“this is why we have peer review. Average guys with
websites can do a lot of amazing things. One thing they cannot do is
reveal statistical manipulation in climate-change studies that require a
PhD in a related field to understand. So for the time being, my response
to any and all further ‘smoking gun’ claims begins with: show me the
peer-reviewed journal article demonstrating the error here. Otherwise,
you’re a crank and this is not a story. And then I’ll probably go ahead
and try to investigate the claim and write a blog post about it, because
that’s my job.”

Trust Scientists

4.10 What is the Mentat Mantra? (Dune)

Mentat Piter de Vries (Brad Dourif) recites this litany in the movie
version of Dune, and Mentat Hayt de Vries (Robert Carin) repeats it in
Westwood’s computer game Dune 2000. It does not appear anywhere in the
books, but is a movie construct from the mind of David Lynch.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains.
The stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone, in fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape, but even after admitting this there is no catharsis, my punishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself; no new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing.

American Psycho