When I was a boy, I read an awful lot of shite books about Fortean matters.

I ploughed through Erich von Daniken, dodgy tomes about the Bermuda Triangle and witchcraft and Earth mysteries. Like Stephen King described the process of reading/watching bad horror stories, I was prospecting through mud, seeking those few glimmers of gold.

Every now and then, I found something truly good, which asked hard questions and offered theories without falling into the trap of declaring their point of view as pure Truth. One of these was UFOs – Operation Trojan Horse, by John Alva Keel. It made a difference in how I looked at the world. Like Robert Anton Wilson (who I read about the same time), Keel showed me that ‘maybe’ was not a bad perspective to take – and that orthodoxy can so easily trap a mind.  In other works, such as Our Haunted Planet and especially in The Mothman Prophecies, his perspective and unapologetically personal approach were a breath of fresh air in the stale pulpiness of so much Fortean writing.

And now he’s gone. I’m startled at how sad this makes me – but perhaps I shouldn’t be. After all, we should mourn our ancestors when they pass, even (especially) when they aren’t blood kin.

Sometimes, especially at fuck-o’clock in the morning, I can be a little… evil.

My-beloved-the artist forwarded me a link that she’d acquired from the Ravelry forum (which, despite being a site about knitting, has a little of everything). It’s a single webpage which basically consists of an extended lonely-hearts/Craigslist contact-style ad.

The title is:

Finding My Goddess

Smart, Sexy, Spiritual Goddess Desired for Awesome Relationship with Extraordinary Man.

One Gentleman’s Quest to Find His Goddess.

Are YOU a Woman Who Has Most of the Extensive Goddess-Qualifications?

Finding My GoddessSmart, Sexy, Spiritual Goddess Desired for Awesome Relationship with Extraordinary Man.

One Gentleman’s Quest to Find His Goddess.

Are YOU a Woman Who Has Most of the Extensive Goddess-Qualifications?

…and goes rapidly downhill from there:

Some of the material in my message is controversial. I do not wish to offend anyone, but I do need to say certain things so that an interested lady knows what she’s getting into. I think that’s reasonable and fair.

I’m a deeply spiritual man. As I explain in detail below, my guidance comes directly from God (or, as my Buddhist friends would say, from my Buddha Nature). I am well aware that you might think otherwise. As you read my message, you might conclude that I have an over-inflated ego and that, rather than following “divine guidance,” I should instead work on “getting over myself”—and, indeed, given the expansiveness of my message, that would be a very “normal” reaction for you to have.

The Goddess I seek sees far beyond the “normal” level of thinking. She follows the guidance she receives from God (even when people might think she’s crazy), and she believes that others (including me) should do the same. Her life is dedicated to making this world a better place, and she realizes that the “normal” way of thinking is precisely what has gotten this world into so much trouble! My message EXCITES her. She believes what I’m saying is coming from God. She believes what I’m saying is not only possible but doable. She passionately desires to be directly and intimately involved.

One more excerpt, so you know what kind of guy we’re dealing with here:

I am on the brink of a large-scale financial success that many people believe will escalate me, over the next decade, from member of the middle class—to billionaire. I am the inventor and developer of, and control the majority interest in, a patented new technology that numerous well-credentialed experts agree can, quite literally, re-define the entire computer industry. We need about one more year to complete implementation of our first product release (hopefully in early 2010), and then the computing paradigm will begin to shift…. people will start thinking about information and utilizing computers in a whole new way that greatly EMPOWERS them. This will shake the foundation of a nearly trillion-dollar industry (computer hardware, software and information technologies, including the Internet).

However, I am much more than a computer scientist. I am a Global Visionary, and my desire and intention is to utilize my anticipated computer fortune to create fundamental changes in the systems, institutions and traditions on this planet: from darkness to LIGHT. In contrast with my computer technology which is likely to succeed (at least to some significant degree), my broad global vision is a gigantic LONG SHOT. With God (and if my karma proves good enough), I will find some degree success with my huge vision. If not, I will at least have enjoyed the adventure of daring to go for it.

Why am I sharing this Global Vision with you? Because it tells you a whole lot about who I am. I am a man who DARES to dream the impossible dream, and who DARES to devote his life to realizing it. I am seeking a woman who LOVES my vision and WANTS to be my intimate partner in the adventure of going for it, whether we succeed or fail.

(That amazing computer breakthrough is described by himself here. Basically, a new OS made for Newage angel-heads who have a pastels fetish. World-shaking, no. Terrifying, yes.)

