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Problems worthy of attack Prove their worth by hitting back. -- Piet Hein
Writing can either be readable or precise, but not at the same time. -- Bertrand Russell
Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex, intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple, stupid behavior. -- Dee Hock
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Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. -- Henry Ford
People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die. -- Jim Davidson
Tell me and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me and I learn. -- Benjamin Franklin
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Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence. -- Napoleon
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Stress is when your gut says "No way" and your mouth says, "Sure, no problem."
It is because shell programming is designed to rot your brain. -- John Gruber
Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems. -- Jamie Zawinski, in comp.emacs.xemacs
There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back. -- Robert Heinlein
Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail. -- Abraham Lincoln
I was wondering why I haven’t blogged recently. Plenty has happened in the past few weeks, but I haven’t been moved to write.
Brussels is officially a bilingual city. However, it’s not much like Montreal, the other bilingual city I’m familiar with. In Montreal, all the signs are in French; in Brussels, all signs (even ads in the subways) are in French and Flemish. In Montreal, you can speak in French or English. I call it “French with training wheels”, because if you can’t get through a conversation in French, you can switch to English and nobody blinks an eye.
Language is much more of a contentious issue in Belgium. If you’re in Flanders, you can’t get by with just French. If you’re in Wallonia, you can’t get by with just Flemish. In both cases, you’re much better off trying English. In Brussels, they’ve created this uneasy truce where all signs are bilingual.
Here’s an example of that uneasy truce. They pipe music into the metro stations, so there’s something to listen to while waiting for the subway.
Rather than playing alternating French and Flemish tunes, they either play instrumental music, or they play songs sung in English. Generally these are 20-25 year-old pop songs. Not classic tunes, like the Police and Michael Jackson: More like second-tier tunes like The Thompson Twins and Swing Out Sister and A-Ha (probably because they’re cheaper).
Ever since we moved to our apartment, I’ve just been taking a bus to work, instead of the metro-bus combo. So, I’ve been missing out on a major source of inspiration.
So, it’s official, I’m no longer limiting my blog entries to song titles. Let’s see if I can find some new inspiration.