SherryTX

Sherry, I just clicked on the link above and wanted to mention that there is an endorsement in the right column which mentions Ron Paul. I have no particular advice to give you regarding your daughter who I understand is nine. I have met people with the diagnosis of Aspergers who were grown and have no experience with children with that diagnosis. I did read sci fi as an early teen. Actually enjoyed Isaac Asimov's books of which there are over 300. He certainly was naturalistically oriented and his books are exceedingly factual about virtually everything. Which ones would depend on her particular curiosity, planets, chemistry, you name it. I enjoyed Sir James Jeans on astronomy and George Gaylord Simpson on evolution, although there are many more up to date books on those subjects, e.g. Stephen Jay Gould whose columns from Nature were published in a number of collections. On the Ron Paul thing, he is an avid advocate of the Constitution but what comes to mind are the books on American History of the revolutionary period, David Hackett Fisher's book on Paul Revere's Ride; April Morning by Howard Fast; The Crossing about Washington crossing the Deleware to defeat the Hessians in Trenton; The Battle of Bunker Hill, not to mention Thomas Paine's Common Sense. All those mentioned might be best in a couple of years or more. There is a group called Young Americans for Liberty with groups on a growing number of campuses including high schools. I suppose the home schooling network might have a group someday. www.YALiberty.org You would find Ron Paul as their hero there too. I think it is wonderful that your daughter will have the opportunity to grow with your guidance and without the clutter and obstacles of public schooling which I endured and so many of us had to contend with. Forgive me if I post my little update on the membership growth of the www.campaignforliberty.com 4Mar 6PM 105690, 8PM 105699; 7MAR 105941 Enjoy! gulch Thanks for the link. I do have Paine's The Age of Reason - I believe I have Common Sense on my computer. We probably won't get to American History for a while, since we are still in PreHistory at the moment.

I recently bought Nathaniel Branden's cd lecture set through the TAS bookstore (YAY for the deep discounts they were offering since they are clearing out their book store - or else I would have had to wait several more months to save up for it!). I have gone through the first few lectures, and just finished up "The Nature of God" lecture. So far, it is a really great series of lectures. I have been listening to them in the car as a taxi the family around and do errands, since I seem to spend my life as a taxi driver lately it makes me feel like I am making good use of the time haha. On another note, I am almost finished with his book "The Six Pillars of Self Esteem". Phenomenal! I wish this was required reading for every parent and teacher. I admit that when I bought the book I thought to myself "Well, I won't learn anything new here, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce what I already know." I was surprised there were quite a few things that I hadn't thought of before that he points out. I won't go into details, as those details would fall under the topic "too much information", but I can truly state that this book has helped me clarify a few things in my personal life that I hadn't really thought of in depth. (I found his book at HalfPrice, but I think I am going to call around the other HalfPrice bookstores and see if anyone else has a copy so I can have a spare to lend out to a few of my relatives.) Anyway, I know many here have listened to the lectures, and has read this book. But for those that haven't, I really think both are worth the time and money.

I regret I wasn't able to make this - I was hit hard by the flu the whole week, and was unable to go. Two of my friends did go, and said it was well worth the drive down to Austin. I am curious if anyone here was able to go and what your impression was?

Ahh....okay - I think I was viewing your post about using Google Alerts from the reader end - looks like you are talking about how to use it from the marketing end?

Michael's suggestions are worth noting. I have used Google alerts for years to keep tabs on subjects and/or businesses. It is very handy. But yes - I suggest once per day as well, or you could be over loaded with emails several times a day.

I rather enjoyed listening to him on AM radio when I was a kid - and sometimes even as an adult would try to find a station every now and then that would air him. I think it is a true loss - and he and his wife contributed a great deal to radio news.

Here is the website for the Tea Party Movement: http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/

I have a friend that is attending in NYC, and may fly out to the one in Chicago later this summer. Her daughter is taking part in one in Houston, and I was invited through FaceBook to one that took place in Dallas on Friday. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it, but would like to in the future. I think it would be interesting to see how this develops.

The only thing I am shocked about here is that I didn't notice anyone from Berkley participating in this conference on the list.

rest assured, in her case it is kept in the basement... :ike: :yes: OHHHHH SNAP!

Well, I have boxes of old paperwork when I had my own business, plus bills, tax returns, etc. I will just get one of those "Bill Nye The Science Guy" paper recycling kits at Walmart for $10 and make our OWN toilet paper haha. Or maybe I could order a paper copy of the Spending Bill and Bailout bills that they passed and just save THAT for toilet paper, should the revolution come. Of course, if they appoint Sheryl Crowe the Czar of Toilet Paper, than it is time to move to Grand Cayman Islands......

Wow. Okay - personally, I rarely buy paper towels any more - too much garbage and a waste of money. I have purchased several extra rags/clothes for this purpose. Also, we don't buy paper napkins; I buy cheap cloth ones when they are on sale, and have a bunch of cheap bandannas I got at WalMart for a buck each for this purpose. BUT - I will NEVER stop buying toilet paper. That is over a line haha - seriously, my mom used clothe diapers a lot (yuck) and I get that - but damn - cloth toilet paper? Might as well live in a cave haha. I would give up the internet, my cell phone, and electricity before I gave up toilet paper.

I saw this over there as well, and consided posting a response that this wasn't the case. However, I thought better of it because I figure those that care to confirm it can do so. I enjoy reading Noodlefood from time to time, but I realize that the general audience that makes comments over there are usually slanted against TAS. Why stoke the fire. However, if I see people comment on it on the two other related Oist forums I belong to, I will gladly share the clarification.

Well, I am taking advantage - just ordered the cds for Basic Principles of Objectivism.

I agree with Brant. Very good indeed! Do keep staying up late. Barbara Wow - that is an interesting and eloquent way to put it I think. Thank you for all the responses. I am probably projecting a bit too much on my son because I wished I found Objectivism when I was his age or at least in my early 20s - you know - the whole parents wanting better for their kid, etc. etc. Maybe I am being impatient. And yes - I am grateful he is housebroken! While I would like to sit in on his class, that isn't feasible right now, (and I don't think he would be cool with that haha). However, he is willing to talk to me a bit about what he is learning so any time the opportunity presents itself to talk about religion in general I jump on it.

Up until a few days ago, I was pretty much convinced that most people that were not already atheists or at least agnostic - or at the very least having serious doubts about God and religion - probably were not ones that I would try to discuss Objectivism with in depth. Rand's fiction, absolutely - but I am usually very careful before jumping from discussing her novels to jumping into the philosophy. That is not to say I didn't think they were unworthy or anything - it has just been my experience that it has been hard to talk about Objectivism with those that are religious or have a belief in God or the supernatural. (A lot, no doubt, because I am still wet behind the ears in explaining it.) I think I have made a mistake here; without out realizing it, I have been saying to myself that Objectivist principles declare that there is no God or supernatural. My husband and I started discussing this the other night. The reason it came up is because our 18 year old son is reluctant to learn anything more about the philosophy. He has admitted that all three of us get a long a bit better since we have been studying it, and he has admitted that it has had some (to him) positive changes in our lives. He also agrees with a good bit of it regarding personal responsibility, not sacrificing yourself for others etc. However, we did something I think many people new to a subject they are excited about do: we ended up trying to shove him into it - and didn't take it slow, etc. So of course, that is one reason he is a bit adverse to it. The other reason, which seems to be the biggest factor, is that he doesn't like the fact that it rules out any possibility of the supernatural or god. He is someone you could refer to as agnostic. Before I met my husband, I raised him as a single parent until he was almost 8 years old, and religion was a very very important part of our life. So although we have been out of it for 10 years, I am sure it wasn't easy on him. Anyway - back to the conversation with my husband. He stated something that I don't think I really considered. He said that the REASON that Objectivists don't believe in God or the supernatural is because there is no PROOF that there is God or the supernatural. And that one that makes a study of the philosophy and understands it will truly take into consideration the facts, and come to the conclusion that there is NO proof that will support God on any kind of supernatural phenomena. And in fact if there ever were actual scientific proof that God did exist, than it would not be contrary to Objectivism because everything has to be based on objective reality and solid facts. It wouldn't change the philosophy. (Not that either one of us thinks this will happen of course!) I have been revisiting conversations in my head that I have had with my son over the last year about this subject. I need to come up with a way to express this to him that I do not believe in God or the supernatural because I do not believe there is proof to support it - but that while that has been my conclusion and most of our friends that study the philosophy it is NOT a reason to reject looking into the philosophy further. As I see it now (and please correct me here if I am mistaken) is that becoming an atheist can be the direct result of applying Objectivist principles. He has read Anthem, The Fountainhead - he isn't interested in reading Atlas nor any of Ayn Rand's essays. He is making an honest effort on his own to have his questions answered. He is currently taking a comparative religion class - which I think is a great idea. (Actually, I would love to take a class like that as well as a few philosophy classes because I find both religion and philosophy interesting in general.) So my question here is do you have any advice on how I can convey this to him? I don't want to make the same mistake, and have him feel like I am shoving something down his throat. However, I also feel somewhat of an urgency for him to look deeper, and not just on the surface of the philosophy. I feel as though I have done him a great disservice, and am compelled to correct it as soon as possible - but the right way this time! Any thoughts, advice, etc are appreciated.

