Category Archives: Daily Pearls of Virtual Wisdom

Reaping the Whirlwind….

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Ffolkes,
So many things going around and around in my mind, nothing wants to settle…..it occurred to me this morning that today will be the first day in over 33 years that I have lived alone. For 23 years, up until 2002, I was married and raising our kids; we spent a few days here and there not in each other’s company, but for the most part, we were together. After my wife and I parted ways, Noah stayed with me, and until yesterday, was my constant and faithful companion and friend; dogs never change their minds when they have chosen their object of affection. So this will be a relatively new situation, one that will, I think, require some rather sweeping adjustments on my part. I have no regrets in my life, other than those natural when love chooses not to stay, yet I cannot help but wonder how different life would be had things gone otherwise than they have done. Well, such is life; we have no choice but to take it as it comes, and do our best to live with dignity and honor. So far, I have managed to live with honor; dignity has been harder to maintain at times, in the face of the harsh light of reality. All I can really say for sure at this point is, I still live. And as long as there is life, there is hope……(thank you Edgar Rice Burroughs)……this morning’s selections were chosen with mind on hold, but in retrospect, that was probably for the best…….

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” — Simone de Beauvoir

We are not victims of the world we see, but of the way we see the world.

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992 (In today’s world, “often” can be changed to “virtually always”….)

“These PRESERVES should be FORCE-FED to PENTAGON OFFICIALS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

I guess all I can say at this point is, it’s all a wash. Not a do-over, but at least a start-over. Step by step, walking the path toward the future, eyes ahead and eager for new sights, new sounds. If I wasn’t so bummed, I’d be excited; I suppose that in itself could be considered a small life lesson. Sweet and bitter are two sides of the same bagel, and we all would do well to keep that firmly in mind as we find our way down that long road upon which we have set our feet……y’all take care out there…..

Dozer

Kowabunga!


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

If wishes were BMW’s….

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Ffolkes,
Today’s Pearls will be foreshortened, for the simple reason that I am in mourning, and don’t much feel like being clever. This morning I will be taking Noah to the vet to have him put to rest. I can no longer take care of him in his weakened, frail condition; it’s become clear that he is no longer comfortable, and I don’t want him to suffer any further. So this is all there will be for today; just a short comment on life, and a good tongue-in-cheek take on our REAL “better half”………

“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” — Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

DOG, n.  A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world’s worship.  This Divine Being in
some of his smaller and silkier incarnations takes, in the affection of Woman, the place to which there is no human male aspirant.  The Dog
is a survival — an anachronism.  He toils not, neither does he spin, yet Solomon in all his glory never lay upon a door-mat all day long, sun-soaked and fly-fed and fat, while his master worked for the means wherewith to purchase the idle wag of the Solomonic tail, seasoned with a look of tolerant recognition. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Life is actually pretty simple when one’s entire focus is on getting past the pain……y’all keep a good thought for Noah, and take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Noah

R.I.P. Old Friend

All at the very same time….

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Ffolkes,
As I approached the open doors of the inner house, joyful music poured out, filling my ears with gleeful abandon. The noise of many people talking joined with the music to draw me inside, where brilliant lights illuminated a grand ballroom, filled with swirling dancers, dressed in sumptuous gowns and dignified suits. On each face was an expression that strangely held no sign of happiness, in odd counterpoint to the music and motion, creating a sense of tension that permeated the atmosphere, struggling with dark discord to breach the walls of happy noise. As the music grew louder, the tension grew apace, and now the entire mass of moving bodies seemed to be whirling out of control, as if they could no longer knew, or cared, how fast they spun around the floor. Growing cries of distress began to join the strains of music, a chorus out of harmony; some of the stronger couples broke free, rushing out the doors into the night. The music rose into a resounding crescendo, then fell, all at once, into a silence so deep I could hear the beat of my own heart, pounding in my chest as if trying to free itself. Darkness crept into the ballroom, spreading from the corners until all was invisible. I gathered the remnants of my scattered emotions, and walked through the doors, and back into the welcoming night…..
Okay, your guess is as good as mine…..I have no idea where that came from, and upon re-reading it, I can honestly say I’m glad it’s no longer inside my head. It could have caused some damage in there if left much longer……I suppose it would be best to get on with the rest of the day; such an opening salvo could indicate the advent of a troublesome day…..let’s hope for the best. Meantime, here are some Pearls, for you to use as you will…..enjoy!…

A wise man once said …”I don’t know.”

