Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

AbA

Regulars
  • Posts

    40
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

AbA last won the day on July 27 2013

AbA had the most liked content!

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male

Previous Fields

  • Sexual orientation
    No Answer
  • Relationship status
    No Answer
  • State (US/Canadian)
    Montana
  • Country
    United States
  • Experience with Objectivism
    20 years
  • Copyright
    Public Domain

AbA's Achievements

Junior Member

Junior Member (3/7)

5

Reputation

  1. My speculation on Rearden Metal is that it's not so much a newly discover metal (in the sense of a chemical element) but rather a new alloying of some already discover elements into a newly discovered high strength "super alloy" that's achieved not only by combining certain elements is specific quantities but by new "rolling" and "heat treating" techniques that Hank figured out. With this in mind I'd tend to think that his primary smelting operation would produce slag very similar in appearance with what's shown in those videos.
  2. Alex, In general I earn my living as a welder / fabricator. All though over the years I've been involved with quite a few different projects for the oil and gas industry I wouldn't say I'm particularly invested in working on drilling rigs. If your interested in off shore work I'd recommend checking out a site called RIGZONE. What's your particular engineering discipline? As to living in Montana....I like it (been here 14 years now) it's low key and peaceful. The wages aren't as high as a lot of other places but that's kind of balanced out by the fact that it's not as expensive to live here if you're willing to accept a certain level of rustic-ness. As compared to a place like Singapore it's a radically different place. Montana is 540 times bigger than Singapore but only has 1/5 the number of people. Dave
  3. Well I'm back from my employment adventure to Singapore. Everything came together and went much quicker than any one was anticipating it happening. We loaded and sea fastened the jack up drilling rig "Key Hawaii" on to the heavy transport vessel "Transshelf". It left for Bahrain the day after we finished up. Got to spend 4 days playing tourist and getting taken around to some very nice places. Also spent a day over in Johor, Malaysia seeing where the company I was working for is in the process of getting ready to build a new machining, welding and fabrication facility to service the office shore industry. I think there's a good chance I might get the opportunity to go back to live and work there for extended periods. Over all, Singapore has to be the most modern, up beat, industrially booming and economically expanding place I've ever been to. It's also the third most expensive city in the world in which to live. Talk about some sticker shock, the average price we paid for a pint of beer was around $18 SD. Luckily for me the cost of all my lodging and most of my food was picked up by my employer. While I didn't see or hear any mention of Ayn Rand or Objectivism in my short time there I didn't get any indication that any of her ideas are banned or would otherwise get you in trouble for openly discussing or advocating for. I guess I could have done a little more in depth research into the matter (like checking a book store for the availability of her books) but I was for the most part just caught up in going with the flow of those I was there with. If any one has any specific things they'd like me to try and comment on please let me know. .
  4. Hell Nicky, with the exception of the occasional foray into midget clown porn I stay away from most of that stuff here at home.
  5. Headed there next Tuesday. Scheduled to be there for three to five weeks. Will probably be spending most of my time out in the West Anchorage working but should get a day or two in there some where to play tourist. Dave
  6. That first sentence reveals that the poster accepts the Soul-Body Dichotomy and is simply thrashing about looking for a way to justify or maintain the contradictions it entails. It's the product of a primacy of consciousness mentality. As to "people having been swimming irrationally for ages", well I would assert that the major portion of the blame for that sad state of affairs rests with Christianity and by extension people such as this poster who go around trying to some how justify or gloss over the worst of it's essential characteristics.
  7. Despite having seen quite a bit of it, it still amazes me how much time, effort and convoluted verbage people of faith are willing to put in, in their attempts to raise the spectral reflectivity index number of that prolate spheroid of solid excretory matter that is commonly known as "Christianity". I've come to view these attempts by people who some how think their "faith" constitutes a virtue as further proof that what Rand said about Faith (the alleged short cut to knowledge) being simply a short circuit that destroys the mind, was a highly astute observation on her part. As to those who attempt to reconcile their religious beliefs with Objectivism, well personally I think that those people should be shunned and dissuaded from doing so where ever and when ever possible. Because as Rand also said, in any compromise between food and poison it is only poison that can triumph.
  8. I guess for me the reason that "charity" carries such a negative connotation is because most of the people I've come in contact with during my life that have made a big deal out of the "charity" work they do are for the most part otherwise people I've come to find philosophically abhorrent and burdensome to deal with or be around. If they haven't been out right religious fanatics they've been moochers who've tried to use their so called "charity" work as a cover for the fact that they themselves feel they have a "right" to get by in this life by relying on the productive efforts of others. As far as "charity" not being the same as altruism....well, I think that all depends on how you would define "charity" and the context in which you would try to practice or advocate it. I will have to say that I think the general held public perception that doing Charity work some how makes one virtuous is based on using Altruism as a moral justification for it. Thanks to the contaminating influence of the Christian religion the concept of "Charity" has gotten so mixed up with the concepts of self sacrifice and the morality of Altruism that it does far harm than good. So how's your search for a missionary work type adventure coming? Please don't think that because I have an over all low opinion of Religiously motivated charity that I would look down on or fault you for going on one of those. I encourage you to go do something like that if you can arrange it so that it doesn't have to negative a disruptive effect on the long term course and success of your life. I got an email just yesterday asking if I'd be available to go to Vietnam mid July as part of a crew involved with moving an off shore drilling rig. So right now I'm kind of stoked up over the possibility of a well paid employment adventure in my near future.
  9. How about the "Paul Watson Memorial Whale Rendering, Seal Packing and Porpoise Pickling Plant"? If that's to wordy for you how about just the "Sea Shepard Cannery". Or maybe instead of a cannery you could have the "Wyatt Whale Oil Refinery" with a siding full of tanker cars. As far as a back story goes Ragnar could have captured both the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker and beached them next to where the facility was built so they could be broken up for recycling thru a steel mill Hank Rearden would set up to produce the piping and structural shapes necessary to build it. I've watched a few episodes of Whale Wars and like you I always rooted for the fisherman. Oh man, if I was Captain of one of those Japanese boats I don't think I'd have been able to resist the urge to open up with a 50 cal. and start punching holes (at the water line) in the hulls of the Bob Barker and Steve Irwin when ever they tried to come along side. If any kind of credit needs to be given for "saving the whales" most of it probably needs to go to John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil.
  10. As a vet (US Navy 1975-1981) I wish to tell you that I find what you have to say on this subject on this particular day(and the manner in which you're saying it) to be at a minimum at least an exercise in seriously poor judgement. Have you ever thought to consider that if the time and place of your birth would have made you of military age in Nazi Germany you might have got swept up in things and simply ended up being a "Good German" yourself?
  11. I wonder how long it will be until they get around to marketing a "Green" version? Soylent Green any one?
  12. LoBagola, I'd have to say that letting these kinds of people cause you feelings of fear and anxiety is not seving you in a benefical way. All they're doing is running the "Arguement from Intimidation" on you. To help give you a better understanding of what that is please read this...http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/argument_from_intimidation.html And since it sounds like you're in an Educational enviroment I'd also recommend you read Rand's essay "The Comprachicos". That should help give you some insight into why these people are behaving the way they are. Hang in there, I'm rooting for you.
  13. Dante, I would suggest that you do a search on "religeon and mental health / illness" and then see if you might want to re-think that opinion.
  14. AbA

    Violence by proxy

    I think the total context and circumstances under which a threat (or percieved threat) is made has to be factored in. You have to have a reasonable expectation that the person confronting you poses an immenent risk to your physical well being before initiating (or attempting to initiate) pre emptive steps to avoid the possibility they'll cause you physical harm. And while all this general theorizing that's going on in this thread about when it might be justified (from the Objectivist philosophical standpoint) to initiate pre emptive force against a percieved threat is all well and good (and has it's place) what I think needs to be kept very fore front in one's mind in these types of situations is what your local legal system (law enforcement, the courts and possibly a jury of your peers) is likely to find reasonable and justified. I think a big part of being mentally prepaired to defend yourself is knowing what your States Criminal Code has to say about what constitutes "assault" and what the "use of deadly force" statues are.
×
×
  • Create New...