Our freedom and individuality has been the key to our greatness but unlike the people of colonial America, today, Americans are giving up their freedom and relinquishing their individuality to a controlling authority that they want to give greater control to.
Instead of demanding "no taxation without representation" we are accepting of the practice. (NJ Voices Public Blog, December 16, 2008.)
If you enjoy John's site, one way to encourage him is to make a donation via PayPal. It's money well spent and deeply appreciated.
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Become the Aggregator: One possible answer to the question to what role does the stand-alone blog live in the age of a million-and-one generalized and specialized participatory web experiences is as a personal aggregator that reflects back the other stuff one does on the web. Yes, I'll load all that stuff into FriendFeed, but that's not my "online presence" as we used to say back in the day. Everybody (or at least a lot of people) needs an URL -- and one without a ? in it. I want my tweets, and my photos, and my whatevers to show up on evhead.com (hosted by Blogger) in an attractive way. (Evhead.com, December 3, 2008.)
Conclusions People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon. (BMJ 2008;337:a2338, December 4, 2008.)
Twitter — which limits each text-only post to 140 characters — is to 2008 what the blogosphere was to 2004. You'll find Scoble, Calacanis, and most of their buddies from the golden age there. They claim it's because Twitter operates even faster than the blogosphere. And Twitter posts can be searched instantly, without waiting for Google to index them. (Wired, October 20, 2008.)
I’m an image man, and a trader. Anyone out there who can do the upgrade for me without losing what I’ve got, I propose a trade. You do the upgrade for me. I make a graphic or any other image of your desire for you. As long as my image doesn’t require creating a traditional drawing or painting in the traditional manner. I rarely take commissions on my traditional work, and besides it takes too long.
I know I have few viewers of my blog. Of these I ask to spread the word on my offer. (Illustrated Ideas, December 6, 2008.)
Illustrated Ideas
Introducing Brian Faulkner, Poet. - I’ve found a living poet who seems to possess an unlimited imagination. I find delight, inspiration and encouragement in his works. Find him at: Brian Faul...
9 months ago
The analysis indicates that the author of http://egoist.blogspot.com is of the type: ISTP - The Mechanics.
The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters. (www.Typealyzer.com)
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The weekend will not be all champagne and canapés for the Microsoft billionaire as he has been appointed as one of the ushers for the service which will begin at 2pm on Saturday.
With security tight, Gates, the happy couple and the other key figures in the ceremony were taken through their paces for the rehearsal on Friday afternoon.
All the details of the rehearsal were completed in time for the weekend's festivities to begin with a reception at Gothenburg's art museum on Friday evening. Gates arrived early and told the assembled media:
"It feels great to be here," on being asked what it was like to be in Sweden. ...
Simonyi and Swedish socialite Lisa Persdotter were engaged on 08/08/08 in the romantic setting of St.Tropez in the south of France.
Simonyi, likes Gates, is an active philanthropist and is known as something of a jetset billionaire.
His jetset lifestyle has not only been limited to the planet Earth and he caught the headlines last year when he spent 13 days in outer space on a trip that set him back a modest $25 million. He is preparing for his second trip into space, in 2009, that will make him the first tourist to make a second journey into the great beyond.
Charles Simonyi has been described by scientist Richard Dawkins as "a sort of combination of International Renaissance Man, Playboy of the Scientific World, Test Pilot of the Intellect, and Space-age Orbiter of the Mind as well as of the Planet." (The Local, November 22, 2008.)
Larry Genkin, the founder and editor of Blogger and Podcaster Magazine, is looking to help the long tail of bloggers turn their hobby into a lucrative job. He has started the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network, a consortium of bloggers and related companies looking to help bloggers of all sizes effectively monetize their sites without having to worry about having a relatively small audience. The site is currently open for signups, but won't go live until early next year.
At launch the BPMN is a rollup of companies including Genkin's magazine, Fuel My Blog (A bloggers' social network based in the UK), Podcast Pickle (a podcasters' social network), and SocialRank, a company similar to Sphere that monitors blogs for related and popular content.
Each of these companies will help promote the new network, and will also offer technology to help bloggers build out their site (for example, they'll be able to use SocialRank's technology). The BPMN will also try to partner with large media companies to help give blogs more exposure. To help each blog get started, the company has partnered with PR NewsWire, which will offer each blogger a promotion package Genkin says is worth $2000. (Washington Post / TechCrunch, October 28, 2008.)
