30 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
If I don’t know that I know what I know, how can I possibly know that I don’t know that I know what I think that I know, hm?
— Your Humble Blogger, from a long-destroyed screenplay
29 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
James of the Needle was a man of his word, when whisky was no party to the contract[.]
— Sir Walter Scott, Waverley
28 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.
— Winston Churchill, on declaring alliance with the USSR against Germany
27 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
“What kind of tofu did you have?”
“Fried.”
“Fried is best. At least you’re sure it’s dead.”
— F. Paul Wilson, The Haunted Air
26 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
Of the kid-oriented movies that I’ve seen in the past year, I’d say I enjoyed 90% of them. When you make a movie without sex and violence and car chases and infidelity, it turns out that you have to use actual creativity. Kid movies are great.
— Scott Adams, 19 June 2006
23 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
“Grace me no grace,” said Evan; “since you are to shed Vich Ian Vohr’s blood, the only favour I would accept from you is — to bid them loose my hands and gie me my claymore, and bide you just a minute sitting where you are!”
— Sir Walter Scott, Waverley
23 June 2006 – 9:22 am +0800
But maybe, just maybe, I’ll take another week completely away from the ol’ computer. The last one was sorta unplanned, but refreshing.
Or perhaps not. We’ll see after the weekend.
22 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
[A TV commercial] crossed my desk in 1986. It came with a press release boasting about an enormous production budget employed in service of what it termed a communications “breakthrough”. The secret of this particular breakthrough was the science of semiotics — i.e., conveying meaning via powerful symbols imbued with significance far beyond [...]
22 June 2006 – 10:11 am +0800
Sure, it’s a Party organ, but great scot, to let something like this go unchallenged in the slightest way:
[Foreign Ministry spokeswoman] Jiang said China hopes all parties can act in a way conducive to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and help ease the tense situation.
She said China has always been devoted to maintaining [...]
21 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
The ideal is terrible to see, thus lost in the depths, minute, isolated, imperceptible, shining, but surrounded by all these great black menaces monstrously massed about it; yet in no more danger than a star in the jaws of the clouds.
— Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
21 June 2006 – 10:27 am +0800
Not Really Seth Godin: You know, in order to succeed in Today’s Business Environment, what you really need to do is Be Remarkable™.
Me: Um.
NRSG: And do you know what you need in order to Be Remarkable™?
Me:A banal, trite, trademarkable phrase that can substitute for actual insight gained from difficult analysis and thought?
NRSG: [...]
21 June 2006 – 10:19 am +0800
86% of all email traffic is spam.
(þ Paul Hsieh)
20 June 2006 – 11:59 pm +0800
At first you can’t believe him, he’s so odd, and then you want to carry him around with you always.
— Humphrey Bogart, in a letter to Lauren Bacall, describing Truman Capote
20 June 2006 – 10:30 am +0800
I told him to do that years ago!
20 June 2006 – 9:26 am +0800
Met the WitNit on Sunday. Showed him around a bit of Shanghai he hadn’t seen yet, shared a bit of history with him, scored free lunch (at a German restaurant — ahhhh, wienerschnitzel!) in return.
It’s a curious thing, but bloggers, when I’ve met them in person, almost always sound a bit different than they [...]