No Treason http://notreason.com Abolition, Nullification and Revolution Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:43:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 2009 in Retrospect http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/opEchnO8Lko/ http://notreason.com/2010/01/01/2009-in-retrospect/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:42:19 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=902 2009 was an eventful year for me.  I have been planning, for some time, to write this post to recap some of what happened, and what the outlook for 2010 looks like, with me and with NoTreason.com

Coming into 2009, I was blogging semi-regularly at NoTreason, participating at the Mises Community forums and generally trying to educate myself as much as possible on libertarian and market anarchist theory, while working on my own projects of entrepreneurship.

Since that time, I’ve had to trim back some of the time I had been using for debate and education as a matter of necessity and sanity.  Necessity that I should maximize my productive capacity during this lull in the economic storm, and sanity, to get away from petty and self-indulgent arguments which can be soul sapping.

Topics that moved me in 2009 were intellectual monopoly, capitalism, praxeology, self-awareness, performative contradiction, subjective ethics, logical fallacies, long tail marketing, capital goods, epistemology, paying it forward, low time preferences, and consent.

People I would like to thank for teaching, tolerating, and encouraging me are

  • Jeffrey Tucker
  • Nir Graham
  • Mike Gogulski
  • Grayson Lilburne
  • Adam Knott

Voluntarists who asked the “right questions“, questions which prompted me to go deeper into my understanding and challenge my own dogma,

  • NitroAdict
  • SpideyNW
  • AJ
  • JackCuyler
  • Zefreak

I also want to thank Stephan Kinsella for inviting me to his group and Brutus and Paul Edwards for showing my ideas respect when I was there.  Stephan was a big influence on me this year, not just for his verbose and difficult to read articles on IP and property NOK, but for being the first (and only?) member of the LRC crowd to publicly embrace Mario Rizzo’s call for more class and tolerance within the ranks of Austrian Economics and Libertarianism/libertarianism at large.  It takes a lot of courage to be accountable.

And David Friedman, who I feel gets very little respect from Austrians, and seems to get judged more for things his father stood for than what he has written about, has also been an excellent influence.  The Machinery of Freedom is anarcho-capitalism for grownups.

And Marc Stevens, whose legal arguments are fantastic for illustrating what a farce the state really is.  I think he has really expanded on Lysander Spooner’s work, adding strong arguments against constitutionalist mythology, which is a by-product of Rothbardian populism through the Ron Paul vector.

What happens with NoTreason.com going forward?  I’m not really happy with many of my past posts.  Some are important, like pointing out the hypocrisy of left-libertarians when they attacked Keith Preston, but the hypocrisy is so thick, one could run hundreds of blog posts correcting silly errors like bossism, racism, feminism wage slavery, free(d) markets etc.  Some posts are not so important, like my Alex Jones/Webster Tarpley post which never got a follow up because I simply stopped caring about Tarpley’s bad ideas about economics.  There are lots of cranks, some are high profile cranks, but they are still bit players in the market of ideas. If there is something I have learned this year, it is that the way to legitimize someone with bad ideas is to engage them and give arguments without merit undeserved attention.

Going forward, if and when I post, I want to reflect the spirit of voluntarism, and that means writing more about my journey through markets, trying to use markets, entrepreneurship.   More about ideas which I think are good, and less critical reviews of ideas I don’t agree with.

Sorry Conza, that means my critique of Rothbard’s radical libertarian political plan isn’t going to see light of day.  It’s just not rewarding to critique ideas I don’t care about and as a voluntarist, I reject the political means, even if it makes the possiblity of transitioning from slavery to liberty longer or less likely.  The ends do not justify the means and without principles, my work for honesty and principles will be for naught.

I think my readership is relatively tiny now, I haven’t done much to develop this site.  If anyone has an idea of how such a great domain name can be better utilized; combined with, separate from, or without blogging, I am all ears.  Use the contact form or post in the comments.

Thank you for reading.  My 2009 was an amazing journey which I intend to continue with greater patience and energy in 2010.  I hope you have an excellent, safe, peaceful and prosperous 2010.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

  • Related Blogs on rothbard
]]> http://notreason.com/2010/01/01/2009-in-retrospect/feed/ 5 http://notreason.com/2010/01/01/2009-in-retrospect/ Stargate Universe Fail http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/4OCDEs4uViA/ http://notreason.com/2009/10/03/stargate-universe-fail/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:02:32 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=894 So, SGU debuted last night on Syfy with the two hour long premiere, “Air”.  I’ve watched it twice now.  It’s even less watchable the second time around.

The show is too much BSG (Battlestar Galactica) for my liking.  The overlit flashback/dream sequences, the too dark action sequences.   Bear McCreary-ish music.  Gratuitous and irrelevant sex.

It’s a shame when a show with so much production capital, squanders that capital on being a copycat of a series that crashed and burned on its own narcissism (BSG).

Excerpted from a brilliant comment on Gateworld,

Of course, the biggest wall banger of them all is the plot. Oh gee, I thought I already saw Battlestar Galactica? And yet here we are with the costumes, the camera work, and the plot (being stranded on a ship that’s dying). I get the whole thing about the show being centered around the characters, and that would be totally okay if it wasn’t so terrible and if the characters were so unlikable and so unbelievable, but as it stands this is a terrible continuation of the Stargate franchise. Apparently NBC confused “ratings” with “let’s sex this up and dumb it down.” That’s not what Stargate is about. But I suppose that won’t stop the closet sex scenes that add zero to the plot and platform of the show or the trigger-happy tension of betrayal and back-stabbing for what is predictably in store for us. Thankfully I don’t think it’ll make it past the first season.

The funniest part however, is the selfless Senator.  As a voluntarist/ancap/libertarian, there is nothing funnier than a career tax eater sacrificing himself for the team.  It’s about as likely as a midget getting voted to start in the NBA All-Star game.

Unless the game plan is changed, I doubt this show goes more than 3 seasons.

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/10/03/stargate-universe-fail/feed/ 1 http://notreason.com/2009/10/03/stargate-universe-fail/ On Web Page Usability http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/vxAyClrBWRY/ http://notreason.com/2009/09/25/on-web-page-usability/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:04:31 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=891 Great article from Smashing Magazine, 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines.

Highly recommended.  I’m already working on my new NoT template, which will have less fluff in the head, and more content above the fold.  I’m also going to further cut down how many posts I display on the index page, making more judicious use of the more and excerpt functionality in WordPress.

If you would like me to write more about SEO, feel free to add a comment, and let me know what you would like to see discussed.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/09/25/on-web-page-usability/feed/ 0 http://notreason.com/2009/09/25/on-web-page-usability/ On Purpose and Conscience http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/rsWmrUgWkSg/ http://notreason.com/2009/09/17/on-purpose-and-conscience/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:23:18 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=883 I am so turned off on watching violence, but this one sequence of dialog from Rambo 4 sums up how I feel half of the time.

“There isn’t one of us that doesn’t wanna be someplace else.  But this is what we do, this is who we are.  Live for nothing, or die for something.”

Here is another good one, this time from Aaron Russo,

“You have to stand up for what is right in life, unless you do that, you’re a nothing.”

I believe that the calling of everyone with a conscience, is to leave the world better than they found it.  YMMV

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/09/17/on-purpose-and-conscience/feed/ 1 http://notreason.com/2009/09/17/on-purpose-and-conscience/ On Communism http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/p5ThQhwR1mI/ http://notreason.com/2009/09/15/on-communism/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:44:32 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=877 On the Mises community forums, Byzantine comments,

So yeah, I think communism is just pie-in-the-sky, like Shangri-La or the Big Rock Candy Mountain.  It is impossible in a world of scarcity and subjective value.

Which made me think how ironic communism is.

