MLM

This is more behavior modification: If only everyone would stop driving to work or to shop for groceries. If only they would stop drilling for oil and natural gas. BO is not stupid. The tax will put some producers out of business. And when prices go back up, the tax will keep consumers from buying.

​That's a good example. I think George would be a brilliant Hamilton on the stage. He knows federalist types so well, having countered every argument they've ever made. I have a number of thoughts on the presidential race, but topiary is what I really have on my mind. For many years I have been a member of a garden club. We meet monthly from September to June. The Garden Club met today and we discussed topiary; in particular, the practice of shaping and pruning plants around metal forms so that they look like animals, people, buildings, and the like. I bring it up here because at least two philosophers have found topiary alarming enough to argue against. Alexander Pope wrote a letter to The Guardian (September 29, 1713) specifically to ridicule the practice as perverse. He wrote: "We seem to make it our study to recede from Nature, not only in the various tonsure of greens into the most regular and formal hopes, but even in monstrous attempts beyond the reach of art itself; we run into sculpture, and are yet better to have our trees in the most awkward figures of men and animals, than in the most regular of their own." Pope goes on to say that "persons of genius, and those who are most capable of art, are always most fond of Nature; as such are chiefly sensible that all art consists in the imitation and study of Nature." In his essay "On Liberty," John Stuart Mill also takes aim at topiary: "In some such insidious form there is at present a strong tendency to this narrow theory of life [i.e., Calvinism], and to the pinched and hidebound type of human character which it patronizes. Many persons, no doubt sincerely think that human beings thus cramped and dwarfed, are as their Maker designed them to be; just as many have thought that trees are a much finer thing when clipped into pollards, or cut out into figures of animals, than as nature made them." Would Rand have dismissed topiary as decorative, or would she have argued explicitly against it? Does she mention it anywhere? One of the things I admire most about her is her willingness to weigh in on everything. Frank O'Conner liked to garden. They must have discussed it. MLM

Michael is so right about this. But almost as bad is the problem of getting an *under*extended thingie to *not* stop. And in general, it's a challenge to get thingies to extend just the right amount and to stop at just the right time. Reb! I should mention that the theme music in the video I just posted was composed by Roger. (Marilyn and I used that theme in all of our YouTube videos.) Roger sent the music file within a few days after my initial email, and his price was very reasonable--considerably less, actually, than I expected. The music file was ready to use; all I had to do was insert it into the video editor. I am mentioning this in case other OLers plan on making their own videos. To use original music adds class to any video and gives it a more professional feel. So I encourage other potential video makers to ask Roger what he can do for them. His asking price will probably be more affordable than you might think, and he will send the music for your approval, so you won't be stuck with music that you don't care for. Ghs ​That music has been in my head the last few days. Maybe it's time to make another video, George. We could talk about the new ATCAG. MLM (I had to go back and edit in my signature. So much for witty repartee. Obviously, it is going to take a little while for me to move in and get comfortable here, but I'm looking forward to it. )

Reading these comments makes me wish I had stayed up a little later, but as a composition teacher, I lead by example, which means I have to be awake during the day. Many students don't understand this, and it is an uphill battle. Do I get a share of George's finders fee? Fresh mete?

My name is Marilyn Moore. I just joined Objectivist Living on the recommendation of George H. Smith, my dear friend and partner in life. Recently I have been introducing him to my friends, and he has asked me to meet some of his. For years George has told me about the people involved with OL--about their intelligence, their perspicacity, and their sense of humor. He considers you his friends, and he thinks that I would benefit from your society, as well as have something to contribute. Anyway, I have taken his advice. By way of some personal background, I teach composition at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. I am an avid gardener and reader and have also co-edited a book with George, Individualism: A Reader, published by Libertarianism.org. George has assured me that no one will attack me for at least a month, and he also told me that it will take at least three months before I get dragged into a pointless flamewar. This should give me plenty of time to adapt to this new environment. MLM