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DAnconiaLead

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Everything posted by DAnconiaLead

  1. Nicky whenever you're competing with a girl, if you 'win' then, there's no chance you'll 'win' latter. I'd always rather 'win' latter...
  2. @Ilya, Instead of stating that you "hate" Marxism, you should instead state that you are "a humanitarian who hates a totalitarian philosophy which has led directly to the killing of between 75 and 100 million people in the 20th-century" according to 'The Black Book of Communism' by Stéphane Courtois.
  3. In addition to being a devotee of Objectivism, I'm also a member of an organization dedicated to restoring the freedoms protected by the US Constitution and bringing the power exercised by the Federal Government back in line with the limits set by the US Constitution, namely the T.E.A. Party. At a recent meeting, we invited a political strategist to discuses what is necessary to seek municipal level political office, such as a seat on a town-counsel, and to illustrate how people in these positions can assist those in higher office to pursue a pro-Constitution/limited-government agenda while simultaneously preparing themselves to eventually seek higher office. After the meeting, the strategist, as well as several members of our T.E.A. Party approached me saying that as a disabled IAVA disabled Marine and small business owner, I might be able to go beyond local office and position myself to seriously aid the cause of Liberty. However, there's one element in my past that I worry could be used against me and wanted to ask your opinions regarding the effect this one thing might have on voters. In short, there's a video from 2008 that shows me wrestling in pink-pudding with the woman who's now my wife. Specifically, my injury left me with some facial scars which are much less visible today but, back in 2008, made me very self-conscious and made dating difficult. Realizing this, one of my high school friends who was then an officer in a local sorority invited me to attend their annual pink-pudding wrestling event which generated money for breast cancer research, in hopes that I could meet someone there. Since the sorority had been ticked the year before for attempting to pour the left-over pudding down a storm drain, she also asked that I use my truck to help set up for the event and then to remove the pudding, in garbage pails, to a dumpster, when the event concluded. However, after helping to set-up the event, I was contacted by my boss at-the-time and told that, despite receiving the time off, had to come in or be fired, so, instead of enjoying the party, I went in to work (Would anyone want to venture a guess as to why I'm now self-employed???). When I returned to the party, following the end of my shift, the festivities (the pudding wrestling) had concluded. Realizing this, my friend asked two of the wrestlers to put on another show for my enjoyment. However, when we got to the pool, one of the girls decided that she didn't want to hose-off under the cold garden hose for a second time. While telling both girls that it was 'ok' if they didn't want to do it, my now-wife tackled me into the pudding and we began 'wrestling'... Furthermore, one of the other girls had been filming the event and filmed this as well. This video has since been posted on several 'college-life' websites where a potential opponent might manage to locate it. While my wife supports my idea to run and has told me that she is "in no way ashamed" of what we did in 2008, I wonder how voters would react if this video were located by an opponent and released. Of course, if an opponent were to try to use this against me, I would remind the voters that A.) we were doing this to benefit breast-cancer research and B.) she is my wife. Furthermore, while I did not realize this at the time, the girl I was wrestling with (aka. my wife) had been forced to delay attending college due to her family's financial situation and, while a freshman, was twenty-one at the time, and only a year younger then myself... Given these facts, do you think the existence of such a video dooms me or, given the current standards, would it be possible to recover from something like this???
  4. When Atlas Shrugged Part I came out, I managed to get tickets to see it opening night, but knew that I'd have to leave for my security job as soon as the movie ended. However, when I arrived, there was a large group of fellow Objectivists and Atlas Shrugged fans in the theater who already had plans to meet at a local bar after the movie and invited everyone else in the theater to join them. However, I had to leave for work after the movie ended and regret not being able to join these interesting people. When Part II was released, I again managed to get tickets for opening night but this time no-one in the theater seemed interested in socializing in any way and the one person who was trying to talk to people made it clear, before the movie even started, that she intended to write a negative review in her college newspaper. Since the post-movie gathering that occurred after Part I seems to have been organized in advance, I was wondering if anyone knew of any such get-togethers planned for Part III and where I might find out about something like this. As far as I can tell, the nearest theaters to me are in New York, but the drive to the one in Rockaway, NJ would be much faster. Also, since there is something else I could do on Friday, September 12, I only plan on attending this opening if there's something after. Otherwise, I'll attend the other function on Friday and see the movie on Saturday.
