All Roads Lead to Rome

reply to post by jackflap


Jack, I appreciate your take much more than my rants might lead you to think. I have been told many times "hey, not everyone in the world is trying to get over on you". I'm a tough crowd, that's for sure. Not an enlightened crowd but a tough one. Thanks for your patience and your posts.

I'm not big on Springsteen, I happen to be from 'Joisey myself, Exit 53, and so that's a bit strange I know. I know a bit more of how he got where he is and who he walked over to get there than most. He's no Pete Seeger. No matter what flows out of him, I know from whence it springs. And so again you see, I do think most everyone in the world is trying to get over on me.

reply to post by jackflap

We cannot serve two masters.

This is so true, and truer still, is that in my particular case the only Master I can serve adequately is myself.

That is the problem, if you cede your own authority and responsibility to others, for them to be your Master, you will in fact never Master yourself responsibly, wisely and effectively.



I know all of my Christian friends will really enjoy this one.

The world is just a carrousel
Spinning fast you have to ride it well
The world is full of Kings and Queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams

Its heaven and hell

They’ll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
They’re are filled of dreams of men who fell

It’s heaven and hell

Fool, fool look for the answer

In my humble opinion the answer is inside of each and every one of us and all of us.

Maybe one day when people get tired of looking in old books for it, and to their kings and queens, they will finally find it.



[edit on 8/5/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Proto that last song is kind of depressing, even if I do say so myself!

Proto you are saying it yourself!

Oh yeah that’s right I am!

I think that’s because, well that’s not really Black Sabbath, so lets throw out Vinnie Appice and Ronnie James Dio, and put Bill Ward back on Drums and Ozzie up front and let’s NEVER SAY DIE!



Outstanding idea Proto, even if I do say so myself, oh yeah that’s right I am saying it to myself!

If I look back into the archaeological record and see ancient man as a cave dwelling and not so bright human I can take it from there and arrive at a pretty good conclusion as well. Small roaming groups of cave dwellers who were pretty much at the mercy of the planet. They had no concept of time and therefore could not predict the changing of seasons or years.

I would imagine that the mortality rate was high as the earth confounded these neanderthals. As soon as it seemed they had found a place to stay, the seasons would change and food resources were severely diminished. Causing them to move to where it was more hospitable and losing many during that move. With no concept of time, the earth seemed to be trying to kill them.

Who knows when, during these turbulent times, they found time to watch the stars in the sky and realize when night and day would take place. Beyond this they must have realized that certain patterns in the stars were indicative to prosperous times and some were not. So who knows when they realized how to document these patterns and create a numbering system that would allow them to forecast and plan.

You see, as soon as they realized that they could plan ahead and store up food and resources, the sooner they didn't have to keep moving. Being in one place for long periods raises the population level. Societies begin to appear as generation after generation passes its ideals and beliefs onto the next. So I wonder when and what was that pivotal time in their history when they learned to discern the times with the aid of the stars? If this is in fact how in happened.

reply to post by jackflap


Human kind is essentially the same today as it was 10,000 years ago my friend. The differences are simply technological, and not psychological or intellectual, but scientific.

Bears, rabbits, mountain lions, deer, and birds just to name a few, deal with the changes of seasons, in a natural way, that being the instinct for survival, even in it’s most primitive form, has been embodied in all creatures through nature itself.

Humans were no different.

Yet there did come a time, when the tribal lifestyle gave way to fixed fortifications and towns, and I doubt this was a natural occurrence, but rather, the need to protect a horde of food and resources, that had grown to such a size it was no longer easily transportable or defendable in transport.

The first granaries, were probably raised at the same time the first armories were to defend those granaries. Systems were developed to at first share communal resources, and then systems were developed to profit off of communal resources, and eventually that led to one dominant male establishing predominance over all the others, to be the decider of who would get what portion of communal resources, and how much, and what they had to do to gain them.

This system of dominance is no different in nature, when Rams, Bulls, and Stags meet to determine through strength that which would have the pick of the Ewes, Cows and Does.

10,000 years ago, men and women still fell in love, they feared the same things as they do today, they hoped for much the same as they do today, and they plotted and schemed for those things, with the same intrigues that they do today.

For all of our technology, we are but one step, and a small step removed from the animal kingdom, we still kill, and establish dominance through brute force, we still favor a system where the strong thrive, and the weak do their best to survive.

