A fool cannot be protected from his folly. If you attempt to do so, you will not only arouse his animosity but also you will be attempting to deprive him of whatever benefit he is capable of deriving from experience. Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig. The old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed. Don't ever become a pesimist; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun -- and neither can stop the march of events. "What does bring him back a second time? Technique? Muscular control?" "Neither of those. It's the ability to make a man happy, principally ny being happy about it yourself - a spiritual quality rather than a physical quality." All societies are based on ruse to protect pregnany women and yuoung children. Alll else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly which can -- and must -- be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survuval is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "Women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless,, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly -- and no doubt will keep on trying. Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, tage big bites. Moderation is for monks. Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary. Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications. A zygote is a gamete's way of producing more gametes. This may be the purpose of the universe. There are hidden contradictions inthe minds of people who "love Nature" while deploring the "artificialities" with which "Man has spoiled 'Nature.'" The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artificats are not part of "Nature" - but beavers and their dams are. But the contradctions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beaver's purposes) and his hatred for damns erected by men (for the purposes of men) the "Naturist" reveals his hatred for his own race -- ie his own self hatred. "No man is an island--" Much as we may feel and act as individuals, our race is a single organism, always growing and branching -- which must be pruned regularly to be healthy. Thius necesity need not be argued; anyone with eyes can see than any organism which grows without limit always dies in its own poisons. The only rational; question is whether pruning is done before or after bnirth. Being an incurable sentimentalist I favor the former of these methods -- killing makes me queasy, even when it's a case of "He's dead and I'm aliive and that's the wayh I wanted it to be." But this may be a matter of taste. Some shamans think that it is better to bekilled in a war, or to die in childbirth, or to starve in misert, than never to have lived at all. They may be right. But I don't have to life it--and I don't. Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that one over again, too. Who decides? What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? Shuin wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars fortell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" -- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always iunto an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts! Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubriaction where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the unsophisticaled deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," anmd scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby thrown sand into machinery that does not work too well at best. The most preposterous nation that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and RUler of all the Universes, wantrs teh saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the epenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. The second most preposterous ntion is that copulation is inherintly sinful. Sex is a learned art, as much so as ice skating or tight wire talking or fancy diving; it is not instinct. Oh, two animals couple by instinct, but it takes intelligence and patient willingless to turn coupation into a high and lively art. [When with the right partner there] ... is that spiritual quality that turns sweaty exercise into a living sacrament.