Category: Miscellaneous

Not comprehensive. Just random morning thoughts about things that matter, things that are at the heart of many other things. I would love to hear your version. —– I believe: That compromise can be a useful tool, but never for matters of principle. That we should not become like our enemies. I believe in freedom. That the individual is the building block of freedom. But that other individuals share the world with us in equality of natural rights and we proud individuals had best darned well not forget it. That dogs are the crown of creation. That totalitarianism can’t last,…

Have you heard of the misery index? (Stick with me; this does have to do with the very real violence we face.) Very simple: The misery index is the rate of inflation added to the rate of unemployment. It was invented by one of LBJ’s economists back in the 1960s and designed as an imprecise indicator of how Average Joe and Average Josie are feeling at any given time. The lower, the better. Index is 2.97? Happy people, happy country. That, BTW, is the lowest it’s ever estimated to have been, (presumably retroactively calculated) for 1953. Index is 21.98? Unhappy…

For this post, I owe everything to the fine people of The Living Freedom Forums, including TLF (especially), CX, S, BSC, ATX, TB, and RJT. I was struggling to start this segment of the series because I was stuck in the forms of justice (juries or no juries, formal or customary, tribal or institutional, adversarial or based on mediation, etc.). Forum members immediately changed the subject to principles of justice. They were right and their contributions broke the logjam in my brain. —– “Rightful Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within limits drawn around us by the equal…

Since L. Neil Smith died on August 27, many people he influenced have paid their tributes. Kent McManigal’s is one of the most heartfelt. Sarah Hoyt said a touching goodbye to her friend. Neil’s daughter Rylla wrote his obituary. Wendy McElroy and her husband Brad Rodriguez were among the first to speak. Me, I’m slow. Eric Oppen and others who gave me the news when it first came out on the Monday after Neil’s death must have wondered whether I cared. I just needed to reflect before saying my thanks. —– I met Neil in 1982 or 1983. I’d read…

… Well, part of it, anyhow. Bari Weiss — a liberal, urban, lesbian writer late of the New York Times* is saying not to respond to wokeism by groveling, hiding your real thoughts, apologizing, trying to change yourself to fit the latest weird ethic, or parroting the party line. No, she says not only to SPEAK UP with your real opinions, but live your life well according to your own standards — which in her listicle of recommendations may not entirely be the standards of a Freedom Outlaw, but certainly rhyme with them. Bari Weiss is wonderful, anyhow. But this…

And prolific Commentariat member Comrade X posts the 50,000th comment received on this blog. Congratulations to Comrade and thank you to the world’s best Commentariat.

Silver here.

Today is a special day.  Today the Living Freedom blog has logged

One Million pageviews.

Silver writing.  Hypoxia is a diminished supply of oxygen to the body.  I’ve been trained about hypoxia – recognizing it, the dangers, contributing factors.

Hypoxia is extremely dangerous because it makes most people feel happy and overconfident.  They act as if they are drunk.  They deny that there is any problem, even as they lose the ability to perform simple tasks.

This video shows a pilot undergoing hypoxia training.  He’s in a chamber where the pressure can be lowered to simulate various altitudes.  The training simulates an explosive decompression, and while it doesn’t specify the simulated altitude, it’s above 26,000 feet.