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Heart Attacks, Coding, Presentations, Ballarat and Linux, Objectivism
It must be the week for it; Mike A., an older database administrator and Visual Basic programmer for Naturelinks suffered one last week and is gradually in the process of retiring. So Naturelinks have called me up to slowly take over his functions; which means I have to (re-)learn MS-SQL Server and learn Visual Basic for Applications. Help! I'm becoming a VBA coder! Just as well it's with databases. Call me nuts, but I actually like databases. Fortunately I just also landed the task to rebuild and expand the T3 Program website (I know there are car fans on my flist).
The other heart attack was a person a lot closer to home; Peter Abrehart of the Melbourne Unitarian Church, whom I've been very good friends with for some years now. He 'died' three times on the way to hospital and is currently in critical, and is being kept in an ice-bed. Peter isn't exactly old, although he hardly has a great constitution. Peter is the former organiser for the Church, a committee member of some years standing, our registered celebrant and convenor of the philosophy classes. If I were the praying sort I'd be busy making appeals, sacrifices etc at the moment.
Last Sunday, I gave my presentation on The Story of Francis David and King John Sigusmund which was well attended and well received. Further, I have also finished my notes on the presentation to Securecon on Cisco Router Security (PDF file) as part of a mini-first edition of Red Friday for 2006. Also on-topic Linux Users of Victoria are organizing an 'Installfest' in three weeks time - in Ballarat - which will be the first regional event of its kind.
In my entire life in online discussions I have discovered that Objectivists are (almost) invariably extremely rude, inflexible and quite cultish. They seem to think there is something sophisticated in the statement "A is A", and can't really go beyond that (nor do they understand the internal contradictions in such naive set theory). Recently I've had fun teasing a couple on nz.politics about the unfortunate empirical reality of bosons (fascinating critters - multiple instances can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously). If anyone has some more Objectivist-teasing literature they are greatfully received.
Oh, take a look at these two photos. Franz Josef Glacier, 1939 and Franz Josef Glacier, 2006. A slight contrast.
The other heart attack was a person a lot closer to home; Peter Abrehart of the Melbourne Unitarian Church, whom I've been very good friends with for some years now. He 'died' three times on the way to hospital and is currently in critical, and is being kept in an ice-bed. Peter isn't exactly old, although he hardly has a great constitution. Peter is the former organiser for the Church, a committee member of some years standing, our registered celebrant and convenor of the philosophy classes. If I were the praying sort I'd be busy making appeals, sacrifices etc at the moment.
Last Sunday, I gave my presentation on The Story of Francis David and King John Sigusmund which was well attended and well received. Further, I have also finished my notes on the presentation to Securecon on Cisco Router Security (PDF file) as part of a mini-first edition of Red Friday for 2006. Also on-topic Linux Users of Victoria are organizing an 'Installfest' in three weeks time - in Ballarat - which will be the first regional event of its kind.
In my entire life in online discussions I have discovered that Objectivists are (almost) invariably extremely rude, inflexible and quite cultish. They seem to think there is something sophisticated in the statement "A is A", and can't really go beyond that (nor do they understand the internal contradictions in such naive set theory). Recently I've had fun teasing a couple on nz.politics about the unfortunate empirical reality of bosons (fascinating critters - multiple instances can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously). If anyone has some more Objectivist-teasing literature they are greatfully received.
Oh, take a look at these two photos. Franz Josef Glacier, 1939 and Franz Josef Glacier, 2006. A slight contrast.
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Crap...there goes my morning into a wiki-hole
;)
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As you read it keep comparing L. Ron Hubbard to Ayn Rand.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Fountainhead_Earth
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VBA is good at handling MS products. That's all it's good for. Mind you, for what that's worth it does a good job.
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Use it to change the world.
It Bruce Sterling's "Mirrorshades" it was referred to as "the Cyberpunk Bible" - at least in a prophetic sense.
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Ah, quantum physics... :-).
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"Damn you quantum physics!!!"
Ahh, that's just so perfect.
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That Einstein would agree with anything!
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And my observations of Randinistas are quite similar. :)
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I've been told the glacier isn't supposed to be a good example of global warming etc. But still... It doesn't look good does it?
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In my teenage years in the philosophy channel on irc.oz.org I had the misfortune of dealing with a number of Objectivists. As you said, arrogant, rude, condescending and, I found, incredibly ignorant - especially of their own philosophy.
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The problem with the philosophy is that makes the irrational claim that only they are rational and more so they are perfectly rational. It is almost inevitable that people are either disgusted by them or they are (supporters) fundamentalists.
Hoy, Lev...
Re: Hoy, Lev...
Heh. I've just posted an answer to this on your journal ;-)
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The book Why People Believe Weird Things, a pretty good general round up of sceptical arguments (particularly good chapters on the Holocaust deniers) also has a good chapter on why the Objectivists are, indeed, a cult. Its a good book anyway. I think I got my copy from Polyester?
Anyway, here is a page with some ammunition for you
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Once again,
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Actually, I refuse to call them Objectivists, as it implies a level of certainty I find sadly lacking. I call them Randists. And then I tell them to fuck right off.
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I was quite charmed by the idea of Randinista's. That'd really get their heckles up!
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Oh, they certainly think that they're objective (and everyone isn't). That's why I gain a certain pleasure from teasing them. ;-)
Is if the mocking user icon wasn't a dead give-away of how I feel
For your leisure:
"Rand's Objectivism is to philosophy what Harlequin Romances are to literature" (http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=136125&highlight=objectivism)
Re: Is if the mocking user icon wasn't a dead give-away of how I feel
It is such an fundamentalist
religionphilosophy that its hard to be open-minded about any changes to its own premises.Which is why post #22 in that thread was such a slap-down. I'll enjoy using that one.
Avoidance
The Franz Josef Glacier has done a lot of contracting and advancing which doesn't seem to be always in the same direction as general climate patterns (it has been advancing in the last couples of decades).
Re: Avoidance
Avoidance may be a wise strategy to a point. Posing questions that there is no 'objectivist' answer may make some think about the limitations of the theory - however that it also improbable because reflexive people aren't likely to be influenced by it in the first place.
Just to show there is no harsher critic than those who are political allies, some Libertarians consider Objectivism to be a death cult, which is perhaps not too far from the truth given their total and utter support for a State monopoly on violence - regardless of the results.