fallslikesnow

ygUDuh ydoan yunnuhstan ydoan o yunnuhstand dem yguduh ged yunnuhstan dem doidee yguduh ged riduh ydoan o nudn LISN bud LISN dem gud am lidl yelluh bas tuds weer goin duhSIVILEYEzum e.e. cummings (1944) (courtesy of helmintholog ).

In 1950, John von Neumann said that "science and technology will shift from a past emphasis on motion, force, and energy to communication, organization, programming, and control." Stanislaw Ulam Memorial Lectures

"In my hands, I had a copy of the Iliad in the Russian hexameter of Gnyeditch; in my pocket, a passport made out in the name of Trotsky, which I wrote in it at random, without even imagining that it would become my name for the rest of my life ... Throughout the journey, the entire car full of passengers drank tea and ate cheap Siberian buns. I read the hexameters and dreamed of the life abroad. The escape proved to be quite without romantic glamour; it dissolved into nothing but an endless drinking of tea." Leon Trotsky, from "My First Escape" . See also this review by the dreaded Christopher Hitchens, who appears to be unable to throw off those last feverish thoughts that infection with Trotskyist memes at an early age cause. From the same review (I can't find a source for this online); to the pre-war government of Norway when they announce his deportation: "This is your first act of surrender to Nazism in your own country. You will pay for this....

thatwhichfalls fallslikesnow 

"Clarke heard the words quite distinctly, and knew that Raymond was speaking to him, but for the life of him he could not rouse himself from his lethargy. He could only think of the lonely walk he had taken fifteen years ago; it was his last look at the fields and woods he had known since he was a child, and now it all stood out in brilliant light, as a picture, before him. Above all there came to his nostrils the scent of summer, the smell of flowers mingled, and the odour of the woods, of cool shaded places, deep in the green depths, drawn forth by the sun's heat; and the scent of the good earth, lying as it were with arms stretched forth, and smiling lips, overpowered all. His fancies made him wander, as he had wandered long ago, from the fields into the wood, tracking a little path between the shining undergrowth of beech-trees; and the trickle of water dropping from the limestone rock sounded as a clear melody in the dream. Thoughts began to go astray and t...

"So I went on and on till I came to the secret wood which must not be described, and I crept into it by the way I had found. And when I had gone about halfway I stopped, and turned round, and got ready, and I bound the handkerchief tightly round my eyes, and made quite sure that I could not see at all, not a twig, nor the end of a leaf, nor the light of the sky, as it was an old red silk handkerchief with large yellow spots, that went round twice and covered my eyes, so that I could see nothing. Then I began to go on, step by step, very slowly. My heart beat faster and faster, and something rose in my throat that choked me and made me want to cry out, but I shut my lips, and went on. Boughs caught in my hair as I went, and great thorns tore me; but I went on to the end of the path. Then I stopped, and held out my arms and bowed, and I went round the first time, feeling with my hands, and there was nothing. I went round the second time, feeling with my hands, and there was nothing....

"Then there was Paul Whiteland, as different from Jansen as chalk from cheese. Which of them you preferred depended on which type of character you preferred—chalk or cheese. They are both useful in their own way. You can't write on a blackboard with a lump of Cheddar. You can't satisfy your appetite with three sticks of coloured Writing apparatus." Juggernaut, Lionel Fanthorpe writing as Bron Fane The Lionel Fanthorpe text library is here . {edited}

New Scientists' favourite catastrophes . "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" . Bizarre Crime in Japan . (first two from Incoming Signals , last from plep .

The medium lobster on why gay marriage will cause "a lethal wave of Gay to spread through the Celestial Empyrean itself."

Three of Wands A calm, stately personage, with his back turned, looking from a cliffs edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground, and he leans slightly on one of them He dreams of ships Moving, silently and with The grace of clouds Through water the colour of Tarnished metal Waves damped down to sullen swells By the weight of his expectation Let them slide through, like icebergs. Unstoppable, shocking all who see them with the density of their presence. Let them be more real than the ports they visit, their sharp profiles stabbing the eyes of those who inhabit those low, windswept towns. Though they are made only of wood and tar, canvas and steel, let all those elements be energised and brought together by the urgency of my desire. If I cannot go with the agents of my thoughts, across those glittering, slippery waters, let them take the part of me that yearns with them. Let them stand for me in the parts of this world I shall never own wit...

Publishing of new posts is still very slow - probably something to do with the upgrades yesterday. New templates are nice though. More later, possibly.

This is a test. Only and always a test.

This is a test. Only and always a test.