I think that beetle's a goner ..... oh yes ... but what are those birds ? Back in the mid 19th century "scientists" were very puzzled about where all those microorganisms they were discovering with their lovely new microscopes actually came from. Their main theory was ... they came from the dust ... they called it " spontaneous generation" ... and I suspect that it all stemmed from that biblical idea that we come from the dust and we return to dust. That Bible thingy held scientific progress back something rotten ! Anyhow, take a look at this ... it's from "The Intellectual Observer" way back in good old 1865...... it's all about what Louis Pasteur was up to .. or more accurately, one of his objectors, a certain Victor Meunier, who had got it all wrong .... Old Meunier is claiming that microorganisms DO spontaneously appear .... but Pasteur with his sealed flasks with boiled water in them has shown that they do not produce any life at all. We know who was right !! Meunier's Bible 0 Pasteur 8000 ! They could paint gorgeous pictures back then though ... here's another one from the same publication .... ..... .and here's the venerable volume from which they all came ... If you want to know the most likely way that life got going, there's nothing better than the first two chapters of "The Selfish Gene". Richard Dawkins has had to put up with a right battering, but he explains it all beautifully and clearly. And I strongly suspect he's right ! And now, a real " goosebump" Joanna Newsom song ... "Time as a Symptom" ... try to get used to her ... it's worth it .... Time passed hard
And the task was the hardest thing she'd ever do But she forgot The moment she saw you So it would seem to be true When cruel birth debases, we forget When cruel death debases We believe it erases all the rest that precedes But stand brave, life-liver Bleeding out your days In the river of time Stand brave Time moves both ways In the nullifying, defeating, negating, repeating Joy of life The nullifying, defeating, negating, repeating Joy of life The moment of your greatest joy sustains Not axe nor hammer Tumor, tremor Can take it away, and it remains It remains And it pains me to say, I was wrong Love is not a symptom of time Time is just a symptom of love (And the nullifying, defeating, negating, repeating Joy of life The nullifying, defeating, negating, repeating Joy of life) Hardly seen, hardly felt Deep down where your fight is waiting Down 'till the light in your eyes is fading Joy of life Where I know that you can yield, when it comes down to it Bow like the field when the combs through it Joy of life And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you With joy of life And in our perfect secret-keeping One ear of corn In silent, reaping Joy of life Joy Again, around–a pause, a sound–a song A way a lone a last a loved a long A cave, a grave, a day: arise, ascend (Areion, Rharian, go free and graze Amen) A shore, a tide, unmoored–a sight, abroad A dawn, unmarked, undone, undarked (a god) No time, no flock, no chime, no clock, no end White star, white ship nightjar, transmit, transcend White star, white ship–nightjar, transmit, transcend White star, white ship–nightjar, transmit, transcend White star, white ship–nightjar, transmit, trans
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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