Banish Annoying People From Your Life

On freedomain, he has a very interesting philosophy. He says that if a relationship with someone is unhealthy, you should stop interacting with them if you have better alternatives.

I'm the sort of person who feels guilty about that sort of thing, but it is sometimes necessary. I have a hard time meeting new people, so I tend to stick with the people I already know. Similarly, if a job isn't working out, it's best to try something else. This also applies on the Internet. If your interactions with a website, discussion forum, or blog make you feel bad about yourself, you should stop visiting it. Of course, on the Internet, exercising your right to leave is a lot easier than with personal relationships or with jobs.

For example, my experiences with editing Wikipedia led to frustration when professional trolls were preventing me from including certain information. My policy now is that I refuse to edit Wikipedia. I will use it as a reference, aware of its shortcomings.

Someone else wrote in a comment once "Why do you still work for large corporations? You should work as a true anarchist/agorist?" The corporate community can afford to pay me about $40/hour after taxes. In the anarchist/agorist community, so far, I have not found any viable alternatives. I'm not going to work for $5/hour or less, just to stop supporting the state. I should be able to simultaneously pursue my self-interest and work against the state. For now, I'm working for free in my blog, and working in a corporate job. When the anarchist/agorist community is advanced enough to hire me at a decent rate, that's when I'll work there. Besides, as long as my corporate job is a complete and utter waste of time, I can do it without feeling guilty that I'm creating wealth for the bad guys to confiscate!

I will stop supporting the state completely, as soon as there's a viable alternative. I would love to be able to banish the state from my life, but that's not realistic at this time.

Agorist Example - The Midwestern Bread Club

I read an interesting post about a "bread club" in a midwestern city.

Someone had a hobby of making bread. They liked baking bread and sold some to their friends.

However, they did not formally organize their bread baking as a legal business. The person was baking out of their oven in their home. Some people install restaurant-quality ovens in their home; I don't know if that's what this person did.

If the person organized their bread baking as a formal business, the hassle would have been too great. First, they would have had to upgrade their oven to be compliant with government regulations, which would have required a huge capital expense. All the other hassles and regulations that go with a legal bread business would have been impractical. Further, since this business is unreported, I don't know if the bread baker is reporting his income for taxation.

The baker was only interesting in baking part-time as a hobby. If the baker organized a formal business, he would have to make a 50-60 hour/week commitment to baking, to justify the cost of compliance with government regulations.

This is a good example of an agorist business. The person only baked once every week or two. The baker only sold to his trusted friends, minimizing the risk of a government raid. By avoiding government regulation and taxation, costs were dramatically slashed. The people buying the bread get a greater quality, at lower price. All the participants in the transaction win.

There is only one obvious flaw. This agorist business owner is using Federal Reserve Notes as money. In order to be truly free, you need to switch to a monetary system that is sound. Whenever you conduct a transaction with Federal Reserve Notes, you're implicitly supporting the Federal Reserve an its policies. In order to be truly free, you have to use a fair monetary system. On the other hand, if you get Federal Reserve Notes and immediately trade them for hard assets, you're minimizing the extent to which inflation steals from you.

Another problem is that this baker must exist in anonymity. It would be nice if he could share information on his methods and tactics anonymously, without exposing himself to risk. I think that interested amateur bakers in other cities should also form a "bread club". This amateur baker would lose nothing by sharing his methods, provided he can do so anonymously.

It's nice to hear of some success stories. I'd like to see things like this happening on a larger scale.

The Remnant

There is an interesting article on lewrockwell.com about the Remnant. This article refers to the prophet Isaiah from the Bible. He was preaching about how society in general was falling apart, and what needed to be done in order to fix things. Isaiah complained to God that he was wasting his time and nobody was listening. God responded that yes, the vast majority of people were not listening and were clueless. The leaders will ignore his advice and shun him for trying to help. However, there is a minority of people that are aware of what's going on and are looking for support. They need to hear someone who is telling the truth.

Isaiah preached for several years. He was persecuted. He ran away and told God "There's nobody left but me. I was lucky to escape with my life. If I die, there's nobody left." God told him that was not true. Out of 1 million people living in Israel, there were 7,000 members of the Remnant who needed to hear him preaching. He should go back to Israel and get back to work. God assured him that everything would be all right in the long run, even if Isaiah were killed.

I hear the term "the Remnant" referred to quite a bit nowadays. The Remnant are the people who will get together and build a new society when everything else falls apart. The current economic and political system *IS* falling apart, so it's time for the Remnant to get together and figure out to do. It is impossible to achieve reform by voting. The clueless people are the vast majority, and they will always outnumber the Remnant.

The only solution I can think of that has a nonzero chance of success is an agorist revolution. Members of the Remnant need to set up their own economic and political system, independent of the current government. This way, the transition to the new economic and political system will be smooth as the current system collapses.

If you're writing for a mainstream audience, you have to water down your stuff. If you're writing for the Remnant, you should write about the truth as best as you can. If you're writing or talking about the right topics, you don't have to seek out the Remnant; they will find you.

Based on my personal experience, I would say that members of the Remnant are around 1%-2% of the general population, which is slightly higher than the Old Testament's estimate of 0.7%.

The Internet is a great tool that allows members of the Remnant to communicate and share resources. Under normal circumstances, their density in the general population is too low for them to be effective. Typically, members of the Remnant are kept isolated from one another, but the Internet may change things.

I think that my target audience is members of the Remnant. I talk about topics that are important and the mainstream media has completely censored.

You are a member of the Remnant if:

1. You are able to understand the Compound Interest Paradox and feel outraged.
2. You are unhappy to discover that the USA is actually a communist country. You are able to compare the planks of the Communist Manifesto to current the current US economy and understand the argument that I gave.
   
3. You appreciate the merits of a gold standard, instead of worthless unbacked paper.
4. You feel that the Federal Reserve should not provide a massive subsidy to the financial industry and large corporations, in the form of negative real interest rates.
5. You are annoyed at the biased coverage of mainstream news sources.
6. You understand how income taxes convert you into a government slave.
7. You are annoyed how property taxes force you to pay rent on the land you're supposed to own. You understand what "full alloidal title" means, and are annoyed you can't actually get full title to the land you thought you owned.
8. You are annoyed that taxes force you to pay for government schools, which are used to brainwash your children.
9. You understand that government-subsidized programs prevent free market alternatives from developing. Then, the government program is advertised as being needed, precisely because there are no free market alternatives.
10. You understand that the government restricts the supply of doctors, guaranteeing they will always have high salaries. The health care crisis in the USA is caused by government licensing requirements for doctors.
    

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably understand all of the above points. You also understand that *NONE* of the above topics are ever discussed on a mainstream news source. Fortunately, the Internet is a valuable resource that lets people share information.

I never would have understood the above items if it wasn't for other people writing on the Internet. Hopefully, I have been able to describe these ideas more understandably than other sites present them.

Reader Mail #31

I liked this quote from BradSpangler.com:

“Frankly, to admit to being ‘inspired’ by politicians is a lot like confessing that your nipples get hard when you watch a mugger kick a victim bloody in the gutter.” — J.D. Tuccille

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I liked this post on Check Your Premises. As an anarchist, you prefer to see the government as small as possible. On the other hand, the bigger the government gets, the more inefficient it gets. Do you prefer a small government, or a big government that's close to collapse?

Of course, I prefer small government or no government. Sometimes, I wonder if it's necessary to get a big and bloated government before progress will occur.

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I liked this post on Overcoming Bias. In American comics, a superhero gets his powers first, and then fights crime out of boredom. In Japanese comics, you only develop super-powers due to a desire to protect or fight something.

For example, you can't just say "I want a good blog." If you say "The State is evil! We need to do something about that!" Then, you can have a good blog.

I don't have an (IMHO) good blog just to have one. I have a specific point and enemy I want to defend myself from.

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I liked this post from the Picket Line:

As Alexander Haig, U.S. Secretary of State said in 1982: “Let them march all they want, as long as they continue to pay their taxes.”

As long as you pay income taxes, all other forms of political protest are pointless. Under the current economic system, you cannot work without supporting the government and the bad guys.

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This post on Tranachism was slightly inaccurate. Due to the Compound Interest Paradox, the supply of money *MUST* grow exponentially. However, since money is just a number printed on a piece of paper, this growth CAN continue indefinitely.

