Disorganized thoughts for the end of the year

This is going to be kind of a messy blog post. The end of the year is coming, and that week has been pretty busy and different due to the fact that I was off of work and that it was the week of my wife and I's wedding anniversary (the two being related since I took the week off because of the anniversary).

 So, for our big day, on Tuesday, we decided we would go to England. It was Dixie's first time there (due to struggles with the French administration to get her "Titre de séjour" delaying her first crossing of the Channel). We had a wonderful English breakfast in Dover after crossing in a car-ferry. Driving on the "wrong" side of the road was a real experience (not saying more about it...).



We then took the road to Leeds Castle in Maidstone. We arrived in a deep fog that cleared out toward the end of our visit. The gardens and the atmosphere there were really enjoyable. Being a big kid, I ended the visit with a life-size maze.

We finished with a long walk and shopping in Canterbury. We stopped in a tearoom wondering how to end our stay in the city where we met an older couple. The lady was from New Zealand and and the man from Boston. They suggested us a few places to go and see and when the man had to leave, the woman stayed and entertained Dixie with English conversation.







Overall, we had a perfect stay in great landscape and cities and I think our  two-year anniversary was a success.

The rest of the week was filled with paperwork (health insurance), reading a lot (I finished the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, while still reading A Clash of Kings and La Révolution des Fourmis) and Dixie had a Christmas photoshoot. You can check some of the amazing photos out at this address. You can also visit her website. It's worth having a look at it.

To finish on a sports note, Liverpool annihilated Tottenham and Lens won its first game away in more than three months, so that was a good weekend. Also, I had a physical test on Saturday (3200 meters, switching between 150 meters at fairly high speed in 30 seconds followed by very slow pace of 50 meters in 45 seconds). I did that test on a 400 meters track, but it was very slippery and I slid at the end of my third lap. I'll have another try in January. I also reffed a women's soccer game today, and Dixie said these women would beat up most of my teammates if we were playing against them. I can't say I disagree much.

Anyway, that was my rambling for the day. The three photos at the beginning are of course taken by my beautiful, and I incite you once more to go check out her website and facebook page.

I love you, Dixie! Happy two-year anniversary!

Why I am a libertarian

I have not always called myself a libertarian. To be honest, a few years back I didn't even know the word. I have always felt a strong admiration for the concept of freedom.

I've been raised in a far from wealthy family, who struggled every month to make ends meet. Historically, the whole of my family has also always leaned to the left side of politics, sometimes very left. In certain ways, I follow them. In many others I don't. Libertarianism is neither left nor right.

I had preconceived beliefs that led me to doubt the fact that freedom could be the most efficient response to some problems in the world. Over the years, after hours and hours of reading, studying, questioning, I am deeply convinced of the efficiency of liberty.

In addition to that, on a philosophical note, I believe freedom to be the absolute highest moral value to fight for in the world. I'm now going to list three illustrative examples that are at the core of my libertarianism, among tens of others that I might expose in another post someday.

1. Freedom of Speech

Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being "pushed to an extreme", not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.

 John Stuart Mill

I don't know anyone who would say that Freedom of Speech is a bad thing. But I've heard and seen so many times comments like "Of course freedom of speech is important, but hateful Nazi websites should be shut down". If Freedom of Speech is not complete and unconditional, then it doesn't exist.

If you only advocate Freedom of Speech for the opinions that you support, you don't advocate it at all. I despise Nazi people as much as anyone ever could (in addition to having awful racial beliefs, they are huge defenders of an all powerful state), but I would never censor anything such a person would have to say by law. That doesn't mean that I endorse their beliefs. If an opinion of that type were to be published on any post of my blog in the comment section, I would delete it. I don't want to relay these comments on my blog. And that is in perfect agreement with Freedom of Speech. This is my blog. If I decide I don't want to see something appear on it, it's my right to delete it. I don't want to be associated with it. If that same person creates their own blog to publish these concepts though, I would have nothing to say.

2. No laws can abolish a contract between consenting adults

The whole duty of government is to prevent crime and to preserve contracts.

Lord Melbourne

The key word in that quote is "whole". Government has no other duties than these two.

Nowadays, politics are trying to manage everyone's life. The main argument for that is usually to "protect" people. Most of the time though, it's to protect them from themselves. It is NOT any government's job. There's so many examples of that type. Most of them seem very good at first sight. Let's take minimum wages laws: higher wages obviously lead to people with a better financial situation. If the wages are high because of contracts agreed on both parts, that's exactly what it means. Sadly, if wages are raised by law only, there come the multiple drawbacks.

First, a legal minimum wage means that all the activities that are worth less than the foregoing wage will simply disappear. Out of the legal setting, that is. Moonlighting will expand instead. People who have no skills that are worth the legal wage still need the money. Second, an increase in a minimum wage by law that doesn't reflect in an increase in productivity only leads to one thing: inflation. The employer that needs to legally increase wages with no increase in productivity will reverberate his higher costs on his prices. Conclusion: some people (the less skilled) can't find a legal job anymore, minimum wage workers are better paid, but inflation made overall prices increase.

3. Still protecting you from yourself : Drugs

If the government can’t keep drugs away from inmates who are locked in steel cages, surrounded by barbed wire, watched by armed guards, drug-tested, strip-searched, X-rayed, and videotaped – how can it possibly stop the flow of drugs to an entire nation?

Ron Crickenberger

This quote only shows the utterly inefficiency of the War on Drugs. That's the utilitarian argument for the legalization of drugs. Personally, I think drug should be legalize even if the War on Drugs was efficient.

I don't do drugs. Never have, never will. Personal choice, not because it's illegal. If drugs (and I mean all drugs) were legalized, I still wouldn't take it. And I'm sure that most people are the same way. But even if some did... What's wrong with that? You can morally disapprove all you want, a drug user only harms himself. It's his choice. He's responsible for that choice. If someday, he harms someone else, either on drugs or not, he'll be responsible for it. How many people are in prison and have never harmed anyone else but themselves?

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These are just a few small examples of what I believe in and why I define myself as a libertarian. I am open to discussion. The comment section is there for you.

On my golden bookshelf

Since I was a little kid, I have been an avid reader. I always had a book in my hands. Sometimes more than one. Everywhere my parents would bring us, a family event, a day at the beach, a visit to the doctor, I would be seen reading.

In my first blog post about my taste in literature, I decided I would make a short list of my favorite novels or series of novels. It won't be exhaustive, or even close to being exhaustive, but I believe you will learn to know me a little better by learning about my tastes.

One of Agatha Christie's best work in my opinion. A "huis-clos" (I'm french after all) with 10 characters in the beginning, a number that quickly thins down as the murders pile up. Who is the killer? Very entertaining. I first read it when I was around 15.

Philip K. Dick was an amazing writer with a twisted mind. The Man in the High Castle was the first Alternate History story I ever read. And what a first! Nazis and Japanese have won World War II and divided the US into two territories. Somewhere though, a mysterious man wrote a book. It narrates the victory of the Allies against the Axis...

Mind Vampires are real. They love to play. The world is their chessboard. Anyone can be a pawn. From Nazi Germany to 1980s Georgia, these "vampires" are restless, amoral and extremely violent. Can regular human being overcome these superbeings?



First item of the Mars Trilogy, Red Mars describes the trip to Mars and the first steps of the colonization of the red planet. This novel is a highly acclaimed hard science piece of art. Kim Stanley Robinson offers us one of the biggest dreams of humanity in written words.


As I said, that list is far from being complete. It's a first insight into my tastes in storytelling. Some other books will come in blog posts to come.

What are your favorite novels?

Atheist intolerance

I decided to write this blog post when I saw this tweet :

Hey guys today isnt the day to be an atheist prick who feels the need to attack anyone and everyone saying god bless America.Just wait a day
— Libertarian Comic (@funlibertarian) September 11, 2013

I am, in fact, an atheist; I couldn't agree more with this tweet though. I can't stand bigotry. Above all though, atheist bigotry is what ticks me off the most.

Even though I was raised a catholic, I always was an atheist at the core. My mom had to force me to go to church, and to make it go faster, I was bringing books to read during Mass (I was a huge Agatha Christie's fan when I was around 10). I know it can be seen as disrespectful to believers, but I was only a kid, forced to be there.

I was very resentful to my mom about that. I still am a little, deep down, but I understand her will to raise me the way she thought was best, as she was before by my grandparents. I actually enjoyed learning about Catholicism. I just didn't want to be part of the folklore. Since then, I also studied a little bit of a few other religions. I actually enjoy Theology. I like parables and metaphors. That's all they mean to me.

Being a proud atheist doesn't mean I disrespect other people's beliefs. In addition to being an atheist, I am also a libertarian: this means that, as long as you don't try to impose your beliefs or your life preferences on me, do and live as you wish.

Some people might think "Is it then forbidden to mention your religion?" Absolutely not. There's a very big difference between "You should believe (or live like) this because I think this is the right thing to do" and "This is what I believe in (or how I live) and I'll explain why". One is a clear attempt to convert the other while the other one is just an explanation shared to other people. Of course, that explanation could convince someone to change their ways and there's no problem with that.

Someone saying "Have a blessed day!" or "God bless America!" is not an attack to your freedom of religion. In their mind, that's probably one of the nicest thing they could say. They don't force you to say it. They don't force you to believe it. They just say it. Attacking them for that is being a prick. I'll always prefer a nice believer over a prick atheist.

I am an atheist, and I always will be. I will not try to convert you to atheism if you are a christian, a muslim or even an agnostic. If you want though, I can explain to you why I am that way; just ask me!

Allez Lens !

I came home a few hours ago from a soccer game in Lens, my favorite team. The game in itself was not the best, but they won 1-0 and confirmed their leadership of French "Ligue 2" with 4 wins and a draw in 5 games. More than what happened on the field though, the continuous support by the fans, the intensity of the cheering and the volume of the singing during the whole game are what makes Lens so special.

The team is just starting its third season in a row in Ligue 2. Needless to say, for a club like this one, three seasons below the highest level that is Ligue 1 is an eternity. But tonight, there was more than 30,000 people inside the stadium to represent what we call here the "twelfth man".

Other teams are impressed to come play in that arena. They know that they will have to play against more than eleven adversaries. The most ferocious and fearsome of all will litterally surround them during ninety minutes.

I love that idea. Keep going, supporters. Help your team go back in the elite of French soccer. They can do it, and you deserve it.

"Allez Lens !"

Introduction

I decided to start a blog a while ago. I just never took the time to actually do it. As it turns out, it's my birthday today, and I figured it was as good as any other day to finally give it a try.


My name is Kevin Martin, I'm 27. French guy married to my amazing American wife, Dixie, photographer. We live in the North of France, where I was born and grew up. I work there in a nuclear power plant.

My first motivation to open a blog like that is to improve my English writing skills. As I mentioned, this is not my native language and the regular practice can only make me better. Of course, there's a reason why for that: I am a writer. Aspiring writer, to be more precise. I haven't had anything published yet anywhere. I haven't even submitted anything. But that idea sprang up in me a long time ago, and the need has only been growing since then.

A few years back, I wrote a few short stories, in French. They were science-fiction stories, probably not very good (I lost them since). I absolutely love SF and Fantasy. Sadly, the market for SF is extremely small in France. And that's without reducing it to short stories or novellas. This motivated me to start writing in English and have access to a bigger market (and probably more competitive too). Competition doesn't scare me though. I know my stories will probably be rejected about a thousand times before I even have a real feedback as to how I could improve them. The reward is just even more sweet when one of them is finally accepted somewhere. 

This blog won't be entirely dedicated to my "writing career" though. It will be a way for me to clear my mind; I will also write about sports, mostly soccer, about books and movies I enjoyed (or not), about science, my everyday life, politics (I'm a libertarian), maybe even philosophical wonderings, etc. Anything that I will think can be worth sharing actually.

So enough with this short introduction, I'll leave it there for now. I'll conclude with one of my favorite quotation by Voltaire, that is actually apocryphal, but which sums up my position about Freedom of Speech :

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."