The Devil's Playground
Years ago, when I was still in college, I had embarked upon my apocryphal studies. What did all this Anti-Christ mean? I’d learned about the astrological prophecies but I wanted to see if they fit the Biblical prophecies. After studying the newspaper of that particular date, I began to formulate a theory about who the A.C. was, what type of man he was, and how he would go about gathering his legions.
Computers were very new in those days. My older brother still used his slide rule to do his college math calculations. When I got to college, computers were still these boxes with no monitors, with very limited capabilities.
Still, I warned anyone who would listen to beware of these newfangled contraptions, and the brand new communications arena, cable television. ‘One day,’ I predicted the television and the computer would be barely distinguishable from one another. The A.C. would use this new technology to gather his followers. With it, he would be able to track anyone, anywhere, at any time.
We already knew the power of television. But these new devices, along with plastic money (which we also knew about), would tether us to a single, centralized government. ‘We would even do our banking and bill-paying by this method, which would throw us farther into his power. We would rarely actually handle money anymore. Transactions would be done electronically, via passwords, and there was the true danger.’
Older people agreed and took me seriously. People my age and younger barely even heard me – and I didn’t listen to myself. Here I am, in the 21st Century, blithely and recklessly communicating on the Devil’s Playground, the Internet. My older friends refuse to have anything to do with computers and wonder why I do, since it was I who warned them in the first place.
You can find out anything you want to know about anyone – and vice versa. Hackers can easily break your password, enter your computer, and steal information, or just wreak havoc. Thanks to a recent computer virus, the sound on my home computer no longer works. I would love to listen to Glenn Beck’s radio program on the Internet. As soon as I can figure out how to reinstate my sound.
The worried phone company probably jumbled the letters on the telephone dial so as not to lend any credence to speculation about the number 666. The numeral “1” has no letters. Still, if you were to move the letters up, SPQR would wind up on the number “6” – SPQR – Senatus Populus que Romanus - The Senate and the People of Rome. The letters appeared on all Roman coins. Will “666” appear on future coins and money? Well, let’s hope not.
SPQR appeared on coins, at the end of documents made public by inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and was emblazoned on the standards of the Roman legions. The phrase appears many hundreds of times in Roman political, legal and historical literature, including the speeches of Marcus Tullius Cicero and the history of Titus Livius. Since the meaning and the words never vary, except for the spelling and inflection of populus in literature, Latin dictionaries classify it as a formula.
The phrase's date of origin is not known, but its meaning places it generally after the founding of the Roman Republic. The two legal entities mentioned, “Senatus” and the “Populus Romanus,” are sovereign when combined. However, where populus is sovereign alone, Senatus is not. Under the Roman Monarchy, neither entity was sovereign. The phrase, therefore, can be dated to no earlier than the foundation of the Republic.
Then along came Julius Caesar, who proclaimed himself the Emperor of Rome. Until that point, since the overthrow of the monarchy, Rome had no titular leader. However, SPQR continued to be used under the Roman Empire. The emperors were considered the representatives of the people, even though the senatus consulta, or decrees of the Senate, were made at the pleasure of the emperor.
The Roman people appear very often in law and history in such phrases as dignitas, maiestas, auctoritas, libertas populi Romani, the “dignity, majesty, authority, freedom of the Roman people.” They were a populus liber, “a free people.” There was an exercitus, imperium, iudicia, honores, consules, voluntas of this same populus: “the army, rule, judgments, offices, consuls and will of the Roman people.” They appear in early Latin as Popolus and Poplus, so the habit of thinking of themselves as free and sovereign was quite ingrained.
The Romans believed that all authority came from the people. It could be said that similar language seen in more modern political and social revolutions directly comes from this usage. “People” in this sense meant the whole government. The latter, however, was essentially divided into the aristocratic Senate, whose will was executed by the consuls and praetors, and the comitia centuriata, “committees of the hundreds,” whose will came to be safeguarded by the Tribunes.
During the regime of Benito Mussolini, SPQR was emblazoned on a number of public buildings and manhole covers in an attempt to promote his dictatorship as a “New Roman Empire.”
But that’s just one crackpot conspiracy theory of what the number “666” stands for. The Bible tells us the number is a man’s name. The number has been attributed to Nero and Ronald Reagan. In Muslim terms, 666 was rumored to be the year that the hated Muawiyah I came to power.
