Not the sort of callout the Rules Of The Road proscribe, but a callout nonetheless. I am rather ambivalent in announcing this, for a variety of reasons, but for the second straight time

ThyGoddess (and MyGoddess), and Thy Goddess alone,

ferreted out the ringer in my London Review Of Books "Spot The Fake" Personal Ad contest. Only Keifus even mentioned "Pulchritudinous Geordie", in the running among his backup selections. I'm certainly satisfied as before with my performance overall, since the goal was to blend as seamlessly as possible with those lovelorn mad hatters. A Pyrrhic victory, perhaps....?

Why the ambivalence over ThyGoddess's remarkable, exclusive success? My reaction initially was the Bene Gesserit Mother's in Dune when she felt Maud-dib's true, fully-realized power for the first time. "Get Out Of My Head!", she howled. Can the Goddess read me that well, even when I'm striving to disguise and blend, so well that no others can tell it's me? Twice in a row?

Then I wondered about her native omniscience in the context of this contest, about which we joked last time through, but which doesn't seem quite so funny any more, to me anyway. Sure, YHWH can win the Powerball jackpot any time he feels like it, but why bother? Does this mean I really won after all?

Finally, and forgive me if this is way out of line, Goddess, but I began to suspect that she might have supplemented her omniscience by direct reference to the periodical itself. Is that in fact the likeliest explanation? She is above all a playful, even mischievous deity, and I have good reason to believe she's unlikely to take my silly contest and conventional rules of fair play too seriously.

So Puck it all, ThyGoddess, congratulations and All Hail, but I want the Truth. I can Handle The Truth (if it's explanation two or three, anyway). And to all other participants, thanks much for joining in.

How dare you doubt my powers?

Meh...I should have known better than participating in silly mortal games.

I won! I won! Yes!

By definition you cannot do anything so mortally prosaic as "cheating". Your nonpareil powers are made manifest, yet again.

My question to you was, which of the following best describes your use of those powers on these two successive occasions?

1. You saw through me qua me ;

2. You see everything first and foremost, or

3. You are jerking my tiny chain.

Nothing complicated.

You were showing off (your knowledge of the U.K.).

I was looking for the show off...iest entry.

"Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous---
Almost, at times, the Fool."

[Beware, Mein Freund]

Can there be any doubt why we worship you?

I didn't pick that one for that reason.

I just re-reviewed my top-post and found that my ringer indeed featured more "insider" Brit allusions than any of the other ads, perhaps to the point of gratuitousness for anyone but the Smirking Faker.

I'll see you next time through, with my hubris redoubled, yet my display of it halved---I'll get with the programme*, believe me. I'll make that guy who boasted he could outshoot Apollo seem like a piker.

*Reverse psychology works on you a little, right? Reverse reverse?

that is okay, precious.

I still love you the most.

concerned that's all I've got right now, or have a right to.

By any chance did you look at the entries, and if so, did you Spot The Fake? Would you have?

I'm thick as pikey-shite that way ...

with the intellect to soar in the rarefied air of Fake Personal Ad exegesis, Z-B.

You'll be just fine in the sandbox with your bucket and spade (gotcha, T-G) and your original poetry and literary criticism.

But didn't you think it was a little cheezy when (in novel 7) Herbert had the Bene Gesserits open the first McDonald's franchise store on Arrakis and then the burger war that began when the Spacing Guild countered with their Burger Chef Chain?

I guess he was getting a little stretched for plots by then.

If Our Goddess is omnipresent, She can be in London to get the RB.

If She is omniscient, she knows everything that's in it.

And if She's omnipotent, she can ignore the fact that she knows the correct answer, and just make a guess. And all Goddess guesses are, by physical Law, lucky.

(Perhaps I should replace "if" with "because." What's that storm cloud doing?)

Herbert should have realized he was jumping the shark way back when Paul had to give up sandworm riding after a rheumatism diagnosis.