More truth about the Twitt, from Jueseppi B., who always does a thorough job of ranting without sounding like a rant… just the facts, ffolkes….
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Hastening Armageddon for pennies a day….
Ffolkes,
With a clear eye, and a somewhat less than clear conscience, I take up the gauntlet once more, seeking new and innovative ways to befuddle the reading audience. Well, either befuddle, or titillate, take your pick; both are on sale today…..
That’s right, we’re having a sale. I have all this excess verbiage laying around, and I figured, “Hey, maybe somebody can use some of this stuff!” Then I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe I can fool, er, talk them into paying for it! It’s worth a shot, right?” So, I’ve taken some time to organize and label a bunch of stuff, and put prices on them.
Please, during your visit today, please take a moment to to look through the catalog on the table over there, and see if there isn’t a metaphor, or a witty response, or a partial poem, or a joke, or maybe even, gasp, an original idea, that you can use in your work…. all priced very reasonably…. Plus, if you buy your needed accessories to crime here, there is no guilt factor, so you can save the money you would have spent on plagiarism insurance. Every word will be shipped via email, so that cost is also zero…. How can you lose?
The bonus factor for me is a couple bucks extra to go into the old refrigerator….. No, I don’t mean I put my money in the fridge; I mean I’ll buy food, and put it in there….. although, come to think of it, I do know a lot of folks who think hiding money in the fridge is one NOBODY will ever think of…. I never bother to tell them it is the first place any experienced cop, guard, technician, or junkie will search in their quest for illegal substances or hidden treasures, mainly because EVERYBODY thinks that nobody else knows this…. another fine example of the quality of most folk’s thinking processes….
That’s probably enough silliness for one morning, or at least for intentional silliness. It starts to annoy even me after a bit…. What say we dive in and start the morning Pearl?….. Keeping in mind, of course, the morning words of wisdom….
PARANOIA: A healthy understanding of the way the universe works. — Smart Bee
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ART, n. This word has no definition. Its origin is related as follows by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.
One day a wag — what would the wretch be at? —
Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,
And said it was a god’s name! Straight arose
Fantastic priests and postulates (with shows,
And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,
And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)
To serve his temple and maintain the fires,
Expound the law, manipulate the wires.
Amazed, the populace that rites attend,
Believe whate’er they cannot comprehend,
And, only edified to learn that two
Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)
Have sweeter values and a grace more fit
Than Nature’s hairs that never have been split,
Bring cakes and wines for sacrificial feasts,
And sell their garments to support the priests.
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
It seems that Mr. Bierce’s talent was not limited to merely prose with a sharp point, but displayed just as precisely, and pointedly, as poetry. Quite excellent poetry too, with couplets all a-rhyme, scansion dancing around the pole made of irony, with streamers of wit….. I’m impressed, more and more, each time I read from the Dictionary….
I guess I wasn’t quite done with being Silly….
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“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz
As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden lies. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….
‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism: What shit? — Smart Bee
The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either, and if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him as loyal opposition, who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In the fight to get ANYTHING done, the incumbents have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokesbozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….
Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidate’s policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…
This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, and went off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..
This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, and show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society. His total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, and I am totally astounded at just how many IDIOTS are out there in this country supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them….
No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit…. I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….
And then shall many be offended,… — Matthew 24:10
You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.
WAKE UP!….. I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking, and I’m starting to type in all caps to show I’m shouting, rather than just as contextual importance. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. So much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….
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Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation and the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his candidate which reads, “In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).” — from the Guinness Book of World Records, 1973
I’m almost speechless. (I know, you’ll believe it when you see it…. I did say ‘almost’…. that’s something…) It’s absolutely beautiful! Perfectly priceless absolute nonsense, dressed only in legal briefs…. It is so impenetrable, I can’t tell if it is the law itself, or the judge’s written opinion on the law, or a passage from Nightmare on Elm Street! Which I’ve never seen, by the way….
How’s that for tangential? Any who, this was included today as a finishing touch to my Twitt-rant above. This goes to show exactly how the political hacks we are burdened with today work their verbal magic, to distract us from looking at things they don’t want us to see. Bureaucratese is what I’ve heard it called, a language, and skill set, that society has had practiced on them since the days of ancient Greece.
When a document such as the one above reaches a certain level of impenetrability, the majority of people alive will either fall asleep halfway through reading it, or totally ignore it after reading the first 11 words or so. It’s a classic piece of distraction, and is probably used in courses for political science majors in college, especially in law schools, as an example of how to carry off the trick.
To me, what this law indicates is that one, or more, of the people involved in writing the law have a monetary interest in being able to obfuscate the definition of “Nuts”, in order for them to achieve some financial reward owing to the indicated distinctions in that definition. In other words, a loophole or three is created, so the “Nut” vendors can make more money, charging more for each kind of Nut than could be accomplished without the legislation.
It’s similar to the law in this country that was pushed through the Federal Courts back in the mid-1800’s, when a corrupt Federal judge awarded “personhood” to corporations, after being paid handsomely by those corporations for his verdict…. Same, same, alla same…. Evil is loose in the world….
— Bother! said Pooh, as he had another plate of Piglet sausage. — Smart Bee (Remember Mitt the Twitt at the NAACP?…..As Jueseppi, the Obabmacrat says, “he was jivin’, shuckin’ and jivin”….. with a mouth full of sausage….)
I suppose all I’m trying to say here is, once again….. Wake up ffolkes…. the beloved ruling class, the priestly hierarchies, and the corporate “persons” in the shape of banks and multinational corporations, are continue to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, nothing to do with benefiting the public; it’s all about screwing everyone else as much as they will allow…. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m about done with allowing ANY of it….
“I’m not tense, just terribly alert.” — Smart Bee
So, please…. DON’T ignore the man behind the screen…. he’s the one who is killing us all….
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I’ll take it…. I don’t know about y’all, but I feel better for having gotten that out….. sorry if any of it got on your clothing. I don’t think any of it is toxic…. maybe a bit vitriolic, but vitriol won’t actually harm anything, unless it applies to the reader as well as the subject matter…. Was that obscure enough?… So be it. Mr. Crusher, make it so….
Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Maintaining a plethora of peregrines….
Ffolkes,
Gosh…. I actually don’t have anything to complain about! What a novel concept! I think I like it…. The sun is shining, I’m not in pain, the birds are singing, and all is well in the world…. Perhaps this is an omen, of good things to come today. Sure, that’s it….
Now that we have dispensed with the shallow lies and dubious wishes, we can get on with the true business for which we are gathered…. and it has nothing at all to do with shallow lies…. 🙂 Heh, heh, heh….
Sorry… sometimes I just can’t seem to help myself….. I start typing and this stuff just dribbles out, like the saliva that pools up on one side of your cheek when you lay on one side for awhile, and doze off….. It’s probably just as hard to wipe off, I’m sure. Well, we’ll all just have to put up with it, because it obviously isn’t going to stop until I’ve driven you all completely batty, waiting for me to get around to something a bit more rational. Or at least funnier….
Funny, isn’t it? How funny is so relative…. and so personal. See, I thought the saliva piece was pretty good, but I also thought it was kind of tacky, y’know? Too much Benny Hill-style buffoonery, when I was really hoping for more of a George Carlineseque-style, an expansively witty, pretension-killing patter…… Maybe I should have used a locker room joke?….. Ah well, we’ll never know now….
Odds are, the way it’s going so far, nothing is going to happen unless I just seize control, and dive in. Y’all can join in, if’n y’wanta…. If nothing else, it should prove interesting….. and I mean that in a good way, really….
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“I show a clear pattern of unpredictability.” — Smart Bee
This made me grin. I can’t help it, it just did. Since its uncanny resemblance to me is not quite enough to make it a pearl, as much as it may be a true and complete picture of me in today’s state of mind, I’ll play fair, and go on, without any further (intentional) instances of unpredictable behavior….. Really, I will try…. But don’t blame me for what we end up with…. it could be more drivel relating to Mitt the Twitt, and you know what that means…. blood, & gore, & guts, & veins in my teeth!
It is alleged that when Einstein and his wife visited the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, Mrs. Einstein pointed to a particularly complex piece of equipment and asked its purpose. Their guide said that it was used to determine the shape of the universe. “Oh,” she said, not at all impressed, “my husband uses the back of an old envelope to work that out.” — Also Smart Bee
Now THAT is a story worthy of pearl status, and if I am not mistaken, has been utilized as one in the past. Not that I’m going to go check or anything like that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already used this up, so we’ll try again….
“The people who say you are not facing reality actually mean that you are not facing their idea of reality. Reality is above all else a variable. With a firm enough commitment, you can sometimes create a reality which did not exist before.” — Margaret Halsey, No Laughing Matter (1977)
Bingo! This is the clear winner here, as we all are, provided we can take this idea in, and use it in a constructive fashion. It’s the finest kind of pearl, one that stimulates, and tickles, and surprises, and inspires, all at once. This brings into focus my entire purpose in exploring the boundaries, or lack thereof, of Consensual Reality, the one we all agree on….
We agree to acknowledge the perceptions we share, yet, even in our agreement, we are unique, because our vision, our perception of that reality, is one that only we can see, and our interpretation of that set of perceptions is one only we can make…. Ensuring and magnifying that uniqueness, it joins with all the other unique visions to make a reality that is whatever we wish it to be…..
“Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.” — Jack Wagner
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” — Philip K. Dick
Stay real, my friends!…..
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I Speak Not
I speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name;
There is grief in the sound, there is guilt in the fame;
But the tear that now burns on my cheek may impart
The deep thoughts that dwell in that silence of heart.
Too brief for our passion, too long for our peace,
Were those hours – can their joy or their bitterness cease?
We repent, we abjure, we will break from our chain, –
We will part, we will fly to – unite it again!
Oh! thine be the gladness, and mine be the guilt!
Forgive me, adored one! – forsake if thou wilt;
But the heart which is thine shall expire undebased,
And man shall not break it – whatever thou may’st.
And stern to the haughty, but humble to thee,
This soul in its bitterest blackness shall be;
And our days seem as swift, and our moments more sweet,
With thee at my side, than with worlds at our feet.
One sigh of thy sorrow, one look of thy love,
Shall turn me or fix, shall reward or reprove.
And the heartless may wonder at all I resign –
Thy lips shall reply, not to them, but to mine.
George Gordon, Lord Byron
I can only say, “Incredible!” And, in spite of my usual habit of running off at the mouth, that is enough…. simply, incredible…
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Here then is an old-school pearl…. Strung together, each of these distinct ideas blends with the others to become one scathing exposé of society today…. Just what that exposé consists of is, of course, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..
“And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords…” — Alan Watts
“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
“What do you mean, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” *YOU* are the free lunch!” — Solomon Short
On a sidewalk near Portland State University someone wrote `Trust Jesus’, and, someone else wrote `But Cut the Cards’. — Smart Bee
Those Jesus Freaks
Well, they’re friendly but
The shit they believe
Has got their minds all shut.
— Frank Zappa, “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”
“Honesty isn’t any policy at all; it’s a state of mind or it isn’t honesty.” — Eugene L’Hote
and last, but certainly not least….
“Apes evolved from Creationists!” — Smart Bee
Well, there you have it…. perhaps a bit less scathing than sardonic, but attractively presented, if nothing else, eh? Don’t forget to offer a cut to the player on your right before you deal the cards …. 🙂
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It is said that one day, a seeker will come, bringing the staff of power to the Monkey King…. oh, wait…. that’s another story, and the beginning at that. This is supposed to be an ending….
Since that is the case, I suppose there is nothing left to do but end it…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Fussing as an Olympic event….
Ffolkes,
It’s always amazing how the WP community rallies around other members with a problem. Since describing my troubles with accessing WP sites yesterday, a lot of ffolkes have commented, giving suggestions for fixes, or just to commiserate. This is truly a gathering of special people, who understand how to have friends, as in “if you want to have friends, you have to be a friend.” Thanks to everyone!…..
The issue was once again with my ISP (internet service provider). They use a function called Turbo to help their users get more speed out of the network. Unfortunately, this function messes with the WordPress code; it’s not compatible somehow. The fix is simple; I just disable the Turbo function. What I found yesterday when speaking with tech support at the ISP is that their system will disable the Turbo, but will automatically turn it back on after a period of time. So, I have to go back and toggle it off whenever I start having problems signing in. A big PITA, but at least now I know what to do when it occurs again…..
It’s a big relief, let me tell you, and it was nice to be able to go catch up on at least a few sites I’ve been missing out on. In the next few days I will try to get to everybody I follow at least once, so I’ll be busy. That’s a good thing, as retirement gets a bit slow when one is handicapped financially. I’m really looking forward to it….
And now that my ‘owee’ is all better, has been kissed and had a bandaid applied, I can concentrate on the Pearls. Shall we dive on in? Yes…..
“Here, pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice, hell will freeze over, and eventually, things will get really interesting…” — Smart Bee, regarding this blog….
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Congresswoman: “Well, Mr. Dallas… we’ve heard your smut masquerading as songs… and we’ve heard how teen prostitution pregnancy, drug use, cults, runaways, suicide and poor hygiene are sweeping this nation. We thought you might like to share with the committee any particular causes you might see for those latter problems…”
Steve Dallas: “I dunno. Maybe the proliferation of narrow, suffocating zealotry masquerading as parenting in this country.” — Bloom County
When I first saw this in the paper, several years ago when it was first published, I literally almost fell out of my chair, laughing. It is just such a perfect description of how those Congressional hearings go, I couldn’t help it. This is a very accurate portrayal of how our society is in the habit of placing blame for problems, rather than finding solutions. At the same time, it delivers a strong punch to the gut of America, by placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of those who deserve it, to wit: ourselves.
“Narrow, suffocating zealotry”. What a wonderful use of adjectives and logic! It perfectly describes almost all of the people who complain about such things; they would rather cry, and moan, and cast about for a scapegoat, when the solution to their issue resides in their own hands. They are constitutionally unable to accept responsibility for how their own actions are creating the very issues they complain of, and generally will spend a lot of time trying to find someone, anyone, else to blame. It’s rather pathetic, when one stops to consider it….
Other than the environmental cataclysm that is imminent on our planet, I can’t think of any solutions to this problem. The difficulty in fixing it lies in human nature, and the changes that our species needs to make in that arena. Yes, having the environment crash around our ears, putting us on the brink of extinction will solve the issue. But, will it wait to happen until we can make the needed changes, or will it catch us with our pants down? I have a feeling the latter is more likely than the former, and I’m formulating my plans with that in mind…. Not that I think I can get out of it, but, hey, it’s worth a shot….
During the time when Congress was holding those hearings on the effects of music on teen issues, Frank Zappa was asked almost the same question. His reply was to the effect that, he had written and performed a number of songs that praised tooth brushing. He asked the committee if they had noted any significant numbers of teens had improved their dental hygiene…. which I thought was very relevant. The committee, however, was not amused…..
At the end of the movie “The American President”, Michael Douglas, as the President, makes a speech to the press corps wherein he states “We’ve got serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. And I promise you, Dick Rumsen (the fictional candidate; in real life we have Mitt the Twitt in that role) has no interest in solving those problems. He’s interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it. That is how you win elections….” It’s a perfect example of Art imitating Life…. and that is exactly what we have going on today…..
