My Short Theory on Alternate Universes

The first time I was introduced to the concept of an alternate universe was when I was a child, and I watched the Star Trek episode with the Evil Spock. Something had gone wrong in the transport bay, and Kirk, McCoy and Uhura ended up on an Enterprise where their counterparts were evil, and the evil counterparts found themselves on the original Enterprise. Kirk and crew found an unlikely ally in evil Spock, who sported a goatee.



Next was comic books. DC Comics had been around for forty-two plus years when I started reading them, and they needed to explain why Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had never aged since fighting the Nazis. It was explained that the world where Superman and the Justice Society fought in WWII was an alternate universe, and that universe's Earth was dubbed Earth 2. Earth 2's Justice Society often teamed with the Justice League of Earth 1. The Earth 2 heroes did look like they aged, but at a slightly lower rate than normal.



Thanks Superman. There are other examples of alternate universes in popular culture. Fox had a show on in the nineties called "Sliders" where they explored a different universe every week. On one Earth, Texas wasn't part of the United States, on another the United States was still a colony, you get the picture.



In the sixth installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, two of our world jumping/time travelling heroes encounter mobster Jack Andolini, who had died in the second installment. This version was 10 years younger, and it was discussed what would happen if they killed him years before he was supposed to die. They decided that either they wouldn't be able to, or that the universe where they nor stood was different than the one where Andolini died, so therefore there would be no paradox.

I started thinking about parallel universes. If they exist, wouldn't they be connected to the one we live in? And is it possible to travel between the dimensions?

One night I was talking to my sister on the telephone. She was distressed because she had made plans to come to my mothers house for Thanksgiving, and she had discussed these plans at length with mom. Only mother had told her it was impossible for her to have spoken with her on the day and time my sister said she did, because she was not home all day that day. How could my sister remember something that never happened?

I believe that all realities are happening at once, and that one's consciousness can drift through them unknowingly, often picking up memories of things that never happened in our reality, but did happen on another plane of existence. After all, would not the same person existing in two realities not be of the same mind? How thick could a wall between the two sets of experiences be?

Back in the mid-nineties I had a job as a pizza delivery man. I would often deliver until 2:00 A.M. i discovered a radio program called Coast to Coast with Art Bell. one night, Art was talking with a guest about "time slips". I don't remember the guests name, but he said the government was participating n time travel, and the reality where we now resided was a result of altered history. Was the guy a kook? Maybe, but I remember Art Bell saying that he had a very distinct memory of hearing on the news in the 1970's that Nelson Mandela had died while serving a prison term in South Africa, and he had spoken with others who had heard that as well. His theory was that he was remembering an altered timeline that someone had changed by use of a time machine. My theory is that he was "remembering" a false memory, because his mind and the mind of his alternate self from that universe intertwined in some way. I had later searched the web for a broadcast or an archive of this conversation, but I have so far come up empty. You're just going to have to trust me that the show I described happened, and that is how I remember it. Years later I saw the following video with President Bush, and I remembered that particular Art Bell show.

I thought an interesting comment was made to me when I heard someone say "where's Mandela?" Well, Mandela's dead. Because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.

Was this just our president being an idiot? After hearing and remembering that particular Art Bell show, I don't think so. It has been said that GW is not in touch with reality, but what if this was because he was in touch with another reality? maybe he just heard the CNN report in 2003.

In 2003 Mandela's death was incorrectly announced by CNN when his pre-written obituary (along with those of several other famous figures) was inadvertently published on CNN's web site due to a fault in password protection.[107] In 2007 a fringe right-wing group distributed hoax email and SMS messages claiming that the authorities had covered up Mandela's death and that white South Africans would be massacred after his funeral. Mandela was on holiday in Mozambique at the time.

In this reality, Nelson Mandela is still very much alive. In fact, he recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

Disclaimer, I am not a physics major, so the following is just how I see things.

I have put forth my view that alternate universes exist, and that they effect some of our thoughts and feelings. Now I want to take a moment to reflect on the fourth dimension. if alternate realities exist, they would be three dimensional like ours, only existing on a slightly different vibrational frequency. To be four dimensional you would have to exist outside of time in some way. It's hard to imagine, but in the fourth dimension you could see all time happening at the same time. You could also see all the realities and all of their time as well. It's hard for us to imagine because we cannot grasp concepts such as infinity, much like a two dimensional image cannot grasp the concept of space.

What if ancient concepts like the afterworld, heaven and hell existed in the fourth dimension? I believe these concepts were early attempts of explaining the unexplainable complexities of the fourth dimension. So if this is true, what of our alternate selves? If they were to journey to the fourth dimension, it would be a singular fourth dimension. For example, if Mandela from universe A were to die and go to heaven, he would not go to heaven A because there would be no heaven A, there would only be heaven, so that is where he would go. A few years later Mandela from universe B dies, and when he gets to heaven Mandela A is waiting for him. I theorize they would exchange experiences and then probably wait for all the other Mandelas from all the other universes to join them. When they are all there, they would merge. After this occurs, I'm not sure what happens. (I'm not sure about any of this, it's just thoughtful speculation.)

This theory had been rolling around in my head for awhile, then I saw it on film! Captain Jack Sparrow journeys to the underworld (fourth dimension), and runs into multiple versions of himself. This scene made perfect sense to me, as I saw the multiple Jacks as multiple versions of Jack who had died in alternate realities.



If anyone else has a theory to explain this scene, let me know.

I've enjoyed sharing this theory with all of you. Drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Update 10/31/08

Just found this.

From "Fantasy Encyclopedia" by Judy Allen page 125, the entry on Doppelgangers.

The name doppelganger means "double-goer" in German and is more often translated as double walker or co-walker. Like the fetch, it is the exact replica of a specific human being, and it is usually believed that to see one's own doppelganger is to receive warning that death is close. Certainly the French writer Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) said that he saw his doppelganger toward the end of his life, and it is said that both Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) saw theirs shortly before their deaths. However there are cases where - either because of a wrinkle in time or because some people are able to project images of themselves a doppelganger has been seen by several people, but the person it represents has continued to live for many years.

In the Garden

When I first started this blog last summer, I wasn't working. Like millions of other Americans I had lost my job and was collecting from the unemployment insurance fund. I spent a lot of time online, and I discovered Jake and Steve's Youtube videos, which led to their respective blogs. I was fascinated with the term "synchromysticism". All my life I had seen connections between things, but I didn't understand the symbolism and siguls corporations use, and studying these helped me to understand the world better. The truth is, I don't know squat about astrology or astronomy, but I do understand hidden meanings behind movies, comics, and novels. I also know that some huge conspiracy was afoot, one that is behind 9-11 Autism, the Global Warming scare, and the crashing of the economy. I wanted to contribute to the conversation, so I plowed some dirt and planted a few seeds in this garden. As I sought out other "synchromystic blogs" I found that there are many talented and brilliant writers in this community, and I'm honored that they (you) would sometimes pass by the Garden and have a look. I understand that it's easier to read a blog if it's broken up with different pictures, it gives the mind a chance to indulge and refresh itself, so for that reason, here's a comic book cover of a magician pulling a kid pretending to be a white rabbit out of a hat.



I haven't posted or read anything on the blogosphere for the past week, I've been trying to find work, and I've been doing a little writing for peanuts. I hear the peanuts are coming soon, but I'm still waiting. I took some time to catch up tonight, and I re-discovered why I love to read synchromystic blogging. here are a few of them.

Michael Skaggs at the Hidden Agendas outs another mind conditioning science story as part of an eugenics agenda.

Jenn at the HiddenDakini continues coverage from the coalescense festival.

Wise Woman at Too Long in This Place wrote a post about the collective consciousness of man repressing memories of a great disaster, and it touched something in my consciousness and really blew me away.

Aferismoon explains some Tarot symbols to in In-4-structure.

Dedroidify gives us a funny story from a philosopher about enlightenment and bliss.

Christopher Knowles at the Secret Sun spotlights comic great Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur series.

If I missed you I'm sorry and feel free to add your latest work, and I want to take this moment in time to thank all of you for putting out such great blogs.

Best Uses of a Caveman in a Comic Book

There are tons of comics that show cavemen interacting with aliens. It's interesting the title of this comic is "Operation Peril" foreshadowing every military action after 1990 having the word "operation" as a suffix.



Turok Son of Stone was the story of two native Americans trapped in a land of dinosaurs and cavemen. The story takes place before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I haven't read any of the comics, but native Americans are portrayed as the heroes and it would be interesting to check out.



Here, the son of Satan is menacing a hapless caveman. I would not be able to imagine how you could take a demon from the pit and make him look cute were it not for Hot Stuff.



Cavemen were often depicted as knuckle dragging brutes who drug their women along the ground by their hair. So to see this caveman dragging a talking woodpecker is disturbing.



In this one, the gender roles are reversed. I find it troubling that for some reason this cover reminds me of my marriage.

Best use of a God in a Comic Book

Instead of breaking it up into different mythologies, this time I included them all to see where the cards fell. How I do these is kind of hard to explain, but the covers chosen are random, and from the randomness we get a pattern.



Here we have longtime Conan foe Thoth-Amon. The name is taken form Egyptian deities Thoth and Amon. Thoth was the voice of the main god Ra, and is credited with giving Isis the spell needed to resurrect Osiris. Amon, or Amun, was the god of fertility, often depicted as having ram horns, as shown in this guise. It is interesting that Conan started as a pulp story, long before comics were popular. Thoth Amon first appeared in the short story, "the Phoenix and the Sword", published in 1932. The title of this issue is "King Conan", so I guess this means Schwarzenegger will be president someday.



Here, Hercules backs up the Hulk in a world war, the Angel, and ... hell I don't know, Ninja Chick and Wing Footed Girl are also in tow. Hercules is the most used god in comics, and he has also been portrayed by the current Governor of California i the film "Hercules in New York."



Atlas is here hanging out with Hercules. Actually, he is helping Hercules with the eleventh of the twelve labors. Hercules was supposed to take some golden apples that was protected by a 100 headed dragon. Hercules tricked the dimwitted Atlas into getting the apples for him, in return Herc held up the world while Atlas performed this task. Atlas was going to leave Hercules holding the bag, but Herc was able to trick him again. Currently, you can see Atlas holding up the world in front of Rockefeller Center in New York.



Here, Cupid's arrow is aiming at the center of a well, signaling the coming of the Age of Aquarius, which will be ruled by love and harmony or something like that. I'm not good at astrology.



Zeus is the king of the god's. Here he is hurling thunderbolts at Diana because he is pissed off. I'm not sure, but I think she refused to go out with him or something.

Best Uses of Water in a Comic Book

Many say that the age of Aquarius is upon us, so let's take a look at the comic book syncs.




This actually syncs quite well with Obama recently saying he was sent to Earth by his father Jor-El to save mankind. Superman tires to save the people about to get engulfed by Aquarius, but he is powerless because he is just a phantom. The kids also appear to be fraternal twins.




In this one, Nutsy Squirrel is trying to stop the age of Aquarius, while the Skull and Bones resonating pirate is distracted by something else. We can see that Nutsy is fighting a losing battle, and when the Age of Aquarius takes him, it's not going to go well.



Andy Panda is running for his life, trying to stay afloat, while the cocky chicken is well prepared. It doesn't matter, sooner or later they are both going to be engulfed.



Trudy is well prepared, she brought her surfboard and is riding the wave. however, she is oblivious to the U.F.O. in the sky above her. Notice in the upper left hand corner she is the capstone to the pyramid.



Here, we can see what Skull and Bones was looking for, Pieces the fish. Pieces is depicted as green, the color of Earth magic. And Woody, who stands at the top of the DNA ladder thinks he can stop the new age from coming.

Make Money Online!

Buy my course! LOL! I got you to look. Being an American, and also being unemployed with the unemployment compensation run dry, I have been pounding the pavement looking for work. What I have found was that even the mid level paying jobs, jobs I used to be able to just walk in and get are now a bit harder to get into. I could go back to car sales, but I am retired from that life and I really don't want to do that anymore. Being desperate, I looked into some programs where you can make money online.

I once had a grand plan to just make money from E-bay. Being a car salesman, I had resources where I could get auto manuals cheap and re sell them online, for sometimes double what I had paid for them. I would keep taking that income and re-invest it until I was making enough money to quit my job. It was a good plan, but it didn't work. Something would always come up where I needed to "borrow" from my E-bay fund, or I would buy a manual that wouldn't sell for some reason. I even looked into the "drop shipping", but it is a complete waste of time. What if you sell an item you don't have, then when you order it it's out of stock? You can't run an E-bay business that way. I'm sure there are folks who make good money from E-bay, but it's hard to start from scratch, because if don't have the inventory, you can't sell it for a profit.

So then I looked into being a paid blogger. This week, I applied to get paid for my writing, and i have yet to hear back from the company I applied with. (Wish me Luck) I had to submit a test article on a subject I knew little about, but what the heck, all things are connected aren't they. LOL. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I also became a paid forum poster. Companies often have forums with their websites, and they will pay people to post on them to get traffic driven to the main site. Imagine trying to make 15 posts a day on a certain type of laundry detergent. Now that takes some creative writing! Most places pay 10 to 15 cents per post, and trying to come up with only 100 posts per day can be a daunting task, although there is no minimum requirement. Still, when you don't have anything, 100 bucks a week beats a poke in the eye with a stick.

So......I am thinking about starting a new blog about making money online, but without selling a course, just telling the truth. If you don't know what you are doing you can make a few bucks, but still fall below the poverty line. It could also serve as a beacon for all the money gurus out there to come in and give me a few tips. Couldn't hurt.

Edit, I did make a new blog, check it out.

http://edsbigmoneyonline.blogspot.com/

Best Uses of a Financial Crisis in a Comic Book

By popular demand, here are the best uses of a financial crisis in a Comic Book!




Apparently, Richie Rich is quite a fan of pork.



Five gorgeous women sitting on a huge pile of cash. With enemies like this, who needs friends?



That's it Richie, keep feeding those banks.



Richie and Cadburry are getting the dollar yanked right out from underneath them.



Crap! It looks like that damn is about to break!

If WWII Was Fought in an Online Game.

I don't know who made this, I found it in a guy's sig on a message board, and I know it shouldn't have, but it cracked me up.

Push it! Push it real Good!

A strange thing happened to me the other day as I was paying my electric bill. The receptionist asked me if I had signed u for the free light bulbs yet. I told her I had not, and then she showed me the corkscrew Mercury filled light bulbs. I could feel the rage building up from my belly, and I had to bite my lip, look her in the eye, and say that I was not interested in the "free" light bulbs. Why would the electric company be pushing these things? Wouldn't using more electricity be in their best interests? I started to ask questions about the bulbs, who was pushing them and why, but the receptionist could see the fire in my eye, and she clammed up.

And then there are the signs and commercials everywhere, get your flu shots here! Once, an elderly co-worker told me he was gong to H.R. to get his work paid for Flu shot. At risk of losing my job (something that happened later anyway) I warned him of the mercury in the Thimerosal in the flu shot. He told me he knew about that, and that he would ask for a Thimerosal free shot. I told him that when he asks, they will tell him they don't have that version available. When he came back, he told me things went down just like he said they would. Why are places of business offering these things?

Mercury is a known neurotoxin. They know people are not going to take the bulbs to a recycling center, lol. They know the chance for autism increases with flu shots, They also know it can put the older population at risk for Alzheimers. Do they want more people to get sick? According to Dr. David Ayoub and his film "Vaccines and the Global Agenda", that is exactly what they want. There was a time when I wouldn't have believed this, but I'm not blind to the evidence.

The Best Uses of Mother Earth in a Comic Book II

I really love the bizarre covers of the 50's and 60's. This one from 1962 is kind of eerie. An office looks out his window and sees a tower being destroyed. Gasping, he drops the phone. Ok, so a tiny Earth sends a spaceship that is disproportionate in size to destroy skyscrapers on a much larger Earth. Where did they come up with this stuff?



Recycle and conserve or Hulk smash!!!



That's right. Screw the Earth! It's overrated anyway.



