A prodigal child no more…

Posted on July 10, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aquatic Nocturne

deep in liquid
turquoise slivers
of dilute light

quiver in thin streaks
of bright tinfoil
on mobile jet:

pale flounder
waver by
tilting silver:

in the shallows
agile minnows
flicker gilt:

grapeblue mussels
dilate lithe and
pliant valves:

dull lunar globes
of bulbous jellyfish
glow milkgreen:

eels twirl
in wily spirals
on elusive tails:

adroir lobsters
amble darkly olive
on shrewd claws:

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

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

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

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

Below, you will find the best pictures I got from our day in Ketchikan, or in the case of our email readers, a link to the blog site where I’ve posted the pix….. I hope you enjoy them, because I really enjoyed the opportunity to take them….
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All in all, I wish I was still on board, but, hey, it’s also nice to sleep in my own bed….. Plus, once I got some half-and-half, it was the best coffee I’ve had in too long a time…. This Pearl went fairly smoothly, given the issues I found upon arising, may Murphy’s ass burn in hell….. It’s done, anyway, so let’s see how it reads….. Not too shabby, all in all, so we’ll go with it…. Naturally, there is a lot to catch up on around here, so, I’ll see y’all tomorrow….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Such splendid toast deserves marmalade….

Posted on June 22, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
‘Tis a sad commentary to note one’s entire life boils down to one moment, and in that moment, one realizes that the greatest skill one has developed is the ability to dither, or blather, or, as they used to say, to speak piffle….. Disheartening, to say the least; I had hoped for something a bit more dignified, or at least more useful. Piffle, as it was called in the previous century, is only useful to those who speak it, and to those who understand and appreciate it…. Most of the rest of society views piffle somewhat askance, as they have no idea either what is said, or what it may mean…. which, ultimately, is their loss…..

Of course, I can’t claim to be anywhere near as good at it as, say, Lord Peter Wimsey, from Dorothy L. Sayers’ novels; her books tend to intimidate as much as educate, as I believe she wrote with the Oxford Dictionary at close hand. Every page she wrote was filled with demonstration of a writer who loved the English language, one who seemed to use ALL of it in her writing. In my most egotistic dreams, I write only half as well as she did, for I don’t ever expect to be able to match her expertise, or her originality. Only someone with such a strong love for, and full understanding of, the language of their birth, could use it in such a way as to make it both ironically humorous, and at the same time, pointedly insulting, or laughingly charming, or quietly inspirational.

SIGH…. To my everlasting regret, I can’t do that, not as well as I’d like. It is a constant disappointment to me that I cannot; it’s one of the few skills in my life that I can say truthfully that I have been unable to master, once I tried. Perhaps, before I pass on to the next dimension, or whatever happens after we die, I’ll get closer to writing better piffle; I hope so. If not, well, I can always go back and read more of Ms. Sayers’ work, though I believe I’ve already consumed all of her Lord Peter stories…. They are the kind of books one can read over and over, finding something new every time….

All of the above is what could be called a distraction. I wrote it as a sublimation of the desire to whine about the intro again, hoping to distract both y’all and myself from the fact that this section once again is filled with material that has no real connection to anything, other than as a means to pass the time until my brain kicks into gear sufficiently to start writing something more nourishing to the mind. There may be those among you who would point out the lack of ANY material here that meets that standard, but, I don’t expect them to speak up; they’ve been threatened about doing so, and have assured us of their silence in this matter….

Of course, I can’t expect that threat to hold them off forever, so it’s probably better to just get on with the business of the day…. According to the stats I’ve seen recently, very few readers will see this anyway…. My number of followers keeps growing, but the number of Likes per day continues to drop…. I’ve averaged about four Likes per day for over a week now, though stats indicate my following is up to 270….

I don’t much care if ffolkes don’t always Like what I write, but, it’s a bit disheartening to think that no one at all cares to read it…. But, it doesn’t really matter, since I don’t much care one way or the other about fame, or money…. only about sanity (my own…), and sanity is the reason I write…. Not that what you see here is particularly sane by normal standards, but those aren’t valid here without permits anyway…..

