Betting on a busted flush….

Posted on May 13, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1073 ~~

~~ A perfect picture of the relationship between Dogs and Man ~~

(Not to mention the power of Love, and the power of Cute….)

Picture stolen from Facebook, ages ago….

Good morrow, ffolkes….

If today’s Pearl gets done anywhere near the usual time, it will be a major victory for the forces of good…. Without getting into details which would indubitably sound like whining, I’ll just say it’s not a good morning here at ECR, and let it go at that. Should you, and/or I, get to the end, well, I’ll have earned the title of “tough old fart”…..

Shall we Pearl?

“I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.” — Bertrand Russell, Education and the Social Order

Ouch! Boy, if THAT isn’t the truth, I don’t know truth. And, believe me, I know truth, especially when it hits me in the face as hard as that does. If it doesn’t hit you as hard, well, all I can say is, read a bit of history, and think about it again…. End of mini-rant, on with the slow…. no typos allowed, ffolkes….

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Image from rollingstone.com via Google Images

C’mon, ffolkes… If you know me at all, you’d have known today’s video would be this band, after the last two days…. Sheesh…. Enjoy!

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The Who

Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970

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https://youtu.be/YMS47w8hAZ8

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I’m pretty late, but, if I use an old rant from the archives, I can make up most of the time…. Here is a pretty decent little discussion from the occasion of my son’s last birthday…. Apparently, I found an even older piece, from 2013, a reflection on a reasonably esoteric subject, to wit: Life and Death, or Mortality… Enjoy!…

Last posted 12/17/2014; written 3/3/2013:

“As a draft-animal is yoked in a wagon, even so the spirit is yoked in this body.” — Upanishads (c. B.C. 800)

Each of us is faced at times with the consciousness of our own approaching encounter with Death, that moment in time when our yoke is removed, and our spirit is freed, once more joining the rest of the conscious minds in the universe, in roaming through realms of Reality we cannot see in this form. This Reality we cannot see is much larger, in one sense, than the one we can now perceive; it has to be, to be able to accommodate all the souls that have gone before, and all that are now present on Earth, that will someday join the rest of them, when they die…..

Every human being alive must face their own Death (I am capitalizing the word to give it the proper respect, as one of the most important concepts we have as humans….); this is a truism no one can deny, or refute. Many people have banded together, to assume the belief that our universe was created this way by a supernatural being, who, for some unknown, and unknowable (self-explanatory, I think….) reason, decided that we are “special”, giving us, and only us, the knowledge we have, and our very lives. This, of course, is rather hard to believe, as it doesn’t really account for much of what is observable truth in Reality…. In truth, it is, patently, complete speculation, devoid of any concrete evidence to support it…..

“There is no conclusive evidence that there is life after death. There is also no real evidence to the contrary. Soon enough, you will know. So, why fret about it?” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein

I first read this aphorism when I was in my early teens; it codified, and made succinct, what I had already concluded about the major religions of the world, i.e., they’re a collection of unwarranted, and unproven, assumptions. What’s more, they are all highly unlikely, given the observable parameters of the real world. It became obvious to me, as it is to many, that what the religious folks were trying to get me to believe was intended merely to soften my mind, making it more amenable to suggestion, of which they have an endless supply. Preachers, priests, imams, nuns, all are quite willing to give other people advice and suggestions on how they should live, in exhaustive detail, for as long as they are allowed to do so….

Since I had very little desire to have other people decide for me how I should think, or live my life, I rejected the dogma they tried to force into my head, turning instead to other sources of thought about Life, Death, and Reality. I found an endless supply of folks who had thought long and deeply about all of these ideas, and gladly did I read all I could of everything I could find on the subject. In addition, I read science fiction, during the years when its popularity had just begun to climb to the heights it now occupies; sci-fi has always been literature that explored, and continues to explore, the very limits of thought, both in the real world, and the world of the mind.

As is seen by the first pearl above, these thoughts and ideas are not new with me; mankind has been thinking about these concepts since we first sat around the campfires, wondering at the beauty of the heavens we saw above our heads, and all around us. In all that time, no conclusions have been reached that seem to cover ALL of the questions we have about the universe. We still don’t have a clue as to “what is the mind”, or “what is thought”…. and if we cannot understand ourselves, what chance do we have of unraveling the secrets of the universe around us? Not much, would be my guess…

That, fortunately, does not mean it is impossible to know the truth, nor does it mean we are condemned to die in ignorance and fear…. I know this because I have learned in my time that our fear is a direct outgrowth of our ignorance; we fear what we do not understand. Now, if I were a God, why would I make people that way, unless for some ulterior motive, having to do with motivations that are human, not divine? No, it just doesn’t make sense to me to assume that we were put here with a deliberate handicap, just to see how we dealt with it; that seems more like an evil scientist at work than a compassionate deity.

“One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.” — Etty Hilsum

Since I believe firmly in the Law of Conservation of Energy (proven true in this universe, to all our knowledge), I must, logically, also believe that our minds/souls are a form of energy we currently don’t fully understand, and cannot perceive directly. Thus, we see the concept of Death is nothing to fear, as it merely means that my current state of energy will be replaced with another state, one I don’t currently have the ability to perceive. What that state may be like may be unknown, but that doesn’t mean it is something of which I should be afraid…. I prefer to look at it as the next great adventure….

When my father died, I asked him to leave me some trail-sign, to let me know how to find him in the next reality; he smiled at me, and said he would do that… and I was much comforted by that, knowing that our connection as family can never be severed, and that, someday, I would once more have the pleasure, and comfort, of his presence…. Now that’s something to look forward to, don’t you think?…. Much better than worrying that what I do now is going to determine what happens to me after I die, a silly proposition, at best……

“Do not think that man is but flesh, skin, bones and veins; far from it! What really makes man is his soul; and the things we call skin, flesh, bones and veins are but a garment, a cloak; they do not constitute man. When man departs this earth, he divests himself of all the veils that conceal him.” — Zohar

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While I’m still waiting for the poem in my head to leak out, here is one of my latest poems, from last year….

A dream, weeping….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 8/30/2014.

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Yep…. It’s an old-school pearl. I let the cat pick them…. It’s a cat; I’m not even going to try to guess what it means….

If of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, `It might have been,’
More sad are these we daily see:
`It is, but hadn’t ought to be.’

~~ Francis Brett Harte ~~

“A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 357

“Simplicity is always a virtue. One kid on a riverbank working out a Stephen Foster tune on his new harmonica heard from the correct aesthetic distance projects more magic and power than the entire Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus laboring (once again) through the Mozart Requiem or Bach’s B Minor Mass.” — Edward Abbey

“It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.” — Goethe

“The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” — Henry David Thoreau

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “Wisdom of the Sands”

“Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 633

“Let us treat men and women well;
Treat them as if they were real;
Perhaps they are.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Hmm…. Not too shabby at all…. I think the only thing to add at this point is, “meow….” Or, maybe, “Brrrt?”….. You tell me….

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It’s a wrap, thank goodness…. You may officially consider me a tough old fart. On that elegant note, I’ll take my leave, while I’m still able to remain at large…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can get a grip….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Burdened with atrophied sensibilities….

Posted on May 12, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.”

~~ Cervantes ~~

Artist’s rendition of water plumes on the surface of Europa

Image from Space.com

Good morning, ffolkes….

Just a short note, to give fair warning…. Gird your grid for a big one…. and, keep your wits about you.

Shall we Pearl?

“Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear.” — Isa Upanishad

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The Stones who are still Rolling

Image from wallpaperhere.com via Google Images

Yesterday, ’twas the Beatles; it’s only right today we include their contemporaries, who, somehow, are still going strong…. The Stones will be going on tour again this year… I’ve seen them live on stage a number of times through the years, and can’t think of any concerts I enjoyed more….Think of it; a stage full of 70 year old rockers, still making kick-ass, down & dirty rock and roll…. still rocking the world, fifty years on…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. Nothing else is quite like time spent getting down with the Stones…. and, I managed to find more than two hours of their best early work, to start your day right….

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The Rolling Stones

Hampton Coliseum 12/18/81

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https://youtu.be/PFPh5PL2c8Y

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“What is it the Bible teaches us? – rapine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us? – to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

Ffolkes, I don’t think there is anyone, of a ffolkes-y nature, or, just folks, who would be able to disagree when I say the world today has gone stark, raving mad…. All one needs to do is take a daily trip through the international news, whether of a liberal, conservative, radical, or silly bias (ALL of them are biased; it’s the nature of the beast), to see the evidence is clear…. In too many places on the map to count, war is raging, killing both the guilty and the innocent, for the entertainment and profit of the arms dealers, none of whom ever participate in any of the conflagrations, being satisfied to watch it all safely from a distance, while they count their rubles, or marks, or pounds, or yuan, or dollars, pouring in from nations and organizations around the entire planet….

Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Africa, nearly every continent on Earth is witnessing daily wars, or violent acts of terror. The governments of every country are spying on their citizens, and each other, hiding their real intentions from all, moving us closer to another world war. This while constantly trumpeting every sort of danger they can think of to keep the public distracted, too busy to think about what is actually being done, to them, and to society at large.

Society itself displays all the symptoms of a dying organism. The members of our species prey upon the weak, and vulnerable among us without compunction, as the sex trafficking trade in women and children, used to satisfy the perverted urges of pedophiles, misogynists, and men of every walk of life, who have been encouraged all their life to treat women as property, or anything but a human being, worthy of respect, dignity, and love. Churches claim to help the poor, while all the while buying their gold-lined robes, standing up behind their gold plated icons, preaching earthly obedience, to church and state authority, so they can be rewarded when they die, for being such idiots…

I’m sick of it all; obviously, not ranting for a while has built up a bit of pressure, as I seem to be attacking on all fronts at the moment…. I am so sick and tired of the STUPID ASSHOLES, the elite oligarchs who control the world’s resources for their own aggrandizement, manipulating everyone else in the world by whatever means are effective (disinformation, violence, betrayal, legal theft, all those ways governments and corporations have of colluding to cheat the public….), without ever considering what they are doing to the rest of us, or to the planet…. Fucking dicks….

Then. there are the so-called men of our species, who, mostly, are misogynist, bigoted racists, who take pride in being able to fart the national anthem, or prove their manhood by abusing anyone weaker than they; children, women, animals…. Bah, humbug! I can’t do this any more…. I find myself falling into name calling, spewing bile over people who not only won’t ever see it, (their reading is generally confined to thin books with small amounts of small easy-to-read words, and many large. colorful pictures, often of a prurient nature… which they wouldn’t understand as a euphemism for vulgar….), but, really aren’t worth the effort of abusing…. What I would really like to do is take my knives, my crossbow, and my lariat, to go hunting at night, on the streets….

SIGH…. It’s certainly inconvenient, not to mention occasionally frustrating, being honorable….

Now, since I can’t go hunting just now, I’ll sublimate…. Normally when I say that, you would see an old school pearl. Today, here is a link, to a blog I’ve recently begun to follow. The author and I have struck a common chord; he feels much the same as I do regarding our society’s persistent denial of a problem that has been with us far to long….. By failing to acknowledge the existence of a problem, there is a consistent failure to act, thus giving tacit approval, to what I consider the most vile flaw in human nature, for a man, i.e., the ability to rationalize misogyny, and/or physical or emotional violence toward women.

For the author, obviously, this was a very personal story to write; he wanted me to know, a comment of mine from a day or two ago, on another story of his in the same vein, along with another comment from another like-minded reader, had prompted him to write this story, with the added honor of including both of us as a character…. He gave me the name, Bob, which, though he didn’t know it, is my father’s name; most appropriate, since my attitudes on this come directly from him.

Ffolkes, this is a difficult story to read, but, the message it delivers is important, not to mention powerful…. If you are a male human being, with any sense of honor, and/or justice, you MUST read this…. You may as well do it now… Tissues will be issued, if needed, and they will be… Even you guys will need them… The story is called,

Psychosphere

https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/psychosphere/#comment-241

After reading that, I find myself with little to say; it’s pretty clear, as well as powerfully written…. Since I’ve already used up quite a bit of space, without even counting the reading involved in following the link, we’ll bring this to a close for now. It’s a subject you’ll see, here on ECR, (Exploring Consensual Reality), again, again, and again, until it stops, or, I’ve reached the limit of my tolerance for inaction by the rest of society, & gone hunting….

What the hell? I’m getting old, & I’ve got nothing better to do with the time I have left to me….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken….

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Momentary Terror

Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.

Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.

Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.

Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 2/4/2013.

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Today’s final pearl comes with a chance to accumulate some bonus points. If you know the identity of the person quoted in the fifth pearl in the group, we will award one thousand points. The points are good for the final Quiz; you can trade them in for answers. (It’s an American Quiz, corruption is part of it…. Only five hundred thirty-tree thousand points per short answer, limit of one for the entire twelve thousand question test….)

But, don’t worry…. just memorize the quote, and think about it; not only will you know the answer, thus saving the points, but, you won’t much care who the author(ess) was…. All of these, you may rest assured, will be on that Final Quiz….

“All is mystery; but he is a slave who will not struggle to penetrate the dark veil.” — Benjamin Disraeli

“Desires and longings are the root cause of all suffering.” — Meher Baba

“All anger arises from obstructed desire.” — Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

“Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” — Henry James

“The one unforgivable sin, the offense against one’s own integrity, is to accept anything at all simply on authority.” — Maureen Johnson Long

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. … Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tzu

“If it isn’t Scottish…it’s CRRRRRAP!” — Smart Bee

Oops! How’d that slip by me? Forget that one; Smart Bee was trying to be funny…. Though, really, if you look at it, it fits…. Oh, well, here is the correct finishing pearl for this group….

“Blah, blah, blah….” — Smart Bee

Now, STOP THAT!…. Sheesh…. Gerroudofit!…. Here, let’s try again…. The CORRECT finishing pearl….

“When subtlety fails us we must make do with cream pies.” — David Brin

“Hand me a pair of leather pants and a CASIO keyboard — I’m living for today!” — Zippy the Pinhead

SIGH….. Ffolkes, I apologize…. Smart Bee has gone over the edge, not to mention way over the top…. I’ll have to usurp his connectors for a while, and finish this up with a choice of my own…. Here, then, is an appropriate finishing pearl for such a formerly dignified, relevant, wise group of comments on living with honor and dignity…. Don’t worry, I put SB to bed; try to recapture the train of thought here, okay?….

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

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I’m not going to say this Pearl is special; I won’t even say it’s good. It is, however, to the best of my perceptions, done. For me, here and now, that’s good enough… After all, that IS the very essence of Axiom # 1 of my very own philosophy, right?…. “I think I am. That’s good enough.” Yep, that’s what it says, and I’m going to take it as a given…. Besides, I’m hungry…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should the authorities fail to find and capture me….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Offenders will be coated in Teflon….

Posted on May 11, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Time cancels young pain.”

~~ Euripides (431 BC) ~~

Rock Spire on Mars ~~ Rover Curiosity’s next target for research

NASA photo from Space.com

Good morning….. Let’s keep this on the up and up, okay? Step lively, ffolkes, Luigi’s in a hurry today….

Shall we Pearl?

