crazy-hot line

You can't rip up the crazy-hot line . . .
Because it's all up here!

-Paul Pardaen 30 July 2009

USA - A pension plan with an army

.

..the U.S. government will soon be nothing more than a pension plan with an army ...

- Andrew G. Biggs,

economist, PhD in government studies from
the London School of Economics
commenting on the principal components of
the projected US budget into 2017.
with 73% of expenses devoted to 5 programs:
Military, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,
and Interest on Debt

When you screw up, be sure to do it BIG

Modest incompetence simply won’t do;
it’s mind-boggling screw-ups that are required.

- Warren Buffet,
commenting on the impact of derivatives on the housing bubble -
that due to their widespread prevalence in the market, only a total collapse of the financial system could unveil their weaknesses.

Rent - truly unbelievable

.

Taylor W. Hickem:

You have to look at buying a house as your residence as two steps-

1. Buying the house as an investment based on a given rent,

and then

2. Choosing to move in and forfeit the rental income on your investment.

Olivia Campos:

I'm actually really surprised that I understand what you are saying

Brilliant insights from the Bush Administration

If houses get too expensive . . .

people will stop buying them.

- US President George W. Bush   

   January 2006

Acronym to remember: NAHASDA

NAHASDA (Na-has-duh?)

Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (‘‘NAHASDA’’)

- US Department of Housing and Urban Development

I got white socks !

young friend: My daddy's black,

My mommy's white,

And I'm brown =)

Ronin Campos: Well . . . I got white socks !

(age 4 )

De-absolute-ify

"De-absolute. . . ify"

- Olivia Campos 

Looking for a way to describe what one does to a particular word by adding "-ish".

There is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended

"...there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended. Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings; they can be ended by human beings. "

- George Mitchell 22 JAN 2009

US State Department Special Envoy to the Middle East

(addressing the US State Department at his recent appointment by the Obama Administration)

The war of ideas

"For we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world"

Bible - Ephesians 06: 12

Obama's Inagural Address 2009

"Our security eminates from the justness of it cause "

Barack Obama
Presidential Inauguration Address Jan 20 2009

It's all in the delivery

"TRUTH without compassion
is cruelty"

- Catherine Hickem

Get rid of the squirrels . . . Get rid of the problem

"The owl scares the squirrels away, 

The squirrels make the dog bark,

The dog's bark annoys us --

So

Get rid of the squirrels . . . Get rid of the problem"

- Andy Rodriguez 

   (age 10)

The three ingredients to solving all of life's problems

"Alcohol, Sugar . .. and Duct Tape, they can fix anything!"

-Dania

BEWARE objective scientists of the world . . .

"a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact [. . .] But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage"

Bobby Henderson Letter to the Kansas State Board of Education

Hello my name is ____ , and I fund terrorism

"Were all of your foreign taxes paid to countries that are recognized by the United States and do not support terrorism?"

- IRS E-file question regarding eligibility for foreign tax credit

Like a clam upon my tummy!

" I shall smash your skull like a clam upon my tummy!"

-Evil River Otter Dictator

South Park Season 10 Episode "Go God Go"

The real American dream

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

-Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus

Fear and US politics

"It is my impression that fear is guiding public opinion here"

-Vicente Fox

on Daily Show Interview referring to US politics

Kids will be kids

"Go do something illegal"!

- Komal 

Life, the free-for-all game

"Life is a game, but a game where you make up the rules"

-unknown (Taylor original until proven otherwise)

Blind Patriotism

"If love is blind, patriotism has lost all five sense"

- William Blum

Seek and yee shall find

If you look for differences, you will find differences.
If you look for similarities, you will find similarities.

-unknown (Taylor original until proven otherwise)

Evidence that the idea of race is silly

The influence of Indian culture is still strongly felt in South East Asia, especially in places like Bali (in Indonesia). However, in such cases, it is not reasonable to apply the label 'Person of Indian Origin' to the descendants of emigrants from several centuries back, especially since intermixture is so great as to negate the value of such nomenclature in this context.

- Wikipedia Article "Non Resident Indian"

MATLAB's way of saying "we did it!"

success = 1

- MATLAB

SQUARE YOU!

"Oh yea well square you!"

- James Stokes

Humble Arrogance

"The only difference between me and the guys that clean the toilet is what I've learned to do with a computer"

-Taylor original

A sure sign of trouble

"Let's be adventurous!"

-Raja

Singapore Ministry of Defense Recruiting Ads

"When a mind expands, it does not retract to it's original confinement"

-Singapore Ministry of Defense

The Cow-tural revolution

Raja:   ...Everytime you eat beef, just think that cow could have been THE cow to transcend bovine stupidity and bring world peace---

Taylor: You mean like the Cow-tural Revolution?

Men need, Women want

"Men need to be needed...
Women want to be wanted"

- unknown (Taylor original until proven otherwise)

Americans in need of Korean fashion advice

"they seemed does not care about fashion style"

--Korean girl commenting on American youth

..tis natural to expect the effects

If a young woman once thinks herself handsome, she never doubts the truth of any man that tells her he is in love with her; for if she believes herself charming enough to captivate him, 'tis natural to expect the effects of it.

- Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

It's only a model

Lorraine :Is that a golf course?
(pointing to a small scale model of a golf course inside a mall in Shenzhen)

Taylor: No Lorraine, it's just a model
(not paying close attention to her real question) 

Finding Global Citizens - one step at a time

"Everybody is the same"

-Greatest Morocan Kebab man in Brussels - Ever!

"GREEN MAN!"

"GREEN MAN!"

- Taylor with inebriated GT Lorraine travel crew in Germany

Escalators without power = Stairs

"Hey, how would we get down if the lifts AND the escalators were off!"

- Taylor original (not proud of this one)

Reminder that hands are 3-dimensional

Chemistry Major: "Dr. Collard, your hands can't be chiral because they're two dimensional!"

Prof. Collard :   (puzzled look checking his own hands):
                           " No, they're three dimensional. . ."

Knowledge

"Knowledge is power"

- unknown (TWH until proven otherwise)