0:00 - The Tale of Lateness
3:20 - The Duck Saga
23:12 - Unveiling Illusions
38:51 - The Importance of Self-Knowledge and Vetting in Relationships
41:51 - The Need for Quick Decision-Making in Relationships
43:05 - The Art of Vetted Hiring in Relationships and Life
53:04 - Delivering an Introduction to Bitcoin Presentation
1:00:02 - Dealing with Envy and Carelessness in Interactions
1:01:20 - Advocating for Peaceful Parenting as a Solution
1:05:20 - Understanding the Influence of Free Stuff in Society
1:16:51 - The Lottery Ticket Misfortune
1:22:33 - Lessons on Vanity and Self-Realization
1:31:42 - Making It Worth Their While
1:43:09 - The Reality of Business Investments
1:45:43 - Listen Before Advising
In this podcast episode, I delve into a range of conversations surrounding relationships, ethics, and societal implications. I recount a humorous yet frantic event involving a search for missing ducks, navigating technical difficulties, and the importance of privacy in private calls amidst a political incident. As I reflect on watching a late-night political debate, I discuss cognitive decline, media coverage, and the impact of illusion versus reality on individuals.
Addressing listener questions on trauma, marriage, gentrification, and relationships with older partners, I stress the significance of self-knowledge and quick decision-making in personal and professional dynamics. Throughout the episode, I emphasize the value of self-awareness, responsibility, and critical thinking in all spheres of life, from relationships to societal structures.
Delving deeper into societal issues, I analyze the implications of dependency on free government assistance, cautioning against unsustainable promises of "free stuff" and advocating for personal responsibility. I tackle questions on managing overwhelming responsibilities, maintaining boundaries while helping others, and fostering reciprocity in relationships to prevent burnout and promote balance.
Transitioning to discussions on project funding and book publishing challenges, I highlight the importance of creating mutually beneficial projects and engaging in respectful interactions. I share insights from my experiences in book publishing and merchandise creation, urging listeners to consider effort and risks before offering advice and advocating for support and understanding in interpersonal exchanges.
[0:00] Good evening. Oh, the shame. Didn't I just have a whole speech about being excellent and not making mistakes? And here it is, 7.14. I am 14 minutes late. Now, you know I don't like in particular being late, but I feel if you are late, at least, at least, at least, you can deliver a decent story. Thank you for the $4. Would you like the story of my lateness? And it is a story of great, deep, abiding, nay, existential terror. This is going to be a horror story for the ages.
[0:43] Hit me with a why if you're here. If you want a story that will chill the very marrow off your soul's bones. All right. so tell me what is yeah come on what is your greatest fear mine is irrelevant what is your greatest fear what is your greatest fear because i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna top it i'm absolutely gonna top it and you may think you have a great fear you've got nothing compared uh to why i'm late dying your fear is dying okay windows update well yeah i was also a little late because windows was just like, hey, you know what? Your privacy settings, I'm just going to turn your camera off, and I'm also going to turn your microphone off, but I'm not going to tell you that I'm doing it. Getting fired from work, a network loop, getting kidnapped and tortured, losing my mind, being sucked out of an airplane toilet. Yes, however, being sucked in an airplane toilet apparently is quite a lot of fun. Being misunderstood. Oh, Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood. Okay, realizing I've been doing the exact opposite of what I intended to do, being inert. These are all reasonable fears, but nothing like tonight. To die prematurely before having children. Or if you are entirely premature, it's kind of tough to have children.
[2:09] Commitment. Oh, greatest fear is commitments. Right. Royd, Sally Royd. All right. Did we get them all? Yeah. The way James is typing, his greatest fear. You can use this in the performance review. His greatest fear. Oh, apparently it's quite a long one. His greatest fear is that it's not a long one. Going broke, yes, not fun. Going broke, especially if you have dysfunctional family, because then, then, you go broke. And you have to live with your family. Family. All right, I think we are, what have we got here? All right. All right. Okay, so you have your fears. I understand the fears. It's not like I'm super competitive. Not being alive in the post-Bitcoin world, getting sick and lingering, unable to do anything. Yes.
[3:14] Being in a prison cell with a bunch of buff gay dudes. I like how you throw buff in there. Like, that's worse. All right.
[3:20] All right. Now, you may have these fears, and I understand these fears, and I don't mean to be overly competitive at all. But these fears pale to nothing, nothing, compared to why I'm late. So for reasons that are kind of outside the scope, this is like Gandalf's journey in The Hobbit. For reasons that are really outside the scope of this tale, I am alone in the house. The family is away. Now, you may have experienced great terrors in your life. You may have been a child dangled by Michael Jackson over a balcony. You may have been an offspring of Eric Clapton. You may have had Lizzo falling towards you on an amusement park ride. There could be many absolutely terrible, terrible things.
[4:36] But you have not experienced real fear until you cannot find your child's pets. That is the core. That is the essence. That is the Aristotelian, pure, distilled form of absolute West Carpenter terror known to man, beast, god, or devil.
[5:01] So, I did two long call-ins today. And for the last couple days, old StephBot has been in charge of the ducks. Now, I like the ducks, don't get me wrong. They're really cute. They're kind of fluffy. They're growing like tumors, but I don't do a lot of pet stuff. I mean, I had some hamsters and mice and stuff when I was a kid. I came this close to buying a dog in my late 20s, But I don't really do the pets thing. Now, the ducks are not super complicated to take care of. I'll be frank with you. In the morning, you go out, you say hi to them, you refill their food bowl, you change their water bowl, and you play with them a little bit. And then if I'm going to be outside, I'll let them out of the coop and we'll hang out outside. If I'm not going to be outside, I generally put them back in the coop. Just because, you know, I don't know, hawks. I don't exactly know, but bad things can happen.
[6:15] So the call-ins, I did one, I did three yesterday, two today. Each of these are two to two and a half and sometimes three hours. And they have been ferocious. I won't go into details because they're private calls, but they have been ferocious. So, anyway, after I finish the call-in, I decide to rest my eyes. You know how you lie to yourself? I mean, I'm really trying to commit myself to the truth, but you know when there's a nice, soft, warm, sunlit patch on the couch, and you're like, ah, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to eat a fairly big meal of meat and potatoes and then I'm going to rest my eyes.
[7:11] So, I wake up. No, not wake up. No, let's be fair. I returned to a state of true alertness from a state of semi-alertness wherein I was riding the back of a giant eagle. But it could have happened. Might not have been a dream. Could have absolutely happened. Just a quick 10-minute nap. That's right. That's right.
[7:44] And you know this, I won't go into details. If you really want to relax, I'm not one of them, but there are some people you can go to. Sandman is one of them. You can... I don't want you to be repairing issues and cleaning my computer. Thank you very much. Anyway, so Sandman is one of them. There's a couple other people. You go and you just know... Scott Adams is not much of a shouter. You go and you're like, you know, you're not going to get startled like when the godfather Samuel has some shrieky woman on that's not going to work out well, right? So I had a, I took a, I took a dream, a vision journey, not a dream journey. I took a vision journey, woke up at 6.52. I'm like, oh, well, no problem. I've been sitting by the open door, so yeah, I'll just go grab the ducks and I'll put the ducks away. No problem. It's going to be a little tight. I think I can make it. I think I can do it. And I'm not at all concerned because, you know, if the ducks were in any kind of trouble, they would have made a bunch of sound.
[8:55] So I get up and I look out the back. Poop I see You always see the poop Ducks Not so much Now, They're not all Going to be gone Right They can't They're not going to take up They're not going to glitch They're not going to go To the back rooms There's going to be ducks around So Look over here Look over there No ducks, I do The useless whistle You know Because that's just going to Summon them from Another dimension If they have to They can come in from Fairy For all I know, So, I'm like, well, I mean, in the evening, they're old enough now that they put themselves to bed.
[9:47] And so, I go up to their coop, and I'm like, oh, I'm sure they'll be up in their little bedroom where they can go up this ramp into the bedroom. I go in there, and the coop is as empty as my heart is full of terror. Oh, no. And then you go through all these plans. Oh, no, what if the ducks are gone? What should I tell her? Oh, gosh. So, as the phrase goes, I haul ass. and I run around and run here and I run there and we'll get into details but, oh, does that work with cats? Yeah. So I'm racing around, racing around the house. I mean, you know when you get to this frantic place where you're just looking in places you've already looked before? You know, you can't find your keys and so you lift up the same cushion you've already lifted up twice before. Maybe they're back. Maybe the space aliens that took them have returned them. Can't find them. Can't find them. Not ideal.
