pen portraits

Inflatable You!
A cloakroom attendant on seeing Mae West’s (1892-1980) jewels gushed, “Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!” To which Miss West retorted, “Goodness dearie, has nothing to do with it.”
2.
Pearls Before...
Cleopatra (69-30 B.C)
Mark Antony had done his best to entertain Cleopatra and was peeved by her taunts as to the quality of his table. He was perplexed too. When she remarked that she would in one supper spend ten million sestercii Antony laid a wager that it was impossible.
When she laid out her table Mark Antony checked each item against the bill and he had to laugh at her presumption. But she promised that not only she would keep her promise but that the supper would cost 60m.Sestercii.
For the second course a goblet of vinegar of special quality, strong enough to dissolve pearls was brought in. For the occasion she was wearing two most precious pearls in the world. Before his eyes she took off one and dropped into the vinegar. Making sure it was dissolved she downed her goblet. She would have done the same with her second pearl had not Plancus the referee stopped her from it. He pronounced her to have already won the wager.
Turning to a crest-fallen Antony she murmured, ”No soldier is a match for a woman.”
benny

time out

Wages
Humorist Alphonse Allais once went to collect his paycheck from the newspaper he wrote for.” I would like my wage.” He said to the cashier.
“Tut, tut, Mr. Allais,” remarked the cashier,” surely you know the correct word is wages?”
“Well,” replied Mr. Allais,” for such a small amount I didn’ t think it necessary to use the plural.”
2.
During the question period following a lecture the poet Ogden Nash was asked,” How do you know when you have written something that is succesful?”
Quickly came the reply,” When I get a check from the editor.”
3.
“How can I ever show my appreciation?” gushed a woman to Clarence Darrow after he had solved her legal troubles.
“My dear,” replied the legal luninary,” ever since the Phoenicians invented money there has been only one answer to that question.”
benny

w44day6

No religion is immune from heresy for the simple fact no idea ever comes without that taint that exists at its heart.(W44d4)
A slight error keeps an asteroid hurtling towards earth through many light years away, wide off the mark. Besides a bigger planet like Jupiter exerts its own gravity to lead it astray. Material nature of objects and idea itself keep uncertainty alive in cosmos. Anomaly of matter is the key. (ref.glossary)
If God hung up stars in heaven as with all those asteroids but will not set its course straight He must have a reason? If He did set that anomaly built in Cosmos He just played His joke on all those who shall consider themselves too holy for this world.
I am tainted by every evil I let occur during my earthly sojourn; as I am blessed by every good turn done by my fellow beings.
benny

w44day5

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Q:‘Why does a patriot waves a flag so much?’
A: ‘So attention will not be drawn to him.’
benny

w44day4

Nation is an idea, which in turn shall nestle together with so many other ideas. Similar to the institution of a family. Man and woman come together by an arrangement to raise a family under one roof. It is an idea so important that we cannot do without a priest sanctifying it; for the occasion is important and joyous one too, so we invite our friends and family members to be present. No idea can ever exist by itself.
Weakness of nation must arise from it. Every individual does something to an idea however so much noble or sacred.
benny

w43day7

Germany’s geographical position had prompted German military leaders to anticipate a two front war in which Germany faced enemies to east (Russia) and France on the west. Thus in 1905 Count Alfred von Schlieffen drew up a plan. The plan was from military point of view, brilliant but was immoral and a political folly, as many viewed at violating Belgian neutrality. It was crucial to the success of the plan.
Events went on more bellicose and threatening while the generals went through their manoeuvers on paper and the Kaiser went on adding battleships to the Imperial Navy and the British press clamored for action. The matters came to a head when Gavrilo Princip shot dead Arch-duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914. The assassination shut out all diplomatic moves. With the WWI the old order was changed forever.
The First World War would trigger another war more violent and more far reaching in results. The changes were not in proportion to the shot fired by a Serb nationalist. I cited this example to show the Cluster Principle in action.
Tailpiece: The principle throws light into the Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law, ’Anything that can go wrong, will.

