Ffolkes,
I apologize most heartily for the title today; I couldn’t resist the pun, or the fun…. Since I don’t recall hearing it before, (This is probably a lie, but, we’ll let it lay, or lie…. Oh, hell, we’ll let it alone…), to me, it’s a new pun, which justifies any and all attempts to share it…. or, as some states call such self-indulgent behavior, a misdemeanor hate crime….
It isn’t that I don’t understand those states’ objection to punning, but, I think a minimum sentence of five years at hard labor is a bit harsh, don’t you?….. I suppose I should feel lucky I live in a state where it is still considered a social faux pas, without entering the realm of criminality….
Now that the fantasy portion of our program (pogrom?) is completed, or, at least, neglected due to disinterest, we can go on to bigger and hopefully better things…. I’m up, in theory, at a time I’m having a hard time believing, given my habits of late…. It’s almost 5 AM, and I just finished sleeping for a solid eight hours…. so long, I had time to pass through the point where the body is rested, to the point where it is becoming MORE stiff and sore from laying down too long…. I got up to a bit of stiffness, but, thanks to my new magic cream, it won’t last long….
I found a new product at the medical cannabis store I’ve been going to; it’s a topical pain relieving cream that gets spread on the skin over any part of the body that is hurting, such as shoulder joints, lower back, hips, etc…. It is extremely effective for almost all the different pains I’ve tested it on….
It relieves pain and stiffness in the back muscles… it makes the hips stop singing…. and it works wonders on sore joints like the wrist or thumb, at those times when arthritic pain strikes…. It acts almost instantly; I have milady apply it to my entire back, and within a moment or two, it feels as normal as it ever gets, giving a feeling of release you would not believe….
As I said, it’s pretty magical stuff, especially for those of us who know the accuracy of the old adage that says, “True freedom is release from pain.” The release I feel when my back stops hurting is phenomenal, almost to the point of giddiness, and makes me understand why the pharmaceutical companies are so worried about these products hitting the market….
This cream alone could completely destroy the market for products such as Ben-Gay and Tiger Balm, as well as threatening the entire line of pain killers like Aleve or Tylenol, that are designed for arthritis pain…. They’re all unnecessary in the extreme if one possesses this magic cream, which the Big Pharm companies don’t have in their formularies…. In other words, it would eat into their bottom line profits, thus making them nervous to know the products are out there, not under their control or influence… They’re asininnies, they can’t help being assholes….
So, now that we’ve explored further into the details of my life more than is either necessary, warranted, or even desired, we can at least go on to bigger and better things, as I’ve again managed to go completely overboard with this sharing of TMI, or TMOI (Too Much Obscure Information)…. At any rate, we’re done here, so we can go for a nice, quiet dive for pearls, to soothe the savage breast…. Oh wait, that’s music… Hmm, okay, well, just put on your earphones, plug in the jack, and you’ll have music…. even if it IS just public radio, and it’s time for their Gardening Hour….
Shall we Pearl?…..
“Change is the essential process of all existence.” — Spock, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” stardate 5730.2.
(FYI, today, the stardate is, officially: [-27} 00060.0 The -27 means it is now twenty seven years prior to mankind’s first foray into interstellar space, using the Cochran ftl (faster-than-light) engine, as noted in the History of the Galaxy, Star Trek universe…..)
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As noted, I’ve started a bit late, and want to get done in jig time today…. This means some cheating, if only by making this first section the old-school pearl for today, rather than ranting right away…. which is another cheat that will come later…. In the interval, let’s enjoy a random, harlequin pearl, followed by one of my favorite poets, and one of my favorite of his poems…. Abondanza!….
“As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.” — Bhagavad Gita
“A lot of what I say comes off as political satire. In that, I have a lot in common with Congress.” — Solomon Short
“It is better to have a little than nothing.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 484
“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.” — Voltaire
“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.” — James Thurber
“Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have.” — Rene Descartes
“Ah, tell them they are men!” — Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Stanza 6
Damn!…. Sometimes, this process just amazes me, at how it can produce such depth of meaning when none is sought after during the search…. This, ffolkes, is one DEEP pearl…. I hope you enjoy it, and find the point to which I refer…. If not, no worries, as this one, due to its not being listed on the curriculum listings, will NOT be on the Quiz….
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As noted above, a classic poem from an acknowledged Master….
Hence Burgundy, Claret, and Port,
Away with old Hock and madeira,
Too earthly ye are for my sport;
There’s a beverage brighter and clearer.
Instead of a pitiful rummer,
My wine overbrims a whole summer;
My bowl is the sky,
And I drink at my eye,
Till I feel in the brain
A Delphian pain –
Then follow, my Caius! then follow:
On the green of the hill
We will drink our fill
Of golden sunshine,
Till our brains intertwine
With the glory and grace of Apollo!
God of the Meridian,
And of the East and West,
To thee my soul is flown,
And my body is earthward press’d. –
It is an awful mission,
A terrible division;
And leaves a gulph austere
To be fill’d with worldly fear.
