Man drives 12,238 miles to scrawl "Read Ayn Rand"

[hotbrownsauce]

http://gizmodo.com/5611713/man-scrawls-worlds-biggest-message-with-a-gps-pen
Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message with a GPS ‘Pen’
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/08/worldsbiggestwriting-660x647.jpg

One man drove 12,238 miles and across 30 states in the U.S. to scrawl a message that could only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: "Read Ayn Rand."

Nick Newcomen did a road trip over 30 days that covered stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. First, he identified on a map the route he would need to drive to spell out the message. He put a GPS device in his car to trace the route he would follow. Then, he hit the road.

"The main reason I did it is because I am an Ayn Rand fan," he says. "In my opinion if more people would read her books and take her ideas seriously, the country and world would be a better place - freer, more prosperous and we would have a more optimistic view of the future."

Newcomen, unlike previous GPS artists, actually traveled the lines he traced on the map. He used a GPS logger (Qstarz BT-Q1000X) to "ink" the message. Starting his trip in Marshall, Texas, he turned on the device when he wanted to write a letter and turned off the device between letters. The recorded GPS data was loaded into Google Earth to produce the image above.

"The first word I wrote actually was the word ‘Rand', then I went up North to do the word ‘Read' and finished it with ‘Ayn,'" says Newcomen.

And for those who don't know, Ayn Rand is a Russian-American writer whose books Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are among the world's best-selling novels.

Newcomen's venture sounds pretty crazy, though he gets points for ambition.

What message would you write using a GPS?

[amy31416]

What message would you write using a GPS?

"Google Ron Paul" :p
"End the Fed"
"Bite Me, Bitches"
"I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore!!"
"Your Government is Screwing You."
"I Heart Porn"
"DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!!"
"ALL HAIL EPIC BEARD MAN!"
"Kludge is a Douchebag"
"Forsmant is Retarded"
"Ayn Rand is a Bitch!"

......

[00_Pete]

Late, great ex-member of the Commie Underground, ex-homosexual, ex-godless atheist, Whittaker Chambers putting Rand in her place.

"Big Sister is watching you":

http://old.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp

"Nor would we, ordinarily, place much confidence in the diagnosis of a doctor who supposes that the Hippocratic Oath is a kind of curse." :D

[low preference guy]

Late, great ex-member of the Commie Underground, ex-homosexual, ex-godless atheist, Whittaker Chambers putting Rand in her place.

"Big Sister is watching you":

http://old.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp

"Nor would we, ordinarily, place much confidence in the diagnosis of a doctor who supposes that the Hippocratic Oath is a kind of curse." :D

Have you read Atlas Shrugged? You might have valid criticisms of Ayn Rand, but Whittaker Chambers' review is absolute crap.

[Knightskye]

I'd just doodle something with Photoshop.

This isn't as stupid or big a waste of money as flying Air Force One through Manhattan, but same premise.

[00_Pete]

Have you read Atlas Shrugged? You might have valid criticisms of Ayn Rand, but Whittaker Chambers' review is absolute crap.

Chambers, like ANY defector of the Commie Underground, knows that the business community that Rand worships so much are the biggest commies of them all.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Robert-Minor-Dee-Lighted-1911.png

Best Enemies Money Can Buy: http://www.reformed-theology.org/html/books/best_enemy/index.html

Best Enemies Money Can Buy (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3478042148791434519&q=Best+Enemies+Money+Can+Buy#)

[michaelwise]

Guinness Book of World Records material.
Nice.

[low preference guy]

I wonder why Pete didn't answer my question.

[Captain America]

not surprising someone this innovative would write Read Ayn Rand.

[WaltM]

I wonder why Pete didn't answer my question.

so only you get to ignore other people?

[Promontorium]

I'm always a bit too saddened when I read people on RPF criticize Ayn having never read anything she wrote. Second worst is them having read one of her works of fiction.

It would be like people on a reggaeton website constantly bashing reggae.

The Libertarian Party was founded by fans of Ayn Rand. You might have disagreements, but this outright hatred is just telling of your own ignorance.


