Category Archives: Ayn Rand

My eighth-grader cannot wait to get her COVID vaccine. Gone are the days of needle dread, when every trip to the doctors office prompted the same anxious question: Will I have to get a shot?

Now the question is, How soon can I get vaccinated? and, Then can I hug my friends?

The youngest, she will be the last one in our family to get the vaccine, approved this week for 12-to-15-year-olds by the FDA, with the CDC expected to deliver final public health guidance shortly. She can hardly wait.

My oldest daughter, now in college, is already fully vaccinated. She was 5 years old when, during a flu shot appointment, she made a break for it. She ran all the way down the clinic hallway and out the revolving door. She was headed for the parking lot when I caught up with her and dragged her back inside a scene neither of us will ever forget.

For years she hated needles. In high school she passed out cold after a series of shots at that same doctors office. But she, too, was delighted when she became eligible for the COVID vaccine, and rushed to get an appointment. It was great, she said nothing to it.

Lets hope all the vaccine-hesitant people in our lives undergo a similar transformation, from leery to gung-ho.

As public health officials keep reminding us, we need everyone who can get a COVID shot to get one, so we can achieve herd immunity and get our lives back.

We are on the brink, this spring, of getting back to normal.

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I recently started going into the Examiner office, after a winter spent sitting around the house with my loved ones, staring at our separate screens and bumping into each other as we cruised the kitchen and binged on crackers. Dont get me wrong, its wonderful to have the option to work from home, and cozy to be with the family. Everyone enjoyed it, for a while. Especially the dog. But its amazing to be back in the world again. The first day I visited our silent office after a year away, I cleared up yellowing newspapers with headlines from March 2020 about the pandemic, threw away dried flower petals scattered across the carpet by a bouquet that was quickly turning to dust.

Now, I look out the window and see crowded cafe tables on the street below. I hear bubbling conversation and music from the coffee shop downstairs. The coffee crowd slowly gives way to the after-work beer crowd as the sun sinks behind the Capitol. It feels like the world is coming alive again, especially in the beautiful spring weather.

We cant hibernate forever.

You would think the Reopen crowd would be thrilled by the success of Wisconsins tops-in-the-nation vaccination program, and eager to get their shots and put the pandemic behind us. But alas, you would be wrong about that.

Our own Sen. Ron Johnson the same guy who said COVID deaths were not such a big deal, that people needed to get back to work early in the pandemic and that stay-at-home orders were not worth the economic cost, is pushing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Johnson claimed on rightwing talker Vicki McKennas radio show last week that lots of people have died after getting the vaccine, and cited those (debunked) statistics as a reason for sticking up for people who choose not to get vaccinated.

Johnson, an Ayn Rand acolyte, truly does not seem to grasp the concept of public health or society, for that matter. If youhave avaccine, quite honestly, whatdo you care ifyour neighbor has one or not? he said,firmly staking out the political terrain that opposes the control of contagious disease.

This is the same guy who publicized snake oil remedies for COVID at a U.S. Senate hearing, to the dismay of doctors.

No surprise, then, that he was an outlier no vote on Tuesday when Andrea Palm, the former head of Wisconsins Department of Health Services, sailed through Senate confirmation to become the No. 2 at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Palm must be so delighted to be moving up and out from Wisconsin, after enduring relentless attacks from state Republicans just for doing her job and trying to protect us all from a deadly virus. Johnsons no vote is practically an endorsement.

What is it with our states Republican leaders? Why must they start a war with sane public health policies in the middle of a public health crisis? Why must they opposemasks and social distancing and vaccination? Couldnt they pick one?

White, Republican men are the biggest anti-maskers and the least willing to get vaccinated. Some of the same dont tread on me sign-carriers who gathered on the State Capitol lawn to protest Gov. Tony Evers stay-at-home order last spring appear to have moved on to the Alliant Center, holding some of the same signs objecting to the nanny state while promoting Johsonesque anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

Driving past this crowd reminded me of chasing my daughter through the revolving door when she was running away from her shot. Irrational fear is hard to control. The least our political leaders can do is not give it a running start.

Instead, they should remind people how badly they wanted to reopen the state a year ago. Nows their chance. Get vaccinated, so we can get back to normal.

If my shot-resistant kids can do it, so can all those Republican men. Because Im getting too old to chase you through the parking lot.

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Wisconsin Examiner Kids are getting their shots so should Ron Johnson - Wisconsin Examiner

We customarily spend Shavuot Eve (Layl Tikkun) engrossed in study of sacred texts and Jewish thought and history, gratefully re-enacting and reimagining and to a certain degree expanding upon the Revelation at Sinai that the festival commemorates. The specific subject matter we examine varies from tradition to tradition, year to year, community to community, student to student.

What follows is a collection of quotations from a wide variety of sources that acts as a book-by-book review of the Hebrew Bible all 39 books (counting the 12 minor prophets as discrete works). In some cases, the familiar English name of the biblical book is mentioned explicitly. Some books are identified by reference to their central theme, or invocation of a leading literary motif or famous verse. Others are alluded to still more obliquely through pun, word-play, even anagram. Often, more than one of these methods are combined to establish a clearer reference to the book in question. Some quotations incorporate the meaning of the biblical works Hebrew name, notwithstanding the books more familiar English appellation.

Shavuot celebrants aiming reverently to revel in revelation are invited thoughtfully to consider these quotes, presented in the traditional order of the Masoretic text (see below) and to explore (and perhaps to discuss, debate, and dispute) how they relate to the corresponding sections of the Hebrew Bible.

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In so doing, this Shavuot and through all the days that follow, may we come more deeply to celebrate and more gratefully to embrace what Abraham Lincoln referred to as the best gift God has ever given us the Bible itself.

Chag sameach!

Torah

I shall now proceed to the nature and genesis of the imagination. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria,, or, Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions)

Love looks to the eternal. Love is indeed ecstasy, not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an on-going exodus out of the closed inward-looking self toward its liberation through self-giving toward authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God. (Pope Benedict XVI)

Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: What does his voice sound like? What games does he like best? Does he collect butterflies? They ask: How old is he? How many brothers does he have? How much does he weigh? How much money does he have? Only then do they think they know him. If you tell grown-ups, I saw a beautiful red brick house, with geraniums at the windows and doves at the roof, they wont be able to imagine such a house. You have to tell them, I saw a house worth a thousand francs. Then they exclaim, What a pretty house! (Antoine de Saint-Exupry, The Little Prince)

Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. (Yehuda Berg)

Former Prophets (Neviim Rishonim)

Joshing and ribbing need not always be cruel or inappropriate. It is okay sometimes to laugh at othersa comic or even our friendsespecially if they are in a position to tease us back. Humor offers an important way for us to have fun together, to laugh with (not just at) others, and to exercise our abilities for socialization. (Robert R. Clewis, Kants Humorous Writings)

Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. (Francis Bacon)

I would not, could not, in the rain. Not in the dark. Not on a train. Not in a car. Not in a tree. I do not like them, Sam, you see. (Dr. Seuss)

There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King)

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax of cabbages and kings. (Lewis Carroll)

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. (Thomas Jefferson)

Latter Prophets (Neviim Acharonim)

I say a final last prayer, this one in gratitude that there are people in the world who will protect kids with a fire that makes them sprint after cars, fight systems, curse with rage. Its enough to make you believe. Maybe not in symbols; maybe not in gods. But certainly in people. (Emery Lord, The Names They Gave Us)

Mark Twain said that every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction; jeremiads are the caustic, but necessary herbicide that keeps those seeds from ever bearing fruit. (Brett & Kate McKay, Were Going to Hell in a Handbasket! Hooray! Why Every Man Should Embrace the Jeremiad)

The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency the belief that the here and now is all there is. (Allan Bloom)

Minor Prophets (Trei Asar)

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, youll become happy; if you get a bad one, youll become a philosopher. (Socrates)

For like a poisonous breath over the fields, like a mass of locusts over Egypt, so the swarm of excuses is a general plaque, a ruinous infection among men, that eats off the sprouts of the Eternal. (Sren Kierkegaard)

Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue. (Barry Goldwater)

Servant of God, well done! well hast thou fought The better fight, who single hast maintaind Against revolted multitudes the cause of truth. (John Milton)

They will abide a great deal, sailors, but not a Jonah. (Patrick OBrian, Master and Commander)

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart. (Maya Angelou)

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair. (C. S. Lewis)

Though vine nor fig-tree neither,Their wonted fruit shall bear,Though all the field should wither,Nor flocks nor herds be there;Yet God the same abiding,His praise shall tune my voice,For, while in Him confiding,I cannot but rejoice. (William Cowper, Sometimes a Light Surprises)

We cannot begin to define Gods knowledge. We know, simply and profoundly, that nothing is hidden from Him or incomprehensible to Him. (Elizabeth George)

Designing a dream city is easy; rebuilding a living one takes imagination. (Jane Jacobs)

Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. (Alex Karras)

Man is a messenger who forgot the message. (Abraham Joshua Heschel)

Writings (Ketuvim)

These poems, with all their crudities, doubts, and confusions, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and Id be a damn fool if they werent. (Dylan Thomas)

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience. (Miguel de Cervantes)

Be thankful for your problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job. (Jim Lovell)

A bells not a bell til you ring it, A songs not a song til you sing it, Love in your heart wasnt put there to stay, Love isnt love til you give it away! (Oscar Hammerstein II)

People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless. And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless, I shall destroy him. (Robert F. Kennedy)

This day I ceased to plead. I was no longer capable of lamentation. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. (Elie Wiesel, Night)

The secular world is more spiritual than it thinks, just as the ecclesiastical world is more materialistic than it cares to acknowledge. (Lionel Blue)

I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people. (Elizabeth I)

It is also a warning. It is a warning that, if nobody reads the writing on the wall, man will be reduced to the state of the beast, whom he is shaming by his manners. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Dont set out to raze all shrines, youll frighten men, enshrine mediocrity and the shrines are razed. (Ayn Rand)

God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.

(Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)

Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice. ( E. M. Forster)

To bring our forebears back to mind,Their deeds, their words, their manners kind,We must their chronicles at least,And their histories read out at feasts;The foul plotting of the knave,The noble record of the brave. (Robert Wace, Roman de Rou)

Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes.

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)

Genesis Coleridge)

Exodus (Benedict)

Leviticus (Emerson)

Numbers (Saint Exupery)

Deuteronomy (Burg)

Joshua (Clewis)

Judges (Bacon)

I Samuel (Seuss)

II Samuel (Tolkien)

I Kings (Carroll)

II Kings (Jefferson)

Isaiah (Lord)

Jeremiah (McKay)

Ezekiel (Bloom)

Hosea (Socrates)

Joel (Kierkegaard)

Amos (Goldwater)

Obadiah (Milton)

Jonah (OBrian)

Micah (Angelou)

Nahum (Lewis)

Habakkuk (Cowper)

Zephaniah (George)

Haggai (Jacobs)

Zechariah (Karras)

Malachi (Heschel)

Psalms (Thomas)

Proverbs (Cervantes)

Job (Lovell)

Song of Songs (Hammerstein)

Ruth (Kennedy)

Lamentations Wiesel)

Ecclesiastes (Blue)

Esther (Elizabeth)

Daniel (Gandhi)

Ezra (Rand)

Nehemiah (Claiborne)

I Chronicles (Forster)

II Chronicles (Wace)

Read the original here:

Reverential and referential: A review of the Hebrew Bible for Shavuot eve - The Jewish Standard

Hundreds of thousands of books are published each year. But it's only the lucky few of a small percentage of published works become widely well-known.

That said, not all popular novels have a good reputation among readers. And it's no surprise that the more popular a novel is, the more harshly the book appears to be judged in the court of public opinion.

On Monday, author Michele Wojciechowski, who later credited @ogbrenna for inspiring the prompt, asked Twitter one book-related question, leading thousands of users to sound off in response: "You're on a first date with someone, and they tell you the name of their favorite book. You immediately leave. What's the book?"

The tweet went viral, and now has more than 21,000 likes and over 18,000 replies. The list was diverse, but some books were hated more than others. According to the responses, here are some of Twitter's most hated books.

The Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged/Author Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand has been a controversial voice within the literary community for quite some time. She's best known as the creator of objectivism, a philosophy that opposes state interference.

A vocal supporter of capitalism and the free market economy, Rand and objectivism have had a huge influence on the American libertarian movement, and have been a popular talking point amongst American philosophers for decades. Because her politics and literature are so intricately woven together, it's no surprise that those who oppose her views would also despise her works.

One user had this to say of Ayn Rand: "If I'm on a date and someone that person thinks the writings and philosophy of Ayn Rand is amazing, we are not compatible. I'm too old to debate someone politely over dinner about it. Life is short."

Also, "Atlas Shrugged" is over 1,000 pages long, which led readers to ask: did Ayn Rand really need to say that much?

"Atlas Shrugged is a 1000 page long manifesto about everything a 14-year-old believes about free market economics," tweeted one passionate reader. "It's interminably boring and there's so much better stuff even in that branch of thought."

Tweeted another: "Let's face it, if you made it all the way through that book and decided it was your favorite, you are very likely an extremely boring person and probably not a good date."

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

This one might be a shock to many, but commenters were clear that if "Harry Potter" was their theoretical date's favorite book, then they were walking out.

While J.K. Rowling has also become quite controversial as of late for her beliefs regarding the transgender community, the negativity surrounding the series in this specific thread is engrained in something much simpler than politics: it's a children's series.

"My issue isn't really the books, but if your FAVORITE book is a YA book you just are not enough of a reader for me," commented one Twitter user in the thread.

Those against "Harry Potter" either appeared to have a deep-seated hatred towards the series or just felt that their date should not still be reading YA fiction. Though many would disagree, in this particular thread, "Harry Potter" is a non-starter.

"I am an adult who reads a fair amount and I prefer to date adults who do the same," said one Twitter user. "If a person hasn't progressed beyond YA literature, I suspect we'll run out of things to talk about sooner rather than later."

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

Unshockingly, many said they wanted nothing to do with a person whose favorite book is "Mein Kampf."Published in 1925, this is Hitler's autobiographical manifesto. The book outlines his political ideology and his future plans for Germany.

"If Mein Kampf being someone's favorite book isn't a dealbreaker, you might be a Nazi," wrote one reader.

"Mein Kampf" is widely studied by historians; however, many agreed that finding enjoyment in reading this book, to the point of calling it a favorite, is a huge red flag.

"I'm all for familiarizing oneself with controversial books of historical importance, but if a guy's -favorite- book is Mein Kampf I am running for the exits," said another Twitter user.

Another agreed that if their date had admitted to reading "Mein Kampf" for academic purposes, they'd understand. But if the book was their date's favorite? They'd run for the hills.

Other honorable mentions included: The Bible, "Catcher in the Rye," and "50 Shade of Gray."

As many battled over their literary taste, some argued that anyone who loves to read shouldn't be judged, but encouraged and celebrated.

One user shared a screenshot of a post written by a librarian, which starts off by saying, "You do not need to apologize for the books you choose to read."

Others would just be happy to know that their date loves to read.

"You know what," tweeted one user, "if they read books at all that's a win."

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People Share the Book Titles That Would Make Them Walk Out of a First Date - Newsweek

When it comes to filmmaking, Zack Snyder believes in not pulling any punches. This no-holds-barred approach led to the creation of the DCEU under Snyder, where Superman is a brooding alien struggling against a suspicious world, and Batman is a jaded vigilante who kills his enemies. Snyder's DCEU movies have led to highly polarized reactions from critics and the general public. And the filmmaker appears to have learned to expect such reactions to his work. In a recent interview, Snyder explained that he has decided to postpone his passion project, a movie adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead until a more liberal political climate arrives.

Even before Zack Snyder took a shine to the text, The Fountainhead has been a subject of endless controversy. The book tells the story of a gifted architect, with a fierce need to protect his creations from outside interference, to the extent that he prefers to blow up the best building he ever created rather than let it be modified by lesser architects.

Under the guise of the main story, Ayn Rand uses her novel to expound her views on "Objectivism", a movement she created, that believes that one's actions must always be governed by complete self-interest, rather than out of a sense of altruism or from a desire to sacrifice one's own advantage for the good of the collective. According to Snyder, his interest in The Fountainhead is due to his interest in the story of the central architect rather than the Objectivist subtext.

Interestingly, what happened to the architect in The Fountainhead is almost exactly what happened with Snyder in the DCEU. After laboring for years on Justice League, Snyder exited the project following a personal tragedy. Joss Whedon was brought on in his stead and proceeded to radically change the movie to make it very different from Snyder's personal vision. Snyder once even stated that he would prefer to "blow up" his director's cut of Justice League rather than include a single frame of Whedon's reshoots.

For now, the filmmaker is busy working on his next movie Army of the Dead for Netflix, which is being described as a "zombie heist" flick. Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Raul Castillo, Tig Notaro, Theo Rossi, and Ana de la Reguera. The film will release on Netflix on May 21. This news originated at iheart.com.

https://screenrant.com/fountainhead-movie-zack-snyder-delay-production-reason-response/

Topics: The Fountainhead

Read more:

Zack Snyder Has Delayed The Fountainhead Because He Thinks It Will Freak Everyone Out - MovieWeb

First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide.

Illustration by Chelsea O'Byrne

Somewhere in a box, I have a handwritten letter from the late Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. It was a response to a letter (and a book) I had sent him shortly after my younger brother died in an accident when I was 19. This tragedy was the latest in a series of events that had completely up-ended my life. In my pain, I reached out to a voice that had guided me through difficult moments before. And completely unexpectedly for the 19-year-old me, miraculously Neil Peart wrote back.

This was one of those moments from a really dark period that was of seminal importance to me, and so the letter stayed tucked away. I dont think Ive even talked about it until now, some 35 years later.

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In early 2020, when I heard the news that Neil Peart died it affected me in ways that I would not have predicted. After all, I spent much of my adult life for reasons that I am only grappling with now hiding from the fact that this band, and especially Pearts literate and thought-provoking lyrics, were so central to my life. I regret not making it to at least one concert when their last tour kicked off in May, 2015.

Rush grew with me. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, nearly everyone in my suburban New Jersey town listened to more-or-less the same music. Some of this was outstandingly good musicbut mostly what we listened to was formulaic, insipid or just plain silly. Even at its best, it offered very little in the way of what could be called an intellectual horizon.

Not so for Rush.

Listening to this band, there was no contradiction between my blue-collar environment and my budding intellectual curiosity. Pearts lyrics introduced me to a world of literature I might otherwise never have been exposed to. The more I began to immerse myself in Rushs music which included playing in a garage band covering their songs the more I became curious about the many literary allusions in their songs. I began frequenting my local public library in search of the authors referenced: Ayn Rand, JRR Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner and a host of others. I might have been a kid from a blue collar New Jersey town, but I was rarely without some book or other in my back pocket. It is difficult to overstate how important this was for the trajectory of my life. It is quite possible that I would not have gone to university to study English literature and then classics were it not for this period of my life.

Musically, Rush was different, too. They never disguised or apologized for their virtuosic musicianship. And yet they grew with the times. They were not stuck in the formulas that they had created for themselves and that had made them famous in the seventies. Their music stayed on the charts throughout the 1980s, and they never sounded dated the way comparable bands did. Part of this undoubtedly was because of their relative youth but also, no doubt, because the musicians were restless, curious and above all, thoughtful. They were not stuck in the Ayn Randian landscape so central to their youthful lyric writing, so their music wasnt stuck either. I can hardly think of a message more important to my teenage self: You can grow. You can change.

And yet, as an adult I have been extremely reticent to admit my affection really my love for this band. I am a high-school Latin teacher and I believe very strongly in using music in the classroom. I play music before and after class, while students are working independently and during extra help and office hours. I proudly and deliberately play music that crosses all musical genres: John Coltrane, Silvio Rodriguez, Anonymous 4, Ehud Banai, Sigur Ros and a plethora of other artists from across the globe can be heard in and a good distance from my classroom. But the music that was most influential to me as a young adult has always been conspicuously lacking: Neil Peart and Rush.

After Pearts death, I began to be bothered by the fact that I was so reluctant to play Rush in my classroom. Perhaps it was a kind of self-consciousness about my childhood and adolescence. I teach in a wealthy, high-performing high school. The public school I attended in New Jersey resembled something more of a reform school. My friends, colleagues and students are all seemingly from stable, loving families. I was raised in the turmoil of a struggling, blue collar family. My students are almost all heading to top-tier universities. I went to a community college and then a state university. So maybe my apparent embarrassment about Rush, was really an embarrassment about where I had come from. Maybe I subconsciously considered all the music of my youth no matter how unique, creative or inspired to be low brow.

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The irony is that Rush should be the best example of how absurd this line of reasoning really is. Even a cursory familiarity with Pearts lyrics should make it patently clear that intellectual acumen and perspicacity crosses all backgrounds. It should also make it patently clear that being well-read and well informed, that having a searching and curious mind have nothing whatsoever to do with familial resources or blue-blood pedigrees.

On the bands first live album, All the Worlds a Stage, lead singer Geddy Lee introduces Peart with a phrase every Rush fan could repeat from heart: Ladies and gentlemen: the Professor on the drum kit. Most of us assumed he was referring to Pearts well-known musical skills. With hindsight, I think there was something more to it. His musicianship was professorial. But the nickname was also befitting because of his unquiet and searching mind, because his lyrics took us to places otherwise unavailable in our intellectually circumscribed world.

The treasure of a life / Is a measure of love and respect / The way you live, the gifts that you give, Peart writes in The Garden, the final song on the bands final studio album. In the life that he lived, in the gifts that he gave, Neil Peart has left us a treasurea treasure that should be shared.

Brian Beyer lives in Highland Park, N.J.

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Read this article:

Rushs music taught me that I could grow, that I could change - The Globe and Mail

Its a long road to recovery for people testing positive in this second wave of COVID-19. Trusty transistors, well-thumbed Harry Potter books, and family on constant video calls is what got them by

As I work with a hospital, I was busy even while I was admitted there after testing positive. I was constantly on the phone, replying to various queries on beds, vaccine and medication. When I was not able to talk, I was messaging.

Being on a hospital bed and battling the virus made me understand the plight of the people seeking help and I couldnt turn my back. This also helped me feel stronger and diverted my attention.

Sai Ram, marketing professional

The only driving forces that kept me strong were my mother, wife and sister. Every day as I felt weak and fatigued, Id tell myself, I have to be strong for them and fight it out. I wasnt in a frame of mind to read a new book, so I started re-readingthe Harry Potter series, followed by Ayn Rand and the Inheritance series. I also re-watched The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit. All this even though I knew that Sauron and Voldemort would be defeated, I just wanted to go back to those familiar scenes.

The other most important thing my family did was to be on video most of the time; it was our way of being connected. Since my wife and I both tested positive, it was my mother who kept a watch on us. She would keep the video on in the kitchen while she worked, so that was like our window to the world outside.

Mallik Thatipalli, content writer

I am 81 years old and am not a big fan of music, but I do have a transistor by my bedside right now just to listen to the political discussions. News is depressing. But since I like reading, I finished Ashwin Sanghis Chanakyas Chant. That book was gripping and made me forget my lethargy.

I read Sanghis The Rozabal Line too. I also call my daughters and friends to check on their well-being and also use the opportunity slyly to ask them if I sound feeble.

Dharma Kanta Sharma, retired teacher

After testing positive, I assured myself that I will be fine. I reminded myself of having the privilege of a safety net in the form of supportive friends even though I was away from my family. Staying connected with my wife and daughter through video calls kept me happy.

We also made a pact that as a family we would be honest with each other about our feelings and well being. My friends kept me engaged with jokes and chats, jumping in to help with whatever I needed. A strong support system is very important to keep you in the right frame of mind.

Sajan Pookkodan, communication professional

When my mother, brother and I tested positive we preferred home quarantine. We stayed in our respective rooms and decided to stay away from news bulletins. We also spoke to each other from our rooms instead of communicating through phone. I sailed through my isolation days with Vadivelu memes and jokes.

Seven days after we were allowed to mingle with each other, we played a lot of board games. As a household that survived COVID-19, my request to others is, be kind to those who are sick. That really lifts up their spirits. I am actively talking to my friends who have the virus now. I want to keep them motivated and do whatever cheers them up.

Bakiya Sri, analyst

Cal Newports book Deep Work was my companion at night when I couldnt sleep. During the day when I was not coughing, I was on call with my parents and niece. My husband and I both tested positive, so I had company in isolation.

I am also part of an NLP group that shared motivational speeches and conducted virtual community meetings. It gave me the push to get dressed, do my hair and wear my earrings, so I could feel like myself again. By the 12th day, I got onto social media to see how I could be of help to others.

Shilpa Nainani, emcee

When I was hospitalised, I kept myself focussed and positive to recover for my wife. COVID-19 hit her severely and I was only focussing on her recovery. For a week, we couldnt see each other even though we were in the same hospital. That was very frustrating.

To distract myself, I read Bahula by A Appala Naidu, a 500-page socio-historical fiction based in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh.

Venugopal N, journalist

I spent many days in three different ICUs. Right now, I am home and recovering, but with limited limb function. While in the hospital my friends advised me to practise Vipasana, they sent me chants, verses from the Gita, and suggested meditative music. I tried them all and honestly, I found them depressing.

Instead, I found my mojo in popular Telugu film songs; their upbeat music made me feel alive I wanted to break into a dance even in my bed. I insisted on doing some basic exercise. Calming music and meditation didnt work for me. Everybody is different, so one should be allowed to listen and watch whatever gives them joy.

