“If it is possible to have a linear unit that depends on no other quantity, it would seem natural to prefer it. Moreover, a mensural unit taken from the earth itself offers another advantage, that of being perfectly analogous to all the real measurements that in ordinary usage are also made upon the earth, such as the distance between two places or the area of some tract, for example. It is far more natural in practice to refer geographical distances to a quadrant of a great circle than to the length of a pendulum.” IfsMadeTwoRealSeemsEarthScienceNaturalPracticeTakenExampleDependsOffersOrdinaryAdvantageAreasDistanceDefinitionsCirclesLengthQuantityUnitsMeasurementLinearUsagePendulums Author:Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet
“What really happened in Vietnam was- all these things are away games for the American military. We're not on our home turf, which means to succeed there has to be a partner. And the definition of partnership is someone willing to risk their lives in their home area to prevail because they think it's necessary to build a decent life and a better life for their people.” PeopleThinkingMeanHomeGamesRiskHappenedMilitaryWillingSucceedAreasDefinitionsPartnersDecentVietnamPartnershipBetter LifeTurfAmerican MilitaryDecent Life Author:William J. Clinton
“We can no longer have forbidden areas of the human mind, or cultural machinery. We have taken upon ourselves the acquisition of so much power that we now must understand what we are. We cannot travel much further with the definitions of man that we inherit from the Judeo-Christian tradition. We need to truly explore the problem of consciousness.” MenNeedsMindHumansProblemChristianConsciousnessTakenAreasTraditionDefinitionsHuman MindForbiddenMachineryAcquisition Author:Terence McKenna
“Punishment by definition isn't going to help. So what you need to do is to help people to change and recover is to help them find different areas of passion and help them find better ways of coping. Because about 50 percent of people with addiction have a preexisting mental illness, about two-thirds have had some type of severe trauma during childhood, and they are not using to the point where they're risking their lives because it's fun. They're doing something to help them cope.” PeopleWayNeedsTwoDifferentHelpingPassionFunChildhoodTypePercentAreasThirdsAddictionDefinitionsIllnessTraumaPunishmentMental IllnessSevereBetter WaysCoping Author:Maia Szalavitz
“The oil industry is a stunning example of how science, technology, and mass production can divert an entire group of companies from their main task. ... No oil company gets as excited about the customers in its own backyard as about the oil in the Sahara Desert. ... But the truth is, it seems to me, that the industry begins with the needs of the customer for its products. From that primal position its definition moves steadily back stream to areas of progressively lesser importance until it finally comes to rest at the search for oil.” NeedsImportantSeemsMovingScienceCompanyTechnologyGroupsExamplePositionProductsIndustryTruth IsMassAreasTasksImportanceDefinitionsProductionsExcitedCustomersOilDesertStreamsPrimalBackyardsStunningOil CompaniesScience TechnologyMass ProductionOil IndustrySaharaSahara Desert Author:Theodore Levitt