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iflyboats

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  1. Like
    iflyboats reacted to KevinD in Should you be friends with a woman you want, but can’t have?   
    I'm going to limit myself to a single idea, which I suggest you repeat over and over to yourself like a mantra: If you don't get this area of your life handled, sorted, managed and mastered, you are in for a very unhappy life.
    You'll not only make yourself miserable, but crazy as well. From what you've written here, it seems like you're well on the way. You talk about driving past this girl's house to check on the cars parked outside? I don't know if that's immoral per se, but it sure is loony as hell.
    You come across in your posts as very young, totally inexperienced (you admit as much), and utterly, absolutely naïve about women and relationships. This is not a crime, but also it's not a state you want to remain in for long.
    While you're crushing on and obsessing over this one particular girl, the reality is she is of no significance whatsoever. You think (or rather, you feel) that she is someone extremely important, when in fact she is nobody, irrelevant to the big picture.
    The important person here is YOU. You need to focus on improving yourself, bettering yourself, and above all gaining a mature sense of emotional perspective, particularly where sexual emotions are involved. In short, you need to make yourself into the kind of man who doesn't get irrationally obsessed with girls like this.
    Now that I've beaten you up, let me say there isn't a man reading your posts who can't sympathize with you, at least a little. Fortunately for some of us, your story serves as a reminder of our distant past. For others, the pain you describe is like an experience out of the movie Groundhog Day, something to be revisited and re-encountered again and again.
    The unfortunate reality is that most men never get this area of their lives handled, sorted, managed and mastered. They never really figure out sex. To the average man, sex — and its attendant features, such as attraction, masculinity and femininity, etc. — is always a bit of a mystery, which is why so many men make such humiliating wrecks of their sexual lives.
  2. Like
    iflyboats reacted to Nicky in Should you be friends with a woman you want, but can’t have?   
    One of the greatest regrets of my early life is cutting off ties with a girl I loved, and several of our common friends, because I couldn't have her.
    Yes, staying friends would've been painful...and, back then, I thought pain was a hindrance to any kind of accomplishment or success, and therefor to be avoided at all cost...but, as I found out later: pain is a part of life. A necessary, and therefor GOOD part of life. It would've TAUGHT me a lot, about both myself and the nature of the human experience in general.
    So just take the pain. Don't betray your values, by removing a good person from your life, because you're scared of a little pain. If you take the pain of a short term, probably illusory heartbreak, you will be rewarded for it with a learning experience you can't access in any other way... and possibly a lifetime of friendship as well.
    P.S. You DO want to stay away from any kind of an exploitative relationship. My post assumes that your relationship with her is a straight forward friendship (like mine was), and she is not taking advantage of your feelings in any way.
  3. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from ropoctl2 in Another Ron Paul topic   
    I've been digesting the criticisms of Ron Paul made recently by Objectivist thinkers Yaron Brook and psychologist Michael Hurd, Ph.D. They both seem to hold an overall negative view of Paul due largely to his foreign policy.

    Admittedly, I'm not very knowledgeable about foreign affairs. My main concern in politics has always been domestic policy. I don't really like to think about the weirdos/degenerates in the middle east, and Ron Paul's foreign policy of just leaving them alone, withdrawing from that part of the world and saving the money to spend on ourselves was easy for me to latch onto when he ran in 2007-2008, which was my first foray into politics. However, I realize that not liking to think about foreign affairs doesn't justify neglecting to do so, and I now agree with the criticisms that Ron Paul's foreign policy is not aggressive enough and that, rather than retreating from the middle east, the US should crush states that sponsors terrorism.

    Having said that, I'm still considering supporting Paul anyway, because in my judgment, the US government's financial behavior seems to be a much greater immediate threat to my well-being than any foreign enemy. I fear that, unless the next President takes a firm stance against deficit spending, monetary inflation and government intervention in the economy on principle, we will be likely to suffer a worst-case scenario of hyperinflation in conjunction with a massive government power grab, with the result being many years of outright misery in America. Ron Paul is the only one who clearly understands the cause of our economic problems and is committed to championing the principle of individual rights in economic life. He is also the only one I trust not to take advantage of the coming crisis to justify an even bigger and more dangerous power grab than the one that happened in 2008-2009.

