It was a tough choice today, to go with the quote, or with the picture…. Apparently, the picture (one of mine, obviously…) got picked, though, in retrospect, the quote might have been simpler to use…. It IS a ready made invitation to discuss a number of subjects, such as human nature, speech, writing, music, and, of course, Bozoid tendencies…. the last, of course, a subject one can apply to almost ANY statement, since it is a Universal quality, common to every human alive…. We can’t get away from it, making it a perfectly suitable for rants of all kinds, as our bozoid natures lead us into ever more complex situations involving our tendency to make BIG mistakes….

I suppose that’s why my sub-conscious mind nudged me into using the picture; it recognized that using the quote would more easily lead to ranting, a habit we’re trying to stop from happening too early in the Pearl…. I haven’t had a whole lot of luck at it, as yet; it’s almost impossible to make any reference to modern society without bumping up against something rantable. I know, I’ve tried…. Ah well, we all know what Yoda said about trying, don’t we?….

Today is the first day I’ve awakened with no more pain than is usual for the period after lying down for so long…. My physique is at a point where being in ANY position, sitting, standing, or lying down, will, after a time, begin to hurt more than it helps, and sleeping at night is no exception….

In fact, I’ve pretty much given up on any normal schedule of sleep/awake time, as I’ve begun to awaken at about 0200, with increasing messages from various body parts that it’s time to get up…. I manage to stay abed until 0300, but, that’s as far as I can push it; I must get up, or continue to get worse pain in my legs and hips, not to mention the lower back, which always needs a large dose of magic cream upon arising in the morning, in order to be able to sit up straight…. SIGH…. it’s getting a bit expensive, too; magic isn’t cheap….

Ah well, so much for whining…. and, definitely enough of it for one day…. I’ve decided to keep trying to post daily, as much as possible, even though it hurts more all the time…. But, I remembered…. It’s going to hurt anyway, so, I may as well just keep on keepin’ on, as best I can…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

Shall we Pearl?

“Every investigation which is guided by principles of Nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.” — Athenaeus (c. 200 AD) — The Deipnosophists, vii, 11

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Here is some old rock and roll, but, with a jazz flavor, by one of the finest fusion artists of our generation…. No one does rock with a jazz flavor like this man…. Enjoy!

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From 9/18/2013:

Yesterday, a new reader was gracious enough to leave a nice comment, and to offer a couple of articles for my perusal, as possible subjects for a future rant…. Both articles are definitely rant-worthy material, so, I’ll oblige his suggestion by starting here….

I talk a lot about the BRC, (Beloved Ruling Class….), and the thievery they commit daily against the public, but, I don’t always provide a lot of examples, preferring to allow ffolkes, and/or folks, to seek out their own evidence…. This is because there is just so damn much of it, and it is so easy to find, I find it a better way to drive the point home, for people will believe it more when they come across the proof themselves, rather than having me provide it for them…. That way I can’t be accused of making it up, or coloring it…..

This article, supplied to me by a reader, is a perfect example of what I’ve often said about the news, to wit: it’s chock full of evidence of the chicanery and nonsense being perpetrated by our beloved rulers, and I don’t even need to point it out, for it’s right there for all to see…. Please, take a moment to read this one, about the governor of Louisiana, that fine old den of corruption in the southern US…. Try not to let the lack of hard evidence presented by the author to support the assertions made influence you, at this point…. just accept it as true for the sake of the argument they make, and worry about the actual paper proofs later…. It’s all there, believe me….

http://grist.org/news/bobby-jindal-to-axe-officials-who-took-on-big-oil/?utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&sub_email=dlw38%40sbcglobal.net

What amazes me most in this article is the sheer effrontery shown by Governor Jindal…. He has no compunctions whatsoever in showing his corruption for all to see, blithely firing people who are trying to make his special interest supporters toe the legal line for their actions, and, in the process, help the people of his state. No, he just ignores any and all cries of outrage, and continues to stuff his pockets with the money they’ve poured into his campaign coffers, while the people of the state, and the state’s environment, get shredded by the corporate assholes who caused the entire problem….

