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1.1 ! root 1: After his Ignoble Disgrace, Satan was being expelled from ! 2: Heaven. As he passed through the Gates, he paused a moment in thought, ! 3: and turned to God and said, "A new creature called Man, I hear, is soon ! 4: to be created." ! 5: "This is true," He replied. ! 6: "He will need laws," said the Demon slyly. ! 7: "What! You, his appointed Enemy for all Time! You ask for the ! 8: right to make his laws?" ! 9: "Oh, no!" Satan replied, "I ask only that he be allowed to make ! 10: his own." ! 11: It was so granted. ! 12: %% ! 13: Ink: A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and ! 14: water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote ! 15: intellectual crime. ! 16: %% ! 17: Kleptomaniac: A rich thief. ! 18: %% ! 19: Labor: One of the processes by which A acquires property for B. ! 20: %% ! 21: Once Law was sitting on the bench ! 22: And Mercy knelt a-weeping. ! 23: "Clear out!" he cried, "disordered wench! ! 24: Nor come before me creeping. ! 25: Upon you knees if you appear, ! 26: 'Tis plain you have no standing here." ! 27: ! 28: Then Justice came. His Honor cried: ! 29: "YOUR states? -- Devil seize you!" ! 30: "Amica curiae," she replied -- ! 31: "Friend of the court, so please you." ! 32: "Begone!" he shouted -- "There's the door -- ! 33: I never saw your face before!" ! 34: %% ! 35: Liar: A lawyer with a roving commission. ! 36: %% ! 37: Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly ! 38: as one man. ! 39: ! 40: Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole in sixty seconds; ! 41: ! 42: Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a posthole in one second. ! 43: %% ! 44: Mad: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence... ! 45: %% ! 46: Magnet, n.: Something acted upon by magnetism ! 47: ! 48: Magnetism, n.: Something acting upon a magnet. ! 49: ! 50: The two definition immediately foregoing are condensed from the works ! 51: of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject ! 52: with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human ! 53: knowledge. ! 54: %% ! 55: Man: An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks ! 56: he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief ! 57: occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, ! 58: which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest ! 59: the whole habitable earth and Canada. ! 60: %% ! 61: Misfortune: The kind of fortune that never misses. ! 62: %% ! 63: Miss: A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that ! 64: they are in the market. ! 65: %% ! 66: Molecule: The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is ! 67: distinguished from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit ! 68: of matter, by a closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, ! 69: indivisible unit of matter...The ion differs from the molecule, the ! 70: corpuscle and the atom in that it is an ion... ! 71: %% ! 72: Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are ! 73: the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with ! 74: Haeckel, the condensation or precipitation of matter from ether -- ! 75: whose existence is proved by the condensation or precipitation...A ! 76: fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any ! 77: more about the matter than the others. ! 78: %% ! 79: Monday: In Christian countries, the day after the baseball game. ! 80: %% ! 81: Mythology: The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its ! 82: origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished ! 83: from the true accounts which it invents later. ! 84: %% ! 85: ...It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when it ! 86: is thrust into the affairs of another, from which some physiologists ! 87: have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of ! 88: smell. ! 89: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 90: %% ! 91: November: The eleventh twelfth of a weariness. ! 92: %% ! 93: Once, adv.: Enough. ! 94: %% ! 95: In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last ! 96: resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but ! 97: inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first. ! 98: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 99: %% ! 100: Pig: An animal (Porcus omnivorous) closely allied to the human race by ! 101: the splendor and vivacity of its appetite, which, however, is inferior ! 102: in scope, for it balks at pig. ! 103: %% ! 104: Positive: Mistaken at the top of one's voice. ! 105: %% ! 106: It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ! 107: %% ! 108: Keep in mind always the two constant Laws of Frisbee: ! 109: 1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc ! 110: straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this ! 111: force is technically termed "car suck"). ! 112: 2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive ! 113: than "Watch this!" ! 114: %% ! 115: Frisbeetarianism: The belief that when you die, your soul goes up the ! 116: on roof and gets stuck. ! 117: %% ! 118: Hofstadter's Law: ! 119: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take ! 120: Hofstadter's Law into account. ! 121: %% ! 122: "It is bad luck to be superstitious." ! 123: -- Andrew W. Mathis ! 124: %% ! 125: If A = B and B = C, then A = C, except where void or prohibited by law. ! 126: -- Roy Santoro ! 127: %% ! 128: Main's Law: ! 129: For every action there is an equal and opposite government ! 130: program. ! 131: %% ! 132: "When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut." ! 133: %% ! 134: Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning: ! 135: It's on the other side. ! 136: %% ! 137: Slick's Three Laws of the Universe: ! 138: 1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad ! 139: check. ! 140: 2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat. ! 141: 3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is ! 142: attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is ! 143: attracted to dark objects. ! 144: %% ! 145: The shortest distance between two points is under construction. ! 146: -- Noelie Altito ! 147: %% ! 148: Any small object that is accidentally dropped will hide under a ! 149: larger object. ! 150: %% ! 151: If while you are in school, there is a shortage of qualified personnel ! 152: in a particular field, then by the time you graduate with the necessary ! 153: qualifications, that field's employment market is glutted. ! 154: -- Marguerite Emmons ! 155: %% ! 156: Pro is to con as progress is to Congress. ! 157: %% ! 158: The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the ! 159: stupidity of your action. ! 160: %% ! 161: Hurewitz's Memory Principle: ! 162: The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional ! 163: to.....to........uh.............. ! 164: %% ! 165: Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots ! 166: %% ! 167: It is said that the lonely eagle flies to the mountain peaks while the ! 168: lowly ant crawls the ground, but cannot the soul of the ant soar as ! 169: high as the eagle? ! 170: %% ! 171: "If you wants to get elected president, you'se got to think up some ! 172: memoraboble homily so's school kids can be pestered into memorizin' ! 173: it, even if they don't know what it means." ! 174: -- Walt Kelly ! 175: %% ! 176: If I kiss you, that is a psychological interaction. ! 177: On the other hand, if I hit you over the head with a brick, that is ! 178: also a psychological interaction. ! 179: The difference is that one is friendly and the other is not so friendly. ! 180: The crucial point is if you can tell which is which. ! 181: %% ! 182: Bride: A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her. ! 183: %% ! 184: A penny saved is ridiculous. ! 185: %% ! 186: The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. ! 187: This means that only left handed people are in their right mind. ! 188: %% ! 189: "You must realize that the computer has it in for you. The irrefutable ! 190: proof of this is that the computer always does what you tell it to do." ! 191: %% ! 192: If a President doesn't do it to his wife, he'll do it to his country. ! 193: %% ! 194: It is better to kiss an avocado than to get in a fight with an aardvark ! 195: %% ! 196: Joe's sister puts spaghetti in her shoes! ! 197: %% ! 198: Bank error in your favor. Collect $200. ! 199: %% ! 200: Remember that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be ! 201: worse in Cleveland. ! 202: %% ! 203: As the trials of life continue to take their toll, remember that there ! 204: is always a future in Computer Maintenance. ! 205: %% ! 206: Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what value there may ! 207: be in owning a piece thereof. ! 208: %% ! 209: For a good time, call (415) 642-9483 ! 210: %% ! 211: AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkk!!!!!!!!! ! 212: You brute! Knock before entering a ladies room! ! 213: %% ! 214: A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sort of). ! 215: %% ! 216: To be is to do. ! 217: -- I. Kant ! 218: To do is to be. ! 219: -- A. Sartre ! 220: Yabba-Dabba-Doo! ! 221: -- F. Flinstone ! 222: %% ! 223: God is Dead ! 224: -- Nietzsche ! 225: Nietzsche is Dead ! 226: -- God ! 227: Nietzsche is God ! 228: -- Dead ! 229: %% ! 230: Jesus Saves, ! 231: Moses Invests, ! 232: But only Buddha pays Dividends. ! 233: %% ! 234: Acid absorbs 47 times it's weight in excess Reality. ! 235: %% ! 236: Reality is a cop-out for people who can't handle drugs. ! 237: %% ! 238: Census Taker to Housewife: Did you ever have the measles, and, if so, ! 239: how many? ! 240: %% ! 241: Anything free is worth what you pay for it. ! 242: %% ! 243: Ask Not for whom the Bell Tolls, and You will Pay only the ! 244: Station-to-Station rate. ! 245: %% ! 246: Necessity is a mother. ! 247: %% ! 248: Help! I'm trapped in a PDP 11/70! ! 249: %% ! 250: !07/11 PDP a ni deppart m'I !pleH ! 251: %% ! 252: You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair. ! 253: %% ! 254: May the Fleas of a Thousand Camels infest one of your Erogenous Zones. ! 255: %% ! 256: May a Misguided Platypus lay its Eggs in your Jockey Shorts ! 257: %% ! 258: May your Tongue stick to the Roof of your Mouth with the Force of a ! 259: Thousand Caramels. ! 260: %% ! 261: In the days of old, ! 262: When Knights were bold, ! 263: And women were too cautious; ! 264: Oh, those gallant days, ! 265: When women were women, ! 266: And men were really obnoxious... ! 267: %% ! 268: Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer. ! 269: %% ! 270: If anything can go wrong, it will. ! 271: %% ! 272: $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at ! 273: which time it will be worth absolutely nothing. ! 274: %% ! 275: If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their ! 276: Heads. ! 277: %% ! 278: If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire. ! 279: %% ! 280: If God had intended Man to Walk, He would have given him Feet. ! 281: %% ! 282: If God had intended Man to Watch TV, He would have given him Rabbit ! 283: Ears. ! 284: %% ! 285: How doth the little crocodile ! 286: Improve his shining tail, ! 287: And pour the waters of the Nile ! 288: On every golden scale! ! 289: ! 290: How cheerfully he seems to grin, ! 291: How neatly spreads his claws, ! 292: And welcomes little fishes in, ! 293: With gently smiling jaws! ! 294: %% ! 295: You're at the end of the road again. ! 296: %% ! 297: If anything can go wrong, it will. ! 298: %% ! 299: The best equipment for your work is, of course, the most expensive. ! 300: ! 301: However, your neighbor is always wasting money that should be yours by ! 302: judging things by their price. ! 303: %% ! 304: "You are old, father William," the young man said, ! 305: "And your hair has become very white; ! 306: And yet you incessantly stand on your head -- ! 307: Do you think, at your age, it is right?" ! 308: ! 309: "In my youth," father William replied to his son, ! 310: "I feared it might injure the brain; ! 311: But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, ! 312: Why, I do it again and again." ! 313: %% ! 314: "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, ! 315: And have grown most uncommonly fat; ! 316: Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door -- ! 317: Pray what is the reason of that?" ! 318: ! 319: "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks, ! 320: "I kept all my limbs very supple ! 321: By the use of this ointment -- one shilling the box -- ! 322: Allow me to sell you a couple?" ! 323: %% ! 324: "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak ! 325: For anything tougher than suet; ! 326: Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak -- ! 327: Pray, how did you manage to do it?" ! 328: ! 329: "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, ! 330: And argued each case with my wife; ! 331: And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw, ! 332: Has lasted the rest of my life." ! 333: %% ! 334: "You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose ! 335: That your eye was as steady as ever; ! 336: Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose -- ! 337: What made you so awfully clever?" ! 338: ! 339: "I have answered three questions, and that is enough," ! 340: Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs! ! 341: Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? ! 342: Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!" ! 343: %% ! 344: Come, let us hasten to a higher plane, ! 345: Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn, ! 346: Their indices bedecked from one to _n, ! 347: Commingled in an endless Markov chain! ! 348: %% ! 349: Come, every frustum longs to be a cone, ! 350: And every vector dreams of matrices. ! 351: Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze: ! 352: It whispers of a more ergodic zone. ! 353: %% ! 354: In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space ! 355: Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways. ! 356: Our symptotes no longer out of phase, ! 357: We shall encounter, counting, face to face. ! 358: %% ! 359: I'll grant the random access to my heart, ! 360: Thoul't tell me all the constants of thy love; ! 361: And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove ! 362: And in our bound partition never part. ! 363: %% ! 364: Cancel me not -- for what then shall remain? ! 365: Abscissas, some mantissas, modules, modes, ! 366: A root or two, a torus and a node: ! 367: The inverse of my verse, a null domain. ! 368: %% ! 369: I see the eigenvalue in thine eye, ! 370: I hear the tender tensor in thy sigh. ! 371: Bernoulli would have been content to die ! 372: Had he but known such _a-squared cos 2(thi)! ! 373: %% ! 374: A very intelligent turtle ! 375: Found programming UNIX a hurdle ! 376: The system, you see, ! 377: Ran as slow as did he, ! 378: And that's not saying much for the turtle. ! 379: %% ! 380: This fortune cookie program out of order. For those in desperate need, ! 381: please use the program "_r_a_n_d_c_h_a_r". This program generates random ! 382: characters, and, given enough time, will undoubtedly come up with ! 383: something profound. It will, however, take it no time at all to be ! 384: more profound than THIS program has ever been. ! 385: %% ! 386: This fortune intentionally not included. ! 387: %% ! 388: Speak roughly to your little boy, ! 389: And beat him when he sneezes: ! 390: He only does it to annoy ! 391: Because he knows it teases. ! 392: ! 393: Wow! wow! wow! ! 394: ! 395: I speak severely to my boy, ! 396: And beat him when he sneezes: ! 397: For he can thoroughly enjoy ! 398: The pepper when he pleases! ! 399: ! 400: Wow! wow! wow! ! 401: %% ! 402: "I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of ! 403: that is -- 'Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put ! 404: more simply -- 'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it ! 405: might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not ! 406: otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be ! 407: otherwise.'" ! 408: %% ! 409: Il brilgue: les t^oves libricilleux ! 410: Se gyrent et frillant dans le guave, ! 411: Enm^im'es sont les gougebosquex, ! 412: Et le m^omerade horgrave. ! 413: %% ! 414: Es brilig war. Die schlichte Toven ! 415: Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben; ! 416: Und aller-m"umsige Burggoven ! 417: Dir mohmen R"ath ausgraben. ! 418: %% ! 419: "I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said ! 420: Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't-- ! 421: till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for ! 422: you!'" ! 423: "But glory doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice ! 424: objected. ! 425: "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful ! 426: tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor ! 427: less." ! 428: "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean ! 429: so many different things." ! 430: "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-- ! 431: that's all." ! 432: %% ! 433: Oh, when I was in love with you, ! 434: Then I was clean and brave, ! 435: And miles around the wonder grew ! 436: How well did I behave. ! 437: ! 438: And now the fancy passes by, ! 439: And nothing will remain, ! 440: And miles around they'll say that I ! 441: Am quite myself again. ! 442: ! 443: -- A. E. Housman ! 444: %% ! 445: Seduced, shaggy Samson snored. ! 446: She scissored short. Sorely shorn, ! 447: Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed, ! 448: Silently scheming, ! 449: Sightlessly seeking ! 450: Some savage, spectacular suicide. ! 451: ! 452: -- Stanislaw Lem ! 453: %% ! 454: In an organization, each person rises to the level of his own ! 455: incompetency ! 456: -- the Peter Principle ! 457: %% ! 458: Pohl's law: Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate ! 459: it. ! 460: %% ! 461: Everyone knows that dragons don't exist. But while this simplistic ! 462: formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the ! 463: scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact ! 464: wholly unconcerned with what _d_o_e_s exist. Indeed, the banality of ! 465: existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to ! 466: discuss it any further here. The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the ! 467: problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the ! 468: mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all, ! 469: one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely ! 470: different way... ! 471: %% ! 472: A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that ! 473: you will look forward to the trip. ! 474: %% ! 475: A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring. ! 476: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 477: %% ! 478: I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. ! 479: %% ! 480: When Marriage is Outlawed, ! 481: Only Outlaws will have Inlaws. ! 482: %% ! 483: HE: Let's end it all, bequeathin' our brains to science. ! 484: SHE: What?!? Science got enough trouble with their OWN brains. ! 485: -- Walt Kelley ! 486: %% ! 487: Look out! Behind you! ! 488: %% ! 489: Give me the Luxuries, and the Hell with the Necessities! ! 490: %% ! 491: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing ! 492: %% ! 493: Dentist: A Prestidigitator who, putting metal in one's mouth, pulls ! 494: coins out of one's pockets. ! 495: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 496: %% ! 497: It will be advantageous to cross the great stream...the Dragon is on ! 498: the wing in the Sky...the Great Man rouses himself to his Work. ! 499: %% ! 500: If all be true that I do think, ! 501: There be Five Reasons why one should Drink; ! 502: Good friends, good wine, or being dry, ! 503: Or lest we should be by-and-by, ! 504: Or any other reason why. ! 505: %% ! 506: If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that ! 507: will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. ! 508: %% ! 509: If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure ! 510: can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly ! 511: develop. ! 512: %% ! 513: Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. ! 514: %% ! 515: Every solution breeds new problems. ! 516: %% ! 517: It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ! 518: ingenious. ! 519: %% ! 520: O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law: ! 521: "Murphy was an optimist." ! 522: %% ! 523: Boling's postulate: ! 524: If you're feeling good, don't worry. You'll get over it. ! 525: %% ! 526: Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked ! 527: something. ! 528: %% ! 529: If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody ! 530: will. ! 531: %% ! 532: Scott's first Law: ! 533: No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right. ! 534: %% ! 535: Scott's second Law: ! 536: When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found ! 537: to have been wrong in the first place. ! 538: Corollary: ! 539: After the correction has been found in error, it will be ! 540: impossible to fit the original quantity back into the ! 541: equation. ! 542: %% ! 543: Finagle's first Law: ! 544: If an experiment works, something has gone wrong. ! 545: %% ! 546: Finagle's second Law: ! 547: No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be ! 548: someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) ! 549: believe it happened according to his own pet theory. ! 550: %% ! 551: Finagle's third Law: ! 552: In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, ! 553: beyond all need of checking, is the mistake ! 554: Corollaries: ! 555: 1. Nobody whom you ask for help will see it. ! 556: 2. The first person who stops by, whose advice you really ! 557: don't want to hear, will see it immediately. ! 558: %% ! 559: Finagle's fourth Law: ! 560: Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only ! 561: makes it worse. ! 562: %% ! 563: Do not believe in miracles -- rely on them. ! 564: %% ! 565: Issawi's Laws of Progress: ! 566: ! 567: The Course of Progress: ! 568: Most things get steadily worse. ! 569: ! 570: The Path of Progress: ! 571: A shortcut is the longest distance between two points. ! 572: %% ! 573: Simon's Law: ! 574: Everything put together falls apart sooner or later. ! 575: %% ! 576: Ginsberg's Theorem: ! 577: 1. You can't win. ! 578: 2. You can't break even. ! 579: 3. You can't even quit the game. ! 580: ! 581: Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's theorem: ! 582: ! 583: Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem ! 584: meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's ! 585: Theorem. To wit: ! 586: ! 587: 1. Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win. ! 588: 2. Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break ! 589: even. ! 590: 3. Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the ! 591: game. ! 592: %% ! 593: Ehrman's Commentary: ! 594: 1. Things will get worse before they get better. ! 595: 2. Who said things would get better? ! 596: %% ! 597: Dimensions will always be expressed in the least usable term. ! 598: Velocity, for example, will be expressed in furlongs per fortnight. ! 599: %% ! 600: Non-Reciprocal Laws of Expectations: ! 601: Negative expectations yield negative results. ! 602: Positive expectations yield negative results. ! 603: %% ! 604: Howe's Law: ! 605: Everyone has a scheme that will not work. ! 606: %% ! 607: Sturgeon's Law: ! 608: 90% of everything is crud. ! 609: %% ! 610: Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability: ! 611: Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the ! 612: probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting ! 613: some useful work done. ! 614: %% ! 615: Brook's Law: ! 616: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later ! 617: %% ! 618: Bolub's Fourth Law of Computerdom: ! 619: Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so ! 620: vividly manifests their lack of progress. ! 621: %% ! 622: Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology: ! 623: There's always one more bug. ! 624: %% ! 625: Shaw's Principle: ! 626: Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will ! 627: want to use it. ! 628: %% ! 629: Law of the Perversity of Nature: ! 630: You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the ! 631: bread to butter. ! 632: %% ! 633: Law of Selective Gravity: ! 634: An object will fall so as to do the most damage. ! 635: ! 636: Jenning's Corollary: ! 637: The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is ! 638: directly proportional to the cost of the carpet. ! 639: %% ! 640: Paul's Law: ! 641: You can't fall off the floor. ! 642: %% ! 643: Johnson's First Law: ! 644: When any mechanical contrivance fails, it will do so at the ! 645: most inconvenient possible time. ! 646: %% ! 647: Watson's Law: ! 648: The reliability of machinery is inversely proportional to the ! 649: number and significance of any persons watching it. ! 650: %% ! 651: Sattinger's Law: ! 652: It works better if you plug it in. ! 653: %% ! 654: Lowery's Law: ! 655: If it jams -- force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing ! 656: anyway. ! 657: %% ! 658: Fudd's First Law of Opposition: ! 659: Push something hard enough and it will fall over. ! 660: %% ! 661: Cahn's Axiom: ! 662: When all else fails, read the instructions. ! 663: %% ! 664: Jenkinson's Law: ! 665: It won't work. ! 666: %% ! 667: Murphy's Law of Research: ! 668: Enough research will tend to support your theory. ! 669: %% ! 670: Maier's Law: ! 671: If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be ! 672: disposed of. ! 673: ! 674: Corollaries: ! 675: 1. The bigger the theory, the better. ! 676: 2. The experiment may be considered a success if no more than ! 677: 50% of the observed measurements must be discarded to ! 678: obtain a correspondence with the theory. ! 679: %% ! 680: Williams and Holland's Law: ! 681: If enough data is collected, anything may be proven by ! 682: statistical methods. ! 683: %% ! 684: Harvard Law: ! 685: Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, ! 686: temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the ! 687: organism will do as it damn well pleases. ! 688: %% ! 689: Hoare's Law of Large Problems: ! 690: Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get ! 691: out. ! 692: %% ! 693: Brooke's Law: ! 694: Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool ! 695: discovers something which either abolishes the system or ! 696: expands it beyond recognition. ! 697: %% ! 698: Meskimen's Law: ! 699: There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to ! 700: do it over. ! 701: %% ! 702: Heller's Law: ! 703: The first myth of management is that it exists. ! 704: ! 705: Johnson's Corollary: ! 706: Nobody really knows what is going on anywhere within the ! 707: organization. ! 708: %% ! 709: Peter's Law of Substitution: ! 710: Look after the molehills, and the mountains will look after ! 711: themselves. ! 712: %% ! 713: Parkinson's Fourth Law: ! 714: The number of people in any working group tends to increase ! 715: regardless of the amount of work to be done. ! 716: %% ! 717: Parkinson's Fifth Law: ! 718: If there is a way to delay in important decision, the good ! 719: bureaucracy, public or private, will find it. ! 720: %% ! 721: Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labor: ! 722: People are always available for work in the past tense. ! 723: %% ! 724: Iron Law of Distribution: ! 725: Them that has, gets. ! 726: %% ! 727: H. L. Mencken's Law: ! 728: Those who can -- do. ! 729: Those who can't -- teach. ! 730: ! 731: Martin's Extension: ! 732: Those who cannot teach -- administrate. ! 733: %% ! 734: Jone's Law: ! 735: The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone ! 736: to blame it on. ! 737: %% ! 738: Rule of Feline Frustration: ! 739: When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly ! 740: content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the ! 741: bathroom. ! 742: %% ! 743: A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by ! 744: blowing first. ! 745: %% ! 746: After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access ! 747: cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been ! 748: removed. ! 749: %% ! 750: After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found ! 751: on the bench. ! 752: %% ! 753: In any formula, constants (especially those obtained from handbooks) ! 754: are to be treated as variables. ! 755: %% ! 756: Parts that positively cannot be assembled in improper order will be. ! 757: %% ! 758: First Law of Bicycling: ! 759: No matter which way you ride, it's uphill and against the ! 760: wind. ! 761: %% ! 762: Boob's Law: ! 763: You always find something in the last place you look. ! 764: %% ! 765: Osborn's Law: ! 766: Variables won't; constants aren't. ! 767: %% ! 768: Skinner's Constant (or Flannagan's Finagling Factor): ! 769: That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to, ! 770: or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you ! 771: should have gotten. ! 772: %% ! 773: Miksch's Law: ! 774: If a string has one end, then it has another end. ! 775: %% ! 776: Law of Communications: ! 777: The inevitable result of improved and enlarged communications ! 778: between different levels in a hierarchy is a vastly increased ! 779: area of misunderstanding. ! 780: %% ! 781: Harris's Lament: ! 782: All the good ones are taken. ! 783: %% ! 784: If you cannot convince them, confuse them. ! 785: -- Harry S Truman ! 786: %% ! 787: Putt's Law: ! 788: Technology is dominated by two types of people: ! 789: Those who understand what they do not manage. ! 790: Those who manage what they do not understand. ! 791: %% ! 792: First Law of Procrastination: ! 793: Procrastination shortens the job and places the responsibility ! 794: for its termination on someone else (i.e., the authority who ! 795: imposed the deadline). ! 796: %% ! 797: Fifth Law of Procrastination: ! 798: Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that ! 799: there is nothing important to do. ! 800: %% ! 801: Swipple's Rule of Order: ! 802: He who shouts the loudest has the floor. ! 803: %% ! 804: Wiker's Law: ! 805: Government expands to absorb revenue and then some. ! 806: %% ! 807: Gray's Law of Programming: ! 808: '_n+1' trivial tasks are expected to be accomplished in the same ! 809: time as '_n' tasks. ! 810: ! 811: Logg's Rebuttal to Gray's Law: ! 812: '_n+1' trivial tasks take twice as long as '_n' trivial tasks. ! 813: %% ! 814: Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules: ! 815: The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of ! 816: the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety ! 817: percent. ! 818: %% ! 819: Weinberg's First Law: ! 820: Progress is made on alternate Fridays. ! 821: %% ! 822: Weinberg's Second Law: ! 823: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, ! 824: then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy ! 825: civilization. ! 826: %% ! 827: Paul's Law: ! 828: In America, it's not how much an item costs, it's how much you ! 829: save. ! 830: %% ! 831: Malek's Law: ! 832: Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way. ! 833: %% ! 834: Weinberg's Principle: ! 835: An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while ! 836: sweeping on to the grand fallacy. ! 837: %% ! 838: Barth's Distinction: ! 839: There are two types of people: those who divide people into ! 840: two types, and those who don't. ! 841: %% ! 842: Weiler's Law: ! 843: Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it ! 844: himself. ! 845: %% ! 846: First Law of Socio-Genetics: ! 847: Celibacy is not hereditary. ! 848: %% ! 849: Beifeld's Principle: ! 850: The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and ! 851: receptive young female increases by pyramidal progression when ! 852: he is already in the company of: (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) ! 853: a better looking and richer male friend. ! 854: %% ! 855: Hartley's Second Law: ! 856: Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself. ! 857: %% ! 858: Pardo's First Postulate: ! 859: Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening. ! 860: ! 861: Arnold's Addendum: ! 862: Anything not fitting into these categories causes cancer in ! 863: rats. ! 864: %% ! 865: Parker's Law: ! 866: Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone. ! 867: %% ! 868: Captain Penny's Law: ! 869: You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of ! 870: the people all of the time, but you Can't Fool Mom. ! 871: %% ! 872: Katz' Law: ! 873: Man and nations will act rationally when all other ! 874: possibilities have been exhausted. ! 875: %% ! 876: Mr. Cole's Axiom: ! 877: The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the ! 878: population is growing. ! 879: %% ! 880: Steele's Plagiarism of Somebody's Philosophy: ! 881: Everybody should believe in something -- I believe I'll have ! 882: another drink. ! 883: %% ! 884: The Kennedy Constant: ! 885: Don't get mad -- get even. ! 886: %% ! 887: Canada Bill Jone's Motto: ! 888: It's morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money. ! 889: ! 890: Supplement: ! 891: A .44 magnum beats four aces. ! 892: %% ! 893: Jone's Motto: ! 894: Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. ! 895: %% ! 896: The Fifth Rule: ! 897: You have taken yourself too seriously. ! 898: %% ! 899: Cole's Law: ! 900: Thinly sliced cabbage. ! 901: %% ! 902: Hartley's First Law: ! 903: You can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float ! 904: on his back, you've got something. ! 905: %% ! 906: Jacquin's Postulate on Democratic Government: ! 907: No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the ! 908: legislature is in session. ! 909: %% ! 910: Churchill's Commentary on Man: ! 911: Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the ! 912: time he will pick himself up and continue on. ! 913: %% ! 914: Newton's Little-Known Seventh Law: ! 915: A bird in the hand is safer than one overhead. ! 916: %% ! 917: Mosher's Law of Software Engineering: ! 918: Don't worry if it doesn't work right. If everything did, you'd ! 919: be out of a job. ! 920: %% ! 921: ROMEO: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. ! 922: MERCUTIO: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church- ! 923: door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. ! 924: %% ! 925: "He is now rising from affluence to poverty." ! 926: -- Mark Twain ! 927: %% ! 928: A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody ! 929: wants to read. ! 930: -- Mark Twain ! 931: %% ! 932: If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite ! 933: you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. ! 934: -- Mark Twain ! 935: %% ! 936: Cauliflower is nothing but Cabbage with a College Education. ! 937: -- Mark Twain ! 938: %% ! 939: But soft you, the fair Ophelia: ! 940: Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws, ! 941: But get thee to a nunnery -- go! ! 942: -- Mark "The Bard" Twain ! 943: %% ! 944: "I cannot read the fiery letters," said Frodo in a quavering ! 945: voice. ! 946: "No," Said Gandalf, "but I can. The letters are Elvish, of ! 947: course, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which ! 948: I will not utter here. They are lines of a verse long known in ! 949: Elven-lore: ! 950: ! 951: "This Ring, no other, is made by the elves, ! 952: Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves. ! 953: Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop, ! 954: This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop. ! 955: The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring. ! 956: The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing. ! 957: If broken or busted, it cannot be remade. ! 958: If found, send to Sorhed (with postage prepaid)." ! 959: %% ! 960: "Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is ! 961: because we are not the person involved" ! 962: -- Mark Twain ! 963: %% ! 964: "...an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often ! 965: picturesque liar." ! 966: -- Mark Twain ! 967: %% ! 968: I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I ! 969: didn't know. ! 970: -- Mark Twain ! 971: %% ! 972: "...all the modern inconveniences..." ! 973: -- Mark Twain ! 974: %% ! 975: We have met the enemy, and he is us. ! 976: -- Walt Kelly ! 977: %% ! 978: "Humor is a drug which it's the fashion to abuse." ! 979: -- William Gilbert ! 980: %% ! 981: Mencken and Nathan's Second Law of The Average American: ! 982: All the postmasters in small towns read all the postcards. ! 983: %% ! 984: Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American: ! 985: The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the ! 986: cork makes when it is popped. ! 987: %% ! 988: Mencken and Nathan's Fifteenth Law of The Average American: ! 989: The worst actress in the company is always the manager's wife. ! 990: %% ! 991: Mencken and Nathan's Sixteenth Law of The Average American: ! 992: Milking a cow is an operation demanding a special talent that ! 993: is possessed only by yokels, and no person born in a large city ! 994: can never hope to acquire it. ! 995: %% ! 996: Hark, the Herald Tribune sings, ! 997: Advertising wondrous things. ! 998: %% ! 999: Angels we have heard on High ! 1000: Tell us to go out and Buy. ! 1001: %% ! 1002: The Preacher, the Politicain, the Teacher, ! 1003: Were each of them once a kiddie. ! 1004: A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature. ! 1005: Do I want one? God Forbiddie! ! 1006: ! 1007: -- Ogden Nash ! 1008: %% ! 1009: Who made the world I cannot tell; ! 1010: 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. ! 1011: My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, ! 1012: I never soiled with such a deed. ! 1013: ! 1014: -- A. E. Housman ! 1015: %% ! 1016: Families, when a child is born ! 1017: Want it to be intelligent. ! 1018: I, through intelligence, ! 1019: Having wrecked my whole life, ! 1020: Only hope the baby will prove ! 1021: Ignorant and stupid. ! 1022: Then he will crown a tranquil life ! 1023: By becoming a Cabinet Minister ! 1024: ! 1025: -- Su Tung-p'o ! 1026: %% ! 1027: The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for ! 1028: lists of "Ten Best". ! 1029: -- H. Allen Smith ! 1030: %% ! 1031: we will invent new lullabies, new songs, new acts of love, ! 1032: we will cry over things we used to laugh & ! 1033: our new wisdom will bring tears to eyes of gentile ! 1034: creatures from other planets who were afraid of us till then & ! 1035: in the end a summer with wild winds & ! 1036: new friends will be. ! 1037: %% ! 1038: This is for all ill-treated fellows ! 1039: Unborn and unbegot, ! 1040: For them to read when they're in trouble ! 1041: And I am not. ! 1042: -- A. E. Housman ! 1043: %% ! 1044: "Terence, this is stupid stuff: ! 1045: You eat your victuals fast enough; ! 1046: There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear, ! 1047: To see the rate you drink your beer. ! 1048: But oh, good Lord, the verse you make, ! 1049: It gives a chap the belly-ache. ! 1050: The cow, the old cow, she is dead; ! 1051: It sleeps well the horned head: ! 1052: We poor lads, 'tis our turn now ! 1053: To hear such tunes as killed the cow. ! 1054: Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme ! 1055: Your friends to death before their time. ! 1056: Moping, melancholy mad: ! 1057: Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad." ! 1058: -- A. E. Housman ! 1059: %% ! 1060: Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the ! 1061: Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats ! 1062: in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the ! 1063: moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter -- for they had a machine, ! 1064: a dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every ! 1065: respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside ! 1066: it, for it was all they had -- first they saved up all their atoms, ! 1067: then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they ! 1068: chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine... ! 1069: -- Stanislaw Lem ! 1070: %% ! 1071: When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the ! 1072: stars were lined up in their proper places, you could easily count them ! 1073: from left to right, or top to bottom, and the larger and bluer ones ! 1074: were set apart, and the smaller yellowing types pushed off to the ! 1075: corners as bodies of a lower grade... ! 1076: -- Stanislaw Lem ! 1077: %% ! 1078: Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the ! 1079: beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get ! 1080: out, and such as are out wish to get in? ! 1081: -- Ralph Emerson ! 1082: %% ! 1083: The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue, ! 1084: a custom whereof the memory of man runneth not howsomever to ! 1085: the contrary, nohow. ! 1086: %% ! 1087: Emersons' Law of Contrariness: ! 1088: Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we ! 1089: can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it. ! 1090: %% ! 1091: "By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. ! 1092: In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others ! 1093: as it is to invent. (R. Emerson)" ! 1094: -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program ! 1095: (whose author claims, "Actually, stealing IS easier.") ! 1096: [to which I reply, "You think it's easy for me to ! 1097: misconstrue all these misquotations?!?"] ! 1098: %% ! 1099: Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. ! 1100: %% ! 1101: There is a great discovery still to be made in Literature: that of ! 1102: paying literary men by the quantity they do NOT write. ! 1103: %% ! 1104: A fool must now and then be right by chance. ! 1105: %% ! 1106: "So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf to make an apple ! 1107: pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street pops ! 1108: its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died, and she very ! 1109: imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, ! 1110: and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, ! 1111: and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the ! 1112: gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots." ! 1113: -- Samuel Foote ! 1114: %% ! 1115: Hi there! This is just a note from me, to you, to tell you, the person ! 1116: reading this note, that I can't think up any more famous quotes, jokes, ! 1117: nor bizarre stories, so you may as well go home. ! 1118: %% ! 1119: Arnold's Laws of Documentation: ! 1120: 1) If it should exist, it doesn't. ! 1121: 2) If it does exist, it's out of date. ! 1122: 3) Only documentation for useless programs transcends the ! 1123: first two laws. ! 1124: %% ! 1125: Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab: ! 1126: Experience is directly proportional to the amount of ! 1127: equipment ruined. ! 1128: %% ! 1129: Boren's Laws: ! 1130: 1) When in charge, ponder. ! 1131: 2) When in trouble, delegate. ! 1132: 3) When in doubt, mumble. ! 1133: %% ! 1134: Chisolm's First Corollary to Murphy's Second Law: ! 1135: When things just can't possibly get any worse, they will. ! 1136: %% ! 1137: Rudin's Law: ! 1138: If there is a wrong way to do something, most people will ! 1139: do it every time. ! 1140: %% ! 1141: Bucy's Law: ! 1142: Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man. ! 1143: %% ! 1144: Hacker's Law: ! 1145: The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir ! 1146: a nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions. ! 1147: %% ! 1148: Probable-Possible, my black hen, ! 1149: She lays eggs in the Relative When. ! 1150: She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now ! 1151: Because she's unable to postulate how. ! 1152: -- Frederick Winsor ! 1153: %% ! 1154: Vail's Second Axiom: ! 1155: The amount of work to be done increases in proportion to the ! 1156: amount of work already completed. ! 1157: %% ! 1158: Never count your chickens before they rip your lips off ! 1159: %% ! 1160: "Sometimes I simply feel that the whole world is a cigarette and I'm ! 1161: the only ashtray." ! 1162: %% ! 1163: Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, ! 1164: He must be a communist. ! 1165: And a beard and long hair, ! 1166: Must be a pacifist. ! 1167: ! 1168: What's in that pipe that he's smoking? ! 1169: ! 1170: -- Arlo Guthrie ! 1171: %% ! 1172: There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it ! 1173: -- G. B. Shaw ! 1174: %% ! 1175: Two can Live as Cheaply as One for Half as Long. ! 1176: -- Howard Kandel ! 1177: %% ! 1178: Where there's a will, there's an Inheritance Tax. ! 1179: %% ! 1180: It is generally agreed that "Hello" is an appropriate greeting because ! 1181: if you entered a room and said "Goodbye," it could confuse a lot of ! 1182: people. ! 1183: -- Dolph Sharp ! 1184: %% ! 1185: Hand: A singular instrument worn at the end of a human arm and commonly ! 1186: thrust into somebody's pocket. ! 1187: %% ! 1188: You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for ! 1189: freedom and liberty. ! 1190: -- Henrick Ibson ! 1191: %% ! 1192: Wit: The salt with which the American Humorist spoils his cookery... ! 1193: by leaving it out. ! 1194: %% ! 1195: Yield to Temptation...it may not pass your way again. ! 1196: -- Lazarus Long ! 1197: %% ! 1198: I like work... ! 1199: I can sit and watch it for ours. ! 1200: %% ! 1201: Know thyself. If you need help, call the C.I.A. ! 1202: %% ! 1203: "The Lord gave us farmers two strong hands so we could grab as much as ! 1204: we could with both of them." ! 1205: -- Major Major's father ! 1206: %% ! 1207: Crime does not pay...as well as politics. ! 1208: -- A. E. Newman ! 1209: %% ! 1210: Keep you Eye on the Ball, ! 1211: Your Shoulder to the Wheel, ! 1212: Your Nose to the Grindstone, ! 1213: Your Feet on the Ground, ! 1214: Your Head on your Shoulders. ! 1215: Now...try to get something DONE! ! 1216: %% ! 1217: Love is a word that is constantly heard, ! 1218: Hate is a word that is not. ! 1219: Love, I am told, is more precious than gold. ! 1220: Love, I have read, is hot. ! 1221: But hate is the verb that to me is superb, ! 1222: And Love but a drug on the mart. ! 1223: Any kiddie in school can love like a fool, ! 1224: But Hating, my boy, is an Art. ! 1225: -- Ogden Nash ! 1226: %% ! 1227: Magpie: A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it ! 1228: might be taught to talk. ! 1229: %% ! 1230: Many years ago in a period commonly know as Next Friday Afternoon, ! 1231: there lived a King who was very Gloomy on Tuesday mornings because he ! 1232: was so Sad thinking about how Unhappy he had been on Monday and how ! 1233: completely Mournful he would be on Wednesday... ! 1234: -- Walt Kelly ! 1235: %% ! 1236: Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by ! 1237: Jackasses. ! 1238: -- H. L. Mencken ! 1239: %% ! 1240: Peace: In international affairs, a period of cheating between two ! 1241: periods of fighting. ! 1242: %% ! 1243: NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Guiseppe? Everything he ! 1244: says is wrong. ! 1245: GUISEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says ! 1246: will be right. ! 1247: -- G. B. Shaw ! 1248: %% ! 1249: People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who ! 1250: haven't what they want that they don't want it. ! 1251: -- Ogden Nash ! 1252: %% ! 1253: Avoid Quiet and Placid persons unless you are in Need of Sleep. ! 1254: %% ! 1255: A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I ! 1256: believe everything positively stinks. ! 1257: -- Lew Col ! 1258: %% ! 1259: Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely ! 1260: get your Feet wet. Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your ! 1261: face. ! 1262: %% ! 1263: Recieving a million dollars tax free will make you feel better than ! 1264: being flat broke and having a stomach ache. ! 1265: -- Dolph Sharp ! 1266: %% ! 1267: The Schwine-Kitzenger Institute study of 47 men over the age of 100 ! 1268: showed that all had these things in common: ! 1269: 1) They all had moderate appetites. ! 1270: 2) They all came from middle class homes ! 1271: 3) All but two of them were dead. ! 1272: %% ! 1273: Children aren't happy without something to ignore, ! 1274: And that's what parents were created for. ! 1275: -- Ogden Nash ! 1276: %% ! 1277: Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy, but it's very funny-- ! 1278: Did you ever try buying then without money? ! 1279: ! 1280: -- Ogden Nash ! 1281: %% ! 1282: Confucius say too much. ! 1283: -- Recent Chinese Proverb ! 1284: %% ! 1285: Reporter: A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with ! 1286: a tempest of words. ! 1287: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1288: %% ! 1289: Fats Loves Madelyn ! 1290: %% ! 1291: Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. ! 1292: -- W. C. Fields ! 1293: %% ! 1294: "Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??!" ! 1295: -- W. C. Fields ! 1296: %% ! 1297: A dozen, a gross, and a score, ! 1298: Plus three times the square root of four, ! 1299: Divided by seven, ! 1300: Plus five time eleven, ! 1301: Equals nine squared plus zero, no more. ! 1302: %% ! 1303: Who's on first? ! 1304: %% ! 1305: Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on ! 1306: society. ! 1307: -- Mark Twain ! 1308: %% ! 1309: We really don't have any enemies. It's just that some of our best ! 1310: friends are trying to kill us. ! 1311: %% ! 1312: If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? ! 1313: -- Art Hoppe ! 1314: %% ! 1315: The Killer Ducks are coming!!! ! 1316: %% ! 1317: "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble acturiety ! 1318: and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exaulted ! 1319: activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy...neither ! 1320: its pipes nor its theories will hold water." ! 1321: %% ! 1322: There's little in taking or giving, ! 1323: There's little in water or wine: ! 1324: This living, this living, this living, ! 1325: Was never a project of mine. ! 1326: Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is ! 1327: The gain of the one at the top, ! 1328: For art is a form of catharsis, ! 1329: And love is a permanent flop, ! 1330: And work is the province of cattle, ! 1331: And rest's for a clam in a shell, ! 1332: So I'm thinking of throwing the battle -- ! 1333: Would you kindly direct me to hell? ! 1334: ! 1335: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1336: %% ! 1337: "This is a country where people are free to practice their religion, ! 1338: regardless of race, creed, color, obesity, or number of dangling ! 1339: keys..." ! 1340: %% ! 1341: The ladies men admire, I've heard, ! 1342: Would shudder at a wicked word. ! 1343: Their candle gives a single light; ! 1344: They'd rather stay at home at night. ! 1345: They do not keep awake till three, ! 1346: Nor read erotic poetry. ! 1347: They never sanction the impure, ! 1348: Nor recognize an overture. ! 1349: They shrink from powders and from paints... ! 1350: So far, I've had no complaints. ! 1351: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1352: %% ! 1353: THEORY ! 1354: Into love and out again, ! 1355: Thus I went and thus I go. ! 1356: Spare your voice, and hold your pen: ! 1357: Well and bitterly I know ! 1358: All the songs were ever sung, ! 1359: All the words were ever said; ! 1360: Could it be, when I was young, ! 1361: Someone dropped me on my head? ! 1362: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1363: %% ! 1364: My own dear love, he is strong and bold ! 1365: And he cares not what comes after. ! 1366: His words ring sweet as a chime of gold, ! 1367: And his eyes are lit with laughter. ! 1368: He is jubilant as a flag unfurled -- ! 1369: Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him. ! 1370: My own dear love, he is all my world -- ! 1371: And I wish I'd never met him. ! 1372: %% ! 1373: My love, he's mad, and my love, he's fleet, ! 1374: And a wild young wood-thing bore him! ! 1375: The ways are fair to his roaming feet, ! 1376: And the skies are sunlit for him. ! 1377: As sharply sweet to my heart he seems ! 1378: As the fragrance of acacia. ! 1379: My own dear love, he is all my dreams -- ! 1380: And I wish he were in Asia. ! 1381: %% ! 1382: My love runs by like a day in June, ! 1383: And he makes no friends of sorrows. ! 1384: He'll tread his galloping rigadoon ! 1385: In the pathway or the morrows. ! 1386: He'll live his days where the sunbeams start ! 1387: Nor could storm or wind uproot him. ! 1388: My own dear love, he is all my heart -- ! 1389: And I wish somebody'd shoot him. ! 1390: %% ! 1391: Here in my heart, I am Helen; ! 1392: I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least. ! 1393: I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Sta"el; ! 1394: I'm Salome, moon of the East. ! 1395: ! 1396: Here in my soul I am Sappho; ! 1397: Lady Hamilton am I, as well. ! 1398: In me R'ecamier vies with Kitty O'Shea, ! 1399: With Dido, and Eve, and poor nell. ! 1400: ! 1401: I'm all of the glamorous ladies ! 1402: At whose beckoning history shook. ! 1403: But you are a man, and see only my pan, ! 1404: So I stay at home with a book. ! 1405: ! 1406: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1407: %% ! 1408: If I don't drive around the park, ! 1409: I'm pretty sure to make my mark. ! 1410: If I'm in bed each night by ten, ! 1411: I may get back my looks again. ! 1412: If I abstain from fun and such, ! 1413: I'll probably amount to much; ! 1414: But I shall stay the way I am, ! 1415: Because I do not give a damn. ! 1416: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1417: %% ! 1418: FIGHTING WORDS ! 1419: Say my love is easy had, ! 1420: Say I'm bitten raw with pride, ! 1421: Say I am too often sad -- ! 1422: Still behold me at your side. ! 1423: ! 1424: Say I'm neither brave nor young, ! 1425: Say I woo and coddle care, ! 1426: Say the devil touched my tongue -- ! 1427: Still you have my heart to wear. ! 1428: ! 1429: But say my verses do not scan, ! 1430: And I get me another man! ! 1431: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1432: %% ! 1433: COMMENT ! 1434: Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, ! 1435: A medley of extemporanea; ! 1436: And love is thing that can never go wrong; ! 1437: And I am Marie of Roumania. ! 1438: -- Dorothy Parker ! 1439: %% ! 1440: INVENTORY ! 1441: Four be the things I am wiser to know: ! 1442: Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe. ! 1443: ! 1444: Four be the things I'd been better without: ! 1445: Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt. ! 1446: ! 1447: Three be the things I shall never attain: ! 1448: Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. ! 1449: ! 1450: Three be the things I shall have till I die: ! 1451: Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye. ! 1452: %% ! 1453: The Abrams' Principle: ! 1454: The shortest distance between two points is off the wall. ! 1455: %% ! 1456: "He's just a politician trying to save both his faces..." ! 1457: %% ! 1458: "Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing." ! 1459: %% ! 1460: Blessed are they who Go Around in Circles, for they Shall be Known ! 1461: as Wheels. ! 1462: %% ! 1463: Every absurdity has a champion who will defend it. ! 1464: %% ! 1465: He who Laughs, Lasts. ! 1466: %% ! 1467: Now and then, an innocent man is sent to the Legislature. ! 1468: %% ! 1469: Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the ! 1470: pens will multiply instead of disappear. ! 1471: %% ! 1472: "It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, ! 1473: but I couldn't give up because by that time I was too famous." ! 1474: %% ! 1475: Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official. ! 1476: %% ! 1477: To iterate is human, to recurse, divine. ! 1478: %% ! 1479: Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL. ! 1480: -- Mae West ! 1481: %% ! 1482: Famous last words: ! 1483: %% ! 1484: You will be Told about it Tomorrow. Go Home and Prepare Thyself. ! 1485: %% ! 1486: Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own ! 1487: opinion. ! 1488: %% ! 1489: Abstainer: A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying ! 1490: himself a pleasure. ! 1491: %% ! 1492: A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, ! 1493: and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others. ! 1494: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1495: %% ! 1496: Acquaintance: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not ! 1497: well enough to lend to. ! 1498: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1499: %% ! 1500: Admiration: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ! 1501: ourselves. ! 1502: %% ! 1503: Adore: To venerate expectantly. ! 1504: %% ! 1505: Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have ! 1506: their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot ! 1507: separately plunder a third. ! 1508: %% ! 1509: Alone: In bad company. ! 1510: %% ! 1511: Ambidextrous: Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a ! 1512: left. ! 1513: %% ! 1514: God made the world in six days, and was arrested on the seventh. ! 1515: %% ! 1516: Anoint: To grease a king or other great functionary already ! 1517: sufficiently slippery. ! 1518: %% ! 1519: Bacchus: A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for ! 1520: getting drunk. ! 1521: %% ! 1522: Barometer: An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather ! 1523: we are having. ! 1524: %% ! 1525: Her locks an ancient lady gave ! 1526: Her loving husband's life to save; ! 1527: And men -- they honored so the dame -- ! 1528: Upon some stars bestowed her name. ! 1529: ! 1530: But to our modern married fair, ! 1531: Who'd give their lords to save their hair, ! 1532: No stellar recognition's given. ! 1533: There are not stars enough in heaven. ! 1534: %% ! 1535: Birth: The first and direst of all disasters. ! 1536: %% ! 1537: Bore: A person who talks when you wish him to listen. ! 1538: %% ! 1539: Brain: The apparatus with which we think that we think. ! 1540: %% ! 1541: In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, ! 1542: intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption ! 1543: from the cares of office. ! 1544: %% ! 1545: Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as ! 1546: a man's head. ! 1547: %% ! 1548: Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- ! 1549: "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am." ! 1550: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1551: %% ! 1552: Critic: A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries ! 1553: to please him. ! 1554: %% ! 1555: Dawn: The time when men of reason go to bed. ! 1556: %% ! 1557: Deliberation: The act of examining one's bread to determine which side ! 1558: it is buttered on. ! 1559: %% ! 1560: Distress: A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend. ! 1561: %% ! 1562: A lady with one of her ears applied ! 1563: To an open keyhole heard, inside, ! 1564: Two female gossips in converse free -- ! 1565: The subject engaging them was she. ! 1566: "I think", said one, "and my husband thinks ! 1567: That she's a prying, inquisitive minx!" ! 1568: As soon as no more of it she could hear ! 1569: The lady, indignant, removed her ear. ! 1570: "I will not stay," she said with a pout, ! 1571: "To hear my character lied about!" ! 1572: -- Gopete Sherany ! 1573: %% ! 1574: Egotist: A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me. ! 1575: %% ! 1576: While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are ! 1577: safe, for you can watch both of his. ! 1578: %% ! 1579: Garter: An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her ! 1580: stockings and desolating the country. ! 1581: %% ! 1582: Happiness: An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery ! 1583: of another. ! 1584: %% ! 1585: Hatred: A sentiment appropriate to the occasion of another's ! 1586: superiority. ! 1587: %% ! 1588: Heaven: A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of ! 1589: their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you ! 1590: expound your own. ! 1591: %% ! 1592: Did you know that clones never use mirrors? ! 1593: %% ! 1594: Hippogriff: An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half ! 1595: griffin. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and ! 1596: half eagle. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one quarter ! 1597: eagle, which is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of ! 1598: zoology is full of surprises. ! 1599: %% ! 1600: There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, ! 1601: and praiseworthy... ! 1602: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1603: %% ! 1604: Please ignore previous fortune. ! 1605: %% ! 1606: Impartial: Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from ! 1607: espousing either side of a controversy or adopting either of two ! 1608: conflicting opinions. ! 1609: %% ! 1610: ...but as records of courts and justice are admissible, it can ! 1611: easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed ! 1612: and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) ! 1613: upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was ! 1614: without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based ! 1615: on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court ! 1616: was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and ! 1617: sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, ! 1618: human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value. ! 1619: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 1620: %% ! 1621: Incumbent: Person of liveliest interest to the outcumbents. ! 1622: %% ! 1623: Interpreter: One who enables two persons of different languages to ! 1624: understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to ! 1625: the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said. ! 1626: %% ! 1627: There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. ! 1628: -- Disraeli ! 1629: %% ! 1630: You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers. ! 1631: -- J. D. Salinger ! 1632: %% ! 1633: Please take note: ! 1634: %% ! 1635: "It's not Camelot, but it's not Cleveland, either." ! 1636: -- Kevin White, mayor of Boston ! 1637: %% ! 1638: Do not read this fortune under penalty of law. ! 1639: Violators will be prosecuted. ! 1640: (Penal Code sec. 2.3.2 (II.a.)) ! 1641: %% ! 1642: You may have heard that a dean is to faculty as a hydrant is to a dog. ! 1643: -- Alfred Kahn ! 1644: %% ! 1645: gy-ro-scope: A wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and ! 1646: also free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each ! 1647: other and the axis of spin so that a rotation of one of the two ! 1648: mutually perpindicular axes results from application of torque to the ! 1649: other when the wheel is spinning and so that the entire apparatus ! 1650: offers considerable opposition depending on the angular momentum to any ! 1651: torque that would change the direction of the axis of spin. ! 1652: -- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary ! 1653: %% ! 1654: Philogyny recapitulates erogeny; erogeny recapitulates philogyny. ! 1655: %% ! 1656: The goal of science is to build better mousetraps. ! 1657: The goal of nature is to build better mice. ! 1658: %% ! 1659: Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why ! 1660: you should. ! 1661: %% ! 1662: United Nations, New York, December 25. The peace and joy of the ! 1663: Christmas season was marred by a proclamation of a general strike of ! 1664: all the military forces of the world. Panic reigns in the hearts of ! 1665: all the patriots of every persuasion. ! 1666: ! 1667: Meanwhile, fears of universal disaster sank to an all-time low over the ! 1668: world. ! 1669: -- Isaac Asimov ! 1670: %% ! 1671: A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into ! 1672: superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education. ! 1673: -- G. B. Shaw ! 1674: %% ! 1675: Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made ! 1676: sense from things she found in gift shops. ! 1677: -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ! 1678: %% ! 1679: Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for ! 1680: word what you shouldn't have said. ! 1681: %% ! 1682: Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as ! 1683: it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. ! 1684: %% ! 1685: If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four ! 1686: tellers? ! 1687: %% ! 1688: Who needs friends when you can sit alone in your room and drink? ! 1689: %% ! 1690: Friends, Romans, Hipsters, ! 1691: Let me clue you in; ! 1692: I come to put down Caeser, not to groove him. ! 1693: The square kicks some cats are on stay with them; ! 1694: The hip bits, like, go down under; so let it lay with Caeser. The cool Brutus ! 1695: Gave you the message: Caeser had big eyes; ! 1696: If that's the sound, someone's copping a plea, ! 1697: And, like, old Caeser really set them straight. ! 1698: Here, copacetic with Brutus and the studs, -- for Brutus is a real cool cat; ! 1699: So are they all, all cool cats, -- ! 1700: Come I to make this gig at Caeser's laying down. ! 1701: %% ! 1702: Now I lay me down to sleep ! 1703: I pray the double lock will keep; ! 1704: May no brick through the window break, ! 1705: And, no one rob me till I awake. ! 1706: %% ! 1707: Did you know... ! 1708: ! 1709: That no-one ever reads these things? ! 1710: %% ! 1711: Hark, Hark, the dogs do bark ! 1712: The Duke is fond of kittens ! 1713: He likes to take their insides out ! 1714: And use them for his mittens ! 1715: From "The Thirteen Clocks" ! 1716: %% ! 1717: An elephant is a mouse with an operating system. ! 1718: %% ! 1719: f u cn rd ths, itn tyg h myxbl cd. ! 1720: %% ! 1721: A sine curve goes off to infinity or at least the end of the blackboard ! 1722: -- Prof. Steiner ! 1723: %% ! 1724: "I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem." ! 1725: -- Ashleigh Brilliant ! 1726: %% ! 1727: "I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent." ! 1728: -- Ashleigh Brilliant ! 1729: %% ! 1730: Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no ! 1731: guarantee of eventual success. ! 1732: %% ! 1733: "Now the Lord God planted a garden East of Whittier in a place called ! 1734: Yorba Linda, and out of the ground he made to grow orange trees that ! 1735: were good for food and the fruits thereof he labeled SUNKIST..." ! 1736: %% ! 1737: ...But among the children of the Great Society there were ! 1738: those whose skins were black. And lo! Their portion was niggardly, ! 1739: and of the fatted calf they were sucking hind teat... ! 1740: Now it came to pass that a prophet rose up amongst them, and ! 1741: they called him King. And he went unto Pharaoh and said, "Let my ! 1742: people go to the front of the bus." ! 1743: But Pharaoh answered: "In the fullness of time and with all ! 1744: deliberate speed shall this thing come to pass. When ye shall prove ! 1745: yourselves worthy, shall ye have your just portion -- yea, verily, like ! 1746: unto a snowball in Hell." ! 1747: %% ! 1748: NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION ! 1749: %% ! 1750: $3,000,000 ! 1751: %% ! 1752: It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the ! 1753: problem. ! 1754: %% ! 1755: 77. HO HUM -- The Redundant ! 1756: ! 1757: ------- (7) This hexagram refers to a situation of extreme ! 1758: --- --- (8) boredom. Your programs always bomb off. Your wife ! 1759: ------- (7) smells bad. Your children have hives. You are working ! 1760: ---O--- (6) on an accounting system, when you want to develop ! 1761: ---X--- (9) the GREAT AMERICAN COMPILER. You give up hot dates ! 1762: --- --- (8) to nurse sick computers. What you need now is sex. ! 1763: ! 1764: Nine in the second place means: ! 1765: The yellow bird approaches the malt shop. Misfortune. ! 1766: ! 1767: Six in the third place means: ! 1768: In former times men built altars to honor the Internal ! 1769: Revenue Service. Great Dragons! Are you in trouble! ! 1770: %% ! 1771: Niklaus Wirth has lamented that, whereas Europeans pronounce his name ! 1772: correctly (Ni-klows Virt), Americans invariably mangle it into ! 1773: (Nick-les Worth). Which is to say that Europeans call him by name, but ! 1774: Americans call him by value. ! 1775: %% ! 1776: The number of licorice gumballs you get out of a gumball machine ! 1777: increases in direct proportion to how much you hate licorice. ! 1778: %% ! 1779: If you push the "extra ice" button on the soft drink vending machine, ! 1780: you won't get any ice. If you push the "no ice" button, you'll get ! 1781: ice, but no cup. ! 1782: %% ! 1783: Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are. ! 1784: %% ! 1785: Let He who taketh the Plunge Remember to return it by Tuesday. ! 1786: %% ! 1787: Those who can, do. Those who can't, simulate. ! 1788: %% ! 1789: Those who can't write, write manuals. ! 1790: %% ! 1791: Surprise! You are the lucky winner of random I.R.S Audit! Just type ! 1792: in your name and social security number. Please remember that leaving ! 1793: the room is punishable under law: ! 1794: ! 1795: Name # ! 1796: %% ! 1797: You might have mail ! 1798: %% ! 1799: Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together. ! 1800: %% ! 1801: Never call a man a fool. Borrow from him. ! 1802: %% ! 1803: Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure. ! 1804: %% ! 