MENTIONED IN WALDEN:

AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

WALDEN:

Like the Mameluke bey

I gravitate toward

the only path I can

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

WALDEN: I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whosecomposition was poured a little alloy of bell metal. Often, inthe repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confusedtintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of mycontemporaries. My neighbors tell me of their adventures withfamous gentlemen and ladies, what notabilities they met at thedinner-table; but I am no more interested in such things than inthe contents of the Daily Times. The interest and theconversation are about costume and manners chiefly; but a gooseis a goose still, dress it as you will. They tell me ofCalifornia and Texas, of England and the Indies, of the Hon. Mr._________ of Georgia or of Massachusetts, all transient andfleeting phenomena, till I am ready to leap from their court-yard like the Mameluke bey. I delight to come to my bearings, –not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuousplace but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if Imay,– not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivialNineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goesby. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee ofarrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God isonly the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I loveto weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most stronglyand rightfully attracts me; –not hang by the beam of the scaleand try to weigh less,– not suppose a case, but take the casethat is; to travel the only path I can, and that on which nopower can resist me. It affords me no satisfaction to commenceto spring an arch before I have got a solid foundation. Let usnot play at kittly-benders. There is a solid bottom every where.We read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp before himhad a hard bottom. The boy replied that it had. But presentlythe traveller’s horse sank in up to the girths, and he observedto the boy, “I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom.”“So it has,” answered the latter, “but you have not got half wayto it yet.” So it is with the bogs and quicksands of society;but he is an old boy that knows it. Only what is thought said ordone at a certain rare coincidence is good. I would not be oneof those who will foolishly drive a nail into mere lath andplastering; such a deed would keep me awake nights. Give me ahammer, and let me feel for the furring. Do not depend on theputty. Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that youcan wake up in the night and think of your work withsatisfaction, –a work at which you would not be ashamed to invokethe Muse. So will help you God, and so only. Every nail drivenshould be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, youcarrying on the work.

AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

PEOPLE OFWALDEN

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

At this point a sultan’s secret service agents, his torturers, interrogators, and executioners would most likely have all been eunuchs, to ensure that they were both singleminded and trustworthy. When, however, with the murder of Al-Kamel’s nephew Al-Saleh, the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt came to an end, power was seized by the emasculated Turkish slave-soldier caste, the Mamelukes. During the 267-year reign of these Mamelukes (ten or eleven generations of human life), Cairo would be transformed into the intellectual and cultural centre of the Muslim world. The caste’s achievements would include the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Quala’un, the al-Nasir Muhammed Madrasa/Mausoleum, and the Wikala of al-Ghouri. By military conquest they would take control over Syria and Palestine. This dynastic rule of these warriors would finally crumble in 1516 upon the entry of the Turkish Sultan Selim into Cairo, but their guild would continue in Cairo until 1811, and in places even into the early decades of the life of Henry Thoreau.1

1250

1. As officer O83522 in the USMCR, 1962-1965, when the need arose to parade myself in whites in summer or blues in winter, I would strap on my sword in the curved Mameluke style with my name on the blade as prescribed in Marine Corps general orders and practice a few sword-salutes just in case (I’ve still got this curved-blade dingus the style of which dates back to the period in which US Marines were engaged “to the shores of Tripoli,” in the Barbary Wars to suppress pirates along the North African coast). Such dress-parade accessories are currently manufactured to be so dull that they won’t even do a good job of cutting cake, and also, are on purpose manufactured out of a sort of chrome-plated pot metal that cannot be sharpened:

THE MAMELUKE SWORD

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

May 18, Friday: Akko, the fortified diehard holdout of the Crusaders (also known as Acre), on a promontory at the northern end of Haifa Bay, had been under siege since the previous year by Mamluks under the command of al-Ashraf Khalil. On this day a portion of its northern wall was penetrated, enabling the killing or enslaving of some 60,000 Christians.2

The Arab chronicler al-Abidwardi wrote of the aftermath, “the Sultan set the women and children apart and decapitated all the men, of whom there was a great number.” The wonder was not that the Crusader stronghold fell, but that it survived so long.

1291

2. Akko had been abandoned during the Hellenistic period and a new city, Ptolemais, had arisen nearby, protected with a fortified wall. The Romans had improved and enlarged the natural harbor in the southern part of the city and added a breakwater, making it one of their main ports on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The Crusaders, when they had founded the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099, had needed awhile to overcome this port’s fortifications. On May 26, 1104, after months of heavy siege and with the help of the Genoese fleet, King Baldwin I had been able to make a triumphal entry. The Crusaders had erected quite a sophisticated system of walls and towers, unlike any there previously, along the sea to the west and south of the city, and in the east and north they had positioned a rampart and moat that severed the city from the mainland. The port came to include an inner harbor (now silted up) as well as an outer one. The Crusaders had put in a new breakwater protected by a tower at its far end (it still stands, known as the Tower of Flies). The fortifications in which these Godly ones had placed their trust, however, had fallen relatively easily to the Moslems. Shortly after their victory at the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, on July 9, 1187, the city had surrendered to Salah al-Din and its Christian inhabitants had evacuated. In 1188 the Crusaders had again laid siege to Akko, but had not been able to penetrate the fortifications they themselves had provided. The Muslims surrendered to King Richard the Lionhearted of England and King Philip Augustus of France, leaders of the 3rd Crusade, on July 12, 1191 and for a century the Crusaders had again ruled Akko. Their castrum (palace) had been located in the northern part of the urban area, inside massive fortifications. Near the harbor, merchant quarters known as communes had been established by the Italian maritime cities of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. Each quarter had its marketplace with warehouses and shops, and dwellings for the merchant families. There were also centers for the various military orders — the Hospitalers, the Templars, etc. At the beginning of the 13th Century, a new residential quarter called Montmusard had been created to the north of the city, surrounded by its own wall, and the resident population of Europeans had grown to about 40,000.

Is this Crusader praying to the Godof victory in whom he truly believes— or perchance is he petitioningsomebody not to whack him?

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

The Turko-Egyptian writer Hasan al-Ramah would describe the role that saltpeter-based combustibles played during the Muslim victory over the Crusaders at Acre. First, Iraqi engineers had attacked infantry by filling fused clay pots with powder and launching them from trebuchets. Then, they had used firecrackers and fire-arrows to frighten the enemy’s horses. Finally, they slung grenades below kites and sailed them into enemy ships or castles. This said, the average Mamluk soldier did not like the noisy, smelly weapons. Their reasoning was that such devices could as easily be deployed by peasants as by superbly trained warriors, and should therefore be interdicted.

“HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE” BEING A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME (JUST AS THE PERSPECTIVE IN A PAINTING IS A VIEW

FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN SPACE), TO “LOOK AT THE COURSE OF HISTORY MORE GENERALLY” WOULD BE TO SACRIFICE PERSPECTIVE ALTOGETHER. THIS IS FANTASY-LAND, YOU’RE FOOLING YOURSELF. THERE CANNOT BE ANY SUCH THINGIE, AS SUCH A PERSPECTIVE.

July: Sidon and Beirut fell to the Mamluks.

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

The Turkish Sultan Selim I annexed Syria to the Turkish sultanate and defeated Egyptian forces near Aleppo. When he entered Cairo the 267-year reign of the Mamelukes, a Turkish slave caste of soldiers, was brought to an end. During their ten or eleven generations these warriors had transformed Cairo into the intellectual and cultural centre of the Muslim world, and by military conquest they had taken control over Syria and Palestine. Their achievements included the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Quala’un, the al-Nasir Muhammed Madrasa/Mausoleum, and the Wikala of al-Ghouri.

YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY ACADEMIC HISTORIAN INVITES YOU TO CLIMB ABOARD A HOVERING TIME MACHINE TO SKIM IN METATIME BACK

ACROSS THE GEOLOGY OF OUR PAST TIMESLICES, WHILE OFFERING UP A GARDEN VARIETY OF COGENT ASSESSMENTS OF OUR PROGRESSION. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! YOU SHOULD REFUSE THIS HELICOPTERISH

OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL PAST, FOR IN THE REAL WORLD THINGS HAPPEN ONLY AS THEY HAPPEN. WHAT THIS SORT WRITES AMOUNTS,

LIKE MERE “SCIENCE FICTION,” MERELY TO “HISTORY FICTION”: IT’S NOT WORTH YOUR ATTENTION.

1516

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

The Ottoman Turks defeated the Mamluks and took Arabia and Cairo, conquering Egypt and bringing Mecca under the suzerainty of Selim I.

THE TASK OF THE HISTORIAN IS TO CREATE HINDSIGHT WHILE INTERCEPTING ANY ILLUSION OF FORESIGHT. NOTHING A HUMAN CAN

SEE CAN EVER BE SEEN AS IF THROUGH THE EYE OF GOD.

1517

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

July 21, Saturday: Publication of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 3 string trios op.9 was announced in the Wiener Zeitung.

Across the Nile River from Cairo, within sight of the Pyramids, the forces of Napoléon Bonaparte attacked and scattered the Mamelukes.

NEVER READ AHEAD! TO APPRECIATE JULY 21ST, 1798 AT ALL ONE MUST APPRECIATE IT AS A TODAY (THE FOLLOWING DAY, TOMORROW,

IS BUT A PORTION OF THE UNREALIZED FUTURE AND IFFY AT BEST).

October 7, Sunday: At El Lahun south of Cairo, French forces defeated the Mamelukes under Murad Bey.

William Jones got married before the Reverend Ezra Ripley with Mary Brown, a daughter of Reuben Brown, Senior of Concord’s Corinthian Lodge and May How Brown. The married couple would produce 3 children, 2 of whom would survive to adulthood. During this year the groom was elected to Concord’s Social Circle.

1798

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

March: The British would conduct a spring campaign in Egypt, successfully, against the Mamelukes, in order to make sure that the world understood that they were superior to Napoléon at pulling off this sort of colonialist stunt:

France, in possession of Egypt, would possess the master-key toall the trading nations of the earth. Enlightened, as the timesare, in the general arts of navigation and commerce, she mightmake it the emporium of the world: she might make it the awe ofthe Eastern world, by the facility she would command oftransporting her forces thither, by surprise, in any number, andat any time; and England would hold her possessions in India,at the mercy of France.

What were these Mamelukes? They were a class of professional warriors — enslaved white boys who had accepted life in a Moslem warrior guild and transformed themselves into utterly ruthless death machines:

The slaves of Asia, are brought from Georgia, Mingrelia,Circassia, and the borders of Persia. They are of that race ofmen, from which the Janisaries, so victorious and invincible inthe history of the turks, were constantly selected. They do notlose the name of slave when they are brought into Egypt, for theappellation of Mamaluk which is given to them signifies it; butinstead, it confers a title to reign. Their number, in all Egypt,does not now exceed four thousand; and the annual importation,since Russia has asserted the independency of their nativeprovinces, does not surpass one hundred. The Beys, whooriginated from the same fount, are generally their purchasers.They become, by this act, initiated Mamaluks; espouse theMussulman religion by force; are trained to arms; and start ina career which infallibly leads the expert and valiant tograndeur and power.

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

June 27, Saturday: At the conclusion to the British spring campaign against the Mamelukes to secure Egypt from conquest by Napoléon of France, the city of Cairo fell to British forces.

1801

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

June 28, Sunday: French defenders of Cairo, Egypt surrendered the city to the surrounding British and Turks.

“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

March 1, Friday: When Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas’ud ibn Agha had come to be pasha of Egypt in 1806, Mameluke factions had retained control of much of the nation. Under their ancient baronial rights they had been able to stonewall many of his measures. Consequently, on the occasion of a celebration in honor of his son Tusun, implying that he wanted to come to terms with them, Muhammed Ali Pasha invited Shahin Bey and the other leading Mameluke lords (accounts differ as to the guest list, all the way from 64 to 700) to a banquet at the Citadel of Cairo. After the reception, as they were departing ostensibly to serve as a rear-guard in a parade, they mounted up and rode out of the citadel down a sloping corridor toward Roumaliya Square — only to have the huge brass-bound external doors suddenly slam shut in front of them. Trapped and rendered defenseless in the citadel’s Bab al-Azab gateway complex, they were then picked off by a squadron of

Albanians firing down upon them. During the following weeks the Pasha’s followers would search out and exterminated thousands of caste members in various locales, so that only a small group would manage to escape into the Sudan.

1811

THE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

Reportedly only one of the warrior guests, named perhaps Amim, survived this Cairo massacre, by urging his horse to leap over the parapet of the citadel wall and down some 30-40 feet or more (the horse being killed in the fall) — which story would lead to Henry Thoreau’s remark “...till I am ready to leap from their court-yard like the Mameluke bey”:

LEAP OF THE MAMELUKE

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

WALDEN: I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whosecomposition was poured a little alloy of bell metal. Often, inthe repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confusedtintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of mycontemporaries. My neighbors tell me of their adventures withfamous gentlemen and ladies, what notabilities they met at thedinner-table; but I am no more interested in such things than inthe contents of the Daily Times. The interest and theconversation are about costume and manners chiefly; but a gooseis a goose still, dress it as you will. They tell me ofCalifornia and Texas, of England and the Indies, of the Hon. Mr._________ of Georgia or of Massachusetts, all transient andfleeting phenomena, till I am ready to leap from their court-yard like the Mameluke bey. I delight to come to my bearings, –not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuousplace but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if Imay,– not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivialNineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goesby. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee ofarrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God isonly the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I loveto weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most stronglyand rightfully attracts me; –not hang by the beam of the scaleand try to weigh less,– not suppose a case, but take the casethat is; to travel the only path I can, and that on which nopower can resist me. It affords me no satisfaction to commenceto spring an arch before I have got a solid foundation. Let usnot play at kittly-benders. There is a solid bottom every where.We read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp before himhad a hard bottom. The boy replied that it had. But presentlythe traveller’s horse sank in up to the girths, and he observedto the boy, “I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom.”“So it has,” answered the latter, “but you have not got half wayto it yet.” So it is with the bogs and quicksands of society;but he is an old boy that knows it. Only what is thought said ordone at a certain rare coincidence is good. I would not be oneof those who will foolishly drive a nail into mere lath andplastering; such a deed would keep me awake nights. Give me ahammer, and let me feel for the furring. Do not depend on theputty. Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that youcan wake up in the night and think of your work withsatisfaction, –a work at which you would not be ashamed to invokethe Muse. So will help you God, and so only. Every nail drivenshould be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, youcarrying on the work.

AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

PEOPLE OFWALDEN

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

6th day 1 of 3 M 1811// The day has passed as usual as to the occupation of time - but mine heart has been brought to remember some things that are past with deep feeling, & Oh Saith my soul may I deepen in the root of Life -

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD?— NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES.

LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.

WALDEN:

Like the Mameluke bey

I gravitate toward

the only path I can

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

June 16, Friday: On orders of Sultan Mahmud II, the Janissaries, the elite of the Ottoman army, were killed in their barracks by Spahis (cavalry).

Great Britain recognized the independence of Mexico.

The captain of the American ship Silas Richards off Nova Scotia, at St. George’s Bank, and one of the passengers, an Englishman named William Warburton, witnessed an enormous, many-humped snakelike creature, slowly approaching the ship.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

6th day 16th of 6th M 1826 / After dinner I crossed both ferrys to Narragansett in company with E Robson & companions to attend a meeting at Tower Hill Meeting House tomorrow & got to James Roninsons about sunsett & lodged. —

NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE

1826

EGYPTIANS

ENGLISH EVENTS OF 1826

SEA SERPENT SIGHTINGS

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

Giovanni Finati’s NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF GIOVANNI FINATI, NATIVE OF FERRARA; WHO, UNDER THE ASSUMED NAME OF MAHOMET, MADE THE CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE WAHABEES FOR THE RECOVERY OF MECCA AND MEDINA; AND SINCE ACTED AS INTERPRETER TO EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS IN SOME OF THE PARTS LEAST VISITED OF ASIA AND AFRICA. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN’ AS DICTATED BY HIMSELF, AND EDITED BY WILLIAM JOHN BANKES, ESQ. (London. John Murray, Albemarle-Street).

This volume contains the story of the leap of Amim the Mameluke bey, as referred to in WALDEN; OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS by Henry Thoreau.

