The Forbidden Fruit

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The Forbidden Fruit

Client: Hey, just one final question before I send the deposit. Do you use a PC or a MAC?

Me: I use a MAC.

Client: That is a problem. Do you have access to a PC? I am not a supporter of Apple products.

Me: No, I don't have access to a PC, but this will have little to no effect on the work itself.

Client: I am a Christian and Apple products are sinful, I do not want our website to be created by a product made by this corrupt group. You need only look at their logo, an apple with a bite taken from it. Do you not know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? If I allowed you to create my website on a MAC I would be just like Adam, taking a bite of the forbidden fruit.

[Silence]

"Take my advise, destroy your mac and repent for when judgement day comes. It shall be you who is cast to hell for your sins."

Me: [Block Contact]

Sent from my iPad

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

Francis Bacon, 1st and Only Viscount of St. Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific revolution. His dedication brought him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments.
His works established and popularized deductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today.
Bacon was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and Viscount St Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death.

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do.

Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (originally Carnagey until 1922 and possibly somewhat later) (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and lecturer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln, titled Lincoln the Unknown, and several other books.

One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them.

Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge.

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (pronounced /ˈvɒnɨɡət/; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American novelist who wrote works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He was known for his humanist beliefs as well as being honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He is widely considered one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century.^[2]

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

Wilson Mizner (May 19, 1876, Benicia, California - April 3, 1933, Los Angeles, California) was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912. He was manager and co-owner of The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, California, and was affiliated with his brother, Addison Mizner, in a series of scams and picaresque misadventures that inspired Stephen Sondheim's Road Show.

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

 

From Wikipedia

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid-1800s.^{[1] [2]} He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground-breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".^[3] Considered one of the great orators of the time, Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism late in life created controversy, and at times he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was "the infinitude of the private man."^[4]

I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can understand it.

Queen Juliana, of the Netherlands Queen of Netherlands 1948-1980 (1909 - 2004)

 

I knew nothing about Queen Juliana until I looked her up on Wikipedia.   

Juliana (Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. She was married to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, with whom she had four children: Princess Beatrix (born 1938), Princess Irene (born 1939), Princess Margriet (born 1943), Princess Christina (born 1947). During the Second World War she lived in exile with her children in Ottawa, Canada. She became Queen of the Netherlands with her mother's abdication in 1948 and was succeeded by Queen Beatrix after her own abdication in 1980. During her reign both Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) in 1949 and Suriname in 1975 became independent from the Netherlands. Her birthday is celebrated annually as Koninginnedag, Queen's Day.

If Someone Asks You If You’re With God, You Say Yes

If Someone Asks You If You're With God, You Say Yes

(Church | Brighton, UK)

Patron: "I would like to make a complaint about God."

Me: "Pardon me?"

Patron: "I come in here all the time! I am told this is the house of God and I never see him!"

Me: "You do realize that you won't physically 'see' God in the Church? House of God means you can come here to communicate with him, or seek council from those who do."

Patron: "Is that you?"

Me: "I am qualified, yes."

Patron: "So you're in direct communication with God?"

Me: "I interpret the scriptures for guidance, and I pray. I don't have direct communication."

Patron: "So you're not with God?"

Me: "I study him and his will."

Patron: "You're not friends?"

Me: "No."

Patron: "Not even colleagues?"

Me: "No."

Patron: "Anyone around here higher up that might be?"

Me: "No more than anyone else I'm afraid."

Patron: "What about that Pope guy? He's always talking about what God said."

Me: "You could try."

Patron: "Is he around? Can you call him down?"

Sent from my iPod

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.

Martin Mull US comedian and actor (1943 - )

What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we open and shut our eyes!

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

 

was a German scientist, satirist and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. Today, he is remembered for his posthumous notebooks, which he himself called Sudelbücher, a description modeled on the English bookkeeping term "waste books",^[1] and for his discovery of the strange treelike patterns now called Lichtenberg figures.

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.

Franklin P. Jones

Unfortunately, the identity of Franklin P. Jones is not clear. Some quotation sites on the Internet refer to him as an American businessman who lived from 1887-1929, while others refer to him as an American humorist who lived from 1853-1935. A bit of research has identified a Franklin Pierce Jones who was born on February 23, 1851 and who died in Virginia on November 29, 1935. There also seems to have been a Franklin Pierce Jones who lived between 1874 and 1953 and had a successful furniture store in Clinton, Oklahoma, after working as a farmer in Missouri.

1. Never tell everything at once.

Ken Venturi, Ken Venturi's Two Great Rules of Life

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein, (attributed) US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955) 

 

But then again, what did HE know?

You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.

Boy, isn't that the truth.

George Burns US actor & comedian (1896 - 1996)

Not Always Right: Some Customers You Just Have To Let Slide

(Cellphone Store | Wichita, KS, USA)
Me: “Good afternoon, this is [cellphone store]. How may I help you?”
Customer: “I came in to your store today and you sold me a defective phone!”
Me: “I’m sorry, sir. What is your full name and phone number so I can pull up your account?”
Customer: *gives information*
Me: “Okay, thanks. I see, you bought a [phone]. What seems to be the problem?
Customer: “The keyboard on this piece of s*** won’t come out!”
Me: “Have you tried sliding it the other way?”
*really long pause*
Customer: “Well thanks a lot b****!, now you made me feel like a f***ing idiot!” *click*

Saturday Night Special: The Skivvies

I wonder why they ever thought this was a good idea.

Not that I have room to be critical... but the guy on the left probably should have worn boxers at least.

When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.

Rodney Dangerfield US actor & comedian (1921 - 2004)

The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.

William Gibson US science fiction novelist in Canada (1948 - )

 

That is okay.  I still have a large supply of past to tide me over.

It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.

Pierre Beaumarchais French businessman & comic dramatist (1732 - 1799)

Wired: Only Old Fogies Hate the New Facebook, Research Suggests

Guilty as charged.

The current backlash against Facebook for having turned its privacy promises inside out is likely being driven by adults over the age of 35, according to survey data from YouGov’s Brandindex.

As for 18- to 34-year-olds, Facebook continues to be the hottest thing on the net since YouTube, according to the company’s daily profile.

Working 10 Hours or More a Day Raises Heart Risk, Study Finds

I guess this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise...  I don't work long days as much as I used to, but still too often.

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Working 10 hours or more a day may harm the heart, according to a study of more than 10,000 British civil servants.

People who added three or more hours to a seven-hour day had a 60 percent greater risk of heart attack, angina and death from cardiovascular disease than those with no overtime work, researchers from the U.K., Finland and France reported today in the European Heart Journal. The findings are from the Whitehall II study, which has tracked British civil servants since 1985.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Hunter S. Thompson US journalist (1939 - 2005)

 

In my business, weird is the norm.

We are none of us infallible--not even the youngest of us.

W. H. Thompson

He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.

Douglas Adams English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)

44 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Life By Age 30

I am quite happy to say that I did avoid many of these pitfalls when I was younger.

I am quite sad to say that I did not avoid all of them.

Live and learn.

Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary US author & satirist (1842 - 1914)

The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld French author & moralist (1613 - 1680)

UT study: No proof that eliminating gluten, casein from diets of autistic children is effective

We tried putting John on a gluten and casein free diet for awhile.  He did not like the diet and I didn't any improvement. 

Here are some of what I thought were the more interesting quotes.  Check out the entire article here. 

• But the study says there is no scientific evidence that the diets help, and in fact, they can lead to reduced bone thickness and cause other harm.
• "As I reviewed the research, I developed the theory; the diet doesn't have anything to do with autism," Mulloy said in an interview.
• The UT study concludes that such diets should only be used on children with autism who have "acute behavioral changes, seemingly associated with changes in diet, and/or (when) medical professionals confirm through testing the child has allergies or food intolerances to gluten and/or casein."

 

 

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

William Blake English engraver, illustrator, & poet (1757 - 1827)

More Cuteness

Great pictures from Emily.

 

 

Sent to you by davidaustex via Google Reader:

 

 

More Cuteness

via Murdocks and Sons by Emily M on 5/2/10

I feel like Anna is already getting a little more chubbiness in her cheeks. These are from three or four days ago, so I need to take some more! She's been a lot more awake lately, and she's beginning to lose that fresh-from-the-womb appearance. Fun, but sad, too.



And a whole slideshow....

 

 

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Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

Albert Camus French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 - 1960)

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.

William G. McAdoo US industrialist, lawyer, & politician (1863 - 1941)

Been there

Actually, I am posting this from my office on a Saturday morning.  That is me, minus the hair, the tie, and the Red Bull.