MIND MODELS

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Microfiction: She’d scared all the
passengers away. After all, trains
crash don’t they? She knew this
from the first time she’d died.

MIND MODELS

I play with mind models. I construct ideas in my head and see how the
world would operate if they were true. It is not belief, for at heart I
accept that the only truth is there isn’t one. Rather I use reason. It is
a discipline that is dying in the modern world. Things either have to be
due to belief or science provable by data. It leaves a conflicting gulf
where mind models should be.

I’m now on Facebook

SCIENCE NEWS: Google has launched
a prize for lunar exploration. Great idea. Get
private enterprise involved as much as possible.
But I like companies like Google for another reason.
They’re big, certainly, but they are not so much producers
as facilitators. This is what Big Biz should do – provide a blank
canvas and support for small biz to thrive.

BRIT NEWS: Child Benefit for high earners to be scrapped. The idea
of universal benefits for all is gone. I hope this isn’t the beginning of
getting rid of all such entitlements. As long as it is only high earners
who lose it, fair enough, but a word of warning: keep off the State
pension! There’s a pact between governed & leaders in the UK.
Don’t break it.

RELIGION NEWS: The Druid Network in England & Wales has
been given charitable status by the charity Commission.
This does, in effect, give Druids official status as a
faith. Could we finally see other minority faiths
accepted? This is a very good move, if a
couple of thousand years too late.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

LONELY

No one wants him, I suppose it’s fair,
Always shunned by those aware,
His life is misery and nothing more,
No one to love or adore,
Got plenty of money but he’ll end up beneath,
That’s the price of being a thief

FLASH 55 – THE PLAN

Fiction: There are no super crooks – just lots of petty villains who get
together for a big job; hence the incompetence. But Bellamy had to
get this one right. That’s why he kept suggesting changes to the point
that they’d missed the window for the job – which was why he was
such a good undercover cop.

ENVISION

He sees a life beyond these bars,
But might as well go to Mars,
Entrapped behind their sturdy form,
In a nightmare room that is his norm,
Trapped through the years, tingling nerves,
No matter how much booze they serve

© Anthony North, October 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

SIMPLICITY

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. You’ll also see a linked essay and story from
my archives. Why not call back later to read them?
Plenty for everyone here. Do call again.

I’m now on Facebook

MICROFICTION

Fiction: Three chairs. Two monks sat,
reading. One dead on the floor. They
warned him not to read the Apocrypha.

SIMPLICITY

A hard fast rule of science used to be that the simplest answer is likely
to be correct. When we think of the complication going on nowadays,
we have to ask if science remembers this. But why has it all gone so
wrong? I think it is to do with specialization. Answers have to be found
within a narrow area of knowledge. But what if they can’t be found
there? Well, they’ll theorise themselves into a complicated maze. We
need a more holistic approach, NOT to banish specialization, but to
work alongside it, seeing if wider knowledge can provide less
complicated answers. It’s quite simple.

WRINKLE

Fiction: She didn’t get it when she
looked in the mirror. Wrinkles are badges
of experience gained; whereas the cream
she slapped on was evidence of
lessons not learnt.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Top Lib Dems
don’t like coalition with Tories.
This was inevitable, and why it won’t
work. Minority govt was best option.

GREEN NEWS: Oil from Gulf rig coagulating deep below
surface. They don’t know how to shut off leak & I doubt they’ll
clean this up.

BRIT NEWS: Ah, that volcanic ash cloud strikes again, closing airports.
Or is it overcautious health & safety? Argument will rage for ages.

BRIT NEWS: Study finds war veterans 22% more likely to abuse alcohol.
This seems obvious. Pity not enough done for them before too late.

HEALTH NEWS: Study says mother’s voice on phone soothes
child as much as a hug. Most likely memory of muffled
voice heard in womb.

BRIT NEWS: Pakistani terror suspect can’t be deported
‘cos of risk of torture. I’m against torture but this
is surely madness.

BRIT NEWS: Inflation rising well above targets.
And as debt is taken back with rising
prices, has a long way to go. Not
out of woods yet.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Thursday Poets’ Rally
Writer’s Island

LOVE CONFINED

Blue eyes, staring, caught in time,
Perfect complexion, porcelain fine,
Not a hair out of place,
Body beautiful – so much grace;
I loved you from the moment we met,
But ten years for stealing a statuette?