We have a bunch of narrow-minded zealots trying to force the public into believing that the current administration hasn’t done anything. Of course, they don’t mention how hard they have worked to throw up obstacles to getting anything done. The House of Representatives has already voted to repeal the health care reform bill that was just upheld by the Supreme Court; it now must go to the Senate. They (the Republicans) don’t care that millions of Americans have already been helped by the bill’s provisions. They don’t care that it was originally THEIR idea. It was passed by the opposition, and that is all they care about, so they will fight it, no matter how many of their constituents don’t want them to do so…..
“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Cleveland Press, 3/1/21
This is the state of American politics today, and it SUCKS big time. Unfortunately, if I don’t vote, then I’m giving in to their pressure, and handing them carte blanche to screw with me. So, I’ll go vote for the lesser of two evils (yes, two…. this President has done the best he could do, and has been pretty good about transparency. But, he IS a politician, and we don’t know ALL of what he has done, or hasn’t done. ), and hope that we don’t end up with someone in office that will cause me to consider taking a more active part in providing a solution…. I’ve got better things to do than having to impeach a sitting President, or even to take other, more drastic measures…. Let us hope it doesn’t come to that…..
“It’s OBVIOUS.. The FURS never reached ISTANBUL.. You were an EXTRA in the REMAKE of “TOPKAPI”.. Go home to your WIFE. She’s making FRENCH TOAST!” — Zippy the Pinhead
(Well, it makes as much sense as anything Mitt has said lately…. and is just as pertinent as his remarks…..)
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We’re taking a comedy break….
ACHTUNG!!!
Das machine is nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und corkenpoppen mit
spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets. Relaxen und
vatch das blinkenlights!!! — Smart Bee, pidgin Germanic version
—–
Balance the budget. Declare politicians a game species! — Smart Bee
———-
Weather
Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be–
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he’d preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote–
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
‘Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow.’
Ambrose Bierce
——
“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willie Wonka
Okay, all done….. back to our regularly scheduled program….
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“Boys become men by watching men, by standing close to men. Manhood is a ritual passed from generation to generation with precious few spoken instructions. Passing the torch of manhood is a fragile, tedious task. If the rite of passage is successfully completed, the boy- become-man is like an oak of hardwood character. His shade and influence will bless all those who are fortunate enough to lean on him and rest under his canopy.” — Preston Gilham
This is a wonderful piece of insightful observation. In many ways, the problems our society faces today can be traced back to this process being degraded. No matter what kind of nuclear family one is speaking of, this process of teaching boys to become men has been almost completely eliminated from our family process. There are a lot of reasons for this; social interaction is a very complex matter. But, the fact of its demise is not as complex, and is plain to anyone with any sort of discriminating intelligence. There are far too few men today who are following this example, and our society is suffering for that lack.
Again, I don’t know the answer. Or rather, I know the answer, for it is the same as I mentioned above; human nature must change. The policies and structures our society has adopted over time have become unsuitable, and counter-productive to our survival. The question is, how do we change human nature? I can only wish I knew….
Our future, as a species, and as a culture, is in serious jeopardy, and time is not slowing down to allow us to figure out how to deal with it. It is a frightening but unavoidable fact of life, at this point, with very little to be done. One can only hope that enough people wake up in time to at least make an effort…. but my hope of that is growing smaller every day…. I hate being a doom-Sayer, but the problem isn’t going to go away just because we ignore it…. so pay attention, please, and pass the humility…..
And as she looked around, she saw how Death the consoler,
Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.
— Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882) — Evangeline, Part ii
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As we all know, time goes by quickly when we are having fun, and this just zipped on by…. It’s long, it’s wordy, it’s relevant, and it’s done…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Omelets don’t enjoy public exposure….
Ffolkes,
For the last 5 weeks or so, I have been unable to overcome the WordPress technical glitches that are plaguing my system. I have to perform a workaround to sign in. If I try to access another WP site while logged in, I either get put into an infinite loop that refuses to even load the page, or I get logged off, and can’t sign back in on the other site, because I’m logged in on mine. Being a geeky sort, I’ve figured out how to keep publishing, using three separate techniques to get around the glitch, whatever it is.
Unfortunately, this glitch also means I have been totally unable to access any of the sites of all the people I follow, other than once or twice. I can get there, but I have to log out, find the site using Google, then sign back in to comment, so it is very time-consuming, making it impractical for me, as I just can’t sit that long. Just writing my own blog I have to take breaks every 10-15 minutes, and trying to follow and read the 100+ blogs I want to read is just too much.
As a result, the traffic on my site has also gone down, because it is true what they tell you in those blog tutorials; the success of any blog depends on the blogger visiting other sites, and maintaining that community contact. Since I can’t get to other sites, the only folks that I can see that come to my site are the ones who either hit the Like button, or comment (all of which I answer….); of the 150 people who signed up to follow my blog, only about 20-30 of them seem to be regulars, as my Likes and comments are still less than double digits (i.e., less than 10).
Now, this in itself is not troublesome for me, as I don’t write just to gather followers. I write for self-therapy, and to create discussion. If it eventually leads to a lot of readers, that would be great, but it’s not what I’m trying for. I’d rather have a smaller number of regular readers who comment, or at least read what I have to say because they like the content.
But it does bother me that I cannot read the blogs I follow. I follow them because I like what the people there write, or post, or create (some are VERY creative….) and I miss the dialogue I usually have with them, as I am in inveterate commenter when I read a blog. I enjoy it when folks comment, as it shows me that I’ve written something that stimulated someone else’s mind; I comment because what they wrote stimulated mine, and I want them to know it….. but now I can’t, and it’s driving me bat-shit crazy.
I’ve hesitated to contact WP about the glitch, as the last time I tried to get help, it took weeks, and was very frustrating; it actually made my PTSD worse, so I’m a little reluctant to go through that again. But now, I’m going to HAVE to ask for help, because the glitch is either spreading, or morphing, or something; I’ve had to use two workarounds just to sign in today. It’s too much, and I have to do something. The annoyance factor has grown to exceed my reluctance, so I’ll contact them today to see if I can get it fixed…..
To all those ffolkes who stop by every day, THANK YOU…. I’m glad you enjoy the Pearls, and you can be assured they will continue. Thanks also to those who stop in at least weekly (I know of at least 5 who do so, as they “Like” or comment on four or five every time they come by, catching up, as it were…), or even just occasionally. I do appreciate it. Thanks especially to those who comment regularly, or even sporadically; I love to dialogue. And to all those who just stop in occasionally, thank you for that, and I hope what I write continues to draw you back, even if only occasionally.
To all the folks I follow…. please be patient. I’ll work with WP to get this fixed, and will spend a couple of days catching up to all of them, as best I may. I’m just hoping the effort to identify and fix the glitch doesn’t turn into another soap opera…. time will tell, as always…..
Now that I have thoroughly bored all of you to tears, I think it’s time to Pearl. Shall we?…..
___________________________________
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
This statement, I believe, is one that almost any historian would agree with, as it has been said at different times in different words for as long as humanity has had a history. It is a deduction that has been proven time after time since the beginning of civilization; there is no argument against it that hasn’t been answered, so it is generally held to have the weight of a natural law…. This is a frightening thought when applied in relation to modern America…..
“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee
I wish this had come with attribution, so I’d know who to congratulate for a very succinct, accurate statement of the current State of the Union. Combining the common sense of this statement with the proven accuracy of the first quote, we arrive at the conclusion that our society has not only ignored the past, but no longer cares at all about the future.
Every four years, the folks who make up the beloved ruling class start spouting off about all the stuff they think the sitting administration has done wrong, sending out endless distractions and lies that are designed to keep the public’s attention off what they are really up to. In doing so, they are not only distracting people away from history, but teaching them to ignore it.
“And it shall come to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee
In this current fiasco leading up to November’s election of a new POTUS, or re-election of the old, the level of distraction and outright lying has reached new heights. The GOP, in its efforts to stop the reforms being instituted by the sitting POTUS, have been gathering money at unprecedented rates, all to finance the political ads that will determine the tenor of the campaign.
The Political Action Groups that support the GOP platform, which were formed to get around the campaign contribution reforms, have generated literally hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for advertisements for Mitt the Twitt (designed to convince the public that he actually does give a shit about the common man) and against Barack Obama (designed to picture him as the spawn of Satan).
SATAN, n. One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sackcloth and axes. Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven. Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back. “There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he. “Name it.” “Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws.” “What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?” “Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.” It was so ordered. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
It is a constant amazement to me how people, whom I normally consider to be well-grounded, can fall for the nonsense these political hacks are putting out. Especially those who are supporting the Twitt; it is absolutely astounding to me that ANYONE would believe anything that comes out of his mouth, as he flips from one concept to another, claiming to support, or oppose those concepts according to what he believes the crowd wants to hear. There are too many documented instances of this for them to deny it, so they don’t. They just ignore it, and THE MEDIA LETS THEM DO IT!
I’m really sick of it all; it is distasteful to my persona to hear this much lying, and not have it condemned. Mitt lies, Barack lies, Congress lies, and the rest of their compatriots are all lying as well. And the voting public, who ignores history, goes out and votes, not knowing, or seemingly caring, that there are NO candidates who are not lying. I am a member of that number, though I do know I’m being lied to. But, if I don’t vote, then I’m throwing in the towel without even throwing a punch, and have no right to complain. I may have to choose between the lesser of two evils, but at least I have a choice.
“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead
The whole election scenario is pretty discouraging, for anyone with a modicum of common sense. It’s hard to watch society shoot itself in the foot every four years, and harder still to live with the lack of viable choices. Especially when I know that natural law, i.e., Mother Nature, will eventually assert itself, and our species will join the dodo and the T-Rex on the list of species that just didn’t have what it takes to make it in this universe. SIGH….. it’s too bad. Our species shows such promise, but then turns around and nullifies any progress with paroxysms of mass stupidity…. and then pats itself on the back for good measure.
We’re all idiots……
“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off.” — Smart Bee
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“Some say that my teaching is nonsense. Others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
My morning rant above got a bit out of hand, and I had a hard time keeping it as short as it is. So, in order to provide some contrast, I will not say much here. This doesn’t need much help anyway; it’s about as clear as it can be. Sure, I could expand on it, give examples, provide an allegorical tale or two, but it wouldn’t improve it. So, I’ll leave it be, and just ask you to roll it around in your head for a while. It will give you all there is to give…. which is more than is apparent, as with any deep truth….. If you wish, you can just tell yourself I’m being compassionate, by not exposing you to further railings from this quarter….
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All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.
Richard Brautigan, 1967
I may have used this a couple months ago, but it is possibly my favorite poem of all time, period, so I’m putting it in again…. I think you can handle it….. It’s one of my personal images of Heaven, or as we agnostics are fond of calling it, Utopia…. Or, as Oscar said….
“A map of the world that has no Utopia is not worth considering.” — Oscar Wilde
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Okay…. I feel pretty lucky. Not yet 0800, and I’ve got this whipped. It’s a bit windy, but it flies. Or it will, as soon as I get it sent out…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Iconic moments on a daily schedule….
Ffolkes,
Well…. another day dawns…. As I sit down to begin, I am struck by….. Ouch! Damn you, I wasn’t being literal! Get away from here! Go back to bed or something! Anything, just do it somewhere else, okay? Sheesh!….
Sorry about that…. Murphy is being a major asshole today, not just a minor one. He showed up as soon as I was awake, and has been following me around the house, dumping stuff over, moving furniture so I’ll be sure to bang into it in the dark, you know, just little shit to annoy me. I don’t know what I did to warrant this kind of personal attention, and when I ask him, he just laughs, and points at my midsection, as if it was particularly hilarious….
I don’t get it. I’m a nice guy. I never do anything to anyone, because I am never around anyone else. I write for a couple hours in the morning, and then I read, or listen to music, or watch a movie. That’s it… oh, yeah, once or twice a day I’ll go for a walk, just so I’m not looking at the same four walls all day. That’s it. That’s all I do….. So how the hell could I have done something to piss off the universe enough to sick Murphy on me, with personal attention, no less?….
Well, at least he’s gone into the other room…. He’s probably in there setting up a practical joke, with guess who as the butt of the joke. I’ll need to remember to be cautious when I next go in there….. Now that the excitement is done for the moment, I suppose we should go get some diving done. Shall we Pearl?…. We shall….
___________________________________
Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action. — Smart Bee, and many others
While cruising for pearls, I found this…. it is a series of statements that, together, comprise one of my most deeply held beliefs, and is a standing policy for action that calls for action on my part when its tenets are fulfilled. Anyone can make mistakes, and it is always such to react violently to a first occurrence. A second occurrence is suspicious but can also be explained as a chance event. But, the third time an attack happens, it’s time to take the gloves off.
In other words, when I get hit the third time, my response will be equal to the inconvenience and trouble that all three have caused. Sometimes the retribution is delayed, as it may take some time to clearly identify where the attacks originated. But, once enemy action has been confirmed, there is no further delay, and the punishment is delivered as intended, post haste…..
Now, before you get all worked up about how this policy could lead to mistakes that cause the wrong party to be destroyed, let me assure you, it is pretty foolproof. (Yes, destroyed. I don’t leave enemies alive behind me; I don’t want to have to watch my back, and making certain they will not re-engage makes perfect sense.) This policy takes the possibility of mistakes into account, giving ample time for proper reasoning.
I’m not a child, and I don’t make those kinds of mistakes; if I strike out, I am certain before I do so that the target is the correct one. If, for some reason, I have been fooled into targeting the wrong person or group, that almost always is evident beforehand, if one is alert to the signs. And my response to the actual perpetrator is thereby tripled in ferocity, as I add the insult of that action to the rest….
“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.” — Sun Tzu (fl. c. B.C. 500)
This may seem like a harsh policy, but I’ve found that it isn’t as bad as it sounds. By waiting for the third piece of evidence, one is fairly certain of the facts, and the parties involved all know the risks of what they are doing. Plus, this policy works just as effectively in judging positive experiences, as it doesn’t differentiate between them in the statements. It’s often quite helpful in identifying one’s allies, as well as one’s enemies. It’s always a good thing, in a battle or war, to be able to tell the difference between the two…. besides, one hates to eliminate friends; it’s not like they grow on trees, y’know….
Gun Owners are Citizens. All Others are Subjects. — Smart Bee
___________________________________
“If you sincerely desire a _truly_ well-rounded education, you must study the extremists, the obscure and nutty. You need the balance! Your poor brain is already being impregnated with middle-of-the-road crap, twenty-four hours a day, _no matter what_. Network TV, newspapers, radio, magazines at the supermarket… even if you never watch, read, listen, or leave your house, even if you are deaf and blind, the _telepathic pressure alone_ of the uncountable normals surrounding you will insure that you are automatically well- grounded in consensus reality.” — Rev. Ivan Stang — High Weirdness By Mail
Humanity exists, and anything that exists can be expressed with mathematics. For our purpose here this morning, we will use the mathematics of demography of the intellect. When looking at the whole body of people that comprises mankind, if you divide the different levels of intelligence, as rated by IQ, you will immediately see that as a whole, mankind can be expressed as a bell curve. Broken down most simply, there are about 5% of people who are genius’, about 15% slightly above normal, 60% average, 15% slightly below average, and 5% very, very slow thinking folks. It’s a bit simplistic, but it is accurate, believe me….. I’ve done the math…..
“The world is crazier than we think.” — MacNeice
In light of this, the statement from the Reverend Stang becomes a truism, as well as pretty good insight. One cannot say they know what humanity is all about without including those who exist on the fringes, the 5% genius, and the 5% slow. This is obvious…. What is not so obvious is that one can use the same bell curve, and percentage breakdown, to describe the morality of mankind.
We have 5% very ethical, morally upright folks, who act rightly, from right thinking. We have about 15% who mostly do good, and mostly try to be moral. We have 60% who very seldom consider either concept (morals & ethics) but generally act from right thoughts taught to them by their parents and peers. Again, there are 15% who act immorally a lot of the time, and 5% who are the actual acolytes of Satan, so to speak….
“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that’s too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes
What is unfortunate is that the 5% who are totally immoral, or rather, amoral, comprise the largest part of our beloved ruling class. They are joined by the 15% who mainly act immorally; this group is where you will find most priests and others in the sadly patriarchal hierarchies of the religion institutions.
This grouping is, to me, the most egregiously evil of all of them. Priests and preachers, in general, counsel their parishioners to obey the beloved ruling class, knowing full well that they are condemning them to slavery. I find this to be reprehensible, but the indoctrination given these people is so strong, they never even realize what they do; they even believe that they are being helpful.
My defence is of God, which saveth the upright… — Psalms 7:10
I believe that people should be treated with respect, right up until they provide evidence that they are not deserving of such, at which time, I place them into the bottom 20%, and figure they are fair game. This policy has provided me with numerous opportunities to puncture some of their balloons, when those silly fools come to the door wanting to proselytize to me about their religion.
I have a great time with them, quoting to them from their own bible (whichever one it may be; I’ve looked through all of them….), and using their own premises to show them the fallacies. I’ve sent many a troubled young LDS elder back to the fold with a head full of doubts, and really enjoy the image that puts in my head about the next time they speak with THEIR elders…. the more discord and doubt I can sow in that fecund field, the better I like it.
So, I heartily agree with Reverend Stang, though probably for different reasons. I find it a bit unusual for a Reverend to recommend diversity in education at all, but, hey, no matter why, if he gets folks to at least look at the fringes, it can teach them a lesson or two they would never get in Bible Study classes…. and that is a good thing…..
Besides, I couldn’t resist writing about this, as the good reverend used the term “consensus reality”, and that, after all, is what I do…..
___________________________________
“Oh Day of Fire and Sun”
Oh day of fire and sun,
Pure as a naked flame,
Blue sea, blue sky and dun
Sands where he spoke my name;
Laughter and hearts so high
That the spirit flew off free,
Lifting into the sky
Diving into the sea;
Oh day of fire and sun
Like a crystal burning,
Slow days go one by one,
But you have no returning.
Sarah Teasdale
Without looking too deeply at this, it gives me a good feeling, and that is good enough for me…. If I look at it deeply, it seems to start falling apart, logically. The key then, is to remove logic from the equation while reading it…. easy peasy, yes? Enjoy!….
___________________________________
Once again, we have reached the end of another Pearl of Virtual Wisdom…. I know some of you out there are saying to themselves, “Thank goodness that’s done!” And well you might…. then again, you also might be saying, “Where’s the coffee?” I’ll never know, now, will I? So, I’m going to take my chances, and publish this as is…. deal with it…. 🙂 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Melting in the limelight…..
Ffolkes,
Silent as an owl, the file of warriors slipped through the forest, grim and intent. Each carried a staff, strapped to their backs, and a long knife. Coming to the edge of the forest, they gathered behind a huge, old oak to finalize their plan. The leader, worn and grizzled, crouched down to draw in the dirt a map of the city just out of sight beyond the forest’s edge.
With his knife, he drew the street holding their target destination, and pointed to a tall warrior. “You will scout ahead of the mission, eliminating any witnesses,” the leader growled. “Don’t kill them, but put them out of action.”
He turned then to the one small figure in the group, a boy of about 13, dressed in city garb. “Do you know what to do?” “Yes,” replied the boy, with a nervous shake of his head. “I’m to go inside the target, and give the order to the ones inside.” “And then?,” the leader persisted. “And then, when they give me the bags, I bring them out to the rest of the team.” “Good”, replied the old man. “And don’t forget to Super Size the fries on all of the orders, and don’t forget the strawberry shake for the prince…..”
Sorry, had to get that out, it’s been in there festering since yesterday….. I saved it until this morning; since I’ve had so much trouble with finding intro material, I figured it would do just fine. And it does. Or, it appears to, anyway. Since I stopped working for the government, it will have to do. Besides, after two paragraphs, you don’t think I’m going to delete it all, do you? No way…..
I am, therefore I think. Is this putting Descartes before the horse? — Smart Bee
But, I will also have pity, and trouble you no more with this bit of nonsense. We will now go directly into the WWW to dive for pearls. Or, dive deep into Smart Bee, whichever works better; I can never tell from this end…. Shall we Pearl?……
I’d give you a piece of my mind….but I can’t find it. — Smart Bee
___________________________________
“A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” — Oscar Wilde
Oscar is right, as usual. When one is sincere, and fully so, one is so busy maintaining that illusion that they are blind to insincerity, they can then be ruthlessly manipulated by those with whom they traffic. As a matter of fact, a person who is morally upright stands at an extreme disadvantage in today’s world. Honesty, sincerity, integrity, dignity, all the virtues of an honorable man place that man in a perilous position in a world where everyone else is trying to “get their own”, and will lie, cheat, and steal in order to do so. And they don’t care that it isn’t fair, either….
“Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” — Noah Webster
This is exactly the issue that Oscar warned us about, this little bit of sincerity shown by the candidates for positions of power in society. Of course, this can be logically predicted; they wouldn’t get very far if they were telling the truth about their intentions. Nobody is going to vote for the guy who says, “Oh yes, I want to be (mayor, governor, president, whatever) so I can steal from the public treasury.” Even honesty isn’t going to buy that vote. And the beloved ruling class knows this very well, so they smother us in their good intentions, while happily fondling the treasury house keys they are given…..
“Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.” — Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753)
We are witnessing just such a situation today, with the Republicans and conservatives all making noise about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the healthcare law. This is the same law that the Republicans and conservatives proposed back in the 1990’s, when they were doing their best to nullify anything Clinton could do. The law that is now in effect is almost exactly the same plan that they were supporting then.
Now that it has been instituted, their partisanship has them denying any such scenario. They just act as if it had never happened, which is how they usually deny any previous lies. “What? Me? No, I never said that….” is a common response, which is not as effective as it might have been, since the quotes in question were recorded on tape.
With virtue you cannot be entirely poor… Without it you cannot be really rich. — Chinese Proverb
Let’s face it, ffolkes, there is NO virtue left in our government. The forces of the selfish and ignorant have assumed control of the media, and of the government, and they are not about to give it up without a fight. That fight is coming, you can be certain, as this country still holds a lot of folks who think for themselves. These people also own guns, and will not be persuaded to put them down, just because everyone else wants them to; nor will these people stand for having the rights we were given by the founding fathers of this country taken away from them.
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain Following the Equator (1897)
My hope is that the conflict that is coming will be carried out on paper, and online; if the conflict spills over into reality (as it did recently in Egypt, Libya, and other Arab countries) then the folks with guns are going to get involved, and it will get ugly, I guarantee. You can kill a free man, but you can’t control him…. If he has virtue, he will stand for the right, no matter what…. and he isn’t going to give up his guns to convince you….
