Internal affairs first. After many grueling months, I finally finished Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. I didn't find it terribly rewarding, but at least I can move onto other things. I plan to start writing book reviews, but may keep those off this blog. My reading list here on out goes like this:
- The Martian, Andy Weir
- An Astronaut's Guide to Life On Earth, Chris Hadfield
- Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
- The Foundations of Morality, Henry Hazlitt
- Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking, Merrilee Salmon
That last is an optional textbook for my Logic and Critical Thinking class (the textbook titles in this subject are really uncreative). It's a rental, so that gives me a time limit, but I'm reading a lot faster now that OPAR is over.
What's concerning is how simple and straightforward the class' material is. This should be cultural common knowledge, but it isn't. I may go ahead and do a series of blog posts on basic logic topics.
However, I'm not very good at planning blog posts. Remember last fall when I was all worked up about post-scarcity, and only wrote about it twice? Possible solution: list out the topics in advance, with deadlines. Might be effective, might just clutter up the blog even more.
On the subject of clutter, I've got too many bookmarks, which perhaps I'll start archiving here. Alright, enough whining. Time for the links!
One of my friends made a post on status systems in social justice, which goes a long way toward dissecting the Oppression Olympics. And it reminded me I never update my blog.
I read a kinda old article last week on the topic of left versus right libertarians. Once again, it seems I don't fall into any particular political category comfortably. Maybe "radical libertarian centrist" would do? But I also read Paul Graham's essay Keep Your Identity Small, so slapping labels on everything doesn't seem like a good idea.
(I found that through LessWrong's Rationality Materials page. Lots of interesting stuff, but overwhelming when you get started. Someone should write it up in book form someday.)
The Allusionist Podcast discusses what it means to go viral, why podcasts don't, and confirms my disgust for Buzzfeed. Related: Wired Magazine interview Roman Mars.
On a more technological note, the Lunar Escape System was a contingency vehicle for the proposed long-duration Apollo missions. In the event the Lunar Ascent Stage failed, astronauts could essentially climb into a rocket-propelled chair and rendezvous with the Command Module. Somehow, I'm glad these never flew.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Astronomy Department has a number of online astronomy tools, for those who want a better intuition of star and planet motions.
That about does it for now. I'll plan on making a links post on a monthly basis from here on out.
The Allusionist Podcast discusses what it means to go viral, why podcasts don't, and confirms my disgust for Buzzfeed. Related: Wired Magazine interview Roman Mars.
On a more technological note, the Lunar Escape System was a contingency vehicle for the proposed long-duration Apollo missions. In the event the Lunar Ascent Stage failed, astronauts could essentially climb into a rocket-propelled chair and rendezvous with the Command Module. Somehow, I'm glad these never flew.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Astronomy Department has a number of online astronomy tools, for those who want a better intuition of star and planet motions.
That about does it for now. I'll plan on making a links post on a monthly basis from here on out.
