FliegendeWolf

Hi everyone, So...I just got back from Germany and, judging from the 80000 new posts in The Bonfire, I don't think I missed too much... Seriously, how have you all been? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Okay, no other takers then. The book is Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus, trans. John E. Woods (New York: Vintage International, 1997), 318. Mann was a German novelist. He wrote this book in 1947 regarding Germany's state in the world in the first half of the Twentieth century. By adopting the legend of Faust, he creates an allegory in which Germany sells its soul to the devil. The citation struck me because I have heard so much rhetoric about the Iraq war that sounds exactly like that. That "we had been forced into war," that "our sole defense was our own great might--or better, our ability to carry war immediately onto other people's soil" and that "the nations out there might condiser us disturbers of peace and justice, intolerable enemies of life--we had the means to bang the world over the head until it formed another opinion of us, and not only admired us, but loved us as well." I guess my immediate feeling about this is that the human tendency to demonize one's enemies by believing them to be "inhuman," "monsters," or "animals," to name a few, is an attempt to hide from the fact that, as human beings, we have the same propensity for good and evil as any other human being, whether we like to pretend so or not. Insert Abu Ghraib here. Bottom line, I find it striking that a German novelist, who himself is writing critically about Germany's history last century, should speak in the same terms about their history as we do our own. And that our own knowledge of history allows us to see how misguided Germany's perspective on its history was should remind us that we are just as human and just as fallible. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

My feeling on this whole thing is: this guy develops what seems to be an unstoppable, bulletproof, explosive proof vehicle, and he shoots himself at the end? Christ, he should have patented the damn thing and sold them to the military! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Well, I was hoping to get a few more guesses first. Any other takers? So, no, it's not Caesar. Good guess, though. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

I was doing some reading today and came upon the following quotation. It must say it left me with a sense of deja vu. Two bits to the first person to come up with the author/book. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Who would I pick? I would pick #1: Anybody but Bush or Kerry. . . . Wait a minute, did I misunderstand the question? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

I made my first skydive there as well, although I was living in Michigan at the time and did my AFF there. They did not have the PPP when I was there, though. It was an ordinary Caravan that I jumped out of. I did recognize your rig and jumpsuit, though. So a hearty welcome to the skies! And have a malted shake for me over at the Utopia Diner. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

CLICKY! Nice job. Where was your jump, by the way? Was that Greensburg? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Boy, such unmitigated anger coming out of this thread... A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

During Scott Miller's canopy control course on Friday, we were supposed to practice flaring about ten times before coming in for our approach. I was so busy focusing on the flares, that I wasn't paying any attention to where I was or where I was heading. Long story short, I was facing downwind, and by the time I started noticing this, it was 1500 feet, and I was way downwind of the landing area. Luckily, I managed to turn my pattern into one long final approach and made it just fine, but boy did I feel stupid. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Scott Miller today. Monday's landing suggested I really need it! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Well, rape is never about sex, per se, it's about power. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Thought my reserve died. Paraflite made a mistake! Someone else's chute. Now I need not take the year off from skydiving. Since I have a rig. There's no way I could have afforded to purchase another reserve. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

So I got home from work today and there was a voicemail...Paraflite called to tell me that they made a mistake, and that the lemon reserve was in fact somebody else's, and that mine came in today, he looked it over, and determined that it's in perfectly good condition! WHOOOO-FUCKING-HOOOOOOOO!

Not unlike Mystery of Time and Space and the Crimson and Veridian Rooms. The Chasm A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All