The link is to an article entitled "Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for Weeks Due to Faulty Sensor " Is that the one you meant to link to? Thanks!

Yes - I believe JD Roth, the writing, reads and likes to both of those quite a bit, and may even have those writers do guest posts from time to time. I like it because he doesn't push a one stragety fits all approach - ie., how some people are died hard snowball fans (Dave Ramsey) and some are die hard pay off highest interest rate first, or you have to "sacrifice" your true pleasures and values and become a miser to become financially successful. To me financial success means being able to sustain a lifestyle that you allows you to chase your true values without killing yourself. That is different things for different people. (By "killing yourself" I don't mean hard work. I mean the whole keeping up the Joneses, but being able to truly balance one's time and energy to attain their life they want.) Have you ever read "Your Money Or Your Life"? I read this back in the 90s and it really opened up a lot of new ideas and things I hadn't previously thought of. I bought an updated version a few years ago, but since I had started studying Objectivism, I had a little bit of a hard time ignoring the altruistic them. However, if you can ignore it, there is a lot of good stuff in the book. I hope someday someone writes a version of this book without out the altruistic over tones.

Yeah - they are moving pretty quickly. A few of my friends have already signed up for Tea Party Events.

Sherry, I lived for over 30 years in Brazil. When I left, this phrase was not in use. On my return (a little over 4 years ago), I have heard this sporadically. It always brings a smile to my face. (Now that's an odd expression... It is a common one, but I wonder if you can smile anywhere else but your face... Oops! there's a smiley, so I guess you can... ) I find the phrase, "it's all good" delightful. I always take it as a sense-of-life statement of value. A small nugget of the American spirit. It expresses exactly the way I feel about living and loving. Michael Cool beans. =)

No worries! =) It's all good. The debating here seems pretty healthy. Much tamer (and more mature) than most of the other O'ist boards I have been on. I take it all with a grain of salt. You do make a good point about calling before posting about it. I hadn't thought about that.

Thanks!

Dover "Seacoast Area" - worked in Portsmouth. I used to work at an home made ice cream place called Strafford Farms in Dover as a teenager - I went up there last year and had a cone -still as good as ever. Though, I may be biased haha. Texas definitely has better Mexican food though.

I am not sure - but sometimes NH seemed like a suburb of Boston, since so many people worked in MA and lived in NH. It seemed to uphold the Live Free or Die thing more when I was a kid - but again, I was a kid.

Okay - yeah - I do have a phone. It's been my experience when I call a business directly and say - Hey I heard a rumor that you are closing, what's going on? I don't am told something like they haven't heard about that, they don't confirm things like that except in press releases yadda yadda. (I have done this before several times actually, when trying to follow up leads on companies closing down and laying off.) I was asking here because I thought that perhaps there were people officially connected with TAS that read this message board that may what to clear it up officially. It's isn't about getting a life - it is about respecting proper channels when possible so that mis-information is not spread further by accident. This isn't making charges - this is seeking actual FACTS. I am not trying to push anything negative about TAS, and I think it would be a shame if this is more than just them revamping their bookstore or bookstore vendor or whatever. I don't know whom I would contact at TAS that could give an official answer. What's wrong with asking for someone with authority to comment on this?