A husband and wife bought a new puppy. The husband worked at home during the day while the wife was off to work. The following are text messages that the dog sent to the wife … with a little help from the husband:
Hi Mommy. I am waiting patiently for you. Will you take me for a walk tonight? I miss you so much! Can we play this weekend? Can we can we can we?!?!?!!
I am adding “parenting” to the range of topics here, and this is an introductory post on the subject.
About a year ago my wife and I became parents, and one of our goals early on was to find a parenting philosophy or approach that was compatible with our own values.
As Objectivists (Objectivism being the philosophy of Ayn Rand), we wanted an approach that was aligned with our goal of raising a child to become an independent, productive and ultimately happy human being. We want our child to have a vast array of chosen values and pursue them passionately. We want him to become independent, think for himself, and have the ability to become successful in his chosen ventures. We want him to be in touch with his emotions and know how to deal with them effectively, and we want him to be able to think rationally.
Luckily, we found an approach that meets much that criteria with Magda Gerber (191?-2007), founder of RIE and author of such books as Your Self Confident Baby and Dear Parent. RIE is the name she gives her approach and is the name of her organization. Continue reading
Two documentary shorts exhibited at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (both from Focus Forward Films) share a similar narrative: both are about kids who made an amazing discovery that, according their respective films, will hugely benefit mankind. Yet one discovery has been widely disproven while the other has gone relatively unnoticed (until now). Continue reading
Last week I attended a screening of FrackNation, a documentary dedicated to debunking many of the myths of hydraulic fracturing (or frac’ing), including those presented the Oscar nominated documentary, GasLand. The film takes us on a journey with investigative journalist and documentarian Phelim McAleer on his quest for the truth about frac’ing.
Sure to be well received by Objectivists, conservatives (well, some of them) and other free market and industry friendly groups, the picture presents a clear and resolute answer to the mischaracterizations that frac’ing receives by the predominantly left-leaning media and Hollywood. But it should appeal to wider audience as well because it presents its case in a well-told and entertaining way. Continue reading