A Fool and Her Money Are Soon Parted

As much as I know about the rise of religion in America, the idea that tithing is a subject of public discussion in a well-respected national newspaper still floors me:

God Is So Reasonable, Only Asking For 10%
November 28, 2007; Page A21

We encourage tithing at our church, not as a legalism, but as a means of grace. Indeed, not just tithing, but what our pastor terms "hilarious generosity," to the church, to the poor, to worthy God-centered causes ("The Backlash Against Tithing," Weekend Journal, Nov. 23). Why? First, God is worthy of our best. Giving is an act of worship that, at its best, reflects a genuine response to God's many gifts to us, including the gift of his Son. Perhaps the proper question to ask isn't "how much of my income do I need to give to God?" but "of all God has entrusted to me, how much can I justify spending on myself?" Second, the needs are great. It doesn't take much analysis to notice that small shifts in our own consumption can make a huge difference in the lives of many who are in need. Finally, giving, with tithing as a discipline, helps us unhook from the grasp of our materialistic culture. Give until it hurts? No, give until it helps! God's grace, our gratitude, generous giving: a recipe for a life of great freedom and joy.

Margaret L. McKinley
Elder
Narberth Presbyterian Church

Despite those stellar arguments, I must wonder: Why does an omnipotent God need my money? Is he somehow lacking in resources?

(Via Kelly McNulty Bartle on FRODO)

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Wine Tasting

Paul and I went to yet another delicious wine dinner at Il Fornaio about two weeks ago. While I didn't particularly like any of the five wines served with each course, I particularly enjoyed the pairing of the wines with the food. Perhaps I've developing something of a palate. (I only really like Riesling and Guwerztraminer, I must admit.)

Apparently, however, the palates of wine experts aren't all that they're cracked up to be:

In 2001, Frederic Brochet, of the University of Bordeaux, conducted two separate and very mischievous experiments. In the first test, Brochet invited 57 wine experts and asked them to give their impressions of what looked like two glasses of red and white wine. The wines were actually the same white wine, one of which had been tinted red with food coloring. But that didn't stop the experts from describing the "red" wine in language typically used to describe red wines. One expert praised its "jamminess," while another enjoyed its "crushed red fruit." Not a single one noticed it was actually a white wine.

The second test Brochet conducted was even more damning. He took a middling Bordeaux and served it in two different bottles. One bottle was a fancy grand-cru. The other bottle was an ordinary vin du table. Despite the fact that they were actually being served the exact same wine, the experts gave the differently labeled bottles nearly opposite ratings. The grand cru was "agreeable, woody, complex, balanced and rounded," while the vin du table was "weak, short, light, flat and faulty". Forty experts said the wine with the fancy label was worth drinking, while only 12 said the cheap wine was.

That's ... um ... not impressive.

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ARI’s Growing Impact

Yaron Brook, President and Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute, sent out this heartening bit of news today. I'm reposting it with permission:

Dear ARI Contributor:

I have outstanding news that I wanted to make you aware of as soon as possible.

As you may already know, Tom Bowden's op-ed, "Deep-Six the Law of the Sea," appeared in the November 20 edition of "The Wall Street Journal."

The impact of that op-ed has been extremly encouraging. Both Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Sen. John Kyl of Arizona have referenced Tom's article; see, for example:

http://www.jiminhofe.com/News/Read.aspx?guid=c11eaa4c-5d9e-4cfb-9a0f-1c6132903467


This is a major milestone for the Institute--with not only our views making the editorial pages of one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers, but for that editorial being cited approvingly by two prominent U.S. Senators.

I believe that this is clear evidence of the extraordinary potential that we now have to make an impact on policy issues.

Who would have thought, five or ten years ago, that something like this would have been possible?

Our ability to continue to produce articles such as Tom Bowden's--and to get them published in the nation's leading newspapers, where they come to the attention of key policymakers--is directly related to the support we receive from donors such as you.

Likewise, your continued backing of our media and advocacy efforts is vital to our success; so I hope you will consider a special contribution to ARI to allow us to keep this momentum going; you can do so online at:

http://www.aynrand.org/contribute

Thank you again for your support of our efforts!

Best,

Yaron Brook
President and Executive Director
The Ayn Rand Institute

Fantastic!

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Honesty

Objectivists understand that honesty is the refusal to fake reality and that dishonesty puts one at war with reality.

However, if you lie to your boss and tell him that you can't come to work because of a "family emergency" but are really going to a Halloween party, it's probably not a good idea to post a picture of yourself in an embarrassing costume on Facebook.com where everyone in the world (including your boss) can see it:

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Who Has The Oil?

This map shows the countries of the world, with the area in proportion to their known oil reserves. (Click on the map to enlarge it.)



