Philosophy in Action: NoodleFood : OList : Page 7

New OList: OHomos

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 19 July 2010 at 1:00 pm Announcements, OList

Jul 192010

I’m pleased to announce the creation of a new OList e-mail list: OHomos. (That name started as something of a joke on Twitter, as Trey explains. But now it’s like a law of nature!) Here’s the basic list description from OList.com:

OHomos is an informal mailing list for for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Objectivists (and others) interested in the proper application of reason, egoism, and rights to matters of mutual interest. Its purpose is to facilitate friendly discussion amongst GLBT Objectivists about dating, sexual health, social events, and “gay rights” … The list aims to promote Objectivist ideas in GLBT circles and provide a friendly social space for GLBT Objectivists too.

As with many other OLists, people can join OHomos as posters or merely as lurkers. To join the list as a poster, you must meet two criteria:

You must be an Objectivist, meaning that you agree with and live by the principles of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism as best you understand them.
You must be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

To join OHomos as a lurker, you need only meet either the first or the second criterion.

You can request to join OHomos via this web form. You must briefly explain how you meet the list’s criteria for membership: please write a few sentences. If you wish to lurk, please say that and explain why.

For further details about this new list, please see the OHomos web page. Please note that the list is currently gathering subscriptions. It will open for discussion on Wednesday, July 21st.

OHomos managed by Trey Peden, the author of the blog Trey Givens. If you have any questions about the list or its criteria for membership, please e-mail him at [email protected].

Reminder: The OLists

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 13 July 2010 at 1:00 pm Announcements, OList

Jul 132010

As a reminder, my ever-growing OList Empire includes the following eight (!!) e-mail lists:

OActivists: OActivists is an e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to encourage and assist effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication between Objectivist activists. Membership is limited to Objectivist activists. It is managed by Tammy Perkins.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an e-mail list for Objectivist bloggers. Its purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, blogworthy links, posts of interest, blog promotion, and best blogging practices. Membership is limited to Objectivist bloggers. It is managed by Kate Gerber of CareerMama.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal e-mail list for for Objectivists and others interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst Objectivists about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Jenn Casey of RationalJenn.
OEvolve: OEvolve is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the practical sciences of cooking, nutrition, fitness, health, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Monica Hughes of AncestralGeneration.
OProducers: OProducers is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others committed to improving their habits of productivity in their careers, projects, and other pursuits. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about practical methods for better management of time, projects, money, people, and other resources. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Tod of OptimalLiving.
OShooters: OShooters is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others enthused about firearms and committed to gun rights. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about firearm models, shooting techniques, gun ranges, gun laws, and the like. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Santiago Valenzuela.
OGardeners: OGardeners is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in gardening and landscaping. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and trees. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Kelly Elmore of Reepicheep’sCoracle.
OAcademics: OAcademics is an e-mail list for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. Membership is limited to Objectivist academics. It is managed by Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood.

Also, I recently received the following note from a new subscriber to OGrownups:

I wanted to let you know that I’m thoroughly enjoying the posts and have found the group to be both beneficial and stimulating and I wanted to thank you for making this possible.

It’s good to see such a group well-maintained and engaging in issues of relevance.

My pleasure! And my thanks to RationalJenn for helping to keep the list going so well, despite a few bumps in the road.

Questions on the Objectivist Community

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 27 May 2010 at 7:00 am FormSpring, Objectivism, OList

May 272010

Some FormSpring Questions and Answers related to the Objectivist community:

Why does there seem to be a shortage of Objectivist women?

Shortages are merely opportunities to make money under capitalism. So… get cracking!

More seriously, men outnumber women in political activism, academic philosophy, and the like. Most women simply aren’t interested in seriously intellectual pursuits. (That’s for good and bad reasons, I think.)

Happily, the sex-imbalance in Objectivist circles seems to be diminishing. I suspect that’s because the movement is far healthier — more social, more fun, less repressed — than it used to be.

I’ve seen a big change (for the better) at OCON in recent years, partly due to the rise of social media. Many people new to the conference aren’t strangers: they’re old friends that you’re finally seeing in the flesh. That’s awesome.

I hope that my various OLists — where people get to know each other based on mutual interest in optional values, rather than arguing about philosophy — help too.

When you started OBloggers, did you have any idea that there would be so many Objectivist bloggers who write about so many different topics? Did you realize you’d be creating a community of sorts?

