Ffolkes,
— i.e., none to speak of.”
~~ Lazarus Long ~~
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of NGC 7049 in the constellation of Indus, in the southern sky. A family of globular clusters appears as glittering spots dusted around the galaxy halo. Astronomers study the globular clusters in NGC 7049 to learn more about its formation and evolution. The dust lanes, which appear as a lacy web, are dramatically backlit by the millions of stars in the halo of NGC 7049.
Constellation Indus, NGC 7049
Click to see enlarged image
Buenos dias, gente…. In my most egregiously avaricious dreams, I’ve never really wanted much; to live about 200 years, and, to see my kids happy is about what it has boiled down to. Beyond that, I’m pretty content with what I’ve got, and what I’ve always had…. Money, other than as a tool, has never entered into anything I’ve wanted. It’s probably due to having heard, somewhere from someone, before the age of 11, “If you wish a life of trouble, fill your house with treasure.” For some reason, that struck a chord in my young mind, so, I thought about it pretty long and hard, considering. The result was a firm conviction to never seek treasure, or possessions, or more than I needed to survive relatively comfortably.
Of course, I didn’t think it quite that way at 11; some of that evolved over time, as I learned to apply it to my life over the years…. Now I’m an OOF, I can look back, and feel pretty good about it all; you see, other than those times I’ve made bad internal decisions, same as any human, I’m happy with all I’ve done, and have now…. In looking back over HISTORY (all caps intentional, giving it oomph, to imply ALL of it….), I can honestly say I’ve lived my life at least as honorably as I could, (not to mention, a good deal more honorably than many of histories more famous figures) given the handicaps implied in having the unfortunate luck to have a Human nature, which pushes us all to find and take the easiest way much of the time, rather than the right way…. It’s a basic flaw in all of us; male, female, skin color, whatever, we all are inherently lazy(*), and, it’s gotten us in trouble for centuries now….
(*) About the hard stuff in life, anyway…. stuff such as physical work, morality, ethics, emotional growth, cultural growth…. You know, nothing most folks can’t do without, as long as nobody asks them to be responsible for anything.
Gosh. That’s sort of heavy, isn’t it, for an intro? I don’t know exactly what happened, other than to say, sorry, if appropriate, for engaging too many neurons right off the bat, especially after the light-hearted feel to the opening line from Lazarus. It all just flowed out; even Leelu was entranced…. Well, for a while…. She came up, sat & watched intently as I typed all of the above; she got up then, walked directly in front of my face, and went to lie elsewhere, a clear clue to change direction, I’d say. Especially since it’s NOT morning, nor is this even today’s Pearl I’m working on (I think; sometimes I can’t always remember where the Tardis has left me, especially when I’m writing….)
There. That should do it. We’ve successfully disengaged from the serious vein with which I started this mess; now, we can really start fucking things up, as is our usual habit this time of day. You know, we’ve had some good results from letting Luigi indulge his love of speed; I think we’ll try it again today. That means restraints are now optional, but, we insist you put your beverage in the holders provided…. Thanks…..
Luigi! They fell for it; take it away!….
Shall we Pearl?….
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~~ last words of Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator [1890] ~~
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Image from palmbeachpost.com via Google Images
I tried to download the entire playlist, consisting of 98 videos, but, apparently, they’ll play, but not follow. Ah well, just let the music play; anything this man plays becomes better than originally intended by the composer. I first saw him play when he and I were both children, on the Ed Sullivan show, where I was astounded at the talent he displayed, playing some classical tune I don’t remember, but, with such obvious joy, it impressed me very strongly…. Witness now possibly the finest violinist of the twentieth century, and beyond, one of mankind’s treasures, and a testament to the power of the human will, to not merely overcome his handicaps, but, to show how truly insignificant they are in comparison to the human spirit…..
Tango
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I’m having a bout of insomnia, thanks once more to my lovely personal physicians, may they always be infested with fleas…. Normally, or, as close as we ever come to normally, that would/could produce a rant of its own; tonight/today, however, it has stimulated merely some mild annoyance, and a wish for a bit of peace (some sleep would be nice, too…. SIGH…. Ya never know what you’re gonna miss until it’s gone, do ya?). We’ll deal with that in our default manner, with a short, meandering little pearl from 2012. Enjoy, please, or suffer the consequence, to wit: a short period of severe boredom….
