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dadmonson

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Posts posted by dadmonson

  1. Peikoff said that genius is an extraordinary ability to handle abstractions.

    Peikoff said that genius is an extraordinary ability to handle abstractions.

    I can't find the podcast where he goes a little more in depth in what a genius is.

    In the podcast he calls some people schmoes and compares himself to Moses. Do you have a link?

  2. People use this term so loosely and I know Peikoff answered this question in one of his podcasts but I can't find it right now.

    The term genius is used to describe people with high IQs but it has also been used to describe great businessmen, musicians, artists, etc.

    What's the difference between being a genius vs being really good at what you do?

    How do you determine if one's a genius besides giving them an IQ test?

  3. "[P]hilosophical training gives man the proper *intellectual* posture---a proud, disciplined control of his mind." -- Ayn Rand

    I'd like to do some philosophical training but I don't quite know all it entails.

    Is philosophical training just reading philosophical books with an active mind or is there more to it?

    Also what would you recommend someone to do if one wants to do some philosophical training? What is a good regimen or guide to follow?

  4. The "16th minute" thing must relate to Andy Warhol's claim that in future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,

    I think I have experienced this. While on the internet I recently tried to spark other people's curiosity in Ayn Rand's ideas. However, little did I know that people were going to start snooping around 'on me' and I don't like it at all. I value my privacy very much so, but ultimately I know it's my fault; I should've known that nothing on the internet is private, and that there would be snoopers. Why someone would want to be famous...I have no idea.

  5. he was animated.

    I've watched many Colts games and Manning has frequently done that when they have failed to score on a drive. I don't think that was the turning point. In football you quickly learn that anything can happen on any given Sunday no matter how good your team may be. It's the team that plays the best that day or has the less mistakes that day, that wins.

    I wonder why the Colts didn't blitz Drew Brees at all?

  6. Is it just me, or does the animation look worse than in Jurassic Park - which is now 16 years old? Those dinos looked real - partly because of the mixed use of animatronics. But Avatar no doubt just went for straight CGI, and it just reminds me of the cartoonish look of Star Wars Episode One.

    Avatar looks better and seems more Oist friendly than the new Iron Man 2 movie that's coming out. Check out this mess; http://link.brightcove.com/services/player...tid=57699172001

  7. "He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting.

    This is neither here nor there, but, what an idiotic thing to say. He was trying to persuade people into thinking this because he doesn't like stem cell research due to his religious beliefs.

    The bottom line is(And you guys know this) that Rush Limbaugh has every right to attempt to become a partial owner of an NFL football team, and that is what he got; a shot. If the current owners don't like him personally or under further review they don't see him fit for the job, it is their right to reject him.

  8. How did the first man acquire a piece of land and convinced his fellow men that this is his land? Based on a legal contract?

    In the U.S., many times a legal title was granted to a settler who first possessed the land by squatting. It's called the "squatter-to-owner" process. An example of this would be the Homestead Act of 1862. The person who had possessed the land for five years and had made certain improvements to it, obtained legal ownership. The Government didn't own the land, they defined property rights in areas that were previously ownerless.

  9. I wonder, if the deal had been completed and the economy went into the tank say a month after the closing, would Dow be asking for a refund of its purchase price? Better yet, if the deal had closed and the economy had soared beyond everyone's wildest expectations, would Dow volunteer to pay Rohm & Haas more than was contemplated by the original purchase price?

    So you're saying that Force Mejoure shouldn't exist at all?

  10. Here is the link to the article and there is a video to go along with it,

    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...20032082134.htm

    It's from February.

    Should a Severe Recession Void Legal Obligations?

    A new twist on the force majeure doctrine argues that the economic crisis is so severe it voids legal obligations

    Is the economic crisis akin to an earthquake or an act of war? Under force majeure, a long-standing legal doctrine, companies can argue that natural disasters or other calamities should excuse them from living up to the terms of a deal. Now, a growing number are contending in lawsuits that the economic crisis should similarly let them off the hook.

