After adding penalties, it’s free…

Posted on December 31, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“How many northern Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

“None of your f***ing business and have a nice day.”

~~ Curmudgeon Bee ~~

Fish for Dinner

Hajime…. Now, THAT’S the proper pearl to begin the final post for 2015. It took me nearly three days to find it, but, every minute was worth every second…. The critical factor for understanding such an assertion is, simply, I AM a northern Californian. Though born about 230 miles south of where I now reside in the Golden State, I’ve lived north of the Bay for most of it….

Almost needless to say, it also provides me, and, any other potential/practicing curmudgeons, a perfect line for using on Mundanes, in one variation or another, when suddenly confronted with the numerous acts of random, yet grindingly consistent, gross stupidity, in the form of a question, which, by any person with functioning neurons, would be considered rhetorical….

There…. Was that cynical & insulting enough? I hope so, I worked hard to make it so. If nobody is offended, all I can say is, damn! Where did I go wrong?….. If THAT’S not enough, well, all I can say is, y’all had best find your spare brain; this one ain’t workin’….

Hah! Let’s throw in a “Whew!”, as well. I’m done now. Sorry, just had to get that out. I’ll try not to let it break out so vehemently again….. today. I shan’t make any promises for tomorrow; you know how I hate to make promises I’m not likely to keep. No worries, though. I think I probably have enough strange left in me to get through a Pearl, especially one with the natural advantage of landing on a holiday, to either celebrate, sell, ignore, or, explore the meaning thereof, the last of which probably isn’t a good idea today….. I’m liable to, literally, and, literature-ally, go off…. Then, of course, there’s the figurative…. No, let’s not even go there….

I think, perhaps, we should get on with it. What do y’all think? Oh, right. No ‘perhaps’ about that…. Well, I think so, and I’m the one typing here, so, I guess that puts me in the driver’s seat, doesn’t it? Duh…. Okay, then, we’ll have it YOUR way.

Maestro, on with the slow….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance called “faith”.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

(Just a teaser for what is coming; if you are uncomfortable with ambiguity, or, uncertainty, maybe you should think about skipping from the video to the poetry section…. Fair warning….)

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Townes Van Zandt

Image from amoeba.com via Google Images

Today’s video selection is the result of a comment yesterday from a friend, who sent me a link to one of his tunes (Thanks!) …. I realized I had not used his music yet; since he is one of my most favored artists, there was no hesitation at all in deciding to include him today. Hell, his song, Pancho and Lefty, is one I’ve been playing & singing myself, damn near every time I play, for about 40 years, or more…. I’ve played it with my BFF, Tommy Tumbleweed, in a smoky, loud, crowded bar, more times than I can remember…. Enjoy, ffolkes… Townes is one of the best poets to ever pick up a guitar…..

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Townes Van Zandt

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https://youtu.be/K6O9eRvNs5k

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Taking another day off here, ffolkes; fresh rants coming soon…. For now, let’s go back to, oh, a bit more than three years ago, to see what was going on in this silly, yet, earnest mind of mine…..

From 12/2/2012:

“There is one God, but which one is He?”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Now, this is the proper use of reason and inquiry! Such a small question, made gargantuan by the depth of its insight. Which one, indeed, is the real God? There are as many answers to this question as there are what I like to call “preachers”, for want of a better word (I should maybe try to pick a better one, I suppose….); “preachers” are men, or women, who have decided upon one particular system of beliefs on the subject of divinity as being the correct one, to the exclusion of all the others. In spite of the lack of hard evidence on hand for any of the different belief systems, these folks choose one, and stick to it like a barnacle…. which, come to think of it, is probably what it feels like, after a while….

Depending on to whom the question is put, the answer may vary from Odin the All Father of Norse mythology, to the God of Zoroaster, whose specific appellation escapes me just now. In between you will find God, also known as Yahweh/Jehovah to the those of the Tribe, Allah to the Muslims, and just plain, old God, to most of the Christian sects. There is the voodoo god, Jobu, in the Caribbean; Set, or Bal, or Mammon, or any of the other ancient earth gods; Ra of the Egyptians; Krishna, and all his incarnations, i.e., Kali, Yama, Ganesha, Maya, and the others in the Hindu pantheon. The American Indians seemed to favor the Great Spirit. Ancient Druids, from the dawn of Man’s history, and, modern Wiccans, follow the Goddess, with gods and goddesses from the Greeks and Romans thrown into the mix, just for fun. The list seems as endless as human imagination…. which it is, since all of them spring from that source.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

~~ Smart Bee (and, most likely, the Dalai Lama….) ~~

As far as I know, Buddha never claimed to be a god, and, was, to my mind, not particularly clear on the subject of divinity, as directly related to humanity. The same seems true of Taoism, though certain of its sages seem to hold some of the old Chinese mythology beliefs on Heaven, and the creatures who inhabit that domain, another concept for which there is only imaginary evidence to support its veracity, and its reality. In this way, I see these philosophies as superior to the religious doctrines that purport to worship a deity, as they rely on reason, personal responsibility, and compassion to direct action, rather than fear of reprisal, or hope for reward, as is the wont of religious dogma and doctrine.

This perception of mine may be because I have always thought that the entire concept of a deity is not capable of being described, or understood, if one is to assume that a god is what it claims to be. How can a mortal understand an immortal? There is no common ground, other than the assumption of existence, for which there can be any reason for one to be connected to the other, as we could not comprehend their existence. We, limited to our human perceptions, have no direct evidence of a deity that can be experienced by those perceptions.

Anyone who tells you they do is lying, even if they believe it to be true, unless they can share that experience with another human, directly, with evidence for the senses we possess, not merely for what we wish to be true. Feelings don’t count, nor visions only seen by them, or voices in the head; neither do personal revelations, or religious fevers, or speaking in tongues…. See, hear, touch, smell, taste…. that’s what we have, along with the ability to reason, and our imagination. That is our tool kit; unless one of the tools fits, it isn’t real, to our perceptive ability. Items purported to be evidence that come from imagination are just that; imaginary, and cannot be considered proof of anything other than the naivete of the speaker, and, of any who choose to believe them.

“It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.”

~~ George Santayana ~~

SIGH…. People are people, though, and they will choose what to believe according to what they feel, most of the time, rather than according to what is the truth, which requires effort to find. It has even been said that humans have a tendency, more often than not, to make choices that are bad for them, just for that reason, that it is too much effort to think their way through to the truth that would ultimately help them. As long as this is true, our species is in danger, from itself, and its own delusions…. Sad, in a species of such promise….

And on the 8th day, God woke up and said “Whew! It was just a dream!”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

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Dreaming, I wait….

In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.

Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.

Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.

Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.

Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.

When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.

Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/8/2013

********************************

Naked Pearls

Life

Within the oyster’s shell uncouth
The purest pearl may hide,
Trust me you’ll find a heart of truth
Within that rough inside.

~~ Mrs. Osgood ~~

*************

“A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak.”

~~ Michael Garrett Marino ~~

*************

“There is not enough love and kindness in the world
to permit us to give any of it to imaginary beings.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

*************

“There is no time like the pleasant.”

~~ George Bergman ~~

*************

45. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

~~ Instructions for life ~~

*************

“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

*************

“There’s too much beauty upon this earth for lonely men to bear.”

~~ Richard Le Gallienne ~~

*************

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

~~ Plato ~~

*************

陶德清

Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being
You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn.
Search your own heart and see
the way to do is to be.

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

老子

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It’s done. For this we are grateful. We are also, as you can see, stuck in the royal ‘we’ again. We shall leave you now, with no further ado, as this condition can last for days…. We are sorry, but, as royals, we are never tired, never cross, and like hospitals. It’s in the manual, right before the section on how to act smarmy and superior without any real clue…. See y’all tomorrow, we are sure….

Y’all take care out there,
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….

Incidents of random iridescence….

Posted on December 30, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.”

~~ Walt Kelly, “Pogo” ~~

A Graceful Death

Hajime…. Not sure why, but, woke up today in a crusty mood; it must be the shoes. Who knows, &, moreover, who cares? I don’t, not today. In fact, it may not be possible to describe just how little a fuck I give today, so I won’t try. I’ll merely refer you to the previous sentence for an example, & be done with it. In point of fact, I’m in such a place right now to be done with this intro; being retired, I can damn well do what I please, so, I say, without caring at all about repeating myself, fuck it. I declare this intro section complete….

So be it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.” — Bill Vaughan

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royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

No intro needed, ffolkes. Y’all have been in this section before, when it reset to default…. Enjoy, if you please….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/jgpJVI3tDbY

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Le Penseur ~~ August Rodin

I’m taking a break from ranting; the piece posted recently, on the Plague of Evil, used up quite a bit of the angst I’d collected for a while…. Here, then, is an excellent discussion of Reality and Life, from 2013…. It’s a lot shorter than y’all are used to, believe me….

From 3/26/2013:

“Commonly, physicians, like beer, are best when they are old, and lawyers, like bread, when they are young and new.” — Fuller

“As to Jesus of Nazareth…. I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity.” — Benjamin Franklin

Well, as you can see, Smart Bee is being a bit recalcitrant, an event which, though usually not a good thing, did give me the opportunity to use the word “recalcitrant”; that doesn’t often happen…. Any who, I’m having a bit of trouble finding a pearl, or a group of pearls, that would be suitable for either a rant, or an old-school quest; the two above are the best I can find, in over an hour of searching. Though not too bad, they aren’t quite right for either process, and not strong enough to stand alone, in my opinion. So, I’ll cheat again, with another blast from the past…. this one will be a random choice, the first one I come across that will fit physically into this space, so I have no idea what it will be like….

From 4/10/12:

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”

~~ Proverb ~~

This sort of pearl is much, much deeper than it appears at first glance. (Note: It seems common to find the most complex and deep issues most often described or related in very short sentences. Hmm…. probably something to do with K.I.S.S., in which the universe believes, strongly….) Applied as a metaphor for human interactions with reality, it assumes an even greater degree of relevance, as it implies both choice and hope. Both are always present, but not always in view; such aphorisms as this can help one to find where they are standing, hidden in plain sight….

It is eminently clear to most people, by now, reality does not adjust to our desires; any adjustments made must be on our part, as we have absolutely no power to change any aspect of reality other than our response to it. A hard lesson, one many never learn, or come to terms with; such a failure almost guarantees they will find life to be one long struggle, as their days are spent futilely trying to make what is, into what they wish it to be. To use the analogy provided, they never learn to trim the sails of their vessel, thus, find themselves constantly fighting with, and cursing, the wind, never realizing their own lack of understanding is what sends them scuttling off in confusion, into uncharted waters, or, into the metaphorical rocks.

Thus, from simplicity does great wisdom arise; to reach one’s desired destination in life, one must learn to trim and adjust the sails of our vessel, to make the best use of the wind the universe sends in our direction. Or, more plainly, we can only make changes to ourselves, not reality. Learning this one simple lesson can turn a life out of balance completely around, giving it the direction and stability it has ever sought, allowing the most troubled soul to sail into the light, and out of the darkness that engulfs those who argue with reality….

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Pensive early and late…

Endings aren’t always a new beginning
I’m sad to say.
Sometimes it’s just an ending
there’s always a price to pay.

Still, it’s only money, he said
watching it piss away
Did everything ‘cept meet Fred
‘n had a good time the whole way.

Even the bad stuff turned out well,
life lessons are just that way.
Knowing what’s right, you can’t always tell,
we don’t always know the right things to say.

I’ll take all the hard times, without complaint,
learning isn’t always easy to take.
Kindness, patience, and compassion without restraint,
are still the best decisions we can make.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/26/2013

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Naked Pearls

Know Thy Self

************

“Be what you is,
’cause if you is what you ain’t,
then you ain’t what you is.”

~~ Satchel Paige ~~

************

“Know the enemy and know yourself;
in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself,
your chances of winning or losing are equal.
If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself,
you are certain in every battle to be in peril.

~~ Sun Tzu (fl. c. B.C. 500) ~~

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“What’s earth with all its art, verse, music, worth
compared with love, found, gained and kept?”

~~ Robert Browning ~~

************

“Life is more important than art;
that’s what makes art important.

— James Baldwin

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“A lie never lives to be old.”

— Sophocles — Acrisius, Frag. 59

************

No teacher I of boys or smaller fry,
No teacher I of teachers, no, not I.
Mine was the distant aim, the longer reach,
To teach men how to teach men how to teach.

— A B Ramsay

************

Drop the question what tomorrow may bring,
and count as profit every day that fate allows you.

— Horace

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“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?”

— Zippy the Pinhead

************

“The Journey is the Reward,
Not the Destination.”

~~ Zen Koan ~~

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That’s it, ffolkes. That’s all I got today. I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out the issue making me so grumpy, & will deal with it as best I may through the day. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it will, at least, not give me such a deep case of the grumps…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, with a bit of luck & perseverance…

Y’all take care out there,
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….

If A, then B, C is odd, Z is imaginary….

Posted on December 29, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.”

~~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne ~~

~~ Essays, Book i, Chap. xxx, Of Cannibals ~~

I’m busy; what’s YOUR issue?

Hajime…. I am up, but, thus far, without coffee, so, I wouldn’t expect a lot of sense right now, of ANY nature other than weird, or, confused. But, then, seldom do we ever approach even a tangential orbit to common sense at all, so, I don’t see how it will make any difference, in the final analysis. That, of course, is IF we can find anyone who’ll come here to make any such analysis; anyone who WOULD do it probably can’t be trusted to be either fair, or, competent to any real degree…. So, what the hell, we’ll wing it….

As if it wasn’t already obvious we’re doing so, no doubt, as a standard policy. That, frankly, would be untrue, and, unkind as well, so, let’s not even go there, eh? But, wait, there’s more! Not just more, but, way more, which is probably not much better than less, especially on such a morning when making any sense out of what you will see is, pretty much, a wash. Yep, in fact, I am sure…. No, make that, I’m positive, we won’t be seeing a lot of the common sort of sense today; nonsense seems to be the order of the day…. Unless, of course, we get some coffee soon…..

What the hell was that? I’ve downed a couple sips, & went back over the above…. If I weren’t a professional, I’d start over….

Wait! Nobody’s paying me for this, so, I’m NOT a pro…. Whew….. Okay, I’ll start over.

Hajime…. Hmm. Nope. I don’t think that’s gonna do for our purposes today, either….. Especially since, as I began to start thinking about what to put in, that might possibly save this from complete disaster, I realized NOBODY could do that…. This one, I can see, is, frankly, and earnestly, too, hopeless, and should be abandoned as quickly as possible…. Hence, the small device you see in my hand…. Oh, right… You can’t see my hand…. Oh, well, that’s okay, this is beyond help anyway…. In fact, I’m going to shut the fuck up, now, until further down the page a bit…. See y’all at the oyster beds….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Here’s Looking at you, kid.”

~~ Casablanca ~~

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Image from mtv.com via Google Images

I chose this video simply because it had all Roy’s songs in one place; plus, the sound quality is excellent, even with poor speakers. I just felt like some easy, feel-good music; there’s nobody whose voice is easier to listen to than Roy’s….. Enjoy, ffolkes; we all lost a treasure when Roy passed on to the next adventure…..

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Roy Orbison
Greatest Hits

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https://youtu.be/gPa_E6d5L8s

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Back in 2004, for several months, I wrote a column for a small local newspaper, both print and online versions. It was titled Gigoid’s Folly, with the intention to use the column as a platform for encouraging public discussion of computer issues, and the effects of those relatively new issues on everyday life in America…. This was one of the articles posted….

Note from 2015: I’ve made some minor changes, involving what I’ve learned about grammar, and good writing, since 2004, not to mention small changes to formatting to fit into current software and blogging requirements; technology has jumped another 50 years in the past 11…. None of the ideas were altered at all…… In fact, I can see traces in there of gigoid’s latest efforts…. or, rather, the germinating seeds of those incredible messes efforts…. Enjoy!

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Gigoid’s Folly ~ Episode VII

Reality, in its’ inimitable way, has somewhat less-than-politely smacked me, (and you, as well, if you hadn’t noticed), smartly about the head and shoulders, bringing inevitably to mind the following truism, inspired by Samuel R. Delaney, to wit: “True power, in the real world, consists of control of the routes of perception.” It is also too bad cupidity isn’t always immediately painful… or, in the words of Fred, the philosophical penguin from Odd’s Bodkins, “Politics is poopadoodle.” And that’s the last you’ll hear from me about that subject. Well, maybe not the very last, but enough for this decade…..

“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.” (Some of you may have heard this previously.) The opposite possible reaction is also true, that is, flexibility in the face of change tends to smooth out even the most turbulent situations. Consider this also: each of us differs in our reaction to changes in the world around us, giving rise to even more variables, (often called the “spice of life”).

Fortunately, or in some cases, unfortunately, each new situation also creates new choices for us to make. Choices create opportunities, both good and bad, each of which may perhaps necessitate even more changes. This “hall of mirrors” effect can make reality a slippery concept, and can obviously produce a great deal of confusion. Very frequently we are left feeling as if we were going through life without any real control over what happens to us, internally, or, externally.

As may be surmised by the above, I’ve felt this way myself at times. There is soooo much information out there, and so little time to comprehend even a significant portion of what is available, it’s no wonder the whole world seems uneasy, confused, and struggling, most of the time. The rapid advancements in computer technology over the last quarter century have certainly aided in narrowing the gap, by providing the means to manipulate more and more data, faster and faster. Far from easing our sense of lack of control, however, this increased capacity for data manipulation can bring about further feelings of being out of touch, as our own ability to process the data we perceive is outstripped by the seemingly endless parade of information made accessible by new and faster machines.

Since there is more information than we can possibly utilize, how, then, can we make the best use of what we are able to absorb? To be brutally honest, I don’t know of any sure-fire answers. I know that I spend at least four hours a day just trying to stay abreast of the latest news that interests me (i.e., sports, computers & technology, food & dining, community & culture, business, etc.), and I constantly have the feeling that I’m missing a lot, even though I consider myself to be pretty efficient at processing information.

Modern software offers a multitude of ways of condensing many different information sources into one easily accessed program, such as web portals/directories, email newsletters, RSS feeds, news services, bulletin boards, forums, and many other formats. This is where the choices I mentioned become critical. Each person has to decide how they prefer to receive and process information, and choose the means appropriate to their personal learning style. I use the word ‘critical’ in the sense that it’s important to make good choices, as it is extremely easy to waste a lot of time & energy sifting through a multitude of less than optimal sources for information. The World Wide Web is HUGE, and, believe me, there are more crappy sites than good ones!

In today’s frenetic world, as it takes progressively greater efforts to keep up with daily life, it becomes attractive to many to just give up, to pay little or no attention to the integrity of one’s sources of information. It’s easier by far to NOT read the news (from numerous different sources, for purposes of verification and corroboration); for many, it is easier to sit down, stop thinking, and, listen to it on radio, or, more often these days, watch it on TV. After a hard day of work, where the need to be mentally alert is paramount, most folks don’t want to expend the energy required for reading and/or critical thought, ending up, usually, making little effort to ascertain the validity of what they see or hear. Only a small percentage of people regard thinking as relaxation, sadly enough.

Aha! At last we come to the key! The mind is not separate from the body, though we tend to speak of them as such. They are one organism, and the requirements for keeping one’s consciousness in optimal operating condition are the same as those for keeping physically healthy, to wit: adequate nourishment (accurate data), adequate rest (time for dreaming), and lots of exercise (cogitate, ponder, cerebrate, deduce, infer, reflect, reason, imagine, ruminate, invent, deliberate, meditate, consider, speculate, think!).

The last activity in the above paragraph, exercise, is indubitably the most important factor, though a balance of all three is, of course, essential to optimal health. The mind is just like a muscle; the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. If you don’t use it, it becomes atrophied, flaccid and weak, good for little beyond deciding whether to pop the next beer before, or, after the commercial with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

Once again, as life itself makes it clear, the choices we make in life are critical indicators of our direction, or lack of it. Those choices provide proof, personal responsibility is the ultimate deciding factor in determining the course of our lives. Choose ignorance and sloth, and life becomes an unending succession of making choices based on lowered expectations, a lifetime of limited opportunity. Choose to exercise the will, strive to evolve, and life becomes a wondrous landscape of enrichment, and, enlightenment, where everything perceived is interesting, serving as a springboard for the exploration of unimaginable vistas.

Of course, there is a great deal of middle ground between these two ideals, as with any subject involving people. It’s difficult to fit all human beans into the same jar…. we don’t always fit. I suppose it’s part of our charm to be unpredictable, rather like a pale imitation of reality itself….. It remains to be seen if we have sufficiently charmed the Universe into allowing us to proceed unmolested along the path to our destiny. Such situations seem to be self-correcting anyway, as we continue to do a pretty good job of molesting ourselves!

🙂

~~ gigoid~~

11/08/2004

First modified for blog use, on GoodBlogs.com, 7/12/2011

Last posted on WP on 7/16/2013

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This poem is dedicated to ‘il NOEGO’

**************

If you press me to say why I loved him,
I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.

~~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne ~~

***************

Human Skin

A crazily-wise man, with no Ego, to speak of,
said to me, Love is a contact sport, friend o’mine.
After serious drinking at the Pierian Trough,
the idea grew bolder, more true, like a good red wine.

‘Tisn’t a simple idea, even if ‘t sounds justly so;
complexity is quiet, most times, I’ve found,
sneaking round corners, hiding down below.
Ah, well. In for a penny, or a pound.

Quickly, as mist in unexpected breezes,
complex and simple merge, dancing a dance we all know.
Sometimes ‘t gives us naught but chokes, and wheezes,
other times, nothing will do, but to go with the flow.

Dancing with martial exactitude, kicking, punching,
Love fights in us, and, for us, at each and every instance.
With every block and strike, every joint crunching,
Balance brings Joy, at every turn, in every circumstance.

Thus, we see, Balance in Life brings Love,
in an odd, deeply human, roundabout way.

We seek it,
we feel it,
we make it,
we bring it,
we find it,
or,
we deny it,
we drop it,
we miss it,
we break it,
we lose it.

When Love touches us, or we touch Love,
we’re brought into Contact with Life, every day.

No need to keep score.
Everybody wins, and loses, forever more.
There are only ties, all the same.
Life’s a full-contact, ever-changing game.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/28/2015

********************************

Naked Pearls

Secrets of Life at Large, with examples

**********

“How much lies in laughter;
the cipher-key wherewith we decipher the whole man!
Some men wear an everlasting barren simper;
in the smile of others lies the cold glitter, as of ice;
the fewest are able to laugh what can be called laughing,
but only shiff and titter and sniggle from the throat outwards,
or at least produce some whiffing, husky cachinnation,
as if they were laughing through wool;
of none such comes good.
The man who cannot laugh is only fit
for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
but his own whole life
is already a treason and a stratagem.

~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~

**********

“Some call it laziness, I call it DEEP THOUGHT…”

~~ Definitive Bee ~~

**********

“The man who invented the zip fastener
was today honored with a lifetime peerage.
He’ll now be known as the Lord of the Flies.”

~~ Ronnie Barker ~~

**********

“I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.”

~~ Ashleigh Brilliant ~~

**********

A Native American elder once described
his own inner struggles in this manner:
“Inside of me there are two dogs.
One of the dogs is mean and evil.
The other dog is good.
The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.”
When asked which dog wins,
he reflected for a moment and replied,
“The one I feed the most.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

**********

“I before E except after C.
What a weird society!”

~~ Tricky Bee ~~

**********

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”

~~ Gandhi ~~

**********

“If astrology is superstitious,
then how come weather forecasting is a science?”

~~ Smarmy Bee ~~

**********

“I am a pastry.”

~~ John F. Kennedy in Berlin ~~

**********

“If you don’t want to be replaced by a machine, don’t act like one.”

~~ Arno Penzias ~~

**********

“All the troubles of man come from his not knowing how to sit still.”

~~ Blaise Pascal ~~

********************************

Well, ffolkes, it’s done. At this point, I don’t believe I’m in any condition to judge it, so, we’ll let ‘er fly on ‘er own, & see how it goes…. I know for a fact, I can do better than much of this, so, what the hell, I’ll try again tomorrow…. See y’all then, if nothing untoward occurs to prevent me from getting to the computer….

Y’all take care out there,
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….

Tidy bonuses on a tiny table….

Posted on December 28, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It is useless to close the gates against ideas; they overleap them.”

~~ Metternich ~~

Avenue of the American Dream

Note the two signs….

Hajime…. No, don’t worry; I’m not going to start off with a rant. In fact, I looked below, & there’s already a good long one down there, so, no worries… the intro is safe…. I remember this one; it leaked out a few days ago, & I’ve been waiting to the right chance to use it…. It’a relatively long, but, it’s on a subject on which I feel strongly, so, I don’t care. Y’all, as always, have the choice to read or not, but, I hope you do, because it’s all stuff that needs to be heard, by more than just y’all…. so, spread it around…. Just the subject is fine; I became a bit phantasmagorical at the end of this one; I got so worked up over the subject, I indulged myself with some dreams, so to speak….

We all have dreams; mine, like all else I do, are pretty strange, I’d guess, in comparison to many others; these are probably fever dreams, but, nonetheless enjoyable, on a private, personal level, for all that…. Now I’ve successfully told you nothing, about nothing, in more words than are, not merely necessary, but, desirable, by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing new there, right?

Hmm…. not much else to cover…. I did have a great time, yesterday, with my kids and grandson; I’m feeling the price today, physically, but, every minute is worth anything I must go through later, so, no complaints….. Can’t share pix, naturally; too many weird people trolling the Net for photos of children, especially good looking kids, to share with other perverts…. I may not LOOK cynical, but, believe me, I’ve seen the worst of human nature (I’ll speak of that below….) and it’s victims are NOT going to be from my family, if I can help it….

Enough blather, I think. I’ve wandered around, saying little to nothing, to little purpose other than to bring us here. We’re here, so, my work here is done…. Damn good thing, too, as I’m now fresh out of any ideas for what to do next…. I think Id best go find a video for today…. See y’all at the oyster beds; you’re on your own today for getting there…. You can just follow me if you like…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.” — Edward O. Wilson

********************************

Image from guitarplayer.com via Google Images

I feel like rocking out today…. Nobody can help with that better than this performer…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

********************************

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Live at Montreux ~ 1985

********************************

https://youtu.be/dIhVJnYaRX4

********************************

This rant, a long one, didn’t just leak out; actually, it was all I could do to keep it this short, as I tend to get a bit worked up about this…. It’s fresh in the last week, and probably could use some punching up…. But, what you see, today, is what you get…. If you become uncomfortable when asked to think, or feel about injustice, well, better skip to the poem….

Plague of Evil

In this blog, I speak of a number of issues which are a part of human society/culture, most of which are discussions of how poor a record in embracing human rights, and/or, living up to the twin concepts of kindness and compassion, our species has exhibited throughout history…. One subject, which often gets neglected, for reasons we will discuss, is the abuse of women, and children, and, even some men; in short, the continued presence in our society of the abhorrent practice of human slavery, generally for the purposes of the sex-for-sale business, but, often enough, just plain slavery.

I refer, of course, to a huge number of corporately sponsored factories, farms, or other businesses, in various places around the world, who force children, women, and men, to work for pennies a day, to provide shoes, clothing, and/or luxury items, none of which any of them earn enough to afford… Hell, they don’t make enough to pay for much of anything on what they are paid for working 12 to 20 hours a day…. This, believe it or not, is the sole purpose of “Free Trade Law”….. That, however, is a rant for another day…

To my mind, the abuse of women and children in the sex trade is, perhaps, the most significant, as well as the least apparent, (certainly the least ‘admitted issue) of all the forms of slavery practiced by that portion of humankind. In my mind, these people are subhuman, without any trace of any of the higher ideals, or evidence of ethical/moral beliefs of any kind, which are embraced by most of humanity…. In essence, these human predators, who have a completely false sense of their own importance in the universe, are without any morals, or ethics, and have given up their souls for the sake of an illusion of adequacy, unfounded, yet, enforced with violence which is never admitted, or, held up for approbation by society…. Pond scum is the nicest thing to call them, in my estimation.

These men (though there are women who subscribe to these sick, illusory beliefs as well…), believe women, or any other human they can intimidate and place under control, are property, less-than-human, and not worth any guilt or any sort of disapproval from a conscience; they have none. In my mind, this places them in MY category of those humans whose death, at the hands of another human, is NOT an unethical event, in any fashion…. If they die, screaming in pain and terror, so much the better, for they are completely without any redeeming value, as a human, or as a member of human society…. In fact, death is, in truth, too good for them; to give them a taste of how they treat others would be as satisfying for me, as long as that taste ended up poisoning them, slowly, so I could watch them go through the agony they deserve, in this life, or any other….

I’ve been writing about this subject for some time, after coming across a couple of blogs, written by women who had miraculously freed themselves from a life of such slavery…. Both had been abducted, or forced into prostitution at a young age, not being able to break free before the age of at least 30, spending more than half their lives as slaves to a series of evil men and women, forced to debase themselves on a daily basis for years, and years, and years….

For some time after coming across their stories, I felt so much rage, at the misogyny coating every level of or society, I began to plot ways to start removing the ‘snakeheads’ (the commonest term for those at the top of the chain in that trade….) from this plane of existence, one by one, personally…. In short, I began to dream of killing men who spend their lives abusing the rest of humanity, especially women and children, both of whom are their prey…. Using all the weapons at my disposal, I would stalk the streets of the cities, removing them from life, until it became an underground certainty that pursuing such a course of business was a sure path to death….

Of course, to fulfill such a vengeful dream, I’d have to become like them, and give up certain of my ethical standards, in order to complete my chosen duty…. Y’know what? It took me a very long time, and is still not a settled question in my mind/heart; the urge to kill pimps and snakeheads is just as strong today as it was four years ago, when the depth and breadth of the problem, (which covers the entire world; every city, every country is guilty of NOT doing ANYTHING significant to address this issue….) first came to my knowledge, and understanding. I still argue with myself often; I must, as there are times I feel so strongly, it’s all I can do, to NOT tuck away my five knives, three ropes, my bow, and staff, then, toddle off to Oakland, or San Francisco, to go hunting men…

Believe me, I really, really want to… I have two sisters, and if either of them had been taken in such a way, I’d still be out there, killing. As it is, all I can do is write about it, to help vent enough of the rage so I can keep from losing control…. But, I have to say, I often wonder why I DO stop myself; nobody else even THINKS about it, as far as I can see……

At this point, even writing isn’t reducing the anger; I’m THIS close (holds up thumb and index finger, touching…) to just saying, ‘fuck it’… I’m 65 and NOTHING IS BEING DONE to either stop the trade, or, rescue its victims…. which is a part of how our misogynist society works, and has, for 10,000 years, and more, back to when the first asshole with a dick bigger than his brain, raped a woman, and nobody cared, or looked away, or watched in approval…. Even the stupidest idiot in the world cannot deny the evidence of this issue, yet, no one ever does anything but talk…. as I am limited by age to doing….

Moreover, not only does government, composed primarily of, and for, men, NOT act on this, or even acknowledge it unless confronted, but, even the churches, the so-called proctors of morals in society do less than the government. In fact, they are worse, for they pretend to care for their constituents equally, especially for the weaker and more vulnerable, such as children, women, and the elderly…. Here is what a former US President, who was, without doubt, the most devoutly Christian of all our elected leaders, ever, had to say on the subject…. I figure he ought to know, having studied Scripture, deeply, through his entire life….

Nor is the hypocrisy of these Dogma Dogs (as I like to call them) limited to women; what group in society, by clear evidence, as reported in the news for all my life, as well as by my own observations, and conversations with many of those who teach the delusions held by most of humanity, has made a consistent, centuries-long practice of abusing children, as well as women, to a degree no other organization, or entity of any kind, has ever approached… not even within shouting distance?

I am willing wager anyone at all, any amount, or deed, or, third-born child, if they wish, (Just kidding, ffolkes… only had 2; no more coming, ever….)(maybe I’m calming a bit; that was almost funny), they care to bet, if they can prove, or even suggest any evidence that can be confirmed, that the clergy, especially that of the perverted “celibates”, (What a ridiculous idea! How can anyone, with more than 3 neurons to use, even THINK such an act/habit/intentional lie, is either natural, or, healthy for any creature, much less one claiming humanity?), who claim the title of Priest, is NOT guilty of crimes against their own flocks, more than any other entity you can name…. It’s not only children who are abused by the church in such fashion, either….

It disgusts me; all of them. Pimps, snakeheads, priests who molest or break their vows (which they usually treat as ‘suggestions’….), politicians who lie so often it has to be a congenital issue, and is certainly a mental issue, known as sociopathy…. They’re all assholes, they’re all shitheads, or, any other vulgar name you care to suggest; scum of the earth is nearly right, but, doesn’t give an adequate feel for just how evil these wastes of DNA actually are, in reality…..

I’m not done, but, I’m through for now….. In closing, I will merely say, if you start seeing headlines, of a mysterious number of deaths associated with people, primarily male, who are known to be active in the sex trade, or, a strange number of men who had been convicted or accused of rape, or other abuse of women, but, walked free…. Well, it’s entirely possible that, shortly before the reports began, I stopped writing, and disappeared from sight…. & you’ll know I lost control….

It will be either that, or, the NSA, or some other fascist, paranoid group of assholes, caught me off-guard, & disappeared me…. Or, more likely, came looking for me, and found me already gone….

It makes for a good dream, anyway…. and, if it happens, I may lose my ethical standards in one area, but, in another, I will be completely content with my karmic account…. Duty is as we choose it to be; I choose honor, which is rooted in compassion, and, when carried out with the proper attitude, as confirmed by reason, and experience, in kindness.

So be it…..

********************************

Today’s poem is one written not long after ending my 35 year hiatus from trying to write ANY poetry…. It’s not bad; I was in a rather tough state at that point in time, with lots of pain & anguish due to living on the edge of poverty, for the first time in MANY years…. so, it get a bit fusty & hopeless…. No worries, it all passed, & ends on a good note…..

A Seasonal Approach

Absolute stillness grips a frozen field,
anticipating dawn with such patient yield
morning burgeoning in dark winter’s hold
brings promise of tales yet to be told.

Lengthening days of pale sun unto night
slowly tell of time’s subversive flight
bringing such original songs of natural fire
with melodies complex in casual attire.

The months are certain they will always win
it is just the way it has always been.
None may argue, nor yet slow life down
Nor dim the eternal beauty of nature’s gown.

Winter evolves from fall into spring,
sending flocks and hearts ever awing.
Summer follows suit, t’other way ’round
Spring into fall, often without a sound.

Life is meant to be lived, beginning to end
choices abound, and change can be a friend.
Yielding with grace to reality’s compelling ploy
fills our plain existence with clean, honest joy.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/2/2012

********************************

Naked Pearls

Observations on Life at Large

***********

“To try may be to die, but not to care is never to be born.”

~~ William Redfield ~~

***********

“I haven’t a clue as to how my story will end.
But that’s all right.
When you set out on a journey and night covers the road,
you don’t conclude that the road has vanished.
And how else could we discover the stars?”

~~ Unknown Bee ~~

***********

“YES… LOVE IS A CONTACT SPORT…”

~~ il NOEGO ~~

***********

“Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.””

~~ Plutarch — Of Bashfulness ~~

***********

“It isn’t so astonishing the number of things I can remember,
as the number of things I can remember that aren’t so.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

***********

“In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

~~ Frank Zappa ~~

***********

“Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear.
Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together.
Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the unsophisticated
deplore these formalities as “empty,” “meaningless,” or “dishonest,” and scorn to use them.
No matter how “pure” their motives,
they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.”

~~ Robert A. Heinlein, “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” ~~

***********

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished:
if you’re alive, it isn’t.”

~~ Richard Bach ~~

***********

“When learned men begin to use their reason,
then I generally discover that they haven’t got any.”

~~ G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 11-7-1908 ~~

***********

“A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility”

~~ Aristotle ~~

***********

“There will come a time when you will discover a thing called loneliness.
But remember life’s cruelest irony:
The time you feel most lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself.”

~~ Douglas Coupland ~~

********************************

It’s done. Today, that’s the best I can say about it, as I haven’t gone back over it to look at how it hangs together…. As they say, in some places across the big pond to the East, c’est la fucking vie…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, most likely with a bit more pizazz…. whatever that is….

Y’all take care out there,
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….

Patently, it won’t fly straight….

Posted on December 27, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Oddly enough, my memory failed me; fortunately, I saved myself with technology… My calelndar reminded me today is the day I get to visit with my grandson, and have our family seasonal get-together with both my own progeny, my son and daughter… might even get a few minutes with my newest granddaughter, who is now 10 months old!

Yay!

So, here is a blog from 2012, without any ranting at all….

Happy holidays, and a joyous winter/summer to all….

Love

gigoid, the dubious

gigoid

Ffolkes,
Oh, gosh….. it’s happening again. Of course, if I had the vaguest idea of what it was, I could probably figure out how to keep it from happening. Since I don’t even have a vague clue, it will have to run its course….. and who knows the consequences better than I? Well, maybe someone who actually knew what they were talking about might know better, but I haven’t found anyone like that, either. I suppose Murphy thinks he’s cool or something, for having foisted it upon me once more, but he is still the world’s biggest asshole, and you can tell him I said so…. After all these years of suffering at his hands, he don’t scare me none…. I can take it…..

Now, if you are confused by the above paragraph, then my work here is done….. No, really, there’s no point to it, or in it, or…

View original post 1,514 more words

All you can do is all you can do….

Posted on December 26, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“… denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du musst dein Leben andern.”

“… for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.”

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

~~ “Archaic Torso of Apollo” ~~

A Small Congress

A bit of housekeeping… Yesterday, when I wrote the lines wherein I wished all my Gentle Readers a happy season, I, apparently, was not completely mindful, as I described my words as a Winter Wish…. It SHOULD have been a Winter/Summer Wish; by forgetting the Nature of Reality’s Duality, I inadvertently withheld the wish for the many (read: several….) Gentle Readers who reside in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is NOT winter, but, summer….. (thanks to the 23.4º tilt of Earth’s axis, in relation to the plane of the ecliptic)…. (Trust me on this…. It’s true….)….

To all of those wonderful friends, in India, Australia, or, wherever you live south of the Equator, my bad…. Sorry ’bout that; everything I said yesterday was sent to you as well… Believe it….

A few days before Christmas, I went back in time, as suggested by a link below the day’s Pearl, at the bottom of the page, to July 26, 2013. I re-read the Pearl for that day, & I liked it well enough to use it today, in toto, but for the poem, which was used a short time ago here. Below this paragraph, written today, you’ll find the Pearl from that date, as it appeared, but, with a different poem, so as to refrain from repetition too often…. Pearls at that time didn’t have a video section, which evolved later, in 2014, so, no video today; sorry…. Not many quotations in the pearls, either; it’s all pretty serious/somber material…. Nevertheless, I hope y’all enjoy it as much as I did….

Plus, posting this gave me a whole extra day to work on the next Pearl(s) you’ll see…. Bonus, for me, and you, as I’ll have more time to make it right…. Here then, is my version of a re-blog, but, of my own work… Works for me…. See y’all at the bottom of the page….

From 7/26/2013:

Ffolkes,

As some of y’all may have noted, yesterday’s Pearl was disrupted by Reality, whereas today’s will be characterized by Fantasy, or a reasonable facsimile thereof….The most pertinent item I recall seems to be the unexpected increase in planetary gravity that hit about 2 PM yesterday…. Didn’t you notice? It seemed quite significant to me; I had been struggling all day to keep upright, as the normally severe sucking power of our planet pulled at me constantly, no matter what I was doing…. sitting, standing, walking, typing, driving, all of it seemed harder, as if I were swimming through heavy syrup, or wearing extra bags of sand or something…. By eight o’clock at night, I was exhausted from the effort to remain a simian of the modern variety, standing upright like a true hominid….

And, then, I woke up…. t’was a new day dawning, turning the blues and grays of the morning sky to a pale pinkish blue, lifting spirits along with hopes, unbidden. All the bad, mad stuff that filled the last days was gone, banished to wherever such things go when pinned with the light of day, and I am once again filled with piss and vinegar, so to speak, ready for whatever the new day will bring. Of course, being an inveterate planner, I already know what will happen today, at least, according to my schedule, but, Murphy has a tendency to ignore my schedules in favor of his own, with mine usually ending up in the trash, while I adjust to his…. the asshole….

I’m up at my usual hour, and intend to write as usual…. Intentions aren’t always enough, though, so we’ll see how it goes today. It has to be better than it was the last two days, which, even sans the kind attentions of the Murph, I spent in the dumps, thanks to the gift that keeps on giving (PTSD). I’m all better now, having thrown off the unreasoning sense of anxiety that pervaded my conscious mind, and gone beyond whatever it was that triggered the episode…. Once more, I am completely in the dark as to what that might be; I do wish I could figure it out, as it is a pain in the ass, and if I knew how to block its ascent into my consciousness, I would do so in a heartbeat…. Until I do, I am at the mercy of whatever it is, destined to fall into despair in an instant, never knowing why….

Ah well, so what else is new? Life with PTSD goes on, as I said, yesterday, sort of, if we don’t hang on to it too tight, and I’m determined NOT to grip it tightly enough to hold it in its place…. If you see me doing so, please tickle me, or throw some water, or something to let me know, as I’m done with feeling bad for no good reason…. It’s a waste of time I could use to be doing something more constructive….. Of course, writing this blog may or may not fall precisely into that category, but, it’s what I do, so deal…. And, speaking of what I do….

Shall we Pearl?…..

_____________________________

“One of the merits of democracy is quite obvious: it is perhaps the most charming form of government ever devised by man. The reason is not far to seek. It is based on propositions that are palpably not true — and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true.” — H. L. Mencken

With this statement, Mr. Mencken has put his finger on the pulse of America, that is for certain. It goes a long way toward explaining why so many people in this country are so willing to believe the outright, egregious lies that are told to them every single day by the officials they elect every year at the polls that characterize our republic…. They do lie, you know, with almost every statement that comes out of their mouths…. They begin with the most important lie they tell, from which all the others spring, and that is the lie they tell when they tell you that they want to be elected so they can work for YOU! Each and every politician learns early in their career, if they are at all to be successful, they MUST portray themselves as a public-spirited, honest, and tireless worker whose only purpose is to make life better for their constituents….

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth…. NONE of them are at all concerned with any of that nonsense; they are there to carry out their own agenda, which has very little to do with what is good for the general run of mankind…. No, they are there to serve the interests of the men and women who pay them, those lobbyists and special interest representatives who run the businesses of the corporate masters. The people on the street cannot provide them with the perks, or the cash, that the clandestine rulers are able to come up with, other than peripherally, by electing them in the first place…. Once elected, their true colors come out into the light of day, and it can be easily seen how their actions are never congruent with what they have promised to the people who elected them….

It’s all about power and money to these folks, not service. In my entire life of observing politics around the world, I have yet to see a single elected official who could be shown to be honest, not at the national level. The one who came the closest was Jimmy Carter, and his presidency was marked by how little got done, because he was so honest that the true politicians in Congress blocked every reform he tried to institute during his time in office. His actions during that time showed him to be the exception to the usual rule for politicians, which is why, I believe, he was so ineffective as a legislator….

“Invest in America — Buy Japan!”– Smart Bee

Other than Carter, I have seen concrete proof that EVERY President of this country has lied to the American people, not just once or twice, but continuously, about nearly everything. Time and time again, public outcries are heard or seen in the news about some new revelation regarding something some politician lied about, just like it is breaking news or something, when it is actually the normal state of affairs….

I don’t know why it is, but if a man on a TV set, wearing a suit and tie, makes a statement to the public, the general public will believe it, sometimes fanatically, without ever examining it for whether or not it is true… Then, when it turns out they were lied to, they get all upset and vocalize their displeasure, never once admitting it was their own cupidity that allowed the lie to occur in the first place…. It makes me wonder what happened to people in this country, to make them go soft in the head….

“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov

Did you ever notice how many politicians were lawyers, first? Most of them, as it turns out, for the simple reason that learning to be a lawyer gives a politician two advantageous types of training… One advantage is that law school teaches the student how to lie in every imaginable way, in order to ascertain which kinds of lies are legal…. The other advantage is their primary motivation…. I

f asked, a very large percentage of lawyers will tell you their reason for becoming a barrister in the first place is that it is a good way to get rich, ( without mentioning, of course, that this is true only as long as one doesn’t give a shit about other people, and what that might do to them)…. In other words they make their money by taking advantage of people’s misery, holding them as hostages against their own destiny, in order to gain resources, i.e. money, and its sidekick, power…..

Then the lawyers realize that their training is perfect for politics…. The ability to lie with facility comes in very handy to anyone who wants to be in the public eye, as that is how one gets elected in the first place…. Tell people what they want to hear, and they will vote for you, every time, coming back to the same trough to eat, even though they get screwed, time after time…. Having the facility to ignore what happens to others, due to their own actions, is the other skill so important to the political set, and the training one receives as a lawyer fits right into that category….

“Watching the democratic party in a presidential contest is like watching a washing machine with a defective bearing: It starts up smoothly enough, but soon, it begins to wobble and shake, jumping violently from place to place, until it tears itself to pieces, spewing dirty laundry all over the room.” –Smart Bee

Some people will say that there ARE some good lawyers out there, and I won’t argue that…. but, they’re still lawyers, not politicians, aren’t they? They’re doing what they can to help ffolkes find their way through the morass of our legal system to get what they need, even occasionally finding some justice….

But, they aren’t going further, and going into public service, are they? They’re still in place, where they can help, but, they are so few and far between, they are hard to find, and so are very busy, seldom having the time or resources to work against their less honest colleagues. Plus, they really are very few in number, as altruists seldom become lawyers in the first place….

I can see that this has evolved into a full scale rant, and we’ve just begun the day, so I’ll call a halt here. I often feel as if I’m preaching to the choir, anyway, when I go through this stuff again…. It’s all familiar material around here, so it isn’t as if I’m presenting new ideas for your examination…. No, this is all old stuff, and, sadly, doesn’t seem to ever create the outrage that I feel in very many other ffolkes… which is too bad….. I forget who said that “if you keep on doing things the same ways as you always have, things will always be the way they’ve always been….”, but, they were absolutely correct…. We are on a path to our own destruction, clearly, but, nobody seems to care…

Nobody, that is, who seems able to DO anything about it, and they are the ones who will need to make the changes….. The people in authority over the rest of us are wearing blinders in this respect…. The idea that what they are doing is wrong, and will eventually kill us all, doesn’t fit into their world-view, so they won’t believe it, and will continue to refuse to make any of the changes needed to re-direct our steps onto a path less dangerous.

It is up to the rest of us to get it done, and that may entail overthrowing the current crop of rulers, either by the vote, or by the less agreeable option of using the necessary force, while making sure the new crop will act in OUR best interests, rather than their own…. If it does happen, it will be the first time in history, which is fine with me…. just as long as it is not the LAST time in history….

“… democracy is not something you believe in, or a place you hang your hat, but it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles and falls apart.” — Abby Hoffman
_____________________________

Today’s poem was not originally used in this Pearl; that one, “A Dubiously Soft Morning”, was used just a few days ago…. I’ve replaced it with a poem from the same year, but, of a different tone altogether…. I hope you enjoy it; it’s actually one of my favorites of those I’ve written, because it speaks of my father…. Abondanza!

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 ~~

4/6/2013

Last posted on WP 9/6/2014
_____________________________

“The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it seems to me the deepest root of all evil that is in the world.” — Max Born, physicist

I like this, mostly because of its clarity and brevity of expression…. It’s perfect no-frills wisdom, with no ups and no extras, all you need for enlightenment in one short, pithy phrase. It also exposes the basic untruth of the mindset against which Thomas Aquinas warned, when he cautioned us to “Beware the man of one book.” I often wonder how the Church scholars managed to rationalize that statement into their set of dogmatic rules, and still canonize Saint Thomas as one of the icons of their faith; this statement is so diametrically opposed to all they teach, how did it become his entry into sainthood, with all the perks that involves, like, I don’t know, what, a better seat at holy dinners?

Any who, all sarcastic smirking aside, it doesn’t make sense, but, then, most of what I have heard and read about the more popular Christian religious sects doesn’t make much sense, either…. People seem to find it compelling, though, and manage to invest a lot of time and energy fulfilling whatever agenda items having those beliefs will engender.

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Lazarus Long

These, to me, are the folks who find it easier to go through life allowing what other people believe determine their own thoughts and feelings, as it is less troublesome for them to have someone else do it for them, than making the effort to understand the world on their own…..

I suppose it’s okay, for them, to allow this, but, for me, it would drive me crazy in no time at all to try to believe some of what they would have me believe, because A) It doesn’t make any sense, and B) the assertions made, aside from the fantastic unbelievability of their nature, are offered without any evidence of their veracity, no proof of their actual truth. Given just those two requirements of mine for accepting something as true, none of what I heard in church makes the slightest bit of sense…

But, for well over two thousand years, this church, along with two or three competing churches, with slightly altered versions of the same set of beliefs on the same subject, has attempted to dominate human existence, saying it has the ONLY answers to the eternal questions, to wit: Is there a God? and, if so, What is He/She/It like?…. Simplistic, I know, but, an accurate paraphrased summarization, I think…. Honest, anyway, right? I mean, when one strips down the basic ideas to their bare bones, they sound ridiculous; then, when one sees there is also no real, incontrovertible proof of any of it, beyond logical constructions based on assumptions not proven, they become simply unbelievable, to my way of thinking….

Of course, one must actually THINK about this stuff, and not just assume it is true…. even what I’m saying should be examined for its own veracity…. I think all I need to do to offer proof of most of my assertions is point to either some part of reality, which generally proves without question what is real, or to something in the news that demonstrates the fallibility of what the churches offer as their dogma, which is legion. T

hen, once the information has been presented, it must be examined for it’s connections to what is real, in order to be able to determine for sure that it IS or IS NOT true…. Sadly, in my experience, most people skip that last step entirely, preferring to go along with what they’ve been told since they were little, because to examine it, one must first accept the possibility of being wrong in the first place…. and, that they are not willing to do….

That is the simple truth folks, no matter how much anyone tries to deny it. Reality determines what is true, not belief, or faith, and nothing anyone can say or do will ever change that simple fact of reality. There are no magic bullets, so, if we want to have magic in our lives, we have to make it ourselves, which leaves out the possibility of depending on anything in nature to do so for us, no matter how much we want it to be so, or how strongly we maintain our faith in what is unreal…. As some other philosopher has stated, “Just because a million people believe something is so, doesn’t make it so…. A lie is still a lie, even if a lot of people believe it…….. or, more colorfully…..

“If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? Four. Calling a tail a leg, doesn’t make it a leg.” — Abraham Lincoln

So, spare me, please, the sermons, and pitying looks, because, quite frankly, the concept of Heaven bores me to tears; it sounds as if the Angel Satan throws a better party, and doesn’t expect his acolytes to curry favor…. plus, they never expect him not to lie to them, as he is right up front about it….

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” — Jack London, Jack London’s Tales of Adventure
_____________________________

Such an outburst! I can see that I am right to write every day…. This stuff tends to build up if I go too long without letting it out, and there’s no telling what kind of harm THAT may cause to the space-time continuum…. Let’s see if it reads half as well as it flowed out….. Hmph, well, I think that the Pulitzer committee may want to stand down, but, it’s better than most Pearls, all in all, and it’s all freshly made stuff, so, so be it…. WYSIWYG, today, anyway…. 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, the dubious ~~

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Dos Regalos Preciosos….

Posted on December 25, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very Naughty Boy”

~~ Brian’s Mum ~~

Christmas in California….

Hajime…. Do you like my Christmas Tree? It’s the only one I have, so, ’twill have to do…. Now we have the niceties observed, let’s allow them to pass into memory, for the nonce, if only to find a proper beginning to what is, if I do say myself, a damn fine example of a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, such as they are…. We’ve foregone a rant for the day, in favor of kindness. There’s a fresh poem, written yesterday, just for today’s Gentle Readers, and all those who are crazy enough to follow this outlet for all my insanity…. There’s a slick final pearl, and music to get you through it all serenely…. Not bad for an amateur, eh?….

If I talk any further on what is below, it will spoil any surprises, so, I’ll just get on with this intro, so nobody misses anything…. That said, I see I’ve done it to myself again…. Where to from here? Considering our eventual destination(s), I’m not at all certain we can get there from here. However, let no one ever say I retreated from a challenge to my ability to fill up a page…. If I must retreat into nonsense, or gibberish, in order to get us the required distance from the opening quote, why, then, that’s what I’ll fucking do… I will try not to say fuck again…. Oops…. Oh well, let’s move on shall we? (In short, oh, fuck….)

There, how’s that for the obligatory silliness we all know and love so well… Okay, so, some of us don’t…. Too bad; today, this is what I’ve got, and, if we want to get to the meat of the matter, y’all had best just shut the pie holes, and hang on the best you can, because, now, I’m on a roll, and, it’s entirely possible I’ll never even find the end of this sentence, which has already gone at least a line and a half too far for comfort, or even joy…. Whew, made it! What a PITA!

Thank whomever you care to, we made it. Now I’ve gotten the worst of the idiocy out of the way, I thing we can go enjoy the rest of today’s mess… I’ll use one of our infamous Tardis toys…. Ooh, this one is fun! Hold on; this won’t hurt, and it’s wicked fast; we’ll be there before you can blink twice….

Shall we Pearl?….

“To be sensual is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread” — James Baldwin

********************************

Since today much of the Western world is celebrating their particular beliefs in the divinity of a dead social reformist, in whose divinity I place no credence, I’ll not torture anyone with a bunch of music we’ve all heard since birth, that now is getting rather crusty and disagreeable, for me anyway…. Since I also do not believe any of the other religious philosophies to contain anything close to what exists in the real world I live in, we won’t go with any other type, except one…

You see, as far as I know, Gautama Buddha never claimed any sort of divinity for himself; his philosophy had more to do with our inner beings than how we perceive the outer world, which is, admittedly a scary place, thus setting the stage for the general run of religions to offer their own set of beliefs in a divine creator as a way to answer humanity’s questions as to what happens after death…. Buddha didn’t worry much about that; like everything else in this Reality, he figured we each make our choices, which lead us wherever they take us; no supernatural intervention was deemed necessary to fulfill the requirements needed to achieve this sort of enlightened state….

All that said, as carefully as possible to avoid offense to anyone’s beliefs, we’ll have a bit of Zen meditation music today, to honor what I believe to be the closest philosophy to Reality, Buddhism, as practiced, and modeled perfectly, by the XIVth Dalai Lama of Tibet, whose only religion, by his own words, is Kindness…

Or, as John, and the rest of the lads sung, “All you need is Love….” Enjoy the peace, ffolkes; meditation not required….

