Monthly Archives: March 2012

Government Week – Plutocracy

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GovernmentMost of you have probably never heard of this form of government and yet I’d be willing to wager that you’ve either complained about how the United States is becoming more like this or at least argued against someone who made that claim. Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy.

The ancient Roman Republic which was in some ways the model of the modern U.S. was a Plutocracy as the ruling Senate was largely made up of wealthy people who were the only ones eligible for the position. In the U.S. this is not true and the Founding Fathers saw the danger in such a system creating our current bicameral chambers in which the House of Representatives is elected by direct vote. The Senate of the U.S. was originally an appointed position but that has changed. See my blog on this subject for further information. To be fair the original system only allowed land owning white males to vote which was essentially rule by the upper class.

In the U.S. the wealthy have always been allowed raise money and support particular candidates but bribery itself is illegal. However, in recent years and particularly thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision that money is now flowing in ever greater quantities to candidates.

My father told me years ago that it shouldn’t be illegal to give to one candidate in a campaign but when you give to both sides it is nothing other than bribery. My father tends towards the hyperbole in these situation but I must admit that I agree with him on this one. The other issue is that groups of people, be they unions, Political Action Committees, corporate entities, or some other assembly are now allowed to raise money and donate it to a campaign of their particular interest. The upshot of this is that a group can target a campaign where one candidate is vulnerable.

For example, I can start a PAC, raise money from donations from all over the world, and then put that money into a campaign in Idaho. I’m from Missouri and have no representative stake in an election in Idaho. This influx of money to support a particular candidate occurs even before the general election with the primaries in which the candidate from one of the two major parties must bow before the powers of that party in order to get the funds necessary to be elected. Elected officials who do not vote as ordered find themselves without funds in the next election cycle.

This has a chilling effect on that candidate’s votes once elected. They are financially and emotionally obligated to the people who paid for their election. Bribery, in short.

This isn’t exactly new and prior to the 17th Amendment Senators were so obligated to the state legislatures rather than to moneyed influences.

In this series so far I’ve mainly just described government types without commenting particularly but I’ll break that trend today to offer what I consider to be some reasonable solutions to the untoward influence money is bringing to campaigns. I think that politicians who are honorable and want to make their district, country and world a better place would welcome the removal of moneyed influence so they can simply vote their ideological position.

I’m of the opinion that individuals should be allowed to contribute any amount desired to a campaign in which they have a representative interest. I’m from District 3 in Missouri so I can donate to that campaign for the House of Representatives, to a Senator from my state’s campaign or to a presidential candidate. I should not be able to donate to any other campaign or to both candidates in any race. Likewise no group of people should be allowed to collect money to donate to any campaign. If someone wants to give three million dollars to a candidate then so be it. But groups are out and donations to a particular party’s “war chest” are forbidden.

Also, I think all election cycles should be limited in time. The House of Representatives get thirty days to run their primary and the same for the general campaign. The Senate should revert back to state legislature appointment although if not limit them to forty-five days. The presidential campaign should be a three month primary season and a three month general election. No campaigning of any kind should be allowed otherwise.

It’s a fairly extreme solution and might face some constitutional questions. It does give some advantage to incumbents whose names are already known but they have an advantage under any system.

Tell me what you think in the comments below and share away!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Government Week – Plutarchy

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GovernmentTomorrow I look at the form of government called a Plutarchy. I’d be willing to bet that most of you have never heard of such a thing and I’d also guarantee that it is form of government about which you’ve complained about or heard complained about within the recent past. There are many in the United States who think that the current situation is leading us towards this form of government.

So, stay tuned and learn a few things about Plutarchy!

See you tomorrow.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Government Week – Anarchism

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GovernmentYesterday I spoke about Totalitarianism as a form of government and today I thought I’d turn that idea completely around and talk about Anarchism. An anarchist basically argues that state control is harmful to society and that government in general is unnecessary and causes more damage than it solves.

As a Libertarian this idea has merit to me but I don’t see it working in any practical manner. What I do see is many of my Libertarian friends being so disillusioned with government that they lean towards Anarchism rather than Libertarianism. This is a dangerous leaning from my perspective. Let’s get back to Anarchism.

