The Libertarian – January 2020

Libertarian Game Recap

Winners of Guess the Officer:

Answers:

1. coolchick1313 2. Fotoshop 3. Camastrr 4. zui18 5. AbbieGator110 6. windowsdonkeys 7. AidenSan 8. linda.biehl2 9. Exdr 10. Zemriil

We are going to celebrate USDF’s 5th Anniversary this month! So many events have been hosted in USDF, can you guess what year these events were held?

If you think you know the answers, submit your answers on the Libertarian Mailbox, option 1 (Libertarian Game) and list your answers from 1 to 10. You are only required to state the year, HOWEVER, if you know the month (or even better, the date), state it so we can give you EXTRA POINTS! If you can’t guess something, go ahead and leave it empty.

Deadline: 12th January 2019 – 11:59PM EST

Winner reveal: 15th January 2019

Prize: coins!

For any questions, please reach out to CO COMR Aneha.

One of the most common things that we think of when we hear the word time is of a clock, calendar or some other device that helps us measure the passage of time. Almost everyone can coordinate their entire lives around time, whether this be a meeting at 9am or having to turn in your SoW by the end of the day. People come to think of time as a sort of universal constant that everything revolves around, when in reality time is not a universal constant whatsoever. It is purely an invention of our own minds.

When we come to understand the world through experience, we bring our own concepts for judging what we experience to our understanding of phenomena and events. These concepts we use to understand the world are with us at birth prior to experiencing anything and are referred to as our “a priori” knowledge. The main two concepts we use are space and time, they are used when we order and understand the various things we experience. For example, take the sentence: “Last week, I went to the movies at the mall.” In thissentence, “last week” represents the concept of time and “at the mall” represents space. It is important for you and the people you talk with, to understand this information so you will be able to correctly interpret when something happened (last week sometime) and where you were when that something happened (at the mall).

For the concept of time, we understand and conceptualize things within our minds in a linear fashion. This is to say that everything happens along a timeline: We could say and organize when certain events happened and say that they happened before or after a certain point along a timeline. This is most easily seen in history books, where often the book goes from the earliest event covered to the latest event in a linear progressive fashion. We also see this in terms of cause and effect situations, where something causes another thing to happen linearly. An example of this would be if I hit a cue ball on a pool table and the cue ball then sinks the 8 ball into the corner pocket. There is a clear linear timeline here: Where I first hit the cue ball, then the cue ball travels to hit the 8 ball and finally the 8 ball falls into the corner pocket.

While everybody seems to agree that we experience things in linear time, as well as we all speak and think linearly, what few people seem to realize is that outside of ourselves the concept of time doesn’t strictly exist. Think about people who would have a hard time experiencing linear time as we know it, such as somebody with memory loss. With the various gaps in their memory and the lack of information to construct a linear time line in their minds, they might jump between time periods that they previously experienced and think they are in a totally different decade or time than everybody around them. Objects and other things that exist outside of ourselves also do not experience time as we do. The Great Pyramids of Giza do not know how old they are and do not know that in several thousand years they will turn into dust. However, we as humans know that, because we can see how they have changed over time and know, through our own experience of time, that they will eventually be gone. Even between different people there are different understandings of how time passes. One person might say time is flying by and they want it to stop, while another person thinks time is moving by at an agonizingly slow pace and wants it to speed up.

Time is only linear because it is the only way we can experience time. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of reason to say that there could be other sentient beings or alien lifeforms that experience time in a totally different manner. These beings might even exist outside of the normal bounds of space or time and exist on some third plane of existence, beyond our own human comprehension. Furthermore, these beings might experience our concept of time all at once or might randomly jump through events in time as they exist outside the bounds of linear time.

The important thing to take away from this, is that our understanding of time is created by our own minds to understand the world as we experience it. Time isn’t a universal constant, it’s what we make of it.

“Get out.”

I kneeled on the ground and pleaded for my job. “Maurice, it was a mistake! Please! I would never do anything to harm you!” Maurice reached for the office telephone and I knew exactly what to expect. As I predicted, he pushed the largest button: The red one.

