The King in Yellow
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
The King in Yellow (Act II, Scene ii)
Although I could wax on and on about the great Polycarp, I'm not going to, for as the headline to this post reveals, a truly incredible event has taken place in our time.
Now I have an old beat-up paperback that makes great brainless reading called News and Rumor in Renaissance Europe - The Fugger Newsletters. This book contains contemporary reports from the various Fugger agents throughout Europe to their main office.
As you might expect, much of it involves political and economic reports at the scene - there is a whole section of reports from Spain, Holland, and England regarding the progress of the Spanish Armada for instance.
But in addition to what we might consider the "Six o'Clock News Reports" there are also a whole host of reports that might have come right out of "Weekly World News".
Things like "Antichrist born in Austrian village", that sort of thing.
Well, yesterday, Ash Wednesday, a Dominican Friar laid an egg for the first time. Her name is Violet.
Wait, did I say Dominican Friar? I meant Dominique Fryer. Sorry for the confusion.
The Dominiques were named after Dominicans because of their black and white colour scheme. You can see how I made the mistake.
Anyway, in a supreme bit of irony, our first chicken egg appeared on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten fast.
I'm sure there's a real joke in there somewhere, but I can't quite smoke it out.
It was a tiny little egg, but absolutely great for a first effort. Francine had it fried for breakfast this morning and pronounced it delicious.
At some point, I'll publish some ruminations about our urban farm, but for the moment I'll just leave you with the egg:
(originally posted to Mundus Tranquillare Hic)
O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the new-born Lord,
lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb
was worthy to bear
Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
(The Original Latin)
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
KING. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
William Shakespeare
Henry V (1599)
Ever since, every computer I've owned has been an Apple, or in my poorer days, an Apple clone.
I first used a Macintosh in 1984, though I didn't own one for many years. I've lost count of how many I've purchased over the years. I think my favourite was the tangerine clamshell. There was just something delightful about that machine.
The computer I'm typing this on is a black MacBook. My phone is an iPhone. There's an iPod in my gym bag.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you Steve.
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine;
et lux perpetua luceat eis ;
cum Sanctis tuis in æternum,
quia pius es.
I arrived by walking down the hill from my house to a secluded, park-like area which clearly doesn't exist in downtown Tacoma. It was a sunny day, with fluffy white clouds. I had the impression that I was unemployed or on leave.
The building itself was brick, a sprawling structure that had clearly been re-purposed from its original use. It was open and airy inside, though on the outside it looked like one of those old schools or institutional buildings of the design so popular in this country in the early part of the 1900s.
The children ranged in ages from grade school through high school, though the older ones appeared to be counselors or such, running herd on groups of the younger kids. It was boisterous and noisy, almost as if I had arrived just as everybody was going from one class or activity to another.
My daughter Victoria was there with a group of other twenty-somethings. They were seated, some on the floor some on wingback chairs, around a low table in front of a very large unlit fireplace. She appeared to be giving a report to the group and she was sinking back into her chair lower and lower as she gave it. One of the others called her on it, and she laughed and sat back up straight and cracked some joke I couldn't hear.
As the place slowly cleared out, I wandered into a small gift shop. It was closed, but I remember looking at sky-blue t-shirts through a glass counter.
I found a quiet room where people were reading on chairs and couches, and there I ran into the men responsible for running the place. Two were younger - maybe in their early 30s - while the older gentleman was bald and had a long grey beard. They appeared to have met by chance in a curtained doorway. I think it lead to a corridor with offices. They were conversing about the facility, and I had the impression that the older gentleman was a visitor. I waited for them to finish their conversation.
The three men were all wearing religious habits, but I am unfamiliar with the type. There was a white cotton (ish) tunic, belted with a black leather belt. Over this was a gray woolen scapular. The scapular was kind of odd. It almost looked like it was felted and very thick, with no discernable hem. It wasn't rough-looking at all, either, although the cloth had a definite texture. In colour it was a cool, almost slate grey.
One of the younger gentlemen sent me to find "Sandra", who was apparently the person in charge of wrangling the volunteers. I found her outside in a wide grassy area between the main building and some brick outbuildings. These were variously used for activity spaces and storage.
She was tall, somewhat wider than average, and had short but stylish blonde hair. She was wearing a white windbreaker, and she was clearly in charge.
