Yield to temptation, it may not pass your way again. Robert A. Heinlein. From The Notebook of Lazarus Long I always read this quote from Heinlein not as advice to indulge in anything that you fancy, but rather, the author urging the reader to take the other road whenever the fork appears. There is a […]
The Road Not Taken Read More »
Minimize your therbligs until it becomes automatic; this doubles your effective lifetime–and thereby gives time to enjoy butterflies and kittens and rainbows. Robert A. Heinlein – The Notebooks of Lazarus Long This Heinlein quote has become a personal mission of mine. I first read Time Enough for Love (the book from which nearly all of
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The Deathly Hallows, the last book in the Harry Potter series, was released this day, seven years ago (is that all?), in 2007. It broke sales records, selling 15 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, which makes it the fastest-selling novel ever published. My daughter, Kate, bought one of those 15
Harry Potter Lives Read More »
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods. Robert A. Heinlein – The Notebook of Lazarus Long We’ve all heard the expression “set in their ways” – which is the other side of the coin to Heinlein’s observation. There’s growing scientific evidence that “age” is a state of mind
Age as a state of mind. Read More »
If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. Robert A. Heinlein – The Notebook of Lazarus Long _________ I’ve had my nose rubbed in science a lot lately, probably because it’s been on my mind. I know you’ve had patterns like that happen to you, too. You’re thinking about
The Immoveable Object and The Irresistible Force Read More »
Today is the birthdate of Mary Josephine Ray, who was born on May 17 in 1895 and died in 2010, at the age of 114. At the time of her death, she was the oldest person in the United States. Aging is a condition about which most of us live in denial. We’d rather not
Supercentenarians, Age and Immortality Read More »
Don’t try to educate people who aren’t listening. The world is full of fools who believe they know everything, and besides, you could be wrong. Listen more than you talk, and you might hear something interesting. And you’ll be able to figure out if you’re listening to a fool, or not, if you’re listening, not
Damned Fools with Big Mouths Read More »
Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as “empty,” “meaningless,” or “dishonest,” and scorn to use them. No matter how “pure” their motives, they thereby throw sand into
The Use of Lubricant Read More »
…and do you really care? That’s a question I’ve been mulling over the last week or so. I read an article in a fiction-writing how-to book a while ago, and they emphasized the need for specificity when writing descriptions. The example they used was The trees were green. They suggested that a better way to
Is it an Uzi or a Timberwolf? Read More »
What are the facts? Again and again and again-what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history”–what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts
Care Not What the Neighbors Think Read More »