Casey,

I commented briefly on this on the Betraying the Heroine Thread. I felt disappointed and sad. I felt like the little boy that asked "Say it ain't so, Joe" in the Chicago Blacksox scandal. It's amazing to me that the same man wrote the Six Pillars of Self-Esteem and the Psychology of Romantic Love could act out the Shakespearean scenario in PARC, but then I also reaffirmed my sense of who Rand was: the Rand I encountered on lecture tapes, the Mike Wallace and Day at Night interviews and the Phil Donohue Shows.
It also makes me want to know more about her.

I'll relate a personal story of when a person I knew who seriously disappointed me and possibly why this doesn't affect me the way you think it should. When I was in graduate school, I did research in chemical catalysis and I worked with four people in the lab. One of the graduate students was a brilliant Turkish fellow who had some ethical problems. I had heard from others that he occasionally cheated on tests and I was somewhat leery about his lab technique, but he seemed to fill out all of the appropriate hazardous waste forms and be in compliance.

Well, to summarize and be brief, he had been faking or was incomplete on the waste forms. One day when I came into the lab and was setting up glassware for an experiment. I had protective eyewear on, but had not donned a full face shield yet because I was not yet working with chemicals.

Suddenly, I heard a whine and a kind of poof noise and my face was splashed with high concentration nitric acid. I managed to get to the facewash fast enough that I had 1st degree burns and some second degree burns. My face swelled up like a bright red tomato. I had the obligatory ride in the ambulance and the hour-long freezing cold shower buck-naked for decontamination.

We found out my colleague had put benzyl alcohol waste in nitric acid waste container. Well, that chemical reaction generates a close cousin to TNT and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought about how I would react when I saw this guy again and I welled up with anger. But then I decided on a different course of action. I showed up with my face looking like that and told him he had some serious thinking to do. I've never seen someone so distraught in my life. he completely changed for the better and my face has healed well.

So I'm going to let this little drama play out and we'll see who does what and how. I'd like to think people can simultaneously think poorly of the Brandens and still gain value from the work they've produced. But then again, I guess it's up to each individual person to weigh the evidence and decide how they want to deal with this.

Jim

You've read PARC, now, presumably. What do you think, James?

Linz,

We can also have a Dylan Thomas poetry reading. RAGE, RAGE against the dying of the light .

Jim

Sounds like a plan! We should find a good Irish Pub after the book signing to fill Linz full of Guinness and they might even let me break out my fiddle. Beware, though, I can't play a note of Rachmaninoff .

Jim

I look forward to meeting you, and your peeps. It should be quite an interesting event, I think. Yes, indeed...

Casey

Linz,

I think we could also have a celebration on Thursday night where we all burn Peikoff, Binswanger and Schwartz in effigy and roast marshmallows. Since this is my old stomping grounds, we might even be able to dig up Reisman, Packer, Jerry Kirkpatrick and Linda Reardan. I haven't seen them since my college days, but it sounds like as good an excuse as any.

Jim

Casey,

I'll show up with my copy of PARC. Linz's contingent coming over there may be bigger then you realize . I saw Bill Nevin also wandering around on one of the other threads .

I'll drag my brother and my old Silicon Valley roommate over. Since I'm moving to Arizona shortly, I think we'll have an awesome roadtrip to the Summer Seminar.

Jim

You're on your own. But rest assured that we'll feed you and offer you a nicely-aged and complex Pinot Noir, afterwards. And hopefully you'll regale us with the details of your ordeal -- that is, if the emotional scars don't prevent you from talking about it.

From what I understand, James's book signing is within walking distance of the TOC seminar site. If you can make it, Linz, when the time comes, just focus on survival. And Pinot Noir...

Casey—I can't wait to meet you guys for the special thing we have planned. But frankly, I think you should all sign up for the TOC Seminar so as to be there to ameliorate my loneliness. I'm told they're proposing to keep me in a cage all week, with alfalfa sprouts & mineral water fed to me at irregular intervals while Barbara & Nathaniel press their faces to the cage and snarl "Alcoholic! ARI-worshipper! Valliant-groupie! Rand-idolator! Objectivist-rager!" at me over & over. In that situation I could use a Magenta Hornet or two.

Julian—thanks for your beautiful post. Proud to know you & have you on board.

Sturm—ditto.

Lance—I'll take care of your tonsorial needs & your counselling. I have just the couch (if I'm allowed it in my cage).

I can confirm that Linz, the Brandens, and Valliant will all be gathered like a planetary alignment at the TOC summer seminar.

James Valliant will be signing books virtually across the street from the TOC seminar site at Borders Books in Orange, California, on the last Saturday of the seminar.

The booksigning event has nothing to do with TOC, except in the obvious intellectual and historical senses.