Aye, when the soul is fled
To high above our head,
Affrighted do we gaze
After its airy maze,
As doth a mother wild,
When her young infant child
Is in an eagle’s claws –
And is not this the cause
Of madness? – God of Song,
Thou bearest me along
Through sights I scarce can bear:
O let me, let me share
With the hot lyre and thee,
The staid Philosophy.
Temper my lonely hours,
And let me see thy bowers
More unalarm’d!
~~ John Keats ~~
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The last three or six Pearls have all been either over 3000 words, or very close to breaking over that limit; one of them came in at a whopping 3900+….. It hasn’t been deliberate, in the sense I don’t start with a number of words in mind… I just like to keep writing until done…. But, that’s a lot, so, I’ll try to keep this a bit shorter today, to keep from driving too many ffolkes away, chased there because they’re tired out from fighting the fatigue factor that is often found when reading my blog…. Occupational hazard, I suppose.
I only say this because I COULD rant further about this subject today; I’ve got plenty of angst biding its time inside me, especially for the corporate members of the Asininnies, the ones I consider to be the absolute WORST of those who prey on mankind…. Well, okay, but, wait…. I only put them there on those days I DON’T put the men, and, sadly women, who enable, and profit from, the abuse of women in the sex trafficking trade into that primary position on my list, the list of those the world would be better off doing without….
Both of these groups, as far as I’m concerned, are only worthy of becoming the target of any right thinking person with a gun in their hands, no trial needed…. I think, in those two cases, I wouldn’t mind playing God, making up my own mind as to who is guilty…. Nope, no trouble at all, not when the crimes are as egregiously inhuman as those perpetrated by these two groups….
As you can see, it wouldn’t take much to get me going, so, I’ll leave it there, and let you enjoy this piece, from a couple years ago, addressing a subject near and dear to my heart…. or, at least, to my head….
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From 12/4/2012:
“Free enterprise ended in the United States a good many years ago. Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and drive out the small entrepreneur. In their conglomerate forms, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the legitimacy of the state.” — Gore Vidal
In his book, “Friday”, Robert Heinlein details a society, in humanity’s possible future, one in which corporations have continued to grow beyond the boundaries of mere countries, until their interests become paramount even over that of the state, as observed by Mr. Vidal. We, of the society here on Earth in the early 21st century are witnessing that growth, as I write, and as you read…..
The small enterprise markets still exist, but only on the fringes of the economy, the major portion of which is busy manipulating the population into serving the economic trends that the corporations control, in the essential markets that cover everyone… In other words, the corporations monopolize most of the economy, allowing the fringe markets to exist to provide exotic, alternative toys and entertainments for the working classes, as a way to keep them fat, happy, and contentedly stupid.
Mr. Heinlein’s character, is a young woman with designer genes, & a genius IQ, giving her almost superhuman powers, as well as a strong portion of Heinlein’s innate sardonicism, as part of an assignment from her boss, is required to perform a research and analysis of how the major corporations in the world affected the political and economic scenes of their society, obliquely referring, of course, to the one we have now.
It’s a very interesting part of a very good book, and well worth a read, not only for its perspicacity in explaining the piracy we are seeing today, but because Heinlein was a master storyteller, who created fascinating characters in fantastic situations, making it all seem perfectly normal and real.
“The phenomenality of organic, conscious existence should, could have made impossible the sadism, the unending hurt of our ways. The impotent fury, the guilt that master and surpass my identity carry with them the working hypothesis, the ‘working metaphor’, if you will, of ‘original sin’. To this expression, I am unable to attach any reasoned, let alone historical substance. On the pragmatic-narratological plane, stories of some initial crime and inherited culpability are universal fables — uncannily profound and lasting. Nothing more. Yet in the presence of the beaten, raped child, of the horse or mule flogged across its eyes, I am possessed, as by a midnight clarity, by the intuition of the Fall.” — Rudolf Steiner, Errata: An examined life, Phoenix — (a division of Orion Books), London, 1998, p. 169
At first, this quote may not seem to be related to the first. However, it is this “original sin” of which he speaks that is the root cause of the problems with corporations in society. Those humans who reject commonality with the rest of humanity are the villains in this play that passes for modern culture, for they do not accept their debt to the rest of the species, and have determined that they will use whatever means they need to become ascendant over the rest of us. Greed is only the most obvious of the ills that this group has subjected our culture to, with cruelty, dishonesty, and lack of compassion as side attractions. Through the actions of their corporate entities, they work to maintain their power and control of others, all for the sake of their own aggrandizement….
These are the men who run the trade in human trafficking, abducting and abusing children and women, for sex and slavery. These are the men who run the brothels, and the underground casinos, and the money-lending, and the protection rackets, and the drug dealing rings. What many folks don’t realize is that they are also the men who run for political office, or become preachers/priests, and the bankers, and the CEO’s, and other corporate officers, who make their decisions based on self-interest, never on altruism. They seem, and act like, they are the leaders of society, when, in fact, they, in my mind, the scum of our race, and are the very reason our society is headed for extinction….
