Our Universe expands
and contracts
like tides on a beach
while we hunger,
sense, sleep, search;
Exchanging Symbols
on a hunk of blue
shining bright through the cosmos
from water, air and sun
but named Earth
for the dirt
we cling to...
while waves wash worlds.
The U.S.A. has devolved so rapidly under the Bush family that it is like a planned demolition. To review the past 30 years is like reading 1984 or a Brave New World... on LSD while walking through a haunted house.
To recap, the head of the CIA was made Vice President in 1980 by running with an actor that had Alzheimer's. Then his son stole two consecutive elections and started a false war.
And his first cousin became a Hollywood terrorist... which somehow adds legitimacy to this bloodline of destruction.
A conflict involving the organized use of arms and physical force between countries or other large-scale armed groups. The warring parties hold territory, which they can win or lose; and each has a leading person or organization which can surrender, or collapse, thus ending the war.
(rhetorical) A campaign against something. E.g., the war on drugs is a campaign against the use of narcotic drugs; the war on terror is a campaign against terrorist crime.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The War on Drugs is a myth of global implications and personal terror.
For the entire history of the Western world the trade and exchange of goods has been integral to all the politics of nations. At times slavery and raw natural resources have been the most desired and lucrative trade items.
Now it is drugs, and it has been since the first World War.
Without a doubt the common men and women who live off of their labors with the earth are most persecuted. People are being killed because they are capable of cultivating plants and flowers.
Militaries and judicial systems are subjugating civilians in order to protect the prerogatives of Pharmaceutical corporations.
These same corporations are genetically manipulating the natural plants to monopolize their growth and distribution.
this war has only one victor... the spreadsheets of fiscal analysts.
phrase commonly used to say that something is leaking profusely when it is not supposed to leak at all. A sieve is a wire mesh or perforated metal utensil used for straining or sifting. Therefore anything that is leaking like a sieve is not holding water at all.
I have tons of water damage from the rain. My roof leaks like a sieve.
n. a political battle in which no participant is unsullied; a mud-slinging contest.Subjects: Nigeria, Politics
Etymological Note: This was popularized by, if not originated by, the 1972 song Roforofo Fight by Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The first part of the term is apparently the reduplicated Yoruba word rofo ‘mud.’
I have to go see my doctor tomorrow for an adjustment of medications. He is a really nice guy and i like him on a personal level. Part of me is convinced that the Quest Diagnostics blood test that he wants me to get is for the benefit only of Quest Diagnostics... since Dr. McGill has never asked me to get one before.
Part of me wants all pills to be regarded as generally hostile to life on earth.
The fucking germans probably invented them, maybe i should go to Wikipedia so i can justify that thought... or learn i am full of shit.
The origins of Babylonian mythology are extremely ancient. Because of this, misconceptions, duality among the gods and goddesses, and similarities between their deities and those of other pantheons exist. In formulating this list for your use, we have consulted many sources, and some of these conflict with each other. This version is designed to be close to historically accurate and still playable in AD&D terms.
(NOTE: If you wish to look hard enough, we are sure that you will find many points of disagreement with certain historical sources. This is unavoidable, when so many sources conflict.)
The high priest of this religion is often the king of the country and must be a combination magic-user/cleric of great power. All clerical types must remain aloof from the normal populace in temples or shrines and work to further the state politically as well as spiritually.
Through Anu and the priest-king, all money collected by the shrines and temples is dealt out. The ruler also distributes all political power through appointments. The new moon is looked on as a time of great ceremony, and also a time for the people to pay money to the temples as a sort of tithe to appease the gods. Kings are expected to go forth occassionally on quests with other clerics of differing levels and bring back riches (usually through conquest) to further the sect.
Punishment for failing in duties is always severe for the cleric. The breaking of minor laws requires fasting, prayers, meditation and sacrifices of animals and goods the cleric owns until the deity makes it known through the higher-level clerics that everything is forgiven. Sacrifices are commonly made in gold or precious jewels. Major clerical transgressions include helping the enemies of the sect, communicationg with intelligent creatures or demi-humans ( all of whom are considered "demons") other than humans, and dealing with humans of the opposite alignment. These crimes are all dealt with in the same manner, by complete denial of spells at all levels and excommunication from the sect, unless the erring one will take up a quest which will greatly aid the sect (either in terms of monetary riches or loss of power to other cults).
The traditional attire of all Babylonian clerics is a wraparound kilt of white with red cuneiform writing along the hem. They have been known to enter battle, but always in the rear of the action as support. Advancement within a sect is through the payment of gold to the high-priest's court. Note that this is not the same as level advancement. Increase in ability does not guarantee increase in temporal power. Priests of a successful nature were known to be given great (and highly dangerous) quests to prove their worthiness to stand by the King.
