Why is it cold in Duluth / Recollections

 Well, briefly , over the years have myself collected bibles, because I will not leave them in precarious situations, but I am pretty sure, if you want to sell some book, seriously , you probably should become well acquainted with those contents, because, there is much more to almost all books, than what they put on the cover ??? Anyways, of course Skylander is in fact landing or landed, depending on what you mean by that, and so a delegation from the planet is officially dispatched to welcome her to their planet.  Obviously Hubert does not " own " the planet, but he does have a pretty good deal on the property, where he lives.   Pretty much of , what you might call, protocol, and actually, such protocol was followed almost everywhere, even in unusual places in outer-Altaria ( specifically Altearia /or Altaeria ??? )  So, two planetary dignitaries , or as dignified as you could find , at that time, were dispatched to welcome Skylander, and probably attempt to vo...

 When you do these bizarre scenes, segue from planet to planet, things may seem a bit disorienting, and a bit disoriented is, of course, some what, I am pretty sure, to some degree,  experienced, whatever planet you might be on.  Obviously, if it's not the atmosphere, it's going to be something like " gravity ", but leaving all those things aside, it might be worth pausing so we can " re-assure ", all those with " precious " lake front property, all around here locally. You might be somewhat reassured that Ralphie is mostly, now,  in the boundaries waters, so pretty sure, very, very hard to find right now, since, he does swim, even " under-water ", you know what I mean ?  Most likely , will not leave a wake .... Might mention, that is an area, that Ralphie genuinely enjoys, with all do respect to the DNR. So, as far as the long anticipated dialogue between Hubert and Skylander.  That will go on for sometime, so maybe on , what you might c...

 Maybe save the subtitles for another time although it does seem that the following is somehow relevant: Final War , a 1968 novelette by  Barry N. Malzberg So, Skylander, having traveled, immense, seemingly endless distances of space, and therefore times, somewhat,,, was in fact pretty young, youngish you might say by what you might call Altarian standards which of course we might almost assume, being essentially meaningless , if you are from Alteria, was about to land on what some of us might call a God/god forsaken planet, which of course would be a foolish way to describe any planet, whether you are either Alterian or Altarian, to meet that semi-autonomous/anonymous fellow named Hubert.  Oh, let me not forget that she has on board her vessel a pretty impressive volume of very high quality Altarian glue/Glue, very expensive, not to mention more than enough tape to last, oh, say an average millennium.  Whether or not she was foolish by either Altarian or Alterian st...

 " Somewhere, softly in the shadow of a butterfly ... ", ( between dark and light ) So, if you are now expecting to learn if Skylander actually gets down to to that planet, well, not going to happen yet.  Hopefully soon, but if you really want to know what's going on, well, that is probably an entirely >>> different <<< story.   And so, what is it about, in general, is the notion of past and future and present , blending together. So, for example , if you could reflect back on several weeks or months, you might notice that some days will seem longer and other perhaps not so long, or in other words , shorter.  But often when we reflect back , far enough, a thought will occur to us, that perhaps we are not having as much " fun ", as perhaps we once did.  For sure , this is a thought which has occurred to several of our protagonists.  However, because their lives have become embroiled in adventures, that may help sort out some of the iss...

 So, crisis, and uncertainty.  Always both a bad situation, as well as, a difficult and hard situation to get around, and get through.   That kind of seques  to Skylander who has been not so much in crisis, but certainly , uncertainty for some time. Of course, she had thought that mostly the crisis was behind, but currently she was in the rare situation, in which she was to arrive on a planetary surface, which, in fact, was a particularly rare circumstances, to meet with a very curious individual, who did in fact stretch the meaning of what an individual might be or might mean.  This does require explanation ;  and so, vaguely there was one of those ... interplanetary situations ... , which involved Skylander,  just curving round the corner of some planet or other, and she would, sadly, disrupt a large convoy, which created  substantial losses, in a serious way, but no fatalities.  Hubert was fortunately able to >> clean it up <...

 When you have many , < protagonists > , and of course the corresponding < antagonists >, running around in many seemingly , meaningless ways, why  you want to take a ,,, digression ,,, , into the bowels, as you might say, of goesintas or goes into s ,  as others might say. Of course, facing the goes into s, can be a daily, or perhaps an hourly concern , which is for example, our good friend and pal,  called MPG, or miles/per gallon.  And we, of course have a number for that.  But consider the dilemma  faced when preparing macaroni and cheese, with suddenly many, many goes into s now become involved.  Another interesting number 1.25 * 10 **(-9) , which I believe is the number of goesintas, as concerns number of people on Earth.  I am not entirely sure if that number is in fact correct, but pretty close. So , briefly, you will note, generally that the physics guys/gals, well , they have been into this goesintas for so long now, tha...

