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Messages - SethCohn

Pages: [1] 2
1
General / Re: Fiction for an 11 year old.
« on: January 07, 2012, 03:31:20 PM »
I want to thank everyone for the suggestions.  My daughter read exactly one paragraph of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress before declaring it too difficult to understand.  I don't buy it, but I'm not going to make her read something that she doesn't like. 

MIAHM is way beyond a 11 year old... the young adult books of Heinlein are her speed, not that one.  Give her Podkayne of Mars, or the other juvvies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juvenile

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But per suggestions, I downloaded The Hunger Games to my kindle so that I could read it, and I thought it was awesome.  She's tearing that one up right now.  I'll be moving on to The Hitchhiker's Guide books next.

I just read Hunger Games, and very anti-authoritarian, I'm shocked they are making a movie of the first one...

2
General / Re: Fiction for an 11 year old.
« on: December 17, 2011, 02:58:40 PM »
Summary of a pile of old discussion found at NH Underground forum (variety of authors, variety of posters):

"Children's" books against authority

In remembering the books I read when I was younger, I began to notice that many of them were strongly anti-authoritarian.  At the time I first read them, I did not perceive that message explicitly: because of my youth and inexperience, I had not yet framed the question of "liberty versus authority."  I cannot help but think, however, that these authors and their books were together a major factor in nudging me toward a libertarian mindset.


The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry
His Dark Materials, trilogy by Philip Pullman
Jayhawker, by Patricia Beatty
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Danny, the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl
Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the rest of the Harry Potter books to some extent. More on that here.
Princess Navina Visits Voluntaria
the Uncle Eric books
Heinlein's juvenile books.
Daniel Pinkwater's The Big Orange Splot.  And quite a few others by him.
James and the Giant Peach and the Communist Manifesto.

I read "The butter battle" (Dr. Seuss) as an adult and as a kid.  
When I read it as an adult I was blown away at the parallel between the story and the cold war.  The book wasn't really from a liberty outlook, but it was pro peace.

I read, and still love, the Kent Family Chronicles. Massive books larger than any pathetic Harry Potter.  And much more educational. (Sorry, HP was just never my thing) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kent_Family_Chronicles

I'd say Dr. Seuss - Horton Hears a Who. Or Horton Hatches the Egg

For me, Heinlein was key, although The Moon is a Harsh Mistress did more than the juveniles (I've got them all now, even The Rolling Stones, if anyone wants to borrow one).
Also the Tripods series (The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire) by John Christopher,
The Three Investigators,
Prydain (sp?) series by Lloyd Alexander.

Although I didn't read it 'til I was an adult, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is great and my kids loved it. Kids really connect with the message that they're treated as sub-human, but truly can accomplish anything (sometimes more) than adults.
For young adults and adults of all ages:

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I'd second the uncle eric books.  They are specifically marketed for high school age homeschoolers.  The book Whatever happened to Justice did more to convert me to libertarianism than any other single book.  I was prolly 11 or 12 when I first read There are versions of this book for children, as well as for adults, but The Last of the Mohicans is a good one.

Dune is a good example of revolution and re-enslavement.

The Harry Potter series, The Hobbit, and The Phantom Tollbooth are also good choices.
Swiss Family Robinson
Robinson Crusoe
Boxcar Children Series

All three of these are about self-sufficiency, and how people can get along without government.  

The Encyclopedia Brown mystery book series, and the Hardy Boys series were really interesting.  Private detective agency, and two brothers which were effective at solving crimes, and if I recall correctly the police were generally inept in these series.

Pippi! And she has gold!

3
General / Re: How to Become a Pro-liberty State Representative
« on: November 16, 2011, 12:53:23 AM »
Amen.

All of the above is accurate info.  And I'm not just saying that, I'm living proof it works.

4
General / Re: Dllama in the Free State
« on: November 04, 2011, 12:01:05 PM »

5
General / Re: Ken Burns' "Prohibition"
« on: November 02, 2011, 07:29:36 PM »
http://eztv.it  search for prohibition, all 3 parts, in either xvid or x264 plus the making of...

6
General / Re: Dllama in the Free State
« on: October 23, 2011, 10:11:38 AM »
You guys are late to the party... don't think you are the first ones to have made this discovery  :lol:

Chocolate syrup FTW.   :lol:

Good for you, Robin!

7
General / Re: Dreamhost?
« on: October 22, 2011, 07:53:13 PM »
Dreamhost is too good to be true... good for static sites, not for DB driven ones.  You get what you pay for.

8
General / Re: Dllama in the Free State
« on: September 16, 2011, 06:30:43 PM »
That's pretty much why I'll never move to NH, ever. Even if there's a job waiting for me there, it's just a shit storm waiting to happen. From the video of central square there makes me like NH less. It looks downright trashy (no offense to Dennis and anyone else that lives in NH, but that's how it looks on video).

So because you dislike the activism and response and look of Keene NH, you reject the rest of NH, which is entirely different?  Keene, despite Ian's promotion, is a relatively small and minor part of NH.
Plenty of other places to live and do all sort of good things.

So either you are looking for an excuse to stay put, or you just aren't looking past the window of some crappy video and seeing what else NH has to offer.

9
General / Re: Driving through New Hampshire recently...
« on: September 13, 2011, 08:01:26 PM »
Beer and wine everywhere, hard stuff only at State stores.  Bill to change it (sell hard stuff everywhere) in the works for 2012.

10
General / Re: Board games thread.
« on: September 04, 2011, 11:20:21 PM »
Lots of gamers in NH.  We even started a Gamey Porcupine group on yahoogroups way way back and then FB.

