Austro-Athenian Empire http://praxeology.net/blog The Web Journal of Roderick T. Long Tue, 13 May 2008 03:21:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 en Feith-Based Initiative http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/12/feith-based-initiative/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/12/feith-based-initiative/#comments Tue, 13 May 2008 03:21:32 +0000 Administrator Terror Left-Libertarian Lapsus Linguae http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/12/feith-based-initiative/ I just now saw Douglas Feith on The Daily Show saying: “The war has been longer and bloodier and costlier than anybody hoped.” At first I wondered: that sounds odd – why “hoped” rather than “predicted”? But then I realised the question answers itself: if he’d said “predicted” the counterexamples would be too easy to come by.

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Turn That Frown Upside Down! http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/10/turn-that-frown-upside-down/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/10/turn-that-frown-upside-down/#comments Sun, 11 May 2008 03:43:17 +0000 Administrator Left-Libertarian Thank You Please May I Have Another Antiracism http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/10/turn-that-frown-upside-down/ A panel of Federal apparatchiks is complaining that this proposed Martin Luther King statue is “too confrontational”:

proposed M. L. King statue

Ah yes. After spending decades carefully blurring King’s image to make him seem safe and non-threatening to the political establishment, the last thing our rulers want is a statue that might suggest an intractable King.

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Everybody Must Get Cloned http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/everybody-must-get-cloned/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/everybody-must-get-cloned/#comments Fri, 09 May 2008 22:23:17 +0000 Administrator Science Fiction http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/everybody-must-get-cloned/ Harry Knowles is giddy about this. I wish I could be, but for some reason – despite my being a Star Wars fan since 1977 – it just leaves me cold.

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Destination: Apokolips http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/destination-apokolips/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/destination-apokolips/#comments Fri, 09 May 2008 18:39:41 +0000 Administrator Science Fiction http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/09/destination-apokolips/ Starbuck Apokolips

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The Shroud of Aristotle http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/the-shroud-of-aristotle/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/the-shroud-of-aristotle/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 21:58:37 +0000 Administrator Ethics Rand Antiquity Left-Libertarian http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/the-shroud-of-aristotle/ Whilst surfing for something else I happened across this description of Ayn Rand’s philosophy as “really nothing other than a Solipsistic ethical system thinly shrouded with Aristotle,” popular only because “a lot of college age kids want to hear … a philosophical rationalization for greed and selfishness.”

Ayn Rand I think one of the chief explainers of the divide between those who take Rand seriously as a philosopher and those who don’t may well be the interpretive divide between those who see her philosophy as a solipsistic ethical system thinly shrouded with Aristotle and those who see it as an Aristotelean system thinly shrouded with ethical solipsism. Obviously I’m in the latter camp.

So here’s a question for those in the former camp: if Rand’s ethics is just a rationalisation for greed and selfishness (in the conventional sense) and the Aristoteleanism is just a thin shroud, then what exactly is the contrast in The Fountainhead between Roark on the one hand and Wynand and Keating on the other supposed to be about? What is supposed to be wrong with Wynand’s and/or Keating’s modus operandi, from Rand’s point of view? If anyone can give a plausible answer that’s consistent with the view of Rand cited above, I’ll eat my conical hat. If not, then I’ll stick to my view that such readings of Rand are the product of a tin ear.

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Moon of Kudzu http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-kudzu/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-kudzu/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 20:22:51 +0000 Administrator Science Fiction http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-kudzu/ While I’m on the subject of hauntingly beautiful moon-related indie sf movies, the extremely low-budget Moon Europa project, which I was introduced to at Asheville’s Revoluticon in 2006, is one to keep an eye on. Check out the three trailers here, here, and here.

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Moon of Ice http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-ice/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-ice/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 20:03:50 +0000 Administrator Science Fiction http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/moon-of-ice/ Iron Sky This trailer is beautifully done. So beautifully done, in fact, that I’m betting they put the bit with the dove in at the end just because they felt they had to make sure nobody thought they were out to glamourise the Nazis!

Anyway, I look forward to seeing more. (But since when do Germans drive on the left?)

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But Probably Not the One Who Supported the Registration Act http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/but-probably-not-the-one-who-supported-the-registration-act/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/but-probably-not-the-one-who-supported-the-registration-act/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 17:12:39 +0000 Administrator Anarchy Science Fiction Humor Terror Left and Right Left-Libertarian http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/07/but-probably-not-the-one-who-supported-the-registration-act/ Rothbard is Iron Man! So we learn at the end of this piece by Jeff Tucker.

Now there’s an image that sticks in the mind ….

Rothbard as Iron Man

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Grailward! http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/grailward/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/grailward/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 03:49:42 +0000 Administrator Democracy Left-Libertarian http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/grailward/ I just saw Hillary Clinton’s concession/victory speech, and all I could think of was:

It's just a flesh wound!  Come back here, I'll bite you!

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Night of the Iguaçu http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/night-of-the-iguau/ http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/night-of-the-iguau/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 02:49:08 +0000 Administrator Science Fiction http://praxeology.net/blog/2008/05/06/night-of-the-iguau/ Niagara is cool (which according to Aristotle would be why it flows downward), but to my mind the world’s most beautiful waterfall, which I’ve always wanted to see, is Iguaçu Falls in Brazil:

Iguazu Falls

From the latest trailer it looks like Iguaçu Falls is going to be a major location for Indiana Jones and the Title That Goes On and On. Should be mighty purty ….

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