no. 444

"We’ve separated religion and politics, and this was a great innovation. But so deeply embedded in our consciousness is the desire to give our lives some meaning and significance that no sooner did we do this than we infused the new nation-state with a sort of quasi-religious fervor. If you regard the sacred as something for which we are willing to give our lives, in some senses the nation has replaced God, because it’s now not acceptable to die for religion, but it is admirable to die for your country."

Karen Armstrong

no. 443

no. 442

"I would respect postmodernism if it called itself mad humanities"

Zach Wiener in Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (bonus button)

no. 441

"First rule of superlatives, there have to be at least two participants."

from Ty Halley's comic "Jerk-Off"

no. 440

no. 439

from Extra Fabulous Comics

no. 438

go see Zen Pencils, it's a much better quote source than here.

no. 437

George Carlin, from the film Life is Worth Losing

Cartoon by Gavin Aung Than, of Zen Pencils, a wonderful site that matches Gavin's drawings with wonderful quotes, and which beats hell out of my puny efforts here.

no. 436

"You know that dream where you suddenly realize that your forgot to go to class all semester?

That's how I feel every time I remember I'm an adult."

from the comic Calm Blue Oceans, by Jesse Cline

no. 435

"Never be haughty to the humble or humble to the haughty."

Jefferson Davis

no. 434

no. 433

"There are three sides to every story -- yours, mine, and the truth."

An American Proverb

no. 432

no. 431

"In general, good decisions are made when the person making the decision shares in both the benefits and the consequences of that decision. Shield a person from either and you shift the decision making process."

Condensed from the book "Why Flip A Coin? The Art And Science Of Good Decisions" by H.W. Lewis, and presented in the comic Free Fall by Mark Stanley.

no. 430

"Literary theory is a type of performance art!"

from Zach Weiner's comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

no. 429

If you were to shuffle a deck of cards and draw out ten cards, the chances of the sequence you drew coming up are in the trillions, no matter what the cards are. If you drew out an ordered suit, it would be astonishing, but the chances are the same as any other set of ten cards. The meaning is a human construct.

David McRaney, discussing the Texas sharpshooter fallacy, in his book, You Are Not So Smart (p42)


Hey, you want to see the truth of this first hand? Play poker, but make the worst hands the winners.

no. 428

Punditry is an industry built on confirmation bias. Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck and Arianna Huffington, Rachel Maddow and Ann Coulter - These people provide fuel for beliefs, they pre-filter the world to match existing worldviews. If their filter is like your filter, you love them. If it isn't, you hate them. You watch them not for information, but for confirmation.

David McRaney, discussing confirmation bias in his book, You Are Not So Smart (p28)

no. 427

Remember, there's always someone out there willing to sell eyeballs to to advertisers by offering a guaranteed supply of people looking for validation. Ask yourself if you are that audience. In science, you move closer to the truth by seeking evidence to the contrary. Perhaps the same method should inform your opinions as well.

David McRaney, You Are Not So Smart, p. 31

no. 426

"Well coffee can't be trusted, you know that right?"

Shep, in the comic Road Apples Almanac

no. 425

"If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism."

Edwin Lyngar, Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal