text:
The Cyclic View of History by Savitri Devi, 1948
View Single Post
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 899
The Cyclic View of History by Savitri Devi, 1948
The Cyclic View of History
by Savitri Devi, 1948.
The idea of progress - indefinite betterment - is anything but modern. It is probably as oldest as man's oldest successful attempt to improve his material surroundings and to increase, through technical skill, his capacity of attack and defence. Technical skill, for many centuries at least, has been too precious to be despised. Nay, when displayed to an extra ordinary degree, it has, more than once, been hailed as something almost divine.
Wondrous legends have always been woven, for instance, round such men as was said to have, by some means, been able to raise themselves, physically, above the earth, be it Etana of Erech who soared to heaven "borne upon eagle's wings", or the famous Icarus, unfortunate forerunner of our modern airmen, or Manco Capac's brother, Auca, said to have been gifted with "natural" wings which finally fared hardly better than Icarus' artificial ones.
But apart from such incredible feats by a handful of individuals, the Ancients as a whole distinguished themselves in many material achievements. They could boast of the irrigation system in Sumeria; of the construction of pyramids revealing, both in Egypt and, centuries later, in Central America, an amazing knowledge of astronomical data; of the bath-rooms and drains in the palace of Knossos; of the invention of the war-chariot after that of the bow and arrow, and of the sand-clock after that of the sun-dial - enough to make them dizzy with conceit and over-confident in the destiny of their respective civilisations.
Yet, although they fully recognised the value of their own work in the practical field, and surely very soon conceived the possibility - and perhaps acquired the certitude - of indefinite technical progress, they never believed in progress as a whole, in progress on all lines, as most of our contemporaries seem to do. From all evidence, they faithfully clung to the traditional idea of cyclic evolution and had, in addition to that, the good sense to admit that they lived (in spite of all their achievements) in anything but the beginning of the long-drawn, downward process constituting their own particular "cycle" - and ours. Whether Hindu or Greeks, Egyptians or Japanese, Chinese, Sumerians, or ancient Americans - or even Romans, the most "modern" amongst people of Antiquity - they all placed the "Golden Age", the "Age of Truth", the rule of Kronos or of Ra, or of any other Gods on earth - the glorious Beginning of the slow, downward unfurling of history, whatever name it be! given - far behind them in the past.
And they believed that the return of a similar Age, foretold in their respective sacred texts and oral traditions, depends, not upon man's conscious effort, but upon iron laws, inherent to the very nature of visible and tangible manifestation, and all-pervading; upon cosmic laws. They believed man's conscious effort is but an expression of those laws at work, leading the world, willing or unwilling, wherever its destiny lies; in one word, that the history of man, as the history of the rest of the living, is but a detail in cosmic history without beginning nor end; a periodical outcome of the inner Necessity that binds all phenomena in Time.
And just as the Ancients could accept that vision of the world's evolution while taking full advantage of all technical progress within their reach, so can - and so do - to this day, thousands of men brought up within the pale of age-old cultures centred round the self-same traditional views, and, also, in the very midst of the over-proud industrial cultures, a few stray individuals able to think for themselves. They contemplate the history of mankind in a similar perspective.
While living, apparently, as "modern" men and women - using electric fans and electric irons, telephones and trains, and aeroplanes, when they can afford it - they nourish in their hearts a deep contempt for the childish conceit and bloated hopes of our age, and for the various recipes for "saving mankind", which zealous philosophers and politicians thrust into circulation. They know that nothing can "save mankind", for mankind is reaching the end of its present cycle. The wave that carried it, for so many millenniums, is about to break, with all the fury of acquired speed, and to merge once more into the depth of the unchanging Ocean of undifferentiated existence. It will rise again, some day, with abrupt majesty, for such is the law of waves. But in the meantime nothing can be done to stop it. The unfortunate - the fools - are those men who, for some reason best known to themselves - probably on account of their exaggerated estimation of what is to be lost in the process ! - would like to stop it. The privileged ones - the wise - are those few who, being fully aware of the increasing worthlessness of present-day mankind and of its much-applauded "progress", know how little there is to be lost in the coming crash and look forward to it with joyous expectation as to the necessary condition of a new beginning - a new "Golden Age", sunlit crest of the next long drawn downward wave upon the surface of the endless Ocean of Life.
To those privileged ones - amongst whom we count ourselves - the whole succession of "current events" appears in an entirely different perspective from that either of the desperate believers in "progress" or of those people who, though accepting the cyclic view of history and therefore considering the coming crash as unavoidable, feel sorry to see the civilisation in which they live rush towards its doom.
To us, the high-resounding "isms" to which our contemporaries ask us to give our allegiance, now, in 1948, are all equally futile: bound to be betrayed, defeated, and finally rejected by men at large, if containing anything really noble: bound to enjoy, for the time being, some sort of noisy success, if sufficiently vulgar, pretentious and soul-killing to appeal to the growing number of mechanically conditioned slaves that crawl about our planet, posing as free men; all destined to prove, ultimately, of no avail. The time-honoured religions, rapidly growing out of fashion as present-day "isms" become more and more popular, are no less futile - if not more: frameworks of organised superstition void of all true feeling of the Divine, or - among more sophisticated people - mere conventional aspects of social life, or systems of ethics (and of very elementary ethics at that) seasoned with a sprinkling of out-dated rites and symbols of which hardly anybody bothers to seek the or! iginal meaning: devices in the hands of clever men in power to lull the simpletons into permanent obedience; convenient names, round which it might be easy to rally converging national aspirations or political tendencies; or just the last resort of weaklings and cranks: that is, practically, all they are - all they have been reduced to in the course of a few centuries - the lot of them. They are dead, in fact - as dead as the old cults that flourished before them, with the difference that those cults have long ceased exhaling the stench of death, whil e they (the so-called "living" ones) are still at the stage at which death is inseparable from corruption. None - neither Christianity nor Islam nor even Buddhism - can be expected now to "save" anything of that world they once partly conquered; none have any normal place in "modern" life, which is essentially devoid of all awareness of the eternal.
There are no activities in "modern" life which are not futile, save perhaps those that aim at satisfying one's body hunger: growing rice; growing wheat; gathering chestnuts from the woods or potatoes from one's garden. And the one and only sensible policy can but be to let things take their course and to await the coming Destroyer, destined to clear the ground for the building of a new "Age of Truth": the One Whom the Hindus name Kalki and hail as the tenth and last Incarnation of Vishnu; the Destroyer Whose advent is the condition of the preservation of life, according to Life's everlasting laws.
We know all this will sound utter folly to those, more and more numerous, who, despite the untold horrors of our age, remain convinced that humanity is "progressing". It will appear as cynicism even to many of those who accept our belief in cyclic evolution, which is the universal, traditional belief expressed in poetic form in all the sacred texts of the world, including the Bible. We have nothing to reply to this latter possible criticism, for it is entirely based upon an emotional attitude which is not ours. But we can try to point out the vanity of the popular belief in "progress", be it only in order to stress the rationality and strength of the theory of cycles.
The exponents of the belief in "progress" put forth many arguments to prove - to themselves and to others - that our times, with all their undeniable drawbacks, are on the whole, better than any epoch of the past, and even that they show definite signs of improvement. It is not possible to analyse all their arguments in detail. But one can easily detect the fallacies hidden in the most widespread and, apparently, the most "convincing" of them.
All the advocates of "prog-ress" lay enormous stress upon such things as literacy, individual "freedom", equal opportunities for all men, religious toleration and "humaneness," progress in this last line covering all such tendencies as find their expression in the modern preoccupation of child-welfare, prison-reforms, better conditions of labour, State aid to the sick and destitute and, if not greater kindness, at least less cruelty to animals. The dazzling results obtained, of recent years, in the application of scientific discoveries to industrial and other practical pursuits, are, of course, the most popular of all instances expected to show how marvellous our times are. But that point we shall not discuss, as we have already made it clear that we by no means deny or minimise the importance of technical progress. What we do deny is the existence of any progress at all in the value of man as such, whether individually or collectively, and our reflections on universal l! iterac y and other highly praised "signs" of improvement in which our contemporaries take pride, all spring from that one point of view.
We believe that man's value - as every creature's value, ultimately - lies not in the mere intellect but in the spirit; in the capacity to reflect that which, for lack of a more precise word, we choose to call "the divine," i.e. that which is true and beautiful beyond all manifestation; that which remains timeless (and therefore unchangeable) within all changes...
Progress? - It is true that, today, at least in all highly organised (typically "modern") countries, nearly everybody can read and write. But what of that? To be able to read and write is an advantage - and a considerable one. But it is not a virtue. It is a tool and a weapon; a means to an end; a very useful thing, no doubt; but not an end in itself. The ultimate value of literacy depends on the end to which it is used. And to what end is it generally used today? It is used for convenience or entertainment, by those who read; for some advertisement, or some objectionable propaganda - for money-making or power-grabbing - by those who write; sometimes, of course, by both, for acquiring and spreading disinterested knowledge of the few things worth knowing: for finding expression of or giving expression to the few deep feelings that can lift a man to the awareness of things eternal, but not more often so than in the days in which one man out of ten thousand could understand th! e symb olism of the written word. Generally, today, the man or woman whom compulsory education has made "literate" uses writing to communicate personal matters to absent friends and relatives, to fill forms - one of the international occupations of modern civilised humanity - or to commit to memory little useful, but otherwise trifling things such as someone's address or telephone number, or the date of some appointment with the hairdresser or the dentist, or the list of clean clothes due from the laundry. He or she reads "to pass time" because, outside the hours of dreary work, mere thinking is no longer intense and interesting enough to serve that purpose.
We know that there are also people whose whole lives have been directed to some beautiful destiny by a book, a poem - a mere sentence - read in distant childhood, like Schliemann, who lavishly spent on archeological excavations and wealth patiently and purposefully gathered in forty years of dreary toil, all for the sake of the impression left upon him, as a boy, by the immortal story of Troy. But such people always lived, even before compulsory education came into fashion. And the stories heard and remembered were no less inspiring than stories now read. The real advantage of general literacy, if any, is to be sought elsewhere. It lies not in the better quality either of the exceptional men and women or of the literate millions, but rather in the fact that the latter are rapidly becoming intellectually more lazy and therefore more credulous than ever - and not less so - more easily deceived, more liable to be led like sheep without even the shadow of a protest, provided th! e nons ense one wishes them to swallow be presented to them in printed form and made to appear "scientific". The higher the general level of literacy, the easier it is, for a government in control of the daily press, of the wireless and of the publishing business - these almost irresistible modern means of action upon the mind - to keep the masses and the "intelligentsia" under its thumb, without them even suspecting it.
Among widely illiterate but more actively thinking people, openly governed in the more autocratic manner, a prophet, direct mouthpiece of the Gods, or of genuine collective aspirations, could always hope to rise between secular authority and the people. The priests themselves could never be quite sure of keeping the people in obedience for ever. The people could choose to listen to the prophet, if they liked. And they did, sometimes. Today, wherever universal literacy is prevalent, inspired exponents of timeless truth - prophets - or even selfless advocates if timely practical changes, have less and less chances to appear. Sincere thought, real free thought, ready, in the name of superhuman authority or of humble common sense, to question the basis of what is officially taught and generally accepted, is less and less likely to thrive. It is, we repeat, by far easier to enslave a literate people than an illiterate one, strange as this may seem at first sight. And the enslave! ment is likely to be more lasting. The real advantage of universal literacy is to tighten the grip of the governing power upon the foolish and conceited millions. That is probably why it is drummed into our heads, from babyhood onwards, that "literacy" is such a boon. Capacity to think for one's self is, however, the real boon. And that always was and always will be the privilege of a minority, once recognised as a natural elite and respected. Today, compulsory mass-education and an increasingly standardised literature for the consumption of "conditioned" brains - outstanding signs of "progress" - tend to reduce that minority to the smallest possible proportions; ultimately, to suppress it altogether. Is that what mankind wants? If so, mankind is losing its raison d'etre, and the sooner the end of this so-called "civilisation" the better.
What we have said of literacy can roughly be repeated about those two other main glories of modern Democracy: "individual freedom" and equality of opportunities for every person. The first is a lie - and a more and more sinister one as the shackles of compulsory education are being more and more hopelessly fastened round people's whole being. The second is an absurdity.
One of the funniest inconsistencies of the average citizen of the modern industrialised world is the way in which he criticises all institutions of older and better civilisations, such as the caste-system of the Hindus or the all-absorbing family cult of the Far East, on the ground that these tend to check the "liberty of the individual." He does not realise how exacting - nay, how annihilating - is the command of the collective authority which he obeys (half the time, unknowingly) compared to that of traditional collective authority, in apparently less "free" societies. The caste-ridden or family-ridden people of India or of the Far East might not be allowed to do all that they like, in many relatively trifling and in a few really all-important matters of daily life. But they are left to believe what they like, or rather what they can; to feel according to their own nature and to express themselves freely about a great number of essential matters; they are allowed to condu! ct their higher life in the manner they judge the wisest for them, after their duties to family, caste and king have been fulfilled. The individual living under the iron and steel rule of modern "progress" can eat whatever he fancies (to a great extent) and marry whom he pleases - unfortunately! - and go wherever he likes (in theory at least). But he is made to accept, in all extra-individual matters - matters which, to us, really count - the beliefs, the attitude to life, the scale of values and, to a great extent, the political views, that tend to strengthen the mighty socio-economic system of exploitation to which he belongs (to which he is forced to belong, in order to be able to live) and in which he is a mere cog. And what is more, he is made to believe that it is a privilege of his to be a cog in such an organism; that the unimportant matters in which he feels he is his own master are, in fact, the most important ones - the only really important ones. He is taught not to value that freedom of judgment about ultimate truth, aesthetical, ethical or metaphysical, of which he is subtly deprived. More still: he is told - in the democratic countries at any rate - that he is free in all respects; that he is "an individual, answerable to none but his own conscience"... after years of clever conditioning have moulded his "conscience"! and h is whole being so thoroughly according to pattern, that he is no longer capable of reacting differently. Well can such a man speak of "pressure upon the individual" in any society, ancient or modern!
One can realise to what an extent men's minds have been curved, both by deliberate and unconscious conditioning, in the world in which we live today, when one encounters people who have never come under the influence of industrial civilisation, or when one happens, oneself, to be lucky enough to have defied, from childhood onwards, the pernicious pressure of standardised education and to have remained free amongst the crowd of those who react as they were taught to, in all fundamental matters. The cleavage between the thinking and the unthinking, the free and the slaves, is appalling.
As for "equality of opportunities," there can be no such thing anyhow, really speaking. By producing men and women different both in degree and quality of intelligence, sensitiveness and will power, different in character and temperament, Nature herself gives them the most unequal opportunities of fulfilling their aspirations, whatever these might be. An over-emotional and rather weak person can, for instance, neither conceive the same ideal of happiness nor have equal chances of reaching it in life, as one who is born with a more balanced nature and a stronger will. That is obvious...
What our contemporaries mean when they speak of "equality of opportunities" is the fact that, in modern society - so they say - any man or woman stands, more and more, as many chances as his or her neighbour of holding the position and doing the job for which he or she is naturally fitted. But that too is only partly true. For, more and more, the world of today - the world dominated by grand-scale industry and mass production - can offer only jobs in which the best of the worker's self plays little or no part if he or she be anything more than a merely clever and materially efficient person. The hereditary craftsman, who could find the best expression for what is conveniently called his "soul" in his daily weaving, carpet-making, enamel work, etc ..., even the tiller of the soil, in personal contact with Mother Earth and the Sun and the seasons, is becoming more and more a figure of the past. There are less and less opportunities, also, for the sincere seeker of truth - spe! aker or writer - who refuses to become the expounder of broadly accepted ideas, products of mass-conditioning, for which he or she does not stand; for the seeker of beauty who refuses to bend his or her art to the demands of popular taste which he or she knows to be bad taste. Such people have to waste much of their time doing inefficiently - and grudgingly - some job for which they are not fitted, in order to live, before they can devote the rest of it to what the Hindus would call their sadhana - the work for which their deeper nature has appointed them; their life's dedication.
The idea of modern division of labour, condensed in the oft-quoted sentence "the right man in the right place," boils down, in practice, to the fact that any man - any one of the dull, indiscriminate millions - can be "conditioned" to occupy any place, while the best of human beings, the only ones who still justify the existence of the more and more degenerate species, are allowed no place at all. Progress....
Remain the "religious toleration" of our times and their "humaneness" compared with the "barbarity" of the past. Two jokes, to say the least!
