Quotes & Highlights

yes, the existence of dipshits is indeed unfixable, but building arrays of Dipshit Accelerators that allow a small number of bad actors to build destructive empires defended by Dipshit Armies is a choice. The refusal to genuinely remodel that machinery when its harms first appear is another choice.
— Erin Kissane, Against the Dark Forest
The word 'amethyst' means 'not drunk' – a-methys – and ancient Romans and Greeks believed it could let you drink without getting drunk.
— McKinley Valentine, The Whippet #182: The Least Charitable Reader
Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty. Tolerance is a social norm because it allows different people to live side-by-side without being at each other’s throats. It means that we accept that people may be different from us, in their customs, in their behavior, in their dress, in their sex lives, and that if this doesn’t directly affect our lives, it is none of our business. But the model of a peace treaty differs from the model of a moral precept in one simple way: the protection of a peace treaty only extends to those willing to abide by its terms. It is an agreement to live in peace, not an agreement to be peaceful no matter the conduct of others. A peace treaty is not a suicide pact.
— Yonatan Zunger, Tolerance Is Not a Moral Precept
Founded in 1999 on the heels of the Satanic “panic” and growing steadily ever since, *InfoWars* has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool for brainwashing and controlling the masses. With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal. They are a true unicorn, capable of simultaneously inspiring public support for billionaires and stoking outrage at an inept federal state that can assassinate JFK but can’t even put a man on the Moon.
— The Onion Staff, Here’s Why I Decided to Buy ‘InfoWars’
“single-threaded leadership,” in which a single person, unencumbered by competing responsibilities, owns a single major initiative and heads up a separable, largely autonomous team to deliver its goals.
— Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, Working Backwards
Most geniuses—especially those who lead others—prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities. — Andy Benoit
— None, Quick Passages
Hopefulness is not a neutral position. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, such as reading to your little boy, or showing him a thing you love, or singing him a song, or putting on his shoes keeps the devil down in the hole. — Nick Cave
— Brilliantcrank, Hopefulness Is the Warrior Emotion That Keeps the Devil Down in the Hole.
*“One of my teachers at Columbia was Joseph Brodsky...and he said 'look,' he said, 'you Americans, you are so naïve. You think evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots. It doesn’t come like that. Look at the language. It begins in the language.'" –* Marie Howe
— thenerdreich.com, 'Unhumans': J.D. Vance and the Language of Genocide
Cool thing about pendulums: The time it takes for one to swing forward and backward—the period—won’t change, no matter how wide it swings. If it’s got a lot of energy, it’ll swing farther and faster, but the period will still be the same. This is what mechanical clocks take advantage of to keep time. That period ends up being driven by two things, and two things only: the length of the pendulum and gravity.
— Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary
(Sabra comes from the Hebrew for prickly pear cactus, a desert plant with needles on the surface and sweet fruit within.)
— Chris Whipple, The Gatekeepers