Without scarcity, there would be no purpose for communism, and due to scarcity, it is impossible.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/09/15/on-communism/feed/ 0 http://notreason.com/2009/09/15/on-communism/ The Constitution of Zero Authority http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/tfe1wTSvYUU/ http://notreason.com/2009/09/04/the-constitution-of-zero-authority/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:02:38 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=873 These days, I cringe every time some minarchist or Objectivist invokes the US Constitution in debate.

It is just a piece of paper. It has no authority. There are no citizens.

Most arguments for the state rest on externalities.  Is there a bigger externality than the state?  Does any other institution or organization create more property rights violations?

Wake up from your comfortable lies and hand-me-down mythologies.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/09/04/the-constitution-of-zero-authority/feed/ 1 http://notreason.com/2009/09/04/the-constitution-of-zero-authority/ Max Keiser just lost his mind http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/wGYhKeFgkhc/ http://notreason.com/2009/09/02/max-keiser-just-lost-his-mind/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:51:29 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=866 Max Keiser just called for a boycott with a $1 million prize to destroy the stock value of Whole Foods on the Alex Jones show. He’s screaming and ranting right now. He’s targeting the free marketers and defending the state and its oligarchy.

Max has made a fool of himself on the health care debate recently, and I meant to post about that, but haven’t been able to get inspired to post lately, so it has gone without refutation.

Sad stuff.

Alex just pushed back, and its about time.   Max has been slipping off the deep end for awhile.

Might be time to boycott Max Keiser and his progressive socialism.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/09/02/max-keiser-just-lost-his-mind/feed/ 3 http://notreason.com/2009/09/02/max-keiser-just-lost-his-mind/ The best thing about Alexander Hamilton http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/JDoNmvSfwTY/ http://notreason.com/2009/08/21/the-best-thing-about-alexander-hamilton/#comments Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:01:15 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=858 Hamilton-Burr Duel

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

The best thing about Alexander Hamilton was Aaron Burr.
Sic semper tyrannis.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/08/21/the-best-thing-about-alexander-hamilton/feed/ 2 http://notreason.com/2009/08/21/the-best-thing-about-alexander-hamilton/ Max Keiser – Paulson and Geithner are Financial Terrorists http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/_dQ7c7qGnmU/ http://notreason.com/2009/07/16/max-keiser-paulson-and-geithner-are-financial-terrorists/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:44:05 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=837

Max on fire.  No one has the balls to do this on North American TV.

Related Blogs (automatically generated)

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/07/16/max-keiser-paulson-and-geithner-are-financial-terrorists/feed/ 2 http://notreason.com/2009/07/16/max-keiser-paulson-and-geithner-are-financial-terrorists/ SciFi.com rebranding http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/No_Treason/~3/biuEfuJj-CU/ http://notreason.com/2009/07/13/syfy/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:20:57 +0000 Dixie Flatline http://notreason.com/?p=789 SCI FI is now Syfy

SCI FI is now Syfy

SciFi.com, one of the biggest nerd brands on the internet, has decided for some reason, to rebrand as Syfy.

SciFi.com was terribly marketed, the entire look and feel of the web site, not to mention the mediocre content on the television channel, but dumbing SciFi, short for “science fiction“, down to a web 2.0-ish non-word for the new name is almost unbelievable.

What could be greater than science fiction?  What could be greater than wormhole travel, parallel universes, ancient races with godlike powers, interstellar travel, and science beyond the wildest conception?

The “Imagine Greater” trailer indicates that Syfy will be like Jurassic Park meets Alice in Wonderland meets LSD in a 3 ring circus.

If SciFi Syfy is in any way publicly owned, now is the time to get out.  Healthy firms don’t rebrand and any observer of this media network knows that its issues are not based on the logo or slogan. Moves like this typically signal an unhealthiness in a company evidenced by the drastic, senseless and most importantly, costly swings for the emptiest portion of the bleachers.

It is like the pretty girl cutting all of her hair off and wearing sweat pants to the prom.  Epic fail.

]]> http://notreason.com/2009/07/13/syfy/feed/ 1 http://notreason.com/2009/07/13/syfy/