"The old political syllogism "something must be done: this is something: therefore this will be done" appears to be at work here, in spades." -- Charlie Stross
Charlie is quoting the classic BBC TV series "Yes Minister" here.
"I assign higher credibility to an institution if liberals accuse it of being conservative and conservatives accuse it of being liberal." -- Alex F. Bokov
Surprised to see that one there - the world is full of people desperate to ensure that there is a stool either side of them, and that seems like a process very far from hugging the query.
Is it possible to get this filed under Humor so that I can view the series without having to hunt this entry down individually?
"Like a lot of people in the computer industry, Keith Malinowski had spent his whole life being the smartest person in the room, and like most of his fellows the experience left him with a rather high opinion of his opinions."
-- Rick Cook, The Wizardry Quested
"The fact that we can become accustomed to anything, however disgusting at first, makes it necessary to examine carefully everything we have become accustomed to."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"Beware `we should...', extend a hand to `how do I...'"
-- Alan Cox
"I assign higher credibility to an institution if liberals accuse it of being conservative and conservatives accuse it of being liberal."
-- Alex F. Bokov
"An open mind is a great place for other people to dump their garbage."
-- Rev. Rock, Church of the Subgenius
"A.D. 1517: Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the church door and is promptly moderated down to (-1, Flamebait)."
-- Yu Suzuki
"A committee cannot be wrong - only divided. Once it resolves its division, then every part reinforces every other part and its rightness becomes unassailable."
-- John M. Ford, The Princes of the Air
"Gee, thanks for the elementary lesson in metaphysics. And there I thought Being was an undifferentiated unity."
-- Mark Walker
"The old political syllogism "something must be done: this is something: therefore this will be done" appears to be at work here, in spades."
-- Charlie Stross
"The fact that I beat a drum has nothing to do with the fact that I do theoretical physics. Theoretical physics is a human endeavour, one of the higher developments of human beings — and this perpetual desire to prove that people who do it are human by showing that they do other things that a few other humans do (like playing bongo drums) is insulting to me. I am human enough to tell you to go to hell."
-- Richard Feynman
"Java sucks. Java on TV set top boxes will suck so hard it might well inhale people from off their sofa until their heads get wedged in the card slots."
-- Jon Rabone
"Susan was bright enough to know that the phrase "Someone ought to do something" was not, by itself, a helpful one. People who used it never added the rider "and that someone is me." But someone ought to do something, and right now the whole pool of someones consisted of her, and no one else."
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather