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Free The Animal

Ex Navy Officer. Owner of Businesses. Digital Entrepreneur. Expat Living in Thailand. 5,000 Biting Blog Post on Everything since 2003.

The Wife Unit: The Lipid Panel That Keeps Going and Going
He “Woks” the Talk and Talks to the Wok

A Day Off From Book Promotion

January 16, 2012 11 Comments

I did not expect to be spending all weekend drumming up interest for my Beyond the Blog book. In fact, I had not planned to do anything at all until tomorrow, given the weekend, holiday, etc.

And then I asked myself: is that how you do things, Richard? And so I just went for it, timing be dammed. Of course, there were snags & issues. For instance, the Kindle and Nook versions did not have images showing up, so the Hyperink folks worked into Saturday evening to get that resolved (supposedly, the updated version will push out to those of you who were the early birds). Also, the head editor on my project left the company at some point last week and I guess some of the last edits we made didn’t get into the published manuscript. Most of those were resolved too. There’s sill a few typos to fix, but that’ll happen soon. I’m also assured that the book will be available on international Amazon sites very soon.

And the print version, perhaps this week or next.

Sales have been nicely brisk, so I’m happy about that. A few reviews on Amazon too. Please, those of you who’ve read it, the best thing you can do to help is put a review on Amazon, secondarily B&N, and thirdly Hyperink. But Amazon is by far the most important for gaining exposure (such as Amazon making suggestions, etc.).

Thanks to all of you who’ve snagged it, and thanks for all the feedback. With dozens of emails, comments, tweets and Facebook input, I have received but a single negative judgment, and that was via a 3rd party, not directly.

Here’s a cool comment that came in today:

I’ve recently read Wolf’s and yours, Richard. I think they are exact compliments. Wolf – TONS of info to justify nearly every assertion in the work. Important and helpful for a certain crowd. Yours, well, concision is the word – short, sweet, to the point. Exactly what a bunch of people need, who aren’t looking to know all the medical ins and outs, but simply want the goods on “how to.” I’d recommend your book in a heart-beat. Fast read, fun read, and not nearly so “colorful” as you tend to be on here!!!

Thank you.

So, the depressurization began last evening with Beatrice picking up the tab for a New York steak and pear & gorgonzola salad at Chicago Steak & Fish in Los Gatos.

Steak Salad
Steak Salad

Then mid-morning, we set out on a hike for an hour or so at Lexington Reservoir just outside of Los Gatos, CA.

Lexington Reservoir
Lexington Reservoir

Then it was over the hill on Hwy 17 to Capitola, where we had lunch at Paradise Beach Grille.

Paradise Beach Grille
Paradise Beach Grille

How’s that for weather in mid January? I had Oysters, then Mussels in a spicy and sweet Thai curry.

Oysters
Oysters
Mussels
Mussels

Then we browsed around and I treated myself to a new pair of Maui Jim sunglasses.

Alright, it’s MLK day and I do have admiration for his stand on non-violent resistance via civil disobedience. Everyone loves the I have a dream speech and I appreciate it as well. It was playing on NPR on the trip over the hill. But for me, the most powerful thing ever from Dr. King was Letter From Birmingham Jail.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was “well timed,” according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has almost always meant “never.” It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.

I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” men and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger” and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” — then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.”

I try to read the whole thing once a year on this day. Onward.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lute Nikoley January 16, 2012 at 21:30

    Excellent letter. I admire Martin Luther King very much. Sounds like you had a great day with your wife unit. I worked 14 hours.

    Reply
  2. Jesrad January 17, 2012 at 02:44

    “There are just laws and there are unjust laws.” Along with quoting Saint Augustine, founder of jusnaturalism, this letter highlights the gap between defending civil liberties (and civil society as a whole) against authority ; and “progressivism” which all too often sums up to retaliating against unjust, biased laws and regulations with differently-biased, still unjust laws.

    Reply
    • Bobbi January 17, 2012 at 03:46

      Are you seriously attempting to co-opt Martin Luther King as a Libertarian? On his birthday, no less?

      What do you people come from?

    • Richard Nikoley January 17, 2012 at 12:34

      Bobbi:

      I think you’re regurgitating.

      Have you actually read much MLK, or do you simply go by the regurgitate of more modern day exploiters who are mostly interested in their own status?

      Show me an original MLK quote that suggests he would for single instant have supported Affirmative Action, Quotas, Bussing and all the other things that give status to black activists at the expense of real progress for blacks on the ground.

      Have you looked at the despicable conditions in the cleptocracies of Africa, lately? Rape, genocide, AIDS, female circumcision and the list goes on. And this is the seed ground of humanity. Are you aware of the many African pundits and intellectuals who admonish the rest of the world to STOP sending aid—because it only serves to advance the thieves at the expense of the people?

      The Civil Rights movement in the US is like a microcosm of Africa. A few talented, creative and pernicious blacks advance, and they find their calling in racial activism and thereby, advance personally while members of their race are locked up in disproportionate numbers.

      It’s a travesty.

      I regularly envision MLK turning over in his grave.

      Libertarian? I honestly don’t know in breadth & depth but for Letter From Birmingham Jail, he wrote the book on it, in the context of his time & place in history.

      I also doubt you actually read the whole letter (it’s rather long and your comment, rather short).

    • BigRob January 18, 2012 at 09:47

      Wow, I actually agree with everything you said in this comment. Great Job!

  3. SRC January 17, 2012 at 08:22

    Your book looks great, and I’m about to buy it. Quick feedback on your web setup– when I click on the book cover pic up here in the sidebar, I get taken to a book page. Awesome. However, clicking on the book cover again on that new page does nothing– it’s a static graphic. I have to go allllll the way down the page to find the “actually buy the book” link.

    Sure, I can (and will) do that. But you might want to grease the wheels a bit for the next person. I came here already prepared to buy the book because it was praised very heavily on a private bulletin board. So I just wanted a quick path to purchase. Ideally you’ll get more folks coming to your site who have only heard of the book, not the blog. In that case, you might like to not only have a streamlined “buy the book” page, but it might also point them to articles you’ve blogged post-book so they stay and become community members.

    Thanks for sharing your info on your journey, and for doing the book. I look forward to my own paleo journey.

    cheers,
    Strata

    Reply
    • Richard Nikoley January 17, 2012 at 08:25

      Thank you SRC. I will change that book graphic to click to the amazon page, as that’s the top-sales outlet and also where the print version will be when it’s done.

      Will look into your other recommendations as well.

  4. Billy Beck January 17, 2012 at 13:06

    “What do you people come from?”

    The *truth*, and actual reading/working knowledge of the man we’re talking about.

    Reply
    • Richard Nikoley January 17, 2012 at 13:13

      Not to mention that the beauty of the letter is in its applicable _principles_, far & wide.

  5. Razwell January 17, 2012 at 13:45

    What do you marinate your steaks in, Richard? Any tips?

    Reply
    • Richard Nikoley January 17, 2012 at 13:54

      I never, ever marinate steaks. I just hate it. Marinate is for boring, white meat chicken at most. Korean cut shot ribs might be one exception.

      Instead, I do sauces. Search the blog for ‘sauce’ and you’ll find everything you need.

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About FreeTheAnimal

I'm Richard Nikoley. Free The Animal began in 2003 and as of 2020, has 5,000 posts and 120,000 comments from readers. I blog what I wish...from lifestyle to philosophy, politics, social antagonism, adventure travel, nomad living, location and time independent—"while you sleep"— income, and food. I intended to travel the world "homeless" but the Covid-19 panic-demic squashed that. I've become an American expat living in rural Thailand where I've built a home. I celebrate the audacity and hubris to live by your own exclusive authority and take your own chances. [Read more...]

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