text:
Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first human in space (12 April 1961).

Quotes

 * Let's go! (Russian: Поéхали, Poyekhali!)
 * Uttered during the launch of (12 April 1961); quoted by Sergey Viktorovich Novikov, in Большая историческая энциклопедия (The Greater Historical Encyclopedia) (2003) by Olma Media Group, p, 943
 * Variant translations: Let's ride!
 * Let's drive!
 * Off we go!

 * I am a friend, comrades, a friend!
 * First words upon returning to Earth, to a woman and a girl near where his capsule landed (12 April 1961) The woman asked: "Can it be that you have come from outer space?" to which Gagarin replied: "As a matter of fact, I have!"
 * Quoted in The Air Up There : More Great Quotations on Flight (2003) by Dave English, p. 118

 * Dear friends, both known and unknown to me, fellow countrymen, men and women of all lands and continents! In a few minutes a mighty spaceship will take me into the far-away expanses of the Universe. What can I say to you in these last minutes before the start? I see my whole past life as one wonderful moment. Everything I have experienced and done till now has been in preparation for this moment. You must realise that it is hard to express my feelings now that the test for which we have been training ardently and long is at hand. I don't have to tell you what I felt when it was suggested that I should make this flight, the first in history. Was it joy? No, it was something more than that. Pride? No, it was not just pride. I felt very happy - to be the first in space, to engage in an unprecedented duel with Nature - could one dream of anything greater than that? But then I thought of the tremendous responsibility of being the first to accomplish what generations of people had dreamed of, the first to show man the way into space... Can you think of a task more difficult that the one assigned to me. It is not responsibility to a single person, or dozens of people, or even a collective. It is responsibility to all Soviet people, to all mankind, to its present and its future. And if I am nevertheless venturing on this flight, it is because I am a Communist, because I draw strength from unexampled exploits performed by my compatriots, Soviet men and women. I know that I shall muster all my will power the better to do the job. Realising its importance, I will do all I can to carry out the assignment of the Communist Party and the Soviet people. Am I happy to be starting on a space flight? Of course I am. In all times and all eras man's greatest joy has been to take part in new discoveries. I would like to dedicate this first space flight to the people of communism, a society which our Soviet people are already entering, and which, I am confident, all men on earth will enter. It is a matter of minutes now before the start. I say to you good-bye, dear friends, just as people say to each other when setting out on a long journey. I would like very much to embrace you all - people known and unknown to me, close friends and strangers alike. See you soon!
 * Quoted in the book "Soviet Man in Space", ISBN 9780898754605.
 * Quoted in ДО СКОРОЙ ВСТРЕЧИ! (in Russian), roscosmos.ru

 * If all those people are getting wet to welcome me, surely the least I can do is get wet too!
 * Asking for the roof of his car to be put back despite the pouring rain, during his visit to Manchester (12 July 1961), as quoted in "Yuri Gagarin: Mankind's first giant leap" in The Economist (3 August 2011)

 * Many people are interested in my biography. I have read in a newspaper that some irresponsible persons in the United States of America, who are distant relatives of the Gagarins princes and think that I am one of their offsprings. I have to disillusion them. I am a simple Soviet man. I was born March 9, 1934, to the family of a collective farmer. The place of my birth: Smolensk region, Gzhatsk district, the village of Klushino. I’ve never heard and don’t know any princes or nobility in my family tree. Before the revolution my parents were poor peasants. The older generation of my family, my grandfather and grandmother, were also poor peasants.
 * Quoted in Космос. Время московское. Сборник документов

 * Rays were blazing through the of the earth, the horizon became bright orange, gradually passing into all the colors of the rainbow: from light blue to dark blue, to violet and then to black. What an indescribable gamut of colors! Just like the paintings of the artist Nicholas Roerich.
 * Statement of April 1961, as quoted in Warrior of Light : The Life of Nicholas Roerich : Artist, Himalayan explorer and visionary (2002) by Colleen Messina, p. 46

 * Ведь главная сила в человеке — это сила духа.
 * Translation: The main force in man — is the power of the spirit.
 * Variant translation: The main human strength is willpower.
 * As quoted in Essays on Marxist-Leninist Ethics [марксистско-ленинской этике] (1962) by Simon S. Utkin [Семен Семенович Уткин], p. 180

