rob.sfo

Inspector, does it include the “Integral Locking System” (I.L.S.) passive safety mechanism? I'd be curious to hear your review of this feature. More informantion can be found here: http://www.galleryofguns.com/shootingtimes...cles.asp?ID=750

Thanks for putting this together Dave. I really enjoyed it.

That's exciting news. I'm worried that it will be butchered though. Speaking of which... Does anyone have any insight into John Aglialoro? He's a member of the board of TOC and a registered Libertarian.

From ARI: Dr. Yaron Brook is scheduled to appear on CNBC's "On the Money" tonight, March 21, 2006 at 7 PM Eastern time (4 PM Pacific). He will discuss a law passed today by the lower house of the French National Assembly that will force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share proprietary anti-copy technologies so that rivals can offer compatible services and players.

Too bad our government won't protect the property rights of its citizens in space. If such protection did exist, then it'd be a really great time to be an Aerospace Engineer. As it stands, the fact that private space development & exploration is essentially focused on, funded and judged by the success of tourism is ludicrous and shameful. I can't wait until I can afford a seat though.

Thanks Matt! I was planning on firing up the TiVo to get this tonight. Also, my sister was interviewed by Dan Abroms on MSNBC today, and that's being replayed from 4-5 AM Eastern tomorrow (she's on at about 35 past the hour, or so I'm told). Here's the audio from the case for anyone interested: http://wid.ap.org/audio/scotus/051206rumsfeld.rm I haven't had a chance to watch/listen to anything yet. I also haven't had a chance to respond to the great discussion here. Thanks everyone for your input. Unfortunaltely for my sister, it looks like the court will be ruling in favor of the Solomon Amendment, but it's good stuff anyway! She's been pretty excited to get to go before the Supreme Court. Too bad I disagree with what she fights for 99 times out of 100...all that wasted talent.

Hal, I suggest you go read the following commentary before you continue propagating the lies that you've accepted as truth. Commentary - Who Is Lying About Iraq?

Great resources, thanks. My sister is 2nd chair (if that's the right term, I'm not sure) for FAIR for the "Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (“FAIR”), 04-1152" case on Dec 6th, so I'd be interested to hear what any of you have to say about it. I brought it up awhile back in the below thread, but since it's only a couple days away I thought I'd ask again. OO.net Thread - Solomon Amendment - Fair V. Rumsfeld Cheers, Rob

I have basically gone through the same situation with my brother (but from a different angle). He's an intelligent & somewhat rational person who is well read in history, politics and philosophy. However, he's a product of today's educational system and is full of contradictions (for example, he recognizes the value & benefits of capitalism but at the same time believes in the mixed economy and the welfare state). As I gained a deeper understanding of Objectivism I thought he would be a good person to discuss & explore the ideas presented. Long story short -- he reacted almost violently to the ideas, and I soon found myself faced with the impossible task of trying to teach him what Objectivism REALLY means and dispel his misconceptions & contradictions. I also soon realized that, as a fairly new student of Objectivism, there are others who are much more qualified than I to accomplish that task. So I gave him a recommended reading list (and even put the books in his hands myself). I then told him I would not be speaking to him about anything to do with the subject until he learns what the philosophy actually says & means, as opposed to spewing the regurgitated falsities & misconceptions he currently has. We have not spoken of it since (it's been months), and I don't think he's reading the books I gave him. So that's where I stand with him at the moment. However, one thing that I'm finding very difficult about this tactic is that it's not just the subject of Objectivism that's off limits. I have found that any conversation of substance at all is off limits, due to the fact that if our core underlying ideas are conflicting then the logical application of those ideas to everyday issues invariably conflicts. This is the case with my entire family, in fact (as they're a bunch of liberal socialist religious subjectivist pragmatists). I find myself constantly biting my tongue around them because challenging them on the often absurd garbage that comes out of their mouths would accomplish nothing. So I say nothing. It's a difficult situation for me that I have not yet found a resolution to. I don't mean to hijack your thread with my story -- I'm just hoping some insight into what I'm going through will help you, even though I don't have any good ideas to share.

