I don't know if there is anything to this or not.
Leonardo's Mirror
I have not been able to personally investigate as of yet.
But having recently registered at the site to gain access to Leonardo's notebooks on-line, and knowing that Leonardo did enjoy experimenting with mirror and cryptic images in both his notebooks and his artwork, I find the discovery (if it is a real discovery) rather fascinating. (Such a discovery could also have impressive, highly beneficial, and potent ramifications for the fields of steganography and image encryption.)
It reminds me of a kind of graphic or Image Palimpsest. I also find the idea interesting because I have been experimenting and trying to design holographic, 3-D, moving images (actually the motion in images occur due to observational position of the viewer in relation to the object in question) placed into Icons. These holographic Icons, which I call Holicons are designed to tell a story by having the Icon morph it's static image as the observer makes his way around the Icon following the Stations of the Cross, or some other invented programmatic queueing point.
So I find Leonardo's experiment in this matter more than interesting, if it does in fact prove out to be true.
It also gives me another idea about how to modify the Holicons I've been developing to include secondary and tertiary (maybe even multiple or polygraphic) images in a respect similar to what Leonardo may have been doing.
If this does prove out then I hope they dissect his methodology to try and discover his actual working techniques in this regard. That could prove extremely useful.
Save This Page
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Glass of Leonardo and the Holiconic Impulse
Invisible Hand - The Glass of Leonardo and the Holiconic Impulse
Thursday, July 19, 2007
What I Have Learned the Hard Way
The Exchange - What I Have Learned the Hard WayA couple of months ago there was a tainted pet food scare, which led to the deaths of several animal pets in the United States (and elsewhere I’m sure). Since I have dogs myself and since I breed dogs I took careful note of the situation and after some of my puppies became sick at the same time as word of the tainted food broke, eventually leading to the death of my prized pup, I did a lot of research on the situation regarding processed dog foods, especially canned foods and other so-called “wet foods.”
As a result of that research I started feeding my dogs raw food and food made specifically for human consumption. Food processed for animal consumption is of far lesser quality and does not have to meet the same rigid standards regarding pesticide content, disease and toxicity taint, etc as food made for human consumption. In addition human food is generally packaged and transported in a safer and more efficient fashion. This is especially true regarding food imported from foreign countries and companies, such as products from China.
More information here:
More evidence of Chinese Laxity in manufacturing, safety, and regulation standards.
China closes food factories
China Executes Executive
Also I have discovered when shopping for food that if I feed my animals meat and other food products meant for human consumption, and buy the cheaper brands of these products, the price of feeding my animals has actually declined. That is to say that I can feed my dogs more cheaply and less expensively, and in greater bulk, by buying packs of wieners (for example) than by buying cans of dog food, and because the human food has to meet higher safety standards the food I now give them is far safer than what I previously fed them from cans. However I should also mention the fact that we tend to buy domestic food products, not imported ones.
I very much regret that my prized puppy died as a result of tainted food, and had I known then what I know now this could have been avoided, but from now on all of my dogs and animals will be fed inexpensive raw meat and vegetable products meant for human consumption, and despite the fact that it is cheaper than store bought canned pet-food, will nevertheless be far safer and better for them.
As a sidenote I should mention that my two adult dogs now seem far healthier and more relaxed and in better physical condition generally speaking than ever before. Even as they age.
Below is a list of foods I now feed my dogs and as soon as my bitch is delivered of her new litter and the puppies are able to eat solid food, the foods my puppies will also receive.
Solid Raw Food
Yogurt (basic and unflavored) – for digestive tract benefits
Eggs – especially good for coat
Hamburger
Tuna Fish – helpful for brain development, intelligence and training and concentration
Various Other kinds of Fish
Wieners
Turkey
Ham
Bratwurst
Bacon
Soup
Gravy
Peas
Corn
Baked Beans
Canned Carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Small Quantities of certain Chocolate as a behavior and training treat (which they like a lot)
Milk (occasionally, mostly to my bitch while she is pregnant)
Dry Food
Variety – we use a variety of store bought, high nutrition, commercial types of dry dog food which have proven and which we know to be safe
Biscuit or Bread – Human, not animal types
Dog Treats (which have proven safe)
Chews for teeth and gums
Liquid Food
Milk
Coffee – black, no sugar
Tea
Beer
Water
Additional Foods and Nutrients
Animal Vitamins
Metaergogenics which I developed for myself and my family (same formulae’s) dissolved in water and other liquids
Most of time I present the raw foods fed them as mixed topping to their dry dog food, at other times (about once or twice a week) we will blend and liquefy their solid, raw, food and pour the blended matter like a thick soup over their dry dog food. I do not feed them all of the types of food listed above at the same time or at the same meal but rather mix various types of food for different meals. During the day we allow them to free feed but for their night meals we mix the raw food with their dry food as described above.
Advantages – Healthier, eyes brighter, coat shinier, more active and prone to run and play. Seem far more intelligent, alert, observant, easier to train, and more naturally curious. Skin and coat free of disease, and cleaner. Outbreaks of ticks and fleas seem to be rare (which is a big advantage living in as rural an area as we live.) They seem to sicken very rarely if at all, and they seem to rest in a relaxed manner. Seem calmer and more relaxed generally. As for my experiments in increasing canine intelligence and producing a dog, which is generally far more intelligent and capable than normal, this change in diet has proven very helpful. See this entry:
Other Treatments and Regimes – Including occasional deworming and other treatments to destroy parasitic infections and reduce disease.
Bathing – about once a week or once every two weeks in summer and about once a month or so in winter. Because of the size of our dogs we always bathe them outside.
Flea And Tick treatment – liquid sprays and drops which are spread along length of body, we rarely use flea collars now due to allergies, expect in the wintertime.
These are some of the lessons I learned and the benefits of the research I did as the result of the tainted food scare.
I hope this information is useful to you and your pet. My experience with pets is limited to dogs but I imagine the same benefits might be had and enjoyed regarding your cat and other such pets.
Save This Page
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
US and the World
The Glair - US and the WorldHappy Birthday
The United States has been and still is and will remain for the foreseeable future the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. For a variety of reasons, not simply because of military and economic strength, though those are in and of themselves important reasons since the military and economic force of the United Sates is so often employed in rescuing the helpless, defending the defenseless, and in fights against enemies such as terrorists, who would murder women and children, and oppress and enslave men whenever such opportunities for malignant cruelty arise.
The United States of America, for all her flaws, both obvious and subtle, still remains the last, best, and in many cases only defense, and hope of all that most civilized peoples consider greatest among human virtues.
It is an unusual, though hardly unique, time in human history: terrorists are attacking our allies and friends in Great Britain and Iraq, disrupting nations in Africa and Asia, seeking bloodshed and mayhem in Afghanistan. Rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea seek advantage and to foist psychological, human, and material destruction throughout the world while they simultaneously cannot afford or will not attempt to feed, clothe, educate, shelter, or provide energy to their own citizens. In many corners of the world some power, force, nation, or individual is restless with the idea of their own supposed greatness and determined to plant disorder and chaos so that they may benefit from the wake of entropy they disperse outwards like ripples left by bloated and waterlogged reptiles in a stagnant swamp.
Many hope to profit, seeking to exhaust America, and her allies, both old and new, hoping to overwhelm us with a sense of hopelessness, hoping to isolate us abroad and to isolate us within our own minds and worldview, so that we collapse from without, or collapse from within. It matters not to them, as long as we collapse. Because then the world would be as free reign to such individuals, give free reign to such self-absorbed powers, and because they would feel free to take rein and lead where they will no matter what pointless path they trample or how many innocent men, women, and children they cut down in the pursuit of their own dark ambitions.
Against such malignant proclivities stands this nation, in this time, at this moment of history. Imperfect though she is, though her reach is ultimately limited (as is always the case with all such great and singular powers), though she cannot alone save the world, the United States of America still (and if true to her own best instincts always will) stand as both bulwark and beacon, as defensible frontier and as proclaimed invitation for, all those around the world, no matter who they be, or where they live upon this globe, who desire to thrive, prosper, live in peace, build, and create a newer, better world. Our ideals are not merely our own, they are for all men and women, all children, all nations, for all time, or they are for no one, not even ourselves. All men have every right to be free, all men should be personably responsible and live in service for others, all people should have the opportunity to live and to thrive as long as they do no harm to others, all living men and women should be free to pursue their own best virtues. All men should be free to worship as they please, to speak what is upon their minds, to exist without the threat of slavery, oppression, or condemnation from those who have another and less wholesome idea about the meaning, purpose, and pursuit of life. All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, not just Americans, though as Americans we can never lack the courage to fearlessly proclaim these truths to the world beyond our immediate borders. Individuals should be free to thrive and succeed, free to engage in commerce, free to live without threat of murder and execution and terrorism from men bent upon a course of decay, destruction, despair, and ultimately degeneration of the broadest and surest kind.
