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Proverbs, aphorisms, quotations (English) by Linux fortune

The old complaint that mass culture is designed for eleven-year-olds
is of course a shameful canard.  The key age has traditionally been
more like fourteen.
                -- Robert Christgau, "Esquire"
Dear Emily:
        I'm still confused as to what groups articles should be posted
to.  How about an example?
                -- Still Confused

Dear Still:
        Ok.  Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from
the Oilers to the Kings.  Now right away you might think rec.sport.hockey
would be enough.  WRONG.  Many more people might be interested.  This is a
big trade!  Since it's a NEWS article, it belongs in the news.* hierarchy
as well.  If you are a news admin, or there is one on your machine, try
news.admin.  If not, use news.misc.
        The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try sci.physics.
He is a big star, so post to sci.astro, and sci.space because they are also
interested in stars.  Next, his name is Polish sounding.  So post to
soc.culture.polish.  But that group doesn't exist, so cross-post to
news.groups suggesting it should be created.  With this many groups of
interest, your article will be quite bizarre, so post to talk.bizarre as
well.  (And post to comp.std.mumps, since they hardly get any articles
there, and a "comp" group will propagate your article further.)
        You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each
group.  If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some newsreaders
will only show the the article to the reader once!  Don't tolerate this.
                -- Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
***** Special AI Seminar (abstract)

It has been widely recognized that AI programs require expert knowledge
in order to perform well in complex domains.  But knowledge alone is not
sufficient for some applications; wisdom is needed as well.  Accordingly,
we have developed a new approach to artificial intelligence which we call
"wisdom engineering".  As a test of our ideas, we have written IMMANUEL, a
wisdom based system for the task domain of western philosophical thought.  
IMMANUEL was supplied initially with 200 wisdom units which contained wisdom
about such elementary concepts as mind, matter, being, nothingness, and so
forth.  IMMANUEL was then allowed to run freely, guided by the heuristic
rules contained in its heterarchically organized meta wisdom base.  IMMANUEL
succeeded in rediscovering most of the important philosophical ideas developed
in western culture over the course of the last 25 centuries, including those
underlying Plato's theory of government, Kant's metaphysics, Nietzsche's theory
of value, and Husserl's phenomenology.  In this seminar, we will describe
IMMANUEL's achievements and internal architecture.  We will also briefly
discuss our recent efforts to apply wisdom engineering to oil exploration.
"I think trash is the most important manifestation of culture we have in my
lifetime."
- Johnny Legend
If science were explained to the average person in a way that is accessible
and exciting, there would be no room for pseudoscience.  But there is a kind
of Gresham's Law by which in popular culture the bad science drives out the
good.  And for this I think we have to blame, first, the scientific community
ourselves for not doing a better job of popularizing science, and second, the
media, which are in this respect almost uniformly dreadful.  Every newspaper
in America has a daily astrology column.  How many have even a weekly
astronomy column?  And I believe it is also the fault of the educational
system.  We do not teach how to think.  This is a very serious failure that
may even, in a world rigged with 60,000 nuclear weapons, compromise the human
future.
- Carl Sagan, The Burden Of Skepticism, The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 12, Fall 87
The history of the rise of Christianity has everything to do with politics,
culture, and human frailties and nothing to do with supernatural manipulation
of events.  Had divine intervention been the guiding force, surely two
millennia after the birth of Jesus he would not have a world where there
are more Muslims than Catholics, more Hindus than Protestants, and more
nontheists than Catholics and Protestants combined.
-- John K. Naland, "The First Easter", Free Inquiry magazine, Vol. 8, No. 2
Q: How can I choose what groups to post in?  ...
Q: How about an example?

A: Ok.  Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from the
Oilers to the Kings.  Now right away you might think rec.sport.hockey
would be enough.  WRONG.  Many more people might be interested.  This is a
big trade!  Since it's a NEWS article, it belongs in the news.* hierarchy
as well.  If you are a news admin, or there is one on your machine, try
news.admin.  If not, use news.misc.

The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try sci.physics.  He is
a big star, so post to sci.astro, and sci.space because they are also
interested in stars.  Next, his name is Polish sounding.  So post to
soc.culture.polish.  But that group doesn't exist, so cross-post to
news.groups suggesting it should be created.  With this many groups of
interest, your article will be quite bizarre, so post to talk.bizarre as
well.  (And post to comp.std.mumps, since they hardly get any articles
there, and a "comp" group will propagate your article further.)

