Tax Day Tea Party Sterling Heights Michigan

Sorry about being a day late with this but here are pics of the Tea Party I went to in Sterling Heights on Thursday 4/15. There were about 400 to 500 people there including several dozen union and government people on the other side of the street carrying pre-made signs saying SOS for Save Our Services. Evidently they don't like the idea of smaller government. Click on any image for larger view.

I went to a few Tea Parties this past week. The first was Sunday 4/11/10 at the Clinton Twp Civic Center. It was sponsored by MEDEFCO (Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition) and featured a stop by the Tea Party Express folks. Two bus loads of speakers and entertainers pulled up.

There was about 3000 people there according to one local newspaper. A sampling of the people by me revealed Republican, Democrat and lots of independent voters present. The singing was quite good and all the speakers mentioned the need for smaller government and less taxes and less regulations. I'll post on the other Party tomorrow.

Blogroll Update Mar. 2010

It's time again for another blogroll update. Not all of the sites below are hosted by objectivists but are still very rational, enjoyable reads.

First will be Jihad Watch a blog devoted to watching and tracking the jihadist movement within Islam.

Second will be the music of M. Zachary Johnson. A good sampling of his own compositions on Sax.

Third is Illustrated Ideas hosted by Robert Tracy, a military man.

Fourth is STATS, a blog of statistical assessment at George Mason University. If you're sceptical about so-called scientific studies that purport to tell you what's good or harmful for you, STATS likes to go over those studies with a fine tooth comb and show you what's wrong with them.

Fifth is The Anger of Compassion where Craig Ceely is again reporting on current events.

Sixth will be Alaxander Marriott's Wit and Wisdom. Alex's blogging may be light for a short time but he promises to get back to it soon.

Seventh is The Advice Goddess where journalist Amy Alkon gives advice on almost anything.

The next four are about paleo dieting and living which I recommend. Being on a low carb regimen myself I have found valuable low carb recipes, info on vitamin supplements, exercise and more. Their blogrolls lead to more sites of interest.

Eighth is Free the Animal. Here Richard Nikoley blogs not just on paleo eating but paleo living.

Along the same line, #9 is Modern Paleo, a new blog by Christian W. and Diana Hsieh on paleo eating and living written by objectivists.

Number 10 is Mark's Daily Apple another good paleo site.

Eleventh is OEvolve, another good objectivist list of rational eating managed by Monica Hughes that you can just observe as a lurker, like me, or sign up to be a poster on your experiences and ask questions as well.

Twelfth is another good blog on parenting by Rachel Miner called Playful Spirit.

That's it for now but there will be another update in April. Enjoy!

Urgent Action Required.

With his permission I'm reprinting this post by Dr. Paul Hsieh and I recommend everyone contact your House Rep. and urge them to vote no on the health bill now before the House.


This upcoming week will be *the* critical week in the health care
fight. Speaker Pelosi is expected to start the process for the House
to hold its final vote to approve the Senate Bill. The vote will
probably take place at the end of this upcoming week.

Right now, they are probably still a few votes shy of the majority
they need:

"Dem House vote-counter lacks health care votes now"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul

"Can Nancy Pelosi Get the Votes?"
Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal, 3/11/2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703701004575113292688090292.html

Hence, this is an *extremely* risky move by the Democrats.
Normally, a Speaker wouldn't plan on voting on such major
legislation unless he or she was sure of having enough votes.

But the Democrats are also (correctly) concluding that time is not
on their side. They have made the calculation that if they push for
it now, then maybe then can squeeze out the last few votes via a
combination of threats and bribes. For example, they have
"sweetened" the deal for the wavering moderates by promising
billions of dollars of new student loan subsidies:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul

On the other hand they recognize that if they wait much longer,
then when these wavering Congressmen go back home for the
Easter recess, they will get an earful from their constituents who are
strongly opposed to the bill, and they'll lose even more support:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/health-care-end-game-begins-monday

Hence, from the Democrats' perspective, it's now or never.

From our perspective, this means three things:

1) We are winning. We have a chance to defeat this terrible bill.

In particular, do not get discouraged when you read the inevitable
news stories about how the Democrats are "close to getting the
votes" or how Pelosi is "confident she'll have the votes". She has
to exude an aura of public confidence, otherwise her coalition will
quickly unravel.

Polls repeatedly show Americans opposed to ObamaCare:

"Why Obama Can't Move the Health-Care Numbers"
Rasmussen and Schoen, Wall Street Journal, 3/9/2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111993559174212.html

Similarly, head counts of House Democrats also show that they
don't quite have enough votes yet:

"Scrambling for votes, Democrats face uphill climb to pass
healthcare reform"
The Hill, 3/13/2010
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/86577-scrambling-for-votes-dems-face-uphill-climb-to-pass-health-reform

"The Hill's 'Whip Count' on ObamaCare -- as of 3/13/2010"
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/03/13/the-hills-whip-count-on-obamacare-as-of-today/

If they had the votes, they'd have already passed it by now.

2) We have to keep the pressure up. The Democrats are pulling out
all stops to find some way to get this through now, before the
critical Easter recess.

At this point in time, the single most important thing you can do is
tell your Congressman to vote "NO" on this bill:

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

This is especially important if your Congressman is one of the
undecided or swing votes on this "Code Red" list:

http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/BlogPostView.aspx?id=84e5b956-bfe9-4024-9fd3-aaf17cc00012

But even if your Congressman is a firm "Yes", it's still important to
let them know. If even the liberal Democrats from "safe" seats
consistently hear that their constituents are against it, it will give the
wavering moderates more political cover to vote "No". They can
tell their Pelosi, "Even *your* constituents hate this thing -- there's
no way I can support it".