[10:55] And then, like most people who are in deep doo-doo, I start trying to figure out what lies I'm going to start telling. You ever go through this process? I'm not saying I'm proud of it. I'm not saying I didn't fight it. I'm not saying I would have lost. But the weasel brain in me just starts on its hamster wheel of excuse generation. I must have been drugged with a blow dart. Uh, they were right here. And then space aliens, you know, you just come up with, I don't know that. Right. So you, you come up with the, the weasel brain just starts coughing up excuses and lies and, and, well, you left them alone. You left me with them, but you're stupid stuff. Right. But of course, I never would have done any of that. I would have manfully confessed to having having gone on a slight vision quest on the couch.
[11:50] So I'm looking and I'm looking. Now, I have a complicated set of eyewear because I will not get bifocals. I will not get trifocals. I'm not denying aging. I have basically three sets of glasses. I have these, which are my very old reading glasses, but which are fine for distance now. I have a medium pair and I have a close-up pair. So I'm, because I just grabbed my, it turned out I grabbed my reading glasses, which I don't do on the show because I'm going to get fish tank eyes. So I'm racing around, and I'm like trying to find, you know, you've got to look and see the ducks, right? And they're not exactly the brightest colored things. So I'm looking around, looking around, and finally I look back up to where I already checked their coop. I look back up there, and I'm like, are those... I can't really see, right? It looks like a duck, but I'm like, it could just be a bowl or something like that, right? It so i no they're not quite at flight level yet they're they're pretty new so i what i do is i grab my glasses and i put my glasses on and instead of having instead of having.
[13:01] Like i can't see because they're too far away now i can't see because i have my reading glasses on which turns everything else into like an n-dimensional puddle of gooey nothing so i'm I'm sprinting up. Now, here's the thing, too. I'm sprinting up to get the ducks, but I don't want to sprint so fast that I'm going to startle them away, if it is, in fact, the ducks that are behind the coop that I already checked.
[13:25] It's crazy, doesn't it? It drives you nuts when you're looking for something, and you're sure you've checked someplace, and you look back, and it's right there. Now, the problem is, as well, this is the big problem, as well.
[13:37] Because my wife is away, I don't have someone to blame. That's the big, big advantage of marriage is whatever goes wrong, you have a scapegoat. That's really important. Really, really important. So I was trying to think of who could have come by the house. The Mormons. They came by the house and they scared the ducks or maybe they stole the ducks. Anyway, I think we all have the weasel brain. Maybe it's just me. But anyway, so I'm sprinting up to the duck coop, but not too fast to startle them away. And they're there. which is completely bizarre they're literally there on the side that i walked up to look for them i do not know where they went i assume space like i used to have this theory when i was a kid space aliens beam stuff up they study it and then they put it back down colonel centrist yeah so that's right kfc came by uh i i saw a representative and of a of a of an east asian restaurant.
[14:38] So the ducks are there, and you go through the quick head count. Good, the ducks are all here. Now I just have to get them into the coop. China. So, anyway, I go and get the big, we got a sort of big plastic half-square container. We put the ducks in. So, I'm in a hurry. Now, when you're trying to corral animals and you're in a hurry, that, yeah, Sheldon just duckling. It was very, very strange. And, yeah, I, of course, pinch myself to see if I am awake or not. You know that dream where you just can't find the ducks? I don't know. I don't give a duck. Anyway, so I'm trying to, you know when you have that slightly strained voice? Here, ducky, ducky, ducky. I've got to get my life straight. Here, ducky. And so I finally get a duck. And because I'm in a hurry, they're nervous, right? So I put the duck in the big plastic thing, but I have not realized that, of course, by the time I get the other two ducks and go back, the first one is out because apparently they've just learned how to levitate. They have wings the size of my pinky, and yet they can hummingbird their way up or just leap out or something like that.
[15:53] So it is a mess. So I finally get the ducks inside and then I'm filling up their water and I'm putting their food in for the night. One of them gets out and then freaks out is on the other side because, you know, they're not the brightest animals in the world. Can't figure out how to get back in.
[16:16] So then I go and, you know, lock the gate, go get the duck. Can't get the gate open because I'm holding a duck. So anyway, finally, long story short. No, it's too late for that. I get the ducks in.
[16:30] And all is well. All is well. And then, of course, I have these little memory cards. One for the audio, one for the video, and I need one that's at least 32 gigs. Can I find them? Nope. Don't know where they are. Spawned out. Now, again, if you have a wife at home, what you can say, which is perfectly reasonable, and everybody understands this, who's a husband, what you can say to your wife is, I put them down right here. What did you do with them? or my favorite is did you check the pants of my pockets before you did the laundry i don't do any of that but it's again it's in my mind it's in my mind did you keep the story to yourself or share it with your daughter i already answered that question duck ate the memory card yeah yeah so then i've got to race around through you know upstairs oh god and then i get here and windows has turned off for some reason. I'm trying to, I'm in Rumble Studio and I'm trying to start the live stream and I can't click on the, turn on the microphone and the camera. I tried two different browsers. I'm like, restart the browser. I'm like, clear the cache. And it's like, nope, because it turns out, turns out, turns out that Windows has turned off my access to my camera and my microphone. And of course, it's not something that Windows tells you. It doesn't say, oh, sorry, did you, did you want this microphone? You turned it off, which I didn't turn it off, but anyway, there it is. Oh my gosh. My gosh.
[18:00] So anyway, here we are. Thank you for your patience and there we go. There are duck calls maybe worth investing in. Yeah, yeah, maybe. Imagine the world's greatest philosophy show starting late because the philosopher was chasing ducks. Well, I may be chasing ducks, but I always catch the excuses. uses.
[18:22] Steph, I would find immense value and would donate more if you shared insights and recounts of private calls, obviously keeping anonymity. This is particularly because I believe that people's behaviors, manners, and issues might be more relevant to the general masses. Would this be something you'd be open to? I would not. The private calls are the private calls, and I will not share the contents of the private calls. They do remain private, it but I certainly appreciate your thought and, I had one of the ones I had today the person did in fact I guess give a little thing.
[19:02] Give a little thing. What did he say? He said, Stefan helped me work through my dissociation that I had with my relationships in the past. The privacy helps for speeding through your thoughts and being more candid with your situation. One thing Stefan is good at is identifying where you are getting lied to and when you are lying to him or yourself to help clean it up and move on. Yes, yes. It's really good. I really do like the private calls. I really do. Oh, you names and places don't care. Details doesn't matter. And because they're ephemeral, right? They come and go. So freedomain.com slash call freedomain.com slash call if you would like to do it. Yeah, they're very and I can be very because I don't have to worry about translating things to the general population. And usually it's people who've had a long who are long term listeners, we can hit really hit the we can really hit the metal quick and fast and hard.
[20:05] So last night, I did, ooh, I don't know. Speaking of danger, speaking of danger. Last night, I had a call in at 9 p.m., and I finished at 11.30. And I had a little something in the back of my brain, a splinter in the mind's eye, I had a little something at the back of my brain, and I was like, wait, was there some political thing? Some political thing? What the hell was it? And, you know, like, so I pop open social media, and what did I see from last night? Is there a standard price for the private calls no it's an hourly price and you just you pay at the end depending on how long we get political debacle, yes yes yes there is going to be quite a lot of cognitive dissonance going on.
[21:19] It's going to be quite a lot of cognitive distance. So anyway, I found a, this was late, right? And so I found a stream and I started watching The Debate. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, I mean, I doubt I would have watched The Debate live anyway. But, you know, I was having a late night snack as I am wont to do. Because apparently I learned nothing about good eating habits, but I was having a late night snack, a little bowl of yogurt and fruit, and I start watching the debate.
[22:04] Let's own nobody home. Do you think politics will end in our lifetime? Well, no. No, not mine. So, boy, that was rough, man. You know there's this movie cliche where someone has a big speech and they just totally freeze up and everyone's like and they're like you know and then they they go off script and they just say something really passionate and you know elvis costello doing some song on late night with david lederman that he wasn't supposed to do you know this kind of it's a very standard sort of thing right oh my gosh isn't that wild you can link to the private call testimonials page yeah thank you steph for putting out your response to my question from wednesday's live stream my husband and i really appreciate your insight thank you kayla and i'm sorry i i was like i couldn't i can't believe i didn't didn't do that one so i i apologize for that and thank you for i'm glad it was helpful, So...
[23:13] First time people saw Biden with no teleprompter in a while. Yeah, I mean, the political content was not particularly interesting, but there do seem to be a lot of theories floating around, which I don't particularly agree with. So people are like, oh, why did they do the debate so early? It's the earliest debate in American political history. Well, they did the debate early for one simple reason, that he's getting worse. So they have to do it early because he's getting worse. And you know a really interesting hole has sort of opened up in people's brains, right because uh what's it joe scarborough and other people are like i've never seen biden sharper his grasp on everything is immense and you know he had like a week at camp david to prepare and i assume a fairly deep hole of swimming pool cocktails to get him to some place of semi-lucidness. And the amount that the media has been covering up this significant and extremely dangerous cognitive decline, I think it might give people, I mean, I don't know how much hope I have exactly, but it might give people some sense of just how much they're being lied to. And that is the beginning of wisdom. I just did a whole show yesterday.
