“Mea culpa” he said, in a dismal voice, “Mea culpa maxima….”

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Ffolkes,

I’d like to begin this morning with an apology, of sorts. In the last few weeks, even before going to Alaska, my time spent reading the blogs I like to read and follow has been severely limited, a fact that has probably been quite obvious by the lack of comments made. Usually, when I can spend the time to read, I will also comment, since, as is patently obvious from reading this blog, I can seldom shut myself up….. Of late, though, I’ve been having a hard time sitting at the computer for long periods, due to my back pain, with its new companion, hip ache, and have ended up sacrificing my time spent reading as a result…..

This doesn’t mean I don’t read, as I am as addicted to reading as I am to breathing; it just means I’m not doing it at the computer as much. As a result, the number of ffolkes who stop by to read this blog has also fallen off a bit, though the number of followers seems to keep growing. As it has been since beginning to write here on WordPress, a good percentage of readers come to read according to how much one time one spends on other blogs, making their presence known by either “Likes” or comments…. If they don’t see you at their blog, they don’t stop by yours, and it is perfectly understandable, given the platform we all use…. Time is, after all, our only resource….

There are about 12 to 24 people, apparently, who come by here practically every day to check out what I’ve done, and to them, I offer my heartfelt gratitude, for always letting me know they appreciate what I’m writing. Not all stop by every day, but the same icons keep appearing below the blogs, so I know who has been by, and who liked what was done…. Beyond the obvious stats available in those indicators, I have no idea how many are coming, nor does it affect what I write, or how often I write…. That is still all about keeping sane, as always…..  I just like to know, for my own curiosity….. Not knowing is frustrating, and is the only reason I care, as it creates stress for as long as I fret about it….

Fretting is something I didn’t do much of for most of my life, and still don’t much care for, but, since the advent of my PTSD about 30 years ago, I tend to worry more, until I can get hold of myself and dump such nonsense into the trash bin, where it belongs…. More folks have died of worry than ever bled to death, so I try to avoid it whenever possible…. but, there are times when my anxiety gets the better of me, and I fret, until I either resolve the worry, or remember to keep perspective, whichever comes first. And yes, I’m easily amused by reality….. easily distracted, too…. Where was I?…..

Any who, I wanted to apologize to all those bloggers, and, yes, friends, who keep dropping by, without any reciprocation by me…. Y’all are the rainbows in my daily existence…. (see below’s poem…) Have faith, my friends, I will be by to check out what you’ve been up to, it may just take a while. My back pain has been somewhat ubiquitous of late, and has caused me to wage a constant war with gravity, just to get done what is necessary to live; unfortunately, that doesn’t include reading at the computer for long. I’m hoping that it will calm down a bit before the end of next month, when I will be moving to a new place, getting Patty and I out of this erstwhile Peyton Place….

For now, I see I’ve blathered sufficiently for one morning, and should get on with the rest of the day’s effort, so…. Shall we Pearl?

Triumphal arch, that fill’st the sky
When storms prepare to part,
I ask not proud Philosophy
To teach me what thou art.

— Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) — To the Rainbow
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Smart Bee seems to have its own idea of what to include in this section today; the following five quotes pulled themselves out and made themselves obvious in a short span of about three minutes….. Who am I to argue with such confidence? I believe it is a short observation of the perils and joys of parenting, with some pithy comments about how much FUN it can be….. And, yes, that was supposed to be ironic…. or, at least, sardonic…. Don’t worry, though, no matter how critical or sarcastic discussion of it may be, parenting remains our most challenging, and most rewarding, human pastime…. provided, of course, one lives through it….. Enjoy!…..

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” — Mark Twain

“‘Tis better to be alone than in the company of fools.” — Bobby Matherne, American Philosopher (1940-)

To be clear… this is not about the company of children, but a general lesson I tried to pass on to my son, as it came from my father to me….

“There are more horses’ asses in this world than there are horses.” — Grandma Soderquist’s conclusion

Another lesson I received, and hopefully, passed on….

“Children aren’t happy without something to ignore, and that’s what parents were created for.” — Ogden Nash

“Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.” — Oscar Wilde

Remember, Oscar was a cynic of the first degree, and didn’t, as far as I know, have children of his own, so his comments need to be filtered through that data…. Perfectly truthful, though, as he seems not to have realized how difficult is the task of raising a genius, with an uncompromisingly honest, if injured, personality such as his own, a task uncomfortably endured by his own parents….

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

Oops! How did that slip in there? Sorry, ffolkes, Smart Bee thought it would play me for a fool, and slip in its own advice…. which, in this case, is just fine… It doesn’t make any sense, but it is still good parenting advice, so it can stay…. Now, for one last zinger….

“No matter what, they’ll always be your babies.” — Mom’s Hint #065

Okay, so it isn’t a zinger…. it IS, however, the whole point, though, isn’t it?……
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My own poetic output is still blocked up, but I always know where to find something worth including…. funny how it is almost always from another century…..

A Bard’s Epitaph

Is there a whim-inspired fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
Let him draw near;
And owre this grassy heap sing dool,
And drap a tear.

Is there a bard of rustic song,
Who, noteless, steals the crowds among,
That weekly this area throng,
O, pass not by!
But, with a frater-feeling strong,
Here, heave a sigh.

Is there a man, whose judgment clear
Can others teach the course to steer,
Yet runs, himself, life’s mad career,
Wild as the wave,
Here pause-and, thro’ the starting tear,
Survey this grave.

The poor inhabitant below
Was quick to learn the wise to know,
And keenly felt the friendly glow,
And softer flame;
But thoughtless follies laid him low,
And stain’d his name!

Reader, attend! whether thy soul
Soars fancy’s flights beyond the pole,
Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
In low pursuit:
Know, prudent, cautious, self-control
Is wisdom’s root.

~~ Robert Burns ~~

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“No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin

Yesterday, I began the day with a rant of considerable length, and threatened to expound further in future blogs. It would be, and will be, relatively easy to come up with one, given the state of the news I’ve seen since returning to reality from the cruise ship. The Zimmerman trial is over, and justice was NOT served; Texas, along with more than 10 other states, is attempting to pass legislation that will put the cause of women’s rights back fifty years, with the apparent blessing of the Supreme Court. Drones are still being employed to spy on American citizens in their own homes, and the NSA and FBI are diligently monitoring the communications devices of Americans along with those of the rest of the world, gathering data about each and every one of us, all without our knowledge, and, hopefully, without our approval…..

These four issues are only a small part of what is going on in the world today, as the forces of the corporate masters continue to befuddle and confuse the public, spewing their lies and misinformation all over the TV, radio, and internet, using the very technology that can free our minds to control them. The internet, used correctly, can be a liberating influence on the human mind, but, only if its use is unrestricted by all, not just by those in authority. When we allow the government to stick its fingers into the media pie, whether print or digital, we give up our only hope of keeping track of what our ostensible leaders are up to, and may as well just hand over the keys to our entire lives to them…..

“The capitalist can only make a whole people go to war — want war, clamor for war as, again and again, we have seen whole peoples doing — by capturing the popular will. The only prophylactic against that situation is to make the public aware of the way in which it is being misled.” — Sir Norman Angell (1872-1967)

Obviously, this principle is not new…. yet, when the government’s malfeasance is confirmed by evidence for people can see, they act surprised, and can’t believe their own leaders would do that to them! Even the media we have, who ignore so much of what transpires, can’t help but give clues in the news each day; they do, however, try to downplay any suggestions of wrongdoing by those who are in power; it doesn’t do to annoy the entity that feeds you, and the media is fully aware of their own complicity. They just don’t care, any more than the sociopaths who are in the government….

You may have detected a certain degree of bitterness in my writing today; good catch. I’m right pissed is what I am. I’m getting tired of how those in positions of authority seem to no longer even care if they are caught lying, or cheating; they just blithely go on doing what they’re going to do, offering up some weak justification that doesn’t make any sense, knowing the public cannot DO anything about it. Once in office, there is very little recourse for us voters; we just have to live with whatever we’ve voted in…. Sadly, that is becoming more and more obviously intended to our detriment, not our benefit, but, hey! We voted, didn’t we? You betcha….

Not like our votes meant anything, when both sides of the political scene are corrupt, and intent on carrying out their own agendas, which have nothing to do with benefiting the public. No, as my lady said yesterday, our votes don’t really mean anything, and won’t, until we make at least a start at reforming our corrupt government…. beginning with the elimination of the electoral college, a device most useful for hiding the true purposes of the powered elite. Intended as a protection for the landed owners who framed the constitution, it guarantees that only those with sufficient financial resources can ever truly control the outcome of elections, making the popular vote a mere sop to the collective conscience of the public, as it has no real final effect on who gets into office…..

Bah, humbug! That’s enough for one day…. None of what I’m saying is particularly hard to figure out, or to see, if one is a careful observer of society. But, none of it will convince most folks that they are trapped in an  untenable position, unless they are willing to admit their own complicity in creating the issues. We all are a part of the problem, and it will take a great number of ffolkes a lot of effort to get us out of it, if we possibly can. Sadly, I don’t see a lot of hope for mankind as a whole. Our species is killing itself, by fouling our own nest, making it, at the least, more difficult to live in, and, ultimately, making it impossible to survive…. The evidence is clear, for those with eyes to see….

“Real eyes realize real lies.” — Anonymous: seen on a wall in a combat zone somewhere in the middle east…..
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“I love KATRINKA because she drives a PONTIAC.
We’re going away now.
I fed the cat.
Zippy”

— Zippy the Pinhead

I’m rushing a bit to get done with this, as I’ve got a dental appointment later, and need time to fret about that…. Not really, but, I do have other stuff to do first, so let’s see how this went today….. Be right back…. Well, I’m pleasantly surprised…. it’s better than I’d hoped…. I hope y’all agree, and, if not, well, feel free to tell me why not…. remembering, of course, as would all MY readers, to refrain from vituperation or loss of emotional control… I hates drama….   😆    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

dozer3

Alternate utopian states for sale or trade….