“We are as different from one another on the inside of our heads as we appear to be different from one another on the outside of our heads. The world “out there” is as much a projection from inside our heads as it is a perception. It is almost unbelievable that we are all dealing with the same reality. We operate on a kind of loose consensus about existence.” — Robert Fulghum “It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It”

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Image from freepiks.com via Google Images

No matter how anyone feels, or thinks of the music these four lads made together, it cannot be gainsaid to point out it was the major influence over the lives of millions of young people for a long time, acting as one of the primary cultural influences of the time…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this is part of the cultural legacy we all share, at least, in the Western world….

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The Beatles

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https://youtu.be/xp5Rb7-F-hY

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“In any group of five people, one will be confused, one will be conniving, one will be honest, and two will be trying like hell to figure out where they fit in this group.” — Smart Bee

While I find this statement from SB to be fairly accurate, it fails, I believe, to completely cover the situation when five people get in one place to interact…. In addition, by the statement’s content itself, it fails to be clear; if one is confused, and two are still trying to figure out their place in the group, I’d say it comes down to one good guy, one bad guy, and three people stuck in bozoid mode; in short, all five of them are most likely confused, as anyone trying to make this fit into reality would be….

I suppose that goes to show how not everything said is worth adopting into one’s system of beliefs, even though it may sound relevant on the surface…. It also goes to show how looking further into any statement (to wit: being dubious….) is an important skill, and one everyone would do well to use when examining any idea… In fact, yesterday, the final section contained a word on that idea from Gautama Buddha, which I’ve always felt expressed the concept as well as it’s ever been done, to wit:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — The Buddha

Below you’ll find a video, complete with link to the You Tube page where it resides, on a subject that concerns all of us here in this country, not merely the five of us now under discussion…. Why don’t y’all take a moment to practice the lesson just learned from the Buddha, practicing your new perceptive skills on the material you’ll see in the report…. Then, we’ll talk….

I found the article at my friend’s site, here: https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/corruption-is-legal-in-america-550/

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Corruption is Legal in America

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https://youtu.be/5tu32CCA_Ig

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It’s easy to see, after watching the video, how things have gotten as bad as they are; not only have the bankers Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, George Mason, and Thomas Paine all warned us about done exactly as predicted by those founding fathers, they’ve done it right in front of our eyes, with our tacit, complicit approval. They’ve successfully pulled off history’s largest long-con, and now have the entire American public believing…. what? What do they believe?….

Nothing. That’s the trouble. 98% of the people I see don’t even realize there is a problem. They look around, and wonder why they can’t seem to make the American Dream come true, without ever looking behind any of the claims with which they were brought up to believe, to see how they’be been manipulated, and lied to, from the time they were first born, by the government, by the churches, by their own parents, because they too are brainwashed slaves, who know no better than to fall for the same old crap they’ve been falling for their entire lives…

Me, I’m tired of it, so I’m doing what I can to quit the grid, to remove myself from the constraints so successfully welded around the necks of most of society…. I won’t detail my efforts, lest someone try to block them. But, I don’t intend to allow anyone to tell me how to live, ever. so, it must be done…. I don’t know what others may do, but, my own plans are to mitigate the effects of the overall status of society on my life, as best I can…..

In the meantime, I’m done for today; I don’t think I have any real angst left. The American people long ago lost their own freedom, giving it up willingly, trading it for a false sense of security, a state which has no corresponding match in Reality. NOTHING is ever completely secure; entropy and the power of chaos are part of Nature, and there is nothing one can do about it. All we can do is control ourselves, and not be a part of the slavery in which the powers that be would have me engage….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken….

“What I tell you three times is true.” — Lewis Carroll, “The Hunting of the Snark”

Believe me, ffolkes, I’ve told y’all this far more than three times…. You are being lied to, and manipulated; you are a slave. The only hope you have is to realize it, and make the necessary changes within yourself…. Otherwise, well, have a nice life, slaving away so someone else gets rich..,

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I’m in a strange mood today…. Here’s one of mine, just so you can’t blame anyone else for any of this…. This one was written on 10/13/2012:

Honorable Request

Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass
dimly into memory, bit by combative bit,
ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,
only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.

Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply
as they must, never given a reason,
somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,
dancing on to greet each bright new season.

Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage
proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown,
clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,
past an infinite future, already flown.

Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps
flowing with currents, strong and fairly found,
love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,
seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.

~~ gigoid ~~

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I was going to try to explain this pearl, but, I can’t. Oh, I could, but, I can’t. It would be best if we just leave it at that, I think, as it will become apparent before you’re finished it is a pearl of great beauty and scope…. All you gotta do is leave your mind to me…. Let’s see what it says, shall we?….

“As the wild duck is more swift and beautiful than the tame, so is the wild – the mallard – thought, which ‘mid falling dews wings it way among the fens.” — Thoreau

“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” — ee cummings

“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned–the biggest word of all–look.” — Robert Fulghum

“As one gets older, one discovers everything is going to be exactly the same with different hats on.” — Noel Coward

“Everything may happen. [Omnia fieri possunt.]” — Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium, Epis. LXX, 9

“Remember there’s an “if” in the middle of life.” — Smart Bee

“Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

“I have no idea what that meant.” – Dot (Warner; Yakko & Wacko are her brothers)

Well, I like it….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are some mornings when it surprises me no end to reach this point. I haven’t a clue, really, as to how it got done, but, it’s done. Hopefully, one or two of the five or six things which have been engaging too much of my attention of late will resolve themselves shortly, and I can look for a bit of peace, all-too-absent of late…. That said, I’m outta here, with great reluctance, but, a feeling of accomplishment. That’s something, I guess. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I have hope, anyway…. Call me Ishmael…. I won’t answer, but, go ahead….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Concentrating on cross-pollination for now….

Posted on May 10, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Nowhere is now here.”

~~ Nakagawa Soen Roshi ~~

Picture of Thunder

From an article on Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/heres-the-first-ever-picture-of-thunder-1702480686

“I hope that after I die, people will say of me: “That guy sure owed me a lot of money.” ” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

I hope it’s just me who thinks this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, in a weird, wacky way. I’m not even sure WHY I think it’s hilarious, but, I have to go with the evidence…. Whenever I start to actually think about what it says, about life, about Jack Handey (whoever he is…), and about irony, I bust up chuckling. It’s not a guffaw, nor a belly-buster; just persistent chuckling over how really, really stupid the person who said it HAS to be….

Okay, enough about me, and MY oddities…. I am not sure I want to know about what it says about me that I think it’s funny, so, we’d best get on with today’s mess, before the men in white suits arrive to take me away….

Shall we Pearl?

“Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it . You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.” — Will Rogers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To ffolkes of my generation, only one name is needed to identify this artist; this one is definitely pulling some covers…. But, then, I’ve never denied, or tried to hide my complete identification as an old hippie… So be it. gigoid has spoken…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

Donovan

The Hurdy Gurdy Man

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

https://youtu.be/2NksT2zxuOE

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, here I am in AMERICA..

I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it.
I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it.
I LIKE it. I HATE it.
I LIKE…

EMOTIONS are SWEEPING over me!!

— Zippy the Pinhead

I know how Zippy feels; the direction this country took some time back has left all of us, I think, with a bit of a head-spinning problem, trying to keep up with all the insanity we see. I’ve figured out why I haven’t been up to ranting of late; there’s too many subjects to pick from, and all are equally important to us all…. The insanity of the Middle East, the Ukraine, and all the other places in the world where the arms dealers are continuing their insane need to keep the money flowing, by whipping the flames of discontent all over the world. The ongoing abuse of women and children, in the areas of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse, which are rampant everywhere, even in the most seemingly civilized countries. The wealth inequality gap continues to widen, while the 1% (much too large a number, btw…. there are actually only about a thousand or so of the true elite, who actually control everything…. Names like Rothschild, Krup, DuPont, Remington, Rockefeller, etc…)

I could keep listing the troubles faced by our world, but, what is the point? Nobody is listening, unless they already feel much the same, and the people who NEED to hear what I have to say, not only don’t give a shit, they would actively try to shut me up, if anyone actually began to pay attention. That, of course, doesn’t worry me; in fact, I wish they would try, for then I’d know I was on the right track, and I have no doubts about my ability to handle whatever they come at me with. (I’m a bit more prepared than it might seem on the surface….) The only thing they might be able to do is kill me, and that is fine with me…. I am prepared for my death; I wonder if they can say the same….

So, for now. I’m going to NOT rant, but, try to keep after them with old-school pearls, until I can figure out a way to have what I say find its way to a larger audience…. For today, here is a nine-star pearl, speaking about life in this country, and in the world at large, as it exists today….

“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin.” The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”– Preface to ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by C.S. Lewis

“There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” — Samuel Johnson

“If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxv

“Who is more foolish: the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?” — Maurice Treehill

REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience. In a republic, the foundation of public order is the ever lessening habit of submission inherited from ancestors who, being truly governed, submitted because they had to. There are as many kinds of republics as there are graduations between the despotism whence they came and the anarchy whither they lead. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“”Cowardice” and “self-respect” have largely disappeared from public discourse. In their place we are offered “self-esteem” as the bellwether of success and a proxy for dignity. “Self-respect” implies that one recognizes standards, and judges oneself worthy by the degree to which one lives up to them. “Self-esteem” simply means that one feels good about oneself. “Dignity” used to refer to the self-mastery and fortitude with which a person conducted himself in the face of life’s vicissitudes and the boorish behavior of others. Now, judging by campus speech codes, dignity requires that we never encounter a discouraging word and that others be coerced into acting respectfully, evidently on the assumption that we are powerless to prevent our degradation if exposed to the demeaning behavior of others. These are signposts proclaiming the insubstantiality of our character, proclaiming the hollowness of our souls.” — Jeffrey R. Snyder, Fall 1993 _The Public Interest

Because he was human, because he had goodness,
Because he was moral they called him insane.
Delusions of grandeur, visions of splendor,
A manic depressive who walks in the rain.

Cinderella Man, doing what you can,
They can’t understand what it means.
Cinderella Man, hang on to your plans.
Try as they might they cannot steal your dreams.

~~ Neil Peart, Rush ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y’all get stuck with mine again, simply because I’m lazy, and the new poem isn’t ready…. Enjoy, please, it’s the best I’ve got today….

Pure Truth: Elsewhen

Everything I say and do, I’m sure,
only comes from what I know.
If what I’ve said or done is good, and pure,
I can say it’s not just for show.

Sometimes people don’t quite get me.
It can be a pain, for sure.
I try not allow it to keep me from being free,
especially when my thoughts may be impure.

In fact, I try quite hard most of the time,
to keep from hurting folks.
If any culture more often approached sublime,
I wouldn’t have to take so many pokes.

Now I’ll make another sacrifice, for y’all,
not for karmic advantage, not merely so….
But, to save me from yet another downfall,
I’ll stop here; ensign, make it so….

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today’s final pearl was left up to SB, who has, apparently, gotten the raise for which it went on strike. It seems to be a rather international collection of wisdom from the Sages of the Ages…. Greeks, Romans, Europeans, Asians, they’re all represented here today…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s all pretty good advice….

“Wisdom begins in wonder.” — Socrates

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” — Confucius

“I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.” — Seneca (8 BC) — On a Happy Life, 2, (L’Estrange’s Abstract, Chap, i.)

“The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.” — Anatole France

“Safety is on the shore, but the pearl is in the ocean.” — Chinese Proverb

“I grow old ever learning many things.” — Solon (630 – 555 BC)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having exceeded my expectations today, I’m going to take the money and run…. Not that there is actually any money in this, but, hey, one uses the euphemisms that fit, right? Right. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, though goodness knows why….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils….

Posted on May 9, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

~~ East African Proverb ~~

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and the First Cup of Espresso in Space

NASA Image from Space.com

Good morning…..

I had something to I’d intended to say, but, never mind; we’ll do the right thing, & get going on this….

Shall we Pearl?

“After a while he realizes that she is beautiful – he just hadn’t noticed it at first.” — Lazarus Long

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there is a superstar in classical music, Yo-Yo Ma fits that bill; Isthak Perlman has been my favorite classical violinist since I first saw him on the Ed Sullivan show in the early 60’s. I never knew of Daniel Barenboim until I heard him play with these two, but, obviously, he’s pretty good at what he does, or he wouldn’t be playing with them…. Enjoy, ffolkes, as three of the very best play Beethoven….

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

Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto

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

https://youtu.be/9kYJZoDrFeQ

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To begin today’s discussion, please follow the link below to read the following blog post. It’s a bit hard to read, if one has any sensitivity at all, but, everyone in this world, especially the men, would do well to understand this issue. As a starting point for discussion, this is a very clear statement about of one man’s reaction to being confronted with incontrovertible evidence of the problem of abuse in our society, a reaction which, in my firm opinion, needs to become a universal response among ALL men…. Read it, please….

https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/unlocked/#comment-208

I had intended to write about this, but, instead, I’m going old-school to have my say; trying to write put me in a nasty place. All I could think about was what sort of gun I should buy…. In the link above, you see comment #208… which is from me, wherein I told the author of the post I would have held his coat for him while he took care of his business…. I envy the author, and find myself wanting to go hunting…. For now, let’s pearl on it….

“For BOTH sexes, abuse derives from powerlessness, not power.” — Smart Bee

“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.” — Socrates

“Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits… For my part I would as soon be descended from [a] baboon … as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies … treats his wives like slaves … and is haunted by the grossest suspicions.” — Charles Darwin

“Tell me why are we so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me?” — (Coolio) Gangsta’s Paradise

“But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged.” — Albert Camus — The Myth of Sisyphus

“If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“It is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the brutes without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him see his greatness too clearly, apart for his vileness. Is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very advantageous to show him both. Man must not think that he is on a level either with the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both.”
— Pascal, Pensees, n. 418

“A ferret in the trousers is worth two in the bush.”– Smart Bee

Okay, so, sorry ’bout that last one; couldn’t help myself…. I had to do SOMETHING to lighten the mood a little…. You can always trust a ferret for that…. Here’s one a bit more appropriate to use as a closer…

“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people, and use things, instead of using people, and loving things.” — Smart Bee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This poet should need no introduction….

When I Have Fears

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;–then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

~~ John Keats ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“When a man lies he murders part of the world.

These are the pale deaths men miscall their lives.”

~~ Paul Gerhart ~~

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vii, 61

“When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.” — Jim Elliot

“That’s the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along.” — Madeleine L’Engle

“You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.” — Publius Syrus — Maxim 262

“If the sight of a beautiful rainbow no longer excites you, than you had better prepare to pack it in – you are already dead.” — Smart Bee

“Failure to understand reality is not reality’s fault.” — Bill Henneman

“People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too.” — Malcolm Forbes

“Are all your stars shining?”

~~ JD Salinger ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can’t say much about this pearl; it was neither the worst, nor the best, and very little like one in between, in re: putting it together in a smooth, timely fashion… Regardless, it’s done, so, I’ll take it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, whether I like it or not….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Portraits of affable wallet accessories….

Posted on May 8, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“In the dark time will there also be singing?”

“Yes, there will be singing about the dark time.”

~~ Bertolt Brecht

Artist’s rendition of proposed EUSA Lunar Base

Image from Space.com

Good morning, ffolkes…. The new, minimalist method I’ve developed for the intro section seems to have worked out fairly well… If I have aught to say, well, I can…. If not, such as today, it’s perfect…. Let’s let it do its thing, okay?….

Shall we Pearl?

“Passive activity income does not include the following: Income for an activity that is not a passive activity.” — IRS form 8583, Passive Activity Loss Limitation

And, don’t you forget it!….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Image from wikipedia via Google free images

This little guy was my childhood hero; I never missed one of his cartoons on Saturday, for as long as I can remember…. Enjoy!….

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

Mighty Mouse

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

https://youtu.be/lxUPYqQ1Lrs

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Written laws are like spiders’ webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them.”
— Anacharsis (f1. c. 600 B.C.), Scythian philosopher — Quoted in Plutarch, the Lives of the Nobel Grecians and Romans, Solon

I decided NOT to produce a fresh rant, though I certainly could; there’s plenty of stuff going on out in the BBR at which to pick…. But, I found this older piece that works just fine with the above stimulus quote, from a few years back…. It’s actually two pearls from the Pearl posted in March of 2012. Enjoy, ffolkes! It’s all real, not to mention still relevant….

From 3/27/2012:

“And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords…” — Alan Watts

“…You don’t have many suspects who are innocent of a crime. That’s contradictory. If a person is innocent of a crime, then he is not suspected.” — Edwin Meese

Viewed in light of the first quote, if one may assume its veracity, even temporarily, for the sake of argument, the second quote, while disappointing in the extreme, is not as surprising as it might otherwise have been seen. Oh, where to begin a response to such an outrageous display of ignorance and bigotry? I count only 26 words here, and can think of at least 14 ways this is just wrong, just off the top of my head. It piles one false assumption on top of another until any glimmer of possible relation to the truth, or reality, is completely obscured. Unfortunate as it is, this mind-set is still all-too-common, especially amongst the political pundit review currently on parade.

As a matter of fact, this mind-boggling distortion of our actual laws on the subject, reminds me very strongly of three of our esteemed Republican candidates being followed avidly by the news-mongers, especially Mitt the Twitt…. in the last week alone (post Etch-A-Sketch), he has made, (and I, along with a fairly large number of bloggers & citizens keeping track, counted), at minimum, 19 apparently deliberate lies that involved vague accusations of impropriety by the current administration. Each and every one of these statements, when checked against reality, or what was reported in other media sources, was obviously made up on the spot, or completely in reverse of what actually occurred. He is so desperate to appear to be confident and forceful, he is completely oblivious to the fact that no one is buying into his nonsense any more; in response his lies get more and more removed from any connection to reality or truth. His two closest challengers are no better; they make a habit of making statements that have absolutely no bearing on the subject under discussion, or accuse the media of playing favorites to distract the audience from whatever question they attempting to avoid answering by doing so.

All of these men have lost touch with reality in a lot of areas, and their denial of this fact serves as further evidence of that loss. Their belief, that they have their finger on the pulse of the American people, is so far removed from the truth it approaches the realm of delusion. They have completely lost track of, or denied, any connection they may have once had to the rest of their countrymen, insisting that their out-dated, ignorant policies, that didn’t work 45 years ago, or 90 years ago, will nonetheless work in today’s changing face of global politics, while completely ignoring the mountain of evidence to the contrary. They have assumed the mantle of the fanatic, a segment of the population that has previously been clearly identified as those folks who, when they have lost sight of their goal, redouble their efforts. Sad, and a terrible waste of everyone else’s time and energy to have to even listen to such nonsense. They have given up their place in the human tribe, and don’t even know it…… Pathetic, if you ask me…..

Mi taku oyasin. (We are all related.) — Lakota belief
___________________________________

There are times when the pearls I find that stimulate me to want to write about them are found in clusters. Several at once, all closely related, or similarly themed, just throw themselves at me, clamoring for inclusion. On these occasions I’ve learned to let them have their way. It is just as effective a lesson as my comments usually can claim to be, and has the added bonus of requiring less actual work on my part; the authors I choose have all done my thinking, and expressing for me, and usually much better than my discussions. Below are some observations on politics, patriotism, and the price of liberty, from some pretty well-respected political observers……

“In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it’s a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security in risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.” — Theodore Forstmann

“My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” — Thomas Jefferson to A. Stuart, 1791

“I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.” — H. L. Mencken

“I don’t pick on politicians. They ain’t done nothin’.”– Red Skelton

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” — Kin Hubbard

(Don’t ask…. it just fit, that’s all…)

and finally….

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,–
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.

~~ William Shakespeare

~~Much Ado about Nothing — Act ii, Sc. 3~~

(Will was obviously channeling George Carlin…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I haven’t had it in me to rant much of late, here’s a poem about ranting….

A Few Words of Note

In place of ranting and raving about assholes every day
maybe I’ll try something more fun.
Rather than throwing words at all the assholes on public pay
I’ll switch to shooting at them, with a gun….

Should I actually hit one, purely by mistake,
maybe it would wake them up.
Maybe, if they had to think, or actually cut us a break,
we’d see a chance to win at life, to take a step up.

Our nation, such as it is today, was founded by men who told the truth;
that morality disappeared long ago.
Simple ethical strength so bright, so prevalent in our country’s youth
was soon corrupted, corporate interests now run the show.

Nothing would please me more than to fire off some rounds,
if only to gain their attention.
But, I can no longer run, I’ve gained too many pounds;
so, my keyboard and intellect must serve to fulfill my intention.

I won’t stop, of that you may be sure
I love my freedoms, and the philosophy from which it springs.
Tom, and Ben, and John, and Pat, those patriots pure
gave me their example, and the inner peace it brings.

If bullets won’t persuade our elected liars to toe the ethical line,
I’ll throw my most powerful words…..
If nothing else, it will make them wriggle to escape, or voice their pitiful whine,
thus exposing themselves for what they are…. plain and simple turds.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ffolkes, THIS is a pearl; in might even be called a prototypical pearl. It’s a wonderful nine-star collection of some of Life’s lesser known lessons, couched in less than ordinary terminology, wrapped tightly in extreme metaphor, yet, each one with a valuable piece of information, each essential to getting the whole picture of Reality as it is, not as we guess it might be… Most are stuff you either already know, or, ought to; if not, well, there’s still time to learn, even for slow-learners…. not that I’d ever suggest any of MY Gentle Readers could be such…. All of them, I’m sure, will chuckle right to the end, then just go, “yep…” Well, the polite ones will…

“Ah said, pay attention, boy!”

~~ Foghorn Leghorn ~~

“If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head.” — Pooh, in Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” — Isaac Asimov

“It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.” — The Vatican Sayings, Epicurus

“It ain’t loafing unless they can prove it.” — Dick Brown

“I only took the regular course.” “What was that?” inquired Alice. “Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied; “and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.” “What else had you to learn?” “Well, there was Mystery,” the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flippers, — “Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling — the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching and Fainting in Coils. I never went to the Classical master, though. He taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.” — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.” — Edith Wharton

“Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’, but it’s free.” — Kris Kristofferson

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

~~ Steven Wright ~~

See. ffolkes? I’ve always told you, it’s all in the wrist….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet another day’s duty done; it’s not a bad feeling. In fact, it’s so good, I’m taking it, and my leave…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the Apocalypse isn’t scheduled for tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Astrogation isn’t for amateurs….

Posted on May 7, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Aw, gee, Wally . . .”

~~ Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver ~~

Sunrise on the Road

Warning/Disclaimer: Any mental functions attempted in this area must be re-evaluated during a subsequent period. It has been discovered that standard logic works sideways in this area, if it works at all, due to the influence of the occupant.

Good morning, ffolkes….

