The Archives

Nothing gets thrown away out here in the desert: it just blows away. So if you missed something from the monthly specials, chances are it blew over here.

Quotes        Axioms        Monthly Sites        Brain Teasers

Quotes

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything. -- Charles Kurault

Well, there's one thing to be said for money. It can make you rich -- T. Robbins

Money won't buy you happiness, but with money you can buy a really big yacht and pull up right next to it.
-- David Lee Roth

Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to. - Mark Twain

No amount of money can buy security, and if it could, it would be a bad bargain at any price, since security is a form of paralysis, just as satisfaction is a form of death. -- Tom Robbins

The biggest enemy of excellence is "good enough" -Gill Noble

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russell

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.  -Will Rogers                      

If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average. -- M.H. Alderson

"Most people are awaiting Virtual Reality; I am awaiting virtuous reality."- Eli Khamarov                        

"It's noble to be good. It's nobler to teach others to be good, and less trouble."             -Mark Twain

"People tend the take everything too seriously. Especially themselves."----"Yep. And that's probably what makes 'em scared and hurt so much of the time. Life is too serious to take that seriously." -Tom Robbins, "Skinny Legs and All"

Jerusalem is not caught between a rock and a hard place. Jerusalem is a rock and a hard place. -Tom Robbins, "Skinny Legs and All"

What is politics, after all, but the compulsion to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them? Liberty, the very opposite of ownership and control, cannot, then, result from political action, either at the polls or the barricades, but rather evolves out of attitude. If it results from anything, it may be levity.-Tom Robbins, "Skinny Legs and All"

"You can’t be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER."     - Frank Zappa -

"My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." --Ronald Reagan, about to go on the air for a radio broadcast, unaware that the microphone was already on

"The caribou love it. They rub against it and they have babies. There are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at." --George Bush, on the Alaska pipeline

Sometimes I wish I was what I was when I wished I was what I am now. (My father?)

Its never too late to have a happy childhood. -Tom Robbins

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." --Dan Quayle

"Now, like, I'm President. It would be pretty hard for some drug guy to come into the White House and start offering it up, you know? ... I bet if they did, I hope I would say, 'Hey, get lost. We don't want any of that.'" --George Bush, talking about drug abuse to a group of students

"Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here." --Dan Quayle during a visit to Hawaii in 1989

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy. But that could change." --Dan Quayle

Axioms

Blair's Observation: The best laid plans of mice and men are usually about equal.

Berra's First Law: You can observe a lot just by watching.

Hecht's Fourth Law: There's no time like the present for postponing what you don't want to do. (Hear the cry: "I have not yet begun to procrastinate!")

Ballance's Law of Relativity: How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.

ADDENDUM TO MURPHY'S LAW: In precise mathematical terms, 1 + 1 = 2, where "=" is a symbol meaning, "seldom, if ever."

ELY'S LAW: Wear the right costume and the part plays itself.

LORD BALFOUR'S CONTENTION: Nothing matters very much, and very few things matter at all.

LAW OF PROBABLE DISPERSAL: Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

FELSON'S LAW: To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

THE LAW OF LIFE'S HIGHWAY: If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

BARUCH'S OBSERVATION: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

THE SAUSAGE PRINCIPLE: People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either one being made.

THE CARDINAL CONUNDRUM: An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears this is true.

Monthly Special Sites

(just cleared the deadwood out, lots of expired links years later in 2009)

• Explore the Pyramids - Have you ever dreamed of exploring the pyramids of Egypt? If so, enter here, wander through the chambers and passageways of the Great Pyramid, and learn about the pharaohs for whom these monumental tombs were built. You can also follow the 1997 field season of a team of archaeologists as they excavated the bakery that fed the pyramid builders.

• Shackleton's Traverse - Many of us are fascinate by Ernest Shackleton's Endurance journey. We marvel at the bad circumstances, the good luck, the bravery, the drive and determination that saw them all through. Mountaineer and journalist Dave Hahn retraces and recounts Shacketon's journey across South Georgia Island.

• Endurance -- An interesting synopsis of Shackleton's "successful failure" of traversing the continent of Antarctica.  View photos of Shackleton's ships crushed by ice during his polar expeditions. Click on the hyperlink, then choose the Endurance Expedition link from the homepage.

• Beck Weathers Interview - Severely injured Everest '96 survivor Weathers, in an exclusive video interview, asks "How do you manage to put yourself back together?"

• The Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery  If I had not been there and seen it, I would not have believed it. This strange site where spatial and gravitational relationships take an odd twist has been imitated in other parts of the world, but according to the locals, this is the original.

• The Experience Music Project This museum project started off as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, but expanded during its realization, and now traces the development of modern music, with an emphasis on the Seattle sound. You will need Real Player to experience the full deal.
  

• The Virtual Solar System Visit National Geographic’s Virtual Solar System, where you will have a chance to discover the wonders of our solar system in a spectacular 3-D environment. Take a fly-by tour of the sun and each planet in its orbit, observe close-up views of the planets, extraterrestrial weather patterns, and more.
   

• Desert USA Magazine : an online travel and adventure guide to the American Southwest. Like many good magazines, this site changes monthly. Lots of good stuff here, and the site is subscribable!
  

• The Virtual Haunted House: Midlink Magazine's 4th Annual Virtual Haunted House!

• Team Atlantis Japan's underwater monuments are rewriting history as we know it. What unknown and ancient civilization built these enigmatic structures? Is there a connection to Easter Island? Did this same civilization reach South America? Prepare to see human history in a whole new light... 

• Independence Day on the Net: This holiday site offers the story of American Independence, on-line fireworks, Mom's long sought after apple pie recipe and craft projects for the kids.

• We are Stardust! NASA and JPL are busy preparing to launch a comet sample return mission in 1999. This mission is dedicated solely to returning comet samples from beyond the moon. Not only will you find mission information, you will find excellent links to related topics on comets, space programs, and opportunities for students.

Dyslexic Dilemma: Can you select five letters and arrange them so that they spell words that are the opposite of one another? (Hint: the words both begin with "U") (Untie and Unite)

How many times does the letter "O" appear on the old standard phone dial? (Three - once above the number 6 and twice in the word "operator.")

What two fifteen letter words are spelled exactly the same with the exception of the first letter? (Rationalization and nationalization)

What English word contains three consecutive dotted letters? (Hijinks)

What was the tallest mountain before Mount Everest was discovered? (Mount Everest)

Ann and Mary are sisters. Ann is 24. Ann is twice as old as Mary was when Ann was as old as Mary is now. How old is Mary now? (Mary is 18. Six years ago Ann was 18 and Mary was 12.)

What is the longest one syllable word in the English language? (Strengths)

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