1830

LEAP OF THE MAMELUKE

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

WALDEN: I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whosecomposition was poured a little alloy of bell metal. Often, inthe repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confusedtintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of mycontemporaries. My neighbors tell me of their adventures withfamous gentlemen and ladies, what notabilities they met at thedinner-table; but I am no more interested in such things than inthe contents of the Daily Times. The interest and theconversation are about costume and manners chiefly; but a gooseis a goose still, dress it as you will. They tell me ofCalifornia and Texas, of England and the Indies, of the Hon. Mr._________ of Georgia or of Massachusetts, all transient andfleeting phenomena, till I am ready to leap from their court-yard like the Mameluke bey. I delight to come to my bearings, –not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuousplace but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if Imay,– not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivialNineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goesby. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee ofarrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God isonly the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I loveto weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most stronglyand rightfully attracts me; –not hang by the beam of the scaleand try to weigh less,– not suppose a case, but take the casethat is; to travel the only path I can, and that on which nopower can resist me. It affords me no satisfaction to commenceto spring an arch before I have got a solid foundation. Let usnot play at kittly-benders. There is a solid bottom every where.We read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp before himhad a hard bottom. The boy replied that it had. But presentlythe traveller’s horse sank in up to the girths, and he observedto the boy, “I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom.”“So it has,” answered the latter, “but you have not got half wayto it yet.” So it is with the bogs and quicksands of society;but he is an old boy that knows it. Only what is thought said ordone at a certain rare coincidence is good. I would not be oneof those who will foolishly drive a nail into mere lath andplastering; such a deed would keep me awake nights. Give me ahammer, and let me feel for the furring. Do not depend on theputty. Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that youcan wake up in the night and think of your work withsatisfaction, –a work at which you would not be ashamed to invokethe Muse. So will help you God, and so only. Every nail drivenshould be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, youcarrying on the work.

AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

PEOPLE OFWALDEN

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

WALDEN:

Like the Mameluke bey

I gravitate toward

the only path I can

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

August 10, Saturday: In London, Charles Dickens’s All The Year Round. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens. With which is incorporated Household Words retailed the story of “The Massacre of the Mamelukes” on March 1, 1811 at the Citadel in Cairo (the same story would soon be retailed in New-York, in the December issue of Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art).

THE FALLACY OF MOMENTISM: THIS STARRY UNIVERSE DOES NOT CONSIST OF A SEQUENCE OF MOMENTS. THAT IS A FIGMENT, ONE WE

HAVE RECOURSE TO IN ORDER TO PRIVILEGE TIME OVER CHANGE, A PRIVILEGING THAT MAKES CHANGE SEEM UNREAL, DERIVATIVE, A

MERE APPEARANCE. IN FACT IT IS CHANGE AND ONLY CHANGE WHICH WE EXPERIENCE AS REALITY, TIME BEING BY WAY OF RADICAL

CONTRAST UNEXPERIENCED — A MERE INTELLECTUAL CONSTRUCT. THERE EXISTS NO SUCH THING AS A MOMENT. NO INSTANT HAS EVER

FOR AN INSTANT EXISTED.

1867

The People of WALDEN: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others,such as extensive quotations and reproductions ofimages, this “read-only” computer file contains a greatdeal of special work product of Austin Meredith,copyright 2011. Access to these interim materials willeventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup someof the costs of preparation. My hypercontext buttoninvention which, instead of creating a hypertext leapthrough hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems—allows for an utter alteration of the context withinwhich one is experiencing a specific content alreadybeing viewed, is claimed as proprietary to AustinMeredith — and therefore freely available for use byall. Limited permission to copy such files, or anymaterial from such files, must be obtained in advancein writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo”Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Pleasecontact the project at <Kouroo@kouroo.info>.

Prepared: November 4, 2015

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over untiltomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.”

– Remark by character “Garin Stevens”in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by ahuman. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested thatwe pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of theshoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What thesechronological lists are: they are research reports compiled byARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term theKouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such arequest for information we merely push a button.

THE PEOPLE OF WALDEN: AMIM, THE MAMELUKE BEY

HDT WHAT? INDEX

Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obviousdeficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored inthe contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then weneed to punch that button again and recompile the chronology —but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary“writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of thisoriginating contexture improve, and as the programming improves,and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whateverhas been needed in the creation of this facility, the entireoperation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminishedneed to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expectto achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring roboticresearch librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge.Place requests with <Kouroo@kouroo.info>. Arrgh.