[George H. Smith]

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

[Selene]

Brant Gaede, on 04 February 2010 - 11:12 PM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

But of course, that is the only place I post.

Adam
resident follower of resident narcissist

[George H. Smith]

Brant Gaede, on 04 February 2010 - 11:12 PM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

Brant,

I must have missed your last 2000 posts, at least. Could you summarize them in 100 words or less?

Ghs

[galtgulch]

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

Ghs,

If you are the very same george h. smith who wrote Atheism: The Case Against God, I want to thank you for that. Not to mention the "other heresies" book as well.

I wonder just what subjects you would find interesting if intelligently discussed?

I would like to know what other sites you explore to find such?

Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty site has three new featured articles daily. www.campaignforliberty.com

Just discovered www.zerohedge.com so cannot vouch but it has a manifesto which is inspiring

I imagine you already know about www.mises.org and www.cafehayek.com

www.fff.org and their monthly Freedom Daily is appealing.

www.adamwhys.com is a favorite of mine.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Hey George!

Come on, now. Tell the truth.

You got an OL spam message from a hot-sounding chick and it caught your interest.



Here's something you might be interested in. Robert Campbell is giving the orthos a hard time by transcribing what Rand really said in her Q&A sessions against what was published in Ayn Rand Answers. See here: The Rewrite Squad.

It's ugly for the dark side.

Also, I posted your Xmas balls good cheer in your corner. It got some views, but not many comments...



Here are some other items you might like:

Discussion of Anne Heller's book

Discussion of Jennifer Burns's book

SLOP/Perigo bashing at its finest

The weirdest nitpickiing and misunderstanding crusade I have ever encountered online

Be careful with this last one. Before I caught the person of interest, she had managed to alter a whole slew of her earlier posts to conform with her later arguments. But even with the changes, the thread is one of the wonders of the modern world. If you manage to get all the way through it, you will have an uncontrollable urge to sit naked in a darkened subway station getting drunk on rubbing alcohol and pretending you are Napoleon Bonaparte playing a banjo.

At the present, I'm on a Glenn Beck kick (see here and here). So that might be offensive enough to stoke curiosity...



As to the rest, you just gotta look around.

Good to see you.

Michael

[George H. Smith]

Michael Stuart Kelly, on 05 February 2010 - 07:00 AM, said:

Hey George!

Come on, now. Tell the truth.

You got an OL spam message from a hot-sounding chick and it caught your interest.



Michael,

You mean to say that "Miss Joy" is not on the up-and-up? Sounds like a good Objectivist name to me. How disappointing.

"I look forward to hear from you soonest." I thought maybe Nigerians had taken over Objectivist Living.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 08:02 AM, said:

I thought maybe Nigerians had taken over Objectivist Living.

George,

Senegaleses.

The IP is from Dakar in Senegal.

Probably a dude, though.

In my Black Hat excursions, this is called e-whoring (a dude pretending he is a woman and flirting with other dudes to make a sting). Believe it or not, e-whoring is the technical name of the practice.



Michael

[George H. Smith]

Michael Stuart Kelly, on 05 February 2010 - 08:12 AM, said:

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 08:02 AM, said:

I thought maybe Nigerians had taken over Objectivist Living.

George,

Senegaleses.

The IP is from Dakar in Senegal.

Probably a dude, though.

In my Black Hat excursions, this is called e-whoring (a dude pretending he is a woman and flirting with other dudes to make a sting). Believe it or not, e-whoring is the technical name of the practice.



Michael

Michael,

I belong to an excellent jazz list (JazzWestCoast) on Yahoo. Some months ago a member posted this spoof of Nigerian scam emails:

Dear Friends,

My name is Ndugood. I am a wealthy Nigerian prince who loves the jazz of
music. I am seeking your help to move $200,000,000 from my checking
account here in Nigeria to the United States. I too love the jazz of
music and am planning to flee to America to open many jazz clubs at
which I would like you to perform. You will receive $42,000 a night,
plus a meal. My new "Tribal Village Vanguard" clubs will be of great
success and you will become rich like the rest of American jazz
musicians. I have already applied for building code exemptions to allow
thatched stages and the spearing of live animals.

But I desperately need your help.

My tribe, the Swindlisi, a peaceful jazz-loving people, has been
horribly oppressed by the ruling military junta, which despises the jazz
of music. My father, an exiled king and booking agent, was recently
imprisoned under the Draconian "three gigs you're out" law. And now I
must flee my beloved country with all of my improbable wealth. But I
need help in moving it. I have so much money that it will not fit in the
allotted two checked bags and one carry-on. I am therefore want to
transfer the money through your ATM system. (The Nigerian ATM system
cannot exchange international currencies; it only converts "antelope to
money"). So please to just provide me with your full name and address,
social security number, bank account and PIN numbers. And you will
become incredibly (literally) rich from playing many jazz gigs.
(Note--normal Nigerian Musician's Union rules apply: three hour
performances, two 15 minute breaks allowed, musicians to provide their
own mosquito nets, one open fire per bandstand, one free meal plus
anything you kill).

Act now. The first ten musicians to respond will receive a free copy of
the Nigeria 's Greatest Jazz Hits CD, by our beloved 'Disoriented'
Gillespie Band, which contains the hits:

· The Night Has A Thousand Flies

· Goodbye Shrunken Head

· Here's That Rainy Season

· Just Tribesmen (Lovers No More)

· Take the 'A' Trail

· When I Fall In Quicksand

· Half-Nelson Mandela

· Blue Monkey

· Leopard Skins and Moonbeams

· Blue Mombossa

· Almost Like Being In Lagos

· Sunny Side of the Goatpath

· I Didn't Know What Century It Was

Thank you for your many help. Your inordinately wealthy Nigerian brother,


Prince Ndugood

[Merlin Jetton]

When I read Miss Joy's message here, it looked like it might be a romance scam. I personally know somebody who was duped this way.

George, hi and welcome.

[George H. Smith]

Michael Stuart Kelly, on 05 February 2010 - 07:00 AM, said:

At the present, I'm on a Glenn Beck kick (see here and here). So that might be offensive enough to stoke curiosity...

Michael,

Beck has been a topic of conversation several times on Atlantis II, including over the last several days, and I've generally defended him. I scanned the Beck posts on OL, and I may join in that conversation.

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 02:27 AM, said:

Brant Gaede, on 04 February 2010 - 11:12 PM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

Brant,

I must have missed your last 2000 posts, at least. Could you summarize them in 100 words or less?

Ghs

Yes, but that would expose me as a charlatan.

--Brant

[George H. Smith]

Merlin Jetton, on 05 February 2010 - 08:41 AM, said:

When I read Miss Joy's message here, it looked like it might be a romance scam. I personally know somebody who was duped this way.

George, hi and welcome.

Merlin,

Thanks.

I mean no offense, but I hope the romance scam email that duped your friend was better done than the one by "Miss Joy." If not, I would feel compelled to use the R-word, and that might bring the wrath of Sarah Palin down on my head.

Ghs

[Merlin Jetton]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 09:04 AM, said:

I mean no offense, but I hope the romance scam email that duped your friend was better done than the one by "Miss Joy." If not, I would feel compelled to use the R-word, and that might bring the wrath of Sarah Palin down on my head.

None taken. But "friend" doesn't fit. I don't know for sure, but it likely started in a chat room or on a dating site.

[George H. Smith]

galtgulch, on 05 February 2010 - 05:29 AM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

Ghs,

If you are the very same george h. smith who wrote Atheism: The Case Against God, I want to thank you for that. Not to mention the "other heresies" book as well.

I wonder just what subjects you would find interesting if intelligently discussed?

I would like to know what other sites you explore to find such?

Yes, I am the very same George H. Smith who wrote ATCAG -- at least to the extent that I think of myself as the same person at age 61 (in five days) that I was at age 23, when I wrote ATCAG.

I find almost any subject interesting if it is intelligently discussed.

