fortunes 570 KB

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  2. %
  3. (1) Alexander the Great was a great general.
  4. (2) Great generals are forewarned.
  5. (3) Forewarned is forearmed.
  6. (4) Four is an even number.
  7. (5) Four is certainly an odd number of arms for a man to have.
  8. (6) The only number that is both even and odd is infinity.
  9. Therefore, Alexander the Great had an infinite number of arms.
  10. %
  11. (1) Everything depends.
  12. (2) Nothing is always.
  13. (3) Everything is sometimes.
  14. %
  15. 1.79 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight -- it's not just a good idea, it's
  16. the law!
  17. %
  18. 10.0 times 0.1 is hardly ever 1.0.
  19. %
  20. 100 buckets of bits on the bus
  21. 100 buckets of bits
  22. Take one down, short it to ground
  23. FF buckets of bits on the bus
  24. FF buckets of bits on the bus
  25. FF buckets of bits
  26. Take one down, short it to ground
  27. FE buckets of bits on the bus
  28. ad infinitum...
  29. %
  30. $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at
  31. which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.
  32. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  33. %
  34. 101 USES FOR A DEAD MICROPROCESSOR
  35. (1) Scarecrow for centipedes
  36. (2) Dead cat brush
  37. (3) Hair barrettes
  38. (4) Cleats
  39. (5) Self-piercing earrings
  40. (6) Fungus trellis
  41. (7) False eyelashes
  42. (8) Prosthetic dog claws
  43. .
  44. .
  45. .
  46. (99) Window garden harrow (pulled behind Tonka tractors)
  47. (100) Killer velcro
  48. (101) Currency
  49. %
  50. 186,282 miles per second:
  51. It isn't just a good idea, it's the law!
  52. %
  53. 2180, U.S. History question:
  54. What 20th Century U.S. President was almost impeached and what
  55. office did he later hold?
  56. %
  57. $3,000,000
  58. %
  59. 355/113 -- Not the famous irrational number PI, but an incredible
  60. simulation!
  61. %
  62. 3 syncs represent the trinity -- init, the child and the eternal zombie
  63. process. In doing 3, you're paying homage to each and I think such
  64. traditions are important in this shallow, mercurial business we find
  65. ourselves in.
  66. -- Jordan K. Hubbard
  67. %
  68. 43rd Law of Computing:
  69. Anything that can go wr
  70. fortune: Segmentation violation -- Core dumped
  71. %
  72. 77. HO HUM -- The Redundant
  73. ------- (7) This hexagram refers to a situation of extreme
  74. --- --- (8) boredom. Your programs always bomb off. Your wife
  75. ------- (7) smells bad. Your children have hives. You are working
  76. ---O--- (6) on an accounting system, when you want to develop the
  77. ---X--- (9) GREAT AMERICAN COMPILER. You give up hot dates to
  78. --- --- (8) nurse sick computers. What you need now is sex.
  79. Nine in the second place means:
  80. The yellow bird approaches the malt shop. Misfortune.
  81. Six in the third place means:
  82. In former times men built altars to honor the Internal Revenue
  83. Service. Great Dragons! Are you in trouble!
  84. %
  85. 7:30, Channel 5: The Bionic Dog (Action/Adventure)
  86. The Bionic Dog drinks too much and kicks over the National
  87. Redwood Forest.
  88. %
  89. 7:30, Channel 5: The Bionic Dog (Action/Adventure)
  90. The Bionic Dog gets a hormonal short-circuit and violates the
  91. Mann Act with an interstate Greyhound bus.
  92. %
  93. 99 blocks of crud on the disk,
  94. 99 blocks of crud!
  95. You patch a bug, and dump it again:
  96. 100 blocks of crud on the disk!
  97. 100 blocks of crud on the disk,
  98. 100 blocks of crud!
  99. You patch a bug, and dump it again:
  100. 101 blocks of crud on the disk! ...
  101. %
  102. A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a
  103. "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
  104. -- Mahatma Gandhi
  105. %
  106. A [golf] ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree.
  107. Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and has no place in a scientific
  108. game. The player should estimate the distance the ball would have
  109. traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there,
  110. preferably atop a nice firm tuft of grass.
  111. -- Donald A. Metz
  112. %
  113. A [golf] ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and
  114. placed in the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or
  115. rolled into the rough. Such veering right or left frequently results
  116. from friction between the face of the club and the cover of the ball
  117. and the player should not be penalized for the erratic behavior of the
  118. ball resulting from such uncontrollable physical
  119. phenomena.
  120. -- Donald A. Metz
  121. %
  122. A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no
  123. responsibility at the other.
  124. %
  125. A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on.
  126. -- Carl Sandburg
  127. %
  128. A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman out
  129. of a divorce.
  130. -- Don Quinn
  131. %
  132. A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining
  133. and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
  134. -- Mark Twain
  135. %
  136. A billion here, a couple of billion there -- first thing you know it
  137. adds up to be real money.
  138. -- Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen
  139. %
  140. A bird in the bush usually has a friend in there with him.
  141. %
  142. A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring.
  143. %
  144. A bird in the hand makes it awfully hard to blow your nose.
  145. %
  146. ... A booming voice says, "Wrong, cretin!", and you notice that you
  147. have turned into a pile of dust.
  148. %
  149. A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have
  150. enlightened him with ours.
  151. %
  152. A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well
  153. as afterward.
  154. %
  155. A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the
  156. poor to protect them from each other.
  157. %
  158. A celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.
  159. %
  160. A child can go only so far in life without potty training. It is not
  161. mere coincidence that six of the last seven presidents were potty
  162. trained, not to mention nearly half of the nation's state legislators.
  163. -- Dave Barry
  164. %
  165. A child of five could understand this! Fetch me a child of five.
  166. %
  167. A chubby man with a white beard and a red suit will approach you soon.
  168. Avoid him. He's a Commie.
  169. %
  170. A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but
  171. won't cross the street to vote in a national election.
  172. -- Bill Vaughan
  173. %
  174. A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
  175. -- Herbert Prochnow
  176. %
  177. A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody
  178. wants to read.
  179. -- Mark Twain, "The Disappearance of Literature"
  180. %
  181. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
  182. %
  183. A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.
  184. %
  185. A CONS is an object which cares.
  186. -- Bernie Greenberg
  187. %
  188. A consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it
  189. is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it.
  190. %
  191. A continuing flow of paper is sufficient to continue the flow of paper.
  192. -- Dyer
  193. %
  194. A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the
  195. damned things is ample.
  196. -- Rebecca West
  197. %
  198. A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
  199. -- Ben Franklin
  200. %
  201. A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen
  202. lantern.
  203. -- Edgar A. Shoaff
  204. %
  205. A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it?
  206. %
  207. A day without sunshine is like night.
  208. %
  209. A diplomat is a man who can convince his wife she'd look stout in a fur
  210. coat.
  211. %
  212. A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
  213. you will look forward to the trip.
  214. %
  215. A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was
  216. eating his morning meal. "I would like to give you this personality
  217. test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy."
  218. Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into
  219. the toaster -- "I wish the toaster to be happy too".
  220. %
  221. A diva who specializes in risqu'e arias is an off-coloratura soprano ...
  222. %
  223. A doctor, an architect, and a computer scientist were arguing
  224. about whose profession was the oldest. In the course of their
  225. arguments, they got all the way back to the Garden of Eden, whereupon
  226. the doctor said, "The medical profession is clearly the oldest, because
  227. Eve was made from Adam's rib, as the story goes, and that was a simply
  228. incredible surgical feat."
  229. The architect did not agree. He said, "But if you look at the
  230. Garden itself, in the beginning there was chaos and void, and out of
  231. that, the Garden and the world were created. So God must have been an
  232. architect."
  233. The computer scientist, who had listened to all of this said,
  234. "Yes, but where do you think the chaos came from?"
  235. %
  236. A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
  237. -- Ogden Nash
  238. %
  239. A famous Lisp Hacker noticed an Undergraduate sitting in front of a
  240. Xerox 1108, trying to edit a complex Klone network via a browser.
  241. Wanting to help, the Hacker clicked one of the nodes in the network
  242. with the mouse, and asked "what do you see?" Very earnestly, the
  243. Undergraduate replied "I see a cursor." The Hacker then quickly
  244. pressed the boot toggle at the back of the keyboard, while
  245. simultaneously hitting the Undergraduate over the head with a thick
  246. Interlisp Manual. The Undergraduate was then Enlightened.
  247. %
  248. A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the
  249. subject.
  250. -- Winston Churchill
  251. %
  252. A fool must now and then be right by chance.
  253. %
  254. A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into
  255. superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
  256. -- G. B. Shaw
  257. %
  258. A fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block
  259. of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an
  260. elephant.
  261. %
  262. A formal parsing algorithm should not always be used.
  263. -- D. Gries
  264. %
  265. A fractal is by definition a set for which the Hausdorff Besicovitch
  266. dimension strictly exceeds the topological dimension.
  267. -- Mandelbrot, "The Fractal Geometry of Nature"
  268. %
  269. A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
  270. -- Adlai Stevenson
  271. %
  272. A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than
  273. he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men
  274. favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter
  275. facts of life in bandages of self-illusion.
  276. -- H. L. Mencken
  277. %
  278. A general leading the State Department resembles a dragon commanding
  279. ducks.
  280. -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
  281. %
  282. A girl and a boy bump into each other -- surely an accident.
  283. A girl and a boy bump and her handkerchief drops -- surely another accident.
  284. But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid -- *____that ___had __to ____mean _________something*.
  285. -- S. Morgenstern, "The Silent Gondoliers"
  286. %
  287. A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sort
  288. of).
  289. %
  290. A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened
  291. into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the
  292. hope of greening the landscape of idea.
  293. -- John Ciardi
  294. %
  295. A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
  296. rearranging their prejudices.
  297. -- William James
  298. %
  299. A great nation is any mob of people which produces at least one honest
  300. man a century.
  301. %
  302. A hypothetical paradox:
  303. What would happen in a battle between an Enterprise security
  304. team, who always get killed soon after appearing, and a squad of
  305. Imperial Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet?
  306. -- Tom Galloway
  307. %
  308. A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears.
  309. C is for Clair who wasted away, D is for Desmond thrown out of the sleigh.
  310. E is for Ernest who choked on a peach, F is for Fanny, sucked dry by a leech.
  311. G is for George, smothered under a rug, H is for Hector, done in by a thug.
  312. I is for Ida who drowned in the lake, J is for James who took lye, by mistake.
  313. K is for Kate who was struck with an axe, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks.
  314. M is for Maud who was swept out to sea, N is for Nevil who died of ennui.
  315. O is for Olive, run through with an awl, P is for Prue, trampled flat in a brawl
  316. Q is for Quinton who sank in a mire, R is for Rhoda, consumed by a fire.
  317. S is for Susan who parished of fits, T is for Titas who flew into bits.
  318. U is for Una who slipped down a drain, V is for Victor, squashed under a train.
  319. W is for Winnie, embedded in ice, X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice.
  320. Y is for Yoric whose head was bashed in, Z is for Zilla who drank too much gin.
  321. -- Edward Gorey "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"
  322. %
  323. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
  324. %
  325. A jury consists of 12 persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
  326. -- Robert Frost
  327. %
  328. A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction.
  329. %
  330. A lady with one of her ears applied
  331. To an open keyhole heard, inside,
  332. Two female gossips in converse free --
  333. The subject engaging them was she.
  334. "I think", said one, "and my husband thinks
  335. That she's a prying, inquisitive minx!"
  336. As soon as no more of it she could hear
  337. The lady, indignant, removed her ear.
  338. "I will not stay," she said with a pout,
  339. "To hear my character lied about!"
  340. -- Gopete Sherany
  341. %
  342. A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is
  343. not worth knowing.
  344. %
  345. A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program
  346. in than some that do.
  347. -- Dennis M. Ritchie
  348. %
  349. A large number of installed systems work by fiat. That is, they work
  350. by being declared to work.
  351. -- Anatol Holt
  352. %
  353. A Law of Computer Programming:
  354. Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you
  355. will find the programmers cannot write in English.
  356. %
  357. A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of
  358. nothing.
  359. -- Alan Perlis
  360. %
  361. A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
  362. -- H. H. Munroe, "Saki"
  363. %
  364. A long memory is the most subversive idea in America.
  365. %
  366. A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon. Buy the negatives at any
  367. price.
  368. %
  369. A Los Angeles judge ruled that "a citizen may snore with immunity in
  370. his own home, even though he may be in possession of unusual and
  371. exceptional ability in that particular field."
  372. %
  373. A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I'm afraid of widths.
  374. -- Steve Wright
  375. %
  376. A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I
  377. believe everything positively stinks.
  378. -- Lew Col
  379. %
  380. A man goes to a tailor to try on a new custom-made suit. The
  381. first thing he notices is that the arms are too long.
  382. "No problem," says the tailor. "Just bend them at the elbow
  383. and hold them out in front of you. See, now it's fine."
  384. "But the collar is up around my ears!"
  385. "It's nothing. Just hunch your back up a little ... no, a
  386. little more ... that's it."
  387. "But I'm stepping on my cuffs!" the man cries in desperation.
  388. "Nu, bend you knees a little to take up the slack. There you
  389. go. Look in the mirror -- the suit fits perfectly."
  390. So, twisted like a pretzel, the man lurches out onto the
  391. street. Reba and Florence see him go by.
  392. "Oh, look," says Reba, "that poor man!"
  393. "Yes," says Florence, "but what a beautiful suit."
  394. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  395. %
  396. A man said to the Universe: "Sir, I exist!"
  397. "However," replied the Universe, "the fact has not created in me a
  398. sense of obligation."
  399. -- Stephen Crane
  400. %
  401. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.
  402. %
  403. A master was explaining the nature of Tao to one of his
  404. novices. "The Tao is embodied in all software -- regardless of how
  405. insignificant," said the master.
  406. "Is Tao in a hand-held calculator?" asked the novice.
  407. "It is," came the reply.
  408. "Is the Tao in a video game?" continued the novice.
  409. "It is even in a video game," said the master.
  410. "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
  411. The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The
  412. lesson is over for today," he said.
  413. -- "The Tao of Programming"
  414. %
  415. A mathematician is a machine for converting coffee into theorems.
  416. %
  417. A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed
  418. on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new
  419. game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the
  420. pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly
  421. along it at the water's edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their
  422. heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn
  423. around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite
  424. direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the
  425. paper reports, "The pilots fly out to sea and directly to the penguin
  426. colony and overfly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins
  427. fall over gently onto their backs.
  428. -- Audubon Society Magazine
  429. [From the BBC, 2001-02-02:
  430. For five weeks, a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
  431. monitored 1,000 king penguins on the island of South Georgia as Lynx
  432. helicopters passed overhead.
  433. "Not one king penguin fell over when the helicopters came over,"
  434. said team leader Dr. Richard Stone.
  435. "As the aircraft approached, the birds went quiet and stopped
  436. calling to each other, and adolescent birds that were not associated
  437. with nests began walking away from the noise. Pure animal instinct,
  438. really."
  439. The conclusion, said Dr. Stone, is that flights over 305 metres
  440. (1,000 feet) caused "only minor and transitory ecological effects" on
  441. king penguins.]
  442. %
  443. A musician of more ambition than talent composed an elegy at
  444. the death of composer Edward MacDowell. She played the elegy for the
  445. pianist Josef Hoffman, then asked his opinion. "Well, it's quite
  446. nice," he replied, but don't you think it would be better if ..."
  447. "If what?" asked the composer.
  448. "If ... if you had died and MacDowell had written the elegy?"
  449. %
  450. A neighbor came to Nasrudin, asking to borrow his donkey. "It is out
  451. on loan," the teacher replied. At that moment, the donkey brayed
  452. loudly inside the stable. "But I can hear it bray, over there." "Whom
  453. do you believe," asked Nasrudin, "me or a donkey?"
  454. %
  455. A new koan:
  456. If you have some ice cream, I will give it to you.
  457. If you have no ice cream, I will take it away from you.
  458. It is an ice cream koan.
  459. %
  460. A new supply of round tuits has arrived and are available from Mary.
  461. Anyone who has been putting off work until they got a round tuit now
  462. has no excuse for further procrastination.
  463. %
  464. A New York City judge ruled that if two women behind you at the movies
  465. insist on discussing the probable outcome of the film, you have the
  466. right to turn around and blow a Bronx cheer at them.
  467. %
  468. A New York City ordinance prohibits the shooting of rabbits from the
  469. rear of a Third Avenue street car -- if the car is in motion.
  470. %
  471. A novel approach is to remove all power from the system, which
  472. removes most system overhead so that resources can be fully devoted to
  473. doing nothing. Benchmarks on this technique are promising; tremendous
  474. amounts of nothing can be produced in this manner. Certain hardware
  475. limitations can limit the speed of this method, especially in the
  476. larger systems which require a more involved & less efficient
  477. power-down sequence.
  478. An alternate approach is to pull the main breaker for the
  479. building, which seems to provide even more nothing, but in truth has
  480. bugs in it, since it usually inhibits the systems which keep the beer
  481. cool.
  482. %
  483. A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power
  484. off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing spoke sternly:
  485. "You can not fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no
  486. understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off
  487. and on. The machine worked.
  488. %
  489. A nuclear war can ruin your whole day.
  490. %
  491. A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
  492. -- Gloria Steinem
  493. %
  494. A penny saved is ridiculous.
  495. %
  496. A person is just about as big as the things that make them angry.
  497. %
  498. A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms.
  499. -- George Wald
  500. %
  501. A pig is a jolly companion,
  502. Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt --
  503. A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale,
  504. Though mountains may topple and tilt.
  505. When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you,
  506. When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
  507. Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover,
  508. You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
  509. You'll never go wrong with a pig!
  510. -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
  511. %
  512. A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
  513. by Mark Twain
  514. For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped
  515. to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer
  516. be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained
  517. would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2
  518. might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the
  519. same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with
  520. "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.
  521. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
  522. with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12
  523. or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
  524. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
  525. ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz
  526. ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.
  527. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud
  528. hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
  529. %
  530. A power so great, it can only be used for Good or Evil!
  531. -- The Firesign Theatre, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra"
  532. %
  533. A priest asked: What is Fate, Master?
  534. And the Master answered:
  535. It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for existence.
  536. It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their backs.
  537. It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City to City
  538. upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns have come
  539. to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness.
  540. And that is Fate? said the priest.
  541. Fate ... I thought you said Freight, responded the Master.
  542. That's all right, said the priest. I wanted to know what Freight was
  543. too.
  544. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  545. %
  546. A priest was walking along the cliffs at Dover when he came
  547. upon two locals pulling another man ashore on the end of a rope.
  548. "That's what I like to see", said the priest, "A man helping his fellow
  549. man".
  550. As he was walking away, one local remarked to the other, "Well,
  551. he sure doesn't know the first thing about shark fishing."
  552. %
  553. A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep.
  554. %
  555. A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis
  556. of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite
  557. series of incomprehensible answers calculated with micrometric
  558. precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from
  559. inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical
  560. accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality
  561. for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly
  562. defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the
  563. information in the first place.
  564. -- IEEE Grid news magazine
  565. %
  566. A psychiatrist is a person who will give you expensive answers that
  567. your wife will give you for free.
  568. %
  569. A public debt is a kind of anchor in the storm; but if the anchor be
  570. too heavy for the vessel, she will be sunk by that very weight which
  571. was intended for her preservation.
  572. -- Colton
  573. %
  574. A putt that stops close enough to the cup to inspire such comments as
  575. "you could blow it in" may be blown in. This rule does not apply if
  576. the ball is more than three inches from the hole, because no one wants
  577. to make a travesty of the game.
  578. -- Donald A. Metz
  579. %
  580. A raccoon tangled with a 23,000 volt line today. The results blacked
  581. out 1400 homes and, of course, one raccoon.
  582. -- Steel City News
  583. %
  584. A radioactive cat has eighteen half-lives.
  585. %
  586. A reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20:
  587. Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying,
  588. "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny
  589. bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the
  590. lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and
  591. breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the
  592. Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of
  593. the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt
  594. thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then
  595. proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being
  596. the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand
  597. Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight,
  598. shall snuff it."
  599. -- Monty Python, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
  600. %
  601. A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices
  602. that the system works.
  603. %
  604. A real person has two reasons for doing anything ... a good reason and
  605. the real reason.
  606. %
  607. A recent study has found that concentrating on difficult off-screen
  608. objects, such as the faces of loved ones, causes eye strain in computer
  609. scientists. Researchers into the phenomenon cite the added
  610. concentration needed to "make sense" of such unnatural three
  611. dimensional objects ...
  612. %
  613. A Riverside, California, health ordinance states that two persons may
  614. not kiss each other without first wiping their lips with carbolized
  615. rosewater.
  616. %
  617. A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man
  618. contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
  619. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  620. %
  621. A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will
  622. keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those
  623. that are worth committing.
  624. -- Samuel Butler
  625. %
  626. A Severe Strain on the Credulity
  627. As a method of sending a missile to the higher, and even to the highest
  628. parts of the earth's atmospheric envelope, Professor Goddard's rocket
  629. is a practicable and therefore promising device. It is when one
  630. considers the multiple-charge rocket as a traveler to the moon that one
  631. begins to doubt ... for after the rocket quits our air and really
  632. starts on its journey, its flight would be neither accelerated nor
  633. maintained by the explosion of the charges it then might have left.
  634. Professor Goddard, with his "chair" in Clark College and countenancing
  635. of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to
  636. re-action, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum
  637. against which to react ... Of course he only seems to lack the
  638. knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
  639. -- New York Times Editorial, 1920
  640. %
  641. A sine curve goes off to infinity or at least the end of the blackboard.
  642. -- Prof. Steiner
  643. %
  644. ... A solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he
  645. was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity.
  646. -- Mark Twain
  647. %
  648. A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.
  649. -- O'Henry
  650. %
  651. A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
  652. bad measures.
  653. -- Daniel Webster
  654. %
  655. A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an
  656. exam.
  657. %
  658. A student, in hopes of understanding the Lambda-nature, came to
  659. Greenblatt. As they spoke a Multics system hacker walked by. "Is it
  660. true," asked the student, "that PL-1 has many of the same data types as
  661. Lisp?" Almost before the student had finished his question, Greenblatt
  662. shouted, "FOO!", and hit the student with a stick.
  663. %
  664. A successful [software] tool is one that was used to do something
  665. undreamed of by its author.
  666. -- S. C. Johnson
  667. %
  668. A system admin's life is a sorry one. The only advantage he has over
  669. Emergency Room doctors is that malpractice suits are rare. On the
  670. other hand, ER doctors never have to deal with patients installing
  671. new versions of their own innards!
  672. -- Michael O'Brien
  673. %
  674. A tautology is a thing which is tautological.
  675. %
  676. A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention,
  677. and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.
  678. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  679. %
  680. A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by
  681. blowing first.
  682. %
  683. A triangle which has an angle of 135 degrees is called an obscene
  684. triangle.
  685. %
  686. A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.
  687. %
  688. A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest
  689. in students.
  690. -- John Ciardi
  691. %
  692. A University without students is like an ointment without a fly.
  693. -- Ed Nather, professor of astronomy at UT Austin
  694. %
  695. A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature
  696. replaces it with.
  697. -- Tennessee Williams
  698. %
  699. A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without
  700. getting nervous.
  701. %
  702. A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets
  703. people's attention.
  704. %
  705. A witty saying proves nothing.
  706. -- Voltaire
  707. %
  708. A wizard cannot do everything; a fact most magicians are reticent to
  709. admit, let alone discuss with prospective clients. Still, the fact
  710. remains that there are certain objects, and people, that are, for one
  711. reason or another, completely immune to any direct magical spell. It
  712. is for this group of beings that the magician learns the subtleties of
  713. using indirect spells. It also does no harm, in dealing with these
  714. matters, to carry a large club near your person at all times.
  715. -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VIII
  716. %
  717. A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
  718. %
  719. A.A.A.A.A.:
  720. An organization for drunks who drive
  721. %
  722. AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkk!!!!!!!!!
  723. You brute! Knock before entering a ladies room!
  724. %
  725. Abandon the search for Truth; settle for a good fantasy.
  726. %
  727. About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
  728. -- Herbert Hoover
  729. %
  730. Absence makes the heart go wander.
  731. %
  732. Absent, adj.:
  733. Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed;
  734. slandered.
  735. %
  736. Absentee, n.:
  737. A person with an income who has had the forethought to remove
  738. himself from the sphere of exaction.
  739. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  740. %
  741. Abstainer, n.:
  742. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a
  743. pleasure.
  744. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  745. %
  746. Absurdity, n.:
  747. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own
  748. opinion.
  749. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  750. %
  751. Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics,
  752. because the stakes are so low.
  753. -- Wallace Sayre
  754. %
  755. Accident, n.:
  756. A condition in which presence of mind is good, but absence of
  757. body is better.
  758. -- Foolish Dictionary
  759. %
  760. Accidents cause History.
  761. If Sigismund Unbuckle had taken a walk in 1426 and met Wat Tyler, the
  762. Peasant's Revolt would never have happened and the motor car would not
  763. have been invented until 2026, which would have meant that all the oil
  764. could have been used for lamps, thus saving the electric light bulb and
  765. the whale, and nobody would have caught Moby Dick or Billy Budd.
  766. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  767. %
  768. According to Arkansas law, Section 4761, Pope's Digest: "No person
  769. shall be permitted under any pretext whatever, to come nearer than
  770. fifty feet of any door or window of any polling room, from the opening
  771. of the polls until the completion of the count and the certification of
  772. the returns."
  773. %
  774. According to Kentucky state law, every person must take a bath at least
  775. once a year.
  776. %
  777. According to my best recollection, I don't remember.
  778. -- Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo
  779. %
  780. According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are
  781. totally worthless.
  782. %
  783. According to the obituary notices, a mean and unimportant person never
  784. dies.
  785. %
  786. According to the Rand McNally Places-Rated Almanac, the best place to
  787. live in America is the city of Pittsburgh. The city of New York came
  788. in twenty-fifth. Here in New York we really don't care too much.
  789. Because we know that we could beat up their city anytime.
  790. -- David Letterman
  791. %
  792. Accordion, n.:
  793. A bagpipe with pleats.
  794. %
  795. Accuracy, n.:
  796. The vice of being right.
  797. %
  798. ACHTUNG!!!
  799. Das machine is nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy
  800. schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und corkenpoppen mit
  801. spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das dummkopfen. Das
  802. rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets. Relaxen und
  803. vatch das blinkenlights!!!
  804. %
  805. Acid -- better living through chemistry.
  806. %
  807. Acid absorbs 47 times its weight in excess Reality.
  808. %
  809. Acquaintance, n.:
  810. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well
  811. enough to lend to.
  812. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  813. %
  814. Acting is an art which consists of keeping the audience from coughing.
  815. %
  816. Actor: "I'm a smash hit. Why, yesterday during the last act, I had
  817. everyone glued in their seats!"
  818. Oliver Herford: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Clever of you to think of
  819. it!"
  820. %
  821. Actor: So what do you do for a living?
  822. Doris: I work for a company that makes deceptively shallow serving
  823. dishes for Chinese restaurants.
  824. -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
  825. %
  826. Actors will happen even in the best-regulated families.
  827. %
  828. ADA, n.:
  829. Something you need only know the name of to be an Expert in
  830. Computing. Useful in sentences like, "We had better develop an ADA
  831. awareness."
  832. -- "Datamation", January 15, 1984
  833. %
  834. Admiration, n.:
  835. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.
  836. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  837. %
  838. Adolescence, n.:
  839. The stage between puberty and adultery.
  840. %
  841. Adopted kids are such a pain -- you have to teach them how to look
  842. like you ...
  843. -- Gilda Radner
  844. %
  845. Adore, v.:
  846. To venerate expectantly.
  847. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  848. %
  849. Adult, n.:
  850. One old enough to know better.
  851. %
  852. Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
  853. way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
  854. -- Sinclair Lewis
  855. %
  856. Advice to young men: Be ascetic, and if you can't be ascetic,
  857. then at least be aseptic.
  858. %
  859. After [Benjamin] Franklin came a herd of Electrical Pioneers whose
  860. names have become part of our electrical terminology: Myron Volt, Mary
  861. Louise Amp, James Watt, Bob Transformer, etc. These pioneers conducted
  862. many important electrical experiments. For example, in 1780 Luigi
  863. Galvani discovered (this is the truth) that when he attached two
  864. different kinds of metal to the leg of a frog, an electrical current
  865. developed and the frog's leg kicked, even though it was no longer
  866. attached to the frog, which was dead anyway. Galvani's discovery led
  867. to enormous advances in the field of amphibian medicine. Today,
  868. skilled veterinary surgeons can take a frog that has been seriously
  869. injured or killed, implant pieces of metal in its muscles, and watch it
  870. hop back into the pond just like a normal frog, except for the fact
  871. that it sinks like a stone.
  872. -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
  873. %
  874. After a few boring years, socially meaningful rock 'n' roll died out.
  875. It was replaced by disco, which offers no guidance to any form of life
  876. more advanced than the lichen family.
  877. -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
  878. %
  879. After a number of decimal places, nobody gives a damn.
  880. %
  881. ... After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known
  882. quotations.
  883. -- H. L. Mencken, on Shakespeare
  884. %
  885. After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not
  886. for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have
  887. simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.
  888. -- P. J. O'Rourke
  889. %
  890. After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found
  891. on the bench.
  892. %
  893. After his Ignoble Disgrace, Satan was being expelled from
  894. Heaven. As he passed through the Gates, he paused a moment in thought,
  895. and turned to God and said, "A new creature called Man, I hear, is soon
  896. to be created."
  897. "This is true," He replied.
  898. "He will need laws," said the Demon slyly.
  899. "What! You, his appointed Enemy for all Time! You ask for the
  900. right to make his laws?"
  901. "Oh, no!" Satan replied, "I ask only that he be allowed to
  902. make his own."
  903. It was so granted.
  904. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  905. %
  906. After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of
  907. the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the
  908. cost to others, to win advancement.
  909. -- Norman Thomas
  910. %
  911. After I run your program, let's make love like crazed weasels, OK?
  912. %
  913. After living in New York, you trust nobody, but you believe
  914. everything. Just in case.
  915. %
  916. After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access
  917. cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been
  918. removed.
  919. %
  920. Afternoon very favorable for romance. Try a single person for a
  921. change.
  922. %
  923. Afternoon, n.:
  924. That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted the
  925. morning.
  926. %
  927. Age before beauty; and pearls before swine.
  928. -- Dorothy Parker
  929. %
  930. Age, n.:
  931. That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we
  932. still cherish by reviling those that we no longer have the enterprise
  933. to commit.
  934. -- Ambrose Bierce
  935. %
  936. Ah say, son, you're about as sharp as a bowlin' ball.
  937. %
  938. Ah, but the choice of dreams to live,
  939. there's the rub.
  940. For all dreams are not equal,
  941. some exit to nightmare
  942. most end with the dreamer
  943. But at least one must be lived ... and died.
  944. %
  945. Ah, you know the type. They like to blame it all on the Jews or the
  946. Blacks, 'cause if they couldn't, they'd have to wake up to the fact
  947. that life's one big, scary, glorious, complex and ultimately
  948. unfathomable crapshoot -- and the only reason THEY can't seem to keep
  949. up is they're a bunch of misfits and losers.
  950. -- A analysis of Neo-Nazis, from "The Badger" comic
  951. %
  952. Air is water with holes in it.
  953. %
  954. Alas, I am dying beyond my means.
  955. -- Oscar Wilde, as he sipped champagne on his deathbed
  956. %
  957. Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire
  958. telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New
  959. York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this?
  960. And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they
  961. receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
  962. %
  963. Alden's Laws:
  964. (1) Giving away baby clothes and furniture is the major cause
  965. of pregnancy.
  966. (2) Always be backlit.
  967. (3) Sit down whenever possible.
  968. %
  969. Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall,
  970. Aleph-null bottles of beer,
  971. You take one down, and pass it around,
  972. Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.
  973. %
  974. Alex Haley was adopted!
  975. %
  976. Alexander Graham Bell is alive and well in New York, and still waiting
  977. for a dial tone.
  978. %
  979. Alimony is a system by which, when two people make a mistake, one of
  980. them keeps paying for it.
  981. -- Peggy Joyce
  982. %
  983. All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent
  984. upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a
  985. visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is
  986. informing, stimulating and ennobling.
  987. -- H. L. Mencken
  988. %
  989. All bridge hands are equally likely, but some are more equally likely
  990. than others.
  991. -- Alan Truscott
  992. %
  993. All extremists should be taken out and shot.
  994. %
  995. All Finagle Laws may be bypassed by learning the simple art of doing
  996. without thinking.
  997. %
  998. "All flesh is grass"
  999. -- Isaiah
  1000. Smoke a friend today.
  1001. %
  1002. All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
  1003. %
  1004. All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own
  1005. importance.
  1006. %
  1007. All I can think of is a platter of organic PRUNE CRISPS being trampled
  1008. by an army of swarthy, Italian LOUNGE SINGERS ...
  1009. %
  1010. All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.
  1011. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
  1012. %
  1013. All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are
  1014. Socrates.
  1015. -- Woody Allen
  1016. %
  1017. All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane.
  1018. %
  1019. All my life I wanted to be someone; I guess I should have been more
  1020. specific.
  1021. -- Jane Wagner
  1022. %
  1023. All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.
  1024. -- The Book of Bokonon / Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
  1025. %
  1026. All other things being equal, a bald man cannot be elected President of
  1027. the United States.
  1028. -- Vic Gold
  1029. %
  1030. All power corrupts, but we need electricity.
  1031. %
  1032. All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.
  1033. %
  1034. All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of
  1035. every organism to live beyond its income.
  1036. -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks"
  1037. %
  1038. All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
  1039. -- Ernest Rutherford
  1040. %
  1041. All snakes who wish to remain in Ireland will please raise their right
  1042. hands.
  1043. -- Saint Patrick
  1044. %
  1045. All syllogisms have three parts; therefore this is not a syllogism.
  1046. %
  1047. All the big corporations depreciate their possessions, and you can,
  1048. too, provided you use them for business purposes. For example, if you
  1049. subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, a business-related newspaper, you
  1050. can deduct the cost of your house, because, in the words of U.S.
  1051. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in a landmark 1979 tax
  1052. decision: "Where else are you going to read the paper? Outside? What
  1053. if it rains?"
  1054. -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
  1055. %
  1056. ... all the modern inconveniences ...
  1057. -- Mark Twain
  1058. %
  1059. All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most
  1060. ridiculous ones.
  1061. -- La Rochefoucauld
  1062. %
  1063. All the taxes paid over a lifetime by the average American are spent by
  1064. the government in less than a second.
  1065. -- Jim Fiebig
  1066. %
  1067. All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
  1068. -- Sean O'Casey
  1069. %
  1070. All the world's a VAX,
  1071. And all the coders merely butchers;
  1072. They have their exits and their entrails;
  1073. And one int in his time plays many widths,
  1074. His sizeof being _N bytes. At first the infant,
  1075. Mewling and puking in the Regent's arms.
  1076. And then the whining schoolboy, with his Sun,
  1077. And shining morning face, creeping like slug
  1078. Unwillingly to school.
  1079. -- A Very Annoyed PDP-11
  1080. %
  1081. All theoretical chemistry is really physics;
  1082. and all theoretical chemists know it.
  1083. -- Richard P. Feynman
  1084. %
  1085. All things are possible, except skiing thru a revolving door.
  1086. %
  1087. All this wheeling and dealing around, why, it isn't for money, it's for
  1088. fun. Money's just the way we keep score.
  1089. -- Henry Tyroon
  1090. %
  1091. All true wisdom is found on T-shirts.
  1092. %
  1093. All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers ... Each one owes
  1094. infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in
  1095. which he was born.
  1096. -- Francois Fenelon
  1097. %
  1098. Alliance, n.:
  1099. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have
  1100. their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot
  1101. separately plunder a third.
  1102. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1103. %
  1104. Alone, adj.:
  1105. In bad company.
  1106. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1107. %
  1108. Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight
  1109. Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.
  1110. -- Dave Barry
  1111. %
  1112. Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
  1113. %
  1114. Although we modern persons tend to take our electric lights, radios,
  1115. mixers, etc., for granted, hundreds of years ago people did not have
  1116. any of these things, which is just as well because there was no place
  1117. to plug them in. Then along came the first Electrical Pioneer,
  1118. Benjamin Franklin, who flew a kite in a lighting storm and received a
  1119. serious electrical shock. This proved that lighting was powered by the
  1120. same force as carpets, but it also damaged Franklin's brain so severely
  1121. that he started speaking only in incomprehensible maxims, such as "A
  1122. penny saved is a penny earned." Eventually he had to be given a job
  1123. running the post office.
  1124. -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
  1125. %
  1126. Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been
  1127. reissued by the Grove Press, and this pictorial account of the
  1128. day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is full of considerable
  1129. interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on
  1130. pheasant-raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin,
  1131. and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper.
  1132. Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous
  1133. material in order to discover and savour those sidelights on the
  1134. management of a midland shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion
  1135. the book cannot take the place of J. R. Miller's "Practical
  1136. Gamekeeping."
  1137. -- Ed Zern, "Field and Stream" (Nov. 1959)
  1138. %
  1139. Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid
  1140. back.
  1141. %
  1142. Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
  1143. %
  1144. Always try to do things in chronological order; it's less confusing
  1145. that way.
  1146. %
  1147. Am I ranting? I hope so. My ranting gets raves.
  1148. %
  1149. AMAZING BUT TRUE ...
  1150. If all the salmon caught in Canada in one year were laid end to end
  1151. across the Sahara Desert, the smell would be absolutely awful.
  1152. %
  1153. AMAZING BUT TRUE ...
  1154. There is so much sand in Northern Africa that if it were spread out it
  1155. would completely cover the Sahara Desert.
  1156. %
  1157. Ambidextrous, adj.:
  1158. Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left.
  1159. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1160. %
  1161. Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.
  1162. -- Charlie McCarthy
  1163. %
  1164. America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism
  1165. to decadence without touching civilization.
  1166. -- John O'Hara
  1167. %
  1168. America was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci and was named after him,
  1169. until people got tired of living in a place called "Vespuccia" and
  1170. changed its name to "America".
  1171. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  1172. %
  1173. American business long ago gave up on demanding that prospective
  1174. employees be honest and hardworking. It has even stopped hoping for
  1175. employees who are educated enough that they can tell the difference
  1176. between the men's room and the women's room without having little
  1177. pictures on the doors.
  1178. -- Dave Barry, "Urine Trouble, Mister"
  1179. %
  1180. Amnesia used to be my favorite word, but then I forgot it.
  1181. %
  1182. An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because
  1183. people refuse to see it.
  1184. -- James Michener, "Space"
  1185. %
  1186. An American's a person who isn't afraid to criticize the President but
  1187. is always polite to traffic cops.
  1188. %
  1189. An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to
  1190. New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they have Tide but
  1191. not new Tide with lemon-fresh Borax.
  1192. -- David Letterman
  1193. %
  1194. An apple every eight hours will keep three doctors away.
  1195. %
  1196. An architect's first work is apt to be spare and clean. He
  1197. knows he doesn't know what he's doing, so he does it carefully and with
  1198. great restraint.
  1199. As he designs the first work, frill after frill and
  1200. embellishment after embellishment occur to him. These get stored away
  1201. to be used "next time". Sooner or later the first system is finished,
  1202. and the architect, with firm confidence and a demonstrated mastery of
  1203. that class of systems, is ready to build a second system.
  1204. This second is the most dangerous system a man ever designs.
  1205. When he does his third and later ones, his prior experiences will
  1206. confirm each other as to the general characteristics of such systems,
  1207. and their differences will identify those parts of his experience that
  1208. are particular and not generalizable.
  1209. The general tendency is to over-design the second system, using
  1210. all the ideas and frills that were cautiously sidetracked on the first
  1211. one. The result, as Ovid says, is a "big pile".
  1212. -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"
  1213. %
  1214. An artist should be fit for the best society and keep out of it.
  1215. %
  1216. An attorney was defending his client against a charge of first-degree
  1217. murder. "Your Honor, my client is accused of stuffing his lover's
  1218. mutilated body into a suitcase and heading for the Mexican border.
  1219. Just north of Tijuana a cop spotted her hand sticking out of the
  1220. suitcase. Now, I would like to stress that my client is *not* a
  1221. murderer. A sloppy packer, maybe..."
  1222. %
  1223. An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you
  1224. really care to know.
  1225. %
  1226. An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible.
  1227. %
  1228. An elephant is a mouse with an operating system.
  1229. %
  1230. An English judge, growing weary of the barrister's long-winded
  1231. summation, leaned over the bench and remarked, "I've heard your
  1232. arguments, Sir Geoffrey, and I'm none the wiser!" Sir Geoffrey
  1233. responded, "That may be, Milord, but at least you're better informed!"
  1234. %
  1235. An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.
  1236. -- A. P. Herbert
  1237. %
  1238. An excellence-oriented '80s male does not wear a regular watch. He
  1239. wears a Rolex watch, because it weighs nearly six pounds and is
  1240. advertised only in excellence-oriented publications such as Fortune and
  1241. Rich Protestant Golfer Magazine. The advertisements are written in
  1242. incomplete sentences, which is how advertising copywriters denote
  1243. excellence:
  1244. The Rolex Hyperion. An elegant new standard in quality excellence and
  1245. discriminating handcraftsmanship. For the individual who is truly able
  1246. to discriminate with regard to excellent quality standards of crafting
  1247. things by hand. Fabricated of 100 percent 24-karat gold. No watch
  1248. parts or anything. Just a great big chunk on your wrist. Truly a
  1249. timeless statement. For the individual who is very secure. Who
  1250. doesn't need to be reminded all the time that he is very successful.
  1251. Much more successful than the people who laughed at him in high
  1252. school. Because of his acne. People who are probably nowhere near as
  1253. successful as he is now. Maybe he'll go to his 20th reunion, and
  1254. they'll see his Rolex Hyperion. Hahahahahahahahaha.
  1255. -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
  1256. %
  1257. An exotic journey in downtown Newark is in your future.
  1258. %
  1259. ... an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often
  1260. picturesque liar.
  1261. -- Mark Twain
  1262. %
  1263. An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these
  1264. eyes we cannot bear to look out of, we blind them as quickly as
  1265. possible.
  1266. -- Russell Hoban, "Pilgermann"
  1267. %
  1268. An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.
  1269. %
  1270. An old Jewish man reads about Einstein's theory of relativity
  1271. in the newspaper and asks his scientist grandson to explain it to him.
  1272. "Well, zayda, it's sort of like this. Einstein says that if
  1273. you're having your teeth drilled without Novocain, a minute seems like
  1274. an hour. But if you're sitting with a beautiful woman on your lap, an
  1275. hour seems like a minute."
  1276. The old man considers this profound bit of thinking for a
  1277. moment and says, "And from this he makes a living?"
  1278. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  1279. %
  1280. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of purge.
  1281. %
  1282. Anarchy may not be the best form of government, but it's better than no
  1283. government at all.
  1284. %
  1285. And as we stand on the edge of darkness
  1286. Let our chant fill the void
  1287. That others may know
  1288. In the land of the night
  1289. The ship of the sun
  1290. Is drawn by
  1291. The grateful dead.
  1292. -- Tibetan "Book of the Dead," ca. 4000 BC.
  1293. %
  1294. ... and furthermore ... I don't like your trousers.
  1295. %
  1296. And I heard Jeff exclaim,
  1297. As they strolled out of sight,
  1298. "Merry Christmas to all --
  1299. You take credit cards, right?"
  1300. -- "Outsiders" comic
  1301. %
  1302. ... And malt does more than Milton can
  1303. To justify God's ways to man
  1304. -- A. E. Housman
  1305. %
  1306. And on the seventh day, He exited from append mode.
  1307. %
  1308. ... And remember: if you don't like the news, go out and make some of
  1309. your own.
  1310. -- "Scoop" Nisker, KFOG radio reporter
  1311. Preposterous Words
  1312. %
  1313. And so, men, we can see that human skin is an even more complex and
  1314. fascinating organ than we thought it was, and if we want to keep it
  1315. looking good, we have to care for it as though it were our own. One
  1316. approach is to undergo a painful surgical procedure wherein your skin
  1317. is turned inside-out, so the young cells are on the outside, but then
  1318. of course you have the unpleasant side effect that your insides
  1319. gradually fill up with dead old cells and you explode. So this
  1320. procedure is pretty much limited to top Hollywood stars for whom
  1321. youthful beauty is a career necessity, such as Elizabeth Taylor and
  1322. Orson Welles.
  1323. -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
  1324. %
  1325. ...and the fully armed nuclear warheads, are, of course, merely a
  1326. courtesy detail.
  1327. %
  1328. And this is a table ma'am. What in essence it consists of is a
  1329. horizontal rectilinear plane surface maintained by four vertical
  1330. columnar supports, which we call legs. The tables in this laboratory,
  1331. ma'am, are as advanced in design as one will find anywhere in the
  1332. world.
  1333. -- Michael Frayn, "The Tin Men"
  1334. %
  1335. "And what will you do when you grow up to be as big as me?"
  1336. asked the father of his little son.
  1337. "Diet."
  1338. %
  1339. And yet, seasons must be taken with a grain of salt, for they too have
  1340. a sense of humor, as does history. Corn stalks comedy, comedy stalks
  1341. tragedy, and this too is historic. And yet, still, when corn meets
  1342. tragedy face to face, we have politics.
  1343. -- Dalglish, Larsen and Sutherland, "Root Crops and
  1344. Ground Cover"
  1345. %
  1346. Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes.
  1347. Galileo: No, unhappy the land that _____needs heroes.
  1348. -- Bertolt Brecht, "Life of Galileo"
  1349. %
  1350. Angels we have heard on High
  1351. Tell us to go out and Buy.
  1352. -- Tom Lehrer
  1353. %
  1354. Ankh if you love Isis.
  1355. %
  1356. Anoint, v.:
  1357. To grease a king or other great functionary already
  1358. sufficiently slippery.
  1359. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1360. %
  1361. Another Glitch in the Call
  1362. ------- ------ -- --- ----
  1363. (Sung to the tune of a recent Pink Floyd song.)
  1364. We don't need no indirection
  1365. We don't need no flow control
  1366. No data typing or declarations
  1367. Did you leave the lists alone?
  1368. Hey! Hacker! Leave those lists alone!
  1369. Chorus:
  1370. All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call.
  1371. All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call.
  1372. %
  1373. Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
  1374. %
  1375. Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but
  1376. television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom
  1377. and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that
  1378. offers whiter teeth *___and* fresher breath.
  1379. -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
  1380. %
  1381. Answers to Last Fortune's Questions:
  1382. (1) None. (Moses didn't have an ark).
  1383. (2) Your mother, by the pigeonhole principle.
  1384. (3) I don't know.
  1385. (4) Who cares?
  1386. (5) 6 (or maybe 4, or else 3). Mr. Alfred J. Duncan of Podunk,
  1387. Montana, submitted an interesting solution to Problem 5.
  1388. (6) There is an interesting solution to this problem on page 1029 of my
  1389. book, which you can pick up for $23.95 at finer bookstores and
  1390. bathroom supply outlets (or 99 cents at the table in front of
  1391. Papyrus Books).
  1392. %
  1393. Anthony's Law of Force:
  1394. Don't force it; get a larger hammer.
  1395. %
  1396. Anthony's Law of the Workshop:
  1397. Any tool when dropped, will roll into the least accessible
  1398. corner of the workshop.
  1399. Corollary:
  1400. On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first strike
  1401. your toes.
  1402. %
  1403. Antonym, n.:
  1404. The opposite of the word you're trying to think of.
  1405. %
  1406. Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.
  1407. -- Charles McCabe
  1408. %
  1409. Any dramatic series the producers want us to take seriously as a
  1410. representation of contemporary reality cannot be taken seriously as a
  1411. representation of anything -- except a show to be ignored by anyone
  1412. capable of sitting upright in a chair and chewing gum simultaneously.
  1413. -- Richard Schickel
  1414. %
  1415. Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
  1416. -- Aesop
  1417. %
  1418. Any father who thinks he's all important should remind himself that
  1419. this country honors fathers only one day a year while pickles get a
  1420. whole week.
  1421. %
  1422. Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise person to be able to
  1423. sell it.
  1424. %
  1425. Any great truth can -- and eventually will -- be expressed as a cliche
  1426. -- a cliche is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance,
  1427. my grandmother used to say, "The black cat is always the last one off
  1428. the fence." I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was
  1429. undoubtedly true.
  1430. -- Solomon Short
  1431. %
  1432. Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there.
  1433. -- Sydney J. Harris
  1434. %
  1435. Any small object that is accidentally dropped will hide under a larger
  1436. object.
  1437. %
  1438. Any stone in your boot always migrates against the pressure gradient to
  1439. exactly the point of most pressure.
  1440. -- Milt Barber
  1441. %
  1442. Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.
  1443. -- Rich Kulawiec
  1444. %
  1445. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged
  1446. demo.
  1447. %
  1448. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
  1449. -- Arthur C. Clarke
  1450. %
  1451. Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked
  1452. something.
  1453. %
  1454. Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours.
  1455. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
  1456. %
  1457. Anybody can win, unless there happens to be a second entry.
  1458. %
  1459. Anybody who doesn't cut his speed at the sight of a police car is
  1460. probably parked.
  1461. %
  1462. Anybody with money to burn will easily find someone to tend the fire.
  1463. %
  1464. Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
  1465. supposed to be doing at the moment.
  1466. -- Robert Benchley
  1467. %
  1468. Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
  1469. -- Publius Syrus
  1470. %
  1471. Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with
  1472. none.
  1473. %
  1474. Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he
  1475. is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not
  1476. make messes in the house.
  1477. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  1478. %
  1479. Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.
  1480. -- Samuel Goldwyn
  1481. %
  1482. Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad.
  1483. -- W. C. Fields
  1484. %
  1485. Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no
  1486. account be allowed to do the job.
  1487. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  1488. %
  1489. Anyone who uses the phrase "easy as taking candy from a baby" has never
  1490. tried taking candy from a baby.
  1491. -- Robin Hood
  1492. %
  1493. Anything free is worth what you pay for it.
  1494. %
  1495. Anything is good if it's made of chocolate.
  1496. %
  1497. Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the
  1498. price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW"
  1499. means the price went way up.
  1500. %
  1501. Anything that is good and useful is made of chocolate.
  1502. %
  1503. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
  1504. %
  1505. Apathy is not the problem, it's the solution.
  1506. %
  1507. Aphorism, n.:
  1508. A concise, clever statement.
  1509. Afterism, n.:
  1510. A concise, clever statement you don't think of until too late.
  1511. -- James Alexander Thom
  1512. %
  1513. APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of
  1514. the future for the problems of the past: it creates a new generation of
  1515. coding bums.
  1516. %
  1517. APL is a write-only language. I can write programs in APL, but I
  1518. can't read any of them.
  1519. -- Roy Keir
  1520. %
  1521. Aquadextrous, adj.:
  1522. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off
  1523. with your toes.
  1524. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  1525. %
  1526. AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
  1527. You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.
  1528. You lie a great deal. On the other hand, you are inclined to
  1529. be careless and impractical, causing you to make the same
  1530. mistakes over and over again. People think you are stupid.
  1531. %
  1532. Arbitrary systems, pl.n.:
  1533. Systems about which nothing general can be said, save "nothing
  1534. general can be said."
  1535. %
  1536. ARCHDUKE FERDINAND FOUND ALIVE --
  1537. FIRST WORLD WAR A MISTAKE
  1538. %
  1539. Are you a turtle?
  1540. %
  1541. Arguments with furniture are rarely productive.
  1542. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  1543. %
  1544. ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 19)
  1545. You are the pioneer type and hold most people in contempt. You
  1546. are quick tempered, impatient, and scornful of advice. You are
  1547. not very nice.
  1548. %
  1549. Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your
  1550. shoes.
  1551. -- Mickey Mouse
  1552. %
  1553. Armadillo:
  1554. To provide weapons to a Spanish pickle
  1555. %
  1556. Arnold's Laws of Documentation:
  1557. (1) If it should exist, it doesn't.
  1558. (2) If it does exist, it's out of date.
  1559. (3) Only documentation for useless programs transcends the
  1560. first two laws.
  1561. %
  1562. Around computers it is difficult to find the correct unit of time to
  1563. measure progress. Some cathedrals took a century to complete. Can you
  1564. imagine the grandeur and scope of a program that would take as long?
  1565. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  1566. %
  1567. Art is anything you can get away with.
  1568. -- Marshall McLuhan
  1569. %
  1570. Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
  1571. -- Paul Gauguin
  1572. %
  1573. Arthur's Laws of Love:
  1574. (1) People to whom you are attracted invariably think you
  1575. remind them of someone else.
  1576. (2) The love letter you finally got the courage to send will be
  1577. delayed in the mail long enough for you to make a fool of
  1578. yourself in person.
  1579. %
  1580. Artistic ventures highlighted. Rob a museum.
  1581. %
  1582. As a professional humorist, I often get letters from readers who are
  1583. interested in the basic nature of humor. "What kind of a sick
  1584. perverted disgusting person are you," these letters typically ask,
  1585. "that you make jokes about setting fire to a goat?"
  1586. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
  1587. %
  1588. As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual
  1589. certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life -- so I
  1590. became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can
  1591. meet girls.
  1592. -- Matt Cartmill
  1593. %
  1594. As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
  1595. certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
  1596. -- Albert Einstein
  1597. %
  1598. As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error.
  1599. -- Weisert
  1600. %
  1601. As I was going up Punch Card Hill,
  1602. Feeling worse and worser,
  1603. There I met a C.R.T.
  1604. And it drop't me a cursor.
  1605. C.R.T., C.R.T.,
  1606. Phosphors light on you!
  1607. If I had fifty hours a day
  1608. I'd spend them all at you.
  1609. -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes
  1610. %
  1611. As I was passing Project MAC,
  1612. I met a Quux with seven hacks.
  1613. Every hack had seven bugs;
  1614. Every bug had seven manifestations;
  1615. Every manifestation had seven symptoms.
  1616. Symptoms, manifestations, bugs, and hacks,
  1617. How many losses at Project MAC?
  1618. %
  1619. As long as I am mayor of this city [Jersey City, New Jersey] the great
  1620. industries are secure. We hear about constitutional rights, free
  1621. speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to
  1622. myself, "That man is a Red, that man is a Communist". You never hear a
  1623. real American talk like that.
  1624. -- Frank Hague (1896-1956)
  1625. %
  1626. As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?
  1627. %
  1628. As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its
  1629. fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be
  1630. popular.
  1631. -- Oscar Wilde
  1632. %
  1633. As of next week, passwords will be entered in Morse code.
  1634. %
  1635. As part of the conversion, computer specialists rewrote 1,500
  1636. programs; a process that traditionally requires some debugging.
  1637. -- USA Today, referring to the IRS switchover to a new
  1638. computer system.
  1639. %
  1640. As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it
  1641. wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had
  1642. to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized
  1643. that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in
  1644. finding mistakes in my own programs.
  1645. -- Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949
  1646. %
  1647. As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" -- probably because it's
  1648. so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.
  1649. -- Woody Allen
  1650. %
  1651. As the trials of life continue to take their toll, remember that there
  1652. is always a future in Computer Maintenance.
  1653. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  1654. %
  1655. As Will Rogers would have said, "There is no such thing as a free
  1656. variable."
  1657. %
  1658. As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple
  1659. memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time
  1660. to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A,
  1661. E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.
  1662. -- Sandra Boynton, "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion"
  1663. %
  1664. As you know, birds do not have sexual organs because they would
  1665. interfere with flight. [In fact, this was the big breakthrough for the
  1666. Wright Brothers. They were watching birds one day, trying to figure
  1667. out how to get their crude machine to fly, when suddenly it dawned on
  1668. Wilbur. "Orville," he said, "all we have to do is remove the sexual
  1669. organs!" You should have seen their original design.] As a result,
  1670. birds are very, very difficult to arouse sexually. You almost never
  1671. see an aroused bird. So when they want to reproduce, birds fly up and
  1672. stand on telephone lines, where they monitor telephone conversations
  1673. with their feet. When they find a conversation in which people are
  1674. talking dirty, they grip the line very tightly until they are both
  1675. highly aroused, at which point the female gets pregnant.
  1676. -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
  1677. Teen Should Know"
  1678. %
  1679. As you reach for the web, a venomous spider appears. Unable to pull
  1680. your hand away in time, the spider promptly, but politely, bites you.
  1681. The venom takes affect quickly causing your lips to turn plaid along
  1682. with your complexion. You become dazed, and in your stupor you fall
  1683. from the limbs of the tree. Snap! Your head falls off and rolls all
  1684. over the ground. The instant before you croak, you hear the whoosh of
  1685. a vacuum being filled by the air surrounding your head. Worse yet, the
  1686. spider is suing you for damages.
  1687. %
  1688. As Zeus said to Narcissus, "Watch yourself."
  1689. %
  1690. ASHes to ASHes, DOS to DOS.
  1691. %
  1692. Ask five economists and you'll get five different explanations (six if
  1693. one went to Harvard).
  1694. -- Edgar R. Fiedler
  1695. %
  1696. Ask not for whom the <CONTROL-G> tolls.
  1697. %
  1698. Ask Not for whom the Bell Tolls, and You will Pay only the
  1699. Station-to-Station rate.
  1700. %
  1701. Ask not for whom the telephone bell tolls ... if thou art in the
  1702. bathtub, it tolls for thee.
  1703. %
  1704. Ask your boss to reconsider -- it's so difficult to take "Go to hell"
  1705. for an answer.
  1706. %
  1707. Asked by reporters about his upcoming marriage to a forty-two-year-old
  1708. woman, director Roman Polanski told reporters, `The way I look at it,
  1709. she's the equivalent of three fourteen-year-olds.'
  1710. -- David Letterman
  1711. %
  1712. Ass, n.:
  1713. The masculine of "lass".
  1714. %
  1715. Associate with well-mannered persons and your manners will improve.
  1716. Run with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be
  1717. strengthened. Keep the company of bums and you will become a bum.
  1718. Hang around with rich people and you will end by picking up the check
  1719. and dying broke.
  1720. -- Stanley Walker
  1721. %
  1722. At a recent meeting in Snowmass, Colorado, a participant from Los
  1723. Angeles fainted from hyperoxygenation, and we had to hold his head
  1724. under the exhaust of a bus until he revived.
  1725. %
  1726. At any given moment, an arrow must be either where it is or where it is
  1727. not. But obviously it cannot be where it is not. And if it is where
  1728. it is, that is equivalent to saying that it is at rest.
  1729. -- Zeno's paradox of the moving (still?) arrow
  1730. %
  1731. At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial
  1732. challenge roughly comparable to herding cats.
  1733. -- The Washington Post Magazine, June 9, 1985
  1734. %
  1735. ... at least I thought I was dancing, 'til somebody stepped on my hand.
  1736. -- J. B. White
  1737. %
  1738. At least they're ___________EXPERIENCED incompetents
  1739. %
  1740. At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his
  1741. thumb with a hammer.
  1742. -- Marshall Lumsden
  1743. %
  1744. At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will
  1745. find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on
  1746. the computer.
  1747. %
  1748. Atlanta makes it against the law to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole
  1749. or street lamp.
  1750. %
  1751. Atlee is a very modest man. And with reason.
  1752. -- Winston Churchill
  1753. %
  1754. Authors (and perhaps columnists) eventually rise to the top of whatever
  1755. depths they were once able to plumb.
  1756. -- Stanley Kaufman
  1757. %
  1758. Automobile, n.:
  1759. A four-wheeled vehicle that runs up hills and down pedestrians.
  1760. %
  1761. Avoid Quiet and Placid persons unless you are in Need of Sleep.
  1762. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  1763. %
  1764. Avoid reality at all costs.
  1765. %
  1766. Avoid revolution or expect to get shot. Mother and I will grieve, but
  1767. we will gladly buy a dinner for the National Guardsman who shot you.
  1768. -- Dr. Paul Williamson, father of a student entering
  1769. school in the fall after the Kent State shootings
  1770. %
  1771. Bacchus, n.:
  1772. A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for
  1773. getting drunk.
  1774. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1775. %
  1776. Bagbiter:
  1777. 1. n.; Equipment or program that fails, usually
  1778. intermittently. 2. adj.: Failing hardware or software. "This
  1779. bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." Usage: verges on
  1780. obscenity. Grammatically separable; one may speak of "biting the
  1781. bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, BARFUCIOUS,
  1782. CHOMPER, CHOMPING.
  1783. %
  1784. Bagdikian's Observation:
  1785. Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American
  1786. newspaper is like trying to play Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" on a
  1787. ukulele.
  1788. %
  1789. Baker's First Law of Federal Geometry:
  1790. A block grant is a solid mass of money surrounded on all sides
  1791. by governors.
  1792. %
  1793. Ban the bomb. Save the world for conventional warfare.
  1794. %
  1795. Banectomy, n.:
  1796. The removal of bruises on a banana.
  1797. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  1798. %
  1799. Bank error in your favor. Collect $200.
  1800. %
  1801. Barach's Rule:
  1802. An alcoholic is a person who drinks more than his own physician.
  1803. %
  1804. Bare feet magnetize sharp metal objects so they point upward from the
  1805. floor -- especially in the dark.
  1806. %
  1807. Barometer, n.:
  1808. An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we
  1809. are having.
  1810. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1811. %
  1812. Barth's Distinction:
  1813. There are two types of people: those who divide people into two
  1814. types, and those who don't.
  1815. %
  1816. Baruch's Observation:
  1817. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
  1818. %
  1819. Baseball is a skilled game. It's America's game -- it, and high
  1820. taxes.
  1821. -- Will Rogers
  1822. %
  1823. Basic is a high level languish.
  1824. APL is a high level anguish.
  1825. %
  1826. BASIC is the Computer Science equivalent of `Scientific Creationism'.
  1827. %
  1828. BASIC, n.:
  1829. A programming language. Related to certain social diseases in
  1830. that those who have it will not admit it in polite company.
  1831. %
  1832. Bathquake, n.:
  1833. The violent quake that rattles the entire house when the water
  1834. faucet is turned on to a certain point.
  1835. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  1836. %
  1837. Be a better psychiatrist and the world will beat a psychopath to your
  1838. door.
  1839. %
  1840. BE ALERT!!!! (The world needs more lerts ...)
  1841. %
  1842. Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely
  1843. get your Feet wet. Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your
  1844. face.
  1845. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  1846. %
  1847. Be braver -- you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
  1848. %
  1849. Be careful of reading health books. You might die of a misprint.
  1850. -- Mark Twain
  1851. %
  1852. Be different: conform.
  1853. %
  1854. Be free and open and breezy! Enjoy! Things won't get any better so
  1855. get used to it.
  1856. %
  1857. Be security conscious -- National Defense is at stake.
  1858. %
  1859. Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and
  1860. miss
  1861. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  1862. %
  1863. Bees are very busy souls
  1864. They have no time for birth controls
  1865. And that is why in times like these
  1866. There are so many Sons of Bees.
  1867. %
  1868. Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and
  1869. took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his
  1870. followers.
  1871. One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and
  1872. there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing.
  1873. "Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his
  1874. commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile? What is your
  1875. Purpose in Life, anyway?"
  1876. Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU". (The
  1877. Chinese ideogram for NO-THING.)
  1878. Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened.
  1879. Primarily because nobody understood Chinese.
  1880. -- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"
  1881. %
  1882. Before Xerox, five carbons were the maximum extension of anybody's ego.
  1883. %
  1884. Begathon, n.:
  1885. A multi-day event on public television, used to raise money so
  1886. you won't have to watch commercials.
  1887. %
  1888. Behold the warranty ... the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh
  1889. away.
  1890. %
  1891. Beifeld's Principle:
  1892. The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and
  1893. receptive young female increases by pyramidal progression when he is
  1894. already in the company of: (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) a better
  1895. looking and richer male friend.
  1896. %
  1897. "Being disintegrated makes me ve-ry an-gry!" <huff, huff>
  1898. %
  1899. Bell Labs Unix -- Reach out and grep someone.
  1900. %
  1901. Bennett's Laws of Horticulture:
  1902. (1) Houses are for people to live in.
  1903. (2) Gardens are for plants to live in.
  1904. (3) There is no such thing as a houseplant.
  1905. %
  1906. Benson, you are so free of the ravages of intelligence.
  1907. -- Time Bandits
  1908. %
  1909. Besides the device, the box should contain:
  1910. * Eight little rectangular snippets of paper that say "WARNING"
  1911. * A plastic packet containing four 5/17 inch pilfer grommets and two
  1912. club-ended 6/93 inch boxcar prawns.
  1913. YOU WILL NEED TO SUPPLY: a matrix wrench and 60,000 feet of tram
  1914. cable.
  1915. IF ANYTHING IS DAMAGED OR MISSING: You IMMEDIATELY should turn to your
  1916. spouse and say: "Margaret, you know why this country can't make a car
  1917. that can get all the way through the drive-through at Burger King
  1918. without a major transmission overhaul? Because nobody cares, that's
  1919. why."
  1920. WARNING: This is assuming your spouse's name is Margaret.
  1921. -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"
  1922. %
  1923. Best of all is never to have been born. Second best is to die soon.
  1924. %
  1925. better !pout !cry
  1926. better watchout
  1927. lpr why
  1928. santa claus <north pole >town
  1929. cat /etc/passwd >list
  1930. ncheck list
  1931. ncheck list
  1932. cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist
  1933. cat list | grep nice >giftlist
  1934. santa claus <north pole > town
  1935. who | grep sleeping
  1936. who | grep awake
  1937. who | egrep 'bad|good'
  1938. for (goodness sake) {
  1939. be good
  1940. }
  1941. %
  1942. Better dead than mellow.
  1943. %
  1944. Between 1950 and 1952, a bored weatherman, stationed north of Hudson
  1945. Bay, left a monument that neither government nor time can eradicate.
  1946. Using a bulldozer abandoned by the Air Force, he spent two years and
  1947. great effort pushing boulders into a single word.
  1948. It can be seen from 10,000 feet, silhouetted against the snow.
  1949. Government officials exchanged memos full of circumlocutions (no Latin
  1950. equivalent exists) but failed to word an appropriation bill for the
  1951. destruction of this cairn, that wouldn't alert the press and embarrass
  1952. both Parliament and Party.
  1953. It stands today, a monument to human spirit. If life exists on other
  1954. planets, this may be the first message received from us.
  1955. -- The Realist, November, 1964
  1956. %
  1957. Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
  1958. tried it.
  1959. -- Donald Knuth
  1960. %
  1961. Beware of computerized fortune-tellers!
  1962. %
  1963. Beware of low-flying butterflies.
  1964. %
  1965. Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers.
  1966. -- Leonard Brandwein
  1967. %
  1968. Beware of self-styled experts: an ex is a has-been, and a spurt is a
  1969. drip under pressure.
  1970. %
  1971. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and
  1972. finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of
  1973. murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by
  1974. their ignorance the hard way.
  1975. -- Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
  1976. %
  1977. Beware of the Turing Tar-pit in which everything is possible but
  1978. nothing of interest is easy.
  1979. %
  1980. Binary, adj.:
  1981. Possessing the ability to have friends of both sexes.
  1982. %
  1983. Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same
  1984. thing as division.
  1985. %
  1986. Bipolar, adj.:
  1987. Refers to someone who has homes in Nome, Alaska, and Buffalo,
  1988. New York
  1989. %
  1990. Birth, n.:
  1991. The first and direst of all disasters.
  1992. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  1993. %
  1994. Bizarreness is the essence of the exotic.
  1995. %
  1996. Bizoos, n.:
  1997. The millions of tiny individual bumps that make up a
  1998. basketball.
  1999. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  2000. %
  2001. ... bleakness ... desolation ... plastic forks ...
  2002. %
  2003. Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.
  2004. -- Herbert Hoover
  2005. %
  2006. Blessed are they who Go Around in Circles,
  2007. for they Shall be Known as Wheels.
  2008. %
  2009. BLISS is ignorance.
  2010. %
  2011. Blood flows down one leg and up the other.
  2012. %
  2013. Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier.
  2014. %
  2015. Blore's Razor:
  2016. Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is
  2017. funnier.
  2018. %
  2019. Board the windows, up your car insurance, and don't leave any booze in
  2020. plain sight. It's St. Patrick's day in Chicago again. The legend has
  2021. it that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. In fact, he was
  2022. arrested for drunk driving. The snakes left because people kept
  2023. throwing up on them.
  2024. %
  2025. Boling's postulate:
  2026. If you're feeling good, don't worry. You'll get over it.
  2027. %
  2028. Bolub's Fourth Law of Computerdom:
  2029. Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so
  2030. vividly manifests their lack of progress.
  2031. %
  2032. Bombeck's Rule of Medicine:
  2033. Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
  2034. %
  2035. BOO! We changed Coke again! BLEAH! BLEAH!
  2036. %
  2037. Boob's Law:
  2038. You always find something in the last place you look.
  2039. %
  2040. Bore, n.:
  2041. A guy who wraps up a two-minute idea in a two-hour vocabulary.
  2042. -- Walter Winchell
  2043. %
  2044. Bore, n.:
  2045. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.
  2046. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2047. %
  2048. Boren's Laws:
  2049. (1) When in charge, ponder.
  2050. (2) When in trouble, delegate.
  2051. (3) When in doubt, mumble.
  2052. %
  2053. Boss, n.:
  2054. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the Middle Ages
  2055. the words "boss" and "botch" were largely synonymous, except that boss,
  2056. in addition to meaning "a supervisor of workers" also meant "an
  2057. ornamental stud."
  2058. %
  2059. Boston State House is the hub of the Solar System. You couldn't pry
  2060. that out of a Boston man if you had the tire of all creation
  2061. straightened out for a crowbar.
  2062. -- O. W. Holmes
  2063. %
  2064. Boston, n.:
  2065. Ludwig van Beethoven being jeered by 50,000 sports fans for
  2066. finishing second in the Irish jig competition.
  2067. %
  2068. Boy, life takes a long time to live.
  2069. -- Steven Wright
  2070. %
  2071. Boy, n.:
  2072. A noise with dirt on it.
  2073. %
  2074. Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least
  2075. when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.
  2076. -- James Thurber
  2077. %
  2078. Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.
  2079. -- Kim Hubbard
  2080. %
  2081. Brace yourselves. We're about to try something that borders on the
  2082. unique: an actually rather serious technical book which is not only
  2083. (gasp) vehemently anti-Solemn, but also (shudder) takes sides. I tend
  2084. to think of it as `Constructive Snottiness.'
  2085. -- Mike Padlipsky, Foreword to "Elements of Networking Style"
  2086. %
  2087. Bradley's Bromide:
  2088. If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a
  2089. committee -- that will do them in.
  2090. %
  2091. Brady's First Law of Problem Solving:
  2092. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more
  2093. easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have
  2094. handled this?"
  2095. %
  2096. Brain fried -- Core dumped
  2097. %
  2098. Brain, n.:
  2099. The apparatus with which we think that we think.
  2100. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2101. %
  2102. Brain, v. [as in "to brain"]:
  2103. To rebuke bluntly, but not pointedly; to dispel a source of
  2104. error in an opponent.
  2105. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2106. %
  2107. Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests,
  2108. since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind.
  2109. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  2110. %
  2111. Bride, n.:
  2112. A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.
  2113. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2114. %
  2115. Bringing computers into the home won't change either one, but may
  2116. revitalize the corner saloon.
  2117. %
  2118. British Israelites:
  2119. The British Israelites believe the white Anglo-Saxons of
  2120. Britain to be descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel deported by
  2121. Sargon of Assyria on the fall of Sumeria in 721 B.C. ... They further
  2122. believe that the future can be foretold by the measurements of the
  2123. Great Pyramid, which probably means it will be big and yellow and in
  2124. the hand of the Arabs. They also believe that if you sleep with your
  2125. head under the pillow a fairy will come and take all your teeth.
  2126. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  2127. %
  2128. Broad-mindedness, n.:
  2129. The result of flattening high-mindedness out.
  2130. %
  2131. Brontosaurus Principle:
  2132. Organizations can grow faster than their brains can manage them
  2133. in relation to their environment and to their own physiology: when
  2134. this occurs, they are an endangered species.
  2135. -- Thomas K. Connellan
  2136. %
  2137. Brook's Law:
  2138. Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later
  2139. %
  2140. Brooke's Law:
  2141. Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool
  2142. discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it
  2143. beyond recognition.
  2144. %
  2145. Bubble Memory, n.:
  2146. A derogatory term, usually referring to a person's
  2147. intelligence. See also "vacuum tube".
  2148. %
  2149. Bucy's Law:
  2150. Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.
  2151. %
  2152. Bug, n.:
  2153. An aspect of a computer program which exists because the
  2154. programmer was thinking about Jumbo Jacks or stock options when s/he
  2155. wrote the program.
  2156. Fortunately, the second-to-last bug has just been fixed.
  2157. -- Ray Simard
  2158. %
  2159. Bugs, pl. n.:
  2160. Small living things that small living boys throw on small
  2161. living girls.
  2162. %
  2163. BULLWINKLE: "You just leave that to my pal. He's the brains of the
  2164. outfit."
  2165. GENERAL: "What does that make YOU?"
  2166. BULLWINKLE: "What else? An executive."
  2167. -- Jay Ward
  2168. %
  2169. Bumper sticker:
  2170. All the parts falling off this car are of the very finest British
  2171. manufacture.
  2172. %
  2173. Bureaucrat, n.:
  2174. A person who cuts red tape sideways.
  2175. -- J. McCabe
  2176. %
  2177. Bureaucrat, n.:
  2178. A politician who has tenure.
  2179. %
  2180. Bureaucrats cut red tape -- lengthwise.
  2181. %
  2182. Burn's Hog Weighing Method:
  2183. (1) Get a perfectly symmetrical plank and balance it across a
  2184. sawhorse.
  2185. (2) Put the hog on one end of the plank.
  2186. (3) Pile rocks on the other end until the plank is again
  2187. perfectly balanced.
  2188. (4) Carefully guess the weight of the rocks.
  2189. -- Robert Burns
  2190. %
  2191. But as records of courts and justice are admissible, it can
  2192. easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed
  2193. and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession)
  2194. upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was
  2195. without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based
  2196. on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court
  2197. was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and
  2198. sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches,
  2199. human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.
  2200. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2201. %
  2202. But don't you worry, its for a cause -- feeding global corporations paws.
  2203. %
  2204. But I don't like Spam!!!!
  2205. %
  2206. But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human
  2207. intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as
  2208. we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy in issues
  2209. that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our understanding
  2210. of their world, not in their distorted perceptions. Even the standard
  2211. example of ancient nonsense -- the debate about angels on pinheads --
  2212. makes sense once you realize that theologians were not discussing
  2213. whether five or eighteen would fit, but whether a pin could house a
  2214. finite or an infinite number.
  2215. -- S. J. Gould, "Wide Hats and Narrow Minds"
  2216. %
  2217. But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the
  2218. system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed,
  2219. analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses.
  2220. -- Bruce Leverett, "Register Allocation in Optimizing
  2221. Compilers"
  2222. %
  2223. But officer, I was only trying to gain enough speed so I could coast
  2224. to the nearest gas station.
  2225. %
  2226. But scientists, who ought to know
  2227. Assure us that it must be so.
  2228. Oh, let us never, never doubt
  2229. What nobody is sure about.
  2230. -- Hilaire Belloc
  2231. %
  2232. But soft you, the fair Ophelia:
  2233. Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws,
  2234. But get thee to a nunnery -- go!
  2235. -- Mark "The Bard" Twain
  2236. %
  2237. But the greatest Electrical Pioneer of them all was Thomas Edison, who
  2238. was a brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal
  2239. education and lived in New Jersey. Edison's first major invention in
  2240. 1877, was the phonograph, which could soon be found in thousands of
  2241. American homes, where it basically sat until 1923, when the record was
  2242. invented. But Edison's greatest achievement came in 1879, when he
  2243. invented the electric company. Edison's design was a brilliant
  2244. adaptation of the simple electrical circuit: the electric company sends
  2245. electricity through a wire to a customer, then immediately gets the
  2246. electricity back through another wire, then (this is the brilliant
  2247. part) sends it right back to the customer again.
  2248. This means that an electric company can sell a customer the same batch
  2249. of electricity thousands of times a day and never get caught, since
  2250. very few customers take the time to examine their electricity closely.
  2251. In fact the last year any new electricity was generated in the United
  2252. States was 1937; the electric companies have been merely re-selling it
  2253. ever since, which is why they have so much free time to apply for rate
  2254. increases.
  2255. -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
  2256. %
  2257. But this has taken us far afield from interface, which is not a bad
  2258. place to be, since I particularly want to move ahead to the kludge.
  2259. Why do people have so much trouble understanding the kludge? What is a
  2260. kludge, after all, but not enough Ks, not enough ROMs, not enough RAMs,
  2261. poor quality interface and too few bytes to go around? Have I
  2262. explained yet about the bytes?
  2263. %
  2264. ... But we've only fondled the surface of that subject.
  2265. -- Virginia Masters
  2266. %
  2267. But what we need to know is, do people want nasally-insertable
  2268. computers?
  2269. %
  2270. Buzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes
  2271. Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn;
  2272. Less dear than army ants in apple pies
  2273. Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn,
  2274. Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit;
  2275. Like honeybees upon the perfum'd rose
  2276. They suck, and like the double-breasted suit
  2277. Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose,
  2278. Go fly a kite, thy welcome's overstayed;
  2279. And stem the produce of thy waspish wits:
  2280. Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed;
  2281. Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits.
  2282. Be off, I say; go bug somebody new,
  2283. Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you.
  2284. %
  2285. By doing just a little every day, you can gradually let the task
  2286. completely overwhelm you.
  2287. %
  2288. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact,
  2289. it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to
  2290. invent.
  2291. -- R. Emerson
  2292. -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program
  2293. (whose author claims, "Actually, stealing IS easier.")
  2294. [to which I reply, "You think it's easy for me to
  2295. misconstrue all these misquotations?!?"]
  2296. %
  2297. By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began
  2298. to suspect 'Hungry' ...
  2299. -- Gary Larson, "The Far Side"
  2300. %
  2301. By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's, I
  2302. mean.
  2303. -- Mark Twain
  2304. %
  2305. Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to
  2306. point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very
  2307. fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are
  2308. often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people
  2309. from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B
  2310. that so many people from point A are so keen to get _____there. They often
  2311. wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell
  2312. they wanted to be.
  2313. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  2314. %
  2315. C, n.:
  2316. A programming language that is sort of like Pascal except more
  2317. like assembly except that it isn't very much like either one, or
  2318. anything else. It is either the best language available to the art
  2319. today, or it isn't.
  2320. -- Ray Simard
  2321. %
  2322. Cabbage, n.:
  2323. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as
  2324. a man's head.
  2325. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2326. %
  2327. Cable is not a luxury, since many areas have poor TV reception.
  2328. -- The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, 1989
  2329. %
  2330. Cahn's Axiom:
  2331. When all else fails, read the instructions.
  2332. %
  2333. California is a fine place to live -- if you happen to be an orange.
  2334. -- Fred Allen
  2335. %
  2336. California, n.:
  2337. From Latin "calor", meaning "heat" (as in English "calorie" or
  2338. Spanish "caliente"); and "fornia'" for "sexual intercourse" or
  2339. "fornication." Hence: Tierra de California, "the land of hot sex."
  2340. -- Ed Moran
  2341. %
  2342. Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
  2343. -- Indian proverb
  2344. %
  2345. Calling J-Man Kink. Calling J-Man Kink. Hash missile sighted, target
  2346. Los Angeles. Disregard personal feelings about city and intercept.
  2347. %
  2348. Calvin Coolidge looks as if he had been weaned on a pickle.
  2349. -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
  2350. %
  2351. Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth
  2352. Corner, Vermont.
  2353. -- Clarence Darrow
  2354. %
  2355. Campus sidewalks never exist as the straightest line between two
  2356. points.
  2357. -- M. M. Johnston
  2358. %
  2359. Canada Bill Jone's Motto:
  2360. It's morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money.
  2361. Supplement:
  2362. A .44 magnum beats four aces.
  2363. %
  2364. Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents
  2365. for postage and 30 cents for storage.
  2366. -- Gerald Regan, Cabinet Minister, 12/31/83 Financial Post
  2367. %
  2368. Cancel me not -- for what then shall remain?
  2369. Abscissas, some mantissas, modules, modes,
  2370. A root or two, a torus and a node:
  2371. The inverse of my verse, a null domain.
  2372. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  2373. %
  2374. CANCER (June 21 - July 22)
  2375. You are sympathetic and understanding to other people's
  2376. problems. They think you are a sucker. You are always putting things
  2377. off. That's why you'll never make anything of yourself. Most welfare
  2378. recipients are Cancer people.
  2379. %
  2380. Canonical, adj.:
  2381. The usual or standard state or manner of something. A true
  2382. story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed some
  2383. annoyance at the use of jargon. Over his loud objections, we made a
  2384. point of using jargon as much as possible in his presence, and
  2385. eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used
  2386. the word "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without thinking.
  2387. Steele: "Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too!"
  2388. Stallman: "What did he say?"
  2389. Steele: "He just used `canonical' in the canonical way."
  2390. %
  2391. CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 19)
  2392. You are conservative and afraid of taking risks. You don't do
  2393. much of anything and are lazy. There has never been a Capricorn of any
  2394. importance. Capricorns should avoid standing still for too long as
  2395. they take root and become trees.
  2396. %
  2397. Captain Penny's Law:
  2398. You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of
  2399. the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom.
  2400. %
  2401. Carelessly planned projects take three times longer to complete than
  2402. expected. Carefully planned projects take four times longer to
  2403. complete than expected, mostly because the planners expect their
  2404. planning to reduce the time it takes.
  2405. %
  2406. Carmel, New York, has an ordinance forbidding men to wear coats and
  2407. trousers that don't match.
  2408. %
  2409. Carperpetuation (kar' pur pet u a shun), n.:
  2410. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string at least a
  2411. dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then
  2412. putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
  2413. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  2414. %
  2415. Cat, n.:
  2416. Lapwarmer with built-in buzzer.
  2417. %
  2418. Cauliflower is nothing but Cabbage with a College Education.
  2419. -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson"
  2420. %
  2421. Caution: breathing may be hazardous to your health.
  2422. %
  2423. CChheecckk yyoouurr dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh..
  2424. %
  2425. Cecil, you're my final hope
  2426. Of finding out the true Straight Dope
  2427. For I have been reading of Schrodinger's cat
  2428. But none of my cats are at all like that.
  2429. This unusual animal (so it is said)
  2430. Is simultaneously alive and dead!
  2431. What I don't understand is just why he
  2432. Can't be one or the other, unquestionably.
  2433. My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
  2434. In one I'm enlightened, in the other I ain't.
  2435. If *you* understand, Cecil, then show me the way
  2436. And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
  2437. But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
  2438. Then I will *___and* I won't see you in Schrodinger's zoo.
  2439. -- Randy F., Chicago, "The Straight Dope, a compendium
  2440. of human knowledge" by Cecil Adams
  2441. %
  2442. Celebrate Hannibal Day this year. Take an elephant to lunch.
  2443. %
  2444. Celestial navigation is based on the premise that the Earth is the
  2445. center of the universe. The premise is wrong, but the navigation
  2446. works. An incorrect model can be a useful tool.
  2447. -- Kelvin Throop III
  2448. %
  2449. Census Taker to Housewife: Did you ever have the measles, and, if so,
  2450. how many?
  2451. %
  2452. Cerebus: I'd love to lick apricot brandy out of your navel.
  2453. Jaka: Look, Cerebus-- Jaka has to tell you ... something
  2454. Cerebus: If Cerebus had a navel, would you lick apricot brandy
  2455. out of it?
  2456. Jaka: Ugh!
  2457. Cerebus: You don't like apricot brandy?
  2458. -- Cerebus #6, "The Secret"
  2459. %
  2460. Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long
  2461. walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They
  2462. then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy
  2463. health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old,
  2464. not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find
  2465. only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the
  2466. others who have tried it.
  2467. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2468. %
  2469. Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
  2470. But it's very funny--
  2471. Did you ever try buying them without money?
  2472. -- Ogden Nash
  2473. %
  2474. Chapter 1
  2475. The story so far:
  2476. In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot
  2477. of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
  2478. %
  2479. Character Density, n.:
  2480. The number of very weird people in the office.
  2481. %
  2482. Checkuary, n.:
  2483. The thirteenth month of the year. Begins New Year's Day and
  2484. ends when a person stops absentmindedly writing the old year on his
  2485. checks.
  2486. %
  2487. Chef, n.:
  2488. Any cook who swears in French.
  2489. %
  2490. Chemicals, n.:
  2491. Noxious substances from which modern foods are made.
  2492. %
  2493. Chemistry is applied theology.
  2494. -- Augustus Stanley Owsley III
  2495. %
  2496. Chicago law prohibits eating in a place that is on fire.
  2497. %
  2498. Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #36:
  2499. Never ever ask the tough looking gentleman wearing El Rukn
  2500. headgear where he got his "pyramid powered pizza warmer".
  2501. -- Chicago Reader 3/27/81
  2502. %
  2503. Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #84:
  2504. The CTA has complimentary pop-up timers available on request
  2505. for overheated passengers. When your timer pops up, the driver will
  2506. cheerfully baste you.
  2507. -- Chicago Reader 5/28/82
  2508. %
  2509. Chicago, n.:
  2510. Where the dead still vote ... early and often!
  2511. %
  2512. Chicken Little only has to be right once.
  2513. %
  2514. Chicken Little was right.
  2515. %
  2516. Chicken Soup, n.:
  2517. An ancient miracle drug containing equal parts of aureomycin,
  2518. cocaine, interferon, and TLC. The only ailment chicken soup can't cure
  2519. is neurotic dependence on one's mother.
  2520. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  2521. %
  2522. Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every
  2523. effort to teach them good manners.
  2524. %
  2525. Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're
  2526. going to catch you in next.
  2527. -- Franklin P. Jones
  2528. %
  2529. Children aren't happy without something to ignore,
  2530. And that's what parents were created for.
  2531. -- Ogden Nash
  2532. %
  2533. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for
  2534. word what you shouldn't have said.
  2535. %
  2536. Chism's Law of Completion:
  2537. The amount of time required to complete a government project is
  2538. precisely equal to the length of time already spent on it.
  2539. %
  2540. Chisolm's First Corollary to Murphy's Second Law:
  2541. When things just can't possibly get any worse, they will.
  2542. %
  2543. Chivalry, Schmivalry!
  2544. Roger the thief has a
  2545. method he uses for
  2546. sneaky attacks:
  2547. Folks who are reading are
  2548. Characteristically
  2549. Always Forgetting to
  2550. Guard their own bac ...
  2551. %
  2552. Christ:
  2553. A man who was born at least 5,000 years ahead of his time.
  2554. %
  2555. Churchill's Commentary on Man:
  2556. Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the
  2557. time he will pick himself up and continue on.
  2558. %
  2559. Cigarette, n.:
  2560. A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of tobacco in
  2561. between.
  2562. %
  2563. Cinemuck, n.:
  2564. The combination of popcorn, soda, and melted chocolate which
  2565. covers the floors of movie theaters.
  2566. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  2567. %
  2568. Clairvoyant, n.:
  2569. A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that
  2570. which is invisible to her patron -- namely, that he is a blockhead.
  2571. -- Ambrose Bierce
  2572. %
  2573. Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like
  2574. shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
  2575. -- Phyllis Diller
  2576. %
  2577. Cleanliness is next to impossible.
  2578. %
  2579. Cleveland still lives. God ____must be dead.
  2580. %
  2581. Cleveland? Yes, I spent a week there one day.
  2582. %
  2583. Cloning is the sincerest form of flattery.
  2584. %
  2585. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on
  2586. society.
  2587. -- Mark Twain
  2588. %
  2589. COBOL programs are an exercise in Artificial Inelegance.
  2590. %
  2591. Cocaine -- the thinking man's Dristan.
  2592. %
  2593. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum --
  2594. "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am."
  2595. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2596. %
  2597. Cogito ergo I'm right and you're wrong.
  2598. -- Blair Houghton
  2599. %
  2600. Coincidence, n.:
  2601. You weren't paying attention to the other half of what was
  2602. going on.
  2603. %
  2604. Coincidences are spiritual puns.
  2605. -- G. K. Chesterton
  2606. %
  2607. Cold, adj.:
  2608. When the local flashers are handing out written descriptions.
  2609. %
  2610. Cold, adj.:
  2611. When the politicians walk around with their hands in their own
  2612. pockets.
  2613. %
  2614. Collaboration, n.:
  2615. A literary partnership based on the false assumption that the
  2616. other fellow can spell.
  2617. %
  2618. College football is a game which would be much more interesting if the
  2619. faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if
  2620. the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms,
  2621. legs, and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the
  2622. loss to humanity.
  2623. -- H. L. Mencken
  2624. %
  2625. Colvard's Logical Premises:
  2626. All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or it
  2627. won't.
  2628. Colvard's Unconscionable Commentary:
  2629. This is especially true when dealing with someone you're
  2630. attracted to.
  2631. Grelb's Commentary
  2632. Likelihoods, however, are 90% against you.
  2633. %
  2634. Come, every frustum longs to be a cone,
  2635. And every vector dreams of matrices.
  2636. Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze:
  2637. It whispers of a more ergodic zone.
  2638. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  2639. %
  2640. Come, let us hasten to a higher plane,
  2641. Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
  2642. Their indices bedecked from one to _n,
  2643. Commingled in an endless Markov chain!
  2644. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  2645. %
  2646. Command, n.:
  2647. Statement presented by a human and accepted by a computer in
  2648. such a manner as to make the human feel as if he is in control.
  2649. %
  2650. COMMENT
  2651. Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
  2652. A medley of extemporanea;
  2653. And love is thing that can never go wrong;
  2654. And I am Marie of Roumania.
  2655. -- Dorothy Parker
  2656. %
  2657. Commitment, n.:
  2658. Commitment can be illustrated by a breakfast of ham and eggs.
  2659. The chicken was involved, the pig was committed.
  2660. %
  2661. Committee Rules:
  2662. (1) Never arrive on time, or you will be stamped a beginner.
  2663. (2) Don't say anything until the meeting is half over; this
  2664. stamps you as being wise.
  2665. (3) Be as vague as possible; this prevents irritating the
  2666. others.
  2667. (4) When in doubt, suggest that a subcommittee be appointed.
  2668. (5) Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you
  2669. popular -- it's what everyone is waiting for.
  2670. %
  2671. Committee, n.:
  2672. A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group
  2673. decide that nothing can be done.
  2674. -- Fred Allen
  2675. %
  2676. Committees have become so important nowadays that subcommittees have to
  2677. be appointed to do the work.
  2678. %
  2679. Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at
  2680. different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
  2681. -- Clive James
  2682. %
  2683. Common sense is instinct, and enough of it is genius.
  2684. -- Josh Billings
  2685. %
  2686. Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
  2687. -- Albert Einstein
  2688. %
  2689. Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness
  2690. of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule."
  2691. -- David Guaspari
  2692. %
  2693. Computer programmers do it byte by byte.
  2694. %
  2695. Computer Science is merely the post-Turing decline in formal systems
  2696. theory.
  2697. %
  2698. Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are.
  2699. %
  2700. Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
  2701. -- Pablo Picasso
  2702. %
  2703. Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in
  2704. the world that just don't add up.
  2705. %
  2706. Computers will not be perfected until they can compute how much more
  2707. than the estimate the job will cost.
  2708. %
  2709. Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
  2710. -- La Rochefoucauld
  2711. %
  2712. Concept, n.:
  2713. Any "idea" for which an outside consultant billed you more than
  2714. $25,000.
  2715. %
  2716. ... [concerning quotation marks] even if we *___did* quote anybody in this
  2717. business, it probably would be gibberish.
  2718. -- Thom McLeod
  2719. %
  2720. Condense soup, not books!
  2721. %
  2722. Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is
  2723. good for dandruff.
  2724. -- Peter de Vries
  2725. %
  2726. Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation.
  2727. %
  2728. Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine device that
  2729. would give you thousands of years of trouble-free service, except that
  2730. you undoubtedly will destroy it via some typical bonehead consumer
  2731. maneuver. Which is why we ask you to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS
  2732. OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY
  2733. UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED
  2734. IT ON AND FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD
  2735. WHO ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER AND
  2736. SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING WITH THE KNOBS,
  2737. RIGHT? AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS,
  2738. RIGHT??? WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE DEVICES RIGHT AT THE
  2739. FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU KNOW THAT?
  2740. -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"
  2741. %
  2742. Connector Conspiracy, n:
  2743. [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the
  2744. KL-10, none of whose connectors match anything else] The tendency of
  2745. manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything)
  2746. to come up with new products which don't fit together with the old
  2747. stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive
  2748. interface devices.
  2749. %
  2750. Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
  2751. -- H. L. Mencken
  2752. %
  2753. Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody is looking.
  2754. -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy"
  2755. %
  2756. Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.
  2757. %
  2758. Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you
  2759. wish you weren't.
  2760. %
  2761. Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich.
  2762. -- "Ali Baba Bunny" [1957, Chuck Jones]
  2763. %
  2764. Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and then
  2765. give it back to them.
  2766. %
  2767. "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and
  2768. if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
  2769. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  2770. %
  2771. Contrary to popular belief, penguins are not the salvation of modern
  2772. technology. Neither do they throw parties for the urban proletariat.
  2773. %
  2774. Conversation, n.:
  2775. A vocal competition in which the one who is catching his breath
  2776. is called the listener.
  2777. %
  2778. Conway's Law:
  2779. In any organization there will always be one person who knows
  2780. what is going on.
  2781. This person must be fired.
  2782. %
  2783. Coronation, n.:
  2784. The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and
  2785. visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite
  2786. bomb.
  2787. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2788. %
  2789. Corrupt, adj.:
  2790. In politics, holding an office of trust or profit.
  2791. %
  2792. Corrupt, stupid grasping functionaries will make at least as big a
  2793. muddle of socialism as stupid, selfish and acquisitive employers can
  2794. make of capitalism.
  2795. -- Walter Lippmann
  2796. %
  2797. Corruption is not the #1 priority of the Police Commissioner. His job
  2798. is to enforce the law and fight crime.
  2799. -- P.B.A. President E. J. Kiernan
  2800. %
  2801. Court, n.:
  2802. A place where they dispense with justice.
  2803. -- Arthur Train
  2804. %
  2805. Coward, n.:
  2806. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
  2807. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2808. %
  2809. [Crash programs] fail because they are based on the theory that, with
  2810. nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month.
  2811. -- Wernher von Braun
  2812. %
  2813. Crime does not pay ... as well as politics.
  2814. -- A. E. Neuman
  2815. %
  2816. Critic, n.:
  2817. A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries
  2818. to please him.
  2819. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2820. %
  2821. Croll's Query:
  2822. If tin whistles are made of tin, what are foghorns made of?
  2823. %
  2824. cursor address, n:
  2825. "Hello, cursor!"
  2826. -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
  2827. %
  2828. Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It
  2829. eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
  2830. business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation.
  2831. -- Johnny Hart
  2832. %
  2833. Cynic, n.:
  2834. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not
  2835. as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking
  2836. out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.
  2837. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2838. %
  2839. Cynic, n.:
  2840. One who looks through rose-colored glasses with a jaundiced eye.
  2841. %
  2842. Dare to be naive.
  2843. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
  2844. %
  2845. Darth Vader sleeps with a Teddywookie.
  2846. %
  2847. Dave Mack: "Your stupidity, Allen, is simply not up to par."
  2848. Allen Gwinn: "Yours is."
  2849. %
  2850. Dawn, n.:
  2851. The time when men of reason go to bed.
  2852. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2853. %
  2854. Day of inquiry. You will be subpoenaed.
  2855. %
  2856. %DCL-E-MEM-BAD, bad memory
  2857. -VMS-F-PDGERS, pudding between the ears
  2858. %
  2859. Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to improve. Success is also
  2860. easy to handle: you've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to
  2861. improve.
  2862. %
  2863. Dear Lord:
  2864. I just want *___one* one-armed manager so I never have to hear "On
  2865. the other hand", again.
  2866. %
  2867. Dear Miss Manners:
  2868. My home economics teacher says that one must never place one's
  2869. elbows on the table. However, I have read that one elbow, in between
  2870. courses, is all right. Which is correct?
  2871. Gentle Reader:
  2872. For the purpose of answering examinations in your home
  2873. economics class, your teacher is correct. Catching on to this
  2874. principle of education may be of even greater importance to you now
  2875. than learning correct current table manners, vital as Miss Manners
  2876. believes that is.
  2877. %
  2878. Dear Miss Manners:
  2879. Please list some tactful ways of removing a man's saliva from
  2880. your face.
  2881. Gentle Reader:
  2882. Please list some decent ways of acquiring a man's saliva on
  2883. your face ...
  2884. %
  2885. Dear Mister Language Person: I am curious about the expression, "Part
  2886. of this complete breakfast". The way it comes up is, my 5-year-old
  2887. will be watching TV cartoon shows in the morning, and they'll show a
  2888. commercial for a children's compressed breakfast compound such as
  2889. "Froot Loops" or "Lucky Charms", and they always show it sitting on a
  2890. table next to some actual food such as eggs, and the announcer always
  2891. says: "Part of this complete breakfast". Don't that really mean,
  2892. "Adjacent to this complete breakfast", or "On the same table as this
  2893. complete breakfast"? And couldn't they make essentially the same claim
  2894. if, instead of Froot Loops, they put a can of shaving cream there, or a
  2895. dead bat?
  2896. Answer: Yes.
  2897. -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
  2898. %
  2899. Dear Mister Language Person: What is the purpose of the apostrophe?
  2900. Answer: The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business
  2901. signs to alert the reader than an "S" is coming up at the end of a
  2902. word, as in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
  2903. ANY ITEM'S. Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when
  2904. creating hand- lettered small-business signs is that you should put
  2905. quotation marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT
  2906. DOG'S, or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S.
  2907. -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
  2908. %
  2909. Death is God's way of telling you not to be such a wise guy.
  2910. %
  2911. Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired.
  2912. -- R. Geis
  2913. %
  2914. Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings.
  2915. %
  2916. Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'.
  2917. %
  2918. Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
  2919. %
  2920. Death is only a state of mind.
  2921. Only it doesn't leave you much time to think about anything else.
  2922. %
  2923. Death to all fanatics!
  2924. %
  2925. Decision maker, n.:
  2926. The person in your office who was unable to form a task force
  2927. before the music stopped.
  2928. %
  2929. Decisions of the judges will be final unless shouted down by a really
  2930. overwhelming majority of the crowd present. Abusive and obscene
  2931. language may not be used by contestants when addressing members of the
  2932. judging panel, or, conversely, by members of the judging panel when
  2933. addressing contestants (unless struck by a boomerang).
  2934. -- Mudgeeraba Creek Emu-Riding and Boomerang-Throwing Assoc.
  2935. %
  2936. Deck Us All With Boston Charlie
  2937. Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
  2938. Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
  2939. Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
  2940. Swaller dollar cauliflower, alleygaroo!
  2941. Don't we know archaic barrel,
  2942. Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou.
  2943. Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
  2944. Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
  2945. -- Walt Kelly
  2946. %
  2947. "Deep" is a word like "theory" or "semantic" -- it implies all sorts of
  2948. marvelous things. It's one thing to be able to say "I've got a
  2949. theory", quite another to say "I've got a semantic theory", but, ah,
  2950. those who can claim "I've got a deep semantic theory", they are truly
  2951. blessed.
  2952. -- Randy Davis
  2953. %
  2954. default, n.:
  2955. [Possibly from Black English "De fault wid dis system is you,
  2956. mon."] The vain attempt to avoid errors by inactivity. "Nothing will
  2957. come of nothing: speak again." -- King Lear
  2958. -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
  2959. %
  2960. #define BITCOUNT(x) (((BX_(x)+(BX_(x)>>4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F) % 255)
  2961. #define BX_(x) ((x) - (((x)>>1)&0x77777777) \
  2962. - (((x)>>2)&0x33333333) \
  2963. - (((x)>>3)&0x11111111))
  2964. -- really weird C code to count the number of bits in a word
  2965. %
  2966. Definitions of hardware and software for dummies:
  2967. Hardware is what you kick;
  2968. Software is what you curse.
  2969. %
  2970. DELETE A FORTUNE!
  2971. Don't some of these fortunes just drive you nuts?! Wouldn't you like
  2972. to see some of them deleted from the system? You can! Just mail to
  2973. "fortune" with the fortune you hate most, and we MIGHT make sure it
  2974. gets expunged.
  2975. %
  2976. Deliberation, n.:
  2977. The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is
  2978. buttered on.
  2979. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  2980. %
  2981. Deliver yesterday, code today, think tomorrow.
  2982. %
  2983. Demand the establishment of the government
  2984. in its rightful home at Disneyland.
  2985. %
  2986. Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than
  2987. we deserve.
  2988. -- George Bernard Shaw
  2989. %
  2990. Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder
  2991. aloud what the country could do under first-class management.
  2992. -- Senator Soaper
  2993. %
  2994. Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the
  2995. incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
  2996. -- G. B. Shaw
  2997. %
  2998. Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you
  2999. don't think.
  3000. %
  3001. Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by
  3002. Jackasses.
  3003. -- H. L. Mencken
  3004. %
  3005. Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.
  3006. -- Jawaharlal Nehru
  3007. %
  3008. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people
  3009. are right more than half of the time.
  3010. -- E. B. White
  3011. %
  3012. Democracy, n.:
  3013. A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass
  3014. meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy.
  3015. Attitude toward property is communistic... negating property rights.
  3016. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate,
  3017. whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion,
  3018. prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
  3019. Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
  3020. -- U. S. Army Training Manual No. 2000-25 (1928-1932),
  3021. since withdrawn.
  3022. %
  3023. Demographic polls show that you have lost credibility across the
  3024. board. Especially with those 14 year-old Valley girls.
  3025. %
  3026. Dentist, n.:
  3027. A Prestidigitator who, putting metal in one's mouth, pulls
  3028. coins out of one's pockets.
  3029. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  3030. %
  3031. Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will
  3032. be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over
  3033. the table.
  3034. -- The Anarchist Cookbook
  3035. %
  3036. DETERIORATA
  3037. Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
  3038. And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
  3039. Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
  3040. Rotate your tires.
  3041. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
  3042. And heed well their advice -- even though they be turkeys.
  3043. Know what to kiss -- and when.
  3044. Remember that two wrongs never make a right,
  3045. But that three do.
  3046. Wherever possible, put people on "HOLD".
  3047. Be comforted, that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
  3048. And despite the changing fortunes of time,
  3049. There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
  3050. You are a fluke of the universe ...
  3051. You have no right to be here.
  3052. Whether you can hear it or not, the universe
  3053. Is laughing behind your back.
  3054. -- National Lampoon
  3055. %
  3056. DeVries's Dilemma:
  3057. If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want
  3058. hits the paper.
  3059. %
  3060. Did I say 2? I lied.
  3061. %
  3062. Did you know ...
  3063. That no-one ever reads these things?
  3064. %
  3065. Did you know that clones never use mirrors?
  3066. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  3067. %
  3068. Did you know that if you took all the economists in the world and lined
  3069. them up end to end, they'd still point in the wrong direction?
  3070. %
  3071. Did you know that the voice tapes easily identify the Russian pilot
  3072. that shot down the Korean jet? At one point he definitely states:
  3073. "Natasha! First we shoot jet, then we go after moose and
  3074. squirrel."
  3075. -- ihuxw!tommyo
  3076. %
  3077. Die, v.:
  3078. To stop sinning suddenly.
  3079. -- Elbert Hubbard
  3080. %
  3081. Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a
  3082. conventional thing to happen to him.
  3083. -- John Barrymore's dying words
  3084. %
  3085. Different all twisty a of in maze are you, passages little.
  3086. %
  3087. Dimensions will always be expressed in the least usable term.
  3088. Velocity, for example, will be expressed in furlongs per fortnight.
  3089. %
  3090. Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
  3091. %
  3092. Disc space -- the final frontier!
  3093. %
  3094. Disclaimer: "These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they be
  3095. yours too."
  3096. -- Dave Haynie
  3097. %
  3098. Disclaimer: Any resemblance between the above views and those of my
  3099. employer, my terminal, or the view out my window are purely
  3100. coincidental. Any resemblance between the above and my own views is
  3101. non-deterministic. The question of the existence of views in the
  3102. absence of anyone to hold them is left as an exercise for the reader.
  3103. The question of the existence of the reader is left as an exercise for
  3104. the second god coefficient. (A discussion of non-orthogonal,
  3105. non-integral polytheism is beyond the scope of this article.)
  3106. %
  3107. Disco is to music what Etch-A-Sketch is to art.
  3108. %
  3109. Distinctive, adj.:
  3110. A different color or shape than our competitors.
  3111. %
  3112. Distress, n.:
  3113. A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend.
  3114. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  3115. %
  3116. District of Columbia pedestrians who leap over passing autos to escape
  3117. injury, and then strike the car as they come down, are liable for any
  3118. damage inflicted on the vehicle.
  3119. %
  3120. Do infants have as much fun in infancy as adults do in adultery?
  3121. %
  3122. Do molecular biologists wear designer genes?
  3123. %
  3124. Do not believe in miracles -- rely on them.
  3125. %
  3126. Do not drink coffee in early a.m. It will keep you awake until noon.
  3127. %
  3128. Do not meddle in the affairs of troff, for it is subtle and quick to
  3129. anger.
  3130. %
  3131. Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good
  3132. with ketchup.
  3133. %
  3134. Do not read this fortune under penalty of law.
  3135. Violators will be prosecuted.
  3136. (Penal Code sec. 2.3.2 (II.a.))
  3137. %
  3138. Do not sleep in a eucalyptus tree tonight.
  3139. %
  3140. Do not try to solve all life's problems at once -- learn to dread each
  3141. day as it comes.
  3142. -- Donald Kaul
  3143. %
  3144. Do something unusual today. Pay a bill.
  3145. %
  3146. Do what comes naturally now. Seethe and fume and throw a tantrum.
  3147. %
  3148. Do you have lysdexia?
  3149. %
  3150. Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take
  3151. the time to take the dirt out of them?
  3152. %
  3153. "Do you think what we're doing is wrong?"
  3154. "Of course it's wrong! It's illegal!"
  3155. "I've never done anything illegal before."
  3156. "I thought you said you were an accountant!"
  3157. %
  3158. Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and
  3159. when it is bad, it is better than nothing.
  3160. -- Dick Brandon
  3161. %
  3162. Documentation is the castor oil of programming. Managers know it must
  3163. be good because the programmers hate it so much.
  3164. %
  3165. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
  3166. %
  3167. Don't abandon hope: your Tom Mix decoder ring arrives tomorrow.
  3168. %
  3169. Don't be humble ... you're not that great.
  3170. -- Golda Meir
  3171. %
  3172. Don't believe everything you hear or anything you say.
  3173. %
  3174. Don't change the reason, just change the excuses!
  3175. -- Joe Cointment
  3176. %
  3177. "Don't come back until you have him", the Tick-Tock Man said quietly,
  3178. sincerely, extremely dangerously.
  3179. They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardio plate crossoffs.
  3180. They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stick tites. They
  3181. used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used
  3182. finks. They used cops. They used search and seizure. They used
  3183. fallaron. They used betterment incentives. They used finger prints.
  3184. They used the bertillion system. They used cunning. They used guile.
  3185. They used treachery. They used Raoul-Mitgong but he wasn't much help.
  3186. They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology. And
  3187. what the hell, they caught him.
  3188. -- Harlan Ellison, "Repent, Harlequin, said the Tick-Tock Man"
  3189. %
  3190. Don't cook tonight -- starve a rat today!
  3191. %
  3192. Don't feed the bats tonight.
  3193. %
  3194. Don't get even -- get odd!
  3195. %
  3196. Don't get suckered in by the comments -- they can be terribly
  3197. misleading. Debug only code.
  3198. -- Dave Storer
  3199. %
  3200. Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes
  3201. you nothing. It was here first.
  3202. -- Mark Twain
  3203. %
  3204. Don't go surfing in South Dakota for a while.
  3205. %
  3206. Don't hate yourself in the morning -- sleep till noon.
  3207. %
  3208. Don't hit a man when he's down -- kick him; it's easier.
  3209. %
  3210. Don't kiss an elephant on the lips today.
  3211. %
  3212. Don't knock President Fillmore. He kept us out of Vietnam.
  3213. %
  3214. Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance.
  3215. %
  3216. Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone.
  3217. %
  3218. Don't look back, the lemmings are gaining on you.
  3219. %
  3220. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy
  3221. it today you can do it again tomorrow.
  3222. %
  3223. Don't say yes until I finish talking.
  3224. -- Darryl F. Zanuck
  3225. %
  3226. Don't steal; thou'lt never thus compete successfully in business.
  3227. Cheat.
  3228. -- Ambrose Bierce
  3229. %
  3230. Don't suspect your friends -- turn them in!
  3231. -- "Brazil"
  3232. %
  3233. Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.
  3234. -- Walt Kelly
  3235. %
  3236. Don't take life too seriously -- you'll never get out of it alive.
  3237. %
  3238. Don't tell any big lies today. Small ones can be just as effective.
  3239. %
  3240. Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends -- tell me where to
  3241. get more wax!!
  3242. %
  3243. Don't worry about avoiding temptation -- as you grow older, it starts
  3244. avoiding you.
  3245. -- The Old Farmer's Almanac
  3246. %
  3247. Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any
  3248. good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.
  3249. -- Howard Aiken
  3250. %
  3251. Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already
  3252. tomorrow in Australia.
  3253. -- Charles Schultz
  3254. %
  3255. Don't worry over what other people are thinking about you. They're too
  3256. busy worrying over what you are thinking about them.
  3257. %
  3258. Don't you feel more like you do now than you did when you came in?
  3259. %
  3260. Don Ameche: I didn't know you had a cousin Penelope, Bill! Was she
  3261. pretty?
  3262. W. C.: Well, her face was so wrinkled it looked like seven miles of
  3263. bad road. She had so many gold teeth, Don, she use to have to
  3264. sleep with her head in a safe. She died in Bolivia.
  3265. Don: Oh Bill, it must be hard to lose a relative.
  3266. W. C.: It's almost impossible.
  3267. -- W. C. Fields, from "The Further Adventures of Larson
  3268. E. Whipsnade and other Tarradiddles"
  3269. %
  3270. Double Bucky
  3271. (Sung to the tune of "Rubber Duckie")
  3272. Double bucky, you're the one!
  3273. You make my keyboard lots of fun
  3274. Double bucky, an additional bit or two:
  3275. (Vo-vo-de-o!)
  3276. Control and Meta side by side,
  3277. Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide!
  3278. Double bucky, a half a thousand glyphs, plus a few!
  3279. Oh, I sure wish that I,
  3280. Had a couple of bits more!
  3281. Perhaps a set of pedals to make the number of bits four.
  3282. Double bucky, left and right
  3283. OR'd together, outta sight!
  3284. Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of
  3285. Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of
  3286. Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you!
  3287. -- (C) 1978 by Guy L. Steele, Jr.
  3288. (to Nicholas Wirth, who suggested that an extra bit
  3289. be added to terminal codes on 36-bit machines for use
  3290. by screen editors. [to the tune of "Rubber Ducky"])
  3291. %
  3292. Double-Blind Experiment, n.:
  3293. An experiment in which the chief researcher believes he is
  3294. fooling both the subject and the lab assistant. Often accompanied by a
  3295. strong belief in the tooth fairy.
  3296. %
  3297. Down with categorical imperative!
  3298. %
  3299. Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
  3300. %
  3301. Drew's Law of Highway Biology:
  3302. The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front
  3303. of your eyes.
  3304. %
  3305. Drink Canada Dry! You might not succeed, but it *__is* fun trying.
  3306. %
  3307. Drive defensively. Buy a tank.
  3308. %
  3309. Drugs may be the road to nowhere, but at least they're the scenic route!
  3310. %
  3311. Ducharme's Axiom:
  3312. If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize
  3313. yourself as part of the problem.
  3314. %
  3315. Ducharme's Precept:
  3316. Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment.
  3317. %
  3318. Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and
  3319. it holds the universe together.
  3320. -- Carl Zwanzig
  3321. %
  3322. Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders
  3323. has been discontinued.
  3324. %
  3325. Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate
  3326. and captain of your soul.
  3327. %
  3328. Due to lack of disk space, this fortune database has been
  3329. discontinued.
  3330. %
  3331. During a grouse hunt in North Carolina two intrepid sportsmen
  3332. were blasting away at a clump of trees near a stone wall. Suddenly a
  3333. red-faced country squire popped his head over the wall and shouted,
  3334. "Hey, you almost hit my wife."
  3335. "Did I?" cried the hunter, aghast. "Terribly sorry. Have a
  3336. shot at mine, over there."
  3337. %
  3338. During the next two hours, the system will be going up and down several
  3339. times, often with lin~po_~{po ~poz~ppo\~{ o n~po_~{o[po ~y oodsou>#w4k**n~po_~{ol;lkld;f;g;dd;po\~{o
  3340. %
  3341. Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have
  3342. nothing whatever to do with it.
  3343. -- W. Somerset Maugham (last words)
  3344. %
  3345. E Pluribus Unix
  3346. %
  3347. Eagleson's Law:
  3348. Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more
  3349. months, might as well have been written by someone else. (Eagleson is
  3350. an optimist, the real number is more like three weeks.)
  3351. %
  3352. Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends
  3353. %
  3354. /earth is 98% full ... please delete anyone you can.
  3355. %
  3356. Earth is a beta site.
  3357. %
  3358. Earth is a great, big funhouse without the fun.
  3359. -- Jeff Berner
  3360. %
  3361. Easiest Color to Solve on a Rubik's Cube:
  3362. Black. Simply remove all the little colored stickers on the
  3363. cube, and each of side of the cube will now be the original color of
  3364. the plastic underneath -- black. According to the instructions, this
  3365. means the puzzle is solved.
  3366. -- Steve Rubenstein
  3367. %
  3368. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal.
  3369. %
  3370. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may work.
  3371. %
  3372. Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
  3373. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
  3374. %
  3375. Economics, n.:
  3376. Economics is the study of the value and meaning of J. K.
  3377. Galbraith ...
  3378. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  3379. %
  3380. Economists can certainly disappoint you. One said that the economy
  3381. would turn up by the last quarter. Well, I'm down to mine and it
  3382. hasn't.
  3383. -- Robert Orben
  3384. %
  3385. Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a
  3386. percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor.
  3387. -- Edgar R. Fiedler
  3388. %
  3389. Ed Sullivan will be around as long as someone else has talent.
  3390. -- Fred Allen
  3391. %
  3392. Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine.
  3393. -- Irsin Edman
  3394. %
  3395. Eeny, Meeny, Jelly Beanie, the spirits are about to speak!
  3396. -- Bullwinkle Moose
  3397. %
  3398. Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks.
  3399. -- Adlai Stevenson
  3400. %
  3401. Eggnog is a traditional holiday drink invented by the English. Many
  3402. people wonder where the word "eggnog" comes from. The first syllable
  3403. comes from the English word "egg", meaning "egg". I don't know where
  3404. the "nog" comes from.
  3405. To make eggnog, you'll need rum, whiskey, wine gin and, if they are in
  3406. season, eggs...
  3407. %
  3408. Egotism is the anesthetic given by a kindly nature to relieve the pain
  3409. of being a damned fool.
  3410. -- Bellamy Brooks
  3411. %
  3412. Egotist, n.:
  3413. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me.
  3414. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  3415. %
  3416. Ehrman's Commentary:
  3417. (1) Things will get worse before they get better.
  3418. (2) Who said things would get better?
  3419. %
  3420. Eighty percent of air pollution comes from plants and trees.
  3421. -- Ronald Reagan, famous movie star
  3422. %
  3423. Eleanor Rigby
  3424. Sits at the keyboard
  3425. And waits for a line on the screen
  3426. Lives in a dream
  3427. Waits for a signal
  3428. Finding some code
  3429. That will make the machine do some more.
  3430. What is it for?
  3431. All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
  3432. All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
  3433. Hacker MacKensie
  3434. Writing the code for a program that no one will run
  3435. It's nearly done
  3436. Look at him working, fixing the bugs in the night when there's nobody there.
  3437. What does he care?
  3438. All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
  3439. All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
  3440. Ah, look at all the lonely users.
  3441. Ah, look at all the lonely users.
  3442. %
  3443. Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance.
  3444. %
  3445. Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles,
  3446. called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you
  3447. have been drinking. Electrons travel at the speed of light, which in
  3448. most American homes is 110 volts per hour. This is very fast. In the
  3449. time it has taken you to read this sentence so far, an electron could
  3450. have traveled all the way from San Francisco to Hackensack, New Jersey,
  3451. although God alone knows why it would want to.
  3452. The five main kinds of electricity are alternating current,
  3453. direct current, lightning, static, and European. Most American homes
  3454. have alternating current, which means that the electricity goes in one
  3455. direction for a while, then goes in the other direction. This prevents
  3456. harmful electron buildup in the wires.
  3457. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  3458. %
  3459. Electrocution, n.:
  3460. Burning at the stake with all the modern improvements.
  3461. %
  3462. Elevators smell different to midgets.
  3463. %
  3464. Emerson's Law of Contrariness:
  3465. Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we
  3466. can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it.
  3467. %
  3468. Encyclopedia Salesmen:
  3469. Invite them all in. Nip out the back door. Phone the police
  3470. and tell them your house is being burgled.
  3471. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  3472. %
  3473. Endless Loop: n., see Loop, Endless.
  3474. Loop, Endless: n., see Endless Loop.
  3475. -- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary
  3476. %
  3477. Entropy isn't what it used to be.
  3478. %
  3479. Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which
  3480. otherwise require harder thinking.
  3481. -- Jerome Lettvin
  3482. %
  3483. Epperson's law:
  3484. When a man says it's a silly, childish game, it's probably
  3485. something his wife can beat him at.
  3486. %
  3487. Equal bytes for women.
  3488. %
  3489. Error in operator: add beer
  3490. %
  3491. Es brilig war. Die schlichte Toven
  3492. Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
  3493. Und aller-m"umsige Burggoven
  3494. Dir mohmen R"ath ausgraben.
  3495. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  3496. %
  3497. Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.
  3498. -- Woody Allen
  3499. %
  3500. Etymology, n.:
  3501. Some early etymological scholars came up with derivations that
  3502. were hard for the public to believe. The term "etymology" was formed
  3503. from the Latin "etus" ("eaten"), the root "mal" ("bad"), and "logy"
  3504. ("study of"). It meant "the study of things that are hard to swallow."
  3505. -- Mike Kellen
  3506. %
  3507. Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to
  3508. speak it to?
  3509. -- Clarence Darrow
  3510. %
  3511. Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
  3512. -- Will Rogers
  3513. %
  3514. Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral.
  3515. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  3516. %
  3517. Even though they raised the rate for first class mail in the United
  3518. States we really shouldn't complain -- it's still only two cents a
  3519. day.
  3520. %
  3521. Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you
  3522. just how busy they are?
  3523. %
  3524. Ever since prehistoric times, wise men have tried to understand what,
  3525. exactly, make people laugh. That's why they were called "wise men."
  3526. All the other prehistoric people were out puncturing each other with
  3527. spears, and the wise men were back in the cave saying: "How about:
  3528. Would you please take my wife? No. How about: Here is my wife, please
  3529. take her right now. No How about: Would you like to take something?
  3530. My wife is available. No. How about ..."
  3531. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
  3532. %
  3533. Every absurdity has a champion who will defend it.
  3534. %
  3535. Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
  3536. %
  3537. Every four seconds a woman has a baby. Our problem is to find this
  3538. woman and stop her.
  3539. %
  3540. Every group has a couple of experts. And every group has at least one
  3541. idiot. Thus are balance and harmony (and discord) maintained. It's
  3542. sometimes hard to remember this in the bulk of the flamewars that all
  3543. of the hassle and pain is generally caused by one or two
  3544. highly-motivated, caustic twits.
  3545. -- Chuq Von Rospach, about Usenet
  3546. %
  3547. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
  3548. signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
  3549. fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not
  3550. spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the
  3551. genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way
  3552. of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is
  3553. humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
  3554. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
  3555. %
  3556. Every Horse has an Infinite Number of Legs (proof by intimidation):
  3557. Horses have an even number of legs. Behind they have two legs, and in
  3558. front they have fore-legs. This makes six legs, which is certainly an
  3559. odd number of legs for a horse. But the only number that is both even
  3560. and odd is infinity. Therefore, horses have an infinite number of
  3561. legs. Now to show this for the general case, suppose that somewhere,
  3562. there is a horse that has a finite number of legs. But that is a horse
  3563. of another color, and by the [above] lemma ["All horses are the same
  3564. color"], that does not exist.
  3565. %
  3566. Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible.
  3567. -- Frank Moore Colby
  3568. %
  3569. Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.
  3570. %
  3571. Every little picofarad has a nanohenry all its own.
  3572. -- Don Vonada
  3573. %
  3574. Every man has his price. Mine is $3.95.
  3575. %
  3576. Every man is as God made him, ay, and often worse.
  3577. -- Miguel de Cervantes
  3578. %
  3579. Every morning, I get up and look through the 'Forbes' list of the
  3580. richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.
  3581. -- Robert Orben
  3582. %
  3583. Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis.
  3584. It makes sense, when you don't think about it.
  3585. %
  3586. Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one
  3587. instruction -- from which, by induction, one can deduce that every
  3588. program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work.
  3589. %
  3590. Every program has two purposes -- one for which it was written and
  3591. another for which it wasn't.
  3592. %
  3593. Every program is a part of some other program, and rarely fits.
  3594. %
  3595. Every solution breeds new problems.
  3596. %
  3597. Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no
  3598. guarantee of eventual success.
  3599. %
  3600. Every time I think I know where it's at, they move it.
  3601. %
  3602. Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
  3603. -- Beckett
  3604. %
  3605. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
  3606. -- Dykstra
  3607. %
  3608. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
  3609. %
  3610. Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be
  3611. taught how ___not to. So it is with the great programmers.
  3612. %
  3613. Everyone is a genius. It's just that some people are too stupid to
  3614. realize it.
  3615. %
  3616. Everyone knows that dragons don't exist. But while this simplistic
  3617. formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the
  3618. scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact
  3619. wholly unconcerned with what ____does exist. Indeed, the banality of
  3620. existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to
  3621. discuss it any further here. The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the
  3622. problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the
  3623. mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all,
  3624. one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely
  3625. different way ...
  3626. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  3627. %
  3628. Everyone talks about apathy, but no one ____does anything about it.
  3629. %
  3630. Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately,
  3631. no one we know belongs.
  3632. %
  3633. Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being
  3634. that a belch is more satisfying.
  3635. -- Ingmar Bergman
  3636. %
  3637. Everything journalists write is true, except when they write about
  3638. something you know.
  3639. -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav,
  3640. June 1999, FreeBSD-Stable Mailing List
  3641. %
  3642. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.
  3643. %
  3644. Everything you know is wrong!
  3645. %
  3646. Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less
  3647. obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no
  3648. solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid.
  3649. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no
  3650. straight lines.
  3651. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
  3652. %
  3653. Excellence is THE trend of the '80s. Walk into any shopping
  3654. mall bookstore, go to the rack where they keep the best-sellers such as
  3655. "Garfield Gets Spayed", and you'll see a half-dozen books telling you
  3656. how to be excellent: "In Search of Excellence", "Finding Excellence",
  3657. "Grasping Hold of Excellence", "Where to Hide Your Excellence at Night
  3658. So the Cleaning Personnel Don't Steal It", etc.
  3659. -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
  3660. %
  3661. Excellent day for drinking heavily. Spike the office water cooler.
  3662. %
  3663. Excellent day for putting Slinkies on an escalator.
  3664. %
  3665. Excellent day to have a rotten day.
  3666. %
  3667. Excellent time to become a missing person.
  3668. %
  3669. Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
  3670. acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
  3671. -- W. Somerset Maugham
  3672. %
  3673. Excessive login or logout messages are a sure sign of senility.
  3674. %
  3675. Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do
  3676. the work.
  3677. -- John G. Pollard
  3678. %
  3679. Expect the worst. It's the least you can do.
  3680. %
  3681. Expense Accounts, n.:
  3682. Corporate food stamps.
  3683. %
  3684. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
  3685. -- Olivier
  3686. %
  3687. Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake
  3688. when you make it again.
  3689. -- Franklin P. Jones
  3690. %
  3691. Experience is the worst teacher. It always gives the test first and
  3692. the instruction afterward.
  3693. %
  3694. Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old
  3695. ones.
  3696. %
  3697. Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.
  3698. %
  3699. Experience varies directly with equipment ruined.
  3700. %
  3701. Expert, n.:
  3702. Someone who comes from out of town and shows slides.
  3703. %
  3704. Extract from Official Sweepstakes Rules:
  3705. NO PURCHASE REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
  3706. To claim your prize without purchase, do the following: (a) Carefully
  3707. cut out your computer-printed name and address from upper right hand
  3708. corner of the Prize Claim Form. (b) Affix computer-printed name and
  3709. address -- with glue or cellophane tape (no staples or paper clips) --
  3710. to a 3x5 inch index card. (c) Also cut out the "No" paragraph (lower
  3711. left hand corner of Prize Claim Form) and affix it to the 3x5 card
  3712. below your address label. (d) Then print on your 3x5 card, above your
  3713. computer-printed name and address the words "CARTER & VAN PEEL
  3714. SWEEPSTAKES" (Use all capital letters.) (e) Finally place 3x5 card
  3715. (without bending) into a plain envelope [NOTE: do NOT use the
  3716. Official Prize Claim and CVP Perfume Reply Envelope or you may be
  3717. disqualified], and mail to: CVP, Box 1320, Westbury, NY 11595. Print
  3718. this address correctly. Comply with above instructions carefully and
  3719. completely or you may be disqualified from receiving your prize.
  3720. %
  3721. F u cn rd ths u cnt spl wrth a dm!
  3722. %
  3723. f u cn rd ths, itn tyg h myxbl cd.
  3724. %
  3725. f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.
  3726. %
  3727. F: When into a room I plunge, I
  3728. Sometimes find some VIOLET FUNGI.
  3729. Then I linger, darkly brooding
  3730. On the poison they're exuding.
  3731. -- The Roguelet's ABC
  3732. %
  3733. Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
  3734. %
  3735. Fairy Tale, n.:
  3736. A horror story to prepare children for the newspapers.
  3737. %
  3738. Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic
  3739. without looking to see whether the seeds move.
  3740. %
  3741. Faith, n:
  3742. That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be
  3743. untrue.
  3744. %
  3745. Fakir, n:
  3746. A psychologist whose charismatic data have inspired almost
  3747. religious devotion in his followers, even though the sources seem to
  3748. have shinnied up a rope and vanished.
  3749. %
  3750. Familiarity breeds attempt.
  3751. %
  3752. Families, when a child is born
  3753. Want it to be intelligent.
  3754. I, through intelligence,
  3755. Having wrecked my whole life,
  3756. Only hope the baby will prove
  3757. Ignorant and stupid.
  3758. Then he will crown a tranquil life
  3759. By becoming a Cabinet Minister
  3760. -- Su Tung-p'o
  3761. %
  3762. Famous last words:
  3763. %
  3764. Famous last words:
  3765. (1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
  3766. (2) "You and what army?"
  3767. (3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be
  3768. a cop."
  3769. %
  3770. Famous last words:
  3771. (1) Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
  3772. (2) Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
  3773. (3) What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
  3774. (4) We won't need reservations.
  3775. (5) It's always sunny there this time of the year.
  3776. (6) Don't worry, it's not loaded.
  3777. (7) They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
  3778. (8) Don't worry! Women love it!
  3779. %
  3780. Famous, adj.:
  3781. Conspicuously miserable.
  3782. -- Ambrose Bierce
  3783. %
  3784. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the
  3785. Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
  3786. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an
  3787. utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life
  3788. forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches
  3789. are a pretty neat idea.
  3790. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  3791. %
  3792. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it
  3793. every six months.
  3794. -- Oscar Wilde
  3795. %
  3796. Fats Loves Madelyn.
  3797. %
  3798. Feel disillusioned? I've got some great new illusions ...
  3799. %
  3800. Fertility is hereditary. If your parents didn't have any children,
  3801. neither will you.
  3802. %
  3803. Festivity Level 1: Your guests are chatting amiably with each
  3804. other, admiring your Christmas-tree ornaments, singing carols around
  3805. the upright piano, sipping at their drinks and nibbling hors
  3806. d'oeuvres.
  3807. Festivity Level 2: Your guests are talking loudly -- sometimes
  3808. to each other, and sometimes to nobody at all, rearranging your
  3809. Christmas-tree ornaments, singing "I Gotta Be Me" around the upright
  3810. piano, gulping their drinks and wolfing down hors d'oeuvres.
  3811. Festivity Level 3: Your guests are arguing violently with
  3812. inanimate objects, singing "I can't get no satisfaction," gulping down
  3813. other peoples' drinks, wolfing down Christmas tree ornaments and
  3814. placing hors d'oeuvres in the upright piano to see what happens when
  3815. the little hammers strike.
  3816. Festivity Level 4: Your guests, hors d'oeuvres smeared all over
  3817. their naked bodies are performing a ritual dance around the burning
  3818. Christmas tree. The piano is missing.
  3819. You want to keep your party somewhere around level 3, unless
  3820. you rent your home and own Firearms, in which case you can go to level
  3821. 4. The best way to get to level 3 is egg-nog.
  3822. %
  3823. Fifth Law of Applied Terror:
  3824. If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book.
  3825. Corollary:
  3826. If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you live.
  3827. %
  3828. Fifth Law of Procrastination:
  3829. Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that
  3830. there is nothing important to do.
  3831. %
  3832. Fifty flippant frogs
  3833. Walked by on flippered feet
  3834. And with their slime they made the time
  3835. Unnaturally fleet.
  3836. %
  3837. FIGHTING WORDS
  3838. Say my love is easy had,
  3839. Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
  3840. Say I am too often sad --
  3841. Still behold me at your side.
  3842. Say I'm neither brave nor young,
  3843. Say I woo and coddle care,
  3844. Say the devil touched my tongue --
  3845. Still you have my heart to wear.
  3846. But say my verses do not scan,
  3847. And I get me another man!
  3848. -- Dorothy Parker
  3849. %
  3850. Fights between cats and dogs are prohibited by statute in Barber, North
  3851. Carolina.
  3852. %
  3853. Finagle's Creed:
  3854. Science is true. Don't be misled by facts.
  3855. %
  3856. Finagle's First Law:
  3857. If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
  3858. %
  3859. Finagle's Fourth Law:
  3860. Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes
  3861. it worse.
  3862. %
  3863. Finagle's Second Law:
  3864. No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be
  3865. someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) believe it
  3866. happened according to his own pet theory.
  3867. %
  3868. Finagle's Third Law:
  3869. In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct,
  3870. beyond all need of checking, is the mistake.
  3871. Corollaries:
  3872. (1) Nobody whom you ask for help will see it.
  3873. (2) The first person who stops by, whose advice you really
  3874. don't want to hear, will see it immediately.
  3875. %
  3876. Finding out what goes on in the C.I.A. is like performing acupuncture
  3877. on a rock.
  3878. -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
  3879. %
  3880. Fine day to throw a party. Throw him as far as you can.
  3881. %
  3882. Fine day to work off excess energy. Steal something heavy.
  3883. %
  3884. Fine's Corollary:
  3885. Functionality breeds Contempt.
  3886. %
  3887. Finish the sentence below in 25 words or less:
  3888. "Love is what you feel just before you give someone a good ..."
  3889. Mail your answer along with the top half of your supervisor to:
  3890. P.O. Box 35
  3891. Baffled Greek, Michigan
  3892. %
  3893. First Corollary of Taber's Second Law:
  3894. Machines that piss people off get murdered.
  3895. -- Pat Taber
  3896. %
  3897. First Law of Bicycling:
  3898. No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the
  3899. wind.
  3900. %
  3901. First Law of Procrastination:
  3902. Procrastination shortens the job and places the responsibility
  3903. for its termination on someone else (i.e., the authority who imposed
  3904. the deadline).
  3905. %
  3906. First Law of Socio-Genetics:
  3907. Celibacy is not hereditary.
  3908. %
  3909. First Rule of History:
  3910. History doesn't repeat itself -- historians merely repeat each
  3911. other.
  3912. %
  3913. First things first -- but not necessarily in that order
  3914. -- The Doctor, "Doctor Who"
  3915. %
  3916. First, a few words about tools.
  3917. Basically, a tool is an object that enables you to take advantage of
  3918. the laws of physics and mechanics in such a way that you can seriously
  3919. injure yourself. Today, people tend to take tools for granted. If
  3920. you're ever walking down the street and you notice some people who look
  3921. particularly smug, the odds are that they are taking tools for
  3922. granted. If I were you, I'd walk right up and smack them in the face.
  3923. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  3924. %
  3925. Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity.
  3926. -- Robert Firth
  3927. %
  3928. FLASH! Intelligence of mankind decreasing. Details at ... uh, when
  3929. the little hand is on the ....
  3930. %
  3931. Flon's Law:
  3932. There is not now, and never will be, a language in which it is
  3933. the least bit difficult to write bad programs.
  3934. %
  3935. Florence Flask was ... dressing for the opera when she turned to her
  3936. husband and screamed, "Erlenmeyer! My joules! Someone has stolen my
  3937. joules!"
  3938. "Now, now, my dear," replied her husband, "keep your balance and reflux
  3939. a moment. Perhaps they're mislead."
  3940. "No, I know they're stolen," cried Florence. "I remember putting them
  3941. in my burette ... We must call a copper."
  3942. Erlenmeyer did so, and the flatfoot who turned up, one Sherlock Ohms,
  3943. said the outrage looked like the work of an arch-criminal by the name
  3944. of Lawrence Ium.
  3945. "We must be careful -- he's a free radical, ultraviolet, and
  3946. dangerous. His girlfriend is a chlorine at the Palladium. Maybe I can
  3947. catch him there." With that, he jumped on his carbon cycle in an
  3948. activated state and sped off along the reaction pathway ...
  3949. -- Daniel B. Murphy, "Precipitations"
  3950. %
  3951. flowchart, n. & v.:
  3952. [From flow "to ripple down in rich profusion, as hair" + chart
  3953. "a cryptic hidden-treasure map designed to mislead the uninitiated."]
  3954. 1. n. The solution, if any, to a class of Mascheroni construction
  3955. problems in which given algorithms require geometrical representation
  3956. using only the 35 basic ideograms of the ANSI template. 2. n. Neronic
  3957. doodling while the system burns. 3. n. A low-cost substitute for
  3958. wallpaper. 4. n. The innumerate misleading the illiterate. "A
  3959. thousand pictures is worth ten lines of code." -- The Programmer's
  3960. Little Red Vade Mecum, Mao Tse T'umps. 5. v.intrans. To produce
  3961. flowcharts with no particular object in mind. 6. v.trans. To obfuscate
  3962. (a problem) with esoteric cartoons.
  3963. -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
  3964. %
  3965. Flugg's Law:
  3966. When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the
  3967. world is composed of vinyl, naugahyde and aluminum.
  3968. %
  3969. Flying saucers on occasion
  3970. Show themselves to human eyes.
  3971. Aliens fume, put off invasion
  3972. While they brand these tales as lies.
  3973. %
  3974. Fog Lamps, n.:
  3975. Excessively (often obnoxiously) bright lamps mounted on the
  3976. fronts of automobiles; used on dry, clear nights to indicate that the
  3977. driver's brain is in a fog.
  3978. See also "Idiot Lights".
  3979. %
  3980. Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.
  3981. -- Walt Kelly, "Putluck Pogo"
  3982. %
  3983. For 20 dollars, I'll give you a good fortune next time ...
  3984. %
  3985. For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a
  3986. cat.
  3987. %
  3988. For an adequate time call 555-3321.
  3989. %
  3990. For an idea to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be
  3991. always old-fashioned.
  3992. %
  3993. For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat,
  3994. and wrong.
  3995. -- H. L. Mencken
  3996. %
  3997. For every credibility gap, there is a gullibility fill.
  3998. -- R. Clopton
  3999. %
  4000. "For I perceive that behind this seemingly unrelated sequence
  4001. of events, there lurks a singular, sinister attitude of mind."
  4002. "Whose?"
  4003. "MINE! HA-HA!"
  4004. %
  4005. For large values of one, one equals two, for small values of two.
  4006. %
  4007. For my son, Robert, this is proving to be the high-point of his entire
  4008. life to date. He has had his pajamas on for two, maybe three days
  4009. now. He has the sense of joyful independence a 5-year-old child gets
  4010. when he suddenly realizes that he could be operating an acetylene torch
  4011. in the coat closet and neither parent [because of the flu] would have
  4012. the strength to object. He has been foraging for his own food, which
  4013. means his diet consists entirely of "food" substances which are
  4014. advertised only on Saturday-morning cartoon shows; substances that are
  4015. the color of jukebox lights and that, for legal reasons, have their
  4016. names spelled wrong, as in New Creemy Chok-'n'-Cheez Lumps o' Froot
  4017. ("part of this complete breakfast").
  4018. -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide"
  4019. %
  4020. For perfect happiness, remember two things:
  4021. (1) Be content with what you've got.
  4022. (2) Be sure you've got plenty.
  4023. %
  4024. For some reason a glaze passes over people's faces when you say
  4025. "Canada". Maybe we should invade South Dakota or something.
  4026. -- Sandra Gotlieb, wife of the Canadian ambassador to
  4027. the U.S.
  4028. %
  4029. For some reason, this fortune reminds everyone of Marvin Zelkowitz.
  4030. %
  4031. For that matter, compare your pocket computer with the massive jobs of
  4032. a thousand years ago. Why not, then, the last step of doing away with
  4033. computers altogether?
  4034. -- Jehan Shuman
  4035. %
  4036. For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
  4037. -- Abraham Lincoln
  4038. %
  4039. For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but
  4040. phone calls taper off.
  4041. -- Johnny Carson
  4042. %
  4043. For years a secret shame destroyed my peace --
  4044. I'd not read Eliot, Auden or MacNiece.
  4045. But now I think a thought that brings me hope:
  4046. Neither had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope.
  4047. -- Justin Richardson
  4048. %
  4049. For your penance, say five Hail Marys and one loud BLAH!
  4050. %
  4051. Forgetfulness, n.:
  4052. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their
  4053. destitution of conscience.
  4054. %
  4055. Forms follow function, and often obliterate it.
  4056. %
  4057. FORTUNE DISCUSSES THE OBSCURE FILMS! #6
  4058. RAZORBACK: Paul Harbride, 1984, 2 hours 25 min.
  4059. One of the great Australian films of the early 1980's, and
  4060. arguably the best movie ever made about a large, man-eating
  4061. hog. Some violence. With Gregory Harrison.
  4062. %
  4063. fortune's Contribution of the Month to the Animal Rights Debate:
  4064. I'll stay out of animals' way if they'll stay out of mine.
  4065. "Hey you, get off my plate"
  4066. -- Roger Midnight
  4067. %
  4068. Fortune's Fictitious Country Song Title of the Week:
  4069. "How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?"
  4070. %
  4071. Fortune's graffito of the week (or maybe even month):
  4072. Don't Write On Walls!
  4073. (and underneath)
  4074. You want I should type?
  4075. %
  4076. Fortune's Law of the Week (this week, from Kentucky):
  4077. No female shall appear in a bathing suit at any airport in this
  4078. State unless she is escorted by two officers or unless she is armed
  4079. with a club. The provisions of this statute shall not apply to females
  4080. weighing less than 90 pounds nor exceeding 200 pounds, nor shall it
  4081. apply to female horses.
  4082. %
  4083. Fortune's nomination for All-Time Champion and Protector of Youthful
  4084. Morals goes to Representative Clare E. Hoffman of Michigan. During an
  4085. impassioned House debate over a proposed bill to "expand oyster and
  4086. clam research," a sharp-eared informant transcribed the following
  4087. exchange between our hero and Rep. John D. Dingell, also of Michigan.
  4088. DINGELL: There are places in the world at the present time where we are
  4089. having to artificially propagate oysters and clams.
  4090. HOFFMAN: You mean the oysters I buy are not nature's oysters?
  4091. DINGELL: They may or may not be natural. The simple fact of the matter
  4092. is that female oysters through their living habits cast out
  4093. large amounts of seed and the male oysters cast out large
  4094. amounts of fertilization ...
  4095. HOFFMAN: Wait a minute! I do not want to go into that. There are many
  4096. teenagers who read The Congressional Record.
  4097. %
  4098. Fortune's Office Door Sign of the Week:
  4099. Incorrigible punster -- Do not incorrige.
  4100. %
  4101. FORTUNE'S PARTY TIPS #14
  4102. Tired of finding that other people are helping themselves to your good
  4103. liquor at BYOB parties? Take along a candle, which you insert and
  4104. light after you've opened the bottle. No one ever expects anything
  4105. drinkable to be in a bottle which has a candle stuck in its neck.
  4106. %
  4107. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #18:
  4108. Q: Are you married?
  4109. A: No, I'm divorced.
  4110. Q: And what did your husband do before you divorced him?
  4111. A: A lot of things I didn't know about.
  4112. %
  4113. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #19:
  4114. Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
  4115. A: All my autopsies have been performed on dead people.
  4116. %
  4117. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #29:
  4118. THE JUDGE: Now, as we begin, I must ask you to banish all present
  4119. information and prejudice from your minds, if you have
  4120. any ...