Here is a good quote for beginners:


"My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:

1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.

2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.

3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.

4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church." -Ayn Rand, 1962


Who here disagrees with this? Who is in favor of a government controlled economy, or interventionism? Who is against true capitalism? Who believes reality is like fairy dust and nothing actually exists? Who here believes that individuals shouldn't be responsible for themselves?

There are people who do disagree with everything there. But I don't think many of them are on RPF. That is Objectivism there. It is what you call "little l libertarianism". People are and have been afraid of Ayn Rand because she was pro liberty. She was fighting the good fight when Ron Paul was in diapers. You feel free to talk about your beliefs now, Ayn would have been murdered in her homeland for professing a belief in liberty. Most of America only had scorn for her ideas. The same ideas you are desperately fighting for now, thinking you're on the cusp of some "revolution" NEVER would have been possible without her. When America was still segregated and lynching black men, Ayn Rand was talking about absolute unequivocal equality.


Whatever childish notions you have that all people should or can have the same ideas and the exact same opinions needs to be dropped. For all your venom is wasted at least on a practicality level, if not, god forbid on an intellectual level. Ayn Rand was fighting for the same things for the same reasons that Ron Paul is today. Nevermind that most of the "opinions" about Ayn Rand have been perpetuated from socialists and neocons for the better part of the 20th century, and you just gobble them up as fact. God forbid Fox News put one letter out of order talking about Ron Paul. Certainly we all don't agree on the same things, but THAT IS THE RUB. America works because, the idea of liberty is that we can disagree and not have to go to war over it. Yet you want to go to war against Ayn Rand. I could talk shit all day on Ron Paul, and every other politician, but where does that get me? if your criticism of Ayn's philosophy involves her character or opinions, you've already failed. If your opinion of her came straight out of the 1940s liberal handbook, time to realize you are a hypocrite.

And I'm not even going to go into this Pete character, he seems to be anti bourgeoisie and is actually trying to validate his criticism of Ayn Rand by pissing on that which lifts people out of mud huts. I've read the Communist Manifesto bro, I know to commies Ayn Rand is their worst enemy.

I reccommend to all, one starter book, The Virtue of Selfishness it's short, short subjects, clear language, easy.

[mczerone]

Randism (Objectivism) isn't a cult at all. Nope, not one bit.

[mczerone]

I'm always a bit too saddened when I read people on RPF criticize Ayn having never read anything she wrote. Second worst is them having read one of her works of fiction.

It would be like people on a reggaeton website constantly bashing reggae.

The Libertarian Party was founded by fans of Ayn Rand. You might have disagreements, but this outright hatred is just telling of your own ignorance.


Here is a good quote for beginners:


"My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:

1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.

2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.

3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.

4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church." -Ayn Rand, 1962


Who here disagrees with this? Who is in favor of a government controlled economy, or interventionism? Who is against true capitalism? Who believes reality is like fairy dust and nothing actually exists? Who here believes that individuals shouldn't be responsible for themselves?

There are people who do disagree with everything there. But I don't think many of them are on RPF. That is Objectivism there. It is what you call "little l libertarianism". People are and have been afraid of Ayn Rand because she was pro liberty. She was fighting the good fight when Ron Paul was in diapers. You feel free to talk about your beliefs now, Ayn would have been murdered in her homeland for professing a belief in liberty. Most of America only had scorn for her ideas. The same ideas you are desperately fighting for now, thinking you're on the cusp of some "revolution" NEVER would have been possible without her. When America was still segregated and lynching black men, Ayn Rand was talking about absolute unequivocal equality.


