Monthly Archives: June 2013

Inundated in whole wheat toast points…..

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Ffolkes,
Far be it from me to complain, but…. there’s a fly in my soup, metaphorically speaking. This, in the normal course of events, would be cause for celebration, not complaint, as it isn’t often one actually finds meat, or protein of any kind, in the soup usually served up around here, especially the metaphorical soup….. It’s generally filled with more poisonous materials and/or ingredients, calculated to bring just the right degree of nausea to whomever has the courage to consume it. Yes, we’ve always had a bit of trouble with our Metaphorical Soup of Life, so the addition of a mere fly or two shouldn’t cause too much hullabaloo, regardless of how fat and disgusting the flies may be…..

Okay, I’ll get away from those images now…. even metaphorically, flies in the soup are not the best choice for pre-breakfast imagery, as they tend to put ffolkes off their breakfast, for sure….. The most hardened gourmand is leery of talk of flies, at the best of times, and before breakfast is definitely one to avoid bringing such pictures to mind…. Eggs over easy, or lightly scrambled, don’t mix well with hairy, ugly flying insects who are known to make a habit of hanging around shit…. Tends to put one right off their feed, and with good reason….

Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to do that here…. it’s a delicate line to walk, isn’t it? That line between bringing to mind some image that will turn the stomach, and one that will make the stomach growl in anticipation, is a very thin, hard-to-see line, and often gets crossed over inadvertently, by even the most careful of writers… which would NOT describe me, I’m sure….  I do try to keep from causing anyone to actually boot, but, I guess I missed it that time, eh? C’est la vie, as the Frogs would say…..

Note: to any Frenchmen, or women, who might conceivably read this…. the use of the word Frogs is in no way intended as a slight; I’m just copying my British brethren, who are known to have a large degree of disrespect for the French, dating back centuries, to one or another of the wars y’all fought with each other over whatever nonsensical issues either of you could come up with…. Any who, I just like the way it sounds, and from me you may take it as a form of endearment, okay? Okay….

Well…. I don’t know how, but I seem to have blathered long enough to make this a legal intro section…. In looking back over the above paragraphs, (I know, I could have used the simpler, “in retrospect”, but, we’re trying to fill up space here, so back off….), I see a certain lack of, shall we say, discretion, or perhaps, common sense would describe it better….

Whatever it is, there is too much of it, or not enough, or something…. But, you know what? It’s done, and I’m not going back to start over for anything, not at this point, six or so paragraphs in, even if not a single line of it makes any particular sense…. I told y’all at the beginning this isn’t for wimps, so, buckle up, hang on, and we’ll eventually get to a point where y’all can jump off…. In the meantime…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Part of being sane, is being a little bit crazy.” — Janet Long

I’ve also heard it said that insanity is a sane reaction to an insane world, which, ultimately, comes to the same thing. I’ve spoken before on this, as it is a subject near and dear to my own life, having spent many years working in the mental health field, as a therapist, and as a patient, after I contracted mental illness myself… In spite of what you might hear, it IS contagious, in a certain sense, as the constant exposure to its presence in others tends to cause stress in the therapist over time, stress that eventually brings the issue home to roost in those who either become too immersed in dealing with it, or don’t have the emotional strength to resist the pressure of the work.

“I’m probably crazy.  Either that or its just the hormones.” — Chris Pirillo (chris@lockergnome.com)

In my own case, it was a matter of immersion, combined with long term exposure to the most violent aspects of the business, that eventually broke down my ability to resist the onslaught of depression. What many do not realize about mental illness is that, once present, the condition does not, like traditional, medical conditions or illnesses, get completely cured, and then go away, leaving us with a natural inner defense, as our immune systems learn the characteristics of each disease, and the procedure to eradicate it from the body.

There are parallels, of course, both in the etiology, and in the treatment, of mental and medical illnesses, but, due to the extreme complexity of how the mind functions, and the extreme sparsity of our understanding of how it actually works, we have yet to learn how those parallels can be of use in the treatment of illnesses of the mind, at least, not to any significant degree that guarantees success. Psychiatry, and psychology, remain areas of knowledge still in their infancy, in terms of how much we understand…. or, more accurately, in terms of how little we understand….

“In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Speaker 2-2-1901

While not (necessarily) directed at mental illness, this statement describes partially how the struggle against it can be of a particularly grim nature, difficult to avoid, and once met, difficult to be rid of its imprecations. It takes a kind of inner strength, and courage, that is hard for most people to find or develop, in order to apply, and maintain, the effort needed to overcome depression, and the debilitating lethargy, hopelessness, and unreasoning fear that comes with it. It is a special kind of strength, that must be ALWAYS be on tap for use, if not constantly applied; depression, and its hold over us, doesn’t take breaks unless forced, and that force must come from within us; it isn’t to be found in drugs, or anything else outside our own awareness.

Other people cannot GIVE us this strength, but, they can help us to find it within ourselves, sometimes merely by their presence…. Dogs, cats, and other animals also know how to supply whatever it is that helps us find that little place in us where our strength lies. In a certain sense, I suppose, one could say that such interactions, with people, with animals, or with the universe at large, DO supply us with the strength we need to carry on our efforts.

The positive benefits of petting a puppy, or having a purring cat sit on one’s lap, or of a kind word from a stranger, have an effect on our inner selves much greater than would seem the case for such simple acts. I can think of no quicker way to find our way out of a depressive fog than to have a puppy start chewing on our shoelaces, or having a kitten paw at one’s face in affection, or, most effective of all, getting a hug from a loved one. No words need be spoken, no ideas exchanged, and no coins handed over…. but, our fear is soothed, our hurts are healed, and we can find the inner strength to go on resisting the pull of the darker side of existence…..

“Love is all you need….” ~~ John Lennon

Strange, isn’t it? Sometimes, John got it so right, you wondered why you ever thought life was so complicated…. The only problem is, by its nature, and by the nature of the people who inhabit reality with us, the world tends to make it very hard to keep love intact. The ways of the world are so complex, and fast, and confusing, that people lose track of what is real, and what is illusion, and end up chasing those things in life that will leave them cold and alone, instead of concentrating on what is real, and lasting, and will bring them joy for their entire life.

We all end up doing both, being aware of what is real, and what is not, to a certain degree, and to varying degrees, succeed in acquiring joy in our lives; at other times, we suffer the results of our folly, with pain and fear…. The trick, I guess, is to know which is which, and how to bring them about according to our own will, not the will of anyone, or anything, else…. With that knowledge in your pocket, and a couple of dollars, you can get a pretty good cup of coffee…..

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” — Henry Miller
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Somewhere inside me, buried deep in my mind, in some dusty hallway where no one has gone for a long time, there is a poem. I can see it, sitting there on the table inside the room in that hallway, waiting for me to find it, and bring it to light…. I can FEEL it sitting there, calling me, but, at this moment in time, I don’t have any idea in WHICH hallway it might be, much less which room in the hall…. I really do NEED to get a poem out soon; the pressure is getting uncomfortable, but, there’s no forcing it, or it will turn to sludge, so, I’m going to have to deal with it, and so must you….

In defense, though, I’ll put in one of my recent efforts in that arena, one I particularly like, so, if you do, too, that’s great…. If not, well, just remember… Any honest criticism is welcome, any praise is lapped up like cream…. Any less than enthusiastic responses will be cheerfully ignored, and any flaming will be revenged beyond your wildest imaginings… Just so’s you know….

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me
Ah’m not even sure of mah name,
or how Ah come to be;
no idea from where Ah came.

Ah does like a mystery tho’,
puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,
good from bad fo sho,
Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.

If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,
Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,
seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,
‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.

‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,
‘n had lots of stuff go on by;
Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,
never once used it fer an alibi.

He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,
school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.
Yer own good measure you can earn,
by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.

Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,
he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,
‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,
kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.

Without ever sayin’ the word itself,
Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others
not some fake stuff from some shelf,
but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.

Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think
to get around the block at least two times.
I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink
Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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This pearl got away from me, somehow…. It started out really well, then Smart Bee took me on a tour of really bad stuff, with a few minorly shiny gems here and there. Then, when it got to the improper number of six pearls, it died out altogether, and I’m about ready to give up…. Except, I KNOW the perfect finishing pearl is out there, somewhere… the pearl that will bring these all into focus, and cure them of their apparent complete lack of relation to each other…. One more try…..

“Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all.” — Oscar Wilde

“In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to women?  They say, Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything will be all right. And what happens?  Nine months later, you’re in trouble!” — Murphy’s Discovery

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams?  By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” — Isaac Asimov

“A man cannot be wise enough to be a great artist without being wise enough to wish to be a philosopher. A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it. A small artist is content with art; a great artist is content with nothing except everything.” — G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Well, it almost beat me, coach, but, I held my ground, and finally won through to victory…. It took what seemed like forever, but, I guess, at this hour, anything seems longer… and I did find the correct finishing pearl for this group. It was actually quite simple, as most things are eventually….

“If you are out of trouble, watch for danger.” — Sophocles

See? Easy peasy….. Well, simple anyway, and the point it all makes at the end is worth whatever it took, right? Right…. Okay, so all it really does is keep the insurance folks off my back… that’s a good thing, for me….. And, besides, being obscure and/or unfathomable is a big part of what we do around here, so, it fits right in, regardless of the risk of straining something….
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Okay, that tears it…. I have to confess my sins…. None of the above (in section three… the rest is valid….) has any real meaning, beyond its own internal structure, and I lied about the point…. there isn’t one, that I can see…. I’m just so disappointed in Smart Bee for being so…. well, for letting me down today…. I’m sure it won’t happen again, but, it kind of hurts, y’know…. I depend on it so heavily, I don’t know quite how to handle it when it goes limp on me.

I’ll get over it though, and at least there is a small degree of humor than can be wrung out of all this…. If nothing else, you can laugh at yourself, for reading it all the way to the end…. I mean, I HAVE to, since I’m writing it, and, believe me, I will, and am, laughing at myself, but, nothing exists to keep y’all from bailing any time, so I’m surprised to find you still here, reading away….  Just kidding, of course…. sort of….

Now that I’ve completely screwed the pooch, let’s see how it all hangs together…..  Okay, well, I’ve seen, and done, worse…. Besides, I’ve been up and working on this for damn near three hours now, and it’s only 0715, so, I’m not going back and doing it over, nope, not me…. We’ll all just have to deal with it, as is….  Ah, hell, at least nobody died, or took any particularly grievous hits, except maybe, my ego…..   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Facial reconstruction is gratis only for Federal gargoyles….

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Ffolkes,
At the tone, the time will be…. 0646….. Pretty damn normal, if you ask me, which, I know you didn’t, but, since I’m obsessed with time in the mornings, I told you anyway…. Still, obsessive behavior aside, this is still the latest hour I’ve seen upon awakening in several months, so, I’m sort of jazzed about that. Sleep, or rather, the lack of sleep, has assumed too great a role in my life over the last few years, insidiously creeping up on me, a restless night here, a lost night there, and voilá, full-blown insomnia, with its ever-present gifts, dragging fatigue, and fuzzy head….

