Quick Roundup 323

Well, as I said Friday, I'm back. It'll be a few days yet before I feel like I know what's going on in the world again, though.

One teaser first: I will devote one post some time soon to a rave review of my new ASUS Eee PC, and not just because two curious readers have asked me about it already.

And now, on to just a part of the backlog of interesting material. About the best thing that can be said for missing regular blogging for about a week is that one can simply walk right into a pile of interesting material rather than having to look for it....

Course on OPAR

It's worth the risk of seeming redundant to mention that Greg Perkins is about to start an online seminar on Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.

I have a busy summer of relocating ahead of me, so I won't be taking part myself. I figure that the next best thing I can do would be to send a few good people his way, so take a look.

Of Boycotts and Protests

Found via Andrew Medworth comes the following amusing, poorly-researched protest sign:


This indirectly brings up the fact that, as a matter of principle, yes, we should refuse to allow barbaric regimes like Red China or National Socialist Germany to even participate in -- much less host -- the Olympics. Doing so allows them to pretend to be what they are not: civilized countries.

By the way, Burgess Laughlin has an interesting comment over at Andrew's blog, too.

Jimmy Carter's Playboy Interview

En route to other things recently, I unearthed this gem of near-forgotten political buffoonery: Jimmy Carter's 1976 interview with Playboy. Here's an excerpt.

Scheer: Do you feel you've reassured people with this interview, people who are uneasy about your religious beliefs, who wonder if you're going to make a rigid, unbending President?

Carter: I don't know if you've been to Sunday school here yet.... But we had a good class last Sunday. It's a good way to learn what I believe and what the Baptists believe.... What Christ taught about most was pride, that one person should never think he was any better than anybody else.... The thing that's drummed into us all the time is not to be proud, not to be better than anyone else, not to look down on people, but to make ourselves acceptable in God's eyes through our own actions and recognize the simple truth that we're saved by grace.... I'm not trying to commit a deliberate sin. I recognize that I'm going to do it anyhow, because I'm human and I'm tempted. And Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. Christ said, "I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery." I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--and God forgives me for it. [minor edits, bold added]

Time magazine did a story on this, too, with the apt title, "Trying to Be One of the Boys".

I remember, as an adolescent, getting a whiff of the annoying and widespread false dichotomy of mindless sexuality vs. prudery that was being foisted on everyone from every conceivable angle around that time.

My natural inclination is to feel some sympathy for anyone being put on the spot like that. But the way Carter accepts that dichotomy himself, and yet also tries to straddle that fence is ludicrously contemptible.

Good! I'll Still Be Able to Cook!

Finding my weekend freer than I thought it might be, I made the drive to New Orleans this weekend to see part of Jazz Fest and visit with relatives. On my way home, I spotted a promising-looking URL on a billboard: cajungrocer.com. (I might have found them anyway, but the ad was a good reminder of a part of the preparations for my move that I'd forgotten about....)

A quick spot-check of one of my gumbo's key ingredients, andouille, shows a good selection (minus my usual brand) at decent prices. I think I'll give this site a test drive over the summer before I relocate to Boston to join my wife.

I intend to enjoy such local delicacies as Moxie, lobster rolls, and clam chowder while I'm up there, but being able to make gumbo from time to time is very important!

The real obstacle, based on my memories of a year in Connecticut in the early 1990s, will be finding good (or even acceptable) Mexican food.

-- CAV

Updates

5-6-08: Corrected a typo.