I [we!] have built a monument more lasting than bronze, higher than the pyramids’ regal structures, that no consuming rain, nor wild north wind can destroy.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Quotes edit
Denis Diderot on the Encyclopédie: "The end of an encyclopedia is to assemble the knowledge scattered over the earth, to expound it to contemporaries, and to transmit it to posterity, to the end that the labors of past centuries should not be useless to those who are to come, and that our successors, becoming better instructed, may become at the same time more virtuous and happy, and that we may not die without having deserved well of the human race." – Quoted in The Story of Civilization
Fyodor Dostoyevsky on notability: "To me he is noteworthy, but I decidedly doubt that I shall succeed in proving it to the reader...I quite agree that it is superfluous, but since it is already written, let it stand." – The Brothers Karamazov
Douglas Adams on Category:Wikipedia articles in need of updating: "The Galaxy is a rapidly changing place. There is, frankly, so much of it, every bit of which is continually on the move, continually changing. A bit of a nightmare, you might think, for a scrupulous and conscientious editor diligently striving to keep this massively detailed and complex electronic tome abreast of all the changing circumstances and conditions that the Galaxy throws up every minute of every hour of every day, and you would be wrong. Where you would be wrong would be in failing to realize that the editor, like all the editors [Wikipedia] has ever had, has no real grasp of the meaning of the words 'scrupulous', 'conscientious', and 'diligent', and tends to get his [or her] nightmares through a straw. – So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
And finally, a reminder to go outside sometimes: "Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh." – Ecclesiastes 12:12
Favorite articles edit
- Quintus Sertorius: Roman general who won the Grass Crown, then led a 12-year rebellion against Rome in Spain
- Sokushinbutsu: Buddhist practice of self-mummification, slowly starving oneself until the body becomes dehydrated while still alive; parallel practices of death by fasting are sallekhana (Jainism) and prayopavesa (Hinduism)
- Qarmatians: Islamic sect that killed 20,000 pilgrims performing the Hajj, sacked Mecca and took the Black Stone
- Kim Dotcom: Internet tycoon, #1 in the world at Call of Duty before being arrested for money laundering
- Simeon Stylites: Lived on a pole for 37 years
- Qutuz: Iranian prince sold into slavery by Mongols, became sultan of Egypt, defeated Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut
- Kunduz airlift: The Bush administration allows Pakistan to evacuate Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan
- Kinsella v. Krueger: A military spouse murders her husband, but is freed because nobody has jurisdiction
- Gold of Tolosa: Fabulous treasure of the ancient world that disappeared under mysterious circumstances
- Bacha posh: Cultural practice in Afghanistan where girls are raised as boys until puberty