"Stop enabling the excesses of the rich and famous"

[longeyes]

My point was only that moral virtue--what a concept--is inseparable from the free market capitalism we all say we respect and admire as an engine of liberty.  Adam Smith knew that, and so did the Founders.    

Obviously, I didn't intend to confuse basic political advocacy with the kind of revolving-door lobbying we're seeing in the incestuous goings-on currently on display in the Solyndra, LightSquared, and Siga cases, to cite just a few and just those from this admin.

What to make of Kim K?  The conniving vamp is a classic character in the human drama.  In days of yore she'd have had to make it to the court to gain fame and wealth as an enterprising courtesan; today it just takes YouTube and some viral marketing.  We have a new category these days: EveryWhore.  Her worst sin may be that she just wastes lots of valuable time better spent on more productive activities.

[MicroBalrog]

Enjoying myself is quite productive.

[KD5NRH]

Enjoying myself is quite productive.

Maybe, but enjoying someone else's self is a lot more fun.

[Jamie B]

Enjoying myself is quite productive.

Does this require your right hand, or the left?

[MicroBalrog]

Maybe, but enjoying someone else's self is a lot more fun.

A cost-effectiveness analysis is also important here.

[Perd Hapley]

Enjoying myself is quite productive.

How do you figure?

[MicroBalrog]

How do you figure?

How do I figure what? That producing pleasures and entertainment (clay pigeon shooting, snowboarding, poetry, pornography, hot tubs, private boats) is a productive activity from an economic standpoint? From a free-market economic standpoint there's zero difference between producing one type of luxury and another. Yes, technically I suppose poets and pornographers are not "productive" because the things they produce have only a subjective value and they hardly prolong the human lifespan or create physical goods or whatnot. But they make people happier - which is why people pay them to keep doing it.

[KD5NRH]

A cost-effectiveness analysis is also important here.

$1 in the jukebox seems to be the best value if you can serenade properly.

Depending on the venue, my best results generally came from:

• I Can Love You Like That - John Michael Montgomery preferred,[1] but All4One works just fine too.
• I Swear - JMM version has an edge here
• You Look So Good in Love - George Strait has a lot of good ones, though this one's a bit specific to getting your now-otherwise-involved ex to come back for a booty call[2]
• Let's Fall to Pieces Together - George strikes again. Great if you know she's not quite to the "easy rebound" stage yet.
• Fly Me to the Moon - Sinatra just works. Gotta do it right, but it works.
• About 75% of Harry Connick Jr. songs - see Sinatra.
• Can't Help Falling in Love - Lead-pipe cinch if you can sing it like Julio Iglesias, but the Elvis version is acceptable if done well

FWIW, JMM's The Grundy County Auction Incident actually worked once, but that kind of "breaking the rules" is an advanced technique.

Of course, SCA events and renfaires don't usually have jukeboxes, so you'll need to work on songs like Red is the Rose to get your sleeping bag properly warmed on those cold nights.

[1] The bridge can be a bit tricky.  The key is to be good enough to not have to do it; you can't kiss and sing at the same time, and you've got more than half the song to work on earning that opportunity.
[2] Not at her wedding, guys.  That's just tacky.  Serious stud points if you pull it off, but still tacky.

EDIT TO ADD: Now that's thread drift. Legit political topic -> Kim Kardashian -> Nude pics of Barbara Eden -> Economics -> Masturbation -> Serenading for fun and...well...lots more fun

[longeyes]

How do I figure what? That producing pleasures and entertainment (clay pigeon shooting, snowboarding, poetry, pornography, hot tubs, private boats) is a productive activity from an economic standpoint? From a free-market economic standpoint there's zero difference between producing one type of luxury and another. Yes, technically I suppose poets and pornographers are not "productive" because the things they produce have only a subjective value and they hardly prolong the human lifespan or create physical goods or whatnot. But they make people happier - which is why people pay them to keep doing it.

You don't start with hot tubs and pornography, you have to earn your way to fun and leisure.  Don't tell us that the people of Israel haven't learned that long, long ago.

No one is arguing that pleasure is bad, only that putting pleasure first and building your society on pleasure is a form of infantilism that does not avail.  We have created, here, a society where too many are exempted from economic reality.  I can't speak for Israel.

[Doggy Daddy]

*Does anyone call her K-Ko? They should. Unless there is a better nickname out there.

May I humbly suggest "KooKoo?"

DD

[MicroBalrog]

You don't start with hot tubs and pornography, you have to earn your way to fun and leisure.  Don't tell us that the people of Israel haven't learned that long, long ago.

From an economic perspective, that is entirely bogus. You can - in fact more and more nations are moving that way - have an economy where production of "pleasures" is where most of the people work in some indirect fashion. Of course, we are constantly moving the plank - things like televisions, which were once untold luxury, are now included among the "necessities" of life.

Nor is America suffering a New Great Depression. Nor will it suffer one in the coming few years.

[TommyGunn]

... Nor is America suffering a New Great Depression. Nor will it suffer one in the coming few years.

Well.... Thank God .......

[longeyes]

From an economic perspective, that is entirely bogus. You can - in fact more and more nations are moving that way - have an economy where production of "pleasures" is where most of the people work in some indirect fashion. Of course, we are constantly moving the plank - things like televisions, which were once untold luxury, are now included among the "necessities" of life.

Nor is America suffering a New Great Depression. Nor will it suffer one in the coming few years.

Hedonomics?  I love it. 

You're right about tv.  For too many people today it's not only a necessity of life, it IS life.

[MicroBalrog]

Hedonomics?  I love it. 

This is the only way, in the long term.

[KD5NRH]

You don't start with hot tubs and pornography,

Geez, no wonder you guys are so lonely.  Serenade first, then the hot tub. Porn maybe later, but don't rush it.

[longeyes]

How can we be lonely when we have APS?

[Monkeyleg]

I thought porn was for lonely guys, and hot tubs were for guys who had girls.

I'm all confused.

[MicroBalrog]

I thought porn was for lonely guys, and hot tubs were for guys who had girls.

I'm all confused.

...have you never watched porn with a girlfriend?

[Monkeyleg]

...have you never watched porn with a girlfriend?

No. The girlfriends I've had wanted me to be aroused by them, not by someone else.

Besides, I might have decided I liked the woman in the movie better.

[Gowen]

I haven't been to a movie theater since Batman 2 in the early 90's.  We don't watch network television.  The few (mostly Pixar) movies we have seen I checked out from the library.  My children watch old VHS children's videos we picked up at yard sales or lots on ebay for very little money.  So tell me again how I am enabling the Hollywood elitist to maintain their decadent, self serving, insane, over indulgent, America hating lifestyles?  Can't we just go back to the "global warming" nonsense?

[Perd Hapley]

...have you never watched porn with a girlfriend?

Do you think this is something couples normally do? If so, why?

[gunsmith]

But they make people happier - which is why people pay them to keep doing it.

"Poets don't own cars" Bob Dylan, when asked why he doesn't write more poetry.

[MicroBalrog]

Do you think this is something couples normally do? If so, why?

I do not know what couples normally do, but I'm certainly aware of quite a few couples that do that.

I would expect that even people who don't do that would be aware that the practice exists - it's not that it's some totally uncommon super-perversion.

[Perd Hapley]

I do not know what couples normally do, but I'm certainly aware of quite a few couples that do that.

I would expect that even people who don't do that would be aware that the practice exists

Some of those people would know, some would not believe you if you told them. It would be interesting to know how common it is.

It would also be interesting to know why you asked the question in a way that implied there is something unusual about couples neglecting to watch porn together, but I won't pry any further. Maybe we've sidetracked the discussion enough as it is.

[Monkeyleg]

Maybe we've sidetracked the discussion enough as it is.

Unless Herman Cain is a porn addict, I'd say the thread has been sufficiently sidetracked. :)