fallslikesnow

I woke next to her at sunrise.  Her hair was a glowing halo around her sweet face, the sheet barely covered her breasts. As with many fair women her eyes seemed to be a slightly bruised as did her temples. I punched her in the throat and held a pillow over her face until the struggle ended. Gathering my things I rapidly left the house. I felt no remorse over killing her. She was such an advanced puppet that the only way to stop her breaking through to full autonomy would be to give her a bath in pure liquid Red. Doubting that this would be done by her owners, all that expensive surgery and training would be lost, I'd taken the step I thought necessary. I reached the tube station and found a platform empty of puppets and humans. Just a single capsule with it's lid up greeted me. I climbed in and pulled the lid down. As the capsule filled with Red I took several deep breaths and began to drift asleep.

Yelena was one of those beautiful women who seem to walk with a slight but visible hunch. Shoulders kept high as though to ward off the gaze of all the men who pass. She was a treat to look at however. Long blonde hair with misty blue eyes. Tall, but not too tall, with a figure that filled me with longing whenever she walked in front of me. The fact that she pushed all my sexual desire buttons should have been a warning. The city itself was built on many islands with a huge number of bridges connecting them. The buildings were a complex mixture of baroque and neoclassical, their empty cleanliness reminiscent of a painting by de Chirico. The effect was diminished by the huge, out of context, skyscraper stabbing the sky in the city's downtown. It wasn't until we were in some large, chilly square surrounded on all sides by impressive Romanesque buildings that I made a move on the, until then silent, Yelena. "Why do you hide yourself in this polished ma...

The Standing Stones But all we see behind are the twin rows       Of standing stones, broken like rotten teeth An avenue to no-where, only crows       Over the dying grass, the blasted heath

{Placed here because I somehow deleted the original version} I flowed up the Thames, across the Channel and up the Western coast of mainland Europe. Flowing was beautiful around there with clear un-polluted water run through with refreshing threads of natural Red. It was horribly dangerous of course. A good storm and one could end up thoroughly diluted, consciousness spread out over cubic kilometers of ocean. This time, however, I raced to Rotterdam safely and swiftly. After re-constituting myself I reported to a dull, temporary looking structure in the port area, There I met a transport nerd by the name of Michael Stevens. "Why can't I use normal methods? Flow up rivers and across lakes? Drive? Even get a pilot and fly?," I asked. "It's too far. We've been told to get you as close to the front as possible. It's a quarter of a million kilometers. This is the only method that makes sense in terms of speed and logistics. Get in." ...

The rest of the journey was dull. Staring through the safety-Red at the silvery capsule walls. Listening to the low roar of sparse air molecules being displaced as we raced through the incomplete vacuum. Many hours later I arrived at my interim destination, a place called New Petrograd. It was at 2457 degrees east and for me represented a change over point from one tube to another. I had an overnight stop so I exited my capsule and went, with my guide Yelena, to the surface. The huge city, pristine and barely inhabited by humans, weighed down on me. I wasn't familiar with the original, thousands of km west, but this version seemed to me to be a place for fogs and rain. A place for sudden and pointless deaths. Of course this thought lead naturally back to something that had been plaguing me for months. What was my position in the rigid and unchanging hierarchy that Red had gifted us? Despite the power Red gave me, the idyllic life granted by being one of onl...

Raeburn, Sir Henry (1756-1823), Date: 1792

  "Lingua Cosmica." A language for extraterrestrial communication developed by Hans Freudenthal, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Utrecht. Details of it are presented in Freudenthal's book 1 published in the Netherlands in 1960. LINCOS represents an extension of the logistic language of mathematics developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. It is intended to be conveyed by unmodulated radio signals of varying duration and wavelength which represent phonemes. The signals would be combined to make up concepts or words. Lancelot Hogben, who himself described a code for communication with alien intelligence, called Astraglossa , discussed Freudenthal's work. The Internet Encyclopedia of Sciemce Chapter III: Behaviour 3 00 1. For the time being it would be premature to try to describe  human behaviour by a system of general rules like the mathematical  and chronometric rule...

"Fare-thee-well sweet prince," came Stevens' voice from every direction simultaneously. "Enjoy the Trip. You won't enjoy the destination I'm afraid". His habitual sneer seemed to be replaced by sadness at the end of his little speech.. Before I could think about that, however, the capsule accelerated like a bullet in the powerful magnetic field now surrounding it. The Red filling me turned to something resembling steel as it reinforced me internally and the capsule, in maglev mode, passed into a tunnel evacuated of air. Moving ballistically at 15,000 kph I let the Red massage my muscles. We may be built to withstand high accelerations but, unassisted, none of us could take the 750g I'd just been through. I was sore.

