individuals collectively going galt

the problem with leaders is, they're easy to pick off (a.k.a assassinate, if only the character type). imo, the latest move in gold is a collective vote of no confidence in our current system of government and banking. i think we will see more like this. uncle joe will buy an extra weeks worth of food ... just in case there's a run. aunt mary will spend another few minutes chatting up the neighbor about tea party or libertarian candidates. your buddy dave will start fixing cars on the weekend and accept any kind of barter item instead of putting in extra hours at his 9 to 5. your friend sherry will start a pre-school where each parent spends a day teaching - and it will morph into a private school. Occasionally the "authorities" will find out, and some will feign ignorance, but it will become more and more obvious that the probability of getting caught and punished is a good trade-off for the profit of working outside the system. and as more defect, the easier it will be to defect. and then maybe, finally, i'll sack up and defect

The Future of Education

A few education predictions. In the future, I believe students will be tested, these tests will be evaluated, and the students will be delivered custom content tapered to their personal strengths and weaknesses. This will likely all be automated. No longer will a student listen to a lecture on content that is below or above their level; or similarly be tasked with busy work.

I don't know what will happen to students who are above or below average. If the past holds any clues, though, those behind will receive special encouragement, while those ahead will be punished by the jealous. Ideally though, those ahead could pursue their own interests, skip ahead, or start materially benefiting from their productive capacity.

on location

here's a prediction/recommendation: as we're designing the next phase of human interaction (government, economics, etc) we can/will leverage technology to allow us to voluntarily participate in the communities we want without the restrictions of location. if we want to participate in a democratic commune, there will be an app for that. instead of marching on washington, or protesting outside city hall, we'll just update our preferences, and change our friends or groups that we're interested in - facebook style

Quarantine the KillBots

Stefan discusses the problem of returning soldiers. He has little faith in the idea of "swords to ploughshares". In an ideal world, we would rehabilitate everyone. Second best, we could leave parts of the world where they can express their destructive programming without hurting others. This is one of the reasons I have suggested that Afghanistan become an independent colony. For those who nature and/or nurture have deemed warlike, we can help them fulfill their calling without endangering others, by sponsoring them to go to "war regions". This would be a modern day gladiator, but more so. Further, we should expand professional sports - so that we create a path from killing people, to injuring your competitor, to causing pain in your competitor, to competing with someone for mutual fitness, etc. The problem is, of course, moving from win/lose to win/win; without diminishing our effectiveness at deflecting and disabling win/lose attacks.

love thine enemy

i am no fan of Obama's. but this article helped to surface some ideas that have been rattling around in my noggin.

• even if he wanted to end the war, he is/was going against entrenched parties. parties who are trained to defeat their opponents


• even if he wanted to fix the economy, he is/was going against his own party's socialist and revolutionary leanings


• even if he wanted to have a lively public debate, he's fighting a journalist system that is based on access and sensationalism

what i'm getting at is: there's stuff going on behind the scenes that by its nature, keeps us citizens from accurately evaluating our representatives. i hope he brings a sensible end to the middle east conflicts. i still like my idea of "independent colonies"

California Ballot

I used to be very protective about my voting record, but I've decided that the more people who let their votes be known, with rationale, the more likely the democratic process will help secure our freedoms. I chose to receive a Republican ballot this time as California allows non-declared voters to choose each election. I've chosen Democratic primary ballots in the past, fyi

Governor: Naritelli
rationale: tea party candidate, freedom lover, capitalist
note: switched from Whitman due to Goldman ties and various marginally ethical behavior

Lieutenant Gov: Scott L. Levitt
rationale: best of the worst, limited gov, private background, deregulation, good tax stance

Secretary of State: Orly Taitz
rationale: the woman's on a mission - she has a right to question Obama's legitimacy but has been daemonized; a statement by the voters can help legitimize our attempts to hold gov feet to the flame

Controller: David Evans
rationale: limited gov, solid financial background

Treasurer: abstain
rationale: only one candidate, don't want to suggest a mandate

Attorney General: John Eastman
rationale: liberty candidate, honest face (sometimes that holds), best of the worst

Insurance Commissioner: abstain
rationale: Brian Fitzgerald does not appear to be a valid candidate, therefore, one candidate and don't want to suggest a mandate

Equalization: abstain
rationale: Rae Williams does not appear to be a valid candidate

US Senator: Tom Campbell
rationale: studied under Friedman, was one candidate who didn't make it on Hannity

Representative: abstain
rationale: only one valid - will probably vote for Joel Smolen anyway

State Assembly: abstain
rationale: one candidate

Superior Court Judge, Office 3: Haakenson
rationale: Burton is a dipshit, Haakenson seems cool - wish I coulda found his decision record

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Gloria Romero
rationale: supports charter schools (as close to private as we're going to get for now)

Superintendent of Schools: abstain
rationale: one

Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk: Benson
rationale: this was tough. could have gone to Raful. didn't like scott's union ties

Sheriff-Coroner: Doyle
rationale: Doyle seems to be doing an OK job, and imo sheriff experience is more important than coroner experience. Sorry Ken

Prop 13 - seismic retrofit could raise your taxes: no
rationale: taxes bad, retrofit good

Prop 14 - primary over general: no
rationale: too limiting, may solidify donkey-phant hegemony

Prop 15 - political campaign mess: no
rationale: need cap on individual and total contributions, not obscure rules and tax dollars

Prop 16 - PG&E protection act: no
rationale: tough one, but this makes it too hard for officials to act in the interest of (isolated) consumers/taxpayers. I would like to see the gov out of the electric business, though

Prop 17 - drivers history of insurance companies: no
rationale: we need to remove the liability insurance law, not strengthen the companies who profit from it

Fed Moving Gold

RUMOR ALERT

I have relatively reliable information that much of the gold traditionally stored in Fed vaults (at least the NY Fed) has been moved to "undisclosed locations"

I'm hoping that once they move their (hopefully rightfully earned) assets out of the US they'll be less opposed to discontinuing their opperations here. This could turn out to be a win/win - they get out with a premium and the people get their freedom back