Laure

This quote is a real litmus test. This is not making Rand into a God and worshipping her. This quote expresses the feelings of a valuer, not a cultist. I'm with Jim.

Well, thanks for telling us; this way, at least we know... oh wait...

I'm pondering... Eager to see your further thoughts on this. I'm thinking about writing an essay on the inability of Objectivists (and others) to just say "I think you're mistaken" in cases of disagreement, and instead feeling that they have to pick among "you're either crazy, evil, dishonest, or stupid". Can't we disagree without blanket condemnation? Also, Jim does not strike me as the type of person that lies. The thing I like about his posts is that I can't detect even a trace of guile or manipulativeness or hidden motivations or insinuations. He just says what he thinks in a straightforward manner.

Not to stir the pot or anything, but the fourth alternative is that he's right.

Just to chime in, I'm with Jim/Phil/Brant/Steve - particularly Jim. Got room on the fence for me, Jim? Scooch over.

I was interested in how well the Iowa results predict the parties' ultimate nominees. Found *THIS* on Wikipedia. Looks like they frequently pick the nominee. How depressing.

William, we should make a Christmassy-image thread! Here's one back at you, a sweet visitor behind my house a few minutes ago; her boyfriend happened along a moment later, but my photo of the two of them didn't come out as well. Not a reindeer, but as Christmassy as I can do!

William, I've been reading that thread, too. (Yep, I need to get a life...) I think it's so sweet of you to try to help Nick. Your posts to him have been sincere and helpful, but I don't know if they'll do any good. I don't think he is really after "honest debate." People have told him where they disagree and why, but as soon as anyone does that, he starts in with, "Who asked you? I don't need you and I don't care what you think of me!" I think what he is after is for someone to say, "Gosh, Nick, what a brilliant and insightful post! You sure are smart." Of course, everybody likes that kind of stroking from time to time. But I guess he hasn't found any forums on which people agree with him to that extent.

Well, that was a pretty good skit. Thanks! Put it on Al Jazeerah and stop the killing. More like, "put it on Al Jazeerah and watch the violent protests begin!"

Or as I said much less formally, "Look, he won't even think, literally, to save his life." We have explained our interpretation of the scene, and I think we "get it". Others are never going to "get it", and I think it's because they have more empathy for the guard than we do. I understand your frustration, Matus1976. We could also point out that if Rand meant to convey that it was OK to kill people who can't make up their minds, she could have made that point better in Akston's Diner. Dagny's sitting there eating a burger. A woman next to her at the counter: "Gosh, vanilla or chocolate? I just can't decide!" Dagny: *blam*

Well, some of us can get along, but not all of us. We are never going to change how anyone feels about the scene with Dagny and the guard. I've given my interpretation, and told how I feel, and it's pointless to argue about it.

You guys don't get it. The point is, the guard could have saved himself. All he had to do was decide to get out of the way. Rand made use of every scene that she could make use of, to get a point across. Her point here is, "Look, this guy won't even think, literally, to save his life!" Of course, in real life, it would have been unwise to allow the guard to choose to get out of the way, because he might have alerted his superiors. But, it's a novel. It was unwise also for Galt to tell his torturers how to fix the torture machine, but in that case, it was just irresistible, to Galt and to Rand, to have him do it!

Well, I guess I'm "perverse," because my reaction to the scene was "You go, girl!!"

