Archive for November, 2022

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Seedcorn 1: A Planet Called Patience

Posted November 30, 2022 By John C Wright

Seedcorn is now posted.

One of Four.

I have written more than one story in the background of favorite authors, such as Jack Vance and A.E. van Vogt, and, with the permission of their estates, had them published. As ever, my aim is to mimic the voice and vocabulary, capture the mood and message of the original author as best I may, intruding nothing of myself.

Some authors are more difficult to mimic that others. This was my attempt to pay homage to Ursula K LeGuin, by setting a story in the background of her Hainish Cycle, which includes such works as Rocannon’s World (1966) The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Word for World Is Forest (1972), The Dispossessed (1974), as well as Four Ways to Forgiveness (1994).

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Marx as Millenarian

Posted November 29, 2022 By John C Wright

One reason why I continually claim Karl Marx to be a Christian millenarian heretic, is that when the history of such heresies is examined, even superficially, the parallels are too striking to be ignored.

Here is a quote from Chapter 16 of Paul Johnson’s magisterial work A HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. The words below are his.

***

Christianity also had its orthodox tradition of apostolic poverty, and its theory that the world, in its pristine state, was egalitarian and just, before the irruption of sin produced the rule of the strong and the degradation of the weak. In the later Middle Ages, many millenarian movements launched themselves on crazy careers from these propositions.

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The Space Princess Equation Revisited

Posted November 29, 2022 By John C Wright

This material is taken from several prior columns, combined here into one, for the sake of ease of reading. Enjoy. 

HERE are the factors in the so-called Drake Equation, which proports to prove it is statistically improbable for aliens worlds not to be teaming with life:

N = R × f-p × n-e × f-ℓ × f-i × f-c × L .

R = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
f-p = the fraction of those stars that have planets
n-e = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
f-ℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
f-i = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
f-c = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

And the result, N = is the number of currently active, communicative civilizations in our galaxy.

Unless N = nonsense number.

Study this list with care, and you will see that the Drake ‘equation’ is not good for anything but a good laugh.

The equation is of course nothing of the kind.

It is a laundry list, woefully incomplete, of some of the things Drake idly daydreamed may or may not be necessary for intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations able to release detectable signs in space to exist.

Anyone can make a laundry list of any kind to suit himself.

In fact, let me add additional factors:

n-g = the number of congregations of life forms whose society or civilization requires a form of legal organization we would recognize as a government.
f-m = the fraction of the above governments that are hereditary monarchies.
f-spncss = the fraction of the above monarchs who, due to a recognizably bisexual biology, can and have brought forth daughters.
f-yowsababe! = the fraction of the above daughters who are above average in intelligence, courage and physical good looks by Eurocentric terrestrial standards of beauty, nubile and of mating age, who are either nudists or scantily clad.

We can call this the Space Princess Equation, which defines how likely we are to find an attractive yet nubile Space Princess in space.

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Climate Hoax Exposed — Again

Posted November 27, 2022 By John C Wright

From (https://news.mit.edu/2022/earth-stabilizing-temperature-1116):

***

Earth can regulate its own temperature over millennia, new study finds

A study by MIT researchers in Science Advances confirms that the planet harbors a “stabilizing feedback” mechanism that acts over hundreds of thousands of years to pull the climate back from the brink, keeping global temperatures within a steady, habitable range.

Just how does it accomplish this? A likely mechanism is “silicate weathering” — a geological process by which the slow and steady weathering of silicate rocks involves chemical reactions that ultimately draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into ocean sediments, trapping the gas in rocks.

Scientists have long suspected that silicate weathering plays a major role in regulating the Earth’s carbon cycle. The mechanism of silicate weathering could provide a geologically constant force in keeping carbon dioxide — and global temperatures — in check. But there’s never been direct evidence for the continual operation of such a feedback, until now.

***

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Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is Bunk

Posted November 25, 2022 By John C Wright

We were discussing Campbell’s conception that a wheel-shaped pattern called the Hero’s Journey underpins folk tale and myth for all foundational heroic stories, across all cultures and generations.

I admit to be deeply unimpressed with Joseph Campbell’s writing, after reading three or four of his books. Allow me to say why.

His conceit is that “The Hero’s Journey” begins when some difficulty, a curse or pollution, arises within the safe walls of the home or ordered community where the young hero resides. The hero is reluctant to quest for a solution at first; then goes along the road to adventure; along the way, he receives wise counsel from a mentor, perhaps a wizard or supernatural animal; he enters the perilous realm of the unknown as if entering a cave; he encounters allies and enemies; he suffers a supreme challenge, or death; he is reborn anew; he walks the road of return to find again the known world, now armed with the magic sword, special wisdom, or elixir of life needed to cure the curse; he benefits the community, restores order, and becomes king.

As our own Mary Catelli observes, the problem is that every story could be tortured into the Hero’s Journey.

Please note that, if read in a sufficiently loose way, these steps are not any particular portrayal of human psychology. These steps are the rising action, climax, falling action of any drama.

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Thanksgiving: The Vanity of Plato’s Conceit

Posted November 24, 2022 By John C Wright

For this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks for the lesson learned by the Pilgrims in the first harsh years of their colony.

The real history of the Mayflower Pilgrims was recounted by their leader, William Bradford, in his book Of Plymouth Plantation (1647).

The words below are his, where he explains how, at first the colonists attempted to hold all property in common:

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Based Black Friday Booksale

Posted November 23, 2022 By John C Wright

Announcement by the Aether Czar himself, Hans Schanz. The words below are his: 

Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and get yourself some great books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 – many titles free!

Sale starts today, Wednesday November 23, and runs through Tuesday November 29.

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Draconian Outlaw 6: Beneficial Lethality

Posted November 23, 2022 By John C Wright

Draconian Outlaw is now posted.

Six of Six.

Here we say farewell to LeClerc, as he says farewell to the human race. Had your humble author written this tale later in life, he may have made provision for a wife or children to accompany him in his journey, or at least made clear whether the voyage was round trip or one-way.

Watch this space for a new tale of phantasy and wonder next week!

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Mary Sue’s Journey

Posted November 20, 2022 By John C Wright

Poets serve the truth.

What someone graced by the muse (or driven near to insanity by her, as the case may be) is use the awkward net of human speech to capture the slippery and elusive sea-fairy of truth. Now, as with all sea-fairies, once she is baptized, she sheds her fish tail and becomes mortal, and fertile, and can wed and bear children like other women: so truth begets truths. But to catch her is impossible, for the truths sought by poets are ineffable. Poets put into words what cannot be put into words, so a host stage-magic tricks are used, misdirection, metaphor, allusion, illusion, and so on, to try to capture the uncapturable.

The archenemy of the poet is the propagandist.

He hates and shuns the truth, because his mission is to spred the Big Lie, that is, the false worldview or stream of boring excuses necessary to justify whatever crimes against humanity or sins against heaven, large or small, his particular heresy encourages. In the modern day, the major heresy is cultural Marxism, a type of mutant gnostic death-cult called Wokeness, the crimes are sexual exploitation and mutilation of children,  and the sins are sodomy, adultery, fornication, contraception and divorce.

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Moms Clean House in SC

Posted November 18, 2022 By John C Wright

Every now and again, while the stormclouds send torrents of flaming hail, thunderbolts, and brimstone down on the smoldering rat-filled ruins, the clouds part and a ray of sun descends to cheer the heart of those so parched of hope.

Here is news from Michael Knowles and Western Journal:

The Berkeley County school district in South Carolina just swore in its new school board members elected last week, six of whom were endorsed by the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

Moms for Liberty endorsed more than 500 school board members across the county, and achieved an astounding 49 percent success rate.

Within two hours, the board members replaced the board chairman with a staunch conservative; fired the districts woke superintendent; fired the district’s woke in-house counsel; banned critical race theory from the schools’ curricula; and established a committee to round up all the pornographic books infecting school libraries and ban them.

The establishment media, such as NBC, pretended to be shocked that the district’s “first black superintendent” Jackson was immediately fired. But the board replaced Jackson with Anthony Dixon, who is also black.

In a war, even the fall of a single foe is cause for celebration.

 

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Strange News: Ayn Rand & Daily Wire

Posted November 17, 2022 By John C Wright

Saw this in the headlines:

EXCLUSIVE: Conservative media firm The Daily Wire has optioned exclusive film and TV series rights to develop and produce an adaptation of Ayn Rand’s dystopian 1957 novel ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ the author’s most heralded work

Not sure how, or if, the conservative-leaning Daily Wire will treat with the Gospel of the Libertarians, but if they make a good effort, the results will be fascinating.

I have always had an odd relation to ATLAS SHRUGGED, since I was too old when first I read it for the lure of a simple philosophy to overwhelm me, but I was allured by the author’s rigorously consistent Aristotelianism, and her boldness at making a moral argument in favor of Capitalism, not merely an Adam Smithian argument that free trade is more efficient than expropriation and rationing.

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Seasons of Trump

Posted November 17, 2022 By John C Wright

The song stylings of Steven Crowder and Crew for your listening pleasure

 

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Trump’s Campaign Promises

Posted November 17, 2022 By John C Wright

Trump announced his candidacy to run for the office, in which, had there been no voter fraud, he would already be serving.

Because he is the sole political figure in living memory who kept each and every campaign promise made previously, and moreso, it may be wise to list the specific campaign promises made in his stump speech, and, if he wins, note if and when and how they are kept. Some are vague and aspirational, others specific.

This also will serve to silence those who mock him for having no plans or no vision, or for dwelling on past deeds and misdeeds.

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Draconian Outlaw 5: Alien Familiarity

Posted November 16, 2022 By John C Wright

Draconian Outlaw is now posted.

Five of Six.

This is the scene which I first recall when I think on this yarn, and the one that gives the tale whatever character and amusement value it may possess.

Your humble author displays a long-distance emotion related to pride of workmanship of his outer mantle layers (Exclamation!).

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Conan the Barbarian and Christian the Pilgrim

Posted November 14, 2022 By John C Wright

I recently penned the last entry to a project, begun in 2014, to review all the Conan stories of Robert E. Howard in their publication order. This would seem an apt time to add an afterthought on the perennial question, the selfsame by which Alcuin admonished the monks of Lindisfarne, “What has Ingeld to do with Christ?”

In the war between the pagan Germans and the civilized Romans of Christendom, Robert E. Howard, author of the far-famed Conan of Cimmeria, was clearly on the side of the German barbarians, our enemies.

So why do we read him and love him?

The question is how can a Christian admire Robert E Howard’s Conan stories, which are tales of lurid violence and buccaneering most unchristian in tone and content?

My answer is that the Catholic Church is truly catholic.

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