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Several years ago, a good friend came to me and excitedly pitched his latest invention - perpetual motion. He grew more and more animated as he explained how his device used magnets...

Being young, I drew a diagram showing why it would fail. With each line, I could sense him deflating, but I kept drawing. Finally, by the time I brought up Newton, I realized that I'd gone too far.

Our friendship didn't really work out too well after that and I still feel somewhat guilty...



This reminds me of Jeff Bezos' anecdote about telling his grandmother how much her smoking had shortened her life.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S27/52/51O99/inde...


Reminds me of the Harry Potter books. Somewhere in those stories, Dumbledore comments: "We are what we choose".


Wow... that speech is amazing.


Once upon a time a good friend tried to convert me to Scientology. That didn't work out so well for our friendship either. All I did was ask to see him levitate...




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