Quote of the Day (2007-08-31)

Carol: OK, we all have these terrible stories to get over, and you-...
Melvin Udall: It's not true. Some have great stories, pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad. Just no one in this car. But, a lot of people, that's their story. Good times, noodle salad. What makes it so hard is not that you had it bad, but that you're that pissed that so many others had it good.

Source: As Good As It Gets

Quote of the Day (2007-08-30)

Bernard Woolley: "May I just clarify this? You think the National Theatre thinks that you are bluffing and the National Theatre thinks that you think that they are bluffing, whereas your bluff is to make the National Theatre think that you are bluffing when you are not bluffing, or if you are bluffing, your bluff is to make them think you are not bluffing. And their bluff must be that they're bluffing, because if they're not bluffing they're not bluffing.

Source: Yes, Prime Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-29)

Jim Hacker: "Sir Mark thinks there maybe votes in it. And if so, I don't intend to look a gift horse in the mouth."
Sir Humphrey: "I put it to you, Minister, that you are looking a Trojan Horse in the mouth."
Jim Hacker: "If we look closely at this gift horse, we'll find it's full of Trojans?"
Bernard Woolley: "If you had looked a Trojan Horse in the mouth, Minister, you would have found Greeks inside. Well the point is that it was the Greeks that gave the Trojan Horse to the Trojans, so technically it wasn't a Trojan Horse at all, it was a Greek Horse. Hence the tag Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes which you recall is usually, and somewhat inaccurately translated as Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Or doubtless you would have recalled had you not attended the LSE. [...] No well, the point is, Minister, that just as the Trojan Horse was in fact Greek, what you describe as a Greek tag is in fact Latin. It's obvious really, the Greeks would never suggest bewaring of themselves if one used such a participle, bewaring that is, and it is clearly Latin, not because Timeo ends in 'o', because the Greek first person also ends in 'o'. Though actually, there is a Greek word called Timao meaning I honour. But the 'os' ending is a nominative singular termination of the second declension in Greek, and an accusative plural in Latin of course, though actually Danaos is not only the Greek for Greek but also the Latin for Greek, it is very interesting really."

Source: Yes, Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-27)

But really what's so hard about finding an apartment? What you do is, you read the obituary column. Yeah, you find out who died, and go to the building and then you tip the doorman. What they can do to make it easier is to combine the obituaries with the real estate section. Say, then you'd have Mr. Klein died today leaving a wife, two children, and a spacious three bedroom apartment with a wood burning fireplace.

Source: When Harry Met Sally

The 40 coolest free applications around

Seopher.com has a nice list of open source applications that users can download and use. There are a lot of more tech oriented things like IDEs, but things that ordinary people can use too. I must say I haven't used too many of these, but OpenOffice.org is pretty good (though its scripting editor leaves a lot to be desired, especially compared to Microsoft's VBA editor). The page also links to a nice list of open source games.

One rant, though. Eclipse is listed in the IDE section. Now, I use Eclipse at work as it is the supported IDE for java development. But why does it get such high marks? It does very little for you. I use NetBeans for my own stuff and it does so much more. Define a property in a bean and it generates the necessary code to support it. It has a visual editor and property sheets for GUI development. In J2EE code, it'll generate the code to set up a session bean or a web service, to send JMS messages, and it will create your entity beans by logging into your database and reading the schema. I haven't Eclipse do any of that.

Quote of the Day (2007-08-26)

Joan Littler: "What I insist on knowing is what is the actual difference between dioxin and metadioxin."
Sir Humphrey: "Well, that's quite simple. Metadioxin is an inert compound of dioxin."
Jim Hacker: "I think I follow that, Humphrey, but could you explain it a little more clearly?"
Sir Humphrey: "In what sense, Minister?"
Joan Littler: "What does inert mean?"
Sir Humphrey: "It means it is not......ert."

Source: Yes, Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-25)

Victor Melling: Why is New Jersey called "The Garden State"?
Gracie Hart: Because "Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State" wouldn't fit on a license plate?

Source: Miss Congeniality

Quote of the Day (2007-08-24)

And the Lord did grin.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2007-08-23)

[Holding the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch]
King Arthur: How does it... um... how does it work?
Sir Lancelot: I know not, my liege.
King Arthur: Consult the Book of Armaments.
Brother Maynard: Armaments, chapter two, verses nine through twenty-one.
Cleric: [reading] And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats and large chu...
Brother Maynard: Skip a bit, Brother...
Cleric: And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.
Brother Maynard: Amen.
All: Amen.
King Arthur: Right. One... two... five.
Galahad: Three, sir.
King Arthur: Three.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2007-08-22)

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

Source: Holy Grail

NFL's Disabled Players

This ongoing debate over medical benefits for former players, many of whom have pretty horrific stories, seems rather odd because it pits the current players against the former players.

To Solotaroff and many of the ex-players he quotes, the primary villains in this story are the Players Association and its executive director, Gene Upshaw, who makes $6.7 million a year, far more than any other sports union leader.

"In a game expected to take in $7 billion this year and that exceeds all others in causing bodily harm, fewer than 3 percent of the men who played in the league succeed in getting disability benefits," Solotaroff writes. "Worse, the players union turns away ailing vets despite a pension fund with $1 billion in assets."

Don't these current players realize they will be among the former players in the not-too-distant future? With an average career lasting only 3 1/2 years, many will join those ranks far sooner than they may think.

The current players, and their union, have a vested interest in ensuring that former players like Brian DeMarco and Dave Pear get the care and assistance they require.

DeMarco's back is held together by a titanium rod screwed into his hips. He has rebuilt knees and a painful shoulder. He's been homeless several times and spent several months living in a storage facility.

He's also only 35 and was in the league as recently as 1999. He's thought about killing himself just so his wife and kids could have his death benefit.

Then there's Dave Pear, a nose tackle who was the first Pro Bowler for Tampa Bay and who played for Oakland in the 1981 Super Bowl. He's had four disks fused, has four screws in his back that need to be replaced and needs both hips replaced. He takes about 25 pills a day and draws disability through Social Security.

Yet it's their own union that is viewed as the primary opponent of them getting such care.

Upshaw says he's not legally allowed to represent retired players. Then he should step up to the plate and represent the active players to get it done. If he doesn't, he's failing not only his own peers--he is, after all, a former player himself--but the men in the union that pays him almost $7 million per year to represent their interests.

Quote of the Day (2007-08-21)

Why would I be a leg man? I don't need legs. I have legs.

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2007-08-20)

Kid #3: My Mommy says smoking kills.
Nick Naylor: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: A scientific researcher of some kind?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: Well then she's hardly a credible expert, is she?

Source: Thank You For Smoking

Quote of the Day (2007-08-19)

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

Source: This is Spinal Tap

Quote of the Day (2007-08-18)

"It's smart. It's a smart line, and a smart crowd will appreciate it. And I'm not going to dumb it down for some bonehead mass audience!"

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2007-08-17)

George: "Beautiful women... Ya know, they get away with murder. You never see one of them lift anything over three pounds. They do whatever they want, whenever they want to, and nobody can stop them."
Jerry: "She's like a beautiful Godzilla."
George: "And I'm thousands of fleeing Japanese!

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2007-08-16)

Peter Gibbons: Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.

Source: Office Space

Quote of the Day (2007-08-15)

Sally: And it's not the same for men. Charlie Chaplin had kids when he was 73.
Harry: Yeah, but he was too old to pick them up.

Source: When Harry Met Sally

Quote of the Day (2007-08-14)

Sally Albright: How much worse can it get than finishing dinner, having him reach over, pull a hair out of my head and start flossing with it at the table?

Source: When Harry Met Sally

Quote of the Day (2007-08-13)

Sir Humphrey: "Minister, I have something to say to you which you may not like to hear."
Jim Hacker: "Why should today be any different?"
Sir Humphrey: "Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations which are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position."
Jim Hacker: "I wonder what made you think I didn't want to hear that?"

Source: Yes, Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-12)

I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough water! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2007-08-11)

Where's your Christmas spirit? An eye for an eye.

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2007-08-10)

Jim Hacker: "Obviously the Home Secretary will have to resign."
Sir Humphrey: "Alas, yes."
Jim Hacker: "What on earth will happen to him?"
Sir Humphrey: "Well, I gather he was as drunk as a lord, so after a discrete interval they will probably make him one."

Source: Yes, Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-08)

Once had love, and it was a gas.
Soon found out it was a pain in the ass.

Source: Blondie

Quote of the Day (2007-08-07)

Bedever: So, logically....
Peasant: If she...weighs the same as a duck...she's made of wood.
Bedever: And therefore...
Peasant: ... A witch!

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2007-08-06)

Inigo Montoya: You are sure nobody's follow' us?
Vizzini: As I told you, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable. No one in Guilder knows what we've done, and no one in Florin could have gotten here so fast. - Out of curiosity, why do you ask?
Inigo Montoya: No reason. It's only... I just happened to look behind us and something is there.
Vizzini: What? Probably some local fisherman, out for a pleasure cruise, at night... in... eel-infested waters�

Source: The Princess Bride

Quote of the Day (2007-08-05)

Macaulay Connor: Uh-oh, Liz, what did I tell you? Look, how do you like this - living room, sitting room, terrace, pool, stables.
Elizabeth (Liz) Imbrie: That's probably so they can talk to the horses without having them in the house.

Source: The Philadelphia Story

Quote of the Day (2007-08-04)

LAUNCELOT Brave, brave Concorde! You shall not have died in vain!
CONCORDE: Uh, I'm-I'm not quite dead, sir.
LAUNCELOT: Well, you shall not have been mortally wounded in vain!
CONCORDE: Uh, I-I think uh, I could pull through, sir.
LAUNCELOT: Oh, I see.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2007-08-03)

Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, as Cabinet Secretary I am, of course, most eager to reduce public spending, but as Head of the Civil Service, I am responsible for the very real dangers which will arise administratively if a pay rise does not come through very soon. It's so difficult for me, you see, as I am wearing two hats."
Jim Hacker: "Yes, isn't that rather awkward for you?"
Sir Humphrey: "Not if one is in two minds."
Bernard Woolley: "Or has two faces."
Jim Hacker: "Perhaps I should relieve you of one of them?"
Sir Humphrey: "Oh no, no, no. I am perfectly happy with both of them."
Jim Hacker: "Faces?"
Sir Humphrey: "Hats!"

Source: Yes, Prime Minister

Quote of the Day (2007-08-02)

Mr. Smiley's Manager: I don't think you'd fit in here.
Lester Burnham: I have fast food experience.
Mr. Smiley's Manager: Yeah, like twenty years ago!
Lester Burnham: Well, I'm sure there have been amazing technological advances in the industry, but surely you must have some sort of training program. It seems unfair to presume I won't be able to learn.

Source: American Beauty

Quote of the Day (2007-08-01)

"Boy, a month in Europe with Elaine. That guy's coming home in a body bag."

Source: Seinfeld