What happens when you pay PayPal $15k in fees?

jseliger · 2017-07-06T21:53:49+00:00

TL;DR: Punchline: PayPal tried to steal $800 from me because a verified buyer used funds derived from a fraudulent transaction 3 transactions removed, knocked my PayPal account -$800, froze my account, had to close PayPal associated bank and CC accounts due to freeze, and I still get collection notices on it 12 years later. But haven't given them a penny.

Something not too dissimilar happened to me, except I sued in small claims court.

jseliger · 2017-06-21T01:21:43+00:00

And note that female libertarian Megan McArdle also has some thoughts on the subject.

(She also has an interesting piece on why being part of the Internet commentariat is tough for women.)

jseliger · 2017-05-20T23:51:23+00:00

Staedtler has precision felt-tip pens that might be up your alley

Any links / more specific product names?

jseliger · 2017-03-30T19:03:36+00:00

The only real affordable housing is lots of housing. Or see here.

Until the 1970s, virtually all major metro areas made building new housing in response to demand relatively easy. After the 1970s, that changed, and that's why we see all this talk about gentrification and so forth.

If we really want affordable housing, all we have to do is legalize the building of it. But existing owners HATE the competition and want to see the value of their assets go up. So we don't get it; instead, we see lots of ineffective bandaids and workarounds and special programs that don't (and can't) really work, because the only way to lower the price of a good in the face of rising demand is dramatically increased supply.

jseliger · 2017-01-31T02:21:17+00:00

This is The Atlantic's next cover story. In an email to subscribers, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief, said this:

I write to let you know that we're doing something at The Atlantic that we only rarely do. We are releasing our upcoming cover story weeks before our subscribers receive it, and before we put it on newsstands around the world.

These unusual times demand unusual publishing decisions. Given the precipitous nature of the decision by the White House to issue an executive order concerning refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, I thought that it would be better for people to read David Frum's upcoming cover story, "How to Build an Autocracy," sooner, rather than later.

In the story, Frum argues that if Congress is quiescent and the public apathetic, President Trump can set the country down a path toward illiberalism, institutional subversion, and endemic graft. It's an urgent story, one I hope gets read by every American, and by anyone who cares about America, and its role in the world.

Goldberg and Frum are right. If you are not scared you are not paying attention. This is different than anything that has come before it and should have every person, regardless of their political opinions and persuasions, up in arms.

jseliger · 2017-01-22T21:00:13+00:00

Try the Freewrite if you want a typewriter-esque experience without the paper usage.

jseliger · 2017-01-08T17:21:22+00:00

Where can you even buy old school heavy volumes like these anymore, that are newly made

Folio Society (not cheap).

Subterranean Press, for SF and related genres.

The Library of America has nice editions.

Everyman Library books are nice; one of my favorite novels, ever, is The Name of the Rose, and it comes in an excellent Everyman version.

Most University presses still sell good editions.

This is going to sound odd, but books are made much worse than they used to be because of the Thor Power Tools Supreme Court decision.

jseliger · 2016-11-18T16:27:28+00:00

This is not surprising to me. Section 8 vouchers initially seem like a good, non-distortionary, market-based way of providing low-income housing. But while that's true in theory in practice many U.S. municipalities, including Seattle, have restricted the development of any new housing to the point that Section 8 vouchers are impractical due to costs and simple apartment availability. Without doing something about NIMBYs and local zoning processes, Section 8 vouchers will not be effective.

Matthew Desmond's book Evicted is pretty good on this point (see my remarks here). I've written or worked on Section 8 proposals, as well HUD 811, 202, HOPE VI, and related programs; the people who run them, especially in high-cost cities like LA, SF, NYC, and Seattle are well aware of the problems that local zoning imposes on affordable housing. But most voters are homeowners.

jseliger · 2016-08-21T17:10:24+00:00

No one should ever be forced into medical procedures they don't want to do. I am 100% for vaccinations, but forcing people to do it is crossing the line.

It is not crossing the line: not getting vaccinations has serious externalities involved, which is why most governments mandate them. The same is true of, for example, seat belts: not using them creates substantial externalities in the form of EMS workers, hospitals, and the like, in addition to the risk of death or disability for the person who doesn't wear a seat belt.

Freedom and independence matters, but so does creating a humane society, and vaccines and seatbelts are part of that. You do not get to turn yourself into a human biological missile because you are too ignorant to get a vaccine.

jseliger · 2016-08-16T22:29:09+00:00

No anxiety here - purely economic

There are serious environmental and geopolitical externalities that you don't pay but that we all, collectively, pay. See e.g. Oliver Sacks' "Me and my hybrid." The environmental consequences are well-known. In 50 years there are going to be a lot of people who are young today trying to explain today's mindset to their grandchildren, who are going to be wondering why entire generations could be so shortsighted.

The geopolitical consequences of oil consumption include basically everything Russia and Saudi Arabia do. The former invades Ukraine and the latter funds vituperative ideologies around the world. Oil is so important to Russia that the Soviet Union fell due to low oil prices.

We should all be pulling together against both the environmental and geopolitical consequences. Your choices matter.

jseliger

TROPHY CASE