My cousin Aaron and I have recently started exchanging some unfettered thoughts, which I’ve very much enjoyed. I’m thrilled that I lucked out with regard to the family I have, both immediate and extended. Without them, I would have had no chance… no values, no foundation, nobody to look up to, etc… My parents and grandparents set one hell of an example, and I pity most of my generation for not having been so lucky.

Anyway, something Aaron said in his last message prompted me to do a little searching, and I rediscovered two great links on Mises’s website. One of the two links is Doug French’s review of the book, The Case Against Adolescence, which I’ve blatantly lifted below:

In his book, Democracy: The God that Failed, Hans Hoppe argues that democracy and government have made people less farsighted and not as concerned with providing for ever-more-distant goals. Thus, society is tending toward decivilization. As Hoppe describes, adults are being turned into children. Children have very high time preferences, living “day to day and from one immediate gratification to the next,” Hoppe explains. American society has essentially lengthened childhood by creating adolescence.

In a very provocative new book, The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen, psychologist Robert Epstein contends that when mammals reach puberty, they function as adults — except in America that is. Starting a hundred years ago, Americans gradually increased the age of adulthood to what many Americans now believe to be 26. You’ve heard, “30 is the new 20,” and “50 is the new 30.” Soon we will all be kids again.

Epstein argues effectively that American culture collaborates in artificially extending childhood through public schooling and labor laws. In most of human history, young people worked side by side with adults from their early teens with young women becoming wives and mothers. Early on, he fingers the labor unions as the culprits behind child labor laws. In 1881, the forerunner to the AFL-CIO made child labor a high priority: “We are in favor of the passage of laws in the several states forbidding the employment of children under fourteen in any capacity, under penalty of fine and imprisonment.”

Of course, unions didn’t want the competition from young workers who are likely smarter and more productive than older workers. Work by David Wechsler and J.C. Raven indicates that our highest mental age is in our midteens. According to Raven, “Apparently by the age of fourteen, a child’s trainability has reached its maximum, while after the age of thirty, a person’s ability to understand a new method of thinking, adopt new methods of working, and even to adapt a new environment, steadily decreases.”

Of course today’s teens don’t act like they have the most brainpower in society. How could they? They are isolated in government schools away from adults and given no responsibilities — they are infantilized. Infantilized by the many laws restricting young people: curfew laws, tougher driving laws, teen-wage laws, laws curtailing sexual activities, free-speech restrictions at school, censorship of educational activities, dress codes, smoking and drinking laws, ad infinitum.

But government and unions are not the only teen enemies. The author makes the case (sometimes effectively, sometimes not) that everyone works against teens being adults. The media portray teens as self-absorbed; business makes big bucks promoting teen culture; and even parents underestimate their teens’ abilities.

Epstein’s book is chock-full of examples of young people in history who have made tremendous contributions. Louis Braille, if he were a blind kid today, would be cooped up in special-needs classes. Fortunately, he lived in the early 1800s and had perfected the Braille system by the time he was 15 years old. Samuel Colt invented the multiround, revolving-head pistol when he was 16. Edgar Allen Poe had his first book published at 18, including poems he had written at age 12 and 13.

The fact is, creativity is at its peak in early childhood and the teen years. But as we enter adulthood, we learn to conform, which takes a toll on creativity. Public schooling was created to mold young people into compliant citizens, sapping their creativity. Teen ingenuity remains high, but given the need to rebel, lack of adult companionship, and laws prohibiting the signing of contracts, their creativity is rarely channeled into positive pursuits.

In a test for “adultness” cocreated by the author, the difference between how adults and how teens scored was statistically insignificant: “Age is simply not a reliable measure of adultness,” Epstein writes, “at least not once people are past puberty.”

So what should we do about all of this? Obviously abolishing the myriad of laws restricting teens would be a good first start. But, unfortunately, Epstein believes young (and old) people should be given rights only if they can pass competency tests. And one gets the feeling that government would be doing the administering of these tests — as if government bureaucrats should be trusted with the job.

As well done and interesting as Epstein’s book is, he doesn’t go far enough. As Murray Rothbard wrote in The Ethics of Liberty, a child has rights “when he leaves or ‘runs away’ from home.” Forget the tests; just set kids free.

See also: Education: Free and Compulsory, by Murray Rothbard

So, here it goes:

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Hash: SHA1

* I, Christopher Lee Brunner, a resident of Birmingham, Alabama,
being of sound and disposing mind and memory and over the age of
eighteen (18) years, and not being actuated by any duress, menace,
fraud, mistake, or undue influence, do make, publish, and declare this
to be my last Will, hereby expressly revoking all Wills and Codicils
previously made by me.
* I appoint Saba Dovlatabadi as Executor of this my Last Will and
Testament and provide if this Executor is unable or unwilling to serve
then I appoint Frederick Lee Brunner as alternate Executor. If this
Executor is unable or unwilling to serve then I appoint Marjorie Hoffman
Brunner. If this Executor is unable or unwilling to serve then I appoint
Shannon Nicole Brunner. My Executor shall be authorized to carry out all
provisions of this Will and pay my just debts, obligations and funeral
expenses.
* Except where overridden by properly executed partnership and
operating agreements, I hereby bequeath all dividends, profit
distributions, and any other compensation resulting from the ownership
interest of any legal entity during the period of eighteen (18) months
after my death to my immediate family and charitable organization in the
following proportions: Ninety (90) percent of said monies shall be
distributed to Frederick Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner, or
Shannon Nicole Brunner if Shannon Nicole Brunner survives both Frederick
Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner. The remaining ten (10) percent
of said monies shall be distributed to the Ludwig von Mises Institute in
Auburn, Alabama.
* Once a period of eighteen (18) months has elapsed after my death,
all ownership interest shall be either liquidated or gifted to the
affected business partners in proportion to vested ownership of the each
affected business, at the discretion of the affected business partners.
Should the affected business partners elect to liquidate said ownership
interest, the resulting monies shall be bequeathed to my immediate
family and charitable organization in the same manner as outlined in the
prior clause.
* Ownership and resulting benefits of all promissory notes for which
the aggregate outstanding balance, per debtor, is greater than or equal
to ten thousand (10,000) dollars at the time of my death shall be
assigned to Saba Dovlatabadi for collection under the condition that
seventy-five (75) percent of the resulting monies are distributed to my
immediate family and charitable organization in the same manner that is
outlined above. The interest of said promissory notes may be waived at
the sole discretion of Saba Dovlatabadi, if Saba Dovlatabadi is willing
to meet this condition. If Saba Dovlatabadi is unable or unwilling to
collect the benefits owed to me or the trust established by this Will,
then one hundred percent of the ownership and resulting benefits shall
be assigned to Frederick Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner, or
Shannon Nicole Brunner if Shannon Nicole Brunner survives both Frederick
Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner.
* If a named beneficiary to this Will predeceases me, the bequest to
such person shall lapse, and the property shall pass under the other
provisions of this Will.
* If I do not possess or own any property listed above on the date
of my death, the bequest of that property shall lapse.
* I give, devise, and bequeath ninety (90) percent of the rest,
residue, and remainder of my estate, of whatever kind and character, and
wherever located, to Frederick Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner,
or Shannon Nicole Brunner if Shannon Nicole Brunner survives both
Frederick Lee Brunner and Marjorie Hoffman Brunner. I request that the
remaining ten (10) percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my
estate, of whatever kind and character, and wherever located, be
liquidated and given to, devised, and bequeathed to the Ludwig von Mises
Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
* If none of my named beneficiaries survives me, then the rest and
residue of my estate shall pass according to the order of intestate
succession in the State of Alabama.
* My Executor and alternate Executor shall serve without any bond,
and I hereby waive the necessity of preparing or filing any inventory,
accounting, appraisal, reporting, approvals or final appraisement of my
estate. I direct that no expert appraisal be made of my estate unless
required by law.
* The term ?testator? as used in this Will is deemed to include me
as Testator or Testatrix. The pronouns used in this Will shall include,
where appropriate, either gender or both, singular and plural.
* If any part of this Will is declared invalid, illegal, or
inoperative for any reason, it is my intent that the remaining parts
shall be effective and fully operative, and that any Court so
interpreting this Will and any provision in it construe in favor of
survival.
* I, Christopher Lee Brunner, hereby set my hand to this last Will,
on this 17th day of June, 2011 at 2222 2nd Avenue North, Suite 305,
Birmingham, State of Alabama.
* My secure cryptographic signature, which follows, shall serve as
undeniable, mathematical proof that I am the author of the foregoing
instrument, and that this instrument could not have been altered
retroactively.
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I look forward to sitting down someday soon to blog about the adventure that RCG and TIDS have been, but my phone keeps ringing, so it’ll have to happen on another day.

But after about six months, I got an email. Someone was following me on Twitter, which puzzled me because I hadn’t ever posted a single tweet. I deleted the email and went on with life.

But a week later, I got another email. Delete. Move on.

Gradually, the frequency increased until I had accrued forty followers without posting a single Tweet!

Today I finally decided to give in and see what it was all about, and I must admit, it’s kind of fun.

Sure, it’s true that the functionality basically boils down to Facebook status updates without the rest of Facebook, but people use it a little differently.

I do like having the option of being able to post tiny updates from anywhere, using my cell phone, without having to commit to writing an entire blog post. Sure, I have an Android application on my G1 that let’s me blog remotely, but it’s still a pain in the ass to type several paragraphs on a mobile device, even with a nice QWERTY keyboard. I like that I can integrate my twitter updates with my existing blog. I also like that my “tweets” can show up as status updates on Facebook and as instant messaging status, even when I’m away from my computer.

It turns out that in practice, micro-blogging is a pretty fun. So, give in and join me!

So, the problem I ran into after a week or so of watching these YouTube channels is that YouTube’s interface completely sucks. After checking around for other options for interfaces, Miro is what I ended up settling on. Miro is basically a video podcast client, but it supports BitTorrent and YouTube channels. I remember checking it out when it was called Democracy Player, but I wasn’t really impressed for reasons I can no longer remember.

What this means for you is that you can always have interesting, free, on-demand content available on your computer for when you’re ready to watch. Channels I subscribe to can basically be divided into four categories: News, Science & Technology, Libertarianism, and Humor. When I open Miro each day, I click on “New” and click Play. I am then shown a mix of videos that I am almost always interested in watching. I can skip, delete, keep each video, or just let it play through and expire ones I’ve seen after five days. The result is by far more stimulating than the content I get from my cable company.

Just FYI for those of you looking for something better than traditional cable television.

It was a blast to attend.

I have a few announcements to make:

• First of all, I’d like a apologize to everyone who has sent me email.  I try to keep up with it, but I’ve had almost no time at all to read and respond since I arrived in New Hampshire.  I currently have hundreds of unread messages, but hopefully I’ll have a chance to tend to my inbox when I reach New Jersey.
• Secondly, everyone is asking about the Frank Luntz audio file.  I haven’t even had a chance until now to plug the voice recorder into my laptop.  The recording should be around three hours long, and it will take some time to wade through it.  I will do that when I start working on the article with Max Raskn in New Jersey.  As long as the quality of the audio is good, I should be able to release it when the article is published.  This probably isn’t going to happen in the next two days, and I’ve given Lew Rockwell first dibs on publishing rights.  So, watch LewRockwell.com and subscribe to my RSS feed in order to be one of the first to know when it gets published!
• Thirdly, I haven’t forgotten about the Triangle Ron Paul Meetup!  You guys rock, and I still plan on blogging my experience!

I’ve had such a blast meeting and hanging out with everyone!  Thanks for being a part of the Ron Paul Revolution!

First of all, if you don’t know who Frank Luntz is, watch this video for some critical background information:

Well, to make a long story short, I was invited to one of these focus groups. More on how I managed that will be in the coming article. Because I had heard first-hand accounts of Luntz’s manipulative tactics, I purchased a voice recorder and decided to check it out for myself. For now, suffice to say that there is indeed a tremendous amount of bias involved in both the selection process as well as Frank’s administration of the focus group session itself. In fact, the very person I randomly sat down next to to have dinner with turned out to be incredibly shady. More on details on that will be in the article to come, but for now, see for yourself that this isn’t his first time in one of Frank’s group:

So, after the “focus group” was concluded, a gathering of people who apparently already knew what Luntz was all about met him at the door and started to confront him. I was completely content to stand by and watch the show until I heard Frank claiming that he didn’t try to influence participants. After sitting through three hours of his tricks, I couldn’t help but chime in to clarify what I had just seen. Frank calls the crowd “mean”, but having seen what Frank does for a living, I don’t at all blame them for being displeased with him.

Stay tuned for an article that includes a rundown of Frank’s incredibly biased selection process, my hour-long discussion with the mysterious Chuck, and Frank’s manipulative “focus group” methods.

