Blogs

Debate October 22

From Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. The moderator, Bob Schieffer. At bottom, some suggested questions from the LA Times dude Jon Healey. [schieffer has not shared his questions with anyone he say. He says the Audience has agreed to shut the fuck up] Gentlemen, rules, divide in segments. 2 minutes each, then a general discussion. 50 years after Cuban Missile Crisis. Unexpected threat from abroad. Challenge of a changing middle east and the challenge of terrorism 1st question Libya. Four

william.scherk

william.scherk

Debate October 16

First question to Romney. From a college kid. Romney, college kid Philadelphia make it easier for kids to afford college John and Abigail adams scholarships Loan programmes Key ... can you get a job after school I know what it takes to get our economy going More debt, less jobs, I know what it takes Kids recognized Middle class crushed Jobs scarce. Obama Your future is bright. You made an investment Most important jobs good-paying jobs build on 5 million jobs Build manufacturing] Detroit go ban

william.scherk

william.scherk

Teach the controversy?

It depends, Adam. Education begins at home, and parents have every opportunity to inculcate family values in their children. Source: The Junk Science of Climate Change

william.scherk

william.scherk

4th Entry

On my school holidays... pretty nice so far. just been relaxing etc. I did my learners a few days ago... I failed by one point... one point. Ah well: Ill be prepared for the next shot. I better start on a history essay soon. I'm going to cover the history of the environmentalist movement. I think my hypothesis will revolve around trying to uncover the dark secrets of what modern environmentalism means. One card I have uncovered is that the Nazi's had one of the most "progressive" environmental

J.S. McGowan

J.S. McGowan

3rd entry

Nothing much happened today... weather was horrible: very rainy.... Sailing was canceled unfortunately. Discussed Macbeth in English. I argued that I enjoyed the movie adaption of Macbeth that we watched because I think that it rationalized the plot and that because of this it gave the story more moral value. No one agreed. they said that that the idea of fate (rather than the delusion of it) was important to the plot.

J.S. McGowan

J.S. McGowan

2nd Entry

I will attempt to make an entry daily... don't know how long I will keep it up though... Nothing of much consequence happened today. In English we finished watching Roman Polanski's movie adaption of Macbeth. I quite enjoyed it. I think that Macbeth highlights the evils of the belief of ends justifying the means plus i believe that Shakespeare's depiction of a man making himself a slave to prophesy, and being ultimately fooled and destroyed by it, has a lot of moral value. I'm reading Dracula at

J.S. McGowan

J.S. McGowan

1st entry

I've never done anything "bloggy" before... so this is my first ever blog entry. I guess I should say a little about myself. Obviously I am an Objectivist. I think Ayn Rand allowed me to grow up; before I found Ayn Rand in my early teens I was afraid, what of I didn't know, but i felt a constant pressure upon me. I called myself an atheist but I was so cringingly tolerant of other beliefs and so skeptical of everything that I was probably more mystical than any religious follower. The first Ayn

J.S. McGowan

J.S. McGowan

I agree with Bill Gates on this subject

I was watching the gates notes and was motivated to blog about education as It is a lot of political and employment problems . http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Americas-Future-Bill-Gates-Thomas-Friedman

anamous Cares

anamous Cares

This is the fun you could be having. On the Beach with Objectivism!

This is a shill for my blog. On the side of the blog Friends and Foes in my Editor view is a big long list of Tags i have applied to my posts over time. I like it! It looks like fun. I tried to be truthful and humourous. agwa Alexandria Library blather Bobby Allen boogeyman chat Chronicles de-Otherizing Death effective Egypt etiquette fantasy scriptures fiction first sentences fog foggy freedom French usage From our sister sites gawd heavy fog Help Carol&I Are Being H

william.scherk

william.scherk

A De-Otherized Philip Coates Would Have said:

Such recreation to be had at OL. We have on one side the rapier of PDS, uniting the theme of the OT and unknotting pretensions in one sweep. On the other hand, the same game but played with polishers, grinders, rivets. I have noticed Phil's incredible use of pronouns. Phil's favourite pronoun of course is I, but strangely he uses They more often. In most heated exchanges, if you look, you will see that Phil rarely gets a sentence going without Them and They. This I might call Otherizing. Otheriz

william.scherk

william.scherk

I do not wear victemhood well ...

