Clutter (Box Three)

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

....more. - Dylan Thomas

Although I could surely be wrong, I get the general impression that I will not likely see sixty years old (that would be March 23, 2018 for those keeping score at home). For some, that would be terrifying, and there was a time in which I "raged against the dying of the light", and still do from time to time when the adrenaline spikes a bit. But generally, my rage, about that and everything else, is pretty much down to the glowing embers left after the flames. I have, I suppose, come to fancy myself among the "wise men" who know that "dark is right" or at least inevitable, "because their words had forked no lightening". I wonder if it would hurt if my words forked lightening? Why would it matter in the slightest whether or not one raged against the dying of the light...as long as the light still died? It appears there are changes within the brain and rest of the body, which come with age, which make the inevitability and proximity of death little more than one more annoyance one must get through before the final nirvanic return to non-existence. It hardly matters whether or not one has fulfilled the principle purpose of life - procreation - the time for it is nonetheless over, and the "survival instinct" begins to wither as much as the flaccid penis.

Watch...is Herbie raging against the dying of the light?

Full episode The Human Body Part 7 The End of Life
By the way, if you have not, you should watch the entire series of The Human Body, narrated by Robert Winston. In Part 7, the final episode, Herbie is the principle player and we get to watch him die...but there is no acting here.

You might remember there was mention of Egypt in an earlier box. That was written almost a month ago and I could not have foreseen the recent...eh, events there. Many comments along the lines of "something has been born there" have been made. My question is, "what"? There was no ultrasound. Most of the left seems to be overjoyed that something called "democracy" (whatever that is) has been born there. Much comment was made about the fact that most of the Fox News people didn't seem thrilled, and that they were "haters" for pointing out that, aside from Israel, there is no country in the Middle East that is run much like the Western idea of democracy. Well...? What other country in that region is "democratic" in the American sense? It all seems rather suspicious to me... there suddenly seems to be a flurry of "democratic" protest and resistance to "oppressive regimes" in the region. We are told that for 20-30 years, the people of Egypt lived under tyranny. That may be, I don't know, but I do wonder why it was tolerable for so long and suddenly now it is not. Why now? Was it not tyranny last year?

So...Israel is a democracy? Really? Even for Palestinian people?

That video is titled The Ultra Zionists. What would you say to the young Israeli guy at the end of the video about whether atheism is "a stupid way of life"?

Getting down near the bottom of this box we find a bit from my friend Hugh. About UFO's. Hmmm. There was a link to this video and a note saying he thinks I may soon be eating crow. I'm not sure I know what that means, since I have never denied the possibility of the existence of aliens and/or their spacecraft. I still do not. Nor do I see any evidence that this video contains either. Especially since Hugh included, in a separate note, this link to what Hugh calls "the official explanation (or cover story)". Do I know for certain what this was? No. I also see no evidence whatever in either the video or the text to doubt that it was anything other than a solar probe whose parachutes failed to open upon return to earth. Am I to automatically dismiss the "official explanation" as merely a "cover story" simply BECAUSE it is the official explanation? Is it impossible that the explanation is actually true only because it is "official"? I certainly understand and agree that it is important to maintain a healthy skepticism about things "official", though I see no reason to go off the deep end in the other direction either. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, no?

Youtube is full of videos claiming that the Voynich Manuscript is of alien origin. For all I know it is precisely that. But until I see hard evidence otherwise, I will think it far more likely that it was written (for whatever purposes) by some human in the 15^th century.

One more thing... I had wondered whether it was just me or if other people were experiencing something I can only call now an attention deficit. After talking with several friends privately about this, I have concluded that it is a rather pervasive phenomenon. Many friends agreed with me that they have, in fairly recent times, become unable to take the time to read an entire book. Even if you really like it, it just seems to take too much time. I really wanted to read Sam Harris' latest book The Moral Landscape. So far, I have not. I was surprised and a little disturbed that I could not seem to even get through his article in the Huffington Post, A Response to Critics. If this situation persists, I will be sad....reading was such a pleasure.

I await the demonization from the left of the National Car Association and the National Knife Association for failing to support legislation that would make it more difficult for crazy people to get their hands on these instruments of death. Heh.

If you have arrived here after getting through these three boxes of clutter, I will take it that you do not suffer from my aforementioned attention deficit...and I thank you. Just wait till I get into the attic...

TRB