https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?88165-Jett-Black The largest classic literature discussion forum on the Internet. Read Write Teach Share. en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:34:14 GMT vBulletin 10 https://www.online-literature.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?88165-Jett-Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13012-Gibberish-I-Love-Talking-It Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:18:40 GMT Slankered to me today or so was some bad vibrations picked up from far far away near some moon and shiner. Planked my direckky way and oh my vey! So... Slankered to me today or so was some bad vibrations picked up from far far away near some moon and shiner. Planked my direckky way and oh my vey! So if when and aye once do I decide oh so funny coming all this way to be met!

Four breakfasts later and in two canoes with a red one, I left for the place of oh so stones and wet! Oh stiff pony one would hisp! Get and play but I said: “Eight thousand Fanna!”

Then sledging that a bankgle was ripe, I glanced in there mong the stones and wet and oh wot? Not a tall all one at all, no but round the back sat a taf. Ooh ooh henkle it stub!

Looks all around like it swallowed two porpsh so the belly prostructed out and said: “Wibble wobble” like jelly on a plate or a seated blamongrel before it set in the double door freeze box!

Then the son and the beach nut one with a mike said: “Hoo hoo hoo!” and goes one place with youngs in caps and no shoes but bare knees two on all! Graphic blitz and hairy pirate hair shone all about like a century of gold were a twitter!

Granted the workers and ties wore were blue, but back pay and damerells? Oh no OJ! Big retails hanging from a racky roo first. Around a rooster or clock came the dedicated case looking for goliagate who I uttered: “No, not the case of rhubarbs without a trace?”

“Slag your race confession or financials!” he obskewered like an angry core. So I bubbled and left.

Sirens happened every day in one thousand series. Darkness real entered the network like a piano without a thirty year mother of truth on the side! He he he!!!

Mayblatoss if you’d eat it like I would an oystrimper!

Suk, suk, suk!! Oh sheriff hung up suga buns two with the Tuesday ironing! Slabby and groof in my life cults and seems a body. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13012-Gibberish-I-Love-Talking-It https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13011-Reason-Not-To-Believe Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:11:07 GMT I don't believe I have ever felt it necessary to "disprove" the existence of the Biblical God, despite the fact that as an atheist I am defined as: "a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings." And I don't think I have ever seen an atheist standing on a street corner and preaching.

In my opinion, the average theist believes in God simply because they were taught to do so from a very young age. I was raised a Christian and attended Christian schools. Before the start of lessons every morning we recited the Lords Prayer and religious instruction was part of our syllabus. At the boarding school I attended both Sunday school & church attendance was compulsory. During these church services the minister would open the large Bible in front of him and declare: "Let us now hear the word of God." To my childish mind this meant that God himself had written every word of the Bible and maybe gave it to Moses along with the stone tablets on Mount Sinai. After all, didn't he create the entire universe and everything in it? That's what I'd been taught.

It was only much later when I was a grown man when I had read about the Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea and about how the dating of Easter was decided upon and how by vote it was decided that Jesus was God and not simply a radical mortal prophet. And how soon after this, all works that challenged orthodox teachings were confiscated and destroyed and how Constantine financed a new copy of the Bible. And how Rome was able at the stroke of a pen, to rewrite the Bible as they saw fit and in doing so rewrite history as well. The church changed history to suit its own agenda.

So rather than trying to disprove God, I find it very difficult to imagine how any rational & thinking person who has studied the findings of Biblical scholars, can still blindly follow church dogma and actually believe in God. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13011-Reason-Not-To-Believe https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13010-L-O-L-A-Lola Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:06:24 GMT My dear mother Lola died rather suddenly when I was still a lad in short pants. Until then she'd never ever complained of feeling ill. Well not while I was present anyway. I think I must have been about eleven going on twelve. From experience I'd hazard a guess that this was the time when a boy really needed his momma. Eleven plus years isn't a very long time in the life of a pre-teen lad to get to know his mother.

I have three monochrome photographs of Lola which sit upon an old Oak Welsh dresser in my dining room. They are the only images I have of her. One is a "coming out" photo of her aged sixteen, wearing a long dress and a rose behind her right ear. Another is a wedding photograph with several bridesmaids and flower girls, and of course my dad, in front of the Cathedral in which they were married. The last one is the most interesting of the three.

It was taken on her birthday which is on 9 January. Lola is sitting in the middle of a three seater settee, with two of my sisters, Pamela and Rosemary seated on either side of her. I being the odd boy out am seated on the rug at Lola's feet.

Now we are posed before a large window and the photo was taken at night, shortly before her birthday guests starting arriving.

Above her head is this bright light and it has a sort of spooky look to it. It looks for all the world like a ball of fire with wings.

Okay, I know it's just a reflection from the flashgun on the Yashica reflex camera my dad was using. I mean what else could it have been? And hey, this is Jett the atheist speaking!

But eighteen days later on 27 January Lola collapsed and died from a stroke.

