Is There Anybody In There?

Meanwhile, back at the PFJ HQ…

Reg: Right, now, eh. item four: attainment of world supremacy within the next five years. Eh, Francis, you've been doing some work on this.

Francis: Yeah, thank you, Reg. Well, quite frankly, siblings, I think five years is optimistic, unless we can smash the Roman empire within the next twelve months.

Reg: Twelve months?

Francis: Yeah. Twelve months. And let's face it... as empires go, this is the big one, so we've got to get up of our arses, and stop just talking about it.

PFJ: Hear Hear!!!

Loretta: I agree. It's action that counts, not words, and we need action now.

PFJ: Hear Hear!!!

Reg: You're right. We could sit around here all day talking, passing resolution, making clever speeches, it's not going to shift one Roman soldier.

Francis: So let's just stop gabbing on about it, it's completely pointless, and it's getting us nowhere.

PFJ: Right.

Loretta: I agree. This is a complete waste of time.

Judith runs in, panic-stricken.

Judith: They've arrested Brian!!

PFJ: What?

Judith: They've dragged him off. They're going to crucify him.

Reg: Right. This calls for immediate discussion.

Judith: What?!?

Rebel1: Immediate.

Rebel2: Right.

Loretta: new motion. Eh, That, ah. That there be, ah, immediate action,

Francis: ... ah, once the vote has been taken.

Reg: Well, obviously once the vote has been taken, you can't act on a resolution 'till you've voted on it.

Judith: Reg, for God's sake, let's go now, please!

Reg: Yeah, yeah. Right, right. In the, in the ligh of fresh information from ah, sibling Judith.

Loretta [Who's taking notes]: Ah, not so fast, Reg.

Judith: Reg, For God's sake. It's perfectly simple. All you've got to do is to go out of that door now, and try to stop the Romans nailing him up. It's happening, Reg. Something's actually happening, Reg. Can't you understand? Aaawoooooo!!!!!

She rushes out in a rage.

Francis: Ooh. Ooh dear.

Reg: Hello... and a litle ego-trip for the feminists.

Loretta: What?

Reg: Ah, oh, sorry, Loretta. Aah. Aah, read that back, would you?

Ignorance, Stupidity, And Nothing Else

It is often said that a disproportionate obsession with purely academic or abstract matters indicates a retreat from the problems of real life. However, most of the people engaged in such matters say that this attitude is based on three things: ignorance, stupidity, and nothing else.
 — Douglas Adams 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'

Mediocracy

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

 — Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (Adagia III, IV, 96)

Resignation

Dr Cartwright: "I shall rise no further."
Jim Hacker: "Why?"
Dr Cartwright; "Alas, I'm an expert."

But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice,

oh please let me come into the storm.

Cross Your Heart?

When

Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken.
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
waiting for the miracle to come.
…
When you've fallen on the highway
and you're lying in the rain,
and they ask you how you're doing
of course you'll say you can't complain --
If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

 — Leonard Cohen 'Waiting For The Miracle'

Passenging

Oh the passenger
He rides and he rides
He sees things from under glass
He looks through his window side

 — Iggy Pop 'The Passenger'

Feels Unfair

Here I go 
out to see again
The sunshine fills my hair
And dreams hang in the air
Gulls in the sky 
and in my blue eyes
You know it feels unfair
There's magic everywhere

 — Black 'Wonderful Life'

Doing Your Duty

And I thank you,
I thank you
for doing your duty,
you keepers of truth,
you guardians of beauty.
Your vision is right,
my vision is wrong,
I'm sorry for smudging
the air with my song.

 — Leonard Cohen 'A Singer Must Die'

Doing

Do you like what you’re doing?
Would you do it some more?
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you’re doing it for?
…
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst?
Do you hope to find new ways of doing
Better than your worst?
 — Nick Drake 'Hazy Jane I'

Suspension Of Disbelief

It is the mark of an educated mind
to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it.

 — Aristotle

One More Mystery Explained

The 38th ISFC Organising Committee

Estupidez

It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful.
 — Anton LaVey

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
 — Albert Einstein

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
  — Anonymous (often attributed to Albert Einstein)

The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.
 — Voltaire

Stupidity has a knack of getting its way.
 — Albert Camus

Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realise half of them are even stupider!
 — George Carlin

The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
 — Harlan Ellison

O Lunatics Tomou O Controle Do Asilo

Wee, Sleekit, Cowrin, Tim'rous Anagram

Hegemonic Discourses

Rigour is just a means of oppressing the non-rigorous.
Consistency is just a means of oppressing the inconsistent.
Logic is just a means of oppressing the illogical.
Knowledge is just a means of oppressing the ignorant.
Honesty is just a means of oppressing the dishonest.

Schooling Anagram

A Sense I Didn't Know

I never realised

the lengths I'd have to go
All the darkest corners of 

a sense I didn't know

 — Ian Curtis 'Twenty-Four Hours'

Hold That Thought

When you read a book, you hold another's mind in your hands.
— James Burke

Desiderative Projection

But the new theology of the heart dispenses with argument; it cannot be refuted, because it does not profess to prove its points. At bottom, the only reason offered for its acceptance is that it allows us to indulge in pleasant dreams. This is an unworthy reason…
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p669)

The Teacup Of Belief

The Meaning Of Life

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
— William Shakespeare 'MacBeth'

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts …
— William Shakespeare 'As You Like It'

Laketown

Fundamental Disagreements

Thales: everything is made of water
Anaximenes: the fundamental substance is air
Pythagoras: all things are numbers
Xenophanes: all things are made of earth and water
Heraclitus: fire is the fundamental substance

Heraclitus: everything changes
Parmenides: nothing changes

Empedocles: all change is governed by chance and necessity
Anaxagoras: mind as the primary cause of physical changes
Democritus: cause and effect (mechanism)