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More tidbits from SumSem 2006:

1) No one likes the name change from The Objectivist Center to The Atlas Society and it's Objectivist Center. It's seems like a bad idea on its face, and violates basic marketing principles.

2) The Huntington Beach fireworks show on Independence Day was excellent.

3) Shooting on the free day almost bombed. We arrived at Earl's, the place I had chosen because it was only 2.36 miles from Chapman U. But as soon as I walked in, the dude inside said I couldn't shoot because I was wearing sandals. So Jake and I hurried back to Chapman so I could change shoes. By the time we returned, we were informed that the joint had stopped renting firearms two weeks prior. What are the chances?

We secured directions to another place, the Orange County Indoor Shooting Range in Brea, about ten miles away. We successfully navigated our way there, after taking a break to eat lunch at a Thai restaurant. In the end, it all worked out, and I got to try the new H&K P2000 compact, and a Glock 17. For some reason, the P2000 had an incredibly long tigger pull, and sometimes the slide would stick on the comeback, not fully cocking the pistol. The novice or completely-new-to-shooting shooters did surprisingly well.

4) Once again, I learned how much I really dislike situations where large groups of people are trying to monolithically coordinate their social activity - such as the fireworks in HB - and the indecisiveness that prolongs such groupthink. I don't see much value added in trying get 20 people to all do the same thing, in the same place, and at the same time. I see it as fucked up tribalism. Get a few people together, get in a car, and go, dammit.

5) The Atlas Shrugged movie looks like it's really going to happen. And it looks like Angelina Jolie is likely to play Dagny. Other names mentioned by the producers as people they've talked to or talked about: Julia Roberts and Ashley Judd. The big thing now is to sign a director. James Hart is the screenwriter.

The movie is likely to be a three-part trilogy, like Lord of the Rings. The most important thing I got out of the amazing session we had with producers Karen and Howard Baldwin, and John Aglialoro, the backer, is how committed they are to the message of the novel. Karen said that the character of Dagny is perhaps the best female character in all of literature. Bottom line: They get it.

6) Lots of people made me laugh throughout the week. It all started with my first exposure to John Kerns' Objectivist Joke Club. The first rule of Objectivist Joke Club is that no joke is too vulgar. None of the jokes had to do with Objectivism - OJC derives its name from the philosophical affiliation of its constituent attendees, not the content of the jokes themselves. So I happily learned lots of incredibly vulgar jokes from John, Marty Lewinter, and others.

7) Continuing on with people who made me laugh...Russ, Jake, Tom, Kelly and I hung out at a nice bar in Huntington Beach after the fireworks. There were lots of attractive women trickling in by the time we left. So as we're leaving, Kelly, the sole female among us, says: "I'm disappointed in you guys. I expected you to pimp the ladies."

8) More people who made me laugh: The Grovers. Yay for the Grovers!

9) The Guatemalans were amazing, and reported amazing things. Luis and Warren blew me away with their Participant Sponsored Session detailing the mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. It's an explicitly pro-freedom and pro-capitalist university with no small measure of pedigree in Guatemala. They're even working on building an Atlas monument on campus.

10) People we missed at the Seminar: Bill Perry, the Kulczugas, the Pons, Jason Walker, Walter Foddis, Arena Mueller, Christine Falbe, Mike Huemer, Patrick Stephens, Jamie, Kirez, Ilana Dover, Chris Marriott, and Diana and Paul Hsieh.