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Had a mostly nice quiet weekend, with the exception of my birthday dinner Friday night. I love Shabuway and always have a great time (it's like dinner and a spa treatment all in one!) but trying to hold a conversation with anyone sitting more than one seat away from you is impossible. And because of the nature of the meal vegetarians had to be strictly segregated from the omnivores. There is also the blaring J-pop to deal with. But oh the food is so amazing and the atmosphere is fun...and well boiling your own food and eating it really is far more enjoyable than it might sound. :)

Saturday was costume completion day after meeting up with moonlightnrain and tersa for breakfast. Aelf and I hit a couple of costume shops and I found the perfect wig for Bellatrix, which completes the ensemble. Then we went to the Salvation Army and walked away with some clothing and costume bits. cyranocyrano, if you're still interested in doing Gene Hunt for the party we've found your tie.

Sunday was farmer's market, then off to Qigong class which I'm still very much enjoying. I don't feel like I've mastered anything yet but the chi work we did this time around was just amazing. There's nothing like leaving a class buzzing with energy, but not the hyperactive kind, a well grounded, low-key variety. Then I zoomed up to elo_sf's for Doctor Who, which left me asking just one question...

( Why in the hell did I have to wait through an entire season of dreck to get to the awesomeness of Utopia? )

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Reading this rather effectively raised my blood pressure this morning:

More educated people think more like economists; in fact, more educated people pretty much have more reasonable views across the board. Furthermore, by a happy coincidence, more educated people are more likely to vote. Once my book gets to policy implications, these facts inspire a number of shocking suggestions:

* Stop trying to “get out the vote” - higher turnout reduces voters’ average competence.
* Give college grads extra votes, as Britain did until 1949.
* Require would-be voters to pass a test of economic literacy.

To which Sadly, No! replies:

When he says that voters should be “economically literate,” of course, he means that they should be literate in the economic ideas that he finds valuable. Ignorant populist filth such as Robert Reich and Joe Stiglitz need not apply.
[...]
Does this sort of thinking make me uncontrollably angry? Yes it most certainly does. I’ve done my share of ranting and raving about how gobshite stupid many American voters are, but never in my life have I ever considered a solution that would involve disenfranchising people based on their lack of education. I mean, my God. That an alleged “libertarian” economist would advocate depriving uneducated people of their ability to have a say in how their government operates is disgusting and repugnant beyond all belief. The sort of “freedom” that Caplan advocates is the freedom for educated upper-class and upper-middle-class people to make decisions on behalf of the uneducated poor who, alas, are simply too stupid to know where their interests really lie.

As an educated person who has taken economics and accounting classes in the past, this sort of idea should actually appeal to me; after all, I would stand to benefit from it, and I would have tremendous sway in voting for policies that would make me very wealthy at the expense of others. But because I have this pesky little thing called a “conscience,” I don’t think I could go for it. Others, most notably “libertarian” economists such as Caplan, don’t have that problem. But as my homey Max says, “THEY TEACH THE CHILDREN OF VIRGINIA.” God help us all.

But you really must read some of the comments on the original post:

Why not a plutocracy? Wealth is correlated with IQ. and wealthy have an interest in raising the country’s wealth.

and:

Our Founding Fathers would be appalled to see a marginal to functionally illiterate person entering the voting booth. A viable democracy may not even be possible if the ignorant can cancel out the vote of a more educated individual. And no, I am not advocating elitism.

One of my favorite comments in response on Sadly, No!:
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Jake H. said,

Isn’t this book ultimately against VOTING entirely? If you’re going to pre-select the electorate to support a certain set of policies, why go to the trouble and expense of elections? Just implement the policies and tell everyone to be quiet. And run for cover when V bombs Parliament.

Although this one summed it up slightly better:
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cleek said,

the fucker’s a cockhair away from advocating eugenics.