Magritte Redux

The Mind, that Ocean where each kind
Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other Worlds, and other Seas...
---Andrew Marvell, The Garden



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I had actually hoped it would be Chess

"I prefer Senet."

[Clatter]

"Well, I understand that — but Senet has so much of a random element to it. Considering what the stakes are, it's difficult to accept that the game hinges on a throw of the dice. Or of the sticks."

"I would be content that this works in my favor, if I were you."

"Pardon?"

"I have been playing Senet for a very long time. If I wished to cheat, you would never know. But I favor the randomness. It means that mortals may very well win against me. It is a bit fairer."

"Yes, I know. It just... I like being in control. You know how it is."

[Clatter]

"Of course."

"And there's always the chance that you, or Death, hasn't seen the latest gambit."

"Young one, setting up a chessboard in front of Death is an opening gambit practically older than Chess itself. As we idly discuss the prospect of playing chess against her, she hears us and whets her game like a knife. It is a far poorer gamble than relying on the random cast of three sticks."

[Clatter]

"Ah. How unfortunate."


Astral Realms
Alexander Freed, Peter Schaefer,
Malcolm Sheppard, and John Snead
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Sub Rosa

Thanks a lot! I have Jin and her spooky tale to blame for another awkward exchange I had with one of the bartenders at The Wulfshead.

Well, it's my own fault really. I mean, by now, I should know better than even broach such a subject---any subject---with any of the staff here. Not that, most of the time, one will fare any better engaging some of the patrons.

What can I say? I just couldn't help it: I asked the bartender what he knew about Spirits. You would have done the same thing. I hinted to him that anything he'd share with me as I was under the influence of wine (sub vino) would also remain sub rosa. And this is how I now know more than anyone here---more than I really cared to---about some rather expensive vodka distillates produced by this Oregon craft micro distillery. The bartender told me that in sampling some of the "elixir" he was serving me, I was sharing in a long and honored tradition in line with the Illuminati, the Priory of Scion, and the Knights Templar. Methinks he was putting me on!

But, speaking of which---i.e., Spirits and bottles (the kind from which genies are freed or imprisoned), and Sub Rosa....[continued]

Prior to visiting The Wulfshead last night, I had just been watching that quaint and rather atypical 1994 TNG episode:


I kid you not---cross my heart and hope to die!

Now, how is that for a coincidence?

Odd isn't it? I thought so too. Imagine my surprise when, visiting The wulfshead shortly afterward, I ran into Jin and her enraptured audience as she was relating her own ghost story, and possibly a Gothic romance of her own.

You would have been amazed at the amount of pastries those people can ingest---Jin's audience that is, not Gothic lovers.

One of the scenes in the TNG's episode is rather hot:

The candle (a family heirloom which is a depository for the ghostlike entity) begins to flicker in Beverly's quarters as she is sleeping soundly. The covers over her begin to slide away, and so is her nightgown, slowly exposing her shoulder, and Beverly reacts as if someone were kissing her on the neck. A disembodied voice calls her name as she stirs and shivers...

And...err...ah...where was I?

Ah, yes, ghosts!

The problem with ghosts is that it is not always clear how they come about or which came first, the ghost or the belief. It's the same thing with myths. Myths and beliefs sometimes take a life of their own. In time, some manifest as true because enough people believe so passionately about them. Some are helpful. And some will lead you astray.

A common question when it comes to "apparitions" is: "Did we see it because it really was there or did we see it because we expected to see it due to the known story of the place?"

This is how the Philip experiment was born.

A a group of Canadian parapsychologists during the 1970s hoped their experiment would help in the study of the phenomena of poltergeists, hauntings, and Spiritualism. Their findings appear in the work Conjuring up Philip (1976) by Iris Owen and Margaret Sparrows.

Philip was a fictitious concoction agreed upon from the start by the members of the group who created him. Like a character in a fictional novel, Philip was given a name and a made up history. The group proceeded from there to gather on a regular basis and sit around a table, like in a Spiritists seance, to conjure the spirit of Philip.

One day Philip responded.

The results of the experiment---which were fully documented on film and audiotape---are quite intriguing:


Philip

The Philip Phenomenon

How to create a Ghost

The Skippy Experiment


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The sacred geometry of chance

Astrology... If you ask me, I'd say it's all in our mind...

Today's birthday (March 20): Don't be surprised if the following year brings many uncontrollable fits of giggles. You decide it's your job to feel good, and you create circumstances in which it's easy for you to do so. April brings new friends. Cancer and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are

10
4
33
39 and 17.

Utrum fiat tibi gaudium aut dolor, iterum talos iace
Life offers joy along with pain, so take the dice and throw again

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New Model: follow-up

The way the management looks at it, what patrons and visitors do outside of the Wulfshead is their own business. Why, rumor has it that last time Harry Fabulous was in, he was offering pirate DVDs of Muppet films from another dimension: Citizen Kermit and Miss Piggy Does Dallas.

As far as I recall, it is a rare event that The Wulfshead objects to anyone's presence here. Apparently they feel like even some of the most atypical visitors give the place character.

However, while The Wulfshead enforces a strict neutrality, I must caution the gentleman that GENOM corporation is not to be trifled with. They are not known for their tolerance, sir, nor are they very forgiving.

What I am getting at, sir, is... I don't want to alarm the gentleman from Oregon, but the word is out that the gentleman has come into possession of an artifact that belongs to First Androids Synthetics Humanoids.

Don't look at me that way, sir. It's not like the gentleman has been very discreet displaying the synthetic artifact at his table for all to see, and bragging about it.

Oh, the gentleman has nothing to concern himself about, so long as he remains at the bar, and...er...the gentleman keeps away from the restrooms, and other more secluded areas of the Wulfshead. But, as I said before, once the gentleman leaves the Wulfshead, whatever "unpleasantness", the gentleman might run into...is the gentleman's own business.
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A New Model

Given the recent, um... unpleasantness... in the men's room, I thought I'd offer this new model urinal. Guaranteed to confuse terminators. But, ah, be careful when you flush; I'm not sure where the water actually... goes.
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Dessert

"Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.

Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will.

At least the ancient Greeks were being honest."

---Chuck Palahniuk (American freelance Journalist, Satirist and Novelist. b.1961)

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