Bumpy

The old man smiled and offered a hand which did not shake despite the liver spotted parchment which passed for skin and the thin whisps of snow which were all that remained of the red gold mane of his youth. "At your service, oh priestess of Justitia!" The words were spoken with the calm self possession of one accustomed to the adulation of an adoring populace; despite the raging riots and the fires of anarchy which, even now, swept through his nation, he offered the hand of friendship as if it were he, and not she, who was now in a position to graciously bestow the gift of friendship. "In my youth," he began, smiling, "I might have led the Grey Knights to the Alter of Justitia." He paused, long enough to grin, "and in my prime, I might have led the Queen and Knights of the OBR to make fast and build well, the walls and defenses of the Justitian sanctuary." He paused, briefly, as he slowly drew himself upright and eased his aching back after a bow which had been uncomfortably deep, uncomfortable indeed; not, as some might imagine, because his once proud nation lay writhing in the agonies of now certain destruction... no, the discomfort was purely physical. As he straightened, he looked into the lady's eyes and smiled. The mischievous sparkle in his eye shone clearly despite the stoic winces of an ancient ruler with troublesome wounds, most long healed (for well or for ill) but some, the most recent, had clearly been too deep and promised to be fatal. "Alas the path to the Temple of Justitia lay hidden before me until now. Now, at the bloody end of an overlong life, a life lived in the vain pursuit of Justice, I behold the Holy Gateway, open before me as if in a dream; a shining beacon of Justice rising above the billowing smoke of a million fires now blackening the Bumpivanian sky." He laughed then, quietly at first. "Odd," he thought, madness and mania held at bay by will alone, "Who would have foretold such irony?" He offered a sad smile, his deep blue eyes as disarming as the offer of a frog from a small boy; "Wouldst thou carry my prayers, sister? I am unworthy to enter the temple of Justitia."

Sooo, as I read what you've written, deja has no need to comment intelligently to demonstrate reading comprehension; it would seem that you offer proof of deja's reading comprehension and ability to articulate an intelligent comment about the doctrine being discussed in the form of ambiguous and vague prognostications with dire implications of the dreadful results to be expected if the doctrine in question were to be permitted to influence public perception. Clearly, one's claimed ability to read and comprehend is subject to review and re-evaluation. The doctrine is sound and the discussion is anything but theoretical; since the discussion is actual, not theoretical, and since your comments betray the ignorance you so vehemently deny, I am forced to conclude that your balls are bigger than your brains, perhaps this condition is contributing to the intense discomfort inflicted upon this community by your as yet un-ameliorated cranio-rectal inversion; I for one look forward to that satisfying *POP* which is sure to reward any effort to pull your ears past your sphincter and listen, one your ears are open, the *pop* of relief is rarely long in coming. Regards, B

Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983) I personally see rudeness as a sure sign of overcompensation for something, most often, anecdotally, of course, the speaker's own perception of weakness and relative insignificance, Space Ranger... um... Galactic Warrior?.... Star Pilot? whatever..... the interjection of disparaging comments are intended to elevate himself above the OP, a man whose impact on this world is recognized, even and perhaps especially by his detractors, as incalculably vast. To offer insult to such a man as The Lord of Stromholde, while flying any alliance flag, whether or not declared to be 'personal opinion which may or may not have any relation to any 'Official Organization, Alliance, Consortium, Collective, Junta, club, faction to which I might or might not; be, have been, or intend to acknowledge ever having met, seen or known about or been a member of.....is to embody the foolhardiness, hotheadedness, and impulsiveness indicative of those destined to lead short turbulent lives.

/me smiles and waves to Chron. Yes, it's me; Bumpy of Bumpivania; Scourge of Eureka, Founder of the Grey Council, the very root of the Order of The Black Rose. I am now an itinerant Parthian, content, for the most part, to walk away. I suppose there's no use denying verbosity; well known for waxing loquacious, I rather enjoy the flavors imparted by just the 'right' choice of words; so much so that I am moved to comment that verbiage of the Moldavi Doctrine evokes a broad pallet of sensory glee as a cornucopia of delight cascades from the eloquence of part IV rather like a tart candied apple whose tang breaks through the hard candy shell; yes, candied apples with hints of candyfloss and clowns.

It's easier to be inconsequential if one does nothing of consequence. It's not easy to do things of consequence. Doing things of consequence requires boldness. Boldness may be seen as confidence Confidence inspires boldness. Competence inspires confidence. Confidence, competence and capability bring the boldness of those who achieve greatness Achieving great things requires more than brilliance and boldness, it requires patience and perseverance as well as an accurate sense of one's place in the greater scheme of things. Those who act boldly without a basis for confidence are fools or wish to be seen as such. This document is an object lesson to the cyberverse from one who has done great things, it should be appreciated as such. EDIT: Moser points to Faust, 214-30, as the passage paraphrased by Anster: (German Text snipped) Katja Moser also identifies the author of the lengthier passage being attributed to Goethe and, in doing so, reveals its connection with John Anster's inventive paraphrase. She writes: "The quote as you give it in a larger context seems to be from W. H. Murray in The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951. There the text apparently goes: 'But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money--booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!' So, did Goethe say it? Not really. Thank you, Katja Moser, for the discovery! Meredith Lee University of California, Irvine

There is an ugly mood in the Chia barn tonight, and some of them were overheard talking about vengeance; someone said the Chia were overheard trying to order 5000 gallons of roundup and a crop dusting plane......

