The Stand - complete edition, by Stephen King
(from internet transcript)
excerpt, Chapter 17
"I know what the fuck Flowerpot is," Starkey said. “What’s the situation?”
The tinny voice coming from Sipe Springs talked uninterrupted for almost five minutes. The situation itself was unimportant, Starkey thought, because the computer had informed him two days ago that just this sort of situation (in some shape or form) was apt to occur before the end of June. 88% probability. The specifics didn’t matter. If it had two legs and belt-loops, it was a pair of pants. Never mind the color.
A doctor in Sipe Springs had made some good guesses, and a pair of reporters for a Houston daily had linked what was happening in Sipe Springs with what had already happened in Arnette, Verona, Commerce City, and a town called Polliston, Kansas. Those were the towns where the problem had gotten so bad so fast that the army had been sent in to quarantine. The computer had a list of twenty-five other towns in ten states where traces of Blue were beginning to show up.
The Sipe Springs situation wasn’t important because it wasn’t unique. They’d had their chance at unique in Arnette—well, maybe—and flubbed it. What was important was that the “situation” was finally going to see print on something besides yellow military flimsy; was, anyway, unless Starkey took steps. He hadn’t decided whether to do that or not. But when the tinny voice stopped talking, Starkey realized that he had made the decision after all. He had perhaps made it as long as twenty years ago.
It came down to what was important. And what was important wasn’t the fact of the disease; it wasn’t the fact that Atlanta’s integrity had somehow been breached and they were going to have to switch the whole preventative operation to much less satisfactory facilities in Stovington, Vermont; it wasn’t the fact that Blue spread in such sneaky common-cold disguise.
From 2/27/1920 ( Julian Jaynes ) To 9/1/1948 ( ) is 10414 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 5/8/1994 ( ) is 10414 days
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1349235/
IMDb
The Stand
S1.E1
The Plague
Episode aired May 8, 1994
Top cast
Ed Harris as General Starkey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A._Beard
excerpt
Charles A. Beard
From Wikipedia
Charles Austin Beard (November 27, 1874 – September 1, 1948) was an American historian and professor
In a strong sense, that view simply involved a reaffirmation of the position that Beard had always criticized by saying that parties were prone to switch rhetorical ideals when their interest dictated. Beard's economic determinism was largely replaced by the intellectual history approach, which stressed the power of ideas, especially republicanism, in stimulating the Revolution. However, the legacy of examining the economic interests of American historical actors can still be found in the 21st century. Recently, in To Form a More Perfect Union: A New Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution (2003), Robert A. McGuire, relying on a sophisticated statistical analysis, argues that Beard's basic thesis regarding the impact of economic interests in the making of the Constitution is not far from the mark.
The Stand - complete edition, by Stephen King
(from internet transcript)
excerpt, Chapter 28
“Someone will come,” Frannie said. “After a while. After this disease, whatever it is, burns itself out.”
“Who?”
“Somebody in authority,” she said uncertainly. “Somebody who will… well… put things back in order.”
He laughed bitterly. “My dear child… sorry, Fran. Fran, it was the people in authority who did this. They’re good at putting things back in order. They’ve solved the depressed economy, pollution, the oil shortage, and the cold war, all at a stroke. Yeah, they put things in order, all right. They solved everything the same way Alexander solved the Gordian knot—by cutting it in two with his sword.”
“But it’s just a funny strain of the flu, Harold. I heard it on the radio—”
“Mother Nature just doesn’t work that way, Fran. Your somebody in authority got a bunch of bacteriologists, virologists, and epidemiologists together in some government installation to see how many funny bugs they could dream up. Bacteria. Viruses. Germ plasm, for all I know. And one day some well-paid toady said, ‘Look what I made. It kills almost everybody. Isn’t it great?’ And they gave him a medal, and a pay-raise, and a time-sharing condo, and then somebody spilled it.
IMDb
The Stand
The Plague (1994)
Quotes
Gen. Starkey: I don't know how many times I have to say this but this so-called "superflu" does... not... exist!
Reporter: Then what is it? Why are people talking about it?
Gen. Starkey: I don't know why people are talking about it. I don't know where the rumors are coming from. It must be from somebody's imagination. I don't know why I'm up here answering questions I don't have the answer to. There is NO superflu virus!
excerpt
"The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind"
by Julian Jaynes
pg 422
Even without hallucinated orders, a patient may have the feeling of being commanded in way in which he must obey.
excerpt
JULIAN JAYNES
THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAK DOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND
Afterword
The third general hypothesis is that consciousness was learned only after the breakdown of the bicameral mind. I believe this is true, that the anguish of not knowing what to do in the chaos resulting from the loss of the gods
- by me, Kerry Wayne Burgess, posted by me: 7:43 PM Pacific-timezone USA Sunday 11/02/2025
