fortunes revision 1.24 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 1.79 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 Ghandi
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
127 phenomena.
128 -- Donald A. Metz
129 %
130 A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no
131 responsibility at the other.
132 %
133 A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on.
134 -- Carl Sandburg
135 %
136 A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman out
137 of a divorce.
138 -- Don Quinn
139 %
140 A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining
141 and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
142 -- Mark Twain
143 %
144 A billion here, a couple of billion there -- first thing you know it
145 adds up to be real money.
146 -- Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen
147 %
148 A bird in the bush usually has a friend in there with him.
149 %
150 A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring.
151 %
152 A bird in the hand makes it awfully hard to blow your nose.
153 %
154 ... A booming voice says, "Wrong, cretin!", and you notice that you
155 have turned into a pile of dust.
156 %
157 A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have
158 enlightened him with ours.
159 %
160 A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well
161 as afterward.
162 %
163 A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the
164 poor to protect them from each other.
165 %
166 A celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.
167 %
168 A child can go only so far in life without potty training. It is not
169 mere coincidence that six of the last seven presidents were potty
170 trained, not to mention nearly half of the nation's state legislators.
171 -- Dave Barry
172 %
173 A child of five could understand this! Fetch me a child of five.
174 %
175 A chubby man with a white beard and a red suit will approach you soon.
176 Avoid him. He's a Commie.
177 %
178 A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but
179 won't cross the street to vote in a national election.
180 -- Bill Vaughan
181 %
182 A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
183 -- Herbert Prochnow
184 %
185 A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody
186 wants to read.
187 -- Mark Twain, "The Disappearance of Literature"
188 %
189 A closed mouth gathers no foot.
190 %
191 A computer, to print out a fact,
192 Will divide, multiply, and subtract.
193 But this output can be
194 No more than debris,
195 If the input was short of exact.
196 -- Gigo
197 %
198 A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.
199 %
200 A CONS is an object which cares.
201 -- Bernie Greenberg.
202 %
203 A consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it
204 is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it.
205 %
206 A continuing flow of paper is sufficient to continue the flow of paper.
207 -- Dyer
208 %
209 A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the
210 damned things is ample.
211 -- Rebecca West
212 %
213 A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
214 -- Ben Franklin
215 %
216 A crusader's wife slipped from the garrison
217 And had an affair with a Saracen.
218 She was not oversexed,
219 Or jealous or vexed,
220 She just wanted to make a comparison.
221 %
222 A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen
223 lantern.
224 -- Edgar A. Shoaff
225 %
226 A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it?
227 %
228 A day without sunshine is like night.
229 %
230 A diplomat is a man who can convince his wife she'd look stout in a fur
231 coat.
232 %
233 A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
234 you will look forward to the trip.
235 %
236 A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was
237 eating his morning meal. "I would like to give you this personality
238 test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy."
239 Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into
240 the toaster -- "I wish the toaster to be happy too".
241 %
242 A diva who specializes in risqu'e arias is an off-coloratura soprano ...
243 %
244 A doctor, an architect, and a computer scientist were arguing
245 about whose profession was the oldest. In the course of their
246 arguments, they got all the way back to the Garden of Eden, whereupon
247 the doctor said, "The medical profession is clearly the oldest, because
248 Eve was made from Adam's rib, as the story goes, and that was a simply
249 incredible surgical feat."
250 The architect did not agree. He said, "But if you look at the
251 Garden itself, in the beginning there was chaos and void, and out of
252 that, the Garden and the world were created. So God must have been an
253 architect."
254 The computer scientist, who had listened to all of this said,
255 "Yes, but where do you think the chaos came from?"
256 %
257 A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
258 -- Ogden Nash
259 %
260 A dozen, a gross, and a score,
261 Plus three times the square root of four,
262 Divided by seven,
263 Plus five times eleven,
264 Equals nine squared plus zero, no more.
265 %
266 A famous Lisp Hacker noticed an Undergraduate sitting in front of a
267 Xerox 1108, trying to edit a complex Klone network via a browser.
268 Wanting to help, the Hacker clicked one of the nodes in the network
269 with the mouse, and asked "what do you see?" Very earnestly, the
270 Undergraduate replied "I see a cursor." The Hacker then quickly
271 pressed the boot toggle at the back of the keyboard, while
272 simultaneously hitting the Undergraduate over the head with a thick
273 Interlisp Manual. The Undergraduate was then Enlightened.
274 %
275 A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the
276 subject.
277 -- Winston Churchill
278 %
279 A fool must now and then be right by chance.
280 %
281 A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into
282 superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
283 -- G. B. Shaw
284 %
285 A fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block
286 of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an
287 elephant.
288 %
289 A formal parsing algorithm should not always be used.
290 -- D. Gries
291 %
292 A fractal is by definition a set for which the Hausdorff Besicovitch
293 dimension strictly exceeds the topological dimension.
294 -- Mandelbrot, "The Fractal Geometry of Nature"
295 %
296 A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
297 -- Adlai Stevenson
298 %
299 A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than
300 he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men
301 favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter
302 facts of life in bandages of self-illusion.
303 -- H. L. Mencken
304 %
305 A general leading the State Department resembles a dragon commanding
306 ducks.
307 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
308 %
309 A girl and a boy bump into each other -- surely an accident.
310 A girl and a boy bump and her handkerchief drops -- surely another accident.
311 But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid -- *____that ___had __to ____mean _________something*.
312 -- S. Morganstern, "The Silent Gondoliers"
313 %
314 A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sort
315 of).
316 %
317 A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened
318 into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the
319 hope of greening the landscape of idea.
320 -- John Ciardi
321 %
322 A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
323 rearranging their prejudices.
324 -- William James
325 %
326 A great nation is any mob of people which produces at least one honest
327 man a century.
328 %
329 A hypothetical paradox:
330 What would happen in a battle between an Enterprise security
331 team, who always get killed soon after appearing, and a squad of
332 Imperial Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet?
333 -- Tom Galloway
334 %
335 A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears.
336 C is for Clair who wasted away, D is for Desmond thrown out of the sleigh.
337 E is for Ernest who choked on a peach, F is for Fanny, sucked dry by a leech.
338 G is for George, smothered under a rug, H is for Hector, done in by a thug.
339 I is for Ida who drowned in the lake, J is for James who took lye, by mistake.
340 K is for Kate who was struck with an axe, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks.
341 M is for Maud who was swept out to sea, N is for Nevil who died of ennui.
342 O is for Olive, run through with an awl, P is for Prue, trampled flat in a brawl
343 Q is for Quinton who sank in a mire, R is for Rhoda, consumed by a fire.
344 S is for Susan who parished of fits, T is for Titas who flew into bits.
345 U is for Una who slipped down a drain, V is for Victor, squashed under a train.
346 W is for Winnie, embedded in ice, X is for Xercies, devoured by mice.
347 Y is for Yoric whose head was bashed in, Z is for Zilla who drank too much gin.
348 -- Edward Gorey "The Gastly Crumb Tines"
349 %
350 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
351 %
352 A jury consists of 12 persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
353 -- Robert Frost
354 %
355 A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction.
356 %
357 A lady with one of her ears applied
358 To an open keyhole heard, inside,
359 Two female gossips in converse free --
360 The subject engaging them was she.
361 "I think", said one, "and my husband thinks
362 That she's a prying, inquisitive minx!"
363 As soon as no more of it she could hear
364 The lady, indignant, removed her ear.
365 "I will not stay," she said with a pout,
366 "To hear my character lied about!"
367 -- Gopete Sherany
368 %
369 A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is
370 not worth knowing.
371 %
372 A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program
373 in than some that do.
374 -- Dennis M. Ritchie
375 %
376 A large number of installed systems work by fiat. That is, they work
377 by being declared to work.
378 -- Anatol Holt
379 %
380 A Law of Computer Programming:
381 Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you
382 will find the programmers cannot write in English.
383 %
384 A limerick packs laughs anatomical
385 Into space that is quite economical.
386 But the good ones I've seen
387 So seldom are clean,
388 And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
389 %
390 A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of
391 nothing.
392 -- Alan Perlis
393 %
394 A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
395 -- H. H. Munroe, "Saki"
396 %
397 A long memory is the most subversive idea in America.
398 %
399 A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon. Buy the negatives at any
400 price.
401 %
402 A Los Angeles judge ruled that "a citizen may snore with immunity in
403 his own home, even though he may be in possession of unusual and
404 exceptional ability in that particular field."
405 %
406 A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I'm afraid of widths.
407 -- Steve Wright
408 %
409 A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I
410 believe everything positively stinks.
411 -- Lew Col
412 %
413 A man goes to a tailor to try on a new custom-made suit. The
414 first thing he notices is that the arms are too long.
415 "No problem," says the tailor. "Just bend them at the elbow
416 and hold them out in front of you. See, now it's fine."
417 "But the collar is up around my ears!"
418 "It's nothing. Just hunch your back up a little ... no, a
419 little more ... that's it."
420 "But I'm stepping on my cuffs!" the man cries in desperation.
421 "Nu, bend you knees a little to take up the slack. There you
422 go. Look in the mirror -- the suit fits perfectly."
423 So, twisted like a pretzel, the man lurches out onto the
424 street. Reba and Florence see him go by.
425 "Oh, look," says Reba, "that poor man!"
426 "Yes," says Florence, "but what a beautiful suit."
427 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
428 %
429 A man said to the Universe: "Sir, I exist!"
430
431 "However," replied the Universe, "the fact has not created in me a
432 sense of obligation."
433 -- Stephen Crane
434 %
435 A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.
436 %
437 A master was explaining the nature of Tao to one of his
438 novices. "The Tao is embodied in all software -- regardless of how
439 insignificant," said the master.
440
441 "Is Tao in a hand-held calculator?" asked the novice.
442
443 "It is," came the reply.
444
445 "Is the Tao in a video game?" continued the novice.
446
447 "It is even in a video game," said the master.
448
449 "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
450
451 The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The
452 lesson is over for today," he said.
453 -- "The Tao of Programming"
454 %
455 A mathematician is a machine for converting coffee into theorems.
456 %
457 A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed
458 on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new
459 game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the
460 pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly
461 along it at the water's edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their
462 heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn
463 around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite
464 direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the
465 paper reports, "The pilots fly out to sea and directly to the penguin
466 colony and overfly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins
467 fall over gently onto their backs.
468
469 -- Audubon Society Magazine
470
471
472 [From the BBC, 2001-02-02:
473 For five weeks, a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
474 monitored 1,000 king penguins on the island of South Georgia as Lynx
475 helicopters passed overhead.
476 "Not one king penguin fell over when the helicopters came over,"
477 said team leader Dr. Richard Stone.
478 "As the aircraft approached, the birds went quiet and stopped
479 calling to each other, and adolescent birds that were not associated
480 with nests began walking away from the noise. Pure animal instinct,
481 really."
482 The conclusion, said Dr. Stone, is that flights over 305 metres
483 (1,000 feet) caused "only minor and transitory ecological effects" on
484 king penguins.]
485 %
486 A musician of more ambition than talent composed an elegy at
487 the death of composer Edward MacDowell. She played the elegy for the
488 pianist Josef Hoffman, then asked his opinion. "Well, it's quite
489 nice," he replied, but don't you think it would be better if ..."
490 "If what?" asked the composer.
491 "If ... if you had died and MacDowell had written the elegy?"
492 %
493 A neighbor came to Nasrudin, asking to borrow his donkey. "It is out
494 on loan," the teacher replied. At that moment, the donkey brayed
495 loudly inside the stable. "But I can hear it bray, over there." "Whom
496 do you believe," asked Nasrudin, "me or a donkey?"
497 %
498 A new dramatist of the absurd
499 Has a voice that will shortly be heard.
500 I learn from my spies
501 He's about to devise
502 An unprintable three-letter word.
503 %
504 A new koan:
505
506 If you have some ice cream, I will give it to you.
507
508 If you have no ice cream, I will take it away from you.
509
510 It is an ice cream koan.
511 %
512 A new supply of round tuits has arrived and are available from Mary.
513 Anyone who has been putting off work until they got a round tuit now
514 has no excuse for further procrastination.
515 %
516 A New York City judge ruled that if two women behind you at the movies
517 insist on discussing the probable outcome of the film, you have the
518 right to turn around and blow a Bronx cheer at them.
519 %
520 A New York City ordinance prohibits the shooting of rabbits from the
521 rear of a Third Avenue street car -- if the car is in motion.
522 %
523 A novel approach is to remove all power from the system, which
524 removes most system overhead so that resources can be fully devoted to
525 doing nothing. Benchmarks on this technique are promising; tremendous
526 amounts of nothing can be produced in this manner. Certain hardware
527 limitations can limit the speed of this method, especially in the
528 larger systems which require a more involved & less efficient
529 power-down sequence.
530 An alternate approach is to pull the main breaker for the
531 building, which seems to provide even more nothing, but in truth has
532 bugs in it, since it usually inhibits the systems which keep the beer
533 cool.
534 %
535 A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power
536 off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing spoke sternly:
537 "You can not fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no
538 understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off
539 and on. The machine worked.
540 %
541 A nuclear war can ruin your whole day.
542 %
543 A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
544 -- Gloria Steinem
545 %
546 A penny saved is ridiculous.
547 %
548 A person is just about as big as the things that make him angry.
549 %
550 A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms.
551 -- George Wald
552 %
553 A pig is a jolly companion,
554 Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt --
555 A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale,
556 Though mountains may topple and tilt.
557 When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you,
558 When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
559 Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover,
560 You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
561 You'll never go wrong with a pig!
562 -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
563 %
564 A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
565 by Mark Twain
566
567 For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped
568 to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer
569 be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained
570 would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2
571 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the
572 same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with
573 "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.
574 Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
575 with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12
576 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
577 Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
578 ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz
579 ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.
580 Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud
581 hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
582 %
583 "A power so great, it can only be used for Good or Evil!"
584 -- Firesign Theatre, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra"
585 %
586 A priest asked: What is Fate, Master?
587
588 And the Master answered:
589
590 It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for existence.
591
592 It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their backs.
593
594 It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City to City
595 upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns have come
596 to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness.
597
598 And that is Fate? said the priest.
599
600 Fate ... I thought you said Freight, responded the Master.
601
602 That's all right, said the priest. I wanted to know what Freight was
603 too.
604 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
605 %
606 A priest was walking along the cliffs at Dover when he came
607 upon two locals pulling another man ashore on the end of a rope.
608 "That's what I like to see", said the priest, "A man helping his fellow
609 man".
610 As he was walking away, one local remarked to the other, "Well,
611 he sure doesn't know the first thing about shark fishing."
612 %
613 A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep.
614 %
615 "A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis
616 of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite
617 series of incomprehensive answers calculated with micrometric
618 precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from
619 inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical
620 accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality
621 for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly
622 defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the
623 information in the first place."
624 -- IEEE Grid news magazine
625 %
626 A psychiatrist is a person who will give you expensive answers that
627 your wife will give you for free.
628 %
629 A public debt is a kind of anchor in the storm; but if the anchor be
630 too heavy for the vessel, she will be sunk by that very weight which
631 was intended for her preservation.
632 -- Colton
633 %
634 A putt that stops close enough to the cup to inspire such comments as
635 "you could blow it in" may be blown in. This rule does not apply if
636 the ball is more than three inches from the hole, because no one wants
637 to make a travesty of the game.
638 -- Donald A. Metz
639 %
640 "A raccoon tangled with a 23,000 volt line today. The results blacked
641 out 1400 homes and, of course, one raccoon."
642 -- Steel City News
643 %
644 "A radioactive cat has eighteen half-lives."
645 %
646 A reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20:
647
648 Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying,
649 "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny
650 bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the
651 lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and
652 breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the
653 Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of
654 the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt
655 thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then
656 proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being
657 the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand
658 Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight,
659 shall snuff it."
660 -- Monty Python, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
661 %
662 A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices
663 that the system works.
664 %
665 A real person has two reasons for doing anything ... a good reason and
666 the real reason.
667 %
668 A recent study has found that concentrating on difficult off-screen
669 objects, such as the faces of loved ones, causes eye strain in computer
670 scientists. Researchers into the phenomenon cite the added
671 concentration needed to "make sense" of such unnatural three
672 dimensional objects ...
673 %
674 A Riverside, California, health ordinance states that two persons may
675 not kiss each other without first wiping their lips with carbolized
676 rosewater.
677 %
678 A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man
679 contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
680 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
681 %
682 A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will
683 keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those
684 that are worth committing.
685 -- Samuel Butler
686 %
687 A Severe Strain on the Credulity
688
689 As a method of sending a missile to the higher, and even to the highest
690 parts of the earth's atmospheric envelope, Professor Goddard's rocket
691 is a practicable and therefore promising device. It is when one
692 considers the multiple-charge rocket as a traveler to the moon that one
693 begins to doubt ... for after the rocket quits our air and really
694 starts on its journey, its flight would be neither accelerated nor
695 maintained by the explosion of the charges it then might have left.
696 Professor Goddard, with his "chair" in Clark College and countenancing
697 of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to
698 re-action, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum
699 against which to react ... Of course he only seems to lack the
700 knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
701 -- New York Times Editorial, 1920
702 %
703 A sine curve goes off to infinity or at least the end of the blackboard.
704 -- Prof. Steiner
705 %
706 ... A solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he
707 was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity.
708 -- Mark Twain
709 %
710 A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.
711 -- O'Henry
712 %
713 A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
714 bad measures.
715 -- Daniel Webster
716 %
717 A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an
718 exam.
719 %
720 A student, in hopes of understanding the Lambda-nature, came to
721 Greenblatt. As they spoke a Multics system hacker walked by. "Is it
722 true," asked the student, "that PL-1 has many of the same data types as
723 Lisp?" Almost before the student had finished his question, Greenblatt
724 shouted, "FOO!", and hit the student with a stick.
725 %
726 A successful [software] tool is one that was used to do something
727 undreamed of by its author.
728 -- S. C. Johnson
729 %
730 A system admin's life is a sorry one. The only advantage he has over
731 Emergency Room doctors is that malpractice suits are rare. On the
732 other hand, ER doctors never have to deal with patients installing
733 new versions of their own innards!
734 -- Michael O'Brien
735 %
736 A tautology is a thing which is tautological.
737 %
738 A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention,
739 and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.
740 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
741 %
742 A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by
743 blowing first.
744 %
745 A triangle which has an angle of 135 degrees is called an obscene
746 triangle.
747 %
748 A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.
749 %
750 A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest
751 in students.
752 -- John Ciardi
753 %
754 "A University without students is like an ointment without a fly."
755 -- Ed Nather, professor of astronomy at UT Austin
756 %
757 A UNIX saleslady, Lenore,
758 Enjoys work, but she likes the beach more.
759 She found a good way
760 To combine work and play:
761 She sells C shells by the seashore.
762 %
763 A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature
764 replaces it with.
765 -- Tennessee Williams
766 %
767 A very intelligent turtle
768 Found programming UNIX a hurdle
769 The system, you see,
770 Ran as slow as did he,
771 And that's not saying much for the turtle.
772 %
773 A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without
774 getting nervous.
775 %
776 A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets
777 people's attention.
778 %
779 A witty saying proves nothing.
780 -- Voltaire
781 %
782 A wizard cannot do everything; a fact most magicians are reticent to
783 admit, let alone discuss with prospective clients. Still, the fact
784 remains that there are certain objects, and people, that are, for one
785 reason or another, completely immune to any direct magical spell. It
786 is for this group of beings that the magician learns the subtleties of
787 using indirect spells. It also does no harm, in dealing with these
788 matters, to carry a large club near your person at all times.
789 -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VIII
790 %
791 A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
792 %
793 A.A.A.A.A.:
794 An organization for drunks who drive
795 %
796 AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkk!!!!!!!!!
797 You brute! Knock before entering a ladies room!
798 %
799 Abandon the search for Truth; settle for a good fantasy.
800 %
801 About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
802 -- Herbert Hoover
803 %
804 Absence makes the heart go wander.
805 %
806 Absent, adj.:
807 Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed;
808 slandered.
809 %
810 Absentee, n.:
811 A person with an income who has had the forethought to remove
812 himself from the sphere of exaction.
813 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
814 %
815 Abstainer, n.:
816 A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a
817 pleasure.
818 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
819 %
820 Absurdity, n.:
821 A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own
822 opinion.
823 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
824 %
825 Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics,
826 because the stakes are so low.
827 -- Wallace Sayre
828 %
829 Accident, n.:
830 A condition in which presence of mind is good, but absence of
831 body is better.
832 -- Foolish Dictionary
833 %
834 Accidents cause History.
835
836 If Sigismund Unbuckle had taken a walk in 1426 and met Wat Tyler, the
837 Peasant's Revolt would never have happened and the motor car would not
838 have been invented until 2026, which would have meant that all the oil
839 could have been used for lamps, thus saving the electric light bulb and
840 the whale, and nobody would have caught Moby Dick or Billy Budd.
841 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
842 %
843 According to Arkansas law, Section 4761, Pope's Digest: "No person
844 shall be permitted under any pretext whatever, to come nearer than
845 fifty feet of any door or window of any polling room, from the opening
846 of the polls until the completion of the count and the certification of
847 the returns."
848 %
849 According to Kentucky state law, every person must take a bath at least
850 once a year.
851 %
852 According to my best recollection, I don't remember.
853 -- Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo
854 %
855 According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are
856 totally worthless.
857 %
858 According to the obituary notices, a mean and unimportant person never
859 dies.
860 %
861 According to the Rand McNally Places-Rated Almanac, the best place to
862 live in America is the city of Pittsburgh. The city of New York came
863 in twenty-fifth. Here in New York we really don't care too much.
864 Because we know that we could beat up their city anytime.
865 -- David Letterman
866 %
867 Accordion, n.:
868 A bagpipe with pleats.
869 %
870 Accuracy, n.:
871 The vice of being right.
872 %
873 ACHTUNG!!!
874
875 Das machine is nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy
876 schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und corkenpoppen mit
877 spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das dummkopfen. Das
878 rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets. Relaxen und
879 vatch das blinkenlights!!!
880 %
881 Acid -- better living through chemistry.
882 %
883 Acid absorbs 47 times its weight in excess Reality.
884 %
885 Acquaintance, n.:
886 A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well
887 enough to lend to.
888 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
889 %
890 Acting is an art which consists of keeping the audience from coughing.
891 %
892 Actor: "I'm a smash hit. Why, yesterday during the last act, I had
893 everyone glued in their seats!"
894 Oliver Herford: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Clever of you to think of
895 it!"
896 %
897 Actor: So what do you do for a living?
898 Doris: I work for a company that makes deceptively shallow serving
899 dishes for Chinese restaurants.
900 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
901 %
902 Actors will happen even in the best-regulated families.
903 %
904 ADA, n.:
905 Something you need only know the name of to be an Expert in
906 Computing. Useful in sentences like, "We had better develop an ADA
907 awareness."
908 -- "Datamation", January 15, 1984
909 %
910 Admiration, n.:
911 Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.
912 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
913 %
914 Adolescence, n.:
915 The stage between puberty and adultery.
916 %
917 "Adopted kids are such a pain -- you have to teach them how to look
918 like you ..."
919 -- Gilda Radner
920 %
921 Adore, v.:
922 To venerate expectantly.
923 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
924 %
925 Adult, n.:
926 One old enough to know better.
927 %
928 Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
929 way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
930 -- Sinclair Lewis
931 %
932 Advice to young men: Be ascetic, and if you can't be ascetic,
933 then at least be aseptic.
934 %
935 After [Benjamin] Franklin came a herd of Electrical Pioneers whose
936 names have become part of our electrical terminology: Myron Volt, Mary
937 Louise Amp, James Watt, Bob Transformer, etc. These pioneers conducted
938 many important electrical experiments. For example, in 1780 Luigi
939 Galvani discovered (this is the truth) that when he attached two
940 different kinds of metal to the leg of a frog, an electrical current
941 developed and the frog's leg kicked, even though it was no longer
942 attached to the frog, which was dead anyway. Galvani's discovery led
943 to enormous advances in the field of amphibian medicine. Today,
944 skilled veterinary surgeons can take a frog that has been seriously
945 injured or killed, implant pieces of metal in its muscles, and watch it
946 hop back into the pond just like a normal frog, except for the fact
947 that it sinks like a stone.
948 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
949 %
950 After a few boring years, socially meaningful rock 'n' roll died out.
951 It was replaced by disco, which offers no guidance to any form of life
952 more advanced than the lichen family.
953 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
954 %
955 After a number of decimal places, nobody gives a damn.
956 %
957 "... After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known
958 quotations."
959 -- H. L. Mencken, on Shakespeare
960 %
961 After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not
962 for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have
963 simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.
964 -- P. J. O'Rourke
965 %
966 After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found
967 on the bench.
968 %
969 After his Ignoble Disgrace, Satan was being expelled from
970 Heaven. As he passed through the Gates, he paused a moment in thought,
971 and turned to God and said, "A new creature called Man, I hear, is soon
972 to be created."
973 "This is true," He replied.
974 "He will need laws," said the Demon slyly.
975 "What! You, his appointed Enemy for all Time! You ask for the
976 right to make his laws?"
977 "Oh, no!" Satan replied, "I ask only that he be allowed to
978 make his own."
979 It was so granted.
980 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
981 %
982 "After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of
983 the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the
984 cost to others, to win advancement."
985 -- Norman Thomas
986 %
987 After I run your program, let's make love like crazed weasels, OK?
988 %
989 After living in New York, you trust nobody, but you believe
990 everything. Just in case.
991 %
992 After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access
993 cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been
994 removed.
995 %
996 Afternoon very favorable for romance. Try a single person for a
997 change.
998 %
999 Afternoon, n.:
1000 That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted the
1001 morning.
1002 %
1003 Age before beauty; and pearls before swine.
1004 -- Dorothy Parker
1005 %
1006 Age, n.:
1007 That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we
1008 still cherish by reviling those that we no longer have the enterprise
1009 to commit.
1010 -- Ambrose Bierce
1011 %
1012 Ah say, son, you're about as sharp as a bowlin' ball.
1013 %
1014 Ah, but the choice of dreams to live,
1015 there's the rub.
1016
1017 For all dreams are not equal,
1018 some exit to nightmare
1019 most end with the dreamer
1020
1021 But at least one must be lived ... and died.
1022 %
1023 "Ah, you know the type. They like to blame it all on the Jews or the
1024 Blacks, 'cause if they couldn't, they'd have to wake up to the fact
1025 that life's one big, scary, glorious, complex and ultimately
1026 unfathomable crapshoot -- and the only reason THEY can't seem to keep
1027 up is they're a bunch of misfits and losers."
1028 -- A analysis of Neo-Nazis, from "The Badger" comic
1029 %
1030 Air is water with holes in it.
1031 %
1032 Alas, I am dying beyond my means.
1033 -- Oscar Wilde, as he sipped champagne on his deathbed
1034 %
1035 Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire
1036 telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New
1037 York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this?
1038 And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they
1039 receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
1040 %
1041 Alden's Laws:
1042 (1) Giving away baby clothes and furniture is the major cause
1043 of pregnancy.
1044 (2) Always be backlit.
1045 (3) Sit down whenever possible.
1046 %
1047 Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall,
1048 Aleph-null bottles of beer,
1049 You take one down, and pass it around,
1050 Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.
1051 %
1052 Alex Haley was adopted!
1053 %
1054 Alexander Graham Bell is alive and well in New York, and still waiting
1055 for a dial tone.
1056 %
1057 Alimony is a system by which, when two people make a mistake, one of
1058 them keeps paying for it.
1059 -- Peggy Joyce
1060 %
1061 All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent
1062 upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a
1063 visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is
1064 informing, stimulating and ennobling.
1065 -- H. L. Mencken
1066 %
1067 All bridge hands are equally likely, but some are more equally likely
1068 than others.
1069 -- Alan Truscott
1070 %
1071 All extremists should be taken out and shot.
1072 %
1073 All Finagle Laws may be bypassed by learning the simple art of doing
1074 without thinking.
1075 %
1076 "All flesh is grass"
1077 -- Isaiah
1078 Smoke a friend today.
1079 %
1080 All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
1081 %
1082 All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own
1083 importance.
1084 %
1085 All I can think of is a platter of organic PRUNE CRISPS being trampled
1086 by an army of swarthy, Italian LOUNGE SINGERS ...
1087 %
1088 All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.
1089 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
1090 %
1091 All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are
1092 Socrates.
1093 -- Woody Allen
1094 %
1095 "All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us
1096 sane."
1097 %
1098 "All my life I wanted to be someone; I guess I should have been more
1099 specific."
1100 -- Jane Wagner
1101 %
1102 All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.
1103 -- The Book of Bokonon / Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
1104 %
1105 All other things being equal, a bald man cannot be elected President of
1106 the United States.
1107 -- Vic Gold
1108 %
1109 All power corrupts, but we need electricity.
1110 %
1111 All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.
1112 %
1113 All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of
1114 every organism to live beyond its income.
1115 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks"
1116 %
1117 All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
1118 -- E. Rutherford
1119 %
1120 "All snakes who wish to remain in Ireland will please raise their right
1121 hands."
1122 -- Saint Patrick
1123 %
1124 All syllogisms have three parts; therefore this is not a syllogism.
1125 %
1126 All the big corporations depreciate their possessions, and you can,
1127 too, provided you use them for business purposes. For example, if you
1128 subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, a business-related newspaper, you
1129 can deduct the cost of your house, because, in the words of U.S.
1130 Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in a landmark 1979 tax
1131 decision: "Where else are you going to read the paper? Outside? What
1132 if it rains?"
1133 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
1134 %
1135 "... all the modern inconveniences ..."
1136 -- Mark Twain
1137 %
1138 All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most
1139 ridiculous ones.
1140 -- La Rochefoucauld
1141 %
1142 All the taxes paid over a lifetime by the average American are spent by
1143 the government in less than a second.
1144 -- Jim Fiebig
1145 %
1146 All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
1147 -- Sean O'Casey
1148 %
1149 All the world's a VAX,
1150 And all the coders merely butchers;
1151 They have their exits and their entrails;
1152 And one int in his time plays many widths,
1153 His sizeof being _N bytes. At first the infant,
1154 Mewling and puking in the Regent's arms.
1155 And then the whining schoolboy, with his Sun,
1156 And shining morning face, creeping like slug
1157 Unwillingly to school.
1158 -- A Very Annoyed PDP-11
1159 %
1160 All theoretical chemistry is really physics;
1161 and all theoretical chemists know it.
1162 -- Richard P. Feynman
1163 %
1164 All things are possible, except skiing thru a revolving door.
1165 %
1166 All this wheeling and dealing around, why, it isn't for money, it's for
1167 fun. Money's just the way we keep score.
1168 -- Henry Tyroon
1169 %
1170 All true wisdom is found on T-shirts.
1171 %
1172 All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers ... Each one owes
1173 infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in
1174 which he was born.
1175 -- Francois Fenelon
1176 %
1177 Alliance, n.:
1178 In international politics, the union of two thieves who have
1179 their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot
1180 separately plunder a third.
1181 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1182 %
1183 Alone, adj.:
1184 In bad company.
1185 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1186 %
1187 Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight
1188 Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.
1189 -- Dave Barry
1190 %
1191 Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
1192 %
1193 Although we modern persons tend to take our electric lights, radios,
1194 mixers, etc., for granted, hundreds of years ago people did not have
1195 any of these things, which is just as well because there was no place
1196 to plug them in. Then along came the first Electrical Pioneer,
1197 Benjamin Franklin, who flew a kite in a lighting storm and received a
1198 serious electrical shock. This proved that lighting was powered by the
1199 same force as carpets, but it also damaged Franklin's brain so severely
1200 that he started speaking only in incomprehensible maxims, such as "A
1201 penny saved is a penny earned." Eventually he had to be given a job
1202 running the post office.
1203 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
1204 %
1205 Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been
1206 reissued by the Grove Press, and this pictorial account of the
1207 day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is full of considerable
1208 interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on
1209 pheasant-raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin,
1210 and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper.
1211 Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous
1212 material in order to discover and savour those sidelights on the
1213 management of a midland shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion
1214 the book cannot take the place of J. R. Miller's "Practical
1215 Gamekeeping."
1216 -- Ed Zern, "Field and Stream" (Nov. 1959)
1217 %
1218 Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid
1219 back.
1220 %
1221 Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
1222 %
1223 "Always try to do things in chronological order; it's less confusing
1224 that way."
1225 %
1226 Am I ranting? I hope so. My ranting gets raves.
1227 %
1228 AMAZING BUT TRUE ...
1229
1230 If all the salmon caught in Canada in one year were laid end to end
1231 across the Sahara Desert, the smell would be absolutely awful.
1232 %
1233 AMAZING BUT TRUE ...
1234
1235 There is so much sand in Northern Africa that if it were spread out it
1236 would completely cover the Sahara Desert.
1237 %
1238 Ambidextrous, adj.:
1239 Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left.
1240 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1241 %
1242 Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.
1243 -- Charlie McCarthy
1244 %
1245 America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism
1246 to decadence without touching civilization.
1247 -- John O'Hara
1248 %
1249 America was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci and was named after him,
1250 until people got tired of living in a place called "Vespuccia" and
1251 changed its name to "America".
1252 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
1253 %
1254 American business long ago gave up on demanding that prospective
1255 employees be honest and hardworking. It has even stopped hoping for
1256 employees who are educated enough that they can tell the difference
1257 between the men's room and the women's room without having little
1258 pictures on the doors.
1259 -- Dave Barry, "Urine Trouble, Mister"
1260 %
1261 "Amnesia used to be my favorite word, but then I forgot it."
1262 %
1263 An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because
1264 people refuse to see it.
1265 -- James Michener, "Space"
1266 %
1267 An American's a person who isn't afraid to criticize the President but
1268 is always polite to traffic cops.
1269 %
1270 An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to
1271 New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they have Tide but
1272 not new Tide with lemon-fresh Borax.
1273 -- David Letterman
1274 %
1275 An apple every eight hours will keep three doctors away.
1276 %
1277 An architect's first work is apt to be spare and clean. He
1278 knows he doesn't know what he's doing, so he does it carefully and with
1279 great restraint.
1280 As he designs the first work, frill after frill and
1281 embellishment after embellishment occur to him. These get stored away
1282 to be used "next time". Sooner or later the first system is finished,
1283 and the architect, with firm confidence and a demonstrated mastery of
1284 that class of systems, is ready to build a second system.
1285 This second is the most dangerous system a man ever designs.
1286 When he does his third and later ones, his prior experiences will
1287 confirm each other as to the general characteristics of such systems,
1288 and their differences will identify those parts of his experience that
1289 are particular and not generalizable.
1290 The general tendency is to over-design the second system, using
1291 all the ideas and frills that were cautiously sidetracked on the first
1292 one. The result, as Ovid says, is a "big pile".
1293 -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"
1294 %
1295 An artist should be fit for the best society and keep out of it.
1296 %
1297 An attorney was defending his client against a charge of first-degree
1298 murder. "Your Honor, my client is accused of stuffing his lover's
1299 mutilated body into a suitcase and heading for the Mexican border.
1300 Just north of Tijuana a cop spotted her hand sticking out of the
1301 suitcase. Now, I would like to stress that my client is *not* a
1302 murderer. A sloppy packer, maybe..."
1303 %
1304 An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you
1305 really care to know.
1306 %
1307 An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible.
1308 %
1309 An elephant is a mouse with an operating system.
1310 %
1311 An English judge, growing weary of the barrister's long-winded
1312 summation, leaned over the bench and remarked, "I've heard your
1313 arguments, Sir Geoffrey, and I'm none the wiser!" Sir Geoffrey
1314 responded, "That may be, Milord, but at least you're better informed!"
1315 %
1316 An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.
1317 -- A. P. Herbert
1318 %
1319 An excellence-oriented '80s male does not wear a regular watch. He
1320 wears a Rolex watch, because it weighs nearly six pounds and is
1321 advertised only in excellence-oriented publications such as Fortune and
1322 Rich Protestant Golfer Magazine. The advertisements are written in
1323 incomplete sentences, which is how advertising copywriters denote
1324 excellence:
1325
1326 "The Rolex Hyperion. An elegant new standard in quality excellence and
1327 discriminating handcraftsmanship. For the individual who is truly able
1328 to discriminate with regard to excellent quality standards of crafting
1329 things by hand. Fabricated of 100 percent 24-karat gold. No watch
1330 parts or anything. Just a great big chunk on your wrist. Truly a
1331 timeless statement. For the individual who is very secure. Who
1332 doesn't need to be reminded all the time that he is very successful.
1333 Much more successful than the people who laughed at him in high
1334 school. Because of his acne. People who are probably nowhere near as
1335 successful as he is now. Maybe he'll go to his 20th reunion, and
1336 they'll see his Rolex Hyperion. Hahahahahahahahaha."
1337 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
1338 %
1339 An exotic journey in downtown Newark is in your future.
1340 %
1341 "... an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often
1342 picturesque liar."
1343 -- Mark Twain
1344 %
1345 An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these
1346 eyes we cannot bear to look out of, we blind them as quickly as
1347 possible.
1348 -- Russell Hoban, "Pilgermann"
1349 %
1350 An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.
1351 %
1352 An old Jewish man reads about Einstein's theory of relativity
1353 in the newspaper and asks his scientist grandson to explain it to him.
1354 "Well, zayda, it's sort of like this. Einstein says that if
1355 you're having your teeth drilled without Novocain, a minute seems like
1356 an hour. But if you're sitting with a beautiful woman on your lap, an
1357 hour seems like a minute."
1358 The old man considers this profound bit of thinking for a
1359 moment and says, "And from this he makes a living?"
1360 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
1361 %
1362 "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of purge."
1363 %
1364 Anarchy may not be the best form of government, but it's better than no
1365 government at all.
1366 %
1367 And as we stand on the edge of darkness
1368 Let our chant fill the void
1369 That others may know
1370
1371 In the land of the night
1372 The ship of the sun
1373 Is drawn by
1374 The grateful dead.
1375
1376 -- Tibetan "Book of the Dead," ca. 4000 BC.
1377 %
1378 ... and furthermore ... I don't like your trousers.
1379 %
1380 And I heard Jeff exclaim,
1381 As they strolled out of sight,
1382 "Merry Christmas to all --
1383 You take credit cards, right?"
1384 -- "Outsiders" comic
1385 %
1386 ... And malt does more than Milton can
1387 To justify God's ways to man
1388 -- A. E. Housman
1389 %
1390 And on the seventh day, He exited from append mode.
1391 %
1392 "... And remember: if you don't like the news, go out and make some of
1393 your own."
1394 -- "Scoop" Nisker, KFOG radio reporter
1395 Preposterous Words
1396 %
1397 And so, men, we can see that human skin is an even more complex and
1398 fascinating organ than we thought it was, and if we want to keep it
1399 looking good, we have to care for it as though it were our own. One
1400 approach is to undergo a painful surgical procedure wherein your skin
1401 is turned inside-out, so the young cells are on the outside, but then
1402 of course you have the unpleasant side effect that your insides
1403 gradually fill up with dead old cells and you explode. So this
1404 procedure is pretty much limited to top Hollywood stars for whom
1405 youthful beauty is a career necessity, such as Elizabeth Taylor and
1406 Orson Welles.
1407 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
1408 %
1409 "...and the fully armed nuclear warheads, are, of course, merely a
1410 courtesy detail."
1411 %
1412 And this is a table ma'am. What in essence it consists of is a
1413 horizontal rectilinear plane surface maintained by four vertical
1414 columnar supports, which we call legs. The tables in this laboratory,
1415 ma'am, are as advanced in design as one will find anywhere in the
1416 world.
1417 -- Michael Frayn, "The Tin Men"
1418 %
1419 "And what will you do when you grow up to be as big as me?"
1420 asked the father of his little son.
1421 "Diet."
1422 %
1423 And yet, seasons must be taken with a grain of salt, for they too have
1424 a sense of humor, as does history. Corn stalks comedy, comedy stalks
1425 tragedy, and this too is historic. And yet, still, when corn meets
1426 tragedy face to face, we have politics.
1427 -- Dalglish, Larsen and Sutherland, "Root Crops and
1428 Ground Cover"
1429 %
1430 Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes.
1431 Galileo: No, unhappy the land that _____needs heroes.
1432 -- Bertholt Brecht, "Life of Galileo"
1433 %
1434 Angels we have heard on High
1435 Tell us to go out and Buy.
1436 -- Tom Lehrer
1437 %
1438 Ankh if you love Isis.
1439 %
1440 Anoint, v.:
1441 To grease a king or other great functionary already
1442 sufficiently slippery.
1443 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1444 %
1445 Another Glitch in the Call
1446 ------- ------ -- --- ----
1447 (Sung to the tune of a recent Pink Floyd song.)
1448
1449 We don't need no indirection
1450 We don't need no flow control
1451 No data typing or declarations
1452 Did you leave the lists alone?
1453
1454 Hey! Hacker! Leave those lists alone!
1455
1456 Chorus:
1457 All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call.
1458 All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call.
1459 %
1460 Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
1461 %
1462 Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but
1463 television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom
1464 and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that
1465 offers whiter teeth *___and* fresher breath.
1466 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
1467 %
1468 Answers to Last Fortune's Questions:
1469
1470 (1) None. (Moses didn't have an ark).
1471 (2) Your mother, by the pigeonhole principle.
1472 (3) I don't know.
1473 (4) Who cares?
1474 (5) 6 (or maybe 4, or else 3). Mr. Alfred J. Duncan of Podunk,
1475 Montana, submitted an interesting solution to Problem 5.
1476 (6) There is an interesting solution to this problem on page 1029 of my
1477 book, which you can pick up for $23.95 at finer bookstores and
1478 bathroom supply outlets (or 99 cents at the table in front of
1479 Papyrus Books).
1480 %
1481 Anthony's Law of Force:
1482 Don't force it; get a larger hammer.
1483 %
1484 Anthony's Law of the Workshop:
1485 Any tool when dropped, will roll into the least accessible
1486 corner of the workshop.
1487
1488 Corollary:
1489 On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first strike
1490 your toes.
1491 %
1492 Antonym, n.:
1493 The opposite of the word you're trying to think of.
1494 %
1495 Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.
1496 -- Charles McCabe
1497 %
1498 Any dramatic series the producers want us to take seriously as a
1499 representation of contemporary reality cannot be taken seriously as a
1500 representation of anything -- except a show to be ignored by anyone
1501 capable of sitting upright in a chair and chewing gum simultaneously.
1502 -- Richard Schickel
1503 %
1504 Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
1505 -- Aesop
1506 %
1507 Any father who thinks he's all important should remind himself that
1508 this country honors fathers only one day a year while pickles get a
1509 whole week.
1510 %
1511 Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise person to be able to
1512 sell it.
1513 %
1514 Any great truth can -- and eventually will -- be expressed as a cliche
1515 -- a cliche is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance,
1516 my grandmother used to say, "The black cat is always the last one off
1517 the fence." I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was
1518 undoubtedly true.
1519 -- Solomon Short
1520 %
1521 Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there.
1522 -- Sydney J. Harris
1523 %
1524 Any small object that is accidentally dropped will hide under a larger
1525 object.
1526 %
1527 Any stone in your boot always migrates against the pressure gradient to
1528 exactly the point of most pressure.
1529 -- Milt Barber
1530 %
1531 Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.
1532 -- Rich Kulawiec
1533 %
1534 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged
1535 demo.
1536 %
1537 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
1538 -- Arthur C. Clarke
1539 %
1540 Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked
1541 something.
1542 %
1543 Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours.
1544 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
1545 %
1546 Anybody can win, unless there happens to be a second entry.
1547 %
1548 Anybody who doesn't cut his speed at the sight of a police car is
1549 probably parked.
1550 %
1551 Anybody with money to burn will easily find someone to tend the fire.
1552 %
1553 Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
1554 supposed to be doing at the moment.
1555 -- Robert Benchley
1556 %
1557 Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
1558 -- Publius Syrus
1559 %
1560 Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with
1561 none.
1562 %
1563 Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he
1564 is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not
1565 make messes in the house.
1566 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
1567 %
1568 Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.
1569 -- Samuel Goldwyn
1570 %
1571 Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad.
1572 -- W. C. Fields
1573 %
1574 Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no
1575 account be allowed to do the job.
1576 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
1577 %
1578 Anyone who uses the phrase "easy as taking candy from a baby" has never
1579 tried taking candy from a baby.
1580 -- Robin Hood
1581 %
1582 Anything free is worth what you pay for it.
1583 %
1584 Anything is good if it's made of chocolate.
1585 %
1586 Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the
1587 price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW"
1588 means the price went way up.
1589 %
1590 Anything that is good and useful is made of chocolate.
1591 %
1592 Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
1593 %
1594 "Apathy is not the problem, it's the solution"
1595 %
1596 Aphorism, n.:
1597 A concise, clever statement.
1598 Afterism, n.:
1599 A concise, clever statement you don't think of until too late.
1600 -- James Alexander Thom
1601 %
1602 APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of
1603 the future for the problems of the past: it creates a new generation of
1604 coding bums.
1605 %
1606 APL is a write-only language. I can write programs in APL, but I
1607 can't read any of them.
1608 -- Roy Keir
1609 %
1610 Aquadextrous, adj.:
1611 Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off
1612 with your toes.
1613 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
1614 %
1615 AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
1616 You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.
1617 You lie a great deal. On the other hand, you are inclined to
1618 be careless and impractical, causing you to make the same
1619 mistakes over and over again. People think you are stupid.
1620 %
1621 Arbitrary systems, pl.n.:
1622 Systems about which nothing general can be said, save "nothing
1623 general can be said."
1624 %
1625 ARCHDUKE FERDINAND FOUND ALIVE --
1626 FIRST WORLD WAR A MISTAKE
1627 %
1628 Are you a turtle?
1629 %
1630 "Arguments with furniture are rarely productive."
1631 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
1632 %
1633 ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 19)
1634 You are the pioneer type and hold most people in contempt. You
1635 are quick tempered, impatient, and scornful of advice. You are
1636 not very nice.
1637 %
1638 Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your
1639 shoes.
1640 -- Mickey Mouse
1641 %
1642 Armadillo:
1643 To provide weapons to a Spanish pickle
1644 %
1645 Arnold's Laws of Documentation:
1646 (1) If it should exist, it doesn't.
1647 (2) If it does exist, it's out of date.
1648 (3) Only documentation for useless programs transcends the
1649 first two laws.
1650 %
1651 Around computers it is difficult to find the correct unit of time to
1652 measure progress. Some cathedrals took a century to complete. Can you
1653 imagine the grandeur and scope of a program that would take as long?
1654 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
1655 %
1656 Art is anything you can get away with.
1657 -- Marshall McLuhan.
1658 %
1659 Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
1660 -- Paul Gauguin
1661 %
1662 Arthur's Laws of Love:
1663 (1) People to whom you are attracted invariably think you
1664 remind them of someone else.
1665 (2) The love letter you finally got the courage to send will be
1666 delayed in the mail long enough for you to make a fool of
1667 yourself in person.
1668 %
1669 Artistic ventures highlighted. Rob a museum.
1670 %
1671 As a professional humorist, I often get letters from readers who are
1672 interested in the basic nature of humor. "What kind of a sick
1673 perverted disgusting person are you," these letters typically ask,
1674 "that you make jokes about setting fire to a goat?"
1675 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
1676 %
1677 As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual
1678 certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life -- so I
1679 became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can
1680 meet girls.
1681 -- Matt Cartmill
1682 %
1683 As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
1684 certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
1685 -- Albert Einstein
1686 %
1687 As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error.
1688 -- Weisert
1689 %
1690 As I was going up Punch Card Hill,
1691 Feeling worse and worser,
1692 There I met a C.R.T.
1693 And it drop't me a cursor.
1694
1695 C.R.T., C.R.T.,
1696 Phosphors light on you!
1697 If I had fifty hours a day
1698 I'd spend them all at you.
1699
1700 -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes
1701 %
1702 As I was passing Project MAC,
1703 I met a Quux with seven hacks.
1704 Every hack had seven bugs;
1705 Every bug had seven manifestations;
1706 Every manifestation had seven symptoms.
1707 Symptoms, manifestations, bugs, and hacks,
1708 How many losses at Project MAC?
1709 %
1710 As long as I am mayor of this city [Jersey City, New Jersey] the great
1711 industries are secure. We hear about constitutional rights, free
1712 speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to
1713 myself, "That man is a Red, that man is a Communist". You never hear a
1714 real American talk like that.
1715 -- Frank Hague (1896-1956)
1716 %
1717 As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?
1718 %
1719 As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its
1720 fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be
1721 popular.
1722 -- Oscar Wilde
1723 %
1724 As of next week, passwords will be entered in Morse code.
1725 %
1726 "As part of the conversion, computer specialists rewrote 1,500
1727 programs; a process that traditionally requires some debugging."
1728 -- USA Today, referring to the IRS switchover to a new
1729 computer system.
1730 %
1731 As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it
1732 wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had
1733 to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized
1734 that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in
1735 finding mistakes in my own programs.
1736 -- Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949
1737 %
1738 As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" -- probably because it's
1739 so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.
1740 -- Woody Allen
1741 %
1742 As the trials of life continue to take their toll, remember that there
1743 is always a future in Computer Maintenance.
1744 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
1745 %
1746 As Will Rogers would have said, "There is no such thing as a free
1747 variable."
1748 %
1749 As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple
1750 memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time
1751 to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A,
1752 E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.
1753 -- Sandra Boynton, "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion"
1754 %
1755 As you know, birds do not have sexual organs because they would
1756 interfere with flight. [In fact, this was the big breakthrough for the
1757 Wright Brothers. They were watching birds one day, trying to figure
1758 out how to get their crude machine to fly, when suddenly it dawned on
1759 Wilbur. "Orville," he said, "all we have to do is remove the sexual
1760 organs!" You should have seen their original design.] As a result,
1761 birds are very, very difficult to arouse sexually. You almost never
1762 see an aroused bird. So when they want to reproduce, birds fly up and
1763 stand on telephone lines, where they monitor telephone conversations
1764 with their feet. When they find a conversation in which people are
1765 talking dirty, they grip the line very tightly until they are both
1766 highly aroused, at which point the female gets pregnant.
1767 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
1768 Teen Should Know"
1769 %
1770 As you reach for the web, a venomous spider appears. Unable to pull
1771 your hand away in time, the spider promptly, but politely, bites you.
1772 The venom takes affect quickly causing your lips to turn plaid along
1773 with your complexion. You become dazed, and in your stupor you fall
1774 from the limbs of the tree. Snap! Your head falls off and rolls all
1775 over the ground. The instant before you croak, you hear the whoosh of
1776 a vacuum being filled by the air surrounding your head. Worse yet, the
1777 spider is suing you for damages.
1778 %
1779 As Zeus said to Narcissus, "Watch yourself."
1780 %
1781 ASHes to ASHes, DOS to DOS.
1782 %
1783 Ask five economists and you'll get five different explanations (six if
1784 one went to Harvard).
1785 -- Edgar R. Fiedler
1786 %
1787 Ask not for whom the <CONTROL-G> tolls.
1788 %
1789 Ask Not for whom the Bell Tolls, and You will Pay only the
1790 Station-to-Station rate.
1791 %
1792 Ask not for whom the telephone bell tolls ... if thou art in the
1793 bathtub, it tolls for thee.
1794 %
1795 Ask your boss to reconsider -- it's so difficult to take "Go to hell"
1796 for an answer.
1797 %
1798 "Asked by reporters about his upcoming marriage to a forty-two-year-old
1799 woman, director Roman Polanski told reporters, `The way I look at it,
1800 she's the equivalent of three fourteen-year-olds.'"
1801 -- David Letterman
1802 %
1803 Ass, n.:
1804 The masculine of "lass".
1805 %
1806 Associate with well-mannered persons and your manners will improve.
1807 Run with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be
1808 strengthened. Keep the company of bums and you will become a bum.
1809 Hang around with rich people and you will end by picking up the check
1810 and dying broke.
1811 -- Stanley Walker
1812 %
1813 "At a recent meeting in Snowmass, Colorado, a participant from Los
1814 Angeles fainted from hyperoxygenation, and we had to hold his head
1815 under the exhaust of a bus until he revived."
1816 %
1817 At any given moment, an arrow must be either where it is or where it is
1818 not. But obviously it cannot be where it is not. And if it is where
1819 it is, that is equivalent to saying that it is at rest.
1820 -- Zeno's paradox of the moving (still?) arrow
1821 %
1822 At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial
1823 challenge roughly comparable to herding cats.
1824 -- The Washington Post Magazine, June 9, 1985
1825 %
1826 ... at least I thought I was dancing, 'til somebody stepped on my hand.
1827 -- J. B. White
1828 %
1829 "At least they're ___________EXPERIENCED incompetents"
1830 %
1831 At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his
1832 thumb with a hammer.
1833 -- Marshall Lumsden
1834 %
1835 At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will
1836 find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on
1837 the computer.
1838 %
1839 Atlanta makes it against the law to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole
1840 or street lamp.
1841 %
1842 Atlee is a very modest man. And with reason.
1843 -- Winston Churchill
1844 %
1845 Authors (and perhaps columnists) eventually rise to the top of whatever
1846 depths they were once able to plumb.
1847 -- Stanley Kaufman
1848 %
1849 Automobile, n.:
1850 A four-wheeled vehicle that runs up hills and down pedestrians.
1851 %
1852 Avoid Quiet and Placid persons unless you are in Need of Sleep.
1853 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
1854 %
1855 Avoid reality at all costs.
1856 %
1857 Avoid revolution or expect to get shot. Mother and I will grieve, but
1858 we will gladly buy a dinner for the National Guardsman who shot you.
1859 -- Dr. Paul Williamson, father of a student entering
1860 school in the fall after the Kent State shootings
1861 %
1862 Bacchus, n.:
1863 A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for
1864 getting drunk.
1865 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1866 %
1867 Bagbiter:
1868 1. n.; Equipment or program that fails, usually
1869 intermittently. 2. adj.: Failing hardware or software. "This
1870 bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." Usage: verges on
1871 obscenity. Grammatically separable; one may speak of "biting the
1872 bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, BARFUCIOUS,
1873 CHOMPER, CHOMPING.
1874 %
1875 Bagdikian's Observation:
1876 Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American
1877 newspaper is like trying to play Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" on a
1878 ukulele.
1879 %
1880 Baker's First Law of Federal Geometry:
1881 A block grant is a solid mass of money surrounded on all sides
1882 by governors.
1883 %
1884 Ban the bomb. Save the world for conventional warfare.
1885 %
1886 Banectomy, n.:
1887 The removal of bruises on a banana.
1888 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
1889 %
1890 Bank error in your favor. Collect $200.
1891 %
1892 Barach's Rule:
1893 An alcoholic is a person who drinks more than his own physician.
1894 %
1895 Bare feet magnetize sharp metal objects so they point upward from the
1896 floor -- especially in the dark.
1897 %
1898 Barometer, n.:
1899 An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we
1900 are having.
1901 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
1902 %
1903 Barth's Distinction:
1904 There are two types of people: those who divide people into two
1905 types, and those who don't.
1906 %
1907 Baruch's Observation:
1908 If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
1909 %
1910 Baseball is a skilled game. It's America's game -- it, and high
1911 taxes.
1912 -- Will Rogers
1913 %
1914 Basic is a high level languish.
1915 APL is a high level anguish.
1916 %
1917 "BASIC is the Computer Science equivalent of `Scientific Creationism'."
1918 %
1919 BASIC, n.:
1920 A programming language. Related to certain social diseases in
1921 that those who have it will not admit it in polite company.
1922 %
1923 Bathquake, n.:
1924 The violent quake that rattles the entire house when the water
1925 faucet is turned on to a certain point.
1926 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
1927 %
1928 Be a better psychiatrist and the world will beat a psychopath to your
1929 door.
1930 %
1931 BE ALERT!!!! (The world needs more lerts ...)
1932 %
1933 Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely
1934 get your Feet wet. Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your
1935 face.
1936 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
1937 %
1938 Be braver -- you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
1939 %
1940 Be careful of reading health books. You might die of a misprint.
1941 -- Mark Twain
1942 %
1943 Be different: conform.
1944 %
1945 Be free and open and breezy! Enjoy! Things won't get any better so
1946 get used to it.
1947 %
1948 Be security conscious -- National Defense is at stake.
1949 %
1950 Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and
1951 miss
1952 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
1953 %
1954 Bees are very busy souls
1955 They have no time for birth controls
1956 And that is why in times like these
1957 There are so many Sons of Bees.
1958 %
1959 Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and
1960 took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his
1961 followers.
1962 One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and
1963 there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing.
1964 "Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his
1965 commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile? What is your
1966 Purpose in Life, anyway?"
1967 Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU". (The
1968 Chinese ideogram for NO-THING.)
1969 Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened.
1970 Primarily because nobody understood Chinese.
1971 -- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"
1972 %
1973 Before Xerox, five carbons were the maximum extension of anybody's ego.
1974 %
1975 Begathon, n.:
1976 A multi-day event on public television, used to raise money so
1977 you won't have to watch commercials.
1978 %
1979 Behold the warranty ... the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh
1980 away.
1981 %
1982 Beifeld's Principle:
1983 The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and
1984 receptive young female increases by pyramidal progression when he is
1985 already in the company of: (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) a better
1986 looking and richer male friend.
1987 %
1988 "Being disintegrated makes me ve-ry an-gry!" <huff, huff>
1989 %
1990 Bell Labs Unix -- Reach out and grep someone.
1991 %
1992 Bennett's Laws of Horticulture:
1993 (1) Houses are for people to live in.
1994 (2) Gardens are for plants to live in.
1995 (3) There is no such thing as a houseplant.
1996 %
1997 "Benson, you are so free of the ravages of intelligence"
1998 -- Time Bandits
1999 %
2000 Besides the device, the box should contain:
2001
2002 * Eight little rectangular snippets of paper that say "WARNING"
2003
2004 * A plastic packet containing four 5/17 inch pilfer grommets and two
2005 club-ended 6/93 inch boxcar prawns.
2006
2007 YOU WILL NEED TO SUPPLY: a matrix wrench and 60,000 feet of tram
2008 cable.
2009
2010 IF ANYTHING IS DAMAGED OR MISSING: You IMMEDIATELY should turn to your
2011 spouse and say: "Margaret, you know why this country can't make a car
2012 that can get all the way through the drive-through at Burger King
2013 without a major transmission overhaul? Because nobody cares, that's
2014 why."
2015
2016 WARNING: This is assuming your spouse's name is Margaret.
2017 -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"
2018 %
2019 Best of all is never to have been born. Second best is to die soon.
2020 %
2021 better !pout !cry
2022 better watchout
2023 lpr why
2024 santa claus <north pole >town
2025
2026 cat /etc/passwd >list
2027 ncheck list
2028 ncheck list
2029 cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist
2030 cat list | grep nice >giftlist
2031 santa claus <north pole > town
2032
2033 who | grep sleeping
2034 who | grep awake
2035 who | egrep 'bad|good'
2036 for (goodness sake) {
2037 be good
2038 }
2039 %
2040 Better dead than mellow.
2041 %
2042 Between 1950 and 1952, a bored weatherman, stationed north of Hudson
2043 Bay, left a monument that neither government nor time can eradicate.
2044 Using a bulldozer abandoned by the Air Force, he spent two years and
2045 great effort pushing boulders into a single word.
2046
2047 It can be seen from 10,000 feet, silhouetted against the snow.
2048 Government officials exchanged memos full of circumlocutions (no Latin
2049 equivalent exists) but failed to word an appropriation bill for the
2050 destruction of this cairn, that wouldn't alert the press and embarrass
2051 both Parliament and Party.
2052
2053 It stands today, a monument to human spirit. If life exists on other
2054 planets, this may be the first message received from us.
2055 -- The Realist, November, 1964.
2056 %
2057 Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
2058 tried it.
2059 -- Donald Knuth
2060 %
2061 Beware of computerized fortune-tellers!
2062 %
2063 Beware of low-flying butterflies.
2064 %
2065 Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers.
2066 -- Leonard Brandwein
2067 %
2068 Beware of self-styled experts: an ex is a has-been, and a spurt is a
2069 drip under pressure.
2070 %
2071 "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and
2072 finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of
2073 murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by
2074 their ignorance the hard way."
2075 -- Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
2076 %
2077 Beware of the Turing Tar-pit in which everything is possible but
2078 nothing of interest is easy.
2079 %
2080 Binary, adj.:
2081 Possessing the ability to have friends of both sexes.
2082 %
2083 Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same
2084 thing as division.
2085 %
2086 Bipolar, adj.:
2087 Refers to someone who has homes in Nome, Alaska, and Buffalo,
2088 New York
2089 %
2090 Birth, n.:
2091 The first and direst of all disasters.
2092 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2093 %
2094 Bizarreness is the essence of the exotic.
2095 %
2096 Bizoos, n.:
2097 The millions of tiny individual bumps that make up a
2098 basketball.
2099 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
2100 %
2101 ... bleakness ... desolation ... plastic forks ...
2102 %
2103 Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.
2104 -- Herbert Hoover
2105 %
2106 Blessed are they who Go Around in Circles,
2107 for they Shall be Known as Wheels.
2108 %
2109 BLISS is ignorance.
2110 %
2111 Blood flows down one leg and up the other.
2112 %
2113 Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier.
2114 %
2115 Blore's Razor:
2116 Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is
2117 funnier.
2118 %
2119 Board the windows, up your car insurance, and don't leave any booze in
2120 plain sight. It's St. Patrick's day in Chicago again. The legend has
2121 it that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. In fact, he was
2122 arrested for drunk driving. The snakes left because people kept
2123 throwing up on them.
2124 %
2125 Boling's postulate:
2126 If you're feeling good, don't worry. You'll get over it.
2127 %
2128 Bolub's Fourth Law of Computerdom:
2129 Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so
2130 vividly manifests their lack of progress.
2131 %
2132 Bombeck's Rule of Medicine:
2133 Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
2134 %
2135 BOO! We changed Coke again! BLEAH! BLEAH!
2136 %
2137 Boob's Law:
2138 You always find something in the last place you look.
2139 %
2140 Bore, n.:
2141 A guy who wraps up a two-minute idea in a two-hour vocabulary.
2142 -- Walter Winchell
2143 %
2144 Bore, n.:
2145 A person who talks when you wish him to listen.
2146 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2147 %
2148 Boren's Laws:
2149 (1) When in charge, ponder.
2150 (2) When in trouble, delegate.
2151 (3) When in doubt, mumble.
2152 %
2153 Boss, n.:
2154 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the Middle Ages
2155 the words "boss" and "botch" were largely synonymous, except that boss,
2156 in addition to meaning "a supervisor of workers" also meant "an
2157 ornamental stud."
2158 %
2159 Boston State House is the hub of the Solar System. You couldn't pry
2160 that out of a Boston man if you had the tire of all creation
2161 straightened out for a crowbar.
2162 -- O. W. Holmes
2163 %
2164 Boston, n.:
2165 Ludwig van Beethoven being jeered by 50,000 sports fans for
2166 finishing second in the Irish jig competition.
2167 %
2168 Boy, life takes a long time to live.
2169 -- Steven Wright
2170 %
2171 Boy, n.:
2172 A noise with dirt on it.
2173 %
2174 Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least
2175 when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.
2176 -- James Thurber
2177 %
2178 Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.
2179 -- Kin Hubbard
2180 %
2181 Brace yourselves. We're about to try something that borders on the
2182 unique: an actually rather serious technical book which is not only
2183 (gasp) vehemently anti-Solemn, but also (shudder) takes sides. I tend
2184 to think of it as `Constructive Snottiness.'
2185 -- Mike Padlipsky, Foreword to "Elements of Networking Style"
2186 %
2187 Bradley's Bromide:
2188 If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a
2189 committee -- that will do them in.
2190 %
2191 Brady's First Law of Problem Solving:
2192 When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more
2193 easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have
2194 handled this?"
2195 %
2196 Brain fried -- Core dumped
2197 %
2198 Brain, n.:
2199 The apparatus with which we think that we think.
2200 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2201 %
2202 Brain, v. [as in "to brain"]:
2203 To rebuke bluntly, but not pointedly; to dispel a source of
2204 error in an opponent.
2205 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2206 %
2207 Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests,
2208 since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind.
2209 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
2210 %
2211 Bride, n.:
2212 A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.
2213 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2214 %
2215 Bringing computers into the home won't change either one, but may
2216 revitalize the corner saloon.
2217 %
2218 British Israelites:
2219 The British Israelites believe the white Anglo-Saxons of
2220 Britain to be descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel deported by
2221 Sargon of Assyria on the fall of Sumeria in 721 B.C. ... They further
2222 believe that the future can be foretold by the measurements of the
2223 Great Pyramid, which probably means it will be big and yellow and in
2224 the hand of the Arabs. They also believe that if you sleep with your
2225 head under the pillow a fairy will come and take all your teeth.
2226 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
2227 %
2228 Broad-mindedness, n.:
2229 The result of flattening high-mindedness out.
2230 %
2231 Brontosaurus Principle:
2232 Organizations can grow faster than their brains can manage them
2233 in relation to their environment and to their own physiology: when
2234 this occurs, they are an endangered species.
2235 -- Thomas K. Connellan
2236 %
2237 Brook's Law:
2238 Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later
2239 %
2240 Brooke's Law:
2241 Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool
2242 discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it
2243 beyond recognition.
2244 %
2245 Bubble Memory, n.:
2246 A derogatory term, usually referring to a person's
2247 intelligence. See also "vacuum tube".
2248 %
2249 Bucy's Law:
2250 Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.
2251 %
2252 Bug, n.:
2253 An aspect of a computer program which exists because the
2254 programmer was thinking about Jumbo Jacks or stock options when s/he
2255 wrote the program.
2256
2257 Fortunately, the second-to-last bug has just been fixed.
2258 -- Ray Simard
2259 %
2260 Bugs, pl. n.:
2261 Small living things that small living boys throw on small
2262 living girls.
2263 %
2264 BULLWINKLE: "You just leave that to my pal. He's the brains of the
2265 outfit."
2266 GENERAL: "What does that make YOU?"
2267 BULLWINKLE: "What else? An executive."
2268 -- Jay Ward
2269 %
2270 Bumper sticker:
2271
2272 "All the parts falling off this car are of the very finest British
2273 manufacture"
2274 %
2275 Bureaucrat, n.:
2276 A person who cuts red tape sideways.
2277 -- J. McCabe
2278 %
2279 Bureaucrat, n.:
2280 A politician who has tenure.
2281 %
2282 Bureaucrats cut red tape -- lengthwise.
2283 %
2284 Burn's Hog Weighing Method:
2285 (1) Get a perfectly symmetrical plank and balance it across a
2286 sawhorse.
2287 (2) Put the hog on one end of the plank.
2288 (3) Pile rocks on the other end until the plank is again
2289 perfectly balanced.
2290 (4) Carefully guess the weight of the rocks.
2291 -- Robert Burns
2292 %
2293 But as records of courts and justice are admissible, it can
2294 easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed
2295 and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession)
2296 upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was
2297 without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based
2298 on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court
2299 was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and
2300 sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches,
2301 human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.
2302 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2303 %
2304 "But don't you worry, its for a cause -- feeding global corporations
2305 paws."
2306 %
2307 "But I don't like Spam!!!!"
2308 %
2309 But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human
2310 intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as
2311 we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy in issues
2312 that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our understanding
2313 of their world, not in their distorted perceptions. Even the standard
2314 example of ancient nonsense -- the debate about angels on pinheads --
2315 makes sense once you realize that theologians were not discussing
2316 whether five or eighteen would fit, but whether a pin could house a
2317 finite or an infinite number.
2318 -- S. J. Gould, "Wide Hats and Narrow Minds"
2319 %
2320 But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the
2321 system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed,
2322 analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses.
2323 -- Bruce Leverett, "Register Allocation in Optimizing
2324 Compilers"
2325 %
2326 "But officer, I was only trying to gain enough speed so I could coast
2327 to the nearest gas station."
2328 %
2329 But scientists, who ought to know
2330 Assure us that it must be so.
2331 Oh, let us never, never doubt
2332 What nobody is sure about.
2333 -- Hilaire Belloc
2334 %
2335 But soft you, the fair Ophelia:
2336 Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws,
2337 But get thee to a nunnery -- go!
2338 -- Mark "The Bard" Twain
2339 %
2340 But the greatest Electrical Pioneer of them all was Thomas Edison, who
2341 was a brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal
2342 education and lived in New Jersey. Edison's first major invention in
2343 1877, was the phonograph, which could soon be found in thousands of
2344 American homes, where it basically sat until 1923, when the record was
2345 invented. But Edison's greatest achievement came in 1879, when he
2346 invented the electric company. Edison's design was a brilliant
2347 adaptation of the simple electrical circuit: the electric company sends
2348 electricity through a wire to a customer, then immediately gets the
2349 electricity back through another wire, then (this is the brilliant
2350 part) sends it right back to the customer again.
2351
2352 This means that an electric company can sell a customer the same batch
2353 of electricity thousands of times a day and never get caught, since
2354 very few customers take the time to examine their electricity closely.
2355 In fact the last year any new electricity was generated in the United
2356 States was 1937; the electric companies have been merely re-selling it
2357 ever since, which is why they have so much free time to apply for rate
2358 increases.
2359 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
2360 %
2361 But this has taken us far afield from interface, which is not a bad
2362 place to be, since I particularly want to move ahead to the kludge.
2363 Why do people have so much trouble understanding the kludge? What is a
2364 kludge, after all, but not enough Ks, not enough ROMs, not enough RAMs,
2365 poor quality interface and too few bytes to go around? Have I
2366 explained yet about the bytes?
2367 %
2368 ... But we've only fondled the surface of that subject.
2369 -- Virginia Masters
2370 %
2371 "But what we need to know is, do people want nasally-insertable
2372 computers?"
2373 %
2374 Buzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes
2375 Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn;
2376 Less dear than army ants in apple pies
2377 Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn,
2378 Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit;
2379 Like honeybees upon the perfum'd rose
2380 They suck, and like the double-breasted suit
2381 Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose,
2382 Go fly a kite, thy welcome's overstayed;
2383 And stem the produce of thy waspish wits:
2384 Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed;
2385 Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits.
2386 Be off, I say; go bug somebody new,
2387 Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you.
2388 %
2389 By doing just a little every day, you can gradually let the task
2390 completely overwhelm you.
2391 %
2392 By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact,
2393 it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to
2394 invent.
2395 -- R. Emerson
2396 -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program
2397 (whose author claims, "Actually, stealing IS easier.")
2398 [to which I reply, "You think it's easy for me to
2399 misconstrue all these misquotations?!?"]
2400 %
2401 By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began
2402 to suspect 'Hungry' ...
2403 -- Gary Larson, "The Far Side"
2404 %
2405 By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's, I
2406 mean.
2407 -- Mark Twain
2408 %
2409 Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to
2410 point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very
2411 fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are
2412 often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people
2413 from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B
2414 that so many people from point A are so keen to get _____there. They often
2415 wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell
2416 they wanted to be.
2417 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
2418 %
2419 C, n.:
2420 A programming language that is sort of like Pascal except more
2421 like assembly except that it isn't very much like either one, or
2422 anything else. It is either the best language available to the art
2423 today, or it isn't.
2424 -- Ray Simard
2425 %
2426 Cabbage, n.:
2427 A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as
2428 a man's head.
2429 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2430 %
2431 Cable is not a luxury, since many areas have poor TV reception.
2432 -- The mayor of Tucson, Arizona, 1989
2433 %
2434 Cahn's Axiom:
2435 When all else fails, read the instructions.
2436 %
2437 California is a fine place to live -- if you happen to be an orange.
2438 -- Fred Allen
2439 %
2440 California, n.:
2441 From Latin "calor", meaning "heat" (as in English "calorie" or
2442 Spanish "caliente"); and "fornia'" for "sexual intercourse" or
2443 "fornication." Hence: Tierra de California, "the land of hot sex."
2444 -- Ed Moran
2445 %
2446 Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
2447 -- Indian proverb
2448 %
2449 Calling J-Man Kink. Calling J-Man Kink. Hash missile sighted, target
2450 Los Angeles. Disregard personal feelings about city and intercept.
2451 %
2452 Calvin Coolidge looks as if he had been weaned on a pickle.
2453 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
2454 %
2455 Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth
2456 Corner, Vermont.
2457 -- Clarence Darrow
2458 %
2459 Campus sidewalks never exist as the straightest line between two
2460 points.
2461 -- M. M. Johnston
2462 %
2463 Canada Bill Jone's Motto:
2464 It's morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money.
2465
2466 Supplement:
2467 A .44 magnum beats four aces.
2468 %
2469 Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents
2470 for postage and 30 cents for storage.
2471 -- Gerald Regan, Cabinet Minister, 12/31/83 Financial Post
2472 %
2473 Cancel me not -- for what then shall remain?
2474 Abscissas, some mantissas, modules, modes,
2475 A root or two, a torus and a node:
2476 The inverse of my verse, a null domain.
2477 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
2478 %
2479 CANCER (June 21 - July 22)
2480 You are sympathetic and understanding to other people's
2481 problems. They think you are a sucker. You are always putting things
2482 off. That's why you'll never make anything of yourself. Most welfare
2483 recipients are Cancer people.
2484 %
2485 Canonical, adj.:
2486 The usual or standard state or manner of something. A true
2487 story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed some
2488 annoyance at the use of jargon. Over his loud objections, we made a
2489 point of using jargon as much as possible in his presence, and
2490 eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used
2491 the word "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without thinking.
2492 Steele: "Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too!"
2493 Stallman: "What did he say?"
2494 Steele: "He just used `canonical' in the canonical way."
2495 %
2496 CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 19)
2497 You are conservative and afraid of taking risks. You don't do
2498 much of anything and are lazy. There has never been a Capricorn of any
2499 importance. Capricorns should avoid standing still for too long as
2500 they take root and become trees.
2501 %
2502 Captain Penny's Law:
2503 You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of
2504 the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom.
2505 %
2506 Carelessly planned projects take three times longer to complete than
2507 expected. Carefully planned projects take four times longer to
2508 complete than expected, mostly because the planners expect their
2509 planning to reduce the time it takes.
2510 %
2511 Carmel, New York, has an ordinance forbidding men to wear coats and
2512 trousers that don't match.
2513 %
2514 Carperpetuation (kar' pur pet u a shun), n.:
2515 The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string at least a
2516 dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then
2517 putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
2518 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
2519 %
2520 Cat, n.:
2521 Lapwarmer with built-in buzzer.
2522 %
2523 Cauliflower is nothing but Cabbage with a College Education.
2524 -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson"
2525 %
2526 Caution: breathing may be hazardous to your health.
2527 %
2528 CChheecckk yyoouurr dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh..
2529 %
2530 Cecil, you're my final hope
2531 Of finding out the true Straight Dope
2532 For I have been reading of Schrodinger's cat
2533 But none of my cats are at all like that.
2534 This unusual animal (so it is said)
2535 Is simultaneously alive and dead!
2536 What I don't understand is just why he
2537 Can't be one or the other, unquestionably.
2538 My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
2539 In one I'm enlightened, in the other I ain't.
2540 If *you* understand, Cecil, then show me the way
2541 And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
2542 But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
2543 Then I will *___and* I won't see you in Schrodinger's zoo.
2544 -- Randy F., Chicago, "The Straight Dope, a compendium
2545 of human knowledge" by Cecil Adams
2546 %
2547 Celebrate Hannibal Day this year. Take an elephant to lunch.
2548 %
2549 Celestial navigation is based on the premise that the Earth is the
2550 center of the universe. The premise is wrong, but the navigation
2551 works. An incorrect model can be a useful tool.
2552 -- Kelvin Throop III
2553 %
2554 Census Taker to Housewife: Did you ever have the measles, and, if so,
2555 how many?
2556 %
2557 Cerebus: I'd love to lick apricot brandy out of your navel.
2558 Jaka: Look, Cerebus-- Jaka has to tell you ... something
2559 Cerebus: If Cerebus had a navel, would you lick apricot brandy
2560 out of it?
2561 Jaka: Ugh!
2562 Cerebus: You don't like apricot brandy?
2563 -- Cerebus #6, "The Secret"
2564 %
2565 Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long
2566 walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They
2567 then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy
2568 health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old,
2569 not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find
2570 only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the
2571 others who have tried it.
2572 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2573 %
2574 Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
2575 But it's very funny--
2576 Did you ever try buying them without money?
2577 -- Ogden Nash
2578 %
2579 Chapter 1
2580
2581 The story so far:
2582
2583 In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot
2584 of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
2585 %
2586 Character Density, n.:
2587 The number of very weird people in the office.
2588 %
2589 Checkuary, n.:
2590 The thirteenth month of the year. Begins New Year's Day and
2591 ends when a person stops absentmindedly writing the old year on his
2592 checks.
2593 %
2594 Chef, n.:
2595 Any cook who swears in French.
2596 %
2597 Chemicals, n.:
2598 Noxious substances from which modern foods are made.
2599 %
2600 Chemistry is applied theology.
2601 -- Augustus Stanley Owsley III
2602 %
2603 Chicago law prohibits eating in a place that is on fire.
2604 %
2605 Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #36:
2606 Never ever ask the tough looking gentleman wearing El Rukn
2607 headgear where he got his "pyramid powered pizza warmer".
2608 -- Chicago Reader 3/27/81
2609 %
2610 Chicago Transit Authority Rider's Rule #84:
2611 The CTA has complimentary pop-up timers available on request
2612 for overheated passengers. When your timer pops up, the driver will
2613 cheerfully baste you.
2614 -- Chicago Reader 5/28/82
2615 %
2616 Chicago, n.:
2617 Where the dead still vote ... early and often!
2618 %
2619 Chicken Little only has to be right once.
2620 %
2621 Chicken Little was right.
2622 %
2623 Chicken Soup, n.:
2624 An ancient miracle drug containing equal parts of aureomycin,
2625 cocaine, interferon, and TLC. The only ailment chicken soup can't cure
2626 is neurotic dependence on one's mother.
2627 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
2628 %
2629 Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every
2630 effort to teach them good manners.
2631 %
2632 Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're
2633 going to catch you in next.
2634 -- Franklin P. Jones
2635 %
2636 Children aren't happy without something to ignore,
2637 And that's what parents were created for.
2638 -- Ogden Nash
2639 %
2640 Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for
2641 word what you shouldn't have said.
2642 %
2643 Chism's Law of Completion:
2644 The amount of time required to complete a government project is
2645 precisely equal to the length of time already spent on it.
2646 %
2647 Chisolm's First Corollary to Murphy's Second Law:
2648 When things just can't possibly get any worse, they will.
2649 %
2650 Chivalry, Schmivalry!
2651 Roger the thief has a
2652 method he uses for
2653 sneaky attacks:
2654 Folks who are reading are
2655 Characteristically
2656 Always Forgetting to
2657 Guard their own bac ...
2658 %
2659 Christ:
2660 A man who was born at least 5,000 years ahead of his time.
2661 %
2662 Churchill's Commentary on Man:
2663 Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the
2664 time he will pick himself up and continue on.
2665 %
2666 Cigarette, n.:
2667 A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of tobacco in
2668 between.
2669 %
2670 Cinemuck, n.:
2671 The combination of popcorn, soda, and melted chocolate which
2672 covers the floors of movie theaters.
2673 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
2674 %
2675 Clairvoyant, n.:
2676 A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that
2677 which is invisible to her patron -- namely, that he is a blockhead.
2678 -- Ambrose Bierce
2679 %
2680 Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like
2681 shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
2682 -- Phyllis Diller
2683 %
2684 Cleanliness is next to impossible.
2685 %
2686 Cleveland still lives. God ____must be dead.
2687 %
2688 "Cleveland? Yes, I spent a week there one day."
2689 %
2690 Cloning is the sincerest form of flattery.
2691 %
2692 Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on
2693 society.
2694 -- Mark Twain
2695 %
2696 COBOL programs are an exercise in Artificial Inelegance.
2697 %
2698 Cocaine -- the thinking man's Dristan.
2699 %
2700 Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum --
2701 "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am."
2702 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2703 %
2704 "Cogito ergo I'm right and you're wrong."
2705 -- Blair Houghton
2706 %
2707 Coincidence, n.:
2708 You weren't paying attention to the other half of what was
2709 going on.
2710 %
2711 Coincidences are spiritual puns.
2712 -- G. K. Chesterton
2713 %
2714 Cold, adj.:
2715 When the local flashers are handing out written descriptions.
2716 %
2717 Cold, adj.:
2718 When the politicians walk around with their hands in their own
2719 pockets.
2720 %
2721 Collaboration, n.:
2722 A literary partnership based on the false assumption that the
2723 other fellow can spell.
2724 %
2725 College football is a game which would be much more interesting if the
2726 faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if
2727 the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms,
2728 legs, and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the
2729 loss to humanity.
2730 -- H. L. Mencken
2731 %
2732 Colvard's Logical Premises:
2733 All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or it
2734 won't.
2735
2736 Colvard's Unconscionable Commentary:
2737 This is especially true when dealing with someone you're
2738 attracted to.
2739
2740 Grelb's Commentary
2741 Likelihoods, however, are 90% against you.
2742 %
2743 Come, every frustum longs to be a cone,
2744 And every vector dreams of matrices.
2745 Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze:
2746 It whispers of a more ergodic zone.
2747 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
2748 %
2749 Come, let us hasten to a higher plane,
2750 Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
2751 Their indices bedecked from one to _n,
2752 Commingled in an endless Markov chain!
2753 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
2754 %
2755 Command, n.:
2756 Statement presented by a human and accepted by a computer in
2757 such a manner as to make the human feel as if he is in control.
2758 %
2759 COMMENT
2760
2761 Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
2762 A medley of extemporanea;
2763 And love is thing that can never go wrong;
2764 And I am Marie of Roumania.
2765 -- Dorothy Parker
2766 %
2767 Commitment, n.:
2768 Commitment can be illustrated by a breakfast of ham and eggs.
2769 The chicken was involved, the pig was committed.
2770 %
2771 Committee Rules:
2772 (1) Never arrive on time, or you will be stamped a beginner.
2773 (2) Don't say anything until the meeting is half over; this
2774 stamps you as being wise.
2775 (3) Be as vague as possible; this prevents irritating the
2776 others.
2777 (4) When in doubt, suggest that a subcommittee be appointed.
2778 (5) Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you
2779 popular -- it's what everyone is waiting for.
2780 %
2781 Committee, n.:
2782 A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group
2783 decide that nothing can be done.
2784 -- Fred Allen
2785 %
2786 Committees have become so important nowadays that subcommittees have to
2787 be appointed to do the work.
2788 %
2789 Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at
2790 different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
2791 -- Clive James
2792 %
2793 Common sense is instinct, and enough of it is genius.
2794 -- Josh Billings
2795 %
2796 Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
2797 -- Albert Einstein
2798 %
2799 Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness
2800 of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule."
2801 -- David Guaspari
2802 %
2803 Computer programmers do it byte by byte.
2804 %
2805 Computer Science is merely the post-Turing decline in formal systems
2806 theory.
2807 %
2808 Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are.
2809 %
2810 Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
2811 -- Pablo Picasso
2812 %
2813 Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in
2814 the world that just don't add up.
2815 %
2816 Computers will not be perfected until they can compute how much more
2817 than the estimate the job will cost.
2818 %
2819 Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
2820 -- LaRouchefoucauld
2821 %
2822 Concept, n.:
2823 Any "idea" for which an outside consultant billed you more than
2824 $25,000.
2825 %
2826 ... [concerning quotation marks] even if we *___did* quote anybody in this
2827 business, it probably would be gibberish.
2828 -- Thom McLeod
2829 %
2830 Condense soup, not books!
2831 %
2832 Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is
2833 good for dandruff.
2834 -- Peter de Vries
2835 %
2836 Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation.
2837 %
2838 Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine device that
2839 would give you thousands of years of trouble-free service, except that
2840 you undoubtably will destroy it via some typical bonehead consumer
2841 maneuver. Which is why we ask you to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS
2842 OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY
2843 UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED
2844 IT ON AND FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD
2845 WHO ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER AND
2846 SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING WITH THE KNOBS,
2847 RIGHT? AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS,
2848 RIGHT??? WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE DEVICES RIGHT AT THE
2849 FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU KNOW THAT?
2850 -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"
2851 %
2852 Connector Conspiracy, n:
2853 [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the
2854 KL-10, none of whose connectors match anything else] The tendency of
2855 manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything)
2856 to come up with new products which don't fit together with the old
2857 stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive
2858 interface devices.
2859 %
2860 Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
2861 -- H. L. Mencken
2862 %
2863 Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody is looking.
2864 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy"
2865 %
2866 Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.
2867 %
2868 Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you
2869 wish you weren't.
2870 %
2871 "Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich."
2872 -- "Ali Baba Bunny" [1957, Chuck Jones]
2873 %
2874 Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and then
2875 give it back to them.
2876 %
2877 "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and
2878 if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
2879 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
2880 %
2881 "Contrary to popular belief, penguins are not the salvation of modern
2882 technology. Neither do they throw parties for the urban proletariat."
2883 %
2884 Conversation, n.:
2885 A vocal competition in which the one who is catching his breath
2886 is called the listener.
2887 %
2888 Conway's Law:
2889 In any organization there will always be one person who knows
2890 what is going on.
2891
2892 This person must be fired.
2893 %
2894 Coronation, n.:
2895 The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and
2896 visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite
2897 bomb.
2898 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2899 %
2900 Corrupt, adj.:
2901 In politics, holding an office of trust or profit.
2902 %
2903 Corrupt, stupid grasping functionaries will make at least as big a
2904 muddle of socialism as stupid, selfish and acquisitive employers can
2905 make of capitalism.
2906 -- Walter Lippmann
2907 %
2908 Corruption is not the #1 priority of the Police Commissioner. His job
2909 is to enforce the law and fight crime.
2910 -- P.B.A. President E. J. Kiernan
2911 %
2912 Court, n.:
2913 A place where they dispense with justice.
2914 -- Arthur Train
2915 %
2916 Coward, n.:
2917 One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
2918 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2919 %
2920 [Crash programs] fail because they are based on the theory that, with
2921 nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month.
2922 -- Wernher von Braun
2923 %
2924 Crime does not pay ... as well as politics.
2925 -- A. E. Neuman
2926 %
2927 Critic, n.:
2928 A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries
2929 to please him.
2930 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2931 %
2932 Croll's Query:
2933 If tin whistles are made of tin, what are foghorns made of?
2934 %
2935 cursor address, n:
2936 "Hello, cursor!"
2937 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
2938 %
2939 Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It
2940 eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
2941 business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation.
2942 -- Johnny Hart
2943 %
2944 Cynic, n.:
2945 A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not
2946 as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking
2947 out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.
2948 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2949 %
2950 Cynic, n.:
2951 One who looks through rose-colored glasses with a jaundiced eye.
2952 %
2953 Dare to be naive.
2954 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
2955 %
2956 Darth Vader sleeps with a Teddywookie.
2957 %
2958 Dave Mack: "Your stupidity, Allen, is simply not up to par."
2959 Allen Gwinn: "Yours is."
2960 %
2961 Dawn, n.:
2962 The time when men of reason go to bed.
2963 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
2964 %
2965 Day of inquiry. You will be subpoenaed.
2966 %
2967 %DCL-E-MEM-BAD, bad memory
2968 -VMS-F-PDGERS, pudding between the ears
2969 %
2970 Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to improve. Success is also
2971 easy to handle: you've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to
2972 improve.
2973 %
2974 Dear Lord:
2975 I just want *___one* one-armed manager so I never have to hear "On
2976 the other hand", again.
2977 %
2978 Dear Miss Manners:
2979 My home economics teacher says that one must never place one's
2980 elbows on the table. However, I have read that one elbow, in between
2981 courses, is all right. Which is correct?
2982
2983 Gentle Reader:
2984 For the purpose of answering examinations in your home
2985 economics class, your teacher is correct. Catching on to this
2986 principle of education may be of even greater importance to you now
2987 than learning correct current table manners, vital as Miss Manners
2988 believes that is.
2989 %
2990 Dear Miss Manners:
2991 Please list some tactful ways of removing a man's saliva from
2992 your face.
2993
2994 Gentle Reader:
2995 Please list some decent ways of acquiring a man's saliva on
2996 your face ...
2997 %
2998 Dear Mister Language Person: I am curious about the expression, "Part
2999 of this complete breakfast". The way it comes up is, my 5-year-old
3000 will be watching TV cartoon shows in the morning, and they'll show a
3001 commercial for a children's compressed breakfast compound such as
3002 "Froot Loops" or "Lucky Charms", and they always show it sitting on a
3003 table next to some actual food such as eggs, and the announcer always
3004 says: "Part of this complete breakfast". Don't that really mean,
3005 "Adjacent to this complete breakfast", or "On the same table as this
3006 complete breakfast"? And couldn't they make essentially the same claim
3007 if, instead of Froot Loops, they put a can of shaving cream there, or a
3008 dead bat?
3009
3010 Answer: Yes.
3011 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
3012 %
3013 Dear Mister Language Person: What is the purpose of the apostrophe?
3014
3015 Answer: The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business
3016 signs to alert the reader than an "S" is coming up at the end of a
3017 word, as in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
3018 ANY ITEM'S. Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when
3019 creating hand- lettered small-business signs is that you should put
3020 quotation marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT
3021 DOG'S, or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S.
3022 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
3023 %
3024 Death is God's way of telling you not to be such a wise guy.
3025 %
3026 Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired.
3027 -- R. Geis
3028 %
3029 Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings.
3030 %
3031 Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'.
3032 %
3033 Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
3034 %
3035 Death is only a state of mind.
3036
3037 Only it doesn't leave you much time to think about anything else.
3038 %
3039 Death to all fanatics!
3040 %
3041 Decision maker, n.:
3042 The person in your office who was unable to form a task force
3043 before the music stopped.
3044 %
3045 Decisions of the judges will be final unless shouted down by a really
3046 overwhelming majority of the crowd present. Abusive and obscene
3047 language may not be used by contestants when addressing members of the
3048 judging panel, or, conversely, by members of the judging panel when
3049 addressing contestants (unless struck by a boomerang).
3050 -- Mudgeeraba Creek Emu-Riding and Boomerang-Throwing Assoc.
3051 %
3052 Deck Us All With Boston Charlie
3053
3054 Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
3055 Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
3056 Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
3057 Swaller dollar cauliflower, alleygaroo!
3058
3059 Don't we know archaic barrel,
3060 Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou.
3061 Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
3062 Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
3063 -- Walt Kelly
3064 %
3065 "Deep" is a word like "theory" or "semantic" -- it implies all sorts of
3066 marvelous things. It's one thing to be able to say "I've got a
3067 theory", quite another to say "I've got a semantic theory", but, ah,
3068 those who can claim "I've got a deep semantic theory", they are truly
3069 blessed.
3070 -- Randy Davis
3071 %
3072 default, n.:
3073 [Possibly from Black English "De fault wid dis system is you,
3074 mon."] The vain attempt to avoid errors by inactivity. "Nothing will
3075 come of nothing: speak again." -- King Lear.
3076 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
3077 %
3078 #define BITCOUNT(x) (((BX_(x)+(BX_(x)>>4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F) % 255)
3079 #define BX_(x) ((x) - (((x)>>1)&0x77777777) \
3080 - (((x)>>2)&0x33333333) \
3081 - (((x)>>3)&0x11111111))
3082
3083 -- really weird C code to count the number of bits in a word
3084 %
3085 Definitions of hardware and software for dummies:
3086 Hardware is what you kick;
3087 Software is what you curse.
3088 %
3089 DELETE A FORTUNE!
3090
3091 Don't some of these fortunes just drive you nuts?! Wouldn't you like
3092 to see some of them deleted from the system? You can! Just mail to
3093 "fortune" with the fortune you hate most, and we MIGHT make sure it
3094 gets expunged.
3095 %
3096 Deliberation, n.:
3097 The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is
3098 buttered on.
3099 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
3100 %
3101 "Deliver yesterday, code today, think tomorrow."
3102 %
3103 Demand the establishment of the government
3104 in its rightful home at Disneyland.
3105 %
3106 Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than
3107 we deserve.
3108 -- George Bernard Shaw
3109 %
3110 Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder
3111 aloud what the country could do under first-class management.
3112 -- Senator Soaper
3113 %
3114 Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the
3115 incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
3116 -- G. B. Shaw
3117 %
3118 Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you
3119 don't think.
3120 %
3121 Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by
3122 Jackasses.
3123 -- H. L. Mencken
3124 %
3125 Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.
3126 -- Jawaharlal Nehru
3127 %
3128 Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people
3129 are right more than half of the time.
3130 -- E. B. White
3131 %
3132 Democracy, n.:
3133 A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass
3134 meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy.
3135 Attitude toward property is communistic... negating property rights.
3136 Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate,
3137 whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion,
3138 prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
3139 Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
3140 -- U. S. Army Training Manual No. 2000-25 (1928-1932),
3141 since withdrawn.
3142 %
3143 Demographic polls show that you have lost credibility across the
3144 board. Especially with those 14 year-old Valley girls.
3145 %
3146 Dentist, n.:
3147 A Prestidigitator who, putting metal in one's mouth, pulls
3148 coins out of one's pockets.
3149 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
3150 %
3151 Despising machines to a man,
3152 The Luddites joined up with the Klan,
3153 And ride out by night
3154 In a sheeting of white
3155 To lynch all the robots they can.
3156 -- C. M. and G. A. Maxson
3157 %
3158 Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will
3159 be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over
3160 the table.
3161 -- The Anarchist Cookbook
3162 %
3163 DETERIORATA
3164
3165 Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
3166 And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
3167 Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
3168 Rotate your tires.
3169 Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
3170 And heed well their advice -- even though they be turkeys.
3171 Know what to kiss -- and when.
3172 Remember that two wrongs never make a right,
3173 But that three do.
3174 Wherever possible, put people on "HOLD".
3175 Be comforted, that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
3176 And despite the changing fortunes of time,
3177 There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
3178
3179 You are a fluke of the universe ...
3180 You have no right to be here.
3181 Whether you can hear it or not, the universe
3182 Is laughing behind your back.
3183 -- National Lampoon
3184 %
3185 DeVries's Dilemma:
3186 If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want
3187 hits the paper.
3188 %
3189 Did I say 2? I lied.
3190 %
3191 Did you know ...
3192
3193 That no-one ever reads these things?
3194 %
3195 Did you know that clones never use mirrors?
3196 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
3197 %
3198 Did you know that if you took all the economists in the world and lined
3199 them up end to end, they'd still point in the wrong direction?
3200 %
3201 Did you know that the voice tapes easily identify the Russian pilot
3202 that shot down the Korean jet? At one point he definitely states:
3203
3204 "Natasha! First we shoot jet, then we go after moose and
3205 squirrel."
3206
3207 -- ihuxw!tommyo
3208 %
3209 Die, v.:
3210 To stop sinning suddenly.
3211 -- Elbert Hubbard
3212 %
3213 "Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a
3214 conventional thing to happen to him."
3215 -- John Barrymore's dying words
3216 %
3217 Different all twisty a of in maze are you, passages little.
3218 %
3219 Dimensions will always be expressed in the least usable term.
3220 Velocity, for example, will be expressed in furlongs per fortnight.
3221 %
3222 Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
3223 %
3224 Disc space -- the final frontier!
3225 %
3226 Disclaimer: "These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they be
3227 yours too."
3228 -- Dave Haynie
3229 %
3230 Disclaimer: Any resemblance between the above views and those of my
3231 employer, my terminal, or the view out my window are purely
3232 coincidental. Any resemblance between the above and my own views is
3233 non-deterministic. The question of the existence of views in the
3234 absence of anyone to hold them is left as an exercise for the reader.
3235 The question of the existence of the reader is left as an exercise for
3236 the second god coefficient. (A discussion of non-orthogonal,
3237 non-integral polytheism is beyond the scope of this article.)
3238 %
3239 Disco is to music what Etch-A-Sketch is to art.
3240 %
3241 Distinctive, adj.:
3242 A different color or shape than our competitors.
3243 %
3244 Distress, n.:
3245 A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend.
3246 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
3247 %
3248 District of Columbia pedestrians who leap over passing autos to escape
3249 injury, and then strike the car as they come down, are liable for any
3250 damage inflicted on the vehicle.
3251 %
3252 Do infants have as much fun in infancy as adults do in adultery?
3253 %
3254 Do molecular biologists wear designer genes?
3255 %
3256 Do not believe in miracles -- rely on them.
3257 %
3258 Do not drink coffee in early a.m. It will keep you awake until noon.
3259 %
3260 Do not meddle in the affairs of troff, for it is subtle and quick to
3261 anger.
3262 %
3263 "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good
3264 with ketchup."
3265 %
3266 Do not read this fortune under penalty of law.
3267 Violators will be prosecuted.
3268 (Penal Code sec. 2.3.2 (II.a.))
3269 %
3270 Do not sleep in a eucalyptus tree tonight.
3271 %
3272 Do not try to solve all life's problems at once -- learn to dread each
3273 day as it comes.
3274 -- Donald Kaul
3275 %
3276 Do something unusual today. Pay a bill.
3277 %
3278 Do what comes naturally now. Seethe and fume and throw a tantrum.
3279 %
3280 Do you have lysdexia?
3281 %
3282 Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take
3283 the time to take the dirt out of them?
3284 %
3285 "Do you think what we're doing is wrong?"
3286 "Of course it's wrong! It's illegal!"
3287 "I've never done anything illegal before."
3288 "I thought you said you were an accountant!"
3289 %
3290 Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and
3291 when it is bad, it is better than nothing.
3292 -- Dick Brandon
3293 %
3294 Documentation is the castor oil of programming. Managers know it must
3295 be good because the programmers hate it so much.
3296 %
3297 Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
3298 %
3299 Don't abandon hope: your Tom Mix decoder ring arrives tomorrow.
3300 %
3301 Don't be humble ... you're not that great.
3302 -- Golda Meir
3303 %
3304 Don't believe everything you hear or anything you say.
3305 %
3306 Don't change the reason, just change the excuses!
3307 -- Joe Cointment
3308 %
3309 "Don't come back until you have him", the Tick-Tock Man said quietly,
3310 sincerely, extremely dangerously.
3311
3312 They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardio plate crossoffs.
3313 They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stick tites. They
3314 used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used
3315 finks. They used cops. They used search and seizure. They used
3316 fallaron. They used betterment incentives. They used finger prints.
3317 They used the bertillion system. They used cunning. They used guile.
3318 They used treachery. They used Raoul-Mitgong but he wasn't much help.
3319 They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology. And
3320 what the hell, they caught him.
3321
3322 -- Harlan Ellison, "Repent, Harlequin, said the Tick-Tock Man"
3323 %
3324 Don't cook tonight -- starve a rat today!
3325 %
3326 Don't feed the bats tonight.
3327 %
3328 Don't get even -- get odd!
3329 %
3330 Don't get suckered in by the comments -- they can be terribly
3331 misleading. Debug only code.
3332 -- Dave Storer
3333 %
3334 "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes
3335 you nothing. It was here first.
3336 -- Mark Twain
3337 %
3338 Don't go surfing in South Dakota for a while.
3339 %
3340 Don't hate yourself in the morning -- sleep till noon.
3341 %
3342 Don't hit a man when he's down -- kick him; it's easier.
3343 %
3344 Don't kiss an elephant on the lips today.
3345 %
3346 Don't knock President Fillmore. He kept us out of Vietnam.
3347 %
3348 Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance.
3349 %
3350 Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone.
3351 %
3352 Don't look back, the lemmings are gaining on you.
3353 %
3354 Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy
3355 it today you can do it again tomorrow.
3356 %
3357 Don't say yes until I finish talking.
3358 -- Darryl F. Zanuck
3359 %
3360 Don't steal; thou'lt never thus compete successfully in business.
3361 Cheat.
3362 -- Ambrose Bierce
3363 %
3364 Don't suspect your friends -- turn them in!
3365 -- "Brazil"
3366 %
3367 Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.
3368 -- Walt Kelly
3369 %
3370 Don't take life too seriously -- you'll never get out of it alive.
3371 %
3372 Don't tell any big lies today. Small ones can be just as effective.
3373 %
3374 "Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends -- tell me where to
3375 get more wax!!"
3376 %
3377 Don't worry about avoiding temptation -- as you grow older, it starts
3378 avoiding you.
3379 -- The Old Farmer's Almanac
3380 %
3381 Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any
3382 good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.
3383 -- Howard Aiken
3384 %
3385 Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already
3386 tomorrow in Australia.
3387 -- Charles Schultz
3388 %
3389 Don't worry over what other people are thinking about you. They're too
3390 busy worrying over what you are thinking about them.
3391 %
3392 Don't you feel more like you do now than you did when you came in?
3393 %
3394 Don Ameche: I didn't know you had a cousin Penelope, Bill! Was she
3395 pretty?
3396 W. C.: Well, her face was so wrinkled it looked like seven miles of
3397 bad road. She had so many gold teeth, Don, she use to have to
3398 sleep with her head in a safe. She died in Bolivia.
3399 Don: Oh Bill, it must be hard to lose a relative.
3400 W. C.: It's almost impossible.
3401 -- W. C. Fields, from "The Further Adventures of Larson
3402 E. Whipsnade and other Tarradiddles"
3403 %
3404 Double Bucky
3405 (Sung to the tune of "Rubber Duckie")
3406
3407 Double bucky, you're the one!
3408 You make my keyboard lots of fun
3409 Double bucky, an additional bit or two:
3410 (Vo-vo-de-o!)
3411 Control and Meta side by side,
3412 Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide!
3413 Double bucky, a half a thousand glyphs, plus a few!
3414
3415 Oh, I sure wish that I,
3416 Had a couple of bits more!
3417 Perhaps a set of pedals to make the number of bits four.
3418
3419 Double bucky, left and right
3420 OR'd together, outta sight!
3421 Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of
3422 Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of
3423 Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you!
3424
3425 -- (C) 1978 by Guy L. Steele, Jr.
3426 (to Nicholas Wirth, who suggested that an extra bit
3427 be added to terminal codes on 36-bit machines for use
3428 by screen editors. [to the tune of "Rubber Ducky"])
3429 %
3430 Double-Blind Experiment, n.:
3431 An experiment in which the chief researcher believes he is
3432 fooling both the subject and the lab assistant. Often accompanied by a
3433 strong belief in the tooth fairy.
3434 %
3435 Down with categorical imperative!
3436 %
3437 Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
3438 %
3439 Drew's Law of Highway Biology:
3440 The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front
3441 of your eyes.
3442 %
3443 Drink Canada Dry! You might not succeed, but it *__is* fun trying.
3444 %
3445 Drive defensively. Buy a tank.
3446 %
3447 Drugs may be the road to nowhere, but at least they're the scenic route!
3448 %
3449 Ducharme's Axiom:
3450 If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize
3451 yourself as part of the problem.
3452 %
3453 Ducharme's Precept:
3454 Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment.
3455 %
3456 Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and
3457 it holds the universe together.
3458 -- Carl Zwanzig
3459 %
3460 Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders
3461 has been discontinued.
3462 %
3463 Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate
3464 and captain of your soul.
3465 %
3466 Due to lack of disk space, this fortune database has been
3467 discontinued.
3468 %
3469 During a grouse hunt in North Carolina two intrepid sportsmen
3470 were blasting away at a clump of trees near a stone wall. Suddenly a
3471 red-faced country squire popped his head over the wall and shouted,
3472 "Hey, you almost hit my wife."
3473 "Did I?" cried the hunter, aghast. "Terribly sorry. Have a
3474 shot at mine, over there."
3475 %
3476 During the next two hours, the system will be going up and down several
3477 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
3478 %
3479 Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have
3480 nothing whatever to do with it.
3481 -- W. Somerset Maugham (last words)
3482 %
3483 E Pluribus Unix
3484 %
3485 Eagleson's Law:
3486 Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more
3487 months, might as well have been written by someone else. (Eagleson is
3488 an optimist, the real number is more like three weeks.)
3489 %
3490 Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends
3491 %
3492 /earth is 98% full ... please delete anyone you can.
3493 %
3494 Earth is a beta site.
3495 %
3496 Earth is a great, big funhouse without the fun.
3497 -- Jeff Berner
3498 %
3499 Easiest Color to Solve on a Rubik's Cube:
3500 Black. Simply remove all the little colored stickers on the
3501 cube, and each of side of the cube will now be the original color of
3502 the plastic underneath -- black. According to the instructions, this
3503 means the puzzle is solved.
3504 -- Steve Rubenstein
3505 %
3506 Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal.
3507 %
3508 "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may work."
3509 %
3510 Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
3511 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
3512 %
3513 Economics, n.:
3514 Economics is the study of the value and meaning of J. K.
3515 Galbraith ...
3516 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
3517 %
3518 Economists can certainly disappoint you. One said that the economy
3519 would turn up by the last quarter. Well, I'm down to mine and it
3520 hasn't.
3521 -- Robert Orben
3522 %
3523 Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a
3524 percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor.
3525 -- Edgar R. Fiedler
3526 %
3527 Ed Sullivan will be around as long as someone else has talent.
3528 -- Fred Allen
3529 %
3530 Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine.
3531 -- Irsin Edman
3532 %
3533 Eeny, Meeny, Jelly Beanie, the spirits are about to speak!
3534 -- Bullwinkle Moose
3535 %
3536 Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks.
3537 -- Adlai Stevenson
3538 %
3539 Eggnog is a traditional holiday drink invented by the English. Many
3540 people wonder where the word "eggnog" comes from. The first syllable
3541 comes from the English word "egg", meaning "egg". I don't know where
3542 the "nog" comes from.
3543
3544 To make eggnog, you'll need rum, whiskey, wine gin and, if they are in
3545 season, eggs...
3546 %
3547 Egotism is the anesthetic given by a kindly nature to relieve the pain
3548 of being a damned fool.
3549 -- Bellamy Brooks
3550 %
3551 Egotist, n.:
3552 A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me.
3553 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
3554 %
3555 Ehrman's Commentary:
3556 (1) Things will get worse before they get better.
3557 (2) Who said things would get better?
3558 %
3559 Eighty percent of air pollution comes from plants and trees.
3560 -- Ronald Reagan, famous movie star
3561 %
3562 Eleanor Rigby
3563 Sits at the keyboard
3564 And waits for a line on the screen
3565 Lives in a dream
3566 Waits for a signal
3567 Finding some code
3568 That will make the machine do some more.
3569 What is it for?
3570
3571 All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
3572 All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
3573
3574 Hacker MacKensie
3575 Writing the code for a program that no one will run
3576 It's nearly done
3577 Look at him working, fixing the bugs in the night when there's nobody there.
3578 What does he care?
3579
3580 All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
3581 All the lonely users, why does it take so long?
3582 Ah, look at all the lonely users.
3583 Ah, look at all the lonely users.
3584 %
3585 Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance.
3586 %
3587 Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles,
3588 called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you
3589 have been drinking. Electrons travel at the speed of light, which in
3590 most American homes is 110 volts per hour. This is very fast. In the
3591 time it has taken you to read this sentence so far, an electron could
3592 have traveled all the way from San Francisco to Hackensack, New Jersey,
3593 although God alone knows why it would want to.
3594 The five main kinds of electricity are alternating current,
3595 direct current, lightning, static, and European. Most American homes
3596 have alternating current, which means that the electricity goes in one
3597 direction for a while, then goes in the other direction. This prevents
3598 harmful electron buildup in the wires.
3599 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
3600 %
3601 Electrocution, n.:
3602 Burning at the stake with all the modern improvements.
3603 %
3604 Elevators smell different to midgets.
3605 %
3606 Emerson's Law of Contrariness:
3607 Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we
3608 can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it.
3609 %
3610 Encyclopedia Salesmen:
3611 Invite them all in. Nip out the back door. Phone the police
3612 and tell them your house is being burgled.
3613 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
3614 %
3615 Endless Loop: n., see Loop, Endless.
3616 Loop, Endless: n., see Endless Loop.
3617 -- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary
3618 %
3619 Entropy isn't what it used to be.
3620 %
3621 Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which
3622 otherwise require harder thinking.
3623 -- Jerome Lettvin
3624 %
3625 Epperson's law:
3626 When a man says it's a silly, childish game, it's probably
3627 something his wife can beat him at.
3628 %
3629 Equal bytes for women.
3630 %
3631 Error in operator: add beer
3632 %
3633 Es brilig war. Die schlichte Toven
3634 Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
3635 Und aller-m"umsige Burggoven
3636 Dir mohmen R"ath ausgraben.
3637 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
3638 %
3639 Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.
3640 -- Woody Allen
3641 %
3642 Etymology, n.:
3643 Some early etymological scholars came up with derivations that
3644 were hard for the public to believe. The term "etymology" was formed
3645 from the Latin "etus" ("eaten"), the root "mal" ("bad"), and "logy"
3646 ("study of"). It meant "the study of things that are hard to swallow."
3647 -- Mike Kellen
3648 %
3649 Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to
3650 speak it to?
3651 -- Clarence Darrow
3652 %
3653 Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
3654 -- Will Rogers
3655 %
3656 Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral.
3657 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
3658 %
3659 Even though they raised the rate for first class mail in the United
3660 States we really shouldn't complain -- it's still only two cents a
3661 day.
3662 %
3663 Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you
3664 just how busy they are?
3665 %
3666 Ever since prehistoric times, wise men have tried to understand what,
3667 exactly, make people laugh. That's why they were called "wise men."
3668 All the other prehistoric people were out puncturing each other with
3669 spears, and the wise men were back in the cave saying: "How about:
3670 Would you please take my wife? No. How about: Here is my wife, please
3671 take her right now. No How about: Would you like to take something?
3672 My wife is available. No. How about ..."
3673 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
3674 %
3675 Every absurdity has a champion who will defend it.
3676 %
3677 Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
3678 %
3679 Every four seconds a woman has a baby. Our problem is to find this
3680 woman and stop her.
3681 %
3682 Every group has a couple of experts. And every group has at least one
3683 idiot. Thus are balance and harmony (and discord) maintained. It's
3684 sometimes hard to remember this in the bulk of the flamewars that all
3685 of the hassle and pain is generally caused by one or two
3686 highly-motivated, caustic twits.
3687 -- Chuq Von Rospach, about Usenet
3688 %
3689 Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
3690 signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
3691 fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not
3692 spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the
3693 genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way
3694 of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is
3695 humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
3696 -- Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
3697 %
3698 Every Horse has an Infinite Number of Legs (proof by intimidation):
3699
3700 Horses have an even number of legs. Behind they have two legs, and in
3701 front they have fore-legs. This makes six legs, which is certainly an
3702 odd number of legs for a horse. But the only number that is both even
3703 and odd is infinity. Therefore, horses have an infinite number of
3704 legs. Now to show this for the general case, suppose that somewhere,
3705 there is a horse that has a finite number of legs. But that is a horse
3706 of another color, and by the [above] lemma ["All horses are the same
3707 color"], that does not exist.
3708 %
3709 Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible.
3710 -- Frank Moore Colby
3711 %
3712 Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.
3713 %
3714 Every little picofarad has a nanohenry all its own.
3715 -- Don Vonada
3716 %
3717 "Every man has his price. Mine is $3.95."
3718 %
3719 Every man is as God made him, ay, and often worse.
3720 -- Miguel de Cervantes
3721 %
3722 Every morning, I get up and look through the 'Forbes' list of the
3723 richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.
3724 -- Robert Orben
3725 %
3726 Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis.
3727
3728 It makes sense, when you don't think about it.
3729 %
3730 Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one
3731 instruction -- from which, by induction, one can deduce that every
3732 program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work.
3733 %
3734 Every program has two purposes -- one for which it was written and
3735 another for which it wasn't.
3736 %
3737 Every program is a part of some other program, and rarely fits.
3738 %
3739 Every solution breeds new problems.
3740 %
3741 Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no
3742 guarantee of eventual success.
3743 %
3744 "Every time I think I know where it's at, they move it."
3745 %
3746 Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
3747 -- Beckett
3748 %
3749 Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
3750 -- Dykstra
3751 %
3752 Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
3753 %
3754 Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be
3755 taught how ___not to. So it is with the great programmers.
3756 %
3757 Everyone is a genius. It's just that some people are too stupid to
3758 realize it.
3759 %
3760 Everyone knows that dragons don't exist. But while this simplistic
3761 formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the
3762 scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact
3763 wholly unconcerned with what ____does exist. Indeed, the banality of
3764 existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to
3765 discuss it any further here. The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the
3766 problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the
3767 mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all,
3768 one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely
3769 different way ...
3770 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
3771 %
3772 Everyone talks about apathy, but no one ____does anything about it.
3773 %
3774 Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately,
3775 no one we know belongs.
3776 %
3777 Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being
3778 that a belch is more satisfying.
3779 -- Ingmar Bergman
3780 %
3781 Everything journalists write is true, except when they write about
3782 something you know.
3783 -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav,
3784 June 1999, FreeBSD-Stable Mailing List
3785 %
3786 Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.
3787 %
3788 Everything you know is wrong!
3789 %
3790 Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less
3791 obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no
3792 solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid.
3793 There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no
3794 straight lines.
3795 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
3796 %
3797 Excellence is THE trend of the '80s. Walk into any shopping
3798 mall bookstore, go to the rack where they keep the best-sellers such as
3799 "Garfield Gets Spayed", and you'll see a half-dozen books telling you
3800 how to be excellent: "In Search of Excellence", "Finding Excellence",
3801 "Grasping Hold of Excellence", "Where to Hide Your Excellence at Night
3802 So the Cleaning Personnel Don't Steal It", etc.
3803 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
3804 %
3805 Excellent day for drinking heavily. Spike the office water cooler.
3806 %
3807 Excellent day for putting Slinkies on an escalator.
3808 %
3809 Excellent day to have a rotten day.
3810 %
3811 Excellent time to become a missing person.
3812 %
3813 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
3814 acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
3815 -- W. Somerset Maugham
3816 %
3817 Excessive login or logout messages are a sure sign of senility.
3818 %
3819 Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do
3820 the work.
3821 -- John G. Pollard
3822 %
3823 Expect the worst. It's the least you can do.
3824 %
3825 Expense Accounts, n.:
3826 Corporate food stamps.
3827 %
3828 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
3829 -- Olivier
3830 %
3831 Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake
3832 when you make it again.
3833 -- Franklin P. Jones
3834 %
3835 Experience is the worst teacher. It always gives the test first and
3836 the instruction afterward.
3837 %
3838 Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old
3839 ones.
3840 %
3841 Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.
3842 %
3843 Experience varies directly with equipment ruined.
3844 %
3845 Expert, n.:
3846 Someone who comes from out of town and shows slides.
3847 %
3848 Extract from Official Sweepstakes Rules:
3849
3850 NO PURCHASE REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
3851
3852 To claim your prize without purchase, do the following: (a) Carefully
3853 cut out your computer-printed name and address from upper right hand
3854 corner of the Prize Claim Form. (b) Affix computer-printed name and
3855 address -- with glue or cellophane tape (no staples or paper clips) --
3856 to a 3x5 inch index card. (c) Also cut out the "No" paragraph (lower
3857 left hand corner of Prize Claim Form) and affix it to the 3x5 card
3858 below your address label. (d) Then print on your 3x5 card, above your
3859 computer-printed name and address the words "CARTER & VAN PEEL
3860 SWEEPSTAKES" (Use all capital letters.) (e) Finally place 3x5 card
3861 (without bending) into a plain envelope [NOTE: do NOT use the
3862 Official Prize Claim and CVP Perfume Reply Envelope or you may be
3863 disqualified], and mail to: CVP, Box 1320, Westbury, NY 11595. Print
3864 this address correctly. Comply with above instructions carefully and
3865 completely or you may be disqualified from receiving your prize.
3866 %
3867 F u cn rd ths u cnt spl wrth a dm!
3868 %
3869 f u cn rd ths, itn tyg h myxbl cd.
3870 %
3871 f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.
3872 %
3873 F: When into a room I plunge, I
3874 Sometimes find some VIOLET FUNGI.
3875 Then I linger, darkly brooding
3876 On the poison they're exuding.
3877 -- The Roguelet's ABC
3878 %
3879 Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
3880 %
3881 Fairy Tale, n.:
3882 A horror story to prepare children for the newspapers.
3883 %
3884 Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic
3885 without looking to see whether the seeds move.
3886 %
3887 Faith, n:
3888 That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be
3889 untrue.
3890 %
3891 Fakir, n:
3892 A psychologist whose charismatic data have inspired almost
3893 religious devotion in his followers, even though the sources seem to
3894 have shinnied up a rope and vanished.
3895 %
3896 Familiarity breeds attempt.
3897 %
3898 Families, when a child is born
3899 Want it to be intelligent.
3900 I, through intelligence,
3901 Having wrecked my whole life,
3902 Only hope the baby will prove
3903 Ignorant and stupid.
3904 Then he will crown a tranquil life
3905 By becoming a Cabinet Minister
3906 -- Su Tung-p'o
3907 %
3908 Famous last words:
3909 %
3910 Famous last words:
3911 (1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
3912 (2) "You and what army?"
3913 (3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be
3914 a cop."
3915 %
3916 Famous last words:
3917 (1) Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
3918 (2) Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
3919 (3) What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
3920 (4) We won't need reservations.
3921 (5) It's always sunny there this time of the year.
3922 (6) Don't worry, it's not loaded.
3923 (7) They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
3924 (8) Don't worry! Women love it!
3925 %
3926 Famous, adj.:
3927 Conspicuously miserable.
3928 -- Ambrose Bierce
3929 %
3930 Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the
3931 Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
3932 Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an
3933 utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life
3934 forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches
3935 are a pretty neat idea.
3936 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
3937 %
3938 Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it
3939 every six months.
3940 -- Oscar Wilde
3941 %
3942 Fats Loves Madelyn.
3943 %
3944 Feel disillusioned? I've got some great new illusions ...
3945 %
3946 Fertility is hereditary. If your parents didn't have any children,
3947 neither will you.
3948 %
3949 Festivity Level 1: Your guests are chatting amiably with each
3950 other, admiring your Christmas-tree ornaments, singing carols around
3951 the upright piano, sipping at their drinks and nibbling hors
3952 d'oeuvres.
3953 Festivity Level 2: Your guests are talking loudly -- sometimes
3954 to each other, and sometimes to nobody at all, rearranging your
3955 Christmas-tree ornaments, singing "I Gotta Be Me" around the upright
3956 piano, gulping their drinks and wolfing down hors d'oeuvres.
3957 Festivity Level 3: Your guests are arguing violently with
3958 inanimate objects, singing "I can't get no satisfaction," gulping down
3959 other peoples' drinks, wolfing down Christmas tree ornaments and
3960 placing hors d'oeuvres in the upright piano to see what happens when
3961 the little hammers strike.
3962 Festivity Level 4: Your guests, hors d'oeuvres smeared all over
3963 their naked bodies are performing a ritual dance around the burning
3964 Christmas tree. The piano is missing.
3965
3966 You want to keep your party somewhere around level 3, unless
3967 you rent your home and own Firearms, in which case you can go to level
3968 4. The best way to get to level 3 is egg-nog.
3969 %
3970 Fifth Law of Applied Terror:
3971 If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book.
3972
3973 Corollary:
3974 If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you live.
3975 %
3976 Fifth Law of Procrastination:
3977 Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that
3978 there is nothing important to do.
3979 %
3980 Fifty flippant frogs
3981 Walked by on flippered feet
3982 And with their slime they made the time
3983 Unnaturally fleet.
3984 %
3985 FIGHTING WORDS
3986
3987 Say my love is easy had,
3988 Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
3989 Say I am too often sad --
3990 Still behold me at your side.
3991
3992 Say I'm neither brave nor young,
3993 Say I woo and coddle care,
3994 Say the devil touched my tongue --
3995 Still you have my heart to wear.
3996
3997 But say my verses do not scan,
3998 And I get me another man!
3999 -- Dorothy Parker
4000 %
4001 Fights between cats and dogs are prohibited by statute in Barber, North
4002 Carolina.
4003 %
4004 Finagle's Creed:
4005 Science is true. Don't be misled by facts.
4006 %
4007 Finagle's First Law:
4008 If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
4009 %
4010 Finagle's Fourth Law:
4011 Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes
4012 it worse.
4013 %
4014 Finagle's Second Law:
4015 No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be
4016 someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) believe it
4017 happened according to his own pet theory.
4018 %
4019 Finagle's Third Law:
4020 In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct,
4021 beyond all need of checking, is the mistake.
4022
4023 Corollaries:
4024 (1) Nobody whom you ask for help will see it.
4025 (2) The first person who stops by, whose advice you really
4026 don't want to hear, will see it immediately.
4027 %
4028 Finding out what goes on in the C.I.A. is like performing acupuncture
4029 on a rock.
4030 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
4031 %
4032 Fine day to throw a party. Throw him as far as you can.
4033 %
4034 Fine day to work off excess energy. Steal something heavy.
4035 %
4036 Fine's Corollary:
4037 Functionality breeds Contempt.
4038 %
4039 Finish the sentence below in 25 words or less:
4040
4041 "Love is what you feel just before you give someone a good ..."
4042
4043 Mail your answer along with the top half of your supervisor to:
4044
4045 P.O. Box 35
4046 Baffled Greek, Michigan
4047 %
4048 First Corollary of Taber's Second Law:
4049 Machines that piss people off get murdered.
4050 -- Pat Taber
4051 %
4052 First Law of Bicycling:
4053 No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the
4054 wind.
4055 %
4056 First Law of Procrastination:
4057 Procrastination shortens the job and places the responsibility
4058 for its termination on someone else (i.e., the authority who imposed
4059 the deadline).
4060 %
4061 First Law of Socio-Genetics:
4062 Celibacy is not hereditary.
4063 %
4064 First Rule of History:
4065 History doesn't repeat itself -- historians merely repeat each
4066 other.
4067 %
4068 "First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
4069 -- The Doctor, "Doctor Who"
4070 %
4071 First, a few words about tools.
4072
4073 Basically, a tool is an object that enables you to take advantage of
4074 the laws of physics and mechanics in such a way that you can seriously
4075 injure yourself. Today, people tend to take tools for granted. If
4076 you're ever walking down the street and you notice some people who look
4077 particularly smug, the odds are that they are taking tools for
4078 granted. If I were you, I'd walk right up and smack them in the face.
4079 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
4080 %
4081 Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity.
4082 -- Robert Firth
4083 %
4084 Flappity, floppity, flip
4085 The mouse on the m"obius strip;
4086 The strip revolved,
4087 The mouse dissolved
4088 In a chronodimensional skip.
4089 %
4090 FLASH! Intelligence of mankind decreasing. Details at ... uh, when
4091 the little hand is on the ....
4092 %
4093 Flon's Law:
4094 There is not now, and never will be, a language in which it is
4095 the least bit difficult to write bad programs.
4096 %
4097 Florence Flask was ... dressing for the opera when she turned to her
4098 husband and screamed, "Erlenmeyer! My joules! Someone has stolen my
4099 joules!"
4100
4101 "Now, now, my dear," replied her husband, "keep your balance and reflux
4102 a moment. Perhaps they're mislead."
4103
4104 "No, I know they're stolen," cried Florence. "I remember putting them
4105 in my burette ... We must call a copper."
4106
4107 Erlenmeyer did so, and the flatfoot who turned up, one Sherlock Ohms,
4108 said the outrage looked like the work of an arch-criminal by the name
4109 of Lawrence Ium.
4110
4111 "We must be careful -- he's a free radical, ultraviolet, and
4112 dangerous. His girlfriend is a chlorine at the Palladium. Maybe I can
4113 catch him there." With that, he jumped on his carbon cycle in an
4114 activated state and sped off along the reaction pathway ...
4115 -- Daniel B. Murphy, "Precipitations"
4116 %
4117 flowchart, n. & v.:
4118 [From flow "to ripple down in rich profusion, as hair" + chart
4119 "a cryptic hidden-treasure map designed to mislead the uninitiated."]
4120 1. n. The solution, if any, to a class of Mascheroni construction
4121 problems in which given algorithms require geometrical representation
4122 using only the 35 basic ideograms of the ANSI template. 2. n. Neronic
4123 doodling while the system burns. 3. n. A low-cost substitute for
4124 wallpaper. 4. n. The innumerate misleading the illiterate. "A
4125 thousand pictures is worth ten lines of code." -- The Programmer's
4126 Little Red Vade Mecum, Mao Tse T'umps. 5. v.intrans. To produce
4127 flowcharts with no particular object in mind. 6. v.trans. To obfuscate
4128 (a problem) with esoteric cartoons.
4129 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
4130 %
4131 Flugg's Law:
4132 When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the
4133 world is composed of vinyl, naugahyde and aluminum.
4134 %
4135 Flying saucers on occasion
4136 Show themselves to human eyes.
4137 Aliens fume, put off invasion
4138 While they brand these tales as lies.
4139 %
4140 Fog Lamps, n.:
4141 Excessively (often obnoxiously) bright lamps mounted on the
4142 fronts of automobiles; used on dry, clear nights to indicate that the
4143 driver's brain is in a fog.
4144
4145 See also "Idiot Lights".
4146 %
4147 Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.
4148 -- Walt Kelly, "Putluck Pogo"
4149 %
4150 For 20 dollars, I'll give you a good fortune next time ...
4151 %
4152 For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a
4153 cat.
4154 %
4155 For an adequate time call 555-3321.
4156 %
4157 For an idea to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be
4158 always old-fashioned.
4159 %
4160 For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat,
4161 and wrong.
4162 -- H. L. Mencken
4163 %
4164 For every credibility gap, there is a gullibility fill.
4165 -- R. Clopton
4166 %
4167 "For I perceive that behind this seemingly unrelated sequence
4168 of events, there lurks a singular, sinister attitude of mind."
4169
4170 "Whose?"
4171
4172 "MINE! HA-HA!"
4173 %
4174 For large values of one, one equals two, for small values of two.
4175 %
4176 For my son, Robert, this is proving to be the high-point of his entire
4177 life to date. He has had his pajamas on for two, maybe three days
4178 now. He has the sense of joyful independence a 5-year-old child gets
4179 when he suddenly realizes that he could be operating an acetylene torch
4180 in the coat closet and neither parent [because of the flu] would have
4181 the strength to object. He has been foraging for his own food, which
4182 means his diet consists entirely of "food" substances which are
4183 advertised only on Saturday-morning cartoon shows; substances that are
4184 the color of jukebox lights and that, for legal reasons, have their
4185 names spelled wrong, as in New Creemy Chok-'n'-Cheez Lumps o' Froot
4186 ("part of this complete breakfast").
4187 -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide"
4188 %
4189 For perfect happiness, remember two things:
4190 (1) Be content with what you've got.
4191 (2) Be sure you've got plenty.
4192 %
4193 For some reason a glaze passes over people's faces when you say
4194 "Canada". Maybe we should invade South Dakota or something.
4195 -- Sandra Gotlieb, wife of the Canadian ambassador to
4196 the U.S.
4197 %
4198 For some reason, this fortune reminds everyone of Marvin Zelkowitz.
4199 %
4200 For that matter, compare your pocket computer with the massive jobs of
4201 a thousand years ago. Why not, then, the last step of doing away with
4202 computers altogether?
4203 -- Jehan Shuman
4204 %
4205 For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
4206 -- Abraham Lincoln
4207 %
4208 For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but
4209 phone calls taper off.
4210 -- Johnny Carson
4211 %
4212 For years a secret shame destroyed my peace --
4213 I'd not read Eliot, Auden or MacNiece.
4214 But now I think a thought that brings me hope:
4215 Neither had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope.
4216 -- Justin Richardson.
4217 %
4218 For your penance, say five Hail Marys and one loud BLAH!
4219 %
4220 Forgetfulness, n.:
4221 A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their
4222 destitution of conscience.
4223 %
4224 Forms follow function, and often obliterate it.
4225 %
4226 FORTUNE DISCUSSES THE OBSCURE FILMS! #6
4227
4228 RAZORBACK: Paul Harbride, 1984, 2 hours 25 min.
4229 One of the great Australian films of the early 1980's, and
4230 arguably the best movie ever made about a large, man-eating
4231 hog. Some violence. With Gregory Harrison.
4232 %
4233 fortune's Contribution of the Month to the Animal Rights Debate:
4234
4235 I'll stay out of animals' way if they'll stay out of mine.
4236 "Hey you, get off my plate"
4237 -- Roger Midnight
4238 %
4239 Fortune's Fictitious Country Song Title of the Week:
4240 "How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?"
4241 %
4242 Fortune's graffito of the week (or maybe even month):
4243
4244 Don't Write On Walls!
4245
4246 (and underneath)
4247
4248 You want I should type?
4249 %
4250 Fortune's Law of the Week (this week, from Kentucky):
4251 No female shall appear in a bathing suit at any airport in this
4252 State unless she is escorted by two officers or unless she is armed
4253 with a club. The provisions of this statute shall not apply to females
4254 weighing less than 90 pounds nor exceeding 200 pounds, nor shall it
4255 apply to female horses.
4256 %
4257 Fortune's nomination for All-Time Champion and Protector of Youthful
4258 Morals goes to Representative Clare E. Hoffman of Michigan. During an
4259 impassioned House debate over a proposed bill to "expand oyster and
4260 clam research," a sharp-eared informant transcribed the following
4261 exchange between our hero and Rep. John D. Dingell, also of Michigan.
4262
4263 DINGELL: There are places in the world at the present time where we are
4264 having to artificially propagate oysters and clams.
4265 HOFFMAN: You mean the oysters I buy are not nature's oysters?
4266 DINGELL: They may or may not be natural. The simple fact of the matter
4267 is that female oysters through their living habits cast out
4268 large amounts of seed and the male oysters cast out large
4269 amounts of fertilization ...
4270 HOFFMAN: Wait a minute! I do not want to go into that. There are many
4271 teenagers who read The Congressional Record.
4272 %
4273 Fortune's Office Door Sign of the Week:
4274
4275 Incorrigible punster -- Do not incorrige.
4276 %
4277 FORTUNE'S PARTY TIPS #14
4278
4279 Tired of finding that other people are helping themselves to your good
4280 liquor at BYOB parties? Take along a candle, which you insert and
4281 light after you've opened the bottle. No one ever expects anything
4282 drinkable to be in a bottle which has a candle stuck in its neck.
4283 %
4284 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #18:
4285
4286 Q: Are you married?
4287 A: No, I'm divorced.
4288 Q: And what did your husband do before you divorced him?
4289 A: A lot of things I didn't know about.
4290 %
4291 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #19:
4292
4293 Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
4294 A: All my autopsies have been performed on dead people.
4295 %
4296 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #29:
4297
4298 THE JUDGE: Now, as we begin, I must ask you to banish all present
4299 information and prejudice from your minds, if you have
4300 any ...
4301 %
4302 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #32:
4303
4304 Q: Do you know how far pregnant you are right now?
4305 A: I will be three months November 8th.
4306 Q: Apparently then, the date of conception was August 8th?
4307 A: Yes.
4308 Q: What were you and your husband doing at that time?
4309 %
4310 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #37:
4311
4312 Q: Did he pick the dog up by the ears?
4313 A: No.
4314 Q: What was he doing with the dog's ears?
4315 A: Picking them up in the air.
4316 Q: Where was the dog at this time?
4317 A: Attached to the ears.
4318 %
4319 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #3:
4320
4321 Q: When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were
4322 able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to
4323 go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with
4324 him to the station?
4325 MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot.
4326 %
4327 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #41:
4328
4329 Q: Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
4330 A: By death.
4331 Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
4332 %
4333 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #52:
4334
4335 Q: What is your name?
4336 A: Ernestine McDowell.
4337 Q: And what is your marital status?
4338 A: Fair.
4339 %
4340 Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #7:
4341
4342 Q: What happened then?
4343 A: He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify
4344 me."
4345 Q: Did he kill you?
4346 A: No.
4347 %
4348 fortune: cpu time/usefulness ratio too high -- core dumped.
4349 %
4350 Fortune: You will be attacked next Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. by six samurai
4351 sword wielding purple fish glued to Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
4352
4353 Oh, and have a nice day!
4354 -- Bryce Nesbitt '84
4355 %
4356 Fourth Law of Applied Terror:
4357 The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology
4358 instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria.
4359
4360 Corollary:
4361 Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do
4362 except study for that instructor's course.
4363 %
4364 Fourth Law of Revision:
4365 It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about
4366 interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for you.
4367 %
4368 Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: If the probability of success is not
4369 almost one, it is damn near zero.
4370 -- David Ellis
4371 %
4372 Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a
4373 policeman's tie.
4374 %
4375 Fresco's Discovery:
4376 If you knew what you were doing you'd probably be bored.
4377 %
4378 Friends, Romans, Hipsters,
4379 Let me clue you in;
4380 I come to put down Caesar, not to groove him.
4381 The square kicks some cats are on stay with them;
4382 The hip bits, like, go down under; so let it lay with Caesar. The cool Brutus
4383 Gave you the message: Caesar had big eyes;
4384 If that's the sound, someone's copping a plea,
4385 And, like, old Caesar really set them straight.
4386 Here, copacetic with Brutus and the studs, -- for Brutus is a real cool cat;
4387 So are they all, all cool cats, --
4388 Come I to make this gig at Caesar's laying down.
4389 %
4390 Frisbeetarianism, n.:
4391 The belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and
4392 gets stuck.
4393 %
4394 Frobnicate, v.:
4395 To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from FROBNITZ.
4396 Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the saying "to frob a
4397 frob". See TWEAK and TWIDDLE. Usage: FROB, TWIDDLE, and TWEAK
4398 sometimes connote points along a continuum. FROB connotes aimless
4399 manipulation; TWIDDLE connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse
4400 search for a proper setting; TWEAK connotes fine-tuning. If someone is
4401 turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it
4402 he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the
4403 screen he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because
4404 turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it.
4405 %
4406 Frobnitz, pl. Frobnitzem (frob'nitsm) n.:
4407 An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to
4408 electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to
4409 FROTZ, or more commonly to FROB. Also used are FROBNULE, FROBULE, and
4410 FROBNODULE. Starting perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl.
4411 FROBBOTZIM, has also become very popular, largely due to its exposure
4412 via the Adventure spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be
4413 applied to non-physical objects, such as data structures.
4414 %
4415 [From an announcement of a congress of the International Ontopsychology
4416 Association, in Rome]:
4417
4418 The Ontopsychological school, availing itself of new research criteria
4419 and of a new telematic epistemology, maintains that social modes do not
4420 spring from dialectics of territory or of class, or of consumer goods,
4421 or of means of power, but rather from dynamic latencies capillarized in
4422 millions of individuals in system functions which, once they have
4423 reached the event maturation, burst forth in catastrophic phenomenology
4424 engaging a suitable stereotype protagonist or duty marionette (general,
4425 president, political party, etc.) to consummate the act of social
4426 schizophrenia in mass genocide.
4427 %
4428 From the "Guiness Book of World Records", 1973:
4429
4430 Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation and
4431 the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the
4432 Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his
4433 candidate which reads, "In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground
4434 nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts,
4435 other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not
4436 qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their
4437 being nuts (unground)."
4438 %
4439 From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was
4440 convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.
4441 -- Groucho Marx, from "The Book of Insults"
4442 %
4443 [From the operation manual for the CI-300 Dot Matrix Line Printer, made
4444 in Japan]:
4445
4446 The excellent output machine of MODEL CI-300 as extraordinary DOT
4447 MATRIX LINE PRINTER, built in two MICRO-PROCESSORs as well as EAROM, is
4448 featured by permitting wonderful co-existence such as; "high quality
4449 against low cost", "diversified functions with compact design",
4450 "flexibility in accessibleness and durability of approx. 2000,000,00
4451 Dot/Head", "being sophisticated in mechanism but possibly agile
4452 operating under noises being extremely suppressed" etc.
4453
4454 And as a matter of course, the final goal is just simply to help
4455 achieve "super shuttle diplomacy" between cool data, perhaps earned by
4456 HOST COMPUTER, and warm heart of human being.
4457 %
4458 From the Pro 350 Pocket Service Guide, p. 49, Step 5 of the
4459 instructions on removing an I/O board from the card cage, comes a new
4460 experience in sound:
4461
4462 5. Turn the handle to the right 90 degrees. The pin-spreading
4463 sound is normal for this type of connector.
4464 %
4465 From too much love of living,
4466 From hope and fear set free,
4467 We thank with brief thanksgiving,
4468 Whatever gods may be,
4469 That no life lives forever,
4470 That dead men rise up never,
4471 That even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.
4472 -- Swinburne
4473 %
4474 Fuch's Warning:
4475 If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren't well
4476 enough to travel.
4477 %
4478 Fudd's First Law of Opposition:
4479 Push something hard enough and it will fall over.
4480 %
4481 Furbling, v.:
4482 Having to wander through a maze of ropes at an airport or bank
4483 even when you are the only person in line.
4484 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
4485 %
4486 Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.
4487 -- H. H. Williams
4488 %
4489 Future looks spotty. You will spill soup in late evening.
4490 %
4491 G. B. Shaw to William Douglas Home: "Go on writing plays, my boy. One
4492 of these days a London producer will go into his office and say to his
4493 secretary, `Is there a play from Shaw this morning?' and when she says
4494 `No,' he will say, `Well, then we'll have to start on the rubbish.' And
4495 that's your chance, my boy."
4496 %
4497 Garbage In -- Gospel Out.
4498 %
4499 Garter, n.:
4500 An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her
4501 stockings and desolating the country.
4502 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
4503 %
4504 Gauls! We have nothing to fear; except perhaps that the sky may fall
4505 on our heads tomorrow. But as we all know, tomorrow never comes!!
4506 -- Adventures of Asterix
4507 %
4508 Gay shlafen: Yiddish for "go to sleep".
4509
4510 Now doesn't "gay shlafen" have a softer, more soothing sound
4511 than the harsh, staccato "go to sleep"? Listen to the difference:
4512 "Go to sleep, you little wretch!" ... "Gay shlafen, darling."
4513 Obvious, isn't it?
4514 Clearly the best thing you can do for you children is to start
4515 speaking Yiddish right now and never speak another word of English as
4516 long as you live. This will, of course, entail teaching Yiddish to all
4517 your friends, business associates, the people at the supermarket, and
4518 so on, but that's just the point. It has to start with committed
4519 individuals and then grow ...
4520 Some minor adjustments will have to be made, of course: those
4521 signs written in what look like Yiddish letters won't be funny when
4522 everything is written in Yiddish. And we'll have to start driving on
4523 the left side of the road so we won't be reading the street signs
4524 backwards. But is that too high a price to pay for world peace? I
4525 think not, my friend, I think not.
4526 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
4527 %
4528 "Gee, Mudhead, everyone at More Science High has an
4529 extracurricular activity except you."
4530 "Well, gee, doesn't Louise count?"
4531 "Only to ten, Mudhead."
4532
4533 -- Firesign Theater
4534 %
4535 "Gee, Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore."
4536 %
4537 GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)
4538 You are a quick and intelligent thinker. People like you
4539 because you are bisexual. However, you are inclined to expect too much
4540 for too little. This means you are cheap. Geminis are known for
4541 committing incest.
4542 %
4543 GEMINI (May 21 to Jun. 20)
4544 Good news and bad news highlighted. Enjoy the good news while
4545 you can; the bad news will make you forget it. You will enjoy praise
4546 and respect from those around you; everybody loves a sucker. A short
4547 trip is in the stars, possibly to the men's room.
4548 %
4549 Genderplex, n.:
4550 The predicament of a person in a restaurant who is unable to
4551 determine his or her designated restroom (e.g., turtles and
4552 tortoises).
4553 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
4554 %
4555 Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why
4556 you should.
4557 %
4558 Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus
4559 handicapped.
4560 -- Elbert Hubbard
4561 %
4562 Genius, n.:
4563 A chemist who discovers a laundry additive that rhymes with
4564 "bright".
4565 %
4566 George Orwell 1984. Northwestern 0.
4567 -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
4568 %
4569 George Orwell was an optimist.
4570 %
4571 George Washington was first in war, first in peace -- and the first to
4572 have his birthday juggled to make a long weekend.
4573 -- Ashley Cooper
4574 %
4575 Gerrold's Laws of Infernal Dynamics:
4576 (1) An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong
4577 direction.
4578 (2) An object at rest will always be in the wrong place.
4579 (3) The energy required to change either one of these states
4580 will always be more than you wish to expend, but never so
4581 much as to make the task totally impossible.
4582 %
4583 Get forgiveness now -- tomorrow you may no longer feel guilty.
4584 %
4585 Get GUMMed
4586 --- ------
4587 The Gurus of Unix Meeting of Minds (GUMM) takes place Wednesday, April
4588 1, 2076 (check THAT in your perpetual calendar program), 14 feet above
4589 the ground directly in front of the Milpitas Gumps. Members will grep
4590 each other by the hand (after intro), yacc a lot, smoke filtered
4591 chroots in pipes, chown with forks, use the wc (unless uuclean), fseek
4592 nice zombie processes, strip, and sleep, but not, we hope, od. Three
4593 days will be devoted to discussion of the ramifications of whodo. Two
4594 seconds have been allotted for a complete rundown of all the user-
4595 friendly features of Unix. Seminars include "Everything You Know is
4596 Wrong", led by Tom Kempson, "Batman or Cat:man?" led by Richie Dennis
4597 "cc C? Si! Si!" led by Kerwin Bernighan, and "Document Unix, Are You
4598 Kidding?" led by Jan Yeats. No Reader Service No. is necessary because
4599 all GUGUs (Gurus of Unix Group of Users) already know everything we
4600 could tell them.
4601 -- Dr. Dobb's Journal, June '84
4602 %
4603 Get Revenge! Live long enough to be a problem for your children!
4604 %
4605 -- Gifts for Children --
4606
4607 This is easy. You never have to figure out what to get for children,
4608 because they will tell you exactly what they want. They spend months
4609 and months researching these kinds of things by watching Saturday-
4610 morning cartoon-show advertisements. Make sure you get your children
4611 exactly what they ask for, even if you disapprove of their choices. If
4612 your child thinks he wants Murderous Bob, the Doll with the Face You
4613 Can Rip Right Off, you'd better get it. You may be worried that it
4614 might help to encourage your child's antisocial tendencies, but believe
4615 me, you have not seen antisocial tendencies until you've seen a child
4616 who is convinced that he or she did not get the right gift.
4617 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
4618 %
4619 -- Gifts for Men --
4620
4621 Men are amused by almost any idiot thing -- that is why professional
4622 ice hockey is so popular -- so buying gifts for them is easy. But you
4623 should never buy them clothes. Men believe they already have all the
4624 clothes they will ever need, and new ones make them nervous. For
4625 example, your average man has 84 ties, but he wears, at most, only
4626 three of them. He has learned, through humiliating trial and error,
4627 that if he wears any of the other 81 ties, his wife will probably laugh
4628 at him ("You're not going to wear THAT tie with that suit, are you?").
4629 So he has narrowed it down to three safe ties, and has gone several
4630 years without being laughed at. If you give him a new tie, he will
4631 pretend to like it, but deep inside he will hate you.
4632
4633 If you want to give a man something practical, consider tires. More
4634 than once, I would have gladly traded all the gifts I got for a new set
4635 of tires.
4636 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
4637 %
4638 Gimmie That Old Time Religion
4639 We will follow Zarathustra, We will worship like the Druids,
4640 Zarathustra like we use to, Dancing naked in the woods,
4641 I'm a Zarathustra booster, Drinking strange fermented fluids,
4642 And he's good enough for me! And it's good enough for me!
4643 (chorus) (chorus)
4644
4645 In the church of Aphrodite,
4646 The priestess wears a see-through nightie,
4647 She's a mighty righteous sightie,
4648 And she's good enough for me!
4649 (chorus)
4650
4651 CHORUS: Give me that old time religion,
4652 Give me that old time religion,
4653 Give me that old time religion,
4654 'Cause it's good enough for me!
4655 %
4656 Ginsberg's Theorem:
4657 (1) You can't win.
4658 (2) You can't break even.
4659 (3) You can't even quit the game.
4660
4661 Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's theorem:
4662 Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem
4663 meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's
4664 Theorem. To wit:
4665
4666 (1) Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
4667 (2) Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
4668 (3) Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.
4669 %
4670 Give me a Plumber's friend the size of the Pittsburgh dome, and a place
4671 to stand, and I will drain the world.
4672 %
4673 "Give me enough medals, and I'll win any war."
4674 -- Napoleon
4675 %
4676 Give me the Luxuries, and the Hell with the Necessities!
4677 %
4678 Give thought to your reputation. Consider changing name and moving to
4679 a new town.
4680 %
4681 Give your child mental blocks for Christmas.
4682 %
4683 Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying
4684 around, I'd rather lie around. No contest.
4685 -- Eric Clapton
4686 %
4687 Giving up on assembly language was the apple in our Garden of Eden:
4688 Languages whose use squanders machine cycles are sinful. The LISP
4689 machine now permits LISP programmers to abandon bra and fig-leaf.
4690 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
4691 %
4692 Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability:
4693 Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the
4694 probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some
4695 useful work done.
4696 %
4697 Gnagloot, n.:
4698 A person who leaves all his ski passes on his jacket just to
4699 impress people.
4700 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
4701 %
4702 Go 'way! You're bothering me!
4703 %
4704 Go climb a gravity well!
4705 %
4706 Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what value there may
4707 be in owning a piece thereof.
4708 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
4709 %
4710 //GO.SYSIN DD *, DOODAH, DOODAH
4711 %
4712 God did not create the world in seven days; he screwed around for six
4713 days and then pulled an all-nighter.
4714 %
4715 God doesn't play dice.
4716 -- Albert Einstein
4717 %
4718 "God gives burdens; also shoulders"
4719
4720 Jimmy Carter cited this Jewish saying in his concession speech at the
4721 end of the 1980 election. At least he said it was a Jewish saying; I
4722 can't find it anywhere. I'm sure he's telling the truth though; why
4723 would he lie about a thing like that?
4724 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
4725 %
4726 God has intended the great to be great and the little to be little ...
4727 The trade unions, under the European system, destroy liberty ... I do
4728 not mean to say that a dollar a day is enough to support a workingman
4729 ... not enough to support a man and five children if he insists on
4730 smoking and drinking beer. But the man who cannot live on bread and
4731 water is not fit to live! A family may live on good bread and water in
4732 the morning, water and bread at midday, and good bread and water at
4733 night!
4734 -- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
4735 %
4736 God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.
4737 %
4738 God is a polytheist.
4739 %
4740 God is Dead
4741 -- Nietzsche
4742 Nietzsche is Dead
4743 -- God
4744 Nietzsche is God
4745 -- The Dead
4746 %
4747 God is not dead! He's alive and autographing bibles at Cody's
4748 %
4749 God is real, unless declared integer.
4750 %
4751 God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the
4752 elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying
4753 other things.
4754 -- Pablo Picasso
4755 %
4756 God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.
4757 -- Alfred Jarry
4758 %
4759 God isn't dead, he just couldn't find a parking place.
4760 %
4761 God made machine language; all the rest is the work of man.
4762 %
4763 God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board
4764 -- Mark Twain
4765 %
4766 God made the integers; all else is the work of Man.
4767 -- Kronecker
4768 %
4769 God made the world in six days, and was arrested on the seventh.
4770 %
4771 God may be subtle, but He isn't plain mean.
4772 -- Albert Einstein
4773 %
4774 God must love the Common Man; He made so many of them.
4775 %
4776 God rest ye CS students now,
4777 Let nothing you dismay.
4778 The VAX is down and won't be up,
4779 Until the first of May.
4780 The program that was due this morn,
4781 Won't be postponed, they say.
4782
4783 Oh, tidings of comfort and joy,
4784 Comfort and joy,
4785 Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.
4786
4787 The bearings on the drum are gone,
4788 The disk is wobbling, too.
4789 We've found a bug in Lisp, and Algol
4790 Can't tell false from true.
4791 And now we find that we can't get
4792 At Berkeley's 4.2.
4793
4794 (chorus)
4795 %
4796 Going to church does not make a person religious, nor does going to
4797 school make a person educated, any more than going to a garage makes a
4798 person a car.
4799 %
4800 Gold, n.:
4801 A soft malleable metal relatively scarce in distribution. It
4802 is mined deep in the earth by poor men who then give it to rich men who
4803 immediately bury it back in the earth in great prisons, although gold
4804 hasn't done anything to them.
4805 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
4806 %
4807 Goldenstern's Rules:
4808 (1) Always hire a rich attorney.
4809 (2) Never buy from a rich salesman.
4810 %
4811 Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad
4812 example.
4813 -- La Rouchefoucauld
4814 %
4815 Good day for a change of scene. Repaper the bedroom wall.
4816 %
4817 Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase.
4818 %
4819 Good day to avoid cops. Crawl to school.
4820 %
4821 Good day to let down old friends who need help.
4822 %
4823 Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.
4824 %
4825 Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance.
4826 %
4827 Good news. Ten weeks from Friday will be a pretty good day.
4828 %
4829 Good night to spend with family, but avoid arguments with your mate's
4830 new lover.
4831 %
4832 Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored.
4833 -- George Saunders' dying words
4834 %
4835 Gordon's first law:
4836 If a research project is not worth doing, it is not worth doing
4837 well.
4838 %
4839 "Gosh that takes me back... or is it forward? That's the trouble with
4840 time travel, you never can tell."
4841 -- Doctor Who "Androids of Tara"
4842 %
4843 Got Mole problems?
4844 Call Avogadro 6.02 x 10^23
4845 %
4846 Goto, n.:
4847 A programming tool that exists to allow structured programmers
4848 to complain about unstructured programmers.
4849 -- Ray Simard
4850 %
4851 Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.
4852 -- John Updike, "Couples"
4853 %
4854 Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are
4855 different lies.
4856 %
4857 Government spending? I don't know what it's all about. I don't know
4858 any more about this thing than an economist does, and, God knows, he
4859 doesn't know much.
4860 -- Will Rogers
4861 %
4862 Grabel's Law:
4863 2 is not equal to 3 -- not even for large values of 2.
4864 %
4865 Graduate life -- it's not just a job, it's an indenture.
4866 %
4867 Graduate life: It's not just a job. It's an indenture.
4868 %
4869 Grandpa Charnock's Law:
4870 You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
4871 %
4872 Gravity is a myth: the Earth sucks.
4873 %
4874 Gray's Law of Programming:
4875 `_n+1' trivial tasks are expected to be accomplished in the same
4876 time as `_n' tasks.
4877
4878 Logg's Rebuttal to Gray's Law:
4879 `_n+1' trivial tasks take twice as long as `_n' trivial tasks.
4880 %
4881 Great minds run in great circles.
4882 %
4883 GREAT MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY #21 -- July 30, 1917
4884
4885 On this day, New York City hotel detectives burst in and caught then-
4886 Senator Warren G. Harding in bed with an underage girl. He bought them
4887 off with a $20 bribe, and later remarked thankfully, "I thought I
4888 wouldn't get out of that under $1000!" Always one to learn from his
4889 mistakes, in later years President Harding carried on his affairs in a
4890 tiny closet in the White House Cabinet Room while Secret Service men
4891 stood lookout.
4892 %
4893 Green light in A.M. for new projects.
4894 Red light in P.M. for traffic tickets.
4895 %
4896 Greener's Law:
4897 Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel.
4898 %
4899 Grelb's Reminder:
4900 Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
4901 average drivers.
4902 %
4903 Grub first, then ethics.
4904 -- Bertholt Brecht
4905 %
4906 Gurmlish, n.:
4907 The red warning flag at the top of a club sandwich which
4908 prevents the person from biting into it and puncturing the roof of his
4909 mouth.
4910 -- Rich Hall & Friends, "Sniglets"
4911 %
4912 Gyroscope, n.:
4913 A wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and also
4914 free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each
4915 other and the axis of spin so that a rotation of one of the two
4916 mutually perpendicular axes results from application of torque to the
4917 other when the wheel is spinning and so that the entire apparatus
4918 offers considerable opposition depending on the angular momentum to any
4919 torque that would change the direction of the axis of spin.
4920 -- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary
4921 %
4922 H. L. Mencken suffers from the hallucination that he is H. L.
4923 Mencken -- there is no cure for a disease of that magnitude.
4924 -- Maxwell Bodenheim
4925 %
4926 H. L. Mencken's Law:
4927 Those who can -- do.
4928 Those who can't -- teach.
4929
4930 Martin's Extension:
4931 Those who cannot teach -- administrate.
4932 %
4933 H: If a 'GOBLIN (HOB) waylays you,
4934 Slice him up before he slays you.
4935 Nothing makes you look a slob
4936 Like running from a HOB'LIN (GOB).
4937 -- The Roguelet's ABC
4938 %
4939 Hacker's Law:
4940 The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a
4941 nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions.
4942 %
4943 Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge.
4944 %
4945 Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror,
4946 and you would not have been informed.
4947 %
4948 Hail to the sun god
4949 He sure is a fun god
4950 Ra! Ra! Ra!
4951 %
4952 Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain't that a big
4953 enough majority in any town?
4954 -- Mark Twain, "Huckleberry Finn"
4955 %
4956 Half Moon tonight. (At least it's better than no Moon at all.)
4957 %
4958 Half-done:
4959 This is the best way to eat a kosher dill -- when it's still
4960 crunchy, light green, yet full of garlic flavor. The difference
4961 between this and the typical soggy dark green cucumber corpse is like
4962 the difference between life and death.
4963 You may find it difficult to find a good half-done kosher dill
4964 there in Seattle, so what you should do is take a cab out to the
4965 airport, fly to New York, take the JFK Express to Jay Street-Borough
4966 Hall, transfer to an uptown F, get off at East Broadway, walk north on
4967 Essex (along the park), make your first left onto Hester Street, walk
4968 about fifteen steps, turn ninety degrees left, and stop. Say to the
4969 man, "Let me have a nice half-done."
4970 Worth the trouble, wasn't it?
4971 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
4972 %
4973 Hall's Laws of Politics:
4974 (1) The voters want fewer taxes and more spending.
4975 (2) Citizens want honest politicians until they want something
4976 fixed.
4977 (3) Constituency drives out consistency (i.e., liberals defend
4978 military spending, and conservatives social spending in
4979 their own districts).
4980 %
4981 Hand, n.:
4982 A singular instrument worn at the end of a human arm and
4983 commonly thrust into somebody's pocket.
4984 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
4985 %
4986 Hanlon's Razor:
4987 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
4988 stupidity.
4989 %
4990 Hanson's Treatment of Time:
4991 There are never enough hours in a day, but always too many days
4992 before Saturday.
4993 %
4994 Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.
4995 -- Ogden Nash
4996 %
4997 Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
4998 -- Oscar Levant
4999 %
5000 Happiness, n.:
5001 An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of
5002 another.
5003 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
5004 %
5005 Hard work may not kill you, but why take chances?
5006 %
5007 Hardware, n.:
5008 The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.
5009 %
5010 Hark ye, Clinker, you are a most notorious offender. You stand
5011 convicted of sickness, hunger, wretchedness, and want.
5012 -- Tobias Smollet
5013 %
5014 Hark, Hark, the dogs do bark
5015 The Duke is fond of kittens
5016 He likes to take their insides out
5017 And use them for his mittens
5018 From "The Thirteen Clocks"
5019 %
5020 Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
5021 Advertising wondrous things.
5022 -- Tom Lehrer
5023 %
5024 Harris's Lament:
5025 All the good ones are taken.
5026 %
5027 Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab:
5028 Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment
5029 ruined.
5030 %
5031 Harry is heavily into camping, and every year in the late fall, he
5032 makes us all go to Assateague, which is an island on the Atlantic Ocean
5033 famous for its wild horses. I realize that the concept of wild horses
5034 probably stirs romantic notions in many of you, but this is because you
5035 have never met any wild horses in person. In person, they are like
5036 enormous hooved rats. They amble up to your camp site, and their
5037 attitude is: "We're wild horses. We're going to eat your food, knock
5038 down your tent and poop on your shoes. We're protected by federal law,
5039 just like Richard Nixon."
5040 -- Dave Barry, "Tenting Grandpa Bob"
5041 %
5042 Hartley's First Law:
5043 You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float
5044 on his back, you've got something.
5045 %
5046 Hartley's Second Law:
5047 Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself.
5048 %
5049 Harvard Law:
5050 Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure,
5051 temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will
5052 do as it damn well pleases.
5053 %
5054 "Has anyone had problems with the computer accounts?"
5055 "Yes, I don't have one."
5056 "Okay, you can send mail to one of the tutors ..."
5057 -- E. D'Azevedo, Computer Science 372
5058 %
5059 Has everyone noticed that all the letters of the word "database" are
5060 typed with the left hand? Now the layout of the QWERTYUIOP typewriter
5061 keyboard was designed, among other things, to facilitate the even use
5062 of both hands. It follows, therefore, that writing about databases is
5063 not only unnatural, but a lot harder than it appears.
5064 %
5065 Has your family tried 'em?
5066
5067 POWDERMILK BISCUITS
5068
5069 Heavens, they're tasty and expeditious!
5070
5071 They're made from whole wheat, to give shy persons the
5072 strength to get up and do what needs to be done.
5073
5074 POWDERMILK BISCUITS
5075
5076 Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the
5077 biscuit on the front, or in the brown bag with the dark stains
5078 that indicate freshness.
5079 %
5080 Hatred, n.:
5081 A sentiment appropriate to the occasion of another's
5082 superiority.
5083 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
5084 %
5085 Have an adequate day.
5086 %
5087 Have people realized that the purpose of the fortune cookie program is
5088 to defuse project tensions? When did you ever see a cheerful cookie, a
5089 non-cynical, or even an informative cookie?
5090
5091 Perhaps inadvertently, we have a channel for our aggressions. This
5092 still begs the question of whether the cookie releases the pressure or
5093 only serves to blunt the warning signs.
5094
5095 Long live the revolution!
5096 Have a nice day.
5097 %
5098 Have you ever noticed that the people who are always trying to tell
5099 you, "There's a time for work and a time for play," never find the time
5100 for play?
5101 %
5102 Have you ever wondered what makes Californians so calm? Besides drugs,
5103 I mean. The answer is hot tubs. A hot tub is a redwood container
5104 filled with water that you sit in naked with members of the opposite
5105 sex, none of whom is necessarily your spouse. After a few hours in
5106 their hot tubs, Californians don't give a damn about earthquakes or
5107 mass murderers. They don't give a damn about anything , which is why
5108 they are able to produce "Laverne and Shirley" week after week.
5109 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
5110 %
5111 "Have you lived here all your life?"
5112 "Oh, twice that long."
5113 %
5114 Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a
5115 crack in your sidewalk?
5116 %
5117 Have you noticed the way people's intelligence capabilities decline
5118 sharply the minute they start waving guns around?
5119 -- Dr. Who
5120 %
5121 Have you reconsidered a computer career?
5122 %
5123 He did decide, though, that with more time and a great deal of mental
5124 effort, he could probably turn the activity into an acceptable
5125 perversion.
5126 -- Mick Farren, "When Gravity Fails"
5127 %
5128 He flung himself on his horse and rode madly off in all directions.
5129 -- Stephen Leacock
5130 %
5131 He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation
5132 perfectly delightful.
5133 -- Sydney Smith
5134 %
5135 He had that rare weird electricity about him -- that extremely wild and
5136 heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope
5137 of ever behaving "normally."
5138 -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing '72"
5139 %
5140 He hadn't a single redeeming vice.
5141 -- Oscar Wilde
5142 %
5143 He is now rising from affluence to poverty.
5144 -- Mark Twain
5145 %
5146 He looked at me as if I was a side dish he hadn't ordered.
5147 %
5148 He played the king as if afraid someone else would play the ace.
5149 -- John Mason Brown, drama critic
5150 %
5151 He thought he saw an albatross
5152 That fluttered 'round the lamp.
5153 He looked again and saw it was
5154 A penny postage stamp.
5155 "You'd best be getting home," he said,
5156 "The nights are rather damp."
5157 %
5158 He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue.
5159 -- Jonathan Swift
5160 %
5161 He was a modest, good-humored boy. It was Oxford that made him insufferable.
5162 %
5163 He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
5164 %
5165 He who attacks the fundamentals of the American broadcasting industry
5166 attacks democracy itself.
5167 -- William S. Paley, chairman of CBS
5168 %
5169 He who Laughs, Lasts.
5170 %
5171 "He's just a politician trying to save both his faces ..."
5172 %
5173 He's the kind of guy, that, well, if you were ever in a jam he'd be
5174 there ... with two slices of bread and some chunky peanut butter.
5175 %
5176 He's the kind of man for the times that need the kind of man he is ...
5177 %
5178 HE: Let's end it all, bequeathin' our brains to science.
5179 SHE: What?!? Science got enough trouble with their ___OWN brains.
5180 -- Walt Kelley
5181 %
5182 Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
5183 %
5184 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying
5185 of nothing.
5186 -- Redd Foxx
5187 %
5188 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying
5189 of nothing.
5190 -- Redd Foxx
5191 %
5192 Heaven, n.:
5193 A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of
5194 their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you
5195 expound your own.
5196 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
5197 %
5198 Heavy, adj.:
5199 Seduced by the chocolate side of the force.
5200 %
5201 "Heisenberg may have slept here"
5202 %
5203 Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
5204 -- Milton Friedman
5205 %
5206 Heller's Law:
5207 The first myth of management is that it exists.
5208
5209 Johnson's Corollary:
5210 Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the
5211 organization.
5212 %
5213 "Hello," he lied.
5214 -- Don Carpenter quoting a Hollywood agent
5215 %
5216 Help a swallow land at Capistrano.
5217 %
5218 Help fight continental drift.
5219 %
5220 Help me, I'm a prisoner in a Fortune cookie file!
5221 %
5222 Help stamp out and abolish redundancy.
5223 %
5224 Help! I'm trapped in a PDP 11/70!
5225 %
5226 HELP! MY TYPEWRITER IS BROKEN!
5227 -- E. E. CUMMINGS
5228 %
5229 Her locks an ancient lady gave
5230 Her loving husband's life to save;
5231 And men -- they honored so the dame --
5232 Upon some stars bestowed her name.
5233
5234 But to our modern married fair,
5235 Who'd give their lords to save their hair,
5236 No stellar recognition's given.
5237 There are not stars enough in heaven.
5238 %
5239 "Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from
5240 Presidents and Kings to the scum of the earth ..."
5241 %
5242 Here I sit, broken-hearted,
5243 All logged in, but work unstarted.
5244 First net.this and net.that,
5245 And a hot buttered bun for net.fat.
5246
5247 The boss comes by, and I play the game,
5248 Then I turn back to net.flame.
5249 Is there a cure (I need your views),
5250 For someone trapped in net.news?
5251
5252 I need your help, I say 'tween sobs,
5253 'Cause I'll soon be listed in net.jobs.
5254 %
5255 Here in my heart, I am Helen;
5256 I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least.
5257 I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Sta"el;
5258 I'm Salome, moon of the East.
5259
5260 Here in my soul I am Sappho;
5261 Lady Hamilton am I, as well.
5262 In me R'ecamier vies with Kitty O'Shea,
5263 With Dido, and Eve, and poor nell.
5264
5265 I'm all of the glamorous ladies
5266 At whose beckoning history shook.
5267 But you are a man, and see only my pan,
5268 So I stay at home with a book.
5269 -- Dorothy Parker
5270 %
5271 Here is a simple experiment that will teach you an important electrical
5272 lesson: On a cool, dry day, scuff your feet along a carpet, then reach
5273 your hand into a friend's mouth and touch one of his dental fillings.
5274 Did you notice how your friend twitched violently and cried out in
5275 pain? This teaches us that electricity can be a very powerful force,
5276 but we must never use it to hurt others unless we need to learn an
5277 important electrical lesson.
5278
5279 It also teaches us how an electrical circuit works. When you scuffed
5280 your feet, you picked up batches of "electrons", which are very small
5281 objects that carpet manufacturers weave into carpets so they will
5282 attract dirt. The electrons travel through your bloodstream and
5283 collect in your finger, where they form a spark that leaps to your
5284 friend's filling, then travels down to his feet and back into the
5285 carpet, thus completing the circuit.
5286
5287 Amazing Electronic Fact: If you scuffed your feet long enough without
5288 touching anything, you would build up so many electrons that your
5289 finger would explode! But this is nothing to worry about unless you
5290 have carpeting.
5291 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
5292 %
5293 Here is the fact of the week, maybe even the fact of the
5294 month. According to probably reliable sources, the Coca-Cola people
5295 are experiencing severe marketing anxiety in China.
5296 The words "Coca-Cola" translate into Chinese as either
5297 (depending on the inflection) "wax-fattened mare" or "bite the wax
5298 tadpole".
5299 Bite the wax tadpole.
5300 There is a sort of rough justice, is there not?
5301 The trouble with this fact, as lovely as it is, is that it's
5302 hard to get a whole column out of it. I'd like to teach the world to
5303 bite a wax tadpole. Coke -- it's the real wax-fattened mare. Not bad,
5304 but broad satiric vistas do not open up.
5305 -- John Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
5306 %
5307 "Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like
5308 `Psychic Wins Lottery'?"
5309 -- Jay Leno
5310 %
5311 Heuristics are bug ridden by definition. If they didn't have bugs,
5312 then they'd be algorithms.
5313 %
5314 "Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??!"
5315 -- W. C. Fields
5316 %
5317 Hi there! This is just a note from me, to you, to tell you, the person
5318 reading this note, that I can't think up any more famous quotes, jokes,
5319 nor bizarre stories, so you may as well go home.
5320 %
5321 "Hi, I'm Preston A. Mantis, president of Consumers Retail Law Outlet.
5322 As you can see by my suit and the fact that I have all these books of
5323 equal height on the shelves behind me, I am a trained legal attorney.
5324 Do you have a car or a job? Do you ever walk around? If so, you
5325 probably have the makings of an excellent legal case. Although of
5326 course every case is different, I would definitely say that based on my
5327 experience and training, there's no reason why you shouldn't come out
5328 of this thing with at least a cabin cruiser.
5329
5330 "Remember, at the Preston A. Mantis Consumers Retail Law Outlet, our
5331 motto is: 'It is very difficult to disprove certain kinds of pain.'"
5332 -- Dave Barry, "Pain and Suffering"
5333 %
5334 Hier liegt ein Mann ganz ohnegleich;
5335 Im Leibe dick, an Suenden reich.
5336 Wir haben ihn in das Grab gesteckt, Here lies a man with sundry flaws
5337 Weil es uns duenkt er sei verreckt. And numerous Sins upon his head;
5338 We buried him today because
5339 As far as we can tell, he's dead.
5340 -- PDQ Bach's epitaph, as requested by his cousin Betty
5341 Sue Bach and written by the local doggerel catcher;
5342 "The Definitive Biography of PDQ Bach", Peter Schickele
5343 %
5344 Higgledy Piggledy,
5345 Hamlet of Elsinore
5346 Ruffled the critics by
5347 Dropping this bomb:
5348 "Phooey on Freud and his
5349 Psychoanalysis --
5350 Oedipus, Shmoedipus,
5351 I just loved Mom."
5352 %
5353 Hindsight is an exact science.
5354 %
5355 Hippogriff, n.:
5356 An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin.
5357 The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle.
5358 The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one quarter eagle, which
5359 is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full
5360 of surprises.
5361 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
5362 %
5363 Hire the morally handicapped.
5364 %
5365 "His great aim was to escape from civilization, and, as soon as he had
5366 money, he went to Southern California."
5367 %
5368 His mind is like a steel trap -- full of mice.
5369 -- Foghorn Leghorn
5370 %
5371 His super power is to turn into a scotch terrier.
5372 %
5373 History is curious stuff
5374 You'd think by now we had enough
5375 Yet the fact remains I fear
5376 They make more of it every year.
5377 %
5378 History repeats itself. That's one thing wrong with history.
5379 %
5380 History, n.:
5381 Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we
5382 learn nothing from history. I know people who can't even learn from
5383 what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long
5384 view.
5385 -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab"
5386 %
5387 Hlade's Law:
5388 If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person -- they
5389 will find an easier way to do it.
5390 %
5391 Hoare's Law of Large Problems:
5392 Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get out.
5393 %
5394 Hofstadter's Law:
5395 It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take
5396 Hofstadter's Law into account.
5397 %
5398 Hollywood is where if you don't have happiness you send out for it.
5399 -- Rex Reed
5400 %
5401 Home centers are designed for the do-it-yourselfer who's
5402 willing to pay higher prices for the convenience of being able to shop
5403 for lumber, hardware, and toasters all in one location. Notice I say
5404 "shop for", as opposed to "obtain". This is the major drawback of home
5405 centers: they are always out of everything except artificial Christmas
5406 trees. The home center employees have no time to reorder merchandise
5407 because they are too busy applying little price stickers to every
5408 object -- every board, washer, nail and screw -- in the entire store ...
5409 Let's say a piece in your toilet tank breaks, so you remove the
5410 broken part, take it to the home center, and ask an employee if he has
5411 a replacement. The employee, who has never is his life even seen the
5412 inside of a toilet tank, will peer at the broken part in very much the
5413 same way that a member of a primitive Amazon jungle tribe would look at
5414 an electronic calculator, and then say, "We're expecting a shipment of
5415 these sometime around the middle of next week".
5416 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
5417 %
5418 Home of Doberman Propulsion Laboratories:
5419 The ultimate in watchdog weaponry.
5420 -- Chris Shaw
5421 %
5422 Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
5423 %
5424 Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.
5425 -- F. M. Hubbard
5426 %
5427 Honk if you hate bumper stickers that say "Honk if ..."
5428 %
5429 Honk if you love peace and quiet.
5430 %
5431 Honorable, adj.:
5432 Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach. In legislative
5433 bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the
5434 honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur."
5435 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
5436 %
5437 Horngren's Observation:
5438 Among economists, the real world is often a special case.
5439 %
5440 Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on
5441 people.
5442 -- W. C. Fields
5443 %
5444 Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants in Marshalltown, Iowa.
5445 %
5446 "Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed."
5447 -- Neil Armstrong
5448 %
5449 How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
5450 %
5451 How come only your friends step on your new white sneakers?
5452 %
5453 How come wrong numbers are never busy?
5454 %
5455 How do I love thee? My accumulator overflows.
5456 %
5457 How do you explain school to a higher intelligence?
5458 -- Elliot, "E.T."
5459 %
5460 How doth the little crocodile
5461 Improve his shining tail,
5462 And pour the waters of the Nile
5463 On every golden scale!
5464
5465 How cheerfully he seems to grin,
5466 How neatly spreads his claws,
5467 And welcomes little fishes in,
5468 With gently smiling jaws!
5469 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
5470 %
5471 How doth the VAX's C compiler
5472 Improve its object code.
5473 And even as we speak does it
5474 Increase the system load.
5475
5476 How patiently it seems to run
5477 And spit out error flags,
5478 While users, with frustration, all
5479 Tear their clothes to rags.
5480 %
5481 How I love to watch the morn,
5482 With golden sun that shines,
5483 Up above to nicely warm
5484 These frosty toes of mine.
5485
5486 The wind doth taste so bitter sweet,
5487 Like Jaspar wine and sugar,
5488 It must have blown through someone's feet,
5489 Like those of ... Caspar Weinberger.
5490 -- P. Opus (Bloom County)
5491 %
5492 How doth the VAX's C-compiler
5493 Improve its object code.
5494 And even as we speak does it
5495 Increase the system load.
5496
5497 How patiently it seems to run
5498 And spit out error flags,
5499 While users, with frustration, all
5500 Tear all their clothes to rags.
5501 %
5502 How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're
5503 on.
5504 %
5505 How many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
5506 None: "We'll fix it in software."
5507
5508 How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
5509 None: "We'll document it in the manual."
5510
5511 How many tech writers does it take to change a lightbulb?
5512 None: "The user can work it out."
5513 %
5514 How many hors d'oeuvres you are allowed to take off a tray being
5515 carried by a waiter at a nice party?
5516
5517 Two, but there are ways around it, depending on the style of the hors
5518 d'oeuvre. If they're those little pastry things where you can't tell
5519 what's inside, you take one, bite off about two-thirds of it, then
5520 say: "This is cheese! I hate cheese!" Then you put the rest of it
5521 back on the tray and bite another one and go, "Darn it! Another
5522 cheese!" and so on.
5523 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
5524 %
5525 How many seconds are there in a year? If I tell you there are
5526 3.155 x 10^7, you won't even try to remember it. On the other hand,
5527 who could forget that, to within half a percent, pi seconds is a
5528 nanocentury.
5529 -- Tom Duff, Bell Labs
5530 %
5531 How much does it cost to entice a dope-smoking UNIX system guru to Dayton?
5532 -- Brian Boyle, UNIX/WORLD's First Annual Salary Survey
5533 %
5534 How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers.
5535 %
5536 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
5537 #1040 Your income tax refund cheque bounces.
5538 %
5539 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
5540 #15 Your pet rock snaps at you.
5541 %
5542 HOW YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S GOING TO BE A ROTTEN DAY:
5543 #32: You call your answering service and they've never heard of you.
5544 %
5545 Howe's Law:
5546 Everyone has a scheme that will not work.
5547 %
5548 However, never daunted, I will cope with adversity in my traditional
5549 manner ... sulking and nausea.
5550 -- Tom K. Ryan
5551 %
5552 HR 3128. Omnibus Budget Reconciliation, Fiscal 1986. Martin, R-Ill.,
5553 motion that the House recede from its disagreement to the Senate
5554 amendment making changes in the bill to reduce fiscal 1986 deficits.
5555 The Senate amendment was an amendment to the House amendment to the
5556 Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the
5557 bill. The original Senate amendment was the conference agreement on
5558 the bill. Agreed to.
5559 -- Albuquerque Journal
5560 %
5561 Hug O' War
5562
5563 I will not play at tug o' war.
5564 I'd rather play at hug o' war,
5565 Where everyone hugs
5566 Instead of tugs,
5567 Where everyone giggles
5568 And rolls on the rug,
5569 Where everyone kisses,
5570 And everyone grins,
5571 And everyone cuddles,
5572 And everyone wins.
5573 -- Shel Silverstein
5574 %
5575 Human beings were created by water to transport it uphill.
5576 %
5577 Human cardiac catheterization was introduced by Werner Forssman in
5578 1929. Ignoring his department chief, and tying his assistant to an
5579 operating table to prevent his interference, he placed a urethral
5580 catheter into a vein in his arm, advanced it to the right atrium [of
5581 his heart], and walked upstairs to the x-ray department where he took
5582 the confirmatory x-ray film. In 1956, Dr. Forssman was awarded the
5583 Nobel Prize.
5584 %
5585 Hummingbirds never remember the words to songs.
5586 %
5587 Humor is a drug which it's the fashion to abuse.
5588 -- William Gilbert
5589 %
5590 Hurewitz's Memory Principle:
5591 The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional
5592 to ..... to ........ uh ..............
5593 %
5594 I also believe that academic freedom should protect the right of a
5595 professor or student to advocate Marxism, socialism, communism, or any
5596 other minority viewpoint -- no matter how distasteful to the majority.
5597 -- Richard M. Nixon
5598
5599 What are our schools for if not indoctrination against Communism?
5600 -- Richard M. Nixon
5601 %
5602 "I am convinced that the manufacturers of carpet odor removing powder
5603 have included encapsulated time released cat urine in their products.
5604 This technology must be what prevented its distribution during my mom's
5605 reign. My carpet smells like piss, and I don't have a cat. Better go
5606 buy some more."
5607 -- timw (a] zeb.USWest.COM
5608 %
5609 I am more bored than you could ever possibly be. Go back to work.
5610 %
5611 I am not an Economist. I am an honest man!
5612 -- Paul McCracken
5613 %
5614 I am not now, and never have been, a girlfriend of Henry Kissinger.
5615 -- Gloria Steinem
5616 %
5617 I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the demigodic party.
5618 -- Dennis Ritchie
5619 %
5620 I am not sure what this is, but an `F' would only dignify it.
5621 -- English Professor
5622 %
5623 I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the
5624 great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
5625 -- Winston Churchill
5626 %
5627 I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
5628 has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
5629 -- English Professor, Ohio University
5630 %
5631 I am so optimistic about beef prices that I've just leased a pot roast
5632 with an option to buy.
5633 %
5634 I am the mother of all things, and all things should wear a sweater.
5635 %
5636 I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person,
5637 of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell
5638 you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial
5639 atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something
5640 inconceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.
5641 -- Pooh-Bah, "The Mikado", Gilbert & Sullivan
5642 %
5643 I appreciate the fact that this draft was done in haste, but some of
5644 the sentences that you are sending out in the world to do your work for
5645 you are loitering in taverns or asleep beside the highway.
5646 -- Dr. Dwight Van de Vate, Professor of Philosophy,
5647 University of Tennessee at Knoxville
5648 %
5649 I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an
5650 argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and
5651 steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect,
5652 they don't even invite me.
5653 -- Dave Barry
5654 %
5655 I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
5656 -- G. K. Chesterton
5657 %
5658 I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.
5659 -- Will Rogers
5660 %
5661 I bet the human brain is a kludge.
5662 -- Marvin Minsky
5663 %
5664 I brake for chezlogs!
5665 %
5666 I call them as I see them. If I can't see them, I make them up.
5667 -- Biff Barf
5668 %
5669 I can feel for her because, although I have never been an Alaskan
5670 prostitute dancing on the bar in a spangled dress, I still get very
5671 bored with washing and ironing and dishwashing and cooking day after
5672 relentless day.
5673 -- Betty MacDonald
5674 %
5675 I can read your mind, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
5676 %
5677 I can remember when a good politician had to be 75 percent ability and
5678 25 percent actor, but I can well see the day when the reverse could be
5679 true.
5680 -- Harry Truman
5681 %
5682 I can resist anything but temptation.
5683 %
5684 I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.
5685 -- Joe Walsh
5686 %
5687 I can't decide whether to commit suicide or go bowling.
5688 -- Florence Henderson
5689 %
5690 I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can
5691 understand it.
5692 -- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
5693 %
5694 I can't understand why a person will take a year or two to write a
5695 novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
5696 -- Fred Allen
5697 %
5698 I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
5699 -- Lillian Hellman
5700 %
5701 I cannot conceive that anybody will require multiplications at the rate
5702 of 40,000 or even 4,000 per hour ...
5703 -- F. H. Wales (1936)
5704 %
5705 I cannot overemphasize the importance of good grammar.
5706
5707 What a crock. I could easily overemphasize the importance of good
5708 grammar. For example, I could say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause
5709 of slow, painful death in North America," or "Without good grammar, the
5710 United States would have lost World War II."
5711 -- Dave Barry, "An Utterly Absurd Look at Grammar"
5712 %
5713 "I cannot read the fiery letters," said Frito Bugger in a
5714 quavering voice.
5715 "No," said GoodGulf, "but I can. The letters are Elvish, of
5716 course, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which
5717 I will not utter here. They are lines of a verse long known in
5718 Elven-lore:
5719
5720 "This Ring, no other, is made by the elves,
5721 Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves.
5722 Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop,
5723 This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop.
5724 The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring.
5725 The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing.
5726 If broken or busted, it cannot be remade.
5727 If found, send to Sorhed (with postage prepaid)."
5728 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
5729 %
5730 I changed my headlights the other day. I put in strobe lights
5731 instead! Now when I drive at night, it looks like everyone else is
5732 standing still ...
5733 -- Steven Wright
5734 %
5735 I could dance till the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather
5736 dance with the cows till you come home.
5737 -- Groucho Marx
5738 %
5739 I couldn't remember when I had been so disappointed. Except perhaps
5740 the time I found out that M&Ms really *do* melt in your hand ...
5741 -- Peter Oakley
5742 %
5743 I didn't know it was impossible when I did it.
5744 %
5745 I didn't like the play, but I saw it under adverse conditions. The
5746 curtain was up.
5747 %
5748 I disapprove of the F-word, not because it's dirty, but because
5749 we use it as a substitute for thoughtful insults, and it frequently
5750 leads to violence. What we ought to do, when we anger each other, say,
5751 in traffic, is exchange phone numbers, so that later on, when we've had
5752 time to think of witty and learned insults or look them up in the
5753 library, we could call each other up:
5754
5755 You: Hello? Bob?
5756 Bob: Yes?
5757 You: This is Ed. Remember? The person whose parking space you
5758 took last Thursday? Outside of Sears?
5759 Bob: Oh yes! Sure! How are you, Ed?
5760 You: Fine, thanks. Listen, Bob, the reason I'm calling is:
5761 "Madam, you may be drunk, but I am ugly, and ..." No, wait.
5762 I mean: "you may be ugly, but I am Winston Churchill
5763 and ..." No, wait. (Sound of reference book thudding onto
5764 the floor.) S-word. Excuse me. Look, Bob, I'm going to
5765 have to get back to you.
5766 Bob: Fine.
5767 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
5768 %
5769 I do hate sums. There is no greater mistake than to call arithmetic an
5770 exact science. There are permutations and aberrations discernible to
5771 minds entirely noble like mine; subtle variations which ordinary
5772 accountants fail to discover; hidden laws of number which it requires a
5773 mind like mine to perceive. For instance, if you add a sum from the
5774 bottom up, and then again from the top down, the result is always
5775 different.
5776 -- Mrs. La Touche (19th cent.)
5777 %
5778 I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
5779 -- Isaac Asimov
5780 %
5781 I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us
5782 with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.
5783 -- Galileo Galilei
5784 %
5785 I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.
5786 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
5787 %
5788 I don't believe in astrology. But then I'm an Aquarius, and Aquarians
5789 don't believe in astrology.
5790 -- James R. F. Quirk
5791 %
5792 I don't believe there really IS a GAS SHORTAGE.. I think it's all just
5793 a BIG HOAX on the part of the plastic sign salesmen -- to sell more
5794 numbers!!
5795 %
5796 I don't care for the Sugar Smacks commercial. I don't like the idea of
5797 a frog jumping on my Breakfast.
5798 -- Lowell, Chicago Reader 10/15/82
5799 %
5800 I don't care who does the electing as long as I get to do the
5801 nominating.
5802 -- Boss Tweed
5803 %
5804 I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem.
5805 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
5806 %
5807 I don't have to take this abuse from you -- I've got hundreds of
5808 people waiting to abuse me.
5809 -- Bill Murray, "Ghostbusters"
5810 %
5811 I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
5812 -- Elvis Presley
5813 %
5814 "I don't know what you mean by `glory,'" Alice said
5815 Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --
5816 till I tell you. I meant `there's a nice knock-down argument for
5817 you!'"
5818 "But glory doesn't mean `a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice
5819 objected.
5820 "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful
5821 tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor
5822 less."
5823 "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean
5824 so many different things."
5825 "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--
5826 that's all."
5827 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
5828 %
5829 I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd
5830 eat it, and I just hate it.
5831 -- Clarence Darrow
5832 %
5833 I don't mind going nowhere as long as it's an interesting path.
5834 -- Ronald Mabbitt
5835 %
5836 I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the
5837 streets and frighten the horses.
5838 -- Victor Hugo
5839 %
5840 I don't object to sex before marriage, but two minutes before?!?
5841 %
5842 "I don't think so," said Ren'e Descartes. Just then, he vanished.
5843 %
5844 I don't think they could put him in a mental hospital. On the other
5845 hand, if he were already in, I don't think they'd let him out.
5846 %
5847 I don't want to alarm anybody, but there is an excellent chance that
5848 the Earth will be destroyed in the next several days. Congress is
5849 thinking about eliminating a federal program under which scientists
5850 broadcast signals to alien beings. This would be a large mistake.
5851 Alien beings have nuclear blaster death cannons. You cannot cut off
5852 their federal programs as if they were merely poor people ...
5853 -- Davy Barry, "THE ALIENS ARE COMING, THE ALIENS ARE
5854 COMING!"
5855 %
5856 I doubt, therefore I might be.
5857 %
5858 I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business
5859 on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment
5860 he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual
5861 becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.
5862 -- George Bernard Shaw
5863 %
5864 I drink to make other people interesting.
5865 -- George Jean Nathan
5866 %
5867 I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamt that I was reading on,
5868 so I woke up from sheer boredom.
5869 %
5870 I for one cannot protest the recent M.T.A. fare hike and the
5871 accompanying promises that this would in no way improve service. For
5872 the transit system, as it now operates, has hidden advantages that
5873 can't be measured in monetary terms.
5874
5875 Personally, I feel that it is well worth 75 cents or even $1 to have
5876 that unimpeachable excuse whenever I am late to anything: "I came by
5877 subway." Those four words have such magic in them that if Godot should
5878 someday show up and mumble them, any audience would instantly
5879 understand his long delay.
5880 %
5881 I found out why my car was humming. It had forgotten the words.
5882 %
5883 I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very
5884 reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment.
5885 -- Gotama Buddha
5886 %
5887 I gave up Smoking, Drinking and Sex. It was the most *__________horrifying* 20
5888 minutes of my life!
5889 %
5890 I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
5891 -- Mae West
5892 %
5893 I get up each morning, gather my wits.
5894 Pick up the paper, read the obits.
5895 If I'm not there I know I'm not dead.
5896 So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.
5897 %
5898 I get up each morning, gather my wits.
5899 Pick up the paper, read the obits.
5900 If I'm not there I know I'm not dead.
5901 So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.
5902
5903 Oh, how do I know my youth is all spent?
5904 My get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went.
5905 But in spite of it all, I'm able to grin,
5906 And think of the places my get-up has been.
5907 -- Pete Seeger
5908 %
5909 I had to censor everything my sons watched ... even on the Mary Tyler
5910 Moore show I heard the word 'damn'!
5911 -- Mary Lou Bax
5912 %
5913 I had to hit him -- he was starting to make sense.
5914 %
5915 I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day cause that means
5916 it's going to be up all night.
5917 -- Steven Wright
5918 %
5919 I hate quotations.
5920 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
5921 %
5922 I have a simple philosophy:
5923
5924 Fill what's empty.
5925 Empty what's full.
5926 Scratch where it itches.
5927 -- A. R. Longworth
5928 %
5929 I have a very firm grasp on reality! I can reach out and strangle it
5930 any time!
5931 %
5932 I have come up with a sure-fire concept for a hit television show,
5933 which would be called `A Live Celebrity Gets Eaten by a Shark'.
5934 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
5935 %
5936 I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I tell them the truth
5937 and they never believe me.
5938 -- Camillo Di Cavour
5939 %
5940 I have great faith in fools -- self confidence my friends call it.
5941 -- Edgar Allan Poe
5942 %
5943 I have just read your lousy review buried in the back pages. You
5944 sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an
5945 eight-ulcer man on a four-ulcer job, and all four ulcers working. I
5946 have never met you, but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of
5947 beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below. Westbrook Pegler, a
5948 guttersnipe, is a gentleman compared to you. You can take that as more
5949 of an insult than as a reflection on your ancestry.
5950 -- President Harry S Truman
5951 %
5952 I have learned
5953 To spell hors d'oeuvres
5954 Which still grates on
5955 Some people's n'oeuvres.
5956 -- Warren Knox
5957 %
5958 I have made mistakes but I have never made the mistake of claiming
5959 that I have never made one.
5960 -- James Gordon Bennett
5961 %
5962 I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to
5963 make it shorter.
5964 -- Blaise Pascal
5965 %
5966 I have more humility in my little finger than you have in your whole
5967 ____BODY!
5968 -- from "Cerebus" #82
5969 %
5970 I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer.
5971 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
5972 %
5973 I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
5974 -- Oscar Wilde
5975 %
5976 I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep it
5977 scattered around the beaches of the world ... Perhaps you've seen it.
5978 -- Steven Wright
5979 %
5980 I have to convince you, or at least snow you ...
5981 -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435
5982 %
5983 I have two very rare photographs: one is a picture of Houdini locking
5984 his keys in his car; the other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell
5985 beating up a child.
5986 -- Steven Wright
5987 %
5988 I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked
5989 at in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
5990 -- Poul Anderson
5991 %
5992 I haven't lost my mind -- it's backed up on tape somewhere.
5993 %
5994 I haven't lost my mind; I know exactly where I left it.
5995 %
5996 I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!
5997 %
5998 I just need enough to tide me over until I need more.
5999 -- Bill Hoest
6000 %
6001 I know it all. I just can't remember it all at once.
6002 %
6003 I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
6004 War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
6005 -- Albert Einstein
6006 %
6007 I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
6008 The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building.
6009 -- Charles Schulz
6010 %
6011 I like being single. I'm always there when I need me.
6012 -- Art Leo
6013 %
6014 I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to
6015 promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want
6016 peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of
6017 the way and let them have it.
6018 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
6019 %
6020 I like work ... I can sit and watch it for hours.
6021 %
6022 I like your game but we have to change the rules.
6023 %
6024 I love Saturday morning cartoons, what classic humour! This is what
6025 entertainment is all about ... Idiots, explosives and falling anvils.
6026 -- Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
6027 %
6028 "I love to eat them Smurfies
6029 Smurfies what I love to eat
6030 Bite they ugly heads off,
6031 Nibble on they bluish feet."
6032 %
6033 I may appear to be just sitting here like a bucket of tapioca, but
6034 don't let appearances fool you. I'm approaching old age ... at the
6035 speed of light.
6036 -- Prof. Cosmo Fishhawk
6037 %
6038 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
6039 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
6040 %
6041 I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a
6042 week sometimes to make it up.
6043 -- Mark Twain, "The Innocents Abroad"
6044 %
6045 I must have slipped a disk -- my pack hurts
6046 %
6047 I never fail to convince an audience that the best thing they could do
6048 was to go away.
6049 %
6050 I never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like.
6051 %
6052 I often quote myself; it adds spice to my conversation.
6053 -- G. B. Shaw
6054 %
6055 I only touch base with reality on an as-needed basis!
6056 -- Royal Floyd Mengot (Klaus)
6057 %
6058 I played lead guitar in a band called The Federal Duck, which is the
6059 kind of name that was popular in the '60s as a result of controlled
6060 substances being in widespread use. Back then, there were no
6061 restrictions, in terms of talent, on who could make an album, so we
6062 made one, and it sounds like a group of people who have been given
6063 powerful but unfamiliar instruments as a therapy for a degenerative
6064 nerve disease.
6065 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
6066 %
6067 I predict that today will be remembered until tomorrow!
6068 %
6069 I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.
6070 -- William F. Buckley
6071 %
6072 "I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of
6073 that is -- `Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put
6074 more simply -- `Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it
6075 might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not
6076 otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be
6077 otherwise.'"
6078 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
6079 %
6080 I realize that the MX missile is none of our concern. I realize that
6081 the whole point of living in a democracy is that we pay professional
6082 congresspersons to concern themselves with things like the MX missile
6083 so we can be free to concern ourselves with getting hold of the
6084 plumber.
6085
6086 But from time to time, I feel I must address major public issues such
6087 as this, because in a free and open society, where the very future of
6088 the world hinges on decisions made by our elected leaders, you never
6089 win large cash journalism awards if you stick to the topics I usually
6090 write about, such as nose-picking.
6091 -- Dave Barry, "At Last, the Ultimate Deterrent Against
6092 Political Fallout"
6093 %
6094 I really hate this damned machine
6095 I wish that they would sell it.
6096 It never does quite what I want
6097 But only what I tell it.
6098 %
6099 I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.
6100 %
6101 I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope
6102 they do get 'em lowered enough so people can afford to pay 'em.
6103 -- Will Rogers
6104 %
6105 I see the eigenvalue in thine eye,
6106 I hear the tender tensor in thy sigh.
6107 Bernoulli would have been content to die
6108 Had he but known such _a-squared cos 2(phi)!
6109 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
6110 %
6111 I sent a letter to the fish,
6112 I told them, "This is what I wish."
6113 The little fishes of the sea,
6114 They sent an answer back to me.
6115 The little fishes' answer was
6116 "We cannot do it, sir, because ..."
6117 I sent a letter back to say
6118 It would be better to obey.
6119 But someone came to me and said
6120 "The little fishes are in bed."
6121 I said to him, and I said it plain
6122 "Then you must wake them up again."
6123 I said it very loud and clear,
6124 I went and shouted in his ear.
6125 But he was very stiff and proud,
6126 He said "You needn't shout so loud."
6127 And he was very proud and stiff,
6128 He said "I'll go and wake them if ..."
6129 I took a kettle from the shelf,
6130 I went to wake them up myself.
6131 But when I found the door was locked
6132 I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked,
6133 And when I found the door was shut,
6134 I tried to turn the handle, But ...
6135
6136 "Is that all?" asked Alice.
6137 "That is all." said Humpty Dumpty. "Goodbye."
6138 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
6139 %
6140 I shot an arrow into the air, and it stuck.
6141 -- Graffito in Los Angeles
6142 %
6143 "... I should explain that I was wearing a black velvet cape that was
6144 supposed to make me look like the dashing, romantic Zorro but which
6145 actually made me look like a gigantic bat wearing glasses ..."
6146 -- Dave Barry, "The Wet Zorro Suit and Other Turning
6147 Points in l'Amour"
6148 %
6149 I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full
6150 house and four people died.
6151 -- Steven Wright
6152 %
6153 I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to
6154 see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
6155 -- Shirley Temple
6156 %
6157 I suggest you locate your hot tub outside your house, so it won't do
6158 too much damage if it catches fire or explodes. First you decide which
6159 direction your hot tub should face for maximum solar energy. After
6160 much trial and error, I have found that the best direction for a hot
6161 tub to face is up.
6162 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
6163 %
6164 I think it is true for all _n. I was just playing it safe with _n >= 3
6165 because I couldn't remember the proof.
6166 -- Baker, Pure Math 351a
6167 %
6168 I think sex is better than logic, but I can't prove it.
6169 %
6170 I think that all good, right thinking people in this country are sick
6171 and tired of being told that all good, right thinking people in this
6172 country are fed up with being told that all good, right thinking people
6173 in this country are fed up with being sick and tired. I'm certainly
6174 not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am.
6175 -- Monty Python
6176 %
6177 I think that I shall never see
6178 A billboard lovely as a tree.
6179 Perhaps, unless the billboards fall
6180 I'll never see a tree at all.
6181 -- Ogden Nash
6182 %
6183 I think that I shall never see
6184 A thing as lovely as a tree.
6185 But as you see the trees have gone
6186 They went this morning with the dawn.
6187 A logging firm from out of town
6188 Came and chopped the trees all down.
6189 But I will trick those dirty skunks
6190 And write a brand new poem called 'Trunks'.
6191 %
6192 I think the sky is blue because it's a shift from black through purple
6193 to blue, and it has to do with where the light is. You know, the
6194 farther we get into darkness, and there's a shifting of color of light
6195 into the blueness, and I think as you go farther and farther away from
6196 the reflected light we have from the sun or the light that's bouncing
6197 off this earth, uh, the darker it gets ... I think if you look at the
6198 color scale, you start at black, move it through purple, move it on
6199 out, it's the shifting of color. We mentioned before about the stars
6200 singing, and that's one of the effects of the shifting of colors.
6201 -- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club
6202 %
6203 I think we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown
6204 ... HEY! PAY ATTENTION WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU DAMMIT! I said I think
6205 we can all agree that there is not enough common courtesy shown today.
6206 When we take the time to be courteous to each other, we find that we
6207 are happier and less likely to engage in nuclear war. This point was
6208 driven home by the recent summit talks, where Nancy Reagan and Raisa
6209 Gorbachev, each of whose husband thinks the other's husband is vermin,
6210 were able to sit down at a high-level tea and engage in courteous
6211 conversation ...
6212 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
6213 %
6214 "I thought you were trying to get into shape."
6215 "I am. The shape I've selected is a triangle."
6216 %
6217 ... I told my doctor I got all the exercise I needed being a
6218 pallbearer for all my friends who run and do exercises!
6219 -- Winston Churchill
6220 %
6221 I took a course in speed reading and was able to read War and Peace in
6222 twenty minutes. It's about Russia.
6223 -- Woody Allen
6224 %
6225 I used to be an agnostic, but now I'm not so sure.
6226 %
6227 I used to get high on life but lately I've built up a resistance.
6228 %
6229 I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
6230 %
6231 I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my
6232 body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
6233 -- Emo Phillips
6234 %
6235 I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere
6236 near the place.
6237 -- Steven Wright
6238 %
6239 I value kindness to human beings first of all, and kindness to
6240 animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for
6241 anything connected with society except that which makes the roads
6242 safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and old men and women
6243 warmer in the winter, and happier in the summer.
6244 -- Brendan Behan
6245 %
6246 I want to buy a husband who, every week when I sit down to watch `St.
6247 Elsewhere', won't scream, `FORGET IT, BLANCHE ... IT'S TIME FOR "HEE
6248 HAW"!!'
6249 -- Berke Breathed, "Bloom County"
6250 %
6251 I was born because it was a habit in those days, people didn't know
6252 anything else ... I was not a Child Prodigy, because a Child Prodigy is
6253 a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows
6254 up.
6255 -- Will Rogers
6256 %
6257 I was drunk last night, crawled home across the lawn. By accident I
6258 put the car key in the door lock. The house started up. So I figured
6259 what the hell, and drove it around the block a few times. I thought I
6260 should go park it in the middle of the freeway and yell at everyone to
6261 get off my driveway.
6262 -- Steven Wright
6263 %
6264 I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I
6265 didn't know.
6266 -- Mark Twain
6267 %
6268 I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending
6269 their lives doing things they detest to make money they don't want to
6270 buy things they don't need to impress people they dislike.
6271 -- Emile Henry Gauvreay
6272 %
6273 I was playing poker the other night ... with Tarot cards. I got a full
6274 house and four people died.
6275 -- Steven Wright
6276 %
6277 I went into a general store, and they wouldn't sell me anything specific.
6278 -- Steven Wright
6279 %
6280 I went on to test the program in every way I could devise. I strained
6281 it to expose its weaknesses. I ran it for high-mass stars and low-mass
6282 stars, for stars born exceedingly hot and those born relatively cold.
6283 I ran it assuming the superfluid currents beneath the crust to be
6284 absent -- not because I wanted to know the answer, but because I had
6285 developed an intuitive feel for the answer in this particular case.
6286 Finally I got a run in which the computer showed the pulsar's
6287 temperature to be less than absolute zero. I had found an error. I
6288 chased down the error and fixed it. Now I had improved the program to
6289 the point where it would not run at all.
6290 -- George Greenstein, "Frozen Star: Of Pulsars, Black
6291 Holes and the Fate of Stars"
6292 %
6293 I went to a job interview the other day, the guy asked me if I had any
6294 questions , I said yes, just one, if you're in a car traveling at the
6295 speed of light and you turn your headlights on, does anything happen?
6296
6297 He said he couldn't answer that, I told him sorry, but I couldn't work
6298 for him then.
6299 -- Steven Wright
6300 %
6301 I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in
6302 the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't
6303 included.
6304 -- Steven Wright
6305 %
6306 I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the
6307 statues that are in all the other museums.
6308 -- Steven Wright
6309 %
6310 I went to the race track once and bet on a horse that was so good that
6311 it took seven others to beat him!
6312 %
6313 I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence.
6314 There's a knob called `brightness', but it doesn't work.
6315 -- Gallagher
6316 %
6317 I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've
6318 always worked for me.
6319 -- Hunter S. Thompson
6320 %
6321 I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
6322 %
6323 I'd love to go out with you, but I did my own thing and now I've got
6324 to undo it.
6325 %
6326 I'd love to go out with you, but I have to floss my cat.
6327 %
6328 I'd love to go out with you, but I have to stay home and see if I snore.
6329 %
6330 I'd love to go out with you, but I never go out on days that end in `Y.'
6331 %
6332 I'd love to go out with you, but I want to spend more time with my blender.
6333 %
6334 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
6335 %
6336 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm converting my calendar watch from
6337 Julian to Gregorian.
6338 %
6339 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm doing door-to-door collecting for
6340 static cling.