When I began creating OList e-mail lists, my original focus was on the OAcademics list. I really wanted to talk with other Objectivist academics about what I was hearing, reading, and teaching as a graduate student. To my surprise and annoyance, that list has been a near-total failure. (It’s mostly silent. I’ve got some suspicions as to why that is.)

OBloggers, on the other hand, has been a fabulous success. The list — particularly with the blog carnival, and now in conjunction with Twitter — has created a genuine community, at least among the active Objectivist bloggers. (The list currently has 145 subscribers, but I’m not sure even where all those people are blogging.) I didn’t foresee that completely, but I hoped for something like it!

I’m also really pleased with OActivsts, OGrownups, and most especially OEvolve. Those lists — along with social media — have helped create a vibrant Objectivist community… and that was very evident in the super-intense socializing at the last OCON.

I’m looking forward to more at Vegas in July!

Oh, and if you don’t know what the heck all these OLists are, visit www.OList.com/.

[Note: I wrote that before the creation of OProducers, OGardeners, and OShooters.]

Is America ready for a sitcom about Objectivists living it up?

OMG, that would be so intensely boring. We’re not exactly “Jersey Shore” material.

Although… Robert Mayhew, Eric Daniels, and Greg Salmieri can be damn funny, in a geeky academic way. Still, no.

Reminder: The OLists

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 6 May 2010 at 2:00 pm Announcements, OList

May 062010

As a reminder, my ever-growing OList Empire includes the following eight (!!) e-mail lists:

OActivists: OActivists is an e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to encourage and assist effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication between Objectivist activists. Membership is limited to Objectivist activists. It is managed by Tammy Perkins.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an e-mail list for Objectivist bloggers. Its purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, blogworthy links, posts of interest, blog promotion, and best blogging practices. Membership is limited to Objectivist bloggers. It is managed by Kate Gerber of CareerMama.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal e-mail list for for Objectivists and others interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst Objectivists about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Jenn Casey of Rational Jenn.
OEvolve: OEvolve is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the practical sciences of cooking, nutrition, fitness, health, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Monica Hughes of Ancestral Generation.
OProducers: OProducers is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others committed to improving their habits of productivity in their careers, projects, and other pursuits. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about practical methods for better management of time, projects, money, people, and other resources. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Tod of Optimal Living.
OShooters: OShooters is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others enthused about firearms and committed to gun rights. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about firearm models, shooting techniques, gun ranges, gun laws, and the like. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Santiago Valenzuela.
OGardeners: OGardeners is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in gardening and landscaping. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and trees. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Kelly Elmore of Reepicheep’s Coracle.
OAcademics: OAcademics is an e-mail list for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. Membership is limited to Objectivist academics. It is managed by Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood.

Weekly Reviews for Workers

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 13 April 2010 at 7:00 am Advice, Business, OList, Productivity

Apr 132010

I’m delighted to report that the three new OLists — OProducers, OShooters, and OGardeners — launched without so much as a hiccup. One week later, they’re humming along nicely! Hooray!

As a taste of what these OLists have to offer, I submit the following informal essay, posted to OProducers on Friday by Santiago Valenzuela, on his sit-down weekly reviews with his workers. (He gave me permission to post it here.) It’s exactly the kind of good advice that motivated me to create the OProducers list.

In case you don’t know him yet, Santiago is the leader of 3FROG, the manager of OShooters, and an all-around good guy. Now, without any further ado, here’s Santiago:

I was reading all the fascinating posts about GTD’s “weekly review” and how useful y’all find it. It got me thinking about a management practice that I think fills a similar role in a different context that I’d like to share – weekly one-on-ones.

My understanding of the GTD weekly review is to get you “above,” conceptually, the day-to-day concretes you have to deal with and let you dedicate time to thinking about things that these concretes are supposed to be contributing to – longer-term goals, projects, etc. A one-on-one serves a similar purpose, I believe, in management.

Every week I meet with each of my people for our own weekly review. It lasts 15-30 minutes, depending on them. The purpose is for them to be able to air out any concerns, questions or information that I need to know primarily – though I don’t forbid friendly chatting either, as I feel that the more I know about them, their circumstances and what motivates them to work as hard as they do, the better. This serves three main purposes:

1) It lets me spend time with them individually, allowing me to better understand what drives them, get to know them more personally, and put any concerns they have on my radar.

2) It allows me to give them the “bigger picture” – how were sales this past week, how did our department do, what are my plans for the future growth of this department and how does this person fit into that plan, exactly?

