"Begin to be now what you will be hereafter" - Saint Jerome

The life you lead today is the result of events, some of which you influenced, and your responses and actions, many of which you controlled.

Determine to control more of your thoughts and you will control more of your responses. Saturate your being with a determination to accomplish specific goals and act in a specific manner toward events and you will greatly influence the rest of your life.

What is it you desire to do, and where do you desire to do it in one, five and ten years? Your journey to what you will become starts right now with your dedication to creating yourself as the person you wish to become. Each effort to contain your thoughts and direct your desires will yield actions that steer you toward your personal goals.

The route will best be selected by considering what others want and structuring solutions that also move you ahead. Consider letting the tail-gater past so as to open lanes for you.

Don't try to change the whole world all at once, instead change your thoughts from this moment to the next.

Then do it again.

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Bureaucrat Tipping

On a lighter note is the new squidoo lens being formed on 5 Bureaucrat Tipping Ideas.

Bureaucrat tipping ideas #5 and #4 are both listed, check back soon for more ideas on how to "tip a bureaucrat for freedom."

The fifth best idea deals with an old Chinese proverb: Of all 36 ways to get out of trouble, the best way is -- leave.

The fourth best bureaucrat tipping idea deals with ignoring the rules and just doing what is right. Bureaucrat tipping is a creative enterprise involving the joy of doing it better yourself. Find strategies and maneuvers that fit you best.

There is of course a bit more material than presented here - but not a lot more. Go take a look and form your own opinion. Then create your own personal style of bureaucrat tipping.

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A Bastiat Free University Student writes

This is why BFU was created.

I'll not add a lot of fluff, Just a proud note that quality can be produced in a cost appropriate manner. Or as David Blaine wrote:

"I've been studying the Poetry and Expression course from Bastiat Free University. This was an opportunity for me, and although I'm not inexperienced in poetry, I feel I learned a lot of important new things."

And in another note from David:

"Thanks, Allan. I could see you creating a way for people to independently study writing without paying the fortune that most schools want for their MFA programs."

Full Disclosure

backdoor cipher

witholder of truth

not so much purveyor of lies

as jailer of veracity

but loose lips

sink ships you know

brainsick butterfly

bundle of nerves

always itching

never scratching

wouldn't show you the itch

wouldn't let on

that he enjoys the aromatics

of gasoline rainbows

might think him odd you would

also wouldn't let you know

that his favorite color

can only be seen in the ocean

on certain days

when the sun is just so

or in very expensive gemstones

eclectic fancier

patron of whims

abhors conventions

and at once

holds traditions dear

bleeds for the unwashed

shuns the color bar

standing with his feet in the ocean

building sandcastles in the air

and you don't see him

even though

he's right here

-- David Blaine

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Interview of Dr. Williams

I won't go into a lot of depth about Dr. Williams solid qualifications to speak out on justice, I will just give a part of one answer to a question in his interview.

"I once asked a friend and associate of mine, Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek, if he could write a law that would help the country the most, what would that law be? And he said, “Very simple: You should have a law that Congress cannot do for one American what it does not do for all Americans.” He gave me the example that if Congress pays some people not to raise pigs or grow wheat, they ought to pay every American not to raise pigs or grow wheat."

Simple and concise - and a good first step. To change American politics there are some things, such as everyone voting third party, that should be tried. But that is like telling someone "We will give you a fair trial before we hang you." The system is so broken it needs to be thrown away and restarted - we could even use the original constitution and Bill of Rights once again. Some may chose to leave rather than fight a fruitless battle.

Go read the interview - it will be time well spent. There are some good classes in our Bastiat Free University College Of Liberty that you could take also.

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Industrial Age and Information Age as descriptions are a bit too vague

Both the Industrial Age and the Information Age are more about size than structure.

With machinery and uniform design the supposed industrial age was centered in the premise that larger is always better. Industry responded with one size fits all mass production, so did government, education, religion, and unions. In fact the best descriptive of the last couple of centuries would be the Age Of Growing Bureaucracy.