“Security? We need someone to be removed immediately.” Shaking, panting, sweating, I dashed out of the room and sprinted towards the exit. Sweat raced down my face as I flew down the emergency staircase. I forced the emergency door open with a grunt, but as I stumbled out, I stood rigid. My face pale with fear at the sight of my worst nightmare waiting on the opposite side. My violin, crushed. Of course, I had forgotten the most important thing, my custom made violin.

“Sweet dreams, LOSER”, yelled a voice from high above. I looked up and saw Maurice’s eyes staring into my soul. Tears burst out of my eyes and my knees grew weary. My head felt light and empty. I fell to the ground, my hopeless body lay there.

“Hey! HEY! Rise and shine, miss”, a voice pierced through my ears. Suddenly, my head jerked up, my eyes widening at a stranger’s face. He spoke again, “Miss, you told me to wake you up when the bus arrives at your stop. So, um, here we are.” Huh? Where was I? I grabbed my belongings and disembarked the bus. Was I dreaming earlier? My shoulders felt a strange tap. I spun around to the face of the same stranger. “Miss! You left your violin!”

“Oh, uh thanks”, I replied. My violin! So it was a dream after all! A thousand weights seemed to have departed my shoulders. Still, it was dark everywhere, the streets emanating a sinister feeling. I patted down my pockets to find my phone. Drat, where’s my phone? What if I left it on the bus? Ahh, nevermind, my mum must be worried sick of me. I skipped home, humming to my favorite classical music pieces in my head.

“Mum, I’m home!”, I yelled from the coat hooks. “Oh, honey. Where on earth have you been? I thought we agreed to be back by eleven to watch the countdown!” Countdown! I had forgotten today was New Years’ Eve! My mum walked into the hallway carrying a TV remote in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in the other. She set the TV remote down on the cupboard and gracefully handed me the cup of hot chocolate with two hands.

“Thanks.” “Come on, let’s watch the countdown! It’s about to begin!” We watched in excitement as the countdown began. In ten seconds, the decade would be over! 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… “Happy new year!”, my mother and the talk show host’s words synchronized with mine. “What’s your new year’s resolution, honey?” “I want to work hard and find a job that honors my dreams!”

Suddenly, my home phone rang. I ran over and picked it up, I heard a familiar voice say, “Um is this Stella Hathaway?” I replied, “Yeah, who is this?” “I’m Roger Belinsky, director of the Chester Symphonic Orchestra. I’m also the man who woke you up on the bus earlier. I wanted to return the phone you left on the bus. I’ll be at City Hall tomorrow, you can come over and pick up your phone then.”

“Thanks. Err, you mentioned you’re the director of an orchestra? I have five years of experience playing the violin, do you think I can audition for your orchestra?” “That’d be great! How crazy is this? Just seconds ago I was praying for someone to call for an audition. We need just one more violin player to join the Nationals competition. Anyways, see you tomorrow!” BEEP.

I was overjoyed. I yanked my violin up to my bedroom and practiced the entire night. Maybe dreams really do come true!

USDF has many offices and most of the members try to get into offices according to their own personal interests. This article gives an overview of the specific offices someone can join, in order to chase their career goals.

To begin with, there are two offices accessible for those E4’s wanting to get into an office right away. The first is OJFD or the Office of Joint Development. OJFD offers a great chance to people that like to teach and grade others according to their training skills. If you don’t have interests in training or grading, but have an interest in writing or graphical editing or maybe even hosting events, you can join OPA! The Office of Public Affairs is known as the fun office of USDF.

For those JNCO members with the rank of E5+ and FEAT {X}, there open new options. For example there is OMP, the Office of Manpower & Personnel. They transfer and reinstate personnel with previous military experience, as well as personnel who resigned or retired in the past and are wishing to come back.

If you have a love to visit our allies and build or maintain positive working relationships with foreign organisations, including both militaries and agencies, there is OISA of the Office of International Security Affairs. There is also an office for people who like policing, namely OJSIG or the Office of Joint Staff Inspector General. OJSIG has duties like enforcing regulations and giving out demerits for breaking the rules. Members can join OJSIG when they’re E6 and have FEAT {X}.

After you get to W2, you should start orientating on writing an Expression of Interest, better known as EOI, as it’s mostly used to apply for a command position in any office. There are offices which require an EOI to be accepted into the office in general, since these offices consist of solely command positions without regular members. These offices are OOT&E, OE&MR and OSP&C, which are only accessable for members ranked W2+.

In the end, after passing OCS, there are numerous possibilities to show your leadership skills on a far bigger scale. Where will your plans lead you?

OOT&E is a very unique office, in which all members of the office are considered to be command members. Overall OOT&E is split into three divisions:
Personnel Education
Officer Candidate School Administration
Education Development

Each division has its own duties it needs to carry out, as for me, I lead the Personnel Education division. We deal with FEATs L and W, so if you ever have any questions regarding these exams make sure to contact a member of the PE team!

The PE team consists of a total of eight members, nine if you include myself as well. Each branch has one CO and one XO, each responsible for their own branches exam requests. Our day to day tasks consist mostly of processing FEAT L and W requests (training requests), along with grading them and sending back the results. For obvious reasons, I can not release too much information about the grading progress, but I can say that our team works tirelessly to try and send back results for exams as soon as possible.

In addition, I work closely with the Education Development team. This is a lesser known of division of OOT&E, but still extremely important! The ED team ensures that all exams are up to date and closely monitors them in the event that a change needs to be made. This is for FEATs {L} and {W}, along with OCS too.

Due to the size of the office, OOT&E is an extremely tight-knit team and our dedicated members will not hesitate to reach out and help each other as needed. It is a pleasure to be able to lead, and be a part of this amazing team and I couldn’t be more happy as CMDT PE.

HOOOOOOT&E!

Ingredients
– 2 tablespoons butter
– 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
– 1 ½ cups milk
– 1 jar (8 oz) dried beef (can be found at your local deli)

Instructions
1. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan on low-heat.
2. Add the flour and whisk together until combined.
3. Whisk in the milk a bit at a time.
4. Increase the heat to medium-high.
5. Stir until thickened and bring to a boil.
6. Stir in the beef and cook until the beef has heated through.
7. Serve over toast and enjoy!

Which of these dishes did you like best?

Ingredients
– 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury crescent roll dough
– 4 tablespoons butter
– 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
– ½ teaspoon garlic powder
– ½ pound (8 oz) regular-cut bacon
– 1 ½ cups milk
– 4-6 tablespoons grated cheese

Instructions

1. Prepare the rolls.
    a. Take the dough out of the can and without unrolling it, cut the crescent roll dough into half-inch-thick discs. You should end up with 8-12 rolls.
    b. Place the rolls on an ungreased baking sheet.
    c. Melt half the butter and brush the rolls with it.
    d. Sprinkle the garlic powder and approximately half of the grated cheese onto the rolls.
    e. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
    f. Immediately remove from baking sheet.

2. Prepare the bacon. 
    a. Allow your bacon to warm to room temperature.
    b. Lay out the bacon on a medium-sized pan, leaving space between the strips. You may need to do this in multiple batches if all your bacon doesn’t fit in the pan.
    c. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 12 minutes, turning the strips over as needed.
    d. Drain the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate.
    e. When dry, crumble or tear the bacon into pieces.

3. Prepare the sauce as instructed in the Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast recipe. When you get to step 6, stir in your bacon pieces instead of the dried beef.

4. Put 2-3 of your cheesy rolls on each plate, pour the creamed bacon over the rolls and sprinkle the rest of your grated cheese on top. Serve warm, bon appetit!

Around a decade ago, the native Aboriginal Australians called for a rename of the 26th of January to Invasion Day or Survival Day. A day celebrated by almost all Australians, started to become shunned and celebrating was considered wrong. It created grounds for controversial conversations that brought to light the wrongdoings of our ancestors and called for a positive change.