3) It serves as a “bucket” – a place to put niggling things for either of us that are not pressing but should be discussed at some point – discussion about inappropriate behavior, a day where personal efficiency slacked, days off requests, updates on family and so forth.

The reason I compare it to the weekly review is because I often think of management as the conceptual level of productive work, if you think of productive work in terms of concretes (I don’t mean to demean the many specialists on this list who obviously are not working with concretes; it is simply a comparison.) With individuals stuck in concrete or specialist work all day, it is refreshing, motivating and assuring for them to have a small break each week to get “the big picture” and some one-on-one face-time with The Boss.

I found in my management travails that my guys were coming up to me for the smallest stuff – problems that they were clearly qualified to work on, or at least were not so pressing that they couldn’t wait – but wait until when? I think the issue was that they wanted that face-time with me. People understand, I think – on some level – that a departmental manager is their link to the “big picture” and they gravitate towards that in an effort to better understand where they stand, if the people above them understand how good a job their doing (or if there are any problems,) how the company is doing in general – what we would call the big picture. This is a real human need in productive work and I do my best to fill it for my people. In addition, the “bucket” of the one-on-one also saves time as we bundle all the small stuff that may take 5 minutes (or more) every day to deal with on a day-to-day basis, but takes 5 minutes in a week when bundled together.

I call the need to understand what is going on above you and get face time with the boss a real human need – and I think a rational one, just like a weekly review is a rational exercise on the personal level – not only for the theoretical reasons above, but practical reasons as well. It has increased honesty, trust and communication between myself and my team by quite a bit – it has been many months since I have had to deal with anything at all unexpected on the part of my team members. Personal efficiency has skyrocketed – by about 50% since I implemented one-on-ones, the reason, I think, being that individuals are inclined to work harder when they better understand how what they are doing contributes to an overall productive goal, trust their boss and know that their hard work is being recognized on a weekly basis, not just in terms of sporadic pay increases.

I think this would be a useful practice to adopt for most managers. In the 30 minute time usually allocated I give 10 minutes (the first 10 minutes) to my employee, the second 10 minutes to any issues on my end, and the last 10 minutes to discussing “big picture” stuff – growing the employee’s capabilities to make him more valuable to the company, how our department is doing, how the company is doing, etc. At first I had a hard time finding the time and justifying it to my superiors, once they asked – but now there is so much time saved in terms of issues that can wait until the weekly one-on-one, and so many efficiency gains, that the meetings justify themselves no matter how busy we are.

Does anyone else have a similar system? Or do you have similar problems with your direct reports? I would be very happy to help anyone who’s interested help roll this idea out, if my description of what happens and the corresponding results have piqued your interest.

I originally got the idea from manager tools, a podcast website, but I think they explain the rationale poorly (mostly in terms of concretes) and I’ve done some thinking on the reasons why its so effective, which I think I’ve hit on here.

That’s good stuff! Oh, and you can find the “manager tools” podcasts here.

Three New OLists: OProducers, OShooters, and OGardeners

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 2 April 2010 at 11:00 am Announcements, Objectivism, OList

Apr 022010

I’m delighted to announce the formation of three new OList e-mail lists: OProducers, OShooters, and OGardeners. Posting on these new lists is subject to the usual requirements, but non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. These lists will be gathering subscribers for the next few days. They’ll open for introductions and discussions on Tuesday, April 6th.

OProducers: OProducers is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others committed to improving their habits of productivity in their careers, projects, and other pursuits. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about practical methods for better management of time, projects, money, people, and other resources. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Tod of Optimal Living.
OShooters: OShooters is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others enthused about firearms and committed to gun rights. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about firearm models, shooting techniques, gun ranges, gun laws, and the like. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Santiago Valenzuela.
OGardeners: OGardeners is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in gardening and landscaping. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and trees. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Kelly Elmore of Reepicheep’s Coracle.

Asa reminder, here are the other five OList e-mail lists:

OActivists: OActivists is an e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to encourage and assist effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication between Objectivist activists. Membership is limited to Objectivist activists. It is managed by Tammy Perkins.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an e-mail list for Objectivist bloggers. Its purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, blogworthy links, posts of interest, blog promotion, and best blogging practices. Membership is limited to Objectivist bloggers. It is managed by Kate Gerber of CareerMama.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal e-mail list for for Objectivists and others interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst Objectivists about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Jenn Casey of Rational Jenn and C. August of Titanic Deck Chairs.
OEvolve: OEvolve is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the practical sciences of cooking, nutrition, fitness, health, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Monica Hughes of Ancestral Generation.
OAcademics: OAcademics is an e-mail list for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. Membership is limited to Objectivist academics. It is managed by Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood.

