1 !07/11 PDP a ni deppart m'I !pleH 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 10 Therefore, Alexander the Great had an infinite number of arms. 11 % 12 (1) Everything depends. 13 (2) Nothing is always. 14 (3) Everything is sometimes. 15 % 16 1.80 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight -- it's not just a good idea, it's 17 the law! 18 % 19 10.0 times 0.1 is hardly ever 1.0. 20 % 21 100 buckets of bits on the bus 22 100 buckets of bits 23 Take one down, short it to ground 24 FF buckets of bits on the bus 25 26 FF buckets of bits on the bus 27 FF buckets of bits 28 Take one down, short it to ground 29 FE buckets of bits on the bus 30 31 ad infinitum... 32 % 33 $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at 34 which time it will be worth absolutely nothing. 35 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 36 % 37 101 USES FOR A DEAD MICROPROCESSOR 38 (1) Scarecrow for centipedes 39 (2) Dead cat brush 40 (3) Hair barrettes 41 (4) Cleats 42 (5) Self-piercing earrings 43 (6) Fungus trellis 44 (7) False eyelashes 45 (8) Prosthetic dog claws 46 . 47 . 48 . 49 (99) Window garden harrow (pulled behind Tonka tractors) 50 (100) Killer velcro 51 (101) Currency 52 % 53 186,282 miles per second: 54 55 It isn't just a good idea, it's the law! 56 % 57 2180, U.S. History question: 58 What 20th Century U.S. President was almost impeached and what 59 office did he later hold? 60 % 61 $3,000,000 62 % 63 355/113 -- Not the famous irrational number PI, but an incredible 64 simulation! 65 % 66 3 syncs represent the trinity -- init, the child and the eternal zombie 67 process. In doing 3, you're paying homage to each and I think such 68 traditions are important in this shallow, mercurial business we find 69 ourselves in. 70 -- Jordan K. Hubbard 71 % 72 43rd Law of Computing: 73 Anything that can go wr 74 fortune: Segmentation violation -- Core dumped 75 % 76 77. HO HUM -- The Redundant 77 78 ------- (7) This hexagram refers to a situation of extreme 79 --- --- (8) boredom. Your programs always bomb off. Your wife 80 ------- (7) smells bad. Your children have hives. You are working 81 ---O--- (6) on an accounting system, when you want to develop the 82 ---X--- (9) GREAT AMERICAN COMPILER. You give up hot dates to 83 --- --- (8) nurse sick computers. What you need now is sex. 84 85 Nine in the second place means: 86 The yellow bird approaches the malt shop. Misfortune. 87 88 Six in the third place means: 89 In former times men built altars to honor the Internal Revenue 90 Service. Great Dragons! Are you in trouble! 91 % 92 7:30, Channel 5: The Bionic Dog (Action/Adventure) 93 The Bionic Dog drinks too much and kicks over the National 94 Redwood Forest. 95 % 96 7:30, Channel 5: The Bionic Dog (Action/Adventure) 97 The Bionic Dog gets a hormonal short-circuit and violates the 98 Mann Act with an interstate Greyhound bus. 99 % 100 99 blocks of crud on the disk, 101 99 blocks of crud! 102 You patch a bug, and dump it again: 103 100 blocks of crud on the disk! 104 105 100 blocks of crud on the disk, 106 100 blocks of crud! 107 You patch a bug, and dump it again: 108 101 blocks of crud on the disk! ... 109 % 110 A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 111 "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. 112 -- Mahatma Gandhi 113 % 114 A [golf] ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. 115 Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and has no place in a scientific 116 game. The player should estimate the distance the ball would have 117 traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there, 118 preferably atop a nice firm tuft of grass. 119 -- Donald A. Metz 120 % 121 A [golf] ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and 122 placed in the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or 123 rolled into the rough. Such veering right or left frequently results 124 from friction between the face of the club and the cover of the ball 125 and the player should not be penalized for the erratic behavior of the 126 ball resulting from such uncontrollable physical phenomena. 127 -- Donald A. Metz 128 % 129 A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no 130 responsibility at the other. 131 % 132 A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. 133 -- Carl Sandburg 134 % 135 A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman out 136 of a divorce. 137 -- Don Quinn 138 % 139 A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining 140 and wants it back the minute it begins to rain. 141 -- Mark Twain 142 % 143 A billion here, a couple of billion there -- first thing you know it 144 adds up to be real money. 145 -- Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen 146 % 147 A bird in the bush usually has a friend in there with him. 148 % 149 A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring. 150 % 151 A bird in the hand makes it awfully hard to blow your nose. 152 % 153 ... A booming voice says, "Wrong, cretin!", and you notice that you 154 have turned into a pile of dust. 155 % 156 A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have 157 enlightened him with ours. 158 % 159 A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well 160 as afterward. 161 % 162 A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the 163 poor to protect them from each other. 164 % 165 A celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness. 166 % 167 A child can go only so far in life without potty training. It is not 168 mere coincidence that six of the last seven presidents were potty 169 trained, not to mention nearly half of the nation's state legislators. 170 -- Dave Barry 171 % 172 A child of five could understand this! Fetch me a child of five. 173 % 174 A chubby man with a white beard and a red suit will approach you soon. 175 Avoid him. He's a Commie. 176 % 177 A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but 178 won't cross the street to vote in a national election. 179 -- Bill Vaughan 180 % 181 A city is a large community where people are lonesome together. 182 -- Herbert Prochnow 183 % 184 A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody 185 wants to read. 186 -- Mark Twain, "The Disappearance of Literature" 187 % 188 A closed mouth gathers no foot. 189 % 190 A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking. 191 % 192 A CONS is an object which cares. 193 -- Bernie Greenberg 194 % 195 A consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it 196 is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it. 197 % 198 A continuing flow of paper is sufficient to continue the flow of paper. 199 -- Dyer 200 % 201 A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the 202 damned things is ample. 203 -- Rebecca West 204 % 205 A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats. 206 -- Ben Franklin 207 % 208 A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen 209 lantern. 210 -- Edgar A. Shoaff 211 % 212 A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it? 213 % 214 A day without sunshine is like night. 215 % 216 A diplomat is a man who can convince his wife she'd look stout in a fur 217 coat. 218 % 219 A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that 220 you will look forward to the trip. 221 % 222 A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was 223 eating his morning meal. "I would like to give you this personality 224 test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy." 225 Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into 226 the toaster -- "I wish the toaster to be happy too". 227 % 228 A diva who specializes in risqu'e arias is an off-coloratura soprano ... 229 % 230 A doctor, an architect, and a computer scientist were arguing 231 about whose profession was the oldest. In the course of their 232 arguments, they got all the way back to the Garden of Eden, whereupon 233 the doctor said, "The medical profession is clearly the oldest, because 234 Eve was made from Adam's rib, as the story goes, and that was a simply 235 incredible surgical feat." 236 The architect did not agree. He said, "But if you look at the 237 Garden itself, in the beginning there was chaos and void, and out of 238 that, the Garden and the world were created. So God must have been an 239 architect." 240 The computer scientist, who had listened to all of this said, 241 "Yes, but where do you think the chaos came from?" 242 % 243 A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of. 244 -- Ogden Nash 245 % 246 A famous Lisp Hacker noticed an Undergraduate sitting in front of a 247 Xerox 1108, trying to edit a complex Klone network via a browser. 248 Wanting to help, the Hacker clicked one of the nodes in the network 249 with the mouse, and asked "what do you see?" Very earnestly, the 250 Undergraduate replied "I see a cursor." The Hacker then quickly 251 pressed the boot toggle at the back of the keyboard, while 252 simultaneously hitting the Undergraduate over the head with a thick 253 Interlisp Manual. The Undergraduate was then Enlightened. 254 % 255 A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the 256 subject. 257 -- Winston Churchill 258 % 259 A fool must now and then be right by chance. 260 % 261 A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into 262 superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education. 263 -- G. B. Shaw 264 % 265 A fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block 266 of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an 267 elephant. 268 % 269 A formal parsing algorithm should not always be used. 270 -- D. Gries 271 % 272 A fractal is by definition a set for which the Hausdorff Besicovitch 273 dimension strictly exceeds the topological dimension. 274 -- Mandelbrot, "The Fractal Geometry of Nature" 275 % 276 A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. 277 -- Adlai Stevenson 278 % 279 A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than 280 he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men 281 favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter 282 facts of life in bandages of self-illusion. 283 -- H. L. Mencken 284 % 285 A general leading the State Department resembles a dragon commanding 286 ducks. 287 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981 288 % 289 A girl and a boy bump into each other -- surely an accident. 290 A girl and a boy bump and her handkerchief drops -- surely another accident. 291 But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid -- *____that ___had __to ____mean _________something*. 292 -- S. Morgenstern, "The Silent Gondoliers" 293 % 294 A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sort 295 of). 296 % 297 A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened 298 into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the 299 hope of greening the landscape of idea. 300 -- John Ciardi 301 % 302 A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely 303 rearranging their prejudices. 304 -- William James 305 % 306 A great nation is any mob of people which produces at least one honest 307 man a century. 308 % 309 A hypothetical paradox: 310 What would happen in a battle between an Enterprise security 311 team, who always get killed soon after appearing, and a squad of 312 Imperial Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet? 313 -- Tom Galloway 314 % 315 A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears. 316 C is for Clair who wasted away, D is for Desmond thrown out of the sleigh. 317 E is for Ernest who choked on a peach, F is for Fanny, sucked dry by a leech. 318 G is for George, smothered under a rug, H is for Hector, done in by a thug. 319 I is for Ida who drowned in the lake, J is for James who took lye, by mistake. 320 K is for Kate who was struck with an axe, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks. 321 M is for Maud who was swept out to sea, N is for Nevil who died of ennui. 322 O is for Olive, run through with an awl, P is for Prue, trampled flat in a brawl 323 Q is for Quinton who sank in a mire, R is for Rhoda, consumed by a fire. 324 S is for Susan who parished of fits, T is for Titas who flew into bits. 325 U is for Una who slipped down a drain, V is for Victor, squashed under a train. 326 W is for Winnie, embedded in ice, X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice. 327 Y is for Yoric whose head was bashed in, Z is for Zilla who drank too much gin. 328 -- Edward Gorey "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" 329 % 330 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance. 331 % 332 A jury consists of 12 persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. 333 -- Robert Frost 334 % 335 A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction. 336 % 337 A lady with one of her ears applied 338 To an open keyhole heard, inside, 339 Two female gossips in converse free -- 340 The subject engaging them was she. 341 "I think", said one, "and my husband thinks 342 That she's a prying, inquisitive minx!" 343 As soon as no more of it she could hear 344 The lady, indignant, removed her ear. 345 "I will not stay," she said with a pout, 346 "To hear my character lied about!" 347 -- Gopete Sherany 348 % 349 A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is 350 not worth knowing. 351 -- Alan Perlis 352 % 353 A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program 354 in than some that do. 355 -- Dennis M. Ritchie 356 % 357 A large number of installed systems work by fiat. That is, they work 358 by being declared to work. 359 -- Anatol Holt 360 % 361 A Law of Computer Programming: 362 Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you 363 will find the programmers cannot write in English. 364 % 365 A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of 366 nothing. 367 -- Alan Perlis 368 % 369 A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. 370 -- H. H. Munroe, "Saki" 371 % 372 A long memory is the most subversive idea in America. 373 % 374 A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon. Buy the negatives at any 375 price. 376 % 377 A Los Angeles judge ruled that "a citizen may snore with immunity in 378 his own home, even though he may be in possession of unusual and 379 exceptional ability in that particular field." 380 % 381 A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I'm afraid of widths. 382 -- Steve Wright 383 % 384 A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I 385 believe everything positively stinks. 386 -- Lew Col 387 % 388 A man goes to a tailor to try on a new custom-made suit. The 389 first thing he notices is that the arms are too long. 390 "No problem," says the tailor. "Just bend them at the elbow 391 and hold them out in front of you. See, now it's fine." 392 "But the collar is up around my ears!" 393 "It's nothing. Just hunch your back up a little ... no, a 394 little more ... that's it." 395 "But I'm stepping on my cuffs!" the man cries in desperation. 396 "Nu, bend you knees a little to take up the slack. There you 397 go. Look in the mirror -- the suit fits perfectly." 398 So, twisted like a pretzel, the man lurches out onto the 399 street. Reba and Florence see him go by. 400 "Oh, look," says Reba, "that poor man!" 401 "Yes," says Florence, "but what a beautiful suit." 402 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 403 % 404 A man said to the Universe: "Sir, I exist!" 405 406 "However," replied the Universe, "the fact has not created in me a 407 sense of obligation." 408 -- Stephen Crane 409 % 410 A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. 411 % 412 A master was explaining the nature of Tao to one of his 413 novices. "The Tao is embodied in all software -- regardless of how 414 insignificant," said the master. 415 416 "Is Tao in a hand-held calculator?" asked the novice. 417 418 "It is," came the reply. 419 420 "Is the Tao in a video game?" continued the novice. 421 422 "It is even in a video game," said the master. 423 424 "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?" 425 426 The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The 427 lesson is over for today," he said. 428 -- "The Tao of Programming" 429 % 430 A mathematician is a machine for converting coffee into theorems. 431 % 432 A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed 433 on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new 434 game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the 435 pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly 436 along it at the water's edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their 437 heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn 438 around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite 439 direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the 440 paper reports, "The pilots fly out to sea and directly to the penguin 441 colony and overfly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins 442 fall over gently onto their backs. 443 444 -- Audubon Society Magazine 445 446 447 [From the BBC, 2001-02-02: 448 For five weeks, a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) 449 monitored 1,000 king penguins on the island of South Georgia as Lynx 450 helicopters passed overhead. 451 "Not one king penguin fell over when the helicopters came over," 452 said team leader Dr. Richard Stone. 453 "As the aircraft approached, the birds went quiet and stopped 454 calling to each other, and adolescent birds that were not associated 455 with nests began walking away from the noise. Pure animal instinct, 456 really." 457 The conclusion, said Dr. Stone, is that flights over 305 metres 458 (1,000 feet) caused "only minor and transitory ecological effects" on 459 king penguins.] 460 % 461 A musician of more ambition than talent composed an elegy at 462 the death of composer Edward MacDowell. She played the elegy for the 463 pianist Josef Hoffman, then asked his opinion. "Well, it's quite 464 nice," he replied, but don't you think it would be better if ..." 465 "If what?" asked the composer. 466 "If ... if you had died and MacDowell had written the elegy?" 467 % 468 A neighbor came to Nasrudin, asking to borrow his donkey. "It is out 469 on loan," the teacher replied. At that moment, the donkey brayed 470 loudly inside the stable. "But I can hear it bray, over there." "Whom 471 do you believe," asked Nasrudin, "me or a donkey?" 472 % 473 A new koan: 474 475 If you have some ice cream, I will give it to you. 476 477 If you have no ice cream, I will take it away from you. 478 479 It is an ice cream koan. 480 % 481 A new supply of round tuits has arrived and are available from Mary. 482 Anyone who has been putting off work until they got a round tuit now 483 has no excuse for further procrastination. 484 % 485 A New York City judge ruled that if two women behind you at the movies 486 insist on discussing the probable outcome of the film, you have the 487 right to turn around and blow a Bronx cheer at them. 488 % 489 A New York City ordinance prohibits the shooting of rabbits from the 490 rear of a Third Avenue street car -- if the car is in motion. 491 % 492 A novel approach is to remove all power from the system, which 493 removes most system overhead so that resources can be fully devoted to 494 doing nothing. Benchmarks on this technique are promising; tremendous 495 amounts of nothing can be produced in this manner. Certain hardware 496 limitations can limit the speed of this method, especially in the 497 larger systems which require a more involved & less efficient 498 power-down sequence. 499 An alternate approach is to pull the main breaker for the 500 building, which seems to provide even more nothing, but in truth has 501 bugs in it, since it usually inhibits the systems which keep the beer 502 cool. 503 % 504 A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power 505 off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing spoke sternly: 506 "You can not fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no 507 understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off 508 and on. The machine worked. 509 % 510 A nuclear war can ruin your whole day. 511 % 512 A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space. 513 -- Gloria Steinem 514 % 515 A penny saved is ridiculous. 516 % 517 A person is just about as big as the things that make them angry. 518 % 519 A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms. 520 -- George Wald 521 % 522 A pig is a jolly companion, 523 Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt -- 524 A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale, 525 Though mountains may topple and tilt. 526 When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you, 527 When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig, 528 Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover, 529 You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig, 530 You'll never go wrong with a pig! 531 -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow" 532 % 533 A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling 534 by Mark Twain 535 536 For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped 537 to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer 538 be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained 539 would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 540 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the 541 same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with 542 "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. 543 Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear 544 with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 545 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. 546 Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi 547 ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz 548 ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. 549 Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud 550 hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld. 551 % 552 A power so great, it can only be used for Good or Evil! 553 -- The Firesign Theatre, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" 554 % 555 A priest asked: What is Fate, Master? 556 557 And the Master answered: 558 559 It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for existence. 560 561 It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their backs. 562 563 It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City to City 564 upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns have come 565 to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness. 566 567 And that is Fate? said the priest. 568 569 Fate ... I thought you said Freight, responded the Master. 570 571 That's all right, said the priest. I wanted to know what Freight was 572 too. 573 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 574 % 575 A priest was walking along the cliffs at Dover when he came 576 upon two locals pulling another man ashore on the end of a rope. 577 "That's what I like to see", said the priest, "A man helping his fellow 578 man". 579 As he was walking away, one local remarked to the other, "Well, 580 he sure doesn't know the first thing about shark fishing." 581 % 582 A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. 583 % 584 A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis 585 of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite 586 series of incomprehensible answers calculated with micrometric 587 precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from 588 inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical 589 accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality 590 for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly 591 defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the 592 information in the first place. 593 -- IEEE Grid news magazine 594 % 595 A psychiatrist is a person who will give you expensive answers that 596 your wife will give you for free. 597 % 598 A public debt is a kind of anchor in the storm; but if the anchor be 599 too heavy for the vessel, she will be sunk by that very weight which 600 was intended for her preservation. 601 -- Colton 602 % 603 A putt that stops close enough to the cup to inspire such comments as 604 "you could blow it in" may be blown in. This rule does not apply if 605 the ball is more than three inches from the hole, because no one wants 606 to make a travesty of the game. 607 -- Donald A. Metz 608 % 609 A raccoon tangled with a 23,000 volt line today. The results blacked 610 out 1400 homes and, of course, one raccoon. 611 -- Steel City News 612 % 613 A radioactive cat has eighteen half-lives. 614 % 615 A reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: 616 617 Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, 618 "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny 619 bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the 620 lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and 621 breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the 622 Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of 623 the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt 624 thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then 625 proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being 626 the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand 627 Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, 628 shall snuff it." 629 -- Monty Python, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" 630 % 631 A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices 632 that the system works. 633 % 634 A real person has two reasons for doing anything ... a good reason and 635 the real reason. 636 % 637 A recent study has found that concentrating on difficult off-screen 638 objects, such as the faces of loved ones, causes eye strain in computer 639 scientists. Researchers into the phenomenon cite the added 640 concentration needed to "make sense" of such unnatural three 641 dimensional objects ... 642 % 643 A Riverside, California, health ordinance states that two persons may 644 not kiss each other without first wiping their lips with carbolized 645 rosewater. 646 % 647 A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man 648 contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. 649 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery 650 % 651 A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will 652 keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those 653 that are worth committing. 654 -- Samuel Butler 655 % 656 A Severe Strain on the Credulity 657 658 As a method of sending a missile to the higher, and even to the highest 659 parts of the earth's atmospheric envelope, Professor Goddard's rocket 660 is a practicable and therefore promising device. It is when one 661 considers the multiple-charge rocket as a traveler to the moon that one 662 begins to doubt ... for after the rocket quits our air and really 663 starts on its journey, its flight would be neither accelerated nor 664 maintained by the explosion of the charges it then might have left. 665 Professor Goddard, with his "chair" in Clark College and countenancing 666 of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to 667 re-action, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum 668 against which to react ... Of course he only seems to lack the 669 knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. 670 -- New York Times Editorial, 1920 671 % 672 A sine curve goes off to infinity or at least the end of the blackboard. 673 -- Prof. Steiner 674 % 675 ... A solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he 676 was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity. 677 -- Mark Twain 678 % 679 A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. 680 -- O'Henry 681 % 682 A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many 683 bad measures. 684 -- Daniel Webster 685 % 686 A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an 687 exam. 688 % 689 A student, in hopes of understanding the Lambda-nature, came to 690 Greenblatt. As they spoke a Multics system hacker walked by. "Is it 691 true," asked the student, "that PL-1 has many of the same data types as 692 Lisp?" Almost before the student had finished his question, Greenblatt 693 shouted, "FOO!", and hit the student with a stick. 694 % 695 A successful [software] tool is one that was used to do something 696 undreamed of by its author. 697 -- S. C. Johnson 698 % 699 A system admin's life is a sorry one. The only advantage he has over 700 Emergency Room doctors is that malpractice suits are rare. On the 701 other hand, ER doctors never have to deal with patients installing 702 new versions of their own innards! 703 -- Michael O'Brien 704 % 705 A tautology is a thing which is tautological. 706 % 707 A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, 708 and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others. 709 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 710 % 711 A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by 712 blowing first. 713 % 714 A triangle which has an angle of 135 degrees is called an obscene 715 triangle. 716 % 717 A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn. 718 % 719 A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest 720 in students. 721 -- John Ciardi 722 % 723 A University without students is like an ointment without a fly. 724 -- Ed Nather, professor of astronomy at UT Austin 725 % 726 A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature 727 replaces it with. 728 -- Tennessee Williams 729 % 730 A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without 731 getting nervous. 732 % 733 A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets 734 people's attention. 735 % 736 A witty saying proves nothing. 737 -- Voltaire 738 % 739 A wizard cannot do everything; a fact most magicians are reticent to 740 admit, let alone discuss with prospective clients. Still, the fact 741 remains that there are certain objects, and people, that are, for one 742 reason or another, completely immune to any direct magical spell. It 743 is for this group of beings that the magician learns the subtleties of 744 using indirect spells. It also does no harm, in dealing with these 745 matters, to carry a large club near your person at all times. 746 -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VIII 747 % 748 A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. 749 % 750 A.A.A.A.A.: 751 An organization for drunks who drive 752 % 753 AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkk!!!!!!!!! 754 You brute! Knock before entering a ladies room! 755 % 756 Abandon the search for Truth; settle for a good fantasy. 757 % 758 About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends. 759 -- Herbert Hoover 760 % 761 Absence makes the heart go wander. 762 % 763 Absent, adj.: 764 Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed; 765 slandered. 766 % 767 Absentee, n.: 768 A person with an income who has had the forethought to remove 769 himself from the sphere of exaction. 770 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 771 % 772 Abstainer, n.: 773 A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a 774 pleasure. 775 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 776 % 777 Absurdity, n.: 778 A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own 779 opinion. 780 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 781 % 782 Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, 783 because the stakes are so low. 784 -- Wallace Sayre 785 % 786 Accident, n.: 787 A condition in which presence of mind is good, but absence of 788 body is better. 789 -- Foolish Dictionary 790 % 791 Accidents cause History. 792 793 If Sigismund Unbuckle had taken a walk in 1426 and met Wat Tyler, the 794 Peasant's Revolt would never have happened and the motor car would not 795 have been invented until 2026, which would have meant that all the oil 796 could have been used for lamps, thus saving the electric light bulb and 797 the whale, and nobody would have caught Moby Dick or Billy Budd. 798 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 799 % 800 According to Arkansas law, Section 4761, Pope's Digest: "No person 801 shall be permitted under any pretext whatever, to come nearer than 802 fifty feet of any door or window of any polling room, from the opening 803 of the polls until the completion of the count and the certification of 804 the returns." 805 % 806 According to Kentucky state law, every person must take a bath at least 807 once a year. 808 % 809 According to my best recollection, I don't remember. 810 -- Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo 811 % 812 According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are 813 totally worthless. 814 % 815 According to the obituary notices, a mean and unimportant person never 816 dies. 817 % 818 According to the Rand McNally Places-Rated Almanac, the best place to 819 live in America is the city of Pittsburgh. The city of New York came 820 in twenty-fifth. Here in New York we really don't care too much. 821 Because we know that we could beat up their city anytime. 822 -- David Letterman 823 % 824 Accordion, n.: 825 A bagpipe with pleats. 826 % 827 Accuracy, n.: 828 The vice of being right. 829 % 830 ACHTUNG!!! 831 832 Das machine is nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy 833 schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und corkenpoppen mit 834 spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das dummkopfen. Das 835 rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets. Relaxen und 836 vatch das blinkenlights!!! 837 % 838 Acid -- better living through chemistry. 839 % 840 Acid absorbs 47 times its weight in excess Reality. 841 % 842 Acquaintance, n.: 843 A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well 844 enough to lend to. 845 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 846 % 847 Acting is an art which consists of keeping the audience from coughing. 848 % 849 Actor: "I'm a smash hit. Why, yesterday during the last act, I had 850 everyone glued in their seats!" 851 Oliver Herford: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Clever of you to think of 852 it!" 853 % 854 Actor: So what do you do for a living? 855 Doris: I work for a company that makes deceptively shallow serving 856 dishes for Chinese restaurants. 857 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers" 858 % 859 Actors will happen even in the best-regulated families. 860 % 861 ADA, n.: 862 Something you need only know the name of to be an Expert in 863 Computing. Useful in sentences like, "We had better develop an ADA 864 awareness." 865 -- "Datamation", January 15, 1984 866 % 867 Admiration, n.: 868 Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves. 869 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 870 % 871 Adolescence, n.: 872 The stage between puberty and adultery. 873 % 874 Adopted kids are such a pain -- you have to teach them how to look 875 like you ... 876 -- Gilda Radner 877 % 878 Adore, v.: 879 To venerate expectantly. 880 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 881 % 882 Adult, n.: 883 One old enough to know better. 884 % 885 Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest 886 way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. 887 -- Sinclair Lewis 888 % 889 Advice to young men: Be ascetic, and if you can't be ascetic, 890 then at least be aseptic. 891 % 892 After [Benjamin] Franklin came a herd of Electrical Pioneers whose 893 names have become part of our electrical terminology: Myron Volt, Mary 894 Louise Amp, James Watt, Bob Transformer, etc. These pioneers conducted 895 many important electrical experiments. For example, in 1780 Luigi 896 Galvani discovered (this is the truth) that when he attached two 897 different kinds of metal to the leg of a frog, an electrical current 898 developed and the frog's leg kicked, even though it was no longer 899 attached to the frog, which was dead anyway. Galvani's discovery led 900 to enormous advances in the field of amphibian medicine. Today, 901 skilled veterinary surgeons can take a frog that has been seriously 902 injured or killed, implant pieces of metal in its muscles, and watch it 903 hop back into the pond just like a normal frog, except for the fact 904 that it sinks like a stone. 905 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?" 906 % 907 After a few boring years, socially meaningful rock 'n' roll died out. 908 It was replaced by disco, which offers no guidance to any form of life 909 more advanced than the lichen family. 910 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do" 911 % 912 After a number of decimal places, nobody gives a damn. 913 % 914 ... After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known 915 quotations. 916 -- H. L. Mencken, on Shakespeare 917 % 918 After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not 919 for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have 920 simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi. 921 -- P. J. O'Rourke 922 % 923 After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found 924 on the bench. 925 % 926 After his Ignoble Disgrace, Satan was being expelled from 927 Heaven. As he passed through the Gates, he paused a moment in thought, 928 and turned to God and said, "A new creature called Man, I hear, is soon 929 to be created." 930 "This is true," He replied. 931 "He will need laws," said the Demon slyly. 932 "What! You, his appointed Enemy for all Time! You ask for the 933 right to make his laws?" 934 "Oh, no!" Satan replied, "I ask only that he be allowed to 935 make his own." 936 It was so granted. 937 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 938 % 939 After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of 940 the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the 941 cost to others, to win advancement. 942 -- Norman Thomas 943 % 944 After I run your program, let's make love like crazed weasels, OK? 945 % 946 After living in New York, you trust nobody, but you believe 947 everything. Just in case. 948 % 949 After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access 950 cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been 951 removed. 952 % 953 Afternoon very favorable for romance. Try a single person for a 954 change. 955 % 956 Afternoon, n.: 957 That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted the 958 morning. 959 % 960 Age before beauty; and pearls before swine. 961 -- Dorothy Parker 962 % 963 Age, n.: 964 That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we 965 still cherish by reviling those that we no longer have the enterprise 966 to commit. 967 -- Ambrose Bierce 968 % 969 Ah say, son, you're about as sharp as a bowlin' ball. 970 % 971 Ah, but the choice of dreams to live, 972 there's the rub. 973 974 For all dreams are not equal, 975 some exit to nightmare 976 most end with the dreamer 977 978 But at least one must be lived ... and died. 979 % 980 Ah, you know the type. They like to blame it all on the Jews or the 981 Blacks, 'cause if they couldn't, they'd have to wake up to the fact 982 that life's one big, scary, glorious, complex and ultimately 983 unfathomable crapshoot -- and the only reason THEY can't seem to keep 984 up is they're a bunch of misfits and losers. 985 -- A analysis of Neo-Nazis, from "The Badger" comic 986 % 987 Air is water with holes in it. 988 % 989 Alas, I am dying beyond my means. 990 -- Oscar Wilde, as he sipped champagne on his deathbed 991 % 992 Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire 993 telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New 994 York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? 995 And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they 996 receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." 997 % 998 Alden's Laws: 999 (1) Giving away baby clothes and furniture is the major cause 1000 of pregnancy. 1001 (2) Always be backlit. 1002 (3) Sit down whenever possible. 1003 % 1004 Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall, 1005 Aleph-null bottles of beer, 1006 You take one down, and pass it around, 1007 Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. 1008 % 1009 Alex Haley was adopted! 1010 % 1011 Alexander Graham Bell is alive and well in New York, and still waiting 1012 for a dial tone. 1013 % 1014 Alimony is a system by which, when two people make a mistake, one of 1015 them keeps paying for it. 1016 -- Peggy Joyce 1017 % 1018 All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent 1019 upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a 1020 visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is 1021 informing, stimulating and ennobling. 1022 -- H. L. Mencken 1023 % 1024 All bridge hands are equally likely, but some are more equally likely 1025 than others. 1026 -- Alan Truscott 1027 % 1028 All extremists should be taken out and shot. 1029 % 1030 All Finagle Laws may be bypassed by learning the simple art of doing 1031 without thinking. 1032 % 1033 "All flesh is grass" 1034 -- Isaiah 1035 Smoke a friend today. 1036 % 1037 All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy. 1038 % 1039 All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own 1040 importance. 1041 % 1042 All I can think of is a platter of organic PRUNE CRISPS being trampled 1043 by an army of swarthy, Italian LOUNGE SINGERS ... 1044 % 1045 All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power. 1046 -- Ashleigh Brilliant 1047 % 1048 All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are 1049 Socrates. 1050 -- Woody Allen 1051 % 1052 All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane. 1053 % 1054 All my life I wanted to be someone; I guess I should have been more 1055 specific. 1056 -- Jane Wagner 1057 % 1058 All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies. 1059 -- The Book of Bokonon / Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1060 % 1061 All other things being equal, a bald man cannot be elected President of 1062 the United States. 1063 -- Vic Gold 1064 % 1065 All power corrupts, but we need electricity. 1066 % 1067 All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors. 1068 % 1069 All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of 1070 every organism to live beyond its income. 1071 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1072 % 1073 All science is either physics or stamp collecting. 1074 -- Ernest Rutherford 1075 % 1076 All snakes who wish to remain in Ireland will please raise their right 1077 hands. 1078 -- Saint Patrick 1079 % 1080 All syllogisms have three parts; therefore this is not a syllogism. 1081 % 1082 All the big corporations depreciate their possessions, and you can, 1083 too, provided you use them for business purposes. For example, if you 1084 subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, a business-related newspaper, you 1085 can deduct the cost of your house, because, in the words of U.S. 1086 Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in a landmark 1979 tax 1087 decision: "Where else are you going to read the paper? Outside? What 1088 if it rains?" 1089 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes" 1090 % 1091 ... all the modern inconveniences ... 1092 -- Mark Twain 1093 % 1094 All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most 1095 ridiculous ones. 1096 -- La Rochefoucauld 1097 % 1098 All the taxes paid over a lifetime by the average American are spent by 1099 the government in less than a second. 1100 -- Jim Fiebig 1101 % 1102 All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed. 1103 -- Sean O'Casey 1104 % 1105 All the world's a VAX, 1106 And all the coders merely butchers; 1107 They have their exits and their entrails; 1108 And one int in his time plays many widths, 1109 His sizeof being _N bytes. At first the infant, 1110 Mewling and puking in the Regent's arms. 1111 And then the whining schoolboy, with his Sun, 1112 And shining morning face, creeping like slug 1113 Unwillingly to school. 1114 -- A Very Annoyed PDP-11 1115 % 1116 All theoretical chemistry is really physics; 1117 and all theoretical chemists know it. 1118 -- Richard P. Feynman 1119 % 1120 All things are possible, except skiing thru a revolving door. 1121 % 1122 All this wheeling and dealing around, why, it isn't for money, it's for 1123 fun. Money's just the way we keep score. 1124 -- Henry Tyroon 1125 % 1126 All true wisdom is found on T-shirts. 1127 % 1128 All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers ... Each one owes 1129 infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in 1130 which he was born. 1131 -- Francois Fenelon 1132 % 1133 Alliance, n.: 1134 In international politics, the union of two thieves who have 1135 their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot 1136 separately plunder a third. 1137 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1138 % 1139 Alone, adj.: 1140 In bad company. 1141 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1142 % 1143 Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight 1144 Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing. 1145 -- Dave Barry 1146 % 1147 Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away. 1148 % 1149 Although we modern persons tend to take our electric lights, radios, 1150 mixers, etc., for granted, hundreds of years ago people did not have 1151 any of these things, which is just as well because there was no place 1152 to plug them in. Then along came the first Electrical Pioneer, 1153 Benjamin Franklin, who flew a kite in a lighting storm and received a 1154 serious electrical shock. This proved that lighting was powered by the 1155 same force as carpets, but it also damaged Franklin's brain so severely 1156 that he started speaking only in incomprehensible maxims, such as "A 1157 penny saved is a penny earned." Eventually he had to be given a job 1158 running the post office. 1159 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?" 1160 % 1161 Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been 1162 reissued by the Grove Press, and this pictorial account of the 1163 day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is full of considerable 1164 interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on 1165 pheasant-raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin, 1166 and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper. 1167 Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous 1168 material in order to discover and savour those sidelights on the 1169 management of a midland shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion 1170 the book cannot take the place of J. R. Miller's "Practical 1171 Gamekeeping." 1172 -- Ed Zern, "Field and Stream" (Nov. 1959) 1173 % 1174 Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid 1175 back. 1176 % 1177 Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. 1178 % 1179 Always try to do things in chronological order; it's less confusing 1180 that way. 1181 % 1182 Am I ranting? I hope so. My ranting gets raves. 1183 % 1184 AMAZING BUT TRUE ... 1185 1186 If all the salmon caught in Canada in one year were laid end to end 1187 across the Sahara Desert, the smell would be absolutely awful. 1188 % 1189 AMAZING BUT TRUE ... 1190 1191 There is so much sand in Northern Africa that if it were spread out it 1192 would completely cover the Sahara Desert. 1193 % 1194 Ambidextrous, adj.: 1195 Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left. 1196 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1197 % 1198 Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. 1199 -- Charlie McCarthy 1200 % 1201 America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism 1202 to decadence without touching civilization. 1203 -- John O'Hara 1204 % 1205 America was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci and was named after him, 1206 until people got tired of living in a place called "Vespuccia" and 1207 changed its name to "America". 1208 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 1209 % 1210 American business long ago gave up on demanding that prospective 1211 employees be honest and hardworking. It has even stopped hoping for 1212 employees who are educated enough that they can tell the difference 1213 between the men's room and the women's room without having little 1214 pictures on the doors. 1215 -- Dave Barry, "Urine Trouble, Mister" 1216 % 1217 Amnesia used to be my favorite word, but then I forgot it. 1218 % 1219 An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because 1220 people refuse to see it. 1221 -- James Michener, "Space" 1222 % 1223 An American's a person who isn't afraid to criticize the President but 1224 is always polite to traffic cops. 1225 % 1226 An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to 1227 New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they have Tide but 1228 not new Tide with lemon-fresh Borax. 1229 -- David Letterman 1230 % 1231 An apple every eight hours will keep three doctors away. 1232 % 1233 An architect's first work is apt to be spare and clean. He 1234 knows he doesn't know what he's doing, so he does it carefully and with 1235 great restraint. 1236 As he designs the first work, frill after frill and 1237 embellishment after embellishment occur to him. These get stored away 1238 to be used "next time". Sooner or later the first system is finished, 1239 and the architect, with firm confidence and a demonstrated mastery of 1240 that class of systems, is ready to build a second system. 1241 This second is the most dangerous system a man ever designs. 1242 When he does his third and later ones, his prior experiences will 1243 confirm each other as to the general characteristics of such systems, 1244 and their differences will identify those parts of his experience that 1245 are particular and not generalizable. 1246 The general tendency is to over-design the second system, using 1247 all the ideas and frills that were cautiously sidetracked on the first 1248 one. The result, as Ovid says, is a "big pile". 1249 -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month" 1250 % 1251 An artist should be fit for the best society and keep out of it. 1252 % 1253 An attorney was defending his client against a charge of first-degree 1254 murder. "Your Honor, my client is accused of stuffing his lover's 1255 mutilated body into a suitcase and heading for the Mexican border. 1256 Just north of Tijuana a cop spotted her hand sticking out of the 1257 suitcase. Now, I would like to stress that my client is *not* a 1258 murderer. A sloppy packer, maybe..." 1259 % 1260 An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you 1261 really care to know. 1262 % 1263 An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible. 1264 % 1265 An elephant is a mouse with an operating system. 1266 % 1267 An English judge, growing weary of the barrister's long-winded 1268 summation, leaned over the bench and remarked, "I've heard your 1269 arguments, Sir Geoffrey, and I'm none the wiser!" Sir Geoffrey 1270 responded, "That may be, Milord, but at least you're better informed!" 1271 % 1272 An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose. 1273 -- A. P. Herbert 1274 % 1275 An excellence-oriented '80s male does not wear a regular watch. He 1276 wears a Rolex watch, because it weighs nearly six pounds and is 1277 advertised only in excellence-oriented publications such as Fortune and 1278 Rich Protestant Golfer Magazine. The advertisements are written in 1279 incomplete sentences, which is how advertising copywriters denote 1280 excellence: 1281 1282 The Rolex Hyperion. An elegant new standard in quality excellence and 1283 discriminating handcraftsmanship. For the individual who is truly able 1284 to discriminate with regard to excellent quality standards of crafting 1285 things by hand. Fabricated of 100 percent 24-karat gold. No watch 1286 parts or anything. Just a great big chunk on your wrist. Truly a 1287 timeless statement. For the individual who is very secure. Who 1288 doesn't need to be reminded all the time that he is very successful. 1289 Much more successful than the people who laughed at him in high 1290 school. Because of his acne. People who are probably nowhere near as 1291 successful as he is now. Maybe he'll go to his 20th reunion, and 1292 they'll see his Rolex Hyperion. Hahahahahahahahaha. 1293 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence" 1294 % 1295 An exotic journey in downtown Newark is in your future. 1296 % 1297 ... an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often 1298 picturesque liar. 1299 -- Mark Twain 1300 % 1301 An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these 1302 eyes we cannot bear to look out of, we blind them as quickly as 1303 possible. 1304 -- Russell Hoban, "Pilgermann" 1305 % 1306 An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. 1307 % 1308 An old Jewish man reads about Einstein's theory of relativity 1309 in the newspaper and asks his scientist grandson to explain it to him. 1310 "Well, zayda, it's sort of like this. Einstein says that if 1311 you're having your teeth drilled without Novocain, a minute seems like 1312 an hour. But if you're sitting with a beautiful woman on your lap, an 1313 hour seems like a minute." 1314 The old man considers this profound bit of thinking for a 1315 moment and says, "And from this he makes a living?" 1316 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 1317 % 1318 An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of purge. 1319 % 1320 Anarchy may not be the best form of government, but it's better than no 1321 government at all. 1322 % 1323 And as we stand on the edge of darkness 1324 Let our chant fill the void 1325 That others may know 1326 1327 In the land of the night 1328 The ship of the sun 1329 Is drawn by 1330 The grateful dead. 1331 1332 -- Tibetan "Book of the Dead," ca. 4000 BC. 1333 % 1334 ... and furthermore ... I don't like your trousers. 1335 % 1336 And I heard Jeff exclaim, 1337 As they strolled out of sight, 1338 "Merry Christmas to all -- 1339 You take credit cards, right?" 1340 -- "Outsiders" comic 1341 % 1342 ... And malt does more than Milton can 1343 To justify God's ways to man 1344 -- A. E. Housman 1345 % 1346 And on the seventh day, He exited from append mode. 1347 % 1348 ... And remember: if you don't like the news, go out and make some of 1349 your own. 1350 -- "Scoop" Nisker, KFOG radio reporter 1351 Preposterous Words 1352 % 1353 And so, men, we can see that human skin is an even more complex and 1354 fascinating organ than we thought it was, and if we want to keep it 1355 looking good, we have to care for it as though it were our own. One 1356 approach is to undergo a painful surgical procedure wherein your skin 1357 is turned inside-out, so the young cells are on the outside, but then 1358 of course you have the unpleasant side effect that your insides 1359 gradually fill up with dead old cells and you explode. So this 1360 procedure is pretty much limited to top Hollywood stars for whom 1361 youthful beauty is a career necessity, such as Elizabeth Taylor and 1362 Orson Welles. 1363 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face" 1364 % 1365 ...and the fully armed nuclear warheads, are, of course, merely a 1366 courtesy detail. 1367 % 1368 And this is a table ma'am. What in essence it consists of is a 1369 horizontal rectilinear plane surface maintained by four vertical 1370 columnar supports, which we call legs. The tables in this laboratory, 1371 ma'am, are as advanced in design as one will find anywhere in the 1372 world. 1373 -- Michael Frayn, "The Tin Men" 1374 % 1375 "And what will you do when you grow up to be as big as me?" 1376 asked the father of his little son. 1377 "Diet." 1378 % 1379 And yet, seasons must be taken with a grain of salt, for they too have 1380 a sense of humor, as does history. Corn stalks comedy, comedy stalks 1381 tragedy, and this too is historic. And yet, still, when corn meets 1382 tragedy face to face, we have politics. 1383 -- Dalglish, Larsen and Sutherland, "Root Crops and 1384 Ground Cover" 1385 % 1386 Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes. 1387 Galileo: No, unhappy the land that _____needs heroes. 1388 -- Bertolt Brecht, "Life of Galileo" 1389 % 1390 Angels we have heard on High 1391 Tell us to go out and Buy. 1392 -- Tom Lehrer 1393 % 1394 Ankh if you love Isis. 1395 % 1396 Anoint, v.: 1397 To grease a king or other great functionary already 1398 sufficiently slippery. 1399 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1400 % 1401 Another Glitch in the Call 1402 ------- ------ -- --- ---- 1403 (Sung to the tune of a recent Pink Floyd song.) 1404 1405 We don't need no indirection 1406 We don't need no flow control 1407 No data typing or declarations 1408 Did you leave the lists alone? 1409 1410 Hey! Hacker! Leave those lists alone! 1411 1412 Chorus: 1413 All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call. 1414 All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call. 1415 % 1416 Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree. 1417 % 1418 Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but 1419 television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom 1420 and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that 1421 offers whiter teeth *___and* fresher breath. 1422 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do" 1423 % 1424 Answers to Last Fortune's Questions: 1425 1426 (1) None. (Moses didn't have an ark). 1427 (2) Your mother, by the pigeonhole principle. 1428 (3) I don't know. 1429 (4) Who cares? 1430 (5) 6 (or maybe 4, or else 3). Mr. Alfred J. Duncan of Podunk, 1431 Montana, submitted an interesting solution to Problem 5. 1432 (6) There is an interesting solution to this problem on page 1029 of my 1433 book, which you can pick up for $23.95 at finer bookstores and 1434 bathroom supply outlets (or 99 cents at the table in front of 1435 Papyrus Books). 1436 % 1437 Anthony's Law of Force: 1438 Don't force it; get a larger hammer. 1439 % 1440 Anthony's Law of the Workshop: 1441 Any tool when dropped, will roll into the least accessible 1442 corner of the workshop. 1443 1444 Corollary: 1445 On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first strike 1446 your toes. 1447 % 1448 Antonym, n.: 1449 The opposite of the word you're trying to think of. 1450 % 1451 Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art. 1452 -- Charles McCabe 1453 % 1454 Any dramatic series the producers want us to take seriously as a 1455 representation of contemporary reality cannot be taken seriously as a 1456 representation of anything -- except a show to be ignored by anyone 1457 capable of sitting upright in a chair and chewing gum simultaneously. 1458 -- Richard Schickel 1459 % 1460 Any excuse will serve a tyrant. 1461 -- Aesop 1462 % 1463 Any father who thinks he's all important should remind himself that 1464 this country honors fathers only one day a year while pickles get a 1465 whole week. 1466 % 1467 Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise person to be able to 1468 sell it. 1469 % 1470 Any great truth can -- and eventually will -- be expressed as a cliche 1471 -- a cliche is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance, 1472 my grandmother used to say, "The black cat is always the last one off 1473 the fence." I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was 1474 undoubtedly true. 1475 -- Solomon Short 1476 % 1477 Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there. 1478 -- Sydney J. Harris 1479 % 1480 Any small object that is accidentally dropped will hide under a larger 1481 object. 1482 % 1483 Any stone in your boot always migrates against the pressure gradient to 1484 exactly the point of most pressure. 1485 -- Milt Barber 1486 % 1487 Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature. 1488 -- Rich Kulawiec 1489 % 1490 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged 1491 demo. 1492 -- Andy Finkel, Commodore-Amiga Inc. 1493 % 1494 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. 1495 -- Arthur C. Clarke 1496 % 1497 Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked 1498 something. 1499 % 1500 Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours. 1501 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1502 % 1503 Anybody can win, unless there happens to be a second entry. 1504 % 1505 Anybody who doesn't cut his speed at the sight of a police car is 1506 probably parked. 1507 % 1508 Anybody with money to burn will easily find someone to tend the fire. 1509 % 1510 Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is 1511 supposed to be doing at the moment. 1512 -- Robert Benchley 1513 % 1514 Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. 1515 -- Publius Syrus 1516 % 1517 Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with 1518 none. 1519 % 1520 Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he 1521 is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not 1522 make messes in the house. 1523 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 1524 % 1525 Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined. 1526 -- Samuel Goldwyn 1527 % 1528 Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. 1529 -- W. C. Fields 1530 % 1531 Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no 1532 account be allowed to do the job. 1533 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 1534 % 1535 Anyone who uses the phrase "easy as taking candy from a baby" has never 1536 tried taking candy from a baby. 1537 -- Robin Hood 1538 % 1539 Anything free is worth what you pay for it. 1540 % 1541 Anything is good if it's made of chocolate. 1542 % 1543 Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the 1544 price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW" 1545 means the price went way up. 1546 % 1547 Anything that is good and useful is made of chocolate. 1548 % 1549 Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. 1550 % 1551 Apathy is not the problem, it's the solution. 1552 % 1553 Aphorism, n.: 1554 A concise, clever statement. 1555 Afterism, n.: 1556 A concise, clever statement you don't think of until too late. 1557 -- James Alexander Thom 1558 % 1559 APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of 1560 the future for the problems of the past: it creates a new generation of 1561 coding bums. 1562 % 1563 APL is a write-only language. I can write programs in APL, but I 1564 can't read any of them. 1565 -- Roy Keir 1566 % 1567 Aquadextrous, adj.: 1568 Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off 1569 with your toes. 1570 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 1571 % 1572 AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18) 1573 You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive. 1574 You lie a great deal. On the other hand, you are inclined to 1575 be careless and impractical, causing you to make the same 1576 mistakes over and over again. People think you are stupid. 1577 % 1578 Arbitrary systems, pl.n.: 1579 Systems about which nothing general can be said, save "nothing 1580 general can be said." 1581 % 1582 ARCHDUKE FERDINAND FOUND ALIVE -- 1583 FIRST WORLD WAR A MISTAKE 1584 % 1585 Are you a turtle? 1586 % 1587 Arguments with furniture are rarely productive. 1588 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 1589 % 1590 ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 19) 1591 You are the pioneer type and hold most people in contempt. You 1592 are quick tempered, impatient, and scornful of advice. You are 1593 not very nice. 1594 % 1595 Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your 1596 shoes. 1597 -- Mickey Mouse 1598 % 1599 Armadillo: 1600 To provide weapons to a Spanish pickle 1601 % 1602 Arnold's Laws of Documentation: 1603 (1) If it should exist, it doesn't. 1604 (2) If it does exist, it's out of date. 1605 (3) Only documentation for useless programs transcends the 1606 first two laws. 1607 % 1608 Around computers it is difficult to find the correct unit of time to 1609 measure progress. Some cathedrals took a century to complete. Can you 1610 imagine the grandeur and scope of a program that would take as long? 1611 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 1612 % 1613 Art is anything you can get away with. 1614 -- Marshall McLuhan 1615 % 1616 Art is either plagiarism or revolution. 1617 -- Paul Gauguin 1618 % 1619 Arthur's Laws of Love: 1620 (1) People to whom you are attracted invariably think you 1621 remind them of someone else. 1622 (2) The love letter you finally got the courage to send will be 1623 delayed in the mail long enough for you to make a fool of 1624 yourself in person. 1625 % 1626 Artistic ventures highlighted. Rob a museum. 1627 % 1628 As a professional humorist, I often get letters from readers who are 1629 interested in the basic nature of humor. "What kind of a sick 1630 perverted disgusting person are you," these letters typically ask, 1631 "that you make jokes about setting fire to a goat?" 1632 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny" 1633 % 1634 As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual 1635 certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life -- so I 1636 became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can 1637 meet girls. 1638 -- Matt Cartmill 1639 % 1640 As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not 1641 certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. 1642 -- Albert Einstein 1643 % 1644 As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error. 1645 -- Weisert 1646 % 1647 As I was going up Punch Card Hill, 1648 Feeling worse and worser, 1649 There I met a C.R.T. 1650 And it drop't me a cursor. 1651 1652 C.R.T., C.R.T., 1653 Phosphors light on you! 1654 If I had fifty hours a day 1655 I'd spend them all at you. 1656 1657 -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes 1658 % 1659 As I was passing Project MAC, 1660 I met a Quux with seven hacks. 1661 Every hack had seven bugs; 1662 Every bug had seven manifestations; 1663 Every manifestation had seven symptoms. 1664 Symptoms, manifestations, bugs, and hacks, 1665 How many losses at Project MAC? 1666 % 1667 As long as I am mayor of this city [Jersey City, New Jersey] the great 1668 industries are secure. We hear about constitutional rights, free 1669 speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to 1670 myself, "That man is a Red, that man is a Communist". You never hear a 1671 real American talk like that. 1672 -- Frank Hague (1896-1956) 1673 % 1674 As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong? 1675 % 1676 As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its 1677 fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be 1678 popular. 1679 -- Oscar Wilde 1680 % 1681 As of next week, passwords will be entered in Morse code. 1682 % 1683 As part of the conversion, computer specialists rewrote 1,500 1684 programs; a process that traditionally requires some debugging. 1685 -- USA Today, referring to the IRS switchover to a new 1686 computer system. 1687 % 1688 As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it 1689 wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had 1690 to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized 1691 that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in 1692 finding mistakes in my own programs. 1693 -- Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949 1694 % 1695 As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" -- probably because it's 1696 so hard to figure out how to get the bark on. 1697 -- Woody Allen 1698 % 1699 As the trials of life continue to take their toll, remember that there 1700 is always a future in Computer Maintenance. 1701 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 1702 % 1703 As Will Rogers would have said, "There is no such thing as a free 1704 variable." 1705 % 1706 As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple 1707 memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time 1708 to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A, 1709 E, or U is the proper time for chocolate. 1710 -- Sandra Boynton, "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion" 1711 % 1712 As you know, birds do not have sexual organs because they would 1713 interfere with flight. [In fact, this was the big breakthrough for the 1714 Wright Brothers. They were watching birds one day, trying to figure 1715 out how to get their crude machine to fly, when suddenly it dawned on 1716 Wilbur. "Orville," he said, "all we have to do is remove the sexual 1717 organs!" You should have seen their original design.] As a result, 1718 birds are very, very difficult to arouse sexually. You almost never 1719 see an aroused bird. So when they want to reproduce, birds fly up and 1720 stand on telephone lines, where they monitor telephone conversations 1721 with their feet. When they find a conversation in which people are 1722 talking dirty, they grip the line very tightly until they are both 1723 highly aroused, at which point the female gets pregnant. 1724 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every 1725 Teen Should Know" 1726 % 1727 As you reach for the web, a venomous spider appears. Unable to pull 1728 your hand away in time, the spider promptly, but politely, bites you. 1729 The venom takes affect quickly causing your lips to turn plaid along 1730 with your complexion. You become dazed, and in your stupor you fall 1731 from the limbs of the tree. Snap! Your head falls off and rolls all 1732 over the ground. The instant before you croak, you hear the whoosh of 1733 a vacuum being filled by the air surrounding your head. Worse yet, the 1734 spider is suing you for damages. 1735 % 1736 As Zeus said to Narcissus, "Watch yourself." 1737 % 1738 ASHes to ASHes, DOS to DOS. 1739 % 1740 Ask five economists and you'll get five different explanations (six if 1741 one went to Harvard). 1742 -- Edgar R. Fiedler 1743 % 1744 Ask not for whom the <CONTROL-G> tolls. 1745 % 1746 Ask Not for whom the Bell Tolls, and You will Pay only the 1747 Station-to-Station rate. 1748 % 1749 Ask not for whom the telephone bell tolls ... if thou art in the 1750 bathtub, it tolls for thee. 1751 % 1752 Ask your boss to reconsider -- it's so difficult to take "Go to hell" 1753 for an answer. 1754 % 1755 Asked by reporters about his upcoming marriage to a forty-two-year-old 1756 woman, director Roman Polanski told reporters, `The way I look at it, 1757 she's the equivalent of three fourteen-year-olds.' 1758 -- David Letterman 1759 % 1760 Ass, n.: 1761 The masculine of "lass". 1762 % 1763 Associate with well-mannered persons and your manners will improve. 1764 Run with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be 1765 strengthened. Keep the company of bums and you will become a bum. 1766 Hang around with rich people and you will end by picking up the check 1767 and dying broke. 1768 -- Stanley Walker 1769 % 1770 At a recent meeting in Snowmass, Colorado, a participant from Los 1771 Angeles fainted from hyperoxygenation, and we had to hold his head 1772 under the exhaust of a bus until he revived. 1773 % 1774 At any given moment, an arrow must be either where it is or where it is 1775 not. But obviously it cannot be where it is not. And if it is where 1776 it is, that is equivalent to saying that it is at rest. 1777 -- Zeno's paradox of the moving (still?) arrow 1778 % 1779 At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial 1780 challenge roughly comparable to herding cats. 1781 -- The Washington Post Magazine, June 9, 1985 1782 % 1783 ... at least I thought I was dancing, 'til somebody stepped on my hand. 1784 -- J. B. White 1785 % 1786 At least they're ___________EXPERIENCED incompetents 1787 % 1788 At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his 1789 thumb with a hammer. 1790 -- Marshall Lumsden 1791 % 1792 At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will 1793 find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on 1794 the computer. 1795 % 1796 Atlanta makes it against the law to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole 1797 or street lamp. 1798 % 1799 Atlee is a very modest man. And with reason. 1800 -- Winston Churchill 1801 % 1802 Authors (and perhaps columnists) eventually rise to the top of whatever 1803 depths they were once able to plumb. 1804 -- Stanley Kaufman 1805 % 1806 Automobile, n.: 1807 A four-wheeled vehicle that runs up hills and down pedestrians. 1808 % 1809 Avoid Quiet and Placid persons unless you are in Need of Sleep. 1810 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 1811 % 1812 Avoid reality at all costs. 1813 % 1814 Avoid revolution or expect to get shot. Mother and I will grieve, but 1815 we will gladly buy a dinner for the National Guardsman who shot you. 1816 -- Dr. Paul Williamson, father of a student entering 1817 school in the fall after the Kent State shootings 1818 % 1819 Bacchus, n.: 1820 A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for 1821 getting drunk. 1822 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1823 % 1824 Bagbiter: 1825 1. n.; Equipment or program that fails, usually 1826 intermittently. 2. adj.: Failing hardware or software. "This 1827 bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." Usage: verges on 1828 obscenity. Grammatically separable; one may speak of "biting the 1829 bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, BARFUCIOUS, 1830 CHOMPER, CHOMPING. 1831 % 1832 Bagdikian's Observation: 1833 Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American 1834 newspaper is like trying to play Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" on a 1835 ukulele. 1836 % 1837 Baker's First Law of Federal Geometry: 1838 A block grant is a solid mass of money surrounded on all sides 1839 by governors. 1840 % 1841 Ban the bomb. Save the world for conventional warfare. 1842 % 1843 Banectomy, n.: 1844 The removal of bruises on a banana. 1845 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 1846 % 1847 Bank error in your favor. Collect $200. 1848 % 1849 Barach's Rule: 1850 An alcoholic is a person who drinks more than his own physician. 1851 % 1852 Bare feet magnetize sharp metal objects so they point upward from the 1853 floor -- especially in the dark. 1854 % 1855 Barometer, n.: 1856 An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we 1857 are having. 1858 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1859 % 1860 Barth's Distinction: 1861 There are two types of people: those who divide people into two 1862 types, and those who don't. 1863 % 1864 Baruch's Observation: 1865 If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. 1866 % 1867 Baseball is a skilled game. It's America's game -- it, and high 1868 taxes. 1869 -- Will Rogers 1870 % 1871 Basic is a high level languish. 1872 APL is a high level anguish. 1873 % 1874 BASIC is the Computer Science equivalent of `Scientific Creationism'. 1875 % 1876 BASIC, n.: 1877 A programming language. Related to certain social diseases in 1878 that those who have it will not admit it in polite company. 1879 % 1880 Bathquake, n.: 1881 The violent quake that rattles the entire house when the water 1882 faucet is turned on to a certain point. 1883 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 1884 % 1885 Be a better psychiatrist and the world will beat a psychopath to your 1886 door. 1887 % 1888 BE ALERT!!!! (The world needs more lerts ...) 1889 % 1890 Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely 1891 get your Feet wet. Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your 1892 face. 1893 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 1894 % 1895 Be braver -- you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. 1896 % 1897 Be careful of reading health books. You might die of a misprint. 1898 -- Mark Twain 1899 % 1900 Be different: conform. 1901 % 1902 Be free and open and breezy! Enjoy! Things won't get any better so 1903 get used to it. 1904 % 1905 Be security conscious -- National Defense is at stake. 1906 % 1907 Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and 1908 miss 1909 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 1910 % 1911 Bees are very busy souls 1912 They have no time for birth controls 1913 And that is why in times like these 1914 There are so many Sons of Bees. 1915 % 1916 Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and 1917 took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his 1918 followers. 1919 One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and 1920 there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing. 1921 "Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his 1922 commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile? What is your 1923 Purpose in Life, anyway?" 1924 Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU". (The 1925 Chinese ideogram for NO-THING.) 1926 Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened. 1927 Primarily because nobody understood Chinese. 1928 -- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters" 1929 % 1930 Before Xerox, five carbons were the maximum extension of anybody's ego. 1931 % 1932 Begathon, n.: 1933 A multi-day event on public television, used to raise money so 1934 you won't have to watch commercials. 1935 % 1936 Behold the warranty ... the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh 1937 away. 1938 % 1939 Beifeld's Principle: 1940 The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and 1941 receptive young female increases by pyramidal progression when he is 1942 already in the company of: (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) a better 1943 looking and richer male friend. 1944 % 1945 "Being disintegrated makes me ve-ry an-gry!" <huff, huff> 1946 % 1947 Bell Labs Unix -- Reach out and grep someone. 1948 % 1949 Bennett's Laws of Horticulture: 1950 (1) Houses are for people to live in. 1951 (2) Gardens are for plants to live in. 1952 (3) There is no such thing as a houseplant. 1953 % 1954 Benson, you are so free of the ravages of intelligence. 1955 -- Time Bandits 1956 % 1957 Besides the device, the box should contain: 1958 1959 * Eight little rectangular snippets of paper that say "WARNING" 1960 1961 * A plastic packet containing four 5/17 inch pilfer grommets and two 1962 club-ended 6/93 inch boxcar prawns. 1963 1964 YOU WILL NEED TO SUPPLY: a matrix wrench and 60,000 feet of tram 1965 cable. 1966 1967 IF ANYTHING IS DAMAGED OR MISSING: You IMMEDIATELY should turn to your 1968 spouse and say: "Margaret, you know why this country can't make a car 1969 that can get all the way through the drive-through at Burger King 1970 without a major transmission overhaul? Because nobody cares, that's 1971 why." 1972 1973 WARNING: This is assuming your spouse's name is Margaret. 1974 -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!" 1975 % 1976 Best of all is never to have been born. Second best is to die soon. 1977 % 1978 better !pout !cry 1979 better watchout 1980 lpr why 1981 santa claus <north pole >town 1982 1983 cat /etc/passwd >list 1984 ncheck list 1985 ncheck list 1986 cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist 1987 cat list | grep nice >giftlist 1988 santa claus <north pole > town 1989 1990 who | grep sleeping 1991 who | grep awake 1992 who | egrep 'bad|good' 1993 for (goodness sake) { 1994 be good 1995 } 1996 % 1997 Better dead than mellow. 1998 % 1999 Between 1950 and 1952, a bored weatherman, stationed north of Hudson 2000 Bay, left a monument that neither government nor time can eradicate. 2001 Using a bulldozer abandoned by the Air Force, he spent two years and 2002 great effort pushing boulders into a single word. 2003 2004 It can be seen from 10,000 feet, silhouetted against the snow. 2005 Government officials exchanged memos full of circumlocutions (no Latin 2006 equivalent exists) but failed to word an appropriation bill for the 2007 destruction of this cairn, that wouldn't alert the press and embarrass 2008 both Parliament and Party. 2009 2010 It stands today, a monument to human spirit. If life exists on other 2011 planets, this may be the first message received from us. 2012 -- The Realist, November, 1964 2013 % 2014 Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not 2015 tried it. 2016 -- Donald Knuth 2017 % 2018 Beware of computerized fortune-tellers! 2019 % 2020 Beware of low-flying butterflies. 2021 % 2022 Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers. 2023 -- Leonard Brandwein 2024 % 2025 Beware of self-styled experts: an ex is a has-been, and a spurt is a 2026 drip under pressure. 2027 % 2028 Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and 2029 finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of 2030 murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by 2031 their ignorance the hard way. 2032 -- Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle" 2033 % 2034 Beware of the Turing Tar-pit in which everything is possible but 2035 nothing of interest is easy. 2036 % 2037 Binary, adj.: 2038 Possessing the ability to have friends of both sexes. 2039 % 2040 Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same 2041 thing as division. 2042 % 2043 Bipolar, adj.: 2044 Refers to someone who has homes in Nome, Alaska, and Buffalo, 2045 New York 2046 % 2047 Birth, n.: 2048 The first and direst of all disasters. 2049 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2050 % 2051 Bizarreness is the essence of the exotic. 2052 % 2053 Bizoos, n.: 2054 The millions of tiny individual bumps that make up a 2055 basketball. 2056 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 2057 % 2058 ... bleakness ... desolation ... plastic forks ... 2059 % 2060 Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt. 2061 -- Herbert Hoover 2062 % 2063 Blessed are they who Go Around in Circles, 2064 for they Shall be Known as Wheels. 2065 % 2066 BLISS is ignorance. 2067 % 2068 Blood flows down one leg and up the other. 2069 % 2070 Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier. 2071 % 2072 Blore's Razor: 2073 Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is 2074 funnier. 2075 % 2076 Board the windows, up your car insurance, and don't leave any booze in 2077 plain sight. It's St. Patrick's day in Chicago again. The legend has 2078 it that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. In fact, he was 2079 arrested for drunk driving. The snakes left because people kept 2080 throwing up on them. 2081 % 2082 Boling's postulate: 2083 If you're feeling good, don't worry. You'll get over it. 2084 % 2085 Bolub's Fourth Law of Computerdom: 2086 Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so 2087 vividly manifests their lack of progress. 2088 % 2089 Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: 2090 Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. 2091 % 2092 BOO! We changed Coke again! BLEAH! BLEAH! 2093 % 2094 Boob's Law: 2095 You always find something in the last place you look. 2096 % 2097 Bore, n.: 2098 A guy who wraps up a two-minute idea in a two-hour vocabulary. 