I actually owned this one when I was a kid. In one story the Phantom Stranger is the wandering Jew, in another he is an angel who would not choose sides when Lucifer rebelled, which led to him being cast down to Earth and getting his wings pulled off.



I love superhero team ups! In this issue, the Harlot of Babylon, Chtullu, and Atlas team up to invade the Earth! While the Dark Tower stands in the left hand corner looking on.

Hidden in Hollywood 9 (Comic Books)

Youtube user Shmupnut has posted Hidden in Hollywood 9, which deals with comic books,He sites this blog as well as JMortimer37's and Jake Kotze's youtube channels as a source. If you haven't seen any of Shmupnut's Hidden in Hollywood series, check them out here, they are really good.




Some of the stuff towards the end of the video is stuff I had never seen before and found absolutely amazing.

Best Uses of an Hourglass in a Comic Book

The Hidden Agendas posted a fascinating piece awhile back that talked about the symbolism of the hourglass. The Hourglass has been commonly used in comics almost since their conception.



Gold is falling, but when it bottoms out Richie will buy it up and flip that hourglass.




Degaton is a time travelling villian from 1947, who at the end of every one of his schemes ends up as a lab technician back in his own time. In this one, it looks like he is controlling the "time" of the Justice Society, as they look on in horror.



Here, the Sandman and Sandy (worst sidekick name ever, I would expect more for a Kirby creation) are showing the bad guys their time is up.



Chronos is another time hoping hourglass wielding villain. He goes from era to era, searching for a time where his costume will be considered cool.



After reading this one, Benjamin Fulford came up with a brilliant idea on how to fight the Illuminati.

Dread Zeppelin

What does Reggae music, Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley have in common? Absolutely nothing ladies and gentlemen! That is, except for Dread Zeppelin. Dread Zeppelin was a band born in the eighties, they covered Led Zeppelin tunes, but they did it to a reggae beat. And, they had an Elvis impersonator as their lead singer! I couldn't imagine it either, but when you listen to them it works, and sometimes it's really funny. If you only have time to watch one video here, make it the first one. The sight of "Elvis" doing the WAAAHAAAHAAAAA scream from the Immigrant song had me in stitches.

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I) Spoilers

"The Man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." That is the first line in the 7 novel length Dark Tower series by Stephen King. King is known mostly for his horror novels, but this series falls more in the line of science fiction than horror, but it maintains elements of horror as well as western. In the first book, we meet Roland Deschain, last of the gunslingers. Roland is on the trail of a wizard who has information on how he can reach the Dark Tower, which is Roland's ultimate quest.



We pick up the story as Roland is midway through his quest. As he follows the trail of the man in black through the desert, he comes across a desert farmer named Brown (A sly reference to Robert Browning, who wrote Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came). Roland recounts to Brown about the last town he came through, a village named Tull. As Roland approached the town, he heard the chorus of "Hey Jude" coming from the saloon. At this point, I knew this was not going to be the average western.

The Man in Black, who had come through town before Roland, left him a trap. After a few adventures in Tull, the town becomes zombie like as they try to kill him. Roland's guns prove too much for the citizens of Tull, Roland lays waste to them all.

As Roland leaves Brown and continues his quest, he encounters a rusty hulk with a single word written on it in the language of the "old ones". The word is Chevrolet. He soon encounters a young boy named Jake Chambers. Jake has no idea how he ended up in hte middle of hte desert, so Roland puts him under hypnosis. Jake then describes what was for him a typical day in New York city. Jake is hit by a car and killed, then he wakes up in a different world.

Roland and Jake head across the desert in pursuit of the man in black. The ending is a shocker.

I found it fascinating that Roland's world of the future is not more technologically advanced, quite the opposite, things have run in the other direction. This is something I feel we will see in our lifetimes. (Just a feeling). Also, death is but a doorway into another world. Isn't this what most major religions teach us? IMO, this is King's greatest work, and worth checking out.

Best Use of a Checkerboard Pattern in a Comic Book VI

Archie and his friends in the local diner. The diner has a checkerboard floor, and this is consistent throughout the series. Uh, Arch? I think there are health dept. rules about not wearing a tank top in a kitchen.



This one was probably made during the Billie Jean King match with Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes". Hey, nice shirt Archie!



