“I love to learn, to attach meaning to things, and bad news seems to call out for explanation, for interpretation of meaning. Why would our amazing planet be designed to suddenly shudder, and drown millions of her creatures in a tidal wave of misery, and destroy the joyous lives of tens of millions of others? What possible reason could there be for such cruelty, such devastation? Someone, please, stop telling me how many died, and instead tell me why?”

posted at 2:00 pm
on Dec. 29, 2004

who said it?

“An unknown number of Swedish independent travellers are also missing [because of the tsunami.] ... The Swedish government has sent text messages to everyone who has a Swedish telephone in Thailand, hoping to gain some answers as to the whereabouts of some of the missing.”

posted at 10:18 pm
on Dec. 28, 2004

who said it?

“If my audience was ten thousand strong, and represented a cross section of our global community, only thirty-three hundred of you would be Christian. Twenty- two hundred of you would be Islamic, fifteen hundred would be Hindu, six hundred would be Buddhist and four hundred would be Chinese Traditional. Six hundred more of you would be followers of Sikhism, Juche, Spiritism, Judaism, Baha’i, Jainism, Shinto, Cao Dai, Tenrikyo, Paganism, Unitarianism, Rastafarianism, Scientology, Zoroastrianism or another religion, while the remaining fourteen hundred would either be atheistic or would have no religion at all (atheistic being those that would say there is no supreme being, and the others, secular and agnostic, don’t ask the question in the first place and remain neutral, belief-wise.)”

posted at 2:01 pm
on Dec. 27, 2004

who said it?

“Why do we do it? Why do we freely plunge into chaos, trekking our way to far-off gatherings in frigid places where even the tourist bureau closes for the winter? ... I do it because Christmas does not live at my apartment. There is no holiday flame there, and I do not try to spark one up with tree or ‘nog. Christmas lives at my parents’ home in Brandon, where I grew up. It waits for me there every year.”

posted at 1:15 pm
on Dec. 27, 2004

who said it?

“It is a cliche in [the software] business that the first 90 percent of the work is easy, the second 90 percent wears you down, and the last 90 percent - the attention to detail - makes a good product.”

posted at 9:51 pm
on Dec. 21, 2004

who said it?

“[ring ring]Hello?”
Hi, Debbie?
...yes?
It’s Travis.
Oh hi, Travis.
Did I wake you?
Almost.”

posted at 2:50 am
on Dec. 21, 2004

who said it?

“And I don’t think I’m even that bad at gadgets or mechanical things. OK, I’ve only just discovered that our car has a fifth gear (a revelation, after years of straining along in fourth), but aside from that I’m not too bad.”

posted at 2:48 am
on Dec. 21, 2004

who said it?

“After the 20 age, our trunk slowly discontinues makes a weighty internal secretion known as Soul Increment Internal Secretion. The diminution of it, which controls grades of other hormones in your physical structure is shortly answerable for all of the greatest prevalent tokens of geezerhood, as furrows, gray hair, declined energy, and lessened intimate function.”

posted at 11:01 pm
on Dec. 18, 2004

who said it?

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you can ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.” “

posted at 4:26 pm
on Dec. 17, 2004

who said it?

“In a radio program yesterday on CBC, a representative of the Canadian government put it starkly: In a liberal democracy like Canada, it is not appropriate to use a referendum to put decisions about minority rights to a majority vote. The government, she explained, has a responsibility to protect the constitution, to stand up to the tyranny of the majority for the rights of the dispossessed, disadvantaged and outnumbered.”

posted at 12:40 pm
on Dec. 10, 2004

who said it?

“Sometimes evil drives a minivan.”

posted at 1:07 am
on Dec. 7, 2004

who said it?

“This is when you start to feel how very much alive the scallop is, as it struggles with all its might to keep that trapdoor shut. Thankfully you are the mightiest of the two, this is what we call an ecosystem.”

posted at 5:19 pm
on Dec. 6, 2004

who said it?

“Write to the point: say immediately what you want to say most, even if it doesn’t “come first.” There are three reasons for doing this. First, you will then have said it, even if nothing else gets said. Second, your readers will then have read it, even if they read no more. Third, having said it, you are likely to have to say something more, because you will have to explain and justify what you chose to say.”

posted at 3:47 pm
on Dec. 6, 2004

who said it?

“To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm?s way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin.”

posted at 3:46 pm
on Dec. 6, 2004

who said it?

“I got hit by a car while walking to the train this morning. I can’t believe it… The guy just made a left turn into my body. He knocked my shoes off. I was in the middle of the street, in my socks, and he got out and told me I looked like I was fine.”

posted at 5:04 pm
on Dec. 5, 2004

who said it?

“Canada is the only G7 country to run seven consecutive surplus budgets. It has not run a federal deficit since 1996-97. The United States deficit is expected to reach $422 billion in 2004.”

posted at 2:08 pm
on Dec. 2, 2004

who said it?

“Study: Five Million Died From Smoking In 2000 ... [The] tobacco industry notes that they would have died eventually anyway.”

posted at 3:25 pm
on Dec. 1, 2004

who said it?

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