Question Time.

In the film <W.R. - Mysteries of the Organism> do the initials WR stand for

(a) Winona Ryder

(b) Willy Russell

(c) Wilhelm Reich ... ?

A friend in Montreal forced us to watch it at a dinner party. I think he meant it to be a practical joke, but I found it to be almost endlessly entertaining.

Do you think this means I'm thick?

"It's called an orgasmatron"

"No it isn't you blithering idiot it's an orgon accumulator"

There was a lot of smoke in the air and it's illegal to serve alcohol after 2 AM in Montreal.

Is it one of those strange words that people come up with just to supplement expletives?

That would make it an *intensifier*, but I think it's actually a more exotic beast. It was once a variant form of 'blether', meaning to witter on emptily about nothing, as one does.

But now it only really gets attached to the word 'idiot' -- you can have a blithering idiot, but not a blithering cretin.

The dictionary says it 'expresses contempt'. I think it's a <one-shot emergency intensifier>.

I seem to recall the film attracting the sort of audience who expected orgasms. 'Organism' was not an everyday word in the 70s, and the two were easily confused.

Much later I was slightly involved with the world premiere of <Wilhelm Reich in Hell>, a play by Robert Anton Wilson. He - R.A.W. that is - tried to sell me his Apple Mac for way too much money. But I still wish I'd taken him up on it.

But if it was *only* Northness that mattered, then Santa Claus would be world champion. You have to add the logarithms of Elo rating and birth latitude ...

<Phrogspawn>

<Philoxenia>

<Ultima Thule>

Yep. Along secret routes handed down through the coconut generations. Otherwise, the savage northern winters would turn them into chessplayers, and they'd get eaten.

Wonderful word- because it originates from the <Thule>- none of this "Romance language" that renders unassuming zoologists into poofs.

Example-

Polar Bear = <ursus arctos>

NOW.

But back in the day, this mighty, Butch Bear was <Thalarctos Martimus>.

I don't know who this "Martimus" was- probably a Roman poof=

But the mighty NORTHERN prefix "Thule" was at least included, and first at that.

"philoxenia" had to be dropped for fear of censorship.

You see, in America this word has come to mean "men who like to watch <Xena-the Warrior Queen> on TV but only if no one else is in the room if you catch my drift".

SHOCKING.

I have to admit I was a little choked that <Phrogspawn> was so brief-

But <Ulitma Thule> is a very MANLY name, even though the chessplayers <Dom> has associated with this moniker are in fact not even tall enough to ride on the roller coaster.

If Thule is really that MANLY it'll be gone by morning. I don't want attention from muscle builders, steroid dealers, and the like.

Unfortunately, The South Pole is even more butch.

I suppose it should be mentioned that "Thule" has a dark connotation. The Thule Society sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartie (German Workers Party) which morphed into the Nazi party. The society focused on lunatic racial theories which were adopted by the Nazis. Ultima Thule was the Aryan Atlantis of the far North.

Please forgive my associate, <Tim O' Shanter>.

We have been discussing the finer points of <World War II- the Big One> for over a year now in his forum.

We're not acutally military historians, but we watch a lot of documentaries on TV.

This, admittedly, was in a country where WW2 was called 'The Emergency' and the official attitude was that it was None Of Our Business.

They changed the Indian swastika symbol- which is Buddhist, by the way- by reversing the direction of the little thingies on the end of the spokes.

It's a little disconcerting to a westerner when she first walks around in Asia- because the original swastika is everywhere.

Because there are temples everywhere.

The symbol has such a powerful impact on western eyes, for obvious reasons, however, that it might take a while to even notice that the Nazi version was indeed changed.

In my case, after getting over the initial shock of seeing them (although it never quite goes away- it's an incredibly powerful symbol due to European 20th century history)== I did not notice the difference between the original and the Nazi version until a Korean friend actually pointed it out for me.

Believe it or not.

I'm surprised <Roland Barthes> didn't use this as an example in one of his essays.

I suppose he had more pressing issues with his semiotic expose of "The Wrestiling Match."

Your <penultimate post> put you at 500 PAGES!!

Your <ultimate> post put you at 500 "prime," as people who know maths like to say.

Are you really going to the south pole?

Or to Butch's house?

Do you mean you are going outside for some time-

Viz- you will be going through your door, but then going back inside, and then going through again, for a few hours before actually leaving?

What an intriguing ploy.

But now I really am going outside. Though I expect to be back in ten minutes for the Leko/Carlsen game.

Now that we've gone Antarctican, I should adopt a chillier tone for the next 500 pages, I suppose.

But I'll probably just change again tomorrow. Call it a mid-life identity crisis, or something. Quite pleasant, whatever it's called.

You know, I never, ever get the impression that you are writing "in mental absentia".

It's too bad that so many people are significantly thicker than their actual brain power.

You think "I outsmarted myself" is ironic?

How about the all too common "I outstupided myself".

One thing you can say about the <Phrogylaxis Phorum>-

It's never thick.

Silly, sure.

Insoucient. Whimsical. HARD HITTING.

But never, ever thick.