On the 26th of January of 1788, Governor Arthur Philip and 11 British ships known as the First Fleet, arrived at Port Jackson. After a long journey from the motherland, Governor Philip raised the British Flag at Sydney Cove and claimed a land considered “Terra Nullius” or belonging to no one. Little did they know, Australia was inhabited by a long lineage of Aboriginal clans who were the true native Australians. Governor Philip and his group of men, women, children, many who were convicts, became the ‘first settlers’ of the British colony.

The natives, different in their ways, were challenged by the new arrivals who claimed and owned land, going against their spiritual beliefs of the land being ‘mother’, who belonged to no one. The British built houses, wore clothes, spoke a different language and had white skin. The conflicting customs, values, morals and perspectives led to a war between the two people, where to this day, the effects of the past linger in the present. They were subject to disease, oppression, destruction of culture and spirituality, violence, social control, exploitation, inter-generational trauma and much more. This was the beginning of a chain of negative and consequential events in Australia’s history that changed the future.

The re-naming of Australia Day was opposed, but change at this point was inevitable. Things couldn’t go back to how they were, where people could continue to be oblivious to the negative effects that came along with our tradition of celebrations on this day. Instead of celebrating the ‘founding’ of Australia, the federal government moved away from the British aspects of our history and promoted the celebration of being Australian, in hopes of unifying our diverse population. It became a day for reflection on what it means to be Australian, what we have achieved together and a re-commitment to continue to strive for greatness as a multicultural society.

So, what does it really mean to be Australian?
The meaning will be different for everyone. There is not one answer on how to celebrate this day. For a large portion of people, Australia Day has never been anything, just another opportunity to celebrate a Public holiday with fireworks, tunes and the three major B’s – beach, BBQ’s and beers. For others, it’s the weekend of Chinese New Year or a time for coming together as a family to appreciate what we have. There is one thing that we can all agree on as Australians: Australia Day is a celebration of our newfound values, freedom, and pastimes, but it will always be a reminder of both our pride and pain. We cannot erase history, but we can continue to build a better future.

Perhaps one of the most scary and frightening things for us, is when we are confronted with what has yet to come. The future is always an uncertainty and the further we look into the future, the greater this uncertainty grows. While this is concerning, we have a lot of control on many aspects of the future in real life and this guide can help you be ready for when the future is eventually now.

The first and most important thing that you can do, is to ensure that you are up to date on all of the latest technology. The field of technology and most importantly social technology is always changing at a rapid pace. In the last twenty years, the invention of social media, smart phones and other smart technologies have all been rapid to the point where even the technology of only 5 years ago can be considered obsolete or outdated. While you don’t have to personally buy the latest and greatest technology, you should always be aware of what is going on in the tech world and what the hottest technologies of today are. You never know when a seemingly expensive technology like a personal robot today, will become the next household staple appliance of tomorrow and being able to accept those technologies is paramount to being prepared for the future.

Not far off from being up to date on technology, is the importance of being adaptable and flexible to change. The future is never going to be exactly the same as the present or past, because time always moves forward and so does our everyday lives. While some things might stay relatively the same, like our occupation or our living spaces, the world around us is also highly susceptible to change. Social norms and how society generally interacts with others change all the time and what might have been ok to do or say in the past, soon becomes offensive and inappropriate. We all know this, as we’ve seen older people in our lives who might hold on to beliefs or thoughts that are politically incorrect in some way, shape or form. It is important to try and adapt ourselves to these new social norms as interactions will always be with people of all different creeds and beliefs. It is paramount that we are adaptable to the world around us, otherwise we risk being left behind.

In conclusion, accepting new technology and being adaptable to various changes is important when we are going towards the future. Without being aware of the new things happening around us and adapting to the changes in society that happen as time goes on, we risk being relics stuck in the past. It is paramount that we are prepared for what the future holds to us, as one day the future will be our present.

Do you ever stop to ponder about history? How did we get here? What did my ancestors do to achieve what we have today? Today, I present to you: The innovators and leaders of yesterday.

Have you ever entered an air-conditioned building on a humid day and thought to yourself, “Dang, who invented this gosh darn amazing thing called an air-con? I’d be dead without it!” No? Maybe it’s only a Southeast-Asia thing. Anyways, this is all due to Willis Carrier.

Born in 1876 to an old New England family, he attended Cornell University after which he took a job with a heating outfit. The research that he produced for the company saved them nearly $40,000 a year! He was put in charge of a new department of Experimental Engineering, where he designed his first air-conditioner for the printing plant. The original purpose? To keep moist air in the printing plant from wrinkling magazine pages. It was not until the Great Depression where his innovation was used by the general public.

According to Skyscanner, it costs an average of 2000 AUD (1400 USD, 1000 GBP, 1250 EUR) to travel from Perth to London. In the ’50s and ’60s of last century, it would have cost five times the price of that! Ryanair is one of the first European airlines to adapt to the concept of low-cost carriers. A ticket from London Luton to Marrakech on RyanAir costs as little as 30 euros (33 USD, 25 GBP, 48 AUD), all because of Thomas Anthony Ryan.

The co-founder of RyanAir, more commonly known as Tony Ryan, was born in Tipperary, Ireland where he previously worked for Aer Lingus before founding RyanAir with Christopher Ryan. Ryanair is one of Europe’s first low-cost carriers. By 2006 Ryanair’s profits were over 300 million euros. Their mission statement is to provide the lowest fares possible on all routes. They do this by achieving high seat density on a unified fleet. This allows for the maximum amount of passengers at low maintenance and training costs. In 2009, a study showed that RyanAir is equipped with 1 member of staff for every 9679 passengers. This number is whopping compared to legacy carriers such as Air France, with 1 member of staff for every 715 passengers.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential historical figure that impacted the future of America. With the help of his acquaintances, he promoted the Montgomery Bus Boycott and advocated during the Civil Rights Movement. He’s not to be confused with Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation back in the 16th century. Jr. is most famous for his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, which was delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters. This could have been a great accelerator to the establishment of civil rights for African Americans back in the day.

So what do you think? Was our list accurate? Let us know in the Libertarian Mailbox!

It’s the new year! In order to usher in the new year, we asked a few USDF personnel on what issues they would like to see being resolved next year. Therefore I asked them: “What would you like to see changed across the world in the upcoming year?”

Answers related to climate change

MSgt Selkie09 – It is already causing harm to our lives and will be devastating to the whole world soon. We owe it to future generations to have a habitable earth.

CWO3 Williamh14 – People need to be aware of how much water and electricity they use, recycling and agriculture, less deforestation and better use of natural resources.

CMSgt SashaRabbit – The rising temperatures of oceans are depleting our waters of oxygen that sustains marine life, combined with chemical run-off from farms heating and polluting our oceans, contributing to lowered amounts of oxygen. It’s threatening marine ecosystems and their diversity and will worsen if countermeasures aren’t taken.

CWO5 ChickenPie298 – I’d say the thing that needs to change with most of us is our actions and attitudes towards this issue. If we change our mindsets, that would be a great step forward in sustaining our world.

Maj xInBloom – Cleaning our oceans is an issue that we should be looking into more with the new year.

CWO5 JasonAir – Hopefully by the new year all fires can be reduced from the hundreds to below ten.

Answers related to peace and war

CW3 Woddenfury – I wish everyone was able to see the world from the perspective of others and realize that deep down we are all the same, and the world is a better place if we try to make it a better place for one another.

CWO4 EpicAlexCE – All the revolts going on, Hong Kong, Catalonia, Chile, Bolivia and Colombia are the current ones I’ve been following. It’s terrible to see these people being treated like that and I hope it can be resolved before turning violent.

USD P&R GTECH6 – It breaks my heart to see what China has been allowed to get away with so far. Genocides, police misconduct in Hong Kong and many other inhumane acts.

My final thoughts:
New year, new hope. Unfortunately, based on the response from most of our USDF personnel here, the pressing issues they would like to have resolved in the following year are recurring yearly. Indeed, violence and climate change might seem to be out of reach for us as individuals, as it stems from the greed and power hunger of rulers. However, if we stand together united as a collective, our voices will be heard.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If you make the effort to do more for our Mother Earth or care for the international community, your efforts will go a long way in helping those in need.

It’s the new year: It’s time for a change.