Frack!

Quote of the day:
“There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.”
--Steven Wright

Quote of the day #2:
“Frack.”
--Expletive often used on the TV series "Battlestar Gallactica." The current plotline of the show features human beings battling to win their freedom from tyrannical cyborgs and clones. The humans’ main tactics are insurgency and suicide bombings.

Quote of the day #3:
“Iraq is the most xenophobic, sexist and reactionary society on earth.”
--David Brooks

When I read this quote in the September 24th "New York Times," I assumed Brooks was giving an opinion. It turns out that the statement is based on research by the World Values Survey. I highly recommend a brief visit to their website, www.worldvaluessurvey.com. Click on the Inglehart Values Map to view a matrix of where the world’s nations fall along the axes of “traditional” to “secular-rational” values, and “survival” to “self-expression” values. (Iraq has not been added to the matrix yet.)

Note that the United States is on the right side, rated -.5 “traditional” and +1.5 “self-expression.” This is an interesting place to be, because traditional values do not especially support self-expression. And vice-versa.