I have long been a fan of the parody of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, titled Bored of the Rings. It was written by Harvard Lampoon and is pretty funny. There is a term in the book that I always wondered what it meant:
As a rule they [the Boggies, parody of hobbits] now avoid us, except on rare occasions when a hundred or so will get together to dry-gulch a lone farmer or hunter.
I really had no idea what they meant by dry-gulch, so off I finally went to the big wide internet to find out. Apparently though, this term now has many meanings!
It can mean slamming someone on the nose so hard that they die. It can mean a forearm or sucker punch to the throat. And it can mean so many other things up to and including oral sex!
Well, I'm assuming that the Harvard Lampoon meant some sort of sneak attack to the throat in a cowardly manner since that seems to be the oldest reference that I can find... but you never know! Maybe those Boggies really really liked that hunter or farmer... still, hundreds of them, maybe they're better of its a physical attack!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
Dion Fortune's Guild
I started reading The Magical Battle of Britain: The War Letters of Dion Fortune tonight and came across something interesting. Basically, during World War II, Dion Fortune started a sort of occult/mystical interest group to do group meditations on various topics. Interestingly, the topics had very little to do with the war itself. They weren't trying to hex German pilots or psychically attack Hitler or anything. In today's language, they were trying to put a sort of "good vibes" out into the atmosphere to help their fellow Britons.
Anyway, I was reading how she got this group together and they started progressing along. And then Gareth Knight, who edited the book (as it is a series of letters from Dion Fortune to her group), talked about how, as the work went on, they found they couldn't take newcomers in as well as they did at the start (when they took in anyone). Dion Fortune herself wrote:
Outsiders who came in at the beginning grew with the work, but once the work had developed in the way it did, it was no longer possible to take in outsiders.
When I read this, the image that popped into my mind was nothing less than a World of Warcraft guild! It sounds like how so many guilds in WoW start. They take anyone and everyone at first, but, if the guild is successful and stays together for long, the people who joined at the beginning have leveled up to 80 (or more now) and have awesome legendary equipment. After a while, joining such successful guilds is by invitation only. Seriously though, as Ms. Fortune says here, its the only way they can really do it. Taking on a newbie would take too long getting them up to speed to be of much use (and seriously, not be much fun for the guildies or the noobie).
Anyway, that's just the thought I had. I wish I could have joined Dion Fortune's magical guild to defend Britain. :-)
Anyway, I was reading how she got this group together and they started progressing along. And then Gareth Knight, who edited the book (as it is a series of letters from Dion Fortune to her group), talked about how, as the work went on, they found they couldn't take newcomers in as well as they did at the start (when they took in anyone). Dion Fortune herself wrote:
Outsiders who came in at the beginning grew with the work, but once the work had developed in the way it did, it was no longer possible to take in outsiders.
When I read this, the image that popped into my mind was nothing less than a World of Warcraft guild! It sounds like how so many guilds in WoW start. They take anyone and everyone at first, but, if the guild is successful and stays together for long, the people who joined at the beginning have leveled up to 80 (or more now) and have awesome legendary equipment. After a while, joining such successful guilds is by invitation only. Seriously though, as Ms. Fortune says here, its the only way they can really do it. Taking on a newbie would take too long getting them up to speed to be of much use (and seriously, not be much fun for the guildies or the noobie).
Anyway, that's just the thought I had. I wish I could have joined Dion Fortune's magical guild to defend Britain. :-)
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Fictional Books: Where can I get them?
I am an incredible bookworm. No, I'm a book-Sandworm. No! I'm a book-Alaskan BULL WORM! (Spongebob Squarepants reference, and a bit of bragging about size, heh heh).
I love to read and read for pleasure. I do tend to fixate on certain things to read. I mainly read non-fiction these days, mainly British History, World War II, Espionage, the paranormal and occult. For fiction, I mainly read sci-fi and fantasy. Frank Herbert is one of my favorite authors. I've also read authors like CS Lewis, Tolkien (of course!), T.H. White and other various dudes.
Anyway, that's just some useless background for my discussion today.
Have you (fellow bookworms mainly) ever read a book or read about your favorite book series and had it mention an "in universe" book that you wish you could read for real? That happens to me all the time. I often save the titles and make my Sim write them in The Sims. A couple that come to the top of my brain:
Ballads from the Border Stars - from the Dune (extended) universe, a book that contains the story of the Ampoloris (the Dune Universe equivalent of the Flying Dutchman). I want this book! I am planning to carry out a strange occult ceremony to try and shift into the Dune universe to get a copy. :-)
A Time for Pompous Titles - from a Dune parody but that title has stuck in my head for years and I want to at least look at it.
Is Man A Myth? - A must read for any bookworm who gets to Narnia.
Of course, Lovecraftians want to get a hold of the Necronomicon but I think I'll give that one a pass.
Some computer games like the Bethesda Elder Scrolls games actually have in game books which are quite interesting. They're only a few paragraphs long but I can imagine versions that are the size of an actual book. There's one in Morrowind, appearing in Skyrim as well, called The Doors of Oblivion that I would love to sit down an read in its entirety.
And there's the matter of that Giant Rat of Sumatra that Sherlock Holmes wouldn't let Watson talk about...
I love to read and read for pleasure. I do tend to fixate on certain things to read. I mainly read non-fiction these days, mainly British History, World War II, Espionage, the paranormal and occult. For fiction, I mainly read sci-fi and fantasy. Frank Herbert is one of my favorite authors. I've also read authors like CS Lewis, Tolkien (of course!), T.H. White and other various dudes.
Anyway, that's just some useless background for my discussion today.
Have you (fellow bookworms mainly) ever read a book or read about your favorite book series and had it mention an "in universe" book that you wish you could read for real? That happens to me all the time. I often save the titles and make my Sim write them in The Sims. A couple that come to the top of my brain:
Ballads from the Border Stars - from the Dune (extended) universe, a book that contains the story of the Ampoloris (the Dune Universe equivalent of the Flying Dutchman). I want this book! I am planning to carry out a strange occult ceremony to try and shift into the Dune universe to get a copy. :-)
A Time for Pompous Titles - from a Dune parody but that title has stuck in my head for years and I want to at least look at it.
Is Man A Myth? - A must read for any bookworm who gets to Narnia.
Of course, Lovecraftians want to get a hold of the Necronomicon but I think I'll give that one a pass.
Some computer games like the Bethesda Elder Scrolls games actually have in game books which are quite interesting. They're only a few paragraphs long but I can imagine versions that are the size of an actual book. There's one in Morrowind, appearing in Skyrim as well, called The Doors of Oblivion that I would love to sit down an read in its entirety.
And there's the matter of that Giant Rat of Sumatra that Sherlock Holmes wouldn't let Watson talk about...
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
"He who would keep a secret..." A rambling codger story just for you!
Back again today with another old codger story that keeps wanting to jump out of my head! It comes from the same period as that other guy I told you about who was an aging player and dry humped the poor cleaning girl.
This guy was another supervisor type, a big boo-yah ex-military guy (who should have known better, but we'll get to that). Anyway, this guy was apparently trying to get a cushy job with a local senator. He was going to be an intelligence analyst for this senator. On and on he went, bragging around the office to everyone and anyone who couldn't escape in time about all the things he was going to do. He was going to get raw intelligence from various intelligence agencies, collate it, put it together, give briefings to this senator.
He apparently got pretty far in the selection process because he finally was going around telling his friendliest co-workers (I wasn't one of them, too new and low ranking) that the state department, or whoever, might be coming around to question them as part of a background check on him.
Now, I don't know a lot about espionage and intelligence outside of my reading of WWII era espionage and James Bond films (I need to read John Le Carre one of these days!). But I did once hear a line in an episode of Yes, Prime Minister that came to mind hearing this guy bloviate.
"He who would keep a secret must keep it a secret that he has a secret to keep!"
You'll notice most intelligence operatives and leaders tend to be what is often called 'dismal enigmas.' They are quiet, secretive, keep to themselves, never let anyone know what they are thinking. Admiral Doenitz, most leaders of MI5, and even Ex-President Bush when he was in charge of the CIA were excellent examples of this. They did not go around bragging and boasting about their intelligence work. They did not say what they were doing and how they were going to do it. Never did they give away sources or talk about where they got their information.
Of course, this guy never did get this cushy job and after awhile there was nothing but silence from him. I don't even know if they came around for a background check. I was hoping they interviewed me because I wanted to give the line I just gave above and my little spiel to the interviewing state department officers. Then again, I'm sure they know it well!
So that's today's story. And remember, loose lips sink ships! Not a word.... shhhhhhhhh!
Recent viral outbreak in Missouri and Illinois: Enterovirus D68
Hello internet! Today I come to you in rather a serious vein. The recent outbreak of the enterovirus EV-D68 has been causing somewhat of a stir. Disturbingly, this outbreak is being used by some people with anti-hispanic and white nationalist agendas to further their racist and racialist ends.
