Thursday, September 29, 2011

Toying with an Idea

Lately, as I've been listening to other podcast's, by Objectivist's and others, I've been giving serious thought to starting one of my own. A rough sketch for beginning, my podcast would be 15 minutes or so, covering news stories or ideas of interest. Don't know yet when I'll begin......

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Objectivist Round Up Fourth Anniversary!!

Welcome to the fourth anniversary edition of the Objectivist Round Up. There is no better spokeman for this philosophy than Miss Rand herself, so she has the floor:

I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows.
This—the supremacy of reason—was, is and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism.
Let's begin!
Scott Connery presents Would a Debt Default Really be the End of the World? posted at Rational Public Radio, saying, "President Obama is warning that the US will default on it's debt if the Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling. The Republicans are demanding a balanced budget amendment in return for for raising the ceiling.

Has anyone stopped to consider if a default would be as awful as everyone paints it?"



Ross England presents Netflix the Bully posted at Think Twice, saying, "I comment on the recent uproar over the increase in Netflix subscription prices and who of those involved, if anyone, is a bully."



David Masten presents On Moral Duty and the Categorical Imperative posted at Blazing Truth, saying, "A satire on Ayn Rand's intellectual foe, Immanuel Kant, and his ideas of transcendental idealism and the categorical imperative. Establishing a rational morality with life as a standard of value is essential for man."
David later changed the title of his post to the following:
"Insight on the Kantian Categorical Imperative from an O'ist perspective and the rational necessity of holding a principled morality"



Edward Cline presents All in the Islamic Family posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "Violence, or the threat of it, is the only way Islam can spread – unless the West abandons the values of freedom and individualism."



Toby Selwyn presents Why You Don’t Have the Right to a Minimum Wage « One for One posted at One for One, saying, "My take on one aspect of government interferance in economics, the minimum wage."



evanescent presents UK Government dictates acceptable lifestyle to citizens posted at evanescent.



David C Lewis, RFA presents 401(k) Breakdown: An Incentive For What? posted at A Revolution In Financial Planning, saying, ""I think the real incentive of 401(k) plans is to get you to defer money into an investment account through government-created tax loopholes. Why would they do this? Well...""



Jared Rhoads presents Government-backed CO-OPs stunt innovation posted at The Lucidicus Project, saying, "Over $3.8 billion was appropriated by the Affordable Care Act to loan to create CO-OPs. The worst part isn't the wasted money but the further entrenchment of government in health insurance."



Rachel Miner presents For the love of learning posted at The Playful Spirit, saying, "A few minutes of sheer joy for those who want to see a kid fully enthusiastic about learning something new and gaining esteem. (This is in the same genre as the kid learning to ride a bike video.)"


Ari Armstrong presents Smearing Ayn Rand (Again) posted at Free Colorado, saying, "Al Lewis takes some unfair swipes against Ayn Rand. I review the relevant facts."



Jason Stotts presents Formspring: When is Sex Appropriate? posted at Erosophia, saying, "When is it appropriate to start having sex in a new relationship? That is the reader question I address this week on Erosophia."


Santiago and Kelly Valenzuela presents Public Meeting in Denver posted at Mother of Exiles, saying, "Santiago went to a public meeting about immigration here in Denver and reports on the events."


Diana Hsieh presents Video: What's Wrong with the Ideal of Moderation posted at NoodleFood, saying, "Shouldn't we sometimes act on an ideal of moderation? I explain why not in this video from my webcast."


Earl Parson presents Forget the Tea Party, I Want to Start the Lemonade Party posted at Creatures of Prometheus, saying, "There seems to be an epidemic of local governments cracking down on front-yard lemonade stands. It's getting rather distressing to keep seeing links in my facebook and twitter feeds to these horrifying stories. I've given some thought to the issue, and I think its some of the best political writing I've done in a while."


Paul Hsieh presents Stress vs. Time Vacation Chart posted at GeekPress, saying, "I think we're all familiar with this!"


Jenn Casey presents Lemonade for Freedom Day: August 20 posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "While we're planning to participate in "Lemonade for Freedom Day" on August 20."


Jenn Casey presents Learning about the Virtues. Every Single Day. posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "Opportunities to discuss and learn about the virtues happen all the time."


Scott Connery presents It's Time to End Public School posted at Rational Public Radio, saying, "Government schooling just doesn't make sense at any level. It under performs and is more expensive than the private alternative. Oh, and it is a government force backed monopoly which would qualify it as distasteful even if it worked well."