What part of “shall not be infringed” don’t you understand? — Smart Bee
___________________________________
Life Circumspect
Sad lost moments live
infamous with dignity.
Chance may rule, or not.
gigoid
___________________________________
All Is Vanity, Saieth the Preacher
I.
Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,
And health and youth possess’d me;
My goblets blush’d from every vine,
And lovely forms caress’d me;
I sunn’d my heart in beauty’s eyes,
And felt my soul grow tender:
All earth can give, or mortal prize,
Was mine of regal splendour.
II.
I strive to number o’er what days
Remembrance can discover,
Which all that life or earth displays
Would lure me to live over.
There rose no day, there roll’d no hour
Of pleasure unembitter’d;
And not a trapping deck’d my power
That gall’d not while it glitter’d.
III.
The serpent of the field, by art
And spells, is won from harming;
But that which coils around the heart,
Oh! who hath power of charming?
It will not list to wisdom’s lore,
Nor music’s voice can lure it;
But there it stings for evermore
The soul that must endure it.
George Gordon Lord Byron
A little bit of Romanticism always brings me to a good conclusion…. enjoy!
___________________________________
It’s a wrap…. I was a bit uncertain today as to how this might turn out, but it seems my fears were premature, if not completely unnecessary. Once again, I find myself without any idea as to how good it might be, but I’m going with instinct here, so a little slack would be appreciated…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Conundrums be damned! Fire away!….
Ffolkes,
Heart pounding, he typed faster and faster, as words poured out onto the screen. No simple story this time, no bleeding hearts. No fantasy lovers, no warriors brave. Simple dialogue, with real people speaking real words, straight from Life, naked and proud. To hide now would be disaster, only the truth will help save what there is to save. Only sacrifice will bring back…. the dry cleaning….
Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else that would fit, and I’m still having trouble sitting for long. I don’t suppose this one will get into the hall of fame, will it? I thought not…. I didn’t want to settle for that, but the deadline was approaching quickly, and nothing else came bubbling up. It could be worse, right? I could have said…. the Devil, or some other force of evil, which would have created some anticipatory twinges amongst the readers, but didn’t go with the mood I was shooting for…. I wanted something different today, not the usual sense of controlled panic that generally comes during the intro…. and I think I hit it just right with dry cleaning….
But then, I’m the one who wrote it, so it is de rigeur for me to praise it, even if only to damn it with faint praise. It’s all part of the morning routine now, which seems to have added a bit of diligent searching for adequate introductory paragraphs as part of the program. Of course, the intro has always been a part of the routine, but I have always had some idea of what to do with it, or where it came from. Now, those ideas are seemingly drying up, so I’m resorting more often to chat mode, like today, in order to produce enough material to pass as an introduction. It’s stopgap, but it works….
If it doesn’t work, I’m going to, first, panic….. I’ll run around like a headless chicken for a bit, then slowly bleed out until an idea forms. Then, if there still isn’t any usable material, I’ll go outside, find some unsuspecting pedestrian, and knock them out so I can check their pockets for ideas….. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful not to hit them too hard; just enough to go through their clothing, and I’ll make sure they are out of the road so they don’t get run over…. This process, however, can be slow; there aren’t a lot of folks out and about so early in this neighborhood….
Or, maybe I’ll just continue in the vein I’ve opened today, and fake it for five paragraphs….. I am encouraged, somewhat…. I must be improving my writing skills, if I can now put out such grandiose, self-indulgent, yet oddly compelling, compound sentences, produced on demand, in enough quantity to make a moderately long introduction. Since I cannot speak to its quality, the quantity will have to do….
“What we imagine is order is merely the prevailing form of chaos.” — Kerry Thornley, Principia Discordia, 5th edition
It’s always nice to have the right quote on hand…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________
“All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly which can – and must – be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a “perfect society” on any other foundation other than “Women and children first!” is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly- and no doubt will keep on trying.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”
Lazarus, speaking for Robert again, relates this truism in a straightforward way, with no ups and no extras. Normally, I would use this to begin a rant, once again railing against the beloved ruling class and the priestly hierarchies. Today, I’m letting it stand alone, and will instead just ask you to think about it, in depth. To my way of thinking, the only way that our species can survive is if enough men and women become convinced that our current path does not conform to “Women and children first!”, and as such is counterproductive to our survival. Only then will people take the necessary steps to stop the madness….
We are all being dragged along this mad path to self-destruction by folks who have no interest in anything but their own aggrandizement, and will most certainly die off as a species if they are not prevented from carrying on as they have been….. I know I keep harping on this, but the problem is not going to go away by ignoring it; in fact it will kill us all the faster if we do. It has to change, ffolkes, we all know this…. let’s try to get the fuckheads in charge to get on board, so we can have the future we otherwise won’t see….
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“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” — Don Marquis
This is a lesson that I didn’t learn until I was almost out of high school, even though I had ample opportunity to do so. I guess I was less skeptical of human nature then, having had less direct experience at dealing with all its idiosyncrasies….. but, learn it I did, to both my everlasting regret, and my endless gratitude, for a gift that has lasted a lifetime. Being able to tell the difference between the two states, to wit: thinking, and thinking they are thinking, has been invaluable in preventing trouble, as well as remedying it when it occurs. Which is alladamtime, in the vernacular of the streets of Rome….
“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.” — George Bernard Shaw
I was a very good student in high school, and though I didn’t carry that tradition into college, during those teen years of the early 1960’s, I was considered a reference source by most of my classmates, and ended up tutoring them fairly often in the course of joint studying, assuming a teaching role. (Being such a reference source can also be a potential problem, but that’s another story….) This was my first real exposure in how human nature affects learning, and in how what works with some people to get them to comprehend what they are trying to learn won’t work for others, who are not as invested in the process of using their mind for anything other than counting change for a dollar…..
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on. “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!” “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!” “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!” “It IS the same thing with you, ” said the Hatter. — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
This conversation from the other side of the looking glass creates in me a very strong sense of deja vu…. Many of the conversations I’ve had while acting as a tutor to my peers sounded just like this, only we were discussing mathematics, which makes it that much scarier…. But, it also highlights the problem for those of us who act as tutors to our peers, relating back to the original quote…. When teaching others, you must find the right mode of speech, the right way to approach the student in a way that they can comprehend the lesson…. A good friend sent me a poem yesterday which states the difficulty perfectly (Thanks to Shawna Alexander, who also forgot to send the author’s name…)…..
Which is better?
A genius knows when to dumb it down
A smart man knows when to know nothing
And an idiot can be all three
Well what does that mean?
You’re only as smart as others allow
So if you’re too smart to be understood,
To others your intelligence level goes down
So to truly be a genius you must know when dumbing it down is good
To know nothing isn’t unintelligence
It’s best for different situations
Though very different from a genius,
A smart man recognizes when on his knowledge to put limitations
An idiot is in the best position,
Because it’s second nature for them to put it in layman’s terms
An idiot has the best potential for genius if it’s his intention
And being an idiot is how others feel their intelligence is confirmed
Thus we can see that in order to successfully teach, one must be flexible enough in their own persona to be able to assume the characteristics that will ensure a successful lesson, by speaking to the student at their level of understanding, and by fooling them into using their mind to think with, rather than just using it to find their way home every night….
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After a hundred years
Nobody knows the place,–
Agony, that enacted there,
Motionless as peace.
Weeds triumphant ranged,
Strangers strolled and spelled
At the lone orthography
Of the elder dead.
Winds of summer fields
Recollect the way,–
Instinct picking up the key
Dropped by memory.