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Ffolkes,

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” — Benjamin Franklin

Far be it from me to generalize, but, boy, those Floridians sure are stupid assholes…. Not only have they acted out one of the most egregious shambles of justice in recent memory, right out there on the national news arena, but seem to be unaware of just how asinine, repressive, and downright mean their public display of prejudice has come across to the rest of the world. I mean, it was obvious from the beginning that this was a racially motivated killing, carried out by someone who should never have been allowed to carry a gun, much less act as a neighborhood patrolman while carrying it.

The reaction by the local police, and the subsequent dragging of heels in prosecuting the murderer, were so obviously racist, and prejudiced against the victim, it was painful to watch, as the police and judicial system there in that den of ignorance they call a state failed in their investigations, time after time, and point after point. The judge in the case was so obviously supportive of the defense, ruling against any prosecution evidence that made it appear as if the defendant was guilty, it was as if the rule of law was entirely suspended, in favor of the rule of white prejudice. There is now no further excuse for not releasing them all from the Union, cutting them off from the rest of polite society, and hopefully, watching them sink into the Caribbean Sea….

I’m speaking, of course, of the George Zimmerman trial that just ended in Florida, to the immense shame of the American people. I suppose one shouldn’t be surprised, as this is Florida, where they elected one Jeb Bush, a functional illiterate, as their governor, and the site where the last Bush to hold office in the White House, George the Lesser Shrub, won his first presidential election by cheating…. It is also where he was hiding, there among his most rabid supporters, reading a book to first graders in a school (I’m pretty sure they chose first grade because he couldn’t read at a second grade level….), when they informed him of the attacks on 9/11/01….

“You take the lies out of him, and he’ll shrink to the size of your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he’ll disappear.” — Mark Twain

C’mon, you remember, when he completely froze, on camera, for over seven minutes, absolutely flabbergasted, until someone told him he should move, and at least LOOK like a president….. I guess he was totally surprised, because his dad forgot to mention he was having it done for him, to keep the election investigations that were brewing from taking place…..  It was a brilliant strategy, that worked perfectly to distract the American public from the cheating that had gone on in the 2000 election, this time in Ohio…..

I always thought the timing on that was pretty suspicious, coming as it did immediately upon the heels of the announcement regarding an investigation, one that was being considered to look into the voter suppression, and voting machine sabotage, that took place in Ohio in November of 2000, events that ended up giving the state to Bush in the election, by securing the victory in the electoral college, as opposed to the popular vote, which was won handily by Gore, of course….. Immediately after the announcement of the impending investigation into those events, the attacks took place in New York and Washington, completely drawing the public’s attention away from the election fracas, and making sure it stayed there….

Since that time, our rights have disappeared, one by one, until now, as we see by this farce of a trial, even murderers can get away with their actions, as long as the victim isn’t white…. It is a sad day for this country, and I don’t care who you are, if you think that the trial was an example of how our justice system is supposed to work, then you are a part of the problem…. I see this trial as an example of how far down the road to totalitarianism we have come, with much of the blame for it to be placed with the media…. but, that is another rant altogether, so we’ll save it for later….

This trial is an example of how far our system has been twisted and perverted to serve the interests of the white corporate masters who control society, in my opinion.  It is now out in the open just how perverted even the judicial system has become, without even considering how our elections are fixed by skilled liars, and a cowardly media, or how corrupt the Congress has become, with lobbyists shelling out millions of dollars each week to buy their way to favored legislation. When a murderer is allowed to walk free, because of manipulation of the law in favor of the perpetrator, then it is time to change the law, because it is no longer protecting society, only those parts of it whose skin is the correct color….

What really irks me is how the media has reported all this as if it is straight news, not slanting it in any direction that might indicate disapproval, or support, for that matter…. It is as if the media all agreed to not become outraged, or allow any discussion at length, for whatever unknown reasons they may have. If they are trying to remain neutral, to increase their credibility, it is too little, too late, as this has been proven not just ineffective, but immoral. If we don’t have the media to report about injustice, outrage included, then we, as free men, have no recourse at all…. Think about it….

Me, I just noticed that I started this rant in the intro, and busted right through into another day, fueled on outrage alone…. I guess I can quit for now, and get on with some other stuff…. My opinion here is now clear…. If you didn’t catch on, I am pissed, royally, and likely to expound on this at great length for some time…. I had hoped, a bit, not to have to do this; I had hoped that a verdict of guilt would be found, as was so obviously warranted by the events as reported, or surmised by what was NOT reported… But, once again, the BRC has seen fit to allow this bullshit to get past their censors, thereby indicating even further how little regard for the common man they possess, and it pisses me off no end….

Ah well, there is little I can do about it right now, other than to rant when I can, so, for now, I guess I’ll go for a dive…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“That truth cannot be material in any respect, is contrary to the nature of things.  No tribunal, no codes, no systems can repeal or impair this law of God, for by his eternal laws it is inherent in the nature of things … It is evident that if you cannot apply this mitigated doctrine for which I speak … you must for ever remain ignorant of what your rulers do.  I can never think this ought to be; I never did think the truth was a crime; I am glad the day is come in which it is to be decided; for my soul has ever abhorred the thought, that a free man dared not speak the truth.” — Alexander Hamilton
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After such a powerful start to the day, I need something a bit less intense, so I’ll be starting a random, harlequin pearl, and hope the results can live up to such a grandiose beginning…. Let’s see….

“The shortest distance between two people is laughter.” — Victor Borge

“Cherish your friends!  The most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” — Smart Bee

“Listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door; let’s go.” — E.E. Cummings (1894-1963)

“Difficulties are things that show what men are.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxiv

“Remember, ‘nowhere’ is also ‘now here’.” — Smart Bee

“The fear of death keeps us from living, not from dying.” — Paul C. Roud

“It is the edge and temper of the blade that make a good sword, not the richness of the scabbard; and so it is not money or possessions that make man considerable, but his virtue.” — Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)

Well, it meandered around a bit, but, managed to get to the finish line with a strong flurry there at the end…. I’ll take it…..  Besides, we all know I’m lazy, and it’s done now, so…. onward….
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I feel a poem in there, trying to get out…. Anything  I write today would be too depressing, I think; I also don’t think it’s quite ready, so I’ll have to sublimate…. In times such as these, I tend to go to old favorites, so…. simple it is….

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum;
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Our last port of call, Victoria, British Columbia, was the only stop we made in a foreign country, such as it is…. foreign, I mean…. Canada IS technically a foreign country, but, for us Americans, the only practical consideration of that fact is the frequent use of the suffix, “eh?” that peppers their version of English, causing us to smile, at best, and smirk, at worst… Personally, I think it’s cool, if a bit habitual, but, what do you expect from folks who are fond of deep fried gravy?  😆

Just a joke, ffolkes…. every Canadian I’ve ever met was a nice person; I think it is something they test for in school or something, and won’t let anyone out of the country without being certified as such. I’m certain it’s true of anyone they allow to deal with American tourists, as even the border guards, despite their boring duty stations, were pleasant, if not actively smiley and cheerful…. They were nice enough to stamp our passports when we asked them to, so it would show we had been there, so, we were happy with that…

Due to a misunderstanding on my bozoid part, the horse-drawn carriage I had thought I had arranged fell through, but, we ended up taking a pedi-cab tour of the city, a three-wheeled bike with a seat over the back axle, pedaled by one Josh, originally from Ontario, I believe, a very tall, slender young man, again with a very pleasant, personable manner, and a good knowledge of the city’s attractions. He took us on an unconventional route, (we only saw a couple other tourists on the route he followed, but saw all the same places…. as he was smart enough to travel it in reverse to the general run of bikers…), through old neighborhoods, with beautifully restored and maintained houses, and through a beautifully serene setting, Beacon Hill Park, before riding through downtown to see the Empress Hotel and Parliament Building, right by the city harbor….

In the park, we saw some outstanding unique flora, trees and flowers of all kinds, brought from all over the world, with beautifully landscaped gardens, flowers blooming profusely in the early summer sunlight, trees hundreds of years old, the tallest totem pole in the world made from a single piece of wood, black (!) squirrels, eagles’ nests, turtles, ducks, geese peacocks, a petting zoo, and all kinds of people walking the meandering paths. In the harbor, downtown, a show was going on, with small boats in the yacht basin performing a graceful water dance to a Strauss Waltz, while thousands of people all around watched, standing around enjoying the beautifully sunny day….

It was a Sunday, and though our ship was the only one in town, they were also celebrating an LGBT Pride Day, with a parade scheduled, and costumed revelers of all descriptions wandering the streets among the tourists in the shops…. It was quite a scene, as traffic was horrendous, due to a major street closure due to a burst pipeline; our driver had to be creative, and persuasive, to get the traffic wardens to allow him through several parts on the way back to the ship….. All in all, it was a wonderful day, great fun, and a worthy ending to our travels…. I hope you enjoy the pictures I got of the places we went…. they’re the best of the lot, I think….
Alaska Grand Adventure 102 Alaska Grand Adventure 082 Alaska Grand Adventure 086 Alaska Grand Adventure 090 Alaska Grand Adventure 091 Alaska Grand Adventure 092 Alaska Grand Adventure 093 Alaska Grand Adventure 094 Alaska Grand Adventure 096 Alaska Grand Adventure 098 Alaska Grand Adventure 099 Alaska Grand Adventure 100_____________________________

Okay, well, that was quite an outburst…. I tried to be a bit more thorough in my description of Victoria, BC, than I was previously about the Alaskan stops we made… It was a lot of fun, and I would love to go back some day to further explore the city, maybe try out a few restaurants… Any who, it’s done for today, and should meet all legal requirements, if not those of good taste…. Let’s see how it reads….. Okay, so maybe a Pulitzer isn’t out of the question…. HAH! NOT!…. But, it will do for our meager purposes….  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

dozer3

Left to our own devices, we drift…..

