In 1997, as re-training after an industrial injury, I attended a school for the relatively new computer technician sciences; shortly after entering, I got my first home computer (a dinosaur by today’s standards–a 386 running Windows 3.0). Only a few of my friends owned one, so most of my email buddies were people I met at school. This was when I chose my user name…gigoid the dubious…. and started sending out Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. Through the intervening years the list of folks who received their daily Pearls grew to about 150 folks, mostly from where I worked, at a state mental hospital, mostly. This makes the Pearls about 15 years old now, as a process. When I retired, at the beginning of 2011 (long story there, too, for another time), I was without a computer for a couple of months before I got my current box, which, being state of the art, has more available memory that was present in the entire world when I first got my 386, and with a Gigabyte of RAM, is faster than well….it’s fast, believe me…..

    When I got back on the Net, in February of 2011, I started up the Pearls immediately, and have been sending them via email since then. I started posting them on my first blog site, as a user of SFGATE, a San Francisco Chronicle website, in March. Later that year, in August of 2011, I found WordPress, and have posted the Pearls here every day since then. Here at WordPress I have found a veritable treasure chest of new friends and writers, of poetry and prose, as well as other types of artists who post here. Every one has been very encouraging, and I’ve been exposed to a whole new world of writers; I have yet to find one I don’t like. People from all over the world I now consider to be my friends, and they enrich my life every day with their own vision of the reality we all share.

    Yesterday, and one day last week, three of those new friends surprised me, one by “Tagging” me, (Linda Vernon at lindavernonhumor.wordpress.com) one by nominating me for a Sunshine Award (by gr8listener.wordpress.com….that one’s a big surprise to me! I always thought I was a curmudgeon…..) and an Inspirational Blogger Award nomination (another surprise, from one of my favorites, Dolly, at allaboutlemon.wordpress.com). There are some rules that go along with these awards, and I’m cheating a bit, but will hit them all. First, thank the one who nominated you: Linda, Dolly, and gr8listener…..thank you, thank you, thank you. I am humbled, and very, very grateful, not only for these awards, but for all the encouragement and friendship you have offered me. All of your blogs amaze me, for what you write, for the technical expertise shown by your site, and your posts, all of which inspire me to learn more about how to use WordPress more effectively.

    Now this is where the cheating begins. The other part of the rules are to share some things about me that let folks know who I am and what I’m about, to show links back to my nominators, and to nominate a number of other bloggers to receive the awards, or tag, making them It…… I’m uncertain of just how to accomplish some of that, from a technical standpoint; since coming here to WP, I’ve concentrated mostly on writing, and have not figured out a lot of the tricks and functions available to bloggers; I have a hard time just getting a picture where I want it to go, and adding a bunch of links is going to take me a while. So, the cheat is this…..this intro to today’s Pearl serves as my Thank You to Linda, Dolly, and Gr8listener (though I will say it again, read on>>>), but the award logos, the revelations about me, and the nominations with the links, will all go into a post I’ll create later today. I know, it’s not kosher, but then, I’m not in the Tribe, and it’s my blog right? So I can change the rules if I want to (see yesterday’s blog, “Hidden behind a glass partition”….).

    So, I will post twice today, and the other will be the fulfillment of the rules of engagement here on WP. A big thank you, and another virtual hug to all three ladies who were so kind as to nominate me for these awards. In the meantime, we will now return to today’s regularly scheduled Pearl of Virtual Wisdom…….
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“There is no sin except stupidity.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), “The Critic as Artist”, 1891

    This is a sentiment that has been expressed by a great number of philosophers throughout history, each of which provides more evidence of its truth. It’s so true that it may be considered as a natural law, one that applies to every creature that exists. For millenia, the truth of this proposition was enforced with the death penalty; if you were stupid enough to ignore this law, you died. It was that simple. In today’s world, unfortunately, this has become less dangerous. Now, the world is much more tolerant of the less well endowed of society, and folks who are dirt dumb can survive to pass on their stupid genes to future generations. SIGH….. it’s too bad, really, for I doubt that all of humanity’s advances were not made with this intent, but they nonetheless have done so, to the everlasting chagrin of those who can see beyond the end of their own noses. But, I suppose that is part of our charm; we act from the highest principles, but end up face-down in the mud all too frequently. It’s all so frustrating…..so much so, I’m gonna go have a beer….. or at least another cup of coffee…..

“Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful — just stupid.)” –Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein 
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       JABBERWOCKY

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
   The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
   And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
   The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
   He went galumphing back.

“And thou hast slain the Jabberwock?
   Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
   He chortled in his joy.
 — Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”

    No comments here, none needed. Just a daily dose of whimsy……enjoy!…..
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    I’m running out of taglines….I just spent 40 fruitless minutes searching my database for an appropriate subject to discuss. This is just a place marker….I’m going diving, and it will help me find my place when I get back with something to write about…..see you soon…..

This sentance has threee errors. — Unknown, the brother of Anonymous

    If you can identify all three errors above, then you have some experience with publishing posts. Nothing ticks me off at myself like reading through a post I’ve already posted, only to find typos I missed in my proofing. I’m sure it bothers all of us who post; I’ve heard the same complaint from others. Without outsourcing, I’m not sure there is a viable solution to the problem, and who has the time or money to hire someone to do what you can do yourself? I guess it comes down to this: “I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus!” –Firesign Theater from the album of the same name. That’s right, we all have big red noses, that often are so distracting, we cannot see over it to the errors in our work. But, it like it says later in the album, “Yes! Living in today’s complex world of the future IS much like having a hive of bees living in your head. But, there they are!”  Indeed, there they are….. this is where that vaunted patience and tolerance for our own frailties comes in. All you can do is all you can do, so relax and enjoy the ride. Nobody’s counting our mistakes except ourselves, and there will be no quiz…..
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Pluralitas non ponenda est sine necessitate.  (Multiplicity is not to be asserted when it is unnecessary.) — William of Occam [Occam’s Razor]

    I first encountered Occam’s Razor in my early teens, as a paraphrase of the accepted logical law seen here. It was in a Robert Heinlein book, which one I haven’t a clue, as that was oh, 48 or so years ago. The paraphrase, known as Hanlon’s Razor, is “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity,” and is widely known and quoted in the computer world, especially by hacker culture. It is a logical tool whose relevance has been tested out many, many times, and is considered to be proven truth. It is a very useful tool for picking apart those lovely statements of nonsense we hear from talking heads every day (talking heads being defined as those fools who make pronouncements on the political stage, as if they were commandments sent down from Mount Olympus). And it also is a valuable everyday tool for discovering the truth of any proposition, when used correctly. It’s fairly obvious that this is not well-known outside the hard sciences; otherwise, we wouldn’t be burdened by all that nonsense. If it wasn’t so funny, it would be sad, and vice versa…..

Flee at once, all is discovered.
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“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory is a benediction.” — Bessie A. Stanley (b.1879), in Notes and Queries July 1976

    In my not so humble opinion, this is just about perfect. Ms. Stanley has hit upon virtually every good quality one can find in any human being, and hit upon them with a hard and precise blow. Love, humor, Duty, respect, humility, trust, inspiration, all are covered in her description of a live well-lived. One can only hope to come close to achieving all this in one lifetime; most of us would settle for half of it. But, as such, it provides us with a pretty good list of goals to add to our personal lives, goals that will not only make us better people, but will enrich all those with whom we come in contact throughout our lives….. better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, or even a dull one…..
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    Whew! Quite a struggle today, as I figured. Only one more posting to go, then I can start in on the 40 some emails this morning, letting me know that the 60-some blogs I follow have posted. It’s beginning to take a significant portion of my day, just to deal with emails and stay current with everyone’s blogs. I like staying busy though, it’s a good method of not dwelling too much on the negatives in my life, and I get to see and read a lot of good stuff. Any who, I’d best be about it, so until later today, y’all take care out there…..