Emily Dickinson
After a hard morning of diving for pearls, I need a break, and Emily is always just right for that….. Enjoy!… Except for you, Shawna… you can ignore it, if you like…. 🙂
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It’s been a Mounds morning, all in all, and my teeth hurt…. guess I’ll go brush them…. What that has to do with all this is unknown… but, it must be important, because, hey, I typed it, right? Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
On the path of least resistance….
Ffolkes,
Reality can be a slippery slope around here, especially in the early morning, and today is no exception. I looked at the clock while in bed, and saw it was 0515; I could hear the coffee finishing up brewing in the kitchen. I blinked, and rolled over to get up, and the clock now reads 0656…. I lost an hour and more, to a bloody blink! Now you can understand why I never pay for my reality; I can never count on it being where or when I left it, and it’s never in the shape I think it should be in….. which is, I know, my fault, as I am the one who determines the shape it takes, merely by viewing it….SIGH… I wonder if I could out-source this whole getting up procedure?…. It might be worth looking at….
As might be surmised, this morning finds me a bit on the groggy side, which, as a rule, tends to have a deleterious effect on the introduction. So far it isn’t too bad; at least it’s not a rant. Early ranting turns everything dark, and dreary, and who needs that in the morning? Certainly not me…. Ranting first thing does get things moving right along, though, and provides a direction. If only it were more elegant, or at least funny, it would be an acceptable beginning. But, rants usually are neither elegant, nor funny, unless we are talking about Mitt the Twitt, in which case funny just can’t be kept out of the picture, as he takes pretty careful aim at his foot every time he opens his mouth…..
Ah well, I suppose we should just get on with it, eh? Slip on a mask, grab some flippers, and let’s go Pearling!….
I was sane once… didn’t like it. — Smart Bee
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FOOL, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscience, omnipotent. He it was who invented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the telegraph, the platitude and the circle of the sciences. He created patriotism and taught the nations war — founded theology, philosophy, law, medicine and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican government. He is from everlasting to everlasting — such as creation’s dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existence headed the procession of being. His grandmotherly hand was warmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man’s evening
meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human civilization. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
The Devil’s Dictionary was first published in the late 1800’s, and was considered to be quite radical, even for that time in history, when literature was at what might be called a peak of influence on society. The scientific industrialization of manufacturing that took place in this time, in the days after the Industrial Revolution began, created similar growth in other areas of human endeavor, including philosophy, medicine, and psychology. However, the growth that took place was completely in the physical world; spiritually, there has been no change at all; if anything, we have seen an overall decline in the advance of human consciousness.
Mr. Bierce seems to have learned to channel the future, for almost every entry I can find from the book is as relevant to Now as it was when first published. I find this definition of FOOL to be as perceptive and insightful as it is funny, and that is saying something, considering it makes most ffolkes ROTFL. 🙂 (Sometimes, text language is cool!….) The comedy that we call politics that is the highlight of the daily news outlets in today’s world could have been scripted using this definition as a cast call.
Day after day, we are bombarded with the latest outrageous mouthings of the POTUS, and his stand-up sidekick straight man, Mitt the Twitt, the SCOTUS, Senators, Congressmen, televangelists, female ex-governors who can’t seem to keep their mouths shut, preachers we wish would crawl back under a rock, and the latest token “awww” story of a kitten rescue. (Yes, yet another instance of some idiot human starting a fire, and making the local government spend a couple tens of thousands of dollars to make sure her/his cat is safely out of their now-useless domicile….)
I suppose the constant parade of human folly that passes before our eyes each day could be considered as comic relief. Goodness knows we could use a little humor, after having to watch another group of daily screw-ups by the bozos on the bus, to wit: all of us. Every day we are given more examples of how cruel people can be to each other, or how much more terror can be caused for the largest number of innocent people. One has only to switch on the TV, or check out the front page of a newspaper, or an online news outlet, to see at least one or two stories that will curl your hair and toes, just to think about.
I know it just made my day a couple days ago to see Romney’s latest statement…. you know, the one where he promised his constituents that if he were elected, his first task would be to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision on the health care bill, effectively stating that yes, we would be going back to the Stone Age for the next four years…. Also interesting is his unstated but obvious belief that, as President, he can do whatever he wants, including setting aside Supreme Court decisions…. something I think he neglected to check against the Constitution…. He’s just out there, smiling and waving, and parroting what his handlers want him to say, and all is good, in his mind, wherever he keeps it….
Ah well…. at least I’ll never lack for material. In fact, there is so much of it to choose from, finding one to use can be a sticky process, and requires a session in the grooming area after handling so much tacky stuff…. But, I AM sixty-one, and have learned to think ahead a little…. I do put my hair into a well-bound up pony tail, to keep it from getting all mucked up while I’m immersed in the crap they put into circulation.
That one thing, foresight, is the single most telling, and most valuable, advantage I’ve found to getting older. One doesn’t get caught so often in activities requiring clean-up afterward, and all that is required is to be prepared for it…. just like most of Life, isn’t it? We can go through life and give in to the urge to be a full time bozo, otherwise known as a Fool…. or you can open up your eyes and brain, and at least keep from getting stuff all over your shoes and/or hair….
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Along The Field as We Came By
ALONG the field as we came by
A year ago, my love and I,
The aspen over stile and stone
Was talking to itself alone.
“Oh who are these that kiss and pass?
A country lover and his lass;
Two lovers looking to be wed;
And time shall put them both to bed,
But she shall lie with earth above,
And he beside another love.”
And sure enough beneath the tree
There walks another love with me,
And overhead the aspen heaves
Its rainy-sounding silver leaves;
And I spell nothing in their stir,
But now perhaps they speak to her,
And plain for her to understand
They talk about a time at hand
When I shall sleep with clover clad,
And she beside another lad.
Alfred Edward Housman
Culture break…. One is always welcome after ranting about stuff that will never change…. kind of like Don Quixote and his windmills, I guess, though not as sweaty….. besides, I like this poem. It’s simple, and easy on the spirit; it doesn’t ask a lot from the reader…..
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“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs – jolted by every pebble in the road.” — Henry Beecher
“You can observe a lot just by watchin’.” — Yogi Berra
Whenever I need to lighten up, I go look in the mirror…. it’s always good for a giggle or two. When I write, I tend to gravitate toward darker material for discussion. Probably has to do with the fact there is so much out there in reality with which I have issues. Of course, we all have issues with reality; seldom have I met a person who is completely content with their lot. Like Gilda Radner said, “There’s always something!….” Having chosen to write this blog about those things I see that are worthy of discussion, those things are bound to reflect my own nature. Can’t help it, any more than you can…. we are what we are…
“I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam; I’m Popeye the Sailor Man!” — Popeye
Being able to laugh at myself is possibly the most valuable tool I possess for smoothing out the bumps on the path of life. Once, when I was much younger than now ( “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now…. Neil Young) I wrote, “The path to serenity is most likely an uphill climb, but the road doesn’t have to be bumpy, or strewn with rubble….” Or something like that….. It’s still true today, even if it has been edited in my mind over time…. Life is tough, there is no denying, but it is also filled with beauty and joy. In fact, the degree of pain and distress one is able to withstand is always equal to the joy that has been experienced; one just needs to be able to notice the beauty as it presents itself. Then it is always with us, ready to help us smile through the next crisis, knowing the pain will pass, as it always does…. as Yogi says……
“It ain’t over til’ it’s over.” — Yogi Berra
“And then, it’s over” — gigoid
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Well, like the author said, it’s over…. at least for today. Here’s hoping you have a good one…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
Verbal parity got sacrificed today…..
Ffolkes,
Apparently, what I’ve experienced thus far has just been the warm-up period; Life is really going to get serious now, and the pain and anguish that has been my lot will be as nothing compared with what is to come. Nightmarish mornings, horrific days, and terrifying nights are to be my lot, with lots and lots of turmoil and strife to fill in the slow moments…..