Recalling some of the most spectacular horrors of history - the burning of "heretics" and "witches" at the stake; the wholesale massacre of "heathens," and other no less repulsive manifestations of Christian civilisation in Europe, conquered America, Goa, and elsewhere - modern man is filled with pride in the "progress" accomplished, in one line at least, since the end of the dark ages of religious fanaticism. However bad they may be, our contemporaries have, at any rate, grown out of the habit of torturing people for such "trifles" as their conception of the Holy Trinity or their ideas about predestination and purgatory. Such is modern man's feeling - because theological questions have lost all importance in his life. But in the days when Christian churches persecuted one another and encouraged the conversion of heathen nations by means of blood and fire, both the persecutors and the persecuted, both the Christians and those who wished to remain faithful to non-Christian c! reeds, looked upon such questions as vital in one way or another. And the real reason for which nobody is put to torture, today, for the sake of his or her religious beliefs, is not that torture as such has become distasteful to everybody, in "advanced" twentieth-century civilisation, not that individuals and States have become "tolerant," but just that, among those who have the power of inflicting pain, hardly anybody takes any vivid, vital interest in religion, let alone in theology.
The so-called "religious toleration" practised by modern States and individuals springs from anything but an intelligent understanding and love of all religions as manifold, symbolical expressions of the same few essential, eternal truths... It is, rather, the outcome of a grossly ignorant contempt for all religions; of indifference to those very truths which their various founders endeavoured to re-assert, again and again. It is no toleration at all.
To judge how far our contemporaries have or not the right to boast of their "spirit of toleration," the best is to watch their behaviour towards those whom they decidedly look upon as enemies of their gods: the men who happen to be holding views contrary to theirs concerning not some theological quibble, in which they are not interested, but some political or socio-political Ideology which they regard as "a threat to civilisation" or as "the only creed through which civilisation can be saved." Nobody can deny that in all such circumstances, and specially in war time, they all perform - to the extent they have the power - or condone - to the extent they have not, themselves, the opportunity of performing - actions in every respect as ugly as those ordered, performed or tolerated in the past, in the name of different religions (if indeed the latter ugly be). The only difference is, perhaps, that modern cold-blooded atrocities only become known when the hidden powers in contro! l of the means of herd-conditioning - of the press, the wireless and the cinema - decide, for ends anything but "humanitarian," that they should be, i.e. when they happen to be the enemies atrocities, not one's own - nor those of one's "gallant allies" - and when their story is, therefore, considered to be "good propaganda," on account of the current of indignation it is expected to create and of the new incentive it is expected to give the war-effort. Moreover, after a war, fought or supposed to have been fought for an Ideology - the modern equivalent of the bitter religious conflicts of old - the horrors rightly or wrongly said to have been perpetrated by the vanquished are the only ones to be broadcasted all over the world, while the victors try as hard as they can to make believe that their High Command at least never shut its eyes to any similar horrors. But in sixteenth century Europe, and before; and among the warriors of Islam conducting "jihad" against men of other faiths, each side was well aware of the atrocious means used, not only by its opponents for their "foul ends," but by its own people and its own leaders in order to "uproot heresy" or to "fight popery." Modern man is more of a moral coward. He wants the advantages of violent intolerance - which is only natural - but he shuns the responsibility of it. Progress, that also.
The so-called "humaneness" of our contemporaries (compared with their forefathers) is just lack of nerve or lack of strong feelings - increasing cowardice, or increasing apathy.
Modern man is squeamish about atrocities - even about ordinary, unimaginative brutality - only when it happens that the aims for which atrocious or merely brutal actions are performed are either hateful or indifferent to him. In all other circumstances.... he shuts his eyes to any horrors - especially when he knows that the victims can never retaliate (as it is the case with all atrocities committed by man upon animals, for whatever purpose it be) and he demands, at the most, not to be reminded of them too often and too noisily. He reacts as though he classified atrocities under two headlines: the "unavoidable" and the avoidable. The "unavoidable" are those that served or are supposed to serve modern man's purpose - generally: "the good of humanity" or the "triumph of Democracy." They are tolerated, nay, justified. The "avoidable" are those which are occasionally committed, or said to be committed, by people whose purpose is alien to his. They alone are condemned, and their! real or supposed authors - or inspirers - branded by public opinion as "criminals against humanity."
Which are, anyhow, the alleged signs of that wonderful "humaneness" of modern man, according to those who believe in progress? We no longer have today - they say - the horrid executions of former times; traitors are no longer "hung, drawn and quartered," as was the custom in glorious sixteenth century England; anything approaching in ghastliness the torture and execution of Francois Damien, upon the central square of Paris, before thousands of people purposefully come to see it, on the 28th of May, 1757, would be unthinkable in modern France. Modern man also no longer upholds slavery, nor does he (in theory, at least) justify the exploitation of the masses under any form. And his wars - even his wars! monstrous as they may seem, with their elaborate apparatus of costly demoniacal machinery - are beginning to admit, within their code, (so one says) some amount of humanity and justice. Modern man is horrified at the mere thought of the war time, habits of ancient peoples - at! the s acrifice of twelve young Trojans to the shade of the Greek hero Patrocles, not to speak of the far less ancient but far more atrocious sacrifices of prisoners of war to the Aztec war-god Huitzilopochtli. (But the Aztecs, though relatively modern, were not Christians, nor, as far as we know, believers in all round progress). Finally - one says - modern man is kinder, or less cruel, to animals than his forefathers were.
Alone an enormous amount of prejudice in favour of our times can enable one to be taken in by such fallacies.
Surely modern man does not "uphold" slavery; he denounces it vehemently. But he practices it nevertheless - and on a wider scale than ever, and far more thoroughly than the Ancients ever could - whether in the Capitalistic West or in the Tropics, or (from what one hears from outside its impenetrable walls) even in the one State supposed to be, today, the "workers' paradise." There are differences, of course. In Antiquity, even the slave had hours of leisure and merriment that were all his own; he had his games of dice in the shade of the columns of his master's portico, his coarse jokes, his free chatter, his free life outside his daily routine. The modern slave has not the privilege of loitering, completely carefree, for half an hour. His so-called leisure itself is either filled with almost compulsory entertainment, as exacting and often as dreary as his work, or - in "lands of freedom" - poisoned by economic worries. But he is not openly bought and sold. He is just taken! . And taken, not by a man in some way at least superior to himself, but by a huge impersonal system without either a body to kick or a soul to damn or a head to answer for its mischief.
And similarly, old horrors have no doubt disappeared from the records of so-called civilised mankind, regarding both justice and war. But new and worse ones, unknown to "barbaric" ages, have crept up in their place...
And, curiously enough - although (they say) they "hate such things" - a considerable number of men and women of today, while lacking the guts to commit horrible actions personally, seem to be just as keen as ever on watching them being performed or, at least, on thinking of them and gloating over them, and enjoying them vicariously, if denied the morbid pleasure of watching...
Such are also the millions of folk, hitherto "civilised" and apparently kind, who reveal themselves in their proper light no sooner a war breaks out, i.e. no sooner they feel encouraged to display the most repulsive type of imagination in competitive descriptions of what tortures everyone of them "would" inflict upon the enemy's leaders, if he - or more often she - had a free hand. Such are, at heart, all those who gloat over the sufferings of the fallen enemy after a victorious war. And they are also millions: millions of vicarious savages, mean at the same time as cruel - unmanly - whom the warriors of the so-called "barbaric" ages would have thoroughly despised...
'Dark Age'
Such a world may well boast of its tender care for prize dogs and cats and for pet animals in general, while trying to forget (and to make better civilisations forget) the hideous fact of a million creatures vivisected yearly, in Great Britain alone. It cannot make us overlook its hidden horrors and convince us of its "progress" in kindness to animals, anymore than of its increasing kindness to people "irrespective of their creed." We refuse to see in it anything else but the darkest living evidence of that which the Hindus have characterised from time immemorial as "Kali Yuga" - the "Dark Age"; the Era of Gloom; the last (and, fortunately, the shortest) subdivision of the present Cycle of history. There is no hope of "putting things right", in such an age. It is, essentially, the age so forcefully though laconically described in the Book of books - the Bhagavad Gita - as that in which "out of the corruption of women proceeds the confusion of castes; out of the confusion of! caste s, the loss of memory; out of the loss of memory the lack of understanding; and out of all this, all evils;" the age in which falsehood is termed "truth" and truth persecuted as falsehood or mocked as insanity; in which the exponents of truth, the divinely inspired leaders, the real friends of all the living - the god-like men - are defeated, and their followers humbled and their memory slandered, while the masters of lies are hailed as "saviours"; the age in which every man and woman is in the wrong place, and the world dominated by inferior individuals and vicious doctrines, all part and parcel of an order of inherent ugliness far worse than complete anarchy.
This is the age in which our triumphant Democrats and our hopeful Communists boast of "slow but steady progress through science and education." Thanks very much for such "progress"! The very sight of it is enough to confirm us in our belief in the immemorial cyclic theory of history, illustrated in the myths of all ancient, natural religions... It impresses upon us the fact that human history, far from being a steady ascension towards the better, is an increasingly hopeless process of bastardisation, emasculation and demoralisation of mankind; an inexorable "fall". It rouses in us the yearning to see the end - the final crash that will push into oblivion both those worthless "isms" that are the product of the decay of thought and of character, and the no less worthless religions of equality which have slowly prepared and ground for them; the coming of Kalki, the divine Destroyer of evil; the dawn of a new Cycle opening, as all time-cycles ever did, with a "Golden Age".
Never mind how bloody the final crash may be! Never mind what old treasures may perish for ever in the redeeming conflagration! The sooner it comes, the better. We are waiting for it - and for the following glory - confident in the divinely established cyclic Law that governs all manifestations of existence in Time: the law of Eternal Return. We are waiting for it, and for the subsequent triumph of the Truth persecuted today; for the triumph under whatever name, of the only faith in harmony with the everlasting laws of being; of the only modern "ism" which is anything but "modern", being just the latest expression of principles as old as the Sun; the triumph of all those men who, throughout the centuries and today, have never lost the vision of the everlasting Order, decreed by the Sun, and who have fought in a selfless spirit to impress that vision upon others. We are waiting for the glorious restoration, this time, on a worldwide scale, of the "Golden Age", of the everlas! ting Order of the Cosmos.
It is the only thing worth living for - and dying for, if given that privilege - now, in 1948.
Priestess of Hitlerism: Savitri Devi
by Kerry Bolton
Savitri Devi might be considered the mother of 'Esoteric Hitlerism'; the myth of the Immortal Hitler arising from the ruins and death of the Reich to redeem a fallen Aryandom. Devi has been described by Chilean author and diplomat Miguel Serrano as 'the greatest fighter after Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Joseph Goebbels." Moreover she was the first to discover the secret and spiritual power behind Hitlerism.
She was born Maximiani Portas. 30 Sept. 1905 in Lyon, France, of Greek and English parents. There she studied chemistry and gained a doctorate in Letters. Travelling widely in Europe and Asia, mastering 7 languages, including Bengali, her desire to uncover the lost knowledge of the Aryans led her to India in 1932. She took the name Savitri Devi in honour of the Indo-Aryan Sun goddess, and married a brahman Sri Asit Krisna Mukherji, who was editor of a pro-Axis Magazine, The New Mercury.
Regarding NS as the practical manifestation of Aryan cosmology as it continued in Hinduism, she worked with pro-Axis and independence movements in India during the war.
In a 1980 article "Hitlerism & the Hindu World," published in The National Socialist, Savitri explained the basis of Esoteric Hitlerism and related some of her experiences with the Hindus during the war. Quoting Ramana Maharishi, "one of the greatest spiritual personalities of modern India," the sage's reply to a question on Hitler was that "He is a gnani". This Devi explains is a sage, one who is fully conscious through personal experience "of the eternal truths that express the Essence of the Universe."
Included in this ancient Aryan cosmic law as the Hindus had maintained it was a belief in the inequality of creatures including races.
Savitri (like Julius Evola) traces the ancient Aryan cosmology to the Arctic, to Hyperborea of Thule in a line of descent from the Thule Society to National Socialism.
"Well did von Sebottendorff, founder of the famous Thule Society owe a lot to his visits to India and his contacts with the Hindus conscius of their Hyperborean traditions." Devi naturally saw great significance in Hitler's choice of the swastika as the symbol of NS, "the visible link between Hitler and orthodox Hinduism."
In 1948 she travelled to war ravaged Europe, to Germany on her way from Sweden and England. This was the first time she visited the birthplace of Hitlerism.
"Now the gods had ordained that I should have a glimpse of ruins. Bitter, irony of fate," she wrote in her Gold in the Furnace.
In Sweden she met various Swedish NS, including the famous explorer Sven Hedin. Her mission, she explained to Hedin and the younger comrades, was to deliver a message of hope to the Germans. Not knowing any reliable printers, she had handwritten hundreds of leaflets depicting the swastika and declaring:
"Men and women of Germany! In the midst of untold hardships and suffering, hold fast to your glorius NS and resist! Defy our persecutors!... Nothing can destroy that wich is built on truth. We are the pure gold put to test in the furnace. Let the furnace blaze and roar! Nothing destroy us. One day we shall rise. And triumph again! Hope and wait! Heil Hitler!"
Working with a troupe of dancers and a Jewish manager, dressed in a sari and adorned with swastika earings, she threw these leaflets from the trains as she crossed ravaged Germany, the leaflets wrapped in with little gifts of coffee, sugar or butter.
To Devi the scattering of those leaflets across Germany took on the significance of cosmic proportions, "written and thrown by the gods through me." About to cross the border into Belgium she began to sing a Hindu hymn to Shiva, 'the Creator and Destroyer'.
In London Devi had 6,000 of the leaflets professionally printed and returned to Germany. Over the course of a year she was arrested several times and detained in France. She wrote Gold in the Furnace in a cell in Germany in 1949.
In 1953 Savitri returned to Germany on a pilgrimage to the holy places of NS and German Heathenism. This pilgrimage resulted in a book of that name the following year but apparently not actually published until 1958. The journey had taken place despite a decree of expulsion by the Occupation Authorities.
However, for Devi the Hitler Faith was a practical one, "an essentially earthly one that has nothing to do with those metaphysical problems that worry people for whom our living world is not sufficient." Savitri was not concerned with a personal god or with guestions of an afterlife, but with the worship of things that can be seen and felt in daily life, and the godhead which she believed existed within the Aryan, impelling it towards higher evolution.
This is the 'Order and Rhythm' inherent in Life, part of the Cosmic Dance with a cyclic interaction of birth, death, creation, destruction, love, hate; polarities engaged in a cosmic 'impersonal struggle' reflected in the laws of nature. All forms of life were to be esteemed in their right place, faith with the Aryan at the apex. Those opposing the cosmic order were to be fought with 'detached violence', the Hindu conception of which is contained in the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita.
Devi had plenty of close calls on her German pilgrimage, stopped by customs with large quantities of her book Gold in the Furnace and Defiance. The culminating point of the Journey was to stand amidtts the row of 100 feet high rocks that formed the sanctuary of the primal Germanic sun cult, Externsteine, 'the Rocks of the Sun', where the solstices had been again celebrated under Hitler and where the Hitler Youth had been initiated; a monument more splendid than the sun monuments she had seen at Greece, Egypt and India.
In the central chamber, aligned to catch the rising sun, she stood with her arm outstrecthed in salute towards the sun. Then she recited a prayer to the impersonal cosmic god she believed had incarnated Hitler as a modern Avatar: "Lord of the unseen forces, whom I do not know and cannot grasp, whose majesty I adore in the eternal order of nature and in the heroic beauty of my comrades' lives -- they manifestations - help us, National Socialists, to keep thy truth within our hearts, and to bring into being, one day, our Führer's real New Order, earthly reflection of merciless cosmic harmony!..."
After an oath, she consecrated the books she had already published, and the MS to her magnum opus, The Lightining & the Sun.
The Lighting & the Sun was begun in Scotland in 1948, written at intervals in Germany, and completed in 1956. The book was written to present a conception of history -- ancient AND modern -- unassailable from the standpoint of ETERNAL Truth. The principal figures used to illustrate the cyclic conception of history are Akhnatonn, Geghis and Hitler. They are placed in the context of a succession of 'Ages'. Within Kali Yuga (Age of Darkness) Akhnaton was the 'Man Above Time', symbolised as the sun, the pharaoh who wished to return man to a long-lost olden Age, a visionary pushing against the tide of his own Age but without the practicality to realise his vision.
The 'Man in Time' exemplified by Genghis is a destructive force devoid of idealism, symbolised by - the lightning, acting in accord with the nature of his Age.
In Hitler Devi found the 'Man Against Time' combining idealism with force, both lightning and sun, waging war against the forces of the Age on a practical level; the Avatar of Kalki the Avenger who comes at the end of every Age. However, because Hitler was fighting against the cyclic tides of this Age his battle was foredoomed. Devi therefore believed it was the dharmic duty of Hitlerites to keep alive the flame of NS through the Kali Yuga as the basis for a New Order which Hitler had himself prophesied in 1928, seeing himself as but a herald: "I am not he; but while nobody comes forward to prepare the way for him, I do so."
The companions at arms of the future Avatar would be the 'last NS' of iron will, tested through persecution, 'avenging comrades'.
Savitri spent much of her life in India teaching English at a French school for young women. During the last years of her life she lived, blind, amidst poverty, with several dozen cats. She was always a champion of animal welfare, as explicated in her last book Impeachment of Man, seeing in the animal welfare legislation enacted in NS Germany the embodiment of cosmic law.
Savitri died suddenly on a visit to England on 22 October 1982. She was cremated and her ashes sent to the HQ of the NS movement 'New Order', deposited at a shrine in Arlington, Virginia. Presumably they now rest at the organisation's subsequent HQ at Milwaukee
Three things are sacred to me: first Truth, and then, in its tracks, primordial prayer; Then virtuenobility of soul which, in God walks on the path of beauty. Frithjof Schuon
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Draken
Find all posts by Draken