Vanaja C, journalist

All Illustrations by Satheesh Vellinezhi

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These COVID-19 patients coped with isolation and anxiety in their own uplifting ways - The Hindu

What will come of the array of ambitious (and not-so-ambitious) targets announced by world leaders at President Joe Bidens climate summit?

Its tempting to think, Not enough. Talk is cheap; actions are expensive. About a third of all the greenhouse emissions from human activities in history have happened since 1997, when world leaders adopted the Kyoto Protocol with an ambition of limiting such pollution. In the words of activist Greta Thunberg to a U.S. congressional committee recently, Were not so naive that we believe that things will be solved by countries and companies making vague, distant, insufficient targets.

Vague, distant and insufficient aren't the only way of setting targets, though. Indeed, theres ample evidence that the opposite type of goal-setting specific, time-constrained and challenging is remarkably effective. The bigger risk isnt that world leaders fall short of the objectives theyve set. Instead, its that they limit the scope of their ambitions out of a misplaced sense of self-doubt.

One way of expressing that idea is the slogan that leftist students scrawled on a Parisian wall during protests in May 1968: Soyez realistes, demandez limpossible, or Be realistic, demand the impossible. The more influential version was laid out at almost exactly the same time in a psychological paper by an American devotee of Ayn Rand, Edwin A. Locke, under the dry title, Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives.

Lockes key insight was that difficult targets dont make achievement less likely. Indeed, in contrast to earlier theorists who had concluded that achievement drops off when people are over-ambitious, Locke argued that the harder the goal, the higher the performance. Except in rare cases where an aim is physically impossible or motivation is weak, people are more likely to hit their goals when they push them to the limits than when they rein in for fear of failure.

That theory has spawned an entire literature in the field of management but it has less-discussed relevance to public policy, too. After all, setting goals that are specific, time-constrained and challenging is precisely what world leaders have been doing in relation to climate.

Its not always easy for politicians to make these sorts of credible commitments. Despite Bidens promise to cut emissions in 2030 to half of 2005s levels, the U.S. executive branch is notoriously constrained in its ability to bring about change.

Under the Obama administration, a bill to set up an emissions trading system similar to the one currently generating record carbon prices in Europe was passed by the House of Representatives but never brought to the Senate. The Clean Power Plan an attempt to regulate carbon pollution from electricity generation without going through Congress was blocked in a 5-4 Supreme Court vote.

There are similar institutional blocks in China, which overtook the U.S. as the worlds biggest emitter in 2005. For all the clarity of President Xi Jinpings promise to peak emissions this decade and reduce them to net zero by 2060, its not hard to discern the muffled sound of a struggle with lower-level provincial officials who remain addicted to a carbon-intensive development model.

In January, an audit body took the countrys National Energy Administration to task for failing to restrain planet-breaking coal power development plans. The crabwise progress of Xis own commitments finally agreeing to a formal reduction in coal consumption recently after months of soft-pedaling the renewables build-out needed to make it happen is another clue to the surprising limits on his personal power in this arena.

Still, the history of climate agreements suggests the world is ultimately more amenable to human goal-setting than we like to think. If the Kyoto Protocol was a failure, it wasnt because the 37 nations involved ignored their promises en masse. Indeed, they far outstripped their commitment to a modest 5% reduction in emissions from 1990 levels, reaching a 22.6% drop by 2012. The bigger problem was that numerous countries including many of the worlds biggest emitters didnt sign up in the first place.

The broader range of targets now being set suggests a more promising future. They have intrinsic value, too, because a declared ambition by its nature increases the scope of whats possible.

Were it not for the first wave of feed-in tariffs and renewable portfolio standards in the early 2000s encouraging more wind and solar generation policies that seemed unlikely to achieve much at the time its probable wed never have seen the headlong drops in prices that are now causing renewables to drive fossil fuels from the power sector. If a kooky tech investor in 2006 hadnt cast his small-volume electric sportscar as the first step in destroying the mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy, would Volkswagen AG now be planning to stop developing petrol and diesel cars 20 years later?

The boldest ambitions arent always achieved, and the future of decarbonization may be as littered with broken promises and missed commitments as the past has been. Still, the only goal youre certain to miss is the one you never shoot for.

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies. He has been a reporter for Bloomberg News, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Guardian.

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Climate targets must be realistic -- and demand the impossible - The Harvell gazette

Emily Levine in Emily at the Edge of Chaos. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Emily at the Edge of Chaos is the personal journey of the brilliant mind of Emily Levine. First conceived as a one-woman play for the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York in 2009, Levine continued to hone and sharpen her theme, never straying far from her initial thesislife is a never-ending paradigm shift. What brought it on is an interesting personal story.

Emily Levine was a successful stand-up comedian in the early seventies, a time when the number of female comedians could be counted on one hand. Harvard-educated, Levine was independent, defiant, and played second fiddle to no one. To say she was a brilliant intellectual is giving her short shrift.

I knew Emily Levine. Her mind was endlessly curious, her wit incisive, her ideas on a different plane than us mere mortals. And, she was incredibly nice and approachable. She was a marvel of inclusivity, always wanting to know more about you; focusing not on herself but on those around her. Dazzlzed by her wit and intellect, she had the ability to make me feel smarter.

