Well, we approach the Dark Half of the year, as the Celts would put it, which begins with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation, which was last night, as best as I can tell), and ends with the 'light' half, beginning with the month Giamonios (the April/May lunation, which may never come anyway, so why look that far ahead?).



Celts would cleanse their livestock (and probably themselves) by running them through smoky fires, no doubt in an attempt to rid them of any skin parasites before they were confined for the winter in barns...

The Samhain celebrations have survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the harvest and the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, the Féile na Marbh "festival of the dead" is the name of All Souls', a church festival introduced on the eve of All Saints in the 11th century.

The night of Samhain, in Irish, Oíche Samhna and Scots Gaelic, Oidhche Samhna, is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, and falls on the October 31. It represents the final harvest. In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still Oíche/Oidhche Samhna. It is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night.

Traditionally, Samhain was time to take stock of the herds and grain supplies, and decide which animals would need to be slaughtered in order for the people and livestock to survive the winter. This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock because it is when meat will keep since the freeze has come and also since summer grass is gone and free foraging is no longer possible. I THINK WE ARE SEEING THIS PROCESS IN THE WORLD MARKETS THIS WEEK, AS THE BANKSTERS DECIDE WHICH NATIONS TO SLAUGHTER AGAINST WINTER FAMINE...

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas of the Celtic nations and the diaspora. Villagers were said to have cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames. In the pre-Christian Gaelic world, cattle were the primary unit of currency and the center of agricultural and pastoral life. Samhain was the traditional time for slaughter, for preparing stores of meat and grain to last through the coming winter.

With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks, was an attempt to copy the evil spirits or ward off them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Candle lanterns (Gaelic: samhnag), carved from turnips were part of the traditional festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces, placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.

Guisers — men in disguise, were prevalent in 16th century in the Scottish countryside. Children going door to door "guising" (or "Galoshin" on the south bank of the lower Clyde) in costumes and masks carrying turnip lanterns, offering entertainment of various sorts in return for food or coins, was traditional in 19th century, and continued well into 20th century. At the time of mass transatlantic Irish and Scottish immigration that popularized Halloween in North America, Halloween in Ireland and Scotland had a strong tradition of guising and pranks.

Divination is a common folkloric practice that has also survived in rural areas. The most common uses were to determine the identity of one's future spouse, the location of one's future home, and how many children a person might have. Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often employed in these rituals. Apples were peeled, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape examined to see if it formed the first letter of the future spouse's name. Nuts were roasted on the hearth and their movements interpreted - if the nuts stayed together, so would the couple. Egg whites were dropped in a glass of water, and the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from how many birds appeared or the direction the birds flew. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

WELL, THE PORTENTS FOR THE COMING YEAR COULDN'T BE GRIMMER, WITH ANGELA MERKEL RAISING THE SPECTER OF WAR, OF ALL THINGS, TO GET PEOPLE TO SIGN ON TO HER LATEST FANTASTICAL, PREPOSTEROUS DEAL.

It's Danegeld, Angela.

The Danegeld ( "Danish tax", literally "Dane's gold") was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century. It was characteristic of royal policy in both England and Francia during the ninth through eleventh centuries, collected both as tributary, to buy off the attackers, and as stipendiary, to pay the defensive forces. ---Wikipedia

Rudyard Kipling
Dane-Geld
A.D. 980-1016

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"

For some unfathomable reason I neglected to report on bank failures the past TWO weekends. I guess that's what having something like a social life does to one's dedication. Or Alzheimers.

SO: here it is, 8 (count 'em, 8) banks in two weeks gone to dust. FDIC must have gotten some money in the new budget started this month:


Piedmont Community Bank, Gray, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with State Bank and Trust Company, Macon, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of Piedmont Community Bank.

The two branches of Piedmont Community Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of State Bank and Trust Company...As of June 30, 2011, Piedmont Community Bank had approximately $201.7 million in total assets and $181.4 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, State Bank and Trust Company agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC and State Bank and Trust Company entered into a loss-share transaction on $163.2 million of Piedmont Community Bank's assets. State Bank and Trust Company will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $71.6 million. Compared to other alternatives, State Bank and Trust Company's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Piedmont Community Bank is the 77th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twentieth in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was CreekSide Bank, Woodstock, on September 2, 2011.


Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc., Asheville, North Carolina, was closed today by the North Carolina Office of Commissioner of Banks, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bank of North Carolina, Thomasville, North Carolina, to assume all of the deposits of Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc.