    In a Feb. 3 filing in Delaware Chancery Court, Dow Chemical (DOW) said "a cascading sequence of market failures of historic proportions" justifies its effort to walk away from a July 2008 agreement to acquire Rohm & Haas (ROH). Rohm sued the chemical giant in January to force the $15.4 billion deal to go through, and a trial is scheduled for Mar. 9. Dow Chemical, which lost Kuwaiti funding for the deal in December, says in a statement that "the economic reality of late December and early 2009 is far worse than in July 2008." A Rohm spokesperson says her company firmly believes that "Dow has the means to finance the deal."

    By most accounts, Dow Chemical faces an uphill fight. Judges rejected nearly every effort to revise or rescind deals after the oil price shocks of the early 1970s and the Asian economic collapse in 1997. Robert E. Scott, an expert in business transactions at Columbia Law School, says courts tend to dismiss economic force majeure cases because they "don't want to let parties get out of contracts too easily." And Scott doesn't think the current downturn will lead to different results.

    Still, lawyers say they expect more businesses to cite the meltdown as an excuse to dodge obligations. Luc A. Despins, a bankruptcy attorney at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in New York, says he already has seen several companies use that argument in negotiations with creditors.

    Business contracts often contain force majeure clauses, which detail events that can allow a company to delay or cancel what it has agreed to do. Events such as fires, floods, riots, strikes, and terrorism are typically specified. A construction loan pact between Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank (DB) also includes the unusually broad phrase "any other event or circumstance not within the reasonable control" of the borrower. Trump is now arguing in a New York State court that the "calamitous economy" falls under that definition and should preclude Deutsche Bank from collecting $40 million on a loan that he personally guaranteed for a hotel and condominium tower in Chicago. "A lot of people are starting to say that we're in a depression," says Trump, "but it's a lot better if you have the language in your contract." Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

    QUOTING GREENSPAN

    Even without a force majeure clause, it's possible to argue that a deal should be modified because of dramatic shifts in the environment. In federal court in Indiana, electric cooperative Hoosier Energy is contending that "one of the worst financial crises in our nation's history" entitles it to more time to avoid a $120 million payment demanded by John Hancock (MFC). If that argument prevails, Hancock responded in a brief, "every debtor in a country suffering economic distress could avoid its debts." But in a Nov. 25 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge David F. Hamilton noted that "the credit crisis facing the world's economies in recent months is unprecedented." He temporarily stopped Hancock from pursuing payment, a ruling that is now on appeal.

    Companies interested in linking natural disasters to financial crises can look to Alan Greenspan for inspiration. In October the former Fed Chairman told Congress that the nation was experiencing a "credit tsunami." Both Trump and Hoosier Energy have used that phrase in their court filings.

  11. I found a fascinating read on I.Q. at ARI- Randex (under S.African journalists).

    It is a column by James Clarke, probably SA's finest newspaper columnist, about a Mensa speech he attended.

    Some excerpts: IQ 124 - 140, Superior. Includes US Presidents, CEO's etc. With these people, morality is decidedly a matter of principle,but they tend to accept established systems..

    IQ140 - 156, Brilliant. These make up society's intellectual leaders- most original ideas start with these people. However their contribution tends to be in bits and pieces, rather than a whole new system. (JP Sartre was one, unsurprisingly) One in 1000 people reach 148.

    IQ 150 - 172, Genius. The smarter Nobel winners, and most historical geniuses. They are the source of virtually all of mankind's advances. The masses find them an affront; many do not rise above the envy and hostility. Examples: Einstein, Hawkins,Byron,Milton,Kant,Newton,Russell, and..AYN RAND.

    Above this range are the 'freakish', who are seldom appreciated and feel profoundly isolated from others. Examples: Keynes, Nietzche, right on up to Abelard.

    BTW, our best friends aren't forgotten in this line-up. Cats are IQ 20, and dogs 28 - 44. [ I bet my border- collie- cross, Xerox, is more like an 80 ! ]

    Ayn Rand on IQs in Ayn Rand Answers.

    QUOTE(Ayn Rand @ Ayn Rand Answers)

    Could you write a revised edition of Intorduction to Objectivist Epistemology for people with an IQ of 110, or will it remain available only to people with an IQ of 150?

    I'd prefer that people raise their IQ from 110 to 150. It can be done. [FHF 67]

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