When younger, I could chalk it up to the activities of the night before, and throw off the worst of the fuzziness and fatigue, but, now that I’m older, the old reserve fuel tank is never quite full, and one ends up napping during the day like a two-year-old after three hours at a picnic…. Fortunately, I’m retired, and I’m old (well, old enough….), so napping is an acceptable pastime, both to those who might observe, and to me, who appreciates well the opportunity to give in to that particular urge…. I, like most children, fought like hell to grow out of taking naps, but, like most of us, have learned to enjoy the chance to rest and rejuvenate ourselves during the day….

So, sleeping so well that I see a new part of the morning, without having approached it with eyes already open, becomes an event worth celebrating, at least to the extent of acknowledging, and praising, its welcome presence. Of course, none of this really means anything that is worth writing about, but, it does get me a few paragraphs into the day’s effort without having to try to be too creative. Such an effort would, no doubt, be destined to fail, anyway, so it’s just as well…..

All that said, I can chalk it all up as a completed item on the day’s list, and get on with the regularly scheduled program…. Now, all I have to do is figure out what the hell our regularly scheduled program is, and we’re good to go. Since I’m up and relatively clear-headed, we’ll just dive in, and let Smart Bee determine what direction the program will take today…. ranting, joking, profound, or silly, it’s all grist for my mill in the morning, so let’s be off, to find our fates….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Having been lulled into a sense of false security by my late awakening, I should have known that Murphy would stick his nose in somewhere; it’s just too good an opportunity for him to be able to resist. Sure enough, he tried to fool me with some weird little aphorisms that were not merely not profound, but weren’t even pretty, thereby attempting to slow down the process…

Smart Bee, as the loyal software program it is, faithfully resisted Murphy’s ministrations, by slipping in the following group around, and between, the offerings he tried to saddle me with…. For a five-star pearl it isn’t bad, but, with the addition of the final two offerings, it enters another realm of thought altogether, one of great value to the discerning mind, and of great interest to the inquiring mind….. Enjoy! (And, pay attention! It’s all good stuff to know…. separate, or together….)

“The worst fear is the fear of living.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“There is nothing that can be said by mathematical symbols and relations which cannot also be said by words. The converse, however, is false. Much that can be and is said by words cannot successfully be put into equations, because it is nonsense.” — C. Truesdell

“It takes a very long time to become young.” — Pablo Picasso

“It is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.” — Josh Billings

“A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing it.” — Stanley Baldwin

See? Isn’t that near-perfect? And when you add in these, well…..

“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds–justification, confirmation–forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to a whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the questions and the questioner.” — Anne Rice

“…just when I had you wriggling in the crushing grip of reason, too…” — Calvin & Hobbes

As I have had occasion to say previously, it’s all in the wrist, as is patently clear…. Oh, and the timing, of course, because, as we all know so well, timing is everything….
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su tung-po    “Born in 1036, Su Tung-p’o was a famous Chinese poet. He was also called Su Shih. Born in present-day Sichuan province, Su was from a literary family. During the Sung Dynasty he wrote very simple poems based on Buddhist Philosophy. Su occupied many official posts, rising to president of the board of rites (which regulated imperial ceremonies and worship). He designed the parks surrounding Lake Si in Hangzhou. Five emperors came to the throne during his lifetime. ” — from Poemhunter.com

Shui Tiao Ko Tou

Will a moon so bright ever arise again?
Drink a cupful of wine and ask of the sky.
I don’t know where the palace gate of heaven is,
Or even the year in which tonight slips by.
I want to return riding the whirl-wind! But I
Feel afraid that this heaven of jasper and jade
Lets in the cold, its palaces rear so high.
I shall get up and dance with my own shadow.
From life endured among men how far a cry!

Round the red pavilion
Slanting through the lattices
Onto every wakeful eye,
Moon, why should you bear a grudge, O why
Insist in time of separation so th fill the sky?
Men know joy and sorow, parting and reunion;
The moon lacks lustre, brightly shines; is al, is less.
Perfection was never easily come by.
Though miles apart, could men but live for ever
Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!

~~ Su Tung-p’o ~~

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Y’all don’t really care why, and it really has no bearing on what happens, so I’m going to skip all the explanatory expostulation I normally provide before including something from the archives, and just say this…. I’m putting this here because it is one of my best rants, as it has an actual suggestion for an act, or proposed act, that actually might have a positive effect on the way the world is heading…

It’s a pretty simple idea, too, not terribly hard to institute, should it ever become popular enough to spread over the world, until the powers that be HAVE to respond one way or another to it…. which, I am quite certain, they will be hesitant to do, since it is an idea that holds THEM accountable to the rest of us…. Having thus risked boring you to death with unnecessary verbiage, read on, and think about it…. If you like the idea, share it…. enough said….
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“Integrity is when what you say, what you do, what you think, and who you ARE all come from the same place.” — Madelyn Griffith-Haynie

Okay, I know we are all probably sick to death of politics, and the election, and everyone would like to have a break from talking and thinking about it….. I know I am. So, I’ll try to make this fairly short, and make it the last political diatribe for at least a day or two. It may be possible, if nothing in the news jumps up to stimulate my outrage (which may be on a short vacation itself….. I hope. I could do with the emotional space….).

Any who…. here is what I was thinking when I came across this little gem…. What if we devised a test, that in some way would enable us, as voters, to determine the relative status of each of the candidates according to this rule? A way, as it were, to measure their degree of integrity, which is something I think we can all agree would be a good thing to see in a politician, unlikely as it may be. If we could, say, set up a scale of integrity, and make it law that a person had to score in the top 5% of the scale in order to merely be eligible for office, I think we might see a whole new set of politicians, who had never before been seen in public.

In fact, in thinking about the current crop of those in office, it is entirely possible that ALL of those in office now might not be eligible…. I am not excluding the President, out of fairness, though I personally believe he might score in the top 10%…. I still have questions about some of the stuff he has signed that didn’t seem to be very well publicized, as they didn’t exactly fit with his image….. The newest version of the Patriot Act, the NDAA, that he signed last New Year’s Day comes immediately to mind…. (with the authorizations to view mail, view email, review library use, and other data, to use drones, anywhere, to hold and question US citizens without warrant, or any notification or justification, etc… The Act abridges every one of the Bill of Rights in some way…. This comment added post-publication….)

I don’t care if he did try to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of the law, he still signed the damn thing, thereby seriously endangering a number (correction: ALL…) of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Plus, the method he used to keep it from the public awareness was rather suspect, in my mind, and reminiscent of the old days under Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, and the two Shrubs, may they all rot in whatever level of  Hell they are destined to occupy….. (I know, I know…. not being a Christian, that curse has little weight, but, hey, it’s a pretty clear indicator of my opinion of all of them….)

As I suspected it might, this grew to be somewhat more than I intended it to be, so I’ll cut it short here. But, my suggestion above, about the test for integrity that should be a given for political aspirants, is completely serious, and I wanted to get that out. Maybe by the next election, we can get the rest of the country to buy into it…. which should be interesting, and fun. I’ll be looking forward to the expressions on the faces of all the supporters of those now in office, when their people gloriously fail to pass the test…. and to the results it will have on society, should it ever be adopted…. I don’t see any way at all that it could do anything that wouldn’t improve the situation…..

And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.


— John Bunyan (1628-1688) — Pilgrim’s Progress, Apology for his Book

Any thoughts on this?…. Feel free to comment below, or respond on your own blog, or via email
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Late it may be, but, it’s all fresh, or at least freshly commented upon…. “But,” he asked, “how does it read?” Well, let’s see…..  Not too badly at all, that’s how it reads…. So, without judging the content, it meets all necessary regulations and standards, if not all the demands of good taste. That’s never been too great a concern around here, anyway, so… off it goes, and I’m outta here, to go figure out how to spend another Sunday in Paradise, otherwise known as home sweet home…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Priceless moments of shared arrogance…..

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Ffolkes,
That was close…. I almost began today’s missive with a song…. Not just any song, mind you, but a particularly bright, bouncy, tuneful one from a particularly perky musical that shall remain nameless, lest I get sued for intellectual theft, or chastised by my readers for excessive tackiness, either of which is unacceptable to me, especially before I’ve finished my first cuppa….. It also saves you from having to go wash out your ears so early in the day…..

Since my morning routine has returned to some semblance of its former normalcy, or mendacity, depending on your relative point of observation, it seems my initial comments are turning on me as well. Not sure what to think about that, or what I should do, if anything….. It’s not as if what I do here in the intro section is written in stone; in fact, nothing like consistency has ever come into the equation at all. It has been both a stimulant, to be more creative, and a hassle, because I’m not always in a creative frame of mind first thing in the morning. I do prefer to write then, as I seem to have more energy than later in the day, but that preference isn’t based on how creative I can be, just how awake I am, and how long I can sit.

None of this is getting me any closer to an introductory section that will do what I wish it to do, which is pull the reader into what is written, like the siren call of the muses…. Oh, well, it’s probably a good thing I can’t seem to find a template for this; if I did the same thing every day, I’d go stark, raving sane, and lose all my sense of humor, most likely, turning this into merely another mass of poorly written garbage, in spite of how pompous and extensive my vocabulary gets, or how accurate my observations…. A conundrum is what it is, and I don’t like it….

Sadly, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, my likes and dislikes have absolutely no effect whatsoever on reality, so I’m going to have to just suck it up, and get on with the business of the day, just as if I knew what I was doing, or where I was going. I suppose that could be seen as another metaphor for life in general, but, I’m not in the mood right now for logical, or practical, metaphors, no matter how close to the truth they may be. I’m currently busy feeling curmudgeonly, grumpy because I can’t have my own way, and things aren’t being amenable to my manipulation today, especially my own attitude…. I can see I need to adjust it, so, pardon me if I spilled any of it on you….

I’m going to bring this section to a rapid close now, before I get into anything that could be construed as illegal, or even immoral, which is more of how I judge things in my life…. Not that I’m such that I could be held up as an example of anything other than how to grow old gracelessly, but, I do try to make my decisions based on morals, and/or ethics, rather than laws…. Always have, always will…. Regardless, I have to go now, or “bad things” could happen….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Oooh! Did you see that? Oh, no, I guess not, since you’re not here in the room with me…. I just created a new pearl format, completely by accident, courtesy of Smart Bee, and the principle of serendipity….. The following pearl, composed of four parts poetry and three parts prose, is just about as perfect as it can be, in terms of being a clever and useful concept, artfully brought to light by the way the given quotes direct the mind’s eye, to the correct vision implied by the tenor of the presented metaphorical signs…. All a short, confusing way to say, look, look, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s not any of that! It’s virtual wisdom at its best…..

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have,–“Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost.”

— Edward Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873) — The Lady of Lyons, Act v, Sc. 2

“By the streets of “by and by”, one arrives at the house of “never”.” — Cervantes

The charge is prepar’d, the lawyers are met,
The judges all ranged,–a terrible show!

— John Gay (1688-1732) — The Beggar’s Opera, Act iii, Sc. 2

“The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s
In deepest consequence.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act i, Sc. 3

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

— John Donne (1572-1631), “Death, be not proud”

Sniff…. I couldn’t be prouder, and I’d like to thank the Academy, and my director, and my mum and dad, and…..
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I’m in the mood for obscure genius, so…..

Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide’s green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember the piece quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections, of what, then, were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark…. “And that is that, is that, is that.”……
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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, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. 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; 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 who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they 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 candidates 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 our 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. 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…. and 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 judges 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 just 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, and 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?…..)

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 multi-national corporations, are continuing their campaign to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, and everything to do with 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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Ollie would be proud, I think… and just in time, too. The store is now open, and I’m done with this, so, all is right with the world, such as it is today. I’m not any more certain than you are what that may mean, or even whether it SHOULD mean anything, but, obscurity is what we’re always shooting for around here, and sometimes, it’s just easier than other times….. Especially when my fingers take over the keyboard like this, and just type away as fast as they can, without any idea of what will come out….. I’d better put a stop to it, before I hurt myself, or y’all….   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Mostly, it’s just safer not to tango….

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Ffolkes,
    And then, I woke up….. The birds were not chirping, the sun wasn’t awake yet, and I am, thanks to the tender ministrations of that asshole deluxe, Murphy, shall we say, less than the happiest camper in the park….. But, then, what else is new? I can’t complain about the hour I was awakened; at 0538, I can’t call it anything but relatively normal. Nor can I, or will I, complain about the uncomfortable, yet also fairly normal, paroxysms of coughing that greeted me upon awakening; that’s my own damn fault for smoking…..

    But, when the process of bullying me into arising for the day includes polka music at top volume, I draw a thick, indelible line, and it’s best not to cross it….. Who in the world listens to loud polkas before 6 AM? I mean, it’s effective, for sure; I’m as awake as I’ve ever been. But, the price for that isn’t acceptable to me, and that is for certain…. I don’t care who it is, next time I hear that before daylight, I’m buying a gun, a big one….. Of course, it COULD have been a hallucination, but, I have to ask myself, would my own mind do that to me?…. Polkas?…. I don’t think so….

    Due to the mere fact that you are not in the room with me, none of y’all were able to observe the past 35 minutes of my morning, which did NOT include any writing, once the forgoing was on screen… It did, however, include much thinking about what to write, at least during those moments when I wasn’t being seduced into reading more pages of “Gaudy Night”, the Dorothy L. Sayers novel I’m currently devouring. A bit of Dorothy’s most excellent English prose, an extended period of successful worship at the throne, and the day takes on a whole new aspect, one with much more positive features than the one that first greeted me…. Best thing? The polka music went away…. either the radio’s owner got a clue, or my medication kicked in, whichever…. it’s all good, now…

    Good enough that I can consider just getting on with the day’s portion of insanity, which, I’ve always said, is better out than in…. Keeping stuff like this inside my head leads to what we call “bad stuff” happening, and, my lawyers tell me I can’t afford for any more “bad stuff” to happen, at least until I’m off probation for the last time…. You do know that’s a joke, right?….

    I’m not a known name and face to the local constabulary, (that I know of….), nor am I of particular interest to anyone outside the NSA, who are currently busy watching ALL OF US, at the behest of the government, under the authority of Article 215 of the Patriot Act, signed first by Bush in 2001, and re-signed, twice, by President Obama (didn’t know that, did ya?….)…. Yep, the White House, and all the paranoids in the clandestine (sub)intelligence agencies, are accessing your email, right off your internet mail server; your phone records, direct from the phone company; plus, they’re mining and harvesting just about any other data you leave out there for consumption, and they’re not even trying to hide it…. They don’t have to, it’s legal, we let them do it…..

    Okay, I know, this is the intro section, and it’s too early to rant, so I’ll let all that go (although there isn’t a single untrue word in any of the previous paragraph… every word is corroborated by other evidence, available to anyone….)…. for the moment. I’m starting to get a bit pissed off about it, but, right now, I’m still engaged in my own battles with my HMO, which seems to have a problem with communication… and which, I found out, is also accessing my emails….. Yep, the “secure” email system they have, I discovered, isn’t secure at all, as almost anyone can look at the emails in the inbox they provide for me, on their site, as long as they’re part of the HMO…. Needless to say, I’m just a little angry about that, and intend to deal with it later today, when the rest of the world arises….

    With that in mind, I suppose I’d best quit blathering, and get on with today’s effort…. If I don’t get to it soon, I’m going to end up hitting the archives again…. which, all things considered, isn’t a bad thing… It just doesn’t get all that much out of my head, unless I get lucky, and find an old rant that makes it all worthwhile…. For now, we’ll see what Smart Bee has to say this morning, and go from there….  

    Shall we Pearl?…..
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    The intro section went so long on me, I am going old-school, right out of the gate, to give a little balance to this…. The pearls all picked themselves, so I have no clue as to what they mean, taken together…. But, upon looking them over, I can see that, once again, Smart Bee’s sense of whimsy, and irony, are both in full play….. Enjoy!…..

Pressed for rules and verities,
 All I recollect are these:
 Feed a cold and starve a fever.
 Argue with no true believer.
 Think too-long is never-act.
 Scratch a myth and find a fact.

 — Phyllis McGinley

“On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900), from The Importance of Being Earnest

“Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.” — Satchel Paige

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. . . . the human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

“A man who can fool chiefs, and even gods, must still face the monsters he himself created.” — Old Maori saying

For a true master,
Sitting on a throne
Is no different than
Sitting on dirt.

 — Deng Ming-Dao

    There you go…. and, I’m sorry, but, if you can’t bring meaning out of THIS group of pearls, there is little hope of it ever happening, not without some serious practice, and learning to use one’s mind for something other than figuring out how to open potato chip packages….   🙂  
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    Some poetry can stand alone, sans embellishment by comment, and should be left to do so…..

The Bait

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm’d by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the ‘enamour’d fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be’st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark’nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes’ wand’ring eyes.

For thee, thou need’st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait:
That fish, that is not catch’d thereby,
Alas, is wiser far than I.

~~ John Donne ~~

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“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

    I knew when I included this above that I would be using it another time in the future. It is such a succinct observation, and one that parallels my own thoughts about what happens in our minds, and in truth, about what our minds are…. “What is the mind?” Where is the proof, the hard evidence that our minds, our conscious self-awareness, actually exist in a real sense? We know, because we are inside it, that it exists; but is that existence really a part of the real world? If so, how do we know it, if not only by our own perception? I’m not entirely sure, myself, that this can be answered in any way other than by acknowledging those perceptions as having validity because we perceive them, which is, seemingly, a tautological impossibility….

    Of course, we can use the definition of Reality as proposed by Philip K. Dick, which says that reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. This accounts for the inconsistency, but does so by transferring the validity from the perception, to the absence of the perception. I know, that’s a bit of a tenuous connection, but, it points out the difficulty of trying to validate reality with perception; first one must validate the perceptions, and to do that, we must assume the mind to be part of reality, and consciousness to be the connecting tissue.

“A reverence for life does not require one to respect nature’s obvious mistakes.” — Robert A. Heinlein

    I realize this subject is not one common to most folks, especially early in the morning. I also will admit to knowing that much of what I’m saying is not particularly of interest to many people, but, I don’t write for many people. I write for me, to get out of my head all the stuff that otherwise would sit in there and cause havoc to my own equilibrium… It’s sort of an aftereffect of the course of my earlier life, admittedly a bit cumbersome, but, with the help of my trusty laptop, and a willingness to use time, given by my situation, to keep from building up so much angst and/or mental frustration that it starts to affect me adversely…. which is a polite, discrete way to say, it keeps me sane….

    I think about stuff like this because, to me, it is important to know our own place in the scheme of things, and we can’t do that without a clear understanding of both ourselves, and the way we perceive, and react to, the universe at large; in other words, our response to our perceptions, and, ultimately, our response to Life. We determine our own happiness according to what we do with what we perceive, and I believe it is critical to stay aware of that process, and how we are utilizing what we perceive. It’s good to take out our attitudes now and again, to examine them for necessary updating, dusting off any acquired prejudices, and giving them a good shake to let them fall into the proper shape to pick up the clearest perceptions, in order to use them efficiently, and compassionately…..

“‘T is strange, but true; for truth is always strange,– Stranger than fiction.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Don Juan, Canto xiv, Stanza 101

    And so am I, for I live for the truth. I accept that as the proper price for the understanding I have of reality, and for my own always increasing ability to deal with it on my own terms. It does make me a bit conspicuous at times; probably why I don’t go out in public all that often. It gets chancy sometimes, trying to maintain a cloak of normalcy when I’m out in the Big Blue Room, so I tend to avoid most public venues, just to avoid controversy…. I’m social, but not sociable, if you catch my drift…..

    Well, I see I’ve blathered on about this until it petered out…. Not much left to say, really, about Reality, and our perceptions, that I haven’t said before…. In life, “true power is control of the routes of perception.” — gigoid   This is a universal truth, my own deduction, based on observation and historical fact. The BRC and the churches know this, and do everything they can to control what people perceive, and what they are allowed to believe. I have no illusions about the degree of their control over society… This knowledge gives me a certain degree of defense against such control, as knowing it is there is the first step to resisting its influence, or to making it appear as if I am allowing it to control me, while maintaining my own reality….

    And THAT is quite enough of that…. I don’t wish to pull ALL my covers, not at once anyway, and it makes little sense to give away my best defense… I don’t think I’ve gone too far today; after all, it’s just a little bit of truth…. What harm can that cause?….

“I don’t think they could put him in a mental hospital.   On the other hand, if he were already in, I don’t think they’d let him out.” — Smart Bee
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    The last line above might just be the most coherent of the lot….. Let’s see if the rest of it lives up to the advance reviews….  Well, it isn’t the worst to ever come down the pike… whatever that’s supposed to mean. It will do. Rather than saddling y’all with more of my lack of wit, I’ll call it a day, and hope for the best…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
   and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Use the lug nuts we softened yesterday….

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Ffolkes,
Celebration is called for, if not demanded…. I woke up, again (an event that becomes more significant each day….), but this time, I looked over at the clock to find that I had actually slept longer than I had thought, not less. It was actually past five in the morning, by a goodly number of minutes, and even my making it past 9:30 pm last night for the first time in ages doesn’t account for it…. But, I don’t care why, it just feels good, so I’m going to spend the day celebrating my return to near-normalcy, and try to figure out how it happened, so I can make it happen again tonight, and from now on….

Probably wishful thinking, but everyone needs a goal, right? For the nonce, it will have to do, as it also presents me with a blank page again, and no idea what to do about it, other than my usual blather. That seems to be working just fine, but, I can’t depend on it to produce an entire pearl, not if I still want any readers at the end of it. Of course, the number of readers I’m attracting is again on the decline, so I’m not sure if anything will work, other than sheer nonsense and/or sheer brilliance…. This morning, I’m pretty certain the former is within reach; the latter may be too much to expect right now….

Not that I’d necessarily even recognize brilliance, even if it walked up and slapped me, but it would be nice to see some of it around here now and again, just to give me a reason to come back and do it again. Writing this way seems to be a bit like the game of golf…. It’s harder than it looks, it takes more time than one would expect to learn how to do it right, and the payoff isn’t very exciting. Still, like golf, one good poem, or one good rant, or one great group of pearls is enough to get me back out here again each day, just like one good fairway drive, or, one long putt that drops in for a birdie, will bring us back out to the links next week….. It doesn’t take much….

There is an old piece of wisdom somewhere that talks about how the longest journey begins with one step (it’s actually from the Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu….), and it applies about as universally as anything can…. so, naturally, it applies here. This Pearl isn’t going to get done until I quit screwing around, and start writing, or at least cruising for pearls to include, or to stimulate, so I once again have to put aside my fantasies and get down to the actual work involved with creating a Daily Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, such as it is….. which isn’t going to happen, until now….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — William Henry Harrison

Well, duh….. As I get older, this principle, or, this observation of a principle, becomes more obvious, and less surprising. I first began to question government back around 1957 or so, the first time I ever got a look at Dicky Nixon, when he was running for VP behind Eisenhower. Even at that tender age, I couldn’t figure out why this man was so famous and admired; he looked like he wore too much Brylcream (a brand name hair grease in 1957…) in his hair, and he smiled way too much…. Any kid under 10 is leery of adults who smile like that; they know it’s false bonhomie (though generally without knowing the word ‘bonhomie’ itself….), and generally avoid such adults at any cost, even to the point of speaking out, to say something like “Don’t touch me with that!”, when asked to shake their hand….. because we saw them run it over their slicked back hair, and didn’t want the grease all over our own hands….

It’s been a while since I wrote a politirant… This isn’t because the politicians have been idle, far from it. They are busily carrying on the agendas of their corporate masters and the BRC, weakening social programs, giving money to the rich and powerful, distracting the public with miscellaneous bullshit while they transfer more money to their own pockets, and go about their true business of making money off the rest of humanity. No, I’ve just been too satisfied with my own lot to work up sufficient outrage, since my own actions right now are feeding into that whole trained consumer scenario, while I make up for the poverty of my existence over the last three years….

I know, it’s a little hypocritical of me, but, I don’t really care much what others think about it. All my life I’ve worked hard to get to where I am today, even if I’m a bit less capable, physically, than I had planned to be at this stage, and I don’t really give a shit if other folks don’t approve of how I’m living my life. I’m doing just exactly what I want to do, much as I always have done, and will continue to do so as long as I can. Some of what I want to do requires that I engage in dealings with the BRC, politicians, and corporate slaves, and do so without biting off their appendages, because they are such gits….. Sociopathic gits, but gits nonetheless….

“Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.  But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.” — Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

In another sense, I’ve about given up…. Over the last three years or so, or just over two years of writing daily in this blog, I’ve ranted and raged against the machine on a regular basis, sometimes with a lot of vitriol and energy, which is completely justified, when one considers just how much the ruling classes act like vicious animals more than people…..

But, no matter how often, or how much, or how well I write, none of it makes a dent in the facade of respectability that cloaks those in positions of elected authority in this country. These politicians have been getting away with criminal acts for so long, by the old “make the laws ourselves” method, which makes their thievery legal, that they now believe it is their God-given right to plunder the public treasury, looking upon the structure of income in government like their own bank….

I’ve managed to acquire a comfortable retirement income, between my almost 30 years working for the State of California, and putting money into their retirement system, and by putting money into Social Security for over 50 years. Together, it gives me enough room to breathe, financially, for one of the first times in my life, and to be honest, I’m enjoying it, little as I like money, or its demands on our psyches.

Or, I guess it would be more accurate to say, I’m enjoying what money can do, when one has enough of it to be able to think beyond necessity. Unfortunately for my angst, or perhaps, fortunately, this leaves me without the depth of feeling needed to rant successfully… It’s like Voldemort told Harry, in HP 5:TOOTP, “You’ve got to MEAN it, Harry!”, referring to using the Cruciatus Curse correctly…..

So, I’ll just say this…. Politics is poopadoodle, and politicians are all assholes…. I can’t put it more simply, or more effectively than that. Anyone who WANTS to be in an elected position of authority in this world is, in my mind, insane, by definition. It takes a strong degree of insanity to WANT that kind of power over others, and it takes a sociopathic, rationalizing sort of mind to be able to steal from the rest of mankind without suffering a single pang of conscience… The same goes for the bankers, and the preachers, and the police, mostly, and for anyone else who makes a habit of fucking over other people….

Sadly, that’s a large percentage of mankind that preys on the rest, and they’ve been practicing for oh, about twenty-thousand years now, ever since people started to hang together in groups, and came up with the concept of barter, and/or money…. Ever since then, people have been trying to figure out new and improved methods of getting an advantage over their peers, using these concepts….. the rest we call History…..

“You have the right to remain an idiot.” — Smart Bee
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I suppose that a mild rant such as the above is sufficient reason to feel as befuddled and bemused as I do…. Enough so I am picking today’s poem from that position, going with what appeals to that sense of bemusement….. and this is perfect for that…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did….

I dreaded that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I’m accustomed to him grown,–
He hurts a little, though.

I thought if I could only live
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.

I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.

I wished the grass would hurry,
So when ‘t was time to see,
He’d be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch to look at me.

I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they’d stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me?

They’re here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.

Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Well, here’s the deal…. One last old-school pearl to finish out the day, and we’ll call it a draw, okay? I know I’ve been a bit scattered and discombobulated, but, just getting to use that word is enough of a reward for me, so, back off…. I’m kidding, of course….. But, not about this group…. They picked themselves again, so the underlying message, whatever it may be, can be blamed on my subconscious…. I’m pretty sure there is a message, which, of course, is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…. besides, I’m on a deadline here, so, again, back off…..     😉

“Death tugs at my ear and says: “Live, I am coming.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up–that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had.” — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.” — Blaise Pascal

“Ask a toad what is beauty?…a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back.” — Voltaire (1694-1778)

“To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.” — Buddha

He ‘s gone, and who knows how he may report
Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?

— John Milton (1608-1674) — Samson Agonistes, Line 1350

“Do I have a lifestyle yet?” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

“That he is mad, ‘t is true: ‘t is true ‘t is pity; And pity ‘t is ‘t is true.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act ii, Sc. 2

Hmm… even Will gets one right now and then…. and this shoe sure fits well!  Let’s see if it floats…..  Okay, it will have to do…. It’s really not too shabby, all in all, so, since I’ve posted worse, we’ll fly with it……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Sweet, savory, sour, AND bitter….. nice choice…

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4

Ffolkes,
Honestly, I didn’t mean to wake up like this….. all crotchety, grumpy, and annoyed. But, then, I didn’t plan to wake up at 0430, with a ripping headache right in the middle of my forehead, either. Thankfully, a bit of coffee, a bit of worship, and all is well, at least for the time being, and I can think about getting this started.

Not that I’m brimming over with ideas right now; in fact, that well seems particularly dry at the moment, so we’ll have to see what happens when I start actually firing up the old brain cells for real…. Yesterday, I managed to come up with a decent religirant, and a hell of a good pearl in section three (you should go back to read it, if you haven’t…. it’s a good one….).

I’ve had to change some plans that I made yesterday, thanks to the unpredictability of other people that I failed to factor into the plans, so today promises to be another day of cleaning up after Murphy, in a sense. He managed to thwart what was on the agenda for yesterday, forcing me to reschedule it for today, costing me about $50 extra, so I’d wager he’s feeling pretty good about himself right now, having used well an opportunity for which he’s probably waited for several days. Asshole….

Can’t seem to pull the crankypants off all the way; they keep getting fouled on my socks, or maybe the lingering headache has something to do with it…. In the short time I had yesterday to read blogs, I did read one rant from one of my favorite liberal bloggers, John over at The American Liberal Times; he gave some pretty good shots to the conservative right in the political world, all with his usual mild tone, which he uses to great effect in his indictment of the idiocy generally on display in conservative writing.

I enjoy his fair-minded, even-handed manner of delivering these indictments, with which he usually supplies ample evidence of his target’s ill-conceived misconceptions about life, political reality, and justice. He also is quite steadfast, and stands tall and strong in favor of his ideals…. Fun to read….

Any who, I suppose this isn’t getting done what needs to be done around here, so I’ll quit blathering, and get on with today’s post. I’m totally unsure of what might happen, but, that’s nothing new, so….  Shall we Pearl?….
__________________________________

“Go on, EMOTE!  I was RAISED on thought balloons!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, so that didn’t work out so well…. Though the truth of the above statement, as it applies to me, and my life, is indisputable, it doesn’t solve any of the problems inherent in this process, and is here only to indicate the extent of the difficulty I face today….. To begin a pearl with such a pearl is very un-pearlish…. trust me, I would know.

It’s a perfect ending line, naturally, but to shove itself into my face with the intent of starting off a pearl, well, that’s just, plain and simple, over the line…. Now that it is there, though, what can I do with it, except go with the flow, and finish it off? Nothing, that’s what…. So, here we go, with a supporting cast that will, hopefully, save this pathetic attempt at humor from blowing up completely, necessitating plastic surgery….. I like my face just the way it is, strangely enough….

“When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

“In Oregon, the State Legislature has come up with a State Nut. This is unlikely to happen in Missouri, since there are too many candidates.” — Smart Bee

I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?
Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A truth and noonday light to thee.

— Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1816-1841) — Life a Duty

“Memory serves wise commanders.” Tz’u-hsi, 638 AD

“Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast.  In the stream where you least expect it, there will be fish.” — Ovid (3/20/43 B.C.- A.D. 17) Roman poet

“A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.” — G.C. Lichtenberg

If thou would’st have me sing and play
As once I play’d and sung,
First take this time-worn lute away,
And bring one freshly strung.

— Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — If Thou would ‘st have Me sing and play
__________________________________

I am feeling more than just a little lazy today; can’t seem to shake off the sleepiness I woke up with… so lazy, in fact, I’m not even up to Googling for a poem, and will go with one of my own, from the archives, just to save the effort of finding one somewhere else….  I know, really lazy, huh?  Oh, well….