  5. I need re-paint my trailer-home, which is similar to the trailer in the link below, and was thinking about applying an art-deco/objectivist paint scheme. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble envisioning a good paint scheme. Would any of you have any suggestions? http://www.stevegarufi.com/rush10.jpg (This is NOT my home, but is nearly IDENTICAL, except for the fact that mine was painted white on three sides and I replaced the windows with newer, better windows.) After seeing that, having re-structured his mortgage for the umpteenth time, my dad would not pay off his mortgage until he was in his 80’s, I decided to look at other options when I re-entered civilian life. After some research, I concluded that a much better option was to pick up a used trailer home which was selling for 10k (the offer of tax-free cash-in-a-bag brought the price down to $7,500.00) coupled with a $250 (now $289) per month facilities maintenance fee. Unfortunately, the community where I live was recently sold and most of my neighbors, in addition to myself, are moving to another community several miles away. I was actually scheduled to be moved last weekend, but it now looks as though I will not move until this weekend or possibly next weekend. In the current community, my home was positioned so that the back-side (which doesn’t have doors or windows) abutted another home’s rear wall and, at some point both homes were painted white though no paint was applied to the external rear walls of either home. Now I have a home that has three white walls and one two-tone blue wall, so I need to re-paint it reasonably soon. I really like the art-deco/objectivist style, but am having trouble envisioning a paint scheme for a trailer similar to the one in the link that would embody this style. Would any of you have any suggestions?
  6. @Jaskn, I'm a (hobbyist) model builder. I'm currently constructing an 'S' scale (1:64 scale) S/Sn42/Sn3/Sn2 layout that will run between Valdez, AK and Seattle, Washington (using 'scenic compression') along the route of the Alaska Railbelt Marine line.
  7. Greetings, I just wanted to show some of the progress I've made on my first Rearden Steel 1:64 scale (aka 'S'-scale) slag car model. Enjoy;
  8. I HOPE SOMEONE SEES THIS; I promised to post pictures of my Rearden Steel slag car model in the visual arts section and, now that I'm ready to post pictures, the forum says "you cannot start new topics" even though I'm logged in and have done so before... Has anyone else experienced this issue?
  9. Given Ayn Rand’s position on the use of firearms, which can be summed up in her statement that, “those who know that they cannot win by means of logic, have always resorted to guns,” I wonder what she’d think about the fact that I’m adding weight to my Rearden Steel slag cars by filling the crucible with lead bird shot before creating a layer of simulated slag over the top of the birdshot/epoxy slurry? The only slag cars available in ‘S’ scale (1:64 scale) are created by 3D printing and while this technique yields affordable, very finely detailed, railcars, the cars are VERY light and, without trucks (wheels) weight little over an ounce. In order for a car to be operational (able to be pulled by a train), they need to be at least 6oz. and preferably 8oz. Since there’s no room for internal weights, I had to put the weights in the crucible and lead shot mixed with epoxy can be molded to fill every available space, bringing the car to 5.9 oz. (close enough). So the car of a railroad imagined by a woman who seems hostile to private firearm ownership, is weighted with lead shot (shotgun ammunition). However, given the tendency of looters and the tyrannical governments they spawn to employ force, usually taking the form of firearms, against free people, it would seem wise for all objectivist/free people to be well trained in the use of firearms and well supplied.
  10. I recently purchased a Rex S-scale (1:64 scale) 2-4-4T ‘Suburban’ and have decided to letter it to be one of the “old steam engines” that Dagny Taggart sent to operate on the San Sebastián Line and then add that, as the Socialist Government of The Peoples State of Mexico was nationalizing the line, the crew of this particular locomotive made a successful run for the border. Here's a picture of one of the unfinished models (not mine); http://www.nasg.org/Products/LocomotiveType_LVL2_2-4-4T.htm I was hoping to use the Taggart Transcontinental logo I’ve attached with the words ‘San Sebastián Line’ wrapped underneath the logo and following the same contour. Unfortunately, I’m not that familiar with text wrapping and was wondering if one of you might be willing to help me create this logo. I'd be really grateful for any help any of you could provide and will send you pictures of the model once it's completed. However, given the complexity of this kit, that probably won't be for at least a year. BTW; The graphic comes from Proud Producer. I’ve purchased several of their shirts with this logo and others and am NOT using the logo for commercial purposes, merely on my model train layout, and am therefore not violating the spirit or (as far as I know) the letter of their trademark.
  11. Furthermore, many 'Militant Atheists' are not true Objectivists or non-believers, but have merely substituted their belief in God for a belief in the infallibility of GOVERNMENT and/or certain politicians. These individuals see Judeo/Christian ethics as a barrier to the unlimited power of Government and/or the politician they worship and therefore become anti-Judeo/Christian worshipers of Government while merely calling themselves 'Atheist'. However, while these individuals may call themselves 'Atheist', they hold the same blind faith in and reverence for Government/a Politician as Jews and Christians do for their far more moral God... ONE example of such a person is Barbara Walters who recently said "He (Obama) was going to be the next Messiah."
  12. @StrictlyLogical, While I can not speak for TSA, I define a "militant atheist" as an atheist who feels the (illogical) need to "evangelize" Christians and Jews (but not Muslims, or others) to Atheism. The reason this 'evangelical' behavior is illogical for an Atheist is because, generally, Christianity and Judaism, the primary targets of Militant Atheists, provide a generally sound set of moral principals and a true Atheist should ONLY worry about whether or not people are living by sound moral principals, and not worry about the source of those principals (even if they beLIEve that the source of those principals is a myth).
  13. I’m currently building an ‘S’ scale (1:64th scale) 3-D printed model* of a slag car which I intend to letter for Rearden Metal. Do to the inherent lightness of the material, and therefore the lightness of the car itself, I’m going to have to fill the crucible with lead weight and conceal that weight under a layer of simulated slag in order to keep this model on the track. Since I intend to make this a Rearden Metal slag car, I was wondering if any of you had any theories regarding the appearance and color of Rearden Metal slag??? Steal slag is orange when hot and black when cool. Since the slag begins cooling the moment it’s scraped out of the pot, and into the slag cars crucible, the slag in the car is usually black around the edges of the top of the crucible and orange at the center of the pot and under the surface. Videos of these cars in operation, and of the slag itself, can be seen here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhJF_hTJ2Rw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HdWPb4Qfvo *The model was actually designed on a computer by a third party named ‘tschwartz1274’, from whom I purchased the right to print the design, which was then sent to ‘Shapeways’ where I can then have as many copies as I want printed for a second fee paid to Shapeways… https://www.shapeways.com/model/1356328/slag-car-1-64.html?li=search-results&materialId=6 I found this to be a very neat way to do business.
  14. Well, I also 'like cats', and have rescued five of the cuties (Double, Trouble, Chaos, Kylie, and Sang [Korean for 'Twin']), who subquently 'adopted' me. So, since I 'like cats', my girlfriend 'likes cats', and Rand 'likes cats', then all the Objectivists I know or know of 'like cats', which makes sence since cats are the feircly indpendent 'Objectivists' of the animal world (I remember the History Channel show 'Life After People' stating that cats are the ONLY domesticated animal that would survive unchanged if people were to vanish/die off)...
  15. Jaskn, Regardless of her ability to "get to the heart of ideas", Rand, her generation, and every other thinking person needs information upon which to formulate those ideas/philosophies. Unfortunately, at the time AR was composing her ideas, the last acknowledged homosexuals were contemporaries of Caligula and, like Caligula himself, these men had some truly disgusting and predatory sexual habits, such as the desire to essentially rape their male and female subordinates as a way to assert their "power". Of course Caligula, and his contemporaries treated women (including their own relatives) just as poorly as they did subordinate men. However, because homosexuals became closeted after the Greco-Roman period during which men like Caligula stood out, men like Caligula remained the archetype upon which public perception of homosexuals was based, while heterosexuals remained in public view and produced more chivalrous examples of heterosexual behavior to counter any negative mark men like Caligula might have left on the image of heterosexuality.
