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Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged is a feature length documentary film that examines the resurging interest in Ayn Rand's epic and controversial 1957 novel and the validity of its dire prediction for America. Set in what Novelist and philosopher Rand called 'the day after tomorrow,' Atlas depicts an America in crisis, brought to her knees by a corrupt establishment of government regulators and businessmen with political pull. Despite critical scorn and continued derision from intellectuals on all sides of the ideological spectrum Atlas has remained a popular favorite and today sells more copies than it ever did....

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory will begin its mission to the Red Planet Saturday, with a launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is scheduled to occur during a one-hour and 43 minute window opening at 15:02 UTC (10:02 local time). [...]

The US Army aids and abets the Islamic war on free speech and bans Atlas without explanation. Meanwhile I am sure that real hate sites, like that of Hamas-linked CAIR, are easily accessible. An Atlas reader sent me these two emails: Just FYI... I work for the US Government and noticed that your web site http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/ has been blocked. Not CNN, FOX, or any other site, just yours. I checked with our FireWall team and they said a Tasker was put out to block it. I find this interesting considering we are getting closer to elections and your site, the...

"Recent satellite images of Greenland make it clear that there are in fact still numerous glaciers and permanent ice cover where the new Times Atlas shows ice-free conditions and the emergence of new lands," they say in a letter that has been sent to the Times. "We do not know why this error has occurred, but it is regrettable that the claimed drastic reduction in the extent of ice in Greenland has created headline news around the world. "There is to our knowledge no support for this claim in the published scientific literature."

Leading UK polar scientists say the Times Atlas of the World was wrong to assert that it has had to re-draw its map of Greenland due to climate change. Publicity for the latest edition of the atlas, launched last week, said warming had turned 15% of Greenland's former ice-covered land "green and ice-free". But scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute say the figures are wrong; the ice has not shrunk so much. The Atlas costs £150 ($237) and claims to be the world's "most authoritative". The 13th edition of the "comprehensive" version of the atlas included a number of...

Greenland glaciers have had a hard time of it lately, what with all the warming and disintegrating, and in their latest edition, the folks at the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World have decided to illustrate the island’s new look: as you can see above, lots and lots less white. The warming has even created a new island off the east coast: look closely just under the “Gr” in “Greenland Sea,” and you can see the words “Uunartoq Qeqertoq (Warming I.)”

Jesusopatriot crusader Anders Breivik (aka Andrew Berwick) comes to the defense of Our Lady of the All Caps Screech, Pam Geller and friends in his Manifesto (p. 625): I have watched, for the better part of a year, a number of decent human beings including, but not limited to, Pamela Geller, Paul Belien, Diana West, the Baron and Dymphna from the Gates of Vienna blog and many others, being at the receiving end of a vicious smear campaign from Charles Johnson and Little Green Footballs which is unlike anything I have seen in my life.

In a column about the revolving door between big government and the lobbying world, here’s what the irreplaceable Tim Carney wrote about the waiver process for folks trying to escape the burden of government-run healthcare. Congress imposes mandates on other entities, but gives bureaucrats the power to waive those mandates. To get such a waiver, you hire the people who used to administer or who helped craft the policies. So who’s the net winner? The politicians and bureaucrats who craft policies and wield power, because this combination of massive government power and wide bureaucratic discretion creates huge demand for revolving-door...

This is a link to a free viewing of a very interesting documentary about a doctor in Texas who seems to have discovered an amazingly effective tool to fight cancer. I am in the middle of watching it, but just watched an undeniable Atlas Shrugged moment that moved me to post it here.... It will only be free to view until midnight tonight. Thought provoking stuff here, and I will be interested to hear what ya'll think.

In the beginning it was a dream. I would own a restaurant in East Hampton. It would be a warm, beautiful place with great food and wonderful service. advertisement It would become one of the most popular restaurants in the Hamptons. It would be a place my entire family— my kids, their spouses, my grandkids and our friends—would enjoy scrumptious feasts where we would all sit and just revel in our love for good food and each other. Like I said, it was a dream. But then, it happened. In 1993 I was part of a group that bought a...

The Hollywood Reporter notes surprising-to-the-industry success for the launch of Atlas Shrugged Part One: "Shocking," one executive said about the healthy business the low-budget film has been doing considering its "awful" marketing plan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8MVFoiw-dw&feature=feedu Fantastic video clip of Dagny telling off a union boss

Just found this on the web! It was just released. It's the scene where Henry comes home and presents Lillian with the gift of the bracelet. And his brother demands money, but doesn't want Henry as the donor. Very cool scene. Mark

The trailer for Atlas Shrugged Part 1 has finally been released!

A FOCAL Mission into the Oort Cloud by Paul Gilster on November 15, 2010 After all this time, IÂ’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of massive objects in space as lenses, their distortion of spacetime offering the ability to see distant objects at huge magnification. On Friday we saw how the lensing effect caused by galactic clusters can be used to study dark energy. And consider the early results from the Herschel-ATLAS project, conducted by ESAÂ’s Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel is scanning large areas of the sky in far-infrared and sub-millimeter light. Many of its...

I can say—not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political and esthetic roots—that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It America’s founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more—and nothing less. The rest—everything that America achieved, everything she became, everything “noble and just,” and heroic, and great, and unprecedented in human history—was the logical consequence of fidelity to that one principle. The first consequence was...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHrTsMLh1sw

In what can only be described as a milestone in the breakdown of Western values and principles, the website of the EDL (English Defense League) was shut down, removed from the web. This is, essentially, self-enforcement of sharia (Islamic) law. Slander in Islam does not mean what it means in the West. Slander in Islam is anything that a Muslim decides is an "insult" to Islam. And they are relentless and violent in their imposition of this seventh century tenet of Islam. This violation of free speech is an outrage. In a rational world, it would propel free men to...

The fate of a Senate bill that would revamp the nation’s financial regulatory system could hinge on a Republican centrist from Maine. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) may end up being the deciding vote next week on a Democratic Wall Street reform plan touted by the White House. While Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) attracted the spotlight during the healthcare reform debate, Collins is the one being wooed by Republicans and Democrats on financial regulatory reform. A GOP aide said Collins is the only Republican senator who has not signed a letter promising to filibuster a motion to proceed to the bill...

This is a new and excellent podcast. Pete Ferron's new podcast -- The Shrugging Out Podcast -- is building momentum and listeners as people are learning about Pete's engaging style and the informative substance of each 30-40 minute presentation.

New and excellent podcast. Where "Atlas Shrugged" meets modern Survivalism: How to achieve practical independence from the "Dependency Culture" in America while protecting your family and helping the people you care about.

New and excellent podcast. Where "Atlas Shrugged" meets modern Survivalism. Theme: How to achieve practical independence from the "Dependency Culture" in America while protecting your family and helping the people you care about.

Stossel's discussion of Atlas Shrugged, on Fox Business 1/07/10

So, are you doing anything different economically? Are you cutting back? Will Christmas and Thanksgiving be any different? Are you spending, saving, paying down?

Several years ago, Miss Ayn Rand wrote The Fountainhead. Despite a generally poor press, it is said to have sold some four hundred thousand copies. Thus, it became a wonder of the book trade of a kind that publishers dream about after taxes. So Atlas Shrugged had a first printing of one hundred thousand copies. It appears to be slowly climbing the best-seller lists. The news about this book seems to me to be that any ordinarily sensible head could not possibly take it seriously, and that, apparently, a good many do. Somebody has called it: "Excruciatingly awful." I find...

Few details available about military mission ... except that it succeeded An Atlas 5 rocket has lifted off from Florida carrying a highly classified military satellite. The rocket launched into a nearly cloudless sky at 5:35 p.m. ET Tuesday. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture involving Lockheed Martin and Boeing, handled the launch. Eric Brian, a spokesman for the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, declined to say which branch of the military will command the satellite in orbit. Brian said the rocket carried a $500 million payload. The satellite was made by Lockheed Martin. United Launch Alliance...

If that's correct, I can't think events in 2009 will do anything to diminish the flow. What I wonder is: Where did those 2 million go? Britons, Canadians, Europeans, etc, who seek "greener pastures" generally wind up in the U.S. For most of us immigrants, this is the last stop on the tour: There's nowhere else to go. So where on the planet do a couple of million Americans go to find somewhere "greener"?

Despite a number of differences I have with Ayn Rand on issues of religion and philosophy, her 1957 magnum opus, "Atlas Shrugged," definitely steered me away from the leftist upbringing I had, and introduced me to the world of conservative ideas and authors: Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, Isabel Paterson, and many others. Universally panned by literary critics of the day, "Atlas" was, nevertheless, a bestseller in 1957, and continued to sell about 100,000 copies a year for 51 consecutive years. 52 years later -- just after the inauguration of zerobama -- "Atlas" has apparently tripled its sales...

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite are ready for launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today. The spacecraft are scheduled to lift off together with three attempts possible at 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m. and 5:32 p.m. EDT. If launch slips to Friday, June 19, the launch opportunities would be 6:41 p.m., 6:51 p.m. and 7:01 p.m.

What is the breaking point? Where will the resistance form? Heavy questions, but unavoidable in the current political climate. The productive members of society can only be pushed so far, some say. What they envision is not defiance of law or a reversal of the election. It is people's growing disengagement from a new economic order that punishes effort and rewards envy — the creepy future that Bill Ritter and Barack Obama intend for us. Columnist Michelle Malkin calls that withdrawal "going Galt." Malkin was the first speaker last weekend when several hundred Coloradans gathered for a free-market leadership conference...

Could Obama's carbon emission policies re-create the economic conditions that led to Southern secession?Who Pays for Cap and Trade? (Wall Street Journal, 3/9/09, A18) describes how Barack Obama's proposed carbon taxes and cap-and-trade mandates will affect different regions of the United States. The table shows per capita carbon emissions in tons. Highest are Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia, Montana, Louisiana, Indiana, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Iowa. All are either Red States or conservative Blue States. Lowest are NJ, FL, WA, OR, MA, CT, VT, CA, NY, and RI. All except Florida are reliable Blue States with high populations of latte-sipping...

The airwaves and the Internet wires have been burning with all manner of rhetoric over the past three months, but perhaps the three that most bear retaining in the minds of Americans is: Elections have consequences. Usually elections revolve around familiar "wedge" issues, abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, and taxes, but this time part of the electorate has raised the ante. This time, they have made a statement on what form they would wish for society as a whole. The fundamental form of society is important. A society can allow people to live without fear, to achieve their full potential,...

Treasury Secretary Geithner Tells CNBC: "We Need to Be Exceptionally Careful That We Protect Taxpayers." Banner only

A fascinating new atlas, featuring cities that are renamed to reflect their etymological origins, is now on sale. Etymologists and wordsmiths will take particular interest in a new set of maps going on sale in time for Christmas. The traditional names for the world's cities, countries, rivers and mountains have been altered on an atlas to reflect their origins and literal meaning. Chicago, for example, is renamed Stink Onion and Cameroon is called the Land of Shrimps. The logic behind each place name is explained on the back of the maps. Cameroon comes from the Portuguese word camaroes, meaning...

WORLD NET COVERS THE GOOGLE BAN ON ATLAS Chelsea of World Net Daily has picked up on this outrage: "SANDBOXED"/ BLACKLISTED BY GOOGLE. Check it out: Google 'censoring' anti-Obama bloggers? Writer claims Internet giant banning stories that expose president-elect Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs Is Google censoring anti-Obama stories? Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs claims the search engine giant has banned her groundbreaking articles about Obama – a technique many people refer to as "sandboxing." "There was no warning, no notice, nothing," Geller told WND. "They have basically sandboxed me." "Sandboxing" happens when Google strips a website's rankings from its...

(Los Angeles) Barak Obama and John McCain should take note of a Zogby poll released today that found that 8.1 percent of American adults have read the book Atlas Shrugged by pro-freedom philosopher Ayn Rand. This result matches the 8.1 percent result from the 2007 Atlas Shrugged survey. This poll illuminates a large segment of the American public that favors minimum government. Atlas Shrugged chronicles an America where government has taken control of nearly all aspects of life. As society collapses the heroine follows a trail of clues surrounding the disappearance of innovators and the rise of a mysterious phrase...

Each year since 2005, the US government has levied taxes and then transferred over a trillion dollars per year in social welfare spending. Since 1965, the year the War on Poverty began, the US government has shared tens of trillions of dollars in wealth to fight a poverty rate that remains unchanged, at 14%, from 1964 to today. In this election, Obama promises to “share the wealth.” Barney Frank asserts that there are plenty of “rich people we can tax to recover this money” the Democrats plan to spend – as if you absconded with the funds. Hillary famously said...

The Atlas 5 rocket’s planned Thursday liftoff cleared a final hurdle during a routine pre-launch review today at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Officials confirmed the mission is targeting departure at 3:02 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base. While the window remains classified, the launch could occur anytime before 4 a.m., according to officials. The West Coast’s first Atlas 5 rocket will carry a top-secret satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.

A powerful explosion rocked Tacoma Saturday afternoon, sending four injured workers to the hospital, shooting a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky, shutting down highways and banning aircraft for a five-mile radius. The series of events leading to the explosion began as a tanker truck driver was loading propane into one of two stationary tanks at Atlas Castings & Technology. Two smaller explosions occurred, followed by a massive one that blew the truck apart, with the axel flying hundreds of feet in the air before

It has been half a century since the publication of Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. That book like no other has inspired millions of readers; motivated individuals to pursue their own happiness and achieve the best within them; influenced philosophy, politics, ethics and aesthetics; and has created the Objectivist movement. The Atlas Society will celebrate this great achievement with an all-day conference and gala concluding banquet in Washington, D.C. and give you any updates on the planned Atlas movie! Our keynote speakers: *John Stossel, ABC News 20/20, author. Dinner Speaker *Charles Murray, author, philosopher and social scientist. Luncheon Speaker....

