Quick Roundup 422

Collaboration and Compromise

Adam Reed sounds a note of caution regarding some of the opposition Barack Obama's economic policies have been drawing since he took office:

If you want to work against the culture of self-sacrifice, and for the Human's individual human right to pursue his own happiness on Earth, then, and especially in contexts where you find yourself on the same side of the barricade with people of mixed premises who on other issues advocate for evil, the advocate of individual rights must make sure that his own basic principles are clearly and openly defined. The alternative, of hiding principles in the name of collaboration, amounts in the long-term to philosophical and practical suicide. And to those who "cited" the exact opposite of what Ayn Rand wrote: if you venture to cite Ayn Rand, at least try first to grasp what she actually said.

I have only one thing to add: Welcome back to the blogosphere, Dr. Reed!

Objectivist Blog Directory

I am flattered to see that this blog is listed on a top twenty list of Objectivist blogs compiled by Daniel of The Nearby Pen.

A Bleg

In considering some interesting questions regarding the relationship (and the difference) between philosophy and the special sciences, I have been trying to locate a quote.

I think it is probably from Ayn Rand, but it could well have been from someone like Leonard Peikoff or Harry Binswanger. It was a sort of application of the following quote to the special sciences, although it emphasized a different perspective:

Philosophy would not tell you, for instance, whether you are in New York City or in Zanzibar (though it would give you the means to find out). (Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It, p. 2)

But the quote went something more like, "There is no 'Objectivist Psychology' ..."

If this rings a bell, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

OS on a Stick

Over about the past year, it has been my habit to visit Life Hack and Life Hacker about once a week, and I have gradually accumulated a nice set of useful tips. Most notably, I have become much better able to carry my work around with me. This has come in very handy during my bouncing around between Houston and Boston over the past few months.

First, I learned how to carry my office around wherever I go. This entailed normally working off my pen drive, and installing a suite of stand-alone applications that would enable me to use any Windows computer relatively easily.

Now, the folks at Life Hacker have a top six list of mini operating systems that can run off pen drives:

Why restrict yourself to merely carrying around your data on a thumb drive? Take your entire operating system on your flash drive with the excellent portable operating systems you'll find inside this week's Hive Five.

Between PortableApps and MobaXVT, I do just fine when I have to use someone else's computer, but I like the fact that all of these options go beyond the usual "Live CD" types of toolkits by being "able to retain settings and preferences between sessions."

Desperado

And speaking of my visits to Boston, I learned quite by accident Saturday that every time I go out in public up there, I am breaking the law! (Search Term: "Boston", HT)

-- CAV

Updates

Today: (1) One minor correction. (2) Added image.