Shall we Pearl?….
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“The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million.” — Eugene V. Debs, US labor leader.

(Note: Debs received one million votes in 1920 as candidate for US President, while serving a 10-year jail sentence for having said in June 1918: “Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder…the master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.”) — Smart Bee

This has been sitting around for a couple of days, since I found it in SB. It’s the perfect beginning for a politirant, and the news of late has provided a number of interesting side notes to this idea, so I find myself in the position of being compelled to rant, which is the best attitude to start with….

The recent news has shown a number of items concerned with the revelations just released a few weeks ago, when a former NSA contractor spilled the beans about how the US government has been spying on its own people, collecting personal data from phone records, mercantile records, and from review of emails and other data mined from the internet… The revelations, of course, are in the process of being denied and/or devalued by that government, who are trying to convince the public that the spying is “transparent”, and that the information is NOT being collected to investigate American citizens…. This, of course, is a bald faced lie, and anyone who believes it deserves anything that happens to them….

The government of this country is in the hands of people who are controlled by the corporate masters of society, sometimes willfully, most times without their complete knowledge. They (the corporate masters…) don’t give a SHIT about the rights of anyone else, so the above statement that got Mr. Debs in trouble is shown to be perfectly true. The people who control society don’t believe in the sacred nature of rights, for anyone who isn’t them, so it can be said that the rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million, because to the 1% (a number that is actually far larger than the number of real masters of society…. that’s probably closer to .001%…..), neither one is sacred at all….

What disturbs me a lot of the time is that there are still a lot of people who believe that, of the choices available in the political spectrum, one side or another is better, and showing support for one of them will direct matters to a more favorable (for the people) resolution…. The fact is, neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats, nor any of the Independents who are in office, or trying to get into office, have any interest at all in doing anything other than establishing their own agenda as the one used by society. Those agendas have nothing to do with helping the general public; they are designed to benefit only those who ascribe to the correct philosophy. No matter which political party or entity you choose, you’re going to get screwed, in the final analysis.

“The art of government is the organization of idolatry.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

If you still think that Barack Obama is going to help the common man, well, I suggest you listen to the crap he is putting out right now about this surveillance. Remember, too, that he signed the law that killed the Bill of Rights, on New Year’s Eve of 2012, the infamous National Defense Authorization Act, which makes it legal for the government to arrest citizens without a warrant, to hold them in an unknown place, without any oversight or review of rights, and try them in a secret court, without legal representation. It authorized the use of drones in a domestic fashion (which they continue to lie about, and say they aren’t using them…. when reports from all over the country provide relatively incontrovertible PROOF that they ARE using them….), and, most assuredly, authorized the illegal wiretapping and internet data mining that is currently going on, even though it has been exposed.

We may as well begin referring to the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution as the Bill of Former Rights, because, face it, ffolkes, you don’t have them anymore. I’ve heard it said that they are not rights, anyway, as a right is something nobody can take away from you…. More accurately, you have no rights that you are unable to defend…. and the government has slyly convinced most people that they don’t want those rights anyway…. Look how many formerly intelligent people are jumping on the bandwagon about gun control, forgetting all that our forefathers cautioned us about, when they warned about the possible encroachment of big business and the churches into the workings of government…. Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Mason, Franklin, all of them mistrusted the corporate interests and the preachers, having suffered much at their hands, and they tried to warn us against listening to them….

But, what happened to Eugene Debs back in 1919, when he was sent to prison (in direct violation of the right to free speech….) was not the first indicator that things had regressed, and the trend toward government takeover of the rights of US citizenry has continued right up to today. The recent revelations about spying, you will see, will be quashed, and ignored by those in power, as there is now nothing we can do to stop them from doing whatever they want…. According to the laws we let them slip by us, it’s all legal ffolkes…. We are screwed, and the only good thing I can see about it, is that, due to global warming, climate change, and the imminent destruction of the human species by our own pollution, we won’t have long to put up with it….

Books are burning
In the main square, and I saw there
The fire eating the text.
Books are burning
In the still air
And you know where they burn books
People are next.

— “Books Are Burning”, XTC
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The above rant, you may note, was cut short, due to my rising blood pressure; I came very close to losing it due to outrage there near the end. I’m so PISSED at our government, and the crap they’re pulling, it’s hard to keep it from spilling out into other areas…. Poetry will often soothe this kind of angst, and Emily does it quite well… This is a plaintive poem, and not particularly soothing…. It does, however, engage the mind in something other than the shenanigans I can’t stop, even if that which it brings for us to engage is no less serious, just more personal…. Any who, enjoy…. I did….

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings, are.

None may teach it anything,
‘T is the seal, despair, —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘t is like the distance
On the look of death.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Old school, old school…. I’ve ranted, and have Emily in place, so it must be time for an old school pearl, to finish off the day’s effort with a flourish…. I’m not even going to try to figure out any point, though I’m sure there will be one… This one is dedicated to the concept of fun, which I often forget to promote when in ranting mode…. So, I should probably warn you not to put too much effort into figuring this one out; it could cause severe brain function loss, and I’m not going to pay for the nursing bills during the recovery stage….. Otherwise, have fun with it….

Euripides says,–
Who knows but that this life is really death,
And whether death is not what men call life?

— Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pyrrho, viii

“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” — Carl Sagan

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

“The common folk have many sayings, all about it being darkest before the dawn and clouds with silver linings and suchlike. We in the magical trade like to express our opinions of these matters somewhat differently. A lifetime of experience will have taught the average sorcerer that no matter how hopeless the situation seems, no matter how painful and fraught with danger his options may be, no matter how close he may be to an indescribably hideous death and perhaps even eternal damnation, still, the good wizard knows, it can always get worse.” — The Teachings of Ebenezum, Vol. XLVI (General Introduction)

“If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” — Albert Einstein

“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.” — Lin Yutang

Honour and shame from no condition rise;
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 193
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Today’s Pearl will possibly come to be known as an example of an average Pearl, if such can be defined. An intro, a rant, a poem, and an old-school pearl; all perfectly fresh (but for the poem, which stands on its own merit…), and none of it possessed of anything resembling normalcy. It isn’t genius, I’d guess, nor is it an example of any overt cognitive deficits, necessarily…. Given all that, let’s see how it reads….. Hmm, it seems I was right, and wrong, too… It’s actually pretty good, and may even lead to further ranting in the not so distant future, provided the news doesn’t let me down (and when has THAT ever happened?….). After some tweaking, I can pronounce it “done, and done well”, with no shame or trepidation…. Well, it COULD use a bit more humor, but, hey, I try, and funny can be a tough row to hoe at this time of the day…. and now I’m blathering again…. I’ll go now…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Terrified outbreaks of uncontrolled shrugging….

Posted on June 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As he sits down to begin, no angels sing, no thunder rings out, the earth remains still, and silent. Only the steady tick of the mantle clock breaks the quiet, until, slowly at first, then picking up the pace, he begins to type, words that have struggled to come forth from earliest memory. Like penitent soldiers, they line up on the page, tired, dusty, line after line, turned out from where they commonly hide, to face the light of day, and the harsher light of regard….. No promises of genius, no hope of publication, no real purpose…. just words, in a row, cast up in denial of repression, and hope of redemption….. Another day dawns, bringing, as always, trepidation, layered thinly with unreasoning hope, challenging all to arise, and survive another day…..

Well, I guess Hemingway doesn’t have to worry much that I’ll be challenging his reputation for powerful prose…. I can’t say the above stinks badly…. In fact, it isn’t bad at all, just rather lacking in direction, which isn’t surprising, since it has none to speak of; none was required, nor desired. All I wanted were some pretty words strung together in a reasonably rational order, just to draw y’all in, and perhaps, give a glimpse of something darker, and deeper, than is first seen… In that respect, it worked okay, I suppose, and, it has the added advantage of being done… Done deals are much handier than stuff left undone, for sure, wouldn’t you say?…. Rhetorical question, obviously, so don’t bother to reply….. unless, of course, you’re the type of reader who talks back to what you read…. in which case, feel free….

Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah…. If this is the best I can come up with, I may as well start mailing this in…. coming into the office doesn’t seem to be working out for me…. Oh, wait, right, I’m not going in to any office…. SIGH…. Oh, well, I didn’t like having to go, anyway, so it’s just as well, I suppose, that I don’t have to go in anymore. I have a feeling that, in spite of the nasty, rude method used to force me to retire before I was ready, the actual state of retirement was the right way to go for me… As it turns out, my body was done with work; flogging myself to continue toiling away would probably have ended up being a bad idea, prolonging my misery, and making it even harder to deal with the physical aspects of getting old.

Now, I have things exactly the way I like them, with the added advantage of a secure, adequate income, an advantage I did not have, or even seek very hard, during all my previous years. Even when working, my necessary outgo always seemed to exceed my income; now that I’ve reduced my needs and wants to the bare minimum, the amount I’ve managed to retire on is entirely adequate to meet those needs, and still have enough to save up to travel on a regular basis. As long as I’m careful, I should be able to live long enough to see all the places I’ve dreamed about seeing all my life….

I almost feel guilty that things have turned out so well for me…. but, then I think back over the last three or four years, (or, in further retrospect, the last 25 years….) and realize that, hey, much of it has been a miserable time, and any good things happening now can be seen as the Universe acting to balance things out…. Karma is asserting itself, I would guess, and all I can say is, it’s about damn time… I don’t claim, even in my most feverish dreams, to be the best man alive, but, I’ve always tried my best to be honorable, to do my duty and hurt others as little as possible; that has to count for something, right?….

Okay, you can stop laughing now… I didn’t really expect an answer, but there’s no need to be rude, either….. Just kidding, it’s all good….. I should know better than to ask for that kind of feedback; nobody enjoys feeling dumb, even me…. This intro section, I think, is getting completely out of control, and needs to be given the three finger salute, soon (Control-alt-delete…). Sorry ’bout that, it’s what happens when I get too much sleep, and try to write with a clear head…. I wasn’t paying close attention, and this section turned into a ramble of massive proportion, covering far too many subjects in way too few paragraphs (or, too many, relative to your viewpoint, I suppose….)…. I’ve hardly left any room for normal pearls, whatever those might be.

I think I stop talking now, and see what kind of mischief Smart Bee has in store for me…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Well, this is taking a long time, but, so far, it seems to be worth it…. I had to be firm, but Smart Bee finally came up with the first five pearls below, which hang together well, and make a very strong point about living well, or at least living, as opposed to ignoring life as it goes by… Then, as if by magic, the last two came forward, shyly asking to be included…. When I added them on, I was amazed, at how well they fit, and how they enhanced the given concept…. Of course, all that might be just my weird sense of humor, but, hey, it works for me….

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot; by thought I encompass the Universe.” — Pascal, Pensees, n. 265

In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes:
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 123

“From out of all the many particulars comes oneness, and out of oneness come all the many particulars.” — Heraclitus

“Truth can be a dangerous thing. It is quite patient and relentless.” — R. Scott Richards

See what I mean? Now, let the mind drift, with only that thought to anchor you to reality for the moment…. then, take in the two aphorisms below, and either grin, or guffaw, in acknowledgment and glee… I did, so I thought you should have the same opportunity….

“The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.” — Chuang Tzu

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” — Baruch’s Observation

Bang! It takes an accurate blow to drive in a nail with one clean strike…. Okay, put down the hammer now, I didn’t mean it…. calm yourselves…. Here, here’s a poem to look at, just give me the hammer, and I’ll put it away….
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If you weren’t able to tell, I’m in a sort of odd mood today…. That, in and of itself isn’t all that odd, and isn’t a problem, but, it does affect the content herein, and nowhere quite as much as in this section… To go with today’s ambiance, I offer the following gem from one of my favorite contemporary poet/artists…..

Tryin’ On Clothes

I tried on the farmer’s hat,
Didn’t fit…
A little too small — just a bit
Too floppy.
Couldn’t get used to it,
Took it off.

I tried on the dancer’s shoes,
A little too loose.
Not the kind you could use
for walkin’.
Didn’t feel right in ’em,
Kicked ’em off.

I tried on the summer sun,
Felt good.
Nice and warm — knew it would.
Tried the grass beneath bare feet,
Felt neat.
Finally, finally felt well dressed,
Nature’s clothes fit me best.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

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Below you will find one of my favorite rants, regarding the events in 2001 that have caused many of the restrictions placed on freedoms we, as US citizens, formerly held, restrictions with which we now live, and regard as normal…. I see this as evidence of the accuracy of what is written below, and supports its validity today…..
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“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 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 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 in the first place, reasons designed to stimulate an attack….). 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 Osama 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 (June, 2013 — Now authorized by what is so laughingly called the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012…. signed by President Obama on New Year’s Eve of 2011, while everyone was partying, not paying any attention to their so-called “rights”…..).

“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, one time. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation; you can call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies. It has caused every politician in this country to wrap 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.

That truth is this: we are in no real danger from Al Qaeda, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group, nor have we ever been in any real danger. They may be able to pull off stunts such as this 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

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….
__________________________________

Well, there you go…. Such as it is, it is done, and I’m glad, as it took a supreme effort this morning to stay on track…. Not sure why, but, it no longer matters, as long as it proofs okay…. Which, in fact, it does…. I will reiterate…. So be it. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Have the mango smoothies been certified yet?….

Posted on June 14, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Dark, out-of-focus images of lava filled volcanoes, steaming rivers flowing down their sides, against a backdrop of a smoky sunset of unimaginable color and beauty, float around in my mind’s eye, with no concomitant tales of interest attached, making me wonder yet again just what it is that makes me want to do this again. Each morning, I stare at the blank page before me, and let my mind assume a trance-like state, while it searches through the inner realm for yet another fresh way to begin, only to find mere remnants of ideas once fully formed, or abandoned phrases that have no connection to anything real.

Somewhere inside me is a lake of material, waiting to be written; I can feel it, and often catch glimpses out of the corner of my eye, before it flashes off into the vast, unknown reaches of my mind, where I never willingly go, knowing it will be safe there until ready to flow out onto a page…. A lot of what I write is spontaneous, at least in the sense that I don’t decide beforehand what subject is to be explored. Instead, I let Smart Bee, or some random thought, dictate the choice of material, having found long ago that I am more likely to come up with something interesting that way. When I decide beforehand, I feel like I’m back in school, writing a paper on a given subject, with the length and style pretty well fixed, and not amenable to alteration. It’s probably not a particularly efficient method, but it works for me, most of the time….

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” — The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951

But, it does make it hard each day to come up with an intro, (especially when J.D. has already written the ultimate version of this kind of opening, one that denies normalcy)…. and it just occurred to me that y’all are probably getting tired of hearing that. I wish I didn’t whine about it so often…. a statement that occurs to me to be just about as dumb as anything I’ve ever come up with…. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t have to whine about it… If I didn’t whine about it, I probably wouldn’t do it as often… Any way one looks at it, whining about it just exacerbates the issue, and makes it into something significant, instead of the minor issue it ought to be…..

Hmm…. it also occurs to me that I am approaching this in a manner that guarantees the issue won’t die, an event which is anathema to me…. Why am I doing this to myself? I am forced to admit, I believe my sub-, or un-, conscious mind seems to have set up a situation here where I am continually set up to fail, at least in my own eyes, and THAT is unacceptable! The world, and the assholes who have set themselves up as the BRC, fuck me in the ass on a daily basis, just like they do everyone, and doing it to myself is NOT what I’d call intelligent…. So, it stops here….

