Thoughts

It has been said by President Bush that, "Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman" and that he "will work with congressional leaders and others to do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage." Now, my Merriam-Webster dictionary (as I understand it, the original Websters dictionary) defines an institution to be an establishment. It also defines sacred as "of or relating to religion." If I remember correctly, Congress is forbidden to make any laws concering the establishment of religion. By the Constitution. I'm aware that America is evolving into a democratic despotism, but the Chief Executive has yet to throw out the Constitution. So, my question is, from where does Mr. Bush think he or Congress gets the authority to do anything to the, in his words, "sacred institution" (or in the words of a reputable dictionary, "religious establishment") of marriage?

Obviously, not all ideas were created equal. Some are valuable; many are not. The most valuable ideas are those for which there aren't words. You learn them subconciously, and only with experience. Then, in a flash of insight, the idea breaks into your conciousness. It is probably a simple idea, one that you can hold in your head all at once. Nonetheless, it can take fifteen minutes to explain it to another. Then again, if the other person already knows the idea subconciously, it may only take a sentence to trigger the flash of insight.

What is your money to brains ratio?

Action heroes often have to choose between saving the girl and saving the world. Because they are action heroes, they can do both. I want to see a movie where the hero only accomplishes one feat.

On pirates: Pirates say, "Arrrre." "Are."? Roosevelt was only partly right. We have nothing to fear but fear itself . . . and stupidity. F33R teh stup1d, y0! Pirates are human. Humans are lazy. Thus, pirates don't want to work hard. Their jobs are made significantly easier if their victims are fearful. But, as we see in any movie, bad guys such as pirates can't go more than about 60 to 90 minutes without encountering a Hero. Heroes aren't afraid of fear. The only thing that can make a Hero afraid is then stupidity. Thus, pirates try to disarm Heroes by projecting false stupidity by saying merely, "Are." Are what? And who are? The inability to form a complete sentence with a subject and an intransitive verb with an object. So, to be not just a Hero, but a True Hero, you must see that a pirate who can say such a thing is actually really smart. Do that, and you win! The moral of the story: don't steal music.

Being tired for an intellectual worker is like being sore for a manual labourer. So, falling asleep whilst pondering is like being unable to lift a sack of concrete because of a sore back. Sorta.

Caffeine enhances sensory experiences. You might think this a good thing. Then you might be turned on by the beauty of a plus symbol and change your mind.

Half of the population is of below average intelligence. That's not my idea, of course, but consider what that means: For every person with an IQ of 120, there is a person with an IQ of 80. For every person at 140, there is somebody with an IQ of only 60. (Assuming the intelligence distribution is symmetricalish.)

Almost everything you wanted to know about the word meme. In short: they're thought virii.

Summer job idea: Start a business. Find some kids, sell them a pipe and cloves. Pipe smoke smells different. Cloves smell different. They might not notice that it's not tobacco. It's probably not illegal.