FLASH 55 – VIGILANCE

Fiction: I write this letter as a confession and realization that there’s
no hope for me now. I turned vigilante. My reasoning was simple. Crime
happens ‘cos of victims – natural ones exist, you know. Remove them
and crime disappears. But there were so many. And when I realized I
was one … I write my suicide note …

DRAGON

A crime against the evolutionary strain,
Even in Creation you’ll look in vain;
It’s not the fire straight from Hell,
Nor the myths upon which we’ll dwell;
Four legs, two wings – six limbs make it void,
‘Cos it should have been an insectoid

PREDESTINED ABANDON

Fiction: There was a band on stage when we broke into the office.
Maybe we should have forgotten about it there and then – Jimmy was
a suspicious kind of fellow – but the safe beckoned. His hands began
to shake, but with gradual professionalism he laid the charge precisely
where it should be. A shame about the timer though. Was it fate that
it went off too early, killing him; or his own psyche causing him to
make mistakes? There was a band on stage – playing ‘The Final
Countdown’.

Call back Sat for Writers’ Island

BRIT NEWS: Deputy PM Nick
Clegg pledges huge shake-up of
our democracy in 178 yrs. Very nice,
Nick. And then did you wake up?

HEALTH NEWS: So, just a sausage a day can
increase heart disease. Processed meat bad. But not
as bad for you as worrying about it, I think.

BRIT NEWS: Cameron says no to more EU powers. Good to hear.
Now let’s hope he keeps to his word. Cooperate, don’t assimilate.

SCI NEWS: So a totally new lifeform has been created, built from
scratch. Great benefits are hoped for. I hope they know
what they’re doing.

TECH NEWS: Brits spend 65% more time on the net than
3 yrs ago. But how much of that time is waiting
due to slow broadband speeds?

BRIT NEWS: Govt will ‘responsibility test’
everything it does, says Osborne. Oh
dear, that’s funny. Stop PR words
and get on with it!

© Anthony North, May 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

Follow me on Twitter
Good place to see what I’m discussing
from my Archives

NEWTON

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. You’ll also see a linked essay and story from
my archives. Why not call back later to read them?
Plenty for everyone here. Do call again.

MICROFICTION

Three girls sang. Slaves threw themselves on
lions; gladiators slit their throats. Nero burnt
the house down. Too early for girl bands.

NEWTON

Keynes classed Isaac Newton not as the first great scientist, but the
‘last great magician’. He delved into all things esoteric & holistic,
searching for the meaning of the universe, his ‘science’ a bi-product
of his quest. It is to the disgrace of science that they try to forget
this, leaving us with a cold, compartmentalised, materialistic
scientific world that tells only half the story.

DRAFT

Fiction: It will be a brilliant story about …
well, as soon as I put the words down on
paper, to explain, they disappear – blown
away by the wind. I try to stick to the
prompt, but I can’t spell.

THE CREATION ACCOUNT

I’ve been fascinated with Genesis for many years. Over that time
I’ve asked myself a simple question: is it mere myth, or is there real
knowledge to be found within the poetic nature of the words? …
… read more …

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Lib Dem leader
thinks cuts to help economy could
cause Greek-style unrest. Forget the
Greeks, just look at UK’s past.

HEALTH NEWS: Report says Brits eat & drink too
much. Have they ever considered all the health over-
exposure is driving us to it?

BRIT NEWS: Labour manifesto suggests failing public services will
be taken out of local control. They brag about such totalitarianism?

WORLD NEWS: Richard Dawkins & Christopher Hitchens ask human
rights lawyers to produce case against Pope over cover-up. Pure
politics.

BRIT NEWS: 3 Labour MPs facing charges from expenses scandal
to fund defence at public expense. It’s lonely on Planet Contempt.

GREEN NEWS: Developing nations say west is offering cash
for them to sign up to climate deal. We’ll do all we
can except our own cuts.

BRIT NEWS: Tory manifesto says the people
will have more decision & control over
their lives and services. Ah, I do
love a good fairytale.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Thursday Poets’ Rally

FISSURES

Stormy relationship; see the cracks,
If only we could turn our backs,
A brief respite to cement our love,
What’s that in the sky? A dove?
I yearn for peace – let them flock,
You’re angry, nature – I’m just a rock

AUTUMN OF THE SOUL

When Alan Jeffries walked into the nursing home to see his father he
saw the most horrific thing he’d ever seen in his life. For there, in the
corner, Percival Jeffries rested one hand on his walking stick and held
seventy five year old Rita Madden in his other arm. With a slight
shake of the body, he struggled to control his deep cough and spittle
whilst his and Rita’s lips met in what can only be described as an
awkward but definitely passionate kiss …
… read more …

WONDER

I wonder what I’m going to be,
What is my ultimate destiny,
I’m sure I’ve not reached it yet,
Even though in my ways I’m set,
I wonder what I’m going to do,
What is left to amaze, imbue

FLASH 55 – SAVING A LIFE

Fiction: They said she was mad, saving her husband’s mistress’s life.
She just jumped in the lake and fished her out. Things changed then,
mistress dumped amid a new affection for his wife. She’d hoped this
would happen. You can’t fight a ghost. And it didn’t cost much to pay
the guy to push her in.

RANDOM LIFE

Everything random, ebb and flow,
Sometimes fast, often slow,
Negotiate obstacles, try to thrive,
Occasional failure, take a dive,
But whatever life throws your way,
Just make sure you’re there to stay,
‘Cos in the end the choice is yours,
Don’t give in – fight; don’t stop to pause

BRIT NEWS: Lib Dem leader attacks
Labour on human rights record. Love it!
Labour DID bring in human rights laws. Parties
CAN’T get it right.

BRIT NEWS: Brown says he made a mistake not bringing
in tougher bank regs sooner. Did you hear that? Brown says
he made a mistake!!!!!

GREEN NEWS: Researchers advise northern Europe could get more
cold winters due to low solar activity. I could do without that news.

BRIT NEWS: Election Debate is a boring name for our new politics
reality show. How about: I’m a Prime Minister … Get Me In Here!!

BRIT NEWS: 20,000 Iraq/Afghanistan war vets in criminal
justice system. Call is made for Cabinet post to look
after welfare of vets. Yes!!!

BRIT NEWS: Volcanic ash from Iceland closes
UK airspace. Is it panic? If it continues
will life be degraded for the
economy? We’ll see.

© Anthony North, April 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

Follow me on Twitter
Good place to see what I’m discussing
from my Archives

ASTRONAUTS

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
With Thursday Thirteen items of news and views
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

The problem with space exploration to date is it isn’t really
exploration at all. We cling to the upper atmosphere or send
unmanned probes. Indeed, the only real effort – the Moon
landings – was a Cold War game of one-upmanship.

A primary reason for this is that
it is all government backed.

History shows governments make terrible explorers. Exploration is done
by business enterprise. Sadly our present business ethic is ignoring its
traditional function and grounding us in pointless consumerism. Maybe
it’s because of a lack of guts – after all, the next frontier of
exploration is a little scary – but they are ignoring the ultimate
element of humanity – our curiosity. Indeed, I’ve often called us Homo
Curious. Other than this, I think we need a new ethic – a new Big
Story – to truly continue our destiny of exploration to the planets and
stars. And the time is now right. For instance, one thing that is clear
is that no one country can afford true space exploration. To do it, we
would have to come together in cooperation as a species. We are
presently learning how to cooperate globally through action on the
environment, terrorism, etc. This needs to be nurtured, for it is the
way of existence to communicate with others of your kind – and our
planet is feeling lonely. Indeed, the central element of technological
advancement has been to increase our ability to communicate. Is our
past technology merely a number of stages towards cosmic
communication and exploration? To view ourselves and our history in
this way could provide the impulse we need to break into space,
which is, I’m sure, our primary destiny. Indeed, such enterprise and
cooperation could be the element we need to find peace within our
collective selves and break the cycle of conflict. And until we do this
we’re a pointless species stuck in Big Biz consumerism.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: One in 5 of
Brit infantry unfit for war. It’s
what happens when you send an army
to war without proper manpower or
equipment.

EDUCATION: Savings demanded by UK govt on
universities now rises to £2.5b. The days of phoney
degrees and high student numbers are over.

WORLD NEWS: Why does it take so long to get rescue & aid to
disasters like Haiti. We have permanent national services. Why not
global?

BRIT NEWS: Army Chief says we need a new way of fighting wars due
to present challenges. Yes, but we always need to be ready for any
type.

WORLD NEWS: Google to pull out of China? Too much blocking &
hacking there. Is China showing again it’s not ready for the
civilised world?

BRIT NEWS: Doctors, lawyers, etc, still too elitist, says
review. The poor not getting a career. Ultimate
failure of ‘poor helping’ Labour.

BRIT NEWS: Think tank says it will take
several years to recover from
Recession. I think longer –
is the system in a slow
but terminal decline?

