Julietta la Spiritetta

Let’s go to another world

                         We have tarried long enough by lingering.     I’ve established a pathway that hopefully will stay in place for about fifteen years.  Strange to say I don’t see my attitude towards the indigenous master species here  as undergoing any significant change. I’m, prima facia at least, a little calmer  and am less inclined to run around shout “Life Stinks!”    I mean, it does stink, but it’s hardly cricket of me, who have had so many advantages in life, to remind the average person with their automobiles, their television and their nasty, brutal and short lifespans, how miserable they are.

                   So wherever possible I tried to encourage people to persist in  their delusions.    It’s big rock candy mountain time, eh folks?

   There’s some unfinished business as well that dovetails with todays development.   I didn’t number the lessons but If I recall correctly sometime before  the  secondary  syllogism (chop wood, don’t chop wood, chop word)  we did the forms of voidness lesson.  That is to say “Nothing” Is No- thing and is hence perceived as the absence of  “thingness”.   As in “No-thung” the sword of the Germanic  hero Siegfried,  is comprised of   potentially all the mass in the universe. In physics it is associated with nuclear power.

                          That which is not nothing then is not something.   Something is the presence of a thing. ( As an aside, in prehistoric  times the collective body politic when drawn  together to decide a matter was called a “thing”   and  as we know, in order to remain as anonymous as possible crime gangs in Italy are sometimes known as our “thing”.    “Cosa”  as in “La Cosa nostra” or “Che Cosa amore?”   is also translated as “Cause” – thus  this thing of ours is equivalent to our common cause.

                 I make this distinction to illustrate that , like in Chaos theory, what we are concerned with is the event and not so much the physical aspect that accompany it.  What Chaos theory does is it  describe the  circumstances upon which the formerly thought of as uncaused causality  will occur. Classically   we can never determine where and when the first bubble will occur in a teapot, but we can make some  good guesses.

    For our purposes the  antihypothesis to nothing is the void.  Like LaoTsu’s “Truth which can de described,” if the void can be described then it is not the void.   Another word for it is mystery. Miyasaki in his five rings  book  says the the void is the fifth and most elusive skill a swordsman must master.  We say in America, the joy of baseball is that every once in a while the    190 hitter will get a hit off the superior pitcher. This is because while  other skills can be set on autopilot, attention to the void  must be ever present. It is for this reason that masters will occasional set up artificial barriers to their own success. It is not that they wish to  humiliate the novice, but rather because there are genuinely concerned they will cease paying attention.

              Thus us the void the cause of many a superior mans defeat – for they expect the opponent to behave in ways the novice is incapable of. Nevertheless the void  represent a higher order of fighting skills. Theoretically he who can adjust to every attack can never be defeated  whereas the lower form of fighting is contingent on cause and effect, strategy and logistics  and so on.

             

           The Jesuits of Europe, known for both fighting and academic acumen often made acolytes learn the story  known as “The beginning of  eternity”  It goes on over all the grains of sand far more , but the point is made that the student must not let the mind wander.   Obviously the void,  definition less, would encourage that.     I will refrain from saying more here.

            The void is associated with quantum  effects.  Here’s why. Imagine a blackboard. The object of the game is to throw   a ball at a target drawn on the blackboard. In ordinary time/space  your skill, the weight of the ball, the distance between thrower and target all will  effect outcome.  In the other method  we may conjecture that there is something within the blackboard that “yearns” to come in contact with the ball.   While this second notion, to us, in our time/space , seems silly  there is statistical  evidence that this story of thing does happen.

  The famous Einstein quote about God playing dice is a little disingenuous.   In, for instance the occurrence of electrons both he and quantum theory are disturbed by the randomness – it is the causality though that they can’t agree on - and let me make it clear – this is out beyond the range of my abilities and I make no pretense to understand other then potentially metaphorically.

           One thing we can  be thankful for in recent years is we are no longer subjected to the constant cliches’  about “paradigm shifts.”  Alright some were almost amusing but they all seemed to come down to  a game of musical chairs where the music stops and some people find themselves out of the game.

            Likewise I used to torture my bass player by forever reminding him that one and one is equal  to two – which is a fact, but as well is a koan.  This is to say that even since childhood I have never been comfortable with the idea of truth as something to be hammered out of reality. As a putative business man as well I have not always believed in the virtues of the competitive marketplace. This idea of “may the better product win”  ventures too close to the zone of a game, with set rules and limitations, for my liking.

            And I can restate that more concisely.  He who establishes the rules of a game is quite often he who determines the outcome and that is done before the game begins.  The game hence, and life itself, is reduced to a meaningless ritual performance.

          So you can count your lucky stars I’m not going to pretend to expound on quantum effects in daily life. Quantum effects sometimes seem to border on mystical, but perhaps in a century or two  school children will understand them.   The point I am trying to make is that you don’t have to do or be anything special to be welcome here. You don’t have to fit into any group  or pay any  price.  You don’t have to prove anything either.   I won’t pretend that I love  you but hopefully this won’t disappoint you too much.  

             Believe it or not although I’ve repeated myself many times, I’ve always tried to move the statement a little further along and will continue to do so. 

          In the future you’re see a different me, I feel obligated to do this.  ALF has been very patient  and truth be told I’m still not sure if he is me or I am him and who is who.

P{S   I met a girl so he’s gotta do more work. I know much of how  he communicates is foreign to you  but he made some progress to in pattern formation which should help you in translation.

Tamlin

                    hello world, I am the ALF and this is Norma and we'd like to say something

               "Long Live the Revolution!"

            merci

The Fall of Vicksburg

                          In the annals of infamy there is little doubt that few tales can match that of the fall of Vicksburg. It is a curious tale and I say this with all the implications that the word curious implies. It was an American story, but the reader would do well to consider and remember that it was not the American story for there are many and there are many yet to be.

                               Vicksburg was the most beautiful city on the continent. It was the Paris of America, a place where the latest European books and fashions could be had. It was a place where a semi-literate man would have a run at the gambling dens of Natchez , buy five hundred slaves the nest day and a plantation and a week later be believed to be one of the grand old names of the southland.

                           For in those early days the profession of gambler, both on the river boat and in the bar rooms and casinos,  was understood to be what it is, a test of one man’s mental abilities against anothers.

Throughout the long summers the balls and cotillions would go on. Plantations with a quarter mile of green cut lawns reaching clear to the river would shine a brilliant white though out the evenings while music, often performed by the darkies themselves, played on until the dawn.

                    Be it truth then or not that the seeds of crime bear bitter fruit the long years before the war rolled on each adding it’s spice to the subtle flavors and shades of elegance. When the war finally began, as is the custom, for the first few months there was hesitancy on both sides to begin the process of feeding bodies into the gawp of the war machine.

                              The balls continued with renewed fervor. Ladies prepared bandages and blankets. The occasional duel continued to be fought but a hunger was growing for those ribbons and medas most assured to win the hearts of confederate belles. Soon that hunger would end for the Yankees had barricaded New Orleans . Then they had control of the river north of Vicksburg . The process continued inexorable.

Someone consulted with the Indians. They asked if the people of New Orleans ,had or had not angered the spirit. The reply was inconclusive.

                    By the time both sides of the river north of the town, and the railroad line were in Federal hand it was conclusive that Vicksburg was under siege. Hunger started up.Here’s where it gets interesting. The history of sieges is not new. First the large animals go, then the smaller ones until people are eating rats and sparrows, then cannibalism and urine.

But there was ope of a sort. Up in Jackson General Johnston was allegedly preparing a relief column. Special secret messages were intercepted sayin "get ready here we come. But it was to no avail. Johnston h0ad no intention on sinking his forces into a death pit. He was just sendIng the messeges in order to clear his name in case of a court marshall.

                  The plantation owners were angry because they wanted to put their cotton en market. Townspeople and rebel soldiers were angry because they felt that the plantation owners were holding out and hiding food from them - which in fact they were.

                     Then the people of the town got even more incensed it seems that they got up in their heads the notion that the storekeepers were hording food in order to take advantage of starvation to charge the highest rates possible. The locals heard about it and burned down the block where the storekeepers kept the hidden food. This was the single greatest loss of the campaign for the rebels and it was brought about by their own side.

                        In fact from what we can tell a good deal of blame goes to the Confederate General who was willing to let the people of Vicksburg starve to death because he took the word of merchants and plantation owners.               

                          When the yankee soldiers marched into town they had hundreds of thousands of dollars of worthless confederate money which they tossed into the streets like confetti.

I wouldn’t mention this except I got the feelin there’s people been hording cash money and I feel it’s my patriotic an civil duty to do so.

End of the Song

It's Valentines day and I don't have a girlfriend to send a Valentine too. Fortunately I've had enough miserable experiences  in love  not to let this destroy me.  But  in case any one   wonders..

    Yes my dear I am still at it and shall be by your side momentarily if not this life then the next

End of the song   it’s the end of the song

I’ve seen many a thing indicating

That the laughter of kings could be wrong

Once I was a king   a world at my command

Once I had everything  Once I held your hand

And I loved you

Call it a day  now there’s no more to say

But please don’t throw it away   my prayer

That we will love again  just you and I

Beneath a summer sky we’ll smile again and laugh again

And there and then we shall never part

 

Eight Rivers Conversation

feeling   my oats here a little bit    - meaning that after fifteen years  underfire  I"m beginning to think like a leader.
In the past, like an academic I felt it was necessary to explain and  defend every position  in detail .Leaders don't think like that  - they present their ideas and then wait for you to shoot them down, if you can.
    In any even the academic style basically generated no response  probably because the people it disconcerted knew better then to get into a contest of  ideas and the rest didn't understand what was being said.

  You, know by golly friends  it's beginning to make sense. The tragedy of life is how many good things  are  wasted away because small minded people  want to retain control.  It was Einstein who said  that there had never been a signifigent advance in the history of science without signifigent opposition.
       Therefore far then finish the thread on quantum aspects of market research  ( which I promise I get around to sooner or later)   I'd like to point out that historical the powers that be have done everything possible to maintain  and increasee ignorance in thier subordinates  and that in particular, in the battles presently going down t attain for users of the internet basic human rights  we must not be surprised to see the same thing happening.