benny

Cezanne, Paul

The violent dramatic style of Cezanne revealed in his early works took a turn after coming under the influence of Pissarro a leading Impressionist at that time.
Cezanne worked very slowly which one old peasant noted while he by chance came upon Pissarro and Paul at work. After watching them for a while the old peasant remarked to Pissarro, ”Well sir, you have an assistant here who does absolutely nothing.”
benny

sun in haze

sun in haze
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

30. 6th Day
Experience of man and woman however bad or painful, loses its sting as it works as a saving grace for the species as a whole.
benny

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

Cezanne as was seen outward was no more the real than his paintings. A rough bullying manner belied a shy and sensitive heart: he shrunk from any physical contact. He was suspicious of men and filled with irrational fear over many things, and he changed his lodgings constantly. It made one friend who had not seen Paul for sometime ask, “Where are you living now?”
“Oh I live in a house, in a street-a long way off,” stammered Cezanne and hurried off.
benny

morning of the 27th of 9

morning of the 27th of 9
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

w43day5

Outbreak of AIDS epidemic is the scrouge of the present century. Yet is has a chilling parallel to the waves of Black Death that devastated Europe earlier. The strange case of Steve Crohn from California attests to the timelessness of experience. His lover Jerry succumbed to the epidemic and died on March 4,1982. He was the fourth victim to die of AIDS. Steve however remained immune to it, which seemed curious to the scientists. Steve’s blood carried HIV virus, 3000 times more than needed to infect a healthy cell and yet he remained healthy. Something was blocking the virus from getting in. He had a blocking system identified as Delta 32. It was traced out to his ancestry. His European ancestors carried this mutant gene as a result of the Black Death and they had brought it to the New World. Like Steve there are 1% of people in U.K and the U.S.A, carrying the gene.
benny

apples

apples
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

In 1895 Ambroise Vollard, a pioneer art dealer in Paris gave him his first one-man show in his gallery. The year he sat for a portrait and found the artist too slow for his liking. Often he got fidgety or fell asleep whereupon Paul had to admonish him, ”You should sit like an apple, an apple does not move.” After many sittings more than hundreds or so Cezanne watching his painting had to admit, “I’m not displeased with the shirt-front.”


benny

cezanne

Cezanne started as an impressionist but his fame rests in his breaking away from Impressionism. He argued that the basis of nature is an organization of simple geometric elements. ‘Treat nature by the cylinders, the sphere and the cone.” was his dictum. In Cubism Picasso stretched that point further.
benny

ww43d4

John Bull typified Great Britain. He personified a national characteristic usually associated with the bulldog breed. The same dogged tenacity that wartime Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill displayed in the nation’s hour of need. But the war changed the entire social structure of Britain and with it went that particular feature that kept the nation distinct. National pride is not in anything apart from people who make up a nation. As a multicultural society every Brit will add his or her own color and for the better I ought to say.
benny

w-28d7

A mind that can dream and hands that can shape the dream to a reality: a man with such credentials would not be complaining of life passing by.
* Autobiography is going down the memory lane, walking tall at places where we crawled.
benny

oilslick

oilslick
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

44. 2nd Day
Which came first? Chicken or the egg? Neither. One cannot be without the other.
Memory cannot exist without experience; nor can matter without idea. Nor can matter without its nature.
How do we say water is ice? Each molecule must occupy a precise distance of 2.72 angstroms held in place by a hydrogen bond. When melted it allows molecules freedom to move about. Turbulence is created when the single hydrogen electron with the single-mindedness of a stud bull jumps from oxygen to oxygen atom. Matter (as in the case of different states of water) has more to do with abstract relationships. It is how matter expresses itself at its elementary level. In its hearkening to material nature it demonstrates a ‘virtual’ conscience. An idea.
For the same reason a piece of magnet is conscious of iron filings in its vicinity. Place a piece of iron in the presence of oxygen. The result is rust, created evidently by a relationship. Thus when we speak of matter it is not the form but abstract relationships that we need to look for.
In lexicon of human understanding love is, as good as such abstract relationships would indicate. In our case we give it a conscious direction. That is all.
Tailpiece: One-night stand is as much behavior of matter as in the constancy shown by a wolf for its partner.

cloud

cloud
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

w-43d2

Oneness is an order worked into biological imperative of all life forms. Every life form has its own share of energy to spend for achieving its objectives; from which a binding energy must keep all in a flux and a nation happens to ride the crest of the wave. What this nation would think from that height? ‘We call all the shots!’ It is only a matter of time another wave sweeps it aside.
History is made continually.
benny

time out

A country you ought to visit is Comatose.
As one who has been there for long my advice for you would be to steer clear of religion. Especially if you are sensitive as to the matter of faith and spiritual life.
If a tourist asks the locals, 'Quo Vadis? the reply would be, 'Pop goes the We sell." It is an inside joke. The Comatose mean their spiritual leader Pop Casey who is ever on tour selling their religion. " We sell" is a spiritual term meaning wherever Pop went selling he caused so much uproar without meaning to. God was made more a joke of by his 'pontifications.'
Pop Casey said once he was infallible and soon after came some scientists claiming his view of the sun being a planet was wrong. He had to recant in the end that he was not infallible as he thought to be. While his College of Cardinals wrote 278 hefty volumes to interpret the case for His Holiness Casey. One cardinal stated that he meant infallible only in areas where he could err on the safe side. The sun was not something he had meant to upset. So he apologized, "Brother Sun, My mistake." He did it so Comatose may enjoy their summer under the balmy sun as before.
Thereafter he went to the Middle Kingdom where the folks went about as if they were made of glass. So brittle they were. If anyone talked loud they cried murder. If some foreigner laughed over some jokes they hauled him to their Judge for laughing without their permission. Pop Casey once sat down to a state dinner while visiting them and said ' I think of Middle Kingdom whenever I need to break wind'. He meant his digestive system of course. ( Among Comatose they call their legs as lower Kingdom.)
How furious the people of the Middle Kingdom were! Before he left for Comatose they barred his motorcade. He apologized as befitting his status by lifting his skull cap. They were not satisfied. So they wanted him to apologize by bending from the waist. He did so in order to please them. " Hey Pop is like rubber ball!" One fellow observed. So they asked him to kiss the ground and ask their pardon. Pop Casey thought it was a scream. Still being a religious leader he did one full stretch. Then the fellows said," Hey Pop is a regular prayer mat! They would have springcleaned him then and there if the Presidential guards hadn't come and whisked him to safety.
benny

la mer

la mer
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

7th Day
Danseuse Yvette Guilbert (1865-1944) the subject of countless sketches, paintings and posters by Toulouse Lautrec, was once savaged by Sarcey a formidable critic of the day and she forced her way into his study. She said, “You are an insolent cad...”
“I regret,” he said and pointed to a pile of papers that needed to be filled before noon, ”and if we have no more to say to each other...”
At this the fiery tempered danseuse seized the brass inkstand and overturned it on the sheets saying, ”they were to be dirtied, they are dirtied.”

benny

week-30

To break a man give him some work, which will serve no useful purpose.
Tailpiece: Big Brother who ran his mega empire from one of those skyscrapers in New York called his little brother, a dirt farmer and gave him a job. “I hate to see dirt under your nails, brother,” was the reason his Big Brother gave him. He demurred. “I cannot see you scratch for a living and for such measly poor returns.” It hit a raw nerve.
“But I feed my family and I care for them.” His Big Brother thought it was a poor excuse. He promised to keep his family live in very comfortable circumstances. He had no more excuses. After saying good-bye to all he moved the city.
Big Brother made him run his empire. Everyday he thought of excuses to keep his brother busy and with each day these became curioser. The younger brother knew he was wasting his time. But his fraternal love doggedly kept him to the post.
Months passed and years took its toll. The first one to come crashing was Big Brother who ranted and raved while rolling on the floor. He cried out to his brother, “I cannot think of anymore excuses to keep you occupied!” His personal physician insisted he keep quiet.
In the end he said, “ I am dying because I loved my brother too well!” His younger brother who was present murmured into his ears, “I died the day you made me come here.”
Tailpiece: Am I my brother’s keeper?
benny

w-27d7

He who out-soars everyone else springs from the shoulders of others. But when he comes down heavily he cannot expect others to cushion his fall.
benny

w29d3

One who never did a day’s honest work was lolling on the lawn thinking of this and that. A fellow who passed by pointed out to him a scrap of paper carried by the breeze and it settled nearby. “Is it by any chance yours?”
The lazy fellow cajoled him to pick it up for him. The stranger did. It was a lottery ticket. The bum held a Jackpot in his hands! Only when he cashed in, at the bar the regulars who had for long picked on him said in awe, ”I wish I had all that luck!”
The bum replied, ”Yes Hank, your pappie wished as you do now. And with all his luck it was my pappie who went to the gutter. Oh yes, wasn’t he lucky then? So why complain?”