Here is one to celebrate, sort of, the coming, and going, of spring, which, this year, thanks to the myth of global warming, has been completely unrecognizable as a  Northern California spring, resembling more something you might find in Missouri, or Uzbekistan, or somewhere odd like that….

An Old Man, Snoring….

Winter arrives with gusts of wind and rain,
  clover spreads green amongst the hedges.
Urban gardens quiver, and dream of spring again,
  gargoyles stoically crouch on corniced ledges.

Umbrellas sprout over heads shrouded and hatted,
  dotting the sidewalks in colorful profusion.
Urban denizens pose sketches, framed and matted,
  adding casual beauty to fill the illusion.

Hissing tires, swishing along with the wipers
  join nature’s orchestra smoothly, as percussion.
Dripping gutters sound gong tones, true pipers,
  a sudden roar of wind hushes all discussion.

Dreams of summer heat form the crux of desire
  as winter chills our souls from without.
Sitting in warmth, gazing into an imaginary fire;
  content to know spring will come, no doubt.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

The following is another display of how lazy I’m feeling today….. It is a rant I wrote back in January of this year, when I was still living with the constraints that come with living with no money to speak of, to wit: not enough food, and barely enough of anything else….. Things have changed, for the better, but, sometimes, it’s good to think back to how little I had then, and appreciate the difference…. Not that any of that has anything to do with this rant, but, it had to be said, to cover up my lack of work ethic today….. so be it… If nothing else, it’s a good rant, so, enjoy….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?” — Zippy the Pinhead

I’m rather hoping it is, in sooth…. if not, we all are in serious trouble, up the proverbial creek without a hint of a paddle. Not that it should be anything new or unfamiliar, as most of our history has been spent thus occupied. Of course, previous centuries didn’t have the distinct advantage of having either the Brady’s, or Zippy, in all his insane wisdom, as cultural icons, as well as ethical touchstones….. They had to make do with Socrates, and Plato, and stuffy old guys like that….. Aristotle was practically a rock star in his day, and remains a pretty smart dude, by all evidence, but I still prefer Carlin, I think, for the most cogent philosophy for modern times….

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 6, 1791

For a moment, I wondered what my unconscious mind was thinking when it made me copy and paste this amendment into the pearl, as a pearl…. especially as it seems to be in conjunction with the Zippy quote…. Here I am, five minutes later, still wondering what the hell I was thinking…. It happens that way sometimes…. just give me a few moments here, and I’ll come up with it…. Aha! Got it! Naturally, I only needed to go back to basics…. The answer to the question of how the two quotes are related is…. Reality….

Aye, that’s right, reality. It’s what we do here, explore reality, and all its implications, ramifications, and delineations. Also, it’s temperature. Well, perhaps that isn’t the right word, but…. Reality, as is clear and obvious to the most casual observer, exists in varying degrees (hence: temperature…. see?). The degree of reality that is included in an out-take from the Brady Bunch is clearly not the same degree of reality that is implied in the Sixth Amendment.

I’d say, the Amendment would hit around 8 or 9 on the real scale, with 10 being the Reality of Amber, where all roads lead. (See Roger Zelazny’s book, The Courts of Amber…..), whereas the highest the Brady’s could hope for would be a 2 or a 3 on that same scale. They’re too oppositional in nature to be rated otherwise, as well as being on opposite ends of the scale of Relative Importance to ME and YOU…..

Now we get to the meat of this matter…. Of late, there has been a lot of public discourse regarding gun control, as a result of the media’s steadfast love of gore and manipulation. Another school shooting took place a few weeks ago, wherein some crazy idiot got hold of some firearms and used them in an insane manner.

This, of course, all morality aside, is still a reprehensible act, and, IMHO, most easily solved by just taking one of his own guns and using it on him, at the time of his crime. Bang, problem solved, and since he’s standing there over the bodies he has made, no question of guilt. In such cases, the why of his guilt should not matter; whatever it is, it is reason enough to put him down, in defense of humanity. The other questions can be answered after the children have been defended….

Sadly, there are two segments of humanity who don’t agree with this logical outcome. One segment is what I term the humanitarians, a misleading term, since it usually involves the denial of much of human nature. The other, of course, is our old nemesis, the BRC…. our Beloved Ruling Class….

Neither of these groups will agree that allowing people to have guns should be allowed, or that killing the killers is a proper solution for the issue. In both of these positions, they are dead wrong, and, more, they know they are. This serves to make their arguments more shrill, more emotionally based, and, in their eyes, more valid, in some strange form of weird logic….

“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…” — Frank Zappa

One of the most edifying parts of this discussion, for me, is how it makes it so easy to identify those who are wearing the uniforms, and from what camp they are from, according to their colors and insignia. You can tell the humanitarians, they’re the ones wearing the faux-camouflage pants, in support of the troops, they’ll assure you; they want the police to be the only ones who carry guns, believing, for some unknown reason, that police are somehow more moral or ethical than other people. (Of course, they also would have trouble if you asked them to define the words, “moral”, or “ethical”, in any other terms than those used in a philosophy paper they memorized in college, or in seminary….)

The BRC are always easy to spot, as their sense of entitlement provides them with all the armor against opinion, or law, they ever need. They want guns to be only held by the militia, (which they control), or the police (whom they also control), because it makes them nervous as hell to know there are guns out in the land, in the hands of people who would use them, for certain, if they attempt to perform their illegal lying, cheating, and stealing anywhere in their presence. It also makes them nervous knowing that they would be in danger for real, if the truth about what they do is ever made public with enough evidence to convince the masses to act…. They don’t want to have to worry they will be over-matched in firepower when that day comes along….

SIGH…. I’ve opened a can of worms, again, I know it….. I’m not going to claim to have all the right answers to the situation we find ourselves in today. Though it is a different world, technologically and culturally, from the time when the Second Amendment was written, deciding to abandon its precepts on that basis is not, and should never be, enough to justify any change in a law that is so important to the common man, the very people for whom the laws were created, to protect them from the self-same usurpation that is now being attempted. Once the law is amended, and weakened, the term “slippery slope” becomes very real, and a valid fear for those people.

To put a cap on it for now, I’ll say this…. Quite simply, I do not trust those who would take the right to bear arms from the people (added later: I reserve the same lack of trust for those who wish to amend, or limit in any way, the right to bear arms; ANY kind of change will ultimately be used as the basis for arguments designed to completely take the right away…). I have seen NO evidence, in history, or in recent current events, that ANY governing body, or ANY group, or ANY single person, of ANY persuasion can be trusted to have guns, and use them solely for the benefit of the people, without turning them to their own purposes, first. NONE. You can’t show me any, either…. Go ahead, I’m listening….

I have studied people every day of my life, and I know too much of human nature to ever believe what I’m told of another person’s intentions; even the best intentions can change in mid-stream, turning its back completely on any commitments made previously. People lie, they cheat, they break in their minds, and they can’t, as a whole, ever be trusted to act rationally on a consistent basis….. at least, not any more rationally than can I myself….

“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” — Oscar Wilde

Such being the case, I’d rather keep my guns, thanks. I’ll accept the risks that go with that freedom, which includes the risk of bad people getting their hands on guns, and doing bad things to others. Don’t worry, if they do it in front of me, I’ll help…. and not by running away and hiding…. Life is dangerous, ffolkes, and one either learns to get along with that idea, or one spends a lot of time worrying about shit that can’t be changed…. A very unhappy state of affairs, to my way of thinking, and not very realistic in the long run….

“When the panorama of human existence becomes chaotic and confused, it is quite soothing to watch the sun rise in the East.” ~~ gigoid
__________________________________

All things considered, this went very well, thanks to my laziness and willingness to cheat on my own standards…. Of course, if they are MY standards, then breaking them isn’t really cheating, is it? It’s merely utilization of the right to edit, otherwise known as “changing my mind”, a right and privilege none of us should ever forget we possess, as it can make the difference between success, and a handful of shit….

Sorry, forgot to hold the graphics….. “One cliche, please, with a side of graphics!” “Do you want whale sperm with that?”…..  Now that I’ve completely lost it, let’s see how it reads….. Not too shabby, all in all, and certainly worth posting…. Onward, into the day!…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Maggie, I swear that penguin winked at me!….

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3

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. wobbly. That’s wobbly, in the Doctor Who, Tardis-like sense, as regards Time and Space, not the old, rusty bicycle wheel type, that has only to do with one’s progress down the road….. In this sense, wobbly assumes new meaning, much deeper and more relevant to reality than its previous incarnation as a word of note. In this case, wobbly means….. well, wibbly-wobbly.

I know, it’s early for silliness, but, what else can one do when one awakens all giddy and bemused, from having slept to a decent hour, indicative of a number of positive life-events?…. I was so rested and relaxed, I was able to get in a full-body stretch, without falling into a paroxysm of back spasms and leg cramps, for the first time in recent memory, recent being defined as about five years….

Since the universe seems to be in such a positive alignment, I should probably take advantage of that, and see what kind of stuff I can do today to support that trend. Once I’ve spewed out this morning’s Pearl, I think I’ll take a bit of time to do some planning…. As I’ve gotten older, and older, and older, and…. sorry, got stuck….. any who, I find, as time passes, that the more time I spend planning, if I am thorough in my plans, the more efficiently I can get things done.

I don’t end up as often, somewhere on the other side of town, only to find that what I went to do is impossible, as the place I didn’t call isn’t open, or some other such foolishly impulsive activity that would add to my day’s frustration, especially if  I was already in pain. Engaging in a constant war keeps one on one’s toes, so to speak, and my war with gravity is as unrelenting as it is unavoidable…. C’est la vie, though, so I try not to whine about it; I’ve merely learned to think further ahead…..

Now that I’ve completely bored y’all, perhaps I should get on with today’s dive for oysters, in that ocean of data we know and love, called by even the most cynical, the world wide web of knowledge…. which is, when one stops to consider, merely an extension of our minds, suspended in a cloud of electrons held together by sub-nuclear forces of great delicacy, and a bit of glue here and there where the plastic breaks…. Perhaps I’ll find something inspiring, or uplifting…. chances are slim, but not impossible. Perhaps something  humorous; that always goes over well. Whatever it may be, it will be a surprise today, because I’m heading out with no real preconceived notions of where to go, or how to get there….