Makes you think … doesn’t it? ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13010-L-O-L-A-Lola https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12993-The-Real-Object-of-Objet-d-Art Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:19:19 GMT I’ve been involved in the antique & fine art business all my life; in fact I entered the family business right after I had completed my formal education.

With antique collecting very much in vogue, I thought it would be a good idea to find out what the thinking was behind the design of the many different pieces of furniture that were manufactured in bygone days.

The words "gueridon", "chiffonier" and "secretaire" may not sound unfamiliar to many people. However, even many avid and knowledgeable collectors do not really know how these and other pieces of furniture were developed or for what purpose they were originally intended. For some of the answers we must go back through the ages.

During the 14th and 15th centuries furnishings, at least as we know them, were very sparse. The average house in fact contained little apart from some large trestle tables and benches, a few chairs, serving boards and sometimes a few carpets in the great hall.

In the bedchamber there was usually a chair or two, iron-bound chests, a tall candlestick, a row of wooden pegs on the wall for hanging up clothes and of course, the most valued piece of furniture in every home - the great bed.

Thanks largely to the writers of historical romances, the four-poster canopied bed has been endowed with an aura of mystique. Women the world over rave about this magnificent item of furniture and would love to own one, while most men would probably prefer the comely wenches carried to them nightly in the books written of that time.

Unhappily, the origin of the four-poster is anything but romantic. Firstly the curtains were not intended to shield the occupants from the eyes of those without, but rather to protect them from contracting pneumonia. It seems the bed was invented long before the windowpane and a biting winter wind is capable of dampening the ardour of even the most hot-blooded.

Alas, the story of the canopy is even worse than that of the drapes. Until the 16th century the canopy, usually made of a rich material, was attached to the ceiling above the beds by cords. Later it became a fixed part of the bed, but its purpose remained the same - simply to protect the sleeper from lice, dirt, spiders and the like which often fell from the ceiling. Not a very romantic thought, but considering that this was a far less hygiene-conscious time, a very sensible one.

It is generally recognised that a major stylistic change affecting all the arts occurred in most European countries shortly after the middle of the 18th century.

The French took the lead in the design and manufacture of furniture. After the death of Louis XlV in 1715, a radical change came about in French society. The last years of his reign had been a period of extreme solemnity and austerity and even in the King's absence, one was forced to bow down before the throne or royal bed. Upon his death the court lost no time in changing all this.

Fashion proved the tyrant of the age and at the forefront was a permissive courtesan named Madame de Pompadour. While not actually changing the destiny of France, there is no doubt that she greatly influenced it. Such was the splendour of Louis XV's court that one particularly cold winter, Madame de Pompadour filled the flowerbeds in her garden with porcelain flowers and sprayed perfume on them to complete the illusion. She was an ardent collector and when she died in 1764, the public auctioneers worked every day for eight months to dispose of her assets.

During this period furniture and in particular chairs, were designed for ladies in highly specialised forms. Since the early 17th century, back-stools, the first chairs to be made without arms, were designed for women wearing hoped skirts. Arm supports were set back from the front edge of the seats to accommodate the immense volume of material worn by the ladies of the time.

The bustle-back chair, as the name suggests, was also designed with the fair sex in mind. Almost all the chairs seemed to have been designed with the convenience of women as the motivating factor.

There were chairs with low backs and sometimes with the top rail curving downwards to facilitate the elaborate dressing of the hair then in fashion. Also chairs of this type with open, entirely unpadded backs were made and intended for use when the hair was being powdered.

During this period strict protocol divided chairs into two classes according to the position they occupied in a room – those that always stood against the wall and those, which were dispersed around the centre of the room and could be moved about. Among the second category were various types with padded top rails on which a spectator leaned his arms while watching others play cards or games of chance.

A similar design is the prayer or "prideaux" chair on which one knelt and rested the arms on the padded back. When the armchair was enlarged to take two people side by side it became a tête-à-tête. The variety of couches was great and the terminology used to describe them very elaborate and not always precise. The name usually varied with the form of the back and a "chaise longue" literally a long chair, had a back at one end only.

The “duchesse”, was a daybed and when the lower end could be detached separately and used as a stool, it became known as a "duchesse brisee" (pronounced dooSHES bree Shay) or “broken duchesse. The couch with a back and armrests at each end was a "canapé" but when the wooden structure was concealed by upholstery, it was called a "sopha". The "ottomane" was usually of an oval shape and derived its name and character from the orient.

Scribblomania was a disease of the age and the writing table was in great demand. Its great disadvantage was the necessity for clearing all papers from its flat top if privacy was desired when it was not being used. Around 1740 this problem was solved with the creation of the lean-to desk with a flat, sloping top, which could be locked against a set of drawers or pigeonholes resting on the back edge of the table.

Great pains were taken to make the "secretaire" as secret as possible. Locks were strong and complex and concealed compartments were a regular feature. The "secretaire" was intended for the use of women, for its size made it of little use to the businessman who required something larger. It is in fact quite a narrow piece of furniture made so that it could stand against a pier-wall, that is, between windows so as to get light from both sides.

