Heinlein's "Waldo"

When I was younger my favorite author was Robert A. Heinlein,  He wrote science fiction books and won numerous Hugo awards (SciFi book oscars).  He wrote fun adventure stories until he got old and then (in my opinion) went off the deep end with his last few books.

Waldo was about a person who invented things because he had a degenerative disease which forced him to live in space.

The earth at that time used a radiated energy form to "fuel' their transportation system, but the failsafe planes, etc, were crashing.

They found out that the problem was that people stopped believing that the planes would fly and this caused them to crash.

The premise was that a strong individual or group of people believed that something would work caused it to work, e.g., if people thought that objects fall due to gravity they did.

So it was Sir Isaac Newton's belief that objects fall that caused that to happen.

Wouldn't it be fun to change the premises somewhat; just think of the possibilities!  People could fly!  We could move heavy objects with just our minds!

Robert Heinlein quotes:


"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."


"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat."


"No matter where or what, there are makers, takers, and fakers."


"A government-supported artist is an incompetent whore!'


"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."


"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."


"Never insult anyone by accident."


"Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do."


"Elephants aren't human but they are very nice people."


"A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill."


"The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship."


"I never learned from a man who agreed with me."


"Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed."


"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy."

Common Thought

I heard numerous times on the radio & TV that most people did not think that a Afro-American could ever become president.

I always thought that an Afro-American could become president in my lifetime.  I was hoping for someone with a little bit of executive experience however, not who we have.

It seems that popular thought is not something that I am good with (remember never end a sentence with a preposition).

EXECUTIVE, (n) An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of no effect. Following is an extract from an old book entitled, The Lunarian Astonished -- Pfeiffer & Co., Boston, 1803:
LUNARIAN: Then when your Congress has passed a law it goes directly to the Supreme Court in order that it may at once be known whether it is constitutional?
TERRESTRIAN: O no; it does not require the approval of the Supreme Court until having perhaps been enforced for many years somebody objects to its operation against himself -- I
mean his client. The President, if he approves it, begins to execute it at once.
LUNARIAN: Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative. Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances that they enforce?
TERRESTRIAN: Not yet -- at least not in their character of constables. Generally speaking, though, all laws require the approval of those whom they are intended to restrain.
LUNARIAN: I see. The death warrant is not valid until signed by the murderer.
TERRESTRIAN: My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so consistent.
LUNARIAN: But this system of maintaining an expensive judicial machinery to pass upon the validity of laws only after they have long been executed, and then only when brought before the
court by some private person -- does it not cause great confusion?
TERRESTRIAN: It does.
LUNARIAN: Why then should not your laws, previously to being executed, be validated, not by the signature of your President, but by that of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
TERRESTRIAN: There is no precedent for any such course.
LUNARIAN: Precedent. What is that?
TERRESTRIAN: It has been defined by five hundred lawyers in three volumes each. So how can any one know? (Devil's Dictionary)

Great Thoughts

When I'm not near the computer, I have all these brilliant thoughts. Unfortunately when I'm here, the thoughts have left.

So what my ravings are is not the great thoughts that you (few though you are) deserve. The brilliance you are missing is world changing.

I was looking at my blog Adsense ads & there was one for governments grants, certainly seems to be in concert with my anti-tax / government rants!

sardonic (adj) his sardonic wit mocking, satirical, sarcastic, ironical, ironic; cynical, scornful, contemptuous, derisive, derisory, sneering, jeering; scathing, caustic, trenchant, cutting, sharp, acerbic