Friday, August 29, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 29, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 29, 2014



"Beloved, we join hands here to pray for gin. An aridity defiles us. Our innards thirst for the juice of juniper. Something must be done. The drought threatens to destroy us."

- Wallace Thurman, writing in Infants of Spring.

Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk
Aug. 29, 2014

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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 28, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 28, 2014



"Gin's a spirit unto herself. She's a loner. Gin can gnaw on the back of your neck till she nigh-on draws blood, and she can just as easily kiss you softly behind each ear, stroke the back of your shivering hand, and make you know that everything's going to be okay. And it will, you know. It really will."

- Gaz (aka Gary) Regan, from "The Bartender's Gin Compendium".

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 26, 2014

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 27, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 27, 2014



"Another time, [Ambassador Michael] McFaul went on Twitter to announce in Russian that he was headed to "Yoburg" for an event. He intended a slangy way of saying Yekaterinburg. Unfortunately, yob is the root of the verb for copulation and his tweet came off as "I am headed to Fucksville."'

- David Remnick, from Letter from Moscow: Watching the Eclipse.

[http://www.newyorker.com/?p=2687012]

Submitted by: John Karabaic
Aug. 17, 2014

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 26, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 26, 2014



"Women have complained, justly, about the behavior of "macho" men. But despite their he-man pretensions and their captivation by masculine heroes of sports, war, and the Old West, most men are now entirely accustomed to obeying and currying the favor of their bosses. Because of this, of course, they hate their jobs--they mutter, "Thank God it's Friday" and "Pretty good for Monday"-- but they do as they are told. They are more compliant than most housewives have been. Their characters combine feudal submissiveness with modern helplessness. They have accepted almost without protest, and often with consumptive relief, their dispossession of any usable property and, with that, their loss of economic independence and their consequent subordination to bosses. They have submitted to the destruction of the household economy and thus of the household, to the loss of home employment and self-employment, to the disintegration of their families and communities, to the desecration and pillage of their country, and they have continued abjectly to believe, obey, and vote for the people who have most eagerly abetted this ruin and who have most profited from it. These men, moreover, are helpless to do anything for themselves or anyone else without money, and so for money they do whatever they are told. They know that their ability to be useful is precisely defined by their willingness to be somebody else's tool. Is it any wonder that they talk tough and worship athletes and cowboys? Is it any wonder that some of them are violent?"

- Wendell Berry, in his 2003 essay "Feminism, the Body, and the Machine."

[http://www.crosscurrents.org/berryspring2003.htm]

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 20, 2014

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Monday, August 25, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 25, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 25, 2014



"To those who care about pronunciation, a sentence such as 'Thank God its Friday' (without the apostrophe) rouses feelings not only of despair but of violence. The confusion of the possessive 'its' (no apostrophe) with the contractive 'it's' (with apostrophe) is an unequivocal sign of illiteracy and sets off a simple Pavlovian 'kill' response in the average stickler. The rule is: the word 'it's' (with apostrophe) stands for 'it is' or 'it has.' If the word does not stand for 'it is' or 'it has' then what you require is 'its.' This is extremely easy to grasp. Getting your itses mixed up is the greatest solecism in the world of punctuation. No matter that you have a PhD and have read all of Henry James twice. If you still persist in writing, 'Good food at it's best,' you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave."

- Lynne Truss, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 6, 2014

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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 24, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 24, 2014



Oh, come back, proud Canadians
To before you had TV,
No Hockey Night in Canada,
There was no CBC (Oh, my God!).
In 1812, Madison was mad,
He was the president, you know
Well, he thought he'd tell the British where they ought to go
He thought he'd invade Canada,
He thought that he was tough
Instead we went to Washington....
And burned down all his stuff!


And the White House burned, burned, burned,
And we're the ones that did it!
It burned, burned, burned,
While the president ran and cried.
It burned, burned, burned,
And things were very historical.
And the Americans ran and cried like a bunch of little babies
Waa waa waah!
In the War of 1812!


Now some hillbillies from Kentucky,
Dressed in green and red,
Left home to fight in Canada,
But they returned home dead
It's the only war the Yankees lost, except for Vietnam
And also the Alamo... and the Bay of ... Ham?
The loser was America,
The winner was ourselves,
So join right in and gloat about the War of 1812


And the White House burned, burned, burned,
And we're the ones that did it!
It burned, burned, burned,
While the president ran and cried.
It burned, burned, burned,
And things were very historical.
And the Americans ran and cried like a bunch of little babies
Waa waa waah!
In the War of 1812!


In 1812, we were just sittin' around,
Mindin' our own business, puttin' crops into the ground.
We heard the soldiers coming and we didn't like that sound.
So we took a boat to Washington and burned it to the ground.


Oh... we... fired our guns, but the Yankees kept-a coming,
There wasn't quite as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and the Yankees started running,
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, oh, oh....
They ran through the snow and they ran through the forest,
They ran through the bushes where the beavers wouldn't go.
They ran so fast, they forgot to take their culture,
Back to America, and Gulf and Texaco


So, if you go to Washington, its buildings clean and nice,
Bring a pack of matches, and we'll burn the White House twice!




- Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie, comedy troupe, from their song The War Of 1812. During the war, British forces burned the White House and other American government buildings after occupying Washington on August 24, 1814.

[http://www.deadtroll.com/]

Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk
Jun. 3, 2009

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Saturday, August 16, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 16, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 16, 2014



"If we could have found a way to get rid of all the griping, we would have had the perfect place to work. I wish we had made it a requirement for all employees to work somewhere else before coming to WordPerfect Corporation, so they could have understood how lucky they all were. If I ever start another business, I will have all employees sign a contract requiring them to come to work with a good attitude. If they decide one day they do not like their jobs or they do not want to be cheerful, then they will agree in advance to an immediate termination without notice, without severance, and without receiving any accrued vacation pay. Life is too short to spend it with the dissatisfied."

- W. E. "Pete" Peterson, "Almost Perfect", on page 76 of http://www.wordplace.com/ap/almostperfect.pdf.

[The submitter notes: "...demonstrating what a complete privileged dick he is..."]

Submitted by: John Karabaic
Aug. 14, 2014

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 13, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 13, 2014



"Someone said that Brecht wanted everybody to think alike. I want everybody to think alike. But Brecht wanted to do it through Communism, in a way. Russia is doing it under government. It's happening here all by itself without being under a strict government; so if it's working without trying, why can't it work without being Communist? Everybody looks alike and acts alike, and we're getting more and more that way.

"I think everybody should be a machine. I think everybody should like everybody.'

- Andy Warhol, from a 1963 interview in Art News.

Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk
Aug. 13, 2014

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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 10, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 10, 2014



Not for these I raise
The song of thanks and praise;
But for those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things,

- William Wordsworth, from Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 8, 2014

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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 9, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 9, 2014



Q. You once cited diverse influences like Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, the Incredible String Band and early Pink Floyd. That's pretty eclectic.

A. I'm trying to tap the source, not steal it. You think of the Beatles, and they were stealing from Bo Diddley and great sources. All American music basically comes from oppressed people and slaves.

- Joziah Longo, in a New York Times interview with E. Kyle Minor. Longo leads the band The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (AKA The Grand Slambovians)

[http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/17/nyregion/studio-with-joziah-longo-band-inspired-westchester-dreaming-slambovia.html]

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 6, 2014

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Friday, August 8, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 8, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 8, 2014



"The National Geographic Channel is currently airing a three-part documentary about the '90s narrated by Rob Lowe. Cue your snarky joke: "What do they have - James Van Der Beek talking about the Gulf War?" Yes. They really do. They have James Van Der Beek talking about the Gulf War."

- Colin MacEnroe, on actors discussing history.

[http://www.salon.com/2014/08/06/ira_glass_shakespeare_sucks_redemption_fixing_ted_talks_public_radio_and_dystopia_for_millennials/]

Submitted by: John Karabaic
Aug. 6, 2014

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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 7, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 7, 2014



"On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right?

"Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with."

- Kyle Wiens, from "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why."

[http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/07/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo/]

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Aug. 6, 2014

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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 6, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 6, 2014



Hell is only half full
Room for you and me

- Warren Zevon and Duncan Aldrich, from the song Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse.

Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk
Aug. 5, 2014

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 5, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 5, 2014



"As an economic proposition, raising wheat to save money on flour makes about as much sense as raising children to help with the dishes. In either case, the decision is an emotional one."

- Jerry Adler, writing about artisanal wheat.

[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/artisanal-wheat-on-the-rise-85474/?no-ist]

Submitted by: Jon O'Brien
Aug. 2, 2014

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Monday, August 4, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 4, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 4, 2014



"Don't ask me who started the war or I'll burst into tears."

- Margaret MacMillan, professor of international history at Oxford and author of the World War One history, The War That Ended Peace. The British Empire entered the war on August 4, 1914.

[http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/25/margaret-macmillan-just-dont-ask-me-who-started-war]

Submitted by: Terry Labach
Jul. 28, 2014

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Sunday, August 3, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 3, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 3, 2014



"Jumping from failure to failure with undiminished enthusiasm is the big secret to success."

- Savas Dimopoulos, in 'Particle Fever'

[http://www.santacruz.com/2014/03/11/review-particle-fever/]

Submitted by: Patsy Wang-Iverson
Jul. 29, 2014

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Saturday, August 2, 2014

Quotation of the day for August 2, 2014

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Quotation of the Day for August 2, 2014



"What job did I (or she, really) think I could get? By training and nature, I was equipped to do nothing but lie thusly and think deep thoughts. I blamed my hardworking parents for encouraging me to obtain a useless, outrageously expensive, and still unpaid-for education best suited to a minor nineteenth-century aristocrat. I could read philosophy and discuss paintings. Not that I ever did, but I could, if I had to, in an emergency. I could charm elegant dinner parties with witty patter, if anyone ever invited me to one. I could articulate my misery with great precision. If only I had learned to cut hair, or cook, or fix something!"

- David Gordon, from Mystery Girl.

Submitted by: Lynn Kisilenko
Jul. 30, 2014

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