Comments on: Post 801: Kill the Hallucinating Goldfish

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:47:52 +0000

@franksting: I cannot answer that question. However, have you ever seen me and Stephen Colbert in the same place at the same time? Or, same question, Princess Margaret?

By: franksting

franksting — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:25:56 +0000

Did Jon Stewart cog this article for his speech in Washington on the weekend?

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:34:18 +0000

@mpesce: All Hail Eris!

By: mpesce

mpesce — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:57:13 +0000

If you don’t see the Fnords, they can’t eat you. Don’t see the Fnords.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:09:21 +0000

@monstro23: You're right, I am confusing the levels of my metaphor there a bit. A human can be labelled "paranoid", though her cells are all working fine. And I guess a society can be paranoid even though the individuals comprising it are all sane. I think. I'm confused now. Maybe my metaphor needs more work. Eno did indeed mention that 801 was the number of generations of humans. According to notes in the lyrics article:

In Alvin Toffler's Future Shock (1975?) he posits that, since the dawn of modern man (Homo Sapiens) there have been about 800 generations of man: i.e. 800 average lifetimes. And we are the 801st.

Eno's lyrics also imply "we are the future generation". Eno is also quoted as saying:

I found out, long after I had written the song, that the number 801 means "Alpha and Omega" or "the first and the last" in the Cabala and that this entity is a circular concept... The number 801 (which, with all the rest of the chorus refrain, was plucked unaltered from my dream) has another meaning which I find interesting. In the Cabala, the twenty-two Tarot cards are arranged such that they rest on the paths between the Tree of Life. Each of the paths has a number, and each of the numbers corresponds to one of the cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The paths 801 describe a pyramid whose individual sides are STRENGTH, THE FOOL, and THE MAGICIAN.

In the Bible, Revelations 22 says (in the King James version):

13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Make of it what you will. I am not a biblical scholar, or even a Christian for that matter. And no, I don't think I had any particular lucidity there. I would love to hear your version of The Third Wheel though!

By: monstro23

monstro23 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:39:14 +0000

Whoops! I meant to add that I do endorse your conclusions and agree the Power of Nightmares is a very interesting prog. I wouldn’t have seen it if I’d had the TV off though…

By: monstro23

monstro23 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:36:42 +0000

Whilst it seems valid to observe that our local society displays some of the characteristics of amnesia, paranoia and schizophrenia, whether one can extrapolate this to the individual members of such seems questionable. Since these concepts are socially constructed in any case, one also has to ask whether a mentally ill society can reliably diagnose itself in any case — or do you contend that your post represents a flash of ‘lucidity’?

But I digress — I was intending to observe that (I dimly recall [ergo!]{t}) that Eno mentioned somewhere that the 801 referred to the 801st generation of humanity on earth. Consequently, when my group covered it our integrity compelled us to increment the chorus…

By: Stilgherrian · We have the used knickers!

Stilgherrian · We have the used knickers! — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:30:19 +0000

[...] having written a lengthy serious essay today, I know that regular readers will be thrilled to know that both pairs of used knickers are [...]

By: Stilgherrian · Any more Hallucinating Goldfish?

Stilgherrian · Any more Hallucinating Goldfish? — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:20:29 +0000

[...] ‹ Post 801: Kill the Hallucinating Goldfish [...]