If there are three stages of life, we met during her third stage by which time she was a famous TED lecturer.

After her stand-up career in the late 70s, she became a very in-demand and successful television writer in the 80s. She could balance stories, punch-up, rewrites and still find time to host radio shows and make guest appearances on television news panels. She became a pundit on prestigious platforms using humor to educate. She discovered that physics, particularly the teachings and examples of Isaac Newton, could explain everything in the universe, particularly hers, in logical and rational terms. This was Emily 2.0, as she would later say.

But in the 90s, Emilys universe was upended. Her body and her mind began to change and her doctors were unable to explain what was happening. Her previously incisive mind became foggy. She was no longer Emily. She had fallen into a black hole.

Remarkably it took until 2007 to get properly diagnosed. A pituitary tumor had caused a condition called Acromegaly, resulting in her brain fog and body abnormalities, such as feet, hands, and head that grew in size. When finally the tumor was removed, she, as she points out, was on the way to finding the Emily she once knew.

Emily Levine and her scientific advisors in Emily at the Edge of Chaos. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber.

From this point on, both privately and theatrically, both in plays and TED lectures, Emily sought answers. And she found some of those answers in Quantum Physics and Chaos Theory. Newton wasnt wrong, he just wasnt always right. As a matter of fact, and this is the part I clearly understood, nothing is black or white, right or wrong, logical or irrational. Based on her new, enhanced understanding of physics, the universe could be all those things at the same time. Thus was born Emily 3.0.

The brilliance of this theatrical documentary which is, at once, a stand-up act, a play, and a lecture on physics using clever animated cut-outs of historical figures such as Isaac Newton (John Lithgow), Werner Heisenberg (Richard Blackburn), Aristotle (Richard Lewis), Sigmund Freud (Leonard Nimoy), and Ayn Rand (Lily Tomlin) to illustrate the theories that she explains. Animated photo cut-outs of renowned present-day physicists who also acted as advisors lead us farther down the trail.

And all of this is also to illustrate the paradigm shift we are experiencing in society. Much like the undiagnosed disease she suffered from, she posits that America, too, has a form of acromegaly. We are divided against ourselves; our extremities (red states and blue states) are getting more pronounced; we recently suffered from a leader whose head kept getting bigger; we see things only in the Newtonian either/or universe rather than the Quantum Physics And-And logic.

Emily at the Edge of Chaos proposes that we can and should look at life as a possible paradigm shift. We can be right and wrong. Or, as Emily states, We can go from the Divided States to the United States; from e pluribus to unum.

My husband and I were lucky enough to see an early rendition of this work in progress as she explained to the audience where the animation would go. She uses clips of that long-ago audience in this film intermingled with more recent footage. (And if you know Larry and/or me, you can find us in there.) This was almost 10 years ago and Emily spent that time, in between her highly regarded TED lectures, trying to raise the money to get this film produced the way she wanted it. Her primary producer, Wendy Apple, passed away in 2017. Emily, whose health had been irreparably damaged by the acromegaly, undiagnosed for so long, was always in fragile health but continued working tirelessly. Certainly the gods were not smiling when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Sadly she passed away in February 2019. It is hoped that she had been able to see a rough cut of the film before she died, but if not, Im sure this is the way she had hoped it would turn out. We should all be grateful to have touched a bit of Emilys genius. I know I am.

See this short, 61 minute film, on the Varsity Film Site.

Continued here:

Emily at the Edge of Chaos Peering over the precipice [MOVIE REVIEW] - Easy Reader

My desk has changed this week as my wife and I decided to meet some friends in Lexington. As I write this, it is 7 a.m. and I am sitting in a little nook in the corner of the lobby of a hotel. I like hotel lobbies. There is always a carafe somewhere in their midst, full of hot coffee. There is also an anonymity that comes from sitting in the lobby, animated people passing by, going about their day indifferent to my little world. It is a pleasant kind of privacy.

I am reminded of the character in the novel my students and I are studying who sneaks away to write. We are currently reading "Anthem" by Ayn Rand in my sophomore English class. We have entered into the first chapter and found a very distraught world.

The novel is a work of dystopian fiction which criticizes the existence of the individual, like most dystopian novels. No one is distinguished from anyone else. The society in the novel even goes so far to refer to themselves individually as we instead of I. It is also a sin to write or read, and the tyrannical government declares everyone is the same (even though they are not).

It is an interesting time to be reading this book. While I am hesitant to give my true opinion on certain matters in our changing society for fear of being ostracized by one side or the other, I think it is important that we think. And in the novel, individual thinking is what this particular society destroyed.

The people in this fictional society were not allowed to ask questions, and if they did, the questions had to be asked in a certain manner (in other words not at all). I told my students, if someone gets angry when you ask legitimate questions, then something is wrong.

I watched the class contemplate this statement, the wheels in their intrepid minds turning. One student boldly raised her hand, and I expected a thoughtful, if not inspiring inquiry.

Yes, Janet? I said, then sipped my coffee with anticipation.

Can I go to the bathroom?

Regardless, for the most part, I think my students are curious about the book, hopefully in context of our society. One other interesting characteristic about the book was the fact that the main character was denounced for being different, when everyone was required to be the same. Ironically, his name was Equality 7-2521.

