Truth, Justice, and the American way

What I'm Up To

• Finish Master's degree.
• Finish the project for my university job.
• Buy a car.
• Learn to drive (again)
• Find a new place to live.
• Move to San Antonio.
• Learn Java.
• Code Java like a pro at my internship.
• Find a sweet job.

My Favorite Streaming Internet Radio Stations

A long time ago, I discovered my school�s file-sharing network and stopped buying music CD�s. Some time after that, I decided that while CD�s cost too much, stealing music is wrong. So, I switched to streaming internet radio, and have been listening to various streaming stations ever since. I�d like to share some of my favorites � just keep in mind that I listen to this while working or studying, so I prefer music that I can play in the background without distracting me too much. Feel free to comment with the streaming stations you like.

• Yahoo Launch offers personalized music streams and lets to rank your favorite genres/artists/albums/artists. They have a free ad-based and premium stations.
  
• Club977 is a "commercial free" 80�s station.
  
• Soma FM offers �Groove Salad,� a � tasty plate of ambient beats and grooves. Takes the edge off work.�
  
• Digitally Imported offers a number of great stations including hard/soft/euro techno and classical stations.
  
• Shoutcast is a directory of thousands of free streaming stations playable with WinAmp.
• 
  

To top off a lousy week, my digital camera broke today :-(
I'm in the market for a new one if any readers have suggestions for me.

Flying Around

I probably won�t be doing much blogging in the near future. In addition to my usual hectic life, I got MS Flight Simulator 2004 yesterday, and will be spending most of my free time up in the clouds. Once my dvi-vga adapter comes in, I�ll be flying with 4 monitors.

My Books

One of the fads going around the blogosphere is to list a dozen or so of the songs you�re listening to. Interesting idea, but I don�t think one�s music preferences really say much about a person. So instead, I decided to post a photo of my bookshelf. Obviously, this is just a fraction of my collection, but it contains the books that impacted my life the most.

Wardrobe Malfunction

I experienced a "wardobe malfunction" during a caving trip this weekend. Fortunately, the bastards at the FCC can't censor these photos...yet. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to start going caving with ASS (Aggie Speleological Society) every other weekend or so.

New PC

Check out the new computer I put together. I think I'll call it "The Ghost"

The Specs:

Case: Aspire X-Dreamer II
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton
Cooling: Thermaltake Volcano 9
Motherboard: MSI K7N2 Delta-L (nForce 2)
Memory: 512-MB PC3200 DDR (w/shims)
Hard Drive: 120GB Generic 10K RPM
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9600
Speakers: Altec Lansing 251 5.1 Surround
DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X Slot Loading
CD Burner: 48x16x48
Monitors: Mag 19", NEC 17", & Gateway 14" (+ tv out as needed)
...and last but not least:
Mouse: Logitech iFeel Optical
Keyboard: Logitech Internet Navigator

Hot anime chicks molded in plastic! Call me weird, but these models rock!

Updates

I wrote my first Perl script today after three hours of fumbling around in a totally alien syntax. Score one for goal-directed action. I generally avoid Perl like the plague, but it was the only way I could find to do a bulk import into the MT email DB_File notify database. I�ve also written a script to export posts from a SQL/MS Access based database into the MT import format. Let me know if you want either. The scripts are for Mises.org Blog, which I�ve been configuring and tweaking the last two days.

I�m also working on the re-release of ObjectivismOnline.net, which should go live sometime in early February. I scrapped the old PostNuke CMS for Mambo, a clean, fast, and powerful CMS. The new website will feature a meta-blog, for which I am currently seeking writers. Here is the �official� announcement:

Do you want to take a leading role in America�s intellectual renaissance? Then consider joining the team at ObjectivismOnline.net. We are looking for contributors to a new pro-reason, pro-capitalism meta-blog. (A meta-blog is an aggregate web log consisting of original content and links to content at other sites.) We are also accepting essays, editorials, letters to the editor, and reviews to include in other parts of our website.

Interested individuals should contact .. me. The website is still a work in progress, but the forum is growing rapidly and being frequented by several Objectivist philosophers, notably Amy Peikoff, Greg Salmieri, and me :-)

Stuff I Want

There is quite a variety of stuff here, and I am looking for *your* help in helping me find good deals on this stuff. If you find me a real good deal(s), I am will provide my web design/graphic/programming services. For example, if you find me a deal on a parrot, I can provide the domain name/hosting/web design/support for a flashy website.

Stuff I Want

• Amazon Wishlist
• MP3 Player/Storage Stick: 256mb+
• Digital Camera - 5 mpx, 3+ zoom, $300-$550
• Parrot: Indian Ringneck, etc, $70-$150
• 9mm automatic

• 2 - 17" LCD Monitors to replace my CRT's
• AMD 2600 XP CPU
• Laser Printer
• 5.1 Sound Card
• Case: Aluminum 400W PS

• Original painting from Quent Cordair
• Sporty New Car
• Dual 27"+ LCD Monitors
• Concept-design ergonomic steel and glass desk
• LCD Projector for home theatre

I'm back!

I shredded, ripped, and tumbled down the black diamonds like mere bunny slopes (or was it the other way around?) and had an awesome time in Breckenridge. Check out the photos here � the film camera shots are coming soon.

Never thought it would happen to me�

I discovered today that my credit card racked up $2,500 in charges during the last two days for unspecified �network services.� I have my suspicions about how my number leaked out, so I offer this advice: don�t ever send out your credit card number on a non-encrypted connection, even if it�s someone you trust. Btw, while I was waiting for a CitiBank rep, I heard two things -- �Congratulations, your account limit has been upgraded to $3000!� and some advice: �spend wisely - live richly.�

Turkey-day Photos

I'm still in San Antonio, but the first of three photo sets is already up.
Update: I'm back - and the rest of the photos are up. (The photos were selected and resized: full-size originals are here.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm leaving for a week to visit my parents over Thanksgiving. I leave you with a 1860's political cartoon that would probably be un-pc today. (Found here.)

New Photos

With the coming of winter, I've added a third "space heater" to my room and posted new shots of me at work. If you haven't seen my photo gallery at all, you should go to photos.rationalmind.net...now.

I also wrote an autobiography for my about page. What do you think?

New Essay on Capitalism

Last Wednesday, I presented a talk on capitalism for the A&M Objectivism Club. My speech was fairly awful, but afterwards, I converted my outline into an essay to add to this site. After finishing the first part, I noticed an unread copy of "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" sitting on my bookshelf � one of a dozen books I bought for my recent birthday. I decided to hold off writing the last part until I finished it, but that will take at least two weeks because I�m participating in the business school�s CASE competition. Big bucks and lucrative job offers are at stake, so not much bloggin� this week, I�m afraid. However, if you�re interested in a design for an enterprise-level email marketing system, let me know.

Mail Call

...i am very interested. I am a 17/m/tx and I live very close to the area you live in....I am str8 but I wanna see what messing with a guy is like. If you need your dick sucked or a quick jack off email me or give me your phone number ASAP [email protected] -Of course I would be looking for the same, but i am a reasonable person so just try it out wit me.

• If you are propositioning random men for gay sex, you may be �str8� but are definitely not straight.
• My website states quite clearly that I am interested exclusively in the female sex.
• In case you missed that, it states even more clearly that I am a 23 year old graduate student, which is probably a good sign that I won�t be picking up any �confused� 17-year olds anytime soon.
• If �HotSexyYellaFella31� is indeed 17, then he probably needs a good grounding and a psychiatrist. I suspect however that he is an adult looking for vulnerable minors, in which case he probably needs a cop.
• I don�t care if you the Olson twins and you just turned 18, I absolutely refuse to talk to anyone who thinks that �wit� �u� and �r� are legitimate words.
• Parents, please check your kid's email.

My Wish List

As my 23rd birthday approached, several people asked me what I�d like to get. I understand that my unusual intellectual persuasions make finding a suitable present somewhat difficult, especially for my family. So, purely out of an altruistic concern for easing your present-searching efforts, I spent several hours laboring to create an Amazon.com wish list of the books and gadgets I�d like to get.

I also made a list of my favorite novels and non-fiction books, sorted by my recommended reading order for anyone interested in reaching my level of intellectual nirvana :-) It's not meant to be a definite guide by any means, just a list of what I consider essential reading for any rational, well-rounded, new intellectual geek.

Getting ready for class this morning, I considered dressing up for the today�s business fair. I was about to put on my Sunday best when I happened to glance at the window and saw a torrential flood coming down outside. I suddenly felt very fortunate that I could be completely ignorant of the nasty weather outside while in my home. Unfortunately, I still had to walk a mile to class, and as I got completely soaked while walking barefoot across campus, I thanked the gods of industry that I didn�t have to freeze to death in some leaky shack or cave every time it rained as those damn �back to nature� environmentalists would have us do. Admittedly, I enjoyed walking barefoot across the flooded grass on campus, but only because I knew that I had clean and warm clothes waiting for me at home.

I got my paycheck receipt today. Unfortunately, it was for just a day, rather than the month�s pay I was expecting. I called HR and was assured that it was for the last month, and I that was to get this month�s payment tomorrow. After remembering that I began my job on the first of this month, I decided not to pursue my complaint. Reminds me of the $100 Christmas bonus I got from HEB six months after I had quit. On the down side, I was rudely reminded of the State�s claim to my life in the form of an innocuous-looking line labeled �Federal Income Tax."

This year's Open House didn't yield any great photos, but here is a decent one:

For more, go here.

Last night's Objectivism Club meeting went well, though I didn�t get to finish the introduction to Objectivism that I was writing, so I won�t be putting it online for a while. We had a decent turnout, and a very positive response from the audience. One delusional Keynes-worshipper apparently came to the meeting solely to argue economics with us � and I was more than willing to take him on. Later that night, I read some positive responses to our meeting on a local forum, and saw the usual ad-hominem attacks against �extremism.� I wrote a lengthy reply on the forum talking about some of my experiences with Objectivism, and included it below. I don�t really expect to convince anyone, but it�s been a long week of classes, and I needed to let some steam off.

Here is a parable about something that happened to me a long, long time ago, when Hobbes was just a search engine, and resnet was little more than a repository for porn:

When I entered TAMU as a freshman, I was a hardcore liberal democrat, brainwashed by years of public education and reform-Judaism �social justice� BS. I wanted to be politically involved, so I joined the Aggie Democrats. From the day I met them, they impressed me as the friendliest, most accepting, tolerant, open-minded, non-judgmental, un-critical people around. We all sat around and made fun of the stupid republicans, with their silly religious dogma, their fetus-worship, their hidden homophobia, and their evil plans for selling the country to the rich. The democrats were real nice, agreeable folks.

Some time after this, I met a group of radical capitalists, who shall remain nameless, other than to say that one of them has posted on this thread. I found them to be the most arrogant, self-righteous, stubborn people I knew. Everything I knew about politics, economics, human nature, and even some of morality, they told me I was completely wrong on. No matter how much we argued, they would not back down, compromise, or relent in any way shape, or form. I was used to high school debate, so I was confident in my ability to out-debate anyone, even by sheer force of will, but these people stuck to their position and refused to budge an inch!

Now, normally, I would just dismiss someone as hopeless after a while, but there was one thing that kept me coming back (besides the booze) � I couldn�t refute all their claims. As wrong as they seemed, and as contrary as they were to everything I knew, I gradually had to admit one error after another on my part. It took several months, but before I knew it, it was I who was arguing with the my old buddies, the democrats! I didn�t change all my views, but I found my whole worldview completely turned around. The stubbornness and arrogance I saw on their part was part real, but mostly it stemmed from my indignation that someone could be so serious about his position, and arrogant enough to say �you�re wrong, and I�m right� and refuse to back down.

Imagine if I had simply judged the two groups based on their attitude and walked away in resignation and self-righteous anger as soon as I had heard a contrary view. I�d still be a hopeless and ignorant commie. I learned from my experience to never judge someone�s ideas by his presentation, attitude, or arrogance. Just because someone is utterly persistent about his position doesn�t make him right � but it doesn�t make him wrong either. This is why I simply ignore anyone who claims that an individual or group with a particular viewpoint is dogmatic/stubborn/arrogant/conceited/stupid/fanatical/radical/intolerant/judgemental. What such name-calling really means is that the opposition is either unable or unwilling to offer a real response to an argument, and would rather resort to ad-hominem and slander in a cheap attempt to discredit his opponent. Sure, some of the traits I mentioned are genuine character flaws � but they say nothing about the validity of a person�s ideas.

A year or so after I became a capitalist, someone recommended that I read Ayn Rand. I went to the library, and picked up the only book I found � �The Cult of Ayn Rand.� I immediately realized that the author was engaging in the same kind of ad-hominem attacks that I engaged in not so long ago, and became even more interested in this �Ayn Rand.� I looked up a few websites, watched a few videos, and found that I agreed with the ideas perfectly. Not too long after, I was considering starting an Objectivist club at TAMU. One person after another warned me about the �cult� I would be joining. I decided that if this is a cult, I was already in it for life � and this was before I had met any Objectivists, or even read any of Ayn Rand�s books.

I�ve met quite a few people who call themselves �Objectivists� since then. A few of them do in fact treat Ayn Rand�s philosophy as a religion � uncritically memorizing what they read -- without evaluating, concretizing, or digesting ideas. Most of these people simply rejected one religion � some version of Christianity � and accepted another. While real, this group is a minority. Most of the Objectivists I have met have an earnest desire for knowledge, and before they accept any idea as true, they subject it to the harshest scrutiny, evaluating it from every angle, and integrating it with the rest of the knowledge. They are unafraid to question Objectivism, and before accepting any idea, they consider all possible alternatives and counter-arguments to it. But they don�t spend their time dwelling on the real or imagined personal flaws of Ayn Rand or other prominent philosophers, as some so-called �Objectivists� like to do. They don�t dismiss a person�s ideas because of they way he presents them, goes about his personal life, or what kind of friends he has in an attempt to evade any actual thinking. All those things are certainly relevant when evaluating a person � but not when considering the validity of his ideas.

The first day of the rest of my life...

Tomorrow, I start my first full-time semester in grad school and my first �serious� job. I don�t consider these events very important in themselves, but in a way, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. Unlike my liberal arts education, the classes and the job I have now are aimed at preparing me for my future vocation and formerly tentative musing about my future have been replaced by a clear focus on where I want to be, and what I must do to get there.

During the four years of my undergraduate education, I went through a process of intellectual discovery and application of my knowledge to my values and goals. I think that skipping the usual �rebellious teen� phase made my exposure to the vast variety of influences on campus more earnest and open-minded. For good and bad, my passion for ideas took me from one group to another as I sought to find people who shared my view of the world. For various periods, I was a webmaster of the Aggie Democrats, my corps outfit, the Aggie Libertarians, the Aggie Review, and then the Objectivist Club. I saw the consequences of corrupt philosophies firsthand and I finally found one that made sense. I am just beginning to integrate my philosophy with my life; and while the details have yet to be filled in, I am certain of my values and of my goals. I know who I am and what I want to become. In the words of Ayn Rand, I am "a being of self-made soul."

I got the job!

Yes, it's the one I really wanted. My busy life will suddenly get a lot busier�

Take four officers of the objectivist club, mix in one philosopher, decant a bottle of Bacardi rum and VanillaTwist Smirnoff vodka, and combine with �The Two Towers� and �Buffy the Vampire Slayer� DVD�s, and you get a great evening, served for five. I was so sick of the all the pathetically idiotic movies I had been seeing, that not even the Two Towers� rabid earth-worship or the constant stream of Russian jokes could spoil my good mood. But this morning, I woke up to a killer hangover and a surprisingly large quantity of missing alcohol. Note to self: let the good times roll, but don�t forget to drink plenty of water before you hit the sack. And be sure to offer a tribute to the Gods to thank them for modern medicine.

Damn, I look good!

Speaking of mystics...

I've been reading a lot of Robert Heinlein lately. He really is an amazing science fiction writer, and his independent, productive, rational, and optimistic protagonists share many traits with the heroes of Ayn Rand. The only flaw I see in his writing is a pervading skepticism of all absolutes and ideals as such. His characters express their philosophy in specific (and usually true) �practical� principles like �Get the facts!� but never in terms of the broad abstract ideas needed to derive them. As such, they�re not the kind of individuals that could dedicate their lives to any idea (although a few do) or even one mate (Heinlen was a big fan of �free love� towards the end of his life). I think some of that came from his strong animosity towards any form of dogmatism, especially organized religion. His novels are full of lines like:

The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.

Objectivist Summer Conference

I went to the conference as a �working scholar� -- which meant that I went free in exchange for helping to run the conference. The work involved setting up rooms, making sure the other participants had passes to the events, and generally being an errand boy. A pretty good deal considering that the full cost probably exceeds my annual income.