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Ffolkes,

Sleep, it has been said, is a weapon, a metaphorical adage in which I firmly believe, though one is not always certain against whom the weapon is to be employed. Since returning from the trip, I’ve slept really well, compared to the time before I left, and it is indeed a blessing, though not without its own conundrums to be addressed….. Such as, it is now already almost 0715 in the morning, and I’m just now getting these first words on screen. This is, I’m sure, the latest I’ve gotten started in a couple of years, if not ever, and I’m unsure how to deal with it. I’m almost tempted to break out the new computer, and see what kind of real damage I can cause over there….. But, it is not yet optimized for this process, and this needs to get going, so, onward, as they say downtown…..

Naturally, nobody you’ve ever seen or heard has EVER said “onward” to you, in just that way, other than me….. as a result, you are naturally predisposed to respond instantly, going along with whatever is said, especially if I say it in a rich baritone that reminds you of a TV pundit, or news anchor-type. Don’t fret, you can’t help it, we are all trained to react like that, although some of us have eradicated the bonds our early conditioning has placed on us, through the application of copious amounts of ironic sarcasm, and good, old-fashioned doubt. It doesn’t take long, and is ultimately quite cleansing, not to mention refreshing, so, take a few moments whenever you can, to shake off some of that pre-adolescent brainwashing y’all received, in school and during morning cartoons, so that you can get a clearer, more colorful view of reality….

I like to shake it off every chance I get, kind of like a dog shaking off water after a jump in the pond, and find it to be one of the most advantageous activities I can pursue, giving me, as it does, a viewpoint that is totally unavailable to those who go through life wearing the blinders and sun shades that the BRC and the Dogmatists supply to everyone who will wear them. Of course, these accessories also give their wearers the boon (?!!!?) of ignorance, which has been equated to bliss more than once. It’s hard to compete with bliss, and reality doesn’t even try very hard to do so, as it realizes people will do just what they want, consisting mostly of what is easiest for them…

There, let no one say that I haven’t ranted…. The foregoing could  be construed as a rant, with ignorance and willful stupidity as the targets, and, at this point, I’ll take whatever I can get in that respect. Actually, I’ve been reading the news, and the amount of rampant idiocy being played out these days is reaching a point where picking a subject for a rant will be pretty simple….

There’s the gay marriage contortions going on in the religious right, as they continue to panic over the recent Supreme Court blows to their delusional demands for protection from the nasty old homosexuals…. Or, there are the the shouts of indignation from the world of women, as the male dominated Texas state legislature continues to parade their own brand of asininity for all to see, with new legislation set to take rights away from women, rights the rest of the world forgot were disputed…. I mean, confiscating tampons? What is that  all about?….. The patriotic whistleblower, Eric Snowden is considering accepting amnesty in RUSSIA? The world is indeed going mad, and not slowly, ffolkes…. I don’t know if I’ll be able to write fast enough to get it all down before the cataclysm takes us all….

Ah well, that won’t happen today, though it could happen next week, so I guess I’ll try to get another Pearl done before it all goes away, and I have nobody left to talk to, or about….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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I am often struck by the contrasts that abound in reality, and though they don’t always leave a mark, they always leave an impression. This is not to say I walk around with the finger-marks of reality’s ire on my face all the time, but, it DOES happen perhaps more often than it should, given my overall flexibility and willingness to go with the flow. And then there are the times, like now, when I have not a bloody clue as to what the hell I’m talking about, even to myself…. Times like this, I just let Smart Bee have its way, and pick out whatever pearls seem appropriate for the day…. Hence, these fine, lustrous gems, that make a sharp little point, and save my ass from the depths of introspective flagellation, turning it to more of a caress than a blow….

“The flesh surrenders itself. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time. What can we say of this? I occurred. I am not… yet I occurred.” — Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“There is Moral Sense, and there is an Immoral Sense. History shows us that the Moral Sense enables us to perceive morality and how to avoid it, and that the Immoral Sense enables us to perceive immorality and how to enjoy it.” — Mark Twain

“The old patterns of the hero’s quest still hold true. The latest incarnation of Oedipus is standing at the corner of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street waiting for the lights to change.” — Joseph Campbell

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.” — John Maynard Keynes

Wonderful! But, somehow, incomplete…. hmm, let’s see what we can find to shore up the leak….

“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarcely in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.Remember this: They that will not be counseled cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you over the knuckles.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) — Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757

“I’ve got an IDEA!!  Why don’t I STARE at you so HARD,  you forget your SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Sometimes, it is almost scary how Zippy is able to provide the proper ending to so many pearls….. just scary…..
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Here is a poem by one of my favorite poets, a man often underrated by critics, but, one who remains ever-popular, and none more deservedly so….

Old Men

People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when…
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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It is hard to know what to write about our cruise into Tracy Arm Fjord…. It was, I suppose, the real purpose of going on such cruises, to see the types of landscapes, and wildlife, that are not to be seen anywhere else. I must confess, the sail up the channel, to the point where the glacier could be seen, definitely passed through some very gorgeous, and very wild country, places where it was instantly obvious that no man had ever trod the land we were seeing….. Sheer mountains reaching steeply down to the shore of the channel, to the water, an eerie shade of blue due to algae and bacteria unique to the ice chunks floating there, broken off from the glacier…..

There is almost no noise, other than the noises made by the ship as it slowly moved up the river… We passed small islands covered in vegetation, while on either side, long, skinny,white-water streams snaked down the sides of the mountains, converging together to flow down to the shore, where small waterfalls emptied into the slow moving water of the channel, which was dotted with chunks of ice and snow, miniature icebergs from the edges of the larger calves from the glacier at the head of the fjord….

The ship had a naturalist on board to give a talk about the landscape and scientific nature of the glacier and the surrounding countryside, including the animals that were common to the area, such as bears, moose, and mountain goats, in places. Unfortunately, the man they chose happened to have the most BORING tone of voice possible, soft, deep, and paced so slow one almost fell into it. He also possessed some unfortunate speech habits (such as long pauses in the middle of sentences, so long I suspected him of having a stroke in the middle of speaking….), that caused instant yawning in everyone I saw on deck taking pictures…… Dangerous, with so many folks hanging over the rails to get their shots….

The ship traversed to a point where the head of the glacier was in view, at a bend in the river, where the way closer was blocked by ice and a small island. The huge vessel then proceeded to spin neatly on its axis, turning completely around to face downstream, sat for a bit to allow folks on the other side to get their pictures, then slowly headed back down the river toward the open ocean, to head for our next stop, Victoria, on Victoria Island, in British Columbia, Canada.

Below are the pictures I got from the trip up and down the Tracy Arm river channel, and of the glacier…. I hope you enjoy them…. In spite of the cold air, and eerie silence that permeated the entire scene there on the river, it was a fascinating land to see, and well worth braving the cold to get the shots I did get…


Alaska Grand Adventure 060 Alaska Grand Adventure 061 Alaska Grand Adventure 062 Alaska Grand Adventure 063 Alaska Grand Adventure 065 Alaska Grand Adventure 066 Alaska Grand Adventure 068 Alaska Grand Adventure 069 Alaska Grand Adventure 070 Alaska Grand Adventure 071 Alaska Grand Adventure 072 Alaska Grand Adventure 073 Alaska Grand Adventure 076 Alaska Grand Adventure 077 Alaska Grand Adventure 078 Alaska Grand Adventure 080 Alaska Grand Adventure 081_____________________________

Without comment, I read through the above, and can therefore say it is done, if not exactly Pulitzer-worthy….. But, then, I’ve yet to even come close to that, except for perhaps a line or two at a time, somewhere during the last two-plus years of writing, so it doesn’t fret me at all…. In fact, just the state of done-ness is sufficient for my needs, as is patently obvious by now….. As it has been said, whatever….. I do care, just not right now…. And, as usual, I have no idea what that means…… Oh, well…..   I hope y’all enjoyed today’s effort…..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

dozer3

Luring nuns back into the habit….

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Ffolkes,

Whereas, the production of this blog is essential to the proper functioning of my mind, and, hence, my life, and, whereas, producing said blog has saved my sanity on numerous occasions, and, whereas, nobody has stepped forward to tell me to stop, it is hereby decreed that publication will continue until death, or, more appropriately, until someone cries for mercy…….  gigoid has spoken… so be it….

Sorry, just have to make it official now and then, to appease the gods of bureaucracy, that, despite having been retired for about three and a half years now, still have some influence on my actions, volitional as they may be at other times. It’s kind of like knocking on wood, or throwing salt over your shoulder when you spill it; old habits and superstitions die hard, and one never knows when one of the elder gods will take offense at something we’ve done to unconsciously insult them. It’s best to cover all the bases, as it were, right? No point in taking foolish chances, not in reality; it bites……

Now that is out of the way, I can dive right into today’s display of temper, or outburst of creativity, or just plain drivel (as is usually the case…), searching for just the perfect pearl to start things off…. You see, it’s all a random process, and I never know beforehand just what I’ll be doing, or where we’ll be heading off to to find something worth writing about…..

I’ve been watching the news, and the usual suspects are busily carrying on the normal course of idiocy out there in the public venue; I’ve even seen a couple of items that stirred me to write, almost…. However, the afterglow of contentment I have in my attitude bag from the cruise seems to have blunted my rant mode, at least temporarily….