For the first 1980 printing, TSR obtained permission from Michael Moorcock for inclusion of Melnibonean material (from his Elric series of books). The Cthulhu Mythos was believed to be in the public domain, so TSR assumed they could legally use it without any special permission. However, Arkham House, who held the copyright on most Cthulhu books had already licensed the Cthulhu property to the game company Chaosium. Furthermore, Chaosium had also licensed the Melnibonéan copyright from Moorcock. When Chaosium threatened legal action, the first printing was halted and the two companies agreed on a compromise: TSR could continue to use the material but must provide a credit to Chaosium to do so. TSR added the credit for the second printing of the book.
For the sixth printing in 1985, the name was changed to Legends & Lore to avoid potential conflicts with fundamentalist Christian groups such as Patricia Pulling's BADD. Despite the name change and new cover artwork (by Jeff Easley), the interior material was nearly identical to the fifth printing.
Deities & Demigods was one of many items named in a 1992 lawsuit between TSR and Game Designers' Workshop regarding the Dangerous Journeys role-playing game and various rulebooks/sourcebooks designed for that game. Once section of this lawsuit argued that "The Plane of Shadow in MYTHUS (pages 190 and 402) and MYTHUS MAGICK (pages 21-22, ...) is derived from the Plane of Shadow in the AD&D DEITIES & DEMIGODS book (Appendix 1, page 129); ..."[2]
Anu (god of the sky) "Chief of all the Babylonian Deities"
This god appears as a man. A strong breeze constantly blows in the direction of his gaze. Beings casting things at this god must make a saving throw against disintegration at -4 to resist his commands. He can summon any dragon type (except for the king and queen and any other types of dragon royalty) to fight for him once a week, per dragon type.
He uses a brass mace in battle that strikes for 2-20 points of damage plus his bonus of 7 points.
Anu is said to have created the heavens and the earth. All of the other Babylonian gods bow to his authority.
~ AD&D SPECIAL REFERENCE WORK DEITIES AND DEMIGODS CYCLOPEDIA
by James M. Ward with Robert J. Kuntz
1980 TSR Games
page 22
"You yellow-bellied rat bastard... your muthas been fuckin the niggers for years, and now ya gotta go make a jerk out of yourself. Come here, and i'll cut open your belly and show you what your made of, you son of a bitch."
~Red
(real-life inspiration of Bart Simpson's crank calls to Moe)
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two seminal sword-and-sorcery heroes created by, and loosely modelled upon, Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) and his friend Harry Otto Fischer (1910-1986). They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories.
One of Leiber's original motives was to have a couple of fantasy heroes closer to true human stature than the likes of Howard's Conan the Barbarian or Burroughs's Tarzan. Fafhrd is a tall (seven feet) northern barbarian; Mouser is a small, mercurial thief, once known as Mouse and a former wizard's apprentice. Both are rogues, existing with a decadent world where to be so is a requirement of survival. They spend a lot of time drinking, feasting, wenching, brawling, stealing, and gambling, and are seldom fussy about to whom they hire their swords. But they are humane and — most of all — relish true adventure.
The tales are for the most part set in the mythical world of Nehwon (although one story takes place on Earth), many of them in and around its greatest city, Lankhmar. It is described as "a world like and unlike our own". Theorists in Nehwon believe that it may be shaped like a bubble, floating in the waters of eternity.
The series includes many outlandish characters. The two who most influence—and, some would say, cause the most trouble for—Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are their sorcerous advisors, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. These two lead the two heroes into some of their most interesting and dangerous adventures.
The first story appeared in Unknown in 1939 and the last in The Knight and Knave of Swords in 1988. Leiber wrote all the stories except for 10,000 words of The Lords of Quarmall that were penned by Harry Otto Fischer in 1964. The stories' style and tone vary considerably, but nearly all contain an often dark sense of humour, which ranges from the subtle and character-based to the Pythonesque. The earlier tales owe as much to Clark Ashton Smith as to Robert E. Howard.[citation needed]
Sheelba of the Eyeless Face is one of two wizards in Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The patron warlock of the Gray Mouser, Sheelba is so named due to her perfectly dark hooded face. Along with Fafhrd's patron warlock, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes, Sheelba often sends her hapless minion on ludicrous missions such as to recover the mask of Death or to steal the very stars from the top of the highest mountain.
Sheelba's house is a small hut which strides about the swamps not far from Lankhmar on four posts which bend and scuttle not unlike the legs of a great crab or spider..
