Why astrology?
Sunday 11 April 2010, 07:55Revised version of a Livejournal posting of 27 August 2005.
I consider astrology to be primarily a form of art. It's a way for us to express our creative powers. From that point of view, asking whether celestial forces influence the tenor of our lives becomes somewhat like asking whether The Starry Night is an accurate portrayal of how some real starry night physically appeared, such as might be produced by a skilled but not particularly artistic photographer. It's just not an interesting question.
The law is not magic
Friday 3 August 2007, 21:00People have the wrong idea about the law. They think it's magic. They think that the law consists entirely of arbitrary rules, technicalities, and loopholes, and that dealing with the law is primarily about getting around the challenges the system creates. The idea that there might be real standards of conduct with a point to them that you're supposed to actually follow instead of getting around, doesn't count for much. I think it's partly the fault of the media, in showing us ten examples of dysfunctional nonsense in the law for every one example of the system actually working as it's meant to, so that we think the dysfunctional nonsense is what it's actually meant to be about. It's also the fault of the legislators, courts, and lawyers, for putting way too much dysfunctional nonsense into the law in the first place. But it's not all dysfunctional nonsense. The law generally does have a point to it, and the system is meant to actually work and to be for real.
Desdemona
Friday 9 April 2010, 10:35Desdemona, agent's daughter
Never would you cross the water
For the men who sought to take
Your quiet voice, your hidden face
Des, you held a thousand heroes
Peaceful in your arms.
John he said
Thursday 8 April 2010, 10:26Walked on the beach today
Met John all a talk-talk
All a comfort my mind.
Technical analysis
Wednesday 7 April 2010, 09:41No chance in Hell I'd sell my gold for mud
And give up hope of wiping off the stain.
She tapped in vain and never tasted blood
The toxic arrow lost into the sky.
Now chance repeats the lesson; have I learned
This random mapping on the complex plane?
I stalked the archer, saw the fire, was burned;
Devoured the pseudoscientific lie.
One day defines the gap from thee to thee
One speck of dust can tip the cloud to rain
In one night both of you could take from me
The difference I can't plausibly deny.
Corroborate the price at which I'll sell;
Dial in the bids, and ring the opening bell.
Truly
Friday 27 March 2009, 09:09Where have ye been all the day, fair son of mine?
Where gat ye your dinner this long lonely while?
I did eat with my sweetheart, who put me on trial
I was flogged for my crimes and all covered with bruises
They were red and white and they were green and yellow
The Reverend John Pickett and the damage done
Saturday 9 December 2000, 13:37The son of Abraham and Mary Pickett was born on an overcast Sunday morning in May of the year of Our Lord 2015. When the Reverend Frederic McAuley performed the baptism, he held the screaming baby up to the light and asked the parents what his name should be, and in a choked-up voice Abraham Pickett said "John, call him John," and John Pickett was his name.
Mistakenly thought to be djinn
Sunday 4 April 2010, 17:41First appeared in talk.bizarre, July 1997
You must know that Man was not the first of the Earth's masters.
A great many unusual people may be seen in the marketplace of Damascus on any hot summer day, but the Adept was definitely out of the ordinary. She strode, alone and proud, though the crowd which parted unconsciously. Foreigners have written that one veiled woman looks like any other, but even the quality of the material of Fatima's veil distinguished her from the rest. The locals, accustomed to making the most of whatever they could get, stared outright, all as if they'd never seen a woman before. They undressed her in their minds as she passed by. The year, in your infidel's reckoning, was 738.
Race
Friday 2 April 2010, 17:37This is a re-posting of an item that first appeared in Livejournal, in October 2004.
One day the Fox met the Bunny, eating grass at the edge of a big field. "Hey," he said, for no particular reason, "let's race to the other side of this field." "Okay," said the Bunny. So she hopped and he ran, and the Fox made it across the field just a little bit ahead of the Bunny. "I win!" he said, and went on his way. "Bye!" called the Bunny happily, and went back to eating grass. The Turtle had been watching them, and he said, "I want to do that, too."
Colour, social beings, and undecidability
Monday 9 August 2004, 12:01Okay, it's been about two months since I posted my piece about colourful bits, and I really should have posted a follow-up before now, but better late than never. First of all, here are ten other places that carried the story, in no particular order:
