A Real life Directive 10-289

It’s always nice to see family.

My cousin had a lay-over in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday so she gave me a call and we went out for a bite to eat.

She’s a pilot for probably the only profitable airline in the country. We got on the subject of the merger between her employer and another carrier. (Actually her airline is buying the other one.)

She mentioned the McCaskill/Bond legislation. Continue reading “A Real life Directive 10-289”

TCU – Baylor: A brief musical interlude and an ass-whuppin’ by the Frogs

I figure as long as I’m logged in, may as well keep posting the trip.

Had to cut the nat-gas-mobile conversation short as the Marching Horned Frogs showed for a rousing round of the fight song and other entertainment.   (How is it, you can’t help tapping your feet to a good fight song?)

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Plotting the death of the free world

Atlas Shrugged – Day 055 – pp. 539-548

If I may paraphrase Directive 10-289. . .

Point One – you are officially chained to your job — quitting is a criminal offense

Point Two – if you own a business, you have to keep it in operation no matter what

Point Three – all patents, copyrights, intellectual property and the like must be turned over to the state as a “patriotic emergency gift”

Point Four – nothing new shall be invented, produced or sold

Point Five – industry shall be required to produce the exact same amount of goods as they did during the “basic year”

Point Six – everyone shall spend the same amount of money they did on the goods they bought in the “basic year”

Point Seven – all wages, prices, salaries, dividends (and about any other payout you can think of) shall be frozen

Point Eight – anything not covered (or if you break the rules) ends up in front of the Unification Board . . .

Continue reading “Plotting the death of the free world”

Secrets revealed

Atlas Shrugged – Day 053 – pp. 519-528

My God! How long have I been gone! Well the move is about done. Pictures to hang and a few more things to organize, but for the most part, I’m all in. I think I set a world record for how much crap one guy can have. Seriously. The whole damn thing took 4 weeks. I know a guy down here who claims he can throw all his stuff in a duffel bag. I’m jealous.

So where were we? Oh yeah! “another death was all but assured…”

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Sex and the city (Ayn Rand style)

Atlas Shrugged – Day 050 – pp. 489-498

Just as an aside, I happened across an article in an open tab I was reading about the death of Tony Curtis. A beautiful man if there ever was one.  It read:

“As a performer, Mr. Curtis drew on his startlingly good looks. With his dark, curly hair worn in sculptured style later imitated by Elvis Presley and his plucked eyebrows framing pale blue eyes and full lips, Mr. Curtis embodied a new kind of feminized male beauty that came into vogue in the early 50’s”

“A vigorous heterosexual in his widely publicized (not least by himself) private life, he was often case in roles that drew on a perceived ambiguity. . .”

Hank and Francisco are about to engage in a little “boy talk.” I think I’m going to try to keep that image of Tony Curtis in my mind.

Anyway, back to the book.

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The “non-defense” defense

Getting a little behind on my posts.  Maybe blogging a 1200 page book, moving and starting business in the same month isn’t such a good idea.  (Glad Hank Rearden wasn’t around to hear that.)  Back to business…

Atlas Shrugged – Day 049 – pp. 479-488

Hank has just double dog dared the court to take away all his stuff. But not under the politically protective guise of punishing him for breaking the law. Come out and take it and show the world what you’re real intentions are.

Politically unappealing.

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UNT’s most famous alumni

Denton, Texas is famous for a few things…

It’s home to the University of North Texas, one of the premier music schools in the nation. . .

. . .Whose nickname is the “Mean Green” after their most distinguished alum — Charles Edward “Mean Joe” Greene — the menacing defensive tackle from the Pittsburg Steelers “Steel Curtain” defense of the early 70’s. . .

. . . And whose mascot, the “Eagle” also served as the inspiration for the name of a certain California-based band founded in the 1970’s (thanks to another alum – Don Henley.)

(Seems the 70’s was a busy decade for UNT.)

And finally. . .

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A mystery visitor

Atlas Shrugged – Day 045 – pp. 439-448

Now we cut back to the Taggart Trans commissary where Eddie is chatting with his anonymous friend once again.

I like Eddie Willers. He’s a good guy. I wonder if there’s going to be a bigger role in this whole story for him.

Anyway, Eddie’s troubled. Hank and Danagger are busted and going on trial next month. Eddie had spoken to Dagny about the coming trial. She’s afraid for Danagger. That he won’t be able to stand the pressure. She believes that as these economic and personal stresses shift from man to man, they each disappear in turn. As if they’re marked men. . .

Continue reading “A mystery visitor”