Dagens citat

[Mads740]

En gang imellem lykkedes det folk at sige noget så kort, præcist eller smukt, at det virker omsonst at finde en anden formulering. Sker det i BBB har vi en tråd til det, men lad os udveksle favoritter fra den virkelige verden. Jeg lægger ud med General Patton og den sidste del af hans berømte tale til den tredje arme.

There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won't have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana." No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!

[k b hagen]

og for en ordens skyld den lidt ældre version:

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

(harry V, shakespeare)

[Zetterstedt]

Det her er nærmest tårefremkaldende rigtigt:

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'"
(Isaac Asimov)


Mvh,
Z

[rous]

2-0 er den farligste føring.


Richard Møller Nielsen, fhv. landstræner

[Zetterstedt]

Denne her er efter sigende også Pattons. Men jeg tvivler. Det rimer ikke rigtigt på hvad jeg ellers har hørt og læst om manden. Under alle omstændigheder er det et helt præcist og særdeles rigtigt udsagn.

"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."


Mvh,
Z

[NewerNN]

En del af Murphys Law on warfare:

"If an attack is going really well - it's an ambush".

[2000F]

"Shit, it's a good thing we split from these assholes 200 years ago. I hope they really don't think we sniff glue. I quit when I was eight."

Sagt/hvæset af Dee Dee Ramone, efter Ramones' første koncert i England og de efterfølgende forsider i tabloidpressen.

[Ren_FC]

Bryg en kop kaffe, tænd en smøg (for dem med de preferencer) og sæt dig tilrette og læs en afsluttende formaning fra en afgående formand, om et emne han tilfældigvis VED noget om!
Sættes det så efterfølgende i en moderne kontekst, får man VIRKLIG noget at tænke over!
Men over til Hr. Eisenhower på hans længste dag. (1961)



My fellow Americans:

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.

My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years. In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.

II.

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

III.

Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.

Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future.

Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.

IV.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.

We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

V.

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

VI.

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.

Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.

VII.

So -- in this my last good night to you as your President -- I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future. You and I -- my fellow citizens -- need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.


R

[Don J.]

"Det er ikke fordi jeg har lyst, men fordi jeg trænger!
Man får jo sådan en trykken for tarmene!"

fru Murermester Jessen, Korsbæk

[Mads740]

Dette er angiveligt et afskrift af et interview mellem en kvindelig journalist og General Reinwald. Interviewet skete i forbindelse med en fremvisning af basen for en flok drengespejdere.

Kvindelig journalist (KJ): General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
General Reinwald (GR): We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery and shooting.
KJ: Shooting? Isn't that a bit orresponsible?
GR: I don't see why. The'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
KJ: Don't you admit that it's a terribly dangerous activity to teach childen?
GR: I don't see how... We will be teaching thekm proper rifle range discipline before tehy even touch a firearm.
KJ: But aren't you equipping them to be violent killers?
GR: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you are not one. Are you?

[Don J.]

Ja, jeg må jo næste udødelig gøre min gamle signatur i denne tråd...

By the way, any mention of Brøndby Stadium is incomplete without pointing out that, despite the alterations carried out, the visiting fans enclosure still has only two toilets and one pissoir for 2,000 people.

The Guardian 20. februar 2003

[Sibusiso]

Fra dagens Jyllandsposten:

"Til den tid fårbentlig uden abelyde, der også er usympatiske, når de er rettet mod en decemberbleg Dan Anton Johansen"

Jaja.

Sibs

[Mads740]

George Carlins indledende monolog fra sit "Life Is Worth Losing"-show

I’m a modern man. I’m a modern man. I’m a modern man. I’m a modern man. I’m a modern man, a man for the millenium, digital and smokefree. A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist, politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been uplinked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and downsourced, and all the upside of downsizing and all the downside of upgrading. A fucking low life, a cutting edge, state of the art, bicoastal multitasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hotwired, heatseeking, warmhearted, cold customer, voiceactivated and biodegradeble.

I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.

Behind the eightball, ahead of the curve, riding the wave, dodging the bullet, pushing the envelope. I’m on point, on task, on message and of drugs. I’ve got no need for coke and speed. I’ve got no urge to binge and purge. I’m in the moment, on the edge, over the top but under the radar. A highconcept, lowprofile mediumranged, ballistic missionary. A streetwise smartbomb, A topgun bottomfeeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps, I run victory laps. I’m a totally ongoing, bigfoot, slam dunk, rainmaker with a proactive outreach. A raging workaholic, a working ragaholic, out of rehab and in denial.

I’ve got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistent and a personal agenda. You can’t shut me up, you can’t dumb me down, cause I’m tireless and I’m wireless, I’m an alpha male on beta blockers.

I’m a nonbeliever and an overachiever, laid back but fashion forward. Upfront, down home, low rent, high maintenance. Super size, long lasting, high definition, fast acting, oven ready and built to last. I’m a hands on, foot loose, kneejerk headcase. Prematurily posttraumatic and I have a lovechild who sends me hatemail.

But I’m feeling, I'm caring, I’m healing, I’m sharing. A supportive bonding, nurturing , primary care giver. My output is down but my income is up. I take a short position on the long bond and my revenuestream has its own cashflow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds, I watch trash sports. I’m gender specific, capital intensive, user friendly and lactose intolerant.

I like rough sex, I like rough sex, I like tough love. I use the f-word in my emails and the software on my harddrive is hardcore, no soft porn. I bought a microwave at a minimall, I bought a minivan at a megastore. I eat fast food in the slow lane, I’m toll free, bite sized, ready to wear and I come in all sizes. A fully equipped, factory autorized, hospital tested, clinically approven, scientifically formulated, medical miracle. I’ve been pre washed, pre cooked, pre heated, pre screened, pre approved, pre packaged, post dated, freeze dried, double wrapped, vacuum wrapped, and I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I’m a rude dude but I’m the real deal, lean and mean. Cocked, glocked and ready to rock. Rough, tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with tide, I’ve got glide in my stride. Driving and moving, sailing and spinning, jiving and grooving, whaling and winning. I don’t snooze, so I don’t loose, I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hardy and luch time is crunch time. I’m hanging in, there ain’t no doubt, I’m hanging tough, over and out.

[Martin CX]

John Stuart Mill: On Liberty, kapitel 2

Hele kapitlet er et af de væsentligste styk tankegods i vores tradition for ytrings- og pressefrihed. Belært af tidligere mangel i attention span, er her blot den afsluttende afsnit af kapitlet:

It is, however, obvious that law and authority have no business with restraining either [offensive attacks on infidelity or on religion], while opinion ought, in every instance, to determine its verdict by the circumstances of the individual case; condemning every one, on whichever side of the argument he places himself, in whose mode of advocacy either want of candor, or malignity, bigotry or intolerance of feeling manifest themselves, but not inferring these vices from the side which a person takes, though it be the contrary side of the question to our own; and giving merited honor to every one, whatever opinion he may hold, who has calmness to see and honesty to state what his opponents and their opinions really are, exaggerating nothing to their discredit, keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favor. This is the real morality of public discussion; and if often violated, I am happy to think that there are many controversialists who to a great extent observe it, and a still greater number who conscientiously strive towards it.

mvh
Martin CX

[tricolor]

Dette er mine principper, hvis I ikke kan lide dem har jeg andre.

Groucho Marx/Jyllands-Posten

mvh