(Via BBspot.)

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Stewardship

Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is probably the most prominent political advocate of Christian environmentalism today. He'll be joined by more people in short order, however -- particularly as younger Christian fundamentalists raised on the environmentalist propaganda taught in schools rise to power and influence.

Huckabee is interviewed on environmental and energy issues in Salon: Huckabee: God wants us to fight global warming. Here's the introduction:

"The first thing I will do as president is send Congress my comprehensive plan for energy independence," [Huckabee] proclaims on his Web site. "We will achieve energy independence by the end of my second term." The goal may sound admirable, but even if it's achievable -- and many experts doubt that it is -- Huckabee's plan for getting there is light on specifics. Rather than spell out what steps he would take, he talks of creating a market environment that encourages innovation, and he praises just about every energy source you can think of -- nuclear, "clean coal," wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass, biodiesel, corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other untapped domestic areas, and, yes, conservation too.

A conservative Republican and devout Christian, Huckabee believes he has a biblical responsibility to protect God's planet from climate change, even though he's not convinced that climate change is largely human-caused. But mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions make him squeamish.

Here's the only philosophic exchange in the ensuing interview:

What makes you the strongest Republican candidate on the issues of energy and the environment?

For one thing, I'm one of the few people who's actually talked about the fact that as Republicans we have done a lousy job of presenting the case for conservation. We ought to be the leaders, but unfortunately we've been the last people speaking out on conservation.

Not only as a Republican, but as a Christian it's important to me to say to my fellow believers, "Look, if anybody ought to be leading on this issue, it ought to be us." We can't justify destroying a planet that doesn't belong to us, and if we believe that God did create this world for our pleasure and wants us to enjoy it, then all the more reason that we should take care of it.

Christian "stewardship" environmentalism seems particularly dangerous to me. The reason isn't just that Republicans are adopting bad Democratic policies. They've done that so often, including on environmentalism, that another instance hardly newsworthy.

My major concern lies in the philosophic differences between Christian environmentalism and leftist environmentalism. Leftist environmentalism is nihilistic in its essence: it's hatred and destruction of humanity for its own sake. While its intellectual leaders are often genuine nihilists, its mass appeal largely depends on the wish of preserving nature for ultimately human ends. That's misguided in various ways, but it's not wholly philosophically corrupt.

In contrast, Christan environmentalism is not based on nihilistic hatred of humanity. Instead, it envisions humans as the exalted steward of God's creation. That difference could give it tremendous staying power and mass appeal, even in its most pure form. That's because it appeals to positive values, however mangled by supernaturalism. In the classification scheme of Leonard Peikoff's DIM Hypothesis, Christian environmentalism seems to be a form of "Misintegration" rather than "Disintegration." That's a significant shift.

Of course, that difference won't make this new form environmentalism kindler or gentler in practice. Whether of a supernatural or nihilistic variety, environmentalism will require the sacrifice of actual human values and human lives.

That doesn't bode well for those of us who value human life.

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Procrastination Flow Chart

Now that the holiday is nearly over, I recommend studying this Procrastination Flow Chart to make sure that you do as little work as possible on Monday.

To make it fully accurate for myself, I'd need loops for "discuss plans for the day with the dog," "rub deliciously fluffy kitty belly," and "blog about funny procrastination flow chart" though.

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Humans Are Destroying the Entire Universe

A pair of American physicists claim that human astronomical activity may have shortened the lifetime of the entire universe. This is based on a combination of arguments from quantum theory (e.g., Schrodinger's cat) and cosmology (dark energy). Here are some excerpts from the article:

Mankind 'shortening the universe's life'

...The startling claim is made by a pair of American cosmologists investigating the consequences for the cosmos of quantum theory, the most successful theory we have. Over the past few years, cosmologists have taken this powerful theory of what happens at the level of subatomic particles and tried to extend it to understand the universe, since it began in the subatomic realm during the Big Bang.

... [T]he cosmologists claim that astronomers may have accidentally nudged the universe closer to its death by observing dark energy, a mysterious anti gravity force which is thought to be speeding up the expansion of the cosmos.

The damaging allegations are made by Profs Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and James Dent of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, who suggest that by making this observation in 1998 we may have caused the cosmos to revert to an earlier state when it was more likely to end.

... "The intriguing question is this," Prof Krauss told the Telegraph. "If we attempt to apply quantum mechanics to the universe as a whole, and if our present state is unstable, then what sets the clock that governs decay? Once we determine our current state by observations, have we reset the clock? If so, as incredible as it may seem, our detection of dark energy may have reduced the life expectancy of our universe."

