Really Good Quotes

Archive for August, 2008

August 25, 2008

Monday, August 25th, 2008

Really Good Quotes "A mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Greetings, Quotaholics:

For years now Tim has been trying to get us to use our spare computer time to help cure disease.

Someone realized that by using many, many small computers you had the power of the largest computers there are. This virtual computing can then be applied to solve problems that would take too long on a regular computer.

It’s amazing how a seemingly insignificant amount of computer resources multiplied by a vast number of internet users can suddenly create a formidable force. I guess it’s the sheer number of people on the internet that still amazes me.

For instance, you know when you go to fill in an online form and you are asked to key in a sequence of random letters and numbers? That’s a security program named CAPTCHA at work. It’s intended to verify that you are in fact a human and not a computer “bot” signing up.

It seems that the folks at CAPTCHA realized that while humans can recognize the letters and numbers written in crazy script, nobody has been able to program a computer to recognize them. The down side of this is that according to Luis von Ahn, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, keying these passwords is wasting our time.

In an interview on National Public Radio von Ahn said, “Approximately 200 million of these are typed every day by people around the world. Each time you type one of these, essentially you waste about 10 seconds of your time," he says. "If you multiply that by 200 million, you get that humanity as a whole is wasting around 500,000 hours every day, typing these annoying squiggly characters."

Now we can’t expect websites to abandon the password process so von Ahn decided to put us to work instead. He came up with a system called reCAPTCHA that will help digitize the world’s libraries.

“He knew that lots of libraries have huge efforts under way to digitize their collections. These projects first scan books or newspapers by basically taking a picture of each page. Then a computer takes the image of each word and converts it into text, using optical character-recognition software.”

“But computers often come across printed words they just can’t recognize. ‘Especially for older documents, things that were written before 1900, where the ink has faded and the pages have yellowed out, the computer makes a lot of mistakes,’ says von Ahn.”

“A human being has to look at those words and decipher them. It occurred to von Ahn that he could link this kind of activity to security devices used on the Internet. Instead of asking people to prove they’re human by copying random sequences of distorted letters and numbers, he could ask them to decipher mystery words from scanned books and newspapers.”

So now when you go to a site that is using reCAPTCHA you will be asked to type in two sets of letters. One is the real security word the other is a word that a computer somewhere couldn’t figure out. This problem word will be presented to a number of people and if the results from multiple users agree, the word will be replaced in the computer that submitted it to be deciphered.

“‘And the number of words that we’ve been able to digitize like this is insanely large, it’s like over a billion. It’s like 1.3 billion by now,’ von Ahn says.”

“In the journal Science, he and his colleagues report that over the last year Web users have transcribed enough text to fill up more than 17,600 books, with better than 99 percent accuracy.”

The down side of this is the fact that now you will be required to type in two sets of letters in order to pass the “human or computer” test. The good news is that something good is coming of your efforts.

Will knowing that you are accomplishing something make it less irritating to type these passwords? Are you as surprised as I am at the amount of text that is being translated using this system? Doesn’t this hold amazing possibilities for future projects? Can you think of any other problems that could be solved this way?

Digitally,

Isn’t it worth $1 a month to you to keep RGQ going? Please click the link and direct your contribution to reallygoodquotes@yahoo.com.

"Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo." - Infantry Journal

"You, you, and you…panic! The rest of you, come with me." - U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt.

Volleyball
[Thanks to Bonnie in Louisiana]

My boyfriend and I were at my son’s volleyball game when we noticed an adult couple in the bleachers. They were being VERY affectionate.

She was running her hands all over him and nibbling on his ear. He had his hands on her chest.

I said to my boyfriend, "I don’t know whether to watch them or the game."

He said, "Watch THEM! You already KNOW how to play volleyball…."

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure-which is: ‘Try to please everybody’." - Herbert Bayard Swope, American journalist and editor, (1882-1958)

"There is no force so powerful as an idea whose time has come." - Everett Dirksen, American Senator (1896-1969)

"What was once thought can never be unthought." - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss playwright and novelist (1921-1990)

Ouch
[Thanks to Robert, an American original]

E-Mail the Imp

Mining is a dangerous profession. Burrowing underground is a natural activity for moles and ants but not for humans. Even considering that our bodies are bigger than moles or ants (except in SciFi movies) and we need bigger holes to move in, so the holes we dig are much wider, higher, and deeper proportionally than theirs.

