Life, the Universe, and Everything

Stephen Hawking:

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

(hat tip: Great Geek Manual)

Mark Twain:

When I think of the number of disagreeable people that I know who have gone to a better world, I am sure hell won’t be so bad at all.

Bruce Sterling:

You’re a thousand times more likely to die because of what some urban banker did in 2008 than from what some Afghan-based terrorist did in 2001.

Nick Sagan, son of scientist and explainer of science Carl Sagan, remembers his father…

Often he’d be invited to speak at an event, and I remember sitting with him, watching him gather his thoughts in the quiet moments before he’d take the stage. He’d make tiny notes on an index card. Just a word or two about each point he wanted to make. And armed with these notes, he’d go up and captivate the audience. Never a boring moment, never a time when he’d lose his place or go off track. As a child I’d sometimes think of him as a translator or a code breaker. How else could he turn those mere fragments into such amazing and inspiring ideas?

(hat tip: Erich Vieth)

Put down the potato salad for a moment and stop to remember those who sacrificed (and still do) to keep us safe. Then, go help them out.

This tired old world needs more Jessicas.

(hat tip: BoingBoing)

All hail His Noodly Savoriness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster…

(hat tip: Bobby Henderson by way of Hemant Mehta)

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., in The Magic Engineer:

There are two sides to reality. There is what is, and there is what people believe. Seldom are they exactly the same.

(hat tip: The Great Geek Manual)

Deanna Zandt, author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, explains the value of shared experiences and the building of trust in communities in her five-minute talk What Would Kermit Do?