A Blog of the Ridiculous and Sublime, by Mark Sackler
“I wanted to be clever, but being funny came first. That’s how you know someone is clever. They don’t come out and tell you pi to 13 places – they tell you a joke.”–Ricky Gervais
Happy 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 …Day.
“A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.”–Groucho Marx
“What the world needs now is more Grouchos and fewer grouches.”–me
Don’t look now, but most annual deductibles for health insurance in the US now cost a lot more than most people made in a year back in Groucho’s day. Indeed, the world needs more Grouchos.
“…future shock is no longer a distantly potential danger, but a real sickness from which increasingly large numbers already suffer.”–Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock
Alvin Toffler published those words in the Introduction to Future Shock, fifty years ago. If it was already a widespread malady in 1970, is it anything less than a rampant pandemic now? If you can’t see the trappings of it all over the world, I have a guide dog I want to sell you.
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”– Bill Vaughan
If you’ve read my thread on quantum weirdness, you know where I stand on this. I’m in a state of superposition–simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. So what does that portend for New Year’s eve? If you see somebody asleep on his feet at midnight, it’s probably me. Happy Old/New Year.
“You call it procrastinaion; I call it thinking.”–Aaron Sorkin
It seems there is a theory that procrastinators are more creative. Aha! So the fact that I am years behind on the other threads on this blog should be proof positive that I’m incubating more brilliant ideas to dazzle you with. Right!? Or maybe I’m just lazy…
“It took me three weeks to stuff the turkey. I stuffed it through the beak.”–Phyllis Diller
Hmm. Thanksgiving is the only day of the year my wife cooks. I suppose you can say it takes her a year to stuff the turkey. Wait–we are visiting relatives this year. The next one will take two years. Happy stuffing day.
“I’m so ugly, when I open the door for trick-or-treaters, the kids give me candy.”–Rodney Dangerfield
Ah, poor Rodney. Who else would be born in ready-made Halloween costume? Enjoy the spookiest day of the year, and don’t let those ghouls get to you.
“Life is wasted on the living.”–Douglas Adams
If anybody is counting, I’m pretty sure Mr. Adams has had more quotes in this series than anybody else. He should probably have his own series. Let’s hope this isn’t wasted on the late author: today is the 40th anniversary of the publishing of The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. Happy Birthday, Arthur Dent! I bet you can’t wait until he turns 42.
“I’m a peripheral visionary. I can see the future but only way off to the side.”–Steven Wright
Oh, my. What does Friday taste like? Where are those “future of food” people when you need them? (I might add that any professional futurist knows that you have to look way off to the side, as well as straight ahead, to get any idea of what the future might really hold).
“The challenge is that the day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea. And crazy ideas are very risky to attempt”–Peter Diamandis”
I had the great pleasure of meeting the illustrious Dr. Diamandis at the X Prize foundation a couple of weeks ago. Too bad he isn’t a super villain, “The diabolical Dr. Diamandis” has a great aliterative ring to it.
Shameless self promotion department–here is the link to my Seeking Delphi™ podcast with interviews recorded at the X Prize Foundation Future of Longevity Impact Roadmap, April 29-30, 2019.
I'm not the most interesting man in the world, but I might have the most cluttered mind.
