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For Every Thing There is a Season Sam Aurelius Milam III On Saturday, January 21, 2023, PBS News Weekend reported on the plans of the people in Ambler, Alaska to reduce their use of fossil fuel. They’re converting things to burn wood, which they plan to obtain from the forests, which are reportedly nearby. I heated with wood for several years, while I lived at Mere Keep, in San Jose, California. The climate was very mild, but I still used a lot of wood. Several years ago, I saw a documentary about a heritage museum that showed how people lived in the past. Among the exhibits were a replica of a typical frontier cabin and a stack of wood big enough to heat such a cabin for one heating season. The stack of wood was almost as big as the cabin. It takes a lot of wood to stay warm in the winter. The people in Ambler, Alaska are going to cut down a lot of trees. There’s a lot of commotion lately about the reported increase in the severity and frequency of floods, droughts, famines, loss of habitat, fires, desertification, and extinctions of species. It’s all being blamed on CO2 emissions caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels. In response, people are trying to find alternate sources of energy that are sufficient to meet the needs of the growing population. There are also efforts to provide sufficient food, water, housing, and medical services for the growing population. There are efforts to deal with growing pollution of the environment caused by the growing population. The recurring theme is the growing population, but I’ve never seen it cited as the actual problem. It’s always uncritically accepted as normal and justifiable. I noted in the June 2022 issue that we don’t have a shortage of resources. We have an excess of people. In Dune, by Frank Herbert, Pardot Kynes, First Planetologist of Arrakis, observed that in a finite space freedom diminishes as numbers increase. The human question, he continued, isn’t how many people can possibly survive, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive. In August of 1974, in Milam’s Notes, I stated that the longer we wait to solve an environmental problem, the fewer choices we will have. If we wait long enough, then we probably won’t have to make any choices at all, but the resulting environment might be one in which we’re not included. Human overpopulation is exactly such an environmental problem. Unending population growth is neither normal nor justifiable. Instead, it’s inarguably true that unending population growth cannot be sustained within the finite confines of a planetary ecosystem. Eventually, such growth must stop. Meanwhile, every tree that the people in Ambler, Alaska cut will reduce the ability of the forest to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Every tree that they burn will release more CO2 into the atmosphere. They’re not solving the problem. They’re making it worse. They’re not even trying to solve the right problem. I don’t believe that we’re going to solve the overpopulation problem ourselves, but maybe we won’t have to. About 140,000 years ago and again about 70,000 years ago, events occurred that some people believe to have been human survival bottlenecks. If they actually were survival bottlenecks, and if the apparent 70,000 year cycle actually exists, then another such event seems to be imminent. That would solve our overpopulation problem for us, probably for about the next 70,000 years. Additional Reading
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Dear Frontiersman: About twenty-five years ago, I heard a joke that took the form of a riddle. It went like this: Question: How many libertarians does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: None — the free market will do it. I was reminded of that joke when I learned what happened in the small town of Grafton, New Hampshire, when the town council was dominated [by] libertarian-minded politicians, between 2004 and 2012. They cut taxes, fees, regulations, and government services. Most significantly, they cut funding for law enforcement. These idealists hoped that the liberated residents of Grafton would create a miniature utopia, like something imagined by Robert Heinlein or Ayn Rand. Instead, the project fizzled out. Anyone with internet access can find out the details by searching for “Free Town Project”. My take-away from the situation is this: the libertarian politicians forgot that, while freedom is a wonderful thing in itself, it doesn’t guarantee anything. It doesn’t guarantee that people will be peaceful, innovative, or productive. It doesn’t guarantee that even one light bulb will be screwed in. —Sir Donald the Elusive Dear Sam I always enjoy reading the Frontiersman, whether I agree with a view or article or not, it’s always a good read. But every now and then you hit a homer. Your Feb ’23 issue was chocked with good stuff. “Rise to Power”, I saw that house rep propose Don Trump for speaker, and I knew about it before then that anyone can be house speaker. It is a scary thought that anyone can be third in line for the executive branch. Want another scary thought. Federal judges. Anyone can be a federal judge. You could have no college, be a high school dropout, a convicted felon, not born in the USA, or even be an illegal alien. Only 2 things are required. 1. nomination by the president, 2. confirmation by Congress. Since our government is so partisan, you have to wonder about Obama, Trump, and Biden appointments. Once confirmed, they are paid salaries until they die, whether they get an appointed court/bench or not. Nomination/confirmation is all they need. “Carnet Rising”, Animal Farm, 1984, Soylent Green. Sci Fi and fiction writers visions are coming true. Your graph on Global Average Temperature Change is dramatic for sure. The population boom of the last 1000 years has put us over the point of safe return. I read what your father warned you about global warming back in the 1960s. If he’s right, “Water World” by Kevin Costner is in our future. How your pops could have guessed 300' rise in ocean is pretty smart. He’s quite the prognosticator, and surely the source of your intelligence. Be well, I’ll close for now. —S. H., a prisoner Hey Sam, I got the newsletter that you sent me [February 2023]. “Thank you” for you printing our sad story about the dirty security guards robbing all of us guys in the max of our Christmas sacks of food that had been collected and donated to us from the church. But let me tell you what else they did to us guys in the max. They gave out new winter thermal long johns to all of the guys out in general population, but the guys in the max did not. But then to make matters much worse for us guys in the max the warden ordered his security officers to go shake down our cells and confiscate all of our extra blankets and sheets and our jumpsuits.... —H. L., a prisoner The Coming of the Horde Sam Aurelius Milam III Thursday, January 28, 1993 My eyes have seen the flurry of the coming of the horde. It has trampled out the vintage where the grapes of truth were stored. And the pen has been the victim of its terrible swift sword, The horde goes marching on. If you let it, it will rule ya! If you let it, it will rule ya! If you let it, it will rule ya! The horde goes marching on. Some Advice About Women Sam Aurelius Milam III
