It's one of those days. I found this dumbest quotes of 2004 thing at Alternet.org, which puts Phineus on my mind.
This is Number 25: "This is the best election night in history." -Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, Nov. 2, 2004, just before 8 p.m. ESTWanna guess what made Number 1?
Phineus T. Barnum was born on July 5, 1810. He was perhaps the quintessential promoter and showman. He knew about about the "belief systems" of human beings on the Happy Planet and made money accordingly. At my house we celebrate his birthday every year. We have for years. Here is a bio and the photo above, along with a shot of his gravesite. Another bio is here. This looks pretty good too.
The challenge is always, of course, battling the irrationality of groups of human beings, our lemming ancestry, always curious, but ever fearful. The challenge is also to remain a person whose center is your own self... guided by your own magnificent sensing appartuses and your own singular mind.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
