Bibliomancy...

...is the word used for the practice of divination with books. One who engages in bibliomancy will randomly pick out a passage in a book and seeking profound meaning from what one finds. Over the centuries, several books have served, including the works of Homer, Virgil, the I Ching, and, of course, the Bible.

I have a problem, however, with using the Bible for this purpose, particularly in traditional book form. Anyone who knows anything about the Bible can pretty much pick what kind of passage he or she is likely to find just by deciding which part of the book to open.

In general I'm not sold on the whole thing or at least wasn't up till now.

This morning, however, my first significant act of the day was opening my beat up copy of Moby-Dick and coming upon this sentence:

There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.

Now I'm sold on bibliomancy. I'm all about careful disorderliness. And somehow, for all my readings of that book, this is the first time that passage has really struck me. I now declare myself officially vindicated.

Thanks, Ishmael!  You too, Herman.

STILL WRONG. Here's Dean Baker taking another swipe at deficit hawks.

CATCH THIS WAVE if you dare.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: LET ME CHECK A BOOK

Do moon coyotes howl at the earth?

Earthrise from the moon, courtesy of wikipedia.

El Cabrero has a feeling that lots of people will be slacking off today as the Christmas holiday approaches. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The holiday season seems a little different this year. I don't know about you, but the annual ritual of excessive consumption that has grown around the holiday, always pretty crass, seems particularly off key given the growing economic crisis that is affecting so many people around the world. I keep wondering how bad it's going to get.

In the meantime, here are a few items, starting with one about the above image...

AN IMAGE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (see above) is discussed in this article from the UK Guardian. Short version: the trip to the moon helped people discover the earth.

KICKING THE ECONOMIC BUBBLE HABIT will be tough.

A LENGTHY OBITUARY FOR "THE OWNERSHIP SOCIETY" and how Bush policies contributed to the current crisis can be found here.

GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE. The latest edition of the Rev. Jim Lewis' Notes from under the Fig Tree ponders Dickensian themes in these hard times from A Christmas Carol.

SPEAKING OF HARD TIMES (AGAIN), labor and community groups in WV called for a meaningful stimulus package to get the economy moving again. Here's the coverage from the Charleston Gazette.

SURF'S UP! Waves in the Pacific Northwest have been increasing in height by 7 centimeters a year and no one is sure why.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED