Tag Archives: Alexander Pope

Looks to be ’bout half-a-bubble off plumb….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,

Bogus, man! Somebody turned off my clock, or something…. I’d suspect Murphy’s hand at work, but, all I did is get up about an hour and a bit late…. It’s almost 6:30 AM, later, by a bunch, than I’ve been up in a coon’s age, (Okay, I’ll bite: How long does a raccoon live?….), an event not so negative, as much as inconveniently confusing. As much as possible, I’m not going to push for any real thinking, or decision-making, until after the first cup of the morning’s transfusion of blood has dripped into my veins; I have the distinct impression the results would be disastrous, at minimum….

How, then, do I manage to create an intro to this Pearl? If I can’t use my brain, what the heck is it good for? No, you don’t really have to answer that rhetorical question, any more than I have to consider it; I know what it’s good for. I just never get a chance to use it for that…. For what, you ask? Well, honestly, it’s best if I don’t tell you, as it could create difficulties further down the road, for both of us…. Given what I might end up doing the last few months of my life (whether those months are this year, or part of another one, a few years away….), it’s best if you don’t have any idea of my intentions, or my plans…. You wouldn’t be safe, and that would go against the grain of my sensibilities….

Since clandestine actions have been relegated far into the future, relatively speaking, we can get on with today’s effort, provided I can figure out some way to get this intro a bit further along…. I know, it’s probably enough as it is…. Hell, maybe you’re right, and it IS enough…. I know it’s not up to the usual standards we hold, in terms of the amount of crap you generally find here, but, I think the degree of sheer inanity gives it some extra panache, if you know what I mean…. I mean, I could have gone back to those stupid one line jokes I’ve been using here…. Hmm, maybe that’s the problem…. Smart Bee seems to LIKE the damn jokes, so maybe it WANTS the little conversational one-line rim shots I’ve been putting up there… go figure….

Well, okay then…. I don’t have any of the four line rim shots, but, here’s a really old joke, from a British comedian, recently passed away, whose body of work was referred to me by a Gentle Reader as a source for old one-liners…. It’s such an old joke, I had to give it a good dusting off before using it….

“Two cannibals were eating a clown – one said to the other, ‘Does he taste funny to you?’ ” — Tommy Cooper

As a male human being, I am now allowed to guffaw, or, at the very least, give a sardonic smirk for the irony…. You can do as you wish, in terms of your reaction; this site is completely influence free in that regard, as far as we can make it…. It is however, still somewhat strange, all in all, for which we have no apologies whatsoever…. In fact, if I can feel that what I’ve done here has added to the amount and quality of strange in the world, then I’ve done what I set out to do….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.  They must be felt within the heart.” — Helen Keller
_____________________________

So, having arisen so late in the day, I have to admit, I’m completely discombobulated (I LOVE that word!…) (Well, I don’t love the feeling of being in the state of discombobulation (   🙂   ), but, the word itself is GRAND, isn’t it?….)….. Where was I? Oh, okay… So, I’m up late, my brain is mush, and a Pearl is required… What’s a boy to do but dive into the archives for something at least partially intelligent, or something that at least sounds that way….

Here, then, is a fairly mellow politirant, with a suggestion, not original to me, (the credit for the idea expressed below belongs to Arthur C. Clarke, from an idea he had in his novel, “Imperial Earth”, set in the year 2776, on the one thousand year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence), for how to deal with the issue of corrupt politicians, or, indeed, how to deal with the whole idea of a professional class of politicians…. I think its a great idea, and completely workable…. Of course, none of the politicians we have now would like it, but, hey, that’s the whole problem, right? Right….

Any who, enjoy the rant, and think about the suggestion… I forgot to write down what day this was posted, but, it had to have been post-November 6, 2012, as it speaks about the election on that date….

Wednesday, 2012:

“Integrity is when what you say, what you do, what you think, and who you ARE all come from the same place.” — Madelyn Griffith-Haynie

Okay, I know we are all probably sick to death of politics, and the election, and everyone would like to have a break from talking and thinking about it…. I know I am. So, I’ll try to make this fairly short, and make it the last political diatribe for at least a day or two. It may be possible, if nothing in the news jumps up to stimulate my outrage (which may be on a short vacation itself…. I hope….. I could do with the emotional space….).

Any who…. here is what I was thinking when I came across this little gem…. What if we devised a test, that in some way would enable us, as voters, to determine the relative status of each of the candidates according to this rule? A way, as it were, to measure their degree of integrity, which is something I think we can all agree would be a good thing to see in a politician, unlikely as it may be to find it there; I don’t believe it occurs naturally…. If we could, say, set up a scale of integrity, and make it law that a person had to score in the top 5% of the scale in order to merely be eligible for office, I think we might see a whole new set of politicians, who had never before been seen in public.

In fact, in thinking about the current crop of those currently ensconced in the houses of government, it is entirely possible that ALL of those elected officials, who are now in office, might not be eligible under that restriction…. I am not excluding the President, out of fairness, though I personally believe he might score in the top 10%…. I still have questions about some of the stuff he has signed that didn’t seem to be very well publicized, as they didn’t exactly fit with his projected image…. The newest version of the Patriot Act, the NDAA, that he signed last New Year’s Day comes immediately to mind….

I don’t care if he did try to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of the law, he still signed the damn thing, thereby seriously endangering a number of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Plus, the method he used to keep it from the public awareness was rather suspect, in my mind, and reminiscent of the old days under Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, and the two Shrubs, may they all rot in whatever level of  Hell they are destined to occupy…. (I know, I know…. not being a Christian, that curse has little weight, but, hey, it’s a pretty clear indicator of my opinion of all of them….)

As I suspected it might, this grew to be somewhat more than I intended it to be, so I’ll cut it short here. But, my suggestion above, about the test for integrity that should be a given for political aspirants, is completely serious, and I wanted to get that out. Maybe by the next election, we can get the rest of the country to buy into it…. which should be interesting, and fun. I’ll be looking forward to the expressions on the faces of all the supporters of those now in office, when their people gloriously fail to pass the test…. and to the results it will have on society, should it ever be adopted…. I don’t see any way at all that it could do anything that wouldn’t improve the situation….

And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.

– John Bunyan (1628-1688) — Pilgrim’s Progress, Apology for his Book
_____________________________

I wrote this poem as an expression of thanks, for the friend(s) I have in my life, friends who wouldn’t let me go under, in those times when I was sinking….

Unsolicited Gratitude
 
Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

The following old-school variety will be a unique pearl, put together using a method of timing and selection heretofore untried…. I’m not even sure of my ability to describe exactly what parameters I’ll be setting, as the search for these connected aphorisms has taken place on three separate occasions, none of which were related in any elemental way…. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I have no idea how this will turn out, but, usually, when we try new techniques like this, it seems to work out pretty well, so, I’m confident this will do the same…. Enjoy!..

“The doctrine that the earth is neither the center of the universe nor immovable, but moves even with a daily rotation, is absurd, and both philosophically and theologically false, and at the least an error of faith.” — Roman Congregation decision against Galileo

“To command the professors of astronomy to confute their own observations is to enjoin an impossibility, for it is to command them not to see what they do see, and not to understand what they do understand, and to find what they do not discover.”– Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

“Kids, the seven basic food groups are GUM, PUFF PASTRY, PIZZA, PESTICIDES, ANTIBIOTICS, NUTRA-SWEET and MILK DUDS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay! That, I think, will give you a clearer idea of where we are headed with this, so, make sure you’re safety harnesses are fully fastened, and you are hanging on for dear life to the soft, fluffy stuffed animals provided by your friendly flight attendants…. Hang on, ffolkes, these last four could get rambunctious….

“All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another cannot gain.  Hence that common opinion seems to be very true, “the rich man is unjust, or the heir to an unjust one.” Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, than by his predecessor.” — St. Jerome (340?-420)

“Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book xv, Line 157

“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children’s games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games which it is most attached is called, “Keep tomorrow dark,” and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) “Cheat the Prophet.” The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

“History is a lie commonly agreed upon.” — Nietzsche

I rest my case…..
_____________________________

“These things are fun, and fun is good.” — Dr. Seuss

Ted was right, you know, about all of it…. (Ted = Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss….). Especially this part…. I don’t know about y’all, but I had fun today…. which is odd, as it started out really badly, and seemingly went downhill from there…. I guess my topographical perception is as skewed as the remainder of my mind’s now dubious qualities…. In looking back over what I’ve done here this morning, I can only agree with that assessment, and will now fade quickly into the background, disappearing right before your eyes…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Renfield, settle our account…. Use the real money….

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,

“Hey, mister!”
“What?”
“Got religion?”
“No, thank God.”

Okay, so maybe it’s not always the best way to begin…. I like it, though, if only for the degree of irony in the final line…. It probably doesn’t help soothe the minds of whatever readers may have ventured into today’s mess, but, dammit, this is ECR, and we won’t be pulling our punches for anybody! Not in THIS lifetime, even if it’s the only one we get this time (which is how it is beginning to appear….).

Life is too short, and too hard, to waste any time being hypocritical, especially when there has been enough trouble from that sector, (religion), historically, to last us, for as long as we want to hold a grudge…. Personally, I plan on holding it for a LONG time…. and, I LIKE looking myself in the eye every morning in the mirror….

Some days the ranting just jumps out of me, I guess. I’ve barely begun today, and I’m already deep into looking for new ways to say the same thing I’ve been saying for years now…. I hope to someday find the right words to awaken the sleeping dragon that is public sentiment, attempting, as I do, to engage society in the changes we will need to make in order to survive…..There are a lot of FOOLS alive today who insist on holding on to their ignorant denial of global warming and overpopulation, with FAR too many of those self-same fools in positions of leadership, they having persuaded society how harmless they seem to be….

These assholes are NOT harmless, though, and I’m getting really tired of seeing their denials in the news, given the same kind of coverage as what is true and necessary….. I’m sorry, but, at this point, I’m thinking it’s time to just quit being Mr. Nice Guy; these idiots will end up slowing things down enough that we ALL end up dead, when, in truth, THEY are the only ones who deserve to go the way of the dodo and the buffalo…. I’m very close to the point of making a decision to act…. If and when I make such a decision, it will be direct action, against those who would continue to argue that we have the time to allow their bullshit….

That won’t happen this morning, though…. I don’t have enough ammunition on hand; I’ll need to stock up…. and there’s a new cross-bow I’ve been looking at…. I like the cross-bow; quiet, powerful, with recyclable ammo…. an excellent weapon of choice for urban guerrilla warfare methodology…. As a weapon, its only drawback is its bulkiness…. If one has the time, and inclination, to recapture their used bolts, well, it’s easy to never run out of ammo… Plus, with some innovation, the bolts can be made into missiles of great destructive power, easily and accurately delivered from a reasonable distance from the target….

Any who, discussions of warfare technology and methodology aside, it seems we’ve come to a point where I need to make the decision to either continue on to the end of a rant, or end this here, and pretend it’s an intro section, as is our habit on most days…. Hmm, let me look back over what we’ve done here, and I’ll….

LOOK OUT! DUCK! INCOMING!….. Get down, ffolkes, we’ve got some heavy fire coming in…. Joe, get those guns online! Tom, activate the remote barriers…. Sally, fire up those catapults…. Let’s see how they like a bit of Greek fire raining down on their heads, eh?….

Sorry, ffolkes, you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve come under attack by unknown hostile forces, and must make a temporary foray out into the BBR to deal with the issue…. I’ll be back in a while, and will continue this Pearl at that time…. Until then, please enjoy the provided refreshments, over there on the table by the window, and be at ease…. You’ll be in no danger here; this facility is well-guarded, and is relatively impregnable to anything non-atomic in nature….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?  Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?” — 2 Kings 18:27 (KJV)

“A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.” — Jessamyn West  (Irony is when you buy a suit with two pair of pants, and then burn a hole in the coat.)
_____________________________

Having indulged myself shamelessly in the intro section, diving into fantasy, a tiny religipolitirant, a bit of technological gobbledygook, and some Sun Tzu, I feel as if a rant in this section would not only be over-doing it, but, could actually be considered to be tacky, and pushy…. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being pushy when ranting; the whole point of a rant is to annoy the perpetrators, ultimately. It seldom does, of course, but, that’s the intent; we feel that intention should be honored, so we do…. But, today, and right now, it wouldn’t be right… for balance, and for integrity’s sake, we’ll go with an old-school pearl, with parameters such that we can find a bit of everything for our purposes….

“Yes, evil comes in many forms, whether it be a man-eating cow or Joseph Stalin, but you can’t let the package hide the pudding! Evil is just plain bad! You don’t cotton to it. You gotta smack it in the nose with the rolled-up newspaper of goodness! Bad dog. Bad dog.” — The Tick

“How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xiii, Line 375

“By virtue we merely mean the avoidance of the vices that do not attract us.” — Robert Lynd

“I think too much or not at all.” — Isaac Asimov

There is a time for thinking and a time for NOT thinking.  And THIS isn’t one of them.” — Paul the Samurai

“‘And how do you do your job, then, if you don’t exist?’
‘By will power,’ said Agilulf, ‘and faith in our cause.’
‘Oh yes, yes, well said, that is how one does one’s duty. Well, for someone who doesn’t exist, you seem in fine form.'”

— Italo Calvino, “The Nonexistent Knight”

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.” — Kahlil Gibran

Well, then, having achieved the balance so desperately sought, through the liberal application of empathetic synergy, I propose we move on…. Plus, those cops over there are giving us the hard eye, so, follow me, ffolkes….
_____________________________

I found this while perusing other poems, and just thought it would be a nice little change for all of us…. You can always count on Keats for something new and fun….

