“Wood heat is not new. It dates back to a day millions of years ago, when a group of cavemen were sitting around, watching dinosaurs rot. Suddenly, lightning struck a nearby log and set it on fire. One of the cavemen stared at the fire for a few minutes, then said: Hey! Wood heat! The other cavemen, who did not understand English, immediately beat him to death with stones. But the key discovery had been made, and from that day forward, the cavemen had all the heat they needed, although their insurance rates went way up.” WayYearsMadeSaidMillionsFireGroupsMinutesKeysNeededBeatsHumorousSittingDiscoveryYears AgoStonesRateWoodsHeyHeatLightningDinosaursSitting AroundCavemenInsurance Rate Author:Dave Barry
“A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given an A for adultery; today she would rate no better than a C-plus.” YearsTodayGivenHundredYears AgoLettersRatePlusAdulteryScarlet Book:Reuben, Reuben: A Novel Source: Reuben, Reuben: A Novel
“There is no madder nation than Japan. ... And that nation has the highest rate of suicide, has the highest rate of thick-lens glasses and did the most suicidal trick a few years ago. It's the doggonedest country.” YearsCountryNationsHighestYears AgoSuicideRateGlassesTricksJapanThickSuicidalLenses Author:L. Ron Hubbard
“There is a very strong socialist movement in Jamaica. I was in Jamaica years ago. All the talk, all day they talk politics. The literacy rate is very low. Everyone is so interested in politics, more than those who can read in the United States.” YearsStatesStrongUnitedUnited StatesMovementLowsYears AgoRateVery StrongSocialistLiteracyJamaica Author:Huey Newton
“It is very difficult to enter a single currency zone having fairly weak economic parameters and maintain a favourable state of the economy, not to mention positive growth rates. We have witnessed it not only in Europe, but for example in Argentina (nearly 10 years ago or more), when they tied the national currency to the dollar and later they did not know what to do about it.” KnowsYearsStatesDifficultGrowthEconomyEconomicExampleEuropeYears AgoWeakDollarsRateZoneTiedCurrencyArgentinaParameters Author:Vladimir Putin
“For many years, they said the drug lords in Colombia were unbeatable, but all the same, we've eliminated all the big capos (as the drug lords are called in Colombia). The homicide rate is as low as it was 40 years ago and the kidnapping rate has dropped to the level of 1964. Now we'll be able to bring down the street criminals specializing in extortion and robbery.” YearsSaidBigsAbleLevelsLordStreetsDrugLowsYears AgoRateCriminalsThey SaidColombiaRobberyKidnappingHomicideUnbeatableExtortion Author:Juan Manuel Santos
“The United States does have the highest rate of incarceration in the world dwarfing the rates of even highly repressive regimes like Russia, China or Iran. This reflects a radical shift in criminal justice policy, a stunning development that virtually no one - not even the best criminologists - predicted forty years ago.” WorldYearsDoeStatesJusticeUnitedUnited StatesPolicyDevelopmentHighestYears AgoRateChinaCriminalsRussiaRadicalFortyIranRegimesStunningCriminal JusticeIncarceration Author:Michelle Alexander
“We did meet forty years ago. At that time we were both influenced by Whitman and I said, jokingly in part, 'I don't think anything can be done in Spanish, do you?' Neruda agreed, but we decided it was too late for us to write our verse in English. We'd have to make the best of a second-rate literature.” ThinkingWritingYearsSaidDoneLiteratureLateYears AgoDecidedRateToo LateFortyVersesSecond Rate Author:Jorge Luis Borges
“Halt! How are you? What have you been doing? Where's Abelard? How's Crowley? What's this all about?" "I'm glad to see you rate my horse more important than our Corps Commandant," Halt said, one eyebrow rising in the expression that Will knew so well. Early in their relationship, he had thought it was an expression of displeasure. He had learned years ago that it was, for Halt, the equivalent of a smile.” YearsWellsSaidImportantExpressionYears AgoHorseRateGladRisingEyebrowsHaltDispleasure Author:John Flanagan
“About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!” IfsMenShouldYearsWellsMightRememberScienceViewsTheoryOughtYears AgoRateObservationOddThirtyColourPitsThirty YearsPebblesGravelGeologist Book:On the Origin of Species Source: On the Origin of Species
“Some years ago John Kenneth Galbraith wrote in an essay on his efforts at writing a history of economics: 'As one approaches the present, one is filled with a sense of hopelessness; in a year and possibly even a month, there is now more economic comment in the supposedly serious literature than survives from the whole of the thousand years commonly denominated as the Middle Ages ... anyone who claims to be familiar with it all is a confessing liar.' I believe that all physicists would subscribe to the same sentiments regarding their own professional literature. I do at any rate.” WritingYearsBelieveWholeAgeScienceLiteratureI BelieveEffortHistoryEconomicMiddleSeriousMonthsThousandApproachYears AgoEconomicsClaimsFilledRateFamiliarLiarsSentimentsCommentThousand YearsHopelessnessEssaysPhysicistMiddle AgesConfessingKenneth Author:Abraham Pais