I couldn't agree more. No doubt there is meaning behind the "R" and the "S" on the chessboard, but I don't what it is. The Honeybee shirt is interesting, due to the recent die off of the Honeybee.



It looks like Archie is finally going to pay for his crimes.



The Nazis used the checkerboard pattern o their planes? Really?

The Dark Tower (Prologue)

I intend for this to be an 8 part post, dealing with the Stephen King series of Novels "The Dark Tower".


Michael Skaggs at the Hidden Agendas recently made an excellent post about the board game, "The Dark Tower". It got me thinking about Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", which inspired a seven novel series by Stephen King called "The Dark Tower".

Browning inspired King, and while I was researching this post I was pleasently surprised that Browning himself was inspired to write Childe Roland by none other than William Shakespeare.

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a poem by Robert Browning, written in 1855 and first published that same year in the collection entitled Men and Women. The title, which forms the last words of the poem, is a line from William Shakespeare's play King Lear. In the play, Gloucester's son, Edgar, lends credence to his disguise as mad Tom by talking nonsense, of which this is a part:

“ Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum
I smell the blood of a British man.”

Tracing the Tower back even further, William Shakespeare was inspired by the English folk tale "Childe Roland."

The story tells of how the four children of the Queen (by some accounts Guinevere), Rowland, his two older brothers, and his sister, Burd Ellen, were playing ball near a church. Rowland kicked the ball over the church and Burd Ellen went to retrieve it, inadvertently circling the church "widdershins", or opposite the way of the sun, and disappeared. Rowland went to the Warlock Merlin to ask what became of his sister and was told that she was taken to the Dark Tower by the King of Elfland, and only the boldest knight in Christendom could retrieve her

This Olde English folktale was probably itself inspired by a Medevil Scandanavian Ballad.

The synopsis of Childe Rowland is found in a Scandinavian medieval ballad. Although the hero and heroine appear under different names, and the elf-king is replaced by a mermaid, the story is essentially the same: The youngest brother rides out to rescue his sister, and succeeds. The sister in this ballad has lived under a different name, probably oblivious of her background until her brother revives her.

This is an 1859 painting by Thomas Moran inspired by the Browning poem.

The story of Roland's quest for the Dark Tower has bounced around in literature for over a thousand years. Browning claimed the poem came to him fully formed in a dream. Here it is in it's entirety.

Stanza I
My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee, that pursed and scored
Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby


Stanza II
What else should he be set for, with his staff?
What, save to waylay with his lies, ensnare
All travelers who might find him posted there,
And ask the road? I guessed what skull-like laugh
Would break, what crutch 'gin write my epitaph
For pastime in the dusty thoroughfare,


Stanza III
If at his counsel I should turn aside
Into that ominous tract which, all agree,
Hides the Dark Tower, Yet acquiescingly
I did turn as he pointed: neither pride
Nor hope rekindling at the end descried,
So much as gladness that some end might be.


Stanza IV
For, what with my whole world-wide wandering,
What with my search drawn out through years, my hope
Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope
With that obstreperous joy success would bring,
I hardly tried now to rebuke the spring
My heart made, finding failure in its scope.


Stanza V
As when a sick man very near to death
Seems dead indeed, and feels bagin and end
The tears and takes the farewell of each friend,
And hears on bid the other go, draw breath
Freelier outside ( "since all is o'er," he saith,
"And the blow fallen no grieving can amend."),


Stanza VI
While some discuss if near the other graves
Be room enough for this, and when a day
Suits best for carrying the corpse away,
With care about the banners, scarves and staves:
And still the man hears all, and only craves
He may not shame such tender love and stay.


Stanza VII
Thus, I had so long suffered in this quest,
Heard failure prophesied so oft, been writ
So many times among "The Band"-to wit,
The knights who to the Dark Tower's search addressed
Their steps-that just to fail as they, seemed best,
And all the doubt was now-should I be fit?


Stanza VIII
So, quiet as despair, I turned from him,
That hateful cripple, out of his highway
Into the path he pointed. All the day
Had been a dreary one at best, and dim
Was settling to its close, yet shone one grim
Red leer to see the plain catch its estray.


