Reader Mail #82

This post was interesting. Someone had a problem where their WordPress blog was hacked. Posts were filled with spammy links, but *ONLY* if the page request was made by Google's search bot! He only found out by viewing Google Webmaster Tools.

David Z mentioned he had a problem with his blog being hacked and his PageRank getting trashed.

Have other people had problems with their WordPress blog being hacked? I'm slightly concerned, since I'm going to be moving to my own site in a few months.

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This post on BradSpangler.com was wasting time responding to a pro-State troll.

I consider "Property is theft!" to be obviously stupid and not worth debating anymore. People get confused because "In the present, most/all property is stolen." If you borrow at a negative real interest rate, and use the profits to buy a large amount of property, then is your ownership claim legitimate?

Pro-State trolls also get confused with "Profit by State violence (directly or indirectly)." with "Perform actual useful work!" The profits of a lawyer/banker/accountant/CEO are pure theft. Their profits are backed directly or indirectly by State violence. Doctors earn an above-market salary, because State regulations restrict competition. In the present, most professions have a certain degree of parasitism, due to extensive State regulation of almost every industry.

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. Someone created an online discussion forum. A lot of negative comments about two Yale law students were posted. The volume of these comments were so great that they were the top-ranking results in Google, if someone searched for their names.

Being law students, they sued the forum owner and whoever posted the comments.

I say "Lawyers are parasites!" If I criticize any specific lawyer, then I subject myself to the risk of a lawsuit. As another example, if I publicly named people who abused me at previous jobs, I might find myself the victim in a libel lawsuit.

Anybody who would refuse to hire someone based on trash in Google or believe random garbage in Google deserves what they get.

There is a correct free market defense to libel. I should be able to say "X did something dishonest!", and X should be free to say "FSK is wrong!". The risk of libel lawsuits makes me reluctant to say "X did something dishonest!" This prevents people from sharing information about abusive parasites. Libel laws sometimes prevent abusive behavior. Libel laws also silence legitimate criticism.

For example, if I wrote a detailed account of how the Rails Advocate screwed me over and singlehandedly wrecked a $20M business, using his real name, then he might have a hard time finding another job (at least by an employer with a clue). However, I might be sued for libel if I tried such a thing. Most laws are written by members of the parasite class. Libel laws are probably used to silence legitimate criticism more often than to silence malicious criticism. The correct response to malicious criticism is to publish a rebuttal (or ignore it).

An agorist trust network would not have this problem. Suppose X and Y are members of my agorist trading network. X and Y have a dispute. X is free to publish the details, and Y is free to publish the details, and let other people decide for themselves. If X sues Y for libel in a State court, then X, *BY DEFINITION*, gets kicked out of my agorist trading group.

It also is a serious problem if any website owner can be held responsible for content published by others. If I write a legitimately useful forum engine, it can be used both for good things and for bad things.

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This book review of "How to Get Rich", via Hacker News, had one good bit.

“Teamwork is the glue that binds losers together”

Most "Be a good employee!" slogans really are "Be a good slave!" slogans.

Some people, when they say "Be a team player!", mean "Do your fair share of work!" More often, they mean "Don't complain when other people abuse you!" The phrase "Be a team player!" is used to justify bad behavior more often than good behavior.

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This post on nostate.com cites a story about someone in Thailand who was sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the king.

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I saw the 2nd episode of "Important Things with Demetri Martin". It had two good jokes. The first was a bit at the beginning, where he had "Start your own government." as an introductory joke. I was disappointed that he didn't elaborate further reader. There also was the bit on how to kill rats via religion. It's interesting to see such bits. Those bits must have been written by someone other than Demetri Martin himself, because that isn't his style of comedy.

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I liked this post on BradSpangler.com. In some cities, people are starting to resist sheriffs who try to enforce mortgage foreclosures.

Due to a corrupt monetary system and the Compound Interest Paradox, a debt contract with a bank is not a valid contract. When a bank executive lends money, he does no real work. The bank lender merely prints and lends brand new money.

Is it feasible to violently resist the State? In this case, I suspect the answer is "no". Even if you successfully repel a sheriff who tries to foreclose for not paying a mortgage or not paying property taxes, he can always come back later with more troops.

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I didn't understand this story on Hacker News. An online restaurant rating website publishes negative reviews about a restaurant. They then call the restaurant, offering to remove the negative reviews if they buy advertising.

My question is "What's the problem?" If a website is so obviously corrupt, then people will eventually stop using it.