Carcassonne has a large number of folks who like to play it.
Pandemic got popular enough with the crowd that we played it 'life-sized' at PF last year (and set it up but barely played it this year)
Dominion, Agricola, and many other games get played regularly.

11
General / Re: Drama in the Free State
« on: September 22, 2010, 10:31:47 AM »
You got 2 years more... make plans.
^this

Mark, you doing any volunteer firefighting, or any other volunteer work these days?

What's really funny is that Denis and I think he can win regardless of that handicap.  It's the antipolitical folks naysaying, cause they have such high standards of who is electable and who isn't elect.

12
General / Re: Drama in the Free State
« on: September 21, 2010, 08:36:40 PM »
Once again, all of the candidates I voted for lost; some narrowly, some by a mile but all that had competition lost.
You live in Cheshire County. This is your fate until y'all get some State Rep candidates that are both decent and running winnable campaigns. What town are you in again? Winchester? That's Cheshire-4. There are no NHLA-endorsed candidates there :(

Or Mark needs to stop voting for candidates and become a candidate hisself.  He could take on a Butinski any day of the week.
You got 2 years more... make plans.

13
General / Re: Keene City Council Drinking Game
« on: August 15, 2010, 09:37:07 AM »
Last time I go over this, I know I've said this multiple times before.

Seth, let me see if I understand you correctly. Do you think:
*Ian and Sam were disruptive because they inquired from the Mayor who he was referring to drinking/having alcohol/containers etc

They were being disruptive by continuing to talk after being asked not to the first time.
Doesn't matter what they were asking or 'inquring', they were told it was not allowed at the meeting.
So yes, they were disruptive due to that.

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*Ian and Sam weren't being disruptive because they drank from their containers

Since the camera(s) fail to show the actual drinking game happening, I can't answer that.  _Something_ was happening off camera, since the Mayor reacts to it, as to other councilors.

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*Because Ian and Sam didn't give up their rights regarding a search they were further being disruptive so they had to leave

Poorly worded, so I can't answer that yes or no.  Rewritten:
Ian and Sam refused to cooperate, in fact Sam got up and harrassed the Mayor and Manager verbally, and as part of that behavior, both invoked their right to refuse to be searched.  Because they were uncooperative, and had been disruptive already, they were asked to leave.

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*Heika was cooperative because in part she gave up her right against a search, and as such she was allowed to stay

Yes, I think that's clear.  But making the jump from 'because she gave up her right' to 'because they didn't' is the issue here:  if they were already in the 'zone' for being tossed out, they weren't tossed _because_ of the failure to be searched, but for the failure to stop being disruptive.  Heika is clearly not being disruptive when she cooperates.

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*People who disagree/question government officials are inherently disruptive

False.

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Is that a fair summary of your position?

No, since I've had to rewrite most of them, and disagree with a few.

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Do you think that people who make information requests of the chair are disruptive? Or are they only disruptive if they are also mocking the government body that is having the meeting?

Speaking out of turn at a meeting is disruptive.  Mocking is disruptive.
This goes back to the entire 'decorum' discussion.

I'm done rehashing this.

14
General / Re: Keene City Council Drinking Game
« on: August 14, 2010, 09:13:44 PM »
You yourself said that if Ian and Sam had allowed the police to search that they would have been allowed to remain.

Heika showed she was drinking water, and was generally cooperative.  She was explicitly allowed to stay.  I'd argue that she was allowed to stay because she was being cooperative, not _directly_ because she allowed them to examine her bottle, though that was a component of her cooperation.  The cop _defends_ her because of this cooperation she shows: she wants to assure them she's not want to disrupt things.  Meanwhile Ian and Sam argue and Sam wanders off to film and berate the Mayor and Manager.

If Ian and Sam had allowed a search but stayed unruly otherwise, _perhaps_ they might have been allowed to stay, perhaps not to due to otherwise lack of cooperation and not sitting quietly for the meeting to continue.  We won't know now, will we?  As I said, I think Monica's got the case here... if she was otherwise quiet, and merely refused to be searched.  Likely, they'll claim she was 'part of the group' and so Sam/Ian's behavior takes them all out.  Next time, be individuals, sit apart from each other... don't let them lump you together so one bad apple can take you all out (this applies to lots of situations, not just this one)


15
General / Re: Keene City Council Drinking Game
« on: August 14, 2010, 08:50:21 PM »
Well, I think legally Sam and Ian were in the right.  Seth doesn't.  Seth argues that the state did the right thing by causing a confrontation and kicking them out of a public meeting after they were unable to figure out (within the constraints of the Constitution) that they did something unlawful.

Just to be clear:

No, I argued (repeatedly, and consistently, and I really am NOT sure why you continue to misrepresent my position/views):

When Sam began speaking back, that was when he caused a commotion.  His silent drinking of water was a protest.  His first response might be have been ok, but once he was told by the Mayor that the public was not allowed to speak, his continued speaking was the 'disruption'.  It's on video, and I cringed when I saw it.  Sam (and Ian, as I recall right now, without looking back over the video)'s search refusal is a secondary issue, since once they created a disruption, they fell into the 'reasonable exception' clause of the right to attend the meeting, and once there, all bets are off...
 
I think Monica has a clear case to win, however, if she was lumped in with them, and I don't know (nor does the video show) the circumstances with her.  I'm WAY more curious how they dealt with her than Ian or Sam.

As usual, IANAL.  But I think the video is quite damaging to the the claim that Sam and Ian were peacefully protesting and just had their right to attend stripped from them due to refusal to be searched.  But that's my view, and I certainly would _welcome_ a legal decision that proves me wrong, and I fear one that proves me correct because it could make it much harder for everyone in the future.






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