Quotes

The following are quotes that caught my attention for one reason or another. They are presented in now particular order.

On Changing Things

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. —Karl Marx

…the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it’s something that we make, and could just as easily make differently. —David Graeber

me and a bunch of stupid assholes are going to start a community in the middle of the desert to either die or prove a very important point —@dril

"Old systems break in familiar ways. New systems break in unexpected ways." - Stewart Brand in The Maintenance Race

On Dealing With People

You can’t wake a person who’s pretending to be asleep. - Navajo Proverb, supposedly

[!NOTE] I've seen variations of the above attributed to all sorts of people and cultures, most commonly as a "Navajo Proverb." I have not been able to confirm or disprove that attribution.

You don't have to attend every argument you are invited to. - Kevin Kelly

On Getting Shit Done

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. - Kevin Kelly

It doesn't matter how fast you run in a race, if you are facing the wrong direction, things probably won't work out. - struthless

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free. – Jim Morrison

It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
– Wendell Berry

General Wisdom

That's how it is on this bitch of an earth. ― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Halving requirements is the same as doubling capacity. - Nigel Calder (the sailor and boat builder)

h/t to the Rabbits for that one https://100r.co/site/off_the_grid.html

Parenting

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you - Robert Fulghum

Programming

If I had a dime for every time I've seen someone use FLOAT to store currency, I'd have $999.997634 - Bill Karwin

Definitions

convivial, adj: occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company

Uncategorized

If a tattoo artist does a good job the first time you get a tattoo, you’ll be interested in getting more tattoos. They’ve just created an opportunity for other tattoo artists. If somebody reads a book about creativity, they’re probably actually more likely to read another book about the topic—not less. While competitive energy can be helpful, it’s certainly not the only—or the most accurate—way to see the world. There are enough problems to go around, and a problem often requires more than one solution. - Herbert Lui "Three things about your competitors"

There was also just sheer courage on the part of organizers. And this is a funny story that I love to tell. One of the people I interviewed was a man named Lemon Johnson. Johnson became a Communist, and he was the secretary of the Hope Hull local of the Sharecroppers’ Union. I was in his shack, and I’m sitting on his bed, and he has one chair. I asked him, “How did you all win that cotton-chopper strike?”

He said, “Let me show you how we did it.” He takes out a box of shotgun shells and puts it on the bed, and then he takes out a copy of Lenin’s What Is to Be Done? and puts it next to the shotgun shells. And he says, “Right there. Theory and practice. Theory and practice.” - Robin D. G. Kelley in Jacobin

We live in a world where data processing (mostly hidden) has become the major occupation; it has ended the distinction between “blue”- and “white”-collar workers. The rise of data processing to supremacy has also ended the distinction between work and entertainment. Our work force has become a show-business cast of role players. Jobs are disappearing, along with human identity. Unemployment becomes a curve on a chart like the DJ Index. Naturally, at this extreme there occurs a violent flip. Just as jobs become irrelevant, job hunting becomes an obsession. - Marshall McLuhan