The words we speak are stones cast into the pond of reality, where they set off ripples of meaning spreading outward in search of a receptive shore. Would you have them be dead things, crushed beneath the weight of an indifferent silence? Or do you imagine every utterance you create to be something eternal—a wave of sound that races outward to change everything in its path throughout the universe?

Begin with the word, extend it into sentences with a physical dimension, an excitation if you like, a cognitive component that we call meaning, and an affective nature that represents intention. The terms with which you express yourself in speech and in print thus have form and a will of their own, the spin of their creator, which seeks equilibrium by altering the world in search of a resting state.

So on the one hand, we have monestaries filled with chanting monks, their tantras working like overwhelmed doctors in a trauma ward, each breath counteracting the negative arcs of unenlightened consciousness, and on the other side we have an endless torrent of electronic anger, coursing through copper cable and fiber-optic bands engirdling the globe, constricting the source of life with blind heated passion that mistakes agreement for affection.

All of the plusses and minuses of the equation of intention eventually cancel each other out and ultimately leave nothing behind except the laughter of an ironic god who leans forward on giggling elbows to ask, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

The Milgram Effect

Take a look at this interview with a former enforcer of the Fedayeen Saddam, a special security force controlled by Odai Hussein. The 26-year-old Ali demonstrates a typical day on the job:

He put his hands behind his back to simulate being bound, then leaned his head back and closed his eyes as if blindfolded. A friend stepped behind him to hold his head, taking on the role of one of the enforcers. Then another would force open the victim's mouth, Ali said, and a third would yank the tongue out with pliers and slice it off with a surgical knife or an army blade.

The School for Scandal

Where Richard Sheridan's play was a biting satire on the mores of 18th Century British society, the Beverly Hills High School Website schoolscandals.com is directed at punishing and humiliating teenagers who dared all by failing to conform. An LA Times investigation, which labels the bulletin-board antics of these juvenile Sneerwells and Backbites as Cyber Bullying, cites a typical example, where "a posting in the Frost Middle School chat room describes a student as a 'homosexual with a pigeon-like face and a penguin-like body.'" The parents of the victims are distraught and furious:

"These adolescents are pretty fragile. They are vulnerable," said the mother, who asked that her name not be used to avoid giving her child more public attention. "Kids said terrible things about him. It was just hurtful."

Fake ass moderator,
Since Bitches always get a rise out you,
Haters Like My behavior,
Rape the Bitch in you,
And then you'll come out the Closet later
So how can you possibly say you're,
An elite MC able to bring an unlikely defeat to me?
Beat it dweeb, Like the meat you cleave,
Couldn't Sweep-A-Match if you was a wrestler for WWE
So this Dick will disappear with ease like you giving words to roam,
Bitch, Ya One-Neck-A-Head
Thinking you can Run-With-A-Vet,
When you're more like a fat ass Quadraplegic-With-A-Playful-Pet
You took position, To Keep-Up-Your-Rep,
But these Bars will continue to Rip-Up-Your-Chest
Keep on thinkin your the best,
And come to find out I'll put Velcro on the seams of ya "S"
People listen to your rhymes suck,
Whining fuck,
"It's All Fun&Games" Until I go and put my rhyme up

The Worst Thing

That what comes to mind when you read this headline: Back-up chute fails during 180 mph plunge — Skydivers fight for lives during rapid plunge. Always great to read about people surving a parachuting accident. Big props from the Raven to instructor Stephen Rafferty and client Cathy Smith for staying calm and cheating the Reaper.

Techno-Watch

Keep your eyes on this story: N.J. Schools Testing Eye Recognition. Turns out that New Jersey's Plumsted school district has elected to be the guinea pig for retinal scanning security checks. Coming soon to an airport near you.

The iris scanning technology will be used to identify employees and those authorized to pick up children in the 1,800-student district. Anyone else will have to show ID before being allowed in. Students themselves will never been screened.

The Sex Freaks

We've been tracking these three bizarre stories, and following the progress of the accused. Figured maybe you've been curious, too:

Man convicted of manslaughter in death of man he met over the Internet. Turns out that the "True Master" of St. Paul only got a manslaughter conviction for the bondage death of his partner. The judge took Steven Bailey's attempts to revive Maceo Brodnax as a good-faith indication in the freak "gas mask" fatality. Pays to play safe.

Guilty plea in rape of mentally disabled Georgia girl. This is that case of the 20 guys who assaulted the 13-year-old girl in Marietta, GA. As you'll recall, during the day-long ordeal, one of the assailants ordered a pizza. The AJC has an update this morning, reporting that a second defendant has opted to plea bargain, too, in exchange for reduced charges. I wish all these guys would get the death penalty.

Lastly, in our on-going look at the John Jamelske weirdness: Man accused of rape says sex was consensual. Oh yeah?

Jamelske was arrested April 8 when he got out of his car with the teen at a Dodge dealership. At the dealership, the teenager ran to a police vehicle, police said.

Word.

12:22:20 PM