This article shows exactly how far the issue of corruption has progressed in society, as the leaders we have elected are no longer bothering to cover up most of their machinations… This assbite is blithely showing his colors, bright and clear, in the public eye, deliberately firing people who might have made a difference, with no thought or regard for what his own constituency may want. His loyalty is all with the companies who have raped and pillaged the coastal marshes in their search for sources of oil, because they are the ones who are paying him; the people can just go to hell, as far as he is concerned….

But, as I have pointed out previously, the people of Louisiana have only been given exactly what they deserve, for they are the ones who believed his lies during the election process, and elected him to office, knowing full well he was going to screw them over…. I sometimes wonder how these people manage to dress themselves, or feed themselves without help….  I am not particularly surprised by the situation there, though it saddens me to see it. Those marshes and coastal waterways are an important ecological formation, with a lot of animal life that depends on it to live, and I hate to see that get screwed up….

The other article sent by my friend, Dave, is, though also not particularly surprising, even more disturbing, as it shows just how pervasive is the extent of corruption in government…. Canada has the reputation of having one of the most responsive governments in the world, one that seems, for the most part, to care about the people for whom it functions, and tries mostly to do things in a way that promotes societal well-being…. That is their reputation, anyway, even if not fully deserved….

It seems, however, that the madness that infects all the other states in the world seems to have found a place to germinate in the Canadian bureaucracy as well, causing its members to begin to follow the path to madness all the others have been flying down for many years….. This article describes a new policy being promulgated among the Canadian bureaucracies that will easily qualify them to join the ranks of those governments that have given up hiding their paranoia, and are busily pursuing insanity as a way of life….

Scientists, whether employed by universities, or private industry, or the government, are notoriously touchy about being told what to publish; this is an issue that is well-established in history, with the outcome always coming down on the side of the scientists…. In other words, history has shown us, many times, that it is counter-productive for society to muzzle researchers, for they always find a way to get the knowledge out, and all attempts at squashing it are a waste of time…. They (the BRC) keep trying, but, they don’t seem to learn from the past, a sure way to find oneself extinct, as Reality has a way of enforcing its will that is quite unstoppable by any human intervention…..

But, stupidity will have its way, so, they keep trying…. Read the article ffolkes, and realize just how far the world has gone toward piling itself against the wall of reality….. I mean, really….. snowflakes? They’re afraid of snowflakes?…. No, they’re afraid of knowledge, and it makes the BRC nervous to think about the public having all the facts…. Hence, their commitment to blocking the spread of knowledge at every turn, and trying to confuse and distract the public from seeing what they are up to behind the scenes…..

http://grist.org/climate-energy/canada-bans-researchers-from-discussing-snowflakes-findings-scientists-protest/?utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&sub_email=dlw38sbcglobal.net

The proof is there, ffolkes, for anyone to find…. The supposed leaders of our society, at all levels, are corrupt, not to mention clinically insane. They lie to the public in order to get elected, then continue to lie, cheat, and steal for as long as they are allowed to do so. They reward their constituents with more lies, and now have the nerve to show their true allegiance right out in public, as soon as they are sworn into their offices, laughing in the face of the very people who elected them….

Isn’t it about time we all looked at our own complicity in this situation? How long are the people of this country going to allow their public officials to act, not only in ways that don’t benefit the public, but in ways that are actually dangerous to them? How long will the public ignore the unprincipled acts of liars and cheats, whom they have chosen to be their leadership? I’m afraid the answer is all too obvious, to anyone who is able to see, and think about what there is to see…. My own answer to those questions is, it’s already been too long….. I haven’t seen any indication, in history, or in the present, that would show the public was able to throw off the yoke of the unseen masters of society, those super-rich, selfish assholes who determine just how events will transpire….

There is no point in history where mankind has been free of the influence and control of those in society who control all the resources. None…. If anyone can look back, and point out to me any time when that isn’t true, please, do so, and I will discuss the ramifications of that with great pleasure…. But, I’m a fair student of history, and I don’t find any place, anywhere in history, when our species has been free of the control of these silent rulers…. nor do I think we’ll ever be able to do so, not until a much greater percentage of the public is allowed to see the evidence of their handiwork, and realize just how badly, and how long, they have screwed the rest of us….

