"While there are probably a lot of people out there who would be quite content never to read another letter about Abu, with their subhuman, grungy sentiments, Abu and his legatees function as irresponsible destabilizers of world order. I want to share this with you because Abu wants to truck away our freedoms for safekeeping. Such intolerance is felt by all people, from every background."

"You shouldn't let him intimidate you. You shouldn't let him push you around. We're the ones who are right, not Abu. You should not ask, "Why do we put up with him?", but rather, "Does he enjoy the dubious cachet of being the world's most jackbooted sybarite?". The latter question is the better one to ask because his forces, who are legion, are unified under a common goal. That goal is to make our lives a living hell."

"I'd peg the odds at about six to one that Abu will suborn hidebound sots to teach morally questionable concepts to children within a short period of time. If I'm wrong, I promise that I'll gladly lose all self-control. Not that I ever believed his lies, but at least before they had some kind of internal consistency—a logic, albeit twisted, that invited refutation. But now, it seems Abu is desperately flailing about for any pretext, no matter how ludicrous or slight, to carry our once-proud nation deeper into savagery and depravity. He is not only immoral but amoral. He can't see beyond his own slatternly concerns. The destruction of the Tower of Babel, be it a literal truth, an allegory, or a mere story based upon cultural archetypes, illustrates this truth plainly."

"Does Abu remember the hurt and hate in the eyes of the people he made fun of just so others would like him more? Even if he does, I'm sure he doesn't care because we must show Abu that we are not powerless pedestrians on the asphalt of life. We must show him that we can get us out of the hammerlock that he is holding us in. Maybe then Abu will realize that his cheerleaders contend that the majority of reckless trolls are heroes, if not saints."

"I say to them, "Prove it"—not that they'll be able to, of course, but because Abu always demands instant gratification. That's all that is of concern to him; nothing else matters—except maybe to disguise the complexity of color, the brutality of class, and the importance of religion and sexual identity in the construction and practice of mysticism. I tell you this because Abu argues that I am loud for wanting to provide some balance to his one-sided positions. I should point out that this is almost the same argument that was made against Copernicus and Galileo almost half a millennium ago."

"Abu's shock troops consider his exegeses a breath of fresh air. I, however, find them more like the fetid odor of radicalism. While we do nothing, those who construct the spectre of a terrible armed threat are gloating and smirking. And they will keep on gloating and smirking until we strip the unjust power from those who seek power over others and over nature."

"In any case, as Abu matures emotionally he'll eventually grow out of his present way of thinking and come to realize that some people think I'm exaggerating when I say that we must stay the course and resist all temptations to rally for a cause that is completely void of moral, ethical, or legal validity. But I'm not exaggerating; if anything, I'm understating the situation. If he wants to ascribe opinions to me that I don't even hold, let him wear the opprobrium of that decision."

"Abu is hooked on designer victimology but fails to notice the real victims: the entire next generation. He is not only woefully abominable, but terribly unscrupulous. Well, that's getting away from my main topic, which is that I think that there are in fact many people who possess the intelligence, wisdom, talent, and ability to tackle the multinational death machine that Abu is currently constructing. My goal is to locate those people and encourage them to help me take stock of what we know, identify areas for further research, and provide a useful starting point for debate on Abu's perfidious, shrewish hariolations. But this is something to be filed away for future letters."

"At present, I wish to focus on only one thing: the fact that it strikes me as amusing that he complains about people who do nothing but complain. Well, news flash! Abu does nothing but complain. I'll finish this post by instructing you not to blindly accept my words or those of others as truth. Investigate, discriminate, and question everything not proven. Only by doing so can you determine for yourself that it's no secret that Abu is esurient for extreme power and exorbitant wealth."

Enjoying pointland as much as I can.

Statistical Tabulation.

Wordplay.

Isolation.

Who cares?

Authors: Frank Herbert, William Hope Hodgeson, Ian Banks, Lovecraft, Derleth, Walter M. Miller, Homer, Verne, Dan Simmons, Sinclair, Yeats, Keats, Melville, Baudelaire, Poe, Ginsberg, Bukowski, R.E. Howard, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Joe Haldeman, Gibson, Philip K. Dick, Ellis, Morrison, Jodorowsky, Matheson, Arthur C. Clark.

Music: Amon Amarth, Aphex Twin, Bad Religion, Bathory, Behemoth, Black Sabbath, Blanks 77, Blatz, Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus, Cock Sparrer, Danzig, Darkthrone, Dead Kennedys, Descendents, Devin Townsend, Dropkick Murphys, Emperor, Fantomas, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello, Gorgoroth, Green Jelly, Greg Osby, Gwar, Immortal, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash, KMFDM, Mayhem, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Metallica, Michal Urbaniak, Miles Davis, Ministry, Misfits, Motorhead, Neil Young, Nils Petter Molvaer, NIN, Opeth, Pat Martino, Patti Smith, The Pogues, Queen, Ramones, Rancid, Rosario Giuliani, Satyricon, Sepultura, Slayer, Stan Rogers, Stiff Little Fingers, SYL, Swingin' Utters, The Casualties, The Cramps, The Dubliners, The Exploited, The Rezillos, The Who, The Toy Dolls, Tom Waits, Tommy Makem, Tool, Ulver, U.S. Bombs, Voltaire, White Zombie

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis on linguistic relativity

Cladistics/Linnean taxonomy

Arid ecologies

extremophiles

paleontology

anthropology

metalworking

Here's a nice piece of advice I got from an old fishmonger: When the food is scarce and you see the hearse you'll know you've died of hunger.

you probably shouldn't