Michael, I'm with Phil on this. This is a huge overreaction. ARI sends out press releases to the media; somehow this guy's email address ended up in a database of news media email addresses. He should've asked ARI what database they got his email address from, and taken action to be removed from it, if he does not publish press releases. I don't see how you can call it "spam." I looked in my spam folder for a representative example. This is what spam looks like, it's an email from "Emma Mata" [eqcdt@dec.bbdo.es]: "Try a variation of the Fortune Cookie Icebreaker, using greetings for the new year instead of quotes on education and learning. " I just refunded a fee because the client felt that our self-assessment worksheets were too much work. I knew that the resume I wrote would be the only information employers had about my client before the interviewed him. Party Monster The Mo. Blue Sky Resumes Blog: The End of Resume Spin? Please come on over and subscribe to the new feed. But with a tight budget, high expectations, and only months before the wedding, the pressure is on for Tony who has to pull out all the stops for the bride and groom to be. Stupid CSS Positioning - WebDeveloper. Or by maximizing your LinkedIn presence. Anatomy of an Aircra. Seth is tracking traffic to the new generation of websites that allow people to collaborate, share contact and network online. Unspun Hero Leading up to the Pete Burns Unspun premiere tomorrow on Living tv in the UK, another clip, in which the reality of Elton John and David Furnish's love for each other is questioned. Rachel and Dave both work in high pressured jobs in PR in the capital's financial square mile and are looking for a quiet retreat they can both call their own. Use them to fill the buckwheat crepes along with thinly shaved country ham and bits of Brie. I worked with a client who wanted to leave one industry and move into a very different one. And this doesn't just apply to senior-level executives. This is such a shame. Luckily for me, this client knew not only the field he wanted to work in, but also the specific company he was targeting. She wrote "if I had time to fill out all that information, I'd have time to write my resume myself. I'm terrible at sports." I hope the ARI press release made more sense than this.

I have a Dilbert T-shirt with Dogbert, a baseball bat & a bashed-in server. Caption: The network is down, but I'm feeling much better.

I LOVE that Office Space scene! The music, which would otherwise be just offensive, fit the scene so well!

Are these things objectively determinable or are they mere opinion? Ba'al Chatzaf These things are opinion, but why the qualifier "mere"? No, we don't have a way to measure sense of life with a scientific instrument by doing some sort of brain scan yet, but everyone forms opinions of other people's moods/senses of life/intentions/mental states constantly. We have to do it in order to have any sort of semi-successful social interaction. The statement that you "don't have a psyche" is just ridiculous.

Cleon the Spider. Solitary, modest, humble, dependable, and assertive.

That's kinda good, studio. I think "mood is to weather as sense of life is to climate".

It's wonderful that they've made this available online. I just read the Preface by Harry Binswanger, and thought this was cute: "As the work progressed, Miss Rand became increasingly enthusiastic about the project. One value of the book had special meaning to her: it eliminates any shred of excuse (if ever there had been one) for the continual gross misrepresentation of her philosophy at the hands of hostile commentators. As she quipped to me, "People will be able to look up BREAKFAST and see that I did not advocate eating babies for breakfast." "

Thanks, Chris - just watched it! I especially liked Mimi Gladstein's talk. Interesting that at the end, they gave a link to aynrand.org........ I really hope that someday TAS and ARI will become friendly affiliates, but I didn't think it was already the case.

I read that she backed off of the $5000 for every baby idea, and has instead gone to $1000 for every person, into a 401K account. Still about $20 billion a year, I think. Funded through taxing the rich, I think on estates over $7 million. She can probably buy more votes with this proposal. Remember the student council candidates in junior high that would give away candy? (Hm, at least they used to buy the candy with their own money!) I read a quote from her stating that we must fight the idea of social security privatization. (Wouldn't want people to have to take care of themselves, I guess.)

I'd turn the proposal around. Yes, every child ought to start out life with a $5000 account towards college or a house. So... let's require every prospective parent to set up such an account. Anyone who has a baby without such an account will have her wages garnished to set one up. Would the Democrats call that "unfair"? Isn't it more unfair to have the non-parents pay for other people's children? Do we want to encourage poor people to have babies they can't support, or do we want to encourage responsibility?

I'd say the expression of emotion was the purpose of the precursor of language -- animal noises. Developed human language allows us to express ideas and emotions. Emoticons make it easier to express emotions in a dashed-off message, without the need to search for just the right words with just the right emotional nuances. Good to see you, Darrell.

Being an economist, I presume he meant that the human race can't improve itself "in the aggregate." I hope individuals can improve themselves! But, "in the aggregate", I'm afraid he might be right. See the movie "Idiocracy"...