3 Ring Binder

In searching for a “How To” video for Rosie the Riveter’s hairdo for my teenage daughter, I found some really cool things. First, did you know that Rosie the Riveter was the name of Norman Rockwell ’s painting and not the iconic We Can Do It poster? You probably did, but I’m a little late to the table. This excellent video from the Library of Congress explores the origins of the iconic Rosie and the real women who worked for the war effort during World War II. As in my History through Art for Adults class, this video also explores the historic symbolic intricacies of Rockwell’s image. And here’s a fascinating comparison from the video: Rockwell's Rosie & Michelangelo’s Prophet Isaiah Of course, my daughter is not so interested in this burly Rosie as she is in Rosie as portrayed by, say, Christina Aguilera . Happily, my younger daughter, who is also animated by historic figures, is being Anne Boleyn – with a head! As an eleven year-old, she is not portraying her a la Sh

First, you need to feed those kids before sending them out into the night to collect junk to eat from neighbors that you don’t normally speak to, right? How about this ? It’s the best, most disgusting Halloween meal I’ve ever seen. What do mean you forgot the kids’ costumes? Don’t worry. There are some clever last minute ideas for you to throw together for them. But what about you? Looking for that last minute glam get-up (ignore the “not for Halloween” advice). Just grab your silk charmeuse bias cut dress , long gloves , a fur stole , or a wool wrap coat with leopard print shawl collar and cuffs , et Voila! What? You don’t have those in your closet? Better still, how about an adult version of this ? But, if you’re like me, who would know you made an effort? Need a last minute idea for something to bring to a party ? (Skip step two unless you’re a sissy.) If you’re not going anywhere or doing anything for Halloween, don’t bother with the whole costume, just put on an old hat,

I am really happy to be hosting the Objectivist Round Up #120. This blog carnival is a collection of posts written by individuals who are advocates of Objectivism : the philosophy developed and defined by Ayn Rand. If you are new to Ayn Rand and would like to discover more about her philosophy, I recommend you read her two greatest novels, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead . If you are interested in her non-fiction, I recommend my two favorite essays, “ Man’s Rights ” and “ The Nature of Government .” The Ayn Rand Institute and the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights provide relevant information and commentary. Following, in the order in which they were received, are the posts for this 120th Objectivist Round Up. Jason Stotts presents The Christians are Burning Witches (Again) posted at Erosophia , ” An analysis of the rise of christians burning witches in Africa.” Jason Stotts also presents Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License posted at Erosophia , saying, “Even in 2

Sadly, it has happened again . Unless my article was the empty envelope, it was not merely damaged but entirely lost! Happily, I can find a copy of the Fall 2009 edition of The Objective Standard at my local Barnes & Noble. Well, there was one ten days ago. *This old joke is what ran through my head as I read the post office's apology. Teacher: So Johnny, how was your weekend? Johnny: Horrible. A car hit my dog, right in the a**! Teacher (correcting Johnny's language): Rectum. Johnny: Wrecked 'em? It killed 'em!

As part of a homeschool co-op, my eleven year-old has had the opportunity to learn some things outside of our regular academic curriculum this fall. The group has focused mostly on outdoor activities and through it she’s done a ropes course, a map and compass class, and lots of hiking. She’s really enjoyed these little adventures with her homeschool friends, and she’s learned some interesting things. For instance, before she went out the door to meet with them yesterday, she turned to me and asked, “Do you have to sign one of those things – you know – to say you won’t blame them if I die?” Yesterday’s adventure: bowling.

