Henry Bromel (1947-2013)

Henry Bromel (1947-2013)

Alfred Henry Bromell (September 19, 1947 – March 18, 2013) was an American author, screenwriter, and director.

---

Henry Bromel

Love

¶ Sometimes when you look back on a situation, you realize it wasn't all you thought it was. A beautiful girl walked into your life. You fell in love. Or did you? Maybe it was only a childish infatuation, or maybe just a brief moment of vanity.

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bromell

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, critic of American life and culture, and scholar of American English.[1] Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century. Many of his books remain in print.

Mencken is known for writing The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial". He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, pseudo-experts, the temperance movement, and uplifters. A keen cheerleader of scientific progress, he was very skeptical of economic theories and particularly critical of anti-intellectualism, bigotry, populism, fundamentalist christianity, creationism, organized religion, the existence of God, and osteopathic/chiropractic medicine.

In addition to his literary accomplishments, Mencken was known for his controversial ideas. A frank admirer of German philosopher Nietzsche, he was not a proponent of representative democracy, which he believed was a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors.[2] During and after World War I, he was sympathetic to the Germans, and was very distrustful of British propaganda.[3] However, he also referred to Adolf Hitler and his followers as "ignorant thugs". Mencken, through his wide criticism of actions taken by government, has had a strong impact on the American libertarian movement.[4]

---

Quotes·Quotations by H. L. Mencken

Women

¶ Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn’t, they’d be married, too.

---

Notes

[1]^ Obituary Variety, February 1, 1956
[2]^ Mencken, Henry (1926). Notes on Democracy. New York: Alfred Knopf
[3]^ Hobson (1994), p. 435
[4]^ Burns, Jennifer (2009). Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-19-532487-7.

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May, 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. A prominent defender of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, he was the grandfather of Julian, Aldous and Andrew Huxley. He was a critic of organised religion and devised the words "agnostic" and "agnosticism" to describe his own views.[1]

---

Quotes·Quotations by Thomas Henry Huxley

History

@ To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall.
"On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences" (1854) page 29

Life

@ Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once.
One of a series of exchanges when Richard Owen repeated generally repudiated claims about the Gorilla brain in a Royal Institution lecture. Athenaeum (13 April 1861) p.498; Browne Vol 2, p.159.

Science

@ Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules.
Darwiniana: the Origin of Species (1860).

¶ The great tragedy of Science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.

---

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley

Bill Gates (1955- )

Bill Gates (1955- )

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, computer programmer and philanthropist. Gates is the former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third; in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the second wealthiest person. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.[1]

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

---

Quotes·Quotation by Bill Gates

Behavior

¶ We've got to put a lot of money into changing behavior.

Life

¶ Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself.

Science

¶ If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG.

¶ You see, antiquated ideas of kindness and generosity are simply bugs that must be programmed out of our world. And these cold, unfeeling machines will show us the way.

Season

¶ Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.

Tool

¶ I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.

---

Gates in 2023

---

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates