Ed from OC

As far as other locations, there are safe places in the US, and one can find them through crime rankings like this one. Here is an alphabetical listing of major US cities and their violent crime rates for 2004.

Hi. I haven't posted here in quite a while, but given the subject matter, I'd like to add a few thoughts. 1. If you are in a threatening situation, the goal is to get out of there as soon as possible. Running away may be the best option most of the time. Yelling for help is good, too. 2. The best defense against threatening situations is to avoid them. Changing locations can reduce the odds of them happening. Also, when and how you travel matters. I assume other women face the same hazards, so if and when possible, walking around with a few of them is probably safer than by yours

An idea I forgot to include in my prior posts: try an internship. If you have a few possibilities for careers in mind, an inside look at one of the options over a summer may help you decide. Also, if your school has an engineering program, maybe talking to a prof or two, or even taking a couple elective classes may help as well.

I know two Objectivists who do this. Both are very, very smart guys with PhDs. I've looked into it a bit. It turns out that a lot of the equations used are exactly the same form as some physics equations, such as that for heat diffusion, which is why physics experts are (or were) in demand. To learn more, look into FINANCIAL ENGINEERING. A growing number of schools offer advanced degrees in it.

You can also look for things like "industrial physics" on google. Note, though, that nearly all physics scientific research is done at universities or government research labs. Engineering that involves physics-level work can be found at many private firms. The difference is whether one wants to do science (discovery) or engineering (application). The difference is not a hard line and there is some overlap, but the jobs are primarily one or the other.

I used to be very solidly in the second camp, but lately my interest has grown in the first. However, 2 is a better description of engineering than of experimental physics. Engineering is about applying physics to creating new technology. Experimental physics is about experimenting -- running tests to see what happens under certain conditions, both to verify a theory or to look at some aspect of reality in a new way to see what's there. option 3 would include teaching or writing, where there's a need to understand the well-established parts of physics and then pass along that informat

The most important thing about choosing a career is having the passion for the doing of the tasks involved. Ask yourself what about physics you enjoy the most. Is it solving equations? Is it working with cutting-edge technology in the lab? Are there some areas of physics you like more than others? Do you like explaining the concepts and principles? If so, options might be teaching physics in a high school or writing for a periodical like Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover, or industry journals like that for the Optical Society of America or the American Institute of Phy

He'll be lecturing on "Relgion vs Morality": Wednesday, March 2 at 8PM SGM-123 (Seely G. Mudd) University of Southern California 3667 Mc Clintock Los Angeles CA 90089 Are any other OO Forum members planning to attend? I'd like to go, but I'm quite busy this week, so I might skip it. What would tip my decision towards going is the opportunity to meet some OO Forum members I haven't met before. So let me know if you're planning to go. Thanks, Ed More info here.

Here's a review from Victorhanson.com. "UCLA professor Jared Diamond's journey into academic superstardom was jump-started when President Clinton held up Diamond's 1999 Guns Germs and Steel before the news cameras, after which bestseller status and numerous prizes, including the Pulitzer, followed. Clinton's and the academic establishment's endorsement of Diamond's book is not surprising, for it validates and justifies some cherished received wisdom of liberal intellectuals, ideas that, at a time when the West is under assault by an alternative vision, are woefully misguided." I haven't

Very well said. I agree 100%.

Shame on NIJamesHughes for this blatant and unjust abuse of moderator privileges. I used to value this forum as much as HBL. I daily looked forward to reading discussions on several fascinating topics, as well as contributing my own thoughts and questions. I enjoyed getting to know so many other Objectivists across the globe. This incident has given me pause to reconsider the terms under which I participate. Will what happened to Stephen befall me as well? I want to see the owners and other moderators of this forum take action to fix this situation. NOBODY should have the abilit

If that's your attitude toward these people, no wonder they think you're talking down to them! That said, in cases like this, they deserve it. Some pretentious wannabe intellectual acting like a know-it-all to justify his false self-esteem deserves to have his confidence shaken and to be taken down a peg or two.

Some questions to consider: Do you ask why they feel like you are talking down to them? What specifically in what you said (or how you said it) are they objecting to? What do they mean by "talking down?" It's possible they are reacting to what you say, how you say it, or both. If you encounter it a lot, I'd think it may have more to do with the style. I've been an Objectivist for 14 years, and I can't recall ever being accused of "talking down to" someone in a philosophical discussion (at least to my face). I recall, though, when I was younger, often launching into lecture mod

I think it is interesting to look at why conspiracy theories are as popular as they are. I don't have a complete answer, but as a first step I submit the following: First, what are conspiracy theories? Look at specific examples and see what they have in common. Three off the top of my head: government coverup of UFO activities; the many versions of assassination plots against JFK (in which someone else is ultimately responsible for his death and got away with it); and the many, many claims of sabotage put out by the USSR. Some key elements: - lack of evidence. If any particular c

This article claims "U.S. Conducting Secret Missions Inside Iran." From the article: "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible." One former high-level intelligence official told The New Yorker, "This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq is just one campaign. The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next, we're going to have the Iranian campaign." Boy oh boy how I hope this is true...