Given that it seems the whole world is going mad (again, nothing new here) it behooves me to add a penn’orth before I join the (you’ll love this) —> —> —> the madding crowds.
I read somewhere that “in the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. To which a (now deceased) friend added a bit such that it now reads—
“In the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king … the two-eyed a monstrosity.”
That man was, I guess, a monstrosity. Dead now, sadly. I like to think that I too, am such a monstrosity.
So, what’s worse than being a monstrosity?Is it possible? Yes … it’s seeing your worst predictions coming true. But MY predictions are rational (utterly insane (to some). Now here’s a line to ponder—
‘No nation in possession of nukes will accept defeat without trying a few.”
So: does being laid to ‘eternal rest’ (with all pomp and ceremony) … still count after (insert own number of choice here) of years in the ground or crypt?
If I were to wait until the undertakers and padre close the gate behind them … and then dig up the grave; am I an archaeologist? Or a grave-robber? Or a vandal? Is there a known (approved) limit between in-and-ex humation?
People a bit disturbed about such matters might consider alternatives to the good ol’ “sixfeet, cold and damp“; such as the hot-foot express trip we call cremation (or perhaps feeding the fishes) (in a hammock with a cannonball at each end, if we’re to be pedantic).
Ex navy myself, anyone interested may put me in for anything that doesn’t cost nobody nuthin’ but may yet do some good for my fellow beings — medical research, perhaps? Or infest me with bugs and drop me on the nice Mr Poo-tin? Fertilise the fields? Feed a fish farm—I believe eels would be the approved method once such ‘recycling’ catches on …
Hopefully, I’m back (sort of). The worst thing about Alzheimers disease is not the losing of your marbles and going loopy; it’s losing your marbles, going loopy and being well aware of the fact. It’s a weird world of “Where the hell did I put it this time?” and “Why the hell did I put it/those/them up there?” and a constant nagging awareness that tempus fugit.
So: for as long as I can I’ll keep blogging and shall post the occasional photo (if I can figure out how to—here’s another weirdie, I have no problems using the ol’ camera … but remembering to recharge the battery can be a problem. Luckily I have a rather benign Spouse, and we’ve let the folks who should know, know. But remembering to (and how to) post images … that takes if not genius then certainly an awareness.
In the meantime I still have my wee alter-egos on screen, so thank the gods for drag-and-drop. The clue to good writing, I’ve been told, is to be brief, edit almost to destruction, and keep active. So I’m off now to do something active with a nice hot cup of coffee; but first, have unto thee a wee alter-ego …
… thou shalt know them. And if not by their deeds, then run your eyeballs over this shot of the nice man snuggling in for a cosy personal chat with his closest followers—
—and tell me what you think (or not … it’s a free country, no?)
—and it’s enlightening to watch it through. No need listen to the narration, the facts themselves render words superfluous. I imagine that before those trusted lackeys went in they did the full body x-ray machine thing and were fondled from hair to soles by security staff as well. (I wonder if their exhalations weren’t tested as well, just in case someone had poisoned himself—in the manner of a pawn-sacrifice in order to breathe contagion upon their Living God?
And has the Putin banged his shoe on the table yet? Nikky Krushev did exactly that in sophisticated company to make a point (and he made his point perfectly). Has ol’ Putey done anything similar, yet? He will, or the ‘sophisticated’ modern equivalent … you can pop any barbarian thug into a suit, but he’s still a barbarian thug … nice threads though.
for my atheism is illustrated when a representative official of the One True Loving Compassionate Almighty comes out with guff like this—
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, said that Russian soldiers who die in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of their sins, just days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s first mobilisation since the Second World War …
—let us give that Representative of the “all-compassionate” top marks for subtle jestery; I love what he is quoted as saying (and it’s even better if he managed to keep a straight face).
Yeah, sure, the planet might even actually bewarming … a warming caused by us (they say). But all is not lost, yet. I understand that the albedo of this planet sucks in heat. Now—
—casting our minds back to when there were major concerns about GlobalCooling; a few clever souls suggested we collect all the soot we can generate and spread it out over those damned ice sheets. White ice, they said brightly, reflects heat back to space; and now our lovely soot will instead absorb the precious heat and we’d get to stay snug.
Lately, however, they tell us that actually it’s the opposite that’s true: this planet we’re so fond of is in fact cooking up. (Bugger … hold that soot …)
Anyway, here’s a thought: why not paint all the roofs a nice bright shiny white, and by so doing turn our planet into a more effective reflector? (Hey, don’t snigger, there’s a lot of roofage out there!)
For myself I just go with the flow—history has its own way of dealing with challenges (just look at how many times it has already fixed the problem of climate change).
IPCC — yeah, right. Sounds good, appeals to the warm fuzzies. Nice! Time now, though, to actually get real?
New Zealanders pride ourselves as being the cutting edge of everything. Anything! you name it — hell, our climber was the first (known) human EVER to have trodden the sacred summit of Everest. Etc. So? So we are also justifiably famous for our sheep. And we take even greater pride in being the leading sheep wherever sheeping is a major. Myself? Hah—
—I like to actually think. For myself. So?
So as a card-carrying cynic (first class!) I offer the below snaps snup from a Kiwi news outlet. Read it and you’ll sense our pride in being the Leading Sheep.
Personally I find it a bit upsetting because socially-minded folks all over (in places) are following Official Recommendations, thus slicing off their own noses in order to serve their fellow beings in any way they can. Anthropogenic Global Warming is one such way …
I recommend instead that we look for apparent contradictions and reset our sails. Again I misquote The Sage when he reiterates that “Contradictions are impossible—find an apparent contradiction and you’ll discover that at least one premise is false.”
Here, have thee a some nice screenshots to take your mind off things, like this—
—on one hand; and this—
… on the other.
I’m whimpering because as a Realist I know it’s only a matter of time before oil wells are torched, forests fire-bombed, cities razed and a wee bit of pollution created by nations/creeds having noisy disagreements. So?
So the point of this post stems from ol’ Omar—
Andthis I know: whether the one True Light
Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.
Otherwise, why do we bother? Now stop reading this—get up off your butt (or knees) and scamper down to the pub.
Nice word is pseudo. It can be used for almost any vilification. Especially when decrying folks who disagree with your own most precious paradigms, only some of which (yours!) are actually real. All others are, by definition … ‘pseudo’.
Definitions, please?
First, let’s cast our minds back a hundred years or so. Anyone remember those Wright brothers? (They invented heavier-than-air upwards flight). And does anyone still remember that unsinkable ship called the Titanic? It was unsinkable — until the unthinkable happened to the unsinkable and sank it.
So on one hand we have The Establishment and on the other we have The Revolting (anyone contradicting The Establishment is revolting). Sometimes the revolting rebels rewrite the books but the Establishment is very good at gauging the breeze and re-setting its sails in timely fashion.
One such Revolting Rebel is a Mr Graham Hancock. So? So my personal favourite topic these days is ‘pseudo archaeology’ … which will be pseudo only until the mainstream resets its own sails into alignment. Ol’ Graham is indeed a Revolting Rebel, but let me not re-state his case, let him speak for himself—
—then make your own mind up. If you can, of course; we all have our own opinions and few of us are prepared to toss cherished preconceptions into the void to make room for new. Essentially we are lazy, no?
And in defense of ‘pseudo science’ … please don’t be in too much a hurry to throw the baby out with the bath water—the universe revolved around us once, don’t forget. (And in case you missed it—Columbus didn’t fall off the edge of the world, apparently he turned back just in time). He was wot one might those days have termed a ‘pseudo navigator’ …
—being, of course, Food For Thought. So try this one on for size—
“It is my contention that the most dangerously informative of the Mesopotamian tablets were deliberately destroyed or hidden from sight somewhere along the way because they represented a threat to religious dogma. To stifle Gnostic teachings, to put an end to all real knowledge of the pagan culture in existence in pre- and early Christian times, to hide the true significance of the seasonal celebrations in existence long before the Jesus myth as we know it, two parallel methods: destruction of the writing accompanied by obfuscation of the teachings …”
—quoted from that notorious double-damned agnostic atheist, denier, denialist etc etc ad infinitem: one Mr Graham Hancock Esq. (Please feel free to insert your own insults as you see fit.
For myself, he’s my hero—but what do I know?)
I say again and have never been contradicted that “the opium of the masses” is the biggest threat to Freedom and Humanity that anybody could possibly conceive of independently; it took and takes large scale TeamWork.
And now I shall await any squawks of outraged indignation. Please feel free to let me have it—give me your very best. (Or remain silent and be thought a fool; which they say, is better than to squawk and thereby remove any doubt.)
—good, bad, or just a pain in the proverbial? Put me down for ‘yes’ and have done with it. (Three yeses if you’re pedantic.) Read on …
“History is bunk!” declared the great genius. A good point excellently put, but that ol’ Henry could even say it invalidates his own statement. How so? ‘Cos without a lot of history he’d still be scratching around in the sand like a chicken looking for her next meal, that’s how. Why. Wotever—
There’s history and there’s HISTORY.
At school we are taught how wonderful WE are and why our systems are so very much more better than anyone else’s — ignoring that ours in fact often are everyone else’s—just tweaked a wee bit to suit the whims of our local Dictator Of the Day. (Aaaah, mix-and-match, just can’t be beat!)
This rant was inspired by a patriotic song I love: Flower Of Scotland * — and I ain’t even a Scot (so sue me). If I have to confess to heresy, let me then admit to liking a few Russian songs too. And German, our once allies/enemies (suit yourself, history makes the terms interchangeable). Dammit, I just like catchy numbers …
HAPPY ODYSSEY 