Arlington, VA, March 12, 2007 – Think tanks from the United States and 13 other countries have been named winners of 2007 Templeton Freedom Awards, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, which manages the competition, announced today. Winning institutions come from a widely diverse geographical area, ranging from Montana to Montenegro, Brazil to Belarus, Sweden to Japan. The multi-faceted awards program, which attracted this year more than 200 entries from 53 countries, recognizes innovative civil society programs sponsored by independent research institutes around the world. The program is named in honor of famed investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. “Economic and...

It takes about six minutes for a firefighter with a full load of gear to reach the top of a 30-story building by running up the stairs--and when he gets there, he's tired. A group of MIT students have designed a rope-climbing device that can carry 250 pounds at a top speed of 10 feet per second. They have a contract to make the climbing device for the U.S. Army for use in urban combat zones, and they hope to make it available to rescue workers. The students founded a company, Atlas Devices, based in Cambridge, MA, to commercialize the...

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed United Launch Alliance ("ULA") joint venture between the US Defence and Space contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The investigation has shown that the proposed transaction will not significantly impede effective competition in the European Union. Both Boeing and Lockheed provide space launch services to governmental and commercial customers. Lockheed is active on the market with its Atlas family of launch vehicles as well as with Proton, a launcher produced in a joint venture with Russian partners. Boeing offers the Delta launch vehicles as well as launchers produced by...

National Geographic Society retreats The Marze Por Gohar Party is happy to announce that with the hard work of our compatriots for defending the Persian Gulf, the National Geographic Society has been forced to retreat from their earlier stance regarding the Persian Gulf. The National Geographic Society has reportedly removed the illegitimate name from its maps, however there is an asterisk now explaining that some countries use another (unrecognized) name to refer to the Persian Gulf. Though the Islamic Republic would like to have Iranians believe that the matter regarding the National Geographic’s use of an illegitimate name for the...

Physik Astronomie Louisiana State University 14.01.2005 LSU researcher solves ancient astronomy mystery An ancient mystery may have been solved by LSU Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Bradley E. Schaefer. Schaefer has discovered that the long-lost star catalog of Hipparchus, which dates back to 129 B.C., appears on a Roman statue called the Farnese Atlas. Hipparchus was one of the greatest astronomers of antiquity and his star catalog was the first in the world, as well as the most influential. The catalog was lost early in the Christian era, perhaps in the fire at the great library in Alexandria. The...

Americans had a brand new view of the world just in time for Geography Awareness Week November 14-20. The National Geographic Society, which hosts the annual event, has just published the eighth edition of its Atlas of the World. The Society made more than 15,000 changes from the previous version, issued five years ago. In addition to traditional maps, the book contains country-by-country profiles of political and economic data, as well as maps of cultural aspects - such as religions and languages. Chief cartographer Allen Carroll says the new edition had to venture beyond the customary political maps. "I’ve always...

October 24, 2004 Unfortunately due to powerful anti-Iranian activities and the typical incompetence of the Islamic Republic that occupies Iran, the southern states of the Persian Gulf who have only come to existence thanks to foreign powers, have slowly become more brazen. As a result the National Geographic Society has printed at least three major erroneous statements in its Atlas of the World 2005 (Eighth Edition, ISBN: 0-7922-7543-8 & ISBN: 0-7922-7542-x) regarding Iran and the Persian Gulf. Considering the fact that the National, Geographic is the biggest non-profit educational and scientific institution, it is hard for us to fathom how...

The following is an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged, © Copyright, 1957, by Ayn Rand. "So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another, must deal by trade, and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of...

<p>From the perspective of a political scientist, nothing is perhaps as genuinely Mexican as the long-term institutionalized corruption of our police and bureaucracy. This is so longstanding and deeply embedded in daily routine that the concept of "ethical government" is a true oxymoron.</p>

International Launch Services (ILS), a Lockheed Martin Corp. joint venture, has been given the green light for what will be the first Atlas V launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 3-East, which is being refurbished to support a late 2005 launch for this national security mission. The launch is for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), as one of 18 missions assigned to ILS and the Lockheed Martin-built Atlas V rocket under the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. This is the formal contract for one of those...