Quin

I was just listening to this on Rush Limbaugh. There needs to be more people like this man who come off as reasonable to people when they end up getting played on television and radio.

Glenn Beck made a very good point in one of his radio shows though when he told his listeners not to do anything extreme. He said that they should arm themselves, or do anything that might be viewed as violent because the moment that happens everyone loses. It scares me to think how right he is though. All it would take is someting like two people getting in a fight and one of them pulling a knife, or someone shouting death threats at Obama to make this issue explode.

I had just heard of this guy when I opened this thread and then I checked out his website. Holy crap! It's like a treasure trove of inspirational writings. Even if the guy is a crack pot now his earlier writings are fantastic! If what you say is true, it's a shame.

Frank Zappa is the composer I admire most. I love all of his stuff, from the Jazz Fusion style he pioneered on Hot Rats, to the sonic experiments of Jazz From Hell to the blues and rock oriented stuff off of Apostrophe. I also enjoy Gustav Mahler, Fran Liszt (his stuff is so over the top and I love it), Tchaikovsky, Paganini and Vivaldi. I also like Stevie Wonder, Metallica (especially the stuff Cliff Burton wrote), prog metal like Dream Theater and Kamelot and Jazz like Weather Report.

Don't forget that lyrics wise, you can't find an album with more sense of life than Dream Theater's Images and Words: The unbroken spirit Obscured and disquiet Finds clearness this trial demands And at the end of this day sighs an anxious relief For the fortune lies still in his hands Of course there are a large number of bands that sound like a smear of sound with hateful lyrics grunted loudly, but it's important to realize that these are not all that metal has to offer. This is as ridiculous as fundamental Christians doing exactly what they think Jesus would do, and often coming up wrong. Who cares whether Ayn Rand would have liked bands like Megadeth or Iron Maiden? I enjoy the music and they way the lyrics are put together, that's all the matters to me.

Lucretia anyone?

I live about fifteen miles outside a tiny town called Wellsville. It's cool seeing someone that lives as close as Elmira.

Whenever I think of the title of this movie I can't help but think of an elephant listening Baba O'Riley.

Also keep in mind that Rome obtained much of it's wealth from the conquests of other nations.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23348817-23109,00.html Well, the last remaining respect I have for the Vatican has just shot out the window. It's just another example of religion trying to merge with liberals from the looks of it though.

Congratulations, that's a pretty sweet deal!

I read his son's book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens" a few months back for a book club. It was written by Covey's son and is basically a rehash of his father's rules. The book seems to be part valid and part mush, but I did get a few good things out of it.

I thought that people using only 15% of their brains was considered an urban legend.

I know it's not something I can do anything about, but none the less it does bother me. I guess I should worry more about the insecurity than the perceived problem though.

I was told that my IQ is about a 95 which essentially means that I am in the lower average range. It sickens me that I am actually barred this way and that no matter how hard I work I won't be able to understand as quickly or comprehend things on the same way as many of my peers. Is there anything I can do to change it?

Right now I am debating against three other people in another forum about socialized health care. It has expanded to taxes in general now. In an objectivist society, what would fund the roles of firefighters, policemen and the military? Thanks.

Who are WE to question his grand design? Interesting theory, but it does sound like things I have heard about before.

It's a weird question, I know, but what is your opinion on Frank Zappa morally? The reason I ask is that he has been kind of a person I've looked up to for the past few years and I am just realizing now that in a lot of the things he has done and said, he resembles someone right out of one of the Ayn Rand novels. Here are a few examples of things he's said that go nicely with my point: "Basically I'm in the idea business — whether it's a musical idea or a spoken idea ... If you wind up with a political system that wants to put idea men out of business, then you have worry on your hands." "The most important thing to do in your life, is to not interfere with somebody else's life." "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." "The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your ******* mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions." "Fact of the matter is, there is no hip world, there is no straight world. There's a world, you see, which has people in it who believe in a variety of different things. Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, use that something to support their own existence"

I honestly plan on changing my name as well. I can't help but think of "Peter" as someone that fell away from me years ago and has no real meaning to me.

My conception of a Dagny style room has always been relatively empty with the exception of a few pieces of furniture that I find attractive and a few aesthetics.

Let me reiterate one of my points, I live by Objectivist principals, but I view others in Machiavellian terms. In other words I don't sacrifice my integrity for accumulation of power. I only actually act on these Machiavellian ideas if force is used against me unjustly. It is quite obvious that Machiavelli was following the Christian perspective of what is moral. However, it isn't a stretch to say that this could apply to the Objectivist view of what is moral. What do you mean by prosperity in this context? Do you mean a large income or happiness?

Next to The Fountainhead, The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is my favorite book. I picked it up a year before I first read Atlas Shrugged and I openly admit I still view the world in mostly a Machiavellian way. Last Sunday I had a short discussion about this with Boldstandard about my views on other people. I told him that I would clarify my views in this thread. As far as personal values, I hold the Objectivist tenets to be true, and I keep my integrity. However, as far as other people go, I generally hold them to Machiavellian rules. As I said to Boldstandard, people are stupid, and it has been like this throughout history. I am not sure whether it will change in the future or not, but generally people will follow a few simple laws, that can be found in The Prince. An example is this quote from "Concerning Things for which Men, and Princes Especially, are Praised or Censured" It seems that this has brought me to an incredibly cynical view of people. I also happen to be generally right except for a few people who even more coincidentally (or perhaps not) I hold in high regard. Boldstandard asked if I related to Gail Wynand. I replied that I did in many ways, with the exception of a few of his actions. I am asking though, does this pragmatic view of other people make me less rational?

It is a proven scientific fact, I read it in the Bible, and who are WE to question something that's been around for some three millenia, hmm? I'll try to get a picture up in my avatar some time.

Depends what's going on around us and whether I know them. I'll normally strike up a conversation with them and ask them about themselves and usually tease them in some form or another. Most do. Another good one is "I'm starting to thing that God really screwed up when he created man." "Hmm? Why?" "Two heads, unfortunately there isn't enough blood to power both." That one kinda depends on the girl though.

That isn't the problem though. I work out and run a few miles every day and adhere to a strict diet. As of now I weight two-hundred and eight pounds with about twelve or thirteen percent body fat. My wardrobe isn't bad either (for where I live) so I am left to the premise that there must be something radically wrong with my body language.