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The Lost PowerPoint Slides (Sir Thomas More Edition)

By on May 10, 2011 in Hinky History, The Lost PowerPoints

Sir Thomas More, painted by Hans Holbein, circa 1527Sir Thomas More presents “The Religions of Utopia” (circa 1515) –> slide three

  • several religions
  • sun-worshipers, moon-worshipers, Uranus-worshipers (the worst of them)
  • but the best religion worships an incomprehensible Deity.

Sir Thomas More presents “The Religions of Utopia” (circa 1515) –> slide five

their most ancient law:

  • no man ought to be punished for his religion
  • not even the evil-smelling Uranus-worshipers.

Sir Thomas More presents “The Religions of Utopia” (circa 1515) –> slide six

  • liberty needed so they can decide:
  • which religion is true and which is false
  • also, dignity of human values more important than religious dogma.

Sir Thomas More presents “Burning Lutherans” (circa 1530) –> slide 5

  • heresy against Church is a disease
  • started with burning Protestant books
  • now onto followers of Martin Luther
  • (but I only burned six).

Sir Thomas More:

“A man of an angel’s wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons.” ~ Robert Whittington (1520, before More’s “pyro” phase)

In addition to being an all-weather dude, More also was burner of heretics, or Lutherans as we know them now. Alltop is burning hot with humor. Originally published Dec. 7, 2007.

Irony alert!

By on December 2, 2010 in But is it art?, Skwibby fiction

Utopia - urban decay in Detroit

I saw this photo this morning, and a passage from my post-apocalyptic comedy, The Amadeus Net, came to mind. This is the character of Les Parsons, who is a retired Canadian diplomat, speaking:

If not for the Shudder, Canada would have disintegrated, like the United States did. And there is the supreme irony. A physical threat like the Shudder was capable of bringing our country together, while in the States, it was the final straw. The cracks in the American social system were the Achilles heel; all it took was the arrow, that chunk of rock hurtling out of space, to kill the body politic of that great nation. I know all this intimately, because that’s where I was stationed following the disaster. In the U.S. Actually, the Principality of New York. And then in Detroit, which is technically part of Canada now, thought most Canadians would never admit to it.

Photo by Jason Tester, via BoingBoing. More about The Amadeus Net at the publisher’s site. (You can also buy it there, hint, hint.)

Alltop has 10,000 spoons and no sense of irony.