Stanza IX
For mark! no sooner was I fairly found
Pledged to the plain, after a pace or two,
Than, pausing to throw backward a last view
O'er the safe road, 'twas gone; gray plain all around"
Nothing but plain to the horizon's bound,
I might go on; naught else remained to do.


Stanza X
So, on I went, I think I never saw
Suck starved ignoble nature; nothing throve:
For flowers-as well expect a cedar grove!
But cockle, spurge, according to their law
Might propagate their kind, with none to awe,
You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.


Stanza XI
No! penury, inertness and grimace,
In some strange sort, were the land's portion. "See
Or shut your eyes," said Nature peevishly,
"It nothing skills: I cannot help my case;
'Tis the Last Judgement's fire must cure this place,
Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free."


Stanza XII
If there pushed any ragged thistle-stalk
Above its mates, the head was chopped; the bents
Were jealous else. What made those holes and rents
In the dock's harsh swarth leaves, bruised as to baulk
All hope of greenness? 'tis a brute must walk
Pashing their life out, with a brute's intents.


Stanza XIII
As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair
In leprosy: thin dry blades pricked the mud
Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood.
One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare,
Stood stupefied, however he came there:
Thrust out past service from the devil's stud!


Stanza XIV
Alive? he might be dead for aught I know,
With that red gaunt and colloped neck a-strain,
And shut eyes underneath the rusty mane;
Seldom went such grotesqueness with such woe;
I never saw a brute I hated so;
He must be wicked to deserve such pain.


Stanza XV
I shut my eyes and turned them on my heart.
As a man calls for wine before he fights,
I asked on draught of earlier, happier sights,
Ere fitly I could hope to play my part.
Think first, fight afterwards--the soldier's art:
One taste of the old time sets all to rights.


Stanza XVI
Not it! I fancied Cuthbert's reddening face
Beneath its garniture of curly gold,
Dear fellow, till I almost felt him fold
An arm in mine to fix me to the place
That way he used. Alas, one night's disgrace!
Out went my heart's new fire and left it cold.


Stanza XVII
Giles then, the soul of honour--there he stands
Frank as ten years ago when knighted first.
What honest men should dare (he said) he durst.
Good--but the scene shifts--faugh! what hangman hands
In to his breast a parchment? His own bands
Read it. Poor traitor, spit upon and curst!


Stanza XVIII
Better this present than a past like that;
Back therefore to my darkening path again!
No sound no sight as far as eye could strain.
Will the night send a howlet or a bat?
I asked: when something on the dismal flat
Came to arrest my thoughts and change their train.


Stanza XIX
A sudden little river crossed my path
As unexpected as a serpent comes.
No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms;
This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath
For the fiend's glowing hoof--to see the wrath
Of its black eddy bespate with flakes and spumes.


Stanza XX
So petty yet so spiteful! All along
Low scrubby alders kneeled down over it;
Drenched willows flung them headlong in a fit
Of mute despair, a suicidal throng:
The river which had done them all the wrong,
Whate'er that was, rolled by, deterred no whit.


Stanza XXI
Which, while I forded,--good saints, how I feared
To set my foot upon a dead man's cheek,
Each step, or feel the spear I thrust to seek
For hollows, tangled in his hair or beard!
--It may have been a water-rat I speared,
But, ugh! it sounded like a baby's shriek.


Stanza XXII
Glad was I when I reached the other bank.
Now for a better country. Vain presage!
Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage,
Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank
Soil to a a plash? Toads in a poisoned tank,
Or wild cats in a red-hot iron cage--


Stanza XXIII
The fight must so have seemed in that fell cirque,
What penned them there, with all the plain to choose?
No foot-print leading to that horrid mews,
None out of it. Mad brewage set to work
Their brains, no doubt, like galley-slaves the Turk
Pits for his pastime, Christians against Jews.


Stanza XXIV
And more than that--a furlong on--why, there!
What bad use was that engine for, that wheel,
Or brake. not wheel--that harrow fit to reel
Men's bodies out like silk? with all the air
Of Tophet's tool, on earth left unaware,
Or brought to sharpen its rusty teeth of steel.