1805: A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn. ! 1806: %% ! 1807: Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you. ! 1808: %% ! 1809: Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you. Now, if they'd only ! 1810: take a bath... ! 1811: %% ! 1812: "He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both ! 1813: eyes..." ! 1814: %% ! 1815: It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the ! 1816: flag. ! 1817: %% ! 1818: Why did the Lord give us so much quickness of movement unless it was to ! 1819: avoid responsibility with? ! 1820: %% ! 1821: SHIFT TO THE LEFT! SHIFT TO THE RIGHT! ! 1822: POP UP, PUSH DOWN, BYTE, BYTE, BYTE! ! 1823: %% ! 1824: The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the ! 1825: average man can see better than he can think. ! 1826: %% ! 1827: The first riddle I ever heard, one familiar to almost every Jewish ! 1828: child, was propounded to me by my father: ! 1829: "What is it that hangs on the wall, is green, wet -- and whistles?" ! 1830: I knit my brow and thought and thought, and in final perplexity ! 1831: gave up. ! 1832: "A herring," said my father. ! 1833: "A herring," I echoed. "A herring doesn't hang on the wall!" ! 1834: "So hang it there." ! 1835: "But a herring isn't green!" I protested. ! 1836: "Paint it." ! 1837: "But a herring isn't wet." ! 1838: "If its just painted its still wet." ! 1839: "But -- " I sputtered, summoning all my outrage, "-- a herring ! 1840: doesn't whistle!!" ! 1841: "Right, " smiled my father. "I just put that in to make it hard." ! 1842: -- Leo Rosten ! 1843: %% ! 1844: "If God lived on Earth, people would knock out all His windows." ! 1845: -- Yiddish saying ! 1846: %% ! 1847: Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?" ! 1848: 1st customer: "I'll have tea." ! 1849: 2nd customer: "Me, too -- and be sure the glass is clean!" ! 1850: (Waiter exits, returns) ! 1851: Waiter: "Two teas. Which one asked for the clean glass?" ! 1852: %% ! 1853: On his first day as a bus driver, Maxey Eckstein handed in ! 1854: receipts of $65. The next day his take was $67. The third day's ! 1855: income was $62. But on the fourth day, Eckstein emptied no less than ! 1856: $283 on the desk before the cashier. ! 1857: "Eckstein!" exclaimed the cashier. "This is fantastic. That ! 1858: route never brought in money like this! What happened?" ! 1859: "Well, after three days on that cockamamie route, I figured ! 1860: business would never improve, so I drove over to Fourteenth Street and ! 1861: worked there. I tell you, that street is a gold mine!" ! 1862: %% ! 1863: The men sat sipping their tea in silence. After a while the klutz ! 1864: said, "Life is like a bowl of sour cream." ! 1865: "Like a bowl of sour cream?" asked the other. "Why?" ! 1866: "How should I know? What am I, a philosopher?" ! 1867: %% ! 1868: Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on ! 1869: people. ! 1870: -- W. C. Fields ! 1871: %% ! 1872: There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale ! 1873: returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. ! 1874: -- Mark Twain ! 1875: %% ! 1876: This will be a memorable month -- no matter how hard you try to forget ! 1877: it. ! 1878: %% ! 1879: Afternoon very favorable for romance. Try a single person for a ! 1880: change. ! 1881: %% ! 1882: Beware of low-flying butterflies. ! 1883: %% ! 1884: Green light in A.M. for new projects. Red light in P.M. for traffic ! 1885: tickets. ! 1886: %% ! 1887: Artistic ventures highlighted. Rob a museum. ! 1888: %% ! 1889: Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis. ! 1890: %% ! 1891: Your analyst has you mixed up with another patient. Don't believe a ! 1892: thing he tells you. ! 1893: %% ! 1894: Do not drink coffee in early A.M. It will keep you awake until noon. ! 1895: %% ! 1896: You may be recognized soon. Hide. ! 1897: %% ! 1898: You have the capacity to learn from mistakes. You'll learn a lot ! 1899: today. ! 1900: %% ! 1901: Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase. ! 1902: %% ! 1903: Day of inquiry. You will be subpoenaed. ! 1904: %% ! 1905: You could get a new lease on life -- if only you didn't need the first ! 1906: and last month in advance. ! 1907: %% ! 1908: Surprise your boss. Get to work on time. ! 1909: %% ! 1910: You're being followed. Cut out the hanky-panky for a few days. ! 1911: %% ! 1912: Don't kiss an elephant on the lips today. ! 1913: %% ! 1914: Future looks spotty. You will spill soup in late evening. ! 1915: %% ! 1916: Don't feed the bats tonight. ! 1917: %% ! 1918: Stay away from flying saucers today. ! 1919: %% ! 1920: You've been leading a dog's life. Stay off the furniture. ! 1921: %% ! 1922: Do not sleep in a eucalyptus tree tonight. ! 1923: %% ! 1924: Help a swallow land at Capistrano. ! 1925: %% ! 1926: Succumb to natural tendencies. Be hateful and boring. ! 1927: %% ! 1928: Half Moon tonight. (At least its better than no Moon at all.) ! 1929: %% ! 1930: Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree. ! 1931: %% ! 1932: Message will arrive in the mail. Destroy, before the FBI sees it. ! 1933: %% ! 1934: Do what comes naturally now. Seethe and fume and throw a tantrum. ! 1935: %% ! 1936: Perfect day for scrubbing the floor and other exciting things. ! 1937: %% ! 1938: Be free and open and breezy! Enjoy! Things won't get any better so ! 1939: get used to it. ! 1940: %% ! 1941: Truth will be out this morning. (Which may really mess things up.) ! 1942: %% ! 1943: Travel important today; Internal Revenue men arrive tomorrow. ! 1944: %% ! 1945: Good day for a change of scene. Repaper the bedroom wall. ! 1946: %% ! 1947: You can create your own opportunities this week. Blackmail a senior ! 1948: executive. ! 1949: %% ! 1950: Fine day to throw a party. Throw him as far as you can. ! 1951: %% ! 1952: Good news. Ten weeks from Friday will be a pretty good day. ! 1953: %% ! 1954: Think of your family tonight. Try to crawl home after the ! 1955: computer crashes. ! 1956: %% ! 1957: Show respect for age. Drink good Scotch for a change. ! 1958: %% ! 1959: Give thought to your reputation. Consider changing name and moving to ! 1960: a new town. ! 1961: %% ! 1962: If you think last Tuesday was a drag, wait till you see what happens ! 1963: tomorrow! ! 1964: %% ! 1965: Excellent day to have a rotten day. ! 1966: %% ! 1967: You worry too much about your job. Stop it. You are not paid enough ! 1968: to worry. ! 1969: %% ! 1970: Don't tell any big lies today. Small ones can be just as effective. ! 1971: %% ! 1972: Others will look to you for stability, so hide when you bite your ! 1973: nails. ! 1974: %% ! 1975: Tonight's the night: Sleep in a eucalyptus tree. ! 1976: %% ! 1977: A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. ! 1978: %% ! 1979: Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as ! 1980: they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out ! 1981: a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. ! 1982: %% ! 1983: Happiness: An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery ! 1984: of another. ! 1985: %% ! 1986: Our country has plenty of good five-cent cigars, but the trouble is ! 1987: they charge fifteen cents for them. ! 1988: %% ! 1989: Question: ! 1990: Man Invented Alcohol, ! 1991: God Invented Grass. ! 1992: Who do you trust? ! 1993: %% ! 1994: The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up ! 1995: in the morning, and does not stop until you get to school. ! 1996: %% ! 1997: You cannot kill time without injuring eternity. ! 1998: %% ! 1999: Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which ! 2000: otherwise require harder thinking. ! 2001: -- Jerome Lettvin ! 2002: %% ! 2003: Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop ! 2004: writing. ! 2005: -- R. Geis ! 2006: %% ! 2007: Paranoids are people, too; they have their own problems. It's easy to ! 2008: criticize, but if everybody hated you, you'd be paranoid too. ! 2009: -- D. J. Hicks ! 2010: %% ! 2011: The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it is ! 2012: none of my business, but --" is to place a period after the word "but." ! 2013: Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. ! 2014: Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you ! 2015: talked about. ! 2016: -- Lazarus Long ! 2017: %% ! 2018: What use is magic if it can't save a unicorn? ! 2019: -- Peter S. Beagle ! 2020: %% ! 2021: If at first you don't succeed, give up, no use being a damn fool. ! 2022: %% ! 2023: According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are ! 2024: totally worthless. ! 2025: %% ! 2026: Wasting time is an important part of living. ! 2027: %% ! 2028: Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders ! 2029: has been discontinued. ! 2030: %% ! 2031: I'm prepared for all emergencies but totally unprepared for everyday ! 2032: life. ! 2033: %% ! 2034: Excellent day for drinking heavily. Spike office water cooler. ! 2035: %% ! 2036: Excellent time to become a missing person. ! 2037: %% ! 2038: A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it? ! 2039: %% ! 2040: Fine day to work off excess energy. Steal something heavy. ! 2041: %% ! 2042: Spend extra time on hobby. Get plenty of rolling papers. ! 2043: %% ! 2044: Things will be bright in P.M. A cop will shine a light in your face. ! 2045: %% ! 2046: Good day to avoid cops. Crawl to school. ! 2047: %% ! 2048: Screw up your courage! You've screwed up everything else. ! 2049: %% ! 2050: Don't believe everything you hear or anything you say. ! 2051: %% ! 2052: Do something unusual today. Pay a bill. ! 2053: %% ! 2054: You will be a winner today. Pick a fight with a four-year-old. ! 2055: %% ! 2056: Troubled day for virgins over 16 who are beautiful and wealthy and live ! 2057: in eucalyptus trees. ! 2058: %% ! 2059: Surprise due today. Also the rent. ! 2060: %% ! 2061: Avoid reality at all costs. ! 2062: %% ! 2063: Good day to let down old friends who need help. ! 2064: %% ! 2065: Next Friday will not be your lucky day. As a matter of fact, you don't ! 2066: have a lucky day this year. ! 2067: %% ! 2068: You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend too much time reading ! 2069: this sort of trash. ! 2070: %% ! 2071: What the hell, go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket. ! 2072: %% ! 2073: Don't go surfing in South Dakota for a while. ! 2074: %% ! 2075: Celebrate Hannibal Day this year. Take an elephant to lunch. ! 2076: %% ! 2077: Stay away from hurricanes for a while. ! 2078: %% ! 2079: A chubby man with a white beard and a red suit will approach you soon. ! 2080: Avoid him. He's a Commie. ! 2081: %% ! 2082: The seven eyes of Ningauble the Wizard floated back to his hood ! 2083: as he reported to Fafhrd: "I have seen much, yet cannot explain all. ! 2084: The Gray Mouser is exactly twenty-five feet below the deepest cellar in ! 2085: the palace of Gilpkerio Kistomerces. Even though twenty-four parts in ! 2086: twenty-five of him are dead, he is alive. ! 2087: ! 2088: "Now about Lankhmar. She's been invaded, her walls breached ! 2089: everywhere and desperate fighting is going on in the streets, by a ! 2090: fierce host which out-numbers Lankhamar's inhabitants by fifty to one ! 2091: -- and equipped with all modern weapons. Yet you can save the city." ! 2092: ! 2093: "How?" demanded Fafhrd. ! 2094: ! 2095: Ningauble shrugged. "You're a hero. You should know." ! 2096: ! 2097: -- Fritz Leiber, from "The Swords of Lankhmar" ! 2098: %% ! 2099: I really hate this damned machine ! 2100: I wish that they would sell it. ! 2101: It never does quite what I want ! 2102: But only what I tell it. ! 2103: %% ! 2104: Caution: breathing may be hazardous to your health. ! 2105: %% ! 2106: Remember, even if you win the rat race -- you're still a rat. ! 2107: %% ! 2108: Nihilism should commence with oneself. ! 2109: %% ! 2110: Vote anarchist ! 2111: %% ! 2112: I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. ! 2113: %% ! 2114: Nudists are people who wear one-button suits. ! 2115: %% ! 2116: Tomorrow will be canceled due to lack of interest. ! 2117: %% ! 2118: Old soldiers never die. Young ones do. ! 2119: %% ! 2120: UFO's are for real: the Air Force doesn't exist. ! 2121: %% ! 2122: In case of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in schools ! 2123: will be temporarily canceled. ! 2124: %% ! 2125: Drive defensively. Buy a tank. ! 2126: %% ! 2127: Alexander Graham Bell is alive and well in New York, and still waiting ! 2128: for a dial tone. ! 2129: %% ! 2130: The meek shall inherit the earth -- they are too weak to refuse. ! 2131: %% ! 2132: Condense soup, not books! ! 2133: %% ! 2134: The world is coming to an end! Repent and return those library books! ! 2135: %% ! 2136: Philadelphia is not dull -- it just seems so because it is next to ! 2137: exciting Camden, New Jersy. ! 2138: %% ! 2139: Never be led astray onto the path of virtue. ! 2140: %% ! 2141: Give your child mental blocks for Christmas. ! 2142: %% ! 2143: Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch. ! 2144: %% ! 2145: Minnie Mouse is a slow maze learner. ! 2146: %% ! 2147: Don't hate yourself in the morning -- sleep till noon. ! 2148: %% ! 2149: Keep America beautiful. Swallow your beer cans. ! 2150: %% ! 2151: What this country needs is a good five cent ANYTHING! ! 2152: %% ! 2153: Hire the morally handicapped. ! 2154: %% ! 2155: I can resist anything but temptation. ! 2156: %% ! 2157: Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings. ! 2158: %% ! 2159: Don't knock President Fillmore. He kept us out of Vietnam. ! 2160: %% ! 2161: Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends. ! 2162: %% ! 2163: Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo. ! 2164: %% ! 2165: Reporter (to Mahatma Gandhi): Mr Gandhi, what do you think of ! 2166: Western Civilization? ! 2167: Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea. ! 2168: %% ! 2169: Xerox never comes up with anything original. ! 2170: %% ! 2171: Acid -- better living through chemistry. ! 2172: %% ! 2173: "All flesh is grass" ! 2174: -- Isiah ! 2175: Smoke a friend today. ! 2176: %% ! 2177: "You'll never be the man your mother was!" ! 2178: %% ! 2179: George Orwell was an optimist. ! 2180: %% ! 2181: Chicken Little was right. ! 2182: %% ! 2183: "Qvid me anxivs svm?" ! 2184: %% ! 2185: Gravity is a myth, the Earth sucks. ! 2186: %% ! 2187: Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. ! 2188: %% ! 2189: Cleveland still lives. God _m_u_s_t be dead. ! 2190: %% ! 2191: Don't cook tonight -- starve a rat today! ! 2192: %% ! 2193: They're only trying to make me LOOK paranoid! ! 2194: %% ! 2195: Hail to the sun god ! 2196: He sure is a fun god ! 2197: Ra! Ra! Ra! ! 2198: %% ! 2199: Brain fried -- Core dumped ! 2200: %% ! 2201: Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. ! 2202: %% ! 2203: Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at ! 2204: once. ! 2205: %% ! 2206: If God had wanted you to go around nude, He would have given you bigger ! 2207: hands. ! 2208: %% ! 2209: What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel. ! 2210: %% ! 2211: Losing your drivers' license is just God's way of saying "BOOGA, BOOGA!" ! 2212: %% ! 2213: A closed mouth gathers no foot. ! 2214: %% ! 2215: A diva who specializes in risqu'e arias is an off-coloratura soprano... ! 2216: %% ! 2217: Q: How many IBM cpu's does it take to do a logical right shift? ! 2218: A: 33. 1 to hold the bits and 32 to push the register. ! 2219: %% ! 2220: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. ! 2221: -- Salvor Hardin ! 2222: %% ! 2223: "Who cares if it doesn't do anything? It was made with our new ! 2224: Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process..." ! 2225: %% ! 2226: "There are three possibilities: Pioneer's solar panel has turned away ! 2227: from the sun; there's a large meteor blocking transmission; or someone ! 2228: loaded Star Trek 3.2 into our video processor." ! 2229: %% ! 2230: If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same? ! 2231: %% ! 2232: Ban the bomb. Save the world for conventional warfare. ! 2233: %% ! 2234: Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down ! 2235: %% ! 2236: Down with categorical imperative! ! 2237: %% ! 2238: Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends ! 2239: %% ! 2240: Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string. ! 2241: %% ! 2242: Things are more like they used to be than they are now. ! 2243: %% ! 2244: Hummingbirds never remember the words to songs. ! 2245: %% ! 2246: Lysistrata had a good idea. ! 2247: %% ! 2248: Reality is an obstacle to hallucination. ! 2249: %% ! 2250: Paul Revere was a tattle-tale ! 2251: %% ! 2252: Familiarity breeds attempt ! 2253: %% ! 2254: Coronation: The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and ! 2255: visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite ! 2256: bomb. ! 2257: %% ! 2258: Coward: One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. ! 2259: %% ! 2260: Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long ! 2261: walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They ! 2262: then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy ! 2263: health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, ! 2264: not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find ! 2265: only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the ! 2266: others who have tried it. ! 2267: %% ! 2268: Idiot: A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human ! 2269: affairs has always been dominant and controlling. ! 2270: %% ! 2271: Honorable: Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach. In legislative ! 2272: bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the ! 2273: honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur." ! 2274: %% ! 2275: Year: A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments. ! 2276: %% ! 2277: God did not create the world in 7 days; he screwed around for 6 days ! 2278: and then pulled an all-nighter. ! 2279: %% ! 2280: God is a polythiest ! 2281: %% ! 2282: God isn't dead, he just couldn't find a parking place. ! 2283: %% ! 2284: If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions? ! 2285: %% ! 2286: "And what will you do when you grow up to be as big as me?" ! 2287: asked the father of his little son. ! 2288: "Diet." ! 2289: %% ! 2290: Admiration: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ! 2291: ourselves. ! 2292: %% ! 2293: Death: to stop sinning suddenly. ! 2294: %% ! 2295: "Might as well be frank, monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you ! 2296: out of Casablanca and the Germans have outlawed miracles." ! 2297: %% ! 2298: Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands, and goes ! 2299: to work. ! 2300: %% ! 2301: "That must be wonderful! I don't understand it at all." ! 2302: %% ! 2303: The chicken that clucks the loudest is the one most likely to show up ! 2304: at the steam fitters' picnic. ! 2305: %% ! 2306: As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not ! 2307: certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. ! 2308: -- Albert Einstein ! 2309: %% ! 2310: Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired. ! 2311: -- R. Geis ! 2312: %% ! 2313: "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and ! 2314: if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!" ! 2315: -- Lewis Carroll ! 2316: %% ! 2317: It is the business of the future to be dangerous. ! 2318: -- Hawkwind ! 2319: %% ! 2320: The earth is like a tiny grain of sand, only much, much heavier. ! 2321: %% ! 2322: There was a young poet named Dan, ! 2323: Whose poetry never would scan. ! 2324: When told this was so, ! 2325: He said, "Yes, I know. ! 2326: It's because I try to put every possible syllable into that last line that I can." ! 2327: %% ! 2328: A limerick packs laughs anatomical ! 2329: Into space that is quite economical. ! 2330: But the good ones I've seen ! 2331: So seldom are clean, ! 2332: And the clean ones so seldom are comical. ! 2333: %% ! 2334: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company." ! 2335: %% ! 2336: "Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from ! 2337: Presidents and Kings to the scum of the earth..." ! 2338: %% ! 2339: "Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet?" ! 2340: -- Lily Tomlin ! 2341: %% ! 2342: God is not dead! He's alive and autographing bibles at Cody's ! 2343: %% ! 2344: "If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith." ! 2345: -- Albert Einstein ! 2346: %% ! 2347: If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied ! 2348: harder. ! 2349: -- Pope John Paul I ! 2350: %% ! 2351: There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn ! 2352: what it is I'll get married again. ! 2353: -- Clint Eastwood ! 2354: %% ! 2355: Flappity, floppity, flip ! 2356: The mouse on the m"obius strip; ! 2357: The strip revolved, ! 2358: The mouse dissolved ! 2359: In a chronodimensional skip. ! 2360: %% ! 2361: ...And malt does more than Milton can ! 2362: to justify God's ways to man ! 2363: -- A. E. Housman ! 2364: %% ! 2365: WHERE CAN THE MATTER BE ! 2366: ! 2367: Oh, dear, where can the matter be ! 2368: When it's converted to energy? ! 2369: There is a slight loss of parity. ! 2370: Johnny's so long at the fair. ! 2371: %% ! 2372: PLUNDERER'S THEME ! 2373: (to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius) ! 2374: ! 2375: Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation. ! 2376: If you do the things we say, then you'll soon rule the nation. ! 2377: Kill your foes and enemies and then kill your relations. ! 2378: Pillage, rape, and loot and burn, but all in moderation. ! 2379: %% ! 2380: IBM had a PL/I, ! 2381: Its syntax worse than JOSS; ! 2382: And everywhere this language went, ! 2383: It was a total loss. ! 2384: %% ! 2385: System/3! System/3! ! 2386: See how it runs! See how it runs! ! 2387: Its monitor loses so totally! ! 2388: It runs all its programs in RPG! ! 2389: It's made by our favorite monopoly! ! 2390: System/3! ! 2391: %% ! 2392: As I was passing Project MAC, ! 2393: I met a Quux with seven hacks. ! 2394: Every hack had seven bugs; ! 2395: Every bug had seven manifestations; ! 2396: Every manifestation had seven symptoms. ! 2397: Symptoms, manifestations, bugs, and hacks, ! 2398: How many losses at Project MAC? ! 2399: %% ! 2400: Reclaimer, spare that tree! ! 2401: Take not a single bit! ! 2402: It used to point to me, ! 2403: Now I'm protecting it. ! 2404: It was the reader's CONS ! 2405: That made it, paired by dot; ! 2406: Now, GC, for the nonce, ! 2407: Thou shalt reclaim it not. ! 2408: %% ! 2409: 99 blocks of crud on the disk, ! 2410: 99 blocks of crud! ! 2411: You patch a bug, and dump it again: ! 2412: 100 blocks of crud on the disk! ! 2413: ! 2414: 100 blocks of crud on the disk, ! 2415: 100 blocks of crud! ! 2416: You patch a bug, and dump it again: ! 2417: 101 blocks of crud on the disk!... ! 2418: %% ! 2419: 'Twas midnight, and the UNIX hacks ! 2420: Did gyre and gimble in their cave ! 2421: All mimsy was the CS-VAX ! 2422: And Cory raths outgrave. ! 2423: ! 2424: "Beware the software rot, my son! ! 2425: The faults that bite, the jobs that thrash! ! 2426: Beware the broken pipe, and shun ! 2427: The frumious system crash!" ! 2428: %% ! 2429: Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire ! 