Ben Nevis: A Dialogue

There was one Mrs. Cameron of 50 years of age and the fattest woman in all Inverness-shire who got up this Mountain some few years ago — true she had her servants — but then she had her self. She ought to have hired Sisyphus, — ‘Up the high hill he heaves a huge round — Mrs. Cameron.’ ‘Tis said a little conversation took place between the mountain and the Lady. After taking a glass of Whiskey as she was tolerably seated at ease she thus began —

Mrs. C.
Upon my Life Sir Nevis I am pique’d
That I have so far panted tugg’d and reek’d
To do an honour to your old bald pate
And now am sitting on you just to bate,
Without your paying me one compliment.
Alas ’tis so with all, when our intent
Is plain, and in the eye of all Mankind
We fair ones show a preference, too blind!
You Gentle man immediately turn tail —
O let me then my hapless fate bewail!
Ungrateful Baldpate have I not disdain’d
The pleasant Valleys — have I not madbrain’d
Deserted all my Pickles and preserves
My China closet too — with wretched Nerves
To boot — say wretched ingrate have I not
Le[f]t my soft cushion chair and caudle pot.
‘Tis true I had no corns — no! thank the fates
My Shoemaker was always Mr. Bates.
And if not Mr. Bates why I’m not old!
Still dumb ungrateful Nevis — still so cold!

Here the Lady took some more whiskey and was putting even more to her lips when she dashed it to the Ground for the Mountain began to grumble — which continued for a few minutes before he thus began,

Ben Nevis.
What whining bit of tongue and Mouth thus dares
Disturb my slumber of a thousand years?
Even so long my sleep has been secure —
And to be so awakened I’ll not endure.
Oh pain — for since the Eagle’s earliest scream
I’ve had a dam[n]’d confounded ugly dream,
A Nightmare sure. What Madam was it you?
It cannot be! My old eyes are not true!
Red-Crag, my Spectacles! Now let me see!
Good Heavens Lady how the gemini
Did you get here? O I shall split my sides!
I shall earthquake —–

Mrs. C.
Sweet Nevis do not quake, for though I love
You[r] honest Countenance all things above
Truly I should not like to be convey’d
So far into your Bosom — gentle Maid
Loves not too rough a treatment gentle Sir —
Pray thee be calm and do not quake nor stir
No not a Stone or I shall go in fits–

Ben Nevis.
I must — I shall — I meet not such tid bits —
I meet not such sweet creatures every day —
By my old night cap night cap night and day
I must have one sweet Buss — I must and shall:
Red Crag! — What Madam can you then repent
Of all the toil and vigour you have spent
To see Ben Nevis and to touch his nose?
Red Crag I say! O I must have them close!
Red Crag, there lies beneath my farthest toe
A vein of Sulphur — go dear Red Crag, go–
And rub your flinty back against it — budge!
Dear Madam I must kiss you, faith I must!
I must Embrace you with my dearest gust!
Block-head, d’ye hear — Block-head I’ll make her feel
There lies beneath my east leg’s northern heel
A cave of young earth dragons — well my boy
Go thither quick and so complete my joy
Take you a bundle of the largest pines
And when the sun on fiercest Phosphor shines
Fire them and ram them in the Dragon’s nest —
Then will the dragons fry and fizz their best
Until ten thousand now no bigger than
Poor Alligators — poor things of one span —
Will each one swell to twice ten times the size
Of northern whale — then for the tender prize —
The moment then — for then will Red Crag rub
His flinty back — and I shall kiss and snub
And press my dainty morsel to my breast.
Block-head make haste!
O Muses weep the rest —
The Lady fainted and he thought her dead
So pulled the clouds again about his head
And went to sleep again — soon she was rous’d
By her affrighted servants — next day hous’d
Safe on the lowly ground she bless’d her fate
That fainting fit was not delayed too late.

But what surprises me above all is how this Lady got down again.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

I grew up having to listen to Billy G., far too many times…. Here is a rant from a couple years ago, with his words as the stimulus, which is as it should be….. Not that he, being who he is, would ever admit to any responsibility for them…. It’s more the habit of a Christian to blame what they do or say on Jesus…. and, since Billy is, perhaps. the most well-known, self-defined Christian in the Western world, he is VERY good at that….

From May 12, 2012:

“God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.” — Billy Graham

First, let me apologize…. I hadn’t meant to go into a rant this morning, especially about religion; sitting down is as difficult as standing up, or walking, so the time it takes to express the outrage necessary to produce a rant is more than I wanted to take. But then this popped up in front of me….

After I had picked myself up from the floor and recovered my breath, I still could barely stop chuckling and giggling long enough to use the mouse to cut and paste it to this page. Now that I have, I find myself almost speechless at the sheer arrogance, the complete lack of respect shown for humanity at large by this astounding statement.

In one short phrase, this deeply disturbed man has attempted to manipulate his listeners into a complete subjugation of their will, and in doing so, implies that they are not only unworthy in a moral sense, but are not smart enough to be allowed to think for themselves. I’m surprised he didn’t ask for money in the same sentence…. You can bet he did before the end of the night….

I remember seeing Billy Graham when I was quite young, speaking on TV to a football stadium full of enthusiastically cheering, excited, identical female clones in white cotton dresses, with skirts below the knees, and young, clean-cut, earnest looking young men in blue suits, with white shirts, no vests, and skinny ties. Even at the tender age of 11 or so when I saw it, my first impression of him was of a used-car salesman, with a smarmy-looking smile at inappropriate moments, and a smooth, fawning manner of speaking that ranged from sly confidences to outraged proclamations of evil and sin, all delivered in very obviously scripted stages.

The words and phrases he used, straight out of the King James Bible, mostly, seemed to promote love and tolerance, but the underlying message was one of elitism and divisiveness, as indicated by the insistence that only those who accepted JC according to their rules would be allowed into heaven…. The rest of us would be consigned to everlasting hell for having the audacity to think differently….. It was pretty over-the-top, as far as I was concerned, though entertaining in a circus sort of way…. (My five-year-old’s crap detector was on full, and rejected all of his words pretty much out of hand, as too obviously false to consider…. Just another adult spouting off stuff that made no sense….)

It is now 50 years since I saw that particular revival meeting; with a dismal display of stubborn perseverance, Mr. Graham has continued to spew his particular brand of ignorance for that entire time. He is indeed one of the men of whom St. Francis of Assisi warned us to beware, a man of one book. And the above statement, to me, is proof of just how little he thinks of the general run of human beings. His basic message, to paraphrase what he said above, is, “You are a miserable sinner, and have no right to exist, other than by the mercy of God. You are not smart enough to keep from sinning on your own, so just shut up and do what you are told….”

It is certainly proof, I guess, that it takes all kinds to make a world, for there are millions of folks out there who regard what Billy Graham says as just as much gospel as what is in the Bible…. but then in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose…. Me, I’d rather listen to a ball game….

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

Back in real-time, 2014, for some concluding comments: While searching for pearls for another section, I came across the following gem; it turns out to be a PERFECT example of the mind-set that one of Mr. Graham’s sermons can create in people…. I also wish to nominate this statement as the stupidest remark by an elected official in the latter half of the twentieth century  EVER MADE IN PUBLIC……  Perhaps one of you could call Guinness, or the Pulitzer Committee?….

“I can see stopping a car for a dog.  But a cat? You squish a cat and go on.  I think we’re over-complicating life.” — Iowa Democratic State Senator James Gallagher
_____________________________

I may be going a bit overboard this year; I can’t seem to shorten these Pearls back to the size I had evolved into creating. Ah well, such is life in blog land…. It’s done, and to my way of thinking, that’s good enough…. Remember, ffolkes, Life requires us to be honest with ourselves, if nobody else, and that means we need to live our lives so we have no regrets…. ever…. We are the only ones who can judge how we’re doing on that, which is where the honesty comes in…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Hey! These are good croissants!….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“What?”
“Is the bus coming?”
“Pretty soon, now, I think, ….. it’s breathing pretty hard…”

You figure it out; anyone over 16 should get it, without having to resort to pictures, or dictionaries…. I’m feeling bone-deep lazy, and found a bunch of good stuff yesterday in the archives, so, with some judicious editing, you’re getting a stale, massively punched up, hybrid Pearl, composed of nearly all old stuff, that was good enough to be recycled, because, hey, it’s just that good, okay? Allow me a bit of egotism here, and just read on…. I think you might agree that fresh wouldn’t be any more relevant, or more satisfying….

From May 12, 2012:

“And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.” — John Dryden (1631-1700) — Britannia Rediviva, Line 208

Wow! Have you ever seen a better description of this blog?    🙂    I’ve been torturing words now for over 12 years, at least in a bloggy sense; that’s about how long I’ve been doing these Pearls……

I’ve learned over the years not to hear their screams, or read the petitions, or pay any attention to the ones who try to distract me with their flexibility of meaning; I just strap them into the rack and start hacking away. Sometimes, in the intro, I force them, admittedly with some glee, to assume the shape of a short fantasy; other times I will completely embarrass them by telling them they are haiku, or a poem, when they know for certain I am no poet. I can be pretty cruel to the words in my head….

I figure it’s only fair, considering how they treat me much of the time. I don’t ask much of them, really…. just the morning group of five good pearls I can use to create these missives, and I’d leave them be. But much of the time, such as today, they insist on playing games, hiding, shifting about, presenting only the quotes they know I’ve already used, or massive amounts of Shakespeare, which they KNOW just annoys me….

No, they’re not very nice to me, so I feel no compunction about torturing them to get them to do what I need them to do. If I didn’t, I’d never get anything written. If I didn’t write as much as I do, I’d build up all this incredibly strong angst and tension, and eventually it would have to come out…. at that point, it has been known to be dangerous, especially for anyone in the immediate vicinity of the blast zone….

So, you see, this blog is really a public service in disguise…. No thanks are necessary: since they are my words, I take responsibility for them, and consider it my duty to keep them from harming others (except, of course, when I want them to do so….). I just didn’t want y’all to think I was hiding anything important…. I like to call this my Literary Guantanamo Bay for Wayward Words, where we have the leeway, and the executive authority, to torture those nasty, little, terror-inducing buggers into submission….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I had a dream which was not all a dream.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Darkness
_____________________________

There will come a time, one fine day, when I’ll go back through my archives, and pull together all the stuff about which I’ve ranted, to put together into one homogeneous work that I can publish as a book, or perhaps, given the amount of material, two…. who knows? If the world lasts long enough to make something like that worthwhile for me, I’ll no doubt do it, as I’ve always had the dream of being a published author, with a real book, that I wrote, to hold in my hand…. For now, it’s nice to be able to occasionally take a day to work a bit less strenuously to be fresh, practicing instead the skills I’ll need to edit all of what I’ve written…. I’m told that editors can be bitchy that way, so I may as well get all my ducks in a row before I go into any power struggles with one of them….

I intend to take full advantage of this little break today; hopefully, I may even be able to spend some time reading other WP blogs, to at least get to the sites of those friends and loyal Gentle Readers who have been coming by to check out my blog each day…. There aren’t a lot of them, perhaps ten to twenty regular ffolkes who drop by every few days to catch up, but, I appreciate each and every one of them greatly, and prefer to get to THEIR  sites first, before cruising randomly to any of the many sites I follow…. Strange, too, is the fact that I keep getting notified of new followers, but the people are names of bloggers who never hit the Like button, or comment, so I have no idea what they think about all of it, which, I know, is a LOT of material…. I’m just happy they liked it enough to Follow….

Be all that as it may, I get guilty a lot, from not being able to go read other blogs as much as I’d like….. However, the process of getting all this crap out of my head remains my primary purpose, so, that has to be the way it is, with little I can do about changing the way I approach it…. Any who, I’ll get around some today, and hopefully, can do so more in the future…. for now, we’re going to a random old-school style pearl, just so we can say there is SOMETHING fresh in today’s Pearl….. ‘Kay? ‘Kay!…..

“I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of the head-ache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives the headache.” — Goethe

“The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable.” — U.S. Privacy Protection Study Commission, 1977

“For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.” — Johnson

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.  …What is interesting is brought forward as if it had been central and efficacious in the march of events, and harmonies are turned into causes.  Kings and generals are endowed with motives appropriate to what the historian values in their actions; plans are imputed to them prophetic of their actual achievements, while the thoughts that really preoccupied them remain buried in absolute oblivion.” — George Santayana, The Life of Reason:  Reason in Science, 1918

“…Or, I may not feel that my belief-system needs to be self-consistent  in a post-Goedelian epoch.” — Dan’l Danehy-Oakes

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.

— Pope

“I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist

Well, serendipity certainly took a hand in THAT little collection of virtual wisdom, didn’t it? What a wonderful pearl this turned out to be! A little obscure, but, finely tuned to show off all those little twists that make me so happy….. Fret not, if you don’t see the underlying direction this takes, it won’t matter, as none of these will be on the Quiz…. Reading and understanding pearls is not the simplest skill we have to learn in our life; sadly, it’s also one nobody will ever pay you minimum wage for possessing, either….

It is useful, however, when reading the news, as it gives one a deeper understanding of how duplicitous the Asininnies can be, as well as the ability to dismiss nonsense in a trice…. And, if nothing else, it got us through that section without any casualties, so, from our standpoint here at ECR, it’s a win-win….
_____________________________

This is one of my own poems, written in 2012…. I think all in all, it’s one of my best…. That, perhaps, does not say too much, but, I like it anyway…. I hope you do as well….

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Since beginning today, which was, in truth, quite some time ago, (much longer than one would think, for what is mostly cut and paste material…. I guess I’ve been wordier than I knew….), I seem to have lost my way…. Since I wasn’t planning to go anywhere in particular, that’s arguably exactly where I went…. and they’d be correct to say so…. (Huh?)(Oops…. sorry, brain fart….. I only thought I’d written the lead-in to that last line….) (SIGH….)(Picture it….. old, graying, roundish guy at a computer, solemnly banging his forehead on the wall next to the chair…. but, not quite crushing the BIG, RED, NOSE on his face…..) (Here’s the lead…. “Anyone of a reasonable nature might be compelled to mention that seemed a bit abnormal….” then, the next part, ” and they’d be correct, etc….”)

I just looked up, to check that paragraph, and realized that it had gone beyond hope, in spite of what it says in section two’s poetry… Oh, it’s all there, and correctly punctuated, but, it’s just so frigging scattered, in thought, in timing, in juxtaposition, I’d be surprised if anyone who isn’t me could make sense of it…. I’d be wasting the time of both of us if I tried to fix it; the same could be said of just starting over, too… What to do, what to do, oh, me, oh my, indecision hurts…. Ah, fuck it, okay…. Scrap the whole nine yards, says the consensus…. Onward into the final section now, naked and unafraid…. WAIT!…. One more thing….

There’s still quite a ways to go yet, I know, so, I won’t keep y’all long, but, I just wanted to say this…  Never mind, it’ll keep…. here, this is better than anything I could come up with today, anyway, so, please enjoy the following politirant from the past…. which, as always, remains as valid today as when it was first posted, because, hey, the same sharks be swimmin’ in the same pool, see?…. Any who…..Enjoy….

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

From 2/13/13: Thus, the election, of which much is spoken herein, would be the Presidential election of November, 2012, Obama vs. Romney…..

The following is a piece that I wrote just before the recent Presidential election, as section 1 of a Pearl I cannot find without more effort than I care to spend right now, even though it is still only 0633…. Tracking it down would mean scrolling through at least a month’s worth of old Pearls, from last year, (2012), and I’m not ready for that today…. However, I’ve re-read it, and consider it worth a second posting, as it covers a lot of things that remain relevant after the election, in spite of the fortunate outcome we saw…. Any who, without further ado, here is a pearl I entitled,

“Considering the Etiquette of Ignorance”….

SIGH…. the only reason I did not write this in 1988 is that I did not see it until today…. it is never a good policy to suffer a fool gladly, so my code of honor demands a response…. This begins the tale, but by no means ends it…. be warned, and be nervous, if not afraid….

“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they  be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

Actually, George, the Pledge of Allegiance has no legal standing, in relation to the Constitution of this country, or for that matter, in relation to what our forefathers were thinking when they founded the nation. In fact, what was said here by such an upstanding Constitutional scholarly type, is, in reality, completely contrary to everything that makes a true patriot, or an American citizen.

The part in the pledge, (which no one at all is legally required to take, or state….), that says “under God” was only added in the middle of the twentieth century, by the same Congressional idiots who perpetrated McCarthyism, and the Red Scare, on the American public. It has nothing to do with the Constitution, and in fact, could be construed as a Constitutionally illegal statement, considering the intended separation of church and state that is the backbone of what our forefathers wished us to have as our legacy…. True freedom, not Christian usurpation of freedom…. A person’s religious belief, or lack thereof, is protected by the Constitution, and a patriot is one who supports the Constitution, not a church, or a corporation….

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.

– William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

This kind of thinking from the Shrub, whichever one it was, Junior or Senior, is the same kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism that the colonists were escaping from in England back in the 16-1700’s when they came to the New World. The churches and corporations, both of which were singled out as dangerous to the republic by Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Adams, Hamilton, and many of the other founding fathers, have tried to usurp the Constitution ever since it was ratified. Their writings, to each other, and in public venues, were filled with precautionary admonitions about allowing corporations and preachers to have access to, or influence over, members of government.

Ultimately, their fears were justified, as we now are facing just the situations they predicted…. corporations are manipulating our “professional thieves”, otherwise known as politicians, to vote for laws that favor them (Really, now…. “corporations are people?”… I don’t think so….), and the ranks of our leaders are rife with fundamentalists and religious nuts of all varieties.

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty.  Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

It’s difficult sometimes to tell which ones are more dangerous, or more disgusting: the corporations who buy votes from those who fit the definition of “good politicians” (…. a good politician is one who stays bought….), or the religious demagogues who want to oppress everyone who doesn’t believe the same set of dogmatic constraints as they do. Neither one is particularly hard to spot, but they are protected by their tame dogs in Congress, who will do and say anything to make sure the cash keeps flowing…. right into their pockets.

As may be extrapolated, if one is exceedingly clairvoyant, one may infer from the above that the 2012 Republican  Romney/Ryan ticket disturbs me; I have no problem ranting without end right off the top of my head about the lies and distortions of reality that continuously fall from their lips. As I mentioned in a separate post, a lot of people are catching on to this, as Ryan was roundly booed offstage at the AARP meeting he attended to try to sell their admitted intention to rape Social Security and Medicare (Smart? No. Arrogant? Completely.).

In retrospect, even this negative reception is disturbing to me, as it shows just how little they care, that they are showing themselves to be only interested in lining their own pockets, and the pockets of those who own them, without apparent shame or embarrassment. They aren’t even trying to hide their lies anymore; they just keep repeating them, even after having been shown to be false, believing that if they repeat the lies enough, people will buy them….

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

Unfortunately, they are right, to a large extent. Millions of people in this country, who have hung on to their prejudices and bigotry with desperation as the minorities have become majorities, are supporting these assholes, merely because they are white. They don’t realize, or seemingly care, that these are the same assholes who will be screwing them over completely as soon as they get sworn in, preferring to trust in the lies, because it soothes their fears of having a black President.

“Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” — Smart Bee

This is why I have been repeatedly reiterating that this election is bringing this country to a crossroads. The outcome will show whether we intend, as a nation, to continue to fight all attempts to curtail the freedoms that were bought and paid for by our forefathers, with blood, sweat, and tears, or will become just another religious, corporate-controlled entity, in a nation consisting of slaves and their masters.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll be at the polls as soon as they open, and will urge everyone I know to do the same…. vote early, and vote often (just joking….), but vote. We need to send a message to these fools, that there are still patriots and citizens of this country who believe in the vision embraced and established by the men and women who began this noble experiment in self-government….

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley

Back in the future….. As I said above, the election came out okay…. but, the rest of what is said here remains relevant, and always in need of being heard….

Back, again, in the true future…. January 9, 2014, that is…. All I can say is, it’s done…. Really, I’m through here…. Nothing more to say…. As soon as the keyboard lets go of my fingers, I’ll end this section, and all of us can get on with our day…. What the F!…. Okay, who smuggled the handcuffs in past the scanner?….
_____________________________

Okay, so, luckily, I found the key to the cuffs, (well, I beat up the guy who had them…. so, sue me….), and we’re no longer stuck in the last section…. This means, should I accept the mission, we can be done here, at least for the day…. Let me go see if that will fly with the censors…. Well, not too shabby, if I do say so myself, and, I do…. Not too shabby…. See? I said it….. I mean it, too, but, before I do anything to affect that judgment, or change the space-time continuum permanently, I’m getting my sorry ass outta here…. See you tomorrow, if Barry and the NSA leave me alone….   😆

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

dozer3

Would you care for a side of dignified acquiescence with your innuendo?….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,

“Hey, mister….”
“Yeah?”
“Got any change?
“Only this little jar of entropy….”

No, that’s not quite right….

“Hey….”
“Yeah?”
“What’s new?”
“My socks….”

No, that’s not very good, either….

“Hey, buddy…”
“Yeah?”
“Got milk?”
“No.”

Ah, that’s better…. now we can go on….

You may be asking yourself just what the hell this is all about, which would be a completely understandable, even logical reaction…. It won’t get you any closer to finding out, but, hey, it’s logical, and that’s something these days…. To explain…. The three little conversations above are another experiment, designed purely to see it it would be a feasible method for getting these silly introductions out of the way with a template, or possibly a new routine, like the “Who’s on first?” thing, that whatshisname and his partner used to do on stage…. !!! What was that name?…. His partner’s name was Lou…. Aha!!… Abbot & Costello, that’s them…. Any who, onward….

I’m still not happy with the way these introductory sections get done each day…. There’s no rhyme, nor reason to their construction, and no solid method to make sure it’s an intro that will be effective in its purpose, which is to say, it is compelling, drawing people in to read further…. The above, while not bad, is NOT something I could do every day, but, I might be able to work it into the routine on a rotating basis, maybe….. It seems like the kind of thing that might work if we don’t have to depend on it every day; But, an occasional foray into nonsensical comedic conversations could be a handy, and fairly effective method…. So, we’ll see how it works out….

Obviously, today’s version, while fairly silly, isn’t very good, all in all, and these little blurbs will have to be punched up, so that it really DOES draw ffolkes in to the blog, even if they’re only looking to get in out of the rain. We have umbrellas we can loan out, if necessary…. In fact, that’s a good idea…. Maybe people will be encouraged to come back, if we treat them with kindness…. Maybe they’ll want to come back to re-visit that site that loaned them an umbrella when they needed it….. Oh, wait, there’s that whole physical presence thing in the way there, isn’t there? Oh, yeah, forgot about that….

Never mind, then…. It’s a bit hard to loan out anything, when we’re not in physically proximate positions, so, that idea is shot down rather neatly, isn’t it? Silly me, such nonsense…. Of course, we encourage that around here, as you know…. Well, since all of this is now pretty well eliminated from the neighborhood of Reality, and I have little idea left of what I’m doing here, I guess I’ll get on with the regular stuff we do….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” — Heraclitus
_____________________________

Today will be a normal Pearl, insofar as what we do here is able to approach normal at all; all three sections will have the regular, normal inclusions in their appropriate places… This first section will be an old-school pearl, because I found three pearls waiting for me when I got here, and that’s just the way it is…. As you can see, curmudgeonry is also part of the somewhat random process for deciding things here at ECR….. Any who, these pearls, the ones I found here, all have a bit to say about people, and how they live…. or, in some cases, how they SHOULD live…. But, as they say, you can lead a horse to water, but, you can’t make them think…. er, drink…..

“Apollo said that every one’s true worship was that which he found in use in the place where he chanced to be.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

“An empty man is full of himself.” — Edward Abbey

“If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intention of doing you good, you should run for your life.” — Thoreau’s Law

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.” — Wally “Famous” Amos

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” — Robert Frost

“Go softly, for you tread on my dreams.” — Yeats
_____________________________

Below is a small piece of prose I did back in February of this year, prompted by a couple of lines by T.S. Eliot, one of my favorite poets…. I just like it, and hope you enjoy it as well…. It’s followed by, of course, a bit of Emily….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From February 6, 2013:

Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the center of the silent Word.
– T.S. Eliot

What is the silent Word?  The Word Is…. Not not, Is…. We may be, or not, but, what is, is, and needs no word, but the Word remains…. at the center, where it was seen and not heard by T.S….

Sometimes, powerful truth can be found in apparent nonsense, and T.S. Eliot was a master at creating very lean, very clean poetry whose very simplicity drove straight into the heart of Truth. I always feel more serene after reading his poems, disturbing as they can be, and find that reading his work brings me illumination, if not enlightenment….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was not death, for I stood up,
And all the dead lie down;
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues, for noon.

It was not frost, for on my flesh
I felt siroccos crawl,–
Nor fire, for just my marble feet
Could keep a chancel cool.

And yet it tasted like them all;
The figures I have seen
Set orderly, for burial,
Reminded me of mine,

As if my life were shaven
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key;
And ‘t was like midnight, some,

When everything that ticked has stopped,
And space stares, all around,
Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,
Repeal the beating ground.

But most like chaos,–stopless, cool,–
Without a chance or spar,–
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

Per my statements above, this section would be where I begin to rant, but, I made that statement (re: today’s Pearl structure) prior to getting this far, so, let’s see if Reality will condescend to allow us to maintain our path, or make us take a different route to where we need to go…. Half a moment, please….

A funny thing happened on the way to this rant…. The BRC, PH, SCM, and IM who make up the category in which I usually can find my target of choice for the day have ALL apparently issued a blanket statement to the media, that no stories on them are to be published for a time, to allow them to bury any evidence that may have come to light while they were busy with their clandestine shenanigans…. What, you may well ask, does this mean?…. Well, let me explain…

I’ve been perusing the headlines in the news for the last few days, since the new year began, and there has been NOTHING about any of the Asininnies anywhere in there! The Congress, the courts, the POTUS, the White House, & all the government agencies who are normally all over the front pages are nowhere to be seen…. Of the eight most popular stories today on the front page, three were about yesterday’s football game, two were accident/injury reports, one reported on a court case, one on the death of a broadcaster, and the horoscope for the day…. To believe the evidence, one would think we had nobody in the government at all today….

Ah well, it can’t last forever…. Eventually, one of them will open their mouth near a reporter, another lie will pop out, and all will be back to normal…. In the meantime, however, we are left without a rantable subject, and must once again turn to the archives in order to complete today’s Pearl…. Here, then, is a piece from early last year, a discussion of…. well, you’ll see…. Enjoy!….

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

From January 20, 2013

“Nothing unreal exists.” — Kiri-Kin-Tha’s Law of Metaphysics

For the uninitiated, this is from Star Trek, a line from the fourth movie, The Voyage Home. It is the answer, and question, posed to Spock by the computer, near the beginning of the movie, just before it asks him, “How do you feel?” Though the quote, and its author, are part of a fictional story, and do not, as far as I know, exist in real life, the idea is nonetheless a potent philosophical assertion, and deserving of some meditation upon its implications, and ramifications. I like it, as it creates a series of doorways, one after another opening for welcome, inviting me to come in and examine its furnishings for their value…. A bit fanciful, perhaps, but then, it IS from Star Trek….

“Trekkies” have always taken the concept behind the show and movies much more seriously than most of us, and have created an entire panorama of alternate universe stories, legends, and characters as an adjunct to the original tales. I am certain that some fan, somewhere in the world, has put together a book that lays out Kiri-Kin-Tha’s philosophy for study, complete with Laws, Axioms, and Arguments. They probably even included material from other fictional works from the ST venue, weaving them into a coherent treatise, all of which is completely fabricated…. People can be pretty amazing when they are obsessed, indeed….

“Nothing unreal exists.”….. fascinating, as Spock would say. It is reminiscent, in a backwards fashion, of the question posed by the door to Ravenclaw Tower, in the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, when Professor McGonagall is queried, “Where do Vanished objects go?” by the door, in order to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. “Into non being, which is to say, everything.”, she answers immediately. “Nicely phrased”, replied the door…. I say backwards only because the ST movie came first in real time, by about 25 years or so…. As can be seen, however, the concepts involved in the two similar episodes are more than mere ideological throw-aways, but have some valid basis for their existence….

This is the power of Imagination at its finest, in my mind. People will take a good idea, and run with it into landscapes where it has never before been conceived, turning it into passionate variations on the original theme whose quality rivals that of it progenitor. At the height of the frenzy over the Harry Potter movies, a few years ago, I visited a site called MuggleNet.com, curious as to what the fans of the movie and stories were doing.

I was completely astounded by the prolific writings by fans, who wrote entire novels, short stories, and alternative plots by the dozens, all populated by the characters from the books by J.K. Rowling. Romances between the various characters abounded in the imagination of the fans, as well as the creation of new characters, and inventive new kinds of magical spells, objects, and creatures. The variety and depth of talent displayed is incredible, and goes to show how powerful is the influence of obsession on our imagination.

And hence one master-passion in the breast,
Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest.

– Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 131

Of course, obsession has the unfortunate tendency to go beyond the bounds of reasonable action in pursuit of its object of attention. It can easily consume all of the mind’s available store of common sense, submerging it in the raging river of passionate belief in whatever idea has emerged as the passion of choice. Pope was speaking no more than simple truth when he wrote these lines, which point again to the same fatal flaw that exists in other areas of human nature, the weakness of will that makes us choose paths that are self-destructive in their intensity, or in their ultimate logical end. Too many of us tend to make our choices in life without using even the most basic of mental tools we have, including imagination; the use of those tools can be hard, in the sense that it is harder to think than it is to allow others to think for you….

Thus, we come to another point where the subject under discussion can be expanded, and further explored. Or, we can leave it here, with the ideas already discussed as a springboard for private consideration. I have a feeling it could get a bit esoteric from this juncture, and I’d lose a lot of ffolkes to the fatigue factor. I am feeling that a bit meself, having now been sparring with this Pearl for a bit over three hours. I should have eaten some philosophical oatmeal, to increase the fiber content of my output, I guess….

Rather than go any further down that road, we’ll bring this pearl to a close…. Perhaps you can take a bit of what we discussed with you, and chew on it later…. it doesn’t seem to get any less crunchy over time, so it can’t hurt…. Fewer calories than jerky, and it won’t require flossing afterward….

“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant (‘ceptin’ Alice).” — Arlo Guthrie
_____________________________

Without even looking at it, I will admit that today’s effort MAY not be per usual, even for around here…. I just discovered that I’ve created this entire Pearl without the benefit of brushing my hair, so there is no telling how crooked the thoughts contained herein might have become in the process…. Since it’s done, and I’m NOT going to do it over, it will just have to do, however it came out…. which, all in all, isn’t too bad…. It will fly, anyway, so, off it goes…. See you tomorrow, if all goes well….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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, a
nd sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Preparing to salivate on command….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Living with cats is always more than one bargains for; they have a strong connection to the forces of chaos and entropy, and dealing with their capricious natures is as difficult as, well….. as difficult as trying to herd cats…. a well-used, and well-deserved cliche, if not actually an iconic adverbial state…. The potential volatility of a close relationship with a feline can be especially true when one is dealing with a cat with “issues”…… Now, you may ask, what kind of “issues” could such a “wee puir beestie” as these adorable creatures possibly have? Well, I’m here to tell you, they can be quite nasty issues, driven by dark emotional states, and made worse by the lack of human capability to understand the nature of Cat…..

At this point, I would be expected to outline some of the cuter, or perhaps, funnier episodes with our cat that demonstrate how adorable they are, and what wonderful companions they make for us seniors…. and, I would, if I could….. However, OUR cat does NOT do cute, or adorable, or even funny, for that matter…. She just does psycho…. She does that quite well, but I can’t say that as much of a recommendation, as her unfortunate destructiveness tends to keep us scrambling to the store to replace knick knacks at an alarming rate…. We’ve got Bed, Bath, & Beyond on speed dial from having to check their inventory so often, due to PC 14666,destruction of private property by a feline perpetrator acting in the guise of one of Satan’s minions….

This poor little devil started life with some handicaps, unfortunately, which are, sadly, compounded by her relatively obnoxious personality, an unfortunate trait caused by being raised feral for the first month of life…. She’s never really recovered all of the veneer of civilization that more domestic cats assume; she’s got a wild edge she has a hard time controlling, and which causes her, and us, a bit of conflict….. You see, she bites…. the little asshole never learned that it isn’t polite, or acceptable, to bite humans, not even for affection, and certainly not as a habit in anger…. Kitties who develop this habit often end up as recreational flying toys, aka, Frisbees, after having been unceremoniously been tossed on the interstate after biting their human in a pique of anger or warning….

This cat also has the usual cat arrogance, and a number of prerogatives upon which she insists; for example, upon arising in the morning, she informs whoever is up that she wants food, water, an open window, and company, NOW. Actually, anything she wants is required to be furnished NOW, but, this trait is one I don’t worry about, since to a cat, or dog, or other creature of their ilk, NOW is all there is….They don’t spend any mental time in the past, or in the future, so they always want whatever they want right away, simply because, for them, that’s all there is to time….

Now, if only she could learn that counter tops, refrigerators, cupboards, computers, and other parts of the house and furniture are NOT all her domain, and she does NOT have free rein to jump on or into everything she sees….. She also tends to believe that whatever falls on the floor belongs to her, but, in this, at least, she will negotiate, if one is prepared to give up some crumpled up paper, or, even better, tinfoil, in any compromise exchange of favors…. It’s lowering to have to negotiate with a cat, but, they’re very good at hostage situations, so, one must deal on their terms, at least until whatever she’s hidden is found, or rescued….

Now that I’ve demonstrated that we too have a cat, one that can provide nearly unlimited material for study or exposition, merely by existing side by side with us in our domiciles, I suppose I can get on with what we came here for today….. Learning the techniques needed for certain types of literature are well practiced, and better learned by writing about animals….. and, one will find, after a time of watching them closely, describing their behaviors can be a full-time, frustrating job; learning to do so well can be considered excellent training for any writer…. One MUST know how to set a scene, and make the reader see what the author wishes them to see; learning to describe the actions of a Cat are the perfect method for learning to do that well….

None of the above even begins to consider all the material that is also available in this category, of a more complex, personal nature, to wit: writing about our complex, loving, yet adversarial personal relationships with the cattus domesticus with whom we may end up sharing space…. People’s relationships with their cats are as deep, and loving, and complex as those they have with any person…. This, of course, gives us a fertile field from which to draw our subject matter, and makes writing about cats a staple exercise for anyone who wishes to consider themselves to be a competent author….

It’s also quite fun, re-living whatever experiences one has with their cats, who are, in truth, as much our best friends as dogs….. The long-standing agreement we humans have with the cat species is much different than the one we hold with dogs, but it is just as ancient, and just as strong on both sides….

Now that I’ve completely gone off, far afield, in a direction never before taken, there must be some way to get back on track, and get my butt into the water, diving for pearls to create some thoughts in those empty heads out there…. It seems I’d best get to it quickly today, too, as my carpal tunnel has picked today to act up, numbing my fingers as I type…. Oh boy, this will be FUN!….. NOT!  Oh well….

Shall we Pearl?…..

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I’d call me us.

— Odgen Nash (1902-1971)
_____________________________

Ohmigosh, Most Puissant Keeper, Protector of the Forever Dubious, help us! Do not desert us in our hour of need! Give us this day our humble desire, for sustenance to feed the mind, to help them grow to become worthy tools in the hands of our Gentle Readers. (Hmm…. okay, to all those Gentle Readers out there today….. please ignore any and/or all anatomical inferences, or references, in that last little statement…. I’m afraid I got my metaphors mixed up with my euphemisms, and the results are a bit confusing…. so, never mind….. ) Let Smart Bee, that most excellent of databases, find and offer up the most intelligent, the most ironic, the funniest pearls, no matter how old, dusty, or what dark corner in which is was found….

There you go, ffolkes, my version of prayer…. Let’s hope Ohmisgosh was listening….

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

“Reality happens when you don’t make it to the bathroom.” — Smart Bee

“It does not matter whether the cat is black or white.  So long as it catches the mouse, it is a good cat.” — Deng Xiaoping

“Big Business and State Socialism are very much alike, especially Big Business.” — G. K. Chesterton, G.K.’s Weekly, 4/10/26

Men must be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown propos’d as things forgot.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part iii, Line 15

“Power must never be trusted without a check.” — John Adams
(Side note: When I first saw this, I read it as “never be trusted WITH a check!”….. but, it works either way, doesn’t it?….)

Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1809-1861) — A Vision of Poets, Conclusion

Hmm…. Smart Bee is showing off, I think…. That, or it feels as if the contractual obligation for obscurity hasn’t been met, and is just doing its part to help the team…. I won’t bother to remind it that it’s only January, and we have a very long time to get that done…. It was a nice gesture, even if it does leave us scratching our heads a bit…. I suppose it’s one of those pearls that will sit in there, in our heads, until it ripens, whereupon it will explode, leaving us all in awe at the sheer genius thus displayed….     Or, maybe not…. Only time will tell, once again…. Funny how that keeps happening….
_____________________________

“Verbing weirds language.” — Calvin (from “Calvin and Hobbes”)

Someday, I believe Calvin & Hobbes will be on a par, reputation-wise, with Pogo, Doonesbury, Dilbert, and a few other comic strips that are, because of the genius of their authors, as much social commentary as humor. Calvin’s display of all of the most dramatic human characteristics, including the vices, is perfectly counterbalanced by Hobbes brilliantly wise (both in creativity and common sense…), compassionate, grounded yet wildly original, commentary, whether presented in an existential framework, or something more mundane. With the little complaint above, the creator, Bill Watterson, articulates a particular pet peeve of mine…. in three words…..

I am in awe of this statement, much as when I find a piece of poetry that displays such an innate understanding of language, while simultaneously showing the power of using it well…. Using verbs as nouns, and vice versa, is a habit of modern culture I deplore as much as any other in the field of language usage; seeing it is an issue for others is a big relief to me, especially in a media venue that can influence a lot of people’s attitudes….

Of course, it’s something that will fly right by those millions of folks who DON’T read, either books, or newspapers, but, hey, one can’t have everything…. Those particular folks won’t be worrying much about what a verb is, or a noun, anyway, and won’t be deliberately switching them around to try to appear clever…..

There, now you can never say I don’t just ramble incoherently for no reason at all…. I just saw the quote, and it ticked off this little mini-rant against a very minor form of linguistic ignorance…. As we say around here…. never mind….. Here’s a nice poem to make it all better….. You didn’t notice the spoiler above, in the intro section?…. Don’t worry, neither did I, until the proofing stage…. Our minds can play funny tricks on us, can’t they?….

Adventures Of Isabel

Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry.
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
Once in a night as black as pitch
Isabel met a wicked old witch.
the witch’s face was cross and wrinkled,
The witch’s gums with teeth were sprinkled.
Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,
I’ll turn you into an ugly toad!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry,
She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.
Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forhead.
Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,
I’ll grind your bones to make my bread.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She nibbled the zwieback that she always fed off,
And when it was gone, she cut the giant’s head off.
Isabel met a troublesome doctor,
He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.
The doctor’s talk was of coughs and chills
And the doctor’s satchel bulged with pills.
The doctor said unto Isabel,
Swallow this, it will make you well.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She took those pills from the pill concocter,
And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

I did a search of the morning’s headlines when I sat down to begin today’s effort, but, found nothing worthy of a rant, or even minor outrage, other than the usual critical view I have regarding the media’s choice of what news is fit to disseminate…. To be fair in their defense, I also try to keep in mind that I don’t have access to, or time to look at, ALL of the information that is out there to be absorbed…. So, I content myself with what passes for mainstream news, without falling into the trap of getting it from any site or organization that has a vested interest in what is to be brought forth…. such as, say, Fox News, MSNBC, or any of the major networks or their affiliates…. In short, I don’t much trust any of the news outlets that have ANY connection to a vested interest, so, it can be hard to get the straight story on many events….

In the long run, this, along with just about anything else one might think of, is a moot point, which only serves to illustrate the reason today’s Pearl won’t have what might usually be expected in the way of a rant, or as my good friend Lou puts it, my “bitching” about society’s ills….. Due to the (apparent) sparsity of my audience, loyal as those few are, I can’t argue that what I’m doing often FEELS like bitching…. That’s okay, though, because I’m only concerned with the message, and getting it over to people who need to hear it; there’s no denying, for that purpose, bitching is good. Well, it feels good, anyway, so, I’ll keep at it….

In the meantime, though, in order to fulfill the formatting requirements of this blog, I have to put SOMETHING here…. This means, of course, it will have to be a random, old-school pearl, with no particular rhyme, reason, or parameters for inclusion, other than…. it must SOUND as if it means something….

“The most important reason for the drug laws in this country is to encourage a healthy distrust for the law.” — Smart Bee

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Orthodoxy is not thinking – not having to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” — George Orwell (1903-1950), “1984”

“Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.” — Goethe

“In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” — Oscar Wilde

“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be:’It seemed like a good idea at the time.'” — Rebecca West

Sometimes, this process works better than I know…. Upon due reflection, this may be one of those times…. Any ideas?….
_____________________________

Well…. instead of going into such a deep subject, or relying solely on what may be the oldest bad joke in the English language, I’ll just go on about my business as though nothing undue or immoral had occurred here…. which, you will note, it didn’t…. technically….. On that relatively positive note,  I bid thee adieu, until tomorrow….

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

dozer3

Killing time in cheerful green socks….

Posted on by
4

Ffolkes,

Nope, not going to do it….. I won’t, I won’t do it! You can’t make me do it!….. Okay, drama over….. Originally, I had planned to re-blog one of my older pieces today, as I was not sure how I’d feel this morning…. Oh, not to worry, I don’t do New Year’s Eve any more, so that’s not an issue…. No, I just wasn’t sure how well I’d sleep, or what was happening today, or much of anything…. it was a confusing day yesterday, for some reason….

Maybe it was all the end of the year lists getting me all woozy and discombobulated; we’ve been inundated in them for days now, and I’m not sure how many more I can take….. Best New Phone Muzak, Stupidest Celebrity Arrests, Stinkiest Farts of the Year, The Absolute Best This, The Most Shockingly Entertaining That…. Every damn category the human brain could come up with gets covered by some reporter’s end of the year list….. If I wasn’t such a strong-minded individual, I would have cracked days ago… Probably just as well I haven’t, though, or they’d stick THAT on some list or another, and I have no desire to see my ride in an ambulance to the psych hospital become an internet meme, eerily contagious slick digital music or no….

So what is a struggling young author to do on a New Year’s Morn? Aside from being more honest in the choice of self-descriptive adjectives, you ask? I am neither young, nor struggling, particularly, other than in my own brain and body….. I could start like last year, with another fictional story opening…. but, then I’d be repeating myself, and I already decided not to just re-blog last year’s first post, good as it was, as it wouldn’t be fresh, and a New Year’s Day post ought to be fresh, at least to SOME degree…. I could wander and blather…. Oh, wait, I’m already doing that… Hmm…. I suppose I could go completely off the rails, and start a few paragraphs of piffle talk, complete and utter nonsense, that SOUNDS as if it might be real…. but, that’s too close to how I write already….

Okay, now we’re going to get tough…. I won’t have this kind of waffling, not to begin my third full year of blogging…. I have two documents now, each filled with a years worth of Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, for 2012, and for 2013…. Soon I will open the next one in the series, to begin taking down the Pearls for 2014, of which this, obviously, is the first. I was hoping to make it one of the best, as well, but, it’s already beginning to look as if this one may be out of control right here at the start, thus leaving little hope for much distinction by the time we reach the end….

Of course, that’s how I felt at first about last year’s New Year’s post, and look how well it turned out…. I almost re-blogged it today, just because it is so good…. Ah well, I’d hoped to avoid this, but, before this gets any further off the rails, I’m going to apply emergency technique # 4, otherwise known as the “Oblivious” method….. It involves some seriously deep denial, and a touch of grim-faced concentration, but, it always works, and its the least expensive of all my emergency methods…. A good thing to remember, since tax time will be here soon enough…. (Considering the upcoming End of the World As We Know It, taxes seem a bit like adding insult to injury, don’t you think?…..) Here’s how it (#4) works…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

Say first, of God above or man below,
What can we reason but from what we know?

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)  — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 17
_____________________________

“An hour’s perusal of our national charter makes it hard to understand what the argle-bargle is about. The First Amendment forbids infringements of the freedom of speech “except for commercials on children’s television” or “unless somebody says ‘****’ in a rap song or ‘chick’ on a college campus.” The Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” period. There is no mention of magazine size, rate of fire, or to what extent those arms may resemble assault rifles.” — P. J. O’Rourke

Now, at this point in most Pearls, you would think you’d find a good, long, vituperative rant, picking apart the arguments forwarded by the group of idiots who form the bulk of my target choices. It’s a perfect lead-in for a dual rant, on the media’s bungling of their avowed purpose, and the continuous attempted assault on the Bill of Rights, especially Amendment #2, which has had attempt after attempt made on its integrity since the first year it was printed, each one, thankfully, diverted from its intent….

In fact, the repeated attempts to curtail the Second Amendment rights we supposedly are granted have made it simpler to protect those rights, in at least one way, as those who would, ostensibly, take them away, keep providing us with a way to identify them, because of their repeated attempts to try to legislate it out of existence…. There are times when one may rejoice in the idiocy of one’s enemies…. But, they are very persistent, and they have no compunctions about screwing other people; they’re not going to cease their war on the Bill of Rights until they feel they’ve got them all under their control, just like they feel they do with much of the rest of society…. Sadly, quite sadly, they’re right about that control….

Any who, normally, a rant at this point would be not out of place…. however, it’s a New Year, and I don’t feel like being serious yet, so, we’re going with an old-school pearl, to take some random shots at those who I find it most enjoyable to set in my sights, the Beloved Ruling Class, the Priestly Hierarchies, The Police Myrmidons, and all the other Mundanes, who spend their lives with their heads firmly up their ass, making their slavery a simple matter for the formerly listed group(s) of asininnies…. (Hey, look!…. I just made up a new, GREAT word for that particular group of folks!! Asininnies…. I like it, a LOT…..) Okay, that’s the extent of the rant, let’s see what SB can do for us today…..

“The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential.” — Calvin Coolidge

I speak religion’s message clear,
I am denial guilt and fear.
I am the prayers of the naive,
I am the lie that you believe.

— |\|I|/|

If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side… when the glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time…is a very good one… — Emerson

Q: How many believable, competent, “just right for the job” presidential candidates does it take to change a light bulb?
A: It’s going to be a dark 4 years, isn’t it? — Smart Bee

“If voting actually changed anything it’d be made illegal.” — Smart Bee

I swear, all I did was set the parameters, then hit the buttons, and watch…. Some days, it’s a thing of beauty to behold, I’ll tell ya…. Not too obscure, not too bloody, and, for flavor, a spicy portion or two….. Just to show you there are no hidden agendas, or anything other than full service, non-discriminatory curmdugeonry toward ALL individuals and groups, one last perfect pearl to finish this off in the classic manner…. Stooges Style!…. But, add a bit of irony, and it becomes almost Groucho-like…. Well, it makes my eyebrows twitch, anyway…..

“Support the right of unborn males to bear arms!” — A public service announcement from Phyllis Schlafly, the Catholic Church, and the National Rifle Association

Hey, not so bad for a New Year’s Day…. you should feel lucky, eh? It wasn’t Zippy….. Zippy can make one’s head hurt…. Of course, Phyllis has been known to have the same effect on any rational man….
_____________________________

“In the vacant places, we will build with new bricks.” — T.S. Eliot

I know I’ve used this little piece from T.S. Eliot in the past; he is frequently called upon as a source in this blog. Today, he’s here just because I like this quote, and just reading it is a good exercise for the brain, to get it ready for whatever follows in this section…. At this point, that is still an unknown…. I only know that it will be a good one, because I won’t settle for less on such a significant day (If that is what this is…. I suppose it is, what with being a real, actual Holiday and all…. I’m not particularly impressed myself, as a follower of the Aztec Calendar, which told us the world already ended, I think, about two or three years ago, I forget…) Any who, enjoy today’s poem, whatever it may be….

Perfect! It has been said that one should begin as one intends to go on…. What better way to begin a new year, than with Keats?….. A bit long, but, well worth the few moments in time to create this vision in the mind, and savor….

Song Of Four Fairies

Fire, Air, Earth, and Water,
Salamander, Zephyr, Dusketha, and Breama.

Salamander.
Happy, happy glowing fire!

Zephyr.
Fragrant air! delicious light!

Dusketha.
Let me to my glooms retire!

Breama.
I to the green-wood rivers bright!

Salamander.
Happy, happy glowing fire!
Dazzling bowers of soft retire,
Ever let my nourish’d wing,
Like a bat’s, still wandering,
Faintly fan your fiery spaces,
Spirit sole in deadly places.
In unhaunted roar and blaze,
Open eyes that never daze,
Let me see the myriad shapes
Of men, and beasts, and fish, and apes,
Portray’d in many a fiery den,
And wrought by spumy bitumen.
On the deep intenser roof,
Arched every way aloof,
Let me breathe upon their skies,
And anger their live tapestries;
Free from cold, and every care,
Of chilly rain, and shivering air.

Zephyr.
Spirit of Fire! away! away!
Or your very roundelay
Will sear my plumage newly budded
From its quilled sheath, all studded
With the self-same news that fell
On the May-grown Asphodel.
Spirit of Fire — away! away!

Breama.
Spirit of Fire — away! away!
Zephyr, blue-ey’d Faery turn,
And see my cool sedge-bury’d urn,
Where it rests its mossy brim
‘Mid water-mint and cresses dim;
And the flowers, in sweet troubles,
Lift their eyes above the bubbles,
Like our Queen, when she would please
To sleep, and Oberon will teaze.
Love me, blue-ey’d Faery, true!
Soothly I am sick for you.

Zephyr.
Gentle Breama! by the first
Violet young nature nurst,
I will bathe myself with thee,
So you sometimes follow me
To my home, far, far, in west,
Beyond the nimble-wheeled quest
Of the golden-browed sun:
Come with me, o’er tops of trees,
To my fragrant palaces,
Where they ever floating are
Beneath the cherish of a star
Call’d Vesper, who with silver veil
Ever hides his brilliance pale,
Ever gently-drows’d doth keep
Twilight for the Fayes to sleep.
Fear not that your watery hair
Will thirst in drouthy ringlets there;
Clouds of stored summer rains
Thou shalt taste, before the stains
Of the mountain soil they take,
And too unlucent for thee make.
I love thee, crystal Faery, true!
Sooth I am as sick for you!

Salamander.
Out, ye aguish Faeries, out!
Chilly lovers, what a rout
Keep ye with your frozen breath,
Colder than the mortal death.
Adder-eye’d Dusketha, speak,
Shall we leave these, and go seek
In the earth’s wide entrails old
Couches warm as their’s are cold?
O for a fiery gloom and thee,
Dusketha, so enchantingly
Freckle-wing’d and lizard-sided!

Dusketha.
By thee, Sprite, will I be guided!
I care not for cold or heat;
Frost and flame, or sparks, or sleet,
To my essence are the same;–
But I honour more the flame.
Spirit of Fire, I follow thee
Wheresoever it may be,
To the torrid spouts and fountains,
Underneath earth-quaked mountains;
Or, at thy supreme desire,
Touch the very pulse of fire
With my bare unlidded eyes.

Salamander.
Sweet Dusketha! paradise!
Off, ye icy Spirits, fly!
Frosty creatures of the sky!

Dusketha.
Breathe upon them, fiery sprite!

Zephyr and Breama.
Away! away to our delight!

Salamander.
Go, feed on icicles, while we
Bedded in tongue-flames will be.

Dusketha.
Lead me to those feverous glooms,
Sprite of Fire!

Breama.
Me to the blooms,
Blue-ey’d Zephyr, of those flowers
Far in the west where the May-cloud lowers;
And the beams of still Vesper, when winds are all wist,
Are shed thro’ the rain and the milder mist,
And twilight your floating bowers.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

“If you would make changes in the present, study the past.” — Spinoza

It may simply be this concept that compels people, myself included, to engage in retrospectives. We are told this from our earliest days (well, I was….) in one way or another, and I think most reasonable, rational people will agree its a good idea to know the past, if only to avoid the mistakes we made then in our future acts. So, let’s take a moment for some words on 2013; I won’t use the adjective “few” in re: words and me, as that is non-productive, since it probably won’t be just a few…. We’ll see, though….

2013 was, for me, a long, interesting time; in the past 365 days I have traveled on a great many different paths, all over the Western/Northern Hemispheres of the planet…. I’ve spent over a month, cumulatively, on three different floating hotels, on four separate cruises, after spending the first four months of the year in the grip of near-poverty. I’ve flown on airplanes, ridden trains, buses, and innumerable taxicabs. I didn’t ride any bikes. I’ve been to five different states, if one counts the airports, and touched foot to ground in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Mexico, and, of course, the United States.

I had the chance to go to Paris for a day, and St. Peter’s Port on the Isle of Guernsey for a day, off the coast of France, but did not go to either, as I would rather have more time than was available to explore them (Paris needs more than four hours to see, I think, especially since the Louvre was closed the day I would have been there….)

I DID see many of the places of which I’ve read and dreamed of seeing all my life, especially in Ireland, and England…. Though I didn’t get in to see the Book of Kells ( Lines way too long…. ), I did walk around Trinity College, Dublin, and got to see a perfect pint pulled in a pub in Cork…. Found a pub in Belfast that first opened in 1635, by Queen’s charter, which served excellent bangers and mash….

I had a long lesson in humility, dignity, compassion, and love this year, from reconnecting with, and going twice to visit in Texas, my high school classmate, Carole Heaton Oliveiro…. She contracted cancer, in a particularly virulent, painful form, and went, undeservedly, but with magnificent strength and will, through treatment for over a year, only to pass away in less than a week from being diagnosed as terminal.

Her ordeal brought her very close to me, and I will always cherish getting to know her better here at the end of our lives…. Bonus: I got in touch with other old friends through her…. Also, traveling to see her, while for emotional reasons, turned out to be my most instructive trips, in terms of how my age and condition now affects all I do when on the road…..

During this entire year, I’ve also been falling more and more in love with Patricia, and find a great deal of contentment from just being together, even though the past two months have been a physical nightmare for both of us…. I’ve been fighting bronchitis, apparently for about two months now, while she, we just found out last week, has had pneumonia for the past month, at least, and possibly longer. It’s possible we both succumbed to travel fatigue, after three cruises in five months, one of eleven days, one of seven, and one of four; but, to believe that would be to give in to feeling old, and we’ve agreed to NOT allow this to affect our travel plans….    😉

Now that the chatty portion of today’s program has been fulfilled, beyond all hope or expectation, I will get to the point of this, which, though it may not seem so, was planned just this way from the start of this section…. GASP! Imagine that…. forethought by gigoid…. What will they think of next?…..

So, the point of Spinoza’s wisdom, of course, extends beyond the merely personal level on which my discussion above rests; more significantly, it can apply without effort to include the entire world, and, all of mankind’s folly, which, as we know, is legion, and imminently dangerous…. I spent a great deal of time in 2013 writing about who I think is to blame for the world’s state of impending crisis, so I won’t insult you by saying I’ll leave them alone this year…. But, what Spinoza says is true, and if we don’t start looking at what has happened in the past, we are going to continue to have a present that will eventually kill us, in a very short time, cosmically speaking….

THIS is what we need to be looking at in the coming days and years, ffolkes… Global warming is a reality that cannot be denied, or ignored any longer, not without the very real risk of suicide, for ALL OF US. If we, as a species, do not make necessary changes, to human nature, and to the way we approach Life in general as a species, in re: planetary resources and the biosphere….. well, then, in the next five decades (NOT centuries, NOT millennia, I said, and can show proof that we are talking about DECADES!…), if nothing is done, we are all going to die, and that is the “unfortunate truth”…..

Okay, for a retrospective, that ain’t bad, and you can be sure, on this subject, there will be more to come…. for now, I think I’ve done all the damage I can do for one day….. I’ll leave y’all with just this thought…..

“Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, “The descent to Hades is the same from every place.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Anaxagoras, vi
_____________________________

Well, there is no doubt whatsoever that I have done all the damage I can possibly do in one Pearl…. I’m not sure what that means in terms of the next year, but, I suppose we’ll see, won’t we? I’m done, ffolkes, and deserve a break, after this one…. It’s all fresh, other than the poem by Keats, so, it took a lot out of me…. well worth it, from my view…. Better out than in, right? Right!….. See you tomorrow…..

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

dozer3

Don’t pry, MacDuff, it’s clan business….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us.” — Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955), when asked what his Theory of Relativity was– by William Randolph Hearst’s mistress — during a visit to Xanadu, the Hearst mansion

When my mind is this achingly empty, it hurts….. a lot. On such mornings, it becomes imperative to supply it with something that will ease the pain, while simultaneously filling some of the sheer emptiness that echoes for what seems to be forever….. Fortunately, one of my first steps in the morning routine is to turn on the computer, which is trained to open up the database of quotes I use frequently, Smart Bee….. It can then randomly supply me with such gems as the two above, which have served me well this morning, easing my mental hunger…. for it was shockingly empty, and the pain was fierce….

I like the above pearls, and not just because they saved the morning for me…. I’ve  been looking back at the history of the US in the last century for some time now, trying to figure out just when it started to go bad for us…. Mostly, I’ve found that the roots of the problems we are facing go back quite a bit further than the twentieth century, although much of the worst that has come to light seems to have taken place since the beginning of that last  hundred years; this, though, is merely a matter of observing the effects, over time, of the policies that are causing the issues to manifest….

In short, the bad habits we have displayed as a species, which have been running without much interference for a couple of thousand years, thus shaping the mental attitudes of almost all those living in our culture, (some of us seem to be more resistant than others….), are now coming to fruition, in terms of the long-term effects of our behaviors, effects we had not the wit to see, or understand….

Our continuous, constant rape and pillaging of the planet’s dwindling, and certainly finite, resources has reached a point where our filthy habit of pouring smoke into the air, as if it would have NO effect at all, is going to kill us all, in a surprisingly short amount of time. In spite of all my research into the matter, I’m still not sure exactly WHY we have ignored this for so long, other than to say that we all must have been blinded by what is wishful thinking; regardless of whether or not that is true, we HAVE ignored it, and the effects of that neglect are now catching up to our continued display of ignorance….

I’ve been ranting about this for a week or so, since I saw the report in the Nation that summarized some of the latest reports from climate scientists…. reports that show exactly how late it is, and how little time we have to make the needed changes in how we make use of the planet’s resources….. I have, unfortunately, been made aware, by the lack of reaction to what I’ve written by almost ANYONE else, that the season has played a part in how few have seen or reacted to my sense of urgency about all of this. In short, my angst has been usurped by the seasonal atmosphere of “Oh, it’ll wait ’til after the holidays! Have another egg nog!”….

So, I can see that whatever campaign I might wish to begin, to try to alter the course of history in today’s world, isn’t going to make very much headway until the New Year….. Thus, I may as well relax, and try to have a bit of fun until then…. I am not looking forward to the next fifty years, should I survive that long, as they promise to be more than just a bit “interesting”….Even if mankind DOES wake up, and start to make some kind of effort to halt the environmental damage, and alter the course on which we are now locked, it isn’t going to be simple, or easy, and there will be a great many people who complain vociferously about the changes, which they don’t want, and can barely understand….

The world that is coming, ffolkes, won’t be very much like the one we have now, not once the atmosphere becomes a danger to us…. There will be SUCH a scramble, to see who will be saved, and who will be condemned to die, that all the revolutions and wars we have seen throughout history will pale in comparison…. Governments will try to blame each other, and lie to protect themselves (just as they do now….), but, it won’t matter who is to blame, because Mother Nature really doesn’t give a shit WHO did it…. her reaction will be the same…. Clear the decks, kill them all, and start over…. from Her viewpoint, it’s much easier than trying to get us to change our nature…..

Changing human nature has been our species’ most important goal for most of our history, as well as the one that is resisted most strongly by any to whom it is applied….. Those who have power and resources do not want to give them up easily, and see very little in it for them….. and that has been the problem right from the start….. These people (and I use the term loosely, as they do not accept many of the rules and customs that actual ‘people’ live by, which, in my opinion, removes their right to be included as part of the species at large….), who have set themselves up as the ‘leaders’ of humanity, are in truth merely thugs and thieves, willing to lie, cheat, and steal to make sure that they are in control, of other people, and of the wealth of the community….

We have yet to figure out how to keep them from doing that, and, unless we, as a larger group set against them, are willing to use the same degree of force that they are capable of using, we won’t do so…. until it’s too late, and the ignorance and idiocy of the lifestyle they’ve chosen so blindly will end up killing them…. and, sadly, us along with them…. I guess, if there were a way to figure out how to make the universe JUST, things might work out better…. But, until there is some way for the behavior shown by the BRC to be rewarded by killing ONLY those who show it, well, then, the rest of us are going to end up paying for their foolishness…..

There, now that I’ve completely depressed myself, and anyone else who stumbled in this morning, I guess I can go on to more lucrative pursuits…. Or, at least, more lucrative in the sense of being more enjoyable, and less depressing…. It isn’t every day I start off the day with a nine or ten paragraph rant on the End of Days Scenario, so we should, if for no other reasons than sheer exuberance and silliness, celebrate such flippancy and sang-froid, with some funny, heartwarming pearls, all of a lighter nature than this discussion…. In short….

Shall we Pearl?….

And the angels, all pallid and wan
Uplifting, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy ‘MAN’
And its hero Conqueror Worm

— Edgar Allan Poe “The Conqueror Worm”
_____________________________

Having ranted above, sufficient unto the day, the following shall have no excuse, nor any pity…. This pearl, ffolkes, is about politicians, and the way they look at life…. Some may just show how they speak, or show of what they think about in crisis, but all demonstrate, somehow, just what assholes they are, providing ample justification for how little we like them…..

“The higher you climb, the more you show your ass.” — Alexander Pope, “The Dunciad

“You can fool all of the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people all of the time; and that should be sufficient for most purposes.” — Smart Bee — Found on a plaque, set in the wall beside the doorway into the Congressional offices…..

Chang: “‘Cry havoc!  And let slip the dogs of war!'” — “STVI:TUC”, Stardate 9523.8

“The greatest right in the world is the right to be wrong.  If the Government or magistrates think an individual is right, no one will interfere with him; but when agitators talk against the things considered holy, or when radicals criticize, or satirize political gods, or question the justice of our laws and institutions, or pacifists talk against war, how the old inquisition awakens, and ostracism, the excommunication of the church, the prison, the wheel, the torture-chamber, the mob, are called upon to suppress the free expression of thought.” — Harry Weinberger, letter to the editor, — New York Evening Post, April 10, 1917

One, two, three, four
What are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn.
Next stop is Vietnam.
Five, six, seven, eight
Open up the pearly gates.
Ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopie!  We’re all going to die.

— Country Joe and the Fish

“When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.” — Harry S. Truman, 1959

I might have guessed, had I thought of it, but, I didn’t…. so, it doesn’t matter. Nonetheless, I’ll say it anyway…. this final pearl took quite a while,and quite a complicated search, to find just the right candidate to finish this off correctly…. The effort was worth it, for it’s absolutely perfect…. Here, look….

“There is no force more potent in the modern world than stupidity fueled by greed.” — Edward Abbey

See? I can’t think of ANY statement that matches the concept of politics as we know them better than this, a pearl that helps to form a, (yes, I’ll say it again…), perfect ending to a fine indictment…..
_____________________________

Today’s post is freshly made, so, this means the poem will also be mine, though not fresh….. Nobody else will get any blame for any of this, I promise….

Penance, Made Simple

After all the dross is sent away
a celebration can begin,
time will face up to space, to stay
willing, to shine from within.

Anger and confusion come in to share
brushing reason aside,
eager to welcome all that is fair,
alert to danger, eyes wide.

Re-gift the wicked with their own pain
stand with the just;
fail to partake of the ill-gotten gain,
living in honor, the only must.

Standing fast in the face of wrong
is its own prize and reward.
Holding on to truth makes us strong,
well worth working toward.

Little is left to chance by fate
our lessons are never free of cost.
Seldom does reality make us wait
only when alone, are we lost.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

So that no one can ever say I’m not equal opportunity in my criticism, here are some pearls that have a bit to say about the preachers/priests…. You know,those delusional busybodies who insist on having everyone share in their delusions, which mostly involve a prophet commonly found in the desert, fasting and hallucinating, a supernatural love triangle involving rape and incest, and soliciting the promise to give them 10% of all you earn…. You know, those guys…. Any who, these are some pearls that have something to say about those who would not be king, but, rather, would rather serve that king to help keep you in thrall… for free housing, guaranteed income, and a good tax shelter, of course….

“No man with any sense of humor, ever founded a religion.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

Proof that Bill Gates is the devil ; The real name of the Bill Gates is William Henry Gates III. Nowadays he is known as Bill Gates (III), where III means the order of third (3rd.) By converting the letters of his current name to the ASCII-values and adding his (III), you get the following:

B       66
I       73
L       76
L       76
G       71
A       65
T       84
E       69
S       83
I        1
I        1
I        1
————–
666 !!!

Some might ask, How did Bill Gates get so powerful? Coincidence? Or just the beginning of mankind’s ultimate and total enslavement???

— Smart Bee

“A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.” — H. L. Mencken

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.” — Long Chen Pa

“You do nothing but steal men’s souls and make them your slaves. Your words are are nothing but empty lies.” “The same could be said for any religion…” — Simon Belmont being utterly destroyed by Count Dracula

“God isn’t dead, She was never born.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one`s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Victor Frankl

I think, in coming years, this will be an important attitude to cultivate, and, a mental direction that will provide the one who follows it to live in the most comfort possible…. in their own mind, anyway…. If what I see in the evidence comes true, as I sincerely hope it does NOT, we all will need the ability to retreat into our minds for comfort, because there won’t be any to be found, not out in the real world…. But, time will tell, and who knows? Maybe the One who has the genius to figure out the answers is being born as I speak, and in twenty years or so, will condescend to figure out how to save the world…. Ah well, we’re all looking for a magic bullet, aren’t we?….. See ya….

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

dozer3

You always remember the first time….

