Chasing Green Butterflies

[Cuddlefish]

Many many years ago there lived a man named "Knows Nothing."

"Knows-Nothing" lived in a large but sheltered village, whose name has long been forgotten. What is known, according to the tales, is that the people of this village practiced a very peculiar set of customs. All their days were spent chasing green butterflies.

"Knows-Nothing" was named such simply because the other villagers felt it described him so perfectly. To some regards that description may have had a degree of truthfulness, but one thing was certain: he knew nothing of chasing green butterflies. But then again, what else is there, right?

One summer afternoon, while "Knows-Nothing" walked the nearby wood, he came across a "Horrible Truth." It was said that what "Knows-Nothing" saw was, indeed, so horrible that it caused him to lose consciousness for three days and two nights.

"Knows-Nothing" awoke in a daze. Thinking it all a dream, he was maddened once again upon seeing the "Horrible Truth" lying there beside him. The "Horrible Truth" was real. "The village must be warned!" he said to himself, as he gathered his sanity and ran back to town.

"Knows-Nothing" arrived in a blaze, hollering as loud as he could, "I have seen the Horrible Truth!" Running and yelling, he made his way through the village. "The Horrible Truth is out there!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. However, no one payed him any attention, and they all went on blissfully chasing green butterflies. Perceiving him a fool, no one could be bothered to listen.

Having seen the peoples reaction, "Knows-Nothing" got a grip on himself. "No one is going to listen to a raving lunatic," he said, "maybe I can explain to them the "Horrible Truth" calmly. I'll use some graphs and charts and a bullet point list of facts. No one would deny actual evidence."

"Knows-Nothing" set up a booth in the village square, and asked people as they passed: "Hello, sir. Are you aware of the "Horrible Truth"? Excuse me, ma'am! Have you seen the recent studies about the "Horrible Truth"? I'm sure if you reviewed the information, you would find..." Again, he was greatly ignored. That is, until he was told to move along by one of the elders. He was making it difficult for others to chase green butterflies.

No one would listen to anything "Knows-Nothing" said, despite the fact that he had seen the "Horrible Truth" which was far more horrible than he could even understand. "Knows-Nothing" knew one thing, if the people weren't prepared for the "Horrible Truth", it would surely destroy them all. "I need to keep telling them! They must listen, whether they want to or not!" And he stormed into town once more.

"You listen here, you butterfly-chasing morons! I have seen the "Horrible Truth!" he yelled, "And if you stupid assholes don't do something about it, "The Horrible Truth" is going to kill us all! Now, you better listen up!"

The people of the village looked up at "Knows-Nothing" in shock at the sudden outburst.

"Excuse me." A nearby elder approached, "All this talk about "The Horrible Truth" got me thinking..." he paused. "And I think we're going to have to ask you to leave, you're being an awful downer."

Defeated, "Knows-Nothing" walked away, head hung. He knew about "The Horrible Truth" yet his words were ignored or misunderstood. He looked over his shoulder towards his old village, and he could hear the cries of devastation as they pealed through the trees as "The Horrible Truth" consumed them all.

As he looked on, an old sage named "Knows-A-Thing-Or-Two" happened to pass. As "Knows-Nothing" cast his eye upon him, he felt the need to warn the old man to avoid that village at all costs, as there lies the "Horrible Truth" but, by the look in the old sage's face, "Knows-Nothing" knew that he was well aware. He stopped his words at the thought.

They looked at each other in silence and nodded. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Chills, Dimo.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Oh, I like it.  Oh, yes.

[Cuddlefish]

Wow, Roger, was just going to post this:

Thanks, Nigel.

Though I was partially expecting more that one response.

Fuck, PeeDee, I've been gone for some time, and I return to find that you all can't even afford me a decent scathing critique?

Your timing is, as always, im-pecker-able.

Though, I'm still waiting for some asstard to come and shit all over the place to make me feel at home.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Wow, Roger, was just going to post this:

Thanks, Nigel.

Though I was partially expecting more that one response.

Fuck, PeeDee, I've been gone for some time, and I return to find that you all can't even afford me a decent scathing critique?

Your timing is, as always, im-pecker-able.

Though, I'm still waiting for some asstard to come and shit all over the place to make me feel at home.

Well, I've been busy, and just now noticed this.

Seems people are too busy to notice new work that actually has any thought put into it.  They're either:

A)  Lurking and waiting to see if anything happens, rather than doing something, or

B)  Looking for reasons to shit on people for no reason, or get all fucking weepy because someone said something mean about them, usually for shitting on things with no reason.

So it was nice to come down here and see this.  You might get in contact with Cram, who is working on something similar.

[Cuddlefish]

Wow, Roger, was just going to post this:

Thanks, Nigel.

Though I was partially expecting more that one response.

Fuck, PeeDee, I've been gone for some time, and I return to find that you all can't even afford me a decent scathing critique?

Your timing is, as always, im-pecker-able.

Though, I'm still waiting for some asstard to come and shit all over the place to make me feel at home.

Well, I've been busy, and just now noticed this.

