Controversy

O, just had to comment.

Have been watching the stoush between the Donald Drumf  (am expecting this link to vanish before too long)*1 fortress acolytes and the "media". Apparently the 'photo comparison' between the crowds at the inauguration is "wrong".

"I made a speech," says the Commander in Chief of a very dangerous Military/Industrial complex - self, as far away as Australia -watched him on TV; later, saying -"I made a speech", he then repeats, " ..the field (?) was full of people. There were millions there"...  '"the media is lying ...".

Not long later i see and hear a White house Press Secretary announce some " ...alternative facts ..".

(dunno about you lot, but have seen quite a few "photo comparisons" in recent years and - frankly, in this day and age of  computer aided "photoshop" (do it myself) ... and "fake news" - 'tis indeed difficult to decide what IS fact and what is not. At this point tend to believe that there were, in fact - fewer - people at Donald Drumpf's Inauguration; than there were at Barak Obama's .... but is has been obvious to any reader of this blog over the years of it's existence that am a sort of 'cynical', "socialist", "pagan".)
 ... but i tend to believe the photo comparison taken looking 'toward', not "from".

Am guessing that the view "from" the Inauguration podium "looks" like the patch between it and the monument was "full" of people. Am also cynical enough to look at the pic taken from behind - and wonder if there wasn't some 'organisation' behind the placement of the "crowds" ( to support an overweening Ego?).

I also enjoy the way this polyglot language "English" can be tipped, twisted, enjoyed - but also be used for nefarious intent. In Donny Drumpf's own written words ... " ... i use truthful hyperbole ...". *

Apparently his minions can now use "alternative facts". Somewhat like saying that "God created this planet - 6,000 years ago". (say it loud, repeat it long ... eventually the uneducated will believe it)

Carbon dating is, apparently - a "hoax". Every publication by thousands of dedicated scientists - over at least 3.000 years (apart from the Ron Hubbard acolytes who turned up in this small patch of this planet situated between Canada and Mexico some mere 200 or so years ago.) is also - apparently to some - a "hoax".

* yer, even i had to lookup this word. Doubt that the citizens of the most educationally deprived regions of America would have any knowledge - or even CARE what that means. The only word heard is 'truthful'.
* reference Gorge Orwell - rewrite history

O, how easy it seems to 'activate' the uneducated majority.

Ogd moves in mysterious ways

um, i don't generally comment on "news headlines" these days .. but "Ratzinger resigns" sort of tickled my funnybone.

Dunno about you lot - but self was sort of under the impression that the Supreme Papa (aka Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was 'appointed' by Ogd -  fer life!   Oy, it's not a "job", laddie; ya can't just get voted in 'find yerself there' by the Grace of Ogd, get a bit weary .. then piss orf into a secure and very comfortable retirement.

Think of the millions of subscribers believers.  Are you telling them that Ogd can do that? Get a bit "tired", collect subscribers funds;  then vanish into some "otherworld"?

Bah, humbug.

imagination

the moon
is real.

a reflection of the ancient
planet
universal earth.

 a scorpion is an insect.

If I could write

Have been reading in the papers about some serious "damage control" by various Roman Church Popes and Bishops.

It's a long story, I guess, and have not been all that bothered enough to write about it; but this post by Anne sort of says much.

Festivals

Yer, I know - through many and ancient myths and legends; Festival of Rebirth and Renewal - whatever the Romans chose to call it. Odd, in many ways. Was a "Spring" festival for the northern hemisphere, and here's us in the antipodes on the verge of Autumn, working towards winter. Whatever; perhaps the notion holds true throughout the ages regardless of seasons.

For a few days This Campground has many children with unfettered space to play.

Getting off the grid

Have just been watching a Jennie Brockie "Insight" program on SBS about .. well, not sure, something about carbon trading schemes.

So, decided to transfer all my electronics to the solar powered 12 volt inverter. Have to say that after 3 hours with the TV and computer, the battery is struggling.

On the other hand, after many days of overcast, rain, mittens and 1 degree C temperatures - the sun has re-appeared, and look forward to the energy panel being refreshed .. heh.

Retrospect

this is going to be some random notes .. i could put it into the "drafts", but will probably forget it, or let it die of "new-moania".

