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jfortun

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Everything posted by jfortun

  1. oooh eee oooh ah ah bing bang walla walla bing bang
  2. this is probably the single best distillation I have seen about the choice between Kerry and Bush (assuming Bush follows through).
  3. Check out http://www.michaelolaf.net/1JChome.html. They give very specific recommendations and each toy is described from a developmental point of view. The downside is that you have to order the catalog to see the full compliment of products they offer.
  4. A few things to keep in mind about Montessori: 1) Dr. Montessori was deeply religious and in some ways portions of her method are tied to religious beliefs. For this reason you still find Montessori schools with official affiliations with churches. BTW, EM Standing is also quite religious (born a Quaker and converted to Catholicism) so his work is colored by this as well. 2) It is very easy to take Montessori out of context. I chalk this up to the use of unclear terminology. It is important to go beyond a sentence or two before you can really understand what was meant. 3) As a method, Montessori attracts a bizarre combination of ideologies: both the highly rational and the highly emotional. Choosing the right school and the right teacher is very very important. All that said, the two points you highlighted, the Sublimation of the possessive instinct" and Obedience require a bit more explanation. Here is what Dr. Montessori said about the first point: Now there are still some ideas in the above that don’t sit right with me, but the main point Dr. Montessori is making is that through the method, a child changes his approach to things in the world: they don’t seek only to posses a new object with the scream of “MINE!”, they seek to understand it. This is specifically about a child’s approach to the things around them and not a polemic against private ownership. In the AMI schools I have had involvement with, the materials in the classroom are there for every child to work with but once a child has chosen their work it is theirs and they do not have to share unless they choose to do so. As for Obedience, in the context of Montessori this word has a different meaning than the one we associate with it. Obedience refers to the development of the child’s will and his new found ability to exercise his own will and choose to obey. Mr. Standing goes on to say that this obedience “has nothing in common with the blind obedience of suggestion, nor the ineluctable submission of the weaker to the strong will.” These attributes fit in quite well with the other attributes that we can recognize as highly valuable and consistent with Objectivism: a love of order, a love of work, profound spontaneous concentration, attachment to reality, love of silence and of working alone, Independence and initiative, spontaneous self-discipline, joy and the power to act from real choice and not just from idle curiosity. These are powerful ideas you don't find in most educational philosophies and methods.
  5. Just to pile on with the pink tower: The only way in which the blocks of the tower differ is in size. They are the same color and the same shape- it is a concrete demonstration of the concept of size, in that the aspect of size is isolated and easily observed by the child.. Likewise there are other sensorial materials that do the same for other aspects, i.e. the red rods isloate the concept of length, the color tablets isolate color, and so on. It ties in very nicely with Objectivist epistemology.
  6. the first thing that struck me is that the "all squares are rectangles" argument is not analagous because it describes a relationship between a subset and a superset, not the relationship between the potential and the actual.
  7. My wife is a trained AMI Montessori directress and here is what she has to say on the subject: I'm sure she'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
  8. I wasn't arguing anything about Ayn Rand's definition of music, which I think is fine as is. Lyrics do not directly connect to our emotions they way music does. They must be understood and evaluated before having whatever effect they are going to have. 2 very different things in my view, but 2 essential elements when evaluating a song. So to answer your direct question: I agree with you, in so far as recognizing music and lyrics as conceptually separate and in the Ayn Rands definition of music is spot on.
  9. Music can add an emotional element to lyrics while lyrics can and a conceptual element to the music. I hate to use the cliche, but the total ends up being more than a sum of its parts. In other words, knowing what peanut butter, jelly and bread taste like only hints at what a pb&j sandwich will taste like. The Sandwich Stands Alone as its own unique experience. The same can be said for the difference between the written word and the spoken word. I can write "This is an important topic" but you don't know what I really mean unless you see and hear me say it with an edge in my voice and a roll of my eyes. Delivery can change meaning. The music obviously does not change the lyrics just as the lyrics do not change the music, but they do effect one another in our experience of them.
  10. If it helps to clarify,when I used the word "music" in my previous posts what I meant was a complete creation representing music and lyrics.
  11. When music contains lyrics, it is at its best when all elements, the words, music, and singing act as an integrated whole. One can evaluate a song by any number of individual factors, but in the end you experience the whole. You may be able to point out which portions you liked and which you did not, but after all analysis you cannot discard the fact that you have an evaluation of a complete song. This is not to say that the individual elements which make up a song effect you the same way; obviously words are processed in a different way than music; but in a song the music colors the words in a way absent from poetry and the words color the music in a way absent from purely instrumental work and that is what comprises the sum of the experience. I would not say that lyrics are essential to music, but I would say that in music which contains lyrics they become an essential element of one's evalutation.
  12. I am confused as to which problem it is you think I am having. I was merely giving an example of what a persons taste in music might say about them. It was an example, not an accusation or a condemnation of any particular kind of music.
  13. For the record, I am an enthusiastic user of both popup blockers and Tivo because, as GC states, there is no explicit contract between me and the content provider. As Bryan, states, eventually free TV will have to change forms and the market will embrace commerical skipping devices (if it hasn't already). I am looking forward to true on-demand scenerios.
  14. I think lyrics can be included when one speaks of music. It is part of the experience. And where you find aggressive lyrics you also probably find aggressive music. I do not happen to be a fan of gangsta-rap and I don't feel one way or the other about Cannibal Corpse. Thanks for asking.
  15. You're just being obstinate. There are reasons you react a certain way whether you admit to those reasons or not. If you can't (or won't) introspect a little and figure out if you like a piece of music because it excites you, or moves you or makes you want to dance, etc. etc. then there is really no point in continuing the discussion.
  16. no more immoral than a lion eating a village of people. Morality does not apply to the lion because it does not make rational choices. Morality does not apply to the superbeing because there is no ulitimate value it needs to keep (namely, it's own life).
  17. Am I the only one who wants it to get colder?
  18. I honestly don't think even this is required. All I need to know is why I like what I like and be able to answer "is it healthy"? If I relish in music about violence and death, what does it say about my values? I agree that knowing more about music can expand one's appreciation, but one can be rational about music just by exploring your own reaction to it.
  19. Speaking of which, Box Office Mojo recently posted a very good article about the changes Lucas made to Star Wars.
  20. Web pop-ups are a constant annoyance. A larger amount of sites which provide "free" content rely on popups to grab your attention and attract the attention of customers who hopefully will at least click on the advertisers link. Since we all know that providing content on the web is not free, when we choose to view a sites content do we also implicitly agree to at least view the advertising that makes a site possible? What are moral implications of employing a pop-up blocker? Similarly, Tivo, a grand modern invention, allows its users to skip past TV commercials- the chief source if income that makes prodution of TV shows possible. Is it ethical to skip commercials?
  21. Then there's the whole issue of what's wrong with stealing your music...
  22. Your assertion is that when you are listening to music you like you cannot discern what emotions it conjures? If you can't discern your own emotions how do you even get to far as labeling your practices as hedonism?
  23. I would like to point out that I am in fact an indestructible robot. I'm not sure I get the value in discussing the potential values of an immortal being but... I think it is interesting that in many sci-fi, fantasy and other fantastical books, movies and even anime, immortable beings are usually portrayed as bored, lacking in any lasting values or morals and seeking death. I only add this to the discussion to say that there seems to be a fundamental, if unconscious understanding in the authors of such works that immortality removes the need of values from life.
  24. Music is an art form that makes a direct emotional connection, so to find out why you like or dislike a piece of music you are going to have to do a bit of introspecting about your emotions rather than starting with premises. Work from your emotions on out. There are reasons and premises behind your likes and dislikes; you just might have to dig for them if you've never explorered that area before. Start with: how does music you like make you feel?
  25. I have long been a fan of C.S Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. In the Letters, Screwtape, an high level "temptor" in Hell gives advice to his young nephew, Wormwood, a junior temptor learning the ropes of stealing souls from God (referred to as "the Enemy"). The letters are full of insights about human nature, good and evil. C.S. Lewis was a Christian and his work shows a religious influence, but even so, The Screwtape Letters is a joy to read and contains some points that are spot on. One of my favorite letters is number 11- on humor. I especially like the paragraph on flippancy. The letters are written from the point of view of Lewis' version of Evil, so keep that in mind.
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