America has intrinsic in her inception and coeval with her conception ideals and virtues and concepts and philosophies of human nature, conduct, and society which are a credit to mankind in general and which are pleasing and blessed by Divinity in particular. As such she is not just the Leader of the Free World, she is the protector and defender and the hope of the World that Would be Free, and as such, as true Citizens of the First Hope and as real Men of the Great Hope, let us not forget our duties or dismiss our obligations either to ourselves, our posterity, or to that lonely and yet to be liberated segment of the world yearning to be free, to live free, and to live well.
We are the Makers of Manners, we are the Liberators of Life, we are the Fortress of the Future, and we are the absolute and unbending Premise of the Present in this world and in this time.
We are free men, free born, and yet, when the time comes, when we are able, we shall also strive to lift up those like ourselves, around the world, who also cry out to be Independent and at Liberty from oppression. So join us in this Eternal Cause, and we shall be your brothers. Fight with us, for your own sakes and for the sake of everyone else who would be free, who would do their own best duty in their own best way, and we shall be your friends, and we shall not fail you.
Happy Birthday America.
God Bless You, and never forget that you war forever in the good cause.
And although at times exhausting, that is a far better and more noble and more selfless cause than any other.
© JWG, Jr. 2007
The Declaration of Independence
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
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 benefit 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 & 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 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.
New 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
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wednesday Religious Assessment 6/27/07
Wednesday Religious Assessment
Pope has Talk with Blair
Next Election
Elizabeth Edwards Goes West
Who Goest There?
Diagnosing Limbo
Gaza Goes to Hell in a Hamasbasket
The Elite View
CYRIL: CATECHESIS THAT EMBRACES BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT
VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2007 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis during today's general audience to St. Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387), whom he described as a bishop of a great "ecclesiastical culture, centered on the study of the Bible." The general audience, Benedict XVI's hundredth, began with his greeting pilgrims in St. Peter's Basilica, then continued in the Paul VI Hall. It was attended by around 7,000 people.
Cyril, the Pope explained, was consecrated a bishop in 348 by Acacius, metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine and a supporter of Arianism. However, soon afterwards the two men came into contrast, "not only in the doctrinal field, but also in the area of jurisprudence, because Cyril claimed the autonomy of his see from the metropolitan see of Caesarea." He was exiled thee times and only in 378, following the death of the emperor Valens, could Cyril return to his see, "restoring unity and peace among the faithful." Of this saint we have his "Catecheses," 24 catechetical lectures introduced by a prologue.
"Catechesis," the Holy Father explained, "was an important moment, inserted into the broad context of the entire life - and especially the liturgical life - of the Christian community" where "the future faithful were gestated, accompanied by the prayer and witness of their brethren. This was a very important moment, it was not just an intellectual catechesis, but a way of learning to live in the Christian community. As a whole, Cyril's homilies constitute a systematic and pragmatic catechesis on the rebirth of Christians through Baptism."
From a doctrinal point of view, Cyril uses his work - through "a 'symphonic' relationship between the two Testaments" - to reach "Christ, center of the universe." In his moral catechesis, he invites people "to transform pagan forms of behavior on the basis of the new life in Christ." In his "mystagogic" catechesis, he brings the newly baptized "to discover the hidden mysteries ... contained in the baptismal rites."
"The mystery to be understood is the design of God which is accomplished through the salvific action of Christ in the Church. The mystagogic dimension is, in turn, accompanied by the dimension of symbols which express the spiritual experience they bring about."
"This is, then," the Pope concluded, "an integral catechesis which - involving body, soul and spirit - remains emblematic for the catechetical formation of Christians today. Let us ask the Lord to help us understand a Christianity that truly embraces all of our existence and makes us credible witnesses of Christ, true God and true man."
AG/CYRIL OF JERUSALEM/... VIS 070627 (440)
Pope has Talk with Blair
Next Election
Elizabeth Edwards Goes West
Who Goest There?
Diagnosing Limbo
Gaza Goes to Hell in a Hamasbasket
The Elite View
CYRIL: CATECHESIS THAT EMBRACES BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT
VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2007 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis during today's general audience to St. Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387), whom he described as a bishop of a great "ecclesiastical culture, centered on the study of the Bible." The general audience, Benedict XVI's hundredth, began with his greeting pilgrims in St. Peter's Basilica, then continued in the Paul VI Hall. It was attended by around 7,000 people.
Cyril, the Pope explained, was consecrated a bishop in 348 by Acacius, metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine and a supporter of Arianism. However, soon afterwards the two men came into contrast, "not only in the doctrinal field, but also in the area of jurisprudence, because Cyril claimed the autonomy of his see from the metropolitan see of Caesarea." He was exiled thee times and only in 378, following the death of the emperor Valens, could Cyril return to his see, "restoring unity and peace among the faithful." Of this saint we have his "Catecheses," 24 catechetical lectures introduced by a prologue.
"Catechesis," the Holy Father explained, "was an important moment, inserted into the broad context of the entire life - and especially the liturgical life - of the Christian community" where "the future faithful were gestated, accompanied by the prayer and witness of their brethren. This was a very important moment, it was not just an intellectual catechesis, but a way of learning to live in the Christian community. As a whole, Cyril's homilies constitute a systematic and pragmatic catechesis on the rebirth of Christians through Baptism."
From a doctrinal point of view, Cyril uses his work - through "a 'symphonic' relationship between the two Testaments" - to reach "Christ, center of the universe." In his moral catechesis, he invites people "to transform pagan forms of behavior on the basis of the new life in Christ." In his "mystagogic" catechesis, he brings the newly baptized "to discover the hidden mysteries ... contained in the baptismal rites."
"The mystery to be understood is the design of God which is accomplished through the salvific action of Christ in the Church. The mystagogic dimension is, in turn, accompanied by the dimension of symbols which express the spiritual experience they bring about."
"This is, then," the Pope concluded, "an integral catechesis which - involving body, soul and spirit - remains emblematic for the catechetical formation of Christians today. Let us ask the Lord to help us understand a Christianity that truly embraces all of our existence and makes us credible witnesses of Christ, true God and true man."
AG/CYRIL OF JERUSALEM/... VIS 070627 (440)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Civil War
The Exchange - Civil War
Since my daughters are homeschooled we have been watching the Ken Burn's documentary about the Civil War over the past two weeks as part of our study of history. That documentary is my favorite documentary and I've seen it three of four times since I saw the original broadcast.
But watching it this time with my daughters two things struck me as they never have before. First I was struck by the fact that despite having grown up in the South and lived here most of my life and dearly loving this part of this country of mine I am more certain than ever before that I would have gone north to Yankeedom to fight for the Union in that particular war. My
religious and even my political convictions would have probably rendered any other outcome impossible. Certainly very unlikely. Even as a small boy I remember thinking I would never fight for any cause which threatened another man's enslavement. That being said I am still to this day amazed however by how mediocre, even disastrous, was the military leadership of the North in general, and yet how tremendous the political leadership of the North in particular. And yet with the South all things were as reversed. Their military leadership was little short of brilliant and their political leadership hardly worth the mentioning. An Army of giants built upon a government of misshapen and dwarfish, petty ideals. It makes me wonder if this was not as it was always meant to be. The world is as it is because they were as they were. It is hard, very hard, for me to imagine that war, as it was conducted, as it was concluded, not being as surely foreordained as the Birth of Man himself. Indeed it was a kind of Rebirth of America, if not even of Man himself, as a new thing. War is such a very strange thing, that washes away all of our past sins in a bath of blood to cleanse us and make us ready for the sins of tomorrow. It is like a womb of wrong we must begrudgingly inhabit, and yet without it the day of new life never comes. Tomorrow is never born.
The second thing that struck me this time, really struck me - like a hammer blow to my skull - was how much of all we are today was foreshadowed in that war. Battleships, a more true and just Republican democracy, mass communications and transport, concentration camps, warfare against civilian populations and terrorism, lightning attacks, modern espionage, modern cities and industry, guerilla and unconventional warfare, the machine gun, vast leaps forward in all kinds and varieties of technology, political reform, modern civil rights, political corruption and reform, leadership a century ahead of time, leadership centuries behind the times, and the incredible, if not outright suicidal bravery of the American soldier embarked upon that cause he and his leaders feel is just enough to fight for. It is hard to see the American soldier of the Second World War and the modern American combatant in Afghanistan and Iraq and not see him outlined in the Soldiers of the campaigns of the Civil War. That war, like many wars, but that war especially and in particular, just as with the Second World War, was a prophecy and harbinger of things to come which I doubt very seriously that we will escape before the turn of the next century, or beyond. If ever.
If history is a stream which never runs dry then the Civil War was truly the Mississippi of our nation's capital frontier. And an omen for the world to come.
It is like visiting the graveyard of your ancestors only to discover that those ghosts never stayed aground, but wander around you still, their burial more a memory
than a fact.
Anyway, it was a graveyard worth revisiting, and a memory worth the disinterment.
Save This Page
Since my daughters are homeschooled we have been watching the Ken Burn's documentary about the Civil War over the past two weeks as part of our study of history. That documentary is my favorite documentary and I've seen it three of four times since I saw the original broadcast.But watching it this time with my daughters two things struck me as they never have before. First I was struck by the fact that despite having grown up in the South and lived here most of my life and dearly loving this part of this country of mine I am more certain than ever before that I would have gone north to Yankeedom to fight for the Union in that particular war. My
religious and even my political convictions would have probably rendered any other outcome impossible. Certainly very unlikely. Even as a small boy I remember thinking I would never fight for any cause which threatened another man's enslavement. That being said I am still to this day amazed however by how mediocre, even disastrous, was the military leadership of the North in general, and yet how tremendous the political leadership of the North in particular. And yet with the South all things were as reversed. Their military leadership was little short of brilliant and their political leadership hardly worth the mentioning. An Army of giants built upon a government of misshapen and dwarfish, petty ideals. It makes me wonder if this was not as it was always meant to be. The world is as it is because they were as they were. It is hard, very hard, for me to imagine that war, as it was conducted, as it was concluded, not being as surely foreordained as the Birth of Man himself. Indeed it was a kind of Rebirth of America, if not even of Man himself, as a new thing. War is such a very strange thing, that washes away all of our past sins in a bath of blood to cleanse us and make us ready for the sins of tomorrow. It is like a womb of wrong we must begrudgingly inhabit, and yet without it the day of new life never comes. Tomorrow is never born.The second thing that struck me this time, really struck me - like a hammer blow to my skull - was how much of all we are today was foreshadowed in that war. Battleships, a more true and just Republican democracy, mass communications and transport, concentration camps, warfare against civilian populations and terrorism, lightning attacks, modern espionage, modern cities and industry, guerilla and unconventional warfare, the machine gun, vast leaps forward in all kinds and varieties of technology, political reform, modern civil rights, political corruption and reform, leadership a century ahead of time, leadership centuries behind the times, and the incredible, if not outright suicidal bravery of the American soldier embarked upon that cause he and his leaders feel is just enough to fight for. It is hard to see the American soldier of the Second World War and the modern American combatant in Afghanistan and Iraq and not see him outlined in the Soldiers of the campaigns of the Civil War. That war, like many wars, but that war especially and in particular, just as with the Second World War, was a prophecy and harbinger of things to come which I doubt very seriously that we will escape before the turn of the next century, or beyond. If ever.
If history is a stream which never runs dry then the Civil War was truly the Mississippi of our nation's capital frontier. And an omen for the world to come.
It is like visiting the graveyard of your ancestors only to discover that those ghosts never stayed aground, but wander around you still, their burial more a memory
than a fact.
Anyway, it was a graveyard worth revisiting, and a memory worth the disinterment.
Save This Page
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Exchange - No Dummy, No More…
The Exchange - No Dummy, No More…
What, exactly, to make of this story?
I can’t tell you, and in one sense I couldn’t care less.
While a good cross section of American popular culture and media has been both enamored of and entirely engrossed within the bounds of this silly story, I basically agreed with the statement posted by Hilton’s spokesman (whoever that might be) which basically concluded that, “much more important things are occurring in the world.”
Amen, brother, or sister. A helluvah lot more important.
And while I suspect Paris Hilton is no genius (nor am I the kinda person who thinks genius is the most important human quality or trait anyhow, but it is often better than the alternative), just from looking at her, I had assumed she was not nearly as stupid as her obvious public pretense. I just thought she was a gawky, frightened, somewhat ill mannered (but that problem really lies at the feet of her parents), naive, clumsy, likely arrogant (ditto the parents) little child. I don’t understand why that is important (in any respect); such kids are a dime a dozen in modern America, as much of a viper’s nest of self-absorbed, juvenile, not terribly bright, little narcissistic freaks as this nation currently and consistently produces through sexual union (though I’m hoping to God that will be changing pretty soon with the still younger generations). In other words Paris Hilton is common currency in America, she’s just more uncommonly common in her public persona than most.
But while visiting a message board I saw the article above and clicked on the link to see exactly what the girl had said and to try and decipher exactly what she might possibly mean.
Now I don’t take people at their word, unless I know them extremely well and have good evidence accrued over a long period of time and personal interaction that their word has some value beyond the decibel count and vapor cloud by which it is transmitted. And I’m also aware that many people say exactly what they wish, and sometimes even accidentally and lightly intend, when faced with pressures exerted by forces beyond their immediate control.
Does this chick mean anything she says?
Who knows? I don’t.
I don’t know this gal from Eve or Little Orphan Annie.
But assuming she is serious, even for just a moment, then maybe this is a story of personal redemption (how far it will go and how long it will last, again, who knows?) of the old fashioned kind.
And if it is, and that is a big if, then, go ahead girl. I won’t try and stop you.
Go ahead, repent, and redirect yourself. It’s no skin off my teeth and may even add life to yours. Your skin that is.
And thank the Judge who helped put you in the spot where you were faced with no other choice but to confront your past mistakes and find some method of correcting those juvenile personality traits you’ve previously vomited forth in great profusion, because contrary to those sycophants hovering around you, he gave you good for evil instead of telling you that whatever you do is good. Which is the kind of thing you tell a fool. So, maybe he thought he saw something more than a fool in you, and maybe he was right. Time will tell I reckon.
I can’t say I like you of course, because I don’t know you, I can’t say I think you’re a great looking gal either (you’re awfully skinny and stick-like for my tastes, you might try eating better), I can’t say that part of me isn’t really enjoying your plight, but I can say this, if you change, if you are sincere, then God be with you little girl and you’ll have my best wishes and even my occasional prayers. If you do learn, then learn, learn well, and remember long. Then make use of that.
Be as great and famous a young woman as you can be and not just a woman seeking greatness through fame.
You got your punishment, use it for something worthwhile, exploit this situation for the good of your own soul, and not just for the good of your brand, and one day you might even be good for somebody other than yourself.
Not that you care about my opinion, should care about my opinion, will ever read this, or need my advice and counsel.
But in any case if you are now on the right path then stay there, prosper, thrive, and do good as well as merely doing well.
And if you do then maybe this will be an important story after all.
We’ll see…
© JWG, Jr. 2007
I can’t tell you, and in one sense I couldn’t care less.
While a good cross section of American popular culture and media has been both enamored of and entirely engrossed within the bounds of this silly story, I basically agreed with the statement posted by Hilton’s spokesman (whoever that might be) which basically concluded that, “much more important things are occurring in the world.”
Amen, brother, or sister. A helluvah lot more important.
And while I suspect Paris Hilton is no genius (nor am I the kinda person who thinks genius is the most important human quality or trait anyhow, but it is often better than the alternative), just from looking at her, I had assumed she was not nearly as stupid as her obvious public pretense. I just thought she was a gawky, frightened, somewhat ill mannered (but that problem really lies at the feet of her parents), naive, clumsy, likely arrogant (ditto the parents) little child. I don’t understand why that is important (in any respect); such kids are a dime a dozen in modern America, as much of a viper’s nest of self-absorbed, juvenile, not terribly bright, little narcissistic freaks as this nation currently and consistently produces through sexual union (though I’m hoping to God that will be changing pretty soon with the still younger generations). In other words Paris Hilton is common currency in America, she’s just more uncommonly common in her public persona than most.
But while visiting a message board I saw the article above and clicked on the link to see exactly what the girl had said and to try and decipher exactly what she might possibly mean.
Now I don’t take people at their word, unless I know them extremely well and have good evidence accrued over a long period of time and personal interaction that their word has some value beyond the decibel count and vapor cloud by which it is transmitted. And I’m also aware that many people say exactly what they wish, and sometimes even accidentally and lightly intend, when faced with pressures exerted by forces beyond their immediate control.
Does this chick mean anything she says?
Who knows? I don’t.
I don’t know this gal from Eve or Little Orphan Annie.
But assuming she is serious, even for just a moment, then maybe this is a story of personal redemption (how far it will go and how long it will last, again, who knows?) of the old fashioned kind.
And if it is, and that is a big if, then, go ahead girl. I won’t try and stop you.
Go ahead, repent, and redirect yourself. It’s no skin off my teeth and may even add life to yours. Your skin that is.
And thank the Judge who helped put you in the spot where you were faced with no other choice but to confront your past mistakes and find some method of correcting those juvenile personality traits you’ve previously vomited forth in great profusion, because contrary to those sycophants hovering around you, he gave you good for evil instead of telling you that whatever you do is good. Which is the kind of thing you tell a fool. So, maybe he thought he saw something more than a fool in you, and maybe he was right. Time will tell I reckon.
I can’t say I like you of course, because I don’t know you, I can’t say I think you’re a great looking gal either (you’re awfully skinny and stick-like for my tastes, you might try eating better), I can’t say that part of me isn’t really enjoying your plight, but I can say this, if you change, if you are sincere, then God be with you little girl and you’ll have my best wishes and even my occasional prayers. If you do learn, then learn, learn well, and remember long. Then make use of that.
Be as great and famous a young woman as you can be and not just a woman seeking greatness through fame.
You got your punishment, use it for something worthwhile, exploit this situation for the good of your own soul, and not just for the good of your brand, and one day you might even be good for somebody other than yourself.
Not that you care about my opinion, should care about my opinion, will ever read this, or need my advice and counsel.
But in any case if you are now on the right path then stay there, prosper, thrive, and do good as well as merely doing well.
And if you do then maybe this will be an important story after all.
We’ll see…
© JWG, Jr. 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
A Day in Memory
The Exchange - A Day in Memory
Happy Memorial Day
Happy Memorial Day 2007 to all of my family, to all of my buddies, and to everyone serving from my church in the Middle East/Gulf, Europe, Africa, and in the Pacific.
I know your job is hard, that it’s a difficult slog sometimes, that you’re far from home, sometimes scared, and sometimes bored out of your skull. That it’s dangerous and difficult from time to time, when you’ve finally got enough time to think about it anyways, and that you miss your family and home. That you won't get a day off for Memorial Day. But to everyone I know, in or out, thanks for what you’ve done for everyone else. I love you all, think about you often and try to pray for you daily. I’m glad to call you friends, and family.
So take care, be cautious, do your job, live well, and come back home safe.
Especially my nephew in the Pacific. I know it’s been rough for a'while but we got your latest pictures and you seemed to be looking and doing very well. We miss ya kid and we often pray for you. When you get some leave stateside then drop by and see us.
The girls said to tell you that you looked super-hyper cool in your big-daddy pimp hat.
One day you’ll have to tell me who the baby is, and who your buddy was in the pic you sent.
I’m getting whatever you’re sending now.
When you get the chance then send me some pics of the local area and some of the local-yokels where you’re stationed. Send me some shots of the beach and ocean where you and the little woman go diving.
Take care of yourself and we’ll keep thinking about you.
As for my old buddy Sandman. I’m not really sure where you’re at right now, and it’s not really important I guess, but when you get back we’ll discuss it then. Like we did the last time. I hope your projects are going well and your command is smooth.
If there is anything I can ever do for any of you then let me know.
You know that already but I’m just saying it anyways.
As for the young Mr. Sandman (Sandman Jr.): I got your invitation to attend your graduation ceremony and I’m certainly honored by the invitation. Unfortunately I doubt I’ll be in Germany anytime soon and so will miss the graduation, but when you get stateside and go visit your grandfather then drop by and see me or give me a ring.
I’ll send out a private email with our new phone number. If you ever need a place to pitch your head one weekend then come on by. We’ll put you up in the guest room.
I do know that your mother and father are very proud of you, with good reason. So good luck and Godspeed with your graduation. You’re a fine young man from what I hear tell of, and that can’t be all bad. I remember when you were born and still squirting your diapers. Your dad was as proud as a peacock and jittery as a June bug. You’ve come a long way young man. I guess that makes me some kinda ancient fart sure enough. I guess I’m also kinda glad I lived to get far enough to hear about you graduating.
So Happy Memorial Day everybody.
In memory then till we meet again.
By the way I know that some of you, depending on where you’re stationed, miss the green. This morning I got up early and played hooky from church. It was just so beautiful out that I couldn’t sit inside a building this morning. So I got my Rudding pack and my camera and went out to the lake to do a little walk-about. I had just planned to follow the run off and cross the stream at the outlet but instead I ended up making a real expedition out of it.
I found my way around all of the barriers and even over and through a few and made my way to the spillway for the run off of the flood plain to snap a few with my field camera. In addition I got several of the surrounding buildings. The lighting was pretty intense though cause the sun was really glowing and so some of them look kinda washed from the glare. All these shots are untreated. No manipulation, just as is.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, if you’re gonna infiltrate then always go when and where everybody else is not. And holidays and a coupla hours before sunrise, those are always the best times. Everyone is off doing their own thing or they’re bedded down, or both, and there you go. Free and unrestricted access to wherever you need to be. No questions asked.
So I got some good shots of some good places and no one ever knew I was there. It was very relaxing despite the heat and the length of the hike. It actually turned out to be, all told, one of the best vadding runs I’ve had in months. I wish I could post everything I shot but I’ll show you guys in person my photographic and film files when I see you in person.
Anywho I got a lot of greenery too as everything is in bloom, the weather is just now turning really warm, and it was a nice area. Summer is now just around the corner in this neck of the woods. So if you miss the green cause all you’re seeing is sand and stone then here you go people. Enjoy.
The waterway from the creek with the old iron support braces/I-beams
Part of the pathway through the forest
The growth running near the swamp
Happy Memorial Day
Happy Memorial Day 2007 to all of my family, to all of my buddies, and to everyone serving from my church in the Middle East/Gulf, Europe, Africa, and in the Pacific.
I know your job is hard, that it’s a difficult slog sometimes, that you’re far from home, sometimes scared, and sometimes bored out of your skull. That it’s dangerous and difficult from time to time, when you’ve finally got enough time to think about it anyways, and that you miss your family and home. That you won't get a day off for Memorial Day. But to everyone I know, in or out, thanks for what you’ve done for everyone else. I love you all, think about you often and try to pray for you daily. I’m glad to call you friends, and family.
So take care, be cautious, do your job, live well, and come back home safe.
Especially my nephew in the Pacific. I know it’s been rough for a'while but we got your latest pictures and you seemed to be looking and doing very well. We miss ya kid and we often pray for you. When you get some leave stateside then drop by and see us.
The girls said to tell you that you looked super-hyper cool in your big-daddy pimp hat.
One day you’ll have to tell me who the baby is, and who your buddy was in the pic you sent.
I’m getting whatever you’re sending now.
When you get the chance then send me some pics of the local area and some of the local-yokels where you’re stationed. Send me some shots of the beach and ocean where you and the little woman go diving.
Take care of yourself and we’ll keep thinking about you.
As for my old buddy Sandman. I’m not really sure where you’re at right now, and it’s not really important I guess, but when you get back we’ll discuss it then. Like we did the last time. I hope your projects are going well and your command is smooth.
If there is anything I can ever do for any of you then let me know.
You know that already but I’m just saying it anyways.
As for the young Mr. Sandman (Sandman Jr.): I got your invitation to attend your graduation ceremony and I’m certainly honored by the invitation. Unfortunately I doubt I’ll be in Germany anytime soon and so will miss the graduation, but when you get stateside and go visit your grandfather then drop by and see me or give me a ring.
I’ll send out a private email with our new phone number. If you ever need a place to pitch your head one weekend then come on by. We’ll put you up in the guest room.
I do know that your mother and father are very proud of you, with good reason. So good luck and Godspeed with your graduation. You’re a fine young man from what I hear tell of, and that can’t be all bad. I remember when you were born and still squirting your diapers. Your dad was as proud as a peacock and jittery as a June bug. You’ve come a long way young man. I guess that makes me some kinda ancient fart sure enough. I guess I’m also kinda glad I lived to get far enough to hear about you graduating.
So Happy Memorial Day everybody.
In memory then till we meet again.
By the way I know that some of you, depending on where you’re stationed, miss the green. This morning I got up early and played hooky from church. It was just so beautiful out that I couldn’t sit inside a building this morning. So I got my Rudding pack and my camera and went out to the lake to do a little walk-about. I had just planned to follow the run off and cross the stream at the outlet but instead I ended up making a real expedition out of it.
I found my way around all of the barriers and even over and through a few and made my way to the spillway for the run off of the flood plain to snap a few with my field camera. In addition I got several of the surrounding buildings. The lighting was pretty intense though cause the sun was really glowing and so some of them look kinda washed from the glare. All these shots are untreated. No manipulation, just as is.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, if you’re gonna infiltrate then always go when and where everybody else is not. And holidays and a coupla hours before sunrise, those are always the best times. Everyone is off doing their own thing or they’re bedded down, or both, and there you go. Free and unrestricted access to wherever you need to be. No questions asked.
So I got some good shots of some good places and no one ever knew I was there. It was very relaxing despite the heat and the length of the hike. It actually turned out to be, all told, one of the best vadding runs I’ve had in months. I wish I could post everything I shot but I’ll show you guys in person my photographic and film files when I see you in person.
Anywho I got a lot of greenery too as everything is in bloom, the weather is just now turning really warm, and it was a nice area. Summer is now just around the corner in this neck of the woods. So if you miss the green cause all you’re seeing is sand and stone then here you go people. Enjoy.
The waterway from the creek with the old iron support braces/I-beams
Part of the pathway through the forest
The growth running near the swamp
Approaching the spillway from below
The spillway from above
The floodpath from the lake
I wish I could convey through these photographs just how big this spillway and the floodpath really were.
The bottom of the spillway and the floodhole. The place stank of skeeters and gnats. I’m glad I didn’t have to pitch anywhere nearby as they would have tried pecking my eyes out if I’d stuck around awhile. Also a lot of bloodflies. A few tried drawing off my neck but luckily I had my beard full and thick all over my neck and face. Made it hard for them to score my flesh but it also made me sweat like a stuffed sow. In the muck I saw jump a muskrat as long as my arm and the blackest, slimiest bullfrog I’ve ever seen. Don’t see how they lived in that mess. It wasn’t green, it was black, so black it was like a mered mirror, and smelled like typhoid.
Looking up. It was a steep climb out.
Looking across the mouth of the chute.
Part of the regulation system. You can see a huge nest built along the top of the scaffolding.
An abandoned CPW control building.
The climbable side of the building (with a grapple).
An I-beam in the water.
Well, that’s about all I’m posting for today. The hike was fun but the whole place was rectally deep in ticks. It crawled. When I finally got back home I showered and pulled off 6 ticks and 3 or 4 deer ticks. It’s gonna be heavy this summer.
© JWG, Jr. 2007
Save This Page
Saturday, May 12, 2007
An Incident in the Western Woods: A Lesson Learned
The Orbit of Justice - An Incident in the Western Woods: A Lesson Learned
An incident with the law occurred today which was both amusing to me, somewhat troublesome, and a cause for minor concern.
My daughter became ill at church service today so she asked me to take her home. I did, and about noon I made her a salad for lunch and made one for myself as well, and we both sat down and started eating. Not long after that my Great Bernard, who was in the house began to bark like crazy. I looked outside to see my Great Dane bitch and her remaining puppies following along behind a tall boy, (or young man) it was difficult to tell from that distance, walking across our front yard near the north tree line, between our house and the road in front of our house. I thought from the size of the guy, and his slimness of build, that it might be my nephew Bear who occasionally hits golf balls into our yard from his land across the road (then he’ll come to retrieve them).
I called to the guy but he was facing away from me and he continued on into the woods, towards the road, without looking back and I assumed it was possible that he couldn’t hear my shouts over the barking of the dogs. My bitch followed him as far as the wood-line and then stopped pursuit, which it is common for her to do with my nephew as well. Since my daughter was alone in the house aside from my Great Bernard I also decided not to follow.
About 1300 my wife comes home from church and then shortly after that my younger brother bursts into the house saying that the “law is crawling all over your property.” I asked what it was about and he said they had arrested a guy fitting the description of the guy I had seen earlier near the Northwest end of my property on the old logging road.
I walked down in the woods and eventually my wife circled around by road and I had her drive all of us down to the old logging road, which is on the far Western end of the property, on the part of the property my father still owns. Sure enough there was a cop, a single patrolman and single cruiser which had pulled in behind a suspicious car that had been parked on the road in front of our house near our drive a couple of days before, but had eventually been moved. I had already taken down the tag number as it is my habit to note anything suspicious about anything anywhere I go because it might come in handy later. But the car was later moved and I had assumed it was simply a break-down that had later been towed away.
Sure enough it was the same car from days before and the cop had the suspect in the back seat of his cruiser and he fit the description of the guy walking across my yard, but it was easier to see him now, as he was much closer.
That wasn’t the amusing part though. That came as I walked up on the cop. I asked him if I could assist him, that he was on my land, and did he need help because I suspected that this guy was the same guy who had crossed my yard a few minutes before. He asked me to describe him and I did and then he said, “Do you have ID on you?” To which I said, “No, I live right up the hill here but didn’t expect I’d need any since this is my land.”
“How do I know you are who you are and that this is really your land?” A perfectly good and reasonable question and the same I would have asked in his situation. He continued, “Look, Sir, let me explain, I’m out here in the wilderness by myself, I just arrested this guy, you show up here, you have no ID and now I see other people in the car you got out of. I’m here alone.”
I didn’t answer but just turned around to face away from him, put my hands in the air and said “Search me.”
He did and did a fairly thorough job too, except for my boots. Then he said, “Does your wife have ID?” I said “yes,” and he said, “let’s go to her car.”
So we started to her car but then he noticed my boots and said, “Wait a second, let me check your boots.” And he did. Now this might shock a lot of you who know me but this is the very first time I’ve ever been body searched and frisked in the field. I’ve had my equipment searched on plenty of occasions, but never my person. But of course I’m extremely familiar with the drill, though he couldn’t have known that, and it didn’t matter anyhow. He still had a job to do.
He got my wife’s ID and checked her out and then my brother pulled up, and he checked him out too. My brother had said the law was crawling over my property but it actually turned out to be a single patrolman and a single cruiser. That was one of the reasons I had approached the scene so casually and had not thought much about the consequences, because I thought the arresting officer would have had plenty of backup, and we had approached the locale from around a corner of the logging road. But the officer was alone.
At that point, after having verified what he could the officer apologized several times and very earnestly saying, “I hope you understand that I’m not trying to be anti-social or anything but I just arrested this guy and I have a wife and kids and I don’t intend to get lynched out here in the wilderness all by myself.” I laughed and told him I understood how he felt, and although he couldn’t have known how sincere I was, I did indeed understand exactly how he felt. Many is the time I have been alone in dangerous situations with armed and potentially armed men around me and I’ve been quite uncertain of their motives, possible involvement, or desire to become involved in one affair or another, if you know what I mean. So I told him there was no need to apologize, I understood his position and didn’t realize I had made him that nervous or that I had appeared that threatening. He told me I never really acted threatening, but certainly appeared that way, especially coming up on him from behind while he was alone and off the road. Well away from back-up. I understood that too since I operate alone and don’t like getting caught bareback to a silent wind. I think what bothered him the most was how calm I was but I felt no danger, he was a cop, and I knew I’d be no trouble to him. He though wasn’t so sure of the matter from his end I reckon.
He then asked my brother and I for help to strip off the stolen plates on the vehicle and my brother said he would go fetch a socket and I told him if he needed any help where he could find me and I had my wife drive me out of the woods.
Once I got home I prepared my camera. Once the officer leaves the area, and I assume he’s waiting for a tow to take that car out of the woods, I’m going back to sweep the entire area. That guy wasn’t in my woods or on that road or living around this area for at least a couple of days without a reason. He was looking for something, or someone, waiting for something or someone, living out of his car or in some nearby abandoned structure, or somewhere nearby is a possible nest of criminal activity or perhaps a Meth lab in the woods (that is my brother’s supposition, and it seems logical enough, but not very likely given where I think he was holed up). My brother also put me onto something else which I’m gonna be investigating starting tomorrow. But I’m gonna have to go in with equipment and prepared in case the place has traps laid out. If there is a lab operating somewhere, a nest, a dive, or even if somebody is simply growing weed
The funny thing about all of this is that over the years I’ve had my run-ins with uniformed officers. But every time I do I almost always forget that they aren’t aware of who I am, or that I know exactly what they are gonna do. But for their part they don’t know that I know exactly what they are gonna do and this very often makes them extremely squirrelly, which from their point of view of course, I guess it should. For instance when I got back in the car my wife read me the riot act for the way I approached the officer and started interrogating him. It is my natural inclination whenever I see trouble to move straight towards it and start investigating. It is also my natural habit to begin immediately questioning the people around me and to just assume that any scene is my scene to investigate, that I’m the one handling the investigation. But from the point of view of the uniform, who doesn’t know what is going on or what I’m doing it must seem awful strange. This deputy didn’t know who I was, what I was doing, why I was there, or by what right I should be questioning him. Furthermore, and again this is a personal habit from years and years of doing that kinda thing, and because that is my nature and personality, my wife said that when I first approached the officer I walked straight up to him and “got all in his personal space.” To which I guess that is true, I didn’t really notice, but it would be natural for me to get as close as possible to someone to read their mannerisms and facial expressions. Which I guess made the officer very nervous.
Also, although I didn’t see this, my wife and daughter said that when I spun around for the officer to pat me down he immediately backed away from me and touched his sidearm. Now even as he was talking to me and asked me if I had any ID and I said “no,” and then he asked me, “How do I know you are who you say you are,” it immediately occurred to me that if I were him what I would do is frisk me. You can’t prove your story just on your word so just let him cover me and that’ll make him feel better. So instead of answering I just spun around and put my hands in the air. That spooked him pretty good according to my wife and daughter. My daughter later told me that she thought I was gonna get busted on the spot and my wife said, “I thought he was gonna draw down on you.” Now I didn’t think a thing about this at the time, but, in retrospect, it must have looked suspicious to him. Now me, being me, and having been in similar situations, I knew exactly what he was thinking and would do next, so to myself I just said, “Oh hell, he’s gonna frisk me, so let’s just get on with it and it’ll save us both a lot of time and trouble.” But to him it could have easily looked like, this guy has been arrested before and knows the drill all too easily. I’ve never been arrested and never even frisked before then, but I knew the drill, even what he was thinking, so just by instinct I reached for the air and spun around. But he couldn’t know I knew what he was gonna do so that must have spooked him pretty bad according to my wife and girl.
I keep telling myself I’m never gonna do that again, never let on I know stuff like that, but every time it happens, I keep thinking, this is what comes next, or ‘if I were him this is what I’d do’ and so I just do it anyway, which must seem kinda odd to the uniform. After all, as I said above, he doesn’t know that I know what he knows, and he doesn’t know why I should know what he knows, or how it is I know that.
Anyway after getting home from the store my wife and daughter fussed at me again about the way I approached the entire incident and although it made me laugh, because I hadn’t realized how nervous and unsure the officer had actually been, so concentrated was I on picking up on anything useful from the scene, after thinking about it awhile I realized they were right, and I kinda felt bad. That poor Deputy had no idea what was going on, how I knew what I knew, or why I was acting like I did, and although I have no intention of telling him, I could have played it a lot easier for him. No doubt he was honest when he told me he was afraid I’d lynch him in the wilderness (I live here and know the whole area like the back of my hand, so I don’t think of it as wilderness) and maybe indeed he did feel the need to unholster his weapon just in case and maybe he was as nervous as my wife and daughter seemed to think he was. I was so concentrated on finding out what I could that I never really read him, I was focused on reading the incident and the scene. I never thought of him as a danger and so didn’t bother reading him to see how he was squaring everything.
Whenever I’m in a situation like that it seems like things just go on automatic and I start assessing and taking over, thinking of it as my scene, what I would do, how I would handle it. Getting up in people’s faces, asking questions, verifying information, gathering intelligence. Whereas the officer there has every right to think of it as his scene, and to get nervous about some guy getting in the middle of something he really shouldn’t be that aware of unless he’s a part of it. Which I am, but they just don’t know that. So in the future I’m gonna try to be far more sensitive towards others and try to better control my instincts and habits so I don’t give them a minor heart attack in my zeal to get on top of the case or situation. I have a feeling it’s gonna be hard, cause it goes against everything in my nature, and most everything I’ve ever trained for, because I’m so used to working things alone, but really I’ve got no right to make some poor officer who just happens to get in the same circle as me sweat and start worrying that maybe he won’t make it home that night just because I’m pursuing a personal matter in my own way.
Still, that Deputy will have quite a story to tell his buddies at shift change at the sub-station. I can hear him now, “yeah, this guy comes up outta nowhere from the woods, gets right up in my face and starts asking me questions, and when I start questioning him back he spins around like a top and throws his hands straight up in the air rather than answer me. I was about to drill that SOB right then. I was not gonna get killed out in the wilderness somewhere.” He and his buddies will get a good laugh outta that one. I know I did, and I suspect some of you guys will as well.
UPDATE: It turned out from an investigation I was able to make that evening, after the police had hauled off the derelict vehicle, that the boy was a squatter.
There is an old, abandoned, small 4 room house in the woods, about a quarter of a mile from the road, parallel to but slightly to the north-east of the logging trail. The boy they arrested had obviously broken into this old house, which to my knowledge had been used for at least the past decade as a storehouse of various old goods and junk left by the last owner (whom I’m not sure is still living). The boy had then set up shop in the house apparently turning it into his squatter’s shack.
Although the house is not on my land it is not far from my land and so after the cops left I threw on some dark clothes, since I got out there in the evening, put on my Rudding Pack, got my digital camera and one of my sidearms and hiked out to where it was. After a short investigation I found the door he had tripped and explored about the place photographing everything in case it was later needed as evidence for anything. I found nothing to indicate any real crimes of any consequence had been committed, other than the B&E and the squatting.
The boy had obviously been there awhile as you can see from the pics. He had set up shop and home, had some personal effects around, etc. I’m not sure if he had brought all of the Disney paraphernalia with him or had simply stolen it from the surrounding junk left by the previous owner. He had obviously brought in the chair and sleeping gear.
How he was obtaining food I’m not really sure. I found wild onions he had been taking, he had probably been taking frogs and possibly fish from the nearby river, and there were small items like half-eaten bags of potato chips. I found out from local sources that he possibly had a girlfriend assisting him in the area. She was possibly helping him obtain small items of food or maybe he was stealing it from nearby houses and farms. I found no money or drug stashes.
The Disney and child-like theme he used for decoration kinda concerned me because the kid was far too old to have any interest in that type of stuff unless he was psychosocially retarded to some high degree or unless it was already there and he simply confiscated it because it was the only source of decoration, entertainment, or distraction he had available to him. Otherwise he shouldn’t have been so enamored of it.
I’m almost certain the motorcycle was left there by the previous owners, not brought in by the boy.
Now that I know he was squatting there I’m gonna be watching the place on occasion to see if he returns.
Pictures of what I discovered below.
An incident with the law occurred today which was both amusing to me, somewhat troublesome, and a cause for minor concern.
My daughter became ill at church service today so she asked me to take her home. I did, and about noon I made her a salad for lunch and made one for myself as well, and we both sat down and started eating. Not long after that my Great Bernard, who was in the house began to bark like crazy. I looked outside to see my Great Dane bitch and her remaining puppies following along behind a tall boy, (or young man) it was difficult to tell from that distance, walking across our front yard near the north tree line, between our house and the road in front of our house. I thought from the size of the guy, and his slimness of build, that it might be my nephew Bear who occasionally hits golf balls into our yard from his land across the road (then he’ll come to retrieve them).
I called to the guy but he was facing away from me and he continued on into the woods, towards the road, without looking back and I assumed it was possible that he couldn’t hear my shouts over the barking of the dogs. My bitch followed him as far as the wood-line and then stopped pursuit, which it is common for her to do with my nephew as well. Since my daughter was alone in the house aside from my Great Bernard I also decided not to follow.
About 1300 my wife comes home from church and then shortly after that my younger brother bursts into the house saying that the “law is crawling all over your property.” I asked what it was about and he said they had arrested a guy fitting the description of the guy I had seen earlier near the Northwest end of my property on the old logging road.
I walked down in the woods and eventually my wife circled around by road and I had her drive all of us down to the old logging road, which is on the far Western end of the property, on the part of the property my father still owns. Sure enough there was a cop, a single patrolman and single cruiser which had pulled in behind a suspicious car that had been parked on the road in front of our house near our drive a couple of days before, but had eventually been moved. I had already taken down the tag number as it is my habit to note anything suspicious about anything anywhere I go because it might come in handy later. But the car was later moved and I had assumed it was simply a break-down that had later been towed away.
Sure enough it was the same car from days before and the cop had the suspect in the back seat of his cruiser and he fit the description of the guy walking across my yard, but it was easier to see him now, as he was much closer.
That wasn’t the amusing part though. That came as I walked up on the cop. I asked him if I could assist him, that he was on my land, and did he need help because I suspected that this guy was the same guy who had crossed my yard a few minutes before. He asked me to describe him and I did and then he said, “Do you have ID on you?” To which I said, “No, I live right up the hill here but didn’t expect I’d need any since this is my land.”
“How do I know you are who you are and that this is really your land?” A perfectly good and reasonable question and the same I would have asked in his situation. He continued, “Look, Sir, let me explain, I’m out here in the wilderness by myself, I just arrested this guy, you show up here, you have no ID and now I see other people in the car you got out of. I’m here alone.”
I didn’t answer but just turned around to face away from him, put my hands in the air and said “Search me.”
He did and did a fairly thorough job too, except for my boots. Then he said, “Does your wife have ID?” I said “yes,” and he said, “let’s go to her car.”
So we started to her car but then he noticed my boots and said, “Wait a second, let me check your boots.” And he did. Now this might shock a lot of you who know me but this is the very first time I’ve ever been body searched and frisked in the field. I’ve had my equipment searched on plenty of occasions, but never my person. But of course I’m extremely familiar with the drill, though he couldn’t have known that, and it didn’t matter anyhow. He still had a job to do.
He got my wife’s ID and checked her out and then my brother pulled up, and he checked him out too. My brother had said the law was crawling over my property but it actually turned out to be a single patrolman and a single cruiser. That was one of the reasons I had approached the scene so casually and had not thought much about the consequences, because I thought the arresting officer would have had plenty of backup, and we had approached the locale from around a corner of the logging road. But the officer was alone.
At that point, after having verified what he could the officer apologized several times and very earnestly saying, “I hope you understand that I’m not trying to be anti-social or anything but I just arrested this guy and I have a wife and kids and I don’t intend to get lynched out here in the wilderness all by myself.” I laughed and told him I understood how he felt, and although he couldn’t have known how sincere I was, I did indeed understand exactly how he felt. Many is the time I have been alone in dangerous situations with armed and potentially armed men around me and I’ve been quite uncertain of their motives, possible involvement, or desire to become involved in one affair or another, if you know what I mean. So I told him there was no need to apologize, I understood his position and didn’t realize I had made him that nervous or that I had appeared that threatening. He told me I never really acted threatening, but certainly appeared that way, especially coming up on him from behind while he was alone and off the road. Well away from back-up. I understood that too since I operate alone and don’t like getting caught bareback to a silent wind. I think what bothered him the most was how calm I was but I felt no danger, he was a cop, and I knew I’d be no trouble to him. He though wasn’t so sure of the matter from his end I reckon.
He then asked my brother and I for help to strip off the stolen plates on the vehicle and my brother said he would go fetch a socket and I told him if he needed any help where he could find me and I had my wife drive me out of the woods.