She and any number of other people were carrying cases of water bottles from one of the outbuildings to a growing stack in a copse of trees near the front of the main building. I joined their efforts, but was told to stay with a group and not go out on my own.
At some point in this procedure, the whole area was overrun with kids and their counselors again. Apparently it was time to change classes again.
As this petered off, I was distracted by a group of young boys who had gotten into a scuffle. I broke them up and continued heading back to the outbuilding, when I suddenly realized that the distraction had separated me from the other water-carriers.
And then, I saw a wildcat galloping down the grass field towards me. He looked rather like a giant tabby. He was charging at me in a long, arcing path moving at ludicrous speed. I had just the time to panic and turn my back as he pounced and I felt his teeth on my neck... and I woke up in panic.
I have been unable this morning to find which Order the religious might have belonged to.
Professor Google informs me that this is a distance of 2.2 miles and a change of altitude of about 305.1 feet. He also informs me that it should have taken me approximately 51 minutes. Since I beat his estimated time by 6 minutes, I'm feeling pretty good.
I lie. I'm feeling pretty beat.
I believe I shall have a pint of the Hop Czar now.
I was jolted out of bed by my clock radio, having reset itself to a hitherto unknown station, blaring the discordant noise of a young man screaming the lyrics to the song stylings known as "heavy metal". It certainly had the same sort of effect one imagines plutonium to the brain might produce.
This was followed by a commercial, where a gentlemen who might have been Mr Gene Simmons earnestly addressed the listener as "dude".
On the way to the train station, I was overcome by the sudden realization - nay, epiphany - that the reason there weren't any ducks in the duck pond in Leadworth is because they were with Londo Mollari, nibbling him to death.
Twice, my train came to a gentle stop without a station in sight. Both times were in farm country. Presumably it had something to do with the cows. Or possibly ducks.
I don't know what any of this means, but I'm looking forward with some trepidation to the remainder of the morning.
The brevity required generally means that only the topmost thoughts in my brain get typed. Like compost, my brain needs to be churned occasionally to bring up those deep thoughts. Or possibly the really, er, composted ones. Instead, I'm skimming off the top.
The Deep Thoughts™ fester.
I can only imagine what would happen to my brain if I were twitterpating instead. Mostly likely I'd be even now roaming the streets, slack-jawed, muttering something about brains.
Ahem.
I've been using Facebook as my primary means of journalling. This is clearly not working. Fortunately, I remembered you, LiveJournal, my first bloggy love. Why, oh why did I ever forsake you for the beguiling vapidity of Facebook?
I've been a fool, LiveJournal, a fool! Can you find it in your heart to forgive a featherheaded old numbskull? Will you take me back? Can I ... blog with you?
Armed with rakes and shovels and implements of DEstruction - and an excavator - we're removing a jungle of crabgrass and dandelion. The previous owners pretty much just laid down turf over the previous backyard, so the whole yard is half a foot higher than the neighbouring yard. That's a lot of stuff to scrape off and haul away.
We're on a strict time limit imposed by the place we're renting the excavator from.
The place we're dumping the sod and picking up the sand both charge by weight.
It's raining. Water makes things heavier. I think you can see where this is going.
The rain is also going to make a whole lot of mud. Should be fun!
At least we will have plenty of food and drink for the volunteers.
Incidentally, if YOU'D like to volunteer, come on by! We're starting at 7AM.
If not, just keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
I mean, storming a fortress that's already on the decommissioning list just to free four forgers, two madmen, and a licentious aristocrat ratted out by his own family for deviancy and incest... how is this something to celebrate?
However, I recently ran across an article on Jean Thurel (1699 – 1807). Never heard of him?
He served 90 years in the French army. That's not a typo. Ninety years.
In 1733 he was shot in the chest with a musket ball, and in 1759 he received seven sword wounds in a single battle but he continued to fight. The French were desperate to reward him, but he refused promotion and spent his entire military career as a private in the fusiliers.
Near the end of his career, he was offered a ride in an officer's carriage, but he instead insisted on marching with his fellow soldiers. He died at the age of 107 years and 6 months.
He served under Louis XIV through XVI inclusive, various Revolutionary governments, and Napoleon. He even served in the American Revolutionary war at Yorktown.