The general definition is: The political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority and hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations.

An anarchist believes that society can run much like The Valley from Ayn Rand‘s Atlas Shrugged. The Valley is where achievers are allowed to achieve without any interference from government. It is an idealized location, cut off from the surrounding world, and only those deemed worthy are invited to join. This is where I have a problem with Libertarians. I don’t think this island is a good test for the ideas of Ayn Rand. In my own novel, The Staff of Sakatha, I have a valley like nation where the Freeriders roam. I talk about this idea more fully in this video.

Again, let’s get back to the topic at hand. The earliest we find anarchism in the world is by a fellow named Zhuangzi who wrote: A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation. Powerful words true even today.

There are some who consider Jesus Christ a Christian Anarchist although the term anarchist didn’t enter the English language until the 17th Century during the English Civil War.

Modern Anarchism emerged with a fellow by the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and then another man named William Godwin. Much of what we consider organized labor sprang from the ideas of anarchism and state sponsored enslavement of workers that was seen at the outset of the industrial revolution.

An interesting topic of discussion was the United States willingness to limit corporate power through legislation making unions legal and the fact that Russia refused to do so. Eventually the abuses became so terrible in Russia the people had a revolution whereas the U.S. form of government remained intact. Perhaps fodder for another post.

Terrorism also has some roots in anarchy as public acts of violence were advocated by anarchists of the time who were being actively suppressed by the state. The rise of fascism is sometimes seen as a movement against the anarchy of the time.

Modern anarchism is broken into two schools of thought, the Social Anarchist and the Individual Anarchist. Both generally believe that the state lacks the ability to morally and ethically allow people their freedom and exists generally for the purposes of tyranny.

This post could go on and on as the topic is endlessly fascinating, you probably don’t agree :), but I think  I’ve given you at least the gist of the idea of anarchism and anarchists.

Share if you think a friend my find this interesting,

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Government Week – Anarchism

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GovernmentToday I took on the topic of Totalitarianism so I figured I’d follow-up with its ideological opposite tomorrow, anarchism. As a Libertarian one of the things I find fault in my fellows is the tendency towards anarchy because of their deep distrust of government. I’m not one to rush into the arms of government agencies but I do think they have an important place in society.

So, stay tuned tomorrow for … Anarchy!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

The Staff of Sakatha – Character Video – Jon Gray

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Jon GrayI’ve neglected my videos of late and managed to get today off from work so I’ve just made a the latest in the series. You can go to my book pages to see the videos so far created for The Staff of Naught and the Staff of Sakatha.

Here is the direct link to the video about Jon Gray the main protagonist from the Staff of Sakatha.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Government Week – Totalitarianism

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GovernmentGovernment week starts off with one of the most vilified forms known to man, Totalitarianism. A number of government types fall under this general umbrella including monarchy, fascism, nazism, and Soviet Union and Chinese style communism. All of these states are defined by the attempt of government to have complete control over aspect of its citizens lives.

The official definition of totalitarianism is: Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.

This usually includes state controlled mass media which the United States Constitution forbids. There is generally only a single political party to which all citizens who hope to advance socially, financially and politically, must belong. It often uses what is called personal cultism. This is essentially making the leader or leaders of the states godlike. We saw this idea as far back as ancient Greece and continuing all the way through modern North Korea.

There are generally severe restrictions on speech against the party in power which again the U.S. Constitution forbids. Another hallmark is mass surveillance of its citizens. Again the U.S. Constitution forbids this. Anyone getting the idea that the Founding Fathers knew what they were about?

Totalitarian regimes generally control all aspects of the economy and use terror as a weapon to keep the population in line. It was formulated as a political concept in Italy in the 1920’s although it has existed in a defacto manner since people first assembled. Benito Mussolini said, Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.

There are differences between Authoritarian Regimes and Totalitarian Regimes but I’m hoping only to give a general outline of the various forms of government this week so if the topic interests you I’d suggest a full perusal of the Wikipedia articles.

