RoR: Forum

Hon. Ed Hudgins wrote:

Linz -- Welcome back! Julia Brent has organized a SOLO drinks-and-dinner social for Friday night, August 19th here in DC and I've invited all local TOC folks. I don't know if the drinking controversy will still be a topic for discussion in SOLO but we'll be doing some field experiments, trying to get to the objective reality of such issues!

I can see through these "experiments." It's clear to me you're all alcoholics. I shall be reporting you to the Brandbourne Christian Temperance Union. You drooling beasts!

Seriously, imbibe an experiment or two for me. I expect Julia will toast me at some point—I'll hear it via Wicca-Wave! (That's different from Wiccan-Wave, apparently!) :-)

Newbie Andy Postema wrote:

As the new guy here, I would like to pay my respects. This is a well-designed site that I found very easy to use. I also appreciate the premium you place on free speech here, even for Adam's "trolls". ;-) Looks like you found the right mix between moderation and free-for-all.

Credit for the site as such belongs to Joe Rowlands & Jeff Landauer. I created SOLO but these IT titans created the site. I'm glad you like the moderation/free-for-all mix. We're never gonna please everyone; it's nice to please someone! :-)

Finally, your article intrigued me, so I checked out the "Drooling Beast" matter for myself. My compliments on your savvy by letting your so-called friends run amok on the issue and on your confidence that fair-minded people would see this long-distance psychologizing for what it is. The U.S. is so mired in the therapeutic culture that it has become a tarbaby gumming up the commonsense of even people who call themselves Objectivists.

I've learned some new cliches of the "therapeutic culture" from this experience: "enabler" & "intervention" for instance. All good for a laugh. I think I understand the appeal of this "tarbaby" to some Objectivists. They're the type who mistake self-esteem for self-absorption. They are the solipsists of whom I wrote in Linz Sinz. For them, the therapeutic culture's psychobabble is a good fit.

Anyway, Andy, thanks for your good wishes. Enjoy your stay! :-)

Linz

Post 41

Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 5:05pm

Ciro

Thanks for your recipe suggestions. I do a very quick pasta sauce with smokey bacon, shallot, garlic, basil and tomato over penne, with a crusty bread drizzled with olive oil and garlic.

"Now ,I repeat for the last time is not capiche? But capisci? Only when you talk to a friend, you say capisci? But to a stranger is more polite to say;Lei ha capito? using the third person is a more respectuful way to talk to someone you just met."

Yes, I know this. I have always regarded "capiche" as slang. I have a brother-in-law from Naples and he was obviously too polite to correct me :-)

"President Clinton loved my pizza; I give you the recipe next time"

Oh, do tell...?

Ross

Post 42

Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 10:11pm

Linz, it was a pleasure to read your MacArthur-style 'return to SOLO' article. You're right about everything -- about the self-made excommunications, about the cultural divide between NZ and the U.S., and about how much I kick ass. It's great to have you back!

Post 43

Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 10:12pm

I hesitate to write this after Linz's declaration that his drinking is his own business, but am tired of the credibility that the accusations against him are being given by those who have not met him in person.

I spent a fair amount of time with Linz during the (all too brief) week of the TOC Summer Seminar in Vancouver last year. He and I attended dinners and/or chatted in the common room nearly every night. We both drank wine in social quantities on these occasions. We often attended the same lectures during the day as well. I attended both the round table on libertarianism of which he was a participant and his magnificent speech from which he quoted above. At no time did I see him intoxicated or hung over.

My understanding of addicts is that they may overindulge in or, with greater difficulty, abstain from the object of their addiction. But that they cannot easily limit themselves to a healthy and normal amount. After seeing Linz's manner for a whole week, I cannot believe him to be an alcoholic.

-Bill

Post 44

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 2:26am

Bill—thanks so much for your testimony here. This whole thread has given me hope that decency is not dead.

I have very fond memories of those common room chats & those dinners. I remember that at one of them you were hopelessly distracted by the fact that you had inadvertently left a certain aristocratic personage in the lurch, & I took great delight in exaggerating the likely repercussions. Hahaha!

Lady Caroline, from those occasions, should be here on SOLO. A certain A. Bissell was on the fringes, too, as I recall. I remember urging upon him that he act on a certain romantic impulse that he had. He did, with disastrous consequences. So much for my expertise as an agony aunt.

Anyway, William A. Nevin 111, bless you for this "intervention." :-) You will for ever be condemned as an "enabler" by the Brandbourne Christian Temperance Union, of course, but I somehow suspect you'll survive.

Oh my, I swear all this has been "liberating." Not to mention "empowering." Hahahahaha!

Linz

Post 45

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 3:04am

Ciro ha scritto:

"But to a stranger is more polite to say;Lei ha capito? using the third person is a more respectuful way to talk to someone you just met."

Che cazzo stai dicendo, Ciro? Le lezioni italiane? L'olio di oliva? Le capre? Il soggetto qui e' un saggio di Lindsay Perigo, non il tuo desiderio inutile per essere un comedian!!!

Post 46

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 6:32am

Bill Nevin wrote:

My understanding of addicts is that they may overindulge in or, with greater difficulty, abstain from the object of their addiction. But that they cannot easily limit themselves to a healthy and normal amount. After seeing Linz's manner for a whole week, I cannot believe him to be an alcoholic.

I saw a great deal of drinking at SOLOC 4 -- more than I ever expected. That said, I never saw anyone get into a condition I would call "drunk," much less "drooling beast" drunk. I have seen drunk people in college and elsewhere and no one at SOLOC 4 got into that condition as far as I could tell.

As one of the few teetotalers on SOLO, I have chosen to remain silent in all this controversy. I generally do not like to discuss subjects about which I know little to nothing. Based on the testimony of those who know Linz far better than I, it appears those who have armchair-diagnosed him as an alcoholic fall into the camp that Jeff Wayne mocks in this quote.

All that said, I would advise anyone posting anything to the Internet to do so only in a stone-cold sober state of mind. I do not drink but I have occasionally let my anger get the better of me when posting to forums, saying things that later proved to fall outside the bounds of reason. I do not know what I would be like intoxicated, but it might not be a pretty sight!

I may as well confess that I sanctioned the notorious "Drooling Beast" article when it first hit SOLO because I thought James knew Linz better than he actually did. For that, I apologize. Unfortunately, the software offers me no way to retract that sanction.

Post 47

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 8:27am

Derek, hai ragione mi sono lasciato andare con le capre e l'olio.
Comunque non mi sta bene predermi l'insulto perche' non sono stato io ad iniziare a parlare di capre, ma bensi' Ross.
Una cosa posso assicurarti che non era mia intenzioni essere comico.
L'essere comico non fa parte del mio repertorio.
In riguardo a Linz, penso di aver espresso bene quello che penso di lui.
Sara' pure una persona coltissima e proponente della filosofia di Ayn Rand, ma trattare una signora come Barbara in quel modo e' inumano. Avrebbe almeno dovuto prendere in considerazione per tutto quello che ha contribuito la signora Branden per questo forum.
Bene e' stato un piacere scriverti.
Ciao ciro

ps
Derek, non ho capito la natura del tuo messaggio? hai cercato di offendermi ? oppure mostrarmi che scrivi in italiano
(Edited by Ciro D'Agostino on 8/19, 8:31am)

(Edited by Ciro D'Agostino on 8/19, 9:31pm)

Post 48

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 8:59am

To those who don't understand Italian, the above message is the answer to Derek for accusing me of trying to be a comedian!!

He said that we are talking about Linz here and not goats or olive oil.

I guess he didn't look my previous post about hooliganism, or maybe he was to excited to show that he could write Italian and didn't considered the fact that calling someone comedian is very offensive. Or maybe this is a normal way to treat people on this forum?

It seems to me that on this forum there are so many pseudo scientists, capitalists, and professors whose profession it’s only practiced here on solo.

Real professionals would not act as many do here on solo.

DC

(Edited by Ciro D'Agostino on 8/19, 9:51am)

(Edited by Ciro D'Agostino on 8/19, 10:40am)

Post 49

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 5:12pm

Enough finger wagging already. Open and frank discussion is part of the deal here and no one is trying to hurt you, dude. This place is what it is.

Although many wanted to witness what was akin to Emily Post taming Howard Stern overnight here, I think we all know that wasn't realistic. Linz did the right thing by apologizing, removing the offending post and taking some time away. He extended the olive branch and they walked away.

Barbara and James are still free to accept Linz' apology and return to Solo whenever they wish. I do hope they take the next couple of weeks themselves to reconsider their decision. I miss them.

Post 50

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 5:16pm

A certain A. Bissell was on the fringes, too, as I recall. I remember urging upon him that he act on a certain romantic impulse that he had. He did, with disastrous consequences. So much for my expertise as an agony aunt.

Heh, very coy Linz. The consequences weren't *that* disastrous (although the rumors that I had been "freshening up" that evening didn't help anything). I like to think of it as one of the inevitable crashes one suffers when one first rides a bike without training wheels. I'll make the damn thing stay up on two wheels sooner or later.

Post 51

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 7:45pm

Andrew: "I'll make the damn thing stay up ..." I didn't realize. You may want to see a doctor.

--Brant

Post 52

Friday, August 19, 2005 - 7:53pm

Brant,

Don't give him any ideas. The next thing you know, there will be merchandising on Solo in articles.

Can't you just imagine the following? "While I was enjoying a Coca-Cola during my last read-through of Atlas Shrugged, it occurred to me that to keep it up, you need the real thing..."

Or how about full blown ads for enhancement drugs?...

Michael

Post 53

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 12:05am

...See, what I do is I have -three- wheels. That way it's protected against falling over with regard to pitch, roll, and yaw....

Whups. Too much 2 drink again//@#%^&*()&^%$__+&%

Post 54

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 4:50am

LOL

Is that just your spare in case of a flat? ;-)

Post 55

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 7:32am

Derek,

To those who don't understand Italian, the above message is the answer to Derek for accusing me of trying to be a comedian!!

Derek,

I think the entire SOLO Forum deserve a sincere and fulsome apology. I have seen Italian television and can confirm that no Italian should be considered a comedian.

Whoops - moving off thread...

Post 56

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 7:57am

Naughty Fraser: You'd better watch it - or you, too, will be accused of "hooliganism"! :-)

Post 57

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 9:35am

Frazer,
I hope this will not escalate to name calling.
Enjoy your wine and relax.
CD

Post 58

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 9:37am

E tu Derek che cazzo ridi! non istigare i tuoi scagnozzi!

(Edited by Ciro D'Agostino on 8/20, 11:20am)

Post 59

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 11:38am