We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Very early tomorrow morning, as the first shimmering rays of a fire-red sun cast shadows on the ground, (creepy background music starts up) I shall set forth of my journey.
Seeking my date with destiny (music rumbles menacingly) I will travel by Eurostar (spine-chilling crescendo) along the mysterious, winding, unchartered route (screechy violin climax) into the ‘Heart of Darkness’: Brussels! [Effects: huge peal of thunder, gigantic lightning fork]
Actually I am rather looking forward to it. The occasion is the CNE Capitalist Ball where free-market luminaries from all over Britain and Europe will be gathering to drink, waltz and carouse the night away right under the very noses of the enemy.
I shall be back on Sunday. With photographs.
The reason that there has been relatively little output this evening is that many of the Samizdatistas were at Samizdata HQ rather than at their keyboards, celebrating the start of new business ventures by two of our number…
At a Samizdata social event in London last night, it was discovered that not one but two Samizdatistas were carrying around copies of Virginia Postrel’s The Substance of Style, and circulating them around to other people present. We don’t describe ourselves as overcaffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees for nothing. (Caffeine may not have quite been the drug of choice last night, however, although there was certainly some consumed). This is particularly impressive given that there is no British edition of the book and we had both separately sought out the American edition. British Amazon is excellent at stocking a wide range of American editions, shipping them quickly, and only charging local delivery charges in the UK though.
 Brian Micklethwait and Michael Jennings have substance, but do they have style?
Tonight the intrepid Samizdatistas ventured into the heart of darkness (Westminster) to attend the Adam Smith Institute Christmas party at their rather splendid offices overlooking the Houses of Parliament. Vast quantities of champagne were consumed (well I certainly did).
The party was absolutely jam packed with free marketeers of all shapes and sizes.
The crowd was lively and, compared to pretty much any other UK think-tank, of a remarkably young average age.
The Fourth British Blogger Bash in Chelsea was a chaotic and noisy affair…but then they always are, so no change there. Thirty-five worthy souls dived into the famous Chilli con Chelsea and only a few were slain by the lurking habanero demons therein…
Adriana, David and Luisa looked on as Perry ritually sacrified a civil servant to get the party swinging
Adriana and Philip amused themselves by hiding the bottles that were inexplicably protruding from Michael’s back pockets
Hair? Ha! Hair is for weaklings!
For some reason the oxygen was getting sucked out of the room…
Brian rather unkindly ate Claire’s Chilli whilst she was in a staring competition with Antoine
Briffa and Sherrif look on nonplused whilst Frank Sennsenbrenner does his Nixon impersonation
David and Claire do the ‘La Dolce Vita’ look rather well
Debbie, Jackie & Simon laugh, little knowing the camera is stealing their souls!
Andrew gets the message and does not tread on Linda
The Dissident Frogman morphs whilst talking to Andrew. Paul and Philip pretend not to notice
Even the hard core started to feel the strain after a while…. but he was just ‘resting his eyes’ really.
Yes… another highly successful blogger bash!
 Update: And the Dissident Frogman has a scary Blogger Bash picture of his own.
Thirty five bloggers, assorted members of the commentariat and sundry camp followers descended on Samizdata.net HQ with wild gleams in their eyes (and not just Andrew Dodge) last night and the final hard core did not slither out into the damp London daylight until about 9:00 am this morning!
I shall post more images of the proceedings but for now…
Update: More sinister tales of bashing bloggers can be found here.
There may be rather sluggish posting from the London contingent of Samizdata.net contributors and commentariat tonight as we are about to have the Fourth British Blogger Bash in Chelsea
 
However if anyone disgraces themselves… 
…I will be sure to sneak away from the proceedings and post incriminating pictures
Yesterday, a group of Australian (and other) bloggers and readers got together in the Three Wise Monkeys pub in central Sydney. Beer was consumed, impassioned conversation was had, a little rugby was watched, and although Tim Blair was not present due to being on his annual drive across America, a good time was had by all.
Jason Soon, Sasha Castel, and Craig Gaynor appear to be curiously inattentive to the Samizdatista present
Tim Lambert begs Scott Wickstein to let him know where he got the shirt
Scott and Tex get into the sort of bonding that was unfashionable amongst Australians until quite recently
→ Continue reading: Australians do what Australians do
As some of you may be aware, I am presently in Australia. A get together is being held in Sydney this Saturday evening to commemorate the fact, and to allow a whole lot of people who know each other electronically to actually meet one another. A wide assortment of Australian (and other) bloggers will be present. Any additional bloggers and/or readers who will be in the area and would like to come are more than welcome.
When: Saturday November 8 at 6:30 pm until probably quite late.
Where: The Three Wise Monkeys Hotel at 555 George St, Sydney.
Who: Everybody is welcome.
Any questions: Please contact me here
I am attending a Halloween bash tomorrow evening, like many folks. Question – should I go as Ozzy Osborne, self-styled Prince of Darkness in the rock world, or probably new leader of the Tory Party and the man who was once dubbed as “having something of the night about him,” Michael Howard MP?
Much hangs on which way I choose to jump. Comments please!
Adriana & I recently returned from a two week business/fun trip to the USA which took us to initially to New Jersey for a couple days…
Samizdatista Walter Uhlman demonstrates conclusively
that things are… bigger… in America
Adriana thought she should practice a little before venturing out
And thence to Los Angeles, where we lurked in the stygian cigar fog that is Brian Linse‘s rather nice home in the Hollywood Hills. We also ventured from there into the equally pungent Cigar Club The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills, as this proved to be the perpetual hang-out of our illustrious host. Therein amongst its Armani’ed and Prada’ed denizens, we encountered the splendid actor Robert Davi, who had some, interesting, things to say to us which I cannot repeat 
Welcome to Los Angeles!
Your papers, please
Your papers, please
Your papers, please
Your papers, please
Your papers, please
Your papers, please
your papers, please
→ Continue reading: Odyssey across America
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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