*** Our counter-pressure is our best weapon against the pressure
that the statists will exert on these wavering Congressmen. ***

Your letter doesn't have to long or eloquent. It just has to convey
certainty, passion, and moral conviction. Something short and
simple like:

"Please vote NO on this terrible health care plan! If you vote yes,
you will destroy the ability of me and my family to receive good
health care in the future. This is personal! If you vote yes, we will
never forgive you for hurting our lives and trampling on our basic
freedoms."

(You may wish to adapt that to suit your own style and values.)

Feel free to use all contact methods - phone, fax, and e-mail. And
please feel free to contact them multiple times over the upcoming
week. In this context, repetition is a virtue!

And of course, if your Congressman is a probable or firm "No",
then thank him or her for his position. They also need our moral
support.

3) If you have friends or family in other parts of the country, tell
them to do the same thing and contact *their* Congressmen:

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

If you need intellectual ammunition for them, one of my personal
favorites is from the AFCM website:

"Fifty Fallacies About Health Care" by Richard Ralston
http://afcm.org/fallacies.html

Jared Rhoads' Lucidicus Project also has a good set of OpEds:
http://lucidicus.org/editorials/archive.php

And of course, FIRM has its archive of articles/OpEds:
http://westandfirm.org/articles.html

I personally think that the most important thing we can do in the
next few days will be to directly contact our Congressmen and have
friends/family do the same. LTE's and OpEds will still be
important, but not as much as before. (That said, I'm stilll going to
continue writing and/or disseminating some of my earlier writings
to people I know around the country.)

This is the endgame, folks. Most political observers regard the
health care bill as a 50-50 "toss-up" or "too close to call". It really
could go either way. What happens this week will set the course of
this great country (for good or for ill) for decades to come.

Your voice could be the critical difference in swaying the right one
or two minds. If you value your lives and your freedom, the time
to speak up is *now*!

(Anyone is welcome to forward or repost this e-mail to any
appropriate recipients or venues.)

-- Paul
--------------------
Paul Hsieh, MD

A Grandpa's Notes on Discipline

As a grandpa who does a lot of babysitting--I have 5 grand kids under the age of 4 1/2 with another on the way--I believe in the theory of positive discipline. Info on this can be had at the sites of Rational Jenn and The Little Things.

But I want to focus on one aspect of discipline: talking to young children when they are behaving badly. I've seen adults yell at their kids saying things like "You're being bad" or You're a bad boy/girl" and "What's wrong with you?" and so on. I am afraid though that a steady diet of words like that might cause the kids to conclude that there is something innately wrong with them over which they have no control. I don't want to take that chance.

Now I like to use different words and phrases. When they are being defiant or otherwise misbehaving, I tell them they are making bad decisions or bad choices and I try to follow that up with reasons why that they will understand. I think this reinforces in their mind the fact of free will while informing that not all choices will be good for them.

Of course it's a law of nature that kids forget fast, so constant repetition is needed. So is lots of patience. This is because their desire to use their free will can be almost irresistible. That can lead to conflicts.

Of course the flip side of this coin is commenting on when they do good. I like to see them get their happiness from the achievement of things without me saying anything. But young kids often want to share a new accomplishment with their adults so when I comment I say things like "Good job" or "Well done" or "Good thinking" and so on. I try to avoid "You're so smart" or 'You're really good" etc.

Positive Discipline has more to say on these subjects so be sure to visit the above links.

January 2010 VDA Newsletter

Once again and because education is so important here is the latest newsletter from the VanDamme Academy.


Pedagogically Correct Volume 4, Issue 2
January 22, 2010

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog


Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "What Did You Learn Today" (Written by Kyle Steele-ME)


I was sitting on the floor, fixing a desk, when one of my students and her mother came into the room. They were unaware of my presence as the mother helped her daughter gather her homework. Looking at the board, she said, "Nothing is written down for math. What did you do in math today?" Her daughter's response was, "Well... basically, we drew a mountain and that's about it."

If her summary of the day's events hadn't been so comical, I would have been mortified by her answer. Was this all she remembered from my complicated lecture on long division? Though I was tempted to hide myself further under the desk, I stood up and probed my student's memory further. With the right questions, she was able to tell me that the mountain was a metaphor for the steps involved in learning long division and that we'd spent most of the class discussing quotients and remainders.

Her mother was satisfied with this but I was not. My student, quite understandably, remembered the most unusual and silly part of the class and not the lesson. While I'm happy that my students have vivid memories of the metaphor, it is useless unless they recall the metaphor's meaning! I was concerned that this might be the typical kind of answer parents received to that age-old, important question, "What did you do in school today?"

At the end of the next day's lesson, I decided to ask that question myself. "If I were your father and I asked you what you did in class today, what would you say?" The response I got was interesting. Most children could give a vague answer, but not as specific as I would have liked. They could tell me we did long division problems, but it would have been more accurate to say we did problems with a four-digit dividend. I helped them to form this more precise answer.

This exercise, naming what we've learned at the end of each class, has become a routine part of the class and the kids love it. Each of them is eager to come up with the most precise answer. They strive to capture the finest detail that separates today's lesson from previous lessons. I love it, not because it prepares my students to be questioned by their parents, but because my students are refining their own understanding.