The real failure of the economic system occurs when people switch to alternate monetary systems.

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I liked this post on the Liberty Papers. Should organ donors be allowed to be paid for their donation? Why not have a true free market in organ donations, rather than the current "waiting list" system.

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redpillguy has left a new comment on your post "Illness Details":

How do we know you haven't been kidnapped, and someone is posing as you pretending to be mentally ill to discredit everything you've written? ;)

That is, of course, the Strawman Fallacy.

Unfortunately, my "illness" is all too real. I've decided that I'm going to refuse drugs again. Hopefully, I will be able to avoid relapsing this time.

Kimochi has left a new comment on your post "Psychiatrist Visit":

That's a shame that it didn't work out the way you wanted. Can you chop the medication yourself? Or, is it all or nothing at this point?

The problem with doing it that was is that it's impossible to get refills. I'll save the pills I have in case I feel a relapse. Otherwise, I'm going to try and "live clean".

My psychiatrist was adamant. He wants me to take a full lethal dose of lithium or Depakote. My experience with lithium and anti-psychotic drugs has been *HORRIBLE*.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Water Powered Cars and Zero Point Energy":

There's an explanation for the magnet vs. electromagnet experiment. First of all, in the 2 magnet case, when there is no vertical motion, there is no work done and no energy expended.

In the case of the electromagnet, the current flowing produces magnetic force, and the current flowing through the wire's resistance also burns power in the form of heat. This is unrelated to the energy balance of the magnet.

As the battery gets weaker, the magnetic force generated by the electromagnet gets weaker, thus the magnet's equilibrium position becomes lower and lower. The change in potential energy due to gravity is actually transferred to the electromagnet circuit. In fact if there were no battery but instead the electromagnet is short circuited, the falling magnet is slowed down (a consequence of Lenz's law), and the potential energy from gravity is converted into a current that flows in the electromagnet's wire as the magnet drops, converted to heat. No violations of energy balance here.

This is the principle used in "eddy current brakes", which are used in elevators, for example.

I don't understand what you're saying. In either case, you have two motionless magnets, so no work should be performed. Why should the electromagnet vs. permanent magnet cases be different? A permanent magnet appears to tap a power source that electromagnets normally ignore.

Anyway, it would take me 5-10 years of research to develop useful zero point energy technology, and there's no guarantee I would succeed. Other things are a more efficient use of my time, for now.

CK has left a new comment on your post "A List of Harmful Drugs I've Been Given":

This is strictly anectdotal, not proof. We had lots of niggling sicknesses for years. Finally we gave up everything we could that used High Fructose Corn Syrup for sweetening. Within a few weeks, we noticed that the niggling sicknesses stopped. I have always hated having to read the fine print on food labels, but it is now a habit, if a food product uses HFCS, it doesn't receive our money.
Our niggling sicknesses were not panic attacks, so maybe this was a worthless anectdote, just something we found made us healthier.
At one time I tried to quit cigarettes using a combination of the patch and welburtrin. I had the same results from ( Zyban ) welburtin that you had from the various lethargy inducing drugs you mentioned. Horrid feeling indeed. Luckily I have since discovered that people who smoke have significantly lowered risks of Parkinsons and ALzheimers. So I traded guaranteed smoker's hack for potential uncontrollable shakes and memory loss.

I can't stand those lethargy inducing drugs. That's the primary reason I'm boycotting anti-psychotic drugs.

Do I want to spend the rest of my life in a drugged-up stupor, just to guarantee I won't have another panic attack?

I should work on improving my diet.

redpillguy has left a new comment on your post "A List of Harmful Drugs I've Been Given":

In my previous comment about the link to a vid about the "policeman inside your head", I apologize that I forgot to say beforehand "on another topic...". I should have put it as a comment to your earlier post about the "policemen insider your head" where it belonged.

On mental illness. I remember reading something about an animal nutritionist finding that feeding large amounts of certain nutrients (minerals IIRC) solved a problem of pigs "going nuts". He then fed it to his kids or nephews with some kind of mental illness and there was a dramatic improvement. A psychiatrist got interested and did a small study and found similar results. The animal nutritionist kept the recipe a secret and started selling it.