William, You do not wear victemhood well. Anyway, the guy who died is named Lewis. He's the one the really bad stuff just happened to. It got so bad he died dead. Michael Source: John Lewis, In Memoriam

william.scherk

william.scherk

Don't be Small

Nine pages, 2.2k views, 165 replies. I can't even remember if I have been on this lake before, what fish are biting, what the Lead Topic is ranting about. My gawd, I would ask for a summary, but I think I have to do some homework first. Rough notes taken from the thread, a first copy, quotes from the thread. Fuck giving a reference for the quote. Either you recognize your own voice and your sentence or you don't; in any case it is the Statements that interest: Source: Smallness of Mind _________

william.scherk

william.scherk

From: A Necronomicon for Emotion, Or, The Emotonomicon

Over on the main OL forum, under Psychology, I started this poll or quiz or whatchamacallit. I think I might only issue instructions to the pupils prisoners respondents on the main forum as the Lesson Plan unfolds. Here is perhaps where I will react. Ha! And patrol the comments like a mongoose. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This comes with rolling quiz questions, and also clues and hints and helping information. My Name is Mrs Grundy. This is my classroom. Please fasten your harnesses and we will

william.scherk

william.scherk

Liturgy? Objectivity? Marketing?

I offer you a religion, a religion called Objectivism, with a suggested all-purpose liturgy for all maner of Objectivist meetings, celebrations, memorials and endeavors, from arrivals through unions to departures. This is off the top of my head, having no idea of a liturgy more awful or more stirring. Weigh in, Phil, summarize the thesis, squeeze the wine from your press, deliver us a hopeful liturgy for the church founded this day in Greater Sun Center. Objectivists believe in Objectivism. It

william.scherk

william.scherk

How (and How ~Not~) to Spread Objectivism

To Phil and whomever else it may concern: Isn't there something deeply contradictory about the mission of trying to "fix the world" by converting it to a philosophy whose founder celebrated one's prime focus being not on saving others from their folly, but on pursuing one's own self-development and self-fulfillment? When Rand was told she was obligated to write a new novel, she rebelled against the altruism of it -- then wondered: What if all the creative, productive people in the world went on

Roger Bissell

Roger Bissell

I am a nitpicker ... please forgive me ...

Phil Coates did answer some of my points on list in an reasonably civil manner. In one point, though, I beg to differ with his opinion. Re FRENCH CAPITALIZATION CONVENTIONS. It is odd that you say "I am correct," when you are incorrect. I am bilingual and this particular 'convention' stumped me at first. As with naming 'The Lawrences' as 'les Lawrence,' French has many pitfalls ... I did actually Google "Place Maubert." In fact, I linked to the French wikipedia entry on "Place Maubert." Indeed

william.scherk

william.scherk

From: Some Effective Opening Paragraphs

I very much enjoyed the opening sentence from the new English edition of Il cimitero di Praga. I note that Wikipedia touts its sales "The book is a worldwide bestseller ... that sold millions of copies as of 2010." **Amazon gives a blurb that perhaps explains its appeal: Nineteenth-century Europe—from Turin to Prague to Paris—abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines.

william.scherk

william.scherk

Man, do I ever know how to procrastinate.

With five or so pressing projects, engagements and intellectual chores awaiting, how interesting that I cannot stay on task. I jump in to an OL thread with a dorky translation for George H Smith, I pat myself on the back, gain an interesting insight into liberty of minds, and then look back at my trail in dismay ... I blame Carol Jane, not because she caused it, but because she is so nice, she can take it. My last four posts to OL made zero impression anyway, except for a comment on Roger's b

william.scherk

william.scherk

Just Who is a "Degenerate Objectivist"--and Who the Frack Cares!

An Open Letter to Phil Coates and the Other Denizens of Objectivist Living: For the past couple of days, I've been reading and re-reading the latest iteration over in the Living Room section of: "let's show our asses by bashing Phil for preaching to us about how to be better Objectivists." (Oh, I'm sorry -- it's not bashing, since it's all true, Phil deserves it, blah-blah-blah.) I've managed to get a lot done in the past two days, just by "biting my tongue" each time I've had the impulse to jum

Roger Bissell

Roger Bissell

Secular Spirituality

I think most of us are realistic and level-headed enough to acknowledge that the great world religions are not completely devoid of worth for guiding one’s actions in life. Like any other body of ideas, a religion must be carefully examined and weighed, keeping the pro-life elements and discarding the rest. For a person to do otherwise, living in a significantly religious culture as we do, is to risk throwing out the baby with the bathwater. That is why I found two essays in the most recent iss

Roger Bissell

Roger Bissell

The Significance of Tibor Machan's book on Ayn Rand

In 1999, Peter Lang Publishing Group put out Tibor Machan's fine little book on Ayn Rand, and it was my privilege and pleasure not only to get to preview the book and offer pre-publication comments, but also to write a blurb for the event of the book's publication. Here is the text of that blurb: The designation of me as being anything more than a musician was not my idea, but I kind of liked it. :-) REB

Roger Bissell

Roger Bissell

From: It's meee

Funny to be back on OL posting, and having had a 140 char limit elsewhere. Let's see how I do. Source: It's meee

william.scherk

william.scherk