tasmlab

How many atheistic anarcho yoopers could there be?

Hi Logan, I have watched the hour and half youtube with Gatto and loved it. I saw that before getting his books "dumbing us down" and "weapons of mass instruction". Both superb books. I'm currently in the early chapters of his massive "underground history...". He's a delight to read. I'm already convinced but still enjoy his prose and ideas. I work from home full time and my wife is a full time mom, so we're with the kids all day. We use some unschooling* ideas but are probably considered 'ecclectic' in our method. We bought them laptops and have a pile of books. We ask them each to do two school lessons a day, their choice to which ones, by themselves. My six year old usually opts to do some online tutorials through time4learning.com. My eight year old daughter does too, but prefers to do math with my wife together with a book. My wife probably spends about 20 minutes per day in active 'instruction'. When we find a subject they are interested we encourage them to research it more. My daughter watched a documentary on wild horses today. My son was into Gorillas last week and did the same. The eight year old also reads a chapter out of the kids encyclopedia to the younger one and then we all talk about it for a bit. Before bedtime we all crawl into our kings size bed and watch an educational show of some sort. Recently it's been the COSMOS series, nature documentaries on Netflix and Iron Chef America. If the kids want to stay up past their bedtime, they are welcome to go to their rooms and read to their hearts content. The kids probably come in and ask me questions about 20 times per day. If my wife had to work, I imagine that I would take over the 20 minutes. By the time my three year old is ready, I can probably hire my eldest to do any directed stuff we want to do. She's already helping her brother a lot. I'd say 'schooling' takes an hour per day. The rest of the time is a lot of play. They both play a lot of Minecraft. On your question of spending enough time with your son vs. working for money, you are probably going to get both even if you work the entire 9-5 workday. Especially compared to someone who uses public school. I don't necessarily spend giant chunks of the workday interacting with them, but I come over and help with their computer, have a lot of brief interactions with them, take breaks to talk to them, have lunch with them and occasionally blow off work to do a bike ride or something. They also spend a lot of time alone, which is very valuable and something they can never get at public school. We're new to this, just having started in January. I can't claim to be an expert but am happy to answer any questions. Even though we are doing it for 'us', I also believe that homeschooling will be the only way we ever see a libertarian society. I want it to spread for lots of reasons. It's going GREAT so far. My wife cannot imagine ever sending them back now. * A lot of people are persnickety about the term 'unschooling', use with caution.

This is half-baked, so I apologize in advance. I was just reading some batshit commentary on the upcoming "Noah" movie starring Russel Crowe. In the Noah story, people are bad, refuse to reform, so God uses the weather to kill them all. In Global Warming, bad people are ruining the Earth (the consumers, the greedy, the selfish, the profiteers), so the threat is that we'll eventually be wiped out by the weather. Are the parallels by accident? Am I just seeing Jesus in the toast? Or does the global warming story reflect a morality tale that folks gravitate to?

The title of this post would make for some marketable fetish porn.

Of course, it is crazy important to have you and your wife have consensus on what to do. Homeschooling can seem so far away from the norm that she'll be doubting it constantly if not on board. I'm assuming your wife is still considering school at this point (correct me if I'm wrong). Many if not most of the homeschoolers I've met (online and in person) still have doubts from time to time about what they are doing. It is also one of the greatest LEGAL woes families have with homeschooling. Most of the legal/truancy/state interactions happen because one parent (the one not on board) rats out the other after they get divorced. The result is that the kids are shipped to public school, either because the state intervenes or the other parent refuses to homeschool when they have custody. (this observation is anecdotal BTW, I don't have statistics, but my accountability group counselor confirmed this. ). Here's some things I did to get my wife on board: Had her read books. John Taylor Gatto's "dumbing us down" was pretty much enough to get the message across. Learn the local laws and know what you have to do. This is very comforting. Dispel the idea that is is a lot of work or that you'll be recreating school at home. It's neither. Read some homeschooler forums and articles on online. If you can, meet up with some other homeschoolers with your four year old. A lot of families consider themselves homeschoolers even before their kids are school age, and many have preschool age siblings to play with. Be prepared to meet some hippies and Christians though. Remind her that there is NO RISK to trying. If it doesn't work, the public schools will welcome you with their hungry, grubby arms at any time. Kindergarten homeschooling is pretty much just letting them play even following the state's requirements. It's an easy place to start. Reflect on how valuable your own PS was, try to focus on the tedious and painful parts. This is a little manipulative, but go to the PS bus stop one morning and let your four year old on to the first step and imagine this stranger taking your child away in that big metal truck. It feels awful. Lastly, really really know your stuff. Showing knowledge and confidence is essential to building her confidence and trust. Just some unsolicited advice from a stranger on the internet who just went through this.

