1-19-2011 (RM, France)
Many people in France are interested in discussing personal politics, but up until this point I was pretty hesitant to enter into that type of discussion fearing that my ideas are far too complex to summarize in a short discussion session. Specifically I have been asked on numerous occasions if I voted for Obama and who I plan to vote for in the next election cycle. I have pretty much kept it at that I don't vote. When asked why I simply state that I don't support the State in its modern incarnation. This has confused some so I will try to take a moment to explain.
The State, by its very definition, has a monopoly on physical violence and force. In a legitimate society, one based on private property and voluntary human interaction, the State is the mechanism of retaliation against those who would deprive the rights of other individuals. Notice that, for me, the use of force by the State may only be initiated AFTER an illegitimate use of force by someone else. Simply put, I am against the initiation of force by the State in a preemptive way.
Building upon the premise of the legitimate role of the State, it may become more clear as to why I can't lend my support to the current incarnation of the US government. This incarnation is not specific to the current regime, but spans across political parties and individual politicians. In other words, the majority of State action taken today begins with the initiation of force against peaceful, private individual citizens. I can not lend my support for such a system of political rule, so I choose generally not to vote. Were I to vote, I can guarantee it would be against incumbent politicians despite their political party affiliation. Better to prevent politicians from making a career out of looting the private wealth of individuals as lifelong members of the ruling political body.
Does this make me an anarchist? No, not really. I do support a minimal government; one that functions as the protector of individual rights and property. Decentralization of power is key for me, especially in terms of the State's ability to wage mass-murder in the form of foreign wars. I also believe that the State should not interfere in the decisions of individual actors so long as they are not causing harm to another human being or their property. This holds true across all issues including a person's economic livelihood and the ability to own, control, transfer, use, and enjoy property.
I will tell you that I do not consider democracy or voting as sacrosanct, because these are simply institutional means to an even greater end: individual human liberty and voluntary interaction. What I mean is that the democratic system of government is not in place for the sake of itself, but for the sake of protecting individuals against unreasonable uses of force against them. When democracy turns against the goal of human liberty, then it is no longer a system worthy of support. Does this mean that our society can't turn back to a legitimate system of political rule? I can't really speculate. This would take a massive political and philosophical changing of the tide in terms of the way the public thinks about the role of the State.
For now, trust me when I say that I put faith in decentralized human creativity and creation. I believe that free minds, when free to create, exchange, and expound upon ideas, will help drive technological, social, and economic changes that will improve the lives of people around the world. Invisible lines on a map don't limit the emergence of cooperation, friendship, and bonds that can develop between people across the world.
Regards,
Chris
song of the day: Death and the Healing by Wintersun
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday was Beautiful 1-16-11
1-17-11 (RM, France; Paris, France) (updated with picture)
Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Paris to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the sun was actually out! This made the trip so much better since the stained glass windows were lit up and sparkling. I was amazed at how tall the Cathedral actually was inside and how beautiful it was. I was stupid and forgot my camera but the tour is free so I'll probably wind up going back when the weather is nice again.
I walked along the Seine River for a good hour or so through the city. Everyone was out running/jogging, roller-blading, riding bikes, or just walking their dogs. After coming out of a long tunnel, I swung back around into a park and wound up in front of the Louvre where the pyramid is located. Next I wandered around until I found a small cafe where I had a sandwich and some fries. Not really too much else to say other than the architecture here is amazing and the sun really lights up the whole city when it isn't cloudy. I'm looking forward to Spring.
Here is a picture of some street art I got for ten euro. It is actually much cooler in person.
I've Got the World on a String - Sinatra
Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Paris to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the sun was actually out! This made the trip so much better since the stained glass windows were lit up and sparkling. I was amazed at how tall the Cathedral actually was inside and how beautiful it was. I was stupid and forgot my camera but the tour is free so I'll probably wind up going back when the weather is nice again.
I walked along the Seine River for a good hour or so through the city. Everyone was out running/jogging, roller-blading, riding bikes, or just walking their dogs. After coming out of a long tunnel, I swung back around into a park and wound up in front of the Louvre where the pyramid is located. Next I wandered around until I found a small cafe where I had a sandwich and some fries. Not really too much else to say other than the architecture here is amazing and the sun really lights up the whole city when it isn't cloudy. I'm looking forward to Spring.
Here is a picture of some street art I got for ten euro. It is actually much cooler in person.
I've Got the World on a String - Sinatra
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Birthday in Paris! 27 years OLD.
1-15-11 (RM, France; Paris, France)
Birthday plans in Paris tonight at a hoppin' British-style pub. Details to follow tomorrow...
Enjoy this birthday song written by NOFX in the meantime (NSFW)
Yay birthdays with new friends! I started out my evening with a quick gin and tonic at the apartment and the proceeded to the Pub in Paris. Things started out kind of slow but eventually all my classmates started to trickle in 1 and 2 at a time. I think I paid for my first drink and that was it. Someone bought me a shot of caramel flavored vodka which was really, really sugary. After that I stuck to British bitters (beer). I think later I had two green apple vodka shots and ended the night with a disgusting beer known as Desperado. It is a lime/tequila flavored beer that seems to be popular here. It is too strange for me to enjoy. However, it came as a free gift from a new friend I met out at the bar.
My new friends in the PEM program are AMAZING! Not only did they bring me a cake with candles, but they collectively gathered money to buy me a nice french dress shirt, tie, and zippo lighter. Everyone smokes here so I thought it would be cool to have a nice lighter as a conversation starter on the street. I had no idea that they were even planning on getting me anything since I had insisted that it wasn't necessary.
I think I'll try and start a database with everyone's names, contact information, and birthdays so that our class can continue to plan events around people's birthdays while they are living here.
Birthday plans in Paris tonight at a hoppin' British-style pub. Details to follow tomorrow...
Enjoy this birthday song written by NOFX in the meantime (NSFW)
Yay birthdays with new friends! I started out my evening with a quick gin and tonic at the apartment and the proceeded to the Pub in Paris. Things started out kind of slow but eventually all my classmates started to trickle in 1 and 2 at a time. I think I paid for my first drink and that was it. Someone bought me a shot of caramel flavored vodka which was really, really sugary. After that I stuck to British bitters (beer). I think later I had two green apple vodka shots and ended the night with a disgusting beer known as Desperado. It is a lime/tequila flavored beer that seems to be popular here. It is too strange for me to enjoy. However, it came as a free gift from a new friend I met out at the bar.
My new friends in the PEM program are AMAZING! Not only did they bring me a cake with candles, but they collectively gathered money to buy me a nice french dress shirt, tie, and zippo lighter. Everyone smokes here so I thought it would be cool to have a nice lighter as a conversation starter on the street. I had no idea that they were even planning on getting me anything since I had insisted that it wasn't necessary.
I think I'll try and start a database with everyone's names, contact information, and birthdays so that our class can continue to plan events around people's birthdays while they are living here.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Congratulations.... TO ME!
1-14-11 (RM, France)
I want to send out a very serious "thank you," to everyone in the Petroleum Economics and Management (PEM) program who voiced their support and gave their votes for me today. It is because of all my friends that I was elected class representative today. I hadn't really planned on running for the position, but a group of my fellow students recommended to me that I run. It was quite and honor and I know that I'll do well in representing our class from an international point of view. Congratulations are also in order to Emilie Gubian as well, as she will also be representing our class.
I want to send out a very serious "thank you," to everyone in the Petroleum Economics and Management (PEM) program who voiced their support and gave their votes for me today. It is because of all my friends that I was elected class representative today. I hadn't really planned on running for the position, but a group of my fellow students recommended to me that I run. It was quite and honor and I know that I'll do well in representing our class from an international point of view. Congratulations are also in order to Emilie Gubian as well, as she will also be representing our class.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Birthday Plans Coming Together for Saturday
1-13-11 (RM, France)
Just two more days until my 27th birthday, yay! At first I didn't really like the concept of turning 27 and entering into my "late twenties," but now I realized that age bring wisdom and experience, bring in turn bring respect and admiration. If you are in the Paris area this Saturday and you are a fan of this blog, then please join us at the Frog and Princess Pub in Paris around 18hr30m (6:30pm). It should be a fun time at the pub.
I was very flattered today when a group of my fellow students advised me that they thought I should be the class representative (or at least of of the two representatives.) The best parts of my personality continue to shine through as everyone here is very friendly and outgoing and a real pleasure to talk to. For some reason I feel more confident and willing to share my fun side with these folks and that makes me feel good.
Other than my birthday party this Saturday night, my plan is to make it into Paris early in the day and take in some local art culture. I think I'll try to visit the Musee d'Orsay and maybe just walk around a bit in the city.
Last night's dinner with Geraldine, Maria, Marco, and David was a ton of fun. Marco made Mexican style burritos with beef, sour cream, tomato salsa, peppers, and, of course, queso! We all sat around in Geraldine's room and drank beer, laughed, told jokes, ripped on each other, and performed bar tricks. Geraldine had an especially good trick where she makes a glass disappear under a napkin. She was way too fast after a few beers for me to see it work. The group berated me for about 15 minutes because, apparently, I can't pronounce "Maria" in the proper Spanish accent. Americans don't do the proper "R" sound. They told me to use the tip of my tongue to do an "r" sound just behind my teeth and on the roof of the mouth. I'm getting better, but they all think it hilarious that I can't do it. As if that weren't enough, Geraldine made fun of me because she thought my name was too similar to the Christopher Robin character from Winnie the Poo. I tried to jokingly storm out of the apartment dorm but the door was locked. Instead I collapsed in front of the door and acted like I was crying and curling into a ball.
I was asking Maria about romance in Spain since Americans tend to think of all Spanish speaking countries as very romantic and passionate. I was surprised to hear that guys in Madrid don't really know how to approach women and are often timid to do so. This reminded me of most guys back in the States. Apparently in Brazil however, people just make out with whomever they happen to be dancing with. My other friend, Emelie, told me that in France the guys should just try to take the girl and hope for the best. In other words, they will respond if they are interested and won't if not. I'm not fully able to grasp the concept of this yet since I actually like talking to people first to develop a rapport. Seems strange but, when in Rome, as they say.
All for now, thank you all my readers! Y'all are great and the growing numbers really help inspire me to keep writing.
Song of the Day: Any Way You Want It by Journey
Just two more days until my 27th birthday, yay! At first I didn't really like the concept of turning 27 and entering into my "late twenties," but now I realized that age bring wisdom and experience, bring in turn bring respect and admiration. If you are in the Paris area this Saturday and you are a fan of this blog, then please join us at the Frog and Princess Pub in Paris around 18hr30m (6:30pm). It should be a fun time at the pub.
I was very flattered today when a group of my fellow students advised me that they thought I should be the class representative (or at least of of the two representatives.) The best parts of my personality continue to shine through as everyone here is very friendly and outgoing and a real pleasure to talk to. For some reason I feel more confident and willing to share my fun side with these folks and that makes me feel good.
Other than my birthday party this Saturday night, my plan is to make it into Paris early in the day and take in some local art culture. I think I'll try to visit the Musee d'Orsay and maybe just walk around a bit in the city.
Last night's dinner with Geraldine, Maria, Marco, and David was a ton of fun. Marco made Mexican style burritos with beef, sour cream, tomato salsa, peppers, and, of course, queso! We all sat around in Geraldine's room and drank beer, laughed, told jokes, ripped on each other, and performed bar tricks. Geraldine had an especially good trick where she makes a glass disappear under a napkin. She was way too fast after a few beers for me to see it work. The group berated me for about 15 minutes because, apparently, I can't pronounce "Maria" in the proper Spanish accent. Americans don't do the proper "R" sound. They told me to use the tip of my tongue to do an "r" sound just behind my teeth and on the roof of the mouth. I'm getting better, but they all think it hilarious that I can't do it. As if that weren't enough, Geraldine made fun of me because she thought my name was too similar to the Christopher Robin character from Winnie the Poo. I tried to jokingly storm out of the apartment dorm but the door was locked. Instead I collapsed in front of the door and acted like I was crying and curling into a ball.
I was asking Maria about romance in Spain since Americans tend to think of all Spanish speaking countries as very romantic and passionate. I was surprised to hear that guys in Madrid don't really know how to approach women and are often timid to do so. This reminded me of most guys back in the States. Apparently in Brazil however, people just make out with whomever they happen to be dancing with. My other friend, Emelie, told me that in France the guys should just try to take the girl and hope for the best. In other words, they will respond if they are interested and won't if not. I'm not fully able to grasp the concept of this yet since I actually like talking to people first to develop a rapport. Seems strange but, when in Rome, as they say.
All for now, thank you all my readers! Y'all are great and the growing numbers really help inspire me to keep writing.
Song of the Day: Any Way You Want It by Journey
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
My Official Course Schedule
1-13-11 (RM, France)
Financial Accounting
Energy Economics and Development
Energy Geopolitics
Upstream Management Techniques
Downstream Management Techniques
Commodities Markets and Trading
Reservoir Engineering 1 and 2
Linear Programming
Advanced Econometrics
Management Information Systems
Also, awesome news. The director of the IFP School is named Jean-Luc. Bad ass? Yes.
Financial Accounting
Energy Economics and Development
Energy Geopolitics
Upstream Management Techniques
Downstream Management Techniques
Commodities Markets and Trading
Reservoir Engineering 1 and 2
Linear Programming
Advanced Econometrics
Management Information Systems
Also, awesome news. The director of the IFP School is named Jean-Luc. Bad ass? Yes.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Things Continue to Go Well
1-11-11 (RM, France)
The second week of courses started this week and so far everything is still pretty basic, but stimulating. The quality of the education we are getting here is, IMO, far superior to back home. I think it is because IFP requires all their students to be sponsored from business or industry or pursuing a joint masters degree from a partner university. They know we are all very capable individuals and treat us as such.
Personally, I love the price and variety of cheese here. I got an awesome blue cheese for less than 2 euro at Carrefour and ate it with some yummy baguette. Sweet. I also bought some peanut butter and jam to have on hand in case I run out of proper food. It will do in a pinch and the jam is definitely awesome. Blackberry jam, amazing. I also got a few more eggs and meat for breakfast dishes.
I'm really glad that I have had experience traveling and living on my own in the past. I'm sure this experience would be much scarier if I hadn't been living around the country during the Ron Paul campaign and giving it a shot at living in Southern California a year or two back. I'm adjusted to life here quite easily and I'm not really experiencing any culture shock that some Americans get from traveling and living abroad. French people seem pretty polite and many random people will stop to chat with you simply because you are American or look like you need help. A really nice Chinese/French women helped us order food at a restaurant and spoke at length with me and Ben about her husband having worked for IFP.
Cost of living (except for rent of courses) has been considerably cheaper and more reasonable than expected. I get a good, quality lunch for around 4 euro per day and my trip to the grocery store plus the frozen food store for the week only ran 24 euro. This sets up nicely for some extra money for weekend trips into Paris and maybe some more fun trips to other places (Prague maybe?) in the future. I'm torn between wanting to visit Munich and Prague. All the beer drinkers tell me to go to Munich, all of the ladies men tell me to go to Prague.
Things started of so poorly but I'm happy to say that everything has rapidly and drastically improved since classes started. I can't say enough positive things about the quality of teaching here by the professional, industry-oriented staff, and of my fellow students. Everyone seems like a stellar individual and I'm having a lot of fun just meeting new people and listening to stories and ideas about where they come from. In the age of globalization and integrated markets, it seems like a must for people to have international exposure at some point in their younger years. I know I made the right choice coming here and since have no regrets.
The second week of courses started this week and so far everything is still pretty basic, but stimulating. The quality of the education we are getting here is, IMO, far superior to back home. I think it is because IFP requires all their students to be sponsored from business or industry or pursuing a joint masters degree from a partner university. They know we are all very capable individuals and treat us as such.
Personally, I love the price and variety of cheese here. I got an awesome blue cheese for less than 2 euro at Carrefour and ate it with some yummy baguette. Sweet. I also bought some peanut butter and jam to have on hand in case I run out of proper food. It will do in a pinch and the jam is definitely awesome. Blackberry jam, amazing. I also got a few more eggs and meat for breakfast dishes.
I'm really glad that I have had experience traveling and living on my own in the past. I'm sure this experience would be much scarier if I hadn't been living around the country during the Ron Paul campaign and giving it a shot at living in Southern California a year or two back. I'm adjusted to life here quite easily and I'm not really experiencing any culture shock that some Americans get from traveling and living abroad. French people seem pretty polite and many random people will stop to chat with you simply because you are American or look like you need help. A really nice Chinese/French women helped us order food at a restaurant and spoke at length with me and Ben about her husband having worked for IFP.
Cost of living (except for rent of courses) has been considerably cheaper and more reasonable than expected. I get a good, quality lunch for around 4 euro per day and my trip to the grocery store plus the frozen food store for the week only ran 24 euro. This sets up nicely for some extra money for weekend trips into Paris and maybe some more fun trips to other places (Prague maybe?) in the future. I'm torn between wanting to visit Munich and Prague. All the beer drinkers tell me to go to Munich, all of the ladies men tell me to go to Prague.
Things started of so poorly but I'm happy to say that everything has rapidly and drastically improved since classes started. I can't say enough positive things about the quality of teaching here by the professional, industry-oriented staff, and of my fellow students. Everyone seems like a stellar individual and I'm having a lot of fun just meeting new people and listening to stories and ideas about where they come from. In the age of globalization and integrated markets, it seems like a must for people to have international exposure at some point in their younger years. I know I made the right choice coming here and since have no regrets.
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