Concerto of Atlantis

Let me tell a short story. Next month, before I start full time work (Soulsurfer: with a Swedish company ) I will be moving into a house with two other females - one who is quite attractive. When I told my girlfriend about this, she was a little upset. I assumed she was feeling jealous, but asked her why she was upset anyway. And she told me that she did not for a second think that I would be unfaithful to her - no matter how attractive the females were. She told me that what she was feeling was possessiveness, and not jealousy. That she hated the idea of having 'to share' me with others. As she put it: "I'm feeling the way Gail Wynand did with that statue of Dominique". Do you think that maybe you are experiencing something similar?

I think that 'The King and I' (the original version) is also an exceptional movie.

I understand your situation as I am a fan of indie-rock as well. But are lyrics THAT important to you? I mean, I can at times enjoy the music of Radiohead. Now, obviously they're very anti-capitalist and their lyrics tend to be quite negative. But I admire them for their technical brilliance and their attention to detail. As far as I am concerned, lyrics are nowhere near as important as the music itself. Now, since you did ask for some more optimistic, life-affirming bands, I will recommend you some artists. 1. Super Furry Animals: The lyrics are often non-sensical, but they make killer melodies. Great summer music. A few recommended songs: Hello Sunshine, Sidewalk Surfer Girl, Juxtaposed with U, She's got spies. 2. The Postal Service: Very very optimistic music that sometimes feature great lyrics. Try: District sleeps, Recycled Air, Such great heights. (Such great heights is an especially fantastic song about love, and feature the lyrcis: They will see us / waving from such great heights / come down now they'll say / But everything is perfect from far away / Come down now / But we'll stay). 3. Ed Harcourt: Singer / songwriter from England who writes simple, but moving songs. Check out: She fell into my arms, Like only lovers can, Whistle of the Distant Train, Apple of My eye, Watching the Sun come up. 4. The Flaming Lips: Very established band that sometimes come up with some great life-affirming music. I could give you many more examples, but check those out first.

Generally speaking, tipping in Australia is far less widespread than in the US - mainly because our minimum wage laws are a lot higher for waiters than in the US. My rule of thumb in regard to tipping is: - Tip around 10% if my expectations are met. - Tip less than 10% if my expectations are met. - Tip more than 10% if my expecations are surpassed. I like tipping because it allows me to seperate the service that the waiter offers from the more general product/service that the restaurant as a whole offers. I know from experience that you can get some excellent waiters at mediocre restaurants, and I like to reward such staff, without rewarding the whole establishment.

I was browsing through the Prodos website (prodos.com). For those of you who don't know, Prodos is an Ayn Rand fan (I'm not using the term Objectivist, because I don't know if he is one) who runs a net-based radio program. Anyway, I stumbled upon an interview he once conducted called "How to find love and romance", and to my surprise, Betsy was being interviewed. Highly recommended listening! http://prodos.com/archive004findloveandromance.html

This is correct. As a very general rule: If a big SUV type vehicle crashes with a MUCH smaller car, the occupants in the SUV will be safer. However, if an SUV crashes into another SUV or a tree or wall, generally, the occupants of the SUV will be worse off than if they were in a modern passenger car. Also, as pointed out, when it comes to active safety (i.e. how good a vehicle is at avoiding an accident in the first place), SUVs are generally far inferior due to their higher centre of gravity, lower agility, greater weight, etc.

The important thing to realise is that whenever someone does something in his life, he should do it because he expects to profit out of it. Monetary profit is only ONE type of profit. There is obviously nothing wrong with wanting to make money. Just like there is nothing wrong with not being particularly concerned about making money. Remember, Howard Roark did not care too much about money. But Dagny Taggart did. As did Hank Rearden. And they are all heroes.

Thank you, Betsy.

OK, I have heard this term so many times, but I'm still very unclear as to what it means. I've asked a few lecturers/tutors to clarify it for me, but their explanations generally left me more confused than before. So can anyone here highlight to me the essential components of post modernity?

Thanks all.

I know that this music video isn't exactly new, but I saw it today after a long time. Wow. If Atlas Shrugged was a 4-minute music video, then this would be it. During some parts of it, I couldn't help but think "so this is how Dagny and Rearden would have felt when they rode on the John Galt line for the first time". Watch it if you get the chance.

Update: I got the job.