I think it is a good idea. The two-income family definitely has hard decisions when examining the feasibility of homeschool. We've been invited to similar groups, although not as regular as one parent-each day. The groups pool together at someone's house (or too often, a church basement) and one parent teaches. Then they round robin so everybody gets a chance to teach and multiple times to drop off their kids. Strangely, where I live, it is ILLEGAL to have someone else teach your children if you homeschool, in terms of the primary educator. Has to be a parent. This is ridiculous of course, since public school is exactly this. As an aside, now that we homeschool I regret sending my preschooler to preschool. He only did part time, but I would've rather not done it in hindsight. Just an anecdote.

That's very eloquent! And probably very true. There's probably a psychological myth that we see romantic comedies that closure is something you get from the other person. It does come from oneself. Nice job!

In my experience, "closure" is pretty one-sided. In the relationships I ended by my decision, by the time I was breaking up I was thoroughly just FINISHED seeing that person. They almost seemed a little repulsive and I didn't want to entertain their pleas for explaining myself. And there was little substance to the reason it seemed cruel and useless to provide it. And being on the other end is just brutal as you search for some rational reason you were dumped, but the reality is that the other person stopped liking you. and then if you even get the truth it is wholesale unsatisfying. Ivan, I think what you are going through is very natural and typical. Still sucks though. I think you are supposed to get a shot and a beer and listen to country music.

To the OP, I'm not sure how old you are but it seems to get easier as you age and go through a couple girlfriends. This is total opinion, but I think the epicenter for disproportionate extended heartbreak is being around 19 years old.

The first time I went to jury duty they had the whole group of us watch the Devitto/Crystal picture "Throw momma from the train" and then they sent us all home around noon. Justice!

I digress, but birthday parties for two year olds are wholesale tedious for everybody but the parents. As a parent, I think you get to throw one gratuitous birthday party for when your first child turns one, but if any other adults besides grandparents are invited to second birthdays, then you should be brandished a sadist. Yours truly, Miss Manners.

At risk of not answering your question, I understood Rand's view to be that Existence and Identity were philosophic primaries i.e., existing is what we agree to call this thing of existing. From the lady herself: "Existence exists—and the act of grasping that statement implies two corollary axioms: that something exists which one perceives and that one exists possessing consciousness, consciousness being the faculty of perceiving that which exists. If nothing exists, there can be no consciousness: a consciousness with nothing to be conscious of is a contradiction in terms. A consciousness conscious of nothing but itself is a contradiction in terms: before it could identify itself as consciousness, it had to be conscious of something. If that which you claim to perceive does not exist, what you possess is not consciousness. Whatever the degree of your knowledge, these two—existence and consciousness—are axioms you cannot escape, these two are the irreducible primaries implied in any action you undertake, in any part of your knowledge and in its sum, from the first ray of light you perceive at the start of your life to the widest erudition you might acquire at its end. Whether you know the shape of a pebble or the structure of a solar system, the axioms remain the same: that it exists and that you know it. To exist is to be something, as distinguished from the nothing of nonexistence, it is to be an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes. Centuries ago, the man who was—no matter what his errors—the greatest of your philosophers, has stated the formula defining the concept of existence and the rule of all knowledge: A is A. A thing is itself. You have never grasped the meaning of his statement. I am here to complete it: Existence is Identity, Consciousness is Identification." Being conscious of your fantasies probably isn't an either/or situation. Or perhaps, if your fantasies were the exclusive thing you were conscious off, then you exist because you have something to be conscious of. Perhaps I'm daft, but I found this stuff kind of fussy (more of a knock on Mrs. Rand and the topic, not you Sebastian)

Sounds like you don't want to go! I'd politely decline. If I was worried about appearances or being polite, I'd send a gift via mail which takes but a second on Amazon.

In addition to the NH Free State Project there is also the Blue Ridge one in NC just featuring one city: https://www.facebook.com/BlueRidgeLibertyProject?ref=profile In your paper/project, I think it would be neat to include Stef's arguments against working within the political system to achieve liberty. Look for podcasts in the late 700's and anything with "Ron Paul" in the title. Good quote from Ron Paul on the subject: "There are so many other ways for people to make a contribution to society besides politics that it is probably a waste of time for most people to devote time to political activism at all." Ron Paul, 2013, The School Revolution. (emphasis added by me)

Fun tip: If your money is in an IRA or other similar savings account, you can still put it in gold, but you can't take physical possession.

I used to subscribe to an atheist magazine called "Free Inquiry" where a lot of the content was showing inconsistencies or the absurdities in scripture. It became a little tedious.

As I understand it, replacing income tax with sales tax would spell the unemployment for about 90% of accountants, 50% of lawyers and the IRS. All those people would have to go do something productive! Peter Schiff does a nice piece on it in Crash Proof (if I remember correctly). He advocates for it as being an improvement over income tax. Ron Paul was proposing that tip income would be tax exempt, which I thought had a nice sneaky implication. It sounded fairly harmless, but I could imagine every business owner in the world re-categorizing their revenue as tips, creating a huge end-around of the tax system. It would be neat if some new tax regulation, like the fair tax, inadvertently allowed every one to duck their tax bill. On the downside, if they were able to tax every step of the supply chain every product would be loaded with taxes. I.e., a sales tax on the steel when the screw manufacture buys it, a tax on the screw when the sub-assembler buys it, a tax on the sub-assembly when the engine manufacturer buys it, onward until the car you buy is 90% tax.

In describing theories of chaos/complexity, NYC's food supply chain is often cited as an example of an unplanned system that functions really well. I've heard there's not even four days worth of food on the island at any given point. There are a lot of aspects of large cities that are not centrally planned.

If we understand the purpose of schools to be creating obedience and complacent workers, then public schools would certainly fare better than anything else.

Pretty much.

I don't know the details, but CVS stores are all building mini-clinics staffed with para-professionals to take over some activity usually performed at the doctors (flu shots, routine first aid). I've heard (but can't reference) that this is one of the wrinkles of the ACA. CVS will be going pretty big into health delivery services, not just retailing. With this in mind, they might be getting ahead of regulation that they already know is coming. Might as well turn it into a publicity boon.

I was having a similar conversation with a good lefty friend of mine who suggested that some sectors should be based "cooperation" (as delivered by government) instead of systems of "competition" as delivered by the market. I suggested that the market was "cooperation", not competition. After all, I don't compete with my grocery store or my pharmacy or any of the other places I shop at. Nor do I compete with my clients. In fact, as a market actor, I'm almost never competing. He didn't buy this, but I turned it to be 'cooperation' for markets and "coercion" for government. Senselessly oversimplified for sure.

This thread could be broken into two parts: One being "The Ethics of Divorce" to discuss the contractual side, and another "What the hell should I do?" to address the OP's dilemma.

As far as advice to the OP, I presume most of the 'contract' discussion is an intellectual digression for us philosophy nerds. I would think all of the crushing ethical violations of honoring it (the unloving marriage, the betrayal of rationality in the face of religion, the incompatible virtues, et al) outweigh the breaking the promise to the husband, country and God. Not to ruin the fun of the contract debate. Keep on. :-)

It sounds like you are doing pretty well. Fixing your behavior sounds like a major achievement and the best thing you could do. I would think you just need to keep on being peaceful for a long, long time (forever). Not that it's a rule, but Stef once said (referring to his brother) that you'd want about a 10X time period of goodness to demonstrate that your conversion/apology/reparation is legit to build trust. I'm guessing most of the healing will be just being consistent for a long time.