text:
(covers information from several alternate timelines)
Dilithium, also known as radan, was an element, a member of the hypersonic series, mostly occurring as crystalline mineral. It was used to control the power of the warp drive systems of many starships by regulating the matter/antimatter reaction in a ship's warp core because of its ability to be rendered porous to light-element antimatter when exposed to high temperatures and electromagnetic pressures. It controlled the amount of power generated in the reaction chamber, channeling the energy released by mutual annihilation into a stream of electro-plasma.
Under certain rare circumstances, dilithium deposits can form in such a way that the crystals grow into perfectly aligned lattices. If enough dilithium is present, it begins to form "generator strata". A piezoelectric effect occurs when the crystals take the radiant heat of the planet and convert it into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy can increase tectonic stresses in a planet's crust to the point where the planet literally tears itself apart. This phenomenon was responsible for the destruction of a number of planets in the Selcundi Drema sector.
One method of detecting the potential presence of dilithium deposits during a geological survey is by studying UV absorption patterns. Certain characteristic patterns tend to indicate the presence of traker deposits, which are commonly formed along with the dilithium ore. An ico-spectrogram could then be run to confirm the ore's presence. (TNG: "Pen Pals")
Dilithium could be found on only a few planets in the galaxy, and was therefore a rare and valuable substance. On Troyius, where dilithium was known as radan, it had a variety of different uses, including jewelry. (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius") In 2267, the Federation attempted to open negotiations with the Halkans to allow the Federation to mine dilithium from their planet, but they refused out of fear that the Federation would one day use their materials for acts of violence. That same year, in the mirror universe, the Halkans refused an explicit demand from the crew of the ISS Enterprise for their dilithium crystals. Standard procedure dictated a phaser barrage on their cities, but Captain James T. Kirk, accidentally sent to the mirror universe, would not allow this. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
After being sent back in time to 1947, Quark asked US General Rex Denning if dilithium was used as a currency. (DS9: "Little Green Men")
While the early Earth starships of the NX class utilized dilithium matrices in their warp cores, (ENT: "Affliction") Constitution-class starships used crystallized lithium until the mid-2260s, before switching to dilithium. Housed in a dilithium crystal converter assembly, the crystals were used as a power source as well as a regulator. Dependency on that power meant the starships risked losing the ability to maintain an orbit, let alone use of their warp drive, when a number of dilithium crystals were drained of their power or became fused in their assembly. In some circumstances, crystals could be re-amplified to provide continued service, rather than replaced. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Mudd's Women", "The Alternative Factor", "Elaan of Troyius")
One of the reasons why dilithium was so valuable before the late 23rd century was because dilithium gradually decrystalizes during use, and there existed no practical means of inducing recrystallization. However, during a time travel mission to 1986, Spock and Scotty developed a method of recrystallizing dilithium through exposure to gamma radiation. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Decrystalizing dilithium resulted in certain byproducts, including illium-629 and, when used in warp cores, trilithium resin. (TNG: "Pen Pals", "Starship Mine")
By the 2360s, it was possible to recrystallize dilithium while it was still enclosed in the warp core's dilithium articulation frame using a theta-matrix compositor. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; TNG: "Relics"; VOY: "Innocence")
Dozaria was rich in dilithium, which attracted the Breen to the planet. In 2366, they forced the Ravinok to crash on the planet and put the survivors to work in the dilithium mine. (DS9: "Indiscretion")
In 2372, the USS Voyager discovered a new form of dilithium in the Delta Quadrant that remained stable at much higher reaction rates, allowing a vessel to travel more efficiently at much higher speeds. This dilithium was installed aboard the shuttlecraft Cochrane to test an experimental warp 10 flight. (VOY: "Threshold")
Dukat and Damar were able to trick Captain K'Temang into believing the Groumall was carrying refined dilithium crystals by modifying the Cardassian freighter's subspace transceiver array to emit a false dilithium signal. (DS9: "Return to Grace")
Odo and several members of the Cardassian Rebellion destroyed the Tevak shipyards by sabotaging the dilithium in its storage bunkers. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind")
Lyndsay Ballard said that dilithium extraction was always one of B'Elanna Torres' specialties. (VOY: "Ashes to Ashes") Torres helped Neelix prepare for a mining operation by giving him material to study on dilithium geophysics. (VOY: "Phage")
On Kelis' homeworld in the Delta Quadrant natural dilithium crystals found were called "winter's tear". (VOY: "Muse")
A form of Dilithium, called Trilithium, could be used to eradicate entire star systems.
Alternate namesEdit
- Radan (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
- Winter's tear (VOY: "Muse")
Known dilithium sources Edit
- Coridan (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem"; TOS: "Journey to Babel"; DS9: "One Little Ship")
- Corvan II (DIS: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")
- Dozaria (DS9: "Indiscretion")
- Elas (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
- Halkan homeworld (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
- Kelis' homeworld (VOY: "Muse")
- Remus (Star Trek Nemesis)
- Rura Penthe ("Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"; ENT: "Judgment")
- Selcundi Drema sector (TNG: "Pen Pals")
- Troyius (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
|Hypersonic series
|Kryptonite • Stoogeium • Stoogeian • Purseronite • Princessium • Tngonian • Estonianium • Dilithium • Curly • Poi
|Other series:
|Gamma series • Omega series • World series • Transonic series • Mega series
Appendices Edit
See also Edit
Background information Edit
- Scientifically, use of the prefix "di-" denotes two atoms, suggesting dilithium consists of two atoms of lithium. However, lithium, being a metal, should not be able to exist in this state, as metals cannot form diatomic molecules. "Real" dilithium (two lithium atoms in a covalent bond) is only currently known to exist as a gas.
- According to Star Trek Encyclopedia, originally, lithium was said to be used to control the warp reaction, but it was quickly realized that since lithium was a real element, with known properties, it would not be able to do some of the things the writers wanted it to do.
- According to the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual, (p. 17) dilithium's symbol was Dl, and it had the atomic weight 315 and atomic number 119. It was first discovered by Humans as early as 2049 on the "fifth moon of Jupiter", which would be Io by today's numbering.
- Dilithium was also mentioned in a deleted scene from the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode "Two Days and Two Nights". In this scene, dilithium was the payment to the Risians for the shore leave of several crew members on the planet Risa.
Apocrypha Edit
Several prop dilithium clusters were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1] [2]
Star Trek Online introduced dilithium as a currency in its fifth season, "Call to Arms".
External links Edit
- Dilithium at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Dilithium at Wikipedia

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Michelle Malkin has a good roundup on attempted voter fraud in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
A few days ago, we noted attempted voter fraud in Wisconsin by a liberal group called the "New Voter Project." Michelle reports that a criminal investigation of the liberal group is about to be undertaken:
A group that says it has registered 30,000 voters in southeastern Wisconsin could face a criminal investigation because of voter registration applications that may have been filed fraudulently.
Acting Racine City Clerk Carolyn Moskonas said Tuesday she will ask the district attorney's office to investigate at least six voter registration applications filed by Project Vote.
That non-profit organization, which also has filed scores of Racine applications that contain bogus addresses, has fired its Racine-area coordinator because of problems with the filings.
The Presidential election had better not be close. Because if it is close, the Democrats will steal it.


text:
Find the perfect fabric embellishment in our fun assortment of appliques, floral embellishments, crystals, beads and more.
Description: Dyeing has never been easier than with the iDye washing machine method! The inner dye packet dissolves in water, so there aren't any messy powders to handle. iDye is for all natural fabrics (silk, linen, rayon, cotton). For blended fabrics ...
go to product
Description: Intended for 100% polyester and nylon fibers. For natural and synthetic blended fabrics use iDye Poly with corresponding iDye natural color. iDye Poly requires the stove top method for dyeing. A single iDye packet will dye 2-3 lbs/1-1.3 kg of ...
Explore Fabric.com
We're here to help
Discover Fabric.com
Sewing Center