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I liked this article, via Hacker News, by Neil Gaiman, on why free speech is important.

In the EU and UK, you don't get strong defense of free speech like in the USA.

(It's worth noting that the UK, for example, has no such law, and that even the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that interference with free speech was "necessary in a democratic society" in order to guarantee the rights of others "to protection from gratuitous insults to their religious feelings.")

In the USA, mainstream media personalities typically *DO NOT* have free speech rights. If they exercise their "free speech" right too aggressively, then their corporate employer will fire them, smear their reputation, and they will never again get a job with a mainstream media outlet.

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This article, via Hacker News, had a funny bit.

Needless to say, we find it very odd (if not funny) to hear every firm state how different they were in exactly the same way as everyone else.

That is amusing. I notice a parallel in job postings. Most use the same buzzwords without any understanding of what they actually mean.

Most job ads say "We want independent thinkers." Nobody says "We want barely qualified incompetents."

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This article, via Hacker News, was amusing. It was about the new "boot animation" for Windows 7.

Can you imagine that Microsoft has a team of people working on the boot animation? Could you imagine getting a CS degree for 4 years, getting a job at Microsoft, and working on the boot animation?

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This article was interesting. A website's HD crashed, losing all their data and all their customer's data.

When I get my own site, I plan to make backups on my local HD and on an external HD.

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This article on RadGeek was interesting. A radio station in Portland did an interview with a "market anarchist". I didn't look at the details to see how well the interviewee explained market anarchism.

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I liked this post, via Hacker News, on the Pirate Bay Trial. (There appear to be daily updates.) This comment was interesting.

sorry guys but this was lost from the outset.
the legal system (on this grand scale) is really only there to give the illusion of justice and fairness…the outcome is decided by who has the most cash and what impact any decision will have on the economy!There really is no hope for them….as sad as it is this is just the reality of it

The legal system provides an illusion of fairness, and not genuine fairness.

I am somewhat annoyed that the defense isn't saying "Intellectual property is not property!" and using a "jury nullification" defense. However, that practice probably isn't common in other countries.

I don't even know if the Pirate Bay trial is a jury trial or not.

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. Someone conducted an experiment where they deliberately planted an abusive person on teams attempting a task. One abusive person can really wreck any team environment.

I disagree with "This is natural human behavior." Due to pro-State brainwashing, most people lack the skills to deal with abusive people.

For example, at some of my wage slave jobs, I found myself justifying the behavior of abusive people. My default reaction is usually "I'm doing something wrong!" instead of "This person is a jerk!"

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. Child pornography laws are being used against teenagers who share naked pictures of themselves with their friends, via cellphone. It's amusing what usually incites the incident. A teacher confiscates the student's phone, sees the pictures, and then calls the police.

I have the free market attitude towards "age of consent" laws. If you're old enough to get pregnant or make someone pregnant, then you're an adult. If you're younger than that, then your parents have an obligation to keep track of what you're doing.

"Victimless crime" laws usually lead to silly outcomes. If you voluntarily take a picture of yourself and give it to someone, that's not a crime. If you coerce someone into taking such a picture, that is a crime. State enforcers are confusing the two cases. The real issue is "Parents are responsible for teaching their children to make good decisions." The State acts as a substitute for parents.

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This article, via Hacker News, was missing the point. The article was saying "We should study correlation of race and IQ." There are a couple of obvious mistakes. First, the bias of the researcher could lead to biased results. Second, you can't tell the difference between variations due to culture and variations due to genetics. Third, most IQ tests are themselves biased.

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This article, via Hacker News, had an interesting bit. The author said "don't ever write 'and/or'".

In the comments section, someone pointed out the deficiency. In common English, "or" typically means "XOR", whereas "and/or" means inclusive OR. For example, "Pay taxes or go to jail!" really means "Pay taxes XOR go to jail!"

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This article, via Hacker News, refers to a frequently cited issue. Boxee is a product that allows you to play Internet videos on your TV. Under pressure from content providers, Hulu is requiring Boxee to not support its videos.

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. "Fake Steve Jobs" published an article in Newsweek saying "It's impossible to make money from blogging." He got 0.5M pageviews one day, when his blog was mentioned in the NY Times. His AdSense earnings were only $100 for the day and $1000 for that month.

I liked the attitude of the author on the Hacker News article. You can make money blogging, if you're helping people solve a problem. My goal from blogging is to start actual agorist businesses. For now, I'm using AdSense to earn money to pay for hosting. AdSense definitely seems like a woefully inadequate way to profit from a blog.

As another example, if I attempt "Promote agorism via standup comedy!", then my blog helps promote my performances.

My blog is valuable to me, because I'm getting feedback on free market economics that is unavailable elsewhere. All my friends, relatives, and coworkers are complete pro-State trolls.

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This post on Mark Cuban's blog linked to some interesting videos parodying the "freecreditreport.com" commercials.

I posted a link to my blog in the comments section referring to my article on the evils of the US financial industry, but Mark Cuban apparently censored the comment. What an ***hole! That shows the problem dealing with "mainstream media" personalities. Of course, it's Mark Cuban's blog and he's free to do as he pleases. I'm offended that he censored me.

I've tried mentioning my blog to mainstream media personalities a few times, when they write on economics and seem somewhat intelligent. They never respond.

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. It was a list of "Things NY Times writers can't do."

If you look at a "best of web" aggregator sites, mainstream media articles make up a very low percentage.

I wish Hacker News had an "automatically filter out NY Times articles" feature or "only mention them if really good".

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This article, via Hacker News, had an interesting point. In 2003, Major League Baseball did an anonymous test of a sample of players for steroids. A-Rod was one of the players tested. The test was supposed to be Anonymous. In accordance with the contract with the players' union, the data was supposed to be Anonymous and the samples immediately destroyed.

The data was not destroyed. The players' names were still on the testing samples. A subpoena forced the lab to disclose the results.

It sounds like A-Rod has a valid negligence claim against the lab and MLB. The test results were supposed to be Anonymous. They were supposed to be destroyed. I'm surprised that there's no talk of A-Rod suing over the negligence.

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This article, via Hacker News, mentioned annoying big webforms.

My biggest webform pet peeve is, there's a large form, there's some required field, you miss it, and then you have to fill out the *ENTIRE* form again. The form sometimes deletes the data you entered if there's an error in one field.

Another webform pet peeve is that I can't just type "NY" in the "state" field. I have to type "N", then open the scrollbar to move from "Nebraska" to "New York".

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This article on Yahoo Finance had an interesting statistic.

A ratio of gold against the S&P 500 index rose to its highest level since September 1990, and gold/oil ratio was at its loftiest since December 1998, according to Reuters data.

That's interesting. The price of oil, quoted in gold, is the same as in December 1998! I thought that the price of oil rises faster than gold, because oil gets used up but gold does not.

For those of you keeping score at home, gold has trounced the S&P 500 again so far in 2009. When I did my calculation, I included reinvested dividends in the S&P 500, which gives it a slight boost relative to gold. That article was citing the S&P 500 without reinvested dividends, which makes the S&P 500 seem lower than it should be.

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This article on the Agitator was interesting. A State medical examiner was tampering with evidence on corpses. Is someone really that big of a pervert?

The second portion of the video, taken the following day, then shows a striking abrasion. That abrasion could only have been inflicted by someone in Hayne’s office. The video also shows that Hayne must have been lying when he testified at trial that he found bite marks on the Oliveaux’s cheek, then called West in to do an analysis. The first portion of the video, taken after Hayne’s initial exam, shows no such bite marks.

The more obvious thing the video shows is Michael West repeatedly jamming, scraping, and pushing a mold of Jimmie Duncan’s teeth into Haley Oliveaux’s body, actions experts to whom I’ve shown the video say amount to criminal evidence tampering. The excerpt posted at Reason is only 30 seconds long. But the full video spans 24 minutes, during which West uses the mold to desecrate Oliveaux’s body at least 50 times.

I can't believe that someone would actually do that! He got a mold of the defendant's teeth, and then used it to mutilate the corpse! Then, he claimed "See! The defendant bit the corpse!"

It might be OJ Simpson-style justice. The defendant may have been framed for a crime he actually committed. I don't know the details of the case. The medical examiner is still guilty of fraud. The medical examiner is protected by sovereign immunity. Even with flagrant evidence of misconduct, he's probably immune from personal liability.

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Someone submitted "Real GDP is Decreasing, 1990-2007" to Reddit. That generated a traffic spike. It's almost time for me to make an updated version of that post with 2008 GDP data. Last year, the 2007 GDP data was released sometime in May.

Gold finished the year only up slightly, although there was a spike in the middle of the year. The "gold as GDP deflator" version will probably be nearly flat for 2008, but I haven't seen the official numbers yet. So far in 2009, gold's FRN-denominated price has risen substantially. Alternatively, there has been massive inflation so far in 2009. If you believe "Gold is money!", then "Gold is a fair inflation index!" is a matter of definition.

