Dagny

if the article is not too long maybe you could paste it? or perhaps just copy paste the interesting parts.

your roommate sounds just like my husband. i do all the housework and never get any appreciation...but i thought that was normal in marriages. you're not married so i say kicking him out is a good option.

years ago i took a philosophy class at ucla and was made to read Descartes dream theory book. i dropped that class because even though i had never been exposed to a shred of Objectivism back then I knew that was just dumb and figured I should better spend my education elsewhere. looking back it would have been fun to argue with the professor but i didnt have the tools back then. Isabel

3. What childhood incidents illustrate qualities of character that Dagny, Francisco, Eddie, and James were to carry into adulthood? Eddie: He liked to feel safe...first the oak tree would give him that safe feeling, then Francisco and then Taggart Transcontinental Dagny: when James tell her she looks more like Nat Taggart and she takes it as a compliment. shows that she doesnt care about being known for her looks but her abilities Francisco: running off to work for Taggart Transcontinental without anyone knowing. then telling Dagny's mom that his father would only care about how well he did his job....shows how no matter what or where he worked he always did it well. James: when he tells Francisco that there is more to life than money and that he should be interested in helping people. he never changed.

just want to say I support the idea of an Objectivist Temple as well and would also love to get my wedding vows renewed there.

i believe jp was being sarcastic.... hence the BOLD in organic (organic = environmentalism)

It has been hard getting people to read Ayn Rand. A lot of people don't like to read-period....so I've started recommending the tapes. Sometimes I think people are afraid of change ... both of my good friends...one is catholic and the other christian....were both very surprised by my becoming atheist after reading Atlas Shrugged. I was never religious...but we alway had great discussions about God and Science. Both are very smart, hard working, moral individuals and I accept them for those reasons. I don't try to push them too much because there is a certain level where you have to let them find it for themselves. I wouldn't like it if they asked me to go to church every Sunday, for example. But I use our talks to communicate my ideals and they do respect my ideas and thoughts. So far the only one I've managed to convince is my husband. He went through Atlas Shrugged in a few days and afterwards also became atheist. He is not calling himself an Objectivist but for the most part holds Objectivist ideals. p.s. it would be great to have Objectivist friends ....but for now I'm glad this forum is here as it helps to talk to other like-minded individuals.

I've had similar problems with friends and family. My father, whom I always considered the most rational man in my family, and who was always a strong proponent of science and against religion has recently started praying and talking about God. My mother can be a non-absolute sometimes...and its frustrating when I can't get a straight answer from her (even a simple yes or no). My younger brother is very smart (IQ 130) and capable of doing great in school but would rather spend his time going out with friends and girls and ends up with low C's in school. It can be very frustrating ...because these are people I love very much and yet I don't believe in unconditional love (....i have an estranged older brother for this very reason...i'm the only who refuses to speak to him...). My mother says I"m too harsh....that I expect too much out of people. I don't do that as much as I used to...I'm trying very hard to just see people for what they are. Whether I accept them for friends is another thing. I would say I have only 2 "true" friends in my life ....neither is Objectivist but I'm always recommending they read Atlas Shrugged. One reason I liked Dagny's character so much was cause she committed this same mistake. My favorite quote (before I discovered Ayn Rand) used to be "I don't expect any more out of people than I expect out of myself...and I expect a lot out of myself."

Personally, I'd take a Vettriano over a Picasso any day. I used to be the type who was never into paintings. The ones that were adored by most like Picasso and Dali gave me headaches just to look at. Why anyone would want to look at distorted figures is still beyond my comprehension. I was more into photography as at least that captured human essence and emotion. It wasn't until I saw Vettriano's The Singing Butler that I became interested in art and have since then had the pleasure of finding other great artists (like Brian Larsen) . I can sympathize with the originator of this thread....I never "got" abstract art either.

I'm an economics/mathematics major and am applying to transfer to UCLA, UC San Diego and Cal State Long Beach next month. Do you think I should not bother with the uc's then and maybe apply to the other cal states? my husband is transferring as well and his major is computer science so it would interest us both to know which is the best university to go to in southern california. thanks

A. West , that was a wonderful story! When I was a high school student a lot of friends and people I knew were very sexually active....they would go through mates like rabbits...never giving a thought about true love or morals (or std's!). I had to endure being called a prude and idealistic for not doing the same. I would end up being friends with religious people...not because I agreed with them on relgious views...but because they were at least more moral due to their religion forbidding sex until marriage. I was still the odd one out in that group because i was always anti-religion. One day I was lucky to get a wonderful advice from an older high school classmate. He was older and a senior...but a good friend. Because I knew he was sexually active I asked him if sex really wasn't big deal and if maybe I'm being strange at waiting and expecting for the perfect person to have sex with. He immediately told me how he'd first had sex with some girl at a club. But that it was meaningless and that he'd felt empty afterwards. A few months later he'd met his current girlfriend with whom he was madly in love with and he said he regretted having had sex with that other woman every day since. He told me never to change my stance...that I was right and the others wrong. Thanks to his good advice I've since met my husband and am thankful everyday I didn't just sleep around with someone I didnt love. My husband had the same morals as I had and had been waiting for "the one" as well.