There is no water in the lake:
The image of Exhaustion.
Thus the superior man stakes his life
On following his will.

“Perilous to all of us are the devices of an art deeper than we ourselves possess.” — Gandalf the Grey

“It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and
mankind its citizens.” — Baha’u’llah

“Curiosity may have killed the cat, but where human beings are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance.”– Unknown word wizard

If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re missing the joke.

I not only get the joke, I wrote the punchline!……or, at least wished I did…… Y’all take care out there……

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

gigoid

Just Dozer

Kowabunga!

Tipperary isn’t so far…..

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Ffolkes,
I don’t usually do this type of thing, but sometimes respect is important. In your travels today, please remember to hold a good thought for my high school classmate, Theresa Ballesteros Fisher, who passed away from the ravages of cancer.  She fought a good fight, and left the world a better place for having been in it. Peace be with her and her loved ones forever……..
T’would be a bit overdoing it to try to be clever after that, so today’s Pearls will have to stand on their own. Shouldn’t be a problem, it’s a really strong group, with a lot of good advice on living life with dignity and verve……enjoy the day…

“In this world, you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. I spent years being smart. I recommend pleasant.” Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey”

“No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

And God said: “Let there be cats!” and He was promptly ignored.

“Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.”  — F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.” — George Santayana

See, I told you they’d stand up…..you’ll just have to start trusting me more often….. y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Vicious Huns in the parlor….

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Ffolkes,
I can tell already that today is going to be one of those days. Nothing creative is stirring anywhere in my mind, and I’ve been up long enough that I’ve searched in every nook and cranny. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Bupkus extreme……I guess it’s just gonna have to be a quick punt. Okay…..Pungent flowery scents assault the senses while vines of sickly green drip viscous poisons to catch the unwary. Dark shadows play in the far corners, and an eerie sound of clashing, discordant music insinuates its’ way into your consciousness, bringing powerful memories of battles lost. From further on down the path comes a large, black dog, holding a live snake in his jaws; he stops, dips once in a bow, and drops the snake at your feet. The dog sits, and says, “So, you wanted to see where dreams go when you wake up, eh? Well, you will learn now…..follow me.” At your feet the snake has coiled into a striking position, and hisses angrily. No longer certain even of who you are, much less where, you carefully step around the snake, and set out after the dog, who has headed further into the darkness ahead. Suddenly a curtain of glass beads is in front of you, and following the dog, you step through into a small room, occupied only by an old woman, who laughs uproariously until tears  stream down her face. Composing herself with difficulty, she looks at you and says, “You want fries with that?”……
Saved once again by nonsense. We can now proceed onward to the regularly scheduled program…..

“The next best thing to doing something smart is not doing something stupid.” — Flo Capp’s Observation

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.'”– W. C. Fields

“Morality is truth in full bloom.” — Victor Hugo

“It was a dark and stormy night.” — A wrinkle in time, by Madeline L’Engle, 1962 — you were thinking Snoopy, perhaps?

“You can stand me up at the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down.”–T.Petty (This is a good attitude to hold on to……)

“Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.” — P.J. O’Rourke, _Parliament of Whores_

Amen to that……it’s going to be a long day, with beautiful weather and uncertain possibilities…..I suppose I’d best be at it. Y’all take care out there……

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you….Mr. Potato Head

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Ffolkes,

It’s going to be hot today; when we get up and there is no fog, it means the planetary air conditioning has been turned off. You may as well turn on your fans right now. I’ve found that for fans, a little seductive whisper and stroking of the on/off button will get them turned on very quickly. Funny, to look at them one wouldn’t guess that they would be romantics, but there you go. You just never know with small machinery what will do the trick; they take on some pretty human characteristics after being around us for awhile. I used to have a toaster that would throw the bread all the way to the sink if you pushed down too hard on the handle; she had to be gently moved into position before she would work correctly, and praised the whole time she was warming up. Inanimate objects sure can be finicky, can’t they?….. How about y’all, do you have any stories about stubborn appliances? I know I’m not the only one who has to talk to them to get them to work……

Today starts a new era; I’ll be submitting my first piece to Textbroker.com, and from now on should be able to pull in at least a modest income, which will make all the difference in my anemic budget. I’m hoping it’s as much fun as it looks like it will be. We’ll see….meantime here is a very pointed group of pearls, chosen for their part in the gestalt of the group. As is usual, the point is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..there will be a quiz, but it will not count against the final grade in the course……

Dust is an armor of poor quality.

I have but three enemies: fear, anger, ignorance.

“It is inconceivable that a judicious observer from another solar system would see in our species — which has tended to be cruel, destructive, wasteful, and irrational — the crown and apex of cosmic evolution. Viewing us as the culmination of *anything* is grotesque; viewing us as a transitional species makes more sense — and gives us more hope.” — Betty McCollister, “Our Transitional Species”, — Free Inquiry magazine, Vol. 8, No. 1

“Before you criticize people, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’ve got a mile-long head start. And you have their shoes.” — The Lion

“Individuality seems to be Nature’s whole aim — and she cares nothing for individuals.” — Goethe

“If you want to know all about the sea,  you go and ask a sailor, or a marine biologist, or an oceanographer, and they can tell you a lot about the sea. But if you go and ask the sea itself, what does it say? Grumble, grumble, swish swish. It is too busy being itself to know anything about itself.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

If, after reading the above, you do not have a better idea of where you fit into the scheme of things, well, too bad. There’s always tomorrow…y’all take care out there……

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

A different sort of hermaphrodite….

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Ffolkes,
This is definitely a different sort….it floats. Of course if it didn’t we’d just have to find one, or fix one, that would show the same characteristic. It’s a dirty, lonely job, but somebody has to hate it, so why not us? It’s not as if they aren’t paying us well, right?…..And if it was so bad we couldn’t take it, it would just fall to someone who didn’t know the right way to hold one. So let’s have no more nonsense; just get in there and grab it by the toe and start twisting…..right? Alright then…..
The foregoing was brought to you with support from a grant by a local drug dealer with delusions of adequacy. He’s trying to buy his way into respectable society; we don’t think he’ll ever be accepted, but that is no reason we can’t take his money, since we’re doing something about all the lost souls he creates. We turn them into body slaves for sick old men and women who have never been treated for their bipolar disorder. It’s just another public service that we don’t much talk about, because it’s embarrassing to have everyone fawning over us. People sometimes have no dignity…….
Okay, enough fooling around, let’s get down to some serious literature……well, I guess we would, if I could think of something serious. Somehow this morning my brain is refusing to wrap itself around anything too heavy; hence the above two short paragraphs of…….hmm, well of whatever they are. Can’t seem to come up with a description, which isn’t surprising; it’s pretty far out in left field. I suppose we should come in out of the cold now, so with no further ado, I give you today’s Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. Remember to wash up afterward…..

“I once wanted to save the world. Now I just want to leave the room with dignity.” — Lotus Weinstock  (I can definitely relate…..)

“Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum — “I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“He who has a WHY to live for can bear with almost any HOW.” — F. Nietzsche

“Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.” — Sigmund Freud”Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.” — Sigmund Freud

“Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties,  genius will manifest itself.” — Robert Henri

” — Bother!” said Pooh.  “Eyeore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock phasers on the Heffalump; Piglet, meet me in transporter room three.”

So, I’m going to end on that note, and head down to the transporter room to see them off. Y’all take care out there……

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

Dozer at play..

Kowabunga!