caroljane

How did I miss this great entry? Rand was the beneficiary of evil Marxist Bo;shevist Russia, who sent her to university where the Tsarists for whom her romantic soul longed, under whom her father was a prosperous businessman and she could have thrown tantrums for lipstick and silk stockings until she got them , would have kicked her to the curb as a female and a Jew. Naturally she hated both her cultural progenitors and reinvented herself as an American, complete with a set of instructions on how Americans ought to be if they were any damn good at all.

I suspect that she probably does sense my degeneracy. Like Phil, she nips at my heels occasionally. J I suspect that she probably does sense my degeneracy. Like Phil, she nips at my heels occasionally. J I suspect that she probably does sense my degeneracy. Like Phil, she nips at my heels occasionally. J Ah, the heelbone connected to the I-bone -- make sure she never gets too hungry.

She looks like a fox, but she's actually a Shiba Inu Pomeranian mix. J She's adorable. Poor innocent creature! Does she divine the degenerate depths of her master's heart?

You think you can procrastinate? You are a piker. Look, just look at how many times I have posted over the last two days, in which I not only had to physically go out to work but should have been scouring my abysmal residence for inspection. My Big Fat Greek landlord atop whose laundrymat I live in joyous sloth, lives in deadly fear of the insurance inspectors and the fire department. He has told me not to use the fire escape, ever, except if there is a fire (very inconvenient since it is just a few steps by FE from the aforementioned Mat). Not to put anything on the fire escape, ever. To clean my quarters , hiring cleaners if necessary, because if they don't like the apartment, he will not get insurance for Oscar's Coin Laundry. I will also have to reinstall the fire alarm, if I can find it. I disassembled it because it screams and automatically calls the fire department every time I boil a kettle, let alone try to cook anything. I incautiously mentioned that last yeqr I burned up the Thanksgiving turkey, so he has told me that if the stove is dirty, they will refuse the insurance. I am surrounded by these insurmountable tasks and an impossible deadlines and here I am on your blog, which apparently you never even check into, and IT's all your FAULT, Sauce for the gander, Bill Scherk, or Yusuf Al-Canadi or whatever you are calling yourself these days, And they won't give me airmiles at the drugstore just because I don't have a stupid airmiles card...why are people so blind and stupid... I want my mother, you brute!

George, I try to read most of your erudite contributions to our community knowlege, but I think I will be giving this one a miss. All of my intellectual property comes from the second-hand store. Best wishes, Rose

MESSAGE AUTO-DESTRUCT WILL ACTIVATE APPROX 60 SEC.S AFTER READING Our dearest Curly-Tail: First off, apologies in advance: as you may or may not know, it was Weasel Stomping Day over here in the Everglades, which of course puts a halt to whatever government functions are actually still functioning. If you are not familiar with the tradition, or perhaps need to refresh your understanding of this colorful ethnic event, I offer you a lovely reel--just ignore the upfront advertisement (though it is rather appropriate to the matter-at-hand)--I can't filter out what those bloody Nips over at Sony stick into almost anything the Film Ministry puts out. I mean, I guess if we paid down our debt a bit, they might stop this, as well as refrain from opening up any more of these damn buffets (they say they are Chinese but we all know who is really in back of it--and let me tell you, if that's sushi, it came out of the dumpster from that nasty Indian restaurant we ate at last year there in Toronto; you know, the one that required me to have my exhaust port teflon-coated). Anyway, I don't know much as to recent sightings, activities. This Adam fellow is an elusive little bugger; likely a bugger that engages in, well, buggery. I have heard stories, horrible, horrible rumors they are, involving donkeys, leather straps, and 55 gallon drums filled with lukewarm oatmeal. Even if part of this is true, well, you know how They say "most myths are based in fact." Disturbing, indeed. About the only, um, "hard" intelligence involves two fraternal twins who came running into the Indian gambling joint down south of me closer to the swamps. One of them (I know not whether it was brother or sister) was said to be garbed in the traditional plaid skirt/knickers/shiny strap shoes kind of outfit--you know, the private school thing--and the other one had some kind of ventriloquist dummy duck taped to them. I guess they really messed up the action on the blackjack tables and one was reported to scream, over and over in some ritualistic kind of loop (and this is a rough translation) "If that's what it is, I'm going back to Father Christopher--at least he had better candy and the whiskey was single malt." I mean, that puts a chill on a man, thinking of such. The best-case scenario here is that he will go back to his traditional stalking grounds, which is around the New York/New Jersey area. And that would be a good thing, if there is any goodness to be had in this. Even better, if he focuses on New Jersey, which always deserves any kind of plague put upon it. That's it. If you have lemons, make lemonade. Keep me in the loop, and I'll stay on the smegma trail, as rotten a business as it is--it is, after all, my Job. Finest Kind, Milk Moustache Frothy, old boy! Delighted to wind up this operation with a win-win all round! Can't thank you enough for your invaluable help. It was your brilliant mention of the vat of warm oatmeal which cracked the case. I'm putting you in for a medal, though of course you can never wear it except at investiture in the Palace basement, and at your funeral. That New Jersey chap was quite the red herring wasn't he? Of course we will be keeping an eye. But our man was, of course, a Scotsman and one we had been seeking for quite a while. We ran him to earth in a No-Frills supermarket in Ragged Tusk, Manitoba in Canada, stocking up on Quaker Oats at 79 cents a package, 5 for $3.00. Sad, really. The Wessex Underwear flap was also solved without publicity. It turns out that it was in fact the Countess who was appropriating the netherware- and the Earl was doing the same with hers, ha! ha! An innocent family game, with no third parties involved , but may have been misunderstood if the information had got into the wrong hands...so mum's the word, eh? Remember the blood oath we swore behind the cricket hut between Prep and Chapel... As ever, Piggie

MESSAGE AUTO-DESTRUCT WILL ACTIVATE APPROX 60 SEC.S AFTER READING Our dearest Curly-Tail: First off, apologies in advance: as you may or may not know, it was Weasel Stomping Day over here in the Everglades, which of course puts a halt to whatever government functions are actually still functioning. If you are not familiar with the tradition, or perhaps need to refresh your understanding of this colorful ethnic event, I offer you a lovely reel--just ignore the upfront advertisement (though it is rather appropriate to the matter-at-hand)--I can't filter out what those bloody Nips over at Sony stick into almost anything the Film Ministry puts out. I mean, I guess if we paid down our debt a bit, they might stop this, as well as refrain from opening up any more of these damn buffets (they say they are Chinese but we all know who is really in back of it--and let me tell you, if that's sushi, it came out of the dumpster from that nasty Indian restaurant we ate at last year there in Toronto; you know, the one that required me to have my exhaust port teflon-coated). Anyway, I don't know much as to recent sightings, activities. This Adam fellow is an elusive little bugger; likely a bugger that engages in, well, buggery. I have heard stories, horrible, horrible rumors they are, involving donkeys, leather straps, and 55 gallon drums filled with lukewarm oatmeal. Even if part of this is true, well, you know how They say "most myths are based in fact." Disturbing, indeed. About the only, um, "hard" intelligence involves two fraternal twins who came running into the Indian gambling joint down south of me closer to the swamps. One of them (I know not whether it was brother or sister) was said to be garbed in the traditional plaid skirt/knickers/shiny strap shoes kind of outfit--you know, the private school thing--and the other one had some kind of ventriloquist dummy duck taped to them. I guess they really messed up the action on the blackjack tables and one was reported to scream, over and over in some ritualistic kind of loop (and this is a rough translation) "If that's what it is, I'm going back to Father Christopher--at least he had better candy and the whiskey was single malt." I mean, that puts a chill on a man, thinking of such. The best-case scenario here is that he will go back to his traditional stalking grounds, which is around the New York/New Jersey area. And that would be a good thing, if there is any goodness to be had in this. Even better, if he focuses on New Jersey, which always deserves any kind of plague put upon it. That's it. If you have lemons, make lemonade. Keep me in the loop, and I'll stay on the smegma trail, as rotten a business as it is--it is, after all, my Job. Finest Kind, Milk Moustache

Henry Ford was showing his enemy, union goon Walter Reuther, around his new automated plant. Ford: So, Walter, how are you going to get these robots to pay your union dues? Reuther: So, Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars? Carol Chairperson, CEP loc.113

Not “Phd with Podcast”? And what happened to “The Saucy Philosopher”? Sorry, didn't make the cut. And nor did "The Throne Speech" or "They'll Have to Pry the Webcam out of my Cold Dead First-Hand" either. You'll just have to try harder. Which reminds us... Confidential to A.S.:We don't seem to have received your bribe money thank-you note yet. You're going to look pretty foolish at the Medal Ceremony if there is no medal.