In fact in 10,000 years little has changed. Yet it would be natural to look up into the skies at night and see the spectacular wonder of the universe, and to be fascinated by it, during those frightful hours, when predators roamed on the prowl, and things went hump in the night.

As above so it is below, and as man has tried to define his own place on this earth, he has continued right on up through today, to try to define the earth’s place in that vast and seemingly infinite expanse just as we still do.

In fact, except for a few conveniences brought on by technology, technology that is first and foremost invented and established as a means for men to gain dominance over other men, that too being the case right on up until today, the truth is we have hardly changed at all.

Still superstitious, still violent, still unable to control our own angers, jealousies and hatreds, and lusts, and our inherent desire to horde and not to share, if the Earth was a school, we would all be held back year after year after year, for our lack of progress.

Oh wait a second, we have been!

I have a Census update for those who are following along and interested.

Thursday I got my third visit from a Census worker, I had been up all night and didn’t feel like answering the door, and simply said I was unavailable, she asked if I could tell her who the owner of the building was, and I told her I couldn’t tell her, and suggested she use the government’s data base to look it up, and she then left.

Early this evening I got my fourth visit, from a woman, who asked if this address was mine. It’s technically not my address, but part of the Zone Improvement Plan (Zip Codes) envisioned by Henry Bentley Hahn, St. a former air force colonel and postal inspector for Baltimore Maryland, who coincidentally was also a consultant to the Bank Stationers Association. Those would be the fun people who make checks for the banks.

So it’s technically not my address, since addresses are just coding systems that when you think about it, allow the Banks to identify property they own or mortgage, and carry out the commerce of banking, sending bills, paying bills, all through the banks.

So the Census Lady then asked if I was the Occupant, and I responded saying, you are looking for the Resident and not the Occupant! She then said well are you the Resident, and I said, not I am not a Resident, nor an Occupant, technically I am a Renter, but I did not tell her that I am a Renter.

So she said, if you are not the Resident, you must be an Occupant, and I said, I think you are confusing yourself!

This seemed to insult her, and she left in a huff saying she would just ask someone else what address it is!

So I am 4 visits and counting, and have yet to tell them a thing, that they could actually mark on the form.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I love this continuing saga, you should have told her the RESIDENT is not here but the occupant is on an extended vacation in the Cayman Islands checking out his bank accounts.

Originally posted by Aquarius1
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

I love this continuing saga, you should have told her the RESIDENT is not here but the occupant is on an extended vacation in the Cayman Islands checking out his bank accounts.

That's an idea! I enjoy playing with them. Thinking of something new to tell them each time, is what makes it fun. I feel bad for them, they only pay them 10-12 dollars an hour. Then they make them traipse around from door to door, and having to encounter and deal with the likes of me, so I feel like each one deserves something unique and special just for them.

I am looking forward to discovering how many times they will try.

So my next story will be I am a house sitter.

Thanks!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Proto and the Census Taker


CT: Knock knock!!!

Proto: Who's there?

CT: Census bureau!

Proto: Census bureau who?

CT: Ummmm........ wait, I didn't start this!

CT: Knock, knock!!!

Proto: Who's there?

CT: Census bureau!

Proto: That's two!

CT: That's too what?

Proto: That's too damn bad there's nobody here!

CT: But wait you're somebody!

Proto: How can you be sure I'm somebody?

CT: I don't know!

Proto: Third base!


Yes, I am easily amused folks. Proto, I am thoroughly enjoying mental visuals of you and the census takers. It's like a Monty Python skit.



[edit on 8-5-2010 by Hemisphere]

Proto, I want to see this in action...

If you don't answer the door and just speak through the door, setup a camera and record the conversation. Even if you do open the door, its still recordable. It should be amusing to watch the next time they come along.

Originally posted by serbsta
Proto, I want to see this in action...

If you don't answer the door and just speak through the door, setup a camera and record the conversation. Even if you do open the door, its still recordable. It should be amusing to watch the next time they come along.

I think I would have to alert them to the fact that they are being recorded.

Of course I could always tell them I am doing a film project on Census Workers!

Then I could tell them I don't live here, I paid the person who did live here, to go away, so I could do the filim on a Census Worker!

Hey that sounds like fun, then they could ask me who that person, was, and I could have even more fun, "You know I never thought to ask them!".

I will see if I can get the next visit on tape, and upload it to Youtube.

