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As the title suggests, we're hosting the Bi-Weekly 'Voluntaryists of Austin' meetup which can be found here. http://www.meetup.com/voluntaryAustin/ If you're in the area, come check us out! If you know someone in the area, let them know! We're trying to help Austin become the best city for Voluntaryists in the USA and would love to have you along for the ride!

Here is an article I saw on facebook from Russia Today. Kinda shows how state institutions are unreliable in protecting children. And also, it's an additional story that reveals just how important it is to have the conversation about peaceful family. http://rt.com/usa/221639-texas-children-fatalities-abuse/

Hmmm.

What is a strike? Is the good game one with the highest score? Is shooting someone in the eye with a laser immoral? These and (hopefully) other questions can be discussed at the July 6th FDR meetup! Happiness is the end in itself, and what better way to achieve that end then by getting dinner, bowling and playing laser tag all the while having great discussions about voluntaryism and personal freedom! We’ll meet at 5pm at Kerbey Lane to eat a nice meal (or snack) and get to know each other a bit, then walk over to the Main Event (they’re right next to each other) to bowl and TOTALLY BREAK THE N-A-P IN LASER TAG. There’s plenty of free parking and it’s $17.95 for a “Summer FUNpass” at Main Event, which will cover all of the bowling and laser tag. This will be a great opportunity to meet new friends and allies with the same values in a fun and casual environment! We hope to see you there! RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/599944896769498/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular Or here: http://www.meetup.com/Freedomain-Radio/Austin-TX/1174752/

Any FDR folks the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area? I know it's a long shot but am really hoping to get a monthly meet-up going in my town of Keller (would consider Southlake or Grapevine, too, but won't enter that afterwork traffic in D or FW). After the other day on ebay I seriously believe, "It could happen!" [@ 53 sec. mark, comedian Judy Tenuta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8YTXQgYaX8]: I was searching for a certain kind of super-wide Velcro and the first purveyor that popped up was from Keller! Watch the Meet-up pages for planned get togethers.

I heard Stefan of the Peter Schiff Show mention when talking to someone claiming that humans were "burdensome" that the entire population would fit into the state of Texas, with a couple of acres. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas Area = 696 241 km2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population Population = 7.142 billion at 247 odd acres per km2, = 171971527 acres 171971527 / 7142000000 = ~0.024 acres or ~97 m2 is my maths correct?

Forgive me if I am not doing this correctly, but I wanted to get some thoughts about my recent relationship with a Christian MD (resident) that I worked with in the pediatric ICU in one of the hospitals in my city in West Texas. I know how Stef would feel about my pitiful attempt at connecting with a person whom I know the relationship wouldn't work with, but I tried anyway. We immediately had a shared physical attraction (which I find is very important) but after talking with her for a while I could immediately tell that she was a similarly-minded person (at least in caring, compassion, understanding, listening). She is very intelligent (hence the MD) and we had plenty to talk about because we are both clinicians. We hit it off immediately. We talked about very basic things initially but I soon came to discover that she came from a very religious background (both parents are overseas missionaries). I of course, against my better judgement, decided to see where it would go, so I kept on talking. She asked what church I go to... to which I replied "I don't go to church". She replied "oh well that's okay, a lot of people prefer to not associate with a specific group. The reason I ask is that I was wondering if you'd like to go to a bible study with me some time." At this point I had to let the cat out of the bag. I looked her in the eyes: "I am an atheist", and watched the life drain from her face. She was deeply disturbed by this, and barraged me with language that made me feel her deep pity for me, but seemed to accomplish it by being non-abrasive. She is a very stubborn yet kind person, so we were able to just avoid conversations regarding this topic from then (3 weeks ago) until tonight. Tonight I went over to her place for dinner, since her schedule didn't allow us to meet much this month. We ate dinner and everything seemed fine. We watched an episode of MadMen and had some good laughs. At the end of the episode she said she had some reading to do for school. I had my tablet with me so I obliged, and two hours later she returned with the "We need to talk", and so we ended up having our final god chat and breaking up. After watching Stef's latest discussion with Peter Boghossian, I decided to approach the discussion in this manner: I reach objective conclusions based on objective analysis. Religion reaches objective conclusions based on subjective analysis. I also brought up that she doesn't live in my world, but that I do live in her world. I think I somewhat struck a chord with these statements, but the stubbornness was there to blockade her thought, and she had already made up her mind. She absolutely doesn't seem like she was ever physically abused, however I do think that she was psychologically tormented by the ever present fear of hell fire for eternity. I always try to be open to criticisms of inconsistencies and faulty logic, and make concerted efforts to live my life in a way that lets my actions speak louder than words. In the case of this woman, she watched as I saved the lives of 3 children in our pediatric ICU, yet it amazes me that my actions have NOT spoken louder than words, and that although I have gone out of my way to help her in her daily life, explained to her that I value truth above all things, I am still seen as going to hell... and the most upsetting part is that this is all coming from a physician. The person I thought would be able to reason more than any others that I had previously spoken with here in West Texas. Any ideas? Here's some very basic information about me: 1) I recently moved to Texas from Kansas, so have lived in the bible belt my whole life, but have moved to probably one of the most religious places in the entire United States. 2) I am a type 1 diabetic (pancreas no longer produces insulin) 3) I am a pediatric respiratory therapist 4) For about 6 years now I have had no contact with a woman on a physical level until this brief relationship 5) I work 12 hour night shifts 6) I am a very outgoing philanthropist, helping people on my days on and on my days off. 7) I am 29 years old (my dick hasn't been destroyed by the diabetes yet) I am a year-long follower of the show and have used it immensely to get across my view regarding religion. I feel like I tried my best to make it work, but my fear is that West Texas is absolutely the worst possible place I could be, and that I have more or less shut myself away from any kind of meaningful relationship that has a mutual understanding of what can and cannot be considered logical or reasonable. I know this whole thing seems very jumbled up, but I was just wondering if anyone thinks that I could have approached the relationship or conversations differently. Should I move elsewhere? (Some places are less insane/less religious/less statist than others) Thank you so much for bearing with my communication skills, I know that they could use some work. I'm desperately trying to avoid depression, but it feels like I'm inevitably headed in that direction