From 9/8/2012:
“It is popularly supposed that between those who use the word “God” and those who do not there is some great gulf. But the gulf lies elsewhere. It lies between those who dogmatize, either positively or negatively, and those who recognize in great humility that something within them bears witness to realities which may be momentous in our lives, but which lie beyond the grasping net of our categories of thought.” — Smart Bee
Yet more proof of Murphy’s presence in Life…. or, in my life, anyway….. Yesterday I wrote about this subject, expounding as I am wont to do with no little enthusiasm, trying to bring some clarity to a naturally murky subject (it’s hard to pin down anything solidly when the subject under discussion is a matter of conjecture, not physically present to be examined….). Then, later in the day, I come across this one short paragraph, that summarizes my 3-400 words succinctly in three lines, and very clearly, for all its brevity. SIGH….. So much for originality, eh? Though I don’t know who said it, I salute them….
“In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.” — Edward P. Tryon
Once more, I have to agree with the author, especially as it gives a sort of pat on the shoulder to the paragraph above, as if sharing an obvious point. Serendipity, I say, and well met….
“When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.” — Bernard Bailey
This one, when viewed in light of the previous two quotes, made me smile, big….. now, why is that? Because when he says a lot, he means, A LOT OF PEOPLE!…..
“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways, Yossarian continued There’s nothing mysterious about it, He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?” — Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Funny how people under stress always get so close to the truth; it makes the one who hears it more nervous and upset than he who said it…. or it that just me? Of course it is…. Why shouldn’t it be me? What’s the matter with me? Don’t you like me?….. Sorry…. any who, let’s see what else the magic can find….
“Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast and you ask me what you shall put in its place?” — Voltaire
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
~~ T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ~~
I’m not sure why, but this excerpt from T.S. Eliot seems to be the perfect finishing line for the above meandering treatise…. and it is as close to a verifiable point as we’re going to get today, I can tell…. so, best leave it be for now, and go on to something else…. Or, in this case, to something the same….
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On 9/8/2012, when I wrote and posted the above treatise, I also used this poem as the choice for the day. It still fits, and makes perfect sense, given the ending of the above section…. Enjoy!….
Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoon
You have the scene arrange itself–as it will seem to do–
With “I have saved this afternoon for you”;
And four wax candles in the darkened room,
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead,
An atmosphere of Juliet’s tomb
Prepared for all the things to be said, or left unsaid.
We have been, let us say, to hear the latest Pole
Transmit the Preludes, though his hair and fingertips.
“So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul
Should be resurrected only among friends
Some two or three, who will not touch the bloom
That is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.”
–And so the conversation slips
Among velleities and carefully caught regrets
Through attenuated tones of violins
Mingled with remote cornets
And begins.
“You do not know how much they mean to me, my friends,
And how, how rare and strange it is, to find
In a life composed so much, so much of odds and ends,
[For indeed I do not love it . . . you knew? you are not blind!
How keen you are!]
To find a friend who has these qualities,
Who has, and gives
Those qualities upon which friendship lives.
How much it means that I say this to you–
Without these friendships–life, what cauchemar!”
Among the windings of the violins
And the ariettes
Of cracked cornets
Inside my brain a dull tom-tom begins
Absurdly hammering a prelude of its own,
Capricious monotone
That is at least one definite “false note.”
–Let us take the air, in a tobacco trance,
Admire the monuments,
Discuss the late events,
Correct our watches by the public clocks.
Then sit for half and hour and drink our bocks.
T. S. Eliot
I don’t care what anyone says…. this is some good stuff….. a worthy goal to shoot for, wouldn’t you agree?…… Not in hope of exceeding, but merely to equal the power of this man’s work is worthy of any effort…..
********************************
You may wonder why the girl is laughing, and, sure enough I’ll tell you…. She’s laughing at me, for my emotional investment in how these come out; while this one was processing itself, I went through all sorts of mental contortions trying to decide what it meant, and, getting all worked up at HOW it came together….
It seemed at first as if it would go on forever; I had the first seven gems in place in no time. It then took a strange turn, and the pearls became rare as their counterparts in reality. Eventually, it sorted itself out, sort of; I still am unsure of exactly what it’s trying to say about Life at Large, beyond the obvious advice to use one’s mind to one’s best advantage…. Perhaps that’s enough…. Either way, the little girl had fun, and so did the camel….
And no man knows distinctly anything,
And no man ever will.
~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pyrrho, viii ~~
“Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 865
“Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iv, 20
“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne
“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” — Benjamin Franklin
“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, viii, 22
“It is not length of life, but depth of life.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.” — La Fontaine
********************************
Some days this process sort of runs itself; much of today’s post fits into that category easily. But, it has that one distinctive characteristic for which we constantly strive, to wit: it’s done. As such, we’ll go post it, and start on tomorrow’s mess, to get a running start at it, so to speak. Until then, y’all be chill, and good to each other…. I’ll be back, and we all know who said that….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
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
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 
8:59 am here!
“History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion
— i.e., none to speak of.”
