SIGHTINGS



Metric Maladroit...
Or A Prim Rose Path?
By Alfred Lehmberg (Lehmberg@snowhill.com)
10-17-99
 
I'm berated for intelligence you're advised that I'm without, but it's not me that's laughing up my sleeve -- _you_ do without. It's not me that figures with my metrics all mixed up in an English that is awkward, and outdated, clumsy, -- rough. And this is what they'd have you think if they would have their way, that this is why the probe was lost -- was burnt up, "gone" they say. It was teaspoons used for liters (?), or a gram was used for pounds; English used for metric? It's astounding! It confounds! On the face a simple problem that Joe Sixpack understands. The *bother* of translation was an _early_ problem, Stan. But science has a language that it prides itself upon, and metric is that measure that they drag their carts along!
 
This insult to intelligence will, likely, _not_ be challenged, and makes me wonder what _else_ hides -- so equally unchallenged. These were figures checked and rechecked 'till they fairly shrieked and screamed. These figures were not *pen and ink*, and wrought by hand, you see? Computers crunched _these_ numbers, and they'd done it fine before. Why was _this_ time different? Did a monkey mind the store? Dimensional analysis is what they would have used . . . for someone _needing_ (?) English so "a probe" is not abused. Computers count parameters that WE can _not_ keep straight! The numbers are exceeded and alarms should go off -- great! Apples used for oranges in the midst of it's correction? How can we assume that's right -- entertain the mere suggestion? It transcends the simply ludicrous, and exceeds the merely stupid. Profoundly so retarded, it is dumb, and just not lucid.
 
It is, in fact, so _dumb_, you see, it cannot be an accident. It must be, somehow, sabotage (?), or some *other* kind of happenstance. Perhaps these craft are flying _well_, and tucked down in position. They're right where we could WANT them, and they're working in precision. What they *see* we cannot say, but what if *weird's* the case; they're seeing ancient cities or another solemn face! We're not privy to the info that has bled our pockets dry (the Russians sold us "Dreamland" -- our own lies to us is why). What is hidden from us, truly, so deep within the bowels of a cold-as-ice bureaucracy that festers, creeps, and fouls? What "national security", that's had _no_ oversight, has kept at bay corruption that infests the _rest_ -- alright?
 
What of all these satellites, these high tech probes and such. Do you really think it likely that we screw up quite _that_ much. This is stuff we _pay_ for, and the value back to us is the knowledge they've been hiding (?) which betrays the public trust. Distrust is plain, there are no good guys -- Waco makes this clear. Wherever there's no oversight the cost is just too dear. What falls through *cracks* by some design would probably save us grief in time, but that would *upset* all the plans of those that live well -- understand? The multiverse is such a creature . . . filled with all the tricks and features -- quite beyond the common pale a man would think could _be_ detailed!!! This is what our probes are seeing, change that's rampant, fluid -- breathing.
 
Someone knows the secrets that would light this powder keg. Lit off SOONER I propose that it would not have been as great! Lit off sooner makes it useful as a righteous tool for change. Lit off sooner keeps it interesting; we improve when things get strange! Lit off sooner it's a profit, found out later -- missed the boat, and all that's left to take its place still has you by your throat. Someone knows the secrets that are fanned to some distinction by apologists for darkness fanning murky imprecision. Someone knows the secrets that would point to weak foundations that are, likely, built on thinking that won't work, or be courageous.
 
A nation shall not prosper if it fears its very own. A nation not forthcoming is a tyrant on a throne. A nation that routinely preys upon the public trust is a nation one revolts against, or Jefferson's a bust. He said -- " . . .by its operation in [the slowness of design] power becomes tyranny, and is corrupted so in time." He said it's operation must be thwarted at all cost, so folks _must_ be enlightened or, it's all we've gained that's lost. SHOW us what our money buys! Open wide _our_ doors! Let us see what's cooking at the center -- at the core. Let us know *reality* so plans get made that fly, and we can soar, then, to our fate, and know the reason why!
 
______________________
 
Somebody knows, perceives it as an upset to personal apple carts -- and so diligently fans the ubiquitous murk. The worst with a passionate intensity, and the best bereft of all conviction . . . to paraphrase elitist dead poets.
 
A conservative estimate puts three full blown sociopaths in with every ninety-seven people. Sociopaths take care of themselves at the expense of other people by definition, and are, by definition, not crazy. A sociopath can fan your murk for profit and never bat an eye, and only a sociopath would use profit as an excuse to keep the rest of us from inevitable and unavoidable change. With 3% at a minimum it is likely that one is making your decisions for you -- profiting at your expense. If it can be unethically, but profitably done there are those that will find it out and take their profit from it. They're _not_ shielding your delicate sensibilities, they are not saving you from some awful truth -- they are hiding something it would be to your profit to know . . . and making a killing in the bargain! Killing hell -- it's murder. And, all the time, they laugh as they train YOUR kid not to be a leader in the next century.





SIGHTINGS HOMEPAGE