Earl Parson presents Touring Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building at COS MiniCon posted at Creatures of Prometheus, saying, "I'm thrilled to have arranged for a special tour of Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building as part of the Chicago Objectivist Society's upcoming MiniCon. Find out all about the tour, which includes many beautiful Sullivan spaces not generally open to the public."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Objectivist Round Up using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

More delays in the Objectivist Round-Up

[Friday update] I'm sorry folks, there is no round up as of yet. I never received an email from Blog Carnival with any links. I'm  working on fixing what I have, but it may be the weekend before anything is posted, if at all.
Clearly, the folks at the BlogCarnival site itself are not proficient at what they do.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Delay in Blog Carnival

So far, all week, I haven't received any emails showing OBlogger members posts to include in the Carnival. The Blog Carnival  site itself is not all that dependable. It seems every time I try to host the Carnival, something goes awry with them.
I'm in contact with Jenn and will hopefully have the Carnival up tomorrow morning, if not sooner.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Another Objectivist @ Forbes.com

In case you're unaware, Richard Salsman has his own column at Forbes now. I've long admired him and encourage you to visit.

Richard Salsman

The Objectivist Round Up!

Welcome to The Objectivist Roundup, a weekly blog carnival featuring the best blog posts on any topic written by Objectivist bloggers.

Objectivism is Ayn Rand's philosophy of this-worldly reason, egoism, and capitalism.  Ayn Rand is the author of the epic novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  As she explained:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. ("About the Author," Atlas Shrugged)
Here is this week's edition of The Objectivist Roundup:

Joshua John M. Lipana presents American Thinker Blog: Sam Harris Versus the Self-Made Man posted at American Thinker, saying, ""Harris has continuously claimed to be an advocate of reason when it is precisely man using his rational faculty to enjoy life that he sets himself against.""

John McVey presents Simultaneous concretisation posted at John J McVey, saying, "We have the technology. Thank you, Miss Rand!"

Edward Cline presents Lara Logan and the Drooling Beast posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "In the aftermath of the abduction, rape and beating of Lara Logan, CBS foreign correspondent, in Cairo on February 11th during the “celebrations” in Tahrir Square over the resignation of Hosni Mubarak as head of Egypt’s government, the news media and the web have been buzzing with accounts and recollections of how dangerous it is for especially women journalists to cover events in so-called “hot spots.”"

Gene Palmisano presents Enter the Theocrats posted at The Metaphysical Lunch, saying, "The pathological lie that democracy is synonymous with freedom."

Paul Hsieh presents The Wisconsin Protests and the New Medical Ethics posted at We Stand FIRM, saying, "My latest OpEd at PajamasMedia discussed the Wisconsin doctors who signed fake "sick" notes for political ends, and the relationship to a dangerous new form of ethics being taught to medical students."

Ari Armstrong presents Grand Junction Could Use Some Common Sense Economics posted at Free Colorado, saying, "City governments should not run recreational businesses such as golf courses."

David C Lewis, RFA presents Whole Life Policy Returns posted at A Revolution In Financial Planning, saying, "I take another look at a financial product that usually puts people to sleep: life insurance! (did the exclamation point help keep you awake at all?) I approach this usually dry subject from a slightly different perspective, give a brief history of the product and discuss some of the implications of investment returns associated with the policy's built-in cash reserve."

C.W. presents Treasury Grab of Retirment Assets: So Far posted at Krazy Economy, saying, "Update.  Hearings in September ignored rights issues.  Keep your eye on the government's plans for your savings."

Jason Stotts presents Quirkyalone posted at Erosophia, saying, "A reader asks about being "quirkyalone," a new relationship movement that advises people to wait to enter relationships until they find the right person, and my analysis of it."

Ryan Krause presents More About Unions posted at The Money Speech, saying, "A closer look at the proposed right-to-work law in Indiana that is causing so much fuss."

Stella presents Enforced paid maternity leave? No, thank you. posted at ReasonPharm, saying, "Forcing companies to offer paid maternity leave is a terrible idea."

Rachel Miner presents Experimenting. Parenting. Part Two. posted at The Playful Spirit, saying, "Experiment number two!  I share another success of how I've been able to remove limits that were so essential for my son's success when younger.  I imagine that this process intensifies as kids get older. I need all the practice I can get with removing limits, as does my kiddo.  How can a child make the more vital choices well if they haven't had the practice of trial and error with choices when younger?"