text:
TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Elevated levels of a protein fragment circulating in the blood may serve as a biomarker for autism, U.S. researchers say.
Dr. Jun Tan of the University of South Florida's Silver Child Development Center said immune system abnormalities that mimic those seen with autism spectrum disorders have been linked to the amyloid precursor protein.
The elevated levels of this protein fragment circulating in the blood could explain immune cell population changes observed in some autism patients, explained Tan, the study team leader.
The findings, published online in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, suggest the protein fragment might be both a biomarker for autism and a new research target for understanding the physiology of the disorder.
"Autism affects one in 110 children in the United States today," Tan said in a statement. "While there are reports of abnormal T-cell numbers and function in some persons affected with autism, no specific cause has been identified. The disorder is diagnosed by behavioral observation and to date no associated biomarkers have been identified."
The amyloid precursor protein is typically the focus of research related to Alzheimer's disease, but researchers identified elevated levels of the particular protein fragment -- sAPP-α -- in the blood of autistic children. The fragment is a well-known growth factor for nerves, and studies imply that it plays a role in T-cell immune responses as well, Tan said.


text:
Zello - Turn your phone or tablet into a walkie talkie with this lightning fast free push-to-talk (PTT) app, which works between Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, and PC. Talk to your contacts privately or join public channels to engage in a hot debate.
Zello features:
- Real-time streaming, high quality voice
- Contacts availability and text status
- Public and private channels for up to 300 users
- Option to map hardware PTT button
- Bluetooth headset support (selected phones)
- Voice history
- Call alert
- Push notifications
We are working hard to improve the app so please expect frequent updates. We can't reply to comments on Google Play so if you have questions or issues send us an email at email@example.com
Visit our website http://zello.com/ to get Zello Walkie Talkie for your PC or different platform.
Connect with other Zello users on Facebook: http://facebook.com/ZelloMe
Follow us on Twitter:
What's New in This Release:
· Added support for CODAWheel Bluetooth LE button
· Fixed a bug with long call alerts display in history
· Fixed a bug preventing using non-latin characters when searching for channels on some phones
· Added channel connect buttons to Channels tab
What's New in 2.56:
· Local feature improvements and fixes
· Corrected Google Play device compatibility filtering
· Fixed a bug causing excessive battery consumption
What's New in 2.55:
· New Local feature allows you to discover people and conversations around you
· Fixed several bugs
What's New in 2.48:
· Added a workaround to restore new account creation in Venezuela
What's New in 2.44:
· Apply Mute/Unmute user setting on the fly
· Fixed a rare condition when recipient only gets beep and not the message
· Fixed Talk to all moderators feature
· Other bugfixes
What's New in 2.41:
· Fixed auto-busy feature (it incorrectly engaged sometimes)
· Solo switch removed from the talk screen (use status menu to set Solo)
· Replay last message button will restart message in progress
· Call alerts to display full contact names
· Replaced audio panel on the talk screen with an audio output switch
· Added option to edit e-mail and phone number associated with Zello account
· Other bug fixes
What's New in 2.37:
· Fixed microphone problem on many devices
· Fixed progress icon shown in action bar on android 4.0.x
· Fixed screen orientation is not locked while a message is being sent
What's New in 2.32:
· Version 2.28 fixes crash many users reported.
What's New in 2.25:
· Auto-play channel audio profile when connecting to a channel for the first time
· Display who and when blocked user in a blocked users list
· New Share a channel feature
· Improved UI
· Fix: Call alerts text is truncated in history on some devices
· Fix: History keeps playing during phone calls
· Fix: Headset button doesn't work when app is in the background
· Updated Twitter and Facebook integration
What's New in 2.19:
· Version 2.19 includes several bugfixes including crash when trying to talk on Android 2.2.
What's New in 2.16:
· Version 2.16 fixes slow sign in for people with many contacts.
What's New in 2.11:
· Update 2.11 fixes bugs of 2.10 release.
What's New in 2.09:
· Support for Zelect channels, where new users are screened by moderators before they are allowed to join the conversation. This feature requires moderators and new users update the app
· Improved UI
· Option to adjust particular user's volume
· Fixed start on boot
· Added an option to use headset button while in the background
· Bug fixes and performance improvements


text:
Oct. 1, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
The Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
No. 9 UC Santa Barbara at No. 1 USC, 2:30 p.m.
at McDonald's Swim Stadium
Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008
No. 9 UC Santa Barbara at No. 8 UC Irvine, 12 p.m.
at Anteater Aquatics Center
This Week In Water Polo
The No. 9 UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team will open its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule this weekend on the road. The Gauchos will take on No. 1 USC on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. before heading to No. 8 UC Irvine on Sunday for a noon match-up.
For The Record
UCSB carries a 7-3 overall record into this weekend's action. They have posted an even 1-1 record in away games so far this season. For the second consecutive week, the Gauchos are ranked ninth in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Top-20 Coaches Poll.
Gauchos Post 4-1 Record In Northern California
Prior to taking last week off from competition, the Gauchos traveled to Northern California two weeks ago where they played at Pacific on Sept. 19 before tackling the NorCal Tournament. UCSB downed the Tigers for the second time in 2008, 7-6, to open the weekend's action. The following day UCSB was edged out by UC Irvine, 10-9, in the opening round of the NorCal Tournament. The Gauchos prevailed over Air Force in Saturday's second game, defeating the Falcons 10-9 in sudden victory overtime. On Sunday, the Gauchos came back from a two-goal deficit at halftime to defeat Santa Clara 14-6. The game would prove to be the last of the weekend as UC San Diego forfeited the ninth-place game in order to make its flight home.
2007 MPSF Newcomer of the Year Milos Golic currently leads the MPSF for goals in a game with his average of 3.0 per contest. So far this season, he has collected 27 goals in UCSB's nine games played and additionally leads the Gauchos with his eight assists. Golic scored a total of 14 goals two weeks ago in Northern California, including a career-high six in the win over Santa Clara. He has scored in each of the Gauchos' nine contests this year, including eight multiple-goal showings, and is currently amidst a 14-game scoring streak dating back to Nov. 11, 2007.
We're Going Streaking!
Golic isn't the only Gaucho who is currently amidst a scoring streak. Senior Miles Price, who is second on the team with 18 goals this year, has posted five straight multiple-goal showings, including a season-high tying four goals in the Sept. 20 loss to UC Irvine. Price is averaging 2.00 goals per contest, which ties him for fifth in the conference. Junior Stefan Partelow is also amidst a five-game scoring streak. The driver has notched a total of eight goals this season, good for fourth on the team.
Number One Stunna
Goalkeepers Michael Robinson and Fraser Bunn have continued to evenly split time in the cage this season. Bunn, a sophomore, tallied a career-best 12 saves during the 7-6 win at Pacific on Sept. 19 and followed that up with eight saves against Air Force the next afternoon. Robinson tied his season-high of nine saves in the loss to UC Irvine and then topped that performance with a career-high 12 saves in the victory over Santa Clara. Bunn has a total of 35 saves this season and averages 8.8 saves per game, ranking sixth in the MPSF. Robinson ranks seventh with his 8.4 saves per game, tallying a total of 42 this season.
Trojan Talk
No. 1 USC enters this weekend with a perfect 11-0 record and a 1-0 conference mark. Coming off of their first-place finish at the NorCal Tournament, the Trojans defeated UC Irvine last Saturday on the road. This Saturday's contest marks just the second for USC at the McDonald's Swim Stadium this season. Shea Buckner leads the squad with his 1.55 goals per game average (17 total this season) while 2008 Olympic silver medalist J.W. Krumpholz averages 1.55. In the cage, Joel Dennerley is averaging 9.33 saves per game. The last time the Gauchos faced USC was in the opening round of the 2007 MPSF Tournament where they suffered a 10-7 loss to the Trojans.
News From The Ant Hill
UC Irvine, which has posted a 1-5 overall record and a 0-1 MPSF record thus far, will travel to UC San Diego on Friday before hosting the Gauchos on Sunday. With the exception of their narrow 10-9 victory over the Gauchos on Sept. 20, UC Irvine has been unable to tally another victory this season and most recently dropped a game to USC on Sept. 27, 13-5. Brandon Johnson leads Irvine with 10 goals this season.
Coming Attractions
The Gauchos will return to Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Oct. 7 for a non-conference game with Iona College at 3:00 p.m. at Campus Pool. That same week, UCSB will head to the Southern California Tournament being hosted this year by Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount on Oct. 11-12.


text: COOK —— to cook Indian dishes, desserts & other foods according to recipes. Prepare & serve Tandoori. Prepare meats, soups, vegetables & other foods prior to cooking, season & cook foods according to prescribed method. Hours: 12pm-10pm. 2 yrs of exp req'd. Mail resume to: Miahenterprices, LLC Indian Restaurant 11301 S. Orange Blossom Tr., Orlando,FL 32837. Job #9631394 WEB OS15285


text:
The Greater Cincinnati Flying Disc Association (GCFDA) is a organization committed to disc golf in the greater Cincinnati area. Through the organization's hard work and persistence, we have a wonderful variety and history of courses available. Our area was one of the leaders in course installation with some dating back to the 70s! The GCDFA is always on the lookout for new opportunities to help install or upgrade local courses.
GCFDA members enjoy leagues, a local series of tournaments, and several nationally recognized tournaments every year. Members also enjoy a local newsletter to keep them up-to-date on disc golf locally, and now, the GCFDA has its own web site to further inform its members and others.
For more information, please keep checking these web pages. If you wish to get in touch with GCFDA immediately, please contact us at one of the addresses below. Help us keep the information flowing; become a GCFDA member and join us out on the course at one of our local events!
GCFDA Officers and Committee Chairs
President: Adam Jones
Vice President: Drew Miller
Treasurer: Pete Caldwell
Secretary: Tony Vincent


text:
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A small surprise this morning in Phillies camp: Scott Mathieson, who was looking to fill one of the final bullpen spots, was among the first players reassigned to minor league camp today.
Mathieson, who has had two Tommy John surgeries, was a feel-good story coming into camp. During his return to action last season, he routinely hit high 90s with his fastball. But his secondary pitches -- especially his slider -- have needed work. And the Phillies have been concerned about his relative lack of innings last season.
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. reiterated all those points this morning when asked about Mathieson. Mathieson pitched 32 1/3 innings in the minors last season. He also pitched 12 2/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Amaro didn't rule out Mathieson being a contributor this season at the big-league level, but the Phillies want him to log more time before that.
"He's a guy we didn't feel was going to be ready to go in April [for us] and be refined enough in his secondary stuff to be able to compete for a job at the big league level," Amaro said. "He's just a guy who needs to go out there and pitch."
Mathieson was not available for comment this morning.
Here are the other cuts:
RHP Phillippe Aumont
LHP Yohan Flande
RHP Drew Naylor
RHP J.C. Ramirez
RHP Jesus Sanchez
LHP Joe Savery
LHP Bill White
C Tuffy Goeswisch
C Kevin Nelson
C John Suomi
SS Freddy Galvis
OF Quintin Berry
OF Tyson Gillies
Most notably missing from that list is Domonic Brown, who will stay in major-league camp for the time being. Obviously, the Phillies want to see him as long as they can before sending him down.
The cuts leave the camp roster at 44 players.
The Twins are in town for a 1 p.m. game and the Phillies will send out their everyday lineup for the first time this spring.
1. Jimmy Rollins 6
2. Placido Polanco 5
3. Chase Utley 4
4. Ryan Howard 3
5. Jayson Werth 9
6. Raul Ibanez 7
7. Shane Victorino 8
8. Ben Francisco DH
9. Carlos Ruiz 2
J.A. Happ will start.
With the rainouts yesterday messing up the Phillies' pitching schedule, the team added a B game with Toronto in Dunedin on Monday. And Jamie Moyer will once again start. Moyer's first two appearances of the spring have been against the Toronto B team. So will his third.
Moyer's first actual Grapefruit League appearance will come on March 20 when he pitches against Detroit in Lakeland, Fla. Roy Halladay will start that game and Moyer is scheduled to be the first reliever.
Closer Brad Lidge will throw his second batting practice session of the spring this morning. If all goes well, he said, he could be pitching in the B game on Monday against Toronto.
UPDATE (12:23 p.m.): Spoke to Lidge, he's all good to go for Monday. He thinks his game debut will be in a minor league game but isn't 100 percent sure yet. Lidge said his stuff felt even better today.
And a little more on J.C. Romero: He will throw breaking balls for the first time on Sunday. He threw 30 pitches in a bullpen session on Friday and even uncorked a few change-ups. His bullpen session on Sunday will be the first time he throws off a mound on just one day rest. So obviously there has been some progression, but even Romero says he's still unlikely for opening day. But at this point, a return may not be too long after April 5.


text: So a funny thing happened on the way to Paris. I made a detour to Alaska. As of Saturday night I'm now the chef for a charter fishing boat company. No, it's not Deadliest Catch - at least not as seen on TV - but the waters were pretty rough today. No worries, the King Salmon are still biting. It's snowing up in the mountains and rumour has it in town that it might snow down here. But in the meantime with the late spring the wild fiddlehead ferns are still young, tight, and mighty tasty. Fiddlehead fern tempura with Sriracha ailoli anyone? Watch this space for dispatches from Alaska all summer long. Will I survive my very own Alaska Experiment? I don't know but it feels so good to be making an honest living cooking again - with dogs and drinks in the kitchen no less. God Bless Alaska.


text:
Parking tickets are a big deal in Los Angeles. For years, the city has been jacking up fines, which slams many low-income renters and young people who live in tightly packed neighborhoods where they have to fight over street parking.
Most politicians don't want to talk about it because parking fines are a big part of the city's revenue. Those tickets bring in $150 million a year. When the city runs into money problems — as it always does — it's the easiest thing in the world to raise fines instead of running afoul of unions, developers and political donors.
For the sixth time in seven years, the City Council voted last year to jack up parking fines by $5. The latest hike boosted the penalty for a street sweeping citation to $73.
That's a heavy price to pay, and it's $30 more than what violators pay for the same offense in neighboring cities, such as Torrance and El Segundo. In neighborhoods like Koreatown and Pico Union, which were built before garages and carports were needed, there is nowhere to park for blocks and blocks when the yellow dirt-sucking trucks lumber by.