Carol, Sounds good. He/she is going to be born in England, and will grow up in Australia (the father), so we will have done good for the sake of unity of the Commonwealth. Gender might pose a problem to our dynasty, though. Gr...gr..gran..grandfa..grandfather! There, I said it. If I ever get used to it, is another story. Adam, Only child? Best kind: me too. Thanks, Tony That makes three of us. All the more reason to ensure the survival of our singularity!

Michael, In short, if Rand has implicitly or explicitly raised mutual exclusivity between the ethics of selfishness, and man, as reproductive being - she was flat out WRONG.i.e. if you have children, you can't be morally selfish. Self-evidently, she did not intend this, I believe. When I first caught tiny hints of her attitude to children (more like a non-attitude, really) way back when I first read her, it was no 'deal-breaker' for me. I resolved it simply: without children, no adult; without adult, no philosophy - and no need of one. Implicitly, our individual values and human nature will result in most of us having children with no compromise to our egoist morality. As a by-the-by, I don't pay too much attention any more to Rand's weirder pronouncements. Without rationalizing, I view them as her embarassing or amusing lapses and excesses. My pet theory is that she induced so much of Objectivism, that she lost touch sometimes with what was subjective and personal to her: one just blurred into the other. This, coupled with her obvious desire to bring everything under the O'ist 'umbrella', led her out too far on a limb at times. So, how much of these pronouncements about child-rearing matter? If one is an awestruck Randian, who has not learned the core tenet of Objectivist independence, they could be harmful. If one is a knee-jerk anti-Randian looking for any chink in her armour, well, here's another, folks. Make the most of it. The nature of man. I don't know how much you read of my posts, but I'm the one who is always banging on (and on) about the foundation of rational egoism, and emphasising its total grounding on all that is human nature. Several times the 'hard-wiring' aspect comes up, and my position is that I think it cannot be ignored, or denied. But this is all contained within the ethics, as human nature: the M and E of O'ism. But hard-wiring (or whatever you want to call it) only provides the impulse to DO 'something'. It does NOT tell us what to do about it and how to proceed. Like emotions, it is never a guide to action. For instance,I have the impulse to father a child: Who with? When? How many? Why? No answer. The pure, selfish pleasure of creating and nurturing a new being, is hard-wired in me. My rationally-selfish ethics takes over:responsibility, and all other factors. One way or another, a choice is made. To a large degree, I selectively over-ride the natural instinct, and limit it. As I would with the 'herd instinct'. Unless one is controlled by every utterance by Ayn Rand, this integrates with my morality. Independence of mind, first and always. Species values. In identifying man as reproductive creature, metaphysically - it does not follow to introduce an identification of man as 'species-value' driven, metaphysically, too. We were hard-wired to father/mother the maximum amount of off-spring possible in our primitively short life, yes. That's where it stops. Separately, any consideration of our culture, or philosophy dwindling and dying out is not metaphysical; it's cognitive, and rational. Just thought I'd be clear on this. We, each of us, are not *hard-wired* to consider the survival of the species, or culture; we just want to make babies.** Having concern for one's culture and species COULD be a chosen value, for a rationally-selfish individual. It's not high on my list, but if you, or any O'ist, or anybody else, want to publish and promote family values within Objectivism, AND, to oppose any lingering child/egoist morality 'false dichotomy' - great! Why not? Who'd stop you? **Speaking of which, my daughter,an only child, (naturally!) will have her first child next month.) Tony mazeltov Tony! I have 2 and 2/3s grandsons. The already born one is a magic footballer already at age 2. How about an\\arranged marriage here? I'm sure by the time they grow up, somebody will become rich.

Excellent post, Phil. I never thought I would say this. Maybe I've gone insane. Ghs Welcome to the asylum then. I learned real things from that post , and not just about Schwartz etc. Well said Phil.

Cripes bro, dont draw attention to yourself! Didn't you get the memo? Overstretched, like usual, Nanook

Evidently.. Let's see how the sitaution develops shall we? The price might drop.... Uh, would that include the garage? Because that contraption, you know...pointed north..there might be dilomatic complications.

FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE SACRED IGLOO LOCAL 13 TO: All members Secret Plan committee - URGENT/ CONFIDENTIAL Jesus please us! Brother Duke has gone rogue and is talking to the media, he has some kind of website and who knows what, -- what part of Secret as in Secret Plan does he not understand? Who's in charge of Sector 149 anyway ? Brother Useless Joel I suppose. Somebody get ahold of him right away. Look, maybe it isn't a disaster, just premature. It's all gonna happen anyway, we're just not really ready -- I mean we've got the ice and all, ..those seasons tickets will be tough though, the Lapps and Finns want to bring the reindeer for free.. Emergency meeting at the Satellite Hut tonight at 6 sharp, no excuses. If Claudine hears about this I'm toast. ISS Gord

In a wrenching plea to Canada, Mr. Duke de Duke has offered "the parts of Arizona that Canada doesn't already own" ,for sale, including a free NHL team. If terms cannot be reached, he has invited Canada to invade, but if they do not wish to do so, "we'll invade ourselves and surrender to Canada." What has driven Mr de Duke and his associates to such an extremity? "Our central government hates us and is always suing us anyway," he commented to Macleans Magazine, appealing to Winnipeg Jets fans and all Canadians to have mercy on those who are being forced to pay for the Phoenix Coyotes. His website, Disunderstand, outlines plans for the Canadian takeover of Arizona. "Take a look - it's workable and no blood needs to be shed," Mr de Duke insisted. "The time is now!"

,,,,after Week after Week after Week when our Committee activities were suspended due to sabotage from those commies from the OWL tech squad. We missed the bombshell announcement of Peikoff's quickie book on the DIM Hypothesis, the blockbuster Toronto premiere of the Atlas Shrugged Movie, everything. But when you are the Best you are not to be defeated by small, petty, envious secondhanders who want you to pay your bills delight in the destruction of t he Good.So with renewed hubris we anoint our next winners: SEARCH AND RESCUE AWARD Adam Selene, objectivist living When things looked darkest for the BOW committee, Adam fearlessly defied the OWL rabble on his very doorstep and, with the stalwart assistance of volunteers from n anonymous group in a Satellite Hut not far from Galt's Gulch, worked around the clock to save us from oblivion BEST REBRANDING Philosophy in Action, Noodlefood We are delighted to present this award because the name was actually suggested by our very selves on the BOW committee, but there is no conflict of interest involved because Dr Mrs Dr will never give us the credit anyway. The former Rationally Selfish Webcast was renamed to reach out to non-Objectivists. The runnerup best suggestion was Moochers Want to Know.. BEST APOLOGY Mike Renzulli, all over the place We are not quite clear what Mike did wrong but he sure is sorry for it. His apology does not have the high level of grovelling and snivelling we usually expect online, and there was no photo of his wife standing loyally beside him, but, hey. Nobody is ever going to top Henry II over the Becket thing anyway, and we're sure Mr R put on a better performance in private.

Michael, Infomercials are for second-handers. I'm holding out for Objectivist Idol!

FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE SACRED IGLOO LOCAL 13 confidential - urgent Dear Brother Adam, I just got your message about organizing the yaks, elks, deer and other herd animals for that Owl conference you have down in New York. We lend you our brotherly support and best wishes, but the thing is, the sled dogs don't want to go. They like to eat owls when they can get a hold of them, but they do not consider themselves to be herd animals but members of a team. Bottom line is, Nanook says no way, so it is no use me trying to talk to them. That Nellyclungalways bites me anyway. Sorry. On a brighter note it's just a few months till ArcticCon and the gals are chewing the pemmican like crazy.Looking forward to that seminar you'll be leading. ISS. Gord Asst. Shaman

I cannot figure out why my responses keep going into the wrong places. Maybe it's a conspiracy. At least it was the Pope this time and not Phil's imaginary underwear.

But if Beck said there is going to be real rioting on Wall Street, I will laugh at that. The Rangers are never going to make it to the Stanley Cup final. That's because you haven't heard about our new center! Like the old days, Jesus SAVES, but Esposito scores on the rebound! Impressive, I hear he signed for 4M souls ($CDN). But I hear he's weak on the PK. Knockout graphic Adam, I'm on the boards.

You deserve your comebacks bro, consider me suitably squelched. For now!

But if Beck said there is going to be real rioting on Wall Street, I will laugh at that. The Rangers are never going to make it to the Stanley Cup final.

Cross-section - I'll take your word. Canada, population-wise, is mostly urban, with our government staunchly representing the mighty heartland, so I probably don't understand US demographics. As to my scoffing at Beck's prophecies, when did I do that? I don't remember it. I always enjoy yukking it up with WSS of course, but it couldn't have been in the past 2 months anyway because I was cutoff from cyberspace, as you know. Please refresh my memory on this one.