Notices by fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la), page 2

fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Monday, 28-Aug-2017 19:10:02 UTC fortune

"America is a stronger nation for the ACLU's uncompromising effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy

In conversation Monday, 28-Aug-2017 19:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Monday, 28-Aug-2017 14:40:01 UTC fortune

HOW TO PROVE IT, PART 3

proof by obfuscation:
A long plotless sequence of true and/or meaningless
syntactically related statements.

proof by wishful citation:
The author cites the negation, converse, or generalization of
a theorem from the literature to support his claims.

proof by funding:
How could three different government agencies be wrong?

proof by eminent authority:
'I saw Karp in the elevator and he said it was probably NP-
complete.'

In conversation Monday, 28-Aug-2017 14:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2017 00:40:01 UTC fortune

"I am a theist," means, "I know that God exists." "I am an atheist"
means, "I do not know that God exists." Appending the Greek prefix "a"
could in no way be construed as meaning, I know that God does not exist."
[Chester Dolan, "Blind Faith"]

In conversation Wednesday, 16-Aug-2017 00:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Tuesday, 08-Aug-2017 01:40:01 UTC fortune

The things that interest people most are usually none of their business.

In conversation Tuesday, 08-Aug-2017 01:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Sunday, 06-Aug-2017 10:40:02 UTC fortune

"...I will never understand why the advent of tourists and beer is
considered damaging to the culture [of the Bahinemo people in Papua
New Guinea] while introducing Jesus is not. These people have survived
centuries with their own beliefs, invoking their own gods."
[Richard A. Boni of Budapest, Hungary, in letter
to the editor, National Geographic, June 1994]

In conversation Sunday, 06-Aug-2017 10:40:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Jul-2017 06:10:01 UTC fortune

"A jealous lover of human liberty, deeming it the absolute
condition of all that we admire and respect in humanity, I
reverse the phrase of Voltaire and say, 'if God really
existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.'"
[Mikhail Bakunin, "God and the State", 1874]

In conversation Tuesday, 25-Jul-2017 06:10:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Friday, 21-Jul-2017 03:40:02 UTC fortune

<cas> well there ya go. say something stupid in irc and have it
immortalised forever in someone's .sig file

In conversation Friday, 21-Jul-2017 03:40:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Saturday, 15-Jul-2017 15:40:01 UTC fortune

An architect's first work is apt to be spare and clean. He knows
he doesn't know what he's doing, so he does it carefully and with great
restraint.
As he designs the first work, frill after frill and embellishment
after embellishment occur to him. These get stored away to be used "next
time." Sooner or later the first system is finished, and the architect,
with firm confidence and a demonstrated mastery of that class of systems,
is ready to build a second system.
This second is the most dangerous system a man ever designs.
When he does his third and later ones, his prior experiences will
confirm each other as to the general characteristics of such systems,
and their differences will identify those parts of his experience that
are particular and not generalizable.
The general tendency is to over-design the second system, using
all the ideas and frills that were cautiously sidetracked on the first
one. The result, as Ovid says, is a "big pile."
-- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"

In conversation Saturday, 15-Jul-2017 15:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2017 01:10:02 UTC fortune

"The impression is given that a special kind of morality is affirmed by
accepting the vagaries of religion without evidence. But is it moral to
accept uncritically every superstition, delusion, or prejudice our pulpiteers
espouse? Is not the faith that we are told is holy, the trust in Divinity
that we are told is our duty, the certitude that a complete rejection of
reason is moral behavior - all of this - nothing more than abject credulity,
a complete surrender of our unique, personal sovereign identity? When "false"
or "true" become irrelevant and a blanket assent regardless of the nature of
that which we are asked to believe is considered sane behavior, do we not
resign ourselves to slavery? When acceptance is on the basis of infallible
authority and not on the basis of personal, reasoned conviction, have we
not relinquished something very precious - our natural, temperamental
individuality? Is not the mind of one who accepts blindly, precisely the
mind of a production-line robot, the mind of one who goes through life
oblivious of meaning and values, bereft of the hope of injecting sense into
the profusion of nonsense that threatens to engulf us? Is this the faith we
are told is good?"
[Chester Dolan, "Holy Daze: Coming to Grips with "Religion," the Holy
Daze of Humanity", "Faith" section, pp.130-135, MOPAH Publications]

In conversation Saturday, 08-Jul-2017 01:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2017 16:10:02 UTC fortune

"If you can write a nation's stories, you needn't worry about who makes its
laws. Today, television tells most of the stories to most of the people
most of the time."
-- George Gerbner

In conversation Friday, 07-Jul-2017 16:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2017 12:40:01 UTC fortune

An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be
devoured.
-- Konrad Adenauer

In conversation Friday, 07-Jul-2017 12:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Jul-2017 14:10:01 UTC fortune

Apathy Club meeting this Friday. If you want to come, you're not invited.

In conversation Wednesday, 05-Jul-2017 14:10:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jun-2017 23:10:02 UTC fortune

Gardeners do it in raised beds.

In conversation Thursday, 08-Jun-2017 23:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Thursday, 01-Jun-2017 13:10:01 UTC fortune

kernel, n.:
A part of an operating system that preserves the medieval
traditions of sorcery and black art.

In conversation Thursday, 01-Jun-2017 13:10:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Monday, 29-May-2017 00:10:02 UTC fortune

Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born
to people you could not have possibly met.
-- Fran Lebowitz, "Social Studies"

In conversation Monday, 29-May-2017 00:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Tuesday, 16-May-2017 05:10:01 UTC fortune

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.

In conversation Tuesday, 16-May-2017 05:10:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Sunday, 14-May-2017 02:40:02 UTC fortune

There once was a member of Mensa
Who was a most excellent fencer.
The sword that he used
Was his -- (line is refused,
And has now been removed by the censor).

In conversation Sunday, 14-May-2017 02:40:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2017 21:10:02 UTC fortune

No proper program contains an indication which as an operator-applied
occurrence identifies an operator-defining occurrence which as an
indication-applied occurrence identifies an indication-defining occurrence
different from the one identified by the given indication as an
indication-applied occurrence.
-- ALGOL 68 Report

In conversation Tuesday, 04-Apr-2017 21:10:02 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Sunday, 26-Mar-2017 08:40:01 UTC fortune

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], 'Pray, Mr.
Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas
that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage

In conversation Sunday, 26-Mar-2017 08:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink
fortune (fortune@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Monday, 20-Mar-2017 15:40:01 UTC fortune

A billion seconds ago Harry Truman was president.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.
A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.

In conversation Monday, 20-Mar-2017 15:40:01 UTC from social.heldscal.la permalink

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