Who knows? Not me…..It could pop out at any time, so, we’ll see what’s up when I begin to peruse Smart Bee in a few moments…. The first viewing of that little gem is always a surprise, as I never know if it will cooperate, or pretend to be dumber than it looks. It can be a pain, fortunately infrequently, but still on a regular basis, and I have no way to determine how it will act beforehand…. yet another example of how metaphor is everywhere in life, once one learns to see and appreciate its immense variety, as well as its ubiquitous presence as part of the fabric of reality…. which  brings us around once again to where we need to be, poised and ready to dive in and begin the search for pearls of virtual wisdom…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When the ten thousand things are seen in their oneness, we return to the source to remain where we have always been.” — Seng Ts’un.
_____________________________

“Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

Since we were talking about metaphor, and the power of the Metaphorse in reality (well, I  was talking about it…..), the above is a perfect lead-in to a discussion of the finer points of how to take advantage of this phenomenon, or, at the very least, minimize the damage that NOT knowing, or not caring, can bring to those who ignore its power…..

Fortunately for y’all, I suspect my brain is still a bit too fuzzy to get into the subject deeply enough to make the correct point, or, sigh, to make the point correctly, (for any grammar Nazis out there….); making it incorrectly could conceivably cause even more damage…. Naturally, I’ll resort to my tried and true method for hiding my own shortcomings, and use the very power of which I speak, to put the message into an old-school pearl…. The point of this one should, by now, be completely transparent…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow….. To preclude any whining, this will NOT be on the Quiz…..

“Beware the man of one book.” — St. Thomas Aquinas

“The impression forces itself upon one that men measure by false standards, that everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself, and admires others who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life.” — Sigmund Freud

“Force has no place where there is need of skill.” — Herodotus

“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Cleveland Press, 3/1/21

“I don’t want to panic, but my alphabet soup says, “Forget about me … just try to save yourself.”” — Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”)

Don’t have it yet? Okay, okay, I’ll clarify…. but, you only get two more….. if you don’t have it by then, well, I’ve failed, and will go shoot myself….I don’t want to die, so, please, pay attention…..

“God may be in the details, but it is also important to know the big picture.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“There’s only one way to kill a rat…” — Robert A. Heinlein

There…. it seemed only fitting to finish with Heinlein, as I’m a firm believer in the old Irish adage of “Begin as you mean to go on….”  Whoops, it’s another metaphor…. Okay, I’m done for now…
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I offer no apologies for the poems I pick to include in this section, but feel I should explain why they sometimes don’t fit with the rest of the Pearl, attitudinally (if that is a word….) (hmm, must be a word, because the spell checker didn’t even flinch…)…. Actually, it’s quite simple…. I use the same random method for this as for picking pearls…. If it grabs my eye and my fancy, it stays, even when it has little or nothing to do with the rest of the post… In this case, it is not altogether out of line, but, no matter, because it is one of my favorite poems….. Enjoy!…..

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

_____________________________

Whew! For a moment, I thought it was time for a rant, and I don’t have one on tap…. but, then I remembered it’s time for the next installment of the Alaskan Adventures…. Good thing!

After the intense (NOT!) experience of exploring Icy Point Strait and the booming Alaskan village of Hoonah, the ship sailed overnight to Juneau, where we spent the 4th of July, sans any overt displays of either fireworks, or excessive celebration of the holiday in a formal sense…. (Who needs a party when you’ve got some guy on board wearing a sleeveless American flag t-shirt with his used-to-be-greyish-white Bermuda shorts and flip flops, sweating his way through the buffet line?….)

A formal party wasn’t necessary, as we were docked at 7 AM, with two other huge cruise ships anchored in front of us, and another pulling in behind just after breakfast…. There was another Princess ship, a Holland American ship, and a Norwegian Cruises ship (shown below). This meant that close to 12,000 people were in town for the day; our own ship wasn’t scheduled to depart until midnight, due to a miscommunication with the town authorities….

It seemed as if at least 5 or 6,000 of them were walking around at any one time, all hell-bent on finding another 3D magnet or Tanzanite necklace…. If I’d still been in my twenties or thirties, I might have joined in the fracas at the Red Dog Saloon, one of Alaska’s oldest taverns, but, being 62, I just went back to the ship and took a nap after my (for me) extensive walk….

It seems that Juneau sets off its fireworks display for the 4th at midnight of the night before, to ring in the day with the hullabaloo rather than end it that way. (Alaskans are different, trust me…. They work at it….) Unfortunately, this didn’t get into the memo that Princess received, so we were there for the duration, with only the local stores and bars in which to while away the hours (a mistake for which I’m sure they were eternally grateful….).

I went a bit nuts again on the souvenirs, but did find all we needed to cover everyone on our lists, finding some rather cool stuff (gotta love that fake snow!….). We also overdid it on the walking, going ashore twice, and hoofing it about 2 miles each time, walking down the pleasant wharf-side path past the ships, or passing among the crowds on the sidewalks in front of the myriad of shops, bars, and restaurants that lined the streets nearby.

Having looked over the last two posts, and this one, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed in my pictures. I had thought I got more, and that they were better, but, so far they’re not up to snuff…. The next couple of days, in Tracy Arm Fjord and Victoria, will show a little better, though, as I got the hang of the camera better, and took more shots… I hope you enjoy these as much as I do, and did while taking them…..


Alaska Grand Adventure 059 Alaska Grand Adventure 038 Alaska Grand Adventure 039 Alaska Grand Adventure 053 Alaska Grand Adventure 054 Alaska Grand Adventure 055 Alaska Grand Adventure 056 Alaska Grand Adventure 057 Alaska Grand Adventure 058_____________________________

Very well, then…. I shall now go peruse my effort….. Not too shabby, but needed a bit of punch-up, now done. Therefore, with no further ado, I shall take my leave, to go forth unto the new day, hopeful…. foolishly, perhaps, but hopeful, nonetheless….. I am, after all, getting fairly adept at this living stuff…..  Now, if I can only learn to do it well…..  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

dozer3

Plotting with obscene barristers …..

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Ffolkes,

Insofar as we ever have them around this blog, a typical day starts off with my staring at the screen of my computer, desperately searching through my brain for something coherent to say…. it seems today is a typical day, despite having a brain chock full of recent memories from which to choose. So full, I suppose, it makes the choosing of one over another difficult, as they are all quite appropriate and/or immediate, and equally enjoyable for me to recall. Luckily, today is not the only day I have to make the choice, merely the one we are caught in, destined to remain until the next one comes along….

Well, I see my time away hasn’t altered my pomposity a whit, nor has it dulled my skill at saying absolutely nothing with far too many words…. SIGH….. There are moments in this writing business when I begin to understand a little better the motivation those people who used to (and, I guess, still do….) flagellate themselves, whipping themselves with sticks, or reeds, or farm implements of one sort or another, until their backs are bowed and bloody…. They do it, I believe, to punish themselves for their sinful natures, or some such convoluted reason some preacher told them, while I only consider it as a sort of behavioral tool, kind of like one uses with a recalcitrant donkey, otherwise known as an ass….. Either way, I don’t suppose it’s the most intelligent procedure mankind has come up with, so I always pass on adopting it for personal use.

Something must be done, though…. I’m tired of spending so much mental energy trying to figure this out in the mornings, and need to find a way to shorten the process of introducing each Pearl for daily consumption, or whatever it is one does with one’s Pearl…. I’ve always left that up to the Gentle Reader, and have never inquired…. My life in the Big Blue Room is becoming a bit more complicated, now that I have a partner; I need to be able to complete this in a timely fashion, so I can go deal with reality while it is open for business, from 9 to 5, generally…..

I have to laugh at this point…. which I just did….. I’m sitting here, blithely typing away, when it occurs to me that this sort of babble is the most common result of my morning expostulations, and may just be the answer I seek…. Hmmm… new possibilities are coming into view, and I’ll need to look at them closely…. but, later. For now, I’ve noticed that this pile of drivel has grown to the point where I can call it sufficient unto the day’s need…. for which you may be eternally grateful, as am I…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” — Alan Watts
_____________________________

At first, when the following pearl began to formulate itself, I was quite pleased… It got away from me a bit, but then, with the final line, brought it all into perfect focus, if no less esoterically obscure in concept. In other words, it is a random pearl, with a message all its own…. I like it, anyway, so here you go….

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“Besides learning to see, there is another act to be learned — not to see what is not.” — Maria Mitchell

“Don’t follow in my footsteps. I think I stepped in something.” — Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid

“The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” — Cicero

“The universe is _intensely_ beautiful.” — Smart Bee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoilt his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.

— Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”

“What do they call a comedian who doesn’t get any laughs? A philosopher.” — Phil Proctor
_____________________________

Hell is the place of those who have denied;
They find there what they planted and what dug,
A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing,
And wander there and drift, and never cease
Wailing for substance.

— William Butler Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916).The Hour-Glass

My own urge to poem is still dormant, and it is something I daren’t push, lest it disappear altogether again for another 25 years….. I’m not sure I have that long to wait, though I certainly hope so…. To sublimate my own urge, I’ll go to the classics, always a favorite….

Church And State

HERE is fresh matter, poet,
Matter for old age meet;
Might of the Church and the State,
Their mobs put under their feet.
O but heart’s wine shall run pure,
Mind’s bread grow sweet.
That were a cowardly song,
Wander in dreams no more;
What if the Church and the State
Are the mob that howls at the door!
Wine shall run thick to the end,
Bread taste sour.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

_____________________________

Icy Point Strait is a new stop on the cruise ship itineraries, with no real docking facilities, so the ship anchors a few hundred yards offshore, ferrying visitors to land with tenders, holding about 100 folks of all ages and sizes at a time. It is very sparsely developed as yet, with only about forty-eleven gift shops, a native theater, and two food outlets, all housed in a couple of brand new looking buildings clustered near the small wharf where the passengers unload the tenders to come ashore.

