Thursday 14 October 2010

ichthys

My mother also has an extensive holy collection, icons, monstrances, crucifixes, and Jesuses--a Jesus Corner.  Once, in what may well be an apocryphal episode but still a cute story nonetheless, a visitor, a neighbor, studying the assemblage, remarked, "Gee, you have so many Henrys."  Henrys?  "You know, 'Inri."  The INRI is the initialism for Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum, Jesus from Nazareth, King of the Jews that was hung above the Cross.  In some places and at certain times, one hears the phrase "Jimminy H. Christmas" or "Jesus H. Christ" flung around like His middle name was Henry or something, whereas the H is actually a majuscule Greek letter Eta, one form of the definite article, the.  Incidentally, the once secret fish symbol for Christians, the Ichthys, probably originated itself because Jesus' birth fell at the dawn of the zodiacal age of Pisces, the Fish.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

news of the world

Though it may be just a case of very poor timing, it is interesting to observe that the council of astronomers, perhaps the same body that demoted Pluto and bereft the Scorpios of a ruling planet, is now recanting the surety of the discovery of Gliese 581g, saying that perhaps the readings were not rigorously peer-reviewed beforehand, just after this bulwark of journalism seemingly patched together a random and incredulous old report of strange signals emanating from the neighborhood of the star. It is as if once that news organization picked up on or wanted in on the story, it spoiled it for everyone else, and made skepticism a much more acceptable stance. I always wondered how many premature claims could be attributed to smudge on the lens, stellar pareidolia and scientists forcing the results they are expecting, but nonetheless, the bulk of the findings from the exoplanet spotting missions are unprocessed or have already yielded more solid discoveries. I hope a hopeful and curious audience does not become overly suspicious or jaded by the next big revelation.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

mothballed

English language daily The Local has an interesting piece on the secret bank bunker, prompted by West-East tensions with the building of the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s, in Cochem at the bend of the Mosel, close to Bonn and Wiesbaden. Of course, there was much area speculation on the nature of the shelter but there was no official disclosure regarding the contents until just a few weeks ago, including some 15 billion Marks on reserve in the form of an Ersatz currency to be used to counteract hyperinflation in the event of an emergency. Guided tours are ensuing.
I suppose that this mechanism could only so far in terms of stabilizing a devastated economy and with the lapse of the Cold War, there are certain priorities that would not pass muster as far as government sanctioned paranoia, but countries should not be so quick to abandon their sanctuaries and refuges because apprehension is adept at reinvention. A secret bank bunker might be handy in the event of a currency war and other market shocks. Continuity projects, like at Greenbriar or Denver Airport or Ullenwood, secret or not, in terms of infrastructure and intention are still valuable real estate.  I would like to take a tour of that bank bunker and explore the underworld caverns.

Sunday 10 October 2010

tee fribet or double ten day

Cheerleaders for political dissidents are rather few and far between, and sometimes their advocates have themselves been overwhelmed by potential and promise or provocation, rather than working to honor and perhaps effect change. I believed, until researching the matter further, that the latter was another example of the former, provocation, an excuse that might become the trigger for an unabashed currency war. This choice, however, was not some everyman representative of countless unnamed others nor an abstract encouragement, but a real lifetime and career dedicated to change, whose work is even acknowledged by recent honorees. Redirecting one’s gaze, in the general and specific sense, can garner impetus, and is a stance well taken.