It's very easy for a student to let the activities of the day become a blur. Even the best students in the best classes can go through the routine of the day without taking a moment to reflect. But by taking a few minutes each class to discuss what we've learned and give a name to the work we've done, the knowledge they've gained is no longer a blur, but a firmly held concept. It becomes a hard piece of knowledge with clear edges.

Furthermore, this exercise helps the motivation of my students. Naming what we do helps them to remember that each day holds a new lesson. It is very satisfying to look back on a class and say, "We've accomplished this." One of the things that sets VanDamme Academy's curriculum apart from others is that we want our students to hold their knowledge conceptually; knowledge that can be put into words and has a clear connection to reality. It is a goal we pursue doggedly. Naming each lesson is one more way we achieve that goal.




Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.


www.vandammescience.com


Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.


Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!




VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education



VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-510-4861
web:http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Where'd I put that?

Yes, I can relate to this video.

Happy New Year!

A happy and prosperous New Year to all my readers!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Sand Animation

This is a video of an incredibly talented Ukranian girl at sand animation. I've heard of this art form but never observed it till now. She's tells a story with her animation.

Support Anthem Foundation

According to this Detroit News article Chase is giving away $5 million to your favorite local 501(c)3 charities. ARI is not listed but the Anthem Foundation is so I signed up and voted for Anthem. The drive ends in 19 days but you can vote once every day. I think this could be a good opportunity for some positive activism. I posted a notice of this on my facebook page.

Update 11/28/09: The Ayn Rand Institute is on Chase's list so you can vote once for the Anthem foundation and once for ARI. The above is in error in that you can't vote every day for the same charity. Round 1 will be over Dec. 11th. Round 2 voting will begin Jan 15th and end Jan 22nd. It's important to join Facebook if you haven't already and vote for these two charities. The ARI has a program called "Free Books for Teachers" which is well worth the effort of joining Facebook and voting.

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter Oct 2009

Here is another edition of Pedagogically Correct because education is so important.

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog


Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "VanDamme Academy Presents: Music Appreciation"


Two years ago, Mr. Travers introduced art appreciation into the VanDamme Academy curriculum. Like the name suggests, the purpose of this course was neither to teach students the history of art nor to train them in the production of art. Rather, his goal was to help them learn to deeply, sincerely enjoy or appreciate art.

Toward that end, Mr. Travers teaches students how to look at a painting or sculpture. He demonstrates to them that looking is not automatic-it is actually an active-minded, methodical, purposeful process. Students learn to do a "reading" of a work of art: noticing and cataloguing all the details, making connections and generalizations about what they observe, comparing and contrasting their observations with other, similar pieces, arriving at a basic theme of the work, and finally, connecting that theme to their own lives.

This process integrates perfectly with the VanDamme Academy literature curriculum, for which the process of analysis is much the same. And indeed, Mr. Travers often makes a point of finding artworks that reflect the values and characters presented in the novels students are reading for literature.

This year, Mr. Travers has introduced music appreciation into the junior high curriculum.

In music appreciation, students listen to a short composition with a definite emotional tone and are asked to describe the scene that plays through their mind in connection with the music. I witnessed one of these classes, and the results were remarkable. First, though the scenes they recounted varied greatly from student to student, the commonalities were fascinating to note. Second, the students' writing was delightfully uninhibited-this assignment really allowed them to be creative free spirits. Lastly, I was moved by the variety of ways in which their performance on the assignment reflected their education overall: the compositions were articulate and eloquent, they often related to great scenes from history or literature, and they showed a capacity for a deep and meaningful connection to art. Listening to Mr. Travers read the students' work aloud while the music played, I was moved to tears.

Here are some samples of the students' writing about Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." I recommend that you listen first, and then read.

"A wave comes onto the shore, bringing a man to his home town. He is dead. Memories flash of his life as the procession leads him to his grave: his wedding, his first born son, his captaincy. Nothing is banal any more."

"An army has just defeated their enemy. However, their greatest hero has fallen. It is raining, and everyone is crying, especially the hero's family. The hero had hugged his family right before he was shot. It is pitch black except for one light that is shining on the hero."

"Trees are swaying in the forest as the flowers are slowly blooming. They twirl at the sun's powerful heat. One day, they suddenly shrivel up. Kids are staring down at their once beautiful flowers, depressed and heartbroken. The trees begin to shrivel. The pinecones open up to let new seeds be planted."

"I see a boy walking up to a large building in New York for the first time and he can't believe its size. He is amazed and his mouth is ajar. He goes into it, and he is riding up in the glass elevator. He has reached the top; he looks at the view and yells happily off into the city. He is overwhelmed. He feels like a small sand in the desert."



Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.


www.vandammescience.com


Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.


Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!


VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education

VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-510-4861
web: http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Post Follow Up

Pursuant to my last post, here are the details: for quite awhile my house's interior in the kitchen, dinette, living room and hallway had white ceiling, walls and trim. Boring! Now I have a flat white ceiling, beige walls and pure white trim. I must say I really like it. So does the wife.

My sister came to see me and the kids, and their kids, then went to see another brother in S. Carolina. She hadn't seen us in 21 years. Plans are being made to do it again next year. I really loved reconnecting with her. She was the only girl out of the seven of us kids. Yeah, she was spoiled, just a little. It's been raining here in Detroit all day. I guess the clouds are crying because my sister went back to California.

On Sept. 21st, I became a grandpa again. Introducing Allison Rose Neibel:

.

.

Doctor says she's in good health and her older sister Payton, 18 months, seems to be taking it quite well wanting to give lots of kisses.