It's near relation, the roll-top or cylinder-top desk, generally stood in the centre of the room and to ensure privacy was often fitted with a device by which the inkwell or inkstand could be withdrawn through the side of the carcass. This enabled servants to replenish the ink, sand and pens without obtaining access to the owner's private papers inside the roll-top.

Perhaps the intrigue that later culminated in the French Revolution had something to do with this obsession with privacy. The extreme instance of the trouble taken to ensure privacy while dining was a mechanical table, which sank entirely through the floor between courses, being replenished by the servants in the kitchen below. However, they were very expensive to produce and the mechanism often broke down.

There were in fact tables for practically every purpose imaginable. One known as a "vuidepoche," French for “empty pockets was, as the name suggests, intended to take the contents of the pockets when emptied out at night before retiring. Men's pockets at the time were large and it was and it was not uncommon to carry several snuffboxes as well as other objects in them. The wine table or "servante", French for servant or serve was a small circular or oval table, which was placed beside each guest at dinner parties and, characteristic of the love of intimacy, were intended to ensure that lackeys could be dispensed with.

A close relative of these was the "gueridon" table, intended to support a candle or candelabra, and so named after a Moorish slave of Louis XlV. During this period candle stands were often made of wood carved in the form of a negro. Small oval or kidney-shaped tables were used for serving individual meals. Occasionally they were circular, perhaps to enable more than one person to eat at a time.

In France the dining table proper came into general use quite late on in the Louis XVl period; previously meals were served on portable trestle tables set up in a living room, covered with a tablecloth which came down to the floor all round. True dining tables only came into fashion about 1785 in direct imitation of English customs.

While on the subject of England, the popular Loo table has nothing whatever to do with the toilet, but gets its name from a card game that was called Waterloo. The other loo comes from the custom of long ago whereby slop buckets were emptied from the upper windows of the houses into the street below. Passers-by were warned of what to expect by a cry of "guardyloo", a corruption of the French phrase “guardez leau.” It translates to: “beware of the water!”

Cupboards mentioned in early inventories were not the doored structures we know today. In its original meaning "cup-board" was a table or shelf for displaying the family plate. The "chiffonier" as we know it today is usually a type of sideboard, though, as can be gathered from the name, it was originally intended to contain garments of chiffon and other light materials.

Back to England and the origin of the humble tea caddy. Tea was first tasted there in the early years of the Stuart regime, but not until the 1660's were its pleasures appreciated in the home. Tea leaves were very costly, the cheapest being around 10 shillings a pound, so the mistress of the house guarded them under lock and key in tea trunks, tea chests and caddies. Tea chests, lined with a foil of hard pewter containing no lead, held one and a third pounds of tea, equal in mass to the Malayan kati (about 605 gram) - hence the name tea caddy.

If you think you paid too much for the last antique piece you bought, consider this. In 1775, a chest of drawers made for the King of France and veneered with Holly and Kings wood cost in today's currency around $56000. By the way, the word veneer was originally fineer and comes from the French word "fornie" meaning to furnish.

If the world of antiques and their names is baffling to you, then don't feel bad about it because you're in good company. The famous poet Robert Southey said in a letter to a friend in 1802: "An upholder (upholsterer) just now advertises commodes, console-tables, ottomans and chiffoniers - what are these you ask? I asked the same question and could find no person in the house who could answer me, but they are all articles of the newest fashion." ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12993-The-Real-Object-of-Objet-d-Art https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12987-The-Age-of-Insanity-Begins Sat, 01 Jun 2013 17:14:07 GMT All statistics regarding Thermo-Nuclear Warfare have been accessed via the internet. The rest is all fiction from the pen of Jett Black. 2013... All statistics regarding Thermo-Nuclear Warfare have been accessed via the internet.

The rest is all fiction from the pen of Jett Black.

2013 – The face of the Arab World changes dramatically. Now the Arab League is forced to shift their attention from Israel, as the spotlight becomes focussed directly on the Middle East. Beginning with Egypt in 2011, young militant Arabs have now orchestrated the downfall of many other regimes in the area. The rest of the world looks on in concern when Iran, the last major power in the Muslim world to resist change, begins sabre rattling.

China becomes increasingly nervous and agitated as these events begin unfolding and is forced to violently put down militant activity themselves.

Iran meanwhile announces that there will be no further talks with the West as they blame them together with Israel for the unrest in the Arab world. They demand the withdrawal of all NATO troops from the region.

In response, NATO prepares to invade Iran so China and its allies, including Russia, warn America against this.

Then without warning, Israel takes out Iran’s nuclear facility in a “first strike.” The Muslim world and their allies are outraged when despite China’s warning, NATO invades and occupies Iran; the world is on the brink of what could be a nuclear war.

While the United Nations vainly struggles to get talks started to end the tension between East and West, a new Arab militant group emerges under the banner of the “Warriors of Allah” – W.O.A.

A spate of never before used deadly “dirty bombs” explode in all major western capitals. When the W.O.A claims responsibility for these attacks, a newly formed Right Wing American group called “Christ’s Holy Army of Saviours,” CHAOS, retaliates with similar bombings in Moscow & Beijing. The China/Russia/Arab/African alliance issues an ultimatum to NATO to withdraw from Iran or they will declare war.