I read someplace that opportunities should be equal, but outcomes should not. If we act like they are, or make them so, then we are lying and robbing ourselves. Indeed, the society in the novel was primitive because of a lack of growth due to this ignorance. Let me explain. If you were smarter, it was not fair, so a person was not allowed to be smarter. If a person was taller, it was not fair, so it was looked down upon. If a person had abilities beyond the norm, that person was considered offensive, even dangerous.

Another scary facet of the novel was that men and women were not permitted to acknowledge one another. Imagine a society where the concept of man and woman did not exist. They were not allowed to say he or she and instead went about their world lying about the obvious existence of the other. That might be something important in a society. I used to live on a farm: you dont milk the bull. It might get offended, then there would be a law against milk.

The most chilling thing about the novel was that these rules and abrasions to living were considered normal. The society accepted these ignorant laws and then scolded themselves when they realized the truth. How did the oppressors do it?

Well, I read something recently that was rather enlightening, especially as I see both sides to all our real-life arguments competing desperately to get a person to follow or believe their truths. Augustin Bazterrica wrote, There are words that cover up the world.

In other words, there is the truth of the world, indisputable facts, then there are words that cover them up. When those words, or lies, become laws, it is an attempt to control the way we think. As for me, my wife already has that job.

Brian Theodore is a language arts teacher at Corbin High School and lives in Corbin with his wife, who is also a teacher at CHS. He can be contacted at Theteachersdesk.theodore@gmail.com.

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THE TEACHER'S DESK: We're almost there | Columns | thetimestribune.com - Times Tribune of Corbin

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As pandemic's third wave strikes, premier is disinclined to lock down population again as long as hospitalizations don't exceed capacity.

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Perhaps Premier Franois Legault has quietly added Ayn Rands libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged to the reading list he likes to share with Quebecers.

The book, published in 1957, depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. In it, Rand advocates reason, individualism and capitalism over government coercion.

Some of this laissez-faire fatalism seems to have suddenly infected Legault as Quebec confronts a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, we were fighting the good fight to hold it off. This week, Quebec is clearly in the throes of it. But a defeatist tone has crept into the discourse of the authorities mounting the battle.

Legault described the situation as worrying in five areas of Quebec where gyms, spas and restaurants reopened and high school students went back to class full time this month. Montreal, meanwhile where most restrictions have remained in place until this week and public health has mounted an aggressive response to new variants remains stable.

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But instead of reconsidering the wisdom of having eased measures in Quebec City or Gatineau, Legault shrugged.

Theres still room in the intensive care units, he reasoned. As long as hospitalizations dont exceed capacity, he is disinclined to come down hard on a population that is starting to ignore the rules anyhow.

So much for the year-long effort to save lives, spare the health system from collapse and ease the burden of doctors and nurses who have been working tirelessly. In the premiers eyes, a few more Quebecers in hospital seems inevitable, even if theyre younger patients who spend longer in the ICU and require more care.

Same story with concern about outbreaks in schools fuelled by more contagious and lethal variants.

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Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebecs national director of public health, admitted that the government fully expects the number of new cases to rise by sending high school students back to class full time after months of part-time remote learning.

We knew it was going to increase. Its as if its planned for, he said, while in the next breath warning: Just because youre young doesnt mean you wont end up in intensive care.

Its all well and good that the Quebec government says education and the mental well-being of kids are top priorities. But how are students, teachers and parents supposed to feel about the fact their safety could be collateral damage in this noble objective?

Arruda also put the onus on those who are afraid of seeing restrictions lifted, saying gyms and restaurants may be open, but people who are nervous dont have to go. Its an odd shift in tone from the guy in charge of protecting us from COVID-19.

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Quebec seems to be going from eradicating to managing the virus in the final sprint. All Quebecers who want to be vaccinated have been promised their first shot by June 24 and the province has hit its target of inoculating 1.3 million people days ahead of schedule.

Around the country and the world, leaders are starting to sound the alarm about the third wave hitting and possibly a fourth after that.

British Columbia this week instituted a three-week circuit-breaker lockdown. U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans to hold down the fort on mask wearing and social distancing after Centre for Disease Control director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tearfully warned of impending doom. This is the chilling message in a country that is far more advanced in its vaccination campaign than Quebec.

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And yet Legault dismissed these more robust responses.

Our situation is different when you look at the number of cases and hospitalizations, he said. Our situation is better and our measures are tougher, including the curfew at 9:30 p.m.

But Legault seemingly admitted that relaxing the curfew from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. a few weeks back gave people the wrong idea.

The fact that we loosened certain measures, its like we opened the door to people to loosen measures that we didnt loosen, he said.

So why doesnt Legault close it again rather than abdicating responsibility? Previously he had touted the curfew as the most effective weapon in Quebecs pandemic-fighting arsenal.

Now hes extremely worried about Quebecers gathering over the Easter weekend and lamented private gatherings have become a big source of contagion again, at least outside of Montreal. But instead of adjusting, Legault shrugged. Quebec will just beef up police surveillance instead.

Its a maddening conundrum. The Premier knows what the answer to the third wave is, but he cant be bothered to try to stop it.

ahanes@postmedia.com

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Allison Hanes: Laissez-faire fatalism seems to have infected Legault - Montreal Gazette