This weekend, I particularly appreciated three chemical compounds that helped me to enjoy my life. While I take pleasure in the first on a daily basis and the second on at least a weekly basis, I didn't know how often I employed the third and therefore didn't value its impact until I used it in its very caustic form. Wakes me up, makes me warm, and kicks my day into gear. I particularly love the feel of the warm, heavy mug of its most popular form in my hand. Wear your love of caffeine on your sleeve (or ears as the case may be ). Lets me know it’s time to celebrate. When it’s in this bottle , it screams LIFE IS GOOD. When it’s in this glass with olives and olive juice, it’s a sign that the weekend is over and it’s time to watch Mad Men . Celebrate your geekdom with these glasses . (My birthday is Friday, by the way.) Helps me maintain one of my critical household systems, particularly when I have a bunch of hairy, and occasionally, very dirty people living here. Over the week

Unless you live in Somerville. Growing up, we called these Mary on the half-shell . It's not surprising to me that someone took the time to photograph the collection of them he saw on the lawns in his town.

What do you get when you compare talking to one of your constituents with " trying to argue with a dining room table "? If you're Barney Frank , apparently you get $15,000. Maybe soon, he and Robert Gibbs will be taking their act, Appeal to Ridicule: It's How We Do Politics , on the road.

This brief movie by Charles and Ray Eames (1977) does a great job in showing the relative size of things in and out of this world.

e·lit·ism or é·lit·ism, n. 1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. 2. a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class. b. Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class. (From the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.) In his interview with Jennifer Burns , Jon Stewart questioned the elitism of Objectivism – implying that while it was great for some, it wouldn’t work for “ordinary” people. This gave me pause. I find it interesting that those who invoke elitism to impeach voluntary interactions among rational people seem to be the same folks who attempt to justify compelling preferential treatment for certain groups. In the case of the compulsion, however, the elitism is based on perceived inferiority of others , rather than on perceived superiority of self . That ordinary people are too stupid to care for t

Oh, behave! The Objectivist Round Up is here at The Rule of Reason. Hey! Guess who is next week's host? Me! Isn't dat veird? (I promise not to make any Austin Powers references next week - although I admit to having a sudden urge to expand my use of the word shag to include the verb form rather than limiting it to the description of that 70's hairdo .)

As the hours of daylight decrease I tend to fill the house with candlelight and jazz. I guess they make me feel warmer (that, and I broke down on Monday and turned the heat on way before my arbitrarily determined November 1 start date). I have found some terrific new-to-me singers and albums in order to fill my soul with the warmth of smoky jazz songs, Ann Hampton Callaway , Erin Bode (who is not smoky, but beautifully clear) and NPR’s The New Jazz Divas , plus some “old” favorites Diana Krall and Jane Monheit .

Was it is about this, that inspires this, and this? And is it a good thing?

I'm not sure what a "totalitarian state of individualists" means, but other than that, it's worth watching if you haven't already - hell, it's worth watching even if you have. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Jennifer Burns http://www.thedailyshow.com/ Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview (via NoodleFood and HBL )

I meant to post on this last week, but I forgot. In fact, I forgot it so thoroughly that it wasn't until I looked at it again this morning that I realized that I used the exact same clip-art in my recent bumper sticker art that they did in their logo. Does your homeschooler like to write? The Book Arts Bash is a writing contest for homeschoolers judged by actual authors. Click the logo above to get to this year's contest website. Since they are still working on this year's details, you can find the results and information on last year's inaugural event here . Keeping checking back for updated information. One of the organizers has more on her personal blog, Homeschooled Twins .

This year during the one weekend in October that my son came home from college, I was away. Usually, we have a weekend where we purposefully go to pick pumpkins in a field near our house, pay approximately a billion dollars for the yuppie privilege of walking down to the muddy field, getting stung by the prickly pumpkin vines, slogging through the dirty, pre-cut orange beauties, painstakingly picking out the perfect ones, traipsing back up the hill to put them back into our car (after having them weighed and paying the aforementioned billion dollars). Then we go home, set up the pumpkins on the Halloween print vinyl tablecloth on the kitchen table, and ponder their size, shape, and our clever, clever carving ideas for each of our pumpkins while listening to Halloween Hits on a continuous loop, before setting to the task. This year, we had to find another way to do our annual pumpkin carving tradition together. As any self-respecting mother who still has younger children at home who va

The above bumper-sticker art was inspired by a story in this month’s VanDamme Academy Newsletter entitled, Building Good Spelling Skills (it can be found on the last page). The brief article describes how giving a child the opportunity to correct his mistakes helps him build better skills, but it also mentions the importance of not overwhelming him or distracting him from the task at hand. The first helps the student develop proper self-esteem; the second can be detrimental to it. As a home schooling mother, I am constantly searching for that critical divide. Finding it is not a skill that comes easily to me, but one at which I must become better. I am confident that it is a goal worth pursuing and a skill I have the ability to improve upon.

Evolution is the name of a very brief video which I can only describe as fascinating. It is produced by Dove Films as part of their Real Beauty campaign. The video is a cool time-lapsed portrayal of how a young woman goes from being a regular person to billboard fabulous – well, my daughter thought she looked better, particularly in the eyebrows (?), before processing – I don’t agree. This brings me to my point: the video’s intent is to show how the beauty industry is culpable in the development of low self-esteem in girls. First, let me say that I don’t fault Dove for their attempts to use the current false-morality cash cow of blaming corporate greed for the ills of society. I do find it ironic, in a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot kind of way, but I don’t blame them more than any other company who uses it in their advertising. If you go to their campaign website, you’ll find all kinds of tools for developing your real beauty and self-esteem including how to keep that salon blow-out lo

Whenever I hear people complain about the sexual nature of today's music I like to break out into my own rendition of this song which I learned to play on my guitar when I was twelve - complete with sound effects. Oh yeah. I was cool.

When the ship is going down, rearranging extraneous objects isn't going to help. Find some posts regarding the application of Objectivist principles in this week's Round Up at Titanic Deck Chairs .

I sustained the first assault to my knees when I ran three miles in the cemetery earlier this week. I try to do this at least once a week, but as it is getting colder and darker earlier, it’s been getting harder to do. The pounding of the pavement in the cooler weather seemed to really make my knees ache. Is it because my synovial fluid is too cold and therefore more viscous? In any case, any knee pounding should not be immediately followed up by tap dancing where cramp rolls are the order of the evening. By 9:00 PM, my legs were toast! Looks easy enough, right? (Who needs coconuts?) Now do 4000 of them! Over two nights this weekend we watched one of our favorite movies which my husband once cheekily referred to as “six hours of foreplay.” Yes, I'm talking about A&E's Pride & Prejudice with one Mr. Colin Firth. In addition to a great, pretty-true-to-the-book adaptation, the movie contains one of the best knowing look exchanges in movie history. When Elizabeth sharply

Finally! I have spent this morning doing something I should have done for a long time. I watched five concurrent TV show episodes on hulu! I know, there are those of you who have been telling me to watch the show for a long time, and those of you who couldn't say enough about it (but, sadly, not enough to actually make me understand how very funny, hopeful, poignant, and totally fabulous it is and that I should watch the Pilot before it fell off the queue at hulu - that'll have to wait until the DVD comes out), and even those of you who knew that despite a long-term enthusiastic following, the show is only six episodes long! In a bit of black comedy combining Bring It On and High School Musical with a John Hughesian flair wrapped up in a hour-long format, this show will delight anyone who has ever, even once, considered her life to be some sort of happy-go-quirky musical. So without further ado, because such would cause you to miss out on your chance to see it from episode 2

I've been collecting a few things that I'd like to link to in this one post. This is not to imply that each does not deserve its own post, but rather after having given them all some thought, I could come up with nothing better than the links themselves. I Love Cheese A list of facts you may or may not have known about this luscious substance can be found here at listverse . And if you love cheese and typestyles , this little quiz (via a Facebook friend) is not to be missed! I Love Words Though I may sometimes seem model myself after Norm Crosby or Amelia Bedelia, I appreciate the actual and implied meaning of words. Like the faintest change in hue, the subtle nuances of words can create an amazingly different tone. World Wide Words (via Rockhound Place ) is a fun blog about words and phrases - my most recent favorite of which is crepe hanger . I Love Atlas Shrugged Because of our sadly inconsistent efforts, we are only now nearing the end of Part I in our rereading of the book

Bright blue, orange glow, cabaret chanteuse, Photoshop + webcam = no better use. Overexpose, cutout, photocopy, colorize, It's how I see the world in my many eyes.

