Tag Archives: Alaska

A pale, galloping horse….

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Ffolkes,

“It is the ability to choose which makes us human.”

~~ Madeleine L’Engle, “Walking on Water” ~~

Alaska Grand Adventure 004

Ketchikan, Alaska, pre-invasion…

Hajime…. The choices we make always seem to turn out differently than we expect, don’t they? Identifying & making those choices is a process we seldom consider in depth, yet, it is a process critically important, to who we are, and what we can expect from Life at Large. My own choices seem to be catching up to me, as physical conditions now assume a greater portion of my attention than I have heretofore had to give. It seems, in my youth and checkered past, some of my choices have led me to where I now am, physically, which, at the moment, is rather an uncertain position, more uncertain than ever before, which tends to decrease the available choices….

That’s a bit obscure, but, at the moment, there aren’t a lot of details I can, or will share, until there is more certain information to relate. Suffice it to say, I probably won’t be around here for a stretch of time; how long remains as uncertain as my own health. I’d like to be able to say when I might return, but, at this point, I don’t have enough information on that to make any reliable prediction. So, I’ll just say this for now. I don’t want to stop writing, but, the very act of doing so is contributing to the issue, so, it will need to be curtailed, to some degree, for an unknown time…. If anyone wishes more details, or has any interest in communicating beyond the usual commentary found here, my email is available in my profile, somewhere, as well as on the side bar of my home page, & I’ll be happy to answer any queries via that venue…

For now, I’m just going to bid thee all a temporary (hopefully) farewell, with the added hope that life continues to proceed along acceptable lines, for all of y’all… Me, I’m going to be following a rather strict regimen of cannabinoid consumption in large doses, to help me heal whatever is going on. It seems to work on everything we’ve tried it on, so, I’m hopeful it will do so for me. In the meantime, stay alert, & stay loose. It’s all going to change, and rapidly, starting soon, so, you’ll need all the chutzpah you can manage to display…. I’m outta here, for now….

Normally, at this point, I’d say “Shall we Pearl?”…. today, I’ll just say, see ya later, ffolkes

“You live and learn. Or, you don’t live long.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Alternate utopian states for sale or trade….

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Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Left to our own devices, we drift…..

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Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Old Men

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

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Luring nuns back into the habit….

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1

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When the ten thousand things are seen in their oneness, we return to the source to remain where we have always been.” — Seng Ts’un.
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“Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

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

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

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

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

A prodigal child no more…

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4

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?……
_____________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Aquatic Nocturne

deep in liquid
turquoise slivers
of dilute light

quiver in thin streaks
of bright tinfoil
on mobile jet:

pale flounder
waver by
tilting silver:

in the shallows
agile minnows
flicker gilt:

grapeblue mussels
dilate lithe and
pliant valves:

dull lunar globes
of bulbous jellyfish
glow milkgreen:

eels twirl
in wily spirals
on elusive tails:

adroir lobsters
amble darkly olive
on shrewd claws:

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

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~


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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

 

gigoid

dozer3