TITLE: A Couple of Nice Excerpts
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: January 14, 2005  4:50 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Before leaving for the weekend, two quotes from blog
reading today.  Both are about the life of the mind.

From
<A HREF="http://www.steelypips.org/principles/2005_01_09_principlearchive.php#110567387927463038">
   Uncertain Principles</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<I>And, you know, in a certain sense, that's the whole
key to being a scientist.  It's not so much a matter of
training, as a habit of mind.  It's a willingness to poke
randomly at a selection of buttons on somebody else's
camera, in hopes that it might shed some light on the problem.

It's a habit that's all too easy to fall out of, too.  It's
easy to start relying on colleagues and technicians and
reference works for information, and stop poking at things
on your own.</I>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

From
<A HREF="http://www.pyracantha.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2005/01/14#EB103OneElectron">
   Electron Blue</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<I>Books are patient, books are kind.  They stay up with
you all night and never complain that you are taking up
too much of their time.  They are never too busy to help
you.  They don't complain about being insulted and they
rarely (if they are well-written and helpful books, that
is) make you feel belittled or stupid.  A book will not
condescend or laugh at me because I am doing the most
basic things over again.  And you can work with a book
at your own pace.  [...]  I once said to a Live Physicist
that I am learning physics one electron at a time.  He
replied that this would mean that the time-span of my
learning physics would exceed the projected life-span
of the entire universe.  Well, it may indeed take me
that long to get to any kind of advanced physics.  But
I might as well start where I am, and keep going.</I>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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