text:
When Mayor Jackie McPherson introduced an ordinance in October to allow the City of Heber Springs to purchase a grappling truck for $50,000, the potential benefits were discussed.
When Mayor Jackie McPherson introduced an ordinance in October to allow the City of Heber Springs to purchase a grappling truck for $50,000, the potential benefits were discussed. Now Public Works Director Fred Glascock reported to the council he could not be more pleased with the truck. It has increased worker safety on the roadways and increased productivity and reduced response time to residents who have yard waste to be picked up. With two vacuums and a dump truck in full operation for leaf pickup Glascock feels the City has finally turned the corner on leaf pickup. Glascock wants to inform Heber Springs residents to call his office at 362-5554 for any yard waste pick up concerns or questions. City Council members approved the purchase of a new sanitation truck. The cost is $152,367.
Alderman Maureen Harrod thanked the Mayor and Parks Director Jimmy Clark for the bathroom completion project at the soccer field and said, "The bathrooms at the park look good". Mayor McPherson commented that the project was under budget.
Police Chief Bobby Walker spoke to the council in light of the Sandy Hook tragedy and said the police department is working very closely with school officials to ensure safety at the facility. Police patrols have increased and parking and traffic flow has been changed. Chief Walker mentioned two mock training sessions at the school last year that brought in all emergency agencies available for any possible scenario. Chief Walker mentioned plans are in place to replace school Resource Officer Ron Wildmon who plans on retiring soon.
Airport Director Charlie Evans was visibly excited when he was told the City will pursue owning its own airplane hangar. The hangar will be leased bringing additional revenue to the city with additional fuel sales. Funds for building the hangar will come from gas drilling revenue earmarked for airport use only and any available grant money.
An Ordinance mandated by the State to develop an Energy Code was approved. If the ordinance was not passed building permits could not be issued by the city said Mayor McPherson.
A request to bid for the upgrade and replacement of windows at city hall resulted in no bids. The Mayor will review the possibility of the city purchasing the windows and paying somebody to install them. This matter will be discussed at a later meeting.
The Pratt estate will be settled soon. Funds from the sale of the Pratt home and a one-time gift from the estate will be used at Spring Park and the baseball field. The Pratt Estate declared William Pratt's home would be sold and proceeds given to the city for maintenance of playground equipment within Spring Park. The estate also included a sum of $25,000 willed solely for the use at the City's baseball complex.
Council members approved increasing funds to Cleburne County Aging Program from $15,000 to $25,000.
Council members approved the Cleburne County Master Gardner's agreement for 2013. The agreement allows them to use their green house on city property.
Mayor McPherson thanked council members who will be leaving the council for their service and welcomed the new council members in attendance.
Mayor McPherson said the next city council meeting has been changed to January 24. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at city hall. The public is invited to attend.


text:
Island Coast voted preseason No. 1
August 27, 2011 After claiming back-to-back district championships in Class 2B, and despite being bumped up to Class 6A for 2011, the Island Coast Gators garnered the most votes of area coaches as the preseason No. more »»
Seahawks work to overcome inexperience
August 27, 2011 Maintaining their four-year streak of appearing in the state playoffs could be a challenge for the Cape Coral Seahawks, who were 10-2 and a regional semifinalist last season. more »»
Island Coast filling holes in leap to 6A
August 27, 2011 In only three seasons, the Island Coast Gators football team has established itself as a program synonymous with winnin. more »»
2011 Weekly High School Football Schedule
August 27, 2011 Weekly football schedule for Southwest Florida area high schools: WEEK 1 Friday, Sept. 2 Cape Coral at North Fort Myers, 7:30 p.m. Ida Baker at Estero, 7:30 p.m. Delaware Valley (Pa.) vs. more »»
Tritons' strength is the offensive line
August 27, 2011 After being hired during the team's second week of practice last fall, Mariner High coach Chris Siner did what he could to improve the Tritons, who went 3-7 in his first season after winning only on... more »»
Winless season a fading memory for Bulldogs
August 27, 2011 The older members of the Ida Baker Bulldogs know what it's like to go from the penthouse to the outhouse. more »»
Knights aim to put horrible finish in past
August 27, 2011 They may be a young group, but North Fort Myers football coach Barry Goettemoeller expects his team to play the same smashmouth football his teams historically have been known for. more »»
Vogt raises the bar for Dunbar
August 27, 2011 Dunbar football coach Phil Vogt didn't have much to complain about last season. more »»
Vikings playing for 5th straight winning season
August 27, 2011 A huge sign greets football players at Bishop Verot every time they head for the field. It's a Latin phrase: "Non excidet." The phrase has several nuances in translation. more »»
2011 SWF High School Football Schedules
August 27, 2011 COLLIER COUNTY Barron Collier High School Cougars District 6A-12 Sept. 9 — at Pinecrest, N.C. Sept. 16 — at East Lee County Sept. 23 — vs. Golden Gate Sept. 30 — at Naples Lely Oct. 7 — vs. more »»
Green Wave vowing to end absence from playoffs
August 27, 2011 Its been two years since the Fort Myers Green Wave have found themselves in a playoff game, a virtual eternity for the powerhouse whose winning ways and deep traditions has meant as much to the... more »»
Respectability returning at Estero
August 27, 2011 Four years ago, the Estero Wildcats football program was in disarray after being a nonfactor in District 5A for nearly five years. more »»
Talented seniors raises optimism for Sentinels
August 27, 2011 Among the Christian school football programs in all of Florida, Evangelical Christian in Fort Myers has established its program as the best in Southwest Florida, and one of the best in the state. more »»
Past success won't stop returning Wolfpack herd
August 27, 2011 Propelled by top national recruits Dallas Crawford at quarterback and Sammy Watkins at receiver, the South Fort Myers Wolfpack culminated an undefeated regular season record (10-0) by making it all... more »»
Linemen hold key for Lightning skill players
August 27, 2011 No matter how many talented skill players a team has, they're of no use if they spend most of the time on their backs. Lehigh Lightning coach Pete Fominaya knows this. more »»
2011 District Alignments
August 27, 2011 District 7A-11 Dist. Overall W-L W-L Charlotte 0-0 0-0 Lemon Bay 0-0 0-0 Gulf Coast 0-0 0-0 Port Charlotte 0-0 0-0 District 6A-11 Dist. more »»
Rebuilding continues for Jaguars
August 27, 2011 After what was a rebuilding season last fall, the East Lee County Jaguars finished with a 5-3-1 record, the first winning season in school history. more »»
Experience will benefit SFCA
August 27, 2011 "We're in the second year, and there's a little bit of a buzz about what we can do this year," says coach Mark Ackerman in analyzing his Southwest Florida Christian Academy team. more »»
Leadership key to Raiders
August 27, 2011 After three weeks of the 2010 season, the Riverdale football squad was on the verge of falling off a cliff. The Raiders were 0-3, rudderless, and devoid of any leadership or direction. more »»
New coach guides Gateway
August 27, 2011 Entering his first season as head coach at Gateway Charter, Ken Knapczyk hopes to bring a new attitude and energy to the program. more »»


text:
Governments have made "positive moves" towards coming up with a plan to reduce the current loss of biodiversity, which is threatening the future of our planet. Over the past two weeks, delegates at a meeting in Nairobi have been discussing the scientific and technical aspects behind a new "big plan" to save all life on earth, the planet's biodiversity. Scientists from IUCN, who have been taking part in the discussions, say that they're encouraged by the commitment shown by governments to develop a new Strategic Plan for the next ten years, which would set targets to reduce the global rate of biodiversity loss.
"By 2020, we must have reduced the current pressures on biodiversity if the planet is to sustain humankind in the future," says Jane Smart, Director, IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group. "There's been overwhelming support in Nairobi for 20 strong, ambitious but realistic targets for the next 10 years, designed to prevent the extinction crisis and restore the earth's ecosystems."
The meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to the Convention on Biological Diversity, or SBSTTA, which has been taking place in Nairobi, provides a scientific basis for targets to stem the loss of biodiversity, which were set in 2002, but have not been met.
SBSTTA has dealt with the science of proposed new targets. Next week the financial and political aspects will be discussed in Nairobi by the Working Group on the Review of Implementation (WGRI). IUCN says we have to make sure that these targets are accepted by WGRI and that politicians don't disregard the science. WGRI will finalise exactly what wording to recommend to the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya, Japan, in October on the post-2010 Strategic Plan, including its vision, mission, strategic goals and targets.
The third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook shows that biodiversity loss is continuing at unprecedented rates. Urgent action is needed to ensure the resilience of people and nature, and to avoid catastrophic tipping points. Recovering from such dramatic changes is impossible in many instances and always difficult and costly. 'Business as usual' will not achieve a future for biodiversity.
"There is a need for a 'step change' in ambition for the targets set for 2020, if the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity are to be met," adds Jane Smart. "As Parties move into detailed negotiations on the draft Strategic Plan there will be a need to consider the driving context underpinning the decisions. Is it for example the global economic situation and the need for cuts in overall public expenditure? Or is it to invest now in what is necessary to halt biodiversity loss, and so avoid the much larger costs of inaction?"
IUCN urges Parties to 'seize the moment' and take the second of these two options and invest in what is necessary now. WGRI could therefore be a different kind of tipping point – a positive one that would guarantee a future for all life on earth, setting the stage for discussions that will take place when governments meet later in the year in Nagoya. This will be the most important meeting the world's decision makers will ever attend.
The eyes of the world will now focus on the meeting in Nagoya, seen by many as a last ditch attempt to stop the alarming rate of biodiversity loss.


text:
Saving Houdini, the dust-jacket flap tells us, is Michael Redhill's first book for young readers. But it only takes a page or two to realize that Redhill knows how to write.
For Kids: A magical book of adventure
MONTREAL — Saving Houdini, the dust-jacket flap tells us, is Michael Redhill's first book for young readers. But it only takes a page or two to realize that Redhill knows how to write. In fact, he already has several novels for adults to his name — and under his pseudonym, Inger Ash Wolfe. It is as Redhill, however, that he enters the realm of children's literature, and makes readers sit up and take notice.
The title announces there's magic afoot, and the author does not disappoint. He sets his story in 2011, when the central character, 11-year-old Dashiel Woolf, attends a magic show in Toronto with his parents and is reluctantly drawn onstage to assist in a trick called the Soap Bubble Vanish, but most of the action plays out in the past — 1926, to be exact.
The Soap Bubble Vanish, as performed by Bloom the Beguiler, has gone spectacularly wrong — at least from Dash's point of view. He ends up in a Toronto he barely recognizes and, other than finding a mysterious envelope in his suit jacket, doesn't really know which way to turn. So he heads for his home address, which, as luck would have it, appears to be between owners. Dash spends the night in the empty house, wishing his parents were there and wondering how he'll get back to 2011.
He crosses paths with a tough kid named Walter Gibson, eventually befriends him, and comes to recognize that Walt's photo is in a newspaper clipping tucked into the envelope in his pocket. Advertising a Houdini lecture at McGill University, the Gazette clipping is dated Oct. 21, 1926 — three days hence — and Dash realizes that means Harry Houdini has not yet met with Gordon Whitehead, who punched him in the stomach and hastened the magician's death. With Walt in that photo, and Dash's distinctive hockey cufflinks also visible, it's clear the boys were in Montreal on the date in question — but how to get there without money? Dash tracks down Herman Blumenthal, a struggling magician who is fated to become Bloom's grandfather and the inventor of the Soap Bubble Vanish, but is turned away without train fare. So the boys jump a freight and let loose a carload of pigs to keep from getting caught by railway police.
Their adventures in Montreal are many and varied, but their best efforts fail to stop Houdini from completing his trip to Detroit — where, as we all know, he died in a hospital on Oct. 31, 1926. The unexpected twist of fate that ensures history plays out as it's supposed to caught me by surprise — and the final poignant reference to Dash's connection to Walt's family in 2011 brought tears to my eyes. That, too, was a surprise, since the entire book had been a lively, entertaining read, well paced and enjoyable, with nary a hint of weepiness.
Saving Houdini
By Michael Redhill
HarperCollins, 271 pages, $19.99
Ages 9 to 12


text:
Tropical Paradise in the Bahamas
White with sea-blue shutters and trim, this stunning villa in the Bahamas has a glamorous, but relaxed style about it. Built to take full advantage of the balmy weather and beautiful location, it features lots of indoor-outdoor living spaces. I'm in love with the pool, the pool cabana and the freestanding stone bath in the master ensuite… it also has it's very own access to the sea, by way of steps leading to a private sandy alcove!
Melissah xox
Images via Dust Jacket, fashion stoy by Lagu
Check out Coastal Style on Pinterest


text:
Attention: Owners of accounts on the "email@example.com" mail list.
Subject: Mail list policies & procedures
1. Why have a policy? Why now?
The list is large and maintenance is burdensome.
The volume of bounced and undeliverable mail irritates subscribers who expect
the list to have meaningful content.
The list is maintained by humans who do not enjoy receiving the inflammatory
messages these irritated subscribers send regarding bounced messages.
2. Contact addresses.
Please address all complaints, SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, Sign-on, Sign-off
requests to "firstname.lastname@example.com". Please address all other mail-list
related inquires to the same. Please address all network related technical
issues to "firstname.lastname@example.com". All mail to these addresses is handled
by humans.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:32 EDT


text:
Is 受心 the correct term to use if you want to say a movie is really sad and/or upsetting? My parents told me they use 苦 for it but I've never heard that in this context.
stretch limo in chicago
Automotive Blog
Learn Cantonese
Topics related to learning Cantonese.
1 post • Page 1 of 1
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 10:43 am
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Return to "Learning Cantonese"
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests


text:
Jeanneau NC 11 in perfect condition, full optional boat, available from now, actually in the sea.
Boat with only 250 engine house, bow thruster, Raymarine Radar on board.
Nicola Zazza : +39 3286658431
The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice. 5% plus VAT commission will be charged to the buyer. Mediazione del 5% + IVA a carico del'acquirente.
Box 44 - Marina Cala Galera
Porto Ercole (GR)


text:
Archy Stallings, the African-American record store merchant at the center (or slightly off center) of Michael Chabon's grand new novel "Telegraph Avenue," lives by his belief that the decade after his 1968 birth "corresponded precisely with the most muscular moment in the history of black music in America," and by extension, the most glorious era in American culture.
Fortunately for him, nature, nurture, free will and the reality-bending logic of magic realism allow him to experience the summer of 2004 as if he's living in a Blaxploitation flick/Bruce Lee movie double feature, with a '70s soul-jazz soundtrack. He wears vintage leisure suits and platform shoes, drives a meticulously maintained 1974 El Camino, and is surrounded by a supporting cast that includes a bloodthirsty Black Panther, a conspiracy-minded kung fu master, danger-courting teen sleuths, a funkmaster with Baretta's bird as his talon-tapping sideman, a retail rival resembling the Kingpin from classic Marvel comics, and an aging Pam Grier-esque sister (if not two) keeping it fly and doing what she has to do. Even the way Archy segments his personal history as before-and-after periods of his Gulf War military service echoes his Vietnam-era predecessors.
This piece first ran in Printers Row Journal, delivered to Printers Row members with the Sunday Chicago Tribune and by digital edition via email. Click here to learn about joining Printers Row.
That Archy can let his funk flag fly is a byproduct of Brokeland, the nom de guerre of his Bay Area neighborhood and the name of the shop he co-owns with his ornery Jewish friend Nat (the kind of cat the late Oscar Brown Jr. might designate "an honorary soul brother from way back"). That imprecise amalgamation of the names and geography of Berkeley and Oakland represents the messy miscegenation at the heart of Chabon's novel, a multi-ethnic Mulligan stew where poor blacks mix with middle-class lefty, activist whites (whose post-hippie posturings also land them squarely in the Nixon years).
This frequently leads to discomfort and frustrations, particularly for Archy's long-suffering wife, Gwen, whose midwifery practice finds itself solely catching babies from New Age white women, while the black mothers she hoped to help "don't want to be messing with that country (stuff)." But as Chabon argues (and Archy ultimately orates), it's this uncomfortable racial coupling, mixed with the area's Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Hmong and other demographics, that make Brokeland's bloodline stronger than the pure, inbred Habsburg habitats of the world. Amusingly, it also allows for cameos, of sorts, by two icons of cross-racial culture-mashing, a pre-Age of Obama state senator for Illinois named Barack, and a post-"Kill Bill" Quentin Tarantino.
As demonstrated in Telegraph Avenue's epic Pulitzer-pulling predecessor, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," and in Chabon's other novels, shorter works, essays, children's books and comics, the author is a hypnotizing master of language, crafting fresh descriptors for familiar functions, poetic detours that never sacrifice narrative flow, well-oiled metaphorical machinations, and seamless time travelling that makes the phrase "flashback" seem obsolete. Certainly there isn't a passage in Telegraph Avenue that couldn't function as an Iowa Writer's Workshop workout tape.
But Chabon's writerly wizardry isn't the trademark that stands out most in his latest work; it's his position as a leader of the generation of writers who strive to de-ghettoize pop culture themes and references by elevating them to literary loftiness. In this sense it's difficult not to compare aspects of this novel to the works of his contemporaries. Obviously the ultra-knowledgeable record clerk chatter recalls Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity." And there's a sequence with salt and pepper teen boys exploring confused sexuality that's so similar to one from Jonathan Lethem's "The Fortress of Solitude" that it might as well be a sampled Clyde Stubblefield drum break.
But holding up Telegraph Avenue to the high points of contemporary literature may do it few favors. There's something thrilling about the constant flow of R&B, comic book, cinematic and literary references, most real, some conjured. But it requires its diverse cast of characters to often converse as if they all were avid readers, vinyl hounds, film buffs, Trekkies and Jack Kirby collectors in ways that work against the themes of diversity so crucial to the novel's manifesto. The primary object of geekery in the novel is grooving soul-jazz-funk, and the pews of this Church of Vinyl bend under the often hefty backsides of a heterogeneous flock. There are brilliantly elucidated lines drawn between (though few harsh value judgments made of) African-American accomplished musician record collectors, white folks who know the score, black brothers who understand the value of Miles and Maceo but prefer the smooth sounds of Peabo Bryson, embarrassing Caucasians spouting minstrel dialect while spending beaucoup bucks on rarities, and youthful nerds fetishizing the eight-track era. But at times their reference-dropping speech patterns blur.
More crucially, Chabon's important ambition to write this novel largely from the point of the view of African-American and female protagonists requires him to find voices farther from his own than he necessarily accomplishes here. That he engaged in this diversity, and chose not to mediate "minority" viewpoints through the eyes of white navigators is admirable, but not an unqualified success.
But those critiques hold weight only if one demands Chabon deliver unblemished work to the great literary canon, and strive for high art. Despite the author's masterful prose and his low-culture loving brethren, it's a mistake to ignore the charms, history and heritage of lowbrow literature when reading these revered works. The blaxploitation era Archy won't let die had a reading list, which included the rediscovery of the pulpy crime masterpieces of Chester Himes, the ascension of the stereotype-spouting Shaft novels of Ernest Tidyman, and Iceberg Slim's brutal pimp poetry. These were the paperbacks in the back pockets of bellbottoms, and despite the complexity of themes, fearlessness in confronting complex racial issues, and refusal to demonize anyone, Telgraph Avenue unquestionably re-creates many of the pleasures of these flawed, pandering page-turners.
It is a book in which action movie fans end up re-creating their favorite scenes, absurd mysteries are slowly revealed, payback and consequences are played out to satisfactory ends, and fantastic coincidences consistently deliver soap opera connections and disconnections that make the "Who's Your Baby Daddy" DNA testing of the Maury Povich era moot.
If the novel's function is to deliver unqualified brilliance and literary awards, Chabon may not be in the pocket during this session. But as far as laying down a jam that grooves, entertains, entrances and sticks in your head with infectious melodies, to quote fictional Obama's assessment of Archy's bass playing, "brother puts his heart into it."
Jake Austen is editor of Roctobermagazine and co-author of "Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop." He lives in Chicago.
Telegraph Avenue
By Michael Chabon, Harper, 480 pages, $27.99


text:
Tee-off for a good cause this weekend in Wichita Falls
3601 Seymour Highway
Wichita Falls, TX 76309
(940) 322.6957
(940) 322-6957EEO Report Closed Captioning
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2018 Raycom Media. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.


text:
Motor sports is passion. Motor sports is pure fascination. And
Cornering on asphalt. The ideal line on the racetrack. Or gliding on snow and ice. Driving a
A unique community of
Dr. Ing. h.c. F.
Our cooperation options and forms of partnership are as multifaceted as the world of
© 2018