~~ Lazarus Long ~~
Except For A Current State
of Science That Shows Humans
Without a Bond That Binds Together
in Some Kind of Holy and Sacred
Meaning and Purpose of
Life even if
it is only
‘A Super Bowl’
With Butts Shakiring
And J Loing other wise
Will Fall Apart into Chaos
As Humans Without Social
Glue of Oxytocin
to Work
Together
in Hard Ships
And Soft Ships Do Once Again Other Wise
Hopefully With ‘Hips that Do not Lie’ at least..:)
“What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~~ last words of Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator [1890] ~~
Yes.. This is God’s Face Nature
“It is popularly supposed that between those who use the word “God” and those
who do not there is some great gulf. But the gulf lies elsewhere. It lies between
those who dogmatize, either positively or negatively, and those who recognize in
great humility that something within them bears witness to realities which may be
momentous in our lives, but which lie beyond the grasping net of our categories of thought.”
— Smart Bee
When Words Become
God Nature of God Lost
In Even More Cultural Clothes of Ignorance Now
“In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our
Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.”
— Edward P. Tryon
Breath of Life
No More Sacred
When We Feel ’til Die
“When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people
will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”
— Bernard Bailey
Considering Quantum Mechanics Suggests
That All Distance, Space, Time and Matter
Are Illusion All is All With No Separation
All is
Center
of Existence now
in other Words ‘A
Living God’ ALL Now..:)
“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways, Yossarian continued There’s nothing
mysterious about it, He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us.
That’s the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine
system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological
mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements?
Why in the world did He ever create pain?”
— Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Duh; So Joy Will
Exist No Matter How
it ComeS AGAiN Joy is Real When it comes after Pain
And As Good As God Exists As Nature’s Face of Us…;)
“Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what
shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood
of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast and you ask me what you shall put
in its place?”
— Voltaire
The New Messiah
The Same Old Testament Messiah (Trumps) ‘Christian’
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
~~ T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ~~
Crustacean Stand Up Straight And Raise Your Claws to Serotonin FiLLeD FeeL..;)
Portrait of a Lady
Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoon
You have the scene arrange itself–as it will seem to do–
With “I have saved this afternoon for you”;
And four wax candles in the darkened room,
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead,
An atmosphere of Juliet’s tomb
Prepared for all the things to be said, or left unsaid.
We have been, let us say, to hear the latest Pole
Transmit the Preludes, though his hair and fingertips.
“So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul
Should be resurrected only among friends
Some two or three, who will not touch the bloom
That is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.”
–And so the conversation slips
Among velleities and carefully caught regrets
Through attenuated tones of violins
Mingled with remote cornets
And begins.
“You do not know how much they mean to me, my friends,
And how, how rare and strange it is, to find
In a life composed so much, so much of odds and ends,
[For indeed I do not love it . . . you knew? you are not blind!
How keen you are!]
To find a friend who has these qualities,
Who has, and gives
Those qualities upon which friendship lives.
How much it means that I say this to you–
Without these friendships–life, what cauchemar!”
Among the windings of the violins
And the ariettes
Of cracked cornets
Inside my brain a dull tom-tom begins
Absurdly hammering a prelude of its own,
Capricious monotone
That is at least one definite “false note.”
–Let us take the air, in a tobacco trance,
Admire the monuments,
Discuss the late events,
Correct our watches by the public clocks.
Then sit for half and hour and drink our bocks.
T. S. Eliot
CHeWinG the Fat
Online No Calories.
No Distance, Space,
Time or Even Matter At All..:)
Xenophanes speaks thus:–
And no man knows distinctly anything,
And no man ever will.
~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pyrrho, viii ~~
True it all comes
From Deep Within
Without KNoWinG
Wisdom
Rises
Below Above..:)
“Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.”
— Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 865
IT Doesn’t Matter
“Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no
more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.”
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iv, 20
A God That Requires Affirmation, Validation, Praise
WorShip For Existence Obviously only Exists as the
Projection of a Narcissistic Soul As Disorder of ‘Trumps’
“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.”
— Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne
Yes.. YeT A Dance And Song A IS..:)
“He who knows best knows how little he knows.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Once Again
RiSinG From WiTHiN..:)
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Or Let ReaSon Go Simply Dance Free Float on Land
FloW iN Heaven EterNaLLY NoW For No Cost But Free..:)
“Look to the essence of a thing, whether
it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.”
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, viii, 22
True.. Empty Shells of ‘See Life’ Do Not Live Except
for the Memories of the House they Create to LiVE..:)
“It is not length of life, but depth of life.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Now Is as Long as Forever Now
“Death never takes
the wise man by surprise,
he is always ready to go.”
— La Fontaine
For He Understands
Death is Not Living
No Other Choice But LiVE NoW
or Die
Now
LiViNG or Dead..:)