Some Things People Have Said

Here's a list:

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."

{President and founder of Digital Equipment Kenneth Olsen, 1977.}

(Good heavens. You mean that I've been following a dying trend . . . ?)

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years."

{President of vacuum company Lewyt Alexander Lewyt, 1957.}

(I want a nuclear-powered vacuum cleaner, 'cause that sounds like the ultimate dust-attacker. Apparently, they're quite overdue.)

"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market."

{Business Week magazine, 1968.}

(And Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi are . . . what, Antarctic?)

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."

{French military strategist, future World War I Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1911.}

(Too bad the rest of the world didn't think so . . .)

"[Man will never reach the moon] regardless of all future scientific advances."

{Inventor of the audion tube and father of radio Dr. Lee De Forest, 1967.}

(What about women?)

"[Television] won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."

{Head of 20th Century-Fox Darryl F. Zanuck, 1946.}

(Billions of people must be bored out of their minds, then.)

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."

{Western Union Internal Memo, 1876.}

(Email, right?)

"The Earth is the center of the universe."

{Ptolemy, 2nd Century.}

(And the USA is the center of the Earth.

Just kidding about that. Really. It's not. It's important, but not the center.)

"Nothing of importance happened today."

{King George III of England, July 4th 1776.}


(Nothing like, you know, the colonies declaring their independence from under good ol' George's rule?)

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

{U.S. Commissioner of Patents, Charles H. Duell, 1899.}

(Then where were all the patents for computers and whatnot? Don't tell me the U.S. Patent Office has been holding out on us since 1899 . . .)

"These Google guys, they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that. Let us see if they still want to run the business in two to three years."

{CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates, 2003.}

(Rock stars? You can become a rock star by starting up an Internet search provider? I'm there.)


Got anything to add? Any stupid/funny quotes you know of?

-----The Golden Eagle

Soap and Education Are Not as Sudden as a Massacre But are More Deadly in the Long Run*

I really don't like starting off posts that are more personal than book reviews and/or posts with a theme. Like, what do I start off the darned thing with--me, writing, stuff I'm doing 'round the blogosphere, or just some random fact? I usually go with the random fact option . . . but today I'm going to start off with the fact that my characters just turned a year old today!

You're probably thinking: HUH? but you see, I started writing my current story exactly a year ago. I think it was a year ago; for some reason this date reminds me of something. I know I started it in September sometime. Not all of my characters have reached a year yet; I only introduced some a few months ago when I was rewriting.

But Combat Chief Neodvisni (I didn't know his last name at the outset--I should have since that's what everyone calls him) and Esperanza, (no last name anyway), the two main characters in the story have been in my mind almost every day for the past year.

Question here: how often do YOU think about your characters? I do a lot. Like daily.

*****

Guess what? I signed up for Alex J. Cavanaugh's Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest set for September 20th. I don't watch any TV beyond PBS (I'm not kidding!) but I since I love a bunch that they show I decided to put my name up there. I only have tomorrow to write it though since I put it off--panic attack! I'm going to have to make up that list pretty fast. :P But I don't mind--go sign up yourself!

I'm also participating in Alex, Jennifer Daiker, and Elana Johnson's Great Blogging Experiment. I love that title. I'm really going to hit the blogging world on September 24th to see what everyone thinks is the best way to write compelling characters. Again--SIGN UP.

Watch out for my posts, too! :)

*****

The trees are starting to change here. They're turning orange, yellow, red, fading to brown . . . it's pretty, but it's also getting colder to point where I need a jacket. I don't like wearing jackets--anything bulky just gets on my nerves. The temperatures are dropping at night and in the day, 80s are unlikely and 60s are common, it's been in the 40s . . . but I love fall. It's my favorite season.

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I know I was going to say something else but I can't remember it now . . . hrrrmm. What was it? Eh. Never mind. I'll think of it tomorrow and probably forget it again . . . you know, it seems like whenever I start writing my posts the thoughts I had fly out the window. It's same with my story--the computer seems to dash everything I had in mind.

Ah well. I usually wing it successfully enough. Don't you think?

Here's a random fact I just noticed: I have a total of 458 tags.

458!? I don't use that many very often! I'm glad I don't have one of the lists of all the tags I have. It would take up the whole sidebar. I have such things as "Angels and Demons" "American Experience" "iPod" "Kenneth Feinberg" and all sorts of miscellany. Including "Zippidy-do-dah".

*****

Oh, hey, I just realized PBS is showing Victor Borge.

VICTOR BORGE. THAT GUY IS HILARIOUS. It's too bad he died. It's the Falling Leaves one--ever seen it? LOL.

*****

*Mark Twain quotation

-----The Golden Eagle