2099 -- Walter Winchell 2100 % 2101 Bore, n.: 2102 A person who talks when you wish him to listen. 2103 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2104 % 2105 Boren's Laws: 2106 (1) When in charge, ponder. 2107 (2) When in trouble, delegate. 2108 (3) When in doubt, mumble. 2109 % 2110 Boss, n.: 2111 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the Middle Ages 2112 the words "boss" and "botch" were largely synonymous, except that boss, 2113 in addition to meaning "a supervisor of workers" also meant "an 2114 ornamental stud." 2115 % 2116 Boston State House is the hub of the Solar System. You couldn't pry 2117 that out of a Boston man if you had the tire of all creation 2118 straightened out for a crowbar. 2119 -- O. W. Holmes 2120 % 2121 Boston, n.: 2122 Ludwig van Beethoven being jeered by 50,000 sports fans for 2123 finishing second in the Irish jig competition. 2124 % 2125 Boy, life takes a long time to live. 2126 -- Steven Wright 2127 % 2128 Boy, n.: 2129 A noise with dirt on it. 2130 % 2131 Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least 2132 when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years. 2133 -- James Thurber 2134 % 2135 Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. 2136 -- Kim Hubbard 2137 % 2138 Brace yourselves. We're about to try something that borders on the 2139 unique: an actually rather serious technical book which is not only 2140 (gasp) vehemently anti-Solemn, but also (shudder) takes sides. I tend 2141 to think of it as `Constructive Snottiness.' 2142 -- Mike Padlipsky, Foreword to "Elements of Networking Style" 2143 % 2144 Bradley's Bromide: 2145 If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a 2146 committee -- that will do them in. 2147 % 2148 Brady's First Law of Problem Solving: 2149 When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more 2150 easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have 2151 handled this?" 2152 % 2153 Brain fried -- Core dumped 2154 % 2155 Brain, n.: 2156 The apparatus with which we think that we think. 2157 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2158 % 2159 Brain, v. [as in "to brain"]: 2160 To rebuke bluntly, but not pointedly; to dispel a source of 2161 error in an opponent. 2162 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2163 % 2164 Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests, 2165 since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind. 2166 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 2167 % 2168 Bride, n.: 2169 A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her. 2170 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2171 % 2172 Bringing computers into the home won't change either one, but may 2173 revitalize the corner saloon. 2174 % 2175 British Israelites: 2176 The British Israelites believe the white Anglo-Saxons of 2177 Britain to be descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel deported by 2178 Sargon of Assyria on the fall of Sumeria in 721 B.C. ... They further 2179 believe that the future can be foretold by the measurements of the 2180 Great Pyramid, which probably means it will be big and yellow and in 2181 the hand of the Arabs. They also believe that if you sleep with your 2182 head under the pillow a fairy will come and take all your teeth. 2183 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 2184 % 2185 Broad-mindedness, n.: 2186 The result of flattening high-mindedness out. 2187 % 2188 Brontosaurus Principle: 2189 Organizations can grow faster than their brains can manage them 2190 in relation to their environment and to their own physiology: when 2191 this occurs, they are an endangered species. 2192 -- Thomas K. Connellan 2193 % 2194 Brook's Law: 2195 Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later 2196 % 2197 Brooke's Law: 2198 Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool 2199 discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it 2200 beyond recognition. 2201 % 2202 Bubble Memory, n.: 2203 A derogatory term, usually referring to a person's 2204 intelligence. See also "vacuum tube". 2205 % 2206 Bucy's Law: 2207 Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man. 2208 % 2209 Bug, n.: 2210 An aspect of a computer program which exists because the 2211 programmer was thinking about Jumbo Jacks or stock options when s/he 2212 wrote the program. 2213 2214 Fortunately, the second-to-last bug has just been fixed. 2215 -- Ray Simard 2216 % 2217 Bugs, pl. n.: 2218 Small living things that small living boys throw on small 2219 living girls. 2220 % 2221 BULLWINKLE: "You just leave that to my pal. He's the brains of the 2222 outfit." 2223 GENERAL: "What does that make YOU?" 2224 BULLWINKLE: "What else? An executive." 2225 -- Jay Ward 2226 % 2227 Bumper sticker: 2228 2229 All the parts falling off this car are of the very finest British 2230 manufacture. 2231 % 2232 Bureaucrat, n.: 2233 A person who cuts red tape sideways. 2234 -- J. McCabe 2235 % 2236 Bureaucrat, n.: 2237 A politician who has tenure. 2238 % 2239 Bureaucrats cut red tape -- lengthwise. 2240 % 2241 Burn's Hog Weighing Method: 2242 (1) Get a perfectly symmetrical plank and balance it across a 2243 sawhorse. 2244 (2) Put the hog on one end of the plank. 2245 (3) Pile rocks on the other end until the plank is again 2246 perfectly balanced. 2247 (4) Carefully guess the weight of the rocks. 2248 -- Robert Burns 2249 % 2250 But as records of courts and justice are admissible, it can 2251 easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed 2252 and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) 2253 upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was 2254 without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based 2255 on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court 2256 was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and 2257 sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, 2258 human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value. 2259 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2260 % 2261 But don't you worry, its for a cause -- feeding global corporations paws. 2262 % 2263 But I don't like Spam!!!! 2264 % 2265 But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human 2266 intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as 2267 we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy in issues 2268 that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our understanding 2269 of their world, not in their distorted perceptions. Even the standard 2270 example of ancient nonsense -- the debate about angels on pinheads -- 2271 makes sense once you realize that theologians were not discussing 2272 whether five or eighteen would fit, but whether a pin could house a 2273 finite or an infinite number. 2274 -- S. J. Gould, "Wide Hats and Narrow Minds" 2275 % 2276 But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the 2277 system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed, 2278 analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses. 2279 -- Bruce Leverett, "Register Allocation in Optimizing 2280 Compilers" 2281 % 2282 But officer, I was only trying to gain enough speed so I could coast 2283 to the nearest gas station. 2284 % 2285 But scientists, who ought to know 2286 Assure us that it must be so. 2287 Oh, let us never, never doubt 2288 What nobody is sure about. 2289 -- Hilaire Belloc 2290 % 2291 But soft you, the fair Ophelia: 2292 Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws, 2293 But get thee to a nunnery -- go! 2294 -- Mark "The Bard" Twain 2295 % 2296 But the greatest Electrical Pioneer of them all was Thomas Edison, who 2297 was a brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal 2298 education and lived in New Jersey. Edison's first major invention in 2299 1877, was the phonograph, which could soon be found in thousands of 2300 American homes, where it basically sat until 1923, when the record was 2301 invented. But Edison's greatest achievement came in 1879, when he 2302 invented the electric company. Edison's design was a brilliant 2303 adaptation of the simple electrical circuit: the electric company sends 2304 electricity through a wire to a customer, then immediately gets the 2305 electricity back through another wire, then (this is the brilliant 2306 part) sends it right back to the customer again. 2307 2308 This means that an electric company can sell a customer the same batch 2309 of electricity thousands of times a day and never get caught, since 2310 very few customers take the time to examine their electricity closely. 2311 In fact the last year any new electricity was generated in the United 2312 States was 1937; the electric companies have been merely re-selling it 2313 ever since, which is why they have so much free time to apply for rate 2314 increases. 2315 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?" 2316 % 2317 But this has taken us far afield from interface, which is not a bad 2318 place to be, since I particularly want to move ahead to the kludge. 2319 Why do people have so much trouble understanding the kludge? What is a 2320 kludge, after all, but not enough Ks, not enough ROMs, not enough RAMs, 2321 poor quality interface and too few bytes to go around? Have I 2322 explained yet about the bytes? 2323 % 2324 ... But we've only fondled the surface of that subject. 2325 -- Virginia Masters 2326 % 2327 But what we need to know is, do people want nasally-insertable 2328 computers? 2329 % 2330 Buzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes 2331 Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn; 2332 Less dear than army ants in apple pies 2333 Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn, 2334 Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit; 2335 Like honeybees upon the perfum'd rose 2336 They suck, and like the double-breasted suit 2337 Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose, 2338 Go fly a kite, thy welcome's overstayed; 2339 And stem the produce of thy waspish wits: 2340 Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed; 2341 Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits. 2342 Be off, I say; go bug somebody new, 2343 Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you. 2344 % 2345 By doing just a little every day, you can gradually let the task 2346 completely overwhelm you. 2347 % 2348 By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, 2349 it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to 2350 invent. 2351 -- R. Emerson 2352 -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program 2353 (whose author claims, "Actually, stealing IS easier.") 2354 [to which I reply, "You think it's easy for me to 2355 misconstrue all these misquotations?!?"] 2356 % 2357 By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began 2358 to suspect 'Hungry' ... 2359 -- Gary Larson, "The Far Side" 2360 % 2361 By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's, I 2362 mean. 2363 -- Mark Twain 2364 % 2365 Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to 2366 point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very 2367 fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are 2368 often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people 2369 from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B 2370 that so many people from point A are so keen to get _____there. They often 2371 wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell 2372 they wanted to be. 2373 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 2374 % 2375 C, n.: 2376 A programming language that is sort of like Pascal except more 2377 like assembly except that it isn't very much like either one, or 2378 anything else. It is either the best language available to the art 2379 today, or it isn't. 2380 -- Ray Simard 2381 % 2382 Cabbage, n.: 2383 A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as 2384 a man's head. 2385 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2386 % 2387 Cable is not a luxury, since many areas have poor TV reception. 2388 -- The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, 1989 2389 % 2390 Cahn's Axiom: 2391 When all else fails, read the instructions. 2392 % 2393 California is a fine place to live -- if you happen to be an orange. 2394 -- Fred Allen 2395 % 2396 California, n.: 2397 From Latin "calor", meaning "heat" (as in English "calorie" or 2398 Spanish "caliente"); and "fornia'" for "sexual intercourse" or 2399 "fornication." Hence: Tierra de California, "the land of hot sex." 2400 -- Ed Moran 2401 % 2402 Call on God, but row away from the rocks. 2403 -- Indian proverb 2404 % 2405 Calling J-Man Kink. Calling J-Man Kink. Hash missile sighted, target 2406 Los Angeles. Disregard personal feelings about city and intercept. 2407 % 2408 Calvin Coolidge looks as if he had been weaned on a pickle. 2409 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth 2410 % 2411 Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth 2412 Corner, Vermont. 2413 -- Clarence Darrow 2414 % 2415 Campus sidewalks never exist as the straightest line between two 2416 points. 2417 -- M. M. Johnston 2418 % 2419 Canada Bill Jone's Motto: 2420 It's morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money. 2421 2422 Supplement: 2423 A .44 magnum beats four aces. 2424 % 2425 Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents 2426 for postage and 30 cents for storage. 2427 -- Gerald Regan, Cabinet Minister, 12/31/83 Financial Post 2428 % 2429 Cancel me not -- for what then shall remain? 2430 Abscissas, some mantissas, modules, modes, 2431 A root or two, a torus and a node: 2432 The inverse of my verse, a null domain. 2433 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 2434 % 2435 CANCER (June 21 - July 22) 2436 You are sympathetic and understanding to other people's 2437 problems. They think you are a sucker. You are always putting things 2438 off. That's why you'll never make anything of yourself. Most welfare 2439 recipients are Cancer people. 2440 % 2441 Canonical, adj.: 2442 The usual or standard state or manner of something. A true 2443 story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed some 2444 annoyance at the use of jargon. Over his loud objections, we made a 2445 point of using jargon as much as possible in his presence, and 2446 eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used 2447 the word "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without thinking. 2448 Steele: "Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too!" 2449 Stallman: "What did he say?" 2450 Steele: "He just used `canonical' in the canonical way." 2451 % 2452 CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 19) 2453 You are conservative and afraid of taking risks. You don't do 2454 much of anything and are lazy. There has never been a Capricorn of any 2455 importance. Capricorns should avoid standing still for too long as 2456 they take root and become trees. 2457 % 2458 Captain Penny's Law: 2459 You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of 2460 the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom. 2461 % 2462 Carelessly planned projects take three times longer to complete than 2463 expected. Carefully planned projects take four times longer to 2464 complete than expected, mostly because the planners expect their 2465 planning to reduce the time it takes. 2466 % 2467 Carmel, New York, has an ordinance forbidding men to wear coats and 2468 trousers that don't match. 2469 % 2470 Carperpetuation (kar' pur pet u a shun), n.: 2471 The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string at least a 2472 dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then 2473 putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance. 2474 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 2475 % 2476 Cat, n.: 2477 Lapwarmer with built-in buzzer. 2478 % 2479 Cauliflower is nothing but Cabbage with a College Education. 2480 -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson" 2481 % 2482 Caution: breathing may be hazardous to your health. 2483 % 2484 CChheecckk yyoouurr dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh.. 2485 % 2486 Cecil, you're my final hope 2487 Of finding out the true Straight Dope 2488 For I have been reading of Schrodinger's cat 2489 But none of my cats are at all like that. 2490 This unusual animal (so it is said) 2491 Is simultaneously alive and dead! 2492 What I don't understand is just why he 2493 Can't be one or the other, unquestionably. 2494 My future now hangs in between eigenstates. 2495 In one I'm enlightened, in the other I ain't. 2496 If *you* understand, Cecil, then show me the way 2497 And rescue my psyche from quantum decay. 2498 But if this queer thing has perplexed even you, 2499 Then I will *___and* I won't see you in Schrodinger's zoo. 2500 -- Randy F., Chicago, "The Straight Dope, a compendium 2501 of human knowledge" by Cecil Adams 2502 % 2503 Celebrate Hannibal Day this year. Take an elephant to lunch. 2504 % 2505 Celestial navigation is based on the premise that the Earth is the 2506 center of the universe. The premise is wrong, but the navigation 2507 works. An incorrect model can be a useful tool. 2508 -- Kelvin Throop III 2509 % 2510 Census Taker to Housewife: Did you ever have the measles, and, if so, 2511 how many? 2512 % 2513 Cerebus: I'd love to lick apricot brandy out of your navel. 2514 Jaka: Look, Cerebus-- Jaka has to tell you ... something 2515 Cerebus: If Cerebus had a navel, would you lick apricot brandy 2516 out of it? 2517 Jaka: Ugh! 2518 Cerebus: You don't like apricot brandy? 2519 -- Cerebus #6, "The Secret" 2520 % 2521 Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long 2522 walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They 2523 then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy 2524 health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, 2525 not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find 2526 only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the 2527 others who have tried it. 2528 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2529 % 2530 Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy, 2531 But it's very funny-- 2532 Did you ever try buying them without money? 2533 -- Ogden Nash 2534 % 2535 Chapter 1 2536 2537 The story so far: 2538 2539 In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot 2540 of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. 2541 % 2542 Character Density, n.: 2543 The number of very weird people in the office. 2544 % 2545 Checkuary, n.: 2546 The thirteenth month of the year. Begins New Year's Day and 2547 ends when a person stops absentmindedly writing the old year on his 2548 checks. 2549 % 2550 Chef, n.: 2551 Any cook who swears in French. 2552 % 2553 Chemicals, n.: 2554 Noxious substances from which modern foods are made. 2555 % 2556 Chemistry is applied theology. 2557 -- Augustus Stanley Owsley III 2558 % 2559 Chicago law prohibits eating in a place that is on fire. 2560 % 2561 Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #36: 2562 Never ever ask the tough looking gentleman wearing El Rukn 2563 headgear where he got his "pyramid powered pizza warmer". 2564 -- Chicago Reader 3/27/81 2565 % 2566 Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #84: 2567 The CTA has complimentary pop-up timers available on request 2568 for overheated passengers. When your timer pops up, the driver will 2569 cheerfully baste you. 2570 -- Chicago Reader 5/28/82 2571 % 2572 Chicago, n.: 2573 Where the dead still vote ... early and often! 2574 % 2575 Chicken Little only has to be right once. 2576 % 2577 Chicken Little was right. 2578 % 2579 Chicken Soup, n.: 2580 An ancient miracle drug containing equal parts of aureomycin, 2581 cocaine, interferon, and TLC. The only ailment chicken soup can't cure 2582 is neurotic dependence on one's mother. 2583 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 2584 % 2585 Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every 2586 effort to teach them good manners. 2587 % 2588 Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're 2589 going to catch you in next. 2590 -- Franklin P. Jones 2591 % 2592 Children aren't happy without something to ignore, 2593 And that's what parents were created for. 2594 -- Ogden Nash 2595 % 2596 Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for 2597 word what you shouldn't have said. 2598 % 2599 Chism's Law of Completion: 2600 The amount of time required to complete a government project is 2601 precisely equal to the length of time already spent on it. 2602 % 2603 Chisolm's First Corollary to Murphy's Second Law: 2604 When things just can't possibly get any worse, they will. 2605 % 2606 Chivalry, Schmivalry! 2607 Roger the thief has a 2608 method he uses for 2609 sneaky attacks: 2610 Folks who are reading are 2611 Characteristically 2612 Always Forgetting to 2613 Guard their own bac ... 2614 % 2615 Christ: 2616 A man who was born at least 5,000 years ahead of his time. 2617 % 2618 Churchill's Commentary on Man: 2619 Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the 2620 time he will pick himself up and continue on. 2621 % 2622 Cigarette, n.: 2623 A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of tobacco in 2624 between. 2625 % 2626 Cinemuck, n.: 2627 The combination of popcorn, soda, and melted chocolate which 2628 covers the floors of movie theaters. 2629 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 2630 % 2631 Clairvoyant, n.: 2632 A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that 2633 which is invisible to her patron -- namely, that he is a blockhead. 2634 -- Ambrose Bierce 2635 % 2636 Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like 2637 shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. 2638 -- Phyllis Diller 2639 % 2640 Cleanliness is next to impossible. 2641 % 2642 Cleveland still lives. God ____must be dead. 2643 % 2644 Cleveland? Yes, I spent a week there one day. 2645 % 2646 Cloning is the sincerest form of flattery. 2647 % 2648 Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on 2649 society. 2650 -- Mark Twain 2651 % 2652 COBOL programs are an exercise in Artificial Inelegance. 2653 % 2654 Cocaine -- the thinking man's Dristan. 2655 % 2656 Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- 2657 "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am." 2658 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2659 % 2660 Cogito ergo I'm right and you're wrong. 2661 -- Blair Houghton 2662 % 2663 Coincidence, n.: 2664 You weren't paying attention to the other half of what was 2665 going on. 2666 % 2667 Coincidences are spiritual puns. 2668 -- G. K. Chesterton 2669 % 2670 Cold, adj.: 2671 When the local flashers are handing out written descriptions. 2672 % 2673 Cold, adj.: 2674 When the politicians walk around with their hands in their own 2675 pockets. 2676 % 2677 Collaboration, n.: 2678 A literary partnership based on the false assumption that the 2679 other fellow can spell. 2680 % 2681 College football is a game which would be much more interesting if the 2682 faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if 2683 the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms, 2684 legs, and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the 2685 loss to humanity. 2686 -- H. L. Mencken 2687 % 2688 Colvard's Logical Premises: 2689 All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or it 2690 won't. 2691 2692 Colvard's Unconscionable Commentary: 2693 This is especially true when dealing with someone you're 2694 attracted to. 2695 2696 Grelb's Commentary 2697 Likelihoods, however, are 90% against you. 2698 % 2699 Come, every frustum longs to be a cone, 2700 And every vector dreams of matrices. 2701 Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze: 2702 It whispers of a more ergodic zone. 2703 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 2704 % 2705 Come, let us hasten to a higher plane, 2706 Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn, 2707 Their indices bedecked from one to _n, 2708 Commingled in an endless Markov chain! 2709 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 2710 % 2711 Command, n.: 2712 Statement presented by a human and accepted by a computer in 2713 such a manner as to make the human feel as if he is in control. 2714 % 2715 COMMENT 2716 2717 Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, 2718 A medley of extemporanea; 2719 And love is thing that can never go wrong; 2720 And I am Marie of Roumania. 2721 -- Dorothy Parker 2722 % 2723 Commitment, n.: 2724 Commitment can be illustrated by a breakfast of ham and eggs. 2725 The chicken was involved, the pig was committed. 2726 % 2727 Committee Rules: 2728 (1) Never arrive on time, or you will be stamped a beginner. 2729 (2) Don't say anything until the meeting is half over; this 2730 stamps you as being wise. 2731 (3) Be as vague as possible; this prevents irritating the 2732 others. 2733 (4) When in doubt, suggest that a subcommittee be appointed. 2734 (5) Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you 2735 popular -- it's what everyone is waiting for. 2736 % 2737 Committee, n.: 2738 A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group 2739 decide that nothing can be done. 2740 -- Fred Allen 2741 % 2742 Committees have become so important nowadays that subcommittees have to 2743 be appointed to do the work. 2744 % 2745 Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at 2746 different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. 2747 -- Clive James 2748 % 2749 Common sense is instinct, and enough of it is genius. 2750 -- Josh Billings 2751 % 2752 Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. 2753 -- Albert Einstein 2754 % 2755 Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness 2756 of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule." 2757 -- David Guaspari 2758 % 2759 Computer programmers do it byte by byte. 2760 % 2761 Computer Science is merely the post-Turing decline in formal systems 2762 theory. 2763 % 2764 Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are. 2765 % 2766 Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. 2767 -- Pablo Picasso 2768 % 2769 Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in 2770 the world that just don't add up. 2771 % 2772 Computers will not be perfected until they can compute how much more 2773 than the estimate the job will cost. 2774 % 2775 Conceit causes more conversation than wit. 2776 -- La Rochefoucauld 2777 % 2778 Concept, n.: 2779 Any "idea" for which an outside consultant billed you more than 2780 $25,000. 2781 % 2782 ... [concerning quotation marks] even if we *___did* quote anybody in this 2783 business, it probably would be gibberish. 2784 -- Thom McLeod 2785 % 2786 Condense soup, not books! 2787 % 2788 Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is 2789 good for dandruff. 2790 -- Peter de Vries 2791 % 2792 Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation. 2793 % 2794 Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine device that 2795 would give you thousands of years of trouble-free service, except that 2796 you undoubtedly will destroy it via some typical bonehead consumer 2797 maneuver. Which is why we ask you to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS 2798 OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY 2799 UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED 2800 IT ON AND FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD 2801 WHO ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER AND 2802 SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING WITH THE KNOBS, 2803 RIGHT? AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, 2804 RIGHT??? WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE DEVICES RIGHT AT THE 2805 FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU KNOW THAT? 2806 -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!" 2807 % 2808 Connector Conspiracy, n: 2809 [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the 2810 KL-10, none of whose connectors match anything else] The tendency of 2811 manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything) 2812 to come up with new products which don't fit together with the old 2813 stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive 2814 interface devices. 2815 % 2816 Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. 2817 -- H. L. Mencken 2818 % 2819 Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody is looking. 2820 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy" 2821 % 2822 Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good. 2823 % 2824 Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you 2825 wish you weren't. 2826 % 2827 Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich. 2828 -- Daffy Duck, "Ali Baba Bunny", [1957, Chuck Jones] 2829 % 2830 Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and then 2831 give it back to them. 2832 % 2833 "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and 2834 if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!" 2835 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 2836 % 2837 Contrary to popular belief, penguins are not the salvation of modern 2838 technology. Neither do they throw parties for the urban proletariat. 2839 % 2840 Conversation, n.: 2841 A vocal competition in which the one who is catching his breath 2842 is called the listener. 2843 % 2844 Conway's Law: 2845 In any organization there will always be one person who knows 2846 what is going on. 2847 2848 This person must be fired. 2849 % 2850 Coronation, n.: 2851 The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and 2852 visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite 2853 bomb. 2854 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2855 % 2856 Corrupt, adj.: 2857 In politics, holding an office of trust or profit. 2858 % 2859 Corrupt, stupid grasping functionaries will make at least as big a 2860 muddle of socialism as stupid, selfish and acquisitive employers can 2861 make of capitalism. 2862 -- Walter Lippmann 2863 % 2864 Corruption is not the #1 priority of the Police Commissioner. His job 2865 is to enforce the law and fight crime. 2866 -- P.B.A. President E. J. Kiernan 2867 % 2868 Court, n.: 2869 A place where they dispense with justice. 2870 -- Arthur Train 2871 % 2872 Coward, n.: 2873 One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. 2874 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2875 % 2876 [Crash programs] fail because they are based on the theory that, with 2877 nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month. 2878 -- Wernher von Braun 2879 % 2880 Crime does not pay ... as well as politics. 2881 -- A. E. Neuman 2882 % 2883 Critic, n.: 2884 A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries 2885 to please him. 2886 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2887 % 2888 Croll's Query: 2889 If tin whistles are made of tin, what are foghorns made of? 2890 % 2891 cursor address, n: 2892 "Hello, cursor!" 2893 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary" 2894 % 2895 Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It 2896 eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the 2897 business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation. 2898 -- Johnny Hart 2899 % 2900 Cynic, n.: 2901 A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not 2902 as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking 2903 out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. 2904 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2905 % 2906 Cynic, n.: 2907 One who looks through rose-colored glasses with a jaundiced eye. 2908 % 2909 Dare to be naive. 2910 -- R. Buckminster Fuller 2911 % 2912 Darth Vader sleeps with a Teddywookie. 2913 % 2914 Dave Mack: "Your stupidity, Allen, is simply not up to par." 2915 Allen Gwinn: "Yours is." 2916 % 2917 Dawn, n.: 2918 The time when men of reason go to bed. 2919 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 2920 % 2921 Day of inquiry. You will be subpoenaed. 2922 % 2923 %DCL-E-MEM-BAD, bad memory 2924 -VMS-F-PDGERS, pudding between the ears 2925 % 2926 Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to improve. Success is also 2927 easy to handle: you've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to 2928 improve. 2929 % 2930 Dear Lord: 2931 I just want *___one* one-armed manager so I never have to hear "On 2932 the other hand", again. 2933 % 2934 Dear Miss Manners: 2935 My home economics teacher says that one must never place one's 2936 elbows on the table. However, I have read that one elbow, in between 2937 courses, is all right. Which is correct? 2938 2939 Gentle Reader: 2940 For the purpose of answering examinations in your home 2941 economics class, your teacher is correct. Catching on to this 2942 principle of education may be of even greater importance to you now 2943 than learning correct current table manners, vital as Miss Manners 2944 believes that is. 2945 % 2946 Dear Miss Manners: 2947 Please list some tactful ways of removing a man's saliva from 2948 your face. 2949 2950 Gentle Reader: 2951 Please list some decent ways of acquiring a man's saliva on 2952 your face ... 2953 % 2954 Dear Mister Language Person: I am curious about the expression, "Part 2955 of this complete breakfast". The way it comes up is, my 5-year-old 2956 will be watching TV cartoon shows in the morning, and they'll show a 2957 commercial for a children's compressed breakfast compound such as 2958 "Froot Loops" or "Lucky Charms", and they always show it sitting on a 2959 table next to some actual food such as eggs, and the announcer always 2960 says: "Part of this complete breakfast". Don't that really mean, 2961 "Adjacent to this complete breakfast", or "On the same table as this 2962 complete breakfast"? And couldn't they make essentially the same claim 2963 if, instead of Froot Loops, they put a can of shaving cream there, or a 2964 dead bat? 2965 2966 Answer: Yes. 2967 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's" 2968 % 2969 Dear Mister Language Person: What is the purpose of the apostrophe? 2970 2971 Answer: The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business 2972 signs to alert the reader that an "S" is coming up at the end of a 2973 word, as in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR 2974 ANY ITEM'S. Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when 2975 creating hand-lettered small-business signs is that you should put 2976 quotation marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT 2977 DOG'S, or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S. 2978 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's" 2979 % 2980 Death is God's way of telling you not to be such a wise guy. 2981 % 2982 Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired. 2983 -- R. Geis 2984 % 2985 Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings. 2986 % 2987 Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'. 2988 % 2989 Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down. 2990 % 2991 Death is only a state of mind. 2992 2993 Only it doesn't leave you much time to think about anything else. 2994 % 2995 Death to all fanatics! 2996 % 2997 Decision maker, n.: 2998 The person in your office who was unable to form a task force 2999 before the music stopped. 3000 % 3001 Decisions of the judges will be final unless shouted down by a really 3002 overwhelming majority of the crowd present. Abusive and obscene 3003 language may not be used by contestants when addressing members of the 3004 judging panel, or, conversely, by members of the judging panel when 3005 addressing contestants (unless struck by a boomerang). 3006 -- Mudgeeraba Creek Emu-Riding and Boomerang-Throwing Assoc. 3007 % 3008 Deck Us All With Boston Charlie 3009 3010 Deck us all with Boston Charlie, 3011 Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo! 3012 Nora's freezin' on the trolley, 3013 Swaller dollar cauliflower, alleygaroo! 3014 3015 Don't we know archaic barrel, 3016 Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou. 3017 Trolley Molly don't love Harold, 3018 Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo! 3019 -- Walt Kelly 3020 % 3021 "Deep" is a word like "theory" or "semantic" -- it implies all sorts of 3022 marvelous things. It's one thing to be able to say "I've got a 3023 theory", quite another to say "I've got a semantic theory", but, ah, 3024 those who can claim "I've got a deep semantic theory", they are truly 3025 blessed. 3026 -- Randy Davis 3027 % 3028 default, n.: 3029 [Possibly from Black English "De fault wid dis system is you, 3030 mon."] The vain attempt to avoid errors by inactivity. "Nothing will 3031 come of nothing: speak again." -- King Lear 3032 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary" 3033 % 3034 #define BITCOUNT(x) (((BX_(x)+(BX_(x)>>4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F) % 255) 3035 #define BX_(x) ((x) - (((x)>>1)&0x77777777) \ 3036 - (((x)>>2)&0x33333333) \ 3037 - (((x)>>3)&0x11111111)) 3038 3039 -- really weird C code to count the number of bits in a word 3040 % 3041 Definitions of hardware and software for dummies: 3042 Hardware is what you kick; 3043 Software is what you curse. 3044 % 3045 DELETE A FORTUNE! 3046 3047 Don't some of these fortunes just drive you nuts?! Wouldn't you like 3048 to see some of them deleted from the system? You can! Just mail to 3049 "fortune" with the fortune you hate most, and we MIGHT make sure it 3050 gets expunged. 3051 % 3052 Deliberation, n.: 3053 The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is 3054 buttered on. 3055 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 3056 % 3057 Deliver yesterday, code today, think tomorrow. 3058 % 3059 Demand the establishment of the government 3060 in its rightful home at Disneyland. 3061 % 3062 Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than 3063 we deserve. 3064 -- George Bernard Shaw 3065 % 3066 Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder 3067 aloud what the country could do under first-class management. 3068 -- Senator Soaper 3069 % 3070 Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the 3071 incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. 3072 -- G. B. Shaw 3073 % 3074 Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you 3075 don't think. 3076 % 3077 Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by 3078 Jackasses. 3079 -- H. L. Mencken 3080 % 3081 Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse. 3082 -- Jawaharlal Nehru 3083 % 3084 Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people 3085 are right more than half of the time. 3086 -- E. B. White 3087 % 3088 Democracy, n.: 3089 A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass 3090 meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. 3091 Attitude toward property is communistic... negating property rights. 3092 Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, 3093 whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion, 3094 prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. 3095 Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy. 3096 -- U. S. Army Training Manual No. 2000-25 (1928-1932), 3097 since withdrawn. 3098 % 3099 Demographic polls show that you have lost credibility across the 3100 board. Especially with those 14 year-old Valley girls. 3101 % 3102 Dentist, n.: 3103 A Prestidigitator who, putting metal in one's mouth, pulls 3104 coins out of one's pockets. 3105 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 3106 % 3107 Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will 3108 be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over 3109 the table. 3110 -- The Anarchist Cookbook 3111 % 3112 DETERIORATA 3113 3114 Go placidly amid the noise and waste, 3115 And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof. 3116 Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep. 3117 Rotate your tires. 3118 Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself, 3119 And heed well their advice -- even though they be turkeys. 3120 Know what to kiss -- and when. 3121 Remember that two wrongs never make a right, 3122 But that three do. 3123 Wherever possible, put people on "HOLD". 3124 Be comforted, that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment, 3125 And despite the changing fortunes of time, 3126 There is always a big future in computer maintenance. 3127 3128 You are a fluke of the universe ... 3129 You have no right to be here. 3130 Whether you can hear it or not, the universe 3131 Is laughing behind your back. 3132 -- National Lampoon 3133 % 3134 DeVries's Dilemma: 3135 If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want 3136 hits the paper. 3137 % 3138 Did I say 2? I lied. 3139 % 3140 Did you know ... 3141 3142 That no-one ever reads these things? 3143 % 3144 Did you know that clones never use mirrors? 3145 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 3146 % 3147 Did you know that if you took all the economists in the world and lined 3148 them up end to end, they'd still point in the wrong direction? 3149 % 3150 Did you know that the voice tapes easily identify the Russian pilot 3151 that shot down the Korean jet? At one point he definitely states: 3152 3153 "Natasha! First we shoot jet, then we go after moose and 3154 squirrel." 3155 3156 -- ihuxw!tommyo 3157 % 3158 Die, v.: 3159 To stop sinning suddenly. 3160 -- Elbert Hubbard 3161 % 3162 Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a 3163 conventional thing to happen to him. 3164 -- John Barrymore's dying words 3165 % 3166 Different all twisty a of in maze are you, passages little. 3167 % 3168 Dimensions will always be expressed in the least usable term. 3169 Velocity, for example, will be expressed in furlongs per fortnight. 3170 % 3171 Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock. 3172 % 3173 Disc space -- the final frontier! 3174 % 3175 Disclaimer: "These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they be 3176 yours too." 3177 -- Dave Haynie 3178 % 3179 Disclaimer: Any resemblance between the above views and those of my 3180 employer, my terminal, or the view out my window are purely 3181 coincidental. Any resemblance between the above and my own views is 3182 non-deterministic. The question of the existence of views in the 3183 absence of anyone to hold them is left as an exercise for the reader. 3184 The question of the existence of the reader is left as an exercise for 3185 the second god coefficient. (A discussion of non-orthogonal, 3186 non-integral polytheism is beyond the scope of this article.) 3187 % 3188 Disco is to music what Etch-A-Sketch is to art. 3189 % 3190 Distinctive, adj.: 3191 A different color or shape than our competitors. 3192 % 3193 Distress, n.: 3194 A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend. 3195 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 3196 % 3197 District of Columbia pedestrians who leap over passing autos to escape 3198 injury, and then strike the car as they come down, are liable for any 3199 damage inflicted on the vehicle. 3200 % 3201 Do infants have as much fun in infancy as adults do in adultery? 3202 % 3203 Do molecular biologists wear designer genes? 3204 % 3205 Do not believe in miracles -- rely on them. 3206 % 3207 Do not drink coffee in early a.m. It will keep you awake until noon. 3208 % 3209 Do not meddle in the affairs of troff, for it is subtle and quick to 3210 anger. 3211 % 3212 Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good 3213 with ketchup. 3214 % 3215 Do not read this fortune under penalty of law. 3216 Violators will be prosecuted. 3217 (Penal Code sec. 2.3.2 (II.a.)) 3218 % 3219 Do not sleep in a eucalyptus tree tonight. 3220 % 3221 Do not try to solve all life's problems at once -- learn to dread each 3222 day as it comes. 3223 -- Donald Kaul 3224 % 3225 Do something unusual today. Pay a bill. 3226 % 3227 Do what comes naturally now. Seethe and fume and throw a tantrum. 3228 % 3229 Do you have lysdexia? 3230 % 3231 Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take 3232 the time to take the dirt out of them? 3233 % 3234 "Do you think what we're doing is wrong?" 3235 "Of course it's wrong! It's illegal!" 3236 "I've never done anything illegal before." 3237 "I thought you said you were an accountant!" 3238 % 3239 Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and 3240 when it is bad, it is better than nothing. 3241 -- Dick Brandon 3242 % 3243 Documentation is the castor oil of programming. Managers know it must 3244 be good because the programmers hate it so much. 3245 % 3246 Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? 3247 % 3248 Don't abandon hope: your Tom Mix decoder ring arrives tomorrow. 3249 % 3250 Don't be humble ... you're not that great. 3251 -- Golda Meir 3252 % 3253 Don't believe everything you hear or anything you say. 3254 % 3255 Don't change the reason, just change the excuses! 3256 -- Joe Cointment 3257 % 3258 "Don't come back until you have him", the Tick-Tock Man said quietly, 3259 sincerely, extremely dangerously. 3260 3261 They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardio plate crossoffs. 3262 They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stick tites. They 3263 used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used 3264 finks. They used cops. They used search and seizure. They used 3265 fallaron. They used betterment incentives. They used finger prints. 3266 They used the bertillion system. They used cunning. They used guile. 3267 They used treachery. They used Raoul-Mitgong but he wasn't much help. 3268 They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology. And 3269 what the hell, they caught him. 3270 3271 -- Harlan Ellison, "Repent, Harlequin, said the Tick-Tock Man" 3272 % 3273 Don't cook tonight -- starve a rat today! 3274 % 3275 Don't feed the bats tonight. 3276 % 3277 Don't get even -- get odd! 3278 % 3279 Don't get suckered in by the comments -- they can be terribly 3280 misleading. Debug only code. 3281 -- Dave Storer 3282 % 3283 Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes 3284 you nothing. It was here first. 3285 -- Mark Twain 3286 % 3287 Don't go surfing in South Dakota for a while. 3288 % 3289 Don't hate yourself in the morning -- sleep till noon. 3290 % 3291 Don't hit a man when he's down -- kick him; it's easier. 3292 % 3293 Don't kiss an elephant on the lips today. 3294 % 3295 Don't knock President Fillmore. He kept us out of Vietnam. 3296 % 3297 Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. 3298 % 3299 Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone. 3300 % 3301 Don't look back, the lemmings are gaining on you. 3302 % 3303 Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy 3304 it today you can do it again tomorrow. 3305 % 3306 Don't say yes until I finish talking. 3307 -- Darryl F. Zanuck 3308 % 3309 Don't steal; thou'lt never thus compete successfully in business. 3310 Cheat. 3311 -- Ambrose Bierce 3312 % 3313 Don't suspect your friends -- turn them in! 3314 -- "Brazil" 3315 % 3316 Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent. 3317 -- Walt Kelly 3318 % 3319 Don't take life too seriously -- you'll never get out of it alive. 3320 % 3321 Don't tell any big lies today. Small ones can be just as effective. 3322 % 3323 Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends -- tell me where to 3324 get more wax!! 3325 % 3326 Don't worry about avoiding temptation -- as you grow older, it starts 3327 avoiding you. 3328 -- The Old Farmer's Almanac 3329 % 3330 Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any 3331 good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. 3332 -- Howard Aiken 3333 % 3334 Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already 3335 tomorrow in Australia. 3336 -- Charles Schultz 3337 % 3338 Don't worry over what other people are thinking about you. They're too 3339 busy worrying over what you are thinking about them. 3340 % 3341 Don't you feel more like you do now than you did when you came in? 3342 % 3343 Don Ameche: I didn't know you had a cousin Penelope, Bill! Was she 3344 pretty? 3345 W. C.: Well, her face was so wrinkled it looked like seven miles of 3346 bad road. She had so many gold teeth, Don, she use to have to 3347 sleep with her head in a safe. She died in Bolivia. 3348 Don: Oh Bill, it must be hard to lose a relative. 3349 W. C.: It's almost impossible. 3350 -- W. C. Fields, from "The Further Adventures of Larson 3351 E. Whipsnade and other Tarradiddles" 3352 % 3353 Double Bucky 3354 (Sung to the tune of "Rubber Duckie") 3355 3356 Double bucky, you're the one! 3357 You make my keyboard lots of fun 3358 Double bucky, an additional bit or two: 3359 (Vo-vo-de-o!) 3360 Control and Meta side by side, 3361 Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide! 3362 Double bucky, a half a thousand glyphs, plus a few! 3363 3364 Oh, I sure wish that I, 3365 Had a couple of bits more! 3366 Perhaps a set of pedals to make the number of bits four. 3367 3368 Double bucky, left and right 3369 OR'd together, outta sight! 3370 Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of 3371 Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of 3372 Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you! 3373 3374 -- (C) 1978 by Guy L. Steele, Jr. 3375 (to Nicholas Wirth, who suggested that an extra bit 3376 be added to terminal codes on 36-bit machines for use 3377 by screen editors. [to the tune of "Rubber Ducky"]) 3378 % 3379 Double-Blind Experiment, n.: 3380 An experiment in which the chief researcher believes he is 3381 fooling both the subject and the lab assistant. Often accompanied by a 3382 strong belief in the tooth fairy. 3383 % 3384 Down with categorical imperative! 3385 % 3386 Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. 3387 % 3388 Drew's Law of Highway Biology: 3389 The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front 3390 of your eyes. 3391 % 3392 Drink Canada Dry! You might not succeed, but it *__is* fun trying. 3393 % 3394 Drive defensively. Buy a tank. 3395 % 3396 Drugs may be the road to nowhere, but at least they're the scenic route! 3397 % 3398 Ducharme's Axiom: 3399 If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize 3400 yourself as part of the problem. 3401 % 3402 Ducharme's Precept: 3403 Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment. 3404 % 3405 Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and 3406 it holds the universe together. 3407 -- Carl Zwanzig 3408 % 3409 Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders 3410 has been discontinued. 3411 % 3412 Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate 3413 and captain of your soul. 3414 % 3415 Due to lack of disk space, this fortune database has been 3416 discontinued. 3417 % 3418 During a grouse hunt in North Carolina two intrepid sportsmen 3419 were blasting away at a clump of trees near a stone wall. Suddenly a 3420 red-faced country squire popped his head over the wall and shouted, 3421 "Hey, you almost hit my wife." 3422 "Did I?" cried the hunter, aghast. "Terribly sorry. Have a 3423 shot at mine, over there." 3424 % 3425 During the next two hours, the system will be going up and down several 3426 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 3427 % 3428 Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have 3429 nothing whatever to do with it. 3430 -- W. Somerset Maugham (last words) 3431 % 3432 E Pluribus Unix 3433 % 3434 Eagleson's Law: 3435 Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more 3436 months, might as well have been written by someone else. (Eagleson is 3437 an optimist, the real number is more like three weeks.) 3438 % 3439 Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends 3440 % 3441 /earth is 98% full ... please delete anyone you can. 3442 % 3443 Earth is a beta site. 3444 % 3445 Earth is a great, big funhouse without the fun. 3446 -- Jeff Berner 3447 % 3448 Easiest Color to Solve on a Rubik's Cube: 3449 Black. Simply remove all the little colored stickers on the 3450 cube, and each of side of the cube will now be the original color of 3451 the plastic underneath -- black. According to the instructions, this 3452 means the puzzle is solved. 3453 -- Steve Rubenstein 3454 % 3455 Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal. 3456 % 3457 Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may work. 3458 % 3459 Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists. 3460 -- John Kenneth Galbraith 3461 % 3462 Economics, n.: 3463 Economics is the study of the value and meaning of J. K. 3464 Galbraith ... 3465 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 3466 % 3467 Economists can certainly disappoint you. One said that the economy 3468 would turn up by the last quarter. Well, I'm down to mine and it 3469 hasn't. 3470 -- Robert Orben 3471 % 3472 Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a 3473 percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor. 3474 -- Edgar R. Fiedler 3475 % 3476 Ed Sullivan will be around as long as someone else has talent. 3477 -- Fred Allen 3478 % 3479 Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine. 3480 -- Irsin Edman 3481 % 3482 Eeny, Meeny, Jelly Beanie, the spirits are about to speak! 3483 -- Bullwinkle Moose 3484 % 3485 Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks. 3486 -- Adlai Stevenson 3487 % 3488 Eggnog is a traditional holiday drink invented by the English. Many 3489 people wonder where the word "eggnog" comes from. The first syllable 3490 comes from the English word "egg", meaning "egg". I don't know where 3491 the "nog" comes from. 3492 3493 To make eggnog, you'll need rum, whiskey, wine, gin and, if they are in 3494 season, eggs... 3495 % 3496 Egotism is the anesthetic given by a kindly nature to relieve the pain 3497 of being a damned fool. 3498 -- Bellamy Brooks 3499 % 3500 Egotist, n.: 3501 A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me. 3502 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 3503 % 3504 Ehrman's Commentary: 3505 (1) Things will get worse before they get better. 3506 (2) Who said things would get better? 3507 % 3508 Eighty percent of air pollution comes from plants and trees. 3509 -- Ronald Reagan, famous movie star 3510 % 3511 Eleanor Rigby 3512 Sits at the keyboard 3513 And waits for a line on the screen 3514 Lives in a dream 3515 Waits for a signal 3516 Finding some code 3517 That will make the machine do some more. 3518 What is it for? 3519 3520 All the lonely users, where do they all come from? 3521 All the lonely users, why does it take so long? 3522 3523 Hacker MacKensie 3524 Writing the code for a program that no one will run 3525 It's nearly done 3526 Look at him working, fixing the bugs in the night when there's nobody there. 3527 What does he care? 3528 3529 All the lonely users, where do they all come from? 3530 All the lonely users, why does it take so long? 3531 Ah, look at all the lonely users. 3532 Ah, look at all the lonely users. 3533 % 3534 Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance. 3535 % 3536 Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles, 3537 called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you 3538 have been drinking. Electrons travel at the speed of light, which in 3539 most American homes is 110 volts per hour. This is very fast. In the 3540 time it has taken you to read this sentence so far, an electron could 3541 have traveled all the way from San Francisco to Hackensack, New Jersey, 3542 although God alone knows why it would want to. 3543 The five main kinds of electricity are alternating current, 3544 direct current, lightning, static, and European. Most American homes 3545 have alternating current, which means that the electricity goes in one 3546 direction for a while, then goes in the other direction. This prevents 3547 harmful electron buildup in the wires. 3548 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 3549 % 3550 Electrocution, n.: 3551 Burning at the stake with all the modern improvements. 3552 % 3553 Elevators smell different to midgets. 3554 % 3555 Emerson's Law of Contrariness: 3556 Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we 3557 can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it. 3558 % 3559 Encyclopedia Salesmen: 3560 Invite them all in. Nip out the back door. Phone the police 3561 and tell them your house is being burgled. 3562 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 3563 % 3564 Endless Loop: n., see Loop, Endless. 3565 Loop, Endless: n., see Endless Loop. 3566 -- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary 3567 % 3568 Entropy isn't what it used to be. 3569 % 3570 Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which 3571 otherwise require harder thinking. 3572 -- Jerome Lettvin 3573 % 3574 Epperson's law: 3575 When a man says it's a silly, childish game, it's probably 3576 something his wife can beat him at. 3577 % 3578 Equal bytes for women. 3579 % 3580 Error in operator: add beer 3581 % 3582 Es brilig war. Die schlichte Toven 3583 Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben; 3584 Und aller-m"umsige Burggoven 3585 Dir mohmen R"ath ausgraben. 3586 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 3587 % 3588 Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it. 3589 -- Woody Allen 3590 % 3591 Etymology, n.: 3592 Some early etymological scholars came up with derivations that 3593 were hard for the public to believe. The term "etymology" was formed 3594 from the Latin "etus" ("eaten"), the root "mal" ("bad"), and "logy" 3595 ("study of"). It meant "the study of things that are hard to swallow." 3596 -- Mike Kellen 3597 % 3598 Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to 3599 speak it to? 3600 -- Clarence Darrow 3601 % 3602 Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. 3603 -- Will Rogers 3604 % 3605 Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral. 3606 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 3607 % 3608 Even though they raised the rate for first class mail in the United 3609 States we really shouldn't complain -- it's still only two cents a 3610 day. 3611 % 3612 Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you 3613 just how busy they are? 3614 % 3615 Ever since prehistoric times, wise men have tried to understand what, 3616 exactly, make people laugh. That's why they were called "wise men." 3617 All the other prehistoric people were out puncturing each other with 3618 spears, and the wise men were back in the cave saying: "How about: 3619 Would you please take my wife? No. How about: Here is my wife, please 3620 take her right now. No How about: Would you like to take something? 3621 My wife is available. No. How about ..." 3622 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny" 3623 % 3624 Every absurdity has a champion who will defend it. 3625 % 3626 Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt. 3627 % 3628 Every four seconds a woman has a baby. Our problem is to find this 3629 woman and stop her. 3630 % 3631 Every group has a couple of experts. And every group has at least one 3632 idiot. Thus are balance and harmony (and discord) maintained. It's 3633 sometimes hard to remember this in the bulk of the flamewars that all 3634 of the hassle and pain is generally caused by one or two 3635 highly-motivated, caustic twits. 3636 -- Chuq Von Rospach, about Usenet 3637 % 3638 Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired 3639 signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not 3640 fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not 3641 spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the 3642 genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way 3643 of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is 3644 humanity hanging on a cross of iron. 3645 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953 3646 % 3647 Every Horse has an Infinite Number of Legs (proof by intimidation): 3648 3649 Horses have an even number of legs. Behind they have two legs, and in 3650 front they have fore-legs. This makes six legs, which is certainly an 3651 odd number of legs for a horse. But the only number that is both even 3652 and odd is infinity. Therefore, horses have an infinite number of 3653 legs. Now to show this for the general case, suppose that somewhere, 3654 there is a horse that has a finite number of legs. But that is a horse 3655 of another color, and by the [above] lemma ["All horses are the same 3656 color"], that does not exist. 3657 % 3658 Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible. 3659 -- Frank Moore Colby 3660 % 3661 Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it. 3662 % 3663 Every little picofarad has a nanohenry all its own. 3664 -- Don Vonada 3665 % 3666 Every man has his price. Mine is $3.95. 3667 % 3668 Every man is as God made him, ay, and often worse. 3669 -- Miguel de Cervantes 3670 % 3671 Every morning, I get up and look through the 'Forbes' list of the 3672 richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. 3673 -- Robert Orben 3674 % 3675 Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis. 3676 3677 It makes sense, when you don't think about it. 3678 % 3679 Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one 3680 instruction -- from which, by induction, one can deduce that every 3681 program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work. 3682 % 3683 Every program has two purposes -- one for which it was written and 3684 another for which it wasn't. 3685 % 3686 Every program is a part of some other program, and rarely fits. 3687 % 3688 Every solution breeds new problems. 3689 % 3690 Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no 3691 guarantee of eventual success. 3692 % 3693 Every time I think I know where it's at, they move it. 3694 % 3695 Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. 3696 -- Beckett 3697 % 3698 Everybody is somebody else's weirdo. 3699 -- Dykstra 3700 % 3701 Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. 3702 % 3703 Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be 3704 taught how ___not to. So it is with the great programmers. 3705 % 3706 Everyone is a genius. It's just that some people are too stupid to 3707 realize it. 3708 % 3709 Everyone knows that dragons don't exist. But while this simplistic 3710 formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the 3711 scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact 3712 wholly unconcerned with what ____does exist. Indeed, the banality of 3713 existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to 3714 discuss it any further here. The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the 3715 problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the 3716 mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all, 3717 one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely 3718 different way ... 3719 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 3720 % 3721 Everyone talks about apathy, but no one ____does anything about it. 3722 % 3723 Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately, 3724 no one we know belongs. 3725 % 3726 Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being 3727 that a belch is more satisfying. 3728 -- Ingmar Bergman 3729 % 3730 Everything journalists write is true, except when they write about 3731 something you know. 3732 -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav, 3733 June 1999, FreeBSD-Stable Mailing List 3734 % 3735 Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. 3736 % 3737 Everything you know is wrong! 3738 % 3739 Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less 3740 obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no 3741 solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. 3742 There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no 3743 straight lines. 3744 -- R. Buckminster Fuller 3745 % 3746 Excellence is THE trend of the '80s. Walk into any shopping 3747 mall bookstore, go to the rack where they keep the best-sellers such as 3748 "Garfield Gets Spayed", and you'll see a half-dozen books telling you 3749 how to be excellent: "In Search of Excellence", "Finding Excellence", 3750 "Grasping Hold of Excellence", "Where to Hide Your Excellence at Night 3751 So the Cleaning Personnel Don't Steal It", etc. 3752 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence" 3753 % 3754 Excellent day for drinking heavily. Spike the office water cooler. 3755 % 3756 Excellent day for putting Slinkies on an escalator. 3757 % 3758 Excellent day to have a rotten day. 3759 % 3760 Excellent time to become a missing person. 3761 % 3762 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from 3763 acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. 3764 -- W. Somerset Maugham 3765 % 3766 Excessive login or logout messages are a sure sign of senility. 3767 % 3768 Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do 3769 the work. 3770 -- John G. Pollard 3771 % 3772 Expect the worst. It's the least you can do. 3773 % 3774 Expense Accounts, n.: 3775 Corporate food stamps. 3776 % 3777 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. 3778 -- Olivier 3779 % 3780 Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake 3781 when you make it again. 3782 -- Franklin P. Jones 3783 % 3784 Experience is the worst teacher. It always gives the test first and 3785 the instruction afterward. 3786 % 3787 Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old 3788 ones. 3789 % 3790 Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else. 3791 % 3792 Experience varies directly with equipment ruined. 3793 % 3794 Expert, n.: 3795 Someone who comes from out of town and shows slides. 3796 % 3797 Extract from Official Sweepstakes Rules: 3798 3799 NO PURCHASE REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE 3800 3801 To claim your prize without purchase, do the following: (a) Carefully 3802 cut out your computer-printed name and address from upper right hand 3803 corner of the Prize Claim Form. (b) Affix computer-printed name and 3804 address -- with glue or cellophane tape (no staples or paper clips) -- 3805 to a 3x5 inch index card. (c) Also cut out the "No" paragraph (lower 3806 left hand corner of Prize Claim Form) and affix it to the 3x5 card 3807 below your address label. (d) Then print on your 3x5 card, above your 3808 computer-printed name and address the words "CARTER & VAN PEEL 3809 SWEEPSTAKES" (Use all capital letters.) (e) Finally place 3x5 card 3810 (without bending) into a plain envelope [NOTE: do NOT use the 3811 Official Prize Claim and CVP Perfume Reply Envelope or you may be 3812 disqualified], and mail to: CVP, Box 1320, Westbury, NY 11595. Print 3813 this address correctly. Comply with above instructions carefully and 3814 completely or you may be disqualified from receiving your prize. 3815 % 3816 F u cn rd ths u cnt spl wrth a dm! 3817 % 3818 f u cn rd ths, itn tyg h myxbl cd. 3819 % 3820 f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng. 3821 % 3822 F: When into a room I plunge, I 3823 Sometimes find some VIOLET FUNGI. 3824 Then I linger, darkly brooding 3825 On the poison they're exuding. 3826 -- The Roguelet's ABC 3827 % 3828 Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable. 3829 % 3830 Fairy Tale, n.: 3831 A horror story to prepare children for the newspapers. 3832 % 3833 Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic 3834 without looking to see whether the seeds move. 3835 % 3836 Faith, n: 3837 That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be 3838 untrue. 3839 % 3840 Fakir, n: 3841 A psychologist whose charismatic data have inspired almost 3842 religious devotion in his followers, even though the sources seem to 3843 have shinnied up a rope and vanished. 3844 % 3845 Familiarity breeds attempt. 3846 % 3847 Families, when a child is born 3848 Want it to be intelligent. 3849 I, through intelligence, 3850 Having wrecked my whole life, 3851 Only hope the baby will prove 3852 Ignorant and stupid. 3853 Then he will crown a tranquil life 3854 By becoming a Cabinet Minister 3855 -- Su Tung-p'o 3856 % 3857 Famous last words: 3858 % 3859 Famous last words: 3860 (1) "Don't worry, I can handle it." 3861 (2) "You and what army?" 3862 (3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be 3863 a cop." 3864 % 3865 Famous last words: 3866 (1) Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix. 3867 (2) Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there. 3868 (3) What happens if you touch these two wires tog-- 3869 (4) We won't need reservations. 3870 (5) It's always sunny there this time of the year. 3871 (6) Don't worry, it's not loaded. 3872 (7) They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager. 3873 (8) Don't worry! Women love it! 3874 % 3875 Famous, adj.: 3876 Conspicuously miserable. 3877 -- Ambrose Bierce 3878 % 3879 Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the 3880 Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. 3881 Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an 3882 utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life 3883 forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches 3884 are a pretty neat idea. 3885 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 3886 % 3887 Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it 3888 every six months. 3889 -- Oscar Wilde 3890 % 3891 Fats Loves Madelyn. 3892 % 3893 Feel disillusioned? I've got some great new illusions ... 3894 % 3895 Fertility is hereditary. If your parents didn't have any children, 3896 neither will you. 3897 % 3898 Festivity Level 1: Your guests are chatting amiably with each 3899 other, admiring your Christmas-tree ornaments, singing carols around 3900 the upright piano, sipping at their drinks and nibbling hors 3901 d'oeuvres. 3902 Festivity Level 2: Your guests are talking loudly -- sometimes 3903 to each other, and sometimes to nobody at all, rearranging your 3904 Christmas-tree ornaments, singing "I Gotta Be Me" around the upright 3905 piano, gulping their drinks and wolfing down hors d'oeuvres. 3906 Festivity Level 3: Your guests are arguing violently with 3907 inanimate objects, singing "I can't get no satisfaction," gulping down 3908 other peoples' drinks, wolfing down Christmas tree ornaments and 3909 placing hors d'oeuvres in the upright piano to see what happens when 3910 the little hammers strike. 3911 Festivity Level 4: Your guests, hors d'oeuvres smeared all over 3912 their naked bodies are performing a ritual dance around the burning 3913 Christmas tree. The piano is missing. 3914 3915 You want to keep your party somewhere around level 3, unless 3916 you rent your home and own Firearms, in which case you can go to level 3917 4. The best way to get to level 3 is egg-nog. 3918 % 3919 Fifth Law of Applied Terror: 3920 If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book. 3921 3922 Corollary: 3923 If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you live. 3924 % 3925 Fifth Law of Procrastination: 3926 Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that 3927 there is nothing important to do. 3928 % 3929 Fifty flippant frogs 3930 Walked by on flippered feet 3931 And with their slime they made the time 3932 Unnaturally fleet. 3933 % 3934 FIGHTING WORDS 3935 3936 Say my love is easy had, 3937 Say I'm bitten raw with pride, 3938 Say I am too often sad -- 3939 Still behold me at your side. 3940 3941 Say I'm neither brave nor young, 3942 Say I woo and coddle care, 3943 Say the devil touched my tongue -- 3944 Still you have my heart to wear. 3945 3946 But say my verses do not scan, 3947 And I get me another man! 3948 -- Dorothy Parker 3949 % 3950 Fights between cats and dogs are prohibited by statute in Barber, North 3951 Carolina. 3952 % 3953 Finagle's Creed: 3954 Science is true. Don't be misled by facts. 3955 % 3956 Finagle's First Law: 3957 If an experiment works, something has gone wrong. 3958 % 3959 Finagle's Fourth Law: 3960 Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes 3961 it worse. 3962 % 3963 Finagle's Second Law: 3964 No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be 3965 someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) believe it 3966 happened according to his own pet theory. 3967 % 3968 Finagle's Third Law: 3969 In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, 3970 beyond all need of checking, is the mistake. 3971 3972 Corollaries: 3973 (1) Nobody whom you ask for help will see it. 3974 (2) The first person who stops by, whose advice you really 3975 don't want to hear, will see it immediately. 3976 % 3977 Finding out what goes on in the C.I.A. is like performing acupuncture 3978 on a rock. 3979 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981 3980 % 3981 Fine day to throw a party. Throw him as far as you can. 3982 % 3983 Fine day to work off excess energy. Steal something heavy. 3984 % 3985 Fine's Corollary: 3986 Functionality breeds Contempt. 3987 % 3988 Finish the sentence below in 25 words or less: 3989 3990 "Love is what you feel just before you give someone a good ..." 3991 3992 Mail your answer along with the top half of your supervisor to: 3993 3994 P.O. Box 35 3995 Baffled Greek, Michigan 3996 % 3997 First Corollary of Taber's Second Law: 3998 Machines that piss people off get murdered. 3999 -- Pat Taber 4000 % 4001 First Law of Bicycling: 4002 No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the 4003 wind. 4004 % 4005 First Law of Procrastination: 4006 Procrastination shortens the job and places the responsibility 4007 for its termination on someone else (i.e., the authority who imposed 4008 the deadline). 4009 % 4010 First Law of Socio-Genetics: 4011 Celibacy is not hereditary. 4012 % 4013 First Rule of History: 4014 History doesn't repeat itself -- historians merely repeat each 4015 other. 4016 % 4017 First things first -- but not necessarily in that order 4018 -- The Doctor, "Doctor Who" 4019 % 4020 First, a few words about tools. 4021 4022 Basically, a tool is an object that enables you to take advantage of 4023 the laws of physics and mechanics in such a way that you can seriously 4024 injure yourself. Today, people tend to take tools for granted. If 4025 you're ever walking down the street and you notice some people who look 4026 particularly smug, the odds are that they are taking tools for 4027 granted. If I were you, I'd walk right up and smack them in the face. 4028 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 4029 % 4030 Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity. 4031 -- Robert Firth 4032 % 4033 FLASH! Intelligence of mankind decreasing. Details at ... uh, when 4034 the little hand is on the .... 4035 % 4036 Flon's Law: 4037 There is not now, and never will be, a language in which it is 4038 the least bit difficult to write bad programs. 4039 % 4040 Florence Flask was ... dressing for the opera when she turned to her 4041 husband and screamed, "Erlenmeyer! My joules! Someone has stolen my 4042 joules!" 4043 4044 "Now, now, my dear," replied her husband, "keep your balance and reflux 4045 a moment. Perhaps they're mislead." 4046 4047 "No, I know they're stolen," cried Florence. "I remember putting them 4048 in my burette ... We must call a copper." 4049 4050 Erlenmeyer did so, and the flatfoot who turned up, one Sherlock Ohms, 4051 said the outrage looked like the work of an arch-criminal by the name 4052 of Lawrence Ium. 4053 4054 "We must be careful -- he's a free radical, ultraviolet, and 4055 dangerous. His girlfriend is a chlorine at the Palladium. Maybe I can 4056 catch him there." With that, he jumped on his carbon cycle in an 4057 activated state and sped off along the reaction pathway ... 4058 -- Daniel B. Murphy, "Precipitations" 4059 % 4060 flowchart, n. & v.: 4061 [From flow "to ripple down in rich profusion, as hair" + chart 4062 "a cryptic hidden-treasure map designed to mislead the uninitiated."] 4063 1. n. The solution, if any, to a class of Mascheroni construction 4064 problems in which given algorithms require geometrical representation 4065 using only the 35 basic ideograms of the ANSI template. 2. n. Neronic 4066 doodling while the system burns. 3. n. A low-cost substitute for 4067 wallpaper. 4. n. The innumerate misleading the illiterate. "A 4068 thousand pictures is worth ten lines of code." -- The Programmer's 4069 Little Red Vade Mecum, Mao Tse T'umps. 5. v.intrans. To produce 4070 flowcharts with no particular object in mind. 6. v.trans. To obfuscate 4071 (a problem) with esoteric cartoons. 4072 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary" 4073 % 4074 Flugg's Law: 4075 When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the 4076 world is composed of vinyl, naugahyde and aluminum. 4077 % 4078 Flying saucers on occasion 4079 Show themselves to human eyes. 4080 Aliens fume, put off invasion 4081 While they brand these tales as lies. 4082 % 4083 Fog Lamps, n.: 4084 Excessively (often obnoxiously) bright lamps mounted on the 4085 fronts of automobiles; used on dry, clear nights to indicate that the 4086 driver's brain is in a fog. 4087 4088 See also "Idiot Lights". 4089 % 4090 Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing. 4091 -- Walt Kelly, "Putluck Pogo" 4092 % 4093 For 20 dollars, I'll give you a good fortune next time ... 4094 % 4095 For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a 4096 cat. 4097 % 4098 For an adequate time call 555-3321. 4099 % 4100 For an idea to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be 4101 always old-fashioned. 4102 % 4103 For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, 4104 and wrong. 4105 -- H. L. Mencken 4106 % 4107 For every credibility gap, there is a gullibility fill. 4108 -- R. Clopton 4109 % 4110 "For I perceive that behind this seemingly unrelated sequence 4111 of events, there lurks a singular, sinister attitude of mind." 4112 4113 "Whose?" 4114 4115 "MINE! HA-HA!" 4116 % 4117 For large values of one, one equals two, for small values of two. 4118 % 4119 For my son, Robert, this is proving to be the high-point of his entire 4120 life to date. He has had his pajamas on for two, maybe three days 4121 now. He has the sense of joyful independence a 5-year-old child gets 4122 when he suddenly realizes that he could be operating an acetylene torch 4123 in the coat closet and neither parent [because of the flu] would have 4124 the strength to object. He has been foraging for his own food, which 4125 means his diet consists entirely of "food" substances which are 4126 advertised only on Saturday-morning cartoon shows; substances that are 4127 the color of jukebox lights and that, for legal reasons, have their 4128 names spelled wrong, as in New Creemy Chok-'n'-Cheez Lumps o' Froot 4129 ("part of this complete breakfast"). 4130 -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide" 4131 % 4132 For perfect happiness, remember two things: 4133 (1) Be content with what you've got. 4134 (2) Be sure you've got plenty. 4135 % 4136 For some reason a glaze passes over people's faces when you say 4137 "Canada". Maybe we should invade South Dakota or something. 4138 -- Sandra Gotlieb, wife of the Canadian ambassador to 4139 the U.S. 4140 % 4141 For some reason, this fortune reminds everyone of Marvin Zelkowitz. 4142 % 4143 For that matter, compare your pocket computer with the massive jobs of 4144 a thousand years ago. Why not, then, the last step of doing away with 4145 computers altogether? 4146 -- Jehan Shuman 4147 % 4148 For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like. 4149 -- Abraham Lincoln 4150 % 4151 For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but 4152 phone calls taper off. 4153 -- Johnny Carson 4154 % 4155 For years a secret shame destroyed my peace -- 4156 I'd not read Eliot, Auden or MacNiece. 4157 But now I think a thought that brings me hope: 4158 Neither had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope. 4159 -- Justin Richardson 4160 % 4161 For your penance, say five Hail Marys and one loud BLAH! 4162 % 4163 Forgetfulness, n.: 4164 A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their 4165 destitution of conscience. 4166 % 4167 Forms follow function, and often obliterate it. 4168 % 4169 FORTUNE DISCUSSES THE OBSCURE FILMS! #6 4170 4171 RAZORBACK: Paul Harbride, 1984, 2 hours 25 min. 4172 One of the great Australian films of the early 1980's, and 4173 arguably the best movie ever made about a large, man-eating 4174 hog. Some violence. With Gregory Harrison. 4175 % 4176 fortune's Contribution of the Month to the Animal Rights Debate: 4177 4178 I'll stay out of animals' way if they'll stay out of mine. 4179 "Hey you, get off my plate" 4180 -- Roger Midnight 4181 % 4182 Fortune's Fictitious Country Song Title of the Week: 4183 "How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?" 4184 % 4185 Fortune's graffito of the week (or maybe even month): 4186 4187 Don't Write On Walls! 4188 4189 (and underneath) 4190 4191 You want I should type? 4192 % 4193 Fortune's Law of the Week (this week, from Kentucky): 4194 No female shall appear in a bathing suit at any airport in this 4195 State unless she is escorted by two officers or unless she is armed 4196 with a club. The provisions of this statute shall not apply to females 4197 weighing less than 90 pounds nor exceeding 200 pounds, nor shall it 4198 apply to female horses. 4199 % 4200 Fortune's nomination for All-Time Champion and Protector of Youthful 4201 Morals goes to Representative Clare E. Hoffman of Michigan. During an 4202 impassioned House debate over a proposed bill to "expand oyster and 4203 clam research," a sharp-eared informant transcribed the following 4204 exchange between our hero and Rep. John D. Dingell, also of Michigan. 4205 4206 DINGELL: There are places in the world at the present time where we are 4207 having to artificially propagate oysters and clams. 4208 HOFFMAN: You mean the oysters I buy are not nature's oysters? 4209 DINGELL: They may or may not be natural. The simple fact of the matter 4210 is that female oysters through their living habits cast out 4211 large amounts of seed and the male oysters cast out large 4212 amounts of fertilization ... 4213 HOFFMAN: Wait a minute! I do not want to go into that. There are many 4214 teenagers who read The Congressional Record. 4215 % 4216 Fortune's Office Door Sign of the Week: 4217 4218 Incorrigible punster -- Do not incorrige. 4219 % 4220 FORTUNE'S PARTY TIPS #14 4221 4222 Tired of finding that other people are helping themselves to your good 4223 liquor at BYOB parties? Take along a candle, which you insert and 4224 light after you've opened the bottle. No one ever expects anything 4225 drinkable to be in a bottle which has a candle stuck in its neck. 4226 % 4227 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #18: 4228 4229 Q: Are you married? 4230 A: No, I'm divorced. 4231 Q: And what did your husband do before you divorced him? 4232 A: A lot of things I didn't know about. 4233 % 4234 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #19: 4235 4236 Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people? 4237 A: All my autopsies have been performed on dead people. 4238 % 4239 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #29: 4240 4241 THE JUDGE: Now, as we begin, I must ask you to banish all present 4242 information and prejudice from your minds, if you have 4243 any ... 4244 % 4245 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #32: 4246 4247 Q: Do you know how far pregnant you are right now? 4248 A: I will be three months November 8th. 4249 Q: Apparently then, the date of conception was August 8th? 4250 A: Yes. 4251 Q: What were you and your husband doing at that time? 4252 % 4253 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #37: 4254 4255 Q: Did he pick the dog up by the ears? 4256 A: No. 4257 Q: What was he doing with the dog's ears? 4258 A: Picking them up in the air. 4259 Q: Where was the dog at this time? 4260 A: Attached to the ears. 4261 % 4262 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #3: 4263 4264 Q: When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were 4265 able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to 4266 go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with 4267 him to the station? 4268 MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot. 4269 % 4270 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #41: 4271 4272 Q: Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated? 4273 A: By death. 4274 Q: And by whose death was it terminated? 4275 % 4276 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #52: 4277 4278 Q: What is your name? 4279 A: Ernestine McDowell. 4280 Q: And what is your marital status? 4281 A: Fair. 4282 % 4283 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #7: 4284 4285 Q: What happened then? 4286 A: He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify 4287 me." 4288 Q: Did he kill you? 4289 A: No. 4290 % 4291 fortune: CPU time/usefulness ratio too high -- core dumped. 4292 % 4293 Fortune: You will be attacked next Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. by six samurai 4294 sword wielding purple fish glued to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. 4295 4296 Oh, and have a nice day! 4297 -- Bryce Nesbitt '84 4298 % 4299 Fourth Law of Applied Terror: 4300 The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology 4301 instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria. 4302 4303 Corollary: 4304 Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do 4305 except study for that instructor's course. 4306 % 4307 Fourth Law of Revision: 4308 It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about 4309 interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for you. 4310 % 4311 Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: If the probability of success is not 4312 almost one, it is damn near zero. 4313 -- David Ellis 4314 % 4315 Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a 4316 policeman's tie. 4317 % 4318 Fresco's Discovery: 4319 If you knew what you were doing you'd probably be bored. 4320 % 4321 Friends, Romans, Hipsters, 4322 Let me clue you in; 4323 I come to put down Caesar, not to groove him. 4324 The square kicks some cats are on stay with them; 4325 The hip bits, like, go down under; so let it lay with Caesar. The cool Brutus 4326 Gave you the message: Caesar had big eyes; 4327 If that's the sound, someone's copping a plea, 4328 And, like, old Caesar really set them straight. 4329 Here, copacetic with Brutus and the studs, -- for Brutus is a real cool cat; 4330 So are they all, all cool cats, -- 4331 Come I to make this gig at Caesar's laying down. 4332 % 4333 Frisbeetarianism, n.: 4334 The belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and 4335 gets stuck. 4336 % 4337 Frobnicate, v.: 4338 To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from FROBNITZ. 4339 Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the saying "to frob a 4340 frob". See TWEAK and TWIDDLE. Usage: FROB, TWIDDLE, and TWEAK 4341 sometimes connote points along a continuum. FROB connotes aimless 4342 manipulation; TWIDDLE connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse 4343 search for a proper setting; TWEAK connotes fine-tuning. If someone is 4344 turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it 4345 he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the 4346 screen he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because 4347 turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. 4348 % 4349 Frobnitz, pl. Frobnitzem (frob'nitsm) n.: 4350 An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to 4351 electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to 4352 FROTZ, or more commonly to FROB. Also used are FROBNULE, FROBULE, and 4353 FROBNODULE. Starting perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl. 4354 FROBBOTZIM, has also become very popular, largely due to its exposure 4355 via the Adventure spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be 4356 applied to non-physical objects, such as data structures. 4357 % 4358 [From an announcement of a congress of the International Ontopsychology 4359 Association, in Rome]: 4360 4361 The Ontopsychological school, availing itself of new research criteria 4362 and of a new telematic epistemology, maintains that social modes do not 4363 spring from dialectics of territory or of class, or of consumer goods, 4364 or of means of power, but rather from dynamic latencies capillarized in 4365 millions of individuals in system functions which, once they have 4366 reached the event maturation, burst forth in catastrophic phenomenology 4367 engaging a suitable stereotype protagonist or duty marionette (general, 4368 president, political party, etc.) to consummate the act of social 4369 schizophrenia in mass genocide. 4370 % 4371 From the "Guiness Book of World Records", 1973: 4372 4373 Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation and 4374 the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the 4375 Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his 4376 candidate which reads, "In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground 4377 nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, 4378 other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not 4379 qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their 4380 being nuts (unground)." 4381 % 4382 From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was 4383 convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it. 4384 -- Groucho Marx, from "The Book of Insults" 4385 % 4386 [From the operation manual for the CI-300 Dot Matrix Line Printer, made 4387 in Japan]: 4388 4389 The excellent output machine of MODEL CI-300 as extraordinary DOT 4390 MATRIX LINE PRINTER, built in two MICRO-PROCESSORs as well as EAROM, is 4391 featured by permitting wonderful co-existence such as; "high quality 4392 against low cost", "diversified functions with compact design", 4393 "flexibility in accessibleness and durability of approx. 2000,000,00 4394 Dot/Head", "being sophisticated in mechanism but possibly agile 4395 operating under noises being extremely suppressed" etc. 4396 4397 And as a matter of course, the final goal is just simply to help 4398 achieve "super shuttle diplomacy" between cool data, perhaps earned by 4399 HOST COMPUTER, and warm heart of human being. 4400 % 4401 From the Pro 350 Pocket Service Guide, p. 49, Step 5 of the 4402 instructions on removing an I/O board from the card cage, comes a new 4403 experience in sound: 4404 4405 5. Turn the handle to the right 90 degrees. The pin-spreading 4406 sound is normal for this type of connector. 4407 % 4408 From too much love of living, 4409 From hope and fear set free, 4410 We thank with brief thanksgiving, 4411 Whatever gods may be, 4412 That no life lives forever, 4413 That dead men rise up never, 4414 That even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea. 4415 -- Swinburne 4416 % 4417 Fuch's Warning: 4418 If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren't well 4419 enough to travel. 4420 % 4421 Fudd's First Law of Opposition: 4422 Push something hard enough and it will fall over. 4423 % 4424 Furbling, v.: 4425 Having to wander through a maze of ropes at an airport or bank 4426 even when you are the only person in line. 4427 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 4428 % 4429 Furious activity is no substitute for understanding. 4430 -- H. H. Williams 4431 % 4432 Future looks spotty. You will spill soup in late evening. 4433 % 4434 G. B. Shaw to William Douglas Home: "Go on writing plays, my boy. One 4435 of these days a London producer will go into his office and say to his 4436 secretary, `Is there a play from Shaw this morning?' and when she says 4437 `No,' he will say, `Well, then we'll have to start on the rubbish.' And 4438 that's your chance, my boy." 4439 % 4440 Garbage In -- Gospel Out. 4441 % 4442 Garter, n.: 4443 An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her 4444 stockings and desolating the country. 4445 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 4446 % 4447 Gauls! We have nothing to fear; except perhaps that the sky may fall 4448 on our heads tomorrow. But as we all know, tomorrow never comes!! 4449 -- Adventures of Asterix 4450 % 4451 Gay shlafen: Yiddish for "go to sleep". 4452 4453 Now doesn't "gay shlafen" have a softer, more soothing sound 4454 than the harsh, staccato "go to sleep"? Listen to the difference: 4455 "Go to sleep, you little wretch!" ... "Gay shlafen, darling." 4456 Obvious, isn't it? 4457 Clearly the best thing you can do for you children is to start 4458 speaking Yiddish right now and never speak another word of English as 4459 long as you live. This will, of course, entail teaching Yiddish to all 4460 your friends, business associates, the people at the supermarket, and 4461 so on, but that's just the point. It has to start with committed 4462 individuals and then grow ... 4463 Some minor adjustments will have to be made, of course: those 4464 signs written in what look like Yiddish letters won't be funny when 4465 everything is written in Yiddish. And we'll have to start driving on 4466 the left side of the road so we won't be reading the street signs 4467 backwards. But is that too high a price to pay for world peace? I 4468 think not, my friend, I think not. 4469 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 4470 % 4471 "Gee, Mudhead, everyone at More Science High has an 4472 extracurricular activity except you." 4473 "Well, gee, doesn't Louise count?" 4474 "Only to ten, Mudhead." 4475 -- The Firesign Theatre 4476 % 4477 Gee, Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore. 4478 % 4479 GEMINI (May 21 - June 20) 4480 You are a quick and intelligent thinker. People like you 4481 because you are bisexual. However, you are inclined to expect too much 4482 for too little. This means you are cheap. Geminis are known for 4483 committing incest. 4484 % 4485 GEMINI (May 21 to Jun. 20) 4486 Good news and bad news highlighted. Enjoy the good news while 4487 you can; the bad news will make you forget it. You will enjoy praise 4488 and respect from those around you; everybody loves a sucker. A short 4489 trip is in the stars, possibly to the men's room. 4490 % 4491 Genderplex, n.: 4492 The predicament of a person in a restaurant who is unable to 4493 determine his or her designated restroom (e.g., turtles and 4494 tortoises). 4495 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 4496 % 4497 Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why 4498 you should. 4499 % 4500 Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus 4501 handicapped. 4502 -- Elbert Hubbard 4503 % 4504 Genius, n.: 4505 A chemist who discovers a laundry additive that rhymes with 4506 "bright". 4507 % 4508 George Orwell 1984. Northwestern 0. 4509 -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82 4510 % 4511 George Orwell was an optimist. 4512 % 4513 George Washington was first in war, first in peace -- and the first to 4514 have his birthday juggled to make a long weekend. 4515 -- Ashley Cooper 4516 % 4517 Gerrold's Laws of Infernal Dynamics: 4518 (1) An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong 4519 direction. 4520 (2) An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. 4521 (3) The energy required to change either one of these states 4522 will always be more than you wish to expend, but never so 4523 much as to make the task totally impossible. 4524 % 4525 Get forgiveness now -- tomorrow you may no longer feel guilty. 4526 % 4527 Get GUMMed 4528 --- ------ 4529 The Gurus of Unix Meeting of Minds (GUMM) takes place Wednesday, April 4530 1, 2076 (check THAT in your perpetual calendar program), 14 feet above 4531 the ground directly in front of the Milpitas Gumps. Members will grep 4532 each other by the hand (after intro), yacc a lot, smoke filtered 4533 chroots in pipes, chown with forks, use the wc (unless uuclean), fseek 4534 nice zombie processes, strip, and sleep, but not, we hope, od. Three 4535 days will be devoted to discussion of the ramifications of whodo. Two 4536 seconds have been allotted for a complete rundown of all the user- 4537 friendly features of Unix. Seminars include "Everything You Know is 4538 Wrong", led by Tom Kempson, "Batman or Cat:man?" led by Richie Dennis 4539 "cc C? Si! Si!" led by Kerwin Bernighan, and "Document Unix, Are You 4540 Kidding?" led by Jan Yeats. No Reader Service No. is necessary because 4541 all GUGUs (Gurus of Unix Group of Users) already know everything we 4542 could tell them. 4543 -- Dr. Dobb's Journal, June '84 4544 % 4545 Get Revenge! Live long enough to be a problem for your children! 4546 % 4547 -- Gifts for Children -- 4548 4549 This is easy. You never have to figure out what to get for children, 4550 because they will tell you exactly what they want. They spend months 4551 and months researching these kinds of things by watching Saturday- 4552 morning cartoon-show advertisements. Make sure you get your children 4553 exactly what they ask for, even if you disapprove of their choices. If 4554 your child thinks he wants Murderous Bob, the Doll with the Face You 4555 Can Rip Right Off, you'd better get it. You may be worried that it 4556 might help to encourage your child's antisocial tendencies, but believe 4557 me, you have not seen antisocial tendencies until you've seen a child 4558 who is convinced that he or she did not get the right gift. 4559 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 4560 % 4561 -- Gifts for Men -- 4562 4563 Men are amused by almost any idiot thing -- that is why professional 4564 ice hockey is so popular -- so buying gifts for them is easy. But you 4565 should never buy them clothes. Men believe they already have all the 4566 clothes they will ever need, and new ones make them nervous. For 4567 example, your average man has 84 ties, but he wears, at most, only 4568 three of them. He has learned, through humiliating trial and error, 4569 that if he wears any of the other 81 ties, his wife will probably laugh 4570 at him ("You're not going to wear THAT tie with that suit, are you?"). 4571 So he has narrowed it down to three safe ties, and has gone several 4572 years without being laughed at. If you give him a new tie, he will 4573 pretend to like it, but deep inside he will hate you. 4574 4575 If you want to give a man something practical, consider tires. More 4576 than once, I would have gladly traded all the gifts I got for a new set 4577 of tires. 4578 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 4579 % 4580 Gimmie That Old Time Religion 4581 We will follow Zarathustra, We will worship like the Druids, 4582 Zarathustra like we use to, Dancing naked in the woods, 4583 I'm a Zarathustra booster, Drinking strange fermented fluids, 4584 And he's good enough for me! And it's good enough for me! 4585 (chorus) (chorus) 4586 4587 In the church of Aphrodite, 4588 The priestess wears a see-through nightie, 4589 She's a mighty righteous sightie, 4590 And she's good enough for me! 4591 (chorus) 4592 4593 CHORUS: Give me that old time religion, 4594 Give me that old time religion, 4595 Give me that old time religion, 4596 'Cause it's good enough for me! 4597 % 4598 Ginsberg's Theorem: 4599 (1) You can't win. 4600 (2) You can't break even. 4601 (3) You can't even quit the game. 4602 4603 Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's theorem: 4604 Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem 4605 meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's 4606 Theorem. To wit: 4607 4608 (1) Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win. 4609 (2) Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even. 4610 (3) Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game. 4611 % 4612 Give me a Plumber's friend the size of the Pittsburgh dome, and a place 4613 to stand, and I will drain the world. 4614 % 4615 Give me enough medals, and I'll win any war. 4616 -- Napoleon 4617 % 4618 Give me the Luxuries, and the Hell with the Necessities! 4619 % 4620 Give thought to your reputation. Consider changing name and moving to 4621 a new town. 4622 % 4623 Give your child mental blocks for Christmas. 4624 % 4625 Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying 4626 around, I'd rather lie around. No contest. 4627 -- Eric Clapton 4628 % 4629 Giving up on assembly language was the apple in our Garden of Eden: 4630 Languages whose use squanders machine cycles are sinful. The LISP 4631 machine now permits LISP programmers to abandon bra and fig-leaf. 4632 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 4633 % 4634 Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability: 4635 Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the 4636 probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some 4637 useful work done. 4638 % 4639 Gnagloot, n.: 4640 A person who leaves all his ski passes on his jacket just to 4641 impress people. 4642 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 4643 % 4644 Go 'way! You're bothering me! 4645 % 4646 Go climb a gravity well! 4647 % 4648 Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what value there may 4649 be in owning a piece thereof. 4650 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 4651 % 4652 //GO.SYSIN DD *, DOODAH, DOODAH 4653 % 4654 God did not create the world in seven days; he screwed around for six 4655 days and then pulled an all-nighter. 4656 % 4657 God doesn't play dice. 4658 -- Albert Einstein 4659 % 4660 "God gives burdens; also shoulders" 4661 4662 Jimmy Carter cited this Jewish saying in his concession speech at the 4663 end of the 1980 election. At least he said it was a Jewish saying; I 4664 can't find it anywhere. I'm sure he's telling the truth though; why 4665 would he lie about a thing like that? 4666 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 4667 % 4668 God has intended the great to be great and the little to be little ... 4669 The trade unions, under the European system, destroy liberty ... I do 4670 not mean to say that a dollar a day is enough to support a workingman 4671 ... not enough to support a man and five children if he insists on 4672 smoking and drinking beer. But the man who cannot live on bread and 4673 water is not fit to live! A family may live on good bread and water in 4674 the morning, water and bread at midday, and good bread and water at 4675 night! 4676 -- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher 4677 % 4678 God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh. 4679 % 4680 God is a polytheist. 4681 % 4682 God is Dead 4683 -- Nietzsche 4684 Nietzsche is Dead 4685 -- God 4686 Nietzsche is God 4687 -- The Dead 4688 % 4689 God is not dead! He's alive and autographing bibles at Cody's 4690 % 4691 God is real, unless declared integer. 4692 % 4693 God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the 4694 elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying 4695 other things. 4696 -- Pablo Picasso 4697 % 4698 God is the tangential point between zero and infinity. 4699 -- Alfred Jarry 4700 % 4701 God isn't dead, he just couldn't find a parking place. 4702 % 4703 God made machine language; all the rest is the work of man. 4704 % 4705 God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board. 4706 -- Mark Twain 4707 % 4708 God made the integers; all else is the work of Man. 4709 -- Kronecker 4710 % 4711 God made the world in six days, and was arrested on the seventh. 4712 % 4713 God may be subtle, but He isn't plain mean. 4714 -- Albert Einstein 4715 % 4716 God must love the Common Man; He made so many of them. 4717 % 4718 God rest ye CS students now, 4719 Let nothing you dismay. 4720 The VAX is down and won't be up, 4721 Until the first of May. 4722 The program that was due this morn, 4723 Won't be postponed, they say. 4724 4725 Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, 4726 Comfort and joy, 4727 Oh, tidings of comfort and joy. 4728 4729 The bearings on the drum are gone, 4730 The disk is wobbling, too. 4731 We've found a bug in Lisp, and Algol 4732 Can't tell false from true. 4733 And now we find that we can't get 4734 At Berkeley's 4.2. 4735 4736 (chorus) 4737 % 4738 Going to church does not make a person religious, nor does going to 4739 school make a person educated, any more than going to a garage makes a 4740 person a car. 4741 % 4742 Gold, n.: 4743 A soft malleable metal relatively scarce in distribution. It 4744 is mined deep in the earth by poor men who then give it to rich men who 4745 immediately bury it back in the earth in great prisons, although gold 4746 hasn't done anything to them. 4747 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 4748 % 4749 Goldenstern's Rules: 4750 (1) Always hire a rich attorney. 4751 (2) Never buy from a rich salesman. 4752 % 4753 Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad 4754 example. 4755 -- La Rochefoucauld 4756 % 4757 Good day for a change of scene. Repaper the bedroom wall. 4758 % 4759 Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase. 4760 % 4761 Good day to avoid cops. Crawl to school. 4762 % 4763 Good day to let down old friends who need help. 4764 % 4765 Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed. 4766 % 4767 Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance. 4768 % 4769 Good news. Ten weeks from Friday will be a pretty good day. 4770 % 4771 Good night to spend with family, but avoid arguments with your mate's 4772 new lover. 4773 % 4774 Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored. 4775 -- George Saunders' dying words 4776 % 4777 Gordon's first law: 4778 If a research project is not worth doing, it is not worth doing 4779 well. 4780 % 4781 Gosh that takes me back... or is it forward? That's the trouble with 4782 time travel, you never can tell. 4783 -- Doctor Who, "Androids of Tara" 4784 % 4785 Got Mole problems? 4786 Call Avogadro 6.02 x 10^23 4787 % 4788 Goto, n.: 4789 A programming tool that exists to allow structured programmers 4790 to complain about unstructured programmers. 4791 -- Ray Simard 4792 % 4793 Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage. 4794 -- John Updike, "Couples" 4795 % 4796 Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are 4797 different lies. 4798 % 4799 Government spending? I don't know what it's all about. I don't know 4800 any more about this thing than an economist does, and, God knows, he 4801 doesn't know much. 4802 -- Will Rogers 4803 % 4804 Grabel's Law: 4805 2 is not equal to 3 -- not even for large values of 2. 4806 % 4807 Graduate life -- it's not just a job, it's an indenture. 4808 % 4809 Graduate life: It's not just a job. It's an indenture. 4810 % 4811 Grandpa Charnock's Law: 4812 You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. 4813 % 4814 Gravity is a myth: the Earth sucks. 4815 % 4816 Gray's Law of Programming: 4817 `_n+1' trivial tasks are expected to be accomplished in the same 4818 time as `_n' tasks. 4819 4820 Logg's Rebuttal to Gray's Law: 4821 `_n+1' trivial tasks take twice as long as `_n' trivial tasks. 4822 % 4823 Great minds run in great circles. 4824 % 4825 GREAT MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY #21 -- July 30, 1917 4826 4827 On this day, New York City hotel detectives burst in and caught then- 4828 Senator Warren G. Harding in bed with an underage girl. He bought them 4829 off with a $20 bribe, and later remarked thankfully, "I thought I 4830 wouldn't get out of that under $1000!" Always one to learn from his 4831 mistakes, in later years President Harding carried on his affairs in a 4832 tiny closet in the White House Cabinet Room while Secret Service men 4833 stood lookout. 4834 % 4835 Green light in A.M. for new projects. 4836 Red light in P.M. for traffic tickets. 4837 % 4838 Greener's Law: 4839 Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel. 4840 % 4841 Grelb's Reminder: 4842 Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above 4843 average drivers. 4844 % 4845 Grub first, then ethics. 4846 -- Bertolt Brecht 4847 % 4848 Gurmlish, n.: 4849 The red warning flag at the top of a club sandwich which 4850 prevents the person from biting into it and puncturing the roof of his 4851 mouth. 4852 -- Rich Hall & Friends, "Sniglets" 4853 % 4854 Gyroscope, n.: 4855 A wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and also 4856 free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each 4857 other and the axis of spin so that a rotation of one of the two 4858 mutually perpendicular axes results from application of torque to the 4859 other when the wheel is spinning and so that the entire apparatus 4860 offers considerable opposition depending on the angular momentum to any 4861 torque that would change the direction of the axis of spin. 4862 -- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary 4863 % 4864 H. L. Mencken suffers from the hallucination that he is H. L. 4865 Mencken -- there is no cure for a disease of that magnitude. 4866 -- Maxwell Bodenheim 4867 % 4868 H. L. Mencken's Law: 4869 Those who can -- do. 4870 Those who can't -- teach. 4871 4872 Martin's Extension: 4873 Those who cannot teach -- administrate. 4874 % 4875 H: If a 'GOBLIN (HOB) waylays you, 4876 Slice him up before he slays you. 4877 Nothing makes you look a slob 4878 Like running from a HOB'LIN (GOB). 4879 -- The Roguelet's ABC 4880 % 4881 Hacker's Law: 4882 The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a 4883 nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions. 4884 % 4885 Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge. 4886 % 4887 Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, 4888 and you would not have been informed. 4889 % 4890 Hail to the sun god 4891 He sure is a fun god 4892 Ra! Ra! Ra! 4893 % 4894 Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain't that a big 4895 enough majority in any town? 4896 -- Mark Twain, "Huckleberry Finn" 4897 % 4898 Half Moon tonight. (At least it's better than no Moon at all.) 4899 % 4900 Half-done: 4901 This is the best way to eat a kosher dill -- when it's still 4902 crunchy, light green, yet full of garlic flavor. The difference 4903 between this and the typical soggy dark green cucumber corpse is like 4904 the difference between life and death. 4905 You may find it difficult to find a good half-done kosher dill 4906 there in Seattle, so what you should do is take a cab out to the 4907 airport, fly to New York, take the JFK Express to Jay Street-Borough 4908 Hall, transfer to an uptown F, get off at East Broadway, walk north on 4909 Essex (along the park), make your first left onto Hester Street, walk 4910 about fifteen steps, turn ninety degrees left, and stop. Say to the 4911 man, "Let me have a nice half-done." 4912 Worth the trouble, wasn't it? 4913 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 4914 % 4915 Hall's Laws of Politics: 4916 (1) The voters want fewer taxes and more spending. 4917 (2) Citizens want honest politicians until they want something 4918 fixed. 4919 (3) Constituency drives out consistency (i.e., liberals defend 4920 military spending, and conservatives social spending in 4921 their own districts). 4922 % 4923 Hand, n.: 4924 A singular instrument worn at the end of a human arm and 4925 commonly thrust into somebody's pocket. 4926 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 4927 % 4928 Hanlon's Razor: 4929 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by 4930 stupidity. 4931 % 4932 Hanson's Treatment of Time: 4933 There are never enough hours in a day, but always too many days 4934 before Saturday. 4935 % 4936 Happiness is having a scratch for every itch. 4937 -- Ogden Nash 4938 % 4939 Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember. 4940 -- Oscar Levant 4941 % 4942 Happiness, n.: 4943 An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of 4944 another. 4945 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 4946 % 4947 Hard work may not kill you, but why take chances? 4948 % 4949 Hardware, n.: 4950 The parts of a computer system that can be kicked. 4951 % 4952 Hark ye, Clinker, you are a most notorious offender. You stand 4953 convicted of sickness, hunger, wretchedness, and want. 4954 -- Tobias Smollet 4955 % 4956 Hark, Hark, the dogs do bark 4957 The Duke is fond of kittens 4958 He likes to take their insides out 4959 And use them for his mittens 4960 From "The Thirteen Clocks" 4961 % 4962 Hark, the Herald Tribune sings, 4963 Advertising wondrous things. 4964 -- Tom Lehrer 4965 % 4966 Harris's Lament: 4967 All the good ones are taken. 4968 % 4969 Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab: 4970 Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment 4971 ruined. 4972 % 4973 Harry is heavily into camping, and every year in the late fall, he 4974 makes us all go to Assateague, which is an island on the Atlantic Ocean 4975 famous for its wild horses. I realize that the concept of wild horses 4976 probably stirs romantic notions in many of you, but this is because you 4977 have never met any wild horses in person. In person, they are like 4978 enormous hooved rats. They amble up to your camp site, and their 4979 attitude is: "We're wild horses. We're going to eat your food, knock 4980 down your tent and poop on your shoes. We're protected by federal law, 4981 just like Richard Nixon." 4982 -- Dave Barry, "Tenting Grandpa Bob" 4983 % 4984 Hartley's First Law: 4985 You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float 4986 on his back, you've got something. 4987 % 4988 Hartley's Second Law: 4989 Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself. 4990 % 4991 Harvard Law: 4992 Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, 4993 temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will 4994 do as it damn well pleases. 4995 % 4996 "Has anyone had problems with the computer accounts?" 4997 "Yes, I don't have one." 4998 "Okay, you can send mail to one of the tutors ..." 4999 -- E. D'Azevedo, Computer Science 372 5000 % 5001 Has everyone noticed that all the letters of the word "database" are 5002 typed with the left hand? Now the layout of the QWERTYUIOP typewriter 5003 keyboard was designed, among other things, to facilitate the even use 5004 of both hands. It follows, therefore, that writing about databases is 5005 not only unnatural, but a lot harder than it appears. 5006 % 5007 Has your family tried 'em? 5008 5009 POWDERMILK BISCUITS 5010 5011 Heavens, they're tasty and expeditious! 5012 5013 They're made from whole wheat, to give shy persons the 5014 strength to get up and do what needs to be done. 5015 5016 POWDERMILK BISCUITS 5017 5018 Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the 5019 biscuit on the front, or in the brown bag with the dark stains 5020 that indicate freshness. 5021 % 5022 Hatred, n.: 5023 A sentiment appropriate to the occasion of another's 5024 superiority. 5025 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 5026 % 5027 Have an adequate day. 5028 % 5029 Have people realized that the purpose of the fortune cookie program is 5030 to defuse project tensions? When did you ever see a cheerful cookie, a 5031 non-cynical, or even an informative cookie? 5032 5033 Perhaps inadvertently, we have a channel for our aggressions. This 5034 still begs the question of whether the cookie releases the pressure or 5035 only serves to blunt the warning signs. 5036 5037 Long live the revolution! 5038 Have a nice day. 5039 % 5040 Have you ever noticed that the people who are always trying to tell 5041 you, "There's a time for work and a time for play," never find the time 5042 for play? 5043 % 5044 Have you ever wondered what makes Californians so calm? Besides drugs, 5045 I mean. The answer is hot tubs. A hot tub is a redwood container 5046 filled with water that you sit in naked with members of the opposite 5047 sex, none of whom is necessarily your spouse. After a few hours in 5048 their hot tubs, Californians don't give a damn about earthquakes or 5049 mass murderers. They don't give a damn about anything, which is why 5050 they are able to produce "Laverne and Shirley" week after week. 5051 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 5052 % 5053 "Have you lived here all your life?" 5054 "Oh, twice that long." 5055 % 5056 Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a 5057 crack in your sidewalk? 5058 % 5059 Have you noticed the way people's intelligence capabilities decline 5060 sharply the minute they start waving guns around? 5061 -- Dr. Who 5062 % 5063 Have you reconsidered a computer career? 5064 % 5065 He did decide, though, that with more time and a great deal of mental 5066 effort, he could probably turn the activity into an acceptable 5067 perversion. 5068 -- Mick Farren, "When Gravity Fails" 5069 % 5070 He flung himself on his horse and rode madly off in all directions. 5071 -- Stephen Leacock 5072 % 5073 He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation 5074 perfectly delightful. 5075 -- Sydney Smith 5076 % 5077 He had that rare weird electricity about him -- that extremely wild and 5078 heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope 5079 of ever behaving "normally." 5080 -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing '72" 5081 % 5082 He hadn't a single redeeming vice. 5083 -- Oscar Wilde 5084 % 5085 He is now rising from affluence to poverty. 5086 -- Mark Twain 5087 % 5088 He looked at me as if I was a side dish he hadn't ordered. 5089 % 5090 He played the king as if afraid someone else would play the ace. 5091 -- John Mason Brown, drama critic 5092 % 5093 He thought he saw an albatross 5094 That fluttered 'round the lamp. 5095 He looked again and saw it was 5096 A penny postage stamp. 5097 "You'd best be getting home," he said, 5098 "The nights are rather damp." 5099 % 5100 He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue. 5101 -- Jonathan Swift 5102 % 5103 He was a modest, good-humored boy. It was Oxford that made him insufferable. 5104 % 5105 He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes. 5106 % 5107 He who attacks the fundamentals of the American broadcasting industry 5108 attacks democracy itself. 5109 -- William S. Paley, chairman of CBS 5110 % 5111 He who Laughs, Lasts. 5112 % 5113 He's just a politician trying to save both his faces ... 5114 % 5115 He's the kind of guy, that, well, if you were ever in a jam he'd be 5116 there ... with two slices of bread and some chunky peanut butter. 5117 % 5118 He's the kind of man for the times that need the kind of man he is ... 5119 % 5120 HE: Let's end it all, bequeathin' our brains to science. 5121 SHE: What?!? Science got enough trouble with their ___OWN brains. 5122 -- Walt Kelley 5123 % 5124 Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die. 5125 % 5126 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying 5127 of nothing. 5128 -- Redd Foxx 5129 % 5130 Heaven, n.: 5131 A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of 5132 their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you 5133 expound your own. 5134 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 5135 % 5136 Heavy, adj.: 5137 Seduced by the chocolate side of the force. 5138 % 5139 Heisenberg may have slept here. 5140 % 5141 Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. 5142 -- Milton Friedman 5143 % 5144 Heller's Law: 5145 The first myth of management is that it exists. 5146 5147 Johnson's Corollary: 5148 Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the 5149 organization. 5150 % 5151 "Hello," he lied. 5152 -- Don Carpenter quoting a Hollywood agent 5153 % 5154 Help a swallow land at Capistrano. 5155 % 5156 Help fight continental drift. 5157 % 5158 Help me, I'm a prisoner in a Fortune cookie file! 5159 % 5160 Help stamp out and abolish redundancy. 5161 % 5162 Help! I'm trapped in a PDP 11/70! 5163 % 5164 HELP! MY TYPEWRITER IS BROKEN! 5165 -- E. E. CUMMINGS 5166 % 5167 Her locks an ancient lady gave 5168 Her loving husband's life to save; 5169 And men -- they honored so the dame -- 5170 Upon some stars bestowed her name. 5171 5172 But to our modern married fair, 5173 Who'd give their lords to save their hair, 5174 No stellar recognition's given. 5175 There are not stars enough in heaven. 5176 % 5177 Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from 5178 Presidents and Kings to the scum of the earth ... 5179 % 5180 Here I sit, broken-hearted, 5181 All logged in, but work unstarted. 5182 First net.this and net.that, 5183 And a hot buttered bun for net.fat. 5184 5185 The boss comes by, and I play the game, 5186 Then I turn back to net.flame. 5187 Is there a cure (I need your views), 5188 For someone trapped in net.news? 5189 5190 I need your help, I say 'tween sobs, 5191 'Cause I'll soon be listed in net.jobs. 5192 % 5193 Here in my heart, I am Helen; 5194 I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least. 5195 I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Sta"el; 5196 I'm Salome, moon of the East. 5197 5198 Here in my soul I am Sappho; 5199 Lady Hamilton am I, as well. 5200 In me R'ecamier vies with Kitty O'Shea, 5201 With Dido, and Eve, and poor nell. 5202 5203 I'm all of the glamorous ladies 5204 At whose beckoning history shook. 5205 But you are a man, and see only my pan, 5206 So I stay at home with a book. 5207 -- Dorothy Parker 5208 % 5209 Here is a simple experiment that will teach you an important electrical 5210 lesson: On a cool, dry day, scuff your feet along a carpet, then reach 5211 your hand into a friend's mouth and touch one of his dental fillings. 5212 Did you notice how your friend twitched violently and cried out in 5213 pain? This teaches us that electricity can be a very powerful force, 5214 but we must never use it to hurt others unless we need to learn an 5215 important electrical lesson. 5216 5217 It also teaches us how an electrical circuit works. When you scuffed 5218 your feet, you picked up batches of "electrons", which are very small 5219 objects that carpet manufacturers weave into carpets so they will 5220 attract dirt. The electrons travel through your bloodstream and 5221 collect in your finger, where they form a spark that leaps to your 5222 friend's filling, then travels down to his feet and back into the 5223 carpet, thus completing the circuit. 5224 5225 Amazing Electronic Fact: If you scuffed your feet long enough without 5226 touching anything, you would build up so many electrons that your 5227 finger would explode! But this is nothing to worry about unless you 5228 have carpeting. 5229 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?" 5230 % 5231 Here is the fact of the week, maybe even the fact of the 5232 month. According to probably reliable sources, the Coca-Cola people 5233 are experiencing severe marketing anxiety in China. 5234 The words "Coca-Cola" translate into Chinese as either 5235 (depending on the inflection) "wax-fattened mare" or "bite the wax 5236 tadpole". 5237 Bite the wax tadpole. 5238 There is a sort of rough justice, is there not? 5239 The trouble with this fact, as lovely as it is, is that it's 5240 hard to get a whole column out of it. I'd like to teach the world to 5241 bite a wax tadpole. Coke -- it's the real wax-fattened mare. Not bad, 5242 but broad satiric vistas do not open up. 5243 -- John Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle 5244 % 5245 Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 5246 `Psychic Wins Lottery'? 5247 -- Jay Leno 5248 % 5249 Heuristics are bug ridden by definition. If they didn't have bugs, 5250 then they'd be algorithms. 5251 % 5252 Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??! 5253 -- W. C. Fields 5254 % 5255 Hi there! This is just a note from me, to you, to tell you, the person 5256 reading this note, that I can't think up any more famous quotes, jokes, 5257 nor bizarre stories, so you may as well go home. 5258 % 5259 "Hi, I'm Preston A. Mantis, president of Consumers Retail Law Outlet. 5260 As you can see by my suit and the fact that I have all these books of 5261 equal height on the shelves behind me, I am a trained legal attorney. 5262 Do you have a car or a job? Do you ever walk around? If so, you 5263 probably have the makings of an excellent legal case. Although of 5264 course every case is different, I would definitely say that based on my 5265 experience and training, there's no reason why you shouldn't come out 5266 of this thing with at least a cabin cruiser. 5267 5268 "Remember, at the Preston A. Mantis Consumers Retail Law Outlet, our 5269 motto is: 'It is very difficult to disprove certain kinds of pain.'" 5270 -- Dave Barry, "Pain and Suffering" 5271 % 5272 Hier liegt ein Mann ganz ohnegleich; 5273 Im Leibe dick, an Suenden reich. 5274 Wir haben ihn in das Grab gesteckt, Here lies a man with sundry flaws 5275 Weil es uns duenkt, er sei verreckt. And numerous Sins upon his head; 5276 We buried him today because 5277 As far as we can tell, he's dead. 5278 -- PDQ Bach's epitaph, as requested by his cousin Betty-Sue 5279 Bach and written by the local doggerel catcher; 5280 "The Definitive Biography of PDQ Bach", Peter Schickele 5281 % 5282 Higgledy Piggledy, 5283 Hamlet of Elsinore 5284 Ruffled the critics by 5285 Dropping this bomb: 5286 "Phooey on Freud and his 5287 Psychoanalysis -- 5288 Oedipus, Shmoedipus, 5289 I just loved Mom." 5290 % 5291 Hindsight is an exact science. 5292 % 5293 Hippogriff, n.: 5294 An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. 5295 The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle. 5296 The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one quarter eagle, which 5297 is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full 5298 of surprises. 5299 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 5300 % 5301 Hire the morally handicapped. 5302 % 5303 His great aim was to escape from civilization, and, as soon as he had 5304 money, he went to Southern California. 5305 % 5306 His mind is like a steel trap -- full of mice. 5307 -- Foghorn Leghorn 5308 % 5309 His super power is to turn into a scotch terrier. 5310 % 5311 History is curious stuff 5312 You'd think by now we had enough 5313 Yet the fact remains I fear 5314 They make more of it every year. 5315 % 5316 History repeats itself. That's one thing wrong with history. 5317 % 5318 History, n.: 5319 Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we 5320 learn nothing from history. I know people who can't even learn from 5321 what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long 5322 view. 5323 -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab" 5324 % 5325 Hlade's Law: 5326 If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person -- they 5327 will find an easier way to do it. 5328 % 5329 Hoare's Law of Large Problems: 5330 Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get out. 5331 % 5332 Hofstadter's Law: 5333 It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take 5334 Hofstadter's Law into account. 5335 % 5336 Hollywood is where if you don't have happiness you send out for it. 5337 -- Rex Reed 5338 % 5339 Home centers are designed for the do-it-yourselfer who's 5340 willing to pay higher prices for the convenience of being able to shop 5341 for lumber, hardware, and toasters all in one location. Notice I say 5342 "shop for", as opposed to "obtain". This is the major drawback of home 5343 centers: they are always out of everything except artificial Christmas 5344 trees. The home center employees have no time to reorder merchandise 5345 because they are too busy applying little price stickers to every 5346 object -- every board, washer, nail and screw -- in the entire store ... 5347 Let's say a piece in your toilet tank breaks, so you remove the 5348 broken part, take it to the home center, and ask an employee if he has 5349 a replacement. The employee, who has never in his life even seen the 5350 inside of a toilet tank, will peer at the broken part in very much the 5351 same way that a member of a primitive Amazon jungle tribe would look at 5352 an electronic calculator, and then say, "We're expecting a shipment of 5353 these sometime around the middle of next week". 5354 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 5355 % 5356 Home of Doberman Propulsion Laboratories: 5357 The ultimate in watchdog weaponry. 5358 -- Chris Shaw 5359 % 5360 Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense. 5361 % 5362 Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people. 5363 -- F. M. Hubbard 5364 % 5365 Honk if you hate bumper stickers that say "Honk if ..." 5366 % 5367 Honk if you love peace and quiet. 5368 % 5369 Honorable, adj.: 5370 Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach. In legislative 5371 bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the 5372 honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur." 5373 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 5374 % 5375 Horngren's Observation: 5376 Among economists, the real world is often a special case. 5377 % 5378 Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on 5379 people. 5380 -- W. C. Fields 5381 % 5382 Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants in Marshalltown, Iowa. 5383 % 5384 Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed. 5385 -- Neil Armstrong 5386 % 5387 How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all? 5388 % 5389 How come only your friends step on your new white sneakers? 5390 % 5391 How come wrong numbers are never busy? 5392 % 5393 How do I love thee? My accumulator overflows. 5394 % 5395 How do you explain school to a higher intelligence? 5396 -- Elliot, "E.T." 5397 % 5398 How doth the little crocodile 5399 Improve his shining tail, 5400 And pour the waters of the Nile 5401 On every golden scale! 5402 5403 How cheerfully he seems to grin, 5404 How neatly spreads his claws, 5405 And welcomes little fishes in, 5406 With gently smiling jaws! 5407 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland" 5408 % 5409 How doth the VAX's C compiler 5410 Improve its object code. 5411 And even as we speak does it 5412 Increase the system load. 5413 5414 How patiently it seems to run 5415 And spit out error flags, 5416 While users, with frustration, all 5417 Tear their clothes to rags. 5418 % 5419 How I love to watch the morn, 5420 With golden sun that shines, 5421 Up above to nicely warm 5422 These frosty toes of mine. 5423 5424 The wind doth taste so bitter sweet, 5425 Like Jaspar wine and sugar, 5426 It must have blown through someone's feet, 5427 Like those of ... Caspar Weinberger. 5428 -- P. Opus (Bloom County) 5429 % 5430 How doth the VAX's C-compiler 5431 Improve its object code. 5432 And even as we speak does it 5433 Increase the system load. 5434 5435 How patiently it seems to run 5436 And spit out error flags, 5437 While users, with frustration, all 5438 Tear all their clothes to rags. 5439 % 5440 How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're 5441 on. 5442 % 5443 How many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? 5444 None: "We'll fix it in software." 5445 5446 How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? 5447 None: "We'll document it in the manual." 5448 5449 How many tech writers does it take to change a lightbulb? 5450 None: "The user can work it out." 5451 % 5452 How many hors d'oeuvres you are allowed to take off a tray being 5453 carried by a waiter at a nice party? 5454 5455 Two, but there are ways around it, depending on the style of the hors 5456 d'oeuvre. If they're those little pastry things where you can't tell 5457 what's inside, you take one, bite off about two-thirds of it, then 5458 say: "This is cheese! I hate cheese!" Then you put the rest of it 5459 back on the tray and bite another one and go, "Darn it! Another 5460 cheese!" and so on. 5461 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette" 5462 % 5463 How many seconds are there in a year? If I tell you there are 5464 3.155 x 10^7, you won't even try to remember it. On the other hand, 5465 who could forget that, to within half a percent, pi seconds is a 5466 nanocentury. 5467 -- Tom Duff, Bell Labs 5468 % 5469 How much does it cost to entice a dope-smoking UNIX system guru to Dayton? 5470 -- Brian Boyle, UNIX/WORLD's First Annual Salary Survey 5471 % 5472 How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers. 5473 % 5474 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY: 5475 #1040 Your income tax refund cheque bounces. 5476 % 5477 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY: 5478 #15 Your pet rock snaps at you. 5479 % 5480 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY: 5481 #32: You call your answering service and they've never heard of you. 5482 % 5483 Howe's Law: 5484 Everyone has a scheme that will not work. 5485 % 5486 However, never daunted, I will cope with adversity in my traditional 5487 manner ... sulking and nausea. 5488 -- Tom K. Ryan 5489 % 5490 HR 3128. Omnibus Budget Reconciliation, Fiscal 1986. Martin, R-Ill., 5491 motion that the House recede from its disagreement to the Senate 5492 amendment making changes in the bill to reduce fiscal 1986 deficits. 5493 The Senate amendment was an amendment to the House amendment to the 5494 Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the 5495 bill. The original Senate amendment was the conference agreement on 5496 the bill. Agreed to. 5497 -- Albuquerque Journal 5498 % 5499 Hug O' War 5500 5501 I will not play at tug o' war. 5502 I'd rather play at hug o' war, 5503 Where everyone hugs 5504 Instead of tugs, 5505 Where everyone giggles 5506 And rolls on the rug, 5507 Where everyone kisses, 5508 And everyone grins, 5509 And everyone cuddles, 5510 And everyone wins. 5511 -- Shel Silverstein 5512 % 5513 Human beings were created by water to transport it uphill. 5514 % 5515 Human cardiac catheterization was introduced by Werner Forssman in 5516 1929. Ignoring his department chief, and tying his assistant to an 5517 operating table to prevent his interference, he placed a urethral 5518 catheter into a vein in his arm, advanced it to the right atrium [of 5519 his heart], and walked upstairs to the x-ray department where he took 5520 the confirmatory x-ray film. In 1956, Dr. Forssman was awarded the 5521 Nobel Prize. 5522 % 5523 Hummingbirds never remember the words to songs. 5524 % 5525 Humor is a drug which it's the fashion to abuse. 5526 -- William Gilbert 5527 % 5528 Hurewitz's Memory Principle: 5529 The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional 5530 to ..... to ........ uh .............. 5531 % 5532 I also believe that academic freedom should protect the right of a 5533 professor or student to advocate Marxism, socialism, communism, or any 5534 other minority viewpoint -- no matter how distasteful to the majority. 5535 -- Richard M. Nixon 5536 5537 What are our schools for if not indoctrination against Communism? 5538 -- Richard M. Nixon 5539 % 5540 I am convinced that the manufacturers of carpet odor removing powder 5541 have included encapsulated time released cat urine in their products. 5542 This technology must be what prevented its distribution during my mom's 5543 reign. My carpet smells like piss, and I don't have a cat. Better go 5544 buy some more. 5545 -- timw (a] zeb.USWest.COM 5546 % 5547 I am more bored than you could ever possibly be. Go back to work. 5548 % 5549 I am not an Economist. I am an honest man! 5550 -- Paul McCracken 5551 % 5552 I am not now, and never have been, a girlfriend of Henry Kissinger. 5553 -- Gloria Steinem 5554 % 5555 I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the demigodic party. 5556 -- Dennis M. Ritchie 5557 % 5558 I am not sure what this is, but an `F' would only dignify it. 5559 -- English Professor 5560 % 5561 I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the 5562 great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. 5563 -- Winston Churchill 5564 % 5565 I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone 5566 has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top. 5567 -- English Professor, Ohio University 5568 % 5569 I am so optimistic about beef prices that I've just leased a pot roast 5570 with an option to buy. 5571 % 5572 I am the mother of all things, and all things should wear a sweater. 5573 % 5574 I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, 5575 of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell 5576 you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial 5577 atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something 5578 inconceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering. 5579 -- Pooh-Bah, "The Mikado", Gilbert & Sullivan 5580 % 5581 I appreciate the fact that this draft was done in haste, but some of 5582 the sentences that you are sending out in the world to do your work for 5583 you are loitering in taverns or asleep beside the highway. 5584 -- Dr. Dwight Van de Vate, Professor of Philosophy, 5585 University of Tennessee at Knoxville 5586 % 5587 I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an 5588 argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and 5589 steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, 5590 they don't even invite me. 5591 -- Dave Barry 5592 % 5593 I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean. 5594 -- G. K. Chesterton 5595 % 5596 I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat. 5597 -- Will Rogers 5598 % 5599 I bet the human brain is a kludge. 5600 -- Marvin Minsky 5601 % 5602 I brake for chezlogs! 5603 % 5604 I call them as I see them. If I can't see them, I make them up. 5605 -- Biff Barf 5606 % 5607 I can feel for her because, although I have never been an Alaskan 5608 prostitute dancing on the bar in a spangled dress, I still get very 5609 bored with washing and ironing and dishwashing and cooking day after 5610 relentless day. 5611 -- Betty MacDonald 5612 % 5613 I can read your mind, and you should be ashamed of yourself. 5614 % 5615 I can remember when a good politician had to be 75 percent ability and 5616 25 percent actor, but I can well see the day when the reverse could be 5617 true. 5618 -- Harry S. Truman 5619 % 5620 I can resist anything but temptation. 5621 % 5622 I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. 5623 -- Joe Walsh 5624 % 5625 I can't decide whether to commit suicide or go bowling. 5626 -- Florence Henderson 5627 % 5628 I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can 5629 understand it. 5630 -- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. 5631 % 5632 I can't understand why a person will take a year or two to write a 5633 novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars. 5634 -- Fred Allen 5635 % 5636 I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions. 5637 -- Lillian Hellman 5638 % 5639 I cannot conceive that anybody will require multiplications at the rate 5640 of 40,000 or even 4,000 per hour ... 5641 -- F. H. Wales (1936) 5642 % 5643 I cannot overemphasize the importance of good grammar. 5644 5645 What a crock. I could easily overemphasize the importance of good 5646 grammar. For example, I could say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause 5647 of slow, painful death in North America," or "Without good grammar, the 5648 United States would have lost World War II." 5649 -- Dave Barry, "An Utterly Absurd Look at Grammar" 5650 % 5651 "I cannot read the fiery letters," said Frito Bugger in a 5652 quavering voice. 5653 "No," said GoodGulf, "but I can. The letters are Elvish, of 5654 course, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which 5655 I will not utter here. They are lines of a verse long known in 5656 Elven-lore: 5657 5658 "This Ring, no other, is made by the elves, 5659 Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves. 5660 Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop, 5661 This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop. 5662 The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring. 5663 The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing. 5664 If broken or busted, it cannot be remade. 5665 If found, send to Sorhed (with postage prepaid)." 5666 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings" 5667 % 5668 I changed my headlights the other day. I put in strobe lights 5669 instead! Now when I drive at night, it looks like everyone else is 5670 standing still ... 5671 -- Steven Wright 5672 % 5673 I could dance till the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather 5674 dance with the cows till you come home. 5675 -- Groucho Marx 5676 % 5677 I couldn't remember when I had been so disappointed. Except perhaps 5678 the time I found out that M&Ms really *do* melt in your hand ... 5679 -- Peter Oakley 5680 % 5681 I didn't know it was impossible when I did it. 5682 % 5683 I didn't like the play, but I saw it under adverse conditions. The 5684 curtain was up. 5685 % 5686 I disapprove of the F-word, not because it's dirty, but because 5687 we use it as a substitute for thoughtful insults, and it frequently 5688 leads to violence. What we ought to do, when we anger each other, say, 5689 in traffic, is exchange phone numbers, so that later on, when we've had 5690 time to think of witty and learned insults or look them up in the 5691 library, we could call each other up: 5692 5693 You: Hello? Bob? 5694 Bob: Yes? 5695 You: This is Ed. Remember? The person whose parking space you 5696 took last Thursday? Outside of Sears? 5697 Bob: Oh yes! Sure! How are you, Ed? 5698 You: Fine, thanks. Listen, Bob, the reason I'm calling is: 5699 "Madam, you may be drunk, but I am ugly, and ..." No, wait. 5700 I mean: "you may be ugly, but I am Winston Churchill 5701 and ..." No, wait. (Sound of reference book thudding onto 5702 the floor.) S-word. Excuse me. Look, Bob, I'm going to 5703 have to get back to you. 5704 Bob: Fine. 5705 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!" 5706 % 5707 I do hate sums. There is no greater mistake than to call arithmetic an 5708 exact science. There are permutations and aberrations discernible to 5709 minds entirely noble like mine; subtle variations which ordinary 5710 accountants fail to discover; hidden laws of number which it requires a 5711 mind like mine to perceive. For instance, if you add a sum from the 5712 bottom up, and then again from the top down, the result is always 5713 different. 5714 -- Mrs. La Touche (19th cent.) 5715 % 5716 I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. 5717 -- Isaac Asimov 5718 % 5719 I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us 5720 with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use. 5721 -- Galileo Galilei 5722 % 5723 I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should. 5724 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 5725 % 5726 I don't believe in astrology. But then I'm an Aquarius, and Aquarians 5727 don't believe in astrology. 5728 -- James R. F. Quirk 5729 % 5730 I don't believe there really IS a GAS SHORTAGE.. I think it's all just 5731 a BIG HOAX on the part of the plastic sign salesmen -- to sell more 5732 numbers!! 5733 % 5734 I don't care for the Sugar Smacks commercial. I don't like the idea of 5735 a frog jumping on my Breakfast. 5736 -- Lowell, Chicago Reader 10/15/82 5737 % 5738 I don't care who does the electing as long as I get to do the 5739 nominating. 5740 -- Boss Tweed 5741 % 5742 I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem. 5743 -- Ashleigh Brilliant 5744 % 5745 I don't have to take this abuse from you -- I've got hundreds of 5746 people waiting to abuse me. 5747 -- Bill Murray, "Ghostbusters" 5748 % 5749 I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. 5750 -- Elvis Presley 5751 % 5752 "I don't know what you mean by `glory,'" Alice said 5753 Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't -- 5754 till I tell you. I meant `there's a nice knock-down argument for 5755 you!'" 5756 "But glory doesn't mean `a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice 5757 objected. 5758 "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful 5759 tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor 5760 less." 5761 "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean 5762 so many different things." 5763 "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-- 5764 that's all." 5765 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 5766 % 5767 I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd 5768 eat it, and I just hate it. 5769 -- Clarence Darrow 5770 % 5771 I don't mind going nowhere as long as it's an interesting path. 5772 -- Ronald Mabbitt 5773 % 5774 I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the 5775 streets and frighten the horses. 5776 -- Victor Hugo 5777 % 5778 I don't object to sex before marriage, but two minutes before?!? 5779 % 5780 "I don't think so," said Ren'e Descartes. Just then, he vanished. 5781 % 5782 I don't think they could put him in a mental hospital. On the other 5783 hand, if he were already in, I don't think they'd let him out. 5784 % 5785 I don't want to alarm anybody, but there is an excellent chance that 5786 the Earth will be destroyed in the next several days. Congress is 5787 thinking about eliminating a federal program under which scientists 5788 broadcast signals to alien beings. This would be a large mistake. 5789 Alien beings have nuclear blaster death cannons. You cannot cut off 5790 their federal programs as if they were merely poor people ... 5791 -- Davy Barry, "THE ALIENS ARE COMING, THE ALIENS ARE 5792 COMING!" 5793 % 5794 I doubt, therefore I might be. 5795 % 5796 I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business 5797 on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment 5798 he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual 5799 becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. 5800 -- George Bernard Shaw 5801 % 5802 I drink to make other people interesting. 5803 -- George Jean Nathan 5804 % 5805 I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamt that I was reading on, 5806 so I woke up from sheer boredom. 5807 % 5808 I for one cannot protest the recent M.T.A. fare hike and the 5809 accompanying promises that this would in no way improve service. For 5810 the transit system, as it now operates, has hidden advantages that 5811 can't be measured in monetary terms. 5812 5813 Personally, I feel that it is well worth 75 cents or even $1 to have 5814 that unimpeachable excuse whenever I am late to anything: "I came by 5815 subway." Those four words have such magic in them that if Godot should 5816 someday show up and mumble them, any audience would instantly 5817 understand his long delay. 5818 % 5819 I found out why my car was humming. It had forgotten the words. 5820 % 5821 I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very 5822 reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment. 5823 -- Gautama Buddha 5824 % 5825 I gave up Smoking, Drinking and Sex. It was the most *__________horrifying* 20 5826 minutes of my life! 5827 % 5828 I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it. 5829 -- Mae West 5830 % 5831 I get up each morning, gather my wits. 5832 Pick up the paper, read the obits. 5833 If I'm not there I know I'm not dead. 5834 So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed. 5835 % 5836 I get up each morning, gather my wits. 5837 Pick up the paper, read the obits. 5838 If I'm not there I know I'm not dead. 5839 So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed. 5840 5841 Oh, how do I know my youth is all spent? 5842 My get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went. 5843 But in spite of it all, I'm able to grin, 5844 And think of the places my get-up has been. 5845 -- Pete Seeger 5846 % 5847 I had this sudden vision of a klein pizza containing all the mozarella 5848 in the world. 5849 -- Peter da Silva 5850 % 5851 I had to censor everything my sons watched ... even on the Mary Tyler 5852 Moore show I heard the word 'damn'! 5853 -- Mary Lou Bax 5854 % 5855 I had to hit him -- he was starting to make sense. 5856 % 5857 I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day cause that means 5858 it's going to be up all night. 5859 -- Steven Wright 5860 % 5861 I hate quotations. 5862 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson 5863 % 5864 I have a simple philosophy: 5865 5866 Fill what's empty. 5867 Empty what's full. 5868 Scratch where it itches. 5869 -- A. R. Longworth 5870 % 5871 I have a very firm grasp on reality! I can reach out and strangle it 5872 any time! 5873 % 5874 I have come up with a sure-fire concept for a hit television show, 5875 which would be called `A Live Celebrity Gets Eaten by a Shark'. 5876 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV" 5877 % 5878 I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I tell them the truth 5879 and they never believe me. 5880 -- Camillo Di Cavour 5881 % 5882 I have great faith in fools -- self confidence my friends call it. 5883 -- Edgar Allan Poe 5884 % 5885 I have just read your lousy review buried in the back pages. You 5886 sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an 5887 eight-ulcer man on a four-ulcer job, and all four ulcers working. I 5888 have never met you, but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of 5889 beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below. Westbrook Pegler, a 5890 guttersnipe, is a gentleman compared to you. You can take that as more 5891 of an insult than as a reflection on your ancestry. 5892 -- President Harry S. Truman 5893 % 5894 I have learned 5895 To spell hors d'oeuvres 5896 Which still grates on 5897 Some people's n'oeuvres. 5898 -- Warren Knox 5899 % 5900 I have made mistakes but I have never made the mistake of claiming 5901 that I have never made one. 5902 -- James Gordon Bennett 5903 % 5904 I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to 5905 make it shorter. 5906 -- Blaise Pascal 5907 % 5908 I have more humility in my little finger than you have in your whole 5909 ____BODY! 5910 -- from "Cerebus" #82 5911 % 5912 I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer. 5913 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 5914 % 5915 I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. 5916 -- Oscar Wilde 5917 % 5918 I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep it 5919 scattered around the beaches of the world ... Perhaps you've seen it. 5920 -- Steven Wright 5921 % 5922 I have to convince you, or at least snow you ... 5923 -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435 5924 % 5925 I have two very rare photographs: one is a picture of Houdini locking 5926 his keys in his car; the other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell 5927 beating up a child. 5928 -- Steven Wright 5929 % 5930 I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked 5931 at in the right way, did not become still more complicated. 5932 -- Poul Anderson 5933 % 5934 I haven't lost my mind -- it's backed up on tape somewhere. 5935 % 5936 I haven't lost my mind; I know exactly where I left it. 5937 % 5938 I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!! 5939 % 5940 I just need enough to tide me over until I need more. 5941 -- Bill Hoest 5942 % 5943 I know it all. I just can't remember it all at once. 5944 % 5945 I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World 5946 War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. 5947 -- Albert Einstein 5948 % 5949 I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind! 5950 The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building. 5951 -- Charles Schulz 5952 % 5953 I like being single. I'm always there when I need me. 5954 -- Art Leo 5955 % 5956 I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to 5957 promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want 5958 peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of 5959 the way and let them have it. 5960 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 5961 % 5962 I like work ... I can sit and watch it for hours. 5963 % 5964 I like your game but we have to change the rules. 5965 % 5966 I love Saturday morning cartoons, what classic humour! This is what 5967 entertainment is all about ... Idiots, explosives and falling anvils. 5968 -- Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson 5969 % 5970 "I love to eat them Smurfies 5971 Smurfies what I love to eat 5972 Bite they ugly heads off, 5973 Nibble on they bluish feet." 5974 % 5975 I may appear to be just sitting here like a bucket of tapioca, but 5976 don't let appearances fool you. I'm approaching old age ... at the 5977 speed of light. 5978 -- Prof. Cosmo Fishhawk 5979 % 5980 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent. 5981 -- Ashleigh Brilliant 5982 % 5983 I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a 5984 week sometimes to make it up. 5985 -- Mark Twain, "The Innocents Abroad" 5986 % 5987 I must have slipped a disk -- my pack hurts 5988 % 5989 I never fail to convince an audience that the best thing they could do 5990 was to go away. 5991 % 5992 I never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like. 5993 % 5994 I often quote myself; it adds spice to my conversation. 5995 -- G. B. Shaw 5996 % 5997 I only touch base with reality on an as-needed basis! 5998 -- Royal Floyd Mengot (Klaus) 5999 % 6000 I played lead guitar in a band called The Federal Duck, which is the 6001 kind of name that was popular in the '60s as a result of controlled 6002 substances being in widespread use. Back then, there were no 6003 restrictions, in terms of talent, on who could make an album, so we 6004 made one, and it sounds like a group of people who have been given 6005 powerful but unfamiliar instruments as a therapy for a degenerative 6006 nerve disease. 6007 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake" 6008 % 6009 I predict that today will be remembered until tomorrow! 6010 % 6011 I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob. 6012 -- William F. Buckley 6013 % 6014 "I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of 6015 that is -- `Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put 6016 more simply -- `Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it 6017 might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not 6018 otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be 6019 otherwise.'" 6020 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland" 6021 % 6022 I realize that the MX missile is none of our concern. I realize that 6023 the whole point of living in a democracy is that we pay professional 6024 congresspersons to concern themselves with things like the MX missile 6025 so we can be free to concern ourselves with getting hold of the 6026 plumber. 6027 6028 But from time to time, I feel I must address major public issues such 6029 as this, because in a free and open society, where the very future of 6030 the world hinges on decisions made by our elected leaders, you never 6031 win large cash journalism awards if you stick to the topics I usually 6032 write about, such as nose-picking. 6033 -- Dave Barry, "At Last, the Ultimate Deterrent Against 6034 Political Fallout" 6035 % 6036 I really hate this damned machine 6037 I wish that they would sell it. 6038 It never does quite what I want 6039 But only what I tell it. 6040 % 6041 I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person. 6042 % 6043 I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope 6044 they do get 'em lowered enough so people can afford to pay 'em. 6045 -- Will Rogers 6046 % 6047 I see the eigenvalue in thine eye, 6048 I hear the tender tensor in thy sigh. 6049 Bernoulli would have been content to die 6050 Had he but known such _a-squared cos 2(phi)! 6051 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 6052 % 6053 I sent a letter to the fish, 6054 I told them, "This is what I wish." 6055 The little fishes of the sea, 6056 They sent an answer back to me. 6057 The little fishes' answer was 6058 "We cannot do it, sir, because ..." 6059 I sent a letter back to say 6060 It would be better to obey. 6061 But someone came to me and said 6062 "The little fishes are in bed." 6063 I said to him, and I said it plain 6064 "Then you must wake them up again." 6065 I said it very loud and clear, 6066 I went and shouted in his ear. 6067 But he was very stiff and proud, 6068 He said "You needn't shout so loud." 6069 And he was very proud and stiff, 6070 He said "I'll go and wake them if ..." 6071 I took a kettle from the shelf, 6072 I went to wake them up myself. 6073 But when I found the door was locked 6074 I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked, 6075 And when I found the door was shut, 6076 I tried to turn the handle, But ... 6077 6078 "Is that all?" asked Alice. 6079 "That is all." said Humpty Dumpty. "Goodbye." 6080 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 6081 % 6082 I shot an arrow into the air, and it stuck. 6083 -- Graffito in Los Angeles 6084 % 6085 "... I should explain that I was wearing a black velvet cape that was 6086 supposed to make me look like the dashing, romantic Zorro but which 6087 actually made me look like a gigantic bat wearing glasses ..." 6088 -- Dave Barry, "The Wet Zorro Suit and Other Turning 6089 Points in l'Amour" 6090 % 6091 I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full 6092 house and four people died. 6093 -- Steven Wright 6094 % 6095 I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to 6096 see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph. 6097 -- Shirley Temple 6098 % 6099 I suggest you locate your hot tub outside your house, so it won't do 6100 too much damage if it catches fire or explodes. First you decide which 6101 direction your hot tub should face for maximum solar energy. After 6102 much trial and error, I have found that the best direction for a hot 6103 tub to face is up. 6104 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 6105 % 6106 I think it is true for all _n. I was just playing it safe with _n >= 3 6107 because I couldn't remember the proof. 6108 -- Baker, Pure Math 351a 6109 % 6110 I think sex is better than logic, but I can't prove it. 6111 % 6112 I think that all good, right thinking people in this country are sick 6113 and tired of being told that all good, right thinking people in this 6114 country are fed up with being told that all good, right thinking people 6115 in this country are fed up with being sick and tired. I'm certainly 6116 not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am. 6117 -- Monty Python 6118 % 6119 I think that I shall never see 6120 A billboard lovely as a tree. 6121 Perhaps, unless the billboards fall 6122 I'll never see a tree at all. 6123 -- Ogden Nash 6124 % 6125 I think that I shall never see 6126 A thing as lovely as a tree. 6127 But as you see the trees have gone 6128 They went this morning with the dawn. 6129 A logging firm from out of town 6130 Came and chopped the trees all down. 6131 But I will trick those dirty skunks 6132 And write a brand new poem called 'Trunks'. 6133 % 6134 I think the sky is blue because it's a shift from black through purple 6135 to blue, and it has to do with where the light is. You know, the 6136 farther we get into darkness, and there's a shifting of color of light 6137 into the blueness, and I think as you go farther and farther away from 6138 the reflected light we have from the sun or the light that's bouncing 6139 off this earth, uh, the darker it gets ... I think if you look at the 6140 color scale, you start at black, move it through purple, move it on 6141 out, it's the shifting of color. We mentioned before about the stars 6142 singing, and that's one of the effects of the shifting of colors. 6143 -- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club 6144 % 6145 I think we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown 6146 ... HEY! PAY ATTENTION WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU DAMMIT! I said I think 6147 we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown today. 6148 When we take the time to be courteous to each other, we find that we 6149 are happier and less likely to engage in nuclear war. This point was 6150 driven home by the recent summit talks, where Nancy Reagan and Raisa 6151 Gorbachev, each of whose husband thinks the other's husband is vermin, 6152 were able to sit down at a high-level tea and engage in courteous 6153 conversation ... 6154 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette" 6155 % 6156 "I thought you were trying to get into shape." 6157 "I am. The shape I've selected is a triangle." 6158 % 6159 ... I told my doctor I got all the exercise I needed being a 6160 pallbearer for all my friends who run and do exercises! 6161 -- Winston Churchill 6162 % 6163 I took a course in speed reading and was able to read War and Peace in 6164 twenty minutes. It's about Russia. 6165 -- Woody Allen 6166 % 6167 I used to be an agnostic, but now I'm not so sure. 6168 % 6169 I used to get high on life but lately I've built up a resistance. 6170 % 6171 I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure. 6172 % 6173 I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my 6174 body. Then I realized who was telling me this. 6175 -- Emo Phillips 6176 % 6177 I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere 6178 near the place. 6179 -- Steven Wright 6180 % 6181 I value kindness to human beings first of all, and kindness to 6182 animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for 6183 anything connected with society except that which makes the roads 6184 safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and old men and women 6185 warmer in the winter, and happier in the summer. 6186 -- Brendan Behan 6187 % 6188 I want to buy a husband who, every week when I sit down to watch `St. 6189 Elsewhere', won't scream, `FORGET IT, BLANCHE ... IT'S TIME FOR "HEE 6190 HAW"!!' 6191 -- Berke Breathed, "Bloom County" 6192 % 6193 I was born because it was a habit in those days, people didn't know 6194 anything else ... I was not a Child Prodigy, because a Child Prodigy is 6195 a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows 6196 up. 6197 -- Will Rogers 6198 % 6199 I was drunk last night, crawled home across the lawn. By accident I 6200 put the car key in the door lock. The house started up. So I figured 6201 what the hell, and drove it around the block a few times. I thought I 6202 should go park it in the middle of the freeway and yell at everyone to 6203 get off my driveway. 6204 -- Steven Wright 6205 % 6206 I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I 6207 didn't know. 6208 -- Mark Twain 6209 % 6210 I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending 6211 their lives doing things they detest to make money they don't want to 6212 buy things they don't need to impress people they dislike. 6213 -- Emile Henry Gauvreay 6214 % 6215 I was playing poker the other night ... with Tarot cards. I got a full 6216 house and four people died. 6217 -- Steven Wright 6218 % 6219 I went into a general store, and they wouldn't sell me anything specific. 6220 -- Steven Wright 6221 % 6222 I went on to test the program in every way I could devise. I strained 6223 it to expose its weaknesses. I ran it for high-mass stars and low-mass 6224 stars, for stars born exceedingly hot and those born relatively cold. 6225 I ran it assuming the superfluid currents beneath the crust to be 6226 absent -- not because I wanted to know the answer, but because I had 6227 developed an intuitive feel for the answer in this particular case. 6228 Finally I got a run in which the computer showed the pulsar's 6229 temperature to be less than absolute zero. I had found an error. I 6230 chased down the error and fixed it. Now I had improved the program to 6231 the point where it would not run at all. 6232 -- George Greenstein, "Frozen Star: Of Pulsars, Black 6233 Holes and the Fate of Stars" 6234 % 6235 I went to a job interview the other day, the guy asked me if I had any 6236 questions, I said yes, just one, if you're in a car traveling at the 6237 speed of light and you turn your headlights on, does anything happen? 6238 6239 He said he couldn't answer that, I told him sorry, but I couldn't work 6240 for him then. 6241 -- Steven Wright 6242 % 6243 I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in 6244 the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't 6245 included. 6246 -- Steven Wright 6247 % 6248 I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the 6249 statues that are in all the other museums. 6250 -- Steven Wright 6251 % 6252 I went to the race track once and bet on a horse that was so good that 6253 it took seven others to beat him! 6254 % 6255 I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. 6256 There's a knob called `brightness', but it doesn't work. 6257 -- Gallagher 6258 % 6259 I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've 6260 always worked for me. 6261 -- Hunter S. Thompson 6262 % 6263 I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. 6264 % 6265 I'd love to go out with you, but I did my own thing and now I've got 6266 to undo it. 6267 % 6268 I'd love to go out with you, but I have to floss my cat. 6269 % 6270 I'd love to go out with you, but I have to stay home and see if I snore. 6271 % 6272 I'd love to go out with you, but I never go out on days that end in `Y.' 6273 % 6274 I'd love to go out with you, but I want to spend more time with my blender. 6275 % 6276 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm attending the opening of my garage door. 6277 % 6278 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm converting my calendar watch from 6279 Julian to Gregorian. 6280 % 6281 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm doing door-to-door collecting for 6282 static cling. 6283 % 6284 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm having all my plants neutered. 6285 % 6286 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm staying home to work on my 6287 cottage cheese sculpture. 6288 % 6289 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm taking punk totem pole carving. 6290 % 6291 I'd love to go out with you, but I've been scheduled for a karma transplant. 6292 % 6293 I'd love to go out with you, but it's my parakeet's bowling night. 6294 % 6295 I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV. 6296 % 6297 I'd love to go out with you, but the last time I went out, I never came back. 6298 % 6299 I'd love to go out with you, but the man on television told me to stay tuned. 6300 % 6301 I'd love to go out with you, but there are important world issues that 6302 need worrying about. 6303 % 6304 I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. 6305 % 6306 I'll carry your books, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, 6307 carry forward, Cary Grant, cash & carry, Carry Me Back To Old Virginia, 6308 I'll even Hara Kari if you show me how, but I will *not* carry a gun. 6309 -- Hawkeye, M*A*S*H 6310 % 6311 I'll defend to the death your right to say that, but I never said I'd 6312 listen to it! 6313 -- Tom Galloway with apologies to Voltaire 6314 % 6315 I'll grant thee random access to my heart, 6316 Thoul't tell me all the constants of thy love; 6317 And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove 6318 And in our bound partition never part. 6319 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 6320 % 6321 I'll rob that rich person and give it to some poor deserving slob. 6322 That will *prove* I'm Robin Hood. 6323 -- Daffy Duck, "Robin Hood Daffy", [1958, Chuck Jones] 6324 % 6325 I'm a creationist; I refuse to believe that I could have evolved from man. 6326 % 6327 I'm a Lisp variable -- bind me! 6328 % 6329 I'm all for computer dating, but I wouldn't want one to marry my sister. 6330 % 6331 I'm changing my name to Chrysler 6332 I'm going down to Washington, D.C. 6333 I'll tell some power broker 6334 What they did for Iacocca 6335 Will be perfectly acceptable to me! 6336 I'm changing my name to Chrysler, 6337 I'm heading for that great receiving line. 6338 When they hand a million grand out, 6339 I'll be standing with my hand out, 6340 Yessir, I'll get mine! 6341 -- Tom Paxton 6342 % 6343 I'm defending her honor, which is more than she ever did. 6344 % 6345 I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to 6346 die in. 6347 -- George McGovern 6348 % 6349 I'm going to Boston to see my doctor. He's a very sick man. 6350 -- Fred Allen 6351 % 6352 I'm going to live forever, or die trying! 6353 -- Spider Robinson 6354 % 6355 ... I'm IMAGINING a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a 6356 KOSHER DELI!! 6357 % 6358 I'm in Pittsburgh. Why am I here? 6359 -- Harold Urey, Nobel Laureate 6360 % 6361 I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be 6362 living apart. 6363 -- e. e. cummings 6364 % 6365 I'm N-ary the tree, I am, 6366 N-ary the tree, I am, I am. 6367 I'm getting traversed by the parser next door, 6368 She's traversed me seven times before. 6369 And ev'ry time it was an N-ary (N-ary!) 6370 Never wouldn't ever do a binary. (No sir!) 6371 I'm 'er eighth tree that was N-ary. 6372 N-ary the tree I am, I am, 6373 N-ary the tree I am. 6374 % 6375 I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am. 6376 It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get. 6377 % 6378 I'm prepared for all emergencies but totally unprepared for everyday life. 6379 % 6380 I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is 6381 -- I could be just as proud for half the money. 6382 -- Arthur Godfrey 6383 % 6384 I'm rated PG-34!! 6385 % 6386 I'm really enjoying not talking to you ... Let's not talk again ____REAL 6387 soon ... 6388 % 6389 I'm returning this note to you, instead of your paper, because it 6390 (your paper) presently occupies the bottom of my bird cage. 6391 -- English Professor, Providence College 6392 % 6393 I'm very good at integral and differential calculus, 6394 I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; 6395 In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, 6396 I am the very model of a modern Major-General. 6397 -- Gilbert & Sullivan, "Pirates of Penzance" 6398 % 6399 I'm willing to sacrifice anything for this cause, even other people's lives 6400 % 6401 I've built a better model than the one at Data General 6402 For data bases vegetable, animal, and mineral 6403 My OS handles CPUs with multiplexed duality; 6404 My PL/1 compiler shows impressive functionality. 6405 My storage system's better than magnetic core polarity, 6406 You never have to bother checking out a bit for parity; 6407 There isn't any reason to install non-static floor matting; 6408 My disk drive has capacity for variable formatting. 6409 6410 I feel compelled to mention what I know to be a gloating point: 6411 There's lots of room in memory for variables floating-point, 6412 Which shows for input vegetable, animal, and mineral 6413 I've built a better model than the one at Data General. 6414 6415 -- Steve Levine, "A Computer Song" (To the tune of 6416 "Modern Major General", from "Pirates of Penzance", 6417 by Gilbert & Sullivan) 6418 % 6419 I've enjoyed just about as much of this as I can stand. 6420 % 6421 I've found my niche. If you're wondering why I'm not there, there was 6422 this little hole in the bottom ... 6423 -- John Croll 6424 % 6425 I've given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself. 6426 % 6427 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. 6428 -- Groucho Marx 6429 % 6430 I've known him as a man, as an adolescent and as a child -- sometimes 6431 on the same day. 6432 % 6433 I've seen better heads on half a pint of beer. 6434 % 6435 I've seen, I SAY, I've seen better heads on a mug of beer. 6436 -- Senator Claghorn 6437 % 6438 I've seen Sun monitors on fire off the side of the multimedia lab. 6439 I've seen NTU lights glitter in the dark near the Mail Gate. 6440 All these things will be lost in time, like the root partition last week. 6441 Time to die... 6442 -- Peter Gutmann 6443 % 6444 I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatness; 6445 And from that full meridian of my glory 6446 I haste now to my setting. I shall fall, 6447 Like a bright exhalation in the evening 6448 And no man see me more. 6449 -- William Shakespeare 6450 % 6451 IBM had a PL/I, 6452 Its syntax worse than JOSS; 6453 And everywhere this language went, 6454 It was a total loss. 6455 % 6456 Idaho state law makes it illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box 6457 of candy weighing less than fifty pounds. 6458 % 6459 Ideas don't stay in some minds very long because they don't like 6460 solitary confinement. 6461 % 6462 Idiot Box, n.: 6463 The part of the envelope that tells a person where to place the 6464 stamp when they can't quite figure it out for themselves. 6465 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 6466 % 6467 Idiot, n.: 6468 A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human 6469 affairs has always been dominant and controlling. 6470 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 6471 % 6472 If a 6600 used paper tape instead of core memory, it would use up tape 6473 at about 30 miles/second. 6474 -- Grishman, Assembly Language Programming 6475 % 6476 If A = B and B = C, then A = C, except where void or prohibited by law. 6477 -- Roy Santoro 6478 % 6479 If a camel flies, no one laughs if it doesn't get very far. 6480 -- Paul White 6481 % 6482 If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, then a consensus 6483 forecast is a camel's behind. 6484 -- Edgar R. Fiedler 6485 % 6486 If A equals success, then the formula is _A = _X + _Y + _Z. _X is work. _Y 6487 is play. _Z is keep your mouth shut. 6488 -- Albert Einstein 6489 % 6490 If a group of _N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be _N-1 6491 passes. Someone in the group has to be the manager. 6492 -- T. Cheatham 6493 % 6494 If a jury in a criminal trial stays out for more than twenty-four 6495 hours, it is certain to vote acquittal, save in those instances where 6496 it votes guilty. 6497 -- Joseph C. Goulden 6498 % 6499 If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake 6500 him up. 6501 % 6502 If a President doesn't do it to his wife, he'll do it to his country. 6503 % 6504 If a putt passes over the hole without dropping, it is deemed to have 6505 dropped. The law of gravity holds that any object attempting to 6506 maintain a position in the atmosphere without something to support it 6507 must drop. The law of gravity supersedes the law of golf. 6508 -- Donald A. Metz 6509 % 6510 If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good 6511 attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to 6512 playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win -- 6513 unless, of course, it doesn't have enough talent to win, and no manager 6514 can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry? 6515 -- Sparky Anderson 6516 % 6517 If all be true that I do think, 6518 There be Five Reasons why one should Drink; 6519 Good friends, good wine, or being dry, 6520 Or lest we should be by-and-by, 6521 Or any other reason why. 6522 % 6523 If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular 6524 error. 6525 -- John Kenneth Galbraith 6526 % 6527 If all the Chinese simultaneously jumped into the Pacific off a 10 foot 6528 platform erected 10 feet off their coast, it would cause a tidal wave 6529 that would destroy everything in this country west of Nebraska. 6530 % 6531 If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door. 6532 -- Paul Beatty 6533 % 6534 If all the world's economists were laid end to end, we wouldn't reach a 6535 conclusion. 6536 -- William Baumol 6537 % 6538 If an S and an I and an O and a U 6539 With an X at the end spell Su; 6540 And an E and a Y and an E spell I, 6541 Pray what is a speller to do? 6542 Then, if also an S and an I and a G 6543 And an HED spell side, 6544 There's nothing much left for a speller to do 6545 But to go commit siouxeyesighed. 6546 -- Charles Follen Adams, "An Orthographic Lament" 6547 % 6548 If anything can go wrong, it will. 6549 % 6550 If at first you don't succeed, give up. No use being a damn fool. 6551 % 6552 If at first you don't succeed, redefine success. 6553 % 6554 If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four 6555 tellers? 6556 % 6557 If dolphins are so smart, why did Flipper work for television? 6558 % 6559 If entropy is increasing, where is it coming from? 6560 % 6561 If everybody minded their own business, the world would go 6562 around a deal faster. 6563 -- The Duchess, "Through the Looking Glass" 6564 % 6565 If everything is coming your way then you're in the wrong lane. 6566 % 6567 ... If forced to travel on an airplane, try and get in the cabin with 6568 the Captain, so you can keep an eye on him and nudge him if he falls 6569 asleep or point out any mountains looming up ahead ... 6570 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 6571 % 6572 If God didn't mean for us to juggle, tennis balls wouldn't come three 6573 to a can. 6574 % 6575 If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire. 6576 % 6577 If God had intended Man to Walk, He would have given him Feet. 6578 % 6579 If God had intended Man to Watch TV, He would have given him Rabbit Ears. 6580 % 6581 If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their Heads. 6582 % 6583 If God had meant for us to be in the Army, we would have been born with 6584 green, baggy skin. 6585 % 6586 If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born that way. 6587 % 6588 If God had not given us sticky tape, it would have been necessary to 6589 invent it. 6590 % 6591 If God had wanted you to go around nude, He would have given you bigger 6592 hands. 6593 % 6594 If God is dead, who will save the Queen? 6595 % 6596 If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions? 6597 % 6598 If God lived on Earth, people would knock out all His windows. 6599 -- Yiddish saying 6600 % 6601 If God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs? 6602 -- Marvin Kitman 6603 % 6604 If I am elected, the concrete barriers around the WHITE HOUSE will be 6605 replaced by tasteful foam replicas of ANN MARGARET! 6606 % 6607 If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive! 6608 -- Samuel Goldwyn 6609 % 6610 If I don't drive around the park, 6611 I'm pretty sure to make my mark. 6612 If I'm in bed each night by ten, 6613 I may get back my looks again. 6614 If I abstain from fun and such, 6615 I'll probably amount to much; 6616 But I shall stay the way I am, 6617 Because I do not give a damn. 6618 -- Dorothy Parker 6619 % 6620 If I don't see you in the future, I'll see you in the pasture. 6621 % 6622 If I had a plantation in Georgia and a home in Hell, I'd sell the 6623 plantation and go home. 6624 -- Eugene P. Gallagher 6625 % 6626 If I had any humility I would be perfect. 6627 -- Ted Turner 6628 % 6629 If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith. 6630 -- Albert Einstein 6631 % 6632 If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the 6633 shoulders of giants. 6634 -- Isaac Newton 6635 6636 In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side 6637 with the giants on whose shoulders we stand. 6638 -- Gerald Holton 6639 6640 If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing 6641 on my shoulders. 6642 -- Hal Abelson 6643 6644 In computer science, we stand on each other's feet. 6645 -- Brian K. Reid 6646 % 6647 If I kiss you, that is a psychological interaction. 6648 6649 On the other hand, if I hit you over the head with a brick, that is 6650 also a psychological interaction. 6651 6652 The difference is that one is friendly and the other is not so 6653 friendly. 6654 6655 The crucial point is if you can tell which is which. 6656 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot" 6657 % 6658 If I traveled to the end of the rainbow 6659 As Dame Fortune did intend, 6660 Murphy would be there to tell me 6661 The pot's at the other end. 6662 -- Bert Whitney 6663 % 6664 If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people? 6665 % 6666 If it's Tuesday, this must be someone else's fortune. 6667 % 6668 If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. 6669 They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun 6670 of it. 6671 -- Thomas Carlyle 6672 % 6673 If just one piece of mail gets lost, well, they'll just think they 6674 forgot to send it. But if *two* pieces of mail get lost, hell, they'll 6675 just think the other guy hasn't gotten around to answering his mail. 6676 And if *fifty* pieces of mail get lost, can you imagine it, if *fifty* 6677 pieces of mail get lost, why they'll think someone *else* is broken! 6678 And if 1Gb of mail gets lost, they'll just *know* that Arpa is down and 6679 think it's a conspiracy to keep them from their God given right to 6680 receive Net Mail ... 6681 -- Leith (Casey) Leedom 6682 % 6683 If life is a stage, I want some better lighting. 6684 % 6685 If little else, the brain is an educational toy. 6686 -- Tom Robbins 6687 % 6688 If little green men land in your back yard, hide any little green women 6689 you've got in the house. 6690 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 6691 % 6692 If mathematically you end up with the wrong answer, try multiplying by 6693 the page number. 6694 % 6695 If money can't buy happiness, I guess you'll just have to rent it. 6696 % 6697 If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think 6698 little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and 6699 Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. 6700 -- Thomas De Quincey (1785 - 1859) 6701 % 6702 If one studies too zealously, one easily loses his pants. 6703 -- Albert Einstein 6704 % 6705 If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit 6706 in my name at a Swiss bank. 6707 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers" 6708 % 6709 If only I could be respected without having to be respectable. 6710 % 6711 If only one could get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment without 6712 having to accomplish anything. 6713 % 6714 If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, 6715 he should see how bad it is with representation. 6716 % 6717 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of 6718 arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the 6719 physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker 6720 entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability. 6721 -- Vannevar Bush 6722 % 6723 If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied 6724 harder. 6725 -- Pope John Paul I 6726 % 6727 If that makes any sense to you, you have a big problem. 6728 -- C. Durance, Computer Science 234 6729 % 6730 If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would 6731 presumably flunk it. 6732 -- Stanley Garn 6733 % 6734 If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong. 6735 -- Norm Schryer 6736 % 6737 If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to 6738 get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude. 6739 See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving 6740 the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting 6741 that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The 6742 college, which should be a place of delightful labor, is made odious 6743 and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to 6744 rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective. 6745 Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure 6746 interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by 6747 opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for 6748 himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for 6749 boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor. 6750 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson 6751 % 6752 If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me! 6753 -- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920) 6754 % 6755 If the odds are a million to one against something occurring, chances 6756 are 50-50 it will. 6757 % 6758 If the weather is extremely bad, church attendance will be down. 6759 If the weather is extremely good, church attendance will be down. 6760 If the bulletin covers are in short supply, however, church attendance 6761 will exceed all expectations. 6762 -- Reverend Chichester 6763 % 6764 If there are epigrams, there must be meta-epigrams. 6765 % 6766 If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that 6767 will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. 6768 % 6769 If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? 6770 -- Art Hoppe 6771 % 6772 If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make 6773 something out of you. 6774 -- Muhammad Ali 6775 % 6776 If this fortune didn't exist, somebody would have invented it. 6777 % 6778 If this is timesharing, give me my share right now. 6779 % 6780 If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same? 6781 % 6782 If today is the first day of the rest of your life, what the hell was 6783 yesterday? 6784 % 6785 If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is 6786 doing the thinking. 6787 -- Lyndon Baines Johnson 6788 % 6789 If two wrongs don't make a right, try three. 6790 -- Laurence J. Peter 6791 % 6792 If value corrupts then absolute value corrupts absolutely 6793 % 6794 If we were meant to fly, we wouldn't keep losing our luggage. 6795 % 6796 If while you are in school, there is a shortage of qualified personnel 6797 in a particular field, then by the time you graduate with the necessary 6798 qualifications, that field's employment market is glutted. 6799 -- Marguerite Emmons 6800 % 6801 If you are a fatalist, what can you do about it? 6802 -- Ann Edwards-Duff 6803 % 6804 If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars. 6805 -- J. Paul Getty 6806 % 6807 If you can lead it to water and force it to drink, it isn't a horse. 6808 % 6809 If you can read this, you're too close. 6810 % 6811 If you can survive death, you can probably survive anything. 6812 % 6813 If you can't be good, be careful. 6814 If you can't be careful, give me a call. 6815 % 6816 If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly. 6817 % 6818 If you cannot convince them, confuse them. 6819 -- Harry S. Truman 6820 % 6821 If you didn't get caught, did you really do it? 6822 % 6823 If you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost. 6824 % 6825 If you don't go to other men's funerals they won't go to yours. 6826 -- Clarence Day 6827 % 6828 If you don't have a nasty obituary you probably didn't matter. 6829 -- Freeman Dyson 6830 % 6831 If you don't want your dog to have bad breath, do what I do: Pour a little 6832 Lavoris in the toilet. 6833 -- Jay Leno 6834 % 6835 If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to 6836 either of you for the rest of the day. 6837 % 6838 If you ever want to get anywhere in politics, my boy, you're going to 6839 have to get a toehold in the public eye. 6840 % 6841 If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody 6842 will. 6843 % 6844 If you give Congress a chance to vote on both sides of an issue, it 6845 will always do it. 6846 -- Les Aspin, D., Wisconsin 6847 % 6848 If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is 6849 make the rubble bounce. 6850 -- Winston Churchill 6851 % 6852 If you had any brains, you'd be dangerous. 6853 % 6854 If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some. 6855 % 6856 If you have to hate, hate gently. 6857 % 6858 If you just try long enough and hard enough, you can always manage to 6859 boot yourself in the posterior. 6860 -- A. J. Liebling, "The Press" 6861 % 6862 If you keep anything long enough, you can throw it away. 6863 % 6864 If you live in a country run by committee, be on the committee. 6865 -- Graham Summer 6866 % 6867 If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made because very few 6868 people die past the age of a hundred. 6869 -- George Burns 6870 % 6871 If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; 6872 but if you really make them think they'll hate you. 6873 % 6874 If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. 6875 -- Maslow 6876 % 6877 If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure 6878 can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly 6879 develop. 6880 % 6881 If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite 6882 you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. 6883 -- Mark Twain 6884 % 6885 If you push the "extra ice" button on the soft drink vending machine, 6886 you won't get any ice. If you push the "no ice" button, you'll get 6887 ice, but no cup. 6888 % 6889 If you put garbage in a computer nothing comes out but garbage. But 6890 this garbage, having passed through a very expensive machine, is 6891 somehow ennobled and none dare criticize it. 6892 % 6893 If you sit down at a poker game and don't see a sucker, get up. You're 6894 the sucker. 6895 % 6896 If you stand on your head, you will get footprints in your hair. 6897 % 6898 If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. 6899 -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard 6900 % 6901 If you think last Tuesday was a drag, wait till you see what happens 6902 tomorrow! 6903 % 6904 If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car 6905 payments. 6906 -- Earl Wilson 6907 % 6908 If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you 6909 don't understand the problems and you don't understand the technology. 6910 -- Bruce Schneier 6911 % 6912 If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it. 6913 -- Arthur Kasspe 6914 % 6915 If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest 6916 shopping center in the world? 6917 -- Richard M. Nixon 6918 % 6919 If you throw a New Year's Party, the worst thing that you can do would 6920 be to throw the kind of party where your guests wake up today, and call 6921 you to say they had a nice time. Now you'll be expected to throw 6922 another party next year. 6923 6924 What you should do is throw the kind of party where your guest wake up 6925 several days from now and call their lawyers to find out if they've 6926 been indicted for anything. You want your guests to be so anxious to 6927 avoid a recurrence of your party that they immediately start planning 6928 parties of their own, a year in advance, just to prevent you from 6929 having another one ... 6930 6931 If your party is successful, the police will knock on your door, unless 6932 your party is very successful in which case they will lob tear gas 6933 through your living room window. As host, your job is to make sure 6934 that they don't arrest anybody. Or if they're dead set on arresting 6935 someone, your job is to make sure it isn't you ... 6936 -- Dave Barry 6937 % 6938 If you took all the students that felt asleep in class and laid them 6939 end to end, they'd be a lot more comfortable. 6940 -- "Graffiti in the Big Ten" 6941 % 6942 If you understand what you're doing, you're not learning anything. 6943 -- A. L. 6944 % 6945 If you want divine justice, die. 6946 -- Nick Seldon 6947 % 6948 If you want to know what god thinks of money, just look at the people 6949 he gave it to. 6950 -- Dorothy Parker 6951 % 6952 If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the 6953 Constitution. It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's 6954 statecraft. Instead, read selected portions of the Washington 6955 telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with 6956 titles beginning with the word "National". 6957 -- George Will 6958 % 6959 If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every 6960 word you say, talk in your sleep. 6961 % 6962 If you wants to get elected president, you'se got to think up some 6963 memoraboble homily so's school kids can be pestered into memorizin' it, 6964 even if they don't know what it means. 6965 -- Walt Kelly, "The Pogo Party" 6966 % 6967 If you wish to live wisely, ignore sayings -- including this one. 6968 % 6969 If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for 6970 tomorrow morning, sleep late. 6971 -- Henny Youngman 6972 % 6973 If you're happy, you're successful. 6974 % 6975 If you're like most homeowners, you're afraid that many repairs 6976 around your home are too difficult to tackle. So, when your furnace 6977 explodes, you call in a so-called professional to fix it. The 6978 "professional" arrives in a truck with lettering on the sides and 6979 deposits a large quantity of tools and two assistants who spend the 6980 better part of the week in your basement whacking objects at random 6981 with heavy wrenches, after which the "professional" returns and gives 6982 you a bill for slightly more money than it would cost you to run a 6983 successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. 6984 And that's why you've decided to start doing things yourself. 6985 You figure, "If those guys can fix my furnace, then so can I. How 6986 difficult can it be?" 6987 Very difficult. In fact, most home projects are impossible, 6988 which is why you should do them yourself. There is no point in paying 6989 other people to screw things up when you can easily screw them up 6990 yourself for far less money. This article can help you. 6991 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 6992 % 6993 If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. 6994 % 6995 If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory. 6996 -- Benjamin Disraeli 6997 % 6998 If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%? 6999 % 7000 If you've done six impossible things before breakfast, why not round it 7001 off with dinner at Milliway's, the restaurant at the end of the universe? 7002 % 7003 If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all. 7004 -- Ronald Reagan 7005 % 7006 Ignisecond, n.: 7007 The overlapping moment of time when the hand is locking the car 7008 door even as the brain is saying, "my keys are in there!" 7009 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 7010 % 7011 Il brilgue: les t^oves libricilleux 7012 Se gyrent et frillant dans le guave, 7013 Enm^im'es sont les gougebosquex, 7014 Et le m^omerade horgrave. 7015 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 7016 % 7017 Iles's Law: 7018 There is always an easier way to do it. When looking directly 7019 at the easy way, especially for long periods, you will not see it. 7020 Neither will Iles. 7021 % 7022 Illinois isn't exactly the land that God forgot -- it's more like the 7023 land He's trying to ignore. 7024 % 7025 Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. 7026 -- Jules de Gaultier 7027 % 7028 Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the 7029 usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody 7030 thinks of complaining. 7031 -- Jef Raskin, interviewed in Doctor Dobb's Journal 7032 % 7033 Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has 7034 a 150 MHz processor, 200 megabytes of RAM, 1500 megabytes of disk 7035 storage, a screen resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels, relies entirely on 7036 voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $300. 7037 What's the first question that the computer community asks? 7038 7039 "Is it PC compatible?" 7040 % 7041 Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery. 7042 -- Jack Paar 7043 % 7044 Immortality -- a fate worse than death. 7045 -- Edgar A. Shoaff 7046 % 7047 Impartial, adj.: 7048 Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from 7049 espousing either side of a controversy or adopting either of two 7050 conflicting opinions. 7051 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7052 % 7053 Important letters which contain no errors will develop errors in the 7054 mail. Corresponding errors will show up in the duplicate while the 7055 Boss is reading it. 7056 % 7057 Impossible, adj.: 7058 (1) I wouldn't like it and when it happens I won't approve; 7059 (2) I can't be bothered; 7060 (3) God can't be bothered. 7061 Meaning (3) may perhaps be valid but the others are 101% whaledreck. 7062 -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab" 7063 % 7064 In 1750 Issac Newton became discouraged when he fell up a flight of 7065 stairs. 7066 % 7067 In 1869 the waffle iron was invented for people who had wrinkled waffles. 7068 % 7069 In 1880 the French captured Detroit but gave it back ... they couldn't 7070 get parts. 7071 % 7072 In 1914, the first crossword puzzle was printed in a newspaper. The 7073 creator received $4000 down ... and $3000 across. 7074 % 7075 In 1915 pancake make-up was invented but most people still preferred 7076 syrup. 7077 % 7078 In a five year period we can get one superb programming language. Only 7079 we can't control when the five year period will begin. 7080 % 7081 In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi, 7082 junior, what are you up to?" 7083 "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the 7084 rabbit. 7085 "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible!" 7086 "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the 7087 rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied 7088 expression on his face. 7089 Comes along a wolf. "Hello, what are we doing these days?" 7090 "I'm writing the second chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits 7091 devour wolves." 7092 "Are you crazy? Where is your academic honesty?" 7093 "Come with me and I'll show you." As before, the rabbit comes 7094 out with a satisfied look on his face and a diploma in his paw. 7095 Finally, the camera pans into the rabbit's cave and, as everybody 7096 should have guessed by now, we see a mean-looking, huge lion sitting 7097 next to some bloody and furry remnants of the wolf and the fox. 7098 7099 The moral: It's not the contents of your thesis that are important -- 7100 it's your PhD advisor that really counts. 7101 % 7102 In a medium in which a News Piece takes a minute and an "In-Depth" 7103 Piece takes two minutes, the Simple will drive out the Complex. 7104 -- Frank Mankiewicz 7105 % 7106 In a museum in Havana, there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus, 7107 "one when he was a boy and one when he was a man." 7108 -- Mark Twain 7109 % 7110 In Africa some of the native tribes have a custom of beating the ground 7111 with clubs and uttering spine chilling cries. Anthropologists call 7112 this a form of primitive self-expression. In America we call it golf. 7113 % 7114 In America today ... we have Woody Allen, whose humor has become so 7115 sophisticated that nobody gets it any more except Mia Farrow. All 7116 those who think Mia Farrow should go back to making movies where the 7117 devil gets her pregnant and Woody Allen should go back to dressing up 7118 as a human sperm, please raise your hands. Thank you. 7119 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny" 7120 % 7121 In America, any boy may become president and I suppose that's just one 7122 of the risks he takes. 7123 -- Adlai Stevenson 7124 % 7125 In an organization, each person rises to the level of his own 7126 incompetency 7127 -- The Peter Principle 7128 % 7129 In any formula, constants (especially those obtained from handbooks) 7130 are to be treated as variables. 7131 % 7132 In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of 7133 nations -- it's cold, half-French, and difficult to stir. 7134 -- Stuart Keate 7135 % 7136 In Blythe, California, a city ordinance declares that a person must own 7137 at least two cows before he can wear cowboy boots in public. 7138 % 7139 In Boston, it is illegal to hold frog-jumping contests in nightclubs. 7140 % 7141 In case of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in schools 7142 will be temporarily canceled. 7143 % 7144 In case of injury notify your superior immediately. He'll kiss it and 7145 make it better. 7146 % 7147 In Columbia, Pennsylvania, it is against the law for a pilot to tickle 7148 a female flying student under her chin with a feather duster in order 7149 to get her attention. 7150 % 7151 In Corning, Iowa, it's a misdemeanor for a man to ask his wife to ride 7152 in any motor vehicle. 7153 % 7154 In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable. 7155 -- Winston Churchill, of Montgomery 7156 % 7157 In Denver it is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door 7158 neighbor. 7159 % 7160 In Devon, Connecticut, it is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset. 7161 % 7162 In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last 7163 resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but 7164 inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first. 7165 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7166 % 7167 In English, every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our 7168 programming languages. 7169 % 7170 In Greene, New York, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on 7171 the sidewalks when a concert is on. 7172 % 7173 In India, "cold weather" is merely a conventional phrase and has come 7174 into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish 7175 between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which 7176 will only make it mushy. 7177 -- Mark Twain 7178 % 7179 In Lexington, Kentucky, it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your 7180 pocket. 7181 % 7182 In Lowes Crossroads, Delaware, it is a violation of local law for any 7183 pilot or passenger to carry an ice cream cone in their pocket while 7184 either flying or waiting to board a plane. 7185 % 7186 In Memphis, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless 7187 there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red 7188 flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians. 7189 % 7190 In Ohio, if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as 7191 to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the 7192 speaker's stand, you can be fined $25.00. 7193 % 7194 In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the 7195 universe. 7196 -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos 7197 % 7198 In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, 7199 intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from 7200 the cares of office. 7201 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7202 % 7203 In Pocataligo, Georgia, it is a violation for a woman over 200 pounds 7204 and attired in shorts to pilot or ride in an airplane. 7205 % 7206 In Pocatello, Idaho, a law passed in 1912 provided that "The carrying 7207 of concealed weapons is forbidden, unless same are exhibited to public 7208 view." 7209 % 7210 In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space 7211 Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways. 7212 Our asymptotes no longer out of phase, 7213 We shall encounter, counting, face to face. 7214 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 7215 % 7216 In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon that 7217 is over six feet in length. 7218 % 7219 In seeking the unattainable, simplicity only gets in the way. 7220 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 7221 % 7222 In short, _N is Richardian if, and only if, _N is not Richardian. 7223 % 7224 In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's. 7225 % 7226 In Tennessee, it is illegal to shoot any game other than whales from a 7227 moving automobile. 7228 % 7229 [In the 60's] there was madness in any direction, at any hour ... You 7230 could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense 7231 that whatever we were doing was `right', that we were winning ... 7232 7233 And that, I think, was the handle -- the sense of inevitable victory 7234 over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we 7235 didn't need that. Our energy would simply `prevail'. There was no 7236 point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; 7237 we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave .... 7238 7239 So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in 7240 Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost 7241 ___see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and 7242 rolled back. 7243 -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" 7244 % 7245 In the beginning was the word. 7246 But by the time the second word was added to it, 7247 there was trouble. 7248 For with it came syntax ... 7249 -- John Simon 7250 % 7251 In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat 7252 hacking at the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am 7253 training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe." "Why is the 7254 net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any 7255 preconceptions of how to play." Minsky shut his eyes. "Why do you 7256 close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So the room will be 7257 empty." At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. 7258 % 7259 In the force if Yoda's so strong, construct a sentence with words in 7260 the proper order then why can't he? 7261 % 7262 In the land of the dark, the Ship of the Sun is driven by the Grateful 7263 Dead. 7264 -- Egyptian Book of the Dead 7265 % 7266 In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble. 7267 -- Alan Perlis 7268 % 7269 In the olden days in England, you could be hung for stealing a sheep or 7270 a loaf of bread. However, if a sheep stole a loaf of bread and gave it 7271 to you, you would only be tried for receiving, a crime punishable by 7272 forty lashes with the cat or the dog, whichever was handy. If you 7273 stole a dog and were caught, you were punished with twelve rabbit 7274 punches, although it was hard to find rabbits big enough or strong 7275 enough to punch you. 7276 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 7277 % 7278 In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Mississippi has 7279 shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. Therefore ... in the 7280 Old Silurian Period the Mississippi River was upward of one million 7281 three hundred thousand miles long ... seven hundred and forty-two years 7282 from now the Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long. 7283 ... There is something fascinating about science. One gets such 7284 wholesome returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of 7285 fact. 7286 -- Mark Twain 7287 % 7288 In the Top 40, half the songs are secret messages to the teen world to 7289 drop out, turn on, and groove with the chemicals and light shows at 7290 discotheques. 7291 -- Art Linkletter 7292 % 7293 In those days he was wiser than he is now -- he used to frequently take 7294 my advice. 7295 -- Winston Churchill 7296 % 7297 In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without 7298 the supervision of a licensed engineer. 7299 % 7300 In West Union, Ohio, no married man can go flying without his spouse 7301 along at any time, unless he has been married for more than 12 months. 7302 % 7303 Incumbent, n.: 7304 Person of liveliest interest to the outcumbents. 7305 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7306 % 7307 ... indifference is a militant thing ... when it goes away it leaves 7308 smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayonetted through the throat. It is 7309 not a children's pastime like mere highway robbery. 7310 -- Stephen Crane 7311 % 7312 Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares? 7313 % 7314 Individualists unite! 7315 % 7316 Infancy, n.: 7317 The period of our lives when, according to Wordsworth, "Heaven 7318 lies about us." The world begins lying about us pretty soon 7319 afterward. 7320 -- Ambrose Bierce 7321 % 7322 Information Center, n.: 7323 A room staffed by professional computer people whose job it is 7324 to tell you why you cannot have the information you require. 7325 % 7326 Ingrate, n.: 7327 A man who bites the hand that feeds him, and then complains of 7328 indigestion. 7329 % 7330 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. 7331 -- Martin Luther King, Jr. 7332 % 7333 Ink, n.: 7334 A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and 7335 water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote 7336 intellectual crime. 7337 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7338 % 7339 Innovation is hard to schedule. 7340 -- Dan Fylstra 7341 % 7342 Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids. 7343 % 7344 Insanity is the final defense ... It's hard to get a refund when the 7345 salesman is sniffing your crotch and baying at the moon. 7346 % 7347 Interpreter, n.: 7348 One who enables two persons of different languages to 7349 understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to 7350 the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said. 7351 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7352 % 7353 Intolerance is the last defense of the insecure. 7354 % 7355 I/O, I/O, 7356 It's off to disk I go, 7357 A bit or byte to read or write, 7358 I/O, I/O, I/O 7359 % 7360 INVENTORY 7361 Four be the things I am wiser to know: 7362 Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe. 7363 7364 Four be the things I'd been better without: 7365 Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt. 7366 7367 Three be the things I shall never attain: 7368 Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. 7369 7370 Three be the things I shall have till I die: 7371 Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye. 7372 % 7373 Iron Law of Distribution: 7374 Them that has, gets. 7375 % 7376 Irrationality is the square root of all evil 7377 -- Douglas Hofstadter 7378 % 7379 Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is 7380 meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a 7381 soap bubble? 7382 % 7383 Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the 7384 beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get 7385 out, and such as are out wish to get in? 7386 -- Ralph Emerson 7387 % 7388 Is your job running? You'd better go catch it! 7389 % 7390 Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction 7391 listen to weather forecasts and economists? 7392 -- Kelvin Throop III 7393 % 7394 Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune 7395 tellers take economists seriously? 7396 % 7397 Issawi's Laws of Progress: 7398 7399 The Course of Progress: 7400 Most things get steadily worse. 7401 7402 The Path of Progress: 7403 A shortcut is the longest distance between two points. 7404 % 7405 It appears that after his death, Albert Einstein found himself working 7406 as the doorkeeper at the Pearly Gates. One slow day, he found that he 7407 had time to chat with the new entrants. To the first one he asked, 7408 "What's your IQ?" The new arrival replied, "190". They discussed 7409 Einstein's theory of relativity for hours. When the second new arrival 7410 came, Einstein once again inquired as to the newcomer's IQ. The answer 7411 this time came "120". To which Einstein replied, "Tell me, how did the 7412 Cubs do this year?" and they proceeded to talk for half an hour or so. 7413 To the final arrival, Einstein once again posed the question, "What's 7414 your IQ?". Upon receiving the answer "70", Einstein smiled and asked, 7415 "Got a minute to tell me about VMS 4.0?" 7416 % 7417 It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown 7418 came out to inform the public. They thought it was just a jest and 7419 applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I 7420 think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the 7421 wits, who believe that it is a joke. 7422 -- S. A. Kierkegaard (1813-1855) 7423 % 7424 It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when it is 7425 thrust into the affairs of another, from which some physiologists have 7426 drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell. 7427 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 7428 % 7429 It has been said [by Anatole France], "it is not by amusing oneself 7430 that one learns," and, in reply: "it is *____only* by amusing oneself that 7431 one can learn." 7432 -- Edward Kasner and James R. Newman 7433 % 7434 It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have 7435 been searching for evidence which could support this. 7436 -- Bertrand Russell 7437 % 7438 It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats. 7439 % 7440 It is against the grain of modern education to teach children to 7441 program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in 7442 organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be 7443 self-critical? 7444 -- Alan Perlis 7445 % 7446 It is against the law for a monster to enter the corporate limits of 7447 Urbana, Illinois. 7448 % 7449 It is always preferable to visit home with a friend. Your parents will 7450 not be pleased with this plan, because they want you all to themselves 7451 and because in the presence of your friend, they will have to act like 7452 mature human beings ... 7453 -- Playboy, January 1983 7454 % 7455 It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it's a 7456 pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the 7457 sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color. 7458 -- Voltaire 7459 % 7460 It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what 7461 they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always 7462 assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had 7463 achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst 7464 all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having 7465 a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that 7466 they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same 7467 reasons. 7468 7469 Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending 7470 destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert 7471 mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were 7472 misinterpreted ... 7473 7474 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 7475 % 7476 It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be 7477 coming up it. 7478 -- Henry Allen 7479 % 7480 It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck? 7481 One in a million, perhaps. 7482 % 7483 It is better to kiss an avocado than to get in a fight with an aardvark 7484 % 7485 It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three 7486 benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never 7487 to use either. 7488 -- Mark Twain 7489 % 7490 It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both 7491 incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by 7492 twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. 7493 -- Rod Serling 7494 % 7495 It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is 7496 lightly greased. 7497 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 7498 % 7499 It is easier to be a "humanitarian" than to render your own country its 7500 proper due; it is easier to be a "patriot" than to make your community 7501 a better place to live in; it is easier to be a "civic leader" than to 7502 treat your own family with loving understanding; for the smaller the 7503 focus of attention, the harder the task. 7504 -- Sydney J. Harris 7505 % 7506 It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa. 7507 % 7508 It is easier to get forgiveness than permission. 7509 % 7510 It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one. 7511 % 7512 It is generally agreed that "Hello" is an appropriate greeting because 7513 if you entered a room and said "Goodbye," it could confuse a lot of 7514 people. 7515 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot" 7516 % 7517 It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood 7518 Boulevard at one time. 7519 % 7520 It is illegal to say "Oh, Boy" in Jonesboro, Georgia. 7521 % 7522 It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry 7523 a tune. 7524 -- Woody Allen 7525 % 7526 It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so 7527 ingenious. 7528 % 7529 It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not 7530 desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off. 7531 -- Woody Allen 7532 % 7533 It is Mr. Mellon's credo that $200,000,000 can do no wrong. Our 7534 offense consists in doubting it. 7535 -- Justice Robert H. Jackson 7536 % 7537 It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the 7538 problem. 7539 % 7540 It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be 7541 privileged to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to 7542 corrupt the youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles. 7543 -- George Bernard Shaw 7544 % 7545 It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. 7546 -- Gore Vidal 7547 % 7548 It is not true that life is one damn thing after another -- it's one 7549 damn thing over and over. 7550 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay 7551 % 7552 It is now 10 p.m. Do you know where Henry Kissinger is? 7553 -- Elizabeth Carpenter 7554 % 7555 It is now pitch dark. If you proceed, you will likely fall into a pit. 7556 % 7557 It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that 7558 virginity could be a virtue. 7559 -- Voltaire 7560 % 7561 It is only people of small moral stature who have to stand on their 7562 dignity. 7563 % 7564 It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared 7565 to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great. 7566 -- Havelock Ellis 7567 % 7568 It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to 7569 students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential 7570 programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of 7571 regeneration. 7572 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5 7573 % 7574 It is said that the lonely eagle flies to the mountain peaks while the 7575 lowly ant crawls the ground, but cannot the soul of the ant soar as 7576 high as the eagle? 7577 % 7578 It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a 7579 statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more 7580 glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through 7581 which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the 7582 day, that is the highest of arts. 7583 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Where I Live" 7584 % 7585 It is Texas law that when two trains meet each other at a railroad 7586 crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed 7587 until the other has gone. 7588 % 7589 It is the business of little minds to shrink. 7590 -- Carl Sandburg 7591 % 7592 It is the business of the future to be dangerous. 7593 -- Hawkwind 7594 % 7595 It is true that if your paperboy throws your paper into the bushes for 7596 five straight days it can be explained by Newton's Law of Gravity. But 7597 it takes Murphy's law to explain why it is happening to you. 7598 % 7599 It is very difficult to prophesy, especially when it pertains to the 7600 future. 7601 % 7602 It looks like blind screaming hedonism won out. 7603 % 7604 It may be bad manners to talk with your mouth full, but it isn't too 7605 good either if you speak when your head is empty. 7606 % 7607 It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a 7608 warning to others. 7609 % 7610 It runs like _x, where _x is something unsavory 7611 -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435 7612 % 7613 It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the 7614 flag. 7615 % 7616 It shall be unlawful for any suspicious person to be within the 7617 municipality. 7618 -- Local ordinance, Euclid Ohio 7619 % 7620 It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, 7621 but I couldn't give up because by that time I was too famous. 7622 -- Robert Benchly 7623 % 7624 It was a book to kill time for those who liked it better dead. 7625 % 7626 It was a virgin forest, a place where the Hand of Man had never set foot. 7627 % 7628 It was one of those perfect summer days -- the sun was shining, a 7629 breeze was blowing, the birds were singing, and the lawn mower was 7630 broken ... 7631 -- James Dent 7632 % 7633 It was pleasant to me to get a letter from you the other day. Perhaps 7634 I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I 7635 don't think that I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew) and 7636 the signature (which I guessed at). There's a singular and a perpetual 7637 charm in a letter of yours; it never grows old, it never loses its 7638 novelty .... Other letters are read and thrown away and forgotten, but 7639 yours are kept forever -- unread. One of them will last a reasonable 7640 man a lifetime. 7641 -- Thomas Aldrich 7642 % 7643 It was the next morning that the armies of Twodor marched east 7644 laden with long lances, sharp swords, and death-dealing hangovers. The 7645 thousands were led by Arrowroot, who sat limply in his sidesaddle, 7646 nursing a whopper. Goodgulf, Gimlet, and the rest rode by him, praying 7647 for their fate to be quick, painless, and if possible, someone else's. 7648 Many an hour the armies forged ahead, the war-merinos bleating 7649 under their heavy burdens and the soldiers bleating under their melting 7650 icepacks. 7651 -- The Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings" 7652 % 7653 It wasn't that she had a rose in her teeth, exactly. It was more like 7654 the rose and the teeth were in the same glass. 7655 % 7656 It will be advantageous to cross the great stream ... the Dragon is on 7657 the wing in the Sky ... the Great Man rouses himself to his Work. 7658 % 7659 It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human 7660 nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant 7661 examples. 7662 -- Charles Dickens 7663 % 7664 It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing 7665 warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or 7666 two things still safe to eat. 7667 -- Robert Fuoss 7668 % 7669 It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word. 7670 -- Andrew Jackson 7671 % 7672 It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear. 7673 -- Cheers 7674 % 7675 It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for. 7676 % 7677 It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it. 7678 -- Steven Wright 7679 % 7680 "It's a summons." 7681 "What's a summons?" 7682 "It means summon's in trouble." 7683 -- Rocky and Bullwinkle 7684 % 7685 It's a very *__UN*lucky week in which to be took dead. 7686 -- Churchy La Femme 7687 % 7688 It's always darkest just before it gets pitch black. 7689 % 7690 It's bad luck to be superstitious. 7691 -- Andrew W. Mathis 7692 % 7693 It's better to be wanted for murder than not to be wanted at all. 7694 -- Marty Winch 7695 % 7696 "It's easier said than done." 7697 7698 ... and if you don't believe it, try proving that it's easier done than 7699 said, and you'll see that "it's easier said that `it's easier done than 7700 said' than it is done", which really proves that "it's easier said than 7701 done". 7702 % 7703 It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. 7704 % 7705 It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than forgiveness for 7706 being right. 7707 % 7708 It's Fabulous! We haven't seen anything like it in the last half an hour! 7709 -- Macy's 7710 % 7711 It's illegal in Wilbur, Washington, to ride an ugly horse. 7712 % 7713 It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it 7714 is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It 7715 isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs. 7716 -- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News" 7717 % 7718 It's just a jump to the left 7719 And then a step to the right. 7720 Put your hands on your hips 7721 And pull your knees in tight. 7722 But it's the pelvic thrust 7723 That really drives you insa-a-a-a-a-ane! 7724 7725 LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN! 7726 7727 -- Rocky Horror Picture Show 7728 % 7729 It's kind of fun to do the impossible. 7730 -- Walt Disney 7731 % 7732 "It's Like This" 7733 7734 Even the samurai 7735 have teddy bears, 7736 and even the teddy bears 7737 get drunk. 7738 % 7739 It's lucky you're going so slowly, because you're going in the wrong 7740 direction. 7741 % 7742 It's men like him that give the Y chromosome a bad name. 7743 % 7744 It's more than magnificent -- it's mediocre. 7745 -- Sam Goldwyn 7746 % 7747 It's no surprise that things are so screwed up: everyone that knows how 7748 to run a government is either driving taxicabs or cutting hair. 7749 -- George Burns 7750 % 7751 It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one. 7752 -- Phil White 7753 % 7754 It's not Camelot, but it's not Cleveland, either. 7755 -- Kevin White, mayor of Boston 7756 % 7757 It's not enough to be Hungarian; you must have talent too. 7758 -- Alexander Korda 7759 % 7760 It's not just a computer -- it's your ass. 7761 -- Cal Keegan 7762 % 7763 It's not reality or how you perceive things that's important -- it's 7764 what you're taking for it... 7765 % 7766 It's not so hard to lift yourself by your bootstraps once you're off 7767 the ground. 7768 -- Daniel B. Luten 7769 % 7770 It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it 7771 happens. 7772 -- Woody Allen 7773 % 7774 It's not the valleys in life I dread so much as the dips. 7775 -- Garfield 7776 % 7777 It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that 7778 English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many 7779 other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case. 7780 -- Sydney J. Harris 7781 % 7782 It's raisins that make Post Raisin Bran so raisiny ... 7783 % 7784 It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles. 7785 % 7786 It's so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the 7787 Devil when he is the only explanation of it. 7788 % 7789 It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon. Which 7790 raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody 7791 not to. 7792 -- Franklin P. Jones 7793 % 7794 It's the thought, if any, that counts! 7795 % 7796 JACK AND THE BEANSTACK 7797 by Mark Isaak 7798 7799 Long ago, in a finite state far away, there lived a JOVIAL 7800 character named Jack. Jack and his relations were poor. Often their 7801 hash table was bare. One day Jack's parent said to him, "Our matrices 7802 are sparse. You must go to the market to exchange our RAM for some 7803 BASICs." She compiled a linked list of items to retrieve and passed it 7804 to him. 7805 So Jack set out. But as he was walking along a Hamilton path, 7806 he met the traveling salesman. 7807 "Whither dost thy flow chart take thou?" prompted the salesman 7808 in high-level language. 7809 "I'm going to the market to exchange this RAM for some chips 7810 and Apples," commented Jack. 7811 "I have a much better algorithm. You needn't join a queue 7812 there; I will swap your RAM for these magic kernels now." 7813 Jack made the trade, then backtracked to his house. But when 7814 he told his busy-waiting parent of the deal, she became so angry she 7815 started thrashing. 7816 "Don't you even have any artificial intelligence? All these 7817 kernels together hardly make up one byte," and she popped them out the 7818 window ... 7819 % 7820 Jacquin's Postulate on Democratic Government: 7821 No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the 7822 legislature is in session. 7823 % 7824 James Joyce -- an essentially private man who wished his total 7825 indifference to public notice to be universally recognized. 7826 -- Tom Stoppard 7827 % 7828 Jenkinson's Law: 7829 It won't work. 7830 % 7831 Jesus Saves, 7832 Moses Invests, 7833 But only Buddha pays Dividends. 7834 % 7835 Job Placement, n.: 7836 Telling your boss what he can do with your job. 7837 % 7838 Joe's sister puts spaghetti in her shoes! 7839 % 7840 Johnson's First Law: 7841 When any mechanical contrivance fails, it will do so at the 7842 most inconvenient possible time. 7843 % 7844 Join in the new game that's sweeping the country. It's called 7845 "Bureaucracy". Everybody stands in a circle. The first person to do 7846 anything loses. 7847 % 7848 Join the march to save individuality! 7849 % 7850 Jone's Law: 7851 The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone 7852 to blame it on. 7853 % 7854 Jone's Motto: 7855 Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. 7856 % 7857 Jones's First Law: 7858 Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of 7859 endeavor, and stays in that field long enough, becomes an obstruction 7860 to its progress -- in direct proportion to the importance of their 7861 original contribution. 7862 % 7863 Just about every computer on the market today runs Unix, except the Mac 7864 (and nobody cares about it). 7865 -- Bill Joy 6/21/85 7866 % 7867 Just as most issues are seldom black or white, so are most good 7868 solutions seldom black or white. Beware of the solution that requires 7869 one side to be totally the loser and the other side to be totally the 7870 winner. The reason there are two sides to begin with usually is 7871 because neither side has all the facts. Therefore, when the wise 7872 mediator effects a compromise, he is not acting from political 7873 motivation. Rather, he is acting from a deep sense of respect for the 7874 whole truth. 7875 -- Stephen R. Schwambach 7876 % 7877 Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has 7878 changed. 7879 -- Irene Peter 7880 % 7881 Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they AREN'T after you. 7882 % 7883 Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn't mean he 7884 knows what it is. 7885 % 7886 Just go with the flow control, roll with the crunches, and, when you 7887 get a prompt, type like hell. 7888 % 7889 Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't 7890 immune to bullets. 7891 -- The Brigadier, "Dr. Who" 7892 % 7893 Just out of curiosity does this actually mean something or have some 7894 of the few remaining bits of your brain just evaporated? 7895 -- Patricia O Tuama, rissa (a] killer.DALLAS.TX.US 7896 % 7897 Just remember, it all started with a mouse. 7898 -- Walt Disney 7899 % 7900 Just remember: when you go to court, you are trusting your fate to 7901 twelve people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty! 7902 % 7903 `Just the place for a Snark!' the Bellman cried, 7904 As he landed his crew with care; 7905 Supporting each man on the top of the tide 7906 By a finger entwined in his hair. 7907 7908 'Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: 7909 That alone should encourage the crew. 7910 Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: 7911 What I tell you three times is true.' 7912 % 7913 Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along comes a 7914 faster rat!!! 7915 % 7916 Justice always prevails ... three times out of seven! 7917 -- Michael J. Wagner 7918 % 7919 Justice is incidental to law and order. 7920 -- J. Edgar Hoover 7921 % 7922 Justice, n.: 7923 A decision in your favor. 7924 % 7925 K: Cobalt's metal, hard and shining; 7926 Cobol's wordy and confining; 7927 KOBOLDS topple when you strike them; 7928 Don't feel bad, it's hard to like them. 7929 -- The Roguelet's ABC 7930 % 7931 Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to 7932 wear tail lights. 7933 % 7934 Katz' Law: 7935 Man and nations will act rationally when all other 7936 possibilities have been exhausted. 7937 % 7938 Keep America beautiful. Swallow your beer cans. 7939 % 7940 Keep Cool, but Don't Freeze 7941 - Hellman's Mayonnaise 7942 % 7943 Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis. 7944 % 7945 Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo. 7946 % 7947 Keep in mind always the two constant Laws of Frisbee: 7948 (1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc 7949 straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this 7950 force is technically termed "car suck"). 7951 (2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive 7952 than "Watch this!" 7953 % 7954 Keep your Eye on the Ball, 7955 Your Shoulder to the Wheel, 7956 Your Nose to the Grindstone, 7957 Your Feet on the Ground, 7958 Your Head on your Shoulders. 7959 Now ... try to get something DONE! 7960 % 7961 Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design. Unlike most 7962 automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor any of the 7963 numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver. Rather, if the 7964 driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the center of the 7965 dashboard. "The experienced driver", he says, "will usually know 7966 what's wrong." 7967 % 7968 Kerr's Three Rules for a Successful College: 7969 Have plenty of football for the alumni, sex for the students, 7970 and parking for the faculty. 7971 % 7972 Kids have *_____never* taken guidance from their parents. If you could 7973 travel back in time and observe the original primate family in the 7974 original tree, you would see the primate parents yelling at the primate 7975 teenager for sitting around and sulking all day instead of hunting for 7976 grubs and berries like dad primate. Then you'd see the primate 7977 teenager stomp up to his branch and slam the leaves. 7978 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do" 7979 % 7980 Kin, n.: 7981 An affliction of the blood. 7982 % 7983 Kinkler's First Law: 7984 Responsibility always exceeds authority. 7985 7986 Kinkler's Second Law: 7987 All the easy problems have been solved. 7988 % 7989 Kirk to Enterprise -- beam down yeoman Rand and a six-pack. 7990 % 7991 Kirkland, Illinois, law forbids bees to fly over the village or through 7992 any of its streets. 7993 % 7994 Kiss me twice. I'm schizophrenic. 7995 % 7996 Kiss your keyboard goodbye! 7997 % 7998 Klein bottle for rent -- inquire within. 7999 % 8000 Kleptomaniac, n.: 8001 A rich thief. 8002 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8003 % 8004 Know thyself. If you need help, call the C.I.A. 8005 % 8006 Know what I hate most? Rhetorical questions. 8007 -- Henry N. Camp 8008 % 8009 Krogt, n. (chemical symbol: Kr): 8010 The metallic silver coating found on fast-food game cards. 8011 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 8012 % 8013 Labor, n.: 8014 One of the processes by which A acquires property for B. 8015 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8016 % 8017 Lackland's Laws: 8018 (1) Never be first. 8019 (2) Never be last. 8020 (3) Never volunteer for anything 8021 % 8022 Lactomangulation, n.: 8023 Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly 8024 that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side. 8025 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 8026 % 8027 Ladybug, ladybug, 8028 Look to your stern! 8029 Your house is on fire, 8030 Your children will burn! 8031 So jump ye and sing, for 8032 The very first time 8033 The four lines above 8034 Have been put into rhyme. 8035 -- Walt Kelly 8036 % 8037 Laetrile is the pits 8038 % 8039 Langsam's Laws: 8040 (1) Everything depends. 8041 (2) Nothing is always. 8042 (3) Everything is sometimes. 8043 % 8044 Larkinson's Law: 8045 All laws are basically false. 8046 % 8047 Lassie looked brilliant, in part because the farm family she lived with 8048 was made up of idiots. Remember? One of them was always getting 8049 pinned under the tractor, and Lassie was always rushing back to the 8050 farmhouse to alert the other ones. She'd whimper and tug at their 8051 sleeves, and they'd always waste precious minutes saying things: "Do 8052 you think something's wrong? Do you think she wants us to follow her? 8053 What is it, girl?", etc., as if this had never happened before, instead 8054 of every week. What with all the time these people spent pinned under 8055 the tractor, I don't see how they managed to grow any crops 8056 whatsoever. They probably got by on federal crop supports, which 8057 Lassie filed the applications for. 8058 -- Dave Barry 8059 % 8060 Last night, I came home and realized that everything in my apartment 8061 had been stolen and replaced with an exact duplicate. I told this to 8062 my friend -- he said, `Do I know you?' 8063 -- Steven Wright 8064 % 8065 Last week a cop stopped me in my car. He asked me if I had a police 8066 record. I said, no, but I have the new DEVO album. Cops have no sense 8067 of humor. 8068 % 8069 Last yeer I kudn't spel Engineer. Now I are won. 8070 % 8071 Laugh at your problems; everybody else does. 8072 % 8073 Laughter is the closest distance between two people." 8074 -- Victor Borge 8075 % 8076 Law of Communications: 8077 The inevitable result of improved and enlarged communications 8078 between different levels in a hierarchy is a vastly increased area of 8079 misunderstanding. 8080 % 8081 Law of Probable Dispersal: 8082 Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly 8083 distributed. 8084 % 8085 Law of Selective Gravity: 8086 An object will fall so as to do the most damage. 8087 8088 Jenning's Corollary: 8089 The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is 8090 directly proportional to the cost of the carpet. 8091 8092 Law of the Perversity of Nature: 8093 You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the 8094 bread to butter. 8095 % 8096 Laws of Serendipity: 8097 8098 (1) In order to discover anything, you must be looking for 8099 something. 8100 (2) If you wish to make an improved product, you must already 8101 be engaged in making an inferior one. 8102 % 8103 Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom: 8104 No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats -- 8105 approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less. 8106 % 8107 Learned men are the cisterns of knowledge, not the fountainheads. 8108 % 8109 Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and 8110 everything else follows in the same way. 8111 -- Alan J. Perlis 8112 % 8113 Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. 8114 % 8115 Legalize free-enterprise murder: why should governments have all the 8116 fun? 8117 % 8118 Legislation proposed in the Illinois State Legislature, May, 1907: 8119 "Speed upon county roads will be limited to ten miles an hour 8120 unless the motorist sees a bailiff who does not appear to have had a 8121 drink in 30 days, when the driver will be permitted to make what he 8122 can." 8123 % 8124 Leibowitz's Rule: 8125 When hammering a nail, you will never hit your finger if you 8126 hold the hammer with both hands. 8127 % 8128 LEO (July 23 - Aug 22) 8129 You consider yourself a born leader. Others think you are 8130 pushy. Most Leo people are bullies. You are vain and dislike 8131 honest criticism. Your arrogance is disgusting. Leo people 8132 are thieves. 8133 % 8134 LEO (July 23 - Aug 22) 8135 Your determination and sense of humor will come to the fore. 8136 Your ability to laugh at adversity will be a blessing because 8137 you've got a day coming you wouldn't believe. As a matter of 8138 fact, if you can laugh at what happens to you today, you've got 8139 a sick sense of humor. 8140 % 8141 Let He who taketh the Plunge Remember to return it by Tuesday. 8142 % 8143 Let me assure you that to us here at First National, you're not just a 8144 number. You're two numbers, a dash, three more numbers, another dash 8145 and another number. 8146 -- James Estes 8147 % 8148 Let us live!!! 8149 Let us love!!! 8150 Let us share the deepest secrets of our souls!!! 8151 8152 You first. 8153 % 8154 Let's just say that where a change was required, I adjusted. In every 8155 relationship that exists, people have to seek a way to survive. If you 8156 really care about the person, you do what's necessary, or that's the 8157 end. For the first time, I found that I really could change, and the 8158 qualities I most admired in myself I gave up. I stopped being loud and 8159 bossy ... Oh, all right. I was still loud and bossy, but only behind 8160 his back. 8161 -- Kate Hepburn, on Tracy and Hepburn 8162 % 8163 Let's say your wedding ring falls into your toaster, and when you stick 8164 your hand in to retrieve it, you suffer Pain and Suffering as well as 8165 Mental Anguish. You would sue: 8166 8167 * The toaster manufacturer, for failure to include, in the instructions 8168 section that says you should never never never ever stick you hand 8169 into the toaster, the statement "Not even if your wedding ring falls 8170 in there". 8171 8172 * The store where you bought the toaster, for selling it to an obvious 8173 cretin like yourself. 8174 8175 * Union Carbide Corporation, which is not directly responsible in this 8176 case, but which is feeling so guilty that it would probably send you 8177 a large cash settlement anyway. 8178 -- Dave Barry 8179 % 8180 Let's talk about how to fill out your 1984 tax return. Here's an often 8181 overlooked accounting technique that can save you thousands of 8182 dollars: For several days before you put it in the mail, carry your 8183 tax return around under your armpit. No IRS agent is going to want to 8184 spend hours poring over a sweat-stained document. So even if you owe 8185 money, you can put in for an enormous refund and the agent will 8186 probably give it to you, just to avoid an audit. What does he care? 8187 It's not his money. 8188 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes" 8189 % 8190 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (The Times of London) 8191 8192 Dear Sir, 8193 8194 I am firmly opposed to the spread of microchips either to the home or 8195 to the office. We have more than enough of them foisted upon us in 8196 public places. They are a disgusting Americanism, and can only result 8197 in the farmers being forced to grow smaller potatoes, which in turn 8198 will cause massive unemployment in the already severely depressed 8199 agricultural industry. 8200 8201 Yours faithfully, 8202 Capt. Quinton D'Arcy, J. P. 8203 Sevenoaks 8204 % 8205 Lewis's Law of Travel: 8206 The first piece of luggage out of the chute doesn't belong to 8207 anyone, ever. 8208 % 8209 Liar, n.: 8210 A lawyer with a roving commission. 8211 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8212 % 8213 Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. 8214 -- Harry Emerson Fosdick 8215 % 8216 LIBRA (Sep. 23 to Oct. 22) 8217 Your desire for justice and truth will be overshadowed by your 8218 desire for filthy lucre and a decent meal. Be gracious and 8219 polite. Someone is watching you, so stop staring like that. 8220 % 8221 LIBRA (Sept 23 - Oct 22) 8222 You are the artistic type and have a difficult time with 8223 reality. If you are a man, you are more than likely gay. 8224 Chances for employment and monetary gains are excellent. Most 8225 Libra women are prostitutes. All Libra people die of venereal 8226 disease. 8227 % 8228 Lie, n.: 8229 A very poor substitute for the truth, but the only one 8230 discovered to date. 8231 % 8232 Lieberman's Law: 8233 Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens. 8234 % 8235 Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while. 8236 % 8237 Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string. 8238 % 8239 Life is like a bowl of soup with hairs floating on it. You have to 8240 eat it nevertheless. 8241 -- Flaubert 8242 % 8243 Life is like a buffet; it's not good but there's plenty of it. 8244 % 8245 Life is like a simile. 8246 % 8247 Life is like an analogy. 8248 % 8249 Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer, then you find 8250 there is nothing in it. 8251 % 8252 Life is too important to take seriously. 8253 -- Corky Siegel 8254 % 8255 Life may have no meaning -- or even worse, it may have a meaning of 8256 which I disapprove. 8257 % 8258 Life to you is a bold and dashing responsibility. 8259 -- a Mary Chung's fortune cookie 8260 % 8261 Life would be much simpler and things would get done much faster if it 8262 weren't for other people. 8263 -- Blore 8264 % 8265 Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code. 8266 % 8267 Life, loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it. 8268 -- Marvin, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 8269 % 8270 Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made 8271 sense from things she found in gift shops. 8272 -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 8273 % 8274 Like the ski resort of girls looking for husbands and husbands looking 8275 for girls, the situation is not as symmetrical as it might seem. 8276 -- Alan McKay 8277 % 8278 Line Printer paper is strongest at the perforations. 8279 % 8280 Linus: I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe 8281 we should think only about today. 8282 Charlie Brown: 8283 No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get 8284 better. 8285 % 8286 Living in LA is like not having a date on Saturday night. 8287 -- Candice Bergen 8288 % 8289 Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip 8290 around the Sun. 8291 % 8292 Living your life is a task so difficult, it has never been attempted 8293 before. 8294 % 8295 Lizzie Borden took an axe, 8296 And plunged it deep into the VAX; 8297 Don't you envy people who 8298 Do all the things ___YOU want to do? 8299 % 8300 Loan-department manager: "There isn't any fine print. At these 8301 interest rates, we don't need it." 8302 % 8303 Lobster: 8304 Everyone loves these delectable crustaceans, but many cooks are 8305 squeamish about placing them into boiling water alive, which is the 8306 only proper method of preparing them. Frankly, the easiest way to 8307 eliminate your guilt is to establish theirs by putting them on trial 8308 before they're cooked. The fact is, lobsters are among the most 8309 ferocious predators on the sea floor, and you're helping reduce crime 8310 in the reefs. Grasp the lobster behind the head, look it right in its 8311 unmistakably guilty eyestalks and say, "Where were you on the night of 8312 the 21st?", then flourish a picture of a scallop or a sole and shout, 8313 "Perhaps this will refresh that crude neural apparatus you call a 8314 memory!" The lobster will squirm noticeably. It may even take a swipe 8315 at you with one of its claws. Incorrigible. Pop it into the pot. 8316 Justice has been served, and shortly you and your friends will be, 8317 too. 8318 -- Dave Barry, "Cooking: The Art of Using Appliances and 8319 Utensils into Excuses and Apologies" 8320 % 8321 Lockwood's Long Shot: 8322 The chances of getting eaten up by a lion on Main Street aren't 8323 one in a million, but once would be enough. 8324 % 8325 Logic is a little bird, sitting in a tree; that smells *_____awful*. 8326 % 8327 ... Logically incoherent, semantically incomprehensible, and 8328 legally ... impeccable! 8329 % 8330 Logicians have but ill defined 8331 As rational the human kind. 8332 Logic, they say, belongs to man, 8333 But let them prove it if they can. 8334 -- Oliver Goldsmith 8335 % 8336 Look out! Behind you! 8337 % 8338 Look, we play the Star Spangled Banner before every game. You want us 8339 to pay income taxes, too? 8340 -- Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox 8341 % 8342 Loose bits sink chips. 8343 % 8344 Losing your drivers' license is just God's way of saying 8345 "BOOGA, BOOGA!" 8346 % 8347 Lost interest? It's so bad I've lost apathy. 8348 % 8349 Loud burping while walking around the airport is prohibited in 8350 Halstead, Kansas. 8351 % 8352 Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. 8353 % 8354 Love at first sight is one of the greatest labor-saving devices the 8355 world has ever seen. 8356 % 8357 Love cannot be much younger than the lust for murder. 8358 -- Sigmund Freud 8359 % 8360 Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it 8361 flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come. 8362 -- Matt Groening 8363 % 8364 Love is a word that is constantly heard, 8365 Hate is a word that is not. 8366 Love, I am told, is more precious than gold. 8367 Love, I have read, is hot. 8368 But hate is the verb that to me is superb, 8369 And Love but a drug on the mart. 8370 Any kiddie in school can love like a fool, 8371 But Hating, my boy, is an Art. 8372 -- Ogden Nash 8373 % 8374 Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with 8375 the ideal never goes unpunished. 8376 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 8377 % 8378 Love is sentimental measles. 8379 % 8380 Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. 8381 -- H. L. Mencken 8382 % 8383 Love means having to say you're sorry every five minutes. 8384 % 8385 Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighborhood. 8386 -- Louise Beal 8387 % 8388 Love your enemies: they'll go crazy trying to figure out what you're up to. 8389 % 8390 Love's Drug 8391 8392 My love is like an iron wand 8393 That conks me on the head, 8394 My love is like the valium 8395 That I take before my bed, 8396 My love is like the pint of scotch 8397 That I drink when I be dry; 8398 And I shall love thee still, my dear, 8399 Until my wife is wise. 8400 % 8401 Lowery's Law: 8402 If it jams -- force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing 8403 anyway. 8404 % 8405 LSD melts in your mind, not in your hand. 8406 % 8407 Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology: 8408 There's always one more bug. 8409 % 8410 Lunatic Asylum, n.: 8411 The place where optimism most flourishes. 8412 % 8413 Lysistrata had a good idea. 8414 % 8415 MacDonald has the gift on compressing the largest amount of words into 8416 the smallest amount of thoughts. 8417 -- Winston Churchill 8418 % 8419 Machine-Independent, adj.: 8420 Does not run on any existing machine. 8421 % 8422 Machines certainly can solve problems, store information, correlate, 8423 and play games -- but not with pleasure. 