If you build a house of cards you can make it fairly sturdy. Build another with a few less cards on the bottom creating more open space and build it higher with a lot more weight pressing down and you increase the chances of a collapse. An underground mine is a lot the same, an open space below and a lot of weight above.

Since we’re pulling something valuable out of the mines we dig, we tend to go very, very deep. There’s a gold mine in South Africa that goes down 3.5 km (2.2 miles); go up that high and you start needing oxygen.

Not only are there dangers of mine collapse and cave-ins to worry bout, but there are dangers of fires. In coal mines there’s always the danger of methane gas explosions, but any mine can have a devastating fire, particularly electrical fires. In such confined spaces loss of oxygen to the fire can be, and often is, deadly.

We’re familiar with those types of mine disasters, but there are dangers in open pit mining also. The deepest open pit mine is about 900 m (nearly 1000 feet) deep and that raises the specter of landslides.

In recent news reports two different mining dangers were brought to light. In Burkina Faso (Click here for a geography lesson or the CIA fact book) recently, a mudslide killed forty gold miners. They were all swept away and drowned. That’s a type of mining disaster that you don’t hear about very often.

In another news report, miners at remote Russian platinum mines are refusing to go to work after two miners were killed and eaten by bears. Killed and eaten…think about it. You might think about hikers or campers being attacked by bears but not miners. Even then all you usually hear about is mauling and possibly death, but not being devoured.

Work place dangers take many forms; from toxic fumes to getting shot, from sinking ships to airplane crashes, and the mundane of broken bones – pulled muscles – and eye strain. Little did we know that the 21st century would bring back the Paleolithic danger of marauding animals.

I suppose we can blame ourselves. We protect wildlife so they flourish on the one hand and then encroach on their habitat forcing them into greater contact with humans while they forage. They begin to associate humans with food by going through our trash, finding our livestock, and even being fed by misguided idiots. It’s no wonder they’d begin to think about us as food also.

We can expect more problems with bears as the Arctic pack ice begins to disappear and the tundra warms up. Game sources (read prey) will shrink or move or change leaving humans and food as one and the same. Perhaps we’ll have wolf packs to worry about next followed by marauding herds of Moose, Elk, and Bison trampling everyone in their path to get to and graze on wheat and corn fields. We could see flocks of raptors ravaging flocks of sheep and anyone who gets in their way.

It seems “The Birds” and “The Night of the Grizzly” should be re-released as documentaries or used as news story lead-ins.

The Bad Sied

Click here for guidelines on 15 Minutes submissions

Speak Up!
Speak right up!

On this day in history, August 25, 1835: The first of a six-part series runs in the New York Sun. The series was advertised on August 21 and was said to be a reprint from the esteemed Sir John Herschel as told to Dr. Grant and run in the prestigious The Edinburgh Courant. The famous astronomer supposedly made observations of the moon using a very powerful telescope and what he saw was astounding. According to the nearly 2-year-old paper, the moon sported fantastic animal life including unicorns, two-legged tailless beavers, and bat-like winged humanoids.

The most likely author is Cambridge-educated Richard Adams Locke although he never publically claimed authorship. Two others, Jean-Nicholas Nicollet and Lewis Gaylord Clark, are also possible, but both are less likely to be the author than is Locke. If it was indeed Locke, he had two reasons to write the series – first and foremost was to boost sales. A second reason would have been to ridicule some of the more preposterous "scientific" claims of the time.

"The next animal perceived would be classed on earth as a monster. It was of a bluish lead color, about the size of a goat, with a head and beard like him, and a single horn, slightly inclined forward from the perpendicular. The female was destitute of horn and beard, but had a much longer tail."

"But whilst gazing upon them in a perspective of about half a mile, we were thrilled with astonishment to perceive four successive flocks of large winged creatures, wholly unlike any kind of birds, descend with a slow even motion from the cliffs on the western side, and alight upon the plain."

"The universal state of amity among all classes of lunar creatures, and the apparent absence of every carnivorous or ferocious creatures, gave us the most refined pleasure, and doubly endeared to us this lovely nocturnal companion of our larger, but less favored world." – all from Great Astronomical Discoveries or the Great Moon Hoax

In a normal day the twins love to fight and argue. On the way home from visiting friends yesterday, they started asking "birds and bees" questions. After a few explanations, William remembers his 5th grade health class, and without warning exclaims: "Out of the millions and millions of sperm cells, how is it that I end up with Samuel as a sperm buddy?" Cracked me up! - Noella

Email Kirsten

“Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.”
~ Johnny Carson ~

What is your happiness worth to you? A hundred bucks? A thousand? Fifty G’s? Maybe you think that a price could not be put on your happiness. But apparently it can. There is an actual field of study - the Economics of Happiness - devoted to this subject. The theory is twofold. First, people who are economically successful are happier than people who are not. Second, people who are happy are more likely to achieve economic success than people who are not. It sounds like a chicken-and-egg situation to me. If you don’t start out with one or the other, your outlook is pretty bleak.

Most of us regard happiness as a subjective thing. It can be very hard to compare the happiness of one person to the happiness of another, especially when different cultures are involved. The Economics of Happiness does, however, take differing circumstances into account. For instance, pregnancy that happens in an emotionally and economically stable marriage scores high on the happiness charts. Pregnancy that happens to a teenager with no support and no financial means gets a very low score.

Happiness economists have been able to determine some general trends regarding who is happier.

People who start out with higher life expectancies are happier than people who are statistically doomed to an early grave.

People who are married are happier than people who aren’t. However, it’s not clear whether this is because marriage results in happiness, or because happy people are more likely to get married.

There is a direct relationship between happiness and level of education.

There is also a direct relationship between happiness and income. This is a relationship of diminishing returns, though. In other words, as income rises, happiness also rises, but at a slower rate.

People are happier when they have more spare time. There is a general correlation between happiness and feeling in control of one’s life.

Although pregnancy increases happiness in the “right” circumstances, actual children tend to decrease parental happiness. This is probably because of the stress, financial strain, and sleep deprivation.

People who give stuff away to the needy are happier. This may be an indication, though, that they are financially secure, and the happiness could be due in part to that.

A hierarchy of needs was devised by a guy who figured that happiness is nothing more than an outcome of striving for needs. If you cannot even meet your most basic needs - food and shelter - you’re hardly likely to worry about stuff like self-esteem and the attainment of spiritual enlightenment. Maslow’s hierarchy is in the shape of a pyramid, with the most basic physiological needs - breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and excretion - forming the base. Safety needs are one level up from that. These include security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, and property. Next comes love and belonging - friendship, family and sexual intimacy (distinguished, I suppose, from the primal animal sex of the first level). Then we move into esteem - self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of and by others. Right at the top, making up the peak of the pyramid, is self-actualization. This includes morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.

The theory behind all this is that until we have completely satisfied the needs at one level, we cannot move onto striving for the needs of the level above. This may be true up to a point, but I think most of us will agree that it is not quite as clearcut as that. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has lacked security of employment and resources but still managed to achieve needs in the love and belonging category, which is one up from safety.

If I were to put a monetary value on my own happiness, it would probably sound like a Mastercard ad.
Knowing that as a healthy woman with a good education in a technologically advanced nation, I am likely to live until I am at least 90: a thousand bucks.
Having a very funny husband who makes me laugh a lot: fifty thousand bucks.
Those quiet moments when the kids are not hitting each other over the head with trains or Lego: a hundred thousand bucks.
The look on my mother-in-law’s face when we play practical jokes like filling her front lobby with so many balloons that she cannot even get in: priceless.

Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten

My dad was a salesman and my mother was a master negotiator. If I walk into an office with an idea that will save that office time/money/whatever, I can’t have a smile on my face. I can tell them I have cured all their ills, and they will still be suspicious.

If I walk in with a contemplating look, though, they get intrigued. They listen to me, but I have to word the office-saving “what if” questions carefully to make them think it was their idea (my brother taught me that trick). By the time I leave their office, they are thanking me for them doing what I want them to do.

Family is a little tougher to wind up and it takes more time, but sometimes the work is worth it.

So I called my brother long distance on April 1st. For those of you not aware, that is April Fools Day. He didn’t know that, but he knew I was paying for the call.

We always go through this “how are you” thing, and then we get to the “why are you calling” thing. Well, in between those, I asked him what that spot on his left cheek was. He rubbed it, and I told him it was my fault, I meant his other left.

He rubbed that. I told him it still wasn’t gone, to rub harder.

This conversation went on for about 30 seconds to a minute before my brother realized I couldn’t see him. We were on the phone.

Now, I can’t fully credit my brother with figuring this out. You see, when I find something funny, I laugh. I might have given my ploy away.

