Blair and Martin in the Secular Foxhole.

Today is episode 44, and Martin and I are

going to do our own show, and I want

to send a hero of mine, James Madison.

Th his birthday is March 16.

He was born in 1751, and he is a hero

of mine because he wrote much of the founding document.

He wrote several of the federal papers.

Federalist papers.

And he wrote something that we will link to

in the show notes called Memorial and remonstrance.

Remonstrance means protest.

That's a loose meaning about at the time this was 1785.

They were debating.

They had a bill in the Virginia Congress that

they wanted to pay teachers of the Christian faith.

And so he, being a man of reason, he opposed that.

And so he started writing editorials against that bill.

And then it's called Memorial

and remonstrance against religious assessments.

And this was June 21, 1785,

when these started to be published.

And I just think that for those of us

interested in the separation of Church and state or

religion and state, as Martin and I are, that

this particular document should be front and center.

And along with although John Locke, his letters

of toleration are very good, his mistake was

that he speaks out against atheists.

But otherwise, I think even Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance

is loosely based on some of that work from

Locke, although I'm not 100% certain that's true.

And I wanted to give a couple of

quotes from Madison himself during that time.

And here, religious bondage shackles and debilitates the

mind and unfits it for every Noble enterprise.

I mean, what did Ayn Rand say

faith and force are corollaries.

So there's two reason and freedom.

And let's do another one.

Strongly guarded, as is the separation

between religion and government in the

Constitution of the United States.

The danger of encroachment by ecclesiastical

bodies may be illustrated by precedents

already furnished in their short history.

Well, of course, today we have a cabinet

level office of the faith based initiative.

So this is how far we've sunk as a country.

And the Conservatives now have.

While the founders prohibited a litmus

test, today's Conservatives virtually demand one,

especially over the issue of abortion. Let's see here.

Let's do another one.

And I have no doubt that every new example

will succeed, as every past one has done, in

showing that religion and government will both exist in

greater purity the less they are mixed together.

Again, man ahead of his time, so to speak.

Martin, how are you doing today? I'm doing fine.

And I will have a question to you, but

you had another quote that you wanted to take. Right?

I think let me look around.

I can always do another one. Yeah.

Let's see.

Anyhow no religious test shall ever be

required as a qualification to any office

or public trust under the United States.

This was James Madison in 1836.

Oh, that's a good one.

Now, because we will talk more about how it's going

with our show and our so called ad hoc campaign.

I mean, we could put it out here in the

universe because we have some planning, some things in place.

And now I have a sip of tea. Cheers. Go for it.

Cheers for me.

We talked about that in

other episode, what's real money?

And we could talk about the Fiat money and the coins,

but some coins could be in gold and silver and that's

real money, but it's stating there in God we Trust.

And I think that shouldn't be on

the money because it's a symbolic thing.

So when you say this, could we rally around this?

Because when I searched for this and when you

said Madison here and you had Jefferson and some

others that didn't put the label on themselves, but

after that, the whole list is Christian, and then

you have different versions of it.

But if you go to Wikipedia, where religious

affiliations of presidents of the United States and

in other countries, you don't talk about it,

you could have your personal belief.

But in America it's very important, so to speak.

It seems too, and even that they have this

separation between Church and state or Church and religion.

And it's a private and personal matter. Right.

Well, I used to guess talking about Thomas Paine

and having a statue for him and so on.

It used to be, but even back in the day they had

to say which belief system they had publicly, so to speak.

Then, of course, it was some debate about it

and so on, but they had to do that.

So it's something that I'm thinking about.

Why is that the case?

And you said this about the litmus

test, especially with the conservative Republicans, and

that's why I think other alternatives then

they don't focus on that at all.

What I know about.

But then you could have another you

could believe in other things also.

But that's for another maybe episode.

But it was some reflection for that, these

quotes about religion that you did very good.

And then a PBS show that talked about God in

America and James Madison, because wasn't that the case, that

we have to see it in the context also?

This was a long time ago that he had

his personal beliefs and he didn't want to talk

so much about it, but when he did, he

did it very straightforward, if I remember correctly.

Yes.

But I mean, back then, since they were influenced

by the Enlightenment era, that the fading embers of

the Enlightenment, they realized they know enough, regardless of

their personal beliefs, what would be good for every

human being or every American, and that is to

leave everyone free to and in many ways I

wish they went deeper than freedom of religion.