His wife Holly (the Magenta Hornet herself), and I, will be there as well, just FYI, James.

I'm sure James (V.) would look forward to meeting any who are inclined to stroll over after the last lecture, whoever that might include. Those who do will be able to see for themselves what a gracious and knowledgable gentleman and scholar Mr. Valliant truly is, and how far from rancorous and angry he is as an actual human being. One might even be able to compare the stereotypes of hate-mongering Objectivists who oppose the Brandens as portrayed in Barbara's lecture with the object of her lecture's thesis himself. Then again, Barbara's lecture may have nothing to do with the subject of PARC or its author, or those who endorse either one.

See you there!

Thanks, Duncan. By "busy, busy, busy" I mean visually busy. It doesn't seem like a big deal but it has a cumulative effect when you're hit with a barrage of options each time you visit. The site has tons of potential. This is a growth stock and I'm a buyer.

Is their a spell checker on this thing? No, really. Is there?

Linz, I am in dire need of a hair care professional. I need a counselor. I found a guy downtown and I'm trying to decide if I can stomach the $50-/cut he's gonna hit me for. Let's see if I can find this SOLO mail of yours...

Lance, thanks for the feedback. The more people let us know what they want, the more we can make SOLO the kind of place people visit compulsively.

The posts in a thread become non-linear depending on which post is responded to.

If you look at the bottom of the comments, you'll see a Comment viewing options section; if you change Flat list - expanded to one of the Threaded list options, you'll see the comments in threaded, rather than chronological, order.

Quoting others is difficult.

Yes I like the approach some sites take with a quote button that creates a reply with the original post already quoted - the poster can then trim it to fit & add his own comments. I'll see if I can find something like that for Drupal (the CMS on which this site runs).

and it gives me the option of italics and bold, etc. but the text is really small. Too small.

What browser & OS are you using? It's fine for me in Firefox under both Windows and Linux. If you're using Firefox under Windows, try holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling with the mousewheel; this will increase or decrease the size of all fonts on the page.

I'm not sure if SOLO mails are available here. They probably are and I just haven't found them. That was a nice feature.

Doofus

Busy, busy, busy.

Meaning the site is visually busy & thus hard to follow, or that you're busy yourself? Sorry, I didn't quite follow that one.

* I'm not sure if SOLO mails are available here. They probably are and I just haven't found them. That was a nice feature.

I knew you couldn't see with your hair over your eyes like that. SOLO Mail is staring you in the face, as is Duncan's announcement of same, which you might discern if you scroll down the main page.

I've just sent you one!

Lance, I can't remember the last post I saw from you on any thread. I say this in sorrow, not anger, since I always sat up & took notice of your posts. Where are they now?

Linz, I've been in lurk mode the last couple months, mostly because I've been working so many hours. The navigation of the site has discouraged me a few times...I'll be specific about how:

* The posts in a thread become non-linear depending on which post is responded to. It throws the dynamic out of whack for me like reading straight though a chapter in a book and then having to go back
a few pages to find something. There's a lot of jumping around that has to be done. There is an argument to be made for that kind of flow but I think the greater argument is that it breaks the flow.

* Quoting others is difficult. I understand html reasonably well but a lot of people don't and anyway no one wants to type in those tags as they go. So, I enable the "rich-text" (which the user has to discover) and it gives me the option of italics and bold, etc. but the text is really small. Too small.

* I'm not sure if SOLO mails are available here. They probably are and I just haven't found them. That was a nice feature.

* Busy, busy, busy.

I'm wouldn't come near saying I'm disappointed in the site because I understand it will take time to get things the way you want them. I'm sure the guys are working hard to put it together and I appreciate it. But those are some of the specific things about the site that discourage me from posting sometimes.

I'd be interested to know what the others think.

... here's the deal: if you're concerned about clutter, I promise to cull ruthlessly if you guys bitching about it promise to get/keep active. All articles get stickied regardless - that gives them a day or two's extra prominence prior to their drifting down the front page. But I've no intention of subordinating the esthetics to the whims of lurkers. Shayne has a great post re Google, for example. Where are your posts on that? Is it more important to post about clutter than contribute to the meatier discussions? Lance, I can't remember the last post I saw from you on any thread. I say this in sorrow, not anger, since I always sat up & took notice of your posts. Where are they now?

Folk who do personal blog entries or start threads are at least making the effort. That's an effort I want to encourage.

Linz

Linz, glad to hear things are coming together for the new site. It's still tricky to navigate. The front page overwhelms the visitor with info. Busy, busy, busy. Though I like the design underneath it all. The place has a nice feel to it. Consider taking a few hacks at the non-essential links.

Just a wee suggestion here. You said, Linz, "From this point, all personal blog entries and all new Forum threads will automatically appear on the front page, so your efforts will be guaranteed attention."