Whatever childish notions you have that all people should or can have the same ideas and the exact same opinions needs to be dropped. For all your venom is wasted at least on a practicality level, if not, god forbid on an intellectual level. Ayn Rand was fighting for the same things for the same reasons that Ron Paul is today. Nevermind that most of the "opinions" about Ayn Rand have been perpetuated from socialists and neocons for the better part of the 20th century, and you just gobble them up as fact. God forbid Fox News put one letter out of order talking about Ron Paul. Certainly we all don't agree on the same things, but THAT IS THE RUB. America works because, the idea of liberty is that we can disagree and not have to go to war over it. Yet you want to go to war against Ayn Rand. I could talk shit all day on Ron Paul, and every other politician, but where does that get me? if your criticism of Ayn's philosophy involves her character or opinions, you've already failed. If your opinion of her came straight out of the 1940s liberal handbook, time to realize you are a hypocrite.

And I'm not even going to go into this Pete character, he seems to be anti bourgeoisie and is actually trying to validate his criticism of Ayn Rand by pissing on that which lifts people out of mud huts. I've read the Communist Manifesto bro, I know to commies Ayn Rand is their worst enemy.

I reccommend to all, one starter book, The Virtue of Selfishness it's short, short subjects, clear language, easy.

My criticisms of Rand are that (1) objective reality can only be subjectively valued, therefor even the most objective observations cannot be globalized across a population, and (2) she was scared of allowing competing agencies try to arrive at objective truth though competitive market pressure in the areas of police, defense, and dispute resolution.

If the State is the embodiment of irrationality in determining the best practices of business, why is it well suited to determine the best practices of individuals in society? If State enforcement of Intellectual Property really is justified, why is State enforcement of cartel agreements any different? If businessmen are the most persecuted minority, why do they have the biggest ties to State power? If "A = A", what is A?

I appreciate Rand, but only as a minor prophet in determining the objective truth of reality. She was wrong about some things, is too polarizing to use to introduce liberty to those who are not yet sympathetic to true freedom, and was not rigorous in defining what could have been a thorough political philosophy.

[EndDaFed]

Officer Barbrady reviews Any Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/150385

[KurtBoyer25L]

Over the years I've learned to instinctively look for propaganda and slanting techniques in writing. In general, the more slanting devices used, the more "cheating" with language, sleight of hand and so on, the weaker the argument actually is. For an example, I can explain why murder is wrong without having to use dysphemisms, false dilemma, straw men or whatever else; it's easy to explain the idea in neutral language. To explain why the Moon is really just the Sun at night, I would need a lot of trickery.

All of the usual Ayn Rand slam pieces have more slanters and propaganda than anything else you can read. One that was published three years ago in an online mag had 6 or 7 slanters in the first two sentences. It's a clinic. If I were teaching a philosophy class I could use the articles to demonstrate to kids what the different kinds of fallacies and cheating arguments are. Straw man, context, misrepresentation, value-negative terminology ("Rand's cult of unemotional androids"), argument from ridicule, argument from intimidation, false dilemma, circular reasoning...stop me somebody.

[Acala]

"Google Ron Paul" :p
"End the Fed"
"Bite Me, Bitches"
"I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore!!"
"Your Government is Screwing You."
"I Heart Porn"
"DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!!"
"ALL HAIL EPIC BEARD MAN!"
"Kludge is a Douchebag"
"Forsmant is Retarded"
"Ayn Rand is a Bitch!"

......

Hilarious!

The high point in a dismal thread.

[amy31416]

Hilarious!

The high point in a dismal thread.

How about some more?

"Ron Paul was Right"
"PENIS!"
"Empire, Inc. Headquarters"
"I want my Mommy!"
"Mmmm....Snackpacks!"
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

C'mon...get this back on topic!

[low preference guy]

How about some more?

"Ron Paul was Right"
"PENIS!"
"Empire, Inc. Headquarters"
"I want my Mommy!"
"Mmmm....Snackpacks!"
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

C'mon...get this back on topic!

I worship you, Aqua Buddha. I worship you.

[AuH2O]

"DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!!"


Best.

[Danke]

"Kludge is a Douchebag"


No he's not! ...er, wait...so it has been confirmed then?

[amy31416]

No he's not! ...er, wait...so it has been confirmed then?

The evidence, both empirical and circumstantial, is overwhelmingly pointing to his status as a douchebag. In fact, it's been upgraded from hypothesis to theory in the scientific world.

[djdellisanti4]

My entire dislike of Ayn Rand stems from what I have read of her personality and how she acts. She sounded like a close minded jerk which I feel is the opposite of how most libertarians are.

If any of you have ever read Radicals for Capitalism or Murray Rothbard's "Mozart Was a Red" Then you might know a little bit about her personality. Other than that I agree with most of what she said and believed. I just didn't like the way she approached it.

[Anti Federalist]

What message would you write using a GPS?

9/11 was an inside job.

[amy31416]

9/11 was an inside job.

Awww c'mon, at least make it funny:

"9/11 was a part-time job, with lousy benefits"

Maybe?

[MozoVote]

"Do a Barrel Roll"

[ScoutsHonor]

not surprising someone this innovative would write Read Ayn Rand.

I think she would've really enjoyed it. :)

[libertybrewcity]

I'd just doodle something with Photoshop.

This isn't as stupid or big a waste of money as flying Air Force One through Manhattan, but same premise.

agreed.

[Anti Federalist]

Awww c'mon, at least make it funny:

"9/11 was a part-time job, with lousy benefits"

Maybe?

That is funny.

;)

[Wesker1982]

"Do a Barrel Roll"

lmao

[00_Pete]

I wonder why Pete didn't answer my question.

Your question? Watched a few interviews with this insane person on youtube, read a detailed resume of her book, and read Chamber´s critique of her, that is all i need to know. A person that glorifies selfishness and hates any kind of moral code is a person that knows nothing about what it takes to have a free society.


not surprising someone this innovative would write Read Ayn Rand.

There is nothing innovative about this, this GPS-drawing thing is very old by now. Typical Randian delusions of grandeur...

[NiceGoing]

Your question? Watched a few interviews with this insane person on youtube, read a detailed resume of her book, and read Chamber´s critique of her, that is all i need to know. A person that glorifies selfishness and hates any kind of moral code is a person that knows nothing about what it takes to have a free society.



There is nothing innovative about this, this GPS-drawing thing is very old by now. Typical Randian delusions of grandeur...

So second and third-hand information is good enough for you? I thought you would require a higher level of substantiation than that, such as actually reading the volume in question, but... my error. :(

[00_Pete]

So second and third-hand information is good enough for you?

Yep...i plead guilty. This shortcuts i take allow me to assimilate a lot of information with my limited free time :)

[torchbearer]

Chambers, like ANY defector of the Commie Underground, knows that the business community that Rand worships so much are the biggest commies of them all.

in atlas shrugged, their were big business owners the used that government for favor. these are villans in her book.

[james1906]

What message would you write using a GPS?

"Fuck You Frank"
"Haters Gonna Hate"

[Acala]

What message would you write with GPS?


"Plan Ahea"

"Drop bomb here>" (points at DC)

"For a good time call Amy31416"

"Rahm is gay"

[Danke]

"For a good time call Amy31416"


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7-RIvWKbCKw/Rsx1rT04dXI/AAAAAAAAAMg/4fUkuZHCVSM/s400/dominance2.jpg

[amy31416]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7-RIvWKbCKw/Rsx1rT04dXI/AAAAAAAAAMg/4fUkuZHCVSM/s400/dominance2.jpg

Calm down.

I do not have large boobs.

[Acala]

Calm down.

I do not have large boobs.

Responsiveness is more important than mass.

[Acala]

What message would you write with GPS?

"Get a brain, morans!"

[low preference guy]

the nice thing about writing a penis is that you don't have go to back to places you've already visited. (unlike writing the letter "A").

[yokna7]

I would gps atlas shrugged verbatim.

[Danke]

i do not have large boobs.

< 50%?

[Dr.3D]

What message would you write using a GPS?

"I need a life."

[Bruno]

I would gps atlas shrugged verbatim.

I'm not sure there are that many miles of paved road in the U.S. :D

[amy31416]

< 50%?

Don't start with me, boy.