Thales
-
Posts
1757 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Thales
-
-
That's a great story. And, btw, OSHA has had no positive effect on safety in the work place. A guy studied the numbers several years ago and wrote a book showing how there had been no significant reduction in work place deaths or injuries with OSHA. But it certainly has added tons of red tape and costs. Sorry, I don't recall the title of the book or the name of the author.
-
So, this is off limits:
Leftists want to remove all value from the world, so that we live in a bland, decaying cardboard world full of terrorists. Who is attracted to that?????
-
Mark Levin interviews Mr. Greene.
http://www.therightscoop.com/another-train...ws-alvin-greene
It seems I was wrong about his educational background. Apparently he has a BA in political science from South Carolina, but still...
Well, from what I've seen he has achieved quite a bit.
From Rush Limbaugh's show Tuesday:
RUSH: Folks, I don't know how many times I've told you this, do not doubt me. From a June 11th Washington Post article: "The University of South Carolina confirms that Greene graduated in 2000 with a degree in political science. The Pentagon confirms that he served in the Army, and in the Army and Air Force national guards. Although Greene has not boasted of winning awards, the Pentagon says he was granted the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Korean Defense Service Medal." This guy has been active. Korean Defense Service Medal, the Washington Post, June 11th, confirms all of this.Not too shabby.
-
But whatever. What that one commenter clearly meant to say is "I am outraged at the fact that Ayn Rand suggested that my life be the moral standard". Understandable, and I am actually surprised that Ayn Rand even said that myself.
She didn't say that. What she said was that man's life is the standard, i.e. man-qua-man. This means that man "the rational animal" is the standard.
Your life is the highest value, but the standard you live by is the standard of man the rational animal.
Have you read the Virtue of Selfishness? It's explained right there and it's not arbitrary. One thing that really gets me about some people is they think everything is a matter of opinion. Objectivism is not a matter of opinion. It's the result of where the facts take you. It's reality that has to be looked at to identify what morality is and why we need it. So anyone who is "outraged" by this is being irrational.
-
These are tough times for Israel. The current Turkish aid ship affair is not going well with the world media and Israel is losing the fight on this frontier.
Most of the world media is pretty useless and non-objective. So, I don't think convincing them should be the goal.
-
I suggest the detractors simply see this as Beck unwittingly bringing about his own undoing. People will buy AS, read it, and come to their own conclusions, regardless of the person who originally recommended it.
Exactly how I see it. The best ideas will win out, so the more we spread the good ideas the better. And, to be sure, it's even in Glenn Beck's best interest for Objectivism to spread, because the ideas work for life on earth.
-
Let me suggest something to you, never ever ever get into an argument with someone in a comments section with anyone other than the poster himself, and really if you can, you might as well send the poster a message by private means in order to debate with him or her.
It's not a good idea to get involved in the fray, but it's reasonable to leave a solid rebuttal to spurious claims, because you never know who is lurking. It's worth while to show that there are people out there who are proud to uphold Objectivist ideas and who will and can defend them.
-
Another beauty is Jane Seymour. When it comes to eye candy, she's one of my all time favorites.
-
The idiot who claims capitalism is the reason for our economic problems needs to be countered.
-
Dennis Prager pushing God, altruism and attacking selfishness. You just have to listen to the first answer, which lasts only until 2'41". This clip has over half a million views in about two weeks time, so it's popular among Conservatives.
Really quite bad. He hasn't learned anything and he was turned off by Ayn Rand according to another clip on youtube, so he allegedly has knowledge of better ideas.
To be sure, there are some good points in the answers he gives, but they are overwhelmed by the bad.
Rush Limbaugh is worlds ahead of this guy. Rush is probably the best popular conservative commentator out there.
-
Thing is my girlfriend will be giving guys lap dances...in addition to the stage stuff
Yeah, it's a function of how comfortable you would be with it when it comes to the context of a relationship. I fully understand your point. I don't think there is a hard and fast moral boundary here.
-
I am a registered user at PJTV and am unable to watch this video. I have never encountered this problem before.
Does anyone know if there is a way, legitimately, to see this video without paying for a membership?
They make their videos available free for a period of time, after which you have to pay. I saw this one about a week ago.
-
When choosing a career, it's good to challenge yourself and do what you love, that way you get more out of it. If someone wants to be a stripper it might be able to fulfill those ends. If it's being done as a job only, I don't see the problem with that.
I love this girl, and this is her passion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krdL38jPCkw...feature=related
-
This part of your analysis is weak. You hear lots about life, liberty, property and the Founders at the Tea Parties and, contrary to your assertion, the ideas of "less government" and "lower spending" don't subvert those goals, they promote them. They go hand in hand.
I just recalled the "Contract From America" and it rather solidly supports your point.
http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/
I think the elements in that contract were voted on by lots of Tea Party members and placed in the contract.
-
Ah, cool
Done and done. If the rights belong to C-SPAN maybe that explains why ARB doesn't have it and it's not posted anywhere else. I'd hope there would be some way to open it up for purchase or viewing. Or at least a transcript.Btw Stossel staches are coming back into vogue, I can feel it.
It's kind of a 70s look. Burt Reynolds used to have one. -
Sarah Palin is popular enough to be ridiculed on Saturday Night Live
Seriously, it is disheartening to hear her speak at these Tea Party rallies and hear the roaring cheers that follow.
I've seen evidence that Sarah Palin is not all that popular. They had a poll of possible candidates for Tea Party people a few months ago, and she was not that high up. I've also heard many people turning against her. I used to have some respect for her, but the more I learned the less I had and now I don't like her. As you learn about people things change. Sarah Palin was an unknown when she came on the scene two years ago.
Still, I could be wrong on this, but I don't think it's all that obvious.
To me, the Tea Party and the Black Panthers can duke it out in a scenario that might eclipse those conflicts described in Atlas ShruggedI don't think you're assessing the Tea Party movement right for the reasons I mentioned in my prior posting.
George Bush isn't as extreme as John Kerry by a long shot. He does have the religious elements in his thinking that don't help, however.
-
I only half agree- the entire government is run by hippies, both Republican and Democrat.
When you are elected a representative, you check your principles at the door
Yeah, many of the republicans are, but the democrats are hippies on steroids. Just think of John Kerry as your classic example.
-
This is the basis for my characterization of the Tea Party movement.
Quote:
For the record, I shall repeat what I have said many times before: I do not join or endorse any political group or movement. More specifically, I disapprove of, disagree with and have no connection with, the latest aberration of some conservatives, the so-called “hippies of the right,” who attempt to snare the younger or more careless ones of my readers by claiming simultaneously to be followers of my philosophy and advocates of anarchism. Anyone offering such a combination confesses his inability to understand either. Anarchism is the most irrational, anti-intellectual notion ever spun by the concrete-bound, context-dropping, whim-worshiping fringe of the collectivist movement, where it properly belongs.
One more jab, while I'm on a roll:
Above all, do not join the wrong ideological groups or movements, in order to “do something.” By “ideological” (in this context), I mean groups or movements proclaiming some vaguely generalized, undefined (and, usually, contradictory) political goals. (E.g., the Conservative Party, which subordinates reason to faith, and substitutes theocracy for capitalism; or the “libertarian” hippies, who subordinate reason to whims, and substitute anarchism for capitalism.) To join such groups means to reverse the philosophical hierarchy and to sell out fundamental principles for the sake of some superficial political action which is bound to fail. It means that you help the defeat of your ideas and the victory of your enemies.
I see no difference between a movement which embraces the likes of Sarah Palin and what Ayn Rand describes above.
How popular is Sarah Palin? I get the impression it's over blown.
Most of the Tea Party movement is inspired by a proper, righteous anger over loss of freedoms.
-
In two different threads you've referred to them this way; to me "hippie" is an insult. In what way do you mean "hippies" and what is your basis for such a characterization?
I agree. If anything the hippies are the democrats running government today, i.e. running us into the ground.
-
To be fair...it's not "like the good ole' days" since the oppress-ees are the oppress-ors.
Well, not really. Most of them are no longer living, unless we want to go along with the collective guilt mantra they are pushing.
-
I think that ship has sailed. He revealed himself as a lost soul this year with the hope and faith mantra.
-
"Yes, of course" they will answer, they are all slaves of Allah. The very name of the religion "Islam" translates to 'submission'. Islam permits the killing of infidels, but it commands the killing of apostates.
Primitive tribal societies are free by default because they do not have a priest caste, writing, and a bureacracy. They simply can't be dictatorships. Nor do actual primitive tribes act like dictatorships-to-be-waiting-for-technology-of-oppression. Primitive tribes might fight other tribes but they do not kill within the same tribe just for power.
Primitive tribes operate by superstition, which means a religion of sorts. They do very irrational things, because they don't have an objective epistemology. They probably are not systematically totalitarian like more modern ideologies, and I'm sure that some primitive tribes had better and more real world ideas than others, but you probably could only gain freedom by becoming a lone wolf.
I'm sure there was killing within tribes for power. Even families fight over power if they are sufficiently irrational.
-
Dear Individual - there are lots of grammar books. Just get one or two that you like best. There is no such thing as an "Objectivist Grammar Book." And there's no magic to improving your grammar. Be an Individual. Act.
There is a course on grammar that was given by Peikoff decades ago. It's available here:
http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LP05M
Pretty hefty price tag, though.
-
The Na'vi weren't a dictatorship.
Who knows what they were.
The Logical Leap by David Harriman
in Objectivist Lectures/Books
Posted
I read this book about a month ago, and it is the best science book I've ever read. It makes crystal clear the nature of induction and how to think and solve problems inductively.
One of the clever insights is the concept of "conceptual framework", which is the knowledge you have acquired in a subject matter. This framework leads you to look for missing pieces to a puzzle, e.g. Ben Franklin could only have considered that lightening was electricity because of his extensive and deep knowledge of electricity. This is what led him to do the experiment to see if this was so.
I plan on employing these ideas in some of my work, but I'll have to reread to refresh my mind on a few things.
This is absolutely a revolutionary book that makes more clear than I've ever seen how to do science.