I'd like to ask a question about alliances, with the use of a hypothetical scenario. Assume that the US is a completely Capitalist country. Australia, with its population of 20 million is also a fully Capitalist country. Australia is invaded by Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world, because Indonesia wants Australia's vast amounts of land and natural resources. Australia's small defense force is no match for them. Now, in this situation, would it be in the US' national interest to go and help Australia? I'm thinking that it would, because such an invasion is essentially an attack against the principle of freedom, and defending such a principle would be in the American national interest. Is this correct?

My MSN name is: [email protected] Ranildo also seemed clever in Highschool. (My real name is Ranil and I was into soccer back then).

So, you need a car that: - Is a sporty convertible - Is reliable (because you don't know a lot about cars and because you do a lot of driving) - Is comfortable (again because you want a car that can travel long distances effortlessly) - Has good mechanicals / technology. One that comes immediately to mind is the Nissan 300ZX. While they're not 'low maintenance' cars, as long as service them by the book, they should be quite reliable. Nissan in general make very good, strong engines, and the powerplant of the 300ZX is no exception. They're also quite powerful and I think it's one of the best looking cars to ever come out of Japan. The one bad thing about this car is its hefty weight, but that probably wouldn't concern you too much. Here is a picture: http://photostore.automark.net/dealerphotos/201177/C1708.JPG Another one you may be interested in would be the Toyota MR2 of the mid-90's. Think Ferrari on a smaller, more affordable scale and you get the picture. It's not strictly a convertible, but some of them had targa tops (removable roof panels). The mechanicals are bulletproof, it looks great and handles very nicely. But, it is not as comfortable for long-range trips as the 300ZX is, and is quite a bit smaller. http://home.c2i.net/motorsentrum/mr2rd94.jpg Another one to consider is the Toyota Supra from the mid 90's. In many ways, it is quite similar to the 300ZX in terms of idea and execution. http://www.whatodo.ru/bestcars/cars/toyota...ra/supra-06.jpg Apart from those three, you could also check out some of the BMW 3-series convertibles (and this thread seems to have a few BMW fans that you could ask questions from) and the Mazda Miata / MX-5 may also be worth checking out. Have fun!

Thank you. I tried attaching them, but I encountered this following message: "The total filespace required to upload all the attached files is greater than your per post or global limit. Please reduce the number of attachments or the size of the attachments."

What are the most important criteria for you in a car, David? And what sort of price range?

Yes, they were. (Over the last couple of weeks or so).

I drive an '85 Mazda RX-7 with the 13B engine. I want to start doing quite a lot of modifications to make it quite a quick little thing starting next year. I won't list all those things in this thread because Stephen and I discussed this in detail in the... umm, 'Architecture as Art' thread. Here it is: http://ranil.fotopic.net/p2844029.html Also: Porsche 928: Very nice car.

[Mod's note: Merged with earlier thread on a similar topic. - sN] Government Financing: As I understand it, a government would gain funding in a Capitalist society mainly through a voluntary fee paid by parties when forming a contract to ensure that the contract is enforceable. If this is the case, what's stopping a private corporation, e.g. an insurance company offering insurance against non-compliance for a lower fee than the government? Sure, the insurance company couldn't strictly 'enforce' a contract, but it could offer insurance, couldn't it?

Well said.

Oh yes, I see. Hmm, well, if you still want to see the pictures, I suppose you can right click on them, go to properties, and type in the URL in your browser.

Local church: A plane flies over my clothesline: My Dog, Tete Rouge: A local school at night: My lovely girlfriend:

An building in an industrial area of Melbourne http://photos1.blogger.com/img/99/1220/102...dustrial1BW.jpg

Well, from a very young age, we are taught that one basically faces two choices as far as life is concerned - You can either be a 'practical' person or a 'moral/idealistic' person. And then this idea of a dichotomy is stressed all throughout one's life. For example, people tend to say that they are 'down to earth' OR 'idealistic'. Sometimes they say that they are 'artistic/creative' OR 'practical'. If you say, for example that you are 'down to earth' AND 'idealistic', people tend to look at you strangely. Objectivism holds that such a dichotomy does not exist. For instance, let's look at Atlas Shrugged. Is Francisco idealistic and moral? Of course he is. Is he practical and down to earth (where down to earth means: in touch with reality)? The answer is again yes. According to Objectivism, morals are a guide to living life. Therefore morals lead to practicality.