Chris > Recent Status Updates

I kept mixing up Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Jr. in the narration, but now I’ve got it straight—Teedie is Jr., and Theodore refers to Sr. Anyway, Teedie develops a fascination with science, filling his room with mice, dead rats, and birds, much to the frustration of his mother, Mittie.

Almost two chapters are dedicated to asthma. I intended to read about Theodore Roosevelt's life, but now I am reading about asthma's history and treatment. His son Teedie was asthmatic (asthma means panic in Greek), and it took a toll on the family, especially when they travelled abroad.

A lousy emotion or a dust can trigger asthma. For Teedie, it was the fear of Sunday.

End of the Civil War... the Roosevelts never fought in the war, but Theodore arranged a way for soldiers to send money home to their families. Notably, he paid for a substitute to take his place in the draft (which was legal).

as Roosevelts measured such things, was rather late in the game, their own Claes Martenszens van Rosenvelt having arrived in New Amsterdam in 1649

Teddy had a crazier older brother, Robert Roosevelt, who is less known.

The towers are hit

O'Neill retires from the FBI and takes up the job of Director of Security at the World Trade Centre.

USS Cole is attacked in Yemen

I am liking this O'Neal guy. A workaholic who does not run out of work as bombings happen all over the work and his skills come into use.

Elon :D .... "Revolutionaries should have as many children as they can. There is strong scientific evidence that social attitudes are to a significant extent inherited. No one suggests that a social attitude is a direct outcome of a person’s genetic constitution, but it appears that personality traits are partly inherited ..."

One should think twice before encouraging any other social conflict than that between the power- holding elite (which wields technology) and the general public (over which technology exerts its power).

Aha! An observation that agrees with Malthus ... "When the limit of human endurance has been passed, things start going wrong: rebellion, or crime, or corruption, or evasion of work, or depression and other mental problems, or an elevated death rate, or a declining birth rate or something else, so that either the society breaks down, or its functioning becomes too inefficient."

the human race has at best a very limited capacity for solving even relatively straightforward social problems. How then is it going to solve the far more difficult and subtle problem of reconciling freedom with technology

technology is a more powerful social force than the aspiration for freedom.

modern man is strapped down by a network of rules and regulations, and his fate depends on the actions of persons remote from him whose decisions he cannot influence.

Motivation is much more important than innate intelligence

One does not have freedom if anyone else (especially a large organization) has power over one, no matter how benevolently, tolerantly and permissively that power may be exercised. It is important not to confuse freedom with mere permissiveness

Science and technology provide the most important examples of surrogate activities. Some scientists claim that they are motivated by “curiosity” or by a desire to “benefit humanity.” But it is easy to see that neither of these can be the principal motive of most scientists.

Autonomy as a part of the power process may not be necessary for every individual. But most people need a greater or lesser degree of autonomy in working toward their goals.

We use the term “surrogate activity” to designate an activity that is directed toward an artificial goal that people set up for themselves merely in order to have some goal to work toward, or let us say, merely for the sake of the “fulfillment” that they get from pursuing the goal.

... in order to avoid serious psychological problems, a human being needs goals whose attainment requires effort, and he must have a reasonable rate of success in attaining his goals.

If our society had no social problems at all, the leftists would have to INVENT problems in order to provide themselves with an excuse for making a fuss.

Feminists are desperately anxious to prove that women are as strong and as capable as men. Clearly they are nagged by a fear that women may NOT be as strong and as capable as men.

Those who are most sensitive about “politically incorrect” terminology are not the average black ghetto- dweller, Asian immigrant, abused woman or disabled person, but a minority of activists, many of whom do not even belong to any “oppressed” group but come from privileged strata of society.

The two psychological tendencies that underlie modern leftism we call “feelings of inferiority” and “oversocialization.” Feelings of inferiority are characteristic of modern leftism as a whole, while oversocialization is characteristic only of a certain segment of modern leftism; but this segment is highly influential.

Almost everyone will agree that we live in a deeply troubled society. One of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of our world is leftism, so a discussion of the psychology of leftism can serve as an introduction to the discussion of the problems of modern society in general.