“The threat to men of great dignity, privilege and pretense is not from the radicals they revile; it is from accepting their own myth. Exposure to reality remains the nemesis of the great — a little understood thing.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith
In any event, the point is that unforeseeable circumstances that call into question an existing understanding of life, function to progress and move humanity forward. They prevent the rigidity of custom and tradition by forcing outdated modes of thought to be discarded in favour of those that more accurately represent the times. In this way, [...]
Own only what you can always carry with you; know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn
So I can’t claim not to have stuff… but I can certainly claim to understand that the things that matter are people and stories. It doesn’t hurt to remind myself from time to [...]
You know what I want, that is ridiculously expensive, and that I can in no way practically justify, but which I still have a serious hankering for?
A sword cane.
At least twice a week for the last couple of months, I’ve spent some time looking at the photos at the Burger Knives sword cane pages–especially the [...]
“But going after the Scientologists in a world full of Christians, Muslims, and Trekkies is like surveying a world ravaged by AIDS and devoting yourself to the eradication of the hangnail.”
—Peter Watts
“People who have to apply rules like them because they eliminate the need to exercise judgment.”
-Ernie The Attorney
He goes on to suggest that some people don’t want to have to defend a judgment, but I suspect there are a really large number of people who are too lazy to get that far: they just don’t [...]
Most people acquire their beliefs through osmosis and observation, not investigation. We’d rather observe than derive. Raised in a society awash in certain ubiquitous beliefs, you tend to accept those beliefs without thinking. I think most people come to their faith in the same way they come to believe that not wearing a tie is [...]
“We are here to witness; if we were not here the show would play to an empty house . . . .That is why I go for walks . . . to keep an eye on things.”
–Annie Dillard
While I am unsure about the teleological implications, I am sure I love the quote. I believe [...]
And the audience was pretty damn appreciative, even if some of them had already heard my comparison of God to an invisible purple hamster who lives up my butt and tells me what to do.
(source)
If the earlier quotes on L.A. didn’t sell you the book, I’m going to take one more shot at convincing you, and then I’m going to shut up about it. Promise.
France’s Surya Bonaly, the beautiful black ice skater, has gotten screwed by the judges every time I’ve ever seen her compete. Surya Bonaly is a [...]
Picking up from here:
What men routinely get away with in L.A. would get the tips of their noses sliced off in most of the social channels in New York. Women are different in New York; their methods of womanly operation are different from those in Southern California: more brains, more independent wealth, less sexual Uncle [...]
Picking up from here.
There are a few hair-raising quality-of-life issues in Los Angeles, such as the fact that attitudes towards racism, instead of getting more enlightened with education and time, are rampantly degenerating—a retrogression completely supported and for all intents and purposes whipped further backwards by the torch holders of Hollywood status quo. Racism, which [...]
You may recall my mention that I’m really enjoying my couple-of-pages-a-day reading of Cintra Wilson’s book. Well, here’s a quote about Los Angeles that stood out for me while reading the book, presented for your amusement:
The “Ha-ha, Satan lives in L.A.” jokes are not really funny anymore, because they’re too eerily true. There’s so many [...]
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