caroljane

The Foreign Affairs minister is trailing his NDP opponent, a karate teacher.

It sure turned out to be an interesting election campaign after all. I have ten minutes to wait until the results from down east start showing. Me, I am keeping my eye on Laurier--Sainte-Marie. Monsieur Layton, comment ça roule? La poussée orange! (for those not bored and nauseated by our election, Monsieur Layton is the head of the NDP, which is poised for a breakthrough in the province of Québec at the expense of the sovereignist party, the Bloc. Orange is the colour of the NDP.) I'm shocked! the riding where I teach, a Liberal stronghold for the past 20 years, looks like falling to the NDP. For over 100 years the Liberals and Conservatives have been the Republicans and Democrats of Canada ( I should say Dems and Pinkos I suppose) and now the Liberals are being supplanted - and Quebec separatism is at its historic lowest point. Brave new world indeed. Looks like Cons will get their majority though.

Erlection night. Strange how after 30 years as an Ontarian I am still excited about the Maritime results, more than the others. What is going on in Gaspesie? The NDP candidate has no office and no phone and apparently mounted no campaign and he's leading??

Carol: As is the subtle title of your thread. So now, a Chinese commentator could say that the Canadian National erections are being held today? My, my... getting kind of "jiggy" here up thar in them frigid Northern climes! Adam thinking Canadian carnally Mr. Selene, As the wife of the NDP leader in question is Chinese, she might feel obliged to report you to the Political Correctness Commission, had she not herself implied that your comment was factually correct. The most shocking aspect of the whole affair is that anyone is even thinking about sex NOW. As you know we have only 3 seasons, Regular Season, Playoff Season and Off-Season aka Mating Season. Of course, Toronto has become degenerate due to premature off-season for the past 40 years. You can hardly blame poor Jack.

Adam, Very astute. You are mostly correct. In the longer novels, as the philosophy dominated more and more, I felt her style became more and more rigid. In Atlas it was as if she had to engrave each and every sentence on the reader's mind, instead of evoking the scene. It was daunting, and somehow confining to me as a reader. I was certainly interested in the stories but not as engaged with the characters as in the shorter books. Knowing at the outset that they were embodiments of a philosophy, I could not forget about that and just "read a novel"-- which surely was Rand's intent.

Pundits have long jeered that Canadian politics has never had any sex scandals worth the name, and they have been right,but just today two worthy entrants have challenged that assumption, though in my opinion punily. 1. The frontrunner in Monday's federal election has admitted that fifteen years ago he was in a massage parlour, (naked or not is not yet determined). His wife says she knew it at the time. "He keeps in great shape and always has", quoth she. "He needs regular massages." Translation: "He's a stud, eat your hearts out, press gallery." 2. An Ontario Libertarian Party candidate discusses in today's Toronto Star the possible disadvantages to his campaign of the publication of his novel, which details his experiences as a regular customer of prostitutes. As libertarians advocate the decriminilazation of prostitution, he thinks, on balance, it might boost his, er, political profile. And yes, Adam, it is a graphic novel. I should have put this in Canadian Boring thread but really, compared to our usual politics, this is fairly interesting.

Go next time Philly. Beat brutish Boston, especially Licic, you cynical thug. We won't forget what you did. Stay out of Canada if you know what's good for you,

Joel, If you loathe AS, what are you doing on an Objectivist discussion site? If you loathed Mohammad, would you spend lots of time posting on an Islamic site? If you loathed sugar, would you go around posting on a dessert recipe site? If you loathed opera, would you hang out at a Puccini forum? What are you doing with your life, dude? Devoting it to hatred among people who are not affected in the least by your loathing? Surely you have good things inside you--things that you could be doing that would make you and people you love happy. Why waste a good life telling people who love something that you hate it? Do you value your time so little? I will never understand this mentality. I see it all the time, but there's nothing inside me that allows me to know what it feels like. I've made my mistakes, so I'm not a saint. But even after everything I've done, I believe this is a monumentally stupid use of one's time and efforts. Nothing good comes of it. Ever. Michael Michael, You bring up an interesting question which I have been asked in different forms, and indeed asked myself, and which I think deserves a little more thinking about than your black-and-white reaction warrants. Joel's typically laconic reference to the echo chamber is part of it. For myself, I read writers I agree with, I socialize with like-minded people, indeed I live in a country set up pretty much the way I think it should be to give me a good life. But I also read writers I don't agree with, and enjoy arguing with them in my mind. I watch gruesome crime dramas and read bleak but thrilling novels about the worst and lowest tendencies in humanity. Among many other things I hasten to add. LM Montgomery and Jane Austen are still my literary idols. Since I was introduced to Ayn Rand I found her uniquely interesting. I was struck by Anthem, deeply moved by We the Living. With TF and AS she lost me, in both senses. Her philosophy struck no chord; many would say I simply do not truly understand her writings, and they may be right. As I belatedly learned about her actual life I came to admire her as a person - I wrote a short piece about that here in Articles. The movement she engendered, and the diverse individuals who have been illuminated and motivated by her works to think deeply and live fully, are just continually interesting to me. The subculture is of course full of human quirks. Efforts to steer the course of mass conversation between"personalities" and"ideas" in themselves are worthy of study. Who has the ideas? Pre-Cambrian rocks? How can we disentangle the person from his ideas? How did the person entangle himself? I said at the start I had been asked the question "why are you here if you're not an objectivist" (sometimes more plainly said as "Go away!' and my answer is not any more reasoned out than it was then. I like it here. I like the people, I like the atmosphere. It gives me a kind of enjoyment which is new to me and yet not scary, although learning how to move things around on the internet is a hurdle I am still not ready to face. Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke,

Good, better, best, never let it rest, till your good is better, and... well. here's this week's: BEST AESTHETIC EXPERIENCES THAT HAD NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH AYN RAND or OBJECTIVISM Canucks advance to the semis/Royal Wedding (tie) They just were. BEST SERIES Rand and Aesthetics, ARCHN blog (ongoing) Full-bore criticism on the weakest flank of Rand's philosophy. Bash-backs welcome but rare. BEST PALEO METAPHOR Malevolent Side of Beef Category "Attacking them (lberals) is something like attacking a corpse -sure it can be useful, but it's not going to get you anywhere."-James, Noodlefood,Thread 262, 28/4, 7:757 How do you know that, James? "I've done swordfighting, and many of the better swordsmen use pig carcasses to test how they're swinging a blade, because you never really know if you're doing it right until you hurt something with the blade." OK, we get it now. DESPERATION AWARD Lindsay P uses the royal wedding to remind us that the glories of the British legacy, "warts and all, must never be allowed to succumb to Islamofilth" (Solopassion, 29/2) BEST CAPTIONER Rich Engle, Objectivist Living He wore us down.

Oh be still my beating heart! That is just the kind of thing that can give me wood. I love the Lanc. It was Bomber Harris' club to beat the workers of the Third Reich to death. Ba'al Chatzaf Oh wow, said the duchess. My husband was a Battle of Britain fanatic (he was born amongst the Clydeside bombings) and must have read every RAF novel ever written, from Nevil Shute to Len Deighton. Did you ever read Tail-end Charlie? As I recall it was his favourite.

btw, was it just the slight audio lag, or was "Lead Me.." also being sung in Welsh? Some of the guests looked definitely confused and/or annoyed during the first hymn.

