This is a great idea, Barkha. 

I bet it would appeal to a number of middle-aged and older women as well, not just to the younger demographic. 

My take on the Libertarian Party (and why I think it's terminally irrelevant) is that it's trying to ape something that goes against the grain of small-l libertarian ideas. 

The current two-party system is a perpetual-motion machine for big-goverment-oriented crony corruption.  It's way past the point of susceptibility to reform from within.  Donning the dress-up clothes of party politics and angling for an invitation to The Big Time only validates that failed template. 

I think that small-l libertarian ideas will have an important role to play in American politics in the near future--but not by attempting to break into old-school party politics. 

The Libertarian Party is a contradiction in terms--a pointless oddity doomed to permanent joke status.  Like non-alcoholic beer.  Or Christian heavy metal. 

Hear, hear!  That's what I hated about Chicago winters--it's a constant freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw cycle.  It almost never got cold enough for what I consider actual winter.  Slush and freezing rain are disgusting and should be banned or regulated or sent to Washington DC or something. 

I have a pair of brand-new snowshoes that I haven't been able to use for two winters now because we haven't had enough snow here in southern Michigan. 

This week is looking hopeful, though.  Canadian Conservative, stop encouraging people to idle their cars!   ;-) 

You get what you cultivate, even in the most fleeting interactions.

Whenever a man opens a door for me, I make eye contact, smile (no matter how grumpy and/or in a hurry I may be at the time), and give him a sincere "thank you." 

It's pathetic how many men seem surprised when I thank them--but that's exactly why I make a point of doing so.  If I'm headed through a set of two doors, most men will double back and hold the second door open for me as well (FYI: I'm strictly middle-of-the-road when it comes to looks). 

I also don't shove myself in front of a man just because I can, and if a man has both hands full with packages or an overloaded hand truck I'll hold the door open for him (also something that seems to surprise most men). 

I'd much rather provide some positive reinforcement for men who do the right thing than nurture resentment about the men who don't. 

Jim Rockford.

Chris Noth in Law and Order (as EThompson pointed out in #5).

Magnum PI.

Hard to go wrong with that list, especially if you're a fan of homegrown smokin' hot manly men like I am... 

I watched Foyle's War and enjoyed it for the good stories and wonderful production values, but I wanted to take a cattle prod to Foyle to see if he could do anything other than stare into the middle distance in some sort of contemplative trance. 

Yes--exactly how I've been feeling lately.

Definitely some good full-length post-fodder there...

I'm going to follow your sister's lead for this inauguration. 

I ran across this gem in a survey-course blue book a few years back:

"The Weimar Republic suffered from high unemployment and severe inflammation."

Ja, ve haff been svollen since 1918...

Another factor ignored by Bloomberg and his ilk is that people vary widely in their ability to tolerate pain. 

I've always had an incredibly high tolerance for pain; I could probably undergo most minor surgeries with little or no anesthesia.  When I had my wisdom teeth out I took plain old Tylenol for one afternoon and that was that.

On the other hand, I've known people who are in agony for days from a muscle pull or a minor (never mind major) surgery if they don't have serious pain meds. 

So to opine that one person will "get 20 days worth of pills and . . . only need them three days" is utter one-size-fits-all garbage from a physiological standpoint.  Someone like me might need one (or no) pills; someone else might need all twenty (and yet not be an addict, imagine that).   

Violating personal liberty, common sense, and basic physiological principles all in one swell foop--take a bow, Mr. Bloomberg!  You're a talented tyrant, you rascal you! 

It's a nice try, but for my money nothing beats Captain Euro (hours of comedy gold for your time-wasting pleasure). 

His goal as a superhero is to use "intellect, culture and logic--not violence--to take control of difficult criminal situations."  His hobby?  Painting European landscapes.

His sidekick Europa (really) is an expert in "the Gaeia theory."  Her superpower is the ability to hold her breath underwater for long periods of time. 

Take that, HERadventure!  When it comes to cheesy government-sponsored pop-culture-flavored propaganda, you're just a rank amateur.  Hang your head in shame, girl. 

I like the famine/gruel analogy, but your examples (Friedman, Sowell, Hillsdale) are too easily recognized as conservative standards.  Mention any of those three names to mainstream academics and they'll immediately hiss and fluff up like angry cats.

It's all about rhetoric; if you sneak in the same ideas while labeling them "libertarian" or simply "radical," you can circumvent the hiss-and-fluff response.  Introduce the source names at a later stage. 

Think of it as the mini-Alinsky re-feeding program. 

They commented on the thickness of your socks?  Seriously?  Were caliper measurements involved?

I remember a few annual evaluations where my boss sat me down and said, "I can't give you top marks across the board because HR won't accept that, so I have to give you a flaw.  What would you like your flaw to be this year?"

After a couple of years of that, he just handed me the blank form and said, "fill it out yourself and I'll initial it.  Don't forget the flaw."

HR kabuki--a genre unto itself.   

Here's a great line by David Mamet (I think it's from Heist):

"Everybody wants money.  That's why they call it money."

Not so much into boycotts (I'm too lazy to keep track of all the people/companies I'm supposed to shun), but I have an active loathing for GM/Chrysler and will never buy any of their products. 

I try to avoid Wikipedia whenever possible--their über-leftist sensibilities permeate the whole site.  It isn't worth trying to wade through mountains of garbage for a few nuggets of fact that are available elsewhere on the Internet. 

One of my favorite "forgotten" novels is The Loon Feather by Iola Fuller. 

It's set on Mackinac Island in the early 19th century; the main character is an Ojibway girl named Oneta.  Through her eyes the reader sees the interactions of Ojibway society with the French traders on Mackinac.

The book came out in 1940, and is completely free from progressive garbage about oppressed women/minorities.  The characters are complex and believable, and not prisoners of skin color (i.e., Europeans aren't automatically evil or the Ojibway inherently saintly--or vice versa). 

Fuller's quiet, elegant prose captures the beauty of the north woods through all four seasons.  It's a serene and contemplative book--not loud or flashy, but definitely satisfying and memorable. 

Wow.

I didn't think anyone still used the phrase "speak truth to power."

It's quaint, in a queasy sort of way.  Like leftism in general. 

Gourmet cooking and fancy expensive kitchens don't go together as much as one might think. 

A woman I knew had her kitchen remodeled a few years back--granite countertops, brand-name restaurant gas stove, and stainless-steel appliances.  I complimented her on her gorgeous kitchen and she said, "I only turn the stove on two or three times a year; all I eat is salads and ready-to-go microwave food." 

Which boggled my mind, because cooking has always been one of my passions (my mother and grandmother taught me how to cook and bake when I was a child).  I didn't stop cooking when I lived in cramped grad school housing. 

Some of the best meals I ever cooked were made on cheap nasty gas stoves that had such warped tops that everything in the pan slid to one side.  I mixed baked goods with a wooden spoon (couldn't afford an electric mixer) and kneaded bread by hand (no bread machine). 

Buy good ingredients and have a few really nice pots and pans; that's all you need (money-wise) for the best cooking.  Fancy expensive kitchens are about social status.