It was like that trying to get my DSL hooked up. It’s working now, though. Sometimes I’m so good, I cry laughing..

Why are you all looking at me like that? I’m not up to anything. Really. No, really.

Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Yarns

To remove egg shells from a batter, use the remaining shell to attract the piece. - Peggy in Tonawanda, New York

Annie and Cole saved us with make-ups! I need better lines!

Next opening line…
A randy young lad from Berlin…

Hints: Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm

Submit Opening Line
Submit Limerick

I remember my first day of school, When I was made to look such a fool. I thought I was neat; But I looked at my feet… Which were covered in fur and dog drool. - Bonnie in Louisiana	I watched the Olympics on TV And I discovered that they’re phony From the fake fireworks And the lip-syncing jerks The Chinese are phony as can be. - E. Cole Aye
I watched the Olympics on TV Some sports action to relax me But I recalled Tibet And that made me upset So I turned off NBC. - E. Cole Aye	Mom over and over told me That in thongs I should not climb a tree - That I need to wear shoes. But I did refuse And succumbed to a thing called gravity. - Anne Onimous
Mom over and over told me That there’s no such thing as a yeti. But I thought she knew They exist. It’s true! It’s Dad! His back’s just very hairy! - Anne Onimous	Mom over and over told me To find a mood romantically She did disclose I need to get real close And dance foxtrot, and not the Lindy. - Anne Onimous
Mom over and over told me To tempt a man, I must be sexy I shouldn’t be frumpy Or even look dumpy. So I come to bed in lingerie. - Anne Onimous	Mom over and over told me That I watch too much T.V. And drink to much beer. Right she was, I fear, For now I have a pot belly. - E. Cole Aye
Mom over and over told me I should avoid joining the navy. They said, “I’d see the world.” Instead I just hurled Every time my ship was put to sea. - E. Cole Aye	Mom over and over told me That I should never drink Pepsi. For, and this is no joke, I should always have Coke To mix with my rum, you see. - E. Cole Aye
Mom over and over told me I should avoid girls who are sleazy “Find a girl who is chaste And wed one who’s straight-laced.” Did I hear? Mom thinks my wife’s trashy! - E. Cole Aye	Dad over and over told me That when it is very windy And I have the urge From my body to purge, I should not into the wind pee. - E. Cole Aye

Re: Fertility Clinic

Has anyone noticed that whenever there’s a case of a pharmacist or doctor refusing treatment on religious grounds, it’s always a woman being denied the procedure or medication, never a man? What’s that about? Women sin more than men do? I don’t think it’s so much about religion as it is sexism. - Pam in Arkansas

From what I’ve seen, the doctors refuse this procedure to unmarried couples, not gay couples. If this can be proven from past records, then there is no discrimination. And this couple, rather than suing, could now get married (as is legal in California at this time), and then tested the real principles of the doctors. Also, this is the couple’s third child by insemination — so why didn’t they just go back to the doctor who agreed to the two previous procedures? Methinks this was more about making a political statement than about medical ethics. I have nothing against gays having children, I just have a problem with unanswered questions of logic. - T.I.M.
[My understanding from reading the article is that after being turned down by this clinic in 2000 the woman in question was able to find another clinic which would give her the treatment. Since that time she has given birth to three children. It would have been interesting to see if a married gay couple would have been turned down also.]

Re: Finding Gyppo

Bruce,
I couldn’t help but notice how people realised they were missing my father, so I thought I would drop you a line and tell you about how I have lost him underneath a pile of paperwork. You see, he’s being my financial sponsor for the upcoming academic year, which means he has to fill out lots of forms and such like that tell the Education Authority how much, or little, he is earning. And then we both have to sign things, and I have to declare my part time earnings and so on.

Well, somewhere along the line the EA messed up, partially because I switched my financial sponsor this year and I don’t think they believe me! So they’ve apparently sent the man a new form to fill in! So, if you’re looking for him, try looking under the papers, crumpled up post-it notes, abandoned P60’s and countless pens with no ink left in them.

Then again, I’ve not heard from him lately, maybe the papers or the ink fumes overcame him. Should I be concerned? - Kizzi
PS: Do people have his new(ish) email address? I know I lost him a while back because of that! It’s johncraggs123@btinternet.com

Re: Fat Kids

Dora in Denver said: If the financial situation of the parents is such that they cannot afford to buy most healthy foods for their family what are they to do?