The ten branches of Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc. will reopen on Monday as branches of Bank of North Carolina...As of June 30, 2011, Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc. had approximately $161.0 million in total assets and $158.7 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Bank of North Carolina agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC and Bank of North Carolina entered into a loss-share transaction on $143.2 million of Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc.'s assets. The Bank of North Carolina will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $38.0 million. Compared to other alternatives, Bank of North Carolina's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc. is the 78th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the second in North Carolina. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was The Bank of Asheville, Asheville, on January 21, 2011.


First State Bank, Cranford, New Jersey, was closed today by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Northfield Bank, Staten Island, New York, to assume all of the deposits of First State Bank.

The two branches of First State Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Northfield Bank...As of June 30, 2011, First State Bank had approximately $204.4 million in total assets and $201.2 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Northfield Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $45.8 million. Compared to other alternatives, Northfield Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. First State Bank is the 79th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in New Jersey. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was ISN Bank, Cherry Hill, on September 17, 2010.


Country Bank, Aledo, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Blackhawk Bank & Trust, Milan, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Country Bank.

The two branches of Country Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Blackhawk Bank & Trust...As of June 30, 2011, Country Bank had approximately $190.6 million in total assets and $167.5 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Blackhawk Bank & Trust agreed to purchase approximately $113.3 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $66.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, Blackhawk Bank & Trust's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Country Bank is the 80th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the eighth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First Choice Bank, Geneva, on August 19, 2011.


Old Harbor Bank, Clearwater, Florida, was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with 1st United Bank, Boca Raton, Florida, to assume all of the deposits of Old Harbor Bank.

The seven branches of Old Harbor Bank will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of 1st United Bank...As of June 30, 2011, Old Harbor Bank had approximately $215.9 million in total assets and $217.8 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, 1st United Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and 1st United Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $155.6 million of Old Harbor Bank's assets. 1st United Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $39.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, 1st United Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Old Harbor Bank is the 81st FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twelfth in Florida. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was The First National Bank of Florida, Milton, on September 9, 2011.


Decatur First Bank, Decatur, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Fidelity Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of Decatur First Bank.

The five branches of Decatur First Bank will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of Fidelity Bank...As of June 30, 2011, Decatur First Bank had approximately $191.5 million in total assets and $179.2 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Fidelity Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Fidelity Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $111.5 million of Decatur First Bank's assets. Fidelity Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $32.6 million. Compared to other alternatives, Fidelity Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Decatur First Bank is the 82nd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twenty-first in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Piedmont Community Bank, Gray, on October 14, 2011.


Community Capital Bank, Jonesboro, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with State Bank and Trust Company, Macon, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of Community Capital Bank.

The two branches of Community Capital Bank will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of State Bank and Trust Company...As of June 30, 2011, Community Capital Bank had approximately $181.2 million in total assets and $166.2 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, State Bank and Trust Company agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and State Bank and Trust Company entered into a loss-share transaction on $141.3 million of Community Capital Bank's assets. State Bank and Trust Company will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $62.0 million. Compared to other alternatives, State Bank and Trust Company's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Community Capital Bank is the 83rd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twenty-second in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Decatur First Bank, Decatur, earlier today.

GET A LOAD OF THIS ONE!

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today was appointed receiver for Community Banks of Colorado, Greenwood, Colorado, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bank Midwest, National Association, Kansas City, Missouri, to assume all of the deposits of Community Banks of Colorado.

The 40 branches of Community Banks of Colorado will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of Bank Midwest, National Association. Depositors of Community Banks of Colorado will automatically become depositors of Bank Midwest, National Association...As of June 30, 2011, Community Banks of Colorado had approximately $1.38 billion in total assets and $1.33 billion in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Bank Midwest, National Association agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Bank Midwest, National Association entered into a loss-share transaction on $714.2 million of Community Banks of Colorado's assets. Bank Midwest, National Association will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $224.9 million. Compared to other alternatives, Bank Midwest, National Association's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Community Banks of Colorado is the 84th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the sixth in Colorado. The last FDIC-insured institution in the state for which the FDIC was named receiver was Bank of Choice, Greeley, on July 22, 2011.

OLDIE BUT GOODIE VIDEO-- PASS IT ON!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5Ep9fS7Z0...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/a...

...For the first 75 years of the 20th century, "family farm America" had great years. It produced a surplus of everything year after year after year. Then came the pivotal year of 1975. That was the last year the American economy produced a surplus of goods to trade overseas. It has not done so since. What is remarkable is how fast the bank account emptied and the debt piled up. There is a chart you can download at the link at the bottom of the page that illustrates the rocket sled ride to ruin. The chart covers the period from WWII, when good economic figures began to be compiled, to the present day. The chart traces the US trade surplus/deficit, US household debt, US corporate debt, and the US Federal Debt. For the period from WWII to 1975, during the surplus years, the debt charts were essentially at a flat line. After 1975, the debt in all categories took off like a rocket ship. What that chart is showing is that the moment national production falls beyond subsistence levels, the borrowing to make up the difference begins, and only accelerates from there.