A few important notes:
– I did not ambush Frank Luntz. Other people did that, and Mike and I walked up and saw it happening. I only opened my mouth when he tried to tell people that he doesn’t misrepresent public opinion.
– These people were supporting various different candidates. This was not a crowd of supporters from any one campaign.
– Mike videotaped and uploaded it to YouTube. However, I never asked for it to be posted on a high profile blog. However, since it was already public, I wanted to explain and figured I might as well use it as a teaser for the article I was already planning to write.

Well, it wasn’t long before I got an email from someone who profusely insisted that my post was likely incorrect, that the New Hampshire GOP would not allow this to happen, and that I was a horrible person for posting it.  (I’m paraphrasing here.  She actually copied my boss on her emails and asked how I could post such “nonsense” several times.) Because she’s someone who seemed to be very close to the campaign and very close to the New Hampshire GOP, I believed her when she said, “I have an invitation at my home with his name printed on it.” (That’s a quote.)

It was one of my most embarrassing moments since childhood.  I thought I had tarnished the reputation of Lew Rockwell and had discredited myself in the eyes of tens of thousands of Ron Paul supporters who read LRC daily as their primary source of information. As a result of my post, the New Hampshire GOP’s servers and phone lines were out of commission because of hordes of angry Ron Paul supporters.

I quickly posted a very personal retraction that resonated around the blogosphere.  I received dozens of emails from angry Ron Paul fans who asked how I could have posted something like without checking out my sources.  (One would think the Associated Press and the official
campaign would be reliable sources of information, right?)  I then spent the next 17 hours trying to squelch copies of my news on dozens
of others blogs as they popped up, further making myself look like an ass.

Well, as it turns out, FOX has indeed excluded Ron Paul from the forum.  The official campaign has published a press release about it. 
The AP was right.  The people answering the phones at the campaign were right, and the retractions on all of the major Ron Paul sites were in vain.

In the defense of the person who sent me these emails that caused me to post a retraction, her chief complaint now is that the NH GOP is not the right outlet to complain to.  Due to reasons I agreed not to publish, she may be right
about that.

What a horrible experience.  I will, however, be confirming all Ron Paul-related news with the chairman of the Ron Paul campaign from now on if we end up making contact tomorrow.

Now, about Ron Paul being excluded…  Here’s where you can send your complaints:

• General Comments
• Email: yourcomments@foxnews.com
• Phone: 1-888-369-4762
• Marty Ryan, Executive Politics Producer
• Phone: 202-824-6403
• Kathy Ardleigh, Sen. Politics Producer
• Phone: 212-301-3186
• Email: kathy.ardleigh@foxnews.com
• Thom Bird, Fox News Sen. Producer
• Phone: 212-301-3250
• Email: thom.bird@foxnews.com
• Todd Ciganek, National News Editor
• Phone: 212-301-3352
• Email: todd.ciganek@foxnews.com
• Ian Rae, Exec. VP News
• Phone: 212-301-8552
• Email: ian.rae@foxnews.com
• John Moody, Sen VP News
• Phone: 212-301-8560
• Email: john.moody@foxnews.com
• Brian Lewis, Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications
• Phone: 212-301-3331
• Fax: 212-819-0816
• E-Mail: brian.lewis@foxnews.com
• Irena Briganti, Vice President of Media Relations
• Phone: 212-301-3608
• Fax: 212-819-0816
• E-Mail: irena.briganti@foxnews.com
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• Phone: 212-301-5486
• Email: brian.knoblock@foxnews.com
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• Phone: 202-824-6389
• Fax: 202-824-6426
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• Phone: 310-571-2000
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• Justin Schmidt, Chicago Bureau Chief
• Phone: 312-494-0428
• Fax: 312-494-0445
• Brit Hume, Managing Editor
• Phone: 202-824-6470
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• David Asman, Fox News Host
• Phone: 212-301-3944
• Email: david.asman@foxnews.com
• Shepard Smith, Fox Report Host
• Phone: 212-301-3711
• Email: shepard.smith@foxnews.com
• Bill O’Reilly, O’Reilly Factor Host
• Phone: 212-301-3320
• Email: bill.oreilly@foxnews.com
• Jane Skinner, News Anchor
• Phone: 212-301-5023
• Email: jane.skinner@foxnews.com

Major Fox Advertisers (Thanks to David P. Martin!)

Earl J. Hesterberg
Vice President, Marketing
Ford Motor Company
1 American Rd
Dearborn, MI 48126-2701
TEL: (313) 322-3000
FAX: 313-845-6073

Koichi Kondo
President& CEO
American Honda Motor Co.,
Inc.
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Mail Stop: 500 – 2N – 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
TEL: (800) 999-1009
FAX: (310) 783-3023

Rick Kornhauser
Vice President, Marketing
Chattem, Inc.
1715 W 38th St
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TEL: (800) 366-6077
FAX: (423) 821-0395

Patrick M. Byrne
Chairman & President
Overstock.com
6322 S 3000 E Ste 100
Salt Lake City, UT 84121-6931
TEL: (801) 947-3100
FAX: (801) 944-4629

William R. Rhodes
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Citibank
399 Park Ave
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TEL: (800) 285-3000
FAX:

Henry A. McKinnell, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
Pfizer
235 E 42nd St
New York, NY 10017-5755
TEL: (212) 573-2323
(212) 573-7851

Javed Ahmed
Executive Vice President
Reckitt Benckiser Inc.
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399 Interpace Parkway
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TEL: (800) 333-3899
FAX: (973) 404-5700

R. Kerry Clark
Vice Chairman
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
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TEL: 513-983-1100
FAX: 513-983-9369

Charles Fruit
Chief Marketing Officer
The Coca Cola Company
1 Coca Cola Plaza
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TEL: 404-676-2121
FAX: 404-676-6792

Paul Carothers
Vice President, Public Affairs
Kraft Foods
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TEL: 847-646-2000
FAX: 847-646-6005

Kathleen Flaherty
Chief Marketing Officer
AT&T
1 AT&T Way
Bedminster, NJ 07921
TEL: 908-221-2000
FAX: 908-532-1675

John Middlebrook
Vice President
General Motors
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-3000
TEL: 313-556-5000
FAX: 248-696-7300

Janine M. Bousquette
Chief Marketing Officer
Sears
3333 Beverly Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
TEL: 847-286-2500
FAX: 847-286-7829

Kelly Mankin
Vice President, Marketing
DaimlerChrysler
1000 Chrysler Dr
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TEL: 248-576-5741
FAX: 248-576-4742

Jill Kelly-Paget
Corporate Communications
Director
MediaVest
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New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-468-3828
FAX: 212-468-4110

Charlie Rutman
President
Carat USA
3 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
TEL: 212-689-6800
FAX: 212-689-6005

Dennis Donlin
President
General Motors Planworks
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Detroit, MI 48226
TEL: 313-237-8111
FAX: 313-237-8490

Cheri Carpenter
Media Contact
Starcom MediaVest
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Chicago, IL 60601
TEL: 312.220.6218
FAX: 312.220.6530

Bob Lilley
Vice President, Media Marketing
Optimedia
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
TEL: 212-820-3161
FAX: 212-820-3300

Charles Courtier
Worldwide Executive Chairman
MediaEdge
825 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-474-0000
FAX: 212-474-0001

Robert Mancini
Executive Director
Ford Motor Media
500 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI, 48226-3428
TEL: 313-964-3800
FAX: 313-845-6073

Marc Goldstein
Chief Executive Officer
MindShare
498 7th Ave
New York, NY 10018
TEL: 646-756-4000
FAX: 646-756-4060

Mike Vogel
Chief Executive Officer
PHD Detroit
840 W Long Lake Rd
Troy, MI 48098
TEL: 248-293-3400
FAX: 248-293-3434

Peter M. Butterfield
President and CEO
KIA
PO Box 52410
Irvine, CA 92619-2410
TEL: 949-470-7000
FAX: 949-470-2800

Richard D. Fairbank
Chairman, President and CEO
Capital One
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TEL: 703-720-1000
FAX:

Jay Carothers
Chairman and CEO
Levitz
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Woodbury, NY 11797
TEL: (516) 496-9560
FAX: (631) 927-1780

John Stratton
VP & Chief Mktg Officer
Verizon
180 Washington Valley Rd
Bedminster, NJ 07921-2120
TEL: (800) 214-3555
FAX: (908) 306-7766

John F. Antioco
Chm & CEO
Blockbuster
1201 Elm St
Dallas, TX 75270-2102
TEL: (214) 854-3000
FAX:

Yukitoshi Funo
Pres
TOYOTA
19001 S Western Ave
Torrance, CA 90501-1106
TEL: (310) 468-4000
FAX: (310) 468-7800

Eric Milledge
Company Group Chairman
LifeScan, Inc.
1000 Gibraltar Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
TEL: (408) 263-9789
FAX:

Jim Julow
Vice President
Dodge Magnum/Dakota,
DamlierChysler Corp
1000 Chrysler Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
TEL: (248) 576-5741
FAX: (248) 512-2817

Emil J. Brolick
President
Taco Bell
17901 Von Karman Ave
Irvine, CA 92614-6253
TEL: (949) 863-4500
FAX: (949) 863-409

Marc Covent
President
Slim Fast
777 S Flagler Dr Ste 1400
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-
6176
TEL: (561) 833-9920
FAX: (561) 822-2876

William R Rhodes
Chairman
Citigroup
TEL: (212) 793-6872

And here’s a link to more FOX News sponsors.

I’ll post more contact info as I get it.

The one on my mind right now is: Life is hard.

We live in a culture of putting-off-the-inevitable. It doesn’t matter where you look, or what problem you’re talking about. If there’s a problem, we’ve invented a way to fool ourselves into thinking that we don’t have to deal with it, and we pull it off masterfully, while managing never to learn from our mistakes.

Two examples come to mind, and the first is a bit personal. Through a recent breakup with a girl whom I had convinced myself I was destined to be with, I’ve felt real pain for the first time in my life. Throughout my life, until this point, there has always been a “fix” for my problems. I’ve trained myself to look for the easy way out. But this time, no such exit exists. Not a day has passed yet in which I haven’t, at least briefly, felt an intense sadness over what was, as it turned out, not to be. I’ve often awoken suddenly in the middle of the night feeling alone and depressed, knowing there’s nothing I can do to make myself feel any better. It has felt like an emotional roller coaster – sometimes I feel okay, sometimes I even feel good and completely forget for a moment, and other times I feel so indescribably horrible that suicide starts to seem appealing.

Faced with the reality that there is nothing I can do or say to anyone that will relieve the pain — and trust me, I’ve tried — I’ve been tempted to resort to other quick fixes. For every feeling of pain that can only heal with time, there will always be someone offering a quick and “painless” fix that inevitably delays the pain and often creates a far worse situation. In a college town, where doctors prescribe some of the most potent and addictive drugs known to man as a solution to the common cold, drugs like Xanax and Klonopin are available free-of-charge to anyone with more than three or four friends, and at first seem to offer an easy escape. Of course, popping benzos every time I feel like shit is probably the single dumbest thing I could do as it would almost inevitably leave me psychologically and physically dependant and would guarantee that I’d have to deal with an unthinkably-horrible withdrawal stage in addition to the problem I would have been running away from in the first place. Thankfully, I have more than a few very incredible people in my life who have been through this before and were caring enough to share with me the wisdom that the only sane way to survive feelings like this is to recognize that life is hard, that the feelings will pass with time, and that I should get on with life. Once I get through this, I will be a much better, much strong individual than I was before I was in the relationship in the first place. Never the less, that a small number of my peers seem to think popping pills is a reasonable solution to getting through the rough time I’m having made me think very critically about the world around me.

However, it wasn’t until I read Lew Rockwell’s article today that I made the connection between what’s going on in my life and what’s going on in the rest of the country. This brings me to my second example. Here we are in a world in which our entire economy is built on a system designed to allow us to escape reality. For the unaware, the US Dollar is printed by an entity called The Federal Reserve. The sole purpose of this organization is to attempt to manipulate the laws of economics by transferring wealth from the average citizen to, well, wherever they think they should put it. This is called inflation. They create new money and cause the money that you and I work for to be worth less. The idea is that by taking the value of our money and handing it over to select groups of companies, the country will grow faster and disaster can be avoided. These guys honestly think they’ve conquered the laws of nature. The result of this activity is very real. Recent examples are the dot-com boom and even more recently, the real estate boom. As soon as reality sets in and people start to realize things aren’t right, a bust begins to occur, and the Fed rushes to stave off reality. Instead of ceasing the behaviour that caused the problem, they fight harder against the well-established laws of economics and make things worse by further inflating the money supply. This does delay disaster, but only makes matters worse in the long-run. Market corrections can be painful for everyone, especially when they’ve been manipulated so heavily for so long, but the economy cannot heal until they occur.

Make no mistake: The Fed cutting rates when they know there’s a problem is directly akin to a drug addict reacting to the onset of withdrawal by switching to higher doses of harder drugs, instead of suffering through the withdrawal so he can be free of his addiction.

Just as popping benzos is the obvious temporary way out of dealing with the intense pain I’ve felt, the President’s reaction of freezing interest rates is just a temporary way out of dealing with a market correction. All of this just makes things much worse, and the people who suffer and are you and me. Food prices go up, gas prices go up, prices on imported goods go up, and it seems like money gets tighter for everyone in America, but people don’t realize why. This is the result of the Federal Reserve making our money worth less.

We must, as a nation, recognize this problem. This is why Ron Paul’s candidacy is so important to me. He is the only one running for president who is trying to explain this to people, and until more people listen to him we will continue racing towards disaster.

You uploaded a profile picture that violates our Terms of Use, and this picture has been removed. Among other things, photos containing nudity, drug use, or other obscene content are not allowed, nor are photos that attack an individual or group. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in your account being disabled.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page at http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=33.

So, the Facebook profile image I’ve been using for years now has suddenly become obscene. Does it contain nudity, drug use, or other obscene content? Is it an attack on an individual or group? Well, you can decide for yourself:

I read over Facebook’s terms and couldn’t find anything that the image violates, but Facebook is clearly private property. So, I emailed them to ask how I was violating their terms. This is the response I got:

Hi Chris,

A photo that you uploaded has been removed for violating
Facebook’s Terms of Use. Photos containing nudity, drug use,
or other obscene content are not allowed, nor are photos that
depict violence or that attack an individual or group.
Unfortunately, for technical reasons, we are unable to provide
further information about the removed photo.

In order to prevent this from happening in the future, please
refrain from posting photos of this kind and remove any that
still exist on the site. For more information on conduct
prohibited by Facebook, please read our Terms of Use, which
can be accessed by clicking on the “terms” link at the bottom of
any Facebook page.

Thanks for your understanding,

Avery

And my response:

Avery,

I read the terms in their entirety. My profile contained no nudity,
drug use, or other obscene content is not allowed, nor did it depict
violence or that attack an individual or group. It was deleted
anyway. How can I know whether or not my current profile is
acceptable if my old one didn’t violate the terms but was deleted
anyway?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

And theirs:

Hi Chris,

A Facebook administrator looks into each report thoroughly in
order to decide the appropriate course of action. If no violation
of our Terms of Use has occurred, then no warning will be sent.
If a violation has occurred, then a warning or more severe
actions are taken. Unfortunately, for technical and security
reasons, we are unable to provide details regarding the removed
content. We apologize for any inconvenience but we will not be
able to provide you any further information regarding the
removed photo. Please review our Terms of Use for further
information.

Thanks for your understanding,

Avery
Customer Support Representative

Okay, so there’s no way to know why I can’t use the image, but for whatever reason I can’t.

So, my Facebook profile now lacks an image, but I’m still getting warnings! At least it’s a new one this time:

Please Read This!
Warning! Your account could be disabled.

Your behavior indicates that you may be in violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in your account being disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.

What the fuck, Facebook? What gives? What could I possibly be doing to violate your god forsaken terms?

Can anyone shed some light on this?

The few pictures I took are on my flickr account.

On a side note, my parents drove down from Raleigh to meet us.  It was the first time they've met Lauren, and it went great.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.

1. b2evolution has almost no protection against spam.  They have this goofy little centralized blacklist that’s maintained by one person and never seems to be up to date.  I had over 4,000 spam comments that I had to painstakingly clean out last night.  It took me four hours and this isn’t the first time that’s happened.
2. The development of b2evolution is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Now that the switch is over with, I’m extremely glad I made the switch.  Installing WordPress was the most painless PHP/MySQL install I’ve ever done with anything.  Ever.  The interface is clean and robust.  All of the feature you would expect it to have are included, and installing a plugin is as simple of copying a file or directory with an SFTP client.  Very cool.

For those who are considering taking the plunge, I’ll tell you now that WordPress won’t import b2evolution posts and comments without an additional script, but that’s not too hard to find, and I can make the script available upon request.

The only thing that still concerns me is my permlink URL.  My first problem is that I can’t get mod_rewrite to act correctly… I may be doing something wrong with .htaccess but I’ll have to mess with it more to see.  My second problem is that since my old blog is now offline (with this one in its place) I’m not entirely certain what format my old permlinks used to take.  I’ll get it worked out.  Anyway, I if you’re still using b2evolution, I suggest you switch.

Meanwhile, I ordered my cell phone on August 22 and still haven’t receieved it. I really can’t stand the one I’m using.

