22 Comments

Delighted to hear from you as usual, Holly.

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May 30, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

How nice to hear you’re doing well!

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May 30, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

Daylight bulbs. I tricked every room out with them; proved very effective against SAD & Clinical Depression. Give them a go for next Winter.

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May 30, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

CRT = Cathode-Ray Tube. 🙂

Usage:

Those CRT TVs were so heavy, but we had to have the biggest ones we could afford!

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May 30, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

Looking forward to your book reviews. I have read Atlas Shrugged but years ago. The others are on my very long list of “gotta reads”. Glad you had a vacation and a decent winter.

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That app looks great! I have a Pencil that I really haven't used much.

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Yes, I'm going to try out that app too. I love my Apple Pencil (even though my iPad is so old I have to use the 1st Gen version).

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Looking forward to your thoughts on AS. The most common criticisms I read of it and Rand are that she loves rich people and hates poor people. That's how you might tell me you've never read AS without actually telling me you never read AS. It's pretty clear that by 100 pages in, James is a villain and Dagny is a heroine.

I would recommend that your review on this should be completely private. You may get some lively discussion from your subscribers, but that's as far as I expect it would go. From random strangers, well, that'd be a total crap shoot.

If you're curious, she appeared on Phil Donahue's show a few times, and many of those are available on YT. Economically, she lined up pretty closely with Milton Friedman, Frederick von Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises, though she did have some pretty pointed criticisms of some of their work. Anyway, just thought I'd provide a little color in case you weren't aware.

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Holly,

Once you complete Atlas Shrugged you will lose your economic virginity.

I used the book in the opening speech at the first Denver Tea Party in Feb of 2009.

https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2009/02/28/ayn-rand-stars-at-denver-stimulus-tea-party-protest/

I also wrote about Rands economic themes in many blog posts...

https://healthyworld.news/2011/08/17/economic-congruency-ayn-rand-points-to-the-logical-next-step-of-obamas-financial-policies/

One of the things I love about her the most is that she whacks the fascists as hard or even harder than the marxists in her books.

She does not believe industry should be married to government... period.

And she reserves her most decidedly vicious take on the scientific institutions that are funded by taxpayers.

It is glorious!

Watch the documentary: https://youtu.be/QifqkPq-kL0

I would like to formally invite you to be a guest on my podcast once you finish the book to discuss Atlas Shrugged!

Cheers!

Jenny

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Thanks for the update, recommendations and telling us that you are reading Atlas Shrugged. I read it and The Fountainhead, plus her essays when I was a junior in high school, and I can honestly say that her philosophy shaped and directed my life in the best possible way. I'm not even a libertarian! People love to bag on her writing and narrative skills, but those who do make me wonder if they ever read her works. I read a lot, and I don't read no junk ha ha. I'm looking forward to your review.

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Quote about Atlas:

"Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.” Being conversant in Ayn Rand’s classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement."

https://www.chrisbanescu.com/2009/01/atlas-shrugged-from-fiction-to-fact-in-52-years/

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founding

I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 16, and, without a doubt, it influenced me more than any other book I’ve read. But, I’m a bit different in that it wasn’t her politics and economics that made such a mark, for me, it was her ethics.

Two things in particular: that she seemed to take morality more seriously than any of the Christians I had grown up around. And that she believed (and showed, I think) that people who attempt to pretend reality isn’t real are actually dangerous. Both are particularly germane to how I think about the trans issue.

Very much looking forward to what you have to say about it!

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Jun 1, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

Normally I roll my eyes when people have emojis of themselves as avatars (like when people had themselves Simpson-ized) but durn it I've always found yours utterly adorable. The ponder-y hand-on-chin one has never gotten old ❤

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