  16. 1.) The initial purchase of the tooling and a new centrifuge caster will cost thousands, which I need to make sure I can re-coup. My current endeavors were almost free to start up involving little more then the purchase of 'Security' shirts, a used plow, a used lawnmower, etc. 2.) The individual selling the business is attempting to charge me for his "customer base" in addition to his tooling, since he is the only person manufacturing models of the narrow gauge trains of certain railroads in this scale. How do I determine an appropriate value for his "customer base"? 3.) I currently keep all my tools in my shed, however, the centrifuge caster will require a permanent mounting position (bolted into a concrete floor). Since I'm renting my house, I can't set it up there. Where could I rent such a small industrial space (I only need space barely larger then the machine itself)? 4.) Since most of my current businesses are cash operations, I can make inadvertent errors on my tax returns without encountering the wrath of the IRS. I don't think I could do that with this business so need a better grasp of the tax situation. 5.) I also might qualify for additional tax breaks and write-offs.
  17. Queen Capitalist, While I can’t speak to what may have shaped the views of the unknown number of “rather homophobic” Objectivists you met in ‘real live’, I have an idea about what might have heavily influenced Ayn Rand’s view on the topic as well as the views of many from her generation. While the dynamics of heterosexual relationships have been continuously written about, in one form or another, since the beginning of human history, homosexual relationships, and opinions about them, were largely “closeted” since Classical Greco-Roman times. This is likely the cause of any perceived conflict people from AR’s generation would have seen between homosexuality and Objectivism. Specifically, Greco-Roman philosophers tended to describe ALL sexual relationships in terms of power, which one partner dominating the other and expressing his (always his) power over the other. In many cases sex was not even described as being enjoyable for either party, but merely as a way for the “dominant” party to express his power over the submissive man or woman. Following the Greco-Roman period, more enlightened views on relationships emerged which were more in line with the ‘relationship between equals, done for mutual enjoyment’ that Dagny Taggart and other Objectivist heroines engaged in. Unfortunately, Homosexuality became “closeted” shortly after the end of the Greco-Roman period and remained so until after Ayn Rand’s death. Therefore, the only philosophy Ayn Rand, and others from her generation would have been exposed to on the subject of homosexuality would have been coming from the Greeks and Romans and would have involved such things as philosophical justifications for essentially raping male subordinates to maintain the masters dominance. As this is completely incompatible with Enlightenment Morality, Western thought, and Objectivism, it’s no wonder that many from Rand’s generation formed negative opinions of homosexuality. Hopefully, now that homosexuality is no longer “closeted”, more modern thoughts can be formed on these relationships and the perception regarding them will change. BTW; I’m a heterosexual who’s engaged to the love of his life…
  18. I currently run several (very) small businesses, with include a nightclub security opperation, a landscaping business, a handyman service, a plowing business, and a model railroad retail operation, in addition to a “regular job”. In the interest of complete honesty, my security business started when a security company I worked for when bankrupt and I picked up many of its former clients and re-hired many of my former co-workers as independent contractors. As such, I can’t take credit for building this business (though I have expanded it), and have set it up to keep my legal and tax liability at an absolute minimum. Similarly, the handyman service, plowing business, and landscaping business are all run out of the same truck and exist as divisions of the LLC I created to run the security operation. Finally, the model railroad retail operation involves the selling of model railroad equipment I’ve been given on consignment and is sold off tables at model railroad shows. So, while I have business experience, it should be clear that it is fairly limited. Recently, one of the model train producers reported that the centrifuge caster he uses to produce his model trains broke down and, since he’s in his 80’s, he has no plans to replace it and resume operations. Since I’m one of his steadier customers, who he knows has experience with spin casting (I worked with one of his competitors before they moved overseas), and has experience in model railroad retail, the owner of this company offered to sell me his tooling so that I might continue selling what was once his products. Are there any books, classes or programs to help someone like myself better understand the complexities (such as taxes, regulations, logistics) of running a manufacturing business?
  19. Earl, If you’re considering a dollar sign, perhaps Jessie Jame’s ‘pay up sucker’ tattoo might provide some inspiration (though getting tattooed on the palm of your hand must hurt). http://stevenlesliejohnson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Jesse-James-Pay-Up-sucker.jpg
  20. AbA, That’s an awesome idea. Unfortunately, people wouldn’t understand the joke until I extended the line into the reservation, but since the reservation module will abut the wharf module, so it shouldn’t take me that long to get to it. I actually liked the Inuit whaling operation I saw because of how small and efficient it was, and therefore easy to fit on a small module. Specifically, three Inuit went to sea in a small (approx. 20ft.) open top aluminum boat with a rifle or shotgun loaded with a harpoon. Once they harvested the whale, other people set out in all manner of small boats to tow the whale back to shore. At the shoreline, the rope that had been used to tow the whale in to shore was run through a multi-pulley block and tackle system, that was secured to spikes that had been nailed into the ice, and a tractor was used to pull the whale onto the ice, where it was butchered manually. I could re-create all of this within a 1ftX2ft section of a 4ft.X2ft (standard) module-leaving the rest of the module for other intresting detail.
  21. By the way, since I’m a fan of ‘Whale Wars’ (who cheers for the hard working fishermen), I’m thinking about creating a branchline which will head to an adjacent pier located just inside an Inuit reservation, where the Inuit are processing whale, among other seafood, and sending the meat to the cannery for further processing and packing.
  22. Greetings, While working on my Taggart Transcontinental passenger operation, I also continued work on another part of my model railroad which will share dual gauge track with and interchange with Taggart Transcontinental. Specifically, I’ve (also) been working on a 2 foot gauge (really 22.67 inch gauge, but who’s counting) operation that will run out onto fishing wharfs to re-supply and off-load fishing vessels, and bring their catch to a cannery. This line will also share track with the Taggart Transcontinental for a short distance as dual gauge (3 rails, with the narrow gauge and standard gauge sharing one rail). Also, Taggart Transcontinental will be one of the railroads picking up the cannery’s finished product. While I have yet to start the model of the cannery itself, I’ve finished building (but have not painted) the first of what will eventually be 3-4 engines which will serve it. I’m just trying to come up with a name for this shortline operation, which would be owned by and named for the cannery it’s supporting, and was hoping to come up with something with an Objectivist twist. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any fishing/canning operations in either Atlas or Fountainhead. I already intend to build a Danneskjold Marine Salvage (remember, 150 years ago, most marine salvage operations were fronts for piracy) tug to tie up along the pier, so that name’s already slated for use. All ideas are appreciated. Jeff
  23. AbA, I’m actually hoping to, one day, construct an MOW rail transporter loaded with Rearden Metal rails. Since the rails themselves are considerably longer then a single flatcar, racks are affixed to several flatcars, which secure multiple layers of rails at one end, and allow them to slide in and out of U-bolt rings along the rest of the rails length. This set-up allows the rails to flex and curve as the multi-unit rail car negotiates curves en-route the rails destination. Here’s a picture of one such car; http://www.railengineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BNSF-Kasgro-rail-train-inspection-156.jpg http://www.railengineer.com/engineeringservices/kasgro-bnsf-flat-car-project/ Since no metal possesses the elasticity to do this over and over, without de-railing the train, on a model scale, when I get around to making this car, I’ll use rail shaped plastic and paint it blue-green, thus creating Rearden Metal rails!!!
  24. While the Galt Station isn’t on par with Kansas City’s Union Station, it has a name that appeals to me, will fit on my modular layout, and can be built by combining the parts from several Wiseman Model Services Station kits (I placed a custom order, because it would have taken 5 kits to get the correct number of certain parts and only 1 to get another part). While I didn’t have luck with this before, I’m attaching the photos I have of the Galt Stations, enjoy;
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