Crash And Die

You might do it well one time and try another time and crash and die.

-- Looc Jean-Albert, of France, better known as Flying Dude, on jumping from planes without a parachute, New York Times, 10 December 2007

Collisions

Like cars in amusement parks, our direction is often determined through collisions.

-- Yahia Lababidi, writer (b. 1973)

Protect Me

I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.

-- Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)

Hearts And Minds

The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

-- John Adams, (1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President, February 13, 1818

RIP Bobby Fischer

I play honestly and I play to win. If I lose, I take my medicine.

-- Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, (3 March 1943 - 17 January 2008), American chess player, World Chess Champion 1972-1975

I Disbelieve

I do indeed disbelieve that we or any other mortal men can attain on a given day to absolutely incorrigible and unimprovable truth about such matters of fact as those with which religions deal. But I reject this dogmatic ideal not out of a perverse delight in intellectual instability. I am no lover of disorder and doubt as such. Rather do I fear to lose truth by this pretension to possess it already wholly.

-- William James

Prairie State Semen

When you buy a box of Cheerios in New York and one in Champaign, Illinois, you know they are going to be the same. By shortening the genetic pool using clones, you can do a similar thing.

-- Jon Fisher, president and owner of Prairie State Semen in Champaign, Illinois, after the F.D.A. declared cloned animals safe for the food supply, New York Times, 16 January 2008

God's Standards

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.

-- Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, as reported January 15 on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

New Toy

I don't know of an intelligence-gathering operation in the world that, when given a new toy, doesn't use it.

-- Steve Vicker, consultant, former head of criminal intelligence for the Hong Kong police

Shredding

Federal spending on paper shredding has increased more than 600 percent since George W. Bush took office.

-- John Cook, "Bush Secret Shredding Soars" (Radar, 14 December 2007), statistics at usaspending.gov

RIP Hillary

Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.

-- Sir Edmund Hillary (20 July 1919 - 10 January 2008), New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, in "Wise Guys : Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men" (2005) by Allan Zullo, p. 5

Running With The Pack

In politics you must always keep running with the pack. The moment that you falter and they sense that you are injured, the rest will turn on you like wolves.

-- R. A. Butler (1902-1982), British (Indian-born) politician; British foreign secretary 1963-1964

Open Mind

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

-- Terry Pratchett

Impossible To Lie

It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.

-- Princeton philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt, "On Bullshit" (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005), p. 55

2007 Mileage

For the year 2007, driving my 1999 Saturn which now has >165,000 miles, with last year's stats for comparison:

                  2007              2006            Change
Total miles     : 25,847            25,111          +736
Total cost      : $2,231.76         $1,942.72       +$289.04
Total gallons   : 812.14            776.47          +35.67
Avg gallons/day : 2.225             2.127           +0.098
Avg days/fillup : 4.7               4.9             -0.2
Avg miles/day   : 70.81             68.80           +2.01
Avg cost/day    : $6.00             $5.27           +$0.73
Avg cost/gal    : $2.75             $2.50           +$0.25
Avg miles/gal   : 32.24             32.77           -0.53

JJ

At 4:32 PM yesterday my number one daughter Tia gave birth to my second grandchild. Joseph Allen Schum Junior weighed in on arrival at 7 pounds 3 ounces, and 18.5 inches long.

Best Revenge

My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.

-- Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 19, after he was chosen to succeed his mother, Benazir Bhutto, as leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, New York Times, 31 December 2007

Diary

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.

-- J. M. Barrie

Dare

Let's dare to be ourselves, for we do that better than anyone else.

-- Shirley Briggs