[24:31] About the truth about history, the truth of history. And no, it's not that the emperor has no clothes. The emperor has no clothes is a story of everyone, right? It's not about the emperor. It's about everyone, right? And so there are people who've said, you know, well, the media is not telling the truth. The media is not telling the truth. And the media has been covering this up for three years. I mean, you can see scraps of it here and there. But it is um.
[25:04] Honestly, the kind of guy you wouldn't put in charge of a golf cart is running the most powerful name. Well, he's not, right? I mean, whoever's running it, I don't know. So I think that there's quite a lot of cognitive dissonance, going on in America and in the world as a whole. Because this is what the foreign leaders have seen. This is what the handlers have seen. This is what the people close to him have seen. and this is what they're all so desperate to cover up.
[25:38] So, yeah, I think that there could be some quite healthy cognitive dissonance that comes out of, like, it's really, and again, the political content's not particularly interesting. What is fascinating to me, is I think, people, occasionally get a glimpse of how far from reality they actually are. I think people get a glimpse from time to time, they get a glimpse from time to time of just how far from reality they really are. And that is very, very, it's terrifying to people. Terrifying to people. Because they realize there's a whole apparatus of lying.
[26:37] And they realize it's not so much that the TV lies to you. I mean, the TV lies to you, right? Unless I'm on the TV, in which case I'm practicing lying to my wife. So the TV lies to you. But that's not the big issue. That's not what makes people, you know, the excuses. He has a cold. Yes. I've done shows with a cult. It's not so much that the media lies to you. What terrifies people is everyone else around them who is not connected with reality. Right? That's the really alarming thing for people as a whole.
[27:16] That's the really alarming thing. And didn't Trump refer to him as Brandon at one point at night? I mean, it's a funny guy. but yeah so it that i think is really going to be upsetting to people in a sort of very deep and primal way right that when illusion collides with reality people generally really freak out i mean have you ever tried to bring reality to someone who is just very deluded, kevin samuels does it you know where there are these women who are like yeah i'm I'm a 41-year-old woman with two kids by two different dads, and I'm a dress size 18, and I want a top 1% man. So he tries to bring them back to reality. Back. Okay, we know that song.
[28:12] And, of course, part of what I do is wrangle with myself and with others, too, to make sure we stay on track with reality. But I think there's a little wormhole that's kind of opened up right.
[28:32] And that Biden is rambling about all the young women being raped by their in-laws and sisters. I don't know that he should be making those. Well, maybe they're not mistakes. I don't know. Yeah. So I just think it's interesting. And I don't know if you have people in your life who are like, you should ask them that question. But people really freeze up.
[28:58] People are going to really freeze up and really freak out. But there is a chance. You know whenever there's a glitch in the matrix in this way and this is this is a huge glitch in the matrix huge glitch in the matrix and the only thing comparable is when you wake up from a dream well i get that but usually when you wake up from a dream unless it's a particularly fun and beautiful dream usually when you wake up from a dream you know it's either been innocuous or a nightmare and you're returning to a state of stability but for these people it's like being drugged and going into a psychosis for them emerging from unreality is like somebody trying to drug you and make you psychotic, right? So it's true. Wake up from a dream, but for them, the dream is reality and reality is a nightmare, right? And, uh.
[29:51] Yeah. And of course there's no apologies for covering any of this stuff. There's just like how do we how do we keep power anyway all right enough of that but yeah i did i did find it quite interesting and uh it was i mean i don't i mean i think biden is a creep show and a half but still it's just like you know don't do that it's just not right it's just not right, so all right anyway questions comments tips challenges issues i have been doing some call-in shows for the public as well. So those will be coming out as well. And I've just been doing some really, really great. I've really been doing some great work. All right.
[30:44] All right, so what have we got here? Hey, Steph, in the last stream you did, you asked why women micromanage and nitpick their children. Is this the mother venting her frustration with her inability to advocate for her needs with her husband? See that connection. Mother venting her frustration with her inability to advocate for her needs with her husband. No, because I assume she manages her husband as well. Managing people is obviously managing your own emotions. If you can't control your own emotions, then you end up having to manage other people. And when you manage other people, you get temporary relief from anxiety, but then you get a permanent sense of isolation, frustration, and loneliness. It's been like, literally, it's being locked in a prison of your own mind. Because when you're managing people, you're not connected with them. You're not interacting with them. You're not human with them. You're distant. You're a puppet master. You're a manipulator. You're not a direct person who is connected with someone. It's a brutal price to pay. A brutal price to pay. All right, so let me get to your comments. If you have questions, issues, challenges. Did you hear about Tractor Supply caving on its DEI stuff due to customer boycotts? Yeah, I mean, in the long run, anything other than a meritocracy is unsustainable.
[32:09] Tim says, I think the four-year anniversary of your deplatform is coming up. Maybe it just passed i know you're cool with it but it occurred to me it might still be a hard thing to think about occasionally ah yeah i i i i suppose i i wish that we lived in a world where you could tell the truth and this sort of um social credit score erasure like it's interesting scott adams wrote the other day that china's social credit score is in some ways better than the deplatforming stuff because at least there have to be some kind of facts behind it and you can earn your way back in but and so you generally can't just be deplatformed for a lie or a series of lies and there's a way to earn your way back in but this is sort of permanent right, special deplot platforming anniversary show i don't know i don't know, recent call-in shows have been great i get at least one thing from everyone that sticks with me for life. Oh, I'm glad to hear that. Thank you. Do you think there's a likelihood of a draft? Well, yeah. Yeah.
[33:29] Let's see here. At what age is it appropriate to tell your kids that their father had a previous family and divorced. I would leave that as late as humanly possible.
[33:51] Yeah, I mean, I would leave that as late as humanly possible. Who won, Trump or Biden? I mean, I don't even know that that question would need to be asked. Sorry. So... All right. Well, we have people here, but not too many questions, which is fine. Let me just check over here. Nothing in particular over on Rumble. And, of course, you don't have to have questions. But yeah I mean the I mean political debates are just who's gonna give me free stuff right, alright hey Steph I'm dating a woman at the moment and I'm concerned about her age she's 35 and I'm worried about her fertility because I'd like to have children what are your thoughts.
[35:09] Uh why are you dating a woman if you want kids why are you dating a 35 year old woman i'm not sure i quite follow, i'm not sure i quite follow how long have you been dating her for why would you date a woman if you want kids and you say children not a child you want children so she's 35 and you're dating so let's say it takes a year to get married she's 36 you start trying you're into 37, how are you going to have i mean it's possible but in general the women who have kids older are also women who've had kids younger so i'm not quite sure steph i assure you no one dollar donation flubs from me tonight hey welcome back i also did my absolute best today taking your advice and sending out an important email and quadruple checking the information even trimming it down and improving the grammar and readability. Your words are echoing around in my head. Yes. Be excellent. And be 14 minutes late to your own show. Ah, well, it happens. Yeah, Trump is hip to Bitcoin. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Sometimes I just miss the way he said China. All right. My fiance and I want to call in. We both have trauma from our childhoods. What are your thoughts on a joint call or call Call in individually first. I would do it all together. Getting married in September and kids soon after. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
[36:39] Do you have any thoughts on gentrification? I live in an area where it's a hot topic. So gentrification is where more wealthy people move into a neighborhood that was formerly poor? I mean, as long as nobody's using force, I don't particularly care what happens. Any updates on a non-cancelable location for meetup in the USA? Yes, yes, a possibility. A possibility, I'll keep you posted. I can't find many women who are younger and are unvaccinated. Only a couple of months. Oh, you've been dating for a couple of months? Okay, do you want to marry her? Do you want to marry her?
[37:28] Do you want to marry the woman you've been dating for months? Because you should know by now. I don't think so. I don't think so. Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm just waiting for... I mean, I guess it's some kind of delay, right? How can you know in just a couple of months? What do you mean, how can you know in just a couple of months? All right, so for the guy who's dating a 35-year-old, how old are you? How old are you? You're dating a 35-year-old. How old are you?
[38:52] How old are you? See, here's the thing. If you are older, you're 34. Okay, so the good thing about being 34 is that you've been an adult for 16 years. So you've had 16 years to figure out what you want. You've had 16 years to figure out what you like. You've had 16 years to figure out your self-knowledge, deal with your trauma, and get yourself ready for marriage, right? And, of course, you've been doing that, right? Dealing with your trauma, figuring out what you like, getting some experience maybe, and developing your values and your virtues. So then, when you meet a woman, you can vet her very quickly, right? Because you know what you like. Like, you know what the signs are of a productive or unproductive person, a functional or dysfunctional person, a healthy or unwell person. You know what morals are, you know what virtue is, you know what honesty is, you know what directness is, you've read real-time relationships, you've done all the good stuff. If you've needed to go to therapy, I'm sure you've taken my advice and gone to therapy.
[40:11] So you're ready. You've had 16 years to figure out what you want so then when you find what you want you should decide quickly i mean when i met my wife i think it was less than four months i proposed and we were married in 11 months after our first date.
[40:38] Right because if i didn't know what i want as a guy who'd studied philosophy for for at that point some years, well, some decades. Thank you, Tony. If I didn't know what I want, then what the hell had I been doing? Right? So I can understand that you're younger and you don't know really what you want. Maybe you had bad template from your parents, so it's going to take you in a flail around for a little while. But by the time you've been an adult, for as long as it takes someone to be born and drive legally, you've been 16 years an adult you should know what the hell you want, then you should be good at vetting you imagine somebody's been in the workforce for 16 years, i don't know what kind of job i want you know i just keep taking these jobs and i just keep seeing if i like them and you know maybe it works out for a little while and then i just get frustrated and then i leave and then i go to some other job and i like come on man by the time you've You've been in the workforce for 16 years. You should know what the hell you're good at, what you're bad at, and what you want.
[41:52] So, you're older, which means that you need much less. You need much less of a runway in order to figure out who you want to marry. Right? If you've been in the workforce for 16 years, let's say you graduated to, I don't know, 22. You take a gap year, 23. So, somebody who's almost 40 should know what he's good at in the workplace. And he should have a career. He should have a focus. He should have a field. He should have a resume. he should have progress. So by the time you're in your mid-thirties you should know what you want and you should vet quickly. Don't waste people's time. Don't waste your own time. Why wouldn't you know what you want? Because you've been lazy and you've just been living aimlessly just bouncing off experiences and learning nothing. In which case you're probably a little toasted, right?
[43:06] So, I'm suddenly having flashbacks of 35 and won't settle college show, yeah. So, if you're 34, you should know what you want, and you should know how to vet, right? it. I mean, if you were a manager, let's say you've been a manager for 16 years, and most people start dating 34, you probably started dating in your mid-teens, so let's just even it up to 20 years. You've been a manager for 20 years, because what is dating but hiring? You're trying to hire someone for the position of wife. You're trying to hire someone for the position of husband. There's an old Seinfeld thing, what is a date but a job interview you that lasts all night. So if you were a manager, a hiring manager, you've been a hiring manager for 20 years, 20 years experience as a hiring manager. Do you just hire people who just randomly walk into the office or you meet at the coffee shop? You don't even ask for resumes. You just hang around and see if they're any good at their job. You don't check their references. You don't check their experience. You don't check their education. You just hire random people and see what works out, that would be stupid, right? That would be ridiculous. When you're a hiring manager and you have 20 years experience, you should be able to tell within probably 30 seconds of someone coming into your office if they'll work out in your company, right?
[44:35] You should know by now. Love you, Stefan. Thank you in advance for your wisdom. You're welcome. Love you. True gift to us. Thank you for the tip. I appreciate that. Hey, Total Life Tips 69. You know what that means. Rip-off shirt. All right.
[44:59] I mean, if you're not planning to die, you can't execute anything in life. Thanks, Steph. I do know what I want. It sounds so simple when compared to a job. Yeah. You're vetting, right? You're vetting. So you should know what you want. And it's much more important who you hire to be your spouse than who you hire to be an employee because when you fire an employee they don't take half the house or the whole house, all right uh sorry i had another question did i copy and paste this i had one from last time.
[45:54] You could claim being a faithful Christian is only something I do because it makes me happy versus not doing it. Is that selfless or selfish? I know of no other reason to be good, but because we want to be good, how one should, sorry, I know of no other reason to be good, but because we want to be good, how should one define, how one should define that sounds like a subject for an essay by psychologists and moral philosophers. I don't know if it is practical to talk about. It's an interesting question or an interesting point.
[46:33] Had jobs where we all knew I could do the job by lunchtime the first day. Yeah. I mean, I was, I'm a hiring manager with now 30 years of experience. I know pretty quickly. I know pretty quickly if somebody wants a, if somebody is going to be a good worker or not. So. All right. why be good? Why be good? Why be good? It's a good question. It's a good question, why be good.
[47:19] Two reasons to be good. One, basic human fucking pride. Because if you're bad, you have to lie about it. You have to falsify it. You have to prevaricate. You have to be a sophist. You have to lie. I'm not after power. I'm after that which benefits the people the most. Right? I don't want control over people's health care. I just want to provide health care to the sick and needy who, through no fault of their own, can't... You just have to lie, lie, lie. Constantly, it's repulsive. You're a slave.
[48:04] The masters are the slaves to the delusions of the people. The delusions they have to feed and foster like sowing shit on a field to grow the crops of fire, right? So it's repulsive.
[48:22] To be evil, you have to lie about everything. If to lie, you have to hide, you have to scurry, you have to master. You can't tell the truth. You're guarded, you're distant, it costs you everything. Everything, love, connection, self-respect. Integrity, you have to lie. And those who want power over others always have to start, live, breathe, sleep, wake, and die by the lie. The big fucking lie. The empty god at the top of the altar of prevarication that everybody kneels before while pretending they're in control. To control the people you have to appeal to the vanity of the people and the greed of the people, while never ever ever talking about their vanity and greed well you just want what's best for others and I'm here to help execute on that it's like no you don't no you don't I mean COVID taught us all that to anybody with half an eyeball right, so why be good because it's humiliating to lie you can't have any self-respect, and you can't be loved if you're a liar.
[49:38] You can't be loved if you're a liar and you can't, do evil without lying. And it's humiliating. It is the actions of a beaten dog, not a free soul. You don't lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness is thou shalt not degrade thyself to a level of soul-destroying falsification because of your thirst Trust for the unearned. No thank you very much. Three reasons to be good. Number one, self-respect and the capacity for love. Number two, safety. From the machinations of stink-ass evildoers.
[50:39] Fockwads of squid-fingered manipulators will steer clear of you. Because, I mean, I've been decently good for quite some time, and I can sniff out the baddies from the other side of a fucking football field and they can smell me as well and we give each other, if at all possible, the widest conceivable birth. Safety. I don't have manipulators in my life because they try and I laugh. I laugh and just point it out. Yeah, nice try. Nice try. Good shot. Well done. And they back away because they don't want to have their powerlessness revealed to them, their parasitical nature of manipulation revealed to them, so I laugh at them and they leave. Or if they have a lot of power, I don't laugh at them and I leave, as you may have seen in my Hong Kong documentary. So love, self-respect, protection.
[51:48] And self-righteous superiority with a side dish of the ability to complain. See, if you have integrity, you can complain about assholes. If you are an asshole, a little tougher to complain. But I like the ability to complain about people, and I can't complain about people if I'm immoral or corrupt. So I like to complain, which means, by golly, I have to be good. I'm not going to tell you it's all elevated, heroic, David White alabaster shit. Sometimes it's just, I like to complain. About people, about the world. But I can't complain if people can just point out that I'm hypocritical, so I have to be good so I can complain. Yeah, maybe it's petty, but it's really, really worth it. It's really, really worth it. How could I complain about parents without being a good parent? That'd be kind of tough, right? I'm not saying it's a massive part of the motivation, but I'm not saying it's totally inconsequential either.
[53:04] Hey, Steph, next Tuesday I'm going to be doing an introduction to Bitcoin presentation to a small group of guys, about 10. At best, most of them have at least heard of it from either friends, slash family, or media. Thanks to the amazing Bullwhale Bitcoin AI, my presentation is coming along excellently. Oh, that's my Bitcoin AI, yeah. I'm curious what sort of points you would recommend hitting the hardest. I've already planned on using your previous advice on public speaking, making it about the content over me. I've also donated on the free domain website. Thank you! Hey, didn't you get monetized? Good job. So, yes, um... Everybody thinks I'm so elevated. And I am, to some degree, but... So. You know, what sort of points would I recommend hitting the hardest?
[54:00] I mean, fiat currency is a paper cut held at the jugular of your children. Do you care about your kids? then you should not support a system that enslaves them in a million dollars plus in debt before they draw their first agonized breath. Bitcoin is a test of your love of the future and of the children in your society. So that's the one that I would hit the hardest, especially if they're parents. Where can we get Peaceful Parenting in paperback?
[54:35] God spare me from having the same questions over and over and over and over again. Okay, so here's a hint. Here's a hint. If you've not seen it in paperback, it's not available in paperback. It's just a hint, right? So I assume you're a donor because you're donating. So this is just a matter of don't ask a question in a public live stream that takes about 5 or 10 seconds to figure out how to answer. Right? I got to tell you, it's kind of annoying. Just kind of annoying. Right? You know about the Peaceful Parenting book. I'm sure you've done a search. Let me check. Let me make sure. Let me make sure about this. Right? So let's see here. I go to freedomain.locals.com, let's say, right? Freedomain.locals.com, right? And like a lot of websites, sometimes you have to load it twice. Well, that's all right. Okay, so I'm just going to go with peaceful, right? I'll do a search for peaceful there, right? You know, because you can do this. You can do this stuff, right?
