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{ Category Archives } Quote of the day

Quote of the day, when I feel like it.

Quote of the day, 26 January 2012

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular. –Edward Gibbon

2012 01 26 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 26 January 2012

Quote of the day, 24 January 2012

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance. – Robert R. Coveyou

2012 01 24 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 24 January 2012

Quote of the day, 18 January 2012

I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be –Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo: A Conversation, 1818-9

2012 01 18 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 18 January 2012

Quote of the day, 10 Jan 2012

Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. […]

2012 01 10 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 10 Jan 2012

Quote of the day, 3 January 2012

This is a test of the XXX public announcement system. If you can’t hear this announcement, please contact your floor warden. I am not making this up. Yes, I work at a semi-famous FFRDC, which supposedly hires smart people.

2012 01 03 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 3 January 2012

Ending short term thinking

A large number of rent-collectors and financial middlemen making vast amounts of money are keeping the current system in place. The fact that what they are doing is destroying the economy will not sway their thinking. As Upton Sinclair noted, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon […]

2011 12 28 Brent Comments Off on Ending short term thinking

Quote of the day, 26 December 2011

To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. –George Orwell, ‘In Front of Your Nose’, Tribune, March 22, 1946.

2011 12 26 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 26 December 2011

Kafka rolls over and gives up

Summary: The government dropped a bomb on a U.S. citizen, who, though a total dick and probably a criminal, may have been engaged only in propaganda, which, though despicable, is generally protected by the First Amendment; it did so without a trial or even an indictment (that we know of), based at least in part […]

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2011 12 23 Brent Rant Comments Off on Kafka rolls over and gives up

No longer citizens

Matt Taibbi calls it right: But it seems to me that if you’re broke enough that you’re not paying any income tax, you’ve got nothing but skin in the game. You’ve got it all riding on how well America works. You can’t afford private security: you need to depend on the police. You can’t afford […]

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2011 12 23 Brent Rant Comments Off on No longer citizens

Quote of the day, 16 December 2011

“As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life—so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.” –Matt Cartmill “Of course, you become an archbishop to meet boys. –Doug Nelson “Scientists don’t meet girls either” […]

2011 12 16 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 16 December 2011

Countenance

Look at me. Look at me. If you look away I will remove two stars. —Yelping with Cormac, December 2011 Genius.

2011 12 15 Brent Comments Off on Countenance

Quote of the day, 8 December 2011

“In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.” — Paul Dirac

2011 12 08 Brent Comments Off on Quote of the day, 8 December 2011

Decline and fall

“Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation, that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom.” –Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 3, 1776 “Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. […]

2011 12 06 Brent Comments Off on Decline and fall

Vientos de Satán

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of […]

2011 12 01 Brent Dogs
Picture of the day Comments Off on Vientos de Satán

Quote of the day, 27 November 2011

“We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.” — Maurice Maeterlinck, My Dog 1906

2011 11 27 Brent Dogs Comments Off on Quote of the day, 27 November 2011