Trevor McKee

“Aggressors often think very highly of themselves,” Baumeister and Bushman write, “as evidenced by nationalistic imperialism, ‘master race’ ideologies, aristocratic dueling, playground bullies, and street gang rhetoric.” Odd, too, how many people who might score high on tests for positive illusions share a peculiar quirk with David Starr Jordan, a belief that they can control Chaos with their very own hands. Fidel Castro once proposed building a shield around Cuba to protect it from hurricanes. Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov wanted to stop snowfall by spraying a mist of cement upon the clouds. And speaking of cement barriers, there was once a man of some power in this country who wanted to build a “physically imposing” wall made of concrete or steel to protect against a force as inevitable, and enriching, as wind.”
― Lulu Miller, Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

“Oceans today represent only about 0.02 percent of Earth’s total mass, while the atmosphere is no more than one part per million of its bulk. Nevertheless, oceans and atmosphere have exerted, and continue to exert, disproportionately large influences in making Earth the unique world that it is.”
― Robert M. Hazen, The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet

“I replaced emotional complexity with visual and intellectual complexity. I questioned everything and looked to logic, science, and intellect for answers.”
― Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

“Play that cosmic tape backward, and everything converges down to a point about 13.7 billion years ago. That’s the Big Bang. The light from some of these most distant objects has been traveling through space for more than 13 billion years. The data on this point are unassailable. Any claim that Earth’s age is ten thousand years or less defies the overwhelming and unambiguous observational evidence from every branch of science.”
― Robert M. Hazen, The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet