Author: sean

Sure Happy It’s Thursday

S.H.I.Thursdays, everybuddy. *quack*quack*

I’m really happy I didn’t end up a zookeeper.

Especially, now, where instead of going to a crappy little station somewhere to be a minor local celeb, but I really prefer where I am.

Obviously I don’t like having MS. It was more than a little dismaying learning that an old journaling friend was diagnosed the past fall.

Things change, but you can always leave.

I unsubscribed from a few podcasts after what happened with Russia and Ukraine. I emailed Kennedy to tell her I wouldn’t be watching episodes where she’s got those people as guests.

One of them lost the debate I went to see in NYC, and I’ve written about here before.

But you also can sorta go back again. So I’ll go to the TWUUG meeting tonight before I do extra work. Party.

Suddenly Saturday

I really didn’t feel like working yesterday, but I did. I also ended up working last night to address an operational issue that arose over the work day.

Since then, minus about four hours of sleep, I’ve been watching what’s going on in Ukraine.

Many of the information sources I’ve been consuming the past couple of years were completely wrong.

There’s just no other way to put it. I was convinced that the Russians would try to invade.

And they did.

And there’s been near silence about it.

Checking his Twitter feed, pretty much nothing over the past two days, save a link to fucking Antiwar.com.

Calling back to the late, great P.J. O’Rourke, Give War A Chance.

I’m too frazzled to write terribly coherently right now.

But there’s lots of things where I’d signed-up for something that’s proving to be untrue.

Back On Track

Maybe.

Very, very, very long week. That, and about five ounces of Gin and Tonic, caused me to sleep through part of it. Oops. I hope I wasn’t snoring, and if I was, I hope that the mic was muted. Good discussion at the end of where we got into a little about what I think is the um, trying to figure out the politest way to say this, maladjusted view of foreign policy of some in the libertarian movement.

(I know, I know, I can’t say that because I’m not the one defining what is 2022 Libertarianism, but, well, I’ve been here for a while, and read and argued many sides of an issue…..but, hey, that’s not libertarianism, because and I fucking wrote what libertarianism is based on my narrow reading list from the RON PAUL 2008 campaign….)

In other news, things are a lot calmer, otherwise, this week, thankfully.

I should make a to-do list for the next few months.

Next month is Shmoocon. I need to figure out what I want to see.

April, I hope I’ll be able to travel down to see my mom’s new house. This week was spent trying to get her set up with a new iPhone, as her provider cut off the cellular network her old phone used.

May is another medical procedure.

June may be figuring out what to do if I end up being unemployed at the end of that month.

No idea with the rest of the year, except that I do want to go to the Super-spreader event in Mexico in the Winter.

Sunday With

There’s a Sportsball game or something today. Hat-tip to Bald Bryan.

I guess what annoys me is the admonition that goes along with it. So you don’t care about Football. Great. Many people do. If you don’t want to participate in the hoopla surrounding, go do what you’d like to do. Or make some money serving the people who do care.

I admit I’ve mocked people in the past for engaging in activities I don’t understand. I know I said a few things about the people camped out outside of the theaters when Star Wars came out in 1999

I had a job back then. If I didn’t, I could have done something.t

At the same time, I was still such a stickler for following THE RULES back then, I probably would have never even considered doing anything ummm, outside them. There’s a “No soliciting” sign in the theatre parking lot. Okay, and? Who would I have been hurting, really, by providing for those people with interests that differ from my own?

Kind of feeds in to what’s going on with the truckers blocking all sorts of shit right now. They don’t like THE RULES, and, by just doing what they can, they’re really fucking things up for the PM up there.

Yah, sorry. We’re not leavin’.

The autocorrect in Safari is kind of annoying.

But, being such a stickler for following rules, no matter how stupid they are, worked for me well for a long time. Following them feeds into my obsessive side.

The compulsive side, on the other hand, is writing. Obviously, I’ve managed to stay pretty sparse over here since I finished NoJoMo. I am writing episode recaps over at Back At Again, but that’s about it.

I hope this week is rather low-stress, as opposed to last week.

Sunday Without

An NFL game that means anything.

I don’t think I’ve watched a Pro Bowl since they moved it to the week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

So I’ve been cleaning up various things.

Podcasts’ websites are working.

Start working on taxes, even though I don’t have all of the documents yet.

Looking at the Podcasting 2.0 information.

So, figure out a bit more with crypto wallet interconnection with various sites/platforms, and different ways to support things i consume.

I think I’d written before about shit I’d bought to support podcasts I listen to. But I really am having issues drinking through all of this coffee, and my underwear drawer is full.

I don’t really like the Great Reset you-will-own-nothing-and-you’ll-be-happy idea, but I think I could own a lot less stuff.

How do I get around to doing that? Hmm.

I think my wardrobe would be a good place to start.

Maybe next week.

This week is going to be busy. Monday is a long work day. Tuesday is an infusion in the morning, and another medical appointment in the afternoon. Then home to do proposal work. I will probably nearly as exhausted as I was Thursday, where I worked something like thirteen hours.

But at least the weather’s getting warmer.

Almost Missed

Writing on Saturday. I did miss the last two weeks. This was only partially intentionally, but it’s something I kind of was okay in avoiding.

I didn’t work yesterday, as I was about to exceed my hours for the pay period. With the Shmocon delay, it was even worse.

So coffee today didn’t happen until almost noon.

There’s football this afternoon, this evening, and tomorrow.

The Saints aren’t there. The For(mer)skins aren’t there, either. I’m really beyond the point of caring.

I can root against the Iggles, but that might be done pretty quickly.

So….bear down, and wait for the rescheduled Shmoocon.

Way behind on my podcast queue, too, as things have opened back up the past two weeks.

Didn’t get much last night with the HRGeeks Jitsi meeting last night. I started watching Don’t Look Up, but I didn’t have the energy to finish it. I did today, however, and, well, I get where they were going with it.

The concept was similar to my concern with the asset-backed currency folks. As I’ve said, with the predictable response of, “shut up math *(#,” the currency supply needs to increase at a predictable rate, in order for pretty much any sort of modern finance to work.

(And I get distracted looking whether charging an origination fee is okay with the Islamic prohibition on charging interest. I’m not finding a quick answer…)

I need to respond to an email. But I really don’t have the energy to really get into it.

None of the Above

I watched the debate between Spike Cohen and Dave Smith on Locals last night.

The title is a reference to this.

After thinking more about it, the less intrigued I am about either of the potential candidates.

Much like the Krystol-Horton “debate” at the Soho Forum, the more I heard, the less impressed I was.

To the participants — Spike, don’t wish for an Anachro-Capitalist society. I understand that, likely, there’s a lot less of my life ahead of me. (I worked through Y2K; I’m wondering if I’ll be around to see Y2K38) I think you could articulate a way to minimize the weight of the state on most people’s lives.

Dave, please find a book by someone with whom you disagree, read it, and write a brief summary of the arguments the author presented. Yes, there’s bad things the US did in South and Central America places in the past. Noted. It’s not why there’s tens of thousands of Haitians trying to cross into Texas. But that you floated out something from a very-biased take on history doesn’t add anything to your argument.

I find myself unimpressed with the options presented. None of the above.

Both of these guys are frequent guests on Kennedy, something which I often view.

Part of what one of the things that’s argued about the LP Mieses Caucus is an attempt to push ideas at lower levels to get libertarians to take advantage of the things that are coming up in the “alternative” media outlets.

I understand and enjoy the format. I really don’t think it lends itself to presentation of any coherent idea about policy.

Landing that fifteen-second clip that gets repeatedly shared on Twitter/Facebook/whatever, doesn’t explain what changes you would make to the existing morass that is the modern state. What will you do to move people from under the boot of the state? Next year. Not thirty years down the road. What are you going to do to bring people towards a system based on freedom?

Back At Again

I’ve never finished setting up the domain I snagged for “Notes of a Goon,” — BackAtAgain.com.

Considering the last episode, maybe I should give Harrington “mikey@backatagain.com”.

On a somewhat-related note, I’ve kind of narrowed-down what I’m going to do with my thing.

Start with three stories. What was said at the time it was reported? What was reported in the time in between, and what’s the latest news on the story?

I figure I can probably do roughly four minutes per story, which gives me some time for an intro, outro, and maybe a spot. *fingers crossed*

I’m still curious about whether I can make any money off of it. I think it might be an interesting way to supplement income after I stop working full-time. I am curious about what Michael Malice said about wiring a book.

But the OYR thing, I think, would probably be about three hours per episode doing everything myself. Obviously, folks who do a lot more opinion/entertainment-related shows probably don’t spend that much time, but I am going to do all the research, writing, and editing myself.

What else….

I’m doing some of my end-of-the-year donations. I do feel like of stingy with it, but I’m giving what I can at the moment. Maybe I shouldn’t wait until the crunch in December, but it is what it is. Who’s gotten money so far? Well, the charity gift thing my company is putting on, Reason, Cato….

I don’t know if I’m revisiting some of those, really, as a reaction to the nonsense with the LPMC fans.

They have nothing aside from their now-dated RON PAUL fascinations.

It’s not 2008.

It’s not 2012.

The Austrian school of economics is not right about everything.

I heard a longer description of what would happen if all currency was backed with real assets. While I appreciate the sentiments, there are so many things that are taken for granted in modern finance that would just completely go away.

One of the things that occurred to me the other day is that businesses run by Austrian School adherents should decline their employee compensation with predictable price deflation.

Yeah, we’re gonna drop your pay rate by 3% next year. It doesn’t matter if you kick ass performance-wise, everything you buy is going to be cheaper, so you’ll need less money.

Good luck finding people to work for you, Saint RON(pbuh).

So…news.

This.

In the wake of Epstein, the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, etc., you can see how things like the Comet Ping Pong story get a following.

I’m also not seeing the story I found on Wednesday or Thursday about how housing prices are pretty much at 2008-peak levels again.

Many people will be upset by this, but I can’t bring myself to be.

Thirty

Completion. Another month of writing every day in November, and not shaving my upper lip is complete.

I did it, and I can move on to the next thing which is the attempt at a podcast.

But there’s an essential thing here, and one that I think I’ve been letting bother me lately.

I’ve made several mentions of how the Austrian School economists are now undertaking a very, well, totalitarian way of viewing everything under the sun. They’re getting to be as bad as the Randians, honestly.

You must have a currency based solely on precious metals. You must think that the business cycle theory is the be-all, end-all explanation for everything.

But, you know what? You can live your life the way you want, regardless of what the men with guns who are running the central banks want.

See Trevor Lawrence.

Buy what you want to buy, do what you want to do.

When people want men with guns to stop it, make them fucking say so. Down to the point where they have to shoot you for your noncompliance.

Bubuhbut Rothbard said!!1!

I admit that could have just as easily been Mises or RON PAUL(pbuh).

Yeah, it doesn’t matter. You do what you want to do, and don’t mess with other people’s stuff.

It’s really not that difficult.

And if you want to put me in jail over it, something the President and Vice President are very accomplished at doing, fine. Just say it, already.

Time to do December stuff. To whom do I want to give money this year? It is “Giving Tuesday,” after all.

Twenty-nine

I have a few minutes to hit this first-thing-in-the-morning today.

More recycling form 2015

It’s the final Tuesday of the month. Do you care?

Not really, no. All it means, really, is that next Tuesday will be the first day I haven’t written in a month.

Although there’s still a few days left, I think I’ve proven to myself that I can still keep a commitment to something sometimes tedious.

By the same token, though, the fourteen months I’ve spent in this horrible, very bad job indicate teh same thing.

I’ve endured a lot in my life. Some of it deserved. Some of it undeserved. But all of it flavors my values, who I am.

I can endure a lot; the question is why do I keep doing it? When will I get to do something that I really enjoy professionally again? I’ve considered a lot lately, mainly to get out of my current situation, but should I go do something else I really won’t enjoy, for very little money?

Hmmmm…..

But one day of work left. I’m ready for a break.

I miscalculated that when I was putting together my prompts. The last Tuesday in the month is actually tomorrow, the 30th.

But, in keeping with the general tenor of the original entry, I think I’ll still feel like things are completed. Will I care that tomorrow is the last Tuesday? Not particularly. Will I care that it’s the last day in the pay period? A slight amount, I guess. I’m actually burning a little leave this pay period, so that’s a change from normal.

I was such a stick-in-the-mud when it came to a benefit I’d end up not being able to use very much. Thank you, The Science. (Why do I feel like Dave Smith’s pronouncements Saturday make him akin to the Dr. Fauci of the LP? Except Fauci’s been sucking at the public teet almost as long as Dave’s been breathing….)

But back to the prompt. Do I care that November is kind of over? A little. The weather is really outside my knowledge at this point given how rarely I go outside. I do sort of miss the days of when cold air would invade my lungs first thing as I step outside in the morning. (And, for several years, before warm tobacco smoke replaced it…)

though I’m physically closer to the point where I’d be able to enjoy that, it’s been taken from me for other reasons; thanks, The Science.

I could wax nostalgic about it, but I don’t really have that many good memories. I guess the closest would be some of the things in my youth in Europe. Or a couple of times freezing with my girlfriend (now wife) in DC.

Is there something that I can do? I don’t know.

One more day. Completion.