William Blake's "madness"

Here is William Blake's interpretation of God creating the world. Of his paintings, Blake said "that not a line is drawn without intention." His contemporaries, in 1809 said he was mad. Or were his critics so simple-minded that they couldn't understand his genius? That's for you to decide; but today, I'm not writing about his critics; they have nothing that speaks past their graves. But Blake? His works speak for themselves.

Blake was a complex man; he used vivid imagery, and wrote poems that people didn't understand. He fought for the rights of the poor and women, and was skeptical of the power of the church and the monarchy. His creator evoked the imagery of the "Ancient of Days" from the book of Daniel, but he called him "Urizen" which was a pun for "your reason." In another poem, The Lamb, the Alpha and Omega was the creator. So whatever your view, I'll call Blake's creator "Verizon." Maybe the skeptics will hear him now.

But what's this have to do with the market? Well Navteq (NVT 76.45) was offered $78 in cash by Nokia today. There are rumours of competing offers. Google is always mentioned and the "whispers" are that Garmim (GRMN 107.23) may offer a share for share swap. Maybe I'm hallucinating but how about "Blake's" Verizon (VZ 45.40)? They already use NVT's maps; they are a leader in wireless, and the acquisition would be easily digestible. And the speculative play would be the Navteq November 80 calls. They are only .75, so it's a cheap call on the upside of a competing offer.

Now these critics said Blake's drawings were inspired by hallucinations. Or were they? His wife said he was inspired by the divine. He got more than the colors right. The above constellation was catalogued by Charles Messier of France in 1774. The 110 objects that today make up the Messier catalogue are the most wonderful and studied objects outside our solar system. It's name? The Omega Nebula. "Urizen?" Maybe they can hear him now.