An interesting book, which I haven’t read, called The True Believer by an equally interesting man Eric Hoffer, suggests that totalitarian regimes often have their roots in picturing western style republics as soft, decadent, and selfish. We see those argument today in the Middle East where Totalitarianism still thrives. I’ll be talking about Theocracy later this week.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what other people are saying when the compare someone to a Nazi or a Soviet Style Communist. Let me know if you think this was helpful with the poll below and Like, Tweet, Comment, share, or otherwise freely use the media the Constitution guarantees.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Government Week

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GovernmentIsn’t every week government week in reality? Just kidding … sort of. I’m going take the next seven days to talk about the various forms of government in the world. I’ve come to the opinion that there is a great deal of confusion out there about what a particular type of government means and hopefully I’ll straighten out some of those misconceptions over the week.

I think language is important and when you criticize one politician or political party by using certain words it is good to get them right. When I hear someone call someone else a Nazi or a Socialist or a Communist or a Fascist they are often factually incorrect.

So, stay tuned for Government week! Maybe we’ll all learn something.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Afghanistan Massacre

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WarI wanted to look at a serious topic today in regards to the United States soldier who murdered a number of Afghanistan citizens. From what I see there is considerable debate about the usefulness of releasing the name of Staff Sergeant Bales to the general public. It’s been released so the debate is moot but I think it’s important to understand whether or not releasing the name is good idea.

The argument against releasing the name boils down to the idea that the facts of the case have not been adjudicated in a court of law and giving out the soldier’s name puts his family in a terrible position. He is accused of an awful crime and, even if exonerated, he and they are stained by the accusation forever.

The arguments for releasing the name is that, like anyone charged with criminal behavior, their name is publicly available.

The unusual circumstances are that the crime took place in a foreign country by a U.S. soldier. I’m of the opinion that these unusual circumstances make it even more imperative that his name be released. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 the military and political supporters of the war seem to have had a propaganda orientated mindset in place to support the war.

The first incident I remember with clarity was that of Jessica Lynch. She was a member of the Quartermaster Corps and when the vehicle in which she rode was attacked she ended up being captured. The military immediately put forth a completely fabricated story about the event. To her credit, when rescued she told the truth.

The next incident that comes to mind is the treatment of prisoners in the Abu Graib prisoner-of-war camp. Beware, there are graphic images through that link. Again, the military did all it could to pretend that nothing was wrong until picture evidence began to emerge and some consequences were eventually doled out. There is some evidence to suggest that the activities were known to and approved by the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

The incident that is most striking in my mind involved fellow atheist and soldier Pat Tillman. The manner of is death, possible murder, was covered up at the highest levels of the military almost from the moment it happened. His parents were lied to, his platoon mates were ordered to lie, military officials actively blocked investigations, and the truth may never be known.

Now, the reason I mention all these events, which occurred under the President George W. Bush administration, is the effect they have on serving military personnel.

Let me digress for a moment. At your work, how does it make you feel when a poor employee is given a raise or promoted? How does it make you feel when someone who breaks rules is covered up for by administration?

Every time we cover up the truth, no matter how painful, we dishonor all the soldiers who serve with honor and distinction. Every time we sweep our dirty laundry under the bed we encourage the dishonorable to go about their business. We discourage the good people and encourage bad ones. Conversely, when we punish those who commit crimes we encourage all those who serve with honor. This is my point. We must release the name of the wrongdoer to show our wonderful soldiers that we support them. It seems, at first glance, to undermine them but it is actually the opposite. Hiding the blemishes only makes the worst sorts bolder in their behavior and the best more timid.

If we hide the soldier who murdered the civilians we do ourselves, his family, his fellow soldiers, and our country no favors. Let the truth shine as brightly upon our mistakes as upon our successes and our nation will thrive. Those who commit crimes must be punished just as those who do good deeds must be rewarded. That is Libertarianism and personal responsibility.

Let me know what you think about releasing the soldiers name in the poll below and share this article if you think it’s a worthwhile read.

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Critical Thinking Fail – Apple Factories

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Critical ThinkingHere is the second in my Critical Thinking Fail series. I just read this article at Yahoo about a story that broke last January on the radio show This American Life. In it a man named Mike Daisy made some pretty serious allegations about the condition of the factory workers in China working on Apple products.

It turns out he made up at least some of the allegations. That’s fine and dandy. He’s a liar, good to know. Keep track of the liars in your life and understand their words in that context.

My critical thinking fail is this. Daisy told This American Life producers that he “lost the phone number” of the translator who took him around to the factories in question. When tracked down said translator put Daisy’s stories into doubt. Subsequently, Daisy admitted to making up some of the allegations although he largely stands by his story.

So, my question is, did This American Life fail to think critically when they went ahead with the story without meeting with the translator to corroborate the story?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Afghanistan Massacre

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WarI’m going to take on a pretty serious topic tomorrow. Last week an American soldier rampaged through a village in Afghanistan and killed many civilians including women and children in their sleep. What I want to talk about is the releasing of the soldier’s name to the general public and importance of doing or not doing so.

Whether or not to release the name has gotten some pretty passionate arguments from both sides of the issue and I think the behavior of the army and the government during the aftermath of this horrific event is going to speak greatly about the United States of America and for what we stand.

Stay tuned.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Super Powers

Super Powers – Debunked

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PsychicIn this final installment of my talk about Super Powers I’ll explain how some truly great people have spent much of their lives debunking those who hope to defraud us by claiming abilities beyond the normal. Yesterday I talked about the tremendous amount of fraud that is based on people who make such claims particularly in the realm of religion. Today I hope to demonstrate that the people who claim super powers are largely interested in stealing your money.

This sort of fraudulent behavior goes back as far as the written word as soothsayers in ancient Greece like the Oracle at Delphi made their living with fake prophecies for the desperate and gullible. The skeptics of the world have always doubted such nonsense and tried to debunk them.

I consider Gaius Julius Caesar one of the most admirable and remarkable men in history. In ancient Rome it was common for a soothsayer to look at the entrails of a recently slaughtered goat to determine if good or bad things were in store for the day. Suetonius attributes this quote to Caesar about that very subject: The entrails will be more favourable when I please; and it ought not to be regarded as a prodigy that a beast should be found wanting a heart.

Suetonius is trying to vilify Caesar but of course elevates him. Caesar knew this sort of fortune-telling was nonsense and makes no pretense about it.

In any case, let’s move forward in time to another of the greats, Harry Houdini. Mr. Houdini is best known as a magician and escape artist but he spent a great deal of life as a skeptic attempting to expose frauds who claimed super powers. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize for proof of super powers. Prize never paid.

Here’s the rub, if someone had super powers, they could prove it in two seconds. If I could fly it’s easy to prove. If I can read your mind, it’s easy to prove. Sure, there are tricks that seem to indicate this ability but under controlled environments no one has ever succeeded. Ever.

Mr. Houdini’s friend, Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, was a firm believer and tied himself in knots trying to figure out how Houdini was proving all these other psychics wrong. It’s an interesting story should you care to read further. But, it illustrates how invested are people who want to believe in Super Powers. Again, religion comes to the forefront here as people want to believe so badly they are willing to suspend their reason and end up defrauded.

Before Mr. Houdini died he hired his friends H. P. Lovecraft and C. M. Eddy Jr. to write a book called The Cancer of Superstition. Sadly, Mr. Houdini passed away and a great book was never written. I mourn.

The modern inheritor of Mr. Houdini’s assault on mysticism and super powers is James Randi. He has offered a $1,000,000 reward for anyone who can prove  paranormal powers. You’ll be stunned to learn, unclaimed. A million dollars!

Now, most of the true believers claim those that really have the power keep it a secret and don’t try for the reward. This is a common argument tactic of faith-based thinking. It is a fallacy called Argument from Ignorance. Essentially, a proposition is true because it hasn’t been proven false. A great man named Bertrand Russell came up with an excellent example to prove the unsound nature of this argument. He suggested that there is a teapot orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars. You can’t prove it’s not there so it must be there. Be alert to Arguments from Ignorance when dealing with people who claim Super Powers exist in one form or another.

Back to Mr. Randi. He wrote a book calling Uri Geller a fake and subsequently won a lawsuit filed by Geller against him. Mr. Randi brilliantly set up a privately financed, fake psychic program called Project Alpha to show how flawed were the efforts to prove Super Powers. In a famous television appearance he debunked James Hydrick who claimed to be able to turn pages of a book with his mind. Mr. Randi simply put packing kernels around the book to prevent Hydrick from blowing the pages. Debunked!