Rational Jenn presents Education Bills in the Georgia State Legislature posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "A couple of bills in the GA state senate open up the possibility of allowing homeschoolers to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools. I am opposed to such legislation for many reasons."

Rational Jenn presents Mini-Podcast: SnowCon Preview posted at Jenn Casey and Kelly Elmore, saying, "***NOTE TO HOST: Please list "Jenn Casey and Kelly Elmore" as the authors and "Cultivating the Virtues" as the blog name. Blog Carnival usually screws this up, sorry! Thanks!*** If you'd like to know a bit about our SnowCon talk, listen to our preview!"

Rational Jenn presents ATLOSCon Schedule posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "ATLOSCon 2011 will be held in Atlanta over Memorial Weekend (May 26 - 30). Our schedule is up, check it out!"

Michael Labeit presents Inflationism and Social Unrest posted at Michael Labeit at EconomicPolicyJournal.com.
You can submit your blog article to the next edition of The Objectivist Roundup using this submission form.  Past posts and future hosts can be found here.  If you're an Objectivist blogger, you can get weekly reminders to submit to the carnival by subscribing to OBloggers @ OList.com.

The Objectivist Roundup is delayed

I am unable to post this week's roundup due to html errors that I cannot decipher at this time. Hopefully, Jenn will step in and have the roundup  posted before much longer......

I apologize to all who have submitted articles and hope to figure out these glitches in the near future for other hosting dates.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Another Solid Snowfall During the Night

I was outside @ 7am looking at a solid 15 inches of new snow. On top of the record snowfall for January here, that's a lot of snow!
Took two hours to clear it out, and I still didn't get to my car!! Oh well. At least I don't have to go to work till noonish.....

Here Comes another GOP/Conservative 'Sucker Punch'

The House Republicans' first major technology initiative is about to be unveiled: a push to force Internet companies to keep track of what their users are doing.

GOP Pushes ISP's to track data

Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

It pays to know your neighbors

Last weekend our washing machine gave out after 11 years of use. Not bad, really. So naturally, we went price shopping at Sears and Best Buy to look for an affordable new washer and found two that we were strongly considering. Well the next day a neighbor, who has recently moved in to the house caddy-corner across the street mentioned that the previous owner left both their relatively new washer and dryer behind and for them they were just 'taking up space' and would I like the washer?! I said I'd be happy to look it over and did so last night. It looks only two or so years old and just needs to be cleaned up a bit. Otherwise it's practically new, so yes, I'll take a shot with a Whirlpool washer that's hardly been used, and free.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

In Love with Frederich Hayek

This is a cute YouTube video I found @ Virginia Postrel's site. Check it out...

In Love with Frederich Hayek

20 inches and counting...

Well, I got up @ 7:40am to try and clear out the snow. I'm back in at 10:10am from using my little blower and shoveling. Not ashamed to say I'm soaked and more than a bit tired. Still snowing at a slow and steady clip. Later I gotta go out and clean off my car to go to work!#$$%$%^@^

LOL

Friday, January 07, 2011

How I was introduced to Objectivism

This is my first post of the new year and the first attempt to write about how I came to Objectivism, so bare with me.
Imagine in the early 1970's, a not very good looking teenager driving around alone at night in his 1969 327 Camaro. I vividly recall one night driving around and lamenting my life and future. Here I am a high school grad and saying out loud to myself, "I need to learn how to think." I knew then as a struggling 19 year old, (I graduated HS at 17), that something was missing, and I also knew that government schooling was not providing the answers I needed.(I also knew that going to college right after HS was not going to serve me well, even though my dad put lots of pressure on me to do so). Sadly, many years go by and all I'm reading at the time are the sports page and the occasional magazine. Alas, having moved to Nashville, Tennessee from those school days in Arkansas, I'm still functioning at a very low level, just working menial job's and scraping by. Living in Nashville a short while, I walk into a music store and strike up a conversation with one of the salesmen about music and bands. We became friends and after a few months, he says to me, "I've got something you should look at."  He brings me The Fountainhead and says he'd like me to read it.
Well, that was in March of 1979. After reading it for a day or two, I went out and bought my own copy and anything else I could find of Miss Rand's. I carried my copy around in my back pocket for weeks, reading it in snatches. To me, The Fountainhead was like Linus's security blanket. Hell, I even went to bed with it next to my pillow.
For years, everything I had been seeking, thinking about and not able to put in to that many words were flowing out of those pages and into my mind.
I've never looked back.
Oh, and yeah, I wish I still had that Camaro!