At one point, the French government gave him a huge pension (multi-millions in current money), and the next day he showed up for duty as usual. A regiment of these guys could have conquered Asia.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
WE, THEREFORE, THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John HancockNew Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Go out and celebrate! And to all my friends in the UK, no hard feelings, okay? You're a terrific country, but it just wasn't working out. We shed a few tears when we broke up, but we both knew it was for the best. You talk normal. We talk funny. You like tea and Doctor Who. We like... well, you get the point.
I'll always treasure our time together.
Although the category announcement is still not on the Origins Awards web site, my game Cruenti Dei has been nominated for Play By Mail Game of the Year.
I won't be attending Origins this year, since it falls on the same weekend as my niece's wedding, so I won't be able to stump for the game in person to the voting members. This makes it pretty unlikely that I will actually win.
And that's OK. For one thing, the silver slug goes better with the website colours than the gold one does.
However, I'd love to find somebody who is going who would be willing to show off some product or at least get some flyers out (and, you know, pick up the Calliope if lightning strikes).
Is anybody going to Origins this year?
Update: They've posted the category now. http://gama.org/OriginsAwards/tabid/272
- Mood:
Woo-hoo!
For me she was the very measure of a Doctor's companion, the gold standard against which all others must be measured and (generally) found wanting.
I'm not ashamed to say that as a lad, she was my first television crush.
Of course, she had a successful career in theatre, and she went on to star in two different Doctor Who spin-offs, but I will always remember her running about with the Doctor and the Brigadier, all the while smiling while they saved the earth from the monster of the week.
What can we do but offer condolences to those who loved her, and prayers for her soul?
As in life, she now in death joins Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) and Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart). Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
And today? US astronauts are paying to fly in Russian space capsules because it's the only way we can get into orbit.
Well, there are two shuttles still flying, Atlantis and Endeavour, but they'll be retired by the end of the year.
Huzzah.
As if I weren't depressed enough.
Still, I shall raise a glass to Colonel Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human in space.
Abiu was the smartest and coolest cat I've known. He was my buddy.
When we brought Abiu and Kemiu home, they were frightened kittens, newly weaned and terrified of their strange surroundings. As Kemiu shivered into a little ball, Abiu stood over him, shielding him with his body against the unknown.
He was like that.
There are several eyewitnesses to his ability to teleport, sometimes distances of over a mile just as fast as you could drive it.
He and his brother once herded a deer through my backyard. They were a fearsome squirrel-hunting team.
Abiu was proud, he was smart, and he was certainly contemptuous and dismissive of anybody he considered a fool.
Abiu in his later days had retired, rather like an old soldier back from the Raj who had settled into his Oxfordshire estate.
He never really recovered from the injury to his ear, and these last few weeks saw his inexorable decline.
I loved that cat, and I already miss him terribly.
Godspeed, Abiu.
Once my heart stopped racing, I tried to get back to sleep. I failed.
I sincerely hope that it's not going to be one of those days.
It has been a long season, a season of rain and homecoming and storm and quiet triumph and birth. And now my world is settling down slowly into something resembling normalcy, and the old rhythms are returning.
Perhaps I shall return, myself, to Livejournal.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Hello Everyone,
At 11:32pm on November 7th, 2010 Stella Mira Hunt was born. She weighed 7lb 6oz, and we think she was 19". Mel's water broke early Sunday afternoon and we went to the hospital around 5:30pm. They started her on pitosin (sp?) around 7pm and four hours later Stella popped out. Lots of hair! Mom and baby are doing great. All went well, thank you for your prayers and thoughts.
Scott and Melanie Hunt
- Mood: jubilant
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Coming down with something. Bleah. But still, the road goes ever on and on...
Day 01 - Introduce yourself
Day 02 - Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 - What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 - Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 – Your day, in great detail
Day 07 – Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 – A moment, in great detail
Day 09 – Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 – What you wore today, in great detail
( Day 11 – Your siblings, in great detail )
Day 12 – What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 – This week, in great detail
Day 14 – What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 – Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 – Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 – Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 – Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 – This month, in great detail
Day 21 – Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 – A first, in great detail
Day 26 – Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 – One last moment, in great detail
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thomryng- the Cherry Blossom King
- Vombatus Sapiens
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