Berkeley, UNIX, and LSD
There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence.
— Jeremy S. Anderson
Trust the computer, the computer is your fiend.
— Unknown
Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick a weapon and stand a post.
— Aaron Sorkin, monologue by Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men.
No apologies. This quote is simply a guilty pleasure.
Both destiny’s kisses and its dope-slaps illustrate an individual person’s basic personal powerlessness over the really meaningful events in his life: i.e. almost nothing important that ever happens to you happens because you engineer it. Destiny has no beeper; destiny always leans trenchcoated out of an alley with some sort of Psst that you usually can’t even hear because you’re in such a rush to or from something important you’ve tried to engineer.
— David Foster Wallace
Listen to that still, quite voice in the back of the mind. It might be your destiny trying to get your attention.
This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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This is funny, but not true.
LSD was first synthesized by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann. Leary was just the first one to abuse it 🙂
You’re correct about Albert Hofmann to be the first to synth LSD, but 1. Leary WASN’T the first to ‘abuse’ it (Hofmann was…Bike day), 2. Post-bike-day, tons of psychiatrists and other people consumed acid prior to Leary.
Lastly, it is well known that presently there is a lab somewhere in Berkeley as a majority of VERY good acid blotters and crystal pours out of there and has been for a while. Derp.
“There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence.” – Jeremy S. Anderson
Jay
It took me a while, but I just realized that your comment was to inform me of the author of the quote. I apologize for taking so long to realize this. I have updated the post to show Jeremy Anderson as the quote’s author.