Favorite quotes
- Thread starter Smarty Koios
- 763 comments
- 77,117 views
Danoff
Premium
- 32,983
- Mile High City
Is this supposed to be in favor of not rocking the boat or in favor of not rowing? I don't know enough about the context of this quote to know. I had some trouble digging up the context of this one, but at least one commentary on it suggests that it's meant to favor leadership and stability rather than suggesting people should stop rowing and start rocking.
I dunno, I can see usefulness of that quote for either intention.
- 15,074
- Melbourne
- ScottPuss20
- CheetahsMeow
- 29,585
- Thailand
Danoff
Premium
- 32,983
- Mile High City
Kinda hard to explain.
So let's say you were building a model of the solar system. You got Styrofoam balls and painted them different colors and spread them out in a line at the right distances. Then someone said, "this model would be better if you put them on a line and made them rotate around the center". So you do that, and then someone suggested that they rotate around the barycenter, and then someone said it would be more accurate if they had moons, and then what if all the planets were in the right positions for a given time and they moved properly according to a given time increment, and someone suggested that the sun light up, and what about planets rotating. At some point everyone runs out of ideas and cheers erupt because we have achieved the best possible model of the solar system.
...and then someone says you could make them actual planet sized, and give them appropriate mass, and atmospheres, and create fusion in the sun. Eventually it comes down to the fact that the best possible model of something is another one of the actual thing. So for example, the best possible model of our solar system would be to create another solar system with exactly the same sized planets and distributions, with an identical sun.
But then, there would still be differences because the model would be located somewhere else in space. The best possible model of a solar system is a solar system, preferably the same solar system.
It's kinda tongue-in-cheek, but it's a fun commentary on the concept of creating a model, and on the concept of identity and the level of accuracy that can be achieved, or required, especially in quantum mechanics.
Last edited:
- 15,074
- Melbourne
- ScottPuss20
- CheetahsMeow
- 16,436
- Grea'er Laandan
- UKMikeyA
- UKMikeyA
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw, to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second... if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response
-- George Bernard Shaw, to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second... if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response
- 7,755
- Yorkshire
- ScapeGoat4U
- WhippingBoy
"Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back. Sometimes the problem has mutated or disappeared. Often it is still there as strong as it ever was." ― Donald Kingsbury.
- 3,704
- Null Island
"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life - then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized."
-
-
Pete05
Premium
- 6,963
- Melbourne, Australia
Billy Graham?"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life - then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized."
-
- 3,704
- Null Island
Pete05
Premium
- 6,963
- Melbourne, Australia
In those circumstances, one has to wonder if he felt something inside. Did he feel time was calling his name?
I'm a firm believer in listening to one's own body.
Ignore it at your own peril.
- 3,704
- Null Island
- 28,507
- Bratvegas
- GTP_Liquid
I've been reminiscing over the golden era of the GTP Cool Wall this past week, scouring through some absolutely classic threads, and I have been reminded of one of the funniest and most succinct things I've ever read:
Last edited:
INEEDNAWZZZ
Premium
- 1,754
- Lincoln
- EGGSBAWCKS
- DigitalLuke64DD
Was going through the Top Gear thread on here, and got up to the part where people were discussing the first episode after Chris Evans and co. had taken over since CMH departed. Famine had... quite the colourful review of it:
Not a thought provoking, deep, meaningful quote like most in this thread admittedly, but had me genuinely laughing for a solid five minutes.
Not a thought provoking, deep, meaningful quote like most in this thread admittedly, but had me genuinely laughing for a solid five minutes.
Last edited:
Similar threads
