Thursday, February 23, 2006

DR. OMED'S LATE NITE SERMONETTE: WHAT’S IN YOUR NICHE?   POTTERY MIHRAB, IRAN, 1229   Moslems have a word for it—“Qibla”—the direction to Mecca from any given location. For Moslems, Mecca, with the Qa’aba as the hub, is the axis mundi, the central pivot of the cosmos, on which Heaven and Earth turn. Thus, determining Qibla is of paramount importance to faithful practitioners of Islam; Moslems must face Mecca to properly perform the five daily prayers prescribed by the Prophet.   Mosques have a Quibla wall, with an empty niche in the center, called the Mihrab, which indicates the direction of Mecca, and therefore the way to turn when it’s time to pray. The Mihrab, the niche, is empty, because it is a cardinal sin to make an image—an idol—of Allah. Like Judaism, Islam is all about words, and Islamic culture tends to be very anti-iconic—iconoclastic in the original sense of the word—image breaking. As has been amply demonstrated recently, many Moslems frown on any images having to do with anything holy to Islam…make that snarl, and light fire to Danish Embassies in the case of infidels publishing not very funny cartoon images of Mohammed.   My house happens to have a niche that is the focus of our household devotions, but since we are atheist feminist idolators—blasphemers of the deepest dye—our niche is not empty.       Our infidel mihrab is in the little central hallway of our 1920s bungalow. I surmise that it was originally meant to hold a telephone, but, as you can see, we have filled it with ikons and tokens dedicated to the ancient goddess archetype.     Medusa candle to one side, Guadalupe votive to the other. That's a laminated poem Fiona sent me, leaning against the Guadalupe. The stone knife of sacrifice is laid before the image of the prehistoric Venus. The painted wooden egg, the "CHARTER MEMBER/OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL MOOD SWINGS" button, the dented harmonica, the golden slipper and the high heel shoe, the miniature typewriter, the archiac Artemis figure, the white shell, are all offerings of one sort or another—the current inventory. As you can see in the first picture, above the goddess hangs a framed mirror with "BON VIE" etched on the glass. Above the niche itself hangs a framed motto:     (A CENTRAL TENET OF THE SEVENTH ATHEIST AZTEC BAPTIST CREED.)   So, this is our Mihrab, our crowded niche in our Qibla wall, but what is the axis mundi it points toward? Not Mecca, or Jerusalem, nor Little Rock, I hope. Perhaps it is somewhere on the other side of the little mirror with "BON VIE" etched on it. I'm looking into it. What's in your niche? 11:07:36 PM    comment []

DR. OMED’S LATE NITE SERMONETTE: LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS (WHY THE HUMAN RACE CAN’T DO THE NUMBERS)   I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza.   Le superflu, chose tres necessaire—Voltaire*   Estimated number of people killed in the 9-11 attacks: 2,986 Average number of people killed in auto accidents in the United States per year: 42,000 Estimated number of people killed instantly in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945: 80,000 Estimated number of people dead from the after-effects of the Hiroshima bombing by 1950: 200,000 American soldiers killed (so far) in the invasion and occupation of Iraq: 2,280 American soldiers wounded (so far) in the invasion and occupation of Iraq: 16,653 Estimated number of Iraqis killed (so far) in the invasion and occupation of Iraq: 28,000 to 32,000 British soldiers killed and wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in WWI: 58,000 Estimated rate of species extinct per year: 50,000 The total human population of Earth projected to 02/23/06 at 03:39 GMT (EST+5): 6,499,416,902 Total increase in the human population of Earth since the day before yesterday (2/20): 621,648 Total killed in six natural disasters aka Acts of God (Southeast Asia tsunami; Sumatra earthquake; Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Stan mudslide in El Salvador; earthquake in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India; mudslide in the Philippines) occurring between 12/26/04 and 2/17/06: 491,120 Percent of total human population of Earth represented by the 491,120 aforesaid victims of Acts of God: 1 five thousandth of 1 percent Human population of Earth in 1918: 1,800,000,000 Estimated number of people dead in the 1918-1919 flu pandemic: Lowball: 20,000,000 Highball: 40,000,000 (1.1 to 2.2 percent of world population at the time) Number of people dead from AIDS since 1980: 25,000,000 (A much smaller fraction of the current world population)   If the H5N1 bird flu virus morphs into a form as virulent to humans as the virus that caused 1918 influenza pandemic, killing the same percentage of the current total world population, the number of dead flu victims would be approximately 71,500,000 to 143,000,00. At the current rate of population increase, that number would be replaced in less than a year in the case of the lowball number and in less than two years in the case of the highball number. As I said in Dick Jones’ comment box;   We are the Plague.   But, collectively, the human race can’t do—or face—the math. We’re past due for the herd to be thinned. Speaking entirely metaphorically (Okay, Dick?), the H5N1 virus is just a little something Mother Gaia has simmering in a petrie dish on the back burner. Disease, natural disasters and the effects of climate change are not killing us fast enough. We aren’t killing us fast enough. Only a real bastard of a cataclysm, perhaps combining several factors will provide the economy of scale required. After all, it takes four horsemen, according to Revelations. Supersize that Armageddon.   Our species, except for termites and ants, is, pound for pound, the largest, most wide spread terrestrial source of protein rich food on Earth. I don’t actually believe in the Gaia Hypothesis, but I do put some credence in the process of natural selection. The founder mutation that creates a bug that can eat us wholesale will likely be very successful. We are not privileged to sit at the top of the food chain and root, hog, root ‘til Jesus calls us home. We are all tomorrow’s food. Soylent Green is people.   My simulacrum of the facts, ma’am, just the facts; my heapin’ helpin’ of lies, damn lies, and statistics may not be tasty with fries and a shake; feel free to collect your own, more palatable set. But you have to able to count past one...two...many. I do not regard my assessment, such as it is, a counsel of despair. I certainly don’t think we can kill the biosphere; I think maybe we should stop trying so hard to do it. We can..will…have impoverished the diversity of the biosphere to the point of creating a major extinction event, like the Permian or Cretaceous extinctions. Life on earth has all always come back, even from the worst extinction events, but tell that to the trilobites and dinosaurs. I don’t even think the human race will go extinct, but our descendents will likely live in an impoverished material civilization and culture, unless we make some big changes, right now. There are things we can do every day to make the future better, and to save what we haven’t already lost. I love the smell of burning bridges in the morning.   *"The superfluous is very necessary."   Note: Dr. Omed would to thank Dick, Karen, and Meg for their inspiration. 1:16:26 AM    comment []