I couldn’t just let that lie, could I? So I did a little translation of his cri de coeur:

Hi. I’m a failing computer geek with delusions of being The Next Steve Jobs. I also think God likes me more than anyone else – except possibly You, the only True Consort of such a swell, spiritual and almost-nearly-any-time-soon financially wealthy man.

Oh yeah – I have such a weird face because I was hit on the head by a large Newage Tantra manual at an impressionable age.

(See angel picture from cover of book which hit me hardest and warped my ideas of sex and god forever.)

The Goddess I seek must be smart (but not quite as smart as me), trusting (by which I mean “gullible enough to believe the ‘100% control’ over an undisclosed portion of my imaginary fortune will amount to bupkiss”) hate all concepts of ‘authority’ (except of course the ones where I tell her what to do) and she’s sexy, sexy, sexy!

And of course she must pray and meditate in a style of my choosing, ‘cos she’s just a girl.

Due to her (approved) spiritual praxes, she will have many superpowers, most importantly;

-She never ever gets grumpy – especially around *that* time of the month,

-She never feels greed – especially over my increasingly blue-sky wealth.

-She unconditionally loves a large number of people – who are all cute girls with bisexual leanings. No Fags!

-She has the quality of childlike innocence – or can at least fake it when she puts on the frilly dress and calls me Daddy.

No fatties, dykey haircuts or commoners need apply.

More about me. Me, me, meeee.

I’m really clever and smart, and clever. My balls don’t work, but I disguise that by claiming I’m a Tantra Master who withholds his Precious Bodily Fluids deliberately (& hiding my viagra stash).

I am a Chivalrous Man – meaning I do the opening-doors-paying-restaurants thing, while you do the supplicant-muse-and-fucktoy thing, with occasional witty banter about how high-minded we of the Light are for not liking that new-fangled rock music and television the kids like so much.

Did I mention I’m really, really Funny? Really I am. Funny. Really funny!

Surrender versus control… If you surrender, I won’t have to control you now, will I?

Yours in desperate lonely wanking hope,

The geeky Newager with strange creepy eyes.

I do hope he finds the woman he deserves… who would be an awful long way from the one he demands.

(PS – for more of this kind of gratuitous and malicious attacking of the desires of poor little internet-trolling men, check out the blogs Why Women Hate Men and Will Not Get You Laid.)

via Bruce Sterling, who so often gets the good stuff, this splendid piece of street theatre/music.

A segment from the amazing street performance “Glissendo” at a French art festival: “Lightning” by Philip Glass. Concept and technical design by Ulik (the mechanical clown).

Unicycles, or Segways (or Daleks) under the robes? Doesn’t matter. This made me chortle like a happy baby.

…and has the most recent Guttershaman reprinted there.

Small hiatus in new stuff for the moment, but there will be more soon.

This is interesting…

Long-time pagan blogger ‘Pax” has inaugerated a month of encouraging other pagan bloggers to talk about the values (as in ethics) of their beliefs.

As he puts it in his intitial post;

In June the sun is at it’s height in the Northern Hemisphere and nearly hidden from view in the Southern Hemisphere.  Midsummer and Yule, festivals of fire and of light.

Let us then use our hearts and minds and words, invoking the fires of inspiration; let us write of the virtues and ethics and morals and values we have found in our Pagan paths, let us share how we carry these precious things forward in our own lives and out into the world.

This is a splendid thing for many reasons. Aside from a chance to show to other religious writers (specifically monotheists) that these beliefs actually can have a sense of ethical and honourable conduct, it offers a chance for that community to attempt to define what those ethical stances are… and hopefully to take a good look at where those stances are either in opposition or contradiction, or are observed more in the breach, even ignored.

There’s been some good stuff on this so far. I especially liked a short but pithy piece by Deborah Lipp, “Putting the ‘poly’ into polytheism”, on pluralism as a basic pagan ethic:

Monotheism has “mono” as a root value. One God, one Truth, one Right with all other things Wrong. This is a net negative for culture, I believe.

Polytheism allows us to worship many gods, few if any of whom are “jealous Gods.” None of them seem to demand that we worship Them and Them alone. Kali has never asked me to cease worshiping the gods of Wicca, and vice versa. Doing one thing fervently, wholeheartedly, with body, mind, heart, and spirit, does not prevent Pagans from doing another, very different, thing with the same wholeheartedness.

There are surely things that are wrong, but a pluralistic world view means that, once we have found something we know to be right, we do not know that everything else is wrong. One god worthy of worship does not make all other gods false. One life worth living does not make all other lifestyles inferior.

Also good to see this by Dawn on the Witchmoot group blog, which asks “What are pagan values, exactly?”, which is more than a little critical of some aspects of the pagan community:

We don’t want to be Christians. Not really. But wouldn’t it be nice if, when considering whether to attend an event, you could predict the sort of values that would be expressed there? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could dance skyclad without the worry that some dude would stick his hand in places he has no right to? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take your kids to an event and not worry that some drunken fool was going to push mead (or something) on them. “No it’s good. I made it myself, you have to try it. It’s sweet. Tastes like honey. It’s alright, this is religious gathering. You can have some. You’ll like it.”

Although I don’t consider myself pagan as such, a lot of my friends are and modern paganism was a major influence on my own beliefs. It’s good to see self-examination and sincere thought about these matters there.

I’m bunging up links to interesting posts on my Twitter – and set up the #paganvaluesmonth hashtag for ease of finding.

My-beloved-the-ex-neuroscientist-shaman has posted a concise thought-piece on the mysticism of the Jedi in Star Wars 1-3. As she’s a practicing curandera, she’s got a good point to make. Plus, I sat through those three movies with her… so it’s good something of benefit came out of that!

Quote:

As I watched the movies, I kept track of how many times Anakin Skywalker violates some of the basic principles of being a shamanic apprentice – and of how Obi-Wan Kenobi fails to correct him in any meaningful way. I had a whole rant prepared about how the Jedi aren’t shamans, but upon further reflection, that’s a bit like saying that an apple isn’t an orange: the Jedi, at least at the stage at which we see them from the time of The Phantom Menace, aren’t even trying to be shamans anymore, if indeed they ever were. They’re archetypal heroes of the Joseph Campbell variety.

So what is the difference between an archetypal hero and a shaman?

OK…
After a brief tussle, now got the Dell running the latest Ubuntu version (9.04 ‘Jaunty Jackalope’ – sadly the next version is not called Kinky Koala… but Karmic Koala isn’t bad either) and the Netbook Remix interface. Since Dell’s tech support for their Ubuntu is charitably describable as ‘limited’ there was nothing to lose, except possibly some SAN points. Found a blog app that doesn’t suck (KBlogger) and pretty much got this little guy ready to roll.
It has its limitations of course – the keypad tininess takes a little getting used to, and some of the keys are in non-standard positions – but since my typing is of the two-finger hunt-and-peck school, this actually doesn’t make too much difference.
I still scorn and despise the individual who decided where CAPSLOCK lives, however.
In other news, I appear to be coughing and sneezing on an professional basis. This is displeasing, but is at least non-pork related.
For the moment, I seem to be more active on Twitter than anything else – posting a few links on the remarkable political upheaval in Guatemala and the usual Forteana. Daily digest, as always, at News Felch.
Sent from Dell Mini 9, which still lacks a good nickname…

Another new piece of kit – finally fell prey to the netbook paradigm & got a Dell Mini 9, running their remix of Ubuntu 8.04. After some minor teething troubles – a keyboard glitch which of course took over an hour on hold to tech support, only to be fixed in 2 minutes – it’s pretty good.

It’s a tiny thing – half the size and a third the weight of my venerable iBook G4 – and thus perfect for general carry (without the considerable limitations of the Nokia N810 pocket unit).

There’s a few things lacking in the Ubuntu ‘ware department, top of the list being a WordPress blogging client! But for now blogging from the website seems tolerably fast and pretty much everything else works fine. (And if I feel adventurous, it’s the best netbook for a OS X install.)

So, once I get over the non-pork-related virus the whole clan is down with, I can take my act on the road!

… Not a Celt?

A fine article of this title by Joanna Hautin-Mayer just crossed my path (via the Naked Woad Warrior’s blog). It’s a harsh-but-fair look at the level of pseudohistorical invention punted as fact by some neopagan writers. Informative and fun – take for example this gentle dig at the claims made in “Witta: An Irish Pagan Tradition” by Edain McCoy. After noting Ms. McCoy’s claims that the potato as an ancient Irish symbol (having somehow not been aware it was imported from Peru in the 16-17th Centuries!) she also points out this gem:

Ouch!

Have a read, tho’ it be longish.

Via Greg Bishop, this timely reminder of when the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal (CSICOP- now CSI-Committee For Skeptical Inquiry) conducted their one and only scientific study of an alleged paranormal phenomenon.

The full sorry tale, ’sTarbaby’ told by physicist and ex-CSICOP Dennis Rawlins is here. RA Wilson told a truncated version in one of the Cosmic Trigger books, but this is the one with the full dirt…