The trick is to get his number before he gets ours. And then hang up on him.
Computers were very new in those days. My older brother still used his slide rule to do his college math calculations. When I got to college, computers were still these boxes with no monitors, with very limited capabilities.
Still, I warned anyone who would listen to beware of these newfangled contraptions, and the brand new communications arena, cable television. ‘One day,’ I predicted the television and the computer would be barely distinguishable from one another. The A.C. would use this new technology to gather his followers. With it, he would be able to track anyone, anywhere, at any time.
We already knew the power of television. But these new devices, along with plastic money (which we also knew about), would tether us to a single, centralized government. ‘We would even do our banking and bill-paying by this method, which would throw us farther into his power. We would rarely actually handle money anymore. Transactions would be done electronically, via passwords, and there was the true danger.’
Older people agreed and took me seriously. People my age and younger barely even heard me – and I didn’t listen to myself. Here I am, in the 21st Century, blithely and recklessly communicating on the Devil’s Playground, the Internet. My older friends refuse to have anything to do with computers and wonder why I do, since it was I who warned them in the first place.
You can find out anything you want to know about anyone – and vice versa. Hackers can easily break your password, enter your computer, and steal information, or just wreak havoc. Thanks to a recent computer virus, the sound on my home computer no longer works. I would love to listen to Glenn Beck’s radio program on the Internet. As soon as I can figure out how to reinstate my sound.
The worried phone company probably jumbled the letters on the telephone dial so as not to lend any credence to speculation about the number 666. The numeral “1” has no letters. Still, if you were to move the letters up, SPQR would wind up on the number “6” – SPQR – Senatus Populus que Romanus - The Senate and the People of Rome. The letters appeared on all Roman coins. Will “666” appear on future coins and money? Well, let’s hope not.
SPQR appeared on coins, at the end of documents made public by inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and was emblazoned on the standards of the Roman legions. The phrase appears many hundreds of times in Roman political, legal and historical literature, including the speeches of Marcus Tullius Cicero and the history of Titus Livius. Since the meaning and the words never vary, except for the spelling and inflection of populus in literature, Latin dictionaries classify it as a formula.
The phrase's date of origin is not known, but its meaning places it generally after the founding of the Roman Republic. The two legal entities mentioned, “Senatus” and the “Populus Romanus,” are sovereign when combined. However, where populus is sovereign alone, Senatus is not. Under the Roman Monarchy, neither entity was sovereign. The phrase, therefore, can be dated to no earlier than the foundation of the Republic.
Then along came Julius Caesar, who proclaimed himself the Emperor of Rome. Until that point, since the overthrow of the monarchy, Rome had no titular leader. However, SPQR continued to be used under the Roman Empire. The emperors were considered the representatives of the people, even though the senatus consulta, or decrees of the Senate, were made at the pleasure of the emperor.
The Roman people appear very often in law and history in such phrases as dignitas, maiestas, auctoritas, libertas populi Romani, the “dignity, majesty, authority, freedom of the Roman people.” They were a populus liber, “a free people.” There was an exercitus, imperium, iudicia, honores, consules, voluntas of this same populus: “the army, rule, judgments, offices, consuls and will of the Roman people.” They appear in early Latin as Popolus and Poplus, so the habit of thinking of themselves as free and sovereign was quite ingrained.
The Romans believed that all authority came from the people. It could be said that similar language seen in more modern political and social revolutions directly comes from this usage. “People” in this sense meant the whole government. The latter, however, was essentially divided into the aristocratic Senate, whose will was executed by the consuls and praetors, and the comitia centuriata, “committees of the hundreds,” whose will came to be safeguarded by the Tribunes.
During the regime of Benito Mussolini, SPQR was emblazoned on a number of public buildings and manhole covers in an attempt to promote his dictatorship as a “New Roman Empire.”
But that’s just one crackpot conspiracy theory of what the number “666” stands for. The Bible tells us the number is a man’s name. The number has been attributed to Nero and Ronald Reagan. In Muslim terms, 666 was rumored to be the year that the hated Muawiyah I came to power.
The trick is to get his number before he gets ours. And then hang up on him.
posted by Belle | 6:41 PM
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