Archive for November, 2006

Date: November 24th, 2006, Filed under Gold Investment

I’ve been talking to some of my local gold bug friends (we’re now trying to meet at least once a month) and we’ve been doing some minor budget-versus-gold comparisons. Basically, each of us already keeps a fairly accurate monthly expenditure log and a not-so-accurate desired-budget (we all go over it). I believe we’re going to move forward to start keeping track of how much we spend each month in US dollars, and how much we spend in gold ounces. I have my data going back at least 4 years, and some of them longer. I’ve invited them to get online to the forums so they can start posting their information in a generic sense. I’m going to pay every US$20 per month (3 months in advance) via paypal who joins in, up to a cap of 20 people.

Read this entire article at the gold investment site.

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Date: November 24th, 2006, Filed under Accountability and Responsibility

I heard it twice in the past 2 weeks, and 4 times in the past 6 months. If we look at a (fake) estmated progression curve, that means I’ll hear it 2 times per week within a month, and ten 4 times per week in less than 6 months. Actually, maybe that estimated progression isn’t fake.

The most recent time I heard it was at the top of the 2 week period. A friend I haven’t talked to much over the past 3 years called me up out of the blue and asked if I’d go with him to spend a “free” US$250 credit he received from a local casino that he hasn’t gone to in 6 months. From what I know of him, he goes to play video poker about every quarter, and spends a few grand playing. I’m fairly certain that he’s broken even over the long run.

Read this entire article at the accountability and responsibility site.

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Date: November 10th, 2006, Filed under Entrepreneurship

Sponsored Post:

The Global Unanimocracy Network was accepted into a new advertising/review co-op called ReviewMe.com today, and I’m looking into it as a way to combine realistic reviews (of sites and products) as an additional income source for the network.

I’ve battled the debate as to how to produce an income that is equitable for the time I spend, but not be annoying to the visitors and regular readers. While I’ve been happy with Google’s AdSense and Text-Link-Ads’s system, I’ve always considered that the best profit is the information I get from people who share their opinions on the blog posts over at the Unanimocracy forums. Your views (agreements and disagreements) help format future opinions and help me challenge debates better — this is the best form of profit for the network. Yet every site also needs a financial income just to stay afloat, and I’ve looked at various ways to reduce the “spamminess” of our network. Things will be changing a lot in the coming year as the network ventures into the second year of writing.

Read this entire article at the entrepreneurship site.

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Date: November 9th, 2006, Filed under Gold Investment

A very close and Statist friend of mine is also a goldbug (go figure). He’s been one of the brains behind trying to find various ways to plot gold versus other goods — my idea of charting gold versus consumer goods fell through because the work was more than I could handle on my schedule that changed each week. We’re still hoping to get a few dozen people around the country to submit their own data each week, but it is still a big responsibility that gets thrown off if people miss their marks.

We were talking late into the night last night and he made a good point — how would the gold versus barrel of goods chart differ if we set gold to an unchanging number? I spent a little time this morning adding a few more fields to my spreadsheet. Instead of just having the price of gold fluctuate, I took the average price of gold over the term of the chart (a changing average each day), took the actual day’s close of a good (say oil), subtracted it from that day’s gold closing price, and added it to the average. I’m no math whiz, but I think this would give us a good idea of what prices are like if gold was considered a constant. If you can think through my calculation process, let me know if this idea isn’t correct.

Read this entire article at the gold investment site.

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Date: November 9th, 2006, Filed under Gold Investment

It has almost been a year since the Global Unanimocracy Network was created when I coined the phrase unanimocracy. While the term hasn’t taken off, I do use it to explain my political beliefs — no law passes without unanimous consent. If EVERYONE agrees, a law is made. All laws fall away (sunset clause) after a short period (3 years).

Since the anniversary is coming up, I figured it is time to coin another phrase for another term that likely won’t happen, but it is good to have the word out there. Maybe some pundit will realize the thinking behind the word and use it. Probably not.

Read this entire article at the gold investment site.

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Date: November 9th, 2006, Filed under Anarcho-capitalism

While I found anarcho-capitalism mostly through self-inquiry (and a lot of reading of every political and apolitical), I also see a significant case for anarcho-capitalism within the Bible (notably the New Testament). I’ve always reminded myself of the verse for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52) It has kept me clean of the desire to harm others — with the help of others on this site and in “real life” I have also forsaken the right to self defense within my own home.

I think about this verse when it boils down to the millions of voters who support the idea of war — both offensive war and defensive war. I think about where the penalty is for supporting war, and how that penalty surfaces. I see families torn apart when a family member dies in combat; I see families burdened when differing views of battle occupy the dinner table.

Read this entire article at the anarcho-capitalism site.

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