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20 billion, to me at least seems to small to make an impact on the deficit. /not an economist

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

You'll notice how they stress this like it's the norm and the baseline

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
-- Anatole France

A lot of people saying and / or doing something doesn't mean it's the thing that should be done.

Microsoft can intimidate the EU into passing kleptocrat IP laws, but Apple can't keep the NL from doubling the price of their most popular product, handing the take to the record companies already on iTMS life support? How many divisions has Microsoft got?

Einstein said: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

it's actually attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister in the 1860s and 1870s ...

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Benjamin_Disr aeli

http://www.britannia.com/bios/disraeli.html

Here's the official page that requires that pesky Flash-plugin/ad-force-feed-tube.

That said, I agree with your last sentence. It's about choosing when you're done. If a hundred years is enough for someone, they should be able to gracefully bow out after that long.

An interesting aspect of this brave new world may be that suicide (direct or in the form of refusing medical help) is the leading cause of death.

Benjamin Franklin made the quote famous: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Malcolm X is also associated with that quote -- but he's a rebel, while Benjamin Franklin just, uhm, signed the Declaration of Independence and a couple of other related documents.

Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.

Another one: "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future." - Niels Bohr

I know (from experience) that it takes no more than five minutes to explain left- and right-clicking to a three-year-old child.

So send someone to fetch a child of three.

(With apologies)

While I don't know about pi, an irrational number does not have to contain every combination of digits. For example, take this irrational number: 3.131131113111131111131111113111111311111113...

Hmmm....it doesn't contain them in base 10. Look at it again in base 13. Nobody makes jokes in base 13.

Oh sorry, wrong article.

ps. Also see Voltaire: "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.

Abigail Van Buren (1918 - ), 1978

First: Don't "assume it is OK to (insert stupid action here)" ASSUME? Didn't you READ anything Apple states about being an ADC member, or in the READ ME, etc???

Second: As soon as you catch wind that somebody, anybody is making legal noises concerning you, RUN DON'T WALK TO OBTAIN LEGAL COUNSEL!!!

Finally: Don't frikkin blather on endlessly to some blogger, proving how FSCKING STUPID you really are. What a collection of idiots.

BTW: The first words out of an attorney's mouth would be essentially "STFU."

Yet another scientific theory proven correct.

This isn't, as the story states "a fascinating read which humanizes the whole messy situation" unless stupidity and ignorance are the true measure of "Humanity."

A viola is a stringed instrument slightly larger than a violin

The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer.

(says Victor Borge, who should know)

Lincoln said that.

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27074.html

I think you misquoted old Al.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein http://www.quotationspage.com/

It was really an observation that science was coming up with some really scary ideas in the realm of making things that go "BOOM"

If John Titor was right then Albert Einstein was wrong. And I find that hard to believe

See this...

It's as if it's defining something to simply make a cut at it.

Yes, that was Ambrose Bierce's whole point. Thanks for helping us summarize the Devil's Dictionary so succinctly.

Then you go on to invent two of your own definitions, trying to play Ambrose's game. But he's a little better at it than you, because his definition is inarguably true. I mean, really, exactly what claim in the following might you dispute?

"FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel."

Even the very faithful must concede on each individual point. By contrast, the "definitions" you give are simply false.

"Atheist: A person too stupid to realize the practicality of religion"

False. In fact, many atheists recognize that religion is tremendously practical.

"Atheist: A person living in a constant state of hypocrisy by critisizing religious zeal

False. The majority of atheists are happy to sit back and not stir up a ruckus. And even zealous atheists don't hold a candle to the efforts put in by a hard-core theist.

is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. Apologies to Asimov.

Er, don't you mean Clarke , as the AC also pointed out?

One of the many forks of the Jargon File also has an appropriate entry for this topic which also includes the version of the maxim that you used.

believe Poor Richard's Almanac (written by Benjamin Franklin) which went something like this:
When solving a problem it is common to take a method and try it. When it fails, try another. But above all, do something."

Are you sure you don't mean Franklin Roosevelt? Here, here, and another here. Of course, F. Franklin might have paraphrased B. Franklin.

What is interesting is the use of the word 'method'. It is usually used in a Scientific or Mathematical sense.

An interesting piece about politicians grades in the New York Times, gives a rare acknowledgement to Dan Quayle since Dan actually had a C+ average while Bush only managed a straight C. But the one everyone forgets about is Cheney who flunked out of Yale twice. I wonder if Cheney manages to spell potatoe.

"Everyone is an idiot, not just the people with low SAT scores. The only differences among us is that we're idiots about different things at different times. No matter how smart you are, you spend much of your day being an idiot."

-Scott Adams (1957 - ), The Dilbert Principle

Thanks to: www.quotationspage.com

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.
---Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

--OFF TOPIC--

And on another note. Everything is politcs. Plato said so. Quite possibly the only view of his I agree with.

Plato had a lot of "good" ideas, as illustrated by the quotes below. I'm suprised you didn't like many of his ideas (I bolded the ones that I consider GREAT):

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

"If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things."

"Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil."

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

"The life which is unexamined is not worth living."

"Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector."

"There are three arts which are concerned with all things: one which uses, another which makes, and a third which imitates them."

"Wealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent."

Source: The Quotations Page

Granted, I only picked the "good" quotes. However, I find it interesting that you disagree with Plato of all people. I always thought that very few would disagree with his view (on the whole). Any particular things you disaagree with?

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Diplomatic channels failed to save Poland and Chechloslovakia from Hitler.

Diplomacy sometimes has to be backed up with military power.

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you the RIAA just purchased legislation which outlaws New Zealand forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."

Thanks for the info! I'm not religious in the institutional sense, but I have a lot of respect for real spirituality. I found that quote on this page, which was from a post here on /. that I can't seem to find anymore.

...it was even funnier when Will Rogers first said it 70 years ago or so. :)

I believe the quote you're looking for is:

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.
- Voltaire (Attributed); originated in "The Friends of Voltaire", 1906, by S. G. Tallentyre (Evelyn Beatrice Hall)

(Other sources use "despise" instead... it seems that the quote doesn't exist in original form, so pick whichever pleases you :)

And thanks to quotationspage.com for the citation.

You can find some plays and poems by Oscar Wilde here
Also, more funny quotes by Wilde here.

The History Teachers Association (HTA) has sued The Quotations Page for posting quotes of famous people. A representative of the HTA said "Even though there was no central authority we felt that this [stealing] couldn't be tolerated any more. We just had to ... hey, are you quoting me.... stop that.... no seriously, I'll sue!"

The people that one bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses!

The Regin of terror? What's that? Do you mean Reagan? I wouldn't exactly associate his term in office with terror, although perhaps it was terrible at times.

Or perhaps you mean the Region of terror? Hmm, where is that exactly, Afghanistan? Iraq? The USA?

One can be found on his official website.

And here's the other one (younger slashdot readers may not know about Reagan's infamous microphone test which probably inspired this strip).

Darwin, I believe, said something to the effect of "oh though I may not agree with what you are saying, I will fight to the death for your right to say it."

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.

Well said, but I prefer:

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. -- Arendt Hannahs

Reading random quotes by activists and great thinkers can be very enlightening, I highly recommend The Quotations Page, providing quotes since 1994 - quite inspiring.