Aesop Tells A Story

A Rule ( that I live by)

Had I been the subject to a king in a kingdom at the time of The Sun King
“ Never to be more loyal than the King.”
Since the Age of Kings is past I can happily lay that rule aside. So my rule is this: ‘To be no more human than fellow humanbeings.’
Or do you think if I pull myself by my bootstraps I could be more unto God-like? For those who are inclined to think it is possible I shall recommend the wellknown fable of the Mother Frog. I mean the foolish one who tried to puff herself to resemble an ox.
Happy Holidays to all my readers / visitors to my blog. I do not know any of you but just the same I leave a present: a contented heart no matter what come your way.
benny

More Godly Than God?

Urim and Thumim ©
Urim and Thumim were two opposites reconciled in one being. Angels may not eat and drink as we do but they do have a great need for shine . Urim took care of that department. Urim so declares great secrets,- or mysteries as Apostle Paul would aver and they add to the nature of God. On the other hand Thumim loves to cause controversies.
One day Urim explained the mystery of Godhead and what would Thumim do to top it? He said God was as good as Satan was evil. This was one great controversy that made the Heavenly Host take sides. So much so somedays Satan, the poor horned devil could not do his business without running the gauntlet of angels who were convinced Satan was evil.
Once Urim went to the earth and he won the hearts and minds of so many. But to his utter sorrow he found the Church was shot through with controversies. Nothing that he did seem to work. In the end he went to God and said with tears streaming in his eyes,” I cannot win souls for you, O Lord!”He asked the master where did he go wrong. God in the end said, “ You are winning souls because you have taken to your head that it was the only way to do it.”
“ Of course I do Lord!,” the angel answered in shock, “I am Urim and I speak great mysteries from your own Godhead! ” To this God said, “ You don’t think I could speak to the simple souls in the simple things of a snowflake or in glorious sunset? Know that I have other options as well!”
“ Are you talking about Thumim? The angel whom I loathe for undoing the very work of mine?”
“No I didn’t. But you did.” The Lord knew Urim was all right as angels go but He was Omnipotent and Omniscient. Whereas Urim was not.
benny

A Puritan Fable

The Great Switch©
God was in his throne. Who comes in but the Angel of Light and he requests the Ancient of the Days to let him go to the earth for a season so His Church may be well founded in the ways of the Highest.
God queried thus, “ The Church have my Word and it is theirs to grow in knowledge. Isn’t it?” The angel Urim was certain it was the case. He still asked permission and the Lord God in the end let him go. “ Blessed be the poor in Spirit. May they prosper in the knowledge of the Word.”
Urim’s arrival was an occasion for a great revival in the Church. One saw visions in the midst of divine service and another spoke in tongues while they were interceding for the unsaved. The Church certainly was in some controversy or other over these strange happenings. Pastor Muckamuck was sure it was the result of living among the ungodly people that gave rise to division. “ Had we been thinking alike without learning in part from the world, and in part from the scriptures, we would have been like Zion and New Jerusalem.” It was Urim in the Pastor speaking. So many found the idea excellent. Those who agreed with Muckamuck seperated themselves from their families and they sailed for an island not inhabited.
At last they found such a place where the godly people set up their church and their colony. God was their foundation and everything they did they vowed was on the express will of the Highest. Thus they lived being certain they were the Church of God. Outside was the misguided lot, Church of the Damned. How they prayed for the ungodly and for their salvation.
God after a season sent his Archangel Michael to speak to Urim. He came to Pastor Muckamuck and Urim seeing the archangel immediately took him aside, “What message has the Lord God for me?” Michael moved apart and said,” I have a message for Urim. I know you as Thumim!”
Thumim was the Angel of Discord, of Destruction. In separating the Word out of His intent and out of its context, the Angel had made the Church more unto beasts!
benny

No Escape!

Our universe is made visible by matter: molecules, atoms, elements, gases and so on. You may convert matter into energy but atoms are still players in our cosmos. So what we read in Hebraic text of the flood must be seen beyond it superficial reading.
Here is a story:
No Escape

Noah was safe in his ark. For forty days and nights it rained and the ark was safe. Within everything was dry and warm. No wonder Noah could praise the Lord for His abundant grace that saved him and his sons and daughters from the flood.
Noah after a long wait sent a dove to check out. The bird could not find rest so it flew back just in time. Noah as usual was having a prayer to celebrate his escape. The dove, ever a symbol for peace, raised his voice to thank Him. He thanked especially for not letting him dirty his feet on the earth still chokeful of rotting corpses. Had he looked in direction of the pair of vultures he would have seen them let out a deep sigh.
Finally the family of Noah could leave the ark and settle on the earth redeemed from evil. Was it not God Himself who used the flood to teach Noah some wonderful lessons?
One was to be a vinedresser. The earth was His vineyard and Noah was chosen to dress it and crush grapes. Those clusters of grapes must have been extra large and full of juice. Where did it get its extra strength if not from all those dead enriching the soil it grew from?
Anyway Noah had drunk wine, copious rounds of wine and fell into a stupor. The result ? Curse! All that deluge for nothing! Nations once again became divided and accursed.
How can there be peace for any nation on the misery of others?
benny

Time Doesn't Necessarily Heal

A bad government may justify its unjust laws with all the persuasive powers at its command; but it can only buy time.

In recent times what happened at Waco, Texas made its impact resulting in Oklahoma bombing. Five years to the day. So many innocent lives were lost because of a wrong decision. I refer to the Reconstruction Period just following the Civil War. Having humiliated the South in a war and economically left in ruins Washington passed a law: Posse Comitatus.

Posse Comitatus is a legal term: it means law enforcement in unusual circumstances. Since it allowed Federal troops to be sent to trouble spots across the land, the question always remained in minds of people if their presence was really necessary and not a cover for a more ‘darker’ purpose? The south suspected the bona fide of the hasty law passed as the screw to be turned to the last.
To counter this, many groups in the heartland of America have surfaced one way or other since then.
The Federal troops can only deal with ‘the clear and present danger’ of riots and the like. They cannot remove what is in the hearts and minds of people. Thus would a bad law spin out of control like the free radical which, I explained in my previous post.
In the 1970’s the U.S Government had urged the farmers to take loans for updating their farm and machinery; but bad policies and lack of co-ordination among agencies set up to implement them saw the farmers failing one after the other. A spate of suicides followed. In 1983 Gordon and Yuri Kahl in Midlands were the victims of that discontent. The ‘renegades’ had taken shelter in Arkansas and a posse of U.S Marshals went there to capture them. Kahl died in a shoot-out and his death gave a martyr to the cause. (The white supremacy was quick to foment more trouble. In June 1983 a spate of new groups mushroomed: Arm of the Lord Covenant, Sword of America and so on. ) FBI armed with sufficient evidence could arrest many of these cult leaders. Timothy McVeigh was a member who would some 12 years later begin his murderous rampage. (cf. Week5d5-Sufficient unto this Day)

benny

I Sing The Body Electric!