The Illusion In desperation turn round, hope to find        The mall again, the comforting illusion Of self-control, of a place that is kind        Where we can have what we want, with options

The Ocean And down below Ocean battles Land        Plumes of white rise, crash on rocks like razors Drain from slimy black stones, journey to sand        To a sea, dull dark grey that rages and flows

ALFONSO VIII., king of Castile and Leon, styled the Emperor. At the death of his mother, Queen Urraca , he became king in 1126. The misrule of that princess's government, and the wars which had devastated Castile during the latter part of the preceding reign, rendered the beginning of his own very stormy. Several places were held by his step-father, Alfonso VII., until they were subdued, but at last the two princes were reconciled, and Alfonso VIII. remained sovereign lord of Castile and Leon. About the year 1137 he was obliged to march an army into Galicia against the Count of Portugal, Alfonso Henriquez. Though the Portuguese had the advantage, Heuriquez Bued for peace, which Alfonso readily granted. Iu 1140 he attempted to conquer Navarre, but failed. In his wars with the infidels, Alfonso was more successful. He obtained many signal victories over them, and advanced the Castilian frontiers to Andalusia, His last battle against the Almohades was undecisive; after whic...

I shall here set down the Table of the names of Spirits and Planets governing the Hours; so thou shalt easily know by inspection, what Spirit and Planet governs every Hour of the Day and Night in the Week. Angels and Planets ruling SUNDAY. Angels and Planets ruling MONDAY. Angels and Planets ruling TUESDAY. Angels and Planets ruling WEDNESDAY. Angels and Planets ruling THURSDAY. Angels and Planets ruling FRIDAY. Angels and Planets ruling SATURDAY. Hours Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. 1 ☉ Michael ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael ☿ Raphael ♄ Sachiel ♀ Anael ♃ Cassiel 2 ♀ Anael ♃ Cassiel ☉ Michael ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael ☿ Raphael ♄ Sachiel 3 ☿ Raphael ♄ Sachiel ♀ Anael ♃ Cassiel ☉ Michael ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael 4 ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael ☿ Raphael ♄ Sachiel ♀ Anael ♃ Cassiel ☉ Michael 5 ♃ Cassiel ☉ Michael ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael ☿ Raphael ♄ Sachiel ♀ Anael 6 ♄ Sachiel ♀ Anael ♃ Cassiel ☉ Michael ♀ Gabriel ♂ Samael ☿ Raphael 7 ♂...

Note , In these dealings, two should always be present; for often a spirit is manifest to one in the crystal when the other cannot perceive him; therefore if any spirit appear, as there most likely will, to one or both, say, "Oh, Lord! we return thee our hearty and sincere thanks for the hearing of our prayer, and we thank thee for having permitted thy spirit to appear unto us which we, by thy mercy, will interrogate to our further instruction, through Christ. Amen ." Interrog. 1. In the name of the holy and undefiled Spirit, the Father, the begotten Son, and Holy Ghost, proceeding from both, what is thy true name? If the spirit answers, Michael , then proceed. Quest. 2. What is thy office? 3. What is thy true sign or character? 4. When are the times most agreeable to thy nature to hold conference with us? Wilt thou swear by the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou art truly Michael? (Here let him swear, then write down his seal ...

The Cliff Walk on, the stores disappear behind mist       The roof, distant, layered, pearly Gray, in front of a cliff the hits like gods fist       A slice of the Earths crust from late to early

    Connection #1 - Giordano Bruno to Baruch Spinoza         Connection #2 - Baruch Spinoza to Maimonides     Connection #3 - Maimonides to Averroes     Connection #4 - Averroes to Yacoub Almansour     Connection #5 - Yacoub Almansour to King Alfonso VIII  

1. The Forensic Sedimentologist The scientist stepped off the shuttle. The contrast between the dry chilly air he had been living in during the journey and the warm humid air of the planet almost overshadowed the abrupt change in gravity. He stumbled dropping his heavy case. Instantly a short muscular figure wearing only a short metallic kilt ran to his aid. [TO BE CONTINUED]

The Haze They sell only strange things now, see through the haze       Sand blown in from distant, dark-roasted dunes Things move overhead in the heavy daze       In the stream, in the stores under dark moons

Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur ( Arabic : ابو يوسف يعقوب المنصور ‎) (c. 1160 – January 23, 1199), also known as Moulay Yacoub, was the third Almohad Amir Succeeding his father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , Yakub al-Mansur reigned from 1184 to 1199 with distinction. During his tenure, trade, architecture, philosophy and the sciences flourished, to say nothing of military conquests. In 1191 Yaqub al-Mansur repelled the occupation of Paderne Castle and the surrounding territory near Albufeira, in the Algarve which had been controlled by the Portuguese army of King Sancho I since 1182. In the Battle of Alarcos , on July 18, 1195, he defeated the Castilian King Alfonso VIII . After victory, he took the title al-Mansur Billah ("Made Victorious by God"). The battle is recounted by the historian Abou Mohammed Salah ben Abd el-Halim of Granada in his Roudh el-Kartas (History of the Rulers of Morocco, French translation by A. Beaumier, 1860) in 1326. He died in Marrakech , Moro...

This was one of the wettest summers for Wisconsin since 1895. Summer precipitation includes that which falls during the months of June, July and August, and in all regions of the state the 2010 summer rainfall was ranked as the highest or second highest ever recorded.   Ask the Weather Guys: Top weather events of 2010