Quotes and other thoughts.

Elliot with a deep thought.

• Rather than trying to disprove the Theory of Evolution with Intelligent Design why not take the easier path and just find a fossilized mammal in the pre-Cambrian shale.
• If you smoke you can't really claim to be concerned about the environment. The only exception to this rule is if you smoke and have a very well developed sense of irony. Corollary: Runners who smoke have the best sense of irony.
• Even stable systems are unstable under the right conditions. Corollary: Even the worst-case scenario doesn't always take into account everything that can go wrong.
• Almost all problems in life can be traced to either a short or open-circuit.
• Would you give your all life's savings, past and future, to know whether we are alone in the universe?
• Sometimes just changing your perspective can shed light on a problem.
• Add a little noise to the problem and see if things don't change. Note: It's the basis for Stochastic Resonance theory.
• Changing someone's mind is just a case of changing their perspective. Note: That includes your own.
• Our lease on life grows shorter each day but the length remaining is still entangled with randomness.
• With varying degrees of precision, the artist, poet, engineer and scientist all try to describe and/or improve on the human condition.
• While you're working on a solution to the problem, bear in mind that some people don't understand what the problem is. Others don't even know that there is a problem. Corollary: Ignorance is inevitable.
• There are lots of jobs out there that don't benefit the human race (e.g. working for tobacco companies or the military). Try to get one of the other kind.
• What would happen if everyone gave up their addiction to TV and turned their attention to what was going on in government. Bet we'd see some scared politicians.
• There is simplicity in brilliance. There is elegance in simplicity. There is brilliance in elegance.
• We spend so much time and energy doing things that neither help us or make us happy.
• There is no better feeling than working in a group towards a common goal.
• Imagine where we could collectively be if all that time and energy invested in fighting each other and working at cross purposes could be spent working for the common good.
• Painful insight into yourself is the hardest to take.
• We all think we're doing the right thing.
• Human relationships: An unstable system in need of a control system. Corollary: Get those poles in the left-hand plane.
• Some disgruntled ex-employees have a right to be disgruntled. Not everyone who complains is a whiner.
• You can't live with someone just because they're a nice person. There has to be some frisson.
• In the face of a seemingly insurmountable problem, remember that there is humour somewhere in there, just give it time. Corollary: time + tragedy = humour
• Used to be you could read a short book on C over the weekend and get a programming job the following Monday. Now we're faced with lengthy books on specific topics making it difficult to understand the entire field. We need something to separate the details from the big picture. At least until we need to understand the details. Corollary: There is nothing better than a short, concise, book whatever the topic.
• My ignorance about engineering problems always outweighed my insight. However, both are necessary for problem solving.
• Don't trust someone trying to convince you of their economic policy if they can't explain how to derive a compound interest formula. Corollary: Don't trust someone trying to convince you of their foreign policy if they can't name all the countries surrounding the one they want to invade (think Iraq and there are 6 surrounding it).
• Work: Day-care for adults. Corollary: And there's no nap time.
• We store memories like squirrels store nuts for the winter. Corollary: And then we start to lose our memory, and sense of irony.
• You know it's a new world order when they start yelling: "Fat, bald, middle-aged men in the life boats first." Corollary: Don't hold your breath.
• There would be a lot more vegetarians if more people lived on farms.
• We acquire the attributes of our parents/teachers/employers/captors, and they, us.
• An infinite number of choices reduces the act of choosing to one of chance.
• There is no better feeling than waking up and wondering where you are. And you weren't even drinking last night. Corollary: Even better if you're wondering who you are.
• Confidence is half the battle. You're 90% done when you've won half the battle.
• When you're surrounded by dinosaurs, don't ignore that furry little mammal lurking in the undergrowth.
• There is always a corollary to every pithy saying. Corollary: Except this one.
• If we all took a serious look at the state of things we would surely weep before making haste to rectify things.
• Too little analysis and the project will fail for lack of planning; too much and the project will fail because it never gets started. Corollary: Good enough is sometimes best.
• There are some things that just can't be known. For example, try to imagine a 4-dimensional cube and see if your brain doesn't start to hurt. Corollary: A known unknown.
• Somewhere there's a better explanation than the one we're getting.
• For the good of your soul you should understand: 1) How a synchromesh gearbox works. 2) The solution to dx/dt + cx = 0 and 3) Why some problems have no easily computed solutions (protein folding, traveling salesman, etc.)
• If you could be given the insight and tools to solve one of the big problems of the human race (cancer, pollution, corruption, etc) would you do it if it meant no profit or recognition for your work. Corollary: If you were given the answer to an important question (how does the brain work, what is the meaning of it all) but you would have to spend the rest of your life in poverty, would you accept the trade?
• This thing called life isn't turning out as humorous as I thought it would. Corollary: Better read the owner's manual again.
• The ability to avoid distractions is a great thing. Corollary: We should all be given an 8-pole Chebyshev filter at birth.
• Never underestimate the power of a cup of tea. Corollary: It was the British secret weapon in WWII.
• Does the universe have a sense of humour? Yes? We're in trouble. No? See Yes. Corollary: Heads, it wins; tails we lose.
• Machines and computers still need us to keep running. When this no longer holds, it will be us that needs them to keep running.
• Excuse me while I regress to the mean. Corollary: There's a 50% chance that we're all just average.
• Not sure why we're only aiming at 50mpg. Certainly it's better than most American cars but in 1982 the VW diesel Rabbit got better fuel economy. The engine only developed 50bhp which was just adequate for freeway speeds. The savings on fuel more than compensated for this.
• Never underestimate the utility of a reboot.