"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." "Like I always say, there's no 'I' in "team". There is a 'me', though, if you jumble it up." We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do. Wisdom - that part of knowledge that isn't only true, but also happens to be helpful. Wisdom speaks softly... Thereafter the volume increases proportionate to the level of ignorance A punctured bicycle On a hillside desolate Will nature make a man of me yet? All designed objects are propaganda for a certain way of life. Sometimes we need to stop analysing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens. We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." --Napoleon Bonaparte The best designed clothes: invite being removed but reward being kept on. It's that you just can't take the effect and make it the cause | Yes, I still loathe the liars who run the nuclear industry. Yes, I would prefer to see the entire sector shut down, if there were harmless alternatives. But there are no ideal solutions. Every energy technology carries a cost; so does the absence of energy technologies. Atomic energy has just been subjected to one of the harshest of possible tests, and the impact on people and the planet has been small. The crisis at Fukushima has converted me to the cause of nuclear power. Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power | George Monbiot | Comment is [ continue reading Why Fukushima made George Monbiot stop worrying and love nuclear power ] Only a hill ; earth set a little higher above the face of earth : a larger view of little fields and roads : a little higher to clouds and silence : what is that to you? Only a hill ; but all of life to me, up there, between the sunset and the sea. Robert F. Kennedy, Speech at the University of Capetown, 6 June 1966 The second danger is that of expediency; of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people across the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspiration and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs — [ continue reading Robert F. Kennedy, Speech at the University of Capetown, 6 June 1966 ] I’ve posted previously about Dr. Seuss’s “School of Unorthodox Taxidermy,” a sculpture series that Theodore Seuss Geisel created in the 1930s. Reproductions are available, but an incredibly-rare original set is now on eBay. They are currently on exhibit at the Chateau de Belcastel monument in France, but they can be yours for just $1,000,000. From eBay: This collection would have been originally purchased in the late 1930’s. They were kept in a child’s room, and eventually retired to the storage barn next to a chicken coop in upstate New York. The set was acquired for a substantial sum in [ continue reading Original Dr. Seuss taxidermy on eBay – Boing Boing ] I am opposed to the building of the “mosque” two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on Ground Zero. Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to [ continue reading If the ‘Mosque’ Isn’t Built, This Is No Longer America | MichaelMoore.com ] “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.” — Clay Shirky I think this observation is brilliant. It reminds me of the clarity of the Peter Principle, which says that a person in an organization will be promoted to the level of their incompetence. At which point their past achievements will prevent them from being fired, but their incompetence at this new level will prevent them from being promoted again, so they stagnate in their incompetence. The Shirky Principle declares that complex solutions (like a company, or an industry) can become so [ continue reading The Shirky Principle; ‘Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution’. ] Google has reached a pivotal moment in its history. What can it do to expand beyond its incredible core business, which is now reaching a more mature phase? For insight on how it can develop, let’s look to Pixar. Pixar is as close to a constant learning organization as there is, with a proven ability to reinvent and a genuine cultural humility. Google’s founders could learn from Pixar’s founder and president Ed Catmull’s prolonged and [ continue reading What Google Could Learn From Pixar ] The Taxonomy Of The Apple iPhone. A very smart and good-looking analysis of the infrastructure that supports the existence of the iPhone from Ben Millen. Both from a physical point of view and a Heideggerian perspective, in the context of culture and society. (Do I sound like I know what I’m talking about? Excellent.) You can zoom on the two images here and here. (Having to zoom into these images is annoying. Visualizations don’t always work that well on screen. They’re usually much better in print. Someone ought to create a sumptuous, colourful coffee-table book [ continue reading iPhone + Heidegger = Woot? ] | Shirdi Sai Baba: "Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it true, is it necessary, does it improve upon the silence?" Well known fact that any kiss where one or other party is in control of heavy machinery doesn't count for quality assessment purposes. There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. The honest heart that's free frae a' intended fraud or guile. However fortune kick the ba', Has ay some cause to smile. Life consists in replacing one worry with another, and one desire with the next, what the Buddhists call ‘grasping’ or upādāna in Sanskrit "Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future." "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." A wrong decision isn't forever; it can be reversed. The losses from a delayed decision are forever; they can never be retrieved. heavy words thrown lightly And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” |