I'm pleased to see Pageflakes responding so quickly, and I think the immediate response has really shocked them. Unfortunately, it also means that they really don't understand their audience at all, and several people have expressed concerns to me about the extent to which they can trust the company now (which is not at all!) It's very disappointing because this could have been so easily avoided, if they'd just talked to their users. However, it's another really interesting example of the way in which the power balance is flicking back and forth in a Web 2.0 environment; sometimes user protests work and sometimes they don't, but users are generally now very quick to voice their opinions. Moreover, since there are plenty of other options available for all of these resources it's tremendously easy for people to simply up and move on - perhaps we're all cyber-nomads now? It's also a useful point for end users to remember - these resources do require money, and it has to be found from somewhere! Advertising is certainly a good option, but it does need to be much more unobtrusive; Pageflakes got that wrong on so many levels! (Phil Bradley's weblog, November 22, 2008.)
The rest of the world may well have missed the unfolding of his tragedy. Behind it, however, is a bigger trend. Blogging has entered the mainstream, which—as with every new medium in history—looks to its pioneers suspiciously like death. To the earliest practitioners, over a decade ago, blogging was the regular posting of text updates, and later photos and videos, about themselves and their thoughts to a few friends and family members. Today lots of internet users do this, only they may not think of it as blogging. Instead, they update their profile pages on Facebook, MySpace or other social networks.
They may also “micro-blog” on services such as Twitter, which recreate the raw, immediate and intimate feel of early blogs. Twitter messages, usually sent from mobile phones, are fewer than 140 characters long and answer the question “What are you doing?” Tellingly, Evan Williams, the co-founder of Blogger—an early blogging service that is now owned by Google, the Wal-Mart of the internet—now runs Twitter, which he regards as the future.
As for traditional (if that is the word) blog pages, these tend increasingly to belong to conventional media organisations. Nearly every newspaper, radio and television channel now runs blogs and updates them faster than any individual blogger ever could. (The Economist, November 6, 2008.)
I will try to follow some kind of weekly schedule, but now and then I will take a break from my EGO blog, concentrating on other assignments, for example writing pieces for other sites and preparing interviews for my podcasting show. I want to get into the right flow and start to microblog on a regular basis. (EGO, November 11, 2008.)
It’s the Carnival of the Cats! It’s fun! It’s free! And it’s fur kitties only!
Welcome to Vienna, the famous city on the blue Danube. Originally we wanted to take you yet again to the always fun bearing Vienna Prater but with the recent scary news about Moki and the whole Cat Blogosphere purring and purraying for hims we decided to gather all kitties in the famous Cafe Halweka to continue those purring and positive thoughts. (The Catboys Realm, November 17, 2008.)
Washington, D.C.—Billionaire Mark Cuban is under investigation for “insider trading” by the SEC.
“This case is a travesty,” said Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. “Cuban is accused of selling his stock in Mamma.com after the CEO told Cuban that the company would be making a new stock offering that Cuban thought was a bad idea. But there is nothing wrong with this whatsoever—unless Cuban had a contractual obligation or fiduciary duty not to act on the information. And if Cuban violated a contract, which there is no evidence of, then that is the injured party’s—the company’s—job to pursue, not the SEC’s. In all likelihood, if there is anyone who violated a contractual obligation, it is the CEO who divulged confidential, unsolicited information—not the famous billionaire recipient who just happens to make a juicy target for SEC bureaucrats thirsting for another high-profile case to justify their regulatory power.
“The question of ‘insider trading’—when employees and investors of a company can act on certain information—should be left entirely up to private contract, such as restrictions on CEOs shorting their own stock. The criminalization of ‘insider trading’ has authorized the SEC to terrorize those whose only sin was to be a savvy investor. The Mark Cubans of the world deserve to be left free to make investment decisions under a government with clear laws against force, fraud, and breach of contract—not to spend years of their lives enduring witch hunts and prisons.” (Principles in Practice, Drop the SEC Investigation Against Cuban, November 20, 2008.)
To understand the peculiar nature of Swedes’ relationship with alcohol is a difficult task that requires a knowledge of Swedish social history going back several hundred years. However, for over 50 years, the government monopoly on the sale of alcohol has been the main weapon to mitigate the prevalence and effects of alcoholism.
The monopoly stores have the dual responsibility of selling, and at the same time discouraging the consumption of their products. One tool used is to make the shopping experience as difficult as possible. Although there should never be any tolerance for driving under the influence of alcohol, there is a similar intolerance of alcohol itself in politics and public health policy that tries to portray anything to do with alcohol as shameful and irresponsible. (The Local, September 3, 2008.)
The success of the original Mr. Lee CatCam has spawned more feline tech accessories, like the CatTrack GPS tracker and the forthcoming CatCam Live, a CatCam with integrated antenna for broadcasting live TV feeds. Each has detailed (but accessible) technical specifications and build notes; it's obvious that Perthold is a real enthusiast. (Wired, October 7, 2008.)
RadioAmerica’s G. Gordon Liddy is devoting a special broadcast of his nationally syndicated three-hour talk radio show to Ayn Rand, her philosophy, and understanding the current state of events through the lens of Objectivism.
The broadcast will air live on Monday, November 17, 2008, beginning at 10 AM, Eastern Standard Time.
The Ayn Rand Center’s Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo, Thomas Bowden and Eric Daniels will be the exclusive guests for this extended broadcast. They will discuss the financial crisis, Bush’s claimed defense of capitalism, today’s challenges to free speech, and the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other topics.
The broadcast will air on 200 radio stations across the country as well as on XM satellite radio (on a delayed basis). Live streaming audio will be available at the RadioAmerica Web site. (Special Edition of G. Gordon Liddy Show on Ayn Rand, email from The Ayn Rand Institute.)
Recommended reading on Veterans Day:
War And Liberty In American History by Wesley Allen Riddle.
What We Owe Our Soldiers by Alex Epstein.
Veterans Day
The articles I most enjoy writing are in the middle range. Middle-range articles fall somewhere between theoretical and journalistic articles. They consist of the application of abstractions to concretes, which is what most intellectual magazines contain. Such articles deal neither with philosophical theory nor with concrete reporting. They accept a theoretical proposition and analyze some current event or some aspect of the culture from that viewpoint. (Chapter 1 - Preliminary Remarks, page 5.)
This is true of the American common man in general. Even when he is not (yet) successful, he thinks of himself as a potential success, as someone who is ambitious and hardworking and on the road to achievement. For him, self-reliance and success is the norm. The sign-off to Cory Miller's letter says it all; he describes himself as "just an ordinary, extraordinary American, the way most Americans used to be." Success and achievement-which Obama views as some kind of extraordinary luck-is viewed by these men as an ordinary product of hard work and dedication.
Note also that these manual workers-men without college educations-are surprisingly articulate. Now let me be clear: it is not a surprise to me that they are well-spoken. I am not among those snobbish elites who view anyone with a blue-collar job as someone who must have been too dumb to get into college. What is surprising to me is how much better these amateurs tend to be at explaining themselves than the hapless professional politicians. (Jewish World Review, November 5, 2008)
So, where should I settle down in the future? Please give me tips and suggestions on places to visit on my next USA tour. [Editor's note: I hope I will be able to do some moblogging then..] I think that an optimal state of mind is a combo of a red state ("down-to-earth" and relaxed heartland type, e.g. the Midwest) and blue state (city slicker with an interest of business life pulse, culture and history, e.g. Boston)... (EGO, RED OR BLUE STATE OF MIND, July 17, 2004.)
Not since President John Kennedy urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” has the rhetoric of sacrifice sat this well with the public. Concern that the US confronts a huge crisis in the form of a global financial meltdown, plus an untapped desire since 9/11 to help the nation more, makes the public more receptive to the idea that sacrifice can be noble instead of just inconvenient. (The Christian Science Monitor, November 2, 2008.)
In addition, you can easily check out what blogs other fans are writing and following - you might even find another blog you’ll want to add to your reading list. And by the way, you can follow any blog, even if it isn't hosted on Blogger or doesn't have the Followers gadget. Just go to your Reading List in your Blogger Dashboard, click the “Add” button, and type in the blog’s URL. And you can even import existing subscriptions from Google Reader. (The Official Google Blog, September 10, 2008.)
Since stopping editorial cartoons a year ago, John and I have continued creating gag cartoons for my automotive publications. Occasionally one of our gag cartoons will cross over into editorial territory. Such is the case with the cartoon above, which is why I'm posting it here (it's also posted at John's blog). We have no plans to start up again, but it's certainly not for lack of material in the news these days... (CoxAndForkum.com, October 14, 2008.)