Prof Krauss says that the measurement of the light from supernovae in 1998, which provided evidence of dark energy, may have reset the decay of the void to zero - back to a point when the likelihood of its surviving was falling rapidly. "In short, we may have snatched away the possibility of long-term survival for our universe and made it more likely it will decay," says Prof Krauss.

If this is the logical conclusion of integrating the current Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics with contemporary cosmology, then physicists really need to re-examine the philosophical foundations of their science.

As yet, there have been no calls from radical environmentalists for humans to stop all scientific activity in order to save the entire universe.

But it may not be too long before some people propose in all seriousness what Richard Watts suggested as a joke, namely that "we should sacrifice for the pristine vacuum of empty space"...

Update: Richard Watts notes, "I did mean that as sarcasm toward the environmentalists. But I didn't mean it as my suggestion for a course of action, not even jokingly."

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Time Lapse Lambeau

Time Lapse Lambeau:

Using time-lapse photography, Journal Sentinel photographer Tom Lynn offers a day in the life of a game at Lambeau Field. Tom began by stationing a Canon EOS Mark II digital camera, mounted with a 16mm lens, atop the southwest corner of the stadium, encapsulating the entire bowl of the stadium with the field at its core. Powered by an external battery pack, the camera automatically fired every 20 seconds, shooting from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., capturing the stadium as it filled with fans, as the game unfolded, and as the stadium emptied. The entire process captured 1,194 total images, which have been compressed into this two-minute video.

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Turkey Urban Legend

In honor of Thanksgiving, here is a classic urban legend about turkey preparation. (The original version takes place at Christmas, but it is equally well suited for Thanksgiving):

Last year, my mom went to my sister's house for the traditional holiday feast. Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick.

She told my sister that she needed something from the store and asked if my sister wouldn't mind going out to get it.

When my sister left the house, my mom took the turkey out of the oven, removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, and inserted it into the turkey, then re-stuffed the turkey.

She then placed the bird(s) back into the oven.

When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird.

With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, "Barbara, you've cooked a pregnant bird!"

At the reality of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry hysterically. It took the entire family almost two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs!

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Oh Dear God

I just graded a philosophy paper in which I had to write "not a sentence" in the margin more than once. I circled about 15 misspelled words -- and I probably only caught about half of them. The philosophic analysis was of the same quality.

I'd like to go bang my head against the wall for a few hours. That might dull the pain.

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Helpful Advice for Poor Criminals

While I suspect that none of you will need this advice from your public defender, you'll probably get a few good chuckles out of it. Just ignore the last line. (Via The Volokh Conspiracy.)

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Jack Saves the World with AOL 3.0

Heh: 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot. (Via Guy Adamson)

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Theory of Everything?

Physicist/surfer Garrett Lisi may have come up with a physics theory that unites all the fundamental particles and forces of nature, including gravity, without relying on dubious multidimensional string theory. According to this related article:

...[H]is proposal is remarkable because, by the arcane standards of particle physics, it does not require highly complex mathematics.

Even better, it does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space, when some rival theories need ten or even more spatial dimensions and other bizarre concepts.

In other words, it doesn't require invoking arbitrary new dimensions for which we have no evidence. Plus it makes testable predictions that are at variance with the so-called Standard Model. The New Scientist article states that his theory predicts:

...[M]ore than 20 new particles not envisaged by the standard model. Lisi is now calculating the masses that these particles should have, in the hope that they may be spotted when the Large Hadron Collider - being built at CERN, near Geneva in Switzerland - starts up next year.

"This is an all-or-nothing kind of theory - it's either going to be exactly right, or spectacularly wrong," says Lisi. "I'm the first to admit this is a long shot. But it ain't over till the LHC sings."

David Harriman mentioned in his lecture to our Front Range Objectivism group last year that any physicist who wants to challenge the dominance of string theory will have a very hard time, since nearly all the grant funding in academia for such foundational issues is controlled by people who believe in string theory. It seems that this is borne out by Lisi's experience, as reported by New Scientist:

Most attempts to bring gravity into the picture have been based on string theory, which proposes that particles are ultimately composed of minuscule strings. Lisi has never been a fan of string theory and says that it's because of pressure to step into line that he abandoned academia after his PhD. "I've never been much of a follower, so I walked off to search for my own theory," he says. Last year, he won a research grant from the charitably funded Foundational Questions Institute to pursue his ideas.

For those who are interested in the details of his theory, here's the link to his paper (click on "PDF" on the upper right). The abstract reads as follows:

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

A. Garrett Lisi (Submitted on 6 Nov 2007)

Abstract: All fields of the standard model and gravity are unified as an E8 principal bundle connection. A non-compact real form of the E8 Lie algebra has G2 and F4 subalgebras which break down to strong su(3), electroweak su(2) x u(1), gravitational so(3,1), the frame-Higgs, and three generations of fermions related by triality. The interactions and dynamics of these 1-form and Grassmann valued parts of an E8 superconnection are described by the curvature and action over a four dimensional base manifold.

