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Have You Not Heard?
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Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31)
January 7, 2007
On Widget Viruses and Waffleburger Hatting
Let's suppose that there are three groups: the Multi-WidgetVirus Party, the Neutral WidgetVirus Party, and the Sparsely-WidgetVirus Party. The Multis state a desire for a vast number of WidgetViruses. The Sparselys, on the other hand, say that the number of WidgetViruses should be kept low, preferably between 7 and 12, but definitely no more than 20. The Neutrals just want us all to get along. They also like fuzzy red hats.Year 1: There are 9 WidgetViruses. The Sparselys propose that the number be reduced to 8. The Multis proposes that the number be increased to 18. The three parties compromise on 12. (The Multis are happy. The Sparselys are anxious. The Neutrals are content, and they have nice fuzzy red hats.)
Year 2: The Sparselys propose 9 WidgetViruses. The Multis propose 32. They compromise on 18. (The Multis are happier, even though they're not that crazy about red hats. The Sparselys are unhappy. The Neutrals criticize the Sparselys for having a bad attitude, but they compliment each other on their nice hats.)
Year 3: The Sparselys propose 12 WidgetViruses. The Multis propose 400. They compromise on 52. (The Multis are even happier, even though they proclaim that halfway between 12 and 400 should have given them over 200 WidgetViruses. The Sparselys wonder what happened. The Neutrals accuse the Sparselys of being greedy. Some within the Multis began to complain about the abundance of fuzzy red hats.)
Year 4: The Sparselys propose 30 WidgetViruses. The Multis propose 6000. They compromise on 1100. (The Multis blame the Sparselys for their intransigence in limiting the number of WidgetViruses to only 1100. The Neutrals say that 1100 is the best that the Sparselys can expect; that it is a fair compromise and they should learn to like it. Some Multis began playing a game in which Waffleburgers are thrown at fuzzy red hats.)
Year 5: The Sparselys decide that, since the number of WidgetViruses has gotten into the thousands, their strategy has failed and things can't get much worse. They refuse to negotiate with the Multis. The Sparselys return to their goal of 8 WidgetViruses. The Neutrals maintain that choosing the lesser of the two evils is the only sensible thing to do. The Multis and the Neutrals combine to establish 7,000 WidgetViruses as the standard. The sport of Waffleburger Hatting catches on.
Year 6: The Multis pass a law that no more than 50% of a hat may be red in color, and that it can only be fuzzy on the inside. The Neutrals are concerned, but decide that the Multis probably know best.
Year 7: Fuzzy red hats are outlawed, except during Waffleburger Hatting season; but pictures of fuzzy red hats are allowed. Many Neutrals compliment each other on their nice hat pictures. A few Neutrals begin to miss their fuzzy red hats.
Year 8: Sparselys approach a group of thoroughly Waffleburgered Neutrals and offer them nice fuzzy red hats if they will once again agree to limit the number of WidgetViruses to less than 10. Some Neutrals, while clutching their red hat pictures, say that the proposal is ridiculous; that there will never be less than 7000 WidgetViruses, nor should there be. Other Neutrals seriously consider the proposal...
