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Encyclopedia:
The Encyclopedia is a work in progress, ultimately we expect it to be a compendium of information to rival the the great French Encyclopedie of antiquity. We wish to build a volume of knowledge about everything, or nothing, or both! If anything is missing don't hesitate to submit your entiries to theidiotincharge*at*insanitywetrust.com. Entries are in aphabetical (sometimes) order from Z to A.
Aalst: n. One who changes his name to be nearer the front.
-- "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" (Adams and Lloyd)
Antidisamericanism: n. The backlash against actions or comments deemed to be critical of the people or official policies of The United States of America. See also "ninelevenning".
The Bible: - This ancient classic has recently been updated for the modern era.
Bible with added extras
Birth: n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of
it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born
from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block
of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he
grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It
is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a
stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount
Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.
--Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Camelphant: n. - The camelphant, a beast of mythic proportions with both a trunk and a hump, was strongly favoured for it's quality ivory tusks.
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Code Name "Zigzag": - EDDIE CHAPMAN. A deserter from the Coldstream Guards in the 1930s he then turned to crime. A safecracker by profession and serving fourteen years in jail on Jersey in the Channel Islands, at that time under German occupation, he volunteered to spy for the Germans in England. He was trained at the Abwehr sabotage school at Nantes in France and then was parachuted into England with a mission to blow up the DeHavilland aircraft factory at Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, which was producing the new fighter-bomber, the Mosquito. After landing, he contacted British Intelligence who contrived a plan to blow up part of the factory not in use, giving the Germans the impression that the mission had succeeded. On returning to Jersey for more work, Eddie Chapman (Code Name 'ZigZag') was decorated with the German Iron Cross. After the war, Chapman was also awarded a British decoration, the only Englishman thus awarded!. Later he set up a health farm and died in 1997.
.....more Lesser known facts of WWII
Fund-a-mentalism: n. The latest in a wave of -isms sweeping the globe. Really we just want your money! No.....really!
Fund-a-mentalism
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: n. Fear of the number 666
Ignoranus: n. A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
Lethologica: n. being unable to think of the correct ummm......er..... shit! It was on the tip of my tongue this morning! You know.....whaddyacallit? those abstract symbols that languages use to convey meaning. There's a word for it.
Ninelevenning: n. all irrational or cynical exploitation of the events of that day. "Once on the back foot, Bush started ninelevenning for all he was worth".
(from George D. Henderson)
Palimpsest: n [L. palimpsestus fr. Gk palimpsestos scatched or scraped again palimpseston a palimpsest fr palin again + psen to rub, rub away.] 1. A kind or portion of writing material, as parchment or paper, so prepared that the writing could be erased. Obs. 2. A parchment, tablet or other portion of writing material, which has been used twice or three times (double palimpsest), the earlier writing having been erased; a manuscript in which one or two earlier erased writings are found; a codex rescriptus. This double or tripple use in early times of writing material was largely due to scarcity of such material. Valuable texts or fragments have been recovered from palimpsests by the use of chemicals etc. 3. A memorial brass having earlier engraving on the side opposite to that which is now exposed.
- Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition (1961)
Pastafarianism: n Pastafarians claim that the universe was created by a "Flying Spaghetti Monster" (FSM) and have sent an open letter to the Kansas State Board requesting that their beliefs, (which they claim to be scientifically based) be taught in schools alongside other creation theories. The Pastafarians have the backing of a considerable number from the scientific community.
'Pataphysics: n - A term coined by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873 – 1907), to describe a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a 'pataphysician or a 'pataphysicist.
Wikipedia
Pearse, Richard (1877 - 1953): - First man to achieve powered flight in a heavier than air machine.
Richard Pearse
The Pentabarf (Five Commandmens)
The PENTABARF was discovered by the hermit Apostle Zarathud in the Fifth Year
of The Caterpillar. He found them carved in gilded stone, while building a sun
deck for his cave, but their import was lost for they were written in a
mysterious cypher. However, after 10 weeks and 11 hours of intensive scrutiny he
discerned that the message could be read by standing on his head and viewing
it upside down.
KNOW YE THIS O MAN OF FAITH!
I - There is no Goddess but Goddess and She is Your Goddess. There is no
Erisian Movement but The Erisian Movement and it is The Erisian Movement. And
every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm.
II - A Discordian Shall Always use the Official Discordian Document Numbering
System.
III - A Discordian is Required during his early Illumination to Go Off Alone and
Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog on a Friday; this Devotive Ceremony to
Remonstrate against the popular Paganisms of the Day: of Catholic Christendom
(no meat on Friday), of Judaism (no meat of Pork), of Hindic Peoples (no meat
of Beef), of Buddhists (no meat of animal), and of Discordians (no Hot Dog
Buns).
IV - A Discordian shall Partake of No Hot Dog Buns, for Such was the Solace of
Our Goddess when She was Confronted with The Original Snub.
V - A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing What he reads.
IT IS SO WRITTEN! SO BE IT. HAIL DISCORDIA! PROSECUTORS WILL BE
TRANSGRESSICUTED.
Test Question from Topanga Cabal The Twelve Famous Buddha Minds School: If
they are our brothers, how come we can't eat them?
--Principia Discordia
Pishoguerie: n - pishoguerie is an ancient practice of curing things by the aid of the fairies.
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Principia Discordia - The Founding document of Discordian philosophy.
Revelation 13: 16-18 - Biblical scripture of particular interest to Satanists, followers of Charles Manson and Iron Maiden fans:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with the understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Robot: n. - A mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man. The marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With." --The Encyclopaedia Galactica
Ros, Amanda Malvina Fitzalan Anna Margaret McLelland McKittrick; - Simultaneously the worst ever novelist and poet. Amanda McKittrick Ros
Russel's Teapot: - A reductio ad absurdum argument against non scientific models of creation.
"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."
-- Bertrand Russell
Shibboleth n 1. a slogan or catch phrase usually considered outworn, characteristic of a particular party or sect. 2. a custom, phrase, or use of language that reliably distinguishes a member of one group or class from another. - Collins Paperback English Dictionary
Early 1st millennium BC: Hostilities between the Gileadites and the Ephramites necessitated some form of test, to determine friend from foe.
Then Gilead cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever an Ephraimite fugitive said, "Let me cross", the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he answered "No", they said, "Then say Shibboleth". He would say "Sibboleth", sice he could not pronounce the word correctly. There apon they seized and slaughtered him by the fords of Jordan. There perished in this way forty-two thousand men of Ephraim
Judges 12:5-6
Shibboleth means either an ear of corn or a flowing stream. The Ephraimites were betrayed by their mispronunciation. (The Gileadites retained "s" and "sh" as distinct phonemes while the Ephraimites merged the two as a single phoneme "s".)
S.P.A.M. n - SPAM (Spaghetti and Pulsar Activating Meatballs) are a breakaway group of Pastafarians who claim to have the "One True Letter" to The Kansas Board are calling for a holy war against FSM. It's life Jim, but not as we know it! (see also Pastafarianism)
S.P,A.M.
String Theory n - A branch of theoretical physics which concerns itself with the nature of the multiverse. The basic premise is that the universe (or the multiverse) is held together by bits of string (something like that anyway). They hope to come up with a unifying theory of everything. As the philandering string theorist exclaimed to his accusing wife, "But darling, I can explain everything!"
Imagining the 10th Dimension
Syd Barrett - Founding member of Pink Floyd and patron saint of this website. (needs updating)
Testiculating: n. - Waving your arms around and talking Bollocks.
The Book of Sand: - A collection of short stories and poetry by novelist Jorge Luis Borges.
Tomoko Takahashi: - A one time Turner Prize nominee who created a bit of a stir with an installment which consisted of her drinking copious amounts of alcohol and periodically attempting to negotiate her way across a balancing beam in high heels. According to the artist, the piece was a "comment on the availability and use of mass-produced products".
The Telegraph
Toru Iwatini: - Creator of Pac-man
Time Machine: n. A device designed to facilitate travel in time as popularised by the H. G. Wells novel of the same name and the Hollywood movie "Back to the Future" starring Michael J. Fox. Recently such a device was up for grabs on New Zealand's Trademe website: Time Machine for sale
Vogon Constructor Fleets: - Here is what to do if you want to get
a lift from a Vogon: forget it. They are one of the most
unpleasant races in the Galaxy -- not actually evil, but bad
tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even
lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous
Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate,
sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public
inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat and recycled
as
The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your
finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to
feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
"On no account allow a Vogon to read poetry at you."
--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Williams, Hugh: - On three separate occasions - in the years 1664, 1785, and 1860 - there was a shipwreck in which only one person survived the accident. Each time that one person was named Hugh Williams.
Xerophages: n. On the 28th of April, 1748, Pope Clement XII, issued his bull forbidding the practice of Freemasonry by the members of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the Masons of Italy continued, however, to meet; but, for the purpose of escaping the temporal penalties of the bull, which ectended, in some cases, to the infliction of capital punishment, they changed their esoteric name, and called themselves Xerophagists. This is a compound of two Greek words signifying "eaters of dry food," and by it they alluded to an engagement into which they entered to abstain from the drinking of wine. They were, in fact, the first temperance society on record. Theory says (Act. Lat., i. 346,) that a manuscript concerning them was contained in the collection of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic scottish Rite.
-- Mackey, Albert G. M.D.; Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences. (1917) McClure Publishing Co. Philadelphia.