To: yard_man who wrote (48664 ) 2/24/1999 2:47:00 PM From: Peter Singleton Read Replies (5) | Respond to of 132070
tip, I don't know why, but the past couple of days I've been reminded of that Arthur Clarke story, "The Five Billion Names of God" - I may have the author and the title wrong, but you get the idea. It's been a long time since I read it, but here goes ... A couple of English or American fellows were backpacking in the Himalayas, in the back country, way beyond television antennas and Nikes. In their trek, they came across a hidden monastery, and stopped in for a brief respite. In talking with the monks, they discovered the monastery had been founded hundreds of years ago, and the inhabitants had dedicated their lives over those centuries to their great goal, the writing out of all the possible names of God. They had calculated there were 5 billion names in all, and according to their records, their job was almost complete. The adventurers, rapt in the story, asked what would they do once their centuries-old task was done. And the monk replied, "when our job is done, God's work is done." After a night's rest, and another day's spent enjoying the austere beauty of the grounds and the surroundings, the two fellows set off on their trek the next evening. As they rode along the mountain trail, the man in the front mused about the curious devotion of those monks, over all those centuries ... and to think, how will those simple dedicated souls handle their disappointment when their great work comes to naught. Not hearing a reply, he turned around in his saddle, to see his companion, halted on the trail, gazing at the sky above, as the stars were quietly going out, one by one ... Have you guys been keeping up with the what's been going on? It's surreal. Really indisputable evidence our President is not only a sociopath, but a serial, sexual predator ... evidence suppressed, demeaned and derided by elite media organs such as the NYT. Stock market values way outside of historic peak values that have held an upper bound for at least the past hundred years. Evidence so clearly outlined on this thread and other places that the tech "boom" is a mirage ... and with that slender reed broken, only the surging economy left of the two legs of the stool which "justified" the market's rocket ride since last October ... with the invisible but real third leg the Fed's lighter fluid on the fire. This week's report by the Senate on Y2K. Interest rates are going up, at the same time the dollar is strengthening ... And no one's talking about this. It's like none of this is going on. It's mind-numbing, isn't it. <ng> Peter