I arrived in LA on the fifth and paid an outrageous amount to drive to the resort where it was being held. The place was very nice, with great facilities all around and the best breakfast I have ever had. The only problem was that a lunch at the hotel cost the equivalent of a normal five-course dinner with lobster, so I often took a cab into town with the other working scholars to try out the local cuisine instead.

On to the actual conference. The general attitude I held during the conference can best be described as �shock and awe.� As I walked down to lobby on my way to the first lecture, I casually passed by Yaron Brook, president of ARI, Dr. Gary Hull, whose lecture was my first introduction to Objectivism, Dr. John Ridpath, Dr. Andrew Bernstein, and Dr. Edwin Locke, all philosophers and lecturers whom I had been reading for the last three years. Then, if I weren�t dazed enough as it was, I heard and saw a lecture on sculpture by Mary Ann Sures, who knew Ayn Rand for many years.

The daily schedule I followed basically went like this: I would get up around seven for breakfast and usually meet fellow Objectivists from all over the world in the process, and then run to set up for my 8:30 week-long class. At ten, I would listen to the first general lecture, and then go to lunch with some of my fellow working scholars. After lunch, I would attend the second general lecture, followed by two more week-long classes. After the classes, we would either have the evening off, or some planned event, such as a banquet, a discussion panel, or a Q&A session. At night, the college-age group would get together to play parlor games (balderdash, mafia, cards, etc) stop by the bar, or go out to town. Sometime after midnight, I would come back and collapse into bed exhausted and eager for the next day.

The quality of the general lectures and week-long classes varied widely, but all of them certainly exceeded the usual mindless garbage I was used to as a liberal arts undergrad. Where I could choose optional classes, I went for anything related to economic and ethical issues, and not surprisingly, those were my favorite topics. Here are some of lectures I liked best: �Vanderbilt and American Free Enterprise� by Eric Daniels, �Capitalism: The System of the Mind� by Andrew Bernstein, �The 19th-Century Atomic War� by David Harriman, and one that I disagreed with but nevertheless found fascinating: �The Cause and Consequence of the Great Depression� by Richard Salsman. Also notable was �Nietzsche and the Nihilism of Our Times� by John Ridpath, which reminded me of an essay I wrote a year ago called �The Virtues of our Time: Collectivism, Nihilism and Pragmatism.� Of the classes I took, my favorites were �Refuting the Moral Accusations Against Capitalism� by Dr Bernstein and �Aristotle as Ethicist� by Greg Salmieri. Greg btw, is not only a budding philosopher, but plays the blues like a pro, as I witnessed for myself.

Overall, the information presented at the conference served to integrate my current knowledge of Objectivism, fill in many gaps, and provide the factual and historical context necessary to connect the abstract concepts I have been learning to reality. The most complex and information-packed lectures were Dr. Peikoff�s lectures on Induction, which I found to be an exhaustive but thoroughly enjoyable experience. I have to admit that I lacked to proper background to properly understand much of the material he presented, and will have to wait for the tapes or book to more fully grasp that fascinating subject. The sleep deprivation I experienced throughout the conference certainly didn�t help, so I compensated by consuming massive amounts of hard candies to keep the blood flowing to my brain.

What else? Well, the other working scholars were fellow college students, and since most of them were leaders of their own campus Objectivist clubs, we used the occasion to discuss strategy, plans, and the hostility Objectivist groups faced on college campuses. Some of them had the fortune to go to Duke, which is not only top five in philosophy, but has not one but two prominent Objectivist professors teaching classes with overwhelming demand from students and support from the administration (backed up by large donations) -- despite strong opposition by the philosophy department. Others went to the University of Toronto, which has an Objectivist Club of 250+ members, (from the general area) publishes its own newspaper, and regularly hosts prominent speakers. Yet others went to school in Belgium, where openly advocating capitalism or Objectivism on campus can easily get you beat up or even expelled. Overall, I felt fortunate that local campus opposition to my club is restricted to tearing down and writing on fliers rather than burning them and rejecting student organization status.

In sum, the conference was an awesome experience, and the most relaxing, educational, and intensive two weeks of my life. I should add that I loved the location as well, and would love to live in southern California someday, especially if Gray Davis loses the recall. The beaches and eateries around Santa Monica were great despite the nanny lifeguards who went after me for swimming too far out, and the annoying pedestrian lights that interrupted my beachside experience with their loud beeping. You can check out the photos I took here.

I was taking my final

I was taking my final early today because I am leaving for the Objectivist Summer Conference tommorow. My prof had me sit in the hallway while he was in class, and as I sat there doing my final, this couple comes out of a a nearby room and starts a conversation about 20 feet away from me. So the guy starts talking about morality, and I can't help but listen since he actually sounds halfway intelligent. First he goes on bashing liberals and pragmatism, talking about how living according to principle is the only path to happiness, how modern society is corrupt, etc etc. The woman he's talking to isn't really following, but I quickly catch on to the flaws in his arguments and if you know me at all, you should know how I love a good debate, so I'm really temped to interrupt, but I'm taking my final exam and all, so I try and focus. Then the topic switches to money, and the guy suddenly goes on a rant about how money is the root of all evil, and how materialism is what's wrong with society, etc, etc, and I can barely focus on my exam becuase he's just so wrong and I have to sit there and think about relational databases and audit trails. Then, if that wasn't bad enough, the guy starts preaching about the bible while I try to draw an ERD diagram, and about all I can do is try to sit there and not jump in the conversation. FINALLY they leave, and I thank God (hehe) that I can finish my exam in peace and go to a place where I don't have to deal with irrational raving mystics, but hopefully do get a chance to debate my brains out. So if you dont see any posts for the next few weeks, you know what I'm up to.

I was ego-surfing the web

I was ego-surfing the web today, when I came accross a biography of my namesake -- in Russian. It seems that ����� ������� was a a psychologist at Columbia University who invented the IQ test. Specifically, he came up with the following definition of intelligence: "The aggregate, or global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment."

Unfortunately, when ����� came to the United States, he spelled his name "Wechsler" rather than my "Veksler," which is why the very-appropropriate legacy of my namesake remained hidden from me for so long. (Actually, when I was 16, I had my first name legally changed from "Dennis" to "David" -- but that's besides the point.)

I'm a corporate tool.

A few months ago, I placed a tiny, invisible image on my blog in exchange for "product samples." A few weeks later, I got a bucket with a shirt, chocolate drinks, other assorted merchandize, and a link to "Raging Cow," a blog "written by a cow" that just happens to have the name and image of a new chocolate drink product. The blog itself has various "humorous" rants that make no sense whatsoever and never explicitly mention the product the blog is advertizing. The only hint that this is a actually an experimental guerilla marketing technique is a tiny link in the corder that sats "�2003 Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc." Will it work? I have my doubts, but their crawler will probably notice this link and send me more merchandize, so I'll be a good corporate tool and keep on blogging about it. You can sign up here, but your blog has to get 50+ hits a day to qualify.

Do you know this bird?

A few weeks ago, I noticed a little bird nursing two eggs on a palm tree two feet outside my window, and I decided to try to take a few snapshots of the chicks. Although I've seen it clean and feed the baby chicks, whenever I approach the nest on the porch to take some pictures, the mamma bird immediately covers the chicks with her wing and gives me "the stare" until I feel like a tresspasser on my own porch. I took some photos anyway, which you may see here. Update: I liked up the bird, and it's a white-winged dove.

My room in 360�

After cleaning up around my room this weekend, I decided to make a 360� composite snapshot with a Matrix-styled theme on my pc's. Check out the results in two versions 145K and 1.6MB

I finally registered for my

I finally registered for my first classes of graduate school today on my way to a masters in MIS. I will be taking VB.net and Database Design the first summer semester and taking off the second to go to California. Getting into grad school turned out to be a big fiasco becuase my recomendation letters were somehow lost by the admissions office, and my application nearly got lost in the "incomplete" pile. Apparently the address given on the application downloaded from the website was old or inaccurate. Well either way, I should be out of here in a year if everything goes well and I take a full load.

By the way, I saw The Pianist last night, and the movie really sucked, despite by best expectations. Growing up Jewish, I saw dozens of movies about the Holocaust and grew terribly sick of them when I realized that nobody had a clue of what caused it or even attempted to answer why. More often than not, it was portrayed as a natural disaster, not to be understood and learned from, but merely blindly countered with "never again" without knowing what was the evil thing that should not be repeated. I know now of course, which is why I was all the more angered when I saw the same attitude towards 9/11.