Back to Blogging

It's been a busy two months what with trying to paint the inside of the house with the ceiling one color, the walls another color and the trim still another. Plus my sister whom I haven't seen in 20 years came for a 6 day visit, a most happy time for me, and I became a grandpa for the fifth time. Her name is Allison Rose.

More on the above soon.

Good News

I see via HBL that an Objectivist organization-Ayn Rand in India-is taking roots in that nation. Right now there are discussion/study groups in three cities, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. For more information click here.

The spread of Objectivist ideas can't happen fast enough. The Hitler and Stalin wannabes are rising to the top of the political spectrum everywhere and are taking notes on what the current crop of statists are getting and not getting away with. So the spread of rational ideas in India, however modest, is a very good thing.

Blogroll additions Sept. 09

It's time for another blogroll update. I like doing this because the growth of objective, rational blogs pleases me.

First is Erosophia where Jason has posted a link to the essay by Dr. John Lewis at Cap Mag titled "Suppose auto insurance were made to be a right," and where Megan posted on "The emptiness of environmentalism."

Second is Bathtub Gin Brigade where Michael Labeit posts on "Private Factor Ownership and Effective Government."

Third shall be "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" at which Matt posts a 1 1/2 minute video of security guard Cheeks telling protesters this ain't America any more.

Fourth is Rachel at Brass in Pocket who has a good essay on why it's a bad idea to turn to religion in search of justice.

Fifth to be added is Reepicheep's Coracle where Kelly has an insightful look at "Children's Needs and Selfishness."

The sixth addition is The TK Lounge where TK has a post near and dear to my heart, how the press discredits science.

Seventh is MGTutoring where Michael Gold presents a rational perspective on education and has a great painting and a post on the poor philosophy of teacher training.

Number eight is Art, Love & Philosophy at which I liked the acrylic art displayed.

Nine is A is A the blog of cedrac who posts on the "Importance of Amazon's Kindle 2"

Tenth, I want to recommend the site of sculptress Sandra J. Shaw.

Eleventh and last for today is Principled Parent, an Objectivist and blogging mommy.

Happy reading!

On the Other Hand...

I was once told by an acquaintance that a man should always try to be the best in his field. Since I partially disagree with this, since a man should be the best he can be within the context of his ability and education, I decided to challenge his point with a little satirical devil's advocacy. I responded with "Oh no! Don't you know that it's always the second mouse that gets the cheese?"

Anyway, in that light hearted vein I recommend this piece at Live Oaks.

(It certainly shows how ugly spectator sports--and by implication ordinary life--would be.)

Attention Students

If you're a student and would like to know more about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, but there is no Objectivist club on your campus, please be informed that there will soon be a virtual Objectivist club in which you can participate. I recieved this email from Keith Schacht today and reprint it below.
************************************

I helped start the Objectivist Club Network (OCN), an organization dedicated to helping all Objectivist Campus Clubs. OCN is not affiliated with the Ayn Rand Institute, although we support them and regularly communicate with them to ensure our respective organizations are not duplicating efforts.


Recently we've expanded our efforts to solve a new problem: there are students interested in joining an Objectivist club where no club exists. Some of these students start their own club, but others don't have time to start a club or do not find enough participants on campus to form a club.

We've created the Virtual Objectivist Club (VOC) for these students -- a phone-based discussion group dedicated to the study of Objectivism. Meetings will be weekly, beginning this September, each moderated by an experienced Objectivist. The group is open to any current students who would like to learn more about Objectivism.


My request: Please help spread the word to any students you know who may be interested in learning more about Objectivism. The deadline for applying to the VOC is August 31st. Students can learn more and apply at: http://www.oclubs.org/voc


Please let me know if you have any questions and we greatly appreciate you sharing this with others!


Keith & the OCN Team

If the link above doesn't work try here.

I Went to a Tea Party

(To the tune of Rick Nelson's Garden Party)

>I went to another tea party,
>to protest the health care bill,
>to mix with people of like mind and to,
>share in a little good will.

>There were signs saying no to coercion,
>and leave my doctor alone,
>There's no reason for government to be,
>barging into my home.

>Well it's, all wrong now.
>But it's, going to be OK,
>people are beginning to realize that,
>freedom is the way.

>There's Waxman, Reid and Pelosi,
>Obama and Emmanual too,
>they tell us they're going to save the world but they,
>haven't got a clue.

>There are people in academia,
>in the House and Senate of course,
>for us they say they know what's best and will
>get it with physical force.

>Well it's, all wrong now,
>but it's, going to be OK,
>people are beginning to realize that,
>freedom needs to stay.


The scene of this party was outside US Congressman Sander Levin's office here in Roseville, Mi on Saturday 8/23. I estimate about 75 to 85 people were there holding signs protesting Obama's health care plan. Again I was pleasantly surprised at how many people said they read Ayn Rand's books especially Atlas Shrugged. Lots of motorists beeped their horns is support.

The people were mostly blue collar workers and some elderly. Almost all of them were worried about how many 'life years' they'd be allotted once Obama care was enacted.

(Update Aug 28th, edited and added to the above lyrics and corrected a typo.)
(Update Sept 3rd. corrected another typo)

The Value of Null Findings

Over at The New Clarion two days ago I posted on the fact that when statistical studies result in a null finding they are rarely published and how misguided this practice really is. I reprint that post below.

