Grex Agora46 Conference

Item 21: Quoteable Quotes

Entered by abc on Tue Jun 24 00:55:30 2003:

This is the item for quotes of all types, from the famous often quoted to the
infamous overheard on any given day.  Speakers need not to be identified.
80 responses total.

#1 of 80 by dcat on Tue Jun 24 01:02:19 2003:

Programming (n.): "Bloody instructions which, being taught, return \ To plague
their inventor."               (William Shakespeare, "Macbeth", Act 1, Scene 7)

(From the "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well \ It were done
quickly" soliloquy)


#2 of 80 by novomit on Tue Jun 24 12:26:39 2003:

Authentic Being -- one's-Self -- does not rest upon an essential 
condition of the subject, a condition that has been detached from 
the "they"; it is rather an existentiell modification of the "they" -- 
of the "they" as an essential existentiale.

(Martin Heidegger, "Being and Time")


#3 of 80 by polygon on Wed Jun 25 19:20:06 2003:

For example, few people claim to like explosions, yet everyone likes
fireworks.  Millions of pounds of entertaining explosives go up all over
the world, with millions turning out to watch them.  What are they, these
colored lights, flashes, and bangs?  They are not real things in nature,
representations of anything else, and they don't remind us of anything at
an intellectual level.  They are as abstract as Piet Mondrian or Jackson
Pollock - and yet they provoke a strong emotional reaction, inducing
millions to watch and then walk away, highly satisfied, saying, "That was
wonderful," without anyone being able to say exactly what "That" was.
No other form of abstract visual expression is as popular.

                               Richard Cytowic

http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-10-cytowic.html


#4 of 80 by gull on Wed Jun 25 19:44:08 2003:

Anyone who says "few people claim to like explosions" has never talked
to guys about what they want to see in a movie.


#5 of 80 by rcurl on Thu Jun 26 00:50:54 2003:

I've known several people that like explosions the say they like, say, beer:
they give them a buzz and they use them for the trip they give them.


#6 of 80 by oval on Thu Jun 26 01:37:33 2003:

have you been drinking?



#7 of 80 by rcurl on Thu Jun 26 04:52:56 2003:

No, why?


#8 of 80 by other on Thu Jun 26 06:16:05 2003:

because #5 was utterly incomprehensible.


#9 of 80 by gelinas on Thu Jun 26 16:17:52 2003:

Not _utterly_ incomprehensible, but it did take me a few readings to figure
out the correct spelling of the ninth word.


#10 of 80 by orinoco on Thu Jun 26 16:22:49 2003:

"They(1) give them(2) a buzz, and they(2) use them(1) for the trip that
they(1) give them(2)."  Too many pronouns flopping around.


#11 of 80 by rcurl on Thu Jun 26 18:04:44 2003:

My apologies... But flipping the thems and theys did have a sort of rhythm....

I recall news items after the Oklahoma city bombing referring to Nichols and
McVeigh liking to play with dynamite around the family farm. There are a lot
of people like that. 


#12 of 80 by goose on Thu Jun 26 20:39:50 2003:

I like to play with explosives.....it's tough to do where I live now.  I go
to my fathers gun range to do that now.


#13 of 80 by tod on Thu Jun 26 21:03:01 2003:

This response has been erased.



#14 of 80 by dcat on Fri Jun 27 01:41:58 2003:

"I'm happy because the [Texas] Sodomy law was overturned [by the US Supreme
Court] *on* my birthday, and now everyone's going to remember my birthday!"

-- one of the guys i work with


#15 of 80 by other on Fri Jun 27 04:45:10 2003:

"You've been Microsoftized."

Me, to Adam Felber (panelist for the NPR Quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't 
tell Me") as he was experiencing difficulty trying to access the weather 
radar site for me so I could determine how long to wait before putting up 
the sound system at TOP this evening.


#16 of 80 by aruba on Fri Jun 27 05:01:13 2003:

"That can't be your car, that must be your Mama's car!"
        - Harrison Ford in American Graffitti


#17 of 80 by dcat on Fri Jun 27 14:35:50 2003:

"I'm going to always look like a cheap whore as long as there's doctors and
plastic surgeons in the world."

        - Dolly Parton, interview with TV Guide


#18 of 80 by gelinas on Fri Jun 27 14:54:23 2003:

Another Dolly Parton quote:

        That's what happens when you try to put fifty pounds of mud in
        a ten-pound sack.

Said when the front of her dress fell apart just before she was to go
on stage.


#19 of 80 by dcat on Fri Jun 27 18:34:51 2003:

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own
sex. . . People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at
goats. -- Elton John

(this was posted to alt.quotations in response to the Supreme Court decision
in re: the Texas sodomy law.)


#20 of 80 by tod on Fri Jun 27 21:03:21 2003:

This response has been erased.



#21 of 80 by other on Sat Jun 28 06:59:20 2003:

"I'd offer to help you but you'd see right through that kind of 
disingenuous [bullshit?] and I wouldn't want to insult your 
intelligence."

Chris Buhalis, to one of the members of Corndaddy, as they were joining 
him on stage at TOP for a couple of songs before he turned the stage over 
to them entirely.


#22 of 80 by goose on Tue Jul 1 14:15:32 2003:

That's a bizzare statement...I trust it was said with a smile? (IT doesn't
sound like Chris)


#23 of 80 by other on Tue Jul 1 14:58:58 2003:

It was indeed.  :)


#24 of 80 by goose on Tue Jul 1 17:28:07 2003:

Ahhh..all clear...;-)


#25 of 80 by lynne on Tue Jul 1 17:59:59 2003:

Jesus Christ.  I just realized that I can lay claim to 21 years of education
--22 if you count the year in Germany.  No wonder I find the idea of getting
a real job so disorienting.


#26 of 80 by jor on Tue Jul 1 21:42:39 2003:

        There is no pain, you are, re-ceding


#27 of 80 by dcat on Wed Jul 2 03:35:05 2003:

DetNews columnist Pete Waldmeir on the Do-Not-Call Registry and state and
federal anti-spam legislation:

    "For my part, I'd like to take all the telemarketers, all the e-mail
    trash-peddlers, all the information pirates, lock them in a room and
    force-feed them SPAM until they promise never again to invade our
    privacy."

                -- column, Sunday 29 June


#28 of 80 by dcat on Wed Jul 2 12:44:55 2003:

NYTimes reports difficulties in NYC school restructuring:

    [T]here were myriad --- if predictable --- complications, some of which
    were summed up by a bright pink sign outside a door at Division 4 that
    said:" Caution! This is now a ladies' room!"


#29 of 80 by flem on Wed Jul 2 14:47:52 2003:

re #27:  Wonder what he considers an "information pirate".  


#30 of 80 by orinoco on Wed Jul 2 19:34:13 2003:

"This is so bad it's almost good."
"This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again."
        -Ghost World (Daniel Clowes & Terry Zwigoff)


#31 of 80 by russ on Fri Jul 4 00:48:48 2003:

There is, in fact, no reason to believe that any given natural phenomenon,
however marvelous it may seem today, will remain forever inexplicable.
Soon or late the laws governing the production of life itself will be 
discovered in the laboratory, and man may set up business as a creator
on his own account.  The thing, indeed, is not only conceivable; it is
even highly probable.
                -- H.L. Mencken, 1930


#32 of 80 by dewshine on Tue Jul 8 22:34:16 2003:

  "Just because I love you doesnt mean I'm not going to squirt you every once
in awhile."
  I wont say who said that to me, he can step up himself if he wishes ;P


#33 of 80 by jazz on Wed Jul 9 01:04:44 2003:

        Hey, I remember a girl who told me that too.


#34 of 80 by other on Wed Jul 9 14:47:34 2003:

32:  If I heard correctly, #32 is a slightly bowdlerized version of what 
was actually said.


#35 of 80 by dcat on Wed Jul 9 14:52:25 2003:

32 doesn't feel quite right, but my 'mind like a steel sieve'(tm) can't
retrieve a more accurate rendition. . .


#36 of 80 by ea on Thu Jul 10 03:32:19 2003:

#32 also seems just a bit off to me (ok, have we now accounted for 
everyone who was present when that quote was first uttered?) but I can't 
remember the exact phrasing


#37 of 80 by scott on Mon Jul 14 16:01:47 2003:

From the online docs for "ecasound", a Linux-based recording app:

 ecasound -c -b:256 -r -f:16,2,44100 \
              -a:1 -i monitor-track.wav -o /dev/dsp \
               -a:2 -i /dev/dsp -o new-track.wav 


 It really is this simple. To minimize syncronization problems...


(They've got a GUI, probably they should emphasize that a bit more...)


#38 of 80 by dcat on Thu Jul 17 04:57:32 2003:

"I guess if Ari were to rebel, being a Republican is better than being on
drugs, but not by much."
        -- Alan Fleischer, father of White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
        and lifelong Democrat


#39 of 80 by dcat on Thu Jul 17 05:08:30 2003:

(should've mentioned that was 'as quoted in 7/7/03 Newsweek'.)