I wonder whether you really want everything that's posted appearing on the front page. Are you sure you want other items pushing down articles on the limited screen real estate of the front page? Do you really want articles and everything else given the same degree of prominence? Is there not a way to lay out the front page so that articles (which have hopefully had some time devoted to them) stay around longer than blog entries (which may just haev been knocked off in a few moments)?

I can think of a few ways myself of applying the necessary separation , if that's considered by other SOLOists as important as I think it is.

I believe Casey & the Valliants will be just down the road at a book-signing on the last day of TOC. No doubt the Brandens will be availing themselves of the opportunity to acquire autographed PARCs, and to launch new friendships.

I hope TOC don't schedule me up against Barbara. She's lecturing on Objectivist rage, I on the reason/passion dichotomy. While I've heard her presentation many times already (right in my ear, in fact), she should at least have the opportunity to hear mine.

Linz,

Should I bring extra Roman Candles? My guess is they will put your presentations opposite theirs, but the common room discussions ought to be interesting . Wait, the party's not complete yet, they haven't invited James and Holly Valliant and Casey Fahy...

Jim

... doesn't overlook injustices done to a true heroine by opportunist smearers, nor turn the other cheek when they smear him.

Needless to say the smearers won't be at any SOLO Conference. But apparently Brandens B & N & I will all be at TOC in July. TOC must be trying to set some kind of fireworks milestone for July 4. I can't wait to utter the line of Joan Fontaine in Serenade, "Well, we're all here now, aren't we?!"

Ok Linz, now, let's go back to work, and remember that you have a conference coming up. A true, true hero, is the one who is capable to remake a friend from an enemy who once was a friend....smiling! I think it would be a great event  to see Linz, Barbara, NB,all at the conference.

Ciro D'Agostino

Too often we do not praise those for whom praise is most deserved. So I shall delay no longer. It is difficult to overestimate the degree of gratitude I have for Lindsay, Duncan, Julian P, Peter Cresswell, Andrew Bissell, etc, for the work that they have done (especially in the last few months) to bring together a group of people for whom Objectivism is about a Sense of Life, about honesty, and about integrity.

I know what type of person Lindsay is and he is all of the above in their most innocent forms. And I think he must often despair and wonder - just like Ayn Rand did - why comrades often demonstrate a lack of honesty, integrity and loyalty. I can say this since I saw his reactions when we were both living in Auckland in the late 1990's.

However, I am reassured, since I know that we still have an organisation - SOLO - led by someone for whom adherence to the values of honesty and integrity is non-negotiable. We also have an organisation with people who actually HAVE a Sense of Life and don’t just talk about it, and an organisation that has some of the best minds on its staff.

I should mention the SOLO Passion webmasters who have done a superb job, having created a website from scratch in such a short time. Yes it will take time to match the functionality of the old site - but that site took years to develop by the previous webmasters.

I think we should all be excited by what the future holds for SOLO. I will certainly be attending the SOLO 4.5 conference.

Oh, and Linz, can you now exclude me when you see fit to jeer at vegetarians?

Julian

To be honest, I'm not fully sure at this stage what this position might evolve into. Linz did suggest some positions he would like me to assume, but I don't think I can repeat them here

I can see myself doing something a little more formal with this role later on in the year when I'm a bit more freed up for time, but for now I will be doing whatever I can to push SOLO's cause both internally and externally. I'm proud to be associated with it.

"I am still chewing this one over: ... That means he’ll rove around and alight on things that take his fancy."

Well chew away Ash. You know full well the thing most likely to take my fancy is your good self.

I was thinking SOLO Youth should be a recruiting tool for SOLO Thrust. Grab 'em young, train 'em right Cherish the thought!

I'm planning a road-trip to and around the East Coast of the USA sometime this year. Now if you tell me the approximate date & length of the SOLO conference I can plan my holidays...

Considering I'll be driving from Kansas I need a little more time to plan things than the normal - air-traveller would...

I am still chewing this one over:

"The adorable Tim Sturm steps down as SOLO Economics Leader and becomes SOLO Ambassador-at-Large. That means he’ll rove around and alight on things that take his fancy."

And hey, I love young people. If they subscribe to SOLO Youth, SOLO Thrust, and SOLO Homo, I'd say they were just about my type.

I was thinking SOLO Thrust should be a recruiting tool for SOLO Youth. Grab 'em while they're hormonally vulnerable. But I agree with you about that Ashley. Perish the thought!

I've made mistakes in telling you how I think things should be handled, but could you please keep the SoloYouth away from SoloThrust, and even more horrific would be if our youth ventured over into Ashley's prurient domain!

In all seriousness though, Bravo Linz, especially in regards to the resumption of Daily Linz. God help us all!