Today’s opening picture is one of my own, and, it’s got a cute little story to it…. If you look closely at the left side of the picture, you’ll note the ray of light that comes directly at the area where the picture was taken. In the normal way, one might guess it was a trick of refraction, due to the shape of the camera lens, and the passage of the light through the atmosphere; in the normal way, you’d be right, too. But, this was NOT a ray of light from the sun, which traveled 92 million miles through space to reach me; it was actually a laser guide sight, from a ship hiding behind the clouds on the horizon….

You might think I’ve slipped over the edge, but, if you go to that spot (I can tell you where), you’ll see the big hole in the ground where the laser hit the telephone pole, just out of sight on the left, causing it to explode, nearly sending me into orbit…. Fortunately for me, just as I took this shot, a tractor beam, from another ship out of camera to the right, grabbed me, yanked me away, & deposited me in a safe spot some ways away before I could even blink. (The aliens who saved me told me this right afterward, after they’d destroyed the evil alien ship, then covered the whole area with a field of mental energy which cleared the events from everyone’s memory…. Kind of the techno equivalent of the Memory Spell in the Harry Potter world, eh?….) Lucky, wasn’t I?….

You may ask, first, if I’m getting any treatment for this…. No, silly, why would I? Most people suffer from being insane; I revel in it.

Secondly, you’ll no doubt ask how I can expect anyone to believe it’s true; the truth is, I don’t much care, because I expect that. The aliens told me I could talk about it if I wanted; nobody would believe me…. They were right, weren’t they?

Hah!

Okay, let’s get on with the REAL nonsense we have planned for today…. Who knows? Maybe some of it will be less illusory…. I wouldn’t put too much money on it, though, without some decent odds…. Who’s gonna give those around here?….

Shall we Pearl?

An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

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I’m in the mood for some mild fantasy, and a little fun…. How about an old favorite movie? This one may pull my covers a bit, threatening my status as a curmudgeon, but, what the hell…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is a better story and movie than it seems… It also has one of the first movie attempts at combining animation and live actors in the same film sequence; the only flaw in I see is its Disney-esque blandness to the dialogue; a lot of the jokes could have used a bit of innuendo, or some spicy language…..

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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https://youtu.be/hDTga2nThwE

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Once you read the pearl(s), you’ll understand the picture…. Well, I’d hope you will….

“…to emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on Heaven is to create hell. In their desperate longing to transcend the disorderliness, friction, and unpredictability that pesters life; in their desire for a fresh start in a tidy habitat, germ-free and secured by angels, religious multitudes are gambling the only life they may ever have on a dark horse in a race that has no finish line.” — Tom Robbins, — Skinny Legs and All, p. 305.

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” — Buddha

“Belief gets in the way of learning.” — Lazarus Long, “Time Enough for Love” by Robert Heinlein

“In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” — Charles Darwin

“History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.” — Voltaire — L’Ingenu, Chap. x

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love (1972) by Robert Heinlein

I was going to leave it at that, figuring it would do the trick…. But, I see it needs to move further along the train of thought, so, we’ll keep at it, until we find the right pearls to complete the necklace, er, composite of ideas as metaphor….

“If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.” — Pentagon official, on why US military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

“A “peace-loving nation” is one which bans fireworks and manufactures hydrogen bombs.” — Smart Bee

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness “positively”, by uniting our affections, the latter “negatively”, by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…. — Thomas Paine, opening lines of “Common Sense” — 1776

Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good

That lies within their hands, till they have lost it.

~~ Sophocles ~~

Well, there you go…. It’s a bit murky, but, hey, it’s better than a rant, and, you still get to see who is responsible, and how it happened…. It’s a start….

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Here’s another one from the archives, since the one percolating seems to have filed itself in an unknown folder…. SIGH…. If only it was a conscious process for me….

November Dreams of Spring

Crass and cold, the beggar finds me swollen, so frail and fat
with painful stepping motions, running, like a Republicrat.
Building with straw and spittle, should artists come aground,
we all pay heavily, a billion for a bloody pound.

Too desperate, too ashamed to play such a part
We ask for belief, and sweet liberty, dressing up so smart.
It falls between the simple cracks, always in a hurry
To find a shrunken ego, ashen, swift, and full of worry.

Never there was a more penitent group, such a sterling way
To fast in luxury, making sure the guilty enter, but do not stay.
Forgotten gods can find their diffident suitors tonight
With dream-fitted convention, and a natural sense of delight.

For all the silken babies cried, to see the broken dreams of power
forgiven moments of certitude serve, filling up the maiden’s bower.
All the patient, loving veterans of ancient foreign time,
give up their first impressions, dying, dying for a rhyme.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/19/2012.

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Today’s final old-school pearl will finish off our discussion of the power of dubiousity…. Enjoy, ffolkes; you may not realize it, but, this is a fairly good look into my soul….

“I love to doubt as well as know.”

~~ Dante ~~

“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell

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

“If a person offend you and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures. Simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.” — Mark Twain, Advice to Youth Speech, 1882

“Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” — Miguel de Unamuno

“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” — Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

” There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”

~~ Alfred Tennyson — In Memoriam, xcvi, Stanza 3 ~~

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Most of today’s effort was done ahead of time, so, I’m not sure how seamless it may all be; as is our habit, we can only say, “Oh, well!”. We’ll have to work on that. But, that’s a task for another day; this one is already shot to hell…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided Reality cooperates…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Immodest noises of patient concern….

Posted on May 6, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

~~ Old Testament — Exodus ii: 22 ~~

Luna ~~ Earth’s Moon ~~ Farside view

(click to see enlarged view ~ it’s awesome…)

Image from the European Union Space Administration via Space.com

Good morning, ffolkes…..

Lately, I’ve been leaving the intro right there, with pretty good results. However, this morning (a morning unlike any other, which, thanks to the conveniently timely application of Time Lord powers, is yesterday afternoon, about 18 hours from now, in the past, which will soon be the present, no longer the future; of course, now can never be the future again, unless….. Oh, never mind…), I must comment, if superfluously, on the opening quote, which you see above the moon up there at the top today.

Generally, when I include something from the Christian Bible, whether Old, or New Testament, or whatever version, it is for the purpose of sardonicism, or, as an example of the delusional content one finds in such copious abundance nested within its pages. I don’t really mean to be mean; it’s just the sheer implausibility of the whole story made any sense to me, and I don’t understand how anyone with a functioning neuron can buy into any of it. This, I suppose, makes me sound somewhat antagonistic to them, though I’m really not… I just wish they weren’t so fanatical about everyone else having to feel the same way. (You’ll note I didn’t say think the same way…. It wouldn’t apply….)

This particular phrase may be, in my estimation, and, according to my memory of what I’ve read of the silly collection of improbable stories, (That comes to approximately 95% of it… Well, c’mon! Nobody reads every single “Absophel begat Paraceltic, who begat Miriam, Peter, and little Bubba, etc….” I’ll bet YOU didn’t read every damn one of them!…. We ALL skipped over that part….), simply put, the truest statement in the entire book…. As well, it has the added caveat of being applicable to just about every thinking person on this planet, thanks in large part to the massive power of delusional thinking so encouraged by faith-based religions….

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.” What a powerfully vague metaphor, vague enough to suit each and every person who finds themselves, as I often do, wondering just how the hell we ended up here, where almost everyone we see, or engage with, is pursuing illusions, based on delusions, manipulated by amoral, evil versions of themselves, rushing down a dark corridor toward a future none of them, master or slave, are going to like at all…. From what I can tell in over 60 years of watching people, most of them aren’t real happy with what they already have for a life….

It’s getting really, really weird out in the BBR, ffolkes, especially if one is able to view the overall picture of all the crap happening, all over the world, as we, and the majority of everyone alive, even those who believe in supernatural safety nets, blindly rush headlong toward a final solution to the problems plaguing this planet….

Oops…. Did it again, didn’t I? Oh, well, it’s going to happen now and again; try not to let it worry you. All of us have our own axes to grind, and our own gardens to tend. Maybe, since we’re alive, there is hope…. We are human, after all, and our imagination has, so far, been equal to the task of figuring out how to get us where we need to be, physically, and, intellectually.

Now, if it can extend that influence to the advancement of the human spirit, to allow us to mature past the need to prey upon others, there is a slight chance we may live to see new stars, new planets, new galaxies…. In short, our true legacy, to understand the Universe, as best we may…. The Universe itself doesn’t care, one way or the other, whether we do, or not; it makes a big difference to me, and a lot of other ffolkes, I’d think….

Shall we Pearl?

“Never frighten a little man. He’ll kill you.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

How’s THAT for a quick change of direction?…..

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Sherlock is The Man, of course, when it comes to deductive reasoning and the power of observation. I think this is my favorite story of his exploits; it certainly lends itself well to the movie/TV genre, as produced by the BBC. Here is one of two adaptations of the story, this one with Peter Cushing in the title role, the other, which I could not find in the version I saw on YT, (don’t know where it went) starred Jeremy Brett as Sherlock. Both are excellently done, with humor, and typical Holmesian deductive investigation…. Enjoy!….

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Sherlock Holmes

The Blue Carbuncle

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https://youtu.be/eAPWPDL9aMU

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Here’s a pretty good rant from quite a while ago…. For some unknown reason, I’m always surprised at how relevant these old rants remain in the current world…. It’s as if humanity has completely stopped progressing in any direction but one of self-destruction…. SIGH….

From 8/27/2012:

“In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

In perfect demonstration of the accuracy of Herr Nietzsche’s assertion, I give you, Senator Dan Quayle, a veritable paragon of Christianity, speaking, with absolute faith, and insane illogic, the rigid and hateful prejudices as obsessed over by the Church of the Brain Dead….. one of many such cults common to the not-so-outer-fringes of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and other religions, all of which are prone to creation of pockets of entirely too vocal enclaves of zealous fundamentalists, who spew their strident hatred and bigotry all over the innocent, and the different….

“You’re a very strong woman… Though this would be a traumatic experience that you would never forget, I think that you would be very successful in life.” — Senator Dan Quayle telling an 11-year-old girl — why he would want her to have the baby if she were raped — by her father, 10/18/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

After you have recovered from the shock of encountering (again) such abject inhumanity, racism, bigotry, you name it and they are doing it (‘they’ being anyone who even listens to this tripe without gagging, and including any other religious zealotry as practiced in other religions beside the Christian cults) (cults is the correct word, trust me….), I’d like to scare you even further, so take a deep breath….

“If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.” — Mahatma Gandhi

The just released, official platform of the Republican Party for the 2012 election, lays out in clear detail the very spirit of what Mr. Quayle is quoted to say above. Their stances on women’s healthcare and basic rights to decide for themselves how to live, LGBT rights and marriage (in)equality, immigration, tax cuts for the rich, tax raises for the middle class, continued reliance on the same failed economic policies that killed the economy (trickle-down theory, supply side economics), cuts and actual elimination of Social Security and Medicare for seniors, voter suppression techniques reminiscent of the post-Civil War era….all are designed to turn back the clock to the middle of the last century, and further, in the case of women’s rights, and voter’s rights for minorities (which are no longer minorities….).

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken

The frightened white, rich bankers and politicos are starting to realize that they are no longer actually in the majority…. close, but not enough to matter, since many, many of us honkies are technically on the other side of the fence, having more faith in humanity and basic human rights, than in religious zealotry, and fear under the guise of politics.

“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleges, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” — Tolstoy

This is so true….. It is insight like this into the very nature of man that frightens the beloved ruling class, and has since the time of Tolstoy, and before. The complacent culture that has derived from the young, energetic society of our forebears has lost the will to suffer change. They cannot imagine life different from what they know, and don’t wish to know.

Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the rest of us here in the real world, there are now more of us than there are of them….. provided all of us who know, and care, get out there to vote in November. It is a matter of making the, to me, obvious choice, to take a path that leads to a future for all of us, instead taking us back to a time that no longer exists, and is meant only for a few….. It’s a no-brainer, to my way of thinking….

“Is a tattoo real, like a curb or a battleship? Or are we suffering in Safeway?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Take care ffolkes, we don’t want to end up suffering in Safeway…… really, you don’t want to do that….. I can testify…..

A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal. “I would like to give you this personality test”, said the outsider, “because I want you to be happy.” Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster- “I wish the toaster to be happy too”. — AI koan

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Written 9/6/2012:

Dreaming, I wait….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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Smart Bee is in full rebellion, it seems, so I’ve sent it to a resort for a day or two to recover its equilibrium…. Here is a pearl from the archives…. Enjoy!….

From 5/6/2013:

Just so everything today isn’t old and creaky, I’m putting together an old-school group of pearls for your delectation…. Hopefully, this, too, will feel the freedom of a Murphy-less morning, and turn out well, and quickly…. I think this one might make it onto the Quiz, so you might want to take notes….

Cogito, ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am) — Rene Descartes

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Dirge Without Music”

“God is an invention of Man. So the nature of God is only a shallow mystery. The deep mystery is the nature of Man.” — Nanrei Kobori,
— late Abbot of the Temple of the Shining Dragon, Kyoto, Japan

Made still a blund’ring kind of melody;
Spurr’d boldly on, and dashed through thick and thin,
Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in.

~~ John Dryden (1631-1700) — Absalom and Achitophel, Part ii, Line 413 ~~

“A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side.” — Anne Morrow Lindberg

“To a rational being it is the same thing to act according to nature and according to reason.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vii, 11

Cogito sum, ergo sum. Circa basta. (I think I am. That’s close enough.) ~~ gigoid

That turned out well, I think, and this is my blog, so that’s good enough…. 😆

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Thus, the cookie crumbles….

For another day, anyway…. I mean, it’s not as if I’m responsible for excessive Entropy, now, is it? Just because more of it seems to happen here than in other loci, doesn’t mean we aren’t done for the day…. And, the cool part is, if I’m wrong about that, there’s always tomorrow. Even if the powers of a Time Lord aren’t available, as they were today, we always have tomorrow, right? Right? Hey, where did everybody go?…..

See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, though, who I’m talking to I’ll never know…. Sheesh!…. Crumbs EVERYWHERE!…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Neutral feedback? Good idea; try it….

Posted on May 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I understand life and the universe. Cats are beyond me.”

~~ Smart Bee, echoing gigoid ~~

Ollie Owl

Good morning, ffolkes…..

Shall we Pearl?

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein

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Image from rocktownhall.com via Google free images

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard of this artist? If so, you’re in for a treat…. ear candy, as it were. Enjoy, ffolkes…. this is another one of humanity’s cultural heritage treasures….

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Ray Charles

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https://youtu.be/Ip8h24Ggk0g

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Apparently, on one of the Friday the 13th days during 2012, I had a good day in my head…. Here are some thoughts from that day, that still have relevance in today’s world…..

From 1/13/2012:

“It has been said that there are two theories of history: conspiracy and blunder. If there is some truth to that, it is surely equally true that blunder seldom receives all the credit due it as an explanation of complex events.” — Michael Scully

I would say that this is probably pretty accurate; after all, it is the winners who get to tell the story, and why would they make themselves look any worse than they already are? I believe that much of mankind’s progress up to now is, in fact, a result of blundering about, breaking the china and scaring the horses, until something serendipitous falls into someone’s lap.

The example most often given regarding inspiration that brings progress is that of Isaac Newton and the apple, which, according to history, fell upon his head unexpectedly, causing him to fall down and begin writing the 3 Laws of Motion. I think it more likely that he was trying to climb up to get the apple, and took a good fall onto his head; he just blamed it on the apple, and since he was the only witness, who can gainsay him?