I normally don't bother promoting my blog on sites like Reddit and Digg, but I notice when other people give a citation.

I once conducted an experiment. One of my posts was cited on Digg, and I published a "Request for Diggs", generating only 1 more. I therefore concluded "regular FSK readers" and "active Digg users" has negligible intersection.

Sites like Digg and Reddit have a problem, when trying to target niche interests. If you assign each article a global score, that does not work for niche interests. For me, "Taxation is theft!" is obvious, but such an article probably won't get much traction on a site like Digg or Reddit. It would probably attract more downvotes than upvotes, leading to the article getting buried.

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Google Analytics is always interesting. I'm the #3 search result in Google for "stanford bank fraud", which is a surprisingly small traffic slice. I'm the #7 search result in Google for "psychiatry sucks" (with quotation marks). I'm the #2 search result in Google for "federal reserve sucks" (I was #1 for awhile!).

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barry b. has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #80":

FSK,

Here's a blog post on global warming I found interesting

http://www.climate-skeptic.com/2009/02/global-warming-accelerating-3.html

That didn't have my favorite anti-global-warming chart. It charted "rising global temperatures" and showed that the trend started before fossil fuel burning started.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that global warming is one big scam. Summarizing, the key points are:

1. Is global warming caused by carbon dioxide pollution, or is it merely part of a longer cyclical trend in the planet's temperature.
2. How much damage does burning 1 gallon of gasoline actually cause? Is it nonnegligible?
3. Can the State solve this problem? Even if you can prove "Carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming." and "Global warming is damaging.", I disagree with "The solution is to give the State more power."

Global warming seems like a manufactured crisis, as an excuse to give the State more power. It's the usual "Problem! Reaction! Solution!" paradigm. For example, pro-State trolls say "We need a government, because otherwise greedy business owners would wreck the environment!" By sovereign immunity, the State protects people who pollute.

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In this post on Azrael's Free Thought's, he said "FSK's post on GM was awesome!" It's amusing that I can get a bunch of "FSK is awesome!" and "FSK sucks!" comments for the exact same post.

DixieFlatline has left a new comment on your post "Yet Another GM Bailout":

Big Labour like the UAW are anti-competitive statist institutions. The union will not get thrown out. It is and always has been in cahoots with the managers.

Yes. My point was "The union contract could get thrown out in bankruptcy, and the union would be forced to renegotiate a contract that's less favorable for employees." For example, this happened in recent airline bankruptcies. Even though there was a union contract, the employees had to give concessions. The union continued to exist, but workers got the shaft.

I've made this point before. State regulation of unions neuter their effectiveness. Unions are effectively a branch of the State.

It's the shareholders and employees who get the raw end of the deal while the petty tyrants prosper.

The economic system is set up to benefit insiders at the expense of the average person. The average person would be much better off in a true free market system.

Anti-capitalist sentiment is flawed, because it's not the proletariat or the bourgeoisie who are necessarily bad, it is the parasites like George Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, John McCain, Union leadership, Corporate leadership, some religious institutions etc.

Are you accusing me of being anti-capitalist now? I prefer to debate ideas, rather than labels. The economic and political system labeled "capitalism" is not as a free market system. I'm in favor of real free markets. I'm anti-capitalist to the extent that "capitalism, as usually implemented, is not a real free market system".

heuristic has left a new comment on your post "Yet Another GM Bailout":

Ah, bullshit. Other countries may have far fewer approval requirements and regulations and yet we don't see a profusion of automobile startups. Therefore that isn't the reason.

I don't know what planet you're living on. Outside the USA, it's *MUCH* harder to get a State permit to start a business. For example, in China, to get a business permit, you need to wait years and bribe Communist party members.

I'd say the reason is that it takes a much heavier investment in manufacturing plant and distribution network for big machines liek cars as compared to "weightless" stuff like software.

You are wrong. Small-scale manufacturing techniques are just as efficient as large factories, if not more so. They are not dominant due to State restriction of the market. Large corporations can lobby the State for favors, but small businesses cannot.

Of course, the only way to prove this is to conduct an experiment.

You whine too much, that the state is to blame for every limitation on you starting a business.

If you think I'm a loser who does nothing but whine, then what kind of loser are you for wasting time reading and commenting? You have nothing better to do but comment on blogs written by people with lousy ideas?

Let's be more specific. I want to buy gold and silver, paying a low bid/ask spread, without having my transaction reported to the State. I want a gold/silver warehouse receipt bank, where I can safely store my savings. Why does no such bank exist? It's due to State regulations. Other people have tried such businesses, such as the Liberty Dollar and E-Gold, only to be the victim of State violence.

The reason such a business doesn't exist is not "There's no demand for it". The reason is that people who start such businesses wind up the victim of State violence. When 99.9%+ of the people comply, then the bad guys can afford to spend lots of money tracking down freedom seekers.

fritz has left a new comment on your post "Yet Another GM Bailout":

If left alone to the free market. All this stuff would regulate its self. The business that were substandard and less than productive, would be driven out by more productive businesses. There would always be regular cycles of booms and busts, But they would be less severe.

When are most people going to wake up and see that capitalism is no free market. Just let these auto makers crash and burn, No one is buying new cars these days anyway. And maybe a true quality car company will arise from the ashes.

There will be no quality car manufacturers until there's an advanced agorist car manufacturing business.

One way to get started as an agorist car manufacturer is to buy old cars and overhaul them.

Please dont lock me up for saying this. But I have this feeling that all this bail out money is just a ploy from foreign banks.To suck the capital out of our country, and put us in line with a one world order. Have you noticed lately that nationalism is almost dead.

It's silly to make a distinction between "Insiders who control the US financial industry." and "Insiders who control foreign banks." It's like debating distinctions between Democrats and Republicans.

barry b. has left a new comment on your post "Yet Another GM Bailout":

FSK,

On Ron Paul's number of votes in Republican Primary:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/23/politics/politico/main4201640.shtml

Second paragraph.

I see. A little more than 1M votes for Ron Paul in 2008. That's encouraging. That means that the potential market for agorism and my blog is at least 1M people.

Also, I think you are absolutely right about legislation being used as a means to eliminate competition. Thats exactly correct. For example, in Mississippi (or all states perhaps), it is legal to cut hair without a license. However, if you are going to be paid for cutting hair, then you are required by state law to attend 'cosmetology school' which costs money, and last about a year I think. WTF you say? Oh yeah, cutting hair for profit involves public safety issues like the spreading of lice... hmmm... also, this gives the state a reason to create a new bureacracy to patrol barber shops.

This law keeps a small start up individual from making money by cutting hair. Back in the 60's my grandfather cut hair for money. The local barber reported him to the State and he got a letter mentioning fines and jail time I believe.

This is an important point. If you need a State license to do X, and you do X without a license, then the person *MOST* likely to complain to the State is someone who has a license for X. I read a story about an unlicensed dentist. One of his patients told another dentist, and that dentist filed a complaint against him. This is a problem for agorist businessmen, when it's a State licensed industry. You have to be *VERY CAREFUL* who your customers are.

For example, if I create a gold/silver/FRN barter network, then a State licensed gold/silver dealer would be the one to file a complaint against me.

In Louisiana you have to have a license to open a floral shop. You see, by providing a needle for a crosage to be penned on... there is a possibility of someone getting poked with the needle and so this is a... wait for it... public health/safety issue. So you have to go to floral school in order to get a license to peddle these dangerous flower arrangements.

And guess who sits on the state board which accepts applications for the floral school... wait for it... established florists.

Pretty much every industry now requires a State license. In Texas, you need a Private Investigator (PI) license to do computer repair!

That's one frequent lament of software engineers. There's no State licensing requirements. That's one reason that software is a good career for someone talented.

Some mainstream media executives have tried lobbying for State licensing requirements for bloggers! Luckily, that never passed. In that sense, I'm fortunate to be in the USA. In China (or even the EU?), maybe writing a blog like this would be a crime.

Now if it's this goddamn hard to cut hair and sell flowers... then imagine how difficult it is to ANYTHING WHERE BIG MONEY IS CONCERNED.

Yes. If the State is that evil in "petty" situations like barbers and florists, then imagine how evil the State is when *REAL* money/wealth is at stake.

These laws are put into place by the lobbying of ESTABLISHED businesses/companies in order to ELIMINATE competition. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Business folks love the free market? Not really. If they can use the power of the law to discriminate against the little guy they will, and they always do.

That is why the State encourages consolidation of industry. Big businesses can always profitably lobby for favors.

As another example, consider the problem in NYC (and other cities) of State licensing requirements for taxis. A NYC medallion license is worth $1M+. There is occasionally talk of allowing more medallions, but the current medallion owners can always profitably lobby to block the law. As a result, it's almost impossible to get a taxi except in downtown Manhattan.

One thing I've learned from blogging is "importance of a subject" is directly proportional to "amount of hate mail I receive".

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tjc has left a new comment on your post "Relativity Fnord":

There is a general misunderstanding in the education system that you should learn ideas in the order that they were discovered.

That's a good point. For example, when studying history, should you study chronologically, or by topic? For example, studying "ways the banksters ****ed over America" is an interesting approach to history.

This leads to perfectly understandable phenomena to seem like magic to a lay person of the university system. These incomprehensible ideas are used as a filter to exclude anyone that doesn't think in the same manner as the instructor, while those that do are shown the shortcuts that make the symbology used understandable. It is a manner of control to powerful ideas.

Some people say that one of the main functions of the PhD process and academic career track is to weed out all the truly independent thinkers. When I dropped out of Math grad school, one former professor lamented "All the good people are the ones who drop out of the academic career track!"

One thing that was very frustrating studying Math in grad school was that the classes were cumulative. If you didn't understand lecture #3, you were usually SOL for understanding anything for the rest of the semester. I joked that I should only bother attending class the first week, and then give up until the start of next semester.

In this case specifically, don't try to understand special relativity before you understand general relativity. Special relativity is only a limited application of the idea that light is not instantaneous and that items are separated by the speed of information as well as time and distance. This results in independent frames of reference, not the other way around.

I don't understand general relativity, because I don't understand differentiable manifolds. I've studied some of the math that allegedly underlies general relativity, and it's *REALLY HARD*. It would take 5+ years to understand that much Math and another 5+ years to understand that much physics.

My main point is "How do you know there isn't some subtle flaw in relativity that hasn't been discovered yet?" Most physics research is now "big physics". I.e., build a $1B+ particle accelerator. Zero point energy technology (if it exists) is relatively low-tech and inexpensive.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Relativity Fnord":

Sometimes, I wonder why I bother fighting so hard for the little guy. Whats the point if they are too stupid to listen? Say that reminds me.

[Long comment deleted by FSK here. Check original post for details.]

I have no idea what point you're making. I saw the exact same comment published on several blogs (according to Google), but it was on-topic so I didn't delete it. The author of that comment sounds like he's a mainstream media personality. It probably was written by someone else and quoted by that commenter.

If you're complaining "People don't know the current system is hopelessly broken!", this is the wrong place to be making that complaint.

If you're going to write a big comment, my advice is to get your own blog and publish a link.

Kiba has left a new comment on your post "Relativity Fnord":

It is not some big elaborate lie. Humans are too stupid to cover it up.

Statists are too dumb to run a profitable business enterprise, so why do you expect them to mastermind such an elaborate scheme.

Maybe the alien overseers are the ones who quashed Zero Point Energy technology, realizing that humans must not be allowed to have it until they're more advanced?

Is it possible that mainstream physics is one elaborate lie? Consider another area of "science".

According to pro-State troll science, the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness is valid. Based on my personal experience, it's one big mistake/fraud.

Mainstream science is completely wrong in the area of psychiatry. It's a massive fraud that continues because many people profit from it. Given that, why is it unreasonable to believe "Maybe mainstream physics is one big fraud?" I'm not saying I'm absolutely certain. I'm just putting it out there as a possibility.

How many people know "The 'chemical imbalance' theory of mental illness is one big mistake/fraud!"? Similarly, how many people know "It might be possible to build a Zero Point Energy generator."?

There are a lot of people who profit quashing Zero Point Energy technology. Everyone currently employed as a mainstream physicist doesn't want to lose their gravy train by admitting they ****ed up. There is a *LOT* of money in the oil/energy industry, more than in the psychiatry industry. There is more financial incentive for the bad guys to cover up Zero Point Energy technology, than there is financial incentive for the bad guys to promote anti-psychotic drugs as medicine.

I'm not saying I'm absolutely certain of "It's possible to build a Zero Point Energy technology." Based on my fnord-reading ability, my conclusions are "It might be possible." If I had spare resources, I'd hire some agorist scientists to conduct research for me.

fritz has left a new comment on your post "Relativity Fnord":

Holy crap,,My eyes are burning. Anonymous needs a little zen,and maybe a hug.

The above Anonymous comment was posted on several blogs. I checked via Google. It was on-topic, so I didn't delete it as spam.

He is a prime example of the special + general theories of relativity. (Relative) to his comments I would (generaly) say he is (special) ED ..

