Cello

Hello, I'm looking for a letter that Ayn Rand wrote to an industrialist (?) very early on in her career. In the letter, she thanks the man for his kind words about something she wrote (maybe Anthem?), and predicts that she will go on to do great things although at the time she was still struggling with English. Thanks, if you can find it!

Wow, all of these are very... cool! I like them whether you call them art or not!

Who is the guest with post #3! I actually was slightly high when I posted this, haha, but yes, I've never understood the nature of immorality. So, if you're not forever stained or whatnot after deliberately doing something you know is wrong, then should you still regret it? I'm just wondering what the affect on one's self-esteem is. I kind of look at it this way: I have definitely stolen before, but I would never do it again. The self esteem I lost by stealing is almost made up for by knowing that I will never steal again.

You steal. You know it's wrong, but then you steal again. Are you now "immoral" forever? How can you have any self-esteem, then? And if you're not "immoral", why not?

"Dude, look what I just graphed..."

Very cool posts, I've thought about this, too. That's one smart boy, by the way!

How about a Hammer and Sickle!

INTP, but none are very strong.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

Hey Chris! Glad to see you on here, man! See you in December!

“That chart is bull@#$%!” Did she write this? I love it!

There's the link for this years Reason's Harvest. A great video! Funny too, in places!

Haha, and I thank you, Steve, for introducing me to LGT that day in chat!

My favorite! One From One Leaves Two, by Ogden Nash Higgledy piggledy, my black hen, She lays eggs for gentlemen. Gentlemen come every day To count what my black hen doth lay. If perchance she lays too many, They fine my hen a pretty penny; If perchance she fails to lay, The gentlemen a bonus pay. Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow, She's cooperating now. At first she didnt understand That milk production must be planned; She didn't understand at first She either had to plan or burst, But now the government reports She's giving pints instead of quarts. Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors, They are giggling at their labors. First they plant the tiny seed, Then they water, then they weed, Then they hoe and prune and lop, They they raise a record crop, Then they laugh their sides asunder, And plow the whole caboodle under. Abracadabra, thus we learn The more you create, the less you earn. The less you earn, the more you're given, The less you lead, the more you're driven, The more destroyed, the more they feed, The more you pay, the more they need, The more you earn, the less you keep, And now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to take If the tax-collector hasn't got it before I wake.

Yeah, I can't see how that would be good idea. If an employer wants his employee to do better work, then he should just tell them that and say why it's in their interest to perform (incentives like bonus considerations, how they'll feel when they further apply themselves...). Starting a fire under them by lying is just plain wrong, even if it did get a lazy employee to work harder. Rational people just don't lie to each other. "If you don't turn yourself around I will fire you. Maybe not this month, but you just wait..." The truth is wonderful.

Bluff - To deter or frighten by pretense or a mere show of strength. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bluffing) Can you give an example of bluffing in business? Who is the business trying to trick? Who's it lying to? The synonyms I just used lead me to suspect that bluffing being a form of deception, has the moral status of lying, and is therefore immoral.

Videos: You already mentioned ARI, so here are some other youtube channels off the top of my head: PaulMcKeever, Beethovens7th, Qtronman, MrCropper!

Read Anthem also by Ayn Rand, if you want a short (an hour or so?) break from Atlas Shrugged. It's great.

I have had the Emotional Hippies video favorited on my youtube channel for awhile now. Cave dwellers definitely.

You should see the smile on my face right now, my friend! "Howdy form Alaska!" Perfect! I saw a poster today that said "Climbing fun, Nov. 24th." I'm going to go in there like, "You guys know about Steck-Salathe?" and really hit it off with all of my knowledge, man!

I read Anthem in 10th grade and just thought it was so cool! Then I kind of forgot about it until I was carrying a box of books and Atlas Shrugged fell out, I had always loved the cover so I decided to read it. I had a teacher who was an Objectivist and I remember her seeing me reading it and saying something like, "Oooooo! Ambitious..."

If you do best in the heat of battle then keep yourself in the heat of battle! If you make deadlines for yourself, even if the deadlines aren't exactly 'must' deadlines, its like creating quasi-battle-heat and you're likely to be more productive.

I like A is A. I've seen it on a chess players' wrist.

That is the best sculpture I have ever seen. Wow.