BFU - An Indie University?

Indie: -- Free from external control or constraint.

That fits Bastiat Free University.

Indie, a contraction of independent, is used in creative fields like music and film.

Indie is hence a modern and easier to understand word for free; as in Bastiat Free University, or free speech.

Perhaps we should rename it Bastiat Indie University?

Indie: -- An independent mind, a series of independent judgments.

That describes Bastiat Free University students.

Independent minds, propelled toward accomplishment by acting on independent judgments.

These students are just the sort of Netcohort leaders we are seeking to assist.

Indie: -- fiercely independent individualism.

This fits Bastiat Free University and most of our students.

Some of our students are attending BFU for the cost appropriate, or free, self directed distance learning.

Most BFU students value our self-directed learning approach as it allows them to tailor their education to match their inquisitiveness and their goals.

That is an indie school approach.

While Bastiat Free University values all our students, it is those of you that might think of us as Bastiat Indie University that are most likely to effect positive change in the world.


Are you ready for an indie university?


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How Do I Teach Myself

Self Directed Learning (SDL); or how do I teach myself something.

A minority of people are actively engaged in trying to teach themselves.

Others would love to know more, but institutional education has destroyed their natural love of learning, and perhaps even created an aversion to learning.

I you don't want to go back to school, you may have asked -- "How do I teach myself?"

Read about the subject you want to learn. Find a magazine article or short essay about your subject.

The more you read, the easier reading becomes and the more you will enjoy reading - if you pick the reading material.

There will be blogs about what you want to learn, find them.

Only after you have enjoyed reading for a while should you pick up a book on the subject. Read it in short spurts if you wish. Put it down and find another book if that book sounds more interesting.

Once you are involved you will discover pleasure in continued research.

Perhaps the time will come when you want to blog, write an essay or an article on your subject.

Go for it.

One of the best ways to learn is to share what you know. That will inspire you to dig deeper.

If you have said "How do I teach myself"

The answer is:

Get started now.

Rediscover the pleasures of self directed learning.

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Natural Capitalism

Natural Capitalism appears to be more a reconciliation of environmentalism and capitalism than a revolutionary change.

But then I have so far just read the preface of Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawkin, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins.

Bastiat Free University's view of a Netcohort society may be wrong, we are guessing about the future. With the Natural Capitalism crew we agree that the old industrial age is over. We also agree that "small is profitable" is a fine slogan as we emerge into a new age. I may find other areas we agree as I read through their online book.

A different view may sharpen or change our view, we always have a great deal to learn.

Natural Capitalism may also afford a transition tool for industrial age institutions to attempt morphing into a form more compatible with the future.

Thirty years from now we expect the world will be a significantly different place. To be aware, watching, and acting as those changes occur may increase safety, and perhaps bring profitability.

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A Blogger's dream

Professional blogging may be a new route to explore.

Here is an article on the benefits of professional blogging to both businesses and professional bloggers themselves.

Check out Blog Business World and give it a thought. This is information that may help open new potential. With the future moving toward an empowered Netcohort, this could be an important tool.

If you enjoy writing your blog, and you have become proficient at blogging issues, perhaps professional blogging is for you.

If you run a business, but don't want to dedicate resources to an in-house blogging staff, hiring a professional blogger to promote your business via blog may be a great investment. Just allow some time, don't expect instant results; blogs grow in value month by month.

If you are a BFU student take one of our blogging courses and set yourself up for a possible future profession that can travel the world with you.

You can also just start a blog on your own, it is a worthwhile experience even if you never turn professional.

Like most business, it may take a couple of years to see solid results..

Jack of all trades, master of one is not too bad a goal.

Becoming a professional blogger is within the reach of many talented writers.

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Dottie Walters at Bastiat Free University

Dottie Walters is an exceptional entrepreneur and a great leader, full of ideas.

Dottie is helping us create a new Master's course for Bastiat Free University.

This is so new we don't even have a working title for the course yet, we will let you know once the course is up and running.

Dottie shared this bit of what I perceive to be her personal history, I don't think she will mind my passing it on to you. This encouragement was about the new type of learning institution we are engineering here at BFU.

This last one is from my Scottish Grandpa. He and his younger brother were orphans who came to America in a sailing boat. He told me, "Remember, Lassie, we Scots may get knocked down, but we NEVER STAY DOWN!" He was a great inventor, we have his patents. I asked him one time when I was just a little girl, "Grandpa, what is an Engineer?" He replied, "An Engineer DRIVES THE DREAM." - Dottie Walters

If that makes you want to go out and build something.

Do it now!


Here are some highlights of the entrepreneur Dottie Walters:

Dottie Walters CSP, International Speaker, Author, Consultant
President, Walters International Speakers Bureau
Publisher/Editor, SHARING IDEAS MAGAZINE, 27th year of Publication
Publisher, International Directory of Speakers Bureaus
Founder, International Association of Speakers Bureaus
Original Vanguard Member NSA, Founder Greater Los Angeles Chapter NSA
Web site: www.speakandgrowrich.com


2004 Recipient GREATER LOS ANGELES NSA CHAPTER
Lifetime Achievement Award
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John Palmer Award for

Outstanding Service to the Speakers Bureau Industry

From the International Association of Speakers Bureaus, IASB
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Irwin Award
From the Southern California Association of Book Publicists

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The work starts toward a better looking BFU

But first a step backwards.

It seemed time to prepare a simple entry to Bastiat Free University.

It leads to our flash entry page, which leads to the summary page.

A few steps to hit the complexity, kinda ease ya into it.

Things will be different once we get on the new server, somewhere around March.

In the meantime take a look at our simple entry and let us know what you think.

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Speculation Rules!

Look at our Master's Courses.

Not only do we have some highly qualified, uber-successful investors that have helped us create courses, you have me with a course on speculation.

I have also decided to start a financial blog, Speculation Rules!

The take is that all investment is speculation, salesmen like to call what they are selling blue chip investments to disguise the risk.

Anything you do with your time and money has risk, and many of the risks are hidden.

Treat everything as speculation, your capital will be much safer.


No one cares more about your time and money than you do, unless they plan to steal it.


Speculation Rules!

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Self-Directed Learning - Goal Accomplished

Bastiat Free University now has 101 courses.


With the addition of H304, Improving Education, Our year end goal has been met.


This course reflects some of the problems with government controlled education, from preschool through graduate school.


The focus is on realizing the problems - and effecting the cures.


Are you or your children frustrated with schools that concentrate on forcing quiet obedience rather than encouraging love of learning?


Do we just need some repairs?


Or as we at Bastiat Free University have stated, - do we need a whole new school system to prepare ourselves for the information age?


Rediscover the pleasures of self-directed learning. For yourself, for your family, for society.


(This will be better for us teachers also - bringing back our job satisfaction)


Education should be a pleasurable, all life, learning experience.


We need new schools.

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Do You Love Liberty?

Is freedom important to you?

Do you want a huge resource library of articles, essays and books on freedom? - On a DVD?

There are over 500 works on liberty, provided on DVD, at no charge by the Liberty Fund. The liberty Fund provides us with wonderful Online Library of Liberty (OLL).

One of our goals at BFU is to give you "The wealth of centuries, comprised of knowledge, at your fingertips." -- OLL has now put a wealth of freedom materials in the palm of your hand. If you are in the BFU College of Liberty this will be indispensable, and did I mention free?

For you English majors, that is free as in free beer and free as in free speech.

To appraise the value of this wealth, note that "The National Endowment For The Humanities" has just awarded OLL a "Best of the Humanities on the Web" for 2005. -- The OLL met the NEH's demanding criteria for "intellectual quality, content, design, and most importantly, classroom impact."

Back to this exciting DVD. It can be yours at no charge, just for the asking.

There is a powerful search function, and historic reference outline. You can search by author, from Plato through Beowulf to Oppenheimer. Search by ancient Greece or Rome, through the medieval period, and up to the present day.

Click here ==> The Portable Library of Liberty.

Don't miss this one, for your own research, or for academic citations. - Be sure to follow fair use, copyright, and proper attribution procedures if you quote these books, essays, and letters.

Contact The Online Library Of Liberty to get your Portable Library of Liberty DVD, or just use their online resources, your free choice.

Tell David that Allan sent you.

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BFU - why create a new learning system?

The world is changing.

Huge bureaucratic nightmares are a leftover from the industrial age. Individuals are increasingly being empowered by technology. Informed solutions can now be made locally, not by distant central planers using "a one size fits all" approach.

Decisions in the Netocracy age will be made by those close to the situation, usually at a personal level. Large organizations will shrink, and possibly implode. This is not utopia, but it is a realistic appraisal of the probable direction of social interaction.


"Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there, but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with. You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it. But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation." - Bernard M. Baruch


A possibility is a network society composed of the Netcohort; everyone will make choices and alliances as it pleases them, as long as it causes no harm to other's rights to do the same. Fluid teams of knowledge workers will interact based on reputation, adaptability, and knowledge.

A degree looks fine on a resume, but if you manage your own business and life you need knowledge more than a diploma. Rediscover the pleasures of self directed learning. BFU offers an education that offers full flexibility of personal choice.

This is a Renaissance approach that integrates diverse knowledge and action, instead of forcing learning into separate subject boxes. Public education forces everyone into a specialization. Your rarity as a generalist will have great value, and being a generalist is much more fun.

At Bastiat Free University you determine which courses you take.

Start Today.

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Relaxed Learning

Think of BFU as a relaxed education center.

The purpose of Bastiat Free University is to learn. Forget the pressure and hype, forget all night cram sessions to pass a final, - the goal is relaxed learning; enjoyable, pleasurable, -- learning.

If you know your goals, as long as they are not science or engineering, we can help you reach them.

Without the huge organizational bureaucracies.

With the freedom to define your own success.

Just relax and learn.

Rediscover the pleasure of self directed learning.

Get out on your own.

Start your own business; alone or with friends.

Then spend the rest of your life engaged in pleasurable, self directed, learning.


Take a look at Bastiat Free University, consider what it will mean to get a college level education at your pace, on your terms.


You know how to motivate yourself, do what works best for you.


Investigate BFU.


Relax and learn.

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Cost appropriate learning?

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If you wish to spend no money, and still receive a valuable education; welcome.


If you wish to acquire credits or a degree, they are available at a cost that covers the administration and review of your education. BFU lets you combine self directed distance learning and personal accomplishment. Bastiat Free University offers you cost appropriate learning tailored to your individual goals.


Learning for yourself at no cost sounds good; and for many that will be enough. Discover once again the pleasure of learning. Enter in and review our offerings, pick and choose as you wish. Grab some specific knowledge or learn to live as a sovereign individual in the information age. The choices are yours.


Enjoy yourself.


People do like to keep score; take away scoring from sports and most sports would vanish. If you find it important to have a goal, we offer Associate, Bachelor, and Master's degrees.


You are probably wondering, "How much is 'cost appropriate' going to cost me?" We like to keep everything honest and up front at Bastiat Free University: All classes at BFU are available at no charge.


You only pay if you want credit toward a diploma from Bastiat Free University. The current one time (not each semester) enrollment fee is US$75.00 and the administration and review charge is $15.00 per unit.


If all you want is a bit of specific knowledge, it's here, at no charge. If you want to learn the reasoning of great thinkers from prior generations, you will find it here at no cost also. If your goal is to escape the oppression of a local government; and establish yourself as a "sovereign individual," welcome home.


Liberty is a byword here; welcome to Bastiat Free University.

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