Of course, some might point out that this is not a particularly unusual event, in the case of this blog. And, they would be right in saying so, because it IS so. I can’t let that affect me, though, or I’d never work up the nerve to publish, knowing what I know about where all this stuff comes from, and where it’s been…. sometimes, it’s not very savory, or polite, or even clean…. But, a real pearl diver doesn’t let stuff like that get in the way of finding, and sharing, the best of what is down there to find, so I’m going to just stop blathering now, and get on with it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“I’m an atheist, and I thank God for it.” — George Bernard Shaw

😆  Trust Mr. Shaw to get to the heart of a matter quickly, eh? I suppose I’m feeling brave today, to pick a subject like this right off the mark, but, this was the first idea of note to pass in front of my mind’s eye on my search, and I had to do as the little icon is doing (if you are viewing this on WordPress… if not, this line will make no sense to you… so go look at it online, for goodness sake!… ), and laugh out loud….

I’m NOT one, you know, not strictly speaking. An atheist, that is…. I suppose you could say I’m more agnostic than atheist, as there is very little hard evidence of any kind that corroborates either the idea of a single, white haired, benevolently vindictive old man up in the sky passing judgments on what everyone is doing and thinking, or of the idea of nothing like that ever happening. Since there isn’t, it’s a bit premature, and unscientific, to make up one’s mind without reservation….

I guess that is the most polite way of saying I don’t buy into any of the delusional material that makes up the dogma, history, and/or tenets of ANY of the major religions of the world. As far as I can see, they all are constructed for the sole purpose of improving the lot of the preachers, and little to do with actual religion, or metaphysical philosophy. When they do drift into trying to explain their delusional interpretations of such ideas, it tends to become either extremely fanciful, or hard-line ignorant. I’m sorry, I don’t tell them what to say, they just say it, and I am not responsible for the fact that NONE of it makes any sense, to me, anyway….

“Nature didn’t make us perfect so she did the next best thing. She made us blind to our faults.” — Grit

This is not to say I don’t appreciate what the churches have done to for humanity over the centuries…. Just think, we have them to thank for, oh, human sacrifice, goat sacrifice, lamb sacrifice, virgin sacrifice, and, oh yes, martyr sacrifice. We can always remember with fondness the crucifixions, and the mutilations, and the torture that those martyrs underwent, because they were all for the good of the church, and society, right? Then there were the religious wars, that continue to today’s world between the Muslims and the Christians, the Hindu and the Sikh, the Tamil, and the Balinese, between the Lutherans and the Methodists, the Catholics and the Protestants, and the Fundamentalists with everybody else alive…. In the immortal words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”…..

“Expertise is gained by investigating why a system doesn’t work.” — Smart Bee

In this sense, I can consider myself an expert, at least when it comes to figuring out why these systems of belief don’t work, and, essentially, never have worked the way they were intended to work by the prophets and philosophers who originally inspired the ideas behind the churches. I’m not entirely convinced that all of them were assholes and wicked perpetrators of scams and con games on the rest of humanity; a few of them weren’t, I’m sure. Jesus of Nazareth seems to have been a smart guy, all in all, though he was handicapped by  having to deal with a group of humans who had about a 5% literacy rate, and life was hard enough that any system of belief had to be kept simple, to allow the constituency enough time to do those things needed to survive, which, those days, took up a LOT of time….

Put most simply, they don’t work because they are wrong. The assumptions all these religious belief systems make, regarding the structure of Reality, is, plain and simple, incorrect, not in any way able to be either corroborated, or demonstrated in real time. No matter how often they claim the opposite, nothing of what they profess to believe has any demonstrable proof that it actually happened, or that it is substantially real at all. They will profess the absolute logic of their faith, and will repeat their lies directly into the face of anyone who dares challenge their delusional assertions, accusing the unbelievers of speaking under the influence of some mythical force of evil intent, rather than the actual tone, or rational content, or spirit of reason being demonstrated by such doubt.

Kindness, compassion, honor, integrity…. These, to me, are the most important characteristics of a human being. Virtue comes from how we act, not from what we believe. No system of belief automatically brings a state of virtue to those who choose to believe in it; only the act itself is important. How we treat others, how we approach life, and other forms of life, are much more valuable to the universe than any lip service to a deity that seems to worry more about being worshiped than taking care of his creations.

G.I.G.O. means ‘garbage in, garbage out’, and is a term, and a process with which I am very familiar, as might be construed by my user name. My study of the major, and many of the minor, religions in the world has led me to conclude that most, if not all, of them are operating under a false set of basic assumptions, and reality dictates that doing so can only produce results that are incompatible, in the long run, with the normal state of reality. This, in turn, can only lead to what we call in the scientific world, “bad things all around”, or, “Oh, shit, it blew up again!”….. Entropy WILL have its way, given half a chance, and starting one’s whole approach to living with a false set of assumptions, is awarding it free rein to send life out of our control….

And people still wonder why the world is so screwed up……

“The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
__________________________________

After a rant like that, only one poet will do…..

Whispers of Immortality

Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Tightening its lusts and luxuries.

Donne, I suppose, was such another
Who found no substitute for sense;
To seize and clutch and penetrate,
Expert beyond experience,

He knew the anguish of the marrow
The ague of the skeleton;
No contact possible to flesh
Allayed the fever of the bone.

Grishkin is nice: her
Russian eye is underlined for emphasis;
Uncorseted, her friendly bust
Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

The couched Brazilian jaguar
Compels the scampering marmoset
With subtle effluence of cat;
Grishkin has a maisonette;

The sleek Brazilian jaguar
Does not in its arboreal gloom
Distill so rank a feline smell
As Grishkin in a drawing-room.

And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;
But our lot crawls between dry ribs
To keep our metaphysics warm.

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

__________________________________

Today has been somewhat traditional, in terms of format, so we’ll stick with that, and go old-school for today’s third offering…. These are fresh pearls, chosen just after writing this, so, it’s pot luck again…. enjoy….

“Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.” — J. R. “Bob” Dobbs

“Only the mediocre are always at their best.” — Jean Giraudoux

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” — Harry Emerson Fosdick

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan

“Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

Now, that is an almost perfect group of pearls! But, I think there may be a couple more that would finish it off nicely…..

“In fact, one thing that I have noticed . . . is that all of these conspiracy theories depend on the perpetrators being endlessly clever. I think you’ll find the facts also work if you assume everyone is endlessly stupid.” — Brian E. Moore

When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed.
I went insane, like a smoke ring day when the wind blows.

—  Neil Young

“By God, for a moment there, it all made sense…” — Smart Bee

Okay, so it took three…. But, you will note, please, it is a damn near perfect pearl, even with eight, instead of the classic seven…. I love it when a plan comes together….
__________________________________

I did it. I was up at such a good time, and slept so well, I wanted to make it all as fresh as I could…. so I did. Let’s see how it holds up…. Okay, well, that’s not half-bad. I’ll take it…. Wrap it up and send it over to my hotel, would you? Thanks….. That having been said, all is right in my world, and I’m off to go play in it….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Just fill in the holes, William….

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2

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. afraid….. SIGH…..

I had hoped to never find myself in this position again, but, that was apparently wishful thinking, at best. I really don’t enjoy some parts of my PTSD symptoms; actually, I don’t really enjoy ANY of the symptoms I experience in that respect. Tears and emotional lability sometimes, depression others, and in between, just a bunch of anxiety and near panic attacks, for good measure, as it is said…. Who says it, I don’t know, but, you hear it all the time…. None of which is of any particular moment to me just now, as I am sitting here struggling with my emotions, trying to keep them out of my head, so they won’t make me cry (for no apparent reason I can see…..)…. Ah shit, it’s not working…. I’ll be back….

Sorry ’bout that…. I had thought, what with all the money, and cruising, and general gaiety going around, I would be immune from such attacks, but, I guess not…. Fuck, fuck, fuck….. Actually, I know why this is happening, and I’m not happy about the reason. I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss medications, and I am worried that he is going to turn conservative on me, and start getting all weird about my use of drugs that are not what he prescribes, exactly…. Unfortunately, discussing this in a public venue could conceivably have bad results, so I can’t really go into it much…. suffice it to say that my own doctor is the one causing this anxiety in me, and I need to do something about it, today…..

I can see that this is getting a bit sticky, and obscure, so I’m going on into the pearling process now, before I lose all control, of myself, and this Pearl. I hate to do this, but, I’m going to surgically excise any further nonsense in the intro section, and get on with the dive for today, before I seize up and get really weird… It’s been known to happen on such days….. For now, let’s get on with it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Will this never-ending series of PLEASURABLE EVENTS never cease?” — Zippy the Pinhead

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Damaging-storms-moving-through-east-south-4569342.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Quakes-kill-2-in-Taiwan-injure-33-in-Philippines-4569405.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/UK-politicians-caught-in-lobbying-scandal-4569418.php

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Apple-antitrust-suit-over-e-books-set-for-NY-trial-4569709.php

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/4-wounded-in-3-Oakland-shootings-4569499.php

“One U.S. lawmaker has been to Bangladesh since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building on April 24, 2013, killing, at last count, 1,129 garment workers. That would be Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who returned to the Bay Area Thursday after a week of meetings with government officials, garment factory owners, and survivors of the building’s collapse.

He had harsh words for Gap and Walmart, who have refused to sign a legally binding Bangladesh safety accord. “It’s very clear whether you are Walmart or you’re the Gap, you have to make a decision now whether you want to have blood on your labels. The fact is, they’ve led this race to the bottom over many years and it has led to this dangerous situation in the industry.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The foregoing are all taken from the news in northern California on Sunday, June 2, 2013. I collected them because I was struck by how the batch of them, taken together, is almost surreal in its degree of negativity. 13 dead in storms; 2 dead, 35 injured in quakes; politicians taking money (gasp! what will they do next?); Apple and publishers conspiring to steal money from consumers (another gasp!…); 4 wounded in shootings….. and OVER A THOUSAND garment workers dead, crushed and/or burned up in a building that collapsed, because the builders cheated on the materials, the owners didn’t care, and no safety measures were in place at all. The owners/operators crammed about five times the safe number of people and machines in the facility to grind out more cheap stuff for the big stores to sell. So many people, and so much machinery and materials, the building collapsed.

Garment workers…. That’s a nice, impersonal title, don’t you think? Not bad to describe, and disconnect from, the OVER A THOUSAND human beings who died there, all of them so poor they had to cram into one building with no possible escape, just to earn a starving wage, so fat white folks can make more money off the cheap stuff they’re making…. But, hey, they’re just gooks, right, not even Christians, or white, or anything, so it’s not like it counts, or anything like that, is it?…. Hell, most of ’em were probably women and children anyway, living on welfare…..

“Will it improve my CASH FLOW?” — Zippy the Pinhead

One day’s worth of headlines… I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s leading stories….. Somehow, I don’t think they will provide any of the balance so badly needed, unless, of course, the aliens land, and give us the answers to all the tough questions. The odds on that are slim, at best, so I think I’ll just try to not read them any more…. Of course, then I won’t know just when it all is going to finally collapse, will I? Oh well, I’ll just have to remember to read the comics first, I guess….

“… if the democratic nations fail, their failure must be partly attributed to the faulty strategy of idealists who have too many illusions when they face realists who have too little conscience.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

The world is currently in what Robert Heinlein used to call “The Crazy Years”, merrily going to hell in a handbasket; the above headlines are proof positive that we are a society out of control, with no apparent way back to any sort of sanity. I don’t know at this point if there is any chance to pull ourselves back from the brink of extinction, not with the way things have proceeded thus far. And, to be frank, it would, and will be, our just desserts, for all the lack of understanding and wrongheadedness we have displayed in our sad history….. Ah well, it must be time for a nap……

If of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, `It might have been,’
More sad are these we daily see:
`It is, but hadn’t ought to be.’

— Francis Brett Harte
__________________________________

Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet, has been in the news of late; apparently, he didn’t die of prostate cancer, as first reported when he died, but, may have been murdered by a CIA operative on the orders of the dictator of Chile at the time, Augusto Pinochet…. His body has been exhumed, and forensic scientists are examining his remains for poisons, and/or signs of terminal cancer…. Results are pending…. Regardless of all that, he was an exemplary poet, and great philosopher, in my opinion…. Here is one of his works that seemed to speak to my mood today….. It’s a bit grim, but, sometimes, we need grim….

A Song Of Despair

The memory of you emerges from the night around me.
The river mingles its stubborn lament with the sea.

Deserted like the wharves at dawn.
It is the hour of departure, oh deserted one!

Cold flower heads are raining over my heart.
Oh pit of debris, fierce cave of the shipwrecked.

In you the wars and the flights accumulated.
From you the wings of the song birds rose.

You swallowed everything, like distance.
Like the sea, like time. In you everything sank!

It was the happy hour of assault and the kiss.
The hour of the spell that blazed like a lighthouse.

Pilot’s dread, fury of blind driver,
turbulent drunkenness of love, in you everything sank!

In the childhood of mist my soul, winged and wounded.
Lost discoverer, in you everything sank!

You girdled sorrow, you clung to desire,
sadness stunned you, in you everything sank!

I made the wall of shadow draw back,
beyond desire and act, I walked on.

Oh flesh, my own flesh, woman whom I loved and lost,
I summon you in the moist hour, I raise my song to you.

Like a jar you housed infinite tenderness.
and the infinite oblivion shattered you like a jar.

There was the black solitude of the islands,
and there, woman of love, your arms took me in.

There was thirst and hunger, and you were the fruit.
There were grief and ruins, and you were the miracle.

Ah woman, I do not know how you could contain me
in the earth of your soul, in the cross of your arms!

How terrible and brief my desire was to you!
How difficult and drunken, how tensed and avid.

Cemetery of kisses, there is still fire in your tombs,
still the fruited boughs burn, pecked at by birds.

Oh the bitten mouth, oh the kissed limbs,
oh the hungering teeth, oh the entwined bodies.

Oh the mad coupling of hope and force
in which we merged and despaired.

And the tenderness, light as water and as flour.
And the word scarcely begun on the lips.

This was my destiny and in it was my voyage of my longing,
and in it my longing fell, in you everything sank!

Oh pit of debris, everything fell into you,
what sorrow did you not express, in what sorrow are you not drowned!

From billow to billow you still called and sang.
Standing like a sailor in the prow of a vessel.

You still flowered in songs, you still brake the currents.
Oh pit of debris, open and bitter well.

Pale blind diver, luckless slinger,
lost discoverer, in you everything sank!

It is the hour of departure, the hard cold hour
which the night fastens to all the timetables.

The rustling belt of the sea girdles the shore.
Cold stars heave up, black birds migrate.

Deserted like the wharves at dawn.
Only tremulous shadow twists in my hands.

Oh farther than everything. Oh farther than everything.

It is the hour of departure. Oh abandoned one!

~~ Pablo Neruda ~~

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I have a lot to do today, and need to get started early to get it all done… so, I’m cheating here, but in a good way. This is a Pearl from November of 2011… Much of it is apparently written around the same subject as discussed in section one of today’s effort, so I’m including it here, to save myself some time, and give y’all a bit of contrasting text to compare…. You can check for me to see if what I wrote then is consistent with what was done today, or if it was better, or worse…. Whatever it was, it’s a bit long, so, here it is, so you can get started…. It’s long, I know, but not bad, so, enjoy….. please….

11/16/11
Ffolkes,
Good morrow to you…..let us begin as we mean to go on…..

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” — Gene Fowler

This line is included today merely to give y’all an idea of what I go through every morning to produce this…..whatever it is. It is a pretty good description, actually, because when I’m done, I actually feel battered and bloody. Bloody well used up is what it is. Maybe it’s easier for other writers; I don’t know. But for me, to produce something that my standards will allow me to publish for others to read, is much like having a piece of my soul ripped out. The funny thing is, though it hurts a lot, I wouldn’t stop doing it, even if I could. The pain of creation, which after all requires destruction first, is a worthy payoff for the sense of accomplishment I get when I see one of my pieces online for all to see. Quite a rush actually…..

“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” — Aldous Huxley

This observation, as far as I can tell, is 100% accurate, and because it is, many of the problems society is facing are easily explained, if not easily resolved. For example, when was the last time you gave a thought to what else besides oxygen is in the air that you take into your lungs on the average of 15-20 times per minute.? When you last got a glass of water from the tap, did you stop to think about what was in the water you use to drink, cook with, and bathe in? As Mr. Huxley pointed out, most folks, yourselves included, seldom think about or appreciate such simple necessities, or what might happen if they were no longer available.

What will we do when the air is so full of carbon dioxide that the amount of oxygen in it is decreased below the point where it will sustain life? Will we all have to wear breathing apparatus in order to brave the outside world? What will happen to all the other animals if there isn’t sufficient air? What will you do when the water you drink is no longer safe to consume? We need water as much as we need air; our chemical make-up is 90% water, and not having enough of it to replace what we lose is a sure path to the grave within a matter of days.

There are other issues connected to this subject; the consistent degradation of our planet’s ecosystem has a great many negative effects, small and unnoticeable at first, but growing larger over time until they are added to the list of processes that will eventually lead to extinction of all of this planet’s life forms.  Part of the problem is that it is a slow, insidious process, this degradation, and the deleterious outcomes are not evident until too late to reverse.

And remember, the Universe doesn’t care, one way or the other, whether we survive or not; the rules are the rules, and fighting against the natural laws of our space-time continuum is a fool’s bet. Like it or not, we, as a species, are going to need to make some serious changes to the way we do things, if we are to survive at all. And we will need to do it starting yesterday…..

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.  Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” — Albert Einstein

I really admire Albert Einstein, and not because he was a great scientist, as well as one of history’s shining examples of men and women who greatly advance human knowledge, and do so out of their love of mankind. Albert’s wisdom was not restricted to the principles of physics and math; he had a unique way of looking at the world, and the ability to share their deep insights into life and the universe for the benefit of others. He was an eternal optimist, and as the above quote demonstrates, had a firm grip on the concept of living with honor and dignity.

He believed in the inherent goodness of every man, and lived his life in a way that it stands as an example for the rest of us. I cannot wholly agree with what he states above, because I have a much darker view of what human nature is capable of, and less faith in mankind’s willingness to submit to natural law. But what he said does show with clarity where our salvation lies, and in his own inimitable manner, he shares his deeper knowledge with the rest of us in the hope it will inspire others to act honorably……

“To laugh often and love much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier: this is to have succeeded.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

From what I gather in my study of 19th century American writers, a lot of the best were what I would call masters of advanced curmudgeonry. Emerson, Walden, Thoreau,  were all libertarians living in compromise with a democracy, and spent much of their time either complaining about society, or hiding from it in their forest retreats. This is not to say that what they wrote was bad or mistaken in premise, necessarily, but if you read their work with this in mind, it becomes apparent that they didn’t much like other folks, or put much trust in their rationality.

But, as the included quote indicates, being a curmudgeon doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t understand humanity, or what it takes to make life complete. This paragraph from Mr. Emerson demonstrates this perfectly. One cannot argue with conviction that all of these attributes listed, and experiences from a long life, are positively rooted, and make perfect sense. Whether or not we actually have all of these characteristics is unimportant; the list remains valid even if incomplete. And it provides anyone with a good map and directions that can be useful to us in our pursuit of happiness…..

So much for another day…..Hopefully, you have consumed a fair portion of food for thought, and found it palatable enough. If not, feel free to let me know, and I’ll see if I can come up with something more savory….in the meantime, y’all take care out there….
__________________________________

I can’t say that was entirely painless, but, it’s done, and thus joins the ranks of so many others that have been thrown out there for y’all to peruse, and abuse, if you must…. Once they leave here, I have little control over that, so I’m becoming a fatalist in that respect…. So, we’ll leave this one to its fate, and go on with the day’s business……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

In the name of all that’s wholly…..

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….. normal. Which is to say, of course, I was having a nightmare, again. It’s a recurring theme in my dreams, to wake up without my attitudes, so carefully developed over many years. It’s fairly easy to shake off, and the attitudes can be replaced easily, but, it would be nice to not have to go through the fright and subsequent panic that ensues when I discover a shred of guilt within me, or find some piece of unwanted sympathy for the devil hanging about. It’s a sure sign when I find myself agreeing with some politician about something…. doesn’t matter what it is, if I’m going along with the public’s object of affection, I know I’m in trouble, giving-a-shit-wise….

Hmm… not too bad, considering it’s a pre-coffee blurb. I actually did wake up at what is a reasonably normal time, after pushing hard to stay up past 9 PM last night (made it all the way to 9:08, too….); I’ve been waking up at 5 or 6 AM for years, so it feels relatively common to get up at shortly after five today. Slept pretty well, too, all things considered, and feel as well as I ever do, so, I guess I can say that I’ve finally gotten past the fatigue, time-warp, and overall systemic disruption due to the changing of time zones for a two week period. All I can say is, Whew! Who knew it would kick my ass like that? I thought I’d breeze through it without any problem, but, it’s been a struggle, for certain….

I’m sure glad my next two trips are scheduled to be out of the new San Francisco cruise terminal, round trip, one to Alaska later this month, one to Mexico next March. This will keep me (us) in the same time zone the whole time, on both trips, so the time zones won’t be a factor… and that’s just fine with me. It’s a sobering thought to know that, for the rest of my life, I will need to take that factor into account in my calculations and plans for any trips. At my age, it’s nothing to be sneezed at, and, to be honest, isn’t much fun. Makes me wish I was the Doctor, and had a Tardis in which to do my toodling about the Universe….