I find TIA Daily to be a good source of current events combined with Objectivist-oriented commentary. I've also just started a trial subscription to the Harry Binswanger List and it seems to full of good discussions / commentary.

I've received a handful of these "same-day" notices and had the same response. I wrote the ARI explaining the issue and asked if anything could be done. This is the response I received: For those who are interested in such things -- I built my own networked home media system based on SageTV, which has a web interface from which you can remotely control the system. Very cool setup, but be warned that you need to be an "enthusiast" to build such a system. It's far superior to TiVo, but it requires your time, effort & money to make it so. http://www.sage.tv/

I will admit that my memory of the topic is very vague and a quick Google search hasn't produced any useful insight. My intent in highlighting that particular point is that I view it as individuals taking rational, self-interested & self-motivated steps to achieve a value. I'm sure there are plenty of flaws that, once exposed, will crush my admiration for that aspect of the project. However, in that case I can simply fall back on the general theme to maintain the integrity of my avatar:

The "I'm not afraid to sort out the good from the bad on my own" asserts that I can trust myself. However, I'm also not interested in completely reinventing the wheel. A post like Lance's (at least until the last line), gives me valuable insight. I'm all for the "figure it out for yourself" approach but sometimes it's simply not necessary. Consider it a division of labor. And Lance, softwareNerd is 100% correct.

Jennifer -- I've never been into normal video games all that much because I get bored *extremely* quickly by computer AI. As impressive as it can be sometimes, it's still repetitive & predictable. MMOs provide for an unpredictable environment. I enjoy that as much as the potential social aspect of the genre. And yes...I've read the forum rules. I even re-read them before I posted in the Objectivist Rides... thread to ensure I was allowed to post a bunch of pictures right in the thread. Dave & RC -- I've been playing Dark Age of Camelot off & on for the past 4 years. I've tried almost all the others, but I find myself bored of them for exactly the reason mentioned above. They either don't have the Player vs. Player element, or they don't implement it very well if they do. softwareNerd -- Thanks. The genesis of the image comes from the obvious Atlas reference combined with a great History Channel documentary I saw a few years ago about the story of the Golden Gate bridge. The project was scrapped for financial reasons due to the depression. However, the people of San Francisco wanted it built so much that a large number of them actually mortgaged their homes to put up the capitol to build the bridge. Think about that for a minute. People took out 2nd mortgages on their homes to build a bridge. It's almost unreal. Can you imagine something like that happening today? It was a beacon of productive values & achievement in the midst of such a terrible time. I found this awe-inspiring even when I was the aforementioned pre-Objectivism confused mess that I was. I actually spent a bunch of time on the colors. I was trying to pull some of the glow into the Atlas statue as the original was a somewhat drab grey. I'm not sure I'm done with it, but I've probably spent too much time on it already. I'm glad you like it. I'd be happy to send you the Photoshop original if you want it (it's a much larger image). None of the original elements are mine but I like what I was able to do with them.

Yeah, I've been salivating over that line since back in the 916 days. The non-R version has always been in the $16,000 range and is equally as awe-inspiring, at least on a more realistic level. I'd need to be much wealthier than I presently am to justify spending $30k on a motorcycle, but a guy can dream, right?

I was listening to a Prodos broadcast about trade restrictions featuring Gerry Jackson & Richard Salsman. I liked what I heard from Gerry Jackson & since I've never heard the name before I did a few searches. It appears he has several editorials at freemarketnews.com. I'm curious if anyone has opinions of freemarketnews.com? I'm always looking for more to read and I'm not afraid to sort out the good from the bad on my own, but I have come to value the insight of many people on this board, so if you have any thoughts, I'd appreciate hearing them. *EDIT* Here's their "About FMNN" Thanks! Rob