History fascinates me. not history itself, but the way it is constructed. We tend to forget that "writing"is recent phenomena. most of what we think we know about the past is/was transferred by "word of mouth". a point, here. writing is, actually, mostly, transitory - written for the moment. i send a letter .. the intention is tell someone what's happening NOW. If that written item survives several generations, it gives the reader an "impression" of what happened back then. (there is much to be looked at here) quite a lot of "history"is re-constructed from clay tablets that .. well, are records of commercial transactions, never meant, nor intended, to be "historical documents" - and yes, can get into trouble here .. some stone carvings WERE intended to be seen at a later date .. but not many. most were designed for "local consumption".

Anyway, want to move on quickly. Am, at this point, thinking about the strict discipline required of the "bards " and "ollaves"who had to spend 7 years apprenticeship. very few people at that time could read and write. The only way "news" or "ïnformation"could be spread around was by - basically - word of mouth. But also - before "writing" - tribal "history" HAD to be strictly controlled, and so it became a "discipline". Any variation, "improvisation" was verboten, had to be .. one of the reasons for couching history in the mathematical precision of"chants" otherwise it would deteriorate into "chinese whispers" and who knows where it would end up ..

It's all a long story - difficult to explain in few words - and one of the reasons "religion" is stuck where it is .. but that's another long story.

What actually prompted all this is that have been focussed on researching a specific event that happened within living memory - almost exactly 63 years ago. Oh yes, have all the "official"documentation from the National Archives .. but what is fascinating me at the moment is that have never been able to find, or listen to - eyewitnesses. I do, however, have contacts who have contacts. At the moment the discrepancies between the "officially recorded" reports , and the "hearsay" reports - are remarkable. (am using "hearsay"as a fairly loose term. More like .. "yer, me mate wuz there, and he said .." - though does expand into "I heard from a mate who's uncle said"..).

Even so .. some of the "hearsay" reports match with the "official" typewritten copies .. but some don't .. and trying to figure out which is the more "believable" is an interesting excercise.

The point, at the time of writing - is that, three weeks ago, was given the phone number of .. guess what .. an eyewitness. Yes, have spoken with him, listened to what he had to say .. is it exciting, breaking news .. er, well ..

Yes, he remembers being there but errrrm, it was 63 years ago. I wonder how many people could remember the details of what they did on one particular day LAST YEAR - though will have to add that this particular event was "unusual" and "traumatic", so not ya normal day.

Something else that have noticed is that nobody - even at the time - noticed or remembered what happened leading up the the "event". It was, like .. normal .. until the event THEN everyone suddenly has clear recollection, and a plethora of detailed documentation .. curious.

[ there will be some people who know the background of what am talking about .. some not .. the details - in this instance - are irrelevant]

I ring (pester) him every Friday evening .. he's still trying to remember. He's a lovely guy, but the stories are all intermingled with what happened 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago.. he's promised - at some point to write it all down .. have told him that anything is OK by me .. just write it down!!.

Is there a point to all this ? Well, yes.

I do have to scratch my head a bit - now - when people tell me the "bible" is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ..

Sol .. invictus

had, actually, intended to write a long and involved post about Solar panels .. as distinct from the worship of Old King Coal ..but the thought processes (as well as a radio, two television sets, two computers, three keyboards, two telephones, a smidge of bundy and coke and a general impression that nobody has the slightest interest in what i write ) .. sort of reduced the impetus to a small glow. (have just purchased another one. Tiny thing, only $140.00 - 00.07 Amps on a heavily overcast cloudy day, to be precise .. but the pics are on the other computer .. drat)

[click the title .. the priesthood on mons vaticanus weren't all that far out .. everything just became a bit sidetracked by ignorance, polititians, finance and franchises, somewhere around 1,700 years ago]

Still haven't melted yet

Can only thank some human somewhere fer chucking a bloddy big pile of concrete into a stream-bed somewhere near-by. If "god" had anything to do with it, would be sitting, naked and blackened, under the sparse shade of a Mallee tree in the harsh southern Australian summer; contemplating the dry, sun-baked rounded rocks at the bottom of the local creek.