Once I got home I prepared my camera. Once the officer leaves the area, and I assume he’s waiting for a tow to take that car out of the woods, I’m going back to sweep the entire area. That guy wasn’t in my woods or on that road or living around this area for at least a couple of days without a reason. He was looking for something, or someone, waiting for something or someone, living out of his car or in some nearby abandoned structure, or somewhere nearby is a possible nest of criminal activity or perhaps a Meth lab in the woods (that is my brother’s supposition, and it seems logical enough, but not very likely given where I think he was holed up). My brother also put me onto something else which I’m gonna be investigating starting tomorrow. But I’m gonna have to go in with equipment and prepared in case the place has traps laid out. If there is a lab operating somewhere, a nest, a dive, or even if somebody is simply growing weed
The funny thing about all of this is that over the years I’ve had my run-ins with uniformed officers. But every time I do I almost always forget that they aren’t aware of who I am, or that I know exactly what they are gonna do. But for their part they don’t know that I know exactly what they are gonna do and this very often makes them extremely squirrelly, which from their point of view of course, I guess it should. For instance when I got back in the car my wife read me the riot act for the way I approached the officer and started interrogating him. It is my natural inclination whenever I see trouble to move straight towards it and start investigating. It is also my natural habit to begin immediately questioning the people around me and to just assume that any scene is my scene to investigate, that I’m the one handling the investigation. But from the point of view of the uniform, who doesn’t know what is going on or what I’m doing it must seem awful strange. This deputy didn’t know who I was, what I was doing, why I was there, or by what right I should be questioning him. Furthermore, and again this is a personal habit from years and years of doing that kinda thing, and because that is my nature and personality, my wife said that when I first approached the officer I walked straight up to him and “got all in his personal space.” To which I guess that is true, I didn’t really notice, but it would be natural for me to get as close as possible to someone to read their mannerisms and facial expressions. Which I guess made the officer very nervous.
Also, although I didn’t see this, my wife and daughter said that when I spun around for the officer to pat me down he immediately backed away from me and touched his sidearm. Now even as he was talking to me and asked me if I had any ID and I said “no,” and then he asked me, “How do I know you are who you say you are,” it immediately occurred to me that if I were him what I would do is frisk me. You can’t prove your story just on your word so just let him cover me and that’ll make him feel better. So instead of answering I just spun around and put my hands in the air. That spooked him pretty good according to my wife and daughter. My daughter later told me that she thought I was gonna get busted on the spot and my wife said, “I thought he was gonna draw down on you.” Now I didn’t think a thing about this at the time, but, in retrospect, it must have looked suspicious to him. Now me, being me, and having been in similar situations, I knew exactly what he was thinking and would do next, so to myself I just said, “Oh hell, he’s gonna frisk me, so let’s just get on with it and it’ll save us both a lot of time and trouble.” But to him it could have easily looked like, this guy has been arrested before and knows the drill all too easily. I’ve never been arrested and never even frisked before then, but I knew the drill, even what he was thinking, so just by instinct I reached for the air and spun around. But he couldn’t know I knew what he was gonna do so that must have spooked him pretty bad according to my wife and girl.
I keep telling myself I’m never gonna do that again, never let on I know stuff like that, but every time it happens, I keep thinking, this is what comes next, or ‘if I were him this is what I’d do’ and so I just do it anyway, which must seem kinda odd to the uniform. After all, as I said above, he doesn’t know that I know what he knows, and he doesn’t know why I should know what he knows, or how it is I know that.
Anyway after getting home from the store my wife and daughter fussed at me again about the way I approached the entire incident and although it made me laugh, because I hadn’t realized how nervous and unsure the officer had actually been, so concentrated was I on picking up on anything useful from the scene, after thinking about it awhile I realized they were right, and I kinda felt bad. That poor Deputy had no idea what was going on, how I knew what I knew, or why I was acting like I did, and although I have no intention of telling him, I could have played it a lot easier for him. No doubt he was honest when he told me he was afraid I’d lynch him in the wilderness (I live here and know the whole area like the back of my hand, so I don’t think of it as wilderness) and maybe indeed he did feel the need to unholster his weapon just in case and maybe he was as nervous as my wife and daughter seemed to think he was. I was so concentrated on finding out what I could that I never really read him, I was focused on reading the incident and the scene. I never thought of him as a danger and so didn’t bother reading him to see how he was squaring everything.
Whenever I’m in a situation like that it seems like things just go on automatic and I start assessing and taking over, thinking of it as my scene, what I would do, how I would handle it. Getting up in people’s faces, asking questions, verifying information, gathering intelligence. Whereas the officer there has every right to think of it as his scene, and to get nervous about some guy getting in the middle of something he really shouldn’t be that aware of unless he’s a part of it. Which I am, but they just don’t know that. So in the future I’m gonna try to be far more sensitive towards others and try to better control my instincts and habits so I don’t give them a minor heart attack in my zeal to get on top of the case or situation. I have a feeling it’s gonna be hard, cause it goes against everything in my nature, and most everything I’ve ever trained for, because I’m so used to working things alone, but really I’ve got no right to make some poor officer who just happens to get in the same circle as me sweat and start worrying that maybe he won’t make it home that night just because I’m pursuing a personal matter in my own way.
Still, that Deputy will have quite a story to tell his buddies at shift change at the sub-station. I can hear him now, “yeah, this guy comes up outta nowhere from the woods, gets right up in my face and starts asking me questions, and when I start questioning him back he spins around like a top and throws his hands straight up in the air rather than answer me. I was about to drill that SOB right then. I was not gonna get killed out in the wilderness somewhere.” He and his buddies will get a good laugh outta that one. I know I did, and I suspect some of you guys will as well.
UPDATE: It turned out from an investigation I was able to make that evening, after the police had hauled off the derelict vehicle, that the boy was a squatter.
There is an old, abandoned, small 4 room house in the woods, about a quarter of a mile from the road, parallel to but slightly to the north-east of the logging trail. The boy they arrested had obviously broken into this old house, which to my knowledge had been used for at least the past decade as a storehouse of various old goods and junk left by the last owner (whom I’m not sure is still living). The boy had then set up shop in the house apparently turning it into his squatter’s shack.
Although the house is not on my land it is not far from my land and so after the cops left I threw on some dark clothes, since I got out there in the evening, put on my Rudding Pack, got my digital camera and one of my sidearms and hiked out to where it was. After a short investigation I found the door he had tripped and explored about the place photographing everything in case it was later needed as evidence for anything. I found nothing to indicate any real crimes of any consequence had been committed, other than the B&E and the squatting.
The boy had obviously been there awhile as you can see from the pics. He had set up shop and home, had some personal effects around, etc. I’m not sure if he had brought all of the Disney paraphernalia with him or had simply stolen it from the surrounding junk left by the previous owner. He had obviously brought in the chair and sleeping gear.
How he was obtaining food I’m not really sure. I found wild onions he had been taking, he had probably been taking frogs and possibly fish from the nearby river, and there were small items like half-eaten bags of potato chips. I found out from local sources that he possibly had a girlfriend assisting him in the area. She was possibly helping him obtain small items of food or maybe he was stealing it from nearby houses and farms. I found no money or drug stashes.
The Disney and child-like theme he used for decoration kinda concerned me because the kid was far too old to have any interest in that type of stuff unless he was psychosocially retarded to some high degree or unless it was already there and he simply confiscated it because it was the only source of decoration, entertainment, or distraction he had available to him. Otherwise he shouldn’t have been so enamored of it.
I’m almost certain the motorcycle was left there by the previous owners, not brought in by the boy.
Now that I know he was squatting there I’m gonna be watching the place on occasion to see if he returns.
Pictures of what I discovered below.
© JWG, Jr. 2007
Save This Page
Saturday, April 07, 2007
A Novelization of the Past and a Framework for Future-Efforts
The Exchange - A Novelization of the Past and a Framework for Future-Efforts
For some time now, years actually, my family and friends have been trying to get me to write fictional stories for publication. For a long time I resisted that notion because I write non-fiction and to tell you the truth I haven’t really considered fiction to be nearly as important an effort as non-fiction since I was a kid. But they’ve kept at me, and to tell you the truth I ain’t as opposed as I used to be to the idea, and in some sense I’ve even warmed to the proposal. The idea doesn’t automatically revolt me like it used to. So I’ve started working on some fiction. And to that end I’ve had a series of ideas about some stories for some time now about which I’d like to get some opinion and feedback.
No. 1 - Basically this idea involves a series of fictional stories that take place mainly in the Byzantine Empire, in and around Constantinople, circa the eras between 790 up to about 1254 Anno Domini.
These stories mostly concern events within and around the Byzantine Empire but occasionally involve people, places, and events in Europe, the Middle East, Northern and Eastern Africa and parts of Asia. The point of the stories will involve both historical and religious/mystical/mythical events that take place during that time frame. The stories will involve an ancient Byzantine Force or Special Team (what today might be considered a Special Forces Unit), which consists of military men, ambassadors, intelligence agents and spies, and clergymen. This team will be composed of a wide variety of individuals with unique backgrounds from many parts of the Empire, including Latins, Greeks, Africans, a man from the British Isles, a Frank, an Italian, a Russian, and a former Viking who has become a convert and a monk.
This team travels throughout the Empire on a wide variety of missions including, but not limited to, military and security assignments, law enforcement, investigation of bizarre events, investigation of miracles, espionage, scouting and reconnaissance, and diplomatic and religious delegations.
The stories will also involve another world, which is geographically exactly like our world during this era, but is inhabited by different types of creatures and beings, and is the home of the Realm of Prester John. This other world, home of Prester John and his people, occasionally overlaps our world and therefore the Special Team of Byzantine Agents will encounter Prester John and his world from time to time.
The purpose of these encounters will allow the stories to explore a host of mystical, mythological, spiritual, and religious subject matter as the Christians of Byzantium encounter this other world, which the Christians at first mistake for a heavenly or paradisiacal Kingdom of God overlapping our world.
The stories will also all involve real events, characters, and places and will be as historically accurate as possible all other elements considered. The stories will explore the possibility that lying underneath apparent historical events in our world is an invisible “underworld” or “otherworld” of spiritual forces at play which men do not fully grasp, comprehend, or understand. This otherworld effects historical progress, the development of science, the course of religion and spiritual affairs, and even the products of art and technology. God technology, of various kinds and at various stages of development will be important components of these stories. I intend to develop these stories into a novel of the same basic set of materials. This will not however be alternative historical fiction. The outcome of real world historical events will not be altered, but the understanding of these events will perhaps be modified for the reader depending on what invisible or otherworldly elements are exposed in the development of the stories.
So I ask you a question. Do you as a reader think you might find such stories interesting (as a general premise) and what do you think the market might be for such a novel based upon this set of ideas?
No. 2 - As a follow-up to this idea I have for some number of years now been developing a Role playing game which is similar in some ways to Dungeons and Dragons but is set in the Byzantine Empire along the same general milieu as the idea for the novel which I sketched out above. This RPG is both an historical and Christian version of a Medieval Role Playing Game, but rather than proving just a background for personal character adventure it also explores historical events, and most especially religious and spiritual matters as related to the Christian religion, Christian morals, and the historical development of Christianity as a religion over time. In other words the idea behind it is not just the development of a “character” but through game and mission scenarios to promote "character-development" through the solving of, conquering of, or overcoming of various spiritual, moral, religious, political, cultural, and personal dilemmas.
Would you as a player or potential player of such a game find such a setting interesting and do you think a market exists for such a game to be profitable?
No. 3 - This last idea is a sort of corollary of sorts to the previous two ideas. It also involves a role-playing game that I have been developing for some time now. It involves a multi-branch, multi-service, multi-agency team of operatives drawn from US and Allied military forces (US, British, and NATO forces), various Intelligence Services, and some civilian governmental agencies such as the DEA and FBI, as well as detectives and undercover operatives from US big city police forces and international law enforcement organizations such as Interpol. This Team, which is a modern version of the Byzantine Team spoken of above travels the world engaged in anti-terrorism, counter-intelligence, intelligence, anti-criminal/anti-smuggling, law-enforcement, scouting, undercover, reconnaissance, and espionage missions.
The Team itself is actually a set of smaller three man sub-component teams that can be assembled into a larger team depending upon need, circumstance, and particular mission parameters. The Team is a fictional unit but many of the members and many of the missions are based upon my own personal experiences or based upon the experiences of friends and associates of mine. Many of the stories involving this team will explore the religious, spiritual, and moral dilemmas faced by US and allied personnel and agents when engaged in modern combat, espionage, clandestine, undercover, and law enforcement activities.
Would you as a player or potential player find such a game of interest and do you think a profitable market might exist for such a game?
Well, that’s it. Thanks for your help and Happy Easter.
Be seeing ya.
© JWG, Jr. 2007
Save This Page
For some time now, years actually, my family and friends have been trying to get me to write fictional stories for publication. For a long time I resisted that notion because I write non-fiction and to tell you the truth I haven’t really considered fiction to be nearly as important an effort as non-fiction since I was a kid. But they’ve kept at me, and to tell you the truth I ain’t as opposed as I used to be to the idea, and in some sense I’ve even warmed to the proposal. The idea doesn’t automatically revolt me like it used to. So I’ve started working on some fiction. And to that end I’ve had a series of ideas about some stories for some time now about which I’d like to get some opinion and feedback.
No. 1 - Basically this idea involves a series of fictional stories that take place mainly in the Byzantine Empire, in and around Constantinople, circa the eras between 790 up to about 1254 Anno Domini.
These stories mostly concern events within and around the Byzantine Empire but occasionally involve people, places, and events in Europe, the Middle East, Northern and Eastern Africa and parts of Asia. The point of the stories will involve both historical and religious/mystical/mythical events that take place during that time frame. The stories will involve an ancient Byzantine Force or Special Team (what today might be considered a Special Forces Unit), which consists of military men, ambassadors, intelligence agents and spies, and clergymen. This team will be composed of a wide variety of individuals with unique backgrounds from many parts of the Empire, including Latins, Greeks, Africans, a man from the British Isles, a Frank, an Italian, a Russian, and a former Viking who has become a convert and a monk.
This team travels throughout the Empire on a wide variety of missions including, but not limited to, military and security assignments, law enforcement, investigation of bizarre events, investigation of miracles, espionage, scouting and reconnaissance, and diplomatic and religious delegations.
The stories will also involve another world, which is geographically exactly like our world during this era, but is inhabited by different types of creatures and beings, and is the home of the Realm of Prester John. This other world, home of Prester John and his people, occasionally overlaps our world and therefore the Special Team of Byzantine Agents will encounter Prester John and his world from time to time.
The purpose of these encounters will allow the stories to explore a host of mystical, mythological, spiritual, and religious subject matter as the Christians of Byzantium encounter this other world, which the Christians at first mistake for a heavenly or paradisiacal Kingdom of God overlapping our world.
The stories will also all involve real events, characters, and places and will be as historically accurate as possible all other elements considered. The stories will explore the possibility that lying underneath apparent historical events in our world is an invisible “underworld” or “otherworld” of spiritual forces at play which men do not fully grasp, comprehend, or understand. This otherworld effects historical progress, the development of science, the course of religion and spiritual affairs, and even the products of art and technology. God technology, of various kinds and at various stages of development will be important components of these stories. I intend to develop these stories into a novel of the same basic set of materials. This will not however be alternative historical fiction. The outcome of real world historical events will not be altered, but the understanding of these events will perhaps be modified for the reader depending on what invisible or otherworldly elements are exposed in the development of the stories.
So I ask you a question. Do you as a reader think you might find such stories interesting (as a general premise) and what do you think the market might be for such a novel based upon this set of ideas?
No. 2 - As a follow-up to this idea I have for some number of years now been developing a Role playing game which is similar in some ways to Dungeons and Dragons but is set in the Byzantine Empire along the same general milieu as the idea for the novel which I sketched out above. This RPG is both an historical and Christian version of a Medieval Role Playing Game, but rather than proving just a background for personal character adventure it also explores historical events, and most especially religious and spiritual matters as related to the Christian religion, Christian morals, and the historical development of Christianity as a religion over time. In other words the idea behind it is not just the development of a “character” but through game and mission scenarios to promote "character-development" through the solving of, conquering of, or overcoming of various spiritual, moral, religious, political, cultural, and personal dilemmas.
Would you as a player or potential player of such a game find such a setting interesting and do you think a market exists for such a game to be profitable?
No. 3 - This last idea is a sort of corollary of sorts to the previous two ideas. It also involves a role-playing game that I have been developing for some time now. It involves a multi-branch, multi-service, multi-agency team of operatives drawn from US and Allied military forces (US, British, and NATO forces), various Intelligence Services, and some civilian governmental agencies such as the DEA and FBI, as well as detectives and undercover operatives from US big city police forces and international law enforcement organizations such as Interpol. This Team, which is a modern version of the Byzantine Team spoken of above travels the world engaged in anti-terrorism, counter-intelligence, intelligence, anti-criminal/anti-smuggling, law-enforcement, scouting, undercover, reconnaissance, and espionage missions.
The Team itself is actually a set of smaller three man sub-component teams that can be assembled into a larger team depending upon need, circumstance, and particular mission parameters. The Team is a fictional unit but many of the members and many of the missions are based upon my own personal experiences or based upon the experiences of friends and associates of mine. Many of the stories involving this team will explore the religious, spiritual, and moral dilemmas faced by US and allied personnel and agents when engaged in modern combat, espionage, clandestine, undercover, and law enforcement activities.
Would you as a player or potential player find such a game of interest and do you think a profitable market might exist for such a game?
Well, that’s it. Thanks for your help and Happy Easter.
Be seeing ya.
© JWG, Jr. 2007
Save This Page
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
