Joshua Abraham Norton (c. 1819 – January 8, 1880), the self-proclaimed His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, proclaimed himself “Emperor of these United States” and subsequently “Protector of Mexico” in 1959.

Although he had no political power, and his influence extended only so far as he was humored by those around him, he was treated deferentially in San Francisco, and currency issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented.

During the 1860s and 1870s, there were a number of anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer districts of San Francisco. Ugly riots, some resulting in fatalities, broke out on several occasions. During one such incident, Norton allegedly positioned himself between the rioters and their Chinese targets, and with a bowed head started reciting the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly until the rioters dispersed without incident.

“When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.” -Lao Tsu

One popular story suggested that he was the son of Emperor Louis Napoleon and that his claim of coming from South Africa was a ruse to prevent persecution. Another popular story suggested that Norton was planning to marry Queen Victoria. While this claim is unsupported, Norton did write to the Queen on several occasions and he is reported to have met Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.

“You must take the bull by the tail and look the facts in the face.” – W.C. Fields

Though he was considered insane, or at least highly eccentric, the citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence and his proclamations. On January 8, 1880, Norton collapsed at a street corner, and died before he could be given medical treatment. The following day, nearly 30,000 people packed the streets of San Francisco to pay homage to Norton.

“Everybody understands Mickey Mouse. Few understand Herman Hesse. Hardly anybody understands Einstein. And nobody understands Emperor Norton.” – Malaclypse the Younger

Discordian Society  

A Bridge between Pisces and Aquarius

Text by Robert Anton Wilson & Wikipedia

My job is so fucking unbelievable. I’ll try to sum it up by first telling you about the folks I work with:

First, there is this supermodel wanna-be chick. Yeah, okay, she is pretty hot, but damn is she completely useless. The girl is constantly fixing her hair or putting on makeup. She is extremely self-centered and has never once considered the needs or wants of anyone but herself. She is as dumb as a box of rocks, and I still find it surprising that she has enough brain power to continue to breathe.

The next chick is completely the opposite. She might even be one of the smartest people on the planet. Her career opportunities are endless, and yet she is here with us. She is a zero on a scale of 1 to 10. I’m not sure she even showers, much less shaves her “womanly” parts. I think she might be a lesbian, because every time we drive by the hardware store, she moans like a cat in heat.

But the jewel of the crowd has got to be the fucking stoner. And this guy is more than just your average pothead. In fact, he is baked before he comes to work, during work, and I’m sure after work. He probably hasn’t been sober anytime in the last ten years, and he’s only 22. He dresses like a beatnik throwback from the 1960’s, and to make things worse, he brings his big fucking dog to work. Every fucking day I have to look at this huge Great Dane walk around half-stoned from the second-hand smoke. Hell, sometimes I even think it’s trying to talk with its constant bellowing. Also, both of them are constantly hungry, requiring multiple stops to McDonalds and Burger King, every single fucking day.

Anyway, I drive these fucktards around in my van and we solve mysteries and shit. – prehack from reddit

The Buddhist allegory of “Indra’s Net” tells of an endless net of threads throughout the universe, the horizontal threads running through space, the vertical ones through time.  At every crossing of threads is an individual, and every individual is a crystal bead.  The great light of “Absolute Being” illuminates and penetrates every crystal bead; moreover, every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net – but also every reflection of every reflection throughout the universe.

- Douglas Hofstadter – _Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ (1980)

“Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.” –Alan Watts

I don’t understand what the people opposed to a public, single payer, government run healthcare system expect us to do – those of us who cannot afford health insurance today. They never seem to get around to answering that one. What am I supposed to do exactly, if I’m working, making too much to qualify for financial aid, but too little to be able to afford hundreds of dollars a month for a service that still has a $1000 deductible before you see any benefits at all, and even when you do contract a major illness, still often will refuse to pay? What kind of system is that? It’s ludicrous, and people stuck “in between” (making too much to qualify for medicaid, too little to be able to afford real healthcare) are just somehow supposed to do… what, exactly? Not everyone can make the big money. Somebody has to do the little jobs, the ones nobody wants to pay very big salaries for. What are those people supposed to do? Just crawl away and die quietly? No, really, I’d like to know what they are supposed to do. The Republicans who are so opposed to health care reform seem to avoid talking about that. – neilgunton from reddit.

“While health-care reform may well pass with only Democratic votes just like Medicare in 1965, this should no longer be seen as a fight between liberal and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. This is now a fight between the insurance companies and the American people. The reason we are finally going to get real health-care reform is that the plan President Obama put forward recognizes the importance of giving the American people a choice: If you like what you have, you can keep it. If you don’t, there will be a public-health-insurance option.” – Howard Dean

Sincerely,

Paul Tweedy

Denver CO