2014. Submarine launched tactical nuclear weapons are used first before killer satellites take out intelligence satellites. Civilians are moved out of cities.

Nuclear weapons aboard satellites detonate in low earth orbit over the USA and its allies, making computers useless and destroying communication by generating electromagnetic pulses.

Ballistic missiles detonated over the USA produce fireballs of intense light and everything combustible within five miles ignites. Even from twelve miles, exposed skin receives second degree burns and shock waves flatten buildings within a five mile radius.

Incoming ICBMs reach US targets. 80,000 dead and 3,000,000 injured.
Hundreds of warheads are fired at targets and two thirds detonate successfully. This with a force about fifty times more than all the bombs and shells used in world War Two. About 4,000,000 killed so far in the USA.

Firestorms are raging across USA, Russia, China and Europe. Many dams have been destroyed and severe flooding occurs. Mushroom clouds darken the earth and temperatures drop. Acid rain begins to fall.

Eighty percent of the world’s industrial capacity is destroyed and toxic chemicals have been released into the atmosphere. 115,000,000 dead in the USA and 40,000,000 injured to date. Globally 475,000,000 have died.

The USA has 75,000 beds available in hospitals that are still up and running, but there are 20,000,000 severely injured people. 8,000,000 are badly burned but only 500 burn care beds survive.

Civil wars break out across the planet.

USA national and state government no longer exist. Survivors from Mexico pour into the US. Sixty percent of the USA population will die from radiation exposure within thirty days. The ozone layer is halved. 145,000,000 people dead in the USA. Epidemics spread among the survivors and crops are dying. 175,000,000 US dead. Worldwide deaths are 4,500,000,000.

The only heat during winter is from wood fires. In Japan 40,000,000 starve to death and their military invade Australia in search of food sources. Ninety five percent of USA is contaminated by fallout and Bubonic plague ravages the population, killing millions more.

World agriculture has collapsed bringing famine and those exposed to fallout are now dying of cancer. For many, many decades to come, areas that received fallout from strikes on nuclear power plants and above ground nuclear waste storage, will remain uninhabitable.

The nuclear age of insanity is over.

© Jett Black. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12987-The-Age-of-Insanity-Begins https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12985-The-Elves-on-My-Shelves Fri, 31 May 2013 17:45:24 GMT So anyway yesterday, or was it Tuesday? No I think it was Thursday, I was sitting at my desk and I was sort of day dreaming & like staring at a shelf to my right where I have sundry stuff I have collected over time.

So there’s this 1960s lamp sitting there and right beside it a clockwork tinplate baby bear wearing a diaper that sort of crawls about on paws & feet when you wind it up. Mostly they just hang around there doing nothing cos once you’ve seen the baby bear strut its stuff there’s very little else of interest about it. As for the lamp, its rather kitsch so I never switch it on.

So while I was looking their way, the following description/dialogue came to me. I thought I’d share it with you so that you could maybe check out how my eccentric mind works.

The lady has on an ankle length lead glazed skirt with a yellow key sticking out the back of her neck. He head is tilted to one side, her right arm held across her boobs and the left hand touching her belly just above her navel. A thin, black electrical wire leads from beneath her red, orange, black and mother of pearl skirt. There is a three prong plug attached to the end of it. She wears her heart on the front of her dress as well as a scarlet jacket and a thin black bow is tied around her neck. She has a prissy look about her.

“She’s only a lamp you know.” Miss Lombard whispered in my ear. “A pretty, leaded light, decorative lamp. See the electric cord and plug?”

“And not to mention the yellow key in the back of her neck.” I whispered back.

Miss Lombard had obviously educated herself in matters technical.

“A clockwork back up in case of a power failure.” She went on. “Or for use when she seeks to free herself from the restriction of the electric lead. Then she simply winds herself up.”

“I wonder if the cord is retractable.” Veronica asked in her sultry, kittenish, sex object voice.

“I think it would have to be,” Jane put in before either Miss Lombard or I could say anything, “otherwise it would be rather inconvenient dragging it behind when she was in clockwork mode.”

“My guess would be that both the electric cord and the plug would disappear beneath her dress.” Miss Lombard said with probably more conviction than she felt.

“At the moment she’s standing there motionless and quite silent.” I pointed out. “The lead is unplugged and lying behind her and she doesn’t appear to be in clockwork mode either.”

“Perhaps she isn’t turned on.” Jane said.

“Well Monty, Peck and Bacchus are close by,” Miss Lombard said, “and they’ve all done the same for me. On the other hand, perhaps they don’t want to turn her on. She’s not nearly as utterly fascinating as I am.”

“I wish I looked like her.” Veronica said sighing.

“Oh glamour isn’t everything.” I said to nobody in particular. “Especially after the first twenty years.”

A short distance from where Monty and his gang were, a golfer waited, enthralled by the beautiful, blue eyed Greta who sat on a rock playing the Pan pipes. The sweet sound seemed to kiss the grass. Greta stopped playing then shivered and tugged at her short dress, trying vainly to cover her knees.

“My back hurts.” I complained.

Miss Lombard elbowed Veronica and Jane. “Move along.” She snapped, “We’ve a bad lower back here.” ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12985-The-Elves-on-My-Shelves https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12982-From-Ghost-to-Host-The-Crossing Thu, 30 May 2013 18:16:46 GMT On Leaving and Arriving – For most of my adult life I have believed in reincarnation. This then is my impression of what hopefully might happen to... On Leaving and Arriving – For most of my adult life I have believed in reincarnation. This then is my impression of what hopefully might happen to us after we die. No living person can say with a modicum of certainty whether or not there is life after death.

Personally I hope this is so.

The First Ones arrived eons ago and they colonised earth. These are the gods written about by the ancients. This is what they taught about arriving and leaving.

On Leaving: This is what they had to say: If the leaving (death) is expected and peaceful, there will be ample time for you to linger among those gathered about your soon to be abandoned host (body.) This is a time of great sorrow for those who will remain and tears of grief will flow.

Men of science will argue long and hard about when death actually occurs; some saying it is when the brain no longer functions and others when the heart stops beating. Both are correct and both are incorrect. Death only occurs when the life force (soul) leaves its host and it does so when either the heart stops beating permanently, causing the host to begin to decay, or when the brain dies causing the life force to become dysfunctional.

So when either of these two occurs, the life force leaves its host. Now once this happens and the life force is disconnected from an operating brain, all memories of this last life are deleted. So even if your life force were to remain hovering above your inoperative host, it would not be able to recognise it or those gathered about it. In fact such an atmosphere of grief and mourning would be enough to quickly drive the life force from the scene.

On Arriving: All that exists now is a Chain of Worlds or a series of dimensions in which any life force without a host may remain for as long as it chooses. Some refer to these dimensions as links in the Chain of Worlds and it is in the first link that all life forces without a host find themselves for the first time. Here they are met by the Egregori (The Watchers) the Life Forces who for their own reasons have chosen not to reincarnate. They remain in the first link known as the “dimension without form” and offer advice and assistance to all newcomers when requested. They are often erroneously referred to as angels.

These Egregori approach the lost ones in much the same manner that people did when your life force had a form. Some openly, some shyly and some with smiles and gestures. They will if asked, direct you to any of the many different links in the so called spirit world – seven in all, but only six may be accessed. You may move about freely in the six links without hindrance and if you choose not to reincarnate and do not wish to be one of the Egregori, you may remain there forever, but always without form.

The seventh link or dimension is where the First Ones exist and you will only be able to visit this link if you are invited. Here you may speak with the First Ones on any subject of your choice, only nothing of what you see or hear will be remembered, simply because without a physical brain there can be no memory.

You may ask the Egregori about where you were before you arrived in the Chain of Worlds and you may watch every day of your previous life, if you have the time and the courage. Yet you will remember nothing – it will be like watching the life of a complete stranger. Boring! You can even watch your own funeral service and cremation or burial but again, it will make no sense to you.

You may travel anywhere between the sixth link, the oldest and the first as many times as you wish. However once you leave the “dimension without form,” and return to an inhabited planet, you must reincarnate as there is no turning back and no return to The Chain of Worlds.

So deciding to reincarnate and actually choosing a new host can be rather complicated. While our life force is within its host, in other words while we are alive, we often state: “In my next life I am going to make sure I am reincarnated into a very rich and famous family.” This of course is impossible simply because when you “die” your life force is no longer connected to a physical brain so you have no memory of your previous life.

All life forces, with a very few exception, have a burning desire to reincarnate into a form similar to the last one they occupied. This urges them on to seek out a host, without any thought of wealth or standing simply because they cannot tell the difference between rich or poor.

So when you choose to leave the link without form you may not return – you must either enter a new host and reincarnate or you remain without form for eternity.

© Jett Black 2013. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12982-From-Ghost-to-Host-The-Crossing https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12981-We-Live-In-An-Age-Lacking-In-Refinement Wed, 29 May 2013 18:57:36 GMT ... a coarse age, the age of cosmic harmony long, long gone and seldom remembered now. So last night I decided how I would like to spend the rest... ... a coarse age, the age of cosmic harmony long, long gone and seldom remembered now.

So last night I decided how I would like to spend the rest of my life. It came to me while I was lying in bed just before I fell asleep or perhaps I was asleep & it was all a dream.

I want to disappear … vanish. Sounds rather strange doesn’t it? When I say vanish I don’t mean like “whoosh!” in a puff of smoke, but rather: “We’re afraid Jett's whereabouts is unknown at this time.” That kind of “disappear.”

I firmly believe in the old French saying: “It is impossible to overdo luxury.” But the longer I stay among the glass & steel cliffs of the inner city, the more I lose my sense of wonder. The big city has become a “sea of shadows” where people are often untroubled by anything as inconvenient as scruples.

