Gossips

Who gossips to you will gossip about you. - Turkish saying


It takes two gossips to gossip.

Memory Matters

Memory depends very much on the perspicuity, regularity, and order of our thoughts. Many complain of the want of memory, when the defect is in the judgment; and others, by grasping at all, retain nothing. - Thomas Fuller

..... I can't remember what I was going to say......

Walking Blind

He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall. - J. R. R. Tolkien


Making assumptions about an unknown subject can lead to disaster.

Newton Paraphrased

For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke

Beware of so-called experts.

Investing in Information

True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information. - William Churchill


or, Why I don't invest in the stock market.

Data vs. Truth

Data is not information, and confusing numbers with truth can help you make some bad decisions. - Seth Godin

Data can be fussed with, truth is unalterable.

Which Comes First: Data or Theory?

I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


If you have an already observed result then he is right. You can theorize a result before you have data (or the result) though. 


(Other posts on Information)

Weakness of Superstition

When the mind has once begun to yield to the weakness of superstition, trifles impress it with the force of conviction. - Ann Radcliffe


Learn that line between superstition and a simple lack of knowledge.


(Other posts on Information)

100% Informed

We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. - Thomas A. Edison


But then again, Tom, we know more than anything else which is 100% of what is known.


(Other post on Information)

Grown-up Questions

You know that children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers. - John J. Plomp


You know they are grown when they start answering your questions.


(Other posts on Learning) 

Theory of Ignorance

Theory helps us to bear our ignorance of facts. - George Santayana 

Remember a theory is only a theory - abandon it when you get enough facts to verify or disprove it.

(Other posts on Information) 

Experimental Actions

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all. - Friedrich Nietzsche 


Better than acting randomly.


(Other posts on Thinking) 

Just Starting

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. - Richard Feynman 


We are not at the apex of knowledge on any subject.


(Other posts on Achievement) 

Absense of Bugs

Program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of bugs, but is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence. - Edsger W. Dijkstra  


It is generally impossible to prove a negative - like proving that God does not exist.


(Other posts on Truth) 

Content as Enemy

Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content. - Paul Valery 


The same could be said for blogs, e-books, You Tube videos and movies - just the content part though.


(Other posts on Achievement) 

Curiosity

There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest, which makes us desire to know that which may be useful to us; and the other, from pride which comes from the wish to know what others are ignorant of. - Francois_de_La_Rochefoucauld

I'm curious how he came up with this concept.



(Other posts on Learning)

Agreeable Conversation

The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what he intends to say than others are saying. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

A good conversation moves slowly.

Enduring Reputation

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour. - Japanese proverb

With the increasing ease of spreading information also comes the need to be ever more vigilant. Microphones and cameras are everywhere - you can use it to your advantage or not.

Facts <> Ideas

I'm not afraid of facts, I welcome facts but a congeries of facts is not equivalent to an idea. This is the essential fallacy of the so-called "scientific" mind. People who mistake facts for ideas are incomplete thinkers; they are gossips. - Cynthia Ozick

Just because they have memorized chapter and verse of scripture does not mean they are closer to the truth.

Having an Open Mind

By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out. - Richard Dawkins

Open-mindedness is a process not an end.