"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."

Often attributed to Yogi Berra, but research done at Snopes casts doubt on this.

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/berra/practicetheory.asp

I thought of this quote when I read E. Yudkowsky's essay on The Map and the Territory.

"If you want to understand UFOs, reincarnation, and God, do not study UFOs, reincarnation, and God.
Study people."

Avatar, a character in Scott Adams' book, "God's Debris"

After occasionally using melatonin for a while, and experiencing its mild muscle-relaxing effects, I recently tried it for relieving the stiff neck that I got from doing some household chores. I took it several hours before bedtime, and it reduced the stiffness in my neck considerably. That, in itself, helped me to go to sleep later on.

"When you are looking for something beautiful and satisfying, it's much harder to find the ugly truth." Penn Jillette, in his book "Oh, God, No" , talking about showing how magic tricks are done.

Probably not found anywhere online, my favorite college professor, Ernest N. Roots, used to say, " Things that are simply remarkable, become remarkably simple, once they are understood". This has been my personal defense against arguments from ignorance ever since.

I think that if we were made consciously aware of everything that our "muscle memory" has learned to do, that we would be inundated with information that would distract us from the executive overview of our lives. The micro-management of our existence would likely drive us insane.