I wish they would have emphasized

the freedom of conscience or conscience.

Yes.

We have talked about guests about that, and I

think that it's a good step to take the

first, but then the other one, it could be

a bit may be complicated and difficult to grasp

and understand in a way, but it's important role.

And that's why this sliding door, what you call open

door or not the shutdoor or the wall between religion

and state and especially with presidents like Ronald Reagan and

others really open it up for religious right.

We should be in a way see positive signs also.

Now we can't call themselves so called moral

majority because they are not majority any longer.

And I see as a positive sign, very positive sign.

But then, of course, it's depending on what

are you believing instead, but that's it's not

a question we could talk about. Great.

We should commemorate him.

And do you have any suggestions on like because

I link to the Library of Congress also, do

you have any suggestion of literature, books, certainly, yeah.

The Federalist Papers, for sure.

But certainly those three things, I think the

Memorial and Remonstrance article on Founders archives. Gov.

And then the Federalist Papers.

And of course, the name of

his estate escapes me in Virginia.

When we find that out, we can link that as well.

So, yeah, those three or four

things I think would suffice.

But otherwise, again, his birthday is March 16.

He was born in 1751, passed away, sadly, in 1836.

So is that 85?

Pretty good.

But again, he's one of my

personal favorites of the founders.

And I'm leaning also towards Hamilton after talking

to Richard Salsman and one or two others. Yeah.

They're all great men. Yeah.

And it could happen again.

But it's some work to do. Yes.

There's a lot of work to do.

But the groundwork was laid by Ms.

Rand, so. Correct.

That's the key.

And what else were we going to do?

We were going to do a new sandwich, I think.

And always a head tip to Amy Peikoff for that idea. Yes.

And I want to talk about this story

came out in October of last year, Blue

Origin, which is Jeff Bezos private space venture.

The headline is Blue Origin and Sierra Space.

Developing Commercial Space Station New Orbital

Destination Opens Up Space for Business

and Travel, Creating New Ecosystem.

This article goes on to explain that these two

companies, Blue Origin and Sierra Space, they announced plans

for Orbital Reef, a commercially developed, owned and operated

space station to be built in low Earth orbit.

The station will open the next chapter

of human space exploration and development by

facilitating the growth of a vibrant ecosystem

and business model for the future.

I mean, I could go on, but that's pretty good.

And this article that we'll link to has great

photos of the proposed way it'll look like.

So I think that's certainly the

good part of our new sandwich.

And it's a beautiful rendering of the station

right at the top of the page.

And what was my other keeping in line with people

that apparently love to be hated, along with Jeff Bezos

or Bezos Elon Musk and his Starlink system that's being

added to Daily, I believe, as far as the links

or the satellites being placed in outer space orbit for

Internet and many other capabilities.

So again, he's bypassing the go ahead. Yeah.

Could our show and listen in outer space in the future?

I would think so.

I would think so.

I want to be the first guy to

go up there and broadcast it from space. How's that?

If I live long enough.

But anyway, Starlink, although I think the initial cost

is fairly steep, I'm sure that will go down

as if the market is allowed to operate.

That will reduce over time for

the middle class and so on.

I think it's like $500 initially to get the equipment.

Okay. Yeah.

And then there's a monthly probably a monthly fee after

that, which I do not know how much that is,

but I'll look into that and get a link and

we can add that to show notes.

So there's a couple of good things and then I want to

the partial bad news, and I'm sure you'll have your own.

But here in America, at least, the backlash against

the Bezos launch with William Shatner and things like

that and Elon Musk and Richard Branson is, of

course, our Hollywood celebrities, or at least a few

of them have complained about why aren't you spending

that money on the poor and things like that?

The typical you could do as a certain position.

You could tax the rich and sell a T shirt.

She has her own T shirt shop.

What she does with the money she gets from

the T shirt, she buys her own clothes that

are very expensive and high heel shoes and things.

But then something I'm disappointed in, Ford Motor

Company itself, along with Lincoln Mercury, have come

out denouncing these renegade billionaires get the picture.

That was the same thing with horse and buggy.

When Ford and others come up with inventions,

they don't even know their own history now. No.

I have to learn from history and they could complain whatever

I want to do, but I'm free to do it.

Then we could discuss other things that

maybe in times of today, what's going

on, what you should focus on, maybe.

But entrepreneurs could do whatever they do and

it will then so called trickle down.

Maybe it's not the correct word for it, but

we will benefit for it in different ways. Absolutely.

I definitely think they should go along.

And people could, of course, have their opinion.

And it's often a symbolic thing, and

PR always how to say spin doctors.

That doing their thing. Sure. Yes.

But as far as I'm concerned, those

three men are benefiting the human race.

They're offering a value for value, which is

something that you and I have been talking

about yeah, that's a good segue.

Talking about Segway.

I don't know what's happened with that one.

That was the thing that would revolutionize everything.

It's a mobile thing, but Segway.

But it's spelled in a different way.

But that's a good segue.

It's a value for value.

We could talk a little about that.

What's it value and what's it worth to

listen to things that you're digging up?

Good news and some not so good news.

But together we are ending on a positive note

and also inviting guests that have their knowledge and

share to listeners and to ourselves, of course, and

giving intellectual ammunition and fuel for ourselves and spirits,

and also a freely, voluntarily exchange of ideas.

For example, you mentioned Rand when she went

to Ford Hall forum that I think was

open to the public, so to speak.

But of course they had some kind of donation box

or how you could support if you valued talk and

the information and giving you a boost with that and

you do it for the long run.

So that's what we are doing.

So we will be open and talk about a little

bit about downloads and where we are, where people are

listening and so on and how you can support because

we not take for granted, because we never do that.

But this call to action.

But we don't want to write anything on how to say on

nose or on the forehead or we don't want to beg either.

We don't want to have any sacrifice.

But if you see this as a value in

one way or another, then you could act accordingly.

And that could be, for example, suggested to

a friend to listen to our show.

It could be that you follow our podcast

with our own standalone app, for example, that

we are paying money for every month.

Also that you join our new digital town

hall and speaking up your mind or sharing

some good stuff that we have.

And everything of this is in the show notes.

But I wanted to come back then a

bit about value for value because I think

it's accordingly to the trader principle in action.

So if somebody listens, we have maybe some kind

of value that we think our time, our energy

and also cost to running this show.

I mean, it's not like a big

studio, big TV network or radio network.

We could do it in a pretty simple

way, but still it's cost involved, right?

Yes, there is some cost.

We will be happy to cover this in one way or another.

And we thank every entrepreneurs and businessmen

and others that create these tools so

we could reach out here. Absolutely.

People and thinking individuals could listen to us.

Because if I would say, for example, you said BS

and Amazon, if somebody would say could I read that

book of Madison, nobody would say is it for free? Right?

Right.

They want to pay for it.

Then of course they could have special deals.

We could tell that to the audience.

Also we have had the privilege to get like

review copies of books and other things like that.

And we thank the authors and publishers for that.

But it's marketing them also.

It could be priceless to be on our show.

We know we are very realistic, we are small,

but we have our niche, I believe so.

We have been very thankful for the constructive

feedback and positive comments and so on.

Some of it we are sharing privately and

shares with that gave us a boost.

Sometimes we get it publicly also in different

ways on social media and so on.

But then you could say that what kind of value is it?

And then now with the new, you could say

development of podcasting or the podosphere where we know

the bloggers where blogging system that have evolved.

And now you could if you want, if you listen and

also fellow podcasters, you could download a new podcast app.

And we will try to get our own standalone

app working with that also in the future.

But that's depending on the programmers and the

developers there, if they see it as potential.

But something called if you do the hashtag new

podcast apps or go to Podcast index.org and search

for these apps where you have Podcasting 2.0 initiative.

And with these apps you could

find all kinds of interesting features.

It could be transcript, it could

be timestape stamps and so on.

And it's working with this RSS Rich

Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication.

So people who develop new apps could put

things into this RSS feed that could make

it possible to for example, then stream Satoshis.

Satoshi is a small tiny part of Bitcoin.

So then you can decide when you're

listening to us using Podcasting 2.0 app.

But I want to boost what Martin

and Blair are saying right now.

I like very much, I want to send

like hundreds of satoshis and that's like a

couple of cents or something like that.

