Month: March 2012

A doctor, lawyer, or engineer may become wealthy, but the real meaning of their work is that they sustain health, justice, good government, or safety. – Chris Hedges

Some men want whores on the eve of battle, and some want gods. Jon wondered who felt better afterward. – George R.R. Martin

“In the days of my own prosperity things had seemed to me to be very well arranged.” Now from his new point of view he was to find they were no arranged at all; that government was a compromise of… Continue Reading →

I’ve noticed a remarkable uptick in typos lately. People using the wrong words, often phonetically similar ones. Straight-out goof-ups. This is not a complaint. This is a self-esteem booster. I’m not the only one!

This post is a test. This post is only a test. The multitude of comments to follow are also only a part of the test.

…[T]here was an extraordinary mental resistance to discovery and invention for at least a hundred years after the scientific revolution had begun. Each new thing made its way into practice against a scepticism that amounted at times to hostility. –… Continue Reading →

…[W]henever serious and competent people need to get things done in the real world, all considerations of tradition and protocol fly out the window. – Neal Stephenson

Cultures that cannot distinguish between illusion and reality die. The dying gasps of all empires, from the Aztecs to the ancient Romans to the French monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, have been characterized by a disconnect between the elites and… Continue Reading →