#40 of 80 by tsty on Thu Jul 17 06:31:56 2003:

millions for defense; not one cent for tribute.
  
paraphrased, but close enough ...


#41 of 80 by scott on Thu Jul 17 10:05:22 2003:

GW Bush, talking with Kofi Annan a couple days ago:
"The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have
a weapons program?  And the answer is, absolutely.  And we gave him a chance
to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."

( http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030714-3.html )

Umm... so who's the "revisionist historian" now?


#42 of 80 by polytarp on Thu Jul 17 10:10:07 2003:

He probably meant "HE WOULDN"T LET THEM IN,.... with the proper vigour"


#43 of 80 by tod on Thu Jul 17 17:35:06 2003:

This response has been erased.



#44 of 80 by dcat on Sat Jul 19 11:39:44 2003:

"The Good Lord Made Pigs
 We Made The Bar B Q"
        -- Shiska Haus

not sure if this place has a regular location, but this sign was on the canopy
of their tent at the Art Fairs' Michigan Union Food Court (it's a Cajun
bar-b-q; they're right at the north entrance, by the fountain).


#45 of 80 by tod on Mon Jul 21 16:11:14 2003:

This response has been erased.



#46 of 80 by gregb on Tue Jul 22 16:25:58 2003:

"The only people who listen are those who agree with you"

A character from the movie, "Critical Assembly."


#47 of 80 by gull on Wed Jul 23 19:24:36 2003:

"Have you ever noticed how terribly insecure some straight people are
about their sexuality? Queers say, "We don't recruit anyone. We can't.
Sexuality is innate and not subject to peer pressure." Straight people
say, "Be like us! You have to be like us!" And not only that, they
assume that the Queer lifestyle is so wonderful that everyone will go
running to practice it at the slightest encouragement, even though it
brings a morass of guilt-tripping and discrimination. Gee, that doesn't
say much for plain ol' vanilla missionary sex, does it?" -- Sheela Adrian


#48 of 80 by tod on Wed Jul 23 20:32:45 2003:

This response has been erased.



#49 of 80 by polytarp on Wed Jul 23 22:42:10 2003:

"I h8 fags." - zionicman, Israel's national superhero


#50 of 80 by tod on Wed Jul 23 22:44:48 2003:

This response has been erased.



#51 of 80 by dcat on Thu Jul 24 23:36:55 2003:

        "I'm thinking about getting a computer so I can have cybersex," Grandma
said.  "Anybody know how that works?"
        "You go into a chat room,"  Valerie said.  "And you meet someone.  And
then you type dirty suggestions to each other."
        "That sounds like fun," Grandma said.  "How does the /sex/ part
happen?"
        "You sort of have to do the sex part yourself."
        "I knew it was too good to be true," Grandma said.  "There's always
a catch to everything."

        -- dialogue from _Hard Eight_, Janet Evanovich (St Martin's, 2002)


#52 of 80 by edina on Fri Jul 25 16:11:08 2003:

Grandma Mazur is one of my favorite characters ever written.  I love
Evanovich's work.


#53 of 80 by dcat on Sun Jul 27 20:14:47 2003:

"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."  -- taped to the door of the sociology
GSIs' office at U Towers, apparently to prove why they aren't Classics GSIs.

"Kayak Naked

It adds color to your cheeks"
  -- tshirt seen on the Diag


#54 of 80 by dcat on Mon Jul 28 22:39:35 2003:

"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone."
        ---Bjarne Stroustrup


#55 of 80 by sholmes on Tue Jul 29 02:59:33 2003:

There are 10 kinds of people in this world , those who know binary and those
who don't.


#56 of 80 by goose on Tue Jul 29 20:53:21 2003:

I love that one....I had it on my door for a while...


#57 of 80 by gregb on Tue Jul 29 21:52:15 2003:

Had to think about it a sec.  I think I'll put that on a shirt.


#58 of 80 by dcat on Tue Jul 29 23:00:13 2003:

[http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/5aa9/]

Too late.


#59 of 80 by gregb on Tue Jul 29 23:26:21 2003:

Well, I never said I'd be the /first/.  'Sides, I'm making my own for 
just the cost of a tee.


#60 of 80 by drclu on Sat Aug 2 08:12:08 2003:

"Charity: A thing that begins at home and usually stays there."
 
/|\


#61 of 80 by naftee on Sat Aug 2 19:25:58 2003:

[14~[14~[13~///|||||\\\[15~[17~[18~

GREG


#62 of 80 by gregb on Sun Aug 3 15:03:57 2003:

Um, if that was for me, it didn't come out.


#63 of 80 by russ on Mon Aug 4 11:33:24 2003:

        It is said that science will dehumanize people and turn
        them into numbers.  That is false, tragically false.
        Look for yourself.  This is the concentration camp and
        crematorium at Auschwitz.  This is where people were
        turned into numbers.  And it was not done by gas.  It
        was done by arrogance.  It was done by dogma.  It was
        done by ignorance.  When people believe that they have
        absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is
        how they behave.  This is what men do when they aspire
        to the knowledge of gods.  Science is a very human form
        of knowledge.  We are always at the brink of the known,
        we always feel forward for what is to be hoped.  Every
        judgement in science stands on the edge of error, and is
        personal.  Science is a tribute to what we can know
        although we are fallible.

                -- Jacob Bronowski, from "The Ascent of Man"


#64 of 80 by md on Mon Aug 4 13:33:21 2003:

If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong 
golf ball.

 --- Jack Lemmon


#65 of 80 by russ on Wed Aug 6 23:37:03 2003:

        A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion
        is very easy to govern.  It demands no social reforms.  It does
        not haggle over expenditures on armaments and military equipment.
        It pays without discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an
        excellent thing for the syndicates of financiers and manufacturers
        for whom patriotic terrors are an abundant source of gain.
                        -- Anatole France


#66 of 80 by russ on Thu Aug 7 22:34:03 2003:

A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from
the vexation of thinking.
                -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals, 1831


#67 of 80 by dcat on Thu Aug 7 23:25:57 2003:

[T]heory means you have ideas; an ideology means ideas have you.

        -- An Anarchist FAQ, [http://cat.tao.ca/afaq], Introduction to
        Section A


#68 of 80 by dcat on Fri Aug 8 21:51:07 2003:

[E]ven if you aren't bothered by an administration that systematically
misleads the public, you ought to be worried about the decisions of an
administration that systematically misleads itself. A leader who is told only
what he wants to hear is all too likely to make bad decisions about the
economy, the environment and beyond.
        -- Paul Krugman, "Everything is Political"
           [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/05/opinion/05KRUG.html?th]


#69 of 80 by md on Sat Aug 9 21:17:43 2003:

The fact [is] that since my youth --  I was 19 when I left Russia --  
my political creed has remained as  bleak and changeless as an old gray 
rock. It is classical to the point of triteness.  Freedom of speech, 
freedom of thought, freedom of art. The social or economic structure of 
the ideal state is of little concern to me. My desires are modest. 
Portraits of the head of the government should not exceed a postage 
stamp in size.  No torture and no executions. No music, except coming
through earphones, or played in theaters.

               -- Vladimir Nabokov


#70 of 80 by polytarp on Sat Aug 9 21:25:48 2003:

YE<S BUT DID PYNCHON SIT IN ON HIS LECTURES?!


#71 of 80 by md on Sun Aug 10 13:51:09 2003:

Yes, but the only thing Nabokov claimed to remember about him was that 
he had the worst handwriting he'd ever seen.  


#72 of 80 by polytarp on Mon Aug 11 01:38:03 2003:

Yeah, I heard about his handwriting.


#73 of 80 by naftee on Mon Aug 11 02:40:17 2003:

VLADIMIR Nabokov wrote mean short stories.


#74 of 80 by furs on Tue Aug 12 12:50:17 2003:

"Get yer bitch ass into the kitchen and make me some pie!"
-Cartman


#75 of 80 by polytarp on Tue Aug 12 12:56:56 2003:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA>  THAT ONE"S FUNNY TELL IT AGAIN,.


#76 of 80 by goose on Tue Aug 12 19:24:25 2003:

-2


#77 of 80 by polytarp on Tue Aug 12 22:01:41 2003:

THE WAY FURS TELLS IT IS BETTER< GOOSMAN.


#78 of 80 by cmcgee on Thu Aug 14 01:37:51 2003:

"So there I am, trying to live your life without you even knowing it".  A
friend describing how she was obsessing about what I "ought" to be doing. 


#79 of 80 by naftee on Tue Aug 26 14:52:17 2003:

DSEEP


#80 of 80 by dcat on Thu Sep 11 20:54:12 2003:

Billboard on the PA Turnpike:  "Make love, not 3-car pileups.  Peace, love,
PA Turnpike."

On our way to Pittsburgh, Dan (orinoco) and I saw a truck whose door said,
"B & D Towing".   Dan: "Yeah, that's some heavy equipment they've got there."


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