********************************

Zen for Christmas

********************************

https://youtu.be/TwLV3_I8ey8

********************************

As a gift for the season, today, there will be no ranting…. Instead, I’ll go all the way back in the archives, for one of the earliest Pearls I posted on WordPress. I’ve cleaned up the formatting, to reflect what I now know, of how to make the posts LOOK the way I want them. Other than that, it’s just the same little weird story line I came up with to begin that day’s post…. It’s an odd one, I know, but, once you get to the punch line, you’ll laugh, no matter how disgusted with the rest of it you may be…. Any bets?

The short, short-story is followed by a most excellent group of pearls, a necklace of gems, for sure…. Enjoy your gift, ffolkes; it, and my love, and best wishes for a happy, peaceful winter go out to each and every one of my Gentle Readers…. May these words of the Dalai Lama guide your steps, and hearts….

“My only religion is kindness.”

From 9/7/2011:

Technicolor ferrets, and red, red wine….

Ffolkes,

The morning fog was lifting as she stepped outside; the day promised to be bright and hot. Another perfect late summer day in northern paradise; day after gorgeous day had paraded by, seemingly oblivious to the oncoming autumn, lulling the world into a drowsy complacency. Moving briskly, the young woman walked up the street toward the old part of town, past lovely old Victorian homes pressed between newer apartment buildings, and on into the busier streets leading to her morning’s destination.

As she passed others on the street, she looked away, toward the shop windows already sporting fall colors, avoiding any eye contact that might prompt a response, or slow her progress. Just ahead she could see the sign proclaiming “Eats!”, and the crowd of people outside, waiting and hoping for an opening inside. As she drew abreast of the door, she could see the people inside, talking, laughing, eating; she could see the staff rushing from table to table, pouring coffee, delivering food, frantically trying to keep abreast of the horde of orders and demands. She thought to herself, “they won’t have to do that much longer!”.

With that thought, she drew the homemade, baseball shaped bomb from her pocket, twisted the knob at the top, and calmly bent over to roll it across the floor toward the kitchen in the rear of the room. She turned away from the door and walked quickly away, twenty steps, then thirty…. Then, BOOM!, the device exploded, sending large pieces of building and people flying into the street, along with most of the crowd in front. As she strolled away she thought to herself, “That’ll teach ’em to burn my bacon!”…….Justice had prevailed…..

Okay, so they can’t all be classic literature. You try to come up with something new every day, and see how easy it is….NOT! Days such as this one it all comes down to whatever pours out onto the screen; I don’t consciously direct the process, but just let it flow. Sometimes it works, and others, well….not so much. You can decide for yourself, I’m sure…..and I’m sure you will. In the meantime, I like this little group, especially the little poem from Emily; it’s a perfect example of why her level of excellence is difficult to reach. Simple words, strung together in a seemingly random fashion, and POW, the idea smacks you right upside the head. Good stuff…..

The good man is the teacher of the bad,
And the bad is the material from which the good may learn.
He who does not value the teacher,
Or greatly care for the material,
Is greatly deluded although he may be learned.
Such is the essential mystery.

~~ Lao-Tzu (fl. BC 600) ~~

**********

“What seems to be no test, no struggle, is the most deceiving test of all.”

~~ Ezra Taft Benson ~~

**********

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

~~ The Beatles, The last lyric of their last song ~~

**********

A word is dead
When it is said
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

**********

“I cannot achieve complete humility — although complete humiliation is always within reach.”

~~ Dan Goodman ~~

(I resemble that remark!…)

**********

Doing it the hard way is always easier. — Murphy’s Paradox

**********

Easier, perhaps, in the long run; it is always so hard to know which way is the hardest. It’s why Murphy is so successful at what he does; reality seems to cater to him, and lets him have his way all too often…..SIGH….. Y’all take care out there…..

********************************

A Seasonal Gift

Affordable, these moments in time,
all quite free, not costly, nor for sale at all.
Merely more misspent periods making rhyme.
seeking a peaceful heart, as my words fall.

A price, many will tell you, or me,
is due for every transaction.
In truth, everything you see is free;
Illusion seldom offers any real satisfaction.

Some also tell us we need some sort of god,
we’re told ’tis the only path to immortality.
On the path I’ve followed, that seems rather odd;
I’m quite happy with honorable mortality.

Some days it gets a bit lonely, for a bit,
out here in the cold light of reason.
Solitude is, however, well worth it;
Love, felt and treasured, gives warmth all season.

I suppose one could easily say,
this poem is the only gift I’ll give.
If I can teach love and kindness with the words I say,
such will be fine; it’s enough to live.

Happy Winter to All…

~~ gigoid ~~

12/24/2015

********************************

Naked Pearls

Lessons of Life/Death

One coin, two sides.

**********

“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”

~~ Edward Abbey~~

**********

“I am pleased to see that we have differences.
May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.”

~~ Surak of Vulcan, “The Savage Curtain,” stardate 5906.4. ~~

**********

“Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.”

~~ J. Robert Oppenheimer, speaking of Albert Einstein ~~

**********

“It’s possible to use karate against a swarm of plankton–but it won’t help.”

~~ Subtle Bee ~~

**********

“Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’etre oblige de’en pleurer.”
(I make myself laugh at everything, in case I should have to weep.)

~~ Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais ~~

**********

“… don’t you know that there are things, in the best of us,
which no outside should dare to touch?
Things sacred because, and only because,
one can say: ‘This is mine’?
Don’t you know that we live only for ourselves,
the best of us do, those who are worthy of it?
Don’t you know that there is something in us which must not be touched
by any state, by any collective, by any number of millions?”

~~ Kira Argounova ~~

**********

“A heart in love with beauty never grows old.”

~~ Turkish Proverb ~~

**********

“Let us overthrow the totems, break the taboos.
Or better, let us consider them canceled.
Coldly, let us be intelligent.”

~~ Pierre Trudeau ~~

**********
“Death the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.”

~~ Sir Walter Scott ~~

********************************

I do love it when a plan comes together, to steal from the Colonel…. We’re done here, so, I will go now. Promise. In keepong with the spirit of the season, and, since there haven’t been any injuries reported, I’ll play nice, ending this here. I will, however, try to do this again tomorrow….

We now return to our regularly scheduled cat-pampering…. See y’all in the mornin’, ffolkes; that’s the only warning shot I’ll fire…..

Y’all take care out there,
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….

Baffling instants of dawning comprehension….

Posted on December 24, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It’s not denial. I’m just very selective about what I accept as reality.”

~~ Calvin (“Calvin and Hobbes”) ~~

The Globe Theater, London

Hajime…. ‘Tis morning again. Some would say, at this age, each day upright is a victory. I can almost agree, but for the simple fact it isn’t my preference to always think of Life as a battle, though, because of our nature, battling comes easily to mind; we’re pretty vicious animals, in the final analysis. I don’t even feel any need to try to justify such a statement; just watch any group of two-year olds play together without adults to moderate their actions; then, I’d agree with the idea of battling life as an appropriate description. Alternately, watch the fucking news, or, read the Bible for a while in the Old Testament…. either is filled with war and violence toward each other….

Thus, having ranted in one paragraph, there won’t be any real need to do so below; just as well. I’m suffering an ethical issue myself. This morning I found Leelu playing with a wolf spider, I think. It was a black color, but, though it didn’t LOOK like a BW, rather than chance Leelu getting stung/bitten, even by a wolf spider (not enough poison to hurt, but, their mandibles aren’t very clean & wounds from them can infect easily) I killed the spider, as I couldn’t get at it with a glass to capture it.

Now, I am really feeling bad, guilty & miserable, for having killed a totally innocent creature, when I COULD have found a way to capture and release it outside, which is how I generally deal with spiders…. Hell, I’ve admired spiders since I was a kid, reading Spiderman, and wishing I could jump 20 times my height, or lift a car with one hand…. not ever counting the silk they make….

I’m sure I’ll get over it, but, as I get older, apparently, my heart is opening further to the world’s suffering, adding to it brings no balance…. Ah, well, another ounce to my karmic burden added; no complaints, I earned it….

All that said, I’ll wipe my tears away, and get on with today’s mess…. Not all of it may be fresh today, but, we’ll see how it goes…. No ups, no extras, no tricks today…. We’re off to the oyster beds, now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Be honest with yourself until the end of your life. Then listen to the slow movement of the Schubert Quintet and kick the bucket.” — Nathan Milstein

********************************

Bo Diddley

Image from 8tracks.com via Google Images

Since we’ve been exploring/playing the blues lately, a friend suggested this most excellent bridge musician…. I say bridge because he was one of the first musicians to blend the style of blues to the new ‘rock and roll’ being played in the early 1950’s, influenced heavily by the blues, especially as played in New Orleans (ref: think Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, etc…. both followed Bo’s example into the newer style….. Actually, I’m not positive who came first, but, does it really matter? All of them were pioneers, so who cares who scaled the mountain first, except the one who did?….. I just enjoy the results…..) Unless you hate music, you WILL enjoy this one….

********************************

Bo Diddley
Live with Ron Wood 1987

********************************

https://youtu.be/QgsAbwFAMb8

********************************

Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations
than in their particular observations.

~~ Niccolo Machiavelli ~~

“Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity of the unit. Surely it is worth while to be one, and to feel that the census of the universe would be incomplete without counting you. Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and all depths; that there are no walls or fences, or prohibited places, or sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought; that your intellect owes no allegiance to any being, human or divine; that you hold all in fee, and upon no condition, and by no tenure, whatsoever; that in the world of mind you are relieved from all personal dictation, and from the ignorant tyranny of majorities. Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no gods, to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison, no dungeon, no cell in which for one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned with fire. Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and that within its curious bastions and winding halls the soul, in spite of all worlds and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of itself.” — Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899), “The Free Soul”

You know, I was going to rant, using these two statements as a jumping off point; now, upon looking at them, together they form a perfect coin with two sides of the same issue, from a certain point of view. The first old insight from The Prince gives a logical reason for the human inability to form a society without falling into war or conquest…. The second offers a 180º view of humankind, offering, in a sense, a way out of the ancient fallibility we embrace so easily, due to our animal nature, which we have never learned to integrate with our intelligence without allowing it to pervert our moral/ethical behavior….

We allow feelings, generated by the fearful monkey unconscious mind, to dictate the immense power of imagination, turning it to the mechanics of war and violence to achieve our ends, without ever applying our intelligence rationally on a societal level….

And, that’s all there is to say about that… The first tells us how we got here; the second gives/offers us a way out of this suffering, miserable existence, into a more peaceful, rational, ethical society. It’s our choice, but, then, it always has been….

‘Nuff said….

gigoid has spoken.

So be it.

Dont keep calm

********************************

A dream, weeping….

“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said
with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.
“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….
what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”

So, we plucked up our dreams of old,
to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,
stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,
for luck, and perfect proof against charms.

Storms follow the sun, but, never stay;
lessons round every corner, all free.
Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,
the journey becomes the reason to be.

Simple kindness manifests untold riches,
in defiance of common cause’s demise.
Bold courage, hanging in stitches,
mends wounds that come as no surprise.

Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.
Too much pain cannot apprehend
the salient, sharp points of epiphany,
nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.

Folly dogs even the simplest truth,
fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,
alienated as a loose rotten tooth;
it often hides itself, for a long while.

Sought after eons ago, we cried out,
to believe, to suffer no more doubt.
But found instead good reason,
for love, and truth, from season, to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

— 8/30/2014 —

********************************

A true psycho kitty

Image from zulgobang.blogspot.com via Google Images

Today’s final pearl is possibly the strangest I’ve ever created. The process of selecting the included thoughts was much the same as when I write poetry, to wit: mostly unconscious, and, completely without my input, to any real degree. The pearls you see were presented in exactly the order in which I found them; I don’t see any reason to alter the order, as I don’t understand, yet, exactly what it says, in the larger sense, usually obvious with most pearls….

The picture is one that showed up on Google when I searched for “free images of randomness”, so, I can’t explain that choice either. It just seems to fit…. I don’t know, why don’t y’all peruse the group, and let me know if you come up with any thoughts….

“Any ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforth have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.” — Augustine Birrell

“Become who you are.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“The majority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities and tepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or much faith.” — TS Eliot

“My mind is not for rent to any god or gov’t.” — Smart Bee, channeling gigoid again

“You know the day destroys the nights. Night divides the day.” — The Doors

“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” — Goethe

“As a general rule, if you want to get at the truth –hear both sides and believe neither.” — Josh Billings

“Breaks balance out. The sun don’t shine on the same ol’ dog’s ass every day.” — Darrell Royal

“Reach high, for the stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” — Pamela Vaull Starr

********************************

It’s done, and a damn good thing, too. Without going into any details, let us merely say, my remarks above were more relevant than I knew, re: victory over the day. On that cryptic, yet insightful note, I shall bid thee adieu, until I can throw another such piece o’crap together…. That, of course, will be posted tomorrow, hopefully around the same time, but, at least 24 hours from now…. See y’all then, fate be willing….

Y’all take care out there,
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….

That paradigm is awfully pale, isn’t it?….

Posted on December 23, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.”

~~ Goethe ~~

Leelu watching for wormholes….

Hajime…. Today’s Pearl has an Easter Egg in it…. Sort of. I’ve used one quote today quite extensively…. Your task, should you accept the mission, is to guess which it is, and, naturally, noting how many times you see it…. That said, and, in the interests of total honesty, Leelu isn’t watching for wormholes, this time. She was watching an ant…. which, sadly, had brought friends…. Windex took care of them for now, but, it’s nice to know she’ll notify me if any more plan to come in to spend any time…. Hmph….

Mornin’…. Well, it’s morning here, anyway…. Where you are, it’s likely to be another time, but, we’ll do our best not to confuse anyone, with any tricky anachronisms, or, excessive use of the Tardis we have on loan. I know it can be a bit confusing around here, but, hey, that’s Life, right? Right.

Okay, then….. I decided last to give up watching movies; it’s too hard on my emotional state. I was watching a scene in a movie I enjoy watching occasionally, which I have on my comp. In the scene, a seriously injured young man’s condition is discovered by his father and twin brother suddenly; as I watched, I myself. suddenly, and surprisingly, as I’ve watched a number of times without such happening, assumed internally the emotions of the twin; shock, sadness, fear, anger, all coursed through me with such force I began to weep….

It stopped almost immediately, as I realized they weren’t my feelings; they are merely close to those I experience when thinking of my own brother, who is fighting cancer. It also helped to know the scene breaks the tension shortly, with a terrible pun…. Nonetheless, I will now have to watch old movies I’ve seen with greater mindfulness of my own state, so as to side-step this bloody nuisance caused by my own subconscious mind, which I sometimes believe has not yet forgiven me for certain failures to act in the past, even though my actions were ethical…. It, the subconscious, doesn’t give a rat’s hind end for ethical; it wants what it wants, when it wants it, and has a large assortment of ways to express its displeasure when we make a rational decision to forgo those desires….

Boy, this Ego stuff is hard shit…. I gotta get rid of the damn thing… Of course, if/when I do, I’ll need to find some word other than “I” to express my thoughts, without the Ego getting in the way…. I guess, if I can figure out the first part, finding the word won’t be much of a challenge as it might have been…. Ya think?

On that esoterica, I think we’ll head out for the oyster beds…. I’ve got a new trick; wanna see how it works?…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don’t know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done . …. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is worth any number of old ladies.” — Mark Twain

All I can say to that is, damn skippy! I’ll take the Urn, every time…. Dad might get upset, but, he’ll get over it….

********************************

Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk via Google Images

Yesterday, one of the ffolkes who commented mentioned he’d been listening to the blues, Janis Joplin, to be precise. Ever since, I haven’t been able to think of anything else to post for today, unless it was some EXCELLENT blues. I had to drag through my whole memory bank, practically, then I remembered this one…. From 1966, when all these gentlemen still mostly didn’t shave every day yet, (‘cept for the one at the left center, of course. who merely trimmed…) (the one on the right center was still not sure if he should grow a beard, or not; I think that’s Eric. at a VERY young age.)… Ffolkes, I give you, the Bluesbreakers….

********************************

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
with Eric Clapton

********************************

https://youtu.be/1-fD9fD61kA

********************************

The XIVth Dalai Lama of Tibet

**********

“My only religion is kindness.”

~~ The Dalai Lama ~~

Today, I had intended to rant about religion; since it’s a couple days from the celebration of the date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, (a date having no actual basis in reality; there are no conclusive records from that time…. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can say they know for sure….), I figured I’d explore some of the fallacies inherent in the whole system of beliefs….

Then, I was sent a Tweet from a friend, with another of the Dalai Lama’s wise quotes, to wit: “We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot live without human affection.” To my way of thinking, that just about sums up all we need to know about the entire concept of religion….

Because of that, my need/desire (Aha!….) to rant disappeared, as seeing the quote on Twitter brought to mind the quote with which we opened this section…. So, I decided to forgo ranting, in favor of some pearls of virtual wisdom from various famous authors, thinkers, and/or, just ffolkes…. I figure it’s following my own injunction re: playing nice with others….

To all my readers, who may not believe as I do, I wish you a happy season of kindness, no matter what religion you may believe in…. My opinion of that, I hope, shall not spoil, or demean, or in any way garner my approbation; nor do I intend to give any offense to anyone’s sincere belief…. I wish the Christians a Merry Christmas, the Tribe members a Joyous Hanukkah, and the believers of any other faith, for whom I don’t know a proper phrase of seasonal appropriateness, a peaceful winter, filled with happiness, and all the things you desire, especially if it a desire to help others in some way….

I hope nobody takes any of the following personally; I am, admittedly, a cynic, who is dubious of ALL of the religious philosophies, regarding them as delusions/illusions, fostered on the unlearned, in order to fulfill the own personal ends of their proponents, or often, their founders; remember, if you will, how the ineffable Peter altered (read: perverted…) Christ’s words and ideas to create the Catholic Church, just a few months after the crucifixion….

But, that’s just me…. Everyone else is entitled to their own belief system, as long as they keep it out of my face, unless they have some concrete, verifiable evidence I haven’t seen before…. which is unlikely as I’ve been thinking, reading, and studying about this issue almost all my 65 years, since the very first time I heard the story of the crucifixion, and, could not believe my ears…. It just never made any sense, even at age 4….

I’ll leave you with this thought, from one our most well-known free-thinkers…

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now, let’s have a little fun, shall we?

****************************

Dear friend, all theory is gray,

And green the golden tree of life.

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust ~~

**********

“Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh?We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only be incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don’t know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness…

~~ Leslie Stephen (1832-1904) ~~

~~ “An agnostic’s Apology”, Fortnightly Review, 1876 ~~

**********

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

**********

“Satanism is a Christian religion”

~~ Sardonic Bee ~~

**********

“I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith.
It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

**********

“How many Christian fundamentalists does it take to change a light bulb?
None. The Bible doesn’t mention light bulbs.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

**********

“In anything at all, perfection is finally attained,
not when there is no longer anything to add,
but when there is no longer anything to take away.”

~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery , Wind, Sand & Stars ~~

**********

“It is not necessary to fall into a well to know its depth.”

~~ Smart Bee, channeling gigoid ~~

**********

The biologist thinks he is a chemist,
The chemist thinks he is a physicist,
The physicist thinks he is a God,
And God thinks She is a mathematician.

~~ Paula Thompson ~~

********************************

Today’s selection is from another WP blogger, one I consider one of my closest friends online, as well as a wildly talented poetess and artist in general…. The poem is an expression of joy, which made me smile, and weep, all at once…. The picture that follows from the same post, is, in my opinion, sheer genius wisdom, and deserves to be included here….. Here then, from a soul trooper, fighting the ultimate fight, to be herself, whole and happy….

The Voice in my Box

For many years

debilitating thoughts

made a home in my mind

No room at the inn, door locked

…confined

I smiled in silence

To an oblivious room

All the while

My throat screaming

For all the bad memories

All the unfair nights

All the damn hurt!

the effects

…and the cause

Life played out and my lips

….Obediently paused

Until

The drink of belief

Made her way

From my mouth to my feet

Like a waking alien

I have found my home again

And all that was shrunken inside

Lost the urgency to cling and hide

Rising in hope

Yes this freedom speaks

Oh honey…

This freedom sings!

She flys on flames atop of wings

And the music is sweeter than ever

My voice, my speakers

Reign out

Bleeding a glorious color

Onto white corners

of my

…Newly born feathers.

~~ Souldiergirl ~~

12/21/2012

http://souldiergirl.com/2015/12/20/the-voice-in-my-box/

********************************

Yin-Yang-symbol-sun-and-moon

Naked Pearls

Life, at Large….

***********************************

“If you cannot find happiness along the way, you will not find it at the end of the trail.”

~~ Zen Bee ~~

**********

“He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world
without having tasted of lying or pretense of any sort,
or of wantonness or conceit.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, ix, 2 ~~

**********

“The truth is our most valuable commodity.
It would probably be a way better world if people didn’t use it so economically.”

~~ Personal Journal of Doogie Howser, M.D.~~
~~ from the TV show, Doogie Howser ~~

**********

“But some emotions don’t make a lot of noise.
It’s hard to hear pride. Caring is real faint – like a heartbeat.
And pure love – why, some days it’s so quiet, you don’t even know it’s there.”

~~ Erma Bombeck ~~

**********

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang van Goethe ~~

**********

“We usually get what we order from life.”

~~ Limon ~~

**********

“All perception of truth is the detection of an analogy.”

~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~

**********

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”

~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~

**********

“How many Great Souls does it take to change a light bulb?
None; the light from within illuminates all around them.”

~~ gigoid, following a theme ~~

********************************

Well, I like it…. Now, I’ll go see how the WP editor likes my workaround for the new crap they added to their editing function, that I have yet to figure out. Time, as it always does, will tell; damn thing won’t keep its mouth shut. Regardless, I’ll be back tomorrow, to take another shot at some Asininnies, or, at least, kill a few of the myths people buy into. Try to be happy; give a bit of yourself to another of Earth’s creatures, human, or otherwise, & you’ll find it helps yourself, too…. Plus, the happiness will be there inside when you are done…. Truth…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
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….

Referencing Billy-Bob’s astute observation….

Posted on December 22, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It’s that moment of dawning comprehension I live for.”