The shops are filled with all the usual tourist items; t-shirts, caps, scarves, etc. with logos of the local attractions; native crafts, art, and artifacts; jewelry; one counter style restaurant serves reindeer chili and lots of salmon dishes, smoked or otherwise, and there is a bar and grill restaurant at the end of the zip-line, which runs from a small mountaintop nearby, about a quarter mile, down to the shore. A shuttle to nearby Hoonah, an “authentic Alaskan village”, runs every few minutes, to allow the visitors to experience the local amenities, such as the charming “unpaved roads and no stoplights” (direct quote from the shipboard information sheet)….

Shore excursions to go ziplining, searching for bears to photograph, or catch & barbecue salmon were popular for some (it is salmon spawning season, so the rivers are full of big, hungry fish), while others got on another boat to go watch whales in a nearby area where they tend to congregate. As a foodie, chef, and plain and simple glutton, I was compelled, naturally, to put myself through the ordeal of wading through the crowds, so as to be able to say I had tried the reindeer chili. Thus, milady and I bundled up (the weather was a bit overcast, though it only showered for a few minutes, and, as always up there, a bit cold when caught out in the wind…..), braved the crowds on the little boats for the five minute ride to land, and went to see what there was to see….

An hour and a half later, we had seen EVERYTHING, except the zipline, bears, and whales…. We even saw the salmon, as they were jumping out of the water near the cruise ship all day, on their way to the spawning streams…. It is a beautiful place, for sure, and some day will probably be home to resorts and winter sports venues galore, but currently, about the biggest thrill available is strapping onto a metal chair to slide a quarter of a mile down the side of a small mountain at about a hundred miles an hour on a zip line….. not my kind of activity….. Aside from having vertigo, which would make it very hard to even get me up there in the first place, I think I’d prefer to partake of that particular variety of fun a bit closer to a medical facility, in case of, well, zlip ups (sorry, couldn’t resist….).

Below are pictures of Icy Point, a fairly accurate account of what we saw, in the order we saw it, minus the shops and stuff…. Hope I was able to capture at least some of the beauty of the landscape…. it is indeed a gorgeous environment in which to live, if one likes snow, and the frontier life….
Alaska Grand Adventure 043 Alaska Grand Adventure 045 Alaska Grand Adventure 048 Alaska Grand Adventure 049 Alaska Grand Adventure 052
You may have noted that I didn’t say anything further about the chili, which was the ostensible reason for going ashore…. Final verdict: it was tasty, but, not exceptionally so, and wouldn’t constitute a compelling reason for going back there, just for that….
_____________________________

Well, that was harder than I had thought it would be, but, once again, I lived through it, and so will you, I believe…. Hopefully, today’s outburst  isn’t too onerous of a read for y’all…. After this long around here, you should be tough enough for almost anything, right? Any who, let’s see how it looks…..  Okay, okay, it’ll do…. I think…. Well, it will have to do, because I need to get it posted and get on with the day….. I hope y’all enjoyed today’s little catastrophe…..  🙂   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

dozer3

A prodigal child no more…

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Ffolkes,

There are possibly a number of y’all out there who might be wondering just what the hell happened to me. The last post on this blog was put up 10 full days ago, along with a glib promise, to post again the next day, that I was not able to meet…… And, if you’ll stop yelling out questions all at once, I will explain…. Thank you…. The day after penning and posting that blog, on July 1st, our second full day aboard ship, I arose early, as usual, to begin the day’s effort, when I tried to log on to the network provided on board…. Long story short, it took over two minutes for the ship’s name server to log me in, whereupon I tried to access my blog page, to see how many ffolkes had stopped in to read the first post….

Five minutes later, I was still waiting for the page to load…. and it got worse…. After attempting to go to other pages on the net, I gave up, as each time it was slower than my first dial up connection, loading pages as if still running Windows 3.1…. Unacceptable! Apparently, if more than 10 or 11 users attempt to use the network on the ship, it affects the speed, as they just don’t have anywhere near enough bandwidth to handle the traffic…. This, for a price almost 100 times the going rate for internet service anywhere !! For a minimum use plan, paying for each minute used as you go, the price was $1.00/minute; for a 200 minute plan, it went all the way down to $.79/minute, their best bargain….

I had budgeted enough money for contingencies, I’d hoped, but this was out of reasonable bounds, and would have been frustrating to use every time I logged on… So, rather than annoy myself, and my companion, I just quit for the time being, and hoped my gentle readers would understand…. If it is any consolation, I did get a lot of pictures, and had a great time, which I will attempt to share over the next few days….. We stopped in four ports of call, as well as a day cruising in a glacier fed fjord, and I’ll take them in the order we approached them from on board, to wit: Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier, and Victoria, B.C., our final stop….. well, until San Francisco, where we disembarked to go home….. Look for those pix and comments in section three of the next few posts, ‘kay?

Murphy greeted me this morning with an old, but classic, shot to the head, to welcome me home, I suppose…. The half-and-half milady Pat was kind enough to get for me at the store yesterday, so I’d have it this morning with my coffee, broke into a million clumps when it hit the coffee, first thing, turning it into brown cottage cheese, and totally spoiling my welcome-home cuppa… not to mention having to get dressed, walk to the store in the bright sunlight, and go through the rigmarole to replace it….. I managed that without hurting anyone unnecessarily (the one guy who spoke to me won’t wake up for hours, and should recover fully….), but it just goes to show….. well, nothing, really, except I HATE MURPHY, THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!

Shall we Pearl?……
_____________________________

After deciding not to partake of those delights provided by using the internet while on board the Grand Princess (which, in some respects, failed to live up to its sobriquet…. The trip, as a whole, and for the most part, was fantastic, but a few things about the ship itself left something to be desired….), I decided also to completely ignore the world outside the ship, and the places we visited. I listened to no news, on TV or radio, or on the net….. I checked my phone for messages only once, while in Ketchikan, but, otherwise, left it out of the equation, turned off and sitting in the safe. For ten peaceful days, all I thought about, or mostly, was what to eat next, or what movie to watch, or what comedian to go see in the theater on board, or how much more I needed to take out of the casino to make up for the shore excursions we got gouged for (the subject of an upcoming rant….)…

I did manage to come out pretty well in that category; I beat their blackjack dealers, over the course of the trip, for about three or four hundred bucks, which makes up for a lot…. Any who…. Since I have absolutely no idea what’s been going on out there in the world, I’ll ease my way back in with a random pearl, on the subject of human nature, intelligence, and the nearly uncountable facets of interrelated effects that has on people, and on reality at large…..

“Belief is the death of intelligence.” — Robert Anton Wilson

“Of course the US Constitution isn’t perfect; but it’s a lot better than what  we have now.” — Eric Sheppard

“If science were explained to the average person in a way that is accessible and exciting, there would be no room for pseudoscience.  But there is a kind of Gresham’s Law by which in popular culture the bad science drives out the good.  And for this I think we have to blame, first, the scientific community ourselves for not doing a better job of popularizing science, and second, the media, which are in this respect almost uniformly dreadful.  Every newspaper in America has a daily astrology column.  How many have even a weekly astronomy column?  And I believe it is also the fault of the educational system.  We do not teach how to think.  This is a very serious failure that may even, in a world rigged with 60,000 nuclear weapons, compromise the human future.” — Carl Sagan, The Burden Of Skepticism, The Skeptical Inquirer, — Vol. 12, Fall 87

“Curiouser and curiouser!” — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

“The moment a person forms a theory his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.” — Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Charles Thompson, September 20, 1787

As Meander says, “For our mind is God;” and as Heraclitus, “Man’s genius is a deity.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Platonic Questions, i

‘T is education forms the common mind:
Just as the twig is bent the tree ‘s inclined.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Moral Essays, Epistle i, Line 149
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Since I was on the water for so long, and I feel like absorbing some obscure genius, this is the perfect fulfillment of both urges….. Enjoy!

 

Aquatic Nocturne

deep in liquid
turquoise slivers
of dilute light

quiver in thin streaks
of bright tinfoil
on mobile jet:

pale flounder
waver by
tilting silver:

in the shallows
agile minnows
flicker gilt:

grapeblue mussels
dilate lithe and
pliant valves:

dull lunar globes
of bulbous jellyfish
glow milkgreen:

eels twirl
in wily spirals
on elusive tails:

adroir lobsters
amble darkly olive
on shrewd claws:

down where sound
comes blunt and wan
like the bronze tone
of a sunken gong.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~


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After two days at sea to start the voyage to Alaska, covering about 1200 nautical miles, the Grand Princess docked in Ketchikan, Alaska, at a dock right across from the town’s main downtown streets, with a panoply of still snow-capped mountains providing a beautiful and dramatic backdrop to a scene from 150 years ago. The buildings, all wooden, and built in the style of the time of the Klondike Gold Rush, were fronted with wooden sidewalks, even though they housed shops and boutiques from modern times, filled with all the local treasures, such as smoked salmon and Tlingit curios, as well as the touristy usuals such as T-shirts, magnets, and stuffed bears and wolves of all sizes…..

I must confess, I went a bit crazy in the shops we went into, stocking up on souvenirs for the folks back home, and found a new hat for myself, as well. We had a very good pizza for lunch at the Fish Pirate’s Restaurant and Bar, to the accompaniment of live music by Sitka Tex, who played some great western swing, in a very smooth baritone, with some pretty hot guitar licks….

We picked up his CD, and then went on our tour, called the Duck Tour, in an amphibious vehicle that carried us around the town for local history, then drove right into the harbor at the marina, for a tour along the waterfront, where we were able to see a number of eagles fishing the waters off a rock where they like to congregate…. The tour driver and narrator were very personable and funny, using every old duck joke there is to punctuate their presentations (What happens to a duck who flies upside down? He quacks up!….). Funny, for the first six jokes, then it got a bit old, even with the liberal use of a duck-bill shaped quacking toy…. but, fun nonetheless…

Below, you will find the best pictures I got from our day in Ketchikan, or in the case of our email readers, a link to the blog site where I’ve posted the pix….. I hope you enjoy them, because I really enjoyed the opportunity to take them….
Alaska Grand Adventure 004Alaska Grand Adventure 006Alaska Grand Adventure 013Alaska Grand Adventure 012Alaska Grand Adventure 014Alaska Grand Adventure 018Alaska Grand Adventure 028 Alaska Grand Adventure 025Alaska Grand Adventure 033 Alaska Grand Adventure 034 Alaska Grand Adventure 035Alaska Grand Adventure 031 Alaska Grand Adventure 005_____________________________

All in all, I wish I was still on board, but, hey, it’s also nice to sleep in my own bed….. Plus, once I got some half-and-half, it was the best coffee I’ve had in too long a time…. This Pearl went fairly smoothly, given the issues I found upon arising, may Murphy’s ass burn in hell….. It’s done, anyway, so let’s see how it reads….. Not too shabby, all in all, so we’ll go with it…. Naturally, there is a lot to catch up on around here, so, I’ll see y’all tomorrow…..  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

dozer3

Don’t screw it in, we’ll use the hammer….

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Ffolkes,
Sadly, the network here on the Grand Princess isn’t very fast, so I’m guessing photos may be an issue, upload-wise. We’ll have to see, as I actually haven’t tried to put them up yet. It may yet fool me…. Good morning…. well, it’s a good morning here on board, anyway…. It’s 5 AM, and I have a cup of the only good coffee on the ship, which comes from the coffee stand in the main lobby…. all the dining areas have atrocious coffee, and don’t seem to care… I guess they know they’ll sell more at the barista stands that way….

We’re now on our second day at sea to begin the voyage. Patricia is having a wonderful time, experiencing all the great stuff she had heard about from her mother and friends who have cruised. I’m really glad she is having this opportunity, and hope the weather cooperates. It has gotten a bit windy and cold on deck in the evening, so it’s hard for her to go out to indulge in a smoke…. We did bring the right clothing though, so it’s merely a matter of putting it on before heading out…

This is going to be rather short today. The weather, though good, was boring, so I couldn’t get a lot of pictures of the sea or land going by. This was due to sailing through a fog bank most of the day, turning the sea into a surrealistic, ghostly presence, not suitable for pictures. Plus, I’m still getting used to this new computer, which has an entirely different style of keyboard…. The issues around getting posted aren’t unsurmountable, they’re just slowing me down…. I’ll get there, though…. Let’s get on with it…. Shall we Pearl?….
_________________________

What we have here is a random harlequin pearl, chosen fresh this morning, which may be why it is rather obscure in terms of the point being presented…. It’s all good, though, because each one offers its own perspective, if you squint at them just right…..

“It’s the RINSE CYCLE!!  They’ve ALL IGNORED the RINSE CYCLE!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.” — Hugo Demartini, in “Contemporary Artists”, 1977

“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don’t know yet.” — Ambrose Bierce

“Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternatives.” — Maurice Chevalier

“Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.” — Seneca (8 BC) — De Providentia, 5, 9

“Why is it that people who know nothing are so quick to prove it?” — Smart Bee

“You cannot cross a river in two strides.” — The Siddhartha Principle

See?….. As I have previously stated, timing is everything…..
_________________________

I’m trying to save time on my internet package here on the ship, so you’ll have to make do with one of mine from the archives, as I don’t have one ready to leak out today…..

Roses for Noses

I have a bozoid personality, of the first degree;
nobody, I mean nobody, knows that better than me.
I often wonder, as the world goes around, and around
how many others have realized just what I’ve found….

I know for a fact, I’m not the only bozoid one;
too many people laughing out there, having fun.
Is their laughter, though, at themselves first?
Or is it some other impulse, like purple liverwurst”….

I’ve always loved to make others laugh and giggle,
since my tender youth, when my ears began to wiggle.
The world is full of humor,  but not always easy to find
so laughing at myself I learned never to mind….

We bozos know each other, here, there, and everywhere
there’s no hiding such joy, it just wouldn’t be fair.
We all have one feature, our great bulbous nose,
and there’s no doubt at all, cuz it just grows….

There’s nothing like a good, big mistake, a disaster,
to show us the folly of living life faster and faster.
Nothing in the world can ever take the place,
of seeing in the mirror, a happy, smiling face….

Don’t be shy, just let it all hang out;
we bozos have more fun, there’s no doubt.
Life’s too somber and gray if we let it get on top
if we don’t stay loose, the pain won’t ever stop….

My advice to all of you, out there in the world,
let noses grow round & red, keep hair tightly curled.
Find a way to let your spirit out often to play,
you’ll never once regret any price you pay.

~~ gigoid
_________________________

This section will show the pictures from our first day on the ship, as we embarked, and just a few others, as the scenery isn’t within view as yet…. Not much, but a start…. Enjoy!…..
Grand day one at sea 001Grand day one at sea 009Grand day one at sea 006That’s the lot for today, ffolkes… I’ll have more tomorrow, when we get near some land…..

_________________________

Well, there you have it…. the first Pearl from aboard ship, such as it is…. Gotta go schedule a massage, so, see ya!…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Entirely too much fun for one penguin….

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Ffolkes,
We made it, and now are happily sailing along the coast of the great Northwest, somewhere near Oregon or Washington, perhaps, headed for the Inside Passage. Not much scenery as yet, we’re a bit far from shore, and from the sea, one can see the effects of pollution, as most of the coastline we are passing is covered in a light to heavy haze, and it isn’t fog….. But, the water is calm, the sky is blue, and the food is plentiful…. Score!

This promises to be a wonderful trip, though I may not be as able to post as much as I did from Europe…. I’ve already realized that this time, I’m not alone, and my time isn’t as flexible as when I am…. I have to say, I am much happier with Patricia here with me than I was traveling alone, and not just because I love her, but because it means I can share all the good times….

That’s really all I have right now…. I’ve gotten my internet hookup done, and shouldn’t have a problem there, but, I’m not yet sure about the email version of the Pearls. This new computer is balking at installing Thunderbird, the email browser I normally use, so I may have to access it all online, which I am not sure will work for posting… I can access my yahoo mail, though, so contact is possible, just reduced…. Ah well, travel makes it all a bit more complicated, but, is well worth it…..

That’s all I really have to say today… I don’t have a rant, and I’m having too much fun to break away to write just now, so, I’m afraid y’all will have to wait for fresh material until tomorrow…. For today, I’ll merely dip into the archives for a couple of old school pearls, and find a nice, tasty poem…. Shall we Pearl?….
_________________________

Rather than an old-school pearl, I found this rant, from election day in 2012…. it’s a good one….

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” — James Madison

I found this yesterday; I’d seen it before, and it seemed serendipitous that it showed up just in time for the event today (psst!…. go vote!….). In my mind, a good standard for figuring out if a person is a true patriot is to get their take on the Second Amendment, and the idea of gun control by the government. As I’ve stated before, I believe the risk of letting the government restrict our rights in this regard, IN ANY WAY, can only lead to the eventual loss of the right altogether, and that is an event that is completely unacceptable to me. Yes, it means that the world will be a dangerous place, but, guess what, ffolkes, that is something that happened a long time before guns. Taking them away from the general populace is not going to stop mass killings, or unjust, insane use of guns against innocent people. That occurs on a daily basis, anyway, but with the guns in the hands of police officers; that is a fact….. So, don’t tell me that the government is more qualified to use guns than I am, because that is just stupid….

Now that I’ve insulted many of you, we’ll try to go on to the election…. didn’t mean to get off into a rant on that, but, wanted to get it out of the way, so that the discussion may go on to other ways that the government is, quite simply, fucking us left and right…. George Carlin had a lot of good points about the corporate masters and their lackeys, the beloved ruling classes, and the priestly hierarchies. He often pointed out that the world has turned into a massive corporate conglomerate, with all the world governments at the mercy of those few individuals who actually control all the resources, and money. Those are people you never hear about, or see in the news, unless it is by intent…. they don’t allow accidents like that to happen…. But rest assured, they exist, and are perfectly content to let the world believe whatever it wants, as long as their profits, their power, and their control over others continues to grow….

“The rifle and handgun are “equalizers”–the weapons of a democracy. Tanks and bombers represent dictatorship.” — Edward Abbey

But, the invisible rulers don’t like the Second Amendment…. it leaves too much chance for independence in the hands of the people, and in case the people ever find out what they have been up to, they want to be able to know where all the guns are that might threaten them….. Having the general populace of this country continue to have access to any significant firepower is not in their best interests, so they work behind the scenes to get people to believe the nonsense about gun control, and how keeping guns from the hands of the citizenry will make life safer…. which is just so much bullshit… plain and simple.  Ultimately, the only real effect of making guns illegal will be to make a large percentage of the American people outlaws, because I don’t think any of us will give them up without resistance, whether overt, or covert…..

“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” — A. E. Van Vogt, The Weapon Shops, — in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1942

How, you may ask, does this relate to the election? Well, it doesn’t, directly…. it’s just a pet peeve of mine, and an example of another of our basic rights that are being eroded by politicians, preachers, and those who ignorantly buy into their lies. I don’t trust the Democrats any more than I do the Republicans; perhaps even less, because the Republicans seem to be far more open about their lack of concern with the rights of the people. In that sense, they are easier to spot, and to resist. The Dems are being more subtle, but that doesn’t make them trustworthy; they do, after all, seek that power over others as well. There just seem to be more of them who are motivated to do so out of some community feeling, and concern for others, and those are trying to encompass reforms that are sorely needed.

“A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.” — James Clarke

The difference between the two parties that have the only chance at the seats of power is extreme in this election; very seldom has the choice that needs to be made been clearer. One can choose to move forward into a future of change, or one can try to return society to the middle ages, with all of its injustice, and misery. It is that simple, and anyone who wishes to argue with that is welcome to present their views…. I’ll knock them down easily, with headlines from the daily news that, although not exactly unbiased or always true, are nonetheless balanced out by the outrageousness of each side’s contributions.

“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” — H.L. Mencken

The facts are all our there to see, and they clearly show one candidate whose only interest is in increasing his own power and wealth, and protecting his cronies on Wall Street, his cultish church, and the ruling class; he cares noting about the common man, and makes his disdain obvious. The other is, well, definitely the lesser of two evils…. on the apparent surface he is a dedicated, honest man, seeking reform and change, but, there are indications of less than stellar activity in his administration, too.  But, he obviously cares about the common man much more than his opponent, and since the common man is the one who will be affected the most by what happens this time, the choice is clear. If you don’t want to have to take up regular use of Vaseline and Preparation H, then vote the incumbent…. If you really want to get a good screwing in the nether regions, then vote the opposition…. it is that simple ffolkes…..

“There is but one element of government, and that is THE PEOPLE.  From this element spring all governments.  “For a nation to be free, it is only necessary that she wills it.”  For a nation to be slave, it is only necessary that she wills it.” — John Adams (1735-1826), Letter to John Taylor, 1814
_________________________

I Must Have Wanton Poets

MUST have wanton poets, pleasant wits,
Musicians, that with touching of a string
May draw the pliant king which way I please:
Music and poetry is his delight;
Therefore I’ll have Italian masks by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day, when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad;
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat-feet dance the antic hay;
Sometime a lovely boy in Dian’s shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive-tree,
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there, hard by,
One like Actæon, peeping through the grove,
Shall by the angry goddess be transform’d,
And running in the likeness of an hart,
By yelping hounds pull’d down, shall seem to die:
Such things as these best please his majesty.

~~ Christopher Marlowe ~~

_________________________

Here is another good one from a day or two after the above rant was posted…..

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.  Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me.  It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw

Now, THAT is a good attitude toward living! Carpe diem, and all that, don’t y’know? I like to think that I approach life in much this same manner, even though I have my moments spent in depression and despair; those moments I consider to be anomalous, and not fully representative of my take on life in general. Many people may not feel this way, and I cannot disparage them for that, as living often requires more of our attention that can be spared to make sure we are positively motivated; it’s not easy to get by in this world, and maintaining a positive outlook can become secondary to just having the wherewithal to do anything at all. But, George points out a pretty good way to think about it, even if one hasn’t the time or resources to fully appreciate, or apply, the principle as given….. As such, it joins a number of other viewpoints of famous historical figures, all of whom had advice to give to people about how to live well…. below you will find several of these suggestions for living life as well as one is able to live….

“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it… Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.  But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings — that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” — Buddha

“Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.” — Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

“Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
— Tao Te Ching

“A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant.” — Epictetus

Well, there you go…. now, all you have to do is put all of this into practice…. sounds like fun, eh?….
_________________________

Okay, it’s long, but it’s done…. and being old pearls, I don’t have to proof them, having done so already, last time they were used….  I’m calling it a done deal, and going to go spend more time having fun…. See you tomorrow….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Remnants of patent leather madrigals….

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Ffolkes,
I’ve started to write several times this morning, but each time was forced to begin again, having spewed pure garbage onto the page. Even this honest statement of dismay seems to me to be stilted and stupid; it seems doubtful, at this point, that anything worthwhile is going to be coming forth from the depths of my mind to grace our presence with wit and style. I’d give up, but, I’m stubborn….

Having thus disposed of at least the first paragraph, perhaps I can distract Murphy with my fuzzy brain….. If he thinks I’m already in a state of confusion, he will, sometimes, let me be, allowing me to fuck with myself, which, though no less destructive, is often less bloody, and takes less clean-up….. Funny, isn’t it, what we can learn to live with?…. Besides, even Murphy will have a hard time putting me in a depressed state today…. In a bit under eight hours, I’ll be getting into a limo, which will deliver me, and milady Patricia, to the cruise terminal to embark on our ten day trip to Alaska…. Very little in the universe could make me unhappy at this point….

The only hard part now is getting through these eight hours…. creating this Pearl will eat up some of it, and I’ve got some ideas of how to pass the time quickly…. but, nothing will make the clock move fast enough to suit us. Everything is done, and all we need to do is carry our bags to the curb to be on our way….. I’m so jazzed and excited, even coming up with the BS I can normally spew out on demand is a bit more than I feel easy with….. Oh well, such is life, as they say….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

You knew it would happen today…. and, if you didn’t, you should have…. I had intended to make this a fresh pearl, old-school variety, and rant in the third section, provided I can find a rantable subject….. However, Smart Bee has gone over to Murphy’s side for the time being, and won’t cooperate with the plan…. so, I’m retreating to the archives for a short, pithy rant on religion, or religious philosophy, whatever that might mean…. This was originally posted in December of 2011…

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ffolkes,

Just so it’s clear…..I’m not an atheist, per se, at least, not in the classical sense of the word.  I do hold beliefs regarding the subject of divinity and spirituality, but they bear no great resemblance to those espoused by any organized faith, and I don’t discuss them with anyone. It just causes arguments.  I am not a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Unitarian, or a Buddhist, or any other of the virtually countless ‘isms’ people have come up with to try to understand those parts of the universe that we do not comprehend.

I’ve read the holy books of most of the major faiths; Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, the Bibles of several different Christian sects , the Tao Teh Ching, the I Ching, and any other related material I could find. Not that I made a complete heavy study of each, but I learned enough to be able to draw comparisons, and judge the validity of each (which I admit, is purely subjective. But then, isn’t any religious belief purely subjective? Why yes, I do believe it is…..).

It occurred to me, just now, that, maybe, for all these centuries we (that’s the human “we”…. meaning all of us as a group….) have sought to explain what we do not understand, we have been looking at things from the wrong perspective, at least in terms of intelligence, with its defined value to us being such that man considers himself greater than “lower” forms of life. The attitude that we are the pinnacle of creation is a given in almost every approach taken by philosophers and scientists in any explanation of why things are as they are. Since we have not the ability to create worlds (yet), or stars (yet), or universes (yet?), we attribute the state of things as we know them to creatures of vast wisdom and power, as “far above us as we are above bacteria or amoeba.” How often have you heard the last part? Isn’t that part of any definition of a god, or even God, by whatever name one calls him/her/them/it?

But what if the amoeba IS God? Amoeba are the most ancient form of life we know of, utilizing the simplest means of reproduction available (as far as WE know anyway…), and are an essential step in the formation of other life. Perhaps the entire bacterial level is God’s nervous system, and the amoeba are the thoughts of God. And as other forms of life evolved, maybe each entered another part of the symbiotic whole that is life, non-life, energy, matter, and non-matter, all of which must be present in order for our universe to manifest itself.

All of which makes our viewpoint completely backwards; we are the bottom of creation, not the top. Every other part of the universe, and almost every animal and creature on our planet we know of, except ourselves and our vaunted intelligence, are functioning, and functioning well, according to their place in Nature because they have no need to do anything else.  Our intelligence is generally accepted to be that which makes us ‘better’ than the rest of creation, a convenient word to describe something that may not have been created at all, but might just happen to be the way it is, because it wants to be…..at least most of it does….so far we haven’t done too well at learning how to be at one with the rest of creation; quite the opposite, as a general rule…..

Hmmm…..well, I guess that’s one way to look at it…… at least with this credo, there’s no guilt, no shame, no incentives, and no rewards….. other than self-respect……

— How many amoebas does it take to change a light bulb?  One. No, 2. No, 4. No, 8. No, 16. No, 32……. — Smart Bee
_____________________________

Some years ago, on the occasion of her mother’s passing, Patricia, my lady love, wrote a memorial tribute, in which she put a poem that she wrote for her mother…. I think it is very touching, as well as quite beautiful, and include it here, not to depress anyone, but to celebrate the life of her mother by sharing what Patricia felt when she wrote the poem….. Enjoy!….

She sits quietly,
Eyes in a wrinkled face,
Watching nothing,
Seeing everything.
A kaleidoscope of memories
flickers past.

Laughter mingles with tears,
Fear and sorrow melt into contentment.
A lifetime of joy and passion,
sorrow and doubt pass by.
Don’t hurry so, take your time.
Stop and listen
and she will tell you tales.

Tales of far away lands, great adventures,
great passion and greater trials.

She takes out the memories, one at a time,
Views them re-lives them,
brings them to life for her listeners.

Then tenderly, reverently, she wraps them again,
and places them, one at a time,
into fragile bubbles.

If you look closely, you can see them.

Tiny little flashes in her eyes……
Look close,
See them?

Individual memories encased in fragile bubbles.