I will probably become more active on OL. For nearly a decade now, I have been a very active member of the Yahoo list Atlantis II. I also post regularly on the Yahoo list JazzWestCoast. I am not a musician, at least not for many years now, but I have been a jazz buff since my high school days. Other than Roger Bissell and Chris Sciabarra, I don't know any other Objectivist types who like jazz. I find this curious in a way, since jazz is individualism incarnate in music. Indeed, one often finds discussions of cultural individualism in histories of jazz.

I am tinkering -- on and off, as I can find the time -- on a lengthy article with the working title "Jazz Versus the State."

In addition, I finished a new book around a year ago -- "Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism" -- that was recently accepted for publication by Cambridge University Press. Unfortunately, I am still working on the final revisions, so it will be a while before the book sees the light of print.

Before being interrupted with that tedious task, I was working on yet another book, "Where Our Freedom Came From and How We Lost It." I will pick that up later, hopefully.

Ghs

[George H. Smith]

Brant Gaede, on 05 February 2010 - 09:02 AM, said:

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 02:27 AM, said:

Brant Gaede, on 04 February 2010 - 11:12 PM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

Brant,

I must have missed your last 2000 posts, at least. Could you summarize them in 100 words or less?

Ghs

Yes, but that would expose me as a charlatan.

--Brant

Brant,

I will bite my tongue this time, but if you persist in feeding me juicy setup lines, I will not be responsible, owing to my lack of will power, for how I might respond in the future.

Ghs

[Selene]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 10:07 AM, said:

Brant Gaede, on 05 February 2010 - 09:02 AM, said:

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 02:27 AM, said:

Brant Gaede, on 04 February 2010 - 11:12 PM, said:

George H. Smith, on 04 February 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I haven't visited this site in a long time. Where are the more interesting discussions taking place?

Ghs

That's easy: check out the threads I post on.

--Brant
resident narcissist

Brant,

I must have missed your last 2000 posts, at least. Could you summarize them in 100 words or less?

Ghs

Yes, but that would expose me as a charlatan.

--Brant

Brant,

I will bite my tongue this time, but if you persist in feeding me juicy setup lines, I will not be responsible, owing to my lack of will power, for how I might respond in the future.

Ghs

Ghs:

Welcome back to contributing to OL.

If you would like to give free rein to your non-tongue biting - check out the Not So Soft Drink thread - New not so "Soft" Drink

Adam

This post has been edited by Selene: 05 February 2010 - 02:08 PM

[George H. Smith]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 09:47 AM, said:

I am not a musician, at least not for many years now, but I have been a jazz buff since my high school days.

An addendum...

Some sense of my taste in music can be had by viewing the music videos that I have uploaded, under the nick smikro1, on YouTube.

The two most recent, both uploaded within the past day, can be found at:


Warren Vache Plays "Over the Rainbow"

and


Shorty Rogers and His Giants - "If I Only Had a Brain"

In case it isn't obvious from these two tunes, Harold Arlen is my favorite American composer.

My most elaborate jazz video, and the one that has received the greatest number of hits by far, is Part 2 of my "Stories of Jazz":


A Famous Solo by Paul Gonsalves

The extensive text that accompanies this video is almost as interesting as the music itself.
Ghs

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George H. Smith, on 05 February 2010 - 09:47 AM, said:

Other than Roger Bissell and Chris Sciabarra, I don't know any other Objectivist types who like jazz.

George,

Robert Campbell is a jazz connoisseur.

I both wrote and produced some jazz stuff in Brazil.

Here are A Few Tracks from my past that I posted on OL about a year ago. At least people can listen and know that I was a real musician.

It's more jazz pop, but still jazz (except the first track which is not pop at all--er... on reflection, I think the first track fits you and one of your exes from what you wrote me a while back).

I don't do music anymore. I shrugged.

I shouldn't have. It's still painful to me.

I just re-listened to that stuff. Dayaamm, I was good! And the pain returned.

(Objectivism can be dangerous if taken in large doses...)

I intend to get back in music, but after my present Internet marketing project is finished.

Michael

[George H. Smith]

Michael,

I just noticed that I am a "VIP Member" of OL. Is this like being knighted? Should other members now refer to me as "Sir George"?

Do you have a VIP lounge? I will need it after Peter Taylor finds out that I am active on OL.

Ghs