Jerry Story

Why do people take courses that they don't approve of, and from teachers that they don't approve of? Would Howard Roark do that?

The name is Branden, not Brandon. 'E', not 'O'. For information about the relationship between Ayn Rand and the Brandens (Nathaniel and Barbara) you can read "The Passion of Ayn Rand" by Barbara Branden, and "Judgement Day" by Nathaniel Branden. There are two versions of what happened between Rand and Branden, Rand's version and Branden's version.

Hemp seed is okay. Stay off the leaves. http://www.thehempnut.com/nutrition.html

Reason is our only means of knowledge. Reason means sense perception plus inferences from sense perception. True? Sense perception means the traditional five senses--sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch--plus any other sense that we might have--hot, cold, gravity, whatever. All knowledge starts with sense perception. Then how how is introspection possible? Introspection seems to bypass sense perception and observe one's own mind directly. Is this a nonsensory means of knowledge? But there is no such thing as a nonsensory means of knowledge. Do you mean reason is our only means of knowledge about -the external world-? In John Locke's version of epeistemology there are two starting points of knowledge: sensation and reflection. According to John Locke we have knowledge of the outside world by sensation, knowledge of our own mind by reflection. I take reflection to be the same as introspection. Is introspection a separate thing? Or can it be reduced to sensation? How is introspection done? By sense perception? Or some other way?

Maybe Bin Laden and other Arabs see the US wars against Iraq and other Islamic countries as aggression against Islam. US denies this, but perhaps that's their perception. Maybe 9-11 was retaliation against US war against Islamic countries. Maybe 9-11 had nothing to do with hatred of freedom and hatred of wealth. I don't know. I would have liked to see Bin Laden's answers to direct questions such as: Why 9-11? Do you hate US freedom and US wealth? What constitutes US attack on Islam? http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html

The action 9-11 does not tell me the motive. Can anyone provide a quote from Bin Laden saying that his motive for 9-11 was hatred of US wealth and US freedom?

From the above link: Can anyone provide a quote from bin Laden or somesuch person saying that the motive of Muslim aggression against the US is that they hate US wealth and freedom?

On the subject of alcohol in small quantities being healthy. Dr. Mercola pointed out a flaw in that study. The people who never in their lives tasted alcohol were put in the same category as those who used to get smashed and hit bottom and then quit, probably after they did some irreparable damage to their health. It should not be surprising that those who did no more than dainty wine tasting were on average healthier than those who wrecked their health and then quit. A proper study would have separated those who never in their lives tasted alcohol and ex-alcoholics who now abstain.

Options: First choice: Libertarian Second choice: None of the above Third choice: Don't vote

Destruction of enzymes in cooked food is irrevelant. Plant enzymes are for the plant, not for digeston. The body makes its own enzymes for digestion. I have a cassette tape of a debate between Vetrano, taking the view that the ideal diet is 100% raw, and Cinque, taking the view that sometimes diet can be greatly improved by adding some cooked food to it, no more than 20% and only starchy foods. A wealth of information was provided on both sides and the result seemed to be that both sides won the debate. I avoid pesticides that work by killing motor neurons of insects, considering that more than 80% of my motor neurons are already gone. If there is a "risk" it is unacceptable to me. Organic is not dangerous, but often over-rated and often over-priced. And much that passes as organic is not organic; you can prove this by reading labels. There is a lot of b***sh** in "health food stores". It has been said that foods grown in the best soil can have dozens or hundreds of times as much of certain micronutrients as in the same species in average soil. I have not seen -convincing- evidence of this kind of extreme. But USDA data shows that amounts of nutrients in plants has decreased, probably because of soil. And certain individuals in the INHS discussion group have testified that cucumbers etc. grown in superior soil taste better than those grown in average soil. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has free data consisting of nutrient contents of foods. There are many computer programs based on that, some of them free, both Windows and Linux. The latest data is SR17 with about 6800 foods and more than 100 nutrients.

The version of that story that I read is that the doctor repeatedly told Ayn Rand that smoking is terribly bad for her health and she should quit and she defied the doctor to give her one good reason why she should quit and she didn't want to hear about statistics. The doctor showed her an xray of her lungs, showing cancer. Then she quit. There was statistical evidence in Ayn Rand's time but she didn't accept it as valid evidence. But even without statistics, doctors even as far back as the 1800s were familar with the bad effects of smoking. I could list some of these doctors. Besides any person of common sense should know that breathing dirt is bad for lungs. If evidence is necessary, simple observation of what it does to oneself should be enough. What puzzles me is, given Ayn Rand's reasoning, why did she quit? She got lung cancer, so what? That's only anecdotal evidence, even worse than statistical evidence.

The following passage seems relevant to the discussion about vices.

I have the following list of possible causes of memory impairment: deficiency of folic acid (B9) deficiency of niacin (B3) deficiency of omega-3 oils deficiency of thiamin (B1) deficiency of zinc excess of copper 15 mg aspartame (nutrasweet) chronic sleep deficiency mercury I'm sure this list is very incomplete. Probably deficiency of magnesium should be added. Brain diseases and brain injuries. Genetic differences between people. Etc.

If people donate property to the government, does that mean that government owns the property that was donated? If so, is the property that the goverment now owns privately owned property? Ayn Rand says that under capitalism all property would be privately owned.

From "Ayn Rand Lexicon" page 57, under the heading "Capitalism": "Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned." The above quote is from "What is Capitalism?" CUI, 19. Question: If all property is privately owned, who owns government property? Possible Solutions: 1. There is no government, and therefore no need for government to own anything. But government is necessary. Scratch that. 2. Government has no need to own property and can function without owning property. Perhaps government can use private property, for a price of course. 3. Goverment counts as an individual, so government owned property is privately owned. Then what is meant by "public property" or property that is not privately owned? 4. Perhaps what government owns doesn't count as "property". But that looks like a word game. 5. Are we allowing exceptions?