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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of John D. Lockwood.
“Ghost images are troublesome if they are sharp.” —The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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As we noted last year, our 14th great-grandmother, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, has many distinctions, not the least of which is her likelihood of having written the Shakespeare plays and sonnets. (For compelling evidence, see Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?) We couldn't help noticing that Mary Sidney's facial features bear an uncanny resemblance to the familiar Shakespeare visage. If the animated gif below doesn't animate, see the before-and-after frames. (Thank you, editor-writer-critic Michael Redmond, for exclaiming, " Ah! The truth at last!")
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
12:30. "The steeple clock marks half past twelve. The sun is high and burning in the sky. It lights houses, palaces, porticos. Their shadows on the ground describe rectangles, squares, and trapezoids of so soft a black that the burned eye likes to refresh itself on them. What light. ... Has such an hour ever come? What matter, since we see it go!”
* January. † February. ‡ March. § April. "At least the twelfth hour came. Solemn. Melancholic.” "And now the sun has stopped, high in the center of the sky. And in everlasting happiness the statue immerses its soul in the contemplation of its shadow.” || May. a June. b July. "In fact, summer is a malady, it’s all fever and delirium and exhausting perspiration, an unending weariness.” c August. d September. "If the fifth hour of the afternoon is that which comes between evening and the second half of the day, the month of September is that which comes between two seasons: summer and autumn. That corresponds, in the case of a sick person, to the moment which precedes convalescence, and that which, naturally, at the same time, marks the end of the malady.” e October. "Autumn is convalescence.” f November. "Day is breaking. This is the hour of the enigma. This is also the hour of prehistory. The fancied song, the revelatory song of the last, morning dream of the prophet asleep at the foot of the sacred column, near the cold white simulacrum of a god.” g December. The beginning of life and health (winter).
(All quotations from Giorgio de Chirico’s Hebdomeros.)
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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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We're often asked why we blog using the majestic plural (the "royal we"). Truth be told, it's personal. Our 27th great grandfather, King Henry II of England (so charmingly portrayed by Peter O'Toole in the classic film The Lion in Winter) is credited with the first recorded use of the majestic plural. Please don't mistake our pronouns for "the patronizing we" (as in, "Aren't we chipper today?") or "the psychotic we" (as in Gollum's "We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious.")
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
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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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 "Words and forms that did not exist at all in standard English some time ago are now becoming accepted into the standard language and may already have become fully accepted. This may surprise you." — Robert Lawrence Trask, Say What you Mean! (2005)
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner.
“The ghost in the machine fights the last battle for the human soul.” —Richard Watson, Cogito, Ergo Sum
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Imagine a game of "What's My Line," in which either a cherub or an imp whispers into a blindfolded panelist's ear.
Are the whispered words pictured on the right of an angelic or a diabolical nature?
Answer: Diabolical. "Some demon whispered him, that he had mistaken the road to fortune, and suggested that he had better retreat in time, and endeavor to patch up his hopes by another course of life." —"The Exile,” The American Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1, 1833, p. 242. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
This collage is in honor of Emily Dickinson, our beloved 21st cousin.
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of Mrs. Rebekah Evans.
“The face of a spirit cannot, like a mortal’s be a mask to hide the feelings of the heart.” —William Bailey Potter, Spiritualism As It Is
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"The answer is simple: the problem is one which we have created by making this false abstraction and setting it alongside the facts from which we have abstracted it as if it were another fact." — Charles M. Sherover, The Human Experience of Time (2001)
A still from Vertigo (a film
irreparably marred by Kim Novak's clownishly painted on eyebrows).
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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May we never forget:- the Alamo
- why we are so happy
- the mystery of probability
- our heritage
- to take care of Mother Earth
- that music is magic
- what we owe to our heroes
- from whence we came
- there may be squalls (of temper as well as wind)
- the struggles and wants of the poor
- our vows
- the price of liberty
- the sacrifices of others
- the inscription on the Greek temple: "Know Thyself."
- our mortality
- that we are one people
- the wonderful power of kind words, kind actions, kind attention, and gentle treatment
- to use our voices, our time, our energy to make this a better place to be
- that every subject has many different aspects
- that archeology is about people and their behaviors, in all their marvelous, often bewildering, variety
- that professional courtesies are due to every honorable dentist
- the one thing necessary
- this joyous day
- how to laugh
(These tidbits were all culled from our research.)
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"Only two novels in the past 67 years have not been described somewhere on their dust jackets as 'compassionate,' and both of them were atlases." —M.J. Arlen, "How to Tell a Novel by Its Cover," LIFE (Aug. 21, 1964)
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 Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . A BLAZE OF GLORY by John Strange WinterIn a little room, somewhat shabby and rather meanly furnished, a young girl stood looking round on its well-worn and tediously familiar features with great solemn eyes filled with utter distaste and dissatisfaction.
Suddenly, a shot rang out.
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Ceci n'est pas une ampersand.
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of Robert Noxon Toppan.
“The ‘ghost image’ corresponds directly to the book we are reading.” —Ralph William Sarkonak, Angelic Echoes
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
The Spanish eñe has a stormy history.
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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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 Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . A LOST LIFE by Emily H. Moore I am the Doctor's wife in the quiet town of Baywood. Suddenly, a shot rings out.
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
“Anything about ‘Benjamin Franklin’s Ghost’ is sure to pull.” —Francis William Rolt-Wheeler, The News-Hunters
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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"I hate everything that does not relate to literature, conversations bore me (even when they relate to literature), to visit people bores me, the joys and sorrows of my relatives bore me to my soul. Conversation takes the importance, the seriousness, the truth out of everything I think." — Franz Kafka, from his diary, 1918 (quoted in Metaphor and Memory by Cynthia Ozick) Speaking of Kafka, have we told you that New Star Books is publishing a book we illustrated entitled Kafka Franzlations: A Guide to the Imaginary Parables?
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
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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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Imagine a game of "What's My Line," in which either a cherub or an imp whispers into a blindfolded panelist's ear.
Are the whispered words pictured on the right of an angelic or a diabolical nature?
Answer: Diabolical. "Within me my rebellious demon whispered, 'Now is the time! Break through into the superluminous, hey?'” —Paul Goodman, The Empire City, 2001, p. 471. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
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Prof. Oddfellow reads some penetrating literature: Jonathan Safran Foer's Tree of Codes.
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"We are both deaf and blind, and surrounded by mysteries we don't recognize." — Geof Huth
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Thomas Fuller.
“A blue ghost on a black background is highly visible, but it is less so if the background is blue.” —Jonathan M. Blackledge, Image Processing II
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"You can call it a hunch or a gut feeling but either way something is not quite right with this picture and it is annoying the hell out of me." —Rebecca Hackney ( Love Blooms in a Blizzard), surely not referring to the perfectly perfect picture that is Young Frankenstein.  A still from the perennially hilarious Young Frankenstein.
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"We've all heard it a hundred times, but it bears repeating: Don't turn your back on the ocean." — Fodor's Hawaii
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from The Collected Works of George Moore.
“I saw two eyes, psychic and ghostly, peering at me from over a ghostly mustache.” —The Omega
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 "Hands-on testing reveals the surprising truth. Many people take only average precautions against life's numerous hazards." — PC (1984)
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Puzzles and Games :: Which is Funnier |
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Which word is funnier: turpentine or spatula?Clue: The answer is also funnier than yogurt and llama. Answer: turpentine. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.) Citation: Alan Madison, 100 Days and 99 Nights (2008)
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"There are many more enigmas in the shadow of a man who walks in the sun than in all the religions of the past, present, and future."—Giorgio de Chirico, Hebdomeros (and other writings)(via our co-blog at Anima Tarot)
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Imagine a game of "What's My Line," in which either a cherub or an imp whispers into a blindfolded panelist's ear.
Are the whispered words pictured on the right of an angelic or a diabolical nature?
Answer: Diabolical. "While thus forsaken by all human help, all human pity, a tempting demon whispered that it would be better for her to return to her former way of life." —Anna Jameson, Legends of the Monastic Orders, 1852, p. 329. (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
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In this quotation about dual allegiances, the ampersand is likened to a geometrical diagram for squaring a circle: Indeed, we see similarities between Archimedes' solution to circling the square and the design of an ampersand.
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I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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Following your bliss is always a real adventure?a journey into the uncharted center of yourself. Just click!
Thanks to AnitaAnswers for discussing our Follow Your Bliss tool in a thoughtful manner: Go to this website and use the interactive compass tool to rate your level of bliss. I did it and my results affirmed my inner "bliss” but clued me in to an unclear professional "bliss” whenever I spun the wheel while concentrating on my work. I pledge to work on that until my bliss is congruent both inner and professionally.
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The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Classic Sightings ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of Mrs. Sarah Emily York.
“Conjured too, it is a resurrected being ‘beyond’ life, and, like any ghost, delivered over to a third, neither presence nor absence.” —David Appelbaum, Jacques Derrida’s Ghost: A Conjuration
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 Is it true, as Momus
suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the
addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"? Decide for
yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . . "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily DickinsonBecause I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; And then a shot rang out (Thanks, June!)
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
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Original Content Copyright © 2019 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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