The Ultimate Answer to Kings: Forget the Lair

They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means "The Ultimate Argument of Kings," and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. "We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it's about: You'll do as I say or I'll send my goons to kill you."

I thought about that for a long time. If there's an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I've got bullets - he's got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there's an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain't bullets.

It finally came to me - and that's when I left the city, abandoned a goodly percentage of my goods, and gave all that was behind me a good, stiff Randian Shrug.

The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Forget the Lair - I shoulda built an ark!

It's been raining without pause for two hours, and shows no sign of slacking off. I thought it rained a lot yesterday afternoon, but that was just a little drizz compared to this. Most monsoon rains are just squalls, but this time the clouds came overhead and just stopped. The boys and I have been hiding in the barn waiting for it to stop, but it looks like they're just gonna have to get wet. If this rain extends very far east of here it'll fill up the canyons, and then I'm gonna have to disappoint GC guy in the morning because it'll cause the year's first flash flood and we'll be stuck here a little while.

But my only real concern is the gully behind the Lair. If it floods and empties into my (not yet completely backfilled) septic trench, it's gonna undo a lot of work. Bother - I just got that toilet working.