Welcome to forum! That history project sounds like a GREAT idea. Collectivist socialist professors are starting to take over many college campuses. Last year I took U.S. history and instead of the traditional history text we had to learn it from "A people's history of the United States" by Howard Zinn. It was a horrible distortion of history....he makes the founders of this country out to be the bad guys....call columbus a crazy man....and puts down all the great capitalists of the industrial era.

First, I see that you agree that it would be genetically wrong. Ok, now if a brother and sister were to have sex, both knowing that they are related and both having full knowledge that it could produce a sickly child.... then it is an immoral act on both their parts due to their actions causing the sad life that child will lead. Whether or not a child is produced is another question. Even with birth control and protection there is still that chance. Which is why humans have developed morals and ethics....it is in our self-interest not to produce a generation of mentally retarded children. Hope this answers your question.

sounds like someone is getting hired... my geography professor recently had us fill out "profile" cards in wich we write stuff like nicknames, place where we were born and interests... I jotted down "Huge Ayn Rand Fan". The next time he called role though as he said my name he looked at me and said "ah yes... ms. gil-james..." and frowned. he had mentioned at the first class meeting that he was an avid environmentalist so I knew what I was doing....but I had to anyways.

WRONG...wrong wrong wrong...I'm not sure why you're even asking this. But in my opinion it is completely wrong- morally/ethically and genetically. I'll grant you that distant cousins aren't in that much danger of having a sickly child. But in any other way and in any other case ...it is sickening. I'll even go further and say that its anti-human evolutionary. If our ancestors had started committing incest on a regular basis ...just think of the dire state humans would be in?! p.s. I apologize if I seem more emotional and less rational....but that is my response to such a question.

Great essay! It's very true what it says about anthropologists mostly being from the left. I'm currently taking an anthropology class and my professor keeps ranting about how other civilizations/cultures were just as good as the western one...that we shouldn't be so ethnocentric...and has even gone a step further by literally telling us to vote for Kerry in the election! The only good thing I can say about her is that she forbids the word God in her classroom.

This isn't actually a poem. But I came across it at a display in the science building on my college campus. I found it to be beautifully written and inspirational. Ellison Onizuka was one the astronauts who died in the Challenger accident of 1986. I don't know anything about his life or philisophical point of view. However, his words show that his sense of life was a lot like an objectivist's sense of life. A Message to the Future Generations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If I can impress upon you only one idea... Let it be that the people who make this world run, whose lives can be termed successful, whose names will go down in the history books, are not the cynics, the critics, or the armchair quarterbacks. They are the adventurists, the explorers, and doers of this world. When they see a wrong or problem, they do something about it. When they see a vacant place in our knowledge, they work to fill that void. Rather than leaning back and criticising how things are, they work to make things they way they should be. They are the aggressive, the self-starter, the innovative, and the imaginative of this world. Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds from a look at new worlds... to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation. Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine. Many things that you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations. If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace then think of the new horizons that you can explore. From your vantage point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which we won't believe possible. Make your life count - and the world will be a better place because you tried. - Ellison S. Onizuka 1980

Mathematician’s ultimate pickup line: I wish you were x^3 and I was (1/4)(x^4), so I would be the area under your curves. BRILLIANT! That is actually the best pick up line I've ever heard! Beats the crap out of those like "did you hurt yourself when you fell from heaven?".

http://www.colorgenics.com this website analyzes your current mood based on the colors you choose. so far its the most accurate color quiz i've come across. its based on research stemming from the fact that some people are sensitive to light and get depressed during winters due to less sunlight.

