“Basic would never have surfaced because there was always a language better than Basic for that purpose. That language was Joss, which predated Basic and was beautiful. But Basic happened to be on a GE timesharing system that was done by Dartmouth, and when GE decided to franchise that, it started spreading Basic around just because it was there, not because it had any intrinsic merits whatsoever.” DoneBeautifulPurposeLanguageHappenedDecidedMeritDartmouth Author:Alan Kay
“I gave up accounting. I went in for about six months writing ad copy. I was fired from that, and then another guy and I did a kind of poor man's Bob and Ray kind of syndicated radio show. Then I decided to stick it out and see what happened. I'd give it a year, a year became two years, and then two years became three years, and then along came the record album.” MenGivingWritingYearsKindTwoShowsGuyThreePoorRecordsComedyHappenedMonthsSixDecidedSticksRadioAlbumsTwo YearsCopiesRaysAdsThree YearsBobSix MonthsGave UpOther GuysAccountingPoor Man Author:Bob Newhart
“I was in Korea. I've noticed all my life I see elderly people who have been close to death in an illness and they're absolutely cured and they say, now I know how to live my life. I've seen death. That happened to me when I was 19. It was a terrible, terrifying thing. And I live my life like those people decided to do when they were old. So, since I was 19, I've had the most fun possible every single day, even when I had a rough life. It was the army which taught me about life, and the theater which taught me how good it could be.” PeopleKnowsHas BeensFunKnow HowHappenedTaughtTerribleDecidedArmyTheaterIllnessRoughLiving My LifeKoreaElderlyI Live My LifeClose To Death Author:Michael Caine
“Nobody ever was fired for 9/11. Instead of firing the people who didn't do a good job, we gave them medals. The guy who did a good job, I don't know what happened to him. And what we did was we decided we'd just collect everybody's information. That we'd sort of scrap the Bill of Rights.” PeopleKnowsJobsGuyRightsHappenedInformationDecidedBillsGood JobMedalScrapNsaBill Of RightsFiring Author:Rand Paul
“I've thought a lot about how if something horrible happened, and if it were like 'The Road' situation, I've decided I don't want to survive past the death of society as we know it.” IfsKnowsWantPastSituationHappenedDecidedHorrible Author:Gillian Jacobs
“I didn't realize, when I decided to be a comic, that a black person had never been allowed to stand flat-footed in America and talk to white folks. It never happened before.” PersonsAmericaBlackRealizingWhiteHappenedDecidedFolksComicFlatsBlack Person Author:Dick Gregory
“I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.” InspirationalTimeAcceptingHappenedSpecialDecidedEncouragementSeekingAccomplishExpectedEncouragingWords Of EncouragementAccept MeEncouraging Life Author:Audrey Hepburn
“The most terrifying thing that ever happened to me was that Keith Moon decided he liked me.” HappenedMoonDecidedKeith Author:Joe Walsh
“I won a scholarship to come to LA and compete in a modeling and talent completion and was amazed when I won it. I had never acted before in my life and won the acting category. I began to wonder what this is about and then decided to see what happened.” ActingWonderHappenedTalentDecidedCategoriesAmazedModelingScholarshipCompletion Author:Eva Longoria
“My experience came before most of you were born. My school was a state school in Leeds and the headmaster usually sent students to Leeds University but he didn't normally send them to Oxford or Cambridge. But the headmaster happened to have been to Cambridge and decided to try and push some of us towards Oxford and Cambridge. So, half a dozen of us tried - not all of us in history - and we all eventually got in. So, to that extent, it [The History Boys] comes out of my own experience.” TryingHas BeensStatesSchoolBornMy OwnHalfBoysHappenedStudentsDecidedUniversityDozenOxfordCambridgeLeedsHeadmasters Author:Alan Bennett
“Well, I think that's been my career. I always choose stuff that's the same, yet different. These projects just happened. I didn't plan it out that way. I just happened to be free, and the director, Dan Pritzker, decided to do his film again. I say again because we did it seven years ago. A lot of the actors were not available, so he just couldn't wait anymore and he recast everything. Me and two other characters are the only people involved with the new one, who were involved with the previous one.” PeopleThinkingWayYearsWellsTwoDifferentCharacterFilmActorsStuffWaitingCareersPlansHappenedInvolvedDirectorsProjectsYears AgoDecidedSevenAvailableSeven Years Author:Michael Rooker
“Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don't like.” Has BeensSchoolHappenedFitDecidedBlameMadCourtSupremeSupreme CourtBenches Author:Molly Ivins
“I met this girl who had a huge scar on her leg from a car accident. She was talking about how, after it first happened, she would always wear long pants and cover it up. But, as she started to grow into it, she decided that that's just her now. It's just a part of who she is. She wears skirts and she shows it off now.” FirstsLongShowsGirlGrowsTalkingHappenedCarHugeMetsDecidedLegsAccidentsScarPantsSkirtsThis GirlCar Accident Author:Tinsel Korey
“It's best to think of these as two things - they're related, but there's different dynamics going on with each of them. A key difference is Abyei is contested territory. We still do not know whether Abyei is going to belong to the new country of South Sudan or effectively the new country of Sudan, the northern part. That was supposed to be decided by a referendum in January; that referendum never happened, so it was being dealt with through political negotiations.” ThinkingKnowsStillsTwoDifferentCountryPoliticalDifferencesHappenedKeysDecidedSouthSupposed To BeRelatedTwo ThingsTerritoryNegotiationJanuaryDynamicsReferendumsSudan Author:Rebecca Hamilton
“I found two true stories. One was in 2003. One was the beginning of 2004. I decided to meld them. Richard Davis' story which is the largest portion of this, a lot of the events are exactly as you saw, exactly what happened and the locations. Exactly as it was said with the chicken house and the strip club. Richard's parents were on the set and they'll tell you that the story is different than their son's. I was very concerned because I called them to say, 'You understand I'm fictionalizing this story?” SaidTwoDifferentStoriesFoundHouseParentSawsHappenedEventsSonConcernedDecidedClubsChickensPortionsLocationTrue Story Author:Paul Haggis
“Before I had my son, I learned that I had previa and he was breach. When this happened, I felt so out of control. I decided to stay strong and kept doing the poses that help turn the baby. After several disappointing doctor's visits with the same scenario, I realized that I was stuck on my birthing plan.” HelpingTurnsStrongFeltPlansHappenedSonBabyDecidedDoctorsI RealizedStuckMy SonScenariosStay StrongDisappointingBreachBirthing Author:Emily Carpenter