Skeptic Project

Don't forget South Park.

Pattern Trading is laughable for anybody w/o right equipment and a big enough bank account - you are competing with high-end pattern recognition computers that scan whole markets 24/7, so you either have to look at it in a way the computers don't, or you have to wait for the right opportunity and instantly spot it. I highly doubt PJ has made any serious money from it. It's a nice hobby, and six screens surely don't hurt, I'm quite fond of my three guys over here.

"he is not good in the listening department to correcting errors in his thinking"

I'm coming to the conclusion that PJ isn't very creative, especially when having to apply creative solutions to the world around him. The whole strategy of the movement seems to consist of creating chapters and then he'll do stuff - instead of reading everything about movement leadership and guerilla/urban marketing he could get his hands on, creating action groups and "testing" strategies to find new members.

Basically, you could turn the whole movement recruitment into "science" by observing and improving the methods used to gain new members and increase activity of existing ones. It would cost time, but so does creating 200 pages of pseudoscience.

Even though you guys make good arguments I'm going to place money on it that Peter Merola makes all his money from dvd's and t-shirt I'd swear on it.

I really don't think so. How many of these DVDs is he realistically selling? Even a "ten pack" grossly inflated at $45 per year, you'd need to sell tens of thousands, year after year, to finance a full middle-class income (even outside of Manhattan). Zeitgeist isn't that popular. Even if every single one of the 400,000 members Merola claims he has bought one DVD and one T-shirt, the market would saturate at a pretty low level. In order to be a significant income stream DVDs and T-shirts have to sell millions over many years. There's just not a big enough market for Zeitgeist products.

My personal view is that the emphasis put on speculation about how much money Zeitgeist products bring in is misplaced. However much it is, it's a pittance. To my knowledge, Alex Jones and David Icke are the only people actually making an easy living from the conspiracy business, and they aren't making money on T-shirts or DVDs. Jones gets a salary for his radio show supported by advertising, and Icke supports himself with speaking fees. It's not hard to make a little money by pushing conspiracy books or videos, but I think it is difficult to make a cushy living. Sort of like being an actor. 1% of actors make millions a year, 99% of actors are starving in cold-water flats in New York and scrimping for bit parts in traveling Broadway companies.

At least VTV mentions actual figures compared with PJ.

I actually think what VTV is doing overall is fine, and PJ should do something of the same so we can see how much his website is taking to keep up.

The next step after that is showing of receits, so we actually know the money is being spent where people say it is.

Then, we can start pulling in the resources from the pool of available members, one of which might own, or work for a company that can supply something cheaper than what they are paying.

That would reduce costs further, perhaps even make some things free!

That is after all, how organisations like RBOSE/EOS/etc. manage some of their server space by people donating resources, the same thing could easily happen successfully with TZM, if they let it..

I noticed there was a thread on the TZM site from someone suggesting that if all 50 odd different domains all went under just a few and shared them out, this could reduce costs. (I suggested something like that repeatedly myself, so I don't think anyone sadly is going to take notice of his excellent idea, which improves on mine.)

What should also be happening is all TZM members should be mentioning their living costs, and those with resources to help out their fellow man can help, eg. if someone is paying $2,400 rent a month, maybe someone has a spare room they can rent out for half, or nothing at all..

But this double standards thing that exists kinda prevents that, as only PJ/VTV/Fresco appear the ones able to ask for money for anything, for 'offical' reasons, whilst the rest of the membership just has to suck it in if they are too poor to afford anything..

> doesn't need the connection he says he is paying extra for

Thats always an issue when an 'expert' decides how to spend the money and some of us might disagree.. (The same issue effects EOS/NET.)

My own view on his connection speed requirements is that its not unreasonable, though its unclear just how much it actually costs, as there doesn't appear a breakdown of his expenses offhand that I'm aware of.

> want to see the receits

I have repeated asked for this, but for some reason VTV takes it as a personal insult towards him, as if we don't trust him.

I would ask the same of anyone, not just VTV.

But, having heard a little bit about his past, which may be true, it makes me doubt him just a little more than I did before, that the money is actually being spent on what he says it is, and that perhaps someone else is paying for his broadband connection.

Obviously, such a concern or worry could so easily be put to sleep by simply making the receits available to view. (This is after all what TZM IRC folk did in the early days, they blanked out various personal details such as bank account numbers when showing receits, that appeared quite enough to stop folk worrying where the money was going.)

If VTV, and I stress IF, he isn't using the money for what he says he is, now would be an oppertunity to change that, and 'then' show us the shiney new receits, thus saving face, and improving his ethics at the same time.

If you think TZM is bad, you should look at various charity organisations I've seen where they won't even tell you the name of the people who work there! (So no idea if the guy at the top is even named Peter at all..) and the only information you have to go on is that their paycheque is some $100k...

And I've repeated said that being more open will only help them, whats the point in hiding things unless your either trying to get away with something, or your just plain stupid.

Which is why we find ourselves here of course..

I suppose at some point some organisation will come along, be more open and people will flock to that instead..