You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each group.
If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some newsreaders will
only show the the article to the reader once!  Don't tolerate this.
-- Brad Templeton, _Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette_
"All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is
constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role
they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume."
-- Noam Chomsky
weapon, n.:
        An index of the lack of development of a culture.
Obscurism:
        The practice of peppering daily life with obscure
references as a subliminal means of showcasing both one's education
and one's wish to disassociate from the world of mass culture.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
McJob:
        A low-pay, low-prestige, low-benefit, no-future job in the
service sector.  Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by
those who have never held one.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Poverty Jet Set:
        A group of people given to chronic traveling at the expense of
long-term job stability or a permanent residence.  Tend to have doomed
and extremely expensive phone-call relationships with people named
Serge or Ilyana.  Tend to discuss frequent-flyer programs at parties.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Historic Underdosing:
        To live in a period of time when nothing seems to happen.
Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news
broadcasts.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Historic Overdosing:
        To live in a period of time when too much seems to happen.
Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news
broadcasts.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Historical Slumming:
        The act of visiting locations such as diners, smokestack
industrial sites, rural villages -- locations where time appears to
have been frozen many years back -- so as to experience relief when
one returns back to "the present."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Brazilification:
        The widening gulf between the rich and the poor and the
accompanying disappearance of the middle classes.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Vaccinated Time Travel:
        To fantasize about traveling backward in time, but only
with proper vaccinations.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Decade Blending:
        In clothing: the indiscriminate combination of two or more
items from various decades to create a personal mood: Sheila =
Mary Quant earrings (1960s) + cork wedgie platform shows (1970s) +
black leather jacket (1950s and 1980s).
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Veal-Fattening Pen:
        Small, cramped office workstations built of
fabric-covered disassemblable wall partitions and inhabited by junior
staff members.  Named after the small preslaughter cubicles used by
the cattle industry.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Emotional Ketchup Burst:
        The bottling up of opinions and emotions inside oneself so
that they explosively burst forth all at once, shocking and confusing
employers and friends -- most of whom thought things were fine.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Bleeding Ponytail:
        An elderly, sold-out baby boomer who pines for hippie or
presellout days.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Boomer Envy:
        Envy of material wealth and long-range material security
accrued by older members of the baby boom generation by virtue of
fortunate births.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Clique Maintenance:
        The need of one generation to see the generation following it
as deficient so as to bolster its own collective ego: "Kids today do
nothing.  They're so apathetic.  We used to go out and protest.  All
they do is shop and complain."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Consensus Terrorism:
        The process that decides in-office attitudes and behavior.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Sick Building Migration:
        The tendency of younger workers to leave or avoid jobs in
unhealthy office environments or workplaces affected by the Sick
Building Syndrome.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Recurving:
        Leaving one job to take another that pays less but places one
back on the learning curve.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Ozmosis:
        The inability of one's job to live up to one's self-image.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Power Mist:
        The tendency of hierarchies in office environments to be diffuse
and preclude crisp articulation.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Overboarding:
        Overcompensating for fears about the future by plunging
headlong into a job or life-style seemingly unrelated to one's
previous life interests: i.e., Amway sales, aerobics, the Republican
party, a career in law, cults, McJobs....
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Earth Tones:
        A youthful subgroup interested in vegetarianism, tie-dyed
outfits, mild recreational drugs, and good stereo equipment.  Earnest,
frequently lacking in humor.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Ethnomagnetism:
        The tendency of young people to live in emotionally
demonstrative, more unrestrained ethnic neighborhoods: "You wouldn't
understand it there, mother -- they *hug* where I live now."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Mid-Twenties Breakdown:
        A period of mental collapse occurring in one's twenties,
often caused by an inability to function outside of school or
structured environments coupled with a realization of one's essential
aloneness in the world.  Often marks induction into the ritual of
pharmaceutical usage.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Successophobia:
        The fear that if one is successful, then one's personal needs
will be forgotten and one will no longer have one's childish needs
catered to.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Safety Net-ism:
        The belief that there will always be a financial and emotional
safety net to buffer life's hurts.  Usually parents.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Divorce Assumption:
        A form of Safety Net-ism, the belief that if a marriage
doesn't work out, then there is no problem because partners can simply
seek a divorce.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Anti-Sabbatical:
        A job taken with the sole intention of staying only for a
limited period of time (often one year).  The intention is usually to
raise enough funds to partake in another, more meaningful activity
such as watercolor sketching in Crete, or designing computer knit
sweaters in Hong Kong.  Employers are rarely informed of intentions.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Legislated Nostalgia:
        To force a body of people to have memories they do not
actually possess: "How can I be a part of the 1960s generation when I
don't even remember any of it?"
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Now Denial:
        To tell oneself that the only time worth living in is the past and
that the only time that may ever be interesting again is the future.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Bambification:
        The mental conversion of flesh and blood living creatures into
cartoon characters possessing bourgeois Judeo-Christian attitudes and
morals.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Diseases for Kisses (Hyperkarma):
        A deeply rooted belief that punishment will somehow always be
far greater than the crime: ozone holes for littering.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Spectacularism:
        A fascination with extreme situations.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Lessness:
        A philosophy whereby one reconciles oneself with diminishing
expectations of material wealth: "I've given up wanting to make a
killing or be a bigshot.  I just want to find happiness and maybe open
up a little roadside cafe in Idaho."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Status Substitution:
        Using an object with intellectual or fashionable cachet to
substitute for an object that is merely pricey: "Brian, you left your
copy of Camus in your brother's BMW."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Survivulousness:
        The tendency to visualize oneself enjoying being the last
person on Earth.  "I'd take a helicopter up and throw microwave ovens
down on the Taco Bell."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Platonic Shadow:
        A nonsexual friendship with a member of the opposite sex.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Mental Ground Zero:
        The location where one visualizes oneself during the dropping
of the atomic bomb; frequently, a shopping mall.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Cult of Aloneness:
        The need for autonomy at all costs, usually at the expense of
long-term relationships.  Often brought about by overly high
expectations of others.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Celebrity Schadenfreude:
        Lurid thrills derived from talking about celebrity deaths.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
The Emperor's New Mall:
        The popular notion that shopping malls exist on the insides only
and have no exterior.  The suspension of visual disbelief engendered
by this notion allows shoppers to pretend that the large, cement
blocks thrust into their environment do not, in fact, exist.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Poorochrondria:
        Hypochrondria derived from not having medical insurance.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Personal Tabu:
        A small rule for living, bordering on a superstition, that
allows one to cope with everyday life in the absence of cultural or
religious dictums.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Architectural Indigestion:
        The almost obsessive need to live in a "cool"
architectural environment.  Frequently related objects of fetish
include framed black-and-white art photography (Diane Arbus a
favorite); simplistic pine furniture; matte black high-tech items such
as TVs, stereos, and telephones; low-wattage ambient lighting; a lamp,
chair, or table that alludes to the 1950s; cut flowers with complex
names.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Japanese Minimalism:
        The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by
rootless career-hopping young people.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Bread and Circuits:
        The electronic era tendency to view party politics as corny --
no longer relevant of meaningful or useful to modern societal issues,
and in many cases dangerous.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Voter's Block:
        The attempt, however futile, to register dissent with the
current political system by simply not voting.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Armanism:
        After Giorgio Armani; an obsession with mimicking the seamless
and (more importantly) *controlled* ethos of Italian couture.  Like
Japanese Minimalism, Armanism reflects a profound inner need for
control.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Poor Buoyancy:
        The realization that one was a better person when one had less
money.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Musical Hairsplitting:
        The act of classifying music and musicians into pathologically
picayune categories: "The Vienna Franks are a good example of urban
white acid fold revivalism crossed with ska."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
101-ism:
        The tendency to pick apart, often in minute detail, all
aspects of life using half-understood pop psychology as a tool.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Yuppie Wannabes:
        An X generation subgroup that believes the myth of a yuppie
life-style being both satisfying and viable.  Tend to be highly in
debt, involved in some form of substance abuse, and show a willingness
to talk about Armageddon after three drinks.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Ultra Short Term Nostalgia:
        Homesickness for the extremely recent past: "God, things seemed
so much better in the world last week."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Rebellion Postponement:
        The tendency in one's youth to avoid traditionally youthful
activities and artistic experiences in order to obtain serious career
experience.  Sometimes results in the mourning for lost youth at about
age thirty, followed by silly haircuts and expensive joke-inducing
wardrobes.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Conspicuous Minimalism:
        A life-style tactic similar to Status Substitution.  The
nonownership of material goods flaunted as a token of moral and
intellectual superiority.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Caf'e Minimalism:
        To espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting
into practice any of its tenets.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
O'Propriation:
        The inclusion of advertising, packaging, and entertainment
jargon from earlier eras in everyday speech for ironic and/or comic
effect: "Kathleen's Favorite Dead Celebrity party was tons o'fun" or
"Dave really thinks of himself as a zany, nutty, wacky, and madcap
guy, doesn't he?"
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Air Family:
        Describes the false sense of community experienced among coworkers
in an office environment.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Squirming:
        Discomfort inflicted on young people by old people who see no
irony in their gestures.  "Karen died a thousand deaths as her father
made a big show of tasting a recently manufactured bottle of wine
before allowing it to be poured as the family sat in Steak Hut.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Recreational Slumming:
        The practice of participating in recreational activities
of a class one perceives as lower than one's own: "Karen!  Donald!
Let's go bowling tonight!  And don't worry about shoes ... apparently
you can rent them."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Conversational Slumming:
        The self-conscious enjoyment of a given conversation
precisely for its lack of intellectual rigor.  A major spin-off
activity of Recreational Slumming.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Occupational Slumming:
        Taking a job well beneath one's skill or education level
as a means of retreat from adult responsibilities and/or avoiding
failure in one's true occupation.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Anti-Victim Device:
        A small fashion accessory worn on an otherwise
conservative outfit which announces to the world that one still has a
spark of individuality burning inside: 1940s retro ties and earrings
(on men), feminist buttons, noserings (women), and the now almost
completely extinct teeny weeny "rattail" haircut (both sexes).
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Nutritional Slumming:
        Food whose enjoyment stems not from flavor but from a
complex mixture of class connotations, nostalgia signals, and
packaging semiotics: Katie and I bought this tub of Multi-Whip instead
of real whip cream because we thought petroleum distillate whip
topping seemed like the sort of food that air force wives stationed in
Pensacola back in the early sixties would feed their husbands to
celebrate a career promotion.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Tele-Parabilizing:
        Morals used in everyday life that derive from TV sitcom plots:
"That's just like the episode where Jan loses her glasses!"
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
QFD:
        Quelle fucking drag.  "Jamie got stuck at Rome airport for
thirty-six hours and it was, like, totally QFD."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
QFM:
        Quelle fashion mistake.  "It was really QFM.  I mean painter
pants?  That's 1979 beyond belief."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Me-ism:
        A search by an individual, in the absence of training in
traditional religious tenets, to formulate a personally tailored
religion by himself.  Most frequently a mishmash of reincarnation,
personal dialogue with a nebulously defined god figure, naturalism,
and karmic eye-for-eye attitudes.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Paper Rabies:
        Hypersensitivity to littering.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Bradyism:
        A multisibling sensibility derived from having grown up in
large families.  A rarity in those born after approximately 1965,
symptoms of Bradyism include a facility for mind games, emotional
withdrawal in situations of overcrowding, and a deeply felt need for a
well-defined personal space.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Black Holes:
        An X generation subgroup best known for their possession of
almost entirely black wardrobes.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Black Dens:
        Where Black Holes live; often unheated warehouses with Day-Glo
spray painting, mutilated mannequins, Elvis references, dozens of
overflowing ashtrays, mirror sculptures, and Velvet Underground music
playing in background.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Strangelove Reproduction:
        Having children to make up for the fact that one no longer
believes in the future.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Squires:
        The most common X generation subgroup and the only subgroup
given to breeding.  Squires exist almost exclusively in couples and
are recognizable by their frantic attempts to create a semblance of
Eisenhower-era plenitude in their daily lives in the face of
exorbitant housing prices and two-job life-styles.  Squires tend to be
continually exhausted from their voraciously acquisitive pursuit of
furniture and knickknacks.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Poverty Lurks:
        Financial paranoia instilled in offspring by depression-era
parents.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Pull-the-Plug, Slice the Pie:
        A fantasy in which an offspring mentally tallies up the
net worth of his parents.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Underdogging:
        The tendency to almost invariably side with the underdog in a
given situation.  The consumer expression of this trait is the
purchasing of less successful, "sad," or failing products: "I know
these Vienna franks are heart failure on a stick, but they were so sad
looking up against all the other yuppie food items that I just had to
buy them."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
2 + 2 = 5-ism:
        Caving in to a target marketing strategy aimed at oneself after
holding out for a long period of time.  "Oh, all right, I'll buy your
stupid cola.  Now leave me alone."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Option Paralysis:
        The tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Personality Tithe:
        A price paid for becoming a couple; previously amusing
human beings become boring: "Thanks for inviting us, but Noreen and I
are going to look at flatware catalogs tonight.  Afterward we're going
to watch the shopping channel."
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Jack-and-Jill Party:
        A Squire tradition; baby showers to which both men and
women friends are invited as opposed to only women.  Doubled
purchasing power of bisexual attendance brings gift values up to
Eisenhower-era standards.
                -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
                   Culture"
Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.
The difference between this place and yogurt is that yogurt has a live culture.
Q:        What is the difference between Texas and yogurt?
A:        Yogurt has culture.
He who writes with no misspelled words has prevented a first suspicion
on the limits of his scholarship or, in the social world, of his general
education and culture.
                -- Julia Norton McCorkle
                        It's grad exam time...
MEDICINE
        You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a
bottle of Scotch.  Remove your appendix.  Do not suture until your work has
been inspected.  (You have 15 minutes.)

