AtDTDA: 19 Puns on the word is [538]

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Root's system is beating the house:

          "Ahhh! but I forgot to keep any record of it." Root Tubesmith's 
          eyeballs all but whirling in their sockets. . . . .

The Twisted Sister is offered a small bet by Kit:

          "Leave the details to you gentlemen, being the mathematicians 
         and whatever."

         "That's it."

         Next thing Pléiade knew, she was ahead by about ten thousand francs.

Pléiade, in turn, offers up dinner for all in thanks:

         The Gentleman's Code struggling briefly with the possibility of a free 
         meal and losing, most of the party took her up on her offer, and they 
         all headed for the resturant next to the gaming room.

Turns out this 'cupcake' is 'no piker', ordering extras of everything and even 
bottles of wine with names on them! She then asks "Yes, but what is a 
Quarterninion?", an innocent enough question that leads to sustained hilarity 
bordering on hysteria, cleared up by one of my favorite sentences in all of Pynchon:

         "Cambridge personality Bertie ('Mad Dog ') Russell observed," observed 
         Barry Nebulay, "that most of Hegel's arguments come down to puns on 
         the word 'is.'"

There's the echo of observed [observer observing observer observing] 'puns on
the word 'is' '. And then there's fictional Barry Nebulay [possessing a Dickensian
name and title] coming up with a fictionalized "Mad Dog' in 'Bertie Russell.' Or 
maybe not so fictional, as Mad Dog Bertie was full of these sorts of obs. . . .

         I would never die for my beliefs, because I might be wrong.

         Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the 
         victim.

         Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial 
         reasons.

         So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in 
         praise of intelligence; and in this respect ministers of religion 
         follow gospel authority more closely than in some others.

         This, however, is a passing nightmare; in time the earth will become 
         again incapable of supporting life, and peace will return.

         We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, 
         but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, nothing contrary 
         to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobeys His commands, 
         He must have intended this to happen.

More at:

http://workinghumor.com/quotes/bertrand_russell.shtml