Posted on by
1

​

Ffolkes,

So much for the best laid plans…. I’d intended to NOT write this morning, but, Vicki wants her first Pearl, so, I have to make one for her today, or, I’ll never hear the end of it….  🙂   Just kidding, of course, but, only a little…. After getting to spend time with her and Carolyn yesterday, I’m happy to oblige…. Besides, y’all should know by now it’s hard to shut me up once I get started….

We met over Carole’s grave at the Templeton Cemetery yesterday, and got to do a lot of catching up to the last 23 years since our last meeting….Actually, much longer in C’s case, as she missed the 20 year reunion that V and I got to in 1988 or so…. It was an embarrassingly large number of years since our last sight of each other at our HS graduation, large enough we won’t mention it…. We talked of Carole, and our lives since then, having a great time reestablishing some of the bond of friendship left from so long ago….

Both of them are now the newest members of the group who receives the email version of the Pearls each day I send them out…. I used to call them the Pearl Drops; now they are the Pearly Gates, which seems more fitting, given our advanced ages…. though I must admit that both of them have borne the weight of the years far better than I; they looked great!….. I don’t know how this will go over, but, hey, that’s never stopped me before, has it?…

Rather than turn them off with an immediate blathering session, I’ll make this intro short, and get into the pearls right away, as I am still on the road, technically… It’s about 0545, I still have 150 or so miles to go to get home, and I can feel the cold hovering, just waiting to suck up my energy…. So, I’m going to create one old-school pearl, pick a poem, and find an old rant to include, to give them an idea of a typical Pearl that goes out… and I’d best get to it, or I won’t have the energy to do any of what I need to do today, like drive home…. Too bad, actually, the internet at this motel is the fastest I’ve ever encountered; they’re running at 144 Mbs download, which is incredibly fast… Got to watch a movie online last night with no skips or buffering problems…

Any who…. Shall we Pearl?….

“Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.” — Aldous Huxley
____________________________

So, this is an old-school pearl… The parameters I used to pick these delightful morsels of thought were a bit loose, but, in general, they all were to direct our attention to the nature of Man… just to see what is up with that…..

For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate’er is best administer’d is best.
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind’s concern is charity.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iii, Line 303

“Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.” — R. D. Laing

“It is well to remember, my son, that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.” — John Andrew Holmes

“I give up, what is the meaning of life?” — Smart Bee

“‘Forty-two,’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” — Douglas Adams (Life, The Universe, and Everything)

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Nietzsche

See? Perfect…. It’s all in the wrist….
____________________________

Normally, I’d spend time finding a good poem, but we’ll go with one of mine, instead….   🙂

Piraeus calls me, silently.

Sizzle, sizzle, crash, bang, boom.
Intellect burning with subsequent doom.
Lingering long over decisive style,
Whistling up chaos all the while.

Such frozen thoughts may shatter,
Should we infer, but, no matter.
Firing blanks is children at play
Blooded sages all gasp in dismay.

Nonsense is good sense at times
Mundane objectives trip lightly in rhymes.
Fallen angels dance on a pin
Until each sinner enters within.

Fast moments with natural rain
Bring ashes, yet still must remain.
Final thoughts clamor for more
Find them only on a far distant shore.

~~ gigoid ~~

____________________________

Not too bad, so far…. I’ll be back in a moment of two, with a rant from an archived Pearl to substitute for the one I DON’T have in me today…. This is from sometime in the middle of 2012….

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

“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom.  It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt (1759-1806) speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783

I had not intended to start with a political rant, but this just came up, so here we go…. This is as true today as it was in 1783, perhaps even more so. Since 9/11/01, when those fanatic idiots carried out their insane delusions of grandeur on the world stage, the “necessity” for Homeland Security has been the watchword of the political pundits who unfortunately are in charge of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Bill after bill after bill keeps coming down the pike and bulling their way through into becoming law, or even worse, is created by executive order, without the benefit of review by Congress, useless as that entity may be.

The entire incident that happened that day was blown completely out of proportion by the media. Yes, it was a tragedy, in which something over 3000 American lives were lost, in three separate incidents. The videos of those planes hitting the buildings in New York must have been replayed a thousand times before noon, all over the country, until every American who had access to a TV was informed of what had occurred….

The American media, and the political machinery that manipulates it so effectively, then proceeded to flood every channel with the after effects, making sure that the sorrow and fear of every person they could find willing to speak of it on camera was put on the evening news, and ensuring that no rational, dispassionate examination of the events would ever take place. Before the first day had passed, the national reaction had been whipped to a frenzy, stirring the fears of every paranoid in society, and making it seem as if the entire nation was filled with anger and vengeful righteousness. Though I didn’t join in the paranoia, I could feel it happening all around me, as normally intelligent people became so angry they lost all sense of proportion, or for that matter, all sense of truth.

In the ensuing years, whenever the politicians have wanted to distract the nation from what they were actually doing, all they needed to do was mention the word terrorism, or national security, to immediately put attention off of them, and onto the pitiful  group of fanatical Muslims they blamed for the attacks (completely ignoring all the reasons those same politicians had provided those fanatics with to attack in the first place….). And thus, the Hunt for Osama bin Laden was on!

In this country, as a result of those attacks, approximately 5000 American lives were lost (that figure is larger than the actual number, purposely…. it is near enough to correct to make the point…). At this time, in the quest to find bin Laden in Afghanistan, over 50,000 Afghani civilians have been killed. In Iraq, which we somehow decided to invade, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, well over 250,000 civilians have died to soothe our national pride. In that same period, we lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings.
And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security.

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated” — George Bernard Shaw

So, what is my point here? My point is this…. those pathetic fanatics killed more than they had ever been able to kill, once. Once. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation (you call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies), and every politician in this country has wrapped themselves in the flag, not to proclaim their patriotism, but to manipulate the unreasonable fear they created in the public to keep them from realizing the truth of the matter. And that truth is: we are in no real danger from Al Qaida, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group. They may be able to pull of stunts such as that one occasionally, but for the most part, the world has gotten pretty good at either catching them in hiding, or stopping their plots before they actually carry them out. Governments have a LOT more resources than terrorists, no matter how rich they may be personally.

No, the pathetic, desperate people who become terrorists are created by those same political pundits who are reviling them and hunting them down. They are not a real threat to anyone, as they don’t have the wherewithal to perform more than one act of violence at a time; they cannot wage a war, they can only try to act as guerrilla forces, at best. Mostly, they are just sad schemers, planning glorious deaths, that ultimately have no meaning, other than to provide the Western politicos another unreasonable fear to use against the American public, in order to continue their raping and pillaging among their own people.

The entire issue is one that is repugnant to me; I have watched in horror, not as terrorists have been hunted, but as the rights of the American people have been taken away in the name of “security”. Security from what? We don’t need more security from terrorists; those techniques for dealing with it are well-established, and effective, as they employ the very same methods used by the fanatics to achieve their ends. No, we need more security from our own pundits, who have utilized this tragic events for their own benefit, to the everlasting regret of every true patriot….. bloody assholes, every one of them…..

“I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, Act III
____________________________

Not bad… not bad…. Maybe, if I repeat it long enough, it will become true…. That seems to be the policy that works for political pundits, and quite well, given the gullibility of the average American…. Oops, sorry, forgot, the rant is done…. Any who, I think that’s enough for one day, and hopefully, a fine first Pearl for my friends…. I can’t say right now if there will be a Pearl tomorrow morning; we’ll see how I feel when I get up then…. meantime, see ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole,
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

dozer3

Theo thinks it’s a faulty plug, Otto….

Posted on by
1

​

Ffolkes,

This will be an extremely short Pearl today; I still have over a hundred miles to drive, and don’t want to wear myself out before I even begin to drive…. So, the intro section will be the shortest EVER, because this is all you’re going to get here…. Yep, this is it. That’s all. I’m done. Let’s go dive….

Well, almost done…. Really, though, I’m not going to go nutty here as usual, just this much, and no more…. Okay, now I’m really going on…. Sure, when pigs fly…. no, really…. Oh, damn… see you in th next section, ffolkes…

Shall we Pearl?….

“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have kindled this inner light.” — Albert Schweitzer
____________________________

I’ve tried to get it together, but being on the road has me thrown off center a ways…. which makes this archived pearl perfect for this spot. It tells the story that needs to be told just now, so listen up….

“I’ve got no deeds to do, no promises to keep. I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.”– Paul Simon

I’m a self-convicted, unapologetic hedonist. In this space I had originally placed a Zen Koan, which I intended to use as a springboard for discussion of some subtle philosophical point about Reality. However, the reality is that my psyche is not always in complete agreement with my will, and can be pretty stubborn in its campaign toward personal comfort and obeying the urge to nap. I let the koan percolate in my mind, and it sat there going round and round, like an old vinyl record stuck in the groove before the song begins, just, “…sssssssclick….ssssssclick” forever and evermore. I would have gone to sleep, but I fell out of the chair first.  I’ve come to the conclusion that trying to be subtle today isn’t going to work, so we’ll leave eastern philosophy for another day…. onward….
____________________________

When I don’t know who to turn to, I turn to this poet, time after time…. I always find something that soothes…..

A Galloway Song

Ah! ken ye what I met the day
Out oure the Mountains
A coming down by craggi[e]s grey
An mossie fountains —
A[h] goud hair’d Marie yeve I pray
Ane minute’s guessing —
For that I met upon the way
Is past expressing.
As I stood where a rocky brig
A torrent crosses
I spied upon a misty rig
A troup o’ Horses —
And as they trotted down the glen
I sped to meet them
To see if I might know the Men
To stop and greet them.
First Willie on his sleek mare came
At canting gallop —
His long hair rustled like a flame
On board a shallop.
Then came his brother Rab and then
Young Peggy’s Mither
And Peggy too — adown the glen
They went togither —
I saw her wrappit in her hood
Fra wind and raining —
Her cheek was flush wi’ timid blood
‘Twixt growth and waning —
She turn’d her dazed head full oft
For there her Brithers
Came riding with her Bridegroom soft
And mony ithers.
Young Tam came up an’ eyed me quick
With reddened cheek —
Braw Tam was daffed like a chick —
He coud na speak —
Ah Marie they are all gane hame
Through blustering weather
An’ every heart is full on flame
Ah! Marie they are all gone hame
Fra happy wedding,
Whilst I — Ah is it not a shame?
Sad tears am shedding.

~~ John Keats ~~

____________________________

In keeping with today’s theme of rush, rush, rush, this will (hopefully…) be the fastest old-school pearl ever created…. maybe…. I’ll try not to let it get crazy over it, which would, no doubt, drag me along for the ride….. Hmm… It seems Murphy followed me to Gilroy…. Instead of a fresh pearl, from a recalcitrant database, here is an archived pearl, already formed and finished, fully functional, and full of effs…. Well, this sentence was full of them, anyway…. The pearl is what it is, as usual…. Actually, it quite a long one, and just chock full of all sorts of ranting from 2012…

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

It’s not every day I’m compelled to write about religion, politics, philosophy, and the Unified Field Theory, unless in separate pearls…. Taking them all on together might seem a bit egocentric of me, but I’ve never been one to dismiss a challenge, unless it was one that didn’t interest me… this one definitely hits all the high points of my particular bent, or bents, so what the hell, let’s see what happens…..

“Each religion, by the help of more or less myth which it takes more or less seriously, proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.” — George Santayana

This idea is one that makes it possible for me to get through a lot of days without becoming homicidal toward a lot of people who bandy their religious beliefs about as if I were at all interested in them. I am aware that there have been a lot of good people throughout history, including current times, who are devout believers in one religion or another, and are sincere in their beliefs, and in their efforts to live their lives according to the precepts of their religions.

Some of them are even preachers, or priests of one sort or another, but the percentage in those categories of sincere belief is most certainly smaller than in the general public…. Let’s face it, most of those who go into the business do it because they aren’t any good at anything else, and the work is pretty easy…. Being a preacher is only hard if it gets taken seriously enough to try to help other folks, but most of the ones I’ve met are more concerned with convincing everyone of their piety to worry about actually helping…. and to most of them, the process of proving their own piety is accomplished by challenging everyone else’s beliefs, and sticking their noses into other people’s business….

One of the most insidious attractions of religion to many people, sad to say, is that it provides such a convenient vehicle for going through life without ever having to come up with an original thought or feeling. Every system of religious dogma, from no matter what cult, or division, or schism, or whatever it maybe called, is designed to give people answers to their questions about life and all the things that happen that they don’t understand, thus creating a sense of dependency. This is very convenient for political pundits, who manage to take advantage every time the preachers pull another scam on the public….

Unfortunately, those answers, comforting as they may be, seldom reflect reality very well, but are based rather on how that particular sect views the issue at hand…. and you can rest assured that those answers are designed to benefit the sect, and the preacher, in rather more ways than they will benefit the person with the questions…. But, I’m sure it is very comforting to know that if you just go along with what they say, you are somehow guaranteed something….. I never could understand that part very well, as there was nobody who could tell me just what was being promised…. other than I’d have to wait until I was dead in order to see it…. (The politicians like this one as well, because it gets people used to being told something,  i.e. campaign promises, then having those promises unfulfilled…. )

“There are so many ways that we sabotage our own divinity, our own possibilities. and the mythologies of race and gender may well head the list.” — Callan Williams

Ah yes, the mythologies of race and gender…. Consider this…. each of us who are of the genus homo sapiens is a unique individual, no matter what color our skin, or whether we are male or female. Unique in our own right, beginning with the pattern of DNA that dictates and defines the characteristics of the organism that is each one of us. Unique. This is indisputable scientific fact. And yet, there are still people who choose to believe that there are characteristics shared by certain groups of homo sapiens that make them somehow superior or inferior to another group. Which of those characteristics they claim as exclusive is always based on articles of faith, and never on any physical evidence. The basis for these articles of faith are outlined in the myths, myths that ignorance breeds, born out of fear of the unknown….

These fears are pretty formless, as the people who have them don’t like to think about them. First, because then they feel uncomfortable, and being comfortable is preferable to thinking, no matter how much it may alleviate the fear.  Second, it is also hard to clearly define something that one rejects all evidence of knowing about; the fear is a known factor, and knowledge is not. These behaviors are a very childish reaction to serious adult issues, but then, a large number of people never learn to deal with life after a certain age; the techniques of denial and avoidance that children rely on are hard for some to give up, especially in matters of emotional or psychological import.

“The ability to accept responsibility is the measure of the man.”  — Roy L. Smith

This is very true, and actually would be claimed as their own by many folks who make a habit of refusing    to even consider being responsible for anything outside their own little world. The flaw in their world-view is that they firmly hold that what they perceive is the only true way that the world CAN be perceived; they seem to be constitutionally unable to entertain any idea to the contrary. It makes compromise with them somewhat of a difficult proposition, as their belief in their own rightness gives them a feeling of entitlement, of believing that they can lie and cheat others without consequence, because the “others” are, as unbelievers, not worthy of honorable treatment. (Hmm, I can’t decide if this sounds more like a fundamentalist Christian, a ruthless business man, or a politician….. since it fits all three, I guess it fits Romney like a second skin…..)

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

This second quote from Mssr. Santayana points out another flaw in the philosophy held by those who follow many religions, under their own interpretations of the scriptures that are used by them. This flaw is obviously based on the relatively inarguable fact that all of them are faith-based philosophies…. grand, well considered, beautifully constructed philosophies, whose basic premise is an entity whose existence cannot be evidenced in the physical world.

There are innumerable thoughtful and elegant “proofs” of the existence of these entities, all of which, again, are constructed entirely of words and ideas. Some use logic, some history, some use hope, some use delusion, and some use an amorphous idea that cannot be pinned down…. none of them have actual pieces of physical evidence that incontrovertibly points to the existence of such an entity. If anyone knows of one, or two, or more, please let me know of it/them; I would be very interested in the information, and its provenance, to be sure….

I have wandered far afield indeed in the realms of human thought today, and I’ll bet you thought I’d forget about the Unified Field Theory…. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, let me explain as succinctly as I can; this has gone on a long time, and I’m sure we all have better stuff to do, but, hey, I’m here, you’re here, so…. Any who, the Unified Field theory is a mathematical model of the universe that, in essence, explains and describes all the different types of energy that we know to exist in the Universe; Gravitational energy, Magnetic energy, Electric energy, Electromagnetic energy, Kinetic energy, Biochemical energy, life energy…. all are known to us, but we do not understand, even minimally, how they all interact, and how they are all inter-related as part of the Universe at large…. hence the unified theory. It hasn’t been written yet; it is still just a concept for the future of scientific endeavor, though Stephen Hawking is said to be working on coming up with one before he dies…. if anyone can, it is him.

In short, one theory to explain how it all works…. There are many, including Mr. Hawking, who believe that knowing this can possibly lead us to a closer idea of the answer to the Why it all works the way it does…. by design, or by chance? Did God lose a bet, or win one? Or is there some as yet unknown reason beyond our current ability to understand? Being able to SEE and KNOW how it all works can only give us clues about the origins of it all.  Even if it doesn’t give us all the answers we seek, we will have a better understanding of the Universe, and ourselves, and thus, perhaps, a better idea of our true place in all of what we see…..

Whew! If you made it to here, you are indeed worthy…. and probably tired, confused, and a bit troubled with doubts as to my sanity. S’okay, I understand…. and I don’t blame you. I should have handed out warning notices at the beginning…. Ah well, t’was fun for me, and that will do….. Stop me, please, I can’t seem to shut up….. wait, don’t pull that pl……
____________________________

Okay, since I’m on the road, I’m going to stop fooling around, and get this done, if possible…. It isn’t quite working as well as I had hoped it would, but, that may just be because I’m not used to this method yet…. plus, I’m tired and feeling down from the cold I’m fighting off… So, with no further whining, I give you the finished product for today, such as it is…. See ya tomorrow…. Hopefully, by then, I’ll have some art (read: photos…), and a little better handle on this….
,
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole,
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

dozer3

Fighting by the Duke’s rules….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,

I am forced by law, and by custom, at this point, to give fair warning to all who stop in to read today…..  Lack of inspiration, though it is a constant companion to me, troubling my existence every day, has yet to keep me from creating these Pearls, in spite of the fact I’ve yet to discover a logical, or, for that matter, an illogical reason why that should be…. Nonetheless, it won’t keep me from writing today, either, even if it IS the most daunting lack I’ve yet encountered, in the going-on-three-years I’ve been putting myself, and y’all, through this exhausting, yet completely enervating process, each and every morning (minus a handful…).

Such lack has never kept me from producing, (one could even say over-producing), episode after episode of Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, with nary a repeat among them, aside from the occasional trip to the archives that all blogs rely on in times of material shortages, or, perhaps, the sometimes redundant subject matter….. I’ve only had to resort to archive/dumpster-diving a couple of times, usually when I’m physically under the weather, so, I’m happy about that….

My warning is this…. on days like today, when the freshness of what I write is suspect, due to the absence of any kind of creative spark, you may literally see just about anything at all show up here, with or without taco sauce, and certainly without salsa. I mean, I COULD supply the salsa, but, the tomato crop this year was terrible…. I wouldn’t feel too badly about this, if I were you; there’s really no downside to it…. I don’t have to make salsa, or taco sauce, and y’all don’t have to put up with any of my usual boring blather…. Of course, you DO have to put up with THIS boring blather, but, hey, a guy’s got to live, right? Right….

So, with said warning delivered, thus making it no longer implied, but expressed, I could legally go on into the Pearl’s body, and start tattooing for all I’m worth. That is, if I could tattoo at all…. Sadly, the most complex drawing (sketching, painting, whatever, it’s all a mystery to me….) I can do involves a simple tree, from a distance, so there aren’t any particular details to supply, with some mountain shapes in the background, for perspective, as it were….. It’s pretty primitive, believe me; I’ll never get a job as a police artist, drawing faces…. All of my faces look like the smiley face we see everywhere these days…. just a round circle, with two dots for eyes, and a curved line for the nose and mouth. Maybe a couple of half-circles if I want ears, or a crown of squiggly lines for hair….. It looks a lot like Charlie Brown’s head, wearing a bowl of spaghetti, to be honest, but without the detail….

Wait a minute! What if I broke precedent, and started a piece here that is full of dignity, and decorum, with just the right amount of reasoned discourse, all pointing to a logical, beneficial idea that everyone can appreciate and enjoy, using the concepts to improve their lives, and the lives of others?…. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?…. Now, if I could only find some dignity, or decorum, or reasonable ideas, I’d be good to go. Instead, I’m reduced to this, just babbling away, putting down as many useless words as I do words that mean something, just to take up the space needed to call this a legal intro….

Which, you will please note, we have once again done, and done quite well…. I’ve managed to put out five entire paragraphs of inane, chatty, intimate, yet meaningless prose, full of bad jokes and worse analogies, all for the purpose of filling in space. What can I say? It’s a gift….

Shall we Pearl?…. Have no fear, we shall, we shall, indeed, pearl our little hearts out…… In fact, here is an excellent pearl to start the day….

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, Who are you not to be?  You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.  It is not just some of us. It’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  as we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” — Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love — (widely mis-attributed to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech)   

All true, but, remember, you are not a child of God…. Thou art God…. It all remains the same….
_____________________________

There are times, such as today, when a pearl will write itself, over all my objections…. When I began to collect this group, I saw right away it would be troublesome, from a logical, reasonable point of view. Then it really went south, but by that time, I could see where it was trying to go, so I let it have its head…. This is the resulting mess, for which I refuse to take full responsibility…. It’s not my fault! The dog ate my homework! The cat puked on my notes! I got married!…. Well, none of that actually happened, but, I’m not sure I want the responsibility for this one anyway…. Oh well, so be it… It’s really not bad, if you keep your eyes screwed up with the correct degree of silliness….

“Alexander [the Great] asked Diogenes if there was anything in the world he wanted. Diogenes, without looking up, replied: `Yes. Get out of my light.'” — Plutarch

“I am a traffic light, and Alan Ginzberg kidnapped my laundry in 1927!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands — even for beneficial purposes — will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.” — John Stuart Mill (1806 to 1873, English philosopher and reformer)

“Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation” — a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.” — John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963)

“If you can’t fight and you can’t flee…FLOW” — Smart Bee

“Everybody has something to conceal.” — Humphrey Bogart

Who combats bravely is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave:
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,–
His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Moral Essays, Epistle i, Line 115

See what I meant? Sheesh, it’s not as if we were TOTALLY obstreperous to the Pope, or to our Vatican chaperons…. and they got a good tip, didn’t they? They did, so you can’t blame me if it all fell apart….. I’m not sure, but, we may be nearing some sort of black hole in time and space…. I’m starting to feel a bit of cosmic twisting….
_____________________________

Whom to pick, in the face of cosmic upheaval?….. In such times, I enjoy the way this poet points me in the right direction, toward the center….

Alone Looking at the Mountain

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.

~~ Li Po ~~

_____________________________

According to my usual modus operandi, this section would, and may yet be, a rant of some nature. It’s been a while since I took any real shots at the churches, but, then, they are a bit less of a worthy target than are the politicians of the world.

Let us not even begin to think about how the shadowy master class of corporate vampires deserve all the disdain, vituperation, and vicious criticism we can heap upon their nasty little heads; whatever we do will never be enough to pay them back for the damage they’ve done to others, and to our world in general….

No, I’d say I have no real lack of usual targets for my critical regard…. What I have is a lack of angst and/or emotional drama to drive that big ol’ truck…. The one I’d like to flatten them with, as they cross my road to the future….

It would be simple to cruise over to a news site, and pick up a current headline or two to work with; there’s no lack of material there, for sure. Even that doesn’t attract my interest; I guess my birthday gave me a good enough chance to get a lot of that out, and there’s not enough left today to drive any further attempts at ranting….

Too bad, actually, as I did have some rather interesting introspective moments yesterday, as the import of my increasing age grew in my thoughts, taking on a deeper meaning than is usual for me during my day…. I love when that happens, though, even if the contentment and serenity it brings me is such that I don’t want to write about it…. It feels too good to talk about it…. Kind of how a joke is like a frog; if you take either one apart to try to figure it out, they both die….

Since I wouldn’t want anyone with the discrete sensibilities of my Gentle Readers to be confronted with that kind of issue, I’ll just fade back ten yards, and punt…. Here is another old-school pearl for your delectation…. Since I’m not ranting about anything today, I’ll let Smart Bee pick out which pearls it thinks should be included, with, possibly, a few comments of my own, in parentheses to avoid any further confusion….. Remember, ffolkes, this is VIRTUAL wisdom…. don’t try to use it as if it were real….

“If you dig a deep enough hole, someone will want to jump in.” — Smart Bee

(It’s always good to start off strong….)

“My indignation, like th’ imprisoned fire, pent in the troubled breast of Aetna, burnt deep and silent.” — Thomson

(SIGH…. if only it had, we’d have a rant today…..  😦    )   😆

“The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my life. Then, at the rim of vision, it gathered itself, and in one sweeping tide, rushed me to sleep.” — Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

(At first I thought this was here just because it’s so bloody brilliant, in both content and style of execution… Astounding imagery, and powerful yet simple language, expressed with such beauty, the heart aches with it….. It also stretches beyond that, into the outer reaches of credibility and connection, to form a tenuous bond with reality, right here in this pearl…. Amazing, isn’t it?….)

“When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.  The minority are right.” — Eugene V. Debs

(Mr. Debs, a political activist and reformer in the early twentieth century, had a lot of interesting things to say, many of them equally as true as this one…. If you have the time, look him up; smart guy…..)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

(Yep….)

“We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme.  It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today.  Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.  We are sorry if this impression has come across.” — Monty Python

(Actually, this sums up my opinion of 99% of the politicians I see in public, with incredible accuracy….)

(No apology from me is, or ever will be, tendered for making these assertions, either…. fuck ’em all……)

(When I say, “fuck them all”, I’d like to be clear that I don’t intend that in any positive way at all…. What I mean is, FUCK THEM ALL!!!…. and the white horse they say they rode in on, too…..)

“And never, ever cut a deal with a dragon.” — Smart Bee

(I’m with SB on this one…. The last pearl brings all the rest together perfectly, while at the same time reminding us that we already know the important stuff… I mean, it’s just common sense, right? Any dragon master knows this…..)
_____________________________

What we have here, today, is living proof that age does NOT imply sanity, or vice versa…. Nor does it imply having enough sense to keep one’s mouth shut, once it has begun spewing…. Nevertheless, it’s finished…. let’s see if it’s done….

Boy, is it ever! I wouldn’t touch that with someone else’s hands, even with gloves…. Not toxic, I’d say, but definitely subversive, in its own little way…. Good enough for my loose standards, so, we’ll get on with the rest of the day now, and let this die a natural death…. See ya….

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

dozer3