RAH Quotes

Apparently I read a lot of Heinlein growing up. Here are quotes from some of his that I think are nifty (from his wiki article)

An armed society is a polite society.

Beyond This Horizon (1942)

Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws - always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to so something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

A zygote is a gamete's way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe.

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.

Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.

If the universe has any purpose more important than topping a woman you love and making a baby with her hearty help, I've never heard of it.

It is better to copulate than never.

Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy"is the most amazing — with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?
Time Enough for Love (1973)

Women seem to have almost unlimited capacity for forgiveness. (Since it is usually a man who needs forgiveness, this must be a racial survival trait.)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)

Voyager 2

With all the budget cuts and general bureaucracy involved in working for the government, it constantly amazes me that people manage to get anything done. But they do amazing things! We're still getting fascinating new information from Voyagers 1 and 2 , spacecraft we launched 30 years ago! Voyager 1 is now over 14 light-hours from us, that's 9.6 billion miles. Humans created something that now exists at a distance which we could not have conceived of 200 years ago.

Everything we've ever known, all the animals, the plants, all the people you've ever met, all of history, every idea any human has ever had has happened here, on or within a few light-seconds of this tiny little blue speck whirling around a tiny little glowing dot. But somehow we managed to work together to create something that exists impossibly far away! And still works! Still sends back data, still changes our views of the universe.

Someone told me recently that they felt there are very few real surprises in life. I can't agree with that. I'm surprised every time I wake up, every time I walk out my front door, that I exist, that the universe exists and that we as part of it can observe it, and have the courage to think that maybe we can understand it, that we are capable of understanding it.

We are capable of wonders matched only by our capability for atrocities. That surprises me every day.

Weekends are fun

Yay for fun weekends! Hung out with friends, got almost-drunk, played Rock Band much better as bassist than as lead guitarist, had inaugural fight with boyfriend, watched nifty sad-happy movie, got roughly a million books for less than 25 dollas at the used book shelter, went to fun times Christmas party while it's 82 degrees out, snuggled with Kitten.

My weekends are now only 1 day long, since I'm working Sundays, but I managed to pack a lot into it, huh?

I'm not studying La la la la la

That is my theme song for today. There's a dance that goes with it, but it's harder than you'd think to type in dance.

So, in the interest of putting life in order, (and avoiding studying) I've decided to start a list of Things I Have Not Yet Done That I Would Be Sad If I Died Without Doing.

• Go to a strip club. The women are all about going, it's the men you have to drag along! Seems like it may happen, but not for at least a month or so. In work, at any rate.
  
• Get a MS in physics. Also in work, as you may be able to tell by the lack of studying. As soon as I finish this damned final I will have all of my core classes complete and can start taking the fun classes :) Next up, Stellar Structure and Evolution! That's right, I get to take a class in how stars shine, how cool is that?! Man, there is nothing else that fills my stomach with this pull for knowledge, this pure amazement that we know anything about it, and this burning desire to learn more, than astrophysics. How can anything we worry about here matter when there are stars exploding into huge clouds of raw elements, and those clouds of elements are coalescing into more stars, brilliant beautiful new stars, out there? Ok, sorry, I'll calm down now.
• See icebergs on an Alaskan cruise. In work by my mama. Seems like it will happen sometime in 2009 now?
• Travel! Everywhere! Italy, land of half my forefathers! England (tea!), Ireland (countryside), Switzerland (chocolate!), Austria, Australia (reefs! kangaroos! koalas!), Egypt (pyramids!!), Norway (fjords!), Japan (sushi!), the Arctic,.. I want to see everything! No concrete plans for any of these places in work at the moment, unfortunately. I am going to New Jersey for Christmas though, which has the benefit of, for now at least, containing mea familia!
• Bear and raise children. This is actually a fairly new addition to the list, and I'm still getting used to thinking about it. Very shortly after I turned 26, I woke up one day and my body said, I would like to be pregnant now, ok? My mind said, "No! Stop that!" Sigh. It's very difficult to fight with yourself. Plus my niece and nephew are insanely adorable. So I think, maybe in a few years, I might give in. Which kind of turns my world upside down, I'll have you know! It means I should probably
  
• Get married. Which I was not particularly planning on! And I am unsure if it will help or hurt my goal of
• Having more sex. Lots of it. It is even better than astrophysics most days. This is more of a general lifetime theme than a specific goal, I guess. People seem to take it too seriously, a lot of times. It's fun, relaxing, and good for you. It's like a walk on a beach, but with a happier ending! Several happier endings, if you're lucky ;)
  
• Ride in a hot air balloon. Looks like fun, only slight risk of fiery death!
• Scuba dive in Australia. Giant reefs! Higher risk of death. (Poor Steve, he was funny.)
• Live in space. When I was younger I wrote a poem called, "When I am an old woman I will live in space." It went something like, "When I am an old woman I will live in space. I will have a window overlooking Earth, but I won't visit because I think the gravity is too strong. I will never worry about falling down. I will never sleep on my arms funny and wake up with pins and needles. I will be happy there." Ok I made that last half up, I don't remember how it went.
  
• Sleep. This is more of a specific, right-now goal, but also a lifetime one. I do like to sleep, especially with the kitten keeping me company and sitting on me to make sure I don't float away.
  

Everyone else has a blog,..

I was starting to feel left out. I had nowhere to post my thoughts on Rock Band and random things I find on the internet and strip games. Problem solved!

So:

Rock Band - Coolest game ever. I sang! And the microphone didn't explode and I still have friends! It was awesome. Apparently if you play on easy it doesn't care if you're not actually certain what a "note" is. I got 100% on an STP song!

Random things from the internet - Sloth! Graph.

Strip games - I hate to accidentally offend people with sudden nudity, but keeping your clothes on gets so difficult after a few hours. Strip games are the perfect solution! Plus others get naked too, if you play correctly, so you don't have that awkward, "Oh drat, am I the only one whose clothes fell off again?" feeling.

There is detailed analysis available on the manner of game to strip to, with many options presented. Alcohol is also a common driver for strip games, as nothing says "Let's get naked!" like "I'm drunk!" But the main goal is, as it should be for most of life, to have fun, and everyone knows you have the most fun with your clothes off :)