[Hat tip: David Peterson]
All posts by Richard
Tegmark Tuesday
Every time I’ve written ten mainstream papers, I allow myself to indulge in writing one wacky one, like my Scientific American article about parallel universes. This is because I have a burning curiosity about the ultimate nature of reality; indeed, this is why I went into physics in the first place. So far, I’ve learned one thing in this quest that I’m really sure of: whatever the ultimate nature of reality may turn out to be, it’s completely different from how it seems. So I feel a bit like the protagonist in the Truman Show, the Matrix or the 13th Floor trying to figure out what’s really going on.
Max Tegmark, The Universes of Max Tegmark
And then I woke up
Sunday last (27 May) I posted a tongue-in-cheek farewell message.
This is my final post. Why? Because the world ends today.
Come midnight, the world hadn’t ended. But there was still time … New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of GMT! I went to bed … and then I woke up. And the world was still here.
Was I surprised? No. I never thought for more than a moment that the world would end on 27 May 2012. Who would? Well, perhaps some of the visitors to The Prophesied End-Time Revealed. When I wrote my earlier post I thoughtfully kept a copy of the page as it was on 27 May. The opening paragraph read
The year 2008 marked the last of God’s warnings to mankind and the beginning in a countdown of the final three and one-half years of man’s self-rule that will end by May 27, 2012.
The opening paragraph now reads
The year 2008 marked the last of God’s warnings to mankind. The final countdown to the end of man’s self-rule began on May 27, 2012, and will end on Pentecost of 2013.
Now, that’s a bit dodgy. The end of the world isn’t nigh. It’s been indefinitely postponed. Since 2008.
In fact, Jesus says that no one will know at what hour the Son of Man will return (not even he does!), and Paul tells us that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When I looked up chapter and verse, I found that this message is repeated over and over in the New Testament. Really, it is inexcusable for a Christian to claim he knows the specific date of Christ’s Second Coming!
Matthew 24:36, 42-44 (NIV)
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Luke 12:35-40 (NIV)
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 (NIV)
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
2 Peter 3:10 (NIV)
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Revelation 3:3 (NIV)
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Revelation 16:15 (NIV)
“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
Matthew 24:3-5 (NIV)
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (NIV)
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter —asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Of Bossyboots, Busybodies and Bloombergs
The following is today’s op-ed by my friend (when I haven’t been doing my level best to sorely piss him off) and political ally, Lindsay Perigo. Perigo is still New Zealand’s #1 libertarian. Partly because the competition is unhealthy, but mostly because … well, the gem of an op-ed below speaks for itself. Cheers, Linz!
Lindsay Perigo Op-Ed: Of Bossyboots, Busybodies and Bloombergs
In the Declaration of Independence, ratified in 1776, America’s Founding Fathers affirmed that the role of government was to secure the inalienable rights of all citizens to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In 2012, the Mayor of New York affirms that the role of government is to forbid the sale of super-sized sodas.
Michael Bloomberg has announced a ban, not yet ratified, on the sale of sugary drinks in containers holding more than 16 ounces.
It is an illuminating snapshot of how far the United States has been dragged from its founding principles by obnoxious wowsers like Bloomberg that he can indulge his odious urges with such impunity.
“Big Brother Bloomberg,” as Fox News’s The Five have dubbed him, has already succeeded in banning the smoking of tobacco in public and the use of trans-fats in restaurants.
Bloomberg is now a one-man obesity nazi, on a mission to force fatties to shrink. He has bought into the latest dietary theology that sugar is the main cause of flab, and thinks it’s government’s job forcibly to limit how much of it citizens may ingest.
The last time a politician took such an invasive interest in his subjects’ health his name was Adolf Hitler. He too campaigned against tobacco, along with white-bread and meat-eating.
If New York’s citizens had any understanding of what the original Tea Party was all about, they’d eject Mayor Bloomberg from his office forthwith, before he bans smoking in their homes, criminalizes caffeine and reintroduces alcohol prohibition.
Instead, many are treating his proposed ban respectfully, as though he indeed has a right to institute such a thing. And disastrously, opponents are not staking out a position based on principle—that government under the American system has no business dictating how much sugar people may consume—but on quibbles as to whether sugar actually is the culprit (tacitly conceding that if it were, the move to restrict it would be valid). They also point out that the ban could be easily circumvented by the sale of two 16-oz sodas instead of one 32-oz one. These “arguments” remind me of the hypothetical group of folk, conjured up by Leonard Peikoff in his lecture on why people don’t think in principles, who idly muse on whether it might be a good idea to rob a bank. “Which bank?” one of them asks.
Many of Bloomberg’s opponents are of the “which bank?” ilk, toying with the proposition that robbing a bank might be OK but fretting over which one has the laxest security, the easiest escape route, etc. They forget what they were raised, rightly, to believe—that it’s flat-out wrong to rob banks, period. Bossyboots Busybody Bloomberg is radically, fundamentally, treasonously out of line with the Declaration of Independence in his relentless Nanny Statism … and this is what his critics should be hanging him in effigy for.
Here in New Zealand, the National Socialist Government has announced that the excise tax on tobacco will be raised 10% a year over the next four years, meaning a pack of 20 cigarettes will end up costing over $20 a pack. It has also set aside $20 million of taxpayer money to facilitate the path to a “smoke-free New Zealand” (no smoking in private homes?) by 2025. A freedom-conscious citizenry, smokers and non-smokers alike, would storm Parliament over intolerable outrages such as this. Alas, we do not have a freedom-conscious citizenry, just a flock of sheeple.
America once had, but no longer has, a freedom-conscious citizenry. “Don’t tread on me” has become “please tread on me.”
“The natural order of things,” lamented Thomas Jefferson, “is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
In which case, paraphrasing Diderot, liberty will be safe only when the last pathological power-luster has been strangled with the guts of the last congenital control-freak.
And when its champions are able to defend it on principle.
Lindsay Perigo: linz@lindsayperigo.com
[Reproduced with permission! The original is online at http://www.solopassion.com/node/9150.]
Dakta Grower busted by Brian Borland
Yesterday Brian Borland AKA Dakta Grower handed himself in to the police, admitting to growing, to make a statement about his belief in the cause.
Dakta Grower is a cannabis grower, a founding member of the Daktory, and MaryJane the Cannabus’s refurbishment engineer. And he’s a hero! Here’s some further autobiographical information from Dakta Grower’s Facebook profile.
No story is complete without its history, and mine starts in 1977 with the first time I would be busted for possession. This of course failed to deter my appreciation of the “herb” and consumption continued.
First charge of cultivation in January of “95″. I entered a plea of “guilty of breaking the law, but not guilty of any crime”. Sentence was three months P. D. and I thought it was quite ironic when, about 9 o’clock on the first morning of P.D, one of the boys “sparked up” the first joint of the day. I also found a source of supply. As I staunchly believe, that adults should have the right to grow for their own use if they wish, I had no hesitation in growing again. The second was in May “98”. The cops raided my place while I was out, and even though everything they were after was easy to find, I arrived home to find the place torn apart. This search failed to turn up anything else. Same charges and plea as previously. As I had a business and was working 7 days the judge only fined me $500, which wasn’t to bad considering I had fourteen females some of which were mature.
I moved into an industrial unit half way through ’99 and in November I was busted yet again. This was the most civilized of them all. There were only two officers, who didn’t bother to search much, as they accepted, that all I had was the eleven mature plants and sixteen seedlings. Same charges however. By now I was sick of losing plants and replacing lights, so this time I went not guilty and refused to pay a fine or do P.D. At the time I had $1500 of unpaid fines, including the $500 from the previous conviction. Result was a 9 month suspended jail sentence and the judge wiped the fines. This was a very pleasing result indeed.
Fourth bust. I am usually very security conscious, except, on this occasion I had the roller door raised while I cleaned up. All of a sudden an army of cops descended on me. Turns out there were 10 cops, a dog and a paddy wagon, all for me and my sixteen plants. How’s that for efficient use of police resources? Again the place was torn apart and again the search failed to turn up anything extra. They did however, manage to miss some hash that I had made using the ice water method. So at least I had some smoke to soothe the nerves when I arrived home. Later that day I started more seeds. While I was waiting in line for the remand window at the Henderson court to open, I got talking to a guy that had been busted for possession. This fellow smoker kindly gave me six clones and “blew me out” with a sample.
Every one of these busts was as a result of being “DOBBED IN” as other than this I am a normal, law abiding, tax paying citizen. So now I was really pissed off. and I really didn’t care what they did to me. I would continue to grow my own. To prove this point, I took four small seedlings into the Henderson police station and “dobbed” myself in. The next day I took another one in. I was charged for the first one but they wouldn’t charge me the second time and a third would get me trespassed.
On Monday the 22nd of November about 7:30 pm there was a knock on the door of the industrial unit that I live in (Although this was closed, it…….. Part 2 later
Props to Dakta Grower and kudos to Brian Borland!
Imagine how quickly cannabis prohibition would roll to a grinding halt if every cannabis grower and every cannabis smoker in the country handed themselves in to the police … daily.
[Hat tip: William Rea]
Belly of the Beast
“We did as we were told.”
“They just heard you offer the apology for all the monsters of our times.”
You walk this earth without a heart
You tear the innocent’s souls apart
You shovel your conscience into the grave
You walk this earth without a heart
Your uniform couldn’t be taken off
A tattoo burned into your flesh
Your mind, your voice
These are your instruments of death
How could you dare to be so bold
You only did as you were told
Marionettes dancing in time
To the apologetic lines
For all the monsters of our timeWho is evil, who is blind?