 * Our people, with their genius and their heroic work, created the Vostok spaceship, wonderful in the world, and its very smart, very reliable equipment. From the start to the very landing, I had no doubt about the successful outcome of the space flight. I would like to sincerely thank our scientists, engineers, technicians, all Soviet workers who created such a ship which allows to confidently comprehend the secrets of outer space. Let me also thank all the comrades and the whole team that prepared me for the space flight. I am convinced that all my friends, pilot-cosmonauts, are also ready to fly around our planet at any time. It is safe to say that we will fly on our more distant routes on our Soviet spacecraft. I am immensely glad that my beloved Motherland was the first in the world to make this flight, the first in the world to penetrate the Cosmos. The first plane, the first sputnik [satellite], the first cosmic spaceship and the first space flight — these are the stages of the great path of my Motherland toward the mastering the secrets of the Nature.
 * Quoted in 108 минут, изменившие мир

 * Облетев Землю в корабле-спутнике, я увидел, как прекрасна наша планета. Люди, будем хранить и преумножать эту красоту, а не разрушать её!
 * Translation: Orbiting Earth in the, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!
 * Russian phrase, handwritten and signed after his historic spaceflight, photo of facsimile published in Syny goluboi planety 3rd.edition (1981) by L. Lebedev, A. Romanov, and B/ Luk'ianov; the first edition was translated into English as Sons of the Blue Planet (1973) by L. A. Lebedev

 * What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth.... The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots.... When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth's light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becoming turquiose, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black.
 * As quoted in Earth's Aura (1977) by Louise B. Young

 * When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!
 * Recalling his meeting with workers in a field, upon his landing, as quoted in "Life on Mars?" by Jesse Skinner in Toro magazine (14 October 2008)

Disputed

 * I looked and looked but I didn't see God.
 * As quoted in To Rise from Earth (1996) by Wayne Lee; some websites quote him as saying "I looked and looked and looked but I didn't see God." on 14 April 1961, a couple days after his historic flight, but the authenticity of such statements have been disputed; Colonel Valentin Petrov stated in 2006 that the cosmonaut never said such words, and that the quote originated from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there." Gagarin himself was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.
 * Variant: No I didn't see God. I looked and looked but I didn't see God.
 * As quoted in What's Missing Inside You? (2006) by Paul Schlieker, p. 17

Misattributed

 * I see no God up here.
 * This has been reported as a remark Gagarin made while in orbit aboard Vostok 1, but there is no indication of it in the official transcripts of his communications. It is similar to the above statements he reportedly made after his return to earth, which might have given rise to this account.

Quotes about Gagarin

 * The people of the United States share with the people of the Soviet Union their satisfaction for the safe flight of the astronaut in man's first venture into space. We congratulate you and the Soviet scientists and engineers who made this feat possible. It is my sincere desire that in the continuing quest for knowledge of outer space our nations can work together to obtain the greatest benefit to mankind.
 * John F. Kennedy; Message to Chairman Khrushchev Concerning the Flight of the Soviet Astronaut Online, The American Presidency Project; 12 April 1961

 * Trying to describe the experience of going to space has been difficult from the very beginning. When Yuri Gagarin, the first man who went into space, returned to Earth, there was a huge reception in his honor. As his close friend and cosmonaut colleague Alexei Leonov tells it, then-premier Nikita Khrushchev cornered Gagarin "So tell me, Yuri," he asked, "did you see God up there?" After a moment's pause. Gagarin answered, "Yes sir, I did." Khrushchev frowned. "Don't tell any one," he said. A few minutes later the head of the Russian Orthodox Church took Gagarin aside. "So tell me, my child," he asked Gagarin, "did you see God up there?'" Gagarin hesitated and replied "No sir, I did not." "Don't tell anyone."
 * Anecdote in New Age Journal, Vol. 7 (1990), p. 176

 * He was like a sound amplified by a mountain echo. The traveller is small, but the mountains are great, and suddenly they merge into a single whole. Such was Yuri Gagarin. To accomplish a heroic exploit means to step beyond one's own sense of self-preservation, to have the courage to dare what today seems unthinkable for the majority. And to be ready to pay for it. For the hero himself, his feat is the limit of all possibilities. If he leaves something "in reserve", then the most courageous deed thereby moves into the category of work: hard, worthy of all glorification, but — work. An act of heroism is always a breakthrough into the Great Unknown. Even given most accurate preliminary calculations, man enters into that enterprise as if blindfold, full of inner tension and ready for any outcome.
 * Valentina Malmy, in Star World (1988), p. 218

 * Anton Pervushin said, “In fact, Gagarin should be remembered for completely different words. I always remember that Yuri Gagarin said: ‘An astronaut cannot be suspended in space and not have God in his mind and his heart.’”
 * Quoted in Yuri Gagarin went into space and found God

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Yuri Gagarin


text:
Arrogance

Arrogance is a range of mental dispositions to disregard the proper rights of others, typified by haughtiness, self-assumption, and habits of arrogating or assuming an authority or right to control, constrain or direct others, and acting in an overbearing manner with a proud contempt of others and their rights. It is a species of pride or hubris which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of oneself or one's group to an undue degree.

A

 * All the time, he hoped they would understand that his arrogance masked only shyness—or did he hope that it was his shyness which masked arrogance? He did not know. Who could presume to know? The one quality holds much of the other. Both refuse to come forward and share.
 * Brian Aldiss, in “A Kind of Artistry” (originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1962)

D

 * How long will the wicked be jubilant? They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting.
 * David, Psalm 94:3-4 NIV

F

 * Men see with arrogant eyes which organize everything seen with reference to themselves and their own interests.
 * Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983), p. 67

 * There are two Americas. One is the America of Lincoln and Adlai Stevenson; the other is the America of Teddy Roosevelt and the modern superpatriots.  One is generous and humane, the other narrowly egotistical; one is self-critical, the other self-righteous; one is sensible, the other romantic; one is good-humored, the other solemn; one is inquiring, the other pontificating; one is moderate, the other filled with passionate intensity; one is judicious and the other arrogant in the use of great power.
 * J. William Fulbright, in The Arrogance of Power (1966)

G

 * Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others..
 * Emma Goldman, in What is Patriotism? (1908), Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty

H

 * Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken, and have there given reins to passion, without that proper deliberation and suspense, which can alone secure them from the grossest absurdities.
 * David Hume, in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), § 9.13 : Conclusion, Pt. 1

 * Of the lessons also gained from the history of mankind is the fact that greed and arrogance, when combined, lead the oppressor to do injustice not only to others, but to himself as well; once this combination of greed and arrogance has misled him into a sense of undefeatable capability and power, as he takes the road of falsehood and aggression, committing the most heinous acts and proceeding from that sick imagination, to fall down the precipice and then into hell.
 * Saddam Hussein, in a speech to mark the 14th anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war, as quoted in "Saddam Hussein's speech" in The Guardian (8 August 2002)

M

 * An extraordinary amount of arrogance is present in any claim of having been the first in "inventing" something. It's an arrogance that some enjoy, and others do not. Now I reach beyond arrogance when I proclaim that fractals had been pictured forever but their true role remained unrecognized and waited for me to be uncovered.
 * Benoît Mandelbrot, in A Theory of Roughness (2004)

 * With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on.
 * William Morris, as quoted in William Morris & Red House (2005) by Jan Marsh, p. 65

Q

 * And behold, We said to the angels: “Bow down to Adam” and they bowed down. Not so Iblis (Satan): he refused and was haughty: he was of those who reject Faith.
 * Quran 2:34

 * It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down; not so Iblis; He refused to be of those who bow down. (God) said: “What prevented thee from bowing down when I commanded thee?” He said: “I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.” (God) said: “Get thee down from this: it is not for thee to be arrogant here: get out, for thou art of the meanest (of creatures).”
 * Quran 7:11–13

 * And do not walk upon the earth exultantly. Indeed, you will never tear the earth (apart), and you will never reach the mountains in height.
 * Quran 17:37

 * Do not scornfully turn your face away from people. Do not walk around puffed-up with pride; God does not love arrogant and boastful people.
 * Quran 31:18

R

 * I think that Bush has alienated every friend that we've made over the last 200 years with his arrogance and indifference.
 * Charles Rangel, on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (24 September 2004)

 * Totalitarian arrogance may pretend to change history and reality. It devastates societies, traditions and individual freedom, but it will ultimately fail.
 * Marco Respinti and, "China’s ‘virtual invasion’ of India and the cultural genocide of Tibet", Radio Free Asia (May 18, 2024)

 * You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.
 * Chris Rock attributed in Drum : A magazine of Africa for Africa, Nr 556-564 (2003), p. 6

 * In our complex industrial civilization of today the peace of righteousness and justice, the only kind of peace worth having, is at least as necessary in the industrial world as it is among nations.''' There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships.
 * Theodore Roosevelt, Nobel lecture (1910)

S

 * Punishment is assigned for the swaggerer; he is afflicted with diseases.
 * Sumerian proverb, Collection III at,.

T

 * Surfeit begets insolence, when prosperity comes to a bad man.
 * Theognis of Megara, Elegies, Line 153.

W

 * I was sure that I was right, but arrogance is best left undisplayed.
 * Liz Williams, Winterborn (2009), in Nick Gevers and Jay Lake (eds.), Other Earths (p. 125)

title: Arrogance


text:
Pokémon

Pokémon may refer to:

Anime

 * Pokémon/Season 1
 * Pokémon/Season 2
 * Pokémon/Season 3
 * Pokémon/Season 4
 * Pokémon/Season 5
 * Pokémon/Season 6
 * Pokémon/Season 7
 * Pokémon/Season 8
 * Pokémon/Season 9
 * Pokémon/Season 10
 * Pokémon/Season 11
 * Pokémon/Season 12
 * Pokémon/Season 13
 * Pokémon/Season 14
 * Pokémon/Season 15
 * Pokémon/Season 16
 * Pokémon/Season 17
 * Pokemon/Season 18
 * Pokémon/Season 19
 * Pokémon/Season 20
 * Pokémon/Season 21
 * Pokémon/Season 22
 * Pokémon/Season 23
 * Pokémon/Season 24
 * Pokémon/Season 25
 * Pokémon Chronicles
 * Pokémon Horizons: The Series

Movie

 * Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back - 1998 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One - 1999 Film
 * Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown: Entei - 2000 Film
 * Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi: The Voice of the Forest - 2001 Film
 * Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias - 2002 Film
 * Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker - 2003 Film
 * Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys - 2004 Film
 * Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew - 2005 Film
 * Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea - 2006 Film
 * Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai - 2007 Film
 * Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior - 2008 Film
 * Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life - 2009 Film
 * Pokémon—Zoroark: Master of Illusions - 2010 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: White—Victini and Zekrom/Black—Victini and Reshiram - 2011 Films
 * Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice - 2012 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened - 2013 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction - 2014 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages - 2015 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel - 2016 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! - 2017 Film
 * Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us - 2018 Film
 * Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution - 2019 Film (CGI remake of the first film)
 * Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle - 2020 Film

Games

 * Pokémon Red and Blue - 1996 Video games
 * Pokémon Gold and Silver - 1999 Video games
 * Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire - 2002 Video games
 * Pokémon Diamond and Pearl - 2006 Video games
 * Pokémon Black and White - 2010 Video games
 * Pokémon X and Y - 2013 Video games
 * Pokémon Sun and Moon - 2016 Video games
 * Pokémon Sword and Shield - 2019 Video games
 * Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - 2022 Video games

Others

 * Last words in Pokémon
 * Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns - 2000 Television special
 * Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon - 2006 Television special
 * Detective Pikachu - 2019 Film
 * Pokémon: The Arceus Chronicles - 2022 Television special

About
[https://www.superxanime.co/2020/07/pokemon-2019-all-episodes-english-subbed.html *TIME: So you were collecting Pokémon a long time ago! Did you make the insects fight against each other?]
 * Tajiri: No, but sometimes they would eat each other.
 * TIME: Did you get the idea for Pokémon from these insects?
 * Tajiri: Yes. Places to catch insects are rare because of urbanization. Kids play inside their homes now, and a lot had forgotten about catching insects. So had I. When I was making games, something clicked and I decided to make a game with that concept. Everything I did as a kid is kind of rolled into one--that's what Pokémon is. Playing video games, watching TV, Ultraman with his capsule monsters--they all became ingredients for the game.
 * Satoshi Tajiri, "The Ultimate Game Freak", TIME, (Nov. 22, 1999).

 * Kamo Yoshinori (2000), a U.S.-based sociologist, observes that American children who love Pokémon believe that Japan is a very cool nation that produces wonderful characters, imaginary worlds, and commodities. He sees in Pokémon's success a very hopeful sign that American audiences are becoming more open to Japanese cultural values and that they are changing their image of Japan from a land that is strange and workaholic to someplace that is humane and cool. Sakurai Tetsuo (2001) also reads the success of Pokémon as a sign of hopefulness in what was otherwise a decade in Japan dominated by negative occurrences. According to Sakurai, in just a couple of years Pokémon has done more for Japan's image than was accomplished up till now by Japanese literature and films or by the Japanese government's public relations initiatives abroad. Sakurai, too, describes Pokémon's global appeal in terms of it being "cool."
 * Joseph Tobin, "Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon". Duke University Press, (2004).

 * …some critics argue that Pokémon's influence on the global cultural scene is in fact quite trivial when compared to such Western popular cultural products as the Beatles or rap music. These critics find Pokémon's message too superficial to count as a meaningful cultural export (e.g., Newsweek Japan, 8 December 1999:50-51). However, this kind of comparison is also fruitless and even fallacious as it implies that American/Western popular culture continues to present the rest of the world with influential messages, ideas, and lifestyles that have the power to impact world politics and to launch social movements, just as it used to do. A more productive way of making sense of the symbolic power of Japanese animation and computer games is to look at the issue of transnational cultural hegemony and power in a different light, rather than from a conventional Americanization perspective. The age of Americanization, in which crosscultural consumption was predominantly discussed in terms of the influence of a single dominant country, is, if not over, at least coming to an end (cf. Tomlinson 1991). I would suggest that we use the rise of Japanese cultural exports as an opportunity to reconsider the meaning of transnational cultural power. The international popularity of Japanese anime and computer games as exemplified in the Pokémon craze provides us with some clues we can use to discern emerging trends in the global circulation of characters, culture, and products. Pokémon's global success is indeed unprecedented. However, it would be misleading to think that the factors that contributed to this success are unique to Pokémon. I would suggest instead that Pokémon is the product that to date has most efficiently capitalized on emerging marketing trends. Animation and computer game characters are playing an increasingly significant role in the multimedia business. Computer game characters are intertextual, and can be used in a variety of media such as movies, TV series, comics, toys and associated merchandise. Marsha Kinder (1991) describes the multiple possibilities of transmedia intertextuality as representing a "supersystem of entertainment" that has come to be a dominant force in the global entertainment business. In Japan, media industry leaders decided that computer games and animation would be the main features of such a supersystem. Together with the global success of Japanese computer game software such as Super Mario Brothers, the realization, since the recent recession, of declining strength in the Japanese manufacturing-oriented economy has convinced many Japanese companies to invest in the development of animated and digitalized multimedia products.
 * ibid, pp. 62-63.

 * Pokémon exemplifies how the supersystem works. Pokémon was first created as Game Boy software. It then almost simultaneously appeared as a serial comic in Koro Koro, a monthly comic magazine targeted to boys, as a part of an overall marketing strategy. The positive reception of the computer game and the comics led to the creation of and further interlinking with trading cards, a TV series, films, and, eventually, various merchandise featuring popular Pokémon characters. Within this multiple product, multimedia business, Pokémon constantly reinvented itself. For example, for the creation of the comics and the TV cartoon, Pippii and Pikachi were chosen as the main Pokémon characters, respectively. Neither Pippi nor Pikachu was a main character in the original Game Boy software. (Pippi (in English, Clefairy) was selected as the main Pokémon character to make the comic book series more "engaging." However, in order to attract younger and female viewers as well as their mothers, Pikachu replaced Pippi as the central character when the Pokémon TV series was introduced in 1997. the pink Pippi was replaced by the yellow cuddlier Pikachu, whom the producers believed would seem like a more familiar and intimate pet to child viewers. There were other reasons as well for the producers' choice of yellow. Because yellow is one of the three basic colors, it is easy for children to recognize Pikachu even from a distance. Furthermore, the only competing yellow character is Winnie the Pooh (Kubo 2000a; 2000b). As we can see in the case of the emergence of Pikachu as the key character, the development of the Pokémon supersystem was achieved through trial and error in the Japanese market. But once the components of the supersystem were put together in Japan, they could be used systematically to introduce Pokémon in global markets. The overseas promotion of Pokémon was forged from the outset by a subtly packaged amalgamation of cartoons, comics, trading cards, feature films, character merchandise, and Game Boy games.
 * ibid, pp.63-64

 * Although the Pokémon animation series and its Game Boy game were not created primarily for the global market, their domestic success quickly convinced producers of Pokémon's potential to succeed overseas. Kubo Masakazu explains that he and the other producers of the television series believed that Pokémon would be relatively easy to localize for a global market because "the setting of the adventure explored by Satoshi and Pikachu looks mukokuseki and religion-free. It appeared easy to produce international versions by erasing Japanese language signs as much as possible" (2000b:345).
 * Ibid, p.68

title: Pokémon


text:
Rasmus Lerdorf

Rasmus Lerdorf (born on 22 November 1968) is a Danish-Canadian programmer. He created the PHP scripting language, authoring the first two versions of the language and participated in the development of later versions led by a group of developers including Jim Winstead (who later created blo.gs), Stig Bakken, Shane Caraveo, Andi Gutmans, and Zeev Suraski. He continues to contribute to the project.

Quotes

 * PHP 8 is significantly better because it contains a lot less of my code.
 * @rasmus, November 2020.

 * I did not develop the PHP we know today. Dozens, if not hundreds of people, developed PHP. I was simply the first developer.
 * sitepoint.com

 * I actually hate programming, but I love solving problems.
 * sitepoint.com
 * I really don't like programming. I built this tool to program less so that I could just reuse code.
 * Itconversations.com

 * PHP is about as exciting as your toothbrush. You use it every day, it does the job, it is a simple tool, so what? Who would want to read about toothbrushes?
 * sitepoint.com

 * I was really, really bad at writing parsers. I still am really bad at writing parsers.
 * Itconversations.com, 2007, "PHP on Hormones" at MySQL conference.

 * We have things like protected properties. We have abstract methods. We have all this stuff that your computer science teacher told you you should be using. I don't care about this crap at all.
 * Itconversations.com, 2007, ditto.

 * There are people who actually like programming. I don't understand why they like programming.
 * Itconversations.com, 2007, ditto.

 * I'm not a real programmer. I throw together things until it works then I move on.  The real programmers will say "Yeah it works but you're leaking memory everywhere. Perhaps we should fix that." I’ll just restart Apache every 10 requests.
 * Itconversations.com, 2007, ditto.

 * I do care about memory leaks but I still don't find programming enjoyable.
 * @rasmus (deleted), January 2010, in response to a tweet linking to this page.

 * I don't know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language [...] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way.
 * Itconversations.com quoted in www.dasgenie.com

 * For all the folks getting excited about my quotes. Here is another - Yes, I am a terrible coder, but I am probably still better than you :)
 * @rasmus, April 2010.

 * I've never thought of PHP as more than a simple tool to solve problems.
 * @rasmus, November 2010.

 * PHP is rarely the bottleneck.
 * @"PHP Performance" Talk, July 29, 2010 in San Francisco

 * Ugly problems often require ugly solutions. Solving an ugly problem in a pure manner is bloody hard.
 * php.devel Mailing List, October 2002

 * PHP is just a hammer. Nobody has ever gotten rich making hammers.
 * @rasmus, May 2014.

 * Back when PHP had less than 100 functions and the function hashing mechanism was.
 * php-internals mailing list, December 2013.

Attributed to Lerdorf

 * If eval is the answer, you're almost certainly asking the wrong question.
 * PHP.net: eval, Anonymous comment, 2004
 * PHP in a Nutshell by Paul Hudson, 2005

title: Rasmus Lerdorf