Category: The Atlasphere

All things Atlasphere can be found here, columns, podcasts, interesting anecdotes, and more.

Hedge-fund manager Barry Colvin raises funds for ARI outpost in NYC

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

A new article in the Wall Street Journal begins:

Forget tea leaves: Wall Street is turning to Ayn Rand for guidance.
Hedge-fund manager Barry Colvin has raised $60,000 to start a Greater New York outpost of the Ayn Rand Institute, the first chapter in the country for the Irvine, Calif.-based nonprofit dedicated to the late free-market philosopher and novelist.
“The idea is on-the-ground reconnaissance,” said Mr. Colvin, vice chairman of Chicago-based Balyasny Asset Management. Mr. Colvin contributed the bulk of the funds but rallied donors for the rest.
“It’s our civic duty to pound the table about making people challenge their own ideas behind what they think the role of government should be,” he said.
As a kick-off, Mr. Colvin will co-host a series of debates next month on freedom, government and capitalism with Demos, a public-policy research and advocacy group based in New York.

Ayn Rand popular among high school students at the Long Island "Ethics Bowl"

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

A new article “At Ethics Bowl, L.I. Teenagers Debate Slippery Issues” in the NY Times begins:

Ethics are a good thing, and almost everyone is said to have them. But by some accounts, they are like muscles in the brain, strong or atrophied, depending on exercise.
So consider the second annual Long Island High School Ethics Bowl, held on Saturday, a form of contest among athletes of ethics â?? students from eight high schools who spent a full day thinking up a sweat over the blacks and whites and grays of right and wrong.

And ends:

Do they read Aristotle on self-realization, Epicurus on the dangers of self-indulgence?
Many of the students interviewed mentioned Ayn Rand, the libertarian philosopher-novelist, as their favorite philosopher.

See the full article for more background.

No "sanction of the victim" from Amazon.com

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Forced to choose between having a fulfillment center in Texas and enjoying its tax-free status as an internet retailer, Amazon choose to close its fulfillment center. This sounds like a win for Amazon customers, a lose for Texas taxpayers, and probably a draw for Amazon itself.

The Alliance for Main Street Fairness, a lobbying group for small businesses working to eliminate Internet sales tax loopholes, criticized Amazon’s decision to close the Irving center.
“Texas retailers collect and remit sales taxes every day â?? whether the sale happens in a store or online,” said Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the group. “Amazon.com was asked to play by the same rules, and has responded by eliminating hundreds of Texas jobs. Amazon could have chosen to collect the sales tax as Texas retailers do, but instead they opted to protect their special sales tax loophole to the detriment of hardworking families.”

World premiere of Anthem on stage in Austin

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

It sounds like Jeff Britting, whom many of you may recognize as the manager of the Ayn Rand Archives for the Ayn Rand Institute, has been up to interesting stuff lately.
From a new article at WeAreAustin.com:

Austin Shakespeare opens 2011 with the world premiere of a new stage production based on the Ayn Rand novella, Anthem, adapted by Hollywood composer Jeff Britting. The new drama plays in the Rollins Studio Theatre at The Long Center from Jan. 19 -23.
Adapted by Hollywood composer Jeff Britting, who wrote the score for the Academy Award-nominated documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, the work will include an original score and projections also crafted by Britting. Staged as an oratorio, the production will function as a play with music underscored throughout the production.
Based on the Ayn Rand novella of the same name, Anthem addresses the importance of individualism in a totalitarian world. The staging includes a strong video component to compliment the intimate setting of The Rollins Theatre.

See the full article for much more.

Atlas Shrugged movie blog reminder

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

If you haven’t already done so, you may want to add the Atlas Shrugged movie blog to your blogroll or newsreader. Here are some recent headlines likely to interest fans of Ayn Rand’s novels:
Atlas Shrugged movie has booking service
Major new verdict threatens to bankrupt John Alialoroâ??s company, if not overturned
The Atlas Shrugged movie will be rated PG-13

Study moral foundations of capitalism at Clemson, on a scholarship, this summer

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Clemson Institute’s annual student summer conference on “Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the Moral Foundations of Capitalism” will be held in late May this year. Students must apply by March 1st. For details, go here. (h/t Diana Hsieh)

Celebrity Ayn Rand fan: Facebook CFO David Ebersman

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

In his profile, Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman lists Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as two of his favorite books — and his list is fairly selective, with only six unique books (plus The Fountainhead listed a second time, since there happen to be two pages for it at Facebook).
Nice!

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