/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ "Semarak Api" The 88th Firebirds Official Newsletter Website: http://ftp.sarawak.com.my/org/firebirds/ Volume Seven, 1 January 1998 Part B /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ PART B: >From the Quill Pen Musings of A Guylian-Eating Officer Addresses and Sites /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ <^><^><^><^><^><^><^> >From the Quill Pen <^><^><^><^><^><^><^> You know you're obssesed with SAAB.... by Peregrine ................when your interests perk up after you find out about your neighbour's 28-year-old-as-yet-unmarried son being called Tai (whom you haven't heard of nor seen for all the 3 years they've lived in your neighbourhood) *I swear!* .........when you automatically savour the 12 strawberries you bought from Yaohan because you worry about rationing. ...........when you immediately want to correct the CNN anchor for calling the head of the UN Kofi Anan when it should be Diane Hayden. And now I shall crawl back from whence I came. *three strawberries left* Perry, whose face you will find in the Oxford Dictionary under the term OBSSESSIVE <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Musings of A Guylian-Eating Officer <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Contributed by Lt. Peregrine.... THOUGHT: "Now it was not an assault on reason. That's been much misinterpreted. It was an assault on hyper-rationalizations, you know, this fake science, fake cover-up, quasi-logical reasoning. The best example might be the inadequate science of the nuclear era. Although, like the sorcerer's apprentice, [scientists] were able to conjure up the power of the bomb, they weren't able to take care of the detritus and the waste products of the bomb. They still have not been able to. It's a half-assed science. It's not a real science.... The sciences that we were interested in, or arts, particularly from the mid-'40s, were some breakthroughs of consciousness or new consciousness--let's say a spiritual revolution that took form in changes in the literary method, bringing up the old literary forms and the release of a new energy." --Ginsberg on Beat Poetry and The 50's-- __________________________________________________________ n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity. The student of history who has not been taught to expect the unexpected may justly boast himself inaccessible to the light. "In time of peace prepare for war" has a deeper meaning than is commonly discerned; it means, not merely that all things earthly have an end -- that change is the one immutable and eternal law -- but that the soil of peace is thickly sown with the seeds of war and singularly suited to their germination and growth. It was when Kubla Khan had decreed his "stately pleasure dome" -- when, that is to say, there were peace and fat feasting in Xanadu -- that he "heard from afar, Ancestral voices prophesying war." One of the greatest of poets, Coleridge was one of the wisest of men, and it was not for nothing that he read us this parable. Let us have a little less of "hands across the sea," and a little more of that elemental distrust that is the security of nations. War loves to come like a thief in the night; professions of eternal amity provide the night. --Ambrose Bierce on WAR, The Devil's Dictionary-- __________________________________________________________ All truth wait in all things, they neither hasten their delivery nor resist it. --Walt Whitman, Song of Myself-- VERSE: What care I, so they stand the same, - Things of the heavenly mind, - How long the power to give them name tarries yet behind? Thus far to-day your favors reach, O fair, appeasing presences! Ye taught my lips a single speech, A thousand silences. Space grants beyond his fated road No inch to the god of day; And copious language still bestowed, One word, no more, to say. --R.W. Emerson, "Merops"-- __________________________________________________________ When illusion spin her net I'm never where I want to be And liberty she pirouette When I think that I am free Watched by empty silhouettes Who close their eyes but still can see No one taught them etiquette I will show another me Today I don't need a replacement I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant My heart going boom boom boom "Hey" I said "You can keep my things, they've come to take me home." --Solsbury Hill, Sarah Maclachlan-- __________________________________________________________ Once again my sweetheart found me in town I was hiding from love's rapture I was escaping from the tavern but soon I was found What's the use of running no soul can escape no use hiding I've been found a hundred times I thought I could hide in a crowded city how can I when I was found among my own crowded secrets Now I celebrate with joy now I'm happy with my luck just because no matter how hard I hide I am found How can I hide when all over the marks spotting the path of my bleeding hunted heart And finally my beloved handed me as I was found the cup of wine that washes away all the worries and unhappiness of the world --Nader Khalili, Rumi, ghazal number 330, translated January 12, 1992-- __________________________________________________________ Me debunk an American myth? And take my life in my hands Where the great plains begin At the Hundredth Meridian... Left alone to get gigantic Hard, huge and haunted A generation so much dumber than its parrents Came crashing through the window... If I die promise me promise me They bury me someplace I dont want to be You dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously Away from swollen city breeze garbage bag trees Whispers of disease and acts of enormity And lower me slowly and properly Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy At the Hundredth Meridian, where the Great Plains begin. --The Tragically Hip, At The Hundredth Meridian-- __________________________________________________________ Of great limbs gone to chaos A great face turned to night- Why bend above a shapeless shroud Seeking in such archaic cloud Sight of strong lords and light?... In cloud of clay so cast to heaven What shape shall man discren? These lords may light the mystery Of mastery and victory And these ride high in history But these shall not return... --GK Chesterton, Ballad of the White Horse-- QUOTE: "The point of all this is EXACTLY the point." --Allen Ginsberg on the 'purpose' of literary pursuits and criticism.-- __________________________________________________________ Odysseus: What are you doing, Athena? Do not call him out. Athena: Hold your peace! Do not earn a reputation for cowardice! Odysseus: No, by the gods, let it content you that he stay inside. Athena: What is the danger? Was he not a man before? Odysseus: Yes, a man hostile to me in the past, and especially now. Athena: And is not the sweetest mockery the mockery of enemies? --Sophocles, Ajax-- __________________________________________________________ Tulugak tore his beak from his face, giving birth to man. Man used up everything the Raven had created, so he came back to earth and said, "Man you shall strike down the door of the first house you see, and put an end to every soul! Do away with the young, the strong, the old and the weak. Then do away with yourself. In time I will come back--" --James Morrison, Idle Wheels-- __________________________________________________________ Japanese : Dattara, hitotsu dake chuukoko ga aru. Shinu hodo itai zo.. English: Then I have just one piece of advice for you. Dying hurts like hell... --Hiro Yuy-- PHRASE: French: Faire sans dire English: To do; not to say Latin: Sat cito; si sat bene English: Soon enough done if well enough done French: Pour y parvenir English: To attain the object; Mission accomplished! FUNNEE: "My school motto was "Monsanto incorpori glorius maxima copia" which in Latin means "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping". --Robin Williams-- A gossip talks about others, a bore talks about himself and a brilliant conversationallist talks about you! --Anon-- Snarky Police Officer: What are you grinning at? Owaru Ryudo: This is my first interrogation. Will you wear me down by telling me how my family is suffering? --Sohryuden-- Nijikawa: I never thought you'd join the army. Sarge Mizuchi: I just like guns. Running around, scaring defenseless people. I love it! --Sohryuden:LOFK-- Random woman on street: (responding to a reporter's questions on the Dragon in Tokyo) Dragon's belong on bowls of Chinese noodles. Nowhere else. --Sohryuden:LOFK-- Tsuzuku: Name's Tsuzuku. I'm the pacifist in the family.Nice to meet you. --Sohryuden-- "I knew I would regret doing that someday." "What Bones?" "Connecting Spock's vocal cords." --Dr McCoy and Captain Kirk, Star Trek, 'Spock's Brain'-- <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Addresses and Sites <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Private Crow, one of the squadron members, now has a webpage of his own! Check it out at: This site has "kewl military sounds": __________________________________________________________ The newsletter will be posted every fortnight (hopefully). For suggestions and contributions to both the newsletter and mailing list e-mail Garuda . I will forward any message intended for the whole squadron to the mailing list. If you want your message to be seen by the whole squadron, state it clearly and I will put it up on the Bulletin Board column as well. I am also responsible for Communications, so e-mail me if you have any other problems, except those concerning your membership in the 88th, as that falls under Peregrine's wing. /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ CONTINUES IN PART C -- Gathering reports