Atlas Shrugged

I could not finish Atlas Shrugged.

To rabid fans of Ayn Rand: I'm willing to admit that I'm too stupid to understand her brilliant ideas. Fine, an obnoxious Objectivist or two might think I'm ignorant. I can live with that. I think of it as an intellectual equivalent of an obese person criticizing my relatively slow running pace.

This cartoon sums up some of my feelings quite nicely.

I loved this comment about the above mentioned cartoon:

"Rand never gets credit for her single greatest accomplishment... giving assholes an intellectual framework for being assholes."

Now, what to do with my copy of Atlas Shrugged, which I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents? I've thought about this a lot. I don't want to destroy the book because I don't believe ideas should be destroyed regardless of how bad. So burning, dunking, shooting, drawing and quartering are out.

A list of uses for Atlas Shrugged (that retains the readability of the copy)

1. Obvious: door stop and paper weight

2. Violent: blunt object that inflicts pain but no real damage

3. Liberal repellent

4. Yoga prop

5. Exercise equipment

6. When all you need is an extra 3 inches to reach something

7. Bug killer

8. Flower press

9. Furniture leveler

10. Lumbar support (paperback version)

11. Pot holder

12. Action figure scenery

13. Hot Wheels track support

14. Animation

Feel free to add others in the comments. I might get around to re-enacting some of these in photos and drawings.

Herb and Jamaal

Herb and Jamaal free online comic strip library at comics.com

There is nothing else going on here.

There is nothing else going on here.

There is nothing else going on here.

Just two grown men being friends. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The hopeless gardner

To read stories of successful efforts as self-sufficiency and sustainability visit http://bigmyrtle.blogspot.com/. I admire what Mark and Shelley have done.

My efforts on the other hand have yielded a single onion. It provided some nice flavor to my morning egg. There is still hope for a cantaloupe. Three of the plants grew real well until a rain followed by heat killed them. The dog killed two when he thought my little garden would make a great place to dig and wallow. The lone onion survived this assault. Walter placed some sticks in the bed to deter the dog. It worked and I had onion to show for it. One melon plant is still growing and blooming. I cheer it on every time I take Loki out for a walk.

Harvested a pound of Muscatine grapes but those weren't grown through my own efforts. We have a wild grape vine that partially encircles our backyard. When we moved in the previous owner said that the vine wouldn't produce because it was missing a component. Apparently the vine found the needed part. I snacked on the grapes for about a week after a good washing. Some of the grapes were located within Loki's firing range. I liked the tart flavor of the grapes. Looked up some recipes but these called for more grapes than I had.

Found that gardening is not something to do casually. Takes more time than I'm willing to commit at this point. I like the idea more than the actual project. That last statement sums up most of my life.

When pros fail

Glad to see that even a professional can screw something up. Give Joe Giella points for trying. Where does Mary hide all that hair? I thought she had an Ann Richards style hairdo.

History & Quotes - Classic Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) US writer - ArcaMax Publishing

History & Quotes - Classic Quotes by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) US writer - ArcaMax Publishing

What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it... which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses'.

An armed society is a polite society.

Men rarely (if ever) dream up a God superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

History does not record anywhere a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

Offensive speech, bad manners, and filthy toilets all seem to go together.

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I'll clean the bathrooms after I come home. At least scrub the toilets.