In a few more days I'd anticipated telling Veronika that our injections had cured her heart condition. But in light of her unscheduled departure form Villette my telling that particular lie will not be required. The majority of people who attempt sui...
I devised a test. I turned off the TV and instantly the snoring stopped. She began to move. When I felt her eyes about to open, I turned the TV back on and back to sleep she went. Then I'd turn it off and on - sometimes for millisecond - and she neve...
Someone has to do it. It's all very well calling for eye of newt, but do you mean Common, Spotted or Great Crested? Which eye, anyway? Will tapioca do just as well? If we substitute egg white will the spell a) work b) fail or c) melt the bottom out o...
Turing presented his new offering in the form of a thought experiment, based on a popular Victorian parlor game. A man and a woman hide, and a judge is asked to determine which is which by relying only on the texts of notes passed back and forth. Tur...
I learned to find equal meaning in the repeated rituals of domestic life. Setting the table. Lighting the candles. Building the fire. Cooking. All those soufflés, all that crème caramel, all those daubes and albóndigas and gumbos. Clean sheets, st...
Pici passi. Un viagio in bici xe fato de pici passeti. I pici passi te permeti, co te entri int'un paeseto, de entrarghe veramente, de sentirlo tuo, de respirar a pieni polmoni la sua atmosfera, de imerger totalmente i tui zinque sensi int'un novo co...
If these bodies were really genes, fundamentally like our chromosome genes, they would give us an utterly new angle from which to attack the gene problem. They are filterable, to some extent isolable, can be handled in test-tubes, and their propertie...
...on opening the incubator I experienced one of those rare moments of intense emotion which reward the research worker for all his pains: at first glance I saw that the broth culture, which the night before had been very turbid was perfectly clear: ...
Sir Ken Robinson’s 2008 talk on educational reform—entitled “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”—has now been viewed more than 4 million times. In it Robinson cites the fact that children’s scores on standard tests of creativity decline as they ...
DeathWish: You spent some time working with Courtney Love and Billy Corgan on a creative level, how did this experience help your growth as an artist? EA: It didn't -- it stunted it entirely. I gave up over a year of my life and career helping Billy ...
Like the body craves oxygen, the mind is desperate for certainty. It believes that without a safe foothold on reality, it will die. But the fascinating thing is that the illusion of certainty is exactly the opposite of safety because it hardens and n...
There is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some people will test you, some will use you, some will bring out the best in you, but everyone will teach you something about yourself. Both positive and negative relationships teach you valuable lessons. Th...
Arthur "Ham" Hammond: So who has got away with murder? Not, of course, the British government. They merely covered up, as one does, the offensive corpses. Though not literally. That was done by person or persons unknown. So who has committed murder? ...
Shannon: [about Driver] You know, he walked into my shop here about five or six years ago. Right out of the blue. Asking for a job. So I put him to the test to see what he could do. The kid's amazing. Irene: Yeah. Shannon: So I hired him on the spot....
Chuck Yeager: [NASA recruiters are talking to test pilots] You need lab rabbits. Recruiter: Sorry, I didn't get that. Chuck Yeager: I said you need lab rabbits to curl up in your damn capsule. With its heart going "pitter-patter". And a wire up the k...
[after allowing the simulated Enterprise to be destroyed] Saavik: Permission to speak freely, sir? Kirk: Granted. Saavik: I do not believe this was a fair test of my command abilities. Kirk: And why not? Saavik: Because... there was no way to win. Ki...
Lt. Nyota Uhura: [catches Kirk hiding under her roommate's bed] You! James T. Kirk: [scheduled to take the Kobayashi Maru test the next day] Big day tomorrow. Lt. Nyota Uhura: [throws his clothes at him] You're gonna fail. James T. Kirk: Gaila, see y...
John: Hello, Mark. If you are so sick then why do I have so many photos of you up and about? Let's put your so called "illness" to the test. Right now, there's a slow-acting poison in your veins. The antidote is inside the safe - the combination to t...
Thomas Andrews: Mr. Lightoller, why are the boats being launched half full? Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller: Not now, Mr. Andrews. Thomas Andrews: Look, 20 or so in a boat built for 65? And I saw one boat with only 12, 12! Second Officer Ch...
Bruce Wayne: You were on the board? Lucius Fox: When your father ran things, yeah. Bruce Wayne: You knew my father? Lucius Fox: Oh, yeah. Helped him build his train. Ah, here we are. Kevlar utility harness. Gas-powered magnetic grapple gun. The three...
[Al is explaining to the bank president why he made the loan to Mr. Novak] Al Stephenson: You see, Mr. Milton, in the Army I've had to be with men when they were stripped of everything in the way of property except what they carried around with them ...