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Being Right, However Great the Cost Sam Aurelius Milam III When I first started attending school, at the Boldtville School, in Bexar County, Texas, World War II was only a few years in the past. It was still fresh in the minds of the adults. I remember the teacher, Mrs. Dudek, explaining to us, among other things, the difference between Them and Us. In Hitler’s Germany, she explained, the government wouldn’t allow anybody to do anything unless he had a government ID card. Refusal to show the card on demand was a cause for punishment. Many years later, while I lived on the farm in Idaho, the owner occasionally lamented that Hitler would be green with envy at the ID system that exists in the USA today. I have a Thorndike Century Senior Dictionary, published in 1941. That was the year that the USA went to war, allegedly against fascism. In that dictionary, fascism is described as any system of government in which property is privately owned, but all industry and business is regulated by a strong national government. That’s a good description of the USA today. A long time ago, I mentioned that description to my mother. She sighed and commented that we’d won the war and lost the peace. A previous acquaintance once told me that his other friends considered me to be an idiot. He said that it wasn’t just because of my situation, but because I’d chosen the situation. Those people had a distorted understanding of the idea of choice. A man will choose to jump from the top of a burning building, but that doesn’t mean that he wanted to do it. He jumps because all of his desirable choices have been eliminated, leaving him with only undesirable choices. When I became formally employed, in 1972, I was required to have a Social Security number. I’d spent much of my life, up until then, being brainwashed by the establishment. Consequently, at the time, I didn’t associate the requirement with Mrs. Dudek’s description of Nazi Germany. However, by then I’d begun to educate myself. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which required government ID as a prerequisite to employment, confirmed what I’d been learning. My desirable choices had been prohibited. I wasn’t permitted to work at an honest job, as a free man. My choices were to either comply with fascist ID requirements, or to be unemployed. I refused to comply. I became unemployed. My refusal to comply with the fascist ID requirements doesn’t mean that I’m an idiot, as was alleged by those friends of my former acquaintance. It just means that I’m right. Additional Reading
A Cold Place Sam Aurelius Milam III There isn’t any reason to believe that the Earth was molten when it first formed. Even if the Sun was already becoming active at the time, exposure to the Sun would have heated only the surface of the planet, not its interior. Heating of the interior didn’t begin until the Moon was in place. The gravitational attraction between the Earth and the Moon caused tidal forces within both bodies. Those tidal forces generated internal heating in both the Earth and the Moon. Prior to that, the Earth was probably at or near absolute zero. Tidal forces in a spinning body will oppose its direction of spin. Thus, the Moon’s period of rotation slowed until, eventually, it became equal to its period of revolution, with the result that the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. After that, tidal forces no longer existed within the Moon. Lacking tidal forces, heat generation within the Moon ceased. The Earth’s spin is also being slowed, and for the same reason, but the Earth’s greater mass means that it will take longer for it’s period of rotation to equal the Moon’s period of revolution. When that eventually happens, the same side of the Earth will always face the Moon. After that, there won’t be any significant tidal forces within the Earth. There might be some tidal forces from the Sun, but they’ll be smaller and have a much longer period. Today, any such Solar tidal forces have a period of one day. After the period of rotation of the Earth equals the period of revolution of the Moon, the period of the Solar tidal forces will be equal to the period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth at that time, maybe about one month. Internal heating in the Earth will mostly cease. The Sun might prevent the surface temperature from dropping all the way to absolute zero but, even so, without internal heating, the Earth will be a very cold place.
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Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: El Dorado Bob; Betty; Eric, of Stockton, California; and Sir Donald the Elusive. — editor Websites http://frontiersman.org.uk/ http://moonlight-flea-market.com/ http://pharos.org.uk/ http://sam-aurelius-milam-iii.org.uk/ http://sovereign-library.org.uk/ Actual Written School Excuses Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Don G. • My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent this weekend with the Marines. • Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hit in the growing part. • Excuse Gloria. She has been under the doctor. • Please excuse Johnnie for being. It was his father’s fault. • Lillie was absent from school yesterday because she had a going over. Two Blondes, Two Months Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Don G. Two young blondes were sitting at a bar in such an obviously celebratory mood that the bartender drifted over, intending to offer them a drink on the house. When he got close, he heard one blonde say “Here’s to 2 months!” Smiling, the bartender said, “Congratulations! What’s so special about 2 months?” Eyes twinkling, one of the women explained, “We’ve been spending our evenings working on a jigsaw puzzle! It said 3-5 years on the box, but we finished it in only 2 months!” Frontiersman Availability — Assuming the availability of sufficient funds, subscriptions to this newsletter in print, copies of past issues in print, and copies of the website on CDs are available upon request. Funding for this newsletter is from sources over which I don't have any control, so it might become necessary for me to terminate these offers or to cancel one or more subscriptions at any time, without notice. All past issues are presently available for free download at the internet address shown below. Contributions are welcome. Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving printed copies of this newsletter, then return your copy unopened. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby given to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must apply to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I consider letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. You can use editor@frontiersman.org.uk for PayPal payments. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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