I agree. Great book. But don't tell K that I agreed. LOL

Thanks for your kind works K. I am equally happy to be a part of this site with people like you. We all benefit. :) I wish I had more time to spend on it but been too busy lately. Sort of a good problem. I do appreciate you reminding me to comment on this. I saw the post and did not have time and then forgot about it. You make many good posts but this one is right up there with one of your best.

we always enjoy your contributions, way

Sad she is not here to actually see how her brilliance has helped to shape so many of our lives paths! ...to see the future so well and capture it with such clarity, before her contemporaries even knew there was a problem on the horizon. I have not listened to the WP speech, thanks for the recommendation!

well, handyman, you are walking the walk. It was brilliant to tag onto the movies to get others to consider joining a group. Consider adding to your group by suggesting a meet-up in here. If you click on "members" and put in a mile radius, it gives you an option to suggest a meet-up. that will send an email to every gulcher within the range you choose. I wish I could join you:)!

The ARI seems to be doing a bang up job with their free books to teachers that will include in classwork. They also do a lot of lectures. The trilogy had to be helpful, after that, we can continue to spread the word to our networks. It is not going to happen on its own or it would have become a reality in 1957.

Kira is a big girl now. More like a beautiful young lady. My advice: Give her the am. if she insists, but reserve the pm. for yourselves. some time alone relaxing on the beach or whatever helps you wind down followed by dinner at your favorite restaurant or some place new you have always wanted to go to and then a show or movie before returning to some place comfortable for nightcaps... a hotel room or home if that is soothing.
Have fun and no yelling! :)
Best wishes,
O.A.
P.S. Make sure you watch the sunset and share the beauty of it all together.

Coaldigger, great observation. What can be done to facilitate more "accidents?"

khalling, how the Atlas Shrugged movie influenced reading Rand is a great topic. The following is an account of how it inspired some developments in western North Carolina. I hope this isn’t too long for this forum.

My acquaintance with Ayn Rand’s work began long before the movie hit the screens. I first read Atlas Shrugged in the 1960’s and immediately took out a subscription to The Objectivist and began reading her other works shortly thereafter. For several years in the 1970’s I participated in a Pittsburgh-area Objectivist group led by Fred Seddon and Herb Heller. Even though I’ve considered myself an Objectivist most of my adult life, it wasn’t until leaving the corporate world and a demanding career that I treated myself to reading further with the books of Peikoff (Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand), Smith (Viable Values and Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics) and many others. These works served to solidify in my mind that Objectivism indeed offers a constructive, uplifting, insightful, life-affirming outlook unmatched by other philosophies I have encountered.

Anticipating retirement and after moving to a small town in western North Carolina, I found myself longing for the intellectual stimulation and companionship that the Pittsburgh group offered. Not unexpectedly, relatively small towns like Hendersonville and Asheville had no such groups up and going. In fact, for a few years I thought maybe I was the only Objectivist in all of western NC. We are in the midst of the Bible Belt, after all.

In 2010, upon learning that Atlas Shrugged the movie might finally become a reality, I thought maybe its release would bring a few other well-hidden Objectivists out of the woodwork or sufficiently raise the interest of others so that a local Objectivist group might attract a few people and gain some traction. So, I set up an informal group named Western North Carolina Objectivists (WNCO), advertised it on-screen at a small, one-screen local theater for the month preceding the movie’s release. That ad garnered a couple of interested parties as did some other out-reach efforts. We advertised a private showing of AS, Part 1 with a discussion to follow. That showing attracted about 25 attendees, many of whom are still active with WNCO. Our fist series of meetings were book club-style discussions featuring Atlas Shrugged (of course). Over the years we have been meeting monthly with anywhere from just a few to around 20 attendees. Not bad for a little town I fondly refer to as Hooterville.

A couple of years ago another group started up in Asheville headed by Dennis Desimone who last year presented a sold-out extension course at UNC Asheville called, “Ayn Rand: Her Life and Her Philosophy.” Dennis has done a fantastic job of introducing Objectivism to newcomers to Rand and providing a rallying point for others in the Asheville area.

glad you are here and listening in!

Wow. There are some great stories here but it seems almost everyone came upon Rand by accident. No wonder there are so many that are unenlightened,

minniepuck is gold

conversations ahead!

wow. db and I raise voices daily. the neighbors probably worry and I have to say it's over physics, philosophy, science, characters...lol I am a thrower, but so far they've been fluffy pillows. 30 years this June. milestone. I'd like to do something romantic, but Kira always insists (since a small child) to be in on the anniversary

K I read your threads here and feel your more advanced than I in relation to objectivism and am trying to catch up.

My goal is pure selfish, my betterment. If along the way If I can help others even better that is why I joined this group to help and be helped in our quest of knowledge about objectivism. There are many here I have learned from you and dbhalling are at the top of the list in favorite threads to read and ponder. So please help keep these thought provoking discussion going. I wish I had more time to spend here to learn and contribute more maybe in the future. My days are full caring for my cows calves, gardening for my survival for the next winter. My life is not hard for me but full and productive so here is where I escape for intellectual nourishment. So thanks to you and all here.

and we got OA. our Fridays have never been the same since :)

Hello NMA,
You are always such a wonderful supportive spirit. I will try to get to those few remaining Rand treasures. I like to think my bride and I are both very fortunate. We have been together now for about 34+? years with only a handful of disagreements that even rose to the point of raised voices, then sanity quickly returned and one realizes what is truly important and how insignificant the little things are. Don't sweat the small stuff and remember it is almost always small stuff.
Thank you for all of your support,
Your friend,
O.A.

Hello LS,
Back here in Mi. the fresh air is finally back to a pleasant temperature. The fruit trees in my yard are blossoming and the lilacs are in bloom. Your comments are like that breath of fresh air.
I also intend to move from Mi. as soon as possible, but I too know in some ways it will always seem like home. My mother is living in Florida and tells me all the time how much she misses the Mi. summers. Winters, not so much! It is my intention to join her there and assist her in her remaining years. She is the only parent still living between myself and my wife. We share her love. I hope she lives a long healthy life so I will be there in time. Many years back I loaned her my copy of AS. She read it and approved. She is more of an objectivist than she knows, but philosophy is not a particular interest to her. She is more interested in less substantive entertainment and John Grisham type novels.

Regards,
O.A.

school is completely different now.

hope you enjoy it!

on youtube, you can download the audiobook in 4 parts-great to listen to while in traffic :)

We (my wife Dianne and I) look forward to meeting you and Dale at the Summit :-)

As far as teaching, I'm still learning.

very true

Yes it is

I have been looking at a possible connection between quantum entanglement and the observer effect. The idea that the act of observing has an effect on the thing being observed suggests a link between these to entities. This intangible link is similar in some ways to the connection between entangled quantum states. One of the critical components of objective reasoning is causality and this "Spook action at a distance", as Einstein called it, seems to threaten causality. That is a serious problem.