1.
The human body is composed of many different types of cells. Cells are composed of many different types of molecules. Molecules consist of one or more atoms of one or more elements joined by chemical bonds.
Similarly think of any system of government consisting of different types of people different from their ethnicity, beliefs, class and status. Think of families as molecules of members serving in place of atoms.
2.
Atoms consist of a nucleus, neutrons, protons and electrons.
So would each member come with his or her own viewpoint and attitude. Some members hold within a family a conventional belief adhering to the values of the Establishment as much as protons are positively charged particles. Corollary to this there must be those who hold a bohemian, free thinking attitude: electrons are negatively charged particles. No matter what may characterize any atom, its primary goal is to reach a state of maximum stability. So would family offer for all members to reach some position in life and be counted as responsible citizens.

Nation building is out of such communities, of families where each would try to contribute in so many ways for the peace and harmony of the whole. But the viewpoints of individuals or electrons do not change. In furthering your chances bonding with pressure groups and powerful lobbies that guide Washington for an example, you are setting the stage for some to be left out. Those who are left out behave very much like unpaired electron, giving rise to mischief.

Free radicals are very unstable and react quickly with other compounds, trying to capture the needed electron to gain stability. Generally, free radicals attack the nearest stable molecule, "stealing" its electron. When the "attacked" molecule loses its electron, it becomes a free radical itself, beginning a chain reaction. Once the process is started, it can cascade, finally resulting in the disruption of a living cell.
If in raising a family of responsible citizens did we go wrong? You can ask this to yourself and try to find an answer. It is more germane to the present unsatisfactory state of things than saying some platitudes of ‘manifest destiny’ as if learnt by rote.
(Ack: www.healthchecksystems.com for background info.) (cf: Sufficient unto this Day. Week 5day5)
Tailpiece: Human body represents mankind.
benny

Oops Einstein!

Sound can be transfered to light medium and travel 5xs faster than light. Then the photons can be transformed into sound again. In fact, researchers have already sent music through time in an experiment. Physicist Gunter Nimtz, of University of Cologne, was able to transmit Mozart's 40th Symphony across his lab at 4.7 times the speed of light. Breaking the light speed barrier is totally forbidden by Einstein but time shows up every notion of man flawed as his nature is.
benny

The Rise of Mafia

From the story of the Bermuda Triangle can anyone blame Me-Righteous for his failure? No. He lived up to his name literally. Now let me narrate the case of Mafia to make my reader understand what really happens to all that goodness we speak of.
In this instance the USA is in the role of good: it is the land of hope and glory. A free democratically elected government is in place there. As to the moral strength of Presidents like Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover or Coolidge no one can lay a finger against them. While in Italy a fascist government has come to power. Mussolini was unsavory character: a braggart and a villain. Thus this play is a morality play of good versus evil.
The rise of Mafia in America drew its strength from the mass exodus of poor Italians to the USA. A few Italian families that could trace their ancestry to Italy had already entrenched into all walks of American life. The poor immigrants hardly spoke English and didn’t possess the necessary social skills either. They had to compete with the Irish community that had already established in Chicago. Besides Police force was filled with members from the Irish community. Mafia offered the newcomers their protection and found them jobs a service that, of course, came with a price tag.
After Mussolini came to power in Italy in the late 1922 he muzzled in the Mafia. In the USA Thomas E.Dewy who was then the District Attorney succeeded in sending the powerful Mafia boss ‘Lucky‘ Luciano to jail but the WW II intervened.
At a time Nazi Germany had sent their U-boats to create havoc on the Atlantic shipping lane Mafia secretly succeeded in scuttling Normandy berthed off the NY harbor. U.S government asked Navy intelligence to cooperate with the Mafia since labor unions backed by them effectively controlled the ports. Before the Allied invasion of Sicily the U.S government struck a deal with the mafia chief. As part of the deal ‘Lucky’ Luciano was released. Italy lost the war that proved as a shot in arm to the fortunes of Mafia.
Edgar J. Hoover was the FBI chief from 1920 for a period of 50 years and Mafia as reports go, was blackmailing him. His sexual predilections are not of interest as how much he contributed to the phenomenal growth of Mafia during his tenure as the head of FBI. In 1957 at Palermo a few clan chiefs including ‘Lucky’ Luciano, Joseph Bonnano and others held a meeting where an important decision was taken: Mafia would henceforth deal in heroin. It was a very lucrative business. As a result of that meeting shortly thereafter heroin was flooding into the streets of USA.
Tailpiece: Where do you draw the line or tell apart a villain from the hero? Where is the Christian Right and where is the progressive liberal? Where are the Gods chosen but intellectual wimps? Where are the intellectual terrorists?
benny

It Could Be Verse!

Lost* And Found Poem

To Lucy ‘mong the untrodden ways,
Said the lad, ‘I get a kick out of you,’
Never mind him; let him go.
You are more of a violet
By a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye.
Here, take this shot of rye.
No motion has she now, no force
Stone drunk on my rye
Beside the springs of Dove.

(* Lucy in Wordsworth’s words ‘ceased to be.’ She was lost. )
benny

A Bermuda Triangle

The head of the family was an angel. So pure and highminded the Ancient of the Days called him one day and said,” Down to the earth you go!” He ordered,” this instant.”
Me- Righteous, the angel took the form of a Native Indian and before he could count the toes of his feet he had got a family and three children. What’s more he had Hurons for neighbors. Me-Righteous counselled Hurons how to plant corn and skin furs from otters; he taught them many useful things with which the tribe prospered. Naturally Me-Righteous become the patriarch. Everyday he taught his three sons: they were highminded, righteous and men of peace. One son taught the Hurons to trade and the second how to negotiate with those who were contrary. The third taught them to build settlements and manage lands. Under their guidance the tribe prospered. It was least expected but the French came to the scene and they had powerful muskets and technology that impressed the Hurons. They had to make peace with them in order to suvive. The Iroquois being envious of the Hurons instantly allied with the Dutch who also had firearms and lethal weapons.
Old Me-Righteous was old and by the time he woke up he found the whole area up in arms and blood was being shed wholesale. He called his three sons and faulted them for letting matter slide into blood feud.
“ How come you have failed me?” the old man asked in bitter tears.
“Oh father we shall answer you after you had answered the Great Spirit in the Blue Yonder,”replied the eldest son.
There is something mighty peculiar: We rear our children with the best of intentions and give them every advantage our moral sense is capable of. Yet we fail to stop the evil from coming in. A Bermuda triangle into which our ‘goodness’ disappears and none can be individually held responsible for.
benny

Oh Irresponsible Me!

Now that I turned irreverent age
Of indiffernt rhythms,-
Sleep isn’t dreaming;
Nor is eating any delight
But calories put back
For reserve: that is my lot.
Now that I turned irreverent age
Analysing isn’t knowing
The past mistakes made
Even as I am homeward bound.
Stop here fool! So speaks
Memory from habits so ingrained,
Lke those prattlers galore
Who lambasted Job in his sad state.
‘ Not while I live, ’ answer I
Now that I turned irreverent age
Don’t for a moment think, I care.
benny

reflections (sold)

benny and ymkje

One That Didn't Make It-3

Here is a story, which I wrote sometime in 1996 when I first thought of writing the Life of Aesop. Till I had the book in its final form there were too many, more stories than I could have possibly used. In order to achieve a smooth flow of narration I had to discard many. So here is one such a piece of Aesopiana.
Home Improvement
Iadmon who came from the island of Samos was a very strange character whose bark as his slaves found out was worse than his bite. He became mellowed and friendlier but his greed still remained hard as flint and unchanged. Once he came home after a distress sale crowing what a killing he made.
His wife Eugenia took him to the task for his money grubbing. “Haven’t you have had enough?” she asked him in irritation.
Aesop was busy with making the master’s bed and none noticed that he was present. Iadmon said defensively,” I can’t help it, dear.” He added after looking at his wife with a sidelong glance. Aesop could see that he was embarrassed,” My father was poor as his father before him.”
“So what?” his wife shot back.
“Lack of money presses me. My patrimony was nothing but this need to make wealth.”
“You did it well. But must you overdo it?”
“Perhaps not.” Iadmon said, “ Why don’t you compliment for my perseverance and so many good qualities I have acquired?” “What is the point of looking for things which are visible? I can only speak what I have lost in you. It is for you to do something about it.”
Embarrassed Iadmon came out; seeing Aesop on the way he went on finding fault with his work. Suddenly he broke off, confused and muttering something. The slave with a grin said under breath,” He was fishing for compliments with his wife while I wasn’t even fishing for complaints!”

benny

A Touch of Evil

Religion is whiter than snow; so is every system of Government set in place to remedy certain abuses come to be perceived with the former. But man brings with him his own odium, of being neither here nor there. As a result his religion suffers. He speaks of God and in practice he is ass-kissing Mammon for a couple of dollars more than the Joneses might earn. In Politics what do you see? Rats do not even leave the sinking ship but must gnaw at every life line thrown down.
News of the day:
Blair, whose Labour party steamrollered a scandal-prone Conservative government 10 years ago on a pledge to be "whiter than white," , said he took full responsibility for halting the probe -- into allegations that bribes were paid to secure aerospace contracts with Saudi Arabia -- because it could harm national security. "Of all the blows to this government's reputation for integrity ... none has been as scandalous as the announcement yesterday," said the Guardian, which is seen as the institutional voice of the centre-left.
benny

I Could Have Been (revised)

A bricklayer I could have become
But the foreman was sure
The bottle was my curse:
Being plastered on the job
Did make my plumbline
Act mighty queer.
So I had my mortar- board
take some degrees;
But it didn’t get past the trowel.
benny

Spelling Bee In My Bonnet

To one who was stumped if the word ecstasy was spelt extasy, my answer: “That is ec.”
A: “May be for you.”
I: “No I meant ‘ec’as in ecstasy.” A doesn’t get it. So I beginning to get uneasy: “ Look I get ecstasy in one touch and some don’t. So it must be easy. ”
A: “May be for you.”
Finally I sent the person to look up the dictionary.
benny

Week 32 day-5

32. 5th Day
A safe guide for any reader would be the quote of Terence: ’I am a man and nothing pertaining to man is alien to me.’ Read judiciously and keep your head on your shoulders even while you read the Scriptures.
Once Cardinal Richelieu faulted Godeau that his verses did not make sense to him the poet replied that it was not his fault.
benny

On Man, Beasts And On Reading

No more we closely resemble the animals than in the matter of eating. Some peck at their food like birds while another takes a lion’s share as a matter of right. We also have seen those who can bolt their food like a snake and leisurely retire to some shaded spot for ease. How its is eaten is not as important as it is absorbed into the system.
Similarly for reading books.
Some approach books like dogs with a bone: they tuck away pages after pages at one reading and leave it aside for later use. Each time it is the marrow they are getting at.
Some do read bovine-like, cover- to-cover at one sitting and then lie down ruminating on the contents.
There are those who like squirrels prodigiously amass books of all kinds and hide away, hoping to return when the time is ripe.
Finally I must mention those readers, who bear-like gorge on books,- at least the first page of every book they have laid their hands on, only to go on their winter sleep.
Tailpiece
How books profit the user is not the same for man or silverfish. The latter, a wingless insect for all the reading serves only to spoil the thrill of reading in the other . Some literary pundits I can think of, who have a penchant for killing the art in the manner they practise their trade.
benny

The Gravy Train Stops Here

"Work is invading people's personal lives, so people are bringing more of their personal lives to the workplace," said Paula Brantner, director of Workplace Fairness, a Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes employee rights.
Overheard:
A: The onlytime I had to do with a religious symbol was when I played crosses and noughts on company time.
B: Shall we have a mah-jong session for the disgruntled workers?
C: Why bring God to work when Work itself is a worship?
benny

Knowledge Like A Serpent

Rabbi Benn Weiss was waiting for me at the sidewalk. Cock-eyed Happy Place catered to anyone who had a certain style. The raffish sailors frequented there as well as beggars who paused in between panhandling for a swig. They paid in style of course with the money they cadged from the customers. Anyone with the style, I mean those who had money, got attention. When I reached the Rabbi he had just disposed a beggar who claimed had acted in the production of South Pacific.
“ There is nothing like a dame.” I crooned knowingly. Benn Weiss shrugged his shoulders and suddenly he said in alarm, “ You look as if seen a ghost!” I explained after having downed a couple of shots of whiskey, “ I suddenly remembered Gigi!” My friend looked perplexed.
“ Remember Maurice Chevalier singing, ‘Thank heaven for little girls?’ I was just twelve and was in love with Leslie Caron myself.”
The Rabbi was listening closely. “ Oh Jake you’re a romantic.”
“I went on singing for days the same number till my father kicked me in the seat of my knickers.
“So you mooned and was in love. So what?”
“ If I sang ‘Thank Heaven for little girls’ now like I did then, would not I be thought of being a closet paedophile or something?” I said.
benny

Representational Man

Man can explain almost everything in Nature except say why he needs to go to such a length. Who put that thirst to know? I still wonder.
Is there a point beyond which search becomes waste of time? It cannot be if he is searching for everyone else. In his finding he may not stand to benefit himself but generations now unborn may eat the fruit of his labor.
benny

An Immutable Identity

He who steals my purse
Steals some trash;
He who thinks he has
My identity assumed
Let him try my shoes for size;
A beggar, and a thief to boot
He shall still remain.
Does he see the face of Heaven
In its many moods?
Or waning moon and stars
As I see them or laugh at fears
That fly by night?
Oh no!
Judas he shall ever be.
For what worth is it then to him
But a rope to swing from,
Worth some pieces of silver?
benny

One That Didn't Make It-2

Here is a story, which I wrote sometime in 1996 when I first thought of writing the Life of Aesop. Till I had the book in its final form there were too many, more stories than I could have possibly used. In order to achieve a smooth flow of narration I had to discard many. So here is one such a piece of Aesopiana.

Comparisons Are Odious

Iadmon an Athenian trader once came to Thrace. He was interested in buying a slave, not that he had come especially for it, but the price was abysmally low and he could not resist a bargain. The boy was club- footed and his master wanted to sell the boy anyhow. While Iadmon balked Domus his master said: “Never mind his foot. He works best with his head.” Silence. “Come, come sir,” said the slave- owner. “He comes from Abdera, the same place as of Leucippos of revered memory.”
Iadmon immediately brightened up. He called the boy and asked if he knew what he was famous for. “Yes, he also comes from Abdera, like me.” “Nothing else you know, of one of great name?” The boy shook his head.
Iadmon somehow liked the intelligent looks of the boy and asked his name. “Aesop.” said the boy. “I shall expect nothing but the best, boy.” Iadmon said after he counted silver and paid to his master,” make Leucippos sit up and notice.”
Aesop taking farewell of the Thracian said thus: “Making me look as common with some great name of antiquity was unfair. Forever in my new master’s eyes I will have a competition. Who am I and who was Leucippos?”

benny

Quote Unquote

1.
“A scream is worth thousand words.” *
Screams are better let out so man or woman may have some peace of mind.”
2.
‘There is nothing like a dame’, so goes the tune. Then why call in a stork?
*( Ack: CTMEDTECH posted at Journalspace in her journal ‘I am a Thousand Winds that blow’ of Dec, 10)
benny

12 Days Before Christmas

Master Crapper was telling me of a new game called Up ‘n Down Wishlist. He narrated how his parents made up all their differences at the end of the game. “ Would you believe my mother had on her hot list, my father’s name?”
“But your father had his hunting rifle on his list?”
Master Crapper replied,” No such thing!. To their surpise both had each other’s name on the Hot list.”
Next year I had to tell how my parents played the same parlor game.
“ My mother had him on the Hot list.” I said rather moodily.
“ What did your father go for?”
“ His drinking horn.! Would you believe it?” I said with some heat. “ Because it was the day before Christmas my mother said she forgave him.”
Later in the evening we were certain that when we grew up we would peek into our wive’s list lest we be caught on the wrong foot.
benny

WHAT SANTA DIDN'T TEACH ME

How To Celebrate* Christmas with almost Nothing
*All that takes is a little time and effort. I guarantee you a Christmas your friends will envy you for. I can think of ten ideas in one sitting but writing them down isn’t as simple as it used to be. So I shall simply give one for a starter.

Name of The Game: UP ‘N DOWN WISHLIST©
You and your wife can take part in it and its success depends on playing by the ear at every turn. It calls for imagination, verve and spontaneity.
Number of players: Two
What is needful?
1.Some 20 envelopes ( old used ones are ok.)
2. 20 small pieces of paper( but large enough for writing down with a marker pen) Both sides must be used. Paper is not to be folded.
3. 2 Marker pens with different colors for each partner. Atleast one week before Christmas eve each partner should declare what each color stands for. One color for one side only.
How To Play
1. Each should make a wish list for ten items. It is HOT: the most precious but that money cannot buy ( according to its value in ascending order). On the backside write with another color( indicating COOL side of the wish list.) Here items begin with what is top end in cost and progressively goes down. The wishlist by each partner must be kept secret and are to be searched in the days by the other preceeding and opened on Christmas Eve.
Time and place where the envelopes are to be opened (at the parlor or over the dining table etc.,) have to be decided beforehand so both can fully get into the mood of the game.
benny

Kerbside Practice

A : “Hey doc, my vital organs are all in order.”
B: “ Then what seems the problem?”
A: “ They don’t add up.”
benny

My Poor And Blind Wallet

Comment left on a post that spoke of frustrations of being poor:
“… you may be poor in your wallet ; don't let that bother you. A wallet has no eyes so to speak. It cannot see a good thing when it comes to you or some difficulty goes out without even it coming in between. So let us not lay so much in store with it. But just the same you are in rich in many other things and you know it: and I know it from what little I have read in your journal…”
benny

One That Didn't Make It

Here is a story, which I wrote sometime in 1996 when I first thought of writing the Life of Aesop. (www.lulu.com/content/344881) Till I had the book in its final form there were too many, more stories than I could have possibly used. In order to achieve a smooth flow of narration I discarded many. So here is one such piece of Aesopiana.

AN UNEQUAL CLASS WAR.

Agabus, a fellow slave who was older, could not understand Aesop. He had a number of hangers-on. One day he called the young slave aside and said: "We have been watching you from the time you joined us. Must you show so much enthusiasm to serve the master? Slaves cannot run with other slaves and hunt with masters as well."
"Is my loyalty in question here?" Aesop asked him.
"We slaves need to stand together. Any slave who wavers, is a chink in our armor. Understand? Master should not be able to see through our weak spots." Agabus explained.
"You have got it all wrong." Aesop said. "What covers our weak spots are our replacements. What with a great army of slaves ready to fill in our shoes, the master need only look at our works to know whom to blame."
* It is an unfortunate condition of the class struggle that money could lose in value; but labor cannot afford to.
benny

On Looking Back

“Not a leaf moves in this country if I'm not moving it," Pinochet the tin-pot general is reported to have once said. With such backers as he had, what did he really move ?
His ill-gotten wealth moved up. And went abroad.
Since he is dead I can only say, “Don’t move him anywhere, fellows! He is already in the rubbish heap of history.”
benny

Word Of The Year-2006

"Truthiness" was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books."
"We're at a point where what constitutes truth is a question on a lot of people's minds, and truth has become up for grabs," said Merriam-Webster president John Morse. "`Truthiness' is a playful way for us to think about a very important issue."
Other Top 10 finishers included "war," "insurgent," "sectarian" and "corruption." But "truthiness" won 5-to-1, Morse said.
Truthiness is not facts. A fact is the lovechild of those who have not the courage of their convictions; it is often borrowed by those who wish to cash in on the plight of the child for some selfish reason or other.
Torturing any person on the basis of racial profiling as a terrorist is a matter of policy but not truth. So defending it as ‘rendition’ only explains the policy. But qualifying it as an ‘Extraordinary’ rendition makes it a fact beyond dispute.
benny

I Could Have Become..

I
A bricklayer I could have become
But the foreman was sure:
Plastered on the job
Did my plumbline show
mighty queer.
So I had my mortar- board
take some degrees;
But it didn’t get past the trowel.
benny

A Leave-Taking

As sober as November
The tree has no small talk left:
Leaves as witty as grandma’s lore,
Gold and russet brown
Must take their chances
With slush and mud.
(I am numb with my own spasms.)

Ah, for the lurching February,
Though drunk, on the rocks
Leave a sodden trail as he go out.
If finches are here for feed
I know Spring, in splash of colors
Shall soon knock on the door.
Sad premonition-
In one year I have aged
Beyond wise counsel and repair.
benny

A Fragment

When barely past sixteen
Summers, more burnished by fancies
Than the Judgmental Sun;
Vain hopes found in my heart
Sweet repose and, for the love of fame
I coined my romantic pose
As Byron would have.
(But the class thing
In his day carried the day)
Ah, his neat turn of phrase
Made him an Immortal.
His Childe Harold I read by Rhone…
benny

Bill, Harry And The Bard

Last night being lost for company,
Hoped Bill would drop in.
Oh no! I had on hand unpaid Bill.
My last stop before the B'dlam
Has and always will be Harry.
I sought him out next:
But he had company!
Jack Daniel ! Jack Daniel!
What is in a name?
Harry with Jack
Was like Noah hitting the grapes
After the Flood.
So I was back where I began
With an unpaid bill, and my bottle:
One, Two, Three gulps do the trick.
A Daniel come to Judgment.
benny

The Poet's Corner

Do I write poetry?
Man, what a question!
When I see daffodils I think
Of Wordsworth for sure;
Little words worth more than
Your Alexandrine:
It can rumble all the way
To Dover Beach for all I care.
Dover! Come Arnold I know you
Spoke so truly there,-
Shwarznegger, is the other Arnold, I know,
But does he write poetry?

benny

A Thousand And One Short-short Stories

A Bionic Horse Am I ©

Pegasus who hovered above the rooftops was as white as snow. “ Come one! Come All!,” the horse snorted and champed as if he knew a trick or two. The man who had for 40 years worked on accounts for a money-lender in a dim-lit room closed the door behind him. With it he had closed his working life forever. He heard the steed swishing his silvery wings by the sharp sun. “ Will you give me a ride?” he asked wistfully,
“One who has never rode a horse, let alone played with a rocking horse?”
“Come, I shall show such sights as never did a man see. Glorious sights, for free!”
A free ride! It was not to be missed. It sealed the fate of the man aged before his time. He asked the horse to climb a little lower and he managed to climb and sit on the beast. The horse explained that his wings were a mechanical marvel, and also his head. “ Look well into it and see for yourself. ” Pegasus took off and the man after he had got over the initial nervousness watched all the sights his eyes could take in.
“Terrible!” replied the man, “ you gave me a free ride and you made sure my life is forever broken to bits.” With a curse the man asked Pegasus to let him go on his way. “ So you shall!” Pegaus said.
“No thanks you shall receive from me!” he was certain, “ I looked and saw with my eyes the worst of my kind.”
“ Your eyes deceived you.” The horse replied, “ You sought out what you wanted to see. Had you looked through my eyes you would have seen something different.”
The horse flew off since it was late.
benny

On Fame-2

A composer develops his musical ideas into one coherent whole. In a score behind every note and indication lurks a whole universe, as a tone will carry many overtones nestling one after the other. The composer expresses his ideas into parts for so many instruments: wind, string, percussion and brass are all there to bring his work to life . What lies behind a note marked on the score but a world that must move in unison will all other notes? Such worlds in abstraction collide and move as one and lead to several streams of ideas that a listener with varying sensibilities will note. Infinite possibilities a composer thus opens up that it is left to a conductor to bring to life and establish as having captured the musical genius of the composer. In the absence of the original what a conductor can hope is to play as true as possible and stick to the score. A conductor also has to be wary of another danger: any single instrument can spoil the effect. It is the task of the conductor to bring the whole orchestra come alive. Fame of the composer is in the manner each part mixes with every other and require skills of so many all given to perform as one. No mean achievement.
You only interpret a composer according to your life experience and profficiency. In your success it is the composer who is come to life: fame.
benny

A Miracle Shortchanges

The man was blind from birth. In that village he was the only one who had not seen the morning sky so fiery red. The local antiquarian was certain it owed to something of the dust that swirled over the village. The morning sun gave a glow that was unique to their village. Rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, morning came every day like a blessing. Zebediah the blind missed it and was most pitied for it.
One morning a healer came. He saw Zebediah and took pity on him. With one touch Zebediah got his sight. A miracle it was. Zebediah was like every one else.
He picked up a trade and became a housepainter. In search of his livelihood he had to move to a town so far away. He loved colors and was always mixing colors. The fiery red that he saw first thing in the morning he tried to duplicate without success. He became disappointed at his failure. The more the exact shade eluded him more nostalgic was he for the morning scene he was used to in his native village.
One day a part of the town went up in flames and Zebediah was caught and was shut up in a gaol for arson. For life. He hoped the miracle man would come once again and spirit him out of his gaol. Unfortunately it never happened.
He ended rotting in a rat hole.
A miracle is fine, but it shortcuts a valuable commodity called experience.
benny

Read To Your Profit, Man!

President Bush has often evoked the name of God and yet he does not seem to have taken, in a dire need for himself and for the nation, the much needed warning from His Word. " Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?" (Lk 14:31) In our moments of perplexity we only need to look about us and take warning. If you are of a certain persuasion to think the Bible as inerrant, look into it in deep humility and not with any prior judgment, and there may be something of use. Of course ultimately your mind should properly weigh all evidences available to take the right course. Having done all to stand the course as worthy of a man; it is the mark of a fool to insist 'stay-the-course' when your strategy has not taken off the ground and losses are mounting.
There is no shame for a nation in cutting the losses and the ruler benefits by such a change because he has spared unnecessary losses that otherwise he is bound to incur.
benny

The Verdict

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state and Bush family adviser who was co-chairman of the commission concluded Wednesday. Nearly four years, $400 billion and more than 2,900 U.S. deaths into a deeply unpopular war, violence is bad and getting worse, there is no guarantee of success and the consequences of failure are great, the panel of five Republicans and five Democrats said in a bleak accounting of U.S. and Iraqi shortcomings. The implications, they warned, are dire for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
The report noted that Iraq costs run about $8 billion a month and that the bills will keep coming. "Caring for veterans and replacing lost equipment will run into the hundreds of billions of dollars," the commission said. "Estimates run as high as $2 trillion for the final cost of the U.S. involvement in Iraq."
Who has to make good of the loss?
2.
The lately declassified plan, obtained by the National Security Archive and released to the public contradicted repeated assurances by President George W. Bush that he strictly followed recommendations by US generals in his quest for success in Iraq.
But the plan drafted by the US Central Command in June 1999 as a result of interagency wargames contained a set of recommendations that got mysteriously "forgotten" once Operation "Iraqi Freedom" got under way.
More than 70 experts from the Defense and State Departments, the CIA and the White House, who took part in the wargames dubbed "Desert Crossing", believed it would take at least 400,000 US troops to stabilize Iraq following the removal of the government of Saddam Hussein, the document showed.
The intervention, they insisted, must be "swift, large-scale, and decisive."
Instead, the number of US troops in Iraq has never topped 160,000 and currently stands at about 144,000, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arguing that a large US "footprint" in Iraq would be counterproductive.
Does it not show how politicians meddle in areas they are least competent to add anything fruitful? War is one that could have disastrous results as a result of a bunch of nincompoops wanting to play hero. Where a political solution was needed in the Middle East the President allowed personal considerations to cloud his judgment. VP Cheney had his own interest to pursue a war. War on Terror as translated by President Bush and his team in Iraq shall remain certainly a classic example and studied by scholars in the years to come.
benny

On Fame-1

Fame is like a tree that is a world in itself. What it supports at its cover or in the midbranches is not the same at the groundcover. Its spread and magnificent bearing to the point of arrogance may be at the expense of many seeds that sprouted unfortunately too close for their growth. No matter. The tree still has its fame secure. Has it not in splendour received the homage of birds that called on and sent them on their way? Or treated so many species of animals to its bountiful supply of nuts and flowers? It counts its days in centuries, and in seeds dropped as a family extending all over the globe.
Fame is in that the entire rain-forest being represented in the wellbeing or distress of that single tree. The tree may in time be destroyed by natural cases and other reasons but fame is secure. It is carried over by everyother tree in that forest that owes something to the dear departed.
benny

Fame as a substitute?

An earthworm was runover by a passing cart and its mate was heartbroken. "No more I shall turn up the earth; let the earth go to hell for all I care."Zeus descended at that moment to ask the earthworm to take back his curse. He refused and said," Go to the blazes!"
Aeons later a pilgrim was passing at the foot of Mt.Olympus saw a laurel tree and he bowed and said," Oh Zeus what brings you here?"
" Oh a worm just ticked me off."
Zeus asked what took him on pilgrimage. He replied," Misery of my existence. What is out there has touched me as well."
The pilgrim plucked a bough from him and said," You cannot save the earth while an earthworm can with impunity consign the peace of earth to misery!"
The pilgrim went back to his people and said," Here is a branch! With these laurel leaves we shall make a wreath for the victor!"
It was how the tradition of Olympic Games began. Victors receive fame, cause of which none cares to know.
benny

A Fable

A Wind of Change ©
Zeus one night dreamt of something that made him feel so buoyant and he got up from his couch humming a tune. His wine bearer was struck by its melody and praised it as the most beautiful music he ever heard. Aeolus the wind god who was ever looking for a way to please the Chief God immediately took it up. He made it into a Hymn Unto Zeus. Forthwith he went spreading good cheer. Clouds sped across the sky as the sea broke into thousands of waves, all boistrous since they had not heard anything like it before. Aeolus had made the earth joyous except for a giant cypress tree at the Mount around the Snowy River. “ Sorry old Tree! You have had your day. Now let yourself go.” It stood in his way. He just butted it and it came crashing in a thunderous din.
The wind god returned to Mount Olympus satisfied that he taught the earth to sing a Hymn that was synonymous with joy.
He found the gods were seated around a funeral pyre; and they were singing the Hymn unto Zeus. Aeolus leant across Ganymede to ask,
“ Who is dead? Why such mournful music? ”
Ganymede replied,” Some miscreant destroyed the tree most favored by Zeus.” Sad indeed.
“A tree?”
“ Yes a cypress tree, At the Mount around the Snowy River.”

Marginalia

Learning to think straight is an art: like any art it improves on what is real.
Those who think of this and that need to get their act together; where we ran in circles it is always seen, as far as mental processes go, that we get to the point sooner or later.

Millennium Blues

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid…and a little child shall lead them.” Rabbi Benn Weiss had hardly quoted Isaiah before the politician who had his eye on joining the newly formed government turned to me to whisper, “ A coalition government, it shall be; the party leader is a beardless youth and a novice. He shall surely require stalwarts like me and Ehud.”
benny