The theory behind this is (a)the pigs sometimes don't get the right necessary nutrients from the feedstock (b) some forms of mental illness may be due to a metabolic defect wherein the body cannot process normal amounts of certain critical nutrients necessary for brain function, and this is greatly helped by megadoses of said nutrients.

Here is one link I was able to dig up. You'll have to dig more:

http://www.ect.org/selfhelp/bipolcomm.html

If I were you I'd find out if the animal guy still sells this product and first try that, instead of trying out different supplements.

My parents found something similar in the store. I took one pill and it already appears to have helped a lot.

Some people say that there is a dietary basis to mental illness.

Yes, it does help if you post your comments in reference to the correct post.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Coins vs. Rounds":

The whole idea that the State imposes its paper currency on the whole society as 'legal tender' is absolutely 'theft' and robbery.

That's true. That's really no news at all to someone who's a regular reader of my blog.

Paper money can work if the issuing authority is trustworthy. I don't consider the Federal Reserve to be a trustworthy issuing authority.

Extrapolated Everyday Bull**** Comparison

This post on the Extrapolated Everyday Bull**** Comparison promoted Kung-Fu Monkey from my hitlist to my "read regularly" list.

If you take an exotic situation and translate it into everyday terms, if it sounds like bull****, then it actually is bull****.

Let's look at it this way. Suppose the government automatically deducted 1% of the balance from your checking account every month. Once a month, policemen showed up to your house with guns and demanded 1% of all cash on hand. What would you say? You would say "This is bull****". This is exactly what happens right now, due to inflation.

Suppose the government, at the end of each year, demanded a check for 40% of your previous years' earnings. You would say "This is bull****". This is exactly what happens right now, via automatic payroll deductions.

Suppose the President demanded that everyone turn over their cars in exchange for a photograph of a car. You would say "This is bull****". This is exactly what happened in 1933, when President Roosevelt demanded US citizens turn over their gold for irredeemable paper.

Behold the power of the Extrapolated Everyday Bull**** Comparison!

The Corporate Shareholder Lawsuit Scam

Sometimes, the management of a corporation are caught doing something wrong and the share price abruptly tanks. The most common cause of shareholder lawsuits is accounting fraud. In other cases, insider trading or improper information disclosures can lead to lawsuits.

A group of shareholders file a lawsuit against the corporation. Typically, the plaintiffs are people who bought shares during a certain time period. Both the corporation itself and the senior executives are usually named as defendants.

The problem is that the management gets to pay for their defense out of the corporation's assets. Typically, the settlement or verdict is paid out of the corporation's assets. In other words, the management pays nothing for their wrongdoing. Most executive employment contracts state that the corporation pays the full cost in the event of such a lawsuit.

It seems kind of contradictory. The shareholders are the ones who were injured by the misconduct of management. The current shareholders wind up paying the legal costs and the settlement. It's almost like suing yourself!

In other words, management at a corporation is protected by "sovereign immunity", in much the same way a king claimed immunity from prosecution. The government makes the laws that regulate corporations and their management. Except in cases of truly egregious conduct, management is typically protected from paying the penalty if they do something wrong.

Coins vs. Rounds

I read something very interesting. Generic 1 ounce silver coins issued by private mints are called "rounds". I always wondered why they called them "rounds" instead of "coins".

It turns out that "coins" is a government-copyrighted term. If I say "I minted a 1 ounce coin", legally it is like saying "I minted a 1 ounce silver legal tender US money". In the eyes of the government "coins" always means "government issued money". If I tell someone, "Will you accept this one ounce silver coin as payment?", I am committing a crime. If I tell someone, "Will you accept this one ounce silver round as payment?", I am not committing a crime. (Of course, both of us need to report this as a taxable transaction, based on the change in the Federal Reserve Point-denominated price of silver while it was in our possession; capital gains taxes are owed on silver barter transactions at the 28% collectibles rate. This is the reason silver rounds do not circulate as money.)

Private mints need to call what they mint "rounds" instead of "coins" so they aren't violating this regulation. It sounds completely silly to me.

I don't understand why the government is allowed to trademark or copyright the term "coin".

There's nothing wrong with a private mint making and selling disk-shaped silver objects, as long as they don't call them "coins" and as long as they aren't confused with official government money.