Columbus essentially was an explorer and discoverer bringing Western civilization's cures, science and technology, he says. The philosophical legal process was another gift the Europeans gave to the Indians, he says. "Indians got all that for free."
Columbus' critics should fall down on their knees and thank the Founding Fathers for creating a nation based on the moral principle of the individual's right to life, liberty and, Bowden stresses, the selfish pursuit of happiness. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 10, 2008)
In addition to a voracious appetite for music, the depth of Wang's taste in reading is impressive in an age when The Da Vinci Code is considered classic literature. ''Right now I'm reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky,'' she says. ''And I read Nietzsche's Thus Sprach Zarathustra and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. And I love Victor Hugo. I read no trash,'' she laughs. (The Miami Herald, October 10, 2008.)
I tell you the best meal I've ever had, and I had it for breakfast every morning I was in a Marine Corps mess hall, was SOS. We Marines called is "shit on a shingle". I've cooked it myself once in a while and my wife (and daughters, when they were girls) loved it. We always have it for supper, not breakfast. It's a complete meal in itself. This is as far from a PC meal as you can get, what with the beef, fat, butter and salt. But I'm still alive.
Here it is:
Recipe for “Marine Breakfast” (SOS)
(Serves eight, or two hungry Marines)
½ pound ground beef (ground chuck for flavor)
1-tablespoon bacon fat (lard/Crisco or butter) -Bacon fat is best.
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk (add more milk if you want it thinner)
1/8-teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
8 slices of dry toast -It was white toast in those days.
Using a large skillet (12-14 inches), crumble and brown the ground beef with fat and salt. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly. Mix in the flour until all of the meat is covered, using all of the flour. Replace the skillet on the heat and stir in the milk. Keep stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens (boil a minimum of one minute).
Serve over the toast (the "shingle"). Salt and pepper to taste.
Also, I recommend saturating your toast with plenty of butter.
I would add (reading that you like spicy food) that I omit the onions that are in the original recipe for Marine Corps SOS. I do so because I do not like spicy food--it gives me heart-burn, although my wife can take the a half-oz. sip of Tabasco Sauce (by the way, Tabasco Sauce was invented by a Marine) with no ill side effects. Also, I make SOS a little thicker than the recipe I sent by reducing the amount of milk.
Also, I don't think you'll want to use the kinda cute term we Marines called SOS with the first word being "shit". Might want to fix that. But when the meal is made, it looks crappy. But just try it and see. It's delicious. Moreover, you can add and/or subtract some of the ingredients to suit your taste--perhaps come up with a brand new recipe of your own.
Martin,
Let me try to re-write what I wrote my congressman, in part.
I wanted him to vote against the "bailout".
I told him a story, a true story, about how I was motivated by experience for Linda and I to deal with the situation facing us. That we can fend for ourselves and don't want any government "bailout".
It went something like this:
On a five-day Recon patrol in 1968 in the jungles of Vietnam we got socked in and couldn't get extracted. With five-day's of rations we ran out of chow. What did we do? Well, we rigged up a hook, line and sinker. While at the edge of a wide river one man would stand guard while the other would try to catch a fish to no avail. A Marine from Georgia, an out-doorsman, found a large lizard on a tree, cut the head off with his fighting knife, and cooked it. That's wall we had to share for five days. We got a call from the Commanding general of the 1st Marine Div. in Vietnam with an offer of moral support and to just "hang in there". We were miles inland and what had happened was there was a typhoon that had hit near Da Nang. All we got was so far inland was stronger than usual winds and a lot of rain and a heavy cloud cover. I think the enemy was hunkered down too. Looking back on it I figure we weren't in much danger from the VietCong. Finally the weather broke at twilight and the extraction was successful. Extracted back to the rear we were met with a big meal of steak, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and juice--and a big hearty welcome back. Funny, starved as we were we couldn't eat much. Our stomachs had shrunk. But next morning, after a night's sleep we had the usual SOS for breakfast in the chow hall, and just feasted on that breakfast.
I told my congressman this story to show that Linda and I are hurting just as bad as most are. What we're doing is buying cheap brands of everything and eating less as we see this through.
All the best,
Robert
Why not create a healthy polymeal feast this Thanksgiving? Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S, is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition, and health. His new book Healthiest Meals on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What Meals to Eat and Why shows how to combine ingredients – what he refers to as “polymeals” – that promote long-term health to create meals that will literally save your life. (ThisMamaCooks.com)
