Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty—some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain.”

—Richard P. Feynman, The Value of Science



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance.”

—Rubén Blades, at a Harvard conference reported by Anne Stewart of AP, February 18, 1993

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Lucy and Ethel, Justin Bieber, or the Kardashian Klan. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“To speak on matters where you’re ignorant dulls the voice for speaking on matters where you do know something.”

—John Updike, The Paris Review, Winter 1968, No. 45

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“Few Americans are educated in the ways government works—or does not work—and our passivity, our downright apathy, in the face of the headlong retreat from democracy in this country makes us wonder if perhaps the late Max Lerner was not right: We are a civilization in decline without ever having reached its zenith.”

—Edward Albee, “Humans: the artsy animals,” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2006

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:


“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe."

—Thomas Jefferson, letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816










( Illustrated version. )


Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

So, why am I such a hardass when it comes to episodic TV? Why won't I give The Dresden Files another chance? Too much disappointment over the years. Like David Bordwell once said, "T.V. always breaks your heart, eventually."

( In which I elaborate. )

Other cranky thoughts of the day:

I heard a news report this morning that said some consumer group is going after the manufacturers of Viagra because they're "marketing it like a recreational drug."

Is it just me, or does this seem somewhat absurd? What else is Viagra for if not recreation? I mean, I hardly think getting an erection is a medical necessity. But it is a hell of a lot of fun, both for those getting to that place and those playing along. Watchdogging is a good thing most times, but this one made me laugh—and wonder if maybe the consumer people needed a year's free supply of Viagra.

Random quote of the day:

"Ignorance is the parent of fear."

—Herman Melville, Moby Dick