Rush Limbaugh, the "Americans for Legal Immigration", and "Fix This Nation", sources among others with rather disturbing bents, have decried this virus as a "mystery virus", never seen before, and obviously brought in by the last wave of Latino children who were allowed into the country and dispersed around the nation, in mysterious and conspiratorial ways. A recent memo from the Inspector General to the border regions is said to 'admit' the connection of the "mystery virus" and the Latin American children.
But lets step back and do some research. I read the memorandum of July 30th, 2014 from John Roth, Inspector General regarding the oversight of the "unaccompanied alien children." Indeed, the memo does mention diseases. Pre-existing diseases the children had before they arrived. Also noted diseases spreading in the tight confines of the holding camps mainly due to poor sanitation present. In other words, the same health problems that come along with any large group of people confined to a small area and held there for a long time.
But Rush Limbaugh's "mystery virus." Lets hit the sources. I found information at the Journal of General Virology and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
EV-D68 is not a mystery virus. It was first isolated and identified in California in 1962. It is a very rare but known virus to the CDC and health watch groups world wide. There have been outbreaks in the last three years of the virus in North America, Europe and Asia. Small clusters of EV-D68 outbreaks have occurred throughout the US from 2009 to 2013. There was an outbreak in Japan in 2005. Another in the Philippines in 2008, and one in the Netherlands in 2010.
There is no specific treatment for EV-D68 but infections tend to be mild and self-limiting, the patient recovering on their own. It is dangerous to people with pre-existing conditions and severe respiratory illnesses where it can exasperate these conditions (this is what occurred in a well publicized case in Colorado and in many of the cases in Illinois).
The Jews were blamed for the black death in the dark ages, and while individual Jews may have inadvertently spread the bubonic plague, I am very sure they did not do it as an attack on aryan Europe. Obviously this story of Hispanics and Latinos being the cause of this latest outbreak is going to find much purchase among people like neo-nazis and white nationalists who want to believe in it.
Please do not allow yourselves to fall into this trap. Do the research, find sources, ask trained medical personnel. I found out all of the above in less than 30 minutes of the most cursory internet research.
I now return us all to our pictures of kitties and Giorgio Tsoukalos!
Rush Limbaugh, the "Americans for Legal Immigration", and "Fix This Nation", sources among others with rather disturbing bents, have decried this virus as a "mystery virus", never seen before, and obviously brought in by the last wave of Latino children who were allowed into the country and dispersed around the nation, in mysterious and conspiratorial ways. A recent memo from the Inspector General to the border regions is said to 'admit' the connection of the "mystery virus" and the Latin American children.
But lets step back and do some research. I read the memorandum of July 30th, 2014 from John Roth, Inspector General regarding the oversight of the "unaccompanied alien children." Indeed, the memo does mention diseases. Pre-existing diseases the children had before they arrived. Also noted diseases spreading in the tight confines of the holding camps mainly due to poor sanitation present. In other words, the same health problems that come along with any large group of people confined to a small area and held there for a long time.
But Rush Limbaugh's "mystery virus." Lets hit the sources. I found information at the Journal of General Virology and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
EV-D68 is not a mystery virus. It was first isolated and identified in California in 1962. It is a very rare but known virus to the CDC and health watch groups world wide. There have been outbreaks in the last three years of the virus in North America, Europe and Asia. Small clusters of EV-D68 outbreaks have occurred throughout the US from 2009 to 2013. There was an outbreak in Japan in 2005. Another in the Philippines in 2008, and one in the Netherlands in 2010.
There is no specific treatment for EV-D68 but infections tend to be mild and self-limiting, the patient recovering on their own. It is dangerous to people with pre-existing conditions and severe respiratory illnesses where it can exasperate these conditions (this is what occurred in a well publicized case in Colorado and in many of the cases in Illinois).
The Jews were blamed for the black death in the dark ages, and while individual Jews may have inadvertently spread the bubonic plague, I am very sure they did not do it as an attack on aryan Europe. Obviously this story of Hispanics and Latinos being the cause of this latest outbreak is going to find much purchase among people like neo-nazis and white nationalists who want to believe in it.
Please do not allow yourselves to fall into this trap. Do the research, find sources, ask trained medical personnel. I found out all of the above in less than 30 minutes of the most cursory internet research.
I now return us all to our pictures of kitties and Giorgio Tsoukalos!
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