Those who want a semi-technical explanation (with video) can find one here. My own mathematics background is not strong enough to make an assessment of the merits of his theory. Nor do I know any more about the Foundational Questions Institute besides what's on their webpage. But for what it's worth, I did meet Garrett Lisi at a dinner party several years ago as a friend-of-a-friend, back when Diana and I lived in San Diego and he was still a graduate student in physics at UCSD. At the time, he struck me as an extremely intelligent man, so he would be a plausible candidate for someone who could have come up with a revolutionary new theory in physics.

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More Christian Scandals

Heh: Sex scandal hits Atlanta-area megachurch: "The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her." Oh, and then he lied about it under oath.

I'm amused.

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Digital Voice Recorder

I'm planning to buy a new digital voice recorder sometime before the spring semester begins. I've been recording my classes this semester, then posting them on the course web site. That way, students who miss class for whatever reason can listen to them if they so choose. Otherwise, they might miss something critical for the final exam. However, since I also have an attendance policy, students can't simply rely on the recordings.

I'm pleased with my experiment in recording classes this semester, so I want to continue it next semester. However, I want to do it with a new digital voice recorder. My old Sony works reasonably well, although I'd like to buy a model with a better capacity to pick up what students say in class -- or maybe I'll get a microphone too. Even more importantly, I'd like a model that can be used with my Mac. The Sony files and software can only be used on a PC, so it's something of a hassle to prepare the files for posting. I often do need to trim the tail of the file, in case I forget to stop my recorder as soon as class officially ends, as I don't want my after-class chats with students to be posted for all to hear. So I need Mac-compatible editing software, not just Mac-compatible files.

I've heard good things about the Olympus Digital Voice Recorders, but the web site doesn't permit any side-by-side comparison of features, including whether the files and software are Mac-compatible. When I called their customer service number, I was told by some guy who sounded stoned that I'd have to click through on each recorder, then click on specifications, in order to find out that basic information. As as I said before I hung up in disgust: "Yeah, right." Seriously, that's pathetic.

So, can anyone recommend a digital recorder that...

(1) records high quality sound
(2) costs less than $100
(3) permits files to be loaded and edited on a Mac
(4) records files in MP3 format -- or permits easy conversion to MP3

Or better yet, does anyone have any recommendations for a web site that will allow me to compare the features of digital voice recorders? Epinions is basically useless, since it doesn't allow me to show only Mac-compatible recorders.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Update: Thanks for all the suggestions! I settled on a new model from Olympus, the WS-210. It promises to suit all my needs. It records in WMA format, so I'll have to convert it, but that should be better than my current rigmarole with my Sony DVR.

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Creationists: Pot, Kettle, Black

Here's a recent update on the intelligent design debate:

Evolution wars take a bizarre twist

In a bizarre twist to the evolution wars, supporters of intelligent design are accusing the producers of a TV science documentary series of bringing religion into US classrooms. The Discovery Institute, based in Seattle, Washington, alleges that teaching materials accompanying Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, broadcast on 13 November, encourage unconstitutional teaching practices.

The teaching package states: "Q: Can you accept evolution and still believe in religion? A: Yes. The common view that evolution is inherently anti-religious is simply false." According to Casey Luskin, an attorney with the Discovery Institute, this answer favours one religious viewpoint, arguably violating the US constitution. "We're afraid that teachers might get sued," he says.

A lawyer for WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, which produces the show, says the package is covered by the right to free speech. He declined to comment on the claim that teachers risked lawsuits.

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My Latest Jane Austen Bender

In a few weeks, Paul and I will attend a stage production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. That prospect provided me with an excellent excuse to enjoy the distinctive pleasure of re-reading the book -- or rather, of re-listening to Emilia Fox's very good reading of the book. (That's available on Audible.com.) I just finished listening last night: it was a fantastic delight.

I'm now in such a mood for more of Elizabeth and Darcy that I'm going to watch the beyond stellar A&E miniseries adaptation. I've seen that more times than I can recount, but I never grow tired of it.

After that, I probably won't be able to resist indulging in Persuasion and perhaps even Sense and Sensibility. In case you've not heard of it, the movie of Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds is excellent.

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Telemarketing Prank

If I thought I could effectively play the role of the cop -- and if I weren't on the "Do Not Call" list -- I would totally play this prank on telemarketers. It's the absolute best I've ever heard:



Then again, maybe impersonating a police officer wouldn't be smiled on by the actual police.

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Cartoon Du Jour

Ah yes, that blissful convergence of puppet and radiologist for humorous effect!

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JC Penny Fashions Circa 1977

Paul and I were thinking of getting matching bathing suits and terrycloth jumpsuits for next summer's OCON in Newport Beach -- until we realized that we'd probably just get our asses kicked for our trouble.

Seriously, you've just got to click on that link. It's too funny. (Via Monica.)

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Praying for Rain

Jesus Freakin' Christ. How convenient of the governor to have prayed for rain the day before it was forecast! That was very good planning on his part!

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Not Yet Dead

Intelligent Design wasn't killed by the Dover court decision, but its advocates do seem to be changing tactics according to this (two-page) Ars Technica article:

The Dover trial was the latest in a long line of court cases involving the teaching of evolution, but it was exceptional in that it was the first case that tested the legality of teaching Intelligent Design in a science class. The decision at Dover determined that ID was unscientific and fundamentally religious. Tonight, the PBS show NOVA will will take a look at the trial in a show that includes dramatized reenactments of courtroom scenes.

Not surprisingly, the organized ID movement has not been pleased with the Dover decision and has disparaged it at every opportunity (they're not fond of the NOVA special, either). Regardless of their opinion, however, the court's ruling was decisive, and no court cases regarding ID have made it to the trial stage since; Dover has become an effective threat to both hasten legal settlements and changes of policy.

That's not to say that the Discovery Institute and other ID proponents have packed up and called it a day; instead, they seem to simply be changing tactics. Recent developments indicate that the next wave of anti-evolution agitation will take a two-pronged approach. The first will be to try to foster doubt regarding evolution during high school education, while the second aims to explicitly carve a space for ID proponents at the college level by pressuring for their inclusion as a form of academic freedom. We'll take a brief look at both of these developments.

The article links to a speech by Don McLeroy, an advocate of Intelligent Design and the chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. Here's a small tidbit:

But what is the main target of intelligent design? What's the main target? Is it the chemical origin of life? Research? Well, it's not, certainly, origin of life spontaneously arose chemically is not supported by the Bible. It's not supported by the evidence, so maybe that is the target. But, in fact, it's the lack of evidence of chemical origin of life and the incredible complexity of life itself that played the major role in Antony Flew, that famous British philosopher that just said that he had to abandon his atheism. So it's very powerful, the origin of life, but that is not the main target of the intelligent design movement. Oh, it's neo-Darwinism. Neo-Darwinism is another description term for just evolution, common descent that talks about genetic variability so it gets it more precise. And is that the target? It's not supported by evidence, it's not Biblical, so that must be the target of intelligent design, but really it's not the main target either.

Actually, in intelligent design we are focused on a on a bigger target, and in the words of Phillip Johnson "the target is metaphysical naturalism, materialism or just plain old naturalism. The idea that nature is all there is." Modern science today is totally based on naturalism, and all of intelligent design's arguments against evolution and chemical origin of life it is the naturalistic base that is the target. And this is a quote from Phillip Johnson: "The important aspect of Darwinian evolution is it's naturalistic claim that life is the result of purposeless, unintelligent material causes. When Darwinian evolution and intelligent design stand in a complete antithesis. Intelligent design requires the designing influence to account for the complexity of life where Darwinian theory of common descent claims that life spontaneously arose."

Now I would like to talk a little bit about the big tent. Why is intelligent design the big tent? It's because we're all lined up against the fact that naturalism, that nature is all there is. Whether you're a progressive creationist, recent creationist, young earth, old earth, it's all in the tent of intelligent design.

In other words, the target of Intelligent Design is not just evolution, but the very metaphysics that makes science and technology possible -- not to mention respect for rights and secular government.

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Ari Armstrong on Libertarianism

Ari Armstrong posted some interesting thoughts on the contribution of his own rationalistic understanding of ideas to his prior involvement with libertarianism. It's a nice case study in how rationalism distorts rational thought.

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Executive Suite

Hooray! Executive Suite (1954) is now available on DVD. It's one of my favorite movies about the drama of business.

I've not yet read the book by Cameron Hawley on which it is based, but I thoroughly enjoyed his book Cash McCall. That book is not only very pro-business, but it also deals with the theme of independent judgment.

Cash McCall was also made into a movie in 1960. It's good, but not nearly as good as the book or the movie Executive Suite. It's only available on VHS, unfortunately.

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False Friends Update

I've finally updated my web page on the false friends of Objectivism. Until now, it didn't contain my last ten or so posts. (Those are at the near-bottom of the page.)

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Craig Biddle in Michigan

Before Craig Biddle visits Colorado to speak this Thursday and Friday, he'll be speaking in Michigan:

"Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand's Morality of Egoism"

Who: Craig Biddle, editor and publisher of The Objective Standard

What: A talk on the new morality of rational egoism set forth in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

When: Wednesday, November 14 at 7:30 pm

Where: University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor, Angell Hall Auditorium A

The public and media are invited. Admission is FREE.

Summary: Ayn Rand's egoism is a system of observation-based principles regarding the requirements of human life, personal happiness, social harmony, and political freedom. In this talk, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Atlas Shrugged, Craig Biddle presents the basic principles of rational egoism, contrasts them with the alternatives, and shows why everyone who wants to live happily and freely needs to understand and embrace them.

Presented by the University of Michigan Students of Objectivism.

As usual, I recommend Craig's lectures.

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Death by Godly Politics

Paul sent me this horrifying story of a woman allowed to die of a totally non-viable ectopic pregnancy due to Nigaragua's strict anti-abortion law. Presumably, the doctors didn't dare to save her life for fear of prosecution.

Two weeks after Olga Reyes danced at her wedding, her bloated and disfigured body was laid to rest in an open coffin -- the victim, her husband and some experts say, of Nicaragua's new no-exceptions ban on abortion.

Reyes, a 22-year-old law student, suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The fetus develops outside the uterus, cannot survive and causes bleeding that endangers the mother. But doctors seemed afraid to treat her because of the anti-abortion law, said husband Agustin Perez. By the time they took action, it was too late.

Nicaragua last year became one of 35 countries that ban all abortions, even to save the life of the mother, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The ban has been strictly followed, leaving the country torn between a strong tradition of women's rights and a growing religious conservatism. Abortion rights groups have stormed Congress in recent weeks demanding change, but President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist revolutionary and a Roman Catholic, has refused to oppose the church-supported ban.

Evangelical groups and the church say abortion is never needed now because medical advances solve the complications that might otherwise put a pregnant mother's life at risk.

But at least three women have died because of the ban, and another 12 reported cases will be examined, said gynecologist and university researcher Eliette Valladares, who is working with the Pan American Health Organization to analyze deaths of pregnant women recorded by Nicaragua's Health Ministry.

When I researched this issue about a year ago, polls showed that about 10 to 12 percent of Americans support a similar ban on abortion regardless of threat to the life of the mother. That's frightening.

Also, at the bottom of the article, you'll find a map of the world highlighting the countries with a total ban on abortion.

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Tonight: First Session of The Objectivism Seminar

Just a quick reminder that tonight is the first real session of The Objectivism Seminar!

We'll be gathering in the online conference call at 8:00pm Mountain to jump into Tara Smith's excellent Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics, Chapter 1, the introduction. Depending on how things go, we might even make it into the first meaty chapter of the book, Chapter 2 on the metaethics.

Rendezvous details will appear on the front page of www.ObjectivismSeminar.com just before meeting time. If you haven't signed up for the Seminar yet, the process is quick and painless -- you can read the announcement from last month, and the website will lead you through it.

Hope you can join in!

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Some Stumbles

Some fun recent stumbles:

A map of the world according to Americans

Tie your sneakers with style

A severed horse head is worth a thousand words

Fancy toilets from around the world

Witty insults and sayings

Fantastic trompe-l'oeil wall paintings

Short video of a cat running on water.... Move over, Jesus!

A smile-inducing video of a toddler laughing hysterically over ripping paper

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Onkar Ghate on CBS News

The only statement opposing the proposed moratorium on new fast food restaurants in Los Angeles in this CBS News segment was a single sentence by Onkar Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute. That's pathetic, but at least they aired that sentence!

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The Most Amazing Football Play Ever

Honestly, I can't believe that this last-minute play in a Division III football game was successful.



Count all the lateral throws, if you can.

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Craig Biddle Lectures in Boulder and Denver

Craig Biddle, the editor of The Objective Standard, will give two lectures in Colorado next week.

On Thursday November 15th at 6:30 pm, he'll speak on "Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand's Morality of Egoism" at the Wittemeyer Courtroom in the Wolf Law Building at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In this talk, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Atlas Shrugged, Craig Biddle presents the basic principles of rational egoism, contrasts them with the alternatives, and shows why everyone who wants to live happily and freely needs to understand and embrace rational egoism. This lecture is sponsored by the Boulder Objectivist Club.

On Friday evening, Craig Biddle will speak at a a FROST supper talk in Denver on "The Principle of Purpose in Nonfiction Writing."

Craig Biddle on "The Principle of Purpose in Nonfiction Writing"

Date: Friday, November 16, 2007

Time: 6:00 pm social hour, 7:00 pm dinner, 8:00 pm talk

Location: Arvada Center for the Arts, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada CO 80003

Cost: $55 for dinner and talk, $35 for students

RSVP: Please RSVP to Lin Zinser via e-mail (lin@zinser.com) or phone (303 431 2525) by November 13th.