I’ve always wanted to live in an inaccessible place but I realise that is just a pipe dream. So I am going to find a small, quiet country town off the beaten track, a place that when its dark, the stars shine so bright they’re like fire from heaven. Some place where when you turn off the lights to go to sleep you can’t see your hand in front of your face. And when you hear a noise outside in the small hours, instead of reaching for the panic button on your remote, you turn over and go back to sleep because you know it’s only some wild critter snuffling around.

A town where when it rains, the sweet breath of the wind brings you the scent of the countryside instead of steaming tarmac & fetid drains blocked by plastic bags. Where strangers will pick you up at the roadside on a dark stormy evening, share their supper with you & insist you spend the night, and then drive you to the bus station after breakfast the next morning.

Perhaps a town where the only cell phone reception is up on a hill ten miles away so that people have to stand in one place while talking on a regular telephone. Where satellite dishes are only seen on the local radio station building & TV reception is so poor nobody even bothers to watch it. A little town whose radio station still broadcasts stories that kids listen to and who use their imagination to fill in the gaps. And the smallest structure in town is the jail & the largest the public library where I can find out everything I need to know without once clicking on a “search” icon.

I’d like to spend some time working with my hands for a change, something I have never done nor ever needed to do in my life. Maybe wear blue dungarees and do odd jobs, working for as long as I wanted, but always doing something for somebody in need or less fortunate than me. Perhaps dig a hole for them, help out at a store, wash a dog, mow a lawn, rake up leaves or better still, write them a poem! Maybe teach someone’s kids to appreciate the written word.

And when I was called in for lunch, I’d wash my hands & face under an old fashioned hand pump operated by some or other earthling. They could maybe repay me by cooking me a meal, giving me some fresh vegetables or a chicken that I could take home and cook myself.

Home? Hopefully it would be a small cottage or log cabin or maybe even a tent to begin with and I’d like to live just outside town among some trees near a lake. Then on the days I wasn’t helping folk, I could take my journal & a pen and walk in the woods or beside the lake. Seeing … not just looking … hearing … not just listening & writing about the heart beat of the countryside.

Perhaps fish or just snooze in the shade, where the anaesthetic scent of wild flowers & berries would assail my senses, making me so weary that I would feel the weight of each of my eyelids closing my eyes in peaceful slumber. In the evenings after supper I’d write until midnight & later, sipping wine that tasted like the tears of the full moon shining in the clear sky.

Saturday morning I’d walk into town and order one of Ma Bennett’s special breakfasts of fried eggs over easy, crisp farm bacon, sausage, and fried tomato, mushroom, toast and steaming black coffee, the aroma alone worth the price of the meal. Then on Saturday night there’d be a square dance in the town hall, with music provided by a band whose members go by the names of: “Charles Cannon, Don Delight, Scootles, Tattoo Eddie, Amy Arena & Booful.”

Just maybe, perhaps at one of these dances I’d ask a lady to dance with me. And she’d have wide set eyes of hyacinth blue & an alabaster smooth petal-like complexion. She’d tell me her name was Emma-Lee & that she was a soldier’s daughter. That she was a widow
& lived on a farm.

We’d walk outside breathing deeply of the magnolia scented night air and she’d teach me words new to my ears, like “combine-harvester, alfalfa & silage.” Later we’d sit on a rustic white painted bench in the moonlight holding hands, the world so quiet that the sound of our heartbeat deafened us. And I’d ask her if I could see her again and she’d whisper: “Yes … please.”

Sigh ... Perhaps it was only a dream. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12981-We-Live-In-An-Age-Lacking-In-Refinement https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12979-“Unlucky-Thirteen-No-Unlucky-Twenty-Six!” Tue, 28 May 2013 17:54:35 GMT Hollywood has always been a magnet, attracting thousands of wannabe film stars to its bright lights like so many suicidal moths. A glittering giant... Hollywood has always been a magnet, attracting thousands of wannabe film stars to its bright lights like so many suicidal moths. A glittering giant jar of oh so sweet honey, luring them like a swarm of ambitious, sugar starved bees. And that’s exactly what it was like in the 1920s.

The “war to end all wars” was over and America was hysterical with gaiety. “Bam wappa dam, its party time!” Women were so happy they flapped their arms like birds when they danced and in so doing gave birth to a name – “Flapper.” Life was good, cheeks were rouged and my dears, Flappers, “gasp”, even dyed their eyelashes!

Into this seething cauldron of decadence came a hauntingly beautiful teenager, one Clara Gordon Bow, later to become simply Clara Bow, the “It Girl.”

Imagine if you will the worst possible start to life that any child could possibly experience. Well what you’re probably imaging is infinitely better than what Clara went through during the first sixteen years of her life.

Sarah Gordon, Clara’s mother, was a hooker who by the way also suffered from epilepsy. Oh and did I mention that she was also as crazy as a ****house rat? Well she was and to make things even more interesting Robert Bow, her husband, a carpenter by trade, was also a few cards short of a full deck too. The charming couple lived in a filthy, ramshackle tenement in Brooklyn, New York.

