RoR: Forum

Linz,

Then I read your extended profile. There I saw this confession: "A few extra pounds."
... This is serious denunciation territory!

As an "incorrigible rationalist" (actually, I AM sort of a Spinozan sympathizer), I had already worked out (read: worked around) this detail. You see, my current physical hobby is: powerlifting and powerlifting allows for -- indeed, encourages -- "[a] few extra pounds."

[He he :-))]

Ed

(Edited by Ed Thompson on 8/30, 3:28pm)

Post 21

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 8:01pm

Good, Ed - you can have my few extra pounds, and I can see my six-pack...:-)

Post 22

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 9:00pm

The Incorrigible Rationalist braved:

As an "incorrigible rationalist" (actually, I AM�sort of a Spinozan sympathizer), I had�already worked out (read: worked around) this detail. You see, my current physical hobby is: powerlifting and powerlifting allows for -- indeed, encourages -- "[a] few extra pounds."

Ha! Think I'm mollified by this? Think I can't see through this blatant rationalising? I suppose when there are manyextra pounds you'll tell us you're doing Sumo wrestling?!

Linz

(Looks for excommunication manual.)

Post 23

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 9:11pm

I think he can take Akibono given a year or two of "powerlifting."

Loking forward to Mr. Thompson's next basho.

---Landon

Post 24

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 9:28pm

Linz,

[literally laughing out loud about the Sumo comment] ... Why don't you go ahead and make that "immutable rationalist," Linz (because even "incorrigible" doesn't seem to have enough 'gumption' -- for a guy such as I!)?

As I absolutely adore finality (go figure!) and the mental nirvana that it necessarily entails, let me put the nail in that piano-case coffin right now:

==============
I swear -- on my life, and my love of it -- that I will NEVER become a 654-lb Japanese Sumo Wrestler ... hmpf!
==============

Some specs ...

Subject: Ed (lil' Leibniz) Thompson

Athlete type: powerlifter

Height: 1.87 meters
Weight: 113 kg

Weight Class (for my competition this November): 110 kg or under

3 kilos (the "few extra pounds") in 2.x months = No problem!

Ed

Post 25

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 9:49pm

I don't get to see you competing at the spring Basho.
=*(

---Landon

Post 26

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 10:11pm

=*(

Landon, wipe your nose ... or your eyes ... or whatever that thing is -- off your face (gahd, I HOPE it's not a birthmark! ... ).

:-O

Ed

Post 27

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 10:14pm

it's a tear.

--Landon

Post 28

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 2:29am

Ed ventured:

Some specs ...

Subject: Ed (lil' Leibniz) Thompson

Athlete type: powerlifter

Ed�you've clearly misread Leibniz & made a very debilitating lifestyle choice because of it. It was "monads," not "gonads."

Linz

Post 29

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 3:45am

Ha!

Proud to say that my gonads are NOWHERE NEAR as small as Leibniz' monads! Talk about being light on your feet! He musta' sprung (up&down) when he walked -- that friggin' lightweight.

Sympathizing, Seemingly-Sumo Spinozan,

Ed

Post 30

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 3:22am

Ed, thanks for the bon mot in "Subjectivist Medicine."

On the subject of winning Atlas Points, an article, post or reply that has facts does better than one that has logic. Apparently, we all tend to agree on the logic; we crave facts.

This not to say that good argumentation is not appreciated: it obviously is. Also, we do disagree on some (perhaps much) of the "logic." See the Objectivism and Dissent Forums for evidence of that. Still, a post like Adam Reed's about Poland's role in Iraq -- recently revitalized by a reply -- is dense with facts. That makes it (and Adam) a winner.

You asked me to meta-evaluate your Atlas Points against Francisco's speech on money. The correlation had occured to me, which is why I posted "Atlas Point Inflation." However, your suggestion goes a bit deeper. Ideas are the currency here. We create them. We exchange them. If we did not value what we receive in exchange, we would leave. I went through the speech and inserted "Atlas Points" for "money." It was interesting, sometimes funny, but thought-provoking. I do not know how to parse this: The rotter who whines that his Atlas Points have not made him happy did not earn them. But this makes sense: Do you think that Atlas Points are created by the strong at the expense of the weak?

Non-congruities exist. For one thing, lurkers benefit though they do not contribute. This is not unknown in capitalism. The guy who will not keep up his yard benefits from the fact that everyone else around him does.

Post 31

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 1:11pm

Michael, thanks for those modified quotes from Francisco's money speech! I thought that what you did (replacing "money" with "Atlas points") was brilliant. I had thought only in basic themes, you went all in -- and actually substituted the terms to empirically check for congruence of analogy, and uncovering of insight! I hadn't even done this (but will now).

The fact vs. logic concept -- is another intriguing point, which I'll rephrase: saying something positively substantive is held as a higher value than is the mere avoidance (or correction) of contradiction.

Interesting,

Ed

Post 32

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 10:27pm

More of the same -- get a load of these puppies (caps for italics) ...

============
So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another--their only substitute, if they abandon Atlas Points, is the muzzle of a gun.
============

============
Atlas Points are so noble a medium that [they do] not compete with guns and [they do] not make terms with brutality.
============

============
You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive [online community] and you wonder why it's crumbling around you, while you're damning its life-blood--Atlas Points.
============

============
To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, [AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF ATLAS POINTS]--and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to [Linz, Joe, and Jeff], for this means: [an online community] of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement.
============

============
If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose--because it contains all the others--the fact that they were the people who created the phrase 'to MAKE Atlas Points.' No other language or nation had ever used these words before ...
============

============
The words 'to make Atlas Points' hold the essence of human morality.
============

============
When Atlas Points [cease] to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become tools of men. Blood, whips, and guns--or Atlas Points. Take your choice--there is no other--and your time is running out.
============

Alright, not my best work, somewhat corny -- but not ENTIRELY unfunny either!

;-)

Ed

Post 33

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 11:33pm

Hahahahaha! There's another article in there, Ed! :-)

Post 34

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 11:58pm

Michael M. and Ed,

That's quite funny. Very funny.

"Blood, whips, and guns--or Atlas Points. Take your choice--there is no other--and your time is running out."

She would want to hang us, but that's really funny stuff.

Post 35

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 5:03am

Ed, those are hilarious!! I just hope they don't end up on some ''famous quotes'' site by mistake.

Here's one I just thought of:

"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"

"I . . . don't know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?"

"To point."

It would have the same effect, wouldn't it?

(It could be worse - we could be making pointless jokes.)

(Edited by I. N. Rand on 9/02, 5:15am)

Post 36

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 10:16am

Dayaamm Ed!

LOLOLOLOL..

How about a strong hook to get started?

"So you think that Atlas Points are the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever considered what is the root of Atlas Points?"

Or the warning:

Did you get your Atlas Thingies by fraud? By pandering to men's vices or men's stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By making statements you despise for Bonkers you scorn? If so, then your Atlas Thingies will not give you a moment's or an Atlas Point's worth of joy.

Or the sacred oath to obtain access to Solympus:

I swear - by my Atlas Thingie and my love of it - that I will never bonk an Atlas Point for the sake of another Solo Poster, nor ask another Solo Poster to bonk an Atlas Point for mine.

Michael

Post 37

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 12:38pm

Atlas thingie? Hmmm...is that what you're calling it? Does your Atlas point? ;)

Post 38

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 12:47pm

You should see it shrug.

Post 39

Saturday, September 3, 2005 - 12:34am