[55:48] There we go. Peaceful parenting. Yeah, Peaceful Parenting book, Peaceful Parenting, the e-book, there's an e-book, there's a Peaceful Parenting, all of this stuff. Get the book, yeah, you can get all the Peaceful Parenting stuff. So, yeah, there's no mention of any kind of paperback. So, you can spend, I don't know, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, and you can have a look and see if there is a peaceful parenting paperback. It's not hard. You can just look for it, right? Let me try parenting.
[56:50] So there's the AI, yes, yes, yes, there's my interview, and I think in the interview, yeah, here we go, click on the interview, it's the first thing that comes up, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, interactive parenting AI, audio book, and all of that, so you can just go and look this up, I don't know, I mean, it's a funny thing, I don't know exactly why people do this and you know maybe you all can, maybe you can help me out but why do people ask questions instead of looking things up themselves you know there's a whole website called let me google that for you I don't know why is it, is there something stopping people from printing out their own personal hard copy no it's fine you can totally print it out in fact there's a PDF available, there's a PDF PDF. Yeah, so Peaceful Parenting, audiobook, EPUB, Moby, the AI. Yep.
[57:57] That's what we got. Peaceful Parenting, audiobook, EPUB, Moby, and AI. I don't know why. People can just print it out. Yeah, they can print it. No, I don't care. Print away. So, I just find it, I just find it annoying. Now, maybe you're not asking me, but look, this is just a general thing in life, and I don't mean to pick on you and all of that, so I apologize for that, but it's just a general thing in life, which is, don't be rubber bones and just ask people stuff. Look it up yourself. Look it up yourself. If you can't find the answer, I give myself five minutes at least, right? If I can't find the answer in five minutes, I will go and, ask someone. But I'll always give myself five minutes to try and find out the answer, right? So, and particularly if it's a live stream and so on, it's, it impacts other people's life as well. Is the paperback version going to be a thing because I would buy it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
[59:09] Where can we get peaceful parenting in paperback? No, that's saying where is it? Yeah. He didn't ask if the paperback is... Oh, boy, everybody. Oh, gosh, there's middle siblings. I have a minor problem with someone. Oh, but maybe $5 is all he has. And technically, he didn't ask this. It's like, bro, handle your own anxiety about conflict. Oh, the Russian. Maybe this. Oh, don't get mad, Steph. I can get mad. I can be annoyed. He can be annoyed back. What are you doing? I'm going to rush in and put out the fires and people are upset and I've got to, maybe it's only $5, that's all you had to be technically, it didn't last it's okay, just let me, I mean, I'm going to be annoyed either way I'm just like, what are you stepping in for?
[1:00:02] I don't know, man how do you feel when, if I'm annoyed, right? I'm annoyed, so what, who cares? Who cares? I can be annoyed. He can be annoyed back. That's fine. But why, uh... To be fair, he didn't ask if the paperback is available now! What do you care if I'm annoyed? Right? I mean, you understand, it is a question I've answered about 3,000 times before, and again, I know it's new to this person, but... In general... Try to look something up before you ask people. Just in general. All right. Steph, I tried to advocate for peaceful parenting as a solution that contributed to ending war It was very challenging to get him who? What? Okay, sorry Are you starting in the middle of a story here? Please, don't be someone who didn't even proofread, Okay. This is, oh my gosh, this is the same guy who said he's going to be excellent and not make mistakes. Oh no, he didn't. This is the guy who just said I'm going to be excellent and not make mistakes.
[1:01:14] He says, so the guy, the peaceful parenting book. Sorry about that. I guess I was just wondering if it would be available in the future in paperback.
[1:01:20] I own a coffee shop and I just like to leave your books on the shelves for random people to find. But that doesn't explain why you didn't look it up yourself. Oh my gosh, you didn't. Come on, brother! Steph, I tried to advocate for peaceful parenting as a solution to contribute to ending war. It was very challenging to get him to understand English as his second language. He gave me... Oh, come on, man. I think you're trolling, aren't you? You must be trolling. Like, I'm sure you're trolling because I don't know who you're talking about and what the context of the story is. All right. I will abandon that one, I'm afraid.
[1:02:04] That's funny. Don't be in a rush. Haste makes waste. If you don't have time to get it right now. Like, you understand that when you are careless, you're just taking from others, right? You're stealing time from others in a way, right? Like you just stole a bunch of time from the show and other people and a little bit of donations because, you know, I didn't get onto another topic. So when you're careless, other people have to pick up your shit. Other people, like you're just taking time from other people. Now, again, it happens from time to time and whatever, right? But when you're careless, like if you, if you, I remember many years ago, a friend of mine's mom wanted to know, I was like in my mid-teens. She wanted to know what I should get, what she should get my friend for, Christmas. And... I said, he wants a printer. So she said, where can I buy a printer? And so I got in the car, she drove me, and it was Steeles, back up in Steeles in Toronto. That's where all the computer stuff used to be. And I thought it was Steeles West, but it was in fact Steeles East. So we went all the way to Steeles West, and it was a couple thousand, quite a ways. So I had to turn around. And so, because I was careless, and didn't write down correctly, whether it was East or West, or maybe I didn't write it down, just guessed, I stole gas, and I stole an hour for a time. and wear and tear on her car.
[1:03:32] So, yeah, don't do it, man. And again, there's a certain amount of errors just inevitable in life, but if you're careless, you are rude, because you're taking things from people, and you're forcing other people, in a sense, to pick up your slack, right? Like, I'm eager to answer your question, and then I don't know what the hell you're talking about, and that's not fun for me. All right. do you feel that you garnered a lot of envy as a young man on your quest in philosophy and devotion to moral courage did that did that annoy you a lot envy envy no i got envy for my athletic abilities i got envy for my good looks um i got envy for my physique especially you know i was on swim swim team water polo team i was on cross-country running i played tennis i mean i was lean and and uh abd and all of that so i got uh envy for the sort of shallow stupid stuff, but envy for philosophy god no people hate that stuff to be a philosopher is to be prey.
[1:04:41] Should have said hate what what the hell is going on tonight night. Do you feel you garnered a lot of envy as a young man? Should have said hate. Well, what's the point of typing it wrong? I'm not answering that question. All right. Should have said hate. Steph, I really want you to answer this question. Well, it is in fact the opposite after I've already started answering it. You're off the list of things to answer tonight. Sorry. Like if you can't be bothered to even check what you're writing and it's the exact opposite of what you're asking, I'm not going to bother answering it.
[1:05:20] All right, off topic and disregard because it's political. How do these people not see Joe Biden as senile? Coworkers say he did great. How? What am I not seeing? Well, you're not seeing how unreality beckons people and swallows them whole, right? That's what you're not seeing.
[1:05:40] Unreality beckons people and swallows them whole. So what they're doing is they just want free stuff, right? They just want free stuff, right? So I will tell you, this is not about politics, because this is a universal phenomenon, right? So everyone has organized their lives around free stuff. Borrowed, printed, taxed, redistributed. Everyone has built their lives around free stuff, right? Right. So women have not gotten married because of free stuff, right? Again, Kevin Samuels has got a great thing where he says to women, how much you need to retire, right? And they all make these guesses. And I think he says like 1.4 or 1.5 or 1.6 or maybe a little more million dollars, right? And nobody has anything close to that, right? So what are they expecting to live on? They're expecting to live on free stuff, right? They're expecting to live on government pensions, they're expecting to live on government healthcare, they're expecting to live on subsidized housing, they're expecting to live on free stuff, and people have organized their entire lives around free stuff.
[1:06:53] When I was a teenager, like I was talking to someone the other day, saying like his family was chaos, and I'm like, well, how do they live? How do they live? What do they live on? Because I never thought of welfare as like a thing that I could get because welfare to me was a girl thing. Welfare was a female thing, right? Why? Because I grew up in the matriarchal manners where it was just single moms everywhere. And the single moms had been, they'd chosen the wrong guys. They'd been petty and mean, right? What is it that restrains sometimes pettiness and meanness? Well, why do you not take this? Why do you not say to your boss, take this job and shove it when you're annoyed at your boss? Why are you more polite and more reasonable? Because you don't want to get fired. And, you know, we like to eat. We are sort of addicted to food as a whole. So you're kind of polite to your boss because there are negative consequences to you not getting a paycheck. And it's the same thing with women, and men sometimes too, but we're just talking about the female side of the equation, that they can be complete bitches to their men because they have the government to fall back on.
[1:07:58] That's why, what was that? Have you ever thought about just being quiet and cooking a mistake? Or have you ever thought about bringing him a nice sandwich in a sundress? I think the woman is in the sundress, not the sandwich, but I'm guessing at that. So people have organized their entire lives around free stuff. People have gotten into massive amounts of student debt on the belief that either the student debt is going to be forgiven or put on hold, or they're going to get a nice, big, juicy government job that they're going to use to pay off that student debt. Their occupations where they live who they've dated who they've broken up with whether they got married whether they got divorced all of these decisions are founded on the futile physics of free shit.