Enough rambling for one morning… Even though it’s a Sunday, I have things to accomplish today, so I’d best be getting on with today’s Pearl… They don’t just write themselves, you know…. though it may seem that way at times. In fact, part of today’s effort will be from the archives, as it’s been kind of fun looking through them; there is so much material there, I don’t remember writing half of it, so it’s like discovering a whole new set of books at the library (which is under repair right now, and unavailable, so new stuff to read is welcome indeed….). The rest will be as it comes, as usual, which means I have no idea what it will be comprised of, or what it may resemble…. probably, that’s a good thing….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Yesterday, I took some time, finally, to go cruising through my Reader’s Page here at WordPress, to do just a little catching up to all the blogs I’ve been unable to visit recently due to my travels, and limited time to read online. As always, I found great stuff, but one new website, referred by another blogger, Lou, at http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/, is an incredibly lucky find  His is a very interesting blog, always with a new conspiracy theory, a new piece of knowledge about current events or scientific research, new or old diets, cool pictures, or oddities from the news around the Internet; good news, bad news, odd news, all of that, and more, can be found at Lou’s site.

The site he to which he referred us is called Humans of New York, consisting of photos of people on the streets of the city, who agreed to have their photo taken, along with a comment, or description of their reaction to the picture, or just something they wished to say. It is a very, very interesting collection of wisdom and humor, from normal ffolkes doing normal things on the streets of that most not-normal city…. great beauty, great wisdom, great laughs, a few “aww”‘s, and a lot of fun….  It’s located here:  http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

That’s all, just go, and have fun….   🙂
__________________________________

I’m in the mood for Emily…. This is appropriate for the time of year…..

A light exists in spring
   Not present on the year
At any other period.
   When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
   On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
   But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
   It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
   It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
   Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
   It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
   Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
   Upon a sacrament.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

__________________________________

I’ve been looking through a bunch of old Pearls, from back in 2011, and found the following…. it’s a nice little discussion of something or other, and though I can’t quite remember why I chose it, it’s still pretty good, so, please, enjoy…..

“The world is full of burled and gnarly knobs on which you can hang a metaphysical system. If you must.” — Edward Abbey

Here then is a logical mind. My evidence? His reluctance to impose an invented set of rules on a world that resists any such restraint, is, in my mind, eminently sensible. Why do we have to make up stuff to try to explain how the universe functions? What quality does our curiosity have that compels us to seek out some kind of system to help us to deal with reality as it is?

Humans seem to want some kind of order to their existence, and for some reason, can’t seem to come to terms with things the way they are. They seem to need to apply their own set of prejudices to the world, an impulse stemming from some unknown inner compulsion that has held back the tide of human progress for just about our entire history.

My own opinion is that human nature, being what it is, noted way back in the old days, that a man with no principles can manipulate other people through their own set of behavioral rules. By balancing a friendly, smiling face with a completely sociopathic conscience, they have been able to keep most of mankind in thrall ever since we first started farming and coming together in cities to trade. And they continue today; as a matter of fact, the news of late has been full of evidence of their millenia-long hold over the rest of humanity. We (the gullible masses, identified by H. L. Mencken by the word ‘the booboisie’) have even given them a name; we now call them the 1%.

“The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

The battle lines for Armageddon have been drawn, and the combatants have chosen their sides; the war is coming, and I wouldn’t do a thing to stop it, because freeing ourselves from the people who live for power is our only hope for survival as a species. The 1% probably believes that they will be the only survivors of a world-wide catastrophe, and odds are, they may be right. But I’ll be damned if I’ll go without putting up an epic fight, for my life, and my liberty……

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” — Walt Kelly (in POGO)
__________________________________

I note that the above is overly sober in nature, generally, and feel like I should lighten things up a bit…. So, here is a fresh, random, harlequin pearl, with only the word “furfl” (no typo) in mind to use as a parameter of choice…. Enjoy! It’s not often you get a bonus pearl like this these days…..

“And o’er the past Oblivion stretch her wing.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxiv, Line 557

“I have ever held it as a maxim, never to do that through another, which it was possible for me to execute myself.” — Montesquieu

“The refusal to put away childish things may be a prerequisite of a genius.” — A. Einstein

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds.  A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” — Clive James

“Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.” — George Bernard Shaw

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams?  By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“I am the shadow my words cast.” — Octavio Paz

Oops! Sorry, didn’t mean to make it scary there at the end… I have to admit, though, it certainly came out furfl, didn’t it?…..
__________________________________

I give up. I’ve lost my mind completely, and can’t really say I mind too much. I’m gonna go see how it reads now…..  Well, it reads. As that seems to be all I can say for it, or against it, we’ll let it go, and see what happens….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

This Pearl doesn’t smell fresh, Ollie….

Posted on by
9

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up, to find this…..

How It Works….

Retreat, retreat, he cries in vain
we cannot stand such pain!
Another battle, another day’s fight
Eternally at war, both day and night.

Storms within, crashing and thrashing about,
filling each moment with fear and doubt.
Cries of anguish, hopes for a swift end
Denied with wounds that will not mend.

The crisis approaches, time will not wait.
It marches on, driven madly by fate.
We have no recourse, no other road to walk,
No great power to whom we may talk.

Morning arrives, seemingly mild and free
Until one considers all that must be
An intro, some pearls, a photo or two
Today’s magnificent Pearl, created just for you…..

 ~~gigoid ~~


I was looking for a particular date of an event from last year at around this time, and in the process, came across this poem, that I wrote, apparently, in June of 2012, before I had begun to collect and save my poems in one folder. It was part of the intro section then, and certainly is appropriate today, as well. Without further fuss…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

My brain is broken…. well, maybe not broken, but tired, for sure. This is the second or third day I’ve felt fairly normal since getting back from Europe (boy, I LOVE saying that….), and I’m finding it tiring to try to slip back into any routine…. As a result, I am going to fall back into the far reaches of the recent past, all the way to late July in 2011, when the following comprised the Pearl of Virtual Wisdom for that day…. I like it, so the hell with it, you’ll like it, too… or not, but, I’m guessing yes…

Ffolkes,
But then, penguins don’t generally display male pattern baldness as they age. Of course, it’s difficult to say, really. I mean how many aged penguins have YOU known intimately?……If you couldn’t tell already, it’s a Friday. Now, I have to admit, that doesn’t hold much value for me anymore; one day is pretty much like any other when one enters retirement mode. The trick is to look at each day individually, and fill it up with things which, in my working days, I didn’t have the time or wherewithal to do.

Of course, these days my wherewithal is looking a bit worn and shabby, but one must deal, because, hey, only game in town, right? It’s a good thing I’ve always been a bit of a fatalist; it comes in handy these days when I wonder “why?”…….these are my favorite type of pearls. Short, pithy one-liners that appear simple, but echo and reverberate throughout one’s psyche, revealing their depth only upon contemplation……enjoy!…..

“It doesn’t really matter what you can do if you don’t do it.”  — Bram Moolenaar

“The more you love, the more you can love—and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love.” — Robert Heinlein

“Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.” — Clare Booth Luce

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — New Testament — John xv, 13

Live for those private moments of wild abandon! –Opus

The world out there really doesn’t give much of a damn what we do, so I would guess it becomes our personal responsibility to make sure our actions are honorable. It’s really too bad that particular idea never comes up in school; personally I don’t recall any classes on ethics or morality. I believe that is a mistake, because leaving that up to parents hasn’t been particularly effective in that respect. So…..teach your children well, feed them on your dreams, (thanks, CSN&Y) because chances are no one else will…… y’all take care out there….
__________________________________

Since I included one of my own poems above, here is one by an acknowledged master…..

A Bronze Head

HERE at right of the entrance this bronze head,
Human, superhuman, a bird’s round eye,
Everything else withered and mummy-dead.
What great tomb-haunter sweeps the distant sky
(Something may linger there though all else die;)
And finds there nothing to make its terror less
{Hysterica passio} of its own emptiness?

No dark tomb-haunter once; her form all full
As though with magnanimity of light,
Yet a most gentle woman; who can tell
Which of her forms has shown her substance right?
Or maybe substance can be composite,
profound McTaggart thought so, and in a breath
A mouthful held the extreme of life and death.

But even at the starting-post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul. Propinquity had brought
Imagination to that pitch where it casts out
All that is not itself: I had grown wild
And wandered murmuring everywhere, ‘My child, my child! ‘

Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall;
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave,
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

__________________________________

As noted in section one, above, I’ve turned off my brain for the day, (well, perhaps not noted, but implied…. no worries, it’s off….), and have been enjoying taking a cruise through some very old Pearls, from a couple of years ago…. It is interesting to see where my mind was then, and how it was looking at stuff in general… Fun, and a complete waste of time, for sure, so it fits right in with this morning’s agenda for me. I found the following Pearl, and thought it would go well to finish out today’s effort, or lack thereof…. It’s interesting, anyway….

Ffolkes,
The human condition. We all know what that is, from the inside. But explaining it to another is probably the single most difficult task communication has ever known. Every one of us, when tasked to explain ourselves, runs into a road block of dense resistance, and we end up stuttering or silent, or we lie. The essence of the difficulty lies in the fact that our perceptions are different; none of us has precisely the same reference points of experience, so attempting to define “self”  becomes a matter of trying to find points of reference upon which we may agree.

From these points we may come to some small understanding, if there is sufficient desire on both to do so. But mostly, we just hide ourselves, or lie, because the effort to be understood is greater than the effort it takes to manipulate what we show to others. Most folks just don’t want to work very hard, and are content to “get by”  by just showing those parts of themselves that they believe will be acceptable. Or, after achieving a certain age, they stop worrying about it altogether, and just say what they feel, or think, without regard to how it may be accepted. This is what most people call “freedom of speech”. But it’s all just another way we fool ourselves into thinking we understand the world around us, and “know” the human condition. After all, we’re humans ourselves, right?  Think about it…….

One of these is not like the others…..it will be easy to spot, and has no real meaning beyond its presence. I just thought it looked good where it ended up, so it got left in……the rest of these are statements on the human condition. Which ones can you apply to yourself?……

“You know what it’s like to be dead.  It’s just like it was before you were born.  Remember what it was like before you were born?” — Evan

“I am the shadow my words cast.” — Octavio Paz

“I have come to the conclusion that my subjective account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost all occasions. I don’t know why I do things.” — J. B. S. Haldane

In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods.  Cats have never forgotten this.

“If you don’t care where you are, you ain’t lost.” — Rune’s Rule.

“I used to be a FUNDAMENTALIST, but then I heard about the  HIGH RADIATION LEVELS and bought an ENCYCLOPEDIA!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Know thyself”? If I knew myself, I’d run away. — Goethe

You already have your homework assignments, so I’ll leave you to it……enjoy the day…..y’all take care out there….
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“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” — Charles DuBois

As is often the case, I don’t really know what prompted the last minute addition of the above quote, but, that’s okay, I’m pretty easy-going about that sort of stuff. It’s a survival technique, a defense against sheer insanity, which hovers ever near….. And, that is quite enough for one day, I should think, so, I’m outta here, with no regrets, but lots of second thoughts, as usual….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3