Hi. My name's Rob & I'm from San Francisco, if that's not obvious. I joined these boards back in May, spent a lot of time "lurking" & taking in as much as I could, and more recently started getting involved. However, I realized that I never actually introduced myself. Is there a [rude] emoticon? I originally stumbled upon Objectivism through Terry Goodkind & his Sword of Truth series. I found myself identifying quite strongly with the main character of the series, to the point that I wanted to find out where Mr. Goodkind was coming from regarding the core philosophies of his character. A Google search of "Terry Goodkind philosophy" made short work of it, and I soon found myself here. Since then I have plunged into learning everything I can about Objectivism. I'm one of those people who has gone through 30 years of their life suffering from what I now recognize as an extremely flawed upbringing & education. I was raised in a Catholic environment, but fought against it basically from when I was old enough to start thinking for myself. I was also raised with a mother who's a staunch Liberal/Democrat and a home environment that permeated the liberal/socialist/collectivist/altruist mentality. My father is an incredibly hard-working, dedicated entrepreneur & multiple small-business starter/owner who instilled in me some of the proper values that I have. Unfortunately, his potential influence was curtailed by his own lack of a philosophical base. For example, he took up religion when he married my mother & he _HATES_ large companies (he won't buy coffee at Starbucks, distrusts Microsoft, etc), on the basis of the "big = bad" mentality. He calls himself a Republican, but I don't think he knows why anymore. The causes/effects of these issues are now obvious to me & don't need to be analyzed, but the problem I've faced is that, before Objectivism, I did not have the proper base from which to evaluate the "why" of it all. Through my study of Objectivism, all of the disparate, fractured bits that I had figured out for myself all started simply falling into place. More than that, for the first time [my disparate, fractured bits] were being laid out & presented back to me as a coherent whole, with the significant gaps filled in & taken to their logical ends. It was shocking, exciting and even a bit scary how much sense it all made. Anyway, as to my progress as a student of Objectivism -- So far I’ve read : * The Fountainhead, * Atlas Shrugged * Anthem * We the Living (1936) * The Voice of Reason (1989) * The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) * Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1979) * Philosophy: Who Needs It (1982) * I think I'm missing something but can't figure it out. I'm currently working my way through : * Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff (1991) and * The Capitalist Manifesto, by Andrew Bernstein (2005) I've also thoroughly abused The Ayn Rand Lexicon & have subscribed to both The Intellectual Activist monthly newsletter & TIA Daily. I have purchased but have yet to read: * For the New Intellectual (1961) * Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966) * The Romantic Manifesto (1969) * The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971) * The Ayn Rand Letter * The Objectivist Newsletter A little background on me - I grew up in the San Francisco area, spent six years in central Florida for college & work, then moved back to SF in '99. I'm 30 years old & engaged. I majored in English Literature in college, but I've spend the past 11 or so years in the tech industry. I've worked for some extremely large companies like Disney & Cisco, & now I'm the IT Director of an extremely small company (~10 people when I started a few years ago, ~100 people now). Outside of work, I love to mountain bike (I have 4 bikes that, added up, cost more than my car), wakeboard & snowboard (unfortunately with a recently reconstructed knee to show for it), and fly airplanes (unfortunately decreased in recent years by Bay Area cost of living / mortgage payments ). My biggest vice is playing MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). I realize what a colossal waste of time they can be, but they're fun. They also provide an opportunity for me to spend time with some of my good friends who live in other areas of the country & who I don't see very often. So while they're a waste of time, there's also some value in them. Anyway, I guess that's enough babbling for now. I just wanted to officially say hi. So hi. If I think of any other juicy tidbits about myself, I'll be sure to come back and let you know.

