Users > Unordained
Articles
03/06/12 :: Carving out a Contraceptive Caveat for Catholics :: Affordable Care Act, Catholic Universities and Hospitals, Contraceptive and Abortifacient agents
02/21/12 :: When to use Stored Procedures / Stored Functions / Views :: vs. inline SQL or webservices
12/29/11 :: Order of triggers and foreign key cascades in Firebird :: How do before and after triggers, with their position number, interact with cascade deletes and cascade set nulls?
04/26/11 :: On the perils of genericity :: Programmers easily take "handles anything" too far
04/20/11 :: Experience Extravaganza! :: Information Technology (mostly Software) "Best Practices"
04/20/11 :: Database vs. Filesystem, Blob vs. File :: Marginal performance drain for drastic feature gain
08/21/10 :: Don't be afraid to be a power user! :: Database agnosticism is not a virtue
08/15/08 :: On the proper selection of a primary key :: And of the inconsequential nature of the choice
08/14/08 :: On database design [scratchbook] :: Things to keep in mind during the process, not hard rules
04/15/08 :: Poor man's database tricks :: How to make good use of your free/libre/open-source database system's features
04/13/08 :: Verifying a master-detail relationship :: Using on-commit triggers to do what other constraints can't
04/10/08 :: Copy-on-write in a relational database :: Sharing data, but only as long as everyone plays nice
10/31/07 :: On education :: Teaching, testing, certifying
10/01/07 :: The Certificate Authority racket :: SSL, HTTPS, trusted Root Authorities, Encryption, Identity, and all that hoo-haw
08/26/07 :: Support the troops! :: Opposing a war is more difficult than it sounds
07/06/07 :: Datatypes [Scratchbook] :: Domains, classes, inheritance, value sets, type constraints
06/05/07 :: Quotes :: Why do we post quotes on this site?
08/07/05 :: Peace, calm, and justice. :: On doing more than just sweeping our differences under the rug.
07/21/05 :: New notes on marriage [Scratchbook] :: Have you read the fine print?
07/19/05 :: PseudoTheos is not a blog. :: At least, I hope it isn't.
07/19/05 :: Webcomics with text :: Feature request?
06/27/05 :: Copyright Cooperative :: Private-sector distributed media library with exclusive concurrent control of licensed copyrighted materials
06/22/05 :: Defending archival fair-use :: Did you know you had a right to archive copyrighted materials?
06/07/05 :: Scalia on Constitutional Interpretation :: The living Constitution be damned
05/09/05 :: Definitions (executive summary) :: Datatypes, types, domains, classes, constraints, values, variables, functions, ranges, representations, interfaces, protocols
05/03/05 :: Double-quotes for emphasis :: Who the hell thought this was a good idea?
04/26/05 :: Symbols [Scratchbook] :: Variables, constants, functions, contexts, lambdas
04/26/05 :: Transactions [Scratchbook] :: Atomicity, isolation, conflicts, versioning, commit, rollback, retaining, save points, sub-transactions
04/26/05 :: Representations [Scratchbook] [Deprecated] :: Variables, encoding, binary data; internal, primary, and possible representations
04/13/05 :: Maximum nesting depth of windows/controls :: EWin32Error #87
02/14/05 :: Inchoate :: That which is not yet done, is not yet done.
02/14/05 :: Having a reason for laws :: Because I said so!
02/11/05 :: Nuclear Proliferation :: This is almost funny.
01/31/05 :: Troops and elections in Iraq :: It could have gone better...
01/30/05 :: Personal beliefs and the presidency :: Do representatives get elected to do what they want, or to do what we want?
01/30/05 :: God kills terrorists with an earthquake! :: Some people just don't know when to stop talking ...
01/30/05 :: Contracts and Callbacks :: We really don't like them, eh?
01/30/05 :: Packaged books :: A book should be thick only if need-be
01/26/05 :: Second Amendment :: (to the constitution of the United States of America, that is)
01/26/05 :: Found 'em yet? :: Weapons, weapons, they're around here somewhere ...
01/24/05 :: You're being brainwashed about safe sex (again) :: Or how people like to mix God-given rules, marriage, sexuality, condoms, pregnancy, and AIDS
01/21/05 :: Government run like a business :: For-profit, non-profit, or for-loss -- what's a government expected to do?
11/02/04 :: We're all trying to solve the same problems :: Conservatives and Liberals in terms of self-balancing systems, ignorance, and risk
09/30/04 :: What do you want to do when you grow up? :: Legislating intent just seems like such a bad idea.
08/25/04 :: Third-party ads in campaigns :: They've got money, fewer restrictions -- and they're on the loose.
08/01/04 :: Don't ignore differences! :: The Vatican reminds us that women are different from men, hurray!
07/04/04 :: Fahrenheit 9/11 :: What the ... ?
06/23/04 :: Programming languages :: New languages seem to pop up all the time -- why?
06/15/04 :: It's all Nader's fault :: ... or how it really isn't.
06/11/04 :: The sky is about to fall on our heads! :: ... or wondering why some people are obsessed with getting to the end of the world.
05/20/04 :: Holding back :: Laws are only for the lawful?
05/20/04 :: The power to make people listen :: When you talk, does the world stand still?
05/01/04 :: Relational databases :: What they are, and what they are not ...
04/13/04 :: Justice, law, morality, ethics :: What would you like?
04/08/04 :: Consent & Ethics :: Yes, I'm telling you not to tell me what to do. Got a problem with that?
04/07/04 :: What are we electing? :: Representatives, whether local or national, are an interesting thing.
04/07/04 :: Moral Authority? ::
03/23/04 :: Rockets :: We don't need no stinking handcuffs!
03/13/04 :: SOAP is stupid :: Universal communication isn't here yet.
03/04/04 :: Fixing a problem with TForm's resizing algorithm :: Ever noticed forms moving when resized? Annoyed?
03/02/04 :: Equal opportunity :: Maybe we shouldn't always spell things out
03/02/04 :: Anti-discrimination and the Church :: Should you be worried about gay marriage because your church doesn't want to officiate such things?
02/18/04 :: Consent :: This is going to get nasty.
02/12/04 :: Baring it all :: Do we have to go there?
02/06/04 :: Postmodernism (again) :: Taking another (simpler?) stab at explaining it
02/03/04 :: Attack of the Linux geeks! :: They're all a bunch of commie terrorists, out to get SCO, don't you know?
02/02/04 :: I'm thinking in plaid! :: We strive to make sure our editorials are as trendy as we can.
02/02/04 :: CBS is being mean to me! :: MoveOn.org's "Child Play" ad is being refused -- oh no!
01/16/04 :: On Godwin's Law :: Did you say Nazi?
01/12/04 :: Standard Deviants :: We may be all over the map, but we're neighbors.
01/09/04 :: Think of the children! :: Would you dare to raise your child in a sub-ideal environment?
01/03/04 :: Blood type :: A well-meaning preacher sticks his foot in his mouth ...
12/17/03 :: The three who didn't pray :: Four guys come out of a bar ...
12/16/03 :: Questions for partisans of marriage :: What exactly do you want?
12/03/03 :: Tips for making your arguments unbeatable :: Just a few tricks of the trade you might want to avoid picking up, if you care about fairness.
11/26/03 :: Which god? :: Is my god better than yours? It is even a different god?
11/21/03 :: Emergent Properties :: Self-organizing systems are 'da bomb'
11/03/03 :: Through the looking-glass :: Now, Kitty, let's consider who it was that dreamed it all. This is a serious question, my dear ...
10/21/03 :: Anonymity :: Is the author's name the most important part of an article?
10/17/03 :: Perceiving the flaws of perception? :: Postmodernism, subjectivity, and relativism are hardly well understood, and with reason!
09/04/03 :: On health care costs :: The unhealthy triangle between insurance, healthcare professionals, and their clients.
07/29/03 :: Hate mail? :: Taking a look at how people respond to sarcasm
07/03/03 :: Voting :: Does your vote count?
07/02/03 :: Rule of law :: The wars on terrorism are wars against ourselves
07/02/03 :: Shackin' up together :: Why I'm not married
06/30/03 :: Please enter your date of birth and gender :: Fighting for individuality in a world that doesn't care
Files
09/13/11 :: fb214pdb adplus :: zip
07/12/04 :: A talk about chastity with high-schoolers :: Real-Media audio
03/04/04 :: Why I oppose the war in Vietnam :: MP3 Audio
03/04/04 :: Redux :: Quick-time video
Folders
04/02/10 :: Health & Medicine
08/16/07 :: The Press
11/01/05 :: War
11/01/05 :: Society & Culture
11/01/05 :: Law & Justice
11/01/05 :: Laugh, it's funny
11/01/05 :: Religion
11/01/05 :: Instances
11/01/05 :: Concepts
06/22/05 :: Freedom of Speech
04/29/05 :: Education
06/16/04 :: Databases
04/29/04 :: War(s) in Iraq
01/15/04 :: History
01/12/04 :: Safety & Security
01/05/04 :: Just plain cool
01/03/04 :: Knee-jerk
12/18/03 :: Predestination
12/17/03 :: Denominations
12/01/03 :: Marriage
11/26/03 :: Truth
11/26/03 :: Terrorism
07/24/03 :: Money & Economics
07/08/03 :: Technology
Images
Messages
People
02/25/07 :: Bertrand Russell
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry
08/04/05 :: Benjamin Franklin
01/28/05 :: Winston Churchill
01/28/05 :: O'Rourke
01/28/05 :: Albert Einstein
01/28/05 :: Aldous Huxley
01/28/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
01/28/05 :: Dale Hanchey
01/28/05 :: Frederick Douglass
Quotes
06/07/10 :: Clay Shirky
Well, organizations that are founded to solve problems end up committed to the preservation of the problems. So Trentway-Wagar, an Ontario-based bus company, sues PickupPal, an online ride-sharing service, because T-W isn’t committed to solving transportation problems. It’s committed to solving transportation problems with buses. In the media world, Britannica is now committed to making reference [...]
05/22/09 :: Dale Hanchey
A man with one watch knows what time it is, while a man with two isn't sure.
04/16/09 :: Dale Hanchey
A lot can be said for a solution that works.
12/15/08 :: Bertrand Russell
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.
08/29/08 :: Harry S Truman
Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
07/31/08 :: HL Mencken
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
04/24/08 :: Mahatma Gandhi
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
04/24/08 :: Mahatma Gandhi
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
03/15/08 :: Bertrand Russell
The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
03/10/08 :: George Jackson
Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.
02/27/08 :: Dave
Oh, that's my problem: I inform people against their will!
02/07/08 :: C.P. Snow
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
01/28/08 :: Hannah Arendt
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
01/18/08 :: Ben Hecht
Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
09/08/07 :: Bertrand Russell
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.
06/12/07 :: Bertrand Russell
The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
06/05/07 :: Lee Simonson
Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian.
05/20/07 :: Friedrich Nietzsche
The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.
04/26/07 :: Albert Einstein
The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
04/16/07 :: Napoleon Bonaparte
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
04/14/07 :: Ernest Hemingway
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
03/15/07 :: O'Rourke
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
02/25/07 :: Bertrand Russell
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.
02/25/07 :: Bertrand Russell
There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action.
02/10/07 :: Sir Francis Bacon
Silence is the virtue of fools.
11/20/06 :: Robert Heinlein
Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you--if you don't play, you can't win.
11/08/06 :: Thomas Jefferson
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
09/09/06 :: Dale Hanchey
For every problem involving repetition, there are only three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. You usually code once for the middle, and call (Ed.: make a function call) for the beginning and end.
09/09/06 :: Dale Hanchey
Never solve a problem you can eliminate.
08/22/06 :: John Stuart Mill
If mankind minus one were of one opinion, then mankind is no more justified in silencing the one than the one - if he had the power - would be justified in silencing mankind.
05/28/06 :: George Bernard Shaw
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
05/28/06 :: George Bernard Shaw
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
05/28/06 :: George Bernard Shaw
Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry [disputed]
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry [disputed]
I know not what course others make take, but as for me: give me Liberty, or give me death.
05/12/06 :: George Bernard Shaw
In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.
05/12/06 :: George Bernard Shaw
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
05/12/06 :: John F. Kennedy
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
05/12/06 :: Aristotle
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
05/12/06 :: Victor Hugo
When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry
The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.
05/12/06 :: Patrick Henry
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
05/12/06 :: Woodrow Wilson
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
05/12/06 :: Samuel Adams
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
11/23/05 :: Henry David Thoreau
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
11/16/05 :: Louis D. Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
10/07/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
10/06/05 :: Winston Churchill
If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
10/03/05 :: Aldous Huxley
The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
10/03/05 :: Henry Kissinger
We must learn to distinguish morality from moralizing.
10/03/05 :: John Milton
Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.
10/02/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be.
09/30/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather bed.
09/30/05 :: Louis D. Brandeis, Justice, US Supreme Court Justice
Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
09/29/05 :: Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submi [...]
09/29/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.
09/29/05 :: Robert Frost
A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity.
08/27/05 :: Mark Twain
If it is a Miracle, any sort of evidence will answer, but if it is a Fact, proof is necessary.
08/15/05 :: R.S. Surtees (author)
More people are flattered into virtue than bullied out of vice.
08/07/05 :: Albert Einstein
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
08/04/05 :: Benjamin Franklin
In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, [...]
08/01/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
08/01/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
08/01/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere. [I rarely see the second part quoted, but I think it's important to realize that Jefferson knew the implications of wha [...]
08/01/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
08/01/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.
07/31/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
Yet it is easy to foresee, from the nature of things, that the encroachments of the State governments will tend to an excess of liberty which will correct itself, while those of the General Government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself from day to day.
07/31/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
07/31/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.
07/08/05 :: Ghandi
I believe that no government can exist for a single moment without the co-operation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their co-operation in every detail, the government will come to a standstill.
06/10/05 :: Abraham Lincoln
The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.
06/09/05 :: [unspecified]
The more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right.
06/09/05 :: Frederick Douglass
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggl [...]
03/23/05 :: Dale Hanchey
Never be too proud to steal a good idea.
03/15/05 :: Oscar Ameringer
Politics -- the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.
02/11/05 :: Bjarne Stroustrup
Curiously enough, the volume of interest and public debate is often inversely proportional to the importance of a feature. The reason is that it is much easier to have a firm opinion on a minor feature than on a major one; minor features fit directly into the current state of affairs, whereas major ones - by definition - do not. [Editor's note: while this was in the context of C++ language featur [...]
01/30/05 :: Chuang-tzu
All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.
01/28/05 :: Frederick Douglass
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
01/24/05 :: Charles de Gaulle
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
01/21/05 :: Dale Hanchey
Every government, once established, becomes oppressive.
01/14/05 :: Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
07/01/04 :: Thomas Jefferson
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.
07/01/04 :: Thomas Jefferson
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
04/18/04 :: Henry Stimson (Secretary of State)
... gentlemen do not read each other's mail.
04/07/04 :: Howard Chaykin
I don't believe in sweeping social change being manifested by one person, unless he has an atomic weapon.
04/07/04 :: Martin Luther King, Jr.
The time is always right to do what is right.
04/07/04 :: Mark Twain
If you ever find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause, and reflect. [Ed. Note: you should likely reflect, regardless, but this is funnier.]
04/07/04 :: Theodore Roosevelt
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.
03/12/04 :: Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. (Translated from "On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées.")
03/11/04 :: George Chapman
Who to himself is law no law doth need, offends no law, and is a king indeed.
01/09/04 :: George D. Prentice
Many a writer seems to think he is never profound except when he can't understand his own meaning.
01/06/04 :: Albert Schweitzer
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now -- always.
01/05/04 :: Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief (Hitler's right-hand man)
We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction. "Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one pie [...]
11/13/03 :: Michael Paine
An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public.
11/05/03 :: Arne Tiselius
The distinction between true and false appears to become increasingly blurred by... the pollution of the language.
10/19/03 :: Winston Churchill
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
10/17/03 :: CLiki
CLiki pages can be edited by anyone at any time. Imagine a fearsomely comprehensive disclaimer of liability. Now fear, comprehensively
10/08/03 :: [unspecified]
You should avoid hedging, at least that's what I think.
10/03/03 :: Woody Allen
To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the loyal opposition.
09/16/03 :: Gandalf
Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
09/09/03 :: Montesquieu
Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked down upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer.
09/04/03 :: O'Rourke
There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.
09/04/03 :: O'Rourke
One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.
09/04/03 :: Richard Kerry (R-Florida)
I think that the free-enterprise system is absolutely too important to be left to the voluntary action of the marketplace.
09/04/03 :: Lyndon Johnson
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
09/04/03 :: Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
09/04/03 :: Arthur C. Clarke
You can't have it both ways. You can't have both free will and a benevolent higher power who protects you from yourself.
09/04/03 :: Demonax, Roman philosopher circa 150 A.D.
Probably all laws are useless; for good men do not want laws at all, and bad men are made no better by them.
09/04/03 :: Michel De Montaigne
The most desirable laws are those that are rarest, simplest, and most general; and I even think that it would be better to have none at all than to have them in such numbers as we have.
09/04/03 :: Albert Einstein
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.
09/04/03 :: Benjamin Franklin
Those who are willing to sacrifice their basic liberties to assure their security deserve neither.
09/04/03 :: Supertramp
Now watch what you say They'll be calling you a radical, liberal, Fanatical, criminal. Won't you sign up your name? We'd like to feel you're acceptable, respectable, Presentable, a vegetable.
09/04/03 :: Terry Pratchett
God does not play dice with the universe. He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
09/04/03 :: Mark Twain
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
09/04/03 :: Scott Adams
Normal people ... believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
09/04/03 :: Mark Twain
Familiarity breeds contempt -- and children.
09/04/03 :: Omar Khayam, 13th century philosopher
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child. Teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a leader. Follow him.
09/04/03 :: John F. Kennedy
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
09/04/03 :: Mae West
Marriage is a great institution -- but I'm not ready for an institution yet.
09/04/03 :: Albert Einstein
If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.
09/04/03 :: Aldous Huxley
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
09/04/03 :: Aldous Huxley
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
09/04/03 :: Aldous Huxley
Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.
09/04/03 :: Jean-Paul Sartre
When the rich make war it's the poor who die.
09/04/03 :: Stalin (disputed?)
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
09/04/03 :: O'Rourke
If government were a product, selling it would be illegal.
09/04/03 :: Winston Churchill
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
09/04/03 :: Napoleon Bonaparte
Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
09/04/03 :: Søren Kierkegaard
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.
09/04/03 :: Albert Einstein
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
09/04/03 :: Berlioz
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
09/04/03 :: Adolf Hitler (disputed)
What luck for the rulers that men do not think!
09/04/03 :: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun; but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric.
09/04/03 :: Thomas Reid
We laugh at the Indian philosopher, who to account for the support of the earth, contrived the hypothesis of a huge elephant, and to support the elephant, a huge tortoise. If we will candidly confess the truth, we know as little of the operation of the nerves, as he did of the manner in which the earth is supported: and our hypothesis about animal spirits, or about the tension and vibrations [...]
09/04/03 :: Mahatma Gandhi
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
09/04/03 :: [unspecified]
Any good college textbook on "oppression and how to make the masses scream for it" will tell you that the following pattern must be followed: 1. Introduce oppression as a theoretical idea. Gauge the response. 2. Make oppression optional. Depending on the opposition to the idea (you did remember to gauge the response to the theoretical idea, didn't you?), offer some worthless token that the mass [...]
09/04/03 :: George Bernard Shaw
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
09/04/03 :: [unspecified]
Marriage is a ghastly public confession of a strictly private intention.
09/04/03 :: [unspecified]
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
09/04/03 :: Napoleon Bonaparte
History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon.
09/04/03 :: [unspecified]
Jones' First Law: Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of endeavor, and stays in that field long enough, becomes an obstruction to its progress -- in direct proportion to the importance of their original contribution.
09/04/03 :: George Orwell
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
09/04/03 :: Sam Brown
Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
References
04/21/08 :: (link) :: Antonym engine
04/13/08 :: (link) :: Firebird RDBMS
06/10/06 :: (link) :: MonkeySphere
08/11/05 :: (link) :: Fact Check
08/10/05 :: (link) :: Pandimaniacs
05/17/05 :: (link) :: Secret Way to War
04/02/05 :: (link) :: The War Prayer
01/26/05 :: (link) :: Chimeras
01/09/05 :: (link) :: Law as parent
09/10/04 :: (link) :: Political Compass
08/18/04 :: (link) :: Live free or die
06/03/04 :: (link) :: Second Amendment
05/23/04 :: (link) :: Banning the Vote
05/20/04 :: (link) :: Harper's Magazine
02/22/04 :: (link) :: Election Selection
02/05/04 :: (link) :: Gouging the Poor
01/14/04 :: (link) :: Thrifty spenders
01/05/04 :: (link) :: Earth Observatory
11/22/03 :: (link) :: The 9/11 Cover-up
10/22/03 :: (link) :: Alternet
10/22/03 :: (link) :: Wikipedia
10/22/03 :: (link) :: Indymedia.org
10/06/03 :: (link) :: Meme, Counter-meme
10/03/03 :: (link) :: Godwin's Law
09/04/03 :: (link) :: A Deadly Franchise
07/05/03 :: (link) :: Issues2000.org
07/05/03 :: (link) :: Unmarried.org
07/02/03 :: (link) :: Human Rights Watch