Favorite quotes

[UKMikey]

 

[UKMikey]

"Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat." ― Jean-Paul Sartre

 

[Michael88]

''If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck then its not a duck - but it is arranged duck-wise.''

- Michael from VSauce (From the episode: Do chairs really exist? )

 

[Danoff]

"Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat." ― Jean-Paul Sartre

Is this supposed to be in favor of not rocking the boat or in favor of not rowing? I don't know enough about the context of this quote to know. I had some trouble digging up the context of this one, but at least one commentary on it suggests that it's meant to favor leadership and stability rather than suggesting people should stop rowing and start rocking.

I dunno, I can see usefulness of that quote for either intention.

 

[UKMikey]

Is this supposed to be in favor of not rocking the boat or in favor of not rowing? I don't know enough about the context of this quote to know. I had some trouble digging up the context of this one, but at least one commentary on it suggests that it's meant to favor leadership and stability rather than suggesting people should stop rowing and start rocking.

I dunno, I can see usefulness of that quote for either intention.

The context I saw it in was in relation to the House representatives playing politics tather than getting on with the business of governing the country this week.

 

[Danoff]

The best material model of a cat is another, or preferably the same, cat.

I've seen this attributed to multiple different people.

 

[ScottPuss20]

The best material model of a cat is another, or preferably the same, cat.

I've seen this attributed to multiple different people.

Could you explain what this means?

 

[W3H5]

Could you explain what this means?

Second this.

Is it because cats are so vein?

 

[Pupik]

Second this.

Is it because cats are so vein?

I bet they think this post is about them.

 

[Danoff]

Could you explain what this means?

Kinda hard to explain.

So let's say you were building a model of the solar system. You got Styrofoam balls and painted them different colors and spread them out in a line at the right distances. Then someone said, "this model would be better if you put them on a line and made them rotate around the center". So you do that, and then someone suggested that they rotate around the barycenter, and then someone said it would be more accurate if they had moons, and then what if all the planets were in the right positions for a given time and they moved properly according to a given time increment, and someone suggested that the sun light up, and what about planets rotating. At some point everyone runs out of ideas and cheers erupt because we have achieved the best possible model of the solar system.

...and then someone says you could make them actual planet sized, and give them appropriate mass, and atmospheres, and create fusion in the sun. Eventually it comes down to the fact that the best possible model of something is another one of the actual thing. So for example, the best possible model of our solar system would be to create another solar system with exactly the same sized planets and distributions, with an identical sun.

But then, there would still be differences because the model would be located somewhere else in space. The best possible model of a solar system is a solar system, preferably the same solar system.

It's kinda tongue-in-cheek, but it's a fun commentary on the concept of creating a model, and on the concept of identity and the level of accuracy that can be achieved, or required, especially in quantum mechanics.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Kinda hard to explain.

So let's say you were building a model of the solar system. You got Styrofoam balls and painted them different colors and spread them out in a line at the right distances. Then someone said, "this model would be better if you put them on a line and made them rotate around the center". So you do that, and then someone suggested that they rotate around the barycenter, and then someone said it would be more accurate if they had moons, and then what if all the planets were in the right positions for a given time and they moved properly according to a given time increment, and someone suggested that the sun light up, and what about planets rotating. At some point everyone runs out of ideas and cheers erupt because we have achieved the best possible model of the solar system.

...and then someone says you could make them actual planet sized, and give them appropriate mass, and atmospheres, and create fusion in the sun. Eventually it comes down to the fact that the best possible model of something is another one of the actual thing. So for example, the best possible model of our solar system would be to create another solar system with exactly the same sized planets and distributions, with an identical sun.

But then, there would still be differences because the model would be located somewhere else in space. The best possible model of a solar system is a solar system, preferably the same solar system.

It's kinda tongue-in-cheek, but it's a fun commentary on the concept of creating a model, and on the concept of identity and the level of accuracy that can be achieved, or required, especially in quantum mechanics.

I do understand this explanation.

 

[W3H5]

That’s a very good explanation.

 

[Danoff]

“It’s a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought for speaking the truth.” - Glass Onion

 

[UKMikey]

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw, to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second... if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response

 

[UKMikey]

"You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely" -- Ogden Nash

 

[Michael88]

''It can be cruel poetic or blind but when it’s denied it’s violence you may find.''

 

[VBR]

"Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back. Sometimes the problem has mutated or disappeared. Often it is still there as strong as it ever was." ― Donald Kingsbury.

 

[Darla Starch]

"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life - then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized."

-

 

[Pete05]

"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life - then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized."

-

Billy Graham?

 

[Darla Starch]

Billy Graham?

The Ultimate Warrior, day before his death

 

[Pete05]

The Ultimate Warrior, day before his death

In those circumstances, one has to wonder if he felt something inside. Did he feel time was calling his name?

I'm a firm believer in listening to one's own body.
Ignore it at your own peril.

 

[Darla Starch]

In those circumstances, one has to wonder if he felt something inside. Did he feel time was calling his name?

I'm a firm believer in listening to one's own body.
Ignore it at your own peril.

Between that and the attempts to rebuild bridges he burnt over the years (and there were a good few), that was the general vibe of his last year or so alive

 

[Liquid]

I've been reminiscing over the golden era of the GTP Cool Wall this past week, scouring through some absolutely classic threads, and I have been reminded of one of the funniest and most succinct things I've ever read:

So amazingly horrible that it transcends description.

 

[UKMikey]

 

[Danoff]

View attachment 1276447

I take his meaning somewhat non-literally. I understand it as meaning that it is important to recognize that the underpinnings of someone's argument might not be reason, and if it is not, that underpinning still has to be reckoned with.

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

Was going through the Top Gear thread on here, and got up to the part where people were discussing the first episode after Chris Evans and co. had taken over since CMH departed. Famine had... quite the colourful review of it:

What an unmitigated silo of rancid porcupine slurry.


If I could I'd make a looped tape of that forced 'woo' when Ramsay went off road for the first time and play it back to Chris Evans while he sleeps EVERY NIGHT UNTIL HE DIES.

Not a thought provoking, deep, meaningful quote like most in this thread admittedly, but had me genuinely laughing for a solid five minutes.

 

[UKMikey]

 

[Liquid]

The best revenge is living well.

 

[TexRex]

It turns out that taking one particular action doesn't require you to take every other action that has any similar attribute.

Maybe pulling from GTP is unconventional but I just love this so god damn much.

 

[UKMikey]

The crisis we face about ‘truth’ and reliable facts is predicated less on the ability to get people to believe the wrong thing as it is on the ability to get people to doubt the right thing.