In 1987 Mr. Randi wrote an important book called The Faith Healers as an outlet for his anger rising from compassion for the helpless victims of fraud. Sick people manipulated, defrauded, used. Well done, Mr. Randi! Well done, indeed.

Mr. Randi’s inspired a young magician named Penn Jillette who continues this good work today with books, a television show, and a Las Vegas show.

The point here is that when someone claims to have Super Powers they are trying to defraud you. Whether this is religious powers, supernatural powers, or comic book style super powers their goal is to steal something from you. Use your skepticism, your powers of logic and reason, inspire those around you to do the same.

We skeptics, we logical thinkers, can’t snap our fingers to make the world a better place but we can lead by example. We can show people better methods of thinking and inspire children. If we can raise generations of skeptics, of critical thinkers, then, we will change the world.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Super Powers tested by Science

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Super PowersWhat started me off with this discussion about Super Powers was an article I read which purportedly tested psychic abilities and returned a result that suggested they were real. I want to discuss the idea of using science to test for psychic ability and the history of doing so that goes from Harry Houdini to the Amazing Randi to Carl Sagan to Penn Jillette.

I’ll also talk about the evidence presented by the original article and new studies using the same methodology.

It’s an interesting story and you might find it a worthwhile read tomorrow to alleviate some of your sorrows about the Missouri basketball upset. Sigh.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Super Powers

Super Villians

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Super VillianYesterday I spoke about the apparently natural human desire for Super Powers be they psychic, religious, or comic book. Today I’m going to talk about how our desire for Super Heroes inevitably leads to Super villains. We want people, or ourselves, to have super powers for use for good but those that claim such powers almost always end up using them for selfish purposes that take advantage of others.

It’s fairly easy to disprove someone who claims they can fly or turn invisible so outside of the realm of magicians there aren’t that many super villains of the comic book type littering history but even then there are some examples. Mostly it is people who insanely thought they had super powers and used that as an excuse to tyrannize other people. What comes immediately to mind here is the supposed practitioners of magic. Be they witches, voodoo priests, or African witch doctors. These people take money from desperate, hopeful people in order to fulfill their wish of love, vengeance, murder, etc.

The problem here is that desperate people are being used and abused in a fraudulent manner. practitioners of many alternative medicines are taking money from people with the promise of a cure when none is forthcoming. This is truly despicable. Today, in the United States, fake doctors inject their patients with cement with the promise of better looks. Awful, criminal, hideous. I’m not even talking about aromatherapy or a host of other alternative medicinal practices that have no evidence of efficacy.

The much more common super villain we see is associated with psychic powers. It is generally the same concept in that they purport to help someone but in actuality simply take their money and provide no useful service. Often times the lies told by the psychic do further damage because the victim believes the lies and acts accordingly. The police even believe the lies and arrest innocent people.

Finally, the most common super villain we find is the one who claims religious inspiration. I’m not talking about Jesus and Muhammad but people who use religion to defraud true believers. This problem is immense because when it comes to religion people have a tendency to use faith-based thinking instead of critical thinking. I’ve spoken of these subjects at length in the past but a quick recap never hurts.

A faith-based thinker believes something to be true without evidence whereas a critical thinker examines evidence to make a decision. Faith based thinking is particularly prone to religious fraud because they so desperately want something to be true.

The personal story I have is a woman who was getting a patent for her invention. I happen to know a patent attorney (when’s the next lake house party, Clyde?) and the general costs of such a process. When this woman told me what she was paying for her patent I immediately informed her that perhaps she should use a different patent company. She replied that they were “a good, Christian” company. I knew there was no hope of changing her mind at that point. She was defrauded for tens of thousands of dollars.

There is an important lesson to be learned here. In order for a Super Villain to take advantage of us we must be willing participants who have abandoned our critical thinking skills. No confidence game works without the participation of the victim.

When someone tells you they can do something “Super” then immediately be on alert. The odds are strong they want something from you. Your money, your job, your wife, or who knows what else.