Yer, I know, am being a bit "dramatic". While they really ARE recent pics of my vegies, there is - more or less - still plenty of "tap-water" around. Sheesh, I live in a house- in a city .. but am into "conservation" .. can't help it. The Snow Peas gave a good crop, and the Corn gave about a dozen good heads. They look like that partly because the local "Gummint" has made it legally precarious to actually use a hose to water them, and partly 'cos can't be bothered watering them any more.

Curious, really, water restrictions. Am bloke, wash the dishes and clothes (not in the same bowl - but could, if pushed) once a week, have a shower, occasionally, when I feel like it, flush the toilet about twice a week (it also helps, having "outside plumbing", so to speak; and I still think that the Nectarine trees benefit .. heh)

Oh, while am on subject of Nectarine trees ..



Any spare water (or liquid) gets pointed in their direction.

The only trouble, is that I now have to share them with these cheeky chappies.

Haven't melted .. yet

Ah well, cool change a couple of days ago .. night down to 16C, so could open the windows and change the air in the heat-box.

And fer those in the Northern Hemisphere, please be assured. Your prayers, rituals, huddles around yule logs DO actually work .. the sun is on it's way back, and will arrive - as it always has done - on time and in good condition.

(can't say the same about one of the planets attached to it .. but that's another story .. heh.)

The Power of Dreams

(don't click on these, forgot to reduce the size for easy access)

[Gutted]

[the house is spewing disgorging valuable timber.]

Am half drunk, so will just ramble on a bit.

Much travels though the sludge of my mind. Have just been over and had a look at the writings of Yves, who keeps rambling on about Angels. Some time ago, back when I had no specific imaginative distance to go, no destination in mind, Link told me to quantify the house that I wanted to live in. "Be specific", she said. So I did. Wrote a specific description of the place that I thought that I dreamed. The specifics didn't happen, of course .. but am now in a house better, in some respects, than I came from.

"Better"? The bathroom, kitchen and toilet are more modern, but the rest of it is just a residence. Spreading the "decorations" that belong to me make it look like a place that I live in, and have basically just carried me into another place.

Have made an error with the word "transition".. should have been "translocation".

Am still me.

I still have my dreams of a "better" place, which makes me vulnerable, and gullible to those who sell the ideas.

For how many years has the Roman church sold those ideas? For how many years has Madison Avenue "sold" the "better" to a gullible populace?

Have no idea what Mahommet wrote, nor what was "sold" to that population, but why bother with stuff written only +-2000 years ago. The process of Civilisation is far older than that.

Lust

'Tis all in the mind, these days, laddie; 'tis all in the mind.
(mm, would you believe that there is no "sin" called "lying" in the Roman church list .. mm.)

Yeshua's bones

Yer, I know .. but the heading of this blog does say "random and inconsistent snippets".

Have just been across to New lines from a floating Life and found a fascinating post about some blokes making a movie on the discovery of the bones of "Jesus" and his family. Am not going to write much at this point, best go to Neil's site where he has a heap of links to travel off on.

One of his interesting links is to "Jesus found dead in his grave" at Urban Semiotics. The comments on that one make interesting - and long - reading, with everyone from left, right and centre weighing in (didn't see any comments from "above" or "below", but presume God or the Devil will speak for themselves if they can).

From my point of view, the comments get a bit tedious when people start quoting from the "Bible" as "fact" or "truth", but whatever.. and the bloke's name was Yeshua.

Jesus is the name the Roman church gave to the myth.

ADDITION Sat,11.30pm.Re-edited, yet again: Have just come back from "New Lines .." where I got meself all cobbled up trying to explain something about the difference between "Yeshua" and "Jesus". Neil wrote "That’s just a matter of transliteration between languages, not a plot by the Catholic Church." .. then found self embroiled in trying to write about the transliterations and translations. Forgot, of course, to actually spend the time to Re-RESEARCH what I was trying to convey. I have attempted to write about all this previously - type "yeshua" in the "this site" googlebox, and scroll down a bit.

It did, however, remind me (yet again) to actually look up some facts before running off at the keyboard, and not try to rely on memory alone .. but further to that, and more importantly, it reminded me that "writing" something from memory and personal experience without supporting documentation, may not be all that accurate, and it wasn't all that long ago when I was looking into it. Was thinking about this problem this morning, and intended to write up a story of something that I was told about by an Aboriginal friend roughly thirty years ago, when I was in Alice Springs.

While most of the "situational" facts of my visit, and some of the dates, may be accurate (and verifiable. I know the year -1978) - I would have to "invent" the dialogue to reflect, and convey "the idea" of what we discussed - to another set of readers, different culture, different attitudes - 30 years on, even though the conversation would be close(ish) to the original .

This, then, gives me great pause for contemplation, when one considers that "Matthew", "Mark", "Luke" and "John" (not their real names) were writing some 30-60 years after the events and conversations they were describing.

And what I was trying to convey with the sentence above this addition is that there is a vast "conceptual" difference between the names "Yeshua" and "Jesus" - even though they are only transliterations of the same name.

OK, I won't go so far as to say that "Christianity" was a "plot" by the Roman priesthood on Mons Vaticanus, circa 50 CE.. more like "systematic spin doctoring for the benefit and wealth of Rome".

God is an illegal immigrant

A provocative title? Let me try to explain.

There is a great deal of discussion at the moment about "immigration" legal or non-legal. My first question is 'when does something become "legal"?

To understand why I made the title a 'statement' instead of a 'question', we first have to delve far back into history

(In the beginning was the word; and the word was "Ogd!", but something became lost in translations .. heh.)

At this point, bear in mind that my paternal grandfather was C of E, and paternal grandmother's families were staunch 'Protestants' - stretching far back into the hills of Scotland. My mother's family began in South Australia from an "illegal" immigrant. Apparently a great-great grandfather was a cabin boy who "jumped ship", changed his name, and disappeared into the bush as a shepherd. We think he came from somewhere in Scandinavia. My Father died six months after I was born, and was raised by my mother for five years.

However, I have also been indoctrinated from birth into the Judeo-Christian notion of "GOD" and have to, mostly, work from within that 'framework'. Viewing the world and its peoples from 'outside' of that framework is not an easy task.

The reason I capitalised 'god' is because my guess is that the Judeo-Christian-Muslim "God of our fathers" began as a philosophical idea put forward by a man named Zoroaster (Zarathustra) who lived in Persia some 1000 years BCE (before Christian era).

Roughly 3000 years ago HE proposed that there were two forces - one "good" (Ahura Mazda) and one "evil" ( ) battling for control over the world.

(In MY beginning, I was a random collection of atoms, congregating in the genes of my ancestors. At first, all was darkness, then light. My eyelids were closed, but slowly opened. I found that I could focus, then tried to make sense out of the chaos that I perceived.)

He also proposed that Ahura Mazda created 'man-gods' to act as "intermediaries" between humans and the 'supreme being'.

(won't go into detail, but you can find a very long essay detailing the basis of my premise here).

From there, the philosophy of a masculine, all powerful, omnipotent Deity travelled through what is now known as the "Middle East", across into northern India; taken to Rome by the Legions, adopted, adapted and transformed by various masculine (sometimes emasculated) priesthoods and Emperors - modified and codified through various 'prophets' to suit local conditions and political climates - especially Constantine of Rome - to split and solidify into what we NOW know as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

(a very peculiar God indeed. One wonders what they are all squabbling about, since they all working under the same 'God'. Am not surprised that the Christian and Judaic god "cannot be named".. it would link them back to the "original" idea developed in Iran/ Persia.)

IF this God IS All-powerful, All-knowing and Omni-present; I can't help wondering why he/she/it did not know of, and/or was not known in what is now known as South and North America until the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 (CE).

Apparently he/she/it hitched a ride on one of the ships; carried in .. what? A purse? A piece of wood or, perhaps, A BOOK?

Similarly, this god was not known in Australia or New Zealand until the arrival of Captain Cook. Did this Persian god arrive hidden in the back pocket of Captain Cook?

(I am neither a scholarly historian nor theologian, and this post is not up for 'serious' discussion, so if anybody wants to 'nit-pick' about details, do it on your own blog).

Captain Arthur Phillip (a human being) set up a colony on the east coast of Australia - formerly known as "Terra Australis Incognito" ('unknown land to the south') in the year 1788 (CE), and tried to "negotiate" with the inhabitants who had been custodians of this ancient land for roughly 40,000 terrestrial years.

(but THEY had no knowledge of a Persian or Christian 'god'. If the Meditteranean GOD is so omnipotent, all-knowing, omnipresent – how come the inhabitants living in the rest of the world had never heard of it. Could it be that the “Inventors” of the Judeo-christian “god” were not as all-knowing as they so arrogantly believed. Had to force an alien concept around the world at the point of a Conquistador sword; with rack, pinion and threat of eternal damnation. By systematic destruction of indigenous family values.)

Finding no 'formal' (read 'European', read "Christian", read "Roman") basis for 'negotiation'; He informed "head office" who, 'in absentia' formally declared "New South Wales" and all lands attached to it "Terra Nullius". ('empty land' - there are no people here. Several million people 'disappeared' by the stroke of a pen.)

The Persian God must have snuck into Australia 'illegally' and 'unannounced', in the back pocket of Arthur Phillip; without permission, and with him the Empire of the Roman gods of war, conquest, profligacy and waste continue to illegally invade without serious challenge.

(Yeshua of Galilee had a go at trying to counter it.
Along with every other instance of flora, fauna and "igneous" - human beings live on a fragile, lonely planet which I call "Mother" Earth. If Dexter pummels Mama much further without relief, if she feels her temperature rising; her lungs eaten by cancer, she may have to call on her Sinister hand for assistance.)


IF, as the Persian/Roman/Christians say, there is 'good' and 'evil' .
Answer me this question.

You are on a boat, somewhere in the ocean. In the distance you espy a large Island, never before seen. Through a telescope you see a mass of various vegetation. There are birds and animals proliferating. You discern that there are NO SIGNS OF HUMAN HABITATION..

Does the devil exist on that island? Does God?

We have, methinks, taken our eyes off the BALL GLOBE. It is time to tear our eyes away from the skies "from whence Salvation comes."

Look down, look around. Worship this planet. Love and nurture it. Give your "tithes" to the restoration of "Gaia". It is the only "platform" we have.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_empire.htm
http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/religion.html
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm (short history of the rise of Rome)

Reprint 1

Religion vs Commonsense.

“The theme in your editorial “Redemption, peace and goodwill” (December 23-25) is that religious values are the panacea for our current ills. That is a difficult argument to sustain.

Religion has a bad track record. Some religions teach bad things, such as cruel punishment and discrimination against women. Some advance poverty and illness (including HIV-AIDS) by their teachings. Many religious leaders have enriched themselves at the expense of their followers.

It is not only religious leaders. Many political leaders of faith have done evil on a massive scale. Many have been morally corrupt in their public lives. On a lesser scale, some of our political leaders in recent times seem to be no better for their religious beliefs, either in their policies or in their methods.

In the ordinary run of human affairs, many religious people do bad things, including the abuse of women and children and other serious crimes.

Where does that leave religion as a force for goodness? It is certainly not sufficient to produce good conduct.

On the other hand, many irreligious people lead exemplary lives. So religion it is not necessary for good conduct either.

Where does good conduct come from, then? Experience shows that there is a natural propensity in human nature for empathy towards others, a co-operative spirit, altruism and a sense of fairness. There is also a propensity for selfishness, ambition and competition at the expense of others, the ruthless pursuit of self-interest.

These opposing tendencies seem to be universal. How are they resolved? Mostly by the fact that good conduct is satisfying and bad conduct is not. Where does that come from? Is the pathway innate in human nature? Is it cultural, built up by childhood conditioning and the example of role models? Possibly both.

But whatever the process that makes people good, where is the role of religion when, in public and private life, so many religious people do wrong and so many irreligious people do good?

The fall-off in religious observance referred to in your editorial may not be a sign of moral decay but an awakening to the irrelevance of religion as of any benefit in human affairs. That is not a matter for despair. It is up to us to shape the society we want. Recognition that there is no aid from on high is a healthy development. It puts the responsibility squarely where it should be. On us.”