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday
Sunday Scribblings

GHOST OF SUNNY DAYS

I remember days of heat and light,
Yet long ago, now out of sight,
Presently in nature’s weathered corpse,
Climate angry, out of sorts,
Trees as skeletons of former self,
No leaves to turn, no budding wealth,
Landscape beautiful in white veiled death,
Wind bringing soul song, chant bereft,
Yet sun appears, lick’s nature’s wounds,
Says: hold on now, I’ll be back soon

THE DIAMOND

Fiction: I did it to test human gullibility. A curse, you see, is in the
mind. Only if you really believe will it work. I fooled them into thinking
it really was THE cursed diamond, and looked forward to all the
mistakes and accidents that were bound to occur. And you can
imagine my surprise when nothing happened. Curse it, I thought as I
retrieved the diamond. Mindst you, as I lie here in my hospital bed, I
was even more surprised by the appearance of the car that ran me
over when I left.

SILLY POEM IN STRANGE LANGUAGE

Omg said: will you follow me?
Lol so much I almost pee,
Start writing poem full of waffle,
Remembered second line – must not rofl;
Then revelation came in a tweet,
Feelings inside imho sweet,
Allows people to cope with what comes next,
They say it can be better than text

FLASH 55 – THE SURVIVOR

Fiction: It was a fight to the death. Afterwards I ran from the scene.
Yet, realizing my mistake, I returned and tried to explain my actions
but they simply ignored me. It was when I saw my opponent animated
that the shock set in. Then I realized – saw MY corpse on the floor. I
had lost.

FINAL DEAL

Sign up now to this online iDeal,
We promise no hassle – we know how you feel,
Just a simple measure is all we need,
Reasonable prices – we’re not into greed,
Beaten the competition, no matter how stiff,
When it’s done, it’s buried – get the drift?
And no, it doesn’t teeter as it’s lowered down,
A new way to put loved ones deep in the ground

YES YES

Oui, it spelt as the question’s asked,
Ja, it repeats, the spirits tasked,
To contact us at our will,
Or maybe its hysteria we fulfil;
Regardless which, it’s here to say,
The paranormal on display,
Bringing ghosts to our front room,
Fingers on planchette – watch it zoom

TONY’S DIARY: I’ve finally got
digital TV and not one of the extra
channels interest me. Is it a digital revolution
or Digital Devolution?

BRIT VIEW: A ‘virtue’ of Gordon Brown is his clear view
of what society is? This is why he’s a bad leader. Philosophers
become dictators.

WEATHER: So the thaw has come to the UK – at last. One thing I miss
is the beauty of a snowy, frosty morning. Those whites were amazing.

A THOUGHT: If you’re aiming for an ideal, you’ll be disappointed. Life
is about compromise. Once you understand that, it can be
great.

MOVIE WATCH: Watched Easy Rider. First time in
decades. It only really came alive with Jack
Nicholson. Seems to say freedom is
misery.

A THOUGHT: We should always remember
the past and learn from it. Problem
is, too many take the angst
along for the ride. Always
a mistake.

© Anthony North, January 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

SCIENCE

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Science is great. I love science. It confirms us as brilliant thinking
beings. But there are many problems with science. It has been so
successful that for too many people it is the only system that
counts. Unfortunately, single systems are always wrong.

Typically, it holds little
moral guidance.

Further, our knowledge is always reflected in how society thinks of
itself. Science confirms a universe that is chaotic, fragmented and
without meaning. So society behaves as if it is too. Knowledge should
be balanced by a belief, as used to be provided by religion. But belief
can only be superstition in the modern world. This, too, holds a
problem for science. It is so fundamental a means of knowledge,
banishing the idea of belief, that nothing can ‘be’ unless science can
measure it. Thus, unknown dangers could exist because science has
not yet caught up with nature. But these dangers are ignored in a
process I call ‘anti-superstition’. Most of science is not actually
science, but validation. There have been very few true scientists –
people who have moved forward our knowledge in a paradigm-shifting
way. These scientists were rebels at odds with the established view.
This confirms that the validators who follow are actually guardians of
old knowledge. Science is also choosy about what is valid data.
Without a hypothesis with which to sieve data, data seems chaotic.
It can only become ordered once a hypothesis is made. Yet if the
established view is more a guardian and validator of old knowledge,
hypotheses will reflect this and be dictatorial in nature, locking out
contrary data from analysis. Surviving hypotheses eventually become
theories within which data gives a probability of correctness. This
becomes scientific truth, but too often the ‘probability’ factor is not
understood by the public. This leads to a feedback loop of consensus
reality. Because the world clearly offers evidence of action, the idea
grows that the theory answers how that action occurs, and ‘reality’
becomes a mind model as opposed to a definite. Of course, this
process cannot be proved to occur, but neither can it be disproved,
as evidence would be identical whether it was true or false. Yet the
simple possibility should be enough to demand a little more humility
from science.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: The Police are becoming
worried by the number of private security
firms policing UK streets. Typically they don’t seem
to grasp that they may be to blame. Policing only works
properly when police are within the community. The Police have
divorced themselves from the people over the last 30 yrs under the
pretence of efficiency. Well, it doesn’t seem very efficient to me.

WORLD NEWS: As it becomes clear that democracy won’t work in
Afghanistan, moves seem to be coming to set a timetable for
withdrawal. It was an error to think democracy could work,
and is now compounded by an error in signalling to an
enemy your intent. The first rule of warfare – take
the enemy by surprise. Do modern governments
know the first thing about war? No wonder
there’s so many tragedies.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday

MIGRATION

I’m fed up here – getting dull,
All is done, can feel the pull,
Of new experience to be explored,
Of new thoughts racing – I’m so bored!
I’m leaving now for another host,
Sorry to leave you as a ghost,
But your body’s shot, and I’m still whole,
Goodbye from this migrating soul

FIND THE MOLE

Fiction: The Square. How did Brand end up here? It
was a normal square – shops, cafes, people milling around – which
ones would kill him? He’d been sent in to find the Mole – get him out
before he was compromised. But as their agents closed in on him
quickly, Brand realized it was maybe too late. Except … Well, he was
an optimist, and even if the Mole had been caught – was being
interrogated – he’d have left a path to the information. And sure
enough, as he played ‘spot the spy’ in the square, he knew all the
signs on his dangerous investigation led here. And it had certainly
been dangerous, nearly cornered twice, shooting his way out of
trouble. And as he surveyed the square, he felt the cold comfort of
his gun. Soon sure he had identified the agents he began to watch
the shops. Was it to be one of those? He thought. Of course, he
eventually worked it out – broke cover as he moved forward, his
disguise hopefully fooling the agents. And as he walked into the
taxidermist’s, he found the information – in the mole.

ADOLESCENT MEAL

Sausage, egg, beans & chips,
Food for life, culinary quips,
Sausage for body and friends untold,
Egg for vitality, feelings bold,
Beans for flavour, life’s delicate mix,
Chips for experience, fragmented picks,
Adolescence, that time so mad,
Rushing from the good to bad,
With brief excursions to the cafe to eat,
No time to choose, life to greet

FLASH 55 – THE RARE FIND

Fiction: It was a rare find – among the masses of humanity, who would
have thought? Of course, experts debated. How could it be? Would it
be a one-off; would it blossom into a better world? Though the
consensus grew that it was an evolutionary oddity. But who would
have thought? A banker with a conscience.

THE GIVER

To give it freely, asking for nothing,
It wasn’t his fault they ended up coughing,
Obvious thanks were nowhere to be seen,
As temperatures rose, a sweaty sheen;
He simply went about with a runny nose,
A handkerchief sodden with nothing to oppose,
Passing it on through fingers and sneeze,
Let’s not be so giving, if you please

© Anthony North, November 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

WE’RE SOMETHING

Friday Flash 55 & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Earth is an insignificant planet. Nothing special in the cosmos. Also,
mankind is nothing in universal terms. These simple facts should excite
us, ‘cos when you are nothing, it should be reason to be something.
This has fuelled advancement – bettering ourselves. Alternatively
being nothing can make you realize you’ll never be anything. This is
self-defeating and separates the men from the boys. When I look at
all the tech on the drawing board that could send us to the stars, and
the fact that we aren’t there, I ask: are we men or boys?

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

CRIME NEWS: Some prison governors
in UK think prison terms under a yr should
be scrapped. They don’t work. Well make them work!

BRIT NEWS: Labour to raise £16bn to help pay off deficit by asset
stripping. Parties are bidding for office. When’s the granny going?

SCI NEWS: Pill use over 40 yrs has put women off masculine men,
say scientists. That doesn’t explain why masculine men are rare.

TECH NEWS: Brit govt digital task force wants all online
by 2012. Can a situation ever come when this
is achieved? Will coercion be used?

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – 3 Word Thursday

TO CONQUER TIME

We had to do it, it was our way,
If something’s to be done, we can’t go astray,
Knowledge demands that everything chimes,
And we’d learnt, at last, how to conquer time,
Create, for all, an eternal now,
Taking the ultimate temporal bow,
With all that had been at once, so plain,
Now we live knowing the universe is pain

FLASH 55 – CLOUD FLOATER
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

Sci Fi: They couldn’t get over the beauty of it as they watched. He
was nubivagant, graceful, tenellous, as if with wings. He seemed
surrounded by light and they knew he would be utible. Soon his flight
ended. And as he arrived on the slab in the flying saucer, the alien
smiled and picked up the probe.

tenellous – tender
nubivagant – moving thru clouds
utible – useful

SPAM

Spam is here, then it’s there,
Spam should make us all beware,
Of evolution in the raw,
Spreading like nature’s tooth and claw,
Filling environments like a weed,
Runaway capitalism’s holy creed

© Anthony North, October 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

TONY ON BIG LIT BANG NOVEL & MORE

Including Heads or Tails, ABC Wednesday, Manic Monday and Monday Poetry Train.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN ON BIG BANG

Big Bang isn’t the only explanation of the universe. There is also Steady State, which says the universe regenerates itself constantly. This idea is shunned by the mainstream, but could philosophy lie behind this? We live in a linear world where everything has to have a beginning and an end. To not have such is just so … well – eastern!

BLOGGER BARD ON MODERN LIT

As a general rule I dislike modern literary novels. I love the classics, but with the modern I found myself playing ‘search for the story’. Maybe writers place all value in the individual today, but they seem to be all about an angst-driven search for self.
Next post Wed. See you then.

© Anthony North, March 2009

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Why Are We Here

We are well aware of the idea that life constantly evolves. But how
far does this process of evolution go? Does it stop at life, or could
it be argued that evolution is a property of the cosmos?
… read more …

Abolish Political Parties

BRIT NEWS: A rainbow alliance is forming of
anarchists and greens as the London G20 Summit
approaches. Many fear riots. Will they happen? Well,
it depends on the weather. If it’s nice, possibly. Brit
rioters don’t like getting wet.
*
BRIT NEWS: Brownski and the Palace have discussed Royal
reforms regarding allowing royalty to marry Catholics, and placing
equal female succession. I’m always suspicious of NuLabour
meddling in royalty, but this one is long overdue.
*
HEALTH NEWS: The Lancet accuses Pope of distorting
science over condom claims. Some time science
and religion have to start talking. The problem is
maybe no longer a scientific or religious view,
but the antagonism between the two.

Lots more news on my Mini Blog

PSI-WORLD

A small step into the dark

My Unexplained Sub-Domain

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THE SEER

She sits so still, lets them in,
Soon the spirits begin to sing,
Seeing so much of what life’s about,
Offering messages without doubt,
But where they reside, I’m not so sure,
Inner mind, not Heaven pure?

GETTING UP

Fiction: Getting up that morning was scary. I suppose, at first, it
seemed a normal morning, but there was just something about it
that I knew wasn’t right. And it wasn’t just scary for me – it was,
in a way, doubly scary for them. Oh boy, how they ran! You see,
I died yesterday.

K is for … KARMA

Lived before, I must have done,
Too much life overcome,
Wisdom always being my guide,
Previous lives in which to confide,
Grounded by a moral code,
Karma stopping me being a toad

THE BIRD

I see him not, I close my eyes,
Then into sight he surely flies,
Guides my mind to vistas new,
Nature’s truths are now in view,
My animal guide then lowers a claw,
To mystic lands, together we soar

© Anthony North, March 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

Here we go with another Scribblers’ News. Is it proving useful?
I’m trying to do my bit to help advertise the prompt sites, as
too many have been disappearing. Can anyone think of other ways
of doing so? Let me know of any news or new sites.

Search Engine Stories
The phrase to write about is: Kiss me
Monday Poetry Train
Any poem can be linked here
Poefusion
A fortune cookie type of poem req’d this week. Take a look
Manic Monday
The word is: ‘bird’. What can you do with that? Post it Mon.
ABC Wednesday
The letter is ‘k’. Posted Tues evening GMT
My Neck Of the Woods
A new prompt: writing about your local area
Write Anything
Always a good source of info and prompts

**********

Call back Wed for more sites.
Follow me on Twitter
Mini-essays at top from Wise Word and Dark Zone. Take a look.

