New Posting

There are many things in life which act as milestones of a most peculiar kind. Sometimes they pass by without us noting them, even if we see them. I could not let this one pass by.

This post is my 125th post in the blog which used to be called alchemical.blogspot.com. It is actually my 125th out of 500 posts in blogspot (the discerning clientele know where the bad poems and beautiful bits of nonsense are hidden) and perhaps my 125th out of maybe 10,000 posts made over an Internet career spanning two decades - and bridging two centuries, two millennia. I have had many names, and a reasonably good online credibility rating.

There was a time I found myself in a rut, and did not know how to get out of it. Eight years as chief servant in a community of servants, occasionally called upon as chief savant in a community of savants - and all in a discipline foreign to my native instincts - it corrupted my sense of self and led to unavoidable schism. That has healed in most parts, thanks to drastic intervention and perestroika.

I know now one of the best secrets of all. It isn't what they pay you for that counts (or even what they pay you). It's what you would do even if they didn't pay you. I'm no Methodist, but as John Wesley said:

Christ has many services to be done;
some are easy, others are difficult;
some bring honour, others bring reproach;
some are suitable to our natural instincts and material interests,
others are contrary to both.
In some we may please Christ and please ourselves,
in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves.
Yet the power to do all these things is given us
in Christ who strengthens us.

And so, I am free. Free to go, free to stay, free to make my mark in the world or be unremarkable to the world. Every word left in this blog is an act consonant with conscience, with faith, with the practice of life.

One last quotation, from Dorothy Dunnett's most excellent book, Caprice & Rondo:

"God is my master," the Patriarch said. "It makes for simplicity. I commend it. For that is your trouble, isn't it?"

Dancers And Players

Dancers and players are not always same -
Some dancers are players, some players lame;
But lameness in dancers makes it a pain
To dance like a dancer ever again.

To you who are dancers, logic dictates
A need to achieve high energy states;
But look at the players, shuffling their hands -
Tactics dictate the most shifty of stands.

So dancers, my dancers (well, not really mine),
Keep from the lure of the devious design -
Where sin may not lead beneath a full moon
Cherish the music and honour the tune.

Unlimited Robots

This article showcases the work of David Levy, who is quite unashamed of his beliefs regarding robots. A good article for those interested in the Theory of Knowledge and other such things.