2430: telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New ! 2431: York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? ! 2432: And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they ! 2433: receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." ! 2434: %% ! 2435: THE GOLDEN RULE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ! 2436: The one who has the gold makes the rules. ! 2437: %% ! 2438: If the odds are a million to one against something occurring, chances ! 2439: are 50-50 it will. ! 2440: %% ! 2441: "A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis ! 2442: of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite ! 2443: series of incomprehensive answers calculated with micrometric ! 2444: precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from ! 2445: inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical ! 2446: accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality ! 2447: for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly ! 2448: defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the ! 2449: information in the first place." ! 2450: ! 2451: -- IEEE Grid newsmagazine ! 2452: %% ! 2453: A.A.A.A.A.: An organization for drunks who drive ! 2454: %% ! 2455: Accident: A condition in which presence of mind is good, but absence of ! 2456: body is better. ! 2457: -- Foolish Dictionary ! 2458: %% ! 2459: Accordion: A bagpipe with pleats. ! 2460: %% ! 2461: Accuracy: The vice of being right ! 2462: %% ! 2463: "Acting is an art which consists of keeping the audience from ! 2464: coughing." ! 2465: %% ! 2466: Adolescence: The stage between puberty and adultery. ! 2467: %% ! 2468: Adult: One old enough to know better. ! 2469: %% ! 2470: Advertisement: The most truthful part of a newspaper ! 2471: -- Thomas Jefferson ! 2472: %% ! 2473: Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad ! 2474: example. ! 2475: -- La Rouchefoucauld ! 2476: %% ! 2477: Afternoon: That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted ! 2478: the morning. ! 2479: %% ! 2480: Alimony is a system by which, when two people make a mistake, one of ! 2481: them keeps paying for it. ! 2482: -- Peggy Joyce ! 2483: %% ! 2484: Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ! 2485: -- Charlie McCarthy ! 2486: %% ! 2487: America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism ! 2488: to decadence without touching civilization. ! 2489: -- John O'Hara ! 2490: %% ! 2491: Antonym: The opposite of the word you're trying to think of. ! 2492: %% ! 2493: Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your ! 2494: shoes. ! 2495: -- Mickey Mouse ! 2496: %% ! 2497: Ass: The masculine of "lass". ! 2498: %% ! 2499: Automobile: A four-wheeled vehicle that runs up hills and down ! 2500: pedestrians. ! 2501: %% ! 2502: A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no ! 2503: responsibility at the other. ! 2504: %% ! 2505: A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman ! 2506: out of a divorce. ! 2507: -- Don Quinn ! 2508: %% ! 2509: A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining ! 2510: and wants it back the minute it begins to rain. ! 2511: -- Mark Twain ! 2512: %% ! 2513: Boy: A noise with dirt on it. ! 2514: %% ! 2515: Broad-mindedness: The result of flattening high-mindedness out. ! 2516: %% ! 2517: A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well ! 2518: as afterward. ! 2519: %% ! 2520: California is a fine place to live -- if you happen to be an orange. ! 2521: -- Fred Allen ! 2522: %% ! 2523: A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the ! 2524: poor to protect them from each other. ! 2525: %% ! 2526: Children are natural mimic who act like their parents despite every ! 2527: effort to teach them good manners. ! 2528: %% ! 2529: Christ: A man who was born at least 5,000 years ahead of his time. ! 2530: %% ! 2531: Cigarette: A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of ! 2532: tobacco in between. ! 2533: %% ! 2534: A city is a large community where people are lonesome together ! 2535: -- Herbert Prochnow ! 2536: %% ! 2537: "The climate of Bombay is such that its inhabitants have to live ! 2538: elsewhere." ! 2539: %% ! 2540: Collaboration: A literary partnership based on the false assumption ! 2541: that the other fellow can spell. ! 2542: %% ! 2543: College football is a game which would be much more interesting if the ! 2544: faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if ! 2545: the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms, ! 2546: legs, and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the ! 2547: loss to humanity. ! 2548: -- H. L. Mencken ! 2549: %% ! 2550: Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody is looking ! 2551: -- H. L. Mencken ! 2552: %% ! 2553: Conversation: A vocal competition in which the one who is catching his ! 2554: breath is called the listener. ! 2555: %% ! 2556: "Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth ! 2557: Corner, Vermont." ! 2558: -- Clarence Darrow ! 2559: %% ! 2560: The cow is nothing but a machine with makes grass fit for us people to ! 2561: eat. ! 2562: -- John McNulty ! 2563: %% ! 2564: Cynic: One who looks through rose-colored glasses with a jaundiced eye. ! 2565: %% ! 2566: Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the ! 2567: incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ! 2568: -- G. B. Shaw ! 2569: %% ! 2570: Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder ! 2571: aloud what the country could do under first-class management. ! 2572: -- Senator Soaper ! 2573: %% ! 2574: Die: To stop sinning suddenly. ! 2575: -- Elbert Hubbard ! 2576: %% ! 2577: Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock. ! 2578: %% ! 2579: A diplomat is a man who can convince his wife she'd look stout in a ! 2580: fur coat. ! 2581: %% ! 2582: Egotism is the anesthetic given by a kindly nature to relieve the pain ! 2583: of being a damned fool. ! 2584: -- Bellamy Brooks ! 2585: %% ! 2586: Electrocution: Burning at the stake with all the modern improvements. ! 2587: %% ! 2588: Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a ! 2589: mistake when you make it again. ! 2590: -- F. P. Jones ! 2591: %% ! 2592: "It's Fabulous! We haven't seen anything like it in the last half an ! 2593: hour!" ! 2594: -- Macy's ! 2595: %% ! 2596: Fairy Tale: A horror story to prepare children for the newspapers. ! 2597: %% ! 2598: Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic ! 2599: without looking to see whether the seeds move. ! 2600: %% ! 2601: Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it ! 2602: every six months. ! 2603: -- Oscar Wilde ! 2604: %% ! 2605: We wish you a Hare Krishna ! 2606: We wish you a Hare Krishna ! 2607: We wish you a Hare Krishna ! 2608: And a Sun Myung Moon! ! 2609: ! 2610: -- Maxwell Smart ! 2611: %% ! 2612: If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born that way. ! 2613: %% ! 2614: There was a young lady from Hyde ! 2615: Who ate a green apple and died. ! 2616: While her lover lamented ! 2617: The apple fermented ! 2618: And made cider inside her inside. ! 2619: %% ! 2620: If I traveled to the end of the rainbow ! 2621: As Dame Fortune did intend, ! 2622: Murphy would be there to tell me ! 2623: The pot's at the other end. ! 2624: -- Bert Whitney ! 2625: %% ! 2626: Silverman's Law: ! 2627: If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will. ! 2628: %% ! 2629: Hindsight is an exact science. ! 2630: %% ! 2631: Ducharme's Precept: ! 2632: Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment. ! 2633: %% ! 2634: If you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost. ! 2635: %% ! 2636: Naeser's Law: ! 2637: You can make it foolproof, but you can't make it ! 2638: damnfoolproof. ! 2639: %% ! 2640: If the weather is extremely bad, church attendance will be down. If ! 2641: the weather is extremely good, church attendance will be down. If the ! 2642: bulletin covers are in short supply, however, church attendance will ! 2643: exceed all expectations. ! 2644: -- Reverend Chichester ! 2645: %% ! 2646: The Third Law of Photography: ! 2647: If you did manage to get any good shots, they will be ruined ! 2648: when someone inadvertently opens the darkroom door and all of ! 2649: the dark leaks out. ! 2650: %% ! 2651: Mollison's Bureaucracy Hypothesis: ! 2652: If an idea can survive a bureaucratic review and be implemented ! 2653: it wasn't worth doing. ! 2654: %% ! 2655: Conway's Law: ! 2656: In any organization there will always be one person who knows ! 2657: what is going on. ! 2658: ! 2659: This person must be fired. ! 2660: %% ! 2661: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission. ! 2662: %% ! 2663: Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and then ! 2664: give it back to them. ! 2665: %% ! 2666: There is no time like the present for postponing what you ought to be ! 2667: doing. ! 2668: %% ! 2669: Important letters which contain no errors will develop errors in the ! 2670: mail. Corresponding errors will show up in the duplicate while the ! 2671: Boss is reading it. ! 2672: %% ! 2673: Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by spontaneously moving ! 2674: from where you left them to where you can't find them. ! 2675: %% ! 2676: DeVries' Dilemma: ! 2677: If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want ! 2678: hits the paper. ! 2679: %% ! 2680: When you do not know what you are doing, do it neatly. ! 2681: %% ! 2682: Finagle's Creed: ! 2683: Science is true. Don't be misled by facts. ! 2684: %% ! 2685: Velilind's Laws of Experimentation: ! 2686: 1. If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only ! 2687: once. ! 2688: 2. If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data ! 2689: points. ! 2690: %% ! 2691: Rocky's Lemma of Innovation Prevention ! 2692: Unless the results are known in advance, funding agencies will ! 2693: reject the proposal. ! 2694: %% ! 2695: Jones' First Law: ! 2696: Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of ! 2697: endeavor, and stays in that field long enough, becomes an ! 2698: obstruction to its progress -- in direct proportion to the ! 2699: importance of their original contribution. ! 2700: %% ! 2701: Steinbach's Guideline for Systems Programming ! 2702: Never test for an error condition you don't know how to ! 2703: handle. ! 2704: %% ! 2705: When the government bureau's remedies do not match your problem, you ! 2706: modify the problem, not the remedy. ! 2707: %% ! 2708: Horngren's Observation: ! 2709: Among economists, the real world is often a special case. ! 2710: %% ! 2711: First Rule of History: ! 2712: History doesn't repeat itself -- historians merely repeat each ! 2713: other. ! 2714: %% ! 2715: Hanlon's Razor: ! 2716: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by ! 2717: stupidity. ! 2718: %% ! 2719: Fourth Law of Applied Terror: ! 2720: The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology ! 2721: instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria. ! 2722: Corollary: ! 2723: Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do ! 2724: except study for that instructor's course. ! 2725: %% ! 2726: Fifth Law of Applied Terror: ! 2727: If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book. ! 2728: Corollary: ! 2729: If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you ! 2730: live. ! 2731: %% ! 2732: Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn't mean he ! 2733: knows what it is. ! 2734: %% ! 2735: Only adults have difficulty with childproof caps. ! 2736: %% ! 2737: Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the ! 2738: price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW" ! 2739: means the price went way up. ! 2740: %% ! 2741: McGowan's Madison Avenue Axiom: ! 2742: If an item is advertised as "under $50", you can bet it's not ! 2743: $19.95. ! 2744: %% ! 2745: Van Roy's Law: ! 2746: An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys. ! 2747: %% ! 2748: How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're ! 2749: on. ! 2750: %% ! 2751: Arthur's Laws of Love: ! 2752: 1. People to whom you are attracted invariably think you ! 2753: remind them of someone else. ! 2754: 2. The love letter you finally got the courage to send will ! 2755: be delayed in the mail long enough for you to make a fool ! 2756: of yourself in person. ! 2757: %% ! 2758: Colvard's Logical Premises: ! 2759: All probabilities are 50%. Either a thing will happen or ! 2760: it won't. ! 2761: Colvard's Unconscionable Commentary: ! 2762: This is especially true when dealing with someone you're ! 2763: attracted to. ! 2764: Grelb's Commentary ! 2765: Likelihoods, however, are 90% against you. ! 2766: %% ! 2767: Underlying Principle of Socio-Genetics: ! 2768: Superiority is recessive. ! 2769: %% ! 2770: Don't worry over what other people are thinking about you. They're too ! 2771: busy worrying over what you are thinking about them. ! 2772: %% ! 2773: Ducharm's Axiom: ! 2774: If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize ! 2775: yourself as part of the problem. ! 2776: %% ! 2777: A Law of Computer Programming: ! 2778: Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you ! 2779: will find the programmers cannot write in English. ! 2780: %% ! 2781: Turnaucka's Law: ! 2782: The attention span of a computer is only as long as its ! 2783: electrical cord. ! 2784: %% ! 2785: One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they ! 2786: never have to stop and answer the phone. ! 2787: %% ! 2788: Bradley's Bromide: ! 2789: If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a ! 2790: committee -- that will do them in. ! 2791: %% ! 2792: At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will ! 2793: find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on ! 2794: the computer. ! 2795: %% ! 2796: If you put garbage in a computer nothing comes out but garbage. But ! 2797: this garbage, having passed through a very expensive machine, is ! 2798: somehow enobled and none dare criticize it. ! 2799: %% ! 2800: Old programmers never die. They just branch to a new address. ! 2801: %% ! 2802: Eleanor Rigby ! 2803: Sits at the keyboard ! 2804: And waits for a line on the screen ! 2805: Lives in a dream ! 2806: Waits for a signal ! 2807: Finding some code ! 2808: That will make the machine do some more. ! 2809: What is it for? ! 2810: ! 2811: All the lonely users, where do they all come from? ! 2812: All the lonely users, why does it take so long? ! 2813: %% ! 2814: The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because ! 2815: it isn't here. ! 2816: -- Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley) ! 2817: %% ! 2818: Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. ! 2819: -- Groucho Marx ! 2820: %% ! 2821: Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. ! 2822: -- Groucho Marx ! 2823: %% ! 2824: Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks. ! 2825: -- Adlai Stevenson ! 2826: %% ! 2827: A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest ! 2828: in students. ! 2829: -- John Ciardi ! 2830: %% ! 2831: The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided ! 2832: by the number of people in the group. ! 2833: %% ! 2834: Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. ! 2835: -- Jules de Gaultier ! 2836: %% ! 2837: Ingrate: A man who bites the hand that feeds him, and then complains of ! 2838: indigestion. ! 2839: %% ! 2840: Justice: A decision in your favor. ! 2841: %% ! 2842: Kin: An affliction of the blood ! 2843: %% ! 2844: Lie: A very poor substitute for the truth, but the only one discovered ! 2845: to date. ! 2846: %% ! 2847: Love at first sight is one of the greatest labor-saving devices the ! 2848: world has ever seen. ! 2849: %% ! 2850: Lunatic Asylum: The place where optimism most flourishes. ! 2851: %% ! 2852: Majority: That quality that distinguishes a crime from a law. ! 2853: %% ! 2854: Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to. ! 2855: -- Mark Twain ! 2856: %% ! 2857: Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called ! 2858: upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason. ! 2859: -- Oscar Wilde ! 2860: %% ! 2861: Menu: A list of dishes which the restaurant has just run out of ! 2862: %% ! 2863: "The way to make a small fortune in the commodities market is to start ! 2864: with a large fortune." ! 2865: %% ! 2866: Noncombatant: A dead Quaker. ! 2867: -- Ambrose Bierce ! 2868: %% ! 2869: The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the ! 2870: poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal ! 2871: bread. ! 2872: -- Anatole France ! 2873: %% ! 2874: BLISS is ignorance ! 2875: %% ! 2876: MOCK APPLE PIE (No Apples Needed) ! 2877: ! 2878: Pastry to two crust 9-inch pie 36 RITZ Crackers ! 2879: 2 cups water 2 cups sugar ! 2880: 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 tablespoons lemon juice ! 2881: Grated rind of one lemon Butter or margarine ! 2882: Cinnamon ! 2883: ! 2884: Roll out bottom crust of pastry and fit into 9-inch pie plate. Break ! 2885: RITZ Crackers coarsely into pastry-lined plate. Combine water, sugar ! 2886: and cream of tartar in saucepan, boil gently for 15 minutes. Add lemon ! 2887: juice and rind. Cool. Pour this syrup over Crackers, dot generously ! 2888: with butter or margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with top ! 2889: crust. Trim and flute edges together. Cut slits in top crust to let ! 2890: steam escape. Bake in a hot oven (425 F) 30 to 35 minutes, until crust ! 2891: is crisp and golden. Serve warm. Cut into 6 to 8 slices. ! 2892: ! 2893: -- Found lurking on a Ritz Crackers box ! 2894: %% ! 2895: God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh ! 2896: %% ! 2897: The Briggs - Chase Law of Program Development: ! 2898: To determine how long it will take to write and debug a ! 2899: program, take your best estimate, multiply that by two, add ! 2900: one, and convert to the next higher units. ! 2901: %% ! 2902: Predestination was doomed from the start. ! 2903: %% ! 2904: Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and ! 2905: it holds the universe together... ! 2906: -- Carl Zwanzig ! 2907: %% ! 2908: Xerox does it again and again and again and ... ! 2909: %% ! 2910: Never call a man a fool; borrow from him. ! 2911: %% ! 2912: Misery loves company, but company does not reciprocate. ! 2913: %% ! 2914: Love is sentimental measles. ! 2915: %% ! 2916: Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer, then you find ! 2917: there is nothing in it. ! 2918: %% ! 2919: If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you ! 2920: really make them think they'll hate you. ! 2921: %% ! 2922: I never fail to convince an audience that the best thing they could do ! 2923: was to go away. ! 2924: %% ! 2925: If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are ! 2926: headed. ! 2927: %% ! 2928: "All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us ! 2929: sane." ! 2930: %% ! 2931: "If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is ! 2932: make the rubble bounce" ! 2933: -- Winston Churchill ! 2934: %% ! 2935: But scientists, who ought to know ! 2936: Assure us that it must be so. ! 2937: Oh, let us never, never doubt ! 2938: What nobody is sure about. ! 2939: -- Hilaire Belloc ! 2940: %% ! 2941: The three laws of thermodynamics: ! 2942: ! 2943: The First Law: You can't get anything without working for it. ! 2944: The Second Law: The most you can accomplish by working is to break ! 2945: even. ! 2946: The Third Law: You can only break even at absolute zero. ! 2947: %% ! 2948: Famous last words: ! 2949: 1) "Don't worry, I can handle it." ! 2950: 2) "You and what army?" ! 2951: 3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be ! 2952: a cop." ! 2953: %% ! 2954: Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name. ! 2955: Thy programs run, thy syscalls done, ! 2956: in kernel as it is in user! ! 2957: %% ! 2958: Nothing is faster than the speed of light... ! 2959: ! 2960: To prove this to yourself, try opening the refrigerator door before ! 2961: the light comes on. ! 2962: %% ! 2963: AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18) ! 2964: You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive. You lie ! 2965: a great deal. On the other hand, you are inclined to be careless and ! 2966: impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over and over ! 2967: again. People think you are stupid. ! 2968: %% ! 2969: PISCES (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) ! 2970: You have a vivid imagination and often think you are being followed by ! 2971: the CIA or FBI. You have minor influence over your associates and ! 2972: people resent your flaunting of your power. You lack confidence and ! 2973: you are generally a coward. Pisces people do terrible things to small ! 2974: animals. ! 2975: %% ! 2976: ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 19) ! 2977: You are the pioneer type and hold most people in contempt. You are ! 2978: quick tempered, impatient, and scornful of advice. You are not very ! 2979: nice. ! 2980: %% ! 2981: TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20) ! 2982: You are practical and persistent. You have a dogged determination and ! 2983: work like hell. Most people think you are stubborn and bull headed. ! 2984: You are a Communist. ! 2985: %% ! 2986: GEMINI (May 21 - June 20) ! 2987: You are a quick and intelligent thinker. People like you because you ! 2988: are bisexual. However, you are inclined to expect too much for too ! 2989: little. This means you are cheap. Geminis are known for committing ! 2990: incest. ! 2991: %% ! 2992: CANCER (June 21 - July 22) ! 2993: You are sympathetic and understanding to other people's problems. They ! 2994: think you are a sucker. You are always putting things off. That's why ! 2995: you'll never make anything of yourself. Most welfare recipients are ! 2996: Cancer people. ! 2997: %% ! 2998: LEO (July 23 - Aug 22) ! 2999: You consider yourself a born leader. Others think you are pushy. Most ! 3000: Leo people are bullies. You are vain and dislike honest criticism. ! 3001: Your arrogance is disgusting. Leo people are thieves. ! 3002: %% ! 3003: VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sept 22) ! 3004: You are the logical type and hate disorder. This nitpicking is ! 3005: sickening to your friends. You are cold and unemotional and sometimes ! 3006: fall asleep while making love. Virgos make good bus drivers. ! 3007: %% ! 3008: LIBRA (Sept 23 - Oct 22) ! 3009: You are the artistic type and have a difficult time with reality. If ! 3010: you are a man, you are more than likely gay. Chances for employment ! 3011: and monetary gains are excellent. Most Libra women are prostitutes. ! 3012: All Libra people die of Venereal disease. ! 3013: %% ! 3014: SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21) ! 3015: You are shrewd in business and cannot be trusted. You will achieve the ! 3016: pinnacle of success because of your total lack of ethics. Most Scorpio ! 3017: people are murdered. ! 3018: %% ! 3019: SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 21) ! 3020: You are optimistic and enthusiastic. You have a reckless tendency to ! 3021: rely on luck since you lack talent. The majority of Sagittarians are ! 3022: drunks or dope fiends or both. People laugh at you a great deal. ! 3023: %% ! 3024: CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 19) ! 3025: You are conservative and afraid of taking risks. You don't do much of ! 3026: anything and are lazy. There has never been a Capricorn of any ! 3027: importance. Capricorns should avoid standing still for too long as ! 3028: they take root and become trees. ! 3029: %% ! 3030: Q: How many heterosexual males does it take to screw in a light bulb in ! 3031: San Francisco? ! 3032: A: Both of them. ! 3033: %% ! 3034: San Francisco isn't what it used to be, and it never was. ! 3035: %% ! 3036: Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids. ! 3037: %% ! 3038: A doctor, an architect, and a computer scientist were arguing ! 3039: about whose profession was the oldest. In the course of their ! 3040: arguments, they got all the way back to the Garden of Eden, whereupon ! 3041: the doctor said, "The medical profession is clearly the oldest, because ! 3042: Eve was made from Adam's rib, as the story goes, and that was a simply ! 3043: incredible surgical feat." ! 3044: The architect did not agree. He said, "But if you look at the ! 3045: Garden itself, in the beginning there was chaos and void, and out of ! 3046: that, the Garden and the world were created. So God must have been an ! 3047: architect." ! 3048: The computer scientist, who had listened to all of this said, ! 3049: "Yes, but where do you think the chaos came from?" ! 3050: %% ! 3051: Anarchy may not be the best form of government, but it's better than no ! 3052: government at all. ! 3053: %% ! 3054: Buzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes ! 3055: Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn; ! 3056: Less dear than army ants in apple pies ! 3057: Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn, ! 3058: Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit; ! 3059: Like honeybees upon the perfum'd rose ! 3060: They suck, and like the double-breasted suit ! 3061: Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose, ! 3062: Go fly a kite, thy welcome's overstayed; ! 3063: And stem the produce of thy waspish wits: ! 3064: Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed; ! 3065: Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits. ! 3066: Be off, I say; go bug somebody new, ! 3067: Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you. ! 3068: %% ! 3069: Do molecular biologists wear designer genes? ! 3070: %% ! 3071: Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last ! 3072: you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his ! 3073: atlantic with his verb in his mouth. ! 3074: -- Mark Twain ! 3075: %% ! 3076: When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most ! 3077: insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are ! 3078: required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and ! 3079: exhausting condition continuously until death do them part. ! 3080: -- George Bernard Shaw ! 3081: %% ! 3082: The University of California Bears announced the signing of Reggie ! 3083: Philbin to a letter of intent to attend Cal next Fall. Philbin is said ! 3084: to make up for no talent by cheating well. Says Philbin of his ! 3085: decision to attend Cal, "I'm in it for the free ride." ! 3086: %% ! 3087: Professor Gorden Newell threw another shutout in last week's Chem Eng. ! 3088: 130 midterm. Once again a student did not receive a single point on ! 3089: his exam. Newell has now tossed 5 shutouts this quarter. Newell's ! 3090: earned exam average has now dropped to a phenomenal 30% ! 3091: %% ! 3092: "Now is the time for all good men to come to." ! 3093: -- Walt Kelly ! 3094: %% ! 3095: Laetrile is the pits ! 3096: %% ! 3097: Got Mole problems? ! 3098: Call Avogardo 6.02 x 10^23 ! 3099: %% ! 3100: There's no future in time travel ! 3101: %% ! 3102: Vitamin C deficiency is apauling ! 3103: %% ! 3104: Time flies like an arrow ! 3105: Fruit flies like a banana ! 3106: %% ! 3107: Science is what happens when preconception meets verification. ! 3108: %% ! 3109: Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance. ! 3110: %% ! 3111: "Really ?? What a coincidence, I'm shallow too!!" ! 3112: %% ! 3113: But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the ! 3114: system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed, ! 3115: analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses. ! 3116: -- Bruce Leverett ! 3117: "Register Allocation in Optimizing Compilers" ! 3118: %% ! 3119: Psychiatrists say that one out of four people are mentally ill. Check ! 3120: three friends. If they're ok, you're it. ! 3121: %% ! 3122: Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design. Unlike most ! 3123: automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor any of the ! 3124: numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver. Rather, if the ! 3125: driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the center of the ! 3126: dashboard. "The experienced driver", he says, "will usually know ! 3127: what's wrong." ! 3128: %% ! 3129: Frobnicate, v.: To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from ! 3130: FROBNITZ. Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the saying "to ! 3131: frob a frob". See TWEAK and TWIDDLE. Usage: FROB, TWIDDLE, and TWEAK ! 3132: sometimes connote points along a continuum. FROB connotes aimless ! 3133: manipulation; TWIDDLE connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse ! 3134: search for a proper setting; TWEAK connotes fine-tuning. If someone is ! 3135: turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it ! 3136: he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the ! 3137: screen he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because ! 3138: turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. ! 3139: %% ! 3140: USER n.: A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. ! 3141: %% ! 3142: Worst Month of the Year: February. February has only 28 days in it, ! 3143: which means that if you rent an apartment, you are paying for three ! 3144: full days you don't get. Try to avoid Februarys whenever possible. ! 3145: %% ! 3146: Worst Vegetable of the Year: The brussels sprout. This is also the ! 3147: worst vegetable of next year. ! 3148: %% ! 3149: Easiest Color to Solve on a Rubik's Cube: Black. Simply remove all the ! 3150: little colored stickers on the cube, and each of side of the cube will ! 3151: now be the original color of the plastic underneath -- black. ! 3152: According to the instructions, this means the puzzle is solved. ! 3153: %% ! 3154: Worst Month of 1981 for Downhill Skiing: August. The lines are the ! 3155: shortest, though. ! 3156: %% ! 3157: There once was a girl named Irene ! 3158: Who lived on distilled kerosene ! 3159: But she started absorbin' ! 3160: A new hydrocarbon ! 3161: And since then has never benzene. ! 3162: %% ! 3163: Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus ! 3164: handicapped. ! 3165: -- Elbert Hubbard ! 3166: %% ! 3167: Computer programmers do it byte by byte ! 3168: %% ! 3169: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but ! 3170: World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." ! 3171: -- Albert Einstein ! 3172: %% ! 3173: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ! 3174: -- Eleanor Roosevelt ! 3175: %% ! 3176: I must have slipped a disk -- my pack hurts ! 3177: %% ! 3178: What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to do. ! 3179: %% ! 3180: This login session: $13.99, but for you $11.88 ! 3181: %% ! 3182: "I just need enough to tide me over until I need more." ! 3183: -- Bill Hoest ! 3184: %% ! 3185: Q: How many Oregonians does it take to screw in a light bulb? ! 3186: A: Three. One to screw in the lightbulb and two to fend off all those ! 3187: Californians trying to share the experience. ! 3188: %% ! 3189: Now and then an innocent person is sent to the legislature. ! 3190: %% ! 3191: She missed an invaluable opportunity to give him a look that you could ! 3192: have poured on a waffle. ! 3193: %% ! 3194: He looked at me as if I was a side dish he hadn't ordered. ! 3195: %% ! 3196: People will buy anything that's one to a customer. ! 3197: %% ! 3198: It was a book to kill time for those who liked it better dead. ! 3199: %% ! 3200: How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers. ! 3201: %% ! 3202: The new Congressmen say they're going to turn the government around. I ! 3203: hope I don't get run over again. ! 3204: %% ! 3205: What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art. ! 3206: %% ! 3207: Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out if it alive. ! 3208: %% ! 3209: Forgetfulness: A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for ! 3210: their destitution of conscience. ! 3211: %% ! 3212: Absentee: A person with an income who has had the forethought to remove ! 3213: himself from the sphere of exaction. ! 3214: %% ! 3215: You will be surprised by a loud noise. ! 3216: %% ! 3217: As of next week, passwords will be entered in Morse code. ! 3218: %% ! 3219: "In short, _N is Richardian if, and only if, _N is not Richardian." ! 3220: %% ! 3221: President Reagan has noted that there are too many economic pundits and ! 3222: forecasters and has decided on an excess prophets tax. ! 3223: %% ! 3224: Absent: Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed; ! 3225: slandered. ! 3226: %% ! 3227: Brain, v.: [as in "to brain"] To rebuke bluntly, but not pointedly; to ! 3228: dispel a source of error in an opponent. ! 3229: %% ! 3230: Truthful: Dumb and illiterate. ! 3231: %% ! 3232: A computer, to print out a fact, ! 3233: Will divide, multiply, and subtract. ! 3234: But this output can be ! 3235: No more than debris, ! 3236: If the input was short of exact. ! 3237: -- Gigo ! 3238: %% ! 3239: Corrupt: In politics, holding an office of trust or profit. ! 3240: %% ! 3241: Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night, ! 3242: God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light. ! 3243: ! 3244: It did not last; the devil howling "Ho! ! 3245: Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo. ! 3246: %% ! 3247: Razors pain you; ! 3248: Rivers are damp; ! 3249: Acids stain you; ! 3250: And drugs cause cramp. ! 3251: Guns aren't lawful; ! 3252: Nooses give; ! 3253: Gas smells awful; ! 3254: You might as well live. ! 3255: -- Dorothy Parker ! 3256: %% ! 3257: Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time ! 3258: to reform. ! 3259: -- Mark Twain ! 3260: %% ! 3261: There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. ! 3262: -- Henry Kissinger ! 3263: %% ! 3264: Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. ! 3265: --Oscar Wilde ! 3266: %% ! 3267: The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. ! 3268: -- Oscar Wilde ! 3269: %% ! 3270: About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ! 3271: ends. ! 3272: -- Herbert Hoover ! 3273: %% ! 3274: There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and ! 3275: that is not being talked about. ! 3276: -- Oscar Wilde ! 3277: %% ! 3278: The sun was shining on the sea, ! 3279: Shining with all his might: ! 3280: He did his very best to make ! 3281: The billows smooth and bright -- ! 3282: And this was very odd, because it was ! 3283: The middle of the night. ! 3284: -- Lewis Carroll ! 3285: %% ! 3286: It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it ! 3287: happens. ! 3288: -- Woody Allen. ! 3289: %% ! 3290: The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more ! 3291: annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation. ! 3292: -- Oscar Wilde ! 3293: %% ! 3294: I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. ! 3295: -- Joe Walsh ! 3296: %% ! 3297: 43rd Law of Computing: ! 3298: Anything that can go wr ! 3299: fortune: Segmentation violation -- Core dumped ! 3300: %% ! 3301: JACK AND THE BEANSTACK ! 3302: by Mark Isaak ! 3303: ! 3304: Long ago, in a finite state far away, there lived a JOVIAL ! 3305: character named Jack. Jack and his relations were poor. Often their ! 3306: hash table was bare. One day Jack's parent said to him, "Our matrices ! 3307: are sparse. You must go to the market to exchange our RAM for some ! 3308: BASICs." She compiled a linked list of items to retrieve and passed it ! 3309: to him. ! 3310: So Jack set out. But as he was walking along a Hamilton path, ! 3311: he met the traveling salesman. ! 3312: "Whither dost thy flow chart take thou?" prompted the salesman ! 3313: in high-level language. ! 3314: "I'm going to the market to exchange this RAM for some chips ! 3315: and Apples," commented Jack. ! 3316: "I have a much better algorithm. You needn't join a queue ! 3317: there; I will swap your RAM for these magic kernels now." ! 3318: Jack made the trade, then backtracked to his house. But when ! 3319: he told his busy-waiting parent of the deal, she became so angry she ! 3320: started thrashing. ! 3321: "Don't you even have any artificial intelligence? All these ! 3322: kernels together hardly make up one byte," and she popped them out the ! 3323: window... ! 3324: %% ! 3325: THE STORY OF CREATION ! 3326: or ! 3327: THE MYTH OF URK ! 3328: ! 3329: In the beginning there was data. The data was without form and null, ! 3330: and darkness was upon the face of the console; and the Spirit of IBM ! 3331: was moving over the face of the market. And DEC said, "Let there be ! 3332: registers"; and there were registers. And DEC saw that they carried; ! 3333: and DEC separated the data from the instructions. DEC called the data ! 3334: Stack, and the instructions they called Code. And there was evening ! 3335: and there was morning, one interrupt... ! 3336: ! 3337: -- Rico Tudor ! 3338: %% ! 3339: Never try to outstubborn a cat. ! 3340: -- Lazarus Long ! 3341: %% ! 3342: FLASH! Intelligence of mankind decreasing. Details at ... uh, when ! 3343: the little hand is on the .... ! 3344: %% ! 3345: Only God can make random selections. ! 3346: %% ! 3347: Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- ! 3348: bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the ! 3349: road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space. ! 3350: ! 3351: -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" ! 3352: %% ! 3353: Limericks are art forms complex, ! 3354: Their topics run chiefly to sex. ! 3355: They usually have virgins, ! 3356: And masculine urgin's, ! 3357: And other erotic effects. ! 3358: %% ! 3359: Kinkler's First Law: ! 3360: Responsibility always exceeds authority. ! 3361: ! 3362: Kinkler's Second Law: ! 3363: All the easy problems have been solved. ! 3364: %% ! 3365: "Why be a man when you can be a success?" ! 3366: -- Bertold Brecht ! 3367: %% ! 3368: "Matrimony isn't a word, it's a sentence." ! 3369: %% ! 3370: How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? ! 3371: ! 3372: None. The Universe spines the bulb, and the Zen master stays out of ! 3373: the way. ! 3374: %% ! 3375: University: Like a software house, except the software's free, and it's ! 3376: usable, and it works, and if it breaks they'll quickly tell you how to ! 3377: fix it, and ... ! 3378: %% ! 3379: How many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? ! 3380: None: "We'll fix it in software." ! 3381: ! 3382: How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? ! 3383: None: "We'll document it in the manual." ! 3384: ! 3385: How many tech writers does it take to change a lightbulb? ! 3386: None: "The user can work it out." ! 3387: %% ! 3388: William Safire's Rules for Writers: ! 3389: ! 3390: Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never ! 3391: be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to ! 3392: agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words ! 3393: out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal ! 3394: of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must ! 3395: not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a ! 3396: conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a ! 3397: sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as ! 3398: close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more ! 3399: words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles ! 3400: must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a ! 3401: linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing ! 3402: metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should ! 3403: be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their ! 3404: writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows ! 3405: the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek ! 3406: viable alternatives. ! 3407: %% ! 3408: God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board ! 3409: -- Mark Twain ! 3410: %% ! 3411: Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and ! 3412: miss ! 3413: %% ! 3414: Bride: A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her. ! 3415: %% ! 3416: The Pig, if I am not mistaken, ! 3417: Gives us ham and pork and Bacon. ! 3418: Let others think his heart is big, ! 3419: I think it stupid of the Pig. ! 3420: %% ! 3421: I think that I shall never see ! 3422: A billboard lovely as a tree. ! 3423: Perhaps, unless the billboards fall ! 3424: I'll never see a tree at all. ! 3425: %% ! 3426: Bizarreness is the essence of the exotic ! 3427: %% ! 3428: Today is the first day of the rest of the mess ! 3429: %% ! 3430: Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday ! 3431: %% ! 3432: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they AREN'T after you. ! 3433: %% ! 3434: Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life. ! 3435: %% ! 3436: Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting ! 3437: enough cheese ! 3438: %% ! 3439: Whether you can hear it or not ! 3440: The Universe is laughing behind your back ! 3441: %% ! 3442: Go 'way! You're bothering me! ! 3443: %% ! 3444: Put your Nose to the Grindstone! ! 3445: -- Amalgamated Plastic Surgeons and Toolmakers, Ltd. ! 3446: %% ! 3447: Chicken Soup: An ancient miracle drug containing equal parts of ! 3448: aureomycin, cocaine, interferon, and TLC. The only ailment chicken ! 3449: soup can't cure is neurotic dependence on one's mother. ! 3450: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3451: %% ! 3452: There are some goyisha names that just about guarantee that ! 3453: someone isn't Jewish. For example, you'll never meet a Jew named ! 3454: Johnson or Wright or Jones or Sinclair or Ricks or Stevenson or Reid or ! 3455: Larsen or Jenks. But some goyisha names just about guarantee that ! 3456: every other person you meet with that name will be Jewish. Why is ! 3457: this? ! 3458: Who knows? Learned rabbis have pondered this question for ! 3459: centuries and have failed to come up with an answer, and you think _y_o_u ! 3460: can find one? Get serious. You don't even understand why it's ! 3461: forbidden to eat crab -- fresh cold crab with mayonnaise -- or lobster ! 3462: -- soft tender morsels of lobster dipped in melted butter. You don't ! 3463: even understand a simple thing like that, and yet you hope to discover ! 3464: why there are more Jews named Miller than Katz? Fat Chance. ! 3465: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3466: %% ! 3467: An old Jewish man reads about Einstein's theory of relativity ! 3468: in the newspaper and asks his scientist grandson to explain it to him. ! 3469: "Well, zayda, it's sort of like this. Einstein says that if ! 3470: you're having your teeth drilled without Novocain, a minute seems like ! 3471: an hour. But if you're sitting with a beautiful woman on your lap, an ! 3472: hour seems like a minute." ! 3473: The old man considers this profound bit of thinking for a ! 3474: moment and says, "And from this he makes a living?" ! 3475: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3476: %% ! 3477: Gay shlafen: Yiddish for "go to sleep". ! 3478: ! 3479: Now doesn't "gay shlafen" have a softer, more soothing sound ! 3480: than the harsh, staccato "go to sleep"? Listen to the difference: ! 3481: "Go to sleep, you little wretch!" ... "Gay shlafen, darling." ! 3482: Obvious, isn't it? ! 3483: Clearly the best thing you can do for you children is to start ! 3484: speaking Yiddish right now and never speak another word of English as ! 3485: long as you live. This will, of course, entail teaching Yiddish to all ! 3486: your friends, business associates, the people at the supermarket, and ! 3487: so on, but that's just the point. It has to start with committed ! 3488: individuals and then grow.... ! 3489: Some minor adjustments will have to be made, of course: those ! 3490: signs written in what look like Yiddish letters won't be funny when ! 3491: everything is written in Yiddish. And we'll have to start driving on ! 3492: the left side of the road so we won't be reading the street signs ! 3493: backwards. But is that too high a price to pay for world peace? I ! 3494: think not, my friend, I think not. ! 3495: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3496: %% ! 3497: "God gives burdens; also shoulders" ! 3498: ! 3499: Jimmy Carter cited this Jewish saying in his concession speech ! 3500: at the end of the 1980 election. At least he said it was a Jewish ! 3501: saying; I can't find it anywhere. I'm sure he's telling the truth ! 3502: though; why would he lie about a thing like that? ! 3503: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3504: %% ! 3505: Goy: ... The distinction between Jewish and goyish can be quite subtle, ! 3506: as the following quote from Lenny Bruce illustrates: ! 3507: ! 3508: "I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish. ! 3509: Eddie Cantor's goyish. The B'nai Brith is goyish. The Hadassah is ! 3510: Jewish. Marine Corps -- heavy goyish, dangerous. ! 3511: "Kool-Aid is goyish. All Drake's Cakes are goyish. ! 3512: Pumpernickel is Jewish and, as you know, white bread is very goyish. ! 3513: Instant potatoes -- goyish. Black cherry soda's very Jewish. ! 3514: Macaroons are _v_e_r_y Jewish. Fruit salad is Jewish. Lime Jell-O is ! 3515: goyish. Lime soda is _v_e_r_y goyish. Trailer parks are so goyish that ! 3516: Jews won't go near them..." ! 3517: ! 3518: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3519: %% ! 3520: One of the oldest problems puzzled over in the Talmud is: "Why did God ! 3521: create goyim?" The generally accepted answer is "_s_o_m_e_b_o_d_y has to buy ! 3522: retail." ! 3523: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3524: %% ! 3525: Half-done: This is the best way to eat a kosher dill -- when it's ! 3526: still crunchy, light green, yet full of garlic flavor. The difference ! 3527: between this and the typical soggy dark green cucumber corpse is like ! 3528: the the difference between life and death. ! 3529: You may find it difficult to find a good half-done kosher dill ! 3530: there in Seattle, so what you should do is take a cab out to the ! 3531: airport, fly to New York, take the JFK Express to Jay Street-Borough ! 3532: Hall, transfer to an uptown F, get off at East Broadway, walk north on ! 3533: Essex (along the park), make your first left onto Hester Street, walk ! 3534: about fifteen steps, turn ninety degrees left, and stop. Say to the ! 3535: man, "Let me have a nice half-done." ! 3536: Worth the trouble, wasn't it? ! 