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Friday, November 07, 2008 A Dedication By Diana Hsieh @ 12:10 PM In light of the recent discussion of my "gutter attitude toward human sexuality" on this recent thread [now moved here] of the so-called "Forum for Ayn Rand Fans," I would like to dedicate the following video to all of my devoted fans on that site: I've never watched Sex in the City, but people so offended by my occasional use of profanity on NoodleFood will surely be aghast at the sight of "eggs whites [with] a side of cock." Goodness gracious, they might even utter some kind of forbidden word in dismay. If so, I see only one recourse for the person of integrity: gargle with soap. Labels: False Friends of Objectivism, WTF   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [71] (New Page)     Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Breast Is Best! By Diana Hsieh @ 8:53 AM Here's something that even The Onion couldn't make up: PETA urges Ben and Jerry's to switch to human breast milk. (Via Dave.) Labels: Environmentalism, WTF   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [17] (New Page)     Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Another Objectivist at Ford Hall Forum? By Greg Perkins @ 1:01 AM The Ford Hall Forum is a longstanding and prestigious platform for speakers with interesting things to say (like Objectivists Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, and Yaron Brook). The Forum sent out an announcement that Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales of Wikipedia fame will be speaking on September 11 in Boston. This caught my eye, not only because I fondly remember Jimbo from Objectivisty circles many years back, but also because it advertises that he is going to talk about how "Objectivist philosophy guides his vision": Free Speech, Free Minds, Free Markets: Competition and Collaboration Across the globe we are building, editing, and contributing to a growing body of knowledge and tools at everyone's fingertips. Volunteers in leaderless organizations contribute to online initiatives and articles. Software developers spend their free time collaborating with complete strangers. Amazingly, these efforts are creating products of extraordinary quality, sometimes better than that of large for-profit organizations. Why do we do it? Why does it work? Join us tonight as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales joins journalist Christopher Lydon to address these questions, where "web 2.0" will take us next, and how Objectivist philosophy guides his vision. I would love to ask some questions about how Objectivism guides his vision, but I can't be there. Maybe someone in the NoodleCaboodle could go and ask questions for us and report back! Here are the ones I am curious to hear addressed: You refer to Wikipedia as a way to give people free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Yet Wikipedia doesn't even aim to express what is true—it is focused on documenting what people believe, carefully including all the patently silly and downright vicious things people think. That is, Wikipedia strives for neutrality rather than objectivity with regard to the truth of what is claimed. Wouldn't Objectivism inspire you to characterize Wikipedia more accurately as a vast snapshot of what people currently think, good and bad? When you ask for contributions to Wikipedia, you seem to frame or at least decorate the appeal in altruistic terms. How does that square with the ethical egoism of Objectivism, which flatly rejects altruism as immoral? In your appeal for contributions, you wrote that "This is a radical strike at the heart of an increasingly shallow, proprietary and anti-intellectual culture. ... I hope [my daughter] will grow up in a world where culture is free, not proprietary... We're already taking back the Internet. With your help, we can take back the world." (Emphasis added.) Just what is bad about being proprietary? Wouldn't an Objectivist be supportive of the creator who chooses to profit from the sale of his work, rather than fight against him? And "taking back" seems to imply that something was unjustly taken. The Internet is physically composed of private property (computers, connections) and wasn't taken from you; the information communicated using it wasn't taken from you, either. Wouldn't Objectivism inspire clarifying and reinforcing the intellectual and physical property rights involved—including how they recognize and foster a deep harmony of interests—rather than this talk of "taking back" something that wasn't taken in the first place? You recently announced your launch of a Green Wiki. That site explains, "In light of the climate crisis and other ecological challenges increasingly facing us," that it hopes to serve the "people who want to inform themselves and live in a more sustainable way," because "the threats to our environment are real and that they require action." It will be "written from a green point of view," and will focus on detailing such helpful actions as "How to reduce your carbon footprint." How can this initiative of yours be informed by Objectivism, which repudiates the Environmentalist movement as epistemologically, morally, and politically corrupt? Obviously, I don't understand how Jimbo's actions can be reconciled with Objectivist principles, so I'm surprised to hear that he thinks the philosophy guides his vision. It would be great to see how he addresses this. Labels: Objectivism, Technology, WTF   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments [26] (New Page)     Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Band-Aids as Fashion Accessories By Diana Hsieh @ 1:38 PM Honestly, I just don't know what to say about this supposed fashion trend, other than WTF?!? When Nicholas James Brown prepares to go out for cocktails at the Tribeca Grand or to a clambake in the Hamptons, he sticks on a few boldly patterned Band-Aids by the Brazilian fashion designer Alexandre Herchcovitch. To Mr. Brown, 24, who works at Esquire magazine in New York, the colorful strips are an important accessory, and he's careful to coordinate them with his Kris Van Assche sweater or his Balenciaga bag. He generally wears one on his left hand or arm and balances it out with two or three on his right leg. He doesn't put them on his face because, he said, "I don't want people thinking, 'What happened?'" And if anyone does ask what he's done to himself to need all of those bandages? "I'll lie and say, 'I have a cut,' " he said. For most everyone over the age of 5, it's unfathomable to use a bandage purely as body art. But since the adhesive strip has been upgraded by designers like Mr. Herchcovitch or studded with Swarovski crystals, some adults have begun to view it as they would a bracelet or spray tan, as adornment. ... Has the world gone mad?!? Labels: WTF   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [12] (New Page)     Friday, August 08, 2008 College Student Steals Jesus By Diana Hsieh @ 1:41 PM When I discovered this story last weekend, I belly-laughed for a good five minutes. It's just that inane. In brief, Catholics became totally hysterical when a University of Central Florida student walked out of Mass with a Eucharist wafer in tow. It was the kidnapping of a Jesus! Once consecrated, such wafers are supposed to be the substance of the body of Christ -- albeit with all the attributes of a cracker. (Yes, it's a miracle!) The title the blog post on the incident -- well worth reading -- sums up my feelings exactly: IT'S A FRACKIN' CRACKER!". Many of the comments are damn funny too, particularly #29. Labels: Religion, WTF   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [44] (New Page)     Monday, July 07, 2008 UNwanted Movie By Greg Perkins @ 3:25 PM We went to see the new Angelina Jolie flick, Wanted, the other night. Having watched the trailers, and noting that 75% or so of 150+ reviews were coming out positive, our expectation was of basically mindless summer action in a slick package. We got all that: the production values were excellent, and the acting was just fine -- most of all, the action sequences were extremely stylish and fantastically unrealistic, though a bit over the top on gore at times. All of this is what you would expect. It's the "message" that is so horrid. *** MILD SPOILAGE ALERT *** The movie started out pretty quirky and random, and I was fine with cutting it slack even while Tammy was alternately squirming with boredom and revulsion at gory stuff as we waited for things to unfold. Soon enough, we got to see the main protagonist -- someone we are supposed like -- struggle briefly with and then accept the idea of killing innocent people on nothing more than blind faith in a mysterious, unseen and unfathomable authority saying they must be killed now to prevent never-specified future harms. Yes, the movie presents the issue that clearly, and then basically endorses the cold-blooded murder of innocents on faith. Our jaws dropped. Oh, but it gets worse. Even after the danger of such blind faith and obedience was demonstrated to be problematic in the course of the plot, a second important character who we are to sympathize with and enjoy the action of goes and deliberately acts on such faith in the face of that demonstration -- and in a gigantically self-sacrificial manner! Our eyes boggled. As if all that isn't horrid enough to be whacked in the face with, the movie underscores it by closing with a direct challenge addressed to the audience, along the lines of "see how I took splendid control of my life -- well, what have you done lately?" We stood up and shuffled out, numb at the Columbine-level insanity of it's message... and of so many people thinking it is just fine, if not great. Labels: Culture, Film, WTF   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments [10] (New Page)     Wednesday, June 11, 2008 What’s So Special About Obama By Greg Perkins @ 8:41 AM What's the big deal about Obama? Why does he have such an effect on so many people? Finally, someone has shown the courage to lay it all out for us! Writing in his column for the San Fransisco Chronicle, Mark Morfurd reveals that "Barack Obama isn't really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway." Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul. The unusual thing is, true Lightworkers almost never appear on such a brutal, spiritually demeaning stage as national politics. This is why Obama is so rare. And this why he is so often compared to Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to those leaders in our culture whose stirring vibrations still resonate throughout our short history. ... Those attuned to energies beyond the literal meanings of things, these people say JFK wasn't assassinated for any typical reason you can name. It's because he was just this kind of high-vibration being, a peacemaker, at odds with the war machine, the CIA, the dark side. And it killed him. Now, Obama. The next step. Another try. Good grief. Labels: Culture, Election, WTF   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments [13] (New Page)

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