  4121. %
  4122. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #32:
  4123. Q: Do you know how far pregnant you are right now?
  4124. A: I will be three months November 8th.
  4125. Q: Apparently then, the date of conception was August 8th?
  4126. A: Yes.
  4127. Q: What were you and your husband doing at that time?
  4128. %
  4129. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #37:
  4130. Q: Did he pick the dog up by the ears?
  4131. A: No.
  4132. Q: What was he doing with the dog's ears?
  4133. A: Picking them up in the air.
  4134. Q: Where was the dog at this time?
  4135. A: Attached to the ears.
  4136. %
  4137. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #3:
  4138. Q: When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were
  4139. able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to
  4140. go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with
  4141. him to the station?
  4142. MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot.
  4143. %
  4144. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #41:
  4145. Q: Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
  4146. A: By death.
  4147. Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
  4148. %
  4149. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #52:
  4150. Q: What is your name?
  4151. A: Ernestine McDowell.
  4152. Q: And what is your marital status?
  4153. A: Fair.
  4154. %
  4155. Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #7:
  4156. Q: What happened then?
  4157. A: He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify
  4158. me."
  4159. Q: Did he kill you?
  4160. A: No.
  4161. %
  4162. fortune: CPU time/usefulness ratio too high -- core dumped.
  4163. %
  4164. Fortune: You will be attacked next Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. by six samurai
  4165. sword wielding purple fish glued to Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
  4166. Oh, and have a nice day!
  4167. -- Bryce Nesbitt '84
  4168. %
  4169. Fourth Law of Applied Terror:
  4170. The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology
  4171. instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria.
  4172. Corollary:
  4173. Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do
  4174. except study for that instructor's course.
  4175. %
  4176. Fourth Law of Revision:
  4177. It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about
  4178. interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for you.
  4179. %
  4180. Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: If the probability of success is not
  4181. almost one, it is damn near zero.
  4182. -- David Ellis
  4183. %
  4184. Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a
  4185. policeman's tie.
  4186. %
  4187. Fresco's Discovery:
  4188. If you knew what you were doing you'd probably be bored.
  4189. %
  4190. Friends, Romans, Hipsters,
  4191. Let me clue you in;
  4192. I come to put down Caesar, not to groove him.
  4193. The square kicks some cats are on stay with them;
  4194. The hip bits, like, go down under; so let it lay with Caesar. The cool Brutus
  4195. Gave you the message: Caesar had big eyes;
  4196. If that's the sound, someone's copping a plea,
  4197. And, like, old Caesar really set them straight.
  4198. Here, copacetic with Brutus and the studs, -- for Brutus is a real cool cat;
  4199. So are they all, all cool cats, --
  4200. Come I to make this gig at Caesar's laying down.
  4201. %
  4202. Frisbeetarianism, n.:
  4203. The belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and
  4204. gets stuck.
  4205. %
  4206. Frobnicate, v.:
  4207. To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from FROBNITZ.
  4208. Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the saying "to frob a
  4209. frob". See TWEAK and TWIDDLE. Usage: FROB, TWIDDLE, and TWEAK
  4210. sometimes connote points along a continuum. FROB connotes aimless
  4211. manipulation; TWIDDLE connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse
  4212. search for a proper setting; TWEAK connotes fine-tuning. If someone is
  4213. turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it
  4214. he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the
  4215. screen he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because
  4216. turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it.
  4217. %
  4218. Frobnitz, pl. Frobnitzem (frob'nitsm) n.:
  4219. An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to
  4220. electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to
  4221. FROTZ, or more commonly to FROB. Also used are FROBNULE, FROBULE, and
  4222. FROBNODULE. Starting perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl.
  4223. FROBBOTZIM, has also become very popular, largely due to its exposure
  4224. via the Adventure spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be
  4225. applied to non-physical objects, such as data structures.
  4226. %
  4227. [From an announcement of a congress of the International Ontopsychology
  4228. Association, in Rome]:
  4229. The Ontopsychological school, availing itself of new research criteria
  4230. and of a new telematic epistemology, maintains that social modes do not
  4231. spring from dialectics of territory or of class, or of consumer goods,
  4232. or of means of power, but rather from dynamic latencies capillarized in
  4233. millions of individuals in system functions which, once they have
  4234. reached the event maturation, burst forth in catastrophic phenomenology
  4235. engaging a suitable stereotype protagonist or duty marionette (general,
  4236. president, political party, etc.) to consummate the act of social
  4237. schizophrenia in mass genocide.
  4238. %
  4239. From the "Guiness Book of World Records", 1973:
  4240. Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation and
  4241. the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the
  4242. Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his
  4243. candidate which reads, "In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground
  4244. nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts,
  4245. other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not
  4246. qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their
  4247. being nuts (unground)."
  4248. %
  4249. From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was
  4250. convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.
  4251. -- Groucho Marx, from "The Book of Insults"
  4252. %
  4253. [From the operation manual for the CI-300 Dot Matrix Line Printer, made
  4254. in Japan]:
  4255. The excellent output machine of MODEL CI-300 as extraordinary DOT
  4256. MATRIX LINE PRINTER, built in two MICRO-PROCESSORs as well as EAROM, is
  4257. featured by permitting wonderful co-existence such as; "high quality
  4258. against low cost", "diversified functions with compact design",
  4259. "flexibility in accessibleness and durability of approx. 2000,000,00
  4260. Dot/Head", "being sophisticated in mechanism but possibly agile
  4261. operating under noises being extremely suppressed" etc.
  4262. And as a matter of course, the final goal is just simply to help
  4263. achieve "super shuttle diplomacy" between cool data, perhaps earned by
  4264. HOST COMPUTER, and warm heart of human being.
  4265. %
  4266. From the Pro 350 Pocket Service Guide, p. 49, Step 5 of the
  4267. instructions on removing an I/O board from the card cage, comes a new
  4268. experience in sound:
  4269. 5. Turn the handle to the right 90 degrees. The pin-spreading
  4270. sound is normal for this type of connector.
  4271. %
  4272. From too much love of living,
  4273. From hope and fear set free,
  4274. We thank with brief thanksgiving,
  4275. Whatever gods may be,
  4276. That no life lives forever,
  4277. That dead men rise up never,
  4278. That even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.
  4279. -- Swinburne
  4280. %
  4281. Fuch's Warning:
  4282. If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren't well
  4283. enough to travel.
  4284. %
  4285. Fudd's First Law of Opposition:
  4286. Push something hard enough and it will fall over.
  4287. %
  4288. Furbling, v.:
  4289. Having to wander through a maze of ropes at an airport or bank
  4290. even when you are the only person in line.
  4291. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  4292. %
  4293. Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.
  4294. -- H. H. Williams
  4295. %
  4296. Future looks spotty. You will spill soup in late evening.
  4297. %
  4298. G. B. Shaw to William Douglas Home: "Go on writing plays, my boy. One
  4299. of these days a London producer will go into his office and say to his
  4300. secretary, `Is there a play from Shaw this morning?' and when she says
  4301. `No,' he will say, `Well, then we'll have to start on the rubbish.' And
  4302. that's your chance, my boy."
  4303. %
  4304. Garbage In -- Gospel Out.
  4305. %
  4306. Garter, n.:
  4307. An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her
  4308. stockings and desolating the country.
  4309. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  4310. %
  4311. Gauls! We have nothing to fear; except perhaps that the sky may fall
  4312. on our heads tomorrow. But as we all know, tomorrow never comes!!
  4313. -- Adventures of Asterix
  4314. %
  4315. Gay shlafen: Yiddish for "go to sleep".
  4316. Now doesn't "gay shlafen" have a softer, more soothing sound
  4317. than the harsh, staccato "go to sleep"? Listen to the difference:
  4318. "Go to sleep, you little wretch!" ... "Gay shlafen, darling."
  4319. Obvious, isn't it?
  4320. Clearly the best thing you can do for you children is to start
  4321. speaking Yiddish right now and never speak another word of English as
  4322. long as you live. This will, of course, entail teaching Yiddish to all
  4323. your friends, business associates, the people at the supermarket, and
  4324. so on, but that's just the point. It has to start with committed
  4325. individuals and then grow ...
  4326. Some minor adjustments will have to be made, of course: those
  4327. signs written in what look like Yiddish letters won't be funny when
  4328. everything is written in Yiddish. And we'll have to start driving on
  4329. the left side of the road so we won't be reading the street signs
  4330. backwards. But is that too high a price to pay for world peace? I
  4331. think not, my friend, I think not.
  4332. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  4333. %
  4334. "Gee, Mudhead, everyone at More Science High has an
  4335. extracurricular activity except you."
  4336. "Well, gee, doesn't Louise count?"
  4337. "Only to ten, Mudhead."
  4338. -- The Firesign Theatre
  4339. %
  4340. Gee, Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore.
  4341. %
  4342. GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)
  4343. You are a quick and intelligent thinker. People like you
  4344. because you are bisexual. However, you are inclined to expect too much
  4345. for too little. This means you are cheap. Geminis are known for
  4346. committing incest.
  4347. %
  4348. GEMINI (May 21 to Jun. 20)
  4349. Good news and bad news highlighted. Enjoy the good news while
  4350. you can; the bad news will make you forget it. You will enjoy praise
  4351. and respect from those around you; everybody loves a sucker. A short
  4352. trip is in the stars, possibly to the men's room.
  4353. %
  4354. Genderplex, n.:
  4355. The predicament of a person in a restaurant who is unable to
  4356. determine his or her designated restroom (e.g., turtles and
  4357. tortoises).
  4358. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  4359. %
  4360. Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why
  4361. you should.
  4362. %
  4363. Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus
  4364. handicapped.
  4365. -- Elbert Hubbard
  4366. %
  4367. Genius, n.:
  4368. A chemist who discovers a laundry additive that rhymes with
  4369. "bright".
  4370. %
  4371. George Orwell 1984. Northwestern 0.
  4372. -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
  4373. %
  4374. George Orwell was an optimist.
  4375. %
  4376. George Washington was first in war, first in peace -- and the first to
  4377. have his birthday juggled to make a long weekend.
  4378. -- Ashley Cooper
  4379. %
  4380. Gerrold's Laws of Infernal Dynamics:
  4381. (1) An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong
  4382. direction.
  4383. (2) An object at rest will always be in the wrong place.
  4384. (3) The energy required to change either one of these states
  4385. will always be more than you wish to expend, but never so
  4386. much as to make the task totally impossible.
  4387. %
  4388. Get forgiveness now -- tomorrow you may no longer feel guilty.
  4389. %
  4390. Get GUMMed
  4391. --- ------
  4392. The Gurus of Unix Meeting of Minds (GUMM) takes place Wednesday, April
  4393. 1, 2076 (check THAT in your perpetual calendar program), 14 feet above
  4394. the ground directly in front of the Milpitas Gumps. Members will grep
  4395. each other by the hand (after intro), yacc a lot, smoke filtered
  4396. chroots in pipes, chown with forks, use the wc (unless uuclean), fseek
  4397. nice zombie processes, strip, and sleep, but not, we hope, od. Three
  4398. days will be devoted to discussion of the ramifications of whodo. Two
  4399. seconds have been allotted for a complete rundown of all the user-
  4400. friendly features of Unix. Seminars include "Everything You Know is
  4401. Wrong", led by Tom Kempson, "Batman or Cat:man?" led by Richie Dennis
  4402. "cc C? Si! Si!" led by Kerwin Bernighan, and "Document Unix, Are You
  4403. Kidding?" led by Jan Yeats. No Reader Service No. is necessary because
  4404. all GUGUs (Gurus of Unix Group of Users) already know everything we
  4405. could tell them.
  4406. -- Dr. Dobb's Journal, June '84
  4407. %
  4408. Get Revenge! Live long enough to be a problem for your children!
  4409. %
  4410. -- Gifts for Children --
  4411. This is easy. You never have to figure out what to get for children,
  4412. because they will tell you exactly what they want. They spend months
  4413. and months researching these kinds of things by watching Saturday-
  4414. morning cartoon-show advertisements. Make sure you get your children
  4415. exactly what they ask for, even if you disapprove of their choices. If
  4416. your child thinks he wants Murderous Bob, the Doll with the Face You
  4417. Can Rip Right Off, you'd better get it. You may be worried that it
  4418. might help to encourage your child's antisocial tendencies, but believe
  4419. me, you have not seen antisocial tendencies until you've seen a child
  4420. who is convinced that he or she did not get the right gift.
  4421. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  4422. %
  4423. -- Gifts for Men --
  4424. Men are amused by almost any idiot thing -- that is why professional
  4425. ice hockey is so popular -- so buying gifts for them is easy. But you
  4426. should never buy them clothes. Men believe they already have all the
  4427. clothes they will ever need, and new ones make them nervous. For
  4428. example, your average man has 84 ties, but he wears, at most, only
  4429. three of them. He has learned, through humiliating trial and error,
  4430. that if he wears any of the other 81 ties, his wife will probably laugh
  4431. at him ("You're not going to wear THAT tie with that suit, are you?").
  4432. So he has narrowed it down to three safe ties, and has gone several
  4433. years without being laughed at. If you give him a new tie, he will
  4434. pretend to like it, but deep inside he will hate you.
  4435. If you want to give a man something practical, consider tires. More
  4436. than once, I would have gladly traded all the gifts I got for a new set
  4437. of tires.
  4438. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  4439. %
  4440. Gimmie That Old Time Religion
  4441. We will follow Zarathustra, We will worship like the Druids,
  4442. Zarathustra like we use to, Dancing naked in the woods,
  4443. I'm a Zarathustra booster, Drinking strange fermented fluids,
  4444. And he's good enough for me! And it's good enough for me!
  4445. (chorus) (chorus)
  4446. In the church of Aphrodite,
  4447. The priestess wears a see-through nightie,
  4448. She's a mighty righteous sightie,
  4449. And she's good enough for me!
  4450. (chorus)
  4451. CHORUS: Give me that old time religion,
  4452. Give me that old time religion,
  4453. Give me that old time religion,
  4454. 'Cause it's good enough for me!
  4455. %
  4456. Ginsberg's Theorem:
  4457. (1) You can't win.
  4458. (2) You can't break even.
  4459. (3) You can't even quit the game.
  4460. Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's theorem:
  4461. Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem
  4462. meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's
  4463. Theorem. To wit:
  4464. (1) Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
  4465. (2) Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
  4466. (3) Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.
  4467. %
  4468. Give me a Plumber's friend the size of the Pittsburgh dome, and a place
  4469. to stand, and I will drain the world.
  4470. %
  4471. Give me enough medals, and I'll win any war.
  4472. -- Napoleon
  4473. %
  4474. Give me the Luxuries, and the Hell with the Necessities!
  4475. %
  4476. Give thought to your reputation. Consider changing name and moving to
  4477. a new town.
  4478. %
  4479. Give your child mental blocks for Christmas.
  4480. %
  4481. Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying
  4482. around, I'd rather lie around. No contest.
  4483. -- Eric Clapton
  4484. %
  4485. Giving up on assembly language was the apple in our Garden of Eden:
  4486. Languages whose use squanders machine cycles are sinful. The LISP
  4487. machine now permits LISP programmers to abandon bra and fig-leaf.
  4488. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  4489. %
  4490. Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability:
  4491. Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the
  4492. probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some
  4493. useful work done.
  4494. %
  4495. Gnagloot, n.:
  4496. A person who leaves all his ski passes on his jacket just to
  4497. impress people.
  4498. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  4499. %
  4500. Go 'way! You're bothering me!
  4501. %
  4502. Go climb a gravity well!
  4503. %
  4504. Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what value there may
  4505. be in owning a piece thereof.
  4506. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  4507. %
  4508. //GO.SYSIN DD *, DOODAH, DOODAH
  4509. %
  4510. God did not create the world in seven days; he screwed around for six
  4511. days and then pulled an all-nighter.
  4512. %
  4513. God doesn't play dice.
  4514. -- Albert Einstein
  4515. %
  4516. "God gives burdens; also shoulders"
  4517. Jimmy Carter cited this Jewish saying in his concession speech at the
  4518. end of the 1980 election. At least he said it was a Jewish saying; I
  4519. can't find it anywhere. I'm sure he's telling the truth though; why
  4520. would he lie about a thing like that?
  4521. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  4522. %
  4523. God has intended the great to be great and the little to be little ...
  4524. The trade unions, under the European system, destroy liberty ... I do
  4525. not mean to say that a dollar a day is enough to support a workingman
  4526. ... not enough to support a man and five children if he insists on
  4527. smoking and drinking beer. But the man who cannot live on bread and
  4528. water is not fit to live! A family may live on good bread and water in
  4529. the morning, water and bread at midday, and good bread and water at
  4530. night!
  4531. -- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
  4532. %
  4533. God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.
  4534. %
  4535. God is a polytheist.
  4536. %
  4537. God is Dead
  4538. -- Nietzsche
  4539. Nietzsche is Dead
  4540. -- God
  4541. Nietzsche is God
  4542. -- The Dead
  4543. %
  4544. God is not dead! He's alive and autographing bibles at Cody's
  4545. %
  4546. God is real, unless declared integer.
  4547. %
  4548. God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the
  4549. elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying
  4550. other things.
  4551. -- Pablo Picasso
  4552. %
  4553. God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.
  4554. -- Alfred Jarry
  4555. %
  4556. God isn't dead, he just couldn't find a parking place.
  4557. %
  4558. God made machine language; all the rest is the work of man.
  4559. %
  4560. God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board
  4561. -- Mark Twain
  4562. %
  4563. God made the integers; all else is the work of Man.
  4564. -- Kronecker
  4565. %
  4566. God made the world in six days, and was arrested on the seventh.
  4567. %
  4568. God may be subtle, but He isn't plain mean.
  4569. -- Albert Einstein
  4570. %
  4571. God must love the Common Man; He made so many of them.
  4572. %
  4573. God rest ye CS students now,
  4574. Let nothing you dismay.
  4575. The VAX is down and won't be up,
  4576. Until the first of May.
  4577. The program that was due this morn,
  4578. Won't be postponed, they say.
  4579. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy,
  4580. Comfort and joy,
  4581. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.
  4582. The bearings on the drum are gone,
  4583. The disk is wobbling, too.
  4584. We've found a bug in Lisp, and Algol
  4585. Can't tell false from true.
  4586. And now we find that we can't get
  4587. At Berkeley's 4.2.
  4588. (chorus)
  4589. %
  4590. Going to church does not make a person religious, nor does going to
  4591. school make a person educated, any more than going to a garage makes a
  4592. person a car.
  4593. %
  4594. Gold, n.:
  4595. A soft malleable metal relatively scarce in distribution. It
  4596. is mined deep in the earth by poor men who then give it to rich men who
  4597. immediately bury it back in the earth in great prisons, although gold
  4598. hasn't done anything to them.
  4599. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  4600. %
  4601. Goldenstern's Rules:
  4602. (1) Always hire a rich attorney.
  4603. (2) Never buy from a rich salesman.
  4604. %
  4605. Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad
  4606. example.
  4607. -- La Rochefoucauld
  4608. %
  4609. Good day for a change of scene. Repaper the bedroom wall.
  4610. %
  4611. Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase.
  4612. %
  4613. Good day to avoid cops. Crawl to school.
  4614. %
  4615. Good day to let down old friends who need help.
  4616. %
  4617. Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.
  4618. %
  4619. Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance.
  4620. %
  4621. Good news. Ten weeks from Friday will be a pretty good day.
  4622. %
  4623. Good night to spend with family, but avoid arguments with your mate's
  4624. new lover.
  4625. %
  4626. Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored.
  4627. -- George Saunders' dying words
  4628. %
  4629. Gordon's first law:
  4630. If a research project is not worth doing, it is not worth doing
  4631. well.
  4632. %
  4633. Gosh that takes me back... or is it forward? That's the trouble with
  4634. time travel, you never can tell.
  4635. -- Doctor Who, "Androids of Tara"
  4636. %
  4637. Got Mole problems?
  4638. Call Avogadro 6.02 x 10^23
  4639. %
  4640. Goto, n.:
  4641. A programming tool that exists to allow structured programmers
  4642. to complain about unstructured programmers.
  4643. -- Ray Simard
  4644. %
  4645. Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.
  4646. -- John Updike, "Couples"
  4647. %
  4648. Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are
  4649. different lies.
  4650. %
  4651. Government spending? I don't know what it's all about. I don't know
  4652. any more about this thing than an economist does, and, God knows, he
  4653. doesn't know much.
  4654. -- Will Rogers
  4655. %
  4656. Grabel's Law:
  4657. 2 is not equal to 3 -- not even for large values of 2.
  4658. %
  4659. Graduate life -- it's not just a job, it's an indenture.
  4660. %
  4661. Graduate life: It's not just a job. It's an indenture.
  4662. %
  4663. Grandpa Charnock's Law:
  4664. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
  4665. %
  4666. Gravity is a myth: the Earth sucks.
  4667. %
  4668. Gray's Law of Programming:
  4669. `_n+1' trivial tasks are expected to be accomplished in the same
  4670. time as `_n' tasks.
  4671. Logg's Rebuttal to Gray's Law:
  4672. `_n+1' trivial tasks take twice as long as `_n' trivial tasks.
  4673. %
  4674. Great minds run in great circles.
  4675. %
  4676. GREAT MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY #21 -- July 30, 1917
  4677. On this day, New York City hotel detectives burst in and caught then-
  4678. Senator Warren G. Harding in bed with an underage girl. He bought them
  4679. off with a $20 bribe, and later remarked thankfully, "I thought I
  4680. wouldn't get out of that under $1000!" Always one to learn from his
  4681. mistakes, in later years President Harding carried on his affairs in a
  4682. tiny closet in the White House Cabinet Room while Secret Service men
  4683. stood lookout.
  4684. %
  4685. Green light in A.M. for new projects.
  4686. Red light in P.M. for traffic tickets.
  4687. %
  4688. Greener's Law:
  4689. Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel.
  4690. %
  4691. Grelb's Reminder:
  4692. Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
  4693. average drivers.
  4694. %
  4695. Grub first, then ethics.
  4696. -- Bertolt Brecht
  4697. %
  4698. Gurmlish, n.:
  4699. The red warning flag at the top of a club sandwich which
  4700. prevents the person from biting into it and puncturing the roof of his
  4701. mouth.
  4702. -- Rich Hall & Friends, "Sniglets"
  4703. %
  4704. Gyroscope, n.:
  4705. A wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and also
  4706. free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each
  4707. other and the axis of spin so that a rotation of one of the two
  4708. mutually perpendicular axes results from application of torque to the
  4709. other when the wheel is spinning and so that the entire apparatus
  4710. offers considerable opposition depending on the angular momentum to any
  4711. torque that would change the direction of the axis of spin.
  4712. -- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary
  4713. %
  4714. H. L. Mencken suffers from the hallucination that he is H. L.
  4715. Mencken -- there is no cure for a disease of that magnitude.
  4716. -- Maxwell Bodenheim
  4717. %
  4718. H. L. Mencken's Law:
  4719. Those who can -- do.
  4720. Those who can't -- teach.
  4721. Martin's Extension:
  4722. Those who cannot teach -- administrate.
  4723. %
  4724. H: If a 'GOBLIN (HOB) waylays you,
  4725. Slice him up before he slays you.
  4726. Nothing makes you look a slob
  4727. Like running from a HOB'LIN (GOB).
  4728. -- The Roguelet's ABC
  4729. %
  4730. Hacker's Law:
  4731. The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a
  4732. nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions.
  4733. %
  4734. Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge.
  4735. %
  4736. Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror,
  4737. and you would not have been informed.
  4738. %
  4739. Hail to the sun god
  4740. He sure is a fun god
  4741. Ra! Ra! Ra!
  4742. %
  4743. Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain't that a big
  4744. enough majority in any town?
  4745. -- Mark Twain, "Huckleberry Finn"
  4746. %
  4747. Half Moon tonight. (At least it's better than no Moon at all.)
  4748. %
  4749. Half-done:
  4750. This is the best way to eat a kosher dill -- when it's still
  4751. crunchy, light green, yet full of garlic flavor. The difference
  4752. between this and the typical soggy dark green cucumber corpse is like
  4753. the difference between life and death.
  4754. You may find it difficult to find a good half-done kosher dill
  4755. there in Seattle, so what you should do is take a cab out to the
  4756. airport, fly to New York, take the JFK Express to Jay Street-Borough
  4757. Hall, transfer to an uptown F, get off at East Broadway, walk north on
  4758. Essex (along the park), make your first left onto Hester Street, walk
  4759. about fifteen steps, turn ninety degrees left, and stop. Say to the
  4760. man, "Let me have a nice half-done."
  4761. Worth the trouble, wasn't it?
  4762. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  4763. %
  4764. Hall's Laws of Politics:
  4765. (1) The voters want fewer taxes and more spending.
  4766. (2) Citizens want honest politicians until they want something
  4767. fixed.
  4768. (3) Constituency drives out consistency (i.e., liberals defend
  4769. military spending, and conservatives social spending in
  4770. their own districts).
  4771. %
  4772. Hand, n.:
  4773. A singular instrument worn at the end of a human arm and
  4774. commonly thrust into somebody's pocket.
  4775. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  4776. %
  4777. Hanlon's Razor:
  4778. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
  4779. stupidity.
  4780. %
  4781. Hanson's Treatment of Time:
  4782. There are never enough hours in a day, but always too many days
  4783. before Saturday.
  4784. %
  4785. Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.
  4786. -- Ogden Nash
  4787. %
  4788. Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
  4789. -- Oscar Levant
  4790. %
  4791. Happiness, n.:
  4792. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of
  4793. another.
  4794. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  4795. %
  4796. Hard work may not kill you, but why take chances?
  4797. %
  4798. Hardware, n.:
  4799. The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.
  4800. %
  4801. Hark ye, Clinker, you are a most notorious offender. You stand
  4802. convicted of sickness, hunger, wretchedness, and want.
  4803. -- Tobias Smollet
  4804. %
  4805. Hark, Hark, the dogs do bark
  4806. The Duke is fond of kittens
  4807. He likes to take their insides out
  4808. And use them for his mittens
  4809. From "The Thirteen Clocks"
  4810. %
  4811. Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
  4812. Advertising wondrous things.
  4813. -- Tom Lehrer
  4814. %
  4815. Harris's Lament:
  4816. All the good ones are taken.
  4817. %
  4818. Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab:
  4819. Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment
  4820. ruined.
  4821. %
  4822. Harry is heavily into camping, and every year in the late fall, he
  4823. makes us all go to Assateague, which is an island on the Atlantic Ocean
  4824. famous for its wild horses. I realize that the concept of wild horses
  4825. probably stirs romantic notions in many of you, but this is because you
  4826. have never met any wild horses in person. In person, they are like
  4827. enormous hooved rats. They amble up to your camp site, and their
  4828. attitude is: "We're wild horses. We're going to eat your food, knock
  4829. down your tent and poop on your shoes. We're protected by federal law,
  4830. just like Richard Nixon."
  4831. -- Dave Barry, "Tenting Grandpa Bob"
  4832. %
  4833. Hartley's First Law:
  4834. You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float
  4835. on his back, you've got something.
  4836. %
  4837. Hartley's Second Law:
  4838. Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself.
  4839. %
  4840. Harvard Law:
  4841. Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure,
  4842. temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will
  4843. do as it damn well pleases.
  4844. %
  4845. "Has anyone had problems with the computer accounts?"
  4846. "Yes, I don't have one."
  4847. "Okay, you can send mail to one of the tutors ..."
  4848. -- E. D'Azevedo, Computer Science 372
  4849. %
  4850. Has everyone noticed that all the letters of the word "database" are
  4851. typed with the left hand? Now the layout of the QWERTYUIOP typewriter
  4852. keyboard was designed, among other things, to facilitate the even use
  4853. of both hands. It follows, therefore, that writing about databases is
  4854. not only unnatural, but a lot harder than it appears.
  4855. %
  4856. Has your family tried 'em?
  4857. POWDERMILK BISCUITS
  4858. Heavens, they're tasty and expeditious!
  4859. They're made from whole wheat, to give shy persons the
  4860. strength to get up and do what needs to be done.
  4861. POWDERMILK BISCUITS
  4862. Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the
  4863. biscuit on the front, or in the brown bag with the dark stains
  4864. that indicate freshness.
  4865. %
  4866. Hatred, n.:
  4867. A sentiment appropriate to the occasion of another's
  4868. superiority.
  4869. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  4870. %
  4871. Have an adequate day.
  4872. %
  4873. Have people realized that the purpose of the fortune cookie program is
  4874. to defuse project tensions? When did you ever see a cheerful cookie, a
  4875. non-cynical, or even an informative cookie?
  4876. Perhaps inadvertently, we have a channel for our aggressions. This
  4877. still begs the question of whether the cookie releases the pressure or
  4878. only serves to blunt the warning signs.
  4879. Long live the revolution!
  4880. Have a nice day.
  4881. %
  4882. Have you ever noticed that the people who are always trying to tell
  4883. you, "There's a time for work and a time for play," never find the time
  4884. for play?
  4885. %
  4886. Have you ever wondered what makes Californians so calm? Besides drugs,
  4887. I mean. The answer is hot tubs. A hot tub is a redwood container
  4888. filled with water that you sit in naked with members of the opposite
  4889. sex, none of whom is necessarily your spouse. After a few hours in
  4890. their hot tubs, Californians don't give a damn about earthquakes or
  4891. mass murderers. They don't give a damn about anything , which is why
  4892. they are able to produce "Laverne and Shirley" week after week.
  4893. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  4894. %
  4895. "Have you lived here all your life?"
  4896. "Oh, twice that long."
  4897. %
  4898. Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a
  4899. crack in your sidewalk?
  4900. %
  4901. Have you noticed the way people's intelligence capabilities decline
  4902. sharply the minute they start waving guns around?
  4903. -- Dr. Who
  4904. %
  4905. Have you reconsidered a computer career?
  4906. %
  4907. He did decide, though, that with more time and a great deal of mental
  4908. effort, he could probably turn the activity into an acceptable
  4909. perversion.
  4910. -- Mick Farren, "When Gravity Fails"
  4911. %
  4912. He flung himself on his horse and rode madly off in all directions.
  4913. -- Stephen Leacock
  4914. %
  4915. He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation
  4916. perfectly delightful.
  4917. -- Sydney Smith
  4918. %
  4919. He had that rare weird electricity about him -- that extremely wild and
  4920. heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope
  4921. of ever behaving "normally."
  4922. -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing '72"
  4923. %
  4924. He hadn't a single redeeming vice.
  4925. -- Oscar Wilde
  4926. %
  4927. He is now rising from affluence to poverty.
  4928. -- Mark Twain
  4929. %
  4930. He looked at me as if I was a side dish he hadn't ordered.
  4931. %
  4932. He played the king as if afraid someone else would play the ace.
  4933. -- John Mason Brown, drama critic
  4934. %
  4935. He thought he saw an albatross
  4936. That fluttered 'round the lamp.
  4937. He looked again and saw it was
  4938. A penny postage stamp.
  4939. "You'd best be getting home," he said,
  4940. "The nights are rather damp."
  4941. %
  4942. He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue.
  4943. -- Jonathan Swift
  4944. %
  4945. He was a modest, good-humored boy. It was Oxford that made him insufferable.
  4946. %
  4947. He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
  4948. %
  4949. He who attacks the fundamentals of the American broadcasting industry
  4950. attacks democracy itself.
  4951. -- William S. Paley, chairman of CBS
  4952. %
  4953. He who Laughs, Lasts.
  4954. %
  4955. He's just a politician trying to save both his faces ...
  4956. %
  4957. He's the kind of guy, that, well, if you were ever in a jam he'd be
  4958. there ... with two slices of bread and some chunky peanut butter.
  4959. %
  4960. He's the kind of man for the times that need the kind of man he is ...
  4961. %
  4962. HE: Let's end it all, bequeathin' our brains to science.
  4963. SHE: What?!? Science got enough trouble with their ___OWN brains.
  4964. -- Walt Kelley
  4965. %
  4966. Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
  4967. %
  4968. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying
  4969. of nothing.
  4970. -- Redd Foxx
  4971. %
  4972. Heaven, n.:
  4973. A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of
  4974. their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you
  4975. expound your own.
  4976. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  4977. %
  4978. Heavy, adj.:
  4979. Seduced by the chocolate side of the force.
  4980. %
  4981. Heisenberg may have slept here.
  4982. %
  4983. Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
  4984. -- Milton Friedman
  4985. %
  4986. Heller's Law:
  4987. The first myth of management is that it exists.
  4988. Johnson's Corollary:
  4989. Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the
  4990. organization.
  4991. %
  4992. "Hello," he lied.
  4993. -- Don Carpenter quoting a Hollywood agent
  4994. %
  4995. Help a swallow land at Capistrano.
  4996. %
  4997. Help fight continental drift.
  4998. %
  4999. Help me, I'm a prisoner in a Fortune cookie file!
  5000. %
  5001. Help stamp out and abolish redundancy.
  5002. %
  5003. Help! I'm trapped in a PDP 11/70!
  5004. %
  5005. HELP! MY TYPEWRITER IS BROKEN!
  5006. -- E. E. CUMMINGS
  5007. %
  5008. Her locks an ancient lady gave
  5009. Her loving husband's life to save;
  5010. And men -- they honored so the dame --
  5011. Upon some stars bestowed her name.
  5012. But to our modern married fair,
  5013. Who'd give their lords to save their hair,
  5014. No stellar recognition's given.
  5015. There are not stars enough in heaven.
  5016. %
  5017. Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from
  5018. Presidents and Kings to the scum of the earth ...
  5019. %
  5020. Here I sit, broken-hearted,
  5021. All logged in, but work unstarted.
  5022. First net.this and net.that,
  5023. And a hot buttered bun for net.fat.
  5024. The boss comes by, and I play the game,
  5025. Then I turn back to net.flame.
  5026. Is there a cure (I need your views),
  5027. For someone trapped in net.news?
  5028. I need your help, I say 'tween sobs,
  5029. 'Cause I'll soon be listed in net.jobs.
  5030. %
  5031. Here in my heart, I am Helen;
  5032. I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least.
  5033. I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Sta"el;
  5034. I'm Salome, moon of the East.
  5035. Here in my soul I am Sappho;
  5036. Lady Hamilton am I, as well.
  5037. In me R'ecamier vies with Kitty O'Shea,
  5038. With Dido, and Eve, and poor nell.
  5039. I'm all of the glamorous ladies
  5040. At whose beckoning history shook.
  5041. But you are a man, and see only my pan,
  5042. So I stay at home with a book.
  5043. -- Dorothy Parker
  5044. %
  5045. Here is a simple experiment that will teach you an important electrical
  5046. lesson: On a cool, dry day, scuff your feet along a carpet, then reach
  5047. your hand into a friend's mouth and touch one of his dental fillings.
  5048. Did you notice how your friend twitched violently and cried out in
  5049. pain? This teaches us that electricity can be a very powerful force,
  5050. but we must never use it to hurt others unless we need to learn an
  5051. important electrical lesson.
  5052. It also teaches us how an electrical circuit works. When you scuffed
  5053. your feet, you picked up batches of "electrons", which are very small
  5054. objects that carpet manufacturers weave into carpets so they will
  5055. attract dirt. The electrons travel through your bloodstream and
  5056. collect in your finger, where they form a spark that leaps to your
  5057. friend's filling, then travels down to his feet and back into the
  5058. carpet, thus completing the circuit.
  5059. Amazing Electronic Fact: If you scuffed your feet long enough without
  5060. touching anything, you would build up so many electrons that your
  5061. finger would explode! But this is nothing to worry about unless you
  5062. have carpeting.
  5063. -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
  5064. %
  5065. Here is the fact of the week, maybe even the fact of the
  5066. month. According to probably reliable sources, the Coca-Cola people
  5067. are experiencing severe marketing anxiety in China.
  5068. The words "Coca-Cola" translate into Chinese as either
  5069. (depending on the inflection) "wax-fattened mare" or "bite the wax
  5070. tadpole".
  5071. Bite the wax tadpole.
  5072. There is a sort of rough justice, is there not?
  5073. The trouble with this fact, as lovely as it is, is that it's
  5074. hard to get a whole column out of it. I'd like to teach the world to
  5075. bite a wax tadpole. Coke -- it's the real wax-fattened mare. Not bad,
  5076. but broad satiric vistas do not open up.
  5077. -- John Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
  5078. %
  5079. Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like
  5080. `Psychic Wins Lottery'?
  5081. -- Jay Leno
  5082. %
  5083. Heuristics are bug ridden by definition. If they didn't have bugs,
  5084. then they'd be algorithms.
  5085. %
  5086. Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??!
  5087. -- W. C. Fields
  5088. %
  5089. Hi there! This is just a note from me, to you, to tell you, the person
  5090. reading this note, that I can't think up any more famous quotes, jokes,
  5091. nor bizarre stories, so you may as well go home.
  5092. %
  5093. "Hi, I'm Preston A. Mantis, president of Consumers Retail Law Outlet.
  5094. As you can see by my suit and the fact that I have all these books of
  5095. equal height on the shelves behind me, I am a trained legal attorney.
  5096. Do you have a car or a job? Do you ever walk around? If so, you
  5097. probably have the makings of an excellent legal case. Although of
  5098. course every case is different, I would definitely say that based on my
  5099. experience and training, there's no reason why you shouldn't come out
  5100. of this thing with at least a cabin cruiser.
  5101. "Remember, at the Preston A. Mantis Consumers Retail Law Outlet, our
  5102. motto is: 'It is very difficult to disprove certain kinds of pain.'"
  5103. -- Dave Barry, "Pain and Suffering"
  5104. %
  5105. Hier liegt ein Mann ganz ohnegleich;
  5106. Im Leibe dick, an Suenden reich.
  5107. Wir haben ihn in das Grab gesteckt, Here lies a man with sundry flaws
  5108. Weil es uns duenkt er sei verreckt. And numerous Sins upon his head;
  5109. We buried him today because
  5110. As far as we can tell, he's dead.
  5111. -- PDQ Bach's epitaph, as requested by his cousin Betty
  5112. Sue Bach and written by the local doggerel catcher;
  5113. "The Definitive Biography of PDQ Bach", Peter Schickele
  5114. %
  5115. Higgledy Piggledy,
  5116. Hamlet of Elsinore
  5117. Ruffled the critics by
  5118. Dropping this bomb:
  5119. "Phooey on Freud and his
  5120. Psychoanalysis --
  5121. Oedipus, Shmoedipus,
  5122. I just loved Mom."
  5123. %
  5124. Hindsight is an exact science.
  5125. %
  5126. Hippogriff, n.:
  5127. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin.
  5128. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle.
  5129. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one quarter eagle, which
  5130. is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full
  5131. of surprises.
  5132. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  5133. %
  5134. Hire the morally handicapped.
  5135. %
  5136. His great aim was to escape from civilization, and, as soon as he had
  5137. money, he went to Southern California.
  5138. %
  5139. His mind is like a steel trap -- full of mice.
  5140. -- Foghorn Leghorn
  5141. %
  5142. His super power is to turn into a scotch terrier.
  5143. %
  5144. History is curious stuff
  5145. You'd think by now we had enough
  5146. Yet the fact remains I fear
  5147. They make more of it every year.
  5148. %
  5149. History repeats itself. That's one thing wrong with history.
  5150. %
  5151. History, n.:
  5152. Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we
  5153. learn nothing from history. I know people who can't even learn from
  5154. what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long
  5155. view.
  5156. -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab"
  5157. %
  5158. Hlade's Law:
  5159. If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person -- they
  5160. will find an easier way to do it.
  5161. %
  5162. Hoare's Law of Large Problems:
  5163. Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get out.
  5164. %
  5165. Hofstadter's Law:
  5166. It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take
  5167. Hofstadter's Law into account.
  5168. %
  5169. Hollywood is where if you don't have happiness you send out for it.
  5170. -- Rex Reed
  5171. %
  5172. Home centers are designed for the do-it-yourselfer who's
  5173. willing to pay higher prices for the convenience of being able to shop
  5174. for lumber, hardware, and toasters all in one location. Notice I say
  5175. "shop for", as opposed to "obtain". This is the major drawback of home
  5176. centers: they are always out of everything except artificial Christmas
  5177. trees. The home center employees have no time to reorder merchandise
  5178. because they are too busy applying little price stickers to every
  5179. object -- every board, washer, nail and screw -- in the entire store ...
  5180. Let's say a piece in your toilet tank breaks, so you remove the
  5181. broken part, take it to the home center, and ask an employee if he has
  5182. a replacement. The employee, who has never is his life even seen the
  5183. inside of a toilet tank, will peer at the broken part in very much the
  5184. same way that a member of a primitive Amazon jungle tribe would look at
  5185. an electronic calculator, and then say, "We're expecting a shipment of
  5186. these sometime around the middle of next week".
  5187. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  5188. %
  5189. Home of Doberman Propulsion Laboratories:
  5190. The ultimate in watchdog weaponry.
  5191. -- Chris Shaw
  5192. %
  5193. Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
  5194. %
  5195. Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.
  5196. -- F. M. Hubbard
  5197. %
  5198. Honk if you hate bumper stickers that say "Honk if ..."
  5199. %
  5200. Honk if you love peace and quiet.
  5201. %
  5202. Honorable, adj.:
  5203. Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach. In legislative
  5204. bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the
  5205. honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur."
  5206. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  5207. %
  5208. Horngren's Observation:
  5209. Among economists, the real world is often a special case.
  5210. %
  5211. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on
  5212. people.
  5213. -- W. C. Fields
  5214. %
  5215. Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants in Marshalltown, Iowa.
  5216. %
  5217. Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.
  5218. -- Neil Armstrong
  5219. %
  5220. How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
  5221. %
  5222. How come only your friends step on your new white sneakers?
  5223. %
  5224. How come wrong numbers are never busy?
  5225. %
  5226. How do I love thee? My accumulator overflows.
  5227. %
  5228. How do you explain school to a higher intelligence?
  5229. -- Elliot, "E.T."
  5230. %
  5231. How doth the little crocodile
  5232. Improve his shining tail,
  5233. And pour the waters of the Nile
  5234. On every golden scale!
  5235. How cheerfully he seems to grin,
  5236. How neatly spreads his claws,
  5237. And welcomes little fishes in,
  5238. With gently smiling jaws!
  5239. -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
  5240. %
  5241. How doth the VAX's C compiler
  5242. Improve its object code.
  5243. And even as we speak does it
  5244. Increase the system load.
  5245. How patiently it seems to run
  5246. And spit out error flags,
  5247. While users, with frustration, all
  5248. Tear their clothes to rags.
  5249. %
  5250. How I love to watch the morn,
  5251. With golden sun that shines,
  5252. Up above to nicely warm
  5253. These frosty toes of mine.
  5254. The wind doth taste so bitter sweet,
  5255. Like Jaspar wine and sugar,
  5256. It must have blown through someone's feet,
  5257. Like those of ... Caspar Weinberger.
  5258. -- P. Opus (Bloom County)
  5259. %
  5260. How doth the VAX's C-compiler
  5261. Improve its object code.
  5262. And even as we speak does it
  5263. Increase the system load.
  5264. How patiently it seems to run
  5265. And spit out error flags,
  5266. While users, with frustration, all
  5267. Tear all their clothes to rags.
  5268. %
  5269. How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're
  5270. on.
  5271. %
  5272. How many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
  5273. None: "We'll fix it in software."
  5274. How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
  5275. None: "We'll document it in the manual."
  5276. How many tech writers does it take to change a lightbulb?
  5277. None: "The user can work it out."
  5278. %
  5279. How many hors d'oeuvres you are allowed to take off a tray being
  5280. carried by a waiter at a nice party?
  5281. Two, but there are ways around it, depending on the style of the hors
  5282. d'oeuvre. If they're those little pastry things where you can't tell
  5283. what's inside, you take one, bite off about two-thirds of it, then
  5284. say: "This is cheese! I hate cheese!" Then you put the rest of it
  5285. back on the tray and bite another one and go, "Darn it! Another
  5286. cheese!" and so on.
  5287. -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
  5288. %
  5289. How many seconds are there in a year? If I tell you there are
  5290. 3.155 x 10^7, you won't even try to remember it. On the other hand,
  5291. who could forget that, to within half a percent, pi seconds is a
  5292. nanocentury.
  5293. -- Tom Duff, Bell Labs
  5294. %
  5295. How much does it cost to entice a dope-smoking UNIX system guru to Dayton?
  5296. -- Brian Boyle, UNIX/WORLD's First Annual Salary Survey
  5297. %
  5298. How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers.
  5299. %
  5300. HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
  5301. #1040 Your income tax refund cheque bounces.
  5302. %
  5303. HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
  5304. #15 Your pet rock snaps at you.
  5305. %
  5306. HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
  5307. #32: You call your answering service and they've never heard of you.
  5308. %
  5309. Howe's Law:
  5310. Everyone has a scheme that will not work.
  5311. %
  5312. However, never daunted, I will cope with adversity in my traditional
  5313. manner ... sulking and nausea.
  5314. -- Tom K. Ryan
  5315. %
  5316. HR 3128. Omnibus Budget Reconciliation, Fiscal 1986. Martin, R-Ill.,
  5317. motion that the House recede from its disagreement to the Senate
  5318. amendment making changes in the bill to reduce fiscal 1986 deficits.
  5319. The Senate amendment was an amendment to the House amendment to the
  5320. Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the
  5321. bill. The original Senate amendment was the conference agreement on
  5322. the bill. Agreed to.
  5323. -- Albuquerque Journal
  5324. %
  5325. Hug O' War
  5326. I will not play at tug o' war.
  5327. I'd rather play at hug o' war,
  5328. Where everyone hugs
  5329. Instead of tugs,
  5330. Where everyone giggles
  5331. And rolls on the rug,
  5332. Where everyone kisses,
  5333. And everyone grins,
  5334. And everyone cuddles,
  5335. And everyone wins.
  5336. -- Shel Silverstein
  5337. %
  5338. Human beings were created by water to transport it uphill.
  5339. %
  5340. Human cardiac catheterization was introduced by Werner Forssman in
  5341. 1929. Ignoring his department chief, and tying his assistant to an
  5342. operating table to prevent his interference, he placed a urethral
  5343. catheter into a vein in his arm, advanced it to the right atrium [of
  5344. his heart], and walked upstairs to the x-ray department where he took
  5345. the confirmatory x-ray film. In 1956, Dr. Forssman was awarded the
  5346. Nobel Prize.
  5347. %
  5348. Hummingbirds never remember the words to songs.
  5349. %
  5350. Humor is a drug which it's the fashion to abuse.
  5351. -- William Gilbert
  5352. %
  5353. Hurewitz's Memory Principle:
  5354. The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional
  5355. to ..... to ........ uh ..............
  5356. %
  5357. I also believe that academic freedom should protect the right of a
  5358. professor or student to advocate Marxism, socialism, communism, or any
  5359. other minority viewpoint -- no matter how distasteful to the majority.
  5360. -- Richard M. Nixon
  5361. What are our schools for if not indoctrination against Communism?
  5362. -- Richard M. Nixon
  5363. %
  5364. I am convinced that the manufacturers of carpet odor removing powder
  5365. have included encapsulated time released cat urine in their products.
  5366. This technology must be what prevented its distribution during my mom's
  5367. reign. My carpet smells like piss, and I don't have a cat. Better go
  5368. buy some more.
  5369. -- timw@zeb.USWest.COM
  5370. %
  5371. I am more bored than you could ever possibly be. Go back to work.
  5372. %
  5373. I am not an Economist. I am an honest man!
  5374. -- Paul McCracken
  5375. %
  5376. I am not now, and never have been, a girlfriend of Henry Kissinger.
  5377. -- Gloria Steinem
  5378. %
  5379. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the demigodic party.
  5380. -- Dennis M. Ritchie
  5381. %
  5382. I am not sure what this is, but an `F' would only dignify it.
  5383. -- English Professor
  5384. %
  5385. I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the
  5386. great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
  5387. -- Winston Churchill
  5388. %
  5389. I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
  5390. has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
  5391. -- English Professor, Ohio University
  5392. %
  5393. I am so optimistic about beef prices that I've just leased a pot roast
  5394. with an option to buy.
  5395. %
  5396. I am the mother of all things, and all things should wear a sweater.
  5397. %
  5398. I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person,
  5399. of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell
  5400. you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial
  5401. atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something
  5402. inconceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.
  5403. -- Pooh-Bah, "The Mikado", Gilbert & Sullivan
  5404. %
  5405. I appreciate the fact that this draft was done in haste, but some of
  5406. the sentences that you are sending out in the world to do your work for
  5407. you are loitering in taverns or asleep beside the highway.
  5408. -- Dr. Dwight Van de Vate, Professor of Philosophy,
  5409. University of Tennessee at Knoxville
  5410. %
  5411. I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an
  5412. argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and
  5413. steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect,
  5414. they don't even invite me.
  5415. -- Dave Barry
  5416. %
  5417. I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
  5418. -- G. K. Chesterton
  5419. %
  5420. I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.
  5421. -- Will Rogers
  5422. %
  5423. I bet the human brain is a kludge.
  5424. -- Marvin Minsky
  5425. %
  5426. I brake for chezlogs!
  5427. %
  5428. I call them as I see them. If I can't see them, I make them up.
  5429. -- Biff Barf
  5430. %
  5431. I can feel for her because, although I have never been an Alaskan
  5432. prostitute dancing on the bar in a spangled dress, I still get very
  5433. bored with washing and ironing and dishwashing and cooking day after
  5434. relentless day.
  5435. -- Betty MacDonald
  5436. %
  5437. I can read your mind, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
  5438. %
  5439. I can remember when a good politician had to be 75 percent ability and
  5440. 25 percent actor, but I can well see the day when the reverse could be
  5441. true.
  5442. -- Harry S. Truman
  5443. %
  5444. I can resist anything but temptation.
  5445. %
  5446. I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.
  5447. -- Joe Walsh
  5448. %
  5449. I can't decide whether to commit suicide or go bowling.
  5450. -- Florence Henderson
  5451. %
  5452. I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can
  5453. understand it.
  5454. -- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
  5455. %
  5456. I can't understand why a person will take a year or two to write a
  5457. novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
  5458. -- Fred Allen
  5459. %
  5460. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
  5461. -- Lillian Hellman
  5462. %
  5463. I cannot conceive that anybody will require multiplications at the rate
  5464. of 40,000 or even 4,000 per hour ...
  5465. -- F. H. Wales (1936)
  5466. %
  5467. I cannot overemphasize the importance of good grammar.
  5468. What a crock. I could easily overemphasize the importance of good
  5469. grammar. For example, I could say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause
  5470. of slow, painful death in North America," or "Without good grammar, the
  5471. United States would have lost World War II."
  5472. -- Dave Barry, "An Utterly Absurd Look at Grammar"
  5473. %
  5474. "I cannot read the fiery letters," said Frito Bugger in a
  5475. quavering voice.
  5476. "No," said GoodGulf, "but I can. The letters are Elvish, of
  5477. course, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which
  5478. I will not utter here. They are lines of a verse long known in
  5479. Elven-lore:
  5480. "This Ring, no other, is made by the elves,
  5481. Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves.
  5482. Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop,
  5483. This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop.
  5484. The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring.
  5485. The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing.
  5486. If broken or busted, it cannot be remade.
  5487. If found, send to Sorhed (with postage prepaid)."
  5488. -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
  5489. %
  5490. I changed my headlights the other day. I put in strobe lights
  5491. instead! Now when I drive at night, it looks like everyone else is
  5492. standing still ...
  5493. -- Steven Wright
  5494. %
  5495. I could dance till the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather
  5496. dance with the cows till you come home.
  5497. -- Groucho Marx
  5498. %
  5499. I couldn't remember when I had been so disappointed. Except perhaps
  5500. the time I found out that M&Ms really *do* melt in your hand ...
  5501. -- Peter Oakley
  5502. %
  5503. I didn't know it was impossible when I did it.
  5504. %
  5505. I didn't like the play, but I saw it under adverse conditions. The
  5506. curtain was up.
  5507. %
  5508. I disapprove of the F-word, not because it's dirty, but because
  5509. we use it as a substitute for thoughtful insults, and it frequently
  5510. leads to violence. What we ought to do, when we anger each other, say,
  5511. in traffic, is exchange phone numbers, so that later on, when we've had
  5512. time to think of witty and learned insults or look them up in the
  5513. library, we could call each other up:
  5514. You: Hello? Bob?
  5515. Bob: Yes?
  5516. You: This is Ed. Remember? The person whose parking space you
  5517. took last Thursday? Outside of Sears?
  5518. Bob: Oh yes! Sure! How are you, Ed?
  5519. You: Fine, thanks. Listen, Bob, the reason I'm calling is:
  5520. "Madam, you may be drunk, but I am ugly, and ..." No, wait.
  5521. I mean: "you may be ugly, but I am Winston Churchill
  5522. and ..." No, wait. (Sound of reference book thudding onto
  5523. the floor.) S-word. Excuse me. Look, Bob, I'm going to
  5524. have to get back to you.
  5525. Bob: Fine.
  5526. -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
  5527. %
  5528. I do hate sums. There is no greater mistake than to call arithmetic an
  5529. exact science. There are permutations and aberrations discernible to
  5530. minds entirely noble like mine; subtle variations which ordinary
  5531. accountants fail to discover; hidden laws of number which it requires a
  5532. mind like mine to perceive. For instance, if you add a sum from the
  5533. bottom up, and then again from the top down, the result is always
  5534. different.
  5535. -- Mrs. La Touche (19th cent.)
  5536. %
  5537. I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
  5538. -- Isaac Asimov
  5539. %
  5540. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us
  5541. with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.
  5542. -- Galileo Galilei
  5543. %
  5544. I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.
  5545. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  5546. %
  5547. I don't believe in astrology. But then I'm an Aquarius, and Aquarians
  5548. don't believe in astrology.
  5549. -- James R. F. Quirk
  5550. %
  5551. I don't believe there really IS a GAS SHORTAGE.. I think it's all just
  5552. a BIG HOAX on the part of the plastic sign salesmen -- to sell more
  5553. numbers!!
  5554. %
  5555. I don't care for the Sugar Smacks commercial. I don't like the idea of
  5556. a frog jumping on my Breakfast.
  5557. -- Lowell, Chicago Reader 10/15/82
  5558. %
  5559. I don't care who does the electing as long as I get to do the
  5560. nominating.
  5561. -- Boss Tweed
  5562. %
  5563. I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem.
  5564. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
  5565. %
  5566. I don't have to take this abuse from you -- I've got hundreds of
  5567. people waiting to abuse me.
  5568. -- Bill Murray, "Ghostbusters"
  5569. %
  5570. I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
  5571. -- Elvis Presley
  5572. %
  5573. "I don't know what you mean by `glory,'" Alice said
  5574. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --
  5575. till I tell you. I meant `there's a nice knock-down argument for
  5576. you!'"
  5577. "But glory doesn't mean `a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice
  5578. objected.
  5579. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful
  5580. tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor
  5581. less."
  5582. "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean
  5583. so many different things."
  5584. "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--
  5585. that's all."
  5586. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  5587. %
  5588. I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd
  5589. eat it, and I just hate it.
  5590. -- Clarence Darrow
  5591. %
  5592. I don't mind going nowhere as long as it's an interesting path.
  5593. -- Ronald Mabbitt
  5594. %
  5595. I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the
  5596. streets and frighten the horses.
  5597. -- Victor Hugo
  5598. %
  5599. I don't object to sex before marriage, but two minutes before?!?
  5600. %
  5601. "I don't think so," said Ren'e Descartes. Just then, he vanished.
  5602. %
  5603. I don't think they could put him in a mental hospital. On the other
  5604. hand, if he were already in, I don't think they'd let him out.
  5605. %
  5606. I don't want to alarm anybody, but there is an excellent chance that
  5607. the Earth will be destroyed in the next several days. Congress is
  5608. thinking about eliminating a federal program under which scientists
  5609. broadcast signals to alien beings. This would be a large mistake.
  5610. Alien beings have nuclear blaster death cannons. You cannot cut off
  5611. their federal programs as if they were merely poor people ...
  5612. -- Davy Barry, "THE ALIENS ARE COMING, THE ALIENS ARE
  5613. COMING!"
  5614. %
  5615. I doubt, therefore I might be.
  5616. %
  5617. I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business
  5618. on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment
  5619. he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual
  5620. becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.
  5621. -- George Bernard Shaw
  5622. %
  5623. I drink to make other people interesting.
  5624. -- George Jean Nathan
  5625. %
  5626. I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamt that I was reading on,
  5627. so I woke up from sheer boredom.
  5628. %
  5629. I for one cannot protest the recent M.T.A. fare hike and the
  5630. accompanying promises that this would in no way improve service. For
  5631. the transit system, as it now operates, has hidden advantages that
  5632. can't be measured in monetary terms.
  5633. Personally, I feel that it is well worth 75 cents or even $1 to have
  5634. that unimpeachable excuse whenever I am late to anything: "I came by
  5635. subway." Those four words have such magic in them that if Godot should
  5636. someday show up and mumble them, any audience would instantly
  5637. understand his long delay.
  5638. %
  5639. I found out why my car was humming. It had forgotten the words.
  5640. %
  5641. I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very
  5642. reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment.
  5643. -- Gautama Buddha
  5644. %
  5645. I gave up Smoking, Drinking and Sex. It was the most *__________horrifying* 20
  5646. minutes of my life!
  5647. %
  5648. I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
  5649. -- Mae West
  5650. %
  5651. I get up each morning, gather my wits.
  5652. Pick up the paper, read the obits.
  5653. If I'm not there I know I'm not dead.
  5654. So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.
  5655. %
  5656. I get up each morning, gather my wits.
  5657. Pick up the paper, read the obits.
  5658. If I'm not there I know I'm not dead.
  5659. So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.
  5660. Oh, how do I know my youth is all spent?
  5661. My get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went.
  5662. But in spite of it all, I'm able to grin,
  5663. And think of the places my get-up has been.
  5664. -- Pete Seeger
  5665. %
  5666. I had this sudden vision of a klein pizza containing all the mozarella
  5667. in the world.
  5668. -- Peter da Silva
  5669. %
  5670. I had to censor everything my sons watched ... even on the Mary Tyler
  5671. Moore show I heard the word 'damn'!
  5672. -- Mary Lou Bax
  5673. %
  5674. I had to hit him -- he was starting to make sense.
  5675. %
  5676. I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day cause that means
  5677. it's going to be up all night.
  5678. -- Steven Wright
  5679. %
  5680. I hate quotations.
  5681. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  5682. %
  5683. I have a simple philosophy:
  5684. Fill what's empty.
  5685. Empty what's full.
  5686. Scratch where it itches.
  5687. -- A. R. Longworth
  5688. %
  5689. I have a very firm grasp on reality! I can reach out and strangle it
  5690. any time!
  5691. %
  5692. I have come up with a sure-fire concept for a hit television show,
  5693. which would be called `A Live Celebrity Gets Eaten by a Shark'.
  5694. -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
  5695. %
  5696. I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I tell them the truth
  5697. and they never believe me.
  5698. -- Camillo Di Cavour
  5699. %
  5700. I have great faith in fools -- self confidence my friends call it.
  5701. -- Edgar Allan Poe
  5702. %
  5703. I have just read your lousy review buried in the back pages. You
  5704. sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an
  5705. eight-ulcer man on a four-ulcer job, and all four ulcers working. I
  5706. have never met you, but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of
  5707. beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below. Westbrook Pegler, a
  5708. guttersnipe, is a gentleman compared to you. You can take that as more
  5709. of an insult than as a reflection on your ancestry.
  5710. -- President Harry S. Truman
  5711. %
  5712. I have learned
  5713. To spell hors d'oeuvres
  5714. Which still grates on
  5715. Some people's n'oeuvres.
  5716. -- Warren Knox
  5717. %
  5718. I have made mistakes but I have never made the mistake of claiming
  5719. that I have never made one.
  5720. -- James Gordon Bennett
  5721. %
  5722. I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to
  5723. make it shorter.
  5724. -- Blaise Pascal
  5725. %
  5726. I have more humility in my little finger than you have in your whole
  5727. ____BODY!
  5728. -- from "Cerebus" #82
  5729. %
  5730. I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer.
  5731. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  5732. %
  5733. I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
  5734. -- Oscar Wilde
  5735. %
  5736. I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep it
  5737. scattered around the beaches of the world ... Perhaps you've seen it.
  5738. -- Steven Wright
  5739. %
  5740. I have to convince you, or at least snow you ...
  5741. -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435
  5742. %
  5743. I have two very rare photographs: one is a picture of Houdini locking
  5744. his keys in his car; the other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell
  5745. beating up a child.
  5746. -- Steven Wright
  5747. %
  5748. I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked
  5749. at in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
  5750. -- Poul Anderson
  5751. %
  5752. I haven't lost my mind -- it's backed up on tape somewhere.
  5753. %
  5754. I haven't lost my mind; I know exactly where I left it.
  5755. %
  5756. I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!
  5757. %
  5758. I just need enough to tide me over until I need more.
  5759. -- Bill Hoest
  5760. %
  5761. I know it all. I just can't remember it all at once.
  5762. %
  5763. I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
  5764. War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
  5765. -- Albert Einstein
  5766. %
  5767. I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
  5768. The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building.
  5769. -- Charles Schulz
  5770. %
  5771. I like being single. I'm always there when I need me.
  5772. -- Art Leo
  5773. %
  5774. I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to
  5775. promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want
  5776. peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of
  5777. the way and let them have it.
  5778. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  5779. %
  5780. I like work ... I can sit and watch it for hours.
  5781. %
  5782. I like your game but we have to change the rules.
  5783. %
  5784. I love Saturday morning cartoons, what classic humour! This is what
  5785. entertainment is all about ... Idiots, explosives and falling anvils.
  5786. -- Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
  5787. %
  5788. "I love to eat them Smurfies
  5789. Smurfies what I love to eat
  5790. Bite they ugly heads off,
  5791. Nibble on they bluish feet."
  5792. %
  5793. I may appear to be just sitting here like a bucket of tapioca, but
  5794. don't let appearances fool you. I'm approaching old age ... at the
  5795. speed of light.
  5796. -- Prof. Cosmo Fishhawk
  5797. %
  5798. I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
  5799. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
  5800. %
  5801. I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a
  5802. week sometimes to make it up.
  5803. -- Mark Twain, "The Innocents Abroad"
  5804. %
  5805. I must have slipped a disk -- my pack hurts
  5806. %
  5807. I never fail to convince an audience that the best thing they could do
  5808. was to go away.
  5809. %
  5810. I never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like.
  5811. %
  5812. I often quote myself; it adds spice to my conversation.
  5813. -- G. B. Shaw
  5814. %
  5815. I only touch base with reality on an as-needed basis!
  5816. -- Royal Floyd Mengot (Klaus)
  5817. %
  5818. I played lead guitar in a band called The Federal Duck, which is the
  5819. kind of name that was popular in the '60s as a result of controlled
  5820. substances being in widespread use. Back then, there were no
  5821. restrictions, in terms of talent, on who could make an album, so we
  5822. made one, and it sounds like a group of people who have been given
  5823. powerful but unfamiliar instruments as a therapy for a degenerative
  5824. nerve disease.
  5825. -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
  5826. %
  5827. I predict that today will be remembered until tomorrow!
  5828. %
  5829. I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.
  5830. -- William F. Buckley
  5831. %
  5832. "I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of
  5833. that is -- `Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put
  5834. more simply -- `Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it
  5835. might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not
  5836. otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be
  5837. otherwise.'"
  5838. -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
  5839. %
  5840. I realize that the MX missile is none of our concern. I realize that
  5841. the whole point of living in a democracy is that we pay professional
  5842. congresspersons to concern themselves with things like the MX missile
  5843. so we can be free to concern ourselves with getting hold of the
  5844. plumber.
  5845. But from time to time, I feel I must address major public issues such
  5846. as this, because in a free and open society, where the very future of
  5847. the world hinges on decisions made by our elected leaders, you never
  5848. win large cash journalism awards if you stick to the topics I usually
  5849. write about, such as nose-picking.
  5850. -- Dave Barry, "At Last, the Ultimate Deterrent Against
  5851. Political Fallout"
  5852. %
  5853. I really hate this damned machine
  5854. I wish that they would sell it.
  5855. It never does quite what I want
  5856. But only what I tell it.
  5857. %
  5858. I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.
  5859. %
  5860. I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope
  5861. they do get 'em lowered enough so people can afford to pay 'em.
  5862. -- Will Rogers
  5863. %
  5864. I see the eigenvalue in thine eye,
  5865. I hear the tender tensor in thy sigh.
  5866. Bernoulli would have been content to die
  5867. Had he but known such _a-squared cos 2(phi)!
  5868. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  5869. %
  5870. I sent a letter to the fish,
  5871. I told them, "This is what I wish."
  5872. The little fishes of the sea,
  5873. They sent an answer back to me.
  5874. The little fishes' answer was
  5875. "We cannot do it, sir, because ..."
  5876. I sent a letter back to say
  5877. It would be better to obey.
  5878. But someone came to me and said
  5879. "The little fishes are in bed."
  5880. I said to him, and I said it plain
  5881. "Then you must wake them up again."
  5882. I said it very loud and clear,
  5883. I went and shouted in his ear.
  5884. But he was very stiff and proud,
  5885. He said "You needn't shout so loud."
  5886. And he was very proud and stiff,
  5887. He said "I'll go and wake them if ..."
  5888. I took a kettle from the shelf,
  5889. I went to wake them up myself.
  5890. But when I found the door was locked
  5891. I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked,
  5892. And when I found the door was shut,
  5893. I tried to turn the handle, But ...
  5894. "Is that all?" asked Alice.
  5895. "That is all." said Humpty Dumpty. "Goodbye."
  5896. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  5897. %
  5898. I shot an arrow into the air, and it stuck.
  5899. -- Graffito in Los Angeles
  5900. %
  5901. "... I should explain that I was wearing a black velvet cape that was
  5902. supposed to make me look like the dashing, romantic Zorro but which
  5903. actually made me look like a gigantic bat wearing glasses ..."
  5904. -- Dave Barry, "The Wet Zorro Suit and Other Turning
  5905. Points in l'Amour"
  5906. %
  5907. I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full
  5908. house and four people died.
  5909. -- Steven Wright
  5910. %
  5911. I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to
  5912. see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
  5913. -- Shirley Temple
  5914. %
  5915. I suggest you locate your hot tub outside your house, so it won't do
  5916. too much damage if it catches fire or explodes. First you decide which
  5917. direction your hot tub should face for maximum solar energy. After
  5918. much trial and error, I have found that the best direction for a hot
  5919. tub to face is up.
  5920. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  5921. %
  5922. I think it is true for all _n. I was just playing it safe with _n >= 3
  5923. because I couldn't remember the proof.
  5924. -- Baker, Pure Math 351a
  5925. %
  5926. I think sex is better than logic, but I can't prove it.
  5927. %
  5928. I think that all good, right thinking people in this country are sick
  5929. and tired of being told that all good, right thinking people in this
  5930. country are fed up with being told that all good, right thinking people
  5931. in this country are fed up with being sick and tired. I'm certainly
  5932. not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am.
  5933. -- Monty Python
  5934. %
  5935. I think that I shall never see
  5936. A billboard lovely as a tree.
  5937. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall
  5938. I'll never see a tree at all.
  5939. -- Ogden Nash
  5940. %
  5941. I think that I shall never see
  5942. A thing as lovely as a tree.
  5943. But as you see the trees have gone
  5944. They went this morning with the dawn.
  5945. A logging firm from out of town
  5946. Came and chopped the trees all down.
  5947. But I will trick those dirty skunks
  5948. And write a brand new poem called 'Trunks'.
  5949. %
  5950. I think the sky is blue because it's a shift from black through purple
  5951. to blue, and it has to do with where the light is. You know, the
  5952. farther we get into darkness, and there's a shifting of color of light
  5953. into the blueness, and I think as you go farther and farther away from
  5954. the reflected light we have from the sun or the light that's bouncing
  5955. off this earth, uh, the darker it gets ... I think if you look at the
  5956. color scale, you start at black, move it through purple, move it on
  5957. out, it's the shifting of color. We mentioned before about the stars
  5958. singing, and that's one of the effects of the shifting of colors.
  5959. -- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club
  5960. %
  5961. I think we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown
  5962. ... HEY! PAY ATTENTION WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU DAMMIT! I said I think
  5963. we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown today.
  5964. When we take the time to be courteous to each other, we find that we
  5965. are happier and less likely to engage in nuclear war. This point was
  5966. driven home by the recent summit talks, where Nancy Reagan and Raisa
  5967. Gorbachev, each of whose husband thinks the other's husband is vermin,
  5968. were able to sit down at a high-level tea and engage in courteous
  5969. conversation ...
  5970. -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
  5971. %
  5972. "I thought you were trying to get into shape."
  5973. "I am. The shape I've selected is a triangle."
  5974. %
  5975. ... I told my doctor I got all the exercise I needed being a
  5976. pallbearer for all my friends who run and do exercises!
  5977. -- Winston Churchill
  5978. %
  5979. I took a course in speed reading and was able to read War and Peace in
  5980. twenty minutes. It's about Russia.
  5981. -- Woody Allen
  5982. %
  5983. I used to be an agnostic, but now I'm not so sure.
  5984. %
  5985. I used to get high on life but lately I've built up a resistance.
  5986. %
  5987. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
  5988. %
  5989. I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my
  5990. body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
  5991. -- Emo Phillips
  5992. %
  5993. I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere
  5994. near the place.
  5995. -- Steven Wright
  5996. %
  5997. I value kindness to human beings first of all, and kindness to
  5998. animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for
  5999. anything connected with society except that which makes the roads
  6000. safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and old men and women
  6001. warmer in the winter, and happier in the summer.
  6002. -- Brendan Behan
  6003. %
  6004. I want to buy a husband who, every week when I sit down to watch `St.
  6005. Elsewhere', won't scream, `FORGET IT, BLANCHE ... IT'S TIME FOR "HEE
  6006. HAW"!!'
  6007. -- Berke Breathed, "Bloom County"
  6008. %
  6009. I was born because it was a habit in those days, people didn't know
  6010. anything else ... I was not a Child Prodigy, because a Child Prodigy is
  6011. a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows
  6012. up.
  6013. -- Will Rogers
  6014. %
  6015. I was drunk last night, crawled home across the lawn. By accident I
  6016. put the car key in the door lock. The house started up. So I figured
  6017. what the hell, and drove it around the block a few times. I thought I
  6018. should go park it in the middle of the freeway and yell at everyone to
  6019. get off my driveway.
  6020. -- Steven Wright
  6021. %
  6022. I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I
  6023. didn't know.
