Welcome to the homepage of Asheen Phansey

though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.

last content edit: May 6, 2007 (literature)
last quote edit: August 06, 2006

Hello and thanks for visiting my site. Here you shall find not only some information about myself, but also some damn funny quotes.
My theory is that everyone says a lot of funny things that are lost, because they are not recorded... Enter the quotefile!



View my resume (PDF)
(06 May 2008)


Check out pictures of me and my friends.
(30 Nov 2003)


Just how completely insane am I?!
My various classes majors careers...

(15 Jul 2005)


What'sinaName?
The story of my name.

(16 Jul 2002)


music
a little about music.

(9 Mar 2005)


literature
What tomes grace my bedside these days?

(06 May 2007)


food!
Peek in on the mad scientist in the kitchen.

(14 Mar 2005)


Some memorable quips
The wisdom of the wise
and the experience of ages
may be preserved by quotations.
-Benjamin Disraeli


(06 Aug 2006)
View Quote Archives




The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-GB Shaw (courtesy Wade Hines)

I'm ombibulous. I drink every known alcoholic drink and enjoy them all.
-H. L. Mencken

The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of bold projects and new ideas. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the great enterprises and ideals of American society.
-Robert F. Kennedy

I speak well. You just don't understand.
-Mom, on her english

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.
-Ronald Reagan

Caffeine is an addictive drug. Among its many actions, it operates using the same mechanisms that amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin use to stimulate the brain.
-How Stuff Works entry on Caffeine


From Phoenix to Fort Meyers we've begun to hear the crack
Of ash a' hammerin' horsehide and - God help me, let's go back...
I can't talk baseball that way now, although it is the season.
The old cliches won't serve us for a new and chilling reason.

Last fall, against the odds, against past history and fate,
The Boston Red Sox rose and smote the Yankees in four straight;
Not only that, the Sox went on to beat the Cards as well,
And what they did by doing that perhaps we still can't tell,

Except to say the Red Sox now are champs - a lofty perch,
From which the team, its fans, and those below must start to search
For reasons to continue with the hallowed rites of spring,
And with the grind of summer and with playing out the string,

Despite the absence of the plot that's carried us these years
Through false hopes, wispy dreams and, often, unrequited tears.

The Red Sox are no longer underdogs or woeful mutts.
Their triumph in '04, like some great arctic breeze, just shuts
The door upon the fantasy that when the Bostons win
A new age fraught with happiness and glory must begin.

How can there be a season when the question doesn't stand?
When Boston's won already? What can save us from a bland,
Dull summer heavy with the feel of disappointment when
If Boston wins in '05, they'll have only won again?

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't change last fall's result a whit.
It's only that I wonder how this year we'll give a darn.
Now Boston is the champ, the coming spring blooms without reason...
I fail to understand why they should play the '05 season.

-NPR's Bill Littlefield, host of "Only a Game", March 2005


Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear.
-Ayn Rand, "America's Persecuted Minority: Big Business" in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1983)

[11:38] Elrond320: well...normal light can be circularly polarized
[11:38] Elrond320: in fact, it often is
[11:38] Elrond320: well...
[11:38] Elrond320: I dont' know
[11:38] Elrond320: don't quote me on that


me: [on Julie's creative use of the English language] I think it's cute!
Julie: I shouldn't be this cute at 26. I should be able to speak correctly.

I have gone to find myself. If I get back before I return, keep me here.
Overheard on the internet

Man has his will -— but woman has her way!
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician, writer, and poet; father of US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

[16:36] CanIMajorInThis2: Definitions of joel on the Web:
     One of the Twelve Prophets; of uncertain date but perhaps fourth century, a prophet who preached the Day of Yahweh and the pouring out of Yahweh's spirit on everyone. See Chapter 13.
[16:36] CanIMajorInThis2: Joel is a Prophet!
[16:36] Elrond320: wow...I'm always amazed by Joel's accomplishments


