| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Happy 100th Birthday Robert A. Heinlein |
| 2007-07-08 |
| Man is the one animal that can't be tamed. He goes along for years, peaceful as a cow, when it suits him. Then when it suits him not to be, he makes a leopard look like a tabby cat. Which goes double for the female of the species. Money is a powerful aphrodisiac. But flowers work almost as well. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. Being right too soon is socially unacceptable. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. They didn't want it good, they wanted it Wednesday. Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed. There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns he must die and accepts his sentence undismayed. Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something. An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. The meek shall inherit the earth, a 6 foot plot above them. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch Peace is a condition in which no civilian pays any attention to military casualties which do not achieve page-one, lead-story- -unless that civilian is a close relative of one of the casualties. But, if there ever was a time in history when "peace" meant that there was no fighting going on, I have been unable to find out about it. You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. |
| Posted by:OldSpook |
| #14 I do wish he had retired permanently before he wrote The Number of the Beast. The man needed therapy for his Oedipus complex. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-07-08 21:49 |
| #13 Darkness is just an absence of light! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-07-08 21:39 |
| #12 I've always been partial to Mike (?) taking the dead fly in with him to talk to the computer, and defining funny jokes from a print-out. That would be, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". It, too, has its own hilarious scene when the lunar colony announces its intent to make a demonstration of might against earth and specifies the coordinates with a date and time for when they will lob down an iron jacketed boulder to prove it. Earth's government refuses to take the proclamation seriously and a carnival sprouts up at the intended impact site from all the tourists who've clustered up to view its arrival. The ensuing megaton strength impact event kills thousands on the ground and a shocked earth declares war on the moon. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-08 21:03 |
| #11 "Everything to excess! Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. Moderation is for Monks". Lazarus Long. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-07-08 20:34 |
| #10 Regarding a slave trader: "What did I do? I spaced the bastard! He went thataway, eyes popping and peeing blood." |
| Posted by: Tarzan Angong5690 2007-07-08 19:00 |
| #9 Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat. Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. Never insult anyone by accident. Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-07-08 17:57 |
| #8 "I pray for one last landing, On the globe that gave me birth. Let me rest my eyes on the fleecy skies, And the cool green hills of earth." ___________________________________ Heinlein |
| Posted by: borgboy2001 2007-07-08 16:40 |
| #7 That does sound like The Man Who Sold the Moon. One of these days I'll have to buy that again -- the pages fell out of my childhood copy long ago. I've always been partial to Mike (?) taking the dead fly in with him to talk to the computer, and defining funny jokes from a print-out. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-08 16:39 |
| #6 I believe it is from "The Man Who Sold the Moon": "Money is the sincerest form of flattery." |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-08 14:04 |
| #5 I wonder if he knew Ayn Rand. I could see her saying some of this stuff. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-07-08 12:38 |
| #4 Then there is the most important piece of wisdom ever imparted by Lazarus Long, near immortal man: "Always store beer in a dark place." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-08 10:07 |
| #3 Pithy comments. OT, annoying punk story of mountain bikers v bladers v cops. Cuff 'em Danno! http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/020707_b_Bikes.htm |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-07-08 04:47 |
| #2 Of course, TANSTAAFL was coined by the late Milton Friedman. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-07-08 00:41 |
| #1 Being right too soon is socially unacceptable. For some strange reason I like that one. One that sticks is his description of Igli's aroma in "Glory Road". "It made an unlimed outhouse smell like Shalimar." Here's hoping others will contribute their favorites. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-08 00:25 |