Category Archives: Quotes
“We’ve arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements — transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting, profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1995
I ran across the above quote on a blog, and it really hit home on a point I’ve been pondering and struggling with recently. It has to do with that line about how “almost no one understands science and technology.” It has to do with how weary I am of living in that world.
But rather than rant about it, here are some other quotes I like from a truly great man and wonderful scientist.
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7 Comments | tags: Carl Sagan, Cosmos, space, space exploration | posted in Quotes, Science
It’s a gray skies snowy Sunday afternoon, the fireplace is turned on, Bull Durham is on the TV machine, and I’d rather play with POV-Ray, snooze or get back to reading Terry Pratchett‘s Going Postal than spend hours working on a blog post. Sunday should be a day of rest or, at least, of difference.
I’m not particularly stuck on Sundays; my Lutheran background programs me for Sundays, but there are other ways to keep a Sabbath.
I do think it’s important to observe one day a week that is tuned differently than your other days. I think it’s mentally and spiritually healthy to change your pace one day a week. Dedicating a day helps insure following the practice.
Saturday thousands died for my amusement; today my desiderata is pax and nepenthe, so I thought I would share a Desiderata with you.
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20 Comments | tags: Desiderata, Les Crane, Max Ehrmann, Mr. Spock, nepenthe, pax, poems, poetry, Sabbath, serious poetry, Terry Pratchett | posted in Basics, Quotes, Writing
This is a post I have mixed feelings about writing. One purpose this blog serves is to document my life and me. It’s a way of leaving something behind, of scrawling, “Kilroy was here,” on the walls of the interweb. There are no children to carry on a legacy, so this is what I have.
If I am to do that honestly, it means writing about the dark, hard stuff as well as the fun, light stuff. I’ve thought about writing this post for a while, but was looking for the right time (which, of course, is just a delaying tactic). Yesterday I mentioned yet another moment of life synchronicity. To the extent I believe the universe “tells” me anything, it’s not hard to imagine it’s suggesting that I post this now.
I’ve been wanting to get back to the drier, more technical stuff, but I’m finding it a challenge to write. There’s research required for one thing, double-checking facts, and sometimes diagrams to find or create. Writing technical material in a way that’s interesting and accessible is tough! The personal stuff flows much more readily. (And doesn’t require the fact-checking!)
So this post is about my alter-ego: Quasimodo.
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22 Comments | tags: Esmeralda, Gardens of the Sun, Kilroy was here, monsters, Paul McAuley, Quasimodo, The Quiet War, Victor Hugo | posted in Life, Quotes
A few months ago a friend asked me if I had ever read, or seen, The Sand Pebbles. I replied that the closest I’d come was the Mad Magazine parody of the film. My friend felt this was a serious gap in my experience and offered to loan me the book and his DVD of the film.
Two things I should explain at this point. The first is that I’m always open to trying new things. That is, assuming they’re not utterly insane, extremely illegal or likely to cause harm. (Mildly insane, slightly illegal or probably harmless, yeah, okay, keep talking.) I would rather try a new restaurant than one I know, and I’ve turned down many a road just to see where it went.
The second thing is that, as much as I love movies, I’m not real big on war movies or westerns. The friend mentioned above loves both, and has been rather pointed sometimes about the “gaps” in my collection.
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9 Comments | tags: John Wayne, Kevin Costner, Lassie, machinery, Richard McKenna, Steve McQueen, The Sand Pebbles, war movies, westerns | posted in Life, Philosophy, Quotes
It’s official, I really like science fiction author Greg Egan! He’s among the modern science fiction authors; his first SF work, the short story Artifact, was published in 1983, so he’s been writing SF for about 28 years. Like many science fiction authors with a science or technical education, he writes non-fiction as well.
And here’s the thing: If you like your science fiction hard, you want to know about Greg Egan. He writes SF as hard as any I know. For instance, consider a novel (Incandescence) in which a key plot thread involves alien beings discovering (Einstein’s) General Relativity in a completely different way than Einstein did.
He reminds me of Hal Clement on several levels, particularly so in the novel I just cited, as part of it is told from the aliens’ point of view (a common device in Clement’s work).
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4 Comments | tags: Distress (book), Greg Egan, sci fi, science fiction, SF Books | posted in Books, Quotes, Sci-Fi Saturday
Imagine standing on a very tall hill in middle of a thick forest. Your hill is tall enough to take you above the trees; when you look out over the trees, you can see for miles around you. Ahead you can see another hill sticking above the trees; this is your goal.
You want to reach that hill.
A question arises; you are asked, “How long will it take to reach yon hill? What will you need along the way?”
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Leave a comment | tags: computer programming, dragons, experience, programming, project management, software design | posted in Basics, Computers, Philosophy, Quotes, Sideband
You may have heard the punchline, “Ready when you are, Mr. DeMille!” Sometimes, around people familiar with the reference, it’s abbreviated to just “Ready when you are!” (In a quote-y kind of voice.)
Of course, it’s dubious this it ever really happened, and it’s not a parable joke — there’s no moral behind it (except maybe don’t count your chickens). Still, it’s a pretty good joke! In fact, it’s one of my favorites, and I’ve used the punchline many times.
For your dancing and dining pleasure, here it is:
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16 Comments | tags: Cecil B. DeMille, humor, jokes | posted in Movies, Quotes, Sideband
The title of this Sideband, “And Maybe the Horse will Sing,” comes from a story told by the ancient Greek philosopher Herodotus.
This is a parable about hope and possibilities; about how you never know what might happen even when it seems that all hope is lost.
This is a story of a thief, Nasrudin, who was caught at his thievery and, by the laws of his land, sentenced to die.
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Leave a comment | tags: hope, horse, humor, parable, singing, singing horse | posted in Quotes, Sideband
“These go to eleven.“
I know people who feel the funniest moment in all of film is the bit in This is Spinal Tap about the volume knobs that go to 11. It does seem clear that the bit has become a well-known cultural meme. Just about everyone (who’s anyone) knows exactly what you mean when you refer to turning it up to eleven.
For those of you just exiting the cave (Plato’s or otherwise), here’s the bit:
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9 Comments | tags: 11, 11:11, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Nigel Tufnel, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Spinal Tap | posted in Quotes, Sideband
Sidebands
Sideband posts are miscellaneous thoughts that accompany the main thread of posts.
Think of them as small paths that meander off the main road. Some branch off, go a short ways and die after a short while.
Others are scenic trails that follow along the main road. Quotes is an example of the latter. It’s too early to run into one of the former, but I’ll point out the first one when it arrives.
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3 Comments | tags: Alexis de Tocqueville, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph de Maistre, Thomas Jefferson | posted in Quotes, Sideband, The Interweb
Logos con carne 