6341 %
6342 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm having all my plants neutered.
6343 %
6344 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm staying home to work on my
6345 cottage cheese sculpture.
6346 %
6347 I'd love to go out with you, but I'm taking punk totem pole carving.
6348 %
6349 I'd love to go out with you, but I've been scheduled for a karma transplant.
6350 %
6351 I'd love to go out with you, but it's my parakeet's bowling night.
6352 %
6353 I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV.
6354 %
6355 I'd love to go out with you, but the last time I went out, I never came back.
6356 %
6357 I'd love to go out with you, but the man on television told me to stay tuned.
6358 %
6359 I'd love to go out with you, but there are important world issues that
6360 need worrying about.
6361 %
6362 I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
6363 %
6364 I'll carry your books, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over,
6365 carry forward, Cary Grant, cash & carry, Carry Me Back To Old Virginia,
6366 I'll even Hara Kari if you show me how, but I will *not* carry a gun.
6367 -- Hawkeye, M*A*S*H
6368 %
6369 I'll defend to the death your right to say that, but I never said I'd
6370 listen to it!
6371 -- Tom Galloway with apologies to Voltaire
6372 %
6373 I'll grant thee random access to my heart,
6374 Thoul't tell me all the constants of thy love;
6375 And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove
6376 And in our bound partition never part.
6377 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
6378 %
6379 I'll rob that rich person and give it to some poor deserving slob.
6380 That will *prove* I'm Robin Hood.
6381 -- Daffy Duck, "Robin Hood Daffy", [1958, Chuck Jones]
6382 %
6383 I'm a creationist; I refuse to believe that I could have evolved from man.
6384 %
6385 I'm a Lisp variable -- bind me!
6386 %
6387 I'm all for computer dating, but I wouldn't want one to marry my sister.
6388 %
6389 I'm changing my name to Chrysler
6390 I'm going down to Washington, D.C.
6391 I'll tell some power broker
6392 What they did for Iacocca
6393 Will be perfectly acceptable to me!
6394 I'm changing my name to Chrysler,
6395 I'm heading for that great receiving line.
6396 When they hand a million grand out,
6397 I'll be standing with my hand out,
6398 Yessir, I'll get mine!
6399 -- Tom Paxton
6400 %
6401 I'm defending her honor, which is more than she ever did.
6402 %
6403 I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to
6404 die in.
6405 -- George McGovern
6406 %
6407 I'm going to Boston to see my doctor. He's a very sick man.
6408 -- Fred Allen
6409 %
6410 I'm going to live forever, or die trying!
6411 -- Spider Robinson
6412 %
6413 ... I'm IMAGINING a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a
6414 KOSHER DELI!!
6415 %
6416 I'm in Pittsburgh. Why am I here?
6417 -- Harold Urey, Nobel Laureate
6418 %
6419 I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be
6420 living apart.
6421 -- e. e. cummings
6422 %
6423 I'm N-ary the tree, I am,
6424 N-ary the tree, I am, I am.
6425 I'm getting traversed by the parser next door,
6426 She's traversed me seven times before.
6427 And ev'ry time it was an N-ary (N-ary!)
6428 Never wouldn't ever do a binary. (No sir!)
6429 I'm 'er eighth tree that was N-ary.
6430 N-ary the tree I am, I am,
6431 N-ary the tree I am.
6432 %
6433 I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am.
6434 It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get.
6435 %
6436 I'm prepared for all emergencies but totally unprepared for everyday life.
6437 %
6438 I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is
6439 -- I could be just as proud for half the money.
6440 -- Arthur Godfrey
6441 %
6442 I'm rated PG-34!!
6443 %
6444 I'm really enjoying not talking to you ... Let's not talk again ____REAL
6445 soon ...
6446 %
6447 I'm returning this note to you, instead of your paper, because it
6448 (your paper) presently occupies the bottom of my bird cage.
6449 -- English Professor, Providence College
6450 %
6451 I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
6452 I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
6453 In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
6454 I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
6455 -- Gilbert & Sullivan, "Pirates of Penzance"
6456 %
6457 I'm willing to sacrifice anything for this cause, even other people's lives
6458 %
6459 I've built a better model than the one at Data General
6460 For data bases vegetable, animal, and mineral
6461 My OS handles CPUs with multiplexed duality;
6462 My PL/1 compiler shows impressive functionality.
6463 My storage system's better than magnetic core polarity,
6464 You never have to bother checking out a bit for parity;
6465 There isn't any reason to install non-static floor matting;
6466 My disk drive has capacity for variable formatting.
6467
6468 I feel compelled to mention what I know to be a gloating point:
6469 There's lots of room in memory for variables floating-point,
6470 Which shows for input vegetable, animal, and mineral
6471 I've built a better model than the one at Data General.
6472
6473 -- Steve Levine, "A Computer Song" (To the tune of
6474 "Modern Major General", from "Pirates of Penzance",
6475 by Gilbert & Sullivan)
6476 %
6477 I've enjoyed just about as much of this as I can stand.
6478 %
6479 I've found my niche. If you're wondering why I'm not there, there was
6480 this little hole in the bottom ...
6481 -- John Croll
6482 %
6483 I've given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself.
6484 %
6485 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
6486 -- Groucho Marx
6487 %
6488 I've known him as a man, as an adolescent and as a child -- sometimes
6489 on the same day.
6490 %
6491 I've seen better heads on half a pint of beer.
6492 %
6493 I've seen, I SAY, I've seen better heads on a mug of beer.
6494 -- Senator Claghorn
6495 %
6496 I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;
6497 And from that full meridian of my glory
6498 I haste now to my setting. I shall fall,
6499 Like a bright exhalation in the evening
6500 And no man see me more.
6501 -- Shakespeare
6502 %
6503 IBM had a PL/I,
6504 Its syntax worse than JOSS;
6505 And everywhere this language went,
6506 It was a total loss.
6507 %
6508 Idaho state law makes it illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box
6509 of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.
6510 %
6511 Ideas don't stay in some minds very long because they don't like
6512 solitary confinement.
6513 %
6514 Idiot Box, n.:
6515 The part of the envelope that tells a person where to place the
6516 stamp when they can't quite figure it out for themselves.
6517 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
6518 %
6519 Idiot, n.:
6520 A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human
6521 affairs has always been dominant and controlling.
6522 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
6523 %
6524 If a 6600 used paper tape instead of core memory, it would use up tape
6525 at about 30 miles/second.
6526 -- Grishman, Assembly Language Programming
6527 %
6528 If A = B and B = C, then A = C, except where void or prohibited by law.
6529 -- Roy Santoro
6530 %
6531 If a camel flies, no one laughs if it doesn't get very far.
6532 -- Paul White
6533 %
6534 If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, then a consensus
6535 forecast is a camel's behind.
6536 -- Edgar R. Fiedler
6537 %
6538 If A equals success, then the formula is _A = _X + _Y + _Z. _X is work. _Y
6539 is play. _Z is keep your mouth shut.
6540 -- Albert Einstein
6541 %
6542 If a group of _N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be _N-1
6543 passes. Someone in the group has to be the manager.
6544 -- T. Cheatham
6545 %
6546 If a jury in a criminal trial stays out for more than twenty-four
6547 hours, it is certain to vote acquittal, save in those instances where
6548 it votes guilty.
6549 -- Joseph C. Goulden
6550 %
6551 If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake
6552 him up.
6553 %
6554 If a President doesn't do it to his wife, he'll do it to his country.
6555 %
6556 If a putt passes over the hole without dropping, it is deemed to have
6557 dropped. The law of gravity holds that any object attempting to
6558 maintain a position in the atmosphere without something to support it
6559 must drop. The law of gravity supersedes the law of golf.
6560 -- Donald A. Metz
6561 %
6562 If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good
6563 attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to
6564 playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win --
6565 unless, of course, it doesn't have enough talent to win, and no manager
6566 can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?
6567 -- Sparky Anderson
6568 %
6569 If all be true that I do think,
6570 There be Five Reasons why one should Drink;
6571 Good friends, good wine, or being dry,
6572 Or lest we should be by-and-by,
6573 Or any other reason why.
6574 %
6575 If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular
6576 error.
6577 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
6578 %
6579 If all the Chinese simultaneously jumped into the Pacific off a 10 foot
6580 platform erected 10 feet off their coast, it would cause a tidal wave
6581 that would destroy everything in this country west of Nebraska.
6582 %
6583 If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
6584 -- Paul Beatty
6585 %
6586 If all the world's economists were laid end to end, we wouldn't reach a
6587 conclusion.
6588 -- William Baumol
6589 %
6590 If an S and an I and an O and a U
6591 With an X at the end spell Su;
6592 And an E and a Y and an E spell I,
6593 Pray what is a speller to do?
6594 Then, if also an S and an I and a G
6595 And an HED spell side,
6596 There's nothing much left for a speller to do
6597 But to go commit siouxeyesighed.
6598 -- Charles Follen Adams, "An Orthographic Lament"
6599 %
6600 If anything can go wrong, it will.
6601 %
6602 If at first you don't succeed, give up. No use being a damn fool.
6603 %
6604 If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
6605 %
6606 If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four
6607 tellers?
6608 %
6609 If dolphins are so smart, why did Flipper work for television?
6610 %
6611 If entropy is increasing, where is it coming from?
6612 %
6613 If everybody minded their own business, the world would go
6614 around a deal faster.
6615 -- The Duchess, "Through the Looking Glass"
6616 %
6617 If everything is coming your way then you're in the wrong lane.
6618 %
6619 ... If forced to travel on an airplane, try and get in the cabin with
6620 the Captain, so you can keep an eye on him and nudge him if he falls
6621 asleep or point out any mountains looming up ahead ...
6622 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
6623 %
6624 If God didn't mean for us to juggle, tennis balls wouldn't come three
6625 to a can.
6626 %
6627 If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire.
6628 %
6629 If God had intended Man to Walk, He would have given him Feet.
6630 %
6631 If God had intended Man to Watch TV, He would have given him Rabbit Ears.
6632 %
6633 If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their Heads.
6634 %
6635 If God had meant for us to be in the Army, we would have been born with
6636 green, baggy skin.
6637 %
6638 If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born that way.
6639 %
6640 If God had not given us sticky tape, it would have been necessary to
6641 invent it.
6642 %
6643 If God had wanted you to go around nude, He would have given you bigger
6644 hands.
6645 %
6646 If God is dead, who will save the Queen?
6647 %
6648 If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions?
6649 %
6650 If God lived on Earth, people would knock out all His windows.
6651 -- Yiddish saying
6652 %
6653 If God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs?
6654 -- Marvin Kitman
6655 %
6656 If I am elected, the concrete barriers around the WHITE HOUSE will be
6657 replaced by tasteful foam replicas of ANN MARGARET!
6658 %
6659 If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive!
6660 -- Samuel Goldwyn
6661 %
6662 If I don't drive around the park,
6663 I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
6664 If I'm in bed each night by ten,
6665 I may get back my looks again.
6666 If I abstain from fun and such,
6667 I'll probably amount to much;
6668 But I shall stay the way I am,
6669 Because I do not give a damn.
6670 -- Dorothy Parker
6671 %
6672 If I don't see you in the future, I'll see you in the pasture.
6673 %
6674 If I had a plantation in Georgia and a home in Hell, I'd sell the
6675 plantation and go home.
6676 -- Eugene P. Gallagher
6677 %
6678 If I had any humility I would be perfect.
6679 -- Ted Turner
6680 %
6681 If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.
6682 -- Albert Einstein
6683 %
6684 If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the
6685 shoulders of giants.
6686 -- Isaac Newton
6687
6688 In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side
6689 with the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
6690 -- Gerald Holton
6691
6692 If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing
6693 on my shoulders.
6694 -- Hal Abelson
6695
6696 In computer science, we stand on each other's feet.
6697 -- Brian K. Reid
6698 %
6699 If I kiss you, that is a psychological interaction.
6700
6701 On the other hand, if I hit you over the head with a brick, that is
6702 also a psychological interaction.
6703
6704 The difference is that one is friendly and the other is not so
6705 friendly.
6706
6707 The crucial point is if you can tell which is which.
6708 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
6709 %
6710 If I traveled to the end of the rainbow
6711 As Dame Fortune did intend,
6712 Murphy would be there to tell me
6713 The pot's at the other end.
6714 -- Bert Whitney
6715 %
6716 If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people?
6717 %
6718 If it's Tuesday, this must be someone else's fortune.
6719 %
6720 If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him.
6721 They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun
6722 of it.
6723 -- Thomas Carlyle
6724 %
6725 If just one piece of mail gets lost, well, they'll just think they
6726 forgot to send it. But if *two* pieces of mail get lost, hell, they'll
6727 just think the other guy hasn't gotten around to answering his mail.
6728 And if *fifty* pieces of mail get lost, can you imagine it, if *fifty*
6729 pieces of mail get lost, why they'll think someone *else* is broken!
6730 And if 1Gb of mail gets lost, they'll just *know* that Arpa is down and
6731 think it's a conspiracy to keep them from their God given right to
6732 receive Net Mail ...
6733 -- Leith (Casey) Leedom
6734 %
6735 If life is a stage, I want some better lighting.
6736 %
6737 If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
6738 -- Tom Robbins
6739 %
6740 If little green men land in your back yard, hide any little green women
6741 you've got in the house.
6742 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
6743 %
6744 If mathematically you end up with the wrong answer, try multiplying by
6745 the page number.
6746 %
6747 If money can't buy happiness, I guess you'll just have to rent it.
6748 %
6749 If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think
6750 little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and
6751 Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.
6752 -- Thomas De Quincey (1785 - 1859)
6753 %
6754 If one studies too zealously, one easily loses his pants.
6755 -- A. Einstein.
6756 %
6757 If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit
6758 in my name at a Swiss bank.
6759 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
6760 %
6761 If only I could be respected without having to be respectable.
6762 %
6763 If only one could get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment without
6764 having to accomplish anything.
6765 %
6766 If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad,
6767 he should see how bad it is with representation.
6768 %
6769 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
6770 arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
6771 physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker
6772 entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
6773 -- Vannevar Bush
6774 %
6775 If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied
6776 harder.
6777 -- Pope John Paul I
6778 %
6779 If that makes any sense to you, you have a big problem.
6780 -- C. Durance, Computer Science 234
6781 %
6782 If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would
6783 presumably flunk it.
6784 -- Stanley Garn
6785 %
6786 If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
6787 -- Norm Schryer
6788 %
6789 If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to
6790 get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude.
6791 See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving
6792 the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting
6793 that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The
6794 college, which should be a place of delightful labor, is made odious
6795 and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to
6796 rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective.
6797 Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure
6798 interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by
6799 opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for
6800 himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for
6801 boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor.
6802 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
6803 %
6804 If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!
6805 -- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)
6806 %
6807 If the odds are a million to one against something occurring, chances
6808 are 50-50 it will.
6809 %
6810 If the weather is extremely bad, church attendance will be down.
6811 If the weather is extremely good, church attendance will be down.
6812 If the bulletin covers are in short supply, however, church attendance
6813 will exceed all expectations.
6814 -- Reverend Chichester
6815 %
6816 If there are epigrams, there must be meta-epigrams.
6817 %
6818 If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that
6819 will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
6820 %
6821 If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?
6822 -- Art Hoppe
6823 %
6824 If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make
6825 something out of you.
6826 -- Muhammad Ali
6827 %
6828 If this fortune didn't exist, somebody would have invented it.
6829 %
6830 If this is timesharing, give me my share right now.
6831 %
6832 If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same?
6833 %
6834 If today is the first day of the rest of your life, what the hell was
6835 yesterday?
6836 %
6837 If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is
6838 doing the thinking.
6839 -- Lyndon Baines Johnson
6840 %
6841 If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.
6842 -- Laurence J. Peter
6843 %
6844 If value corrupts then absolute value corrupts absolutely
6845 %
6846 If we were meant to fly, we wouldn't keep losing our luggage.
6847 %
6848 If while you are in school, there is a shortage of qualified personnel
6849 in a particular field, then by the time you graduate with the necessary
6850 qualifications, that field's employment market is glutted.
6851 -- Marguerite Emmons
6852 %
6853 If you are a fatalist, what can you do about it?
6854 -- Ann Edwards-Duff
6855 %
6856 If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
6857 -- J. Paul Getty
6858 %
6859 If you can lead it to water and force it to drink, it isn't a horse.
6860 %
6861 If you can read this, you're too close.
6862 %
6863 If you can survive death, you can probably survive anything.
6864 %
6865 If you can't be good, be careful.
6866 If you can't be careful, give me a call.
6867 %
6868 If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
6869 %
6870 If you cannot convince them, confuse them.
6871 -- Harry S Truman
6872 %
6873 If you didn't get caught, did you really do it?
6874 %
6875 If you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost.
6876 %
6877 If you don't go to other men's funerals they won't go to yours.
6878 -- Clarence Day
6879 %
6880 If you don't have a nasty obituary you probably didn't matter.
6881 -- Freeman Dyson
6882 %
6883 If you don't want your dog to have bad breath, do what I do: Pour a little
6884 Lavoris in the toilet.
6885 -- Jay Leno
6886 %
6887 If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to
6888 either of you for the rest of the day.
6889 %
6890 If you ever want to get anywhere in politics, my boy, you're going to
6891 have to get a toehold in the public eye.
6892 %
6893 If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody
6894 will.
6895 %
6896 If you give Congress a chance to vote on both sides of an issue, it
6897 will always do it.
6898 -- Les Aspin, D., Wisconsin
6899 %
6900 If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is
6901 make the rubble bounce.
6902 -- Winston Churchill
6903 %
6904 If you had any brains, you'd be dangerous.
6905 %
6906 If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
6907 %
6908 If you have to hate, hate gently.
6909 %
6910 If you just try long enough and hard enough, you can always manage to
6911 boot yourself in the posterior.
6912 -- A. J. Liebling, "The Press"
6913 %
6914 If you keep anything long enough, you can throw it away.
6915 %
6916 If you live in a country run by committee, be on the committee.
6917 -- Graham Summer
6918 %
6919 If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made because very few
6920 people die past the age of a hundred.
6921 -- George Burns
6922 %
6923 If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you;
6924 but if you really make them think they'll hate you.
6925 %
6926 If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
6927 -- Maslow
6928 %
6929 If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure
6930 can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly
6931 develop.
6932 %
6933 If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
6934 you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
6935 -- Mark Twain
6936 %
6937 If you push the "extra ice" button on the soft drink vending machine,
6938 you won't get any ice. If you push the "no ice" button, you'll get
6939 ice, but no cup.
6940 %
6941 If you put garbage in a computer nothing comes out but garbage. But
6942 this garbage, having passed through a very expensive machine, is
6943 somehow ennobled and none dare criticize it.
6944 %
6945 If you sit down at a poker game and don't see a sucker, get up. You're
6946 the sucker.
6947 %
6948 If you stand on your head, you will get footprints in your hair.
6949 %
6950 If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,
6951 It is slick to stick a lock upon your stock.
6952 Or some joker who is slicker,
6953 Will trick you of your liquor,
6954 If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock.
6955 %
6956 If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
6957 -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
6958 %
6959 If you think last Tuesday was a drag, wait till you see what happens
6960 tomorrow!
6961 %
6962 If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car
6963 payments.
6964 -- Earl Wilson
6965 %
6966 If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it.
6967 -- Arthur Kasspe
6968 %
6969 If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest
6970 shopping center in the world?
6971 -- Richard M. Nixon
6972 %
6973 If you throw a New Year's Party, the worst thing that you can do would
6974 be to throw the kind of party where your guests wake up today, and call
6975 you to say they had a nice time. Now you'll be be expected to throw
6976 another party next year.
6977
6978 What you should do is throw the kind of party where your guest wake up
6979 several days from now and call their lawyers to find out if they've
6980 been indicted for anything. You want your guests to be so anxious to
6981 avoid a recurrence of your party that they immediately start planning
6982 parties of their own, a year in advance, just to prevent you from
6983 having another one ...
6984
6985 If your party is successful, the police will knock on your door, unless
6986 your party is very successful in which case they will lob tear gas
6987 through your living room window. As host, your job is to make sure
6988 that they don't arrest anybody. Or if they're dead set on arresting
6989 someone, your job is to make sure it isn't you ...
6990 -- Dave Barry
6991 %
6992 If you took all the students that felt asleep in class and laid them
6993 end to end, they'd be a lot more comfortable.
6994 -- "Graffiti in the Big Ten"
6995 %
6996 If you understand what you're doing, you're not learning anything.
6997 -- A. L.
6998 %
6999 If you want divine justice, die.
7000 -- Nick Seldon
7001 %
7002 If you want to know what god thinks of money, just look at the people
7003 he gave it to.
7004 -- Dorothy Parker
7005 %
7006 If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the
7007 Constitution. It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's
7008 statecraft. Instead, read selected portions of the Washington
7009 telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with
7010 titles beginning with the word "National".
7011 -- George Will
7012 %
7013 If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every
7014 word you say, talk in your sleep.
7015 %
7016 If you wants to get elected president, you'se got to think up some
7017 memoraboble homily so's school kids can be pestered into memorizin' it,
7018 even if they don't know what it means.
7019 -- Walt Kelly, "The Pogo Party"
7020 %
7021 If you wish to live wisely, ignore sayings -- including this one.
7022 %
7023 If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for
7024 tomorrow morning, sleep late.
7025 -- Henny Youngman
7026 %
7027 If you're happy, you're successful.
7028 %
7029 If you're like most homeowners, you're afraid that many repairs
7030 around your home are too difficult to tackle. So, when your furnace
7031 explodes, you call in a so-called professional to fix it. The
7032 "professional" arrives in a truck with lettering on the sides and
7033 deposits a large quantity of tools and two assistants who spend the
7034 better part of the week in your basement whacking objects at random
7035 with heavy wrenches, after which the "professional" returns and gives
7036 you a bill for slightly more money than it would cost you to run a
7037 successful campaign for the U.S. Senate.
7038 And that's why you've decided to start doing things yourself.
7039 You figure, "If those guys can fix my furnace, then so can I. How
7040 difficult can it be?"
7041 Very difficult. In fact, most home projects are impossible,
7042 which is why you should do them yourself. There is no point in paying
7043 other people to screw things up when you can easily screw them up
7044 yourself for far less money. This article can help you.
7045 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
7046 %
7047 If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
7048 %
7049 If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory.
7050 -- Benjamin Disraeli
7051 %
7052 If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?
7053 %
7054 If you've done six impossible things before breakfast, why not round it
7055 off with dinner at Milliway's, the restaurant at the end of the universe?
7056 %
7057 If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
7058 -- Ronald Reagan
7059 %
7060 Ignisecond, n.:
7061 The overlapping moment of time when the hand is locking the car
7062 door even as the brain is saying, "my keys are in there!"
7063 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
7064 %
7065 Il brilgue: les t^oves libricilleux
7066 Se gyrent et frillant dans le guave,
7067 Enm^im'es sont les gougebosquex,
7068 Et le m^omerade horgrave.
7069 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
7070 %
7071 Iles's Law:
7072 There is always an easier way to do it. When looking directly
7073 at the easy way, especially for long periods, you will not see it.
7074 Neither will Iles.
7075 %
7076 Illinois isn't exactly the land that God forgot -- it's more like the
7077 land He's trying to ignore.
7078 %
7079 Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
7080 -- Jules de Gaultier
7081 %
7082 Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
7083 usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody
7084 thinks of complaining.
7085 -- Jeff Raskin, interviewed in Doctor Dobb's Journal
7086 %
7087 Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has
7088 a 150 MHz processor, 200 megabytes of RAM, 1500 megabytes of disk
7089 storage, a screen resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels, relies entirely on
7090 voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $300.
7091 What's the first question that the computer community asks?
7092
7093 "Is it PC compatible?"
7094 %
7095 Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.
7096 -- Jack Paar
7097 %
7098 Immortality -- a fate worse than death.
7099 -- Edgar A. Shoaff
7100 %
7101 Impartial, adj.:
7102 Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from
7103 espousing either side of a controversy or adopting either of two
7104 conflicting opinions.
7105 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7106 %
7107 Important letters which contain no errors will develop errors in the
7108 mail. Corresponding errors will show up in the duplicate while the
7109 Boss is reading it.
7110 %
7111 Impossible, adj.:
7112 (1) I wouldn't like it and when it happens I won't approve;
7113 (2) I can't be bothered;
7114 (3) God can't be bothered.
7115 Meaning (3) may perhaps be valid but the others are 101% whaledreck.
7116 -- Chad C. Mulligan, "The Hipcrime Vocab"
7117 %
7118 In 1750 Issac Newton became discouraged when he fell up a flight of
7119 stairs.
7120 %
7121 In 1869 the waffle iron was invented for people who had wrinkled waffles.
7122 %
7123 In 1880 the French captured Detroit but gave it back ... they couldn't
7124 get parts.
7125 %
7126 In 1914, the first crossword puzzle was printed in a newspaper. The
7127 creator received $4000 down ... and $3000 across.
7128 %
7129 In 1915 pancake make-up was invented but most people still preferred
7130 syrup.
7131 %
7132 In a five year period we can get one superb programming language. Only
7133 we can't control when the five year period will begin.
7134 %
7135 In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi,
7136 junior, what are you up to?"
7137 "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the
7138 rabbit.
7139 "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible!"
7140 "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the
7141 rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied
7142 expression on his face.
7143 Comes along a wolf. "Hello, what are we doing these days?"
7144 "I'm writing the second chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits
7145 devour wolves."
7146 "Are you crazy? Where is your academic honesty?"
7147 "Come with me and I'll show you." As before, the rabbit comes
7148 out with a satisfied look on his face and a diploma in his paw.
7149 Finally, the camera pans into the rabbit's cave and, as everybody
7150 should have guessed by now, we see a mean-looking, huge lion sitting
7151 next to some bloody and furry remnants of the wolf and the fox.
7152
7153 The moral: It's not the contents of your thesis that are important --
7154 it's your PhD advisor that really counts.
7155 %
7156 In a medium in which a News Piece takes a minute and an "In-Depth"
7157 Piece takes two minutes, the Simple will drive out the Complex.
7158 -- Frank Mankiewicz
7159 %
7160 In a museum in Havana, there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus,
7161 "one when he was a boy and one when he was a man."
7162 -- Mark Twain
7163 %
7164 In Africa some of the native tribes have a custom of beating the ground
7165 with clubs and uttering spine chilling cries. Anthropologists call
7166 this a form of primitive self-expression. In America we call it golf.
7167 %
7168 In America today ... we have Woody Allen, whose humor has become so
7169 sophisticated that nobody gets it any more except Mia Farrow. All
7170 those who think Mia Farrow should go back to making movies where the
7171 devil gets her pregnant and Woody Allen should go back to dressing up
7172 as a human sperm, please raise your hands. Thank you.
7173 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
7174 %
7175 In America, any boy may become president and I suppose that's just one
7176 of the risks he takes.
7177 -- Adlai Stevenson
7178 %
7179 In an organization, each person rises to the level of his own
7180 incompetency
7181 -- The Peter Principle
7182 %
7183 In any formula, constants (especially those obtained from handbooks)
7184 are to be treated as variables.
7185 %
7186 In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of
7187 nations -- it's cold, half-French, and difficult to stir.
7188 -- Stuart Keate
7189 %
7190 In Blythe, California, a city ordinance declares that a person must own
7191 at least two cows before he can wear cowboy boots in public.
7192 %
7193 In Boston, it is illegal to hold frog-jumping contests in nightclubs.
7194 %
7195 In case of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in schools
7196 will be temporarily canceled.
7197 %
7198 In case of injury notify your superior immediately. He'll kiss it and
7199 make it better.
7200 %
7201 In Columbia, Pennsylvania, it is against the law for a pilot to tickle
7202 a female flying student under her chin with a feather duster in order
7203 to get her attention.
7204 %
7205 In Corning, Iowa, it's a misdemeanor for a man to ask his wife to ride
7206 in any motor vehicle.
7207 %
7208 In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable.
7209 -- Winston Churchill, of Montgomery
7210 %
7211 In Denver it is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door
7212 neighbor.
7213 %
7214 In Devon, Connecticut, it is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset.
7215 %
7216 In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last
7217 resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but
7218 inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.
7219 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7220 %
7221 In English, every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our
7222 programming languages.
7223 %
7224 In Greene, New York, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on
7225 the sidewalks when a concert is on.
7226 %
7227 In India, "cold weather" is merely a conventional phrase and has come
7228 into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish
7229 between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which
7230 will only make it mushy.
7231 -- Mark Twain
7232 %
7233 In Lexington, Kentucky, it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your
7234 pocket.
7235 %
7236 In Lowes Crossroads, Delaware, it is a violation of local law for any
7237 pilot or passenger to carry an ice cream cone in their pocket while
7238 either flying or waiting to board a plane.
7239 %
7240 In Memphis, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless
7241 there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red
7242 flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.
7243 %
7244 In Ohio, if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as
7245 to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the
7246 speaker's stand, you can be fined $25.00.
7247 %
7248 In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the
7249 universe.
7250 -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos
7251 %
7252 In our civilization, and under our republican form of government,
7253 intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from
7254 the cares of office.
7255 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7256 %
7257 In Pocataligo, Georgia, it is a violation for a woman over 200 pounds
7258 and attired in shorts to pilot or ride in an airplane.
7259 %
7260 In Pocatello, Idaho, a law passed in 1912 provided that "The carrying
7261 of concealed weapons is forbidden, unless same are exhibited to public
7262 view."
7263 %
7264 In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space
7265 Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways.
7266 Our asymptotes no longer out of phase,
7267 We shall encounter, counting, face to face.
7268 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
7269 %
7270 In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon that
7271 is over six feet in length.
7272 %
7273 In seeking the unattainable, simplicity only gets in the way.
7274 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
7275 %
7276 In short, _N is Richardian if, and only if, _N is not Richardian.
7277 %
7278 In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's.
7279 %
7280 In Tennessee, it is illegal to shoot any game other than whales from a
7281 moving automobile.
7282 %
7283 [In the 60's] there was madness in any direction, at any hour ... You
7284 could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense
7285 that whatever we were doing was `right', that we were winning ...
7286
7287 And that, I think, was the handle -- the sense of inevitable victory
7288 over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we
7289 didn't need that. Our energy would simply `prevail'. There was no
7290 point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum;
7291 we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....
7292
7293 So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in
7294 Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost
7295 ___see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and
7296 rolled back.
7297 -- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
7298 %
7299 In the beginning was the word.
7300 But by the time the second word was added to it,
7301 there was trouble.
7302 For with it came syntax ...
7303 -- John Simon
7304 %
7305 In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat
7306 hacking at the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am
7307 training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe." "Why is the
7308 net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any
7309 preconceptions of how to play." Minsky shut his eyes. "Why do you
7310 close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So the room will be
7311 empty." At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.
7312 %
7313 In the force if Yoda's so strong, construct a sentence with words in
7314 the proper order then why can't he?
7315 %
7316 In the land of the dark, the Ship of the Sun is driven by the Grateful
7317 Dead.
7318 -- Egyptian Book of the Dead
7319 %
7320 In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
7321 -- Alan Perlis
7322 %
7323 In the olden days in England, you could be hung for stealing a sheep or
7324 a loaf of bread. However, if a sheep stole a loaf of bread and gave it
7325 to you, you would only be tried for receiving, a crime punishable by
7326 forty lashes with the cat or the dog, whichever was handy. If you
7327 stole a dog and were caught, you were punished with twelve rabbit
7328 punches, although it was hard to find rabbits big enough or strong
7329 enough to punch you.
7330 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
7331 %
7332 In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Mississippi has
7333 shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. Therefore ... in the
7334 Old Silurian Period the Mississippi River was upward of one million
7335 three hundred thousand miles long ... seven hundred and forty-two years
7336 from now the Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long.
7337 ... There is something fascinating about science. One gets such
7338 wholesome returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of
7339 fact.
7340 -- Mark Twain
7341 %
7342 In the Top 40, half the songs are secret messages to the teen world to
7343 drop out, turn on, and groove with the chemicals and light shows at
7344 discotheques.
7345 -- Art Linkletter
7346 %
7347 In those days he was wiser than he is now -- he used to frequently take
7348 my advice.
7349 -- Winston Churchill
7350 %
7351 In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without
7352 the supervision of a licensed engineer.
7353 %
7354 In West Union, Ohio, No married man can go flying without his spouse
7355 along at any time, unless he has been married for more than 12 months.
7356 %
7357 Incumbent, n.:
7358 Person of liveliest interest to the outcumbents.
7359 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7360 %
7361 ... indifference is a militant thing ... when it goes away it leaves
7362 smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayonetted through the throat. It is
7363 not a children's pastime like mere highway robbery.
7364 -- Stephen Crane
7365 %
7366 Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
7367 %
7368 Individualists unite!
7369 %
7370 Infancy, n.:
7371 The period of our lives when, according to Wordsworth, "Heaven
7372 lies about us." The world begins lying about us pretty soon
7373 afterward.
7374 -- Ambrose Bierce
7375 %
7376 Information Center, n.:
7377 A room staffed by professional computer people whose job it is
7378 to tell you why you cannot have the information you require.
7379 %
7380 Ingrate, n.:
7381 A man who bites the hand that feeds him, and then complains of
7382 indigestion.
7383 %
7384 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
7385 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
7386 %
7387 Ink, n.:
7388 A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and
7389 water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote
7390 intellectual crime.
7391 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7392 %
7393 Innovation is hard to schedule.
7394 -- Dan Fylstra
7395 %
7396 Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids.
7397 %
7398 Insanity is the final defense ... It's hard to get a refund when the
7399 salesman is sniffing your crotch and baying at the moon.
7400 %
7401 Interpreter, n.:
7402 One who enables two persons of different languages to
7403 understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to
7404 the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.
7405 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7406 %
7407 Intolerance is the last defense of the insecure.
7408 %
7409 INVENTORY
7410 Four be the things I am wiser to know:
7411 Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
7412
7413 Four be the things I'd been better without:
7414 Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
7415
7416 Three be the things I shall never attain:
7417 Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
7418
7419 Three be the things I shall have till I die:
7420 Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
7421 %
7422 Iron Law of Distribution:
7423 Them that has, gets.
7424 %
7425 Irrationality is the square root of all evil
7426 -- Douglas Hofstadter
7427 %
7428 Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is
7429 meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a
7430 soap bubble?
7431 %
7432 Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the
7433 beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get
7434 out, and such as are out wish to get in?
7435 -- Ralph Emerson
7436 %
7437 Is your job running? You'd better go catch it!
7438 %
7439 Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction
7440 listen to weather forecasts and economists?
7441 -- Kelvin Throop III
7442 %
7443 Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune
7444 tellers take economists seriously?
7445 %
7446 Issawi's Laws of Progress:
7447
7448 The Course of Progress:
7449 Most things get steadily worse.
7450
7451 The Path of Progress:
7452 A shortcut is the longest distance between two points.
7453 %
7454 It appears that after his death, Albert Einstein found himself working
7455 as the doorkeeper at the Pearly Gates. One slow day, he found that he
7456 had time to chat with the new entrants. To the first one he asked,
7457 "What's your IQ?" The new arrival replied, "190". They discussed
7458 Einstein's theory of relativity for hours. When the second new arrival
7459 came, Einstein once again inquired as to the newcomer's IQ. The answer
7460 this time came "120". To which Einstein replied, "Tell me, how did the
7461 Cubs do this year?" and they proceeded to talk for half an hour or so.
7462 To the final arrival, Einstein once again posed the question, "What's
7463 your IQ?". Upon receiving the answer "70", Einstein smiled and asked,
7464 "Got a minute to tell me about VMS 4.0?"
7465 %
7466 It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown
7467 came out to inform the public. They thought it was just a jest and
7468 applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I
7469 think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the
7470 wits, who believe that it is a joke.
7471 -- S. A. Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
7472 %
7473 It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when it is
7474 thrust into the affairs of another, from which some physiologists have
7475 drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.
7476 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
7477 %
7478 It has been said [by Anatole France], "it is not by amusing oneself
7479 that one learns," and, in reply: "it is *____only* by amusing oneself that
7480 one can learn."
7481 -- Edward Kasner and James R. Newman
7482 %
7483 It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have
7484 been searching for evidence which could support this.
7485 -- Bertrand Russell
7486 %
7487 It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
7488 %
7489 It is against the grain of modern education to teach children to
7490 program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in
7491 organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be
7492 self-critical?
7493 -- Alan Perlis
7494 %
7495 It is against the law for a monster to enter the corporate limits of
7496 Urbana, Illinois.
7497 %
7498 It is always preferable to visit home with a friend. Your parents will
7499 not be pleased with this plan, because they want you all to themselves
7500 and because in the presence of your friend, they will have to act like
7501 mature human beings ...
7502 -- Playboy, January 1983
7503 %
7504 It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it's a
7505 pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the
7506 sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color.
7507 -- Voltaire
7508 %
7509 It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what
7510 they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed
7511 that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so
7512 much -- the wheel, New York wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins
7513 had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But
7514 conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more
7515 intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.
7516
7517 Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending
7518 destruction of the of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to
7519 alert mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were
7520 misinterpreted ...
7521 -- Douglas Adams "The Hitch-Hikers' Guide To The Galaxy"
7522 %
7523 It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be
7524 coming up it.
7525 -- Henry Allen
7526 %
7527 It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck?
7528 One in a million, perhaps.
7529 %
7530 It is better to kiss an avocado than to get in a fight with an aardvark
7531 %
7532 It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three
7533 benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never
7534 to use either.
7535 -- Mark Twain
7536 %
7537 It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
7538 incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by
7539 twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
7540 -- Rod Serling
7541 %
7542 It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is
7543 lightly greased.
7544 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
7545 %
7546 It is easier to be a "humanitarian" than to render your own country its
7547 proper due; it is easier to be a "patriot" than to make your community
7548 a better place to live in; it is easier to be a "civic leader" than to
7549 treat your own family with loving understanding; for the smaller the
7550 focus of attention, the harder the task.
7551 -- Sydney J. Harris
7552 %
7553 It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
7554 %
7555 It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
7556 %
7557 It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
7558 %
7559 It is generally agreed that "Hello" is an appropriate greeting because
7560 if you entered a room and said "Goodbye," it could confuse a lot of
7561 people.
7562 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
7563 %
7564 It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood
7565 Boulevard at one time.
7566 %
7567 It is illegal to say "Oh, Boy" in Jonesboro, Georgia.
7568 %
7569 It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry
7570 a tune.
7571 -- Woody Allen
7572 %
7573 It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
7574 ingenious.
7575 %
7576 It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not
7577 desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.
7578 -- Woody Allen
7579 %
7580 It is Mr. Mellon's credo that $200,000,000 can do no wrong. Our
7581 offense consists in doubting it.
7582 -- Justice Robert H. Jackson
7583 %
7584 It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the
7585 problem.
7586 %
7587 It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be
7588 privileged to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to
7589 corrupt the youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles.
7590 -- George Bernard Shaw
7591 %
7592 It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
7593 -- Gore Vidal
7594 %
7595 It is not true that life is one damn thing after another -- it's one
7596 damn thing over and over.
7597 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
7598 %
7599 It is now 10 p.m. Do you know where Henry Kissinger is?
7600 -- Elizabeth Carpenter
7601 %
7602 It is now pitch dark. If you proceed, you will likely fall into a pit.
7603 %
7604 It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that
7605 virginity could be a virtue.
7606 -- Voltaire
7607 %
7608 It is only people of small moral stature who have to stand on their
7609 dignity.
7610 %
7611 It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared
7612 to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great.
7613 -- Havelock Ellis
7614 %
7615 It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to
7616 students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential
7617 programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of
7618 regeneration.
7619 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
7620 %
7621 It is said that the lonely eagle flies to the mountain peaks while the
7622 lowly ant crawls the ground, but cannot the soul of the ant soar as
7623 high as the eagle?
7624 %
7625 It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a
7626 statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more
7627 glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through
7628 which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the
7629 day, that is the highest of arts.
7630 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Where I Live"
7631 %
7632 It is Texas law that when two trains meet each other at a railroad
7633 crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed
7634 until the other has gone.
7635 %
7636 It is the business of little minds to shrink.
7637 -- Carl Sandburg
7638 %
7639 It is the business of the future to be dangerous.
7640 -- Hawkwind
7641 %
7642 It is true that if your paperboy throws your paper into the bushes for
7643 five straight days it can be explained by Newton's Law of Gravity. But
7644 it takes Murphy's law to explain why it is happening to you.
7645 %
7646 It is very difficult to prophesy, especially when it pertains to the
7647 future.
7648 %
7649 It looks like blind screaming hedonism won out.
7650 %
7651 It may be bad manners to talk with your mouth full, but it isn't too
7652 good either if you speak when your head is empty.
7653 %
7654 It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a
7655 warning to others.
7656 %
7657 It runs like _x, where _x is something unsavory
7658 -- Prof. Romas Aleliunas, CS 435
7659 %
7660 It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the
7661 flag.
7662 %
7663 It shall be unlawful for any suspicious person to be within the
7664 municipality.
7665 -- Local ordinance, Euclid Ohio
7666 %
7667 It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing,
7668 but I couldn't give up because by that time I was too famous.
7669 -- Robert Benchly
7670 %
7671 It was a book to kill time for those who liked it better dead.
7672 %
7673 It was a virgin forest, a place where the Hand of Man had never set foot.
7674 %
7675 It was one of those perfect summer days -- the sun was shining, a
7676 breeze was blowing, the birds were singing, and the lawn mower was
7677 broken ...
7678 -- James Dent
7679 %
7680 It was pleasant to me to get a letter from you the other day. Perhaps
7681 I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I
7682 don't think that I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew) and
7683 the signature (which I guessed at). There's a singular and a perpetual
7684 charm in a letter of yours; it never grows old, it never loses its
7685 novelty .... Other letters are read and thrown away and forgotten, but
7686 yours are kept forever -- unread. One of them will last a reasonable
7687 man a lifetime.
7688 -- Thomas Aldrich
7689 %
7690 It was the next morning that the armies of Twodor marched east
7691 laden with long lances, sharp swords, and death-dealing hangovers. The
7692 thousands were led by Arrowroot, who sat limply in his sidesaddle,
7693 nursing a whopper. Goodgulf, Gimlet, and the rest rode by him, praying
7694 for their fate to be quick, painless, and if possible, someone else's.
7695 Many an hour the armies forged ahead, the war-merinos bleating
7696 under their heavy burdens and the soldiers bleating under their melting
7697 icepacks.
7698 -- The Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
7699 %
7700 It wasn't that she had a rose in her teeth, exactly. It was more like
7701 the rose and the teeth were in the same glass.
7702 %
7703 It will be advantageous to cross the great stream ... the Dragon is on
7704 the wing in the Sky ... the Great Man rouses himself to his Work.
7705 %
7706 It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human
7707 nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant
7708 examples.
7709 -- Charles Dickens
7710 %
7711 It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing
7712 warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or
7713 two things still safe to eat.
7714 -- Robert Fuoss
7715 %
7716 It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.
7717 -- Andrew Jackson
7718 %
7719 It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear.
7720 -- Cheers
7721 %
7722 It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for.
7723 %
7724 "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it."
7725 -- Steven Wright
7726 %
7727 "It's a summons."
7728 "What's a summons?"
7729 "It means summon's in trouble."
7730 -- Rocky and Bullwinkle
7731 %
7732 It's a very *__UN*lucky week in which to be took dead.
7733 -- Churchy La Femme
7734 %
7735 It's always darkest just before it gets pitch black.
7736 %
7737 It's bad luck to be superstitious.
7738 -- Andrew W. Mathis
7739 %
7740 It's better to be wanted for murder than not to be wanted at all.
7741 -- Marty Winch
7742 %
7743 "It's easier said than done."
7744
7745 ... and if you don't believe it, try proving that it's easier done than
7746 said, and you'll see that "it's easier said that `it's easier done than
7747 said' than it is done", which really proves that "it's easier said than
7748 done".
7749 %
7750 It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
7751 %
7752 It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than forgiveness for
7753 being right.
7754 %
7755 It's Fabulous! We haven't seen anything like it in the last half an hour!
7756 -- Macy's
7757 %
7758 It's illegal in Wilbur, Washington, to ride an ugly horse.
7759 %
7760 It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it
7761 is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It
7762 isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs.
7763 -- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News"
7764 %
7765 It's just a jump to the left
7766 And then a step to the right.
7767 Put your hands on your hips
7768 And pull your knees in tight.
7769 But it's the pelvic thrust
7770 That really drives you insa-a-a-a-a-ane!
7771
7772 LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!
7773
7774 -- Rocky Horror Picture Show
7775 %
7776 It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
7777 -- Walt Disney
7778 %
7779 "It's Like This"
7780
7781 Even the samurai
7782 have teddy bears,
7783 and even the teddy bears
7784 get drunk.
7785 %
7786 It's lucky you're going so slowly, because you're going in the wrong
7787 direction.
7788 %
7789 It's men like him that give the Y chromosome a bad name.
7790 %
7791 It's more than magnificent -- it's mediocre.
7792 -- Sam Goldwyn
7793 %
7794 It's no surprise that things are so screwed up: everyone that knows how
7795 to run a government is either driving taxicabs or cutting hair.
7796 -- George Burns
7797 %
7798 It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.
7799 -- Phil White
7800 %
7801 It's not Camelot, but it's not Cleveland, either.
7802 -- Kevin White, mayor of Boston
7803 %
7804 It's not enough to be Hungarian; you must have talent too.
7805 -- Alexander Korda
7806 %
7807 It's not just a computer -- it's your ass.
7808 -- Cal Keegan
7809 %
7810 It's not reality or how you perceive things that's important -- it's
7811 what you're taking for it...
7812 %
7813 It's not so hard to lift yourself by your bootstraps once you're off
7814 the ground.
7815 -- Daniel B. Luten
7816 %
7817 It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it
7818 happens.
7819 -- Woody Allen
7820 %
7821 It's not the valleys in life I dread so much as the dips.
7822 -- Garfield
7823 %
7824 It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that
7825 English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many
7826 other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case.
7827 -- Sydney J. Harris
7828 %
7829 It's raisins that make Post Raisin Bran so raisiny ...
7830 %
7831 It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
7832 %
7833 It's so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the
7834 Devil when he is the only explanation of it.
7835 %
7836 It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon. Which
7837 raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody
7838 not to.
7839 -- Franklin P. Jones
7840 %
7841 It's the thought, if any, that counts!
7842 %
7843 JACK AND THE BEANSTACK
7844 by Mark Isaak
7845
7846 Long ago, in a finite state far away, there lived a JOVIAL
7847 character named Jack. Jack and his relations were poor. Often their
7848 hash table was bare. One day Jack's parent said to him, "Our matrices
7849 are sparse. You must go to the market to exchange our RAM for some
7850 BASICs." She compiled a linked list of items to retrieve and passed it
7851 to him.
7852 So Jack set out. But as he was walking along a Hamilton path,
7853 he met the traveling salesman.
7854 "Whither dost thy flow chart take thou?" prompted the salesman
7855 in high-level language.
7856 "I'm going to the market to exchange this RAM for some chips
7857 and Apples," commented Jack.
7858 "I have a much better algorithm. You needn't join a queue
7859 there; I will swap your RAM for these magic kernels now."
7860 Jack made the trade, then backtracked to his house. But when
7861 he told his busy-waiting parent of the deal, she became so angry she
7862 started thrashing.
7863 "Don't you even have any artificial intelligence? All these
7864 kernels together hardly make up one byte," and she popped them out the
7865 window ...
7866 %
7867 Jacquin's Postulate on Democratic Government:
7868 No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the
7869 legislature is in session.
7870 %
7871 James Joyce -- an essentially private man who wished his total
7872 indifference to public notice to be universally recognized.
7873 -- Tom Stoppard
7874 %
7875 Jenkinson's Law:
7876 It won't work.
7877 %
7878 Jesus Saves,
7879 Moses Invests,
7880 But only Buddha pays Dividends.
7881 %
7882 Job Placement, n.:
7883 Telling your boss what he can do with your job.
7884 %
7885 Joe's sister puts spaghetti in her shoes!
7886 %
7887 Johnson's First Law:
7888 When any mechanical contrivance fails, it will do so at the
7889 most inconvenient possible time.
7890 %
7891 Join in the new game that's sweeping the country. It's called
7892 "Bureaucracy". Everybody stands in a circle. The first person to do
7893 anything loses.
7894 %
7895 Join the march to save individuality!
7896 %
7897 Jone's Law:
7898 The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone
7899 to blame it on.
7900 %
7901 Jone's Motto:
7902 Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
7903 %
7904 Jones's First Law:
7905 Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of
7906 endeavor, and stays in that field long enough, becomes an obstruction
7907 to its progress -- in direct proportion to the importance of their
7908 original contribution.
7909 %
7910 Just about every computer on the market today runs Unix, except the Mac
7911 (and nobody cares about it).
7912 -- Bill Joy 6/21/85
7913 %
7914 Just as most issues are seldom black or white, so are most good
7915 solutions seldom black or white. Beware of the solution that requires
7916 one side to be totally the loser and the other side to be totally the
7917 winner. The reason there are two sides to begin with usually is
7918 because neither side has all the facts. Therefore, when the wise
7919 mediator effects a compromise, he is not acting from political
7920 motivation. Rather, he is acting from a deep sense of respect for the
7921 whole truth.
7922 -- Stephen R. Schwambach
7923 %
7924 Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has
7925 changed.
7926 -- Irene Peter
7927 %
7928 Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they AREN'T after you.
7929 %
7930 Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn't mean he
7931 knows what it is.
7932 %
7933 Just go with the flow control, roll with the crunches, and, when you
7934 get a prompt, type like hell.
7935 %
7936 Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't
7937 immune to bullets.
7938 -- The Brigader, "Dr. Who"
7939 %
7940 Just out of curiosity does this actually mean something or have some
7941 of the few remaining bits of your brain just evaporated?
7942 -- Patricia O Tuama, rissa (a] killer.DALLAS.TX.US
7943 %
7944 Just remember, it all started with a mouse.
7945 -- Walt Disney
7946 %
7947 Just remember: when you go to court, you are trusting your fate to
7948 twelve people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty!
7949 %
7950 `Just the place for a Snark!' the Bellman cried,
7951 As he landed his crew with care;
7952 Supporting each man on the top of the tide
7953 By a finger entwined in his hair.
7954
7955 'Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
7956 That alone should encourage the crew.
7957 Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
7958 What I tell you three times is true.'
7959 %
7960 Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along comes a
7961 faster rat!!!
7962 %
7963 Justice always prevails ... three times out of seven!
7964 -- Michael J. Wagner
7965 %
7966 Justice is incidental to law and order.
7967 -- J. Edgar Hoover
7968 %
7969 Justice, n.:
7970 A decision in your favor.
7971 %
7972 K: Cobalt's metal, hard and shining;
7973 Cobol's wordy and confining;
7974 KOBOLDS topple when you strike them;
7975 Don't feel bad, it's hard to like them.
7976 -- The Roguelet's ABC
7977 %
7978 Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to
7979 wear tail lights.
7980 %
7981 Katz' Law:
7982 Man and nations will act rationally when all other
7983 possibilities have been exhausted.
7984 %
7985 Keep America beautiful. Swallow your beer cans.
7986 %
7987 Keep Cool, but Don't Freeze
7988 - Hellman's Mayonnaise
7989 %
7990 Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis.
7991 %
7992 Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo.
7993 %
7994 Keep in mind always the two constant Laws of Frisbee:
7995 (1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc
7996 straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this
7997 force is technically termed "car suck").
7998 (2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive
7999 than "Watch this!"
8000 %
8001 Keep your Eye on the Ball,
8002 Your Shoulder to the Wheel,
8003 Your Nose to the Grindstone,
8004 Your Feet on the Ground,
8005 Your Head on your Shoulders.
8006 Now ... try to get something DONE!
8007 %
8008 Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design. Unlike most
8009 automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor any of the
8010 numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver. Rather, if the
8011 driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the center of the
8012 dashboard. "The experienced driver", he says, "will usually know
8013 what's wrong."
8014 %
8015 Kerr's Three Rules for a Successful College:
8016 Have plenty of football for the alumni, sex for the students,
8017 and parking for the faculty.
8018 %
8019 Kids have *_____never* taken guidance from their parents. If you could
8020 travel back in time and observe the original primate family in the
8021 original tree, you would see the primate parents yelling at the primate
8022 teenager for sitting around and sulking all day instead of hunting for
8023 grubs and berries like dad primate. Then you'd see the primate
8024 teenager stomp up to his branch and slam the leaves.
8025 -- Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
8026 %
8027 Kin, n.:
8028 An affliction of the blood
8029 %
8030 Kinkler's First Law:
8031 Responsibility always exceeds authority.
8032
8033 Kinkler's Second Law:
8034 All the easy problems have been solved.
8035 %
8036 Kirk to Enterprise -- beam down yeoman Rand and a six-pack.
8037 %
8038 Kirkland, Illinois, law forbids bees to fly over the village or through
8039 any of its streets.
8040 %
8041 Kiss me twice. I'm schizophrenic.
8042 %
8043 Kiss your keyboard goodbye!
8044 %
8045 Klein bottle for rent -- inquire within.
8046 %
8047 Kleptomaniac, n.:
8048 A rich thief.
8049 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8050 %
8051 Know thyself. If you need help, call the C.I.A.
8052 %
8053 Know what I hate most? Rhetorical questions.
8054 -- Henry N. Camp
8055 %
8056 Krogt, n. (chemical symbol: Kr):
8057 The metallic silver coating found on fast-food game cards.
8058 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
8059 %
8060 Labor, n.:
8061 One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
8062 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8063 %
8064 Lackland's Laws:
8065 (1) Never be first.
8066 (2) Never be last.
8067 (3) Never volunteer for anything
8068 %
8069 Lactomangulation, n.:
8070 Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
8071 that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
8072 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
8073 %
8074 Ladybug, ladybug,
8075 Look to your stern!
8076 Your house is on fire,
8077 Your children will burn!
8078 So jump ye and sing, for
8079 The very first time
8080 The four lines above
8081 Have been put into rhyme.
8082 -- Walt Kelly
8083 %
8084 Laetrile is the pits
8085 %
8086 Langsam's Laws:
8087 (1) Everything depends.
8088 (2) Nothing is always.
8089 (3) Everything is sometimes.
8090 %
8091 Larkinson's Law:
8092 All laws are basically false.
8093 %
8094 Lassie looked brilliant, in part because the farm family she lived with
8095 was made up of idiots. Remember? One of them was always getting
8096 pinned under the tractor, and Lassie was always rushing back to the
8097 farmhouse to alert the other ones. She'd whimper and tug at their
8098 sleeves, and they'd always waste precious minutes saying things: "Do
8099 you think something's wrong? Do you think she wants us to follow her?
8100 What is it, girl?", etc., as if this had never happened before, instead
8101 of every week. What with all the time these people spent pinned under
8102 the tractor, I don't see how they managed to grow any crops
8103 whatsoever. They probably got by on federal crop supports, which
8104 Lassie filed the applications for.
8105 -- Dave Barry
8106 %
8107 Last night, I came home and realized that everything in my apartment
8108 had been stolen and replaced with an exact duplicate. I told this to
8109 my friend -- he said, `Do I know you?'
8110 -- Steven Wright
8111 %
8112 Last week a cop stopped me in my car. He asked me if I had a police
8113 record. I said, no, but I have the new DEVO album. Cops have no sense
8114 of humor.
8115 %
8116 Last yeer I kudn't spel Engineer. Now I are won.
8117 %
8118 Laugh at your problems; everybody else does.
8119 %
8120 Laughter is the closest distance between two people."
8121 -- Victor Borge
8122 %
8123 Law of Communications:
8124 The inevitable result of improved and enlarged communications
8125 between different levels in a hierarchy is a vastly increased area of
8126 misunderstanding.
8127 %
8128 Law of Probable Dispersal:
8129 Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly
8130 distributed.
8131 %
8132 Law of Selective Gravity:
8133 An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
8134
8135 Jenning's Corollary:
8136 The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is
8137 directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
8138
8139 Law of the Perversity of Nature:
8140 You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the
8141 bread to butter.
8142 %
8143 Laws of Serendipity:
8144
8145 (1) In order to discover anything, you must be looking for
8146 something.
8147 (2) If you wish to make an improved product, you must already
8148 be engaged in making an inferior one.
8149 %
8150 Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom:
8151 No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats --
8152 approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
8153 %
8154 Learned men are the cisterns of knowledge, not the fountainheads.
8155 %
8156 Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and
8157 everything else follows in the same way.
8158 -- Alan J. Perlis
8159 %
8160 Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
8161 %
8162 Legalize free-enterprise murder: why should governments have all the
8163 fun?
8164 %
8165 Legislation proposed in the Illinois State Legislature, May, 1907:
8166 "Speed upon county roads will be limited to ten miles an hour
8167 unless the motorist sees a bailiff who does not appear to have had a
8168 drink in 30 days, when the driver will be permitted to make what he
8169 can."
8170 %
8171 Leibowitz's Rule:
8172 When hammering a nail, you will never hit your finger if you
8173 hold the hammer with both hands.
8174 %
8175 LEO (July 23 - Aug 22)
8176 You consider yourself a born leader. Others think you are
8177 pushy. Most Leo people are bullies. You are vain and dislike
8178 honest criticism. Your arrogance is disgusting. Leo people
8179 are thieves.
8180 %
8181 LEO (July 23 - Aug 22)
8182 Your determination and sense of humor will come to the fore.
8183 Your ability to laugh at adversity will be a blessing because
8184 you've got a day coming you wouldn't believe. As a matter of
8185 fact, if you can laugh at what happens to you today, you've got
8186 a sick sense of humor.
8187 %
8188 Let He who taketh the Plunge Remember to return it by Tuesday.
8189 %
8190 Let me assure you that to us here at First National, you're not just a
8191 number. You're two numbers, a dash, three more numbers, another dash
8192 and another number.
8193 -- James Estes
8194 %
8195 Let us live!!!
8196 Let us love!!!
8197 Let us share the deepest secrets of our souls!!!
8198
8199 You first.
8200 %
8201 Let's just say that where a change was required, I adjusted. In every
8202 relationship that exists, people have to seek a way to survive. If you
8203 really care about the person, you do what's necessary, or that's the
8204 end. For the first time, I found that I really could change, and the
8205 qualities I most admired in myself I gave up. I stopped being loud and
8206 bossy ... Oh, all right. I was still loud and bossy, but only behind
8207 his back.
8208 -- Kate Hepburn, on Tracy and Hepburn
8209 %
8210 Let's say your wedding ring falls into your toaster, and when you stick
8211 your hand in to retrieve it, you suffer Pain and Suffering as well as
8212 Mental Anguish. You would sue:
8213
8214 * The toaster manufacturer, for failure to include, in the instructions
8215 section that says you should never never never ever stick you hand
8216 into the toaster, the statement "Not even if your wedding ring falls
8217 in there".
8218
8219 * The store where you bought the toaster, for selling it to an obvious
8220 cretin like yourself.
8221
8222 * Union Carbide Corporation, which is not directly responsible in this
8223 case, but which is feeling so guilty that it would probably send you
8224 a large cash settlement anyway.
8225 -- Dave Barry
8226 %
8227 Let's talk about how to fill out your 1984 tax return. Here's an often
8228 overlooked accounting technique that can save you thousands of
8229 dollars: For several days before you put it in the mail, carry your
8230 tax return around under your armpit. No IRS agent is going to want to
8231 spend hours poring over a sweat-stained document. So even if you owe
8232 money, you can put in for an enormous refund and the agent will
8233 probably give it to you, just to avoid an audit. What does he care?
8234 It's not his money.
8235 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
8236 %
8237 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (The Times of London)
8238
8239 Dear Sir,
8240
8241 I am firmly opposed to the spread of microchips either to the home or
8242 to the office. We have more than enough of them foisted upon us in
8243 public places. They are a disgusting Americanism, and can only result
8244 in the farmers being forced to grow smaller potatoes, which in turn
8245 will cause massive unemployment in the already severely depressed
8246 agricultural industry.
8247
8248 Yours faithfully,
8249 Capt. Quinton D'Arcy, J. P.
8250 Sevenoaks
8251 %
8252 Lewis's Law of Travel:
8253 The first piece of luggage out of the chute doesn't belong to
8254 anyone, ever.
8255 %
8256 Liar, n.:
8257 A lawyer with a roving commission.
8258 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8259 %
8260 Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
8261 -- Harry Emerson Fosdick
8262 %
8263 LIBRA (Sep. 23 to Oct. 22)
8264 Your desire for justice and truth will be overshadowed by your
8265 desire for filthy lucre and a decent meal. Be gracious and
8266 polite. Someone is watching you, so stop staring like that.
8267 %
8268 LIBRA (Sept 23 - Oct 22)
8269 You are the artistic type and have a difficult time with
8270 reality. If you are a man, you are more than likely gay.
8271 Chances for employment and monetary gains are excellent. Most
8272 Libra women are prostitutes. All Libra people die of venereal
8273 disease.
8274 %
8275 Lie, n.:
8276 A very poor substitute for the truth, but the only one
8277 discovered to date.
8278 %
8279 Lieberman's Law:
8280 Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
8281 %
8282 Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.
8283 %
8284 Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string.
8285 %
8286 Life is like a bowl of soup with hairs floating on it. You have to
8287 eat it nevertheless.
8288 -- Flaubert
8289 %
8290 Life is like a buffet; it's not good but there's plenty of it.
8291 %
8292 Life is like a simile.
8293 %
8294 Life is like an analogy.
8295 %
8296 Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer, then you find
8297 there is nothing in it.
8298 %
8299 Life is too important to take seriously.
8300 -- Corky Siegel
8301 %
8302 Life may have no meaning -- or even worse, it may have a meaning of
8303 which I disapprove.
8304 %
8305 Life to you is a bold and dashing responsibility.
8306 -- a Mary Chung's fortune cookie
8307 %
8308 Life would be much simpler and things would get done much faster if it
8309 weren't for other people.
8310 -- Blore
8311 %
8312 Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.
8313 %
8314 Life, loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it.
8315 -- Marvin, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
8316 %
8317 Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made
8318 sense from things she found in gift shops.
8319 -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
8320 %
8321 Like the ski resort of girls looking for husbands and husbands looking
8322 for girls, the situation is not as symmetrical as it might seem.
8323 -- Alan McKay
8324 %
8325 Limericks are art forms complex,
8326 Their topics run chiefly to sex.
8327 They usually have virgins,
8328 And masculine urgin's,
8329 And other erotic effects.
8330 %
8331 Line Printer paper is strongest at the perforations.
8332 %
8333 Linus: I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe
8334 we should think only about today.
8335 Charlie Brown:
8336 No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get
8337 better.
8338 %
8339 Living in LA is like not having a date on Saturday night.
8340 -- Candice Bergen
8341 %
8342 Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip
8343 around the Sun.
8344 %
8345 Living your life is a task so difficult, it has never been attempted
8346 before.
8347 %
8348 Lizzie Borden took an axe,
8349 And plunged it deep into the VAX;
8350 Don't you envy people who
8351 Do all the things ___YOU want to do?
8352 %
8353 Loan-department manager: "There isn't any fine print. At these
8354 interest rates, we don't need it."
8355 %
8356 Lobster:
8357 Everyone loves these delectable crustaceans, but many cooks are
8358 squeamish about placing them into boiling water alive, which is the
8359 only proper method of preparing them. Frankly, the easiest way to
8360 eliminate your guilt is to establish theirs by putting them on trial
8361 before they're cooked. The fact is, lobsters are among the most
8362 ferocious predators on the sea floor, and you're helping reduce crime
8363 in the reefs. Grasp the lobster behind the head, look it right in its
8364 unmistakably guilty eyestalks and say, "Where were you on the night of
8365 the 21st?", then flourish a picture of a scallop or a sole and shout,
8366 "Perhaps this will refresh that crude neural apparatus you call a
8367 memory!" The lobster will squirm noticeably. It may even take a swipe
8368 at you with one of its claws. Incorrigible. Pop it into the pot.
8369 Justice has been served, and shortly you and your friends will be,
8370 too.
8371 -- Dave Barry, "Cooking: The Art of Using Appliances and
8372 Utensils into Excuses and Apologies"
8373 %
8374 Lockwood's Long Shot:
8375 The chances of getting eaten up by a lion on Main Street aren't
8376 one in a million, but once would be enough.
8377 %
8378 Logic is a little bird, sitting in a tree; that smells *_____awful*.
8379 %
8380 ... Logically incoherent, semantically incomprehensible, and
8381 legally ... impeccable!
8382 %
8383 Logicians have but ill defined
8384 As rational the human kind.
8385 Logic, they say, belongs to man,
8386 But let them prove it if they can.
8387 -- Oliver Goldsmith
8388 %
8389 Look out! Behind you!
8390 %
8391 Look, we play the Star Spangled Banner before every game. You want us
8392 to pay income taxes, too?
8393 -- Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox
8394 %
8395 Loose bits sink chips.
8396 %
8397 Losing your drivers' license is just God's way of saying
8398 "BOOGA, BOOGA!"
8399 %
8400 Lost interest? It's so bad I've lost apathy.
8401 %
8402 Loud burping while walking around the airport is prohibited in
8403 Halstead, Kansas.
8404 %
8405 Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.
8406 %
8407 Love at first sight is one of the greatest labor-saving devices the
8408 world has ever seen.
8409 %
8410 Love cannot be much younger than the lust for murder.
8411 -- Sigmund Freud
8412 %
8413 Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it
8414 flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
8415 -- Matt Groening
8416 %
8417 Love is a word that is constantly heard,
8418 Hate is a word that is not.
8419 Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
8420 Love, I have read, is hot.
8421 But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
8422 And Love but a drug on the mart.
8423 Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
8424 But Hating, my boy, is an Art.
8425 -- Ogden Nash
8426 %
8427 Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with
8428 the ideal never goes unpunished.
8429 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8430 %
8431 Love is sentimental measles.
8432 %
8433 Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
8434 -- H. L. Mencken
8435 %
8436 Love means having to say you're sorry every five minutes.
8437 %
8438 Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighborhood.
8439 -- Louise Beal
8440 %
8441 Love your enemies: they'll go crazy trying to figure out what you're up to.
8442 %
8443 Love's Drug
8444
8445 My love is like an iron wand
8446 That conks me on the head,
8447 My love is like the valium
8448 That I take before my bed,
8449 My love is like the pint of scotch
8450 That I drink when I be dry;
8451 And I shall love thee still, my dear,
8452 Until my wife is wise.
8453 %
8454 Lowery's Law:
8455 If it jams -- force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing
8456 anyway.
8457 %
8458 LSD melts in your mind, not in your hand.
8459 %
8460 Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology:
8461 There's always one more bug.
8462 %
8463 Lunatic Asylum, n.:
8464 The place where optimism most flourishes.
8465 %
8466 Lysistrata had a good idea.
8467 %
8468 MacDonald has the gift on compressing the largest amount of words into
8469 the smallest amount of thoughts.
8470 -- Winston Churchill
8471 %
8472 Machine-Independent, adj.:
8473 Does not run on any existing machine.
8474 %
8475 Machines certainly can solve problems, store information, correlate,
8476 and play games -- but not with pleasure.
8477 -- Leo Rosten
8478 %
8479 Mad, adj.:
8480 Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
8481 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8482 %
8483 Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child -- if you parboil them
8484 first for seven hours, they always come out tender.
8485 -- W. C. Fields
8486 %
8487 MAFIA, n:
8488 [Acronym for Mechanized Applications in Forced Insurance
8489 Accounting.] An extensive network with many on-line and offshore
8490 subsystems running under OS, DOS, and IOS. MAFIA documentation is
8491 rather scanty, and the MAFIA sales office exhibits that testy
8492 reluctance to bona fide inquiries which is the hallmark of so many DP
8493 operations. From the little that has seeped out, it would appear that
8494 MAFIA operates under a non-standard protocol, OMERTA, a tight-lipped
8495 variant of SNA, in which extended handshakes also perform complex
8496 security functions. The known timesharing aspects of MAFIA point to a
8497 more than usually autocratic operating system. Screen prompts carry an
8498 imperative, nonrefusable weighting (most menus offer simple YES/YES
8499 options, defaulting to YES) that precludes indifference or delay.
8500 Uniquely, all editing under MAFIA is performed centrally, using a
8501 powerful rubout feature capable of erasing files, filors, filees, and
8502 entire nodal aggravations.
8503 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
8504 %
8505 Magnet, n.: Something acted upon by magnetism.
8506
8507 Magnetism, n.: Something acting upon a magnet.
8508
8509 The two definition immediately preceding are condensed from the works
8510 of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject
8511 with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human
8512 knowledge.
8513 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8514 %
8515 Magnocartic, adj.:
8516 Any automobile that, when left unattended, attracts shopping carts.
8517 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
8518 %
8519 Magpie, n.:
8520 A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it
8521 might be taught to talk.
8522 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8523 %
8524 Maier's Law:
8525 If the facts don't conform to the theory, they must be disposed of.
8526
8527 Corollaries:
8528 (1) The bigger the theory, the better.
8529 (2) The experiment may be considered a success if no more than
8530 50% of the observed measurements must be discarded to
8531 obtain a correspondence with the theory.
8532 %
8533 Main's Law:
8534 For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
8535 %
8536 Maintainer's Motto:
8537 If we can't fix it, it ain't broke.
8538 %
8539 Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly
8540 as one man.
8541
8542 Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole in sixty seconds.
8543
8544 Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a posthole in one second.
8545 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8546 %
8547 Majority, n.:
8548 That quality that distinguishes a crime from a law.
8549 %
8550 Make it myself? But I'm a physical organic chemist!
8551 %
8552 Making files is easy under the UNIX operating system. Therefore, users
8553 tend to create numerous files using large amounts of file space. It
8554 has been said that the only standard thing about all UNIX systems is
8555 the message-of-the-day telling users to clean up their files.
8556 -- System V.2 administrator's guide
8557 %
8558 Malek's Law:
8559 Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way.
8560 %
8561 Man 1: Ask me the what the most important thing about telling a good
8562 joke is.
8563
8564 Man 2: OK, what is the most impo --
8565
8566 Man 1: ______TIMING!
8567 %
8568 Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
8569 -- Lily Tomlin
8570 %
8571 Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called
8572 upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
8573 -- Oscar Wilde
8574 %
8575 Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft ... and the
8576 only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
8577 -- Wernher von Braun
8578 %
8579 Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to.
8580 -- Mark Twain
8581 %
8582 Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the
8583 victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
8584 -- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
8585 %
8586 Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else -- unless it
8587 is an enemy.
8588 -- Albert Einstein
8589 %
8590 Man, n.:
8591 An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks
8592 he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief
8593 occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which,
8594 however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole
8595 habitable earth and Canada.
8596 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8597 %
8598 Mandrell: "You know what I think?"
8599 Doctor: "Ah, ah that's a catch question. With a brain your size you
8600 don't think, right?"
8601 -- Dr. Who
8602 %
8603 Mankind's yearning to engage in sports is older than recorded history,
8604 dating back to the time millions of years ago, when the first primitive
8605 man picked up a crude club and a round rock, tossed the rock into the
8606 air, and whomped the club into the sloping forehead of the first
8607 primitive umpire.
8608
8609 What inner force drove this first athlete? Your guess is as good as
8610 mine. Better, probably, because you haven't had four beers.
8611 -- Dave Barry, "Sports is a Drag"
8612 %
8613 Manual, n.:
8614 A unit of documentation. There are always three or more on a
8615 given item. One is on the shelf; someone has the others. The
8616 information you need is in the others.
8617 -- Ray Simard
8618 %
8619 Many years ago in a period commonly know as Next Friday Afternoon,
8620 there lived a King who was very Gloomy on Tuesday mornings because he
8621 was so Sad thinking about how Unhappy he had been on Monday and how
8622 completely Mournful he would be on Wednesday ...
8623 -- Walt Kelly
8624 %
8625 Mark's Dental-Chair Discovery:
8626 Dentists are incapable of asking questions that require a
8627 simple yes or no answer.
8628 %
8629 Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.
8630 -- Voltaire
8631 %
8632 Maryel brought her bat into Exit once and started whacking people on
8633 the dance floor. Now everyone's doing it. It's called grand slam
8634 dancing.
8635 -- Ransford, Chicago Reader 10/7/83
8636 %
8637 Maternity pay? Now every Tom, Dick and Harry will get pregnant.
8638 -- Malcolm Smith
8639 %
8640 Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated.
8641 -- R. Drabek
8642 %
8643 Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they
8644 translate into their own language, and forthwith it is something
8645 entirely different.
8646 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8647 %
8648 Mathematicians often resort to something called Hilbert space, which is
8649 described as being n-dimensional. Like modern sex, any number can
8650 play.
8651 -- Dr. Thor Wald, in "Beep/The Quincunx of Time", by
8652 James Blish
8653 %
8654 Matrimony isn't a word, it's a sentence.
8655 %
8656 Matter cannot be created or destroyed,
8657 nor can it be returned without a receipt.
8658 %
8659 Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.
8660 -- Jules Feiffer
8661 %
8662 May a Misguided Platypus lay its Eggs in your Jockey Shorts.
8663 %
8664 May Euell Gibbons eat your only copy of the manual!
8665 %
8666 May the Fleas of a Thousand Camels infest one of your Erogenous Zones.
8667 %
8668 May your Tongue stick to the Roof of your Mouth with the Force of a
8669 Thousand Caramels.
8670 %
8671 Maybe Computer Science should be in the College of Theology.
8672 -- R. S. Barton
8673 %
8674 Maybe you can't buy happiness, but these days you can certainly charge
8675 it.
8676 %
8677 McGowan's Madison Avenue Axiom:
8678 If an item is advertised as "under $50", you can bet it's not
8679 $19.95.
8680 %
8681 Meader's Law:
8682 Whatever happens to you, it will previously have happened to
8683 everyone you know, only more so.
8684 %
8685 Meeting, n.:
8686 An assembly of people coming together to decide what person or
8687 department not represented in the room must solve a problem.
8688 %
8689 Men were real men, women were real women, and small, furry creatures
8690 from Alpha Centauri were REAL small, furry creatures from Alpha
8691 Centauri. Spirits were brave, men boldly split infinitives that no man
8692 had split before. Thus was the Empire forged.
8693 -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", Douglas Adams
8694 %
8695 Men's skin is different from women's skin. It is usually bigger, and
8696 it has more snakes tattooed on it. Also, if you examine a woman's skin
8697 very closely, inch by inch, starting at her shapely ankles, then gently
8698 tracing the slender curve of her calves, then moving up to her ...
8699 [EDITOR'S NOTE: To make room for news articles about important
8700 world events such as agriculture, we're going to delete the
8701 next few square feet of the woman's skin. Thank you.]
8702 ... until finally the two of you are lying there, spent, smoking your
8703 cigarettes, and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of
8704 billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called "cells"! And what is even
8705 more interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a
8706 fact. Your skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the
8707 older veteran cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and
8708 obtained offices with nice views, are constantly being shoved out the
8709 window head first, without so much as a pension plan, by younger
8710 hotshot cells moving up from below.
8711 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
8712 %
8713 Mencken and Nathan's Fifteenth Law of The Average American:
8714 The worst actress in the company is always the manager's wife.
8715 %
8716 Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American:
8717 The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the
8718 cork makes when it is popped.
8719 %
8720 Mencken and Nathan's Second Law of The Average American:
8721 All the postmasters in small towns read all the postcards.
8722 %
8723 Mencken and Nathan's Sixteenth Law of The Average American:
8724 Milking a cow is an operation demanding a special talent that
8725 is possessed only by yokels, and no person born in a large city can
8726 never hope to acquire it.
8727 %
8728 Menu, n.:
8729 A list of dishes which the restaurant has just run out of.
8730 %
8731 Meskimen's Law:
8732 There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to
8733 do it over.
8734 %
8735 MESSAGE ACKNOWLEDGED -- The Pershing II missiles have been launched.
8736 %
8737 Message will arrive in the mail. Destroy, before the FBI sees it.
8738 %
8739 methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutamin-
8740 ylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolyl-
8741 phenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglu-
8742 taminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl-
8743 glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylala-
8744 nylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylgluta-
8745 minylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly-
8746 cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionyl-
8747 leucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleu-
8748 cylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylva-
8749 lylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyro-
8750 sylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleu-
8751 cylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphe-
8752 nylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylala-
8753 nylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylas-
8754 partylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosyl-
8755 glycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycyl-
8756 valylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleu-
8757 cylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparagi-
8758 nylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylse-
8759 rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl-
8760 glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalylly-
8761 sylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylpro-
8762 lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalyl-
8763 glutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine, n.:
8764 The chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, a
8765 1,913-letter enzyme with 267 amino acids.
8766 -- Mrs. Bryne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and
8767 Preposterous Words
8768 %
8769 Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch.
8770 %
8771 Micro Credo:
8772 Never trust a computer bigger than you can lift.
8773 %
8774 Microwave oven? Whaddya mean, it's a microwave oven? I've been
8775 watching Channel 4 on the thing for two weeks.
8776 %
8777 Might as well be frank, monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you
8778 out of Casablanca and the Germans have outlawed miracles.
8779 -- Casablanca
8780 %
8781 Mike: "The Fourth Dimension is a shambles?"
8782 Bernie: "Nobody ever empties the ashtrays. People are SO
8783 inconsiderate."
8784 -- Gary Trudeau, "Doonesbury"
8785 %
8786 Miksch's Law:
8787 If a string has one end, then it has another end.
8788 %
8789 Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
8790 -- Groucho Marx
8791 %
8792 Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
8793 -- Groucho Marx
8794 %
8795 Millihelen, adj:
8796 The amount of beauty required to launch one ship.
8797 %
8798 Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with
8799 themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
8800 -- Susan Ertz
8801 %
8802 Millions of sensible people are too high-minded to concede that
8803 politics is almost always the choice of the lesser evil. "Tweedledum
8804 and Tweedledee," they say, "I will not vote." Having abstained, they
8805 are presented with a President who appoints the people who are going to
8806 rummage around in their lives for the next four years. Consider all
8807 the people who sat home in a stew in 1968 rather than vote for Hubert
8808 Humphrey. They showed Humphrey. Those people who taught Hubert
8809 Humphrey a lesson will still be enjoying the Nixon Supreme Court when
8810 Tricia and Julie begin to find silver threads among the gold and the
8811 black.
8812 -- Russel Baker, "Ford without Flummery"
8813 %
8814 Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there
8815 is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined,
8816 myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in
8817 the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my
8818 unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You
8819 will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as
8820 dead as a door-nail.
8821 %
8822 Minnie Mouse is a slow maze learner.
8823 %
8824 Minors in Kansas City, Missouri, are not allowed to purchase cap
8825 pistols; they may buy shotguns freely, however.
8826 %
8827 Misery loves company, but company does not reciprocate.
8828 %
8829 Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it.
8830 -- Russell Baker
8831 %
8832 Misfortune, n.:
8833 The kind of fortune that never misses.
8834 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8835 %
8836 Miss, n.:
8837 A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that
8838 they are in the market.
8839 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8840 %
8841 Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure.
8842 %
8843 Mitchell's Law of Committees:
8844 Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are
8845 held to discuss it.
8846 %
8847 MOCK APPLE PIE (No Apples Needed)
8848
8849 Pastry to two crust 9-inch pie 36 RITZ Crackers
8850 2 cups water 2 cups sugar
8851 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 tablespoons lemon juice
8852 Grated rind of one lemon Butter or margarine
8853 Cinnamon
8854
8855 Roll out bottom crust of pastry and fit into 9-inch pie plate. Break
8856 RITZ Crackers coarsely into pastry-lined plate. Combine water, sugar
8857 and cream of tartar in saucepan, boil gently for 15 minutes. Add lemon
8858 juice and rind. Cool. Pour this syrup over Crackers, dot generously
8859 with butter or margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with top
8860 crust. Trim and flute edges together. Cut slits in top crust to let
8861 steam escape. Bake in a hot oven (425 F) 30 to 35 minutes, until crust
8862 is crisp and golden. Serve warm. Cut into 6 to 8 slices.
8863 -- Found lurking on a Ritz Crackers box
8864 %
8865 Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
8866 %
8867 Mohandas K. Gandhi often changed his mind publicly. An aide once asked
8868 him how he could so freely contradict this week what he had said just
8869 last week. The great man replied that it was because this week he knew
8870 better.
8871 %
8872 Molecule, n.:
8873 The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is distinguished
8874 from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter, by a
8875 closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of
8876 matter ... The ion differs from the molecule, the corpuscle and the
8877 atom in that it is an ion ...
8878 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8879 %
8880 Mollison's Bureaucracy Hypothesis:
8881 If an idea can survive a bureaucratic review and be implemented
8882 it wasn't worth doing.
8883 %
8884 Monday is an awful way to spend one seventh of your life.
8885 %
8886 Monday, n.:
8887 In Christian countries, the day after the baseball game.
8888 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
8889 %
8890 Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
8891 %
8892 Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots.
8893 %
8894 Money is the root of all wealth.
8895 %
8896 Moon, n.:
8897 1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to
8898 hackers. See PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC).
8899 %
8900 Mophobia, n.:
8901 Fear of being verbally abused by a Mississippian.
8902 %
8903 MORE SPORTS RESULTS:
8904 The Beverly Hills Freudians tied the Chicago Rogerians 0-0 last
8905 Saturday night. The match started with a long period of silence while
8906 the Freudians waited for the Rogerians to free associate and the
8907 Rogerians waited for the Freudians to say something they could
8908 paraphrase. The stalemate was broken when the Freudians' best player
8909 took the offensive and interpreted the Rogerians' silence as reflecting
8910 their anal-retentive personalities. At this the Rogerians' star player
8911 said "I hear you saying you think we're full of ka-ka." This started a
8912 fight and the match was called by officials.
8913 %
8914 More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One
8915 path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total
8916 extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
8917 -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects"
8918 %
8919 Mosher's Law of Software Engineering:
8920 Don't worry if it doesn't work right. If everything did, you'd
8921 be out of a job.
8922 %
8923 Most fish live underwater, which is a terrible place to have sex
8924 because virtually anywhere you lie down there will be stinging crabs
8925 and large quantities of little fish staring at you with buggy little
8926 eyes. So generally when two fish want to have sex, they swim around
8927 and around for hours, looking for someplace to go, until finally the
8928 female gets really tired and has a terrible headache, and she just
8929 dumps her eggs right on the sand and swims away. Then the male, driven
8930 by some timeless, noble instinct for survival, eats the eggs. So the
8931 truth is that fish don't reproduce at all, but there are so many of
8932 them that it doesn't make any difference.
8933 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
8934 Teen Should Know"
8935 %
8936 Most people can't understand how others can blow their noses differently
8937 than they do.
8938 -- Turgenev
8939 %
8940 Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
8941 -- Frank Zappa
8942 %
8943 Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.
8944 -- Arnold Bennett
8945 %
8946 Mother is the invention of necessity.
8947 %
8948 Mother told me to be good, but she's been wrong before.
8949 %
8950 Mr. Cole's Axiom:
8951 The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the
8952 population is growing.
8953 %
8954 "Multiply in your head" (ordered the compassionate Dr. Adams)
8955 "365,365,365,365,365,365 by 365,365,365,365,365,365. He [ten-year-old
8956 Truman Henry Safford] flew around the room like a top, pulled his
8957 pantaloons over the tops of his boots, bit his hands, rolled his eyes
8958 in their sockets, sometimes smiling and talking, and then seeming to be
8959 in an agony, until, in not more than one minute, said he,
8960 133,491,850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225!" An electronic
8961 computer might do the job a little faster but it wouldn't be as much
8962 fun to watch.
8963 -- James R. Newman (The World of Mathematics)
8964 %
8965 Murphy's Discovery:
8966 Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to
8967 women? They say, "Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything
8968 will be all right." And what happens? Nine months later, you're in
8969 trouble!
8970 %
8971 Murphy's Law is recursive. Washing your car to make it rain doesn't
8972 work.
8973 %
8974 Murphy's Law of Research:
8975 Enough research will tend to support your theory.
8976 %
8977 Murphy's Law, that brash proletarian restatement of Goedel's Theorem ...
8978 -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
8979 %
8980 Murray and Esther, a middle-aged Jewish couple, are touring
8981 Chile. Murray just got a new camera and is constantly snapping
8982 pictures. One day, without knowing it, he photographs a top-secret
8983 military installation. In an instant, armed troops surround Murray and
8984 Esther and hustle them off to prison.
8985 They can't prove who they are because they've left their
8986 passports in their hotel room. For three weeks they're tortured day
8987 and night to get them to name their contacts in the liberation
8988 movement.. Finally they're hauled in front of a military court,
8989 charged with espionage, and sentenced to death.
8990 The next morning they're lined up in front of the wall where
8991 they'll be shot. The sergeant in charge of the firing squad asks them
8992 if they have any lasts requests. Esther wants to know if she can call
8993 her daughter in Chicago. The sergeant says he's sorry, that's not
8994 possible, and turns to Murray.
8995 "This is crazy!" Murray shouts. "We're not spies!" And he
8996 spits in the sergeants face.
8997 "Murray!" Esther cries. "Please! Don't make trouble."
8998 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
8999 %
9000 Mustgo, n.:
9001 Any item of food that has been sitting in the refrigerator so
9002 long it has become a science project.
9003 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
9004 %
9005 My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.
9006 -- "Grendel", by John Gardner
9007 %
9008 My band career ended late in my senior year when John Cooper and I
9009 threw my amplifier out the dormitory window. We did not act in haste.
9010 First we checked to make sure the amplifier would fit through the
9011 frame, using the belt from my bathrobe to measure, then we picked up
9012 the amplifier and backed up to my bedroom door. Then we rushed
9013 forward, shouting "The WHO! The WHO!" and we launched my amplifier
9014 perfectly, as though we had been doing it all our lives, clean through
9015 the window and down onto the sidewalk, where a small but appreciative
9016 crowd had gathered. I would like to be able to say that this was a
9017 symbolic act, an effort on my part to break cleanly away from one state
9018 in my life and move on to another, but the truth is, Cooper and I
9019 really just wanted to find out what it would sound like. It sounded
9020 OK.
9021 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
9022 %
9023 My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless
9024 there are three other people.
9025 -- Orson Welles
9026 %
9027 My God, I'm depressed! Here I am, a computer with a mind a thousand
9028 times as powerful as yours, doing nothing but cranking out fortunes and
9029 sending mail about softball games. And I've got this pain right
9030 through my ALU. I've asked for it to be replaced, but nobody ever
9031 listens. I think it would be better for us both if you were to just
9032 log out again.
9033 %
9034 My life is a soap opera, but who has the rights?
9035 -- MadameX
9036 %
9037 My love runs by like a day in June,
9038 And he makes no friends of sorrows.
9039 He'll tread his galloping rigadoon
9040 In the pathway or the morrows.
9041 He'll live his days where the sunbeams start
9042 Nor could storm or wind uproot him.
9043 My own dear love, he is all my heart --
9044 And I wish somebody'd shoot him.
9045 -- Dorothy Parker
9046 %
9047 My love, he's mad, and my love, he's fleet,
9048 And a wild young wood-thing bore him!
9049 The ways are fair to his roaming feet,
9050 And the skies are sunlit for him.
9051 As sharply sweet to my heart he seems
9052 As the fragrance of acacia.
9053 My own dear love, he is all my dreams --
9054 And I wish he were in Asia.
9055 -- Dorothy Parker
9056 %
9057 My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had been one.
9058 -- Groucho Marx
9059 %
9060 My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.
9061 %
9062 My own dear love, he is strong and bold
9063 And he cares not what comes after.
9064 His words ring sweet as a chime of gold,
9065 And his eyes are lit with laughter.
9066 He is jubilant as a flag unfurled --
9067 Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him.
9068 My own dear love, he is all my world --
9069 And I wish I'd never met him.
9070 -- Dorothy Parker
9071 %
9072 My pants just went on a wild rampage through a Long Island Bowling Alley!!
9073 -- Zippy the Pinhead
9074 %
9075 My pen is at the bottom of a page,
9076 Which, being finished, here the story ends;
9077 'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done,
9078 But stories somehow lengthen when begun.
9079 -- Byron
9080 %
9081 My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
9082 -- Christopher Morley
9083 %
9084 My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies
9085 %
9086 Mythology, n.:
9087 The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its
9088 origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished
9089 from the true accounts which it invents later.
9090 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
9091 %
9092 n = ((n >> 1) & 0x55555555) | ((n << 1) & 0xaaaaaaaa);
9093 n = ((n >> 2) & 0x33333333) | ((n << 2) & 0xcccccccc);
9094 n = ((n >> 4) & 0x0f0f0f0f) | ((n << 4) & 0xf0f0f0f0);
9095 n = ((n >> 8) & 0x00ff00ff) | ((n << 8) & 0xff00ff00);
9096 n = ((n >> 16) & 0x0000ffff) | ((n << 16) & 0xffff0000);
9097
9098 -- C code which reverses the bits in a word.
9099 %
9100 Naeser's Law:
9101 You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it
9102 damnfoolproof.
9103 %
9104 NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Guiseppe? Everything he
9105 says is wrong.
9106 GUISEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says
9107 will be right.
9108 -- G. B. Shaw, "The Man of Destiny"
9109 %
9110 Nasrudin called at a large house to collect for charity. The servant
9111 said "My master is out." Nasrudin replied, "Tell your master that next
9112 time he goes out, he should not leave his face at the window. Someone
9113 might steal it."
9114 %
9115 Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the
9116 villagers gathered around to hear what had passed. "At this time,"
9117 said Nasrudin, "I only want to say that the King spoke to me." All the
9118 villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The
9119 remaining villager asked, "What did the King say to you?" "What he
9120 said -- and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear -- was 'Get out of
9121 my way!'" The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually
9122 spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to.
9123 %
9124 Nasrudin walked into a shop one day, and the owner came forward to
9125 serve him. Nasrudin said, "First things first. Did you see me walk
9126 into your shop?" "Of course." "Have you ever seen me before?"
9127 "Never." "Then how do you know it was me?"
9128 %
9129 Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and declaimed, "The moon is more useful
9130 than the sun." "Why?", he was asked. "Because at night we need the
9131 light more."
9132 %
9133 Nasrudin was carrying home a piece of liver and the recipe for liver
9134 pie. Suddenly a bird of prey swooped down and snatched the piece of
9135 meat from his hand. As the bird flew off, Nasrudin called after it,
9136 "Foolish bird! You have the liver, but what can you do with it without
9137 the recipe?"
9138 %
9139 Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of
9140 conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the
9141 fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he
9142 is most likely to be creamed?
9143 -- Solomon Short
9144 %
9145 Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night,
9146 God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light.
9147
9148 It did not last; the devil howling "Ho!
9149 Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo.
9150 %
9151 Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it
9152 cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs.
9153 -- Fran Leibowitz
9154 %
9155 Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
9156 character, give him power.
9157 -- Abraham Lincoln
9158 %
9159 Necessity is a mother.
9160 %
9161 Neckties strangle clear thinking.
9162 -- Lin Yutang
9163 %
9164 Never be led astray onto the path of virtue.
9165 %
9166 Never call a man a fool. Borrow from him.
9167 %
9168 Never commit yourself! Let someone else commit you.
9169 %
9170 Never count your chickens before they rip your lips off.
9171 %
9172 Never drink Coke in a moving elevator. The elevator's motion coupled
9173 with the chemicals in Coke produce hallucinations. People tend to
9174 change into lizards and attack without warning, and large bats usually
9175 fly in the window. Additionally, you begin to believe that elevators
9176 have windows.
9177 %
9178 Never eat more than you can lift.
9179 -- Miss Piggy
9180 %
9181 Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
9182 %
9183 Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
9184 %
9185 Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
9186 -- Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"
9187 %
9188 Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to
9189 make it complex and wonderful.
9190 %
9191 Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
9192 -- Sam Brown, "The Washington Post", January 26, 1977
9193 %
9194 Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together.
9195 %
9196 Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a
9197 law against it by that time.
9198 %
9199 Never settle with words what you can accomplish with a flame thrower.
9200 %
9201 Never tell a lie unless it is absolutely convenient.
9202 %
9203 Never try to outstubborn a cat.
9204 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
9205 %
9206 Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes.
9207 -- Dr. Warren Jackson, Director, UTCS
9208 %
9209 Never underestimate the power of a small tactical nuclear weapon.
9210 %
9211 Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's
9212 supposed to do.
9213 -- R. A. Heinlein
9214 %
9215 New crypt. See /usr/news/crypt.
9216 %
9217 New Hampshire law forbids you to tap your feet, nod your head, or in
9218 any way keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or cafe.
9219 %
9220 New members are urgently needed in the Society for Prevention of
9221 Cruelty to Yourself. Apply within.
9222 %
9223 New members urgently required for SUICIDE CLUB, Watford area.
9224 -- Monty Python's Big Red Book
9225 %
9226 New systems generate new problems.
9227 %
9228 New Year's Eve is the time of year when a man most feels his age, and
9229 his wife most often reminds him to act it.
9230 -- Webster's Unafraid Dictionary
9231 %
9232 New York is real. The rest is done with mirrors.
9233 %
9234 New York's got the ways and means;
9235 Just won't let you be.
9236 -- The Grateful Dead
9237 %
9238 Newlan's Truism:
9239 An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government
9240 economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job.
9241 %
9242 NEWS FLASH!!
9243 Today the East German pole-vault champion became the West
9244 German pole-vault champion.
9245 %
9246 *** NEWSFLASH ***
9247 Russian tanks steamrolling through New Jersey!!!! Details at eleven!
9248 %
9249 Newton's Fourth Law: Every action has an equal and opposite satisfaction.
9250 %
9251 Newton's Little-Known Seventh Law:
9252 A bird in the hand is safer than one overhead.
9253 %
9254 Next Friday will not be your lucky day.
9255 As a matter of fact, you don't have a lucky day this year.
9256 %
9257 Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying
9258 as an income tax refund.
9259 -- F. J. Raymond
9260 %
9261 Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice.
9262 -- Foghorn Leghorn
9263 %
9264 Nihilism should commence with oneself.
9265 %
9266 Niklaus Wirth has lamented that, whereas Europeans pronounce his name
9267 correctly (Ni-klows Virt), Americans invariably mangle it into
9268 (Nick-les Worth). Which is to say that Europeans call him by name, but
9269 Americans call him by value.
9270 %
9271 Nine megs for the secretaries fair,
9272 Seven megs for the hackers scarce,
9273 Five megs for the grads in smoky lairs,
9274 Three megs for system source;
9275
9276 One disk to rule them all,
9277 One disk to bind them,
9278 One disk to hold the files
9279 And in the darkness grind 'em.
9280 %
9281 Nine-track tapes and seven-track tapes
9282 And tapes without any tracks;
9283 Stretchy tapes and snarley tapes
9284 And tapes mixed up on the racks --
9285 Take hold of the tape
9286 And pull off the strip,
9287 And then you'll be sure
9288 Your tape drive will skip.
9289
9290 -- Uncle Colonel's Cursory Rhymes
9291 %
9292 Ninety percent of the time things turn out worse than you thought they
9293 would. The other ten percent of the time you had no right to expect
9294 that much.
9295 -- Augustine
9296 %
9297 Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules:
9298 The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of
9299 the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent.
9300 %
9301 Nirvana? Thats the place where the powers that be and their friends
9302 hang out.
9303 -- Zonker Harris
9304 %
9305 No animal should ever jump on the dining room furniture unless
9306 absolutely certain he can hold his own in conversation.
9307 -- Fran Lebowitz
9308 %
9309 No committee could ever come up with anything as revolutionary as a
9310 camel -- anything as practical and as perfectly designed to perform
9311 effectively under such difficult conditions.
9312 -- Laurence J. Peter
9313 %
9314 No good deed goes unpunished.
9315 -- Clare Boothe Luce
9316 %
9317 No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after
9318 eating one peanut.
9319 -- Channing Pollock
9320 %
9321 No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas.
9322 %
9323 No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife in the shoulder blades will
9324 seriously cramp his style.
9325 %
9326 No matter what other nations may say about the United States,
9327 immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.
9328 %
9329 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
9330 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
9331 %
9332 No one gets too old to learn a new way of being stupid.
9333 %
9334 No part of this message may reproduce, store itself in a retrieval
9335 system, or transmit disease, in any form, without the permissiveness of
9336 the author.
9337 -- Chris Shaw
9338 %
9339 No plain fanfold paper could hold that fractal Puff --
9340 He grew so fast no plotting pack could shrink him far enough.
9341 Compiles and simulations grew so quickly tame
9342 And swapped out all their data space when Puff pushed his stack frame.
9343 CHORUS:
9344 Puff the fractal dragon was written in C,
9345 And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory.
9346 Puff the fractal dragon was written in C,
9347 And frolicked while processes switched in mainframe memory.
9348 Puff, he grew so quickly, while others moved like snails
9349 And mini-Puffs would perch themselves on his gigantic tail.
9350 All the student hackers loved that fractal Puff
9351 But DCS did not like Puff, and finally said, "Enough!"
9352 (chorus)
9353 Puff used more resources than DCS could spare.
9354 The operator killed Puff's job -- he didn't seem to care.
9355 A gloom fell on the hackers; it seemed to be the end,
9356 But Puff trapped the exception, and grew from naught again!
9357 (chorus)
9358 %
9359 No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it.
9360 -- C. Schulz
9361 %
9362 No problem is so large it can't be fit in somewhere.
9363 %
9364 "No proper program contains an indication which as an operator-applied
9365 occurrence identifies an operator-defining occurrence which as an
9366 indication-applied occurrence identifies an indication-defining
9367 occurrence different from the one identified by the given indication as
9368 an indication-applied occurrence."
9369 -- ALGOL 68 Report
9370 %
9371 No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in that kind of paper.
9372 -- Mike Royko on the Chicago Sun-Times after it was
9373 taken over by Rupert Murdoch
9374 %
9375 No violence, gentlemen -- no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!
9376 -- Sherlock Holmes
9377 %
9378 No, `Eureka' is Greek for `This bath is too hot.'
9379 -- Dr. Who
9380 %
9381 Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
9382 -- Tallulah Bankhead
9383 %
9384 NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION.
9385 %
9386 Nobody said computers were going to be polite.
9387 %
9388 Nobody suffers the pain of birth or the anguish of loving a child in
9389 order for presidents to make wars, for governments to feed on the
9390 substance of their people, for insurance companies to cheat the young
9391 and rob the old.
9392 -- Lewis Lapham
9393 %
9394 Nobody wants constructive criticism. It's all we can do to put up with
9395 constructive praise.
9396 %
9397 Non-Reciprocal Laws of Expectations:
9398 Negative expectations yield negative results.
9399 Positive expectations yield negative results.
9400 %
9401 Non-sequiturs make me eat lampshades.
9402 %
9403 Noncombatant, n.:
9404 A dead Quaker.
9405 -- Ambrose Bierce
9406 %
9407 Nondeterminism means never having to say you are wrong.
9408 %
9409 Nondeterminism means never having to say you are wrong.
9410 %
9411 Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
9412 %
9413 Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the
9414 Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats
9415 in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the
9416 moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter -- for they had a machine, a
9417 dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every
9418 respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside
9419 it, for it was all they had -- first they saved up all their atoms,
9420 then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they
9421 chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine ...
9422 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
9423 %
9424 Not Hercules could have knock'd out his brains, for he had none.
9425 -- Shakespeare
9426 %
9427 Not only is this incomprehensible, but the ink is ugly and the paper
9428 is from the wrong kind of tree.
9429 -- Professor W., EECS, George Washington University
9430 %
9431 Notes for a ballet, "The Spell": ... Suddenly Sigmund hears the flutter
9432 of wings, and a group of wild swans flies across the moon ... Sigmund
9433 is astounded to see that their leader is part swan and part woman --
9434 unfortunately, divided lengthwise. She enchants Sigmund, who is
9435 careful not to make any poultry jokes ...
9436 -- Woody Allen
9437 %
9438 Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.
9439 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
9440 %
9441 Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up.
9442 %
9443 Nothing is faster than the speed of light ...
9444
9445 To prove this to yourself, try opening the refrigerator door before the
9446 light comes on.
9447 %
9448 Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it.
9449 -- Andrew Young
9450 %
9451 Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires
9452 tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
9453 -- Nero Wolfe
9454 %
9455 Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner.
9456 Conscience makes egotists of us all.
9457 -- Oscar Wilde
9458 %
9459 Nothing recedes like success.
9460 -- Walter Winchell
9461 %
9462 Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
9463 -- Charlie Brown
9464 %
9465 November, n.:
9466 The eleventh twelfth of a weariness.
9467 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
9468 %
9469 Now and then an innocent person is sent to the legislature.
9470 %
9471 Now I lay me down to sleep
9472 I pray the double lock will keep;
9473 May no brick through the window break,
9474 And, no one rob me till I awake.
9475 %
9476 Now is the time for all good men to come to.
9477 -- Walt Kelly
9478 %
9479 Now that you've read Fortune's diet truths, you'll be prepared the next
9480 time some housewife or boutique-owner-turned-diet-expert appears on TV
9481 to plug her latest book. And, if you still feel a twinge of guilt for
9482 eating coffee cake while listening to her exhortations, ask yourself
9483 the following questions:
9484
9485 (1) Do I dare trust a person who actually considers alfalfa sprouts a
9486 food?
9487 (2) Was the author's sole motive in writing this book to get rich
9488 exploiting the forlorn hopes of chubby people like me?
9489 (3) Would a longer life be worthwhile if it had to be lived as
9490 prescribed ... without French-fried onion rings, pizza with
9491 double cheese, or the occasional Mai-Tai? (Remember, living
9492 right doesn't really make you live longer, it just *seems* like
9493 longer.)
9494
9495 That, and another piece of coffee cake, should do the trick.
9496 %
9497 Now the Lord God planted a garden East of Whittier in a place called
9498 Yorba Linda, and out of the ground he made to grow orange trees that
9499 were good for food and the fruits thereof he labeled SUNKIST ...
9500 -- "The Begatting of a President"
9501 %
9502 Now this is a totally brain damaged algorithm. Gag me with a smurfette.
9503 -- P. Buhr, Computer Science 354
9504 %
9505 ... Now you're ready for the actual shopping. Your goal should be to
9506 get it over with as quickly as possible, because the longer you stay in
9507 the mall, the longer your children will have to listen to holiday songs
9508 on the mall public-address system, and many of these songs can damage
9509 children emotionally. For example: "Frosty the Snowman" is about a
9510 snowman who befriends some children, plays with them until they learn
9511 to love him, then melts. And "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is about
9512 a young reindeer who, because of a physical deformity, is treated as an
9513 outcast by the other reindeer. Then along comes good, old Santa. Does
9514 he ignore the deformity? Does he look past Rudolph's nose and respect
9515 Rudolph for the sensitive reindeer he is underneath? No. Santa asks
9516 Rudolph to guide his sleigh, as if Rudolph were nothing more than some
9517 kind of headlight with legs and a tail. So unless you want your
9518 children exposed to this kind of insensitivity, you should shop
9519 quickly.
9520 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
9521 %
9522 Now, you might ask, "How do I get one of those complete home
9523 tool sets for under $4?" An excellent question.
9524 Go to one of those really cheap discount stores where they sell
9525 plastic furniture in colors visible from the planet Neptune and where
9526 they have a food section specializing in cardboard cartons full of
9527 Raisinets and malted milk balls manufactured during the Nixon
9528 administration. In either the hardware or housewares department,
9529 you'll find an item imported from an obscure Oriental country and
9530 described as "Nine Tools in One", consisting of a little handle with
9531 interchangeable ends representing inscrutable Oriental notions of tools
9532 that Americans might use around the home. Buy it.
9533 This is the kind of tool set professionals use. Not only is it
9534 inexpensive, but it also has a great safety feature not found in the
9535 so-called quality tools sets: The handle will actually break right off
9536 if you accidentally hit yourself or anything else, or expose it to
9537 direct sunlight.
9538 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
9539 %
9540 Nuclear war can ruin your whole compile.
9541 -- Karl Lehenbauer
9542 %
9543 Nuclear war would mean abolition of most comforts, and disruption of
9544 normal routines, for children and adults alike.
9545 -- Willard F. Libby, "You *Can* Survive Atomic Attack"
9546 %
9547 Nuclear war would really set back cable.
9548 -- Ted Turner
9549 %
9550 [Nuclear war] ... may not be desirable.
9551 -- Edwin Meese III
9552 %
9553 Nudists are people who wear one-button suits.
9554 %
9555 (null cookie; hope that's ok)
9556 %
9557 Numeric stability is probably not all that important when you're guessing.
9558 %
9559 O give me a home,
9560 Where the buffalo roam,
9561 Where the deer and the antelope play,
9562 Where seldom is heard
9563 A discouraging word,
9564 'Cause what can an antelope say?
9565 %
9566 O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law:
9567 Murphy was an optimist.
9568 %
9569 Of ______course it's the murder weapon. Who would frame someone with a
9570 fake?
9571 %
9572 Of all possible committee reactions to any given agenda item, the
9573 reaction that will occur is the one which will liberate the greatest
9574 amount of hot air.
9575 -- Thomas L. Martin
9576 %
9577 Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.
9578 -- Plato
9579 %
9580 Of all the words of witch's doom
9581 There's none so bad as which and whom.
9582 The man who kills both which and whom
9583 Will be enshrined in our Who's Whom.
9584 -- Fletcher Knebel
9585 %
9586 Of course power tools and alcohol don't mix. Everyone knows power
9587 tools aren't soluble in alcohol ...
9588 -- Crazy Nigel
9589 %
9590 Of course there's no reason for it, it's just our policy.
9591 %
9592 Of what you see in books, believe 75%. Of newspapers, believe 50%.
9593 And of TV news, believe 25% -- make that 5% if the anchorman wears a
9594 blazer.
9595 %
9596 Office Automation, n.:
9597 The use of computers to improve efficiency by removing anyone
9598 you would want to talk with over coffee.
9599 %
9600 Ogden's Law:
9601 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch
9602 up.
9603 %
9604 Oh Dad! We're ALL Devo!
9605 %
9606 Oh don't the days seem lank and long
9607 When all goes right and none goes wrong,
9608 And isn't your life extremely flat
9609 With nothing whatever to grumble at!
9610 %
9611 Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay
9612 I muck with indices and structs all day
9613 And when it works, I shout hoo-ray
9614 Oh, I am a C programmer and I'm okay
9615 %
9616 Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had $600 billion at my disposal, I'd
9617 be irresponsible, too.
9618 -- Lichty & Wagner
9619 %
9620 Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
9621 And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;
9622 Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
9623 Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
9624 You have not dreamed of --
9625 Wheeled and soared and swung
9626 High in the sunlit silence.
9627 Hovering there
9628 I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
9629 My eager craft through footless halls of air.
9630 Up, up along delirious, burning blue
9631 I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
9632 Where never lark, or even eagle flew;
9633 And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
9634 The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
9635 Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
9636 -- John Gillespie Magee Jr., "High Flight"
9637 %
9638 Oh, well, I guess this is just going to be one of those lifetimes.
9639 %
9640 Oh, when I was in love with you,
9641 Then I was clean and brave,
9642 And miles around the wonder grew
9643 How well did I behave.
9644
9645 And now the fancy passes by,
9646 And nothing will remain,
9647 And miles around they'll say that I
9648 Am quite myself again.
9649 -- A. E. Housman
9650 %
9651 Oh, wow! Look at the moon!
9652 %
9653 OK, now let's look at four dimensions on the blackboard.
9654 -- Dr. Joy
9655 %
9656 OK, so you're a Ph.D. Just don't touch anything.
9657 %
9658 Old age is the most unexpected of things that can happen to a man.
9659 -- Trotsky
9660 %
9661 Old programmers never die. They just branch to a new address.
9662 %
9663 Old soldiers never die. Young ones do.
9664 %
9665 Oliver's Law:
9666 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need
9667 it.
9668 %
9669 Omnibiblious, adj.:
9670 Indifferent to type of drink. "Oh, you can get me anything.
9671 I'm omnibiblious."
9672 %
9673 OMNIVERSAL AWARENESS?? Oh, YEH!! First you need four GALLONS of
9674 JELL-O and a BIG WRENCH!! ... I think you drop th' WRENCH in the JELL-O
9675 as if it was a FLAVOR, or an INGREDIENT ... or ... I ... um ...
9676 WHERE'S the WASHING MACHINES?
9677 %
9678 On a paper submitted by a physicist colleague:
9679
9680 This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.
9681 -- Wolfgang Pauli
9682 %
9683 On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only
9684 nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter
9685 what it does.
9686 -- Will Rogers
9687 %
9688 On his first day as a bus driver, Maxey Eckstein handed in
9689 receipts of $65. The next day his take was $67. The third day's
9690 income was $62. But on the fourth day, Eckstein emptied no less than
9691 $283 on the desk before the cashier.
9692 "Eckstein!" exclaimed the cashier. "This is fantastic. That
9693 route never brought in money like this! What happened?"
9694 "Well, after three days on that cockamamie route, I figured
9695 business would never improve, so I drove over to Fourteenth Street and
9696 worked there. I tell you, that street is a gold mine!"
9697 %
9698 On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are
9699 created jerks.
9700 -- H. Allen Smith, "Let the Crabgrass Grow"
9701 %
9702 On the road, ZIPPY is a pinhead without a purpose, but never without a
9703 POINT ...
9704 %
9705 On the subject of C program indentation:
9706
9707 "In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be
9708 indented six feet downward and covered with dirt."
9709 -- Blair P. Houghton
9710 %
9711 On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], `Pray,
9712 Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right
9713 answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of
9714 confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
9715 -- Charles Babbage
9716 %
9717 On-line, adj.:
9718 The idea that a human being should always be accessible to a
9719 computer.
9720 %
9721 Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
9722 forced to live on nothing but food and water for days.
9723 -- W. C. Fields, "My Little Chickadee"
9724 %
9725 Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that
9726 each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his
9727 choice.
9728
9729 In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians
9730 called it "Christmas" and went to church; the Jews called it "Hanukka"
9731 and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People
9732 passing each other on the street would say "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy
9733 Hanukka!" or (to the atheists) "Look out for the wall!"
9734 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
9735 %
9736 Once at a social gathering, Gladstone said to Disraeli, "I predict,
9737 Sir, that you will die either by hanging or of some vile disease".
9738 Disraeli replied, "That all depends upon whether I embrace your
9739 principals or your mistress".
9740 %
9741 Once Law was sitting on the bench
9742 And Mercy knelt a-weeping.
9743 "Clear out!" he cried, "disordered wench!
9744 Nor come before me creeping.
9745 Upon your knees if you appear,
9746 'Tis plain you have no standing here."
9747
9748 Then Justice came. His Honor cried:
9749 "YOUR states? -- Devil seize you!"
9750 "Amica curiae," she replied --
9751 "Friend of the court, so please you."
9752 "Begone!" he shouted -- "There's the door --
9753 I never saw your face before!"
9754 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
9755 %
9756 Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human
9757 beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by
9758 side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them
9759 which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the
9760 sky.
9761 -- Rainer Rilke
9762 %
9763 Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a
9764 great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to
9765 the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of
9766 life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But
9767 one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is
9768 going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I
9769 shall die of boredom."
9770 The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that
9771 current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the
9772 rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"
9773 But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go,
9774 and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
9775 Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current
9776 lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
9777 And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried,
9778 "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the
9779 Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current
9780 said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us
9781 free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this
9782 adventure.
9783 But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to
9784 the rocks, making legends of a Saviour.
9785 %
9786 Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician, a group of
9787 us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of
9788 the smaller prime numbers.
9789
9790 2: The Odd Prime --
9791 It's the only even prime, therefore it's odd. QED.
9792 3: The True Prime --
9793 Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true."
9794 31: The Arbitrary Prime --
9795 Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime
9796 in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91
9797 received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the
9798 next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none
9799 at all.
9800
9801 Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are
9802 derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but
9803 true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers.
9804 %
9805 ... Once you're safely in the mall, you should tie your children to you
9806 with ropes so the other shoppers won't try to buy them. Holiday
9807 shoppers have been whipped into a frenzy by months of holiday
9808 advertisements, and they will buy anything small enough to stuff into a
9809 shopping bag. If your children object to being tied, threaten to take
9810 them to see Santa Claus; that ought to shut them up.
9811 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
9812 %
9813 Once, adv.:
9814 Enough.
9815 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
9816 %
9817 One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least
9818 somebody's listening.
9819 -- Franklin P. Jones
9820 %
9821 "One basic notion underlying Usenet is that it is a cooperative."
9822
9823 Having been on USENET for going on ten years, I disagree with this.
9824 The basic notion underlying USENET is the flame.
9825 -- Chuq Von Rospach
9826 %
9827 One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
9828 %
9829 One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs -- but it is amazing
9830 how many eggs one can break without making a decent omelette.
9831 -- Professor Charles P. Issawi
9832 %
9833 One day the King decided that he would force all his subjects to tell
9834 the truth. A gallows was erected in front of the city gates. A herald
9835 announced, "Whoever would enter the city must first answer the truth to
9836 a question which will be put to him." Nasrudin was first in line. The
9837 captain of the guard asked him, "Where are you going? Tell the truth
9838 -- the alternative is death by hanging." "I am going," said Nasrudin,
9839 "to be hanged on that gallows." "I don't believe you." "Very well, if
9840 I have told a lie, then hang me!" "But that would make it the truth!"
9841 "Exactly," said Nasrudin, "your truth."
9842 %
9843 One difference between a man and a machine is that a machine is quiet
9844 when well oiled.
9845 %
9846 One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they
9847 never have to stop and answer the phone.
9848 %
9849 One is not superior merely because one sees the world as odious.
9850 -- Chateaubriand (1768-1848)
9851 %
9852 One learns to itch where one can scratch.
9853 -- Ernest Bramah
9854 %
9855 One man's brain plus one other will produce one half as many ideas as
9856 one man would have produced alone. These two plus two more will
9857 produce half again as many ideas. These four plus four more begin to
9858 represent a creative meeting, and the ratio changes to one quarter as
9859 many ...
9860 -- Anthony Chevins
9861 %
9862 One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.
9863 %
9864 One monk said to the other, "The fish has flopped out of the net! How
9865 will it live?" The other said, "When you have gotten out of the net,
9866 I'll tell you."
9867 %
9868 One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.
9869 %
9870 One of my less pleasant chores when I was young was to read the Bible
9871 from one end to the other. Reading the Bible straight through is at
9872 least 70 percent discipline, like learning Latin. But the good parts
9873 are, of course, simply amazing. God is an extremely uneven writer, but
9874 when He's good, nobody can touch Him.
9875 -- John Gardner, NYT Book Review, Jan 1983
9876 %
9877 One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to
9878 do and always a clever thing to say.
9879 -- Will Durant
9880 %
9881 One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
9882 lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of
9883 their C programs.
9884 -- Robert Firth
9885 %
9886 One of the oldest problems puzzled over in the Talmud is: "Why did God
9887 create goyim?" The generally accepted answer is "________somebody has to buy
9888 retail."
9889 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
9890 %
9891 One of the questions that comes up all the time is: How
9892 enthusiastic is our support for UNIX?
9893 Unix was written on our machines and for our machines many
9894 years ago. Today, much of UNIX being done is done on our machines.
9895 Ten percent of our VAXs are going for UNIX use. UNIX is a simple
9896 language, easy to understand, easy to get started with. It's great for
9897 students, great for somewhat casual users, and it's great for
9898 interchanging programs between different machines. And so, because of
9899 its popularity in these markets, we support it. We have good UNIX on
9900 VAX and good UNIX on PDP-11s.
9901 It is our belief, however, that serious professional users will
9902 run out of things they can do with UNIX. They'll want a real system and
9903 will end up doing VMS when they get to be serious about programming.
9904 With UNIX, if you're looking for something, you can easily and
9905 quickly check that small manual and find out that it's not there. With
9906 VMS, no matter what you look for -- it's literally a five-foot shelf of
9907 documentation -- if you look long enough it's there. That's the
9908 difference -- the beauty of UNIX is it's simple; and the beauty of VMS
9909 is that it's all there.
9910 -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, 1984
9911 %
9912 One of the rules of Busmanship, New York style, is never surrender your
9913 seat to another passenger. This may seem callous, but it is the best
9914 way, really. If one passenger were to give a seat to someone who
9915 fainted in the aisle, say, the others on the bus would become
9916 disoriented and imagine they were in Topeka, Kansas.
9917 %
9918 The Seventh Commandments for Technicians
9919 Work thou not on energized equipment, for if thou dost, thy
9920 fellow workers will surely buy beers for thy widow and console her in
9921 other ways.
9922 %
9923 The First Commandment for Technicians:
9924 Beware the lightening that lurketh in the undischarged
9925 capacitor, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in a most
9926 untechnician-like manner.
9927 %
9928 One Page Principle:
9929 A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch
9930 paper cannot be understood.
9931 -- Mark Ardis
9932 %
9933 One planet is all you get.
9934 %
9935 One promising concept that I came up with right away was that you could
9936 manufacture personal air bags, then get a law passed requiring that
9937 they be installed on congressmen to keep them from taking trips. Let's
9938 say your congressman was trying to travel to Paris to do a fact-finding
9939 study on how the French government handles diseases transmitted by
9940 sherbet. Just when he got to the plane, his mandatory air bag,
9941 strapped around his waist, would inflate -- FWWAAAAAAPPPP -- thus
9942 rendering him too large to fit through the plane door. It could also
9943 be rigged to inflate whenever the congressman proposed a law. ("Mr.
9944 Speaker, people ask me, why should October be designated as Cuticle
9945 Inspection Month? And I answer that FWWAAAAAAPPPP.") This would save
9946 millions of dollars, so I have no doubt that the public would violently
9947 support a law requiring airbags on congressmen. The problem is that
9948 your potential market is very small: there are only around 500 members
9949 of Congress, and some of them, such as House Speaker "Tip" O'Neil, are
9950 already too large to fit on normal aircraft.
9951 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
9952 %
9953 One reason why George Washington
9954 Is held in such veneration:
9955 He never blamed his problems
9956 On the former Administration.
9957 -- George O. Ludcke
9958 %
9959 One seldom sees a monument to a committee.
9960 %
9961 One thing the inventors can't seem to get the bugs out of is fresh paint.
9962 %
9963 One thing they don't tell you about doing experimental physics is that
9964 sometimes you must work under adverse conditions ... like a state of
9965 sheer terror.
9966 -- W. K. Hartmann
9967 %
9968 One way to make your old car run better is to look up the price of a
9969 new model.
9970 %
9971 One way to stop a runaway horse is to bet on him.
9972 %
9973 One, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned
9974 at the stake while the votes were being counted.
9975 -- Thomas B. Reed
9976 %
9977 One-Shot Case Study, n.:
9978 The scientific equivalent of the four-leaf clover, from which
9979 it is concluded all clovers possess four leaves and are sometimes
9980 green.
9981 %
9982 Only adults have difficulty with childproof caps.
9983 %
9984 Only God can make random selections.
9985 %
9986 Only presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to
9987 use the editorial "we."
9988 %
9989 Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer.
9990 %
9991 Optimization hinders evolution.
9992 %
9993 Oregano, n.:
9994 The ancient Italian art of pizza folding.
9995 %
9996 Oregon, n.:
9997 Eighty billion gallons of water with no place to go on Saturday
9998 night.
9999 %
10000 Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds.
10001 Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl.
10002 -- Mike Adams
10003 %
10004 Osborn's Law:
10005 Variables won't; constants aren't.
10006 %
10007 Others will look to you for stability, so hide when you bite your nails.
10008 %
10009 Our country has plenty of good five-cent cigars, but the trouble is
10010 they charge fifteen cents for them.
10011 %
10012 Our documentation manager was showing her two year old son around the
10013 office. He was introduced to me, at which time he pointed out that we
10014 were both holding bags of popcorn. We were both holding bottles of
10015 juice. But only *__he* had a lollipop.
10016
10017 He asked his mother, "Why doesn't HE have a lollipop?"
10018
10019 Her reply:
10020
10021 "He can have a lollipop any time he wants to. That's what it
10022 means to be a programmer."
10023 %
10024 Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name.
10025 Thy programs run, thy syscalls done,
10026 In kernel as it is in user!
10027 %
10028 Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing.
10029 -- Roy L. Ash, ex-president Litton Industries
10030 %
10031 ... Our second completely true news item was sent to me by Mr. H. Boyce
10032 Connell Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., where he is involved in a law firm. One
10033 thing I like about the South is, folks there care about tradition. If
10034 somebody gets handed a name like "H. Boyce," he hangs on to it, puts it
10035 on his legal stationery, even passes it to his son, rather than do what
10036 a lesser person would do, such as get it changed or kill himself.
10037 -- Dave Barry, "This Column is Nothing but the Truth!"
10038 %
10039 Our vision is to speed up time, eventually eliminating it.
10040 -- Alex Schure
10041 %
10042 Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
10043 -- General Omar N. Bradley
10044 %
10045 OUTCONERR
10046 Twas FORTRAN as the doloop goes
10047 Did logzerneg the ifthen block
10048 All kludgy were the function flows
10049 And subroutines adhoc.
10050
10051 Beware the runtime-bug my friend
10052 squrooneg, the false goto
10053 Beware the infiniteloop
10054 And shun the inprectoo.
10055 %
10056 "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend: and inside a dog,
10057 it's too dark to read."
10058 -- Groucho Marx
10059 %
10060 Over the years, I've developed my sense of deja vu so acutely that now
10061 I can remember things that *have* happened before ...
10062 %
10063 Overdrawn? But I still have checks left!
10064 %
10065 Overflow on /dev/null, please empty the bit bucket.
10066 %
10067 Overload -- core meltdown sequence initiated.
10068 %
10069 Ozman's Laws:
10070 (1) If someone says he will do something "without fail," he
10071 won't.
10072 (2) The more people talk on the phone, the less money they
10073 make.
10074 (3) People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.
10075 (4) Pizza always burns the roof of your mouth.
10076 %
10077 Painting, n.:
10078 The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and
10079 exposing them to the critic.
10080 -- Ambrose Bierce
10081 %
10082 panic: can't find /
10083 %
10084 panic: kernel trap (ignored)
10085 %
10086 Paradise is exactly like where you are right now ... only much, much
10087 better.
10088 -- Laurie Anderson
10089 %
10090 Parallel lines never meet, unless you bend one or both of them.
10091 %
10092 Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life.
10093 %
10094 Paranoid schizophrenics outnumber their enemies at least two to one.
10095 %
10096 Paranoids are people, too; they have their own problems. It's easy to
10097 criticize, but if everybody hated you, you'd be paranoid too.
10098 -- D. J. Hicks
10099 %
10100 Pardo's First Postulate:
10101 Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or
10102 fattening.
10103
10104 Arnold's Addendum:
10105 Everything else causes cancer in rats.
10106 %
10107 Pardon this fortune. Database under reconstruction.
10108 %
10109 Parker's Law:
10110 Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.
10111 %
10112 Parkinson's Fifth Law:
10113 If there is a way to delay in important decision, the good
10114 bureaucracy, public or private, will find it.
10115 %
10116 Parkinson's Fourth Law:
10117 The number of people in any working group tends to increase
10118 regardless of the amount of work to be done.
10119 %
10120 Parsley
10121 is gharsley.
10122 -- Ogden Nash
10123 %
10124 Parts that positively cannot be assembled in improper order will be.
10125 %
10126 Pascal is not a high-level language.
10127 -- Steven Feiner
10128 %
10129 Pascal is Pascal is Pascal is dog meat.
10130 -- M. Devine and P. Larson, Computer Science 340
10131 %
10132 Pascal Users:
10133 To show respect for the 313th anniversary (tomorrow) of the
10134 death of Blaise Pascal, your programs will be run at half speed.
10135 %
10136 Pascal, n.:
10137 A programming language named after a man who would turn over in
10138 his grave if he knew about it.
10139 %
10140 Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
10141 -- Eric Hoffer
10142 %
10143 Patageometry, n.:
10144 The study of those mathematical properties that are invariant
10145 under brain transplants.
10146 %
10147 Paul Revere was a tattle-tale.
10148 %
10149 Paul's Law:
10150 In America, it's not how much an item costs, it's how much you
10151 save.
10152 %
10153 Paul's Law:
10154 You can't fall off the floor.
10155 %
10156 Peace, n.:
10157 In international affairs, a period of cheating between two
10158 periods of fighting.
10159 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
10160 %
10161 Peanut Blossoms
10162
10163 4 cups sugar 16 tbsp. milk
10164 4 cups brown sugar 4 tsp. vanilla
10165 4 cups shortening 14 cups flour
10166 8 eggs 4 tsp. soda
10167 4 cups peanut butter 4 tsp. salt
10168
10169 Shape dough into balls. Roll in sugar and bake on ungreased cookie
10170 sheet at 375 F. for 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with a
10171 Hershey's kiss or star pressing down firmly to crack cookie. Makes a
10172 hell of a lot.
10173 %
10174 Pecor's Health-Food Principle:
10175 Never eat rutabaga on any day of the week that has a "y" in
10176 it.
10177 %
10178 Pedaeration, n.:
10179 The perfect body heat achieved by having one leg under the
10180 sheet and one hanging off the edge of the bed.
10181 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
10182 %
10183 Penguin Trivia #46:
10184 Animals who are not penguins can only wish they were.
10185 -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
10186 %
10187 People need good lies. There are too many bad ones.
10188 -- Bokonon, "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
10189 %
10190 People often find it easier to be a result of the past than a cause of
10191 the future.
10192 %
10193 People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense.
10194 -- Ken Kesey
10195 %
10196 People usually get what's coming to them ... unless it's been mailed.
10197 %
10198 People who are funny and smart and return phone calls get much better
10199 press than people who are just funny and smart.
10200 -- Howard Simons, "The Washington Post"
10201 %
10202 People who claim they don't let little things bother them have never
10203 slept in a room with a single mosquito.
10204 %
10205 People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who
10206 haven't what they want that they don't want it.
10207 -- Ogden Nash
10208 %
10209 People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that
10210 Benjamin Franklin said it first.
10211 %
10212 People will buy anything that's one to a customer.
10213 %
10214 People will do tomorrow what they did today because that is what they
10215 did yesterday.
10216 %
10217 Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.
10218 "Confound those who have said our remarks before us."
10219 -- Aelius Donatus
10220 %
10221 Perfect day for scrubbing the floor and other exciting things.
10222 %
10223 Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
10224 when there is no longer anything to take away.
10225 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
10226 %
10227 Personifiers Unite! You have nothing to lose but Mr. Dignity!
10228 %
10229 Peter's Law of Substitution:
10230 Look after the molehills, and the mountains will look after
10231 themselves.
10232 %
10233 Philadelphia is not dull -- it just seems so because it is next to
10234 exciting Camden, New Jersey.
10235 %
10236 Philogeny recapitulates erogeny; erogeny recapitulates philogeny.
10237 %
10238 Philosophy will clip an angel's wings.
10239 -- John Keats
10240 %
10241 Pick another fortune cookie.
10242 %
10243 Picture the sun as the origin of two intersecting 6-dimensional
10244 hyperplanes from which we can deduce a certain transformational
10245 sequence which gives us the terminal velocity of a rubber duck ...
10246 %
10247 Pig, n.:
10248 An animal (Porcus omnivorous) closely allied to the human race
10249 by the splendor and vivacity of its appetite, which, however, is
10250 inferior in scope, for it balks at pig.
10251 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
10252 %
10253 PISCES (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20)
10254 You have a vivid imagination and often think you are being
10255 followed by the CIA or FBI. You have minor influence over your
10256 associates and people resent your flaunting of your power. You lack
10257 confidence and you are generally a coward. Pisces people do terrible
10258 things to small animals.
10259 %
10260 PISCES (Feb. 19 to Mar. 20)
10261 Take the high road, look for the good things, carry the
10262 American Express card and a weapon. The world is yours today, as
10263 nobody else wants it. Your mortgage will be foreclosed. You will
10264 probably get run over by a bus.
10265 %
10266 Pittsburgh Driver's Test
10267
10268 (7) The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light
10269 but a steady left tail light. This means
10270
10271 (a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn
10272 to call the problem to the driver's attention.
10273 (b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
10274 (c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
10275 (d) the driver is from out of town.
10276
10277 The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
10278 countries to signal turns.
10279 %
10280 Pittsburgh Driver's Test
10281
10282 (8) Pedestrians are
10283
10284 (a) irrelevant.
10285 (b) communists.
10286 (c) a nuisance.
10287 (d) difficult to clean off the front grille.
10288
10289 The correct answer is (a). Pedestrians are not in cars, so they are
10290 totally irrelevant to driving; you should ignore them completely.
10291 %
10292 Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
10293 -- Don Marquis
10294 %
10295 PL/1, "the fatal disease", belongs more to the problem set than to the
10296 solution set.
10297 -- E. W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
10298 %
10299 Plaese porrf raed.
10300 -- Prof. Michael O'Longhlin, S.U.N.Y. Purchase
10301 %
10302 Plato, by the way, wanted to banish all poets from his proposed Utopia
10303 because they were liars. The truth was that Plato knew philosophers
10304 couldn't compete successfully with poets.
10305 -- Kilgore Trout (Philip J. Farmer) "Venus on the Half
10306 Shell"
10307 %
10308 Play Rogue, visit exotic locations, meet strange creatures and kill them.
10309 %
10310 Playing an unamplified electric guitar is like strumming on a picnic table.
10311 -- Dave Barry, "The Snake"
10312 %
10313 Please ignore previous fortune.
10314 %
10315 Please take note:
10316 %
10317 Please try to limit the amount of "this room doesn't have any bazingas"
10318 until you are told that those rooms are "punched out". Once punched
10319 out, we have a right to complain about atrocities, missing bazingas,
10320 and such.
10321 -- N. Meyrowitz
10322 %
10323 Please, won't somebody tell me what diddie-wa-diddie means?
10324 %
10325 Plumbing is one of the easier of do-it-yourself activities,
10326 requiring only a few simple tools and a willingness to stick your arm
10327 into a clogged toilet. In fact, you can solve many home plumbing
10328 problems, such as annoying faucet drip, merely by turning up the
10329 radio. But before we get into specific techniques, let's look at how
10330 plumbing works.
10331 A plumbing system is very much like your electrical system,
10332 except that instead of electricity, it has water, and instead of wires,
10333 it has pipes, and instead of radios and waffle irons, it has faucets
10334 and toilets. So the truth is that your plumbing systems is nothing at
10335 all like your electrical system, which is good, because electricity can
10336 kill you.
10337 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
10338 %
10339 PLUNDERER'S THEME
10340 (to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius)
10341
10342 Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation.
10343 If you do the things we say, then you'll soon rule the nation.
10344 Kill your foes and enemies and then kill your relations.
10345 Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation.
10346 %
10347 Pohl's law:
10348 Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate it.
10349 %
10350 Police: Good evening, are you the host?
10351 Host: No.
10352 Police: We've been getting complaints about this party.
10353 Host: About the drugs?
10354 Police: No.
10355 Host: About the guns, then? Is somebody complaining about the guns?
10356 Police: No, the noise.
10357 Host: Oh, the noise. Well that makes sense because there are no guns
10358 or drugs here. (An enormous explosion is heard in the
10359 background.) Or fireworks. Who's complaining about the noise?
10360 The neighbors?
10361 Police: No, the neighbors fled inland hours ago. Most of the recent
10362 complaints have come from Pittsburgh. Do you think you could
10363 ask the host to quiet things down?
10364 Host: No Problem. (At this point, a Volkswagen bug with primitive
10365 religious symbols drawn on the doors emerges from the living
10366 room and roars down the hall, past the police and onto the
10367 lawn, where it smashes into a tree. Eight guests tumble out
10368 onto the grass, moaning.) See? Things are starting to wind
10369 down.
10370 %
10371 Political T.V. commercials prove one thing: some candidates can tell
10372 all their good points and qualifications in just 30 seconds.
10373 %
10374 Politician, n.:
10375 An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of
10376 organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the
10377 agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared
10378 with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive.
10379 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
10380 %
10381 Politician, n.:
10382 From the Greek "poly" ("many") and the French "tete" ("head" or
10383 "face," as in "tete-a-tete": head to head or face to face). Hence
10384 "polytetien", a person of two or more faces.
10385 -- Martin Pitt
10386 %
10387 Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even
10388 where there is no river.
10389 -- Nikita Khrushchev
10390 %
10391 Politics is like coaching a football team. You have to be smart enough
10392 to understand the game but not smart enough to lose interest.
