Mimpy

I have read the entire book. I thought it was fantastic. I found the ending extremely satisfying.

Aww, happy birthday. Make it a good one!!

It was never taught at my high school, but I am aware of a couple nearby schools who do assign TF for the essay contest.

The scenery is beautiful! They chose a great location this year.

I agree. If the third party imposes no force on either spouse, then the court has no right to punish the third party. People can think for themselves. The third party does not strip the cheating spouse of the ability to judge, assess, and act.

How is one chosen to participate in the show? What happens after you apply?

In my high school, there were three, including myself.

You can't love someone at first sight. You can be extremely attracted to them in several ways, but love is way too important to feel so quickly. It needs a deep understanding of the other person's values. That doesn't happen immediately, but obviously it can happen at different rates (depending on the people). I agree with Kendall and Jen. It is pretty easy to say you loved someone "at first sight." I mean, if any relationship ends up working out and you really liked the person when you started dating, then it can be deemed as "love at first sight." It's a strange thing to say, though.

You have a lot of movies and books. That's exciting. I'm just curious...your profile says you're 19. Why do you have an SAT poster and an SAT book? Do you teach it or something?

Seriously. I think his definition of "unconstitutional" is skewed. And who is doing the measuring? Is he personally seeing to it that no "measurable economic harm" is done?

Damn, I'm getting impatient. I'm so excited to see the final product.

The extent of negative emotion you feel stems from the amount of value you place on the object/person/concept. To change your emotions, you would have to re-arrange to what extent you value things. For example, I wouldn't cry if my neighbor unfortunately passed away because I hardly know him. I would, however, probably be sad about it. If it were a close friend, I would obviously be more emotional because that friend is of a greater value to me than my neighbor whom I hardly know. Also, you cannot shift your negative emotions without affecting your positive ones, as well. If you would not be as sad when someone of great value passed away, then you wouldn't be just that much exhilarated that they (or someone else of the like) were alive and with you.

Unfortunately, I can see a bit of resemblance. I'm sure you're much nicer in personality, though.

I don't think exploitation or sacrifice is ever a good thing. Dr. Andrew Bernstein asserts that the two contrasting moral theories throughout history are self-sacrifice and cynical egoism (which he renames as cynical exploitativeness because it is not egoism at all). The former obviously urges the individual to place something (God, state, others) over one's self, and the latter makes it morally permissable to use, abuse, and misuse others in the pursuit of one's own happiness. Objectivism repudiates both these theories and instead supports rational egoism. In this way, exploitation is never a good thing because it requires the sacrifice of others to your self and self-sacrifice vice versa.

Yes, we're all going to die. That is a metaphysical fact that none of us can escape (yet). But I also love life....and so the journey is very important. I don't want to suffer and be unhappy my whole life. I want to make the most of the time I do have. Also, a few extra years matter to me because I enjoy living. There's nothing to be scared of death, but you shouldn't look forward to it either.

That's great. I generally enjoy Pixar films, but the last one I saw (Cars) wasn't that good, in my opinion. The animation was great and it was pretty funny, but the ending was too cheesy. If this movie is funny, then I will definitely like to see it. Pixar's other qualities, like animation and such, are usually top-notch.

Oooh, this is exciting, Maarten. I'm actually going to be in Raleigh during the fourth of July weekend. We'll just miss each other apparently. That's okay: maybe next time! You will love Raleigh and you'll do great in your program. Congratulations!

Hi Josh. What else have you read of Rand's, besides Atlas Shrugged?

I think you should be honest with the person. If his chances of survival are good, then tell him that. Let him adjust to the idea that he will make it. But if his chances are not good, then you should tell him the truth. If someone lied to me and told me I would be okay but I really wouldn't, I'd never get to say the things and do the things I might have the last chance to say and do.

Well, I plan on majoring in philosophy because I know I will probably take enough classes in it to qualify to major in it. If I am only a couple classes short, I will probably take the extra classes just to qualify for a major in philosophy. I will do this because I like to finish what I start and also because there is a slight chance that I may go on to receive a doctorate in philosophy and then teach it. As for "arming" myself...I seek clarity. I found Objectivism at a very young age (14). I absorbed it and understood it and came to the conclusion that it was right. However, I was never exposed to other schools of thought. I want to expose myself to other philosophers' works. Ayn Rand is pretty easy to read. Kant isn't. Neither is Nietzshce, Hume, Mill, or most of the others. Thus, I really want to understand what they are saying and derive meaning from their own texts, not an Objectivist's or any other person's interpretation.

One of my majors in college will be philosophy. The main reason I have chosen to study philosophy at an academic level is to fully understand the other schools of thought. I (mainly) understand Objectivism, but I am not very adept at defending it against other schools of thought when arguing with someone who knows philosophy at an academic level. I have the basic idea of how things should be, but sometimes I have trouble articulating my point or isolating the other side's fundamentals. For these reasons, I want to study other schools of thought first-hand, so I am assured I am being taught what they really mean and that I can reject them for the proper reasons and prove to myself that the Objectivist way is truly the right way to think. I anticipate my classes becoming frustrating sometimes because of all the nonsense that will probably be taught. But I truly believe that philosophy is an extremely important subject, and I am interested in it in general. I find it important to know how others think to arm myself against moral ineptitude and recognize fundamentals immediately. I think these, in turn, will sharpen my argumentative skills and make me a better and more confident Objectivist.

My friend sent me this piece on Facebook, so I'm not sure where she got it. It refers to quotes from the two writers of the movie, regarding this matter. But you can read it and decide for yourself. Since I didn't actually see the end piece, I'm not sure. I think there will be plenty on the Internet analyzing and discussing this issue further.

I saw it at midnight. It wasn't worth the odd time or the $9.75. My main criticism is the movie's length: 2 hrs 45 mins. It was way too long to remember everything that had happened. There were also many new characters, and some of them were only present for a few minutes. It was hard to keep track of everyone. I think Depp and Bloom were excellent. Knightley did not deliver convincingly, however. Also, the fighting gets old and repetitive after a while.

Yeah, great idea!!

I discovered Objectivism when I was 14. In the beginning I did take it almost as a list of commandments without really understanding the reason and philosophy behind each stance. I quickly remedied this problem when I realized I would try to explain to someone why I believed something without really knowing why I believed it myself besides that it was something Ayn Rand would say. Since then I have read significantly more Objectivist texts and tend to not take a stance on something (even if I know the Objectivist stance on it peripherally) without really understanding it myself. As for being influenced by the TF and AS heroes, I am definitely guilty of that. I tried to be reserved and taciturn like Roark. I realized that it was just not my personality. I like to talk, I like to interact with others, I like being social, much more than Roark, at least. And I'm perfectly fine with that.