So is it possible that one of the most famous, beloved and beautiful stars of the 1920s was born into this dysfunctional family? You betcha! In fact Sarah was apparently so happy when Clara was born on 29 July 1905, that she left the baby where she lay, presuming because she had not cried that she was dead. So imagine her mood when Clara’s maternal grandmother shook the infant who then woke up, very much alive.

Anyway, by the time Clara reached puberty, she was a very beautiful woman and her mother; well let’s rather call her Sarah because a mother she was not was now dangerously insane. One can only imagine how much Clara must have longed to escape this environment.

In 1921 she got her chance. Motion Picture magazine ran a “Fame and Fortune” competition which Clara won. First prize was a screen test and her first film “Beyond the Rainbow” was released in 1922. Unfortunately all the scenes in which she appeared were cut from the final production.

Sarah was slightly miffed that her daughter had disgraced the family by becoming an actress. I guess she had expected Clara to follow in her footsteps and become a whore. So to show exactly how upset she was, she decided to murder her daughter.

Clara awoke one night to find Sarah leaning over her with a large knife clutched in her hand. Curses, foiled! Anyway she made another thankfully unsuccessful attempt to kill Clara and this time she was shipped off to a lunatic asylum. Clara suffered from chronic insomnia for the rest of her life – I wonder why?

Within a few years Clara accomplished what many film stars fail to do in a lifetime. In 1927 at the age of only twenty two she acted in the first movie to win an Oscar for best picture and was Paramount’s biggest and brightest star. Clara lived and Clara loved, oh boy did Clara love to love and after what she had endured, who could blame her? She was the “It Girl” the darling of her time.

Unfortunately her rapid rise to stardom was followed by an even quicker fall from grace. Like many of today’s young stars, Clara was unable to handle fame and fortune. Scandal followed upon scandal, culminating in a court case during which her secretary, Daisy Devoe disclosed graphic details of Clara’s love life.

This, together with the advent of sound in movies and the Great Depression were the probable reasons why Paramount did not renew her contract. Although she later made two very forgettable movies, when she married cowboy actor Rex Bell on 4 December 1931, her career was to all intents and purposes over. At the tender age of twenty six Clara Bow went into hiding on her husband’s ranch.

They had two sons and Clara spent a great deal of time in sanatoriums after nervous breakdowns. She died in Culver City, California on 26 December 1965 of a heart attack.

By today’s standards Clara Bow was not a great actress, but she rose to fame during the Roaring Twenties. She was a beautiful, tragic woman, a film star with the ability to burst into tears on cue. What more could you ask from any flapper? ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12979-“Unlucky-Thirteen-No-Unlucky-Twenty-Six!” https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12978-Part-of-the-Reason-Why-I-m-an-Atheist Mon, 27 May 2013 18:14:06 GMT All that we are aware of (know) is about 14 billion years old. That, give or take a gazillion years or so, is the approximate age of the Universe,... All that we are aware of (know) is about 14 billion years old. That, give or take a gazillion years or so, is the approximate age of the Universe, which was so beautifully described thus, by a genius, the late Carl Sagan: “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”

According to those who study such things, earthlings “evolved” about 200,000 years ago and have inhabited the planet ever since. Egypt, Rome and Greece were the Super Powers of their time, with most of the rest of the planet being, with some exceptions in the east, what we would call today “third world.”

These ancient powers were indeed super, with the Egyptians in particular able to erect structures that the modern world would still struggle to replicate. So already, many thousands of years ago, certain earthlings had both the knowledge and the resources that enabled them to not only accurately cut, but also to move pieces of granite weighing between two and three tons.

And what I find amazing is that apart from the usual “spin” put out by successive kings about their greatness in battle and how beloved they were by their gods, nobody seemed much fussed by these extraordinary feats of engineering. I have yet to read an account from Ancient Egypt in which somebody writes:

“Wow! Today my team finally placed the capstone in place on top of the tallest structure yet built. The CEO still can’t believe the way my guys managed to haul-*** those massive blocks up that slippery slope. He says we set nearly 2.5 million of those mothers!” Or words to that effect.

Anyway, let me leave Egypt momentarily or I’ll be writing about it all day. So back to the now. Take for instance the time between the Wright Brothers first “flight” in 1903 and the late Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon … what was it? Sixty six years or so. Okay, so between the first appearance of earthlings on our planet and Orville and Wilbur’s epic breakthrough, some 200,000 years had gone by. But it took a mere sixty six years from the first flight for that famous “giant leap for mankind” to thrill the world.

Now that causes me to start thinking about time and evolution and knowledge. And I start doing the mathematics”

Age of Universe (rounded off) 14 Billion Years
Earthlings on the Planet for 200,000 Years
Earthlings First Flight 66 Years Ago
Earthlings First Space Flight 50 Years Ago

So we have been to the moon and back six times which is in total a distance of about five million miles. Our Universe is a big, big place … how big nobody knows. We don’t even know if ours is the only universe around. In some of the images NASA has, the light has taken billions of light years to reach earth. So six trips to our moon and back is like a hop and a skip in these terms. However, considering that we only left the ground for the first time fifty years before the first moon landing, we haven’t done too shabbily.

Now, supposing that in another part of the universe, intelligent life “evolved” one maybe two billion years before we did here on planet earth. And suppose they evolved at more or less the same pace that we did … then all things being equal, they could be a couple of billion years more advanced than us. This could mean that they are able to travel several billion miles further into space than we have done so far.

The Universe is vast and so with the sheer volume of galaxies and planets therein, it’s a racing certainty that such an intelligent life force exists. In fact there are most likely more than a gazillion of them still out there. Of course the very size of the Universe might also mean that the chances of a group of space travellers “stumbling” upon planet earth would be very slim. Or would it?

We have The Hubble Space Telescope which has enabled astronomers to not only find far away galaxies, but also suns, planets and moons and has transformed the way scientists look at our Universe. The furthest The Hubble Space Telescope has seen so far is about 10-15 billion light years away. Now light travels about 5,865,696,000,000 miles in a single year so if you add 9 more zeroes to the end of this to get one billion light years and another one for 10 billion light years, you’ll know how far Hubble can see.

Which could mean that a far more advanced race might have a space telescope far superior to Hubble … maybe a “Hubba, Hubba, Hubba Hubble” that can see a billion times further. Go on, you do the math to see how far into space this would be. This being so then they might be watching us and seeing us as clearly as we might see our own moon with the naked eye! Far out man!

I believe that a race of super-intelligent beings have already visited earth in the past. I am certain of this simply because the signs of their visitation are all there in eye witness accounts written by the ancients … accounts that have been read by a gazillion earthlings and are still being read to this day. Unfortunately these signs are not understood and accepted as such by the vast majority of them.

Had not all the world’s history and knowledge in the Royal Alexandrian Library not been lost, I am convinced that a detailed account of visits from space people would have been found there. Unfortunately these manuscripts are lost to us forever so that we are now saddled with an account of ancient history that has been foisted upon us by a church that denounced any scientific theory on the Universe as “dangerous to the faith.”

Even so, there are still writings about these visitors from space which make sense to the “enlightened” among us. Of course it is impossible to convince the majority of earthlings of this simply because, although about 55% of the world’s population is educated, our education systems teach from the books and writings I mentioned earlier.

So where are these eye witness accounts of alien visitations? Well for a start, the Christian bible is packed with references to them. And no, I’m not going to mention a single instance and this is why. Earthlings who believe in the biblical god and in the writings of the ancients that were later edited and compiled into book form by the church, are usually unable to “read between the lines” so to speak.

To the average “born again” or other Christian, if it’s in the bible its gospel. (No pun intended!) So when they read that some guy, women are mostly invisible in the bible, “ascended to heaven in a chariot and horses of fire” in their mind’s eye they picture a “Ben Hur” type roman chariot that’s on fire flying up into the sky.

Now I and other earthlings of a similar viewpoint read this and we look at it from another perspective. We go: “Okay, this description was no doubt written after the event that could have gone something like this …”

It’s a Sunday afternoon in Israel and two friends Shep, a sheep herder and Cy, a scribe are having a barbeque. Their wives Rachel and Hannah in inside the single story tent warming barley bread and making an olive, cheese and watercress salad. Outside Shep and Cy are standing around the fire grilling half a sheep and drinking wine.

Cy: “Hey Shep, you remember that chap Eli?
Shep: "Yeah … nice friendly guy. Never has much to say. He’s real friendly with those foreigners."
Cy: "The same. Well he’s gone you know. Taken.:
Shep: "Who took him? The cops?"
Cy: "No them … the foreigners. Some say they’re gods you know."
Shep: "So tell me, what happened?"
Cy: "I spoke to Josh at the market yesterday and he told me. You know him?"
Shep: "Yeah he’s married to fat Benji’s sister. Plays the ram’s horn at the club on Saturday night. Knows all the gossip. So what he say about Eli then?"
Cy: "Well they took Eli away in that big plate shaped flying thing … the silver one they came here with last year."
Shep: "Awesome man! The noisy thing that spits fire and smoke. So where’d they take Eli then?"
Cy: "Away … up there into the sky."
Shep: "Wow! Cool. Pour us some more wine before the women come outside …"

The next day Cy the scribe decides to write an account of what Shep told him last night. He had quite a bit of wine to drink but he thinks he can remember everything.

Cy goes: “And Shep said that Josh told him Eli was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot to live with the gods."

Personally I find this quite easy to believe, but then I just wrote it! Anyway, what we need to bear in mind is that the ancients knew little or nothing about our Universe. In fact the average pre-high school child today knows more about it than the wisest man who ever lived thousands of years ago did. So to anyone witnessing a space craft landing or taking off at that time, they would refer to it by the name of the only vehicle they knew … a chariot.

Unfortunately not many earthlings are able to accept this theory and o because “the bible says so … it is so.”

And here endeth the first lesson ... or words to that effect. ]]> Jett Black https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?12978-Part-of-the-Reason-Why-I-m-an-Atheist