10393 %
10394 Polymer physicists are into chains.
10395 %
10396 Pope Goestheveezl was the shortest reigning pope in the history of the
10397 Church, reigning for two hours and six minutes on 1 April 1866. The
10398 white smoke had hardly faded into the blue of the Vatican skies before
10399 it dawned on the assembled multitudes in St. Peter's Square that his
10400 name had hilarious possibilities. The crowds fell about, helpless with
10401 laughter, singing
10402
10403 Half a pound of tuppenny rice
10404 Half a pound of treacle
10405 That's the way the chimney smokes
10406 Pope Goestheveezl
10407
10408 The square was finally cleared by armed carabineri with tears of
10409 laughter streaming down their faces. The event set a record for
10410 hilarious civic functions, smashing the previous record set when Baron
10411 Hans Neizant B"ompzidaize was elected Landburgher of K"oln in 1653.
10412 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
10413 %
10414 Portable, adj.:
10415 Survives system reboot.
10416 %
10417 Positive, adj.:
10418 Mistaken at the top of one's voice.
10419 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
10420 %
10421 Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth.
10422 %
10423 Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
10424 -- John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy 1981-1987
10425 %
10426 Power corrupts. And atomic power corrupts atomically.
10427 %
10428 Power, n:
10429 The only narcotic regulated by the SEC instead of the FDA.
10430 %
10431 Practical people would be more practical if they would take a little
10432 more time for dreaming.
10433 -- J. P. McEvoy
10434 %
10435 Predestination was doomed from the start.
10436 %
10437 President Reagan has noted that there are too many economic pundits and
10438 forecasters and has decided on an excess prophets tax.
10439 %
10440 President Thieu says he'll quit if he doesn't get more than 50% of the
10441 vote. In a democracy, that's not called quitting.
10442 -- The Washington Post
10443 %
10444 Pretend to spank me -- I'm a pseudo-masochist!
10445 %
10446 Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning:
10447 It's on the other side.
10448 %
10449 [Prime Minister Joseph] Chamberlain loves the working man -- he loves
10450 to see him work.
10451 -- Winston Churchill
10452 %
10453 Pro is to con as progress is to Congress.
10454 %
10455 Probable-Possible, my black hen,
10456 She lays eggs in the Relative When.
10457 She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now
10458 Because she's unable to postulate how.
10459 -- Frederick Winsor
10460 %
10461 Probably the question asked most often is: Do one-celled animals have
10462 orgasms? The answer is yes, they have orgasms almost constantly, which
10463 is why they don't mind living in pools of warm slime.
10464 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
10465 Teen Should Know"
10466 %
10467 Prof: So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data
10468 encryption standard and they came up with ...
10469 Student: EBCDIC!
10470 %
10471 Professor Gorden Newell threw another shutout in last week's Chem.
10472 Eng. 130 midterm. Once again no student received a single point on
10473 his exam. Newell has now tossed five shutouts this quarter. Newell's
10474 earned exam average has now dropped to a phenomenal 30%
10475 %
10476 Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
10477 build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying
10478 to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
10479 -- Rich Cook
10480 %
10481 Proof techniques #1: Proof by Induction.
10482
10483 This technique is used on equations with "_n" in them. Induction
10484 techniques are very popular; even the military used them.
10485
10486 SAMPLE: Proof of induction without proof of induction.
10487
10488 We know it's true for _n equal to 1. Now assume that it's true
10489 for every natural number less than _n. _N is arbitrary, so we can take _n
10490 as large as we want. If _n is sufficiently large, the case of _n+1 is
10491 trivially equivalent, so the only important _n are _n less than _n. We
10492 can take _n = _n (from above), so it's true for _n+1 because it's just
10493 about _n.
10494 QED. (QED translates from the Latin as "So what?")
10495 %
10496 Proof techniques #2: Proof by Oddity.
10497 SAMPLE: To prove that horses have an infinite number of legs.
10498 (1) Horses have an even number of legs.
10499 (2) They have two legs in back and fore legs in front.
10500 (3) This makes a total of six legs, which certainly is an odd number of
10501 legs for a horse.
10502 (4) But the only number that is both odd and even is infinity.
10503 (5) Therefore, horses must have an infinite number of legs.
10504
10505 Topics to be covered in future issues include proof by:
10506 Intimidation
10507 Gesticulation (handwaving)
10508 "Try it; it works"
10509 Constipation (I was just sitting there and ...)
10510 Blatant assertion
10511 Changing all the 2's to _n's
10512 Mutual consent
10513 Lack of a counterexample, and
10514 "It stands to reason"
10515 %
10516 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
10517
10518 BBW Branch Both Ways
10519 BEW Branch Either Way
10520 BBBF Branch on Bit Bucket Full
10521 BH Branch and Hang
10522 BMR Branch Multiple Registers
10523 BOB Branch On Bug
10524 BPO Branch on Power Off
10525 BST Backspace and Stretch Tape
10526 CDS Condense and Destroy System
10527 CLBR Clobber Register
10528 CLBRI Clobber Register Immediately
10529 CM Circulate Memory
10530 CMFRM Come From -- essential for truly structured programming
10531 CPPR Crumple Printer Paper and Rip
10532 CRN Convert to Roman Numerals
10533 %
10534 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
10535
10536 DC Divide and Conquer
10537 DMPK Destroy Memory Protect Key
10538 DO Divide and Overflow
10539 EMPC Emulate Pocket Calculator
10540 EPI Execute Programmer Immediately
10541 EROS Erase Read Only Storage
10542 EXCE Execute Customer Engineer
10543 HCF Halt and Catch Fire
10544 IBP Insert Bug and Proceed
10545 INSQSW Insert into queue somewhere (for FINO queues [First in never out])
10546 PBC Print and Break Chain
10547 PDSK Punch Disk
10548 %
10549 Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set:
10550
10551 PI Punch Invalid
10552 POPI Punch Operator Immediately
10553 PVLC Punch Variable Length Card
10554 RASC Read And Shred Card
10555 RPM Read Programmers Mind
10556 RSSC reduce speed, step carefully (for improved accuracy)
10557 RTAB Rewind tape and break
10558 RWDSK rewind disk
10559 RWOC Read Writing On Card
10560 SCRBL scribble to disk - faster than a write
10561 SLC Search for Lost Chord
10562 SPSW Scramble Program Status Word
10563 SRSD Seek Record and Scar Disk
10564 STROM Store in Read Only Memory
10565 TDB Transfer and Drop Bit
10566 WBT Water Binary Tree
10567 %
10568 Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller
10569 than the both put together.
10570 %
10571 Psychiatrists say that one out of four people are mentally ill. Check
10572 three friends. If they're OK, you're it.
10573 %
10574 Psychotherapy is the theory that the patient will probably get well
10575 anyhow and is certainly a damn fool.
10576 -- H. L. Mencken
10577 %
10578 Puns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves
10579 to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way
10580 to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the
10581 cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in
10582 fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a
10583 lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of
10584 the first day even if they have plenty of food and water.
10585 -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"
10586 %
10587 Pure drivel tends to drive ordinary drivel off the TV screen.
10588 %
10589 Pushing 40 is exercise enough.
10590 %
10591 Put no trust in cryptic comments.
10592 %
10593 Put your Nose to the Grindstone!
10594 -- Amalgamated Plastic Surgeons and Toolmakers, Ltd.
10595 %
10596 Putt's Law:
10597 Technology is dominated by two types of people:
10598 Those who understand what they do not manage.
10599 Those who manage what they do not understand.
10600 %
10601 Q: Do you know what the death rate around here is?
10602 A: One per person.
10603 %
10604 Q: How did you get into artificial intelligence?
10605 A: Seemed logical -- I didn't have any real intelligence.
10606 %
10607 Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat ?
10608 A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires.
10609 %
10610 Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat?
10611 A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires.
10612
10613 Q: How long does it take?
10614 A: It's indeterminate. It will depend upon how many flats they've
10615 brought with them.
10616
10617 Q: What happens if you've got TWO flats?
10618 A: They replace your generator.
10619 %
10620 Q: How many existentialists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
10621 A: Two. One to screw it in and one to observe how the lightbulb
10622 itself symbolizes a single incandescent beacon of subjective
10623 reality in a netherworld of endless absurdity reaching out toward a
10624 maudlin cosmos of nothingness.
10625 %
10626 Q: How many heterosexual males does it take to screw in a light bulb
10627 in San Francisco?
10628 A: Both of them.
10629 %
10630 Q: How many IBM cpu's does it take to do a logical right shift?
10631 A: 33. 1 to hold the bits and 32 to push the register.
10632 %
10633 Q: How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a job?
10634 A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.
10635 %
10636 Q: How many IBM types does it take to change a light bulb?
10637 A: 100. Ten to do it, and 90 to write document number GC7500439-0001,
10638 Multitasking Incandescent Source System Facility, of which 10% of
10639 the pages state only "This page intentionally left blank", and 20%
10640 of the definitions are of the form "A ...... consists of sequences
10641 of non-blank characters separated by blanks".
10642 %
10643 Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
10644 A: Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring
10645 light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government
10646 plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer
10647 prize for reporting that Electric Company hired a lightbulb
10648 assassin to break the bulb in the first place.
10649 %
10650 Q: How many Martians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
10651 A: One and a half.
10652 %
10653 Q: How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
10654 A: One. He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem
10655 to the earlier joke.
10656 %
10657 Q: How many Oregonians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
10658 A: Three. One to screw in the lightbulb and two to fend off all those
10659 Californians trying to share the experience.
10660 %
10661 Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
10662 A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub
10663 with brightly colored machine tools.
10664 %
10665 Q: How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
10666 A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master stays out
10667 of the way.
10668 %
10669 Q: What's a light-year?
10670 A: One-third less calories than a regular year.
10671 %
10672 Q: Why did the tachyon cross the road?
10673 A: Because it was on the other side.
10674 %
10675 Q: Why do ducks have flat feet?
10676 A: To stamp out forest fires.
10677
10678 Q: Why do elephants have flat feet?
10679 A: To stamp out flaming ducks.
10680 %
10681 Q: Why do mountain climbers rope themselves together?
10682 A: To prevent the sensible ones from going home.
10683 %
10684 Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What
10685 should I do?
10686
10687 A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on
10688 believing that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be
10689 the only one to make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No
10690 time to lose, so certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if
10691 somebody else has made the correction.
10692
10693 And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're
10694 the only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have
10695 to inform the whole net right away!
10696
10697 -- Brad Templeton, "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions
10698 on Netiquette"
10699 %
10700 Quality Control, n.:
10701 The process of testing one out of every 1,000 units coming off
10702 a production line to make sure that at least one out of 100 works.
10703 %
10704 Question:
10705 Man Invented Alcohol,
10706 God Invented Grass.
10707 Who do you trust?
10708 %
10709 Quick!! Act as if nothing has happened!
10710 %
10711 Quick, sing me the BUDAPEST NATIONAL ANTHEM!!
10712 %
10713 Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
10714
10715 (Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.)
10716 %
10717 Quigley's Law:
10718 Whoever has any authority over you, no matter how small, will
10719 atttempt to use it.
10720 %
10721 QUOTE OF THE DAY:
10722
10723 `
10724
10725 %
10726 Qvid me anxivs svm?
10727 %
10728 QWERT (kwirt), n. [MW < OW qwertyuiop, a thirteenth]:
10729 1. a unit of weight equal to 13 poiuyt avoirdupois (or 1.69
10730 kiloliks), commonly used in structural engineering; 2. [colloq.] one
10731 thirteenth the load that a fully grown sligo can carry; 3. [anat.] a
10732 painful irritation of the dermis in the region of the anus; 4. [slang]
10733 person who excites in others the symptoms of a qwert.
10734 -- Webster's Middle World Dictionary, 4th ed.
10735 %
10736 Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives.
10737 %
10738 Rattling around the back of my head is a disturbing image of something
10739 I saw at the airport ... Now I'm remembering, those giant piles of
10740 computer magazines right next to "People" and "Time" in the airport
10741 store. Does it bother anyone else that half the world is being told
10742 all of our hard-won secrets of computer technology? Remember how all
10743 the lawyers cried foul when "How to Avoid Probate" was published? Are
10744 they taking no-fault insurance lying down? No way! But at the current
10745 rate it won't be long before there are stacks of the "Transactions on
10746 Information Theory" at the A&P checkout counters. Who's going to be
10747 impressed with us electrical engineers then? Are we, as the saying
10748 goes, giving away the store?
10749 -- Robert W. Lucky, IEEE President
10750 %
10751 Ray's Rule of Precision:
10752 Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe.
10753 %
10754 Razors pain you;
10755 Rivers are damp;
10756 Acids stain you;
10757 And drugs cause cramp.
10758 Guns aren't lawful;
10759 Nooses give;
10760 Gas smells awful;
10761 You might as well live.
10762 -- Dorothy Parker, "Resume", 1926
10763 %
10764 Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to describe
10765 the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described
10766 with pictures.
10767 %
10768 Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of
10769 Congress. But I repeat myself.
10770 -- Mark Twain
10771 %
10772 Real computer scientists admire ADA for its overwhelming aesthetic
10773 value but they find it difficult to actually program in it, as it is
10774 much too large to implement. Most computer scientists don't notice
10775 this because they are still arguing over what else to add to ADA.
10776 %
10777 Real computer scientists despise the idea of actual hardware. Hardware
10778 has limitations, software doesn't. It's a real shame that Turing
10779 machines are so poor at I/O.
10780 %
10781 Real computer scientists don't comment their code. The identifiers are
10782 so long they can't afford the disk space.
10783 %
10784 Real computer scientists don't program in assembler. They don't write
10785 in anything less portable than a number two pencil.
10786 %
10787 Real computer scientists don't write code. They occasionally tinker
10788 with `programming systems', but those are so high level that they
10789 hardly count (and rarely count accurately; precision is for
10790 applications.)
10791 %
10792 Real computer scientists only write specs for languages that might run
10793 on future hardware. Nobody trusts them to write specs for anything homo
10794 sapiens will ever be able to fit on a single planet.
10795 %
10796 Real programmers disdain structured programming. Structured
10797 programming is for compulsive neurotics who were prematurely toilet-
10798 trained. They wear neckties and carefully line up pencils on otherwise
10799 clear desks.
10800 %
10801 Real programmers don't bring brown-bag lunches. If the vending machine
10802 doesn't sell it, they don't eat it. Vending machines don't sell
10803 quiche.
10804 %
10805 Real programmers don't comment their code. It was hard to write, it
10806 should be hard to understand.
10807 %
10808 Real programmers don't draw flowcharts. Flowcharts are, after all, the
10809 illiterate's form of documentation. Cavemen drew flowcharts; look how
10810 much good it did them.
10811 %
10812 Real Programmers don't play tennis, or any other sport that requires
10813 you to change clothes. Mountain climbing is OK, and real programmers
10814 wear their climbing boots to work in case a mountain should suddenly
10815 spring up in the middle of the machine room.
10816 %
10817 Real programmers don't write in BASIC. Actually, no programmers write
10818 in BASIC after reaching puberty.
10819 %
10820 Real programmers don't write in FORTRAN. FORTRAN is for pipe stress
10821 freaks and crystallography weenies. FORTRAN is for wimp engineers who
10822 wear white socks.
10823 %
10824 Real Programmers don't write in PL/I. PL/I is for programmers who
10825 can't decide whether to write in COBOL or FORTRAN.
10826 %
10827 Real Programmers think better when playing Adventure or Rogue.
10828 %
10829 Real Programs don't use shared text. Otherwise, how can they use
10830 functions for scratch space after they are finished calling them?
10831 %
10832 Real software engineers don't debug programs, they verify correctness.
10833 This process doesn't necessarily involve execution of anything on a
10834 computer, except perhaps a Correctness Verification Aid package.
10835 %
10836 Real software engineers don't like the idea of some inexplicable and
10837 greasy hardware several aisles away that may stop working at any
10838 moment. They have a great distrust of hardware people, and wish that
10839 systems could be virtual at *___all* levels. They would like personal
10840 computers (you know no one's going to trip over something and kill your
10841 DFA in mid-transit), except that they need 8 megabytes to run their
10842 Correctness Verification Aid packages.
10843 %
10844 Real software engineers work from 9 to 5, because that is the way the
10845 job is described in the formal spec. Working late would feel like
10846 using an undocumented external procedure.
10847 %
10848 Real Time, adj.:
10849 Here and now, as opposed to fake time, which only occurs there
10850 and then.
10851 %
10852 Real Users are afraid they'll break the machine -- but they're never
10853 afraid to break your face.
10854 %
10855 Real Users find the one combination of bizarre input values that shuts
10856 down the system for days.
10857 %
10858 Real Users hate Real Programmers.
10859 %
10860 Real Users know your home telephone number.
10861 %
10862 Real Users never know what they want, but they always know when your
10863 program doesn't deliver it.
10864 %
10865 Real Users never use the Help key.
10866 %
10867 Real World, The n.:
10868 1. In programming, those institutions at which programming may
10869 be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG, IBM, etc. 2. To
10870 programmers, the location of non-programmers and activities not related
10871 to programming. 3. A universe in which the standard dress is shirt and
10872 tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5.
10873 4. The location of the status quo. 5. Anywhere outside a university.
10874 "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real world." Used
10875 pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking
10876 of someone who has entered the real world is not unlike talking about a
10877 deceased person.
10878 %
10879 Reality is a cop-out for people who can't handle drugs.
10880 %
10881 Reality is an obstacle to hallucination.
10882 %
10883 Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?
10884 -- Patrick Sky
10885 %
10886 Reality is for people who lack imagination.
10887 %
10888 Reality is for those who can't face Science Fiction.
10889 %
10890 Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity.
10891 -- Alvy Ray Smith
10892 %
10893 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away"
10894 -- Philip K. Dick
10895 %
10896 Really ?? What a coincidence, I'm shallow too!!
10897 %
10898 Receiving a million dollars tax free will make you feel better than
10899 being flat broke and having a stomach ache.
10900 -- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
10901 %
10902 Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you
10903 lose your job. These economic downturns are very difficult to predict,
10904 but sophisticated econometric modeling houses like Data Resources and
10905 Chase Econometrics have successfully predicted 14 of the last 3
10906 recessions.
10907 %
10908 Reclaimer, spare that tree!
10909 Take not a single bit!
10910 It used to point to me,
10911 Now I'm protecting it.
10912 It was the reader's CONS
10913 That made it, paired by dot;
10914 Now, GC, for the nonce,
10915 Thou shalt reclaim it not.
10916 %
10917 "Reflections on Ice-Breaking"
10918 Candy
10919 Is dandy
10920 But liquor
10921 Is quicker.
10922 -- Ogden Nash
10923 %
10924 "Reintegration complete," ZORAC advised. "We're back in the universe
10925 again ..." An unusually long pause followed, "... but I don't know
10926 which part. We seem to have changed our position in space." A
10927 spherical display in the middle of the floor illuminated to show the
10928 starfield surrounding the ship.
10929
10930 "Several large, artificial constructions are approaching us," ZORAC
10931 announced after a short pause. "The designs are not familiar, but they
10932 are obviously the products of intelligence. Implications: we have been
10933 intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and
10934 transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown.
10935 Apart from the unknowns, everything is obvious."
10936 -- James P. Hogan, "Giants Star"
10937 %
10938 Reisner's Rule of Conceptual Inertia:
10939 If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
10940 %
10941 Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin.
10942 -- Anatole France
10943 %
10944 Rembrandt's first name was Beauregard, which is why he never used it.
10945 -- Dave Barry
10946 %
10947 Remember that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be
10948 worse in Cleveland.
10949 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
10950 %
10951 Remember, drive defensively! And of course, the best defense is a good
10952 offense!
10953 %
10954 Remember, even if you win the rat race -- you're still a rat.
10955 %
10956 Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU.
10957 %
10958 Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.
10959 -- Dave Butler
10960 %
10961 Renning's Maxim:
10962 Man is the highest animal. Man does the classifying.
10963 %
10964 Reporter (to Mahatma Gandhi): Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western
10965 Civilization?
10966 Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.
10967 %
10968 Reporter, n.:
10969 A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a
10970 tempest of words.
10971 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
10972 %
10973 REPORTER: Senator, are you for or against the MX missile system?
10974
10975 SENATOR: Bob, the MX missile system reminds me of an old saying that
10976 the country folk in my state like to say. It goes like this: "You can
10977 carry a pig for six miles, but if you set it down it might run away."
10978 I have no idea why the country folk say this. Maybe there's some kind
10979 of chemical pollutant in their drinking water. That is why I pledge to
10980 do all that I can to protect the environment of this great nation of
10981 ours, and put prayer back in the schools, where it belongs. What we
10982 need is jobs, not empty promises. I realize I'm risking my political
10983 career be being so outspoken on a sensitive issue such as the MX, but
10984 that's just the kind of straight-talking honest person I am, and I
10985 can't help it.
10986 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
10987 %
10988 Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
10989 -- Wernher von Braun
10990 %
10991 Resisting temptation is easier when you think you'll probably get
10992 another chance later on.
10993 %
10994 Review Questions
10995
10996 (1) If Nerd on the planet Nutley starts out in his spaceship at 20 KPH,
10997 and his speed doubles every 3.2 seconds, how long will it be before
10998 he exceeds the speed of light? How long will it be before the
10999 Galactic Patrol picks up the pieces of his spaceship?
11000
11001 (2) If Roger Rowdy wrecks his car every week, and each week he breaks
11002 twice as many bones as before, how long will it be before he breaks
11003 every bone in his body? How long will it be before they cut off
11004 his insurance? Where does he get a new car every week?
11005
11006 (3) If Johnson drinks one beer the first hour (slow start), four beers
11007 the next hour, nine beers the next, etc., and stacks the cans in a
11008 pyramid, how soon will Johnson's pyramid be larger than King
11009 Tut's? When will it fall on him? Will he notice?
11010 %
11011 Rhode's Law:
11012 When any principle, law, tenet, probability, happening,
11013 circumstance, or result can in no way be directly, indirectly,
11014 empirically, or circuitously proven, derived, implied, inferred,
11015 induced, deducted, estimated, or scientifically guessed, it will always
11016 for the purpose of convenience, expediency, political advantage,
11017 material gain, or personal comfort, or any combination of the above, or
11018 none of the above, be unilaterally and unequivocally assumed,
11019 proclaimed, and adhered to as absolute truth to be undeniably,
11020 universally, immutably, and infinitely so, until such time as it
11021 becomes advantageous to assume otherwise, maybe.
11022 %
11023 Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
11024 -- Steven Wright
11025 %
11026 Rocky's Lemma of Innovation Prevention
11027 Unless the results are known in advance, funding agencies will
11028 reject the proposal.
11029 %
11030 Romeo wasn't bilked in a day.
11031 -- Walt Kelly, "Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo"
11032 %
11033 ROMEO: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
11034 MERCUTIO: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-
11035 door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
11036 %
11037 Rudin's Law:
11038 If there is a wrong way to do something, most people will do it
11039 every time.
11040 %
11041 Rule 46, Oxford Union Society, London:
11042 Any member introducing a dog into the Society's premises shall
11043 be liable to a fine of one pound. Any animal leading a blind person
11044 shall be deemed to be a cat.
11045 %
11046 Rule of Creative Research:
11047 (1) Never draw what you can copy.
11048 (2) Never copy what you can trace.
11049 (3) Never trace what you can cut out and paste down.
11050 %
11051 Rule of Defactualization:
11052 Information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies.
11053 %
11054 Rule of Feline Frustration:
11055 When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly
11056 content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom.
11057 %
11058 Rule of the Great:
11059 When people you greatly admire appear to be thinking deep
11060 thoughts, they probably are thinking about lunch.
11061 %
11062 Rules for Academic Deans:
11063 (1) HIDE!!!!
11064 (2) If they find you, LIE!!!!
11065 -- Father Damian C. Fandal
11066 %
11067 Rules for driving in New York:
11068 (1) Anything done while honking your horn is legal.
11069 (2) You may park anywhere if you turn your four-way flashers
11070 on.
11071 (3) A red light means the next six cars may go through the
11072 intersection.
11073 %
11074 RULES OF EATING -- THE BRONX DIETER'S CREED
11075 (1) Never eat on an empty stomach.
11076 (2) Never leave the table hungry.
11077 (3) When traveling, never leave a country hungry.
11078 (4) Enjoy your food.
11079 (5) Enjoy your companion's food.
11080 (6) Really taste your food. It may take several portions to
11081 accomplish this, especially if subtly seasoned.
11082 (7) Really feel your food. Texture is important. Compare,
11083 for example, the texture of a turnip to that of a
11084 brownie. Which feels better against your cheeks?
11085 (8) Never eat between snacks, unless it's a meal.
11086 (9) Don't feel you must finish everything on your plate. You
11087 can always eat it later.
11088 (10) Avoid any wine with a childproof cap.
11089 (11) Avoid blue food.
11090 -- Richard Smith, "The Bronx Diet"
11091 %
11092 Rules:
11093 (1) The boss is always right.
11094 (2) When the boss is wrong, refer to rule 1.
11095 %
11096 Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence
11097 Tip #1: How to tell when you are dead.
11098
11099 (1) Little things start bothering you: little things like worms, bugs,
11100 ants.
11101 (2) Something is missing in your personal relationships.
11102 (3) Your dog becomes overly affectionate.
11103 (4) You have a hard time getting a waiter.
11104 (5) Exotic birds flock around you.
11105 (6) People ignore you at parties.
11106 (7) You have a hard time getting up in the morning.
11107 (8) You no longer get off on cocaine.
11108 %
11109 Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence
11110 (1) Never use an elevator in a building that has been hit by a nuclear
11111 bomb; use the stairs.
11112 (2) When you're flying through the air, remember to roll when you hit
11113 the ground.
11114 (3) If you're on fire, avoid gasoline and other flammable materials.
11115 (4) Don't attempt communication with dead people; it will only lead to
11116 psychological problems.
11117 (5) Food will be scarce; you will have to scavenge. Learn to
11118 recognize foods that will be available after the bomb: mashed
11119 potatoes, shredded wheat, tossed salad, ground beef, etc.
11120 (6) Put your hand over your mouth when you sneeze; internal organs
11121 will be scarce in the post-nuclear age.
11122 (7) Try to be neat; fall only in designated piles.
11123 (8) Drive carefully in "Heavy Fallout" areas; people could be
11124 staggering illegally.
11125 (9) Nutritionally, hundred dollar bills are equal to ones, but more
11126 sanitary due to limited circulation.
11127 (10) Accumulate mannequins now; spare parts will be in short supply on
11128 D-Day.
11129 %
11130 SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
11131 You are optimistic and enthusiastic. You have a reckless
11132 tendency to rely on luck since you lack talent. The majority
11133 of Sagittarians are drunks or dope fiends or both. People
11134 laugh at you a great deal.
11135 %
11136 San Francisco isn't what it used to be, and it never was.
11137 -- Herb Caen
11138 %
11139 San Francisco, n.:
11140 Marcel Proust editing an issue of Penthouse.
11141 %
11142 Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind.
11143 -- Mark Harrold
11144 %
11145 Santa Claus wears a Red Suit,
11146 He must be a communist.
11147 And a beard and long hair,
11148 Must be a pacifist.
11149
11150 What's in that pipe that he's smoking?
11151 -- Arlo Guthrie
11152 %
11153 Satellite Safety Tip #14:
11154 If you see a bright streak in the sky coming at you, duck.
11155 %
11156 Sattinger's Law:
11157 It works better if you plug it in.
11158 %
11159 Saturday night in Toledo Ohio,
11160 Is like being nowhere at all,
11161 All through the day how the hours rush by,
11162 You sit in the park and you watch the grass die.
11163 -- John Denver, "Saturday Night in Toledo Ohio"
11164 %
11165 Sauron is alive in Argentina!
11166 %
11167 Save energy: be apathetic.
11168 %
11169 Save the Whales -- Harpoon a Honda.
11170 %
11171 Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
11172 %
11173 Saw a sign on a restaurant that said Breakfast, any time -- so I
11174 ordered French Toast in the Renaissance.
11175 -- Steven Wright
11176 %
11177 SCCS, the source motel! Programs check in and never check out!
11178 -- Ken Thompson
11179 %
11180 Schapiro's Explanation:
11181 The grass is always greener on the other side -- but that's
11182 because they use more manure.
11183 %
11184 Schizophrenia beats being alone.
11185 %
11186 Schlattwhapper, n.:
11187 The window shade that allows itself to be pulled down,
11188 hesitates for a second, then snaps up in your face.
11189 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
11190 %
11191 Schnuffel, n.:
11192 A dog's practice of continuously nuzzling in your crotch in
11193 mixed company.
11194 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
11195 %
11196 Schwiggle, n.:
11197 The amusing rotation of one's bottom while sharpening a
11198 pencil.
11199 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
11200 %
11201 Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made
11202 of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts
11203 is not necessarily science.
11204 -- Henri Poincair'e
11205 %
11206 Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
11207 %
11208 Scientists are people who build the Brooklyn Bridge and then buy it.
11209 -- William Buckley
11210
11211 %
11212 SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21)
11213 You are shrewd in business and cannot be trusted. You will
11214 achieve the pinnacle of success because of your total lack of
11215 ethics. Most Scorpio people are murdered.
11216 %
11217 Scott's first Law:
11218 No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right.
11219 %
11220 Scott's second Law:
11221 When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found
11222 to have been wrong in the first place.
11223
11224 Corollary:
11225 After the correction has been found in error, it will be
11226 impossible to fit the original quantity back into the equation.
11227 %
11228 Scotty: Captain, we din' can reference it!
11229 Kirk: Analysis, Mr. Spock?
11230 Spock: Captain, it doesn't appear in the symbol table.
11231 Kirk: Then it's of external origin?
11232 Spock: Affirmative.
11233 Kirk: Mr. Sulu, go to pass two.
11234 Sulu: Aye aye, sir, going to pass two.
11235 %
11236 Screw up your courage! You've screwed up everything else.
11237 %
11238 Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the
11239 Presidency.
11240 -- Richard Nixon
11241 %
11242 Second Law of Business Meetings:
11243 If there are two possible ways to spell a person's name, you
11244 will pick the wrong one.
11245
11246 Corollary:
11247 If there is only one way to spell a name, you will spell it
11248 wrong, anyway.
11249 %
11250 Section 2.4.3.5 AWNS (Acceptor Wait for New Cycle State).
11251 In AWNS the AH function indicates that it has received a
11252 multiline message byte.
11253 In AWNS the RFD message must be sent false and the DAC message
11254 must be sent passive true.
11255 The AH function must exit the AWNS and enter:
11256 (1) The ANRS if DAV is false
11257 (2) The AIDS if the ATN message is false and neither:
11258 (a) The LADS is active
11259 (b) Nor LACS is active
11260
11261 -- from the IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
11262 Programmable Instrumentation
11263 %
11264 Security check: INTRUDER ALERT!
11265 %
11266 Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.
11267 She scissored short. Sorely shorn,
11268 Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,
11269 Silently scheming,
11270 Sightlessly seeking
11271 Some savage, spectacular suicide.
11272 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
11273 %
11274 See - the thing is - I'm an absolutist. I mean, kind of ... in a way ...
11275 %
11276 Seleznick's Theory of Holistic Medicine:
11277 Ice Cream cures all ills.
11278 %
11279 Self Test for Paranoia:
11280 You know you have it when you can't think of anything that's
11281 your own fault.
11282 %
11283 Seminars, n.:
11284 From "semi" and "arse", hence, any half-assed discussion.
11285 %
11286 Sen. Danforth: "There is nothing on the face of the album which would
11287 notify you if the record has pornographic material or
11288 material glorifying violence?"
11289 Tipper Gore: "No, there is nothing that would suggest that to me."
11290 Frank Zappa: "I would say that a buzz saw blade between the guy's
11291 legs on the album cover is good indication that it's
11292 not for little Johnny."
11293
11294 -- The Senate Commerce Committee hearing on rock
11295 lyrics, from The Village Voice, 6 Oct 1985
11296 %
11297 Senate, n.:
11298 A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and
11299 misdemeanors.
11300 -- Ambrose Bierce
11301 %
11302 Serenity through viciousness.
11303 %
11304 Serocki's Stricture:
11305 Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
11306 %
11307 Serving coffee on aircraft causes turbulence.
11308 %
11309 "Seven years and six months!" Humpty Dumpty repeated
11310 thoughtfully. "An uncomfortable sort of age. Now if you'd asked MY
11311 advice, I'd have said `Leave off at seven' -- but it's too late now."
11312 "I never ask advice about growing," Alice said indignantly.
11313 "Too proud?" the other enquired.
11314 Alice felt even more indignant at this suggestion. "I mean,"
11315 she said, "that one can't help growing older."
11316 "ONE can't, perhaps," said Humpty Dumpty; "but TWO can. With
11317 proper assistance, you might have left off at seven."
11318 -- Lewis Carroll
11319 %
11320 Several years ago, some smart businessmen had an idea: Why not build a
11321 big store where a do-it-yourselfer could get everything he needed at
11322 reasonable prices? Then they decided, nah, the hell with that, let's
11323 build a home center. And before long home centers were springing up
11324 like crabgrass all over the United States.
11325 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
11326 %
11327 Sex is a natural bodily process, like a stroke.
11328 %
11329 Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer.
11330 -- Swami X
11331 %
11332 Sex is the mathematics urge sublimated.
11333 -- M. C. Reed.
11334 %
11335 Sex without love is an empty experience, but, as empty experiences go,
11336 it's one of the best.
11337 -- Woody Allen
11338 %
11339 Shamus, n. [Yiddish]:
11340 A shamus is a guy who takes care of handyman tasks around the
11341 temple, and makes sure everything is in working order.
11342 A shamus is at the bottom of the pecking order of synagogue
11343 functionaries, and there's a joke about that:
11344 A rabbi, to show his humility before God, cries out in the
11345 middle of a service, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" The cantor, not to be
11346 bested, also cries out, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!"
11347 The shamus, deeply moved, follows suit and cries, "Oh, Lord, I
11348 am nobody!" The rabbi turns to the cantor and says, "Look who thinks
11349 he's nobody!"
11350 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
11351 %
11352 Sharks are as tough as those football fans who take their shirts off
11353 during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent.
11354 -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every
11355 Teen Should Know"
11356 %
11357 Shaw's Principle:
11358 Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will
11359 want to use it.
11360 %
11361 She is descended from a long line that her mother listened to.
11362 -- Gypsy Rose Lee
11363 %
11364 She is not refined. She is not unrefined. She keeps a parrot.
11365 -- Mark Twain
11366 %
11367 She liked him; he was a man of many qualities, even if most of them
11368 were bad.
11369 %
11370 She missed an invaluable opportunity to give him a look that you could
11371 have poured on a waffle ...
11372 %
11373 She said, `I know you ... you cannot sing'. I said, `That's nothing,
11374 you should hear me play piano.'
11375 -- Morrisey
11376 %
11377 She's genuinely bogus.
11378 %
11379 Sherry [Thomas Sheridan] is dull, naturally dull; but it must have
11380 taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an
11381 excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
11382 -- Samuel Johnson
11383 %
11384 SHIFT TO THE LEFT! SHIFT TO THE RIGHT!
11385 POP UP, PUSH DOWN, BYTE, BYTE, BYTE!
11386 %
11387 Show me a man who is a good loser and I'll show you a man who is
11388 playing golf with his boss.
11389 %
11390 Show respect for age. Drink good Scotch for a change.
11391 %
11392 Signs of crime: screaming or cries for help.
11393 -- from the Brown University Security Crime Prevention Pamphlet
11394 %
11395 Silverman's Law:
11396 If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
11397 %
11398 Simon's Law:
11399 Everything put together falls apart sooner or later.
11400 %
11401 Since I hurt my pendulum
11402 My life is all erratic.
11403 My parrot, who was cordial,
11404 Is now transmitting static.
11405 The carpet died, a palm collapsed,
11406 The cat keeps doing poo.
11407 The only thing that keeps me sane
11408 Is talking to my shoe.
11409 -- My Shoe
11410 %
11411 Since we have to speak well of the dead, let's knock them while they're
11412 alive.
11413 -- John Sloan
11414 %
11415 Since we're all here, we must not be all there.
11416 -- Bob "Mountain" Beck
11417 %
11418 [Sir Stafford Cripps] has all the virtues I dislike and none of the
11419 vices I admire.
11420 -- Winston Churchill
11421 %
11422 Sixtus V, Pope from 1585 to 1590 authorized a printing of the Vulgate
11423 Bible. Taking no chances, the pope issued a papal bull automatically
11424 excommunicating any printer who might make an alteration in the text.
11425 This he ordered printed at the beginning of the Bible. He personally
11426 examined every sheet as it came off the press. Yet the published
11427 Vulgate Bible contained so many errors that corrected scraps had to be
11428 printed and pasted over them in every copy. The result provoked wry
11429 comments on the rather patchy papal infallibility, and Pope Sixtus had
11430 no recourse but to order the return and destruction of every copy.
11431 %
11432 Skinner's Constant (or Flannagan's Finagling Factor):
11433 That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to,
11434 or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should
11435 have gotten.
11436 %
11437 Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes
11438 to work.
11439 %
11440 Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work ... I did not,
11441 when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those rude, and
11442 apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle, so that I
11443 neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a
11444 tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension: they
11445 were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of
11446 souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a
11447 testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from
11448 chains.
11449 -- Frederick Douglass
11450 %
11451 Slick's Three Laws of the Universe:
11452 (1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad
11453 check.
11454 (2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat.
11455 (3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is
11456 attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is
11457 attracted to dark objects.
11458 %
11459 Slowly and surely the unix crept up on the Nintendo user ...
11460 %
11461 Slurm, n.:
11462 The slime that accumulates on the underside of a soap bar when
11463 it sits in the dish too long.
11464 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
11465 %
11466 Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.
11467 -- Fletcher Knebel
11468 %
11469 Snacktrek, n.:
11470 The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly
11471 returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have
11472 materialized.
11473 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
11474 %
11475 So as your consumer electronics adviser, I am advising you to donate
11476 your current VCR to a grate resident, who will laugh sardonically and
11477 hurl it into a dumpster. Then I want you to go out and purchase a vast
11478 array of 8-millimeter video equipment.
11479
11480 ... OK! Got everything? Well, *too bad, sucker*, because while you
11481 were gone the electronics industry came up with an even newer format
11482 that makes your 8-millimeter VCR look as technologically advanced as
11483 toenail dirt. This format is called "3.5 hectare" and it will not be
11484 made available until it is outmoded, sometime early next week, by a
11485 format called "Elroy", so *order yours now*.
11486 -- Dave Barry, "No Surrender in the Electronics
11487 Revolution"
11488 %
11489 So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in
11490 praise of intelligence.
11491 -- Bertrand Russell
11492 %
11493 ... so long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those
11494 who wish to tyranize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent,
11495 and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious
11496 and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
11497 -- Voltarine de Cleyre
11498 %
11499 So Richard and I decided to try to catch [the small shark].
11500 With a great deal of strategy and effort and shouting, we managed to
11501 maneuver the shark, over the course of about a half-hour, to a sort of
11502 corner of the lagoon, so that it had no way to escape other than to
11503 flop up onto the land and evolve. Richard and I were inching toward
11504 it, sort of crouched over, when all of a sudden it turned around and --
11505 I can still remember the sensation I felt at that moment, primarily in
11506 the armpit area -- headed right straight toward us.
11507 Many people would have panicked at this point. But Richard and
11508 I were not "many people." We were experienced waders, and we kept our
11509 heads. We did exactly what the textbook says you should do when you're
11510 unarmed and a shark that is nearly two feet long turns on you in water
11511 up to your lower calves: We sprinted I would say 600 yards in the
11512 opposite direction, using a sprinting style such that the bottoms of
11513 our feet never once went below the surface of the water. We ran all
11514 the way to the far shore, and if we had been in a Warner Brothers
11515 cartoon we would have run right INTO the beach, and you would have seen
11516 these two mounds of sand racing across the island until they bonked
11517 into trees and coconuts fell onto their heads.
11518 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
11519 %
11520 So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf to make an apple
11521 pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street pops
11522 its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died, and she very
11523 imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies,
11524 and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top,
11525 and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the
11526 gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.
11527 -- Samuel Foote
11528 %
11529 ... So the documentary-makers stick with sharks. Generally, their
11530 procedure is to scatter bleeding fish pieces around their boat, so as
11531 to infest the waters. I would estimate that the primary food source of
11532 sharks today is bleeding fish pieces scattered by people making
11533 documentaries. Once the sharks arrive, they are generally fairly
11534 listless. The general shark attitude seems to be: "Oh God, another
11535 documentary." So the divers have to somehow goad them into attacking,
11536 under the guise of Scientific Research. "We know very little about the
11537 effect of electricity on sharks," the narrator will say, in a deeply
11538 scientific voice. "That is why Todd is going to jab this Great White
11539 in the testicles with a cattle prod." The divers keep this kind of
11540 thing up until the shark finally gets irritated and snaps at them, and
11541 then they act as though this was a totally unexpected and very
11542 dangerous development, although clearly it is what they wanted all
11543 along.
11544 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
11545 %
11546 So, what's with this guy Gideon, anyway?
11547 And why can't he ever remember his Bible?
11548 %
11549 Sodd's Second Law:
11550 Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is
11551 bound to occur.
11552 %
11553 Software, n.:
11554 Formal evening attire for female computer analysts.
11555 %
11556 Some don't prefer the pursuit of happiness to the happiness of pursuit.
11557 %
11558 Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them.
11559 -- Ed Howe
11560 %
11561 Some of you ... may have decided that, this year, you're going to
11562 celebrate it the old-fashioned way, with your family sitting around
11563 stringing cranberries and exchanging humble, handmade gifts, like on
11564 "The Waltons". Well, you can forget it. If everybody pulled that kind
11565 of subversive stunt, the economy would collapse overnight. The
11566 government would have to intervene: it would form a cabinet-level
11567 Department of Holiday Gift-Giving, which would spend billions and
11568 billions of tax dollars to buy Barbie dolls and electronic games, which
11569 it would drop on the populace from Air Force jets, killing and maiming
11570 thousands. So, for the good of the nation, you should go along with
11571 the Holiday Program. This means you should get a large sum of money
11572 and go to a mall.
11573 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
11574 %
11575 Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some
11576 people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
11577 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
11578 %
11579 Some people have a way about them that seems to say: "If I have only
11580 one life to live, let me live it as a jerk."
11581 %
11582 Some people in this department wouldn't recognize subtlety if it hit
11583 them on the head.
11584 %
11585 Some people live life in the fast lane. You're in oncoming traffic.
11586 %
11587 Some performers on television appear to be horrible people, but when
11588 you finally get to know them in person, they turn out to be even
11589 worse.
11590 -- Avery
11591 %
11592 Some points to remember [about animals]:
11593
11594 (1) Don't go to sleep under big animals, e.g., elephants, rhinoceri,
11595 hippopotamuses;
11596 (2) Don't put animals with sharp teeth or poisonous fangs down the
11597 front of your clothes;
11598 (3) Don't pat certain animals, e.g., crocodiles and scorpions or dogs
11599 you have just kicked.
11600 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
11601 %
11602 Some primal termite knocked on wood.
11603 And tasted it, and found it good.
11604 And that is why your Cousin May
11605 Fell through the parlor floor today.
11606 -- Ogden Nash
11607 %
11608 Some programming languages manage to absorb change but withstand
11609 progress.
11610 %
11611 Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand
11612 progress.
11613 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
11614 %
11615 Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the
11616 pens will multiply instead of disappear.
11617 %
11618 Someone will try to honk your nose today.
11619 %
11620 Sometimes I simply feel that the whole world is a cigarette and I'm
11621 the only ashtray.
11622 %
11623 Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
11624 -- Lily Tomlin
11625 %
11626 "Somewhere", said Father Vittorini, "did Blake not speak of the
11627 Machineries of Joy? That is, did not God promote environments, then
11628 intimidate these Natures by provoking the existence of flesh, toy men
11629 and women, such as are we all? And thus happily sent forth, at our
11630 best, with good grace and fine wit, on calm noons, in fair climes, are
11631 we not God's Machineries of Joy?"
11632
11633 "If Blake said that", said Father Brian, "he never lived in Dublin."
11634 -- R. Bradbury, "The Machineries of Joy"
11635 %
11636 Somewhere, just out of sight, the unicorns are gathering.
11637 %
11638 Song Title of the Week:
11639 "They're putting dimes in the hole in my head to see the change
11640 in me."
11641 %
11642 Sooner or later you must pay for your sins.
11643 (Those who have already paid may disregard this fortune).
11644 %
11645 Sorry, no fortune this time.
11646 %
11647 Sorry. I forget what I was going to say.
11648 %
11649 Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-
11650 bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the
11651 road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space.
11652 -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
11653 %
11654 Spare no expense to save money on this one.
11655 -- Samuel Goldwyn
11656 %
11657 Spark's Sixth Rule for Managers:
11658 If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as
11659 if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the question
11660 back at him.
11661 %
11662 Speak roughly to your little boy,
11663 And beat him when he sneezes:
11664 He only does it to annoy
11665 Because he knows it teases.
11666
11667 Wow! wow! wow!
11668
11669 I speak severely to my boy,
11670 And beat him when he sneezes:
11671 For he can thoroughly enjoy
11672 The pepper when he pleases!
11673
11674 Wow! wow! wow!
11675 -- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"
11676 %
11677 Speak roughly to your little VAX,
11678 And boot it when it crashes;
11679 It knows that one cannot relax
11680 Because the paging thrashes!
11681
11682 Wow! Wow! Wow!
11683
11684 I speak severely to my VAX,
11685 And boot it when it crashes;
11686 In spite of all my favorite hacks
11687 My jobs it always thrashes!
11688
11689 Wow! Wow! Wow!
11690 %
11691 Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword.
11692 %
11693 Speak softly and own a big, mean Doberman.
11694 -- Dave Millman
11695 %
11696 Speaking as someone who has delved into the intricacies of PL/I, I am
11697 sure that only Real Men could have written such a machine-hogging,
11698 cycle-grabbing, all-encompassing monster. Allocate an array and free
11699 the middle third? Sure! Why not? Multiply a character string times a
11700 bit string and assign the result to a float decimal? Go ahead! Free a
11701 controlled variable procedure parameter and reallocate it before
11702 passing it back? Overlay three different types of variable on the same
11703 memory location? Anything you say! Write a recursive macro? Well,
11704 no, but Real Men use rescan. How could a language so obviously
11705 designed and written by Real Men not be intended for Real Man use?
11706 %
11707 Speaking of Godzilla and other things that convey horror:
11708
11709 With a purposeful grimace and a Mongo-like flair
11710 He throws the spinning disk drives in the air!
11711 And he picks up a Vax and he throws it back down
11712 As he wades through the lab making terrible sounds!
11713 Helpless users with projects due
11714 Scream "My God!" as he stomps on the tape drives, too!
11715
11716 Oh, no! He says Unix runs too slow! Go, go, DECzilla!
11717 Oh, yes! He's gonna bring up VMS! Go, go, DECzilla!"
11718
11719 * VMS is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation
11720 * DECzilla is a trademark of Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death, Inc.
11721 -- Curtis Jackson
11722 %
11723 Speaking of love, one problem that recurs more and more frequently
11724 these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people
11725 to communicate with the people they love; Husbands and wives who can't
11726 communicate, children who can't communicate with their parents, and so
11727 on. And the characters in these books and plays and so on (and in real
11728 life, I might add) spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can't
11729 communicate. I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very _____least
11730 he can do is to Shut Up!
11731 -- Tom Lehrer, "That Was the Year that Was"
11732 %
11733 Speed is subsittute fo accurancy.
11734 %
11735 Speer's 1st Law of Proofreading:
11736 The visibility of an error is inversely proportional to the
11737 number of times you have looked at it.
11738 %
11739 Spelling is a lossed art.
11740 %
11741 Spend extra time on hobby. Get plenty of rolling papers.
11742 %
11743 Spirtle, n.:
11744 The fine stream from a grapefruit that always lands right in
11745 your eye.
11746 -- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
11747 %
11748 Spouse, n.:
11749 Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you
11750 wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.
11751 %
11752 Star Wars is adolescent nonsense; Close Encounters is obscurantist
11753 drivel; Star Trek can turn your brains to pur'ee of bat guano; and the
11754 greatest science fiction series of all time is Doctor Who! And I'll
11755 take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it up!
11756 -- Harlan Ellison
11757 %
11758 Stay away from flying saucers today.
11759 %
11760 Stay away from hurricanes for a while.
11761 %
11762 Stealing a rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly.
11763 %
11764 Steele's Plagiarism of Somebody's Philosophy:
11765 Everybody should believe in something -- I believe I'll have
11766 another drink.
11767 %
11768 Steinbach's Guideline for Systems Programming:
11769 Never test for an error condition you don't know how to
11770 handle.
11771 %
11772 Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you.
11773 %
11774 Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you.
11775 Now, if they'd only take a bath ...
11776 %
11777 Stult's Report:
11778 Our problems are mostly behind us. What we have to do now is
11779 fight the solutions.
11780 %
11781 Stupid, n.:
11782 Losing $25 on the game and $25 on the instant replay.
11783 %
11784 Stupidity got us into this mess -- why can't it get us out?
11785 %
11786 Sturgeon's Law:
11787 90% of everything is crud.
11788 %
11789 Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your
11790 editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
11791 -- Mark Twain
11792 %
11793 Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way
11794 before it is understood.
11795 %
11796 Succumb to natural tendencies. Be hateful and boring.
11797 %
11798 Suddenly, Professor Liebowitz realizes he has come to the seminar
11799 without his duck ...
11800 %
11801 (Sung to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA)
11802
11803 To code the impossible code,
11804 To bring up a virgin machine,
11805 To pop out of endless recursion,
11806 To grok what appears on the screen,
11807
11808 To right the unrightable bug,
11809 To endlessly twiddle and thrash,
11810 To mount the unmountable magtape,
11811 To stop the unstoppable crash!
11812 %
11813 Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!
11814 %
11815 Support wildlife -- vote for an orgy.
11816 %
11817 Support your local police force -- steal!!
11818 %
11819 Support your local Search and Rescue unit -- get lost.
11820 %
11821 Sure he's sharp as a razor ... he's a two-dimensional pinhead!
11822 %
11823 Surprise due today. Also the rent.
11824 %
11825 Surprise your boss. Get to work on time.
11826 %
11827 Surprise! You are the lucky winner of random I.R.S. Audit! Just type
11828 in your name and social security number. Please remember that leaving
11829 the room is punishable under law:
11830
11831 Name #
11832
11833
11834 %
11835 Swahili, n.:
11836 The language used by the National Enquirer to print their retractions.
11837 -- Johnny Hart
11838 %
11839 Sweater, n.:
11840 A garment worn by a child when its mother feels chilly.
11841 %
11842 Swipple's Rule of Order:
11843 He who shouts the loudest has the floor.
11844 %
11845 Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
11846 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
11847 %
11848 System/3! System/3!
11849 See how it runs! See how it runs!
11850 Its monitor loses so totally!
11851 It runs all its programs in RPG!
11852 It's made by our favorite monopoly!
11853 System/3!
11854 %
11855 Systems have sub-systems and sub-systems have sub-systems and so on ad
11856 infinitum -- which is why we're always starting over.
11857 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
11858 %
11859 _
11860 _ / \ o
11861 / \ | | o o o
11862 | | | | _ o o o o
11863 | \_| | / \ o o o
11864 \__ | | | o o
11865 | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
11866 | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
11867 | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
11868 | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
11869 | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
11870 | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
11871 | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
11872 // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
11873 // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
11874 //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
11875
11876 Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
11877 start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
11878 then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the
11879 music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
11880 -- H.S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
11881 %
11882 T: One big monster, he called TROLL.
11883 He don't rock, and he don't roll;
11884 Drink no wine, and smoke no stogies.
11885 He just Love To Eat Them Roguies.
11886 -- The Roguelet's ABC
11887 %
11888 Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a
11889 hole in his head.
11890 %
11891 Tact, n.:
11892 The unsaid part of what you're thinking.
11893 %
11894 Take everything in stride. Trample anyone who gets in your way.
11895 %
11896 Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting
11897 enough cheese.
11898 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
11899 %
11900 Take it easy, we're in a hurry.
11901 %
11902 Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man, but it
11903 needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.
11904 -- Kipling
11905 %
11906 Take the folks at Coca-Cola. For many years, they were content to sit
11907 back and make the same old carbonated beverage. It was a good
11908 beverage, no question about it; generations of people had grown up
11909 drinking it and doing the experiment in sixth grade where you put a
11910 nail into a glass of Coke and after a couple of days the nail dissolves
11911 and the teacher says: "Imagine what it does to your TEETH!" So
11912 Coca-Cola was solidly entrenched in the market, and the management saw
11913 no need to improve ...
11914 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
11915 %
11916 Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to
11917 your execution is not generally understood by less advanced life forms,
11918 and they'll call you crazy.
11919 -- "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul"
11920 %
11921 Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
11922 -- Euripides
11923 %
11924 Talkers are no good doers.
11925 -- William Shakespeare, "Henry VI"
11926 %
11927 Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
11928 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
11929 %
11930 TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20)
11931 You are practical and persistent. You have a dogged
11932 determination and work like hell. Most people think you are
11933 stubborn and bull headed. You are a Communist.
11934 %
11935 Tax reform means "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind
11936 the tree."
11937 -- Russell Long
11938 %
11939 Taxes are going up so fast, the government is likely to price itself
11940 out of the market.
11941 %
11942 Taxes, n.:
11943 Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get
11944 an extension.
11945 %
11946 Teach children to be polite and courteous in the home, and, when they
11947 grows up, they will never be able to edge their car onto a freeway.
11948 %
11949 Teamwork is essential -- it allows you to blame someone else.
11950 %
11951 Technological progress has merely provided us
11952 with more efficient means for going backwards.
11953 -- Aldous Huxley
11954 %
11955 Telephone, n.:
11956 An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
11957 advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
11958 -- Ambrose Bierce
11959 %
11960 Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
11961 Is those things arms, or is they legs?
11962 I marvel at thee, Octopus;
11963 If I were thou, I'd call me us.
11964 -- Ogden Nash
11965 %
11966 Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop
11967 writing.
11968 -- R. Geis
11969 %
11970 Terence, this is stupid stuff:
11971 You eat your victuals fast enough;
11972 There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,
11973 To see the rate you drink your beer.
11974 But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
11975 It gives a chap the belly-ache.
11976 The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
11977 It sleeps well the horned head:
11978 We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
11979 To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
11980 Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
11981 Your friends to death before their time.
11982 Moping, melancholy mad:
11983 Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad.
11984 -- A. E. Housman
11985 %
11986 Termiter's argument that God is His own grandmother generated a
11987 surprising amount of controversy among Church leaders, who on the one
11988 hand considered the argument unsupported by scripture but on the other
11989 hand were unwilling to risk offending God's grandmother.
11990 -- Len Cool, "American Pie"
11991 %
11992 Tertullian was born in Carthage somewhere about 160 A.D. He was a
11993 pagan, and he abandoned himself to the lascivious life of his city
11994 until about his 35th year, when he became a Christian .... To him is
11995 ascribed the sublime confession: Credo quia absurdum est (I believe
11996 because it is absurd). This does not altogether accord with historical
11997 fact, for he merely said:
11998
11999 "And the Son of God died, which is immediately credible because
12000 it is absurd. And buried he rose again, which is certain
12001 because it is impossible."
12002
12003 Thanks to the acuteness of his mind, he saw through the poverty of
12004 philosophical and Gnostic knowledge, and contemptuously rejected it.
12005 -- C. G. Jung, in Psychological Types
12006
12007 (Tertullian was one of the founders of the Catholic Church).
12008 %
12009 Test-tube babies shouldn't throw stones.
12010 %
12011 Texas law forbids anyone to have a pair of pliers in his possession.
12012 %
12013 Text processing has made it possible to right-justify any idea, even
12014 one which cannot be justified on any other grounds.
12015 -- J. Finnegan, USC.
12016 %
12017 Thank goodness modern convenience is a thing of the remote future.
12018 -- Pogo, by Walt Kelly
12019 %
12020 That boy's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver.
12021 -- Foghorn Leghorn
12022 %
12023 That must be wonderful! I don't understand it at all.
12024 -- Moliere
12025 %
12026 That secret you've been guarding, isn't.
12027 %
12028 That woman speaks eight languages and can't say "no" in any of them.
12029 -- Dorothy Parker
12030 %
12031 The 80's -- when you can't tell hairstyles from chemotherapy.
12032 %
12033 The [Ford Foundation] is a large body of money completely surrounded by
12034 people who want some.
12035 -- Dwight MacDonald
12036 %
12037 The Abrams' Principle:
12038 The shortest distance between two points is off the wall.
12039 %
12040 The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper
12041 -- Thomas Jefferson
12042 %
12043 The Advertising Agency Song:
12044
12045 When your client's hopping mad,
12046 Put his picture in the ad.
12047 If he still should prove refractory,
12048 Add a picture of his factory.
12049 %
12050 The algorithm to do that is extremely nasty. You might want to mug
12051 someone with it.
12052 -- M. Devine, Computer Science 340
12053 %
12054 ... The Anarchists' [national] anthem is an international anthem that
12055 consists of 365 raspberries blown in very quick succession to the tune
12056 of "Camptown Races". Nobody has to stand up for it, nobody has to
12057 listen to it, and, even better, nobody has to play it.
12058 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
12059 %
12060 The Arkansas legislature passed a law that states that the Arkansas
12061 River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little
12062 Rock.
12063 %
12064 The Army has carried the American ... ideal to its logical conclusion.
12065 Not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed
12066 and color, but also on ability.
12067 -- T. Lehrer
12068 %
12069 The Army needs leaders the way a foot needs a big toe.
12070 -- Bill Murray
12071 %
12072 The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use
12073 in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the
12074 Declaration not for that, but for future use.
12075 -- Abraham Lincoln
12076 %
12077 The average income of the modern teenager is about 2 a.m.
12078 %
12079 The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the
12080 average man can see better than he can think.
12081 %
12082 The bad reputation UNIX has gotten is totally undeserved, laid on by
12083 people who don't understand, who have not gotten in there and tried
12084 anything.
12085 -- Jim Joyce, owner of Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore
12086 %
12087 The basic idea behind malls is that they are more convenient than
12088 cities. Cities contain streets, which are dangerous and crowded and
12089 difficult to park in. Malls, on the other hand, have parking lots,
12090 which are also dangerous and crowded and difficult to park in, but --
12091 here is the big difference -- in mall parking lots, THERE ARE NO
12092 RULES. You're allowed to do anything. You can drive as fast as you
12093 want in any direction you want. I was once driving in a mall parking
12094 lot when my car was struck by a pickup truck being driven backward by a
12095 squat man with a tattoo that said "Charlie" on his forearm, who got out
12096 and explained to me, in great detail, why the accident was my fault,
12097 his reasoning being that he was violent and muscular, whereas I was
12098 neither. This kind of reasoning is legally valid in mall parking
12099 lots.
12100 -- Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"
12101 %
12102 The basic menu item, in fact the ONLY menu item, would be a food unit
12103 called the "patty," consisting of -- this would be guaranteed in
12104 writing -- "100 percent animal matter of some kind." All patties would
12105 be heated up and then cooled back down in electronic devices
12106 immediately before serving. The Breakfast Patty would be a patty on a
12107 bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, egg, Ba-Ko-Bits, Cheez Whiz, a Special
12108 Sauce made by pouring ketchup out of a bottle and a little slip of
12109 paper stating: "Inspected by Number 12". The Lunch or Dinner Patty
12110 would be any Breakfast Patties that didn't get sold in the morning.
12111 The Seafood Lover's Patty would be any patties that were starting to
12112 emit a serious aroma. Patties that were too rank even to be Seafood
12113 Lover's Patties would be compressed into wads and sold as "Nuggets."
12114 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
12115 %
12116 The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland";
12117 but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
12118 %
12119 The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
12120 -- W. C. Fields
12121 %
12122 The best defense against logic is ignorance.
12123 %
12124 The best thing about growing older is that it takes such a long time.
12125 %
12126 "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and
12127 blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails.
12128 You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at
12129 night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only
12130 love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or
12131 know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only
12132 one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what
12133 wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust,
12134 never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never
12135 dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a
12136 lot of things there are to learn."
12137 -- T.H. White, "The Once and Future King"
12138 %
12139 The best way to make a fire with two sticks is to make sure one of them
12140 is a match.
12141 -- Will Rogers
12142 %
12143 The bigger the theory the better.
12144 %
12145 The biggest difference between time and space is that you can't reuse
12146 time.
12147 -- Merrick Furst
12148 %
12149 The birds are singing, the flowers are budding, and it is time for Miss
12150 Manners to tell young lovers to stop necking in public.
12151
12152 It's not that Miss Manners is immune to romance. Miss Manners has been
12153 known to squeeze a gentleman's arm while being helped over a curb, and,
12154 in her wild youth, even to press a dainty slipper against a foot or two
12155 under the dinner table. Miss Manners also believes that the sight of
12156 people strolling hand in hand or arm in arm or arm in hand dresses up a
12157 city considerably more than the more familiar sight of people shaking
12158 umbrellas at one another. What Miss Manners objects to is the kind of
12159 activity that frightens the horses on the street ...
12160 %
12161 The bland leadeth the bland and they both shall fall into the kitsch.
12162 %
12163 The bogosity meter just pegged.
12164 %
12165 The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up
12166 in the morning, and does not stop until you get to school.
12167 %
12168 The Briggs/Chase Law of Program Development:
12169 To determine how long it will take to write and debug a
12170 program, take your best estimate, multiply that by two, add one, and
12171 convert to the next higher units.
12172 %
12173 The buffalo isn't as dangerous as everyone makes him out to be.
12174 Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in
12175 automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo.
12176 -- Art Buchwald
12177 %
12178 The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding
12179 bureaucracy.
12180 %
12181 The C Programming Language -- A language which combines the
12182 flexibility and power of assembly language with the readability
12183 of assembly language.
12184 %
12185 The camel has a single hump;
12186 The dromedary two;
12187 Or else the other way around.
12188 I'm never sure. Are you?
12189 -- Ogden Nash
12190 %
12191 The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly
12192 greater than that of any other animals. Some of their most esteemed
12193 inventions have no other apparent purpose, for example, the dinner
12194 party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics.
12195 -- H. L. Mencken
12196 %
12197 The chain which can be yanked is not the eternal chain.
12198 -- G. Fitch
12199 %
12200 The chicken that clucks the loudest is the one most likely to show up
12201 at the steam fitters' picnic.
12202 %
12203 The chief cause of problems is solutions.
12204 -- Eric Sevareid
12205 %
12206 The chief danger in life is that you may take too may precautions.
12207 -- Alfred Adler
12208 %
12209 The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I will
12210 walk carefully.
12211 -- Russian Proverb
12212 %
12213 The climate of Bombay is such that its inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
12214 %
12215 The Computer made me do it.
12216 %
12217 The computing field is always in need of new cliches.
12218 -- Alan Perlis
12219 %
12220 The confusion of a staff member is measured by the length of his
12221 memos.
12222 -- New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981
12223 %
12224 The conservation movement is a breeding ground of Communists and other
12225 subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up
12226 every bird watcher in the country.
12227 -- John Mitchell, Atty. General 1969-1972
12228 %
12229 The Consultant's Curse:
12230 When the customer has beaten upon you long enough, give him
12231 what he asks for, instead of what he needs. This is very strong
12232 medicine, and is normally only required once.
12233 %
12234 The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it is
12235 none of my business, but --" is to place a period after the word "but."
12236 Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period.
12237 Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you
12238 talked about.
12239 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
12240 %
12241 The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.
12242 %
12243 The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going down.
12244 %
12245 The cow is nothing but a machine which makes grass fit for us people to
12246 eat.
12247 -- John McNulty
12248 %
12249 The Crown is full of it!
12250 -- Nate Harris, 1775
12251 %
12252 The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should
12253 therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could
12254 hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be admitted, rulers have only to
12255 declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny ... In war,
12256 then, as in peace, assert the freedom of speech and of the press.
12257 Cling to this as the bulwark of all our rights and privileges.
12258 -- William Ellery Channing
12259 %
12260 The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.
12261 %
12262 The day-to-day travails of the IBM programmer are so amusing to most of
12263 us who are fortunate enough never to have been one -- like watching
12264 Charlie Chaplin trying to cook a shoe.
12265 %
12266 The debate rages on: Is PL/I Bachtrian or Dromedary?
12267 %
12268 The devil finds work for idle circuits to do.
12269 %
12270 The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell
12271 into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him
12272 out again, it would be a calamity.
12273 -- Benjamin Disraeli
12274 %
12275 The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science
12276 requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship.
12277 -- Robert Heinlein
12278 %
12279 The distinction between Jewish and goyish can be quite subtle, as the
12280 following quote from Lenny Bruce illustrates:
12281
12282 "I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish.
12283 Eddie Cantor's goyish. The B'nai Brith is goyish. The Hadassah is
12284 Jewish. Marine Corps -- heavy goyish, dangerous.
12285 "Kool-Aid is goyish. All Drake's Cakes are goyish.
12286 Pumpernickel is Jewish and, as you know, white bread is very goyish.
12287 Instant potatoes -- goyish. Black cherry soda's very Jewish.
12288 Macaroons are ____very Jewish. Fruit salad is Jewish. Lime Jell-O is
12289 goyish. Lime soda is ____very goyish. Trailer parks are so goyish that
12290 Jews won't go near them ..."
12291 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
12292 %
12293 The District of Columbia has a law forbidding you to exert pressure on
12294 a balloon and thereby cause a whistling sound on the streets.
12295 %
12296 The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man
12297 really clever who has not found that he is stupid.
12298 -- Gilbert K. Chesterson
12299 %
12300 The duck hunter trained his retriever to walk on water. Eager to show
12301 off this amazing accomplishment, he asked a friend to go along on his
12302 next hunting trip. Saying nothing, he fired his first shot and, as the
12303 duck fell, the dog walked on the surface of the water, retrieved the
12304 duck and returned it to his master.
12305 "Notice anything?" the owner asked eagerly.
12306 "Yes," said his friend, "I see that fool dog of yours can't swim."
12307 %
12308 The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in late
12309 and owns the worm farm.
12310 -- Travis McGee
12311 %
12312 The earth is like a tiny grain of sand, only much, much heavier.
12313 %
12314 The easiest way to figure the cost of living is to take your income and
12315 add ten percent.
12316 %
12317 The economy depends about as much on economists as the weather does on
12318 weather forecasters.
12319 -- Jean-Paul Kauffmann
12320 %
12321 The eleventh commandment was `Thou Shalt Compute' or `Thou Shalt Not
12322 Compute' -- I forget which.
12323 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
12324 %
12325 The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of
12326 civilization.
12327 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
12328 %
12329 The end of the world will occur at 3:00 p.m., this Friday, with
12330 symposium to follow.
12331 %
12332 The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach
12333 their children to speak it.
12334 -- G. B. Shaw
12335 %
12336 The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is evidence of a
12337 remarkable Christian forbearance among men.
12338 -- Ambrose Bierce
12339 %
12340 The fact that it works is immaterial.
12341 -- L. Ogborn
12342 %
12343 The faster we go, the rounder we get.
12344 -- The Grateful Dead
12345 %
12346 The Fifth Rule:
12347 You have taken yourself too seriously.
12348 %
12349 The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.
12350 -- Abbie Hoffman
12351 %
12352 The first Great Steward, Parrafin the Climber, was employed in King
12353 Chloroplast's kitchen as second scullery boy when the old King met a
12354 tragic death. He apparently fell backward by accident on a dozen salad
12355 forks. Simultaneously the true heir, his son Carotene, mysteriously
12356 fled the city, complaining of some sort of plot and a lot of
12357 threatening notes left on his breakfast tray. At the time, this looked
12358 suspicious what with his father's death, and Carotene was suspected of
12359 foul play. Then the rest of the King's relatives began to drop dead
12360 one after the other in an odd fashion. Some were found strangled with
12361 dishrags and some succumbed to food poisoning. A few were found
12362 drowned in the soup vats, and one was attacked by assailants unknown
12363 and beaten to death with a pot roast. At least three appear to have
12364 thrown themselves backward on salad forks, perhaps in a noble gesture
12365 of grief over the King's untimely end. Finally there was no one left
12366 in Minas Troney who was either eligible or willing to wear the accursed
12367 crown, and the rule of Twodor was up for grabs. The scullery slave
12368 Parrafin bravely accepted the Stewardship of Twodor until that day when
12369 a lineal descendant of Carotene's returns to reclaim his rightful
12370 throne, conquer Twodor's enemies, and revamp the postal system.
12371 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
12372 %
12373 The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of
12374 management is that success equals skill.
12375 -- Robert Heller
12376 %
12377 The first riddle I ever heard, one familiar to almost every Jewish
12378 child, was propounded to me by my father:
12379 "What is it that hangs on the wall, is green, wet -- and
12380 whistles?"
12381 I knit my brow and thought and thought, and in final perplexity
12382 gave up.
12383 "A herring," said my father.
12384 "A herring," I echoed. "A herring doesn't hang on the wall!"
12385 "So hang it there."
12386 "But a herring isn't green!" I protested.
12387 "Paint it."
12388 "But a herring isn't wet."
12389 "If it's just painted it's still wet."
12390 "But -- " I sputtered, summoning all my outrage, "-- a herring
12391 doesn't whistle!!"
12392 "Right, " smiled my father. "I just put that in to make it
12393 hard."
12394 -- Leo Rosten, "The Joys of Yiddish"
12395 %
12396 The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your
12397 hands and hoping when a rock or a club will do.
12398 -- McCloctnik the Lucid
12399 %
12400 The First Rule of Program Optimization:
12401 Don't do it.
12402
12403 The Second Rule of Program Optimization (for experts only!):
12404 Don't do it yet.
12405 -- Michael Jackson
12406 %
12407 The first time, it's a KLUDGE!
12408 The second, a trick.
12409 Later, it's a well-established technique!
12410 -- Mike Broido, Intermetrics
12411 %
12412 The following quote is from page 4-27 of the MSCP Basic Disk Functions
12413 Manual which is part of the UDA50 Programmers Doc Kit manuals:
12414
12415 As stated above, the host area of a disk is structured as a vector of
12416 logical blocks. From a performance viewpoint, however, it is more
12417 appropriate to view the host area as a four dimensional hyper-cube, the
12418 four dimensions being cylinder, group, track, and sector.
12419 . . .
12420 Referring to our hyper-cube analogy, the set of potentially accessible
12421 blocks form a line parallel to the track axis. This line moves
12422 parallel to the sector axis, wrapping around when it reaches the edge
12423 of the hyper-cube.
12424 %
12425 The fortune program is supported, in part, by user contributions and by
12426 a major grant from the National Endowment for the Inanities.
12427 %
12428 The four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl.
12429 -- Dave Barry
12430 %
12431 The full impact of parenthood doesn't hit you until you multiply the
12432 number of your kids by 32 teeth.
12433 %
12434 The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to
12435 chance.
12436 %
12437 The gentlemen looked one another over with microscopic carelessness.
12438 %
12439 The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the
12440 center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South
12441 Boston which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South
12442 End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End.
12443 %
12444 The giraffe you thought you offended last week is willing to be nuzzled
12445 today.
12446 %
12447 The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at
12448 least until we've finished building it.
12449 %
12450 The goal of science is to build better mousetraps.
12451 The goal of nature is to build better mice.
12452 %
12453 The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines. They gave him
12454 love and he invented marriage.
12455 %
12456 THE GOLDEN RULE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
12457 The one who has the gold makes the rules.
12458 %
12459 The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who
12460 make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians
12461 have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine
12462 man in the bonds of Hell.
12463 -- St. Augustine
12464 %
12465 The good die young -- because they see it's no use living if you've got
12466 to be good.
12467 %
12468 "The Good Ship Enterprise" (to the tune of "The Good Ship Lollipop")
12469
12470 On the good ship Enterprise
12471 Every week there's a new surprise
12472 Where the Romulans lurk
12473 And the Klingons often go berserk.
12474
12475 Yes, the good ship Enterprise
12476 There's excitement anywhere it flies
12477 Where Tribbles play
12478 And Nurse Chapel never gets her way.
12479
12480 See Captain Kirk standing on the bridge,
12481 Mr. Spock is at his side.
12482 The weekly menace, ooh-ooh
12483 It gets fried, scattered far and wide.
12484
12485 It's the good ship Enterprise
12486 Heading out where danger lies
12487 And you live in dread
12488 If you're wearing a shirt that's red.
12489 -- Doris Robin and Karen Trimble of The L.A. Filkharmonics
12490 %
12491 The government [is] extremely fond of amassing great quantities of
12492 statistics. These are raised to the _nth degree, the cube roots are
12493 extracted, and the results are arranged into elaborate and impressive
12494 displays. What must be kept ever in mind, however, is that in every
12495 case, the figures are first put down by a village watchman, and he puts
12496 down anything he damn well pleases.
12497 -- Sir Josiah Stamp
12498 %
12499 The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all
12500 who have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature.
12501 -- Benjamin Franklin.
12502 %
12503 The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog:
12504 The Great Bald Swamp Hedgehog of Billericay displays, in
12505 courtship, his single prickle and does impressions of Holiday Inn desk
12506 clerks. Since this means him standing motionless for enormous periods
12507 of time he is often eaten in full display by The Great Bald Swamp
12508 Hedgehog Eater.
12509 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
12510 %
12511 The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men
12512 of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
12513 -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis
12514 %
12515 The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
12516 -- Albert Einstein
12517 %
12518 The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue, a
12519 custom whereof the memory of man runneth not howsomever to the
12520 contrary, nohow.
12521 %
12522 The Heineken Uncertainty Principle:
12523 You can never be sure how many beers you had last night.
12524 %
12525 The herd instinct among economists makes sheep look like independent
12526 thinkers.
12527 %
12528 The hieroglyphics are all unreadable except for a notation on the back,
12529 which reads "Genuine authentic Egyptian papyrus. Guaranteed to be at
12530 least 5000 years old."
12531 %
12532 The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for
12533 lists of "Ten Best".
12534 -- H. Allen Smith
12535 %
12536 The human brain is like an enormous fish -- it is flat and slimy and
12537 has gills through which it can see.
12538 -- Monty Python
12539 %
12540 The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its
12541 capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system.
12542 %
12543 The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange
12544 protein -- it rejects it.
12545 -- P. Medawar
12546 %
12547 The human race has been fascinated by sharks for as long as I can
12548 remember. Just like the bluebird feeding its young, or the spider
12549 struggling to weave its perfect web, or the buttercup blooming in
12550 spring, the shark reveals to us yet another of the infinite and
12551 wonderful facets of nature, namely the facet that it can bite your head
12552 off. This causes us humans to feel a certain degree of awe.
12553 -- Dave Barry, "The Wonders of Sharks on TV"
12554 %
12555 The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
12556 -- Mark Twain
12557 %
12558 The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
12559 procession but carrying a banner.
12560 -- Mark Twain
12561 %
12562 The idea is to die young as late as possible.
12563 -- Ashley Montague
12564 %
12565 The idea there was that consumers would bring their broken electronic
12566 devices, such as television sets and VCR's, to the destruction centers,
12567 where trained personnel would whack them (the devices) with
12568 sledgehammers. With their devices thus permanently destroyed,
12569 consumers would then be free to go out and buy new devices, rather than
12570 have to fritter away years of their lives trying to have the old ones
12571 repaired at so-called "factory service centers," which in fact consist
12572 of two men named Lester poking at the insides of broken electronic
12573 devices with cheap cigars and going, "Lookit all them WIRES in there!"
12574 -- Dave Barry, "'Mister Mediocre' Restaurants"
12575 %
12576 The identical is equal to itself, since it is different.
12577 -- Franco Spisani
12578 %
12579 The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer.
12580 -- Henry Kissinger
12581 %
12582 The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf
12583 has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know
12584 when it's through if you are a crook or a martyr.
12585 -- Will Rogers
12586 %
12587 The individual choice of garnishment of a burger can be an important
12588 point to the consumer in this day when individualism is an increasingly
12589 important thing to people.
12590 -- Donald N. Smith, president of Burger King
12591 %
12592 The intelligence of any discussion diminishes with the square of the
12593 number of participants.
12594 -- Adam Walinsky
12595 %
12596 The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided
12597 by the number of people in the group.
12598 %
12599 The IRS spends God knows how much of your tax money on these toll-free
12600 information hot lines staffed by IRS employees, whose idea of a
12601 dynamite tax tip is that you should print neatly. If you ask them a
12602 real tax question, such as how you can cheat, they're useless.
12603
12604 So, for guidance, you want to look to big business. Big business never
12605 pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big
12606 consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes...
12607 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
12608 %
12609 The Kennedy Constant:
12610 Don't get mad -- get even.
12611 %
12612 The Killer Ducks are coming!!!
12613 %
12614 The ladies men admire, I've heard,
12615 Would shudder at a wicked word.
12616 Their candle gives a single light;
12617 They'd rather stay at home at night.
12618 They do not keep awake till three,
12619 Nor read erotic poetry.
12620 They never sanction the impure,
12621 Nor recognize an overture.
12622 They shrink from powders and from paints ...
12623 So far, I've had no complaints.
12624 -- Dorothy Parker
12625 %
12626 The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much better with a
12627 word processor," I replied, "They used to say the same thing about
12628 drugs."
12629 -- Roy Blount, Jr.
12630 %
12631 The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the
12632 law free.
12633 -- Henry David Thoreau
12634 %
12635 The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the
12636 poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal
12637 bread.
12638 -- Anatole France
12639 %
12640 The lawgiver, of all beings, most owes the law allegiance. He of all
12641 men should behave as though the law compelled him. But it is the
12642 universal weakness of mankind that what we are given to administer we
12643 presently imagine we own.
12644 -- H.G. Wells
12645 %
12646 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #10: SIMPLE
12647
12648 SIMPLE is an acronym for Sheer Idiot's Monopurpose Programming Language
12649 Environment. This language, developed at the Hanover College for
12650 Technological Misfits, was designed to make it impossible to write code
12651 with errors in it. The statements are, therefore, confined to BEGIN,
12652 END and STOP. No matter how you arrange the statements, you can't make
12653 a syntax error. Programs written in SIMPLE do nothing useful. Thus
12654 they achieve the results of programs written in other languages without
12655 the tedious, frustrating process of testing and debugging.
12656 %
12657 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #12: LITHP
12658
12659 This otherwise unremarkable language is distinguished by the absence of
12660 an "S" in its character set; users must substitute "TH". LITHP is said
12661 to be useful in protheththing lithtth.
12662 %
12663 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #13: SLOBOL
12664
12665 SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler.
12666 Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they
12667 compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to travel to Bolivia to pick the
12668 coffee. Forty-three programmers are known to have died of boredom
12669 sitting at their terminals while waiting for a SLOBOL program to
12670 compile. Weary SLOBOL programmers often turn to a related (but
12671 infinitely faster) language, COCAINE.
12672 %
12673 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #17: SARTRE
12674
12675 Named after the late existential philosopher, SARTRE is an extremely
12676 unstructured language. Statements in SARTRE have no purpose; they just
12677 are. Thus SARTRE programs are left to define their own functions.
12678 SARTRE programmers tend to be boring and depressed, and are no fun at
12679 parties.
12680 %
12681 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18: C-
12682
12683 This language was named for the grade received by its creator when he
12684 submitted it as a class project in a graduate programming class. C- is
12685 best described as a "low-level" programming language. In fact, the
12686 language generally requires more C- statements than machine-code
12687 statements to execute a given task. In this respect, it is very
12688 similar to COBOL.
12689 %
12690 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #18a: FIFTH
12691
12692 FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types
12693 refer to quantity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and
12694 JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM and
12695 BLOTTO. Commands refer to ingredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY,
12696 CABERNET, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH, and WHATEVERSAROUND.
12697
12698 The many versions of the FIFTH language reflect the sophistication and
12699 financial status of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect include
12700 VSOP and LAFITE, while commands in the GUTTER dialect include HOOTCH
12701 and RIPPLE. The latter is a favorite of frustrated FORTH programmers
12702 who end up using this language.
12703 %
12704 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #2: RENE
12705
12706 Named after the famous French philosopher and mathematician Rene
12707 DesCartes, RENE is a language used for artificial intelligence. The
12708 language is being developed at the Chicago Center of Machine Politics
12709 and Programming under a grant from the Jane Byrne Victory Fund. A
12710 spokesman described the language as "Just as great as dis [sic] city of
12711 ours."
12712
12713 The center is very pleased with progress to date. They say they have
12714 almost succeeded in getting a VAX to think. However, sources inside the
12715 organization say that each time the machine fails to think it ceases to
12716 exist.
12717 %
12718 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #5: VALGOL
12719 From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Fernando Valley,
12720 VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the industry.
12721
12722 Here is a sample program:
12723 LIKE, Y*KNOW(I MEAN)START
12724 IF PIZZA = LIKE BITCHEN AND GUY = LIKE TUBULAR AND
12725 VALLEY GIRL = LIKE GRODY**MAX(FERSURE)**2 THEN
12726 FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH*MAYBE 100
12727 DO*WAH - (DITTY**2)
12728 BARF(I)=TOTALLY GROSS(OUT)
12729 SURE
12730 LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM
12731 REALLY
12732 LIKE TOTALLY (Y*KNOW)
12733 IM*SURE
12734 GOTO THE MALL
12735
12736 When the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays the message:
12737
12738 GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!
12739 %
12740 THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #8: LAIDBACK
12741
12742 This language was developed at the Marin County Center for T'ai Chi,
12743 Mellowness and Computer Programming (now defunct), as an alternative to
12744 the more intense atmosphere in nearby Silicon Valley.
12745
12746 The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs
12747 while they worked. Unfortunately few programmers could survive there
12748 because the center outlawed Pizza and Coca-Cola in favor of Tofu and
12749 Perrier.
12750
12751 Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a gentle
12752 and non-threatening language since all error messages are in lower
12753 case. For example, LAIDBACK responded to syntax errors with the
12754 message:
12755 "i hate to bother you, but i just can't relate to that. can
12756 you find the time to try it again?"
12757 %
12758 The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an approaching
12759 train.
12760 %
12761 The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming dragon.
12762 %
12763 The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won't get
12764 much sleep.
12765 -- Woody Allen
12766 %
12767 The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.
12768 -- Henry Kissinger
12769 %
12770 The Lord gave us farmers two strong hands so we could grab as much as
12771 we could with both of them.
12772 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
12773 %
12774 The makers may make
12775 And the users may use,
12776 But the fixers must fix
12777 With but minimal clues
12778 %
12779 The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the
12780 crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no
12781 one has ever been.
12782 -- Alan Ashley-Pitt
12783 %
12784 The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that
12785 will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful.
12786 -- Mark Twain.
12787 %
12788 The marvels of today's modern technology include the development of a
12789 soda can, when discarded will last forever ... and a $7,000 car which
12790 when properly cared for will rust out in two or three years.
12791 %
12792 "... the Mayo Clinic, named after its founder, Dr. Ted Clinic ..."
12793 -- Dave Barry
12794 %
12795 The meek shall inherit the earth -- they are too weak to refuse.
12796 %
12797 The men sat sipping their tea in silence. After a while the
12798 klutz said, "Life is like a bowl of sour cream."
12799
12800 "Like a bowl of sour cream?" asked the other. "Why?"
12801
12802 "How should I know? What am I, a philosopher?"
12803 %
12804 The meta-Turing test counts a thing as intelligent if it seeks to
12805 devise and apply Turing tests to objects of its own creation.
12806 -- Lew Mammel, Jr.
12807 %
12808 The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might
12809 be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the
12810 law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was
12811 guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples
12812 Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking
12813 Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality
12814 of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive
12815 power.
12816 -- Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems
12817 Thinking."
12818 %
12819 The modern child will answer you back before you've said anything.
12820 -- Laurence J. Peter
12821 %
12822 The mome rath isn't born that could outgrabe me.
12823 -- Nicol Williamson
12824 %
12825 The moon is a planet just like the Earth, only it is even deader.
12826 %
12827 The moon may be smaller than Earth, but it's further away.
12828 %
12829 The more data I punch in this card, the lighter it becomes, and the
12830 lower the mailing cost.
12831 -- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
12832 %
12833 The more laws and order are made prominent,
12834 the more thieves and robbers there will be.
12835 -- Lao Tsu
12836 %
12837 The more things change, the more they stay insane.
12838 %
12839 The more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us
12840 is right.
12841 %
12842 The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey.
12843 -- Andy Warhol
12844 %
12845 The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and
12846 to watch someone else do it wrong without comment.
12847 -- Theodore H. White
12848 %
12849 The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
12850 discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
12851 -- Isaac Asimov
12852 %
12853 The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on.
12854 %
12855 ... the MYSTERIANS are in here with my CORDUROY SOAP DISH!!
12856 %
12857 "... The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes'!"
12858 "Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to
12859 feel interested.
12860 "No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little
12861 vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is, 'The Aged
12862 Aged Man.'"
12863 "Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called'?"
12864 Alice corrected herself.
12865 "No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is
12866 called 'Ways and Means': but that's only what it is called you know!"
12867 "Well, what is the song then?" said Alice, who was by this time
12868 completely bewildered.
12869 "I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is
12870 "A-sitting on a Gate": and the tune's my own invention."
12871 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
12872 %
12873 The National Association of Theater Concessionaires reported that in
12874 1986, 60% of all candy sold in movie theaters was sold to Roger Ebert.
12875 -- D. Letterman
12876 %
12877 The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says:
12878 Support your right to bare arms!
12879 %
12880 The net of law is spread so wide,
12881 No sinner from its sweep may hide.
12882 Its meshes are so fine and strong,
12883 They take in every child of wrong.
12884 O wondrous web of mystery!
12885 Big fish alone escape from thee!
12886 -- James Jeffrey Roche
12887 %
12888 The new Congressmen say they're going to turn the government around. I
12889 hope I don't get run over again.
12890 %
12891 The New Testament offers the basis for modern computer coding theory,
12892 in the form of an affirmation of the binary number system.
12893
12894 But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay: for
12895 whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
12896 -- Matthew 5:37
12897 %
12898 The New York Times is read by the people who run the country. The
12899 Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country.
12900 The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive
12901 and running the country ...
12902 -- Robert J Woodhead
12903 %
12904 The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to
12905 choose from.
12906 -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
12907 %
12908 The notion of a "record" is an obsolete remnant of the days of the
12909 80-column card.
12910 -- Dennis M. Ritchie
12911 %
12912 The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should
12913 serve the state is essentially a Communist notion ... In a free society
12914 these institutions must be wholly free -- which is to say that their
12915 function is to serve as checks upon the state.
12916 -- Alan Barth
12917 %
12918 The number of arguments is unimportant unless some of them are
12919 correct.
12920 -- Ralph Hartley
12921 %
12922 The objective of all dedicated employees should be to thoroughly
12923 analyze all situations, anticipate all problems prior to their
12924 occurrence, have answers for these problems, and move swiftly to solve
12925 these problems when called upon.
12926
12927 However, when you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to
12928 remind yourself your initial objective was to drain the swamp.
12929 %
12930 The Official MBA Handbook on business cards:
12931 Avoid overly pretentious job titles such as "Lord of the Realm,
12932 Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India" or "Director of Corporate
12933 Planning."
12934 %
12935 The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.
12936 %
12937 The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age
12938 brings wisdom.
12939 -- H. L. Mencken
12940 %
12941 The older I grow, the less important the comma becomes. Let the reader
12942 catch his own breath.
12943 -- Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart
12944 %
12945 The one good thing about repeating your mistakes is that you know when
12946 to cringe.
12947 %
12948 The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the
12949 `social sciences' is: some do, some don't.
12950 -- Ernest Rutherford
12951 %
12952 The only problem with being a man of leisure is that you can never stop
12953 and take a rest.
12954 %
12955 "The only real way to look younger is not to be born so soon."
12956 -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and
12957 Over and Over"
12958 %
12959 The only really decent thing to do behind a person's back is pat it.
12960 %
12961 The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber
12962 has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture,
12963 finished, and put inside boxes.
12964 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
12965 %
12966 The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on.
12967 It is never any use to oneself.
12968 -- Oscar Wilde
12969 %
12970 The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.
12971 -- Hegel
12972
12973 I know guys can't learn from yesterday ... Hegel must be taking the
12974 long view.
12975 -- John Brunner, "Stand on Zanzibar"
12976 %
12977 The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
12978 -- Oscar Wilde
12979 %
12980 The opossum is a very sophisticated animal. It doesn't even get up
12981 until 5 or 6 p.m.
12982 %
12983 The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
12984 -- Bohr
12985 %
12986 The optimum committee has no members.
12987 -- Norman Augustine
12988 %
12989 The other day I put instant coffee in my microwave oven ... I almost
12990 went back in time.
12991 -- Steven Wright
12992 %
12993 The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because
12994 it isn't here.
12995 -- Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley)
12996 %
12997 The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it
12998 were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
12999 -- H. L. Mencken
13000 %
13001 The people of Halifax invented the trampoline. During the
13002 Victorian period the tripe-dressers of Halifax stretched tripe across a
13003 large wooden frame and jumped up and down on it to `tender and dress'
13004 it. The tripoline, as they called it, degenerated into becoming the
13005 apparatus for a spectator sport.
13006
13007 The people of Halifax also invented the harmonium, a device for
13008 castrating pigs during Sunday service.
13009 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
13010 %
13011 The Pig, if I am not mistaken,
13012 Gives us ham and pork and Bacon.
13013 Let others think his heart is big,
13014 I think it stupid of the Pig.
13015 -- Ogden Nash
13016 %
13017 The pitcher wound up and he flang the ball at the batter. The batter
13018 swang and missed. The pitcher flang the ball again and this time the
13019 batter connected. He hit a high fly right to the center fielder. The
13020 center fielder was all set to catch the ball, but at the last minute
13021 his eyes were blound by the sun and he dropped it.
13022 -- Dizzy Dean
13023 %
13024 The plot was designed in a light vein that somehow became varicose.
13025 -- David Lardner
13026 %
13027 The polite thing to do has always been to address people as they wish
13028 to be addressed, to treat them in a way they think dignified. But it
13029 is equally important to accept and tolerate different standards of
13030 courtesy, not expecting everyone else to adapt to one's own
13031 preferences. Only then can we hope to restore the insult to its proper
13032 social function of expressing true distaste.
13033 -- Judith Martin, "Miss Manners' Guide to
13034 Excruciatingly Correct Behavior"
13035 %
13036 The porcupine with the sharpest quills gets stuck on a tree more often.
13037 %
13038 The Preacher, the Politician, the Teacher,
13039 Were each of them once a kiddie.
13040 A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature.
13041 Do I want one? God Forbiddie!
13042 -- Ogden Nash
13043 %
13044 The President publicly apologized today to all those offended by his
13045 brother's remark, "There's more Arabs in this country than there is
13046 Jews!". Those offended include Arabs, Jews, and English teachers.
13047 -- Baltimore, Channel 11 News, on Jimmy Carter
13048 %
13049 The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday
13050 they might force their beliefs on us.
13051 -- Mario Cuomo
13052 %
13053 The primary cause of failure in electrical appliances is an expired
13054 warranty. Often, you can get an appliance running again simply by
13055 changing the warranty expiration date with a 15/64-inch felt-tipped
13056 marker.
13057 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
13058 %
13059 The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to
13060 constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every
13061 appearance, the variable PI can be given that value with a DATA
13062 statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This
13063 also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change.
13064 -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers
13065 %
13066 The primary requisite for any new tax law is for it to exempt enough
13067 voters to win the next election.
13068 %
13069 The primary theme of SoupCon is communication. The acronym "LEO"
13070 represents the secondary theme:
13071
13072 Law Enforcement Officials
13073
13074 The overall theme of SoupCon shall be:
13075
13076 Avoiding Communication with Law Enforcement Officials
13077
13078 -- M. Gallaher
13079 %
13080 ... the privileged being which we call human is distinguished from
13081 other animals only by certain double-edged manifestations which in
13082 charity we can only call "inhuman."
13083 -- R. A. Lafferty
13084 %
13085 The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the
13086 stupidity of your action.
13087 %
13088 The problem ... is that we have run out of dinosaurs to form oil with.
13089 Scientists working for the Department of Energy have tried to form oil
13090 using other animals; they've piled thousands of tons of sand and Middle
13091 Eastern countries on top of cows, raccoons, haddock, laboratory rats,
13092 etc., but so far all they have managed to do is run up an enormous
13093 bulldozer-rental bill and anger a lot of Middle Eastern persons. None
13094 of the animals turned into oil, although most of the laboratory rats
13095 developed cancer.
13096 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
13097 %
13098 The problem with any unwritten law is that you don't know where to go
13099 to erase it.
13100 -- Glaser and Way
13101 %
13102 The problem with engineers is that they tend to cheat in order to get
13103 results.
13104
13105 The problem with mathematicians is that they tend to work on toy
13106 problems in order to get results.
13107
13108 The problem with program verifiers is that they tend to cheat at toy
13109 problems in order to get results.
13110 %
13111 The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be
13112 pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
13113 -- Elizabeth Taylor
13114 %
13115 The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
13116 %
13117 The Psblurtex is an 18-inch long anaconda that hides in the gentlemen's
13118 outfitting departments of Amazonian stores and is often bought by
13119 mistake since its colors are those of the London Reform Club. Once
13120 tied around its victim's neck, it strangles him gently and then claims
13121 the insurance before running off to Germany where it lives in hiding.
13122 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
13123 %
13124 "The pyramid is opening!"
13125 "Which one?"
13126 "The one with the ever-widening hole in it!"
13127 -- Firesign Theater, "How Can You Be In Two Places At
13128 Once When You're Not Anywhere At All"
13129 %
13130 The qotc (quote of the con) was Liz's:
13131 "My brain is paged out to my liver"
13132 %
13133 The question is, why are politicians so eager to be president? What is
13134 it about the job that makes it worth revealing, on national television,
13135 that you have the ethical standards of a slime-coated piece of
13136 industrial waste?
13137 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
13138 %
13139 The rain it raineth on the just
13140 And also on the unjust fella,
13141 But chiefly on the just, because
13142 The unjust steals the just's umbrella.
13143 --Lord Bowen
13144 %
13145 The reader this message encounters not failing to understand is
13146 cursed.
13147 %
13148 The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much.
13149 %
13150 The reason it's called "Grape Nuts" is that it contains "dextrose",
13151 which is also sometimes called "grape sugar", and also because "Grape
13152 Nuts" is catchier, in terms of marketing, than "A Cross Between Gerbil
13153 Food and Gravel", which is what it tastes like.
13154 -- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
13155 %
13156 The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
13157 persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
13158 progress depends on the unreasonable man.
13159 -- George Bernard Shaw
13160 %
13161 The revolution will not be televised.
13162 %
13163 The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
13164 -- Emerson
13165 %
13166 The rhino is a homely beast,
13167 For human eyes he's not a feast.
13168 Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
13169 I'll stare at something less prepoceros.
13170 -- Ogden Nash
13171 %
13172 The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This
13173 means that only left handed people are in their right mind.
13174 %
13175 The Right Honorable Gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests
13176 and to his imagination for his facts.
13177 -- Sheridan
13178 %
13179 The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.
13180 -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
13181 %
13182 The rights you have are the rights given you by this Committee [the
13183 House Un-American Activities Committee]. We will determine what rights
13184 you have and what rights you have not got.
13185 -- J. Parnell Thomas
13186 %
13187 The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And littered with
13188 sloppy analysis!
13189 %
13190 The Roman Rule
13191 The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the
13192 one who is doing it.
13193 %
13194 The Ruffed Pandanga of Borneo and Rotherham spreads out his feathers in
13195 his courtship dance and imitates Winston Churchill and Tommy Cooper on
13196 one leg. The padanga is dying out because the female padanga doesn't
13197 take it too seriously.
13198 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
13199 %
13200 The rule on staying alive as a forecaster is to give 'em a number or
13201 give 'em a date, but never give 'em both at once.
13202 -- Jane Bryant Quinn
13203 %
13204 "The Schizophrenic: An Unauthorized Autobiography"
13205 %
13206 The Schwine-Kitzenger Institute study of 47 men over the age of 100
13207 showed that all had these things in common:
13208
13209 (1) They all had moderate appetites.
13210 (2) They all came from middle class homes
13211 (3) All but two of them were dead.
13212 %
13213 The scum also rises.
13214 -- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
13215 %
13216 The seven deadly sins ... Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes,
13217 respectability and children. Nothing can lift those seven milestones
13218 from man's neck but money; and the spirit cannot soar until the
13219 milestones are lifted.
13220 -- George Bernard Shaw
13221 %
13222 The seven eyes of Ningauble the Wizard floated back to his hood
13223 as he reported to Fafhrd: "I have seen much, yet cannot explain all.
13224 The Gray Mouser is exactly twenty-five feet below the deepest cellar in
13225 the palace of Gilpkerio Kistomerces. Even though twenty-four parts in
13226 twenty-five of him are dead, he is alive.
13227
13228 "Now about Lankhmar. She's been invaded, her walls breached
13229 everywhere and desperate fighting is going on in the streets, by a
13230 fierce host which out-numbers Lankhmar's inhabitants by fifty to one --
13231 and equipped with all modern weapons. Yet you can save the city."
13232
13233 "How?" demanded Fafhrd.
13234
13235 Ningauble shrugged. "You're a hero. You should know."
13236 -- Fritz Leiber, from "The Swords of Lankhmar"
13237 %
13238 The sheep that fly over your head are soon to land.
13239 %
13240 The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
13241 -- Noelie Alito
13242 %
13243 The Sixth Commandment of Frisbee:
13244 The greatest single aid to distance is for the disc to be going
13245 in a direction you did not want. (Goes the wrong way = Goes a long
13246 way.)
13247 -- Dan Roddick
13248 %
13249 The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity
13250 and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted
13251 activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy ...
13252 neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
13253 %
13254 The sooner all the animals are dead, the sooner we'll find their
13255 money.
13256 -- Ed Bluestone, "The National Lampoon"
13257 %
13258 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up!
13259 %
13260 The sooner you make your first 5000 mistakes, the sooner you will be
13261 able to correct them.
13262 -- Nicolaides
13263 %
13264 The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
13265 %
13266 The Soviet pre-eminence in chess can be traced to the average Russian's
13267 readiness to brood obsessively over anything, even the arrangement of
13268 some pieces of wood. Indeed, the Russians' predisposition for quiet
13269 reflection followed by sudden preventive action explains why they led
13270 the field for many years in both chess and ax murders. It is well
13271 known that as early as 1970, the U.S.S.R., aware of what a defeat at
13272 Reykjavik would do to national prestige, implemented a vigorous program
13273 of preparation and incentive. Every day for an entire year, a team of
13274 psychologists, chess analysts and coaches met with the top three
13275 Russian grand masters and threatened them with a pointy stick. That
13276 these tactics proved fruitless is now a part of chess history and a
13277 further testament to the American way, which provides that if you want
13278 something badly enough, you can always go to Iceland and get it from
13279 the Russians.
13280 -- Marshall Brickman, Playboy, April, 1973
13281 %
13282 The STAR WARS Song
13283 Sung to the tune of "Lola", by the Kinks:
13284
13285 I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
13286 Where it bubbles all the time like a giant cabinet soda
13287 S-O-D-A soda
13288 I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
13289 I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda
13290 Y-O-D-A Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
13291
13292 Well I've been around but I ain't never seen
13293 A guy who looks like a Muppet but he's wrinkled and green
13294 Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
13295 Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
13296 How he can raise me in the air just by raising his hand
13297 Oh my Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
13298 %
13299 The state law of Pennsylvania prohibits singing in the bathtub.
13300 %
13301 The steady state of disks is full.
13302 -- Ken Thompson
13303 %
13304 THE STORY OF CREATION
13305 or
13306 THE MYTH OF URK
13307
13308 In the beginning there was data. The data was without form and null,
13309 and darkness was upon the face of the console; and the Spirit of IBM
13310 was moving over the face of the market. And DEC said, "Let there be
13311 registers"; and there were registers. And DEC saw that they carried;
13312 and DEC separated the data from the instructions. DEC called the data
13313 Stack, and the instructions they called Code. And there was evening
13314 and there was morning, one interrupt.
13315 -- Rico Tudor
13316 %
13317 The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make
13318 them unsafe.
13319 -- Mayor Frank Rizzo
13320 %
13321 The student in question is performing minimally for his peer group and
13322 is an emerging underachiever.
13323 %
13324 The study of non-linear physics is like the study of non-elephant
13325 biology.
13326 %
13327 "The subspace _W inherits the other 8 properties of _V. And there aren't
13328 even any property taxes."
13329 -- J. MacKay, Mathematics 134b
13330 %
13331 The sum of the Universe is zero.
13332 %
13333 The sun was shining on the sea,
13334 Shining with all his might:
13335 He did his very best to make
13336 The billows smooth and bright --
13337 And this was very odd, because it was
13338 The middle of the night.
13339 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
13340 %
13341 The superfluous is very necessary.
13342 -- Voltaire
13343 %
13344 The surest protection against temptation is cowardice.
13345 -- Mark Twain
13346 %
13347 The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our
13348 authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as
13349 the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as
13350 the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much
13351 radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much
13352 as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we
13353 receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the
13354 Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will
13355 heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to
13356 the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much
13357 heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for
13358 radiation, (_H/_E)^4 = 50, where _E is the absolute temperature of the
13359 earth (-300K), gives _H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell
13360 cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the
13361 fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which
13362 burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means
13363 that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We
13364 have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.
13365 -- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972
13366 %
13367 The Third Law of Photography:
13368 If you did manage to get any good shots, they will be ruined
13369 when someone inadvertently opens the darkroom door and all of the dark
13370 leaks out.
13371 %
13372 The Three Laws of Thermodynamics:
13373
13374 The First Law: You can't get anything without working for it.
13375 The Second Law: The most you can accomplish by working is to break
13376 even.
13377 The Third Law: You can only break even at absolute zero.
13378 %
13379 The Three Major Kind of Tools
13380
13381 * Tools for hittings things to make them loose or to tighten them up or
13382 jar their many complex, sophisticated electrical parts in such a
13383 manner that they function perfectly. (These are your hammers, maces,
13384 bludgeons, and truncheons.)
13385
13386 * Tools that, if dropped properly, can penetrate your foot. (Awls)
13387
13388 * Tools that nobody should ever use because the potential danger is far
13389 greater than the value of any project that could possibly result.
13390 (Power saws, power drills, power staplers, any kind of tool that uses
13391 any kind of power more advanced than flashlight batteries.)
13392 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
13393 %
13394 The trouble with a kitten is that
13395 When it grows up, it's always a cat
13396 -- Ogden Nash.
13397 %
13398 The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.
13399 %
13400 The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate
13401 it.
13402 -- Franklin P. Jones
13403 %
13404 The trouble with being punctual is that people think you have nothing
13405 more important to do.
13406 %
13407 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody
13408 appreciates how difficult it was.
13409 %
13410 The trouble with superheros is what to do between phone booths.
13411 -- Ken Kesey
13412 %
13413 The truth is what is; what should be is a dirty lie.
13414 -- Lenny Bruce
13415 %
13416 The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility.
13417 And vice versa.
13418 %
13419 The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
13420 Which practically conceal its sex.
13421 I think it clever of the turtle
13422 In such a fix to be so fertile.
13423 -- Ogden Nash
13424 %
13425 The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
13426 %
13427 The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more
13428 annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.
13429 -- Oscar Wilde
13430 %
13431 The United States also has its native Fascists who say that they are
13432 "100 percent American"...
13433 -- U. S. Army (1945)
13434 %
13435 The United States is like the guy at the party who gives cocaine to
13436 everybody and still nobody likes him.
13437 -- Jim Samuels
13438 %
13439 The universe does not have laws -- it has habits, and habits can be
13440 broken.
13441 %
13442 The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination -- but the
13443 combination is locked up in the safe.
13444 -- Peter DeVries
13445 %
13446 The University of California Bears announced the signing of Reggie
13447 Philbin to a letter of intent to attend Cal next Fall. Philbin is said
13448 to make up for no talent by cheating well. Says Philbin of his
13449 decision to attend Cal, "I'm in it for the free ride."
13450 %
13451 The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and
13452 religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging
13453 from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its
13454 yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledygook than the rest of the
13455 world put together.
13456 -- Sir Peter Medawar
13457 %
13458 The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be
13459 regarded as a criminal offense.
13460 -- E. W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5
13461 %
13462 The verdict of a jury is the a priori opinion of that juror who smokes
13463 the worst cigars.
13464 -- H. L. Mencken
13465 %
13466 The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid
13467 prejudice.
13468 -- Mark Twain
13469 %
13470 The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
13471 Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
13472 to fit their views ... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
13473 be one of the facts that needs altering.
13474 -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
13475 %
13476 The voters have spoken, the bastards ...
13477 %
13478 The wages of sin are death; but after they're done taking out taxes,
13479 it's just a tired feeling:
13480 %
13481 The wages of sin are high but you get your money's worth.
13482 %
13483 The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity
13484 that would be clearly understood.
13485 -- Alexander Haig
13486 %
13487 The way to make a small fortune in the commodities market is to start
13488 with a large fortune.
13489 %
13490 THE WOMBAT
13491
13492 The wombat lives across the seas,
13493 Among the far Antipodes.
13494 He may exist on nuts and berries,
13495 Or then again, on missionaries;
13496 His distant habitat precludes
13497 Conclusive knowledge of his moods.
13498 But I would not engage the wombat
13499 In any form of mortal combat.
13500 %
13501 The world is coming to an end ... SAVE YOUR BUFFERS!!!
13502 %
13503 The world is coming to an end! Repent and return those library books!
13504 %
13505 The world is coming to an end. Please log off.
13506 %
13507 The world's as ugly as sin,
13508 And almost as delightful.
13509 -- Frederick Locker-Lampson
13510 %
13511 The years of peak mental activity are undoubtedly between the ages of
13512 four and eighteen. At four we know all the questions, at eighteen all
13513 the answers.
13514 %
13515 Then a man said: Speak to us of Expectations.
13516
13517 He then said: If a man does not see or hear the waters of the Jordan,
13518 then he should not taste the pomegranate or ply his wares in an open
13519 market.
13520
13521 If a man would not labour in the salt and rock quarries then he should
13522 not accept of the Earth that which he refuses to give of himself.
13523
13524 Such a man would expect a pear of a peach tree.
13525 Such a man would expect a stone to lay an egg.
13526 Such a man would expect Sears to assemble a lawnmower.
13527 -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
13528 %
13529 Then here's to the City of Boston,
13530 The town of the cries and the groans.
13531 Where the Cabots can't see the Kabotschniks,
13532 And the Lowells won't speak to the Cohns.
13533 -- Franklin Pierce Adams
13534 %
13535 THEORY
13536 Into love and out again,
13537 Thus I went and thus I go.
13538 Spare your voice, and hold your pen:
13539 Well and bitterly I know
13540 All the songs were ever sung,
13541 All the words were ever said;
13542 Could it be, when I was young,
13543 Someone dropped me on my head?
13544 -- Dorothy Parker
13545 %
13546 There *__is* intelligent life on Earth, but I leave for Texas on Monday.
13547 %
13548 There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable,
13549 and praiseworthy ...
13550 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
13551 %
13552 There are many intelligent species in the universe. They all own
13553 cats.
13554 %
13555 There are no data that cannot be plotted on a straight line if the axis
13556 are chosen correctly.
13557 %
13558 There are no games on this system.
13559 %
13560 There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the
13561 existence of a "hottest part" implies a temperature difference, and any
13562 marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat
13563 engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is
13564 obviously impossible.
13565 -- Richard Davisson
13566 %
13567 There are people so addicted to exaggeration
13568 that they can't tell the truth without lying.
13569 -- Josh Billings
13570 %
13571 There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
13572 vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
13573 -- Gloria Steinem
13574 %
13575 There are some goyisha names that just about guarantee that
13576 someone isn't Jewish. For example, you'll never meet a Jew named
13577 Johnson or Wright or Jones or Sinclair or Ricks or Stevenson or Reid or
13578 Larsen or Jenks. But some goyisha names just about guarantee that
13579 every other person you meet with that name will be Jewish. Why is
13580 this?
13581 Who knows? Learned rabbis have pondered this question for
13582 centuries and have failed to come up with an answer, and you think ___you
13583 can find one? Get serious. You don't even understand why it's
13584 forbidden to eat crab -- fresh cold crab with mayonnaise -- or lobster
13585 -- soft tender morsels of lobster dipped in melted butter. You don't
13586 even understand a simple thing like that, and yet you hope to discover
13587 why there are more Jews named Miller than Katz? Fat Chance.
13588 -- Arthur Naiman, "Every Goy's Guide to Yiddish"
13589 %
13590 There are some micro-organisms that exhibit characteristics of both
13591 plants and animals. When exposed to light they undergo photosynthesis;
13592 and when the lights go out, they turn into animals. But then again,
13593 don't we all?
13594 %
13595 There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells
13596 and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated
13597 pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving
13598 them parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you
13599 stick your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your
13600 intelligence.
13601 -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VII
13602 %
13603 There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
13604 -- Disraeli
13605 %
13606 There are three possibilities:
13607 Pioneer's solar panel has turned away from the sun;
13608 there's a large meteor blocking transmission; or
13609 someone loaded Star Trek 3.2 into our video processor.
13610 %
13611 There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be
13612 offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin
13613 a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount
13614 of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of
13615 affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately.
13616 When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating.
13617 Under no circumstances can the food be omitted.
13618 -- Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior
13619 %
13620 There are three principal ways to lose money: wine, women, and
13621 engineers. While the first two are more pleasant, the third is by far
13622 the more certain.
13623 -- Baron Rothschild, ca. 1800
13624 %
13625 There are three schools of magic. One: State a tautology, then ring
13626 the changes on its corollaries; that's philosophy. Two: Record many
13627 facts. Try to find a pattern. Then make a wrong guess at the next
13628 fact; that's science. Three: Be aware that you live in a malevolent
13629 Universe controlled by Murphy's Law, sometimes offset by Brewster's
13630 Factor; that's engineering.
13631 %
13632 There are three things I always forget. Names, faces -- the third I
13633 can't remember.
13634 -- Italo Svevo
13635 %
13636 There are three ways to get something done:
13637 (1) Do it yourself.
13638 (2) Hire someone to do it for you.
13639 (3) Forbid your kids to do it.
13640 %
13641 There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire
13642 someone, or forbid your kids to do it.
13643 %
13644 There are times when truth is stranger than fiction and lunch time is
13645 one of them.
13646 %
13647 There are two kinds of solar-heat systems: "passive" systems collect
13648 the sunlight that hits your home, and "active" systems collect the
13649 sunlight that hits your neighbors' homes, too.
13650 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
13651 %
13652 There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good
13653 sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.
13654 -- Woody Allen
13655 %
13656 There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to
13657 make is so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the
13658 other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious
13659 deficiencies.
13660 -- C. A. R. Hoare
13661 %
13662 There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the
13663 other is to read Pope.
13664 -- Oscar Wilde
13665 %
13666 There are two ways to write error-free programs. Only the third one
13667 works.
13668 %
13669 There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a
13670 suitable application of high explosives.
13671 %
13672 There can be no twisted thought without a twisted molecule.
13673 -- R. W. Gerard
13674 %
13675 There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
13676 -- Henry Kissinger
13677 %
13678 There exist tasks which cannot be done by more than 10 men or fewer
13679 than 100.
13680 -- Steele's Law
13681 %
13682 There has been an alarming increase in the number of things you know
13683 nothing about.
13684 %
13685 There is a certain impertinence in allowing oneself to be burned for an
13686 opinion.
13687 -- Anatole France
13688 %
13689 There is a great discovery still to be made in Literature: that of
13690 paying literary men by the quantity they do NOT write.
13691 %
13692 There is a green, multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder.
13693 %
13694 There is a Massachusetts law requiring all dogs to have their hind legs
13695 tied during the month of April.
13696 %
13697 There is a natural hootchy-kootchy to a goldfish.
13698 -- Walt Disney
13699 %
13700 There is a road to freedom. Its milestones are Obedience, Endeavor,
13701 Honesty, Order, Cleanliness, Sobriety, Truthfulness, Sacrifice, and
13702 love of the Fatherland.
13703 -- Adolf Hitler
13704 %
13705 There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly
13706 what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly
13707 disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and
13708 inexplicable.
13709
13710 There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
13711
13712 -- Douglas Adams, "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
13713 %
13714 There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.
13715 -- Arthur C. Clarke
13716 %
13717 There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
13718 -- Mark Twain
13719 %
13720 There is no realizable power that man cannot, in time, fashion the
13721 tools to attain, nor any power so secure that the naked ape will not
13722 abuse it. So it is written in the genetic cards -- only physics and
13723 war hold him in check. And also the wife who wants him home by five,
13724 of course.
13725 -- Encyclopedia Apocryphia, 1990 ed.
13726 %
13727 There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
13728 -- Ken Olsen, President of DEC, World Future Society
13729 Convention, 1977
13730 %
13731 There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.
13732 -- G. B. Shaw
13733 %
13734 There is no substitute for good manners, except, perhaps, fast reflexes.
13735 %
13736 There is no such thing as fortune. Try again.
13737 %
13738 There is no time like the pleasant.
13739 %
13740 There is no time like the present for postponing what you ought to be
13741 doing.
13742 %
13743 There is no TRUTH. There is no REALITY. There is no CONSISTENCY.
13744 There are no ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS I'm very probably wrong.
13745 %
13746 "There is nothing which cannot be answered by means of my doctrine,"
13747 said a monk, coming into a teahouse where Nasrudin sat. "And yet just
13748 a short time ago, I was challenged by a scholar with an unanswerable
13749 question," said Nasrudin. "I could have answered it if I had been
13750 there." "Very well. He asked, 'Why are you breaking into my house in
13751 the middle of the night?'"
13752 %
13753 There is nothing wrong with Southern California that a rise in the
13754 ocean level wouldn't cure.
13755 -- Ross MacDonald
13756 %
13757 There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and
13758 that is not being talked about.
13759 -- Oscar Wilde
13760 %
13761 There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
13762 returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.
13763 -- Mark Twain
13764 %
13765 There once was a girl named Irene
13766 Who lived on distilled kerosene
13767 But she started absorbin'
13768 A new hydrocarbon
13769 And since then has never benzene.
13770 %
13771 There once was a member of Mensa
13772 Who was a most excellent fencer.
13773 The sword that he used
13774 Was his -- (line is refused,
13775 And has now been removed by the censor).
13776 %
13777 There once was an old man from Esser,
13778 Who's knowledge grew lesser and lesser.
13779 It at last grew so small,
13780 He knew nothing at all,
13781 And now he's a College Professor.
13782 %
13783 There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
13784 -- C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
13785 %
13786 There was a plane crash over mid-ocean, and only three survivors were
13787 left in the life-raft: the Pope, the President, and Mayor Daley.
13788 Unfortunately, it was a one-man life-raft, and quickly sinking, so they
13789 started debating who should be allowed to stay.
13790
13791 The Pope pointed out that he was the spiritual leader of millions all
13792 over the world, the President explained that if he died then America
13793 would be stuck with the Vice-President, and so forth. Then Mayor Daley
13794 said, "Look! We're not solving anything like this! The only fair
13795 thing to do is to vote on it." So they did, and Mayor Daley won by 97
13796 votes.
13797 %
13798 There was a young lady from Hyde
13799 Who ate a green apple and died.
13800 While her lover lamented
13801 The apple fermented
13802 And made cider inside her inside.
13803 %
13804 There was a young man who said "God,
13805 I find it exceedingly odd,
13806 That the willow oak tree
13807 Continues to be,
13808 When there's no one about in the Quad."
13809
13810 "Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd,
13811 For I'm always about in the Quad;
13812 And that's why the tree,
13813 Continues to be,"
13814 Signed "Yours faithfully, God."
13815 %
13816 There was a young poet named Dan,
13817 Whose poetry never would scan.
13818 When told this was so,
13819 He said, "Yes, I know.
13820 It's because I try to put every possible syllable into that last line that I can."
13821 %
13822 There was an interesting development in the CBS-Westmoreland trial:
13823 both sides agreed that after the trial, Andy Rooney would be allowed to
13824 talk to the jury for three minutes about little things that annoyed him
13825 during the trial.
13826 -- David Letterman
13827 %
13828 There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of
13829 the two had the following record: the Vietnam War, Watergate, double-
13830 digit inflation, fuel and energy shortages, bankrupt airlines, and the
13831 8-cent postcard. The second was responsible for such things as the
13832 transistor, the solar cell, lasers, synthetic crystals, high fidelity
13833 stereo recording, sound motion pictures, radio astronomy, negative
13834 feedback, magnetic tape, magnetic "bubbles", electronic switching
13835 systems, microwave radio and TV relay systems, information theory, the
13836 first electrical digital computer, and the first communications
13837 satellite. Guess which one got to tell the other how to run the
13838 telephone business?
13839 %
13840 There's a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad it's not
13841 a fence.
13842 %
13843 There's an old proverb that says just about whatever you want it to.
13844 %
13845 There's little in taking or giving,
13846 There's little in water or wine:
13847 This living, this living, this living,
13848 Was never a project of mine.
13849 Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is
13850 The gain of the one at the top,
13851 For art is a form of catharsis,
13852 And love is a permanent flop,
13853 And work is the province of cattle,
13854 And rest's for a clam in a shell,
13855 So I'm thinking of throwing the battle --
13856 Would you kindly direct me to hell?
13857 -- Dorothy Parker
13858 %
13859 There's no easy quick way out, we're gonna have to live through our
13860 whole lives, win, lose, or draw.
13861 -- Walt Kelly
13862 %
13863 There's no future in time travel.
13864 %
13865 There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
13866 -- Dr. Who
13867 %
13868 There's no real need to do housework -- after four years it doesn't get
13869 any worse.
13870 %
13871 There's no room in the drug world for amateurs.
13872 %
13873 There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government
13874 working for you.
13875 -- Will Rodgers
13876 %
13877 There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and
13878 dead armadillos.
13879 -- Jim Hightower, Texas Agricultural Commissioner
13880 %
13881 There's nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them
13882 won't aggravate.
13883 %
13884 There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn
13885 what it is I'll get married again.
13886 -- Clint Eastwood
13887 %
13888 There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is
13889 becoming an endangered synthetic.
13890 -- Lily Tomlin
13891 %
13892 "These are DARK TIMES for all mankind's HIGHEST VALUES!"
13893 "These are DARK TIMES for FREEDOM and PROSPERITY!"
13894 "These are GREAT TIMES to put your money on BAD GUY to kick the CRAP
13895 out of MEGATON MAN!"
13896 %
13897 These days the necessities of life cost you about three times what they
13898 used to, and half the time they aren't even fit to drink.
13899 %
13900 They also surf who only stand on waves.
13901 %
13902 They make a desert and call it peace.
13903 -- Tacitus (55?-120?)
13904 %
13905 They spell it "da Vinci" and pronounce it "da Vinchy". Foreigners
13906 always spell better than they pronounce.
13907 -- Mark Twain
13908 %
13909 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
13910 safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
13911 -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
13912 %
13913 They told me I was gullible ... and I believed them!
13914 %
13915 They told me you had proven it When they discovered our results
13916 About a month before. Their hair began to curl
13917 The proof was valid, more or less Instead of understanding it
13918 But rather less than more. We'd run the thing through PRL.
13919
13920 He sent them word that we would try Don't tell a soul about all this
13921 To pass where they had failed For it must ever be
13922 And after we were done, to them A secret, kept from all the rest
13923 The new proof would be mailed. Between yourself and me.
13924
13925 My notion was to start again
13926 Ignoring all they'd done
13927 We quickly turned it into code
13928 To see if it would run.
13929 %
13930 They're only trying to make me LOOK paranoid!
13931 %
13932 They're unfriendly, which is fortunate, really. They'd be difficult to like.
13933 -- Avon
13934 %
13935 Things are more like they used to be than they are now.
13936 %
13937 Things will be bright in P.M. A cop will shine a light in your face.
13938 %
13939 Think big. Pollute the Mississippi.
13940 %
13941 Think honk if you're a telepath.
13942 %
13943 Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.!
13944 %
13945 Think of your family tonight. Try to crawl home after the computer
13946 crashes.
13947 %
13948 Think twice before speaking, but don't say "think think click click".
13949 %
13950 "Thirty days hath Septober,
13951 April, June, and no wonder.
13952 all the rest have peanut butter
13953 except my father who wears red suspenders."
13954 %
13955 This Fortue Examined By INSPECTOR NO. 2-14
13956 %
13957 This fortune cookie program out of order. For those in desperate need,
13958 please use the program "________randchar". This program generates random
13959 characters, and, given enough time, will undoubtedly come up with
13960 something profound. It will, however, take it no time at all to be
13961 more profound than THIS program has ever been.
13962 %
13963 This fortune intentionally not included.
13964 %
13965 This fortune is false.
13966 %
13967 This fortune is inoperative. Please try another.
13968 %
13969 This is a country where people are free to practice their religion,
13970 regardless of race, creed, color, obesity, or number of dangling keys...
13971 %
13972 This is a job for BOB VIOLENCE and SCUM, the INCREDIBLY STUPID MUTANT DOG.
13973 -- Bob Violence
13974 %
13975 This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an
13976 actual emergency, do you really think we'd stick around to tell you?
13977 %
13978 This is an especially good time for you vacationers who plan to fly,
13979 because the Reagan administration, as part of the same policy under
13980 which it recently sold Yellowstone National Park to Wayne Newton, has
13981 "deregulated" the airline industry. What this means for you, the
13982 consumer, is that the airlines are no longer required to follow any
13983 rules whatsoever. They can show snuff movies. They can charge for
13984 oxygen. They can hire pilots right out of Vending Machine Refill
13985 Person School. They can conserve fuel by ejecting husky passengers
13986 over water. They can ram competing planes in mid-air. These
13987 innovations have resulted in tremendous cost savings which have been
13988 passed along to you, the consumer, in the form of flights with
13989 amazingly low fares, such as $29. Of course, certain restrictions do
13990 apply, the main one being that all these flights take you to Newark,
13991 and you must pay thousands of dollars if you want to fly back out.
13992 -- Dave Barry, "Iowa -- Land of Secure Vacations"
13993 %
13994 This is an unauthorized cybernetic announcement.
13995 %
13996 This is for all ill-treated fellows
13997 Unborn and unbegot,
13998 For them to read when they're in trouble
13999 And I am not.
14000 -- A. E. Housman
14001 %
14002 This is lemma 1.1. We start a new chapter so the numbers all go back
14003 to one.
14004 -- Prof. Seager, C&O 351
14005 %
14006 This is National Non-Dairy Creamer Week.
14007 %
14008 THIS IS PLEDGE WEEK FOR THE FORTUNE PROGRAM
14009
14010 If you like the fortune program, why not support it now with your
14011 contribution of a pithy fortune, clean or obscene? We cannot continue
14012 without your support. Less than 14% of all fortune users are
14013 contributors. That means that 86% of you are getting a free ride. We
14014 can't go on like this much longer. Federal cutbacks mean less money
14015 for fortunes, and unless user contributions increase to make up the
14016 difference, the fortune program will have to shut down between midnight
14017 and 8 a.m. Don't let this happen. Mail your fortunes right now to
14018 "fortune". Just type in your favorite pithy saying. Do it now before
14019 you forget. Our target is 300 new fortunes by the end of the week.
14020 Don't miss out. All fortunes will be acknowledged. If you contribute
14021 30 fortunes or more, you will receive a free subscription to "The
14022 Fortune Hunter", our monthly program guide. If you contribute 50 or
14023 more, you will receive a free "Fortune Hunter" coffee mug ....
14024 %
14025 This is the ____LAST time I take travel suggestions from Ray Bradbury!
14026 %
14027 This is the first numerical problem I ever did. It demonstrates the
14028 power of computers:
14029
14030 Enter lots of data on calorie & nutritive content of foods. Instruct
14031 the thing to maximize a function describing nutritive content, with a
14032 minimum level of each component, for fixed caloric content. The
14033 results are that one should eat each day:
14034
14035 1/2 chicken
14036 1 egg
14037 1 glass of skim milk
14038 27 heads of lettuce.
14039 -- Rev. Adrian Melott
14040 %
14041 This is the story of the bee
14042 Whose sex is very hard to see
14043
14044 You cannot tell the he from the she
14045 But she can tell, and so can he
14046
14047 The little bee is never still
14048 She has no time to take the pill
14049
14050 And that is why, in times like these
14051 There are so many sons of bees.
14052 %
14053 This is your fortune.
14054 %
14055 This land is full of trousers!
14056 this land is full of mausers!
14057 And pussycats to eat them when the sun goes down!
14058 -- Firesign Theater
14059 %
14060 This land is made of mountains,
14061 This land is made of mud,
14062 This land has lots of everything,
14063 For me and Elmer Fudd.
14064
14065 This land has lots of trousers,
14066 This land has lots of mousers,
14067 And pussycats to eat them
14068 When the sun goes down.
14069 %
14070 This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been an actual life,
14071 you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where
14072 to go.
14073 %
14074 This login session: $13.99, but for you $11.88
14075 %
14076 This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with
14077 great force.
14078 -- Dorothy Parker
14079 %
14080 This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of
14081 the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many
14082 solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were
14083 largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper,
14084 which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of
14085 paper that were unhappy.
14086 -- Douglas Adams
14087 %
14088 This process can check if this value is zero, and if it is, it does
14089 something child-like.
14090 -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454
14091 %
14092 This quote is taken from the Diamondback, the University of Maryland
14093 student newspaper, of Tuesday, 3/10/87.
14094
14095 One disadvantage of the Univac system is that it does not use
14096 Unix, a recently developed program which translates from one
14097 computer language to another and has a built-in editing system
14098 which identifies errors in the original program.
14099 %
14100 This sentence contradicts itself -- no actually it doesn't.
14101 -- Hofstadter
14102 %
14103 ... This striving for excellence extends into people's personal lives
14104 as well. When '80s people buy something, they buy the best one, as
14105 determined by (1) price and (2) lack of availability. Eighties people
14106 buy imported dental floss. They buy gourmet baking soda. If an '80s
14107 couple goes to a restaurant where they have made a reservation three
14108 weeks in advance, and they are informed that their table is available,
14109 they stalk out immediately, because they know it is not an excellent
14110 restaurant. If it were, it would have an enormous crowd of
14111 excellence-oriented people like themselves waiting, their beepers going
14112 off like crickets in the night. An excellent restaurant wouldn't have
14113 a table ready immediately for anybody below the rank of Liza Minnelli.
14114 -- Dave Barry, "In Search of Excellence"
14115 %
14116 This will be a memorable month -- no matter how hard you try to forget it.
14117 %
14118 Thompson, if he is to be believed, has sampled the entire
14119 rainbow of legal and illegal drugs in heroic efforts to feel better
14120 than he does.
14121 As for the truth about his health: I have asked around about
14122 it. I am told that he appears to be strong and rosy, and steadily
14123 sane. But we will be doing what he wants us to do, I think, if we
14124 consider his exterior a sort of Dorian Gray facade. Inwardly, he is
14125 being eaten alive by tinhorn politicians.
14126 The disease is fatal. There is no known cure. The most we can
14127 do for the poor devil, it seems to me, is to name his disease in his
14128 honor. From this moment on, let all those who feel that Americans can
14129 be as easily led to beauty as to ugliness, to truth as to public
14130 relations, to joy as to bitterness, be said to be suffering from Hunter
14131 Thompson's disease. I don't have it this morning. It comes and goes.
14132 This morning I don't have Hunter Thompson's disease.
14133 -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson: Excerpt
14134 from "A Political Disease", Vonnegut's review of "Fear
14135 and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72"
14136 %
14137 Those of you who think you know everything are very annoying to those
14138 of us who do.
14139 %
14140 Those who can't write, write manuals.
14141 %
14142 Those who can, do. Those who can't, simulate.
14143 %
14144 Those who do not do politics will be done in by politics.
14145 -- French Proverb
14146 %
14147 Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
14148 -- Henry Spencer
14149 %
14150 Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents,
14151 for these only gave life, those the art of living well.
14152 -- Aristotle
14153 %
14154 Those who express random thoughts to legislative committees are often
14155 surprised and appalled to find themselves the instigators of law.
14156 -- Mark B. Cohen
14157 %
14158 Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose.
14159 %
14160 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
14161 will make violent revolution inevitable.
14162 -- John F. Kennedy
14163 %
14164 Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are
14165 men who want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean
14166 without the roar of its many waters.
14167 -- Frederick Douglass
14168 %
14169 Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are
14170 the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with
14171 Haeckel, the condensation or precipitation of matter from ether --
14172 whose existence is proved by the condensation or precipitation ... A
14173 fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any
14174 more about the matter than the others.
14175 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
14176 %
14177 Time flies like an arrow
14178 Fruit flies like a banana
14179 %
14180 Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.
14181 %
14182 Time is an illusion; lunchtime, doubly so.
14183 -- Ford Prefect
14184 %
14185 Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at
14186 once.
14187 %
14188 'Tis the dream of each programmer,
14189 Before his life is done,
14190 To write three lines of APL,
14191 And make the damn things run.
14192 %
14193 (to "The Caissons Go Rolling Along")
14194 Scratch the disks, dump the core, Shut it down, pull the plug
14195 Roll the tapes across the floor, Give the core an extra tug
14196 And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash.
14197 Teletypes smashed to bits. Mem'ry cards, one and all,
14198 Give the scopes some nasty hits Toss out halfway down the hall
14199 And the system is going to crash. And the system is going to crash.
14200 And we've also found Just flip one switch
14201 When you turn the power down, And the lights will cease to twitch
14202 You turn the disk readers into trash. And the tape drives will crumble
14203 in a flash.
14204 Oh, it's so much fun, When the CPU
14205 Now the CPU won't run Can print nothing out but "foo,"
14206 And the system is going to crash. The system is going to crash.
14207 %
14208 To A Quick Young Fox:
14209 Why jog exquisite bulk, fond crazy vamp,
14210 Daft buxom jonquil, zephyr's gawky vice?
14211 Guy fed by work, quiz Jove's xanthic lamp --
14212 Zow! Qualms by deja vu gyp fox-kin thrice.
14213 -- Lazy Dog
14214 %
14215 To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated but not be able to say it.
14216 %
14217 To be is to do.
14218 -- I. Kant
14219 To do is to be.
14220 -- A. Sartre
14221 Yabba-Dabba-Doo!
14222 -- F. Flintstone
14223 %
14224 "To be responsive at this time, though I will simply say, and therefore
14225 this is a repeat of what I said previously, that which I am unable to
14226 offer in response is based on information available to make no such
14227 statement."
14228 %
14229 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit,
14230 call it the target.
14231 %
14232 To err is human, to forgive is Not Company Policy.
14233 %
14234 To err is human, to forgive, beyond the scope of the Operating System
14235 %
14236 To err is human, to moo bovine.
14237 %
14238 To every Ph.D. there is an equal and opposite Ph.D.
14239 -- B. Duggan
14240 %
14241 To generalize is to be an idiot.
14242 -- William Blake
14243 %
14244 To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three
14245 men, two of them absent.
14246 %
14247 To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
14248 -- Thomas Edison
14249 %
14250 To iterate is human, to recurse, divine.
14251 -- Robert Heller
14252 %
14253 To the best of my recollection, Senator, I can't recall.
14254 %
14255 To the systems programmer, users and applications serve only to provide
14256 a test load.
14257 %
14258 To those accustomed to the precise, structured methods of conventional
14259 system development, exploratory development techniques may seem messy,
14260 inelegant, and unsatisfying. But it's a question of congruence:
14261 precision and flexibility may be just as dysfunctional in novel,
14262 uncertain situations as sloppiness and vacillation are in familiar,
14263 well-defined ones. Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structures
14264 of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very
14265 secure ecological niche.
14266 -- Beau Sheil, "Power Tools for Programmers"
14267 %
14268 To understand this important story, you have to understand how the
14269 telephone company works. Your telephone is connected to a local
14270 computer, which is in turn connected to a regional computer, which is
14271 in turn connected to a loudspeaker the size of a garbage truck on the
14272 lawn of Edna A. Bargewater of Lawrence, Kan.
14273
14274 Whenever you talk on the phone, your local computer listens in. If it
14275 suspects you're going to discuss an intimate topic, it notifies the
14276 computer above it, which listens in and decides whether to alert the
14277 one above it, until finally, if you really humiliate yourself, maybe
14278 break down in tears and tell your closest friend about a sordid
14279 incident from your past involving a seedy motel, a neighbor's spouse,
14280 an entire religious order, a garden hose and six quarts of tapioca
14281 pudding, the top computer feeds your conversation into Edna's
14282 loudspeaker, and she and her friends come out on the porch to listen
14283 and drink gin and laugh themselves silly.
14284 -- Dave Barry, "Won't It Be Just Great Owning Our Own
14285 Phones?"
14286 %
14287 To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question ... or is it?
14288 %
14289 To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.
14290 -- Woody Allen
14291 %
14292 Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official.
14293 %
14294 Today is National Existential Ennui Awareness Day.
14295 %
14296 Today is the first day of the rest of the mess.
14297 %
14298 Today is the first day of the rest of your lossage.
14299 %
14300 Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
14301 %
14302 Today's scientific question is: What in the world is electricity?
14303
14304 And where does it go after it leaves the toaster?
14305 -- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
14306 %
14307 Today's thrilling story has been brought to you by Mushies, the great new
14308 cereal that gets soggy even without milk or cream. Join us soon for more
14309 spectacular adventure starring ... Tippy, the Wonder Dog.
