brainstorms

Thursday July 13, 2006

recently noted quotes

software creation is not only time-consuming, it's also much more difficult than i thought it would be. -- donald knuth [theory and practice, III, selected papers on computer science]

In Mercurial, a branch is a repository. Nothing more or less. A repository is a branch. Repeat the soothing mantra. -- mercurial faq

the brain and the eye may have a contractual relationship in which the brain has agreed to believe what the eye sees, but in return the eye has agreed to look for what the brain wants. -- daniel gilbert [stumbling on happiness]

the internet, that wonderful tool for bringing us into contact with things that make us wish we could scrub our brains out with dental floss ... -- charlie stross

Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Especially if it has a vanilla flavour to it. -- tom keats

What would you think of someone who studied economic entities and their interactions in a modern free market economy and insisted that they were, despite a perfectly reasonable and empirically supported Smithian account of their development, the consequence of some all-powerful, detail-obsessed economic law-giver? -- john allen paulos [the mousetrap]

To put it mildly, the public in an age of born-again Rapture, Intelligent Design, miscellaneous guru worship, and do-it-yourself “spirituality” isn’t exactly hungering for an across-the-board application of rational principles. -- frederic crews [from the introduction to follies of the wise]