happiness

Leaving aside rape, prostitution, and promiscuity, is there such a thing as a depraved sex act, or does anything go as long as the participants value each other rationally? For example, some people enjoy urinating and defecating on each other during sex—I find such acts repulsive, but is there anything wrong with the people who feel differently?

I base the following solely on my own observations, so I can't prove anything, but there is no doubt in my mind that aptitudes are genetically determined. While one can improve his proficiency at a given task, the range of possible improvement is genetically delimited, and the differences between individuals are so significant that one man's "floor" can be higher than another man's "ceiling." What I think this means is that the faculties that enable us to learn and acquire skills are physiologically fixed. They have to be, because even to the extent that the brain can make new connections and improve, whether process whereby it does so is still carried out according to genetic instructions.

My mother is battling cancer in a skilled nursing facility. I have an aunt on her side whom I've never been close to, and although she's nice, isn't really my kind of person. I don't consider her much more than a blood relative and don't want to get close to her now. Since my mom got cancer, she's been calling me up trying to "mother" me and I hate it. I actually overheard her say to my mom that she wants to "take over the mother role" for her after she's gone, which I find more than a little patronizing because I'm not seeking a mother figure and wouldn't want her as one if I was. My aunt called this morning and I didn't answer. I don't know whether the purpose of her call was to talk about my life and offer more unsolicited advice or ask about my mom's condition or both, but I didn't want to talk about either. I spent perhaps too little time thinkng about how I wanted to handle it and shot her this text: After sending it, I don't feel right. It's kind of painful to read. Am I being mean/cruel?

Amoral and immoral are the same thing.

is he playing devil's advocate or are those his actual views when he says that oil companies "fuck up" the earth?

Objectivism tells you whom to have empathy for and why, not that you shouldn't have it.

They improve a woman's silhouette, but when her clothes come off the truth comes out.

That comes as a surprise; it must have been toward the back somewhere.

I have experienced #4. Introspecting and relating your thoughts to reality can be hard.

Met him at a lecture in Seattle two years ago. I'm fond of the memory.

“Every man builds his world in his own image... He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.” | Atlas Shrugged P3C7 What is the choice he's referring to here?

I got hired to work for my hero, Peter Schiff.

Maybe the dog was just the best person in the family and actually deserved to eat first.

I honestly can't stand to read a single paragraph that crackpot writes. If I ever saw him walking down the street, I would have a hard time not killing him.

In a podcast, Peikoff said that most people stop thinking at 30. Why is this?

?

How do these claims have any credibility

Suppose you don't have any particular burning ambition, but you do at least have some leads as to what you might like to do for a career. Field A is interesting, but due to economic conditions, may not offer good job prospects in the future. Field B, while not as interesting, would be more likely to offer much needed income and stability. How should you go about making.a decision?

it'd down to what, it's 2011 low? In a bull market now in its 13th year? Gold is volatile because the global economy is bad, which is fundamentally good for gold in the long term.

I know she wouldn't have a problem with the idea of an alternative currency, and keeping issues related to the field of computer science out of it, it seems that the particular medium is irrelevant as long as people choose it voluntarily.

Indeed.

If you love finance and would like to work for a firm whose investment philosophy is based on a free market orientation, consider applying at Peter Schiff's company, Euro Pacific Capital. If you would like to work abroad, his offshore company, Euro Pacific Bank is also hiring, and you can work from home anywhere in the world. You sound like just the kind of person (smart, practical) that they would like to hire.

Fun fact, about a third of the questions, including that one, answered on his podcast were submitted by me. It's a testament to my question asking prowess.

Yeah, I actually came to HIT long before I did to Objectivism, and Mentzer used to come off like a whackjob to me for injecting Ayn Rand into everything he wrote. I only came to Objectivism years later after my interest in economics and political philosophy led me to Rand's works, and now I see that Mentzer was right. It can be a little much for the uninitiated, I guess.

You could weight train using SuperSlow/HIT protocol and wrist hooks to bypass your grip. That combination all would allow you to get a good muscular workout with little stress on the wrist.