So , if we imagine, throughout history - whatever that may mean, there must have been at least one General B.S., we should be able to imagine, so I am going to call B.S. ---> Bulldog Sherman, after Sherman from Rocky and Bullwinkle.  So at some point we might imagine a staff meeting as follows. General B.S. : Now, men and ladies, it has become quite clear to me, that there has been a lessening of focus on, general b.s., and the troops generally have become significantly more focused on " specific " , b.s.  Now, of course, I do see this as somewhat of a problem, to the effectiveness of our being able to actually achieve our real mission and goals, so to speak.  Now, we need some ideas here so we can really make  " serious " progress, as they say, in a more ----> forwardly direction, because I, as your leader  really want us all to be going, more or less, in mostly, the same, general direction. Staff ( something, somedofy ) :  K, we see your angle here....

 So, Skylander , being from " inner " or you might say " inner-inner ", Altarian, and was actually pretty well known , at least from the point of view of those who lived in Federated or you might say, the Federation of Altaria, and of course Skylander was not really her name, as , in fact,  she did have one of those rather long names, that in fact take a while to say.  It's kind of an >>> Altarian <<<< thing ??? So, actually, Skylander was kind of a slur, but also saved a lot of time, but , just think, someone who does build a so called >>> Space Ship <<<< , out of trash, with lots of glue, a little welding, and of course tons of tape.  Actually it is clearly designated >>> oh, class F <<<< ,,,, type of extra-planetary , more or less , vehicle and in fact, you can not navigate in Alterian Space with a class of vehicle of that type as they can see accidents from a long, long, long way.   Anyway, ...

 So, when you consider or imagine " absolute " power, you must also consider the issue of " infinite " work.  In other words, without the results or effects of power, you really don't know anything about it. Nevertheless, throughout most of human history, we have labored under this concept of " absolute " power, which in and of itself produces very difficult logical or mental conundrums.  Of course, Dr. Einstein was fairly successful in dispelling some of these odd conundrums in particularly as regards some of our notions related to the physical world and our " environment " so to speak, however, that required a life time of work, and the help of many colleagues over the years. But simply, even if you do consider the >>>> universe <<<<< to be an infinite amount of work and therefore requiring an infinite/absolute amount of power, well, if you're going to try and rustle up numbers that actually make sense, you ar...

 I think, or have some suspicions that Ralphie may be " hanging " around some of our beautiful lake front property, and that does create some anxiety for me, consider what type or types of shenanigan s he may or may not be up to. ???? Sometimes, it may be just best, not to wonder, too much.  

 When old men are out " whistling Dixie " , in the moonlight, as they say, anything could happen, or might happen, and so, you just might expect that. ( ... ) And so, that thing about Hubert's dilemma must have been a < ruse < ? ... and so, here is the reason, and perfectly logical, on account of, Hubert was not a " horse ", kind of guy, and hence rarely would he encounter a dilemma, or anything , quite like that ... It's kind of like, the difference in what you would call education, from one planet, or the next. So, and therefore, to the issue at hand, Hubert knew, quite well, that Ralphie was not alone, in the sense of being unique, but was, in fact, part of a rather rare and generally " reclusive " species, in the sense that no one , or at least hardly anyone knew about them.  It's just that they " multiplied ", in some ways like, what you might call " dandelions ", in that they kind of spread out , into the wind, a...

 Can you make a long story short ? K, if anyone knows where this  is going ? Okay, from Federated Altaria, the most inner of all Altarian Space, which would have included, of course the Republic, the Federation, the Confederacy, and of course .>>> Outer Altaria <<< , and of course that region of Altaria would be largest , in terms of expanse, but not so densely populated, and hence there tended to be very sparsely populated regions all together,  And so, they say, that Skylander may have been an " industrious " and perhaps clever student, but did have tremendous curiosity about traveling through large or vast expanses of >>>> galactic <<<< space.  And what that means is, quite simply , he built himself a vessel made out of mostly, re-cycled material, and simply set out for the >>>> great unknown <<<<<, and after some time, arrived in <<<< Outer Altaria >>>>,  primarily ...

 Of course, there are those who might simply dismiss the whole issue of the use of  'dipty as a contraction for serendipity, as unwise, and perhaps of no particular use, because, or it might be confused with something completely different, like for example ??? dupity ??? But you see, if you were to repeat serendipity , many, many times, you could clearly do that much more quickly by saying 'dipty, 'dipty, dipty , many times.  All that and we have to address the issue of what , and why, Hubert is thinking, and even more important than that, >>>> what <<<<< Hubert will do, which is quite disturbing really.  But somethings we might be able to  >>>> vaguely <<<< surmise, like, he is not going top down, he is going bottom up.   Secondly, he will likely go for low hanging fruit, and hence, he will search through his lists for the easy markers, those he has done favors for , in the past, and who might - do so...

 Now, it should be perfectly obvious that, if an octopath is living somewhere, he must have a next door neighbor, no matter how remote.  So, generally reported stuff might include : unusual fog, strange lights , unusual aerial phenomena, sudden , un expected weather changes, and other types of events or phenomena of that type. Volcanic activity, not so much. Sometimes, chain link fencing has been recommended, but may or may not really do anything. Oddly, real estate values are only effected as to how well the owner can sell it, and for example, that would mean:  you get amazing color combinations, you are almost always surprised, my tulips are usually really good, radio reception , mostly good,  but maybe you should consider getting your sugar from somewhere else, if you are in a jam or a pickle ??? 

 Medically speaking, nobody has ever " cured " one, however, it as been studied extensively, and there is , of course, sufficient information in the Encyclopedia Galactica to be pretty sure ( >> 0.1 %  ?) non threatening to other life forms, and therefore, medically speaking, pretty benign, besides being, extremely rare , by galactic standards, so something like 10^^-1 * 10^^-8 < 10^^-9 ????

  So, octopaths, obviously rare, and therefore, just counting galaxy wise, should be or possibly could be a countable number, and perhaps Galois at his prime , meaning like in his 40s , might be able to compute this, and in fact might be able to compute the configuration of planets most likely occupied or occupiable by >>> said <<< octopaths, so  perhaps, as some kind of computable value, they are perhaps, what you might call homogenous, however, to say any two octopaths, really had anything in common, well, obviously they do and they don't.  Obviously, they experience and have experiences which few of us might imagine, nevertheless, one problem , they do not have, is employment, because, they can provide >>>> services <<<< which most folks are not capable of. And so, Hubert, in general, was no exception to that general rule.

 Now, the issue of " inner " and " outer ", in the context of Altaria as a whole, would obviously encompass a great deal of territory, and obviously a study for even " great " scholars, but it might not really be that big a deal. Anyway, Hubert was of course from what many people would consider >> outer << Altaria, but in many ways as regards Hubert, not such a big deal, on account of, Hubert belongs to a rather curious breed/collection/group of folks who in fact can exist on more that one planet at a time. In fact, what that meant was for the unique situation, Hubert was an octopath , which for sure is a pretty " rare bird ", even in the context of outer Altaria, which is generally considered >> wild << by many standards, and in particular of the standards of those who reside more in " inner " Altaria.   But , obviously, a talent or " gift " of that sort you would think would be quite helpful , in part...

 So, anyone paying any kind of attention to such a narrative/novel would have to conclude that some new hero/heroine would be required.  as otherwise, how do you untangle what will be a very distressing episode between Alterians and Altarians , with slurs a-flying every which way.. Hopefully, we will not forget also, that new crop of Alterian/Altarians comin up. Unfortunately, I would not be able to introduce that new character at this time, because as with plumbing and plumbing projects, there are so many variables.   So, I will just say, in my opinion, the recent State of the Union , speech ? , by the current President of the U.S.A.,  was inspiring, illuminating and just other wise really good stuff. and ,as they say, perhaps a bit Harry Truman- eques, in  many ways. Interesting how greatly Mr. Truman was liked , admired, and respected by so many of his generation.   Actually, even latter generations, as well, but , he can be a bit enigmatic. An...

 So, I've been thinking about what that would be like to get some > pure < or almost < pure > , democracy/Democracy, and put that into a bottle.  Many will say, maybe not possible.  But , if you could, I would imagine it would , not surprisingly, end in a physics lab, on the east coast or the west.  Sooner or latter, as hard as the physics boys would try, they would eventually confide in the math guys, because, that's what physics guys do, and then because, math guys, have trouble with being discrete ( although, they will study it ), the chemist guys, would hear, and the biology guys would hear, and then probably some political scientist, or economists., even the phycologists might hear about it. But, they might not know, it was real or pure, for sure.  Yet we all know something about this stuff, since it has risen it's head from time to time, in our collective history.  it's been that, it seems ,that makes it very, very real for many and many o...

 You know, we do not know, exactly the details of what might have gone on during Ralphie's 70th birthday celebration, but we do know ... it was far and wide.  He wanted to visit and spend time with him many friends throughout the world which is lot's of places, and besides Ireland of course, most everything went down, quite well, no injuries, no serious disturbances.  But , as you might guess, this is not the kind of thing that would go down and stay off the radar, as far as the folks collecting info for the Encyclopedia Galactica, and of course, that info would inevitably feed back as well to Deep Pockets.  If they did have like " emergency / contingency " plans, well that is gone now.   So Deep Pockets does know there will be lots of feedback, but as Earth, or in some slang circles, planet Magoo,  is currently on the " irregular list ", and the Encyclopedia has only been sending out those vinyl , Alice's Restaurant LP's they figure they do some tim...

 Sometimes, both in regular life, as well as in many kinds of sporting events, it might happen that, well, you just have to stop the contest, perhaps, not the way you anticipated it to conclude, but the contest or situation must just come to an end, for perhaps, many different reasons. So, the realization that this >>> situation <<<< , conflict, difference of opinion, etc., must have to come to an end, and well, both sides may consider it a victory of some type, because, they were both there, and they both did the best they could, at that time.   So, then, it often comes to what is success, or victory, or any accomplishment ? Often, it is simply, what we can >>> share <<<<,  what we have in common ...