I'm currently driving an Audi A4 Avant. Great for packing in lots of mountain bikes & dirty riders, or for heading up to the mountains for a weekend of snowboarding, etc. My friends & I are getting older & fatter though, so I might have to upgrade to an A6 so we can fit. I used to drive a 98 BMW M3. I miss that car so bad it hurts. Truly a phenomenal automobile. I also used to ride a Ducati SuperSport 900. The hurt from missing that one is ten times worse than the BMW. Here's my favorite summertime vehicle (a MasterCraft Maristar 210 VRS for those who are interested)... I also enjoy cruising around in a Mooney (or any of several other types of airplanes). And here's my self-powered vehicles... Downhill bike - Ellsworth Id Freeride / Hucker - Banshee Morphine Cross Country - Maverick ML7 Yes, I have a lot of vehicular-related interests. (Disclaimer that the airplane pictured isn't actually mine. The Ducati also isn't me, but I did own that bike & it's a much better picture than any I have of myself. )

Awesome, thanks! RealMedia sucks but at least I can convert it.

Here's a perfect example of a problem of a "limited" natural resource being solved by human ingenuity & productiveness: Wired Magazine: The New Diamond Age Armed with inexpensive, mass-produced gems, two startups are launching an assault on the De Beers cartel. Next up: the computing industry. The article is about two years old and I have not looked into the state of affairs since I read it back then, but it's completely relevant nonetheless.

I'm on the lookout for good, freely-available (legally) audio programs on Objectivist topics. Can you post links to some resources? I've found that listening to these is absolutely the best use of my commuting time. I'm planning on purchasing some for the ARB, but there's only so much I can afford. I found a ton of podcasts on the Mises site, but from what I gather I need to be careful who I listen to (or read) from there. So far I've only listened to Reisman's talks. Is there anyone else there you would recommend as "safe" to listen to (safe from the standpoint of a relatively new student of Objectivism)? http://www.mises.org/media.aspx If you know of any other good resources, please post you links here. Thanks, Rob

That's an important point. It's not enough to look at this from the point of view of rational individuals. For such people, this proposition doesn't affect them because they've raised their children in such a manner that their children will want to talk to them about being pregnant & having an abortion. Instead, you have to look at this in the context of the the purpose & aim of this proposition. Evaluating it in that proper context reveals how wrong it is. Take a look at the wording of this point in the actual prop: Are you kidding me? Who would have worded it that way? This screams Anti-Life -- err...excuse me...so-called "Pro-Life" -- at it's core. Knowing that, what do you think the aim of this prop is? It's the Pro-Life movement chipping away...a small step towards the complete ban on all abortions. As I said earlier, this simply sets the precedence for such laws (not a legal precedence, but a precedence for the voting public), demonstrating that it is the government's place to step in and tell us how to live our lives.

Unconquered's link was so enlightening that I have to highlight this: Graph of solar activity versus climate From Friis-Christensen, E., and K. Lassen, "Length of the solar cycle: An indicator of solar activity closely associated with climate," Science, 254, 698-700, 1991. "70-90 years oscillations in global mean temperature are correlated with corresponding oscillations in solar activity. Whereas the solar influence is obvious in the data from the last four centuries, signatures of human activity are not yet distinguishable in the observations."

Here are some references for you. The best line of all of them is, "I mean, there's almost an equation you can write the degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes to increase is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms." Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection by Dr. Patrick Michaels (September 24, 2005) While the impacts of the currently active hurricane period are being felt especially hard in the United States, there remains no scientific proof that human contributions to an enhanced greenhouse effect are the root cause. Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. Roy Spencer by James K. Glassman (September 14, 2005) Was hurricane Katrina in any way manmade? Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. James J. O'Brien by James K. Glassman (September 13, 2005) Does global warming have an affect on the intensity of hurricanes? Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Meteorologist Dr. William Gray by James K. Glassman (September 12, 2005) "I mean, there's almost an equation you can write the degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes to increase is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms." Hurricane Katrina and Global Warming by James K. Glassman (September 3, 2005) Katrina has nothing to do with global warming. Global Warming is More Scare than Science by Alan Caruba (June 23, 2005) The enormous financial power of environmental organizations, funded by leftist foundations, permits them to continue telling "global warming" lies. Meanwhile, scientists struggle to tell the true story about this hoax.

Thank you both. That helps me out a lot.