Category:Philosophy

Over the holiday weekend, we were talking with my dad about his army days, and he busted out his Signal Corps ID card. He was an electronics instructor (at age 17) and the back of the card listed the 'Instructor's Motto':

I will always realize that everything
I say and do influences other soldiers.

I will instill in each student a deep
sense of loyalty to his fellow soldiers,
the Army, and our country.

By my own example I will inspire him
to the highest standards of personal con-
duct, integrity, and professional skill.

Seems like a good rule of thumb for any profession.

hat tip Public School

the quiet place

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

—Michael Jordan

via Alex Rainert

In light of New York's legalizing of same sex marriages, Chris Rock's thoughts from his 2004 act seem appropriate:

People always say that we can't have gay marriage because marriage is a sacred institution, that happens in the church. It's sacred... no it's not! Marriage ain't sacred! Not in America! Not in the country that watches "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" or "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" or "Who Wants to Marry a Midget?" Get the fuck outta here! Gay people have a right to be miserable as everybody else! Michael Jackson got married, how fuckin' sacred is that shit?

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.

—Albert Einstein

via On Display

via The Brooks Review

May you live in interesting times, often referred to as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves (or Americans). It is reported that it was the first of three curses of increasing severity, the other two being:

May you come to the attention of those in authority (sometimes rendered May the government be aware of you). This is sometimes quoted as May you come to the attention of powerful people. (Alternately important people.)

May you find what you are looking for. This is sometimes quoted as May your wishes be granted.

The designer who voluntarily presents his client with a batch of layouts does so not out of prolificacy, but out of uncertainty or fear.

via @mullerbrockmann (via Analogue)

Never tell me the odds.

—Han Solo, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

via magalomania