“It’s always important to distinguish between chastity and impotence.”
Mae Jemison [wikipedia.org], quoting Sydney Brenner [wikipedia.org] in her TED Talk on teaching arts and sciences together [ted.com].
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Category: quotes
Always loved a good quote
beggs
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…could ruin your whole day
The reason we care about [GPS accuracy] is because GPS is used now to land airplanes and the difference between 3.8 meters above the runway and 3.8 meters below the runway could ruin your whole day.
Robert X. Cringely, in WAAS up? [cringely.com].
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The Great Dictator speaks
In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate;
has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in:
Charlie Chaplin, as Hinkel in The Great Dictator
machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical,
our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little:
More than machinery we need humanity;
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
While the Earth might not be rich enough to provide for us all anymore, there are just too many of us, the speech is good.
Via Intrepid Flame [intrepidflame.blogspot.com] quoted from Renegade Eye [advant.blogspot.com].
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Delayed identical twin
The birth of a delayed identical twin is not going shake western civilization.
Gregory Stock, in a 2003 TED Talk [ted.org]
The quote is from at 8:35. Talk about a brilliant turn of phrase. By replacing “clone” with “delayed identical twin” the whole argument is re-framed. Identical twins are not identical; different fingerprints, different hair swirls, different people. Thinking of clones that way make a lot of sense. The whole talk is good, refreshing, a positive view of a subject normally dominated by dystopian sci-fi scenarios.
I wanted to talk like a Kevin Smith [wikipedia.org] character when I was in high school…
Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You’re here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder. Like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn’t here. Jesus, you overcompensate for having what’s basically a monkey’s job. You push fucking buttons. Anybody can waltz in here and do our jobs. You-You’re so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante! And badly, I might add! I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, that guy Jay’s got it right, man. He has no delusions about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the people that come in here to buy a paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes. We look down on them as if we’re so advanced. Well, if we’re so fucking advanced, what are we doing working here?
Randal Graves, in “Clerks” [imdb.com]
Now, I think I might prefer Anthony Bourdain [wikipedia.org]…
“Alice Waters annoys the living shit out of me. We’re all in the middle of a recession, like we’re all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There’s something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic. I mean I’m not crazy about our obsession with corn or ethanol and all that, but I’m a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits. I’m suspicious of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth. I’m a little reluctant to admit that maybe Americans are too stupid to figure out that the food we’re eating is killing us. But I don’t know if it’s time to send out special squads to close all the McDonald’s. My libertarian side is at odds with my revulsion at what we as a country have done to ourselves physically with what we’ve chosen to eat and our fast food culture. I’m really divided on that issue.”
Anthony Bourdain
If I prefer Anthony Bourdain, it’s only because you can’t talk like Kevin Smith characters in the real world… unless you live in a frat house or work in porn…