Seems people are too busy to notice new work that actually has any thought put into it.  They're either:

A)  Lurking and waiting to see if anything happens, rather than doing something, or

B)  Looking for reasons to shit on people for no reason, or get all fucking weepy because someone said something mean about them, usually for shitting on things with no reason.

So it was nice to come down here and see this.  You might get in contact with Cram, who is working on something similar.

You're probably mostly right. I was just a little peeved because whenever there seems to be a lull in content, I always try to bring the productivity up, and it usually goes unnoticed in favor of the howling.

But, honestly, I do not necessarily expect any praise specifically, more than I expect some form of response. Honestly, I would have loved a harsh critique, and a doofus with a poomping problem that I could play mind-games with for not getting the point of the piece.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Wow, Roger, was just going to post this:

Thanks, Nigel.

Though I was partially expecting more that one response.

Fuck, PeeDee, I've been gone for some time, and I return to find that you all can't even afford me a decent scathing critique?

Your timing is, as always, im-pecker-able.

Though, I'm still waiting for some asstard to come and shit all over the place to make me feel at home.

Well, I've been busy, and just now noticed this.

Seems people are too busy to notice new work that actually has any thought put into it.  They're either:

A)  Lurking and waiting to see if anything happens, rather than doing something, or

B)  Looking for reasons to shit on people for no reason, or get all fucking weepy because someone said something mean about them, usually for shitting on things with no reason.

So it was nice to come down here and see this.  You might get in contact with Cram, who is working on something similar.

You're probably mostly right. I was just a little peeved because whenever there seems to be a lull in content, I always try to bring the productivity up, and it usually goes unnoticed in favor of the howling.

But, honestly, I do not necessarily expect any praise specifically, more than I expect some form of response. Honestly, I would have loved a harsh critique, and a doofus with a poomping problem that I could play mind-games with for not getting the point of the piece.

Well, here's how it is:  You and damn near everyone else just sorta wandered off one day, leaving the usual suspects alone with the lurkers.  Since that leaves about 6 people posting and 10-20 people lurking, there isn't really many actual posters to respond to you...Even when you post some awesome content.

And that's basically the problem we have here.  Almost everyone who regularly posted top-notch content has drifted away.  Most of them stop by every once and a while and lurk, others (Semaj) seem to have dropped right off of the planet.

A board requires participation, or it becomes an archive of last year's shit.  And that's what has happened here.  Remmy, Richter, Semaj, and a bunch of the other active users have left, and most of the people remaining have gotten lazy or simply too busy. 

What can you do?  I keep posting, but I get largely the same thing...A page or two of if I'm lucky, or it just sinks below the lookatmes and the howdareyous.

We've become all hat & no cattle.

[Cuddlefish]

Well, maybe a remedy for this recent slump is a good group project to get the mind-juices dripping again... I do have some things in mind...

Also, FWIW, I didn't mean to just disappear, and I always intended on returning. I just had a path that needed traveling, and it just happened to not pass by the forums. I never did get to the end of that path, but something tells me there isn't an end, anyhow, and it will most likely still be there if I ever want to return to it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, maybe a remedy for this recent slump is a good group project to get the mind-juices dripping again... I do have some things in mind...

Also, FWIW, I didn't mean to just disappear, and I always intended on returning. I just had a path that needed traveling, and it just happened to not pass by the forums. I never did get to the end of that path, but something tells me there isn't an end, anyhow, and it will most likely still be there if I ever want to return to it.

1.  Post 'em.

2.  Well, that seems to be a common theme.  People get busy and move on.

[Cuddlefish]

Well, maybe a remedy for this recent slump is a good group project to get the mind-juices dripping again... I do have some things in mind...

Also, FWIW, I didn't mean to just disappear, and I always intended on returning. I just had a path that needed traveling, and it just happened to not pass by the forums. I never did get to the end of that path, but something tells me there isn't an end, anyhow, and it will most likely still be there if I ever want to return to it.

1.  Post 'em.

2.  Well, that seems to be a common theme.  People get busy and move on.

The universe is a crazy place, Rog. It begs to be understood, yet does not lend itself to understanding. Well, not in monkey terms, anyhow.

I have a few errands to run today, then I will begin brainstorming on an idea. Maybe later today or tomorrow it should be up.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I have a few errands to run today, then I will begin brainstorming on an idea. Maybe later today or tomorrow it should be up.

No offense, but I'm betting Nurse Enabler that you won't have time to get to it.

The terms of this bet are vile, so you'd better come through.

[Cuddlefish]

I have a few errands to run today, then I will begin brainstorming on an idea. Maybe later today or tomorrow it should be up.

No offense, but I'm betting Nurse Enabler that you won't have time to get to it.

The terms of this bet are vile, so you'd better come through.

Hehehe, I'm on christmas break, and I've "finished" my "spiritual journey," so I have nothing but time...

[EK WAFFLR]

I'm liking this.
And based on this, and other things I've seen from you, I feel sure I'm gonna like your upcoming ideas.

[Kai]

The "green butterflies" was a subtle reference but I finally got it halfway through. "Biosurvival tickets", as RAW put it.

[Pæs]

This is great.

Rog, do you mean Cram's piece about No-pants?
I think this would fit with that really well.