Okay, not really…. I’m exaggerating, of course. Life dumps on all of us, indiscriminately; the difference lies in how we react to that….
We can react with sadness and depression, or we can react with tolerance and joy. There is also a lot of ground in between those two points on the emotional scale, and we can spend it where we choose. The key is to remember that we do get the choice…. when we allow the negative to color all we see, then we tend to react negatively, and we spend our time in the emotional dumps. If we can remove the emotional content from our reaction to what occurs, we have a better chance of being able to deal with it effectively. “Steady as she goes….” as they would say on board a ship under power….
I try to choose the latter method of dealing with life, even though the negatives are what seem to be happening more of late. It’s tough, but concentrating on the good things helps…. like my daughter calling just to say hello, or my son calling to get advice on dealing with a dead battery. I figure that I’ve done something right in life, if both my kids, fully grown, not only still talk to me, but actually ask my advice or opinion on their activities. It’s a good feeling, for sure; I know a lot of folks whose kids never call, never come by, and don’t want the parents involved in their lives beyond the minimum, so I’m lucky in that respect….
Up, down, and all around, Life is a roller coaster, and there’s no getting off until the ride is done…. we may as well learn to enjoy the view from the top, while we can…. Until you can get your tickets for the next ride, though, perhaps you would care to join me in a search for pearls for today’s missive? It’s often fun, and always interesting, to see what we can come up with for dissection, er, discussion…. shall we Pearl?…..
“I feel like I’m in a Toilet Bowl with a thumbtack in my forehead!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“Men know that if a woman had to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she would probably save the infant’s life, without even considering whether there were men on base.” — Dave Barry
Normally, I try not to get involved too deeply in the ongoing War between the Sexes; I find it to be generally unproductive. (A nice way to say it’s stupid, and can lead to bloodshed….) But, this statement is just so perfect, I couldn’t resist. It is, as far as I can tell, completely accurate. I have, in fact, tested this theorem on several occasions, and can honestly report that the women who were tested chose to save the baby, every time, and no outs were recorded….
Now, one might think that this is putting too much importance into a game, to even make the comparison. But I think it is a good test, one that clearly indicates the nature of each sex, and identifies the motivation of the involved parties. I mean, hey, the guys on whom I also tested the theorem scored a 98%, only dropping the baby twice to go for the ball. That’s not bad! And they got the outs, so…..
Don’t worry, no babies were harmed in the filming of this event; they were dropped onto a small, padded patch of grass, and given a cookie if they cried…. The important piece of information here is that the male contingent scored eight outs, putting the women to shame in that category. Of course, they did lose the contest, as the penalty points for the dropped infants put their score in the toilet…. but hey, no guts, no glory, right?
So, ladies and gents, don’t get all het up because guys are different than girls; fighting against that difference isn’t going to get you anywhere, except maybe a stay in the Heart Break Hotel. Learn instead to appreciate the differences that make each of us unique. We each just need to realize that it is those differences that actually make us fit together so well.
The characteristics of the male stick out in such a way that they fit exactly into those characteristics of the female that are the complementary opposite, like two wheels with teeth that fit together to turn the hands of a clock. Neither one keeps good time by itself, but working together, time passes smoothly, like the river to which it is often compared…. and, it is much more fun to float down the river with company….
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“There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, and resent it as an outrage to their feelings; as a religious bigot, when charged with disregarding the religious feelings of others, has been known to retort that they disregard his feelings, by persisting in their abominable worship or creed. But there is no parity between the feeling of a person for his own opinion, and the feeling of another who is offended at his holding it; no more than between the desire of a thief to take a purse, and the desire of the right owner to keep it. And a person’s taste is as much his own peculiar concern as his opinion or his purse. It is easy for any one to imagine an ideal public, which leaves the freedom and choice of individuals in all uncertain matters undisturbed, and only requires them to abstain from modes of conduct which universal experience has condemned. But where has there been seen a public which set any such limit to its censorship? or when does the public trouble itself about universal experience? In its interferences with personal conduct it is seldom thinking of anything but the enormity of acting or feeling differently from itself; and this standard of judgment, thinly disguised, is held up to mankind as the dictate of religion and philosophy, by nine-tenths of all moralists and speculative writers.” — John Stuart Mill, _On Liberty_, Chapter IV
On most mornings, this would be enough to send me on a rant, taking aim at politicians and preachers, and at the apathetic public itself. But, thankfully, this is not most mornings, it is this one, and I am not in the mood for a rant…. well, maybe a little one….
One disturbing thought occurred to me as I read this…. Mr. Mill speaks of the bigots who commonly hold fundamentalist religious views, and characterizes them as completely self-centered in their view. The experience of the other person in the equation, whomever they may be, is, to these walking statues, irrelevant, as it doesn’t match THEIR experience. Their narcissism is so limiting, it’s as if they wear blinders, like they used to use on horses, to keep them from seeing anything which might distract them from their own view. They do not even realize the bigotry they display, even though it is in complete disagreement with the principles they reportedly follow, as outlined by their particular version of a religious icon….
“I can’t stand intolerant people.’ — Tore Adolfson
It is this blindness that makes it so hard to educate these folks; they won’t let go of their long-held beliefs to even consider any evidence that is contradictory to those ideas. In order to learn, one must first admit that they don’t know; these folks KNOW they know, even though their only proof is what someone wrote in a book over a thousand years ago. It has been said, with good reason, that a little learning is a dangerous thing, and this issue is proof of that pudding, for sure (nothing like mixing a few metaphors to cloud up an issue!…)…. I could only wish that the danger posed by the bigotry displayed by most religious zealots weren’t so universally extant; I don’t enjoy knowing that their ignorance will eventually kill me, too….
End of Rant….
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.
‘T is not enough no harshness gives offence,–
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 162
“If people find fault with you and try to put you into bad light, wrongly slandering and vilifying you, just step back and observe yourself. Don’t harbor any dislike, don’t enter into it any contests, and don’t get upset, angry, or resentful. Just cut right through it and be as if you never or saw it. Eventually malevolent pests will disappear of themselves. If you contend with them, then a bad name will bounce back and forth with never an end in sight.” — Yuan wu
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A Galloway Song
Ah! ken ye what I met the day
Out oure the Mountains
A coming down by craggi[e]s grey
An mossie fountains —
A[h] goud hair’d Marie yeve I pray
Ane minute’s guessing —
For that I met upon the way
Is past expressing.
As I stood where a rocky brig
A torrent crosses
I spied upon a misty rig
A troup o’ Horses —
And as they trotted down the glen
I sped to meet them
To see if I might know the Men
To stop and greet them.
First Willie on his sleek mare came
At canting gallop —
His long hair rustled like a flame
On board a shallop.
Then came his brother Rab and then
Young Peggy’s Mither
And Peggy too — adown the glen
They went togither —
I saw her wrappit in her hood
Fra wind and raining —
Her cheek was flush wi’ timid blood
‘Twixt growth and waning —
She turn’d her dazed head full oft
For there her Brithers
Came riding with her Bridegroom soft
And mony ithers.
Young Tam came up an’ eyed me quick
With reddened cheek —
Braw Tam was daffed like a chick —
He coud na speak —
Ah Marie they are all gane hame
Through blustering weather
An’ every heart is full on flame
Ah! Marie they are all gone hame
Fra happy wedding,
Whilst I — Ah is it not a shame?
Sad tears am shedding.
John Keats
Ah, but I won’t be shedding sad tears, not after that…. just a little break for some “cultcha”, don’t y’know?….. Enjoy!
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All things considered, this hasn’t turned out as badly as I had feared. Still running about 50/50 on the chances of being correct in what I fear…. Probably a very average score….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
Kowabunga!
gigoid 