Dies Irae

Thou hast destroyed it, The beautiful world, With powerful fist: In ruin 'tis hurled, By the blow of a demigod shattered! The scattered Fragments into the void we carry, Deploring the beauty perished beyond restoring. Mightier for the children of men, Brightlier Build it again, IN THINE OWN BOSOM BUILD IT ANEW!
-Goethe, Faust, Chorus of Spirits


From...Rules And Regulations To Manage The Populace

"No one is to be given more true information than is needed to perform his function."
"Explanations are forbidden."
"The information that is publicly promulgated is to be distorted."


Observations

1) The Arabic word for sand is 'el raml' a curious homonym to the name of German General Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox".

2) On listening to Keith Hansen's conversation with Gordon Comstock (Here) I began to ruminate until my jaws hurt as follows:

O praeclarum custodem ovium lupum! - An excellent protector of sheep, the wolf!-Cicero

These days we are inundated with predictions and prophecies of doom. There isn't a month that goes by without someone informing us that martial law, alien invasion, catastrophic earth changes, nuclear explosions, armagedon, or the sounding of the last trumpet will be upon us. All one can do is soldier on and make the best of things. But many of us suspect that any or some of these unlucky occurances could happen. Wouldn't it make sense for those who may be arranging such events to put out many false alarms so that when the inevitable disaster finally is launched we will ignore the true warnings that may be leaked by those in the know? Wouldn't it be prudent for the wolves to hire little boys to falsely cry of approaching packs so that when actual danger does arrive none will pay attention to those warning cries?

Verba de Futuro (words about the future)

It seems to me (from a developing Jewish perspective and forgive me for my impertinence to comment on Christian mores) that prophecy and prediction should be irrelevant to the Christian who is saved under the magical formula of the Savior. What difference is it to him what may happen if his faith is true? His soul is certain of its fate. Why do so many Christians insist on prophesying? Did Jesus free them from the fate of false prophets under what they term the Old Testament? Or are they relying on the secular state to protect them from the implications of their false pronouncements? To the Jew who still awaits Mashiach, prophecy could still be a consideration for the conduct of his life. But, as anyone who is familiar with Tanach knows, the implications of incorrect prophecy can be most dire, and no observant Jew would lightly undertake such work. Few do. Besides, in the Messianic Age, all will be prophets. In the end, perhaps those who desperately desire to see the wondrous materialization of a prophecy are only indicating a need to see a miracle to stabilize their own shaky Faiths. I can empathize with that. I was raised a Catholic, 'though it never took, and my favorite Apostle was Thomas.

3) Control is difficult and tedious. Creation is easy and liberating.

4) One of the last things manufactured in the United States is housing. What is to prevent someone from bringing in crews of low cost foreign workers to build houses or to simply erect prefabricated homes?

5) Baseball is a game, unlike others, that is not played between parallel lines, therefore expanding to infinity.