The Value of Null Findings

"Sandy Szwarc at JunkfoodScience has an in-depth look at a health science topic. Although it's titled "The Myth About Unhealthy Belly Fat" the article's theme is, 'the importance of null findings', and properly laments the fact that the media seldom reports them. This is very true and also very important. That's because:

"Null findings enable true scientists to know they’re looking in the wrong direction and that it’s time to go back to the drawing board and develop a different hypothesis. They also enable us to stop needlessly worrying about something that doesn’t matter."

Also, many if not most studies that purport to show a health problem actually turn out to be false and these revelations are often not published as well.

Just as knowing that something is a threat to health and life is important, so is knowing when something is not a significant threat, especially when alleged professionals are telling us it is a threat. However, we also know that the media often prefers hype and sensationalism vs boring news about non-threats. So the media has a built in bias that is heavily weighted in favor of fear-hype while a study showing that last month's health scare is actually false will tend not to get printed. This will mislead thousands if not millions of people. As the saying goes 'you can't unring an alarm bell.'

But this situation has other consequences. It creates a fearful citizenry eager to donate their money to NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations, mostly non-profit foundations) who promise to do research (more statistical studies) to find ways to protect them from all the alleged hazards of a modern, technological society.

It sometimes works like this: NGOs fund studies that try to determine what is bad for us. When a study is completed a press release is announced. The media picks up the release and reports the findings which are usually that X (say, fast foods) is bad for us. Politicians then stand on the floor of their chambers, news reports and studies in hand, announcing that congress must address this threat to public health by passing legislation more heavily regulating the use of X. They then stand before us proclaiming how good they are at protecting us from all the harmful Xs out there and therefore we should reelect them. That is what we see.

What we don't readily see is that the funding NGO has been getting large donations from companies that produce products Y and Z (say, treadmills and diet books). Also mostly out of view is the donations by companies Y and Z to the politicians' reelection campaigns. And even further out of sight is the fact that no one looked at the study, not the reporter, the editor nor the politician, to see if the study had any statistical significance or was a null finding being passed off as having significance. This last happens often.

We have to educate ourselves to what is valid science and what is pseudo science because the press isn't doing it. Pseudo science isn't just coming from NGOs either. Government agencies fund lots of it. I recommend reading the entire article and visiting JunkfoodScience often. Her blogroll is a good source for others who actually read these so called scientific studies and then examines them for our benefit."

Health care has become so politicized that one literally has to fact check every alleged harm for oneself. The problem is that grant money is not earned money. It is handed out to applicants on the basis of the applicant's desire to see if there is a problem regarding food X's effect on say, disease Y. The granting agencies are virtually buying problems the government can try to fix with more regulations over you and me. Are we to believe that the applicant's supply of grant money will continue if they produced studies showing 'no problem here' i.e. a null finding?

The solution is to remove government encouragement from the market place especially from education and science. Government control of education is the open door to government control of everything else.

Another Activist Day

My congressman Sander Levin D-Mi. held a town hall meeting today at which I arrived late. He had finished his speech and was meeting people one on one. The line was long and I really didn't want to speak to him anyway so I went outside and passed out some literature. I handed out about 30 copies of the essay "It's a Matter of Justice" with the essay "The Significance of Atlas Shrugged" on the back side. I gave out 4 copies of the Ayn Rand Sampler and about 30 copies of a short note I wrote myself with a quote from Amy Ridenhour, with her permission, which is posted below.

Again I was surprised at how many people had read Atlas Shrugged and liked it. There were a few others outside carrying signs saying in essence No to Hr 3200. Here is the other note I handed out.

Two Thoughts

1) Why a public health care system does not work:
To meet budget targets, governments reduce payments to providers and to buy equipment. This reduces the supply of people willing to provide health care services (doctors, nurses, medical staff and support) and the supply of equipment (hospital beds, diagnostic tools, etc.). Shortages develop, and those who are sick or injured, suffer.

They find themselves with health care coverage, but without health care.

By Amy Ridenhour, director National Center for Public Policy Research



2)Dear Fellow Citizen:

I don't want to go under the knife of a doctor who resents my congressman, my senator, my president, telling him, his nurses and his technicians how much money they are permitted to make, how many hours they must work, and how to care for me. Even more troubling is the thought that I may have to go under the knife of a doctor and staff who DON'T resent it.

When there is a transaction between a doctor and a patient a certain cost will be mutually agreed upon. But when a third party, government, interjects itself it too must collect a paycheck and will raise the cost of the transaction for everyone. Remove the third party, government, and the costs will come down.

The proper job of government is to protect our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have made the mistake of allowing the government to provide our happiness, our daily bread. Trouble is, because the government has a legal monopoly on the use of force, it is the government who gets to define and enforce what shall be our happiness and daily bread. I don't want that.

Our country is on the verge of perishing from an orgy of government enforced altruism. There is of course, nothing wrong with individuals helping those in need if one is able. Americans have always been generous to those trying to help themselves. But when the government decides it wants to provide for everyone's needs, it usurps the entire field of morality for itself creating a society where only government officials are considered moral and the citizens are considered immoral, or at best amoral, in need of forceful guidance by their moral leaders. All dictatorships are created by this mindset. Right now our Congress is infected with too many of this mindset. We citizens need to start weeding them out in the next few elections. We can do this by letting our politicians know, if they want our vote, to embrace the concept of individual rights which includes the rights of doctors and patients to make their own decisions.

Citizen Michael Neibel
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I just finished listening to a podcast of Alex Epstein and Richard Salsman on Business Talk Radio. Mr. Epstein defended oil companies and Mr. Salsman defended capitalism. They did quite well. You can listen to the podcast here. Click on Aug 13 hour #2. Mr. Epstein's interview starts at about 7:35 into the show and Mr. Salsman's at about 41 min in. Enjoy.

