Post: #1

I thought this was a good article about why some countries are slowly turning into surveillance states:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/20...nd_fe.html

"We're afraid of risk. It's a normal part of life, but we're increasingly unwilling to accept it at any level. "

Post: #2

People don't like conflict. There is a massive lack of ambition in this country.

Post: #3

It is common for people who are getting (a) older and (b) have unearned wealth to put up barriers to everything.

They are petrified of losing it, knowing they don't have time to get any back.

The west if full of below parity fertility rates, as long as welfare being rife in terms of wealth redistribution, and I don't mean just poor people. Planning laws, tax laws and many tax code exemptions artificially boost the wealth of already rich people beyond what their 'talents' warrant.

What they desire is to lock down all risk as to preserve what they have.

Post: #4

In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau asked: "Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?"

Luckily, now there's a fourth option available for many of us. The initial requirements: a passport, 2 months' spending money, and a pair of balls.