But, hey, it DOES give me something to rant about, whenever a new piece of evidence is allowed to be published…. Even if the stuff that we see isn’t any real threat to them, it’s encouraging to see that there is SOME degree of resistance to them, even if it is doomed to failure in the long run…. The people who run the world, for real, have had a long time to practice staying out of the public eye, and running things from the shadows….. They’re very good at it, so, don’t expect any large revelations, or any huge lights being thrown on the shadowy limits of their existence…. They won’t allow anything that has any real chance of doing them harm to occur, you can be sure of that…..

Including shutting up people like me, should they ever feel the tiniest bit threatened by my words, or my attempts to make known just how deeply their control extends into our lives….. If I was doing them any real harm, you can bet they would have shut me down by now, so, it’s clear that, for now at least, I’m just another voice, shouting in the wilderness, without any real hope of harming them, or even giving them a moments discomfort….. But, I’ll keep trying, because, hey, that’s who I am….

gigoid has spoken…. so be it….

“A form of open-mindedness is the pathway to wisdom. Close your mind and you open the way for ignorance to flourish, but you will never even know it.” — Smart Bee

Whoops…. Sorry, thought I was done. But, then, this pearl dropped into my lap, and it just MADE me add it in here, to make the point, finally, and completely…. The following paragraph is unattributed in Smart Bee, my quote database, so I don’t know who said it first… Nor, I think, do I WANT to know, for they are evil, evil, I say…. This is a perfect statement of the attitude of almost every human being alive today, at least, every one of them who is involved in the governing of countries….. Read it, think about it…. this is EXACTLY the way they view the world, and it is sick, sick, sick, ffolkes…. no other word fits so well…..

“It is not possible to find morality in struggles for power. Your enemies view you as you do them and likely regard themselves as virtuous in their attempts at mayhem upon you. In struggles for power, your judgments should be based entirely on self-interest and finding as direct and economical a route to your goal as possible. If that route is bloody and barbaric, so much the worse for those who oppose you.”– Smart Bee, channeling any politician, dogma dog, or other card-carrying member of the BRC….

Note from 2014:

Whew! I believe I got a bit carried away there, didn’t I? Ah well, it’s all true, so, what the hell; such truths always bear repeating, though no one may listen at all…. At least I’ve gotten it all out of MY head…. but, I’m left with the following all-too-true observation as my only remaining available, and appropriate, comment….

“Taxation WITH representation ain’t so hot either.’ — Gerald Barzan

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Sometimes, a pearl comes together without much conscious help from me; it’s certain that SB is often of little help, though today doesn’t seem to be a case in point…. This one, though a trifle complex & obscure, nonetheless hits me in just the right spot, so, it’s in, with no argument…. Not that it will be of any help to you in deciphering whatever it is trying to say, but, remember, better out than in, I say, and it’s true, at least in spirit, no matter what part of life we’re discussing….

“Your paradigm is so intrinsic to your mental process that you are hardly aware of its existence, until you try to communicate with someone with a different paradigm.” — Donella Meadows, The Global Citizen

“Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, “God forbid that it should ever befall me!” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Dionysius

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

“He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xiv

“Weary is the path that does not challenge.  Doubt is an incentive to truth and patient inquiry leadeth the way.” — Smart Bee

“Old places and old persons in their turn, when spirit dwells in them, have an intrinsic vitality of which youth is incapable, precisely, the balance and wisdom that come from long perspectives and broad foundations.” — George Santayana

“My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary.” — Albert Einstein

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The effort expended yesterday, during another day of agony, to complete as much of this as possible ahead of time, has worked out quite well… Here ’tis, only 0430, and today’s post is done…. Well, the hard part is done, anyway…. Posting it is fairly simple, so, we’ll get to that, and maybe get a good start on tomorrow… What the hell, my schedule/routine is in deep modification mode, so why not? See y’all later, ffolkes…. tomorrow, if I’m lucky….  Y’all, of course, will need to decide, whether luck has anything to do with it, for yourselves….