8424 -- Leo Rosten 8425 % 8426 Mad, adj.: 8427 Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence. 8428 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8429 % 8430 Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child -- if you parboil them 8431 first for seven hours, they always come out tender. 8432 -- W. C. Fields 8433 % 8434 MAFIA, n: 8435 [Acronym for Mechanized Applications in Forced Insurance 8436 Accounting.] An extensive network with many on-line and offshore 8437 subsystems running under OS, DOS, and IOS. MAFIA documentation is 8438 rather scanty, and the MAFIA sales office exhibits that testy 8439 reluctance to bona fide inquiries which is the hallmark of so many DP 8440 operations. From the little that has seeped out, it would appear that 8441 MAFIA operates under a non-standard protocol, OMERTA, a tight-lipped 8442 variant of SNA, in which extended handshakes also perform complex 8443 security functions. The known timesharing aspects of MAFIA point to a 8444 more than usually autocratic operating system. Screen prompts carry an 8445 imperative, nonrefusable weighting (most menus offer simple YES/YES 8446 options, defaulting to YES) that precludes indifference or delay. 8447 Uniquely, all editing under MAFIA is performed centrally, using a 8448 powerful rubout feature capable of erasing files, filors, filees, and 8449 entire nodal aggravations. 8450 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary" 8451 % 8452 Magnet, n.: Something acted upon by magnetism. 8453 8454 Magnetism, n.: Something acting upon a magnet. 8455 8456 The two definition immediately preceding are condensed from the works 8457 of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject 8458 with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human 8459 knowledge. 8460 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8461 % 8462 Magnocartic, adj.: 8463 Any automobile that, when left unattended, attracts shopping carts. 8464 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends" 8465 % 8466 Magpie, n.: 8467 A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it 8468 might be taught to talk. 8469 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8470 % 8471 Maier's Law: 8472 If the facts don't conform to the theory, they must be disposed of. 8473 8474 Corollaries: 8475 (1) The bigger the theory, the better. 8476 (2) The experiment may be considered a success if no more than 8477 50% of the observed measurements must be discarded to 8478 obtain a correspondence with the theory. 8479 % 8480 Main's Law: 8481 For every action there is an equal and opposite government program. 8482 % 8483 Maintainer's Motto: 8484 If we can't fix it, it ain't broke. 8485 % 8486 Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly 8487 as one man. 8488 8489 Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole in sixty seconds. 8490 8491 Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a posthole in one second. 8492 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8493 % 8494 Majority, n.: 8495 That quality that distinguishes a crime from a law. 8496 % 8497 Make it myself? But I'm a physical organic chemist! 8498 % 8499 Making files is easy under the UNIX operating system. Therefore, users 8500 tend to create numerous files using large amounts of file space. It 8501 has been said that the only standard thing about all UNIX systems is 8502 the message-of-the-day telling users to clean up their files. 8503 -- System V.2 administrator's guide 8504 % 8505 Malek's Law: 8506 Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way. 8507 % 8508 Man 1: Ask me what the most important thing about telling a good 8509 joke is. 8510 8511 Man 2: OK, what is the most impo -- 8512 8513 Man 1: ______TIMING! 8514 % 8515 Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain. 8516 -- Lily Tomlin 8517 % 8518 Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called 8519 upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason. 8520 -- Oscar Wilde 8521 % 8522 Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft ... and the 8523 only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor. 8524 -- Wernher von Braun 8525 % 8526 Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to. 8527 -- Mark Twain 8528 % 8529 Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the 8530 victims he intends to eat until he eats them. 8531 -- Samuel Butler (1835-1902) 8532 % 8533 Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else -- unless it 8534 is an enemy. 8535 -- Albert Einstein 8536 % 8537 Man, n.: 8538 An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks 8539 he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief 8540 occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, 8541 however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole 8542 habitable earth and Canada. 8543 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8544 % 8545 Mandrell: "You know what I think?" 8546 Doctor: "Ah, ah that's a catch question. With a brain your size you 8547 don't think, right?" 8548 -- Dr. Who 8549 % 8550 Mankind's yearning to engage in sports is older than recorded history, 8551 dating back to the time millions of years ago, when the first primitive 8552 man picked up a crude club and a round rock, tossed the rock into the 8553 air, and whomped the club into the sloping forehead of the first 8554 primitive umpire. 8555 8556 What inner force drove this first athlete? Your guess is as good as 8557 mine. Better, probably, because you haven't had four beers. 8558 -- Dave Barry, "Sports is a Drag" 8559 % 8560 Manual, n.: 8561 A unit of documentation. There are always three or more on a 8562 given item. One is on the shelf; someone has the others. The 8563 information you need is in the others. 8564 -- Ray Simard 8565 % 8566 Many years ago in a period commonly known as Next Friday Afternoon, 8567 there lived a King who was very Gloomy on Tuesday mornings because he 8568 was so Sad thinking about how Unhappy he had been on Monday and how 8569 completely Mournful he would be on Wednesday ... 8570 -- Walt Kelly 8571 % 8572 Mark's Dental-Chair Discovery: 8573 Dentists are incapable of asking questions that require a 8574 simple yes or no answer. 8575 % 8576 Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. 8577 -- Voltaire 8578 % 8579 Maryel brought her bat into Exit once and started whacking people on 8580 the dance floor. Now everyone's doing it. It's called grand slam 8581 dancing. 8582 -- Ransford, Chicago Reader 10/7/83 8583 % 8584 Maternity pay? Now every Tom, Dick and Harry will get pregnant. 8585 -- Malcolm Smith 8586 % 8587 Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated. 8588 -- R. Drabek 8589 % 8590 Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they 8591 translate into their own language, and forthwith it is something 8592 entirely different. 8593 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 8594 % 8595 Mathematicians often resort to something called Hilbert space, which is 8596 described as being n-dimensional. Like modern sex, any number can 8597 play. 8598 -- Dr. Thor Wald, in "Beep/The Quincunx of Time", by 8599 James Blish 8600 % 8601 Matrimony isn't a word, it's a sentence. 8602 % 8603 Matter cannot be created or destroyed, 8604 nor can it be returned without a receipt. 8605 % 8606 Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. 8607 -- Jules Feiffer 8608 % 8609 May a Misguided Platypus lay its Eggs in your Jockey Shorts. 8610 % 8611 May Euell Gibbons eat your only copy of the manual! 8612 % 8613 May the Fleas of a Thousand Camels infest one of your Erogenous Zones. 8614 % 8615 May your Tongue stick to the Roof of your Mouth with the Force of a 8616 Thousand Caramels. 8617 % 8618 Maybe Computer Science should be in the College of Theology. 8619 -- R. S. Barton 8620 % 8621 Maybe you can't buy happiness, but these days you can certainly charge 8622 it. 8623 % 8624 McGowan's Madison Avenue Axiom: 8625 If an item is advertised as "under $50", you can bet it's not 8626 $19.95. 8627 % 8628 Meader's Law: 8629 Whatever happens to you, it will previously have happened to 8630 everyone you know, only more so. 8631 % 8632 Meeting, n.: 8633 An assembly of people coming together to decide what person or 8634 department not represented in the room must solve a problem. 8635 % 8636 Men were real men, women were real women, and small, furry creatures 8637 from Alpha Centauri were REAL small, furry creatures from Alpha 8638 Centauri. Spirits were brave, men boldly split infinitives that no man 8639 had split before. Thus was the Empire forged. 8640 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 8641 % 8642 Men's skin is different from women's skin. It is usually bigger, and 8643 it has more snakes tattooed on it. Also, if you examine a woman's skin 8644 very closely, inch by inch, starting at her shapely ankles, then gently 8645 tracing the slender curve of her calves, then moving up to her ... 8646 [EDITOR'S NOTE: To make room for news articles about important 8647 world events such as agriculture, we're going to delete the 8648 next few square feet of the woman's skin. Thank you.] 8649 ... until finally the two of you are lying there, spent, smoking your 8650 cigarettes, and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of 8651 billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called "cells"! And what is even 8652 more interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a 8653 fact. Your skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the 8654 older veteran cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and 8655 obtained offices with nice views, are constantly being shoved out the 8656 window head first, without so much as a pension plan, by younger 8657 hotshot cells moving up from below. 8658 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face" 8659 % 8660 Mencken and Nathan's Fifteenth Law of The Average American: 8661 The worst actress in the company is always the manager's wife. 8662 % 8663 Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American: 8664 The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the 8665 cork makes when it is popped. 8666 % 8667 Mencken and Nathan's Second Law of The Average American: 8668 All the postmasters in small towns read all the postcards. 8669 % 8670 Mencken and Nathan's Sixteenth Law of The Average American: 8671 Milking a cow is an operation demanding a special talent that 8672 is possessed only by yokels, and no person born in a large city can 8673 ever hope to acquire it. 8674 % 8675 Menu, n.: 8676 A list of dishes which the restaurant has just run out of. 8677 % 8678 Meskimen's Law: 8679 There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to 8680 do it over. 8681 % 8682 MESSAGE ACKNOWLEDGED -- The Pershing II missiles have been launched. 8683 % 8684 Message will arrive in the mail. Destroy, before the FBI sees it. 8685 % 8686 methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutamin- 8687 ylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolyl- 8688 phenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglu- 8689 taminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl- 8690 glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylala- 8691 nylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylgluta- 8692 minylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly- 8693 cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionyl- 8694 leucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleu- 8695 cylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylva- 8696 lylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyro- 8697 sylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleu- 8698 cylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphe- 8699 nylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylala- 8700 nylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylas- 8701 partylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosyl- 8702 glycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycyl- 8703 valylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleu- 8704 cylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparagi- 8705 nylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylse- 8706 rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl- 8707 glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalylly- 8708 sylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylpro- 8709 lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalyl- 8710 glutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine, n.: 8711 The chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, a 8712 1,913-letter enzyme with 267 amino acids. 8713 -- Mrs. Bryne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and 8714 Preposterous Words 8715 % 8716 Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch. 8717 % 8718 Micro Credo: 8719 Never trust a computer bigger than you can lift. 8720 % 8721 Microwave oven? Whaddya mean, it's a microwave oven? I've been 8722 watching Channel 4 on the thing for two weeks. 8723 % 8724 Might as well be frank, monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you 8725 out of Casablanca and the Germans have outlawed miracles. 8726 -- Casablanca 8727 % 8728 Mike: "The Fourth Dimension is a shambles?" 8729 Bernie: "Nobody ever empties the ashtrays. People are SO 8730 inconsiderate." 8731 -- Gary Trudeau, "Doonesbury" 8732 % 8733 Miksch's Law: 8734 If a string has one end, then it has another end. 8735 % 8736 Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. 8737 -- Groucho Marx 8738 % 8739 Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. 8740 -- Groucho Marx 8741 % 8742 Millihelen, adj: 8743 The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. 8744 % 8745 Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with 8746 themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. 8747 -- Susan Ertz 8748 % 8749 Millions of sensible people are too high-minded to concede that 8750 politics is almost always the choice of the lesser evil. "Tweedledum 8751 and Tweedledee," they say, "I will not vote." Having abstained, they 8752 are presented with a President who appoints the people who are going to 8753 rummage around in their lives for the next four years. Consider all 8754 the people who sat home in a stew in 1968 rather than vote for Hubert 8755 Humphrey. They showed Humphrey. Those people who taught Hubert 8756 Humphrey a lesson will still be enjoying the Nixon Supreme Court when 8757 Tricia and Julie begin to find silver threads among the gold and the 8758 black. 8759 -- Russel Baker, "Ford without Flummery" 8760 % 8761 Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there 8762 is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, 8763 myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in 8764 the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my 8765 unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You 8766 will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as 8767 dead as a door-nail. 8768 % 8769 Minnie Mouse is a slow maze learner. 8770 % 8771 Minors in Kansas City, Missouri, are not allowed to purchase cap 8772 pistols; they may buy shotguns freely, however. 8773 % 8774 Misery loves company, but company does not reciprocate. 8775 % 8776 Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it. 8777 -- Russell Baker 8778 % 8779 Misfortune, n.: 8780 The kind of fortune that never misses. 8781 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8782 % 8783 Miss, n.: 8784 A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that 8785 they are in the market. 8786 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8787 % 8788 Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure. 8789 % 8790 Mitchell's Law of Committees: 8791 Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are 8792 held to discuss it. 8793 % 8794 MOCK APPLE PIE (No Apples Needed) 8795 8796 Pastry to two crust 9-inch pie 36 RITZ Crackers 8797 2 cups water 2 cups sugar 8798 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 tablespoons lemon juice 8799 Grated rind of one lemon Butter or margarine 8800 Cinnamon 8801 8802 Roll out bottom crust of pastry and fit into 9-inch pie plate. Break 8803 RITZ Crackers coarsely into pastry-lined plate. Combine water, sugar 8804 and cream of tartar in saucepan, boil gently for 15 minutes. Add lemon 8805 juice and rind. Cool. Pour this syrup over Crackers, dot generously 8806 with butter or margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with top 8807 crust. Trim and flute edges together. Cut slits in top crust to let 8808 steam escape. Bake in a hot oven (425 F) 30 to 35 minutes, until crust 8809 is crisp and golden. Serve warm. Cut into 6 to 8 slices. 8810 -- Found lurking on a Ritz Crackers box 8811 % 8812 Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings. 8813 % 8814 Mohandas K. Gandhi often changed his mind publicly. An aide once asked 8815 him how he could so freely contradict this week what he had said just 8816 last week. The great man replied that it was because this week he knew 8817 better. 8818 % 8819 Molecule, n.: 8820 The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is distinguished 8821 from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter, by a 8822 closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of 8823 matter ... The ion differs from the molecule, the corpuscle and the 8824 atom in that it is an ion ... 8825 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8826 % 8827 Mollison's Bureaucracy Hypothesis: 8828 If an idea can survive a bureaucratic review and be implemented 8829 it wasn't worth doing. 8830 % 8831 Monday is an awful way to spend one seventh of your life. 8832 % 8833 Monday, n.: 8834 In Christian countries, the day after the baseball game. 8835 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 8836 % 8837 Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. 8838 % 8839 Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots. 8840 % 8841 Money is the root of all wealth. 8842 % 8843 Moon, n.: 8844 1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to 8845 hackers. See PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC). 8846 % 8847 Mophobia, n.: 8848 Fear of being verbally abused by a Mississippian. 8849 % 8850 MORE SPORTS RESULTS: 8851 The Beverly Hills Freudians tied the Chicago Rogerians 0-0 last 8852 Saturday night. The match started with a long period of silence while 8853 the Freudians waited for the Rogerians to free associate and the 8854 Rogerians waited for the Freudians to say something they could 8855 paraphrase. The stalemate was broken when the Freudians' best player 8856 took the offensive and interpreted the Rogerians' silence as reflecting 8857 their anal-retentive personalities. At this the Rogerians' star player 8858 said "I hear you saying you think we're full of ka-ka." This started a 8859 fight and the match was called by officials. 8860 % 8861 More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One 8862 path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total 8863 extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly. 8864 -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 8865 % 8866 Mosher's Law of Software Engineering: 8867 Don't worry if it doesn't work right. If everything did, you'd 8868 be out of a job. 8869 % 8870 Most fish live underwater, which is a terrible place to have sex 8871 because virtually anywhere you lie down there will be stinging crabs 8872 and large quantities of little fish staring at you with buggy little 8873 eyes. So generally when two fish want to have sex, they swim around 8874 and around for hours, looking for someplace to go, until finally the 8875 female gets really tired and has a terrible headache, and she just 8876 dumps her eggs right on the sand and swims away. Then the male, driven 8877 by some timeless, noble instinct for survival, eats the eggs. So the 8878 truth is that fish don't reproduce at all, but there are so many of 8879 them that it doesn't make any difference. 8880 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every 8881 Teen Should Know" 8882 % 8883 Most people can't understand how others can blow their noses differently 8884 than they do. 8885 -- Turgenev 8886 % 8887 Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass. 8888 -- Frank Zappa 8889 % 8890 Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like. 8891 -- Arnold Bennett 8892 % 8893 Mother is the invention of necessity. 8894 % 8895 Mother told me to be good, but she's been wrong before. 8896 % 8897 Mr. Cole's Axiom: 8898 The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the 8899 population is growing. 8900 % 8901 "Multiply in your head" (ordered the compassionate Dr. Adams) 8902 "365,365,365,365,365,365 by 365,365,365,365,365,365. He [ten-year-old 8903 Truman Henry Safford] flew around the room like a top, pulled his 8904 pantaloons over the tops of his boots, bit his hands, rolled his eyes 8905 in their sockets, sometimes smiling and talking, and then seeming to be 8906 in an agony, until, in not more than one minute, said he, 8907 133,491,850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225!" An electronic 8908 computer might do the job a little faster but it wouldn't be as much 8909 fun to watch. 8910 -- James R. Newman (The World of Mathematics) 8911 % 8912 Murphy's Discovery: 8913 Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to 8914 women? They say, "Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything 8915 will be all right." And what happens? Nine months later, you're in 8916 trouble! 8917 % 8918 Murphy's Law is recursive. Washing your car to make it rain doesn't 8919 work. 8920 % 8921 Murphy's Law of Research: 8922 Enough research will tend to support your theory. 8923 % 8924 Murphy's Law, that brash proletarian restatement of Goedel's Theorem ... 8925 -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow" 8926 % 8927 Murray and Esther, a middle-aged Jewish couple, are touring 8928 Chile. Murray just got a new camera and is constantly snapping 8929 pictures. One day, without knowing it, he photographs a top-secret 8930 military installation. In an instant, armed troops surround Murray and 8931 Esther and hustle them off to prison. 8932 They can't prove who they are because they've left their 8933 passports in their hotel room. For three weeks they're tortured day 8934 and night to get them to name their contacts in the liberation 8935 movement.. Finally they're hauled in front of a military court, 8936 charged with espionage, and sentenced to death. 8937 The next morning they're lined up in front of the wall where 8938 they'll be shot. The sergeant in charge of the firing squad asks them 8939 if they have any lasts requests. Esther wants to know if she can call 8940 her daughter in Chicago. The sergeant says he's sorry, that's not 8941 possible, and turns to Murray. 8942 "This is crazy!" Murray shouts. "We're not spies!" And he 8943 spits in the sergeants face. 8944 "Murray!" Esther cries. "Please! Don't make trouble." 8945 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 8946 % 8947 Mustgo, n.: 8948 Any item of food that has been sitting in the refrigerator so 8949 long it has become a science project. 8950 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends" 8951 % 8952 My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it. 8953 -- "Grendel", by John Gardner 8954 % 8955 My band career ended late in my senior year when John Cooper and I 8956 threw my amplifier out the dormitory window. We did not act in haste. 8957 First we checked to make sure the amplifier would fit through the 8958 frame, using the belt from my bathrobe to measure, then we picked up 8959 the amplifier and backed up to my bedroom door. Then we rushed 8960 forward, shouting "The WHO! The WHO!" and we launched my amplifier 8961 perfectly, as though we had been doing it all our lives, clean through 8962 the window and down onto the sidewalk, where a small but appreciative 8963 crowd had gathered. I would like to be able to say that this was a 8964 symbolic act, an effort on my part to break cleanly away from one state 8965 in my life and move on to another, but the truth is, Cooper and I 8966 really just wanted to find out what it would sound like. It sounded 8967 OK. 8968 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake" 8969 % 8970 My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless 8971 there are three other people. 8972 -- Orson Welles 8973 % 8974 My God, I'm depressed! Here I am, a computer with a mind a thousand 8975 times as powerful as yours, doing nothing but cranking out fortunes and 8976 sending mail about softball games. And I've got this pain right 8977 through my ALU. I've asked for it to be replaced, but nobody ever 8978 listens. I think it would be better for us both if you were to just 8979 log out again. 8980 % 8981 My life is a soap opera, but who has the rights? 8982 -- MadameX 8983 % 8984 My love runs by like a day in June, 8985 And he makes no friends of sorrows. 8986 He'll tread his galloping rigadoon 8987 In the pathway or the morrows. 8988 He'll live his days where the sunbeams start 8989 Nor could storm or wind uproot him. 8990 My own dear love, he is all my heart -- 8991 And I wish somebody'd shoot him. 8992 -- Dorothy Parker 8993 % 8994 My love, he's mad, and my love, he's fleet, 8995 And a wild young wood-thing bore him! 8996 The ways are fair to his roaming feet, 8997 And the skies are sunlit for him. 8998 As sharply sweet to my heart he seems 8999 As the fragrance of acacia. 9000 My own dear love, he is all my dreams -- 9001 And I wish he were in Asia. 9002 -- Dorothy Parker 9003 % 9004 My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had been one. 9005 -- Groucho Marx 9006 % 9007 My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. 9008 % 9009 My own dear love, he is strong and bold 9010 And he cares not what comes after. 9011 His words ring sweet as a chime of gold, 9012 And his eyes are lit with laughter. 9013 He is jubilant as a flag unfurled -- 9014 Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him. 9015 My own dear love, he is all my world -- 9016 And I wish I'd never met him. 9017 -- Dorothy Parker 9018 % 9019 My pants just went on a wild rampage through a Long Island Bowling Alley!! 9020 -- Zippy the Pinhead 9021 % 9022 My pen is at the bottom of a page, 9023 Which, being finished, here the story ends; 9024 'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done, 9025 But stories somehow lengthen when begun. 9026 -- Byron 9027 % 9028 My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed. 9029 -- Christopher Morley 9030 % 9031 My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies 9032 % 9033 Mythology, n.: 9034 The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its 9035 origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished 9036 from the true accounts which it invents later. 9037 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 9038 % 9039 n = ((n >> 1) & 0x55555555) | ((n << 1) & 0xaaaaaaaa); 9040 n = ((n >> 2) & 0x33333333) | ((n << 2) & 0xcccccccc); 9041 n = ((n >> 4) & 0x0f0f0f0f) | ((n << 4) & 0xf0f0f0f0); 9042 n = ((n >> 8) & 0x00ff00ff) | ((n << 8) & 0xff00ff00); 9043 n = ((n >> 16) & 0x0000ffff) | ((n << 16) & 0xffff0000); 9044 9045 -- C code which reverses the bits in a word. 9046 % 9047 Naeser's Law: 9048 You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it 9049 damnfoolproof. 9050 % 9051 NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Guiseppe? Everything he 9052 says is wrong. 9053 GUISEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says 9054 will be right. 9055 -- G. B. Shaw, "The Man of Destiny" 9056 % 9057 Nasrudin called at a large house to collect for charity. The servant 9058 said "My master is out." Nasrudin replied, "Tell your master that next 9059 time he goes out, he should not leave his face at the window. Someone 9060 might steal it." 9061 % 9062 Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the 9063 villagers gathered around to hear what had passed. "At this time," 9064 said Nasrudin, "I only want to say that the King spoke to me." All the 9065 villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The 9066 remaining villager asked, "What did the King say to you?" "What he 9067 said -- and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear -- was 'Get out of 9068 my way!'" The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually 9069 spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to. 9070 % 9071 Nasrudin walked into a shop one day, and the owner came forward to 9072 serve him. Nasrudin said, "First things first. Did you see me walk 9073 into your shop?" "Of course." "Have you ever seen me before?" 9074 "Never." "Then how do you know it was me?" 9075 % 9076 Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and declaimed, "The moon is more useful 9077 than the sun." "Why?", he was asked. "Because at night we need the 9078 light more." 9079 % 9080 Nasrudin was carrying home a piece of liver and the recipe for liver 9081 pie. Suddenly a bird of prey swooped down and snatched the piece of 9082 meat from his hand. As the bird flew off, Nasrudin called after it, 9083 "Foolish bird! You have the liver, but what can you do with it without 9084 the recipe?" 9085 % 9086 Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of 9087 conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the 9088 fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he 9089 is most likely to be creamed? 9090 -- Solomon Short 9091 % 9092 Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night, 9093 God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light. 9094 9095 It did not last; the devil howling "Ho! 9096 Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo. 9097 % 9098 Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it 9099 cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs. 9100 -- Fran Leibowitz 9101 % 9102 Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's 9103 character, give him power. 9104 -- Abraham Lincoln 9105 % 9106 Necessity is a mother. 9107 % 9108 Neckties strangle clear thinking. 9109 -- Lin Yutang 9110 % 9111 Never be led astray onto the path of virtue. 9112 % 9113 Never call a man a fool. Borrow from him. 9114 % 9115 Never commit yourself! Let someone else commit you. 9116 % 9117 Never count your chickens before they rip your lips off. 9118 % 9119 Never drink Coke in a moving elevator. The elevator's motion coupled 9120 with the chemicals in Coke produce hallucinations. People tend to 9121 change into lizards and attack without warning, and large bats usually 9122 fly in the window. Additionally, you begin to believe that elevators 9123 have windows. 9124 % 9125 Never eat more than you can lift. 9126 -- Miss Piggy 9127 % 9128 Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat. 9129 % 9130 Never let your schooling interfere with your education. 9131 % 9132 Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right. 9133 -- Salvor Hardin, "Foundation" 9134 % 9135 Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to 9136 make it complex and wonderful. 9137 % 9138 Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance. 9139 -- Sam Brown, "The Washington Post", January 26, 1977 9140 % 9141 Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together. 9142 % 9143 Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a 9144 law against it by that time. 9145 % 9146 Never settle with words what you can accomplish with a flame thrower. 9147 % 9148 Never tell a lie unless it is absolutely convenient. 9149 % 9150 Never try to outstubborn a cat. 9151 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 9152 % 9153 Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes. 9154 -- Dr. Warren Jackson, Director, UTCS 9155 % 9156 Never underestimate the power of a small tactical nuclear weapon. 9157 % 9158 Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's 9159 supposed to do. 9160 -- R. A. Heinlein 9161 % 9162 New crypt. See /usr/news/crypt. 9163 % 9164 New Hampshire law forbids you to tap your feet, nod your head, or in 9165 any way keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or cafe. 9166 % 9167 New members are urgently needed in the Society for Prevention of 9168 Cruelty to Yourself. Apply within. 9169 % 9170 New members urgently required for SUICIDE CLUB, Watford area. 9171 -- Monty Python's Big Red Book 9172 % 9173 New systems generate new problems. 9174 % 9175 New Year's Eve is the time of year when a man most feels his age, and 9176 his wife most often reminds him to act it. 9177 -- Webster's Unafraid Dictionary 9178 % 9179 New York is real. The rest is done with mirrors. 9180 % 9181 New York's got the ways and means; 9182 Just won't let you be. 9183 -- The Grateful Dead 9184 % 9185 Newlan's Truism: 9186 An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government 9187 economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job. 9188 % 9189 NEWS FLASH!! 9190 Today the East German pole-vault champion became the West 9191 German pole-vault champion. 9192 % 9193 *** NEWSFLASH *** 9194 Russian tanks steamrolling through New Jersey!!!! Details at eleven! 9195 % 9196 Newton's Fourth Law: Every action has an equal and opposite satisfaction. 9197 % 9198 Newton's Little-Known Seventh Law: 9199 A bird in the hand is safer than one overhead. 9200 % 9201 Next Friday will not be your lucky day. 9202 As a matter of fact, you don't have a lucky day this year. 9203 % 9204 Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying 9205 as an income tax refund. 9206 -- F. J. Raymond 9207 % 9208 Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. 9209 -- Foghorn Leghorn 9210 % 9211 Nihilism should commence with oneself. 9212 % 9213 Niklaus Wirth has lamented that, whereas Europeans pronounce his name 9214 correctly (Ni-klows Virt), Americans invariably mangle it into 9215 (Nick-les Worth). Which is to say that Europeans call him by name, but 9216 Americans call him by value. 9217 % 9218 Nine megs for the secretaries fair, 9219 Seven megs for the hackers scarce, 9220 Five megs for the grads in smoky lairs, 9221 Three megs for system source; 9222 9223 One disk to rule them all, 9224 One disk to bind them, 9225 One disk to hold the files 9226 And in the darkness grind 'em. 9227 % 9228 Nine-track tapes and seven-track tapes 9229 And tapes without any tracks; 9230 Stretchy tapes and snarley tapes 9231 And tapes mixed up on the racks -- 9232 Take hold of the tape 9233 And pull off the strip, 9234 And then you'll be sure 9235 Your tape drive will skip. 9236 9237 -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes 9238 % 9239 Ninety percent of the time things turn out worse than you thought they 9240 would. The other ten percent of the time you had no right to expect 9241 that much. 9242 -- Augustine 9243 % 9244 Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules: 9245 The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of 9246 the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent. 9247 % 9248 Nirvana? That's the place where the powers that be and their friends 9249 hang out. 9250 -- Zonker Harris 9251 % 9252 No animal should ever jump on the dining room furniture unless 9253 absolutely certain he can hold his own in conversation. 9254 -- Fran Leibowitz 9255 % 9256 No committee could ever come up with anything as revolutionary as a 9257 camel -- anything as practical and as perfectly designed to perform 9258 effectively under such difficult conditions. 9259 -- Laurence J. Peter 9260 % 9261 No good deed goes unpunished. 9262 -- Clare Boothe Luce 9263 % 9264 No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after 9265 eating one peanut. 9266 -- Channing Pollock 9267 % 9268 No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas. 9269 % 9270 No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife in the shoulder blades will 9271 seriously cramp his style. 9272 % 9273 No matter what other nations may say about the United States, 9274 immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery. 9275 % 9276 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. 9277 -- Eleanor Roosevelt 9278 % 9279 No one gets too old to learn a new way of being stupid. 9280 % 9281 No part of this message may reproduce, store itself in a retrieval 9282 system, or transmit disease, in any form, without the permissiveness of 9283 the author. 9284 -- Chris Shaw 9285 % 9286 No plain fanfold paper could hold that fractal Puff -- 9287 He grew so fast no plotting pack could shrink him far enough. 9288 Compiles and simulations grew so quickly tame 9289 And swapped out all their data space when Puff pushed his stack frame. 9290 CHORUS: 9291 Puff the fractal dragon was written in C, 9292 And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory. 9293 Puff the fractal dragon was written in C, 9294 And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory. 9295 Puff, he grew so quickly, while others moved like snails 9296 And mini-Puffs would perch themselves on his gigantic tail. 9297 All the student hackers loved that fractal Puff 9298 But DCS did not like Puff, and finally said, "Enough!" 9299 (chorus) 9300 Puff used more resources than DCS could spare. 9301 The operator killed Puff's job -- he didn't seem to care. 9302 A gloom fell on the hackers; it seemed to be the end, 9303 But Puff trapped the exception, and grew from naught again! 9304 (chorus) 9305 % 9306 No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it. 9307 -- C. Schulz 9308 % 9309 No problem is so large it can't be fit in somewhere. 9310 % 9311 No proper program contains an indication which as an operator-applied 9312 occurrence identifies an operator-defining occurrence which as an 9313 indication-applied occurrence identifies an indication-defining 9314 occurrence different from the one identified by the given indication as 9315 an indication-applied occurrence. 9316 -- ALGOL 68 Report 9317 % 9318 No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in that kind of paper. 9319 -- Mike Royko on the Chicago Sun-Times after it was 9320 taken over by Rupert Murdoch 9321 % 9322 No violence, gentlemen -- no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture! 9323 -- Sherlock Holmes 9324 % 9325 No, `Eureka' is Greek for `This bath is too hot.' 9326 -- Dr. Who 9327 % 9328 Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it. 9329 -- Tallulah Bankhead 9330 % 9331 NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 9332 % 9333 Nobody said computers were going to be polite. 9334 % 9335 Nobody suffers the pain of birth or the anguish of loving a child in 9336 order for presidents to make wars, for governments to feed on the 9337 substance of their people, for insurance companies to cheat the young 9338 and rob the old. 9339 -- Lewis Lapham 9340 % 9341 Nobody wants constructive criticism. It's all we can do to put up with 9342 constructive praise. 9343 % 9344 Non-Reciprocal Laws of Expectations: 9345 Negative expectations yield negative results. 9346 Positive expectations yield negative results. 9347 % 9348 Non-sequiturs make me eat lampshades. 9349 % 9350 Noncombatant, n.: 9351 A dead Quaker. 9352 -- Ambrose Bierce 9353 % 9354 Nondeterminism means never having to say you are wrong. 9355 % 9356 Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. 9357 % 9358 Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the 9359 Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats 9360 in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the 9361 moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter -- for they had a machine, a 9362 dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every 9363 respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside 9364 it, for it was all they had -- first they saved up all their atoms, 9365 then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they 9366 chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine ... 9367 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 9368 % 9369 Not Hercules could have knock'd out his brains, for he had none. 9370 -- William Shakespeare 9371 % 9372 Not only is this incomprehensible, but the ink is ugly and the paper 9373 is from the wrong kind of tree. 9374 -- Professor W., EECS, George Washington University 9375 % 9376 Notes for a ballet, "The Spell": ... Suddenly Sigmund hears the flutter 9377 of wings, and a group of wild swans flies across the moon ... Sigmund 9378 is astounded to see that their leader is part swan and part woman -- 9379 unfortunately, divided lengthwise. She enchants Sigmund, who is 9380 careful not to make any poultry jokes ... 9381 -- Woody Allen 9382 % 9383 Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. 9384 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson 9385 % 9386 Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up. 9387 % 9388 Nothing is faster than the speed of light ... 9389 9390 To prove this to yourself, try opening the refrigerator door before the 9391 light comes on. 9392 % 9393 Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it. 9394 -- Andrew Young 9395 % 9396 Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires 9397 tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth. 9398 -- Nero Wolfe 9399 % 9400 Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner. 9401 Conscience makes egotists of us all. 9402 -- Oscar Wilde 9403 % 9404 Nothing recedes like success. 9405 -- Walter Winchell 9406 % 9407 Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. 9408 -- Charlie Brown 9409 % 9410 November, n.: 9411 The eleventh twelfth of a weariness. 9412 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 9413 % 9414 Now and then an innocent person is sent to the legislature. 9415 % 9416 Now I lay me down to sleep 9417 I pray the double lock will keep; 9418 May no brick through the window break, 9419 And, no one rob me till I awake. 9420 % 9421 Now is the time for all good men to come to. 9422 -- Walt Kelly 9423 % 9424 Now that you've read Fortune's diet truths, you'll be prepared the next 9425 time some housewife or boutique-owner-turned-diet-expert appears on TV 9426 to plug her latest book. And, if you still feel a twinge of guilt for 9427 eating coffee cake while listening to her exhortations, ask yourself 9428 the following questions: 9429 9430 (1) Do I dare trust a person who actually considers alfalfa sprouts a 9431 food? 9432 (2) Was the author's sole motive in writing this book to get rich 9433 exploiting the forlorn hopes of chubby people like me? 9434 (3) Would a longer life be worthwhile if it had to be lived as 9435 prescribed ... without French-fried onion rings, pizza with 9436 double cheese, or the occasional Mai-Tai? (Remember, living 9437 right doesn't really make you live longer, it just *seems* like 9438 longer.) 9439 9440 That, and another piece of coffee cake, should do the trick. 9441 % 9442 Now the Lord God planted a garden East of Whittier in a place called 9443 Yorba Linda, and out of the ground he made to grow orange trees that 9444 were good for food and the fruits thereof he labeled SUNKIST ... 9445 -- "The Begatting of a President" 9446 % 9447 Now this is a totally brain damaged algorithm. Gag me with a smurfette. 9448 -- P. Buhr, Computer Science 354 9449 % 9450 ... Now you're ready for the actual shopping. Your goal should be to 9451 get it over with as quickly as possible, because the longer you stay in 9452 the mall, the longer your children will have to listen to holiday songs 9453 on the mall public-address system, and many of these songs can damage 9454 children emotionally. For example: "Frosty the Snowman" is about a 9455 snowman who befriends some children, plays with them until they learn 9456 to love him, then melts. And "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is about 9457 a young reindeer who, because of a physical deformity, is treated as an 9458 outcast by the other reindeer. Then along comes good, old Santa. Does 9459 he ignore the deformity? Does he look past Rudolph's nose and respect 9460 Rudolph for the sensitive reindeer he is underneath? No. Santa asks 9461 Rudolph to guide his sleigh, as if Rudolph were nothing more than some 9462 kind of headlight with legs and a tail. So unless you want your 9463 children exposed to this kind of insensitivity, you should shop 9464 quickly. 9465 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 9466 % 9467 Now, you might ask, "How do I get one of those complete home 9468 tool sets for under $4?" An excellent question. 9469 Go to one of those really cheap discount stores where they sell 9470 plastic furniture in colors visible from the planet Neptune and where 9471 they have a food section specializing in cardboard cartons full of 9472 Raisinets and malted milk balls manufactured during the Nixon 9473 administration. In either the hardware or housewares department, 9474 you'll find an item imported from an obscure Oriental country and 9475 described as "Nine Tools in One", consisting of a little handle with 9476 interchangeable ends representing inscrutable Oriental notions of tools 9477 that Americans might use around the home. Buy it. 9478 This is the kind of tool set professionals use. Not only is it 9479 inexpensive, but it also has a great safety feature not found in the 9480 so-called quality tools sets: The handle will actually break right off 9481 if you accidentally hit yourself or anything else, or expose it to 9482 direct sunlight. 9483 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 9484 % 9485 Nuclear war can ruin your whole compile. 9486 -- Karl Lehenbauer 9487 % 9488 Nuclear war would mean abolition of most comforts, and disruption of 9489 normal routines, for children and adults alike. 9490 -- Willard F. Libby, "You *Can* Survive Atomic Attack" 9491 % 9492 Nuclear war would really set back cable. 9493 -- Ted Turner 9494 % 9495 [Nuclear war] ... may not be desirable. 9496 -- Edwin Meese III 9497 % 9498 Nudists are people who wear one-button suits. 9499 % 9500 (null cookie; hope that's ok) 9501 % 9502 Numeric stability is probably not all that important when you're guessing. 9503 % 9504 O give me a home, 9505 Where the buffalo roam, 9506 Where the deer and the antelope play, 9507 Where seldom is heard 9508 A discouraging word, 9509 'Cause what can an antelope say? 9510 % 9511 O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law: 9512 Murphy was an optimist. 9513 % 9514 Of ______course it's the murder weapon. Who would frame someone with a 9515 fake? 9516 % 9517 Of all possible committee reactions to any given agenda item, the 9518 reaction that will occur is the one which will liberate the greatest 9519 amount of hot air. 9520 -- Thomas L. Martin 9521 % 9522 Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. 9523 -- Plato 9524 % 9525 Of all the words of witch's doom 9526 There's none so bad as which and whom. 9527 The man who kills both which and whom 9528 Will be enshrined in our Who's Whom. 9529 -- Fletcher Knebel 9530 % 9531 Of course power tools and alcohol don't mix. Everyone knows power 9532 tools aren't soluble in alcohol ... 9533 -- Crazy Nigel 9534 % 9535 Of course there's no reason for it, it's just our policy. 9536 % 9537 Of what you see in books, believe 75%. Of newspapers, believe 50%. 9538 And of TV news, believe 25% -- make that 5% if the anchorman wears a 9539 blazer. 9540 % 9541 Office Automation, n.: 9542 The use of computers to improve efficiency by removing anyone 9543 you would want to talk with over coffee. 9544 % 9545 Ogden's Law: 9546 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch 9547 up. 9548 % 9549 Oh Dad! We're ALL Devo! 9550 % 9551 Oh don't the days seem lank and long 9552 When all goes right and none goes wrong, 9553 And isn't your life extremely flat 9554 With nothing whatever to grumble at! 9555 % 9556 Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay 9557 I muck with indices and structs all day 9558 And when it works, I shout hoo-ray 9559 Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay 9560 % 9561 Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had $600 billion at my disposal, I'd 9562 be irresponsible, too. 9563 -- Lichty & Wagner 9564 % 9565 Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, 9566 And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings; 9567 Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth 9568 Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things 9569 You have not dreamed of -- 9570 Wheeled and soared and swung 9571 High in the sunlit silence. 9572 Hovering there 9573 I've chased the shouting wind along and flung 9574 My eager craft through footless halls of air. 9575 Up, up along delirious, burning blue 9576 I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace, 9577 Where never lark, or even eagle flew; 9578 And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod 9579 The high untrespassed sanctity of space, 9580 Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. 9581 -- John Gillespie Magee Jr., "High Flight" 9582 % 9583 Oh, well, I guess this is just going to be one of those lifetimes. 9584 % 9585 Oh, when I was in love with you, 9586 Then I was clean and brave, 9587 And miles around the wonder grew 9588 How well did I behave. 9589 9590 And now the fancy passes by, 9591 And nothing will remain, 9592 And miles around they'll say that I 9593 Am quite myself again. 9594 -- A. E. Housman 9595 % 9596 Oh, wow! Look at the moon! 9597 % 9598 OK, now let's look at four dimensions on the blackboard. 9599 -- Dr. Joy 9600 % 9601 OK, so you're a Ph.D. Just don't touch anything. 9602 % 9603 Old age is the most unexpected of things that can happen to a man. 9604 -- Trotsky 9605 % 9606 Old programmers never die. They just branch to a new address. 9607 % 9608 Old soldiers never die. Young ones do. 9609 % 9610 Oliver's Law: 9611 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need 9612 it. 9613 % 9614 Omnibiblious, adj.: 9615 Indifferent to type of drink. "Oh, you can get me anything. 9616 I'm omnibiblious." 9617 % 9618 OMNIVERSAL AWARENESS?? Oh, YEH!! First you need four GALLONS of 9619 JELL-O and a BIG WRENCH!! ... I think you drop th' WRENCH in the JELL-O 9620 as if it was a FLAVOR, or an INGREDIENT ... or ... I ... um ... 9621 WHERE'S the WASHING MACHINES? 9622 % 9623 On a paper submitted by a physicist colleague: 9624 9625 This isn't right. This isn't even wrong. 9626 -- Wolfgang Pauli 9627 % 9628 On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only 9629 nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter 9630 what it does. 9631 -- Will Rogers 9632 % 9633 On his first day as a bus driver, Maxey Eckstein handed in 9634 receipts of $65. The next day his take was $67. The third day's 9635 income was $62. But on the fourth day, Eckstein emptied no less than 9636 $283 on the desk before the cashier. 9637 "Eckstein!" exclaimed the cashier. "This is fantastic. That 9638 route never brought in money like this! What happened?" 9639 "Well, after three days on that cockamamie route, I figured 9640 business would never improve, so I drove over to Fourteenth Street and 9641 worked there. I tell you, that street is a gold mine!" 9642 % 9643 On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are 9644 created jerks. 9645 -- H. Allen Smith, "Let the Crabgrass Grow" 9646 % 9647 On the road, ZIPPY is a pinhead without a purpose, but never without a 9648 POINT ... 9649 % 9650 On the subject of C program indentation: 9651 9652 "In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be 9653 indented six feet downward and covered with dirt." 9654 -- Blair P. Houghton 9655 % 9656 On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], `Pray, 9657 Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right 9658 answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of 9659 confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. 9660 -- Charles Babbage 9661 % 9662 On-line, adj.: 9663 The idea that a human being should always be accessible to a 9664 computer. 9665 % 9666 Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were 9667 forced to live on nothing but food and water for days. 9668 -- W. C. Fields, "My Little Chickadee" 9669 % 9670 Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that 9671 each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his 9672 choice. 9673 9674 In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians 9675 called it "Christmas" and went to church; the Jews called it "Hanukkah" 9676 and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People 9677 passing each other on the street would say "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy 9678 Hanukkah!" or (to the atheists) "Look out for the wall!" 9679 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 9680 % 9681 Once at a social gathering, Gladstone said to Disraeli, "I predict, 9682 Sir, that you will die either by hanging or of some vile disease". 9683 Disraeli replied, "That all depends upon whether I embrace your 9684 principals or your mistress". 9685 % 9686 Once Law was sitting on the bench 9687 And Mercy knelt a-weeping. 9688 "Clear out!" he cried, "disordered wench! 9689 Nor come before me creeping. 9690 Upon your knees if you appear, 9691 'Tis plain you have no standing here." 9692 9693 Then Justice came. His Honor cried: 9694 "YOUR states? -- Devil seize you!" 9695 "Amica curiae," she replied -- 9696 "Friend of the court, so please you." 9697 "Begone!" he shouted -- "There's the door -- 9698 I never saw your face before!" 9699 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 9700 % 9701 Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human 9702 beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by 9703 side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them 9704 which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the 9705 sky. 9706 -- Rainer Rilke 9707 % 9708 Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a 9709 great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to 9710 the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of 9711 life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But 9712 one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is 9713 going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I 9714 shall die of boredom." 9715 The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that 9716 current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the 9717 rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!" 9718 But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, 9719 and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. 9720 Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current 9721 lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. 9722 And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, 9723 "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the 9724 Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current 9725 said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us 9726 free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this 9727 adventure. 9728 But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to 9729 the rocks, making legends of a Saviour. 9730 % 9731 Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician, a group of 9732 us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of 9733 the smaller prime numbers. 9734 9735 2: The Odd Prime -- 9736 It's the only even prime, therefore it's odd. QED. 9737 3: The True Prime -- 9738 Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true." 9739 31: The Arbitrary Prime -- 9740 Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime 9741 in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91 9742 received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the 9743 next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none 9744 at all. 9745 9746 Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are 9747 derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but 9748 true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers. 9749 % 9750 ... Once you're safely in the mall, you should tie your children to you 9751 with ropes so the other shoppers won't try to buy them. Holiday 9752 shoppers have been whipped into a frenzy by months of holiday 9753 advertisements, and they will buy anything small enough to stuff into a 9754 shopping bag. If your children object to being tied, threaten to take 9755 them to see Santa Claus; that ought to shut them up. 9756 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 9757 % 9758 Once, adv.: 9759 Enough. 9760 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 9761 % 9762 One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least 9763 somebody's listening. 9764 -- Franklin P. Jones 9765 % 9766 "One basic notion underlying Usenet is that it is a cooperative." 9767 9768 Having been on USENET for going on ten years, I disagree with this. 9769 The basic notion underlying USENET is the flame. 9770 -- Chuq Von Rospach 9771 % 9772 One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means. 9773 % 9774 One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs -- but it is amazing 9775 how many eggs one can break without making a decent omelette. 9776 -- Professor Charles P. Issawi 9777 % 9778 One day the King decided that he would force all his subjects to tell 9779 the truth. A gallows was erected in front of the city gates. A herald 9780 announced, "Whoever would enter the city must first answer the truth to 9781 a question which will be put to him." Nasrudin was first in line. The 9782 captain of the guard asked him, "Where are you going? Tell the truth 9783 -- the alternative is death by hanging." "I am going," said Nasrudin, 9784 "to be hanged on that gallows." "I don't believe you." "Very well, if 9785 I have told a lie, then hang me!" "But that would make it the truth!" 9786 "Exactly," said Nasrudin, "your truth." 9787 % 9788 One difference between a man and a machine is that a machine is quiet 9789 when well oiled. 9790 % 9791 One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they 9792 never have to stop and answer the phone. 9793 % 9794 One is not superior merely because one sees the world as odious. 9795 -- Chateaubriand (1768-1848) 9796 % 9797 One learns to itch where one can scratch. 9798 -- Ernest Bramah 9799 % 9800 One man's brain plus one other will produce one half as many ideas as 9801 one man would have produced alone. These two plus two more will 9802 produce half again as many ideas. These four plus four more begin to 9803 represent a creative meeting, and the ratio changes to one quarter as 9804 many ... 9805 -- Anthony Chevins 9806 % 9807 One man's theology is another man's belly laugh. 9808 % 9809 One monk said to the other, "The fish has flopped out of the net! How 9810 will it live?" The other said, "When you have gotten out of the net, 9811 I'll tell you." 9812 % 9813 One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people. 9814 % 9815 One of my less pleasant chores when I was young was to read the Bible 9816 from one end to the other. Reading the Bible straight through is at 9817 least 70 percent discipline, like learning Latin. But the good parts 9818 are, of course, simply amazing. God is an extremely uneven writer, but 9819 when He's good, nobody can touch Him. 9820 -- John Gardner, NYT Book Review, Jan 1983 9821 % 9822 One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to 9823 do and always a clever thing to say. 9824 -- Will Durant 9825 % 9826 One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, 9827 lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of 9828 their C programs. 9829 -- Robert Firth 9830 % 9831 One of the oldest problems puzzled over in the Talmud is: "Why did God 9832 create goyim?" The generally accepted answer is "________somebody has to buy 9833 retail." 9834 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 9835 % 9836 One of the questions that comes up all the time is: How 9837 enthusiastic is our support for UNIX? 9838 Unix was written on our machines and for our machines many 9839 years ago. Today, much of UNIX being done is done on our machines. 9840 Ten percent of our VAXs are going for UNIX use. UNIX is a simple 9841 language, easy to understand, easy to get started with. It's great for 9842 students, great for somewhat casual users, and it's great for 9843 interchanging programs between different machines. And so, because of 9844 its popularity in these markets, we support it. We have good UNIX on 9845 VAX and good UNIX on PDP-11s. 9846 It is our belief, however, that serious professional users will 9847 run out of things they can do with UNIX. They'll want a real system and 9848 will end up doing VMS when they get to be serious about programming. 9849 With UNIX, if you're looking for something, you can easily and 9850 quickly check that small manual and find out that it's not there. With 9851 VMS, no matter what you look for -- it's literally a five-foot shelf of 9852 documentation -- if you look long enough it's there. That's the 9853 difference -- the beauty of UNIX is it's simple; and the beauty of VMS 9854 is that it's all there. 9855 -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, 1984 9856 % 9857 One of the rules of Busmanship, New York style, is never surrender your 9858 seat to another passenger. This may seem callous, but it is the best 9859 way, really. If one passenger were to give a seat to someone who 9860 fainted in the aisle, say, the others on the bus would become 9861 disoriented and imagine they were in Topeka, Kansas. 9862 % 9863 The Seventh Commandments for Technicians 9864 Work thou not on energized equipment, for if thou dost, thy 9865 fellow workers will surely buy beers for thy widow and console her in 9866 other ways. 9867 % 9868 The First Commandment for Technicians: 9869 Beware the lightening that lurketh in the undischarged 9870 capacitor, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in a most 9871 untechnician-like manner. 9872 % 9873 One Page Principle: 9874 A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch 9875 paper cannot be understood. 9876 -- Mark Ardis 9877 % 9878 One planet is all you get. 9879 % 9880 One promising concept that I came up with right away was that you could 9881 manufacture personal air bags, then get a law passed requiring that 9882 they be installed on congressmen to keep them from taking trips. Let's 9883 say your congressman was trying to travel to Paris to do a fact-finding 9884 study on how the French government handles diseases transmitted by 9885 sherbet. Just when he got to the plane, his mandatory air bag, 9886 strapped around his waist, would inflate -- FWWAAAAAAPPPP -- thus 9887 rendering him too large to fit through the plane door. It could also 9888 be rigged to inflate whenever the congressman proposed a law. ("Mr. 9889 Speaker, people ask me, why should October be designated as Cuticle 9890 Inspection Month? And I answer that FWWAAAAAAPPPP.") This would save 9891 millions of dollars, so I have no doubt that the public would violently 9892 support a law requiring airbags on congressmen. The problem is that 9893 your potential market is very small: there are only around 500 members 9894 of Congress, and some of them, such as House Speaker "Tip" O'Neil, are 9895 already too large to fit on normal aircraft. 9896 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants" 9897 % 9898 One reason why George Washington 9899 Is held in such veneration: 9900 He never blamed his problems 9901 On the former Administration. 9902 -- George O. Ludcke 9903 % 9904 One seldom sees a monument to a committee. 9905 % 9906 One thing the inventors can't seem to get the bugs out of is fresh paint. 9907 % 9908 One thing they don't tell you about doing experimental physics is that 9909 sometimes you must work under adverse conditions ... like a state of 9910 sheer terror. 9911 -- W. K. Hartmann 9912 % 9913 One way to make your old car run better is to look up the price of a 9914 new model. 9915 % 9916 One way to stop a runaway horse is to bet on him. 9917 % 9918 One, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned 9919 at the stake while the votes were being counted. 9920 -- Thomas B. Reed 9921 % 9922 One-Shot Case Study, n.: 9923 The scientific equivalent of the four-leaf clover, from which 9924 it is concluded all clovers possess four leaves and are sometimes 9925 green. 9926 % 9927 Only adults have difficulty with childproof caps. 9928 % 9929 Only God can make random selections. 9930 % 9931 Only presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to 9932 use the editorial "we." 9933 % 9934 Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer. 9935 % 9936 Optimization hinders evolution. 9937 % 9938 Oregano, n.: 9939 The ancient Italian art of pizza folding. 9940 % 9941 Oregon, n.: 9942 Eighty billion gallons of water with no place to go on Saturday 9943 night. 9944 % 9945 Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. 9946 Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl. 9947 -- Mike Adams 9948 % 9949 Osborn's Law: 9950 Variables won't; constants aren't. 9951 % 9952 Others will look to you for stability, so hide when you bite your nails. 9953 % 9954 Our country has plenty of good five-cent cigars, but the trouble is 9955 they charge fifteen cents for them. 9956 % 9957 Our documentation manager was showing her two year old son around the 9958 office. He was introduced to me, at which time he pointed out that we 9959 were both holding bags of popcorn. We were both holding bottles of 9960 juice. But only *__he* had a lollipop. 9961 9962 He asked his mother, "Why doesn't HE have a lollipop?" 9963 9964 Her reply: 9965 9966 "He can have a lollipop any time he wants to. That's what it 9967 means to be a programmer." 9968 % 9969 Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name. 9970 Thy programs run, thy syscalls done, 9971 In kernel as it is in user! 9972 % 9973 Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing. 9974 -- Roy L. Ash, ex-president Litton Industries 9975 % 9976 ... Our second completely true news item was sent to me by Mr. H. Boyce 9977 Connell Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., where he is involved in a law firm. One 9978 thing I like about the South is, folks there care about tradition. If 9979 somebody gets handed a name like "H. Boyce," he hangs on to it, puts it 9980 on his legal stationery, even passes it to his son, rather than do what 9981 a lesser person would do, such as get it changed or kill himself. 9982 -- Dave Barry, "This Column is Nothing but the Truth!" 9983 % 9984 Our vision is to speed up time, eventually eliminating it. 9985 -- Alex Schure 9986 % 9987 Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. 9988 -- General Omar N. Bradley 9989 % 9990 OUTCONERR 9991 Twas FORTRAN as the doloop goes 9992 Did logzerneg the ifthen block 9993 All kludgy were the function flows 9994 And subroutines adhoc. 9995 9996 Beware the runtime-bug my friend 9997 squrooneg, the false goto 9998 Beware the infiniteloop 9999 And shun the inprectoo. 10000 % 10001 Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend: and inside a dog, 10002 it's too dark to read. 10003 -- Groucho Marx 10004 % 10005 Over the years, I've developed my sense of deja vu so acutely that now 10006 I can remember things that *have* happened before ... 10007 % 10008 Overdrawn? But I still have checks left! 10009 % 10010 Overflow on /dev/null, please empty the bit bucket. 10011 % 10012 Overload -- core meltdown sequence initiated. 10013 % 10014 Ozman's Laws: 10015 (1) If someone says he will do something "without fail," he 10016 won't. 10017 (2) The more people talk on the phone, the less money they 10018 make. 10019 (3) People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't. 10020 (4) Pizza always burns the roof of your mouth. 10021 % 10022 Painting, n.: 10023 The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and 10024 exposing them to the critic. 10025 -- Ambrose Bierce 10026 % 10027 panic: can't find / 10028 % 10029 panic: kernel trap (ignored) 10030 % 10031 Paradise is exactly like where you are right now ... only much, much 10032 better. 10033 -- Laurie Anderson 10034 % 10035 Parallel lines never meet, unless you bend one or both of them. 10036 % 10037 Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life. 10038 % 10039 Paranoid schizophrenics outnumber their enemies at least two to one. 10040 % 10041 Paranoids are people, too; they have their own problems. It's easy to 10042 criticize, but if everybody hated you, you'd be paranoid too. 10043 -- D. J. Hicks 10044 % 10045 Pardo's First Postulate: 10046 Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or 10047 fattening. 10048 10049 Arnold's Addendum: 10050 Everything else causes cancer in rats. 10051 % 10052 Pardon this fortune. Database under reconstruction. 10053 % 10054 Parker's Law: 10055 Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone. 10056 % 10057 Parkinson's Fifth Law: 10058 If there is a way to delay an important decision, the good 10059 bureaucracy, public or private, will find it. 10060 % 10061 Parkinson's Fourth Law: 10062 The number of people in any working group tends to increase 10063 regardless of the amount of work to be done. 10064 % 10065 Parsley 10066 is gharsley. 10067 -- Ogden Nash 10068 % 10069 Parts that positively cannot be assembled in improper order will be. 10070 % 10071 Pascal is not a high-level language. 10072 -- Steven Feiner 10073 % 10074 Pascal is Pascal is Pascal is dog meat. 10075 -- M. Devine and P. Larson, Computer Science 340 10076 % 10077 Pascal Users: 10078 To show respect for the 313th anniversary (tomorrow) of the 10079 death of Blaise Pascal, your programs will be run at half speed. 10080 % 10081 Pascal, n.: 10082 A programming language named after a man who would turn over in 10083 his grave if he knew about it. 10084 % 10085 Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. 10086 -- Eric Hoffer 10087 % 10088 Patageometry, n.: 10089 The study of those mathematical properties that are invariant 10090 under brain transplants. 10091 % 10092 Paul Revere was a tattle-tale. 10093 % 10094 Paul's Law: 10095 In America, it's not how much an item costs, it's how much you 10096 save. 10097 % 10098 Paul's Law: 10099 You can't fall off the floor. 10100 % 10101 Peace, n.: 10102 In international affairs, a period of cheating between two 10103 periods of fighting. 10104 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 10105 % 10106 Peanut Blossoms 10107 10108 4 cups sugar 16 tbsp. milk 10109 4 cups brown sugar 4 tsp. vanilla 10110 4 cups shortening 14 cups flour 10111 8 eggs 4 tsp. soda 10112 4 cups peanut butter 4 tsp. salt 10113 10114 Shape dough into balls. Roll in sugar and bake on ungreased cookie 10115 sheet at 375 F. for 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with a 10116 Hershey's kiss or star pressing down firmly to crack cookie. Makes a 10117 hell of a lot. 10118 % 10119 Pecor's Health-Food Principle: 10120 Never eat rutabaga on any day of the week that has a "y" in 10121 it. 10122 % 10123 Pedaeration, n.: 10124 The perfect body heat achieved by having one leg under the 10125 sheet and one hanging off the edge of the bed. 10126 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 10127 % 10128 Penguin Trivia #46: 10129 Animals who are not penguins can only wish they were. 10130 -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82 10131 % 10132 People need good lies. There are too many bad ones. 10133 -- Bokonon, "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 10134 % 10135 People often find it easier to be a result of the past than a cause of 10136 the future. 10137 % 10138 People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense. 10139 -- Ken Kesey 10140 % 10141 People usually get what's coming to them ... unless it's been mailed. 10142 % 10143 People who are funny and smart and return phone calls get much better 10144 press than people who are just funny and smart. 10145 -- Howard Simons, "The Washington Post" 10146 % 10147 People who claim they don't let little things bother them have never 10148 slept in a room with a single mosquito. 10149 % 10150 People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who 10151 haven't what they want that they don't want it. 10152 -- Ogden Nash 10153 % 10154 People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that 10155 Benjamin Franklin said it first. 10156 % 10157 People will buy anything that's one to a customer. 10158 % 10159 People will do tomorrow what they did today because that is what they 10160 did yesterday. 10161 % 10162 Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt. 10163 "Confound those who have said our remarks before us." 10164 -- Aelius Donatus 10165 % 10166 Perfect day for scrubbing the floor and other exciting things. 10167 % 10168 Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but 10169 when there is no longer anything to take away. 10170 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery 10171 % 10172 Personifiers Unite! You have nothing to lose but Mr. Dignity! 10173 % 10174 Peter's Law of Substitution: 10175 Look after the molehills, and the mountains will look after 10176 themselves. 10177 % 10178 Philadelphia is not dull -- it just seems so because it is next to 10179 exciting Camden, New Jersey. 10180 % 10181 Philogeny recapitulates erogeny; erogeny recapitulates philogeny. 10182 % 10183 Philosophy will clip an angel's wings. 10184 -- John Keats 10185 % 10186 Pick another fortune cookie. 10187 % 10188 Picture the sun as the origin of two intersecting 6-dimensional 10189 hyperplanes from which we can deduce a certain transformational 10190 sequence which gives us the terminal velocity of a rubber duck ... 10191 % 10192 Pig, n.: 10193 An animal (Porcus omnivorous) closely allied to the human race 10194 by the splendor and vivacity of its appetite, which, however, is 10195 inferior in scope, for it balks at pig. 10196 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 10197 % 10198 PISCES (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) 10199 You have a vivid imagination and often think you are being 10200 followed by the CIA or FBI. You have minor influence over your 10201 associates and people resent your flaunting of your power. You lack 10202 confidence and you are generally a coward. Pisces people do terrible 10203 things to small animals. 10204 % 10205 PISCES (Feb. 19 to Mar. 20) 10206 Take the high road, look for the good things, carry the 10207 American Express card and a weapon. The world is yours today, as 10208 nobody else wants it. Your mortgage will be foreclosed. You will 10209 probably get run over by a bus. 10210 % 10211 Pittsburgh Driver's Test 10212 10213 (7) The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light 10214 but a steady left tail light. This means 10215 10216 (a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn 10217 to call the problem to the driver's attention. 10218 (b) the driver is signaling a right turn. 10219 (c) the driver is signaling a left turn. 10220 (d) the driver is from out of town. 10221 10222 The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign 10223 countries to signal turns. 10224 % 10225 Pittsburgh Driver's Test 10226 10227 (8) Pedestrians are 10228 10229 (a) irrelevant. 10230 (b) communists. 10231 (c) a nuisance. 10232 (d) difficult to clean off the front grille. 10233 10234 The correct answer is (a). Pedestrians are not in cars, so they are 10235 totally irrelevant to driving; you should ignore them completely. 10236 % 10237 Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 10238 -- Don Marquis 10239 % 10240 PL/1, "the fatal disease", belongs more to the problem set than to the 10241 solution set. 10242 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5 10243 % 10244 Plaese porrf raed. 10245 -- Prof. Michael O'Longhlin, S.U.N.Y. Purchase 10246 % 10247 Plato, by the way, wanted to banish all poets from his proposed Utopia 10248 because they were liars. The truth was that Plato knew philosophers 10249 couldn't compete successfully with poets. 10250 -- Kilgore Trout (Philip J. Farmer) "Venus on the Half 10251 Shell" 10252 % 10253 Play Rogue, visit exotic locations, meet strange creatures and kill them. 10254 % 10255 Playing an unamplified electric guitar is like strumming on a picnic table. 10256 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake" 10257 % 10258 Please ignore previous fortune. 10259 % 10260 Please take note: 10261 % 10262 Please try to limit the amount of "this room doesn't have any bazingas" 10263 until you are told that those rooms are "punched out". Once punched 10264 out, we have a right to complain about atrocities, missing bazingas, 10265 and such. 10266 -- N. Meyrowitz 10267 % 10268 Please, won't somebody tell me what diddie-wa-diddie means? 10269 % 10270 Plumbing is one of the easier of do-it-yourself activities, 10271 requiring only a few simple tools and a willingness to stick your arm 10272 into a clogged toilet. In fact, you can solve many home plumbing 10273 problems, such as annoying faucet drip, merely by turning up the 10274 radio. But before we get into specific techniques, let's look at how 10275 plumbing works. 10276 A plumbing system is very much like your electrical system, 10277 except that instead of electricity, it has water, and instead of wires, 10278 it has pipes, and instead of radios and waffle irons, it has faucets 10279 and toilets. So the truth is that your plumbing systems is nothing at 10280 all like your electrical system, which is good, because electricity can 10281 kill you. 10282 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 10283 % 10284 PLUNDERER'S THEME 10285 (to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius) 10286 10287 Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation. 10288 If you do the things we say, then you'll soon rule the nation. 10289 Kill your foes and enemies and then kill your relations. 10290 Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation. 10291 % 10292 Pohl's law: 10293 Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate it. 10294 % 10295 Police: Good evening, are you the host? 10296 Host: No. 10297 Police: We've been getting complaints about this party. 10298 Host: About the drugs? 10299 Police: No. 10300 Host: About the guns, then? Is somebody complaining about the guns? 10301 Police: No, the noise. 10302 Host: Oh, the noise. Well that makes sense because there are no guns 10303 or drugs here. (An enormous explosion is heard in the 10304 background.) Or fireworks. Who's complaining about the noise? 10305 The neighbors? 10306 Police: No, the neighbors fled inland hours ago. Most of the recent 10307 complaints have come from Pittsburgh. Do you think you could 10308 ask the host to quiet things down? 10309 Host: No Problem. (At this point, a Volkswagen bug with primitive 10310 religious symbols drawn on the doors emerges from the living 10311 room and roars down the hall, past the police and onto the 10312 lawn, where it smashes into a tree. Eight guests tumble out 10313 onto the grass, moaning.) See? Things are starting to wind 10314 down. 10315 % 10316 Political T.V. commercials prove one thing: some candidates can tell 10317 all their good points and qualifications in just 30 seconds. 10318 % 10319 Politician, n.: 10320 An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of 10321 organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the 10322 agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared 10323 with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive. 10324 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 10325 % 10326 Politician, n.: 10327 From the Greek "poly" ("many") and the French "tete" ("head" or 10328 "face," as in "tete-a-tete": head to head or face to face). Hence 10329 "polytetien", a person of two or more faces. 10330 -- Martin Pitt 10331 % 10332 Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even 10333 where there is no river. 10334 -- Nikita Khrushchev 10335 % 10336 Politics is like coaching a football team. You have to be smart enough 10337 to understand the game but not smart enough to lose interest. 10338 % 10339 Polymer physicists are into chains. 10340 % 10341 Pope Goestheveezl was the shortest reigning pope in the history of the 10342 Church, reigning for two hours and six minutes on 1 April 1866. The 10343 white smoke had hardly faded into the blue of the Vatican skies before 10344 it dawned on the assembled multitudes in St. Peter's Square that his 10345 name had hilarious possibilities. The crowds fell about, helpless with 10346 laughter, singing 10347 10348 Half a pound of tuppenny rice 10349 Half a pound of treacle 10350 That's the way the chimney smokes 10351 Pope Goestheveezl 10352 10353 The square was finally cleared by armed carabinieri with tears of 10354 laughter streaming down their faces. The event set a record for 10355 hilarious civic functions, smashing the previous record set when Baron 10356 Hans Neizant B"ompzidaize was elected Landburgher of K"oln in 1653. 10357 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 10358 % 10359 Portable, adj.: 10360 Survives system reboot. 10361 % 10362 Positive, adj.: 10363 Mistaken at the top of one's voice. 10364 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 10365 % 10366 Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth. 10367 % 10368 Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. 10369 -- John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy 1981-1987 10370 % 10371 Power corrupts. And atomic power corrupts atomically. 10372 % 10373 Power, n: 10374 The only narcotic regulated by the SEC instead of the FDA. 10375 % 10376 Practical people would be more practical if they would take a little 10377 more time for dreaming. 10378 -- J. P. McEvoy 10379 % 10380 Predestination was doomed from the start. 10381 % 10382 President Reagan has noted that there are too many economic pundits and 10383 forecasters and has decided on an excess prophets tax. 10384 % 10385 President Thieu says he'll quit if he doesn't get more than 50% of the 10386 vote. In a democracy, that's not called quitting. 10387 -- The Washington Post 10388 % 10389 Pretend to spank me -- I'm a pseudo-masochist! 10390 % 10391 Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning: 10392 It's on the other side. 10393 % 10394 [Prime Minister Joseph] Chamberlain loves the working man -- he loves 10395 to see him work. 10396 -- Winston Churchill 10397 % 10398 Pro is to con as progress is to Congress. 10399 % 10400 Probable-Possible, my black hen, 10401 She lays eggs in the Relative When. 10402 She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now 10403 Because she's unable to postulate how. 10404 -- Frederick Winsor 10405 % 10406 Probably the question asked most often is: Do one-celled animals have 10407 orgasms? The answer is yes, they have orgasms almost constantly, which 10408 is why they don't mind living in pools of warm slime. 10409 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every 10410 Teen Should Know" 10411 % 10412 Prof: So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data 10413 encryption standard and they came up with ... 10414 Student: EBCDIC! 10415 % 10416 Professor Gorden Newell threw another shutout in last week's Chem. 10417 Eng. 130 midterm. Once again no student received a single point on 10418 his exam. Newell has now tossed five shutouts this quarter. Newell's 10419 earned exam average has now dropped to a phenomenal 30% 10420 % 10421 Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to 10422 build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying 10423 to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. 10424 -- Rich Cook 10425 % 10426 Proof techniques #1: Proof by Induction. 10427 10428 This technique is used on equations with "_n" in them. Induction 10429 techniques are very popular; even the military used them. 10430 10431 SAMPLE: Proof of induction without proof of induction. 10432 10433 We know it's true for _n equal to 1. Now assume that it's true 10434 for every natural number less than _n. _N is arbitrary, so we can take _n 10435 as large as we want. If _n is sufficiently large, the case of _n+1 is 10436 trivially equivalent, so the only important _n are _n less than _n. We 10437 can take _n = _n (from above), so it's true for _n+1 because it's just 10438 about _n. 10439 QED. (QED translates from the Latin as "So what?") 10440 % 10441 Proof techniques #2: Proof by Oddity. 10442 SAMPLE: To prove that horses have an infinite number of legs. 10443 (1) Horses have an even number of legs. 10444 (2) They have two legs in back and fore legs in front. 10445 (3) This makes a total of six legs, which certainly is an odd number of 10446 legs for a horse. 10447 (4) But the only number that is both odd and even is infinity. 10448 (5) Therefore, horses must have an infinite number of legs. 10449 10450 Topics to be covered in future issues include proof by: 10451 Intimidation 10452 Gesticulation (handwaving) 10453 "Try it; it works" 10454 Constipation (I was just sitting there and ...) 10455 Blatant assertion 10456 Changing all the 2's to _n's 10457 Mutual consent 10458 Lack of a counterexample, and 10459 "It stands to reason" 10460 % 10461 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set: 10462 10463 BBW Branch Both Ways 10464 BEW Branch Either Way 10465 BBBF Branch on Bit Bucket Full 10466 BH Branch and Hang 10467 BMR Branch Multiple Registers 10468 BOB Branch On Bug 10469 BPO Branch on Power Off 10470 BST Backspace and Stretch Tape 10471 CDS Condense and Destroy System 10472 CLBR Clobber Register 10473 CLBRI Clobber Register Immediately 10474 CM Circulate Memory 10475 CMFRM Come From -- essential for truly structured programming 10476 CPPR Crumple Printer Paper and Rip 10477 CRN Convert to Roman Numerals 10478 % 10479 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set: 10480 10481 DC Divide and Conquer 10482 DMPK Destroy Memory Protect Key 10483 DO Divide and Overflow 10484 EMPC Emulate Pocket Calculator 10485 EPI Execute Programmer Immediately 10486 EROS Erase Read Only Storage 10487 EXCE Execute Customer Engineer 10488 HCF Halt and Catch Fire 10489 IBP Insert Bug and Proceed 10490 INSQSW Insert into queue somewhere (for FINO queues [First in never out]) 10491 PBC Print and Break Chain 10492 PDSK Punch Disk 10493 % 10494 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set: 10495 10496 PI Punch Invalid 10497 POPI Punch Operator Immediately 10498 PVLC Punch Variable Length Card 10499 RASC Read And Shred Card 10500 RPM Read Programmers Mind 10501 RSSC Reduce Speed, Step Carefully (for improved accuracy) 10502 RTAB Rewind Tape and Break 10503 RWDSK Rewind Disk 10504 RWOC Read Writing On Card 10505 SCRBL Scribble to disk - faster than a write 10506 SLC Search for Lost Chord 10507 SPSW Scramble Program Status Word 10508 SRSD Seek Record and Scar Disk 10509 STROM Store in Read Only Memory 10510 TDB Transfer and Drop Bit 10511 WBT Water Binary Tree 10512 % 10513 Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller 10514 than the both put together. 10515 % 10516 Psychiatrists say that one out of four people are mentally ill. Check 10517 three friends. If they're OK, you're it. 10518 % 10519 Psychotherapy is the theory that the patient will probably get well 10520 anyhow and is certainly a damn fool. 10521 -- H. L. Mencken 10522 % 10523 Puns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves 10524 to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way 10525 to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the 10526 cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in 10527 fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a 10528 lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of 10529 the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. 10530 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny" 10531 % 10532 Pure drivel tends to drive ordinary drivel off the TV screen. 10533 % 10534 Pushing 40 is exercise enough. 10535 % 10536 Put no trust in cryptic comments. 10537 % 10538 Put your Nose to the Grindstone! 10539 -- Amalgamated Plastic Surgeons and Toolmakers, Ltd. 10540 % 10541 Putt's Law: 10542 Technology is dominated by two types of people: 10543 Those who understand what they do not manage. 10544 Those who manage what they do not understand. 10545 % 10546 Q: Do you know what the death rate around here is? 10547 A: One per person. 10548 % 10549 Q: How did you get into artificial intelligence? 10550 A: Seemed logical -- I didn't have any real intelligence. 10551 % 10552 Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat ? 10553 A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires. 10554 % 10555 Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat? 10556 A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires. 10557 10558 Q: How long does it take? 10559 A: It's indeterminate. It will depend upon how many flats they've 10560 brought with them. 10561 10562 Q: What happens if you've got TWO flats? 10563 A: They replace your generator. 10564 % 10565 Q: How many existentialists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 10566 A: Two. One to screw it in and one to observe how the lightbulb 10567 itself symbolizes a single incandescent beacon of subjective 10568 reality in a netherworld of endless absurdity reaching out toward a 10569 maudlin cosmos of nothingness. 10570 % 10571 Q: How many heterosexual males does it take to screw in a light bulb 10572 in San Francisco? 10573 A: Both of them. 10574 % 10575 Q: How many IBM CPUs does it take to do a logical right shift? 10576 A: 33. 1 to hold the bits and 32 to push the register. 10577 % 10578 Q: How many IBM CPUs does it take to execute a job? 10579 A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off. 10580 % 10581 Q: How many IBM types does it take to change a light bulb? 10582 A: 100. Ten to do it, and 90 to write document number GC7500439-0001, 10583 Multitasking Incandescent Source System Facility, of which 10% of 10584 the pages state only "This page intentionally left blank", and 20% 10585 of the definitions are of the form "A ...... consists of sequences 10586 of non-blank characters separated by blanks". 10587 % 10588 Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 10589 A: Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring 10590 light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government 10591 plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer 10592 prize for reporting that Electric Company hired a lightbulb 10593 assassin to break the bulb in the first place. 10594 % 10595 Q: How many Martians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 10596 A: One and a half. 10597 % 10598 Q: How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 10599 A: One. He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem 10600 to the earlier joke. 10601 % 10602 Q: How many Oregonians does it take to screw in a light bulb? 10603 A: Three. One to screw in the lightbulb and two to fend off all those 10604 Californians trying to share the experience. 10605 % 10606 Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? 10607 A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub 10608 with brightly colored machine tools. 10609 % 10610 Q: How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? 10611 A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master stays out 10612 of the way. 10613 % 10614 Q: What's a light-year? 10615 A: One-third less calories than a regular year. 10616 % 10617 Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road? 10618 A: Because it was on the other side. 10619 % 10620 Q: Why do ducks have flat feet? 10621 A: To stamp out forest fires. 10622 10623 Q: Why do elephants have flat feet? 10624 A: To stamp out flaming ducks. 10625 % 10626 Q: Why do mountain climbers rope themselves together? 10627 A: To prevent the sensible ones from going home. 10628 % 10629 Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What 10630 should I do? 10631 10632 A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on 10633 believing that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be 10634 the only one to make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No 10635 time to lose, so certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if 10636 somebody else has made the correction. 10637 10638 And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're 10639 the only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have 10640 to inform the whole net right away! 10641 10642 -- Brad Templeton, "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions 10643 on Netiquette" 10644 % 10645 Quality Control, n.: 10646 The process of testing one out of every 1,000 units coming off 10647 a production line to make sure that at least one out of 100 works. 10648 % 10649 Question: 10650 Man Invented Alcohol, 10651 God Invented Grass. 10652 Who do you trust? 10653 % 10654 Quick!! Act as if nothing has happened! 10655 % 10656 Quick, sing me the BUDAPEST NATIONAL ANTHEM!! 10657 % 10658 Quidquid latine dictum est, altum videtur. 10659 10660 (Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.) 10661 % 10662 Quigley's Law: 10663 Whoever has any authority over you, no matter how small, will 10664 attempt to use it. 10665 % 10666 QUOTE OF THE DAY: 10667 10668 ` 10669 10670 % 10671 Qvid me anxivs svm? 10672 % 10673 QWERT (kwirt), n. [MW < OW qwertyuiop, a thirteenth]: 10674 1. a unit of weight equal to 13 poiuyt avoirdupois (or 1.69 10675 kiloliks), commonly used in structural engineering; 2. [colloq.] one 10676 thirteenth the load that a fully grown sligo can carry; 3. [anat.] a 10677 painful irritation of the dermis in the region of the anus; 4. [slang] 10678 person who excites in others the symptoms of a qwert. 10679 -- Webster's Middle World Dictionary, 4th ed. 10680 % 10681 Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives. 10682 % 10683 Rattling around the back of my head is a disturbing image of something 10684 I saw at the airport ... Now I'm remembering, those giant piles of 10685 computer magazines right next to "People" and "Time" in the airport 10686 store. Does it bother anyone else that half the world is being told 10687 all of our hard-won secrets of computer technology? Remember how all 10688 the lawyers cried foul when "How to Avoid Probate" was published? Are 10689 they taking no-fault insurance lying down? No way! But at the current 10690 rate it won't be long before there are stacks of the "Transactions on 10691 Information Theory" at the A&P checkout counters. Who's going to be 10692 impressed with us electrical engineers then? Are we, as the saying 10693 goes, giving away the store? 10694 -- Robert W. Lucky, IEEE President 10695 % 10696 Ray's Rule of Precision: 10697 Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe. 10698 % 10699 Razors pain you; 10700 Rivers are damp; 10701 Acids stain you; 10702 And drugs cause cramp. 10703 Guns aren't lawful; 10704 Nooses give; 10705 Gas smells awful; 10706 You might as well live. 10707 -- Dorothy Parker, "Resume", 1926 10708 % 10709 Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to describe 10710 the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described 10711 with pictures. 10712 % 10713 Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of 10714 Congress. But I repeat myself. 10715 -- Mark Twain 10716 % 10717 Real computer scientists admire ADA for its overwhelming aesthetic 10718 value but they find it difficult to actually program in it, as it is 10719 much too large to implement. Most computer scientists don't notice 10720 this because they are still arguing over what else to add to ADA. 10721 % 10722 Real computer scientists despise the idea of actual hardware. Hardware 10723 has limitations, software doesn't. It's a real shame that Turing 10724 machines are so poor at I/O. 10725 % 10726 Real computer scientists don't comment their code. The identifiers are 10727 so long they can't afford the disk space. 10728 % 10729 Real computer scientists don't program in assembler. They don't write 10730 in anything less portable than a number two pencil. 10731 % 10732 Real computer scientists don't write code. They occasionally tinker 10733 with `programming systems', but those are so high level that they 10734 hardly count (and rarely count accurately; precision is for 10735 applications.) 10736 % 10737 Real computer scientists only write specs for languages that might run 10738 on future hardware. Nobody trusts them to write specs for anything homo 10739 sapiens will ever be able to fit on a single planet. 10740 % 10741 Real programmers disdain structured programming. Structured 10742 programming is for compulsive neurotics who were prematurely toilet- 10743 trained. They wear neckties and carefully line up pencils on otherwise 10744 clear desks. 10745 % 10746 Real programmers don't bring brown-bag lunches. If the vending machine 10747 doesn't sell it, they don't eat it. Vending machines don't sell 10748 quiche. 10749 % 10750 Real programmers don't comment their code. It was hard to write, it 10751 should be hard to understand. 10752 % 10753 Real programmers don't draw flowcharts. Flowcharts are, after all, the 10754 illiterate's form of documentation. Cavemen drew flowcharts; look how 10755 much good it did them. 10756 % 10757 Real Programmers don't play tennis, or any other sport that requires 10758 you to change clothes. Mountain climbing is OK, and real programmers 10759 wear their climbing boots to work in case a mountain should suddenly 10760 spring up in the middle of the machine room. 10761 % 10762 Real programmers don't write in BASIC. Actually, no programmers write 10763 in BASIC after reaching puberty. 10764 % 10765 Real programmers don't write in FORTRAN. FORTRAN is for pipe stress 10766 freaks and crystallography weenies. FORTRAN is for wimp engineers who 10767 wear white socks. 10768 % 10769 Real Programmers don't write in PL/I. PL/I is for programmers who 10770 can't decide whether to write in COBOL or FORTRAN. 10771 % 10772 Real Programmers think better when playing Adventure or Rogue. 10773 % 10774 Real Programs don't use shared text. Otherwise, how can they use 10775 functions for scratch space after they are finished calling them? 10776 % 10777 Real software engineers don't debug programs, they verify correctness. 10778 This process doesn't necessarily involve execution of anything on a 10779 computer, except perhaps a Correctness Verification Aid package. 10780 % 10781 Real software engineers don't like the idea of some inexplicable and 10782 greasy hardware several aisles away that may stop working at any 10783 moment. They have a great distrust of hardware people, and wish that 10784 systems could be virtual at *___all* levels. They would like personal 10785 computers (you know no one's going to trip over something and kill your 10786 DFA in mid-transit), except that they need 8 megabytes to run their 10787 Correctness Verification Aid packages. 10788 % 10789 Real software engineers work from 9 to 5, because that is the way the 10790 job is described in the formal spec. Working late would feel like 10791 using an undocumented external procedure. 10792 % 10793 Real Time, adj.: 10794 Here and now, as opposed to fake time, which only occurs there 10795 and then. 10796 % 10797 Real Users are afraid they'll break the machine -- but they're never 10798 afraid to break your face. 10799 % 10800 Real Users find the one combination of bizarre input values that shuts 10801 down the system for days. 10802 % 10803 Real Users hate Real Programmers. 10804 % 10805 Real Users know your home telephone number. 10806 % 10807 Real Users never know what they want, but they always know when your 10808 program doesn't deliver it. 10809 % 10810 Real Users never use the Help key. 10811 % 10812 Real World, The n.: 10813 1. In programming, those institutions at which programming may 10814 be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG, IBM, etc. 2. To 10815 programmers, the location of non-programmers and activities not related 10816 to programming. 3. A universe in which the standard dress is shirt and 10817 tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5. 10818 4. The location of the status quo. 5. Anywhere outside a university. 10819 "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real world." Used 10820 pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking 10821 of someone who has entered the real world is not unlike talking about a 10822 deceased person. 10823 % 10824 Reality is a cop-out for people who can't handle drugs. 10825 % 10826 Reality is an obstacle to hallucination. 10827 % 10828 Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth? 10829 -- Patrick Sky 10830 % 10831 Reality is for people who lack imagination. 10832 % 10833 Reality is for those who can't face Science Fiction. 10834 % 10835 Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity. 10836 -- Alvy Ray Smith 10837 % 10838 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away" 10839 -- Philip K. Dick 10840 % 10841 Really ?? What a coincidence, I'm shallow too!! 10842 % 10843 Receiving a million dollars tax free will make you feel better than 10844 being flat broke and having a stomach ache. 10845 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot" 10846 % 10847 Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you 10848 lose your job. These economic downturns are very difficult to predict, 10849 but sophisticated econometric modeling houses like Data Resources and 10850 Chase Econometrics have successfully predicted 14 of the last 3 10851 recessions. 10852 % 10853 Reclaimer, spare that tree! 10854 Take not a single bit! 10855 It used to point to me, 10856 Now I'm protecting it. 10857 It was the reader's CONS 10858 That made it, paired by dot; 10859 Now, GC, for the nonce, 10860 Thou shalt reclaim it not. 10861 % 10862 "Reflections on Ice-Breaking" 10863 Candy 10864 Is dandy 10865 But liquor 10866 Is quicker. 10867 -- Ogden Nash 10868 % 10869 "Reintegration complete," ZORAC advised. "We're back in the universe 10870 again ..." An unusually long pause followed, "... but I don't know 10871 which part. We seem to have changed our position in space." A 10872 spherical display in the middle of the floor illuminated to show the 10873 starfield surrounding the ship. 10874 10875 "Several large, artificial constructions are approaching us," ZORAC 10876 announced after a short pause. "The designs are not familiar, but they 10877 are obviously the products of intelligence. Implications: we have been 10878 intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and 10879 transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown. 10880 Apart from the unknowns, everything is obvious." 10881 -- James P. Hogan, "Giants Star" 10882 % 10883 Reisner's Rule of Conceptual Inertia: 10884 If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it. 10885 % 10886 Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin. 10887 -- Anatole France 10888 % 10889 Rembrandt's first name was Beauregard, which is why he never used it. 10890 -- Dave Barry 10891 % 10892 Remember that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be 10893 worse in Cleveland. 10894 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 10895 % 10896 Remember, drive defensively! And of course, the best defense is a good 10897 offense! 10898 % 10899 Remember, even if you win the rat race -- you're still a rat. 10900 % 10901 Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. 10902 % 10903 Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life. 10904 -- Dave Butler 10905 % 10906 Renning's Maxim: 10907 Man is the highest animal. Man does the classifying. 10908 % 10909 Reporter (to Mahatma Gandhi): Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western 10910 Civilization? 10911 Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea. 10912 % 10913 Reporter, n.: 10914 A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a 10915 tempest of words. 10916 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 10917 % 10918 REPORTER: Senator, are you for or against the MX missile system? 10919 10920 SENATOR: Bob, the MX missile system reminds me of an old saying that 10921 the country folk in my state like to say. It goes like this: "You can 10922 carry a pig for six miles, but if you set it down it might run away." 10923 I have no idea why the country folk say this. Maybe there's some kind 10924 of chemical pollutant in their drinking water. That is why I pledge to 10925 do all that I can to protect the environment of this great nation of 10926 ours, and put prayer back in the schools, where it belongs. What we 10927 need is jobs, not empty promises. I realize I'm risking my political 10928 career by being so outspoken on a sensitive issue such as the MX, but 10929 that's just the kind of straight-talking honest person I am, and I 10930 can't help it. 10931 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics" 10932 % 10933 Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. 10934 -- Wernher von Braun 10935 % 10936 Resisting temptation is easier when you think you'll probably get 10937 another chance later on. 10938 % 10939 Review Questions 10940 10941 (1) If Nerd on the planet Nutley starts out in his spaceship at 20 KPH, 10942 and his speed doubles every 3.2 seconds, how long will it be before 10943 he exceeds the speed of light? How long will it be before the 10944 Galactic Patrol picks up the pieces of his spaceship? 10945 10946 (2) If Roger Rowdy wrecks his car every week, and each week he breaks 10947 twice as many bones as before, how long will it be before he breaks 10948 every bone in his body? How long will it be before they cut off 10949 his insurance? Where does he get a new car every week? 10950 10951 (3) If Johnson drinks one beer the first hour (slow start), four beers 10952 the next hour, nine beers the next, etc., and stacks the cans in a 10953 pyramid, how soon will Johnson's pyramid be larger than King 10954 Tut's? When will it fall on him? Will he notice? 10955 % 10956 Rhode's Law: 10957 When any principle, law, tenet, probability, happening, 10958 circumstance, or result can in no way be directly, indirectly, 10959 empirically, or circuitously proven, derived, implied, inferred, 10960 induced, deducted, estimated, or scientifically guessed, it will always 10961 for the purpose of convenience, expediency, political advantage, 10962 material gain, or personal comfort, or any combination of the above, or 10963 none of the above, be unilaterally and unequivocally assumed, 10964 proclaimed, and adhered to as absolute truth to be undeniably, 10965 universally, immutably, and infinitely so, until such time as it 10966 becomes advantageous to assume otherwise, maybe. 10967 % 10968 Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. 10969 -- Steven Wright 10970 % 10971 Rocky's Lemma of Innovation Prevention 10972 Unless the results are known in advance, funding agencies will 10973 reject the proposal. 10974 % 10975 Romeo wasn't bilked in a day. 10976 -- Walt Kelly, "Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo" 10977 % 10978 ROMEO: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. 10979 MERCUTIO: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church- 10980 door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. 10981 % 10982 Rudin's Law: 10983 If there is a wrong way to do something, most people will do it 10984 every time. 10985 % 10986 Rule 46, Oxford Union Society, London: 10987 Any member introducing a dog into the Society's premises shall 10988 be liable to a fine of one pound. Any animal leading a blind person 10989 shall be deemed to be a cat. 10990 % 10991 Rule of Creative Research: 10992 (1) Never draw what you can copy. 10993 (2) Never copy what you can trace. 10994 (3) Never trace what you can cut out and paste down. 10995 % 10996 Rule of Defactualization: 10997 Information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies. 10998 % 10999 Rule of Feline Frustration: 11000 When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly 11001 content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom. 11002 % 11003 Rule of the Great: 11004 When people you greatly admire appear to be thinking deep 11005 thoughts, they probably are thinking about lunch. 11006 % 11007 Rules for Academic Deans: 11008 (1) HIDE!!!! 11009 (2) If they find you, LIE!!!! 11010 -- Father Damian C. Fandal 11011 % 11012 Rules for driving in New York: 11013 (1) Anything done while honking your horn is legal. 11014 (2) You may park anywhere if you turn your four-way flashers 11015 on. 11016 (3) A red light means the next six cars may go through the 11017 intersection. 11018 % 11019 RULES OF EATING -- THE BRONX DIETER'S CREED 11020 (1) Never eat on an empty stomach. 11021 (2) Never leave the table hungry. 11022 (3) When traveling, never leave a country hungry. 11023 (4) Enjoy your food. 11024 (5) Enjoy your companion's food. 11025 (6) Really taste your food. It may take several portions to 11026 accomplish this, especially if subtly seasoned. 11027 (7) Really feel your food. Texture is important. Compare, 11028 for example, the texture of a turnip to that of a 11029 brownie. Which feels better against your cheeks? 11030 (8) Never eat between snacks, unless it's a meal. 11031 (9) Don't feel you must finish everything on your plate. You 11032 can always eat it later. 11033 (10) Avoid any wine with a childproof cap. 11034 (11) Avoid blue food. 11035 -- Richard Smith, "The Bronx Diet" 11036 % 11037 Rules: 11038 (1) The boss is always right. 11039 (2) When the boss is wrong, refer to rule 1. 11040 % 11041 Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence 11042 Tip #1: How to tell when you are dead. 11043 11044 (1) Little things start bothering you: little things like worms, bugs, 11045 ants. 11046 (2) Something is missing in your personal relationships. 11047 (3) Your dog becomes overly affectionate. 11048 (4) You have a hard time getting a waiter. 11049 (5) Exotic birds flock around you. 11050 (6) People ignore you at parties. 11051 (7) You have a hard time getting up in the morning. 11052 (8) You no longer get off on cocaine. 11053 % 11054 Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence 11055 (1) Never use an elevator in a building that has been hit by a nuclear 11056 bomb; use the stairs. 11057 (2) When you're flying through the air, remember to roll when you hit 11058 the ground. 11059 (3) If you're on fire, avoid gasoline and other flammable materials. 11060 (4) Don't attempt communication with dead people; it will only lead to 11061 psychological problems. 11062 (5) Food will be scarce; you will have to scavenge. Learn to 11063 recognize foods that will be available after the bomb: mashed 11064 potatoes, shredded wheat, tossed salad, ground beef, etc. 11065 (6) Put your hand over your mouth when you sneeze; internal organs 11066 will be scarce in the post-nuclear age. 11067 (7) Try to be neat; fall only in designated piles. 11068 (8) Drive carefully in "Heavy Fallout" areas; people could be 11069 staggering illegally. 11070 (9) Nutritionally, hundred dollar bills are equal to ones, but more 11071 sanitary due to limited circulation. 11072 (10) Accumulate mannequins now; spare parts will be in short supply on 11073 D-Day. 11074 % 11075 SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 21) 11076 You are optimistic and enthusiastic. You have a reckless 11077 tendency to rely on luck since you lack talent. The majority 11078 of Sagittarians are drunks or dope fiends or both. People 11079 laugh at you a great deal. 11080 % 11081 San Francisco isn't what it used to be, and it never was. 11082 -- Herb Caen 11083 % 11084 San Francisco, n.: 11085 Marcel Proust editing an issue of Penthouse. 11086 % 11087 Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. 11088 -- Mark Harrold 11089 % 11090 Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, 11091 He must be a communist. 11092 And a beard and long hair, 11093 Must be a pacifist. 11094 11095 What's in that pipe that he's smoking? 11096 -- Arlo Guthrie 11097 % 11098 Satellite Safety Tip #14: 11099 If you see a bright streak in the sky coming at you, duck. 11100 % 11101 Sattinger's Law: 11102 It works better if you plug it in. 11103 % 11104 Saturday night in Toledo Ohio, 11105 Is like being nowhere at all, 11106 All through the day how the hours rush by, 11107 You sit in the park and you watch the grass die. 11108 -- John Denver, "Saturday Night in Toledo Ohio" 11109 % 11110 Sauron is alive in Argentina! 11111 % 11112 Save energy: be apathetic. 11113 % 11114 Save the Whales -- Harpoon a Honda. 11115 % 11116 Save the whales. Collect the whole set. 11117 % 11118 Saw a sign on a restaurant that said Breakfast, any time -- so I 11119 ordered French Toast in the Renaissance. 11120 -- Steven Wright 11121 % 11122 SCCS, the source motel! Programs check in and never check out! 11123 -- Ken Thompson 11124 % 11125 Schapiro's Explanation: 11126 The grass is always greener on the other side -- but that's 11127 because they use more manure. 11128 % 11129 Schizophrenia beats being alone. 11130 % 11131 Schlattwhapper, n.: 11132 The window shade that allows itself to be pulled down, 11133 hesitates for a second, then snaps up in your face. 11134 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 11135 % 11136 Schnuffel, n.: 11137 A dog's practice of continuously nuzzling in your crotch in 11138 mixed company. 11139 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 11140 % 11141 Schwiggle, n.: 11142 The amusing rotation of one's bottom while sharpening a 11143 pencil. 11144 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 11145 % 11146 Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made 11147 of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts 11148 is not necessarily science. 11149 -- Henri Poincar'e 11150 % 11151 Science is what happens when preconception meets verification. 11152 % 11153 Scientists are people who build the Brooklyn Bridge and then buy it. 11154 -- William Buckley 11155 11156 % 11157 SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21) 11158 You are shrewd in business and cannot be trusted. You will 11159 achieve the pinnacle of success because of your total lack of 11160 ethics. Most Scorpio people are murdered. 11161 % 11162 Scott's first Law: 11163 No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right. 11164 % 11165 Scott's second Law: 11166 When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found 11167 to have been wrong in the first place. 11168 11169 Corollary: 11170 After the correction has been found in error, it will be 11171 impossible to fit the original quantity back into the equation. 11172 % 11173 Scotty: Captain, we din' can reference it! 11174 Kirk: Analysis, Mr. Spock? 11175 Spock: Captain, it doesn't appear in the symbol table. 11176 Kirk: Then it's of external origin? 11177 Spock: Affirmative. 11178 Kirk: Mr. Sulu, go to pass two. 11179 Sulu: Aye aye, sir, going to pass two. 11180 % 11181 Screw up your courage! You've screwed up everything else. 11182 % 11183 Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the 11184 Presidency. 11185 -- Richard Nixon 11186 % 11187 Second Law of Business Meetings: 11188 If there are two possible ways to spell a person's name, you 11189 will pick the wrong one. 11190 11191 Corollary: 11192 If there is only one way to spell a name, you will spell it 11193 wrong, anyway. 11194 % 11195 Section 2.4.3.5 AWNS (Acceptor Wait for New Cycle State). 11196 In AWNS the AH function indicates that it has received a 11197 multiline message byte. 11198 In AWNS the RFD message must be sent false and the DAC message 11199 must be sent passive true. 11200 The AH function must exit the AWNS and enter: 11201 (1) The ANRS if DAV is false 11202 (2) The AIDS if the ATN message is false and neither: 11203 (a) The LADS is active 11204 (b) Nor LACS is active 11205 11206 -- from the IEEE Standard Digital Interface for 11207 Programmable Instrumentation 11208 % 11209 Security check: INTRUDER ALERT! 11210 % 11211 Seduced, shaggy Samson snored. 11212 She scissored short. Sorely shorn, 11213 Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed, 11214 Silently scheming, 11215 Sightlessly seeking 11216 Some savage, spectacular suicide. 11217 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 11218 % 11219 See - the thing is - I'm an absolutist. I mean, kind of ... in a way ... 11220 % 11221 Seleznick's Theory of Holistic Medicine: 11222 Ice Cream cures all ills. 11223 % 11224 Self Test for Paranoia: 11225 You know you have it when you can't think of anything that's 11226 your own fault. 11227 % 11228 Seminars, n.: 11229 From "semi" and "arse", hence, any half-assed discussion. 11230 % 11231 Sen. Danforth: "There is nothing on the face of the album which would 11232 notify you if the record has pornographic material or 11233 material glorifying violence?" 11234 Tipper Gore: "No, there is nothing that would suggest that to me." 11235 Frank Zappa: "I would say that a buzz saw blade between the guy's 11236 legs on the album cover is good indication that it's 11237 not for little Johnny." 11238 11239 -- The Senate Commerce Committee hearing on rock 11240 lyrics, from The Village Voice, 6 Oct 1985 11241 % 11242 Senate, n.: 11243 A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and 11244 misdemeanors. 11245 -- Ambrose Bierce 11246 % 11247 Serenity through viciousness. 11248 % 11249 Serocki's Stricture: 11250 Marriage is always a bachelor's last option. 11251 % 11252 Serving coffee on aircraft causes turbulence. 11253 % 11254 "Seven years and six months!" Humpty Dumpty repeated 11255 thoughtfully. "An uncomfortable sort of age. Now if you'd asked MY 11256 advice, I'd have said `Leave off at seven' -- but it's too late now." 11257 "I never ask advice about growing," Alice said indignantly. 11258 "Too proud?" the other enquired. 11259 Alice felt even more indignant at this suggestion. "I mean," 11260 she said, "that one can't help growing older." 11261 "ONE can't, perhaps," said Humpty Dumpty; "but TWO can. With 11262 proper assistance, you might have left off at seven." 11263 -- Lewis Carroll 11264 % 11265 Several years ago, some smart businessmen had an idea: Why not build a 11266 big store where a do-it-yourselfer could get everything he needed at 11267 reasonable prices? Then they decided, nah, the hell with that, let's 11268 build a home center. And before long home centers were springing up 11269 like crabgrass all over the United States. 11270 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 11271 % 11272 Sex is a natural bodily process, like a stroke. 11273 % 11274 Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer. 11275 -- Swami X 11276 % 11277 Sex is the mathematics urge sublimated. 11278 -- M. C. Reed 11279 % 11280 Sex without love is an empty experience, but, as empty experiences go, 11281 it's one of the best. 11282 -- Woody Allen 11283 % 11284 Shamus, n. [Yiddish]: 11285 A shamus is a guy who takes care of handyman tasks around the 11286 temple, and makes sure everything is in working order. 11287 A shamus is at the bottom of the pecking order of synagogue 11288 functionaries, and there's a joke about that: 11289 A rabbi, to show his humility before God, cries out in the 11290 middle of a service, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" The cantor, not to be 11291 bested, also cries out, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" 11292 The shamus, deeply moved, follows suit and cries, "Oh, Lord, I 11293 am nobody!" The rabbi turns to the cantor and says, "Look who thinks 11294 he's nobody!" 11295 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 11296 % 11297 Sharks are as tough as those football fans who take their shirts off 11298 during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent. 11299 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every 11300 Teen Should Know" 11301 % 11302 Shaw's Principle: 11303 Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will 11304 want to use it. 11305 % 11306 She is descended from a long line that her mother listened to. 11307 -- Gypsy Rose Lee 11308 % 11309 She is not refined. She is not unrefined. She keeps a parrot. 11310 -- Mark Twain 11311 % 11312 She liked him; he was a man of many qualities, even if most of them 11313 were bad. 11314 % 11315 She missed an invaluable opportunity to give him a look that you could 11316 have poured on a waffle ... 11317 % 11318 She said, `I know you ... you cannot sing'. I said, `That's nothing, 11319 you should hear me play piano.' 11320 -- Morrisey 11321 % 11322 She's genuinely bogus. 11323 % 11324 Sherry [Thomas Sheridan] is dull, naturally dull; but it must have 11325 taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an 11326 excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature. 11327 -- Samuel Johnson 11328 % 11329 SHIFT TO THE LEFT! SHIFT TO THE RIGHT! 11330 POP UP, PUSH DOWN, BYTE, BYTE, BYTE! 11331 % 11332 Show me a man who is a good loser and I'll show you a man who is 11333 playing golf with his boss. 11334 % 11335 Show respect for age. Drink good Scotch for a change. 11336 % 11337 Signs of crime: screaming or cries for help. 11338 -- from the Brown University Security Crime Prevention Pamphlet 11339 % 11340 Silverman's Law: 11341 If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will. 11342 % 11343 Simon's Law: 11344 Everything put together falls apart sooner or later. 11345 % 11346 Since I hurt my pendulum 11347 My life is all erratic. 11348 My parrot, who was cordial, 11349 Is now transmitting static. 11350 The carpet died, a palm collapsed, 11351 The cat keeps doing poo. 11352 The only thing that keeps me sane 11353 Is talking to my shoe. 11354 -- My Shoe 11355 % 11356 Since we have to speak well of the dead, let's knock them while they're 11357 alive. 11358 -- John Sloan 11359 % 11360 Since we're all here, we must not be all there. 11361 -- Bob "Mountain" Beck 11362 % 11363 [Sir Stafford Cripps] has all the virtues I dislike and none of the 11364 vices I admire. 11365 -- Winston Churchill 11366 % 11367 Sixtus V, Pope from 1585 to 1590 authorized a printing of the Vulgate 11368 Bible. Taking no chances, the pope issued a papal bull automatically 11369 excommunicating any printer who might make an alteration in the text. 11370 This he ordered printed at the beginning of the Bible. He personally 11371 examined every sheet as it came off the press. Yet the published 11372 Vulgate Bible contained so many errors that corrected scraps had to be 11373 printed and pasted over them in every copy. The result provoked wry 11374 comments on the rather patchy papal infallibility, and Pope Sixtus had 11375 no recourse but to order the return and destruction of every copy. 11376 % 11377 Skinner's Constant (or Flannagan's Finagling Factor): 11378 That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to, 11379 or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should 11380 have gotten. 11381 % 11382 Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes 11383 to work. 11384 % 11385 Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work ... I did not, 11386 when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those rude, and 11387 apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle, so that I 11388 neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a 11389 tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension: they 11390 were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of 11391 souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a 11392 testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from 11393 chains. 11394 -- Frederick Douglass 11395 % 11396 Slick's Three Laws of the Universe: 11397 (1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad 11398 check. 11399 (2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat. 11400 (3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is 11401 attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is 11402 attracted to dark objects. 11403 % 11404 Slowly and surely the unix crept up on the Nintendo user ... 11405 % 11406 Slurm, n.: 11407 The slime that accumulates on the underside of a soap bar when 11408 it sits in the dish too long. 11409 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 11410 % 11411 Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics. 11412 -- Fletcher Knebel 11413 % 11414 Snacktrek, n.: 11415 The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly 11416 returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have 11417 materialized. 11418 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 11419 % 11420 So as your consumer electronics adviser, I am advising you to donate 11421 your current VCR to a grate resident, who will laugh sardonically and 11422 hurl it into a dumpster. Then I want you to go out and purchase a vast 11423 array of 8-millimeter video equipment. 11424 11425 ... OK! Got everything? Well, *too bad, sucker*, because while you 11426 were gone the electronics industry came up with an even newer format 11427 that makes your 8-millimeter VCR look as technologically advanced as 11428 toenail dirt. This format is called "3.5 hectare" and it will not be 11429 made available until it is outmoded, sometime early next week, by a 11430 format called "Elroy", so *order yours now*. 11431 -- Dave Barry, "No Surrender in the Electronics 11432 Revolution" 11433 % 11434 So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in 11435 praise of intelligence. 11436 -- Bertrand Russell 11437 % 11438 ... so long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those 11439 who wish to tyranize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, 11440 and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious 11441 and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men. 11442 -- Voltarine de Cleyre 11443 % 11444 So Richard and I decided to try to catch [the small shark]. 11445 With a great deal of strategy and effort and shouting, we managed to 11446 maneuver the shark, over the course of about a half-hour, to a sort of 11447 corner of the lagoon, so that it had no way to escape other than to 11448 flop up onto the land and evolve. Richard and I were inching toward 11449 it, sort of crouched over, when all of a sudden it turned around and -- 11450 I can still remember the sensation I felt at that moment, primarily in 11451 the armpit area -- headed right straight toward us. 11452 Many people would have panicked at this point. But Richard and 11453 I were not "many people." We were experienced waders, and we kept our 11454 heads. We did exactly what the textbook says you should do when you're 11455 unarmed and a shark that is nearly two feet long turns on you in water 11456 up to your lower calves: We sprinted I would say 600 yards in the 11457 opposite direction, using a sprinting style such that the bottoms of 11458 our feet never once went below the surface of the water. We ran all 11459 the way to the far shore, and if we had been in a Warner Brothers 11460 cartoon we would have run right INTO the beach, and you would have seen 11461 these two mounds of sand racing across the island until they bonked 11462 into trees and coconuts fell onto their heads. 11463 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV" 11464 % 11465 So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf to make an apple 11466 pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street pops 11467 its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died, and she very 11468 imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, 11469 and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, 11470 and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the 11471 gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots. 11472 -- Samuel Foote 11473 % 11474 ... So the documentary-makers stick with sharks. Generally, their 11475 procedure is to scatter bleeding fish pieces around their boat, so as 11476 to infest the waters. I would estimate that the primary food source of 11477 sharks today is bleeding fish pieces scattered by people making 11478 documentaries. Once the sharks arrive, they are generally fairly 11479 listless. The general shark attitude seems to be: "Oh God, another 11480 documentary." So the divers have to somehow goad them into attacking, 11481 under the guise of Scientific Research. "We know very little about the 11482 effect of electricity on sharks," the narrator will say, in a deeply 11483 scientific voice. "That is why Todd is going to jab this Great White 11484 in the testicles with a cattle prod." The divers keep this kind of 11485 thing up until the shark finally gets irritated and snaps at them, and 11486 then they act as though this was a totally unexpected and very 11487 dangerous development, although clearly it is what they wanted all 11488 along. 11489 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV" 11490 % 11491 So, what's with this guy Gideon, anyway? 11492 And why can't he ever remember his Bible? 11493 % 11494 Sodd's Second Law: 11495 Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is 11496 bound to occur. 11497 % 11498 Software, n.: 11499 Formal evening attire for female computer analysts. 11500 % 11501 Some don't prefer the pursuit of happiness to the happiness of pursuit. 11502 % 11503 Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them. 11504 -- Ed Howe 11505 % 11506 Some of you ... may have decided that, this year, you're going to 11507 celebrate it the old-fashioned way, with your family sitting around 11508 stringing cranberries and exchanging humble, handmade gifts, like on 11509 "The Waltons". Well, you can forget it. If everybody pulled that kind 11510 of subversive stunt, the economy would collapse overnight. The 11511 government would have to intervene: it would form a cabinet-level 11512 Department of Holiday Gift-Giving, which would spend billions and 11513 billions of tax dollars to buy Barbie dolls and electronic games, which 11514 it would drop on the populace from Air Force jets, killing and maiming 11515 thousands. So, for the good of the nation, you should go along with 11516 the Holiday Program. This means you should get a large sum of money 11517 and go to a mall. 11518 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 11519 % 11520 Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some 11521 people have mediocrity thrust upon them. 11522 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22" 11523 % 11524 Some people have a way about them that seems to say: "If I have only 11525 one life to live, let me live it as a jerk." 11526 % 11527 Some people in this department wouldn't recognize subtlety if it hit 11528 them on the head. 11529 % 11530 Some people live life in the fast lane. You're in oncoming traffic. 11531 % 11532 Some performers on television appear to be horrible people, but when 11533 you finally get to know them in person, they turn out to be even 11534 worse. 11535 -- Avery 11536 % 11537 Some points to remember [about animals]: 11538 11539 (1) Don't go to sleep under big animals, e.g., elephants, rhinoceri, 11540 hippopotamuses; 11541 (2) Don't put animals with sharp teeth or poisonous fangs down the 11542 front of your clothes; 11543 (3) Don't pat certain animals, e.g., crocodiles and scorpions or dogs 11544 you have just kicked. 11545 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 11546 % 11547 Some primal termite knocked on wood. 11548 And tasted it, and found it good. 11549 And that is why your Cousin May 11550 Fell through the parlor floor today. 11551 -- Ogden Nash 11552 % 11553 Some programming languages manage to absorb change but withstand 11554 progress. 11555 % 11556 Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand 11557 progress. 11558 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 11559 % 11560 Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the 11561 pens will multiply instead of disappear. 11562 % 11563 Someone will try to honk your nose today. 11564 % 11565 Sometimes I simply feel that the whole world is a cigarette and I'm 11566 the only ashtray. 11567 % 11568 Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world. 11569 -- Lily Tomlin 11570 % 11571 "Somewhere", said Father Vittorini, "did Blake not speak of the 11572 Machineries of Joy? That is, did not God promote environments, then 11573 intimidate these Natures by provoking the existence of flesh, toy men 11574 and women, such as are we all? And thus happily sent forth, at our 11575 best, with good grace and fine wit, on calm noons, in fair climes, are 11576 we not God's Machineries of Joy?" 11577 11578 "If Blake said that", said Father Brian, "he never lived in Dublin." 11579 -- R. Bradbury, "The Machineries of Joy" 11580 % 11581 Somewhere, just out of sight, the unicorns are gathering. 11582 % 11583 Song Title of the Week: 11584 "They're putting dimes in the hole in my head to see the change 11585 in me." 11586 % 11587 Sooner or later you must pay for your sins. 11588 (Those who have already paid may disregard this fortune). 11589 % 11590 Sorry, no fortune this time. 11591 % 11592 Sorry. I forget what I was going to say. 11593 % 11594 Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- 11595 bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the 11596 road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space. 11597 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 11598 % 11599 Spare no expense to save money on this one. 11600 -- Samuel Goldwyn 11601 % 11602 Spark's Sixth Rule for Managers: 11603 If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as 11604 if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the question 11605 back at him. 11606 % 11607 Speak roughly to your little boy, 11608 And beat him when he sneezes: 11609 He only does it to annoy 11610 Because he knows it teases. 11611 11612 Wow! wow! wow! 11613 11614 I speak severely to my boy, 11615 And beat him when he sneezes: 11616 For he can thoroughly enjoy 11617 The pepper when he pleases! 11618 11619 Wow! wow! wow! 11620 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland" 11621 % 11622 Speak roughly to your little VAX, 11623 And boot it when it crashes; 11624 It knows that one cannot relax 11625 Because the paging thrashes! 11626 11627 Wow! Wow! Wow! 11628 11629 I speak severely to my VAX, 11630 And boot it when it crashes; 11631 In spite of all my favorite hacks 11632 My jobs it always thrashes! 11633 11634 Wow! Wow! Wow! 11635 % 11636 Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword. 11637 % 11638 Speak softly and own a big, mean Doberman. 11639 -- Dave Millman 11640 % 11641 Speaking as someone who has delved into the intricacies of PL/I, I am 11642 sure that only Real Men could have written such a machine-hogging, 11643 cycle-grabbing, all-encompassing monster. Allocate an array and free 11644 the middle third? Sure! Why not? Multiply a character string times a 11645 bit string and assign the result to a float decimal? Go ahead! Free a 11646 controlled variable procedure parameter and reallocate it before 11647 passing it back? Overlay three different types of variable on the same 11648 memory location? Anything you say! Write a recursive macro? Well, 11649 no, but Real Men use rescan. How could a language so obviously 11650 designed and written by Real Men not be intended for Real Man use? 11651 % 11652 Speaking of Godzilla and other things that convey horror: 11653 11654 With a purposeful grimace and a Mongo-like flair 11655 He throws the spinning disk drives in the air! 11656 And he picks up a Vax and he throws it back down 11657 As he wades through the lab making terrible sounds! 11658 Helpless users with projects due 11659 Scream "My God!" as he stomps on the tape drives, too! 11660 11661 Oh, no! He says Unix runs too slow! Go, go, DECzilla! 11662 Oh, yes! He's gonna bring up VMS! Go, go, DECzilla!" 11663 11664 * VMS is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation 11665 * DECzilla is a trademark of Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death, Inc. 11666 -- Curtis Jackson 11667 % 11668 Speaking of love, one problem that recurs more and more frequently 11669 these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people 11670 to communicate with the people they love; Husbands and wives who can't 11671 communicate, children who can't communicate with their parents, and so 11672 on. And the characters in these books and plays and so on (and in real 11673 life, I might add) spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can't 11674 communicate. I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very _____least 11675 he can do is to Shut Up! 11676 -- Tom Lehrer, "That Was the Year that Was" 11677 % 11678 Speed is subsittute fo accurancy. 11679 % 11680 Speer's 1st Law of Proofreading: 11681 The visibility of an error is inversely proportional to the 11682 number of times you have looked at it. 11683 % 11684 Spelling is a lossed art. 11685 % 11686 Spend extra time on hobby. Get plenty of rolling papers. 11687 % 11688 Spirtle, n.: 11689 The fine stream from a grapefruit that always lands right in 11690 your eye. 11691 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends" 11692 % 11693 Spouse, n.: 11694 Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you 11695 wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single. 11696 % 11697 Star Wars is adolescent nonsense; Close Encounters is obscurantist 11698 drivel; Star Trek can turn your brains to pur'ee of bat guano; and the 11699 greatest science fiction series of all time is Doctor Who! And I'll 11700 take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it up! 11701 -- Harlan Ellison 11702 % 11703 Stay away from flying saucers today. 11704 % 11705 Stay away from hurricanes for a while. 11706 % 11707 Stealing a rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly. 11708 % 11709 Steele's Plagiarism of Somebody's Philosophy: 11710 Everybody should believe in something -- I believe I'll have 11711 another drink. 11712 % 11713 Steinbach's Guideline for Systems Programming: 11714 Never test for an error condition you don't know how to 11715 handle. 11716 % 11717 Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you. 11718 % 11719 Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you. 11720 Now, if they'd only take a bath ... 11721 % 11722 Stult's Report: 11723 Our problems are mostly behind us. What we have to do now is 11724 fight the solutions. 11725 % 11726 Stupid, adj.: 11727 Losing $25 on the game and $25 on the instant replay. 11728 % 11729 Stupidity got us into this mess -- why can't it get us out? 11730 % 11731 Sturgeon's Law: 11732 90% of everything is crud. 11733 % 11734 Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your 11735 editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. 11736 -- Mark Twain 11737 % 11738 Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way 11739 before it is understood. 11740 % 11741 Succumb to natural tendencies. Be hateful and boring. 11742 % 11743 Suddenly, Professor Liebowitz realizes he has come to the seminar 11744 without his duck ... 11745 % 11746 (Sung to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA) 11747 11748 To code the impossible code, 11749 To bring up a virgin machine, 11750 To pop out of endless recursion, 11751 To grok what appears on the screen, 11752 11753 To right the unrightable bug, 11754 To endlessly twiddle and thrash, 11755 To mount the unmountable magtape, 11756 To stop the unstoppable crash! 11757 % 11758 Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have! 11759 % 11760 Support wildlife -- vote for an orgy. 11761 % 11762 Support your local police force -- steal!! 11763 % 11764 Support your local Search and Rescue unit -- get lost. 11765 % 11766 Sure he's sharp as a razor ... he's a two-dimensional pinhead! 11767 % 11768 Surprise due today. Also the rent. 11769 % 11770 Surprise your boss. Get to work on time. 11771 % 11772 Surprise! You are the lucky winner of random I.R.S. Audit! Just type 11773 in your name and social security number. Please remember that leaving 11774 the room is punishable under law: 11775 11776 Name # 11777 11778 11779 % 11780 Swahili, n.: 11781 The language used by the National Enquirer to print their retractions. 11782 -- Johnny Hart 11783 % 11784 Sweater, n.: 11785 A garment worn by a child when its mother feels chilly. 11786 % 11787 Swipple's Rule of Order: 11788 He who shouts the loudest has the floor. 11789 % 11790 Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon. 11791 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 11792 % 11793 Systems have sub-systems and sub-systems have sub-systems and so on ad 11794 infinitum -- which is why we're always starting over. 11795 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 11796 % 11797 _ 11798 _ / \ o 11799 / \ | | o o o 11800 | | | | _ o o o o 11801 | \_| | / \ o o o 11802 \__ | | | o o 11803 | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____ 11804 | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__ 11805 | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\ 11806 | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " ) 11807 | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >----------- 11808 | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\ 11809 | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\ 11810 // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\ 11811 // ( ) / / \` \__ \\ 11812 //-------------------------------------------------------------\\ 11813 11814 Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels 11815 start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and 11816 then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the 11817 music at top volume and at least a pint of ether. 11818 -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" 11819 % 11820 T: One big monster, he called TROLL. 11821 He don't rock, and he don't roll; 11822 Drink no wine, and smoke no stogies. 11823 He just Love To Eat Them Roguies. 11824 -- The Roguelet's ABC 11825 % 11826 Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a 11827 hole in his head. 11828 % 11829 Tact, n.: 11830 The unsaid part of what you're thinking. 11831 % 11832 Take everything in stride. Trample anyone who gets in your way. 11833 % 11834 Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting 11835 enough cheese. 11836 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 11837 % 11838 Take it easy, we're in a hurry. 11839 % 11840 Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man, but it 11841 needs a very clever woman to manage a fool. 11842 -- Kipling 11843 % 11844 Take the folks at Coca-Cola. For many years, they were content to sit 11845 back and make the same old carbonated beverage. It was a good 11846 beverage, no question about it; generations of people had grown up 11847 drinking it and doing the experiment in sixth grade where you put a 11848 nail into a glass of Coke and after a couple of days the nail dissolves 11849 and the teacher says: "Imagine what it does to your TEETH!" So 11850 Coca-Cola was solidly entrenched in the market, and the management saw 11851 no need to improve ... 11852 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence" 11853 % 11854 Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to 11855 your execution is not generally understood by less advanced life forms, 11856 and they'll call you crazy. 11857 -- "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul" 11858 % 11859 Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. 11860 -- Euripides 11861 % 11862 Talkers are no good doers. 11863 -- William Shakespeare, "Henry VI" 11864 % 11865 Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself. 11866 -- Friedrich Nietzsche 11867 % 11868 TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20) 11869 You are practical and persistent. You have a dogged 11870 determination and work like hell. Most people think you are 11871 stubborn and bull headed. You are a Communist. 11872 % 11873 Tax reform means "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind 11874 the tree." 11875 -- Russell Long 11876 % 11877 Taxes are going up so fast, the government is likely to price itself 11878 out of the market. 11879 % 11880 Taxes, n.: 11881 Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get 11882 an extension. 11883 % 11884 Teach children to be polite and courteous in the home, and, when they 11885 grows up, they will never be able to edge their car onto a freeway. 11886 % 11887 Teamwork is essential -- it allows you to blame someone else. 11888 % 11889 Technological progress has merely provided us 11890 with more efficient means for going backwards. 11891 -- Aldous Huxley 11892 % 11893 Telephone, n.: 11894 An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the 11895 advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance. 11896 -- Ambrose Bierce 11897 % 11898 Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, 11899 Is those things arms, or is they legs? 11900 I marvel at thee, Octopus; 11901 If I were thou, I'd call me us. 11902 -- Ogden Nash 11903 % 11904 Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop 11905 writing. 11906 -- R. Geis 11907 % 11908 Terence, this is stupid stuff: 11909 You eat your victuals fast enough; 11910 There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear, 11911 To see the rate you drink your beer. 11912 But oh, good Lord, the verse you make, 11913 It gives a chap the belly-ache. 11914 The cow, the old cow, she is dead; 11915 It sleeps well the horned head: 11916 We poor lads, 'tis our turn now 11917 To hear such tunes as killed the cow. 11918 Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme 11919 Your friends to death before their time. 11920 Moping, melancholy mad: 11921 Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad. 11922 -- A. E. Housman 11923 % 11924 Termiter's argument that God is His own grandmother generated a 11925 surprising amount of controversy among Church leaders, who on the one 11926 hand considered the argument unsupported by scripture but on the other 11927 hand were unwilling to risk offending God's grandmother. 11928 -- Len Cool, "American Pie" 11929 % 11930 Tertullian was born in Carthage somewhere about 160 A.D. He was a 11931 pagan, and he abandoned himself to the lascivious life of his city 11932 until about his 35th year, when he became a Christian .... To him is 11933 ascribed the sublime confession: Credo quia absurdum est (I believe 11934 because it is absurd). This does not altogether accord with historical 11935 fact, for he merely said: 11936 11937 "And the Son of God died, which is immediately credible because 11938 it is absurd. And buried he rose again, which is certain 11939 because it is impossible." 11940 11941 Thanks to the acuteness of his mind, he saw through the poverty of 11942 philosophical and Gnostic knowledge, and contemptuously rejected it. 11943 -- C. G. Jung, in Psychological Types 11944 11945 (Tertullian was one of the founders of the Catholic Church). 11946 % 11947 Test-tube babies shouldn't throw stones. 11948 % 11949 Texas law forbids anyone to have a pair of pliers in his possession. 11950 % 11951 Text processing has made it possible to right-justify any idea, even 11952 one which cannot be justified on any other grounds. 11953 -- J. Finnegan, USC. 11954 % 11955 Thank goodness modern convenience is a thing of the remote future. 11956 -- Pogo, by Walt Kelly 11957 % 11958 That boy's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver. 11959 -- Foghorn Leghorn 11960 % 11961 That must be wonderful! I don't understand it at all. 11962 -- Moliere 11963 % 11964 That secret you've been guarding, isn't. 11965 % 11966 That woman speaks eight languages and can't say "no" in any of them. 11967 -- Dorothy Parker 11968 % 11969 The 80's -- when you can't tell hairstyles from chemotherapy. 11970 % 11971 The [Ford Foundation] is a large body of money completely surrounded by 11972 people who want some. 11973 -- Dwight MacDonald 11974 % 11975 The Abrams' Principle: 11976 The shortest distance between two points is off the wall. 11977 % 11978 The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper 11979 -- Thomas Jefferson 11980 % 11981 The Advertising Agency Song: 11982 11983 When your client's hopping mad, 11984 Put his picture in the ad. 11985 If he still should prove refractory, 11986 Add a picture of his factory. 11987 % 11988 The algorithm to do that is extremely nasty. You might want to mug 11989 someone with it. 11990 -- M. Devine, Computer Science 340 11991 % 11992 ... The Anarchists' [national] anthem is an international anthem that 11993 consists of 365 raspberries blown in very quick succession to the tune 11994 of "Camptown Races". Nobody has to stand up for it, nobody has to 11995 listen to it, and, even better, nobody has to play it. 11996 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 11997 % 11998 The Arkansas legislature passed a law that states that the Arkansas 11999 River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little 12000 Rock. 12001 % 12002 The Army has carried the American ... ideal to its logical conclusion. 12003 Not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed 12004 and color, but also on ability. 12005 -- T. Lehrer 12006 % 12007 The Army needs leaders the way a foot needs a big toe. 12008 -- Bill Murray 12009 % 12010 The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use 12011 in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the 12012 Declaration not for that, but for future use. 12013 -- Abraham Lincoln 12014 % 12015 The average income of the modern teenager is about 2 a.m. 12016 % 12017 The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the 12018 average man can see better than he can think. 12019 % 12020 The bad reputation UNIX has gotten is totally undeserved, laid on by 12021 people who don't understand, who have not gotten in there and tried 12022 anything. 12023 -- Jim Joyce, owner of Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore 12024 % 12025 The basic idea behind malls is that they are more convenient than 12026 cities. Cities contain streets, which are dangerous and crowded and 12027 difficult to park in. Malls, on the other hand, have parking lots, 12028 which are also dangerous and crowded and difficult to park in, but -- 12029 here is the big difference -- in mall parking lots, THERE ARE NO 12030 RULES. You're allowed to do anything. You can drive as fast as you 12031 want in any direction you want. I was once driving in a mall parking 12032 lot when my car was struck by a pickup truck being driven backward by a 12033 squat man with a tattoo that said "Charlie" on his forearm, who got out 12034 and explained to me, in great detail, why the accident was my fault, 12035 his reasoning being that he was violent and muscular, whereas I was 12036 neither. This kind of reasoning is legally valid in mall parking 12037 lots. 12038 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide" 12039 % 12040 The basic menu item, in fact the ONLY menu item, would be a food unit 12041 called the "patty," consisting of -- this would be guaranteed in 12042 writing -- "100 percent animal matter of some kind." All patties would 12043 be heated up and then cooled back down in electronic devices 12044 immediately before serving. The Breakfast Patty would be a patty on a 12045 bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, egg, Ba-Ko-Bits, Cheez Whiz, a Special 12046 Sauce made by pouring ketchup out of a bottle and a little slip of 12047 paper stating: "Inspected by Number 12". The Lunch or Dinner Patty 12048 would be any Breakfast Patties that didn't get sold in the morning. 12049 The Seafood Lover's Patty would be any patties that were starting to 12050 emit a serious aroma. Patties that were too rank even to be Seafood 12051 Lover's Patties would be compressed into wads and sold as "Nuggets." 12052 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants" 12053 % 12054 The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; 12055 but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman. 12056 % 12057 The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. 12058 -- W. C. Fields 12059 % 12060 The best defense against logic is ignorance. 12061 % 12062 The best thing about growing older is that it takes such a long time. 12063 % 12064 "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and 12065 blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. 12066 You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at 12067 night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only 12068 love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or 12069 know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only 12070 one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what 12071 wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, 12072 never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never 12073 dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a 12074 lot of things there are to learn." 12075 -- T.H. White, "The Once and Future King" 12076 % 12077 The best way to make a fire with two sticks is to make sure one of them 12078 is a match. 12079 -- Will Rogers 12080 % 12081 The bigger the theory the better. 12082 % 12083 The biggest difference between time and space is that you can't reuse 12084 time. 12085 -- Merrick Furst 12086 % 12087 The birds are singing, the flowers are budding, and it is time for Miss 12088 Manners to tell young lovers to stop necking in public. 12089 12090 It's not that Miss Manners is immune to romance. Miss Manners has been 12091 known to squeeze a gentleman's arm while being helped over a curb, and, 12092 in her wild youth, even to press a dainty slipper against a foot or two 12093 under the dinner table. Miss Manners also believes that the sight of 12094 people strolling hand in hand or arm in arm or arm in hand dresses up a 12095 city considerably more than the more familiar sight of people shaking 12096 umbrellas at one another. What Miss Manners objects to is the kind of 12097 activity that frightens the horses on the street ... 12098 % 12099 The bland leadeth the bland and they both shall fall into the kitsch. 12100 % 12101 The bogosity meter just pegged. 12102 % 12103 The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up 12104 in the morning, and does not stop until you get to school. 12105 % 12106 The Briggs/Chase Law of Program Development: 12107 To determine how long it will take to write and debug a 12108 program, take your best estimate, multiply that by two, add one, and 12109 convert to the next higher units. 12110 % 12111 The buffalo isn't as dangerous as everyone makes him out to be. 12112 Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in 12113 automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo. 12114 -- Art Buchwald 12115 % 12116 The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding 12117 bureaucracy. 12118 % 12119 The C Programming Language -- A language which combines the 12120 flexibility and power of assembly language with the readability 12121 of assembly language. 12122 % 12123 The camel has a single hump; 12124 The dromedary two; 12125 Or else the other way around. 12126 I'm never sure. Are you? 12127 -- Ogden Nash 12128 % 12129 The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly 12130 greater than that of any other animals. Some of their most esteemed 12131 inventions have no other apparent purpose, for example, the dinner 12132 party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics. 12133 -- H. L. Mencken 12134 % 12135 The chain which can be yanked is not the eternal chain. 12136 -- G. Fitch 12137 % 12138 The chicken that clucks the loudest is the one most likely to show up 12139 at the steam fitters' picnic. 12140 % 12141 The chief cause of problems is solutions. 12142 -- Eric Sevareid 12143 % 12144 The chief danger in life is that you may take too may precautions. 12145 -- Alfred Adler 12146 % 12147 The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I will 12148 walk carefully. 12149 -- Russian Proverb 12150 % 12151 The climate of Bombay is such that its inhabitants have to live elsewhere. 12152 % 12153 The Computer made me do it. 12154 % 12155 The computing field is always in need of new cliches. 12156 -- Alan Perlis 12157 % 12158 The confusion of a staff member is measured by the length of his 12159 memos. 12160 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981 12161 % 12162 The conservation movement is a breeding ground of Communists and other 12163 subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up 12164 every bird watcher in the country. 12165 -- John Mitchell, Atty. General 1969-1972 12166 % 12167 The Consultant's Curse: 12168 When the customer has beaten upon you long enough, give him 12169 what he asks for, instead of what he needs. This is very strong 12170 medicine, and is normally only required once. 12171 % 12172 The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it is 12173 none of my business, but --" is to place a period after the word "but." 12174 Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. 12175 Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you 12176 talked about. 12177 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 12178 % 12179 The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity. 12180 % 12181 The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going down. 12182 % 12183 The cow is nothing but a machine which makes grass fit for us people to 12184 eat. 12185 -- John McNulty 12186 % 12187 The Crown is full of it! 12188 -- Nate Harris, 1775 12189 % 12190 The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should 12191 therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could 12192 hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be admitted, rulers have only to 12193 declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny ... In war, 12194 then, as in peace, assert the freedom of speech and of the press. 12195 Cling to this as the bulwark of all our rights and privileges. 12196 -- William Ellery Channing 12197 % 12198 The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life. 12199 % 12200 The day-to-day travails of the IBM programmer are so amusing to most of 12201 us who are fortunate enough never to have been one -- like watching 12202 Charlie Chaplin trying to cook a shoe. 12203 % 12204 The debate rages on: Is PL/I Bachtrian or Dromedary? 12205 % 12206 The devil finds work for idle circuits to do. 12207 % 12208 The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell 12209 into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him 12210 out again, it would be a calamity. 12211 -- Benjamin Disraeli 12212 % 12213 The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science 12214 requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship. 12215 -- Robert Heinlein 12216 % 12217 The distinction between Jewish and goyish can be quite subtle, as the 12218 following quote from Lenny Bruce illustrates: 12219 12220 "I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish. 12221 Eddie Cantor's goyish. The B'nai Brith is goyish. The Hadassah is 12222 Jewish. Marine Corps -- heavy goyish, dangerous. 12223 "Kool-Aid is goyish. All Drake's Cakes are goyish. 12224 Pumpernickel is Jewish and, as you know, white bread is very goyish. 12225 Instant potatoes -- goyish. Black cherry soda's very Jewish. 12226 Macaroons are ____very Jewish. Fruit salad is Jewish. Lime Jell-O is 12227 goyish. Lime soda is ____very goyish. Trailer parks are so goyish that 12228 Jews won't go near them ..." 12229 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 12230 % 12231 The District of Columbia has a law forbidding you to exert pressure on 12232 a balloon and thereby cause a whistling sound on the streets. 12233 % 12234 The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man 12235 really clever who has not found that he is stupid. 12236 -- Gilbert K. Chesterson 12237 % 12238 The duck hunter trained his retriever to walk on water. Eager to show 12239 off this amazing accomplishment, he asked a friend to go along on his 12240 next hunting trip. Saying nothing, he fired his first shot and, as the 12241 duck fell, the dog walked on the surface of the water, retrieved the 12242 duck and returned it to his master. 12243 "Notice anything?" the owner asked eagerly. 12244 "Yes," said his friend, "I see that fool dog of yours can't swim." 12245 % 12246 The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in late 12247 and owns the worm farm. 12248 -- Travis McGee 12249 % 12250 The earth is like a tiny grain of sand, only much, much heavier. 12251 % 12252 The easiest way to figure the cost of living is to take your income and 12253 add ten percent. 12254 % 12255 The economy depends about as much on economists as the weather does on 12256 weather forecasters. 12257 -- Jean-Paul Kauffmann 12258 % 12259 The eleventh commandment was `Thou Shalt Compute' or `Thou Shalt Not 12260 Compute' -- I forget which. 12261 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 12262 % 12263 The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of 12264 civilization. 12265 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson 12266 % 12267 The end of the world will occur at 3:00 p.m., this Friday, with 12268 symposium to follow. 12269 % 12270 The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach 12271 their children to speak it. 12272 -- G. B. Shaw 12273 % 12274 The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is evidence of a 12275 remarkable Christian forbearance among men. 12276 -- Ambrose Bierce 12277 % 12278 The fact that it works is immaterial. 12279 -- L. Ogborn 12280 % 12281 The faster we go, the rounder we get. 12282 -- The Grateful Dead 12283 % 12284 The Fifth Rule: 12285 You have taken yourself too seriously. 12286 % 12287 The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. 12288 -- Abbie Hoffman 12289 % 12290 The first Great Steward, Parrafin the Climber, was employed in King 12291 Chloroplast's kitchen as second scullery boy when the old King met a 12292 tragic death. He apparently fell backward by accident on a dozen salad 12293 forks. Simultaneously the true heir, his son Carotene, mysteriously 12294 fled the city, complaining of some sort of plot and a lot of 12295 threatening notes left on his breakfast tray. At the time, this looked 12296 suspicious what with his father's death, and Carotene was suspected of 12297 foul play. Then the rest of the King's relatives began to drop dead 12298 one after the other in an odd fashion. Some were found strangled with 12299 dishrags and some succumbed to food poisoning. A few were found 12300 drowned in the soup vats, and one was attacked by assailants unknown 12301 and beaten to death with a pot roast. At least three appear to have 12302 thrown themselves backward on salad forks, perhaps in a noble gesture 12303 of grief over the King's untimely end. Finally there was no one left 12304 in Minas Troney who was either eligible or willing to wear the accursed 12305 crown, and the rule of Twodor was up for grabs. The scullery slave 12306 Parrafin bravely accepted the Stewardship of Twodor until that day when 12307 a lineal descendant of Carotene's returns to reclaim his rightful 12308 throne, conquer Twodor's enemies, and revamp the postal system. 12309 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings" 12310 % 12311 The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of 12312 management is that success equals skill. 12313 -- Robert Heller 12314 % 12315 The first riddle I ever heard, one familiar to almost every Jewish 12316 child, was propounded to me by my father: 12317 "What is it that hangs on the wall, is green, wet -- and 12318 whistles?" 12319 I knit my brow and thought and thought, and in final perplexity 12320 gave up. 12321 "A herring," said my father. 12322 "A herring," I echoed. "A herring doesn't hang on the wall!" 12323 "So hang it there." 12324 "But a herring isn't green!" I protested. 12325 "Paint it." 12326 "But a herring isn't wet." 12327 "If it's just painted it's still wet." 12328 "But -- " I sputtered, summoning all my outrage, "-- a herring 12329 doesn't whistle!!" 12330 "Right, " smiled my father. "I just put that in to make it 12331 hard." 12332 -- Leo Rosten, "The Joys of Yiddish" 12333 % 12334 The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your 12335 hands and hoping when a rock or a club will do. 12336 -- McCloctnik the Lucid 12337 % 12338 The First Rule of Program Optimization: 12339 Don't do it. 12340 12341 The Second Rule of Program Optimization (for experts only!): 12342 Don't do it yet. 12343 -- Michael Jackson 12344 % 12345 The first time, it's a KLUDGE! 12346 The second, a trick. 12347 Later, it's a well-established technique! 12348 -- Mike Broido, Intermetrics 12349 % 12350 The following quote is from page 4-27 of the MSCP Basic Disk Functions 12351 Manual which is part of the UDA50 Programmers Doc Kit manuals: 12352 12353 As stated above, the host area of a disk is structured as a vector of 12354 logical blocks. From a performance viewpoint, however, it is more 12355 appropriate to view the host area as a four dimensional hyper-cube, the 12356 four dimensions being cylinder, group, track, and sector. 12357 . . . 12358 Referring to our hyper-cube analogy, the set of potentially accessible 12359 blocks form a line parallel to the track axis. This line moves 12360 parallel to the sector axis, wrapping around when it reaches the edge 12361 of the hyper-cube. 12362 % 12363 The fortune program is supported, in part, by user contributions and by 12364 a major grant from the National Endowment for the Inanities. 12365 % 12366 The four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl. 12367 -- Dave Barry 12368 % 12369 The full impact of parenthood doesn't hit you until you multiply the 12370 number of your kids by 32 teeth. 12371 % 12372 The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to 12373 chance. 12374 % 12375 The gentlemen looked one another over with microscopic carelessness. 12376 % 12377 The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the 12378 center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South 12379 Boston which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South 12380 End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End. 12381 % 12382 The giraffe you thought you offended last week is willing to be nuzzled 12383 today. 12384 % 12385 The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at 12386 least until we've finished building it. 12387 % 12388 The goal of science is to build better mousetraps. 12389 The goal of nature is to build better mice. 12390 % 12391 The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines. They gave him 12392 love and he invented marriage. 12393 % 12394 THE GOLDEN RULE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 12395 The one who has the gold makes the rules. 12396 % 12397 The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who 12398 make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians 12399 have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine 12400 man in the bonds of Hell. 12401 -- St. Augustine 12402 % 12403 The good die young -- because they see it's no use living if you've got 12404 to be good. 12405 % 12406 "The Good Ship Enterprise" (to the tune of "The Good Ship Lollipop") 12407 12408 On the good ship Enterprise 12409 Every week there's a new surprise 12410 Where the Romulans lurk 12411 And the Klingons often go berserk. 12412 12413 Yes, the good ship Enterprise 12414 There's excitement anywhere it flies 12415 Where Tribbles play 12416 And Nurse Chapel never gets her way. 12417 12418 See Captain Kirk standing on the bridge, 12419 Mr. Spock is at his side. 12420 The weekly menace, ooh-ooh 12421 It gets fried, scattered far and wide. 12422 12423 It's the good ship Enterprise 12424 Heading out where danger lies 12425 And you live in dread 12426 If you're wearing a shirt that's red. 12427 -- Doris Robin and Karen Trimble of The L.A. Filkharmonics 12428 % 12429 The government [is] extremely fond of amassing great quantities of 12430 statistics. These are raised to the _nth degree, the cube roots are 12431 extracted, and the results are arranged into elaborate and impressive 12432 displays. What must be kept ever in mind, however, is that in every 12433 case, the figures are first put down by a village watchman, and he puts 12434 down anything he damn well pleases. 12435 -- Sir Josiah Stamp 12436 % 12437 The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all 12438 who have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature. 12439 -- Benjamin Franklin 12440 % 12441 The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog: 12442 The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog of Billericay displays, in 12443 courtship, his single prickle and does impressions of Holiday Inn desk 12444 clerks. Since this means him standing motionless for enormous periods 12445 of time he is often eaten in full display by The Great Bald Swamp 12446 Hedgehog Eater. 12447 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 12448 % 12449 The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men 12450 of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. 12451 -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis 12452 % 12453 The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. 12454 -- Albert Einstein 12455 % 12456 The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue, a 12457 custom whereof the memory of man runneth not howsomever to the 12458 contrary, nohow. 12459 % 12460 The Heineken Uncertainty Principle: 12461 You can never be sure how many beers you had last night. 12462 % 12463 The herd instinct among economists makes sheep look like independent 12464 thinkers. 12465 % 12466 The hieroglyphics are all unreadable except for a notation on the back, 12467 which reads "Genuine authentic Egyptian papyrus. Guaranteed to be at 12468 least 5000 years old." 12469 % 12470 The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for 12471 lists of "Ten Best". 12472 -- H. Allen Smith 12473 % 12474 The human brain is like an enormous fish -- it is flat and slimy and 12475 has gills through which it can see. 12476 -- Monty Python 12477 % 12478 The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its 12479 capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system. 12480 % 12481 The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange 12482 protein -- it rejects it. 12483 -- P. Medawar 12484 % 12485 The human race has been fascinated by sharks for as long as I can 12486 remember. Just like the bluebird feeding its young, or the spider 12487 struggling to weave its perfect web, or the buttercup blooming in 12488 spring, the shark reveals to us yet another of the infinite and 12489 wonderful facets of nature, namely the facet that it can bite your head 12490 off. This causes us humans to feel a certain degree of awe. 12491 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV" 12492 % 12493 The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. 12494 -- Mark Twain 12495 % 12496 The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that 12497 procession but carrying a banner. 12498 -- Mark Twain 12499 % 12500 The idea is to die young as late as possible. 12501 -- Ashley Montague 12502 % 12503 The idea there was that consumers would bring their broken electronic 12504 devices, such as television sets and VCR's, to the destruction centers, 12505 where trained personnel would whack them (the devices) with 12506 sledgehammers. With their devices thus permanently destroyed, 12507 consumers would then be free to go out and buy new devices, rather than 12508 have to fritter away years of their lives trying to have the old ones 12509 repaired at so-called "factory service centers," which in fact consist 12510 of two men named Lester poking at the insides of broken electronic 12511 devices with cheap cigars and going, "Lookit all them WIRES in there!" 12512 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants" 12513 % 12514 The identical is equal to itself, since it is different. 12515 -- Franco Spisani 12516 % 12517 The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer. 12518 -- Henry Kissinger 12519 % 12520 The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf 12521 has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know 12522 when it's through if you are a crook or a martyr. 12523 -- Will Rogers 12524 % 12525 The individual choice of garnishment of a burger can be an important 12526 point to the consumer in this day when individualism is an increasingly 12527 important thing to people. 12528 -- Donald N. Smith, president of Burger King 12529 % 12530 The intelligence of any discussion diminishes with the square of the 12531 number of participants. 12532 -- Adam Walinsky 12533 % 12534 The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided 12535 by the number of people in the group. 12536 % 12537 The IRS spends God knows how much of your tax money on these toll-free 12538 information hot lines staffed by IRS employees, whose idea of a 12539 dynamite tax tip is that you should print neatly. If you ask them a 12540 real tax question, such as how you can cheat, they're useless. 12541 12542 So, for guidance, you want to look to big business. Big business never 12543 pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big 12544 consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes... 12545 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes" 12546 % 12547 The Kennedy Constant: 12548 Don't get mad -- get even. 12549 % 12550 The Killer Ducks are coming!!! 12551 % 12552 The ladies men admire, I've heard, 12553 Would shudder at a wicked word. 12554 Their candle gives a single light; 12555 They'd rather stay at home at night. 12556 They do not keep awake till three, 12557 Nor read erotic poetry. 12558 They never sanction the impure, 12559 Nor recognize an overture. 12560 They shrink from powders and from paints ... 12561 So far, I've had no complaints. 12562 -- Dorothy Parker 12563 % 12564 The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much better with a 12565 word processor," I replied, "They used to say the same thing about 12566 drugs." 12567 -- Roy Blount, Jr. 12568 % 12569 The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the 12570 law free. 12571 -- Henry David Thoreau 12572 % 12573 The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the 12574 poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal 12575 bread. 12576 -- Anatole France 12577 % 12578 The lawgiver, of all beings, most owes the law allegiance. He of all 12579 men should behave as though the law compelled him. But it is the 12580 universal weakness of mankind that what we are given to administer we 12581 presently imagine we own. 12582 -- H. G. Wells 12583 % 12584 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #10: SIMPLE 12585 12586 SIMPLE is an acronym for Sheer Idiot's Monopurpose Programming Language 12587 Environment. This language, developed at the Hanover College for 12588 Technological Misfits, was designed to make it impossible to write code 12589 with errors in it. The statements are, therefore, confined to BEGIN, 12590 END and STOP. No matter how you arrange the statements, you can't make 12591 a syntax error. Programs written in SIMPLE do nothing useful. Thus 12592 they achieve the results of programs written in other languages without 12593 the tedious, frustrating process of testing and debugging. 12594 % 12595 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #12: LITHP 12596 12597 This otherwise unremarkable language is distinguished by the absence of 12598 an "S" in its character set; users must substitute "TH". LITHP is said 12599 to be useful in protheththing lithtth. 12600 % 12601 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #13: SLOBOL 12602 12603 SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler. 12604 Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they 12605 compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to travel to Bolivia to pick the 12606 coffee. Forty-three programmers are known to have died of boredom 12607 sitting at their terminals while waiting for a SLOBOL program to 12608 compile. Weary SLOBOL programmers often turn to a related (but 12609 infinitely faster) language, COCAINE. 12610 % 12611 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #17: SARTRE 12612 12613 Named after the late existential philosopher, SARTRE is an extremely 12614 unstructured language. Statements in SARTRE have no purpose; they just 12615 are. Thus SARTRE programs are left to define their own functions. 12616 SARTRE programmers tend to be boring and depressed, and are no fun at 12617 parties. 12618 % 12619 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18: C- 12620 12621 This language was named for the grade received by its creator when he 12622 submitted it as a class project in a graduate programming class. C- is 12623 best described as a "low-level" programming language. In fact, the 12624 language generally requires more C- statements than machine-code 12625 statements to execute a given task. In this respect, it is very 12626 similar to COBOL. 12627 % 12628 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18a: FIFTH 12629 12630 FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types 12631 refer to quantity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and 12632 JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM and 12633 BLOTTO. Commands refer to ingredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY, 12634 CABERNET, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH, and WHATEVERSAROUND. 12635 12636 The many versions of the FIFTH language reflect the sophistication and 12637 financial status of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect include 12638 VSOP and LAFITE, while commands in the GUTTER dialect include HOOTCH 12639 and RIPPLE. The latter is a favorite of frustrated FORTH programmers 12640 who end up using this language. 12641 % 12642 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #2: RENE 12643 12644 Named after the famous French philosopher and mathematician Rene 12645 Descartes, RENE is a language used for artificial intelligence. The 12646 language is being developed at the Chicago Center of Machine Politics 12647 and Programming under a grant from the Jane Byrne Victory Fund. A 12648 spokesman described the language as "Just as great as dis [sic] city of 12649 ours." 12650 12651 The center is very pleased with progress to date. They say they have 12652 almost succeeded in getting a VAX to think. However, sources inside the 12653 organization say that each time the machine fails to think it ceases to 12654 exist. 12655 % 12656 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #5: VALGOL 12657 From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, 12658 VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the industry. 12659 12660 Here is a sample program: 12661 LIKE, Y*KNOW(I MEAN)START 12662 IF PIZZA = LIKE BITCHEN AND GUY = LIKE TUBULAR AND 12663 VALLEY GIRL = LIKE GRODY**MAX(FERSURE)**2 THEN 12664 FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH*MAYBE 100 12665 DO*WAH - (DITTY**2) 12666 BARF(I)=TOTALLY GROSS(OUT) 12667 SURE 12668 LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM 12669 REALLY 12670 LIKE TOTALLY (Y*KNOW) 12671 IM*SURE 12672 GOTO THE MALL 12673 12674 When the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays the message: 12675 12676 GAG ME WITH A SPOON!! 12677 % 12678 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #8: LAIDBACK 12679 12680 This language was developed at the Marin County Center for T'ai Chi, 12681 Mellowness and Computer Programming (now defunct), as an alternative to 12682 the more intense atmosphere in nearby Silicon Valley. 12683 12684 The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs 12685 while they worked. Unfortunately few programmers could survive there 12686 because the center outlawed Pizza and Coca-Cola in favor of Tofu and 12687 Perrier. 12688 12689 Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a gentle 12690 and non-threatening language since all error messages are in lower 12691 case. For example, LAIDBACK responded to syntax errors with the 12692 message: 12693 "i hate to bother you, but i just can't relate to that. can 12694 you find the time to try it again?" 12695 % 12696 The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an approaching 12697 train. 12698 % 12699 The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming dragon. 12700 % 12701 The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won't get 12702 much sleep. 12703 -- Woody Allen 12704 % 12705 The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself. 12706 -- Henry Kissinger 12707 % 12708 The Lord gave us farmers two strong hands so we could grab as much as 12709 we could with both of them. 12710 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22" 12711 % 12712 The makers may make 12713 And the users may use, 12714 But the fixers must fix 12715 With but minimal clues 12716 % 12717 The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the 12718 crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no 12719 one has ever been. 12720 -- Alan Ashley-Pitt 12721 % 12722 The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that 12723 will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful. 12724 -- Mark Twain 12725 % 12726 The marvels of today's modern technology include the development of a 12727 soda can, when discarded will last forever ... and a $7,000 car which 12728 when properly cared for will rust out in two or three years. 12729 % 12730 ... the Mayo Clinic, named after its founder, Dr. Ted Clinic ... 12731 -- Dave Barry 12732 % 12733 The meek shall inherit the earth -- they are too weak to refuse. 12734 % 12735 The men sat sipping their tea in silence. After a while the 12736 klutz said, "Life is like a bowl of sour cream." 12737 12738 "Like a bowl of sour cream?" asked the other. "Why?" 12739 12740 "How should I know? What am I, a philosopher?" 12741 % 12742 The meta-Turing test counts a thing as intelligent if it seeks to 12743 devise and apply Turing tests to objects of its own creation. 12744 -- Lew Mammel, Jr. 12745 % 12746 The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might 12747 be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the 12748 law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was 12749 guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples 12750 Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking 12751 Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality 12752 of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive 12753 power. 12754 -- Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems 12755 Thinking." 12756 % 12757 The modern child will answer you back before you've said anything. 12758 -- Laurence J. Peter 12759 % 12760 The mome rath isn't born that could outgrabe me. 12761 -- Nicol Williamson 12762 % 12763 The moon is a planet just like the Earth, only it is even deader. 12764 % 12765 The moon may be smaller than Earth, but it's further away. 12766 % 12767 The more data I punch in this card, the lighter it becomes, and the 12768 lower the mailing cost. 12769 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary" 12770 % 12771 The more laws and order are made prominent, 12772 the more thieves and robbers there will be. 12773 -- Lao Tsu 12774 % 12775 The more things change, the more they stay insane. 12776 % 12777 The more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us 12778 is right. 12779 % 12780 The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey. 12781 -- Andy Warhol 12782 % 12783 The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and 12784 to watch someone else do it wrong without comment. 12785 -- Theodore H. White 12786 % 12787 The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new 12788 discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." 12789 -- Isaac Asimov 12790 % 12791 The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on. 12792 % 12793 ... the MYSTERIANS are in here with my CORDUROY SOAP DISH!! 12794 % 12795 "... The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes'!" 12796 "Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to 12797 feel interested. 12798 "No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little 12799 vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is, 'The Aged 12800 Aged Man.'" 12801 "Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called'?" 12802 Alice corrected herself. 12803 "No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is 12804 called 'Ways and Means': but that's only what it is called you know!" 12805 "Well, what is the song then?" said Alice, who was by this time 12806 completely bewildered. 12807 "I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 12808 "A-sitting on a Gate": and the tune's my own invention." 12809 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 12810 % 12811 The National Association of Theater Concessionaires reported that in 12812 1986, 60% of all candy sold in movie theaters was sold to Roger Ebert. 12813 -- D. Letterman 12814 % 12815 The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says: 12816 Support your right to bare arms! 12817 % 12818 The net of law is spread so wide, 12819 No sinner from its sweep may hide. 12820 Its meshes are so fine and strong, 12821 They take in every child of wrong. 12822 O wondrous web of mystery! 12823 Big fish alone escape from thee! 12824 -- James Jeffrey Roche 12825 % 12826 The new Congressmen say they're going to turn the government around. I 12827 hope I don't get run over again. 12828 % 12829 The New Testament offers the basis for modern computer coding theory, 12830 in the form of an affirmation of the binary number system. 12831 12832 But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay: for 12833 whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 12834 -- Matthew 5:37 12835 % 12836 The New York Times is read by the people who run the country. The 12837 Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country. 12838 The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive 12839 and running the country ... 12840 -- Robert J. Woodhead 12841 % 12842 The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to 12843 choose from. 12844 -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum 12845 % 12846 The notion of a "record" is an obsolete remnant of the days of the 12847 80-column card. 12848 -- Dennis M. Ritchie 12849 % 12850 The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should 12851 serve the state is essentially a Communist notion ... In a free society 12852 these institutions must be wholly free -- which is to say that their 12853 function is to serve as checks upon the state. 12854 -- Alan Barth 12855 % 12856 The number of arguments is unimportant unless some of them are 12857 correct. 12858 -- Ralph Hartley 12859 % 12860 The objective of all dedicated employees should be to thoroughly 12861 analyze all situations, anticipate all problems prior to their 12862 occurrence, have answers for these problems, and move swiftly to solve 12863 these problems when called upon. 12864 12865 However, when you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to 12866 remind yourself your initial objective was to drain the swamp. 12867 % 12868 The Official MBA Handbook on business cards: 12869 Avoid overly pretentious job titles such as "Lord of the Realm, 12870 Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India" or "Director of Corporate 12871 Planning." 12872 % 12873 The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy. 12874 % 12875 The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age 12876 brings wisdom. 12877 -- H. L. Mencken 12878 % 12879 The older I grow, the less important the comma becomes. Let the reader 12880 catch his own breath. 12881 -- Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart 12882 % 12883 The one good thing about repeating your mistakes is that you know when 12884 to cringe. 12885 % 12886 The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 12887 `social sciences' is: some do, some don't. 12888 -- Ernest Rutherford 12889 % 12890 The only problem with being a man of leisure is that you can never stop 12891 and take a rest. 12892 % 12893 The only real way to look younger is not to be born so soon. 12894 -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and 12895 Over and Over" 12896 % 12897 The only really decent thing to do behind a person's back is pat it. 12898 % 12899 The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber 12900 has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, 12901 finished, and put inside boxes. 12902 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 12903 % 12904 The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. 12905 It is never any use to oneself. 12906 -- Oscar Wilde 12907 % 12908 The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. 12909 -- Hegel 12910 12911 I know guys can't learn from yesterday ... Hegel must be taking the 12912 long view. 12913 -- John Brunner, "Stand on Zanzibar" 12914 % 12915 The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. 12916 -- Oscar Wilde 12917 % 12918 The opossum is a very sophisticated animal. It doesn't even get up 12919 until 5 or 6 p.m. 12920 % 12921 The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. 12922 -- Niels Bohr 12923 % 12924 The optimum committee has no members. 12925 -- Norman Augustine 12926 % 12927 The other day I put instant coffee in my microwave oven ... I almost 12928 went back in time. 12929 -- Steven Wright 12930 % 12931 The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because 12932 it isn't here. 12933 -- Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley) 12934 % 12935 The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it 12936 were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence. 12937 -- H. L. Mencken 12938 % 12939 The people of Halifax invented the trampoline. During the 12940 Victorian period the tripe-dressers of Halifax stretched tripe across a 12941 large wooden frame and jumped up and down on it to `tender and dress' 12942 it. The tripoline, as they called it, degenerated into becoming the 12943 apparatus for a spectator sport. 12944 12945 The people of Halifax also invented the harmonium, a device for 12946 castrating pigs during Sunday service. 12947 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 12948 % 12949 The Pig, if I am not mistaken, 12950 Gives us ham and pork and Bacon. 12951 Let others think his heart is big, 12952 I think it stupid of the Pig. 12953 -- Ogden Nash 12954 % 12955 The pitcher wound up and he flang the ball at the batter. The batter 12956 swang and missed. The pitcher flang the ball again and this time the 12957 batter connected. He hit a high fly right to the center fielder. The 12958 center fielder was all set to catch the ball, but at the last minute 12959 his eyes were blound by the sun and he dropped it. 12960 -- Dizzy Dean 12961 % 12962 The plot was designed in a light vein that somehow became varicose. 12963 -- David Lardner 12964 % 12965 The polite thing to do has always been to address people as they wish 12966 to be addressed, to treat them in a way they think dignified. But it 12967 is equally important to accept and tolerate different standards of 12968 courtesy, not expecting everyone else to adapt to one's own 12969 preferences. Only then can we hope to restore the insult to its proper 12970 social function of expressing true distaste. 12971 -- Judith Martin, "Miss Manners' Guide to 12972 Excruciatingly Correct Behavior" 12973 % 12974 The porcupine with the sharpest quills gets stuck on a tree more often. 12975 % 12976 The Preacher, the Politician, the Teacher, 12977 Were each of them once a kiddie. 12978 A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature. 12979 Do I want one? God Forbiddie! 12980 -- Ogden Nash 12981 % 12982 The President publicly apologized today to all those offended by his 12983 brother's remark, "There's more Arabs in this country than there is 12984 Jews!". Those offended include Arabs, Jews, and English teachers. 12985 -- Baltimore, Channel 11 News, on Jimmy Carter 12986 % 12987 The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday 12988 they might force their beliefs on us. 12989 -- Mario Cuomo 12990 % 12991 The primary cause of failure in electrical appliances is an expired 12992 warranty. Often, you can get an appliance running again simply by 12993 changing the warranty expiration date with a 15/64-inch felt-tipped 12994 marker. 12995 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 12996 % 12997 The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to 12998 constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every 12999 appearance, the variable PI can be given that value with a DATA 13000 statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This 13001 also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change. 13002 -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers 13003 % 13004 The primary requisite for any new tax law is for it to exempt enough 13005 voters to win the next election. 13006 % 13007 The primary theme of SoupCon is communication. The acronym "LEO" 13008 represents the secondary theme: 13009 13010 Law Enforcement Officials 13011 13012 The overall theme of SoupCon shall be: 13013 13014 Avoiding Communication with Law Enforcement Officials 13015 13016 -- M. Gallaher 13017 % 13018 ... the privileged being which we call human is distinguished from 13019 other animals only by certain double-edged manifestations which in 13020 charity we can only call "inhuman." 13021 -- R. A. Lafferty 13022 % 13023 The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the 13024 stupidity of your action. 13025 % 13026 The problem ... is that we have run out of dinosaurs to form oil with. 13027 Scientists working for the Department of Energy have tried to form oil 13028 using other animals; they've piled thousands of tons of sand and Middle 13029 Eastern countries on top of cows, raccoons, haddock, laboratory rats, 13030 etc., but so far all they have managed to do is run up an enormous 13031 bulldozer-rental bill and anger a lot of Middle Eastern persons. None 13032 of the animals turned into oil, although most of the laboratory rats 13033 developed cancer. 13034 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler" 13035 % 13036 The problem with any unwritten law is that you don't know where to go 13037 to erase it. 13038 -- Glaser and Way 13039 % 13040 The problem with engineers is that they tend to cheat in order to get 13041 results. 13042 13043 The problem with mathematicians is that they tend to work on toy 13044 problems in order to get results. 13045 13046 The problem with program verifiers is that they tend to cheat at toy 13047 problems in order to get results. 13048 % 13049 The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be 13050 pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues. 13051 -- Elizabeth Taylor 13052 % 13053 The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard. 13054 % 13055 The Psblurtex is an 18-inch long anaconda that hides in the gentlemen's 13056 outfitting departments of Amazonian stores and is often bought by 13057 mistake since its colors are those of the London Reform Club. Once 13058 tied around its victim's neck, it strangles him gently and then claims 13059 the insurance before running off to Germany where it lives in hiding. 13060 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 13061 % 13062 "The pyramid is opening!" 13063 "Which one?" 13064 "The one with the ever-widening hole in it!" 13065 -- The Firesign Theatre, "How Can You Be In Two Places At 13066 Once When You're Not Anywhere At All" 13067 % 13068 The qotc (quote of the con) was Liz's: 13069 "My brain is paged out to my liver" 13070 % 13071 The question is, why are politicians so eager to be president? What is 13072 it about the job that makes it worth revealing, on national television, 13073 that you have the ethical standards of a slime-coated piece of 13074 industrial waste? 13075 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics" 13076 % 13077 The rain it raineth on the just 13078 And also on the unjust fella, 13079 But chiefly on the just, because 13080 The unjust steals the just's umbrella. 13081 --Lord Bowen 13082 % 13083 The reader this message encounters not failing to understand is 13084 cursed. 13085 % 13086 The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much. 13087 % 13088 The reason it's called "Grape Nuts" is that it contains "dextrose", 13089 which is also sometimes called "grape sugar", and also because "Grape 13090 Nuts" is catchier, in terms of marketing, than "A Cross Between Gerbil 13091 Food and Gravel", which is what it tastes like. 13092 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's" 13093 % 13094 The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one 13095 persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all 13096 progress depends on the unreasonable man. 13097 -- George Bernard Shaw 13098 % 13099 The revolution will not be televised. 13100 % 13101 The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. 13102 -- Emerson 13103 % 13104 The rhino is a homely beast, 13105 For human eyes he's not a feast. 13106 Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros, 13107 I'll stare at something less prepoceros. 13108 -- Ogden Nash 13109 % 13110 The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This 13111 means that only left handed people are in their right mind. 13112 % 13113 The Right Honorable Gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests 13114 and to his imagination for his facts. 13115 -- Sheridan 13116 % 13117 The right to revolt has sources deep in our history. 13118 -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas 13119 % 13120 The rights you have are the rights given you by this Committee [the 13121 House Un-American Activities Committee]. We will determine what rights 13122 you have and what rights you have not got. 13123 -- J. Parnell Thomas 13124 % 13125 The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And littered with 13126 sloppy analysis! 13127 % 13128 The Roman Rule 13129 The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the 13130 one who is doing it. 13131 % 13132 The Ruffed Pandanga of Borneo and Rotherham spreads out his feathers in 13133 his courtship dance and imitates Winston Churchill and Tommy Cooper on 13134 one leg. The padanga is dying out because the female padanga doesn't 13135 take it too seriously. 13136 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 13137 % 13138 The rule on staying alive as a forecaster is to give 'em a number or 13139 give 'em a date, but never give 'em both at once. 13140 -- Jane Bryant Quinn 13141 % 13142 "The Schizophrenic: An Unauthorized Autobiography" 13143 % 13144 The Schwine-Kitzenger Institute study of 47 men over the age of 100 13145 showed that all had these things in common: 13146 13147 (1) They all had moderate appetites. 13148 (2) They all came from middle class homes 13149 (3) All but two of them were dead. 13150 % 13151 The scum also rises. 13152 -- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson 13153 % 13154 The seven deadly sins ... Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, 13155 respectability and children. Nothing can lift those seven millstones 13156 from Man's neck but money; and the spirit cannot soar until the 13157 millstones are lifted. 13158 -- George Bernard Shaw 13159 % 13160 The seven eyes of Ningauble the Wizard floated back to his hood 13161 as he reported to Fafhrd: "I have seen much, yet cannot explain all. 13162 The Gray Mouser is exactly twenty-five feet below the deepest cellar in 13163 the palace of Gilpkerio Kistomerces. Even though twenty-four parts in 13164 twenty-five of him are dead, he is alive. 13165 13166 "Now about Lankhmar. She's been invaded, her walls breached 13167 everywhere and desperate fighting is going on in the streets, by a 13168 fierce host which out-numbers Lankhmar's inhabitants by fifty to one -- 13169 and equipped with all modern weapons. Yet you can save the city." 13170 13171 "How?" demanded Fafhrd. 13172 13173 Ningauble shrugged. "You're a hero. You should know." 13174 -- Fritz Leiber, from "The Swords of Lankhmar" 13175 % 13176 The sheep that fly over your head are soon to land. 13177 % 13178 The shortest distance between two points is under construction. 13179 -- Noelie Alito 13180 % 13181 The Sixth Commandment of Frisbee: 13182 The greatest single aid to distance is for the disc to be going 13183 in a direction you did not want. (Goes the wrong way = Goes a long 13184 way.) 13185 -- Dan Roddick 13186 % 13187 The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity 13188 and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted 13189 activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy ... 13190 neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. 13191 % 13192 The sooner all the animals are dead, the sooner we'll find their 13193 money. 13194 -- Ed Bluestone, "The National Lampoon" 13195 % 13196 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up! 13197 % 13198 The sooner you make your first 5000 mistakes, the sooner you will be 13199 able to correct them. 13200 -- Nicolaides 13201 % 13202 The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears. 13203 % 13204 The Soviet pre-eminence in chess can be traced to the average Russian's 13205 readiness to brood obsessively over anything, even the arrangement of 13206 some pieces of wood. Indeed, the Russians' predisposition for quiet 13207 reflection followed by sudden preventive action explains why they led 13208 the field for many years in both chess and ax murders. It is well 13209 known that as early as 1970, the U.S.S.R., aware of what a defeat at 13210 Reykjavik would do to national prestige, implemented a vigorous program 13211 of preparation and incentive. Every day for an entire year, a team of 13212 psychologists, chess analysts and coaches met with the top three 13213 Russian grand masters and threatened them with a pointy stick. That 13214 these tactics proved fruitless is now a part of chess history and a 13215 further testament to the American way, which provides that if you want 13216 something badly enough, you can always go to Iceland and get it from 13217 the Russians. 13218 -- Marshall Brickman, Playboy, April, 1973 13219 % 13220 "Yoda", by "Weird Al" Yankovic; 13221 Sung to the tune of "Lola", by the Kinks: 13222 13223 I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah 13224 Where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda 13225 S-O-D-A soda 13226 I saw the little runt sitting there on a log 13227 I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda 13228 Y-O-D-A Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda 13229 13230 Well I've been around but I ain't never seen 13231 A guy who looks like a Muppet but he's wrinkled and green 13232 Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda 13233 Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand 13234 How he can raise me in the air just by raising his hand 13235 Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda 13236 % 13237 The state law of Pennsylvania prohibits singing in the bathtub. 13238 % 13239 The steady state of disks is full. 13240 -- Ken Thompson 13241 % 13242 THE STORY OF CREATION 13243 or 13244 THE MYTH OF URK 13245 13246 In the beginning there was data. The data was without form and null, 13247 and darkness was upon the face of the console; and the Spirit of IBM 13248 was moving over the face of the market. And DEC said, "Let there be 13249 registers"; and there were registers. And DEC saw that they carried; 13250 and DEC separated the data from the instructions. DEC called the data 13251 Stack, and the instructions they called Code. And there was evening 13252 and there was morning, one interrupt. 13253 -- Rico Tudor 13254 % 13255 The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make 13256 them unsafe. 13257 -- Mayor Frank Rizzo 13258 % 13259 The student in question is performing minimally for his peer group and 13260 is an emerging underachiever. 13261 % 13262 The study of non-linear physics is like the study of non-elephant 13263 biology. 13264 % 13265 The subspace _W inherits the other 8 properties of _V. And there aren't 13266 even any property taxes. 13267 -- J. MacKay, Mathematics 134b 13268 % 13269 The sum of the Universe is zero. 13270 % 13271 The sun was shining on the sea, 13272 Shining with all his might: 13273 He did his very best to make 13274 The billows smooth and bright -- 13275 And this was very odd, because it was 13276 The middle of the night. 13277 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" 13278 % 13279 The superfluous is very necessary. 13280 -- Voltaire 13281 % 13282 The surest protection against temptation is cowardice. 13283 -- Mark Twain 13284 % 13285 The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our 13286 authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as 13287 the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as 13288 the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much 13289 radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much 13290 as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we 13291 receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the 13292 Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will 13293 heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to 13294 the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much 13295 heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for 13296 radiation, (_H/_E)^4 = 50, where _E is the absolute temperature of the 13297 earth (-300K), gives _H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell 13298 cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the 13299 fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which 13300 burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means 13301 that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We 13302 have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C. 13303 -- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972 13304 % 13305 The Third Law of Photography: 13306 If you did manage to get any good shots, they will be ruined 13307 when someone inadvertently opens the darkroom door and all of the dark 13308 leaks out. 13309 % 13310 The Three Laws of Thermodynamics: 13311 13312 The First Law: You can't get anything without working for it. 13313 The Second Law: The most you can accomplish by working is to break 13314 even. 13315 The Third Law: You can only break even at absolute zero. 13316 % 13317 The Three Major Kind of Tools 13318 13319 * Tools for hittings things to make them loose or to tighten them up or 13320 jar their many complex, sophisticated electrical parts in such a 13321 manner that they function perfectly. (These are your hammers, maces, 13322 bludgeons, and truncheons.) 13323 13324 * Tools that, if dropped properly, can penetrate your foot. (Awls) 13325 13326 * Tools that nobody should ever use because the potential danger is far 13327 greater than the value of any project that could possibly result. 13328 (Power saws, power drills, power staplers, any kind of tool that uses 13329 any kind of power more advanced than flashlight batteries.) 13330 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 13331 % 13332 The trouble with a kitten is that 13333 When it grows up, it's always a cat 13334 -- Ogden Nash 13335 % 13336 The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time. 13337 % 13338 The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate 13339 it. 13340 -- Franklin P. Jones 13341 % 13342 The trouble with being punctual is that people think you have nothing 13343 more important to do. 13344 % 13345 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody 13346 appreciates how difficult it was. 13347 % 13348 The trouble with superheros is what to do between phone booths. 13349 -- Ken Kesey 13350 % 13351 The truth is what is; what should be is a dirty lie. 13352 -- Lenny Bruce 13353 % 13354 The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. 13355 And vice versa. 13356 % 13357 The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks 13358 Which practically conceal its sex. 13359 I think it clever of the turtle 13360 In such a fix to be so fertile. 13361 -- Ogden Nash 13362 % 13363 The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. 13364 % 13365 The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more 13366 annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation. 13367 -- Oscar Wilde 13368 % 13369 The United States also has its native Fascists who say that they are 13370 "100 percent American"... 13371 -- U. S. Army (1945) 13372 % 13373 The United States is like the guy at the party who gives cocaine to 13374 everybody and still nobody likes him. 13375 -- Jim Samuels 13376 % 13377 The universe does not have laws -- it has habits, and habits can be 13378 broken. 13379 % 13380 The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination -- but the 13381 combination is locked up in the safe. 13382 -- Peter DeVries 13383 % 13384 The University of California Bears announced the signing of Reggie 13385 Philbin to a letter of intent to attend Cal next Fall. Philbin is said 13386 to make up for no talent by cheating well. Says Philbin of his 13387 decision to attend Cal, "I'm in it for the free ride." 13388 % 13389 The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and 13390 religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging 13391 from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its 13392 yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledygook than the rest of the 13393 world put together. 13394 -- Sir Peter Medawar 13395 % 13396 The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be 13397 regarded as a criminal offense. 13398 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5 13399 % 13400 The verdict of a jury is the a priori opinion of that juror who smokes 13401 the worst cigars. 13402 -- H. L. Mencken 13403 % 13404 The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid 13405 prejudice. 13406 -- Mark Twain 13407 % 13408 The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. 13409 Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts 13410 to fit their views ... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to 13411 be one of the facts that needs altering. 13412 -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil" 13413 % 13414 The wages of sin are death; but after they're done taking out taxes, 13415 it's just a tired feeling: 13416 % 13417 The wages of sin are high but you get your money's worth. 13418 % 13419 The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity 13420 that would be clearly understood. 13421 -- Alexander Haig 13422 % 13423 The way to make a small fortune in the commodities market is to start 13424 with a large fortune. 13425 % 13426 THE WOMBAT 13427 13428 The wombat lives across the seas, 13429 Among the far Antipodes. 13430 He may exist on nuts and berries, 13431 Or then again, on missionaries; 13432 His distant habitat precludes 13433 Conclusive knowledge of his moods. 13434 But I would not engage the wombat 13435 In any form of mortal combat. 13436 % 13437 The world is coming to an end ... SAVE YOUR BUFFERS!!! 13438 % 13439 The world is coming to an end! Repent and return those library books! 13440 % 13441 The world is coming to an end. Please log off. 13442 % 13443 The world's as ugly as sin, 13444 And almost as delightful. 13445 -- Frederick Locker-Lampson 13446 % 13447 The years of peak mental activity are undoubtedly between the ages of 13448 four and eighteen. At four we know all the questions, at eighteen all 13449 the answers. 13450 % 13451 Then a man said: Speak to us of Expectations. 13452 13453 He then said: If a man does not see or hear the waters of the Jordan, 13454 then he should not taste the pomegranate or ply his wares in an open 13455 market. 13456 13457 If a man would not labour in the salt and rock quarries then he should 13458 not accept of the Earth that which he refuses to give of himself. 13459 13460 Such a man would expect a pear of a peach tree. 13461 Such a man would expect a stone to lay an egg. 13462 Such a man would expect Sears to assemble a lawnmower. 13463 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit" 13464 % 13465 Then here's to the City of Boston, 13466 The town of the cries and the groans. 13467 Where the Cabots can't see the Kabotschniks, 13468 And the Lowells won't speak to the Cohns. 13469 -- Franklin Pierce Adams 13470 % 13471 THEORY 13472 Into love and out again, 13473 Thus I went and thus I go. 13474 Spare your voice, and hold your pen: 13475 Well and bitterly I know 13476 All the songs were ever sung, 13477 All the words were ever said; 13478 Could it be, when I was young, 13479 Someone dropped me on my head? 13480 -- Dorothy Parker 13481 % 13482 There *__is* intelligent life on Earth, but I leave for Texas on Monday. 13483 % 13484 There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, 13485 and praiseworthy ... 13486 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 13487 % 13488 There are many intelligent species in the universe. They all own 13489 cats. 13490 % 13491 There are no data that cannot be plotted on a straight line if the axes 13492 are chosen correctly. 13493 % 13494 There are no games on this system. 13495 % 13496 There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the 13497 existence of a "hottest part" implies a temperature difference, and any 13498 marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat 13499 engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is 13500 obviously impossible. 13501 -- Richard Davisson 13502 % 13503 There are people so addicted to exaggeration 13504 that they can't tell the truth without lying. 13505 -- Josh Billings 13506 % 13507 There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a 13508 vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone. 13509 -- Gloria Steinem 13510 % 13511 There are some goyisha names that just about guarantee that 13512 someone isn't Jewish. For example, you'll never meet a Jew named 13513 Johnson or Wright or Jones or Sinclair or Ricks or Stevenson or Reid or 13514 Larsen or Jenks. But some goyisha names just about guarantee that 13515 every other person you meet with that name will be Jewish. Why is 13516 this? 13517 Who knows? Learned rabbis have pondered this question for 13518 centuries and have failed to come up with an answer, and you think ___you 13519 can find one? Get serious. You don't even understand why it's 13520 forbidden to eat crab -- fresh cold crab with mayonnaise -- or lobster 13521 -- soft tender morsels of lobster dipped in melted butter. You don't 13522 even understand a simple thing like that, and yet you hope to discover 13523 why there are more Jews named Miller than Katz? Fat Chance. 13524 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish" 13525 % 13526 There are some micro-organisms that exhibit characteristics of both 13527 plants and animals. When exposed to light they undergo photosynthesis; 13528 and when the lights go out, they turn into animals. But then again, 13529 don't we all? 13530 % 13531 There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells 13532 and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated 13533 pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving 13534 them parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you 13535 stick your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your 13536 intelligence. 13537 -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VII 13538 % 13539 There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. 13540 -- Disraeli 13541 % 13542 There are three possibilities: 13543 Pioneer's solar panel has turned away from the sun; 13544 there's a large meteor blocking transmission; or 13545 someone loaded Star Trek 3.2 into our video processor. 13546 % 13547 There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be 13548 offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin 13549 a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount 13550 of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of 13551 affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately. 13552 When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating. 13553 Under no circumstances can the food be omitted. 13554 -- Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior 13555 % 13556 There are three principal ways to lose money: wine, women, and 13557 engineers. While the first two are more pleasant, the third is by far 13558 the more certain. 13559 -- Baron Rothschild, ca. 1800 13560 % 13561 There are three schools of magic. One: State a tautology, then ring 13562 the changes on its corollaries; that's philosophy. Two: Record many 13563 facts. Try to find a pattern. Then make a wrong guess at the next 13564 fact; that's science. Three: Be aware that you live in a malevolent 13565 Universe controlled by Murphy's Law, sometimes offset by Brewster's 13566 Factor; that's engineering. 13567 % 13568 There are three things I always forget. Names, faces -- the third I 13569 can't remember. 13570 -- Italo Svevo 13571 % 13572 There are three ways to get something done: 13573 (1) Do it yourself. 13574 (2) Hire someone to do it for you. 13575 (3) Forbid your kids to do it. 13576 % 13577 There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire 13578 someone, or forbid your kids to do it. 13579 % 13580 There are times when truth is stranger than fiction and lunch time is 13581 one of them. 13582 % 13583 There are two kinds of solar-heat systems: "passive" systems collect 13584 the sunlight that hits your home, and "active" systems collect the 13585 sunlight that hits your neighbors' homes, too. 13586 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler" 13587 % 13588 There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good 13589 sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more. 13590 -- Woody Allen 13591 % 13592 There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to 13593 make is so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the 13594 other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious 13595 deficiencies. 13596 -- C. A. R. Hoare 13597 % 13598 There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the 13599 other is to read Pope. 13600 -- Oscar Wilde 13601 % 13602 There are two ways to write error-free programs. Only the third one 13603 works. 13604 % 13605 There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a 13606 suitable application of high explosives. 13607 % 13608 There can be no twisted thought without a twisted molecule. 13609 -- R. W. Gerard 13610 % 13611 There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. 13612 -- Henry Kissinger 13613 % 13614 There exist tasks which cannot be done by more than 10 men or fewer 13615 than 100. 13616 -- Steele's Law 13617 % 13618 There has been an alarming increase in the number of things you know 13619 nothing about. 13620 % 13621 There is a certain impertinence in allowing oneself to be burned for an 13622 opinion. 13623 -- Anatole France 13624 % 13625 There is a great discovery still to be made in Literature: that of 13626 paying literary men by the quantity they do NOT write. 13627 % 13628 There is a green, multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder. 13629 % 13630 There is a Massachusetts law requiring all dogs to have their hind legs 13631 tied during the month of April. 13632 % 13633 There is a natural hootchy-kootchy to a goldfish. 13634 -- Walt Disney 13635 % 13636 There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly 13637 what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly 13638 disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and 13639 inexplicable. 13640 13641 There is another theory which states that this has already happened. 13642 13643 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 13644 % 13645 There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum. 13646 -- Arthur C. Clarke 13647 % 13648 There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. 13649 -- Mark Twain 13650 % 13651 There is no realizable power that man cannot, in time, fashion the 13652 tools to attain, nor any power so secure that the naked ape will not 13653 abuse it. So it is written in the genetic cards -- only physics and 13654 war hold him in check. And also the wife who wants him home by five, 13655 of course. 13656 -- Encyclopedia Apocryphia, 1990 ed. 13657 % 13658 There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. 13659 -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, World Future Society 13660 Convention, 1977 13661 % 13662 There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it. 13663 -- G. B. Shaw 13664 % 13665 There is no substitute for good manners, except, perhaps, fast reflexes. 13666 % 13667 There is no such thing as fortune. Try again. 13668 % 13669 There is no time like the pleasant. 13670 % 13671 There is no time like the present for postponing what you ought to be 13672 doing. 13673 % 13674 There is no TRUTH. There is no REALITY. There is no CONSISTENCY. 13675 There are no ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS I'm very probably wrong. 13676 % 13677 "There is nothing which cannot be answered by means of my doctrine," 13678 said a monk, coming into a teahouse where Nasrudin sat. "And yet just 13679 a short time ago, I was challenged by a scholar with an unanswerable 13680 question," said Nasrudin. "I could have answered it if I had been 13681 there." "Very well. He asked, 'Why are you breaking into my house in 13682 the middle of the night?'" 13683 % 13684 There is nothing wrong with Southern California that a rise in the 13685 ocean level wouldn't cure. 13686 -- Ross MacDonald 13687 % 13688 There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and 13689 that is not being talked about. 13690 -- Oscar Wilde 13691 % 13692 There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale 13693 returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. 13694 -- Mark Twain 13695 % 13696 There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. 13697 -- C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia 13698 % 13699 There was a plane crash over mid-ocean, and only three survivors were 13700 left in the life-raft: the Pope, the President, and Mayor Daley. 13701 Unfortunately, it was a one-man life-raft, and quickly sinking, so they 13702 started debating who should be allowed to stay. 13703 13704 The Pope pointed out that he was the spiritual leader of millions all 13705 over the world, the President explained that if he died then America 13706 would be stuck with the Vice-President, and so forth. Then Mayor Daley 13707 said, "Look! We're not solving anything like this! The only fair 13708 thing to do is to vote on it." So they did, and Mayor Daley won by 97 13709 votes. 13710 % 13711 There was an interesting development in the CBS-Westmoreland trial: 13712 both sides agreed that after the trial, Andy Rooney would be allowed to 13713 talk to the jury for three minutes about little things that annoyed him 13714 during the trial. 13715 -- David Letterman 13716 % 13717 There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of 13718 the two had the following record: the Vietnam War, Watergate, double- 13719 digit inflation, fuel and energy shortages, bankrupt airlines, and the 13720 8-cent postcard. The second was responsible for such things as the 13721 transistor, the solar cell, lasers, synthetic crystals, high fidelity 13722 stereo recording, sound motion pictures, radio astronomy, negative 13723 feedback, magnetic tape, magnetic "bubbles", electronic switching 13724 systems, microwave radio and TV relay systems, information theory, the 13725 first electrical digital computer, and the first communications 13726 satellite. Guess which one got to tell the other how to run the 13727 telephone business? 13728 % 13729 There's a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad it's not 13730 a fence. 13731 % 13732 There's an old proverb that says just about whatever you want it to. 13733 % 13734 There's little in taking or giving, 13735 There's little in water or wine: 13736 This living, this living, this living, 13737 Was never a project of mine. 13738 Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is 13739 The gain of the one at the top, 13740 For art is a form of catharsis, 13741 And love is a permanent flop, 13742 And work is the province of cattle, 13743 And rest's for a clam in a shell, 13744 So I'm thinking of throwing the battle -- 13745 Would you kindly direct me to hell? 13746 -- Dorothy Parker 13747 % 13748 There's no easy quick way out, we're gonna have to live through our 13749 whole lives, win, lose, or draw. 13750 -- Walt Kelly 13751 % 13752 There's no future in time travel. 13753 % 13754 There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. 13755 -- Dr. Who 13756 % 13757 There's no real need to do housework -- after four years it doesn't get 13758 any worse. 13759 % 13760 There's no room in the drug world for amateurs. 13761 % 13762 There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government 13763 working for you. 13764 -- Will Rodgers 13765 % 13766 There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and 13767 dead armadillos. 13768 -- Jim Hightower, Texas Agricultural Commissioner 13769 % 13770 There's nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them 13771 won't aggravate. 13772 % 13773 There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn 13774 what it is I'll get married again. 13775 -- Clint Eastwood 13776 % 13777 There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is 13778 becoming an endangered synthetic. 13779 -- Lily Tomlin 13780 % 13781 "These are DARK TIMES for all mankind's HIGHEST VALUES!" 13782 "These are DARK TIMES for FREEDOM and PROSPERITY!" 13783 "These are GREAT TIMES to put your money on BAD GUY to kick the CRAP 13784 out of MEGATON MAN!" 13785 % 13786 These days the necessities of life cost you about three times what they 13787 used to, and half the time they aren't even fit to drink. 13788 % 13789 They also surf who only stand on waves. 13790 % 13791 They make a desert and call it peace. 13792 -- Tacitus (55?-120?) 13793 % 13794 They spell it "da Vinci" and pronounce it "da Vinchy". Foreigners 13795 always spell better than they pronounce. 13796 -- Mark Twain 13797 % 13798 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary 13799 safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. 13800 -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 13801 % 13802 They told me I was gullible ... and I believed them! 13803 % 13804 They told me you had proven it When they discovered our results 13805 About a month before. Their hair began to curl 13806 The proof was valid, more or less Instead of understanding it 13807 But rather less than more. We'd run the thing through PRL. 13808 13809 He sent them word that we would try Don't tell a soul about all this 13810 To pass where they had failed For it must ever be 13811 And after we were done, to them A secret, kept from all the rest 13812 The new proof would be mailed. Between yourself and me. 13813 13814 My notion was to start again 13815 Ignoring all they'd done 13816 We quickly turned it into code 13817 To see if it would run. 13818 % 13819 They're only trying to make me LOOK paranoid! 13820 % 13821 They're unfriendly, which is fortunate, really. They'd be difficult to like. 13822 -- Avon 13823 % 13824 Things are more like they used to be than they are now. 13825 % 13826 Things will be bright in P.M. A cop will shine a light in your face. 13827 % 13828 Think big. Pollute the Mississippi. 13829 % 13830 Think honk if you're a telepath. 13831 % 13832 Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.! 13833 % 13834 Think of your family tonight. Try to crawl home after the computer 13835 crashes. 13836 % 13837 Think twice before speaking, but don't say "think think click click". 13838 % 13839 "Thirty days hath Septober, 13840 April, June, and no wonder. 13841 all the rest have peanut butter 13842 except my father who wears red suspenders." 13843 % 13844 This Fortue Examined By INSPECTOR NO. 2-14 13845 % 13846 This fortune cookie program is out of order. For those in desperate need, 13847 please use the program "________randchar". This program generates random 13848 characters, and, given enough time, will undoubtedly come up with 13849 something profound. It will, however, take it no time at all to be 13850 more profound than THIS program has ever been. 13851 % 13852 This fortune intentionally not included. 13853 % 13854 This fortune is false. 13855 % 13856 This fortune is inoperative. Please try another. 13857 % 13858 This is a country where people are free to practice their religion, 13859 regardless of race, creed, color, obesity, or number of dangling keys... 13860 % 13861 This is a job for BOB VIOLENCE and SCUM, the INCREDIBLY STUPID MUTANT DOG. 13862 -- Bob Violence 13863 % 13864 This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an 13865 actual emergency, do you really think we'd stick around to tell you? 13866 % 13867 This is an especially good time for you vacationers who plan to fly, 13868 because the Reagan administration, as part of the same policy under 13869 which it recently sold Yellowstone National Park to Wayne Newton, has 13870 "deregulated" the airline industry. What this means for you, the 13871 consumer, is that the airlines are no longer required to follow any 13872 rules whatsoever. They can show snuff movies. They can charge for 13873 oxygen. They can hire pilots right out of Vending Machine Refill 13874 Person School. They can conserve fuel by ejecting husky passengers 13875 over water. They can ram competing planes in mid-air. These 13876 innovations have resulted in tremendous cost savings which have been 13877 passed along to you, the consumer, in the form of flights with 13878 amazingly low fares, such as $29. Of course, certain restrictions do 13879 apply, the main one being that all these flights take you to Newark, 13880 and you must pay thousands of dollars if you want to fly back out. 13881 -- Dave Barry, "Iowa -- Land of Secure Vacations" 13882 % 13883 This is an unauthorized cybernetic announcement. 13884 % 13885 This is for all ill-treated fellows 13886 Unborn and unbegot, 13887 For them to read when they're in trouble 13888 And I am not. 13889 -- A. E. Housman 13890 % 13891 This is lemma 1.1. We start a new chapter so the numbers all go back 13892 to one. 13893 -- Prof. Seager, C&O 351 13894 % 13895 This is National Non-Dairy Creamer Week. 13896 % 13897 THIS IS PLEDGE WEEK FOR THE FORTUNE PROGRAM 13898 13899 If you like the fortune program, why not support it now with your 13900 contribution of a pithy fortune, clean or obscene? We cannot continue 13901 without your support. Less than 14% of all fortune users are 13902 contributors. That means that 86% of you are getting a free ride. We 13903 can't go on like this much longer. Federal cutbacks mean less money 13904 for fortunes, and unless user contributions increase to make up the 13905 difference, the fortune program will have to shut down between midnight 13906 and 8 a.m. Don't let this happen. Mail your fortunes right now to 13907 "fortune". Just type in your favorite pithy saying. Do it now before 13908 you forget. Our target is 300 new fortunes by the end of the week. 13909 Don't miss out. All fortunes will be acknowledged. If you contribute 13910 30 fortunes or more, you will receive a free subscription to "The 13911 Fortune Hunter", our monthly program guide. If you contribute 50 or 13912 more, you will receive a free "Fortune Hunter" coffee mug .... 13913 % 13914 This is the ____LAST time I take travel suggestions from Ray Bradbury! 13915 % 13916 This is the first numerical problem I ever did. It demonstrates the 13917 power of computers: 13918 13919 Enter lots of data on calorie & nutritive content of foods. Instruct 13920 the thing to maximize a function describing nutritive content, with a 13921 minimum level of each component, for fixed caloric content. The 13922 results are that one should eat each day: 13923 13924 1/2 chicken 13925 1 egg 13926 1 glass of skim milk 13927 27 heads of lettuce. 13928 -- Rev. Adrian Melott 13929 % 13930 This is the story of the bee 13931 Whose sex is very hard to see 13932 13933 You cannot tell the he from the she 13934 But she can tell, and so can he 13935 13936 The little bee is never still 13937 She has no time to take the pill 13938 13939 And that is why, in times like these 13940 There are so many sons of bees. 13941 % 13942 This is your fortune. 13943 % 13944 This land is full of trousers! 13945 this land is full of mausers! 13946 And pussycats to eat them when the sun goes down! 13947 -- The Firesign Theatre 13948 % 13949 This land is made of mountains, 13950 This land is made of mud, 13951 This land has lots of everything, 13952 For me and Elmer Fudd. 13953 13954 This land has lots of trousers, 13955 This land has lots of mousers, 13956 And pussycats to eat them 13957 When the sun goes down. 13958 % 13959 This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been an actual life, 13960 you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where 13961 to go. 13962 % 13963 This login session: $13.99, but for you $11.88 13964 % 13965 This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with 13966 great force. 13967 -- Dorothy Parker 13968 % 13969 This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of 13970 the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many 13971 solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were 13972 largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, 13973 which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of 13974 paper that were unhappy. 13975 -- Douglas Adams 13976 % 13977 This process can check if this value is zero, and if it is, it does 13978 something child-like. 13979 -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454 13980 % 13981 This quote is taken from the Diamondback, the University of Maryland 13982 student newspaper, of Tuesday, 3/10/87. 13983 13984 One disadvantage of the Univac system is that it does not use 13985 Unix, a recently developed program which translates from one 13986 computer language to another and has a built-in editing system 13987 which identifies errors in the original program. 13988 % 13989 This sentence contradicts itself -- no actually it doesn't. 13990 -- Douglas Hofstadter 13991 % 13992 ... This striving for excellence extends into people's personal lives 13993 as well. When '80s people buy something, they buy the best one, as 13994 determined by (1) price and (2) lack of availability. Eighties people 13995 buy imported dental floss. They buy gourmet baking soda. If an '80s 13996 couple goes to a restaurant where they have made a reservation three 13997 weeks in advance, and they are informed that their table is available, 13998 they stalk out immediately, because they know it is not an excellent 13999 restaurant. If it were, it would have an enormous crowd of 14000 excellence-oriented people like themselves waiting, their beepers going 14001 off like crickets in the night. An excellent restaurant wouldn't have 14002 a table ready immediately for anybody below the rank of Liza Minnelli. 14003 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence" 14004 % 14005 This will be a memorable month -- no matter how hard you try to forget it. 14006 % 14007 Thompson, if he is to be believed, has sampled the entire 14008 rainbow of legal and illegal drugs in heroic efforts to feel better 14009 than he does. 14010 As for the truth about his health: I have asked around about 14011 it. I am told that he appears to be strong and rosy, and steadily 14012 sane. But we will be doing what he wants us to do, I think, if we 14013 consider his exterior a sort of Dorian Gray facade. Inwardly, he is 14014 being eaten alive by tinhorn politicians. 14015 The disease is fatal. There is no known cure. The most we can 14016 do for the poor devil, it seems to me, is to name his disease in his 14017 honor. From this moment on, let all those who feel that Americans can 14018 be as easily led to beauty as to ugliness, to truth as to public 14019 relations, to joy as to bitterness, be said to be suffering from Hunter 14020 Thompson's disease. I don't have it this morning. It comes and goes. 14021 This morning I don't have Hunter Thompson's disease. 14022 -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson: Excerpt 14023 from "A Political Disease", Vonnegut's review of "Fear 14024 and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" 14025 % 14026 Those of you who think you know everything are very annoying to those 14027 of us who do. 14028 % 14029 Those who can't write, write manuals. 14030 % 14031 Those who can, do. Those who can't, simulate. 14032 % 14033 Those who do not do politics will be done in by politics. 14034 -- French Proverb 14035 % 14036 Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly. 14037 -- Henry Spencer 14038 % 14039 Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, 14040 for these only gave life, those the art of living well. 14041 -- Aristotle 14042 % 14043 Those who express random thoughts to legislative committees are often 14044 surprised and appalled to find themselves the instigators of law. 14045 -- Mark B. Cohen 14046 % 14047 Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose. 14048 % 14049 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible 14050 will make violent revolution inevitable. 14051 -- John F. Kennedy 14052 % 14053 Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are 14054 men who want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean 14055 without the roar of its many waters. 14056 -- Frederick Douglass 14057 % 14058 Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are 14059 the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with 14060 Haeckel, the condensation or precipitation of matter from ether -- 14061 whose existence is proved by the condensation or precipitation ... A 14062 fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any 14063 more about the matter than the others. 14064 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 14065 % 14066 Time flies like an arrow 14067 Fruit flies like a banana 14068 % 14069 Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. 14070 % 14071 Time is an illusion; lunchtime, doubly so. 14072 -- Ford Prefect 14073 % 14074 Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at 14075 once. 14076 % 14077 'Tis the dream of each programmer, 14078 Before his life is done, 14079 To write three lines of APL, 14080 And make the damn things run. 14081 % 14082 (to "The Caissons Go Rolling Along") 14083 Scratch the disks, dump the core, Shut it down, pull the plug 14084 Roll the tapes across the floor, Give the core an extra tug 14085 And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash. 14086 Teletypes smashed to bits. Mem'ry cards, one and all, 14087 Give the scopes some nasty hits Toss out halfway down the hall 14088 And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash. 14089 And we've also found Just flip one switch 14090 When you turn the power down, And the lights will cease to twitch 14091 You turn the disk readers into trash. And the tape drives will crumble 14092 in a flash. 14093 Oh, it's so much fun, When the CPU 14094 Now the CPU won't run Can print nothing out but "foo," 14095 And the system is going to crash. The system is going to crash. 14096 % 14097 To A Quick Young Fox: 14098 Why jog exquisite bulk, fond crazy vamp, 14099 Daft buxom jonquil, zephyr's gawky vice? 14100 Guy fed by work, quiz Jove's xanthic lamp -- 14101 Zow! Qualms by deja vu gyp fox-kin thrice. 14102 -- Lazy Dog 14103 % 14104 To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated but not be able to say it. 14105 % 14106 To be is to do. 14107 -- I. Kant 14108 To do is to be. 14109 -- A. Sartre 14110 Yabba-Dabba-Doo! 14111 -- F. Flintstone 14112 % 14113 To be responsive at this time, though I will simply say, and therefore 14114 this is a repeat of what I said previously, that which I am unable to 14115 offer in response is based on information available to make no such 14116 statement. 14117 % 14118 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, 14119 call it the target. 14120 % 14121 To err is human, to forgive is Not Company Policy. 14122 % 14123 To err is human, to forgive, beyond the scope of the Operating System 14124 % 14125 To err is human, to moo bovine. 14126 % 14127 To every Ph.D. there is an equal and opposite Ph.D. 14128 -- B. Duggan 14129 % 14130 To generalize is to be an idiot. 14131 -- William Blake 14132 % 14133 To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three 14134 men, two of them absent. 14135 % 14136 To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. 14137 -- Thomas Edison 14138 % 14139 To iterate is human, to recurse, divine. 14140 -- Robert Heller 14141 % 14142 To the best of my recollection, Senator, I can't recall. 14143 % 14144 To the systems programmer, users and applications serve only to provide 14145 a test load. 14146 % 14147 To those accustomed to the precise, structured methods of conventional 14148 system development, exploratory development techniques may seem messy, 14149 inelegant, and unsatisfying. But it's a question of congruence: 14150 precision and flexibility may be just as dysfunctional in novel, 14151 uncertain situations as sloppiness and vacillation are in familiar, 14152 well-defined ones. Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structures 14153 of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very 14154 secure ecological niche. 14155 -- Beau Sheil, "Power Tools for Programmers" 14156 % 14157 To understand this important story, you have to understand how the 14158 telephone company works. Your telephone is connected to a local 14159 computer, which is in turn connected to a regional computer, which is 14160 in turn connected to a loudspeaker the size of a garbage truck on the 14161 lawn of Edna A. Bargewater of Lawrence, Kan. 14162 14163 Whenever you talk on the phone, your local computer listens in. If it 14164 suspects you're going to discuss an intimate topic, it notifies the 14165 computer above it, which listens in and decides whether to alert the 14166 one above it, until finally, if you really humiliate yourself, maybe 14167 break down in tears and tell your closest friend about a sordid 14168 incident from your past involving a seedy motel, a neighbor's spouse, 14169 an entire religious order, a garden hose and six quarts of tapioca 14170 pudding, the top computer feeds your conversation into Edna's 14171 loudspeaker, and she and her friends come out on the porch to listen 14172 and drink gin and laugh themselves silly. 14173 -- Dave Barry, "Won't It Be Just Great Owning Our Own 14174 Phones?" 14175 % 14176 To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question ... or is it? 14177 % 14178 To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition. 14179 -- Woody Allen 14180 % 14181 Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official. 14182 % 14183 Today is National Existential Ennui Awareness Day. 14184 % 14185 Today is the first day of the rest of the mess. 14186 % 14187 Today is the first day of the rest of your lossage. 14188 % 14189 Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. 14190 % 14191 Today's scientific question is: What in the world is electricity? 14192 14193 And where does it go after it leaves the toaster? 14194 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?" 14195 % 14196 Today's thrilling story has been brought to you by Mushies, the great new 14197 cereal that gets soggy even without milk or cream. Join us soon for more 14198 spectacular adventure starring ... Tippy, the Wonder Dog. 14199 -- Bob & Ray 14200 % 14201 Today, of course, it is considered very poor taste to use the F-word 14202 except in major motion pictures. 14203 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!" 14204 % 14205 Toilet Toup'ee, n.: 14206 Any shag carpet that causes the lid to become top-heavy, thus 14207 creating endless annoyance to male users. 14208 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 14209 % 14210 Tomorrow will be canceled due to lack of interest. 14211 % 14212 Tonight's the night: Sleep in a eucalyptus tree. 14213 % 14214 Too clever is dumb. 14215 -- Ogden Nash 14216 % 14217 Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL. 14218 -- Mae West 14219 % 14220 Too much of everything is just enough. 14221 -- Bob Wier 14222 % 14223 Too often I find that the volume of paper expands to fill the available 14224 briefcases. 14225 -- Governor Jerry Brown 14226 % 14227 Top 10 things likely to be overheard if you had a Klingon Programmer: 14228 10) Specifications are for the weak and timid! 14229 9) You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand! 14230 8) Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull! 14231 7) What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'. 14232 Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality 14233 assurance people in its wake. 14234 6) Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments' 14235 - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM. 14236 5) Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak. 14237 4) A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code! 14238 3) Klingon software does NOT have BUGS. It has FEATURES, and those features 14239 are too sophisticated for a Romulan pig like you to understand. 14240 2) You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the 14241 original Klingon. 14242 1) Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! 14243 Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are! 14244 % 14245 Top scientists agree that with the present rate of consumption, the 14246 earth's supply of gravity will be exhausted before the 24th century. 14247 As man struggles to discover cheaper alternatives, we need your help. 14248 Please... 14249 14250 CONSERVE GRAVITY 14251 14252 Follow these simple suggestions: 14253 14254 (1) Walk with a light step. Carry helium balloons if possible. 14255 (2) Use tape, magnets, or glue instead of paperweights. 14256 (3) Give up skiing and skydiving for more horizontal sports like 14257 curling. 14258 (4) Avoid showers ... take baths instead. 14259 (5) Don't hang all your clothes in the closet ... Keep them in one big 14260 pile. 14261 (6) Stop flipping pancakes 14262 % 14263 Travel important today; Internal Revenue men arrive tomorrow. 14264 % 14265 Troubled day for virgins over 16 who are beautiful, wealthy, and live 14266 in eucalyptus trees. 14267 % 14268 Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence. 14269 -- Henrik Tikkanen 14270 % 14271 Truth is the most valuable thing we have -- so let us economize it. 14272 -- Mark Twain 14273 % 14274 Truth will be out this morning. (Which may really mess things up.) 14275 % 14276 Truthful, adj.: 14277 Dumb and illiterate. 14278 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 14279 % 14280 Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational. 14281 -- Charles Schulz 14282 % 14283 Try to be the best of whatever you are, even if what you are is no good. 14284 % 14285 Try to find the real tense of the report you are reading: Was it done, 14286 is it being done, or is something to be done? Reports are now written 14287 in four tenses: past tense, present tense, future tense, and 14288 pretense. Watch for novel uses of CONGRAM (CONtractor GRAMmer), 14289 defined by the imperfect past, the insufficient present, and the 14290 absolutely perfect future. 14291 -- Amrom Katz 14292 % 14293 Try to get all of your posthumous medals in advance. 14294 % 14295 Trying to be happy is like trying to build a machine for which the only 14296 specification is that it should run noiselessly. 14297 % 14298 Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. 14299 -- Alan Watts 14300 % 14301 Trying to establish voice contact ... please ____yell into keyboard. 14302 % 14303 Turnaucka's Law: 14304 The attention span of a computer is only as long as its 14305 electrical cord. 14306 % 14307 Tussman's Law: 14308 Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come. 14309 % 14310 TV is chewing gum for the eyes. 14311 -- Frank Lloyd Wright 14312 % 14313 'Twas midnight, and the UNIX hacks 14314 Did gyre and gimble in their cave 14315 All mimsy was the CS-VAX 14316 And Cory raths outgrabe. 14317 14318 "Beware the software rot, my son! 14319 The faults that bite, the jobs that thrash! 14320 Beware the broken pipe, and shun 14321 The frumious system crash!" 14322 % 14323 'Twas the Night before Crisis 14324 14325 'Twas the night before crisis, and all through the house, 14326 Not a program was working not even a browse. 