And just in case there is anyone out there who only reads the Round Up on my say so, you can find last week’s edition at The Playful Spirit.  Last week was Rachel’s first time hosting so you might want to go check out her blog if you’ve not seen it yet.

Oh, yeah, and there is that Objectivist Round Up thing today, hosted by Kelly at Reepicheep’s Coracle.  (Someday I’ll be able to spell that without double-checking three times.)  Will someone please read it for me this week?  I’m booked.  Seriously, go!

Amit Ghate presents Force and Violence: How the Left Blurs Terms posted at Thrutch, saying, “A post in which I introduce a new editorial.”

Jared Rhoads presents Reversing the takeover posted at The Lucidicus Project, saying, “Krugman is right about one thing: this takeover is the culmination of decades of government intervention in healthcare.”

Rachel Miner presents Thyroid Latest: Reverse T3 posted at The Playful Spirit, saying, “I wrote an update on my thyroid issues for those collecting data points on this concern being experienced by so many.”

Rachel Miner presents Autism Follow Up, Sensory Integration Dysfunction posted at The Playful Spirit, saying, “I answer a question explaining more fully the sensory issues which can be combined with autism, but may be exhibited alone. I think the book recommendation I include is useful for any child because every kid, by their very nature, is learning to integrate sensory data.”

Sandi Trixx presents World Malaria Day – Blame Environmentalists for 3 Million Deaths a Year posted at Sandi Trixx, saying, “The left, without admitting their wrongdoing, have decided to have a warm and fuzzy World Malaria Day so they can feel all good inside.”

Jared Rhoads presents Hold a sign, speak out posted at The Lucidicus Project, saying, “Washington officials are saying that this could be the last week in the healthcare debate. So get out and be heard!”

Jim Woods presents My State of the Union Address posted at Words by Woods, saying, “What is the state of our union? What should be done?”

Earl Parson presents We Are All Coloradans posted at Creatures of Prometheus, saying, “In the face of the recently passed Amazon Tax, I declare my solidarity with those working toward its repeal.”

Paul Hsieh presents Health Care Endgame posted at We Stand FIRM, saying, “This is make-or-break time for health care — and for the future of freedom in this country. Find out what you can do.”

Trey Givens presents Who Pays on Guy-Guy Dates? posted at Trey Givens, saying, “This week, I’m submitting some lighter fare for the carnival. As I understand it, heterosexuals don’t even have consistent rules of conduct about this and homosexuals are not struck dumb and blind at their first thoughts of sodomy, but, still the question comes up with surprising frequency. That and “Who leads when you slow dance?” That question will have to wait for another day. But here you have a rather definitive guide to figuring out who will pay on guy-guy dates to apply in your own lives. ENJOY!”

John Drake presents Mind mapping software posted at Try Reason!, saying, “I give a quick overview of a tool for that is said to support the Getting Things Done personal productivity framework. Mind mapping might be a really useful to for getting ideas organized.”

Rational Jenn presents Interesting TED Talk on Motivation posted at Rational Jenn, saying, “In many ways, the Mommy job is very similar to other people management jobs I’ve had in the past. A TED Talk about motivating employees got me thinking again about the issue of motivating children.”

Stella presents “Too much” care posted at ReasonPharm, saying, “How much care is “too much”? It’s individuals who should decide.”

Amy Mossoff presents My New Hobby posted at The Little Things, saying, “I really had to work hard to be selfish when starting up an Objectivist discussion group.”

Jason Stotts presents Relationships: A Continuum of Permissiveness posted at Erosophia, saying, “In this essay, I want to explore the concept of permissiveness and exclusivity as they relate to relationships. I want to explore the idea that relationships exist along a continuum of permissiveness with a completely jealous relationship at one extreme and an open relationship at the other, with exclusive relationships and swinging relationships in between.”

Adam Reed presents Healthy Weight posted at Born to Identify, saying, “The ideal dragoon, and therefore the ideal Prussian conscript, had to be light enough to ride all day without exhausting the horse. If one accepts the Prussian pseudo-standard, 68% of Americans are overweight or obese.”

Ari Armstrong presents The Amazon Tax and the Affiliates Amendment posted at Free Colorado, saying, “Detailed analysis of Colorado’s “Amazon Tax.”"

Rory presents In which Rory pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge – Part One posted at Mind To Matter, saying, “”Coupled with a healthy recognition of the value of knowledge to one’s life, it is good to pursue knowledge for its own sake – that is to say, because one finds satisfying one’s curiosity to be valuable and enjoyable – without necessarily knowing the concrete practical ends which that knowledge might or might not achieve.”"

Mike Zemack presents The Wreckage of the “Climate Consensus” posted at Principled Perspectives, saying, “For the second time in my lifetime – 1970s global cooling and today’s global warming – an climate catastrophe movement is unraveling.”

Diana Hsieh presents Pushing the Boundaries of Personal Privacy posted at NoodleFood, saying, “Personal privacy is dying with the rise of social media. Is that a good or a bad thing?”

Diana Hsieh presents Welcome to Modern Paleo! posted at Modern Paleo, saying, “I’ve just launched my latest project: Modern Paleo. It offers writings and other resources by Objectivists on the principles and practices of nutrition, fitness, and health most conducive to human flourishing.”

C.W. presents Fed and the Money Supply: Details posted at Krazy Economy, saying, “Understanding exactly how our money supply expands is important both for intellectual combat and making personal decisions. This post should complete the discussion of the Fed.”

Qwertz presents Rand’s Razor v. Gay Marriage posted at WoPSR.net.

Kelly Elmore presents Parenting Toolbox: Family Meetings posted at Reepicheep’s Coracle, saying, “This is another tool I am adding to my parenting tool box.”

Sandi Trixx presents The Last Word posted at Sandi Trixx, saying, “A follow up to my earlier post on World Malaria Day”

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Objectivist Round Up using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: objectivist round up, blog carnival.

I started thinking about this project when I realized that the most important thing I get from my friends is intellectual stimulation.  I noticed that when Adam and I have friends over – friends who share our philosophical views and take ideas seriously – the conversations we have make me feel great for days.  Sometimes I learn something new from the content of the discussion, but more often than not, the important thing is that the exercise of my mind refuels me and puts me into a more active-minded mode than I would normally be in.  After these visits, I feel charged up, energetic, and on my game.  Everything I do is more intense, and I enjoy my routine much more.

I like lots of different people for lots of different reasons – this is not the only value of friendship for me.  However, this particular value is something that I need in a deep and serious way, since my day-job, although challenging in many ways, is not really an intellectual endeavor.  I mean, I use my mind as a parent.  My god, I use my mind in ways that I never knew that I could!  But the truth is, parenting is full of a lot of mind-numbingly boring tasks (cooking, running errands, wiping bottoms, telling Little Bear stories, etc.).  Happily, I actually enjoy most of these things.  But the sheer volume of minutia involved in full-time parenting makes me long to fly up high and see the forest instead of the trees.  It’s funny, because I noted long ago that Adam, whose career is intellectual, feels a strong need for hobbies that are physical and/or give instant gratification.  When we had a nice yard in Michigan, he took up yard work, and got a great deal of satisfaction from something as ordinary as pulling weeds or mowing the lawn.  I think most people would like to have both kinds of activities in their lives.

So anyway, I decided I wanted to start an Objectivist club, but it took me a long time to nail down exactly what kind of club it would be.  I’m pretty sure most of my readers know what Objectivism is, but if not, you can check out The Ayn Rand Institute’s web site.  People have been forming Objectivist clubs for decades, and most clubs fall into one of three main categories:

• Study clubs.  The most common type of Objectivist club, these groups devote serious effort to understanding Ayn Rand’s ideas.  Most college campus clubs fall into this category.  These clubs can have anywhere from just a few members, to dozens.  Usually, there are some formal requirements for membership and, if the club is large enough, there are elected positions such as secretary, treasurer, etc.  Many of these clubs also organize speaker events which are open to the public.  I founded a study club at Michigan State University while I was there, although I did a terrible job with it and it appears to be dead now.  I wish I had OCN back then to help me!
• Social clubs.  These are a way to network with local Objectivists and hopefully make some friends amongst like-minded people.  Many clubs organize activities that have nothing to do with Objectivism – the idea is just to get everyone together and have fun.
• Activist clubs.  I’ve never had any experience with an Objectivist club dedicated to activism, but they do exist.

Well, I spent many months being very confused about what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted a study club, but my experience at MSU made me realize that I didn’t want a typical one.  Most of these clubs seem to have a second, implicit purpose of promoting Objectivism to the local community, which is not something I want to do.  Most are more formal than what I was looking for, and involve more time than I’m willing to put in.  Finally, I was tied up in knots about who to invite to join my club.  With campus clubs, the idea is always to get as many members as possible.  I know a lot of Objectivists in the DC area whom I like and would like to spend more time with.  But the kind of conversations that I want and need have always happened with a small group of people.

In the end, I decided to start a very small group, and to keep the structure of it to a minimum.  There are 6 of us, and we meet monthly.  We don’t have a statement of purpose or anything formal like that, but I made it clear that I want to focus on what I call “applied Objectivism.”  I’m not interested in philosophy as such, but how to live my life better, which, of course, is the purpose of philosophy.

I determined the subject of our first discussion just to get us started.  I suggested some reading and a few questions to consider.  At our first meeting on Sunday, we started with that, but just let the conversation flow in whatever direction it would.  (I’m not going to report on the content of our discussions here.)  We stayed mostly on-point, but it was done naturally, without the need for moderation.  During our discussion, we all became interested in another subject, and agreed that we would make that our topic for next month.  Another member will take the lead for that discussion, and we’ll probably trade off that “lead” role going forward.  This loose structure seemed to work very well, but we might change it if necessary.

I am really happy with this group, and I feel very proud that I met the challenge of doing it selfishly.

Next week, it’s my turn!