Grant

So, whilst my biggest fear in life probably lies with death. A VERY close second is knowing I may go through life without a real purpose. Ayn stated quite specifically that a life without purpose is left to act on whims/emotions. The dangers of this being quite obvious. I have a certain amount of admiration for those who know at a young age what they want to do with the rest of the life. I have never possessed this kind of certainty. Given most of my life is spent in front of a computer, after school it seemed logical to pursue a degree in Information Systems. Unfortunately I failed to realize that most of my time in front of the PC was spent designing and not programming. 2 years into my studies I decided this was not in any way a career path for me, but nonetheless finished my B.Com degree. It has been almost 2 years since I completed my studies. During this time I have taken time off, have held a permanent position at a web design firm and done freelance design and photography for clients. Recently I applied to study a Masters degree in Architecture in the USA (I currently live in South Africa). Architecture is something I had considered when I originally applied to study my undergraduate degree but decided to give it a miss. I'm not saying The Fountainhead didn't have anything to do with it, but 5 years later it felt like something I finally wanted to pursue. I've always been creative and had a keen interest in architecture/interior design, plus I've always wanted to live in the US, so it seemed logical. I've just been accepted into a school in Chicago and wait-listed at 3 others (which I think I still have a good chance of getting into). I can't say I am necessarily upset at this result, given I literally prepared the application/portfolio over-night, unlike others who spend half a year on theirs. The only problem is I now don't know if I'm passionate enough about it to fork out $30k a year on education for the next 3 years. Given the amount of money, it would be a serious commitment if I chose to pursue it, unlike my undergraduate education which was almost for nothing. I've considered studying photography as it is something I do love, but I don't know if it's something I could make a career of. I know I'm not alone in this dilemma. I speak to many who are unsure about their career choices. Is it a game of luck? Do you have to hope to stumble upon something you immediately know you were meant for? What do you do if at 23 (24 in a month), you still don't know your purpose? Anyone have any advice?

My apologies. I'm still relatively new to this forum and I wasn't sure where to post it. I'd appreciate it if a Mod wouldn't mind moving it to a more appropriate section.

Two of the greatest superheroes of all time. Which do you favor and why?

My opinion is that it is an absolutely ridiculous 'disorder'. During school I was surrounded by people who claimed to have ADD and were placed on medication as a result. The obvious symptoms were that they had difficulty concentrating in class etc. Well, I've always suffered from concentration/restlessness problems. I struggle to read books as my brain drifts very often and I get restless very quickly. It took me a VERY long time to finish The Fountainhead. Atlas Shrugged is next on the agenda and I'm trying to prepare myself for that one. Even lengthy conversations are a challenge for me. I have a very tough time staying focussed on what the other person is saying, as well as on what I'm saying and I lose my train of thought. Regardless, I never saw the need to take drugs for this. Instead I recognised that others had a slight advantage over me, so I worked twice as long and hard as them and it paid off. Nevertheless, I feel that my concentration has improved since school. I think big reason that kids have problems concentrating in class and are diagnosed with ADHD, is because the classes just don't interest them! There's an obsession nowadays to take drugs for absolutely everything. Mind-altering medication should always be an absolute last resort. ESPECIALLY for a child. Their brains are still developing.

As much as I'm not a fan of all of his work, I've always been very intrigued by some of Daniel Libeskind's work. The sharp angles. The strong and proud accents.

I live in South Africa. We have socialised electricity. i.e. a government-owned organization called Eskom who supply electricity to the whole country. We are currently experiencing a bit of an electricity crisis whereby there isn't sufficient electricity for the country, so we experience scheduled load-shedding. This means that 2 hours a week during the day, we have no electricity. Eskom are quite obviously terrible and the government could have remedied this situation well before it started by opening up the sector to competition (but you all already knew that ). There are planned price increases of 60% and to top it off, they're rewarding those in management positions with massive bonuses for their hard work during this time. So basically, make a massive screw up, and you'll get rewarded for working your ass off to fix it. Sounds logical no? Anyway, Eskom have suggested that if everyone conserves 10% of their electricity, there will be enough power for everyone and things will return to normal. So while some countries are celebrating Earth Day by turning off their lights, we experience an involuntary double Earth Day once a week, and trust me, NO ONE is celebrating! There's nothing fun about not having electricity. It's stifling the economy. I personally haven't changed my lifestyle at all during this phase where possible. I don't believe I have any responsibility to make things easier for them. To me, there is an obvious solution to this problem (which should have been implemented years ago) and it shouldn't have to involve restricting industry which is what they're doing by cutting off electricity. So, my question is, what would you do in this situation? Conserve your share of electricity in the hope that it makes a real difference? Or would you take the F YOU ESKOM! approach?

Nice day for mid-Spring I think you need to buy a 4x4 and start turning on some more appliances. That goes for the rest of you as well!

Hahaha yeh. That scene was RIDICULOUS. My friends couldn't believe it either, though they enjoyed the rest of the movie as a whole (and agreed with him :-/). His films are the worst kind of propaganda I've ever seen and his arguments hold no water for the well-informed. Such as: "There are longer lines in Canada and Britain because more people are in line." Yes Michael, but there would be more people in line and far shorter lines in a free market.

The way Michael treated him in Bowling for Columbine, showed he had nothing but disdain and disgust for the guy. He made out as if they were more than 'political enemies'. Either way, I don't think much of the either of them, so not worth making an issue of it. Was merely trying to clarify why Moore would do such a strange thing.

The Six Day War was an Israeli war. Hence the Zionist movement had already entered the state. I'm talking about pre-zionism. The people who inhabited the land at that time.

I'm trying to pinpoint exactly why I find this so distasteful. Maybe it's because it sounds like: "I criticized and humiliated the guy, treated him like my enemy, but I'll pay my respects on his passing and show everyone I'm the bigger person (in more ways than one)"

Ok, I'm sure we can all agree that Michael Moore, as a film-maker and a human, isn't even worth a mention, but this little nugget flabbergasted me. Mr. Moore who humiliated and criticized Charlton Heston throughout his movie Bowling for Columbine, has chosen today to dedicate his homepage to the passing of Charlton Heston: http://www.michaelmoore.com/ Does anyone else see anything strange about this?

Firstly, I think it's worth noting that he probably didn't know at the time that her intentions were suicide. When one sees someone drowning, you don't automatically assume the worst. Secondly, I'm sure his brain immediately calculated that there was a good chance of him saving her and surviving. So both of them surviving (which he figured was possible) was of greater value to him than leaving her for dead.

I find it hard to believe that these guys are Objectivists. They have a song titled St. Paul on their album Heights of the Heavens. They also seem to play at Churches, if that means anything. Perhaps their name is inspired by Ayn's book, but it looks unlikely that they're real advocates of Objectivism. Oh, and did I mention that they sound like your average Christian rock band ? On the flipside, it says the following on their Myspace: They will further back that sentiment when they introduce Philo, the idea that everyone needs to have an individual philosophy, coming Spring ’08. In addition to playing their literarily and philosophically inspired music, We The Living is going to start sharing what makes them individuals via blogs and vlogs, and encourages others to do the same.

Out of interest, how does all this relate to Israel? Before the Zionist movement, Israel was inhabited by a primative, nomadic civilization who today call themselves Palestinians. Did these people have no right to their land? Did Zionists have the right to come into Israel and remove them from their land? I'm passionately in favour of the existance of Israel, but this is one question that I struggle to answer.

Thanks guys

Does anyone know where I'd be able to find interviews with Ayn? There are several on youtube that I've already watched (including one with Donahue and another with Mike Wallace), but there are others I've seen partially that I would like to locate. Anyone? Thanks.

Lost Dexter

Global warming? Stick this one in your pipe, and smoke it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7329799.stm Everyone, turn on more lights! We need to defeat the cooling!

What's ironic? And yeh, I've made plans to get out. Applied to continue my studies in the USA in Fall, so if all goes to plan (and I get accepted), hopefully that'll happen. Excuse my apparent ignorance, but what is Reardon?

What do you guys think of the song Imagine? Lennon said it was "virtually the Communist Manifesto", even though he never claimed to be a communist per say. Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world

I'm busy listening to it. Amazingly beautiful and uplifting.

Awesome, thanks Inspector! <quote>If I were you, I would start charging 4 dollars and hour to the members of your family for every time they use your service. If they refuse to pay, then don't fix it. That should put things into perspective for them. </quote> I've actually considered that. Might just do that. Cheers

Exactly right. I have lived in an African country rife with poverty my entire life. I have travelled to first-world countries like the US and Australia. We see so much despair here on a daily basis that the level of benevelonce you sense is no where near to what I felt in those two countries. You almost get used to it, to the point where you lose a great deal of compassion. Seeing a poor woman begging on the side of the road with her small sad-eyed child will draw little attention from most locals. If a country is largely wealthy and you witness far less poverty, you're far more likely to be benevolent and to give to those in need. To compound the problem, our over-extended government promises to take care of the sickly and poor. They obviously do a shoddy job at it, but their promises to accomplish the unaccomplishable largely leaves the wealthier population to be less charitable as "it is the government's responsibility". Work out which system can produce the greatest wealth within a society. Once you've found that system (and I'm certain through proper understanding you'll come to the conclusion that the answer is Capitalism), that is where your sights should be set.

I see this ridiculously ignorant cartoon is garnering a large amount of support on Digg: http://digg.com/political_opinion/You_Capi...re_So_Smart_pic