I hope that Harold Spurling doesn't mind me re-running this letter to the SMH, but there is no way to link to it.

on the same page

mm, there is, of course an explanation of computer acronyms, and WWW represents World Wide Wait .. but that wasn't what prompted this post.

Have just noticed that Foxclocks tells me that everyone I know is on the same day.(Foxclocks could be wrong, of course).


California, Fri 1.57am
New York, Fri 4.57am
UK, Fri 9.57am
Here, Fri 8.27pm

Wow, be nice if everyone was thinking at the same level and in the same direction, but that is a futile hope. Christians killing Christians, Muslims killing Muslims et cetera et cetera.

And since none of the Yahweh Judeo/christian/muslim God sects seem able to agree on anything, try this site.

On that note might direct attention to This site. The Global Orgasm day. Am giving plenty of warning.. it's not until December. Check it out, prepare, participate.

Random trajectories

This post is not well thought out .. unplanned, impromtu and unstructured. (and by 7.30pm am probably too pissed to worry much)

The notion of random trajectories has always fascinated me.

Joe Bloggs backs his car out of the driveway at 07.59.03. Precisely the same instant that I back my car out of the driveway - 10 miles distant. He has a destination to get to, as have i. During the day we travel in many different directions, and on widely separate roads.

At 17.33.09 we arrive at the same intersection. For him the traffic lights are red, for me, green. He on his side of the intersection, me on mine.

He doesn't know about this, of course. Has never met me nor probably never will.

There is, of course, the possibility that he (or me) might be sleepy, drunk, or inattentive - and continue through the intersection. In which case we will intersect, and be instantly aware of each other and physical damage will be involved.

This scenario can be applied to any situation that one chooses. Too easy to predict on flat ground and manufactured roadways. Aircraft intersections are much more problematical.

Same scenario, but in three dimensions.

Is there a "plan" for all this? I think not. Does God say aha! will poke my finger under the tail of that aircraft and guide it into the rare, precise and exact, chance of collision?

There are, of course, some people who view random incidents and will insist that "It is God's will" .. or "God has decreed that these people should die." .. but really, an excuse too easy.

An abdication of thought. Repitition of rote. Dogmatism at best.

No concept in this post is new. Some bloke living in Greece (or somewhere there) came up with the concept of random events way back in whatever. He was known as the Laughing Philosopher, but never wrote anything (sound familiar?). No, of course not. Yeshua never did either, but Emperors would have you believe that "suffering" for the good of "the Empire" is the only way to survive, aand are determined to suppress any heretical radical thought that might undermine their hold on power.

Who is god? (part 1)

(language and communication is always problematical. Can only use the language English, and that badly. Am sure that there are many other combinations of words and images to more adequately describe my thoughts, but these will have to do.)

The question, methinks, has been around since Australopithecu-whatsis first began to have the leisure to stop worrying about how to stuff their bellies, and WONDER about that bloody great big hot fiery thingo above their heads that came and went on a regular basis.

It is too easy for us now, with the KNOWLEDGE of thousands of years of recorded history, and easy access to information - to forget what it must have been like back then. Groups of separated tribes with limited inter-tribal communication, and probably no extra-tribal communication at all – except for grunts and gestures of aggression..defending territory.

What was it? Where did it come from? Where did it go? What relationship did it have to the silvery thingo (also above their heads) that came in the darkness, surrounded by speckles of light but, unlike the fiery orb, changed its shape – and, sometimes, could also be seen at the same time, and in the same space - as the fiery one.

The fiery one was a constant. The silvery one changeable. It must have been mysterious and magical. And so, the guesses, the development of imagination, the stories. They knew that the fiery one controlled the physical world that they lived in, and relied on for food, shelter – their very existence.

Since they knew that they had only limited control over their wider environment, there MUST be “some other” controlling force outside and apart from their experience, knowledge and control. With limited knowledge of how, outside and beyond their own valley - the physical world worked, they could only “personify” this mysterious force.

And so, the “gods” were born. Instinctively intelligent “medicine men/women/magi” versus the “brute strength” of the alpha male. Each tribe around the globe with its own version.

As the tribes became more “civilised”, changed from hunter-gatherer nomads to settlement and agriculture, “social structures” - headman, supporters, workers – developed.

Very little has changed since

(to be continued..)