Before I was introduced to Objectivism I used to ask those kind of questions too. But then, I also thought there was an afterlife and believed in God. I figured-"Well if there is an afterlife what is the point of this life? Is it some sort of waiting room to see God?" :-) Brent (and Ayn Rand of course) is completely right ..."Life IS". Enjoy yourself and be happy! ~Isabel

In another thread called "An Objectivist Church" GreedyCapitalist posted this: "When I say that most people won't get a liberal arts education, I mean that 12 years of primary education should be sufficient for most people. Now remember that this is a rational society where you can get an education in primary school that far exceeds anything you can get in college now. I went to a public school myself, and I took several years of biology, chemistry, physics, calculus etc. I think the stuff I was learning in high school can easily be introduced in middle school so that high school can more like what a four-year university degree today." Now I don't plan on having children anytime soon. But because of my experience with public education and high school I have been giving a lot of thought to how I want my future children to be educated. Even though GreedyCapitalist's statement was in a "rational society", I completely agree that High School should be more like a four year university degree. Or rather that one should be able to obtain their bachelor's by age 18. However, I think this could be achieved in our world today. Here are my reasons: 1) In public schools, one is taught addition and subtraction in the 1st and 2nd grades, multiplication in the 3rd grade, and division in the 4th grade. Pre-algebra in the 7th, Algebra in the 8th, Geometry in the 9th, etc...etc. My point being that multiplication and division could be taught a lot sooner...like in the 2nd and 3rd grades. Also, notice that the 5th and 6th grades were pretty much review and completely wasted years. Now I'm speaking for myself here. I was taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District public school system, which is pretty bad to begin with. I would like to hear about other people's experiences. If the teaching was better and if they allowed at least the brighter students to learn ahead one could easily learn calculus by the 8th grade. As a matter a fact, I met someone who did just that because he took math classes at a local college taught by his mother (a math professor). 2) A lot of students who plan on going to college take AP classes anyhow which count as college classes. Some even graduate high school with 2 years worth of college credit already on them. The problem is that AP classes are not offered until the junior year in high school. If it were offered sooner, at the freshman year, I'm sure we'd see students graduating with 4 years under their belt. In other words, students can take college classes during their high school years. I myself, graduated with nearly two years of college classes, and that was because I took AP classes and college classes (psychology, etc) during the summer breaks. Also, in England you graduate from High School at the age of 16. And if you want to go on to college you then take your first two years (or what they call A-Levels). Once you're 18 you go directly to the university campus and start on your major (none of the General Education classes required here) and can literally get your masters degree four years later. Now I know some will argue that not all students could take the curriculum this fast. Perhaps not, but then that's another problem with public schools-that it caters to the collective versus the individual. For now I plan on sending my future children to the Van Damme Academy. According to one alumni he was at UCI by age 15 which sounds completely sensible to me.

I was accepted into the California Academy of Math and Science for my high school years. While the science classes did have a progressive "environmentalist" angle they weren't as bad as the math classes. To my dismay ... we were used as guinea pigs for a new type of mathbook being developed called IMP (Interactive Mathematics Program). What IMP tries to do is teach the concepts without any basic formulas or foundations. It gives pendulum problems without teaching basic geometry or algebra. It gives calculus-required problems without introducing the Fundamental Theorem. It expects the students to work in groups...come up with their own "formulas" ...and does not allow them to ask the teacher for any help. We always wondered why they even bothered hiring math teachers if all they did was read magazines at their desk. Also, no matter how smart a student is they cannot expect them to create formulas and identities which took brilliant geniuses years to come up with. Here is a link to their website: http://www.mathimp.org/index.html Under "A Brief Description of IMP" there is a quote saying : Dr. Webb has found that IMP students do as well as students in traditional mathematics classes on standardized tests such as the SAT. This is especially significant because IMP students spend about 25 percent of their time studying topics that are not covered on these tests. I would suggest Dr. Webb find out if any of those students aren't taking traditional math classes during their summer breaks at college campuses, which is what I had to do out of fear of getting behind in traditional math. Everyone at school hated this new progressive math program. We all complained about it to the administrators of the school. I recently found out that they now have elective courses which teach tradtional math along with these "IMP" classes at the school. What is more worrying is that the IMP textbooks are now used in local unified school districts in Los Angeles.

Full-time student, studying economics/math. Deliver newspapers 7 days a week at 3am to pay for my living expenses. Plan to get a Phd. Hope to someday work for an investment firm or start my own company.

i've never had a permanent favorite color. for about 7 years i loved blue...all shades of it. then last year i was into scarlet red...and now this year i'm into both gray and pink. i love gray/silver! i keep looking at cars that color. I like a touch of pink here and there...it just reminds me of delicate roses. I've never really liked purple or brown.

Fashion is an expression of that person's tastes/preferences. Ayn Rand used descriptions of clothing to show a lot of her character's personalities. Dagny's "greek-goddess-like dresses" ...Rearden's business suits...and Roark's workman clothes. I would not judge a person entirely by their clothes, however, I do think you can tell a little about the person from their clothes. For example, in formal events...does a woman go for gaudy, sparkly dresses or simple geometric lines? I don't know very much about fashion...but I tend to go for practical, simple yet feminine clothing...i.e. ones that accentuate curves and such. I would relate fashion to art in whether it is aesthetically pleasing to look at or makes your eyes sore. Think "Mimi" from Drew Carey!