What I hope you’ll come to understand, what the charts show, is that there is no way out of this depression we’re in right now unless America and the rest of the West starts producing again. That is a demand you must add to your #Occupy America wish list. TARPs will do nothing. Temporary job programs will do nothing. Raising or lowering taxes on who and for how much will not matter. Minting more money will do nothing. Economic protectionism at the border and economic production within is America’s only salvation...

SEE CHARTS AT LINK

This week in history reports the following events:

Oct 21, 1959 --Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City



View of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum exterior

Completed in 1959, the Guggenheim's Frank Lloyd Wright–designed museum is among the 20th century's most important architectural landmarks. The museum's great rotunda has been the site of many celebrated special exhibitions, while its smaller galleries are devoted to the Guggenheim's renowned collection, which ranges from Impressionism through contemporary art.
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/visit

The Guggenheim was prominently featured in the recent Jim Carey film "Mr. Popper's Penguins". I'm not sure if they actually filmed on site the scene with the 6 penguins coasting down the interior ramp on a flow of ice water...

Oct 22, 1962 --Cuban Missile Crisis



http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-c...

At 7 p.m. on Monday, October 22nd, 1962, President Kennedy appeared on television to inform the American people of the recently discovered installation of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba...

The President had first learned of the missiles on October 16th, when he was shown aerial photos taken by an American U-2 spy plane over Cuba, located some ninety miles off the coast of Florida.

Two days later, the President conferred with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Gromyko, who claimed the weapons were for defensive purposes only. The President then met with top military aides and his brother Robert to discuss possible military options...On Sunday, October 21st, the President spent the entire day conferring with his top advisers considering two principal military options – a surgical air strike against the bases in Cuba, or a Naval blockade of Cuba. The President chose the blockade option, which he labeled in this speech as a "strict quarantine." Additionally, in this speech, the President warned the Russians that any missile attack from Cuba would be considered an attack from Soviet Russia and bring "a full retaliatory response" from the United States against Russia itself.

HEAR THE SPEECH AT LINK

Oct 24, 1901 --First barrel ride down Niagara Falls--ENOUGH SAID. DETAILS AND VIDEO AT LINKS

http://www.niagarafallslive.com/daredevils...

http://www.history.com/videos/niagara-fall...


Oct 26, 1881 --Shootout at the OK Corral

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday October 26, 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Cochise County, of the United States. Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton were killed; Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded and survived. Wyatt Earp was the only individual who came through the fight unharmed. It is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West and has come to represent a time in American history when the frontier was open range for outlaws who were confronted by law enforcement that was often sparse, or nonexistent.

The gunfight was relatively unknown to the American public until 1931 when author Stuart Lake published what has since been determined to be a largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, two years after Wyatt's death.<1> Lake retold his story in a 1946 book that director John Ford developed into the movie My Darling Clementine.<1> After the movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was released in 1957, the shootout came to be known by that name. Since then, the conflict has been portrayed with varying degrees of accuracy in numerous Western films and books.

PERHAPS THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEm-6lYMgCI

Despite its name, the gunfight actually occurred in a narrow lot six doors west of the rear entrance to the O.K. Corral on Fremont Street. The two opposing parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart. About thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed. The Earps and Doc Holliday were charged by Billy Clanton's brother, Ike Clanton, with murder but were eventually exonerated by a local judge after a 30-day preliminary hearing and then again by a local grand jury.

On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was maimed in an assassination attempt by outlaw Cowboys, and on March 19, 1882, they assassinated Morgan Earp. This led to a series of further killings and retributions, with federal and county lawmen supporting different sides of the conflict, which became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride.

Oct 27, 1904 --New York City subway opens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City...



My brief forays into Manhattan never included a subway ride...I don't know whether to be grateful, or not.

That should be enough variety for any Weekender!

Music from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, as promised (Hugin never got back with his suggestion).

I'm sure the consensus was that ending the draft would end wars of aggression due to lack of cannon fodder. Starve the Beast, and all that.

The bloodthirsty, greedy Capitalists countered with the Volunteer Army assisted in recruitment by a deliberate economic job squeeze. The Bloodlusty then used these volunteers like disposable tissues. And suddenly, the Army didn't seem like a viable or honorable Career Path but more closely resembled Slavery in all its horrible aspects. Only the totally desperate or the congenitally stupid were enlisting, and the legitimate complaints of the soldier-victims were getting louder and more widely known at home. Old soldiers were warning off their progeny, for chrissakes....

