Introduction Thread

[Col. Hogan]

Hi,

I bumped into Kat's profile on Atlasphere; it led me here.

I live in the People's State of California, where the War on Productivity is going nearly unchecked.....so far. I'm a geotechnical lab manager for a small firm--I've been doing this for a really long time. Good thing I like playing in the mud. Living every four-year-old boy's dream!

I write when I have time. Work is progressing on a near-future Sci-fi story. I'll read through the Creative Writing topic here, as I can.

Regards to all,

Col. Hogan

[Kat]

Welcome Col. Hogan. It's nice to meet you. We're glad you joined us here at Objectivist Living. I hope you like it here. Please make yourself at home.

You may want to visit the Writing Techniques Workshop where Michael is talking about plots. Since you are a writer, you may find it very helpful. We hope you will share some of your writing projects with us here. We have both a creative writing section for fiction, poetry and songs and an articles thread for non-fiction, personal stories and commentary. And there are also the Objectivist philosophy sections as well as Chewing on Ideas for things philosophical but not necessarily Objectivist thought.

Are you a colonel in real life? I gave Michael the nickname, Colonel, but that character seldom is seen anymore. I kinda miss my colonel and that sweet Southern charm... and those almost indecipherable posts. If you want to read about the Colonel and his Kitten, see The Virtue of Silliness in the articles section.

Again, welcome aboard, Col. Hogan. We are glad to have you here.

Kat

[Mikee]

Col Hogan,

Nice to meet you!

"GeoTechnical Lab Manager"... Did you happen to know Bill Mancuso of Pacific Nuclear Technology? I worked for Bill off and on for a few years, both when he was VP of Campbell Pacific Nuclear and owner of PNT. You certainly have a lot of interesting equipment in those soil labs. I sure miss Bill.

Mike E.

[Col. Hogan]

Kat,

My name is Wayne, but I was given the name "Col. Hogan" back in the early days of Prodigy bb's, because I argued against fascism in a way that was considered humorous. I refuse to take it (philosophically) seriously. It stuck, and many of my friends still refer to me by that nickname.

I'll take some time to read in the Writing Techniques Workshop in upcoming days. Having read the work of those who've posted, it's occurred to me that I could post an introductory chapter of the novel I'm currently writing.

Mike,

I used Campbell-Pacific nuclear tes gages at times, though most of the gages I used were Troxlers. Most of my career, though, I've been an inside guy. I test the soil that the field guys bring in.

Thanks, both of you, for the welcome.

Regards,

Col. Hogan

[Col. Hogan]

Gotta apologize. I didn't actually answer your question. No, while I did use Campbell-Pacific gages some, regrettably. I never met anyone from the firm.

For the past nearly ten years, I've been working in the lab, where we have the mechanical testin gear for testing soil strength in various ways and also how soil reacts in the presence of water. Interesting stuff!

Regards,

Col. Hogan

[Mikee]

Hi Col,

Almost missed this one. I gotta pay attention. I know EVERYBODY in California didn't know Bill, but he used to get down there once a month to give classes on use of the gauge and radiation safety. So he knew a bunch of people down there.

Your labs are quite interesting. When I did that kind of work I did some installations of data loggers and some troubleshooting in a soil lab. I had a little trouble figuring out what some of your setups did. Permeability, shear strength, procter curves. There must be about a million pages of soil data generated every day in the US. You can't ever throw any of that data away can you?

Hey, do you call your crew "Hogan's Hero's"? Of course you do!

[Dr. Wesley H. Lowe]

Hello,

I am a retired music professor presently living in Chicago. I have been studying Objectivism since 1969, and share my approach with one of my best friend, Edward L. Hudgins, whom I've known sinced about 1971. My main interests are music, aesthetics, Joseph Schillinger, and Japanese language. Am looking forward to some interesting exchanges.

Wesley

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Welcome Dr. Wesley,

I hope you have a good time here. You mentioned Joesph Schillinger. I read a bit on a Schillinger method of music composition when I was in college in the early 70's. Is this the same one?

I will have to bone up, but I remember he had some interesting ideas - especially about rhythm.

Also - let me take advantage of the opportunity to welcome Col. Hogan/Wayne (sorry I missed you back then).

Michael

[Dr. Wesley H. Lowe]

Michael,

Thank you for welcome. I'm sure it is the same Joseph Schillinger. Among his illustrious students were included Gershwin, Glenn Miller, John Williams' orchestrator Herbert Spencer and many others. I believe Schillinger found a fundamental approach that allowed analysis and creativity in all valid styles of music, from ethno through jazz. His insights were enormous, and interestingly, when he first started working in this country (he defected when the first Soviet jazz band toured the US with him) he taught design at Columbia University. His Mathematical Basis of the Arts gives some amazing integration of pattern and design in art.

I have long believed that Schillinger's work could play a role in Rand's description of some of the necessary work to be done in music aesthetics.

Wesley

[Kat]

Hi Dr. Lowe,

Welcome to Objectivist Living. Its nice to have a fellow Chicagoan join up. I hope you can meet us for pizza at Gulliver's (Howard & California) on Saturday at 2:00. I recently became the leader of our Chicago Ayn Rand Meet-Up Group. We will be talking about Return of the Primitive, Ch. 3-4 (discussion questions are posted in the library in the thread for Return of the Primitive). I would be delighted if you could come.

Kat

[Don Krause]

Hello folks. I'm new to the message board thing, so I guess my emoticons will be quite boring. But actually I'm happy to be here, as I get so little chance to talk to people who embrace reason.

I'd love to talk to you all about philosophy, faith, reason, politics, whatever. Please reply.

Love and Liberty,

Don

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Don,

Hi.

Welcome aboard.

I was a bit timid about the message board thing when I started too, about a year ago.

Suggestion. Read some of the stuff we have here (incidentally, its great stuff), find something that interests you, then go for it.

Anyway, it only hurts the first time...

Michael

[Kat]

Hi Don,

It was a pleasure to meet you today. Thanks for joining us for pizza at Gullivers.

Kat

[Brett Steenbarger]

Hello All,

I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of OL. I'm a psychologist and financial trader (and a psychologist who works with traders) based in Naperville, IL. I am also a faculty member in a med school department of psychiatry, where I teach brief therapy to psychiatry residents and psychology interns. The book I'm currently writing is a survey of elite performance in various fields--athletics, performing arts, chess, etc.--and what makes expert performers tick (with a particular focus on trading performance).

My greatest interest in Objectivism is the focus on "the best within us" and the role of philosophy in living one's life. My greatest disappointment in Objectivism is with the large number of individuals who seem to equate discussing/debating the philosophy with living it. The focus of this forum on "the art of living consciously" is exciting, and I look forward to hearing about how members are creating works of art out of their own lives.

Brett

www.brettsteenbarger.com

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dayaamm Brett,

That was one hell of an intro! I loved it.

It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I look forward to talking to you.

Michael

[Sid]

Hello.

I'm a 16 year old Indian (a true one, living in India, not a Native American ). I read The Fountainhead a few months ago, and I've been attracted to Objectivist ideas ever since. I'll probably never become a "true-blue" Objectivist, since I have reservations over some ideas, but I find myself in agreement with most of what she wrote.

What I am truly shocked to see is the amount of mud-slinging going on in other "Objectivist" forums (or is it just that some Objectivists, "individualists" by nature, can't interact properly with others?)

I also consider myself very good at most things tech.

BTW, it seems like the "whistle" emoticon is broken.

[Kat]

Hi Sid and welcome to Objectivist Living. I hope you enjoy it here. We do have a special place for the teens to hang called Inky's room, and of course, you can participate the the regular discussions here.

I'm sure you will find that this is not one of those vicious internet gladiator forums. If you see the attacks against us and our members, it is usually comes back to the smear campaign against the Brandens and a lot of petty guilt by association stuff. We just don't allow that to poison our world. It is much better this way.

Michael and I admire the Brandens greatly, and think that they have contributed greatly to the philosophy of Objectivism. Not everyone here admires the Brandens though. That is fine with us. We only ask that Barbara and Nathaniel are not attacked here. This is our home and they are our friends.

Thanks for joining us,

Kat

[Eudaimonist]

Hello all.

I'm an Objectivist of the intellectually tolerant, inquisitive, friendly, and self-examining sort. I love life and happiness too much to waste time beating others over the head with the wooden club of morality.

I'm also what you might call a "spiritual" Objectivist in the sense described in the introduction to The Fountainhead, and in its spirit laced throughout the novel. The description of the Temple of the Human Spirit is one of my top favorite passages in the novel.

I'm a charter member of the Fellowship of Reason, which is a tolerant and inclusive Objectivism-inspired philosophical and moral community. The founder of the organization, Martin Cowen, decided that we could learn some valuable things from religion about the value of moral communities (such as churches, temples, etc), but we could do one better by creating a rational moral community dedicated to self-examination, self-actualization, and self-esteem. Philosophy is fine in debate, but excellent as a living, breathing way of life.

I hope to meet some kindred souls at these boards.

eudaimonia,

Mark

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Once again, welcome, Mark.

You just described a good many of us to a tee.

I knew that there was sanity in the reason world somewhere out there...

Michael

[SaulOhio]

I think its about time I stopped lurking here, and introduced myself.

My name is Saulius Muliolis (the name is Lithuanian) and I live near Cleveland, Ohio. I have been studying Objectivism for about 15 years, and was introduced to Ayn Rand by a friend of my brother's, who also introduced me to the works of Nathanial Branden. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both of the Brandens for the great value I have gained from both of their works. =D> I have been to two TOC Summer Seminars, one before it was called The Objectivist Center, the other the year they announced the name change.

I have a number of other interests and hobbies, such as windsurfing, kitesurfing, and radio controlled airplanes. I like to try to apply Objectivism to all of these.

This seems to be a very friendly forum, and I hope to spend quite a bit of time here. I also like the selection of emoticons here, and plan to put them to good use.

[Rich Engle]

Wow, welcome to the forum.

If you look at my signature you'll see that the local heretic does a huge

amount of his business in Euclid. I am based out of East Cleveland.

Next year at Euclid Sq. Mall we are planning to host a very large RC convention. I saw a video of it and it was amazing. We are considering building an indoor track there. The thrust is RC racers but I think the airplane guys are going to be included too.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Saul,

Welcome aboard!

A friendly person, knowledgeable in Objectivism for years and friendly towards the Brandens.

Wow! You are a treat. I look forward to your thoughts.

Michael

[SaulOhio]

Wow, welcome to the forum.  

If you look at my signature you'll see that the local heretic does a huge

amount of his business in Euclid. I am based out of East Cleveland.  

Next year at Euclid Sq. Mall we are planning to host a very large RC convention. I saw a video of it and it was amazing. We are considering building an indoor track there. The thrust is RC racers but I think the airplane guys are going to be included too.

Yes, I noticed that. Interesting to see a local Objectivist.

It would be great to have a local RC event. I already belong to an informal RC flight club, the North Coast Electric Flyers. Euclid Square Mall should have enough room for some of the smaller electric planes. I would definitly love to attend, and might even do some flying, if you don't require an AMA membership.

When you have schedule information, you are welcome to post it on our forum at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=258

If you want to see some of my RC, windsurfing, and kitesurfing videos, they are at www.putfile.com/SaulOhio

[Jake]

Hello, I'm Jake. AKA Jack. I'm glad I'm finally back with people I can associate with and respect. I've lived my life (I'm a retired geezer) under the guidance of Objectvism since way back in the late fifties. Since I'm retired now I'm glad to have time to associate with people intellectually capable of understand my (our) philosophy of life and brush up on the latest interpretations (read: details) of Objectivism.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jake,

Glad to have you aboard. Make yourself at home.

Michael