Law of Negation and Law of Compensation are handmaidens of Nature in giving every life form enough push. Each life form fulfils its own agenda partly helped by them.
Experience is another.
benny

time out

Betwixt and Between

Zeus was once traveling accompanied by his daughter Athena. He was struck by the beauty of a sculpture and asked whose work it was. The goddess of Wisdom said,” Phidias.” Admiring it for a while he asked his daughter,” You are perfection in wisdom. Why can’t you then do some thing like that- a work of beauty?”
Athena laughed,” I, a goddess- work? Why waste my time?” The eagle which always accompanied the goddess whispered in Zeus’ ear,” If she were to work it would mean her godly wisdom lacked something.”
“ Oh?”
“ That means she wouldn’t be perfect. Would it not?” the winged bird asked. Zeus could understand.
The sculptor was after all a mortal trying to achieve perfection in some area as best as he could. The bird looked at the sculpture with a critical eye and said,” Look at that index finger of the discuss-thrower. Shorter by a hairbreadth, - it would have been just perfect!”
Zeus snapped,” Phidias made it for his kind and for the praise of gods!”
Our smell is not as good as that of dogs; neither is our sense of sight anywhere near that of an eagle. Man is neither god nor a beast. From that middle state what we say for Truth has a hollow ring. So many religions; so many belief-systems. If you are entitled to claim your religion as the true one so shall others. There is no way to settle the matter given our middle state.
In a World of Illusions we may err on the safe side by giving other belief-systems the benefit of doubt.
benny

dear diary

Perhaps what we here and now may know of Truth in snatches, is like learning alphabets. Death is merely changing from one school to another. In such a case we can put our thinking faculties to better use: less of the unknowable but quality time with the known.
2.
We often tell truth with a rather heavy hand where it suits us and practise economy where it is inconvenient. Having sent two lies on their way we often play the injured party when these two cause more trouble than we expected.
benny

w-43

Doubting Thomas had a chance, which Judas Iscariot didn’t receive. The master made Thomas believe in his divinity by inviting him to touch his wounds so he might believe. It is easier to accuse Jesus of showing double standards in this case. Really?
If we accept the divinity of Jesus any standard that we apply shall be imperfect in that we are humans. Truth of nature that we apply cannot do its job for the simple reason doubt is worked into the standard.
benny

week 28

A hippopotamus can remain under water for six minutes or so. While a beluga whale can stay down for 20 minutes under water. How elephant seals can dive to the bottom and stay there for a full 2 hours must seem incredible to both hippopotamus and the whale. The trick is in that the seal has learnt to slow down its heartbeat while it is underwater. To each its own.
Even so in the measuring scale of nature each holds the same weight.
benny

w8d7

The synoptic gospels sketch Jesus from varying standpoints and with palette of colors. Gospel according to St. John is as distinct as that St.Luke. A skeptic is likely to complain the gospels delineate an Unknown Jesus.
In many cases we notice words are put in the master’s mouth by Paul or Peter. As things turned out it was Paul of Tarsus who became the custodian of Jesus and not Simon Peter. Thus we get to see the master from the eyes of a student who never went to his school or heard him at first hand.
Two gospels have attributed to Jesus the following injunction.” If they eye offend thee, pluck it out…” (Mt 18:8-9) Does being blind ever cure a man or woman of lustful thoughts?
Gouge your eyes out and yet you shall think lustful thoughts. So Jesus in my opinion was challenging each believer to go behind mere superficiality of words. Only by grace of God one can overcome his/her lustful thoughts. Letting oneself go is more difficult than fulfilling some rituals. Grace that is given without strings attached wins you victory, and not because you overcame each temptation by sheer will power. In your admission that you have come to the end of your own resources, grace is implied. It is left to God then.

benny

w43d2

Mankind is one at a level of molecules and atoms. Material nature of humans shows its oneness in the way we are all connected. We are not concerned about race, color or beliefs when we fall in love. At the basic level of relationships be it sexual or ‘platonic ‘friendships we prove on what thin ground is the idea of national identity. Man is paramount. Nation, race, color are all merely labels. A matter of convenience.
Hydrogen molecules and oxygen molecules in our atmosphere are free to go anywhere but they on the contrary seek out each other.
benny

w41d6

George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925)
Curzon who was the Viceroy of India was a hard taskmaster and no servants lasted long in his household. One fellow served Curzon in the capacity of a butler for years and he also one day decided he had had enough. He gave notice and the great man asked him if he could recommend a successor. “There are,” he replied wearily, “only two who could take my place-one is Jesus Christ, I am the other.”
benny

w-40day6

W.C Fields (1879-1946)
The great comic who left home early and tried at many chores had come up through hardship. He had no proper education. Once he realized how it was necessary to be well read in order to be successful he went after it in his inimitable way. Fields put a trunk up in his car and drove to the nearest bookshop. He dragged the trunk into the shop and said to the startled bookshop assistant, ”Fill’er up!”
benny

w27d3

Greed of Crassus was well known. Once he remarked how he agreed with the Stoic philosophers who said wise man was ever rich. Cicero who was present asked him whether he meant to imply that the wise man had all things.
benny

w-27d2

Cicero the orator once in public praised Marcus Crassus whom he detested and shortly thereafter he spoke ill of him from the same spot. Crassus asked him why. “Did you not highly praise me in this place the last day?”
“I cannot deny it,” replied the orator, “I just wanted to show how such a poor specimen could be shown in better light with the eloquence at my command.”
Adolf Hitler sent the whole nation smarting from the unjust terms imposed upon them by the victorious Allies, into another war more catastrophic. They marched blindly to their death on rhetoric. Some Germans who were intellectuals got the message of hate but paid with their lives because they overlooked the fine print.
* Words with which you caress can wound as well.
benny

w-42day2

A tsunami can break with the sure sense for havoc as a volcano. Our polar caps may melt and much of our living space could be well under water. A doomsday scenario? We need not panic as much try to increase our chances of survival. Nothing works as efficiently as mending our skewed concept of superpower-mentality.
Our experience collated over millennia of living in stable conditions (which is not permanent), covers the earth like a patch of grass. Try plucking grass and you shall note its roots give you hell of trouble since these are precariously keeping their foothold even as we are. It does by knotting itself onto other clumps of grass.
A cooperative spirit works better for us.
benny

w-42day2

A tsunami can break with the sure sense for havoc as a volcano. Our polar caps may melt and much of our living space could be well under water. A doomsday scenario? We need not panic as much try to increase our chances of survival. Nothing works as efficiently as mending our skewed concept of superpower-mentality.
Our experience collated over millennia of living in a stable conditions which is not permanent, covers the earth like a patch of grass. Try plucking grass and you shall note its roots give you hell of trouble since these are precariously keeping their foothold even as we are. It does by knotting itself onto other clumps of grass. A cooperative spirit works better for us.
benny

w-42

No part of the earth is static; continental plates move around even as oceans freely distribute their wealth not caring what shall benefit or be put to straitened circumstances.
Material nature of continents must come to terms with that of oceans: heavier basalt therefore forms the ocean beds while continents made of lighter granite occupy a higher ground. All the earth’s crust floating on some molten mixture of basalt and olivine must illustrate the illusory nature of wealth of nations that keep passing around.
Tailpiece: Cylindrus the tyrant ruled the city-state of Atlantis with an iron fist. He built up an empire having conquered so many islands in the Aegean Sea. He knew the slaves were there for the taking and for making life of
its citizens easier. (Bigger the empire, bigger grows its hunger.) Thus he sent his crack troops to pillage in all directions till his subjects could loll in luxury and think only of their pleasures all day long. They had given Cylindrus a blank cheque to run the empire. Other city-states around the Mediterranean basin saw how unilateral and unjust Cylindrus was. But they could not openly defy him. So they merely suffered in silence.
One morning Atlantis vanished without a trace! Some said it was tsunami and some said it was hubris. No one shall know for certain. With that went Pax Atlantis!
Many empires followed the fate of Atlantis. Not all by natural causes. History so far followed one point consistently: a passage of time to transcribe all those past experiences in a new way. Thus the British Empire had a brief time as Imperial Rome held sway before her.
benny

