In the early '80's I ran into an interesting guy who was not a libertarian, to my surprise, especially as we met at a party hosted by Anthony L. Hargis & Co., a gold depository service. Hargis had started his gold depository in the mid-'70's, offering a way for people to reduce exposure to inflation by accounts denominated in either gold or dollars. Hargis' main focus was on capital preservation, although the feds have recently alleged that some of his customers may have been using his se...
Recently I've had a number of people die on me, generally unexpected. This is always difficult for me to deal with. As an optimist and a doer and shaker - or so I see myself - I assume that if there's a problem, then there's a solution. But then there's death. Some things simply cannot be undone. One recent loss was a delightful 23 year old woman who I only knew over the phone. However, Kortney Zeman made such an impression that I was truly shocked and saddened to hear that she had di...
When we find a product artificially undervalued, then we also expect to find a run on that product, and subsequent lines or ques. Recently at the local Orange County, California public libraries, for example, for about a year, printing from the internet computers was free. The Costa Mesa Technical branch, in particular, which features about 30 fast computers with LCD screens, also started out with a couple of very nice Kodak wax transfer hi-res color printers, which can provide a nearly mag...
1> Israel Feuer - because he DESERVES it, and we NEED a sane benevolent voice of real experience, and no one else comes close to Israel. 2> Me - Phil Osborn. (and I really dithered over this one, believe me...) 3> Raul Castillo. Because he's young - the youngest candidate, actually - and smart, and has a following, and will do a lot of work for us, and he listens well, and I think he's a good guy who won't sell out, who will become a major asset to the station. 4> B. Hall. Because she'...
Update November 23th, 2004: Well, my 1-minute statement finally went up this week, after many snafus, including repeated appointments with Fernando in which he didn't show, The station is going to play it an additional 8 times to try to make up for the several weeks in which either it was not played at all, except someone's translation of a previous statement into Spanish - played during English programming, and then a week or so during which an uninteligable version was played. So, fina...
I posted this to Nalini's KPFKChat.org last night. (Minor editing here for clarification.) "When confronted with a choice between two evils, I always like to try the one I haven't tried before." Mae West. Phil Osborn Divisiveness uber alles - as usual Mon Jan 26 2004 10:36:41 pm 206.40.223.100 So, now I've been to three LSB events as a candidate (for the KPFK Local Station Board). At Long Beach, the 13 or so candidates waited for two hours to speak for two minutes to two people -...
_ The Future of KPFK _ This is the first article of a series I intend to write on the emergence of new media and how it will remake information dissemination. Starting first draft: I'm running for the KPFK Station Board. For those readers who don't have a clue as to KPFK or Pacifica, please go to the KPFK website . As I stated in my 500 word candidate statement posted there: "Let's bring Pacifica into the 21st Century. Today, KPFK treats the internet as an important, yet s...
Ethics & Morality - a Practical Approach A distinquishing characteristic of conscious living things, as opposed to rocks, crystals, etc., is that they act. Action is motion directed towards a goal. Without a purpose, guide or goal we have merely motion. A value, in a purely operationl, observational sense, is that which one acts to gain and or keep. It is the goal and guide to action. Living entities are future-directed, while non-living entities merely extend the past. The purpo...
Ok... You heard it here first. I suspect. Update: April 22, 2004 UCI (University of California, Irvine) had a Dr. Thompson this Tuesday speaking on her specialty, Huntington's Disease, and the genomics thereof. If you ever get a chance to hear this lady, do it. She is not only very smart and very good at communicating, but she is also a FOX! Definitely some genes worth preserving there, which is my only motivation, of course.... Anyway, turns out that there are about 10% of...
There are some major discussion and research sites out there on "memetics." This is basically the application of evolutionary/selection theory to ideas. You perhaps do not understand that the same kind of evolutionary selection mechanisms that produce biological speciation, ecosystems, etc. operate universally. Success succeeds. In general, whenever the survival of a type increases the probability of similar types reproducing, the Darwinian process comes in play. The more intelligent a s...
1/1/04 Listening to Julia Butterfly Hill discussing living with Luna on KPFK and loving it. I especially liked her intro, with the concept of the spiritual integration, starting with your own breathing and loving your body and then loving the chair that supported you, and the floor that supported the chair, and the whole universe that made you and all of it possible. Didn't find much to object to at all until she started in on her economics. Typical left ignorance. Too bad, as I agree ...
The new Windows version of Gimp is out! REALLY nice. So many features that one could spend a year just learning them all. Meanwhile, my 700Mhz Pentium, state of the art two years ago, but hardly a decent home system by today's standards, has slowed down enormously, barely able to multitask any more, since LH installed some kind of anti-virus software - and, I assume, more stupid spyware. During recent months, I have heard several discussions of the pending implementation of total video sur...
"What is more to me than myself?" Max Stirner, "The Ego and His Own." "Take responsibility - or be a slave." Phil Osborn. Vitals ... Keywords ... Bio ... Activism ... Spiritual Journey ... Principles ... Goals ... Projects ... Projections ... Work Experience Vitals: Single, Unattached, Fairly Healthy, Very Strong, Super Fast, IQ ~ 145, using super nutrition since 1960's, background in philosophy, hard sciences, computers, psychology, journalism, pol...