[1:08:47] The unsustainable, Satan, sweaty-palmed handing out of blood-stained gold that cannot last. People have treated their children badly because they don't need their children because they're going to get free shit when they get old. No, don't worry. The government's going to make sure the price of housing stays up and you're going to get a pension and free health care and subsidized whatever. So you don't need your kids. If your kids are annoying you, you can tell them to get lost. You can bully them. You can dominate them. You don't need them. I mean, imagine some guy wins the lottery, and he hates his job and he hates his boss. There's an old song, take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more. My woman left and took all the reasons I've been working for. Right or you know that uh if i make it super big in crypto there will be signs and it's somebody who actually bought winrar so people have adapted their entire fundamental life choices to free stuff.
[1:10:07] So they don't care if Biden drools on himself. They care that the free stuff doth keep flowing. That's what they care about. Because when the free stuff runs out, it's not a matter of money. It's a matter of going from a successful life to a catastrophic failure. It's a matter of pride. Right. If you're some boomer parent and you dumped your kids in daycare and you went and chased the almighty dollar.
[1:10:40] And you had your hobbies and your travel and you didn't spend much time with your kids. They're alienated from you. They don't care about you. You don't care about them. And then, oh, gosh, what if what if the government starts to run out of money? Oh, no. What are you going to do now? Huh, boomer? What are you going to do now shit my house value is going down, I mean this is why people the older generation is keen on immigration because it prompts up the price of housing but what if you know there are the deportations that Trump is talking about or whatever is happening right the house housing prices go down and the stock market goes down and they didn't listen to their kids about bitcoin maybe their grandkids, And they're out of money They're running out of money The pensions are inflated away And now what? Now they need a place to live Now They might have to, Beg They might have to get on their knees And apologize and grovel and beg And ask for forgiveness and ask for a place to stay from the children they abandoned and scorned.
[1:12:05] See? That's what it's really about. The woman who's like, I don't need no man. I'm going to raise these kids by myself. I got all this free stuff.
[1:12:22] Okay, well, let's say the free stuff is going away. What's she going to do? Well, she's going to have to find the father of her children, and she's going to have to grovel and ask him to come back and help her. Or she's going to have to find some other guy, and she's going to have to bring him a sandwich in a sundress. She's going to have to serve a man just as a man, because she's going to ask a man to serve her, so she's going to have to serve a man. That's going to be tough on her vanity. Healthy for her as a human being of course in the long run and there's nothing like collapsing real estate values and inflated pensions to bring the generations closer together because when you get all this free shit we don't need each other.
[1:13:08] Free stuff dissolves the bonds between human beings and allows us to be atomistic, individualistic, selfish, narcissistic materialistic, volatile, intransigent patient, petty, resentful, hold grudges, storm out, because you've got free stuff. The guy who just won the lottery probably isn't quite as nice when he goes into work the next day, because he's got free stuff. So you understand that this is not about Biden or whoever, right? Right? It's about people have, since really the 1930s, but in particular since the 1960s, they have founded their entire life decisions on the continuance of that which cannot continue, which is free stuff. They have founded their entire lives on an unreality. And it's really, really, really, really tough. It's really tough to turn that around. It is a real blow to the pride.
[1:14:25] There was an old cartoon from the 50s about a guy, he tells his wife what's what and he storms out and then he's really upset because he left his pipe on the mantelpiece and he really wants a smoke. I can't go back in now, right? So yeah, if you're a boomer and you haven't taken good care of your kids because you don't need them down the road and then, oh dear, turns out you need them down the road. Okay, you need them down the road. What are you going to do? You're kind of screwed, right? Because you are then going to try and reestablish a relationship or establish a relationship out of selfish need rather than what's good for your children. Oh dear, I don't have a roof over my head anymore more and I'm out of money. So suddenly I'm going to try and be super close to my children and ask them to put me up. And your children are going to say, nothing's changed. When you had free stuff, you didn't care about us. Now you're out of free stuff. You still don't care about us. We just have utility to you. You're just as selfish as you ever.
[1:15:47] They are often past the tipping point, right? So you think of the welfare state, money runs out, what happens? Women need providers. Now, most men, most men, they don't want to raise another man's children, which is why they have to go back to the father of the children and try and get him to come back. They're going to have to apologize on grovel and all of the stuff that we have to do when we're really in the wrong. Except, except, of course, it's still coming from a place of selfish need therefore it has no credibility and people don't want to do it it's too vulnerable.
[1:16:52] So it is is, you know what it is? Here's the perfect analogy, right? Some guy buys a lottery ticket at lunch, at work, and he thinks he's just won a million dollars. And his boss comes in and starts berating him, and he says, Screw you, Joey, you tiny-decked woodpecker of a nothing burger. Your nose was on time, but you were five minutes late. Your hair is thinning, your waist is not. Your pants are too baggy, and your suspenders are too short, and I don't like the fact that I can see your nipples every time it drops below 70 degrees in here. You latch on the women, you lean on the men, you've got no life, you work weekends because your wife hates you. I don't know why you didn't have children, probably because you can't trust yourself around them. Fuck you, I'm out.
[1:17:58] And he storms out. A great sense of joy and liberation. And then he goes to the convenience store, and they say, no, that's not a winning ticket. And you're like, wait, I... I've won a million dollars. They're like, no, this is the number. I guess you misread the three as an eight, but you didn't win. Oh, no. What do you do? You just made a major life decision and insulted the living hell out of your boss. Which means you've either got to get your job back or what?
[1:18:48] You're not going to get a reference because you just insulted the hell out of the guy. Now you've got to go back and grovel. Oh, man. That's tough. off. Shit. You're from elation to being truly screwed in about five seconds. So that's where people are. They think they've won the lottery, that the money's going to go on forever, the free stuff's going to go on forever, but it won't. And it's not going to. And it's not that far off. And they don't want to go back and grovel because they have been independent and they haven't needed anybody and it turns out they desperately need people now and it's probably too late, right? Now the woman who doesn't get welfare calls up, the father of her children, hopefully it's only one and she's like, I've been thinking about you and he's like, you haven't been thinking about me you're just out of money you don't care about me, you just want my money what's she going to say.
[1:20:02] What's she going to say, is she going to argue, yeah winter is coming this is why a game of thrones struck a chord with people other than it's rampant sociopathic evil because the idea that there's seven years of summer followed by seven years of winter is our entire economic cycle. That's happening to my mother right now. I tried to stop it, but she wanted to fail too badly.
[1:20:36] Are there any plans to come back to Australia with Lauren? No. This is a great speech. I must find out the show number. Thank you. I hear the company that ran the daycare you put me in is now running a nursing home. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I don't have enough money to pay for nursing homes. Like, no, you do. Come on. Of course you do, Dad. Mom. Of course you do. because you put me in daycare from when you were what six seven weeks after my after i was born mom you put me in daycare so you go back to work right so you obviously you made a lot of money i mean you wouldn't put me in daycare for no profit right obviously you made a lot of money in order to put me into daycare so you have absolutely you have the money for your retirement I'm at home. Right? So you didn't put me in daycare for nothing. That would be really, that would be completely sociopathic. So you didn't put me in the daycare for nothing. So absolutely, completely and totally, you have more than enough money. So yeah, just take all that money you made by going back to work. Well, that's all gone. It's like, well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you.
[1:21:59] Well if they won't grovel and they still want the stuff what's the chances of them resorting to violence oh yeah they'll kick and scream for sure but I mean they're already resorting to violence that's the state right, but I wouldn't worry too much about the single moms and I wouldn't worry too much about the boomers.
[1:22:33] Thank you, Chris. all right any other last questions comments issues challenges i'm getting a bunch of typos in the questions and it's a low tip day so this may not be my most motivated show, thank you for the tip, no this is I mean go watch Gandalf in King Lear right it is about somebody realizing, that vanity is not a sustainable food, It's about a king who gives up his kingship and finds out that without his kingship, nobody really likes him. Thou shouldst not have been old before thou wert wise.
[1:23:29] And, of course, the infinite narcissism of the toddler boomers is almost an inevitable result of free stuff. How do you manage a general sense of being overwhelmed? I've made good progress in owning my situation and taking responsibility for the problems I face, but the challenges moving forward are substantial. Finances, being a single dad, running a struggling business, etc. Apologies if this question is too vague.