w-41

Either Or.
Biologically telemia works like a time bomb ticking on within our cell. It ought to remind us we are ever short on time to get everything we want in life done to our satisfaction. Our judgment has to be first put in place so every irrelevant clutter from life might be rid of. But doesn’t that require a certain period in order to get it right? Alexander the Great even as a boy showed great promise so much so his father, the king of Macedonia once despaired of his kingdom being too small to contain his greatness. Naturally King Philip once faulted him on account of the time he spent on playing flute. His skill with the musical instrument was achieved at the cost of something far greater in comparison.
Whatever be our standard for success, time is a fixed component. So time management runs on the principle of Either Or. We cannot run and dance at the same time anymore than we can be present in two places at the same time.
benny

w40day5

Those believers who cannot see beyond their prophets have no liberal education, as we in the West would like to believe.
These have-nots who cannot take a joke have a problem as much as we have a problem of choosing between what is funny and what is not. An artist who has no ideas or anything new, regresses to infantile shock tactics. So what he chooses to exhibit? It may be a cross in a bag of urine and a horse mangled into lump of flesh with blood all over. He has shocked the public. Yes he sure has.
Only that those who have invested on his art want to see profits. So they get the press and PR. As a result those who have thought themselves as fashion gurus pontificate. On predictable lines.
Some selfstyled trendsetters in order to be fresh and at the same time to be with it add "Ooh!"
- yes to some everything is art if it carries a price tag of millions.
It attracts some art critics like flies to say some inanity or other. Who has the last laugh? The artist had his publicity and enough money to go on to do some other outrageous buffoonery. The gallery owner has immediately found some fresh talent from the garret,( or sewer I am not sure which) to keep the circus going.
This sort of culture is neither funny nor adds anything to our understanding. If we cannot resist the fat cats ( who are pulling wool over our eyes in order to line their pockets) how shall we able to take some extra effort to understand those believers whose religious practices seem far out?
benny

w-40d4

Freedom of speech is a fundamental right of a liberal society. Does exercising it need be at the likelihood to flaring up unhealthy passions of those who are still not as liberal as we consider ourselves?
A cartoon on a political figure is not same as another on Prophet Mohammed. An elected representative could be a fool, a booby who has been given a license to run a government of people’s representatives. As a cartoonist I poke fun at them because I am affected by their policies. I certainly stand to gain if I could rattle them a bit. My pen may be go at any length: perhaps it might make them reconsider an unwise policy or change it altogether.
But Jesus or Mohammed is revered as God’s chosen vessels. Similarly Buddha or any other. They have no policy whatsoever to lead us on our every day lives. By such cartoons do we gain anything worthwhile in return? Other than worsening relationship between people?
benny

w26day4

Friendship is as fragile as enmity. Just as a touch of suspicion could break a friendship enmity could be dissolved in a drop of good will.
* That which turns your head could end up twisting your tail.
• Charity begins at home; I don’t understand why in politics it should be called nepotism.
* Error of mind, vanity; of spirit, hypocrisy.
He who without restraint partakes knowledge from wherever it may be had, and makes no distinction as to their merits is in danger of becoming a glutton. And end up at the wrong tables.
beny

w-40d2

Is there a standard by which we may compare the efficiency of our actions?
If energy is considered the bill of exchange between life forms it is where one might took for an answer.
benny

