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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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"We have found a strange foot-print on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origin. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the foot-print. And Lo! It is our own." —Arthur Eddington, qtd. in Cosmic Trigger, Vol. 1 by Robert Anton Wilson
Footprints in the Portmeirion estuary. Photo dedicated to Gordon Meyer, author of Las Vegas: Underfoot.
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Prof. Oddfellow. See larger version here.
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“I am watching your ship through my uncle’s telescope.” —Alexander Kent
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Looking up the tower of the camera obscura at Portmeirion, Wales.
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
Inspired by Jeff Hawkins, who writes: Joy! The sound of rising spores is equaled only by their half-baked aroma, a scrumptious cacophony no matter how you slice it. I, too, hear the yum!
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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Who is funnier: Jackie Gleason or Art Carney?
Clue: This is according to musican/comedian Steve Allen.
Answer: Art Carney. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Steve Allen, The Funny Men (1956), p. 154.
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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True or False: There is only one thing funnier than watching drunk people dig around in sand for fabulous prizes.
Clue: This is according to The Recovering Sorority Girls’ Guide to a Year’s Worth of Perfect Parties
Answer: False. “Trust us—nothing is funnier than watching drunk people dig around in sand for fabulous prizes.” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Deandra Brooks, The Recovering Sorority Girls’ Guide to a Year’s Worth of Perfect Parties (2005), p. 126.
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Portmeirion estuary, Wales.
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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Which cuisine is funnier: Swedish or Jewish?
Clue: This is according to comedian Steve Allen
Answer: Jewish. “Jewish foods generally are funnier than their Swedish or French equivalents.” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Steve Allen and Jane Wollman, How to Be Funny: Discovering the Comic You (1987), p. 50
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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“Your boat must be a curiosity.” —Susan Warner
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Grotto Viewpoint at Portmeirion, Wales.
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Imagine a retail store's Open/Closed sign. Now imagine that it's printed on only one side. With just two words and a detachable apostrophe, how can the sign indicate that the store is open or closed for business? For our answer, click here.
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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Heinrich Füger, "Prometheus Brings Fire to Mankind," c. 1817
"[ William Blake's] vision of the infinite in everything is common to East and West; what is distinctly Western, out of the Jews, is the voice of honest indignation against every institution which would deny or demean the infinity within each human soul. The release of our full human potential—to let the light of Prometheus shine everywhere—is the distinctly Western mystic tradition and does not appear in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, or any Eastern religion." — Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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Which word is funnier: house or condo?
Clue: This is according to the book Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain
Answer: Condo, as it is “more specific” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Christopher Hart, Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain (1998), p. 107
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The estuary at Portmeirion, Wales.
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“Your ship will come in, and then you’ll have temps of your own.” —Merle Kessler
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* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com. |
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In a gross disservice to Bavarian history, it is universally said that King Ludwig II constructed his fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein as an escape from "reality." The castle itself is a colossal refutation to such sloppy—if not willful—misrepresentation. Quite the opposite of being trapped in the past or caught up in a romantic dreamworld, Ludwig was so forward thinking, so revolutionary, that he built a portal to access the very framework of the Bavarian ideal. Emblazoned throughout with murals and architecture depicting key scenes from Bavarian folklore, Neuschwanstein castle constitutes an elaborate "War Room" of mythic proportions. Indeed, Neuschwanstein is evidence that Ludwig attained a state of consciousness that Timothy Leary called the "Neurogenetic Circuit." Robert Anton Wilson explains that the Neurogenetic Circuit:
processes DNA-RNA-brain feedback systems and is "collective" in that it contains and has access to the whole evolutionary "script," past and future. Experience of this circuit is numinous, "mystical," mind-shattering: here dwell the archetypes of Jung's Collective Unconscious—Gods, Goddesses, Demons, Hairy Dwarfs and other personifications of the DNA programs (instincts) that govern us. [ Prometheus Rising, 1983, p. 41]
To properly govern his people, Ludwig positioned himself to draw from the very paradigms of the Bavarian spirit. In other words, he infused his nobility with the high ideals of his country, literally surrounding himself (dome ceilings to floors) with model images of Bavarian enlightenment. Ludwig held a magnifying glass over the Bavarian blueprint, and a ray of sunlight hit the lens to form a hologramatic castle. Far from having his head in the clouds, Ludwig's feet were firmly planted in his culture. That such a visionary was ultimately judged "mad" by his political enemies comes as no surprise. That Neuschwanstein has endured as the Eighth Wonder of the World is a testament to Ludwig's genius.
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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Which is funnier: Mark Twain or any of his books?
Clue: This is according to a Mark Twain biographer
Answer: Mark Twain. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain: A Biography (1912), p. 661.
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From our Magic Words outpost at Blogger: We just discovered (with help from Gordon) that a Mac app called Presto contains a passage from our Magic Words: A Dictionary. Presto is a utility for quickly pasting in commonly used snippets of text, and the magic word "presto" is the default example. So when one types "presto" into any application, a passage from our dictionary appears, like magic!
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The Patron Saint of Towels
Motto: "Holy absorption of the wring of truth."
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Who is your favorite imaginary saint? Do share! |
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Puzzles and Games :: Letter Grids |
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This puzzle grid contains several big words. Can you find them?
• 7-letter words: 13
• 8-letter words: 4
• 9-letter words: 2
All letters in the word must touch (in any direction), and no square may be reused.
Click to display solutions
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7-letter words: |
• aftosas • apposes • atopies • bloated • dopiest • floated • folioed |
• fossate • loathed • nappies • opiated • osteoid • tapalos |
8-letter words: |
• floppies • loppiest |
• nappiest • sappiest |
9-letter words: |
• flappiest |
• floppiest |
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook: From our Magic Words outpost at Blogger:
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Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Mindful Greetings and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle. |
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Yes, you may . . . on condition that:
"you tell me all about it." —R. H. Stoddard, "The Little Monk," 1864
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Carly Simon's song "You're So Vain" doesn't identify its subject, yet actor Warren Beatty has asserted that it's about him. Beatty's assertion begs a question: if anyone takes "You're So Vain" personally, is he or she technically correct? The answer is Yes! According to Hugh Everett's " many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, every possible quantum vanity is realized. In the many-branched tree of parallel universes, each and every vain human being is the true subject of Carly Simon's song.
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This is very comforting! Imagine being vain enough to think YSV was about you, but finding out it wasn't. The very world might cease to revolve around one.
Technical question: Does Everett's theory still hold for values of "a" (a = age of vain individual) that are < Y (Y = years elapsed since song was written)? In other words, was Simon farsighted enough to build infinite references to unborn vain people into her song?
Similarly, I note the problematics around individuals who were alive when the song was written but not yet vain, their vanity only to develop later on. In their case, I hypothesize a "critical vanity threshold," or CVT--the discrete moment at which someone's vanity has matured to the point where Simon's song begins to refer to him or her.
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Peace, too, is a living thing and like all life it must wax and wane, accommodate, withstand trials, and undergo changes. — Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
The Guatemalan Rose symbol of peace.
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Original Content Copyright © 2019 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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