This is the textbook that Regis University used for my Advanced Data-structures class. The author, Larry Nyhoff, provides ample explanation, examples, and code to make the subject palatable. Moreover, he also helps the student (i.e. me) to see patterns where efficiency and simplicity of code merge. However, I didn’t find everything to be sunshine and lollipops, for example I found his pseudocode to be of little value. Nevertheless, it was a better book than most others that I have read on this subject.

-b

Today I listened to the Librivox recording of Anthem by Ayn Rand (1st edition). In it a dystopian future where most traces of individualism have been eradicated from the world and replaced by a heavy-handed collectivism. Anthem is clearly a warning against the aggressive, yeasty, and dangerous nature of forced collectivism (i.e. through the state). Moreover, Rand takes her argument to extremes. The most obvious, and potentially confusing examples are:

• There are very few first person pronouns (i.e. I, me, or myself), instead these are replaced with the plural form (i.e. we, us, ourselves)
• Most second-person pronouns (i.e. you, yourself) are replaced with the third-person plural (i.e. “you” often becomes “they”)
• The names of the characters are stripped of human qualities, for example “equality 7-2521″ is the name of the main character and “liberty 5-3000″ is the name of another major character.

As the book is, to a great extent, written in a sort of “newspeak”, it can get a little confusing, but it does create a convincing dystopia. Moreover, Rand is clever with her style, especially in regard to naming things:

• The (vaguely Maoist sounding) “Great Rebirth” Refers to the time after the collectivist revolution.
• The “Unmentionable Times” Refer to the time before the collectivist revolution

Moreover there are several Cza- er… central “Councils” such as the Council of Eugenics (how people are bred), the Council of Vocations (which decides your, er- ‘our’ job), and the important Council of Scholars where:

“All the great modern inventions come from the Home of the Scholars, such as the newest one, which was found only a hundred years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string; also, how to make glass, which is put in our windows to protect us from the rain”.

This system, and Rand’s critique of collectivism shone through in a particularly telling way at one point when equality 7-2521 is speaking with the Council of Scholars (emphasis added):

Collective 0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled.
“So you think that you have found a new power,” said Collective 0-0009. “Do you think all your brothers think that?”
“No,” we answered.
“What is not thought by all men cannot be true,” said Collective 0-0009.
“You have worked on this alone?” asked International 1-5537.
“Yes,” we answered.
“What is not done collectively cannot be good,” said International 1-5537.
“Many men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new ideas in the past,” said Solidarity 8-1164, “but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all men must.”

And with that, I suggest reading or listening to it.

Cheers
-b

This classic piece of fiction by CS Lewis is clever, funny, and thought provoking.

The other day I listened to Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law” (originally published in 1850) which I downloaded from Free Audio.org. The Law presents a series of compelling arguments for natural rights, liberty, and private property ownership in a manner that should make sense to the common man, politician, novelist, and even theologian. The author of the Wikipedia article; also provides an (almost too) concise distillation of the thesis:

In The Law, Bastiat states that “each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property”. The State is a “substitution of a common force for individual forces” to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one’s right to self-defense in favor of another’s acquired right to plunder.

Bastiat defines two forms of plunder: “stupid greed and false philanthropy”. Stupid greed is “protective tariffs, subsidies, guaranteed profits” and false philanthropy is “guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes, public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works”. Monopolism and Socialism are legalized plunder which Bastiat emphasizes is legal but not legitimate.

The Law is a must read (or listen) for anyone who is interested in a cogent arguments regarding the history, role, and scope of authority that government must play for a society to be free.

-b

Although I already tweeted about this a while ago, I think that in the wake of Chris Dodd supporting Bernanke I think that it is good to reiterate it.

Remember that economist that predicted the economic downturn for like 7 years, you remember, the one that everyone laughed at. Well we all now know that he was right and now he is also running for Senate in Connecticut against Chris Dodd.

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

http://www.schiffforsenate.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schiff

No wai

I was fighting with a JSON implementation today and needed to find out why my JSON wasn’t parsing and http://www.jsonlint.com/ came to the rescue, it’s a good way to quickly validate that you have built properly formatted JSON.

Pictures from last night’s expedition to Children’s:

Congressman Ron Paul’s “End the Fed” is a case against that most enigmatic of government institutions: The Federal Reserve. Although the book is written in English, Congressman Paul nevertheless educates the reader on basic economic history, the conditions leading up to the creation of the Fed, how it operates, and the impacts of, and the possible future of Government meddling in the market. Moreover, the book lives up to its title as Congressman Paul provides the philosophical, Constitutional, economic, and Libertarian case for ending the Federal Reserve. As a Christian I thought his use of Biblical exegesis and sound theological principles throughout the book made the case extremely compelling. If you’ve not read it, I highly suggest going and picking up a copy or obtaining the audiobook.

I’m not a huge fan of John Stuart, but thought that his interview with Congressman Paul on the book was pretty good (and funny too).

This evening on the Jay Leno Show Martha Stuart made a comment about Halloween: “It has nothing to do with Satan, it has to do with witches, but not really Satan”. Personally I disagree with her analysis, but I’m always curious about what others think on such topics – so, what do you think?

-b