HISTORY
        Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present
day, concentrating especially, but not exclusively, on its social, political,
economic, religious and philisophical impact upon Europe, Asia, America, and
Africa.  Be brief, concise, and specific.

BIOLOGY
        Create life.  Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture
if this form of life had been created 500 million years ago or earlier, with
special attention to its probable effect on the English parliamentary system.
                `O' LEVEL COUNTER CULTURE
Timewarp allowed: 3 hours.  Do not scrawl situationalist graffiti in the
margins or stub your rollups in the inkwells.  Orange may be worn.  Credit
will be given to candidates who self-actualise.

        (1) Compare and contrast Pink Floyd with Black Sabbath and say why
            neither has street credibility.
        (2) "Even Buddha would have been hard pushed to reach Nirvana squatting
            on a juggernaut route."  Consider the dialectic of inner truth
            and inner city.
        (3) Discuss degree of hassle involved in paranoia about being sucked
            into a black hole.
        (4) "The Egomaniac's Liberation Front were a bunch of revisionist
            ripoff merchants."  Comment on this insult.
        (5) Account for the lack of references to brown rice in Dylan's lyrics.
        (6) "Castenada was a bit of a bozo."  How far is this a fair summing
            up of western dualism?
        (7) Hermann Hesse was a Pisces.  Discuss.
A social scientist, studying the culture and traditions of a small North
African tribe, found a woman still practicing the ancient art of matchmaking.
Locally, she was known as the Moor, the marrier.
Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!
This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living, and hard
dying... but nobody thought so.  This was a future of fortune and theft,
pillage and rapine, culture and vice... but nobody admitted it.
                -- Alfred Bester, "The Stars My Destination"
Hey, what do you expect from a culture that *drives* on *parkways* and
*parks* on *driveways*?
                -- Gallagher
There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is
becoming an endangered synthetic.
                -- Lily Tomlin
"Of course, in Perl culture, almost nothis is prohibited. My feeling is that the rest of the world already has plenty of perfectly good prohibitions, so why invent more?"

  -- Larry Wall (Open Sources, 1999 O'Reilly and Associates)
"I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
   -- Al Gore
  
"Today I am one of the senior technical cadre that makes the Internet
work, and a core Linux and open-source developer. I have closely studied
the history of the Internet technical culture."
   -- Eric S. Raymond
Linus Torvalds wrote:
> It should be a case of "Just plug in a new kernel, and suddenly your
> existing filesystem just allows you to do more! 20% more for the same
> price! AND we'll throw in this useful ginzu knife for just 4.95 for  
> shipping and handling. Absolutely free!"

...Linus demonstrates why American culture is a bad influence on you.

        - Jeff Garzik on linux-kernel
The whole intent of Perl 5's module system was to encourage the growth
of Perl culture rather than the Perl core.
             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
I think you didn't get a reply because you used the terms "correct" and
"proper", neither of which has much meaning in Perl culture.  :-)
             -- Larry Wall in <199706251602.JAA01786@wall.org>
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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