The system is broken,and cannot be fixed. The sooner the collapse the better. Embrace the fall so we can move into free market society.

Anonymous comments are nothing more than a fnord its self. The fnord is...The current system can be fixed, we all just have to wake up,and encourage the 1% club to be part of the solution instead of the problem.

A lot of pro-State trolls have a harsh negative reaction when I say "A true free market system is better." I don't consider pro-State trolls as part of my target audience. Idiots are irrelevant. However, there is the problem that State enforcers could use violence to silence me or harass/kidnap/kill me for attempting practical agorism.

Nothing doing,embrace the collapse than practice agorism as a means of exchange.

Think about it,Even after the collapse people will still get up in the morning and do some job. Some one would make their coffee and breakfast and life will go on.
Free market and no government is our only hope...

Real free markets is the only solution. The problem is "How to get there starting from the current mess."

robert30062 has left a new comment on your post "Relativity Fnord":

I'm with you on anonymous Fritz. Gee whiz! haha. My paranoid side makes me wonder if this is not a "bad example" fnord. Meaning a guy who comes to our site and says some real things to impersonate an agorist but truly means to mislead through misdirection (Dr. Phil, are you kidding me?) and going on a rant. The repetition smells of pro-state trollery. This guy could just need a hug as you say Fritz but, looking at the sheer volume of the post leads me to believe that it's a 'bad information' bomb.

That big Anonymous comment was posted on several blogs. (Check for yourself via Google, if you're interested.) I seriously considered vetoing it as spam, but I decided to allow it.

If you're going to write a big comment, you're better off getting your own blog and publishing a link.

If that Anonymous commenter has something interesting to write about, he may try again.

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I looked around on the AdSense forum. A lot of people are complaining "WTF? My eCPM rates have crashed!" Due to the recession/depression, advertising budgets have also been slashed.

Compared to January, I have more traffic, but a lower eCPM and lower earnings. I'm still earning the $20 I need to cover hosting costs.

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Bo Anderson has left a new comment on your post "Your Strawman Corporation":

There is supposed to be a form you can fill out to separate yourself from your strawman, and THEN you can toss the DL and your documents. But you HAVE to make an Affidavit (Security Agreement) that states your Strawman is NOT you, and you are entitled to all the property under his name, and all the debts/monetary gain of him as well.

And I know (In the Republic of Texas this is a big thing) that you can send bills to your strawman corp. account and the treasury will pay for it. Thats another story, though.

I don't believe that. "There's some magic paperwork you can file with the State to recover your personal freedom." Real freedom isn't that easy. If it were possible, then everyone would do it. If it were possible, then the bad guys would quickly find a way to close the legal loophole.

Similarly, some people claim that there's magic paperwork you can file to get full allodial title to your property and an exemption from property taxes. I don't believe that. If it were true, then everybody would be doing it. If there were such a loophole, then the bad guys would rapidly close it.

Real freedom is achievable. Real freedom is more effort than "file magic paperwork with the State".

People who focus on these "Strawman corporation" arguments are missing the real point. Taxation is theft! The actual legal technicalities are irrelevant. You can't fight the bad guys using the legal system. The legal system was set up by the bad guys to benefit themselves!

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Xavin has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #81":

It's important for women to have jobs so that they can escape from abusive relationships. If a husband/father is abusive and the woman cannot financially support herself, then she cannot realistically get away.

There are other free market ways to handle this.

1. Marriage is a term contract and not a lifetime contract. Then, if your partner is abusive, you can get out.
2. In the event of a divorce, the man agrees to pay a certain predetermined amount towards raising children and paying the woman's living expenses.
3. Women have a responsibility to make sure they pick a partner who isn't a ****. Similarly, men have an obligation to pick a good partner. The man isn't always the abuser!
   

In the present, the State places artificially high transaction costs when you want to break up a marriage. Some rules are silly. Suppose I am married and my partner racks up $200k in debt. I am SOL. I am legally responsible for that debt, even if I get a divorce.

In other cases, the State forces a husband to pay child support costs. Under those conditions, there is less incentive for the woman to choose her partner wisely. She can always get a divorce and force the husband to pay support, or collect welfare.

Of course, this doesn't invalidate your point about the benefits of having a stay-at-home partner (of either gender).

That was my main point. Taking into account taxes and hidden costs, there isn't much benefit to having both parents work.

Ideally, I would like to have an agorist work-at-home business, so I could homeschool. If I give my child 5 minutes of personal attention per hour, that's more than he would get in a State brainwashing center.

Stated a different way, if women cannot get a job and live independently of men (husbands or fathers), then men have no incentive to treat women well. A wife having a career means that she can tell her husband to fuck off if he behaves badly.

In the present, there are artificial costs imposed on a woman who chooses to stay at home. Due to a non-free market, women who stay at home and reenter the workforce are discriminated against.

The best solution is to be an agorist. This way, you can have a part-time business while taking care of your children.

The idea of a career is an illusion. For example, my "career" as a wage slave software engineer has been a disappointment. I should try something else.

The more I think about it, the more I think "Sending your children to a State brainwashing center (school) is immoral!" If I properly educate my children about free market ideas, then they may not fit in well at school.

robert30062 has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #81":

I understand and agree with your point. However, there is a false opposite fnord in your response to what I said about the scam aspect of the "Women's Rights" movement. Of course it's a good thing for women to be able to work and earn money/freedom. But true "Women's Liberation" comes from choice! Women should be able to freely choose if they wish to work or not as opposed to being forced by economic necessity and/or social pressure. Also, if a woman chooses to work, then the gains should exceed the losses involved if she is a parent. Fsk addressed that part in detail. Thank you for posting though, if you're not a troll then you are in a good place here!

In the present, there is substantial economic pressure forcing women to work. The practical results of "Women in the wage slave world!" is that salaries have been cut, and services that used to be performed "for free (untaxed)" by stay-at-home moms are now performed in the wage slave economy and taxed.

A child care center or school is going to provide inferior care compared to the mother.

Another important point is "If you look at *ALL* direct and hidden taxes, it probably doesn't pay for both parents to work." The working mother pays a marginal taxation rate of 50% on her income. Plus, you pay for child care costs. You pay for all the things the working mother would otherwise do "for free".

Ideally, you should have an on-the-books or agorist business where you can work from home while watching your kid.

Another problem is State restriction of the market, which makes alternative schooling arrangements illegal or impractical.

Another problem is the State monopoly for enforcing marriage contracts.

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fritz has left a new comment on your post "FSK Asks - Fetching Old Items on an RSS Feed?":

Good luck....I consider myself lucky just to figure out how to operate my new vista windows..But I'm sure that if anyone can pull it off its you..

I figured out:

1. RSS is only supposed to have current information. There's no part of the official specification for grabbing older content.
2. Google Reader has a cache of old posts, available via the unofficial Google Reader API. Google only has this information because they've been caching it.
3. For a Blogger-hosted or WordPress-hosted blog, there are options to get older data in the RSS feed, via query parameters when fetching the feed.
   
4. For other RSS engines, I'll try to figure out how to do it, or use the unofficial Google Reader API.

I'm getting really interested in the "Write my own RSS reader!" project.

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By E-Mail someone asks:

What is the best type of gold to hold for investing? I am trying to figure out what is important. I was hoping you might be able to give me some insight. Please help me.

I don't value nusimatics. I would just buy the cheapest price per ounce.

I would go with gold rounds and bars. (http://www.apmex.com/Category/9/Gold_Bars__Rounds_1_gram___1_Kilo.aspx)

If you want purchases smaller than an ounce of gold, you might as well buy silver instead (http://www.apmex.com/Category/520/Silver_Rounds_Secondary_Market__New.aspx).

I would just buy generic rounds or bars, and not pay a premium for "collectible" coins. Your goal should be to pay as little more than spot as possible.

I haven't made any gold purchases for my personal account yet. It's on my "list of things to do". My parents forbid me from investing in gold and silver while I live with them, so I'm going to have to wait a year or two for that. I'm thinking of moving my IRA investments to GLD and SLV.

On my advice, my father bought some GLD. He "complained" that "My IRA is all invested in GLD now! It's gone up while everything else has crashed!" He also bought some "safe" banking stocks, based on my advice. My attitude now is "**** the stock market!"

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Kiba has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #79":

Mises.org forum is now full of anarcho-capitalists like you.

You can come back now.

I'll probably come back someday. I checked by briefly, and there still seems to be a pro-State trolling problem.

I should write my own forum engine.

Mises.org actually was a decent venue for "Promote my blog!" Right now, I'm focusing more on "Write good posts!" than "Actively promote my blog!"

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Via Google search, I noticed this thread on a theology forum where someone cited my blog. The person who cited my blog said "FSK complains about 'Taxation is theft!'" too much. I don't mention it that often. "Taxation is theft!" is a *VERY* important idea that is censored from mainstream media political/economic discussions.