Latest One-liners

Billings Phenomenon: The conclusions of most good operations research studies are obvious. - Robert E. Machol (The name refers to a well-known Billings story in which a farmer becomes concerned that his black horses are eating more than his white horses. He does a detailed study of the situation and finds that he has more black horses than white horses, Machol points out.)

A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.

If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen?

The more ridiculous a belief system, the higher probability of its success.

The farther away the future is, the better it looks.

Sometimes, when I drive across the desert in the middle of the night, with no other cars around, I start imagining: What if there were no civilization out there? No cities, no factories, no people? And then I think: No people or factories? Then who made this car? And this highway? And I get so confused I have to stick my head out the window into the driving rain - unless there's lightning, because I could get struck on the head by a bolt.

If you do not understand it, it must be intuitively obvious.

For every "10" there are 10 "1's".

Don't make your doctor your heir.

Bare feet magnetize sharp metal objects so they always point upward from the floor.