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Once, in the late 1980’s I found myself  spending some time  on the Island nation of Jamaica.  I was recovering from an auto accident, that had left my hands  unable to play piano, my head ringing and my legal status  undetermined  thanks to the then usual Nassau district Attorney and the usual  political adversary, in this case Nelson Doubleday, owner of a publishing company, a ball team ( the NY METS) and my neighbor on the Gold coast of Long Island. I’ll spare you the details  they are not really germane  but in retrospect they offer a curious parallel to  Jamaica at that time.

      Jamaica had   long been a British Colony, dating back to the days when real pirates sailed the Caribbean and lived very short lives. I’m not clear on the dates  but Jamaica became an independent nation after   World War Two. This was part of a deal between Roosevelt and Churchill whereby America agreed to enter the war against   Germany if England on her part agreed to  after the war  relinquish the Empire which was mostly meant for India.

             Roosevelt's  reasoning, which was not incorrect, was that as long as  Britain was allowed to keep the Empire that empire   would prove too promising a target for other nations international aspirations. It had already led to two world wars  as Germany did not see why it, with it’s larger economic output, should not have an empire at least as great as Britains.  To the extent that it quelled the movement to colonialism Roosevelt was right . Churchill was furious but lest there be any doubt – he hated Hitler  and would sign a pact with the Devil if it brought him closer to victory.

       What happened with many former colonies in the third world is they, upon attaining independence sought to be like industrialized nations – which was nonsense.  They also found they could play off the US and Russia in terms of funding   - which tended to lead to the vast majority of the money going to only a few people.

         ( I know that in the US this idea is controversial but in the rest of the world when 99% of the money is held by onepercent of the population it is believed to be a bad thing.)        

   It’s important to realize how pervasive colonialism was.  All of Africa, southern Asia  and scattered island all over the world existed in very near slave status.  With Jamaica when the Brits moved out, first there wa a brief semi stasis, then a flirtation with communism and for the past few decades  it has stabilized and   works in unity with the surrounding nations.  When I visited it it was just coming out of the time of  quasi socialism.  As in many cases socialism was not able to provide the daily goods that the people wanted – plus the cars broke down almost immediately.

       Suffice to say though Jamacias not a bad place to live. The  food is great and the economy is not dominated by the tourist industry.    As I indicated I  was recovering from an auto crash and just basically hanging out  with the locals.  This is not the time or place to go into detail about things but one person in particular had a more serious demeanor and we got on to the question as to why there was so little remaining    British influence, as opposed to some of the smaller nations.  We spoke, walking along the beach at Ocho Rios.

         He surprised me by saying his main complaint was “They kept us in ignorance.”   It was the vehemence of his reply that stunned me. These many years later I can still feel the justified anger. Here was this man, in the prime of life, of undoubted intelligence spending his time walking on the beach and arranging divertissements  for  tourists.   Since that Day I have never thought of England quite the same way again.

          That was the key thing.  Enough “Yellow Bird” and Tally Me banana, I didn’t see many old schools around.   But let’s consider that in order to justify keeping people in servitude  we must establish that on their own they cannot survive. What is more we must convince them of our notions even if we don’t ourselves believe them. One hardly knows whether to pity or praise the empire builders, both of yesterday and today – they especially who can only succeed by crushing the hopes and dreams of others.

              One of the major issues, if not the determining one, of the European Reformation is exactly the same. The governments of the day felt it was not a good idea to allow people to read.  Consider this. It was understood by all governments and not just the policy of one or two.  This led to extended periods of war.

          By the time of the American Slavery   most of the world had outgrown it, slavery as a necessary part of their economic order, but an important part of the system of slavery along with the necessity that if one mans slave runs off, all the nearby slavers must join in the hunt,  is the notion that to teach a slave how to read is a crime.

           It is not difficult to suggest that through the empowerment of the few via technology we are regressing to such conditions as to forbid access to knowledge.

       Those things, those arts that we once considered part of our cultural heritage are now  available only with a price tag.

           That forbidding people the knowledge and skills needed to gain employment is quite logical from the stand point of their competitors  we can understand  - but do we really want to do this?

  Are we suicidal or just plain stupid?

        We know that there will always be a segment of the population that will entrust their lives and futures to others – to others with mysterious incantations- but if you don’t happen to think that way

You might want to look into alternatives.

so much dope 0 nobodies gettin high

   happened to cross this site  today   - actually things are moving up nicely more then ususal
and that's one reason for quiescence-   but may be with you shortly & actually my intuition
that there was something beyond the   cause and effect competitive mode  actually has a   a way to work - namely quantum field theory   -  am in something of a rush now but hope to get back to you

          ironic no?    Me bitchin about how unfair the world was/is    and winding  up the only one still going at the end of the day   ?   Oh Ironies are heavy heavy   heavy

-   Tamlin