Good suggestion.

reply to post by Hemisphere


That was cute Hemisphere. You know I have to say they really aren't the most determined people! Getting rid of Moonies and Hare Krishna's and those Watch Tower people is more interesting.

I guess each one feels the next person will end up getting the job done.

They really should just hire Acorn to do the Census, they wouldn't even bother to leave their office and just make it all up!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I have a bit of that in my heart too Proto, I just don't have your
extensive background in how to handle the government. We also
don't get door to door census takers. We got the mailed form.

I have learned to enjoy phone solicitors. One of my favorites is
"Mr. Hemisphere is not able to take your call. Please remain on
the line. May I ask you a few questions? When was the last time
you saw Mr. Hemisphere? When was the last time you spoke with him?
How do you know the deceased?" ---Click

I do forget myself and at times it's just no thanks. At times I can be bad.
I do love the caller ID. You can see them coming.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Proto, your knowledge at times would seem to give you the power
of "invisibility". Do you think that's so? Are you off the governments'
radar in ways the rest of us are not? I know you've made some lifestyle
choices in that regard.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
reply to post by jackflap

 

Human kind is essentially the same today as it was 10,000 years ago my friend. The differences are simply technological, and not psychological or intellectual, but scientific.

Bears, rabbits, mountain lions, deer, and birds just to name a few, deal with the changes of seasons, in a natural way, that being the instinct for survival, even in it’s most primitive form, has been embodied in all creatures through nature itself.

Humans were no different.

But at some point we did become different, and that difference was the realisation that we, like all things die. With the knowledge of death, comes the knowledge of time. Practically all that we are as a species comes from that single realisation that we are going to die. That is the Knowledge of All Things (or of Good and Evil if we're to include a superstitious bent on things).

If anything, I think it is likely that we are going to evolve into seperate sub-groups based upon intelligence, if generation after generation of humans that do not fully utilise their brain capacity until the point that synaptic entropy is inherited. If in fact that that hasn't already occured via dependency on others.

Our pre-historic ancestors, for example, utilised 1000s of different plants as food and medicinal sources. They needed to maintain that knowledge through their lifetime and ensure, for the survival of their genetic lineage, that they had a means of passing on that information on to the next generation. It is that that is the basis of Western Religion now buried in doctrine. Strip away the ritual and you are left, largely, with a gardening manual, or a guide to winemaking in certain texts.

I attended a lecture recently about 'silent synapses'. Synaptic tissue that is technically unused but providing, theoretically, a massive amount of potential storage for information. I find it hard to believe, given my understanding the 'Expensive Tissue' theory of brain evolution, that those synapses were always unutilised. I believe that our dependency on others to provide, not only food, but information that was once stored in those synapses, has led to that synaptic 'silence'. We can now pick up a book or click on a web page, and have no need to hold such complex differentials in our brain. There is surely, therefore, a risk that we will 'forget' how to use this facility and that it will become irreversible (if carried over into progressive generations). Our brains could very well shrink given enough time. Or if we, as a species, survive that long, which is admittedly unlikely at this point in human history.

An interesting read PT, perhaps on the money I guess only more research will help. An interesting character to come across concerning the revision and perhaps rewriting of history is Giovanni Boccaccio, a well to do Florentine poet of the 14th cent. I suspect he and his friends post venetian and pre - rennaissance may have had alot to do with the re-education of the elite known as the rennaissance. It has often been noted even by academics as far down in the depths of deciet they are moulded, that the history of Tacitus was tampered with or even written by Boccaccio. We should know that Tacitus is the only trustworthy source written on the times of Nero and Seneca crucial dates for understanding the architecture of two millenia. Funnily enough many other sources from this period have been incomplete (Pompeius Trogus) or lost. Another period of interest where one gains much insight into the operations of the elite the Age of Alexander, Arrian's Anabasis and Plutarch's Alexander. Again this time was written about extensively by Alexander's contempories but their works have gone AWOL. Other interesting searches could be used with the keyworks ARIMASPIANS / ARIASPIANS SARANGETAE an interesting mysterious fold who lived in and around ancient Persia (ARIA). Herodotus I think does a little risque ethnography on them saying they have one eye or something like that. I found all this interesting because most religions which came with the suqsequent Orientalization of the west were Solar and very close to Zoroatrianism which I guess would have come from Persia. Not as much writing this down for you PT you have probably come across much of this but I thought others interested in making their way through the labyrinth which is our world's history. The most frustrating part of studying history is the enourmous censorship accumulated we seem to have of the so called east meets west scenarios (Both Nero and Alexander were involved in very intrapersonal Orient (Indian and Parthian) and Roman/Greek Empire relations not just battle) anyway I could go on forever about this crap, truth is its all baffling even to I would just love to get it out there see what others think or have to say

reply to post by Hemisphere

I have a bit of that in my heart too Proto, I just don't have your
extensive background in how to handle the government. We also
don't get door to door census takers. We got the mailed form.

I understand completely my friend. I did by the way get not one, but two Census Forms in the mail. The first I threw away, and the second I have kept to use as an illustration to friends and visitors regarding the wording and the incorporation marks, and to establish a case for mail fraud against the Corporate Government if need be, since the Census itself is based on a series of deliberate and willful misrepresentations on the part of the Government. This constitutes mail fraud, using the mail for purposes to deceive for a financial profit.

People are much like dogs; in that all dogs have a sixth sense way of smelling fear on a person. The tiniest dog will turn into a domineering brute if they sense fear in the person, and the biggest and meanest dogs will turn into playful little creatures who just want to roll over and have their bellies rubbed and their ears scratched if they sense no fear in you and a dominant predisposition.

In fact if you pay attention, when dealing with Government employees, from counter clerks to officers of the law, to judges, congress people and senators they always look to establish authority as early as possible in the encounter. Need I remind you sir that I am a ____________________ and have the power of the office of ________________ invested in me!

That’s nice I am a son of a ___________ and have the power of piss and vinegar invested in me! So it really boils down to a pissing contest, but the trick is to establish yourself as the person who knows how to do figure eights and pirouettes and summersaults with yours. In other words establishing through a superior vocabulary, a far greater depth of knowledge, and an exceptionally in control demeanor, that they are now running with the big dogs, and to play instead on their own insecurities of weakness, that they really belong at the poodle grooming day spa.

It’s not about defiantly refusing to submit to them, but shrewdly and craftily gaining the dominant position in the interaction so that they must submit to you. After all you pay their salary and give them a job in the first place; technically they exist to serve you.

It’s just because of the 14th Amendment that incorporated us all as entities into the State they imagine that we all serve the State, simply because it’s become the de facto process of so many people submitting to the State’s veneer of de jure authority, but their authority is not de jure, it is de facto, so then its simply about establishing the fact that you have every expectation, insistently so, that they will submit to you, and serve you as you see fit.

After all if you aren’t destroying the State’s property, or causing it a real loss in the form of other people’s life and limb or real property, the State has no legitimate reason to interfere with you in the course of your existence.

So in short it’s more about attitude than it is experience, and the decorum and probity you display in the dispatch of your own natural authority.

Take away the badges, and the titles, and the insignias, and the weaponry, and all you have is a human being, so realize always that if you choose to submit you are in fact submitting to simply another human being, who’s soul virtue of authority is that they themselves already submitted to a corrupt state.

Originally posted by Hemisphere
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

Proto, your knowledge at times would seem to give you the power
of "invisibility". Do you think that's so? Are you off the governments'
radar in ways the rest of us are not? I know you've made some lifestyle
choices in that regard.

I am less on the Radar in my day to day actions and movements than most people are. Most of that has to do with lifestyle choices that were aimed at freeing me from certain dependencies on the government and the system, as opposed to an evasion tactic.

Yet I am more on the Radar than most people, in that the government has an extensive wealth of information about me, in the form of my personal history, attitudes, predispositions and capabilities.

They started compiling detailed and significant and copious amounts of information on me starting at the age of 13, and have added to that throughout the course of the last 33 years. This amounts to literally dozens and dozens of volumes, of detailed studies, investigations, interviews with others who know me, documentation of various activities etc., etc.

I know that sounds odd, and exceptional, but that is what the government does, when they decided someone has the potential to be a threat to the government or the state.

The advantage to that though when being so subjected to that form of scrutiny, is you become a known quantity to them, and have known qualities, and as such they know, that things that might intimidate the average person to submit and comply, are simply going to be a waste of time and money and lead to aggravation and frustration on their part. Doing that will likely trigger a response where I am then going to turn around and extract a penalty from them for having trifled with me unnecessarily, and since they well know my skills, and capabilities, and that I am more than adept at extracting a penalty in the time, and place, and ways of my choosing, then you have a whole different situation, where they have to consider the likely response and potential penalty for what then become counterproductive actions.

The government actually fears some people that have what it categorizes as ‘specialized skills’, once you establish you have ‘specialized skills’ they tend to treat you more as a temperamental diva on a movie set, in part because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of your specialized skills, and in part because they themselves might very well need your specialized skills at some important occasion in the future, and in fact might have been the beneficiary of them already in the past, in ways that would be utterly embarrassing to them if fully revealed.

The government exists as a known entity, the question then becomes do you exist as a known entity, and what is your entity known for, compliance and submission, or incompetence and lack of awareness, or competent with serious skills and a sound grasp of logistics with a dedicated focus?

How you interact with the government is in fact going to dictate how the government interacts with you!

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


A lot of progressive thinkers do envision the ‘atom tribe’ at some point in the future gaining popularity. It very well might, but I think it would probably take not only a massive depopulation of the current number of human inhabitants of the planet, but the death of national infrastructures and international distribution and logistical supply lines for it to happen.

There just aren’t that many pristine swaths of land left, that haven’t been incorporated into the current system, to offer spaces for these tribes to spring into existence and blossom.

Allowing people to voluntarily group together who are like minded in their lifestyles and perspectives into autonomous micro-nations would be the way to go as far as freedom and evolution through freedom is concerned.

Here in the United States several of the First Nation’s People (Indians) that survived, do have their own autonomous micro-nations that dwell within the states but are not beholden to the State’s laws or taxations, and have their own recognizable borders, and own sovereignty within them.

Some of them are truly thriving, often by conducting forms of commerce that the Federal Government, or State Government has outlawed, or taxed prohibitively, that the Tribal Government has made legal and doesn’t tax at all.

Many of the tribal governments actually pay the members of the tribe, an equal percentage of the profits of the Tribal ventures, whether they work at and for the venture or not. In other words resources are shared equitably by birth right, not through a gauged performance system. Tribal members who wish to work at these ventures can and are welcome too, or if they just want to sit around and count coconuts they will still receive an equitable dispensation of tribal assets and wealth. Those that want to work at those tribal ventures receive an additional compensation based on their time, and level of performance like in our system, but instead of being taxed, ALL are actually PAID BY the tribal government, simply for being a part of the tribe.

When you consider the amount of property the U.S. Government Owns, and leases and rents, and the Investments it owns and profits off of, and the Tariffs it collects from foreign corporate entities that wish to export goods, services and products into the United States, and the fees it charges to other governments to share such things as intelligence and military assets, it should not only be paying a tidy profit, but have an excess left over, to pay all of us, for being a part of and supporting the system. That we are being taxed extensively by the Federal and often State Governments that are in fact businesses and incorporated as such and should be turning a profit as such, is a strong indicator of a system of free range slavery, where a portion of our labors, and goods and services produced are kept as part of the incorporated governments revenue streams. In other words their business is making us pay them, and in reality only a fraction of what we pay to them is returned in actual goods and services that benefit some of the people.

It is a for-profit system of governance, with the corporate share holders, keeping the profits, and profiting off of the direction of the Government as a catalyst for economic opportunity and corporate growth.

The individual has been entirely disenfranchised and thoroughly abused and neglected in this system.

reply to post by ReLaMiSiDoFaSol


Some excellent points, and one of the things I tried to do in the Original Post was to display early on that our current multiple sources of history, often originate from just one account of history, as told by just one person.

I think it becomes problematic for many people to conceive in this day and age, where there are countless books, and websites and TV documentaries on a given subject about a period of the past, especially before the 1600-1700’s, that the vast bulk of people in that day could not read or write, and that the very few who could, were heavily scrutinized by the Governments and the Vatican in what they wrote.

Publish the wrong thing in a book, and you would be summoned to Roma for a Papal Inquisition and if what you wrote was considered to be offensive to the Papal State you would in fact be killed or imprisoned for it.

Another tell tale sign from this very long period that lasted well over a millennia and a half, is that your nation of origin had absolutely no power to intercede or appeal.

So the truth is that the Vatican has almost from the moment it sprang up, right on up through today, to color, omit and exclude information, from being published and disseminated, in a world and at a time when very few people could have read it anyway, as a result of a purposeful lack of education.

So while today you can find hundreds if not thousands of slightly varying versions of that one original piece, put forward by just one author, on behalf of Rome, it really is just all based on what one Roman agent put forth in just one account.

Information is power, and managing its scope and flow, and distribution is all part of making information power.

Great post, thanks for sharing.