In a similar fashion it is a bureaucracy age holdover that insists the new age is about unmanageable amounts of information; thereby making bureaucracies even more necessary. Instead of the information age we are entering an age of miniaturization. Specific solutions for a consumer base of one will become the norm. Having left the era of one-size-fits-all we are entering the era of simple self tailoring by the individual for them self.

At Bastiat Free University we have been referring to this age by referencing the creators of technologically based, individualized, solutions -- the Netcohort. Calling it the miniaturization age is very accurate in a general sense, but acknowledging the netcohort individuals that are empowering other individuals to create highly personal results seems appropriate.

Of course we have no idea what moniker will finally stick, we are in the early stages of a millennial length move - names are fads that will come and go. The final descriptive may not be written in English.

We do know the common descriptives reflect a certain bias and subsequent inaccuracy. I guess we will continue to use our own inaccuracies as we understand them.

Except when we forget, or just don't care, the industrial age is now officially the bureaucratic age and the information age is now officially the Netcohort age.

or not

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IT'S HERE!! Why you and your children need to unschool yourselves now.

In a prior post I wrote about how current bureaucratic schools betrayed us and are now betraying our children.

Take a look at your kiddo's homework tonight then view this almost beyond comprehension video featuring Neil Gershenfeld of MIT about the learning tools available today. Is there any connection at all between what he shows to be working and what the children are being taught at your school?

Eight year old kids that do not have the burden of our educational system are creating and then teaching professors and grad students at MIT.

Our schools create obedient robots of students. Children with other opportunities are creating useful robots for individualized local tasks. What great fun!

Learning should be fun, rewarding, challenging and beneficial to all. It can be now, it has to be now if you and your children are not to be left behind.

Now do you want to go back to your homework?

From the wonderful TED talks:

watch online

download video

download mp3 audio

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BFU Support on Squidoo

Do you want to get in your say about a topic you are passionate about?

We have created a Squidoo group that features lenses by those that support Bastiat Free University. Follow the link by clicking our name and you can go make your own lens for free - or several lenses. It will be a fine token of support - although when your lens earns $15.00 both you and BFU will both get a $5.00 bonus.

There are at least three good reasons to build a lens;

• to make a statement about something you care about,

• to make a little money for yourself or for charity (BFU is not a "recognized" charity).

• or for those of you that wish to control your personal image on the web a lens is a great personal branding tool.

I've built all three types.

There is a lens about BFuniv, a lens about going PT - becoming a permanent tourist, a lens about building wealth, and one for Americans about vote for any third party candidate -- among other lenses on my passions.

I've built a few to try generating money; one about Swiss goodies and gifts, another about top 5 employee recognition gifts, and recently one about Elliott Wave theory and socionomics.

For personal branding I guess you could count the BFU lens, but I also did a tongue-in-cheek one about Allan R. Wallace. There are a few Allan Wallaces around so perhaps the world needs to know which one I am.

The one negative that stands out about Squidoo is that the rules are out of your control. I had created a lens on college donations and making school contributions. One fine night Squidoo decided it needed more modules. They removed my lens. My first, and wrong, assumption was that they disliked my appeal for donations as they also removed another donation assistance page. I wrote and asked why. Days later I discovered the cause, days after that they responded to my e-mail.

The lens dropped from a top ten in Google to the fifth page - and is still dropping - it was a good and useful lens. I have added a module, but it will take time for Google to re-discover and re-rank the lens. On your own site you have more control, there is a BFU college donation page on our own bfuniv.org - it is still in the top four on google search for its key phrase. Long term there will be little or no effect - short term it was a frustration.

I have never liked unilateral contracts - one where the other guy calls all the important shots. I have walked away from deals and consulting jobs that wanted to reserve the right to change the rules after an agreement is made. That is incidental here - if all my lenses disappeared tonight due to another arbitrary decision it would change nothing in my life.

It takes just an hour or two to set up your first lens - and they may be around for a very long time. If a Squidoo money maker only brings in a dollar or two a month - fifty will bring a hundred dollars or more, possibly forever. My Swiss lens has hit about seven dollars this month - not much, but the number is growing and combined with other lenses is worth the hour or two I spent. 7 X 12 is $84.00 per year - this year and next year and growing.

In reality, including new lenses, they average under a dollar a month. Most of my lenses were made for informational purposes - so this is not a strong indicator of what you can do.

Plus building a squidoo lens is kind of fun.

enjoy!

Change The Schools -- Change The World

Our world has been shaped by the schools we have attended.

"Whenever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to ensure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery." - Benjamin Disraeli

For most governments this is the preferred route to an easily controlled populace.

As the educational bureaucracy has become moribund and archaic - so has it extended its reach to younger children and older adults. The health of state authorized institutions has become dependent on the slavery of its people.

Start each day with a loyalty oath, continue the day with rewritten histories, finish the day with homework as a reminder that your future profession requires you to acquire a college degree.

Emphasis on science and math that only a few will comprehend will make the mass of students feel inadequate and needing of supervision. Don't fund or ignore all the other disciplines that are involved in being human - subjects where many students would find their passion and abilities. Break subject matter into discrete and short duration chunks that never allow the intense joy of discovery that comes from continued, in depth, analysis and creation.

Don't allow physical activity in children - call them sick and give them drugs if they will not conform. Train them to be good citizens - responding meekly and quickly to the demands of any authority.

A populace thus trained is unprepared for the enormous change that technology is bringing to all of our lives.

"The mice which helplessly find themselves between the cat's teeth acquire no merit from their enforced sacrifice." - Mahatma Gandhi

As the world quickly changes only those with the joy of learning will be able to adapt and avoid the poverty of dislocated lives. Those of us that are finished with school will be wise to unschool ourselves and break the coerced social contract that is now bankrupt. Those still in school are at greatest risk as their education is failing them even before it is complete.

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." - Albert Einstein

Seek your freedom, and the freedom of those you love, before you are trapped within the masses deserted by failing bureaucracies. Start your transition now.

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Freedomfest - Where Free Minds Meet

This will be the year I make it to Freedomfest.

FreedomFest is an annual festival where "free minds meet" to celebrate "great books, great ideas, and great thinkers" in a liberal, open-minded society. It is independent, non-partisan, and not affiliated with any organization or think tank. It's a meeting place for all free thinkers!

Great speakers, open debate, new and powerful ideas (like BFU) and some of the most dedicated freedom seekers in the world. What's not to like?

An informal start will be on the Fourth Of July with fireworks on the Las Vegas Strip and a cocktail reception. The event is scheduled to run from the fifth through the seventh.

You will find some of the creators of our Bastiat Free University master's courses there, Nasim Taleb and Doug Casey for two. I plan to be there and would love to meet some of you students. There will be standard convention stuff - and a whole lot more. I've heard that many experienced convention goers think this is the best one - by a significant margin.

This year I will find out.

Let's meet at Freedomfest.

Read "Go It Alone"

You have read it here many times - starting and growing your own business can be a better education than acquiring a formal college degree.

I've just started to read an informative book called Go It Alone and it looks to have an excellent attitude about starting your own business. That link is to a free online copy of the book - there is no reason for you to wait and have me give you a summary. Check this one out for yourself right now.

There are three keys to creating your own successful business:

• start your business in a field you are passionate about
• 
  
• solve other peoples problems in that field
• 
  
• make sure folks are willing to pay for your solutions before you get too involved

There are of course other considerations, but nothing motivates learning like getting started and needing specific knowledge to grow. To find your own success what you are really looking for is:

a celebration of your passions,

rediscovering your love of learning,

and seeking an opening of opportunities.


The door to your better life is in front of you, action will open it.

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