Tea Party Observations pt. 2

As I thought about my post on the tea party of the 4th., I realized I didn't write down all my observations. So here are a few more with some added pictures. It can safely be said that everyone there was willing to participate in some kind of activism however modest. I consider that a very good sign. But there were some who wanted a more agressive activism. One wanted recall campaigns to be started to oust those in office. A few others called for more petitions to be circulated to stop the government spending and intrusion into our lives.

Quite a few people expressed frustration in not being able to do more than just protest at parties like this one. That's when I gave them a copy of two press releases from ARC on the sales of Atlas Shrugged. One release reported that most large bookstores will have floor-displays of Atlas after the 4th. The other release notified that the sales of Atlas have tripled in the first 4 months of 09. My intent was to say or imply 'This is where a lot of people are looking for answers, you should too.' It became obvious to me that a tea party is no place for education or debating. But it can be a good place for guidance toward a certain path. Before people can see the truth, they must be encouraged to look at it. Now a few more pictures.

Observations on My First Tea Party

I attended my first tea party Saturday July 4th. It was quite small, I'd say the crowd fluctuated between 110 and 140 people for the 2 hours I was there. There were no speakers. Just people talking to each other and holding signs of slogans at road side for passing drivers. A lot of passing cars beeped their horns in support.

What surprised me most was how many of these people were familiar with Rand's writings. One man said he read all her books. A lady said she was reading Atlas for the second time. Another said, from memory, "I've read a lot of her stuff. Sometimes she's over the top but other than that she's right on the money." Another said she would pick up a copy of Atlas on the way home. I only encountered a few people who never heard of Rand or Objectivism. They have now.

I liked walking around and talking to people. It's like taking a sense of life inventory. I passed out 65 copies of the essay "Message to Republicans" from the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights." Another Objectivist was passing out some too. When people asked me what is this about? I responded that it's an essay on what the Republicans are doing wrong and what they need to do right. Boy, that struck a few nerves. Several said the Party is trying too hard to look like Democrats. 3 others said the Party's biggest mistake was nominating John McCain for president. "He's not a conservative and he shouldn't even be a Republican" said one. All in all the crowd seemed to be mostly conservatives. Many were also religious but it seemed that their political concerns were on the front burner while the religious ones on the back burner. I only saw 4 anti-abortion signs.

Most attendants were against the current level of government spending, taxation and the growth of controls. But when I asked what were they for, I got a mixture of approximations: smaller, limited government, less spending, fewer controls and more personal freedoms. I thought to myself, this tea party movement needs guidance on how to more explicitly be for something. I think the next time I go to one of these I'll have an essay titled 'Limited Government is Limited to What?' Of course it will be about limiting the government to employing only retaliatory force which means forbidding it to use initiatory force and how the protection of individual rights requires this distinction to be explicit legally.

It was an interesting experience. There are a few photos below.

Happy 4th of July

I wish all of you a happy 4th of July. I will be attending a tea party in St. Clair Shores tomorrow for about 2 hours then going to my granddaughter's birthday party. She will be 4 on the 4th. Of course she's all excited about it and can't wait. To me, it's beautiful to see the excitement and exuberance she shows while visions of presents and cake dominate her mind. And to think, I am indebted to the Founders who made this possible.

Happy 4th all!
Mike

Lively Imagination

Any parent or grand parent knows that little kids can say the darnedest things. They want so bad to talk like adults and sound grown up. This past Friday my oldest granddaughter, she'll be 4 on July 4th., came into the computer room by me and said "Grandpa, I have to listen to that music every morning". She was talking about her dad's cell phone music which just went off in the living room and on which he uses the alarm function in the morning. "Every morning it plays that music over and over and it gives me a headache. I need some chocolate covered raisins to clear my mind."

I know you're not supposed to laugh when a child is trying to be serious but I couldn't help it.

(Yes, I keep some of those raisins to treat myself now and then.)

Captain Grandpa

Once when I was babysitting my youngest granddaughter Payton, I saw a spider crawling on the ceiling right above her bassinet. So I wrote in the log--my kids keep a log of their baby's first few years of life--that Captain Grandpa summoned his super powers and vanquished the intruder. Corny I know, but then my son and daughter in-law decided to get me a baseball cap with the words 'Captain Grandpa' sown on the front and which I now proudly wear.

But I do like the idea of keeping a log for each child in which all the care givers can post all their observations. Things like "You began to crawl today" or "You took your first steps this morning" and so on. Because these logs will be read by the child at a much later age, I decided to add observations from my objectivist perspective. For example when my oldest granddaughter, Taylor, began to speak words, I wrote in essence, "Your conceptual mind is waking up now. You are now integrating percepts into concepts, something no other animal can do." I then wrote a short explanation of the difference between the two.

When Payton, pulled her self up to a standing position for the very first time, she turned around and looked at mom and dad with the biggest, wide eyed smile as if to say 'look what I just did!" I took that opportunity to write in her log "That is what life is all about, achieving one goal after another. Life is not an arduous, joyless journey towards the achievement of some goal which when achieved only then can one be happy. Oh no! The real happiness is in the journey, the enjoyment of each success for its own sake, one after another, no matter how great or small, as part of the journey."

