At the beginning of the second half of this new year, and since it
is Sunday, a day of rest, I thought I'd give my Human Intelligence (H.I.)
a rest and let my own RAM (Random Access Module) contemplate Mark's
ruminations on the source of Don's earthquake predictions. Here are
the results of this search.
I read an article last year that scientists had discovered that
humans actually have two "brains". The one which rests in a box
behind our sense organs and a second - a highly concentrated set
of ganglia which services the gut area. This second lower "brain" is larger
than a rat's and has direct communication with the upper brain. I guess
it is important to know when we are hungry, but it also seems to
be the source of those nervous feelings we call gut reactions. I suppose
you could call it Gut Intelligence (G.I.). I, for one, find G.I. very
useful when hiking the mountains and suddenly the hair on the back
of my neck stands on end and a chill goes up my spine, to know that
I am being stalked by a mountain lion.
Don being an retired G.I. may well be using this source. Many a G.I.
has been saved from certain death by his own G.I.
Which is not to say that Don is not using Artificial Intelligence
(A.I, a popular movie this weekend, and in my opinion one of the
main threats to the continued need for the existence of man on this
planet). Unfortunately the current state of A.I. makes it little
different from I.I. (Insect Intelligence), which, when pronounced "aye, aye"
means to follow directions no matter where it takes you.
Also, let us not rule out the thought that Don may be using H.I.
(Human Intelligence) to reach his predictions. H.I. has historically
been used to solve many problems, although in the modern age many seem
to give it little more than a passing "hi" before moving on.
Living things are given many names in Linnean Nomenclature. The last
two define the lifeform as being distinctive from others - the genus
and species name. For mankind (or is it personkind in a P.C. world)
the name is "Homo Sapiens" - Intelligent Man. The second name, indicating
the truly distinctive trait is gradually becoming less so in our case.
The first half "SAP" now means "Sam (or Sal) A Programmer" leaving
only the second half - "IENS" (Intelligence, Experience, Nervous System)
to make us distinctive above our A.I. counterparts. How long will that
last?
Anyway, the final possibility is that Don is using some combination
of A.I., H.I., I.I. and G.I. So, what can we make of that. The letters
H,A,I and G, can be used to spell a number of things. The first that
comes to mind is HAIG - the general who declared himself in charge
after Reagan was shot. But we could also put these letters together
to make the word HAGIS (adding the S for more than one). Haggis is an
old Scottish dish of internal parts cooked in a sheep or cow stomach.
A lovely dish I was first introduced to by two Scots while I was serving
in the Peace Corps in Swaziland. For some, even some with Scottish
heritage such as I, it is enough to give stomach rumblings leading
to a personal earthquake or volcano. I have not served it at polite
dinner parties in years.
The dictionary gives several other words that can be formed
from the letters H,A,I and G (with an S thrown in). HAGI is the
combination form for "holy" or "saints". On the other hand Haggai
is a prophetic book of the old testament advocating rebuilding of
the temple at Jerusalem.
It seems likely to me that Don is using HAGIS to come up with
his predictions - a combination of Human, Artificial, Gut and
Insect Intelligences. This would certainly explain the gut
rumblings he describes and the gut reactions of others to his
predictions.

Any other random thoughts, I'm all out?