Today I stayed late at work and ended up blowing out an onboard IDE controller (an expensive mistake). This is after lying on my back for about an hour fucking with the internals of this one PC. I was so mad. I got a call on my cell phone, but ignored it since I thought it was probably Joseph calling about plans after work. When I listed to the message a few minutes later, I couldn’t help but smile. No matter how badly my day is going, I can’t help but smile when I hear Danielle’s voice.

We talked for a couple of hours, and after a while, it started happening. Ever since she told me she no longer has more-than-a-friend feelings for me, I’ve tried to suppress my feelings for her in hopes of salvaging the possibility of an excellent friendship. It’s worked for the most part, kind of. I mean, I’ve been able to do it thus far, but every now and then it starts to kill me that we’re not together. My mind becomes filled with what-ifs, and all of my weaknesses and inadequacies are mentally brought to my attention. I start to question myself, and then think less of myself for being me. Anyway, while it makes me smile to hear her voice, and while I’m sure she means well, I end up feeling sad and regretful about half of the times we talk.

So my options were either to continue to suffer or to say something. I chose the latter. I tried to explain that as much as I’ve tried to be just friends, and as much as I love hearing from her, I can’t help but have feelings for her and have feelings of regret when I think about us not being together.

She started asking if this meant we couldn’t talk anymore or if this meant she couldn’t come visit anymore and whether or not this meant we couldn’t vacation together, etc. And then she started crying. It really made me feel horrible. I didn’t mean that we should never speak to each other again. I just can’t continue to do this to myself every other week. I didn’t know what else to do.

Why can’t cops in America be casually bribed? Why can’t I pay speeding tickets online and just forget about it? Why must the state care how many speeding tickets I get? It’s not like it’s hurting anyone… If the state has a problem with me exceeding the speed limit, they should just fine me accordingly and leave it alone. Fucking point system.

So anyway, Steven showed me his Sony Cyber-shot digital camera the other day at Ben’s house… That thing is great. It’s really small and it takes great pictures. It reminded me how much I miss having a nice digital camera. So I was on Sony’s website to check out the camera and something else got my attention – the new Sony Ericsson S710a. I don’t even know where to begin listing the features. It’s exactly what I’ve been wanting: a high quality digital camera, an EDGE-equiped bluetooth cell phone that sync’s with Outlook and Evolution on Linux, and an MP3 player, all in one! The screen is very high resolution. The camera has all the features of Sony’s Cyber-shot series cameras. The phone is capable of playing both MP3s and MPEG4 videos, and even includes a memory card slot… Built in FM radio… I could go on forever.

So needless to say, I had to have it. T-Mobile’s phone selection has gone down hill. Cingular is the only US provider that offers this phone. So, I found a locked phone on eBay for a little less than Cingular charges when you buy it from them with a contract. I also bought a service cable so I could unlock it to work with T-Mobile, since I’m too impatient to wait for my contact to run out later this month. I don’t really feel like giving up my GPRS service… I love being able to whip out my laptop anywhere in the US and instantly connecting to the Internet, and Cingular charges absurd prices for their GPRS.

So yeah… you have to check out the pictures in these reviews:

• Basic product info and specs
• A great review at Phone Scoop
• Another great review from Engadget
• ZDnet/C|Net review
• Images from Amazon customers

Hopefully I’ll have this unlocked in time for jello wrestling at our party this weekend. =]

This last week has been great. Work is going well. Things are winding down since I’m going to be heading back to school before long. Danielle dropped by for a visit the day before St. Patty’s Day. She, Joseph, Donald and I went to the Ale House and had a blast.

The Ale House has become my favorite drinking spot in Auburn. The atmosphere is casual and laid back, and the people who work there are pretty cool. The food is awesome. Oh, and they’re one of two micro-breweries in the state. Their Stout is probably the best beer I’ve ever tasted. Make sure you check this place out the next time you’re in Auburn.

On a completely unrelated note, last night was crazy… not like party crazy. Hopefully I’ll find the time to blog about it before I forget…

Tonight marks Danielle’s last night in Alabama.

I got to see her tonight in Hoover one last time before she leaves. No matter how much I try to push the feeling of sadness away, I still feel like shit inside when I think about it. I can’t help but wonder if things would be different if my circumstances were different. What if I had a chiseled body? What if I had a real personality? What if I had money?

I wish there was something I could do to be desired by her.

Anyway, it was good seeing her again. Like I’ve told myself before, as long as she’s happy, I’ll be happy for her.