pragalagma

  

This is High King Fingon fighting Gothmog. Gothmog is the most powerful of Balrogs. He's the High Captain of Angband. Guess who won in this fight? Not the elf, that's for sure.


He also took out Fëanor and Echtelion. Anyway, I'm a fan.

I like it when Gandalf fights the Balrog, aka Valarauko, Flame of Udûn, Durin's Bane.
  
  


  
  

Items for sale found on ebay:

I'm the one clutching the knife.

Freya Rocks!

Speaking of rocks, Go Stonedar and Rokkon!

Who said "Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies."?

Give up? Answer: The one and only Instrument of Destruction

Anyone who doesn't think he's the most handsome of Transformers doesn't know what they are talking about.

Excerpt from the SECRET BOOK OF TACTICS :

Eighteentheists believe in a god we cannot see, not so much out of a sense of faith, but out of a sense of Strategy. A lot of people look for evidence that God exists. Well, we at Event 18 don't want any evidence. We stick our fingers in our ears, close our eyes, hop up and down, and mumble "I'm not listening!" to ourselves over and over whenever such evidence is presented to us. This is a very sacred act; children are taught this Tactic at a very young age. We believe it is good Strategy towards attaining Eighteenancy. On the subject of Atheists: they are not bad. Rather, they are considered our unwitting spiritual brothers and allies. We at Event 18 encourage each other to flash appreciative smiles in their direction, and/or provide them furtive thumbs-ups and occasional high-fives (apropos of nothing). Why not give a wink at an Atheist? They are doing us all a great service.

Hey Kids! Need a costume for Halloween? Why not go as Madam Gingerbell?

Found this quote online from somebody's web log :

"A zest in the ferreting out of the obscure,
a positively detective zeal in the running to earth
of this most subtle master of the dissembling art,
that is the foremost asset of the clinical syphilogist."

--- John H. Stokes, Modern Clinical Syphilogy

The blogger got the quote from a book that came out a few years ago called "POX - Genius, Madness, and Mysteries of Syphilis" by Deborah Hayden, which, among other things, devotes each chapter to a famous person who might have suffered from the disease. I contacted the author and she was pleased to hear from me, citing my grandfather as an inspiration.

I am made up of four indistinct clones of a variety not found on this plane nor on the proximate planes adjacent to this one.  I have thoroughly researched my claim and expect no criticism.  On Tuesdays I have an expert checker make sure that the four clones are indistinct and as a whole encompass and compose my current external being.  I pay the man well.  His salary is comparable to those adopting similar advocations.  I keep a good relationship with him and the other workers.  Bi-weekly written reports inked into paper by my employees indicate to me any areas that need improvement.  As it stands I am receiving quite satisfactory marks in this regard.  A scientist by the name of Wartgrope is a cunning young fellow in my employ.  I send him out on errands of a mercantile variety.  The Grocery Store is a common destination point.  As is the Bank and the Local Constabulary.  It is in the latter that I purchase protection.  A hundred armored "cop" soldiers can keep me guarded while I take daily walks, pic-nic, or invite acquaintances over to the compound for a game of squash.  As I have told the newspapers on numerous occasions, I do not utilize their services for outright militaristic activities.  They are merely employed for defensive measures.  Friends of mine consider the police people as an excuse to keep personal armies and wage war on neighbors.  I approve and support because they are my friends.  Secretly, however, I feel as if civilization is fragmenting as a result of their ill intentions.  Quakes from within the structure are slowly weakening the outer surface.  Like civilization, I shudder, barely able to contain the sense of dread and anxiety I feel for the fate of our great society.

I drank about a pound of water yesterday.  I also found two meals.  This is an improvement over last year from this date.  I commemorated the anniversary by fervently wishing for my own well-being.  I did not notice any changes in my sweating patterns.

I should tell you about my good friend Hansa O'Plaus.  She is an aunt to the Governor.  As well as an accomplished fish collector.  I see her every Sunday and Wednesday for reasons neither of us are ready to disclose, nor truly understand.  It is a harsh practice of stretching gloves, our favorite pastime together.  We do not make the job easy for ourselves, I believe we do so because we are purposefully trying to lead lives of struggle and romance.  Hansa's favorite hair is blonde.  Her favorite dish is the plate.  I have remarked to many how much I enjoy her choice of clocks, and I won't do so again here.  One thing I wish to touch upon is her decision to keep assorted dogs on the second floor.  My opinion is that they are aesthetic oddities.  A visitor to the second floor will no doubt be surprised to see them dotting the carpets and sometimes even draped about the furniture.  There are times when I have suggested to Ms. O'Plaus that she build enclosures around them so visitors won't be so surprised.  But as time has grown, I have become accustomed to the sight of the various dogs.  I believe they provide important services.  Scientists are still discovering their capabilities with heat and light.  When I call the Science Center, the men there are always eager to assure me that much work is proceeding with dogs and I shouldn't worry.  I have heard they might be good for healing small wounds.  At any rate, Ms. O'Plaus (Hansa) is enamored with the dogs and I will not tamper with the aesthetics she has chosen for the second floor.

