The Slave Morality of Socialism

Socialism is that idea that if you steal and murder enough, equality will emerge. It is an utter sacrifice of the means to the end. On the surface, this seems like consequentialism at its worst, but even a cursory glance of history reveals that this is not the case. This is because 100 years of socialism have yielded tangible consequences, and they are horrific. Not only are the process costs immense, some 100 million dead due to socialism and communism in the last century as a conservative estimate, but the ends of equality and social justice that would justify the…

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My Pool is a Swamp!

Lessons in Social Endorsements and Services So this week was interesting. I went out to my pool on Sunday, hoping to do a little swimming since it was 100 degrees (and I have a foot injury that makes running a bit difficult at the moment), and saw that my pool had turned green, and was just short of the opacity of pea soup. I went down to the water, frustration burning my throat like the first drag on a clove cigarette, and retrieved my chlorine floater. Not a tab or pellet was to be seen. I dusted off my test…

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Everyday Skeptic: Our Mission Orders Have Been Flawed

Convincing our fellows using reason and evidence is a bridge too far.   A few recent encounters out on the wide world of the internet, as well as social media, have enlightened me to a great failing in my personal perspective and my assumptions when dealing with others. That failing, that misjudgment, is in believing that other people value reason, demand evidence of claims, and have a desire to discover the truth. That failing was revealed through hateful and emotional reactions that people had to simple claims that went counter to their own stated position. The immediate reaction to reasonable…

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Deep Time: Twins Across Two Times, part 2

Back to Deep Time   The waitress approached again. “Just wanted to let you know that my shift is ending, but we’re staying open during the shadow hours, and we have a few specials.” Anders looked up in the sky as she flitted away, and realized the sun had been growing dimmer. “This part of Rondella Duo has a daily eclipse. Lots of people use it to take naps. At least, they did the last time I was here,” Claribel said. “How long ago was that?” “I think our waitress’s great-great-great grandmother was probably still in diapers.” Anders chuckled. “Did…

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Deep Time: Twins Across Two Times, part 1

Twins Across Two Times Anders Macbeth waited at what he presumed to be the analog of a café. The patio was ringed in verdant foliage of some unknown variety, and filled with people speaking in the strange accent typical of Rondella Duo. It was still English, old and proud, but it had a sick, throaty quality to it that Anders disliked. It sounded to him like a croaking of some cadre of amphibious creatures, and did nothing to aid his anxiety. “Here you go, dolly-wa,” his waitress said in her strange tone, and dumped a wide cup of a mocha-brown…

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Classical Guitar – Filing a broken nail (YouTube)

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How to Play Flamenco: An Introduction to Terms and the Major Forms (YouTube)

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10 frequently asked guitar questions (YouTube Video)

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Do have to use Flamenco strings on my flamenco guitar? (YouTube video)

New youtube media is up!

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Muramasa Updates

So this week I did a rather large update of Muramasa: Blood Drinkergoing through all of the back postings on this site and updating formatting, html code, and graphics integration. All of the pages should now conform to the standard CSS and html tags used on DVS Press. I did this mostly because I want people to be able to read the book here, with all the advantages of the new site, with its better navigation and scripting capabilities (which has resulted in footnotes that actually work!) , rather than have to go back to The Tears of Prometheus to go through it.

When doing this it should be noted that the now current version of Muramasa on DVS Press has had its text derived from the original working file. This means that the version found here is effectively beta 2, having lots of little fixes that are different from the original run, yet containing no large revisions. Enjoy!

Muramasa: Blood Drinker table of contents