soundings

Love at first sight to some is blind; to others it is for keeps. Sight is not the problem but in the reading of your intuition.
* Our civilization is the graveyard of great causes; causes were thought up by imperfect beings. Greatness if any cause could be called is the manner it is resurrected and in its new clothes get past great masses as though new!
* Information crunch is when, with all the news at your disposal, you are left more in doubt than before. The Inversion principle shows up in the many conspiracy theories we get to hear these days.
benny

week40

Our physical nature gives us the lie to the certainties we hold in our macro cosmos. Just as our faith in our human nature to lead mankind to a Shangri-la of prosperity and idyllic peace was irrevocably ruined by two great wars. What we experience in the modern world proves how far from perfect we are in our grasp of our world or in the world of ideas.
Who would have thought of the well-ordered Newtonian universe thrown pell-mell by quantum theory? The switch was ever present and all along waiting to be discovered. How could Einstein have disproved what was established by so many scientists down through ages each adding on a little here and a little there to our understanding of our universe?
Truth of experience as the engine keeps Science on the move.
benny

soundings

Among rich wiseman, poor wiseman and happy wiseman the last mentioned is the wisest.
* Out of cocoon of indigence often comes the butterfly with a sting.
* A fifth column in a newspaper is not an act of treason.
* Possessing uncommon sense without retaining one’s common sense is like a trapeze artiste suffering from delirium tremens.

benny

w39d6

In the nineties in one of the English villages there was a vicious campaign waged against a farm (Darley Oaks) that bred guiney-pigs for testing. For some years they vanadalized the equipments and the vehicles of the owners without let up. The local constabulary couldn’t stop their harrassment. With time the nature of their intimidation also became more aggressive. One of their acts was desecrating the grave of a woman and using it as a bargaining weapon. In the end the culprits were caught and given hefty prison sentences. Their animal activism was over.
The only point remains: did the plight of guinea-pigs cause a genuine campaign to spring up? Or the campaign was only a cover-up for some criminals to continue their criminality as before?( CF. W25, D5)
Tailpiece: During rehearsal the director of the production told Laurette Taylor (1884-1946) thus, ”This is your scene, Miss Taylor and I feel you should have the centre of the stage for it.”
She replied with her characteristic hesitant tone, “You know, this may seem odd to you but I always thought where I was- that was the centre of the stage.”
benny

w39d5

Moral courage of Captain Foley (d. 1958) attached to MI6 and stationed in Berlin during the time the Nazis were in control is a shining example. In the ‘30’s he saved thousands of Jews at the risk of his life, without any consideration of personal gains, by issuing visas to them. Had they been caught they would have been sent to concentration camps. There were only two escape routes, either to Palestine or to USA. He issued some 10,000-exit visas to those Jews who were trapped within the city. His moral sense made himself as one of them and as though they had placed themselves in his care. In doing all that was within his power to do he represented Power of One.
Similarly we find John Rabe (d.’50) a businessman a Nazi who was in China from 1908 till 1938. He lived outside Germany during the time of Hitler’s rise to power and was an eyewitness to the rape of Nanking. He risked his life and his status to save people who would later become enemies to his country. Besides his outspoken support for the Chinese seemed to have ruined his career after he returned to his fatherland. He wrote to Hitler asking him to persuade Japan to stop the atrocities. Was it necessary to stick his neck out for people who were not his people?
Moral courage is positive and is what life in any man or woman demands. Such questions of race, color or political affiliations are superfluous. Moral courage engages like gears, only with life.
This moral sense makes no distinction of race, color or even species.
benny

w-37d7

Cluster Principle
Pipin the Hot (not to to be confused for Pipin the Short), the king of Blissfully Ignorant asked his spiritual father to pray earnestly for divine intervention. It was his desire that he taught Pipin, the Short, a lesson. Monk Anselmo, the holy one prayed and the angels heard his request.
Archangel Michael presided over the Heavenly host and the commanders held counsel. One said thus:” We can let a war decide the issue. But can Pipin, the Hot survive the consequences?” On checking with Anselmo the archangel decided that the Two Pipins might get their heart’s desire.
The war was short and fierce. The war was in the favor of Pipin, the Hot. Hardly the truce was declared than there came four horsemen: Famine, Hunger, Plague and Death. These made the kingdom of Blissfully Ignorant, not even worth a straw.
benny