[11:12] Joel Meow: My wireless is incredibly secure.
[11:12] CanIMajorInThis2: oh?
[11:12] CanIMajorInThis2: howso
[11:12] Joel Meow: it's still in the box


Carefully unpack your Global AC Adaptor. The package should contain one Global AC Adaptor and this manual. If any of these items are missing or damaged, notify your Toshiba dealer immediately.
-Manual for the Toshiba Global AC Adaptor

We will always remember the humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of history's great moral leaders. We are grateful to God for sending such a man, a son of Poland who became the bishop of Rome and a hero for the ages.
-George W. Bush on Pope John Paul II, April 2005

What is true is that I have at times earned my own crust of bread, and at other times a friend has given it to me out of the goodness of his heart. I have lived whatever way I could, for better or for worse, taking things just as they came. It is true that I have forfeited the trust of various people, it is true that my financial affairs are in a sorry state, it is true that the future looks rather bleak, it is true that I might have done better, it is true that I have wasted time when it comes to earning a living, it is true that my studies are in a fairly lamentable and appalling state, and that my needs are greater, infinitely greater than my resources....

I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost.
-Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Yes, we inbubate samples here. It's the same thing they did to Pamela Anderson-Lee.
-Keith, on a typo in the Incubator SOP

If you wait until you get consensus, you probably are going to have a compromise that doesn't get anything done.
-William H. Donaldson, SEC Chairman (Feb 2003-June 2005) under whom the Sarbanes-Oxley act was inacted

Hundreds are dead, thousands without food and shelter, an entire city under water and all everyone seems to care about is that gas prices went up again...

...I think we all need a big kick in the ass...
-Bolcar on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

The Boston accent is more of an attitude than an accent, underneath everything you say has to be the attitude of: You're an asshole, I know better than you, fuck you.
-Ben Affleck, courtesy of Chris Konek, via a colleague

Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed.
Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery
and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they
might be out of work, and their dreams would be shattered. I think,
"It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true, than
be selfish and worry about my liver."
-Attributed to Babe Ruth (overheard on the internet)

All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.
-IBM maintenance manual (1925) (courtesy Wikiquote)


lt is really hard to recollect a company: the market is full of sugqestions and the information is overwhelminq; but A GOOD CATCHY LOGO, STYLlSH STATlONERY and OUTSTANDING WEBSITE will make the task much easier .

We do not promise that having ordered a Ioqo your company wiIl automaticaIIy become a worId leader: it is quite cIear that without good products ,effective business organization and practicable aim it will be hot at nowadays market; but we do promise that your marketing efforts will become much more effective.
-a spam email trying to sell me marketing services


I can learn anything. I can write. I'm good with computers. I can teach. I can be taught. I can speak in front of a large crowd. I can motivate. I can mediate. I can name that song in three notes. I can organize. I understand the big picture. I think outside the box. I can maximize synergies. I have strong teeth and a shiny coat. I'm a snappy dresser. I make one hell of a cup of coffee.
-the best desperate-resume-rant I've seen on Craigslist

What is French food without French women?
-Ali Tofighi, on why he doesn't frequent French restaurants in Boston

Dissolve about 300 mg of finely powdered Cocaine in 1 mL of dilute hydrochloric acid (1 in 12) with the aid of heat, if necessary, and dilute with water to 15 mL. Mix 5 mL of this solution with 0.3 mL of dilute sulfuric acid (1 in 35) and 0.1 mL of potassium permanganate solution (1 in 300): the violet color does not disappear entirely within 30 minutes.
-How to know if your cocaine is impure, according to the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) standard monograph (governed by USP Expert Committee under Dietary Supplements: Botanicals)

Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.
-Alan Turing (courtesty Bolcar/Wikiquote)

The worst and most common mistake that startup companies make is to not let go of underperforming employees soon enough. You talk to them once, maybe twice, and then you shoot them in the head.
-Paul Wormser, Entrepreneur-in-Residence/ Commercial Ventures group, UMass Lowell

If hair was precious, it wouldn't grow on your ass.
-Arabic proverb (courtesy Wikiquote)

Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool.
-Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837, Russian poet and author) (courtesy Wikiquote)

Man, if you pressure us, you just drive us away. We'll commit when we're ready, okay? Besides, what's so great about taking things out of beta? It ruins all the romance, the challenge, the possibilities, the right to explore. Carpe diem, ya know? Maybe we're jaded, but we've seen all these other companies leap headlong into 1.0, thinking their product is exactly what they've been dreaming of all their lives, that everything is perfect and hunky-dory – and the next thing you know some vanilla copycat release from Redmond is kicking their butt, the Board is holding emergency meetings and the CEO is on CNBC blathering sweatily about "a new direction" and "getting back to basics." No thanks, man. We like our freedom.
-Google, on why they're in no rush to take their new product Google Gulp out of beta (from the Google Gulp FAQ)


7 things the Gmail Team is thankful for this year

  • Our families... 4 engagements, 7 weddings, 11 new babies, 1 reunion, and 1 cross-country move by a fiancée so they "don't have to do the long-distance thing anymore" so far this year.
  • Each other —- the little family we've created here makes it fun to come in to work, especially on days when we play kickball.
  • Winning the "PC World World Class Award" for being #2 on the list of The 100 Best Products of 2005. (We don't mind being #2, especially to Firefox. Plus, it gives us more to work for.)
  • Google Video, and one fan's video we love in particular.
  • The horn of plenty and the guy who drew it.
  • You, our users. Yes you. Again. Still.
  • Cheese. Brie, goat, cheddar, the stuff we write on our home page... :)
Happy Thanksgiving from the Gmail Team!

-On the Google homepage around Thanksgiving


I once had the choice between buying a book or not eating for a day....... I still have the book.
-Mark Jones, as quoted at the Baen Free (electronic) Library

It can be boiled down to something as simple as the Scout Law, as voiced by Boy Scouts during every meeting. A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. If every executive followed those simple prescriptions, our culture would be scandal free.
-Joseph Daniel McCool, editor-in-chief, Executive Recruiter News, asked to define "strong leadership" in an interview with Fast Company writer Danielle Sacks (April 2005 issue)


Immortal spirit of antiquity,
Father of the true, beautiful and good,
Descend, appear, shed over us thy light
Upon this ground and under this sky
Which has first witnessed thy unperishable fame.
Give life and animation to those noble games!
Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victors
In the race and in strife!
Create in our breasts, hearts of steel!
Shine in a roseate hue and form a vast temple
To which all nations throng to adore thee,
Oh immortal spirit of antiquity.

-english lyrics to the Olympic Anthem, "Ancient Immortal Spirit", By Kostis Palamas



[W]ell we shall see about this therapist thing... this type of endeavor requires more sack that I am usually accustomed to exhibiting
-Christian, on a new career endeavor

It turns out the bicycle business is cyclical... <grin>. -Prof. Steve Feinstein, MBA 8510 (Financial Accounting and Corporate Reporting)

I was looking for Bolcar's address in my contact list under B. I couldn't find it anywhere.
...It took me a while to look under M.
-Joel C.

Being a newly minted PhD is much like being part demon and part human. One never knows what to think about the other half – it's a dark power that some people fear and that others desire.
-Dr. Eric Hayduk, PhD

Je voudrais keeeeeeeeeeeel vous.
-Joel Pedlikin, with a new twist on an oft-repeated theme

Meeting minutes will be distributed prior the meeting and will be posted here as well.
-Rachel Halych

[00:36] [*Anonymous*]: remember i told you i started seeing a new therapist
[00:36] [*Anonymous*]: it was going all great, and now i think she's nuts

Let me get in here. I just married into this family.
-Dan Perry, husband of less than an hour to Mrs. Frances Spalding Perry, very appropriately busting into a Psi*Psi photo with the bride :)

Well Julia [Frances' younger sister] just graduated, and we wanted to send her a subtle message. So we traded in our car for a two-seater and moved to France.
-the inimitable Jeff Spalding (seriously... no one imits him.)




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