*Bumpivanian bumpage. And a shout out to the GC!

No surprises there. The lady is so far above the tl:dr crowd that she might as well be speaking a completely different language....See? she's using actual English!

HA! It's art! Pure art! But then, the world is ever blind to true art; after all Picasso paid for dinner by sketching some crap on a napkin and Hitler got booted from art school. http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/picasso_pablo.html http://quazen.com/arts/art-history/10-pain...y-adolf-hitler/

**Smiles and waves. Hi Jim, iirc you both have my number and both have declined to make use of that information. In point of fact that information is (or was) available to any with Round Table access. I find it telling that only Sir Winslow, Dame Themis, and a few curious and/or nervous enquirers from BW & RoTR have made the minimal effort to ask "wtf?" when I deleted myself from the OBR boards and changed AA. Still, I do understand; it's been abundantly clear for a long while that I am something of an anachronism among anachronisms and, for well or ill, the essential character of the OBR has evolved; it is long since past time I left that process alone. Like the GC from which it grew, the OBR will remain a source of pleasant reminiscence largely unsullied by unpleasantness with the notable exception of Experimentian machinations and treachery. I'm not at all surprised that the tl:dr crowd continues to drink the kool aid, but I'm more than a tad disappointed to see people whose intellect I have come to respect stand to defend the indefensible. Ah well, you guys will do fine and I sincerely wish you well, especially with Dame Themis and Sir Winslow carrying on in the finer traditions of The Order. **grins @ Freelancer. Heavens to Mergatroid! I know my opponent far better than you may think; I've know the man for years and spent what seems in retrospect to have been hundreds of hours on the telephone (oops! no logs. ) discussing alliances, individuals, strategies, tactics etc. I feel reasonably confident that I've come to know the man behind the legend of Ex well enough to smile as I ask him if he sincerely knows in his heart that it is a good day to die. While I must confess that HAD I hoped to draw you into the discussion and ascertain your reasons for joining the Experimentian conga line I hardly consider you an opponent. Regardless, I believe I shall extend you the courtesy of NOT publicly disclosing what he told me about you.

I've little interest, actually; you're clearly not averse to spouting off about things that do not concern you, even obliquely.. you leap to defend a demonstrated traitor.. and pretend to knowledge you could not possibly posses. Why, pray tell, would I be remotely interested in knowing any more? Clearly, your sources are suspect at best and deliberately malignant at worst; in either case, YOU have yet to inspire more than minor annoyance; The erstwhile Knight on the other hand has earned and is deserving of my full attention. Wishing you a wonderful day and sincerely hoping that you aren't as easily led as you seem to be.

Awwww, Get a clue, please? Treacherous scumbags get exactly what they deserve, as do misguided fools who obviously have no idea what they stand to support. Check your facts; you obviously know nothing except what he and Freelancer tell you.

I SAID.. "the best and brightest". Ah monsieur strapp. I wish you luck with that. I gather that as Ex's newest attack dog your roll is to stand up to defend the endless revisions and ramblings of an agent provocateur with such a distorted view of history? You see, there was once a time when I too trusted him. As to damage control? no damage to me; I left the OBR when the internecine strife engendered by a sad man with no actual life set about the willful destruction of the OBR because his GF dumped him. Poor boy simply lost it, went 'round the bend' and now seeks to salvage SOME sense of self worth in the virtual world to which he has sacrificed any hope of an actual life. These pointless postings serve no purpose but to elicit a response, ANY response, from those who once called him friend. Threads, misinformation, spin, skew and revision after revision from Ex are the ONLY reason I retain a nation at all; he's kinda like a train wreck, fascinating in much the same way as the disfigured denizens of a sideshow draw the eye. You know how it goes... mom says "don't stare at the crippled kids, it's not polite" BTW, any nation small enough to actually smite the scumbag will have earned the rewards which will be forthcoming.

Pathetic. Every word of every text based electronic communication with anyone by any medium in any way related to CN in the last three years routinely logged, stored, cataloged, cross referenced, indexed, correlated, extrapolated, interpreted, spun, skewed, and spread to advance whatever agenda served to satisfy the unbounded ambitions of the erstwhile Sir. Were the same diligence applied to business he would, no doubt, be a millionaire several times over. There HAVE been brief interludes of relative sanity during which his own recognition of his obsessive addiction to CN has caused him to self delete, each time swearing never to return and each time re-creating the same nation with the same president. Since the days of The Entente, the former knight has sought to cultivate "OOC" relationships with the best and brightest, and I'm fairly certain that the same best and brightest have re-evaluated the level of trust to be afforded the poor boy. The sad simple fact is, that thanks to his own rather public psychological derangement, nobody is likely to actually trust him again. Also, Hello