
Douglas Adams quotations to live by - CarolineW
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2bcFfMt6rGLTPpbG0yLwPw0/42-douglas-adams-quotes-to-live-by
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Aelinsaar
_" A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as
Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine
was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means
of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more
sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush
the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the
general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular
expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if
you wanted to keep listening to the same program. Zaphod waved a hand and the
channel switched again."_ -From The Hitchhiker's Guide

It feels prescient, and the kind of thing we're going to be living through
sooner rather than later.

~~~
huxley
Yep, though the fussiness of OTA (over-the-air) TV and radio broadcasts was
probably quite inspirational. Rowan Atkinson explored OTA in a Mr. Bean skit:

[https://youtu.be/Sm3_qEMTdc4](https://youtu.be/Sm3_qEMTdc4)

~~~
Aelinsaar
I still have fond memories of my father inducing me to hold the antenna during
game-time one year.

------
ymse
I always keep this in mind when building fault-tolerant systems:

 _The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that
cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong
goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair._

And user interfaces:

 _A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely
foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools._

------
acheron
Anyone know the original source of the Bach quote?

 _" Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you
what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the
universe."_

~~~
CarolineW
It appears to be original to Adams - I've found no earlier references, and
every reference I've found is unattributed or explicitly attributed to Adams.

~~~
acheron
Yeah, I hadn't seen it attributed to anyone else, I just was trying to find a
better citation that had when/where he said it.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "don't trust quote attributions on the Internet".

------
david-given
I've always liked:

 _Some things you should care enough about to do badly._

