Notable quotes

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time. -- Rabbinical Saying

[Lamplighter]

During the Million Vets March on the Washington Memorial, Sarah Palin
took the microphone and made a somewhat paradoxical remark:

... And we will not be timid in calling out anybody that uses the military as pawns”...

Fox News
10/13/13

[Carruthers]

"Nothing matters very much and few things matter at all". (Arthur James Balfour, British Prime Minister 1902-05).

I believe he said this at a Cabinet meeting of all places.

[JBKlyde]

Don't Let the Sin Go Down While Your Still Angry With Your Brother- The Bible

The Only Difference Between Me an a Mad Man IS that I'm Not Mad- Salvador Dali-

[glatt]

"A lot of the problems with iPhone stuff, Snapchat, Facebook, whatever, if you get addicted to it, a lot of your life is communicating with other people being part of the tabloid culture, not being educated and learning. As machines take over for the humans, learning is less and less and less important."
-Steve Wozniak
May 28, 2015 Esquire interview

[Gravdigr]

The Woz quote makes me think of the movie "Idiocracy".

Kinda.

[xoxoxoBruce]

“I admired the English immensely for all that they had endured, and they were certainly honorable, and stopped their cars for pedestrians, and called you “sir” and “madam,” and so on. But after a week there, I began to feel wild. It was those ruddy English faces, so held in by duty, the sense of “what is done” and “what is not done,” and always swigging tea and chirping, that made me want to scream like a hyena.”

Julia Child, from “My Life in France.”

[DanaC]

Yeah. We're really not so big on duty these days.

[Happy Monkey]

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. -Thomas Jefferson

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

“I admired the English immensely for all that they had endured, and they were certainly honorable, and stopped their cars for pedestrians, and called you “sir” and “madam,” and so on. But after a week there, I began to feel wild. It was those ruddy English faces, so held in by duty, the sense of “what is done” and “what is not done,” and always swigging tea and chirping, that made me want to scream like a hyena.”

Julia Child, from “My Life in France.”

I admit to swigging tea, but I never chirp.

Well, a chap has his standards, you know.

[DanaC]

When was that quote from? I never here 'sir' or 'madam' and I don't have a particularly strong sense of what is done and not done. I actually notice the use of the word 'sir' as a form of address in American shows and movies because it's fallen out of use for much of the country here - there are some contexts you still hear it and often these are commercial or service interactions, but mainly it doesn't get used much - higher end retail and service might. Though it's possible it is on greater use in some parts of the country- certainly wouldn't expect it where I live. Far more likely to use my name or just 'love'

I do swig tea

[xoxoxoBruce]

In her own words, it is a book about the things Julia loved most in her life: her husband, France (her "spiritual homeland"), and the "many pleasures of cooking and eating." It is a collection of linked autobiographical stories, mostly focused on the years between 1948 and 1954, recounting in detail the culinary experiences Julia and her husband, Paul Child, enjoyed while living in Paris, Marseilles, and Provence.[2]

[DanaC]

Ahhhh well - yeah that probably accurately described English cullture back then.

also - just realised I typed 'here' instead of 'hear' in that post. Doh.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

“I admired the English immensely for all that they had endured, and they were certainly honorable, and stopped their cars for pedestrians, and called you “sir” and “madam,” and so on. But after a week there, I began to feel wild. It was those ruddy English faces, so held in by duty, the sense of “what is done” and “what is not done,” and always swigging tea and chirping, that made me want to scream like a hyena.”

Julia Child, from “My Life in France.”

As DanaC mentions, it's pretty much unheard of for anyone to use 'sir' or 'madam', these days.
However, a few weeks ago I was out walking my canine guest when a runner approached from the opposite direction.
I wished him a 'Good morning' and he responded with 'Good morning, sir' which took me by surprise.
I think that he was from the nearby RAF station and they probably err on the side of caution and call everyone 'sir'.
I suppose it's a spin off from the old British Military dictum of 'If it moves, salute it. If it stands still, paint it'.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Or he was sucking up so you wouldn't sic the dog on him.