As you know, I did an experiment last weekend with “automatic writing” and wrote up the interesting experimental results Monday, or so, of this week.
What’s interesting is that several readers warned me against such an endeavor, noting that to mess about which such processes is to risk getting in contact with entities that may not have my best interests at heart and some suggested that “evil sticks” to people who get around such stuff. Danger in tinkering with magick is their context.
On the other hand, no harm in it (although yes, the information in the note from Chris at www.thechronicleproject.org was a bit odd), I figured since magick is well-documented as an acceptable thing to do. In fact Aaron was to keep his “truth stones” (Urim and Thummin) close to his chest at all times.
Wiki it and you’ll find these consulting stones use goes back a long time…
In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim and Thummim (Hebrew: ?????? ????????, Standard ha?Urim v?haTummim Tiberian h??Ûrîm w?hatTummîm) are associated with the hoshen (High Priest’s breastplate), divination in general, and cleromancy in particular. Most scholars suspect that the phrase refers to specific objects involved in the divination
When you go through the Bible, you’ll find “the stones” are consulted here and there, and as one researcher notes, it’s not the practice of magick, per se, that is bad. It’s the kind of magick that gets people into trouble. And that circles around to intent.
Worth reading: Divination of God: The Obscure Ancient Tool of Prophecy Revealed (Urim and Thummin).
Which related to this morning, how?
Well, as you know, I finally got my “missing RPM” back on our old airplane this week. But that turned out to be only my “first blush” with things mechanical.
I left the house about 9:30 Thursday morning to go pick up sheetrock and get a new safety inspection and license for our old farm truck. Pulled in,; went to drag out the registration and insurance card and….no card!
That in and of itself was strange since I am a fanatic about all paperwork in its place. So back up to the house, scan the one from Elaine’s car (shows both vehicles) and then back to the inspection joint.
Along comes the inspector. “Sorry, you’ll have to get four new tires. See these front ones? Too much toe-in and you can almost see cord on them. And the back ones are down to the wear lines…”
The next 45-minutes was spent wandering around town getting quotes (best is $600) for four new truck tires, mount and balance, and a front-end alignment.
Still, got the sheetrock, made it back to the house, and since the inspection sticker doesn’t run out until the end of June, I picked up the registration (they don’t look at the inspection sticker, they just want money), and that was that.
A typical busy day around here followed. Elaine had cooked a phenomenal pot roast, so I took a nap about 4 PM and woke up about 5 asking “Is it a little stuffy in here?”
Well, sure as heck, the air conditioner had crapped out.
After some initial checks (we’ve had some power bumps out here) and cycling through all the breakers and making sure there was power going down to the unit, I called the local air conditioning emporium to get them out here (later this morning).
About here, though, I got to wondering “Say, usually I lead a kind of charmed life” and usually there isn’t this much….uh…..”
“You mean mechanical stuff going wrong?” Elaine suggested.
“yeah….”
And that’s where this morning’s big ponder is: is this all some kind of “spiritual payback” for my automatic writing experiment, or is it really just how “additional protection” works out?
This last point is a bit odd, so let me explain.
By going hunting for the “missing RPM” in the place, we found a seriously defective carburetor which could, under the right kinds of conditions, have caused a major inflight fire. Having a fire one mile up in the sky is not my idea of a good time. So maybe my meticulous maintenance antennae were just going off.
On the truck tires? Maybe I needed to change them because to fail to do so might expose Elaine and me to unnecessary risk while driving the truck into town to pick up what are usually heavy loads. Like the 12-sheets of sheetrock I picked up yesterday.
And on the air conditioner? I might be something as simple as a low-pressure cutout switch since the system hasn’t had a lick of maintenance needed (other than filters) for six years now. Maybe it’s time. But that’s where the 10-year warranty picks up, I suppose.
But now – here’s the really weird part: When I was in town earlier this week (Tuesday) I had stopped by the local Wally-World where they had 20-inch box fans on sale for $17.
I just had a sense that I would need one….in the shop. So I picked one up.
Elaine went down to the car, brought up the box fan and we slept a peaceful night, sans air conditioning. It can be done. Conveniently
But as the week rolls to an end, I find myself wondering which of the three leading candidates is going on in my life with this:
a) Payback for delving into automatic writing, in which case is it:
1) protection for me, getting potentially bad things out of the way, or
2) screwing with me because I wasn’t supposed to try automatic writing
b) a MORE COMMON phenomena: Mercury going retrograde in a week, and since I tend to front-run Mercury, and so it’s just how “my stars lined up”
c) Or…the highest probability to the rational mind…is it sometimes shit happens in clusters? As Sagan noted in “Demon Haunted World” maybe we are still those superstitious bipeds, although he was much more polite about it. Toss in old and overweight and I’m the trifecta winner.
My spiritual advisor will no doubt want to do some “clearing” work of the energetic sort (no problem there!). And I hope our consulting semi-retired astrology expert (Michelle) can look into this.
In the meantime, it makes for an interesting review of how “As above, so below” works.
One thing’s for sure, three mechanical items in a week is way outside of what I’m used to: One – once or twice a year – is more what I’m accustomed to. This clustering? Not my cuppa tea.
Oh, and if you do try automatic writing? Might help to have $3-thousand dollars worth of cushion in your checkbook.
Oh, the Car Discussion
In yesterday’s column, where I generously offered my consulting services to the Bilderbergers ($250K plus a Porsche Panamera) I hope you appreciate that the chance of this every happening is about as close to zero as imaginable.
Still, reader Mark has a point as he writes this “bamboo under the fingernails” bit on my car choices……
George,
A forward thinker like you, should be dreaming about cars of the future…not of an ancient past. The top rated luxury car in just about every publication is the antithesis of vehicles of the past 100 years. Tesla is what all car manufacturers should aspire to create. They have invented and continue to improve on what has become the holy grail of the new car consumer.
Here in California, they are the dominant luxury car in terms of sales…and their leader, Elon Musk, is to cars what Steve Jobs was to the entire electronics industry…an innovator and winner in everything he touches.
I have a few friends at the Bay Club who have one and I have driven in them and I have no issue saying that is the most incredible and exciting mode of transportation I have ever experienced. ..period.
The models I have been in have a range of nearly 300 miles. My friends say they charge it maybe 2- 3 times a month and put on about 10-12,000 miles on them a year. Unlike many German cars…There is no maintenance required…and if there is…it’s free. Both my friends lease and while the lease is a hefty $1,100 a month, since there are no gas fill ups, no maintenance charges, it adds up to being cheaper than any other luxury car per month…assuming gas powered car owners spend on average… $350 (premium gas) per month and an additional $100 a month or $1,200 per year on general maintenance. It is equivalent of a $650 per month lease…Most luxury Germany cars are well above that.
For the frugal…There are many Tesla charging stations around the Bay Area and charging is free for Tesla drivers.
But, that is not why people buy them…They buy them because it is what we in the Bay Area have embraced since Messrs. Hewlett and Packard first tinkered in their garage. It’ Disruptive!!! And wildly successful.
Here is a company that took a Government grant and paid it back years in advance of its due date. This was at the same time as the GOP cried and ridiculed the Solyndra bankruptcy. Nobody ever talks about how the same money created the one of the most exciting and diverse companies in the U.S. today. Musk also owns SpaceX, Solar City and is building a state of the art Battery Factory that will not only produce longer lasting and more efficient batteries for their cars, but battery storage for Solar homes so that home owners can take advantage of Solar energy 24/7. DISRUPTIVE!!!
Disruption defines us here in the Bay Area. It is why we have grown to be the most intelligent, innovative, relevant and robust Metropolitan area on Planet Earth. Its why our unemployment rate is only 4.4% and moving downward each day.
We are inventors and innovators in everything we do….from tech, to bio-medicine, to food, wine, politics, fashion, zoning, environment, regulation, architecture, education, music, arts…heck, I could go on and on. We don’t mind trying things out…because our failures aren’t a source of a faux foe’s agenda…we learn, make adjustments and move on. The only Fox News we are aware of is when we actually spot a fox and talk about it.
Bottom line… We love and expect change. We don’t acknowledge status quo. Maybe, just maybe…If other cities would follow our lead, you wouldn’t have to write about economic Armageddon’s. Austin is one example of embracing our model and building a great city around it. Dallas, Seattle, Portland, Denver and Boston aren’t far behind. The Old Guard? New York, Chicago, Philadelphia? Losing ground quickly. Detroit has lost it altogether.
Yes, we have our issues…but they usually don’t last too long. Change is human nature…Despite what conservatives may tell us…Change is good.
Hmmm… well, let’s note that if your friends drive cars 12,000 miles per year, and assuming they get 18 MPG, that’d be (check me on this, it’s early) 667 gallons and at $5.00 a gallon that’s only $3,333 per year, and on a monthly basis, that’s $277 a month, not $350 a month.
Don’t get me wrong, the Tesla is a kick-butt car. But I drive all over the country and on a schedule. For the foreseeable future, there is no way for my driving style to be accomplished by an EV.
I love electric cars: I’ve been involved with them since the 1990’s, BTW, since a company I was with this the instrumentation package for the 1999 HEV challenge for the Argonne Labs folks.
It’s just they have some problems, not the least of which is range and net energy calculations. Do you seriously think the grid could support anything more than an ultra-slow conversion to mass EV adoption?
Then there’s the matter of net energy required in manufacturing the exotic battery technologies. A lot of it sounds good – damn promising – I’ll give you that.
But the world won’t be going that direction, long term, I don’t believe. Maybe, in some urban cores, sure. But long distance driving? Nope by a longshot. Not until someone invents the idea I sketched up back in the HEV Challenge period of George’s life: A trailer which pulled batteries which could be swapped out in as little time as it takes to throw 20-more gallons of gas in the car.
In autos, like in airplanes (yee gads, don’t remind me!) the calculations come down to cost per seat mile. Right now, I think a Versa, like the one my son picked up, is about as good as it gets. Good for at least 100,000 miles, able to carry four, cheap to insure, decent gas mileage (around 38 he says) and a cap cost of under $16,000 with A/C.
No, Mark, I was referencing the Panamera as a symbol, not a specific acquisition. As far as we’re concerned, we’ll drive the old Lexus (2005, ES330) for another 100,000 miles.
By then, ultra capacitors and other technologies, along with self-driving features, should be rolling in enough safety improvements that cars will actually be able to shed some of that horrific weight they pack around in order to meet safety requirements.
In the meantime, though, since Mark did make a good point, I’ll revise my consulting offer to the Bilderbergers: $350,000 and skip the car. I’d buy a Versa myself.
Republican Sellouts
Everyone knows by now that fracking causes earthquakes. They should also know that it pollutes ground water. They should also know that the only reason fracking is around is because of a mixture of energy demand and super-cheap interest rates.
And if any of them want to discuss it, I’d be pleased to fly back there and buy them a glass of water and talk about it. Thing it, it’d be my choice of wells that the water would come from.
If you’re a Peoplenomics reader, refer to the stabilization and recent inflation-adjusted decline in Washington lobbying as more pliable and cheaper cretins can be found to march to the checkbook in state capitols.
What America seriously needs is a “None of the Above” party.
Step to Sharia Law
Hope you did notice the Tea Party report this week about how “Obama Calls for Creating Separate, Race-Based Legal Systems in Hawaii.”
All of which is likely to become a step on the way to Sharia law in the US. If Mexico doesn’t take over the US before the Imams.
—
It’s all been done before, however.
If you’re a serious student of religion, you might appreciate that the Nakash “legally” stole the region of Earth by using Laws that even the Creator was bound to.
And what do we see now? Using (some would claim perverting) laws to achieve an end is being done here at the human level. And at insane levels, but my how we love laws and lawyering, huh? Suits us, so to speak.
With more and more humans moving their minds into “virtual space” this “using Law” stuff must be part of the birthing process as one reality gives birth to another; or so it would seem from here.
T’is an odd world, especially when we consider how this “Law” game is played.
Oh…one thing most people don’t realize? The way the “Law” works already, no one owns anything.
You Don’t Own Anything
Yessir, that’s right. You don’t own your home. You simply rent it. Fail to pay taxes ( a government imposed rent) and you lose it. They own, you rent. It’s all an elaborate con.
Not that it doesn’t work, but at least see it, for the con it is.
In fact, you can’t even store things you think you own without paying a tariff, or your storage unit will be cleaned out for failure to pay a rent. All nice and legal. No house, no storage, no where to call home, WTF do you think you own, anyway?
Same thing on a car. You can own in all day long, but fail to pay the rent for the use of roads (in various taxes some of which are dressed up as “licenses” and such pap) and you have a 4,000 pound paperweight with expired plates. Tickets, jail, and revenge await those who question.
In fact, if you look closely, government doesn’t even issue titles to cars anymore. Merely certificates of title which is a battle which I will be having now that the last payment on our old car is about to go into the mail.
You see how deep the corruption is? How perverted clear-thinking has become? . How freedom (total ownership, which includes all extensions of usability) has been stolen?
Here, you can own this hammer. But so much as do anything with it – as an extension of your free will (like try to build a house with it) and you’ll be taxed and rented six ways to Sunday. Permits, fees, and the “general public good.”
“Not on my property! It’s not true!” Refer to the previous: You don’t own property because allodial title isn’t permitted. (*Except in Nevada which – considering it’s the world’s gambling mecca – it’s odd that you’d find both such honesty in title – and Harry Reid – in the same state!)
So while we watch Europe to see how Sharia will “legally” take over democratic government and turn it into a theocracy, don’t think for a moment that the plan is something different here. We’re losing a sex race and we’re fundamentalistly screwed, so to speak.
And no, that’s not paranoia, just a recitation of facts in an inconvenient order. Legal, too, but for how much longer?
More Monday…we’ll get into virtual revolutions in Peoplenomics tomorrow. Meantime, write when you break even…
George george@ure.net