Or you could decide every minute I listen to this interview

with the guests for an hour, you could say I want

to stream so and so many satoshis per minute.

It's an active choice to do that.

You have to of course hook up with a wallet

that we talked with another guest, how that's working?

And that's including and then you have to add

funds with Fiat money in order to get bitcoins.

And this will take time because to be

realistic of 4 million apps or podcasts out

there, that Podcasting indexes stating it's like maybe

4000 podcasts that are having this possibility opportunity

to support them with value for value.

So it's a small number right now, but I see that for

the long range and we could take it for another aspect.

Also this could be like power and support for

indie podcasters and this freedom of expression, right?

So that's important to do.

So we will talk more and more about this.

But if you go to the Show Notes where you could

find some links and some instructions and you're welcome to reach

out to us and ask how could I do?

But I could mention, for example, one

example, one app called Fountain App.

So there is one app that you

could download to your smartphone, Fountain app. Okay.

I included that in Show Notes also.

And if you want to use in a web

browser, in a Chrome browser, like a plug in,

then you could use an app called Pod Station.

I think I've heard of that one, actually.

Yeah, that's two examples there.

So do you have any thoughts

comments or ideas about that there?

Well, we should tip our hat to Captivate

also, Martin, because I'm glad you discovered them.

And we market our podcast through

Captivate and we send it out.

And when we post our podcast on various places like

Facebook and what have you, once the listener opens that

podcast up and looks at the page at the bottom,

they'll see the Donate tab where they could donate any

amount that they wished have people doing that via Patreon

as it is now, it's for my account and also

it's Buy me a coffee.

What we have Buymecoffee.com lyceum and we'll

have it for the show also.

But that's great to have that call to action

in the player, like a reminder, a friendly nudge

and reminder because we take this call to actiion. Yeah.

We're very selfishly asking for if you think you've

gained a value or benefit from listening to our

shows and you can afford it, consider donating whatever

amount you feel you can give or invest or

thinking like for example, one of our returning guests,

it would be an investment. Yeah. Yeah.

Andy Clarkson did, he sent some then buy me a coffee as me as a tea drinker.

And I drink coffee also, but donated three teas to me

and it's like $5 and I will play around with this.

And then for the show also, we could set up

like you could do it on a regular basis.

It's working with our tech and with our equipment.

But if we had funds, then we could

invest in equipment and other things also it

could sound even better and all the possibilities.

I mean, we have been talking about live streaming and

video and all kinds of things and also to be

secure in the future, to have backups and so on.

And there it was, one example that on Podcast

Index.org called Tally Coin or something like that.

And I've sent him a tweet and asked if

we could embed that widget on your upcoming

site because then you could decide if you want

to send donations through dollars or Euros or whatever

and that will then turn into Bitcoins and Satoshis.

And then it could be openly if

you have a goal or a project.

For example, I sent you an email with

an example of somebody that needed to get

like a refurbished computer for podcasting.

And then they saw the good goal and how they

reached and people could make comments and thanks for your

support and thanks for your work and so on.

So that's something we could look into in the future.

But we know also the challenge is to

do it because people are busy, people have

their lives to do and achieve their values.

But we will continue with our friendly

reminder about exactly and talking about that.

We will talk about you said to captivate

the hosting company here on their analytics page.

Yes, I'd like to look for that.

I mean, I saw those numbers.

It's kind of neat.

So I will tell about that since

we last then talked about it.

Yes, please do a show.

So all the time it's about 2200.

You could say unique listeners and they

have an algorithm to look at that.

According to an international advertising Bureau standard, they could

calculate it or they could just say measure

it when it's download, it's a download.

It has to be a certain amount

of time and in a certain way.

So they get rid of the bots and get rid

of if it's some mistake or something like that.

But of course, you have to always

take it with the grain of salt.

I mean, our show is to if we

find one individual, one thinking individual, that listen

to us, we are happy, right?

Yes, true.

That's the thing.

And then in total, it's like over 4000

downloads so far, massive cheering compared with other

things like radio networks and others.

Maybe it doesn't sound a lot, but if

you think about it, it will gather like

2000 unique listeners to our digital town hall.

But it will be a physical town hall, like

in Boston, for example, at Fordhall Forum.

That will be pretty impressive, right?

Well, it would be, yes.

So when it comes down to our

and the trend is your friend.

So the download average per day is right now nine.

But of course, when we publish

an episode, I could see already

automatically because people are now subscribing.

But now we are calling it following, because if you

say subscribe, you pay to it for it, right? Okay.

But it's free to subscribe or follow us.

But then we know that we have a certain amount

of subscribers or followers that have it in their application.

So they get a notification.

Now it's a new episode and then you

have this average about around nine every day.

And my goal is to have like a zero behind

that and then another zero, et cetera, et cetera, that

will take time, but it's every new individual will take

an active choice and then the individuals will listen.

But if you ask a friend, send a link,

whatever, if you think it's a value and you

think somebody would appreciate it, so do you want

to hear a little about the stats?

Yes, about just the list of the top ten countries. Yeah.

So last month and around 28 days, because you have to see

it in a rolling like the trend, because it could be peaks

and it could be up and down and so on.

But the latest 28 days is pretty interesting.

So there I have some ideas

about how we could market there.

We have United States of America, number one,

and then it's Sweden for some reason.

And then Australia.

It could be guests, it could be others. Right.

Netherlands. That's interesting.

We have to figure out the

Netherlands and then United Kingdom.

And there you have we know some of we had

been spotlighted on captivate like one of the show at

the month that they spotlighted us, highlighted us.

So maybe some of the hosting company or

some fellow podcasters or customers listen to us.

And then you have, of course, Canada.

That's pretty natural.

And then India for a reason.

But we know that India is big market and we

have some ideas how we could reach out to more

Indians in the future, maybe have a specific episode on

how it would be a secular individual in India and

then Germany and then Switzerland and then Uruguay.

That's interesting.

Could that be with South America with Objectivism?

Because when we had Randsday, for example, in February,

when I searched on that hashtag, it was lots

of action and tweets in South America. Yeah.

They are growing down there. They are.

That's a pretty diverse list of countries. It is.

But in total, all time, I will not go through every 70.

But since last time, I think it was

around 50, I think now it's 70 countries.

They downloaded a show of 197 or 195 or 193.

Yes, 197, I think is the total number

of countries on the Earth on the globe.

And we talked about one country that is now not

in this 193, but the country is Taiwan, for example.

So where we have some listeners, three listeners there.

Yeah.

But the top ten there, you could

say all time is still United States.

And then it's India in total.

And then Sweden and Canada,

United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Norway.

So my fellow great.

And then Uruguay and then Switzerland.

Then we have all kinds of

interesting countries here in the list. So there I see.

It's great to see that.

Yes, it's wonderful around the globe,

but we have more countries, too.

And again, depending on where we are.

But we could see that there's an information.

And if you have any question about that,

of course we are having it in English.

And that's a benefit or an advantage in one way, right?

Yes, but we have some ideas now we're

talking about costs and also a value because

I got that request from somebody.

How about transcripts and how to if you want,

maybe you have hearing challenges or you want to

read at the same time as you're listening now,

you could do that thanks to Veed.io

that I'm using and that

takes some time, energy also.

But it's interesting how it very accurate and then

you have that as a material for the future,

Blair, for your future blog posts and so on.

But for information, it's like that service, but testing out

it's $30 per month to use that kind of service.

So I see potential with transcript

because that search engine optimization.

You could also use this service.

Now we are listening, but we could use

the download or episode and then transfer it.

How did you say to video with, for example, our

artwork and then having it like subtitles or translated in,

for example, one of the languages in India?

There is very interesting things.

And then it comes to play to maybe have some backup

to have that video at places like Odyssey and a hat

tip to Jack Spirko what you told me about Jack Spirko.

Yes.

He's recently had Adam Curry as a guest.

We could include that in the show notes.

Also if you want to learn more about podcasting 2.0 and

with freedom of expression and also how to prep in today's

world and also, as Adam said, to find your niche and

find your yeah, I think we should put that in there.

We should put that in the show now.

But that's all I've got there, buddy. Yeah. Same.

Thanks, Blair, for this episode.

And yeah, we will celebrate and commemorate Madison here

and looking forward to feedback and comments and what

you share with good word, spreading the good word.

And then the call to action is to check out

the show notes and then join our digital town hall.

Sure. Yeah. All right, sir.

I called it a wrap. Yeah. Thanks, Blair. Cheers.