Ms. O'Plaus is considering becoming a neighbor to the city's vast homeless population.  She is looking into portable living spaces.  I believe there are a number of affordable options, most notably the one that resembles a castle.

        Twas a night such as this with the water all still
        And the cold wind so cutting that your bones feel the chill
        On Widow's Pillows, near the Cape of Luncumber
        The crew of Red William endeavored to slumber

        'Fore the Sandman could start to dispense his supply
        The night air be punctured by a terrible cry
        Brooding over the prow was a dark plum-red cloud
        It be what which is known as a "shrieking spectral shroud"

        Now the Shroud is a ghost and a vile one at that
        It can swallow you whole and spit out your fat
        It hungers for flesh, it'll settle for souls
        Your mind's made its slave which it cruelly controls

        Now a pirate is fearless when it comes to most things
        Like the thunder of cannons or the threats of daft kings
        He's not scared of a tussle, a row, or a brawl
        The noose, or a knife edge, or a nasty black squall

        But as soon as there's something supernatural or ghastly
        You can bet he'll be screaming and fleeing quite fastly
        And this night's no exception to that one simple rule
        For when the men eyed the Shroud, not a one kept his cool

        Some jumped overboard, which is not very wise
        For the sharks known to eat you 'fore you says yer good-byes
        Others climbed to the crow's nest - This I don't recommend
        For if harpies assault you, it be hard to defend

        There's not a thing to be done 'cept to run 'round and whoop
        Wave your arms to-and-fro, and act like a big doop
        Go ahead panic, make ruckus, lose all composure
        Be aware that your life's due for imminent closure

        So most of the pirates in a very small area
        Flipped out, went daffy, and succumbed to hysteria
        But there was one on-board that was brave and undaunted
        Who remained unfazed when the ship became haunted

        She was a lovely lass who went by the name Esther
        And when it came to ghost-catchin', there was none who could best her
        She could exorcize, ensorcel, as well as ensnare
        Hoodwink and hornswoggle even the Scariest Scare

        Head on she faced this phantasmic force
        Its frightful shriek contained not a hint of remorse
        And while all around her raged the mad pirate mob
        Esther just stood there and appraised the big blob

        She calmly said, "Pardon me, Mr. Shroud, sir
        I think that the Captain and I would prefer
        That you found a new ship to plague and pursue
        Please take your leave... You're blocking our view"

        After saying these words she lifted her hands,
        And traced mystic sigils no one understands
        She muttered some things to make her spell complete
        And -Poof!- The Shroud vanished with one final bleat

        "All's clear! The nightmare's gone!", Ms. Esther said
        Then she bid them good night and went back to bed
        No pirate noticed of course due to the din
        It took until dawn for her words to sink in

        For the rest of the night, the crew of Red Willy
        Ran around scared and acted quite silly
        Despite this loud bedlam and raising of hell
        Esther still managed to sleep rather well

        When they saw that the spectre had been sent away
        The pirates gave out a big, "Hip! Hip! Hooray!"
        "I am happy to help", Ester said with a bow
        Now could everyone please wash themselves now?"

        That's the thing about Essie, she liked everything clean
        But nobody minded maintaining their hygiene
        For with Esther around there was nothing to fear
        She made the Main safe for every single Buccaneer!

Labels: Poem

    

This is the Mechanical Monster Robot from the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps".
It is just one of the deadly inventions created by Dr. Alex Zorka, who, driven mad by his wife’s death, invents deadly things in order to destroy and/or conquer mankind.

It's Bela Legosi as the evil Dr. Zorka!
Zorka gloats, "One by one my enemies will be disposed of until I am master of the universe!"

Sucks to be the Eiffel Tower (see photograph directly below this caption). Am I right, folks?

Residue crystals from Atlantis cause the Bermuda Triangle.

Helena Blavatsky and the theosophists of the late 19th century revealed that
the Atlanteans had invented airplanes and explosives and grew extraterrestrial wheat.

They also alerted us to the existence of Mu, a lost continent in the Pacific Ocean, similar to Atlantis, but NOT Atlantis, for it is called MU.

On Mu, or alternatively, Lemuria, there lived a race of fifteen-feet-tall, four-armed, brown-skinned psychic hermaphrodites, whose eyes were set far apart on their flat faces so they could see sideways, and whose feet had protruding heels, enabling them to walk either forward or backward (Their choice).

These freaky Lemurians were known as the "Third Root Race", and some (but not all) of the them had a third eye on the back of the skull.

