thought for the day — belated

Migraine’s a bitch!

though for the day

Man has always assumed that he is more intelligent than dolphins because he has achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins have ever done is muck about in the water, having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.
(Douglas Adams / ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’)

thought for the day

Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full. (Leon Trotsky / Coyoacán 1940)

thought for the day

Once you hear the details of a victory, it is hard to separate it from a defeat.
(Jean-Paul Sartre / ‘Le Diable et le Bon Dieu’)

She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all.
(Bob Dylan / ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’)

happy birthday Gaia

In the late 1640s James Ussher, an Anglican archbishop with time on his hands, set about calculating the date of creation: his conclusion was that creation began at nightfall preceding 23 October 4004 BCE.

At the time, intellectuals apparently regarded this an important question and he wasn’t the first to rack his brains on the problem. But three things have always struck me about this piece of theological pseudo-science: the authorative precision of his fantasy calculation; how do you define nightfall without light; and if you start with ‘Let there be light’ wouldn’t it be dawn.

Whatever. Happy birthday Gaia. 

thought for the day

Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
…
What has happened has happened. The water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again, but
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
…
(Bertolt Brecht)