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You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Previous Site Maintenance / Great Minds

Great Minds

by John Cole|  April 2, 20079:27 am| 25 Comments

This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance

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I swear to you there was no coordination between the previous two posts or their titles…

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Previous Post: « April Fools
Next Post: KMBA Watch »

Reader Interactions

25Comments

  1. 1.

    Tim F.

    April 2, 2007 at 9:32 am

    You know, that adage never made any sense to me. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that perhaps the fundamental definition of a great mind is that it doesn’t think like any other mind out there? Albert Einstein didn’t think a damned thing like Winston Churchill who didn’t think anything like FDR who (despite what some would say) didn’t think like Stalin, yet they were all, in their own way, major thinkers who won WWII.

    I think the important thing here is that I though four minutes faster.

  2. 2.

    Rome Again

    April 2, 2007 at 10:24 am

    What I think is amazing is that you both thought about it within 4 minutes of each other, but you were also both a day late.

  3. 3.

    Jake

    April 2, 2007 at 10:25 am

    Yah sure. I bet you guys call each other in the morning to make sure your outfits match.

    On more a more serious note, it isn’t surprising that five seconds of Mr. Crook Talk Express makes sane folk think of fools. (Chocolate) Christ all mighty, what the hell is wrong with that man?

  4. 4.

    Face

    April 2, 2007 at 10:31 am

    McCain will never, ever win the primary. He’s too damn old, too damn all-over-the-map, and too busy playing most of America as chumps.

    Seriously, does he REALLY think that he’s convinced us that their walk thru Baghdad wasn’t escorted by an entire platoon? That there wasn’t snipers on every rooftop?

  5. 5.

    Face

    April 2, 2007 at 10:31 am

    McCain will never, ever win the primary. He’s too damn old, too damn all-over-the-map, and too busy playing most of America as chumps.

    Seriously, does he REALLY think that he’s convinced us that their walk thru Baghdad wasn’t escorted by an entire platoon? That there wasn’t snipers on every rooftop?

  6. 6.

    ThymeZone

    April 2, 2007 at 10:52 am

    The real question is why two guys would have the same rather ordinary idea at around the same time, and then decide that they had great minds.

    Heh. Sorry, that shot had to be taken.

    As a lay empiricist, I have to say, we don’t have a lot of data to support assertions about what a “great mind” actually is. Do we?

  7. 7.

    Rome Again

    April 2, 2007 at 10:54 am

    So now that we’ve got two threads about McCain and April Fool’s Day, and another thread about synergy or lack of synergy regarding the previous two postings, I guess you don’t have room for a thread about THIS, huh?

    WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from Guantanamo detainees who want challenge their five-year-long confinement in court, a victory for the Bush administration’s legal strategy in its fight against terrorism.

    The victory may be only temporary, however. The high court twice previously has extended legal protections to prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. These individuals were seized as potential terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and only 10 have been charged with a crime.

  8. 8.

    Darrell, D'Souza, Delay and Strauss

    April 2, 2007 at 10:59 am

    As several great minds in one, I can say that John McCains heroic jaunt through a normal Baghdad hood did not endanger any troops lives.

  9. 9.

    Punchy

    April 2, 2007 at 11:07 am

    The victory may be only temporary, however

    What GREAT reporting by the douchebags at AP. Why is this temporary? They never say. How can anything decided by the SC be temporary, anyways? Aren’t they highest court in the land? WTF does this statement mean?

    I’ve seen 5th graders who can pen a more coherent article than the clowns at AP…

  10. 10.

    SPIIDERWEB™

    April 2, 2007 at 11:10 am

    John,

    Do you have any clout with the military? I’m thinking of going to Baghdad to buy some rugs (the prices are sooo good!) and would like the assistance of about 100 soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters and a couple Apache attack helicopters. If they can throw in a tank I would be very grateful. Body armor is covered. No need to borrow any.

    Want me to pick up a couple rugs for you? Let me know the color scheme in your home and I’ll do what I can. You’ll just have to trust my judgment.

    Thank you in advance for your assistance.

  11. 11.

    Rome Again

    April 2, 2007 at 11:12 am

    I’ve seen 5th graders who can pen a more coherent article than the clowns at AP…

    True, but it IS a Supreme Court rejection, even it temporary, and is much more important than whether two people on this thread have great minds or not.

  12. 12.

    Krista

    April 2, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Isn’t there a similar expression about fools seldom differing?

  13. 13.

    Chad N. Freude

    April 2, 2007 at 11:54 am

    As a lay empiricist

    empiricism is a theory of knowledge which emphasizes those aspects of scientific knowledge that are closely related to experience, especially as formed through deliberate experimental arrangements

    the phenomena of consciousness are simply the product of sensuous experience

    Do I have to make the joke explicit?

  14. 14.

    ThymeZone

    April 2, 2007 at 12:05 pm

    Do I have to make the joke explicit?

    Only if you are in the seventh grade.

  15. 15.

    Chad N. Freude

    April 2, 2007 at 12:22 pm

    Isn’t there a similar expression about fools seldom differing?

    There are different versions of the wording of this exchange between someone and Dorothy Parker:

    Person: I can’t bear fools.
    Parker: That’s strange, your mother could.

  16. 16.

    demimondian

    April 2, 2007 at 12:39 pm

    “A man who represents himself has a crook for a lawyer and a fool for a client.”

  17. 17.

    demimondian

    April 2, 2007 at 12:40 pm

    I think the important thing here is that I though [sic] four minutes faster.

    I think you should type more slowly sometimes.

  18. 18.

    Chad N. Freude

    April 2, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    I think you should type more slowly sometimes.

    At least no faster than you think.

  19. 19.

    Cyrus

    April 2, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    Krista Says:
    Isn’t there a similar expression about fools seldom differing?

    I’ve always liked a variation of the phrase referred to in the post title. My favored version: “Great minds think alike, simple minds seldom differ.” A quick Google shows that the more common formulation is “great minds think alike, fools seldom differ.” If someone wanted to make a substantive point from that phrase, one might stress the meaning of “think alike” — it’s not that the greats come to the same conclusions, but that they have a unique and special way of getting to those conclusions, regardless of whether or not they’re the same ones.

    But it’s never used like that, so, more likely, it’s merely a way to keep someone from getting too full of themselves without actually disagreeing with them. Which is pretty much how it’s been used here. Oh well.

  20. 20.

    The Other Steve

    April 2, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    McCain’s candidacy is a dead man walking.

  21. 21.

    RSA

    April 2, 2007 at 3:12 pm

    “Great minds think alike. . .”

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard this phrase used non-ironically. (I’ve never heard the follow-through either; thanks, Cyrus.)

  22. 22.

    Jim

    April 2, 2007 at 3:50 pm

    You know, that adage never made any sense to me. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that perhaps the fundamental definition of a great mind is that it doesn’t think like any other mind out there?

    I take it you’ve never eaten shrooms with anyone.

  23. 23.

    les

    April 2, 2007 at 4:57 pm

    I swear to you there was no coordination

    Readily believable.

  24. 24.

    jnfr

    April 2, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    I put my reponse in an unintended Fools thread!

  25. 25.

    Tim F.

    April 3, 2007 at 7:52 am

    I take it you’ve never eaten shrooms with anyone.

    Really?

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