Beam me up, Scotty!

I have a weakness, folks, for fantasy and science fiction. I don�t really think of it as a weakness, to be honest, but as one of my eclectic interests in literature. Be that as it may, it means that I also have a weakness for Star Trek� shows (except for the original; I find that one incredibly hokey). I saw a really good Enterprise tonight. Captain Archer and his intrepid crew find themselves at the mercy of a band of religious fanatics who will stop at nothing, including killing many, many people, to further their brand of �truth�. Answering their distress call, Enterprise soon finds itself in the control of these religios, who even self-destruct if asked to do so by their insane leader. Archer tricks them into �disassembling his molecules� in the transporter (the leader insists that one of the crew must die for their heinous crimes, and Archer isn�t stupid), and has T�pol transport him to another part of the ship where he is able to reroute power and eventually take over command of the ship. After spending the rest of the voyage back to their homeworld in the brig, the religious fanatics see what their war has done to their home planet. It is a wasteland of destruction.

Anyway, this particular screenplay was very timely, considering that there are religious fanatics out there right now who will self-destruct in order to further their own brand of �truth�. I was explaining to my son, who stated that religion sucks during the final credits, that it�s not religion that is at fault, but an unwillingness on the part of the believer to accept that other religions (or none at all) are just as valid as the one he happens to subscribe to. No one faith has a monopoly on the �truth�.

In Goddess class today we looked at slides of artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic. One of them was of a double grave of children from Siberia, and Patsy told us about the myriad of bone beads found in the grave, and the bones having been covered with red ochre. She mentioned that red ochre is known to have antiseptic properties, and could have been used in a ritualistic way. Why do we suppose there would have been this substance found on the bones? I suggested that if these ancient peoples were aware of the antiseptic properties, they may have smeared the corpses with it to a) discourage predation of the graves by wild animals, and/or b) to discourage decomposition in a primitive form of embalming. She was quite taken with my comments and had to scribble them down. Then we looked at some sticks carved out of antler. They were flat on the back but very ornately carved on the covex side. I suggested that maybe they were used to mark personal property. I think maybe I�m talking too much in this class. Class participation is only 10% of the mark, after all. Ha ha! But the patterns were very beautiful. They reminded me of the tracks that insects leave under the bark of dead wood, only embellished. The book is still not in the bookstore, so I can�t do any of the readings yet. Patsy�s not too concerned.

It�s still cold (a high of -20�C today) and the weatherman assures us that this is not going to change for the next little while. Now Hubby is concerned that we didn�t lay in enough wood for the stove. I sure hope this isn�t the case. Hydro Quebec was threatening rolling blackouts if it can�t keep up with electricity consumption. That would not be a pretty picture. Just imagine the ice storm all over again.

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