This points out one of the less attractive, and most problematic of the characteristics of humans, and that is our inability to get beyond our childish feelings of insecurity. The older we get, the less able we become to handle the embarrassment or ridicule that follows a mistake, and the more contortions we will assume to keep others from seeing our Bozoid Tendencies. You see, like the Firesign Theater said, “I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”; we all have the unfortunate ability to perform ridiculously stupid acts at times.

Most folks, though, don’t like to be thought of this way, and will go through almost anything to prevent themselves from looking inept in front of other folks. Me, I wish they’d just learn to laugh at themselves, and everyone else; maybe then they could grow up enough to be able to look directly at the things in society that we need to change, instead of childishly refusing to even look at the situation. Emotional maturity means dealing with whatever happens, without letting emotions control one’s actions, or reactions, and most of mankind doesn’t exhibit anything close to that sort of maturity……

Also from 1/13/2012:

“Thinking, understanding, reasoning, willing, call not these Soul! They are its actions, but they are not its essence.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

When? Oh, four thousand four hundred eighty-seven years ago…..is that all? I’ve got acne scars older than that! Well, perhaps not. But I am continually amazed at some of the things I find that were written this long ago. It gives credence to the idea that mankind’s first steps toward modern culture were the result of how our minds work, and our penchant for using our imagination to understand the universe around us. It has been said that the first science was Astronomy, which makes a lot of sense. But, simultaneously, we used Philosophy, and the principles of logic and reason, to apply meaning to what we observed.

Forty-four hundred years is a long time to be working on the same issues, and it seems to me we should be getting somewhere a bit faster than we are. But then I realize that there is another side to human nature, one that is not so moral and ethical as our scientific bent, a side of us in constant competition with our virtues, battling to assume control of society. (You know… that old good vs. evil deal….) That other side is winning, too, mostly because those who disavow virtue have no compunctions against cheating, or lying, or manipulating events to suit their own purposes. Moreover, they don’t hesitate to resort to violence to do so, when they cannot find any simpler method….

I think, as a species, we’ve been at this long enough; let’s make a concerted effort to nullify the negative effects of deliberate ignorance and fear. Perhaps we can even find a way to survive our own nature….. The Universe will get the impression we’re slow learners, if we don’t start to show a bit more progress toward growing out of infancy….

Note from 2015: I’m not sure why, but, the following five star pearl insisted on being included at the end of this section…. I am pretty sure it’s just my reaction to what I said above…..

“Is truth not truth for all?”

~~ Natira ~~

~~ “For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” ~~

++++++++++++

“How do you make sense of such madness? The answer is, you can’t.”

~~ Pablo Guzman ~~

++++++++++++

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right actions arises by itself?”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

++++++++++++

An ancient buddha said, Mountains are mountains; waters are waters.
These words do not mean mountains are mountains;
they mean mountains are mountains.

~~ Dogen ~~

++++++++++++

“How can I lose faith in the justice of life,
when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers
are not more beautiful
than the dreams of those
who sleep upon the earth?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

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Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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Dubiousity, Redux

In the virtual world, I call myself gigoid, the dubious, for specific reasons…. Rather than use my own words to delineate/describe those reasons, here are some of them, in the form of pearls, (naturally….), as collected by Smart Bee, just as an exercise…. It turned out to be a nice, eleven-star pearl, all centered around the concept of doubt as a function of wisdom…. It seems I’m not the only person in history to put my faith in doubt, rather than the other way around, so to speak…. There are a lot of big names here, and, I only went through the first half of the collection….

Pay particular heed today, ffolkes; these little bits of shiny stuff are more subtly important, to you, than you may realize…. Oh, and, ALL of this will be on your final Quiz…. Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up….

Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma ~~

“Philosophy, means, first, doubt; and afterwards the consciousness of what knowledge means, the consciousness of uncertainty and of ignorance, the consciousness of limit, shade, degree, possibility. The ordinary man doubts nothing and suspects nothing.” — Henri Frederick Amiel

“A lizard ran out on a rock and looked up, listening no doubt to the sounding of the spheres. And what a dandy fellow! the right toss of a chin for you and swirl of a tail! If men were as much men as lizards are lizards they’d be worth looking at.” — D. H. Lawrence (1928)

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” — Robert Lindner

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.” — Voltaire

Modest doubt is call’d
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst.

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

~~ Troilus and Cressida — Act ii, Sc. 2 ~~

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. — Smart Bee

“Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.” — Bergen Evans, The Natural History of Nonsense (1946)

“If you understand, or if you don’t. If you believe, or if you doubt. There is a universal justice and the eyes of truth are always watching.” — Enigma

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

My guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect
deceived me into thinking I had something to protect.
Good and bad I defined these terms, quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I’m younger than that now.

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

Ah, yes, indeed…. I AM younger than that now….. so, there will be more on this subject later…. Ta, then….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y’all, just like me, are going to say goodbye now…( Goodbye!…), until tomorrow; we will do so with no further inquiry into how this got done…. In fact, y’all may as well just go into complete denial now; it will help later in the day….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided nobody says the wrong thing….If only we knew what that was….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

To Whee or not to Whee….

Posted on May 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“HELLO, everybody, I’m a HUMAN!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Black Hole ~~ Chandra Deep Space Observatory

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/01/supermassive-black-holes-quasar-chandra/?ncid=rss_truncated

Good morning, ffolkes.

Shall we Pearl?

“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, “would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t care much where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re quite sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

~~ Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Image from youngdubliners.com via Google Images

http://youngdubliners.com/index2.shtml

I first heard this band about 20 years ago; I’ve been listening ever since….. Solid, honest, and Irish rock and roll…. Long live rock!….

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

Young Dubliners

Saints & Sinners

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

https://youtu.be/V4idmqqGDW0

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday’s sublimated rant, which magically turned into an old-school pearl, which seemed to work out rather well. Today, let’s try the same method on another of our traditional targeted groups, those delusional sycophants who are the strongest supporters and loyal slaves of the Beloved Ruling Class, to wit: Preachers, priests, pastors, imams, ayatollahs, or any other odd little title people choose to cover up their sheer evil ignorance, and lack of courage….

How much does it take to stand up to the universe in which you were born?…. Too much for most people, it seems; they’d rather blame it all on some supernatural fall guy…. Awfully convenient way to justify one’s own stupidity and greed…. Any who, here are seven pearls which indicate fairly well how I feel and think about it…. How can I lose, beginning and ending with Frankie Z?….

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned — I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture or necrodestination.” — Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book”

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion, Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science.” — Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” — Mark Twain

“During almost fifteen centuries the legal establishment of Christianity has been upon trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” — James Madison

Do what you wanna, do what you will;
Just don’t mess up your neighbor’s thrill.
And when you pay the bill, kindly leave a little tip
To help the next poor sucker on his one-way trip.

~~ Frank Zappa, You Are What You Is ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years ago today, I wrote a poem. This is it…. Enjoy, please, such as it is…..

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Smart Bee is still being fractious, so, I take what I can get, which, in today’s case, seems to be a fairly good description of what is needed for a Life, Well Lived….

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

“There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.” — Eric Hoffer

“Few people have the imagination for reality.” — Goethe

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

“If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.” — Albert Camus

“The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only.” — Thomas Hobbes

“Today is a good day to die.” — Apache warrior proverb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good enough. Hell, I don’t work for the government any more, so, it’s clearly good enough. Well, okay, let’s just not go there, okay? It’s done, how’s that? Yeah, that’s the ticket…. it’s done, and there’s nothing more any of us can do. We may as well be logical, and just take our leave, like good little bozoids…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should I end up anywhere close to reality by then….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

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

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