“I will bring you gold apples and grapes made of rubies
That have shone in the eyes of a prince of the breeze.
Bright cascading crystals, they danced in the sand dunes
On the beach of no footprints to harpsichord tunes.
A throne of white ivory, a gown of white lace
Lies still in the magic of a timeless place.
One hundred small children, they laugh at the white doves
That rest on their hands with the touch of love.
On a hillside of velvet the children they lay down
And make fun of the grown-ups with their silly frown.
And the sound of their laughter is the sound of the green sea
As it washed around the foot of the seashell tree.
The doves circle over and land in the trees
Where parrots are talking their words with such ease.
Thus spoke three wizards to the young ones that day:
“There’s sadness in the kingdom, make it go far away.”
If you follow the sunbeams through the valley of flowers
To the palace of the White Queen with its white jade towers.
The youngest, she sighed then the clouds drew away
And a hundred small fingers scratched their heads in dismay.
>From out of the sun a giant gull came flying
And the children got ready to sit on its wings.
They waved to the raindrops as they soared over the trees
The wind tossed their hair high, flashing gold on the sea.
They came to the castle and there they did fall,
And they saw all the sadness, through the crystal wall.
A princess lay a-sleeping so gentle and kind
Whilst her prince took to battle with his confused mind.
The clash of bright metal brought the children fear,
But their cloaks of blue satin dried up all of these tears.
Thus children held hands and they spelled out their name
All the golden children became a golden chain.
It lies on a white throne in a magic place
With a tunic of velvet and a gown of white lace.
My sword, it lies broken and cast in a lake
In a dream I was told that my princess would wake.”
This is just another reason why I love wikipedia and humans who write articles for it. Personally, I heard the Stephen Hawking’s Betrand Russel/little-old-lady version first.
Update:
In conjunction with the above, I have subsequently found the best web site in the known universe. May I present to you http://members.tripod.com/TheoLarch/turtle.html
What a beautiful thought I am thinking,
Concerning a great speckled bird.
Remember her name is recorded,
On the pages of God’s Holy Word.
All the other birds flocking ’round her
And she is despised by the squad.
But the great speckled bird in the Bible
Is one with the great Church of God.
All other churches are against her,
They envy her glory and fame.
They hate her because she is chosen
And has not denied Jesus’ name.
Desiring to lower her standard,
They watch every move that she makes
They long to find fault with her teachings,
But really they find no mistake.
She is spreading her wings for a journey.
She’s going to leave by and by;
When the trumpet shall sound in the morning,
She’ll rise and go up in the sky.
In the presence of all her despisers,
With a song never uttered before,
She will rise and be gone in a moment
‘Til the great tribulation is o’er.
I am glad I have learned of her meekness.
I am proud that my name is on her book,
For I want to be one never fearing
On the face of my Savior to look.
When He cometh descending from heaven,
On a cloud like He writes in His Word,
I’ll be joyfully carried to meet Him
On the wings of that great speckled bird.
“The Great Speckled Bird”
by Rev. Guy Smith
I found the following randomly on www.facebook.com:
“What would your own album look like if you were in a band? Follow the directions below and find out
1 – Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 – Post it to FB with this text in the “caption” or “comment” and TAG the friends you want to join in.”
Scott Horton drops a mind-bomb.
One night of watching back-to-back O’Reilly and Hannity television programs could easily prove the argument. Also, for the sake of fairness, Rachel Maddow is just as bad if not more obnoxious.
A particularly pertinent and poignant pontification.
Balkinization has an enlightening article on money.
Gold standard is, conceptually, no different than fiat. Both are based on perceived value. Neither have intrinsic value. If anything, fiat is more utilitarian because it is backed by all of the nation’s goods and services, rather than just one commodity. Still, the debate is a valid one, and one that we SHOULD be having.
Jane Mayer wrote a brilliant article in the New Yorker. Here it is.
