Temperature inversion last night and this morning -- the smoke from people's fires actually sank towards the ground after leaving their chimneys. It clouded over and started raining by nightfall though -- this clean air is sure an improvement.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Fort Rucker, Alabama (see below); Troy, New York; Emeryville, California; Los Angeles, California; Anchorage, Alaska; and Seattle, Washington.

REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, at: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!





Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: Donna Gans and the Autumn Salon are up until Christmas at the Hockaday Museum of Art. There is a silent auction of dandy artistic wreaths as well!

Poetry Time: Our visitor from Fort Rucker, Georgia (see above) was looking for Rudyard Kipling's famous self-reflective verse about imperial hubris:

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
dominion over palm and pine --
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget -- lest we forget!

The tulmult and the shouting dies,
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget -- lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away,
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget -- lest we forget!

If, drunk with the sight of fire, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law --
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget -- lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And, guarding, calls not Thee to guard --
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

I don't know for sure, but I've always thought that Kipling inspired Hamilton Camp to write Pride of Man during the Vietnam conflict, when the US almost went to war with China and Russia too:

Turn around, go back down, back the way you came,
Can't you see that flash of fire -- ten times brighter than the day?
And behold a mighty city broken in the dust again.

Oh God, Pride of Man, broken in the dust again!

Turn around, go back down, back the way you came,
Babylon is laid to waste, Egypt's buried in her shame,
The mighty men are all beaten down, their kings are fallen in the waste.

Oh God, Pride of Man, broken in the dust again!

Turn around, go back down, back the way you came,
Terror is on every side, lo our leaders are dismayed.
For those who place their faith in fire, their faith in fire shall be repaid.

Oh God, Pride of Man, broken in the dust again!

Turn around, go back down, back the way you came,
And shout a warning unto the nation that the sword of God is raised.
Yes, Babylon, that mighty city, rich in treasure, wide in fame.


Oh God, Pride of Man, broken in the dust again!

And he shall cause your tower to fall, make a new empire of flame,
Oh you who dwell on many waters, rich in treasure, wide in fame.
You bow unto your God of gold, your pride of might shall be ashamed,
For only God can lead his people back up to the Earth again.

Oh God, Pride of Man, broken in the dust again!

The Holy mountain be restored,
Have mercy on the people,
The people, Lord!


San Francisco's Quicksilver Messenger Service (named after Marvel Comics' take on the Flash) recorded this song on their first album. The late John Cippolina was their 'mercurial' lead guitarist, and is pictured above. THIS kind of Psychedelicized Folk-Rock was meant to speak truth to power with all the energy that modern technology could muster at the time.

Have we forgotten what we learned, or learned nothing at all during the last few generations?