That's right. It's been exactly one year since I linked to this . And to think, I almost missed celebrating this three minutes of happiness today!

In today’s Boston Globe, an article about the new marketing of cigarettes resonated with me. First, I had no idea that the words “light”, “mild”, and “ultralight” were going to be banned from cigarette packages by next June. Secondly, the push to save us from ourselves by allowing an uncontrolled growth of government is becoming unbearable. This latest attack on the tobacco companies is minor compared to the explosion of rules and regulations proposed under the banner “consumer protection”, but it is a decent encapsulation. In a statement about the new colorful labeling proposed by some tobacco companies, a doctor, and the director of a tobacco research and intervention center, states that his patients feel virtuous switching to the “light” or “mild” brands that these colors will soon represent. “These are individuals who have a chronic case of tobacco dependence and are struggling to break free of it, and that struggle is compromised by labeling that gives them a false and deadly s

This week's Objectivist Round-Up is...well... up . Go git it at Trey Givens ! (* I'd like to state for the record that Objectivists would neither ask to be given a home nor would we roam aimlessly. Other than that, though, I like the new lyrics to describe the blog carnival that is the Objectivist Round Up.)

Here you will find the FTC’s notice in the Federal Register: Public Workshops and Roundtables: From Town Crier to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? Again , it’s important to note that The Federal Register is "[t]he official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents." From FedThread , “It's published by the U.S. government, five days a week. The Federal Register tells you what your government is doing, in a lot more detail than you get from the news media.” This FedThread website to which you’ll be redirected, allows you to comment (not an official government comment) and start a discussion with others who are interested in this particular governmental activity as well as establish an RSS feed for all comments on the matter. You can search for issues, and keep up to date with matters that interest you. I’ve added it to my sidebar. (Tha

While discussing the division of labor between spouses in our various households last weekend, my girlfriends and I ended up with one overwhelming question after a rather gushing review of my husband’s many virtues: Just what the hell do you do, Lynne? Since I don't work outside the home (or much in it if you want to get technical) and I had just revealed Stephen's rather unacceptable practice of actually cooking on a nightly basis – unacceptable because no one woman should be the beneficiary of so much good fortune – all I could think of was the third skill listed in old Enjoli commercial. Enjoli Sniff. Yup. That’s right. Everyone needs to be good at something. Okay – so I’m good at remembering old commercials. I’m not exactly sure how Stephen benefits from this, but so far, it's been working for us. Since this commercial tagline was so deeply embedded in my mind, I searched out some other old perfume and soap ads from the 70s and have included them below for a little

1. Enjoying friendships that you’ve had since you were actually a “girl”. 2. Creating new memories instead of merely reliving those of the past. 3. Celebrating life with people who knew you when … and still like you.

This week's Objectivist Round Up can be found at Reality Talk .

Sitting outside the library, The bells are clanging ten, Daughter taught by “not me”; Feeling a little Zen . “Venti Mocha Latte, please,” Deserving of whipped cream, Small price of $3.88, To live an idyllic dream. Shady coolness, the sun, warm, Still-green leaves rustle. Enjoying the eye of the storm, Tutors amidst the hustle.

The President has authorized the EPA to move ahead with regulations in an attempt to get congress to pass a climate bill. “We are not going to continue with business as usual,” Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. “We have the tools and the technology to move forward today, and we are using them.” The tools and technology of the force of government? That’s the only thing that the EPA has. While the push to stop global warming seems to be based solely on political considerations rather than any global warming itself (alternatively known as science or reality), President Obama’s push to place onerous regulatory burdens on American power plants is timed so that he has negotiating power at the United Nations summit on global warming in Copenhagen in December. And what will this posturing yoke cost us? Apparently, American money, much like reality, is no match for the political popularity of the idea of cataclysmic world destruct