One may wonder why I'm going to such trouble with my grand kids. Well, first, they are my grand kids and I'm very selfish about their well being. Second, if we lived in a completely civilized society with an objective (private) educational system which had a rational curriculum, I wouldn't have to worry about their intellectual development so much. But we don't live in such a society. So I have to be Captain Grandpa in more than just physical ways. I have to fly to their aid in intellectual ways as well. When each one first enters school, I intend to check out the curriculum and talk to the teachers personally. I want to know what parts of the curriculum are rational and what irrational and need to be countered. My own kids know I'll be doing this and seem to be happy about it.

Another of the things I'm doing is putting together a small box for each child with a copy of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal inside. I will give the boxes to them when I think they are ready for them or if I'm not around then, on their 18th birthday.

But the biggest reason I'm doing all this is because, as mentioned above, I'm selfish. I really enjoy it.

Experimenting

As you can probably see, I'm experimenting with adsense. I'm told I'll have to wait about 48 hours for relevant ads to appear. This may be one of those lessons where one learns what not to do. We'll see.

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter May 22 2009

Because education is so important, here is the latest edition of the VanDamme Academy Newsletter.


Pedagogically Correct Volume 3, Issue 6
May 22, 2009

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog


Tell Me Everything You Know

I have invented a new educational game. I call it "Tell Me Everything You Know."

Here is how the game works in my grammar class: I write a sentence on the board, set a time limit, and then have the students write down every grammatical fact they can name about the sentence. When the time is up, I go around the room, asking each student to volunteer one of his observations. If someone else in the class has written the same thing, both must cross it off their lists. If no one else has made the same observation, that student gets a point. Victory goes to the student with the most points.

For example, yesterday I wrote, "When it is Taco Tuesday, we go to the park that is down the street to eat tacos."

Their observations ranged from the simple …


"Tuesday" is a proper noun.

"The" is an article.

The sentence is declarative.

The sentence ends with a period.

to the more esoteric …

"To eat tacos" is an infinitive phrase used as an adverb modifying "go."

"When" is a subordinating conjunction linking the adverb clause to the word it modifies.

"Tacos" is the direct object of the infinitive.

"Park" is the antecedent of the relative pronoun "that," which introduces the adjective clause "that is down the street."

At the conclusion of the allotted time, my 7th and 8th grade students had as many as forty to fifty things to say about the grammar of the sentence.
This game works equally well in other classes. Mr. Black and Mr. Steele have played it in their math classes. With one 3rd-grade level math group, Mr. Steele wrote on the board, "362 ÷ 3," and said, "Tell me everything you know."

These 7- and 8-year olds made comments that ranged from …


The divisor is 3.

The dividend is 362.

The quotient is 120 with a remainder of 2.

to such acute observations as …

The 3 in 362 is in the hundreds' place and stands for 300.

362 is a 3-digit number and an even number.

The divisor, 3, can be subtracted from the dividend, 362, 120 times. (Connecting division to repeated subtraction.)

This game both cashes in on and reinforces the VanDamme Method. All the teachers in all the VDA classes stress conceptual understanding of the material. We work hard to ensure that the students are not taking a rote, thoughtless, pattern-seeking approach to their work, but rather that they fully grasp and can fully explain the concepts they are learning. So when they look at a problem like "362 ÷ 3," we want them to possess a depth of understanding that allows them not just to solve the problem but to thoroughly explain the problem and its solution.
Playing this game also serves as excellent review and reinforcement. It helps the students to probe their own understanding, to dig through their subconscious minds and retrieve all they have learned about a given subject. They listen carefully to others' answers and in doing so are reminded of aspects of the subject they may have forgotten or not readily retrieved. They revisit and focus on aspects of a subject they know but may not have recently brought into conscious awareness.

In my experience, because the students are well prepared for the rigors of this game, because it is a fruitful review, and because it is benevolently competitive—they love it. Students share their insights eagerly and are delighted when others cleverly dig up obscure facts that hadn't occurred to them.

I had to boast about having invented the game because I have to confess to having lost the game. Though I am the self-proclaimed grammar guru, I was bested by 11-year-old Melissa McWilliams. Well, as Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Pity the student who does not surpass his master."




Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.


www.vandammescience.com


Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.


Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
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Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!




VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education



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Blogroll Addition May of 09

It time for another blogroll update.

First is the blog of "Brad Harper" where his latest post shows the evil of eminent domain in a particularly egregious case. Evidently, the park service wants to build a monument and park at the site where Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11. Trouble is that land is owned by 7 owners who don't want to sell. So the Park Service wants to invoke eminent domain to condemn their property, seize it and build a monument. I wonder what the people who died on that fateful flight would say if they knew their deaths would be used to violate the property rights of 7 of their fellow citizens just to build a monument? I think they'd be outraged.
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Next is Benpercent who has a book review of "Walt Disney: A Triumph of American Imagination" which he calls the story of a real American hero.
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The third addition is Reality Talk where Brian reports that a college student saved lives by owning a gun. He has a two minute video of the news report but also points out how the media insists on slanting the news so as to deny any self-interested motive. He did it for others!
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Fourth is "Objective Extrospection" where Rajesh reports on Objectivism, Ayn Rand, Tech and Defense. He now notes that the Enigma machine used by the Nazis to send secret codes is now for sale.
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Fifth is Aristotle the Geek where he has a letter to Obama (via Cafe Hayek) by a money manager who dares to speak out.
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Sixth will be Just Add Rationality where host Francis Luong has a retort for an article that says individualists must give up their disdain for mass movements.
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Seventh is Ron Pisaturo's Blog at which Ron posts on the fact that 'The Leader Desires Work and Peace" and how that speech reminds him of someone else 70 some years ago.
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Number eight shall be Life on Marrs where Gaia looks at the difference between Obama's proposed $100 million budget cuts and his 3.69 trillion dollar spending.
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Ninth is 'The Nearby Pen' where Daniel informs that Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead has been translated into Vietnamese. Good News for sure.
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Tenth is Exalted Moments which takes a look at all such moments found in Ayn Rand's writings. I highly recommend it.

That's it for now. But I would like to inform any new visitors to this site that I publish all my political and cultural posts at The New Clarion. Enjoyable reading all.

Update: corrected link to Brad Harper blog

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #5

Another one of the many things I had to relearn was the idea of certainty. I had bought into the notion that certainty was not possible, that our knowledge can only be probable, never certain. It never occurred to me to ask if something doesn't exist, like certainty, how can you have degrees (probability) of it? Of course you can't. So certainty must exist but how? How can one tell when one can claim certainty?

In studying the philosophy of Objectivism, I learned that existence exists and that it is governed by the laws of identity and causality. The law of identity, A is A, things are what they are, means that all things have a specific nature and will behave according to that nature and that this nature represents the context in which it exists. What I understand from this then is that reality itself is contextual.

Since reality is contextual, this in turn means that our knowledge of reality, to be true, that is, to correspond to reality, must also be contextual.

"Concepts are not and cannot be formed in a vacuum; they are formed in a context; the process of conceptualization consists of observing the differences and similarities of the existents within the field of one’s awareness (and organizing them into concepts accordingly). From a child’s grasp of the simplest concept integrating a group of perceptually given concretes, to a scientist’s grasp of the most complex abstractions integrating long conceptual chains—all conceptualization is a contextual process; the context is the entire field of a mind’s awareness or knowledge at any level of its cognitive development." (Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology p.55)

This understanding has helped me to see that out of context statements cannot be trusted as knowledge. For example, 'All swans are white' is an out of context proposition and is refuted with the discovery of a colored swan. But the statement 'All swans known to me (within my field of awareness) are white' is contextual and is not refuted with the discovery of a colored swan. In this case the context of my knowledge has expanded to include colored swans. This new expanded knowledge does not contradict or refute my former knowledge that 'All swans known to me are white.' Expansion of previous knowledge is not a contradiction of it.

In terms of certainty then, it was proper for me to be certain of both of my propositions since they both met the requirement of contextuality. Context however, is not the only requirement for certainty. Just as in the categories of 'possible' and 'probable' knowledge, there must be some evidence in support of the proposition, so it is with certainty. but with certainty, all the available evidence must be in support of the proposition. There can be no contrary evidence. If there is some contrary evidence then certainty cannot be claimed.

There is the argument that as long as it's possible to be wrong one cannot claim certainty. But Objectivism has helped me to understand that this is the argument from infallibility and is false. The possibility of error is not evidence of it. Such an argument is just another example of the arbitrary which, per post #4, is always meaningless and is to be dismissed out of hand.

So, this then is something I can add to my always allow list, at least for consideration, 'propositions that are contextual' and the fifth way that Objectivism has benefited me.

March VDA Newsletter

Because education is so important, here is the latest newsletter from the VanDamme Academy. After reading it I strongly urge readers to click on the words 'Follow this link' for more interesting articles.



"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog


Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "Does My Child Know Grammar Better Than Me?"


I would say that a debate is raging in our culture over whether or not we need to preserve the formal rules of grammar, but the sad truth is that there are too few defenders of grammar for a debate to rage. I am lonely in my fervency. Nevertheless, a few recent books and articles have brought the dispute between grammar snobs and grammar slobs to the fore.

Pundit of punctuation Lynne Truss tried to rally readers to her "zero tolerance approach to punctuation" with her bestseller Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Alas, Birmingham, England didn't heed the call. In January, the city council abolished apostrophes from street signs, inviting criticism from pro-grammar organizations like the "Apostrophe Protection Society," and from our own students at VanDamme Academy, who condemned the decision in a paper written for Mrs. Battaglia's (or "Mrs. Battaglias," if we follow the Birmingham precedent) writing class. "If children grow up there, they will learn not to put apostrophes in possessive words," said 8-year-old Greta. "Usually kids learn from their surroundings."

This debate has also been given center stage unwittingly by President Obama. Obama, widely praised as a consummate intellectual, has been criticized by advocates of grammar for committing such common blunders as the inversion of "me" and "I."

In a February New York Times op-ed, Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman echoed the sentiments of many Americans when they defended President Obama against the "grammar junkies," claiming that the rules for pronouns are 19th-century creations that have no necessity in reality.

Really?

To illustrate my answer, I brought the following example into my Room 4 grammar class. Rather than the innocuous, "President Bush graciously invited Michelle and I," what if President Obama had said, "Michelle likes President Bush better than I." Is this a mere difference of opinion about the former President, or a scandal? The ambiguity is resolved with a universal understanding of the rules of grammar.

"Michelle likes him better than I," as my grammar students can tell you, contains an elliptical adverb clause with "I" as the subject, and means, "Michelle likes him better than I like him." On the other hand, "Michelle likes him better than me," contains an elliptical clause with "me" as the direct object, and means, "Michelle likes him better than she likes me."

So, if you whose children are gaining a thorough mastery of the rules of grammar have ever asked yourselves, "Does my child know grammar better than me?" the answer is no, he should know you better. And by the time he graduates, he will know better than to ask the question like that.



Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.


www.vandammescience.com


Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.


Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
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VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-581-1881
web: http://www.vandammeacademy.com