Carol, What was your feeling about it? And did those feet in ancient time... I admit to letting go my Republican skepticism for a few hours. That innocent pleasure from the newlyweds (did you lip-read that "Oh Wow!" by Kate when she saw the crowds from the balcony?), and the audience, was wonderful. I will not cease from Mental Fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand... Organized pageantry as only the Brits can do it, a solemn, restrained and proud sense of history. Til' we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant Land. Quite heroic, I thought - and I sang, too. Tony Oh, Tony. I was married in that exact same ceremony (so were my parents and so on) minus the odd trumpeter and Archbishop. I was expecting an entertainment spectacle like C&D's with virtuoso musical performances; I found myself just at a wedding. Seeing the ease and confidence of the couple, knowing they were doing the right thing. How nervous her poor father was (he reminded me of Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride).The unexpected power of the brother's reading the lesson (is he an actor?)The simplicity of the sermon. The unbelievable monstrosity that was Princess Beatrice's hat. I love weddings in the vicarious way of the happily married who don't like to get dressed up themselves, and are grateful to the rich and royal who do it so we don't have to. The Cwwm Rhondda swelled my heart as always and John Rutter came up trumps. The Crown Imperial had the added benefit of reminding me of an alltime favourite TV series. I am renewing my efforts to find a nice Anglican girl for my son. Carol (sob)

This is quite good in the meantime--these guys went to school with her. Great fun - I wonder how many of them were at the nups? Loved the Chariots of Fire moment.

Yes, the old jokes are really the best jokes. As the actress said to the bishop.

Marc, is your dad by chance a philosophy professor who is also a big soccer fan?

Royal wedding music has been announced. Talk about patriotic. There is one Bach and that's it. All else is English and Welsh. John Rutter is no surprise, he is a staple of Anglican choral settings, I hope he ups his game for this occasion; he isn't what I would call thrilling. Upside, "Lead me O thou Great Jehovah" - yes! Tony, wss, Xray and all other virtual apochryphal godless Anglicans, belt it out with me! Python fans, you'll like Jerusalem. Carol getting up at 5

I know! Isn't there a statue of Ayn Rand in South America somewhere? They could get it fitted with a speaker and play all of Peikoff's lectures through it! Sort of like they got the statues of the Virgin Mary to weep....

Maybe this is why we have good international academic ratings. Even Canadians with ADHD can concentrate for 20 minutes at a time. And they seem like 20 hours.

Sorry for my very late response but yes , they really do surprise me. Even tonight down 2 zip fast and now its all tied ....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. My hatred for Les Canadiens started way back in 79 after Philly won 2 cups back to back and then Montreal ruined the threepeat by sweeping them !!!! My son hates Montreal too, plus his ex-longterm girlfriend was a Montrealer - I don't think it was a big factor in their breakup but it sure didn't help any. Phillies are through - be benevolent!

Obviously the only solution to this vexatious question of heirship is another contest. I've already put forward the only two (or three, or maybe four -how the hell am I supposed to tell?) possible candidates I can think of. Perhaps the search committee should spread out wider than the narrow world of Objectivistorthodoxy to find the perfect fit. And before 9th Phil or any similar nimblewits haul over the photo from the caption thread: Barack, Michelle, Sasha, Malia, Jesus and Statue of Jesus are NOT eligible.

You tell me, is there anyone as loopy as Lenny? That’s one high bar to jump over. Having read the UP's blog I think he might be up to the challenge, and the intriguing new integration of Ninth Phil looks promising too. Utterly bewildered, Catol

Told you so!

(Breathing calmly) I really, really wish they would not go into overtime when I have to work in the morning.

That's you and Marc for Philly, PDS for Detroit, and me for the entire country of Canada. Our national anthem singers are classier! And neither are as good as the French and I hate the French, but they have the best anthem... Still on of the best scenes in movie history with one of the top four most beautiful women in the world. Never fails to bring tears to my eyes. O mon dieu yes. I always thrill to the Marseillaise even though I know what the words mean. Also love the German one, it is is by Haydn and not the Germans' fault it was retained by Hitler. It is a hymn tune "Glorious things of thee are spoken". Oh my poor nerves. Eight minutes to go for Vancouver. Sstanding on guard.

That's you and Marc for Philly, PDS for Detroit, and me for the entire country of Canada. Our national anthem singers are classier!