Today's Stichomancy for Kurt Goedel

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Psalms 144: 8 Whose mouth speaketh falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lying.

Psalms 144: 9 O God, I will sing a new song unto Thee, upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee;

Psalms 144: 10 Who givest salvation unto kings, who rescuest David Thy servant from the hurtful sword.

Psalms 144: 11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of strangers, whose mouth speaketh falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lying.

Psalms 144: 12 We whose sons are as plants grown up in their youth; whose daughters are as corner-pillars carved after the fashion of a palace;

Psalms 144: 13 Whose garners are full, affording all manner of store; whose sheep increase by thousands and ten thousands in our fields;

Psalms 144: 14 Whose oxen are well laden; with no breach, and no going forth, and no outcry in our broad places;

Psalms 144: 15 Happy is the people that is in such a case. Yea, happy is the people whose God is the LORD.

Psalms 145: 1 A Psalm of praise; of David. I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever.

Psalms 145: 2 Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever.

Psalms 145: 3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.

The Tanach

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Faith of Men by Jack London:

Amos, followed about by the woman's eyes, lighted the kerosene lamps. Evening came on. Through the north window the heavens were emblazoned with an auroral display, which flamed and flared and died down into blackness. Some time after that, Neil Bonner roused. First he looked to see that Amos was still there, then smiled at Jees Uck and pulled himself up. Every muscle was stiff and sore, and he smiled ruefully, pressing and prodding himself as if to ascertain the extent of the ravage. Then his face went stern and businesslike.

"Jees Uck," he said, "take a candle. Go into the kitchen. There is food on the table--biscuits and beans and bacon; also, coffee in

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber:

played the lilting little melody with charm and fidelity. The dark young man followed her with a wagging of the head and little jerks of both outspread hands. His expression was beatific, enraptured. He hummed a little under his breath and anyone who was music-wise would have known that he was just a half beat behind her all the way.

When she had finished he sighed deeply, ecstatically. He bent his lean frame over the counter and, despite his swart coloring, seemed to glitter upon her--his eyes, his teeth, his very fingernails.

"Something led me here. I never come up on Tuesdays. But

One Basket

The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain:

four hundred feet deep, and furnished all the village with an abundant supply of water, in war and peace. They said that in the old day its bottom was below the level of the Neckar, hence the water-supply was inexhaustible.

But there were some who believed it had never been a well at all, and was never deeper than it is now--eighty feet; that at that depth a subterranean passage branched from it and descended gradually to a remote place in the valley, where it opened into somebody's cellar or other hidden recess, and that the secret of this locality is now lost. Those who hold this belief say that herein lies the