3 Ring Binder

by Rudyard Kipling It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation To call upon a neighbour and to say: -- "We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away." And that is called asking for Dane-geld, And the people who ask it explain That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld And then you'll get rid of the Dane! It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say: -- "Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away." And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we've proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld You never get rid of the Dane. It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say: -- "...

No doubt , Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412-323 BCE), Diogenes the Cynic , or Diogenes the Dog as he was sometimes known, was odd to say the least, preferring to live naturally on the streets emulating a dog, than to succumb to the hypocrisy of living by social norms. From Wikipedia : Many anecdotes of Diogenes refer to his dog-like behavior, and his praise of a dog's virtues. It is not known whether Diogenes was insulted with the epithet "doggish" and made a virtue of it, or whether he first took up the dog theme himself. The modern terms   cynic   and   cynical   derive from the Greek word kynikos, the adjective form of   kyon   (κύων), meaning dog.   Diogenes believed human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog. Besides performing natural bodily functions in public without unease, a dog will eat anything, and make no fuss about where to sleep. Dogs live in the present without anxiety, and have no use for the pr...

A musical composition by Chuck Butler inspired by Ayn Rand's 1974 address to West Point graduates. Philosophy: Who Needs It?   (via HBL )

Bryan Larsen 's A New Height Please see the entire image and a letter explaining its inception at Quent Cordair Fine Art . And an early Happy Birthday to me!

“But the business of laws is not to provide for the truth of opinions, but for the safety and security of the commonwealth, and of every particular man’s good and person. And so it ought to be. For the truth certainly would do well enough if she were once left to shift for herself. She seldom has received, and I fear never will receive, much assistance from the power of great men, to whom she is but rarely known, and more rarely welcome. She is not taught by laws, nor has she any need of force to procure her entrance into the minds of men. Errors indeed prevail by the assistance of foreign and borrowed succours. But if truth makes not her way into the understanding by her own light, she will be but the weaker for any borrowed force violence can add to her.” From John Locke’s 1689 " A Letter Concerning Toleration ". A copy of the full text can be found here , and an audio version of it, here . The glut of justification for religious authority in its own right notwithstandin...

Speaking of Civil Disobedience (and of missing the point), here is an interesting little poem by Mr. Thoreau. What's the Railroad to Me? What's the railroad to me? I never go to see Where it ends. It fills a few hollows, And makes banks for the swallows, It sets the sand a-blowing, And the blackberries a-growing. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

For those of you interested in Objectivism, the latest round-up can be found here . For those of you not interested in Objectivism, it can still be found here (as you are no doubt aware, it doesn’t go away because you don’t want to look at it ).

(courtesy of Word a Day) "The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873)

"It stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there's someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." Ayn Rand, from the titled essay in For the New Intellectual , as excerpted from The Fountainhead .

I'm often struck by sudden and random connections between things I see and things I've seen somewhere before (even without wonky eyes ). This is especially true when I look at photographs then images from art and other visual media come screaming out at me. I tried to find some actual examples of pictures that suddenly reminded me of something else I’ve seen. Here are a few, all of which are also connected to the ocean by mere coincidence. The Gorton's Fisherman The Oyster Gatherers Boats at bay Though sometimes amusing (or disturbing), these correlations of visual perceptions require little more than involuntary mental integration and are basically arbitrary. Art , however, is not a mere connection to reality, but rather a stylized representation of reality exhibiting the artist's values: an aesthetic abstraction . For your viewing pleasure, here is a painting by Andre Derain, exhibiting his representation of "Fishing Boats, Collioure", 1905. (By the way, th...

There are five children in my daughter's swim class. On the first day, when there were only three children, the instructor really impressed me with his thoughtful, individual attention and judicious, appropriate use of each of the children's names. On the second day a new boy, Lewis, joined the group and I began to hear his name and the other boy's name, but the two girls had suddenly become "the girls". On the third day, a third boy, Kevin, joined the class. This not only solidified the girls' collective appellation of "the girls", but I began to hear "Kevin", "the boys", and "the girls". Does this instructor's ability to differentiate names stop at the number 3? Is 4 his " crow busting " number? Shoud I be concerned that he is in charge of the safety and well-being of my quiet, nascent swimmer? The instructor's name? I think it's...The Professor.

Despite my constant behind the scenes kvetching, I managed to not only attend live, but also to stay live (as in awake!) throughout last night’s OPAR discussion group. (I do concede that Sunday night at 9:30 is very late for my brain to work well as opposed to my last comments on the matter, and that I have either missed, or slept through the last 3 discussions). Last night the members of the group (who actually spoke) discussed the second to last part of Chapter 1, subtitled The Metaphysically Given as Absolute. First, I understood the metaphysically given as absolute. Facts of reality exist, are necessary and non-contradictory. It is what it is. This makes perfect sense to me. What makes less sense to me is that these given facts are put in opposition with man-made facts. While I understand that man-made facts originate with the choice of man and are therefore not metaphysically given, I don’t understand ….wait a minute. I think I’m onto something! All facts created by human choice...

I found Greg Perkins’ post on NoodleFood this morning very enlightening. It comes at a time when I am realizing just how incredibly important it is to stand for something, rather the absence of something. I’ve never felt the need to stand up and shout, “I’m an atheist”, but in the last few years, I haven’t been shy about sharing this information when religious views are being discussed. What this post, and life in general, keeps reminding me is that I need to stand for something, not against something. While I attempt to better my “objective philosophical perspective” as referred to by Perkins, I must remember that reason, rationality, and adherence to the facts of reality are all positive and easily understandable ways to describe my approach to life.

I have had nothing to say lately, but this: I am very excited to be attending the Objectivist Seminar on Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand starting on Sunday. Not only am I excited about finally reading OPAR and having a good shot at understanding it, but the seminar is taking place at a generally convenient time for me so I can participate live. Yippee! Sometimes, it's the little things in life. That, and in preparation for a 5K run in June, I ran 1.5 miles tonight and frankly, I'm afraid I can't get up from my computer desk and I may have developed asthma. These two things are telling me - "it's about time - you are definitely not getting any younger". I know a 5K is nothing for runners, but it's something for us non-runners.