I was talking to a friend about FutureMAP and the chance that such a system would lead to the manipulation of world events by the investors. He mentioned that it reminded him of Jim Bell's Assassination Politics. "Egads, you're right."

I thought I could get by. All of my thoughts could fit in a fly. (And there still would be room for its flight instructions.) In its buzzing patterns about my head, I saw the dizzy mirror of my world. It made me smile.

Why didn't it occur to me that the fly could simply drop dead? And there all my thoughts would slumber, forever. Dessicating. (Like the landlord, poor chap.) I stared into the windowsill, and gently touched the upturned legs.

The zen master tells the pupil, "If you tell me this stick is real, I will strike you with it. If you say to me this stick is not real, I will strike you with it. If you don't say anything, I will strike you with it." How does the student solve the problem and avoid getting more lumps on the head?