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| Dr Strangelove (1964) |
The ‘R’ is down! said UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson yesterday.
He was talking about the nCOVID-19 transmission numbers, so we’re not out of lockdown
yet.
‘R’ is significant you see.
Now that ‘R’ has come into its own, I thought it would be interesting
to revisit the causes that led to its significance, in these days of unnerving,
unpredictable, weirdness. I started thinking about what ‘R’ really is again.
Over the years, I’ve been asked several times what ‘The
Significance of R’ means, or rather how I came about the name. Not sure if I’ve
answered that effectively.
I chose ‘R U Significant’ for my Twitter handle without
really thinking too deeply about it. I was trying to twist The Significance of
R into something ‘understandable’. I could have used U R Significant, but I’ve
never been one for the melodramatic although some may disagree.
Way, way back in the hazy days of a noughties Cypriot
winter, I use to listen to a myriad of podcasts from International Sync
Bloggers and documentary makers, to American ‘progressive’ writers and
thinkers. That was when the ‘trooth’ movement and all the crap with Alex Jones
really started to take off.
Call it subliminal or whatever you like, the letter ‘R’
kept appearing all over the place, and came up in discussions about mysticism, and
the significance of ‘things’, often including the letter ‘R’. So much so that
one day I was walking to work and tripped on something in the doorway. Looking down,
wondering what it was, I picked up a plastic transparent letter ‘R’ that had
fallen off a noticeboard and into the street! A strange realisation set in, sort
of how the number ‘23’ seems to trigger people.
You will know by now, if you’ve read some of my blog posts,
that I’ve covered an eclectic mix of the strange and weird over the years. These
include my own personal experiences of the ‘unknown’, I’ve divulged on news
headlines that touched me, ranging from things like film festivals, abortions, and
even international terrorism. I’ve also been approached several times to be
told about events that would bring the end of the world, and whether I’d like
to cover them on my blog, or whether I’d like to syndicate my posts to ‘far-right’
sites similar to Breitbart!
It appears I am a soft touch after all, although I am not
about to do any of the above, unless of course, there is significant monetary incentive
for me to do so… I digress…
Never thought of myself as far right, more like ‘far-out-there’.
I don’t follow a ‘side’ or see myself as a ‘warrior for a cause’. I’m just
looking for some sanity in (what now appears to be very much) the insane world
we’re living in. As ‘Judge Judy’ says (who I am forced to watch whenever I
spend time with my elderly mother) “If something doesn’t make sense, it isn’t
true!” That’s what the Significance of ‘R’ is, it’s the element of truth that
eludes us, only popping up out of the ether on occasion to surprise us with its
presence.
Just because you cover a subject, talk about it, ask
questions about it, offer opinions about it, doesn’t automatically mean you subscribe
to its ethos. I like watching documentaries about ‘Big-Foot’ for example. However,
I’m not about to go out hunting for one. Naturally, if someone comes out and
says they saw one wearing a t-shirt with a huge letter ‘R’ on the front, well…
“R is everything”, said a Channel 4 news journo yesterday,
after Boris’ mentioned the figures. I have to agree with this statement. Keep
questioning and looking for the ‘R’… you may learn something you never imagined.
It’s a mathematical term... R0 indicates how contagious an infectious disease is. It’s also referred to as the reproduction number. As an infection spreads to new people, it reproduces itself. R 0 tells you the average number of people who will catch a disease from one contagious person.
For more information on what R0 is and how it's calculated, here's a good article, a bit out of date now but worth the read https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/01/how-fast-and-far-will-new-coronavirus-spread/605632/
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Ra Ancient Egyptian Sun God depicted with the Eye of Ra Sun Disc
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The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The eye is an extension of Ra's power, equated with the disk of the sun, but it also behaves as an independent goddess. This goddess can be equated with several particular deities, including Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Raet-Tawy, and Mut. The eye goddess acts as mother, sibling, consort, and daughter of the sun god. She is his partner in the creative cycle in which he begets the renewed form of himself that is born at dawn. The eye's violent aspect defends Ra against the agents of disorder that threaten his rule. This dangerous aspect of the eye goddess is often represented by a lioness or by the uraeus, or cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority.
The Eye of Ra is similar to the Eye of Horus, which belongs to a different god, Horus, but represents many of the same concepts. The disastrous effects when the eye goddess rampages out of control and the efforts of the gods to return her to a benign state are a prominent motif in Egyptian mythology.
The Eye of Ra was involved in many areas of ancient Egyptian religion, including in the cults of the many goddesses who are equated with it. Its life-giving power was celebrated in temple rituals, and its dangerous aspect was invoked in the protection of the pharaoh, of sacred places, and of ordinary people and their homes.
