The Genius of "Reality"

Some quotes I found on Alternet:

“‘Reality’ is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.”—Unknown

We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.—Werner Heisenberg

All great truths begin as blasphemies.— George Bernard Shaw

The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.— Archibald MacLeish

It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.— Giordano Bruno

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.— Democritus of Abdera

Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.— John Maynard Keynes

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity...and I'm not sure about the universe.— Albert Einstein

And this little gem I found in an article by sci-fi fantasy artist Stephen Hickman

The Three Essentials of Genius

An eye that can see Nature,
A heart that can feel Nature,
And a boldness that dares follow it.

The Celtic Triads

Letter to my daughters 4th grade English teacher

Edited - (My wife works for the school, so I made it a little more polite before I gave it to her Friday morning):

4/23/09

Ms. Stone,

I would appreciate it if you would keep your thoughts on politics to yourself and not aimed at your class of nine and ten year olds. My child repeated some of the slurs you made against our President and I am appalled that you would abuse your position of authority with these children to go on a political rant that was terribly misinforming.

I won’t deign to educate you on your misconceptions about which of our chief executives, past or present, is to blame for the poor state of the union at this moment. Let’s just say we can agree to disagree.

However, you aren’t teaching civics or politics. Write a letter to the Levelland paper if you need to vent, but please keep our children out of earshot of your rhetorical rants. I would prefer you to stick to the subjects the school pays you to teach.

Very Sincerely,

Christopher Kirk Berryhill

American Hookers

Gram Rabbit - American Hookers

Tabula Smaragdina

The Emerald Tablet

The Smaragdine, or Emerald Table (Tabula Smaragdina) is a short alchemical work attributed by medieval commentators to Hermes Trismegistus. It first occurs in the writings of the Arab Jabir ibn Hayyan (i.e. Geber) who lived in the eigth century, but it has been thought to be much older (see Burckhardt). There were many manuscripts of it circulating at the time of Agrippa. Ortolanus (or Hortulanus) the alchemist wrote a commentary devoted to the Emerald tablet around 1350. It is worth noting that Trithemius quotes the Tablet in full in his letter to Germanus de Gonay, dated August 24, 1505.

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Hargrave Jennings, in his introduction to a translation of the Hermetic writings by John Everard, relates the legend of the Tablet:

In a treatise attributed to Albertus Magnus, we are told that the tomb of Hermes was discovered by Alexander the Great in a cave near Hebron. In this was found a slab of emerald, which had been taken, from the hands of the dead Hermes, by "Sarah, the wife od Abraham," and which had inscribed upon it, in Phoenician characters, the precepts of the great master concerning the art of making gold.

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This inscription consisted of thirteen sentences, and is to be found in numerous alchemical works.
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The Subject of the Tablet is the alchemical Great work, or as it is here described, "the work of the Sun". This may be regarded in the higher sense as the material death and spiritual rebirth of the soul, or in the lower sense as the physical transformation of base metal into gold. Agrippa admits in ch. XIV, bk.1, that he has participated in alchemical experiments and has succeeded in creating gold, but no more by weight than the quintessence of gold used in the experiment. But he certainly valued the Tablet more as a repository, in cryptic shorthand form, of the great Hermetic principles, particularly the second sentence, which sums up the entire philosophical ground of occultism in the Middle ages in a few words.

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The version of the Smaragdine given here is based upon several translations of the Latin text, which is the one Agrippa would have had before him. In composing this version, consideration was also given to the Arabic text. This differs from the Latin in a few points of emphasis, but, it was not thought necessary to depart radically from the sense of the Latin version. The major variation between the two is in Sentence 10, which in Arabic reads: "Thus the microcosm was framed on the macrocosm." The words that translate "of the operation of the Sun" in sentence 13 can also mean "of the work of gold" (de operatione solis), emphasizing the double interpretation that is possible.
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Some translators combine the first and second Sentences, making a total of 12, but I have preferred to separate the two to emphasize that the "truth" referred to in Sentence 1 applies to the entire Tablet.
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Emerald Tablet
of Hermes Trismegistus

1. It is true, without falsehood, and most certain.

2. What is below is like that which is above ; and what is above is like that which is below: to accomplish the miracle of the one thing.

3. As all things were formed from one, by the thought of one, so all things are born from this one thing, by choice.

4. Its father is the Sun, its mother the moon, the Wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth.

5. It is the author of all perfection throughout the World.

6. The power is strong when changed into Earth.

7. Separate the Earth from the Fire, the subject from the gross, gently and with care.

8. Ascend from Earth to Heaven, and descend again to Earth, to unite the power of higher and lower things ; thus you will obtain the glory of the whole World, and the shadows will leave you.

9. This has more strength than strength itself, for it overcomes all subtle things and penetrates every solid.

10. Thus the world was framed.

11. Hence proceed wonders, which means are here.

12. Therefore I am Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of world philosophy.

13. That which I had to say of the operation of the Sun is perfected.

Roll your own...

This is what mine will look like- its the SS1 package, and painted just like I'd want the 69 painted...

Lauren asked me what it would take for us to leave Texas and move to Kansas. "Let me buy that fucking camaro and I'll start packing today"....

The Singapore job fell through. So, she's looking in Kansas now (good luck). Some people may not like the new camaro, or think it looks too much like the Mustang, but it's got a lot in common with my favorite model (the 69 of course). I love that back side window. Perfect. Plus the Camaro team has put a LOT of work into this project- a helluva lot more than the Mustang team, and 10 times more effort than Dodge put into that lackluster Challenger....

By the way- list price as pictured above is right at $32,000. Hell, I can just have her trade her big ole badass pickup in and she can drive the Durango if she wants to move so bad...

Behind the wheel of that beautiful machine, I won't give a damn if I'm in Texas, Kansas, or fucking timbuktu.

A sudden death to dreams

Life is for dreamers,
And I think I've dreamed my last dream...

Last caress...

SCENE: Sitting in front of a Computer screen, opening yahoo messenger to a chat window all alone-

ME: I know you ain’t around, but my avatar is a pic of the new kirk

Hopefully new and MUCH improved...

I want to see pics of this baby by the way when it gets here

ME: ACTUALLY, I'd love to see pics of you right now, preggo as hell, but I bet you are avoiding the camera like the plague

ME: Stupid as it may sound, believe it or not- I am more excited that you are expecting than I was for my own new bambino

ME: The only immortality you will ever touch is now growing inside you. Enjoy.

I remember how your eyes lit up, (even decades later) whenever you were happy and excited about something- I hope that time has not eroded that passionate kid inside you.
There has never been a smile that touched me the way yours did- When you-

ME (interrupting my own reverie): Any-way... I digress.

Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

You deserve this.

ME: This will be my final "ex dipshit-bf waxing drunken poetic in a messenger window all alone" message. I am happy for you.

It ain’t much, but I humbly pass along my best wishes... and a boyish smile that is less shit-eating grin than it is pure, childlike glee for the girl I loved, so long ago, and still.


Enjoy.

(for Angela Christine Rash)