Universal Peace

Universal Peace
Rabbi Benn Weiss was sure that he was being shadowed. “Hey Jake can you tail my shadow?” Of course I did as I was told. When I told him that the man had been on the job for 10 years passing on his movements daily to his boss, who sat in a shadowy section of The City of Peace, the rabbi quaked in his shoes. Next day to his relief the shadow was ran over by a driver who was under the influence of alcohol.
“ Sorry for his messy body, left on the pavement unattended.” Benn Weiss said deathly pale.” Think of it Rabbi!” I said to buck him up,”You shall not be followed again.”
I was wrong.
Rabbi soon found three shadows tailing him. “ Oh my goose is cooked!” Rabbi Benn Weiss gasped, “ The Prince of Peace, bless his name is come and this is the year of Universal Peace! But I am still haunted!”
Rabbi Benn did eventually use his contacts and found that his liberal leanings for a rabbi drew the attention of Homeland Security.
The insider confided that HS had indeed deputed one to check him out. ‘But when he died in rather strange circumstances we had to make sure. So Justice and Immigration department also had to come in, ’ admitted the anonymous source.
We had found our usual spot. While the rabbi took his glass of buttermilk his hand trembled. “ The Messiah is come; but still the old order goes on at full steam ahead.”
“Don’t worry,” I confided,” I know how the system works. The Anointed One is too good to see behind the woodwork. But a day come, he shall not get up from his throne without scratching himself. Too late it would be then.”
Rabbi stared at me. He slowly got my drift. He nodded. “Aha I get it now” he exclaimed, “Once the poison of the old order has got in, there is no escaping. Messiah shall let things take their own course.”
2.
During the past four years millions of Americans have been evaluated without their knowledge to assess the risks that they are terrorists or criminals.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders since 2002 have been assessed by the Homeland Security Department's computerized Automated Targeting System, or ATS.
The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments,which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years. Some or all data in the system can be shared with state, local and foreign governments for use in hiring, contracting and licensing decisions. Courts and even some private contractors can obtain some of the data under certain circumstances.
"It is simply incredible that the Bush administration is willing to share this sensitive information with foreign governments and even private employers, while refusing to allow U.S. citizens to see or challenge their own terror scores," Leahy said. This system "highlights the danger of government use of technology to conduct widespread surveillance of our daily lives without proper safeguards for privacy."

benny

Cosmos, My Shadow

Ozymandias, the king of kings of whom Poet Shelley wrote thus, ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’ one day addressed his Court and said he had arrived at the extent of the Cosmos. “It is my will that no one shall either add or subtract from the extent of it, on pain of death.”
A month later the court jester was brought before him. He was accused by his neighbor of saying his Cosmos was larger than that of his master by a hands width.
The oriental despot glared at the pitiful jester in an outlandish costume standing before him even as the courtiers shuddered: ’It is death in his looks!’ They all seemed to say. Next moment the king let out a loud guffaw. “Oh it is you! My court jester!” Turning to his vizier he said: “Does not the Law of our ancients allow our court jester to speak out with impunity?” He said to his jester, ”It is a scream that you think a grander thought than I. Court etiquette permits you to be outrageous. Why limit with a hands width?” The king was rolling in mirth; so was the entire Court.
Yes why not? cosmos is as snug as my shadow; if it lengthens or by highnoon is hidden under, what does it matter? It is at least a reminder of my substance.
benny

My Uncle, Sea-dog 'Biscuits'

There was a time none in our family knew where the sorrow of my grandparents, Rupert Bonham- Farlan had disappeared. He used to be called lammikins as a toddler; and when he reached the age of reason everyone in the family knew the little squirt had become the most promising in our family: you see he found he could raise hell with his one little finger with no harm to himself. For that precise reason, so I believe, he went and became a seadog.
Sea- dog ‘Biscuits’ was always an enigma to me.
It is a matter still debated between other uncles as something of a visitation: you see we have enough skeletons in our family cupboard that keep coming at odd hours to whisper , ‘Psst, Death and Damnation!’ The many uncles who have one time or other wanted to take up law or go to Indies to preach the word, always had a change of heart at the crucial moment. The same nocturnal visit repeated down the line, since Knight Macfarlan was skewerd, by an arrow meant for the Sherrif of Nottingham. (It was an accident. There were a few more and this has puzzled me ever since). It must have been most trying to my father who as the eldest inherited the family escutcheon and some baleful ghosts, who never led him to a buried treaure other than post a stern reminder of ‘ Death and Damnation.) Every now and then. Such visitations, though seldom, was most boring to say the least.
My Uncle Rupert, while my father seemed to fall apart ('a middle-life crisis' he calls it. Ha! Ha!), was out there living it up. So much so I was certain. (2 b cont'd)
benny

Extreme Martial Arts

Given all things being equal in a martial arts contest how anyone can tap into that extra something at any given point of time shall decide the victory. Somewhere between 69% to 75 % of body weight is invested into the rear leg; for digging into the ground while the front leg must convert the gain, a pressure of 870 kilo per squareinch for speed, with which to deliver a blow. In extreme martial arts an experienced fighter can withstand the power in a kick that is aimed at him.
In grappling throwing types of fight, use of knee must give one advantage even while down to throw off the opponent.
A fighter always shall seek to hold ones own centre of gravity while seeking his opponent’s centre of gravity; lastly he must also be aware at every turn (and twist) of the fight, where its centre of gravity lay. You may control any two of these and still be a loser. The winner is the one who controls all the three throughout.
benny

Hot Millions

There was once a very rich man who lived a high life; Because of his lavish style they called him Chuck ‘Millions’. He had everyone obliged to him all except one, who was his neighbor, Fred ’Nobody’ was his tenant; and very poor too; but his pride was such that he developed a chip on his shoulder and every attempt on the part of the landlord to be civil an impossible task. It was inevitable that they parted company.
Fred went to Texas and bought some land that in those days was dirt-cheap. In no time he struck oil at a time the oil boom began in the USA. Fred’s billions brought him a status which found great many flocking to his doorstep. They all enjoyed his liberality that, to their surprise they found a carbon copy of Chuck Millions. “Even the Gobelin hanging in the salon is similar to what Chuck has got in his.” One guest was heard to observe. Another said: “They may hate each other but in tastes, - so a hand would fit the glove.”
How free are we really? We are prisoners to our past and it requires a concerted effort to be ourselves and live in the present.
benny

Have You Heard...?-3

A biological defect in the way blood flows in the brain rather than a psychological defect could be one reason why some people become criminal psychopaths, a new study shows.
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London monitored the emotional responses of six men who had committed repeat offences such as attempted murder, rape with strangulation and grievous bodily harm.
"We've never been able to look directly in the brain before and what we found is that when psychopaths were exposed to frightened faces the distress cue didn't increase the psychopath's blood flow. It decreased it," Declan Murphy, a professor of psychiatry at the institute, told Reuters. Tom Fahy, professor of forensic mental health and co-author of the study, said the condition may be inherited or acquired through very deprived and abusive childhoods.
2.
I asked Monk Anselmo what one meant by deprived childhood.
Master Crapper was sure it meant some children could get hands on all the latest model of i-pods and Wil," because they have rich parents who buy their silence with whatever money can buy.Whereas many others cannot.”
I countered it saying,” When I wanted to play I had a hoop and a stick, and my sister had her dolls made from potatoes and dresses made from discards.”
“Master Twaddle, have your sister still got those potato dolls? I am curious to see.”
“Sorry fellow,”I replied," We ate them after one bad winter.”
The monk wanted to know if we have had abusive childhood. We both were sure we had uneventful childhoods and we didn’t miss a thing. How we chattered of the moral values to be had from being in want of worldly goods. “ Spiritual riches! That is what we have acquired in abundance!”
Monk Anselmo boxed our ears and said, “ The way you both have been patting your own backs I wish God let you to be manor born and mollycoddled by an army of nannies. Must you twaddle… ?”
“That is Crapper you are speaking to, and I am Twaddle.” I said.
benny

Out Of Africa

When Africa was considered the White man’s burden a missionary went to one of the interior parts to win over souls. At one place he was dismayed to see that a tribe would have none of his talk.
“Here we have god who is the maker of heaven and the earth,” the chief said with passion, “Why would we need another?” He forbade the visitor from talking further about his own god.
One day he came across a carver of images and he was struck by his intense concentration as well as his skill. So he stopped to watch him at work. After he had paused for a breather the missionary got to talk with him. He asked, “What are you making now?” “God who made heaven and the earth.”
The white man winced and said,” Admittedly you are very skillful.” “Yes, I ought to be!”
Seeing quizzical look the carver said, “ How can I not show skill when god himself guides my fingers and says when to stop?”
“Without ever seeing Him?”
“Yes,” replied the native confidently,” I know from the expression of the folks when I am through with my work.” “What happens then?” “They fall to their knees including the chief himself, “ he said with wonder,” imagine if all recognize god when they see him and worship him, who am I to say otherwise?”
“Don’t you have regrets you are yet to see the original?” the missionary wanted to know.
“Yes a little,” replied the image maker,” if I had seen god himself as I see you,” Shaking his head he added immediately, “No, no that would be disastrous. I will be without work then!”
Conscience is our admission of a higher truth. There must be something wrong about Truth if it did not allow man to live decently among his own kind. Truth of the highest kind must be that common basis which can make every human being despite of whatever differences put out hands to every other and be in complete amity. Truth must have a human scale with which everything (his experience, his actions or nature) can be measured and understood for the common good of mankind.
benny
Today is World Aids Day. Remember we are among the dead and those who are dying slowly. If we have been spared of its agony it has nothing to do with our goodness. In their death by countless number it is an indication that there is something in us that is wanting-our help.

Catharsis

It is that lump in the throat,which only a good cry can get it out. Aristotle said it but when I read great works or listen to music I use it as matter of course.
benny

Anomaly of Matter

Matter may collide against anti-matter; similarly galaxies collide against other galaxies and total annihilation rarely takes place. Species may gain where some other lose just as individual lose to another but experience of both will be integrated for the common good. Oneness of things explains the entire spectrum wherein every advantage and loss are turned around by species for their own survival.
How species with totally contrary aims achieve order is due to the material nature of each player. Each contributes something towards Oneness whether one likes it or not. Energy is that hidden component. Who shall collect it is something no one can predict for certain. Oneness is that entity by which every gain is given a place (virtual in a sense) and that sustains the species that stood the test of time. Natural selection it is called. Conversely the extinct speaks of any species that failed to make use of the gain or maintain its energy level count.
2.
Every life form being of equal weight vis-a- vis Oneness it is assumed each shall have same level of energy. Laws of Negation explains the case where one may be deprived of his chances to fulfill a certain dream by some accident or disaster which is at random and impersonal: it may be in the form of economic recession at another part of the world or a natural calamity. If he should still make a career and attain his goal by stroke of good fortune it is not simply luck but compensation. Thus every release of energy by supernovae helps; every right move gives him a push; and powerful contacts ensure his progress. Where some fortuitous set of circumstances help some and hinders some other, it is not Oneness giving a nod as it were.
Oneness is an arbiter and arranges the play of species to take place under certain set ofcircumstances. That is all.
Anomaly of matter is allowed to account for contradictions that life forms experience in interacting with other life forms. Light can be a wave as well as a particle. This contradiction is reconciled in the material nature.

benny

God Is In The Details

When a star explodes far away in the Milky Way, cosmic rays penetrate through the Earth's atmosphere and produce ions and free electrons. The released electrons act as catalysts and accelerate the formation of small clusters of sulfuric acid and water molecules, the building blocks of clouds. Therefore, cosmic rays increase cloud cover on Earth, reflecting sunlight and keeping the planet relatively cool. Stronger winds during icy epochs stirred the oceans and improved the supply of nutrients in the surface waters."The odds are 10,000-to-1 against this unexpected link between cosmic rays and the variable state of the biosphere being just a coincidence,”according to Henrik Svensmark of the Danish National Space Center. Their study offers a new perspective on the connection between the evolution of the Milky Way and the entire history of life over the last 4 billion years.
One point in particular: cold and icy times are generally considered unfriendly to life yet it has its own way of turning it to its advantage: improved supply of nutrients in the surface waters. Similar to the oceanic conveyor belt that starts about Greenland. Because of extreme cold, the heavier salt content is leached into the bottom setting up a current of warmer, and lighter water ice filling into the vaccuum. This according to me works under an Inversion principle. (Ref: Anomaly of matter, which I shall deal in my next post.)
2.
A theologian might say God is Love; a philosopher would think of God as an idea. Perhaps a naturalist will see Him in the way things find their own level or equilibrium; how species use the narrow window of opportunity to turn it around for their own survival. Can any one isolate every trace of cosmos that works under certain principles and point to the composite as God?
When we are speaking of a designer God we face the same difficulty.
In school I was taught light is a wave and later I realized it could be also a particle. Thus in my own limited understanding God means something of a shorthand, an aid to memory, to my thoughts and emotions.

Spare The Rod And..

My father believed in the writ of the Scriptures to the letter and as a result I have been in my time slapped left and right for reasons unknown to me in some cases; I still would say on such occasions however random and isolated, he was letting out his adult-size frustrations on the greenness of the child. But then as now I have never felt doubt of his concern or love. Why should it be so? Is it because a child has an intuitive feel of such things? I do not know.
In school also I have had my share of punishment. Of course I always learnt to get over it with an observation, “ Teachers are there to use the cane but I must take my chances as best as I can.”
P.S Spare the rod and spoil the child it is said. How come I am still spoiled,- by old age?
benny