Over the past week, I've made a number of different upgrades, visually and otherwise, at the Atlasphere. I posted about this briefly at The Atlasphere. Comments aren't enabled at the Atlasphere blog, but I do welcome comments here about the new design and functionality, for anyone who cares to share reactions, suggestions, or feedback on the site. I continue to make small improvements to the site on a daily basis, and I welcome suggestions or further improvement.
Last week, a writer from Nerve.com invited me, as owner of the Atlasphere, to participate in a column titled "Sex Advice from Objectivists." It's part of their regular "Sex Advice from..." series, including advice from tribute bands, Santas, and poker players. Get the picture? As I read through the questions I would be answering, I remember thinking that many Objectivists are just about the last people I'd want to be asking questions like this. Anyway, they published the Objectivist-themed column today, so go judge for yourself. Overall, I think they actually did a decent job of picking writers. Below are my own answers, preserved ...
Somebody uploaded this as a pic at the Atlasphere. We generally only allow members to upload actual photos of themselves, so I had to remove it -- but I certainly got a chuckle out of it.
Today my friend Joe Duarte published an eloquent column at the Atlasphere titled "American Dreams." In it, he explores ways in which certain dreams are more worthy than others. Recommended reading.
Following the recent story in Variety, we're ramping up regular coverage of the Atlas Shrugged movie at the Atlasphere. If you're interested to follow the status of the movie, check in with the Atlasphere's Atlas Shrugged Movie archive.
New Individualist editor Robert Bidinotto reports that Lionsgate is moving forward with its plans to produce the Atlas Shrugged movie: According to Variety, "Ray" producers Howard and Karen Baldwin believe they've cracked the challenge of turning the 1,100 page novel "Atlas Shrugged" into a manageable feature. Lionsgate has acquired worldwide distribution. And reportedly both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are very interested in the project: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been linked to the film adaptation of Ayn Rand's bestselling novel 'Atlas Shrugged'. Variety reports that the couple are rumoured to be considering starring as lead characters Dagny Taggart and John Galt. 'Atlas Shrugged' ...
Just posted this at The Atlasphere's Ayn Rand Meta-Blog. Comments are turned off over there, so I'm cross-posting it here in case anyone has thoughts they'd like to share. This morning one of our members sent us the following message: Guys at the Atlasphere -- as an investor in a couple dating sites, and the CEO of a pretty large internet subscription company -- I thought I'd point out that it's most common to show the pictures to basic members, so that they get really motivated to contact the other party and then pay to upgrade. Hiding the photos is hiding ...
The Atlasphere just published a holiday column by Editor Jason Dixon titled 'The Good' on Good Friday. It's an excellent article -- and today's required mudita reading. It begins: Around the world today, Christians are celebrating Good Friday — a commemoration of Christ’s crucifixion. Catholic and Protestant traditions alike offer special services on this day. Hymns, processions, reverence, and solemnity are the mainstays. I submit that this ritual is one reason for Christianity’s success. Not this particular ritual, but ritual itself, and the reverence that accompanies it. In philosophical terms, they provide a concrete symbol of an abstraction. In layman’s terms, they’re food for the ...
From a new article by Hank Holzer, "Clarence Thomas: The Keeper of the Flame," that we just published at the Atlasphere: In his fourteen complete terms as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has written 327 opinions. Despite their consistency in showing him to be a formidable intellect and staunch defender of the Constitution, his reputation among laypersons is not commensurate with his achievements. Too many members of the public have uncritically accepted the professional character assassination visited upon Justice Thomas by the liberal professional and academic legal community. I cannot count the times that people who should have known better ...
I've taken a bit of a beating over at LiveJournal lately, for attempting to enforce the Atlasphere's rights to its articles. A user named "Joeshit the Ragman" (nice, eh?) originally copied the entire text of one of our recent articles. When I asked to have the copyrighted material removed, I was greeted with hilarity and insults (such as "Holy crap you're ugly. No wonder you're such an asshole"). Lovely. Eventually the LiveJournal staff stepped in and required him/her to shorten it to an excerpt, but not until I'd been beaten around the ears by some folks who seem very foreign ...