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SPOILER ALERT: What “Atlas Shrugged” means

March 23, 2016 by · Comments Off on SPOILER ALERT: What “Atlas Shrugged” means 

atlus-shruggedOn the “wall” for the facebook.com public group named “Ayn Rand” (the author philosopher who wrote the novel “Atlas Shrugged”), a group member posted the following question:

What exactly does the title of Atlas Shrugged mean? I remember the quote in the book went something like “Do you know what I would say to Atlas? I’d tell him to shrug.” But I’m unclear on what it literally means. Does it mean to make a gesture that says “Uh whatever” as if you don’t care, or does it mean to stop bearing the weight of the world and just let it drop?

I reply as follows. Read more

Why “other dimensions” do, and do not, exist

March 23, 2016 by · Comments Off on Why “other dimensions” do, and do not, exist 

serling_FotorA friend asked “Do you believe in other dimensions?”. I replied as follows:

Other dimensions of what? I’m not being obtuse here. It’s just that anything can be quantified as a dimension. For example: the sweetness of a fruit, the hardness of a snowball, the volume of precipitation etc. There are literally as many dimensions as there are things to quantify. Read more

Bombings in Brussels: Everything you’ll read about them, in one tiny article

March 22, 2016 by · Comments Off on Bombings in Brussels: Everything you’ll read about them, in one tiny article 

explosions-hit-brussels-airport-14586348600291_FotorEarlier today, explosions “rocked the Brussels airport and subway system, killing at least 28 people and injuring many more“…but we cannot be certain of the bombers’ motive, and ultimately this is a response to something awful we’ve done in another country (for oil…or, something money-related), and religion certainly had nothing to do with it, and the bombers were mentally ill, and they were odd, and “real” people of their religion (possibly Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism…we can’t rule that out) would never do such a thing, and saying otherwise is racist (even though religion has nothing to do with race), or isolationist (even if you are pro-immigration), or “privilege” and “patriarchy” (because, well, what isn’t?), or….whatever….and we should respond by turning the other cheek, and taking our troops out of the Middle East, and telling would-be attackers that we mean no one any harm so, please, please, don’t hurt us (pretty please, we’ll be nice). In short: nothing to see here folks. Move along. Everything is double-plus good.

Celebrate Judge Me According to My Genetics Day!

March 9, 2016 by · Comments Off on Celebrate Judge Me According to My Genetics Day! 

2016-03-09.sperm-eggRise up, ugly people. You are not a group of individually judged entities (sometimes quaintly called “human beings”). You are but cells comprising the ugly people entity. Whether you’re a saint or a sinner, a winner or a loser, a producer or a vampire…none of that is relevant to the issue of how you should be judged. None of that should determine what you deserve or get. You are a single ugly people entity, and you should be judged as such. What you deserve depends upon the worthiness of the collective entity of which you are but a cell. Read more