n. infantile pattern of suckle-swallow movement in which the tongue is placed between incisor teeth or between alveolar ridges during initial stage of swallowing (if persistent can lead to various dental abnormalities) v. [content removed due to Bush campaign to clean up the internet] n. act of nyah-nyah v. pursuing with relentless abandon the need to masticate and thrust the world into every bodily incarnation in order to transform it, via the act of salivation, into nutritive agency

Sunday, January 20, 2008

quotes from "The Starship & the Canoe"

George, on hearing "appendix," brightened. "I know how to take it out," he said. "That's why I kept this deer antler. You make a small hole and hook it out. That's how the Indians did it." I thanked but no-thanked him (178).
For some reason, 'thanked but no-thanked' tickled my funny bone as much as the idea of hooking out an appendix with a deer antler.
Most discovery is rediscovery. The best discoveries are personal, anyway, and not the kind commissioned by queens and scientific academies (174).
A hopeful perception, I think. Not the one generally held of heroic adventure.
When the great innovation appears, it will almost certainly be in a muddled, incomplete and confusing form. To the discoverer himself it will be only half-understood; to everybody else it will be a mystery. For any speculation which does not at first glance look crazy, there is no hope (quoting Freeman Dyson, 147).
'Great innovation' or no, it does make one feel better about playing with ideas, and also about trying to keep going when you're in a muddle.
Posted by: bezdomnik / 12:13 PM
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