that some really spectacularly ill people only pretend to be transgendered, like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. That just says you have to evaluate each transsexual person as an individual just as you would anyone else. But by and large, I regard it as just another way people sometimes are and those who have to confront the question certainly don’t need me trying to dictate the goings on of their minds and psychology.
I think it is perfectly normal for you to be surprised upon encountering transsexuality first-hand simply because it is so alien to everything you know. I don’t know him, but I think your friend would likely welcome your curiosity on the matter as you seek to understand this new aspect of reality. He is probably asking himself a lot of the same questions and might want to talk it through with someone. It couldn’t possibly help for you to pretend as if you do understand it when you don’t. And it REALLY wouldn’t help for you to freak out and act as if this really has any direct impact on your own life. But curiosity is justified. Just try to be tactful and sensitive if you do inquire. And, maybe, you can offer him some insight into how guys do things.
In closing, I would offer a tip on courtesy regarding trans-folk: you should always refer to them by their personally identified gender. If your friend is transitioning to male, you should start referring to him as “he” and “him” and never more as “she” or “her.” It will likely be a little confusing for you at first, but it won’t be nearly as confusing as it has been for him trying to get to this point.
I hope this helps!
-3
Comments, particularly from Rachel, are most welcome here. What other advice or insight would you offer?
Update: A note on terminology for those unfamilar:
Transsexual = Someone who wants to physically change sexes. These are people who internally identify as the other gender from what their physical body is.
Transvestite = Someone who cross-dresses. This does NOT mean they are necessarily transsexual or any sort of gay. This term is actually somewhat antiquated because people tend to use “transgender” instead, because…
Transgender = A term which subsumes both transsexuals and transvestites. That just makes things easier.
In Which I Cave to Peer Pressure
Mar 6th
*SIGH*
Everyone else is doing it, so I am, too. Ask me anything! I might even answer.
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