The Village, the Fence and the Sign: a Fable

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Brian H. Gill's rendering for 'The Village, the Fence, and the Sign'. (September 2025)

I called what I’m sharing this week a “fable”. That’s a misnomer.

It’s a very short story, about twelve hundred words. But since it doesn’t have talking animals, I gather it should be called a “parable”.1

I’m calling it a fable anyway. That’s because in my dialect of English, a “parable” is what we call the super-short stories Jesus told.

George Bellows' cartoon for Metropolitan magazine, illustrating Billy Sunday's preaching style. (May 1915)

The word, again in my dialect, has “Biblical” connotations — and I sincerely don’t want to sound like someone trying to be “Biblical”.

You may have read this fable/parable/story/whatever before. I’ve been sharing it at roughly 15-year intervals — first in 1996, on my Brendans-Island.com website; and again when A Catholic Citizen in America was on blogspot.

Enough rambling. Here’s the story.

The Village, the Fence and the Sign

Brian H. Gill's rendering, a detail: landscape background for 'The Village, the Fence and the Sign' illustration. (September 29, 2025)

Once upon a time there was a village. South of the houses was the top of a very tall cliff. North of the houses were high, grassy hills.

It was a beautiful village. The people there were happy and safe, as long as they did not go near the cliff.

There was a sign near the cliff, and a fence. The sign said:

DANGER!
CLIFF!
DO NOT GO NEAR THE EDGE,
OR YOU MAY FALL OFF!

The fence was between the sign and the houses. The sign and the fence had been put up long ago, to keep people from falling off the cliff. Because no one wanted to fall off the cliff, no one built houses near the fence.

One day, Tom, Sharon, Bert and Courtney were playing in the open space between the houses and the fence. As they ran, Tom (who wasn’t looking were he was going) ran into the fence.

Tom’s head hurt, and so all four went to the village for help. Sam, who lived in the house nearest the hills, put a cloth on Tom’s head, and gave him cool water. Soon Tom’s head was better.

Many people in the village were worried because Tom ran into the fence, and hurt his head. Everyone knows that it’s not good to hurt your head.

Sharon said, “The fence is to blame!” Tom said, “Yes! if the fence were not there, I would not have hurt my head!”

“The fence kept you away from the cliff,” said Sam. But only a few people listened to Sam.

Many people in the village thought that Tom was wise. Nobody in the village had fallen off the cliff, but many had run into the fence.

They said, “If the fence had not been there, Tom could not have bumped his head on the fence.”

Soon almost everyone in the village agreed. They said, “The fence is to blame!” Then they tore down the fence.

Now everyone in the village could see the cliff. They could also see the sign in front of the cliff.

Bert thought the cliff was beautiful. He said “Look how far you can see, from the edge of the cliff!” Bert could see even farther from the hills behind the village, but the cliff was closer.

Courtney was afraid when she thought about the cliff. She was afraid when she saw the cliff. She was even more afraid when she saw the sign near the cliff.

The sign looked bigger than it had when it was behind the fence.

Courtney decided she didn’t like the sign. She said, “The sign keeps me from having fun!”

Bert said, “The sign is to blame!” Courtney said, “Yes! if the sign were not there, I would not be afraid, and Bert could have fun!”

“The sign reminds us to stay away from the cliff,” said Sam. But only a few people listened to Sam.

Bert and Courtney told Sam to keep quiet. “When you talk about the sign, you make people feel bad,” they said.

Many people from the village thought that Bert and Courtney were wise. They said “If the sign was not there, nobody would be afraid, and everyone could have fun.”

Soon almost everyone in the village agreed. They said, “The sign makes us afraid! The sign keeps us from having fun!” Then they tore down the sign.

Bert said, “This feels good! Now there is no sign to make us afraid, or to keep us from having fun.” Almost everyone in the village agreed.

One day, Tom, Sharon, Bert and Courtney were playing in the open space between the houses and the cliff. As they ran, Tom (who wasn’t looking where he was going) ran near the edge of the cliff.

He lost his balance, and fell off. Nobody ever saw Tom again.

Sharon, Bert and Courtney were very sad. They all said, “The cliff is to blame!”

Soon almost everyone in the village agreed. They said, “If the cliff was not there, people would not fall off!” Then they tried to tear down the cliff.

They dug, and hammered, and pulled at the edge of the cliff. Soon a huge piece of rock, soil, and grass tore away from the edge of the cliff.

Sharon had been standing on that piece of grass. Now the cliff had a new edge, and Sharon was gone. The new edge of the cliff was closer to the village.

Sam ran up. “Stop!” he shouted. “You are bringing the cliff closer to your houses!”

Bert and Courtney shouted, “The cliff is to blame!” Almost everyone in the village agreed. Then they tore another piece off the edge of the cliff.

This time Bert fell off the edge.

Courtney and everyone else in the village were very sad. They were very mad, too. They said, “The cliff is to blame!”

They tore another piece off the edge of the cliff. The edge of the cliff was next to Courtney’s house now. Courtney kicked at a piece of dirt near the edge of the cliff. She lost her balance and fell off the cliff.

Now almost everyone in the village was very, very mad. They missed Courtney, and Bert, and Sharon, and Tom. “The cliff is to blame!” they shouted.

Then they tore another piece off the edge of the cliff. A huge piece of cliff fell off. Courtney’s house fell off, too.

Sam tried to stop his neighbors, but he couldn’t. Most of the people in the village were too mad to listen.

Sam’s neighbors tore at the cliff. Every so often, one of them fell off. Each time this happened, the rest got even more mad. They tore at he cliff even harder.

More people and houses fell off the cliff.

Soon the only house left was Sam’s. The cliff had been torn back to the edge of the hills.

Sam’s house rocked back and forth on the edge of the cliff. Then it fell off.

All the houses in the village were gone.

Most of the people in the village were gone.

Sam walked away. A few of his neighbors went with him. They had not been near the cliff.

They built another village. This village was high up in the hills. It was a beautiful village. South of the new village, where the old village had been, was the top of a very tall cliff.

There was a fence near the cliff. A sign was on the fence. The sign said:

DANGER!
CLIFF!
DO NOT GO NEAR THE EDGE,
OR YOU MAY FALL OFF!

copyright © Brian H. Gill 1996

The Usual Links, and a Request

(Almost) finally, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a comment, giving me your response or reaction to this story.

Now, links to what I think about writing, and other (very) short stories:

1 More than you need, or maybe want, to know about:

Posted in Creativity, Series, Stories | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

WISPIT 2b: Giant Planet Growing in a Distant Gap

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC): 'This artist's concept depicts the protoplanet WISPIT 2b accreting matter as it orbits around its star, WISPIT 2. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)' NASA (September 30, 2025)
The protoplanet WISPIT 2b, as imagined by R. Hurt. (IPAC)

WISPIT 2 is a protostar, a very young star that’s still growing. At the moment, it’s roughly as massive as our Sun, and very roughly a third of the way to Kappa Aquila: a very bright, very hot, star that’s about 11,000,000 years old.

WISPIT 2 is also noteworthy because scientists got a photo of one of its planets: WISPIT 2B, a whacking great — no, I’ll let someone with NASA explain it.1

“Discovery Alert: ‘Baby’ Planet Photographed in a Ring around a Star for the First Time!”
Chelsea Gohd, Science, NASA (September 30, 2025)

“The (Proto) Planet:
“WISPIT 2b

“The Discovery:
“Researchers have discovered a young protoplanet called WISPIT 2b embedded in a ring-shaped gap in a disk encircling a young star. While theorists have thought that planets likely exist in these gaps (and possibly even create them), this is the first time that it has actually been observed.

“Key Takeaway:
“Researchers have directly detected – essentially photographed – a new planet called WISPIT 2b, labeled a protoplanet because it is an astronomical object that is accumulating material and growing into a fully-realized planet. However, even in its ‘proto’ state, WISPIT 2b is a gas giant about 5 times as massive as Jupiter. This massive protoplanet is just about 5 million years old, or almost 1,000 times younger than the Earth, and about 437 light-years from Earth.

“Being a giant and still-growing baby planet, WISPIT 2b is interesting to study on its own, but its location in this protoplanetary disk gap is even more fascinating. Protoplanetary disks are made of gas and dust that surround young stars and function as the birthplace for new planets.

Within these disks, gaps or clearings in the dust and gas can form, appearing as empty rings. Scientists have long suggested that these growing planets are likely responsible for clearing the material in these gaps…”

Basically, this is a big deal because this is the first visual evidence we’ve found that planets grow in these gaps.

WISPIT 2: Infrared Images

Laird Close, University of Arizona: 'This image of the WISPIT 2 system was captured by the Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. The protoplanet WISPIT 2b is a small purple dot to the right of a bright white ring of dust surrounding the system's star. A fainter white ring outside of WISPIT 2b can be seen.' NASA (September 30, 2025)
WISPIT 2, WISPIT 2b (the purple dot to WISPIT 2’s right), and rings around the protostar.
Image from the Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona
Laird Close and Gabriel Weible (University of Arizona) image and annotations: 'Annotated thermal-infrared image of the WISPIT 2 protoplanetary system seen with LBTI/LMIRcam.
LBT’s LBTI/LMIRcam’s thermal-infrared image of the WISPIT 2 protoplanetary system. CC1 is an unconfirmed giant planet. Annotations by Laird Close and Gabriel Weible (University of Arizona) (2025)

Now, I like and appreciate the effort artist-scientists put into images like the one at the top of this post. They’re an excellent was of showing us what researchers are finding.

But they’re illustrations. They’re visual representations, showing the forms of objects which often wouldn’t be visible, even if we were close enough.

I gather that the newly-made photos of the WISPIT 2 system show what it looks like in infrared light: light with wavelengths longer than what our eyes can detect.

Normally I’d dive down rabbit holes until I learned which wavelengths were involved.

But I’m doing something else this week. So I’ll just run through what I found Wednesday afternoon, and leave it at that.

The “Magellan Telescope in Chile” is probably the twin Magellan Telescopes. The Giant Magellan Telescope is, the last I checked, still under construction.

They’re both/all optical telescopes, but apparently some of their instruments are sensitive to part of the infrared band, too.

The LBT, Large Binocular Telescope, is another double instrument. It’s LBTI/LMIRcam ‘sees’ in the 2.9 to 5.2 micron range: which is in the frequency range that we call infrared light.2

Definitions: WISPIT and Stellar Associations

Roberto Mura's image, 'Map of the Scorpius-Centaurus Association' a sky chart showing stars between Scorpius and Centaurus, Libra and Carina, Hydra and Ara; using Perseus software (https://www.perseus.it/en/ilsoftware.php) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.
The Scorpius-Centaurus association, circled in blue. Roberto Mura’s map.

Let’s see. What else?

WISPIT stands for WIde Separation Planets In Time: a sky survey that’s finding giant planets in orbits that are wider than expected.

Current theoretical models for how planets form don’t fit what we’re finding: which means we’ll be learning something new. And that’s exciting. For me, at any rate.

WIPSIT 2b is already about five times as massive as Jupiter. If it was circling our Sun, it’d be past the far side of the Kuiper belt. Again: doesn’t fit current models, which is cool.

WISPIT 2 is “part of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association, likely belonging to the subgroup Theia 53” (Wikipedia).

Stellar associations? Very briefly, stars, gas, dust, and all the other stuff in our galaxy is moving. Astronomers have been getting better at tracking where in space stars are, which way they’re moving, and how fast.

They found that many stars are moving in roughly the same direction, and at roughly the same speed, as other stars. They call these groups of stars stellar associations.

The Scorpius-Centaurus association is an OB association, which means that its stars are massive, bright, and young — as stars go. My guess is that either WISPIT 2 has a lot of growing left to do, or that OB associations also contain smaller young stars. Or maybe something completely different.

There’s almost certainly an answer to how the definition of OB associations works, but finding and confirming it would take more time than I like.

I’m also pretty sure that WISPIT 2 is actually part of the Scorpius-Centaurus association, although illustrations showing where that particular group of stars is doesn’t include the constellation Aquila. Not in the sources I checked.3

A Great Deal Left to Learn

B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)'s images of dust disks around nine young stars, from SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. (April 2018)
SPHERE/VLT’s images of dusty discs around nearby young stars. (2018)

These are exciting times.

I grew up in a world where scientists thought there could be planets orbiting other stars, but nobody had found one.

The last I checked, scientists have confirmed and cataloged upwards of 3,000 exoplanets; with a great many more ‘probables’ awaiting scrutiny. (After posting, I looked it up — as of October 2, 2025, there are 6,022 confirmed exoplanets.)

We’re finding planetary systems ‘under construction’, where the fusion fires of the star haven’t yet started burning, and the planets are still forming.4

Scientists have been learning a very great deal about planets, stars, and how they’re forming: and are learning that there is a great deal left to learn.

Sound familiar? I’ve talked about this before:

1 Another newly-found planet:

2 Telescopes and a star:

3 Details and definitions:

4 Planetary systems under construction (and a “List of planets” that I hadn’t checked while writing this):

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Death at a Church, Again

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

Another mass murder at a church happened Sunday morning.

It happened a few states over. Someone said it was “horrible”. I’m inclined to agree.

But I won’t be talking about what happened there. Not unless this incident turns out to be significantly different from other recent ones.

That’s partly because I’m just not feeling up to wading through the news. And partly because much of what I’d say, I’ve said before.

  • Human life matters, a lot
  • Murder, killing an innocent person, is a bad idea and we shouldn’t do it
  • Many folks who don’t commit murder act heroically
  • Bad things happen, but hope is a reasonable option

That last item, about hope, is something I might talk about. Later.

Posted in Discursive Detours | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Vatican Drone Show: Solemnity, Awe, and New Tech

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
Photos from Catholic News Agency 'Vatican lights up with drone show at historic Grace for the World concert'. Illuminated drones reproduce: (background) Michelangelo's 'Pieta' over St. Peter's Basilica (Courtney Mares); (right) Pope Francis above St. Peter's Basilica (Eva Fernández); (upper left) a detail from Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam' (Courtney Mares); (lower left) a detail of the icon 'Salus Popoli Romani' (Courtney Mares). (September 14, 2025
Vatican drone show at ‘Grace for the World’ concert. (September 13, 2025)

Only 3,000 or so of Nova’s 3,500 on-site drones were in the air at any one time during the Vatican’s “Grace for the World” Saturday evening concert (September 13, 2025).