3537: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3538: %% ! 3539: A man goes to a tailor to try on a new custom-made suit. The ! 3540: first thing he notices is that the arms are too long. ! 3541: "No problem," says the tailor. "Just bend them at the elbow ! 3542: and hold them out in front of you. See, now it's fine." ! 3543: "But the collar is up around my ears!" ! 3544: "It's nothing. Just hunch your back up a little...no, a little ! 3545: more...that's it." ! 3546: "But I'm stepping on my cuffs!" the man cries in desperation. ! 3547: "Nu, bend you knees a little to take up the slack. There you ! 3548: go. Look in the mirror -- the suit fits perfectly." ! 3549: So, twisted like a pretzel, the man lurches out onto the ! 3550: street. Reba and Florence see him go by. ! 3551: "Oh, look," says Reba, "that poor man!" ! 3552: "Yes," says Florence, "but what a beautiful suit." ! 3553: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3554: %% ! 3555: Murray and Esther, a middle-aged Jewish couple, are touring ! 3556: Chile. Murray just got a new camera and is constantly snapping ! 3557: pictures. One day, without knowing it, he photographs a top-secret ! 3558: military installation. In an instant, armed troops surround Murray and ! 3559: Esther and hustle them off to prison. ! 3560: They can't prove who they are because they've left their ! 3561: passports in their hotel room. For three weeks they're tortured day ! 3562: and night to get them to name their contacts in the liberation ! 3563: movement.. Finally they're hauled in front of a military court, ! 3564: charged with espionage, and sentenced to death. ! 3565: The next morning they're lined up in front of the wall where ! 3566: they'll be shot. The sergeant in charge of the firing squad asks them ! 3567: if they have any lasts requests. Esther wants to know if she can call ! 3568: her daughter in Chicago. The sergeant says he's sorry, that's not ! 3569: possible, and turns to Murray. ! 3570: "This is crazy!" Murray shouts. "We're not spies!" And he ! 3571: spits in the sergeants face. ! 3572: "Murray!" Esther cries. "Please! Don't make trouble." ! 3573: -- Arthur Naiman ! 3574: %% ! 3575: Shamus: A shamus is a guy who takes care of handyman tasks around the ! 3576: temple, and makes sure everything is in working order. ! 3577: A shamus is at the bottom of the pecking order of synagog ! 3578: functionaries, and there's a joke about that: ! 3579: A rabbi, to show his humility before God, cries out in the ! 3580: middle of a service, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" The cantor, not to be ! 3581: bested, also cries out, "Oh, Lord, I am nobody!" ! 3582: The shamus, deeply moved, follows suit and cries, "Oh, Lord, I ! 3583: am nobody!" The rabbi turns to the cantor and says, "Look who thinks ! 3584: he's nobody!" ! 3585: %% ! 3586: "I am not an Economist. I am an honest man!" ! 3587: -- Paul McCracken ! 3588: %% ! 3589: Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to ! 3590: have nothing whatever to do with it. ! 3591: -- W. Somerset Maughm ! 3592: %% ! 3593: Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored. ! 3594: -- George Saunders' dying words ! 3595: %% ! 3596: Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a ! 3597: conventional thing to happen to him. ! 3598: -- John Barrymore's dying words ! 3599: %% ! 3600: Every program is a part of some other program, and rarely fits. ! 3601: %% ! 3602: It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct ! 3603: one. ! 3604: %% ! 3605: If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some. ! 3606: %% ! 3607: Everyting should be built top-down, except the first time. ! 3608: %% ! 3609: Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was ! 3610: written and another for which it wasn't. ! 3611: %% ! 3612: If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake ! 3613: him up. ! 3614: %% ! 3615: Optimization hinders evolution. ! 3616: %% ! 3617: A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is ! 3618: not worth knowing. ! 3619: %% ! 3620: Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be ! 3621: taught how _n_o_t to. So it is with the great programmers. ! 3622: %% ! 3623: Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to ! 3624: describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately ! 3625: described with pictures. ! 3626: %% ! 3627: There are two ways to write error-free programs. Only the third one ! 3628: works. ! 3629: %% ! 3630: As Will Rogers would have said, "There is no such things as a free ! 3631: variable." ! 3632: %% ! 3633: The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; ! 3634: but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman. ! 3635: %% ! 3636: Bringing computers into the home won't change either one, but may ! 3637: revitalize the corner saloon. ! 3638: %% ! 3639: Beware of the Turing Tar-pit in which everything is possible but ! 3640: nothing of interest is easy. ! 3641: %% ! 3642: A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of ! 3643: nothing. ! 3644: %% ! 3645: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice ! 3646: versa. ! 3647: %% ! 3648: In English, every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our ! 3649: programming languages. ! 3650: %% ! 3651: In a five year period we can get one superb programming language. Only ! 3652: we can't control when the five year period will begin. ! 3653: %% ! 3654: Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is ! 3655: meant to be discarded: That the whole point is to always see it as a ! 3656: soap bubble? ! 3657: %% ! 3658: A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe ! 3659: in God. ! 3660: %% ! 3661: When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only ! 3662: say what I wish done," give him a lollipop. ! 3663: %% ! 3664: Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also ! 3665: easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to ! 3666: improve. ! 3667: %% ! 3668: One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means. ! 3669: %% ! 3670: Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.! ! 3671: %% ! 3672: Why did the Roman Empire collapse? What is the Latin for office ! 3673: automation? ! 3674: %% ! 3675: If there are epigrams, there must be meta-epigrams. ! 3676: %% ! 3677: Be different: conform. ! 3678: %% ! 3679: Save energy: be apathetic. ! 3680: %% ! 3681: I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer. ! 3682: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3683: %% ! 3684: Q: How many DEC repairman does it take to fix a flat? ! 3685: A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires. ! 3686: ! 3687: Q: How long does it take? ! 3688: A: It's indeterminate. It will depend upon how many flats they've ! 3689: brought with them. ! 3690: ! 3691: Q: What happens if you've got TWO flats? ! 3692: A: They replace your generator. ! 3693: %% ! 3694: Then a man said: Speak to us of Expectations. ! 3695: ! 3696: He then said: If a man does not see or hear the waters of the ! 3697: Jordan, then he should not taste the pomegranate or ply his wares in an ! 3698: open market. ! 3699: ! 3700: If a man would not labour in the salt and rock quarries then he ! 3701: should not accept of the Earth that which he refuses to give of ! 3702: himself. ! 3703: ! 3704: Such a man would expect a pear of a peach tree. ! 3705: Such a man would expect a stone to lay an egg. ! 3706: Such a man would expect Sears to assemble a lawnmower. ! 3707: ! 3708: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3709: %% ! 3710: "Stealing a rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly." ! 3711: %% ! 3712: A priest asked: What is Fate, Master? ! 3713: ! 3714: And he answered: ! 3715: It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for ! 3716: existence. ! 3717: It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their ! 3718: backs. ! 3719: It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City ! 3720: to City upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns ! 3721: have come to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness. ! 3722: ! 3723: And that is Fate? said the priest. ! 3724: ! 3725: Fate... I thought you said Freight, responded the Master. ! 3726: ! 3727: That's all right, said the priest. I wanted to know ! 3728: what Freight was too. ! 3729: ! 3730: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3731: %% ! 3732: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is ! 3733: lightly greased." ! 3734: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3735: %% ! 3736: "Arguments with furniture are rarely productive." ! 3737: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3738: %% ! 3739: "Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral." ! 3740: -- Kehlog Albran ! 3741: %% ! 3742: There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. ! 3743: -- Dr. Who ! 3744: %% ! 3745: "Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't ! 3746: immune to bullets" ! 3747: -- The Brigader, from Dr. Who ! 3748: %% ! 3749: The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says: ! 3750: Support your right to bare arms! ! 3751: %% ! 3752: They also surf who only stand on waves. ! 3753: %% ! 3754: Signs of crime: screaming or cries for help. ! 3755: -- from the Brown Security Crime Prevention Pamphlet ! 3756: %% ! 3757: In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble. ! 3758: -- Alan Perlis ! 3759: %% ! 3760: You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on ! 3761: the continuing viability of Fortran. ! 3762: -- Alan Perlis ! 3763: %% ! 3764: A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of ! 3765: nothing. ! 3766: -- Alan Perlis ! 3767: %% ! 3768: The computing field is always in need of new cliches. ! 3769: -- Alan Perlis ! 3770: %% ! 3771: It is against the grain of modern education to teach children to ! 3772: program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in ! 3773: organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be ! 3774: self-critical? ! 3775: -- Alan Perlis ! 3776: %% ! 3777: "Please try to limit the amount of `this room doesn't have any ! 3778: bazingas' until you are told that those rooms are `punched out.' Once ! 3779: punched out, we have a right to complain about atrocities, missing ! 3780: bazingas, and such." ! 3781: -- N. Meyrowitz ! 3782: %% ! 3783: People will buy anything that's one to a customer. ! 3784: %% ! 3785: Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt. ! 3786: [Confound those who have said our remarks before us.] ! 3787: -- Aelius Donatus ! 3788: %% ! 3789: If God had not given us sticky tape, it would have been necessary to ! 3790: invent it. ! 3791: %% ! 3792: It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it's a ! 3793: pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the ! 3794: sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color. ! 3795: -- Voltaire ! 3796: %% ! 3797: The superfluous is very necessary. ! 3798: -- Voltaire ! 3799: %% ! 3800: It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that ! 3801: virginity could be a virtue. ! 3802: -- Voltaire ! 3803: %% ! 3804: I'm very good at integral and differential calculus, ! 3805: I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; ! 3806: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, ! 3807: I am the very model of a modern Major-General. ! 3808: %% ! 3809: Oh don't the days seem lank and long ! 3810: When all goes right and none goes wrong, ! 3811: And isn't your life extremely flat ! 3812: With nothing whatever to grumble at! ! 3813: %% ! 3814: An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose. ! 3815: -- A. P. Herbert ! 3816: %% ! 3817: Old age is the most unexpected of things that can happen to a man. ! 3818: -- Trotsky ! 3819: %% ! 3820: It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. ! 3821: -- Gore Vidal ! 3822: %% ! 3823: A celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness. ! 3824: %% ! 3825: The rain it raineth on the just ! 3826: And also on the unjust fella, ! 3827: But chiefly on the just, because ! 3828: The unjust steals the just's umbrella. ! 3829: %% ! 3830: The world's as ugly as sin, ! 3831: And almost as delightful ! 3832: -- Frederick Locker-Lampson ! 3833: %% ! 3834: "Reflections on Ice-Breaking" ! 3835: Candy ! 3836: Is dandy ! 3837: But liquor ! 3838: Is quicker. ! 3839: ! 3840: -- Ogden Nash ! 3841: %% ! 3842: Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. ! 3843: -- Jules Feiffer ! 3844: %% ! 3845: Some people in this department wouldn't recognize subtlety if it hit ! 3846: them on the head. ! 3847: %% ! 3848: You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd. ! 3849: %% ! 3850: There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly ! 3851: what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly ! 3852: disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and ! 3853: inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has ! 3854: already happened. ! 3855: -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ! 3856: %% ! 3857: For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, ! 3858: and wrong. ! 3859: -- H. L. Mencken ! 3860: %% ! 3861: Death is God's way of telling you not to be such a wise guy. ! 3862: %% ! 3863: Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. ! 3864: -- Wernher von Braun ! 3865: %% ! 3866: My God, I'm depressed! Here I am, a computer with a mind a thousand ! 3867: times as powerful as yours, doing nothing but cranking out fortunes and ! 3868: sending mail about softball games. And I've got this pain right ! 3869: through my ALU. I've asked for it to be replaced, but nobody ever ! 3870: listens. I think it would be better for us both if you were to just ! 3871: log out again. ! 3872: %% ! 3873: Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings. ! 3874: %% ! 3875: "Grub first, then ethics." ! 3876: -- Bertolt Brecht ! 3877: %% ! 3878: "I drink to make other people interesting." ! 3879: -- George Jean Nathan ! 3880: %% ! 3881: DETERIORATA ! 3882: ! 3883: Go placidly amid the noise and waste, ! 3884: And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof. ! 3885: Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep. ! 3886: Rotate your tires. ! 3887: Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself, ! 3888: And heed well their advice -- even though they be turkeys. ! 3889: Know what to kiss -- and when. ! 3890: Remember that two wrongs never make a right, ! 3891: But that three do. ! 3892: Wherever possible, put people on `HOLD'. ! 3893: Be comforted, that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment, ! 3894: And despite the changing fortunes of time, ! 3895: There is always a big future in computer maintenance. ! 3896: ! 3897: You are a fluke of the universe... ! 3898: You have no right to be here. ! 3899: Whether you can hear it or not, the universe ! 3900: Is laughing behind your back. ! 3901: %% ! 3902: %% ! 3903: I sent a letter to the fish, ! 3904: I told them, "This is what I wish." ! 3905: The little fishes of the sea, ! 3906: They sent an answer back to me. ! 3907: The little fishes' answer was ! 3908: "We cannot do it, sir, because..." ! 3909: I sent a letter back to say ! 3910: It would be better to obey. ! 3911: But someone came to me and said ! 3912: "The little fishes are in bed." ! 3913: I said to him, and I said it plain ! 3914: "Then you must wake them up again." ! 3915: I said it very loud and clear, ! 3916: I went and shouted in his ear. ! 3917: But he was very stiff and proud, ! 3918: He said "You needn't shout so loud." ! 3919: And he was very proud and stiff, ! 3920: He said "I'll go and wake them if..." ! 3921: I took a kettle from the shelf, ! 3922: I went to wake them up myself. ! 3923: But when I found the door was locked ! 3924: I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked, ! 3925: And when I found the door was shut, ! 3926: I tried to turn the handle, But... ! 3927: ! 3928: "Is that all?" asked Alice. ! 3929: "That is all." said Humpty Dumpty. "Goodbye." ! 3930: %% ! 3931: "Pascal is not a high-level language." ! 3932: -- Steven Feiner ! 3933: %% ! 3934: E Pluribus Unix ! 3935: %% ! 3936: Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. ! 3937: %% ! 3938: You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. ! 3939: %% ! 3940: Immortality -- a fate worse than death. ! 3941: -- Edgar A. Shoaff ! 3942: %% ! 3943: The trouble with being punctual is that people think you have nothing ! 3944: more important to do. ! 3945: %% ! 3946: You can't carve your way to success without cutting remarks. ! 3947: %% ! 3948: All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own ! 3949: importance. ! 3950: %% ! 3951: If only one could get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment without ! 3952: having to accomplish anything. ! 3953: %% ! 3954: My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. ! 3955: %% ! 3956: No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas. ! 3957: %% ! 3958: The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at ! 3959: least until we've finished building it. ! 3960: %% ! 3961: It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles. ! 3962: %% ! 3963: Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately, ! 3964: no one we know belongs. ! 3965: %% ! 3966: All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy. ! 3967: %% ! 3968: If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly. ! 3969: %% ! 3970: Anything is good if it's made of chocolate. ! 3971: %% ! 3972: There has been an alarming increase in the number of things you know ! 3973: nothing about. ! 3974: %% ! 3975: What makes the universe so hard to comprehend is that there's nothing ! 3976: to compare it with. ! 3977: %% ! 3978: It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a ! 3979: warning to others. ! 3980: %% ! 3981: To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, ! 3982: call it the target. ! 3983: %% ! 3984: If only I could be respected without having to be respectable. ! 3985: %% ! 3986: Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it. ! 3987: -- Andrew Young ! 3988: %% ! 3989: The individual choice of garnishment of a burger can be an important ! 3990: point to the consumer in this day when individualism is an increasingly ! 3991: important thing to people. ! 3992: -- Donald N. Smith, president of Burger King ! 3993: %% ! 3994: "If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." ! 3995: -- J. Paul Getty ! 3996: %% ! 3997: Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. ! 3998: -- Milton Friedman ! 3999: %% ! 4000: The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going ! 4001: down. ! 4002: %% ! 4003: There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a ! 4004: vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone. ! 4005: -- Gloria Steinem ! 4006: %% ! 4007: We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities. ! 4008: -- Pogo ! 4009: %% ! 4010: Nothing recedes like success. ! 4011: -- Walter Winchell ! 4012: %% ! 4013: I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. ! 4014: -- Isaac Asimov ! 4015: %% ! 4016: Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world. ! 4017: -- Lily Tomlin ! 4018: %% ! 4019: Tax reform means "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind ! 4020: the tree." ! 4021: -- Russell Long ! 4022: %% ! 4023: Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some ! 4024: people have mediocrity thrust upon them. ! 4025: -- Joseph Heller ! 4026: %% ! 4027: Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still ! 4028: be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement. ! 4029: -- Snoopy ! 4030: %% ! 4031: If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car ! 4032: payments. ! 4033: -- Earl Wilson ! 4034: %% ! 4035: The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time. ! 4036: %% ! 4037: If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular ! 4038: error. ! 4039: -- John Kenneth Galbraith ! 4040: %% ! 4041: Where humor is concerned there are no standards -- no one can say what ! 4042: is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will. ! 4043: -- John Kenneth Galbraith ! 4044: %% ! 4045: TV is chewing gum for the eyes. ! 4046: -- Frank Lloyd Wright ! 4047: %% ! 4048: He who attacks the fundamentals of the American broadcasting industry ! 4049: attacks democracy itself. ! 4050: -- William S. Paley, chairman of CBS ! 4051: %% ! 4052: Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. ! 4053: -- Eric Hoffer ! 4054: %% ! 4055: You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable ! 4056: doubt. ! 4057: -- Ed Meese, on the Hinckley verdict ! 4058: %% ! 4059: If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest ! 4060: shopping center in the world? ! 4061: -- Richard Nixon ! 4062: %% ! 4063: If at first you don't succeed, redefine success. ! 4064: %% ! 4065: AMAZING BUT TRUE... ! 4066: If all the salmon caught in Canada in one year were laid end to end ! 4067: across the Sahara Desert, the smell would be absolutely awful. ! 4068: %% ! 4069: AMAZING BUT TRUE... ! 4070: There is so much sand in Northern Africa that if it were spread out it ! 4071: would completely cover the Sahara Desert. ! 4072: %% ! 4073: Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no ! 4074: account be allowed to do the job. ! 4075: -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ! 4076: %% ! 4077: With a rubber duck, one's never alone. ! 4078: -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ! 4079: %% ! 4080: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (The Times of London) ! 4081: ! 4082: Dear Sir, ! 4083: ! 4084: I am firmly opposed to the spread of microchips either to the home or ! 4085: to the office. We have more than enough of them foisted upon us in ! 4086: public places. They are a disgusting Americanism, and can only result ! 4087: in the farmers being forced to grow smaller potatoes, which in turn ! 4088: will cause massive unemployment in the already severely depressed ! 4089: agricultural industry. ! 4090: ! 4091: Yours faithfully, ! 4092: Capt. Quinton D'Arcy, J.P. ! 4093: Sevenoaks ! 4094: %% ! 4095: Tertullian was born in Carthage somewhere about 160 A.D. He was a ! 4096: pagan, and he abandoned himself to the lascivious life of his city ! 4097: until about his 35th year, when he became a Christian .... To him is ! 4098: ascribed the sublime confession: Credo quia absurdum est (I believe ! 4099: because it is absurd). This does not altogether accord with historical ! 4100: fact, for he merely said: ! 4101: ! 4102: "And the Son of God died, which is immediately credible because ! 4103: it is absurd. And buried he rose again, which is certain ! 4104: because it is impossible." ! 4105: ! 4106: Thanks to the acuteness of his mind, he saw through the poverty of ! 4107: philosophical and Gnostic knowledge, and contemptuously rejected it. ! 4108: ! 4109: -- C. G. Jung, in Psychological Types ! 4110: ! 4111: (Teruillian was one of the founders of the Catholic Church). ! 4112: %% ! 4113: A nuclear war can ruin your whole day. ! 4114: %% ! 4115: SOFTWARE -- formal evening attire for female computer analysts. ! 4116: %% ! 4117: Today is National Existential Ennui Awareness Day. ! 4118: %% ! 4119: In the Top 40, half the songs are secret messages to the teen world to ! 