quotations
Will Faught
February 2023
Theodore Roosevelt on success.
Theodore Roosevelt in his speech The Strenuous Life on April 10, 1899: I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
inspiring life quotations theodore roosevelt
1 minute
June 2011
Recipe For Rebooting Tomb Raider
So what steps is Crystal Dynamics [the game maker] taking to reinvent Tomb Raider? … Sprinkle Some RPG Elements: Tomb Raider will use a base camp system as Lara’s home base or hub world. Here she can upgrade and build new gear, as well as purchase new survival skills (although I’m not yet sure what she’ll use for currency). From her base camp, she can revisit previous levels to look for items and reach areas previously inaccessible, much like Metroidvania games.
1 minute
June 2009
I sent the following to sjobs@apple.com: Mr. Jobs, I am dissatisfied with my experience of activating my iPhone 3GS. Activation was delayed for four days. Then, iTunes gave me a vague error saying my phone couldn’t be activated without explaining why. Then, I received an e-mail with a phone number to call. I tried calling it numerous times without being connected to a person in a reasonable amount of time. I once waited on hold for about twenty-five minutes.
3gs activation apple iphone life problems quotations steve jobs
2 minutes
October 2008
Choice quotations: What hackers and painters have in common is that they’re both makers. Along with composers, architects, and writers, what hackers and painters are trying to do is make good things. They’re not doing research per se, though if in the course of trying to make good things they discover some new technique, so much the better. Now I realize I was mistaken. Hackers need to understand the theory of computation about as much as painters need to understand paint chemistry.
computation hackers hacking life painters paul graham quotations science
4 minutes
July 2008
Ikkyu, the Zen master, was very clever even as a boy. His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique. Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed. Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him. When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked: “Why do people have to die?” “This is natural,” explained the older man. “Everything has to die and has just so long to live.
1 minute
The Most Valuable Thing In The World
Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: “What is the most valuable thing in the world?” The master replied: “The head of a dead cat.” “Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?” inquired the student. Sozan replied: “Because no one can name its price.” From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
1 minute
January 2008
James Koman recently wrote an opinion article in the Mustang Daily, the student newspaper of Cal Poly, entitled Why I hate white people. The article contains very racist and ignorant thoughts about white people, in case you couldn’t tell from the title. The newspaper was flooded with protesting letters to the editor in the following days. I just read the article and found the last sentence amusing, which is ironic since the rest of the article wasn’t:
cal poly ignorant james koman life mustang daily quotations racist reflections
1 minute
December 2007
The Christmas card poem that didn’t make it: Greetings Bill and Maria! I had a great idea To send you my love via … I’m writing this in a pizzeria In a galleria in South Korea I hope I don’t get diarrhea In their bathroom I could get gonorrhea
bill card christmas ideas life maria poem quotations
1 minute
August 2007
Is my identity constant or variable? On the one hand, my identity could be some thing or things about me that always have and always will be unique. On the other hand, my identity could be the variable but unique combination of my characteristics at any given moment, like my location, appearance, personality, relationships, and memory. I think it is a mix of the two. I think my choices identify who I am.
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2 minutes
March 2007
The Onion’s Article Titles Are The Best Part
Honestly, I think I enjoy the titles of The Onion articles more than the actual articles. For example: Actress’ Abortion Written Into TV Show High School Student Council Passes Nonbinding Resolution Kindergartner Being Groomed For Line-Leader Position Unreleased Jimmy Page Guitar Riff To Be Retrieved From Secret Vault To Save Rock And Roll Anchor Ad-Libs News With 97 Percent Accuracy
funny life quotations reflections the onion titles
1 minute
January 2007
There’s A Lobbyist For Everything These Days
The average height of Dutch men and women has increased so dramatically in the past century that being too tall for a standard-height ceiling or a standard-length bed has become a common problem. So problematic, in fact, that there is a tall person organization that lobbies on behalf of tall people for more head room: The Netherlands, as any European can tell you, has become a land of giants. In a century’s time, the Dutch have gone from being among the smallest people in Europe to the largest in the world.
bed dutch height length life lobbiers quotations tall
1 minute
October 2006
I’ve been reading an essay by Marc Laidlaw, entitled “The Hypermodern Muse“, in which he presents his experiences and reflections on writing for games. In case you don’t know, he’s the writer for Valve’s critically-acclaimed Half-Life games. When describing the essence of fusing writing with gameplay to make truly great games, he uses the game Majora’s Mask as an example. MM is one of my favorite games ever, but I’ve never been able to satisfactorily express why.
games half-life hypermodern muse life majora's mask marc laidlaw nintendo quotations writing zelda
6 minutes