So, eliminate the American grunt entirely! That will do the trick. As an interim step, they tried mercenaries, but mercenaries were not only expensive, they were out of control, generating more and more bad press at home and retaliation abroad.

So, in a case of Life Imitating Art, predator drones were conceived and built and deployed. A Drone tells no tales, gets no veteran's benefits, leaves no survivors or next of kin. It's the perfect solution, right out of Skynet.

I am so ashamed that we cannot figure out how to stop these murderers and pirates and Fascists, once and for all time. War should be regarded in the same fashion as cannibalism, which is frowned upon worse than murder or incest. Because cannibalism is disgusting and unnecessary for survival...and so is war.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/... /

Our language has not yet caught up with the political phenomenon that is emerging in Zuccotti Park and spreading across the nation, though it is clear that a political paradigm shift is taking place before our very eyes. It’s time to begin to name and in naming, to better understand this moment. So let me propose some words: “political disobedience.”

Occupy Wall Street is best understood, I would suggest, as a new form of what could be called “political disobedience,” as opposed to civil disobedience, that fundamentally rejects the political and ideological landscape that we inherited from the Cold War.

Civil disobedience accepted the legitimacy of political institutions, but resisted the moral authority of resulting laws. Political disobedience, by contrast, resists the very way in which we are governed: it resists the structure of partisan politics, the demand for policy reforms, the call for party identification, and the very ideologies that dominated the post-War period.

Occupy Wall Street, which identifies itself as a “leaderless resistance movement with people of many … political persuasions,” is politically disobedient precisely in refusing to articulate policy demands or to embrace old ideologies. Those who incessantly want to impose demands on the movement may show good will and generosity, but fail to understand that the resistance movement is precisely about disobeying that kind of political maneuver. Similarly, those who want to push an ideology onto these new forms of political disobedience, like Slavoj Zizek or Raymond Lotta, are missing the point of the resistance...

**********************************

Bernard E. Harcourt is chair of the political science department and professor of law at The University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, most recently “The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order.”

Last night was Euchre night, and I was so tired from the week that I had to be driven home...so forgive me, all. I have to say, getting out of the condo and its quagmire was a refreshing change. The Euchre bunch is tolerant, witty, of good character and good-spirited, and work together so that all have a good time....as compared to...

So, how can the Art of War help out in this situation?

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu (also referred to as "Sunzi" and "Sun Wu"), a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period (some scholars believe that the Art of War was not completed until the subsequent Warring States period). Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it is said to be the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and is still read for its military insights.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics: "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name." It has had an influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond.

Sun Tzu emphasized the importance of positioning in military strategy, and that the decision to position an army must be based on both objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective beliefs of other, competitive actors in that environment. He thought that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a changing environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

The book was first translated into the French language in 1772 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and into English by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Baron Antoine-Henri Jomini, General Douglas MacArthur, Napoleon, and leaders of Imperial Japan have drawn inspiration from the work. The Art of War has also been applied to business and managerial strategies...

Inscribed bamboo-slips of The Art of War, unearthed in Yinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong in 1972, dated back to 2nd century BC.

The beginning of The Art of War, in a classical bamboo book from the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Wa...

Personally, I'm a child of the 60's. But I can learn.

'Ain't Gonna Study War No More' LEADBELLY, Blues Guitar Legend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EIzKAGwJ-0

THIS WEEKEND'S CULTURAL FOCUS SUGGESTED BY GHOST DOG--YOU TOO CAN SUGGEST TOPICS! JUST SPEAK UP!

http://www.alternet.org/story/152625/the_4...

Hedge fund magnate Paul Singer likes to breakfast on decayed carcasses. What he chews down is sickening, but just as nausea-inducing are his new tablemates: billionaires Ken Langone and the Koch brothers, Charles and David.

Singer has called together the billionaire boys' club for the purpose of picking our next president for us. The old-fashioned way of choosing presidents -- democracy and counting ballots and all that - has never been a favorite of this pack. I can tell you that from my investigations of each of these gentlemen for The Guardian. When the Statue of Liberty has nightmares, she dreams that these guys will combine to seize America via a cash-and-carry coup d'état.

Welcome to the nightmare. Singer, Langone and the Kochs last month decided to elect Chris Christie for us. The New Jersey governor's pseudocampaign went belly up before it began. But that's beside the point. Now that the Supreme Court has effectively ended campaign finance limits and allowed secretive contributions through "corporations," this new combine of the ultrawealthy should not be viewed as just a political threat to the Democrats, but as a threat to democracy...

DETAILS AT LINK