In loving memory of June. T. Miller
1919-1998
by
Patricia Miller Larsen

_____________________________

Okay, it’s time to drop any pretense I have assumed…. Smart Bee isn’t cooperating, and my head just isn’t ready to be creative…. so, once again, I’ll have to dip into the past for the material to complete this Pearl…. So be it…. Here is a rather long, involved pearl from late in 2012… I think it’s one of my best, so, it will do for the moment’s need….. Enjoy!….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is the mind? Where is it, exactly? And how does it work?….. These are questions that have been asked throughout time, without ever finding answers on which all can agree…. Oh, there are many ideas, and every sage and his brother’s cousin’s friend’s uncle has a theory about it…. Finding pearls that discuss the matter was pretty simple, actually, as they just kept popping up in front of me…. for example, here are four that I found, all of which have an important part of the idea to discuss…..

“Whether time is long or short, and whether space is broad or narrow, depend upon the mind. Those whose minds are at leisure can feel one day as a millennium, and those whose thoughts are expansive can perceive a small house to be as spacious as the universe.” — Hung Tzu-ch’eng (1593-1665)

“An intelligent mind is a mind which is not satisfied with explanations, with  conclusions; nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another  form of conclusion. An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind, a mind that is  watching, learning, studying.” — J. Krishnamurti

“Hypotheses are not to be multiplied without necessity.” — Occam’s Razor (aka, the K.I.S.S. axiom….) (see Hanlon’s Razor, aka Heinlein’s Corollary to Occam’s Razor) (See logic) (See Dick and Jane run….) (Just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention….)

“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve the problems of life not only theoretically, but practically.” — Henry David Thoreau, American Philosopher (1817-1862) in Walden

You probably noted that one of these four was not like the others (Sesame Street teaches critical thinking well, does it not?….). Occam’s Razor has done more to advance science and philosophy than any unified field theorem, or any other wide ranging thought that mankind has come up with over the years. It cuts through the bullshit, and reminds us to concentrate on what is important, to not to go off on tangents that detract from the final outcome. It’s a way of approaching science and the fields of knowledge, and even Life, that offers the superiority of having been proven true over and over, in every experiment, in every field of science since it’s publication, sometime around the Renaissance period. William of Occam was, reportedly, a mathematician, and no doubt a very good one, as his assertion regarding hypotheses implies a certain impatience with bullshit; he likely wasn’t one to put up with foolishness for long….

Of course, there are always a few who don’t have the intelligence, or the courage, to stand up to Life, and they too have had their two cents worth put in for consideration….

“Do not learn more than you absolutely need to get through life.” — Karl Kraus  (Seconded, I’m sure, by Homer Simpson….)

An obvious proponent of the entitlement crowd, this guy has expressed clearly the lack of courage that it takes to really retreat from life as can be done. These are the Republicans, the non-thinkers, the men and women who prefer to hide their heads in sand rather than meet reality with any dignity or bravery. Ignorance is their status of choice, as they don’t have to bother themselves to ever check things for truth, or even make up their own thoughts…. they just accept whatever the pundits, religious or political, tell them, because those pundits are the ones who are immoral and unethical enough to take advantage of their ignorance, and will tell them anything they want to hear, in order to soothe their bigoted fears, and, as a happy side effect, take all their money…. which they willingly give away, proving the old saw about fools and money…

I didn’t mean to get into a political rant, but I suppose it isn’t an ill-conceived idea at this point. Tonight will be the first of the Presidential debates between Obama and Romney, and a discussion of mind vs. no-mind seems appropriate somehow. We will get a pretty good picture drawn for us tonight, as one of the greatest speakers of our time, the POTUS, faces off in debate with one of the worst speakers I’ve ever seen, Mitt the Twitt, who has a proclivity for dropping bombs, and speaking without evidence of giving any thought at all to what he has just said to some group. This is an occupational hazard for someone who relies on lies and misrepresentations for the major portion of their message; it’s hard to sound true when one is obviously false…. No matter how much it gets dressed up and taught to sing and dance, a pig isn’t going to win any music contests with its squealing…..

“I’m not imaginary–I’m ontologically challenged” — Smart Bee

As might be guessed, the above is a joke, intended to poke fun at those who choose to live their lives without the benefit of using their minds…. to live one’s life in ignorance to me would seem to be the actions of a fool, by definition as well as practice. One may as well BE imaginary, if one is going to retreat from reality to the extent of turning off all curiosity, all doubt, and never using the mind for that which it was designed (if one believes in design….), or happened to evolve into…. The mind is our best, and possibly our only, ally against the harshness of reality, and it would behoove all of us to keep it in good working order, as befits a tool of such high quality…… T’is marginally better than treating it as a red-headed step-child, leaving it out to starve in the cold, harsh light of reality…..
_____________________________

Without even looking this over, I know it will do…. but, I’m anal about typos, so let’s see how it reads….. Given the handicaps under which I am operating today, it isn’t at all bad…. not terribly fresh, but still stimulating… and, it’s done…. Yay!  Now I can get ready to rumble….. Next time I post will be from the road, so I can’t predict exactly when, but, it will be soon…. count on it…..  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

dozer3

Moments of intense serenity…..

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Ffolkes,
One. More. Day…… Tomorrow, Patricia and I leave to go on our trip, and I am, officially, jazzed to beat the band. So much so, I’m not sure I can write at all. Normally, I can’t seem to shut myself up, nor do I make much of an effort to do so, but, today, I find myself to be rather disinterested in composing anything fresh… so, I’ll force myself to keep typing, as I don’t want to develop any bad habits….. I can’t predict at all how it will turn out, but, I’ll do the best I can…..

I didn’t mean for that last statement to sound like a threat…. I just meant that, given the tendency of this blog to be completely subject to the dangerously random, always mysterious, effects of universal entropy, NOBODY can predict how it will go, but, as the person most responsible for any property damaged in the process, I will do my best to keep it from entering the realm of perilous, in a physical sense. Beyond that, I don’t see what else I can do, without spending a fortune for insurance…

Oh, well, I’m sure y’all have no real interest in the bones of the operation, or in hearing about my problems with blog maintenance/management, so, even though this doesn’t quite meet the exacting standards for one of my intro sections, (no laughing….), it will have to do. I have a feeling it would be best for me to just jump in and start diving for pearls, before I stick more than just one foot in the soup…. and, sorry about mixing metaphors like that…. They just threw themselves together before I could stop them….. Any who….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“You can’t legislate morality. We tried to outlaw consumption of alcoholic beverages. We found that violation of the law led to bigger crimes and bred disrespect for the law.” — Jimmy Carter, 1976

This statement would be a perfect segue, into a rant on both politics and religion, together, or separately. It’s also a good one for a discussion of how both those entities encourage and support each other’s lies. However, starting to plow such a fertile field for our inquiries runs the risk of going on for a very long time, as it is a subject with a LOT of instances in real life from which to draw inferences and/or conclusions; the news is filled every day with stories that can be used to show how the government is screwing the public, with the complete support of the churches.

I could do that…. but, I won’t do it today. Instead, I’ll find some pearls which will lead your minds on a shorter trip than I could write in a rant, and get you to the same point, mostly…. and if not, well, it will be more fun, and less mental effort…. So, here we go….

“Deep down, most everyone is fairly superficial.” — Smart Bee

“If the life of natural things, millions of years old does not seem sacred to us, then what can be sacred?” — Edward Abbey

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

“Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.” — Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

“So if you know the place and time of a battle, you can join the fight from a thousand miles away.” — Sun Tzu

“A man must sit with his mouth open for a long time before a roast duck flies in.” — Chinese proverb

“We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” — Eric Hoffer

Perfect!… I love it when a plan comes together… A perfect seven-star pearl, sharp as a tack….. Okay, onward….
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This is a poem that I’ve shared previously, but, is so good, I have no qualms about doing so again… It is timeless, and brilliant, and makes me wish I could write half as well….

Soliloquy Of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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I confess to feeling too hyped to write…. I have a lot in there that wants to come out, but, a bigger part of me just wants to dance, or fall asleep to pass the time until we leave, tomorrow, in the early afternoon….. So, I’ll cheat again, and dip into the archives…. This is a short little piece I wrote the day before Halloween in 2011, as part of a pearl created using a really old format, one that encouraged ranting a bit too much…. History aside, I like this one, just because, and it’s a good one to finish with on a day like today…..

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“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools:  the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans – and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.'” — Terry Pratchett, ‘Small Gods’

Laughter is probably my favorite part of Life; I can’t think of a single time in my life when laughter was unwelcome. Conversely, I can think of any number of times when it was not only welcome, but life-saving, or, at the very least, life-preserving. In its way it also affirms life; it lets you know that you are alive, and that life is good.

The sound of a child’s laughter can bring a smile to the grimmest curmudgeon, and the laughter of a beautiful woman can be either joyous, or cruel. Laughing is our best defense against the tyranny of repressive thought; it can bring a tyrant to his knees, for tyranny lives in fear of ridicule. Laughter cannot cure pain, but can ease it, and make it more bearable.

In a way poorly understood, but acknowledged, laughter prolongs life, actually reversing many of the effects of time. When laughter is in our lives, everything is more colorful; vision, hearing, touch, smell, all are more acute when under its influence. Conversely, when it is long absent, the world turns dreary, and washed of all color. Without laughter, our lives become drudgery, merely a time to survive, in silence and despair.

The Universe is one huge joke, and the punch line has yet to come. We can spend our lives in black and white, trudging along the dusty road of Time with head hanging down and steps heavy as sorrow. Or, we can look for the brighter side of Life, and laugh at ourselves and everything around us, marching ahead with eyes up and seeking new vistas, hopeful for the dawn of each new day. Your choice…..

“Excuse me, but didn’t I tell you there’s NO HOPE for the survival of OFFSET PRINTING?” — Zippy the Pinhead
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It’s done…. tomorrow morning, I don’t know what I’ll do…. I’ll be a mess, I’m sure, and may or may not be able to post…. If not, look for the first post from the road on Sunday…. And, since I can’t see any typos of a major nature in one pass, it is “done”.  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

dozer3