    Furthermore, it seems that a financial collapse brought about by a big-spending President would compromise our military strength even more than the errors in Ron Paul's foreign policy, so if he gives us the best chance to avoid such an outcome, he might actually do more to maintain our military strength than someone with a better foreign policy, but a reckless fiscal policy.

    Finally... it's worth notice that it was Ron Paul's candidacy in 2007-2008 that got me interested in ideas and eventually led me to Objectivism. I went from Ron Paul to Austrian economics to "Gold and Economic Freedom" to Ayn Rand. Google trends suggests that the rise in popularity of Austrian economics corresponds almost perfectly to Ron Paul's rise to prominence in 2007-2008. I credit him with injecting this knowledge into the mainstream at a crucial moment in history, and for all his flaws, I suspect that he has had a net positive impact on political and economic thought in America.

    Anyway, my question is, can I rationally continue to support Ron Paul based on my judgment that, under the dire circumstances, the value of his domestic policy outweighs the errors in his foreign policy? I don't want to support the wrong man due to an error in my thinking, but right now, I don't see a better alternative in the field (save for Gary Johnson, who doesn't have a chance). His campaign's volunteer office just opened up in my state, and I need to decide whether I'm going to help with his campaign or not. I would therefore appreciate any arguments as to why I should or should not support him.
  4. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from freedombreeze in Is Obama intentionally destroying America?   
    I used to think Barack Obama was just extremely ignorant and irrational, but today, I flipped through his book "The Audacity of Hope" for the first time, and I am deeply disturbed by some of the things he wrote. For example:





    In other words, he was clearly aware of how dangerous the deficit was even when it was MUCH smaller, and he clearly understands exactly what is going to happen when foreigners realize we can't pay out debts without debasing our currency. This suggests, to me, that he is not a well-intentioned liberal idiot, but an intelligent man who is deliberately raizing America to bring about misery and death.

    Do you think my inference is tenable, and is this what Peikoff means when he calls Obama a nihilist?
  5. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from aequalsa in Is Obama intentionally destroying America?   
    I used to think Barack Obama was just extremely ignorant and irrational, but today, I flipped through his book "The Audacity of Hope" for the first time, and I am deeply disturbed by some of the things he wrote. For example:





    In other words, he was clearly aware of how dangerous the deficit was even when it was MUCH smaller, and he clearly understands exactly what is going to happen when foreigners realize we can't pay out debts without debasing our currency. This suggests, to me, that he is not a well-intentioned liberal idiot, but an intelligent man who is deliberately raizing America to bring about misery and death.

    Do you think my inference is tenable, and is this what Peikoff means when he calls Obama a nihilist?
  6. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from freedombreeze in Canada, Australia, and the Financial Crisis   
    Canada and Australia haven't been able to get themselves in nearly as much trouble with debt because they don't have reserve currency status.
  7. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from CapitalistSwine in CNN Bans Gary Johnson from NH Debate   
    I'll be voting for Ron Paul regardless of his age, so if enough people do the same we'll get him in.
  8. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from McClaeg in Watch 1st Presidential Republican Debate Here   
    I will be supporting Ron Paul because he is the only one who understands the gravity of our financial situation and the only one who understands the cause of the crisis and the solution. I also credit him with being the driving force behind the recent resurgence of interest in Austrian economics. It was because of his 2008 presidential campaign that I became interested in politics and economics, and subsequently found my way to Objectivism. While not a perfect exemplar of liberty, I believe that the net effect of his influence is very positive.
  9. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from ropoctl2 in Watch 1st Presidential Republican Debate Here   
    I will be supporting Ron Paul because he is the only one who understands the gravity of our financial situation and the only one who understands the cause of the crisis and the solution. I also credit him with being the driving force behind the recent resurgence of interest in Austrian economics. It was because of his 2008 presidential campaign that I became interested in politics and economics, and subsequently found my way to Objectivism. While not a perfect exemplar of liberty, I believe that the net effect of his influence is very positive.
  10. Like
    iflyboats got a reaction from Myself in Bill Gates Vs Steve Jobs Who’s the "Better" Person   
    I know Steve Jobs has been criticized for his lack of philanthropy. That makes me like him more.
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