P. Rogue: Sigma.
I am about 250 pages from the end of Ayn Rand's opus, Atlas Shrugged. There is a lot to like for someone like me, a liberterian-minded atheist. She reminds me of what I have read of Robert Heinlein, though. She uses speeches by character to espouse her own philosophy too often. I already agree with her about a large number of issues, I don't need to be repeatedly bludgeoned by her ideals. It seems like the majority of situations are used to serve as demonstrations of her objectivist philosophy. Sometimes this breaks the flow of the story, which is a sufficient demonstration in itself. I can see why she appeals so much to limited government, pro-free market people such as myself. She distills what seems like common sense to me. A good example is an article in the paper from this past Sunday. In the srticle, the secretary of state of Tennessee expresses bewilderment on the number of petitions for a pool of grant money accumulated by the state. Of course if there is a pool of money that only requires a request there is going to be any number of groups claiming that they need it. As long as there is welfare, there are going to be welfare recipients. There will always be people who will game the system. Sure there are people who honestly need help. But once you create a system to help them, there are people who are going to try to game that system.
For example, I have personally talked to people who are either trying to or are currently taking advantage of state health care programs. The most common way is to live together with a "spouse", but remian legally single and only claim one income. So you might have a "boyfriend" who lives with you, but in the eyes of the state you are a single mom. An elderly friend of mine, who has since died, talked to me about the amount of drugs being sold out of government-subsidized housing where he lived. I wonder what the ratio of people who honestly need help is to people who just want to game the system. I have a cousin who is an able-bodied worker, but has repeatedly failed to hold down a solid job. Because he knows there is a safety net that will catch him, he has no fear of failure.
I would feel like an abject failure if I wan't trying my hardest to be productive and support my family. I have sympathy for people who work hard and still have trouble. To me, effort it important. But so often I have seen that so many people think honest effort is too difficult. Some people feel that flipping burgers at McDonald's is beneath them. Let me tell you, it is not beneath me. I have respect for anyone whom works. I'll try to get a better job, but I'd rather flip burgers any day than to be unemployeed.
At the restaurant that serves the best breakfast in the universe, in Gatlinburg, I looked at a couple of the cooks and told them that they do good work there. There is no higher compliment to me. You should finish every work day with a sense of pride if what you have accomplished through your effort. My favorite part of my day is when I walk through my bake with a manager and survey the results of my nightly effort. I want people to consume and enjoy what I produce. That makes me happy. Every dollar I spend I want to feel like I earned it, through my effort and will.
My point is that for me, it is all about effort. Always try to go a good job, at anything you choose to undertake. I have not always lived up to my own standards. I hae my own demons, especially laziness. It is an effort to get myself to confront problems rather than ignore them. The strange thing is that I always feel best when I feel I have successfully confronted a problem and done my best in dealing with it. And yet still sometimes I find it easier to ignore and procrastinate.
This post has been brought to you by Samuel Adams Winter Lager. This has to be one of my favorite beers. I wasn't very impressed by the other Samuel Adams winter beers, but the Winter Lager is exceptional. I find that my favorite beers are the flavorful medium-dark lagers. I am also very impressed with the Warsteiner variety called Dunkel. From what I gather, a dunkel is a traditional German dark lager. My favorite beers tend to be those in between a traditional lager and the darker porters.
Speaking of Samuel Adams, their advertising campaign totally has me. Every time I see a commercial I feel like there is some sort of cosmic injustice causing me to not work there. I just saw one commercial where they are handing out glasses of beer in some sort of funky carrier to office workers. The commercials claims that all Samuel Adams employees have to know about brewing beer, including Accounting. Maybe this is just a crazy fiction, but what a crazy fiction. I like the idea of an organization that believes in a product from top to bottom.
I'll conclude my saying that I like things that exude from human effort, especially beer. Beer in its numerous varities. But not Natural Ice. Time spent on Natural ice could be spent on acquiring the money to spend on good beer. If there is every such a world where I have to chose between water and Natural Ice, or Pabst Blue Ribbon, I hope I would either chose water or just brew my own beer. No beer is preferable to bad beer, amen.
Word!
For example, I have personally talked to people who are either trying to or are currently taking advantage of state health care programs. The most common way is to live together with a "spouse", but remian legally single and only claim one income. So you might have a "boyfriend" who lives with you, but in the eyes of the state you are a single mom. An elderly friend of mine, who has since died, talked to me about the amount of drugs being sold out of government-subsidized housing where he lived. I wonder what the ratio of people who honestly need help is to people who just want to game the system. I have a cousin who is an able-bodied worker, but has repeatedly failed to hold down a solid job. Because he knows there is a safety net that will catch him, he has no fear of failure.
I would feel like an abject failure if I wan't trying my hardest to be productive and support my family. I have sympathy for people who work hard and still have trouble. To me, effort it important. But so often I have seen that so many people think honest effort is too difficult. Some people feel that flipping burgers at McDonald's is beneath them. Let me tell you, it is not beneath me. I have respect for anyone whom works. I'll try to get a better job, but I'd rather flip burgers any day than to be unemployeed.
At the restaurant that serves the best breakfast in the universe, in Gatlinburg, I looked at a couple of the cooks and told them that they do good work there. There is no higher compliment to me. You should finish every work day with a sense of pride if what you have accomplished through your effort. My favorite part of my day is when I walk through my bake with a manager and survey the results of my nightly effort. I want people to consume and enjoy what I produce. That makes me happy. Every dollar I spend I want to feel like I earned it, through my effort and will.
My point is that for me, it is all about effort. Always try to go a good job, at anything you choose to undertake. I have not always lived up to my own standards. I hae my own demons, especially laziness. It is an effort to get myself to confront problems rather than ignore them. The strange thing is that I always feel best when I feel I have successfully confronted a problem and done my best in dealing with it. And yet still sometimes I find it easier to ignore and procrastinate.
This post has been brought to you by Samuel Adams Winter Lager. This has to be one of my favorite beers. I wasn't very impressed by the other Samuel Adams winter beers, but the Winter Lager is exceptional. I find that my favorite beers are the flavorful medium-dark lagers. I am also very impressed with the Warsteiner variety called Dunkel. From what I gather, a dunkel is a traditional German dark lager. My favorite beers tend to be those in between a traditional lager and the darker porters.
Speaking of Samuel Adams, their advertising campaign totally has me. Every time I see a commercial I feel like there is some sort of cosmic injustice causing me to not work there. I just saw one commercial where they are handing out glasses of beer in some sort of funky carrier to office workers. The commercials claims that all Samuel Adams employees have to know about brewing beer, including Accounting. Maybe this is just a crazy fiction, but what a crazy fiction. I like the idea of an organization that believes in a product from top to bottom.
I'll conclude my saying that I like things that exude from human effort, especially beer. Beer in its numerous varities. But not Natural Ice. Time spent on Natural ice could be spent on acquiring the money to spend on good beer. If there is every such a world where I have to chose between water and Natural Ice, or Pabst Blue Ribbon, I hope I would either chose water or just brew my own beer. No beer is preferable to bad beer, amen.
Word!