14327 The programmers were wrung out too mindless to care, 14328 Knowing chances of cutover hadn't a prayer. 14329 The users were nestled all snug in their beds, 14330 While visions of inquiries danced in their heads. 14331 When out in the lobby there arose such a clatter, 14332 I sprang from my tube to see what was the matter. 14333 And what to my wondering eyes should appear, 14334 But a Super Programmer, oblivious to fear. 14335 More rapid than eagles, his programs they came, 14336 And he whistled and shouted and called them by name; 14337 On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete! 14338 On Batch Jobs! On Closing! On Functions Complete! 14339 His eyes were glazed over, his fingers were lean, 14340 From Weekends and nights in front of a screen. 14341 A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head, 14342 Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread... 14343 % 14344 'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period 14345 preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, And 14346 throughout our place of residence, 14347 Kinetic activity was not in evidence among the 14348 possessors of this potential, including that 14349 species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. 14350 Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward 14351 edge of the woodburning caloric apparatus, 14352 Pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an 14353 imminent visitation from an eccentric 14354 philanthropist among whose folkloric appelations 14355 is the honorific title of St. Nicklaus ... 14356 % 14357 Twenty Percent of Zero is Better than Nothing. 14358 -- Walt Kelly 14359 % 14360 Two can Live as Cheaply as One for Half as Long. 14361 -- Howard Kandel 14362 % 14363 Two men came before Nasrudin when he was magistrate. The first man 14364 said, "This man has bitten my ear -- I demand compensation." The 14365 second man said, "He bit it himself." Nasrudin withdrew to his 14366 chambers, and spent an hour trying to bite his own ear. He succeeded 14367 only in falling over and bruising his forehead. Returning to the 14368 courtroom, Nasrudin pronounced, "Examine the man whose ear was bitten. 14369 If his forehead is bruised, he did it himself and the case is 14370 dismissed. If his forehead is not bruised, the other man did it and 14371 must pay three silver pieces." 14372 % 14373 Two percent of zero is almost nothing. 14374 % 14375 Two sure ways to tell a sexy male; the first is, he has a bad memory. 14376 I forget the second. 14377 % 14378 Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do. 14379 % 14380 U: There's a U -- a Unicorn! 14381 Run right up and rub its horn. 14382 Look at all those points you're losing! 14383 UMBER HULKS are so confusing. 14384 -- The Roguelet's ABC 14385 % 14386 "Ubi non accusator, ibi non judex." 14387 14388 (Where there is no police, there is no speed limit.) 14389 -- Roman Law, trans. Petr Beckmann (1971) 14390 % 14391 UFO's are for real: the Air Force doesn't exist. 14392 % 14393 "Uncle Cosmo ... why do they call this a word processor?" 14394 14395 "It's simple, Skyler ... you've seen what food processors do to food, 14396 right?" 14397 -- MacNelley, "Shoe" 14398 % 14399 Uncle Ed's Rule of Thumb: 14400 Never use your thumb for a rule. You'll either hit it with a 14401 hammer or get a splinter in it. 14402 % 14403 Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a 14404 just man is also a prison. 14405 % 14406 Under deadline pressure for the next week. If you want something, it 14407 can wait. Unless it's blind screaming paroxysmally hedonistic ... 14408 % 14409 Underlying Principle of Socio-Genetics: 14410 Superiority is recessive. 14411 % 14412 Unfair animal names: 14413 14414 -- tsetse fly -- bullhead 14415 -- booby -- duck-billed platypus 14416 -- sapsucker -- Clarence 14417 -- Gary Larson 14418 % 14419 United Nations, New York, December 25. The peace and joy of the 14420 Christmas season was marred by a proclamation of a general strike of 14421 all the military forces of the world. Panic reigns in the hearts of 14422 all the patriots of every persuasion. 14423 14424 Meanwhile, fears of universal disaster sank to an all-time low over the 14425 world. 14426 -- Isaac Asimov 14427 % 14428 Universe, n.: 14429 The problem. 14430 % 14431 University, n.: 14432 Like a software house, except the software's free, and it's 14433 usable, and it works, and if it breaks they'll quickly tell you how to 14434 fix it, and ... 14435 % 14436 unix soit qui mal y pense 14437 % 14438 UNIX was half a billion (500000000) seconds old on 14439 Tue Nov 5 00:53:20 1985 GMT (measuring since the time(2) epoch). 14440 -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum 14441 % 14442 Unnamed Law: 14443 If it happens, it must be possible. 14444 % 14445 Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out 14446 twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. 14447 -- H. L. Mencken 14448 % 14449 Usage: fortune -P [] -a [xsz] [Q: [file]] [rKe9] -v6[+] dataspec ... inputdir 14450 % 14451 User n.: 14452 A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. 14453 % 14454 USER, n.: 14455 The word computer professionals use when they mean "idiot." 14456 -- Dave Barry, "Claw Your Way to the Top" 14457 % 14458 Using TSO is like kicking a dead whale down the beach. 14459 -- S. C. Johnson 14460 % 14461 Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, 14462 opulence is when you have three -- and paradise is when you have none. 14463 -- Doug Larson 14464 % 14465 Vail's Second Axiom: 14466 The amount of work to be done increases in proportion to the 14467 amount of work already completed. 14468 % 14469 Valerie: Aww, Tom, you're going maudlin on me ... 14470 Tom: I reserve the right to wax maudlin as I wane eloquent ... 14471 -- Tom Chapin 14472 % 14473 Van Roy's Law: 14474 An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys. 14475 % 14476 Vanilla, adj.: 14477 Ordinary flavor, standard. See FLAVOR. When used of food, 14478 very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla 14479 extract! For example, "vanilla-flavored won ton soup" (or simply 14480 "vanilla won ton soup") means ordinary won ton soup, as opposed to hot 14481 and sour won ton soup. 14482 % 14483 Velilind's Laws of Experimentation: 14484 (1) If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only 14485 once. 14486 (2) If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data 14487 points. 14488 % 14489 Veni, Vidi, Visa. 14490 % 14491 "Verily and forsooth," replied Goodgulf darkly. "In the past 14492 year strange and fearful wonders I have seen. Fields sown with barley 14493 reap crabgrass and fungus, and even small gardens reject their 14494 artichoke hearts. There has been a hot day in December and a blue 14495 moon. Calendars are made with a month of Sundays and a blue-ribbon 14496 Holstein bore alive two insurance salesmen. The earth splits and the 14497 entrails of a goat were found tied in square knots. The face of the 14498 sun blackens and the skies have rained down soggy potato chips." 14499 14500 "But what do all these things mean?" gasped Frito. 14501 14502 "Beats me," said Goodgulf with a shrug, "but I thought it made 14503 good copy." 14504 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings" 14505 % 14506 Very few profundities can be expressed in less than 80 characters. 14507 % 14508 Vila: "I think I have just made the biggest mistake of my life." 14509 Orac: "It is unlikely. I would predict there are far greater mistakes 14510 waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it." 14511 % 14512 Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. 14513 -- Salvor Hardin 14514 % 14515 Virginia law forbids bathtubs in the house; tubs must be kept in the 14516 yard. 14517 % 14518 VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22) 14519 Learn something new today, like how to spell or how to count to 14520 ten without using your fingers. Be careful dressing this 14521 morning. You may be hit by a car later in the day and you 14522 wouldn't want to be taken to the doctor's office in some of 14523 that old underwear you own. 14524 % 14525 VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22) 14526 You are the logical type and hate disorder. This nitpicking is 14527 sickening to your friends. You are cold and unemotional and 14528 sometimes fall asleep while making love. Virgos make good bus 14529 drivers. 14530 % 14531 "Virtual" means never knowing where your next byte is coming from. 14532 % 14533 Virtue is its own punishment. 14534 % 14535 Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by spontaneously moving 14536 from where you left them to where you can't find them. 14537 % 14538 Vitamin C deficiency is apauling. 14539 % 14540 VMS is like a nightmare about RSX-11M. 14541 % 14542 Vote anarchist. 14543 % 14544 Vote for ME -- I'm well-tapered, half-cocked, ill-conceived and 14545 TAX-DEFERRED! 14546 % 14547 VYARZERZOMANIMORORSEZASSEZANSERAREORSES? 14548 % 14549 14550 *** System shutdown message from root *** 14551 14552 System going down in 60 seconds 14553 14554 14555 % 14556 Wagner's music is better than it sounds. 14557 -- Mark Twain 14558 % 14559 Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?" 14560 1st customer: "I'll have tea." 14561 2nd customer: "Me, too -- and be sure the glass is clean!" 14562 (Waiter exits, returns) 14563 Waiter: "Two teas. Which one asked for the clean glass?" 14564 % 14565 Walk softly and carry a megawatt laser. 14566 % 14567 War hath no fury like a non-combatant. 14568 -- Charles Edward Montague 14569 % 14570 War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ketchup is a vegetable. 14571 % 14572 WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL: 14573 14574 Firings will continue until morale improves. 14575 % 14576 WARNING: 14577 Reading this fortune can affect the dimensionality of your 14578 mind, change the curvature of your spine, cause the growth of hair on 14579 your palms, and make a difference in the outcome of your favorite war. 14580 % 14581 Warning: Listening to WXRT on April Fools' Day is not recommended for 14582 those who are slightly disoriented the first few hours after waking 14583 up. 14584 -- Chicago Reader 4/22/83 14585 % 14586 Warp 7 -- It's a law we can live with. 14587 % 14588 Washington [D.C.] is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm. 14589 -- John F. Kennedy 14590 % 14591 Waste not, get your budget cut next year. 14592 % 14593 Wasting time is an important part of living. 14594 % 14595 Watson's Law: 14596 The reliability of machinery is inversely proportional to the 14597 number and significance of any persons watching it. 14598 % 14599 We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which 14600 divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being 14601 correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough. 14602 -- Niels Bohr 14603 % 14604 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. 14605 -- Oscar Wilde 14606 % 14607 We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glowworm. 14608 -- Winston Churchill 14609 % 14610 We ARE as gods and might as well get good at it. 14611 -- Whole Earth Catalog 14612 % 14613 We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities. 14614 -- Walt Kelly, "Pogo" 14615 % 14616 We are going to give a little something, a few little years more, to 14617 socialism, because socialism is defunct. It dies all by itself. The 14618 bad thing is that socialism, being a victim of its ... Did I say 14619 socialism? 14620 -- Fidel Castro 14621 % 14622 We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem. 14623 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 14624 % 14625 We are upping our standards ... so up yours. 14626 -- Pat Paulsen for President, 1988 14627 % 14628 We can defeat gravity. The problem is the paperwork involved. 14629 % 14630 We can predict everything, except the future. 14631 % 14632 We cannot put the face of a person on a stamp unless said person is 14633 deceased. My suggestion, therefore, is that you drop dead. 14634 -- James E. Day, Postmaster General 14635 % 14636 We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty! 14637 -- Vroomfondel 14638 % 14639 We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company. 14640 % 14641 We don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't a 14642 fish. 14643 % 14644 We don't understand the software, and sometimes we don't understand the 14645 hardware, but we can *___see* the blinking lights! 14646 % 14647 We gave you an atomic bomb, what do you want, mermaids? 14648 -- I. I. Rabi to the Atomic Energy Commission 14649 % 14650 We had it tough ... I had to get up at 9 o'clock at night, half an 14651 hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of dry poison, work 29 hours down 14652 mill, and when we came home our Dad would kill us, and dance about on 14653 our grave singing Haleleuia ... 14654 -- Monty Python 14655 % 14656 We have met the enemy, and he is us. 14657 -- Walt Kelly 14658 % 14659 We have only two things to worry about: That things will never get 14660 back to normal, and that they already have. 14661 % 14662 We have reason to believe that man first walked upright to free his 14663 hands for masturbation. 14664 -- Lily Tomlin 14665 % 14666 We have the flu. I don't know if this particular strain has an 14667 official name, but if it does, it must be something like "Martian Death 14668 Flu". You may have had it yourself. The main symptom is that you wish 14669 you had another setting on your electric blanket, up past "HIGH", that 14670 said "ELECTROCUTION". 14671 14672 Another symptom is that you cease brushing your teeth, because (a) your 14673 teeth hurt, and (b) you lack the strength. Midway through the brushing 14674 process, you'd have to lie down in front of the sink to rest for a 14675 couple of hours, and rivulets of toothpaste foam would dribble sideways 14676 out of your mouth, eventually hardening into crusty little toothpaste 14677 stalagmites that would bond your head permanently to the bathroom 14678 floor, which is how the police would find you. 14679 14680 You know the kind of flu I'm talking about. 14681 -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide" 14682 % 14683 We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all 14684 purely intellectual fields. But which are the best ones to start 14685 with? Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the 14686 playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is 14687 best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can 14688 buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English. 14689 -- Alan M. Turing 14690 % 14691 We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always 14692 respect their good judgement. 14693 % 14694 We must remember the First Amendment which protects any shrill jackass 14695 no matter how self-seeking. 14696 -- F. G. Withington 14697 % 14698 We ought to be very grateful that we have tools. Millions of years ago 14699 people did not have them, and home projects were extremely difficult. 14700 For example, when a primitive person wanted to put up paneling, he had 14701 to drive the little paneling nails into the cave wall with his bare 14702 fist, so generally the paneling wound up getting spattered with 14703 primitive blood, which isn't really all that bad when you consider how 14704 ugly paneling is to begin with. 14705 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 14706 % 14707 We really don't have any enemies. It's just that some of our best 14708 friends are trying to kill us. 14709 % 14710 We were young and our happiness dazzled us with its strength. 14711 But there was also a terrible betrayal that lay within me like a Merle 14712 Haggard song at a French restaurant. ... 14713 I could not tell the girl about the woman of the tollway, of 14714 her milk white BMW and her Jordache smile. There had been a fight. I 14715 had punched her boyfriend, who fought the mechanical bulls. Everyone 14716 told him, "You ride the bull, senor. You do not fight it." But he was 14717 lean and tough like a bad rib-eye and he fought the bull. And then he 14718 fought me. And when we finished there were no winners, just men doing 14719 what men must do. ... 14720 "Stop the car," the girl said. There was a look of terrible 14721 sadness in her eyes. She knew about the woman of the tollway. I knew 14722 not how. I started to speak, but she raised an arm and spoke with a 14723 quiet and peace I will never forget. 14724 "I do not ask for whom's the tollway belle," she said, "the 14725 tollway belle's for thee." 14726 The next morning our youth was a memory, and our happiness was 14727 a lie. Life is like a bad margarita with good tequila, I thought as I 14728 poured whiskey onto my granola and faced a new day. 14729 -- Peter Applebome, International Imitation Hemingway 14730 Competition 14731 % 14732 We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one 14733 technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through a meter. 14734 % 14735 We will invent new lullabies, new songs, new acts of love, 14736 we will cry over things we used to laugh & 14737 our new wisdom will bring tears to eyes of gentile 14738 creatures from other planets who were afraid of us till then & 14739 in the end a summer with wild winds & 14740 new friends will be. 14741 % 14742 We wish you a Hare Krishna 14743 We wish you a Hare Krishna 14744 We wish you a Hare Krishna 14745 And a Sun Myung Moon! 14746 -- Maxwell Smart 14747 % 14748 We'll cross out that bridge when we come back to it later. 14749 % 14750 We're deep into the holiday gift-giving season, as you can tell from 14751 the fact that everywhere you look, you see jolly old St. Nick urging 14752 you to purchase things, to the point where you want to slug him right 14753 in his bowl full of jelly. 14754 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts" 14755 % 14756 We're only in it for the volume. 14757 -- Black Sabbath 14758 % 14759 We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center 14760 of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week, 14761 but for some reason nobody's ever done it. 14762 -- Andy Rooney 14763 % 14764 Weiler's Law: 14765 Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself. 14766 % 14767 Weinberg's First Law: 14768 Progress is made on alternate Fridays. 14769 % 14770 Weinberg's Principle: 14771 An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while 14772 sweeping on to the grand fallacy. 14773 % 14774 Weinberg's Second Law: 14775 If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, 14776 then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. 14777 % 14778 Weiner's Law of Libraries: 14779 There are no answers, only cross references. 14780 % 14781 Welcome thy neighbor into thy fallout shelter. He'll come in handy if 14782 you run out of food. 14783 -- Dean McLaughlin 14784 % 14785 Well, here it is, 1983, so it won't be long before you start reading a 14786 lot of boring stories about people like Vance Hartke. Hartke is a 14787 governor or mayor or something from one of the flatter states, and the 14788 reason you'll be reading about him is that he's one of the 50 top 14789 contenders for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. These men 14790 will spend the next 18 months going around the country engaging in the 14791 most degrading activities imaginable, such as wearing idiot hats and 14792 appearing on "Meet the Press". "Meet the Press" is one of those Sunday 14793 morning public interest shows that the public is not the least bit 14794 interested in. It features a panel of reporters who ask questions of a 14795 guest politician, who wins an Amana home freezer if he can get through 14796 the entire show without answering a single question ... 14797 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics" 14798 % 14799 Well, I would -- if they realized that we -- again if -- if we led them 14800 back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds, 14801 or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they 14802 they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off. 14803 -- President Ronald Reagan, on the MX missile 14804 % 14805 Well, if you can't believe what you read in a comic book, what *___can* 14806 you believe?! 14807 -- Bullwinkle J. Moose [Jay Ward] 14808 % 14809 Well, my terminal's locked up, and I ain't got any Mail, 14810 And I can't recall the last time that my program didn't fail; 14811 I've got stacks in my structs, I've got arrays in my queues, 14812 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues. 14813 14814 If you think that it's nice that you get what you C, 14815 Then go : illogical statement with your whole family, 14816 'Cause the Supreme Court ain't the only place with : Bus error views. 14817 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues. 14818 14819 On a PDP-11, life should be a breeze, 14820 But with VAXen in the house even magnetic tapes would freeze. 14821 Now you might think that unlike VAXen I'd know who I abuse, 14822 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues. 14823 -- Core Dumped Blues 14824 % 14825 "Well, that was a piece of cake, eh K-9?" 14826 14827 "Piece of cake, Master? Radial slice of baked confection ... 14828 coefficient of relevance to Key of Time: zero." 14829 -- Dr. Who 14830 % 14831 "Well," Brahma said, "even after ten thousand explanations, a fool is 14832 no wiser, but an intelligent man requires only two thousand five 14833 hundred." 14834 -- The Mahabharata 14835 % 14836 Westheimer's Discovery: 14837 A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a 14838 couple of hours in the library. 14839 % 14840 Wethern's Law: 14841 Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups. 14842 % 14843 "What are we going to do?" 14844 14845 "Me, I'm examining the major Western religions. I'm looking for 14846 something that's soft on morality, generous with holidays, and has a 14847 short initiation period." 14848 % 14849 "What are you doing?" 14850 14851 "Examining the world's major religions. I'm looking for something 14852 that's light on morals, has lots of holidays, and with a short 14853 initiation period." 14854 % 14855 What color is a chameleon on a mirror? 14856 % 14857 "What do you give a man who has everything?" the pretty 14858 teenager asked her mother. 14859 "Encouragement, dear," she replied. 14860 % 14861 What does "it" mean in the sentence "What time is it?"? 14862 % 14863 What does it mean if there is no fortune for you? 14864 % 14865 What garlic is to food, insanity is to art. 14866 % 14867 What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art. 14868 % 14869 What George Washington did for us was to throw out the British, so 14870 that we wouldn't have a fat, insensitive government running our 14871 country. Nice try anyway, George. 14872 -- D. J. on KSFO/KYA 14873 % 14874 What good is a ticket to the good life, if you can't find the 14875 entrance? 14876 % 14877 What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow 14878 in his footsteps? 14879 % 14880 What I do, first thing [in the morning], is I hop into the shower 14881 stall. Then I hop right back out, because when I hopped in I landed 14882 barefoot right on top of See Threepio, a little plastic robot character 14883 from "Star Wars" whom my son, Robert, likes to pull the legs off of 14884 while he showers. Then I hop right back into the stall because our 14885 dog, Earnest, who has been alone in the basement all night building up 14886 powerful dog emotions, has come bounding and quivering into the 14887 bathroom and wants to greet me with 60 or 70 thousand playful nips, any 14888 one of which -- bear in mind that I am naked and, without my contact 14889 lenses, essentially blind -- could result in the kind of injury where 14890 you have to learn a whole new part if you want to sing the "Messiah", 14891 if you get my drift. Then I hop right back out, because Robert, with 14892 that uncanny sixth sense some children have -- you cannot teach it; 14893 they either have it or they don't -- has chosen exactly that moment to 14894 flush one of the toilets. Perhaps several of them. 14895 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face" 14896 % 14897 What I tell you three times is true. 14898 % 14899 What I think is that the F-word is basically just a convenient nasty- 14900 sounding word that we tend to use when we would really like to come up 14901 with a terrifically witty insult, the kind Winston Churchill always 14902 came up with when enormous women asked him stupid questions at 14903 parties. 14904 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!" 14905 % 14906 What I want is all of the power and none of the responsibility. 14907 % 14908 What I've done, of course, is total garbage. 14909 -- R. Willard, Pure Math 430a 14910 % 14911 What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I 14912 definitely overpaid for my carpet. 14913 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers" 14914 % 14915 What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's 14916 worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists? 14917 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers" 14918 % 14919 What is a magician but a practicing theorist? 14920 -- Obi-Wan Kenobi 14921 % 14922 What is mind? No matter. 14923 What is matter? Never mind. 14924 -- Thomas Hewitt Key, 1799-1875 14925 % 14926 What is the difference between a Turing machine and the modern 14927 computer? It's the same as that between Hillary's ascent of Everest 14928 and the establishment of a Hilton on its peak. 14929 % 14930 "What is the Nature of God?" 14931 14932 CLICK...CLICK...WHIRRR...CLICK...=BEEP!= 14933 1 QT. SOUR CREAM 14934 1 TSP. SAUERKRAUT 14935 1/2 CUT CHIVES. 14936 STIR AND SPRINKLE WITH BACON BITS. 14937 14938 "I've just GOT to start labeling my software..." 14939 -- Bloom County 14940 % 14941 What is the robbing of a bank compared to the FOUNDING of a bank? 14942 -- Bertolt Brecht 14943 % 14944 What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, 14945 which is the exact opposite. 14946 -- Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical_Essays", 1928 14947 % 14948 What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to do. 14949 % 14950 What makes the universe so hard to comprehend is that there's nothing 14951 to compare it with. 14952 % 14953 What publishers are looking for these days isn't radical feminism. 14954 It's corporate feminism -- a brand of feminism designed to sell books 14955 and magazines, three-piece suits, airline tickets, Scotch, cigarettes 14956 and, most important, corporate America's message, which runs: "Yes, 14957 women were discriminated against in the past, but that unfortunate 14958 mistake has been remedied; now every woman can attain wealth, prestige 14959 and power by dint of individual rather than collective effort." 14960 -- Susan Gordon 14961 % 14962 What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? 14963 -- Ursula K. LeGuin 14964 % 14965 What the hell, go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket. 14966 % 14967 What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away. 14968 % 14969 What the world *really* needs is a good Automatic Bicycle Sharpener. 14970 % 14971 What this country needs is a dime that will buy a good five-cent bagel. 14972 % 14973 What this country needs is a good five cent ANYTHING! 14974 % 14975 What this country needs is a good five cent microcomputer. 14976 % 14977 What this country needs is a good five cent nickel. 14978 % 14979 What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon. 14980 % 14981 What this world needs is a good five-dollar plasma weapon. 14982 % 14983 What use is magic if it can't save a unicorn? 14984 -- Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn" 14985 % 14986 What we need in this country, instead of Daylight Savings Time, which 14987 nobody really understands anyway, is a new concept called Weekday 14988 Morning Time, whereby at 7 a.m. every weekday we go into a space- 14989 launch-style "hold" for two to three hours, during which it just 14990 remains 7 a.m. This way we could all wake up via a civilized gradual 14991 process of stretching and belching and scratching, and it would still 14992 be only 7 a.m. when we were ready to actually emerge from bed. 14993 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!" 14994 % 14995 What you don't know can hurt you, only you won't know it. 14996 % 14997 What's another word for Thesaurus? 14998 -- Steven Wright 14999 % 15000 "What's that thing?" 15001 "Well, it's a highly technical, sensitive instrument we use in 15002 computer repair. Being a layman, you probably can't grasp exactly what 15003 it does. We call it a two-by-four." 15004 -- Jeff MacNelley, "Shoe" 15005 % 15006 What's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it? 15007 -- Dr. Who 15008 % 15009 Whatever became of eternal truth? 15010 % 15011 Whatever became of Strange de Jim? Well, he found a substitute for 15012 cocaine: "You cover Q-tips with sandpaper and ram them up your nostrils 15013 as far as they will go. Then you sniff talcum powder while shredding 15014 hundred dollar bills." 15015 -- Herb Caen 15016 % 15017 Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not 15018 nailed down. 15019 -- Collis P. Huntingdon 15020 % 15021 Whatever the missing mass of the universe is, I hope it's not cockroaches! 15022 -- Mom 15023 % 15024 When a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him -- that's where the 15025 money is. 15026 -- Robespierre 15027 % 15028 When a fellow says, "It ain't the money but the principle of the 15029 thing," it's the money. 15030 -- Kim Hubbard 15031 % 15032 When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a half roll or a half 15033 loop? 15034 % 15035 When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is 15036 not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space 15037 travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere. 15038 -- Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love" 15039 % 15040 When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog along to see the 15041 sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain 15042 relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten. 15043 -- Robert Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" 15044 % 15045 When all other means of communication fail, try words. 15046 % 15047 When are you BUTTHEADS gonna learn that you can't oppose Gestapo 15048 tactics *with* Gestapo tactics? 15049 -- Reuben Flagg 15050 % 15051 When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before 15052 the white men came, an Indian said simply "Ours." 15053 -- Vine Deloria, Jr. 15054 % 15055 When does summertime come to Minnesota, you ask? Well, last year, I 15056 think it was a Tuesday. 15057 % 15058 When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to 15059 guarantee them. 15060 % 15061 When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great 15062 parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if 15063 I'm leaving. 15064 -- Steven Wright 15065 % 15066 When I heated my home with oil, I used an average of 800 gallons a 15067 year. I have found that I can keep comfortably warm for an entire 15068 winter with slightly over half that quantity of beer. 15069 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler" 15070 % 15071 When I said "we", officer, I was referring to myself, the four young 15072 ladies, and, of course, the goat. 15073 % 15074 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now 15075 I'm beginning to believe it. 15076 -- Clarence Darrow 15077 % 15078 When I was a kid I said to my father one afternoon, "Daddy, will you 15079 take me to the zoo?" He answered, "If the zoo wants you let them come 15080 and get you." 15081 -- Jerry Lewis 15082 % 15083 When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any 15084 firearms with me. I said, `Well, what do you need?' 15085 -- Steven Wright 15086 % 15087 When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into 15088 the soul of the boy sitting next to me. 15089 -- Woody Allen 15090 % 15091 When I was seven years old, I was once reprimanded by my mother for an 15092 act of collective brutality in which I had been involved at school. A 15093 group of seven-year-olds had been teasing and tormenting a 15094 six-year-old. "It is always so," my mother said. "You do things 15095 together which not one of you would think of doing alone." ... 15096 Wherever one looks in the world of human organization, collective 15097 responsibility brings a lowering of moral standards. The military 15098 establishment is an extreme case, an organization which seems to have 15099 been expressly designed to make it possible for people to do things 15100 together which nobody in his right mind would do alone. 15101 -- Freeman Dyson, "Weapons and Hope" 15102 % 15103 When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened 15104 or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I 15105 cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to 15106 go to pieces like this but we all have to do it. 15107 -- Mark Twain 15108 % 15109 When in doubt, do what the President does -- guess. 15110 % 15111 When in doubt, tell the truth. 15112 -- Mark Twain 15113 % 15114 When in doubt, use brute force. 15115 -- Ken Thompson 15116 % 15117 When in panic, fear and doubt, 15118 Drink in barrels, eat, and shout. 15119 % 15120 When love is gone, there's always justice. 15121 And when justice is gone, there's always force. 15122 And when force is gone, there's always Mom. 15123 Hi, Mom! 15124 -- Laurie Anderson 15125 % 15126 When Marriage is Outlawed, 15127 Only Outlaws will have Inlaws. 15128 % 15129 When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment 15130 results. 15131 -- Calvin Coolidge 15132 % 15133 When one woman was asked how long she had been going to symphony 15134 concerts, she paused to calculate and replied, "Forty-seven years -- 15135 and I find I mind it less and less." 15136 -- Louise Andrews Kent 15137 % 15138 When properly administered, vacations do not diminish productivity: 15139 for every week you're away and get nothing done, there's another when 15140 your boss is away and you get twice as much done. 15141 -- Daniel B. Luten 15142 % 15143 When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only 15144 say what I wish done," give him a lollipop. 15145 % 15146 When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical. 15147 -- Jon Carroll 15148 % 15149 When the government bureau's remedies don't match your problem, you 15150 modify the problem, not the remedy. 15151 % 15152 When the Ngdanga tribe of West Africa hold their moon love ceremonies, 15153 the men of the tribe bang their heads on sacred trees until they get a 15154 nose bleed, which usually cures them of ____that. 15155 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac" 15156 % 15157 When the speaker and he to whom he is speaks do not understand, that is 15158 metaphysics. 15159 -- Voltaire 15160 % 15161 When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the 15162 stars were lined up in their proper places, you could easily count them 15163 from left to right, or top to bottom, and the larger and bluer ones 15164 were set apart, and the smaller yellowing types pushed off to the 15165 corners as bodies of a lower grade ... 15166 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad" 15167 % 15168 When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the 15169 plane will fly. 15170 -- Donald Douglas 15171 % 15172 When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most 15173 insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are 15174 required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and 15175 exhausting condition continuously until death do them part. 15176 -- George Bernard Shaw 15177 % 15178 When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is 15179 not hereditary. 15180 -- Thomas Paine 15181 % 15182 When we understand knowledge-based systems, it will be as before -- 15183 except our fingertips will have been singed. 15184 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982 15185 % 15186 When you are about to do an objective and scientific piece of 15187 investigation of a topic, it is well to have the answer firmly in hand, 15188 so that you can proceed forthrightly, without being deflected or 15189 swayed, directly to the goal. 15190 -- Amrom Katz 15191 % 15192 When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut. 15193 % 15194 When you don't know what you are doing, do it neatly. 15195 % 15196 When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship. 15197 -- Harry S. Truman 15198 % 15199 When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure 15200 clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer 15201 to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively. 15202 In a way, the next move is up to him. 15203 -- R. A. Lafferty 15204 % 15205 When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite. 15206 -- Winston Churchill, on formal declarations of war 15207 % 15208 When you know absolutely nothing about the topic, make your forecast by 15209 asking a carefully selected probability sample of 300 others who don't 15210 know the answer either. 15211 -- Edgar R. Fiedler 15212 % 15213 When you make your mark in the world, watch out for guys with erasers. 15214 -- The Wall Street Journal 15215 % 15216 When you try to make an impression, the chances are that is the 15217 impression you will make. 15218 % 15219 When you're away, I'm restless, lonely, 15220 Wretched, bored, dejected; only 15221 Here's the rub, my darling dear 15222 I feel the same when you are near. 15223 -- Samuel Hoffenstein, "When You're Away" 15224 % 15225 When you're not looking at it, this fortune is written in FORTRAN. 15226 % 15227 Whenever anyone says, "theoretically", they really mean, "not really". 15228 -- Dave Parnas 15229 % 15230 Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to 15231 see it tried on him personally. 15232 -- A. Lincoln 15233 % 15234 Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. 15235 -- Oscar Wilde 15236 % 15237 Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last 15238 you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his 15239 Atlantic with his verb in his mouth. 15240 -- Mark Twain 15241 "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" 15242 % 15243 Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time 15244 to reform. 15245 -- Mark Twain 15246 % 15247 WHERE CAN THE MATTER BE 15248 15249 Oh, dear, where can the matter be 15250 When it's converted to energy? 15251 There is a slight loss of parity. 15252 Johnny's so long at the fair. 15253 % 15254 Where humor is concerned there are no standards -- no one can say what 15255 is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will. 15256 -- John Kenneth Galbraith 15257 % 15258 Where there's a will, there's an Inheritance Tax. 15259 % 15260 Whether you can hear it or not 15261 The Universe is laughing behind your back 15262 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata" 15263 % 15264 Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares? 15265 % 15266 While anyone can admit to themselves they were wrong, the true test is 15267 admission to someone else. 15268 % 15269 While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things, 15270 The fate of empires and the fall of kings; 15271 While quacks of State must each produce his plan, 15272 And even children lisp the Rights of Man; 15273 Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention, 15274 The Rights of Woman merit some attention. 15275 -- Robert Burns, Address on "The Rights of Woman", 15276 November 26, 1792 15277 % 15278 While having never invented a sin, I'm trying to perfect several. 15279 % 15280 While it may be true that a watched pot never boils, the one you don't 15281 keep an eye on can make an awful mess of your stove. 15282 -- Edward Stevenson 15283 % 15284 While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own 15285 form of misery. 15286 % 15287 While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position. 15288 % 15289 While most peoples' opinions change, the conviction of their 15290 correctness never does. 15291 % 15292 While you don't greatly need the outside world, it's still very 15293 reassuring to know that it's still there. 15294 % 15295 While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are 15296 safe, for you can watch both of his. 15297 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 15298 % 15299 Whistler's Law: 15300 You never know who is right, but you always know who is in 15301 charge. 15302 % 15303 Who cares if it doesn't do anything? It was made with our new 15304 Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ... 15305 % 15306 Who made the world I cannot tell; 15307 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. 15308 My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, 15309 I never soiled with such a deed. 15310 -- A. E. Housman 15311 % 15312 Who messed with my anti-paranoia shot? 15313 % 15314 Who needs friends when you can sit alone in your room and drink? 15315 % 15316 Who's on first? 15317 % 15318 "Whom are you?" said he, for he had been to night school. 15319 -- George Ade 15320 % 15321 Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad. 15322 % 15323 Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising. 15324 % 15325 Why are we importing all these highbrow plays like `Amadeus'? I could 15326 have told you Mozart was a jerk for nothing. 15327 -- Ian Shoales 15328 % 15329 Why be a man when you can be a success? 15330 -- Bertolt Brecht 15331 % 15332 Why bother building any more nuclear warheads until we use the ones we 15333 have? 15334 % 15335 Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else? 15336 % 15337 Why did the Lord give us so much quickness of movement unless it was to 15338 avoid responsibility with? 15339 % 15340 Why did the Roman Empire collapse? 15341 What is the Latin for office automation? 15342 % 15343 Why do we have two eyes? To watch 3-D movies with. 15344 % 15345 Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently 15346 there must be a beverage. 15347 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers" 15348 % 15349 Why does New Jersey have more toxic waste dumps and California have 15350 more lawyers? 15351 15352 New Jersey had first choice. 15353 % 15354 Why don't elephants eat penguins ? 15355 15356 Because they can't get the wrappers off ... 15357 % 15358 Why I Can't Go Out With You: 15359 15360 I'd LOVE to, but ... 15361 -- I have to floss my cat. 15362 -- I've dedicated my life to linguini. 15363 -- I need to spend more time with my blender. 15364 -- it wouldn't be fair to the other Beautiful People. 15365 -- it's my night to pet the dog/ferret/goldfish. 15366 -- I'm going downtown to try on some gloves. 15367 -- I have to check the freshness dates on my dairy products. 15368 -- I'm going down to the bakery to watch the buns rise. 15369 -- I have an appointment with a cuticle specialist. 15370 -- I have some really hard words to look up. 15371 -- I've got a Friends of the Lowly Rutabaga meeting. 15372 -- I promised to help a friend fold road maps. 15373 % 15374 Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is 15375 because we are not the person involved 15376 -- Mark Twain 15377 % 15378 Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song? 15379 % 15380 Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet? 15381 -- Lily Tomlin 15382 % 15383 Why must you tell me all your secrets when it's hard enough to love 15384 you knowing nothing? 15385 -- Lloyd Cole and the Commotions 15386 % 15387 Why not have an old-fashioned Christmas for your family this year? 15388 Just picture the scene in your living room on Christmas morning as your 15389 children open their old-fashioned presents. 15390 15391 Your 11-year-old son: "What the heck is this?" 15392 15393 You: "A spinning top! You spin it around, and then eventually it 15394 falls down. What fun! Ha, ha!" 15395 15396 Son: "Is this a joke? Jason Thompson's parents got him a computer 15397 with two disk drives and 128 kilobytes of random-access memory, 15398 and I get this cretin TOP?" 15399 15400 Your 8-year-old daughter: "You think that's bad? Look at this." 15401 15402 You: "It's figgy pudding! What a treat!" 15403 15404 Daughter: "It looks like goat barf." 15405 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts" 15406 % 15407 Why was I born with such contemporaries? 15408 -- Oscar Wilde 15409 % 15410 Why You Can't Run When There's Trouble in the Office: 15411 No matter where you stand, no matter how far or fast you flee, 15412 when it hits the fan, as much as possible will be propelled in your 15413 direction, and almost none will be returned to the source. 15414 -- John L. Shelton 15415 % 15416 Wiker's Law: 15417 Government expands to absorb revenue and then some. 15418 % 15419 William Safire's Rules for Writers: 15420 15421 Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never 15422 be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to 15423 agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words 15424 out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal 15425 of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must 15426 not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a 15427 conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a 15428 sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as 15429 close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more 15430 words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles 15431 must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a 15432 linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing 15433 metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should 15434 be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their 15435 writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows 15436 the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek 15437 viable alternatives. 15438 % 15439 Williams and Holland's Law: 15440 If enough data is collected, anything may be proven by 15441 statistical methods. 15442 % 15443 Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as 15444 it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. 15445 % 15446 Wit, n.: 15447 The salt with which the American Humorist spoils his cookery 15448 ... by leaving it out. 15449 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 15450 % 15451 With a gentleman I try to be a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I 15452 try to be a fraud and a half. 15453 -- Otto von Bismarck 15454 % 15455 With a rubber duck, one's never alone. 15456 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 15457 % 15458 With all the fancy scientists in the world, why can't they just once 15459 build a nuclear balm? 15460 % 15461 With every passing hour our solar system comes forty-three thousand 15462 miles closer to globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, and 15463 still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no 15464 such thing as progress. 15465 -- Ransom K. Ferm 15466 % 15467 With trembling hands he unfurled the ancient cracked parchment, 15468 this was the place, it had to be. Uncertainly he began to mumble the 15469 chant "rdbms, sql, third normal formal form, java, table, scalable". 15470 Something moved... From outside they heard a scream and a thud. 15471 The sales department had awoken. 15472 % 15473 Without ice cream life and fame are meaningless. 15474 % 15475 Wombat's Laws of Computer Selection: 15476 (1) If it doesn't run Unix, forget it. 15477 (2) Any computer design over 10 years old is obsolete. 15478 (3) Anything made by IBM is junk. (See number 2) 15479 (4) The minimum acceptable CPU power for a single user is a 15480 VAX/780 with a floating point accelerator. 15481 (5) Any computer with a mouse is worthless. 15482 -- Rich Kulawiec 15483 % 15484 Wood is highly ecological, since trees are a renewable resource. If 15485 you cut down a tree, another will grow in its place. And if you cut 15486 down the new tree, still another will grow. And if you cut down that 15487 tree, yet another will grow, only this one will be a mutation with 15488 long, poisonous tentacles and revenge in its heart, and it will sit 15489 there in the forest, cackling and making elaborate plans for when you 15490 come back. 15491 15492 Wood heat is not new. It dates back to a day millions of years ago, 15493 when a group of cavemen were sitting around, watching dinosaurs rot. 15494 Suddenly, lightning struck a nearby log and set it on fire. One of the 15495 cavemen stared at the fire for a few minutes, then said: "Hey! Wood 15496 heat!" The other cavemen, who did not understand English, immediately 15497 beat him to death with stones. But the key discovery had been made, 15498 and from that day forward, the cavemen had all the heat they needed, 15499 although their insurance rates went way up. 15500 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler" 15501 % 15502 Work Rule: Leave of Absence (for an Operation): 15503 We are no longer allowing this practice. We wish to discourage 15504 any thoughts that you may not need all of whatever you have, and you 15505 should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are, 15506 and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we 15507 bargained for. 15508 % 15509 Workers of the world, arise! You have nothing to lose but your chairs. 15510 % 15511 World War Three can be averted by adherence to a strictly enforced 15512 dress code! 15513 % 15514 Worst Month of 1981 for Downhill Skiing: 15515 August. The lines are the shortest, though. 15516 -- Steve Rubenstein 15517 % 15518 Worst Month of the Year: 15519 February. February has only 28 days in it, which means that if 15520 you rent an apartment, you are paying for three full days you don't 15521 get. Try to avoid Februarys whenever possible. 15522 -- Steve Rubenstein 15523 % 15524 Worst Response To A Crisis, 1985: 15525 From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved 15526 in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs 15527 damage my videotapes?" 15528 % 15529 Worst Vegetable of the Year: 15530 The brussels sprout. This is also the worst vegetable of next 15531 year. 15532 -- Steve Rubenstein 15533 % 15534 "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" 15535 15536 "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. 15537 -- Lewis Carroll 15538 % 15539 Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish 15540 and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer 15541 if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and 15542 and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and 15543 and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips? 15544 % 15545 Write-Protect Tab, n.: 15546 A small sticker created to cover the unsightly notch carelessly 15547 left by disk manufacturers. The use of the tab creates an error 15548 message once in a while, but its aesthetic value far outweighs the 15549 momentary inconvenience. 15550 -- Robb Russon 15551 % 15552 Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. 15553 -- Frank Zappa 15554 % 15555 "Wrong," said Renner. 15556 15557 "The tactful way," Rod said quietly, "the polite way to disagree with 15558 the Senator would be to say, `That turns out not to be the case.'" 15559 % 15560 X-rated movies are all alike -- the only thing they leave to the 15561 imagination is the plot. 15562 % 15563 Xerox does it again and again and again and ... 15564 % 15565 Xerox never comes up with anything original. 15566 % 15567 XIIdigitation, n.: 15568 The practice of trying to determine the year a movie was made 15569 by deciphering the Roman numerals at the end of the credits. 15570 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 15571 % 15572 "Yacc" owes much to a most stimulating collection of users, who have 15573 goaded me beyond my inclination, and frequently beyond my ability in 15574 their endless search for "one more feature". Their irritating 15575 unwillingness to learn how to do things my way has usually led to my 15576 doing things their way; most of the time, they have been right. 15577 -- Stephen C. Johnson, "Yacc guide acknowledgements" 15578 % 15579 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of APL, I shall 15580 fear no evil, for I can string six primitive monadic and dyadic 15581 operators together. 15582 -- Steve Higgins 15583 % 15584 Yeah, but you're taking the universe out of context. 15585 % 15586 Year, n.: 15587 A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments. 15588 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 15589 % 15590 Yes, but every time I try to see things your way, I get a headache. 15591 % 15592 Yes, but which self do you want to be? 15593 % 15594 Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. 15595 Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. 15596 Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement. 15597 -- Snoopy 15598 % 15599 Yesterday upon the stair 15600 I met a man who wasn't there. 15601 He wasn't there again today -- 15602 I think he's from the CIA. 15603 % 15604 Yield to Temptation ... it may not pass your way again. 15605 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 15606 % 15607 Yinkel, n.: 15608 A person who combs his hair over his bald spot, hoping no one 15609 will notice. 15610 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets" 15611 % 15612 You are a very redundant person, that's what kind of person you are. 15613 % 15614 You are here: 15615 *** 15616 *** 15617 ********* 15618 ******* 15619 ***** 15620 *** 15621 * 15622 15623 But you're not all there. 15624 % 15625 You are not illiterate. 15626 -- a Mary Chung's fortune cookie 15627 % 15628 "You are old, Father William," the young man said, 15629 "All your papers these days look the same; 15630 Those William's would be better unread -- 15631 Do these facts never fill you with shame?" 15632 15633 "In my youth," Father William replied to his son, 15634 "I wrote wonderful papers galore; 15635 But the great reputation I found that I'd won, 15636 Made it pointless to think any more." 15637 % 15638 "You are old, father William," the young man said, 15639 "And your hair has become very white; 15640 And yet you incessantly stand on your head -- 15641 Do you think, at your age, it is right?" 15642 15643 "In my youth," father William replied to his son, 15644 "I feared it might injure the brain; 15645 But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, 15646 Why, I do it again and again." 15647 -- Lewis Carroll 15648 % 15649 "You are old," said the youth, "and I'm told by my peers 15650 That your lectures bore people to death. 15651 Yet you talk at one hundred conventions per year -- 15652 Don't you think that you should save your breath?" 15653 15654 "I have answered three questions and that is enough," 15655 Said his father, "Don't give yourself airs! 15656 Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? 15657 Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!" 15658 % 15659 "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak 15660 For anything tougher than suet; 15661 Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak -- 15662 Pray, how did you manage to do it?" 15663 15664 "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, 15665 And argued each case with my wife; 15666 And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw, 15667 Has lasted the rest of my life." 15668 -- Lewis Carroll 15669 % 15670 "You are old," said the youth, "and your programs don't run, 15671 And there isn't one language you like; 15672 Yet of useful suggestions for help you have none -- 15673 Have you thought about taking a hike?" 15674 15675 "Since I never write programs," his father replied, 15676 "Every language looks equally bad; 15677 Yet the people keep paying to read all my books 15678 And don't realize that they've been had." 15679 % 15680 "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, 15681 And have grown most uncommonly fat; 15682 Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door -- 15683 Pray what is the reason of that?" 15684 15685 "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks, 15686 "I kept all my limbs very supple 15687 By the use of this ointment -- one shilling the box -- 15688 Allow me to sell you a couple?" 15689 -- Lewis Carroll 15690 % 15691 "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, 15692 And make errors few people could bear; 15693 You complain about everyone's English but yours -- 15694 Do you really think this is quite fair?" 15695 15696 "I make lots of mistakes," Father William declared, 15697 "But my stature these days is so great 15698 That no critic can hurt me -- I've got them all scared, 15699 And to stop me it's now far too late." 15700 % 15701 "You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose 15702 That your eye was as steady as ever; 15703 Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose -- 15704 What made you so awfully clever?" 15705 15706 "I have answered three questions, and that is enough," 15707 Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs! 15708 Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? 15709 Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!" 15710 -- Lewis Carroll 15711 % 15712 You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. 15713 % 15714 You are the only person to ever get this message. 15715 % 15716 You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend too much time reading 15717 this sort of trash. 15718 % 15719 You buttered your bread, now lie in it! 15720 % 15721 You can always tell the Christmas season is here when you start getting 15722 incredibly dense, tinfoil-and-ribbon- wrapped lumps in the mail. 15723 Fruitcakes make ideal gifts because the Postal Service has been unable 15724 to find a way to damage them. They last forever, largely because 15725 nobody ever eats them. In fact, many smart people save the fruitcakes 15726 they receive and send them back to the original givers the next year; 15727 some fruitcakes have been passed back and forth for hundreds of years. 15728 15729 The easiest way to make a fruitcake is to buy a darkish cake, then 15730 pound some old, hard fruit into it with a mallet. Be sure to wear 15731 safety glasses. 15732 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts" 15733 % 15734 You can bring any calculator you like to the midterm, as long as it 15735 doesn't dim the lights when you turn it on. 15736 -- Hepler, Systems Design 182 15737 % 15738 You can create your own opportunities this week. 15739 Blackmail a senior executive. 15740 % 15741 You can do this in a number of ways. IBM chose to do all of them. 15742 Why do you find that funny? 15743 -- D. Taylor, Computer Science 350, University of Washington 15744 % 15745 You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you 15746 can with just a kind word. 15747 -- Bumper Sticker 15748 % 15749 You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, 15750 for instance. 15751 -- Franklin P. Jones 15752 % 15753 You can make it illegal, but you can't make it unpopular. 15754 % 15755 You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on 15756 the continuing viability of FORTRAN. 15757 -- Alan Perlis 15758 % 15759 You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. 15760 % 15761 You can take all the impact that science considerations have on funding 15762 decisions at NASA, put them in the navel of a flea, and have room left 15763 over for a caraway seed and Tony Calio's heart. 15764 -- F. Allen 15765 % 15766 You can tell how far we have to go, when FORTRAN is the language of 15767 supercomputers. 15768 -- Steven Feiner 15769 % 15770 You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish. 15771 % 15772 You can write a small letter to Grandma in the filename. 15773 -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454 15774 % 15775 You can't carve your way to success without cutting remarks. 15776 % 15777 You can't have everything. Where would you put it? 15778 -- Steven Wright 15779 % 15780 You can't hold a man down without staying down with him. 15781 -- Booker T. Washington 15782 % 15783 You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair. 15784 % 15785 You can't make a program without broken egos. 15786 % 15787 You can't start worrying about what's going to happen. You get spastic 15788 enough worrying about what's happening now. 15789 -- Lauren Bacall 15790 % 15791 You can't survive by sucking the juice from a wet mitten. 15792 -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and 15793 Over and Over" 15794 % 15795 You can't teach people to be lazy - either they have it, or they don't. 15796 -- Dagwood Bumstead 15797 % 15798 You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd. 15799 % 15800 You cannot kill time without injuring eternity. 15801 % 15802 You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back. 15803 % 15804 You could get a new lease on life -- if only you didn't need the first 15805 and last month in advance. 15806 % 15807 You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable 15808 doubt. 15809 -- Ed Meese, on the Hinckley verdict 15810 % 15811 You do not have mail. 15812 % 15813 You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers. 15814 -- J. D. Salinger 15815 % 15816 You don't sew with a fork, so I see no reason to eat with knitting 15817 needles. 15818 -- Miss Piggy, on eating Chinese Food 15819 % 15820 You first have to decide whether to use the short or the long form. 15821 The short form is what the Internal Revenue Service calls "simplified", 15822 which means it is designed for people who need the help of a Sears 15823 tax-preparation expert to distinguish between their first and last 15824 names. Here's the complete text: 15825 15826 "(1) How much did you make? (AMOUNT) 15827 "(2) How much did we here at the government take out? (AMOUNT) 15828 "(3) Hey! Sounds like we took too much! So we're going to 15829 send an official government check for (ONE-FIFTEENTH OF 15830 THE AMOUNT WE TOOK) directly to the (YOUR LAST NAME) 15831 household at (YOUR ADDRESS), for you to spend in any way 15832 you please! Which just goes to show you, (YOUR FIRST 15833 NAME), that it pays to file the short form!" 15834 15835 The IRS wants you to use this form because it gets to keep most of your 15836 money. So unless you have pond silt for brains, you want the long 15837 form. 15838 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes" 15839 % 15840 You have a tendency to feel you are superior to most computers. 15841 % 15842 You have acquired a scroll entitled 'irk gleknow mizk'(n).--More-- 15843 15844 This is an IBM Manual scroll.--More-- 15845 15846 You are permanently confused. 15847 -- Dave Decot 15848 % 15849 You have an unusual magnetic personality. Don't walk too close to 15850 metal objects which are not fastened down. 15851 % 15852 You have junk mail. 15853 % 15854 You have the body of a 19 year old. Please return it before it gets 15855 wrinkled. 15856 % 15857 You have the capacity to learn from mistakes. You'll learn a lot today. 15858 % 15859 You know it's going to be a bad day when you want to put on the clothes 15860 you wore home from the party and there aren't any. 15861 % 15862 You know the great thing about TV? If something important happens 15863 anywhere at all in the world, no matter what time of the day or night, 15864 you can always change the channel. 15865 -- Jim Ignatowski 15866 % 15867 You know you have a small apartment when Rice Krispies echo. 15868 -- S. Rickly Christian 15869 % 15870 You know you're a little fat if you have stretch marks on your car. 15871 -- Cyrus, Chicago Reader 1/22/82 15872 % 15873 You know you've been spending too much time on the computer when your 15874 friend misdates a check, and you suggest adding a "++" to fix it. 15875 % 15876 You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi. 15877 % 15878 "You know, it's at times like this when I'm trapped in a Vogon 15879 airlock with a man from Betelgeuse and about to die of asphyxiation in 15880 deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me 15881 when I was young!" 15882 "Why, what did she tell you?" 15883 "I don't know, I didn't listen!" 15884 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 15885 % 15886 You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled. 15887 % 15888 You may be recognized soon. Hide. 15889 % 15890 You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a "realist," he 15891 is preparing to do something he is secretly ashamed of doing. 15892 -- Sydney Harris 15893 % 15894 You may easily play a joke on a man who likes to argue -- agree with 15895 him. 15896 -- Ed Howe 15897 % 15898 You may have heard that a dean is to faculty as a hydrant is to a dog. 15899 -- Alfred Kahn 15900 % 15901 You men out there probably think you already know how to dress for 15902 success. You know, for example, that you should not wear leisure suits 15903 or white plastic belts and shoes, unless you are going to a costume 15904 party disguised as a pig farmer vacationing at Disney World. 15905 -- Dave Barry, "How to Dress for Real Success" 15906 % 15907 You might have mail. 15908 % 15909 You might have had mail. 15910 % 15911 You must realize that the computer has it in for you. The irrefutable 15912 proof of this is that the computer always does what you tell it to do. 15913 % 15914 You need no longer worry about the future. This time tomorrow you'll 15915 be dead. 15916 % 15917 You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a 15918 reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating 15919 the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for 15920 independence. 15921 -- Charles A. Beard 15922 % 15923 You never know how many friends you have until you rent a house on the 15924 beach. 15925 % 15926 You or I must yield up his life to Ahrimanes. I would rather it were 15927 you. I should have no hesitation in sacrificing my own life to spare 15928 yours, but we take stock next week, and it would not be fair on the 15929 company. 15930 -- J. Wellington Wells 15931 % 15932 You possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained. 15933 % 15934 You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could 15935 know how seldom they do. 15936 -- Olin Miller 15937 % 15938 You should emulate your heros, but don't carry it too far. Especially 15939 if they are dead. 15940 % 15941 You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than 15942 about 10^12 to 1. 15943 -- Ernest Rutherford 15944 % 15945 You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for 15946 freedom and liberty. 15947 -- Henrik Ibsen 15948 % 15949 You should not use your fireplace, because scientists now believe that, 15950 contrary to popular opinion, fireplaces actually remove heat from 15951 houses. Really, that's what scientists believe. In fact many 15952 scientists actually use their fireplaces to cool their houses in the 15953 summer. If you visit a scientist's house on a sultry August day, 15954 you'll find a cheerful fire roaring on the hearth and the scientist 15955 sitting nearby, remarking on how cool he is and drinking heavily. 15956 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler" 15957 % 15958 You should tip the waiter $10, minus $2 if he tells you his name, 15959 another $2 if he claims it will be His Pleasure to serve you and 15960 another $2 for each "special" he describes involving confusing terms 15961 such as "shallots," and $4 if the menu contains the word "fixin's." In 15962 many restaurants, this means the waiter will actually owe you money. 15963 If you are traveling with a child aged six months to three years, you 15964 should leave an additional amount equal to twice the bill to compensate 15965 for the fact that they will have to take the banquette out and burn it 15966 because the cracks are wedged solid with gobbets made of partially 15967 chewed former restaurant rolls saturated with baby spit. 15968 15969 In New York, tip the taxicab driver $40 if he does not mention his 15970 hemorrhoids. 15971 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette" 15972 % 15973 You should, without hesitation, pound your typewriter into a 15974 plowshare, your paper into fertilizer, and enter agriculture. 15975 -- Business Professor, University of Georgia 15976 % 15977 You think Oedipus had a problem -- Adam was Eve's mother. 15978 % 15979 YOU TOO CAN MAKE BIG MONEY IN THE EXCITING FIELD OF 15980 PAPER SHUFFLING! 15981 15982 Mr. TAA of Muddle, Mass. says: "Before I took this course I used to be 15983 a lowly bit twiddler. Now with what I learned at MIT Tech I feel 15984 really important and can obfuscate and confuse with the best." 15985 15986 Mr. MARC had this to say: "Ten short days ago all I could look forward 15987 to was a dead-end job as a engineer. Now I have a promising future and 15988 make really big Zorkmids." 15989 15990 MIT Tech can't promise these fantastic results to everyone, but when 15991 you earn your MDL degree from MIT Tech your future will be brighter. 15992 15993 SEND FOR OUR FREE BROCHURE TODAY! 15994 % 15995 You too can wear a nose mitten. 15996 % 15997 You will be a winner today. Pick a fight with a four-year-old. 15998 % 15999 You will be attacked by a beast who has the body of a wolf, the tail of 16000 a lion, and the face of Donald Duck. 16001 % 16002 You will be surprised by a loud noise. 16003 % 16004 You will be Told about it Tomorrow. Go Home and Prepare Thyself. 16005 % 16006 You will feel hungry again in another hour. 16007 % 16008 You will lose your present job and have to become a door to door 16009 mayonnaise salesman. 16010 % 16011 You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the 16012 Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the 16013 parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day. 16014 -- Sherlock Holmes 16015 % 16016 You will think of something funnier than this to add to the fortunes. 16017 % 16018 You worry too much about your job. Stop it. You're not paid enough to 16019 worry. 16020 % 16021 You'd better beat it. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a 16022 taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a 16023 minute and a huff. 16024 -- Groucho Marx 16025 % 16026 You'll never be the man your mother was! 16027 % 16028 You're at the end of the road again. 16029 % 16030 You're being followed. Cut out the hanky-panky for a few days. 16031 % 16032 You're never too old to become younger. 16033 -- Mae West 16034 % 16035 You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on. 16036 -- Dean Martin 16037 % 16038 You're not my type. For that matter, you're not even my species!!! 16039 % 16040 You've been leading a dog's life. Stay off the furniture. 16041 % 16042 You've got to have a gimmick if your band sucks. 16043 -- Gary Giddens 16044 % 16045 "You've got to think about tomorrow!" 16046 16047 "TOMORROW! I haven't even prepared for *_________yesterday* yet!" 16048 % 16049 Your analyst has you mixed up with another patient. Don't believe a 16050 thing he tells you. 16051 % 16052 Your conscience never stops you from doing anything. It just stops you 16053 from enjoying it. 16054 % 16055 Your fault: core dumped 16056 % 16057 Your home electrical system is basically a bunch of wires that 16058 bring electricity into your home and take if back out before it has a 16059 chance to kill you. This is called a "circuit". The most common home 16060 electrical problem is when the circuit is broken by a "circuit 16061 breaker"; this causes the electricity to back up in one of the wires 16062 until it bursts out of an outlet in the form of sparks, which can 16063 damage your carpet. The best way to avoid broken circuits is to change 16064 your fuses regularly. 16065 Another common problem is that the lights flicker. This 16066 sometimes means that your electrical system is inadequate, but more 16067 often it means that your home is possessed by demons, in which case 16068 you'll need to get a caulking gun and some caulking. If you're not 16069 sure whether your house is possessed, see "The Amityville Horror", a 16070 fine documentary film based on an actual book. Or call in a licensed 16071 electrician, who is trained to spot the signs of demonic possession, 16072 such as blood coming down the stairs, enormous cats on the dinette 16073 table, etc. 16074 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw" 16075 % 16076 Your life would be very empty if you had nothing to regret. 16077 % 16078 Your lucky color has faded. 16079 % 16080 Your lucky number has been disconnected. 16081 % 16082 Your lucky number is 3552664958674928. Watch for it everywhere. 16083 % 16084 Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with. 16085 % 16086 Yow! Am I having fun yet? 16087 -- Zippy the Pinhead 16088 % 16089 YOW!! Everybody out of the GENETIC POOL! 16090 % 16091 Zero Defects, n.: 16092 The result of shutting down a production line. 16093 % 16094 Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words 16095 since I first called my brother's father dad. 16096 -- William Shakespeare, "King John" 16097 % 16098 Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labor: 16099 People are always available for work in the past tense. 16100 % 16101 THE LAST BUG 16102 16103 "But you're out of your mind," It still wasn't perfect, 16104 They said with a shrug. As year followed year, 16105 "The customer's happy; And strangers would comment, 16106 What's one little bug?" "Is that guy still here?" 16107 16108 But he was determined. He died at the console, 16109 The others went home. Of hunger and thirst. 16110 He spread out the program, Next day he was buried, 16111 Deserted, alone. Face down, nine-edge first. 16112 16113 The cleaning men came, And the last bug in sight, 16114 The whole room was cluttered An ant passing by, 16115 With memory-dumps, punch cards. Saluted his tombstone, 16116 "I'm close," he muttered. And whispered, "Nice try." 16117 16118 The mumbling got louder, 16119 Simple deduction, 16120 "I've got it, it's right, 16121 Just change one instruction." 16122 % 16123 Speaking of the philosophy involved in moving humanity into space: 16124 16125 Furniture will be a largely obsolete concept. Take for example the dresser my 16126 mom bought for me when I was a kid. I still have it, and by the standards of 16127 its era, it's an admirable household fixture. It is a massive construction of 16128 maple wood, expertly joined with cunningly fit pieces, fitted and glued with 16129 the strength of iron. It is set with massive brass fixtures, and looks today 16130 -- discounting the dust -- as new as the day it was purchased, a quarter 16131 century ago. So far, so good; a fine piece of furniture, you might say. But 16132 let's look at it objectively, as a machine, as an object with a purpose. Here 16133 sit a hundred pounds of hardwood with a compressive strength of 1500 psi, 16134 jointed by an expert craftsman into a rigid box that would easily support a 16135 bull elephant. And what is the sole purpose of this massive crate, this 16136 monument to a dead tree? -- it holds my socks. 16137 16138 Not only is it blind engineering overkill of epic proportions, it is also an 16139 environmental disaster. The home to generations of squirrels, a sentinel post 16140 for falcons, an autumnal banner of golden glory, a living creature, was chopped 16141 down to enshrine some underwear. This, my friends, is no way to run a planet. 16142 -- Marshall T. Savage, from The Millennial Project: 16143 Colonizing the Galaxy -- In Eight Easy Steps 16144 % 16145 Nearly every software professional has heard the term spaghetti code as a 16146 pejorative description for complicated, difficult to understand, and impossible 16147 to maintain, software. However, many people may not know the other two 16148 elements of the complete Pasta Theory of Software. 16149 16150 Lasagna code is used to describe software that has a simple, understandable, 16151 and layered structure. Lasagna code, although structured, is unfortunately 16152 monolithic and not easy to modify. An attempt to change one layer conceptually 16153 simple, is often very difficult in actual practice. 16154 16155 The ideal software structure is one having components that are small and 16156 loosely coupled; this ideal structure is called ravioli code. In ravioli 16157 code, each of the components, or objects, is a package containing some meat 16158 or other nourishment for the system; any component can be modified or replaced 16159 without significantly affecting other components. 16160 16161 We need to go beyond the condemnation of spaghetti code to the active 16162 encouragement of ravioli code. 16163 -- Raymond J. Rubey, in a letter to the editor of Crosstalk 16164 magazine 16165 % 16166 63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs, 16167 ya get 1 whacked with a service pack, 16168 now there's 63,005 bugs in the code!! 16169 % 16170 "It's not very common in Crowthorne" 16171 % 16172 1) Don't expect fairings. 16173 2) If confused read #1. 16174 % 16175 Cheer up. You could have all the problems you have now, and then also 16176 be named Eustace Clarence Scrubb. 16177 % 16178 Never leave a macassar and an antimacassar in the same room together. 16179 % 16180 Why did the furry install Unix? Because it supports catman(8). 16181 % 16182 Many people don't realize that trailhead doggerel is illegal -- but 16183 surely you've heard of "hike rhymes and misdemeanors"... 16184 % 16185 We all know political bumper stickers and some of us even put them on 16186 our cars. However, if you show up at headquarters on Friday afternoon 16187 after a long campaign week, you're more likely to see a stumper 16188 bicker. 16189 % 16190 When you're under siege by a winter storm, that's a "frontal assault". 16191 % 16192 Somebody has mail. 16193 % 16194 'Agnosis' is when you don't know. 'Diagnosis' is when you don't know 16195 twice. 16196 % 16197 An assortment of ways to be assimilated is a "smorgasborg". 16198 % 16199 The Navy's forever doomed to be inefficient because it's always trying 16200 to do things in a sub-optimal manner. 16201 % 16202 Q. What do you do if you find an abomination rooted in and need a 16203 druid in a hurry? 16204 A. Call the copse. 16205 % 16206 A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone. 16207 -- Jo Godwin 16208 % 16209 Give a man a 0day and he'll have access for a day, teach a man to phish 16210 and he'll have access for life. 16211 -- the grugq 16212 % 16213 Information wants to be free and also extremely difficult to use. 16214 -- An ancient open source proverb 16215 % 16216 I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long. 16217 -- Mitch Hedberg 16218 % 16219 You, the Poles, have a funny nature. When the people going along the 16220 road are attacked by a dog with its insistent and noisy barking, you 16221 immediately feel like jumping off the vehicle, standing on all fours 16222 and starting to bark back at it. We, in the Vilnius region, let the 16223 dog bark because that is what its canine nature is like but we do not 16224 stop our journey because of its barking, and without any war 16225 against dogs we calmly continue our journey until we reach our 16226 destination. It seems that you care more about barking than the dog 16227 does, and more about winning the war with any lousy puppy than about 16228 reaching the destination quickly. 16229 -- Jozef Pilsudski 16230 % 16231 [NeXT] attracted the strangest kind of hybrid, which was sort of like... 16232 Unix weenies by Armani. 16233 -- John Perry Barlow 16234 % 16235 Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you 16236 and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future 16237 events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the 16238 unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here. 16239 -- Criswell Predicts, "Plan 9 From Outer Space" 16240 % 16241 Rule 1 of cryptanalysis: check for plaintext. 16242 -- Bob Morris, Crypto '95 16243 % 16244 Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is 16245 writing it down. 16246 -- Adam Savage 16247 % 16248 THE PURPLE COW Confession: and a Portrait, Too, 16249 Reflections on a Mythic Beast, Upon a Background that I Rue! 16250 Who's Quite Remarkable, at Least. 16251 Ah, yes! I wrote the "Purple Cow"-- 16252 I never saw a Purple Cow; I'm sorry, now, I wrote it! 16253 I never hope to see one; But I can tell you, anyhow, 16254 But I can tell you, anyhow, I'll kill you if you quote it! 16255 I'd rather see than be one. -- Gelett Burgess 16256 % 16257 Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we 16258 can perform without thinking about them. 16259 -- Alfred North Whitehead, An Introduction to Mathematics (1911) 16260 % 16261 I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter 16262 than a season. 16263 -- Josh Rosen 16264 % 16265 Computers for the brasses -- art for the masses. 16266 -- J.C.R. Licklider 16267 % 16268 If, in your office, you as an intellectual worker were supplied with a 16269 computer display backed up by a computer that was alive for you all day, and 16270 that was instantly responsive to every action you had, how much value could 16271 you derive from that? 16272 -- Douglas Engelbart, Fall Joint Computer Conference, 16273 December 9th, 1968 16274 % 16275 They made me do it 16276 % 16277 It was the first thing that I formed a really powerful bond with. 16278 It was some sort of mental love missile and I just lit the touch paper and 16279 fired myself into it, at oblivious speed, and it exploded, and sparkled and it 16280 was totally beautiful. 16281 -- Chris Packham and the kestrel 16282 % 16283 Austerity is the idea that the global financial crash of 2008 was caused by 16284 there being too many libraries in Wolverhampton. 16285 -- Alexei Sayle 16286 % 16287 I wonder why. I wonder why. 16288 I wonder why I wonder. 16289 I wonder why I wonder why 16290 I wonder why I wonder! 16291 -- Richard P. Feynman, "Always Trying to Escape" 16292 % 16293 Fanfare, n.: 16294 The food available for consumption at a con. 16295 % 16296 Fail we may, sail we must 16297 % 16298 Don't shout at your JBODs, they don't like it! 16299 -- Brendan Gregg, "Shouting in the Datacenter" 16300 % 16301 Bell has two patents on UNIX 16302 a) set-user-id bit 16303 b) on "typo" ! 16304 -- John Lions, Australian UNIX Users Group Newsletter, Oct 1978 16305 % 16306 The purpose of computing numbers is not yet in sight 16307 % 16308 Iamonthemoonandthereisnowheretogetabeer. 16309 Thereisnospacebar. 16310 % 16311 metropole, n.: The axis on which the subway turns. 16312 % 16313 Dryads are usually lucky. It's well known that fortune favors the boled. 16314 % 16315 Responsible wizards always run their scrolls past a spell-checker. 16316 % 16317 Shampoo doesn't need active product development. It can rest on its lauryls. 16318