Unfortunately, these men (and they are almost ALL men….) will not give up their power and control without a fight. They will not respond to reason, giving up all their wealth and perceived power, to benefit the rest of mankind. They will not suddenly see the light, and give it all back. They will have to be rooted out like weeds, tough, hardy weeds; ultimately, they MUST be destroyed, if we are to have any chance of survival….
It is unfortunate, but no other method will work, and it brings with it the danger of falling into the same kind of behavior by which they have always achieved their own ends. But, I can see no other way to solve the issue, since they will not cooperate with the rest of us for the benefit of all….
1. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.
2. What you settle for is what you end up with.
3. If you think that worrying about a problem is the same thing as solving it, then you must live in some other universe where different laws pertain.
–Smart Bee
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I made it…. When I started, I had some doubts, but, all went well, and it’s done…. I think…. They don’t call me “the dubious” for nothing, you know…. Any who, I say it’s done, and, since I’m the final arbiter of all such questionable issues, it’s done…. Nyah, nyah, nyah…. Okay, I’m now done being three years old, and I’m outta here, before I get any sillier (That probably isn’t possible, from a reality-based viewpoint; nevertheless, it had to be said, for form’s sake….)…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…
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 the dubious
gigoid 
Oh no, your experiment with the potions is important. Just wait until people realize that all. I mean all chemical products out there, are second best to the pot compounds.
Lou, 🙂
I agree with you there, and I spread the word to whoever will listen… it’s hard not to share when I feel so much better when using it… as I mentioned, I get a bit giddy sometimes, I feel so much better…. 😎
My only concern at this point about the cannabis products is that I don’t know for sure what ELSE may go into it that I don’t know about… but, that same concern exists re: the Big Pharm products… We only have their word, that what they SAY is in there, is really ALL that is in there… I mean, none of them have a good track record in telling the truth to the public, do they? At least we know, if something is off about a pot product, it’s probably because the worker forgot to put something in, not because they put in stuff they don’t tell us about…
But, yeah, it’s been great, especially since finding a doctor who doesn’t object to my using it with my opiod pain killer, as long as I keep him informed…. He is licensed in both holistic and AMA-style medical physician categories, so his understanding of the whole picture is much wider than most modern doctors… It took a while, but, it’s nice to know there are still a few modern physicians willing to expand their minds beyond what they were taught in med school, half of which is wrong, anyway…. I know, I was all set to go to med school when I was about 30, but decided it was just too much hassle to try to put up with the stultifying attitudes so many doctors assume…. especially the ones who teach…. God, combine the entitlement of a physician with the overblown egotism of a university professor of medicine, and you’ve got some of the most hide-bound assholes you’d ever want to meet….
How did you get me started again, dude? I thought I was done for the day… LOL!!! 😆
See ya…. oh, and maybe one day, later this year, I’ll make a sojourn up your way, & we can have lunch, or something… Not sure when, but, I’m getting the itch again, and will need to scratch it before year’s end….Always wanted to see eastern Canada’s cities, with the combination of cultures of which they are composed…. Maybe I’ll see you, eh?…. 😉
Blessed Be, brother…
Sounds good Ned.
Free markets are the biggest con job since “your check is in the mail”.
I think, therefore I am…..Decartes was a genius……sorry pain meds are talking to me…..
chuq…. Sorry ’bout the pain, but, I know you’re not afraid of chemistry, so, all will be well in the end, my friend… hang tough… I would suggest, unless you want to become an activist, working toward it happening in your state, you might want to think about moving to one where you can get some of the medical cannabis products I’ve become familiar with…. They’re far better than the chemicals, being natural, and work as well, if not better than almost all except the opioids, like morphine, etc.. Any who…. Feel better…
Aye, Descartes WAS a smart guy…. which is why I used a paraphrase of his axiom as the first axiom in Peruaosophy, my own personal philosophy, which I composed and codified about 30 years ago…. I’ve published it here a couple of times, but not lately, so… It’s short, only eight axioms, so, I’ll reproduce it here… I think, since you’re currently under the influence of the meds, you’ll appreciate a lot of it…. Without any further ado, here is:
Peruaosophy
The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)
Axioms
1) I think I am; that’s close enough.
2) The nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.
3) Thou art God, you know. Let’s do lunch.
4) Excellence is its own reward.
5) Girls think differently. So do boys. Don’t fight it.
6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said, “Quit whining!”
7) Do your Duty. Respect Life. Honor the Truth. Share your Love.
8) Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.
gigoid
Thanx my friend….opioid are the current ones….my state sucks but I cannot leave my house….half of it is my library and I can say that there are less than 5 fiction books…..plus my daughter and granddaughter live right behind me…..always a good thing.
#6 is the best one for me…I believe the God gaves us a brain for a reason….and he really does not want to hear from us…….he sez….you created the problem…handle it!
😆 Cool, glad you liked it…
I found this today, AFTER you made the comment above, and it fit so perfectly with the rest of it, I add it here… You’ll see why it caught my eye, as the first part echos your words…
1) The check is in the mail
2) Of course I’ll respect you in the morning
3) I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.
— The three least credible sentences in the English language
😆 Take, care, bro….