Leaving billings Montana. Is that all oil refineries? Charles got Lots of attention at the gas station. Six hours to Bismarck. I don’t know if I can pull another six tonight.
Did you know that all of Europe will fit inside of the USA east of the mississippi? This country is big… And I’m taking the short northern route.
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-23 01:24:00 UTC
Leaving Bozeman Montana. Can I make north Dakota in one day of driving?
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-22 23:12:00 UTC
IN NEED OF A CONE OF SILENCE
Sitting in a restaurant having breakfast. Overhearing a conversation next to me. A woman is planning her divorce over the next two years; including how she will increase her expenses, quit her job, take all the cash, run up the credit cards, lie to her husband in the process so that he doesn’t suspect anything. She’s asking her friend for advice on how long she can probably prolong the situation to get the maximum return.
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-21 11:45:00 UTC
Well, I’m taking the leap: I’m going to write economic and political philosophy full time. I’ve resigned as CEO of my company.
WHY? A bunch of reasons.
a) I’ve wanted to write full time for at least six years. I want to write while I’m still young enough to make a difference. It is my real passion in life.
b) The various movements around the western world that are being driven by the return of ‘white people’ to their traditional status as a weak minority both in numbers and in influence is creating interesting political and economic changes that are equal to those from the reawakening of Asia now that it has adopted capitalism.
c) Completing the merger both financially and strategically positioned the combined business for investment.
d) I was able to lock in what I considered a good if not great share price. The only way to lock the price is really to resign.
e) The team is quite good. There are rifts and a few key personnel shortages, but everyone knows what they are, and how to fix them. Getting both Steve and Ryan was a feat. Getting the product was another one.
So I can depart and claim victory for myself and my partners.
Yes there were things that were really bothering me. But it all comes down to having a dream that you find so compelling that it drives everything else in your life into irrelevancy. And anything that blocks that dream, simply frustrates you. And over time, that frustration turns to either anger or acquiescence. And for me, as someone who is fairly relentless, it had turned to anger which was making me caustic with people I care about. I want to follow my passion. So I chose to lock in a good price (Of course! What else would I do?) and then claim victory, and move on to fulfill my passion.
GOALS
I hope to be able to use the insights of anarchic libertarian philosophical reasoning to develop a rational, and economically sound language for anglo american conservatives, so that they are no longer a prisoner of their historical, religious, and allegorical language. Then perhaps the left and the right and the ‘middle’ will be able to engage in meaningful dialog rather than talking past each other. For well over a century humans have discussed a difference in ‘values’ as if they are arbitrary preferences with neutral economic consequences, and therefore preferences not ‘truths’. It is possible to express all human preferences as economic statements and in doing so convert discourse over preferences into discourse over empirical truths. But to do so requires I both write in a language that is more accessible than I am used to, and that I establish a broad set of explicit definitions, as well as explain some fuzzy and erroneous reasoning in the history of thought and in our common vernacular, and to provide a solution for our political institutions that updates our western democratic system for the current state of our economy, and the newfound complexity that has come from increased populations living largely in cities. No civilization in history on any continent has survived this level of urbanization. (It’s true.) Agrarian soft and hard institutions were unable to maintain the ability of people to cooperate and adapt under those pressures. So someone has to solve this problem, and I’m going to at least give it a good try. 😉
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-16 07:52:00 UTC
Tonight: Salmon Potato Soup. White onion, Leeks, potatoes (cook then hand blender), red pepper, black pepper, pancetta, salmon cooked in a bit of bacon, a bit of milk. Served with garlic bread. Took about an hour. Hearty.
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-14 18:53:00 UTC
If you want to do something that is meaningful to you for a very long time, you can become very angry at those things that prevent you from doing it. The feeling starts out as distraction, and matures into simple dissatisfaction, then dissatisfaction turns to frustration, frustration to exhaustion and exhaustion to anger. That anger then tends to spill out onto people around you, and you can treat even those you care most about in ways that they dont deserve, for reasons that are not related to them whatsoever. Your dreams are real if and only if, you are more willing to bear the difficulty of achieving them, then you are the frustration from not trying to achieve them.
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-12 18:41:00 UTC
Three days of cooking:
Friday, I made lime and hot pepper Pho with shredded dark chicken, fresh udon noodles, bok choy, lemongrass, scallions, fresh pressed garlic, and assorted mushrooms, garnished with carrot shavings and parsley.
Saturday, I made turkey and pancetta in a fresh tomato sauce heavy on fennel and red pepper served over zitoni, garnished with mozzarella and parsley.
Today, Comfort food. Turkey dinner. The smell of roasting bird. Mashed potatoes. Cranberry sauce. Green beans. Amanda played chef.
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-11 21:34:00 UTC
My post popular articles? They’re on fashion. Yep. My next most popular articles? On relationships and sex. Of course. Next most popular articles? On business. Yep.
Why do I bother writing about Political Economy and Economic Philosophy?
I studied fine art. I studied art history. I can render, I can sculpt, I can design architecture. I can write hella-good art criticism. (It’s almost impossible to study fine art any longer in the west.)
I also studied painting. But I can’t paint. I’ll never be able to paint. Ever. I just don’t have the color sense. But I studied painting anyway, despite the fact that I’m terrible at it.
I choose political economy to write about (what institutions, both formal and informal allow people to cooperate in large numbers to produce prosperity – or not produce it. I choose economic philosophy to write about (what’s possible to accomplish with numbers, and what’s not). I choose political philosophy to write about (how people make decisions as groups, and what decisions they will make.) I choose Cultural Economics to write about (how different informal cultural value judgements have vast consequences.)
I write about what people don’t care about. It’s a sickness. It must be. 🙂
Masochism. 🙂
Source date (UTC): 2011-12-09 15:11:00 UTC
New York-themed bakeries in Moscow. Priceless.
Source date (UTC): 2011-11-12 00:28:00 UTC
I love Russia. I love Russians. I love all the crazy wonderful stuff about them.
Source date (UTC): 2011-11-09 14:22:00 UTC