wirkman

A few people stood up against the mob and against their local tyrants. This is the tale of one such dissident to the pandemic response, as he tells it, with its strange ending and his considerations on living in what you might think of as an otherwise paradisaical small town.

Dennis Pratt, ardent and masterful promoter of the Free State Project, defends the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire against Twitter socialist and politician Nina Turner, and clarifies our current status as "free-range slaves."

Brief review of a Scotch that just came in the mail.

This is a discussion of recent books I've acquired, a problem with a few of them, and my solution to that problem, and why I read so much science fiction. And the latter involves "UAP" — that hoary subject, UFOs.

The Quest for the Historical Jesus has been going on for two centuries — but with not all that much to show for it. Now we're at a place where many people do not believe that Jesus was a historical figure at all, but just sort of "made up." But according to Ralph Ellis, he's been hiding in plain sight: Jesus is in the pages of history and was a MAJOR FIGURE in the course of empires. In this discussion with host Timothy Virkkala, Mr. Ellis focuses in on the name of Jesus, as deal with in the three books he's written with Jesus in the title: Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs — where Ellis puts Judaism and Christianity into an Egyptican context King Jesus — where pointers in the work of Josephus and the Babylonian Talmud and Arthurian myth show that he was not a mere itinerant preacher and "carpenter's son" Jesus, King of Edessa — where Mr. Ellis finds the exact persons in actual history that became the major figures in the Gospels, down to specific dates and times. For the audio podcast, see LocoFoco.net. For notes to this episode, see my website: https://wirkman.com/2023/01/08/hello-my-name-is-izas/

Sam Harris is wrong about free speech and the need to abridge freedom of religion to rein in terrorists within Islam. David Ramsay Steele, who is preparing a book of critical responses to Sam Harris, argues that the evidence is clear: suicide bombers are not irrational thralls to the Evil Koran, but rational actors in a war. This episode of the LocoFoco Netcast is available in podcast form, as hosted on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/locofoco-net/suicide-bombers?si=bc94c962251b44558fd1e10d223444b3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing www. LocoFoco.net

Timothy Virkkala looks at a classic age of science fiction and ruminates on its significance for our time.

Machines don't learn, AI isn't going to become conscious — and Elon Musk only thinks so because he doesn't understand the science! Artificial General Intelligence is impossible — in the same way socialism is impossible! No physicist or mathematician or even AI specialist really believes that AI will become conscious and rule the world! So don’t worry. But these aren’t just assertions. Join host Timothy Virkkala and author David Ramsay Steele as we talk to Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith — experts who know something about the subject. Indeed, they have an important new book out on the subject from Routledge. A fascinating discussion, and a good occasion to revive the LocoFoco Netcast from its year of silence.

LocoFoco Netcast host Timothy Virkkala is joined by Dennis Pratt, late of Quora, now of the Free State Project. Shall it be "New Hampshire or Bust!"?