(Above: A praying mantis in the morning of 9/3/2023. Un mantis religiosa en la mañana del 3/9/2023.)
9/3/2023: Today began in the high 60s and warmed into the high 80s. Mostly sunny.
9/4/2023: Today began in the high 60s and warmed into the high 80s. Very sunny and quite dry.
9/5/2023: Today began in the mid-60s and warmed into the high 80s. Hazy sky, mostly sunny.
9/6/2023: Today began in the mid 60s and warmed into the low 90s. Sunny.
9/7/2023: Today began in the high 60s and warmed into the low 90s. Mostly sunny. Nearby thunderstorms in the evening.
9/8/2023: Today began in the low 70s and warmed into the mid 80s. Midday showers kept temperature in the 70s and 80s.
9/9/2023: Today began in the mid 60s and warmed into the high 80s. Partly cloudy.
Final Note:Part 2 of 3 of an ongoing conversation between Court Alchemist Auriel and Philosopher & Satirist Raswald Streeph.
“You know, Raz, I think we were wrong.”
“I think we’ve been wrong about a great many things, Aury. It reminds me of that Tilling Land braintickler. You know… that one about the farmer and his cow?”
“I don’t.”
“Ah, it’s a good one. Short, too. There once was a farmer and cow living on the shores of Dundy. That cow was a proper pain in the arse because she’d only come to the barn when there was to be one of them summertime spéirlings. As a matter of fact, that was the only reason the farmer kept her around rather than sending her to market. She’d saved him a great deal o’ damage and trouble, because whenever she came running, he’d know: a storm was headed and it was time batten the hatches.”
“So this farmer… He was living on a boat?”
“It’s a figure of speech. Means—”
“I know, Raz, I know. Twenty three roundings and he still can’t tell if I’m serious.”
“My ma and pa were bemused by one another on the daily when they’d been bound forty-nine.”
“Gods…”
“Right? Well, one day, the cow came running, and the farmer and the village folk all got ready. They put their belongings in their well-built houses, they locked the shutters, they barred the doors, and they waited. And they waited. And they waited still more, but no storm came. Eventually, that frustrated farmer announced that the cow must have been wrong. There was a great deal of grumbling, but he released his cow back to the pasture, and the entire town returned to normalcy.”
“…Is that it?”
“It is.”
“Really?”
“What do you want me to say? A storm showed up two days later and wiped the town off the map?”
“It would be a mite more interesting, and the riddle would not change in the slightest.”
“AH, so you’ve divined the tickler without my telling, have you?”
“Simple. Who was the most wrong? The cow… or the farmer who not only believed that the cow could predict the weather but, too, believed she could do so with perfect accuracy? Simple arithmetic speaks in favor of the beast. But now I’d like to know what that story has to do with us.”
“Well, you’ve already gone and solved the hard part, so why don’t you tell me?”
“Because I want to hear it in your words, Raz.”
“Hmph, very well. Greater propensity for thought brings about greater propensity for error. Thus, when it comes to more thoughtful individuals like you and I who are, how do you say… ‘on-in-our-years’… I’m of the belief that we’ve generated a number of errors far greater than all those inspired by that cow in the Dundian village. Which, now that I think of it, you were about to heap another on top?”
– former Court Alchemist Auriel and Philosopher & Satirist Raswald Streeph on the inviolable ratio of thought to error
1 thought on “Week of September 3, 2023 – A morning mantis, the silver glen, and the inviolable ratio of thought to error.”
Padre
Another week gone by, you sure seem to fit a lot in… enjoyed the pictures and the ‘though ratio’
Another week gone by, you sure seem to fit a lot in… enjoyed the pictures and the ‘though ratio’