4120: drop out, turn on, and groove with the chemicals and light shows at ! 4121: discotheques. ! 4122: -- Art Linkletter ! 4123: %% ! 4124: Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass. ! 4125: -- Frank Zappa ! 4126: %% ! 4127: Justice is incidental to law and order. ! 4128: -- J. Edgar Hoover ! 4129: %% ! 4130: The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and ! 4131: religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging ! 4132: from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its ! 4133: yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledegook than the rest of the ! 4134: world put together. ! 4135: -- Sir Peter Medawar ! 4136: %% ! 4137: The fortune program is supported, in part, by user contributions and by ! 4138: a major grant from the National Endowment for the Inanities. ! 4139: %% ! 4140: Flon's Law: ! 4141: There is not now, and never will be, a language in which it is ! 4142: the least bit difficult to write bad programs. ! 4143: %% ! 4144: GREAT MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY (#21): July 30, 1917 ! 4145: ! 4146: On this day, New York City hotel detectives burst in and caught then- ! 4147: Senator Warren G. Harding in bed with an underage girl. He bought them ! 4148: off with a $20 bribe, and later remarked thankfully, "I thought I ! 4149: wouldn't get out of that under $1000!" Always one to learn from his ! 4150: mistakes, in later years President Harding carried on his affairs in a ! 4151: tiny closet in the White House Cabinet Room while Secret Service men ! 4152: stood lookout. ! 4153: %% ! 4154: I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure. ! 4155: %% ! 4156: "The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity ! 4157: that would be clearly understood." ! 4158: -- Alexander Haig ! 4159: %% ! 4160: This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been an actual life, ! 4161: you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where ! 4162: to go. ! 4163: %% ! 4164: To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition. ! 4165: -- Woody Allen ! 4166: %% ! 4167: "Earth is a great funhouse without the fun." ! 4168: -- Jeff Berner ! 4169: %% ! 4170: Cocaine -- the thinking man's Dristan. ! 4171: %% ! 4172: This is National Non-Dairy Creamer Week. ! 4173: %% ! 4174: When in doubt, do what the President does -- guess. ! 4175: %% ! 4176: THIS IS PLEDGE WEEK FOR THE FORTUNE PROGRAM ! 4177: ! 4178: If you like the fortune program, why not support it now with your ! 4179: contribution of a pithy fortune, clean or obscene? We cannot continue ! 4180: without your support. Less than 14% of all fortune users are ! 4181: contributors. That means that 86% of you are getting a free ride. We ! 4182: can't go on like this much longer. Federal cutbacks mean less money ! 4183: for fortunes, and unless user contributions increase to make up the ! 4184: difference, the fortune program will have to shut down between midnight ! 4185: and 8 a.m. Don't let this happen. Mail your fortunes right now to ! 4186: `fortune'. Just type in your favorite pithy saying. Do it now before ! 4187: you forget. Our target is 300 new fortunes by the end of the week. ! 4188: Don't miss out. All fortunes will be acknowledged. If you contribute ! 4189: 30 fortunes or more, you will receive a free subscription to "The ! 4190: Fortune Hunter", our monthly program guide. If you contribute 50 or ! 4191: more, you will receive a free "Fortune Hunter" coffee mug.... ! 4192: %% ! 4193: Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. ! 4194: -- Voltaire ! 4195: %% ! 4196: Q: How many DEC repairman does it take to fix a flat ? ! 4197: A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires. ! 4198: %% ! 4199: Q: How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a job? ! 4200: A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off. ! 4201: %% ! 4202: SEMINARS: From 'semi' and 'arse', hence, any half-assed discussion. ! 4203: %% ! 4204: POLITICIAN: From the Greek 'poly' ("many") and the French 'tete' ! 4205: ("head" or "face," as in 'tete-a-tete': head to head or face to face). ! 4206: Hence 'polytetien', a person of two or more faces. ! 4207: -- Martin Pitt ! 4208: %% ! 4209: CALIFORNIA: From Latin 'calor', meaning "heat" (as in English ! 4210: 'calorie' or Spanish 'caliente'); and 'fornia', for "sexual ! 4211: intercourse" or "fornication." Hence: Tierra de California, "the land ! 4212: of hot sex." ! 4213: -- Ed Moran, Covina, California ! 4214: %% ! 4215: ETYMOLOGY: Some early etymological scholars come up with derivations ! 4216: that were hard for the public to believe. The term 'etymology' was ! 4217: formed from the Latin 'etus' ("eaten"), the root 'mal' ("bad"), and ! 4218: 'logy' ("study of"). It meant "the study of things that are hard to ! 4219: swallow." ! 4220: -- Mike Kellen, Oakdale, Minnesota ! 4221: %% ! 4222: Another Glitch in the Call ! 4223: ------- ------ -- --- ---- ! 4224: (Sung to the tune of a recent Pink Floyd song.) ! 4225: ! 4226: We don't need no indirection ! 4227: We don't need no flow control ! 4228: No data typing or declarations ! 4229: Did you leave the lists alone? ! 4230: ! 4231: Hey! Hacker! Leave those lists alone! ! 4232: ! 4233: Chorus: ! 4234: All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call. ! 4235: All in all, it's just a pure-LISP function call. ! 4236: %% ! 4237: Armadillo: to provide weapons to a Spanish pickle ! 4238: %% ! 4239: Micro Credo: Never trust a computer bigger than you can lift. ! 4240: %% ! 4241: "Nondeterminism means never having to say you are wrong." ! 4242: %% ! 4243: Bumper sticker: ! 4244: ! 4245: "All the parts falling off this car are of the very finest British ! 4246: manufacture" ! 4247: %% ! 4248: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" ! 4249: ! 4250: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat ! 4251: ! 4252: -- Lewis Carrol ! 4253: %% ! 4254: I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am. ! 4255: It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get. ! 4256: %% ! 4257: Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the ! 4258: Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. ! 4259: Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an ! 4260: utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life ! 4261: forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches ! 4262: are a pretty neat idea... ! 4263: ! 4264: -- Douglas Adams ! 4265: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" ! 4266: %% ! 4267: Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to ! 4268: point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very ! 4269: fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are ! 4270: often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people ! 4271: from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B ! 4272: that so many people from point B are so keen to get t_h_e_r_e_. They often ! 4273: wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell ! 4274: they wanted to be. ! 4275: ! 4276: -- Douglas Adams ! 4277: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" ! 4278: %% ! 4279: Serocki's Stricture: ! 4280: Marriage is always a bachelor's last option. ! 4281: %% ! 4282: Virtue is its own punishment. ! 4283: %% ! 4284: Line Printer paper is strongest at the perforations. ! 4285: %% ! 4286: The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy. ! 4287: %% ! 4288: We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always ! 4289: respect their good judgement. ! 4290: %% ! 4291: A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices ! 4292: that the system works. ! 4293: %% ! 4294: One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people. ! 4295: %% ! 4296: The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity. ! 4297: %% ! 4298: Anybody who doesn't cut his speed at the sight of a police car is ! 4299: probably parked. ! 4300: %% ! 4301: Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy ! 4302: it today you can do it again tomorrow. ! 4303: %% ! 4304: Anybody with money to burn will easily find someone to tend the fire. ! 4305: %% ! 4306: Teach children to be polite and courteous in the home, and, when he ! 4307: grows up, he will never be able to edge his car onto a freeway. ! 4308: %% ! 4309: A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have ! 4310: enlightened him with ours. ! 4311: %% ! 4312: Maybe you can't buy happiness, but these days you can certainly charge ! 4313: it. ! 4314: %% ! 4315: The best thing about growing older is that it takes such a long time. ! 4316: %% ! 4317: There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire ! 4318: someone, or forbid your kids to do it. ! 4319: %% ! 4320: The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody ! 4321: appreciates how difficult it was. ! 4322: %% ! 4323: Politics is like coaching a football team. you have to be smart enough ! 4324: to understand the game but not smart enough to lose interest. ! 4325: %% ! 4326: Nobody wants constructive criticism. It's all we can do to put up with ! 4327: constructive praise. ! 4328: %% ! 4329: History repeats itself. That's one thing wrong with history. ! 4330: %% ! 4331: Resisting temptation is easier when you think you'll probably get ! 4332: another chance later on. ! 4333: %% ! 4334: Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to ! 4335: make it complex and wonderful. ! 4336: %% ! 4337: A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an ! 4338: exam. ! 4339: %% ! 4340: Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you ! 4341: just how busy they are. ! 4342: %% ! 4343: There's a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad its not a ! 4344: fence. ! 4345: %% ! 4346: The marvels of today's modern technology include the development of a ! 4347: soda can, when discarded will last forever...and a $7,000 car which ! 4348: when properly cared for will rust out in two or three years. ! 4349: %% ! 4350: One difference between a man and a machine is that a machine is quiet ! 4351: when well oiled. ! 4352: %% ! 4353: To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated but not be able to say it. ! 4354: %% ! 4355: Youth is when you blame all your troubles on your parents; maturity is ! 4356: when you learn that everything is the fault of the younger generation. ! 4357: %% ! 4358: A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without ! 4359: getting nervous. ! 4360: %% ! 4361: Behold the warranty...the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh ! 4362: away. ! 4363: %% ! 4364: Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid ! 4365: back. ! 4366: %% ! 4367: How come wrong numbers are never busy? ! 4368: %% ! 4369: One thing the inventors can't seem to get the bugs out of is fresh ! 4370: paint. ! 4371: %% ! 4372: Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a ! 4373: crack in your sidewalk? ! 4374: %% ! 4375: Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good. ! 4376: %% ! 4377: Cleanliness is next to impossible. ! 4378: %% ! 4379: Political T.V. commercials prove one thing: some candidates can tell ! 4380: all their good points and qualifications in just 30 seconds. ! 4381: %% ! 4382: Ask not for whom the telephone bell tolls...if thou art in the bathtub, ! 4383: it tolls for thee. ! 4384: %% ! 4385: One way to stop a run away horse is to bet on him. ! 4386: %% ! 4387: A real person has two reasons for doing anything...a good reason and ! 4388: the real reason. ! 4389: %% ! 4390: Show me a man who is a good loser and i'll show you a man who is ! 4391: playing golf with his boss. ! 4392: %% ! 4393: Serving coffee on aircraft causes turbulence. ! 4394: %% ! 4395: Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up. ! 4396: %% ! 4397: If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every ! 4398: word you say, talk in your sleep. ! 4399: %% ! 4400: X-rated movies are all alike...the only thing they leave to the ! 4401: imagination is the plot. ! 4402: %% ! 4403: People usually get what's coming to them...unless it's been mailed. ! 4404: %% ! 4405: Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune ! 4406: tellers take economists seriously? ! 4407: %% ! 4408: Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else -- ! 4409: unless it is an enemy. ! 4410: -- A. Einstein ! 4411: %% ! 4412: There is a theory that states: "If anyone finds out what the universe ! 4413: is for it will disappear and be replaced by something more bazaarly ! 4414: inexplicable." ! 4415: ! 4416: There is another theory that states: "This has already happened...." ! 4417: ! 4418: -- "Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" ! 4419: %% ! 4420: A recent study has found that concentrating on difficult off-screen ! 4421: objects, such as the faces of loved ones, causes eye strain in computer ! 4422: scientists. Researchers into the phenomenon cite the added ! 4423: concentration needed to "make sense" of such unnatural three ! 4424: dimensional objects... ! 4425: %% ! 4426: "Calvin Coolidge looks as if he had been weaned on a pickle." ! 4427: -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth ! 4428: %% ! 4429: "There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the ! 4430: other is to read Pope." ! 4431: -- Oscar Wilde ! 4432: %% ! 4433: "She is descended from a long line that her mother listened to." ! 4434: -- Gypsy Rose Lee ! 4435: %% ! 4436: A musician of more ambition than talent composed an elegy at ! 4437: the death of composer Edward MacDowell. She played the elegy for the ! 4438: pianist Josef Hoffman, then asked his opinion. "Well, it's quite ! 4439: nice," he replied, but don't you think it would be better if..." ! 4440: "If what?" asked the composer. ! 4441: "If ... if you had died and MacDowell had written the elegy?" ! 4442: %% ! 4443: "The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell ! 4444: into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him ! 4445: out again, it would be a calamity." ! 4446: -- Benjamin Disraeli ! 4447: %% ! 4448: G. B. Shaw to William Douglas Home: "Go on writing plays, my boy. One ! 4449: of these days a London producer will go into his office and say to his ! 4450: secretary, 'Is there a play from Shaw this morning?' and when she says ! 4451: 'No,' he will say, 'Well, then we'll have to start on the rubbish.' ! 4452: And that's your chance, my boy." ! 4453: %% ! 4454: "It was pleasant to me to get a letter from you the other day. Perhaps ! 4455: I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I ! 4456: don't think that I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew) and ! 4457: the signature (which I guessed at). There's a singular and a perpetual ! 4458: charm in a letter of yours; it never grows old, it never loses its ! 4459: novelty .... Other letters are read and thrown away and forgotten, but ! 4460: yours are kept forever -- unread. One of them will last a reasonable ! 4461: man a lifetime." ! 4462: -- Thomas Aldrich ! 4463: %% ! 4464: "MacDonald has the gift on compressing the largest amount of words into ! 4465: the smallest amount of thoughts." ! 4466: -- Winston Churchill ! 4467: %% ! 4468: Actor: "I'm a smash hit. Why, yesterday during the last act, I had ! 4469: everyone glued in their seats!" ! 4470: Oliver Herford: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Clever of you to think of ! 4471: it!" ! 4472: %% ! 4473: "Sherry [Thomas Sheridan] is dull, naturally dull; but it must have ! 4474: taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an ! 4475: excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature." ! 4476: -- Samuel Johnson ! 4477: %% ! 4478: "Why was I born with such contemporaries?" ! 4479: -- Oscar Wilde ! 4480: %% ! 4481: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds." ! 4482: -- Mark Twain ! 4483: %% ! 4484: On a paper submitted by a physicist colleague: ! 4485: ! 4486: "This isn't right. This isn't even wrong." ! 4487: ! 4488: -- Wolfgang Pauli ! 4489: %% ! 4490: Leibowitz's Rule: ! 4491: When hammering a nail, you will never hit your finger if you ! 4492: hold the hammer with both hands. ! 4493: %% ! 4494: Drew's Law of Highway Biology: ! 4495: The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front ! 4496: of your eyes. ! 4497: %% ! 4498: Langsam's Laws: ! 4499: 1) Everything depends. ! 4500: 2) Nothing is always. ! 4501: 3) Everything is sometimes. ! 4502: %% ! 4503: Law of Probable Dispersal: ! 4504: Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly ! 4505: distributed. ! 4506: %% ! 4507: Meader's Law: ! 4508: Whatever happens to you, it will previously have happened to ! 4509: everyone you know, only more so. ! 4510: %% ! 4511: Fourth Law of Revision: ! 4512: It is usually impractical to worry beforehand about ! 4513: interferences -- if you have none, someone will make one for ! 4514: you. ! 4515: %% ! 4516: Sodd's Second Law: ! 4517: Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is ! 4518: bound to occur. ! 4519: %% ! 4520: Murphy's Law is recursive. Washing your car to make it rain doesn't ! 4521: work. ! 4522: %% ! 4523: Rule of Defactualization: ! 4524: Information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies. ! 4525: %% ! 4526: Spark's Sixth Rule for Managers: ! 4527: If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as ! 4528: if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the ! 4529: question back at him. ! 4530: %% ! 4531: Anthony's Law of Force: ! 4532: Don't force it; get a larger hammer. ! 4533: %% ! 4534: Ray's Rule of Precision: ! 4535: Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe. ! 4536: %% ! 4537: Rule of Creative Research: ! 4538: 1) Never draw what you can copy. ! 4539: 2) Never copy what you can trace. ! 4540: 3) Never trace what you can cut out and paste down. ! 4541: %% ! 4542: Barach's Rule: ! 4543: An alcoholic is a person who drinks more than his own ! 4544: physician. ! 4545: %% ! 4546: "You are old, Father William," the young man said, ! 4547: "All your papers these days look the same; ! 4548: Those William's would be better unread -- ! 4549: Do these facts never fill you with shame?" ! 4550: ! 4551: "In my youth," Father William replied to his son, ! 4552: "I wrote wonderful papers galore; ! 4553: But the great reputation I found that I'd won, ! 4554: Made it pointless to think any more." ! 4555: %% ! 4556: "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, ! 4557: And make errors few people could bear; ! 4558: You complain about everyone's English but yours -- ! 4559: Do you really think this is quite fair?" ! 4560: ! 4561: "I make lots of mistakes," Father William declared, ! 4562: "But my stature these days is so great ! 4563: That no critic can hurt me -- I've got them all scared, ! 4564: And to stop me it's now far too late." ! 4565: %% ! 4566: "You are old," said the youth, "and your programs don't run, ! 4567: And there isn't one language you like; ! 4568: Yet of useful suggestions for help you have none -- ! 4569: Have you thought about taking a hike?" ! 4570: ! 4571: "Since I never write programs," his father replied, ! 4572: "Every language looks equally bad; ! 4573: Yet the people keep paying to read all my books ! 4574: And don't realize that they've been had." ! 4575: %% ! 4576: "You are old," said the youth, "and I'm told by my peers ! 4577: That your lectures bore people to death. ! 4578: Yet you talk at one hundred conventions per year -- ! 4579: Don't you think that you should save your breath?" ! 4580: ! 4581: "I have answered three questions and that is enough," ! 4582: Said his father, "Don't give yourself airs! ! 4583: Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? ! 4584: Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!" ! 4585: %% ! 4586: Speak roughly to your little VAX, ! 4587: and boot it when it crashes; ! 4588: It knows that one cannot relax ! 4589: Because the paging thrashes! ! 4590: ! 4591: Wow! Wow! Wow! ! 4592: ! 4593: I speak severely to my VAX, ! 4594: and boot it when it crashes; ! 4595: In spite of all my favorite hacks ! 4596: My jobs it always thrashes! ! 4597: ! 4598: Wow! Wow! Wow! ! 4599: %% ! 4600: When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure ! 4601: clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer ! 4602: to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively. ! 4603: In a way, the next move is up to him. ! 4604: ! 4605: -- R. A. Lafferty ! 4606: %% ! 4607: "My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies" ! 4608: %% ! 4609: "One planet is all you get." ! 4610: %% ! 4611: "You can't teach people to be lazy - either they have it, or they ! 4612: don't." ! 4613: -- Dagwood Bumstead ! 4614: %% ! 4615: "If you have to hate, hate gently" ! 4616: %% ! 4617: Elevators smell different to midgets ! 4618: %% ! 4619: Human beings were created by water to transport it uphill. ! 4620: %% ! 4621: Air is water with holes in it ! 4622: %% ! 4623: "Every time I think I know where it's at, the move it." ! 4624: %% ! 4625: "Heisenberg may have slept here" ! 4626: %% ! 4627: "If dolphins are so smart, why did Flipper work for television?" ! 4628: %% ! 4629: The Roman Rule ! 4630: The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the ! 4631: one who is doing it. ! 4632: %% ! 4633: Lackland's Laws: ! 4634: 1. Never be first. ! 4635: 2. Never be last. ! 4636: 3. Never volunteer for anything ! 4637: %% ! 4638: Tussman's Law: ! 4639: Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come. ! 4640: %% ! 4641: Oliver's Law: ! 4642: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need ! 4643: it. ! 4644: %% ! 4645: Mitchell's Law of Committees: ! 4646: Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are ! 4647: held to discuss it. ! 4648: %% ! 4649: Baruch's Observation: ! 4650: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. ! 4651: %% ! 4652: Anthony's Law of the Workshop: ! 4653: Any tool when dropped, will roll into the least accessible ! 4654: corner of the workshop. ! 4655: ! 4656: Corollary: ! 4657: On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first strike ! 4658: your toes. ! 4659: %% ! 4660: Second Law of Business Meetings: ! 4661: If there are two possible ways to spell a person's name, you ! 4662: will pick the wrong one. ! 4663: ! 4664: Corollary: ! 4665: If there is only one way to spell a name, you will spell it ! 4666: wrong, anyway. ! 4667: %% ! 4668: Grelb's Reminder: ! 4669: Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above ! 4670: average drivers. ! 4671: %% ! 4672: Grandpa Charnock's Law: ! 4673: You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. ! 4674: %% ! 4675: Rule of the Great: ! 4676: When people you greatly admire appear to be thinking deep ! 4677: thoughts, they probably are thinking about lunch. ! 4678: %% ! 4679: Lieberman's Law: ! 4680: Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens. ! 4681: %% ! 4682: Goldenstern's Rules: ! 4683: 1. Always hire a rich attorney ! 4684: 2. Never buy from a rich salesman. ! 4685: %% ! 4686: Weiner's Law of Libraries: ! 4687: There are no answers, only cross references. ! 4688: %% ! 4689: Brook's Law: ! 4690: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. ! 4691: %% ! 4692: O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law: ! 4693: Murphy was an optimist.
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