Stanza XXV
Then came a bit of stubbed ground, once a wood,
Next a marsh, it would seem, and now mere earth
Desperate and done with; (so a fool finds mirth,
Makes a thing and then mars it, till his mood
Changes and off he goes!) withing a rood--
Bog, clay and rubble, sand and stark black dearth.


Stanza XXVI
Now blotches rankling, coloured gay and grim,
Now patches where some leanness of the soil's
Broke into moss or substances like boils;
Then came some palsied oak, a cleft in him
Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim
Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils.


Stanza XXVII
And just as far as ever from the end!
Nought in the distance but the evening, nought
To point my footstep further! At the thought,
A great black bird, Apollyon's bosom-friend,
Sailed past, nor beat his wide wing dragon-penned
That brushed my cap--perchance the guide i sought.


Stanza XXVIII
For, looking up, aware I somehow grew,
'Spite of the dusk, the plain had given place
All round the mountains--with such name to grace
Mere ugly heights and heaps now stolen in view.
How thus they had surprised me,--solve it, you!
How to get from them was no clearer case.


Stanza XXIX
Yet half I seemed to recognise some trick
Of mischief happened to me, God knows when--
In a bad dream perhaps. Here ended, then
Progress this way. When, in the very nick
Of giving up, one time more, came a click
As when a trap shuts-- you're inside the den!


Stanza XXX
Burningly it came on me all at once,
This was the place! those two hills on the right,
Crouched like two bulls locked horn in horn in fight;
While to the left, a tall scalped mountain...Dunce,
Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce,
After a life spent training for the sight!


Stanza XXXI
What in the midst lay but the Tower itself?
The round squat turret, blind as the fool's heart
Built of brown stone, without a counterpart
In the while world. The tempest's mocking elf
Points to the shipman thus the unseen shelf
He strikes on, only when the timbers start.


Stanza XXXII
Not see? because of night perhaps?--why, day
Came back again for that! before it left,
The dying sunset kindled through a cleft:
The hills, like giants at a hunting, lay
Chin upon hand, to see the game at bay,--
"Now stab and end the creature--to the heft!"


Stanza XXXIII
Not hear? when noise was everywhere! it tolled
Increasing like a bell. Names in my ears
Of all the lost adventurers my peers,--
How such a one was strong and such was bold,
And such was fortunate, yet each of old
Lost, lost! one moment knelled the woe of years.


Stanza XXXIV
There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met
To view the last of me, a living frame
For one more picture! in a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came!

It is my belief that in our quest for truth, we are all searching for the "Dark Tower."

Best Uses of a Fictional Campaign in a Comic Book

OK, I made this one. After the VP debates the other night I couldn't resist putting it here. The Gunfight election part is the original text.


OK, let's line the fictional candidates up and make our picks.



Who the hell was Bobby Sherman? Seems to be some kind of teen idol, only this dude looks like he's in his thirties. That just don't seem right, but hey, it was the 70s.



60 years before Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, Wonder Woman ran for president, only it was set 1000 years in the future, so it's still 940 years in our future. Apparently, the hairstyles revert back to the 40's style in the future. So, would Wonder Woman make a good president?



I would pay good money to see Bullwinkle debate moose hunting Sarah Palin.



Is America ready for an Asian president? I don't see why not, but I don't know what his policies are.



Of course you can't have an election without the Reptilian party being represented, and they are well loved by the people.

So, who do you think would make the best president? (Maverick pick excluded.)

Best Uses of an Alligator in a Comic Book.

If Alligators represent galactic center, lets take a look at some comic covers and see what's syncing.





Pebbles and Bam-Bam are riding the galactic center while their parents look on. To me, the Flintstones represent not the past but a future where technology is scarce, and people use their ingenuity to get by. Like using a Woolly Mammoth for a shower head.



At the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, Hope stands in the galactic center, comforting a panicked damsel in distress.



Goofy and Mickey search for the treasure of El Dorado while Donald plays "My Pet Goat". The three little pigs turn the table on the big bad wolf.



Foodini's magic can not stop the approach to the galactic center, nor can it stop the Age of Aquarius.



The birds fly oblivious into the galactic center while Maturin looks on.