Laure

I grew up in Pekin; the detasseling was near either Morton or Tremont, I can't remember... What town are you from, RCR?

My very first job was as a corn detasseler in central Illinois. Info

Judith, did you know her personally? If you didn't, I don't think you can claim to know how many friends she had. She could have had lots of friends that we've never heard of. And what do you mean by "a realistic vision of herself"? Her vision of herself was unrealistic how?

Judith, Francisco isn't supposed to be "realistic," he's idealized. But a person like him is not impossible - some people really are smart, skilled at business, and good at athletic or physical tasks. If you're going to portray an ideal man, shouldn't he be good at everything? As for Dagny being able to do many lower-level jobs at the railroad, I've seen this in my career. The former CEO at a software company I worked at was an electrical engineer, a software architect, and could also program circles around me in C++. I have no doubt that he could have competently handled any job at his company. But he happened to have the big-picture skills, the "vision thing," that the rest of us didn't have.

OK, if we're ranting about words we dislike, how about words that have two opposite meanings: "Cleave" - to adhere closely, stick, cling "Cleave" - to split or divide by or as by a cutting blow "Sanction" is kinda like that; a sanction can be a stamp of approval, or a punishment imposed on a rogue state.

Yeah, really Jeff, how did Rand fuck up the end of her life? By dying? By having her husband die on her and not going right out and bagging a replacement? I don't think many people go out on a high note, it's the nature of old age.

Michael, was Diana employed by TOC? Is she employed by ARI now? I'm just curious, as I don't think it's entirely fair to judge the groups she is affiliated with because of her actions. It's as if she used to live in Idaho, so we said "Man, those Idahoans are mean!" then she moves to Colorado and we say "You can't take Idaho out of the girl!" Cute scorpion story, but I don't think she "can't help it." I think it's a combination of a mindset that thinks it's immoral to be nice, and a desire to use politics to attain a position of authority in the "movement."

I don't know QM, but I've heard that QM has been applied in real technology and that it "works" so I guess it's at least partially true. I wonder if the real problem is with how people explain it, the wording they use. I would love to encounter an Objectivist Physicist who could explain QM in a way that made sense, but then, at a microscopic scale sometimes common sense doesn't seem to apply. As for Schrodinger's Cat, I don't see why we can't say "We cannot know the state of the cat until we look in the box", and NOT "The cat is both alive and dead, and the act of our looking at it causes it to become one way or the other" - which makes absolutely no sense.

No kidding, James. Lately she does little more than "jockeying for position", it seems.

Dragonfly, I just don't buy into this idea that Frank was too helpless to support himself. You seem to think he'd have been a bum on the streets without Rand, and I just don't buy it.

Well, unless the "Journals of Frank O'Connor" come to light some time, we'll never know. I would just say that it was an unusual situation, and that they were unusual people. He did stay married to her, and I would think if he was terribly hurt he would have left her.

I think that's a good analysis, Jeff.

Michael, I may be making unwarranted assumptions about Jeff's mother's views. I was assuming that she bought into the negative characterizations of Rand that appear in the press from time to time. (Authoritarian, paranoid, insane, etc, etc) If it's mostly a fear of atheism, well, the best thing is to just demonstrate by your actions that lack of religion does not equate to lack of morality. It's funny, when I was a high schooler getting into Rand, my mother's concern upon hearing that she was an atheist was, "She's not a communist, is she?" She was very relieved to learn that Rand was anti-communist. I remember later watching her Donahue Show appearances with my mom, who actually got quite a kick out of them! My dad was upset to learn that I was an atheist, but he didn't try to argue it with me; he was just upset that I'm going to Hell. :hmm:

I recommended these to someone else on this site, and I'll recommend them to you as well, Jeff. Check out "Letters of Ayn Rand" edited by Michael S. Berliner, and "Facets of Ayn Rand" by Charles and Mary Ann Sures. Try to get your mom to read them. They show Rand as a real person who had many fine qualities. Your mother has bought into the worst possible twisting of the Brandens' depictions of Rand. "Letters" especially might bring a balance to her opinion of Rand. You can hardly go 2 pages in that book without encountering an expression of gratitude or love from Rand to a letter's recipient. Another thing to point out to your mother is that you're not signing some kind of a contract that says you have to agree with everything Rand said or did! You have your own ideas.

I am one of the few people here who is "pro-PARC" to a large extent. I don't want to get into a big dispute, but I feel like I should at least say my piece. Ellen Stuttle asks, "How well would you have dealt with the situation?" I agree it was a difficult situation, but one thing I would not have done is to lie to Rand for four years!! There is a lot of blaming Rand for expecting too much of Branden, and it isn't fair. It is not her fault if she expected him to behave like a grown-up and he wasn't capable of it. I thought the cover photo was good. It is photochopped, but just to remove some people's heads and move the 2 subjects closer together so it would look better on the cover. Branden looks a bit shifty and shady, just what Valliant is trying to show in the text as well.

Reminds me of the discussion of Directive 10-289. Jim Taggart says, "There's been enough invented already -- enough for everybody's comfort -- why should they be allowed to go on inventing? Why should we permit them to blast the ground from under our feet every few steps? Why should we be kept on the go in eternal uncertainty?"

Hmm, I don't know why she didn't go with Mrs. O'Connor, maybe because she wanted to use the name she had already picked out? Also, I think it was somewhat common for well-known females using their maiden names professionally to use the "Miss." From Wikipedia: Miss was formerly the default title for a businesswoman, but it has largely been replaced by Ms. in this context. It was (and to some extent remains) also a default title for celebrities, such as actresses (Miss Helen Hayes, Miss Amelia Earhart).

One of my old bosses used to have the religion "shit list" (?) up on the wall of the restroom! My favorite is "Atheist: I can't believe this shit!"

I always pictured Roark as being more relaxed, less stiff, when giving the speech. Picture the line "I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life." spoken in a calm, quiet, relaxed, matter-of-fact manner, without any anger. I would have liked it better that way, sort of a Zen-like Roark. I don't know if that's how Rand would have wanted it, though. Why "Miss Rand"? She preferred to be addressed that way in life, and I think that among some who admired her, it has become a sort of respectful habit to continue referring to her in that way. I personally think "Rand" is appropriate for a deceased public figure, but I mean no disrespect in dropping the "Miss."

Gosh, here's another one, CNN.com poll today: Is it fair to criticize Oprah Winfrey for building a school in Africa instead of donating to U.S. schools?

According to Objectivism, “there are no unchosen obligations,” and therefore there is no reason to get indignant or angry at the passer-by who refuses to save the child. Why focus on the passer-by? If I were in that situation, I wouldn't be concerning myself with what other people are doing; I would just take appropriate action to help the child. It's none of my business if someone else doesn't help, for whatever reason. Example: If I see a desert tortoise in the middle of the road, and it's safe to do so, I stop the car, get out, and move the tortoise out of the way. I don't get indignant about why somebody else didn't save the tortoise earlier. Maybe a better example would be a situation you hear about, but you weren't present at the time. An example is the climber who didn't stop to assist another climber in distress. I personally would have interrupted my climb to help. (On the other hand, I would never put myself in that situation - risking my life to climb a mountain just to say I'd done it!) But I don't think it's right to fault someone else for not helping. It is totally up to the person as to whether the Good Samaritan act is worth doing or not. After all, it's not the competent climber's fault that the incompetent (or unlucky) climber is in trouble. Another somewhat-related example was in the news the past few days. Parents of a profoundly retarded girl (mental age of a 1-year-old with no hope of improvement) had her undergo a hysterectomy in an effort to stunt her growth to make her easier to take care of. Wouldn't you know, the Peanut Gallery has to chime in about how abhorrent it is to do such a thing. But they're not involved in this girl's care. They don't have any direct knowledge about the situation. And yet, they presume to dictate how someone else handles the situation. So, my view is that we should spend less time second-guessing other people's moral behavior, mind our own business, and personally do what we think is right, ourselves.

It is an input device like a mouse only you can draw on it with a pen so you have better control. Also, there are some software packages that take advantage of the pad's pressure sensitivity to make the pen act like a brush - you press harder and the brush stroke gets wider, for example. I guess it's kinda silly; if I wanted to paint, I should just paint, but I still think it's cool that you can simulate painting, chalk drawing, etc., on the computer. (and I don't have to clean up any brushes!)

Jeff, have you seen meebo.com? Lets you use Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, etc, from a browser app. It probably works on Macs. Oh, and I got a Wacom digitizer tablet. Lots of fun!

Bob, maybe what you need is to read something that will show you a more sympathetic side of Rand. Have you read "Letters of Ayn Rand", or "Facets of Ayn Rand" by Mary Ann and Charles Sures? "Letters" in particular may be helpful.

"Nobody can be certain of anything" is a rationalization for a feeling of envy and hatred toward those who are certain. The truth hurts, doesn't it, Bob?