August 29, 2007

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Just Wait Till They Get Their Hands On Go Dogs Go!

Reminiscing on his Property law lecture from earlier in the day, The Volokh Conspiracy's Ilya Somin links to an old Jonathan Adler post reinterpretation of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax as a classic tragedy of the commons tale:

Viewing the tale of the Lorax through an institutional lens, ruin is not the result of corporate greed, but a lack of institutions. The truffula trees grow in an unowned commons. (The Lorax may speak for the trees, but he does not own them.) The Once-ler has no incentive to conserve the truffula trees for, as he notes to himself, if he doesn't cut them down someone else will. He's responding to the incentives created by a lack of property rights in the trees, and the inevitable tragedy results. Had the Once-ler owned the trees, his incentives would have been quite different - and he would likely have acted accordingly - even if he remained dismissive of the Lorax's environmental concerns.

LEST WE FORGET: How Not To Get Arrested While Pooping

In light of FL state Rep. Bob Allen's (R) and Larry Craig's recent "bathroom mishaps," The Palm Beach Post's Fran Cerabino enumerates four lessons for "guy bathroom etiquette," including:

• Lesson No. 1: If a guy is in an adjoining stall, it's probably not a good idea to knock and then step into the guy's stall. This was one of Allen's major social faux pas. Generally, the rule is one guy per stall ... Allen explained that his visit to the undercover officer's stall was to ask "if he's all right." Allen said he was just checking because there was lightning in the area.
• Lesson No. 2: When in doubt, assume that the guy in the next stall hasn't been struck by lightning.
• Lesson No. 3: Limit your "wide stance" tendencies while using a stall in a public restroom.
• Lesson No. 4: Don't stick your hand under the divider and wiggle your fingers at the stranger in the next stall. He might think you've been struck by lightning.

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 29, 2007 12:59 PM