"During the 1970s, I filmed secretly in Czechoslovakia, then a Stalinist dictatorship. I interviewed members of the dissident group, Charter 77. One of them, the novelist Zdener Urbanek, told me, “We are more fortunate than you in the West, in one respect. We believe nothing of what we read in the newspapers and watch on television, nothing of the official truth. unlike you, we have learned to read between the lines of the media. unlike you, we know that that real truth is always subversive.”" --John Pilger, Journalism as a Weapon of War

"Physics does not reduce to atomic physics, nor science to physics, nor life to science" --Erwin Schrödinger

"Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent." --George Orwell, "Reflections on Gandhi"

The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.

About a subjugated plain,
Among it's desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips.

-- W. H. Auden, "August 1968"

"Humble thyself, impotent reason." --Blaise Pascal

Persian Literature

"There is an oriental tale about a deposed sultan who sat in his prison thinking only of escaping with the help of a fantastic bird about which he had heard marvelous things.

The bird comes to his window, takes a muslin band from his turban, and changes it into a magnificent carriage in which the sultan can sit.

He goes to the window, is already standing with one foot in the carriage, when the bird says, 'Get in, but repeat these words loudly and clearly: In the name of the great Kokopilesobeh, the one god, I wish to travel from here to Herak.'

'What are you saying?' shouted Ali-Ben-Giad in horror. 'There is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet.' Instantly, the carriage vanished, and he dropped dead." --Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

“There’s a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it’s not about who’s got the most bullets. It’s about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think… it’s all about the information!”

If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache?

"May you live as long as you laugh, and laugh as long as you live." --Ole Olsen

Dozens of ways to clean your pennies

Space Shuttle Atlantis undocking from the International Space Station
(click above for the full pic)

"Something wonderful happened to me. I was transported into the seventh heaven. All the gods sat there in assembly. By special grace I was accorded the favour of a wish.

'Will you,' said Mercury, 'have youth, or beauty, or power, or a long life, or the prettiest girl, or any other of the many splendours we have in our chest of knickknacks? So choose, but just one thing.'

For a moment I was at a loss. Then I addressed myself to the gods as follows: 'Esteemed contemporaries, I choose one thing: always to have the laughter on my side.'

Not a single word did one god offer in answer; on the contrary they all began to laugh. From this I concluded that my prayer was fulfilled and that the gods knew how to express themselves with taste, for it would hardly have been fitting gravely to answer, 'It has been granted you.'" --Søren Kierkegaard Either/Or

"If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Laugh at the world's follies, you will regret it; weep over them, you will also regret it; if you laugh at the world's follies or if you weep over them, you will regret both; whether you laugh at the world's follies or you weep over them, you will regret both. Believe a girl, you will regret it; if you do not believe her, you will also regret it; if you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both. If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the sum of all practical wisdom." --Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

Echoes of Fascism: violent right-wing intimidation tactics are resurfacing in Japan

"Facts are stupid things." --Ronald Reagan

How to make Ramen Noodles a microwave

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." --Dante Alighieri

From Welfare To Poverty: "welfare reform" has gotten people off the welfare rolls, some of them even got jobs, but it hasn't helped most of them escape poverty