Regulation of the Day 130: Roommates. OpenMarket.org (2010-03-30):

In New York City, it is illegal for four or more unrelated people to live together. At least 15,000 New York homes openly flout the rule. The ranks of lawless hooligans cut across lines of class and race. According to the New York Times, violators "include young actors and ponytailed…

Yet another way that government intervention and Land Monopoly creates sprawl, ratchets up fixed costs of living, and artificially transfers money from working folks to landlords and “developers.”

Countereconomics is already making inroads; but 15,000-odd people in New York City is only the first baby step towards freedom. A real free-market city would look nothing like the cartelized, rigidified land-grab sprawl created by the rigged markets and pervasive interventions by local governments that we have today.

• !!!@@e2;2dc;2026; What if Flash Were an Open Standard? John Gruber, Daring Fireball (2010-02-01). Some good questions from Dave Winer regarding Apple, Adobe, and Flash: What if Apple were trying to erase something that's not company-owned? Either a formal or de facto standard? Further, what if their alternative were something that was locked-down and owned by a company? Further, what if the company was… (Linked Monday 2010-02-01.)
• Campaign finance reform is pretty simple. John, Blagnet.net (2010-01-24). Many of my friends and millions of people in the blogosphere/social-mediasphere have expressed their outrage and indignation at the Supreme Court's ruling that corporations can spend as much as they want to promote or oppose whatever political candidates or causes that they want. One of my friends said she was… (Linked Tuesday 2010-02-02.)
• Food Trucks Get Booted – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine. reason.com (2010-02-02). The War on the Informal Sector (Cont’d.): Government Force Vs. Affordable Lunch (Linked Tuesday 2010-02-02.)
• DS Web: Lunar Compression Artifacts. Diesel Sweeties webcomic by rstevens (2010-02-02). (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-03.)
• 30 is the New 20: Might the Brain Follow? der Blaustrumpf (2010-02-03). Perpetual State of Supervision and its consequences. Cheryl Cline drops some philosophy on pop “brain science” in the press. Also, via the psychologist Richard Epstein: “American teens are subjected to more than 10 times as many restrictions as mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty U.S. Marines, and even twice as many as incarcerated felons.” (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-03.)