These OList e-mail lists are different from most discussion lists. How so?

First, all posters on these lists share values in common — not just the principles of Objectivism but also certain optional values. That makes possible more focused, fruitful, and friendly discussion.
Second, the topics open to discussion on the list are limited by the purpose of the list. People are not permitted to run wild, writing on whatever strikes their fancy.
Third and most importantly, the basic goal of the lists is the friendly sharing of useful information to enhance our lives and further our goals. Contentious debate about abstract matters of little practical value is not welcome.

That’s why these OLists have been so successful, I think.

Notably, I’m willing to create other OList e-mail lists on that model, provided that (1) the list seems viable to me and (2) some reliable person is willing to manage the list. I won’t be creating any new lists for a few months, but if you’d like your list to get into the queue, drop me an e-mail.

Update: Here’s my favorite tweet ever, courtesy of @samrolken: “@DianaHsieh has done for the capital letter O what Steve Jobs did for the lower-case letter I.”

OList E-Mail Lists

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 8 March 2010 at 3:00 pm Announcements, OList

Mar 082010

As a reminder, my ever-growing OList.com empire includes the following e-mail lists:

OActivists: OActivists is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to facilitate and encourage effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication with other Objectivist activists. Posts to the list alert subscribers to opportunities to speak out, recommend sources of information, discuss effective arguments and principled strategies, reproduce op-eds and letters written by subscribers, announce events, and more.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an informal mailing list for Objectivist bloggers. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, posts of interest, best blogging practices, and the like.
OAcademics: OAcademics is a forum for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. The list is basically a means of sharing knowledge and experience as ever more Objectivists enter academia.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal mailing list for Objectivists interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more.
OEvolve: OEvolve is an informal private mailing list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the science of cooking, nutrition, exercise, supplements, health, and more.

If you’re interested, please be sure check out the list’s membership requirements. Also, I have some new OList e-mail lists in the works, so … get ready!

OList E-Mail Lists

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 1 January 2010 at 12:00 pm Announcements, OList

Jan 012010

As a reminder, my ever-growing OList.com empire includes the following e-mail lists:

OActivists: OActivists is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to facilitate and encourage effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication with other Objectivist activists. Posts to the list alert subscribers to opportunities to speak out, recommend sources of information, discuss effective arguments and principled strategies, reproduce op-eds and letters written by subscribers, announce events, and more.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an informal mailing list for Objectivist bloggers. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, posts of interest, best blogging practices, and the like.
OAcademics: OAcademics is a forum for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. The list is basically a means of sharing knowledge and experience as ever more Objectivists enter academia.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal mailing list for Objectivists interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more.
OEvolve: OEvolve is an informal private mailing list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the science of cooking, nutrition, exercise, supplements, health, and more.

If you’re interested, please be sure check out the list’s membership requirements.

New OList E-mail List: OEvolve

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 17 October 2009 at 3:00 pm Food, Health, OList

Oct 172009

I’m delighted to announce the creation of a new OList.com e-mail list for paleo-ish Objectivists (and lurkers) to share information and resources: OEvolve. You can sign up to the Google Group here, but please be sure to peruse this basic information on the list before doing so:

OEvolve @ OList.com

OEvolve is an informal private mailing list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the practical sciences of cooking, nutrition, fitness, health, and more.

Any Objectivist committed to eating an evolutionary-based diet may participate in OEvolve. Such diets encompass low-carb, paleo, and traditional diets — including Cordain’s Paleo Diet, Sears’ Zone Diet, Eades’ Protein Power, Weston A. Price’s Traditional Diet, and all the myriad variations thereof. Any Objectivist seriously considering switching to such a diet is also welcome to subscribe and post. Moreover, non-Objectivist evolutionary eaters, as well as Objectivists merely curious about such diets, are welcome to subscribe to the list, but only as lurkers; they cannot post.

OEvolve is managed by Monica Hughes. Monica received an MSc and PhD in forest pathology and mycology from State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in 2008. She is the founder of Free Agriculture – Restore Markets (FA/RM). She can be reached at [email protected].

Subscription

To join the OEvolve mailing list as a poster, you must meet two criteria:

You must be an Objectivist, meaning that you agree with and live by the principles of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism as best you understand them. Newcomers to Objectivism are just as welcome as old-timers. Please do not subscribe if you consider yourself to be a libertarian (or associate with the Libertarian Party), advocate revising Objectivism (like David Kelley’s “open system”), or associate with the dishonest pseudo-advocates of Objectivism (most notably David Kelley, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, and Chris Sciabarra).

You must eat some form of evolutionary-based diet — or be in the process of seriously considering or working on doing so.

To join the OEvolve mailing list as a lurker, you need only meet either the first or the second criterion. Please indicate that you wish to only lurk when requesting to join the list. If you are confused or doubtful about the subscription criteria, please contact the list manager Monica Hughes.

Do you wish to join OEvolve? To do so, you must request a subscription via this web form. The OEvolve list is managed through Google Groups, so subscribing requires an account with Google. (It’s free and easy to create.) In requesting a subscription, you will be asked to confirm that you meet the criteria for membership.

After you subscribe, please feel free to post an introduction, including your name, location, and a bit about your interest in evolutionary-based health.

List Rules

The OEvolve list has a few basic rules:

Please be friendly or at least civil in posts to the list. Subscribers who behave like asses, such as by insulting other list members or attacking Objectivist intellectuals, will be removed from the list.

Please respect the purpose of the list. Subscribers who prove disruptive to the basic purpose of the list — such as by attempting to arguing against Objectivist positions or posting on irrelevant topics — will be unsubscribed or subject to moderation.

Interested? Then sign up now!

Also, just as a reminder, the other four lists in my ever-growing OList.com empire are:

OActivists: OActivists is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to facilitate and encourage effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication with other Objectivist activists. Posts to the list alert subscribers to opportunities to speak out, recommend sources of information, discuss effective arguments and principled strategies, reproduce op-eds and letters written by subscribers, announce events, and more.
OBloggers: OBloggers is an informal mailing list for Objectivist bloggers. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, posts of interest, best blogging practices, and the like.
OAcademics: OAcademics is a forum for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. The list is basically a means of sharing knowledge and experience as ever more Objectivists enter academia.
OGrownups: OGrownups is an informal mailing list for Objectivists interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more.

Name Help

Posted by Diana Hsieh on 10 October 2009 at 10:00 am Food, OList

Oct 102009

In part spurred by some new friends adopting our paleo-ish diet, Monica Hughes and I have concocted a most excellent plan of creating an OList.com mailing list for Objectivists interested evolutionary-based eating, workouts, and the like. Monica will manage the list.

We’ve found that lots of people are intrigued by our diet, but they’ve got a million questions about the principles and practice of it. That’s not surprising. Given the prevalence of junk science in nutrition and the prevalence of junk food in the most diets, understanding what to eat — and why — can be difficult. So the mailing list will facilitate the sharing of useful information, as well as provide moral support and advice.

As with OGrownups, anyone will be welcome to subscribe. However, to keep the conversation focused, we’re going to limit posting to Objectivist practitioners of an evolutionary diet. Everyone else can lurk. We’re going to construe that “evolutionary diet” broadly to include Cordain’s Paleo Diet, the Primal Blueprint, the Atkins Diet, Protein Power, The Zone, Weston A. Price, and the like. While I certainly have criticisms of some of these diets, the basic goal is to eat foods appropriate to the human animal, as informed by our evolutionary history.

However, Monica and I have terribly serious problem with this new list: we can’t figure out what to name it! I’d like to use the OWhatever format, if possible. We don’t like OPaleo, as “paleo” is too narrow and too much associated with Cordain. We don’t like anything with “primal” or “caveman” or “primitive” or “traditional”: we don’t want to celebrate primitive man. We don’t want anything specific to food or diet, as questions of fitness will also be central to the list. Something suggesting our evolutionary approach would be good, and so one option would be “OEvHealth.” However, we’re not thrilled about that.

So we thought that we’d ask you — most excellent NoodleFoodleDoodlers — what do you suggest?

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The Blog

NoodleFood

New OList: OHomos

Reminder: The OLists

Questions on the Objectivist Community

Reminder: The OLists

Weekly Reviews for Workers

Three New OLists: OProducers, OShooters, and OGardeners

OList E-Mail Lists

OList E-Mail Lists

New OList E-mail List: OEvolve

Name Help

Responsibility & Luck

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