----- ) )-0----)000(----0-( ( ( ----------------------- ) +-0-=0+ T + C + A + H + R +0=-0-+ ( ----------------------- ) ) )-0----)000(----0-( ( ----- "To aid in the incubation, breeding, and release of butterflies in Asia." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vol. 02, Iss. 13 SoC File Two ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) That is the quote I chose about three weeks ago to begin my next installment for the Polymemetic Textfile Project. It was to be a textfile of unprecedented intellectual cartoon villiany. However the last month has me questioning the internal security of TCAHR. The previous idea for an issue was cancelled due to the same subject matter being covered by another memeplex in the textfiles scene. Yesterday I'm checking out the latest textfiles only to see see my newest idea in yet another textfile meme factory. Now there can only be two explainations for this happening. The first is that my ideas are unoriginal and stale and of the kind that have been bantered about hundreds of times before. That would make me unoriginal and stale. I refuse this line of thought. The only plausible sane answer is that agents from these two e-zines have hired ninjas to infiltrate my base of operations. I believe they must have bugged the only place conductive to memetic information interchange: the break room. At this moment Mr. Coffee, which has obviously been comprimised, is in the tunnels for "questioning". As a result of this, I am forced to offer up another dashed-off Stream of Consciousness file for your reading enjoyment. You only have your ninjas to blame. The Jaguar TCAHR CEO ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. "This line just begins the function startUp." -- Tom Negrino & Dori Smith, "JavaScript for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition" II. "She talked to Toto as she swept the floor, as she told Aunty Em she loved her, as she greased Uncle Henry's boots." -- Geoff Ryman, "Was" III. "The I Ching (or Book of Changes) is probably the most famous treatise known in the East or West concerning divination and the philosophy of change." -- Bill Whitcomb, "The Magician's Companion" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. "This line just begins the function startUp." -- Tom Negrino & Dori Smith, "JavaScript for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition" I would say that it was an error if it weren't for the marvelous results. There should be a word for accidents so full of amazement and beauty that the idea of it shouldn't be lessened by the use of words with negative connotations like "error", "accident", or "mistake". When's the last time that the existence of a goddess was proven through a mathematical equation? I was working late at the office forcing myself through another PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint is the false Holy Grail of the corporate world. I got this idiotic job by knowing PowerPoint. It was one of the first things the recruiter asked me about. "Do you know PowerPoint", she asked with a voice hinted with expectant disappointment and mundane wonderment. Of course I know PowerPoint. A retarded monkey with a banana laced with radioactive chemicals can do PowerPoint. Click this, drag that, and type that; human resource personnel are so stupid. "Do you know PowerPoint" is akin to asking someone who knows Word 6.0 if they can operate verison 7.0. I can also add two and two together and come up with five. That's a joke for those of you of the "1984" persuation. Anyway, I decided to switch over to the calculator program and do some permutations and pallendrome addition. Isn't the word "serependipity"? I mean the word for an accident that shouldn't be called an accident. Okay, what's the word when something keeps happening to get your attention? I just had it and lost it. Synchronicity? No, this is not synchronic. It wasn't as if I was focused by the apperance of a million goddesses; just one. And since she appeared while using a Windows application she couldn't have been a very good goddess. I'd say it was Kali, but everyone knows Kali rules the realm of the blue screen of death. Anyway, I was doing a pallendrome of the number II. "She talked to Toto as she swept the floor, as she told Aunty Em she loved her, as she greased Uncle Henry's boots." -- Geoff Ryman, "Was" Perhaps it's a male thing. Now don't get me wrong; when it comes to women I have always loved the strong ones. There's something so exquisitively attractive to me about a Kung-Fu fighting, quantum physics-quoting, opinionated woman. I remember back in the military during MOS school there was this older woman with whom I would talk about Freud, existentalism, and capitialism. She was fast and strong and oh boy! I really could have fell for her. It doesn't have to be all of them; I'd be happy with either the Kung-Fu fighter, the quantum physicist, or the woman with the opinion. I just love strength of all kinds. I may be even so bold as to say a have a strength fetish. But somewhere in a deep depression in my libido, there's something that hungers for something cute and empty-headed. A desire for the conquest or aquisition of beauty however empty and devoid of meaning. I guess that's why I have a certain attraction for fictional characters such as Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland". I even have a thing for Jasmine from the Disney version of "Aladdin". That's why I think the people who indulge in cosplay have the right idea. For all of you in the dark, cosplay = costume play. Imagine a room full of people dressed like anime characters. It's enough to make your mouth water if you were into that sort of thing. Not me though, I like the idea, but I've always found anime characters to be drawn so generically of face and body that they seem rather sexless. Besides when I watch anime or read magna I prefer chibis and I'm not about to imagine sex with something that is so "kawaii". I mean "chibi" pretty much translates as "super-deformed", doesn't it? Doesn't sound too sexy, does it? I'll stick to people in Snow-White costumes thank you very much. I III. "The I Ching (or Book of Changes) is probably the most famous treatise known in the East or West concerning divination and the philosophy of change." -- Bill Whitcomb, "The Magician's Companion" There's an old Taoist story which mentions Buddha. Doesn't that make it a Buddhist story? Buddha called all the animals of the world to meet with him to discuss the plight of humanity. Only 12 animals showed up. Buddha told these 12 animals that they would be honored because they showed up. They would be the teachers of humanity as members of the Chinese horoscope. These animals, featured on placemats in every Chinese resturant in the Western hemisphere, are meant to remind us that sometimes we must be as fierce as a tiger, as clever as a monkey, as loyal as a dog, etc. I told this story once to someone who professed to be a Taoist. He said he preferred the yin-yang theory. Now I never refuted the yin and the yang of Chinese Taoism, yet he couldn't accept this other story. I've always had somewhat of a problem with Americans and Europeans who are so quick to adopt the magical and religious traditions of the East. The first reason is our nature to bequeath anything different from our established way of thinking as different and therefore spirtual when it come to Eastern culture. There are plenty of bogus systems of magic to dabble in from the Western world as there are in the Eastern world. Though the Wiccan faith has a stranglehold on the current practice of magical religions, let's not forget the Themeians, the Order of the Golden Dawn, the Rosecurians and whatnot. The second reason is closely allied to the first: a lack of knowledge of the proper language voids you knowing the full text of Eastern religion. It is not possible to be a true Taoist without knowing Chinese. There is a system of rank and a multitude of rituals that need a strong background in Chinese. Not that you can't learn from the symbols we do know, but to give ourselves titles such as "Taoist" or "Buddhist" is only ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Committee Against Human Rights -- http://maq.port5.com TCAHR Manifesto -- http://maq.port5.com/disman.html The Polymemetic Textfile Project -- http://maq.port5.com/polymemetic.txt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tcahr@hotmail.com Copyright 2002