Good Living

Congratulations to Anne Hathaway for taking home the Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in the film Les Misérables. Congratulations to her also for correctly understanding the nature of sacrifice—and for refusing to describe her value-achieving actions with the term. Although many people describe hard work as a…

How do we maximize the likelihood of achieving our values and minimize little risks that can become big problems? In a recent article for the New York Times, anthropologist Jared Diamond points out that, as a 75-year-old man, one of the major risks in his life is falling in the…

Daniel Wahl reviews The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills, by Daniel Coyle.

In the aftermath of the horrific murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School—while various federal and state legislators have proposed numerous bills restricting the sale and possession of guns, magazines, and ammunition—many Americans have wondered about or discussed the propriety of self-defense and of gun ownership. My father, Linn Armstrong, is…

From everyone at The Objective Standard to everyone who thinks, produces, trades, and thereby creates the values on which human life and happiness depend: Thank you. Thank you profit-seeking businessmen who produce and sell everything from groceries to computers to automobiles to electricity. Your work—although often condemned—is in fact supremely…

I approach recreational poker as entertainment, not gambling. I enjoy playing, even though I’m a novice and often lose. As a game, poker offers some meaningful lessons. 1. Act on reason, not emotions. Praying, hoping really hard, or performing some superstitious ritual will not change the sequence of cards. The…

I needed to track my time for various projects, and I needed to track my to-do items. I found my solution in two apps for my iPod Touch available from Nonlinear Ideas Inc., whose motto is, “Software should be simple.” For tracking my time, I use Time Tracker Pro. The…

Observe the posture of the figures painted by Bryan Larson. His figures have relatively straight backs and necks, with shoulders rolled back rather than forward. They project self-confidence and an eagerness to achieve and live. That sort of posture was common in early America (and remains common in parts of…

Understandably, the horrific murders at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, have put many people around the country on edge. Obviously, we want to do what we reasonably can to protect ourselves and our families from criminal attacks. And we want our government to take seriously its responsibility to protect…

Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman comics and novels such as Stardust and Coraline, recently delivered the commencement address to The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Though he tailored his advice for students of the arts, much of what he had to say applies to any field: If you have…