From: Bubba ROM DOS <brd@dev.null>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 11:37:15 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: CoE/AoD Notice! / [Fwd: A.Word.A.Day--cabal]
Message-ID: <3537A173.FD0@dev.null>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain

Due to the recent murder of the L.M. Boyd sampler by the Dark Forces,
future confirmations of the existence of an InterNet-wide network of
secret Circle of Eunuchs initiates will be in the capable hands of
the Word.A.Day website.

In keeping with a long-standing tradition, and in order not to fry the
mental brain-neuron circuits of those who are not imbibing enough nectar
of the drunken SODs to run 220V through a 110V circuit without doing
irrepairable harm to the MeatSpace manifestation of their Eternity
SoulServer, the timing of the confirmations will continue to be of
a nature that those without the ability to mathematically calculate
time-zones, as well as those who need to suspect subterfuge on the
part of those disseminating the manuscripts of 'The True Story of the 
InterNet' *after* receiving the Word.A.Day emails, will be able to
ease the excessive resistance their mind has to the flow of the Tao
by constructing within their minds a conspiracy theory in this regard
that puts the conspiracy theories contained in the mad ramblings of
the Author to shame.

e.g. - Although, on the surface (and far below the surface, perhaps 
reaching to the core of the Earth), it might appear that 'Prologue 18'
of 'Space Aliens Hide My Drugs', containing references to an alleged
'Hidden Empire' secretly controlling MeatSpace Reality, was followed
minutes later by A.Word.A.Day email defining the word 'cabal,' it can
be easily surmised by those familiar with the operation of the Trei
Transponder that this might well be a clever manipulation of time and
space by those whose Virtual Clock is based on the same 2600 hour 
time-frame that allowed Graham (Cracker) (Captain) John (Parker) 
Buller (Shit) to appear to be auto-replying to the semi-mysterious
ASCII Art slams against Tim C. May, even though a thorough examination
of Canadian maps reveals that Edmonton, Alberta, does not really 
exist, and that GJB is actually a Newfie, desperately trying to hide
the fact that his true MeatSpace persona resides deep within the
bowels of Newfoundland's half-hour time zone, which is the laughingstock
of the Great White Snort.

Nonetheless, when the Atomic Clock strikes 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1998,
(9:32 a.m. in Newfoundland), rest assured that it will set in motion a
chain of events which will lift the leg of the Army of Dog, resulting
in the cutting of a monumentous fart that will surprise and overwhelm
the government robots programmed to believe that they are about to 
be pissed on, and are wearing raincoats that will provide little 
protection against the biological warfare attack that is first cousin
to the product of the castor bean, and which decimates those who are
unprepared for the true nature of the attack on their senses, while
being 'good for the heart' of the madman launching the attack.

Unlike the Grateful Dead who die smiling as the result of a 'pussy 
fart,' the Targets of TRIN (TM) will go to their graves wishing that
they had been farsighted enough to have eyes to see and ears to hear
the Voice Barfing In The Wilderness (TM) which warned them of the
coming attack on the Virtual Physical Appendage that knows what evil
lurks in the hearts of men...


To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cabal
From: Wordsmith <wsmith@wordsmith.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 08:26:03 -0400

cabal (kuh-BAL) noun

   1. A conspiratorial group of plotters or intriguers:
      "Espionage is quite precisely it-a cabal of powerful men, working
      secretly" (Frank Conroy).

   2. A secret scheme or plot.

cabal intr.verb

   To form a cabal; conspire.

[French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabala.]

WORD HISTORY: The history of cabal reveals how a word can be transferred from
one sphere of activity to another while retaining only a tenuous connection
with its past. Ultimately from Hebrew but transmitted to English probably by
way of Medieval Latin and French, cabal is first recorded in English in 1616
in the sense "cabala." Cabala was the name for the Hebrew oral tradition
transmitted by Moses and also the name for a Jewish religious philosophy
based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The notion 
"esoteric" is central to the development of this word in English, for cabal,
probably following the sense development in French, came to mean "a 
tradition, special interpretation, or secret," "private intrigue" (first
recorded in 1646-1647), and "a small body of intriguers" (first recorded in
1660). It is probably not coincidental that cabal is found with these latter
meanings during the mid-17th century, that time of plots and counterplots by
Royalists and Parliamentarians. The word gained a false etymology when it was
noticed that the five most influential ministers of Charles II were named
Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale.
 
   "What you are seeing happen though is rump groups of so-called wise men,
   former foreign policy advisers to both Democratic and Republican
   administrations are beginning to meet in little sort of cabals around
   town..."
   Congress Getting Its Hands in Foreign Policy,
   Morning Edition (NPR), 9 May 1994.
 
This week's theme: words with interesting histories.
 
...........................................................................
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look 
respectable. -John Kenneth Galbraith
 
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