  6024. -- Mark Twain
  6025. %
  6026. I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending
  6027. their lives doing things they detest to make money they don't want to
  6028. buy things they don't need to impress people they dislike.
  6029. -- Emile Henry Gauvreay
  6030. %
  6031. I was playing poker the other night ... with Tarot cards. I got a full
  6032. house and four people died.
  6033. -- Steven Wright
  6034. %
  6035. I went into a general store, and they wouldn't sell me anything specific.
  6036. -- Steven Wright
  6037. %
  6038. I went on to test the program in every way I could devise. I strained
  6039. it to expose its weaknesses. I ran it for high-mass stars and low-mass
  6040. stars, for stars born exceedingly hot and those born relatively cold.
  6041. I ran it assuming the superfluid currents beneath the crust to be
  6042. absent -- not because I wanted to know the answer, but because I had
  6043. developed an intuitive feel for the answer in this particular case.
  6044. Finally I got a run in which the computer showed the pulsar's
  6045. temperature to be less than absolute zero. I had found an error. I
  6046. chased down the error and fixed it. Now I had improved the program to
  6047. the point where it would not run at all.
  6048. -- George Greenstein, "Frozen Star: Of Pulsars, Black
  6049. Holes and the Fate of Stars"
  6050. %
  6051. I went to a job interview the other day, the guy asked me if I had any
  6052. questions , I said yes, just one, if you're in a car traveling at the
  6053. speed of light and you turn your headlights on, does anything happen?
  6054. He said he couldn't answer that, I told him sorry, but I couldn't work
  6055. for him then.
  6056. -- Steven Wright
  6057. %
  6058. I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in
  6059. the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't
  6060. included.
  6061. -- Steven Wright
  6062. %
  6063. I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the
  6064. statues that are in all the other museums.
  6065. -- Steven Wright
  6066. %
  6067. I went to the race track once and bet on a horse that was so good that
  6068. it took seven others to beat him!
  6069. %
  6070. I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence.
  6071. There's a knob called `brightness', but it doesn't work.
  6072. -- Gallagher
  6073. %
  6074. I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've
  6075. always worked for me.
  6076. -- Hunter S. Thompson
  6077. %
  6078. I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
  6079. %
  6080. I'd love to go out with you, but I did my own thing and now I've got
  6081. to undo it.
  6082. %
  6083. I'd love to go out with you, but I have to floss my cat.
  6084. %
  6085. I'd love to go out with you, but I have to stay home and see if I snore.
  6086. %
  6087. I'd love to go out with you, but I never go out on days that end in `Y.'
  6088. %
  6089. I'd love to go out with you, but I want to spend more time with my blender.
  6090. %
  6091. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
  6092. %
  6093. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm converting my calendar watch from
  6094. Julian to Gregorian.
  6095. %
  6096. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm doing door-to-door collecting for
  6097. static cling.
  6098. %
  6099. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm having all my plants neutered.
  6100. %
  6101. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm staying home to work on my
  6102. cottage cheese sculpture.
  6103. %
  6104. I'd love to go out with you, but I'm taking punk totem pole carving.
  6105. %
  6106. I'd love to go out with you, but I've been scheduled for a karma transplant.
  6107. %
  6108. I'd love to go out with you, but it's my parakeet's bowling night.
  6109. %
  6110. I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV.
  6111. %
  6112. I'd love to go out with you, but the last time I went out, I never came back.
  6113. %
  6114. I'd love to go out with you, but the man on television told me to stay tuned.
  6115. %
  6116. I'd love to go out with you, but there are important world issues that
  6117. need worrying about.
  6118. %
  6119. I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
  6120. %
  6121. I'll carry your books, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over,
  6122. carry forward, Cary Grant, cash & carry, Carry Me Back To Old Virginia,
  6123. I'll even Hara Kari if you show me how, but I will *not* carry a gun.
  6124. -- Hawkeye, M*A*S*H
  6125. %
  6126. I'll defend to the death your right to say that, but I never said I'd
  6127. listen to it!
  6128. -- Tom Galloway with apologies to Voltaire
  6129. %
  6130. I'll grant thee random access to my heart,
  6131. Thoul't tell me all the constants of thy love;
  6132. And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove
  6133. And in our bound partition never part.
  6134. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  6135. %
  6136. I'll rob that rich person and give it to some poor deserving slob.
  6137. That will *prove* I'm Robin Hood.
  6138. -- Daffy Duck, "Robin Hood Daffy", [1958, Chuck Jones]
  6139. %
  6140. I'm a creationist; I refuse to believe that I could have evolved from man.
  6141. %
  6142. I'm a Lisp variable -- bind me!
  6143. %
  6144. I'm all for computer dating, but I wouldn't want one to marry my sister.
  6145. %
  6146. I'm changing my name to Chrysler
  6147. I'm going down to Washington, D.C.
  6148. I'll tell some power broker
  6149. What they did for Iacocca
  6150. Will be perfectly acceptable to me!
  6151. I'm changing my name to Chrysler,
  6152. I'm heading for that great receiving line.
  6153. When they hand a million grand out,
  6154. I'll be standing with my hand out,
  6155. Yessir, I'll get mine!
  6156. -- Tom Paxton
  6157. %
  6158. I'm defending her honor, which is more than she ever did.
  6159. %
  6160. I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to
  6161. die in.
  6162. -- George McGovern
  6163. %
  6164. I'm going to Boston to see my doctor. He's a very sick man.
  6165. -- Fred Allen
  6166. %
  6167. I'm going to live forever, or die trying!
  6168. -- Spider Robinson
  6169. %
  6170. ... I'm IMAGINING a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a
  6171. KOSHER DELI!!
  6172. %
  6173. I'm in Pittsburgh. Why am I here?
  6174. -- Harold Urey, Nobel Laureate
  6175. %
  6176. I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be
  6177. living apart.
  6178. -- e. e. cummings
  6179. %
  6180. I'm N-ary the tree, I am,
  6181. N-ary the tree, I am, I am.
  6182. I'm getting traversed by the parser next door,
  6183. She's traversed me seven times before.
  6184. And ev'ry time it was an N-ary (N-ary!)
  6185. Never wouldn't ever do a binary. (No sir!)
  6186. I'm 'er eighth tree that was N-ary.
  6187. N-ary the tree I am, I am,
  6188. N-ary the tree I am.
  6189. %
  6190. I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am.
  6191. It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get.
  6192. %
  6193. I'm prepared for all emergencies but totally unprepared for everyday life.
  6194. %
  6195. I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is
  6196. -- I could be just as proud for half the money.
  6197. -- Arthur Godfrey
  6198. %
  6199. I'm rated PG-34!!
  6200. %
  6201. I'm really enjoying not talking to you ... Let's not talk again ____REAL
  6202. soon ...
  6203. %
  6204. I'm returning this note to you, instead of your paper, because it
  6205. (your paper) presently occupies the bottom of my bird cage.
  6206. -- English Professor, Providence College
  6207. %
  6208. I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
  6209. I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
  6210. In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
  6211. I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
  6212. -- Gilbert & Sullivan, "Pirates of Penzance"
  6213. %
  6214. I'm willing to sacrifice anything for this cause, even other people's lives
  6215. %
  6216. I've built a better model than the one at Data General
  6217. For data bases vegetable, animal, and mineral
  6218. My OS handles CPUs with multiplexed duality;
  6219. My PL/1 compiler shows impressive functionality.
  6220. My storage system's better than magnetic core polarity,
  6221. You never have to bother checking out a bit for parity;
  6222. There isn't any reason to install non-static floor matting;
  6223. My disk drive has capacity for variable formatting.
  6224. I feel compelled to mention what I know to be a gloating point:
  6225. There's lots of room in memory for variables floating-point,
  6226. Which shows for input vegetable, animal, and mineral
  6227. I've built a better model than the one at Data General.
  6228. -- Steve Levine, "A Computer Song" (To the tune of
  6229. "Modern Major General", from "Pirates of Penzance",
  6230. by Gilbert & Sullivan)
  6231. %
  6232. I've enjoyed just about as much of this as I can stand.
  6233. %
  6234. I've found my niche. If you're wondering why I'm not there, there was
  6235. this little hole in the bottom ...
  6236. -- John Croll
  6237. %
  6238. I've given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself.
  6239. %
  6240. I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
  6241. -- Groucho Marx
  6242. %
  6243. I've known him as a man, as an adolescent and as a child -- sometimes
  6244. on the same day.
  6245. %
  6246. I've seen better heads on half a pint of beer.
  6247. %
  6248. I've seen, I SAY, I've seen better heads on a mug of beer.
  6249. -- Senator Claghorn
  6250. %
  6251. I've seen Sun monitors on fire off the side of the multimedia lab.
  6252. I've seen NTU lights glitter in the dark near the Mail Gate.
  6253. All these things will be lost in time, like the root partition last week.
  6254. Time to die...
  6255. -- Peter Gutmann
  6256. %
  6257. I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;
  6258. And from that full meridian of my glory
  6259. I haste now to my setting. I shall fall,
  6260. Like a bright exhalation in the evening
  6261. And no man see me more.
  6262. -- William Shakespeare
  6263. %
  6264. IBM had a PL/I,
  6265. Its syntax worse than JOSS;
  6266. And everywhere this language went,
  6267. It was a total loss.
  6268. %
  6269. Idaho state law makes it illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box
  6270. of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.
  6271. %
  6272. Ideas don't stay in some minds very long because they don't like
  6273. solitary confinement.
  6274. %
  6275. Idiot Box, n.:
  6276. The part of the envelope that tells a person where to place the
  6277. stamp when they can't quite figure it out for themselves.
  6278. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  6279. %
  6280. Idiot, n.:
  6281. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human
  6282. affairs has always been dominant and controlling.
  6283. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  6284. %
  6285. If a 6600 used paper tape instead of core memory, it would use up tape
  6286. at about 30 miles/second.
  6287. -- Grishman, Assembly Language Programming
  6288. %
  6289. If A = B and B = C, then A = C, except where void or prohibited by law.
  6290. -- Roy Santoro
  6291. %
  6292. If a camel flies, no one laughs if it doesn't get very far.
  6293. -- Paul White
  6294. %
  6295. If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, then a consensus
  6296. forecast is a camel's behind.
  6297. -- Edgar R. Fiedler
  6298. %
  6299. If A equals success, then the formula is _A = _X + _Y + _Z. _X is work. _Y
  6300. is play. _Z is keep your mouth shut.
  6301. -- Albert Einstein
  6302. %
  6303. If a group of _N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be _N-1
  6304. passes. Someone in the group has to be the manager.
  6305. -- T. Cheatham
  6306. %
  6307. If a jury in a criminal trial stays out for more than twenty-four
  6308. hours, it is certain to vote acquittal, save in those instances where
  6309. it votes guilty.
  6310. -- Joseph C. Goulden
  6311. %
  6312. If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake
  6313. him up.
  6314. %
  6315. If a President doesn't do it to his wife, he'll do it to his country.
  6316. %
  6317. If a putt passes over the hole without dropping, it is deemed to have
  6318. dropped. The law of gravity holds that any object attempting to
  6319. maintain a position in the atmosphere without something to support it
  6320. must drop. The law of gravity supersedes the law of golf.
  6321. -- Donald A. Metz
  6322. %
  6323. If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good
  6324. attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to
  6325. playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win --
  6326. unless, of course, it doesn't have enough talent to win, and no manager
  6327. can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?
  6328. -- Sparky Anderson
  6329. %
  6330. If all be true that I do think,
  6331. There be Five Reasons why one should Drink;
  6332. Good friends, good wine, or being dry,
  6333. Or lest we should be by-and-by,
  6334. Or any other reason why.
  6335. %
  6336. If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular
  6337. error.
  6338. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
  6339. %
  6340. If all the Chinese simultaneously jumped into the Pacific off a 10 foot
  6341. platform erected 10 feet off their coast, it would cause a tidal wave
  6342. that would destroy everything in this country west of Nebraska.
  6343. %
  6344. If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
  6345. -- Paul Beatty
  6346. %
  6347. If all the world's economists were laid end to end, we wouldn't reach a
  6348. conclusion.
  6349. -- William Baumol
  6350. %
  6351. If an S and an I and an O and a U
  6352. With an X at the end spell Su;
  6353. And an E and a Y and an E spell I,
  6354. Pray what is a speller to do?
  6355. Then, if also an S and an I and a G
  6356. And an HED spell side,
  6357. There's nothing much left for a speller to do
  6358. But to go commit siouxeyesighed.
  6359. -- Charles Follen Adams, "An Orthographic Lament"
  6360. %
  6361. If anything can go wrong, it will.
  6362. %
  6363. If at first you don't succeed, give up. No use being a damn fool.
  6364. %
  6365. If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
  6366. %
  6367. If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four
  6368. tellers?
  6369. %
  6370. If dolphins are so smart, why did Flipper work for television?
  6371. %
  6372. If entropy is increasing, where is it coming from?
  6373. %
  6374. If everybody minded their own business, the world would go
  6375. around a deal faster.
  6376. -- The Duchess, "Through the Looking Glass"
  6377. %
  6378. If everything is coming your way then you're in the wrong lane.
  6379. %
  6380. ... If forced to travel on an airplane, try and get in the cabin with
  6381. the Captain, so you can keep an eye on him and nudge him if he falls
  6382. asleep or point out any mountains looming up ahead ...
  6383. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  6384. %
  6385. If God didn't mean for us to juggle, tennis balls wouldn't come three
  6386. to a can.
  6387. %
  6388. If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire.
  6389. %
  6390. If God had intended Man to Walk, He would have given him Feet.
  6391. %
  6392. If God had intended Man to Watch TV, He would have given him Rabbit Ears.
  6393. %
  6394. If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their Heads.
  6395. %
  6396. If God had meant for us to be in the Army, we would have been born with
  6397. green, baggy skin.
  6398. %
  6399. If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born that way.
  6400. %
  6401. If God had not given us sticky tape, it would have been necessary to
  6402. invent it.
  6403. %
  6404. If God had wanted you to go around nude, He would have given you bigger
  6405. hands.
  6406. %
  6407. If God is dead, who will save the Queen?
  6408. %
  6409. If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions?
  6410. %
  6411. If God lived on Earth, people would knock out all His windows.
  6412. -- Yiddish saying
  6413. %
  6414. If God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs?
  6415. -- Marvin Kitman
  6416. %
  6417. If I am elected, the concrete barriers around the WHITE HOUSE will be
  6418. replaced by tasteful foam replicas of ANN MARGARET!
  6419. %
  6420. If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive!
  6421. -- Samuel Goldwyn
  6422. %
  6423. If I don't drive around the park,
  6424. I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
  6425. If I'm in bed each night by ten,
  6426. I may get back my looks again.
  6427. If I abstain from fun and such,
  6428. I'll probably amount to much;
  6429. But I shall stay the way I am,
  6430. Because I do not give a damn.
  6431. -- Dorothy Parker
  6432. %
  6433. If I don't see you in the future, I'll see you in the pasture.
  6434. %
  6435. If I had a plantation in Georgia and a home in Hell, I'd sell the
  6436. plantation and go home.
  6437. -- Eugene P. Gallagher
  6438. %
  6439. If I had any humility I would be perfect.
  6440. -- Ted Turner
  6441. %
  6442. If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.
  6443. -- Albert Einstein
  6444. %
  6445. If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the
  6446. shoulders of giants.
  6447. -- Isaac Newton
  6448. In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side
  6449. with the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
  6450. -- Gerald Holton
  6451. If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing
  6452. on my shoulders.
  6453. -- Hal Abelson
  6454. In computer science, we stand on each other's feet.
  6455. -- Brian K. Reid
  6456. %
  6457. If I kiss you, that is a psychological interaction.
  6458. On the other hand, if I hit you over the head with a brick, that is
  6459. also a psychological interaction.
  6460. The difference is that one is friendly and the other is not so
  6461. friendly.
  6462. The crucial point is if you can tell which is which.
  6463. -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
  6464. %
  6465. If I traveled to the end of the rainbow
  6466. As Dame Fortune did intend,
  6467. Murphy would be there to tell me
  6468. The pot's at the other end.
  6469. -- Bert Whitney
  6470. %
  6471. If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people?
  6472. %
  6473. If it's Tuesday, this must be someone else's fortune.
  6474. %
  6475. If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him.
  6476. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun
  6477. of it.
  6478. -- Thomas Carlyle
  6479. %
  6480. If just one piece of mail gets lost, well, they'll just think they
  6481. forgot to send it. But if *two* pieces of mail get lost, hell, they'll
  6482. just think the other guy hasn't gotten around to answering his mail.
  6483. And if *fifty* pieces of mail get lost, can you imagine it, if *fifty*
  6484. pieces of mail get lost, why they'll think someone *else* is broken!
  6485. And if 1Gb of mail gets lost, they'll just *know* that Arpa is down and
  6486. think it's a conspiracy to keep them from their God given right to
  6487. receive Net Mail ...
  6488. -- Leith (Casey) Leedom
  6489. %
  6490. If life is a stage, I want some better lighting.
  6491. %
  6492. If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
  6493. -- Tom Robbins
  6494. %
  6495. If little green men land in your back yard, hide any little green women
  6496. you've got in the house.
  6497. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  6498. %
  6499. If mathematically you end up with the wrong answer, try multiplying by
  6500. the page number.
  6501. %
  6502. If money can't buy happiness, I guess you'll just have to rent it.
  6503. %
  6504. If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think
  6505. little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and
  6506. Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.
  6507. -- Thomas De Quincey (1785 - 1859)
  6508. %
  6509. If one studies too zealously, one easily loses his pants.
  6510. -- Albert Einstein
  6511. %
  6512. If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit
  6513. in my name at a Swiss bank.
  6514. -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
  6515. %
  6516. If only I could be respected without having to be respectable.
  6517. %
  6518. If only one could get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment without
  6519. having to accomplish anything.
  6520. %
  6521. If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad,
  6522. he should see how bad it is with representation.
  6523. %
  6524. If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
  6525. arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
  6526. physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker
  6527. entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
  6528. -- Vannevar Bush
  6529. %
  6530. If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied
  6531. harder.
  6532. -- Pope John Paul I
  6533. %
  6534. If that makes any sense to you, you have a big problem.
  6535. -- C. Durance, Computer Science 234
  6536. %
  6537. If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would
  6538. presumably flunk it.
  6539. -- Stanley Garn
  6540. %
  6541. If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
  6542. -- Norm Schryer
  6543. %
  6544. If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to
  6545. get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude.
  6546. See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving
  6547. the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting
  6548. that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The
  6549. college, which should be a place of delightful labor, is made odious
  6550. and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to
  6551. rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective.
  6552. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure
  6553. interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by
  6554. opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for
  6555. himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for
  6556. boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor.
  6557. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  6558. %
  6559. If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!
  6560. -- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)
  6561. %
  6562. If the odds are a million to one against something occurring, chances
  6563. are 50-50 it will.
  6564. %
  6565. If the weather is extremely bad, church attendance will be down.
  6566. If the weather is extremely good, church attendance will be down.
  6567. If the bulletin covers are in short supply, however, church attendance
  6568. will exceed all expectations.
  6569. -- Reverend Chichester
  6570. %
  6571. If there are epigrams, there must be meta-epigrams.
  6572. %
  6573. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that
  6574. will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
  6575. %
  6576. If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?
  6577. -- Art Hoppe
  6578. %
  6579. If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make
  6580. something out of you.
  6581. -- Muhammad Ali
  6582. %
  6583. If this fortune didn't exist, somebody would have invented it.
  6584. %
  6585. If this is timesharing, give me my share right now.
  6586. %
  6587. If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same?
  6588. %
  6589. If today is the first day of the rest of your life, what the hell was
  6590. yesterday?
  6591. %
  6592. If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is
  6593. doing the thinking.
  6594. -- Lyndon Baines Johnson
  6595. %
  6596. If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.
  6597. -- Laurence J. Peter
  6598. %
  6599. If value corrupts then absolute value corrupts absolutely
  6600. %
  6601. If we were meant to fly, we wouldn't keep losing our luggage.
  6602. %
  6603. If while you are in school, there is a shortage of qualified personnel
  6604. in a particular field, then by the time you graduate with the necessary
  6605. qualifications, that field's employment market is glutted.
  6606. -- Marguerite Emmons
  6607. %
  6608. If you are a fatalist, what can you do about it?
  6609. -- Ann Edwards-Duff
  6610. %
  6611. If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
  6612. -- J. Paul Getty
  6613. %
  6614. If you can lead it to water and force it to drink, it isn't a horse.
  6615. %
  6616. If you can read this, you're too close.
  6617. %
  6618. If you can survive death, you can probably survive anything.
  6619. %
  6620. If you can't be good, be careful.
  6621. If you can't be careful, give me a call.
  6622. %
  6623. If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
  6624. %
  6625. If you cannot convince them, confuse them.
  6626. -- Harry S. Truman
  6627. %
  6628. If you didn't get caught, did you really do it?
  6629. %
  6630. If you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost.
  6631. %
  6632. If you don't go to other men's funerals they won't go to yours.
  6633. -- Clarence Day
  6634. %
  6635. If you don't have a nasty obituary you probably didn't matter.
  6636. -- Freeman Dyson
  6637. %
  6638. If you don't want your dog to have bad breath, do what I do: Pour a little
  6639. Lavoris in the toilet.
  6640. -- Jay Leno
  6641. %
  6642. If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to
  6643. either of you for the rest of the day.
  6644. %
  6645. If you ever want to get anywhere in politics, my boy, you're going to
  6646. have to get a toehold in the public eye.
  6647. %
  6648. If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody
  6649. will.
  6650. %
  6651. If you give Congress a chance to vote on both sides of an issue, it
  6652. will always do it.
  6653. -- Les Aspin, D., Wisconsin
  6654. %
  6655. If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is
  6656. make the rubble bounce.
  6657. -- Winston Churchill
  6658. %
  6659. If you had any brains, you'd be dangerous.
  6660. %
  6661. If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
  6662. %
  6663. If you have to hate, hate gently.
  6664. %
  6665. If you just try long enough and hard enough, you can always manage to
  6666. boot yourself in the posterior.
  6667. -- A. J. Liebling, "The Press"
  6668. %
  6669. If you keep anything long enough, you can throw it away.
  6670. %
  6671. If you live in a country run by committee, be on the committee.
  6672. -- Graham Summer
  6673. %
  6674. If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made because very few
  6675. people die past the age of a hundred.
  6676. -- George Burns
  6677. %
  6678. If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you;
  6679. but if you really make them think they'll hate you.
  6680. %
  6681. If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
  6682. -- Maslow
  6683. %
  6684. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure
  6685. can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly
  6686. develop.
  6687. %
  6688. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
  6689. you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
  6690. -- Mark Twain
  6691. %
  6692. If you push the "extra ice" button on the soft drink vending machine,
  6693. you won't get any ice. If you push the "no ice" button, you'll get
  6694. ice, but no cup.
  6695. %
  6696. If you put garbage in a computer nothing comes out but garbage. But
  6697. this garbage, having passed through a very expensive machine, is
  6698. somehow ennobled and none dare criticize it.
  6699. %
  6700. If you sit down at a poker game and don't see a sucker, get up. You're
  6701. the sucker.
  6702. %
  6703. If you stand on your head, you will get footprints in your hair.
  6704. %
  6705. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
  6706. -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
  6707. %
  6708. If you think last Tuesday was a drag, wait till you see what happens
  6709. tomorrow!
  6710. %
  6711. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car
  6712. payments.
  6713. -- Earl Wilson
  6714. %
  6715. If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it.
  6716. -- Arthur Kasspe
  6717. %
  6718. If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest
  6719. shopping center in the world?
  6720. -- Richard M. Nixon
  6721. %
  6722. If you throw a New Year's Party, the worst thing that you can do would
  6723. be to throw the kind of party where your guests wake up today, and call
  6724. you to say they had a nice time. Now you'll be be expected to throw
  6725. another party next year.
  6726. What you should do is throw the kind of party where your guest wake up
  6727. several days from now and call their lawyers to find out if they've
  6728. been indicted for anything. You want your guests to be so anxious to
  6729. avoid a recurrence of your party that they immediately start planning
  6730. parties of their own, a year in advance, just to prevent you from
  6731. having another one ...
  6732. If your party is successful, the police will knock on your door, unless
  6733. your party is very successful in which case they will lob tear gas
  6734. through your living room window. As host, your job is to make sure
  6735. that they don't arrest anybody. Or if they're dead set on arresting
  6736. someone, your job is to make sure it isn't you ...
  6737. -- Dave Barry
  6738. %
  6739. If you took all the students that felt asleep in class and laid them
  6740. end to end, they'd be a lot more comfortable.
  6741. -- "Graffiti in the Big Ten"
  6742. %
  6743. If you understand what you're doing, you're not learning anything.
  6744. -- A. L.
  6745. %
  6746. If you want divine justice, die.
  6747. -- Nick Seldon
  6748. %
  6749. If you want to know what god thinks of money, just look at the people
  6750. he gave it to.
  6751. -- Dorothy Parker
  6752. %
  6753. If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the
  6754. Constitution. It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's
  6755. statecraft. Instead, read selected portions of the Washington
  6756. telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with
  6757. titles beginning with the word "National".
  6758. -- George Will
  6759. %
  6760. If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every
  6761. word you say, talk in your sleep.
  6762. %
  6763. If you wants to get elected president, you'se got to think up some
  6764. memoraboble homily so's school kids can be pestered into memorizin' it,
  6765. even if they don't know what it means.
  6766. -- Walt Kelly, "The Pogo Party"
  6767. %
  6768. If you wish to live wisely, ignore sayings -- including this one.
  6769. %
  6770. If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for
  6771. tomorrow morning, sleep late.
  6772. -- Henny Youngman
  6773. %
  6774. If you're happy, you're successful.
  6775. %
  6776. If you're like most homeowners, you're afraid that many repairs
  6777. around your home are too difficult to tackle. So, when your furnace
  6778. explodes, you call in a so-called professional to fix it. The
  6779. "professional" arrives in a truck with lettering on the sides and
  6780. deposits a large quantity of tools and two assistants who spend the
  6781. better part of the week in your basement whacking objects at random
  6782. with heavy wrenches, after which the "professional" returns and gives
  6783. you a bill for slightly more money than it would cost you to run a
  6784. successful campaign for the U.S. Senate.
  6785. And that's why you've decided to start doing things yourself.
  6786. You figure, "If those guys can fix my furnace, then so can I. How
  6787. difficult can it be?"
  6788. Very difficult. In fact, most home projects are impossible,
  6789. which is why you should do them yourself. There is no point in paying
  6790. other people to screw things up when you can easily screw them up
  6791. yourself for far less money. This article can help you.
  6792. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  6793. %
  6794. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  6795. %
  6796. If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory.
  6797. -- Benjamin Disraeli
  6798. %
  6799. If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?
  6800. %
  6801. If you've done six impossible things before breakfast, why not round it
  6802. off with dinner at Milliway's, the restaurant at the end of the universe?
  6803. %
  6804. If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
  6805. -- Ronald Reagan
  6806. %
  6807. Ignisecond, n.:
  6808. The overlapping moment of time when the hand is locking the car
  6809. door even as the brain is saying, "my keys are in there!"
  6810. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  6811. %
  6812. Il brilgue: les t^oves libricilleux
  6813. Se gyrent et frillant dans le guave,
  6814. Enm^im'es sont les gougebosquex,
  6815. Et le m^omerade horgrave.
  6816. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  6817. %
  6818. Iles's Law:
  6819. There is always an easier way to do it. When looking directly
  6820. at the easy way, especially for long periods, you will not see it.
  6821. Neither will Iles.
  6822. %
  6823. Illinois isn't exactly the land that God forgot -- it's more like the
  6824. land He's trying to ignore.
  6825. %
  6826. Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
  6827. -- Jules de Gaultier
  6828. %
  6829. Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
  6830. usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody
  6831. thinks of complaining.
  6832. -- Jeff Raskin, interviewed in Doctor Dobb's Journal
  6833. %
  6834. Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has
  6835. a 150 MHz processor, 200 megabytes of RAM, 1500 megabytes of disk
  6836. storage, a screen resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels, relies entirely on
  6837. voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $300.
  6838. What's the first question that the computer community asks?
  6839. "Is it PC compatible?"
  6840. %
  6841. Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.
  6842. -- Jack Paar
  6843. %
  6844. Immortality -- a fate worse than death.
  6845. -- Edgar A. Shoaff
  6846. %
  6847. Impartial, adj.:
  6848. Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from
  6849. espousing either side of a controversy or adopting either of two
  6850. conflicting opinions.
  6851. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  6852. %
  6853. Important letters which contain no errors will develop errors in the
  6854. mail. Corresponding errors will show up in the duplicate while the
  6855. Boss is reading it.
  6856. %
  6857. Impossible, adj.:
  6858. (1) I wouldn't like it and when it happens I won't approve;
  6859. (2) I can't be bothered;
  6860. (3) God can't be bothered.
  6861. Meaning (3) may perhaps be valid but the others are 101% whaledreck.
  6862. -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab"
  6863. %
  6864. In 1750 Issac Newton became discouraged when he fell up a flight of
  6865. stairs.
  6866. %
  6867. In 1869 the waffle iron was invented for people who had wrinkled waffles.
  6868. %
  6869. In 1880 the French captured Detroit but gave it back ... they couldn't
  6870. get parts.
  6871. %
  6872. In 1914, the first crossword puzzle was printed in a newspaper. The
  6873. creator received $4000 down ... and $3000 across.
  6874. %
  6875. In 1915 pancake make-up was invented but most people still preferred
  6876. syrup.
  6877. %
  6878. In a five year period we can get one superb programming language. Only
  6879. we can't control when the five year period will begin.
  6880. %
  6881. In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi,
  6882. junior, what are you up to?"
  6883. "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the
  6884. rabbit.
  6885. "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible!"
  6886. "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the
  6887. rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied
  6888. expression on his face.
  6889. Comes along a wolf. "Hello, what are we doing these days?"
  6890. "I'm writing the second chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits
  6891. devour wolves."
  6892. "Are you crazy? Where is your academic honesty?"
  6893. "Come with me and I'll show you." As before, the rabbit comes
  6894. out with a satisfied look on his face and a diploma in his paw.
  6895. Finally, the camera pans into the rabbit's cave and, as everybody
  6896. should have guessed by now, we see a mean-looking, huge lion sitting
  6897. next to some bloody and furry remnants of the wolf and the fox.
  6898. The moral: It's not the contents of your thesis that are important --
  6899. it's your PhD advisor that really counts.
  6900. %
  6901. In a medium in which a News Piece takes a minute and an "In-Depth"
  6902. Piece takes two minutes, the Simple will drive out the Complex.
  6903. -- Frank Mankiewicz
  6904. %
  6905. In a museum in Havana, there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus,
  6906. "one when he was a boy and one when he was a man."
  6907. -- Mark Twain
  6908. %
  6909. In Africa some of the native tribes have a custom of beating the ground
  6910. with clubs and uttering spine chilling cries. Anthropologists call
  6911. this a form of primitive self-expression. In America we call it golf.
  6912. %
  6913. In America today ... we have Woody Allen, whose humor has become so
  6914. sophisticated that nobody gets it any more except Mia Farrow. All
  6915. those who think Mia Farrow should go back to making movies where the
  6916. devil gets her pregnant and Woody Allen should go back to dressing up
  6917. as a human sperm, please raise your hands. Thank you.
  6918. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
  6919. %
  6920. In America, any boy may become president and I suppose that's just one
  6921. of the risks he takes.
  6922. -- Adlai Stevenson
  6923. %
  6924. In an organization, each person rises to the level of his own
  6925. incompetency
  6926. -- The Peter Principle
  6927. %
  6928. In any formula, constants (especially those obtained from handbooks)
  6929. are to be treated as variables.
  6930. %
  6931. In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of
  6932. nations -- it's cold, half-French, and difficult to stir.
  6933. -- Stuart Keate
  6934. %
  6935. In Blythe, California, a city ordinance declares that a person must own
  6936. at least two cows before he can wear cowboy boots in public.
  6937. %
  6938. In Boston, it is illegal to hold frog-jumping contests in nightclubs.
  6939. %
  6940. In case of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in schools
  6941. will be temporarily canceled.
  6942. %
  6943. In case of injury notify your superior immediately. He'll kiss it and
  6944. make it better.
  6945. %
  6946. In Columbia, Pennsylvania, it is against the law for a pilot to tickle
  6947. a female flying student under her chin with a feather duster in order
  6948. to get her attention.
  6949. %
  6950. In Corning, Iowa, it's a misdemeanor for a man to ask his wife to ride
  6951. in any motor vehicle.
  6952. %
  6953. In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable.
  6954. -- Winston Churchill, of Montgomery
  6955. %
  6956. In Denver it is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door
  6957. neighbor.
  6958. %
  6959. In Devon, Connecticut, it is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset.
  6960. %
  6961. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last
  6962. resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but
  6963. inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.
  6964. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  6965. %
  6966. In English, every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our
  6967. programming languages.
  6968. %
  6969. In Greene, New York, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on
  6970. the sidewalks when a concert is on.
  6971. %
  6972. In India, "cold weather" is merely a conventional phrase and has come
  6973. into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish
  6974. between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which
  6975. will only make it mushy.
  6976. -- Mark Twain
  6977. %
  6978. In Lexington, Kentucky, it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your
  6979. pocket.
  6980. %
  6981. In Lowes Crossroads, Delaware, it is a violation of local law for any
  6982. pilot or passenger to carry an ice cream cone in their pocket while
  6983. either flying or waiting to board a plane.
  6984. %
  6985. In Memphis, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless
  6986. there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red
  6987. flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.
  6988. %
  6989. In Ohio, if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as
  6990. to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the
  6991. speaker's stand, you can be fined $25.00.
  6992. %
  6993. In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the
  6994. universe.
  6995. -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos
  6996. %
  6997. In our civilization, and under our republican form of government,
  6998. intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from
  6999. the cares of office.
  7000. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7001. %
  7002. In Pocataligo, Georgia, it is a violation for a woman over 200 pounds
  7003. and attired in shorts to pilot or ride in an airplane.
  7004. %
  7005. In Pocatello, Idaho, a law passed in 1912 provided that "The carrying
  7006. of concealed weapons is forbidden, unless same are exhibited to public
  7007. view."
  7008. %
  7009. In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space
  7010. Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways.
  7011. Our asymptotes no longer out of phase,
  7012. We shall encounter, counting, face to face.
  7013. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  7014. %
  7015. In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon that
  7016. is over six feet in length.
  7017. %
  7018. In seeking the unattainable, simplicity only gets in the way.
  7019. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  7020. %
  7021. In short, _N is Richardian if, and only if, _N is not Richardian.
  7022. %
  7023. In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's.
  7024. %
  7025. In Tennessee, it is illegal to shoot any game other than whales from a
  7026. moving automobile.
  7027. %
  7028. [In the 60's] there was madness in any direction, at any hour ... You
  7029. could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense
  7030. that whatever we were doing was `right', that we were winning ...
  7031. And that, I think, was the handle -- the sense of inevitable victory
  7032. over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we
  7033. didn't need that. Our energy would simply `prevail'. There was no
  7034. point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum;
  7035. we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....
  7036. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in
  7037. Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost
  7038. ___see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and
  7039. rolled back.
  7040. -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
  7041. %
  7042. In the beginning was the word.
  7043. But by the time the second word was added to it,
  7044. there was trouble.
  7045. For with it came syntax ...
  7046. -- John Simon
  7047. %
  7048. In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat
  7049. hacking at the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am
  7050. training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe." "Why is the
  7051. net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any
  7052. preconceptions of how to play." Minsky shut his eyes. "Why do you
  7053. close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So the room will be
  7054. empty." At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.
  7055. %
  7056. In the force if Yoda's so strong, construct a sentence with words in
  7057. the proper order then why can't he?
  7058. %
  7059. In the land of the dark, the Ship of the Sun is driven by the Grateful
  7060. Dead.
  7061. -- Egyptian Book of the Dead
  7062. %
  7063. In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
  7064. -- Alan Perlis
  7065. %
  7066. In the olden days in England, you could be hung for stealing a sheep or
  7067. a loaf of bread. However, if a sheep stole a loaf of bread and gave it
  7068. to you, you would only be tried for receiving, a crime punishable by
  7069. forty lashes with the cat or the dog, whichever was handy. If you
  7070. stole a dog and were caught, you were punished with twelve rabbit
  7071. punches, although it was hard to find rabbits big enough or strong
  7072. enough to punch you.
  7073. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  7074. %
  7075. In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Mississippi has
  7076. shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. Therefore ... in the
  7077. Old Silurian Period the Mississippi River was upward of one million
  7078. three hundred thousand miles long ... seven hundred and forty-two years
  7079. from now the Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long.
  7080. ... There is something fascinating about science. One gets such
  7081. wholesome returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of
  7082. fact.
  7083. -- Mark Twain
  7084. %
  7085. In the Top 40, half the songs are secret messages to the teen world to
  7086. drop out, turn on, and groove with the chemicals and light shows at
  7087. discotheques.
  7088. -- Art Linkletter
  7089. %
  7090. In those days he was wiser than he is now -- he used to frequently take
  7091. my advice.
  7092. -- Winston Churchill
  7093. %
  7094. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without
  7095. the supervision of a licensed engineer.
  7096. %
  7097. In West Union, Ohio, No married man can go flying without his spouse
  7098. along at any time, unless he has been married for more than 12 months.
  7099. %
  7100. Incumbent, n.:
  7101. Person of liveliest interest to the outcumbents.
  7102. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7103. %
  7104. ... indifference is a militant thing ... when it goes away it leaves
  7105. smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayonetted through the throat. It is
  7106. not a children's pastime like mere highway robbery.
  7107. -- Stephen Crane
  7108. %
  7109. Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
  7110. %
  7111. Individualists unite!
  7112. %
  7113. Infancy, n.:
  7114. The period of our lives when, according to Wordsworth, "Heaven
  7115. lies about us." The world begins lying about us pretty soon
  7116. afterward.
  7117. -- Ambrose Bierce
  7118. %
  7119. Information Center, n.:
  7120. A room staffed by professional computer people whose job it is
  7121. to tell you why you cannot have the information you require.
  7122. %
  7123. Ingrate, n.:
  7124. A man who bites the hand that feeds him, and then complains of
  7125. indigestion.
  7126. %
  7127. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
  7128. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
  7129. %
  7130. Ink, n.:
  7131. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and
  7132. water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote
  7133. intellectual crime.
  7134. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7135. %
  7136. Innovation is hard to schedule.
  7137. -- Dan Fylstra
  7138. %
  7139. Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids.
  7140. %
  7141. Insanity is the final defense ... It's hard to get a refund when the
  7142. salesman is sniffing your crotch and baying at the moon.
  7143. %
  7144. Interpreter, n.:
  7145. One who enables two persons of different languages to
  7146. understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to
  7147. the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.
  7148. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7149. %
  7150. Intolerance is the last defense of the insecure.
  7151. %
  7152. I/O, I/O,
  7153. It's off to disk I go,
  7154. A bit or byte to read or write,
  7155. I/O, I/O, I/O
  7156. %
  7157. INVENTORY
  7158. Four be the things I am wiser to know:
  7159. Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
  7160. Four be the things I'd been better without:
  7161. Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
  7162. Three be the things I shall never attain:
  7163. Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
  7164. Three be the things I shall have till I die:
  7165. Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
  7166. %
  7167. Iron Law of Distribution:
  7168. Them that has, gets.
  7169. %
  7170. Irrationality is the square root of all evil
  7171. -- Douglas Hofstadter
  7172. %
  7173. Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is
  7174. meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a
  7175. soap bubble?
  7176. %
  7177. Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the
  7178. beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get
  7179. out, and such as are out wish to get in?
  7180. -- Ralph Emerson
  7181. %
  7182. Is your job running? You'd better go catch it!
  7183. %
  7184. Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction
  7185. listen to weather forecasts and economists?
  7186. -- Kelvin Throop III
  7187. %
  7188. Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune
  7189. tellers take economists seriously?
  7190. %
  7191. Issawi's Laws of Progress:
  7192. The Course of Progress:
  7193. Most things get steadily worse.
  7194. The Path of Progress:
  7195. A shortcut is the longest distance between two points.
  7196. %
  7197. It appears that after his death, Albert Einstein found himself working
  7198. as the doorkeeper at the Pearly Gates. One slow day, he found that he
  7199. had time to chat with the new entrants. To the first one he asked,
  7200. "What's your IQ?" The new arrival replied, "190". They discussed
  7201. Einstein's theory of relativity for hours. When the second new arrival
  7202. came, Einstein once again inquired as to the newcomer's IQ. The answer
  7203. this time came "120". To which Einstein replied, "Tell me, how did the
  7204. Cubs do this year?" and they proceeded to talk for half an hour or so.
  7205. To the final arrival, Einstein once again posed the question, "What's
  7206. your IQ?". Upon receiving the answer "70", Einstein smiled and asked,
  7207. "Got a minute to tell me about VMS 4.0?"
  7208. %
  7209. It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown
  7210. came out to inform the public. They thought it was just a jest and
  7211. applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I
  7212. think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the
  7213. wits, who believe that it is a joke.
  7214. -- S. A. Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
  7215. %
  7216. It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when it is
  7217. thrust into the affairs of another, from which some physiologists have
  7218. drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.
  7219. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7220. %
  7221. It has been said [by Anatole France], "it is not by amusing oneself
  7222. that one learns," and, in reply: "it is *____only* by amusing oneself that
  7223. one can learn."
  7224. -- Edward Kasner and James R. Newman
  7225. %
  7226. It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have
  7227. been searching for evidence which could support this.
  7228. -- Bertrand Russell
  7229. %
  7230. It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
  7231. %
  7232. It is against the grain of modern education to teach children to
  7233. program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in
  7234. organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be
  7235. self-critical?
  7236. -- Alan Perlis
  7237. %
  7238. It is against the law for a monster to enter the corporate limits of
  7239. Urbana, Illinois.
  7240. %
  7241. It is always preferable to visit home with a friend. Your parents will
  7242. not be pleased with this plan, because they want you all to themselves
  7243. and because in the presence of your friend, they will have to act like
  7244. mature human beings ...
  7245. -- Playboy, January 1983
  7246. %
  7247. It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it's a
  7248. pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the
  7249. sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color.
  7250. -- Voltaire
  7251. %
  7252. It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what
  7253. they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed
  7254. that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so
  7255. much -- the wheel, New York wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins
  7256. had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But
  7257. conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more
  7258. intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.
  7259. Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending
  7260. destruction of the of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to
  7261. alert mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were
  7262. misinterpreted ...
  7263. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  7264. %
  7265. It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be
  7266. coming up it.
  7267. -- Henry Allen
  7268. %
  7269. It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck?
  7270. One in a million, perhaps.
  7271. %
  7272. It is better to kiss an avocado than to get in a fight with an aardvark
  7273. %
  7274. It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three
  7275. benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never
  7276. to use either.
  7277. -- Mark Twain
  7278. %
  7279. It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
  7280. incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by
  7281. twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
  7282. -- Rod Serling
  7283. %
  7284. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is
  7285. lightly greased.
  7286. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  7287. %
  7288. It is easier to be a "humanitarian" than to render your own country its
  7289. proper due; it is easier to be a "patriot" than to make your community
  7290. a better place to live in; it is easier to be a "civic leader" than to
  7291. treat your own family with loving understanding; for the smaller the
  7292. focus of attention, the harder the task.
  7293. -- Sydney J. Harris
  7294. %
  7295. It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
  7296. %
  7297. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
  7298. %
  7299. It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
  7300. %
  7301. It is generally agreed that "Hello" is an appropriate greeting because
  7302. if you entered a room and said "Goodbye," it could confuse a lot of
  7303. people.
  7304. -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
  7305. %
  7306. It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood
  7307. Boulevard at one time.
  7308. %
  7309. It is illegal to say "Oh, Boy" in Jonesboro, Georgia.
  7310. %
  7311. It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry
  7312. a tune.
  7313. -- Woody Allen
  7314. %
  7315. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
  7316. ingenious.
  7317. %
  7318. It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not
  7319. desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.
  7320. -- Woody Allen
  7321. %
  7322. It is Mr. Mellon's credo that $200,000,000 can do no wrong. Our
  7323. offense consists in doubting it.
  7324. -- Justice Robert H. Jackson
  7325. %
  7326. It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the
  7327. problem.
  7328. %
  7329. It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be
  7330. privileged to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to
  7331. corrupt the youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles.
  7332. -- George Bernard Shaw
  7333. %
  7334. It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
  7335. -- Gore Vidal
  7336. %
  7337. It is not true that life is one damn thing after another -- it's one
  7338. damn thing over and over.
  7339. -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
  7340. %
  7341. It is now 10 p.m. Do you know where Henry Kissinger is?
  7342. -- Elizabeth Carpenter
  7343. %
  7344. It is now pitch dark. If you proceed, you will likely fall into a pit.
  7345. %
  7346. It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that
  7347. virginity could be a virtue.
  7348. -- Voltaire
  7349. %
  7350. It is only people of small moral stature who have to stand on their
  7351. dignity.
  7352. %
  7353. It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared
  7354. to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great.
  7355. -- Havelock Ellis
  7356. %
  7357. It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to
  7358. students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential
  7359. programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of
  7360. regeneration.
  7361. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
  7362. %
  7363. It is said that the lonely eagle flies to the mountain peaks while the
  7364. lowly ant crawls the ground, but cannot the soul of the ant soar as
  7365. high as the eagle?
  7366. %
  7367. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a
  7368. statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more
  7369. glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through
  7370. which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the
  7371. day, that is the highest of arts.
  7372. -- Henry David Thoreau, "Where I Live"
  7373. %
  7374. It is Texas law that when two trains meet each other at a railroad
  7375. crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed
  7376. until the other has gone.
  7377. %
  7378. It is the business of little minds to shrink.
  7379. -- Carl Sandburg
  7380. %
  7381. It is the business of the future to be dangerous.
  7382. -- Hawkwind
  7383. %
  7384. It is true that if your paperboy throws your paper into the bushes for
  7385. five straight days it can be explained by Newton's Law of Gravity. But
  7386. it takes Murphy's law to explain why it is happening to you.
  7387. %
  7388. It is very difficult to prophesy, especially when it pertains to the
  7389. future.
  7390. %
  7391. It looks like blind screaming hedonism won out.
  7392. %
  7393. It may be bad manners to talk with your mouth full, but it isn't too
  7394. good either if you speak when your head is empty.
  7395. %
  7396. It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a
  7397. warning to others.
  7398. %
  7399. It runs like _x, where _x is something unsavory
  7400. -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435
  7401. %
  7402. It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the
  7403. flag.
  7404. %
  7405. It shall be unlawful for any suspicious person to be within the
  7406. municipality.
  7407. -- Local ordinance, Euclid Ohio
  7408. %
  7409. It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing,
  7410. but I couldn't give up because by that time I was too famous.
  7411. -- Robert Benchly
  7412. %
  7413. It was a book to kill time for those who liked it better dead.
  7414. %
  7415. It was a virgin forest, a place where the Hand of Man had never set foot.
  7416. %
  7417. It was one of those perfect summer days -- the sun was shining, a
  7418. breeze was blowing, the birds were singing, and the lawn mower was
  7419. broken ...
  7420. -- James Dent
  7421. %
  7422. It was pleasant to me to get a letter from you the other day. Perhaps
  7423. I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I
  7424. don't think that I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew) and
  7425. the signature (which I guessed at). There's a singular and a perpetual
  7426. charm in a letter of yours; it never grows old, it never loses its
  7427. novelty .... Other letters are read and thrown away and forgotten, but
  7428. yours are kept forever -- unread. One of them will last a reasonable
  7429. man a lifetime.
  7430. -- Thomas Aldrich
  7431. %
  7432. It was the next morning that the armies of Twodor marched east
  7433. laden with long lances, sharp swords, and death-dealing hangovers. The
  7434. thousands were led by Arrowroot, who sat limply in his sidesaddle,
  7435. nursing a whopper. Goodgulf, Gimlet, and the rest rode by him, praying
  7436. for their fate to be quick, painless, and if possible, someone else's.
  7437. Many an hour the armies forged ahead, the war-merinos bleating
  7438. under their heavy burdens and the soldiers bleating under their melting
  7439. icepacks.
  7440. -- The Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
  7441. %
  7442. It wasn't that she had a rose in her teeth, exactly. It was more like
  7443. the rose and the teeth were in the same glass.
  7444. %
  7445. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream ... the Dragon is on
  7446. the wing in the Sky ... the Great Man rouses himself to his Work.
  7447. %
  7448. It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human
  7449. nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant
  7450. examples.
  7451. -- Charles Dickens
  7452. %
  7453. It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing
  7454. warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or
  7455. two things still safe to eat.
  7456. -- Robert Fuoss
  7457. %
  7458. It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.
  7459. -- Andrew Jackson
  7460. %
  7461. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear.
  7462. -- Cheers
  7463. %
  7464. It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for.
  7465. %
  7466. It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.
  7467. -- Steven Wright
  7468. %
  7469. "It's a summons."
  7470. "What's a summons?"
  7471. "It means summon's in trouble."
  7472. -- Rocky and Bullwinkle
  7473. %
  7474. It's a very *__UN*lucky week in which to be took dead.
  7475. -- Churchy La Femme
  7476. %
  7477. It's always darkest just before it gets pitch black.
  7478. %
  7479. It's bad luck to be superstitious.
  7480. -- Andrew W. Mathis
  7481. %
  7482. It's better to be wanted for murder than not to be wanted at all.
  7483. -- Marty Winch
  7484. %
  7485. "It's easier said than done."
  7486. ... and if you don't believe it, try proving that it's easier done than
  7487. said, and you'll see that "it's easier said that `it's easier done than
  7488. said' than it is done", which really proves that "it's easier said than
  7489. done".
  7490. %
  7491. It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
  7492. %
  7493. It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than forgiveness for
  7494. being right.
  7495. %
  7496. It's Fabulous! We haven't seen anything like it in the last half an hour!
  7497. -- Macy's
  7498. %
  7499. It's illegal in Wilbur, Washington, to ride an ugly horse.
  7500. %
  7501. It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it
  7502. is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It
  7503. isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs.
  7504. -- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News"
  7505. %
  7506. It's just a jump to the left
  7507. And then a step to the right.
  7508. Put your hands on your hips
  7509. And pull your knees in tight.
  7510. But it's the pelvic thrust
  7511. That really drives you insa-a-a-a-a-ane!
  7512. LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!
  7513. -- Rocky Horror Picture Show
  7514. %
  7515. It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
  7516. -- Walt Disney
  7517. %
  7518. "It's Like This"
  7519. Even the samurai
  7520. have teddy bears,
  7521. and even the teddy bears
  7522. get drunk.
  7523. %
  7524. It's lucky you're going so slowly, because you're going in the wrong
  7525. direction.
  7526. %
  7527. It's men like him that give the Y chromosome a bad name.
  7528. %
  7529. It's more than magnificent -- it's mediocre.
  7530. -- Sam Goldwyn
  7531. %
  7532. It's no surprise that things are so screwed up: everyone that knows how
  7533. to run a government is either driving taxicabs or cutting hair.
  7534. -- George Burns
  7535. %
  7536. It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.
  7537. -- Phil White
  7538. %
  7539. It's not Camelot, but it's not Cleveland, either.
  7540. -- Kevin White, mayor of Boston
  7541. %
  7542. It's not enough to be Hungarian; you must have talent too.
  7543. -- Alexander Korda
  7544. %
  7545. It's not just a computer -- it's your ass.
  7546. -- Cal Keegan
  7547. %
  7548. It's not reality or how you perceive things that's important -- it's
  7549. what you're taking for it...
  7550. %
  7551. It's not so hard to lift yourself by your bootstraps once you're off
  7552. the ground.
  7553. -- Daniel B. Luten
  7554. %
  7555. It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it
  7556. happens.
  7557. -- Woody Allen
  7558. %
  7559. It's not the valleys in life I dread so much as the dips.
  7560. -- Garfield
  7561. %
  7562. It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that
  7563. English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many
  7564. other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case.
  7565. -- Sydney J. Harris
  7566. %
  7567. It's raisins that make Post Raisin Bran so raisiny ...
  7568. %
  7569. It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
  7570. %
  7571. It's so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the
  7572. Devil when he is the only explanation of it.
  7573. %
  7574. It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon. Which
  7575. raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody
  7576. not to.
  7577. -- Franklin P. Jones
  7578. %
  7579. It's the thought, if any, that counts!
  7580. %
  7581. JACK AND THE BEANSTACK
  7582. by Mark Isaak
  7583. Long ago, in a finite state far away, there lived a JOVIAL
  7584. character named Jack. Jack and his relations were poor. Often their
  7585. hash table was bare. One day Jack's parent said to him, "Our matrices
  7586. are sparse. You must go to the market to exchange our RAM for some
  7587. BASICs." She compiled a linked list of items to retrieve and passed it
  7588. to him.
  7589. So Jack set out. But as he was walking along a Hamilton path,
  7590. he met the traveling salesman.
  7591. "Whither dost thy flow chart take thou?" prompted the salesman
  7592. in high-level language.
  7593. "I'm going to the market to exchange this RAM for some chips
  7594. and Apples," commented Jack.
  7595. "I have a much better algorithm. You needn't join a queue
  7596. there; I will swap your RAM for these magic kernels now."
  7597. Jack made the trade, then backtracked to his house. But when
  7598. he told his busy-waiting parent of the deal, she became so angry she
  7599. started thrashing.
  7600. "Don't you even have any artificial intelligence? All these
  7601. kernels together hardly make up one byte," and she popped them out the
  7602. window ...
  7603. %
  7604. Jacquin's Postulate on Democratic Government:
  7605. No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the
  7606. legislature is in session.
  7607. %
  7608. James Joyce -- an essentially private man who wished his total
  7609. indifference to public notice to be universally recognized.
  7610. -- Tom Stoppard
  7611. %
  7612. Jenkinson's Law:
  7613. It won't work.
  7614. %
  7615. Jesus Saves,
  7616. Moses Invests,
  7617. But only Buddha pays Dividends.
  7618. %
  7619. Job Placement, n.:
  7620. Telling your boss what he can do with your job.
  7621. %
  7622. Joe's sister puts spaghetti in her shoes!
  7623. %
  7624. Johnson's First Law:
  7625. When any mechanical contrivance fails, it will do so at the
  7626. most inconvenient possible time.
  7627. %
  7628. Join in the new game that's sweeping the country. It's called
  7629. "Bureaucracy". Everybody stands in a circle. The first person to do
  7630. anything loses.
  7631. %
  7632. Join the march to save individuality!
  7633. %
  7634. Jone's Law:
  7635. The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone
  7636. to blame it on.
  7637. %
  7638. Jone's Motto:
  7639. Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
  7640. %
  7641. Jones's First Law:
  7642. Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of
  7643. endeavor, and stays in that field long enough, becomes an obstruction
  7644. to its progress -- in direct proportion to the importance of their
  7645. original contribution.
  7646. %
  7647. Just about every computer on the market today runs Unix, except the Mac
  7648. (and nobody cares about it).
  7649. -- Bill Joy 6/21/85
  7650. %
  7651. Just as most issues are seldom black or white, so are most good
  7652. solutions seldom black or white. Beware of the solution that requires
  7653. one side to be totally the loser and the other side to be totally the
  7654. winner. The reason there are two sides to begin with usually is
  7655. because neither side has all the facts. Therefore, when the wise
  7656. mediator effects a compromise, he is not acting from political
  7657. motivation. Rather, he is acting from a deep sense of respect for the
  7658. whole truth.
  7659. -- Stephen R. Schwambach
  7660. %
  7661. Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has
  7662. changed.
  7663. -- Irene Peter
  7664. %
  7665. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they AREN'T after you.
  7666. %
  7667. Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn't mean he
  7668. knows what it is.
  7669. %
  7670. Just go with the flow control, roll with the crunches, and, when you
  7671. get a prompt, type like hell.
  7672. %
  7673. Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't
  7674. immune to bullets.
  7675. -- The Brigader, "Dr. Who"
  7676. %
  7677. Just out of curiosity does this actually mean something or have some
  7678. of the few remaining bits of your brain just evaporated?
  7679. -- Patricia O Tuama, rissa@killer.DALLAS.TX.US
  7680. %
  7681. Just remember, it all started with a mouse.
  7682. -- Walt Disney
  7683. %
  7684. Just remember: when you go to court, you are trusting your fate to
  7685. twelve people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty!
  7686. %
  7687. `Just the place for a Snark!' the Bellman cried,
  7688. As he landed his crew with care;
  7689. Supporting each man on the top of the tide
  7690. By a finger entwined in his hair.
  7691. 'Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
  7692. That alone should encourage the crew.
  7693. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
  7694. What I tell you three times is true.'
  7695. %
  7696. Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along comes a
  7697. faster rat!!!
  7698. %
  7699. Justice always prevails ... three times out of seven!
  7700. -- Michael J. Wagner
  7701. %
  7702. Justice is incidental to law and order.
  7703. -- J. Edgar Hoover
  7704. %
  7705. Justice, n.:
  7706. A decision in your favor.
  7707. %
  7708. K: Cobalt's metal, hard and shining;
  7709. Cobol's wordy and confining;
  7710. KOBOLDS topple when you strike them;
  7711. Don't feel bad, it's hard to like them.
  7712. -- The Roguelet's ABC
  7713. %
  7714. Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to
  7715. wear tail lights.
  7716. %
  7717. Katz' Law:
  7718. Man and nations will act rationally when all other
  7719. possibilities have been exhausted.
  7720. %
  7721. Keep America beautiful. Swallow your beer cans.
  7722. %
  7723. Keep Cool, but Don't Freeze
  7724. - Hellman's Mayonnaise
  7725. %
  7726. Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis.
  7727. %
  7728. Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo.
  7729. %
  7730. Keep in mind always the two constant Laws of Frisbee:
  7731. (1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc
  7732. straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this
  7733. force is technically termed "car suck").
  7734. (2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive
  7735. than "Watch this!"
  7736. %
  7737. Keep your Eye on the Ball,
  7738. Your Shoulder to the Wheel,
  7739. Your Nose to the Grindstone,
  7740. Your Feet on the Ground,
  7741. Your Head on your Shoulders.
  7742. Now ... try to get something DONE!
  7743. %
  7744. Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design. Unlike most
  7745. automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor any of the
  7746. numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver. Rather, if the
  7747. driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the center of the
  7748. dashboard. "The experienced driver", he says, "will usually know
  7749. what's wrong."
  7750. %
  7751. Kerr's Three Rules for a Successful College:
  7752. Have plenty of football for the alumni, sex for the students,
  7753. and parking for the faculty.
  7754. %
  7755. Kids have *_____never* taken guidance from their parents. If you could
  7756. travel back in time and observe the original primate family in the
  7757. original tree, you would see the primate parents yelling at the primate
  7758. teenager for sitting around and sulking all day instead of hunting for
  7759. grubs and berries like dad primate. Then you'd see the primate
  7760. teenager stomp up to his branch and slam the leaves.
  7761. -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
  7762. %
  7763. Kin, n.:
  7764. An affliction of the blood
  7765. %
  7766. Kinkler's First Law:
  7767. Responsibility always exceeds authority.
  7768. Kinkler's Second Law:
  7769. All the easy problems have been solved.
  7770. %
  7771. Kirk to Enterprise -- beam down yeoman Rand and a six-pack.
  7772. %
  7773. Kirkland, Illinois, law forbids bees to fly over the village or through
  7774. any of its streets.
  7775. %
  7776. Kiss me twice. I'm schizophrenic.
  7777. %
  7778. Kiss your keyboard goodbye!
  7779. %
  7780. Klein bottle for rent -- inquire within.
  7781. %
  7782. Kleptomaniac, n.:
  7783. A rich thief.
  7784. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7785. %
  7786. Know thyself. If you need help, call the C.I.A.
  7787. %
  7788. Know what I hate most? Rhetorical questions.
  7789. -- Henry N. Camp
  7790. %
  7791. Krogt, n. (chemical symbol: Kr):
  7792. The metallic silver coating found on fast-food game cards.
  7793. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  7794. %
  7795. Labor, n.:
  7796. One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
  7797. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7798. %
  7799. Lackland's Laws:
  7800. (1) Never be first.
  7801. (2) Never be last.
  7802. (3) Never volunteer for anything
  7803. %
  7804. Lactomangulation, n.:
  7805. Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
  7806. that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
  7807. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  7808. %
  7809. Ladybug, ladybug,
  7810. Look to your stern!
  7811. Your house is on fire,
  7812. Your children will burn!
  7813. So jump ye and sing, for
  7814. The very first time
  7815. The four lines above
  7816. Have been put into rhyme.
  7817. -- Walt Kelly
  7818. %
  7819. Laetrile is the pits
  7820. %
  7821. Langsam's Laws:
  7822. (1) Everything depends.
  7823. (2) Nothing is always.
  7824. (3) Everything is sometimes.
  7825. %
  7826. Larkinson's Law:
  7827. All laws are basically false.
  7828. %
  7829. Lassie looked brilliant, in part because the farm family she lived with
  7830. was made up of idiots. Remember? One of them was always getting
  7831. pinned under the tractor, and Lassie was always rushing back to the
  7832. farmhouse to alert the other ones. She'd whimper and tug at their
  7833. sleeves, and they'd always waste precious minutes saying things: "Do
  7834. you think something's wrong? Do you think she wants us to follow her?
  7835. What is it, girl?", etc., as if this had never happened before, instead
  7836. of every week. What with all the time these people spent pinned under
  7837. the tractor, I don't see how they managed to grow any crops
  7838. whatsoever. They probably got by on federal crop supports, which
  7839. Lassie filed the applications for.
  7840. -- Dave Barry
  7841. %
  7842. Last night, I came home and realized that everything in my apartment
  7843. had been stolen and replaced with an exact duplicate. I told this to
  7844. my friend -- he said, `Do I know you?'
  7845. -- Steven Wright
  7846. %
  7847. Last week a cop stopped me in my car. He asked me if I had a police
  7848. record. I said, no, but I have the new DEVO album. Cops have no sense
  7849. of humor.
  7850. %
  7851. Last yeer I kudn't spel Engineer. Now I are won.
  7852. %
  7853. Laugh at your problems; everybody else does.
  7854. %
  7855. Laughter is the closest distance between two people."
  7856. -- Victor Borge
  7857. %
  7858. Law of Communications:
  7859. The inevitable result of improved and enlarged communications
  7860. between different levels in a hierarchy is a vastly increased area of
  7861. misunderstanding.
  7862. %
  7863. Law of Probable Dispersal:
  7864. Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly
  7865. distributed.
  7866. %
  7867. Law of Selective Gravity:
  7868. An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
  7869. Jenning's Corollary:
  7870. The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is
  7871. directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
  7872. Law of the Perversity of Nature:
  7873. You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the
  7874. bread to butter.
  7875. %
  7876. Laws of Serendipity:
  7877. (1) In order to discover anything, you must be looking for
  7878. something.
  7879. (2) If you wish to make an improved product, you must already
  7880. be engaged in making an inferior one.
  7881. %
  7882. Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom:
  7883. No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats --
  7884. approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
  7885. %
  7886. Learned men are the cisterns of knowledge, not the fountainheads.
  7887. %
  7888. Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and
  7889. everything else follows in the same way.
  7890. -- Alan J. Perlis
  7891. %
  7892. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
  7893. %
  7894. Legalize free-enterprise murder: why should governments have all the
  7895. fun?
  7896. %
  7897. Legislation proposed in the Illinois State Legislature, May, 1907:
  7898. "Speed upon county roads will be limited to ten miles an hour
  7899. unless the motorist sees a bailiff who does not appear to have had a
  7900. drink in 30 days, when the driver will be permitted to make what he
  7901. can."
  7902. %
  7903. Leibowitz's Rule:
  7904. When hammering a nail, you will never hit your finger if you
  7905. hold the hammer with both hands.
  7906. %
  7907. LEO (July 23 - Aug 22)
  7908. You consider yourself a born leader. Others think you are
  7909. pushy. Most Leo people are bullies. You are vain and dislike
  7910. honest criticism. Your arrogance is disgusting. Leo people
  7911. are thieves.
  7912. %
  7913. LEO (July 23 - Aug 22)
  7914. Your determination and sense of humor will come to the fore.
  7915. Your ability to laugh at adversity will be a blessing because
  7916. you've got a day coming you wouldn't believe. As a matter of
  7917. fact, if you can laugh at what happens to you today, you've got
  7918. a sick sense of humor.
  7919. %
  7920. Let He who taketh the Plunge Remember to return it by Tuesday.
  7921. %
  7922. Let me assure you that to us here at First National, you're not just a
  7923. number. You're two numbers, a dash, three more numbers, another dash
  7924. and another number.
  7925. -- James Estes
  7926. %
  7927. Let us live!!!
  7928. Let us love!!!
  7929. Let us share the deepest secrets of our souls!!!
  7930. You first.
  7931. %
  7932. Let's just say that where a change was required, I adjusted. In every
  7933. relationship that exists, people have to seek a way to survive. If you
  7934. really care about the person, you do what's necessary, or that's the
  7935. end. For the first time, I found that I really could change, and the
  7936. qualities I most admired in myself I gave up. I stopped being loud and
  7937. bossy ... Oh, all right. I was still loud and bossy, but only behind
  7938. his back.
  7939. -- Kate Hepburn, on Tracy and Hepburn
  7940. %
  7941. Let's say your wedding ring falls into your toaster, and when you stick
  7942. your hand in to retrieve it, you suffer Pain and Suffering as well as
  7943. Mental Anguish. You would sue:
  7944. * The toaster manufacturer, for failure to include, in the instructions
  7945. section that says you should never never never ever stick you hand
  7946. into the toaster, the statement "Not even if your wedding ring falls
  7947. in there".
  7948. * The store where you bought the toaster, for selling it to an obvious
  7949. cretin like yourself.
  7950. * Union Carbide Corporation, which is not directly responsible in this
  7951. case, but which is feeling so guilty that it would probably send you
  7952. a large cash settlement anyway.
  7953. -- Dave Barry
  7954. %
  7955. Let's talk about how to fill out your 1984 tax return. Here's an often
  7956. overlooked accounting technique that can save you thousands of
  7957. dollars: For several days before you put it in the mail, carry your
  7958. tax return around under your armpit. No IRS agent is going to want to
  7959. spend hours poring over a sweat-stained document. So even if you owe
  7960. money, you can put in for an enormous refund and the agent will
  7961. probably give it to you, just to avoid an audit. What does he care?
  7962. It's not his money.
  7963. -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
  7964. %
  7965. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (The Times of London)
  7966. Dear Sir,
  7967. I am firmly opposed to the spread of microchips either to the home or
  7968. to the office. We have more than enough of them foisted upon us in
  7969. public places. They are a disgusting Americanism, and can only result
  7970. in the farmers being forced to grow smaller potatoes, which in turn
  7971. will cause massive unemployment in the already severely depressed
  7972. agricultural industry.
  7973. Yours faithfully,
  7974. Capt. Quinton D'Arcy, J. P.
  7975. Sevenoaks
  7976. %
  7977. Lewis's Law of Travel:
  7978. The first piece of luggage out of the chute doesn't belong to
  7979. anyone, ever.
  7980. %
  7981. Liar, n.:
  7982. A lawyer with a roving commission.
  7983. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  7984. %
  7985. Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
  7986. -- Harry Emerson Fosdick
  7987. %
  7988. LIBRA (Sep. 23 to Oct. 22)
  7989. Your desire for justice and truth will be overshadowed by your
  7990. desire for filthy lucre and a decent meal. Be gracious and
  7991. polite. Someone is watching you, so stop staring like that.
  7992. %
  7993. LIBRA (Sept 23 - Oct 22)
  7994. You are the artistic type and have a difficult time with
  7995. reality. If you are a man, you are more than likely gay.
  7996. Chances for employment and monetary gains are excellent. Most
  7997. Libra women are prostitutes. All Libra people die of venereal
  7998. disease.
  7999. %
  8000. Lie, n.:
  8001. A very poor substitute for the truth, but the only one
  8002. discovered to date.
  8003. %
  8004. Lieberman's Law:
  8005. Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
  8006. %
  8007. Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.
  8008. %
  8009. Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string.
  8010. %
  8011. Life is like a bowl of soup with hairs floating on it. You have to
  8012. eat it nevertheless.
  8013. -- Flaubert
  8014. %
  8015. Life is like a buffet; it's not good but there's plenty of it.
  8016. %
  8017. Life is like a simile.
  8018. %
  8019. Life is like an analogy.
  8020. %
  8021. Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer, then you find
  8022. there is nothing in it.
  8023. %
  8024. Life is too important to take seriously.
  8025. -- Corky Siegel
  8026. %
  8027. Life may have no meaning -- or even worse, it may have a meaning of
  8028. which I disapprove.
  8029. %
  8030. Life to you is a bold and dashing responsibility.
  8031. -- a Mary Chung's fortune cookie
  8032. %
  8033. Life would be much simpler and things would get done much faster if it
  8034. weren't for other people.
  8035. -- Blore
  8036. %
  8037. Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.
  8038. %
  8039. Life, loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it.
  8040. -- Marvin, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  8041. %
  8042. Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made
  8043. sense from things she found in gift shops.
  8044. -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  8045. %
  8046. Like the ski resort of girls looking for husbands and husbands looking
  8047. for girls, the situation is not as symmetrical as it might seem.
  8048. -- Alan McKay
  8049. %
  8050. Line Printer paper is strongest at the perforations.
  8051. %
  8052. Linus: I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe
  8053. we should think only about today.
  8054. Charlie Brown:
  8055. No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get
  8056. better.
  8057. %
  8058. Living in LA is like not having a date on Saturday night.
  8059. -- Candice Bergen
  8060. %
  8061. Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip
  8062. around the Sun.
  8063. %
  8064. Living your life is a task so difficult, it has never been attempted
  8065. before.
  8066. %
  8067. Lizzie Borden took an axe,
  8068. And plunged it deep into the VAX;
  8069. Don't you envy people who
  8070. Do all the things ___YOU want to do?
  8071. %
  8072. Loan-department manager: "There isn't any fine print. At these
  8073. interest rates, we don't need it."
  8074. %
  8075. Lobster:
  8076. Everyone loves these delectable crustaceans, but many cooks are
  8077. squeamish about placing them into boiling water alive, which is the
  8078. only proper method of preparing them. Frankly, the easiest way to
  8079. eliminate your guilt is to establish theirs by putting them on trial
  8080. before they're cooked. The fact is, lobsters are among the most
  8081. ferocious predators on the sea floor, and you're helping reduce crime
  8082. in the reefs. Grasp the lobster behind the head, look it right in its
  8083. unmistakably guilty eyestalks and say, "Where were you on the night of
  8084. the 21st?", then flourish a picture of a scallop or a sole and shout,
  8085. "Perhaps this will refresh that crude neural apparatus you call a
  8086. memory!" The lobster will squirm noticeably. It may even take a swipe
  8087. at you with one of its claws. Incorrigible. Pop it into the pot.
  8088. Justice has been served, and shortly you and your friends will be,
  8089. too.
  8090. -- Dave Barry, "Cooking: The Art of Using Appliances and
  8091. Utensils into Excuses and Apologies"
  8092. %
  8093. Lockwood's Long Shot:
  8094. The chances of getting eaten up by a lion on Main Street aren't
  8095. one in a million, but once would be enough.
  8096. %
  8097. Logic is a little bird, sitting in a tree; that smells *_____awful*.
  8098. %
  8099. ... Logically incoherent, semantically incomprehensible, and
  8100. legally ... impeccable!
  8101. %
  8102. Logicians have but ill defined
  8103. As rational the human kind.
  8104. Logic, they say, belongs to man,
  8105. But let them prove it if they can.
  8106. -- Oliver Goldsmith
  8107. %
  8108. Look out! Behind you!
  8109. %
  8110. Look, we play the Star Spangled Banner before every game. You want us
  8111. to pay income taxes, too?
  8112. -- Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox
  8113. %
  8114. Loose bits sink chips.
  8115. %
  8116. Losing your drivers' license is just God's way of saying
  8117. "BOOGA, BOOGA!"
  8118. %
  8119. Lost interest? It's so bad I've lost apathy.
  8120. %
  8121. Loud burping while walking around the airport is prohibited in
  8122. Halstead, Kansas.
  8123. %
  8124. Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.
  8125. %
  8126. Love at first sight is one of the greatest labor-saving devices the
  8127. world has ever seen.
  8128. %
  8129. Love cannot be much younger than the lust for murder.
  8130. -- Sigmund Freud
  8131. %
  8132. Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it
  8133. flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
  8134. -- Matt Groening
  8135. %
  8136. Love is a word that is constantly heard,
  8137. Hate is a word that is not.
  8138. Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
  8139. Love, I have read, is hot.
  8140. But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
  8141. And Love but a drug on the mart.
  8142. Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
  8143. But Hating, my boy, is an Art.
  8144. -- Ogden Nash
  8145. %
  8146. Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with
  8147. the ideal never goes unpunished.
  8148. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  8149. %
  8150. Love is sentimental measles.
  8151. %
  8152. Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
  8153. -- H. L. Mencken
  8154. %
  8155. Love means having to say you're sorry every five minutes.
  8156. %
  8157. Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighborhood.
  8158. -- Louise Beal
  8159. %
  8160. Love your enemies: they'll go crazy trying to figure out what you're up to.
  8161. %
  8162. Love's Drug
  8163. My love is like an iron wand
  8164. That conks me on the head,
  8165. My love is like the valium
  8166. That I take before my bed,
  8167. My love is like the pint of scotch
  8168. That I drink when I be dry;
  8169. And I shall love thee still, my dear,
  8170. Until my wife is wise.
  8171. %
  8172. Lowery's Law:
  8173. If it jams -- force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing
  8174. anyway.
  8175. %
  8176. LSD melts in your mind, not in your hand.
  8177. %
  8178. Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology:
  8179. There's always one more bug.
  8180. %
  8181. Lunatic Asylum, n.:
  8182. The place where optimism most flourishes.
  8183. %
  8184. Lysistrata had a good idea.
  8185. %
  8186. MacDonald has the gift on compressing the largest amount of words into
  8187. the smallest amount of thoughts.
  8188. -- Winston Churchill
  8189. %
  8190. Machine-Independent, adj.:
  8191. Does not run on any existing machine.
  8192. %
  8193. Machines certainly can solve problems, store information, correlate,
  8194. and play games -- but not with pleasure.
  8195. -- Leo Rosten
  8196. %
  8197. Mad, adj.:
  8198. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
  8199. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8200. %
  8201. Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child -- if you parboil them
  8202. first for seven hours, they always come out tender.
  8203. -- W. C. Fields
  8204. %
  8205. MAFIA, n:
  8206. [Acronym for Mechanized Applications in Forced Insurance
  8207. Accounting.] An extensive network with many on-line and offshore
  8208. subsystems running under OS, DOS, and IOS. MAFIA documentation is
  8209. rather scanty, and the MAFIA sales office exhibits that testy
  8210. reluctance to bona fide inquiries which is the hallmark of so many DP
  8211. operations. From the little that has seeped out, it would appear that
  8212. MAFIA operates under a non-standard protocol, OMERTA, a tight-lipped
  8213. variant of SNA, in which extended handshakes also perform complex
  8214. security functions. The known timesharing aspects of MAFIA point to a
  8215. more than usually autocratic operating system. Screen prompts carry an
  8216. imperative, nonrefusable weighting (most menus offer simple YES/YES
  8217. options, defaulting to YES) that precludes indifference or delay.
  8218. Uniquely, all editing under MAFIA is performed centrally, using a
  8219. powerful rubout feature capable of erasing files, filors, filees, and
  8220. entire nodal aggravations.
  8221. -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
  8222. %
  8223. Magnet, n.: Something acted upon by magnetism.
  8224. Magnetism, n.: Something acting upon a magnet.
  8225. The two definition immediately preceding are condensed from the works
  8226. of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject
  8227. with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human
  8228. knowledge.
  8229. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8230. %
  8231. Magnocartic, adj.:
  8232. Any automobile that, when left unattended, attracts shopping carts.
  8233. -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
  8234. %
  8235. Magpie, n.:
  8236. A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it
  8237. might be taught to talk.
  8238. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8239. %
  8240. Maier's Law:
  8241. If the facts don't conform to the theory, they must be disposed of.
  8242. Corollaries:
  8243. (1) The bigger the theory, the better.
  8244. (2) The experiment may be considered a success if no more than
  8245. 50% of the observed measurements must be discarded to
  8246. obtain a correspondence with the theory.
  8247. %
  8248. Main's Law:
  8249. For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
  8250. %
  8251. Maintainer's Motto:
  8252. If we can't fix it, it ain't broke.
  8253. %
  8254. Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly
  8255. as one man.
  8256. Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole in sixty seconds.
  8257. Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a posthole in one second.
  8258. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8259. %
  8260. Majority, n.:
  8261. That quality that distinguishes a crime from a law.
  8262. %
  8263. Make it myself? But I'm a physical organic chemist!
  8264. %
  8265. Making files is easy under the UNIX operating system. Therefore, users
  8266. tend to create numerous files using large amounts of file space. It
  8267. has been said that the only standard thing about all UNIX systems is
  8268. the message-of-the-day telling users to clean up their files.
  8269. -- System V.2 administrator's guide
  8270. %
  8271. Malek's Law:
  8272. Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way.
  8273. %
  8274. Man 1: Ask me the what the most important thing about telling a good
  8275. joke is.
  8276. Man 2: OK, what is the most impo --
  8277. Man 1: ______TIMING!
  8278. %
  8279. Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
  8280. -- Lily Tomlin
  8281. %
  8282. Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called
  8283. upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
  8284. -- Oscar Wilde
  8285. %
  8286. Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft ... and the
  8287. only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
  8288. -- Wernher von Braun
  8289. %
  8290. Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to.
  8291. -- Mark Twain
  8292. %
  8293. Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the
  8294. victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
  8295. -- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
  8296. %
  8297. Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else -- unless it
  8298. is an enemy.
  8299. -- Albert Einstein
  8300. %
  8301. Man, n.:
  8302. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks
  8303. he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief
  8304. occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which,
  8305. however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole
  8306. habitable earth and Canada.
  8307. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8308. %
  8309. Mandrell: "You know what I think?"
  8310. Doctor: "Ah, ah that's a catch question. With a brain your size you
  8311. don't think, right?"
  8312. -- Dr. Who
  8313. %
  8314. Mankind's yearning to engage in sports is older than recorded history,
  8315. dating back to the time millions of years ago, when the first primitive
  8316. man picked up a crude club and a round rock, tossed the rock into the
  8317. air, and whomped the club into the sloping forehead of the first
  8318. primitive umpire.
  8319. What inner force drove this first athlete? Your guess is as good as
  8320. mine. Better, probably, because you haven't had four beers.
  8321. -- Dave Barry, "Sports is a Drag"
  8322. %
  8323. Manual, n.:
  8324. A unit of documentation. There are always three or more on a
  8325. given item. One is on the shelf; someone has the others. The
  8326. information you need is in the others.
  8327. -- Ray Simard
  8328. %
  8329. Many years ago in a period commonly know as Next Friday Afternoon,
  8330. there lived a King who was very Gloomy on Tuesday mornings because he
  8331. was so Sad thinking about how Unhappy he had been on Monday and how
  8332. completely Mournful he would be on Wednesday ...
  8333. -- Walt Kelly
  8334. %
  8335. Mark's Dental-Chair Discovery:
  8336. Dentists are incapable of asking questions that require a
  8337. simple yes or no answer.
  8338. %
  8339. Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.
  8340. -- Voltaire
  8341. %
  8342. Maryel brought her bat into Exit once and started whacking people on
  8343. the dance floor. Now everyone's doing it. It's called grand slam
  8344. dancing.
  8345. -- Ransford, Chicago Reader 10/7/83
  8346. %
  8347. Maternity pay? Now every Tom, Dick and Harry will get pregnant.
  8348. -- Malcolm Smith
  8349. %
  8350. Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated.
  8351. -- R. Drabek
  8352. %
  8353. Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they
  8354. translate into their own language, and forthwith it is something
  8355. entirely different.
  8356. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  8357. %
  8358. Mathematicians often resort to something called Hilbert space, which is
  8359. described as being n-dimensional. Like modern sex, any number can
  8360. play.
  8361. -- Dr. Thor Wald, in "Beep/The Quincunx of Time", by
  8362. James Blish
  8363. %
  8364. Matrimony isn't a word, it's a sentence.
  8365. %
  8366. Matter cannot be created or destroyed,
  8367. nor can it be returned without a receipt.
  8368. %
  8369. Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.
  8370. -- Jules Feiffer
  8371. %
  8372. May a Misguided Platypus lay its Eggs in your Jockey Shorts.
  8373. %
  8374. May Euell Gibbons eat your only copy of the manual!
  8375. %
  8376. May the Fleas of a Thousand Camels infest one of your Erogenous Zones.
  8377. %
  8378. May your Tongue stick to the Roof of your Mouth with the Force of a
  8379. Thousand Caramels.
  8380. %
  8381. Maybe Computer Science should be in the College of Theology.
  8382. -- R. S. Barton
  8383. %
  8384. Maybe you can't buy happiness, but these days you can certainly charge
  8385. it.
  8386. %
  8387. McGowan's Madison Avenue Axiom:
  8388. If an item is advertised as "under $50", you can bet it's not
  8389. $19.95.
  8390. %
  8391. Meader's Law:
  8392. Whatever happens to you, it will previously have happened to
  8393. everyone you know, only more so.
  8394. %
  8395. Meeting, n.:
  8396. An assembly of people coming together to decide what person or
  8397. department not represented in the room must solve a problem.
  8398. %
  8399. Men were real men, women were real women, and small, furry creatures
  8400. from Alpha Centauri were REAL small, furry creatures from Alpha
  8401. Centauri. Spirits were brave, men boldly split infinitives that no man
  8402. had split before. Thus was the Empire forged.
  8403. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  8404. %
  8405. Men's skin is different from women's skin. It is usually bigger, and
  8406. it has more snakes tattooed on it. Also, if you examine a woman's skin
  8407. very closely, inch by inch, starting at her shapely ankles, then gently
  8408. tracing the slender curve of her calves, then moving up to her ...
  8409. [EDITOR'S NOTE: To make room for news articles about important
  8410. world events such as agriculture, we're going to delete the
  8411. next few square feet of the woman's skin. Thank you.]
  8412. ... until finally the two of you are lying there, spent, smoking your
  8413. cigarettes, and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of
  8414. billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called "cells"! And what is even
  8415. more interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a
  8416. fact. Your skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the
  8417. older veteran cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and
  8418. obtained offices with nice views, are constantly being shoved out the
  8419. window head first, without so much as a pension plan, by younger
  8420. hotshot cells moving up from below.
  8421. -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
  8422. %
  8423. Mencken and Nathan's Fifteenth Law of The Average American:
  8424. The worst actress in the company is always the manager's wife.
  8425. %
  8426. Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American:
  8427. The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the
  8428. cork makes when it is popped.
  8429. %
  8430. Mencken and Nathan's Second Law of The Average American:
  8431. All the postmasters in small towns read all the postcards.
  8432. %
  8433. Mencken and Nathan's Sixteenth Law of The Average American:
  8434. Milking a cow is an operation demanding a special talent that
  8435. is possessed only by yokels, and no person born in a large city can
  8436. never hope to acquire it.
  8437. %
  8438. Menu, n.:
  8439. A list of dishes which the restaurant has just run out of.
  8440. %
  8441. Meskimen's Law:
  8442. There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to
  8443. do it over.
  8444. %
  8445. MESSAGE ACKNOWLEDGED -- The Pershing II missiles have been launched.
  8446. %
  8447. Message will arrive in the mail. Destroy, before the FBI sees it.
  8448. %
  8449. methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutamin-
  8450. ylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolyl-
  8451. phenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglu-
  8452. taminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl-
  8453. glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylala-
  8454. nylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylgluta-
  8455. minylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly-
  8456. cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionyl-
  8457. leucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleu-
  8458. cylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylva-
  8459. lylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyro-
  8460. sylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleu-
  8461. cylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphe-
  8462. nylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylala-
  8463. nylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylas-
  8464. partylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosyl-
  8465. glycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycyl-
  8466. valylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleu-
  8467. cylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparagi-
  8468. nylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylse-
  8469. rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl-
  8470. glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalylly-
  8471. sylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylpro-
  8472. lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalyl-
  8473. glutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine, n.:
  8474. The chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, a
  8475. 1,913-letter enzyme with 267 amino acids.
  8476. -- Mrs. Bryne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and
  8477. Preposterous Words
  8478. %
  8479. Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch.
  8480. %
  8481. Micro Credo:
  8482. Never trust a computer bigger than you can lift.
  8483. %
  8484. Microwave oven? Whaddya mean, it's a microwave oven? I've been
  8485. watching Channel 4 on the thing for two weeks.
  8486. %
  8487. Might as well be frank, monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you
  8488. out of Casablanca and the Germans have outlawed miracles.
  8489. -- Casablanca
  8490. %
  8491. Mike: "The Fourth Dimension is a shambles?"
  8492. Bernie: "Nobody ever empties the ashtrays. People are SO
  8493. inconsiderate."
  8494. -- Gary Trudeau, "Doonesbury"
  8495. %
  8496. Miksch's Law:
  8497. If a string has one end, then it has another end.
  8498. %
  8499. Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
  8500. -- Groucho Marx
  8501. %
  8502. Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
  8503. -- Groucho Marx
  8504. %
  8505. Millihelen, adj:
  8506. The amount of beauty required to launch one ship.
  8507. %
  8508. Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with
  8509. themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
  8510. -- Susan Ertz
  8511. %
  8512. Millions of sensible people are too high-minded to concede that
  8513. politics is almost always the choice of the lesser evil. "Tweedledum
  8514. and Tweedledee," they say, "I will not vote." Having abstained, they
  8515. are presented with a President who appoints the people who are going to
  8516. rummage around in their lives for the next four years. Consider all
  8517. the people who sat home in a stew in 1968 rather than vote for Hubert
  8518. Humphrey. They showed Humphrey. Those people who taught Hubert
  8519. Humphrey a lesson will still be enjoying the Nixon Supreme Court when
  8520. Tricia and Julie begin to find silver threads among the gold and the
  8521. black.
  8522. -- Russel Baker, "Ford without Flummery"
  8523. %
  8524. Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there
  8525. is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined,
  8526. myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in
  8527. the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my
  8528. unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You
  8529. will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as
  8530. dead as a door-nail.
  8531. %
  8532. Minnie Mouse is a slow maze learner.
  8533. %
  8534. Minors in Kansas City, Missouri, are not allowed to purchase cap
  8535. pistols; they may buy shotguns freely, however.
  8536. %
  8537. Misery loves company, but company does not reciprocate.
  8538. %
  8539. Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it.
  8540. -- Russell Baker
  8541. %
  8542. Misfortune, n.:
  8543. The kind of fortune that never misses.
  8544. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8545. %
  8546. Miss, n.:
  8547. A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that
  8548. they are in the market.
  8549. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8550. %
  8551. Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure.
  8552. %
  8553. Mitchell's Law of Committees:
  8554. Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are
  8555. held to discuss it.
  8556. %
  8557. MOCK APPLE PIE (No Apples Needed)
  8558. Pastry to two crust 9-inch pie 36 RITZ Crackers
  8559. 2 cups water 2 cups sugar
  8560. 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  8561. Grated rind of one lemon Butter or margarine
  8562. Cinnamon
  8563. Roll out bottom crust of pastry and fit into 9-inch pie plate. Break
  8564. RITZ Crackers coarsely into pastry-lined plate. Combine water, sugar
  8565. and cream of tartar in saucepan, boil gently for 15 minutes. Add lemon
  8566. juice and rind. Cool. Pour this syrup over Crackers, dot generously
  8567. with butter or margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with top
  8568. crust. Trim and flute edges together. Cut slits in top crust to let
  8569. steam escape. Bake in a hot oven (425 F) 30 to 35 minutes, until crust
  8570. is crisp and golden. Serve warm. Cut into 6 to 8 slices.
  8571. -- Found lurking on a Ritz Crackers box
  8572. %
  8573. Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
  8574. %
  8575. Mohandas K. Gandhi often changed his mind publicly. An aide once asked
  8576. him how he could so freely contradict this week what he had said just
  8577. last week. The great man replied that it was because this week he knew
  8578. better.
  8579. %
  8580. Molecule, n.:
  8581. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is distinguished
  8582. from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter, by a
  8583. closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of
  8584. matter ... The ion differs from the molecule, the corpuscle and the
  8585. atom in that it is an ion ...
  8586. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8587. %
  8588. Mollison's Bureaucracy Hypothesis:
  8589. If an idea can survive a bureaucratic review and be implemented
  8590. it wasn't worth doing.
  8591. %
  8592. Monday is an awful way to spend one seventh of your life.
  8593. %
  8594. Monday, n.:
  8595. In Christian countries, the day after the baseball game.
  8596. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8597. %
  8598. Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
  8599. %
  8600. Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots.
  8601. %
  8602. Money is the root of all wealth.
  8603. %
  8604. Moon, n.:
  8605. 1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to
  8606. hackers. See PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC).
  8607. %
  8608. Mophobia, n.:
  8609. Fear of being verbally abused by a Mississippian.
  8610. %
  8611. MORE SPORTS RESULTS:
  8612. The Beverly Hills Freudians tied the Chicago Rogerians 0-0 last
  8613. Saturday night. The match started with a long period of silence while
  8614. the Freudians waited for the Rogerians to free associate and the
  8615. Rogerians waited for the Freudians to say something they could
  8616. paraphrase. The stalemate was broken when the Freudians' best player
  8617. took the offensive and interpreted the Rogerians' silence as reflecting
  8618. their anal-retentive personalities. At this the Rogerians' star player
  8619. said "I hear you saying you think we're full of ka-ka." This started a
  8620. fight and the match was called by officials.
  8621. %
  8622. More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One
  8623. path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total
  8624. extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
  8625. -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects"
  8626. %
  8627. Mosher's Law of Software Engineering:
  8628. Don't worry if it doesn't work right. If everything did, you'd
  8629. be out of a job.
  8630. %
  8631. Most fish live underwater, which is a terrible place to have sex
  8632. because virtually anywhere you lie down there will be stinging crabs
  8633. and large quantities of little fish staring at you with buggy little
  8634. eyes. So generally when two fish want to have sex, they swim around
  8635. and around for hours, looking for someplace to go, until finally the
  8636. female gets really tired and has a terrible headache, and she just
  8637. dumps her eggs right on the sand and swims away. Then the male, driven
  8638. by some timeless, noble instinct for survival, eats the eggs. So the
  8639. truth is that fish don't reproduce at all, but there are so many of
  8640. them that it doesn't make any difference.
  8641. -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
  8642. Teen Should Know"
  8643. %
  8644. Most people can't understand how others can blow their noses differently
  8645. than they do.
  8646. -- Turgenev
  8647. %
  8648. Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
  8649. -- Frank Zappa
  8650. %
  8651. Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.
  8652. -- Arnold Bennett
  8653. %
  8654. Mother is the invention of necessity.
  8655. %
  8656. Mother told me to be good, but she's been wrong before.
  8657. %
  8658. Mr. Cole's Axiom:
  8659. The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the
  8660. population is growing.
  8661. %
  8662. "Multiply in your head" (ordered the compassionate Dr. Adams)
  8663. "365,365,365,365,365,365 by 365,365,365,365,365,365. He [ten-year-old
  8664. Truman Henry Safford] flew around the room like a top, pulled his
  8665. pantaloons over the tops of his boots, bit his hands, rolled his eyes
  8666. in their sockets, sometimes smiling and talking, and then seeming to be
  8667. in an agony, until, in not more than one minute, said he,
  8668. 133,491,850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225!" An electronic
  8669. computer might do the job a little faster but it wouldn't be as much
  8670. fun to watch.
  8671. -- James R. Newman (The World of Mathematics)
  8672. %
  8673. Murphy's Discovery:
  8674. Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to
  8675. women? They say, "Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything
  8676. will be all right." And what happens? Nine months later, you're in
  8677. trouble!
  8678. %
  8679. Murphy's Law is recursive. Washing your car to make it rain doesn't
  8680. work.
  8681. %
  8682. Murphy's Law of Research:
  8683. Enough research will tend to support your theory.
  8684. %
  8685. Murphy's Law, that brash proletarian restatement of Goedel's Theorem ...
  8686. -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
  8687. %
  8688. Murray and Esther, a middle-aged Jewish couple, are touring
  8689. Chile. Murray just got a new camera and is constantly snapping
  8690. pictures. One day, without knowing it, he photographs a top-secret
  8691. military installation. In an instant, armed troops surround Murray and
  8692. Esther and hustle them off to prison.
  8693. They can't prove who they are because they've left their
  8694. passports in their hotel room. For three weeks they're tortured day
  8695. and night to get them to name their contacts in the liberation
  8696. movement.. Finally they're hauled in front of a military court,
  8697. charged with espionage, and sentenced to death.
  8698. The next morning they're lined up in front of the wall where
  8699. they'll be shot. The sergeant in charge of the firing squad asks them
  8700. if they have any lasts requests. Esther wants to know if she can call
  8701. her daughter in Chicago. The sergeant says he's sorry, that's not
  8702. possible, and turns to Murray.
  8703. "This is crazy!" Murray shouts. "We're not spies!" And he
  8704. spits in the sergeants face.
  8705. "Murray!" Esther cries. "Please! Don't make trouble."
  8706. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  8707. %
  8708. Mustgo, n.:
  8709. Any item of food that has been sitting in the refrigerator so
  8710. long it has become a science project.
  8711. -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
  8712. %
  8713. My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.
  8714. -- "Grendel", by John Gardner
  8715. %
  8716. My band career ended late in my senior year when John Cooper and I
  8717. threw my amplifier out the dormitory window. We did not act in haste.
  8718. First we checked to make sure the amplifier would fit through the
  8719. frame, using the belt from my bathrobe to measure, then we picked up
  8720. the amplifier and backed up to my bedroom door. Then we rushed
  8721. forward, shouting "The WHO! The WHO!" and we launched my amplifier
  8722. perfectly, as though we had been doing it all our lives, clean through
  8723. the window and down onto the sidewalk, where a small but appreciative
  8724. crowd had gathered. I would like to be able to say that this was a
  8725. symbolic act, an effort on my part to break cleanly away from one state
  8726. in my life and move on to another, but the truth is, Cooper and I
  8727. really just wanted to find out what it would sound like. It sounded
  8728. OK.
  8729. -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
  8730. %
  8731. My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless
  8732. there are three other people.
  8733. -- Orson Welles
  8734. %
  8735. My God, I'm depressed! Here I am, a computer with a mind a thousand
  8736. times as powerful as yours, doing nothing but cranking out fortunes and
  8737. sending mail about softball games. And I've got this pain right
  8738. through my ALU. I've asked for it to be replaced, but nobody ever
  8739. listens. I think it would be better for us both if you were to just
  8740. log out again.
  8741. %
  8742. My life is a soap opera, but who has the rights?
  8743. -- MadameX
  8744. %
  8745. My love runs by like a day in June,
  8746. And he makes no friends of sorrows.
  8747. He'll tread his galloping rigadoon
  8748. In the pathway or the morrows.
  8749. He'll live his days where the sunbeams start
  8750. Nor could storm or wind uproot him.
  8751. My own dear love, he is all my heart --
  8752. And I wish somebody'd shoot him.
  8753. -- Dorothy Parker
  8754. %
  8755. My love, he's mad, and my love, he's fleet,
  8756. And a wild young wood-thing bore him!
  8757. The ways are fair to his roaming feet,
  8758. And the skies are sunlit for him.
  8759. As sharply sweet to my heart he seems
  8760. As the fragrance of acacia.
  8761. My own dear love, he is all my dreams --
  8762. And I wish he were in Asia.
  8763. -- Dorothy Parker
  8764. %
  8765. My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had been one.
  8766. -- Groucho Marx
  8767. %
  8768. My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.
  8769. %
  8770. My own dear love, he is strong and bold
  8771. And he cares not what comes after.
  8772. His words ring sweet as a chime of gold,
  8773. And his eyes are lit with laughter.
  8774. He is jubilant as a flag unfurled --
  8775. Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him.
  8776. My own dear love, he is all my world --
  8777. And I wish I'd never met him.
  8778. -- Dorothy Parker
  8779. %
  8780. My pants just went on a wild rampage through a Long Island Bowling Alley!!
  8781. -- Zippy the Pinhead
  8782. %
  8783. My pen is at the bottom of a page,
  8784. Which, being finished, here the story ends;
  8785. 'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done,
  8786. But stories somehow lengthen when begun.
  8787. -- Byron
  8788. %
  8789. My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
  8790. -- Christopher Morley
  8791. %
  8792. My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies
  8793. %
  8794. Mythology, n.:
  8795. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its
  8796. origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished
  8797. from the true accounts which it invents later.
  8798. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  8799. %
  8800. n = ((n >> 1) & 0x55555555) | ((n << 1) & 0xaaaaaaaa);
  8801. n = ((n >> 2) & 0x33333333) | ((n << 2) & 0xcccccccc);
  8802. n = ((n >> 4) & 0x0f0f0f0f) | ((n << 4) & 0xf0f0f0f0);
  8803. n = ((n >> 8) & 0x00ff00ff) | ((n << 8) & 0xff00ff00);
  8804. n = ((n >> 16) & 0x0000ffff) | ((n << 16) & 0xffff0000);
  8805. -- C code which reverses the bits in a word.
  8806. %
  8807. Naeser's Law:
  8808. You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it
  8809. damnfoolproof.
  8810. %
  8811. NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Guiseppe? Everything he
  8812. says is wrong.
  8813. GUISEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says
  8814. will be right.
  8815. -- G. B. Shaw, "The Man of Destiny"
  8816. %
  8817. Nasrudin called at a large house to collect for charity. The servant
  8818. said "My master is out." Nasrudin replied, "Tell your master that next
  8819. time he goes out, he should not leave his face at the window. Someone
  8820. might steal it."
  8821. %
  8822. Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the
  8823. villagers gathered around to hear what had passed. "At this time,"
  8824. said Nasrudin, "I only want to say that the King spoke to me." All the
  8825. villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The
  8826. remaining villager asked, "What did the King say to you?" "What he
  8827. said -- and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear -- was 'Get out of
  8828. my way!'" The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually
  8829. spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to.
  8830. %
  8831. Nasrudin walked into a shop one day, and the owner came forward to
  8832. serve him. Nasrudin said, "First things first. Did you see me walk
  8833. into your shop?" "Of course." "Have you ever seen me before?"
  8834. "Never." "Then how do you know it was me?"
  8835. %
  8836. Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and declaimed, "The moon is more useful
  8837. than the sun." "Why?", he was asked. "Because at night we need the
  8838. light more."
  8839. %
  8840. Nasrudin was carrying home a piece of liver and the recipe for liver
  8841. pie. Suddenly a bird of prey swooped down and snatched the piece of
  8842. meat from his hand. As the bird flew off, Nasrudin called after it,
  8843. "Foolish bird! You have the liver, but what can you do with it without
  8844. the recipe?"
  8845. %
  8846. Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of
  8847. conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the
  8848. fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he
  8849. is most likely to be creamed?
  8850. -- Solomon Short
  8851. %
  8852. Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night,
  8853. God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light.
  8854. It did not last; the devil howling "Ho!
  8855. Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo.
  8856. %
  8857. Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it
  8858. cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs.
  8859. -- Fran Leibowitz
  8860. %
  8861. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
  8862. character, give him power.
  8863. -- Abraham Lincoln
  8864. %
  8865. Necessity is a mother.
  8866. %
  8867. Neckties strangle clear thinking.
  8868. -- Lin Yutang
  8869. %
  8870. Never be led astray onto the path of virtue.
  8871. %
  8872. Never call a man a fool. Borrow from him.
  8873. %
  8874. Never commit yourself! Let someone else commit you.
  8875. %
  8876. Never count your chickens before they rip your lips off.
  8877. %
  8878. Never drink Coke in a moving elevator. The elevator's motion coupled
  8879. with the chemicals in Coke produce hallucinations. People tend to
  8880. change into lizards and attack without warning, and large bats usually
  8881. fly in the window. Additionally, you begin to believe that elevators
  8882. have windows.
  8883. %
  8884. Never eat more than you can lift.
  8885. -- Miss Piggy
  8886. %
  8887. Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
  8888. %
  8889. Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
  8890. %
  8891. Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
  8892. -- Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"
  8893. %
  8894. Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to
  8895. make it complex and wonderful.
  8896. %
  8897. Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
  8898. -- Sam Brown, "The Washington Post", January 26, 1977
  8899. %
  8900. Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together.
  8901. %
  8902. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a
  8903. law against it by that time.
  8904. %
  8905. Never settle with words what you can accomplish with a flame thrower.
  8906. %
  8907. Never tell a lie unless it is absolutely convenient.
  8908. %
  8909. Never try to outstubborn a cat.
  8910. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  8911. %
  8912. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes.
  8913. -- Dr. Warren Jackson, Director, UTCS
  8914. %
  8915. Never underestimate the power of a small tactical nuclear weapon.
  8916. %
  8917. Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's
  8918. supposed to do.
  8919. -- R. A. Heinlein
  8920. %
  8921. New crypt. See /usr/news/crypt.
  8922. %
  8923. New Hampshire law forbids you to tap your feet, nod your head, or in
  8924. any way keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or cafe.
  8925. %
  8926. New members are urgently needed in the Society for Prevention of
  8927. Cruelty to Yourself. Apply within.
  8928. %
  8929. New members urgently required for SUICIDE CLUB, Watford area.
  8930. -- Monty Python's Big Red Book
  8931. %
  8932. New systems generate new problems.
  8933. %
  8934. New Year's Eve is the time of year when a man most feels his age, and
  8935. his wife most often reminds him to act it.
  8936. -- Webster's Unafraid Dictionary
  8937. %
  8938. New York is real. The rest is done with mirrors.
  8939. %
  8940. New York's got the ways and means;
  8941. Just won't let you be.
  8942. -- The Grateful Dead
  8943. %
  8944. Newlan's Truism:
  8945. An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government
  8946. economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job.
  8947. %
  8948. NEWS FLASH!!
  8949. Today the East German pole-vault champion became the West
  8950. German pole-vault champion.
  8951. %
  8952. *** NEWSFLASH ***
  8953. Russian tanks steamrolling through New Jersey!!!! Details at eleven!
  8954. %
  8955. Newton's Fourth Law: Every action has an equal and opposite satisfaction.
  8956. %
  8957. Newton's Little-Known Seventh Law:
  8958. A bird in the hand is safer than one overhead.
  8959. %
  8960. Next Friday will not be your lucky day.
  8961. As a matter of fact, you don't have a lucky day this year.
  8962. %
  8963. Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying
  8964. as an income tax refund.
  8965. -- F. J. Raymond
  8966. %
  8967. Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice.
  8968. -- Foghorn Leghorn
  8969. %
  8970. Nihilism should commence with oneself.
  8971. %
  8972. Niklaus Wirth has lamented that, whereas Europeans pronounce his name
  8973. correctly (Ni-klows Virt), Americans invariably mangle it into
  8974. (Nick-les Worth). Which is to say that Europeans call him by name, but
  8975. Americans call him by value.
  8976. %
  8977. Nine megs for the secretaries fair,
  8978. Seven megs for the hackers scarce,
  8979. Five megs for the grads in smoky lairs,
  8980. Three megs for system source;
  8981. One disk to rule them all,
  8982. One disk to bind them,
  8983. One disk to hold the files
  8984. And in the darkness grind 'em.
  8985. %
  8986. Nine-track tapes and seven-track tapes
  8987. And tapes without any tracks;
  8988. Stretchy tapes and snarley tapes
  8989. And tapes mixed up on the racks --
  8990. Take hold of the tape
  8991. And pull off the strip,
  8992. And then you'll be sure
  8993. Your tape drive will skip.
  8994. -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes
  8995. %
  8996. Ninety percent of the time things turn out worse than you thought they
  8997. would. The other ten percent of the time you had no right to expect
  8998. that much.
  8999. -- Augustine
  9000. %
  9001. Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules:
  9002. The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of
  9003. the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent.
  9004. %
  9005. Nirvana? That's the place where the powers that be and their friends
  9006. hang out.
  9007. -- Zonker Harris
  9008. %
  9009. No animal should ever jump on the dining room furniture unless
  9010. absolutely certain he can hold his own in conversation.
  9011. -- Fran Leibowitz
  9012. %
  9013. No committee could ever come up with anything as revolutionary as a
  9014. camel -- anything as practical and as perfectly designed to perform
  9015. effectively under such difficult conditions.
  9016. -- Laurence J. Peter
  9017. %
  9018. No good deed goes unpunished.
  9019. -- Clare Boothe Luce
  9020. %
  9021. No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after
  9022. eating one peanut.
  9023. -- Channing Pollock
  9024. %
  9025. No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas.
  9026. %
  9027. No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife in the shoulder blades will
  9028. seriously cramp his style.
  9029. %
  9030. No matter what other nations may say about the United States,
  9031. immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.
  9032. %
  9033. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
  9034. -- Eleanor Roosevelt
  9035. %
  9036. No one gets too old to learn a new way of being stupid.
  9037. %
  9038. No part of this message may reproduce, store itself in a retrieval
  9039. system, or transmit disease, in any form, without the permissiveness of
  9040. the author.
  9041. -- Chris Shaw
  9042. %
  9043. No plain fanfold paper could hold that fractal Puff --
  9044. He grew so fast no plotting pack could shrink him far enough.
  9045. Compiles and simulations grew so quickly tame
  9046. And swapped out all their data space when Puff pushed his stack frame.
  9047. CHORUS:
  9048. Puff the fractal dragon was written in C,
  9049. And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory.
  9050. Puff the fractal dragon was written in C,
  9051. And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory.
  9052. Puff, he grew so quickly, while others moved like snails
  9053. And mini-Puffs would perch themselves on his gigantic tail.
  9054. All the student hackers loved that fractal Puff
  9055. But DCS did not like Puff, and finally said, "Enough!"
  9056. (chorus)
  9057. Puff used more resources than DCS could spare.
  9058. The operator killed Puff's job -- he didn't seem to care.
  9059. A gloom fell on the hackers; it seemed to be the end,
  9060. But Puff trapped the exception, and grew from naught again!
  9061. (chorus)
  9062. %
  9063. No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it.
  9064. -- C. Schulz
  9065. %
  9066. No problem is so large it can't be fit in somewhere.
  9067. %
  9068. No proper program contains an indication which as an operator-applied
  9069. occurrence identifies an operator-defining occurrence which as an
  9070. indication-applied occurrence identifies an indication-defining
  9071. occurrence different from the one identified by the given indication as
  9072. an indication-applied occurrence.
  9073. -- ALGOL 68 Report
  9074. %
  9075. No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in that kind of paper.
  9076. -- Mike Royko on the Chicago Sun-Times after it was
  9077. taken over by Rupert Murdoch
  9078. %
  9079. No violence, gentlemen -- no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!
  9080. -- Sherlock Holmes
  9081. %
  9082. No, `Eureka' is Greek for `This bath is too hot.'
  9083. -- Dr. Who
  9084. %
  9085. Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
  9086. -- Tallulah Bankhead
  9087. %
  9088. NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION.
  9089. %
  9090. Nobody said computers were going to be polite.
  9091. %
  9092. Nobody suffers the pain of birth or the anguish of loving a child in
  9093. order for presidents to make wars, for governments to feed on the
  9094. substance of their people, for insurance companies to cheat the young
  9095. and rob the old.
  9096. -- Lewis Lapham
  9097. %
  9098. Nobody wants constructive criticism. It's all we can do to put up with
  9099. constructive praise.
  9100. %
  9101. Non-Reciprocal Laws of Expectations:
  9102. Negative expectations yield negative results.
  9103. Positive expectations yield negative results.
  9104. %
  9105. Non-sequiturs make me eat lampshades.
  9106. %
  9107. Noncombatant, n.:
  9108. A dead Quaker.
  9109. -- Ambrose Bierce
  9110. %
  9111. Nondeterminism means never having to say you are wrong.
  9112. %
  9113. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
  9114. %
  9115. Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the
  9116. Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats
  9117. in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the
  9118. moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter -- for they had a machine, a
  9119. dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every
  9120. respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside
  9121. it, for it was all they had -- first they saved up all their atoms,
  9122. then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they
  9123. chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine ...
  9124. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  9125. %
  9126. Not Hercules could have knock'd out his brains, for he had none.
  9127. -- William Shakespeare
  9128. %
  9129. Not only is this incomprehensible, but the ink is ugly and the paper
  9130. is from the wrong kind of tree.
  9131. -- Professor W., EECS, George Washington University
  9132. %
  9133. Notes for a ballet, "The Spell": ... Suddenly Sigmund hears the flutter
  9134. of wings, and a group of wild swans flies across the moon ... Sigmund
  9135. is astounded to see that their leader is part swan and part woman --
  9136. unfortunately, divided lengthwise. She enchants Sigmund, who is
  9137. careful not to make any poultry jokes ...
  9138. -- Woody Allen
  9139. %
  9140. Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.
  9141. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  9142. %
  9143. Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up.
  9144. %
  9145. Nothing is faster than the speed of light ...
  9146. To prove this to yourself, try opening the refrigerator door before the
  9147. light comes on.
  9148. %
  9149. Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it.
  9150. -- Andrew Young
  9151. %
  9152. Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires
  9153. tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
  9154. -- Nero Wolfe
  9155. %
  9156. Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner.
  9157. Conscience makes egotists of us all.
  9158. -- Oscar Wilde
  9159. %
  9160. Nothing recedes like success.
  9161. -- Walter Winchell
  9162. %
  9163. Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
  9164. -- Charlie Brown
  9165. %
  9166. November, n.:
  9167. The eleventh twelfth of a weariness.
  9168. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  9169. %
  9170. Now and then an innocent person is sent to the legislature.
  9171. %
  9172. Now I lay me down to sleep
  9173. I pray the double lock will keep;
  9174. May no brick through the window break,
  9175. And, no one rob me till I awake.
  9176. %
  9177. Now is the time for all good men to come to.
  9178. -- Walt Kelly
  9179. %
  9180. Now that you've read Fortune's diet truths, you'll be prepared the next
  9181. time some housewife or boutique-owner-turned-diet-expert appears on TV
  9182. to plug her latest book. And, if you still feel a twinge of guilt for
  9183. eating coffee cake while listening to her exhortations, ask yourself
  9184. the following questions:
  9185. (1) Do I dare trust a person who actually considers alfalfa sprouts a
  9186. food?
  9187. (2) Was the author's sole motive in writing this book to get rich
  9188. exploiting the forlorn hopes of chubby people like me?
  9189. (3) Would a longer life be worthwhile if it had to be lived as
  9190. prescribed ... without French-fried onion rings, pizza with
  9191. double cheese, or the occasional Mai-Tai? (Remember, living
  9192. right doesn't really make you live longer, it just *seems* like
  9193. longer.)
  9194. That, and another piece of coffee cake, should do the trick.
  9195. %
  9196. Now the Lord God planted a garden East of Whittier in a place called
  9197. Yorba Linda, and out of the ground he made to grow orange trees that
  9198. were good for food and the fruits thereof he labeled SUNKIST ...
  9199. -- "The Begatting of a President"
  9200. %
  9201. Now this is a totally brain damaged algorithm. Gag me with a smurfette.
  9202. -- P. Buhr, Computer Science 354
  9203. %
  9204. ... Now you're ready for the actual shopping. Your goal should be to
  9205. get it over with as quickly as possible, because the longer you stay in
  9206. the mall, the longer your children will have to listen to holiday songs
  9207. on the mall public-address system, and many of these songs can damage
  9208. children emotionally. For example: "Frosty the Snowman" is about a
  9209. snowman who befriends some children, plays with them until they learn
  9210. to love him, then melts. And "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is about
  9211. a young reindeer who, because of a physical deformity, is treated as an
  9212. outcast by the other reindeer. Then along comes good, old Santa. Does
  9213. he ignore the deformity? Does he look past Rudolph's nose and respect
  9214. Rudolph for the sensitive reindeer he is underneath? No. Santa asks
  9215. Rudolph to guide his sleigh, as if Rudolph were nothing more than some
  9216. kind of headlight with legs and a tail. So unless you want your
  9217. children exposed to this kind of insensitivity, you should shop
  9218. quickly.
  9219. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  9220. %
  9221. Now, you might ask, "How do I get one of those complete home
  9222. tool sets for under $4?" An excellent question.
  9223. Go to one of those really cheap discount stores where they sell
  9224. plastic furniture in colors visible from the planet Neptune and where
  9225. they have a food section specializing in cardboard cartons full of
  9226. Raisinets and malted milk balls manufactured during the Nixon
  9227. administration. In either the hardware or housewares department,
  9228. you'll find an item imported from an obscure Oriental country and
  9229. described as "Nine Tools in One", consisting of a little handle with
  9230. interchangeable ends representing inscrutable Oriental notions of tools
  9231. that Americans might use around the home. Buy it.
  9232. This is the kind of tool set professionals use. Not only is it
  9233. inexpensive, but it also has a great safety feature not found in the
  9234. so-called quality tools sets: The handle will actually break right off
  9235. if you accidentally hit yourself or anything else, or expose it to
  9236. direct sunlight.
  9237. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  9238. %
  9239. Nuclear war can ruin your whole compile.
  9240. -- Karl Lehenbauer
  9241. %
  9242. Nuclear war would mean abolition of most comforts, and disruption of
  9243. normal routines, for children and adults alike.
  9244. -- Willard F. Libby, "You *Can* Survive Atomic Attack"
  9245. %
  9246. Nuclear war would really set back cable.
  9247. -- Ted Turner
  9248. %
  9249. [Nuclear war] ... may not be desirable.
  9250. -- Edwin Meese III
  9251. %
  9252. Nudists are people who wear one-button suits.
  9253. %
  9254. (null cookie; hope that's ok)
  9255. %
  9256. Numeric stability is probably not all that important when you're guessing.
  9257. %
  9258. O give me a home,
  9259. Where the buffalo roam,
  9260. Where the deer and the antelope play,
  9261. Where seldom is heard
  9262. A discouraging word,
  9263. 'Cause what can an antelope say?
  9264. %
  9265. O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law:
  9266. Murphy was an optimist.
  9267. %
  9268. Of ______course it's the murder weapon. Who would frame someone with a
  9269. fake?
  9270. %
  9271. Of all possible committee reactions to any given agenda item, the
  9272. reaction that will occur is the one which will liberate the greatest
  9273. amount of hot air.
  9274. -- Thomas L. Martin
  9275. %
  9276. Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.
  9277. -- Plato
  9278. %
  9279. Of all the words of witch's doom
  9280. There's none so bad as which and whom.
  9281. The man who kills both which and whom
  9282. Will be enshrined in our Who's Whom.
  9283. -- Fletcher Knebel
  9284. %
  9285. Of course power tools and alcohol don't mix. Everyone knows power
  9286. tools aren't soluble in alcohol ...
  9287. -- Crazy Nigel
  9288. %
  9289. Of course there's no reason for it, it's just our policy.
  9290. %
  9291. Of what you see in books, believe 75%. Of newspapers, believe 50%.
  9292. And of TV news, believe 25% -- make that 5% if the anchorman wears a
  9293. blazer.
  9294. %
  9295. Office Automation, n.:
  9296. The use of computers to improve efficiency by removing anyone
  9297. you would want to talk with over coffee.
  9298. %
  9299. Ogden's Law:
  9300. The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch
  9301. up.
  9302. %
  9303. Oh Dad! We're ALL Devo!
  9304. %
  9305. Oh don't the days seem lank and long
  9306. When all goes right and none goes wrong,
  9307. And isn't your life extremely flat
  9308. With nothing whatever to grumble at!
  9309. %
  9310. Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay
  9311. I muck with indices and structs all day
  9312. And when it works, I shout hoo-ray
  9313. Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay
  9314. %
  9315. Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had $600 billion at my disposal, I'd
  9316. be irresponsible, too.
  9317. -- Lichty & Wagner
  9318. %
  9319. Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
  9320. And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;
  9321. Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
  9322. Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
  9323. You have not dreamed of --
  9324. Wheeled and soared and swung
  9325. High in the sunlit silence.
  9326. Hovering there
  9327. I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
  9328. My eager craft through footless halls of air.
  9329. Up, up along delirious, burning blue
  9330. I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
  9331. Where never lark, or even eagle flew;
  9332. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
  9333. The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
  9334. Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
  9335. -- John Gillespie Magee Jr., "High Flight"
  9336. %
  9337. Oh, well, I guess this is just going to be one of those lifetimes.
  9338. %
  9339. Oh, when I was in love with you,
  9340. Then I was clean and brave,
  9341. And miles around the wonder grew
  9342. How well did I behave.
  9343. And now the fancy passes by,
  9344. And nothing will remain,
  9345. And miles around they'll say that I
  9346. Am quite myself again.
  9347. -- A. E. Housman
  9348. %
  9349. Oh, wow! Look at the moon!
  9350. %
  9351. OK, now let's look at four dimensions on the blackboard.
  9352. -- Dr. Joy
  9353. %
  9354. OK, so you're a Ph.D. Just don't touch anything.
  9355. %
  9356. Old age is the most unexpected of things that can happen to a man.
  9357. -- Trotsky
  9358. %
  9359. Old programmers never die. They just branch to a new address.
  9360. %
  9361. Old soldiers never die. Young ones do.
  9362. %
  9363. Oliver's Law:
  9364. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need
  9365. it.
  9366. %
  9367. Omnibiblious, adj.:
  9368. Indifferent to type of drink. "Oh, you can get me anything.
  9369. I'm omnibiblious."
  9370. %
  9371. OMNIVERSAL AWARENESS?? Oh, YEH!! First you need four GALLONS of
  9372. JELL-O and a BIG WRENCH!! ... I think you drop th' WRENCH in the JELL-O
  9373. as if it was a FLAVOR, or an INGREDIENT ... or ... I ... um ...
  9374. WHERE'S the WASHING MACHINES?
  9375. %
  9376. On a paper submitted by a physicist colleague:
  9377. This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.
  9378. -- Wolfgang Pauli
  9379. %
  9380. On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only
  9381. nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter
  9382. what it does.
  9383. -- Will Rogers
  9384. %
  9385. On his first day as a bus driver, Maxey Eckstein handed in
  9386. receipts of $65. The next day his take was $67. The third day's
  9387. income was $62. But on the fourth day, Eckstein emptied no less than
  9388. $283 on the desk before the cashier.
  9389. "Eckstein!" exclaimed the cashier. "This is fantastic. That
  9390. route never brought in money like this! What happened?"
  9391. "Well, after three days on that cockamamie route, I figured
  9392. business would never improve, so I drove over to Fourteenth Street and
  9393. worked there. I tell you, that street is a gold mine!"
  9394. %
  9395. On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are
  9396. created jerks.
  9397. -- H. Allen Smith, "Let the Crabgrass Grow"
  9398. %
  9399. On the road, ZIPPY is a pinhead without a purpose, but never without a
  9400. POINT ...
  9401. %
  9402. On the subject of C program indentation:
  9403. "In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be
  9404. indented six feet downward and covered with dirt."
  9405. -- Blair P. Houghton
  9406. %
  9407. On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], `Pray,
  9408. Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right
  9409. answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of
  9410. confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
  9411. -- Charles Babbage
  9412. %
  9413. On-line, adj.:
  9414. The idea that a human being should always be accessible to a
  9415. computer.
  9416. %
  9417. Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
  9418. forced to live on nothing but food and water for days.
  9419. -- W. C. Fields, "My Little Chickadee"
  9420. %
  9421. Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that
  9422. each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his
  9423. choice.
  9424. In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians
  9425. called it "Christmas" and went to church; the Jews called it "Hanukkah"
  9426. and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People
  9427. passing each other on the street would say "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy
  9428. Hanukkah!" or (to the atheists) "Look out for the wall!"
  9429. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  9430. %
  9431. Once at a social gathering, Gladstone said to Disraeli, "I predict,
  9432. Sir, that you will die either by hanging or of some vile disease".
  9433. Disraeli replied, "That all depends upon whether I embrace your
  9434. principals or your mistress".
  9435. %
  9436. Once Law was sitting on the bench
  9437. And Mercy knelt a-weeping.
  9438. "Clear out!" he cried, "disordered wench!
  9439. Nor come before me creeping.
  9440. Upon your knees if you appear,
  9441. 'Tis plain you have no standing here."
  9442. Then Justice came. His Honor cried:
  9443. "YOUR states? -- Devil seize you!"
  9444. "Amica curiae," she replied --
  9445. "Friend of the court, so please you."
  9446. "Begone!" he shouted -- "There's the door --
  9447. I never saw your face before!"
  9448. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  9449. %
  9450. Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human
  9451. beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by
  9452. side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them
  9453. which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the
  9454. sky.
  9455. -- Rainer Rilke
  9456. %
  9457. Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a
  9458. great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to
  9459. the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of
  9460. life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But
  9461. one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is
  9462. going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I
  9463. shall die of boredom."
  9464. The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that
  9465. current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the
  9466. rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"
  9467. But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go,
  9468. and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
  9469. Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current
  9470. lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
  9471. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried,
  9472. "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the
  9473. Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current
  9474. said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us
  9475. free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this
  9476. adventure.
  9477. But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to
  9478. the rocks, making legends of a Saviour.
  9479. %
  9480. Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician, a group of
  9481. us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of
  9482. the smaller prime numbers.
  9483. 2: The Odd Prime --
  9484. It's the only even prime, therefore it's odd. QED.
  9485. 3: The True Prime --
  9486. Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true."
  9487. 31: The Arbitrary Prime --
  9488. Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime
  9489. in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91
  9490. received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the
  9491. next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none
  9492. at all.
  9493. Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are
  9494. derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but
  9495. true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers.
  9496. %
  9497. ... Once you're safely in the mall, you should tie your children to you
  9498. with ropes so the other shoppers won't try to buy them. Holiday
  9499. shoppers have been whipped into a frenzy by months of holiday
  9500. advertisements, and they will buy anything small enough to stuff into a
  9501. shopping bag. If your children object to being tied, threaten to take
  9502. them to see Santa Claus; that ought to shut them up.
  9503. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  9504. %
  9505. Once, adv.:
  9506. Enough.
  9507. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  9508. %
  9509. One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least
  9510. somebody's listening.
  9511. -- Franklin P. Jones
  9512. %
  9513. "One basic notion underlying Usenet is that it is a cooperative."
  9514. Having been on USENET for going on ten years, I disagree with this.
  9515. The basic notion underlying USENET is the flame.
  9516. -- Chuq Von Rospach
  9517. %
  9518. One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
  9519. %
  9520. One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs -- but it is amazing
  9521. how many eggs one can break without making a decent omelette.
  9522. -- Professor Charles P. Issawi
  9523. %
  9524. One day the King decided that he would force all his subjects to tell
  9525. the truth. A gallows was erected in front of the city gates. A herald
  9526. announced, "Whoever would enter the city must first answer the truth to
  9527. a question which will be put to him." Nasrudin was first in line. The
  9528. captain of the guard asked him, "Where are you going? Tell the truth
  9529. -- the alternative is death by hanging." "I am going," said Nasrudin,
  9530. "to be hanged on that gallows." "I don't believe you." "Very well, if
  9531. I have told a lie, then hang me!" "But that would make it the truth!"
  9532. "Exactly," said Nasrudin, "your truth."
  9533. %
  9534. One difference between a man and a machine is that a machine is quiet
  9535. when well oiled.
  9536. %
  9537. One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they
  9538. never have to stop and answer the phone.
  9539. %
  9540. One is not superior merely because one sees the world as odious.
  9541. -- Chateaubriand (1768-1848)
  9542. %
  9543. One learns to itch where one can scratch.
  9544. -- Ernest Bramah
  9545. %
  9546. One man's brain plus one other will produce one half as many ideas as
  9547. one man would have produced alone. These two plus two more will
  9548. produce half again as many ideas. These four plus four more begin to
  9549. represent a creative meeting, and the ratio changes to one quarter as
  9550. many ...
  9551. -- Anthony Chevins
  9552. %
  9553. One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.
  9554. %
  9555. One monk said to the other, "The fish has flopped out of the net! How
  9556. will it live?" The other said, "When you have gotten out of the net,
  9557. I'll tell you."
  9558. %
  9559. One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.
  9560. %
  9561. One of my less pleasant chores when I was young was to read the Bible
  9562. from one end to the other. Reading the Bible straight through is at
  9563. least 70 percent discipline, like learning Latin. But the good parts
  9564. are, of course, simply amazing. God is an extremely uneven writer, but
  9565. when He's good, nobody can touch Him.
  9566. -- John Gardner, NYT Book Review, Jan 1983
  9567. %
  9568. One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to
  9569. do and always a clever thing to say.
  9570. -- Will Durant
  9571. %
  9572. One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
  9573. lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of
  9574. their C programs.
  9575. -- Robert Firth
  9576. %
  9577. One of the oldest problems puzzled over in the Talmud is: "Why did God
  9578. create goyim?" The generally accepted answer is "________somebody has to buy
  9579. retail."
  9580. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  9581. %
  9582. One of the questions that comes up all the time is: How
  9583. enthusiastic is our support for UNIX?
  9584. Unix was written on our machines and for our machines many
  9585. years ago. Today, much of UNIX being done is done on our machines.
  9586. Ten percent of our VAXs are going for UNIX use. UNIX is a simple
  9587. language, easy to understand, easy to get started with. It's great for
  9588. students, great for somewhat casual users, and it's great for
  9589. interchanging programs between different machines. And so, because of
  9590. its popularity in these markets, we support it. We have good UNIX on
  9591. VAX and good UNIX on PDP-11s.
  9592. It is our belief, however, that serious professional users will
  9593. run out of things they can do with UNIX. They'll want a real system and
  9594. will end up doing VMS when they get to be serious about programming.
  9595. With UNIX, if you're looking for something, you can easily and
  9596. quickly check that small manual and find out that it's not there. With
  9597. VMS, no matter what you look for -- it's literally a five-foot shelf of
  9598. documentation -- if you look long enough it's there. That's the
  9599. difference -- the beauty of UNIX is it's simple; and the beauty of VMS
  9600. is that it's all there.
  9601. -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, 1984
  9602. %
  9603. One of the rules of Busmanship, New York style, is never surrender your
  9604. seat to another passenger. This may seem callous, but it is the best
  9605. way, really. If one passenger were to give a seat to someone who
  9606. fainted in the aisle, say, the others on the bus would become
  9607. disoriented and imagine they were in Topeka, Kansas.
  9608. %
  9609. The Seventh Commandments for Technicians
  9610. Work thou not on energized equipment, for if thou dost, thy
  9611. fellow workers will surely buy beers for thy widow and console her in
  9612. other ways.
  9613. %
  9614. The First Commandment for Technicians:
  9615. Beware the lightening that lurketh in the undischarged
  9616. capacitor, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in a most
  9617. untechnician-like manner.
  9618. %
  9619. One Page Principle:
  9620. A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch
  9621. paper cannot be understood.
  9622. -- Mark Ardis
  9623. %
  9624. One planet is all you get.
  9625. %
  9626. One promising concept that I came up with right away was that you could
  9627. manufacture personal air bags, then get a law passed requiring that
  9628. they be installed on congressmen to keep them from taking trips. Let's
  9629. say your congressman was trying to travel to Paris to do a fact-finding
  9630. study on how the French government handles diseases transmitted by
  9631. sherbet. Just when he got to the plane, his mandatory air bag,
  9632. strapped around his waist, would inflate -- FWWAAAAAAPPPP -- thus
  9633. rendering him too large to fit through the plane door. It could also
  9634. be rigged to inflate whenever the congressman proposed a law. ("Mr.
  9635. Speaker, people ask me, why should October be designated as Cuticle
  9636. Inspection Month? And I answer that FWWAAAAAAPPPP.") This would save
  9637. millions of dollars, so I have no doubt that the public would violently
  9638. support a law requiring airbags on congressmen. The problem is that
  9639. your potential market is very small: there are only around 500 members
  9640. of Congress, and some of them, such as House Speaker "Tip" O'Neil, are
  9641. already too large to fit on normal aircraft.
  9642. -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
  9643. %
  9644. One reason why George Washington
  9645. Is held in such veneration:
  9646. He never blamed his problems
  9647. On the former Administration.
  9648. -- George O. Ludcke
  9649. %
  9650. One seldom sees a monument to a committee.
  9651. %
  9652. One thing the inventors can't seem to get the bugs out of is fresh paint.
  9653. %
  9654. One thing they don't tell you about doing experimental physics is that
  9655. sometimes you must work under adverse conditions ... like a state of
  9656. sheer terror.
  9657. -- W. K. Hartmann
  9658. %
  9659. One way to make your old car run better is to look up the price of a
  9660. new model.
  9661. %
  9662. One way to stop a runaway horse is to bet on him.
  9663. %
  9664. One, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned
  9665. at the stake while the votes were being counted.
  9666. -- Thomas B. Reed
  9667. %
  9668. One-Shot Case Study, n.:
  9669. The scientific equivalent of the four-leaf clover, from which
  9670. it is concluded all clovers possess four leaves and are sometimes
  9671. green.
  9672. %
  9673. Only adults have difficulty with childproof caps.
  9674. %
  9675. Only God can make random selections.
  9676. %
  9677. Only presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to
  9678. use the editorial "we."
  9679. %
  9680. Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer.
  9681. %
  9682. Optimization hinders evolution.
  9683. %
  9684. Oregano, n.:
  9685. The ancient Italian art of pizza folding.
  9686. %
  9687. Oregon, n.:
  9688. Eighty billion gallons of water with no place to go on Saturday
  9689. night.
  9690. %
  9691. Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds.
  9692. Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl.
  9693. -- Mike Adams
  9694. %
  9695. Osborn's Law:
  9696. Variables won't; constants aren't.
  9697. %
  9698. Others will look to you for stability, so hide when you bite your nails.
  9699. %
  9700. Our country has plenty of good five-cent cigars, but the trouble is
  9701. they charge fifteen cents for them.
  9702. %
  9703. Our documentation manager was showing her two year old son around the
  9704. office. He was introduced to me, at which time he pointed out that we
  9705. were both holding bags of popcorn. We were both holding bottles of
  9706. juice. But only *__he* had a lollipop.
  9707. He asked his mother, "Why doesn't HE have a lollipop?"
  9708. Her reply:
  9709. "He can have a lollipop any time he wants to. That's what it
  9710. means to be a programmer."
  9711. %
  9712. Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name.
  9713. Thy programs run, thy syscalls done,
  9714. In kernel as it is in user!
  9715. %
  9716. Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing.
  9717. -- Roy L. Ash, ex-president Litton Industries
  9718. %
  9719. ... Our second completely true news item was sent to me by Mr. H. Boyce
  9720. Connell Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., where he is involved in a law firm. One
  9721. thing I like about the South is, folks there care about tradition. If
  9722. somebody gets handed a name like "H. Boyce," he hangs on to it, puts it
  9723. on his legal stationery, even passes it to his son, rather than do what
  9724. a lesser person would do, such as get it changed or kill himself.
  9725. -- Dave Barry, "This Column is Nothing but the Truth!"
  9726. %
  9727. Our vision is to speed up time, eventually eliminating it.
  9728. -- Alex Schure
  9729. %
  9730. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
  9731. -- General Omar N. Bradley
  9732. %
  9733. OUTCONERR
  9734. Twas FORTRAN as the doloop goes
  9735. Did logzerneg the ifthen block
  9736. All kludgy were the function flows
  9737. And subroutines adhoc.
  9738. Beware the runtime-bug my friend
  9739. squrooneg, the false goto
  9740. Beware the infiniteloop
  9741. And shun the inprectoo.
  9742. %
  9743. Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend: and inside a dog,
  9744. it's too dark to read.
  9745. -- Groucho Marx
  9746. %
  9747. Over the years, I've developed my sense of deja vu so acutely that now
  9748. I can remember things that *have* happened before ...
  9749. %
  9750. Overdrawn? But I still have checks left!
  9751. %
  9752. Overflow on /dev/null, please empty the bit bucket.
  9753. %
  9754. Overload -- core meltdown sequence initiated.
  9755. %
  9756. Ozman's Laws:
  9757. (1) If someone says he will do something "without fail," he
  9758. won't.
  9759. (2) The more people talk on the phone, the less money they
  9760. make.
  9761. (3) People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.
  9762. (4) Pizza always burns the roof of your mouth.
  9763. %
  9764. Painting, n.:
  9765. The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and
  9766. exposing them to the critic.
  9767. -- Ambrose Bierce
  9768. %
  9769. panic: can't find /
  9770. %
  9771. panic: kernel trap (ignored)
  9772. %
  9773. Paradise is exactly like where you are right now ... only much, much
  9774. better.
  9775. -- Laurie Anderson
  9776. %
  9777. Parallel lines never meet, unless you bend one or both of them.
  9778. %
  9779. Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life.
  9780. %
  9781. Paranoid schizophrenics outnumber their enemies at least two to one.
  9782. %
  9783. Paranoids are people, too; they have their own problems. It's easy to
  9784. criticize, but if everybody hated you, you'd be paranoid too.
  9785. -- D. J. Hicks
  9786. %
  9787. Pardo's First Postulate:
  9788. Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or
  9789. fattening.
  9790. Arnold's Addendum:
  9791. Everything else causes cancer in rats.
  9792. %
  9793. Pardon this fortune. Database under reconstruction.
  9794. %
  9795. Parker's Law:
  9796. Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.
  9797. %
  9798. Parkinson's Fifth Law:
  9799. If there is a way to delay in important decision, the good
  9800. bureaucracy, public or private, will find it.
  9801. %
  9802. Parkinson's Fourth Law:
  9803. The number of people in any working group tends to increase
  9804. regardless of the amount of work to be done.
  9805. %
  9806. Parsley
  9807. is gharsley.
  9808. -- Ogden Nash
  9809. %
  9810. Parts that positively cannot be assembled in improper order will be.
  9811. %
  9812. Pascal is not a high-level language.
  9813. -- Steven Feiner
  9814. %
  9815. Pascal is Pascal is Pascal is dog meat.
  9816. -- M. Devine and P. Larson, Computer Science 340
  9817. %
  9818. Pascal Users:
  9819. To show respect for the 313th anniversary (tomorrow) of the
  9820. death of Blaise Pascal, your programs will be run at half speed.
  9821. %
  9822. Pascal, n.:
  9823. A programming language named after a man who would turn over in
  9824. his grave if he knew about it.
  9825. %
  9826. Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
  9827. -- Eric Hoffer
  9828. %
  9829. Patageometry, n.:
  9830. The study of those mathematical properties that are invariant
  9831. under brain transplants.
  9832. %
  9833. Paul Revere was a tattle-tale.
  9834. %
  9835. Paul's Law:
  9836. In America, it's not how much an item costs, it's how much you
  9837. save.
  9838. %
  9839. Paul's Law:
  9840. You can't fall off the floor.
  9841. %
  9842. Peace, n.:
  9843. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two
  9844. periods of fighting.
  9845. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  9846. %
  9847. Peanut Blossoms
  9848. 4 cups sugar 16 tbsp. milk
  9849. 4 cups brown sugar 4 tsp. vanilla
  9850. 4 cups shortening 14 cups flour
  9851. 8 eggs 4 tsp. soda
  9852. 4 cups peanut butter 4 tsp. salt
  9853. Shape dough into balls. Roll in sugar and bake on ungreased cookie
  9854. sheet at 375 F. for 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with a
  9855. Hershey's kiss or star pressing down firmly to crack cookie. Makes a
  9856. hell of a lot.
  9857. %
  9858. Pecor's Health-Food Principle:
  9859. Never eat rutabaga on any day of the week that has a "y" in
  9860. it.
  9861. %
  9862. Pedaeration, n.:
  9863. The perfect body heat achieved by having one leg under the
  9864. sheet and one hanging off the edge of the bed.
  9865. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  9866. %
  9867. Penguin Trivia #46:
  9868. Animals who are not penguins can only wish they were.
  9869. -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
  9870. %
  9871. People need good lies. There are too many bad ones.
  9872. -- Bokonon, "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  9873. %
  9874. People often find it easier to be a result of the past than a cause of
  9875. the future.
  9876. %
  9877. People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense.
  9878. -- Ken Kesey
  9879. %
  9880. People usually get what's coming to them ... unless it's been mailed.
  9881. %
  9882. People who are funny and smart and return phone calls get much better
  9883. press than people who are just funny and smart.
  9884. -- Howard Simons, "The Washington Post"
  9885. %
  9886. People who claim they don't let little things bother them have never
  9887. slept in a room with a single mosquito.
  9888. %
  9889. People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who
  9890. haven't what they want that they don't want it.
  9891. -- Ogden Nash
  9892. %
  9893. People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that
  9894. Benjamin Franklin said it first.
  9895. %
  9896. People will buy anything that's one to a customer.
  9897. %
  9898. People will do tomorrow what they did today because that is what they
  9899. did yesterday.
  9900. %
  9901. Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.
  9902. "Confound those who have said our remarks before us."
  9903. -- Aelius Donatus
  9904. %
  9905. Perfect day for scrubbing the floor and other exciting things.
  9906. %
  9907. Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
  9908. when there is no longer anything to take away.
  9909. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  9910. %
  9911. Personifiers Unite! You have nothing to lose but Mr. Dignity!
  9912. %
  9913. Peter's Law of Substitution:
  9914. Look after the molehills, and the mountains will look after
  9915. themselves.
  9916. %
  9917. Philadelphia is not dull -- it just seems so because it is next to
  9918. exciting Camden, New Jersey.
  9919. %
  9920. Philogeny recapitulates erogeny; erogeny recapitulates philogeny.
  9921. %
  9922. Philosophy will clip an angel's wings.
  9923. -- John Keats
  9924. %
  9925. Pick another fortune cookie.
  9926. %
  9927. Picture the sun as the origin of two intersecting 6-dimensional
  9928. hyperplanes from which we can deduce a certain transformational
  9929. sequence which gives us the terminal velocity of a rubber duck ...
  9930. %
  9931. Pig, n.:
  9932. An animal (Porcus omnivorous) closely allied to the human race
  9933. by the splendor and vivacity of its appetite, which, however, is
  9934. inferior in scope, for it balks at pig.
  9935. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  9936. %
  9937. PISCES (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20)
  9938. You have a vivid imagination and often think you are being
  9939. followed by the CIA or FBI. You have minor influence over your
  9940. associates and people resent your flaunting of your power. You lack
  9941. confidence and you are generally a coward. Pisces people do terrible
  9942. things to small animals.
  9943. %
  9944. PISCES (Feb. 19 to Mar. 20)
  9945. Take the high road, look for the good things, carry the
  9946. American Express card and a weapon. The world is yours today, as
  9947. nobody else wants it. Your mortgage will be foreclosed. You will
  9948. probably get run over by a bus.
  9949. %
  9950. Pittsburgh Driver's Test
  9951. (7) The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light
  9952. but a steady left tail light. This means
  9953. (a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn
  9954. to call the problem to the driver's attention.
  9955. (b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
  9956. (c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
  9957. (d) the driver is from out of town.
  9958. The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
  9959. countries to signal turns.
  9960. %
  9961. Pittsburgh Driver's Test
  9962. (8) Pedestrians are
  9963. (a) irrelevant.
  9964. (b) communists.
  9965. (c) a nuisance.
  9966. (d) difficult to clean off the front grille.
  9967. The correct answer is (a). Pedestrians are not in cars, so they are
  9968. totally irrelevant to driving; you should ignore them completely.
  9969. %
  9970. Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
  9971. -- Don Marquis
  9972. %
  9973. PL/1, "the fatal disease", belongs more to the problem set than to the
  9974. solution set.
  9975. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
  9976. %
  9977. Plaese porrf raed.
  9978. -- Prof. Michael O'Longhlin, S.U.N.Y. Purchase
  9979. %
  9980. Plato, by the way, wanted to banish all poets from his proposed Utopia
  9981. because they were liars. The truth was that Plato knew philosophers
  9982. couldn't compete successfully with poets.
  9983. -- Kilgore Trout (Philip J. Farmer) "Venus on the Half
  9984. Shell"
  9985. %
  9986. Play Rogue, visit exotic locations, meet strange creatures and kill them.
  9987. %
  9988. Playing an unamplified electric guitar is like strumming on a picnic table.
  9989. -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
  9990. %
  9991. Please ignore previous fortune.
  9992. %
  9993. Please take note:
  9994. %
  9995. Please try to limit the amount of "this room doesn't have any bazingas"
  9996. until you are told that those rooms are "punched out". Once punched
  9997. out, we have a right to complain about atrocities, missing bazingas,
  9998. and such.
  9999. -- N. Meyrowitz
  10000. %
  10001. Please, won't somebody tell me what diddie-wa-diddie means?
  10002. %
  10003. Plumbing is one of the easier of do-it-yourself activities,
  10004. requiring only a few simple tools and a willingness to stick your arm
  10005. into a clogged toilet. In fact, you can solve many home plumbing
  10006. problems, such as annoying faucet drip, merely by turning up the
  10007. radio. But before we get into specific techniques, let's look at how
  10008. plumbing works.
  10009. A plumbing system is very much like your electrical system,
  10010. except that instead of electricity, it has water, and instead of wires,
  10011. it has pipes, and instead of radios and waffle irons, it has faucets
  10012. and toilets. So the truth is that your plumbing systems is nothing at
  10013. all like your electrical system, which is good, because electricity can
  10014. kill you.
  10015. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  10016. %
  10017. PLUNDERER'S THEME
  10018. (to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius)
  10019. Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation.
  10020. If you do the things we say, then you'll soon rule the nation.
  10021. Kill your foes and enemies and then kill your relations.
  10022. Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation.
  10023. %
  10024. Pohl's law:
  10025. Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate it.
  10026. %
  10027. Police: Good evening, are you the host?
  10028. Host: No.
  10029. Police: We've been getting complaints about this party.
  10030. Host: About the drugs?
  10031. Police: No.
  10032. Host: About the guns, then? Is somebody complaining about the guns?
  10033. Police: No, the noise.
  10034. Host: Oh, the noise. Well that makes sense because there are no guns
  10035. or drugs here. (An enormous explosion is heard in the
  10036. background.) Or fireworks. Who's complaining about the noise?
  10037. The neighbors?
  10038. Police: No, the neighbors fled inland hours ago. Most of the recent
  10039. complaints have come from Pittsburgh. Do you think you could
  10040. ask the host to quiet things down?
  10041. Host: No Problem. (At this point, a Volkswagen bug with primitive
  10042. religious symbols drawn on the doors emerges from the living
  10043. room and roars down the hall, past the police and onto the
  10044. lawn, where it smashes into a tree. Eight guests tumble out
  10045. onto the grass, moaning.) See? Things are starting to wind
  10046. down.
  10047. %
  10048. Political T.V. commercials prove one thing: some candidates can tell
  10049. all their good points and qualifications in just 30 seconds.
  10050. %
  10051. Politician, n.:
  10052. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of
  10053. organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the
  10054. agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared
  10055. with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive.
  10056. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  10057. %
  10058. Politician, n.:
  10059. From the Greek "poly" ("many") and the French "tete" ("head" or
  10060. "face," as in "tete-a-tete": head to head or face to face). Hence
  10061. "polytetien", a person of two or more faces.
  10062. -- Martin Pitt
  10063. %
  10064. Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even
  10065. where there is no river.
  10066. -- Nikita Khrushchev
  10067. %
  10068. Politics is like coaching a football team. You have to be smart enough
  10069. to understand the game but not smart enough to lose interest.
  10070. %
  10071. Polymer physicists are into chains.
  10072. %
  10073. Pope Goestheveezl was the shortest reigning pope in the history of the
  10074. Church, reigning for two hours and six minutes on 1 April 1866. The
  10075. white smoke had hardly faded into the blue of the Vatican skies before
  10076. it dawned on the assembled multitudes in St. Peter's Square that his
  10077. name had hilarious possibilities. The crowds fell about, helpless with
  10078. laughter, singing
  10079. Half a pound of tuppenny rice
  10080. Half a pound of treacle
  10081. That's the way the chimney smokes
  10082. Pope Goestheveezl
  10083. The square was finally cleared by armed carabinieri with tears of
  10084. laughter streaming down their faces. The event set a record for
  10085. hilarious civic functions, smashing the previous record set when Baron
  10086. Hans Neizant B"ompzidaize was elected Landburgher of K"oln in 1653.
  10087. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  10088. %
  10089. Portable, adj.:
  10090. Survives system reboot.
  10091. %
  10092. Positive, adj.:
  10093. Mistaken at the top of one's voice.
  10094. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  10095. %
  10096. Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth.
  10097. %
  10098. Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
  10099. -- John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy 1981-1987
  10100. %
  10101. Power corrupts. And atomic power corrupts atomically.
  10102. %
  10103. Power, n:
  10104. The only narcotic regulated by the SEC instead of the FDA.
  10105. %
  10106. Practical people would be more practical if they would take a little
  10107. more time for dreaming.
  10108. -- J. P. McEvoy
  10109. %
  10110. Predestination was doomed from the start.
  10111. %
  10112. President Reagan has noted that there are too many economic pundits and
  10113. forecasters and has decided on an excess prophets tax.
  10114. %
  10115. President Thieu says he'll quit if he doesn't get more than 50% of the
  10116. vote. In a democracy, that's not called quitting.
  10117. -- The Washington Post
  10118. %
  10119. Pretend to spank me -- I'm a pseudo-masochist!
  10120. %
  10121. Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning:
  10122. It's on the other side.
  10123. %
  10124. [Prime Minister Joseph] Chamberlain loves the working man -- he loves
  10125. to see him work.
  10126. -- Winston Churchill
  10127. %
  10128. Pro is to con as progress is to Congress.
  10129. %
  10130. Probable-Possible, my black hen,
  10131. She lays eggs in the Relative When.
  10132. She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now
  10133. Because she's unable to postulate how.
  10134. -- Frederick Winsor
  10135. %
  10136. Probably the question asked most often is: Do one-celled animals have
  10137. orgasms? The answer is yes, they have orgasms almost constantly, which
  10138. is why they don't mind living in pools of warm slime.
  10139. -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
  10140. Teen Should Know"
  10141. %
  10142. Prof: So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data
  10143. encryption standard and they came up with ...
  10144. Student: EBCDIC!
  10145. %
  10146. Professor Gorden Newell threw another shutout in last week's Chem.
  10147. Eng. 130 midterm. Once again no student received a single point on
  10148. his exam. Newell has now tossed five shutouts this quarter. Newell's
  10149. earned exam average has now dropped to a phenomenal 30%
  10150. %
  10151. Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
  10152. build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying
  10153. to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
  10154. -- Rich Cook
  10155. %
  10156. Proof techniques #1: Proof by Induction.
  10157. This technique is used on equations with "_n" in them. Induction
  10158. techniques are very popular; even the military used them.
  10159. SAMPLE: Proof of induction without proof of induction.
  10160. We know it's true for _n equal to 1. Now assume that it's true
  10161. for every natural number less than _n. _N is arbitrary, so we can take _n
  10162. as large as we want. If _n is sufficiently large, the case of _n+1 is
  10163. trivially equivalent, so the only important _n are _n less than _n. We
  10164. can take _n = _n (from above), so it's true for _n+1 because it's just
  10165. about _n.
  10166. QED. (QED translates from the Latin as "So what?")
  10167. %
  10168. Proof techniques #2: Proof by Oddity.
  10169. SAMPLE: To prove that horses have an infinite number of legs.
  10170. (1) Horses have an even number of legs.
  10171. (2) They have two legs in back and fore legs in front.
  10172. (3) This makes a total of six legs, which certainly is an odd number of
  10173. legs for a horse.
  10174. (4) But the only number that is both odd and even is infinity.
  10175. (5) Therefore, horses must have an infinite number of legs.
  10176. Topics to be covered in future issues include proof by:
  10177. Intimidation
  10178. Gesticulation (handwaving)
  10179. "Try it; it works"
  10180. Constipation (I was just sitting there and ...)
  10181. Blatant assertion
  10182. Changing all the 2's to _n's
  10183. Mutual consent
  10184. Lack of a counterexample, and
  10185. "It stands to reason"
  10186. %
  10187. Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
  10188. BBW Branch Both Ways
  10189. BEW Branch Either Way
  10190. BBBF Branch on Bit Bucket Full
  10191. BH Branch and Hang
  10192. BMR Branch Multiple Registers
  10193. BOB Branch On Bug
  10194. BPO Branch on Power Off
  10195. BST Backspace and Stretch Tape
  10196. CDS Condense and Destroy System
  10197. CLBR Clobber Register
  10198. CLBRI Clobber Register Immediately
  10199. CM Circulate Memory
  10200. CMFRM Come From -- essential for truly structured programming
  10201. CPPR Crumple Printer Paper and Rip
  10202. CRN Convert to Roman Numerals
  10203. %
  10204. Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
  10205. DC Divide and Conquer
  10206. DMPK Destroy Memory Protect Key
  10207. DO Divide and Overflow
  10208. EMPC Emulate Pocket Calculator
  10209. EPI Execute Programmer Immediately
  10210. EROS Erase Read Only Storage
  10211. EXCE Execute Customer Engineer
  10212. HCF Halt and Catch Fire
  10213. IBP Insert Bug and Proceed
  10214. INSQSW Insert into queue somewhere (for FINO queues [First in never out])
  10215. PBC Print and Break Chain
  10216. PDSK Punch Disk
  10217. %
  10218. Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
  10219. PI Punch Invalid
  10220. POPI Punch Operator Immediately
  10221. PVLC Punch Variable Length Card
  10222. RASC Read And Shred Card
  10223. RPM Read Programmers Mind
  10224. RSSC reduce speed, step carefully (for improved accuracy)
  10225. RTAB Rewind tape and break
  10226. RWDSK rewind disk
  10227. RWOC Read Writing On Card
  10228. SCRBL scribble to disk - faster than a write
  10229. SLC Search for Lost Chord
  10230. SPSW Scramble Program Status Word
  10231. SRSD Seek Record and Scar Disk
  10232. STROM Store in Read Only Memory
  10233. TDB Transfer and Drop Bit
  10234. WBT Water Binary Tree
  10235. %
  10236. Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller
  10237. than the both put together.
  10238. %
  10239. Psychiatrists say that one out of four people are mentally ill. Check
  10240. three friends. If they're OK, you're it.
  10241. %
  10242. Psychotherapy is the theory that the patient will probably get well
  10243. anyhow and is certainly a damn fool.
  10244. -- H. L. Mencken
  10245. %
  10246. Puns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves
  10247. to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way
  10248. to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the
  10249. cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in
  10250. fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a
  10251. lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of
  10252. the first day even if they have plenty of food and water.
  10253. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
  10254. %
  10255. Pure drivel tends to drive ordinary drivel off the TV screen.
  10256. %
  10257. Pushing 40 is exercise enough.
  10258. %
  10259. Put no trust in cryptic comments.
  10260. %
  10261. Put your Nose to the Grindstone!
  10262. -- Amalgamated Plastic Surgeons and Toolmakers, Ltd.
  10263. %
  10264. Putt's Law:
  10265. Technology is dominated by two types of people:
  10266. Those who understand what they do not manage.
  10267. Those who manage what they do not understand.
  10268. %
  10269. Q: Do you know what the death rate around here is?
  10270. A: One per person.
  10271. %
  10272. Q: How did you get into artificial intelligence?
  10273. A: Seemed logical -- I didn't have any real intelligence.
  10274. %
  10275. Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat ?
  10276. A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires.
  10277. %
  10278. Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat?
  10279. A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires.
  10280. Q: How long does it take?
  10281. A: It's indeterminate. It will depend upon how many flats they've
  10282. brought with them.
  10283. Q: What happens if you've got TWO flats?
  10284. A: They replace your generator.
  10285. %
  10286. Q: How many existentialists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
  10287. A: Two. One to screw it in and one to observe how the lightbulb
  10288. itself symbolizes a single incandescent beacon of subjective
  10289. reality in a netherworld of endless absurdity reaching out toward a
  10290. maudlin cosmos of nothingness.
  10291. %
  10292. Q: How many heterosexual males does it take to screw in a light bulb
  10293. in San Francisco?
  10294. A: Both of them.
  10295. %
  10296. Q: How many IBM CPUs does it take to do a logical right shift?
  10297. A: 33. 1 to hold the bits and 32 to push the register.
  10298. %
  10299. Q: How many IBM CPUs does it take to execute a job?
  10300. A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.
  10301. %
  10302. Q: How many IBM types does it take to change a light bulb?
  10303. A: 100. Ten to do it, and 90 to write document number GC7500439-0001,
  10304. Multitasking Incandescent Source System Facility, of which 10% of
  10305. the pages state only "This page intentionally left blank", and 20%
  10306. of the definitions are of the form "A ...... consists of sequences
  10307. of non-blank characters separated by blanks".
  10308. %
  10309. Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
  10310. A: Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring
  10311. light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government
  10312. plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer
  10313. prize for reporting that Electric Company hired a lightbulb
  10314. assassin to break the bulb in the first place.
  10315. %
  10316. Q: How many Martians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
  10317. A: One and a half.
  10318. %
  10319. Q: How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
  10320. A: One. He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem
  10321. to the earlier joke.
  10322. %
  10323. Q: How many Oregonians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
  10324. A: Three. One to screw in the lightbulb and two to fend off all those
  10325. Californians trying to share the experience.
  10326. %
  10327. Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
  10328. A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub
  10329. with brightly colored machine tools.
  10330. %
  10331. Q: How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
  10332. A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master stays out
  10333. of the way.
  10334. %
  10335. Q: What's a light-year?
  10336. A: One-third less calories than a regular year.
  10337. %
  10338. Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
  10339. A: Because it was on the other side.
  10340. %
  10341. Q: Why do ducks have flat feet?
  10342. A: To stamp out forest fires.
  10343. Q: Why do elephants have flat feet?
  10344. A: To stamp out flaming ducks.
  10345. %
  10346. Q: Why do mountain climbers rope themselves together?
  10347. A: To prevent the sensible ones from going home.
  10348. %
  10349. Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What
  10350. should I do?
  10351. A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on
  10352. believing that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be
  10353. the only one to make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No
  10354. time to lose, so certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if
  10355. somebody else has made the correction.
  10356. And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're
  10357. the only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have
  10358. to inform the whole net right away!
  10359. -- Brad Templeton, "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions
  10360. on Netiquette"
  10361. %
  10362. Quality Control, n.:
  10363. The process of testing one out of every 1,000 units coming off
  10364. a production line to make sure that at least one out of 100 works.
  10365. %
  10366. Question:
  10367. Man Invented Alcohol,
  10368. God Invented Grass.
  10369. Who do you trust?
  10370. %
  10371. Quick!! Act as if nothing has happened!
  10372. %
  10373. Quick, sing me the BUDAPEST NATIONAL ANTHEM!!
  10374. %
  10375. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
  10376. (Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.)
  10377. %
  10378. Quigley's Law:
  10379. Whoever has any authority over you, no matter how small, will
  10380. atttempt to use it.
  10381. %
  10382. QUOTE OF THE DAY:
  10383. `
  10384. %
  10385. Qvid me anxivs svm?
  10386. %
  10387. QWERT (kwirt), n. [MW < OW qwertyuiop, a thirteenth]:
  10388. 1. a unit of weight equal to 13 poiuyt avoirdupois (or 1.69
  10389. kiloliks), commonly used in structural engineering; 2. [colloq.] one
  10390. thirteenth the load that a fully grown sligo can carry; 3. [anat.] a
  10391. painful irritation of the dermis in the region of the anus; 4. [slang]
  10392. person who excites in others the symptoms of a qwert.
  10393. -- Webster's Middle World Dictionary, 4th ed.
  10394. %
  10395. Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives.
  10396. %
  10397. Rattling around the back of my head is a disturbing image of something
  10398. I saw at the airport ... Now I'm remembering, those giant piles of
  10399. computer magazines right next to "People" and "Time" in the airport
  10400. store. Does it bother anyone else that half the world is being told
  10401. all of our hard-won secrets of computer technology? Remember how all
  10402. the lawyers cried foul when "How to Avoid Probate" was published? Are
  10403. they taking no-fault insurance lying down? No way! But at the current
  10404. rate it won't be long before there are stacks of the "Transactions on
  10405. Information Theory" at the A&P checkout counters. Who's going to be
  10406. impressed with us electrical engineers then? Are we, as the saying
  10407. goes, giving away the store?
  10408. -- Robert W. Lucky, IEEE President
  10409. %
  10410. Ray's Rule of Precision:
  10411. Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe.
  10412. %
  10413. Razors pain you;
  10414. Rivers are damp;
  10415. Acids stain you;
  10416. And drugs cause cramp.
  10417. Guns aren't lawful;
  10418. Nooses give;
  10419. Gas smells awful;
  10420. You might as well live.
  10421. -- Dorothy Parker, "Resume", 1926
  10422. %
  10423. Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to describe
  10424. the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described
  10425. with pictures.
  10426. %
  10427. Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of
  10428. Congress. But I repeat myself.
  10429. -- Mark Twain
  10430. %
  10431. Real computer scientists admire ADA for its overwhelming aesthetic
  10432. value but they find it difficult to actually program in it, as it is
  10433. much too large to implement. Most computer scientists don't notice
  10434. this because they are still arguing over what else to add to ADA.
  10435. %
  10436. Real computer scientists despise the idea of actual hardware. Hardware
  10437. has limitations, software doesn't. It's a real shame that Turing
  10438. machines are so poor at I/O.
  10439. %
  10440. Real computer scientists don't comment their code. The identifiers are
  10441. so long they can't afford the disk space.
  10442. %
  10443. Real computer scientists don't program in assembler. They don't write
  10444. in anything less portable than a number two pencil.
  10445. %
  10446. Real computer scientists don't write code. They occasionally tinker
  10447. with `programming systems', but those are so high level that they
  10448. hardly count (and rarely count accurately; precision is for
  10449. applications.)
  10450. %
  10451. Real computer scientists only write specs for languages that might run
  10452. on future hardware. Nobody trusts them to write specs for anything homo
  10453. sapiens will ever be able to fit on a single planet.
  10454. %
  10455. Real programmers disdain structured programming. Structured
  10456. programming is for compulsive neurotics who were prematurely toilet-
  10457. trained. They wear neckties and carefully line up pencils on otherwise
  10458. clear desks.
  10459. %
  10460. Real programmers don't bring brown-bag lunches. If the vending machine
  10461. doesn't sell it, they don't eat it. Vending machines don't sell
  10462. quiche.
  10463. %
  10464. Real programmers don't comment their code. It was hard to write, it
  10465. should be hard to understand.
  10466. %
  10467. Real programmers don't draw flowcharts. Flowcharts are, after all, the
  10468. illiterate's form of documentation. Cavemen drew flowcharts; look how
  10469. much good it did them.
  10470. %
  10471. Real Programmers don't play tennis, or any other sport that requires
  10472. you to change clothes. Mountain climbing is OK, and real programmers
  10473. wear their climbing boots to work in case a mountain should suddenly
  10474. spring up in the middle of the machine room.
  10475. %
  10476. Real programmers don't write in BASIC. Actually, no programmers write
  10477. in BASIC after reaching puberty.
  10478. %
  10479. Real programmers don't write in FORTRAN. FORTRAN is for pipe stress
  10480. freaks and crystallography weenies. FORTRAN is for wimp engineers who
  10481. wear white socks.
  10482. %
  10483. Real Programmers don't write in PL/I. PL/I is for programmers who
  10484. can't decide whether to write in COBOL or FORTRAN.
  10485. %
  10486. Real Programmers think better when playing Adventure or Rogue.
  10487. %
  10488. Real Programs don't use shared text. Otherwise, how can they use
  10489. functions for scratch space after they are finished calling them?
  10490. %
  10491. Real software engineers don't debug programs, they verify correctness.
  10492. This process doesn't necessarily involve execution of anything on a
  10493. computer, except perhaps a Correctness Verification Aid package.
  10494. %
  10495. Real software engineers don't like the idea of some inexplicable and
  10496. greasy hardware several aisles away that may stop working at any
  10497. moment. They have a great distrust of hardware people, and wish that
  10498. systems could be virtual at *___all* levels. They would like personal
  10499. computers (you know no one's going to trip over something and kill your
  10500. DFA in mid-transit), except that they need 8 megabytes to run their
  10501. Correctness Verification Aid packages.
  10502. %
  10503. Real software engineers work from 9 to 5, because that is the way the
  10504. job is described in the formal spec. Working late would feel like
  10505. using an undocumented external procedure.
  10506. %
  10507. Real Time, adj.:
  10508. Here and now, as opposed to fake time, which only occurs there
  10509. and then.
  10510. %
  10511. Real Users are afraid they'll break the machine -- but they're never
  10512. afraid to break your face.
  10513. %
  10514. Real Users find the one combination of bizarre input values that shuts
  10515. down the system for days.
  10516. %
  10517. Real Users hate Real Programmers.
  10518. %
  10519. Real Users know your home telephone number.
  10520. %
  10521. Real Users never know what they want, but they always know when your
  10522. program doesn't deliver it.
  10523. %
  10524. Real Users never use the Help key.
  10525. %
  10526. Real World, The n.:
  10527. 1. In programming, those institutions at which programming may
  10528. be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG, IBM, etc. 2. To
  10529. programmers, the location of non-programmers and activities not related
  10530. to programming. 3. A universe in which the standard dress is shirt and
  10531. tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5.
  10532. 4. The location of the status quo. 5. Anywhere outside a university.
  10533. "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real world." Used
  10534. pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking
  10535. of someone who has entered the real world is not unlike talking about a
  10536. deceased person.
  10537. %
  10538. Reality is a cop-out for people who can't handle drugs.
  10539. %
  10540. Reality is an obstacle to hallucination.
  10541. %
  10542. Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?
  10543. -- Patrick Sky
  10544. %
  10545. Reality is for people who lack imagination.
  10546. %
  10547. Reality is for those who can't face Science Fiction.
  10548. %
  10549. Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity.
  10550. -- Alvy Ray Smith
  10551. %
  10552. Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away"
  10553. -- Philip K. Dick
  10554. %
  10555. Really ?? What a coincidence, I'm shallow too!!
  10556. %
  10557. Receiving a million dollars tax free will make you feel better than
  10558. being flat broke and having a stomach ache.
  10559. -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
  10560. %
  10561. Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you
  10562. lose your job. These economic downturns are very difficult to predict,
  10563. but sophisticated econometric modeling houses like Data Resources and
  10564. Chase Econometrics have successfully predicted 14 of the last 3
  10565. recessions.
  10566. %
  10567. Reclaimer, spare that tree!
  10568. Take not a single bit!
  10569. It used to point to me,
  10570. Now I'm protecting it.
  10571. It was the reader's CONS
  10572. That made it, paired by dot;
  10573. Now, GC, for the nonce,
  10574. Thou shalt reclaim it not.
  10575. %
  10576. "Reflections on Ice-Breaking"
  10577. Candy
  10578. Is dandy
  10579. But liquor
  10580. Is quicker.
  10581. -- Ogden Nash
  10582. %
  10583. "Reintegration complete," ZORAC advised. "We're back in the universe
  10584. again ..." An unusually long pause followed, "... but I don't know
  10585. which part. We seem to have changed our position in space." A
  10586. spherical display in the middle of the floor illuminated to show the
  10587. starfield surrounding the ship.
  10588. "Several large, artificial constructions are approaching us," ZORAC
  10589. announced after a short pause. "The designs are not familiar, but they
  10590. are obviously the products of intelligence. Implications: we have been
  10591. intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and
  10592. transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown.
  10593. Apart from the unknowns, everything is obvious."
  10594. -- James P. Hogan, "Giants Star"
  10595. %
  10596. Reisner's Rule of Conceptual Inertia:
  10597. If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
  10598. %
  10599. Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin.
  10600. -- Anatole France
  10601. %
  10602. Rembrandt's first name was Beauregard, which is why he never used it.
  10603. -- Dave Barry
  10604. %
  10605. Remember that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be
  10606. worse in Cleveland.
  10607. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  10608. %
  10609. Remember, drive defensively! And of course, the best defense is a good
  10610. offense!
  10611. %
  10612. Remember, even if you win the rat race -- you're still a rat.
  10613. %
  10614. Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU.
  10615. %
  10616. Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.
  10617. -- Dave Butler
  10618. %
  10619. Renning's Maxim:
  10620. Man is the highest animal. Man does the classifying.
  10621. %
  10622. Reporter (to Mahatma Gandhi): Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western
  10623. Civilization?
  10624. Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.
  10625. %
  10626. Reporter, n.:
  10627. A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a
  10628. tempest of words.
  10629. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  10630. %
  10631. REPORTER: Senator, are you for or against the MX missile system?
  10632. SENATOR: Bob, the MX missile system reminds me of an old saying that
  10633. the country folk in my state like to say. It goes like this: "You can
  10634. carry a pig for six miles, but if you set it down it might run away."
  10635. I have no idea why the country folk say this. Maybe there's some kind
  10636. of chemical pollutant in their drinking water. That is why I pledge to
  10637. do all that I can to protect the environment of this great nation of
  10638. ours, and put prayer back in the schools, where it belongs. What we
  10639. need is jobs, not empty promises. I realize I'm risking my political
  10640. career by being so outspoken on a sensitive issue such as the MX, but
  10641. that's just the kind of straight-talking honest person I am, and I
  10642. can't help it.
  10643. -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
  10644. %
  10645. Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
  10646. -- Wernher von Braun
  10647. %
  10648. Resisting temptation is easier when you think you'll probably get
  10649. another chance later on.
  10650. %
  10651. Review Questions
  10652. (1) If Nerd on the planet Nutley starts out in his spaceship at 20 KPH,
  10653. and his speed doubles every 3.2 seconds, how long will it be before
  10654. he exceeds the speed of light? How long will it be before the
  10655. Galactic Patrol picks up the pieces of his spaceship?
  10656. (2) If Roger Rowdy wrecks his car every week, and each week he breaks
  10657. twice as many bones as before, how long will it be before he breaks
  10658. every bone in his body? How long will it be before they cut off
  10659. his insurance? Where does he get a new car every week?
  10660. (3) If Johnson drinks one beer the first hour (slow start), four beers
  10661. the next hour, nine beers the next, etc., and stacks the cans in a
  10662. pyramid, how soon will Johnson's pyramid be larger than King
  10663. Tut's? When will it fall on him? Will he notice?
  10664. %
  10665. Rhode's Law:
  10666. When any principle, law, tenet, probability, happening,
  10667. circumstance, or result can in no way be directly, indirectly,
  10668. empirically, or circuitously proven, derived, implied, inferred,
  10669. induced, deducted, estimated, or scientifically guessed, it will always
  10670. for the purpose of convenience, expediency, political advantage,
  10671. material gain, or personal comfort, or any combination of the above, or
  10672. none of the above, be unilaterally and unequivocally assumed,
  10673. proclaimed, and adhered to as absolute truth to be undeniably,
  10674. universally, immutably, and infinitely so, until such time as it
  10675. becomes advantageous to assume otherwise, maybe.
  10676. %
  10677. Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
  10678. -- Steven Wright
  10679. %
  10680. Rocky's Lemma of Innovation Prevention
  10681. Unless the results are known in advance, funding agencies will
  10682. reject the proposal.
  10683. %
  10684. Romeo wasn't bilked in a day.
  10685. -- Walt Kelly, "Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo"
  10686. %
  10687. ROMEO: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
  10688. MERCUTIO: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-
  10689. door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
  10690. %
  10691. Rudin's Law:
  10692. If there is a wrong way to do something, most people will do it
  10693. every time.
  10694. %
  10695. Rule 46, Oxford Union Society, London:
  10696. Any member introducing a dog into the Society's premises shall
  10697. be liable to a fine of one pound. Any animal leading a blind person
  10698. shall be deemed to be a cat.
  10699. %
  10700. Rule of Creative Research:
  10701. (1) Never draw what you can copy.
  10702. (2) Never copy what you can trace.
  10703. (3) Never trace what you can cut out and paste down.
  10704. %
  10705. Rule of Defactualization:
  10706. Information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies.
  10707. %
  10708. Rule of Feline Frustration:
  10709. When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly
  10710. content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom.
  10711. %
  10712. Rule of the Great:
  10713. When people you greatly admire appear to be thinking deep
  10714. thoughts, they probably are thinking about lunch.
  10715. %
  10716. Rules for Academic Deans:
  10717. (1) HIDE!!!!
  10718. (2) If they find you, LIE!!!!
  10719. -- Father Damian C. Fandal
  10720. %
  10721. Rules for driving in New York:
  10722. (1) Anything done while honking your horn is legal.
  10723. (2) You may park anywhere if you turn your four-way flashers
  10724. on.
  10725. (3) A red light means the next six cars may go through the
  10726. intersection.
  10727. %
  10728. RULES OF EATING -- THE BRONX DIETER'S CREED
  10729. (1) Never eat on an empty stomach.
  10730. (2) Never leave the table hungry.
  10731. (3) When traveling, never leave a country hungry.
  10732. (4) Enjoy your food.
  10733. (5) Enjoy your companion's food.
  10734. (6) Really taste your food. It may take several portions to
  10735. accomplish this, especially if subtly seasoned.
  10736. (7) Really feel your food. Texture is important. Compare,
  10737. for example, the texture of a turnip to that of a
  10738. brownie. Which feels better against your cheeks?
  10739. (8) Never eat between snacks, unless it's a meal.
  10740. (9) Don't feel you must finish everything on your plate. You
  10741. can always eat it later.
  10742. (10) Avoid any wine with a childproof cap.
  10743. (11) Avoid blue food.
  10744. -- Richard Smith, "The Bronx Diet"
  10745. %
  10746. Rules:
  10747. (1) The boss is always right.
  10748. (2) When the boss is wrong, refer to rule 1.
  10749. %
  10750. Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence
  10751. Tip #1: How to tell when you are dead.
  10752. (1) Little things start bothering you: little things like worms, bugs,
  10753. ants.
  10754. (2) Something is missing in your personal relationships.
  10755. (3) Your dog becomes overly affectionate.
  10756. (4) You have a hard time getting a waiter.
  10757. (5) Exotic birds flock around you.
  10758. (6) People ignore you at parties.
  10759. (7) You have a hard time getting up in the morning.
  10760. (8) You no longer get off on cocaine.
  10761. %
  10762. Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence
  10763. (1) Never use an elevator in a building that has been hit by a nuclear
  10764. bomb; use the stairs.
  10765. (2) When you're flying through the air, remember to roll when you hit
  10766. the ground.
  10767. (3) If you're on fire, avoid gasoline and other flammable materials.
  10768. (4) Don't attempt communication with dead people; it will only lead to
  10769. psychological problems.
  10770. (5) Food will be scarce; you will have to scavenge. Learn to
  10771. recognize foods that will be available after the bomb: mashed
  10772. potatoes, shredded wheat, tossed salad, ground beef, etc.
  10773. (6) Put your hand over your mouth when you sneeze; internal organs
  10774. will be scarce in the post-nuclear age.
  10775. (7) Try to be neat; fall only in designated piles.
  10776. (8) Drive carefully in "Heavy Fallout" areas; people could be
  10777. staggering illegally.
  10778. (9) Nutritionally, hundred dollar bills are equal to ones, but more
  10779. sanitary due to limited circulation.
  10780. (10) Accumulate mannequins now; spare parts will be in short supply on
  10781. D-Day.
  10782. %
  10783. SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
  10784. You are optimistic and enthusiastic. You have a reckless
  10785. tendency to rely on luck since you lack talent. The majority
  10786. of Sagittarians are drunks or dope fiends or both. People
  10787. laugh at you a great deal.
  10788. %
  10789. San Francisco isn't what it used to be, and it never was.
  10790. -- Herb Caen
  10791. %
  10792. San Francisco, n.:
  10793. Marcel Proust editing an issue of Penthouse.
  10794. %
  10795. Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind.
  10796. -- Mark Harrold
  10797. %
  10798. Santa Claus wears a Red Suit,
  10799. He must be a communist.
  10800. And a beard and long hair,
  10801. Must be a pacifist.
  10802. What's in that pipe that he's smoking?
  10803. -- Arlo Guthrie
  10804. %
  10805. Satellite Safety Tip #14:
  10806. If you see a bright streak in the sky coming at you, duck.
  10807. %
  10808. Sattinger's Law:
  10809. It works better if you plug it in.
  10810. %
  10811. Saturday night in Toledo Ohio,
  10812. Is like being nowhere at all,
  10813. All through the day how the hours rush by,
  10814. You sit in the park and you watch the grass die.
  10815. -- John Denver, "Saturday Night in Toledo Ohio"
  10816. %
  10817. Sauron is alive in Argentina!
  10818. %
  10819. Save energy: be apathetic.
  10820. %
  10821. Save the Whales -- Harpoon a Honda.
  10822. %
  10823. Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
  10824. %
  10825. Saw a sign on a restaurant that said Breakfast, any time -- so I
  10826. ordered French Toast in the Renaissance.
  10827. -- Steven Wright
  10828. %
  10829. SCCS, the source motel! Programs check in and never check out!
  10830. -- Ken Thompson
  10831. %
  10832. Schapiro's Explanation:
  10833. The grass is always greener on the other side -- but that's
  10834. because they use more manure.
  10835. %
  10836. Schizophrenia beats being alone.
  10837. %
  10838. Schlattwhapper, n.:
  10839. The window shade that allows itself to be pulled down,
  10840. hesitates for a second, then snaps up in your face.
  10841. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  10842. %
  10843. Schnuffel, n.:
  10844. A dog's practice of continuously nuzzling in your crotch in
  10845. mixed company.
  10846. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  10847. %
  10848. Schwiggle, n.:
  10849. The amusing rotation of one's bottom while sharpening a
  10850. pencil.
  10851. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  10852. %
  10853. Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made
  10854. of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts
  10855. is not necessarily science.
  10856. -- Henri Poincar'e
  10857. %
  10858. Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
  10859. %
  10860. Scientists are people who build the Brooklyn Bridge and then buy it.
  10861. -- William Buckley
  10862. %
  10863. SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21)
  10864. You are shrewd in business and cannot be trusted. You will
  10865. achieve the pinnacle of success because of your total lack of
  10866. ethics. Most Scorpio people are murdered.
  10867. %
  10868. Scott's first Law:
  10869. No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right.
  10870. %
  10871. Scott's second Law:
  10872. When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found
  10873. to have been wrong in the first place.
  10874. Corollary:
  10875. After the correction has been found in error, it will be
  10876. impossible to fit the original quantity back into the equation.
  10877. %
  10878. Scotty: Captain, we din' can reference it!
  10879. Kirk: Analysis, Mr. Spock?
  10880. Spock: Captain, it doesn't appear in the symbol table.
  10881. Kirk: Then it's of external origin?
  10882. Spock: Affirmative.
  10883. Kirk: Mr. Sulu, go to pass two.
  10884. Sulu: Aye aye, sir, going to pass two.
  10885. %
  10886. Screw up your courage! You've screwed up everything else.
  10887. %
  10888. Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the
  10889. Presidency.
  10890. -- Richard Nixon
  10891. %
  10892. Second Law of Business Meetings:
  10893. If there are two possible ways to spell a person's name, you
  10894. will pick the wrong one.
  10895. Corollary:
  10896. If there is only one way to spell a name, you will spell it
  10897. wrong, anyway.
  10898. %
  10899. Section 2.4.3.5 AWNS (Acceptor Wait for New Cycle State).
  10900. In AWNS the AH function indicates that it has received a
  10901. multiline message byte.
  10902. In AWNS the RFD message must be sent false and the DAC message
  10903. must be sent passive true.
  10904. The AH function must exit the AWNS and enter:
  10905. (1) The ANRS if DAV is false
  10906. (2) The AIDS if the ATN message is false and neither:
  10907. (a) The LADS is active
  10908. (b) Nor LACS is active
  10909. -- from the IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
  10910. Programmable Instrumentation
  10911. %
  10912. Security check: INTRUDER ALERT!
  10913. %
  10914. Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.
  10915. She scissored short. Sorely shorn,
  10916. Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,
  10917. Silently scheming,
  10918. Sightlessly seeking
  10919. Some savage, spectacular suicide.
  10920. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  10921. %
  10922. See - the thing is - I'm an absolutist. I mean, kind of ... in a way ...
  10923. %
  10924. Seleznick's Theory of Holistic Medicine:
  10925. Ice Cream cures all ills.
  10926. %
  10927. Self Test for Paranoia:
  10928. You know you have it when you can't think of anything that's
  10929. your own fault.
  10930. %
  10931. Seminars, n.:
  10932. From "semi" and "arse", hence, any half-assed discussion.
  10933. %
  10934. Sen. Danforth: "There is nothing on the face of the album which would
  10935. notify you if the record has pornographic material or
  10936. material glorifying violence?"
  10937. Tipper Gore: "No, there is nothing that would suggest that to me."
  10938. Frank Zappa: "I would say that a buzz saw blade between the guy's
  10939. legs on the album cover is good indication that it's
  10940. not for little Johnny."
  10941. -- The Senate Commerce Committee hearing on rock
  10942. lyrics, from The Village Voice, 6 Oct 1985
  10943. %
  10944. Senate, n.:
  10945. A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and
  10946. misdemeanors.
  10947. -- Ambrose Bierce
  10948. %
  10949. Serenity through viciousness.
  10950. %
  10951. Serocki's Stricture:
  10952. Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
  10953. %
  10954. Serving coffee on aircraft causes turbulence.
  10955. %
  10956. "Seven years and six months!" Humpty Dumpty repeated
  10957. thoughtfully. "An uncomfortable sort of age. Now if you'd asked MY
  10958. advice, I'd have said `Leave off at seven' -- but it's too late now."
  10959. "I never ask advice about growing," Alice said indignantly.
  10960. "Too proud?" the other enquired.
  10961. Alice felt even more indignant at this suggestion. "I mean,"
  10962. she said, "that one can't help growing older."
  10963. "ONE can't, perhaps," said Humpty Dumpty; "but TWO can. With
  10964. proper assistance, you might have left off at seven."
  10965. -- Lewis Carroll
  10966. %
  10967. Several years ago, some smart businessmen had an idea: Why not build a
  10968. big store where a do-it-yourselfer could get everything he needed at
  10969. reasonable prices? Then they decided, nah, the hell with that, let's
  10970. build a home center. And before long home centers were springing up
  10971. like crabgrass all over the United States.
  10972. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  10973. %
  10974. Sex is a natural bodily process, like a stroke.
  10975. %
  10976. Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer.
  10977. -- Swami X
  10978. %
  10979. Sex is the mathematics urge sublimated.
  10980. -- M. C. Reed
  10981. %
  10982. Sex without love is an empty experience, but, as empty experiences go,
  10983. it's one of the best.
  10984. -- Woody Allen
  10985. %
  10986. Shamus, n. [Yiddish]:
  10987. A shamus is a guy who takes care of handyman tasks around the
  10988. temple, and makes sure everything is in working order.
  10989. A shamus is at the bottom of the pecking order of synagogue
  10990. functionaries, and there's a joke about that:
  10991. A rabbi, to show his humility before God, cries out in the
  10992. middle of a service, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" The cantor, not to be
  10993. bested, also cries out, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!"
  10994. The shamus, deeply moved, follows suit and cries, "Oh, Lord, I
  10995. am nobody!" The rabbi turns to the cantor and says, "Look who thinks
  10996. he's nobody!"
  10997. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  10998. %
  10999. Sharks are as tough as those football fans who take their shirts off
  11000. during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent.
  11001. -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
  11002. Teen Should Know"
  11003. %
  11004. Shaw's Principle:
  11005. Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will
  11006. want to use it.
  11007. %
  11008. She is descended from a long line that her mother listened to.
  11009. -- Gypsy Rose Lee
  11010. %
  11011. She is not refined. She is not unrefined. She keeps a parrot.
  11012. -- Mark Twain
  11013. %
  11014. She liked him; he was a man of many qualities, even if most of them
  11015. were bad.
  11016. %
  11017. She missed an invaluable opportunity to give him a look that you could
  11018. have poured on a waffle ...
  11019. %
  11020. She said, `I know you ... you cannot sing'. I said, `That's nothing,
  11021. you should hear me play piano.'
  11022. -- Morrisey
  11023. %
  11024. She's genuinely bogus.
  11025. %
  11026. Sherry [Thomas Sheridan] is dull, naturally dull; but it must have
  11027. taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an
  11028. excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
  11029. -- Samuel Johnson
  11030. %
  11031. SHIFT TO THE LEFT! SHIFT TO THE RIGHT!
  11032. POP UP, PUSH DOWN, BYTE, BYTE, BYTE!
  11033. %
  11034. Show me a man who is a good loser and I'll show you a man who is
  11035. playing golf with his boss.
  11036. %
  11037. Show respect for age. Drink good Scotch for a change.
  11038. %
  11039. Signs of crime: screaming or cries for help.
  11040. -- from the Brown University Security Crime Prevention Pamphlet
  11041. %
  11042. Silverman's Law:
  11043. If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
  11044. %
  11045. Simon's Law:
  11046. Everything put together falls apart sooner or later.
  11047. %
  11048. Since I hurt my pendulum
  11049. My life is all erratic.
  11050. My parrot, who was cordial,
  11051. Is now transmitting static.
  11052. The carpet died, a palm collapsed,
  11053. The cat keeps doing poo.
  11054. The only thing that keeps me sane
  11055. Is talking to my shoe.
  11056. -- My Shoe
  11057. %
  11058. Since we have to speak well of the dead, let's knock them while they're
  11059. alive.
  11060. -- John Sloan
  11061. %
  11062. Since we're all here, we must not be all there.
  11063. -- Bob "Mountain" Beck
  11064. %
  11065. [Sir Stafford Cripps] has all the virtues I dislike and none of the
  11066. vices I admire.
  11067. -- Winston Churchill
  11068. %
  11069. Sixtus V, Pope from 1585 to 1590 authorized a printing of the Vulgate
  11070. Bible. Taking no chances, the pope issued a papal bull automatically
  11071. excommunicating any printer who might make an alteration in the text.
  11072. This he ordered printed at the beginning of the Bible. He personally
  11073. examined every sheet as it came off the press. Yet the published
  11074. Vulgate Bible contained so many errors that corrected scraps had to be
  11075. printed and pasted over them in every copy. The result provoked wry
  11076. comments on the rather patchy papal infallibility, and Pope Sixtus had
  11077. no recourse but to order the return and destruction of every copy.
  11078. %
  11079. Skinner's Constant (or Flannagan's Finagling Factor):
  11080. That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to,
  11081. or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should
  11082. have gotten.
  11083. %
  11084. Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes
  11085. to work.
  11086. %
  11087. Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work ... I did not,
  11088. when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those rude, and
  11089. apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle, so that I
  11090. neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a
  11091. tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension: they
  11092. were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of
  11093. souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a
  11094. testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from
  11095. chains.
  11096. -- Frederick Douglass
  11097. %
  11098. Slick's Three Laws of the Universe:
  11099. (1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad
  11100. check.
  11101. (2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat.
  11102. (3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is
  11103. attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is
  11104. attracted to dark objects.
  11105. %
  11106. Slowly and surely the unix crept up on the Nintendo user ...
  11107. %
  11108. Slurm, n.:
  11109. The slime that accumulates on the underside of a soap bar when
  11110. it sits in the dish too long.
  11111. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  11112. %
  11113. Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.
  11114. -- Fletcher Knebel
  11115. %
  11116. Snacktrek, n.:
  11117. The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly
  11118. returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have
  11119. materialized.
  11120. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  11121. %
  11122. So as your consumer electronics adviser, I am advising you to donate
  11123. your current VCR to a grate resident, who will laugh sardonically and
  11124. hurl it into a dumpster. Then I want you to go out and purchase a vast
  11125. array of 8-millimeter video equipment.
  11126. ... OK! Got everything? Well, *too bad, sucker*, because while you
  11127. were gone the electronics industry came up with an even newer format
  11128. that makes your 8-millimeter VCR look as technologically advanced as
  11129. toenail dirt. This format is called "3.5 hectare" and it will not be
  11130. made available until it is outmoded, sometime early next week, by a
  11131. format called "Elroy", so *order yours now*.
  11132. -- Dave Barry, "No Surrender in the Electronics
  11133. Revolution"
  11134. %
  11135. So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in
  11136. praise of intelligence.
  11137. -- Bertrand Russell
  11138. %
  11139. ... so long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those
  11140. who wish to tyranize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent,
  11141. and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious
  11142. and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
  11143. -- Voltarine de Cleyre
  11144. %
  11145. So Richard and I decided to try to catch [the small shark].
  11146. With a great deal of strategy and effort and shouting, we managed to
  11147. maneuver the shark, over the course of about a half-hour, to a sort of
  11148. corner of the lagoon, so that it had no way to escape other than to
  11149. flop up onto the land and evolve. Richard and I were inching toward
  11150. it, sort of crouched over, when all of a sudden it turned around and --
  11151. I can still remember the sensation I felt at that moment, primarily in
  11152. the armpit area -- headed right straight toward us.
  11153. Many people would have panicked at this point. But Richard and
  11154. I were not "many people." We were experienced waders, and we kept our
  11155. heads. We did exactly what the textbook says you should do when you're
  11156. unarmed and a shark that is nearly two feet long turns on you in water
  11157. up to your lower calves: We sprinted I would say 600 yards in the
  11158. opposite direction, using a sprinting style such that the bottoms of
  11159. our feet never once went below the surface of the water. We ran all
  11160. the way to the far shore, and if we had been in a Warner Brothers
  11161. cartoon we would have run right INTO the beach, and you would have seen
  11162. these two mounds of sand racing across the island until they bonked
  11163. into trees and coconuts fell onto their heads.
  11164. -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
  11165. %
  11166. So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf to make an apple
  11167. pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street pops
  11168. its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died, and she very
  11169. imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies,
  11170. and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top,
  11171. and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the
  11172. gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.
  11173. -- Samuel Foote
  11174. %
  11175. ... So the documentary-makers stick with sharks. Generally, their
  11176. procedure is to scatter bleeding fish pieces around their boat, so as
  11177. to infest the waters. I would estimate that the primary food source of
  11178. sharks today is bleeding fish pieces scattered by people making
  11179. documentaries. Once the sharks arrive, they are generally fairly
  11180. listless. The general shark attitude seems to be: "Oh God, another
  11181. documentary." So the divers have to somehow goad them into attacking,
  11182. under the guise of Scientific Research. "We know very little about the
  11183. effect of electricity on sharks," the narrator will say, in a deeply
  11184. scientific voice. "That is why Todd is going to jab this Great White
  11185. in the testicles with a cattle prod." The divers keep this kind of
  11186. thing up until the shark finally gets irritated and snaps at them, and
  11187. then they act as though this was a totally unexpected and very
  11188. dangerous development, although clearly it is what they wanted all
  11189. along.
  11190. -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
  11191. %
  11192. So, what's with this guy Gideon, anyway?
  11193. And why can't he ever remember his Bible?
  11194. %
  11195. Sodd's Second Law:
  11196. Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is
  11197. bound to occur.
  11198. %
  11199. Software, n.:
  11200. Formal evening attire for female computer analysts.
  11201. %
  11202. Some don't prefer the pursuit of happiness to the happiness of pursuit.
  11203. %
  11204. Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them.
  11205. -- Ed Howe
  11206. %
  11207. Some of you ... may have decided that, this year, you're going to
  11208. celebrate it the old-fashioned way, with your family sitting around
  11209. stringing cranberries and exchanging humble, handmade gifts, like on
  11210. "The Waltons". Well, you can forget it. If everybody pulled that kind
  11211. of subversive stunt, the economy would collapse overnight. The
  11212. government would have to intervene: it would form a cabinet-level
  11213. Department of Holiday Gift-Giving, which would spend billions and
  11214. billions of tax dollars to buy Barbie dolls and electronic games, which
  11215. it would drop on the populace from Air Force jets, killing and maiming
  11216. thousands. So, for the good of the nation, you should go along with
  11217. the Holiday Program. This means you should get a large sum of money
  11218. and go to a mall.
  11219. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  11220. %
  11221. Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some
  11222. people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
  11223. -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
  11224. %
  11225. Some people have a way about them that seems to say: "If I have only
  11226. one life to live, let me live it as a jerk."
  11227. %
  11228. Some people in this department wouldn't recognize subtlety if it hit
  11229. them on the head.
  11230. %
  11231. Some people live life in the fast lane. You're in oncoming traffic.
  11232. %
  11233. Some performers on television appear to be horrible people, but when
  11234. you finally get to know them in person, they turn out to be even
  11235. worse.
  11236. -- Avery
  11237. %
  11238. Some points to remember [about animals]:
  11239. (1) Don't go to sleep under big animals, e.g., elephants, rhinoceri,
  11240. hippopotamuses;
  11241. (2) Don't put animals with sharp teeth or poisonous fangs down the
  11242. front of your clothes;
  11243. (3) Don't pat certain animals, e.g., crocodiles and scorpions or dogs
  11244. you have just kicked.
  11245. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  11246. %
  11247. Some primal termite knocked on wood.
  11248. And tasted it, and found it good.
  11249. And that is why your Cousin May
  11250. Fell through the parlor floor today.
  11251. -- Ogden Nash
  11252. %
  11253. Some programming languages manage to absorb change but withstand
  11254. progress.
  11255. %
  11256. Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand
  11257. progress.
  11258. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  11259. %
  11260. Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the
  11261. pens will multiply instead of disappear.
  11262. %
  11263. Someone will try to honk your nose today.
  11264. %
  11265. Sometimes I simply feel that the whole world is a cigarette and I'm
  11266. the only ashtray.
  11267. %
  11268. Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
  11269. -- Lily Tomlin
  11270. %
  11271. "Somewhere", said Father Vittorini, "did Blake not speak of the
  11272. Machineries of Joy? That is, did not God promote environments, then
  11273. intimidate these Natures by provoking the existence of flesh, toy men
  11274. and women, such as are we all? And thus happily sent forth, at our
  11275. best, with good grace and fine wit, on calm noons, in fair climes, are
  11276. we not God's Machineries of Joy?"
  11277. "If Blake said that", said Father Brian, "he never lived in Dublin."
  11278. -- R. Bradbury, "The Machineries of Joy"
  11279. %
  11280. Somewhere, just out of sight, the unicorns are gathering.
  11281. %
  11282. Song Title of the Week:
  11283. "They're putting dimes in the hole in my head to see the change
  11284. in me."
  11285. %
  11286. Sooner or later you must pay for your sins.
  11287. (Those who have already paid may disregard this fortune).
  11288. %
  11289. Sorry, no fortune this time.
  11290. %
  11291. Sorry. I forget what I was going to say.
  11292. %
  11293. Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-
  11294. bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the
  11295. road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space.
  11296. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  11297. %
  11298. Spare no expense to save money on this one.
  11299. -- Samuel Goldwyn
  11300. %
  11301. Spark's Sixth Rule for Managers:
  11302. If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as
  11303. if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the question
  11304. back at him.
  11305. %
  11306. Speak roughly to your little boy,
  11307. And beat him when he sneezes:
  11308. He only does it to annoy
  11309. Because he knows it teases.
  11310. Wow! wow! wow!
  11311. I speak severely to my boy,
  11312. And beat him when he sneezes:
  11313. For he can thoroughly enjoy
  11314. The pepper when he pleases!
  11315. Wow! wow! wow!
  11316. -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
  11317. %
  11318. Speak roughly to your little VAX,
  11319. And boot it when it crashes;
  11320. It knows that one cannot relax
  11321. Because the paging thrashes!
  11322. Wow! Wow! Wow!
  11323. I speak severely to my VAX,
  11324. And boot it when it crashes;
  11325. In spite of all my favorite hacks
  11326. My jobs it always thrashes!
  11327. Wow! Wow! Wow!
  11328. %
  11329. Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword.
  11330. %
  11331. Speak softly and own a big, mean Doberman.
  11332. -- Dave Millman
  11333. %
  11334. Speaking as someone who has delved into the intricacies of PL/I, I am
  11335. sure that only Real Men could have written such a machine-hogging,
  11336. cycle-grabbing, all-encompassing monster. Allocate an array and free
  11337. the middle third? Sure! Why not? Multiply a character string times a
  11338. bit string and assign the result to a float decimal? Go ahead! Free a
  11339. controlled variable procedure parameter and reallocate it before
  11340. passing it back? Overlay three different types of variable on the same
  11341. memory location? Anything you say! Write a recursive macro? Well,
  11342. no, but Real Men use rescan. How could a language so obviously
  11343. designed and written by Real Men not be intended for Real Man use?
  11344. %
  11345. Speaking of Godzilla and other things that convey horror:
  11346. With a purposeful grimace and a Mongo-like flair
  11347. He throws the spinning disk drives in the air!
  11348. And he picks up a Vax and he throws it back down
  11349. As he wades through the lab making terrible sounds!
  11350. Helpless users with projects due
  11351. Scream "My God!" as he stomps on the tape drives, too!
  11352. Oh, no! He says Unix runs too slow! Go, go, DECzilla!
  11353. Oh, yes! He's gonna bring up VMS! Go, go, DECzilla!"
  11354. * VMS is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation
  11355. * DECzilla is a trademark of Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death, Inc.
  11356. -- Curtis Jackson
  11357. %
  11358. Speaking of love, one problem that recurs more and more frequently
  11359. these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people
  11360. to communicate with the people they love; Husbands and wives who can't
  11361. communicate, children who can't communicate with their parents, and so
  11362. on. And the characters in these books and plays and so on (and in real
  11363. life, I might add) spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can't
  11364. communicate. I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very _____least
  11365. he can do is to Shut Up!
  11366. -- Tom Lehrer, "That Was the Year that Was"
  11367. %
  11368. Speed is subsittute fo accurancy.
  11369. %
  11370. Speer's 1st Law of Proofreading:
  11371. The visibility of an error is inversely proportional to the
  11372. number of times you have looked at it.
  11373. %
  11374. Spelling is a lossed art.
  11375. %
  11376. Spend extra time on hobby. Get plenty of rolling papers.
  11377. %
  11378. Spirtle, n.:
  11379. The fine stream from a grapefruit that always lands right in
  11380. your eye.
  11381. -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
  11382. %
  11383. Spouse, n.:
  11384. Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you
  11385. wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.
  11386. %
  11387. Star Wars is adolescent nonsense; Close Encounters is obscurantist
  11388. drivel; Star Trek can turn your brains to pur'ee of bat guano; and the
  11389. greatest science fiction series of all time is Doctor Who! And I'll
  11390. take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it up!
  11391. -- Harlan Ellison
  11392. %
  11393. Stay away from flying saucers today.
  11394. %
  11395. Stay away from hurricanes for a while.
  11396. %
  11397. Stealing a rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly.
  11398. %
  11399. Steele's Plagiarism of Somebody's Philosophy:
  11400. Everybody should believe in something -- I believe I'll have
  11401. another drink.
  11402. %
  11403. Steinbach's Guideline for Systems Programming:
  11404. Never test for an error condition you don't know how to
  11405. handle.
  11406. %
  11407. Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you.
  11408. %
  11409. Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you.
  11410. Now, if they'd only take a bath ...
  11411. %
  11412. Stult's Report:
  11413. Our problems are mostly behind us. What we have to do now is
  11414. fight the solutions.
  11415. %
  11416. Stupid, n.:
  11417. Losing $25 on the game and $25 on the instant replay.
  11418. %
  11419. Stupidity got us into this mess -- why can't it get us out?
  11420. %
  11421. Sturgeon's Law:
  11422. 90% of everything is crud.
  11423. %
  11424. Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your
  11425. editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
  11426. -- Mark Twain
  11427. %
  11428. Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way
  11429. before it is understood.
  11430. %
  11431. Succumb to natural tendencies. Be hateful and boring.
  11432. %
  11433. Suddenly, Professor Liebowitz realizes he has come to the seminar
  11434. without his duck ...
  11435. %
  11436. (Sung to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA)
  11437. To code the impossible code,
  11438. To bring up a virgin machine,
  11439. To pop out of endless recursion,
  11440. To grok what appears on the screen,
  11441. To right the unrightable bug,
  11442. To endlessly twiddle and thrash,
  11443. To mount the unmountable magtape,
  11444. To stop the unstoppable crash!
  11445. %
  11446. Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!
  11447. %
  11448. Support wildlife -- vote for an orgy.
  11449. %
  11450. Support your local police force -- steal!!
  11451. %
  11452. Support your local Search and Rescue unit -- get lost.
  11453. %
  11454. Sure he's sharp as a razor ... he's a two-dimensional pinhead!
  11455. %
  11456. Surprise due today. Also the rent.
  11457. %
  11458. Surprise your boss. Get to work on time.
  11459. %
  11460. Surprise! You are the lucky winner of random I.R.S. Audit! Just type
  11461. in your name and social security number. Please remember that leaving
  11462. the room is punishable under law:
  11463. Name #
  11464. %
  11465. Swahili, n.:
  11466. The language used by the National Enquirer to print their retractions.
  11467. -- Johnny Hart
  11468. %
  11469. Sweater, n.:
  11470. A garment worn by a child when its mother feels chilly.
  11471. %
  11472. Swipple's Rule of Order:
  11473. He who shouts the loudest has the floor.
  11474. %
  11475. Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
  11476. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  11477. %
  11478. Systems have sub-systems and sub-systems have sub-systems and so on ad
  11479. infinitum -- which is why we're always starting over.
  11480. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  11481. %
  11482. _
  11483. _ / \ o
  11484. / \ | | o o o
  11485. | | | | _ o o o o
  11486. | \_| | / \ o o o
  11487. \__ | | | o o
  11488. | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
  11489. | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
  11490. | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
  11491. | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
  11492. | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
  11493. | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
  11494. | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
  11495. // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
  11496. // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
  11497. //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
  11498. Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
  11499. start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
  11500. then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the
  11501. music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
  11502. -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
  11503. %
  11504. T: One big monster, he called TROLL.
  11505. He don't rock, and he don't roll;
  11506. Drink no wine, and smoke no stogies.
  11507. He just Love To Eat Them Roguies.
  11508. -- The Roguelet's ABC
  11509. %
  11510. Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a
  11511. hole in his head.
  11512. %
  11513. Tact, n.:
  11514. The unsaid part of what you're thinking.
  11515. %
  11516. Take everything in stride. Trample anyone who gets in your way.
  11517. %
  11518. Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting
  11519. enough cheese.
  11520. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  11521. %
  11522. Take it easy, we're in a hurry.
  11523. %
  11524. Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man, but it
  11525. needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.
  11526. -- Kipling
  11527. %
  11528. Take the folks at Coca-Cola. For many years, they were content to sit
  11529. back and make the same old carbonated beverage. It was a good
  11530. beverage, no question about it; generations of people had grown up
  11531. drinking it and doing the experiment in sixth grade where you put a
  11532. nail into a glass of Coke and after a couple of days the nail dissolves
  11533. and the teacher says: "Imagine what it does to your TEETH!" So
  11534. Coca-Cola was solidly entrenched in the market, and the management saw
  11535. no need to improve ...
  11536. -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
  11537. %
  11538. Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to
  11539. your execution is not generally understood by less advanced life forms,
  11540. and they'll call you crazy.
  11541. -- "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul"
  11542. %
  11543. Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
  11544. -- Euripides
  11545. %
  11546. Talkers are no good doers.
  11547. -- William Shakespeare, "Henry VI"
  11548. %
  11549. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
  11550. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
  11551. %
  11552. TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20)
  11553. You are practical and persistent. You have a dogged
  11554. determination and work like hell. Most people think you are
  11555. stubborn and bull headed. You are a Communist.
  11556. %
  11557. Tax reform means "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind
  11558. the tree."
  11559. -- Russell Long
  11560. %
  11561. Taxes are going up so fast, the government is likely to price itself
  11562. out of the market.
  11563. %
  11564. Taxes, n.:
  11565. Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get
  11566. an extension.
  11567. %
  11568. Teach children to be polite and courteous in the home, and, when they
  11569. grows up, they will never be able to edge their car onto a freeway.
  11570. %
  11571. Teamwork is essential -- it allows you to blame someone else.
  11572. %
  11573. Technological progress has merely provided us
  11574. with more efficient means for going backwards.
  11575. -- Aldous Huxley
  11576. %
  11577. Telephone, n.:
  11578. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
  11579. advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
  11580. -- Ambrose Bierce
  11581. %
  11582. Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
  11583. Is those things arms, or is they legs?
  11584. I marvel at thee, Octopus;
  11585. If I were thou, I'd call me us.
  11586. -- Ogden Nash
  11587. %
  11588. Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop
  11589. writing.
  11590. -- R. Geis
  11591. %
  11592. Terence, this is stupid stuff:
  11593. You eat your victuals fast enough;
  11594. There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,
  11595. To see the rate you drink your beer.
  11596. But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
  11597. It gives a chap the belly-ache.
  11598. The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
  11599. It sleeps well the horned head:
  11600. We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
  11601. To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
  11602. Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
  11603. Your friends to death before their time.
  11604. Moping, melancholy mad:
  11605. Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad.
  11606. -- A. E. Housman
  11607. %
  11608. Termiter's argument that God is His own grandmother generated a
  11609. surprising amount of controversy among Church leaders, who on the one
  11610. hand considered the argument unsupported by scripture but on the other
  11611. hand were unwilling to risk offending God's grandmother.
  11612. -- Len Cool, "American Pie"
  11613. %
  11614. Tertullian was born in Carthage somewhere about 160 A.D. He was a
  11615. pagan, and he abandoned himself to the lascivious life of his city
  11616. until about his 35th year, when he became a Christian .... To him is
  11617. ascribed the sublime confession: Credo quia absurdum est (I believe
  11618. because it is absurd). This does not altogether accord with historical
  11619. fact, for he merely said:
  11620. "And the Son of God died, which is immediately credible because
  11621. it is absurd. And buried he rose again, which is certain
  11622. because it is impossible."
  11623. Thanks to the acuteness of his mind, he saw through the poverty of
  11624. philosophical and Gnostic knowledge, and contemptuously rejected it.
  11625. -- C. G. Jung, in Psychological Types
  11626. (Tertullian was one of the founders of the Catholic Church).
  11627. %
  11628. Test-tube babies shouldn't throw stones.
  11629. %
  11630. Texas law forbids anyone to have a pair of pliers in his possession.
  11631. %
  11632. Text processing has made it possible to right-justify any idea, even
  11633. one which cannot be justified on any other grounds.
  11634. -- J. Finnegan, USC.
  11635. %
  11636. Thank goodness modern convenience is a thing of the remote future.
  11637. -- Pogo, by Walt Kelly
  11638. %
  11639. That boy's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver.
  11640. -- Foghorn Leghorn
  11641. %
  11642. That must be wonderful! I don't understand it at all.
  11643. -- Moliere
  11644. %
  11645. That secret you've been guarding, isn't.
  11646. %
  11647. That woman speaks eight languages and can't say "no" in any of them.
  11648. -- Dorothy Parker
  11649. %
  11650. The 80's -- when you can't tell hairstyles from chemotherapy.
  11651. %
  11652. The [Ford Foundation] is a large body of money completely surrounded by
  11653. people who want some.
  11654. -- Dwight MacDonald
  11655. %
  11656. The Abrams' Principle:
  11657. The shortest distance between two points is off the wall.
  11658. %
  11659. The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper
  11660. -- Thomas Jefferson
  11661. %
  11662. The Advertising Agency Song:
  11663. When your client's hopping mad,
  11664. Put his picture in the ad.
  11665. If he still should prove refractory,
  11666. Add a picture of his factory.
  11667. %
  11668. The algorithm to do that is extremely nasty. You might want to mug
  11669. someone with it.
  11670. -- M. Devine, Computer Science 340
  11671. %
  11672. ... The Anarchists' [national] anthem is an international anthem that
  11673. consists of 365 raspberries blown in very quick succession to the tune
  11674. of "Camptown Races". Nobody has to stand up for it, nobody has to
  11675. listen to it, and, even better, nobody has to play it.
  11676. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  11677. %
  11678. The Arkansas legislature passed a law that states that the Arkansas
  11679. River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little
  11680. Rock.
  11681. %
  11682. The Army has carried the American ... ideal to its logical conclusion.
  11683. Not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed
  11684. and color, but also on ability.
  11685. -- T. Lehrer
  11686. %
  11687. The Army needs leaders the way a foot needs a big toe.
  11688. -- Bill Murray
  11689. %
  11690. The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use
  11691. in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the
  11692. Declaration not for that, but for future use.
  11693. -- Abraham Lincoln
  11694. %
  11695. The average income of the modern teenager is about 2 a.m.
  11696. %
  11697. The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the
  11698. average man can see better than he can think.
  11699. %
  11700. The bad reputation UNIX has gotten is totally undeserved, laid on by
  11701. people who don't understand, who have not gotten in there and tried
  11702. anything.
  11703. -- Jim Joyce, owner of Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore
  11704. %
  11705. The basic idea behind malls is that they are more convenient than
  11706. cities. Cities contain streets, which are dangerous and crowded and
  11707. difficult to park in. Malls, on the other hand, have parking lots,
  11708. which are also dangerous and crowded and difficult to park in, but --
  11709. here is the big difference -- in mall parking lots, THERE ARE NO
  11710. RULES. You're allowed to do anything. You can drive as fast as you
  11711. want in any direction you want. I was once driving in a mall parking
  11712. lot when my car was struck by a pickup truck being driven backward by a
  11713. squat man with a tattoo that said "Charlie" on his forearm, who got out
  11714. and explained to me, in great detail, why the accident was my fault,
  11715. his reasoning being that he was violent and muscular, whereas I was
  11716. neither. This kind of reasoning is legally valid in mall parking
  11717. lots.
  11718. -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
  11719. %
  11720. The basic menu item, in fact the ONLY menu item, would be a food unit
  11721. called the "patty," consisting of -- this would be guaranteed in
  11722. writing -- "100 percent animal matter of some kind." All patties would
  11723. be heated up and then cooled back down in electronic devices
  11724. immediately before serving. The Breakfast Patty would be a patty on a
  11725. bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, egg, Ba-Ko-Bits, Cheez Whiz, a Special
  11726. Sauce made by pouring ketchup out of a bottle and a little slip of
  11727. paper stating: "Inspected by Number 12". The Lunch or Dinner Patty
  11728. would be any Breakfast Patties that didn't get sold in the morning.
  11729. The Seafood Lover's Patty would be any patties that were starting to
  11730. emit a serious aroma. Patties that were too rank even to be Seafood
  11731. Lover's Patties would be compressed into wads and sold as "Nuggets."
  11732. -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
  11733. %
  11734. The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland";
  11735. but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
  11736. %
  11737. The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
  11738. -- W. C. Fields
  11739. %
  11740. The best defense against logic is ignorance.
  11741. %
  11742. The best thing about growing older is that it takes such a long time.
  11743. %
  11744. "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and
  11745. blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails.
  11746. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at
  11747. night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only
  11748. love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or
  11749. know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only
  11750. one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what
  11751. wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust,
  11752. never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never
  11753. dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a
  11754. lot of things there are to learn."
  11755. -- T.H. White, "The Once and Future King"
  11756. %
  11757. The best way to make a fire with two sticks is to make sure one of them
  11758. is a match.
  11759. -- Will Rogers
  11760. %
  11761. The bigger the theory the better.
  11762. %
  11763. The biggest difference between time and space is that you can't reuse
  11764. time.
  11765. -- Merrick Furst
  11766. %
  11767. The birds are singing, the flowers are budding, and it is time for Miss
  11768. Manners to tell young lovers to stop necking in public.
  11769. It's not that Miss Manners is immune to romance. Miss Manners has been
  11770. known to squeeze a gentleman's arm while being helped over a curb, and,
  11771. in her wild youth, even to press a dainty slipper against a foot or two
  11772. under the dinner table. Miss Manners also believes that the sight of
  11773. people strolling hand in hand or arm in arm or arm in hand dresses up a
  11774. city considerably more than the more familiar sight of people shaking
  11775. umbrellas at one another. What Miss Manners objects to is the kind of
  11776. activity that frightens the horses on the street ...
  11777. %
  11778. The bland leadeth the bland and they both shall fall into the kitsch.
  11779. %
  11780. The bogosity meter just pegged.
  11781. %
  11782. The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up
  11783. in the morning, and does not stop until you get to school.
  11784. %
  11785. The Briggs/Chase Law of Program Development:
  11786. To determine how long it will take to write and debug a
  11787. program, take your best estimate, multiply that by two, add one, and
  11788. convert to the next higher units.
  11789. %
  11790. The buffalo isn't as dangerous as everyone makes him out to be.
  11791. Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in
  11792. automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo.
  11793. -- Art Buchwald
  11794. %
  11795. The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding
  11796. bureaucracy.
  11797. %
  11798. The C Programming Language -- A language which combines the
  11799. flexibility and power of assembly language with the readability
  11800. of assembly language.
  11801. %
  11802. The camel has a single hump;
  11803. The dromedary two;
  11804. Or else the other way around.
  11805. I'm never sure. Are you?
  11806. -- Ogden Nash
  11807. %
  11808. The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly
  11809. greater than that of any other animals. Some of their most esteemed
  11810. inventions have no other apparent purpose, for example, the dinner
  11811. party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics.
  11812. -- H. L. Mencken
  11813. %
  11814. The chain which can be yanked is not the eternal chain.
  11815. -- G. Fitch
  11816. %
  11817. The chicken that clucks the loudest is the one most likely to show up
  11818. at the steam fitters' picnic.
  11819. %
  11820. The chief cause of problems is solutions.
  11821. -- Eric Sevareid
  11822. %
  11823. The chief danger in life is that you may take too may precautions.
  11824. -- Alfred Adler
  11825. %
  11826. The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I will
  11827. walk carefully.
  11828. -- Russian Proverb
  11829. %
  11830. The climate of Bombay is such that its inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
  11831. %
  11832. The Computer made me do it.
  11833. %
  11834. The computing field is always in need of new cliches.
  11835. -- Alan Perlis
  11836. %
  11837. The confusion of a staff member is measured by the length of his
  11838. memos.
  11839. -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
  11840. %
  11841. The conservation movement is a breeding ground of Communists and other
  11842. subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up
  11843. every bird watcher in the country.
  11844. -- John Mitchell, Atty. General 1969-1972
  11845. %
  11846. The Consultant's Curse:
  11847. When the customer has beaten upon you long enough, give him
  11848. what he asks for, instead of what he needs. This is very strong
  11849. medicine, and is normally only required once.
  11850. %
  11851. The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it is
  11852. none of my business, but --" is to place a period after the word "but."
  11853. Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period.
  11854. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you
  11855. talked about.
  11856. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  11857. %
  11858. The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.
  11859. %
  11860. The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going down.
  11861. %
  11862. The cow is nothing but a machine which makes grass fit for us people to
  11863. eat.
  11864. -- John McNulty
  11865. %
  11866. The Crown is full of it!
  11867. -- Nate Harris, 1775
  11868. %
  11869. The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should
  11870. therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could
  11871. hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be admitted, rulers have only to
  11872. declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny ... In war,
  11873. then, as in peace, assert the freedom of speech and of the press.
  11874. Cling to this as the bulwark of all our rights and privileges.
  11875. -- William Ellery Channing
  11876. %
  11877. The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.
  11878. %
  11879. The day-to-day travails of the IBM programmer are so amusing to most of
  11880. us who are fortunate enough never to have been one -- like watching
  11881. Charlie Chaplin trying to cook a shoe.
  11882. %
  11883. The debate rages on: Is PL/I Bachtrian or Dromedary?
  11884. %
  11885. The devil finds work for idle circuits to do.
  11886. %
  11887. The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell
  11888. into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him
  11889. out again, it would be a calamity.
  11890. -- Benjamin Disraeli
  11891. %
  11892. The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science
  11893. requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship.
  11894. -- Robert Heinlein
  11895. %
  11896. The distinction between Jewish and goyish can be quite subtle, as the
  11897. following quote from Lenny Bruce illustrates:
  11898. "I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish.