Before they became extinct, they hatched the "Fourth Root Race". These were human beings that lived on Atlantis. Unfortunately, they were all destroyed by black magic.

You and I might not know it, but we're the Fifth Root Race.

There will be Seven Root Races total. Our ultimate fate, according to Madame Blavatsky, is that after the Seventh
all life will leave planet earth and start afresh on Mercury.

Is there anyway that we can go back to live on Mu instead? That's where I want to go.

Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu. Mu.

Remember Foghorn Leghorn from the Looney Tunes cartoons?
There was a chickenhawk that joined him in several episodes and I just found out his name was...

I found online the correspondences of Samuel Evans Stokes and Gandhi.


Another relative, but more distant:

Hey Kids! Click on this Picture to Enlarge. Then Print it out, Color it, and Trade it in at School for Food!

Thomas and Mary Stokes were London Quakers who came to New Jersey in 1677 on the ship "Kent".
                    

Thomas is known in family tradition as "the Settler." He and Mary had five children. Two of them were Joseph and John.

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Joseph

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He married Judith Lippincott and they had a son named Samuel.
Samuel built a house and he named it "Harmony Hall".



Still around today, it was with the family for 120 years. Sam married Hannah Hinchman and thier son John Hinchman Stokes became a doctor and married Ann Evans.
Ann Evans was his second cousin. But exactly how is still uncertain. Either her mom was Bathsheba Stokes, daughter of Joseph, Thomas the Settler's son. Or her dad was Nathaniel, who was the son of Joseph, jr., husband of Esther Newlin, brother to Samuel, and a son of Joseph (the Settler's son). The latter makes more sense since it explains how the name Newlin entered the family.

Either way, John Hinchman and Ann Evans had a son, John, jr., and he was a doctor too.

Then he and his wife Tabitha Jenkins had a son named Henry Newlin who became a chemist but quit his job to be an occultist.



H.N. and Wilhelmina van den Berg had a son, John Hinchman, and he became an important syphilologist.



And his son James, a doctor as well and a colonel in the U.S. Army, had me.



And my brothers.



Interesting Side Note: Henry Newlin's brother was Samuel Evans and his son Samuel, jr. ("Satyanand") was a really cool guy who went to India and became friends with Gandhi and helped in the struggle there.

    

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John

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Thomas and Mary's son John (brother to Joseph - who I directly descend from) married Elizabeth Green (called "Lady Green" in family tradition) and the two of them settled on a plantation they called "Stokingham". They had a son named named John, jr.

John, jr., married Hannah Stockdale. Their son David had a son named Charles who had a daughter named Alice. Now Alice Stokes married William Parry and their daughter Tacie (and her husband William Paul) decided to name their daughter Alice Stokes Paul after Tacie's mom.

Alice Stokes Paul is a famous women's rights leader! And I just discovered my relation to her.

Found a really good page with information (of a skeptical nature) about Theosophy...

The Skeptic's Dictionary

In regard to Madame Blavatsky's Ascended Masters (see entry further below), they wrote :

(Note the little jab there at the end)

"These Adepts were said to dwell in the Himalayas, Egypt, Tibet and other exotic places. They are known for their extraordinary psychic powers and are the sacred keepers of some mysterious "Ancient Wisdom". They are not divine, she said, but more highly evolved than the rest of us mere mortals. (Evolution, according to Blavatsky, is a spiritual process.) Their goal is to unite all humanity in a Great White Brotherhood, despite the fact that they dwell in the remotest regions of the world and apparently have as little contact with the rest of us as possible."

And in regard to why Theosophy hasn't exactly taken off as a religion:

"Many people are not likely to take seriously a Russian noblewoman who claimed to have had childhood visions of a tall Hindu who eventually materialized in Hyde Park and became her guru and advisor."

The mysterious HPB pictured above and in an entry further down (with attendants) is none other than Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) founder of Theosophy.
For more information on this occultist, project your astral double here.



And here is Madame Blavatsky in a rare photograph posing with some friends. Check them out!



Kuthumi (on left)
A one-time Pharoah, he was also St. Francis of Assisi and one of the three Wise Men. He also built the Taj Mahal.



El Morya (in middle)
Notable past lives include Abraham, King Arthur, and Thomas Becket AS WELL AS Thomas More (taking on two different Henrys).
Let's not forget he was one of the three Wise Men.

and finally,


Saint Germain (on right).
Francis Bacon (aka Christopher Marlowe/Columbus), founder of freemasonry, was a master swordsman and violinist.

They're all Ascended Masters, and she could channel them using her occult powers.

GO HPB!

I love Pokey the Penguin.
Who can forget such characters as "The Boxing Glove", "Chicken Delicious", "Old Man Nutty", "the Devil", and "Fruitcup the Clown"?

I bought these salt and pepper shakers off of e-bay.