Anyway, I thought the movie would have much more piano playing and less drawn out and impresonal history of the Warsaw ghetto and several scenes which reminded me of how I sometimes scrounge around my apartment looking for leftoover food. The only part I liked was the smuggling of the guns, which reminded me of a flier I saw some time ago (shown below). The Nazis, Chinese and Soviets never banned all guns -- they just made sure that they were controlled tightly enough so that no "subversives" could get their hands on them. By this standard, gun laws in England and parts of the US (like NYC) are already equal to or worse than those under the Nazi's and Soviets.

If you're wondering why all the interest in guns all of a sudden, it's becuase I decided to get one a while back and started doing research on both the legal and psychological aspects of gun control. I found that the gun-control movement exists as a natural extension of the collectrivist-liberal philosophy -- in this case, intrincisim (guns are inherently evil becuase men are unevitably unstable and amoral), determinism (violence is inevitable, we can only choose to take away the weapons), Statism (the State owns the people) and malevolence (a desire for criminals to have an advantage over honest citizens). The last seemed shocking to me too, but it is easy to see in explicit terms when one looks at the pacifist's foreign policy agenda in areas like terrorism, the UN, and Israel.

Some psychologists have looked at the anti-gun mentality as a passsive-agressive mental disorder, but I see it as a typically irrational reflection of the subjectivist's own mentality. Lacking values themselves, the liberals/subjectivists/posmodernists seek to destroy value out of pure envy. Their tolerance is actually an intolerance of principle, and they seek to riducule and destroy the concept of value itself (hence subjectivism disquised as "tolerance" and "diversity"). A principled and moral man flies in the face of the degrading collectivist view of human nature and cannot be taken on directly, so they seek to eat away at his principles by deterministic nanny-state policies such as welfare and gun control. For the great majority of liberals, the connection between their philosophy and its political outcome is subconscious, which means that rational challenges to their views can be that much more powerful by contrast. Unfortunately, the philosophy of rights, reason, and reality is so lacking these days that both sides muddle on without really knowing what issues they are debating. Liberty is lost in the end because the bureaucracy is inherently unstable and politicians always power hungry, so that one side is always pushing for slavery while the other can only respond "not so fast!" as they give up their lives one regulation at a time.

My Gradumacation

Well, I graduated yesterday. I got a BS in Economics and Political Science from TAMU and a cool watch from my dad (on the right.) What does the future hold for me? I don't know, but if you're looking to hire a highly-motivated techie to design the next killer app, let me know. Meanwhile, I will be having fun at the Objectivist Summer Conference and Cancun this summer as I catch up on my programming and philosophy and put my plans for the future in focus.

�Voy a M�xico!

I'm going down to Mexico for a day, so excuse my lapse of entries, y ruegue que no consiga la venganza de Montezuma. �Muchas fotos que vienen pronto!

Update: Check out the various photos I took along the way.

What I've been up to...

I'm working on some new websites and learning PHP/MySQL in the process. Check out Capitalism Worldwide to see one of the PHP/MySQL content management sites I have been developing. I celebrated New Year's at Laurel's parent's place, and took lots of pictures, but unfortunately, my BRAND NEW digital camera broke on my way home :-(

Thanksgiving...

I had a great time in San Antonio over thanksgiving, including good food, several new books to read, and a brand new digital camera! Expect higher quality photos soon!

Meanwhile, check out a few shots I took with the new camera...

Back in Aggieland!

WHOOP!

Swimming Sucks

Actually, I love swimming, but lately I have been cramped up all over and seriously not ready for my 100 yard swim test on thursday...I should probably spend more time at the pool practicing and less on the keyboard getting carpal tunnel...

(Update: I passed my swim test! Yay!)

My South Park Character!

Get your own...

Libertarian Convention..

...was a blast! I met many, many cool people, talked philosophy, politics, economics, ethics, and business all night, ate some great food, stayed in a snazzy hotel room, and got the (unofficial) job of LP state webmaster in addition to potentially doing some local campagn websites. I also made a tentative speech plan for the coming year and met several potential speaker I can invite to come to A&M.
There were some negative aspects however, such as the highly argumentative nature of the nomination and convention process (more than should be, methinks) Also, some less than qualified people were nominated to office, but I suppose that's what elections are all about. In any case, I bet the Libertarians are about the only party that actually have a real Parliamentary - style convention process, whereas the Dems, Reps, and Greens probably have big PR gigs, while the real decisions are made in smoky bars and strip clubs. I'd like to know how true that is.

Check out photos
here