  11899. Eddie Cantor's goyish. The B'nai Brith is goyish. The Hadassah is
  11900. Jewish. Marine Corps -- heavy goyish, dangerous.
  11901. "Kool-Aid is goyish. All Drake's Cakes are goyish.
  11902. Pumpernickel is Jewish and, as you know, white bread is very goyish.
  11903. Instant potatoes -- goyish. Black cherry soda's very Jewish.
  11904. Macaroons are ____very Jewish. Fruit salad is Jewish. Lime Jell-O is
  11905. goyish. Lime soda is ____very goyish. Trailer parks are so goyish that
  11906. Jews won't go near them ..."
  11907. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  11908. %
  11909. The District of Columbia has a law forbidding you to exert pressure on
  11910. a balloon and thereby cause a whistling sound on the streets.
  11911. %
  11912. The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man
  11913. really clever who has not found that he is stupid.
  11914. -- Gilbert K. Chesterson
  11915. %
  11916. The duck hunter trained his retriever to walk on water. Eager to show
  11917. off this amazing accomplishment, he asked a friend to go along on his
  11918. next hunting trip. Saying nothing, he fired his first shot and, as the
  11919. duck fell, the dog walked on the surface of the water, retrieved the
  11920. duck and returned it to his master.
  11921. "Notice anything?" the owner asked eagerly.
  11922. "Yes," said his friend, "I see that fool dog of yours can't swim."
  11923. %
  11924. The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in late
  11925. and owns the worm farm.
  11926. -- Travis McGee
  11927. %
  11928. The earth is like a tiny grain of sand, only much, much heavier.
  11929. %
  11930. The easiest way to figure the cost of living is to take your income and
  11931. add ten percent.
  11932. %
  11933. The economy depends about as much on economists as the weather does on
  11934. weather forecasters.
  11935. -- Jean-Paul Kauffmann
  11936. %
  11937. The eleventh commandment was `Thou Shalt Compute' or `Thou Shalt Not
  11938. Compute' -- I forget which.
  11939. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  11940. %
  11941. The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of
  11942. civilization.
  11943. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  11944. %
  11945. The end of the world will occur at 3:00 p.m., this Friday, with
  11946. symposium to follow.
  11947. %
  11948. The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach
  11949. their children to speak it.
  11950. -- G. B. Shaw
  11951. %
  11952. The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is evidence of a
  11953. remarkable Christian forbearance among men.
  11954. -- Ambrose Bierce
  11955. %
  11956. The fact that it works is immaterial.
  11957. -- L. Ogborn
  11958. %
  11959. The faster we go, the rounder we get.
  11960. -- The Grateful Dead
  11961. %
  11962. The Fifth Rule:
  11963. You have taken yourself too seriously.
  11964. %
  11965. The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.
  11966. -- Abbie Hoffman
  11967. %
  11968. The first Great Steward, Parrafin the Climber, was employed in King
  11969. Chloroplast's kitchen as second scullery boy when the old King met a
  11970. tragic death. He apparently fell backward by accident on a dozen salad
  11971. forks. Simultaneously the true heir, his son Carotene, mysteriously
  11972. fled the city, complaining of some sort of plot and a lot of
  11973. threatening notes left on his breakfast tray. At the time, this looked
  11974. suspicious what with his father's death, and Carotene was suspected of
  11975. foul play. Then the rest of the King's relatives began to drop dead
  11976. one after the other in an odd fashion. Some were found strangled with
  11977. dishrags and some succumbed to food poisoning. A few were found
  11978. drowned in the soup vats, and one was attacked by assailants unknown
  11979. and beaten to death with a pot roast. At least three appear to have
  11980. thrown themselves backward on salad forks, perhaps in a noble gesture
  11981. of grief over the King's untimely end. Finally there was no one left
  11982. in Minas Troney who was either eligible or willing to wear the accursed
  11983. crown, and the rule of Twodor was up for grabs. The scullery slave
  11984. Parrafin bravely accepted the Stewardship of Twodor until that day when
  11985. a lineal descendant of Carotene's returns to reclaim his rightful
  11986. throne, conquer Twodor's enemies, and revamp the postal system.
  11987. -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
  11988. %
  11989. The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of
  11990. management is that success equals skill.
  11991. -- Robert Heller
  11992. %
  11993. The first riddle I ever heard, one familiar to almost every Jewish
  11994. child, was propounded to me by my father:
  11995. "What is it that hangs on the wall, is green, wet -- and
  11996. whistles?"
  11997. I knit my brow and thought and thought, and in final perplexity
  11998. gave up.
  11999. "A herring," said my father.
  12000. "A herring," I echoed. "A herring doesn't hang on the wall!"
  12001. "So hang it there."
  12002. "But a herring isn't green!" I protested.
  12003. "Paint it."
  12004. "But a herring isn't wet."
  12005. "If it's just painted it's still wet."
  12006. "But -- " I sputtered, summoning all my outrage, "-- a herring
  12007. doesn't whistle!!"
  12008. "Right, " smiled my father. "I just put that in to make it
  12009. hard."
  12010. -- Leo Rosten, "The Joys of Yiddish"
  12011. %
  12012. The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your
  12013. hands and hoping when a rock or a club will do.
  12014. -- McCloctnik the Lucid
  12015. %
  12016. The First Rule of Program Optimization:
  12017. Don't do it.
  12018. The Second Rule of Program Optimization (for experts only!):
  12019. Don't do it yet.
  12020. -- Michael Jackson
  12021. %
  12022. The first time, it's a KLUDGE!
  12023. The second, a trick.
  12024. Later, it's a well-established technique!
  12025. -- Mike Broido, Intermetrics
  12026. %
  12027. The following quote is from page 4-27 of the MSCP Basic Disk Functions
  12028. Manual which is part of the UDA50 Programmers Doc Kit manuals:
  12029. As stated above, the host area of a disk is structured as a vector of
  12030. logical blocks. From a performance viewpoint, however, it is more
  12031. appropriate to view the host area as a four dimensional hyper-cube, the
  12032. four dimensions being cylinder, group, track, and sector.
  12033. . . .
  12034. Referring to our hyper-cube analogy, the set of potentially accessible
  12035. blocks form a line parallel to the track axis. This line moves
  12036. parallel to the sector axis, wrapping around when it reaches the edge
  12037. of the hyper-cube.
  12038. %
  12039. The fortune program is supported, in part, by user contributions and by
  12040. a major grant from the National Endowment for the Inanities.
  12041. %
  12042. The four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl.
  12043. -- Dave Barry
  12044. %
  12045. The full impact of parenthood doesn't hit you until you multiply the
  12046. number of your kids by 32 teeth.
  12047. %
  12048. The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to
  12049. chance.
  12050. %
  12051. The gentlemen looked one another over with microscopic carelessness.
  12052. %
  12053. The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the
  12054. center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South
  12055. Boston which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South
  12056. End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End.
  12057. %
  12058. The giraffe you thought you offended last week is willing to be nuzzled
  12059. today.
  12060. %
  12061. The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at
  12062. least until we've finished building it.
  12063. %
  12064. The goal of science is to build better mousetraps.
  12065. The goal of nature is to build better mice.
  12066. %
  12067. The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines. They gave him
  12068. love and he invented marriage.
  12069. %
  12070. THE GOLDEN RULE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
  12071. The one who has the gold makes the rules.
  12072. %
  12073. The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who
  12074. make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians
  12075. have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine
  12076. man in the bonds of Hell.
  12077. -- St. Augustine
  12078. %
  12079. The good die young -- because they see it's no use living if you've got
  12080. to be good.
  12081. %
  12082. "The Good Ship Enterprise" (to the tune of "The Good Ship Lollipop")
  12083. On the good ship Enterprise
  12084. Every week there's a new surprise
  12085. Where the Romulans lurk
  12086. And the Klingons often go berserk.
  12087. Yes, the good ship Enterprise
  12088. There's excitement anywhere it flies
  12089. Where Tribbles play
  12090. And Nurse Chapel never gets her way.
  12091. See Captain Kirk standing on the bridge,
  12092. Mr. Spock is at his side.
  12093. The weekly menace, ooh-ooh
  12094. It gets fried, scattered far and wide.
  12095. It's the good ship Enterprise
  12096. Heading out where danger lies
  12097. And you live in dread
  12098. If you're wearing a shirt that's red.
  12099. -- Doris Robin and Karen Trimble of The L.A. Filkharmonics
  12100. %
  12101. The government [is] extremely fond of amassing great quantities of
  12102. statistics. These are raised to the _nth degree, the cube roots are
  12103. extracted, and the results are arranged into elaborate and impressive
  12104. displays. What must be kept ever in mind, however, is that in every
  12105. case, the figures are first put down by a village watchman, and he puts
  12106. down anything he damn well pleases.
  12107. -- Sir Josiah Stamp
  12108. %
  12109. The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all
  12110. who have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature.
  12111. -- Benjamin Franklin
  12112. %
  12113. The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog:
  12114. The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog of Billericay displays, in
  12115. courtship, his single prickle and does impressions of Holiday Inn desk
  12116. clerks. Since this means him standing motionless for enormous periods
  12117. of time he is often eaten in full display by The Great Bald Swamp
  12118. Hedgehog Eater.
  12119. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  12120. %
  12121. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men
  12122. of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
  12123. -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis
  12124. %
  12125. The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
  12126. -- Albert Einstein
  12127. %
  12128. The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue, a
  12129. custom whereof the memory of man runneth not howsomever to the
  12130. contrary, nohow.
  12131. %
  12132. The Heineken Uncertainty Principle:
  12133. You can never be sure how many beers you had last night.
  12134. %
  12135. The herd instinct among economists makes sheep look like independent
  12136. thinkers.
  12137. %
  12138. The hieroglyphics are all unreadable except for a notation on the back,
  12139. which reads "Genuine authentic Egyptian papyrus. Guaranteed to be at
  12140. least 5000 years old."
  12141. %
  12142. The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for
  12143. lists of "Ten Best".
  12144. -- H. Allen Smith
  12145. %
  12146. The human brain is like an enormous fish -- it is flat and slimy and
  12147. has gills through which it can see.
  12148. -- Monty Python
  12149. %
  12150. The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its
  12151. capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system.
  12152. %
  12153. The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange
  12154. protein -- it rejects it.
  12155. -- P. Medawar
  12156. %
  12157. The human race has been fascinated by sharks for as long as I can
  12158. remember. Just like the bluebird feeding its young, or the spider
  12159. struggling to weave its perfect web, or the buttercup blooming in
  12160. spring, the shark reveals to us yet another of the infinite and
  12161. wonderful facets of nature, namely the facet that it can bite your head
  12162. off. This causes us humans to feel a certain degree of awe.
  12163. -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
  12164. %
  12165. The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
  12166. -- Mark Twain
  12167. %
  12168. The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
  12169. procession but carrying a banner.
  12170. -- Mark Twain
  12171. %
  12172. The idea is to die young as late as possible.
  12173. -- Ashley Montague
  12174. %
  12175. The idea there was that consumers would bring their broken electronic
  12176. devices, such as television sets and VCR's, to the destruction centers,
  12177. where trained personnel would whack them (the devices) with
  12178. sledgehammers. With their devices thus permanently destroyed,
  12179. consumers would then be free to go out and buy new devices, rather than
  12180. have to fritter away years of their lives trying to have the old ones
  12181. repaired at so-called "factory service centers," which in fact consist
  12182. of two men named Lester poking at the insides of broken electronic
  12183. devices with cheap cigars and going, "Lookit all them WIRES in there!"
  12184. -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
  12185. %
  12186. The identical is equal to itself, since it is different.
  12187. -- Franco Spisani
  12188. %
  12189. The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer.
  12190. -- Henry Kissinger
  12191. %
  12192. The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf
  12193. has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know
  12194. when it's through if you are a crook or a martyr.
  12195. -- Will Rogers
  12196. %
  12197. The individual choice of garnishment of a burger can be an important
  12198. point to the consumer in this day when individualism is an increasingly
  12199. important thing to people.
  12200. -- Donald N. Smith, president of Burger King
  12201. %
  12202. The intelligence of any discussion diminishes with the square of the
  12203. number of participants.
  12204. -- Adam Walinsky
  12205. %
  12206. The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided
  12207. by the number of people in the group.
  12208. %
  12209. The IRS spends God knows how much of your tax money on these toll-free
  12210. information hot lines staffed by IRS employees, whose idea of a
  12211. dynamite tax tip is that you should print neatly. If you ask them a
  12212. real tax question, such as how you can cheat, they're useless.
  12213. So, for guidance, you want to look to big business. Big business never
  12214. pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big
  12215. consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes...
  12216. -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
  12217. %
  12218. The Kennedy Constant:
  12219. Don't get mad -- get even.
  12220. %
  12221. The Killer Ducks are coming!!!
  12222. %
  12223. The ladies men admire, I've heard,
  12224. Would shudder at a wicked word.
  12225. Their candle gives a single light;
  12226. They'd rather stay at home at night.
  12227. They do not keep awake till three,
  12228. Nor read erotic poetry.
  12229. They never sanction the impure,
  12230. Nor recognize an overture.
  12231. They shrink from powders and from paints ...
  12232. So far, I've had no complaints.
  12233. -- Dorothy Parker
  12234. %
  12235. The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much better with a
  12236. word processor," I replied, "They used to say the same thing about
  12237. drugs."
  12238. -- Roy Blount, Jr.
  12239. %
  12240. The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the
  12241. law free.
  12242. -- Henry David Thoreau
  12243. %
  12244. The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the
  12245. poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal
  12246. bread.
  12247. -- Anatole France
  12248. %
  12249. The lawgiver, of all beings, most owes the law allegiance. He of all
  12250. men should behave as though the law compelled him. But it is the
  12251. universal weakness of mankind that what we are given to administer we
  12252. presently imagine we own.
  12253. -- H. G. Wells
  12254. %
  12255. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #10: SIMPLE
  12256. SIMPLE is an acronym for Sheer Idiot's Monopurpose Programming Language
  12257. Environment. This language, developed at the Hanover College for
  12258. Technological Misfits, was designed to make it impossible to write code
  12259. with errors in it. The statements are, therefore, confined to BEGIN,
  12260. END and STOP. No matter how you arrange the statements, you can't make
  12261. a syntax error. Programs written in SIMPLE do nothing useful. Thus
  12262. they achieve the results of programs written in other languages without
  12263. the tedious, frustrating process of testing and debugging.
  12264. %
  12265. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #12: LITHP
  12266. This otherwise unremarkable language is distinguished by the absence of
  12267. an "S" in its character set; users must substitute "TH". LITHP is said
  12268. to be useful in protheththing lithtth.
  12269. %
  12270. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #13: SLOBOL
  12271. SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler.
  12272. Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they
  12273. compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to travel to Bolivia to pick the
  12274. coffee. Forty-three programmers are known to have died of boredom
  12275. sitting at their terminals while waiting for a SLOBOL program to
  12276. compile. Weary SLOBOL programmers often turn to a related (but
  12277. infinitely faster) language, COCAINE.
  12278. %
  12279. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #17: SARTRE
  12280. Named after the late existential philosopher, SARTRE is an extremely
  12281. unstructured language. Statements in SARTRE have no purpose; they just
  12282. are. Thus SARTRE programs are left to define their own functions.
  12283. SARTRE programmers tend to be boring and depressed, and are no fun at
  12284. parties.
  12285. %
  12286. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18: C-
  12287. This language was named for the grade received by its creator when he
  12288. submitted it as a class project in a graduate programming class. C- is
  12289. best described as a "low-level" programming language. In fact, the
  12290. language generally requires more C- statements than machine-code
  12291. statements to execute a given task. In this respect, it is very
  12292. similar to COBOL.
  12293. %
  12294. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18a: FIFTH
  12295. FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types
  12296. refer to quantity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and
  12297. JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM and
  12298. BLOTTO. Commands refer to ingredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY,
  12299. CABERNET, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH, and WHATEVERSAROUND.
  12300. The many versions of the FIFTH language reflect the sophistication and
  12301. financial status of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect include
  12302. VSOP and LAFITE, while commands in the GUTTER dialect include HOOTCH
  12303. and RIPPLE. The latter is a favorite of frustrated FORTH programmers
  12304. who end up using this language.
  12305. %
  12306. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #2: RENE
  12307. Named after the famous French philosopher and mathematician Rene
  12308. Descartes, RENE is a language used for artificial intelligence. The
  12309. language is being developed at the Chicago Center of Machine Politics
  12310. and Programming under a grant from the Jane Byrne Victory Fund. A
  12311. spokesman described the language as "Just as great as dis [sic] city of
  12312. ours."
  12313. The center is very pleased with progress to date. They say they have
  12314. almost succeeded in getting a VAX to think. However, sources inside the
  12315. organization say that each time the machine fails to think it ceases to
  12316. exist.
  12317. %
  12318. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #5: VALGOL
  12319. From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Fernando Valley,
  12320. VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the industry.
  12321. Here is a sample program:
  12322. LIKE, Y*KNOW(I MEAN)START
  12323. IF PIZZA = LIKE BITCHEN AND GUY = LIKE TUBULAR AND
  12324. VALLEY GIRL = LIKE GRODY**MAX(FERSURE)**2 THEN
  12325. FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH*MAYBE 100
  12326. DO*WAH - (DITTY**2)
  12327. BARF(I)=TOTALLY GROSS(OUT)
  12328. SURE
  12329. LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM
  12330. REALLY
  12331. LIKE TOTALLY (Y*KNOW)
  12332. IM*SURE
  12333. GOTO THE MALL
  12334. When the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays the message:
  12335. GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!
  12336. %
  12337. THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #8: LAIDBACK
  12338. This language was developed at the Marin County Center for T'ai Chi,
  12339. Mellowness and Computer Programming (now defunct), as an alternative to
  12340. the more intense atmosphere in nearby Silicon Valley.
  12341. The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs
  12342. while they worked. Unfortunately few programmers could survive there
  12343. because the center outlawed Pizza and Coca-Cola in favor of Tofu and
  12344. Perrier.
  12345. Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a gentle
  12346. and non-threatening language since all error messages are in lower
  12347. case. For example, LAIDBACK responded to syntax errors with the
  12348. message:
  12349. "i hate to bother you, but i just can't relate to that. can
  12350. you find the time to try it again?"
  12351. %
  12352. The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an approaching
  12353. train.
  12354. %
  12355. The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming dragon.
  12356. %
  12357. The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won't get
  12358. much sleep.
  12359. -- Woody Allen
  12360. %
  12361. The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.
  12362. -- Henry Kissinger
  12363. %
  12364. The Lord gave us farmers two strong hands so we could grab as much as
  12365. we could with both of them.
  12366. -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
  12367. %
  12368. The makers may make
  12369. And the users may use,
  12370. But the fixers must fix
  12371. With but minimal clues
  12372. %
  12373. The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the
  12374. crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no
  12375. one has ever been.
  12376. -- Alan Ashley-Pitt
  12377. %
  12378. The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that
  12379. will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful.
  12380. -- Mark Twain
  12381. %
  12382. The marvels of today's modern technology include the development of a
  12383. soda can, when discarded will last forever ... and a $7,000 car which
  12384. when properly cared for will rust out in two or three years.
  12385. %
  12386. ... the Mayo Clinic, named after its founder, Dr. Ted Clinic ...
  12387. -- Dave Barry
  12388. %
  12389. The meek shall inherit the earth -- they are too weak to refuse.
  12390. %
  12391. The men sat sipping their tea in silence. After a while the
  12392. klutz said, "Life is like a bowl of sour cream."
  12393. "Like a bowl of sour cream?" asked the other. "Why?"
  12394. "How should I know? What am I, a philosopher?"
  12395. %
  12396. The meta-Turing test counts a thing as intelligent if it seeks to
  12397. devise and apply Turing tests to objects of its own creation.
  12398. -- Lew Mammel, Jr.
  12399. %
  12400. The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might
  12401. be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the
  12402. law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was
  12403. guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples
  12404. Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking
  12405. Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality
  12406. of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive
  12407. power.
  12408. -- Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems
  12409. Thinking."
  12410. %
  12411. The modern child will answer you back before you've said anything.
  12412. -- Laurence J. Peter
  12413. %
  12414. The mome rath isn't born that could outgrabe me.
  12415. -- Nicol Williamson
  12416. %
  12417. The moon is a planet just like the Earth, only it is even deader.
  12418. %
  12419. The moon may be smaller than Earth, but it's further away.
  12420. %
  12421. The more data I punch in this card, the lighter it becomes, and the
  12422. lower the mailing cost.
  12423. -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
  12424. %
  12425. The more laws and order are made prominent,
  12426. the more thieves and robbers there will be.
  12427. -- Lao Tsu
  12428. %
  12429. The more things change, the more they stay insane.
  12430. %
  12431. The more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us
  12432. is right.
  12433. %
  12434. The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey.
  12435. -- Andy Warhol
  12436. %
  12437. The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and
  12438. to watch someone else do it wrong without comment.
  12439. -- Theodore H. White
  12440. %
  12441. The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
  12442. discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
  12443. -- Isaac Asimov
  12444. %
  12445. The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on.
  12446. %
  12447. ... the MYSTERIANS are in here with my CORDUROY SOAP DISH!!
  12448. %
  12449. "... The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes'!"
  12450. "Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to
  12451. feel interested.
  12452. "No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little
  12453. vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is, 'The Aged
  12454. Aged Man.'"
  12455. "Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called'?"
  12456. Alice corrected herself.
  12457. "No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is
  12458. called 'Ways and Means': but that's only what it is called you know!"
  12459. "Well, what is the song then?" said Alice, who was by this time
  12460. completely bewildered.
  12461. "I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is
  12462. "A-sitting on a Gate": and the tune's my own invention."
  12463. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  12464. %
  12465. The National Association of Theater Concessionaires reported that in
  12466. 1986, 60% of all candy sold in movie theaters was sold to Roger Ebert.
  12467. -- D. Letterman
  12468. %
  12469. The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says:
  12470. Support your right to bare arms!
  12471. %
  12472. The net of law is spread so wide,
  12473. No sinner from its sweep may hide.
  12474. Its meshes are so fine and strong,
  12475. They take in every child of wrong.
  12476. O wondrous web of mystery!
  12477. Big fish alone escape from thee!
  12478. -- James Jeffrey Roche
  12479. %
  12480. The new Congressmen say they're going to turn the government around. I
  12481. hope I don't get run over again.
  12482. %
  12483. The New Testament offers the basis for modern computer coding theory,
  12484. in the form of an affirmation of the binary number system.
  12485. But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay: for
  12486. whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
  12487. -- Matthew 5:37
  12488. %
  12489. The New York Times is read by the people who run the country. The
  12490. Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country.
  12491. The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive
  12492. and running the country ...
  12493. -- Robert J. Woodhead
  12494. %
  12495. The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to
  12496. choose from.
  12497. -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
  12498. %
  12499. The notion of a "record" is an obsolete remnant of the days of the
  12500. 80-column card.
  12501. -- Dennis M. Ritchie
  12502. %
  12503. The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should
  12504. serve the state is essentially a Communist notion ... In a free society
  12505. these institutions must be wholly free -- which is to say that their
  12506. function is to serve as checks upon the state.
  12507. -- Alan Barth
  12508. %
  12509. The number of arguments is unimportant unless some of them are
  12510. correct.
  12511. -- Ralph Hartley
  12512. %
  12513. The objective of all dedicated employees should be to thoroughly
  12514. analyze all situations, anticipate all problems prior to their
  12515. occurrence, have answers for these problems, and move swiftly to solve
  12516. these problems when called upon.
  12517. However, when you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to
  12518. remind yourself your initial objective was to drain the swamp.
  12519. %
  12520. The Official MBA Handbook on business cards:
  12521. Avoid overly pretentious job titles such as "Lord of the Realm,
  12522. Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India" or "Director of Corporate
  12523. Planning."
  12524. %
  12525. The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.
  12526. %
  12527. The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age
  12528. brings wisdom.
  12529. -- H. L. Mencken
  12530. %
  12531. The older I grow, the less important the comma becomes. Let the reader
  12532. catch his own breath.
  12533. -- Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart
  12534. %
  12535. The one good thing about repeating your mistakes is that you know when
  12536. to cringe.
  12537. %
  12538. The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the
  12539. `social sciences' is: some do, some don't.
  12540. -- Ernest Rutherford
  12541. %
  12542. The only problem with being a man of leisure is that you can never stop
  12543. and take a rest.
  12544. %
  12545. The only real way to look younger is not to be born so soon.
  12546. -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and
  12547. Over and Over"
  12548. %
  12549. The only really decent thing to do behind a person's back is pat it.
  12550. %
  12551. The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber
  12552. has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture,
  12553. finished, and put inside boxes.
  12554. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  12555. %
  12556. The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on.
  12557. It is never any use to oneself.
  12558. -- Oscar Wilde
  12559. %
  12560. The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.
  12561. -- Hegel
  12562. I know guys can't learn from yesterday ... Hegel must be taking the
  12563. long view.
  12564. -- John Brunner, "Stand on Zanzibar"
  12565. %
  12566. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
  12567. -- Oscar Wilde
  12568. %
  12569. The opossum is a very sophisticated animal. It doesn't even get up
  12570. until 5 or 6 p.m.
  12571. %
  12572. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
  12573. -- Niels Bohr
  12574. %
  12575. The optimum committee has no members.
  12576. -- Norman Augustine
  12577. %
  12578. The other day I put instant coffee in my microwave oven ... I almost
  12579. went back in time.
  12580. -- Steven Wright
  12581. %
  12582. The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because
  12583. it isn't here.
  12584. -- Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley)
  12585. %
  12586. The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it
  12587. were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
  12588. -- H. L. Mencken
  12589. %
  12590. The people of Halifax invented the trampoline. During the
  12591. Victorian period the tripe-dressers of Halifax stretched tripe across a
  12592. large wooden frame and jumped up and down on it to `tender and dress'
  12593. it. The tripoline, as they called it, degenerated into becoming the
  12594. apparatus for a spectator sport.
  12595. The people of Halifax also invented the harmonium, a device for
  12596. castrating pigs during Sunday service.
  12597. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  12598. %
  12599. The Pig, if I am not mistaken,
  12600. Gives us ham and pork and Bacon.
  12601. Let others think his heart is big,
  12602. I think it stupid of the Pig.
  12603. -- Ogden Nash
  12604. %
  12605. The pitcher wound up and he flang the ball at the batter. The batter
  12606. swang and missed. The pitcher flang the ball again and this time the
  12607. batter connected. He hit a high fly right to the center fielder. The
  12608. center fielder was all set to catch the ball, but at the last minute
  12609. his eyes were blound by the sun and he dropped it.
  12610. -- Dizzy Dean
  12611. %
  12612. The plot was designed in a light vein that somehow became varicose.
  12613. -- David Lardner
  12614. %
  12615. The polite thing to do has always been to address people as they wish
  12616. to be addressed, to treat them in a way they think dignified. But it
  12617. is equally important to accept and tolerate different standards of
  12618. courtesy, not expecting everyone else to adapt to one's own
  12619. preferences. Only then can we hope to restore the insult to its proper
  12620. social function of expressing true distaste.
  12621. -- Judith Martin, "Miss Manners' Guide to
  12622. Excruciatingly Correct Behavior"
  12623. %
  12624. The porcupine with the sharpest quills gets stuck on a tree more often.
  12625. %
  12626. The Preacher, the Politician, the Teacher,
  12627. Were each of them once a kiddie.
  12628. A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature.
  12629. Do I want one? God Forbiddie!
  12630. -- Ogden Nash
  12631. %
  12632. The President publicly apologized today to all those offended by his
  12633. brother's remark, "There's more Arabs in this country than there is
  12634. Jews!". Those offended include Arabs, Jews, and English teachers.
  12635. -- Baltimore, Channel 11 News, on Jimmy Carter
  12636. %
  12637. The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday
  12638. they might force their beliefs on us.
  12639. -- Mario Cuomo
  12640. %
  12641. The primary cause of failure in electrical appliances is an expired
  12642. warranty. Often, you can get an appliance running again simply by
  12643. changing the warranty expiration date with a 15/64-inch felt-tipped
  12644. marker.
  12645. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  12646. %
  12647. The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to
  12648. constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every
  12649. appearance, the variable PI can be given that value with a DATA
  12650. statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This
  12651. also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change.
  12652. -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers
  12653. %
  12654. The primary requisite for any new tax law is for it to exempt enough
  12655. voters to win the next election.
  12656. %
  12657. The primary theme of SoupCon is communication. The acronym "LEO"
  12658. represents the secondary theme:
  12659. Law Enforcement Officials
  12660. The overall theme of SoupCon shall be:
  12661. Avoiding Communication with Law Enforcement Officials
  12662. -- M. Gallaher
  12663. %
  12664. ... the privileged being which we call human is distinguished from
  12665. other animals only by certain double-edged manifestations which in
  12666. charity we can only call "inhuman."
  12667. -- R. A. Lafferty
  12668. %
  12669. The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the
  12670. stupidity of your action.
  12671. %
  12672. The problem ... is that we have run out of dinosaurs to form oil with.
  12673. Scientists working for the Department of Energy have tried to form oil
  12674. using other animals; they've piled thousands of tons of sand and Middle
  12675. Eastern countries on top of cows, raccoons, haddock, laboratory rats,
  12676. etc., but so far all they have managed to do is run up an enormous
  12677. bulldozer-rental bill and anger a lot of Middle Eastern persons. None
  12678. of the animals turned into oil, although most of the laboratory rats
  12679. developed cancer.
  12680. -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
  12681. %
  12682. The problem with any unwritten law is that you don't know where to go
  12683. to erase it.
  12684. -- Glaser and Way
  12685. %
  12686. The problem with engineers is that they tend to cheat in order to get
  12687. results.
  12688. The problem with mathematicians is that they tend to work on toy
  12689. problems in order to get results.
  12690. The problem with program verifiers is that they tend to cheat at toy
  12691. problems in order to get results.
  12692. %
  12693. The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be
  12694. pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
  12695. -- Elizabeth Taylor
  12696. %
  12697. The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
  12698. %
  12699. The Psblurtex is an 18-inch long anaconda that hides in the gentlemen's
  12700. outfitting departments of Amazonian stores and is often bought by
  12701. mistake since its colors are those of the London Reform Club. Once
  12702. tied around its victim's neck, it strangles him gently and then claims
  12703. the insurance before running off to Germany where it lives in hiding.
  12704. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  12705. %
  12706. "The pyramid is opening!"
  12707. "Which one?"
  12708. "The one with the ever-widening hole in it!"
  12709. -- The Firesign Theatre, "How Can You Be In Two Places At
  12710. Once When You're Not Anywhere At All"
  12711. %
  12712. The qotc (quote of the con) was Liz's:
  12713. "My brain is paged out to my liver"
  12714. %
  12715. The question is, why are politicians so eager to be president? What is
  12716. it about the job that makes it worth revealing, on national television,
  12717. that you have the ethical standards of a slime-coated piece of
  12718. industrial waste?
  12719. -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
  12720. %
  12721. The rain it raineth on the just
  12722. And also on the unjust fella,
  12723. But chiefly on the just, because
  12724. The unjust steals the just's umbrella.
  12725. --Lord Bowen
  12726. %
  12727. The reader this message encounters not failing to understand is
  12728. cursed.
  12729. %
  12730. The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much.
  12731. %
  12732. The reason it's called "Grape Nuts" is that it contains "dextrose",
  12733. which is also sometimes called "grape sugar", and also because "Grape
  12734. Nuts" is catchier, in terms of marketing, than "A Cross Between Gerbil
  12735. Food and Gravel", which is what it tastes like.
  12736. -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
  12737. %
  12738. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
  12739. persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
  12740. progress depends on the unreasonable man.
  12741. -- George Bernard Shaw
  12742. %
  12743. The revolution will not be televised.
  12744. %
  12745. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
  12746. -- Emerson
  12747. %
  12748. The rhino is a homely beast,
  12749. For human eyes he's not a feast.
  12750. Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
  12751. I'll stare at something less prepoceros.
  12752. -- Ogden Nash
  12753. %
  12754. The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This
  12755. means that only left handed people are in their right mind.
  12756. %
  12757. The Right Honorable Gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests
  12758. and to his imagination for his facts.
  12759. -- Sheridan
  12760. %
  12761. The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.
  12762. -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
  12763. %
  12764. The rights you have are the rights given you by this Committee [the
  12765. House Un-American Activities Committee]. We will determine what rights
  12766. you have and what rights you have not got.
  12767. -- J. Parnell Thomas
  12768. %
  12769. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And littered with
  12770. sloppy analysis!
  12771. %
  12772. The Roman Rule
  12773. The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the
  12774. one who is doing it.
  12775. %
  12776. The Ruffed Pandanga of Borneo and Rotherham spreads out his feathers in
  12777. his courtship dance and imitates Winston Churchill and Tommy Cooper on
  12778. one leg. The padanga is dying out because the female padanga doesn't
  12779. take it too seriously.
  12780. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  12781. %
  12782. The rule on staying alive as a forecaster is to give 'em a number or
  12783. give 'em a date, but never give 'em both at once.
  12784. -- Jane Bryant Quinn
  12785. %
  12786. "The Schizophrenic: An Unauthorized Autobiography"
  12787. %
  12788. The Schwine-Kitzenger Institute study of 47 men over the age of 100
  12789. showed that all had these things in common:
  12790. (1) They all had moderate appetites.
  12791. (2) They all came from middle class homes
  12792. (3) All but two of them were dead.
  12793. %
  12794. The scum also rises.
  12795. -- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
  12796. %
  12797. The seven deadly sins ... Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes,
  12798. respectability and children. Nothing can lift those seven milestones
  12799. from man's neck but money; and the spirit cannot soar until the
  12800. milestones are lifted.
  12801. -- George Bernard Shaw
  12802. %
  12803. The seven eyes of Ningauble the Wizard floated back to his hood
  12804. as he reported to Fafhrd: "I have seen much, yet cannot explain all.
  12805. The Gray Mouser is exactly twenty-five feet below the deepest cellar in
  12806. the palace of Gilpkerio Kistomerces. Even though twenty-four parts in
  12807. twenty-five of him are dead, he is alive.
  12808. "Now about Lankhmar. She's been invaded, her walls breached
  12809. everywhere and desperate fighting is going on in the streets, by a
  12810. fierce host which out-numbers Lankhmar's inhabitants by fifty to one --
  12811. and equipped with all modern weapons. Yet you can save the city."
  12812. "How?" demanded Fafhrd.
  12813. Ningauble shrugged. "You're a hero. You should know."
  12814. -- Fritz Leiber, from "The Swords of Lankhmar"
  12815. %
  12816. The sheep that fly over your head are soon to land.
  12817. %
  12818. The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
  12819. -- Noelie Alito
  12820. %
  12821. The Sixth Commandment of Frisbee:
  12822. The greatest single aid to distance is for the disc to be going
  12823. in a direction you did not want. (Goes the wrong way = Goes a long
  12824. way.)
  12825. -- Dan Roddick
  12826. %
  12827. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity
  12828. and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted
  12829. activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy ...
  12830. neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
  12831. %
  12832. The sooner all the animals are dead, the sooner we'll find their
  12833. money.
  12834. -- Ed Bluestone, "The National Lampoon"
  12835. %
  12836. The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up!
  12837. %
  12838. The sooner you make your first 5000 mistakes, the sooner you will be
  12839. able to correct them.
  12840. -- Nicolaides
  12841. %
  12842. The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
  12843. %
  12844. The Soviet pre-eminence in chess can be traced to the average Russian's
  12845. readiness to brood obsessively over anything, even the arrangement of
  12846. some pieces of wood. Indeed, the Russians' predisposition for quiet
  12847. reflection followed by sudden preventive action explains why they led
  12848. the field for many years in both chess and ax murders. It is well
  12849. known that as early as 1970, the U.S.S.R., aware of what a defeat at
  12850. Reykjavik would do to national prestige, implemented a vigorous program
  12851. of preparation and incentive. Every day for an entire year, a team of
  12852. psychologists, chess analysts and coaches met with the top three
  12853. Russian grand masters and threatened them with a pointy stick. That
  12854. these tactics proved fruitless is now a part of chess history and a
  12855. further testament to the American way, which provides that if you want
  12856. something badly enough, you can always go to Iceland and get it from
  12857. the Russians.
  12858. -- Marshall Brickman, Playboy, April, 1973
  12859. %
  12860. The STAR WARS Song
  12861. Sung to the tune of "Lola", by the Kinks:
  12862. I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
  12863. Where it bubbles all the time like a giant cabinet soda
  12864. S-O-D-A soda
  12865. I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
  12866. I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda
  12867. Y-O-D-A Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
  12868. Well I've been around but I ain't never seen
  12869. A guy who looks like a Muppet but he's wrinkled and green
  12870. Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
  12871. Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
  12872. How he can raise me in the air just by raising his hand
  12873. Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
  12874. %
  12875. The state law of Pennsylvania prohibits singing in the bathtub.
  12876. %
  12877. The steady state of disks is full.
  12878. -- Ken Thompson
  12879. %
  12880. THE STORY OF CREATION
  12881. or
  12882. THE MYTH OF URK
  12883. In the beginning there was data. The data was without form and null,
  12884. and darkness was upon the face of the console; and the Spirit of IBM
  12885. was moving over the face of the market. And DEC said, "Let there be
  12886. registers"; and there were registers. And DEC saw that they carried;
  12887. and DEC separated the data from the instructions. DEC called the data
  12888. Stack, and the instructions they called Code. And there was evening
  12889. and there was morning, one interrupt.
  12890. -- Rico Tudor
  12891. %
  12892. The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make
  12893. them unsafe.
  12894. -- Mayor Frank Rizzo
  12895. %
  12896. The student in question is performing minimally for his peer group and
  12897. is an emerging underachiever.
  12898. %
  12899. The study of non-linear physics is like the study of non-elephant
  12900. biology.
  12901. %
  12902. The subspace _W inherits the other 8 properties of _V. And there aren't
  12903. even any property taxes.
  12904. -- J. MacKay, Mathematics 134b
  12905. %
  12906. The sum of the Universe is zero.
  12907. %
  12908. The sun was shining on the sea,
  12909. Shining with all his might:
  12910. He did his very best to make
  12911. The billows smooth and bright --
  12912. And this was very odd, because it was
  12913. The middle of the night.
  12914. -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
  12915. %
  12916. The superfluous is very necessary.
  12917. -- Voltaire
  12918. %
  12919. The surest protection against temptation is cowardice.
  12920. -- Mark Twain
  12921. %
  12922. The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our
  12923. authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as
  12924. the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as
  12925. the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much
  12926. radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much
  12927. as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we
  12928. receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the
  12929. Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will
  12930. heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to
  12931. the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much
  12932. heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for
  12933. radiation, (_H/_E)^4 = 50, where _E is the absolute temperature of the
  12934. earth (-300K), gives _H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell
  12935. cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the
  12936. fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which
  12937. burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means
  12938. that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We
  12939. have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.
  12940. -- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972
  12941. %
  12942. The Third Law of Photography:
  12943. If you did manage to get any good shots, they will be ruined
  12944. when someone inadvertently opens the darkroom door and all of the dark
  12945. leaks out.
  12946. %
  12947. The Three Laws of Thermodynamics:
  12948. The First Law: You can't get anything without working for it.
  12949. The Second Law: The most you can accomplish by working is to break
  12950. even.
  12951. The Third Law: You can only break even at absolute zero.
  12952. %
  12953. The Three Major Kind of Tools
  12954. * Tools for hittings things to make them loose or to tighten them up or
  12955. jar their many complex, sophisticated electrical parts in such a
  12956. manner that they function perfectly. (These are your hammers, maces,
  12957. bludgeons, and truncheons.)
  12958. * Tools that, if dropped properly, can penetrate your foot. (Awls)
  12959. * Tools that nobody should ever use because the potential danger is far
  12960. greater than the value of any project that could possibly result.
  12961. (Power saws, power drills, power staplers, any kind of tool that uses
  12962. any kind of power more advanced than flashlight batteries.)
  12963. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  12964. %
  12965. The trouble with a kitten is that
  12966. When it grows up, it's always a cat
  12967. -- Ogden Nash
  12968. %
  12969. The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.
  12970. %
  12971. The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate
  12972. it.
  12973. -- Franklin P. Jones
  12974. %
  12975. The trouble with being punctual is that people think you have nothing
  12976. more important to do.
  12977. %
  12978. The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody
  12979. appreciates how difficult it was.
  12980. %
  12981. The trouble with superheros is what to do between phone booths.
  12982. -- Ken Kesey
  12983. %
  12984. The truth is what is; what should be is a dirty lie.
  12985. -- Lenny Bruce
  12986. %
  12987. The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility.
  12988. And vice versa.
  12989. %
  12990. The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
  12991. Which practically conceal its sex.
  12992. I think it clever of the turtle
  12993. In such a fix to be so fertile.
  12994. -- Ogden Nash
  12995. %
  12996. The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
  12997. %
  12998. The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more
  12999. annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.
  13000. -- Oscar Wilde
  13001. %
  13002. The United States also has its native Fascists who say that they are
  13003. "100 percent American"...
  13004. -- U. S. Army (1945)
  13005. %
  13006. The United States is like the guy at the party who gives cocaine to
  13007. everybody and still nobody likes him.
  13008. -- Jim Samuels
  13009. %
  13010. The universe does not have laws -- it has habits, and habits can be
  13011. broken.
  13012. %
  13013. The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination -- but the
  13014. combination is locked up in the safe.
  13015. -- Peter DeVries
  13016. %
  13017. The University of California Bears announced the signing of Reggie
  13018. Philbin to a letter of intent to attend Cal next Fall. Philbin is said
  13019. to make up for no talent by cheating well. Says Philbin of his
  13020. decision to attend Cal, "I'm in it for the free ride."
  13021. %
  13022. The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and
  13023. religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging
  13024. from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its
  13025. yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledygook than the rest of the
  13026. world put together.
  13027. -- Sir Peter Medawar
  13028. %
  13029. The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be
  13030. regarded as a criminal offense.
  13031. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
  13032. %
  13033. The verdict of a jury is the a priori opinion of that juror who smokes
  13034. the worst cigars.
  13035. -- H. L. Mencken
  13036. %
  13037. The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid
  13038. prejudice.
  13039. -- Mark Twain
  13040. %
  13041. The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
  13042. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
  13043. to fit their views ... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
  13044. be one of the facts that needs altering.
  13045. -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
  13046. %
  13047. The wages of sin are death; but after they're done taking out taxes,
  13048. it's just a tired feeling:
  13049. %
  13050. The wages of sin are high but you get your money's worth.
  13051. %
  13052. The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity
  13053. that would be clearly understood.
  13054. -- Alexander Haig
  13055. %
  13056. The way to make a small fortune in the commodities market is to start
  13057. with a large fortune.
  13058. %
  13059. THE WOMBAT
  13060. The wombat lives across the seas,
  13061. Among the far Antipodes.
  13062. He may exist on nuts and berries,
  13063. Or then again, on missionaries;
  13064. His distant habitat precludes
  13065. Conclusive knowledge of his moods.
  13066. But I would not engage the wombat
  13067. In any form of mortal combat.
  13068. %
  13069. The world is coming to an end ... SAVE YOUR BUFFERS!!!
  13070. %
  13071. The world is coming to an end! Repent and return those library books!
  13072. %
  13073. The world is coming to an end. Please log off.
  13074. %
  13075. The world's as ugly as sin,
  13076. And almost as delightful.
  13077. -- Frederick Locker-Lampson
  13078. %
  13079. The years of peak mental activity are undoubtedly between the ages of
  13080. four and eighteen. At four we know all the questions, at eighteen all
  13081. the answers.
  13082. %
  13083. Then a man said: Speak to us of Expectations.
  13084. He then said: If a man does not see or hear the waters of the Jordan,
  13085. then he should not taste the pomegranate or ply his wares in an open
  13086. market.
  13087. If a man would not labour in the salt and rock quarries then he should
  13088. not accept of the Earth that which he refuses to give of himself.
  13089. Such a man would expect a pear of a peach tree.
  13090. Such a man would expect a stone to lay an egg.
  13091. Such a man would expect Sears to assemble a lawnmower.
  13092. -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
  13093. %
  13094. Then here's to the City of Boston,
  13095. The town of the cries and the groans.
  13096. Where the Cabots can't see the Kabotschniks,
  13097. And the Lowells won't speak to the Cohns.
  13098. -- Franklin Pierce Adams
  13099. %
  13100. THEORY
  13101. Into love and out again,
  13102. Thus I went and thus I go.
  13103. Spare your voice, and hold your pen:
  13104. Well and bitterly I know
  13105. All the songs were ever sung,
  13106. All the words were ever said;
  13107. Could it be, when I was young,
  13108. Someone dropped me on my head?
  13109. -- Dorothy Parker
  13110. %
  13111. There *__is* intelligent life on Earth, but I leave for Texas on Monday.
  13112. %
  13113. There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable,
  13114. and praiseworthy ...
  13115. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  13116. %
  13117. There are many intelligent species in the universe. They all own
  13118. cats.
  13119. %
  13120. There are no data that cannot be plotted on a straight line if the axis
  13121. are chosen correctly.
  13122. %
  13123. There are no games on this system.
  13124. %
  13125. There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the
  13126. existence of a "hottest part" implies a temperature difference, and any
  13127. marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat
  13128. engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is
  13129. obviously impossible.
  13130. -- Richard Davisson
  13131. %
  13132. There are people so addicted to exaggeration
  13133. that they can't tell the truth without lying.
  13134. -- Josh Billings
  13135. %
  13136. There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
  13137. vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
  13138. -- Gloria Steinem
  13139. %
  13140. There are some goyisha names that just about guarantee that
  13141. someone isn't Jewish. For example, you'll never meet a Jew named
  13142. Johnson or Wright or Jones or Sinclair or Ricks or Stevenson or Reid or
  13143. Larsen or Jenks. But some goyisha names just about guarantee that
  13144. every other person you meet with that name will be Jewish. Why is
  13145. this?
  13146. Who knows? Learned rabbis have pondered this question for
  13147. centuries and have failed to come up with an answer, and you think ___you
  13148. can find one? Get serious. You don't even understand why it's
  13149. forbidden to eat crab -- fresh cold crab with mayonnaise -- or lobster
  13150. -- soft tender morsels of lobster dipped in melted butter. You don't
  13151. even understand a simple thing like that, and yet you hope to discover
  13152. why there are more Jews named Miller than Katz? Fat Chance.
  13153. -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
  13154. %
  13155. There are some micro-organisms that exhibit characteristics of both
  13156. plants and animals. When exposed to light they undergo photosynthesis;
  13157. and when the lights go out, they turn into animals. But then again,
  13158. don't we all?
  13159. %
  13160. There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells
  13161. and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated
  13162. pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving
  13163. them parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you
  13164. stick your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your
  13165. intelligence.
  13166. -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VII
  13167. %
  13168. There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
  13169. -- Disraeli
  13170. %
  13171. There are three possibilities:
  13172. Pioneer's solar panel has turned away from the sun;
  13173. there's a large meteor blocking transmission; or
  13174. someone loaded Star Trek 3.2 into our video processor.
  13175. %
  13176. There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be
  13177. offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin
  13178. a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount
  13179. of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of
  13180. affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately.
  13181. When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating.
  13182. Under no circumstances can the food be omitted.
  13183. -- Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior
  13184. %
  13185. There are three principal ways to lose money: wine, women, and
  13186. engineers. While the first two are more pleasant, the third is by far
  13187. the more certain.
  13188. -- Baron Rothschild, ca. 1800
  13189. %
  13190. There are three schools of magic. One: State a tautology, then ring
  13191. the changes on its corollaries; that's philosophy. Two: Record many
  13192. facts. Try to find a pattern. Then make a wrong guess at the next
  13193. fact; that's science. Three: Be aware that you live in a malevolent
  13194. Universe controlled by Murphy's Law, sometimes offset by Brewster's
  13195. Factor; that's engineering.
  13196. %
  13197. There are three things I always forget. Names, faces -- the third I
  13198. can't remember.
  13199. -- Italo Svevo
  13200. %
  13201. There are three ways to get something done:
  13202. (1) Do it yourself.
  13203. (2) Hire someone to do it for you.
  13204. (3) Forbid your kids to do it.
  13205. %
  13206. There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire
  13207. someone, or forbid your kids to do it.
  13208. %
  13209. There are times when truth is stranger than fiction and lunch time is
  13210. one of them.
  13211. %
  13212. There are two kinds of solar-heat systems: "passive" systems collect
  13213. the sunlight that hits your home, and "active" systems collect the
  13214. sunlight that hits your neighbors' homes, too.
  13215. -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
  13216. %
  13217. There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good
  13218. sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.
  13219. -- Woody Allen
  13220. %
  13221. There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to
  13222. make is so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the
  13223. other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious
  13224. deficiencies.
  13225. -- C. A. R. Hoare
  13226. %
  13227. There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the
  13228. other is to read Pope.
  13229. -- Oscar Wilde
  13230. %
  13231. There are two ways to write error-free programs. Only the third one
  13232. works.
  13233. %
  13234. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a
  13235. suitable application of high explosives.
  13236. %
  13237. There can be no twisted thought without a twisted molecule.
  13238. -- R. W. Gerard
  13239. %
  13240. There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
  13241. -- Henry Kissinger
  13242. %
  13243. There exist tasks which cannot be done by more than 10 men or fewer
  13244. than 100.
  13245. -- Steele's Law
  13246. %
  13247. There has been an alarming increase in the number of things you know
  13248. nothing about.
  13249. %
  13250. There is a certain impertinence in allowing oneself to be burned for an
  13251. opinion.
  13252. -- Anatole France
  13253. %
  13254. There is a great discovery still to be made in Literature: that of
  13255. paying literary men by the quantity they do NOT write.
  13256. %
  13257. There is a green, multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder.
  13258. %
  13259. There is a Massachusetts law requiring all dogs to have their hind legs
  13260. tied during the month of April.
  13261. %
  13262. There is a natural hootchy-kootchy to a goldfish.
  13263. -- Walt Disney
  13264. %
  13265. There is a road to freedom. Its milestones are Obedience, Endeavor,
  13266. Honesty, Order, Cleanliness, Sobriety, Truthfulness, Sacrifice, and
  13267. love of the Fatherland.
  13268. -- Adolf Hitler
  13269. %
  13270. There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly
  13271. what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly
  13272. disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and
  13273. inexplicable.
  13274. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
  13275. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  13276. %
  13277. There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.
  13278. -- Arthur C. Clarke
  13279. %
  13280. There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
  13281. -- Mark Twain
  13282. %
  13283. There is no realizable power that man cannot, in time, fashion the
  13284. tools to attain, nor any power so secure that the naked ape will not
  13285. abuse it. So it is written in the genetic cards -- only physics and
  13286. war hold him in check. And also the wife who wants him home by five,
  13287. of course.
  13288. -- Encyclopedia Apocryphia, 1990 ed.
  13289. %
  13290. There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
  13291. -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, World Future Society
  13292. Convention, 1977
  13293. %
  13294. There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.
  13295. -- G. B. Shaw
  13296. %
  13297. There is no substitute for good manners, except, perhaps, fast reflexes.
  13298. %
  13299. There is no such thing as fortune. Try again.
  13300. %
  13301. There is no time like the pleasant.
  13302. %
  13303. There is no time like the present for postponing what you ought to be
  13304. doing.
  13305. %
  13306. There is no TRUTH. There is no REALITY. There is no CONSISTENCY.
  13307. There are no ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS I'm very probably wrong.
  13308. %
  13309. "There is nothing which cannot be answered by means of my doctrine,"
  13310. said a monk, coming into a teahouse where Nasrudin sat. "And yet just
  13311. a short time ago, I was challenged by a scholar with an unanswerable
  13312. question," said Nasrudin. "I could have answered it if I had been
  13313. there." "Very well. He asked, 'Why are you breaking into my house in
  13314. the middle of the night?'"
  13315. %
  13316. There is nothing wrong with Southern California that a rise in the
  13317. ocean level wouldn't cure.
  13318. -- Ross MacDonald
  13319. %
  13320. There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and
  13321. that is not being talked about.
  13322. -- Oscar Wilde
  13323. %
  13324. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
  13325. returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.
  13326. -- Mark Twain
  13327. %
  13328. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
  13329. -- C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
  13330. %
  13331. There was a plane crash over mid-ocean, and only three survivors were
  13332. left in the life-raft: the Pope, the President, and Mayor Daley.
  13333. Unfortunately, it was a one-man life-raft, and quickly sinking, so they
  13334. started debating who should be allowed to stay.
  13335. The Pope pointed out that he was the spiritual leader of millions all
  13336. over the world, the President explained that if he died then America
  13337. would be stuck with the Vice-President, and so forth. Then Mayor Daley
  13338. said, "Look! We're not solving anything like this! The only fair
  13339. thing to do is to vote on it." So they did, and Mayor Daley won by 97
  13340. votes.
  13341. %
  13342. There was an interesting development in the CBS-Westmoreland trial:
  13343. both sides agreed that after the trial, Andy Rooney would be allowed to
  13344. talk to the jury for three minutes about little things that annoyed him
  13345. during the trial.
  13346. -- David Letterman
  13347. %
  13348. There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of
  13349. the two had the following record: the Vietnam War, Watergate, double-
  13350. digit inflation, fuel and energy shortages, bankrupt airlines, and the
  13351. 8-cent postcard. The second was responsible for such things as the
  13352. transistor, the solar cell, lasers, synthetic crystals, high fidelity
  13353. stereo recording, sound motion pictures, radio astronomy, negative
  13354. feedback, magnetic tape, magnetic "bubbles", electronic switching
  13355. systems, microwave radio and TV relay systems, information theory, the
  13356. first electrical digital computer, and the first communications
  13357. satellite. Guess which one got to tell the other how to run the
  13358. telephone business?
  13359. %
  13360. There's a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad it's not
  13361. a fence.
  13362. %
  13363. There's an old proverb that says just about whatever you want it to.
  13364. %
  13365. There's little in taking or giving,
  13366. There's little in water or wine:
  13367. This living, this living, this living,
  13368. Was never a project of mine.
  13369. Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is
  13370. The gain of the one at the top,
  13371. For art is a form of catharsis,
  13372. And love is a permanent flop,
  13373. And work is the province of cattle,
  13374. And rest's for a clam in a shell,
  13375. So I'm thinking of throwing the battle --
  13376. Would you kindly direct me to hell?
  13377. -- Dorothy Parker
  13378. %
  13379. There's no easy quick way out, we're gonna have to live through our
  13380. whole lives, win, lose, or draw.
  13381. -- Walt Kelly
  13382. %
  13383. There's no future in time travel.
  13384. %
  13385. There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
  13386. -- Dr. Who
  13387. %
  13388. There's no real need to do housework -- after four years it doesn't get
  13389. any worse.
  13390. %
  13391. There's no room in the drug world for amateurs.
  13392. %
  13393. There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government
  13394. working for you.
  13395. -- Will Rodgers
  13396. %
  13397. There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and
  13398. dead armadillos.
  13399. -- Jim Hightower, Texas Agricultural Commissioner
  13400. %
  13401. There's nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them
  13402. won't aggravate.
  13403. %
  13404. There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn
  13405. what it is I'll get married again.
  13406. -- Clint Eastwood
  13407. %
  13408. There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is
  13409. becoming an endangered synthetic.
  13410. -- Lily Tomlin
  13411. %
  13412. "These are DARK TIMES for all mankind's HIGHEST VALUES!"
  13413. "These are DARK TIMES for FREEDOM and PROSPERITY!"
  13414. "These are GREAT TIMES to put your money on BAD GUY to kick the CRAP
  13415. out of MEGATON MAN!"
  13416. %
  13417. These days the necessities of life cost you about three times what they
  13418. used to, and half the time they aren't even fit to drink.
  13419. %
  13420. They also surf who only stand on waves.
  13421. %
  13422. They make a desert and call it peace.
  13423. -- Tacitus (55?-120?)
  13424. %
  13425. They spell it "da Vinci" and pronounce it "da Vinchy". Foreigners
  13426. always spell better than they pronounce.
  13427. -- Mark Twain
  13428. %
  13429. They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
  13430. safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
  13431. -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
  13432. %
  13433. They told me I was gullible ... and I believed them!
  13434. %
  13435. They told me you had proven it When they discovered our results
  13436. About a month before. Their hair began to curl
  13437. The proof was valid, more or less Instead of understanding it
  13438. But rather less than more. We'd run the thing through PRL.
  13439. He sent them word that we would try Don't tell a soul about all this
  13440. To pass where they had failed For it must ever be
  13441. And after we were done, to them A secret, kept from all the rest
  13442. The new proof would be mailed. Between yourself and me.
  13443. My notion was to start again
  13444. Ignoring all they'd done
  13445. We quickly turned it into code
  13446. To see if it would run.
  13447. %
  13448. They're only trying to make me LOOK paranoid!
  13449. %
  13450. They're unfriendly, which is fortunate, really. They'd be difficult to like.
  13451. -- Avon
  13452. %
  13453. Things are more like they used to be than they are now.
  13454. %
  13455. Things will be bright in P.M. A cop will shine a light in your face.
  13456. %
  13457. Think big. Pollute the Mississippi.
  13458. %
  13459. Think honk if you're a telepath.
  13460. %
  13461. Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.!
  13462. %
  13463. Think of your family tonight. Try to crawl home after the computer
  13464. crashes.
  13465. %
  13466. Think twice before speaking, but don't say "think think click click".
  13467. %
  13468. "Thirty days hath Septober,
  13469. April, June, and no wonder.
  13470. all the rest have peanut butter
  13471. except my father who wears red suspenders."
  13472. %
  13473. This Fortue Examined By INSPECTOR NO. 2-14
  13474. %
  13475. This fortune cookie program out of order. For those in desperate need,
  13476. please use the program "________randchar". This program generates random
  13477. characters, and, given enough time, will undoubtedly come up with
  13478. something profound. It will, however, take it no time at all to be
  13479. more profound than THIS program has ever been.
  13480. %
  13481. This fortune intentionally not included.
  13482. %
  13483. This fortune is false.
  13484. %
  13485. This fortune is inoperative. Please try another.
  13486. %
  13487. This is a country where people are free to practice their religion,
  13488. regardless of race, creed, color, obesity, or number of dangling keys...
  13489. %
  13490. This is a job for BOB VIOLENCE and SCUM, the INCREDIBLY STUPID MUTANT DOG.
  13491. -- Bob Violence
  13492. %
  13493. This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an
  13494. actual emergency, do you really think we'd stick around to tell you?
  13495. %
  13496. This is an especially good time for you vacationers who plan to fly,
  13497. because the Reagan administration, as part of the same policy under
  13498. which it recently sold Yellowstone National Park to Wayne Newton, has
  13499. "deregulated" the airline industry. What this means for you, the
  13500. consumer, is that the airlines are no longer required to follow any
  13501. rules whatsoever. They can show snuff movies. They can charge for
  13502. oxygen. They can hire pilots right out of Vending Machine Refill
  13503. Person School. They can conserve fuel by ejecting husky passengers
  13504. over water. They can ram competing planes in mid-air. These
  13505. innovations have resulted in tremendous cost savings which have been
  13506. passed along to you, the consumer, in the form of flights with
  13507. amazingly low fares, such as $29. Of course, certain restrictions do
  13508. apply, the main one being that all these flights take you to Newark,
  13509. and you must pay thousands of dollars if you want to fly back out.
  13510. -- Dave Barry, "Iowa -- Land of Secure Vacations"
  13511. %
  13512. This is an unauthorized cybernetic announcement.
  13513. %
  13514. This is for all ill-treated fellows
  13515. Unborn and unbegot,
  13516. For them to read when they're in trouble
  13517. And I am not.
  13518. -- A. E. Housman
  13519. %
  13520. This is lemma 1.1. We start a new chapter so the numbers all go back
  13521. to one.
  13522. -- Prof. Seager, C&O 351
  13523. %
  13524. This is National Non-Dairy Creamer Week.
  13525. %
  13526. THIS IS PLEDGE WEEK FOR THE FORTUNE PROGRAM
  13527. If you like the fortune program, why not support it now with your
  13528. contribution of a pithy fortune, clean or obscene? We cannot continue
  13529. without your support. Less than 14% of all fortune users are
  13530. contributors. That means that 86% of you are getting a free ride. We
  13531. can't go on like this much longer. Federal cutbacks mean less money
  13532. for fortunes, and unless user contributions increase to make up the
  13533. difference, the fortune program will have to shut down between midnight
  13534. and 8 a.m. Don't let this happen. Mail your fortunes right now to
  13535. "fortune". Just type in your favorite pithy saying. Do it now before
  13536. you forget. Our target is 300 new fortunes by the end of the week.
  13537. Don't miss out. All fortunes will be acknowledged. If you contribute
  13538. 30 fortunes or more, you will receive a free subscription to "The
  13539. Fortune Hunter", our monthly program guide. If you contribute 50 or
  13540. more, you will receive a free "Fortune Hunter" coffee mug ....
  13541. %
  13542. This is the ____LAST time I take travel suggestions from Ray Bradbury!
  13543. %
  13544. This is the first numerical problem I ever did. It demonstrates the
  13545. power of computers:
  13546. Enter lots of data on calorie & nutritive content of foods. Instruct
  13547. the thing to maximize a function describing nutritive content, with a
  13548. minimum level of each component, for fixed caloric content. The
  13549. results are that one should eat each day:
  13550. 1/2 chicken
  13551. 1 egg
  13552. 1 glass of skim milk
  13553. 27 heads of lettuce.
  13554. -- Rev. Adrian Melott
  13555. %
  13556. This is the story of the bee
  13557. Whose sex is very hard to see
  13558. You cannot tell the he from the she
  13559. But she can tell, and so can he
  13560. The little bee is never still
  13561. She has no time to take the pill
  13562. And that is why, in times like these
  13563. There are so many sons of bees.
  13564. %
  13565. This is your fortune.
  13566. %
  13567. This land is full of trousers!
  13568. this land is full of mausers!
  13569. And pussycats to eat them when the sun goes down!
  13570. -- The Firesign Theatre
  13571. %
  13572. This land is made of mountains,
  13573. This land is made of mud,
  13574. This land has lots of everything,
  13575. For me and Elmer Fudd.
  13576. This land has lots of trousers,
  13577. This land has lots of mousers,
  13578. And pussycats to eat them
  13579. When the sun goes down.
  13580. %
  13581. This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been an actual life,
  13582. you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where
  13583. to go.
  13584. %
  13585. This login session: $13.99, but for you $11.88
  13586. %
  13587. This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with
  13588. great force.
  13589. -- Dorothy Parker
  13590. %
  13591. This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of
  13592. the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many
  13593. solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were
  13594. largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper,
  13595. which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of
  13596. paper that were unhappy.
  13597. -- Douglas Adams
  13598. %
  13599. This process can check if this value is zero, and if it is, it does
  13600. something child-like.
  13601. -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454
  13602. %
  13603. This quote is taken from the Diamondback, the University of Maryland
  13604. student newspaper, of Tuesday, 3/10/87.
  13605. One disadvantage of the Univac system is that it does not use
  13606. Unix, a recently developed program which translates from one
  13607. computer language to another and has a built-in editing system
  13608. which identifies errors in the original program.
  13609. %
  13610. This sentence contradicts itself -- no actually it doesn't.
  13611. -- Douglas Hofstadter
  13612. %
  13613. ... This striving for excellence extends into people's personal lives
  13614. as well. When '80s people buy something, they buy the best one, as
  13615. determined by (1) price and (2) lack of availability. Eighties people
  13616. buy imported dental floss. They buy gourmet baking soda. If an '80s
  13617. couple goes to a restaurant where they have made a reservation three
  13618. weeks in advance, and they are informed that their table is available,
  13619. they stalk out immediately, because they know it is not an excellent
  13620. restaurant. If it were, it would have an enormous crowd of
  13621. excellence-oriented people like themselves waiting, their beepers going
  13622. off like crickets in the night. An excellent restaurant wouldn't have
  13623. a table ready immediately for anybody below the rank of Liza Minnelli.
  13624. -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
  13625. %
  13626. This will be a memorable month -- no matter how hard you try to forget it.
  13627. %
  13628. Thompson, if he is to be believed, has sampled the entire
  13629. rainbow of legal and illegal drugs in heroic efforts to feel better
  13630. than he does.
  13631. As for the truth about his health: I have asked around about
  13632. it. I am told that he appears to be strong and rosy, and steadily
  13633. sane. But we will be doing what he wants us to do, I think, if we
  13634. consider his exterior a sort of Dorian Gray facade. Inwardly, he is
  13635. being eaten alive by tinhorn politicians.
  13636. The disease is fatal. There is no known cure. The most we can
  13637. do for the poor devil, it seems to me, is to name his disease in his
  13638. honor. From this moment on, let all those who feel that Americans can
  13639. be as easily led to beauty as to ugliness, to truth as to public
  13640. relations, to joy as to bitterness, be said to be suffering from Hunter
  13641. Thompson's disease. I don't have it this morning. It comes and goes.
  13642. This morning I don't have Hunter Thompson's disease.
  13643. -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson: Excerpt
  13644. from "A Political Disease", Vonnegut's review of "Fear
  13645. and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72"
  13646. %
  13647. Those of you who think you know everything are very annoying to those
  13648. of us who do.
  13649. %
  13650. Those who can't write, write manuals.
  13651. %
  13652. Those who can, do. Those who can't, simulate.
  13653. %
  13654. Those who do not do politics will be done in by politics.
  13655. -- French Proverb
  13656. %
  13657. Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
  13658. -- Henry Spencer
  13659. %
  13660. Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents,
  13661. for these only gave life, those the art of living well.
  13662. -- Aristotle
  13663. %
  13664. Those who express random thoughts to legislative committees are often
  13665. surprised and appalled to find themselves the instigators of law.
  13666. -- Mark B. Cohen
  13667. %
  13668. Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose.
  13669. %
  13670. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
  13671. will make violent revolution inevitable.
  13672. -- John F. Kennedy
  13673. %
  13674. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are
  13675. men who want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean
  13676. without the roar of its many waters.
  13677. -- Frederick Douglass
  13678. %
  13679. Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are
  13680. the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with
  13681. Haeckel, the condensation or precipitation of matter from ether --
  13682. whose existence is proved by the condensation or precipitation ... A
  13683. fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any
  13684. more about the matter than the others.
  13685. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  13686. %
  13687. Time flies like an arrow
  13688. Fruit flies like a banana
  13689. %
  13690. Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.
  13691. %
  13692. Time is an illusion; lunchtime, doubly so.
  13693. -- Ford Prefect
  13694. %
  13695. Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at
  13696. once.
  13697. %
  13698. 'Tis the dream of each programmer,
  13699. Before his life is done,
  13700. To write three lines of APL,
  13701. And make the damn things run.
  13702. %
  13703. (to "The Caissons Go Rolling Along")
  13704. Scratch the disks, dump the core, Shut it down, pull the plug
  13705. Roll the tapes across the floor, Give the core an extra tug
  13706. And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash.
  13707. Teletypes smashed to bits. Mem'ry cards, one and all,
  13708. Give the scopes some nasty hits Toss out halfway down the hall
  13709. And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash.
  13710. And we've also found Just flip one switch
  13711. When you turn the power down, And the lights will cease to twitch
  13712. You turn the disk readers into trash. And the tape drives will crumble
  13713. in a flash.
  13714. Oh, it's so much fun, When the CPU
  13715. Now the CPU won't run Can print nothing out but "foo,"
  13716. And the system is going to crash. The system is going to crash.
  13717. %
  13718. To A Quick Young Fox:
  13719. Why jog exquisite bulk, fond crazy vamp,
  13720. Daft buxom jonquil, zephyr's gawky vice?
  13721. Guy fed by work, quiz Jove's xanthic lamp --
  13722. Zow! Qualms by deja vu gyp fox-kin thrice.
  13723. -- Lazy Dog
  13724. %
  13725. To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated but not be able to say it.
  13726. %
  13727. To be is to do.
  13728. -- I. Kant
  13729. To do is to be.
  13730. -- A. Sartre
  13731. Yabba-Dabba-Doo!
  13732. -- F. Flintstone
  13733. %
  13734. To be responsive at this time, though I will simply say, and therefore
  13735. this is a repeat of what I said previously, that which I am unable to
  13736. offer in response is based on information available to make no such
  13737. statement.
  13738. %
  13739. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit,
  13740. call it the target.
  13741. %
  13742. To err is human, to forgive is Not Company Policy.
  13743. %
  13744. To err is human, to forgive, beyond the scope of the Operating System
  13745. %
  13746. To err is human, to moo bovine.
  13747. %
  13748. To every Ph.D. there is an equal and opposite Ph.D.
  13749. -- B. Duggan
  13750. %
  13751. To generalize is to be an idiot.
  13752. -- William Blake
  13753. %
  13754. To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three
  13755. men, two of them absent.
  13756. %
  13757. To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
  13758. -- Thomas Edison
  13759. %
  13760. To iterate is human, to recurse, divine.
  13761. -- Robert Heller
  13762. %
  13763. To the best of my recollection, Senator, I can't recall.
  13764. %
  13765. To the systems programmer, users and applications serve only to provide
  13766. a test load.
  13767. %
  13768. To those accustomed to the precise, structured methods of conventional
  13769. system development, exploratory development techniques may seem messy,
  13770. inelegant, and unsatisfying. But it's a question of congruence:
  13771. precision and flexibility may be just as dysfunctional in novel,
  13772. uncertain situations as sloppiness and vacillation are in familiar,
  13773. well-defined ones. Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structures
  13774. of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very
  13775. secure ecological niche.
  13776. -- Beau Sheil, "Power Tools for Programmers"
  13777. %
  13778. To understand this important story, you have to understand how the
  13779. telephone company works. Your telephone is connected to a local
  13780. computer, which is in turn connected to a regional computer, which is
  13781. in turn connected to a loudspeaker the size of a garbage truck on the
  13782. lawn of Edna A. Bargewater of Lawrence, Kan.
  13783. Whenever you talk on the phone, your local computer listens in. If it
  13784. suspects you're going to discuss an intimate topic, it notifies the
  13785. computer above it, which listens in and decides whether to alert the
  13786. one above it, until finally, if you really humiliate yourself, maybe
  13787. break down in tears and tell your closest friend about a sordid
  13788. incident from your past involving a seedy motel, a neighbor's spouse,
  13789. an entire religious order, a garden hose and six quarts of tapioca
  13790. pudding, the top computer feeds your conversation into Edna's
  13791. loudspeaker, and she and her friends come out on the porch to listen
  13792. and drink gin and laugh themselves silly.
  13793. -- Dave Barry, "Won't It Be Just Great Owning Our Own
  13794. Phones?"
  13795. %
  13796. To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question ... or is it?
  13797. %
  13798. To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.
  13799. -- Woody Allen
  13800. %
  13801. Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official.
  13802. %
  13803. Today is National Existential Ennui Awareness Day.
  13804. %
  13805. Today is the first day of the rest of the mess.
  13806. %
  13807. Today is the first day of the rest of your lossage.
  13808. %
  13809. Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
  13810. %
  13811. Today's scientific question is: What in the world is electricity?
  13812. And where does it go after it leaves the toaster?
  13813. -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
  13814. %
  13815. Today's thrilling story has been brought to you by Mushies, the great new
  13816. cereal that gets soggy even without milk or cream. Join us soon for more
  13817. spectacular adventure starring ... Tippy, the Wonder Dog.
  13818. -- Bob & Ray
  13819. %
  13820. Today, of course, it is considered very poor taste to use the F-word
  13821. except in major motion pictures.
  13822. -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
  13823. %
  13824. Toilet Toup'ee, n.:
  13825. Any shag carpet that causes the lid to become top-heavy, thus
  13826. creating endless annoyance to male users.
  13827. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  13828. %
  13829. Tomorrow will be canceled due to lack of interest.
  13830. %
  13831. Tonight's the night: Sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
  13832. %
  13833. Too clever is dumb.
  13834. -- Ogden Nash
  13835. %
  13836. Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL.
  13837. -- Mae West
  13838. %
  13839. Too much of everything is just enough.
  13840. -- Bob Wier
  13841. %
  13842. Too often I find that the volume of paper expands to fill the available
  13843. briefcases.
  13844. -- Governor Jerry Brown
  13845. %
  13846. Top 10 things likely to be overheard if you had a Klingon Programmer:
  13847. 10) Specifications are for the weak and timid!
  13848. 9) You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!
  13849. 8) Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!
  13850. 7) What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'.
  13851. Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
  13852. assurance people in its wake.
  13853. 6) Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments'
  13854. - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.
  13855. 5) Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.
  13856. 4) A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code!
  13857. 3) Klingon software does NOT have BUGS. It has FEATURES, and those features
  13858. are too sophisticated for a Romulan pig like you to understand.
  13859. 2) You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the
  13860. original Klingon.
  13861. 1) Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it!
  13862. Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
  13863. %
  13864. Top scientists agree that with the present rate of consumption, the
  13865. earth's supply of gravity will be exhausted before the 24th century.
  13866. As man struggles to discover cheaper alternatives, we need your help.
  13867. Please...
  13868. CONSERVE GRAVITY
  13869. Follow these simple suggestions:
  13870. (1) Walk with a light step. Carry helium balloons if possible.
  13871. (2) Use tape, magnets, or glue instead of paperweights.
  13872. (3) Give up skiing and skydiving for more horizontal sports like
  13873. curling.
  13874. (4) Avoid showers .. take baths instead.
  13875. (5) Don't hang all your clothes in the closet ... Keep them in one big
  13876. pile.
  13877. (6) Stop flipping pancakes
  13878. %
  13879. Travel important today; Internal Revenue men arrive tomorrow.
  13880. %
  13881. Troubled day for virgins over 16 who are beautiful, wealthy, and live
  13882. in eucalyptus trees.
  13883. %
  13884. Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence.
  13885. -- Henrik Tikkanen
  13886. %
  13887. Truth is the most valuable thing we have -- so let us economize it.
  13888. -- Mark Twain
  13889. %
  13890. Truth will be out this morning. (Which may really mess things up.)
  13891. %
  13892. Truthful, adj.:
  13893. Dumb and illiterate.
  13894. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  13895. %
  13896. Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational.
  13897. -- Charles Schulz
  13898. %
  13899. Try to be the best of whatever you are, even if what you are is no good.
  13900. %
  13901. Try to find the real tense of the report you are reading: Was it done,
  13902. is it being done, or is something to be done? Reports are now written
  13903. in four tenses: past tense, present tense, future tense, and
  13904. pretense. Watch for novel uses of CONGRAM (CONtractor GRAMmer),
  13905. defined by the imperfect past, the insufficient present, and the
  13906. absolutely perfect future.
  13907. -- Amrom Katz
  13908. %
  13909. Try to get all of your posthumous medals in advance.
  13910. %
  13911. Trying to be happy is like trying to build a machine for which the only
  13912. specification is that it should run noiselessly.
  13913. %
  13914. Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.
  13915. -- Alan Watts
  13916. %
  13917. Trying to establish voice contact ... please ____yell into keyboard.
  13918. %
  13919. Turnaucka's Law:
  13920. The attention span of a computer is only as long as its
  13921. electrical cord.
  13922. %
  13923. Tussman's Law:
  13924. Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.
  13925. %
  13926. TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
  13927. -- Frank Lloyd Wright
  13928. %
  13929. 'Twas midnight, and the UNIX hacks
  13930. Did gyre and gimble in their cave
  13931. All mimsy was the CS-VAX
  13932. And Cory raths outgrabe.
  13933. "Beware the software rot, my son!
  13934. The faults that bite, the jobs that thrash!
  13935. Beware the broken pipe, and shun
  13936. The frumious system crash!"
  13937. %
  13938. 'Twas the Night before Crisis
  13939. 'Twas the night before crisis, and all through the house,
  13940. Not a program was working not even a browse.
  13941. The programmers were wrung out too mindless to care,
  13942. Knowing chances of cutover hadn't a prayer.
  13943. The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
  13944. While visions of inquiries danced in their heads.
  13945. When out in the lobby there arose such a clatter,
  13946. I sprang from my tube to see what was the matter.
  13947. And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
  13948. But a Super Programmer, oblivious to fear.
  13949. More rapid than eagles, his programs they came,
  13950. And he whistled and shouted and called them by name;
  13951. On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete!
  13952. On Batch Jobs! On Closing! On Functions Complete!
  13953. His eyes were glazed over, his fingers were lean,
  13954. From Weekends and nights in front of a screen.
  13955. A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
  13956. Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread...
  13957. %
  13958. 'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period
  13959. preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, And
  13960. throughout our place of residence,
  13961. Kinetic activity was not in evidence among the
  13962. possessors of this potential, including that
  13963. species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus.
  13964. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward
  13965. edge of the woodburning caloric apparatus,
  13966. Pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an
  13967. imminent visitation from an eccentric
  13968. philanthropist among whose folkloric appelations
  13969. is the honorific title of St. Nicklaus ...
  13970. %
  13971. Twenty Percent of Zero is Better than Nothing.
  13972. -- Walt Kelly
  13973. %
  13974. Two can Live as Cheaply as One for Half as Long.
  13975. -- Howard Kandel
  13976. %
  13977. Two men came before Nasrudin when he was magistrate. The first man
  13978. said, "This man has bitten my ear -- I demand compensation." The
  13979. second man said, "He bit it himself." Nasrudin withdrew to his
  13980. chambers, and spent an hour trying to bite his own ear. He succeeded
  13981. only in falling over and bruising his forehead. Returning to the
  13982. courtroom, Nasrudin pronounced, "Examine the man whose ear was bitten.
  13983. If his forehead is bruised, he did it himself and the case is
  13984. dismissed. If his forehead is not bruised, the other man did it and
  13985. must pay three silver pieces."
  13986. %
  13987. Two percent of zero is almost nothing.
  13988. %
  13989. Two sure ways to tell a sexy male; the first is, he has a bad memory.
  13990. I forget the second.
  13991. %
  13992. Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  13993. %
  13994. U: There's a U -- a Unicorn!
  13995. Run right up and rub its horn.
  13996. Look at all those points you're losing!
  13997. UMBER HULKS are so confusing.
  13998. -- The Roguelet's ABC
  13999. %
  14000. "Ubi non accusator, ibi non judex."
  14001. (Where there is no police, there is no speed limit.)
  14002. -- Roman Law, trans. Petr Beckmann (1971)
  14003. %
  14004. UFO's are for real: the Air Force doesn't exist.
  14005. %
  14006. "Uncle Cosmo ... why do they call this a word processor?"
  14007. "It's simple, Skyler ... you've seen what food processors do to food,
  14008. right?"
  14009. -- MacNelley, "Shoe"
  14010. %
  14011. Uncle Ed's Rule of Thumb:
  14012. Never use your thumb for a rule. You'll either hit it with a
  14013. hammer or get a splinter in it.
  14014. %
  14015. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a
  14016. just man is also a prison.
  14017. %
  14018. Under deadline pressure for the next week. If you want something, it
  14019. can wait. Unless it's blind screaming paroxysmally hedonistic ...
  14020. %
  14021. Underlying Principle of Socio-Genetics:
  14022. Superiority is recessive.
  14023. %
  14024. Unfair animal names:
  14025. -- tsetse fly -- bullhead
  14026. -- booby -- duck-billed platypus
  14027. -- sapsucker -- Clarence
  14028. -- Gary Larson
  14029. %
  14030. United Nations, New York, December 25. The peace and joy of the
  14031. Christmas season was marred by a proclamation of a general strike of
  14032. all the military forces of the world. Panic reigns in the hearts of
  14033. all the patriots of every persuasion.
  14034. Meanwhile, fears of universal disaster sank to an all-time low over the
  14035. world.
  14036. -- Isaac Asimov
  14037. %
  14038. Universe, n.:
  14039. The problem.
  14040. %
  14041. University, n.:
  14042. Like a software house, except the software's free, and it's
  14043. usable, and it works, and if it breaks they'll quickly tell you how to
  14044. fix it, and ...
  14045. %
  14046. unix soit qui mal y pense
  14047. %
  14048. UNIX was half a billion (500000000) seconds old on
  14049. Tue Nov 5 00:53:20 1985 GMT (measuring since the time(2) epoch).
  14050. -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
  14051. %
  14052. Unnamed Law:
  14053. If it happens, it must be possible.
  14054. %
  14055. Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out
  14056. twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.
  14057. -- H. L. Mencken
  14058. %
  14059. Usage: fortune -P [] -a [xsz] [Q: [file]] [rKe9] -v6[+] dataspec ... inputdir
  14060. %
  14061. User n.:
  14062. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him.
  14063. %
  14064. USER, n.:
  14065. The word computer professionals use when they mean "idiot."
  14066. -- Dave Barry, "Claw Your Way to the Top"
  14067. %
  14068. Using TSO is like kicking a dead whale down the beach.
  14069. -- S. C. Johnson
  14070. %
  14071. Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two,
  14072. opulence is when you have three -- and paradise is when you have none.
  14073. -- Doug Larson
  14074. %
  14075. Vail's Second Axiom:
  14076. The amount of work to be done increases in proportion to the
  14077. amount of work already completed.
  14078. %
  14079. Valerie: Aww, Tom, you're going maudlin on me ...
  14080. Tom: I reserve the right to wax maudlin as I wane eloquent ...
  14081. -- Tom Chapin
  14082. %
  14083. Van Roy's Law:
  14084. An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.
  14085. %
  14086. Vanilla, adj.:
  14087. Ordinary flavor, standard. See FLAVOR. When used of food,
  14088. very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla
  14089. extract! For example, "vanilla-flavored won ton soup" (or simply
  14090. "vanilla won ton soup") means ordinary won ton soup, as opposed to hot
  14091. and sour won ton soup.
  14092. %
  14093. Velilind's Laws of Experimentation:
  14094. (1) If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only
  14095. once.
  14096. (2) If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data
  14097. points.
  14098. %
  14099. Veni, Vidi, Visa.
  14100. %
  14101. "Verily and forsooth," replied Goodgulf darkly. "In the past
  14102. year strange and fearful wonders I have seen. Fields sown with barley
  14103. reap crabgrass and fungus, and even small gardens reject their
  14104. artichoke hearts. There has been a hot day in December and a blue
  14105. moon. Calendars are made with a month of Sundays and a blue-ribbon
  14106. Holstein bore alive two insurance salesmen. The earth splits and the
  14107. entrails of a goat were found tied in square knots. The face of the
  14108. sun blackens and the skies have rained down soggy potato chips."
  14109. "But what do all these things mean?" gasped Frito.
  14110. "Beats me," said Goodgulf with a shrug, "but I thought it made
  14111. good copy."
  14112. -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
  14113. %
  14114. Very few profundities can be expressed in less than 80 characters.
  14115. %
  14116. Vila: "I think I have just made the biggest mistake of my life."
  14117. Orac: "It is unlikely. I would predict there are far greater mistakes
  14118. waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it."
  14119. %
  14120. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
  14121. -- Salvor Hardin
  14122. %
  14123. Virginia law forbids bathtubs in the house; tubs must be kept in the
  14124. yard.
  14125. %
  14126. VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
  14127. Learn something new today, like how to spell or how to count to
  14128. ten without using your fingers. Be careful dressing this
  14129. morning. You may be hit by a car later in the day and you
  14130. wouldn't want to be taken to the doctor's office in some of
  14131. that old underwear you own.
  14132. %
  14133. VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
  14134. You are the logical type and hate disorder. This nitpicking is
  14135. sickening to your friends. You are cold and unemotional and
  14136. sometimes fall asleep while making love. Virgos make good bus
  14137. drivers.
  14138. %
  14139. "Virtual" means never knowing where your next byte is coming from.
  14140. %
  14141. Virtue is its own punishment.
  14142. %
  14143. Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by spontaneously moving
  14144. from where you left them to where you can't find them.
  14145. %
  14146. Vitamin C deficiency is apauling.
  14147. %
  14148. VMS is like a nightmare about RSX-11M.
  14149. %
  14150. Vote anarchist.
  14151. %
  14152. Vote for ME -- I'm well-tapered, half-cocked, ill-conceived and
  14153. TAX-DEFERRED!
  14154. %
  14155. VYARZERZOMANIMORORSEZASSEZANSERAREORSES?
  14156. %
  14157.  *** System shutdown message from root ***
  14158. System going down in 60 seconds
  14159. %
  14160. Wagner's music is better than it sounds.
  14161. -- Mark Twain
  14162. %
  14163. Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?"
  14164. 1st customer: "I'll have tea."
  14165. 2nd customer: "Me, too -- and be sure the glass is clean!"
  14166. (Waiter exits, returns)
  14167. Waiter: "Two teas. Which one asked for the clean glass?"
  14168. %
  14169. Walk softly and carry a megawatt laser.
  14170. %
  14171. War hath no fury like a non-combatant.
  14172. -- Charles Edward Montague
  14173. %
  14174. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ketchup is a vegetable.
  14175. %
  14176. WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL:
  14177. Firings will continue until morale improves.
  14178. %
  14179. WARNING:
  14180. Reading this fortune can affect the dimensionality of your
  14181. mind, change the curvature of your spine, cause the growth of hair on
  14182. your palms, and make a difference in the outcome of your favorite war.
  14183. %
  14184. Warning: Listening to WXRT on April Fools' Day is not recommended for
  14185. those who are slightly disoriented the first few hours after waking
  14186. up.
  14187. -- Chicago Reader 4/22/83
  14188. %
  14189. Warp 7 -- It's a law we can live with.
  14190. %
  14191. Washington [D.C.] is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
  14192. -- John F. Kennedy
  14193. %
  14194. Waste not, get your budget cut next year.
  14195. %
  14196. Wasting time is an important part of living.
  14197. %
  14198. Watson's Law:
  14199. The reliability of machinery is inversely proportional to the
  14200. number and significance of any persons watching it.
  14201. %
  14202. We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which
  14203. divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being
  14204. correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.
  14205. -- Niels Bohr
  14206. %
  14207. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
  14208. -- Oscar Wilde
  14209. %
  14210. We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glowworm.
  14211. -- Winston Churchill
  14212. %
  14213. We ARE as gods and might as well get good at it.
  14214. -- Whole Earth Catalog
  14215. %
  14216. We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.
  14217. -- Walt Kelly, "Pogo"
  14218. %
  14219. We are going to give a little something, a few little years more, to
  14220. socialism, because socialism is defunct. It dies all by itself. The
  14221. bad thing is that socialism, being a victim of its ... Did I say
  14222. socialism?
  14223. -- Fidel Castro
  14224. %
  14225. We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.
  14226. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  14227. %
  14228. We are upping our standards ... so up yours.
  14229. -- Pat Paulsen for President, 1988
  14230. %
  14231. We can defeat gravity. The problem is the paperwork involved.
  14232. %
  14233. We can predict everything, except the future.
  14234. %
  14235. We cannot put the face of a person on a stamp unless said person is
  14236. deceased. My suggestion, therefore, is that you drop dead.
  14237. -- James E. Day, Postmaster General
  14238. %
  14239. We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
  14240. -- Vroomfondel
  14241. %
  14242. We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.
  14243. %
  14244. We don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't a
  14245. fish.
  14246. %
  14247. We don't understand the software, and sometimes we don't understand the
  14248. hardware, but we can *___see* the blinking lights!
  14249. %
  14250. We gave you an atomic bomb, what do you want, mermaids?
  14251. -- I. I. Rabi to the Atomic Energy Commission
  14252. %
  14253. We had it tough ... I had to get up at 9 o'clock at night, half an
  14254. hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of dry poison, work 29 hours down
  14255. mill, and when we came home our Dad would kill us, and dance about on
  14256. our grave singing Haleleuia ...
  14257. -- Monty Python
  14258. %
  14259. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
  14260. -- Walt Kelly
  14261. %
  14262. We have only two things to worry about: That things will never get
  14263. back to normal, and that they already have.
  14264. %
  14265. We have reason to believe that man first walked upright to free his
  14266. hands for masturbation.
  14267. -- Lily Tomlin
  14268. %
  14269. We have the flu. I don't know if this particular strain has an
  14270. official name, but if it does, it must be something like "Martian Death
  14271. Flu". You may have had it yourself. The main symptom is that you wish
  14272. you had another setting on your electric blanket, up past "HIGH", that
  14273. said "ELECTROCUTION".
  14274. Another symptom is that you cease brushing your teeth, because (a) your
  14275. teeth hurt, and (b) you lack the strength. Midway through the brushing
  14276. process, you'd have to lie down in front of the sink to rest for a
  14277. couple of hours, and rivulets of toothpaste foam would dribble sideways
  14278. out of your mouth, eventually hardening into crusty little toothpaste
  14279. stalagmites that would bond your head permanently to the bathroom
  14280. floor, which is how the police would find you.
  14281. You know the kind of flu I'm talking about.
  14282. -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide"
  14283. %
  14284. We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all
  14285. purely intellectual fields. But which are the best ones to start
  14286. with? Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the
  14287. playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is
  14288. best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can
  14289. buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English.
  14290. -- Alan M. Turing
  14291. %
  14292. We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always
  14293. respect their good judgement.
  14294. %
  14295. We must remember the First Amendment which protects any shrill jackass
  14296. no matter how self-seeking.
  14297. -- F. G. Withington
  14298. %
  14299. We ought to be very grateful that we have tools. Millions of years ago
  14300. people did not have them, and home projects were extremely difficult.
  14301. For example, when a primitive person wanted to put up paneling, he had
  14302. to drive the little paneling nails into the cave wall with his bare
  14303. fist, so generally the paneling wound up getting spattered with
  14304. primitive blood, which isn't really all that bad when you consider how
  14305. ugly paneling is to begin with.
  14306. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  14307. %
  14308. We really don't have any enemies. It's just that some of our best
  14309. friends are trying to kill us.
  14310. %
  14311. We were young and our happiness dazzled us with its strength.
  14312. But there was also a terrible betrayal that lay within me like a Merle
  14313. Haggard song at a French restaurant. ...
  14314. I could not tell the girl about the woman of the tollway, of
  14315. her milk white BMW and her Jordache smile. There had been a fight. I
  14316. had punched her boyfriend, who fought the mechanical bulls. Everyone
  14317. told him, "You ride the bull, senor. You do not fight it." But he was
  14318. lean and tough like a bad rib-eye and he fought the bull. And then he
  14319. fought me. And when we finished there were no winners, just men doing
  14320. what men must do. ...
  14321. "Stop the car," the girl said. There was a look of terrible
  14322. sadness in her eyes. She knew about the woman of the tollway. I knew
  14323. not how. I started to speak, but she raised an arm and spoke with a
  14324. quiet and peace I will never forget.
  14325. "I do not ask for whom's the tollway belle," she said, "the
  14326. tollway belle's for thee."
  14327. The next morning our youth was a memory, and our happiness was
  14328. a lie. Life is like a bad margarita with good tequila, I thought as I
  14329. poured whiskey onto my granola and faced a new day.
  14330. -- Peter Applebome, International Imitation Hemingway
  14331. Competition
  14332. %
  14333. We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one
  14334. technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through a meter.
  14335. %
  14336. We will invent new lullabies, new songs, new acts of love,
  14337. we will cry over things we used to laugh &
  14338. our new wisdom will bring tears to eyes of gentile
  14339. creatures from other planets who were afraid of us till then &
  14340. in the end a summer with wild winds &
  14341. new friends will be.
  14342. %
  14343. We wish you a Hare Krishna
  14344. We wish you a Hare Krishna
  14345. We wish you a Hare Krishna
  14346. And a Sun Myung Moon!
  14347. -- Maxwell Smart
  14348. %
  14349. We'll cross out that bridge when we come back to it later.
  14350. %
  14351. We're deep into the holiday gift-giving season, as you can tell from
  14352. the fact that everywhere you look, you see jolly old St. Nick urging
  14353. you to purchase things, to the point where you want to slug him right
  14354. in his bowl full of jelly.
  14355. -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
  14356. %
  14357. We're only in it for the volume.
  14358. -- Black Sabbath
  14359. %
  14360. We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
  14361. of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
  14362. but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
  14363. -- Andy Rooney
  14364. %
  14365. Weiler's Law:
  14366. Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
  14367. %
  14368. Weinberg's First Law:
  14369. Progress is made on alternate Fridays.
  14370. %
  14371. Weinberg's Principle:
  14372. An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while
  14373. sweeping on to the grand fallacy.
  14374. %
  14375. Weinberg's Second Law:
  14376. If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs,
  14377. then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
  14378. %
  14379. Weiner's Law of Libraries:
  14380. There are no answers, only cross references.
  14381. %
  14382. Welcome thy neighbor into thy fallout shelter. He'll come in handy if
  14383. you run out of food.
  14384. -- Dean McLaughlin
  14385. %
  14386. Well, here it is, 1983, so it won't be long before you start reading a
  14387. lot of boring stories about people like Vance Hartke. Hartke is a
  14388. governor or mayor or something from one of the flatter states, and the
  14389. reason you'll be reading about him is that he's one of the 50 top
  14390. contenders for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. These men
  14391. will spend the next 18 months going around the country engaging in the
  14392. most degrading activities imaginable, such as wearing idiot hats and
  14393. appearing on "Meet the Press". "Meet the Press" is one of those Sunday
  14394. morning public interest shows that the public is not the least bit
  14395. interested in. It features a panel of reporters who ask questions of a
  14396. guest politician, who wins an Amana home freezer if he can get through
  14397. the entire show without answering a single question ...
  14398. -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
  14399. %
  14400. Well, I would -- if they realized that we -- again if -- if we led them
  14401. back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds,
  14402. or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they
  14403. they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off.
  14404. -- President Ronald Reagan, on the MX missile
  14405. %
  14406. Well, if you can't believe what you read in a comic book, what *___can*
  14407. you believe?!
  14408. -- Bullwinkle J. Moose [Jay Ward]
  14409. %
  14410. Well, my terminal's locked up, and I ain't got any Mail,
  14411. And I can't recall the last time that my program didn't fail;
  14412. I've got stacks in my structs, I've got arrays in my queues,
  14413. I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
  14414. If you think that it's nice that you get what you C,
  14415. Then go : illogical statement with your whole family,
  14416. 'Cause the Supreme Court ain't the only place with : Bus error views.
  14417. I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
  14418. On a PDP-11, life should be a breeze,
  14419. But with VAXen in the house even magnetic tapes would freeze.
  14420. Now you might think that unlike VAXen I'd know who I abuse,
  14421. I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
  14422. -- Core Dumped Blues
  14423. %
  14424. "Well, that was a piece of cake, eh K-9?"
  14425. "Piece of cake, Master? Radial slice of baked confection ...
  14426. coefficient of relevance to Key of Time: zero."
  14427. -- Dr. Who
  14428. %
  14429. "Well," Brahma said, "even after ten thousand explanations, a fool is
  14430. no wiser, but an intelligent man requires only two thousand five
  14431. hundred."
  14432. -- The Mahabharata
  14433. %
  14434. Westheimer's Discovery:
  14435. A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a
  14436. couple of hours in the library.
  14437. %
  14438. Wethern's Law:
  14439. Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.
  14440. %
  14441. "What are we going to do?"
  14442. "Me, I'm examining the major Western religions. I'm looking for
  14443. something that's soft on morality, generous with holidays, and has a
  14444. short initiation period."
  14445. %
  14446. "What are you doing?"
  14447. "Examining the world's major religions. I'm looking for something
  14448. that's light on morals, has lots of holidays, and with a short
  14449. initiation period."
  14450. %
  14451. What color is a chameleon on a mirror?
  14452. %
  14453. "What do you give a man who has everything?" the pretty
  14454. teenager asked her mother.
  14455. "Encouragement, dear," she replied.
  14456. %
  14457. What does "it" mean in the sentence "What time is it?"?
  14458. %
  14459. What does it mean if there is no fortune for you?
  14460. %
  14461. What garlic is to food, insanity is to art.
  14462. %
  14463. What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.
  14464. %
  14465. What George Washington did for us was to throw out the British, so
  14466. that we wouldn't have a fat, insensitive government running our
  14467. country. Nice try anyway, George.
  14468. -- D. J. on KSFO/KYA
  14469. %
  14470. What good is a ticket to the good life, if you can't find the
  14471. entrance?
  14472. %
  14473. What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow
  14474. in his footsteps?
  14475. %
  14476. What I do, first thing [in the morning], is I hop into the shower
  14477. stall. Then I hop right back out, because when I hopped in I landed
  14478. barefoot right on top of See Threepio, a little plastic robot character
  14479. from "Star Wars" whom my son, Robert, likes to pull the legs off of
  14480. while he showers. Then I hop right back into the stall because our
  14481. dog, Earnest, who has been alone in the basement all night building up
  14482. powerful dog emotions, has come bounding and quivering into the
  14483. bathroom and wants to greet me with 60 or 70 thousand playful nips, any
  14484. one of which -- bear in mind that I am naked and, without my contact
  14485. lenses, essentially blind -- could result in the kind of injury where
  14486. you have to learn a whole new part if you want to sing the "Messiah",
  14487. if you get my drift. Then I hop right back out, because Robert, with
  14488. that uncanny sixth sense some children have -- you cannot teach it;
  14489. they either have it or they don't -- has chosen exactly that moment to
  14490. flush one of the toilets. Perhaps several of them.
  14491. -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
  14492. %
  14493. What I tell you three times is true.
  14494. %
  14495. What I think is that the F-word is basically just a convenient nasty-
  14496. sounding word that we tend to use when we would really like to come up
  14497. with a terrifically witty insult, the kind Winston Churchill always
  14498. came up with when enormous women asked him stupid questions at
  14499. parties.
  14500. -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
  14501. %
  14502. What I want is all of the power and none of the responsibility.
  14503. %
  14504. What I've done, of course, is total garbage.
  14505. -- R. Willard, Pure Math 430a
  14506. %
  14507. What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I
  14508. definitely overpaid for my carpet.
  14509. -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
  14510. %
  14511. What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's
  14512. worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
  14513. -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
  14514. %
  14515. What is a magician but a practicing theorist?
  14516. -- Obi-Wan Kenobi
  14517. %
  14518. What is mind? No matter.
  14519. What is matter? Never mind.
  14520. -- Thomas Hewitt Key, 1799-1875
  14521. %
  14522. What is the difference between a Turing machine and the modern
  14523. computer? It's the same as that between Hillary's ascent of Everest
  14524. and the establishment of a Hilton on its peak.
  14525. %
  14526. "What is the Nature of God?"
  14527. CLICK...CLICK...WHIRRR...CLICK...=BEEP!=
  14528. 1 QT. SOUR CREAM
  14529. 1 TSP. SAUERKRAUT
  14530. 1/2 CUT CHIVES.
  14531. STIR AND SPRINKLE WITH BACON BITS.
  14532. "I've just GOT to start labeling my software..."
  14533. -- Bloom County
  14534. %
  14535. What is the robbing of a bank compared to the FOUNDING of a bank?
  14536. -- Bertolt Brecht
  14537. %
  14538. What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out,
  14539. which is the exact opposite.
  14540. -- Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical_Essays", 1928
  14541. %
  14542. What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to do.
  14543. %
  14544. What makes the universe so hard to comprehend is that there's nothing
  14545. to compare it with.
  14546. %
  14547. What publishers are looking for these days isn't radical feminism.
  14548. It's corporate feminism -- a brand of feminism designed to sell books
  14549. and magazines, three-piece suits, airline tickets, Scotch, cigarettes
  14550. and, most important, corporate America's message, which runs: "Yes,
  14551. women were discriminated against in the past, but that unfortunate
  14552. mistake has been remedied; now every woman can attain wealth, prestige
  14553. and power by dint of individual rather than collective effort."
  14554. -- Susan Gordon
  14555. %
  14556. What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
  14557. -- Ursula K. LeGuin
  14558. %
  14559. What the hell, go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket.
  14560. %
  14561. What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away.
  14562. %
  14563. What the world *really* needs is a good Automatic Bicycle Sharpener.
  14564. %
  14565. What this country needs is a dime that will buy a good five-cent bagel.
  14566. %
  14567. What this country needs is a good five cent ANYTHING!
  14568. %
  14569. What this country needs is a good five cent microcomputer.
  14570. %
  14571. What this country needs is a good five cent nickel.
  14572. %
  14573. What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon.
  14574. %
  14575. What this world needs is a good five-dollar plasma weapon.
  14576. %
  14577. What use is magic if it can't save a unicorn?
  14578. -- Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"
  14579. %
  14580. What we need in this country, instead of Daylight Savings Time, which
  14581. nobody really understands anyway, is a new concept called Weekday
  14582. Morning Time, whereby at 7 a.m. every weekday we go into a space-
  14583. launch-style "hold" for two to three hours, during which it just
  14584. remains 7 a.m. This way we could all wake up via a civilized gradual
  14585. process of stretching and belching and scratching, and it would still
  14586. be only 7 a.m. when we were ready to actually emerge from bed.
  14587. -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
  14588. %
  14589. What you don't know can hurt you, only you won't know it.
  14590. %
  14591. What's another word for Thesaurus?
  14592. -- Steven Wright
  14593. %
  14594. "What's that thing?"
  14595. "Well, it's a highly technical, sensitive instrument we use in
  14596. computer repair. Being a layman, you probably can't grasp exactly what
  14597. it does. We call it a two-by-four."
  14598. -- Jeff MacNelley, "Shoe"
  14599. %
  14600. What's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it?
  14601. -- Dr. Who
  14602. %
  14603. Whatever became of eternal truth?
  14604. %
  14605. Whatever became of Strange de Jim? Well, he found a substitute for
  14606. cocaine: "You cover Q-tips with sandpaper and ram them up your nostrils
  14607. as far as they will go. Then you sniff talcum powder while shredding
  14608. hundred dollar bills."
  14609. -- Herb Caen
  14610. %
  14611. Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not
  14612. nailed down.
  14613. -- Collis P. Huntingdon
  14614. %
  14615. Whatever the missing mass of the universe is, I hope it's not cockroaches!
  14616. -- Mom
  14617. %
  14618. When a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him -- that's where the
  14619. money is.
  14620. -- Robespierre
  14621. %
  14622. When a fellow says, "It ain't the money but the principle of the
  14623. thing," it's the money.
  14624. -- Kim Hubbard
  14625. %
  14626. When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a half roll or a half
  14627. loop?
  14628. %
  14629. When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is
  14630. not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space
  14631. travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.
  14632. -- Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love"
  14633. %
  14634. When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog along to see the
  14635. sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain
  14636. relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten.
  14637. -- Robert Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
  14638. %
  14639. When all other means of communication fail, try words.
  14640. %
  14641. When are you BUTTHEADS gonna learn that you can't oppose Gestapo
  14642. tactics *with* Gestapo tactics?
  14643. -- Reuben Flagg
  14644. %
  14645. When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before
  14646. the white men came, an Indian said simply "Ours."
  14647. -- Vine Deloria, Jr.
  14648. %
  14649. When does summertime come to Minnesota, you ask? Well, last year, I
  14650. think it was a Tuesday.
  14651. %
  14652. When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to
  14653. guarantee them.
  14654. %
  14655. When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great
  14656. parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if
  14657. I'm leaving.
  14658. -- Steven Wright
  14659. %
  14660. When I heated my home with oil, I used an average of 800 gallons a
  14661. year. I have found that I can keep comfortably warm for an entire
  14662. winter with slightly over half that quantity of beer.
  14663. -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
  14664. %
  14665. When I said "we", officer, I was referring to myself, the four young
  14666. ladies, and, of course, the goat.
  14667. %
  14668. When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now
  14669. I'm beginning to believe it.
  14670. -- Clarence Darrow
  14671. %
  14672. When I was a kid I said to my father one afternoon, "Daddy, will you
  14673. take me to the zoo?" He answered, "If the zoo wants you let them come
  14674. and get you."
  14675. -- Jerry Lewis
  14676. %
  14677. When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any
  14678. firearms with me. I said, `Well, what do you need?'
  14679. -- Steven Wright
  14680. %
  14681. When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into
  14682. the soul of the boy sitting next to me.
  14683. -- Woody Allen
  14684. %
  14685. When I was seven years old, I was once reprimanded by my mother for an
  14686. act of collective brutality in which I had been involved at school. A
  14687. group of seven-year-olds had been teasing and tormenting a
  14688. six-year-old. "It is always so," my mother said. "You do things
  14689. together which not one of you would think of doing alone." ...
  14690. Wherever one looks in the world of human organization, collective
  14691. responsibility brings a lowering of moral standards. The military
  14692. establishment is an extreme case, an organization which seems to have
  14693. been expressly designed to make it possible for people to do things
  14694. together which nobody in his right mind would do alone.
  14695. -- Freeman Dyson, "Weapons and Hope"
  14696. %
  14697. When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened
  14698. or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I
  14699. cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to
  14700. go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.
  14701. -- Mark Twain
  14702. %
  14703. When in doubt, do what the President does -- guess.
  14704. %
  14705. When in doubt, tell the truth.
  14706. -- Mark Twain
  14707. %
  14708. When in doubt, use brute force.
  14709. -- Ken Thompson
  14710. %
  14711. When in panic, fear and doubt,
  14712. Drink in barrels, eat, and shout.
  14713. %
  14714. When love is gone, there's always justice.
  14715. And when justice is gone, there's always force.
  14716. And when force is gone, there's always Mom.
  14717. Hi, Mom!
  14718. -- Laurie Anderson
  14719. %
  14720. When Marriage is Outlawed,
  14721. Only Outlaws will have Inlaws.
  14722. %
  14723. When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment
  14724. results.
  14725. -- Calvin Coolidge
  14726. %
  14727. When one woman was asked how long she had been going to symphony
  14728. concerts, she paused to calculate and replied, "Forty-seven years --
  14729. and I find I mind it less and less."
  14730. -- Louise Andrews Kent
  14731. %
  14732. When properly administered, vacations do not diminish productivity:
  14733. for every week you're away and get nothing done, there's another when
  14734. your boss is away and you get twice as much done.
  14735. -- Daniel B. Luten
  14736. %
  14737. When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only
  14738. say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.
  14739. %
  14740. When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical.
  14741. -- Jon Carroll
  14742. %
  14743. When the government bureau's remedies don't match your problem, you
  14744. modify the problem, not the remedy.
  14745. %
  14746. When the Ngdanga tribe of West Africa hold their moon love ceremonies,
  14747. the men of the tribe bang their heads on sacred trees until they get a
  14748. nose bleed, which usually cures them of ____that.
  14749. -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
  14750. %
  14751. When the speaker and he to whom he is speaks do not understand, that is
  14752. metaphysics.
  14753. -- Voltaire
  14754. %
  14755. When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the
  14756. stars were lined up in their proper places, you could easily count them
  14757. from left to right, or top to bottom, and the larger and bluer ones
  14758. were set apart, and the smaller yellowing types pushed off to the
  14759. corners as bodies of a lower grade ...
  14760. -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
  14761. %
  14762. When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the
  14763. plane will fly.
  14764. -- Donald Douglas
  14765. %
  14766. When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most
  14767. insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are
  14768. required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and
  14769. exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.
  14770. -- George Bernard Shaw
  14771. %
  14772. When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is
  14773. not hereditary.
  14774. -- Thomas Paine
  14775. %
  14776. When we understand knowledge-based systems, it will be as before --
  14777. except our fingertips will have been singed.
  14778. -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
  14779. %
  14780. When you are about to do an objective and scientific piece of
  14781. investigation of a topic, it is well to have the answer firmly in hand,
  14782. so that you can proceed forthrightly, without being deflected or
  14783. swayed, directly to the goal.
  14784. -- Amrom Katz
  14785. %
  14786. When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut.
  14787. %
  14788. When you don't know what you are doing, do it neatly.
  14789. %
  14790. When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
  14791. -- Harry S. Truman
  14792. %
  14793. When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure
  14794. clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer
  14795. to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively.
  14796. In a way, the next move is up to him.
  14797. -- R. A. Lafferty
  14798. %
  14799. When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
  14800. -- Winston Churchill, On formal declarations of war
  14801. %
  14802. When you know absolutely nothing about the topic, make your forecast by
  14803. asking a carefully selected probability sample of 300 others who don't
  14804. know the answer either.
  14805. -- Edgar R. Fiedler
  14806. %
  14807. When you make your mark in the world, watch out for guys with erasers.
  14808. -- The Wall Street Journal
  14809. %
  14810. When you try to make an impression, the chances are that is the
  14811. impression you will make.
  14812. %
  14813. When you're away, I'm restless, lonely,
  14814. Wretched, bored, dejected; only
  14815. Here's the rub, my darling dear
  14816. I feel the same when you are near.
  14817. -- Samuel Hoffenstein, "When You're Away"
  14818. %
  14819. When you're not looking at it, this fortune is written in FORTRAN.
  14820. %
  14821. Whenever anyone says, "theoretically", they really mean, "not really".
  14822. -- Dave Parnas
  14823. %
  14824. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to
  14825. see it tried on him personally.
  14826. -- A. Lincoln
  14827. %
  14828. Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
  14829. -- Oscar Wilde
  14830. %
  14831. Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last
  14832. you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his
  14833. Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
  14834. -- Mark Twain
  14835. "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
  14836. %
  14837. Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time
  14838. to reform.
  14839. -- Mark Twain
  14840. %
  14841. WHERE CAN THE MATTER BE
  14842. Oh, dear, where can the matter be
  14843. When it's converted to energy?
  14844. There is a slight loss of parity.
  14845. Johnny's so long at the fair.
  14846. %
  14847. Where humor is concerned there are no standards -- no one can say what
  14848. is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.
  14849. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
  14850. %
  14851. Where there's a will, there's an Inheritance Tax.
  14852. %
  14853. Whether you can hear it or not
  14854. The Universe is laughing behind your back
  14855. -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
  14856. %
  14857. Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares?
  14858. %
  14859. While anyone can admit to themselves they were wrong, the true test is
  14860. admission to someone else.
  14861. %
  14862. While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,
  14863. The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
  14864. While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
  14865. And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
  14866. Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
  14867. The Rights of Woman merit some attention.
  14868. -- Robert Burns, Address on "The Rights of Woman",
  14869. November 26, 1792
  14870. %
  14871. While having never invented a sin, I'm trying to perfect several.
  14872. %
  14873. While it may be true that a watched pot never boils, the one you don't
  14874. keep an eye on can make an awful mess of your stove.
  14875. -- Edward Stevenson
  14876. %
  14877. While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own
  14878. form of misery.
  14879. %
  14880. While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position.
  14881. %
  14882. While most peoples' opinions change, the conviction of their
  14883. correctness never does.
  14884. %
  14885. While you don't greatly need the outside world, it's still very
  14886. reassuring to know that it's still there.
  14887. %
  14888. While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are
  14889. safe, for you can watch both of his.
  14890. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  14891. %
  14892. Whistler's Law:
  14893. You never know who is right, but you always know who is in
  14894. charge.
  14895. %
  14896. Who cares if it doesn't do anything? It was made with our new
  14897. Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ...
  14898. %
  14899. Who made the world I cannot tell;
  14900. 'Tis made, and here am I in hell.
  14901. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed,
  14902. I never soiled with such a deed.
  14903. -- A. E. Housman
  14904. %
  14905. Who messed with my anti-paranoia shot?
  14906. %
  14907. Who needs friends when you can sit alone in your room and drink?
  14908. %
  14909. Who's on first?
  14910. %
  14911. "Whom are you?" said he, for he had been to night school.
  14912. -- George Ade
  14913. %
  14914. Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
  14915. %
  14916. Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.
  14917. %
  14918. Why are we importing all these highbrow plays like `Amadeus'? I could
  14919. have told you Mozart was a jerk for nothing.
  14920. -- Ian Shoales
  14921. %
  14922. Why be a man when you can be a success?
  14923. -- Bertolt Brecht
  14924. %
  14925. Why bother building any more nuclear warheads until we use the ones we
  14926. have?
  14927. %
  14928. Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else?
  14929. %
  14930. Why did the Lord give us so much quickness of movement unless it was to
  14931. avoid responsibility with?
  14932. %
  14933. Why did the Roman Empire collapse?
  14934. What is the Latin for office automation?
  14935. %
  14936. Why do we have two eyes? To watch 3-D movies with.
  14937. %
  14938. Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently
  14939. there must be a beverage.
  14940. -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
  14941. %
  14942. Why does New Jersey have more toxic waste dumps and California have
  14943. more lawyers?
  14944. New Jersey had first choice.
  14945. %
  14946. Why don't elephants eat penguins ?
  14947. Because they can't get the wrappers off ...
  14948. %
  14949. Why I Can't Go Out With You:
  14950. I'd LOVE to, but ...
  14951. -- I have to floss my cat.
  14952. -- I've dedicated my life to linguini.
  14953. -- I need to spend more time with my blender.
  14954. -- it wouldn't be fair to the other Beautiful People.
  14955. -- it's my night to pet the dog/ferret/goldfish.
  14956. -- I'm going downtown to try on some gloves.
  14957. -- I have to check the freshness dates on my dairy products.
  14958. -- I'm going down to the bakery to watch the buns rise.
  14959. -- I have an appointment with a cuticle specialist.
  14960. -- I have some really hard words to look up.
  14961. -- I've got a Friends of the Lowly Rutabaga meeting.
  14962. -- I promised to help a friend fold road maps.
  14963. %
  14964. Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is
  14965. because we are not the person involved
  14966. -- Mark Twain
  14967. %
  14968. Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
  14969. %
  14970. Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet?
  14971. -- Lily Tomlin
  14972. %
  14973. Why must you tell me all your secrets when it's hard enough to love
  14974. you knowing nothing?
  14975. -- Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  14976. %
  14977. Why not have an old-fashioned Christmas for your family this year?
  14978. Just picture the scene in your living room on Christmas morning as your
  14979. children open their old-fashioned presents.
  14980. Your 11-year-old son: "What the heck is this?"
  14981. You: "A spinning top! You spin it around, and then eventually it
  14982. falls down. What fun! Ha, ha!"
  14983. Son: "Is this a joke? Jason Thompson's parents got him a computer
  14984. with two disk drives and 128 kilobytes of random-access memory,
  14985. and I get this cretin TOP?"
  14986. Your 8-year-old daughter: "You think that's bad? Look at this."
  14987. You: "It's figgy pudding! What a treat!"
  14988. Daughter: "It looks like goat barf."
  14989. -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
  14990. %
  14991. Why was I born with such contemporaries?
  14992. -- Oscar Wilde
  14993. %
  14994. Why You Can't Run When There's Trouble in the Office:
  14995. No matter where you stand, no matter how far or fast you flee,
  14996. when it hits the fan, as much as possible will be propelled in your
  14997. direction, and almost none will be returned to the source.
  14998. -- John L. Shelton
  14999. %
  15000. Wiker's Law:
  15001. Government expands to absorb revenue and then some.
  15002. %
  15003. William Safire's Rules for Writers:
  15004. Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never
  15005. be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to
  15006. agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words
  15007. out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal
  15008. of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must
  15009. not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a
  15010. conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a
  15011. sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as
  15012. close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more
  15013. words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles
  15014. must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a
  15015. linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing
  15016. metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should
  15017. be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their
  15018. writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows
  15019. the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek
  15020. viable alternatives.
  15021. %
  15022. Williams and Holland's Law:
  15023. If enough data is collected, anything may be proven by
  15024. statistical methods.
  15025. %
  15026. Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as
  15027. it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.
  15028. %
  15029. Wit, n.:
  15030. The salt with which the American Humorist spoils his cookery
  15031. ... by leaving it out.
  15032. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  15033. %
  15034. With a gentleman I try to be a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I
  15035. try to be a fraud and a half.
  15036. -- Otto von Bismark
  15037. %
  15038. With a rubber duck, one's never alone.
  15039. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  15040. %
  15041. With all the fancy scientists in the world, why can't they just once
  15042. build a nuclear balm?
  15043. %
  15044. With every passing hour our solar system comes forty-three thousand
  15045. miles closer to globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, and
  15046. still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no
  15047. such thing as progress.
  15048. -- Ransom K. Ferm
  15049. %
  15050. With trembling hands he unfurled the ancient cracked parchment,
  15051. this was the place, it had to be. Uncertainly he began to mumble the
  15052. chant "rdbms, sql, third normal formal form, java, table, scalable".
  15053. Something moved... From outside they heard a scream and a thud.
  15054. The sales department had awoken.
  15055. %
  15056. Without ice cream life and fame are meaningless.
  15057. %
  15058. Wombat's Laws of Computer Selection:
  15059. (1) If it doesn't run Unix, forget it.
  15060. (2) Any computer design over 10 years old is obsolete.
  15061. (3) Anything made by IBM is junk. (See number 2)
  15062. (4) The minimum acceptable CPU power for a single user is a
  15063. VAX/780 with a floating point accelerator.
  15064. (5) Any computer with a mouse is worthless.
  15065. -- Rich Kulawiec
  15066. %
  15067. Wood is highly ecological, since trees are a renewable resource. If
  15068. you cut down a tree, another will grow in its place. And if you cut
  15069. down the new tree, still another will grow. And if you cut down that
  15070. tree, yet another will grow, only this one will be a mutation with
  15071. long, poisonous tentacles and revenge in its heart, and it will sit
  15072. there in the forest, cackling and making elaborate plans for when you
  15073. come back.
  15074. Wood heat is not new. It dates back to a day millions of years ago,
  15075. when a group of cavemen were sitting around, watching dinosaurs rot.
  15076. Suddenly, lightning struck a nearby log and set it on fire. One of the
  15077. cavemen stared at the fire for a few minutes, then said: "Hey! Wood
  15078. heat!" The other cavemen, who did not understand English, immediately
  15079. beat him to death with stones. But the key discovery had been made,
  15080. and from that day forward, the cavemen had all the heat they needed,
  15081. although their insurance rates went way up.
  15082. -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
  15083. %
  15084. Work Rule: Leave of Absence (for an Operation):
  15085. We are no longer allowing this practice. We wish to discourage
  15086. any thoughts that you may not need all of whatever you have, and you
  15087. should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are,
  15088. and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we
  15089. bargained for.
  15090. %
  15091. Workers of the world, arise! You have nothing to lose but your chairs.
  15092. %
  15093. World War Three can be averted by adherence to a strictly enforced
  15094. dress code!
  15095. %
  15096. Worst Month of 1981 for Downhill Skiing:
  15097. August. The lines are the shortest, though.
  15098. -- Steve Rubenstein
  15099. %
  15100. Worst Month of the Year:
  15101. February. February has only 28 days in it, which means that if
  15102. you rent an apartment, you are paying for three full days you don't
  15103. get. Try to avoid Februarys whenever possible.
  15104. -- Steve Rubenstein
  15105. %
  15106. Worst Response To A Crisis, 1985:
  15107. From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved
  15108. in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs
  15109. damage my videotapes?"
  15110. %
  15111. Worst Vegetable of the Year:
  15112. The brussels sprout. This is also the worst vegetable of next
  15113. year.
  15114. -- Steve Rubenstein
  15115. %
  15116. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
  15117. "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
  15118. -- Lewis Carroll
  15119. %
  15120. Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish
  15121. and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer
  15122. if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and
  15123. and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and
  15124. and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?
  15125. %
  15126. Write-Protect Tab, n.:
  15127. A small sticker created to cover the unsightly notch carelessly
  15128. left by disk manufacturers. The use of the tab creates an error
  15129. message once in a while, but its aesthetic value far outweighs the
  15130. momentary inconvenience.
  15131. -- Robb Russon
  15132. %
  15133. Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
  15134. -- Frank Zappa
  15135. %
  15136. "Wrong," said Renner.
  15137. "The tactful way," Rod said quietly, "the polite way to disagree with
  15138. the Senator would be to say, `That turns out not to be the case.'"
  15139. %
  15140. X-rated movies are all alike -- the only thing they leave to the
  15141. imagination is the plot.
  15142. %
  15143. Xerox does it again and again and again and ...
  15144. %
  15145. Xerox never comes up with anything original.
  15146. %
  15147. XIIdigitation, n.:
  15148. The practice of trying to determine the year a movie was made
  15149. by deciphering the Roman numerals at the end of the credits.
  15150. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  15151. %
  15152. "Yacc" owes much to a most stimulating collection of users, who have
  15153. goaded me beyond my inclination, and frequently beyond my ability in
  15154. their endless search for "one more feature". Their irritating
  15155. unwillingness to learn how to do things my way has usually led to my
  15156. doing things their way; most of the time, they have been right.
  15157. -- Stephen C. Johnson, "Yacc guide acknowledgements"
  15158. %
  15159. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of APL, I shall
  15160. fear no evil, for I can string six primitive monadic and dyadic
  15161. operators together.
  15162. -- Steve Higgins
  15163. %
  15164. Yeah, but you're taking the universe out of context.
  15165. %
  15166. Year, n.:
  15167. A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments.
  15168. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
  15169. %
  15170. Yes, but every time I try to see things your way, I get a headache.
  15171. %
  15172. Yes, but which self do you want to be?
  15173. %
  15174. Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog.
  15175. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog.
  15176. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.
  15177. -- Snoopy
  15178. %
  15179. Yesterday upon the stair
  15180. I met a man who wasn't there.
  15181. He wasn't there again today --
  15182. I think he's from the CIA.
  15183. %
  15184. Yield to Temptation ... it may not pass your way again.
  15185. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
  15186. %
  15187. Yinkel, n.:
  15188. A person who combs his hair over his bald spot, hoping no one
  15189. will notice.
  15190. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
  15191. %
  15192. You are a very redundant person, that's what kind of person you are.
  15193. %
  15194. You are here:
  15195. ***
  15196. ***
  15197. *********
  15198. *******
  15199. *****
  15200. ***
  15201. *
  15202. But you're not all there.
  15203. %
  15204. "You are old, Father William," the young man said,
  15205. "All your papers these days look the same;
  15206. Those William's would be better unread --
  15207. Do these facts never fill you with shame?"
  15208. "In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
  15209. "I wrote wonderful papers galore;
  15210. But the great reputation I found that I'd won,
  15211. Made it pointless to think any more."
  15212. %
  15213. "You are old, father William," the young man said,
  15214. "And your hair has become very white;
  15215. And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
  15216. Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
  15217. "In my youth," father William replied to his son,
  15218. "I feared it might injure the brain;
  15219. But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
  15220. Why, I do it again and again."
  15221. -- Lewis Carroll
  15222. %
  15223. "You are old," said the youth, "and I'm told by my peers
  15224. That your lectures bore people to death.
  15225. Yet you talk at one hundred conventions per year --
  15226. Don't you think that you should save your breath?"
  15227. "I have answered three questions and that is enough,"
  15228. Said his father, "Don't give yourself airs!
  15229. Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
  15230. Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!"
  15231. %
  15232. "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
  15233. For anything tougher than suet;
  15234. Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
  15235. Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
  15236. "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
  15237. And argued each case with my wife;
  15238. And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
  15239. Has lasted the rest of my life."
  15240. -- Lewis Carroll
  15241. %
  15242. "You are old," said the youth, "and your programs don't run,
  15243. And there isn't one language you like;
  15244. Yet of useful suggestions for help you have none --
  15245. Have you thought about taking a hike?"
  15246. "Since I never write programs," his father replied,
  15247. "Every language looks equally bad;
  15248. Yet the people keep paying to read all my books
  15249. And don't realize that they've been had."
  15250. %
  15251. "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
  15252. And have grown most uncommonly fat;
  15253. Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
  15254. Pray what is the reason of that?"
  15255. "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
  15256. "I kept all my limbs very supple
  15257. By the use of this ointment -- one shilling the box --
  15258. Allow me to sell you a couple?"
  15259. -- Lewis Carroll
  15260. %
  15261. "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
  15262. And make errors few people could bear;
  15263. You complain about everyone's English but yours --
  15264. Do you really think this is quite fair?"
  15265. "I make lots of mistakes," Father William declared,
  15266. "But my stature these days is so great
  15267. That no critic can hurt me -- I've got them all scared,
  15268. And to stop me it's now far too late."
  15269. %
  15270. "You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
  15271. That your eye was as steady as ever;
  15272. Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
  15273. What made you so awfully clever?"
  15274. "I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
  15275. Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
  15276. Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
  15277. Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"
  15278. -- Lewis Carroll
  15279. %
  15280. You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
  15281. %
  15282. You are the only person to ever get this message.
  15283. %
  15284. You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend too much time reading
  15285. this sort of trash.
  15286. %
  15287. You buttered your bread, now lie in it!
  15288. %
  15289. You can always tell the Christmas season is here when you start getting
  15290. incredibly dense, tinfoil-and-ribbon- wrapped lumps in the mail.
  15291. Fruitcakes make ideal gifts because the Postal Service has been unable
  15292. to find a way to damage them. They last forever, largely because
  15293. nobody ever eats them. In fact, many smart people save the fruitcakes
  15294. they receive and send them back to the original givers the next year;
  15295. some fruitcakes have been passed back and forth for hundreds of years.
  15296. The easiest way to make a fruitcake is to buy a darkish cake, then
  15297. pound some old, hard fruit into it with a mallet. Be sure to wear
  15298. safety glasses.
  15299. -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
  15300. %
  15301. You can bring any calculator you like to the midterm, as long as it
  15302. doesn't dim the lights when you turn it on.
  15303. -- Hepler, Systems Design 182
  15304. %
  15305. You can create your own opportunities this week.
  15306. Blackmail a senior executive.
  15307. %
  15308. You can do this in a number of ways. IBM chose to do all of them.
  15309. Why do you find that funny?
  15310. -- D. Taylor, Computer Science 350, University of Washington
  15311. %
  15312. You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you
  15313. can with just a kind word.
  15314. -- Bumper Sticker
  15315. %
  15316. You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have,
  15317. for instance.
  15318. -- Franklin P. Jones
  15319. %
  15320. You can make it illegal, but you can't make it unpopular.
  15321. %
  15322. You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on
  15323. the continuing viability of FORTRAN.
  15324. -- Alan Perlis
  15325. %
  15326. You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
  15327. %
  15328. You can take all the impact that science considerations have on funding
  15329. decisions at NASA, put them in the navel of a flea, and have room left
  15330. over for a caraway seed and Tony Calio's heart.
  15331. -- F. Allen
  15332. %
  15333. You can tell how far we have to go, when FORTRAN is the language of
  15334. supercomputers.
  15335. -- Steven Feiner
  15336. %
  15337. You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.
  15338. %
  15339. You can write a small letter to Grandma in the filename.
  15340. -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454
  15341. %
  15342. You can't carve your way to success without cutting remarks.
  15343. %
  15344. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
  15345. -- Steven Wright
  15346. %
  15347. You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.
  15348. -- Booker T. Washington
  15349. %
  15350. You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  15351. %
  15352. You can't make a program without broken egos.
  15353. %
  15354. You can't start worrying about what's going to happen. You get spastic
  15355. enough worrying about what's happening now.
  15356. -- Lauren Bacall
  15357. %
  15358. You can't survive by sucking the juice from a wet mitten.
  15359. -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and
  15360. Over and Over"
  15361. %
  15362. You can't teach people to be lazy - either they have it, or they don't.
  15363. -- Dagwood Bumstead
  15364. %
  15365. You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.
  15366. %
  15367. You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.
  15368. %
  15369. You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.
  15370. %
  15371. You could get a new lease on life -- if only you didn't need the first
  15372. and last month in advance.
  15373. %
  15374. You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable
  15375. doubt.
  15376. -- Ed Meese, on the Hinckley verdict
  15377. %
  15378. You do not have mail.
  15379. %
  15380. You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers.
  15381. -- J. D. Salinger
  15382. %
  15383. You don't sew with a fork, so I see no reason to eat with knitting
  15384. needles.
  15385. -- Miss Piggy, on eating Chinese Food
  15386. %
  15387. You first have to decide whether to use the short or the long form.
  15388. The short form is what the Internal Revenue Service calls "simplified",
  15389. which means it is designed for people who need the help of a Sears
  15390. tax-preparation expert to distinguish between their first and last
  15391. names. Here's the complete text:
  15392. "(1) How much did you make? (AMOUNT)
  15393. "(2) How much did we here at the government take out? (AMOUNT)
  15394. "(3) Hey! Sounds like we took too much! So we're going to
  15395. send an official government check for (ONE-FIFTEENTH OF
  15396. THE AMOUNT WE TOOK) directly to the (YOUR LAST NAME)
  15397. household at (YOUR ADDRESS), for you to spend in any way
  15398. you please! Which just goes to show you, (YOUR FIRST
  15399. NAME), that it pays to file the short form!"
  15400. The IRS wants you to use this form because it gets to keep most of your
  15401. money. So unless you have pond silt for brains, you want the long
  15402. form.
  15403. -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
  15404. %
  15405. You have a tendency to feel you are superior to most computers.
  15406. %
  15407. You have acquired a scroll entitled 'irk gleknow mizk'(n).--More--
  15408. This is an IBM Manual scroll.--More--
  15409. You are permanently confused.
  15410. -- Dave Decot
  15411. %
  15412. You have an unusual magnetic personality. Don't walk too close to
  15413. metal objects which are not fastened down.
  15414. %
  15415. You have junk mail.
  15416. %
  15417. You have the body of a 19 year old. Please return it before it gets
  15418. wrinkled.
  15419. %
  15420. You have the capacity to learn from mistakes. You'll learn a lot today.
  15421. %
  15422. You know it's going to be a bad day when you want to put on the clothes
  15423. you wore home from the party and there aren't any.
  15424. %
  15425. You know the great thing about TV? If something important happens
  15426. anywhere at all in the world, no matter what time of the day or night,
  15427. you can always change the channel.
  15428. -- Jim Ignatowski
  15429. %
  15430. You know you have a small apartment when Rice Krispies echo.
  15431. -- S. Rickly Christian
  15432. %
  15433. You know you're a little fat if you have stretch marks on your car.
  15434. -- Cyrus, Chicago Reader 1/22/82
  15435. %
  15436. You know you've been spending too much time on the computer when your
  15437. friend misdates a check, and you suggest adding a "++" to fix it.
  15438. %
  15439. You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi.
  15440. %
  15441. "You know, it's at times like this when I'm trapped in a Vogon
  15442. airlock with a man from Betelgeuse and about to die of asphyxiation in
  15443. deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me
  15444. when I was young!"
  15445. "Why, what did she tell you?"
  15446. "I don't know, I didn't listen!"
  15447. -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
  15448. %
  15449. You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled.
  15450. %
  15451. You may be recognized soon. Hide.
  15452. %
  15453. You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a "realist," he
  15454. is preparing to do something he is secretly ashamed of doing.
  15455. -- Sydney Harris
  15456. %
  15457. You may easily play a joke on a man who likes to argue -- agree with
  15458. him.
  15459. -- Ed Howe
  15460. %
  15461. You may have heard that a dean is to faculty as a hydrant is to a dog.
  15462. -- Alfred Kahn
  15463. %
  15464. You men out there probably think you already know how to dress for
  15465. success. You know, for example, that you should not wear leisure suits
  15466. or white plastic belts and shoes, unless you are going to a costume
  15467. party disguised as a pig farmer vacationing at Disney World.
  15468. -- Dave Barry, "How to Dress for Real Success"
  15469. %
  15470. You might have mail.
  15471. %
  15472. You might have had mail.
  15473. %
  15474. You must realize that the computer has it in for you. The irrefutable
  15475. proof of this is that the computer always does what you tell it to do.
  15476. %
  15477. You need no longer worry about the future. This time tomorrow you'll
  15478. be dead.
  15479. %
  15480. You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
  15481. reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
  15482. the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
  15483. independence.
  15484. -- Charles A. Beard
  15485. %
  15486. You never know how many friends you have until you rent a house on the
  15487. beach.
  15488. %
  15489. You or I must yield up his life to Ahrimanes. I would rather it were
  15490. you. I should have no hesitation in sacrificing my own life to spare
  15491. yours, but we take stock next week, and it would not be fair on the
  15492. company.
  15493. -- J. Wellington Wells
  15494. %
  15495. You possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained.
  15496. %
  15497. You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could
  15498. know how seldom they do.
  15499. -- Olin Miller
  15500. %
  15501. You should emulate your heros, but don't carry it too far. Especially
  15502. if they are dead.
  15503. %
  15504. You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than
  15505. about 10^12 to 1.
  15506. -- Ernest Rutherford
  15507. %
  15508. You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for
  15509. freedom and liberty.
  15510. -- Henrik Ibsen
  15511. %
  15512. You should not use your fireplace, because scientists now believe that,
  15513. contrary to popular opinion, fireplaces actually remove heat from
  15514. houses. Really, that's what scientists believe. In fact many
  15515. scientists actually use their fireplaces to cool their houses in the
  15516. summer. If you visit a scientist's house on a sultry August day,
  15517. you'll find a cheerful fire roaring on the hearth and the scientist
  15518. sitting nearby, remarking on how cool he is and drinking heavily.
  15519. -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
  15520. %
  15521. You should tip the waiter $10, minus $2 if he tells you his name,
  15522. another $2 if he claims it will be His Pleasure to serve you and
  15523. another $2 for each "special" he describes involving confusing terms
  15524. such as "shallots," and $4 if the menu contains the word "fixin's." In
  15525. many restaurants, this means the waiter will actually owe you money.
  15526. If you are traveling with a child aged six months to three years, you
  15527. should leave an additional amount equal to twice the bill to compensate
  15528. for the fact that they will have to take the banquette out and burn it
  15529. because the cracks are wedged solid with gobbets made of partially
  15530. chewed former restaurant rolls saturated with baby spit.
  15531. In New York, tip the taxicab driver $40 if he does not mention his
  15532. hemorrhoids.
  15533. -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
  15534. %
  15535. You should, without hesitation, pound your typewriter into a
  15536. plowshare, your paper into fertilizer, and enter agriculture.
  15537. -- Business Professor, University of Georgia
  15538. %
  15539. You think Oedipus had a problem -- Adam was Eve's mother.
  15540. %
  15541. YOU TOO CAN MAKE BIG MONEY IN THE EXCITING FIELD OF
  15542. PAPER SHUFFLING!
  15543. Mr. TAA of Muddle, Mass. says: "Before I took this course I used to be
  15544. a lowly bit twiddler. Now with what I learned at MIT Tech I feel
  15545. really important and can obfuscate and confuse with the best."
  15546. Mr. MARC had this to say: "Ten short days ago all I could look forward
  15547. to was a dead-end job as a engineer. Now I have a promising future and
  15548. make really big Zorkmids."
  15549. MIT Tech can't promise these fantastic results to everyone, but when
  15550. you earn your MDL degree from MIT Tech your future will be brighter.
  15551. SEND FOR OUR FREE BROCHURE TODAY!
  15552. %
  15553. You too can wear a nose mitten.
  15554. %
  15555. You will be a winner today. Pick a fight with a four-year-old.
  15556. %
  15557. You will be attacked by a beast who has the body of a wolf, the tail of
  15558. a lion, and the face of Donald Duck.
  15559. %
  15560. You will be surprised by a loud noise.
  15561. %
  15562. You will be Told about it Tomorrow. Go Home and Prepare Thyself.
  15563. %
  15564. You will feel hungry again in another hour.
  15565. %
  15566. You will lose your present job and have to become a door to door
  15567. mayonnaise salesman.
  15568. %
  15569. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the
  15570. Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the
  15571. parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.
  15572. -- Sherlock Holmes
  15573. %
  15574. You will think of something funnier than this to add to the fortunes.
  15575. %
  15576. You worry too much about your job. Stop it. You're not paid enough to
  15577. worry.
  15578. %
  15579. You'd better beat it. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a
  15580. taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a
  15581. minute and a huff.
  15582. -- Groucho Marx
  15583. %
  15584. You'll never be the man your mother was!
  15585. %
  15586. You're at the end of the road again.
  15587. %
  15588. You're being followed. Cut out the hanky-panky for a few days.
  15589. %
  15590. You're never too old to become younger.
  15591. -- Mae West
  15592. %
  15593. You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
  15594. -- Dean Martin
  15595. %
  15596. You're not my type. For that matter, you're not even my species!!!
  15597. %
  15598. You've been leading a dog's life. Stay off the furniture.
  15599. %
  15600. You've got to have a gimmick if your band sucks.
  15601. -- Gary Giddens
  15602. %
  15603. "You've got to think about tomorrow!"
  15604. "TOMORROW! I haven't even prepared for *_________yesterday* yet!"
  15605. %
  15606. Your analyst has you mixed up with another patient. Don't believe a
  15607. thing he tells you.
  15608. %
  15609. Your conscience never stops you from doing anything. It just stops you
  15610. from enjoying it.
  15611. %
  15612. Your fault: core dumped
  15613. %
  15614. Your home electrical system is basically a bunch of wires that
  15615. bring electricity into your home and take if back out before it has a
  15616. chance to kill you. This is called a "circuit". The most common home
  15617. electrical problem is when the circuit is broken by a "circuit
  15618. breaker"; this causes the electricity to back up in one of the wires
  15619. until it bursts out of an outlet in the form of sparks, which can
  15620. damage your carpet. The best way to avoid broken circuits is to change
  15621. your fuses regularly.
  15622. Another common problem is that the lights flicker. This
  15623. sometimes means that your electrical system is inadequate, but more
  15624. often it means that your home is possessed by demons, in which case
  15625. you'll need to get a caulking gun and some caulking. If you're not
  15626. sure whether your house is possessed, see "The Amityville Horror", a
  15627. fine documentary film based on an actual book. Or call in a licensed
  15628. electrician, who is trained to spot the signs of demonic possession,
  15629. such as blood coming down the stairs, enormous cats on the dinette
  15630. table, etc.
  15631. -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
  15632. %
  15633. Your life would be very empty if you had nothing to regret.
  15634. %
  15635. Your lucky color has faded.
  15636. %
  15637. Your lucky number has been disconnected.
  15638. %
  15639. Your lucky number is 3552664958674928. Watch for it everywhere.
  15640. %
  15641. Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with.
  15642. %
  15643. Yow! Am I having fun yet?
  15644. -- Zippy the Pinhead
  15645. %
  15646. YOW!! Everybody out of the GENETIC POOL!
  15647. %
  15648. Zero Defects, n.:
  15649. The result of shutting down a production line.
  15650. %
  15651. Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words
  15652. since I first called my brother's father dad.
  15653. -- William Shakespeare, "King John"
  15654. %
  15655. Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labor:
  15656. People are always available for work in the past tense.
  15657. %
  15658. THE LAST BUG
  15659. "But you're out of your mind," It still wasn't perfect,
  15660. They said with a shrug. As year followed year,
  15661. "The customer's happy; And strangers would comment,
  15662. What's one little bug?" "Is that guy still here?"
  15663. But he was determined. He died at the console,
  15664. The others went home. Of hunger and thirst.
  15665. He spread out the program, Next day he was buried,
  15666. Deserted, alone. Face down, nine-edge first.
  15667. The cleaning men came, And the last bug in sight,
  15668. The whole room was cluttered An ant passing by,
  15669. With memory-dumps, punch cards. Saluted his tombstone,
  15670. "I'm close," he muttered. And whispered, "Nice try."
  15671. The mumbling got louder,
  15672. Simple deduction,
  15673. "I've got it, it's right,
  15674. Just change one instruction."
  15675. %
  15676. Speaking of the philosophy involved in moving humanity into space:
  15677. Furniture will be a largely obsolete concept. Take for example the dresser my
  15678. mom bought for me when I was a kid. I still have it, and by the standards of
  15679. its era, it's an admirable household fixture. It is a massive construction of
  15680. maple wood, expertly joined with cunningly fit pieces, fitted and glued with
  15681. the strength of iron. It is set with massive brass fixtures, and looks today
  15682. -- discounting the dust -- as new as the day it was purchased, a quarter
  15683. century ago. So far, so good; a fine piece of furniture, you might say. But
  15684. let's look at it objectively, as a machine, as an object with a purpose. Here
  15685. sit a hundred pounds of hardwood with a compressive strength of 1500 psi,
  15686. jointed by an expert craftsman into a rigid box that would easily support a
  15687. bull elephant. And what is the sole purpose of this massive crate, this
  15688. monument to a dead tree? -- it holds my socks.
  15689. Not only is it blind engineering overkill of epic proportions, it is also an
  15690. environmental disaster. The home to generations of squirrels, a sentinel post
  15691. for falcons, an autumnal banner of golden glory, a living creature, was chopped
  15692. down to enshrine some underwear. This, my friends, is no way to run a planet.
  15693. -- Marshall T. Savage, from The Millennial Project:
  15694. Colonizing the Galaxy -- In Eight Easy Steps
  15695. %
  15696. Nearly every software professional has heard the term spaghetti code as a
  15697. pejorative description for complicated, difficult to understand, and impossible
  15698. to maintain, software. However, many people may not know the other two
  15699. elements of the complete Pasta Theory of Software.
  15700. Lasagna code is used to describe software that has a simple, understandable,
  15701. and layered structure. Lasagna code, although structured, is unfortunately
  15702. monolithic and not easy to modify. An attempt to change one layer conceptually
  15703. simple, is often very difficult in actual practice.
  15704. The ideal software structure is one having components that are small and
  15705. loosely coupled; this ideal structure is called ravioli code. In ravioli
  15706. code, each of the components, or objects, is a package containing some meat
  15707. or other nourishment for the system; any component can be modified or replaced
  15708. without significantly affecting other components.
  15709. We need to go beyond the condemnation of spaghetti code to the active
  15710. encouragement of ravioli code.
  15711. -- Raymond J. Rubey, in a letter to the editor of Crosstalk
  15712. magazine
  15713. %
  15714. 63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs,
  15715. ya get 1 whacked with a service pack,
  15716. now there's 63,005 bugs in the code!!