Although not explicitly discussed in books or courses on writing, the principle of purpose properly dictates every aspect of the writing process. To write clearly, concisely, and convincingly, one must know, at every stage, what one is trying to accomplish and how it relates to the other parts of the broader project. From creating a laundry list of ideas to selecting a theme to writing an outline to concretizing an abstraction to structuring a paragraph to punctuating a sentence to editing a draft--the answer to the question "What is my purpose here?" properly determines how to proceed. Craig Biddle will discuss the omnipresence of this principle in regard to nonfiction writing and explain how understanding and applying it clarifies and simplifies the writing process. Whether you write or want to write articles, op-eds, letters to the editor, business letters, book or movie reviews, presentations, speeches, blog posts, or books--this discussion will help you either to improve your existing skills or to get started on the right track.

Craig Biddle is the editor and publisher of "The Objective Standard" and the author of "Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It." He is currently writing a book on the principles of rational thinking and the fallacies that are violations of those principles. In addition to writing, he lectures and teaches workshops on ethical and epistemological issues from an Objectivist perspective.

I plan to attend both lectures.

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Maggie Gallagher on Ayn Rand

Well-known conservative columnist Maggie Gallagher has a rather nice column on the 50th anniversary of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

The key to Ayn Rand is that she pictured America largely from early films from Hollywood. As a young girl growing up in the grim world of communist Russia, she saw America as we dreamed ourselves to be, and she longed her whole life with a child's intensity to make this vision real, to live in it. We respond to her novels because they offer us one deep strand of American self-identity -- as individualists, yes, but individualists who together dream big dreams, conquer wild frontiers, invent the future, remake our very selves.

She understood, the way so many pampered Hollywood artists don't, that much of the romance of America is in business -- in our dreams of making it, by making big new things, things no man has ever made before. Rand is virtually alone in seeing businessmen as fellow artists: makers, creators, inventors. In her novels, the greatness of the artist was matched by the greatness of the architect, the scientist, the entrepreneur and the railroad executive. The Homer of our era, she sang the song by which so many Americans live our lives.

Her rebuttal of the snide criticisms of conservative Terry Teachout is also quite delightful.

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Popcorn

This is just another high-speed video of a kernel of popcorn popping:

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Setting Deadlines

Software Nerd offers a good lesson on the meaning and importance of honesty in business. The nightmare scenario he so compellingly describes is exactly why I want to learn to set more realistic writing deadlines.

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Second Podcast

Dr Peikoff's second podcast is now available on his website.

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Rationalism

Rationalism made ridiculous:



(Via Richard Wills)

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Vote for Gus, Again!

If you voted early for Gus Van Horn, now it's time to vote often! You can vote once every 24 hours. Voting ends on November 8th.

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Boulder Philosophy Department’s Own Superman

Wow, I'm so impressed by this news about Jonathan Peeters. He's a fellow graduate student in philosophy at CU Boulder -- a specialist in early modern philosophy.

"Earlier today, 39,085 people ran in the New York City marathon. Our very own Jonathan Peeters finished in 48th place at a time of 2:34:12. He was the 16th best U.S. male finisher and bested the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, by approximately 12 minutes."

Awesome!

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The "192 Countries" Quiz

For all those who got 50/50 on the Name the States quiz, here's a more challenging one. Name as many of the 192 member countries of the UN in 10 minutes. As far as I know, there's no handy song to serve as a mnemonic. Click here to start the clock.

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Kids on Marriage

Funny, whether invented or not:

What exactly is marriage?

"Marriage is when you get to keep your girl and don't have to give her back to her parents." -- Eric, age 6

"When somebody's been dating for a while, the boy might propose to the girl. He says to her, 'I'll take you for a whole life, or at least until we have kids and get divorced, but you got to do one particular thing for me.' Then she says yes, but she's wondering what the thing is and whether it's naughty or not. She can't wait to find out." -- Anita, age 9

How did your mom and dad meet?

"They were at a dance party at a friend's house. Then they went for a drive, but their car broke down. It was a good thing, because it gave them a chance to find out about their values." -- Lottie, age 9

"My father was doing some strange chores for my mother. They won't tell me what kind." -- Jeremy, age 8

Is it better to be single or married?

"I don't know which is better, but I'll tell you one thing. I'm never going to have sex with my wife. I don't want to be all grossed out." -- Theodore, age 8

"You should ask the people who read Cosmopolitan." -- Kirsten, age 10

"It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need somebody to clean up after them." -- Anita, age 9

"It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble." -- Will, age 7

What is the right age to get married?

"Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then." -- Camille, age 10

"No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married." -- Freddie, age 6

"Eighty-four, because at that age, you don't have to work anymore, and you can spend all your time loving each other in your bedroom." -- Carolyn, age 8

"Once I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife." -- Bert, age 5

How can a stranger tell if two people are married?

"Married people usually look happy to talk to other people." -- Eddie, age 6

"You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids." -- Derrick, age 8

What do most people do on a date?

"Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough." -- Lynnette, age 8

"On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date." -- Martin, age 10

"Many daters just eat pork chops and french fries and talk about love." -- Craig, age 9

What would you do on a first date that was turning sour?

"I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns." -- Craig, age 9

When is it okay to kiss someone?

"When they're rich." -- Pam, age 7

"The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that." -- Curt, age 7

"The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do." -- Howard, age 8

"You should never kiss a girl unless you have enough bucks to buy her a ring and her own VCR, 'cause she'll want to have videos of the wedding." -- Allan, age 10

"Never kiss in front of other people. It's a big embarrassing thing if anybody sees you... If nobody sees you, I might be willing to try it with a handsome boy, but just for a few hours." -- Kally, age 9

How do you decide whom to marry?

"You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming." -- Alan, age 10

"No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with." -- Kirsten, age 10

"You flip a nickel, and heads means you stay with him and tails means you try the next one." -- Kelly, age 9

"My mother says to look for a man who is kind... That's what I'll do... I'll find somebody who's kinda tall and handsome." -- Carolyn, age 8

How would you make a marriage work?

"If you want to last with your man, you should wear a lot of sexy clothes, especially underwear that is red and maybe has a few diamonds on it." -- Lori, age 8

"Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck." -- Ricky, age 10

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The Six Most Terrifying Foods in the World

I used to go to Japan a lot for work, and would joke that half of the Japanese diet seemed to be based on a dare. My friends and coworkers there seemed to delight in sharing new, um, delicacies. I took it in good stride, though, and considered it a bonding thing. :^)

Unfortunately, so little of the American diet seems to be based on a dare that it was hard to repay the favor: the best I could do was "rocky mountain oysters" which are served annually at a rural festival in Eagle, a city just outside Boise. My guests just laughed at how pathetic a dare-food that is.

But it turns out they are comparative dare-food pikers, too. I'll never whine about Japanese dare-food again. This article on the Six Most Terrifying Foods in the World is incredible -- both for the horrors it describes, and for how hard it made me laugh.

(HT: W.M.)

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Vote for Gus!

Vote for Gus Van Horn in the 2007 Weblog Awards!

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John Lewis at Bowling Green

As many of you know, John Lewis has been working as a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University this academic year. I'm delighted to report that he's been given a new, permanent position as Senior Research Scholar in History and Classics."

Congratulations, John!

He also reports: I am progressing on my warfare book "Nothing Less than Victory"; a TOS article, "'Gifts from Heaven': The Meaning of the American Victory over Japan, 1945"; a paper for the Northest Political Science Association "Does Xenophon Have a Concept of Political Economy" (for their annual meeting in November); and plans for a book "Early Greek War Poetry and the Amorous Response."

Delightful!

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Exploit the Universe or Die!

Some Australian academicians have expressed concern that if humanity starts exploring outer space, we may take the wrong attitude towards the celestial environment:

Dr Toni Johnson-Woods says she and her colleagues found there is a prevailing belief that other planets and their natural resources are there simply to be exploited.

"The focus is on exploitation of the minerals. Basically, it's just Australia all over again," she said.

..."There's also an idea that there's nothing already on Mars, which I presume there isn't, in the same way that Australia had that terra nullius, like there's nothing in Australia, so, 'we're just going to go there, take what we need and leave'," she said.

Instead, the group urges that we practice "sustainability":

The other thing is that space is not an infinite resource. If we go to the Moon and litter the Moon and wreck it, there's not another one just down the road.

Even though space may not be infinite, it's pretty darned large. But the article does show the silliness of the view that there is a natural environment that has some sort of intrinsic value which must be preserved at the expense of human interests, even when there are no other valuers besides human beings.

As blogger JF Beck points out, the real (but unstated) message of the panel is "Humans are evil".

As an aside, when private commercial exploitation of the moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt becomes commercialy viable, it will raise some interesting questions about how best to implement property rights and rule of law in an area where currently no government claims any jurisdiction. I've always had a fondness for the fiercely independent asteroid miner "Belter" culture as portrayed in Larry Niven's science fiction novels, so I wouldn't mind seeing something like that come to pass.

And the Objective Standard will also have to update its t-shirts to read, "Exploit the Universe or Die".

(Via Rand Simberg.)

P.S.: Jim May points me to this story from the British press that expresses similar sentiments.

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