The Ultimate Answer to Kings: Not sure why, but this makes me sad.

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.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Not sure why, but this makes me sad.

Encyclopedia Britannica has printed its last set.

It's like the day I heard Orson Wells died. I was never even much of a fan, but still felt like something important had gone away without notice.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: That is kind of a bummer. This internet thing is fragile. When the lights go out we can still open a book in the daytime.

Buck.; March 14, 2012 at 6:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Money was tight, but my parents somehow managed to buy a set.

I remember sitting down and reading it........I love the feel of books. Internet ain't the same.

I agree, Joel. It was an old friend. None of the other encyclopedias were anywhere near as good.; March 14, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Mayberry said...: Me and my Grandpa would watch TV when I was a kid and something would come up which we didn't know about. The first thing he'd say is "Let's go look it up", and we'd grab appropriate encyclopedia volume. I can still remember the smell of those books...

Joel, just a suggestion. Google has seen fit to completely screw Blogger up (something they're exceedingly good at) and now we can't follow comments anymore. The pop-up comment box like you have no longer has the "click to subscribe" option. Neither does the "new interface" same page comment section.

Many folks have quit commenting on Blogger blogs with the new interface because they can't follow the conversation, myself included. Too much trouble with my limited time to go reload every blog I commented on (even if I could keep track of them all) to look for new comments/responses.

It's your blog, do whatever you want. But it would be much better for those who comment if you'd ditch the pop up comment page and go back to the old Blogger interface...; March 14, 2012 at 11:22 PM
MamaLiberty said...: Yeah, that's too bad. Can't imagine what a set of Britannica would cost now.

We had a set of "World Book" encyclopedias I bought at a garage sale when my sons were small. We literally wore them out before the boys were done with high school.; March 15, 2012 at 9:52 AM
Joel said...: I did that, Craig. I did it right off, and for the reason you state.

Then I had to change it right back, when I got emails from people who couldn't comment at all.

Blogger just sucks lately. Hopefully soon I'll be migrating elsewhere.; March 15, 2012 at 11:45 AM