In the name of who you’ll find,
A city of souls dying for peace
Welcome to the belly of the beast
One mind, one voice
Welcome to the belly of the beast
Who hears, your voice?Millions, never, never again
Madness, never, never again
Martyrs, dead that can’t die
MonstersInsanity, the normal state
The left hand a hammer, the right the stake
Driven so deep into the heart
It’s killing love, it’s killing faith
It’s killing ’cause it’s from the heart
What better way to demoralize
When your own children are your spies
The things you trust are not the same
Trust in death, trust in grief
Trust in hope is trust in painWho is evil, who is blind?
In the name of who you’ll find,
You’re not supposed to question faith
But how do you accept this fate?Millions, you walk this earth without a heart
Madness, tear the innocent’s souls apart
Martyrs, shovel your conscience into the grave
Monsters
2012 Budget highlight
Yes, I know. Last Thursday was the day for the pundits to comment on the National government’s 2012 Budget. But I can think of few things more soporific than stimulus packages or more boring than budgets, and last week’s Budget was even duller than usual. David Farrar has a summary of 2012 Budget highlights. See what I mean?
But there is one aspect of the 2012 Budget—not mentioned in Farrar’s list—that should be highlighted. It’s the $78.5 million Finance Minister Bill English allocated to IRD audit. Thanks to atheist Mark Hubbard over at Life Behind the Iron Drape for bringing this to my attention. Here’s his blog post in full.
Zero budget – no. Nazi budget -yes.
In New Zealand’s 2012 budget, Bill English just grew the fascist thug state by an extraordinary extent. The money allocations to health and education sounded like a Labour Party lolly scramble; there is in this budget only the further expansion of the state. As Clive James said of the Soviets, they thought they had free health care, but it ended up costing them everything they had. Well English just imported that hollow ethos to New Zealand. Significantly, the first money allocation in Herr English’s speech was a huge $78.5 million to IRD audit. Now move your eyes up and read my blog by-line again. Read it, the paragraph in italics: understand what is funding every other allocation to the state. $78.5 million into the systematic persecution of this country’s productive, who, unlike this government, haven’t lifted a finger to initiate force on their fellow man.
Bill English, please take this personally, you are a true National Socialist: you are my enemy, as you are the enemy of all free men. I suggest you wear a brown shirt to Parliament from now on. I’m too angry to write anything further. When will there be the Western Spring, to wrest our liberty back?
Visit Mark’s blog to read his blog by-line. Here’s his disclaimer.
Disclaimer: If you pay anything other than the correct amount of tax – as hard as that can be to calculate under our mess of tax law – then you’re a bloody idiot. The state will squash you like a bug.
The Western Spring may be sooner than we think. That the State is allocating an additional $78.5 million to the task of squashing tax defaulters like bugs suggests that socialism is already starting to run out of other people’s money.
Pierced by Death
If ‘property rights’ is the answer, what’s the question?
If ‘property rights’ is the answer, what’s the question?
The question is, how do we allocate scarce resources in a free society?
Here are two common examples of scarce resources.
(1) Tangible, “value added,” goods.
(2) Land.
The answer in each case is the same: privatisation. The institution of private property—which is a societal convention—accords people property rights in tangible goods and land.
Tangible goods to which value has been added are the products of someone’s effort. Other things being equal, we give ownership of the goods to the person who produced them. According to our property conventions, you get to keep the fruits of your labours.
Land is already there. It’s not the fruit of anyone’s labours. So, as a very general rule, we give ownership of land on a “first come, first served” basis. If you’re the first to stake a claim (by planting a flag, perhaps), then it’s yours. (There may be qualifications, for example, it may be deemed necessary to “improve” the land, or to “occupy” it “continuously” for a period of time.)
What about so-called “intellectual property”? Should a free society give ownership of ideas? There’s no disputing the fact that good ideas are (almost) always products of someone’s intellectual effort. And there’s no disputing that good ideas are (almost) never thought of simultaneously. Take any good idea, and there’s (almost) always someone who thought of it first. And, what’s more, it’s (almost) always the case that the person who thought of the good idea first is someone who put in the intellectual effort required to come up with the idea. So, other things being equal, why not give ownership of the good idea to that person, perhaps by way of copyright or patent?
Why not? Because, in the case of ideas, ‘property rights’ is the answer to a question we don’t need to ask. In a free society, ideas are not scarce resources. Tell me what your good idea is, and I have it too. Ideas can be copied. They can be copied ad infinitum. Ideas aren’t scarce.
The notion of “intellectual property” is bogus. The correct account of the nature of property is the scarcity theory of property. The production theory of property is flawed.
Here’s a counter-example to the production theory of property, a third, less common, example of a scarce resource.
(3) Radio frequency transmission bands.
If you and I broadcast our radio shows on the same radio frequency band in the same geographical area, our transmissions interfere with one another. The solution to the problem is, again, privatisation. There’s actually a legitimate role of government here—to endorse, and to enforce the rulings of, an independent body that grants exclusive use, in a given geographical area, of scarce radio frequency transmission bands. On the basis of … what? Fairness? Not on the basis of first come, first served. And certainly not on the basis of the production theory of property. You can’t produce a mathematical range. And you can’t be first to use a set of numbers.
[Cross-posted to SOLO.]
Love never fails
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)