August 2010
53 posts
“The question is not ‘can they reason?’ nor ‘can they...”
– Jeremy Bentham. (This is one of the key rules I base my ethics on.)
For the Young, Who Want To
marina72:
Talent is what they say you have after the novel is published and favourably reviewed. Beforehand what you have is a tedious delusion, a hobby like knitting. Work is what you have done after the play is produced and the audience claps. Before that friends keep asking when you are planning to go out and get a job. Genius is what they know you had after the third volume of...
The Alot. →
Errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar bug me, one of many being the tendency of some people to write “a lot” as one word (“alot”). The other day, though, my friend Dan pointed me in the direction of this rather glorious piece explaining what people really mean when they speak of Alots. For the first time, Alot makes sense. You can picture that as an Alot writing a...
Richard Dawkins' parody of the Tony Blair Faith... →
In celebration of the start of the Faith School Menace? series on More4 last night, I thought I’d revisit this classic. It’s even funnier if you imagine it read in Blair’s voice.
“Religion is excellent for keeping the common people quiet.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
“The French writer Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) wrote of his experience with...”
– Victorian Pharmacy by Jane Eastoe (fantastic book, by the way). As for de Maupassant, what a charming man he must’ve been…
“Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in...”
– Salman Rushdie
“SELF-POLLUTION: We could disclose cases that have come under our notice that...”
– The Working Man’s Model Botanic Guide to Health (William Fox 1889)
WatchThe Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry argues that the Catholic Church is NOT a force for good in the world. (Unedited)
This is wonderful. The full televised (and edited) version of the debate can also be found on YouTube.
“One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.”
– Oscar, of course.
The current issue of Total Tattoo magazine has an... →
Emma owns Aurora Tattoo in Lancaster, and she did my amazing backpiece. You can see some of her incredible portrait tattoos in the six-page article too.
“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and...”
– Virginia Woolf
“Solitude never hurt anyone - Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of...”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“I know this obsession with weight is unhealthy and anti-feminist…but...”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“It’s naive to think you can change a person…except maybe that boy...”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“The dead have risen and are voting Republican!”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“As intelligence goes up, happiness often goes down. In fact, I made a...”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“Just ten more years, just ten more years, just ten more years…”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)
“A man who envies our family is a man who needs help.”
– Lisa Simpson (part of a series of Lisa quotes I’m posting today in honour of her ill-fated wedding being today)