"Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries."
Christopher Morley The Haunted Bookshop
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Quotes of the Post
"And at the end, he learns the truth of Ernest Renan's bitter observation- that the only thing that can give one a sense of the infinite is the extent of human stupidity."
Thomas Wolfe, Gulliver, the story of a tall man (short story)
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' "
Isaac Asimov
Thomas Wolfe, Gulliver, the story of a tall man (short story)
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' "
Isaac Asimov
Fooling Themselves- Again
Eric Cantor lost his primary in a surprise upset to his Tea- Bagger challenger. This came as a surprise to Cantor- and his pollster, who had predicted Cantor in the lead by over 30 points.
The biggest surprise, however, is that Cantor's pollster is the same idiot who projected that Mitt Romney would win key battleground states and the presidency in 2012. He was wrong then, too.
Self delusion is nothing new, people. Shakespeare wrote of the rebels in Henry IV Part II that they embraced "smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs." Wishful thinking and informational cherry-picking, in other words. So- nothing new.
Here is the difference. If someone lied to me, or was an unreliable source, I would never go back. Conservatives are so well trained, that when they are fed shit, they say "Thank you, sir, may I have another."
That is the only explanation for their rejection of facts and evidence in every realm of knowledge and experience.
Republicans were once a real political party.
The biggest surprise, however, is that Cantor's pollster is the same idiot who projected that Mitt Romney would win key battleground states and the presidency in 2012. He was wrong then, too.
Self delusion is nothing new, people. Shakespeare wrote of the rebels in Henry IV Part II that they embraced "smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs." Wishful thinking and informational cherry-picking, in other words. So- nothing new.
Here is the difference. If someone lied to me, or was an unreliable source, I would never go back. Conservatives are so well trained, that when they are fed shit, they say "Thank you, sir, may I have another."
That is the only explanation for their rejection of facts and evidence in every realm of knowledge and experience.
Republicans were once a real political party.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Quotes of the Post
"The prime source of wisdom has been defined as continuous and penetrating inquiry.... For by doubting we come to inquire, and by inquiring we perceive the truth."
Peter Abelard
Quoted in Thomas Cahill Mysteries of the Middle Ages
"Belief is the wound that knowledge heals."
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Telling
Peter Abelard
Quoted in Thomas Cahill Mysteries of the Middle Ages
"Belief is the wound that knowledge heals."
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Telling
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Quote of the Post
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein Quoted in energyquotes.com
Ol' Al had it right on so many levels. Who can hear him now?
Albert Einstein Quoted in energyquotes.com
Ol' Al had it right on so many levels. Who can hear him now?
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