Quotations Weblog

“You don’t watch the news, do you?”

“No…”

“Well, there was a new terrorist plot that they stopped in London. At first I thought it was just propaganda, but it looks like the real thing.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. They won’t let you bring any liquids or pastes in your carry-on luggage. I guess the guys were going to assemble a bomb with the chemicals in shampoo bottles or something. You have to check your toiletries or they will just throw them away.”

“Great… I swear. It’s not worth it to fly anymore. Man, we’ve got a trip to San Antonio next month. I don’t want to have to fly with all this hassle. I wonder if we can drive it instead.”

“I’m just glad we drove to Vegas.”

If fear is the spur to prevent danger, then the media is doing the world a service. Somehow, I think it’s not…

With all that is happening in the world, it can be hard to remember that there is still so much to learn about it. Take bumble bees, for instance.

• CNN.com – Scientists: Bumblebees like it hot – Aug 3, 2006

The heat has been unpleasant this summer, but not for bumblebees. They seem to prefer to land on flowers that are warmer in temperature. It has nothing to do with the temperature of the nectar. They prefer to sit on warmer flower petals despite the temperature of the nectar.

Every day, we learn a little more about the natural world around us and it opens up to us like a fairy tale.

Sometimes when I log on to CNN.com, I feel overwhelmed with bad news. I find that I haven’t the stomach for it anymore. There is so much war and massacre every day that CNN makes me feel as if the entire planet is on fire.

Guess what? It’s not.

There are quiet, happy places all around us, even in the war-torn lands. CNN doesn’t care about those quiet and happy places. Quiet and happy doesn’t sell stocks and hemorrhoid cream. I want to see those stories far more than the blood shed. If CNN concentrated on all the good that happens in the world and ignored the bad, I have a feeling that wars and suffering would disappear from neglect.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, are still bothered about the episode of their show that was pulled. The episode, “Trapped in the Closet,” featured Tom Cruise as a character. Unfortunately, the episode was poised to air around the theatrical release of Mission Impossible: III. Paramount, who owns both South Park AND the Mission Impossible franchise, refused to air the episode.

• CNN.com – ‘South Park’ guys still upset – Jul 14, 2006

“So there are two things we can’t do on Comedy Central: show Muhammad or Tom Cruise,” Trey Parker said.

Comedy Central president Doug Herzog admitted, “It’s tough, but I think I would say we did overreact. … Matt and Trey enjoy a fair amount of creative freedom. History might show that we overreacted, and we will live with that.”

South Park has been a favorite of ours for quotations. You can see the whole collection here:

• South Park Quotations – The Quotations Page

If you would like to create your own South Park-styled character (as I did above), you can do it here:

• South Park Studio Version 2

Via: communicatrix » Blog Archive » Sparky Donatello’s Self-Portrait Marathon, Installation #2

The St. Petersburg Times ran an article by William McKeen in which McKeen proposed that the Internet is endangering the joy of serendipity.

• Perspective: The endangered joy of serendipity

Anyone who has read this weblog or looked up a quotation on the Internet knows that his viewpoint is nearsighted. Our collection of quotations is more unique, up-to-date and accessible than any book of quotations could ever be. He obviously hasn’t spent hours surfing the web, finding unique and interesting things all the time. He was immediately blasted by the Internet Illuminati.

• stevenberlinjohnson.com: Can We Please Kill This Meme Now

• Steven Johnson responds to the endangered joy of serendipity piece, I just linked to, arguing that the web is a much better serendipity engine than the library (kottke.org)

Until we teach everyone the joy of serendipitous discovery on the Internet, there will still be people out there who think the newspaper, library and radio is better than what you can find on the Internet. People like McKeen won’t be able to know this until we teach them. The Internet is a huge bundle of beautiful randomness, but McKeen isn’t able to see it because he hasn’t had the “great change in the fundamental constitution of his modes of thought.”

It’s time we teach him and the rest of the people out there who still fear the Internet.