Thoroe's map: Vatican City, including data from OpenStreetMap. (March 23, 2013)
Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square lower right.

LEDs on those 12-ounce mini-helicopters can display 16,000,000 different colors.

I don’t know how many the Nova team used during the concert. Colors, I mean. The 3,000 drones airborne with 500 recharging at any given time is pretty clear.

However many colors they used, the show made quite an impression on folks in St. Peter’s Square. Which isn’t a square: more of an oval with a rectangular bit on its east side, and that’s another topic.1

Faintly Humming Drones, an “Atmosphere of Solemnity and Awe”

“Vatican lights up with drone show at historic ‘Grace for the World’ concert“
Victoria Cardiel, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (September 14, 2025)

“St. Peter’s Square became the stage for an unprecedented spectacle on Saturday night as tens of thousands gathered for ‘Grace for the World,’ a massive concert closing the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity.

“The event opened with breathtaking symbolism: More than 3,000 drones illuminated the night sky above the basilica, tracing the image of Pope Francis, framing Michelangelo’s dome and Bernini’s colonnade in light. The display, a first for the Vatican, drew reverent silence before the crowd erupted in applause.

“The moment was accompanied by a stirring duet of ‘Amazing Grace’ performed by world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli and American singer Teddy Swims. Their voices rose over the hushed square, blending with the faint hum of the drones in an atmosphere of solemnity and awe….”

This concert was the Vatican’s first drone show, but far from the world’s first.

Folks have been using the tech since 2012. That, and news media’s hysteria over national politics, may explain the lack of attention it’s gotten over here. All I’ve seen of it are clips from videos.

But I’m inclined to agree with the priest who said it’s “cool”, and articles that said pretty much the same thing.

I’m slightly surprised — and pleased — that nobody’s had conniptions over the Vatican having a concert in St. Peter’s Square, folks using selfie sticks at the concert, or old-fashioned art being re-imagined with newfangled technology.

I haven’t noticed anybody having fits, at any rate. And haven’t looked for soreheads.

Song Dynasty, China, ink: 'Mountain market, clearing mist'. Yu Jian 玉澗 via Wikipmedia Commons
.

My take on what I’ve seen of the concert’s drone art is that it’s beautiful, impressive, and part of humanity’s enduring habit of finding new ways to express ideas.2

I’ll get back to that, briefly. After sharing video clips someone took at the concert.

Moving Lights and Music in St. Peter’s Square

Paul and Aff’s “VATICAN lights up with drone show at historic ‘GRACE FOR THE WORLD’ concert”.

That five-minute video probably isn’t the best compilation you could find. You’ll see lens flares from the lighting and hear choppy transitions between segments. But it shows what the Nova folks did with their drones.

Now, about art in general.

Truth, Beauty, Valuing Both: and Making Sense

We don’t actually need to make or enjoy art, not the way we need to breathe and eat.

But making and enjoying art is very much a part of being human. It’s one of the ways we show that we’re made “in the image of God”. Sometimes I feel like we’re photocopies that went through a paper jam, and that’s yet another topic.

“Created ‘in the image of God,’ man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man’s own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill, to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2501) [emphasis mine]

Underscoring a few points, and I’m done for this week.

Art matters, but it’s not what life is all about. Or shouldn’t be.

Truth and beauty matter, too. Valuing both doesn’t mean feeling that everything we’ve learned since the 15th century is bad.

I’ve talked about that, and allegedly-related ideas, before:

1 Old plaza, new tech:

2 A Saturday night concert, and a quarter-million years of folks making art:

Posted in Being an Artist, Discursive Detours | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A Quiet September 22, 2025: Offline

Posted on September 22, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

The household lost its/out Internet connection some time this morning (Monday, September 22, 2025). I didn’t notice until I tried opening a new Web page.

Long story short, I learned that our provider knew about the situation and figured service would be back around 1:30 in the afternoon. Mid-afternoon, my daughter told me the projected ‘got it fixed’ time was around 8:00 p.m. — so I did some digital art, relaxed, and was pleasantly surprised when the Internet access icon changed to its ‘connected’ version.

That was a few minutes before 6:00 p.m. — good, and unexpected, news.

My excuse for posting this is that while this household was disconnected, Webcam: Sauk Centre MN was unavailable. If you tried viewing earlier today: that’s why you couldn’t.

And now, it’s back to relaxing for me. Have a good one, and may God bless.

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