ANSWERING THE WOOSAYERS

Click The ‘Y’ Files for more unexplained essays

Fed up of being associated with ‘woo’? Well, no, not really – in a way it’s a compliment. It shows you’re being noticed, and if you’re noticed, you’re making a difference.
This is the beauty of the woosayers (see def below) – in their determination to stamp out alternative thought, they actually guarantee its audience will grow. So let us all give a big thank you to those marvellous boys and girls.

Why do they get so annoyed?

Because, as with religious orthodoxy, they believe in an absolute truth – that science is the only way. Well, to a point they’re right, but in championing science, they place more into it than actually exists.
Science is not about truth, but the on-going understanding of nature and the universe. Nothing can ever be conceptually ‘proved’ in science. The woosayers are unhappy with this, and decide to turn science into a religion.

They are assisted in this by science itself.

You see, science doesn’t seem to allow room in the universe for esoteric concepts such as the paranormal or intelligent universal consciousness.
They seem to offer answers and directions that appear rational. But science is hampered by only being able to speak of the universe and not what may be outside it. And I’m not talking about a man in a white beard.

Science can say nothing of before Big Bang.

This is because the universe did not exist. But we can imply that something occurred at this point outside the universe to set it in motion – if, of course, Big Bang is correct.
Everything that happens in the universe is a result of this implied action. So technically, there could be an as yet undiscovered influence stemming from that action that is, itself, technically not in the universe.

At first, this sounds ridiculous.

But consider the layered reality of ecosystems. They build upon each other, and have an effect on each other both within and outside a particular ecosystem. And this is an influence that cannot be measured by science.
What is the nature of this influence from outside a system, but nonetheless having an affect within? Consider Chaos Theory and the idea that a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane. What are we dealing with here?
We are dealing with subtle action of known properties working in non-understood ways to produce something bigger than itself. Something tiny from outside the final expression caused something mighty.
I think this is the direction some areas of research should go, re-checking the relationship with the known to see if it can react in presently unknown ways. Science is even beginning to realise the possibility in the idea of emergence – the way complex systems arise from simple components.
Whilst we’re waiting for science to catch up, though, a philosophy of the esoteric is required to study such possibilities in a rational way. In this way, we can do a better service than the woosayer, jumping up and down like a demented kangawoo.

© Anthony North, March 2009

DEFINITION OF WOOSAYER

He who says of you,
You deal in nothing but woo,
And claims he speaks only true,
Yet sounds like he’s stuck in the loo

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIONISM

Click The ‘Y’ Files for more posts in this series.

There is a feeling among rationalists that the world is slowly going mad. The reason? The continuing growth of fundamentalist beliefs concerning Creationism. But what is at the root of this growing phenomenon?
Well, first of all, science cannot – ever – prove it wrong. They can rant and rave; they can show how science shows it is not the case – but at best, this can only show the working mechanisms of a process, and not the ‘whys’.

Thus, God is immune to the scientific process.

And the sooner science accepts this and stops decrying the Creationist, the sooner there may be the return of a little commonsense in the debate – on both sides.
This is not simply an opinion of mine. I think it can be backed up by sound reasoning. And not reasoning to do with science or Creationism, but the process of the very conflict involved.

I think there is a valid law for such conflicts.

I call it the ‘law of opposite effect’. It can be explained quite simply. The more one stance becomes entrenched, the more the other will dig in its heels.
Thus, the condemnation from either side will guarantee the reasons for condemnation will increase. Hence, the problem isn’t science or Creationism, but the battle between the two.

And it gets worse.

As the conflict continues, and stances become more fundamental, the point comes when both sides become fanatical. When this point arrives, all commonsense disappears.
But more than this, my law has another element: basically, the more fanatical you become, the more you will further the opposite outcome to that intended. Hence, science guarantees Creationism, and vice versa.

And the problem is also of paradigms.

Science is now grounded in a totally material world, with nothing other than what can be observed. Well, one thing can be observed above the material – the innate need in people for something above the material.
I’m talking about a form of spirituality. Now, to me, spirituality is about bonding – of man to man, mankind to nature, and nature to the universe. It is a form of holistic love, I suppose, and I assume scientists DO fall in love, despite their rationality.
Hence, in a world that does not offer intellectual ideals concerning this process, the gap will be filled by systems that do. And the ultimate expression of this is an entire universe created through love by God.
An urge towards spirituality will always exist. Whether this means there is a supernatural or not is beside the point. And as long as science decides there is no such thing, they will continue to fuel movements that say there is. And to be quite honest, in terms of the knowledge we have, they could be just as right as scientists think THEY are.

© Anthony North, March 2009

TONY ON TODAY’S SCIENCE & MORE

Including One Single Impression, Sunday Scribblings and Manic Monday.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN – But what is a Scientist?

The world is full of scientists, researching this and experimenting with that. Changing this, advancing that, making things worse with the other. But is it true that the world is full of scientists?

It depends on your definition.

To me, there have only ever been a handful of scientists, and I doubt if there’s one alive today. To me, a true scientist is someone who came up with something radically new, and changed the paradigm.
This leaves a very exclusive club, populated by people such as Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Mendel and Einstein. Okay, there’s probably a few more, but other than this select band of brains, what we call ‘science’ is really validating and amending what is already done.

Which is not really science.

Not in terms of groundbreaking brilliance. And perhaps the reason why there are so few is that most of the above were rebels, outside the accepted field of research.
Today, it is practically impossible to be even considered a scientist without a career in a tightly controlled club. Which is just what is not needed for the ‘rebel’ to reappear. Me thinks science, today, has banished the idea of what science should be.

Copyright © Anthony North, February 2009

My Columnists

HEALTH NEWS: Eggs now safe to eat. My view
simple: nothing will kill you in moderation. But why
safe now? Recession. Live cheap. Needs must.
*
BRIT NEWS: Bank of England boss warns economy could shrink 6%.
It isn’t a matter of shrinkage, but permanent realignment. Good
times over.
*
WORLD NEWS: Why are the fires in Australia called a natural
disaster? Its murder. OK, its dry but if you leave a door open
its still theft.
*
BRIT NEWS: Dumbing down in education in the news again. Been
going on for years, the previous generation dumbed down on the
one before.
*
BRIT NEWS: Less jobs req’d now. Study says kids babysat by
Grandma have problems. Such reports now hip. Media image
of working mom changing.
*
BRIT NEWS: Govt man Ed Balls says crisis to be worse than
1930s. I think so too. It isn’t a Recession, but a transition.
But to what?

Find fiction, poetry and sayings on comment 1 below.

Follow me on Twitter

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

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SPECTRAL IMAGES

It flickers, brightly, then goes out,
something there, no doubt,
Go a bit closer, take a peek,
Knowledge, novelty, always seek;
Definite activity – see it there,
On the verge of sentient glare,
Soon to blossom, come out to us,
Join the vibe, universal buzz;
Time to meet – let them join the club,
No longer spectral, in the hub,
Landing now, they seem very tense,
Hello humans, we’re your friends

(c) Anthony North, February 2009

******************************

SPORT – Fiction

The sun blazed.
Through the haze he saw the problem. The patrol had been split. Three of them had been pinned down. The constant zip of AK-47 fire seemed to puncture his eardrums, and as he looked once more over the rock, a fighter’s rounds hit home, an arm flying, disembodied …
He knew it was up to him …

Another time. Afterwards …
He watched the game. The centre forward made his move, dribbling the ball around the opponent and finding a space. The soldier sensed the urgency of the move – saw the opposition try to fill the gap. Stop him.

He knew it was open territory, but he saw the fighters make their flanking move. There were only seconds left before all three would be dead. He took a deep breath, thought of his mother – of the life he had yet to live. He raised himself, squeezed the trigger, let off a burst, and charged ….

The centre forward had cleared the gap. The goal loomed ahead of him, and in a touch of absolute brilliance he pulled back his foot and kicked.
The soldier remained seated as the stadium erupted in cheers – in adulation of their hero.

© Anthony North, February 2009

CANDY

Candy, absolute perfection,
A tasty, ultimate confection,
Her company a treat,
Her manner sweet …

To find the words, an impossible task,
So much a secret, before you ask,
The date was great, went so well,
Not something of which I can tell;
Suffice to say we were led astray,
Plenty of time for ultimate play,
Peeling the wrapper an absolute joy,
Knowing the difference between girl and boy;
Growing close, a tasty delight,
Mixed so well throughout the night,
Savouring every sugary mix,
Melting, finally, as we kissed

Candy, absolute perfection,
A tasty, ultimate confection,
But time for respite,
Hhmm
Pick another tonight

(c) Anthony North, February 2009