July 29, 2014

Porcfest VIDEO Summary

A description of my 2014 Porcfest experience in video format:

July 12, 2014

Adventure at Porcfest XI, Part VI

You’ll never know who you’ll come across just by chance at Porcfest. I had a conversation with a Virginian who went to Keene and got himself a physical copy of the Shire Society Declaration. Hey, any piece of parchment paper is just as good as another, right? But in all seriousness, the government’s use of fancy pieces of paper with words on them, is part of their game to get the people to see their organization as acceptable. The Shire Society can beat them at their game.

Freedom Feud. A game in which teams of 4 are called on to guess responses to poll questions. Some of the answers were really good.

You can’t say too much about cryptocurrency. Yes, I’ve got more cryptocurrency content. Dogecoin was heavily promoted. This video proves it:

There were multiple Bitcoin ATMs at Porcfest. Thanks to Lamassu. I didn’t need any Bitcoin, but I threw a 5 dollar bill in there just for the experience. It felt good when I was done.

We took a group photo on Saturday. Presumably, the goal was to assemble as many people together on to the field and photograph them to show a how much Porcfest has grown. Now you can’t herd cats, and some attendees weren’t there on Saturday, so in this year’s and every year’s photo you only see a portion of the people who went to Porcfest.

Speaking of herding cats, Vermin Supreme came to the group photo with a megaphone. It seems that he has sympathies with some of the goals of the Free State Project, and would like very much to grace us with his presence. He called on the crowd to chant: “I say ‘Zombie’ and you say ‘Power!'”, “I say ‘Mandatory’ and you say ‘Toothbrushing!'” They gladly complied. Me too. Mandatory toothbrushing was one of his campaign talking points in 2012, when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Waiting for the group photo. Perspective from *inside* the crowd.

July 9, 2014

Adventure at Porcfest XI, Part IV

This is the Bitcoin Not Bombs store. They sell Bitcoin-related attire- mostly T-shirts and badges. I took a photo of this shop at night after the shopkeeper had already called it a day. He just left his stuff there overnight. Why? Because that’s just the culture of Porcfest! People are comfortable leaving their stuff there.

Lots of pro-freedom stuff was for sale. Stickers, badges, buttons. One of the shops had hemp-based food. Isn’t it a shame that selling stuff with hemp is a sign of rebellion?

What was going on here? What does it mean? The Dome was a closed-off section of PorcFest, who knows…

The campsites were all connected by chains of asphalt path. Chalking was quite prevalent. There were hopscotches and fun drawings. People also took advantage of the asphalt for practical and informative purposes, as indicated by the photo on the left.

Lyn Ulbricht is the mother of Ross Ulbricht, the man accused of running the Silk Road.

One of the panels titled “The Impact of the Silk Road Case on 21st Century Law”. The speaker explained why her son’s trial will be very important. That is, once the trial actually happens. He has been locked up since last October. The prosecutor claimed that he should remain locked up because he is “dangerous”, even though he is not charged with the commission of any kind of violent crime. The government is either dishonest or they don’t know how technology works (or a some mix of both). The allegations made against Ross and the statutes he is charged with violating do not match. Lyn explained this during the speech quite thoroughly.

Lyn Ulbricht handed out “Free Ross” flyers to PorcFest attendees. They had QR codes on them that contained the Free Ross Bitcoin address for his defense fund. (photo by Tennyson McCalla)

If the creator of Silk Road can be locked up because of the activities that are occurring on his site, then, potentially anyone can be sent to prison because of things that users on doing on their sites. If the creator of Silk Road can be convicted of money laundering, then potentially anyone can be accused of money laundering if they are running a website in which Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange. In addition, the legal definition of what constitutes money could be revised, because the IRS has ruled that Bitcoin is not money (Bitcoin is money in the real world, but in “legal land” it’s not).

Lyn claims that she is not wealthy and thus has had good reason to request donations. This case is important. She said that if everyone at Porcfest donated a small amount of Bitcoin, they might have enough to reach their donation goal. You will see the address to send donations by going to freeross.org

July 8, 2014

Adventure at Porcfest XI, Part III

Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency which is a derivative of Litecoin and is based on the internet fade known as "Doge" was accepted at multiple shops at Porcfest.

Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency which is a derivative of Litecoin and is based on the internet fad known as “Doge” was accepted at multiple shops at Porcfest.

A variety of food items were available for Dogecoin, including bacon, burgers, beans, fries, paleo cereal, fruit juices, and pancakes.

In the sky! It’s a drone! Don’t worry though, we’re non-aggressionists. Or libertarians? anti-statists? anarchists? kindergartenists? voluntaryists? what? But anyway, whatever, point is- it’s not weaponized.

I showed up to the campsite on Saturday night (the 21st) which was technically before PorcFest started, so the food options were low, because most of the people who set up shop for Porcfest did not show up until late Sunday. I intended to spend Bitcoin as much as I could during PorcFest. However, the first place I ate at only took dollars. I got chicken tenders and fries and they were terrible. Good news, is, later on, better food options opened up and the food was good from Sunday evening all the way to the end of the event next Sunday morning.

There were drones, presumably being flown for photography purposes. Which central Free State Project authority managed this? Silly question, Porcfest is full of people acting on their own. Who knows whose drone it was? Who cares? People step up and provide their own ideas and talent; that’s the Porcfest way.

You may be cool and you may be having fun, but you will never be as cool and as fun as someone who is makin’ bacon pancakes.

July 7, 2014

Adventure at Porcfest XI, Part II

The Free State Project President standing with Patrick Byrne, letting the people in the audience know that the largest proportion of sales at Overstock.com using Bitcoin came out of New Hampshire. Byrne is the CEO of Overstock.com, who is getting behind Bitcoin because he supports what Bitcoin is, does, and represents. His business started accepting Bitcoin in January.

A nice scenery pic of PorcFest at Roger’s Campground in Lancaster, NH.

PorcFest was a week PACKED full of events! There were speeches, there were games, there were interactive events as well. Some of the more interactive events included dance courses, a knitting course, a fiction-writing course, and a “Build Your Own AR-15” workshop.

A sample of some of the topics of speeches: preppers/survivalists, publishing in the 21st Century, Islam and the Zero Aggression Principle, creepertarians, and transition towns. And some of the speeches, the speakers asked for audience participation. Porcfest is openly advertised as an informal event.

Speeches can fill up rooms. Or in this case, tents. (photo by James Babb)

There were panels where there were demonstrations of: making biltong (a cured meat originating from South Africa), CPR/AED, making chapstick, how to talk on talk radio, and encryption.

Unfortunately missing from this year was the “Soap Box Idol” and the “Roast Of ___” events. But that’s because nobody organized such an event! This is a do-it-yourself community and all that was needed for this kind of stuff is for somebody to step forward and choose to run such an event and bring the guests/speakers/panelists, set up signs, cover costs, do whatever needs to be done. People who wanted such an event to continue were free to step forward to volunteer to organize it. Sometimes you have to be the change you wish to see in the world (or week-long Free-Stater party in the woods).

Here’s a recording of the Soap Box Idol from 2011. The funny parts are not only what is spoken but what the judges have to say. People had 3 minutes to speak about anything and were scored by 3 judges. The “Roast Of” events were done in 2011 and 2012. First one, Stefan Molyneux was roasted and the year after that was Chris “Ron Paul’s Freaking Giant” Lawless.

The fact that people in charge of Porcfest were so laissez-faire about what kind of events could be held at Porcfest, seems to have resulted in such a wide variety of events. This is good!