Sunday 25/01/2009 - Bookmarked this week

On Delicious.

• The Romani linguistics page at the University of Manchester.
  Includes dialect database page, resources, etc.
• The Mystery of the Green Menace, from Wired online.
  Ted Breaux and his quest to distill absinthe as it was done originally.
• Jason Scott talks about archiving some more. I bookmarked it for the wget switches he was using.
• Court restores murder conviction of man in Marin Pendragon cult.
  First time that I've heard of this new religious movement. Seems like an interesting one, though:
  The Pendragon cult sought a paramilitary takeover of Marin County and creation of a modern-day Camelot with Richards as King Arthur and his teenage workers as knights, according to court rulings.
  
• FreeBSD bittorrent tracker
  Torrents of released ISO images.

Picturesque Midland

Picturesque Midland

On back:

Midland, Michigan - This view shows the picturesque river area in downtown Midland.

Photo by John Penrod.

(Postcard was mailed in July 1984.)

Liber IV (ABA) in the Ab-ul-Diz working

Liber LX: The Ab-ul-Diz Working is both exceedingly interesting and frustrating to read. And as frustrating as it is to read, the actual workings must have been doubly so for the participants, both corporeal and not. Especially in the last sessions, it seems that very little useful information is obtained, with much "have faith," "ask this in another way," and "I have explained this already."

One of the most interesting things about this working to me is the way in which the future Liber IV was referred to by Ab-ul-Diz. Here are a few excerpts (S = seer, which was Mary Desti, A = Ab-ul-Diz, either a description of his words or actions, P = Perdurabo, i.e. Aleister Crowley):

S. He shows another book with a blazing sun, and covers in gold.
A. The Book IV. Your instruction to the Brothers.
P. Then I'm not to publish it?
A. Gives silence sign.
P. I understand by that that I am never to find it.
A. Never. Never never never never. But you are to find it.

Book 4 was, of course, was indeed published later. Though perhaps not in the form originally envisaged.

A. Go to London, find Book IV, and return it to the Brothers.
P. Where is Book IV?
A. In London.

Here again Liber IV is referred to as something that would be found, rather than written. (Though of course one could argue the definition of 'found', etc etc.)

P. How shall I get this Book IV?
A. Waiting in London.
P. I don't want the rational answer, I want the absurd.
A. 1429.
P. Enlarge on this.
A. 10 ----- It's all about water. (I.e., Book IV is.)

----

Future session:

P. Tell me about this Book IV or Aba.
S. It's most important. You'll find it unexpectedly.

Of course the current manifestation of Liber IV is a magnificent work, though it was the result of scholarship and experience, rather than being found unexpectedly.

Fallbrook: avocado capital of the world

An already used postcard for a change. This one is postmarked 1981, I think. Names have been blurred out.
On back:
Fallbrook
Avocado Capital of the World

Black Sand Beach, HI - from Tom

Black Sand Beach, Hawai'i
Photo by Peter French
Sent by my chum T- from the islands.

Menudo at the flea market

Kirsten and I went a couple of flea markets on SE Stark today, to get out of the house for a while. At the appropriately named Fantastic Flea Market, I had a great bowl of Menudo. I love tripe dishes in general, and Menudo in particular, especially that made in smaller latino hole in the wall restaurants. Anyway, this one was excellent, with great big chunks of tripe. Highly recommended.