14310 -- Bob & Ray
14311 %
14312 Today, of course, it is considered very poor taste to use the F-word
14313 except in major motion pictures.
14314 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
14315 %
14316 Toilet Toup'ee, n.:
14317 Any shag carpet that causes the lid to become top-heavy, thus
14318 creating endless annoyance to male users.
14319 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
14320 %
14321 Tomorrow will be canceled due to lack of interest.
14322 %
14323 Tonight's the night: Sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
14324 %
14325 Too clever is dumb.
14326 -- Ogden Nash
14327 %
14328 Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL.
14329 -- Mae West
14330 %
14331 Too much of everything is just enough.
14332 -- Bob Wier
14333 %
14334 Too often I find that the volume of paper expands to fill the available
14335 briefcases.
14336 -- Governor Jerry Brown
14337 %
14338 Top 10 things likely to be overheard if you had a Klingon Programmer:
14339 10) Specifications are for the weak and timid!
14340 9) You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!
14341 8) Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!
14342 7) What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'.
14343 Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
14344 assurance people in its wake.
14345 6) Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments'
14346 - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.
14347 5) Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.
14348 4) A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code!
14349 3) Klingon software does NOT have BUGS. It has FEATURES, and those features
14350 are too sophisticated for a Romulan pig like you to understand.
14351 2) You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the
14352 original Klingon.
14353 1) Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it!
14354 Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
14355 %
14356 Top scientists agree that with the present rate of consumption, the
14357 earth's supply of gravity will be exhausted before the 24th century.
14358 As man struggles to discover cheaper alternatives, we need your help.
14359 Please...
14360
14361 CONSERVE GRAVITY
14362
14363 Follow these simple suggestions:
14364
14365 (1) Walk with a light step. Carry helium balloons if possible.
14366 (2) Use tape, magnets, or glue instead of paperweights.
14367 (3) Give up skiing and skydiving for more horizontal sports like
14368 curling.
14369 (4) Avoid showers .. take baths instead.
14370 (5) Don't hang all your clothes in the closet ... Keep them in one big
14371 pile.
14372 (6) Stop flipping pancakes
14373 %
14374 Travel important today; Internal Revenue men arrive tomorrow.
14375 %
14376 Troubled day for virgins over 16 who are beautiful, wealthy, and live
14377 in eucalyptus trees.
14378 %
14379 Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence.
14380 -- Henrik Tikkanen
14381 %
14382 Truth is the most valuable thing we have -- so let us economize it.
14383 -- Mark Twain
14384 %
14385 Truth will be out this morning. (Which may really mess things up.)
14386 %
14387 Truthful, adj.:
14388 Dumb and illiterate.
14389 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
14390 %
14391 Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational.
14392 -- Charles Schulz
14393 %
14394 Try to be the best of whatever you are, even if what you are is no good.
14395 %
14396 Try to find the real tense of the report you are reading: Was it done,
14397 is it being done, or is something to be done? Reports are now written
14398 in four tenses: past tense, present tense, future tense, and
14399 pretense. Watch for novel uses of CONGRAM (CONtractor GRAMmer),
14400 defined by the imperfect past, the insufficient present, and the
14401 absolutely perfect future.
14402 -- Amrom Katz
14403 %
14404 Try to get all of your posthumous medals in advance.
14405 %
14406 Trying to be happy is like trying to build a machine for which the only
14407 specification is that it should run noiselessly.
14408 %
14409 Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.
14410 -- Alan Watts
14411 %
14412 Trying to establish voice contact ... please ____yell into keyboard.
14413 %
14414 Turnaucka's Law:
14415 The attention span of a computer is only as long as its
14416 electrical cord.
14417 %
14418 Tussman's Law:
14419 Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.
14420 %
14421 TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
14422 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
14423 %
14424 'Twas midnight, and the UNIX hacks
14425 Did gyre and gimble in their cave
14426 All mimsy was the CS-VAX
14427 And Cory raths outgrabe.
14428
14429 "Beware the software rot, my son!
14430 The faults that bite, the jobs that thrash!
14431 Beware the broken pipe, and shun
14432 The frumious system crash!"
14433 %
14434 'Twas the Night before Crisis
14435
14436 'Twas the night before crisis, and all through the house,
14437 Not a program was working not even a browse.
14438 The programmers were wrung out too mindless to care,
14439 Knowing chances of cutover hadn't a prayer.
14440 The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
14441 While visions of inquiries danced in their heads.
14442 When out in the lobby there arose such a clatter,
14443 I sprang from my tube to see what was the matter.
14444 And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
14445 But a Super Programmer, oblivious to fear.
14446 More rapid than eagles, his programs they came,
14447 And he whistled and shouted and called them by name;
14448 On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete!
14449 On Batch Jobs! On Closing! On Functions Complete!
14450 His eyes were glazed over, his fingers were lean,
14451 From Weekends and nights in front of a screen.
14452 A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
14453 Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread...
14454 %
14455 'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period
14456 preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, And
14457 throughout our place of residence,
14458 Kinetic activity was not in evidence among the
14459 possessors of this potential, including that
14460 species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus.
14461 Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward
14462 edge of the woodburning caloric apparatus,
14463 Pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an
14464 imminent visitation from an eccentric
14465 philanthropist among whose folkloric appelations
14466 is the honorific title of St. Nicklaus ...
14467 %
14468 Twenty Percent of Zero is Better than Nothing.
14469 -- Walt Kelly
14470 %
14471 Two can Live as Cheaply as One for Half as Long.
14472 -- Howard Kandel
14473 %
14474 Two men came before Nasrudin when he was magistrate. The first man
14475 said, "This man has bitten my ear -- I demand compensation." The
14476 second man said, "He bit it himself." Nasrudin withdrew to his
14477 chambers, and spent an hour trying to bite his own ear. He succeeded
14478 only in falling over and bruising his forehead. Returning to the
14479 courtroom, Nasrudin pronounced, "Examine the man whose ear was bitten.
14480 If his forehead is bruised, he did it himself and the case is
14481 dismissed. If his forehead is not bruised, the other man did it and
14482 must pay three silver pieces."
14483 %
14484 Two percent of zero is almost nothing.
14485 %
14486 Two sure ways to tell a sexy male; the first is, he has a bad memory.
14487 I forget the second.
14488 %
14489 Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
14490 %
14491 U: There's a U -- a Unicorn!
14492 Run right up and rub its horn.
14493 Look at all those points you're losing!
14494 UMBER HULKS are so confusing.
14495 -- The Roguelet's ABC
14496 %
14497 "Ubi non accusator, ibi non judex."
14498
14499 (Where there is no police, there is no speed limit.)
14500 -- Roman Law, trans. Petr Beckmann (1971)
14501 %
14502 UFO's are for real: the Air Force doesn't exist.
14503 %
14504 "Uncle Cosmo ... why do they call this a word processor?"
14505
14506 "It's simple, Skyler ... you've seen what food processors do to food,
14507 right?"
14508 -- MacNelley, "Shoe"
14509 %
14510 Uncle Ed's Rule of Thumb:
14511 Never use your thumb for a rule. You'll either hit it with a
14512 hammer or get a splinter in it.
14513 %
14514 Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a
14515 just man is also a prison.
14516 %
14517 Under deadline pressure for the next week. If you want something, it
14518 can wait. Unless it's blind screaming paroxysmally hedonistic ...
14519 %
14520 Underlying Principle of Socio-Genetics:
14521 Superiority is recessive.
14522 %
14523 Unfair animal names:
14524
14525 -- tsetse fly -- bullhead
14526 -- booby -- duck-billed platypus
14527 -- sapsucker -- Clarence
14528 -- Gary Larson
14529 %
14530 United Nations, New York, December 25. The peace and joy of the
14531 Christmas season was marred by a proclamation of a general strike of
14532 all the military forces of the world. Panic reigns in the hearts of
14533 all the patriots of every persuasion.
14534
14535 Meanwhile, fears of universal disaster sank to an all-time low over the
14536 world.
14537 -- Isaac Asimov
14538 %
14539 Universe, n.:
14540 The problem.
14541 %
14542 University, n.:
14543 Like a software house, except the software's free, and it's
14544 usable, and it works, and if it breaks they'll quickly tell you how to
14545 fix it, and ...
14546 %
14547 unix soit qui mal y pense
14548 %
14549 UNIX was half a billion (500000000) seconds old on
14550 Tue Nov 5 00:53:20 1985 GMT (measuring since the time(2) epoch).
14551 -- Andy Tannenbaum
14552 %
14553 Unnamed Law:
14554 If it happens, it must be possible.
14555 %
14556 Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out
14557 twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.
14558 -- H. L. Mencken
14559 %
14560 Usage: fortune -P [] -a [xsz] [Q: [file]] [rKe9] -v6[+] dataspec ... inputdir
14561 %
14562 User n.:
14563 A programmer who will believe anything you tell him.
14564 %
14565 USER, n.:
14566 The word computer professionals use when they mean "idiot."
14567 -- Dave Barry, "Claw Your Way to the Top"
14568 %
14569 Using TSO is like kicking a dead whale down the beach.
14570 -- S. C. Johnson
14571 %
14572 Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two,
14573 opulence is when you have three -- and paradise is when you have none.
14574 -- Doug Larson
14575 %
14576 Vail's Second Axiom:
14577 The amount of work to be done increases in proportion to the
14578 amount of work already completed.
14579 %
14580 Valerie: Aww, Tom, you're going maudlin on me ...
14581 Tom: I reserve the right to wax maudlin as I wane eloquent ...
14582 -- Tom Chapin
14583 %
14584 Van Roy's Law:
14585 An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.
14586 %
14587 Vanilla, adj.:
14588 Ordinary flavor, standard. See FLAVOR. When used of food,
14589 very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla
14590 extract! For example, "vanilla-flavored won ton soup" (or simply
14591 "vanilla won ton soup") means ordinary won ton soup, as opposed to hot
14592 and sour won ton soup.
14593 %
14594 Velilind's Laws of Experimentation:
14595 (1) If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only
14596 once.
14597 (2) If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data
14598 points.
14599 %
14600 Veni, Vidi, Visa.
14601 %
14602 "Verily and forsooth," replied Goodgulf darkly. "In the past
14603 year strange and fearful wonders I have seen. Fields sown with barley
14604 reap crabgrass and fungus, and even small gardens reject their
14605 artichoke hearts. There has been a hot day in December and a blue
14606 moon. Calendars are made with a month of Sundays and a blue-ribbon
14607 Holstein bore alive two insurance salesmen. The earth splits and the
14608 entrails of a goat were found tied in square knots. The face of the
14609 sun blackens and the skies have rained down soggy potato chips."
14610
14611 "But what do all these things mean?" gasped Frito.
14612
14613 "Beats me," said Goodgulf with a shrug, "but I thought it made
14614 good copy."
14615 -- Harvard Lampoon, "Bored of the Rings"
14616 %
14617 Very few profundities can be expressed in less than 80 characters.
14618 %
14619 Vila: "I think I have just made the biggest mistake of my life."
14620 Orac: "It is unlikely. I would predict there are far greater mistakes
14621 waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it."
14622 %
14623 Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
14624 -- Salvor Hardin
14625 %
14626 Virginia law forbids bathtubs in the house; tubs must be kept in the
14627 yard.
14628 %
14629 VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
14630 Learn something new today, like how to spell or how to count to
14631 ten without using your fingers. Be careful dressing this
14632 morning. You may be hit by a car later in the day and you
14633 wouldn't want to be taken to the doctor's office in some of
14634 that old underwear you own.
14635 %
14636 VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
14637 You are the logical type and hate disorder. This nitpicking is
14638 sickening to your friends. You are cold and unemotional and
14639 sometimes fall asleep while making love. Virgos make good bus
14640 drivers.
14641 %
14642 "Virtual" means never knowing where your next byte is coming from.
14643 %
14644 Virtue is its own punishment.
14645 %
14646 Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by spontaneously moving
14647 from where you left them to where you can't find them.
14648 %
14649 Vitamin C deficiency is apauling.
14650 %
14651 VMS is like a nightmare about RSX-11M.
14652 %
14653 Vote anarchist.
14654 %
14655 Vote for ME -- I'm well-tapered, half-cocked, ill-conceived and
14656 TAX-DEFERRED!
14657 %
14658 VYARZERZOMANIMORORSEZASSEZANSERAREORSES?
14659 %
14660
14661 *** System shutdown message from root ***
14662
14663 System going down in 60 seconds
14664
14665
14666 %
14667 Wagner's music is better than it sounds.
14668 -- Mark Twain
14669 %
14670 Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?"
14671 1st customer: "I'll have tea."
14672 2nd customer: "Me, too -- and be sure the glass is clean!"
14673 (Waiter exits, returns)
14674 Waiter: "Two teas. Which one asked for the clean glass?"
14675 %
14676 Walk softly and carry a megawatt laser.
14677 %
14678 War hath no fury like a non-combatant.
14679 -- Charles Edward Montague
14680 %
14681 War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ketchup is a vegetable.
14682 %
14683 WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL:
14684
14685 Firings will continue until morale improves.
14686 %
14687 WARNING:
14688 Reading this fortune can affect the dimensionality of your
14689 mind, change the curvature of your spine, cause the growth of hair on
14690 your palms, and make a difference in the outcome of your favorite war.
14691 %
14692 Warning: Listening to WXRT on April Fools' Day is not recommended for
14693 those who are slightly disoriented the first few hours after waking
14694 up.
14695 -- Chicago Reader 4/22/83
14696 %
14697 Warp 7 -- It's a law we can live with.
14698 %
14699 Washington [D.C.] is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
14700 -- John F. Kennedy
14701 %
14702 Waste not, get your budget cut next year.
14703 %
14704 Wasting time is an important part of living.
14705 %
14706 Watson's Law:
14707 The reliability of machinery is inversely proportional to the
14708 number and significance of any persons watching it.
14709 %
14710 We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which
14711 divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being
14712 correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.
14713 -- Niels Bohr
14714 %
14715 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
14716 -- Oscar Wilde
14717 %
14718 We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glowworm.
14719 -- Winston Churchill
14720 %
14721 We ARE as gods and might as well get good at it.
14722 -- Whole Earth Catalog
14723 %
14724 We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.
14725 -- Walt Kelly, "Pogo"
14726 %
14727 We are going to give a little something, a few little years more, to
14728 socialism, because socialism is defunct. It dies all by itself. The
14729 bad thing is that socialism, being a victim of its ... Did I say
14730 socialism?
14731 -- Fidel Castro
14732 %
14733 We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.
14734 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
14735 %
14736 We are upping our standards ... so up yours.
14737 -- Pat Paulsen for President, 1988.
14738 %
14739 We can defeat gravity. The problem is the paperwork involved.
14740 %
14741 We can predict everything, except the future.
14742 %
14743 We cannot put the face of a person on a stamp unless said person is
14744 deceased. My suggestion, therefore, is that you drop dead.
14745 -- James E. Day, Postmaster General
14746 %
14747 We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
14748 -- Vroomfondel
14749 %
14750 We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.
14751 %
14752 We don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't a
14753 fish.
14754 %
14755 We don't understand the software, and sometimes we don't understand the
14756 hardware, but we can *___see* the blinking lights!
14757 %
14758 We gave you an atomic bomb, what do you want, mermaids?
14759 -- I. I. Rabi to the Atomic Energy Commission
14760 %
14761 We had it tough ... I had to get up at 9 o'clock at night, half an
14762 hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of dry poison, work 29 hours down
14763 mill, and when we came home our Dad would kill us, and dance about on
14764 our grave singing Haleleuia ...
14765 -- Monty Python
14766 %
14767 We have met the enemy, and he is us.
14768 -- Walt Kelly
14769 %
14770 We have only two things to worry about: That things will never get
14771 back to normal, and that they already have.
14772 %
14773 We have reason to believe that man first walked upright to free his
14774 hands for masturbation.
14775 -- Lily Tomlin
14776 %
14777 We have the flu. I don't know if this particular strain has an
14778 official name, but if it does, it must be something like "Martian Death
14779 Flu". You may have had it yourself. The main symptom is that you wish
14780 you had another setting on your electric blanket, up past "HIGH", that
14781 said "ELECTROCUTION".
14782
14783 Another symptom is that you cease brushing your teeth, because (a) your
14784 teeth hurt, and (b) you lack the strength. Midway through the brushing
14785 process, you'd have to lie down in front of the sink to rest for a
14786 couple of hours, and rivulets of toothpaste foam would dribble sideways
14787 out of your mouth, eventually hardening into crusty little toothpaste
14788 stalagmites that would bond your head permanently to the bathroom
14789 floor, which is how the police would find you.
14790
14791 You know the kind of flu I'm talking about.
14792 -- Dave Barry, "Molecular Homicide"
14793 %
14794 We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all
14795 purely intellectual fields. But which are the best ones to start
14796 with? Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the
14797 playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is
14798 best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can
14799 buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English.
14800 -- Alan M. Turing
14801 %
14802 We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always
14803 respect their good judgement.
14804 %
14805 We must remember the First Amendment which protects any shrill jackass
14806 no matter how self-seeking.
14807 -- F. G. Withington
14808 %
14809 We ought to be very grateful that we have tools. Millions of years ago
14810 people did not have them, and home projects were extremely difficult.
14811 For example, when a primitive person wanted to put up paneling, he had
14812 to drive the little paneling nails into the cave wall with his bare
14813 fist, so generally the paneling wound up getting spattered with
14814 primitive blood, which isn't really all that bad when you consider how
14815 ugly paneling is to begin with.
14816 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
14817 %
14818 We really don't have any enemies. It's just that some of our best
14819 friends are trying to kill us.
14820 %
14821 We were young and our happiness dazzled us with its strength.
14822 But there was also a terrible betrayal that lay within me like a Merle
14823 Haggard song at a French restaurant. ...
14824 I could not tell the girl about the woman of the tollway, of
14825 her milk white BMW and her Jordache smile. There had been a fight. I
14826 had punched her boyfriend, who fought the mechanical bulls. Everyone
14827 told him, "You ride the bull, senor. You do not fight it." But he was
14828 lean and tough like a bad rib-eye and he fought the bull. And then he
14829 fought me. And when we finished there were no winners, just men doing
14830 what men must do. ...
14831 "Stop the car," the girl said. There was a look of terrible
14832 sadness in her eyes. She knew about the woman of the tollway. I knew
14833 not how. I started to speak, but she raised an arm and spoke with a
14834 quiet and peace I will never forget.
14835 "I do not ask for whom's the tollway belle," she said, "the
14836 tollway belle's for thee."
14837 The next morning our youth was a memory, and our happiness was
14838 a lie. Life is like a bad margarita with good tequila, I thought as I
14839 poured whiskey onto my granola and faced a new day.
14840 -- Peter Applebome, International Imitation Hemingway
14841 Competition
14842 %
14843 We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one
14844 technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through a meter.
14845 %
14846 We will invent new lullabies, new songs, new acts of love,
14847 we will cry over things we used to laugh &
14848 our new wisdom will bring tears to eyes of gentile
14849 creatures from other planets who were afraid of us till then &
14850 in the end a summer with wild winds &
14851 new friends will be.
14852 %
14853 We wish you a Hare Krishna
14854 We wish you a Hare Krishna
14855 We wish you a Hare Krishna
14856 And a Sun Myung Moon!
14857 -- Maxwell Smart
14858 %
14859 We'll cross out that bridge when we come back to it later.
14860 %
14861 We're deep into the holiday gift-giving season, as you can tell from
14862 the fact that everywhere you look, you see jolly old St. Nick urging
14863 you to purchase things, to the point where you want to slug him right
14864 in his bowl full of jelly.
14865 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
14866 %
14867 We're only in it for the volume.
14868 -- Black Sabbath
14869 %
14870 We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
14871 of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
14872 but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
14873 -- Andy Rooney
14874 %
14875 Weiler's Law:
14876 Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
14877 %
14878 Weinberg's First Law:
14879 Progress is made on alternate Fridays.
14880 %
14881 Weinberg's Principle:
14882 An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while
14883 sweeping on to the grand fallacy.
14884 %
14885 Weinberg's Second Law:
14886 If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs,
14887 then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
14888 %
14889 Weiner's Law of Libraries:
14890 There are no answers, only cross references.
14891 %
14892 Welcome thy neighbor into thy fallout shelter. He'll come in handy if
14893 you run out of food.
14894 -- Dean McLaughlin.
14895 %
14896 Well, here it is, 1983, so it won't be long before you start reading a
14897 lot of boring stories about people like Vance Hartke. Hartke is a
14898 governor or mayor or something from one of the flatter states, and the
14899 reason you'll be reading about him is that he's one of the 50 top
14900 contenders for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. These men
14901 will spend the next 18 months going around the country engaging in the
14902 most degrading activities imaginable, such as wearing idiot hats and
14903 appearing on "Meet the Press". "Meet the Press" is one of those Sunday
14904 morning public interest shows that the public is not the least bit
14905 interested in. It features a panel of reporters who ask questions of a
14906 guest politician, who wins an Amana home freezer if he can get through
14907 the entire show without answering a single question ...
14908 -- Dave Barry, "On Presidential Politics"
14909 %
14910 Well, I would -- if they realized that we -- again if -- if we led them
14911 back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds,
14912 or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they
14913 they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off.
14914 -- President Ronald Reagan, on the MX missile
14915 %
14916 Well, if you can't believe what you read in a comic book, what *___can*
14917 you believe?!
14918 -- Bullwinkle J. Moose [Jay Ward]
14919 %
14920 Well, my terminal's locked up, and I ain't got any Mail,
14921 And I can't recall the last time that my program didn't fail;
14922 I've got stacks in my structs, I've got arrays in my queues,
14923 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
14924
14925 If you think that it's nice that you get what you C,
14926 Then go : illogical statement with your whole family,
14927 'Cause the Supreme Court ain't the only place with : Bus error views.
14928 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
14929
14930 On a PDP-11, life should be a breeze,
14931 But with VAXen in the house even magnetic tapes would freeze.
14932 Now you might think that unlike VAXen I'd know who I abuse,
14933 I've got the : Segmentation violation -- Core dumped blues.
14934 -- Core Dumped Blues
14935 %
14936 "Well, that was a piece of cake, eh K-9?"
14937
14938 "Piece of cake, Master? Radial slice of baked confection ...
14939 coefficient of relevance to Key of Time: zero."
14940 -- Dr. Who
14941 %
14942 "Well," Brahma said, "even after ten thousand explanations, a fool is
14943 no wiser, but an intelligent man requires only two thousand five
14944 hundred."
14945 -- The Mahabharata.
14946 %
14947 Westheimer's Discovery:
14948 A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a
14949 couple of hours in the library.
14950 %
14951 Wethern's Law:
14952 Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.
14953 %
14954 "What are we going to do?"
14955
14956 "Me, I'm examining the major Western religions. I'm looking for
14957 something that's soft on morality, generous with holidays, and has a
14958 short initiation period."
14959 %
14960 "What are you doing?"
14961
14962 "Examining the world's major religions. I'm looking for something
14963 that's light on morals, has lots of holidays, and with a short
14964 initiation period."
14965 %
14966 What color is a chameleon on a mirror?
14967 %
14968 "What do you give a man who has everything?" the pretty
14969 teenager asked her mother.
14970 "Encouragement, dear," she replied.
14971 %
14972 What does "it" mean in the sentence "What time is it?"?
14973 %
14974 What does it mean if there is no fortune for you?
14975 %
14976 What garlic is to food, insanity is to art.
14977 %
14978 What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.
14979 %
14980 What George Washington did for us was to throw out the British, so
14981 that we wouldn't have a fat, insensitive government running our
14982 country. Nice try anyway, George.
14983 -- D.J. on KSFO/KYA
14984 %
14985 What good is a ticket to the good life, if you can't find the
14986 entrance?
14987 %
14988 What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow
14989 in his footsteps?
14990 %
14991 What I do, first thing [in the morning], is I hop into the shower
14992 stall. Then I hop right back out, because when I hopped in I landed
14993 barefoot right on top of See Threepio, a little plastic robot character
14994 from "Star Wars" whom my son, Robert, likes to pull the legs off of
14995 while he showers. Then I hop right back into the stall because our
14996 dog, Earnest, who has been alone in the basement all night building up
14997 powerful dog emotions, has come bounding and quivering into the
14998 bathroom and wants to greet me with 60 or 70 thousand playful nips, any
14999 one of which -- bear in mind that I am naked and, without my contact
15000 lenses, essentially blind -- could result in the kind of injury where
15001 you have to learn a whole new part if you want to sing the "Messiah",
15002 if you get my drift. Then I hop right back out, because Robert, with
15003 that uncanny sixth sense some children have -- you cannot teach it;
15004 they either have it or they don't -- has chosen exactly that moment to
15005 flush one of the toilets. Perhaps several of them.
15006 -- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
15007 %
15008 What I tell you three times is true.
15009 %
15010 What I think is that the F-word is basically just a convenient nasty-
15011 sounding word that we tend to use when we would really like to come up
15012 with a terrifically witty insult, the kind Winston Churchill always
15013 came up with when enormous women asked him stupid questions at
15014 parties.
15015 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
15016 %
15017 What I want is all of the power and none of the responsibility.
15018 %
15019 What I've done, of course, is total garbage.
15020 -- R. Willard, Pure Math 430a
15021 %
15022 What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I
15023 definitely overpaid for my carpet.
15024 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
15025 %
15026 What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's
15027 worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
15028 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
15029 %
15030 What is a magician but a practicing theorist?
15031 -- Obi-Wan Kenobi
15032 %
15033 What is mind? No matter.
15034 What is matter? Never mind.
15035 -- Thomas Hewitt Key, 1799-1875
15036 %
15037 What is the difference between a Turing machine and the modern
15038 computer? It's the same as that between Hillary's ascent of Everest
15039 and the establishment of a Hilton on its peak.
15040 %
15041 "What is the Nature of God?"
15042
15043 CLICK...CLICK...WHIRRR...CLICK...=BEEP!=
15044 1 QT. SOUR CREAM
15045 1 TSP. SAUERKRAUT
15046 1/2 CUT CHIVES.
15047 STIR AND SPRINKLE WITH BACON BITS.
15048
15049 "I've just GOT to start labeling my software..."
15050 -- Bloom County
15051 %
15052 What is the robbing of a bank compared to the FOUNDING of a bank?
15053 -- Berthold Brecht
15054 %
15055 What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out,
15056 which is the exact opposite.
15057 -- Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical_Essays", 1928
15058 %
15059 What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to do.
15060 %
15061 What makes the universe so hard to comprehend is that there's nothing
15062 to compare it with.
15063 %
15064 What publishers are looking for these days isn't radical feminism.
15065 It's corporate feminism -- a brand of feminism designed to sell books
15066 and magazines, three-piece suits, airline tickets, Scotch, cigarettes
15067 and, most important, corporate America's message, which runs: "Yes,
15068 women were discriminated against in the past, but that unfortunate
15069 mistake has been remedied; now every woman can attain wealth, prestige
15070 and power by dint of individual rather than collective effort."
15071 -- Susan Gordon
15072 %
15073 What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
15074 -- Ursula K. LeGuin
15075 %
15076 What the hell, go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket.
15077 %
15078 What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away.
15079 %
15080 What the world *really* needs is a good Automatic Bicycle Sharpener.
15081 %
15082 What this country needs is a dime that will buy a good five-cent bagel.
15083 %
15084 What this country needs is a good five cent ANYTHING!
15085 %
15086 What this country needs is a good five cent microcomputer.
15087 %
15088 What this country needs is a good five cent nickel.
15089 %
15090 What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon.
15091 %
15092 What this world needs is a good five-dollar plasma weapon.
15093 %
15094 What use is magic if it can't save a unicorn?
15095 -- Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"
15096 %
15097 What we need in this country, instead of Daylight Savings Time, which
15098 nobody really understands anyway, is a new concept called Weekday
15099 Morning Time, whereby at 7 a.m. every weekday we go into a space-
15100 launch-style "hold" for two to three hours, during which it just
15101 remains 7 a.m. This way we could all wake up via a civilized gradual
15102 process of stretching and belching and scratching, and it would still
15103 be only 7 a.m. when we were ready to actually emerge from bed.
15104 -- Dave Barry, "$#$%#^%!^%&@%@!"
15105 %
15106 What you don't know can hurt you, only you won't know it.
15107 %
15108 What's another word for Thesaurus?
15109 -- Steven Wright
15110 %
15111 "What's that thing?"
15112 "Well, it's a highly technical, sensitive instrument we use in
15113 computer repair. Being a layman, you probably can't grasp exactly what
15114 it does. We call it a two-by-four."
15115 -- Jeff MacNelley, "Shoe"
15116 %
15117 What's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it?
15118 -- Dr. Who
15119 %
15120 Whatever became of eternal truth?
15121 %
15122 Whatever became of Strange de Jim? Well, he found a substitute for
15123 cocaine: "You cover Q-tips with sandpaper and ram them up your nostrils
15124 as far as they will go. Then you sniff talcum powder while shredding
15125 hundred dollar bills."
15126 -- Herb Caen
15127 %
15128 Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not
15129 nailed down.
15130 -- Collis P. Huntingdon
15131 %
15132 Whatever the missing mass of the universe is, I hope it's not cockroaches!
15133 -- Mom
15134 %
15135 When a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him -- that's where the
15136 money is.
15137 -- Robespierre
15138 %
15139 When a fellow says, "It ain't the money but the principle of the
15140 thing," it's the money.
15141 -- Kim Hubbard
15142 %
15143 When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a half roll or a half
15144 loop?
15145 %
15146 When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is
15147 not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space
15148 travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.
15149 -- Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love"
15150 %
15151 When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog along to see the
15152 sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain
15153 relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten.
15154 -- Robert Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
15155 %
15156 When all other means of communication fail, try words.
15157 %
15158 When are you BUTTHEADS gonna learn that you can't oppose Gestapo
15159 tactics *with* Gestapo tactics?
15160 -- Reuben Flagg
15161 %
15162 When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before
15163 the white men came, an Indian said simply "Ours."
15164 -- Vine Deloria, Jr.
15165 %
15166 When does summertime come to Minnesota, you ask? Well, last year, I
15167 think it was a Tuesday.
15168 %
15169 When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to
15170 guarantee them.
15171 %
15172 When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great
15173 parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if
15174 I'm leaving.
15175 -- Steven Wright
15176 %
15177 When I heated my home with oil, I used an average of 800 gallons a
15178 year. I have found that I can keep comfortably warm for an entire
15179 winter with slightly over half that quantity of beer.
15180 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
15181 %
15182 When I said "we", officer, I was referring to myself, the four young
15183 ladies, and, of course, the goat.
15184 %
15185 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now
15186 I'm beginning to believe it.
15187 -- Clarence Darrow
15188 %
15189 When I was a kid I said to my father one afternoon, "Daddy, will you
15190 take me to the zoo?" He answered, "If the zoo wants you let them come
15191 and get you."
15192 -- Jerry Lewis
15193 %
15194 When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any
15195 firearms with me. I said, `Well, what do you need?'
15196 -- Steven Wright
15197 %
15198 When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into
15199 the soul of the boy sitting next to me.
15200 -- Woody Allen
15201 %
15202 When I was seven years old, I was once reprimanded by my mother for an
15203 act of collective brutality in which I had been involved at school. A
15204 group of seven-year-olds had been teasing and tormenting a
15205 six-year-old. "It is always so," my mother said. "You do things
15206 together which not one of you would think of doing alone." ...
15207 Wherever one looks in the world of human organization, collective
15208 responsibility brings a lowering of moral standards. The military
15209 establishment is an extreme case, an organization which seems to have
15210 been expressly designed to make it possible for people to do things
15211 together which nobody in his right mind would do alone.
15212 -- Freeman Dyson, "Weapons and Hope"
15213 %
15214 When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened
15215 or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I
15216 cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to
15217 go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.
15218 -- Mark Twain
15219 %
15220 When in doubt, do what the President does -- guess.
15221 %
15222 When in doubt, tell the truth.
15223 -- Mark Twain
15224 %
15225 When in doubt, use brute force.
15226 -- Ken Thompson
15227 %
15228 When in panic, fear and doubt,
15229 Drink in barrels, eat, and shout.
15230 %
15231 When love is gone, there's always justice.
15232 And when justice is gone, there's always force.
15233 And when force is gone, there's always Mom.
15234 Hi, Mom!
15235 -- Laurie Anderson
15236 %
15237 When Marriage is Outlawed,
15238 Only Outlaws will have Inlaws.
15239 %
15240 When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment
15241 results.
15242 -- Calvin Coolidge
15243 %
15244 When one woman was asked how long she had been going to symphony
15245 concerts, she paused to calculate and replied, "Forty-seven years --
15246 and I find I mind it less and less."
15247 -- Louise Andrews Kent
15248 %
15249 When properly administered, vacations do not diminish productivity:
15250 for every week you're away and get nothing done, there's another when
15251 your boss is away and you get twice as much done.
15252 -- Daniel B. Luten
15253 %
15254 When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only
15255 say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.
15256 %
15257 When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical.
15258 -- Jon Carroll
15259 %
15260 When the government bureau's remedies don't match your problem, you
15261 modify the problem, not the remedy.
15262 %
15263 When the Ngdanga tribe of West Africa hold their moon love ceremonies,
15264 the men of the tribe bang their heads on sacred trees until they get a
15265 nose bleed, which usually cures them of ____that.
15266 -- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
15267 %
15268 When the speaker and he to whom he is speaks do not understand, that is
15269 metaphysics.
15270 -- Voltaire
15271 %
15272 When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the
15273 stars were lined up in their proper places, you could easily count them
15274 from left to right, or top to bottom, and the larger and bluer ones
15275 were set apart, and the smaller yellowing types pushed off to the
15276 corners as bodies of a lower grade ...
15277 -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
15278 %
15279 When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the
15280 plane will fly.
15281 -- Donald Douglas
15282 %
15283 When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most
15284 insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are
15285 required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and
15286 exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.
15287 -- George Bernard Shaw
15288 %
15289 When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is
15290 not hereditary.
15291 -- Thomas Paine
15292 %
15293 When we understand knowledge-based systems, it will be as before --
15294 except our fingertips will have been singed.
15295 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
15296 %
15297 When you are about to do an objective and scientific piece of
15298 investigation of a topic, it is well to have the answer firmly in hand,
15299 so that you can proceed forthrightly, without being deflected or
15300 swayed, directly to the goal.
15301 -- Amrom Katz
15302 %
15303 When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut.
15304 %
15305 When you don't know what you are doing, do it neatly.
15306 %
15307 When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
15308 -- Harry Truman
15309 %
15310 When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure
15311 clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer
15312 to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively.
15313 In a way, the next move is up to him.
15314 -- R. A. Lafferty
15315 %
15316 When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
15317 -- Winston Churchill, On formal declarations of war
15318 %
15319 When you know absolutely nothing about the topic, make your forecast by
15320 asking a carefully selected probability sample of 300 others who don't
15321 know the answer either.
15322 -- Edgar R. Fiedler
15323 %
15324 When you make your mark in the world, watch out for guys with erasers.
15325 -- The Wall Street Journal
15326 %
15327 When you try to make an impression, the chances are that is the
15328 impression you will make.
15329 %
15330 When you're away, I'm restless, lonely,
15331 Wretched, bored, dejected; only
15332 Here's the rub, my darling dear
15333 I feel the same when you are near.
15334 -- Samuel Hoffenstein, "When You're Away"
15335 %
15336 When you're not looking at it, this fortune is written in FORTRAN.
15337 %
15338 Whenever anyone says, "theoretically", they really mean, "not really".
15339 -- Dave Parnas
15340 %
15341 Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to
15342 see it tried on him personally.
15343 -- A. Lincoln
15344 %
15345 Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
15346 -- Oscar Wilde
15347 %
15348 Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last
15349 you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his
15350 Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
15351 -- Mark Twain
15352 "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
15353 %
15354 Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time
15355 to reform.
15356 -- Mark Twain
15357 %
15358 WHERE CAN THE MATTER BE
15359
15360 Oh, dear, where can the matter be
15361 When it's converted to energy?
15362 There is a slight loss of parity.
15363 Johnny's so long at the fair.
15364 %
15365 Where humor is concerned there are no standards -- no one can say what
15366 is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.
15367 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
15368 %
15369 Where there's a will, there's an Inheritance Tax.
15370 %
15371 Whether you can hear it or not
15372 The Universe is laughing behind your back
15373 -- National Lampoon, "Deteriorata"
15374 %
15375 Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares?
15376 %
15377 While anyone can admit to themselves they were wrong, the true test is
15378 admission to someone else.
15379 %
15380 While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,
15381 The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
15382 While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
15383 And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
15384 Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
15385 The Rights of Woman merit some attention.
15386 -- Robert Burns, Address on "The Rights of Woman",
15387 November 26, 1792
15388 %
15389 While having never invented a sin, I'm trying to perfect several.
15390 %
15391 While it may be true that a watched pot never boils, the one you don't
15392 keep an eye on can make an awful mess of your stove.
15393 -- Edward Stevenson
15394 %
15395 While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own
15396 form of misery.
15397 %
15398 While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position.
15399 %
15400 While most peoples' opinions change, the conviction of their
15401 correctness never does.
15402 %
15403 While you don't greatly need the outside world, it's still very
15404 reassuring to know that it's still there.
15405 %
15406 While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are
15407 safe, for you can watch both of his.
15408 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
15409 %
15410 Whistler's Law:
15411 You never know who is right, but you always know who is in
15412 charge.
15413 %
15414 "Who cares if it doesn't do anything? It was made with our new
15415 Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..."
15416 %
15417 Who made the world I cannot tell;
15418 'Tis made, and here am I in hell.
15419 My hand, though now my knuckles bleed,
15420 I never soiled with such a deed.
15421 -- A. E. Housman
15422 %
15423 Who messed with my anti-paranoia shot?
15424 %
15425 Who needs friends when you can sit alone in your room and drink?
15426 %
15427 Who's on first?
15428 %
15429 "Whom are you?" said he, for he had been to night school.
15430 -- George Ade
15431 %
15432 Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
15433 %
15434 Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.
15435 %
15436 Why are we importing all these highbrow plays like `Amadeus'? I could
15437 have told you Mozart was a jerk for nothing.
15438 -- Ian Shoales
15439 %
15440 Why be a man when you can be a success?
15441 -- Berthold Brecht
15442 %
15443 Why bother building any more nuclear warheads until we use the ones we
15444 have?
15445 %
15446 Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else?
15447 %
15448 Why did the Lord give us so much quickness of movement unless it was to
15449 avoid responsibility with?
15450 %
15451 Why did the Roman Empire collapse?
15452 What is the Latin for office automation?
15453 %
15454 Why do we have two eyes? To watch 3-D movies with.
15455 %
15456 Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently
15457 there must be a beverage.
15458 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
15459 %
15460 Why does New Jersey have more toxic waste dumps and California have
15461 more lawyers?
15462
15463 New Jersey had first choice.
15464 %
15465 Why don't elephants eat penguins ?
15466
15467 Because they can't get the wrappers off ...
15468 %
15469 Why I Can't Go Out With You:
15470
15471 I'd LOVE to, but ...
15472 -- I have to floss my cat.
15473 -- I've dedicated my life to linguini.
15474 -- I need to spend more time with my blender.
15475 -- it wouldn't be fair to the other Beautiful People.
15476 -- it's my night to pet the dog/ferret/goldfish.
15477 -- I'm going downtown to try on some gloves.
15478 -- I have to check the freshness dates on my dairy products.
15479 -- I'm going down to the bakery to watch the buns rise.
15480 -- I have an appointment with a cuticle specialist.
15481 -- I have some really hard words to look up.
15482 -- I've got a Friends of the Lowly Rutabaga meeting.
15483 -- I promised to help a friend fold road maps.
15484 %
15485 Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is
15486 because we are not the person involved
15487 -- Mark Twain
15488 %
15489 Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
15490 %
15491 Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet?
15492 -- Lily Tomlin
15493 %
15494 Why must you tell me all your secrets when it's hard enough to love
15495 you knowing nothing?
15496 -- Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
15497 %
15498 Why not have an old-fashioned Christmas for your family this year?
15499 Just picture the scene in your living room on Christmas morning as your
15500 children open their old-fashioned presents.
15501
15502 Your 11-year-old son: "What the heck is this?"
15503
15504 You: "A spinning top! You spin it around, and then eventually it
15505 falls down. What fun! Ha, ha!"
15506
15507 Son: "Is this a joke? Jason Thompson's parents got him a computer
15508 with two disk drives and 128 kilobytes of random-access memory,
15509 and I get this cretin TOP?"
15510
15511 Your 8-year-old daughter: "You think that's bad? Look at this."
15512
15513 You: "It's figgy pudding! What a treat!"
15514
15515 Daughter: "It looks like goat barf."
15516 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
15517 %
15518 Why was I born with such contemporaries?
15519 -- Oscar Wilde
15520 %
15521 Why You Can't Run When There's Trouble in the Office:
15522 No matter where you stand, no matter how far or fast you flee,
15523 when it hits the fan, as much as possible will be propelled in your
15524 direction, and almost none will be returned to the source.
15525 -- John L. Shelton
15526 %
15527 Wiker's Law:
15528 Government expands to absorb revenue and then some.
15529 %
15530 William Safire's Rules for Writers:
15531
15532 Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never
15533 be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to
15534 agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words
15535 out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal
15536 of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must
15537 not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a
15538 conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a
15539 sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as
15540 close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more
15541 words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles
15542 must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a
15543 linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing
15544 metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should
15545 be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their
15546 writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows
15547 the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek
15548 viable alternatives.
15549 %
15550 Williams and Holland's Law:
15551 If enough data is collected, anything may be proven by
15552 statistical methods.
15553 %
15554 Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as
15555 it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.
15556 %
15557 Wit, n.:
15558 The salt with which the American Humorist spoils his cookery
15559 ... by leaving it out.
15560 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
15561 %
15562 With a gentleman I try to be a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I
15563 try to be a fraud and a half.
15564 -- Otto von Bismark
15565 %
15566 With a rubber duck, one's never alone.
15567 -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
15568 %
15569 With all the fancy scientists in the world, why can't they just once
15570 build a nuclear balm?
15571 %
15572 With every passing hour our solar system comes forty-three thousand
15573 miles closer to globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, and
15574 still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no
15575 such thing as progress.
15576 -- Ransom K. Ferm
15577 %
15578 Without ice cream life and fame are meaningless.
15579 %
15580 Wombat's Laws of Computer Selection:
15581 (1) If it doesn't run Unix, forget it.
15582 (2) Any computer design over 10 years old is obsolete.
15583 (3) Anything made by IBM is junk. (See number 2)
15584 (4) The minimum acceptable CPU power for a single user is a
15585 VAX/780 with a floating point accelerator.
15586 (5) Any computer with a mouse is worthless.
15587 -- Rich Kulawiec
15588 %
15589 Wood is highly ecological, since trees are a renewable resource. If
15590 you cut down a tree, another will grow in its place. And if you cut
15591 down the new tree, still another will grow. And if you cut down that
15592 tree, yet another will grow, only this one will be a mutation with
15593 long, poisonous tentacles and revenge in its heart, and it will sit
15594 there in the forest, cackling and making elaborate plans for when you
15595 come back.
15596
15597 Wood heat is not new. It dates back to a day millions of years ago,
15598 when a group of cavemen were sitting around, watching dinosaurs rot.
15599 Suddenly, lightning struck a nearby log and set it on fire. One of the
15600 cavemen stared at the fire for a few minutes, then said: "Hey! Wood
15601 heat!" The other cavemen, who did not understand English, immediately
15602 beat him to death with stones. But the key discovery had been made,
15603 and from that day forward, the cavemen had all the heat they needed,
15604 although their insurance rates went way up.
15605 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
15606 %
15607 Work Rule: Leave of Absence (for an Operation):
15608 We are no longer allowing this practice. We wish to discourage
15609 any thoughts that you may not need all of whatever you have, and you
15610 should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are,
15611 and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we
15612 bargained for.
15613 %
15614 Workers of the world, arise! You have nothing to lose but your chairs.
15615 %
15616 World War Three can be averted by adherence to a strictly enforced
15617 dress code!
15618 %
15619 Worst Month of 1981 for Downhill Skiing:
15620 August. The lines are the shortest, though.
15621 -- Steve Rubenstein
15622 %
15623 Worst Month of the Year:
15624 February. February has only 28 days in it, which means that if
15625 you rent an apartment, you are paying for three full days you don't
15626 get. Try to avoid Februarys whenever possible.
15627 -- Steve Rubenstein
15628 %
15629 Worst Response To A Crisis, 1985:
15630 From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved
15631 in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs
15632 damage my videotapes?"
15633 %
15634 Worst Vegetable of the Year:
15635 The brussels sprout. This is also the worst vegetable of next
15636 year.
15637 -- Steve Rubenstein
15638 %
15639 "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
15640
15641 "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
15642 -- Lewis Carroll
15643 %
15644 Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish
15645 and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer
15646 if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and
15647 and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and
15648 and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?
15649 %
15650 Write-Protect Tab, n.:
15651 A small sticker created to cover the unsightly notch carelessly
15652 left by disk manufacturers. The use of the tab creates an error
15653 message once in a while, but its aesthetic value far outweighs the
15654 momentary inconvenience.
15655 -- Robb Russon
15656 %
15657 Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
15658 -- Frank Zappa
15659 %
15660 "Wrong," said Renner.
15661
15662 "The tactful way," Rod said quietly, "the polite way to disagree with
15663 the Senator would be to say, `That turns out not to be the case.'"
15664 %
15665 X-rated movies are all alike -- the only thing they leave to the
15666 imagination is the plot.
15667 %
15668 Xerox does it again and again and again and ...
15669 %
15670 Xerox never comes up with anything original.
15671 %
15672 XIIdigitation, n.:
15673 The practice of trying to determine the year a movie was made
15674 by deciphering the Roman numerals at the end of the credits.
15675 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
15676 %
15677 "Yacc" owes much to a most stimulating collection of users, who have
15678 goaded me beyond my inclination, and frequently beyond my ability in
15679 their endless search for "one more feature". Their irritating
15680 unwillingness to learn how to do things my way has usually led to my
15681 doing things their way; most of the time, they have been right.
15682 -- Stephen C. Johnson, "Yacc guide acknowledgements"
15683 %
15684 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of APL, I shall
15685 fear no evil, for I can string six primitive monadic and dyadic
15686 operators together.
15687 -- Steve Higgins
15688 %
15689 Yeah, but you're taking the universe out of context.
15690 %
15691 Year, n.:
15692 A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments.
15693 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
15694 %
15695 Yes, but every time I try to see things your way, I get a headache.
15696 %
15697 Yes, but which self do you want to be?
15698 %
15699 Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog.
15700 Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog.
15701 Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.
15702 -- Snoopy
15703 %
15704 Yesterday upon the stair
15705 I met a man who wasn't there.
15706 He wasn't there again today --
15707 I think he's from the CIA.
15708 %
15709 Yield to Temptation ... it may not pass your way again.
15710 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
15711 %
15712 Yinkel, n.:
15713 A person who combs his hair over his bald spot, hoping no one
15714 will notice.
15715 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
15716 %
15717 You are a very redundant person, that's what kind of person you are.
15718 %
15719 You are here:
15720 ***
15721 ***
15722 *********
15723 *******
15724 *****
15725 ***
15726 *
15727
15728 But you're not all there.
15729 %
15730 "You are old, Father William," the young man said,
15731 "All your papers these days look the same;
15732 Those William's would be better unread --
15733 Do these facts never fill you with shame?"
15734
15735 "In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
15736 "I wrote wonderful papers galore;
15737 But the great reputation I found that I'd won,
15738 Made it pointless to think any more."
15739 %
15740 "You are old, father William," the young man said,
15741 "And your hair has become very white;
15742 And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
15743 Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
15744
15745 "In my youth," father William replied to his son,
15746 "I feared it might injure the brain;
15747 But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
15748 Why, I do it again and again."
15749 -- Lewis Carroll
15750 %
15751 "You are old," said the youth, "and I'm told by my peers
15752 That your lectures bore people to death.
15753 Yet you talk at one hundred conventions per year --
15754 Don't you think that you should save your breath?"
15755
15756 "I have answered three questions and that is enough,"
15757 Said his father, "Don't give yourself airs!
15758 Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
15759 Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!"
15760 %
15761 "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
15762 For anything tougher than suet;
15763 Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
15764 Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
15765
15766 "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
15767 And argued each case with my wife;
15768 And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
15769 Has lasted the rest of my life."
15770 -- Lewis Carroll
15771 %
15772 "You are old," said the youth, "and your programs don't run,
15773 And there isn't one language you like;
15774 Yet of useful suggestions for help you have none --
15775 Have you thought about taking a hike?"
15776
15777 "Since I never write programs," his father replied,
15778 "Every language looks equally bad;
15779 Yet the people keep paying to read all my books
15780 And don't realize that they've been had."
15781 %
15782 "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
15783 And have grown most uncommonly fat;
15784 Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
15785 Pray what is the reason of that?"
15786
15787 "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
15788 "I kept all my limbs very supple
15789 By the use of this ointment -- one shilling the box --
15790 Allow me to sell you a couple?"
15791 -- Lewis Carroll
15792 %
15793 "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
15794 And make errors few people could bear;
15795 You complain about everyone's English but yours --
15796 Do you really think this is quite fair?"
15797
15798 "I make lots of mistakes," Father William declared,
15799 "But my stature these days is so great
15800 That no critic can hurt me -- I've got them all scared,
15801 And to stop me it's now far too late."
15802 %
15803 "You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
15804 That your eye was as steady as ever;
15805 Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
15806 What made you so awfully clever?"
15807
15808 "I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
15809 Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
15810 Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
15811 Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"
15812 -- Lewis Carroll
15813 %
15814 You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
15815 %
15816 You are the only person to ever get this message.
15817 %
15818 You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend too much time reading
15819 this sort of trash.
15820 %
15821 You buttered your bread, now lie in it!
15822 %
15823 You can always tell the Christmas season is here when you start getting
15824 incredibly dense, tinfoil-and-ribbon- wrapped lumps in the mail.
15825 Fruitcakes make ideal gifts because the Postal Service has been unable
15826 to find a way to damage them. They last forever, largely because
15827 nobody ever eats them. In fact, many smart people save the fruitcakes
15828 they receive and send them back to the original givers the next year;
15829 some fruitcakes have been passed back and forth for hundreds of years.
15830
15831 The easiest way to make a fruitcake is to buy a darkish cake, then
15832 pound some old, hard fruit into it with a mallet. Be sure to wear
15833 safety glasses.
15834 -- Dave Barry, "Simple, Homespun Gifts"
15835 %
15836 You can bring any calculator you like to the midterm, as long as it
15837 doesn't dim the lights when you turn it on.
15838 -- Hepler, Systems Design 182
15839 %
15840 You can create your own opportunities this week.
15841 Blackmail a senior executive.
15842 %
15843 You can do this in a number of ways. IBM chose to do all of them.
15844 Why do you find that funny?
15845 -- D. Taylor, Computer Science 350, University of Washington
15846 %
15847 You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you
15848 can with just a kind word.
15849 -- Bumper Sticker
15850 %
15851 You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have,
15852 for instance.
15853 -- Franklin P. Jones
15854 %
15855 You can make it illegal, but you can't make it unpopular.
15856 %
15857 You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on
15858 the continuing viability of FORTRAN.
15859 -- Alan Perlis
15860 %
15861 You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
15862 %
15863 You can take all the impact that science considerations have on funding
15864 decisions at NASA, put them in the navel of a flea, and have room left
15865 over for a caraway seed and Tony Calio's heart.
15866 -- F. Allen
15867 %
15868 You can tell how far we have to go, when FORTRAN is the language of
15869 supercomputers.
15870 -- Steven Feiner
15871 %
15872 You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.
15873 %
15874 You can write a small letter to Grandma in the filename.
15875 -- Forbes Burkowski, Computer Science 454
15876 %
15877 You can't carve your way to success without cutting remarks.
15878 %
15879 You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
15880 -- Steven Wright
15881 %
15882 You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.
15883 -- Booker T. Washington
15884 %
15885 You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
15886 %
15887 You can't make a program without broken egos.
15888 %
15889 You can't start worrying about what's going to happen. You get spastic
15890 enough worrying about what's happening now.
15891 -- Lauren Bacall
15892 %
15893 You can't survive by sucking the juice from a wet mitten.
15894 -- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and
15895 Over and Over"
15896 %
15897 You can't teach people to be lazy - either they have it, or they don't.
15898 -- Dagwood Bumstead
15899 %
15900 You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.
15901 %
15902 You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.
15903 %
15904 You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.
15905 %
15906 You could get a new lease on life -- if only you didn't need the first
15907 and last month in advance.
15908 %
15909 You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable
15910 doubt.
15911 -- Ed Meese, on the Hinckley verdict
15912 %
15913 You do not have mail.
15914 %
15915 You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers.
15916 -- J. D. Salinger
15917 %
15918 You don't sew with a fork, so I see no reason to eat with knitting
15919 needles.
15920 -- Miss Piggy, on eating Chinese Food
15921 %
15922 You first have to decide whether to use the short or the long form.
15923 The short form is what the Internal Revenue Service calls "simplified",
15924 which means it is designed for people who need the help of a Sears
15925 tax-preparation expert to distinguish between their first and last
15926 names. Here's the complete text:
15927
15928 "(1) How much did you make? (AMOUNT)
15929 "(2) How much did we here at the government take out? (AMOUNT)
15930 "(3) Hey! Sounds like we took too much! So we're going to
15931 send an official government check for (ONE-FIFTEENTH OF
15932 THE AMOUNT WE TOOK) directly to the (YOUR LAST NAME)
15933 household at (YOUR ADDRESS), for you to spend in any way
15934 you please! Which just goes to show you, (YOUR FIRST
15935 NAME), that it pays to file the short form!"
15936
15937 The IRS wants you to use this form because it gets to keep most of your
15938 money. So unless you have pond silt for brains, you want the long
15939 form.
15940 -- Dave Barry, "Sweating Out Taxes"
15941 %
15942 You have a tendency to feel you are superior to most computers.
15943 %
15944 You have acquired a scroll entitled 'irk gleknow mizk'(n).--More--
15945
15946 This is an IBM Manual scroll.--More--
15947
15948 You are permanently confused.
15949 -- Dave Decot
15950 %
15951 You have an unusual magnetic personality. Don't walk too close to
15952 metal objects which are not fastened down.
15953 %
15954 You have junk mail.
15955 %
15956 You have the body of a 19 year old. Please return it before it gets
15957 wrinkled.
15958 %
15959 You have the capacity to learn from mistakes. You'll learn a lot today.
15960 %
15961 You know it's going to be a bad day when you want to put on the clothes
15962 you wore home from the party and there aren't any.
15963 %
15964 You know the great thing about TV? If something important happens
15965 anywhere at all in the world, no matter what time of the day or night,
15966 you can always change the channel.
15967 -- Jim Ignatowski
15968 %
15969 You know you have a small apartment when Rice Krispies echo.
15970 -- S. Rickly Christian
15971 %
15972 You know you're a little fat if you have stretch marks on your car.
15973 -- Cyrus, Chicago Reader 1/22/82
15974 %
15975 You know you've been spending too much time on the computer when your
15976 friend misdates a check, and you suggest adding a "++" to fix it.
15977 %
15978 You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi.
15979 %
15980 "You know, it's at times like this when I'm trapped in a Vogon
15981 airlock with a man from Betelgeuse and about to die of asphyxiation in
15982 deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me
15983 when I was young!"
15984 "Why, what did she tell you?"
15985 "I don't know, I didn't listen!"
15986 -- Douglas Adams, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
15987 %
15988 You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled.
15989 %
15990 You may be recognized soon. Hide.
15991 %
15992 You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a "realist," he
15993 is preparing to do something he is secretly ashamed of doing.
15994 -- Sydney Harris
15995 %
15996 You may easily play a joke on a man who likes to argue -- agree with
15997 him.
15998 -- Ed Howe
15999 %
16000 You may have heard that a dean is to faculty as a hydrant is to a dog.
16001 -- Alfred Kahn
16002 %
16003 You men out there probably think you already know how to dress for
16004 success. You know, for example, that you should not wear leisure suits
16005 or white plastic belts and shoes, unless you are going to a costume
16006 party disguised as a pig farmer vacationing at Disney World.
16007 -- Dave Barry, "How to Dress for Real Success"
16008 %
16009 You might have mail.
16010 %
16011 You might have had mail.
16012 %
16013 You must realize that the computer has it in for you. The irrefutable
16014 proof of this is that the computer always does what you tell it to do.
16015 %
16016 You need no longer worry about the future. This time tomorrow you'll
16017 be dead.
16018 %
16019 You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
16020 reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
16021 the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
16022 independence.
16023 -- Charles A. Beard
16024 %
16025 You never know how many friends you have until you rent a house on the
16026 beach.
16027 %
16028 You or I must yield up his life to Ahrimanes. I would rather it were
16029 you. I should have no hesitation in sacrificing my own life to spare
16030 yours, but we take stock next week, and it would not be fair on the
16031 company.
16032 -- J. Wellington Wells
16033 %
16034 You possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained.
16035 %
16036 You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could
16037 know how seldom they do.
16038 -- Olin Miller.
16039 %
16040 You should emulate your heros, but don't carry it too far. Especially
16041 if they are dead.
16042 %
16043 You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than
16044 about 10^12 to 1.
16045 -- Ernest Rutherford
16046 %
16047 You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for
16048 freedom and liberty.
16049 -- Henrik Ibsen
16050 %
16051 You should not use your fireplace, because scientists now believe that,
16052 contrary to popular opinion, fireplaces actually remove heat from
16053 houses. Really, that's what scientists believe. In fact many
16054 scientists actually use their fireplaces to cool their houses in the
16055 summer. If you visit a scientist's house on a sultry August day,
16056 you'll find a cheerful fire roaring on the hearth and the scientist
16057 sitting nearby, remarking on how cool he is and drinking heavily.
16058 -- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
16059 %
16060 You should tip the waiter $10, minus $2 if he tells you his name,
16061 another $2 if he claims it will be His Pleasure to serve you and
16062 another $2 for each "special" he describes involving confusing terms
16063 such as "shallots," and $4 if the menu contains the word "fixin's." In
16064 many restaurants, this means the waiter will actually owe you money.
16065 If you are traveling with a child aged six months to three years, you
16066 should leave an additional amount equal to twice the bill to compensate
16067 for the fact that they will have to take the banquette out and burn it
16068 because the cracks are wedged solid with gobbets made of partially
16069 chewed former restaurant rolls saturated with baby spit.
16070
16071 In New York, tip the taxicab driver $40 if he does not mention his
16072 hemorrhoids.
16073 -- Dave Barry, "The Stuff of Etiquette"
16074 %
16075 You should, without hesitation, pound your typewriter into a
16076 plowshare, your paper into fertilizer, and enter agriculture.
16077 -- Business Professor, University of Georgia
16078 %
16079 You think Oedipus had a problem -- Adam was Eve's mother.
16080 %
16081 YOU TOO CAN MAKE BIG MONEY IN THE EXCITING FIELD OF
16082 PAPER SHUFFLING!
16083
16084 Mr. TAA of Muddle, Mass. says: "Before I took this course I used to be
16085 a lowly bit twiddler. Now with what I learned at MIT Tech I feel
16086 really important and can obfuscate and confuse with the best."
16087
16088 Mr. MARC had this to say: "Ten short days ago all I could look forward
16089 to was a dead-end job as a engineer. Now I have a promising future and
16090 make really big Zorkmids."
16091
16092 MIT Tech can't promise these fantastic results to everyone, but when
16093 you earn your MDL degree from MIT Tech your future will be brighter.
16094
16095 SEND FOR OUR FREE BROCHURE TODAY!
16096 %
16097 You too can wear a nose mitten.
16098 %
16099 You will be a winner today. Pick a fight with a four-year-old.
16100 %
16101 You will be attacked by a beast who has the body of a wolf, the tail of
16102 a lion, and the face of Donald Duck.
16103 %
16104 You will be surprised by a loud noise.
16105 %
16106 You will be Told about it Tomorrow. Go Home and Prepare Thyself.
16107 %
16108 You will feel hungry again in another hour.
16109 %
16110 You will lose your present job and have to become a door to door
16111 mayonnaise salesman.
16112 %
16113 You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the
16114 Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the
16115 parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.
16116 -- Sherlock Holmes
16117 %
16118 You will think of something funnier than this to add to the fortunes.
16119 %
16120 You worry too much about your job. Stop it. You're not paid enough to
16121 worry.
16122 %
16123 You'd better beat it. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a
16124 taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a
16125 minute and a huff.
16126 -- Groucho Marx
16127 %
16128 "You'll never be the man your mother was!"
16129 %
16130 You're at the end of the road again.
16131 %
16132 You're being followed. Cut out the hanky-panky for a few days.
16133 %
16134 You're never too old to become younger.
16135 -- Mae West
16136 %
16137 You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
16138 -- Dean Martin
16139 %
16140 You're not my type. For that matter, you're not even my species!!!
16141 %
16142 You've been leading a dog's life. Stay off the furniture.
16143 %
16144 You've got to have a gimmick if your band sucks.
16145 -- Gary Giddens
16146 %
16147 "You've got to think about tomorrow!"
16148
16149 "TOMORROW! I haven't even prepared for *_________yesterday* yet!"
16150 %
16151 Your analyst has you mixed up with another patient. Don't believe a
16152 thing he tells you.
16153 %
16154 Your conscience never stops you from doing anything. It just stops you
16155 from enjoying it.
16156 %
16157 Your fault: core dumped
16158 %
16159 Your home electrical system is basically a bunch of wires that
16160 bring electricity into your home and take if back out before it has a
16161 chance to kill you. This is called a "circuit". The most common home
16162 electrical problem is when the circuit is broken by a "circuit
16163 breaker"; this causes the electricity to back up in one of the wires
16164 until it bursts out of an outlet in the form of sparks, which can
16165 damage your carpet. The best way to avoid broken circuits is to change
16166 your fuses regularly.
16167 Another common problem is that the lights flicker. This
16168 sometimes means that your electrical system is inadequate, but more
16169 often it means that your home is possessed by demons, in which case
16170 you'll need to get a caulking gun and some caulking. If you're not
16171 sure whether your house is possessed, see "The Amityville Horror", a
16172 fine documentary film based on an actual book. Or call in a licensed
16173 electrician, who is trained to spot the signs of demonic possession,
16174 such as blood coming down the stairs, enormous cats on the dinette
16175 table, etc.
16176 -- Dave Barry, "The Taming of the Screw"
16177 %
16178 Your life would be very empty if you had nothing to regret.
16179 %
16180 Your lucky color has faded.
16181 %
16182 Your lucky number has been disconnected.
16183 %
16184 Your lucky number is 3552664958674928. Watch for it everywhere.
16185 %
16186 Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with.
16187 %
16188 Yow! Am I having fun yet?
16189 -- Zippy the Pinhead
16190 %
16191 YOW!! Everybody out of the GENETIC POOL!
16192 %
16193 Zero Defects, n.:
16194 The result of shutting down a production line.
16195 %
16196 Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words
16197 since I first called my brother's father dad.
16198 -- William Shakespeare, "King John"
16199 %
16200 Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labor:
16201 People are always available for work in the past tense.
16202 %
16203 THE LAST BUG
16204
16205 "But you're out of your mind," It still wasn't perfect,
16206 They said with a shrug. As year followed year,
16207 "The customer's happy; And strangers would comment,
16208 What's one little bug?" "Is that guy still here?"
16209
16210 But he was determined. He died at the console,
16211 The others went home. Of hunger and thirst.
16212 He spread out the program, Next day he was buried,
16213 Deserted, alone. Face down, nine-edge first.
16214
16215 The cleaning men came, And the last bug in sight,
16216 The whole room was cluttered An ant passing by,
16217 With memory-dumps, punch cards. Saluted his tombstone,
16218 "I'm close," he muttered. And whispered, "Nice try."
16219
16220 The mumbling got louder,
16221 Simple deduction,
16222 "I've got it, it's right,
16223 Just change one instruction."
16224 %
16225 Speaking of the philosophy involved in moving humanity into space:
16226
16227 Furniture will be a largely obsolete concept. Take for example the dresser my
16228 mom bought for me when I was a kid. I still have it, and by the standards of
16229 its era, it's an admirable household fixture. It is a massive construction of
16230 maple wood, expertly joined with cunningly fit pieces, fitted and glued with
16231 the strength of iron. It is set with massive brass fixtures, and looks today
16232 -- discounting the dust -- as new as the day it was purchased, a quarter
16233 century ago. So far, so good; a fine piece of furniture, you might say. But
16234 let's look at it objectively, as a machine, as an object with a purpose. Here
16235 sit a hundred pounds of hardwood with a compressive strength of 1500 psi,
16236 jointed by an expert craftsman into a rigid box that would easily support a
16237 bull elephant. And what is the sole purpose of this massive crate, this
16238 monument to a dead tree? -- it holds my socks.
16239
16240 Not only is it blind engineering overkill of epic proportions, it is also an
16241 environmental disaster. The home to generations of squirrels, a sentinel post
16242 for falcons, an autumnal banner of golden glory, a living creature, was chopped
16243 down to enshrine some underwear. This, my friends, is no way to run a planet.
16244 -- Marshall T. Savage, from The Millennial Project:
16245 Colonizing the Galaxy -- In Eight Easy Steps
16246 %
16247 Nearly every software professional has heard the term spaghetti code as a
16248 pejorative description for complicated, difficult to understand, and impossible
16249 to maintain, software. However, many people may not know the other two
16250 elements of the complete Pasta Theory of Software.
16251
16252 Lasagna code is used to describe software that has a simple, understandable,
16253 and layered structure. Lasagna code, although structured, is unfortunately
16254 monolithic and not easy to modify. An attempt to change one layer conceptually
16255 simple, is often very difficult in actual practice.
16256
16257 The ideal software structure is one having components that are small and
16258 loosely coupled; this ideal structure is called ravioli code. In ravioli
16259 code, each of the components, or objects, is a package containing some meat
16260 or other nourishment for the system; any component can be modified or replaced
16261 without significantly affecting other components.
16262
16263 We need to go beyond the condemnation of spaghetti code to the active
16264 encouragement of ravioli code.
16265 -- Raymond J. Rubey, in a letter to the editor of Crosstalk
16266 magazine
16267 %
16268 63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs,
16269 ya get 1 whacked with a service pack,
16270 now there's 63,005 bugs in the code!!
16271