[1:23:53] So there's a great way to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Lower your expectations. You feel overwhelmed because there's more that you need to do than you can do. So lower your expectations. Drop a hobby, drop a friend, drop something. Cut back on x y and z right you just right you just have to lower what you're doing, i mean i do remember when that mike was was here i don't know five or six years ago and for years man i i was working a little too hard i mean i was sometimes we'd interview two or three people a week which meant nine or ten books to read a week and i'd do that after my daughter went to bed but that cut into time with my wife i was traveling to do speeches i was writing and i And I wasn't writing books back then, but we were doing these big presentations and, you know, the show was flying like a jetpack. And yeah, I was just, so I was like, no, this is too much. I don't want this to be a chaos of productivity that results in a paucity of personal relations. So you just, you're overwhelmed. Is your system telling you, you're doing too much? You're doing too much.
[1:25:09] You're trying to do call-in shows and take care of ducks. So fry up the ducks, right? So yeah, you just have to lower, I mean, it's not, it's just have to lower your expectations of what you're capable of and what you can do. And that's healthy, right? And that a lot, a lot of times that has to do with not being able to say no, right? If you can't say no, then you're going to get overwhelmed. This happens all the time at the work. You know, if you're competent, right? Was it a meme? Somebody said, what if, what is the most important lesson and you've learned from the workplace. It's like the more competent you are, the more you're punished with more work. And it's true. There's an old saying in business, if you want something done, give it to the busy guy.
[1:25:51] Halfway through 1984, some of the book is chillingly accurate. No, it's not at all accurate because it doesn't talk at all about demographics. All right. You should never set yourself on fire just to keep others warm. How do you balance this? Being available to help others but not depleting yourself in the process. says. No, but it's called reciprocity, right? Reciprocity, which is, yes, you care about helping others, and they should really care about you not being burned out, right? So, if you are there to help others, and they're exploiting you, that's a bad relationship, right? So, people should say, I'm not going to exploit you. I don't want you to do any more for me, like there's too much please don't right oh I can bring three meals to the pot like it's like no no no you brought four meals last week for heaven's sakes don't bring anything this week just relax like people should help you not, overwork as opposed to yeah four sounds great next week should be five right it's greedy they'll consume you consume you, does it make sense.
[1:26:59] So So people should be watching out for you, especially if you have a tendency towards over generosity, people should be watching out for you. What is your take on Jay Dyer's transcendental arguments to prove God? I did a debate with Jay Dyer many years ago, many moons ago. I missed the debates. I missed the debates. Going once going twice my friends freedom.com slash donate to help out the show would very much appreciate it if you'd be so very kind what do we got here.
[1:27:42] Not much, but that's all right. That's all right. It's a bell curve. Sometimes we're on the left side, sometimes we're on the right side. This would be one of the left ones. Everyone's mad because I was late. freedomain.com slash donates and peacefulparenting.com. Just go to peacefulparenting.com. There's a paperback version. No, I'm just kidding. Now, paperbacks are tough, man. You got to do... First of all, I still can't figure out the cover. I still cannot figure out the cover. It'll come to me. Thank you, Vince. So when you started your business, did you use your own money or how did you get funding?
[1:28:20] So I did use some of my own money, but we raised 80 grand from, you know, everybody's got a dentist or an accountant or a doctor or at least knows someone like that. So we just went around the small business people that we knew and asked them to invest. And they got a massive return on that investment, let me tell you. I mean, not quite Nvidia, but really good. Uh your thoughts on tucker i mean a smart guy and a nice guy and an obviously very intelligent guy but um i did the soul thing is is distorting his thinking, please take me shopping how to thank you by abusing you yeah no so with a paperback um, it's uh it's tough and listen i mean i i have a i had a bunch of hard copy books i've been down this road before for many, many years, and you can still get Art of the Argument at artoftheargument.com, but I had hard copy books for many, many years. They just didn't sell that much. Like, in terms of the time and effort, you've got to get the right spine, you've got to get it printed, you've got to proofread it, make sure nothing went weird and wonky. It's just, it's a lot of time. And it just doesn't sell enough to make it worthwhile. Right? So, I mean, just so you know, right? So, just so you know.
[1:29:37] 109. Why does that seem familiar? Anyway, so just so you know, because I'm doing private calls now, all activities are competing with the price of private calls, right? So if I say it's going to take me 20 or 30 hours, and it probably would be about 20 or 30 hours, and cost me money because you've got to pay for the books to proof and all of that, right? So if it's going to take me 20 or 30 hours to do a hard copy, I have to compare that to 20 or 30 hours of private calls. Because I have to be responsible. We've got employees, we've got expenses, we've got a business to sustain. Could you elaborate, please, on the sole thing about Tucker.
[1:30:22] I'm not sure. I mean, he's very Christian and very much believes in the soul, which means that he's not comfortable with the intelligence bell curve very much. So, yeah, I mean, just so everybody understands, right? I mean, it's so funny, you know, and this is just, it's a life thing. I guess I can finish with this sort of life, it's a life skill thing as a whole. So people are like, this is what I hear, it's like a bunch of people coying and saying, I want a paperback, I want a hardcover, I want a physical copy, I want this, I want that. That's not how you get things in life. Oh my gosh, it's not how you get things in life. Let's say that you want a hard copy of Peaceful Parenting. Right? Right? You want a hard copy of Peaceful Parenting. and let's say there isn't one how do you get it? How do you get it? How do you get a hard copy of Peaceful Parenting if it's not available?
[1:31:43] This is a life skill. Print it and make it. Nope.
[1:31:51] Because that's not right. Make it yourself. Nope. No, you don't make it yourself. You don't print it. No, I don't care if you print the book. That's fine. Help out with the work and pay for it up front. That's certainly one way. But what you need to do, this is how do you get people to do what you want in life? you make it worth their while, right? You make it worth their while. This is not about me and the Peaceful Parenting book. This is about life as a whole. And so there's lots of different ways you could do it. What you could do is you could certainly say, what do you need and I'll do it, right? And maybe I'd pay you for it or whatever, right? But so you could say, if it's too much work, I'll do it. That's how you could get the book. And it would be a very kind thing to do if you feel that the books are important, right? That's one thing you could do. Another thing you could do is you could put a pile out of various, in the various places there are free domain listeners, you could put a pile out and say, would you buy a peaceful parenting book for say, I don't know, 15 bucks or whatever, right? Would you buy it? And then you would gather all of that information. You'd say, Steph, there are 450 people who would buy the book. Here's, I assume this is your profit and 20 or 30 hours here much. Here's how you're gonna make your money back, right? So you have to find a way to make it worth my while.
[1:33:20] Intelligence is but one of a variety of gifts.
[1:33:29] Oh my gosh. Oh, did you make a typo? Make the case of hard copies. Make the case of hard copies would sell X copied based on Y data? That is like what are you biting make the case of hard copies would sell x copied, based on y data i think you mean that's not a typo that's just a whole type sentence, that's not a typo you also made a mistake in instead in thinking it's one typo there's three there just whatever you're doing make it worth someone's while but would you go to a restaurant and just complain that you're not eating? No, you give them money, you make it worth their while. And I'm not saying you've got to pay me to do it, but at least make a business case for me. And not just like, well, I think people would buy it.
[1:34:26] This is a life skill. Make it worthwhile to other people. If you want something from someone, make it worth their while. Don't just complain or whine or ask and do nothing. Oh, I guess there's no book. Make things happen in your life. If you want a peaceful parenting hard copy, there's ways to make it happen that don't cost you a penny. But don't just be passive well I asked and he doesn't really want to do it it's like oh my god guys guys guys that economy is dead AI is coming, you've got to be a self-starter you've got to be someone who gets something done gets a lot of things done which means you don't just sit there like a sad sack in the rain saying I want a piece of painting make things happening.
[1:35:21] And show you have some skin in the game right? So if somebody says to me, well, Steph, I've done a business case and you're going to make X amount of money, I'd be like, okay, great. Great. So if I make more than that, we'll split the profits. And if I make less than that, you'll pay me half the losses. Because otherwise, you know, you have no skin in the game. I don't listen to people with no skin in the game in general, right? Lots of projects that don't get made until the money is raised or refund the money. Yeah, that's impossible. That's a possibility for sure. Have you ever read Dynasty of Death by Taylor Caldwell. No, I have not. Tay-Tay Cald.
[1:36:02] Donate X amount and receive a free limited edition paperback. Yeah, that certainly is a possibility. That certainly is a possibility. Vox Dei runs a library and printing press. Maybe worth someone contacting him. Yeah, I understand all of that. I've done books before. I've done books before. And this is not about the Peaceful Parenting book. This is just about, If you think a hard copy of the Peaceful Parenting book is really important, there's ways to make it happen. Don't be passive. Or, you know, because if it's not important enough for you to even think about it or make a case for me, then I know it's not that important to you. Like, how do I know something's important to you? You'll actually put some time and effort and energy in to make a case.
[1:36:48] Everyone knows what you should do while they don't know what they should be doing for themselves. Just saying. Yeah, yeah. Just say. Do you mean, everybody's got typos tonight. Do you mean just saying? So, yeah, this is just a life skill as a whole. If you've got something that you want to do at work, you've got to make that case, right? Got to make that case. Make it beneficial for the other person. Make it beneficial for the other person.
[1:37:17] Right? I mean, everyone works hard. Like, I understand the benefit for you for a peaceful parenting hard copy, but what's the benefit for me for, right? And you understand, too, that there's a risk to me as well. Yes, I know, you just made a typo, too, didn't you? So, there's a risk for me, too, which is that if I put a lot of time, effort, and energy into making a peaceful parenting book and nobody buys it, like nobody buys the hard copy, I'm going to be kind of bitter, honestly. If everyone says to me, Oh, I'd love to buy it because I've been down this road before. I've been down this road many, many, many years ago. I created a whole bunch of free domain radio merchandise because everyone said they wanted it and nobody fucking bought it. Nobody. And I was embittered. It was annoying because I felt that the listenership, and this is not the current listenership, but the listenership had led me astray, right? That they had kind of lied to me. Oh, I'd love to buy it until we put a lot of time, effort, and energy and nobody bought it.
[1:38:18] So, you understand, there's a risk. Yeah, shirts, caps, cups, stickers, all of it. Remember, James, all of this stuff. Nobody bought it. And I did do the research before, and so I just realized, okay, so in this community where everybody is dedicated to the truth, people are just lying. So, there's a risk for me as well, which is I want to create, I want to maintain good relations. Look, I'll tell you this last thing I'll end on. Like, I want to retain good relations with people, with you, I want to retain good relations with the audience. I really, really do. I want to love you guys. I want you to be happy with what I do, which means I don't want to go down a road where I'm going to end up annoyed and embittered, right? Which is another reason why I keep nagging everyone about these typos and, you know, I don't like the $1 donations. And so I'll say it, and this is to protect our relationship. I'm not doing it to be mean. I'm doing it so that we continue to have a good relationship, right?
[1:39:19] You understand right, I want to maintain this is why I fight hard sometimes in my relationships to make sure that there's quality right like if I hire someone and they're doing a shoddy job I'll nag and fight really hard with them so that we can continue to work together right, you look really healthy Steph it makes me happy to see well I appreciate that that's because I didn't have to go and live in the woods and abandon my property because I lost my daughter's ducks.
[1:39:56] I don't know if we still have, I don't have any merch in the house. Print on demand. Line up people who pay for it. Find a printer. Line up the order. Manage the first printing. Make sure everything is done right. Then let the author have final say and you write up a mutually agreeable contract. Then shine the check with the publisher. It's not at all how it works. Yeah, it's not at all how it works. You did buy an FDR hoodie? Nice. Nice. Well, good. I'm glad. Yeah, health is great. Thank you. Health is great. Health is great. But yeah, just in life as a whole, right? Helping people compare the way they're acting to a higher standard is giving them a choice. That's true. Steph, maybe do a pre-order. If enough orders come in, then you do it. If they don't, no big deal. Return the funds of the one that came in. Okay. Why do people have such a tough time listening? Oh, ones. Oh, my God. Okay. Oh, my God.
[1:41:14] So you can't even... you want me to take what you say seriously, but you can't even check whether your sentence makes sense. So, but that doesn't solve the problem, right? So, and it's easy for you to say no big deal, right? It's always no big deal when somebody else is doing the work. Hey, no big deal. It's always no big deal. Hey, if it's no big deal, you do it. If it's no big deal, you do it. Oh, I don't have time. Okay, so then don't tell me it's no big deal. Everybody's always like oh it's no big deal it's like but that's not true otherwise and if you want to do it do it but you say no big deal okay well i've got to find a place i've got to set up the account i've got to tie it in i've got to ask people i've got to check the progress i've got to see if it's enough money and what if it's just enough but not that much and then maybe i have to refund and then everybody knows that the book wasn't popular like i'm negative it's a little embittering right so what do you mean it's no big deal god thing about other people's experiences, oh my gosh.
[1:42:21] Oh my gosh too wild all right well that's all right look not not the most satisfying show i'm just going to beg people to please have a little empathy understand where i'm coming from i try to is on fire i've been called that twice in the last five minutes well um no you've just made mistakes after telling me you weren't going to make mistakes which is not good right when you say i'm not going to make mistakes and then you make a bunch of mistakes your credibility goes right so yeah i mean all of these people it's no big deal just do this you know everything's simple if you don't have to do it and that's a dunning kruger thing right like have some respect for the fact that i have i've literally produced probably 10 books physical books physical books over the course of my life.
[1:43:10] What has been the biggest monetary investment in your show? Well, the biggest costs are hardware, various contracts, bandwidth and salaries. So.
[1:43:27] If Steph knows something's going to work, he's going to do that. Why waste time gambling? Well, I mean, so you're telling some, you've had no experience producing books. I've produced 10 books. I've produced 10 physical print copy books. And y'all are just lecturing me about how to do it without asking me any questions. Like, that's wild. You guys got to stop doing this sort of crap. Really? It's really annoying for people who know what they're doing. And I'm not talking about everyone here, right? But all the people are like, well, just do this. It's no big deal. Okay, do you have experience? Have you done it before? Or maybe you should ask some questions. Tell me a little bit more about why you don't want to do it. Tell me a little bit more about the annoyance. Because I have done, I did like at least five to ten merch items. I've done ten physical books over the last 18 years. So I have a lot of experience in this.
[1:44:20] Why do you think donations are down i know i donated a lot more last year but i had a higher income in 2023 well donations are down to some degree because inflation is up and housing prices are up and people are having a tough time making ends meet so uh yeah it's don't be glib as a whole And look, I can be this way, so I am sensitive to this as well, right? I can be glib, but I have to remind myself, just don't be glib. I feel the same way about my business. When people give me advice, I completely understand. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like when you're talking to somebody who has, I now have well north of 30 years entrepreneurial experience. I have built two very successful organizations.
[1:45:21] And I have produced 10 books. So if I say I'm hesitant and don't particularly want to produce a physical copy, then you as somebody who doesn't have experience, when you're talking to someone who does have a lot of experience, maybe you should ask some questions rather than just come in and glibly tell me, well, just do this. It's no big deal.
[1:45:44] And just do that and have this and have that. that it's like you you won't get people to listen to you if you don't listen to them first this is a fundamental life principle here first like once something done find a way to make it worthwhile to other people but you cannot get people to listen to you without listening to them first you can't do it you cannot do it you cannot do it so if i say i don't want to do something thing, then you can, and I have a lot of experience in it, and you don't, you can ask some questions, right? That's a reasonable thing to do. That's a reasonable thing to do.
[1:46:28] I don't lecture experienced people on things I have no knowledge of. I just don't. And even in the call-in shows, like I'm pretty good at calling shows and and i've done a lot of them i can still sometimes spend an hour to an hour and a half just gathering information asking questions because i'm not going to give advice until i know the situation james says i'm no stranger to glib suggestions as an engineer yeah off work for the summer recovering from surgery but glad to donate when i can oh i'm sorry to hear that what happened, I want you to just design it like this. It's no big deal. Yeah. Yeah, I remember a salesman, just, you know, they have a Java library. I mean, you work on Windows. It's a Java library. Just integrate it. It's no big deal.
[1:47:24] Everything's easy if you don't have to do it. It's like the fat dudes yelling at the sports ball players. Yeah, just do this. Just do that. It's like, yeah, it's always easy when you're not the one doing it. And for people who are genuinely skilled, being lectured to people by, But being lectured by people who don't know what they're doing is not a good look. It is not going to have quality people around you in your life. Because you understand, it is an insult. When people say, just do this, it's no big deal, it's kind of insulting. In fact, it just is insulting. You understand why, right? We don't need to, yeah, just add that form, no big deal. Yeah, just do this, it's no big deal, right? Right. Right. So, yeah, because you're basically saying, well, it's not that I'm smart, it's just that you're dumb, because it's no big deal.
[1:48:20] Ah, dear, oh, dear. Just resigned my membership. Oh, re-signed. Everybody's typing, like, what are you, all typing with your foreheads and asses today? I had to deal with big deal guys. Just ignore them. Just ignore them because they're very immature. All right, guys, thank you so much. Freedomain.com slash donate. If you'd like to help out the show later on, I really would appreciate it. My apologies again for being late, but I had good reason because I had interdimensional ducks. And yeah, I guess everybody knew that was coming, right? So freedomain.com slash donate. If you'd like to help out, of course, don't forget peaceful parenting. PeacefulParenting.com. PeacefulParenting.com. How do you attract people who value what you do? Is it mostly confidence? You just have to be honest about your values, right? No big deal, Steph. LOL. Oh, that's funny. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, iWatch, and thank you, Ford40. And it's my last night before everyone comes back, so the story was good restitution i think so i think so all right lots of love everyone thank you so much for a the greatest conversation the world will ever see i really really do appreciate it and uh i'll talk to you soon bye.
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