I’m unsure of the logic of this statement. For a small child to weigh as much as an adult, it takes lots and lots of calories to grow the fat. If they can afford to buy that much bread, pasta, cookies, chips, and other assorted high density garbage foods, why can’t they afford some fresh fruits and vegetables?

I keep hearing we need to educate the masses about this and that. But we have been educating the masses for a very long time. The masses have to be willing to learn and to take the information and use it to fuel life choices. We have been telling people about proper nutrition and the food pyramid since the 1960s so any pre-adolescent surely has parents who have been told about this. We have had been preaching the rules of exercise for decades as well.

Perhaps there is some issue with cost, but I just paid $2.50 for a small bag of potato chips and $4.00 for a huge watermelon. The chips were ready to eat and I had to do stuff to the watermelon before consumption. I can’t afford doughnuts, not monetarily but calorically, but I can buy a pound of very lean ground beef for less than a box of doughnuts. And when I make a sauce and put it over pasta, I actually measure out the ¾ cup recommended portion before I cook the stuff and don’t serve a platter full to each diner.

Junk foods and processed foods are easier. They are not cheaper. In fact, it is cheaper to buy unsweetened cereals than sweetened ones. And even cheaper to buy a box of oatmeal. It is EASIER for lazy people to pour out a bowl of Trix than to cook some oatmeal.

I’m unsure of the point being made because it took an awful lot of food to get a toddler to weigh in at the weights listed. Instead of all the sugars and fats, the money spent could have been used to buy real food and the masses surely know this. - Patti in South Carolina
[Patti, my take on this is that while we have all been told the virtues of proper diet, the fact is that the average “health food” meal is not nearly as tasty as a less healthy one. It’s also harder for the average person to prepare healthy food from scratch when opening cans and packages is so much faster and easier. You rarely see a television commercial for fresh fruits and vegetables but you can see a commercial for pre-sweetened cereals or fast food anytime you turn the TV on. When your kids, who have just spent the day watching TV, are begging for fast food it’s hard to sell them on broccoli! When mom has spent the day working, and is feeling guilty for not spending time with the kids, it’s hard for her to be firm and insist on the children eating a balanced meal which she is too tired to fix anyway.]

Reader Submission

Mirror self-recognition found in magpies
FRANKFURT, Germany (UPI) — A German study shows self-recognition, thought a hallmark of advanced cognitive abilities in animals, might also be present in magpies.

Frankfurt University psychologist Helmut Prior and Ruhr University biopsychologist Onur Gunturkun said they have discovered evidence of self-recognition in magpies — a bird species with a brain structure very different from mammals.

The researchers said they placed a mark on magpies in such a way that it could only be seen in a mirror. When the magpies engaged in activity that was directed towards the mark, for example scratching at it, the researchers were able to conclude the birds recognized the image in the mirror as themselves, and not another animal.

The researchers said their findings not only indicate non-mammalian species can engage in self-recognition behavior, but that self-recognition can occur in species without a neocortex — an area of the brain that has been thought to be crucial to self-recognition in mammals. Its absence in the study, said the scientists, suggests higher cognitive skills can develop independently along separate evolutionary lines.

The study appears in the journal PLoS Biology. - Sent in by Dora in Denver

Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.

Click here to see the archives of past issues, or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/reallygoodquotes/messages. If you run across something really outstanding when perusing the archives, I’d appreciate it if you’d mail me at TheBestOfRGQ@yahoo.com and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you which pieces impacted you the most.

Questions? Comments? Want to contribute a joke or a quote or an image? Feel free to e-mail at reallygoodquotes@yahoo.com. We’d love to hear from you! We’ll even publish your comments, if they make any sense!

If you’d like to receive RGQ by email, please send a blank e-mail to reallygoodquotes-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

We can’t imagine why you’d want to, but if you choose to unsubscribe, please send a blank e-mail to reallygoodquotes-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. Should you choose to unsubscribe, please e-mail us and tell us why. We listen to what people say, even if they’re leaving us.

Tags: happiness, history, limericks, Luis von Ahn, Maslow's hierarchy, mining, National Public Radio, quotes, reCAPTCHA, Sir John Herschel, workplace dangers
Posted in Scheduled Post | No Comments »

“Freewheeling minds bouncing off the walls of the possible”

Archive for August, 2008

August 25, 2008

Pages

Archives

Categories

Meta

Please Support RGQ