Ayn Rand

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NCAA's Cinderella Team Can Thank Ayn Rand
 NCAA's Cinderella Team 
 Can Thank Ayn Rand 
OPINION

NCAA's Cinderella Team Can Thank Ayn Rand

Jonathan Mahler: Florida Gulf Coast University embodies 'Atlas Shrugged'

(Newser) - Florida Gulf Coast University opened its doors less than 20 years ago, but school leaders already have succeeded in raising its national profile. How? Basketball and Ayn Rand, writes Jonathan Mahler at Bloomberg . Atlas Shrugged is required reading in the school's economics department, and if you're looking for...

Idaho Bill Would Force Kids to Read Atlas Shrugged

But lawmaker says it's symbolic gesture, won't push for passage

(Newser) - Quick, what's the most important work in the English language, the one you absolutely should not be able to graduate high school without a thorough knowledge of? If you said Atlas Shrugged, then you have a lot in common with Idaho state Sen. John Goedde, who has introduced a...

Ayn Rand Dating Site 'Less Scary' Than Expected

Wonkette looks for weirdness on 'The Atlasphere'

(Newser) - Staff members at the liberal website Wonkette went trolling on The Atlasphere —a dating site for Ayn Rand enthusiasts—in the hope of finding "the wackiest, most completely out-there profiles we could find," writes Doctor Zoom. But they were shocked to find rather down-to-Earth folk rather than...

Obama: Ayn Rand Is for Teens
 Obama: Ayn Rand Is for Teens 
Interview

Obama: Ayn Rand Is for Teens

President makes his case, slams Romney, Ryan, in Rolling Stone

(Newser) - The latest issue of Rolling Stone hits the newsstands today, bearing the smiling face of Barack Obama. The interview within is exhaustive, though it mainly treads familiar ground—as the writer, historian Douglas Brinkley notes, "excessive caution is a survival trait" in today's gaffe-driven campaign culture. Some highlights...

Liberals Should Stop Vilifying Ayn Rand
Liberals Should Stop
Vilifying Ayn Rand
OPINION

Liberals Should Stop Vilifying Ayn Rand

They're just as bad as those who blindly worship her: Cathy Young

(Newser) - Paul Ryan's entry into the race has brought yet more debate over one of his favorite authors, Ayn Rand. And while liberals like to poke fun at conservatives for blindly following her pro-capitalist, me-centric vision, they're guilty themselves of reducing her to "grotesque caricature," writes Cathy...

Ayn Rand Wouldn't Love Paul Ryan
 Ayn Rand Wouldn't 
 Love Paul Ryan 
OPINION

Ayn Rand Wouldn't Love Paul Ryan

He's embraced policies antithetical to author's thinking: Conor Friedersdorf

(Newser) - Paul Ryan adores Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand, calling her "the reason I got involved in public service." But the feeling wouldn't be mutual, writes Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic . First off, the very idea of "public service" is pretty un-Randian: She calls the notion of...

Lululemon's Ayn Rand Bags Irk Customers

Libertarian author seen as a poor fit for Lululemon

(Newser) - An upscale yogawear chain isn't the most likely place you'd expect to find promoting the works of free-market libertarian author Ayn Rand, say some Lululemon shoppers. Since late October, the chain has been using shopping bags with the words "Who is John Galt?" in reference to Rand'...

Ayn Rand Sales Soar Thanks to Tea Party

Movement generates renewed interest in once-niche books

(Newser) - Not long ago, Ayn Rand was considered a niche author, popular only with a small sub-culture of conservative intellectuals. But now, tea party mania has sent Atlas Shrugged soaring up the sales chart, the Daily Telegraph reports. The 1957 novel, which imagines a dystopian future in which the government has...

She's Not a Brat; She Just Likes Ayn Rand

Satirical apology has some fun with Atlas Shrugged

(Newser) - Eric Hague pokes fun at the Ayn Rand craze with a satirical apology from one parent to another over his daughter's bratty behavior. It starts when a boy politely asks her for the Elmo ball. "To be sure, I was equally proud when Johanna yelled, 'No! Looter!' right...

Man Writes Massive Message Across US Via GPS

Google Earth message says, 'Read Ayn Rand'

(Newser) - An ambitious man drove more 12,000 miles and through 30 states to write a message on the globe he feels the world should know: "Read Ayn Rand." Following a planned route, Nick Newcomen traced his path on a GPS logger, turning it on to write letters and...

Let's Not Have a World of 'Greed Without Limits'

Goldman case is a referendum on modern America

(Newser) - The case against Goldman Sachs is about far more than the legalities involved, writes Matt Taibbi. It may "turn into a final referendum on the greed-is-good ethos that conquered America sometime in the 80s," he writes in an op-ed for the Guardian . That ethos has been worming its...

Judge People By Fave Author
 Judge People By Fave Author 
STEREOTYPES HOW-TO

Judge People By Fave Author

Misfits like JD Salinger, smart geeks like JK Rowling ...

(Newser) - If you don’t want to waste the time really getting to know someone, just ask about his or her favorite author. That tells you all you need to know, Lauren Leto suggests, before running down the stereotypes:
  • JD Salinger: Kids who don’t fit in (duh).
  • Stephenie Meyer: People
...

Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites


 Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites 

Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites

From vampire lovers to geeks to punk rockers, a site for everyone

(Newser) - If the matches you’re finding on eHarmony are too vanilla, never fear: There’s a dating site out there for you, and Julie Gerstein of Lemondrop rounds up the quirkiest of the quirky:
  • If you wear a lot of black: Find your “own personal Satan” at Gothic Match.
...

Celebs: What I'd Have Said on the Moon
 Celebs: What I'd Have 
 Said on the Moon 
GLOSSIES

Celebs: What I'd Have Said on the Moon

(Newser) - With Monday marking the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, Esquire digs up celebs’ takes on what they’d have said if it had been them instead of Neil “One Giant Leap” Armstrong:
  • Muhammad Ali: Bring me back a challenger, ‘cause I’ve defeated everyone here on
...

Lawmaker: Obama Era Looks Like Atlas Shrugged

(Newser) - A California congressman thinks President Obama’s economic policies are leading the country down the path described in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the Washington Independent reports. “The achievers, the people who create all the things that benefit rest of us, are going on strike,” Republican John Campbell...

Are Video Games Art?
 Are Video Games Art? 
OPINION

Are Video Games Art?

Outselling theater, music, and movies, but still not taken seriously

(Newser) - Video games are going gangbusters financially, but they're still generally relegated to "lowbrow" entertainment by the culturati. Some critics, however, are finally giving video games their due and deeming them art. "The best games are already beautiful, and I can see no reason why the look of video...

50 Favorite Cult Books
50 Favorite
Cult Books 

50 Favorite Cult Books

From Hunter to Ayn, the Telegraph lists books you can 'wear like a leather jacket'

(Newser) - It’s hard to define the "cult" book, but the Telegraph compiled 50 of the top contenders that “rewire your head.”
  • The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968)
  • Baby and Child Care by Dr Benjamin Spock (1946)
  • Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1922)
  • The Fountainhead by
...

17 Stories