Keep your critical thinking cap firmly in place and don’t let a Super Villain hurt you or anyone you know.

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Super Powers are Dangerous

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PsychicTomorrow I’m going to take a look at the various people throughout history who have used their supposed “Super Powers” and how such people are dangerous to you and me. The main reason people claim to have abilities beyond human is to steal, cheat, and harm others and we see it again and again throughout history.

It’s an interesting phenomenon because generally we think of super people as heroes. So, tomorrow I take a closer look at these heroes and the good and bad done by them and those using their names.

Stay tuned!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Super Powers

Super Powers – Why the Fascination

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PsychicI think most people in the world have a fascination with Super Powers be they comic book type like flying or becoming invisible,  religious like with turning water to wine or returning from the dead, or psychic like telekinesis or clairvoyance. I’m going to make this a multi-part post with today’s focus being why we are so enamored with the idea of super powers.

Interestingly enough I think there is a relationship between frustration, which I spoke about the other day, and the desire for, or the hope that, super powers are manifestly possible. Everyday things happen in our life beyond our control and there is an undeniable thirst to be in command of what happens to us. I think this starts as a very small child when we have power over almost nothing. This is a frustrating experience and although as we grow older we gain more control there will always be elements of our life that we cannot steer.

So, that is a common human experience. I think it is one of the main drivers of our belief in super powers be they religious, psychic, or comic book in nature.

I read an article yesterday in which some researchers used the scientific method to look at clairvoyance. Simply put, this is the ability to know things before they happen. I’m going to talk much more about that article in the coming days but today I’m focusing more on why we want to believe in Super Powers so much that, in fact, many of actually do believe.

The belief in astrology is quite popular all over the world as is general belief in psychic powers in one form or another. Certainly the belief that there is a magical father up in the sky watching over us is the prevalent view of the majority of people in the world. That agents of this power are capable of turning water into wine, walking on water, ascending (flying) directly into the sky, packing a boat full of animals that under no logical examination could fit inside.

So, I’ve blamed frustration for this belief and our childhood but that doesn’t seem to me to be enough to explain why grown men and women still believe in nonsense. I’m not just attacking religion here. Many religious people agree with me that the belief psychic powers is madness. So don’t feel too picked upon!

The other big reason I think we believe in Super Powers of one nature or another is our imperfect sensory input. By this I mean our eye, ears, nose, touch, and taste senses. They don’t work particularly well and fool us all the time. Optical illusions are everywhere and our other senses are easily fooled as well. So we have this constant stream of input coming in but much of it is false. To my way of thinking this leads us to the conclusion that there most be something “more” out there. Something hidden in the shadows just beyond our reach.

Well, there is something more out there, x-rays, ultraviolet light, high frequency sound, and thousands of other things that we can’t sense but that doesn’t make them magical. It just means we can’t sense them with or normal faculties. With devices we see and understand these things but it’s difficult to separate my personal view of the world as brought to me by my senses and the logical view of world brought to second-hand through instrumentation.

Finally, I think dreams play a large role in this belief in Super Powers. We dream but don’t remember them fully and they seem filled with strange imagery and prophetic power. I’ll just give one little story here and then wrap things up. I was having strange dreams quite a few years back and started to record them. I’d advise a pen that is capable of writing while being held upside down. After a few months of doing this I found my dreams were completely related to my work, my family, my personal life, and things going on everyday. It was just my brain reorganizing them. There was no mystery.

So, that’s it. Tell me, do you believe in Super Powers?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – Super Powers

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PsychicI just read a fascinating article about a scientific experiment that seemed to validate psychic ability. The research was accepted for publication in 2010 and the methodology published for peer review to see if similar results could be obtained. Well, the first study using the methods is in and the results are predictable (see what I did there?) but nevertheless interesting.

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow and I have a feeling it is going to turn into a multi-part session. I would say that the vast majority of people in the world believe in some sort of mental or physical power that defies scientific explanation. Why is that? What evidence is there? What’s it all about?

Tomorrow the journey begins!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Critical Thinking Fail – The Curve Ball

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Curve BallI pretty frequently come across an article where I see a failure in critical thinking skills. I don’t think there is really enough to write an entire topic about the article but I want to call attention to it so I’ve decided to start a Critical Thinking Fail series. I’ll basically post the article whenever I spot something that strikes me as meeting this criteria. I’ll post a link to the article and what I think is the failure and you can decide if you agree with me or not. I’ll include a poll with the article.

So, here is the first:

The Curve Ball

Basically, there was a study to determine the danger of young kids throwing curve balls. They have long been banned for fear of damage to young arms. The study indicates that curve balls are no more dangerous than other pitches for young arms. The real danger seems to be the total number of pitches thrown with higher numbers causing more damage.

The critical thinking fail comes from Dr. Timothy Kremchek who is a surgeon and doctor fo the Cincinnati Reds. He lambastes Little League’s decision to not outlaw curve balls, based on the evidence of the study, as “irresponsible”. It makes him “sick to his stomach” and he’s “pretty sure” curve balls cause the damage. I’m sure he’s a well meaning fellow but evidence is evidence. Science is science, studies are studies.

So, Dr. Kremchek, you win my Critical Thinking Fail Award!

Read the article and tell me if you agree or not!

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

The End of Print

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Digital NewsI was one of the first converts to eReaders using Microsoft Reader and their proprietary .lit format. It still works and thanks to a wide variety of free eBooks I’ve accumulated a fairly good library. I also stopped reading newspapers quite a few years ago choosing to get my information online. So, maybe I’m not the most objective person in the world to declare print dead but I think there is a lot of evidence to suggest this form of media is coming to an end.

In this post I’m not going to try to prove that print media is dying by quoting a ton of statistics or convincing you with my irrefutable logic but simply look at what having media available in a digital format will mean for our lives.

One important point is that reading a book or a magazine on paper isn’t fundamentally different from reading it on your reader, tablet, or other device. People will still need to learn how to read and the written word itself is the same regardless of the medium used to deliver it. However, other than this the two experiences are quite different.

Let’s start with childhood. My mother read me books at bedtime from an early age and I don’t think that is going away but there is now the potential for the books to read themselves with audio files, images, and streaming video. We now have monitors in our minivans and airplanes it doesn’t seem much of a stretch to imagine them built into cribs. The media center now holds a vast array of movies and songs but soon it will hold all your books as well. Each monitor around the house has access to the media and thus all your books are at your fingertip at the cradle. I’m sure that plenty of parents don’t want to relinquish control completely to the reader but the screen might display colorful images and sound effects may boom out as you read the story to the baby.

As I grew older, I was reading on my own and my mother would return from the library with a new batch of books for me. The library and your eReader are going to soon become good friends. You’ll be able to check out books from the library simply by downloading them to your computer and from there it will broadcast to any device in wireless range.

The library as we know it will eventually cease to exist because there won’t be a need to store millions of books as they become digitized. This reminds me of the library scene in Rollerball, my all-time favorite movie, which doesn’t paint such a rosy pictures of a world without books. Still, I think this is largely a good thing except perhaps for certain library employees. Not to say there won’t be a library, it will just be fundamentally different than we see today. In the library of the future the librarian will help you find digital versions of the material you want to read.

Your young student will get their text books in digital format and for all of us who got that twenty times handed down copy of school material that was bordering on disgusting this can’t seem like a bad thing. The school backpack industry might need a rethink. This will save schools a huge amount of money in purchasing the material in the first place and it will change the landscape of the textbook industry dramatically. All companies that make their money by printing material on paper and selling it are eventually going to have to find a new way to do business. I think the paper industry will take a major hit as well although the fact that every house has two or three printers might prove me wrong in that regard.

As adults we will no longer subscribe to print newspapers and magazines but simply get them wirelessly each day or week or month on our devices. I’ll be able to read the latest news at any time, anywhere.

A lot of people view this future with trepidation with the idea of mass censorship and book destruction but I see this as a liberating moment. Anyone with an idea can distribute their book without the need for a publishing house, a  printer, a distribution network, and all the other things that were necessary in the past. My own books are published by me, distributed by me, and publicized by me.

That’s going to be the difficult part of the new era of digital print. There’s going to be plenty of good and interesting material out there but there will also be an awful lot of self-published dreck. The consumer is going to have find out what is to their tastes and what is not, rather than being told by the publishing industry. Not that bad a trade-off.

All this media means lots of ideas, lots of books, lots of stories, lots of choices and that can’t be a bad thing. So, don’t fear the new era of digital media, embrace it. Go out and join the digital world today by purchasing an eReader of some kind and buying your first book. If it happens to be The Staff of Naught (only $2.99), all the better! 🙂

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

Teaser – The End of Print

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Digital NewsYou may have noticed that newspaper subscriptions are plummeting, books aren’t selling like they used to, and magazines are disappearing. You can thank, or blame, things like the eReaders, tablets, and other devices like phones and even cheap laptops for this trend and I’m going to talk about it tomorrow.

It’s an interesting turn of events in a short period of time but the digital landscape is quickly destroying print media for better or for worse. I’ll look at both sides of the argument although I think the conclusion to the battle is inevitable and I’ll try and discuss what this means for all of us.

See you tomorrow,

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist

How Frustrations leads to Violence

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FrustrationWe see a lot of violence in the world and I think most of us realize things would be better if we could reduce it. We see children murdering school mates, workers murdering fellow employees, soldiers killing civilians and, of course, possibly the worst of all, terrorists trying and sometimes succeeding in murdering large numbers of innocents.

But there are small, unpublicized fits of rage around us everyday. Driving too aggressively, punching a spouse, verbally abusing a child, vicious exchanges with coworkers, and countless others.

Where does all this rage come from? Is it natural and even healthy? Can anything be done to stop it?

I’m certain that I don’t know all the answers but it seems to me that a much of the anger and impetus to violence that I feel stems from frustration. When I’m trying to get something done and fail. Modern society has foisted a lot of frustration upon us from trying to navigate an automated phone system to making the computer work properly. I’m a teacher and not being able to get a point across to a student is tremendously frustrating and I have to stem my anger and even rage. Why aren’t they understanding? What’s wrong with them? Maybe something is wrong with me because I can’t teach properly? Anger rises. Of course, I manage to calm myself and keep cool. I find another way to deliver my message but I can’t deny the anger the boils inside when I’m frustrated.

Again, I’m not in the psychiatric field but it seems clear that people who end up perpetrating violent acts have navigated from frustration, to anger, and eventually to violence. Think back to the last time you got angry and what instigated the incident or perhaps the last time you lashed out violently even if only to kick the door or smack the table.

I can’t discount mental illness of course and that certainly is responsible for some of the violence but I’m talking about people without brain damage who are somehow brought to a boiling rage. Do you know someone prone to anger to violence? What sort of activity precipitates their explosion?

I doubt the concept of a link between frustration and violence is much of a revelation or anything but what I do think is that if we can decrease general, daily frustrations we might well see a decrease in violence as well.

So, how to decrease frustration? I think the one way is to simply try and come up with logical, critically thought out systems for doing business. If the system is as straight-forward as possible then there is less frustration and, hopefully less violence. One thing we read about in the news is smart traffic systems so that we spend less time in traffic delayed by lights that are not well timed. I don’t know about you but I find traffic to be one of the most frustrating events of my life and I only travel ten minutes to work! Even a simple system of storing things in their proper place so that things can be found. Systems for accomplishing repetitive tasks at the office so that they are always done.

Also, this applies to foreign nations that oppose the United States. We should think of policies that empower these nations and their citizens. Terrorist nations seem to be made up primarily of oppressive governments where you will end up with an angry and frustrated population. This anger is often misdirected towards the U.S. but that is the nature of rage. I’m not sure we can change the governments of foreign countries but the spread of democratic republics which allow citizens to have a say in their government can’t be a bad thing.

Think back about how pleased you were when a new system replaced an inefficient one and you could now do something with more ease. Instant hot water for my tea is a nice one but there are plenty of innovations that help with daily life the problem is that too often thing are unleashed without enough critical analysis of how to make them work most efficiently.

I think I’m probably just sort of rambling at this point but the next time you find yourself on a project try to remember to think it through and test it thoroughly before releasing it on the general population. You never know. You might just save a life or at least prevent someone from hurting their foot when they kick the nearest solid object.

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Twist