~~ Hobbes ~~

nasa earthrise

Earthrise over the Moon

NASA Image from http://www.nasa.gov

Hajime…. Tough morning, following a tough evening, complete with full PTSD breakdown…. Fortunately for me, one of the five or six people in the world to whom I can speak for more than two minutes without either wanting to strangle them, or, causing them to either want to strangle me, or run for their lives. was home, and answered the phone…. Some time spent talking, connecting to another human, did the trick for me; I was able to regain some composure, and, get to sleep…. finally.

Today, I’m feeling a bit ragged, and fragile, which only proves part of what we discussed last night, i.e. getting old not only sucks, but, damn it, there is no fucking manual! There are only our observations about getting old, seeing old folks live around us, to gather information, unless we actually discuss it with someone who’s been there, done that. Most of us don’t, because, hey, we’re immortal, right? Age will never get US!

And, just as it does to every one of us, age gets us anyway. Now, we must learn a whole new way to approach living, that involves considering the fragility of our physical bodies, which never before caused us a single moment’s worry, since everything in it worked the way it was supposed, and it never complained unless we took it too far, too fast…. Nobody says anthing, or warns us about this new path we must learn to walk; not only that, but, we have to walk it ourselves anyway….

What a system! I’m beginning to believe that maybe there is a God, and, He/She IS very human-like, because, if this world, and the way it seems to work, with humans in it, quite frankly could have been better designed by my five-year old grandson with his Legos. The world as it exists today, with hairless apes infesting every corner of the globe, making a mess of everything, well, it just doesn’t seem like it was very intelligently designed; it’s that, or God got ripped of by a dishonest construction crew, who ended up using flawed material for making US.

That said, why don’t we do something else, a bit less depressing, if nothing else. I know for sure today’s musical selection pass any inspection, and, there’s a fresh rant below that will take us a while to get through. So, we’ll forgo any further tricks or stories or bullshit, and just get on with it. Here is how that looks….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Don’t be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it’s just death.” — Lena Horne

********************************

Stock image via Google Images

Personally, I don’t feel the need to introduce this artist, or her music; she’s been here before. Add in the fact I’ve loved her music, and her public persona from afar from the first time I heard her sing. A voice like angel, plays guitar with style and great skill, and beauty great as the iconic Helen…. what’s not to love?….. Here’s a live concert from the Oakland arena in 1992, I believe…. I defy anyone to NOT enjoy this…. Abondanza!

********************************

Bonnie Raitt Live

********************************

https://youtu.be/scokz7A4kkU

********************************

“Look at these three words written larger than all the rest, and with special pride never written before or since — tall words, proudly saying “We the people” .. these words and the words that follow … must apply to everyone or they mean nothing.” — James T. Kirk, “The Omega Glory,” stardate unknown.

I would suggest you all gird your grids….

While standing in front of the heater a few moments ago, (it is cold & rainy), all of a sudden, I began to weep….. I didn’t even know why. However having experienced this state any number of times in the past 15 years, it really wasn’t a surprise, as much as a puzzlement, for, it usually happens only when I am feeling strong emotion, & at the moment, all I was aware of was feeling cold….

For the two or three hours previous to this event, I had been exchanging emails with friends, and making & replying to comments on WordPress. I had written a LOT about my view of how the world is progressing, as a whole, a subject which always tends to stir my emotions. I’m a passionate guy, when all is said and done, and, what I see all around the world definitely has the tendency to fan the flames of my anger, and frustration, at the number of people who are suffering oppression everywhere, including right here in this country, which touts itself as the world’s most ethical government, protectors of Liberty…. What a load of horse shit, from the world’s largest seller of arms!

Anyway, my passion also includes a very strong love of people, though to read what I write, that might not come through very often…. I love every one of the ridiculous-looking, overly impressed with themselves, mostly appallingly ignorant hairless apes that runs around this poor, old planet, leaving messes wherever they go…. Every one of them…. Well, except maybe, those who prey on the others…. For them, I reserve the same regard as do the Sun and Moon. i.e. I couldn’t care less if they live, or die; in fact, I’d prefer the latter, especially if they die screaming in terror. However, I do try to be merely indifferent to their fate.

I believe my love for Humanity is merely a way to acknowledge, to myself, the connection to all of them I share, with the planet, the moon, the sun, stars, and all the other creatures and objects which exist in our complex, beautiful, and, oh, so dangerous Universe…. The danger, of course, comes from the simple fact the Universe itself doesn’t give a sorry shit whether any of us live, die, or go insane…. all of which we are periodically subject to.

I realized, as I stood before the heater, weeping, that I was weeping for Gaia…. for the planet, the people, and all the creatures in this world who suffer at the hands of Humankind, who are all paying the price for our insane entitlement, our lack of moral/ethical fiber, and our brutishly violent nature, complete with an ability to completely forgo the awareness of their own nature, or how they affect everything around them…. the stupid apes.

At this point my weeping turned to rage, & it was all I could do to keep from rushing out the door (after grabbing ALL my weapons….), heading for the nearest government or police agency, to begin the task of following the real wisdom in the old saying from an old friend (figuratively….)…. to wit:

HL Mencken

Fortunately, for them, mainly, but, also for me, I managed to control the impulse, which is more than I can say about any of the politicians or police occifers (no worries, it’s a deliberate typo…. just a touch of sarcasm, don’t y’know?….), of my acquaintance or knowledge….. Instead, since Leelu, at the moment, is sleeping off a training session, I sat to write this piece for tomorrow….

Sometimes the urge to obtain a katana, a crossbow, and an Uzi, or similar tool, to take up the task of hunting I’ve dreamt of for so long is almost too strong to bear, or resist; so far, so good, though…. My choice of targets would be, of course, rather obvious, to any who read here often, as well as to the NSA, etc…. I’m sure, by now, those folks (note spelling) are well aware of my opinion of ALL of them, and their ilk…. so, there’s no need to go into that here. Let’s merely say I’m pretty positive I’d enjoy my hunting trip, should I ever actually LOSE my mind, and leave the house suddenly, sans all electronic devices, and, fully armed….

You see, I do know who is responsible for much of what is going on in the world. They’re actually pretty easy to spot, once one accepts their own nature; that is necessary to be able to see them, for they too accept theirs…. The difference is, they don’t have a certain set of neurons, or a gland, or whatever it is that helps us humans to control the beast within; in fact, they revel in their brutality, their cruelty, and their ability to lie, to create illusion, and take advantage of every other human alive. I, and, all too few others, who do have that gene (I settled on that word as the signifier of the most likely culprit for their lack of moral fiber), can see them, and, know very well how to be like them. The difference is, but, we refuse to do so….

“We, the people…” The men who used those words, and the words of the quote above from J.T. Kirk’s scriptwriters (doesn’t make the words less valuable, does it?) understood this about Humankind, and, made a valiant attempt to set up a system whereby those perverted, broken excuses for a human being would be unable to spread their lies, or influence the welfare of the general populace…. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they were aware of how lazy and stupid the average human can be, nor. the already ubiquitous power of the oligarchs then extant….

They did note the flaw after wards, and left warnings to future generations; Tom Jefferson is well-known for several statements warning Americans to stay informed, and to watch their government like hawks for signs of corruption…. For example:

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” Thomas Jefferson

But, not enough people listened, and most were too lazy, or busy ‘pursuing happiness’ to notice what was happening to their rights as citizens, while they were being steadily eroded, starting within hours of the signing of the Constitution. Thus, today, NONE of the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are intact; every one has been abrogated at least partially. Falsely generated flames of fear amongst the population now rage, caused by, and fanned by, that very government, in order to fool the people into giving up the last of those rights, to wit: the right to bear arms….

That final right has yet to be abrogated absolutely, at least in this country, where it has been protected for a long time, by the simple fact there are more guns among the populace than are in the hands of the government, and, they know it. So, the campaign to rid themselves of that threat has progressed slowly, by stages, as the elite use their control of media and elected officials to fan the flames of fear among those whom they have convinced it is too dangerous for people to have weapons; so, according to those who foster these illusions, more, and more, and more regulation and control over weapons is needed “to protect society.”

Did you spot the lie in their story? I hope so, because too few people do…..

I’m tired; weeping, then ranting isn’t easy on a 65 year-old who’s been ignoring pain, and cat, for about an hour now…. To finish, I’ll end with a very old Pearl, one I’ve used many times in the past, long before I retired, or began writing this blog.This particular pearl was put together to honor the author from whom I learned the most about real thinking, just by reading his novels… He spent his 80-some years on Earth doing a lot of it, very well….

Plus, most of these give us an idea of not only how to resist the oppression we ALL suffer, but, how to go about living well, in spite of it…. I hope y’all think about every one of them, but, pay particular attention to the last three….

From 9/20/2012:

Here are some true pearls of virtual wisdom from the acknowledged Grand Master of Science Fiction…… arrogantly solipsistic, delightfully honest, absolutely moral according to whim, and eminently useful in pursuing a full life of honor and joy…..

“The only real sin is hurting others unnecessarily. All other sins are made up nonsense…. (Hurting yourself is not sinful, just stupid.)” — Robert Heinlein

“A desire not to butt into other people’s business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom… and the other twenty percent isn’t very important.”
“You butt into other people’s business. All the time.”
“Who said I was wise? I’m a professional bad example. You can learn a lot by watching me.” –Dr. Jubal Harshaw — Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

“Don’t store garlic near other victuals.” — from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of “loyalty” and “duty.” Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute — get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.” — from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?” — Robert Heinlein

“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. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.” — Robert Heinlein

Last, but, far from least….. a statement that serves as an adjunct to Peruaosophy, and indeed, as part of the basis by which that philosophy was created…..

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) ” — Robert Heinlein

********************************

This one is from a morning much the one I’m having today, thus far…. I hope you enjoy it…. I didn’t, but, it fits….

A Dubiously Soft Morning

Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.

Still, yet almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.

Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.

Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt no joy will ever soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.

~~ gigoid ~~

7/26/2013

********************************

Naked Pearls

The World according to Zippy

*****************************************************

“If our behavior is strict, we do not need fun!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Your education has failed you if you have not learned forgiveness, compassion, and love.” — Zen Bee

“We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don’t, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.” — Jessamyn West

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.” — Epicurus

“…and remember you’re a Man, not just god, and for you there aren’t and never will be any easy answers, only questions, and no reasons, only causes, and no meaning, only intelligence, and no destination and no kindly magic smiling down from above, and no fires to goad you from below, only Yourself and the Universe and what you make out of the interface between the two equals.” — Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_

“Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it.” — Josephus Daniels

“All the magick of creation exists within a single, tiny seed.” — Magi

“If a person is to get the meaning of life he must learn to like the facts about himself — ugly as they may seem to his sentimental vanity — before he can learn the truth behind the facts. And the truth is never ugly.” — Eugene O’Neill

“Is he the MAGIC INCA carrying a FROG on his shoulders?? Is the FROG his GUIDELIGHT?? It is curious that a DOG runs already on the ESCALATOR.” — Zippy Bee

********************************

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got, and it’s more than I expected to be able to finish. So be it. Today’s closing has no ups, no extras. See y’all tomorrow, hopefully in a better space in my head, and in our Consensual Reality….. The one I found this morning doesn’t cut it; well try again tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
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

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Monthly Archives: December 2015

Patently, it won’t fly straight….

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