No more whining about intros… no more angst about blank pages…. no more bullshit cop-outs relating how hard it is to come up with ideas on a daily basis, and make them interesting, to boot. It’s the same issue every day, and all this repetitive fooferaw is getting on my nerves, so, I’m done with it…. I know it doesn’t help this particular Pearl, but, in the future, you can look forward to an intro section that doesn’t complain, that doesn’t serve cheese, with or without whine, one that doesn’t drag on forever before getting on with the show…. In deference to that glorious future…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is “ambiguity”: the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces — both individual and social.” — Paul Tillich

Having discovered within myself exactly how much such ambiguity can affect our lives, I feel compelled to add that one must learn to use that ambiguity, to balance its overall effect on us, with competence, confidence, and steadfast aplomb, else it will use us, instead….
__________________________________

“Truth needs no flowers of speech.” — Alexander Pope

What immediately comes to mind when I look at this, is an image of a politician, mouth open, spewing out lie after lie, couched in flowery terms designed to draw in the listener with sweet, colorful little statements of intent, that have no relation at all to what is real, or what they will actually do. The more flowery a speech one hears from one of these pundits, the more you can be assured that all of it is lies. It is a time tested method of fooling the public…. tell them what they WANT to hear, and they will fall right into line…. Tell them what they don’t wish to hear, and they will mill around in confusion, and go through immense contortions to keep from using their minds, or making their own decisions, and, most importantly to them, it will make them uncomfortable, and fractious…..

My mind is almost automatically inclined to rant when I see a line such as this, and I’m always willing to take a few shots at the BRC, politicians, AND/OR any of their myrmidons and/or supporters, comprised of the mass of humanity that prefers to NOT use their brains for anything other than figuring out how to use the remote control, or sitting on. But, I slept a bit late today, and I’m feeling a bit lazy, at the moment, anyway, so I’m going to depend on SB to come up with an old-school pearl that will poke a stick or two into the eyes of the assholes who most deserve it….. SB is usually pretty good at that, so, let’s see what’s what….

“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!” — Albert Einstein

“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

BIBLE A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.” — Dan Rather

“Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?” — James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance

“And unextinguish’d laughter shakes the skies.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book i, Line 771

Ffolkes, I just can’t make it any plainer than that…..
__________________________________

This is a reprint of a poem I used some time ago…. It’s being reused because, a) it’s bloody brilliant, and b) it kind of fits in with the mood for today…. and those are all I need to justify it to myself, as I know the poetry buffs out there will enjoy it, for the genius it is….

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

__________________________________

In keeping with today’s themes, which are, respectively, Truth, and Madness…. (what else?), I submit the following, an excerpt from the archives, from early 2012, comprised of two short pearls, one a short indictment re: the spread of religious dogma, and one short but telling list of woes currently present in Reality…. If nothing else, they’re in color…. Oh, right, that’s only if you have the correct software… never mind, just read on, you’ll understand….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Now, if that isn’t a scary thought, I know nothing of fear; I assure you, however, fear is an old friend, with whom I am quite familiar, in all its guises. Now, to give credit where it is due, I suppose it must be noted that, from the standpoint of someone of Mr. Graham’s ilk, this is a very powerful statement of belief; it has all the proper elements for that particular delusional thought process (if one may stretch the definition of ‘thought process’ just a bit).

It is based purely on assumption, with no hint of anything resembling direct evidence. It implies omnipotence, displays deified arrogance, identifies a source for guilt, and encourages a fear of death. It vagueness allows the moral ambiguity necessary for the complete abrogation of personal responsibility for one’s actions. And, like all such proclamations of this nature, its very words indicate a complete and utter dislike for humans, both individually, and as a species.

My immediate and forceful response to this was “Then you, and God, need to get a Life! If y’all have nothing better to do in your copious free time than to try to shove this kind of crap into people’s minds, then you need to find a new activities director for the imaginary cruise you are on…. or find some better drugs.” But, that’s just me…..

(Oops…. I think I just heresied on several important religions…..)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you wish you weren’t. — Smart Bee (Anonymous, by any other name, smells as sweet…)

Insane politicians (is there another kind?). Human trafficking. Racism. Bigotry. Child abuse. Spousal abuse. Slavery. Crack cocaine, heroin, morphine, or other drug abuse. War on crime. War on women. Televangelists. Fundamentalist zealots. National Security Agency. FBI. CIA. Untold trillions of dollars of national debt. Genetically modified food. Military Industrial Complex. The 1%/99% Society. Taxes. Global warming. Air pollution. The oceans are dying. Terrorism. Nuclear accidents. Massive global weather changes. Ozone depletion. Overpopulation. AIDS. Mutating viruses. The Bohemian Club. Reaganomics. Nationalism. Elitism. Illuminati Conspiracy. Women’s reproductive rights. Bill of Rights (or rather, loss of same). War on the US Constitution. Rampant ignorance. Lawyers. Priests. Rabbis. Imams. Puppy mills. Wall Street. Corporate personhood. The IRS. Insane politicians. (Did I say that already? Well, it deserves mentioning twice….) Rising incidence of halitosis.

Except for the last, which is more of a personal foible, I’d say that’s a fairly extensive, and mostly complete, list of stuff I am aware of that I wish I weren’t; and it all came right off the top of my head, no research. It certainly keeps my sense of outrage in good shape….. which is why we all need to practice the following sentiment at every opportunity…. otherwise, we are all going to be up Shit Creek without a paddle, proverbial or otherwise…..

“Speak out. You’ve got to speak out against the madness.” — Steven Stills
__________________________________

Well there you go…. This is what happens when I’m allowed to dress myself, I guess…. Let’s see how it looks in the mirror…. Wow… it’s like a vampire, nothing shows at all…. I suppose that’s my usual morning alteration of consciousness kicking in, but, just in case it isn’t, try to ignore any parts that are showing signs of infection, okay…. And that’s all I’m required to say, according to public health regulations, so I’d best draw this to a rapid close, and catch that last train out of town, before the authorities show up for a late breakfast interrogation…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Parking parallel is de rigeur on Mondays….

Posted on June 12, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Fiddle di dee, fiddle di die, the cow jumped not over, but, onto the moon, bending and breaking it beyond all recognition. The cat wasn’t playing a fiddle, but did have a boom box blasting…. according to the latest reports. Little dogs do more than just laugh at such sport, they usually pee on it. And dishes, well, they’re well known to prefer dark, sharp knives over spoons anyway….

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willie Wonka

Especially when it attacks first thing, before coffee, before reason…. It is smart, therefore, to just go with the flow, and let it out as needed, knowing full well the consequences of such actions. One must, however, consider the overall effect, and keeping it inside can cause much more damage than letting it out. As I am fully aware of all this, when it strikes me, I just let it right out, and use the time I didn’t spend agonizing over it to clean up whatever spillage there might be…. saves me time and energy this way, y’know?….

It also allows me to find a way back to reality from the fringes inhabited by all such nonsense; such foolishness cannot spend too much time close to the normal side of reality, lest it turn mundane, so one must go where it resides in order to pluck it up for use. I find it to be a quite relaxing time, those hours spent in pastimes reminiscent of circuses and carnivals, soaking in the happy laughter of fools, and the merry giggles of the clowns. Even the “nyuck, nyuck, nyuck” sounds coming from the Stooges corner bring no annoyance, as they blend right in with the blaring of the bicycle horns and big, red noses worn by so many in that neighborhood…..

Hmm… looks like I wandered a little further away from the mundane than I had realized; that last paragraph slipped over into nonsense again, instead of heading back toward sober reason. I do enjoy my time there, but, I tend to have trouble letting go of it; for a while upon returning, it is difficult to even consider religion or politics, without applying some Carlinesque twists, to soften its gravity.

Needless to say, it also makes it hard to rant about much of anything else, as everything is viewed through a prism of humor and silliness, and doesn’t appear half as bad as it actually is in real time. All in all, this is probably a good thing, as it keeps reality from hurting too much on a daily basis; it merely makes it hard on the political/religious reformer in me, to NOT be able to rant sufficiently….

I suppose that idea makes y’all burgeon with hope for this Pearl, but, that, too, is a foolish thing to do… As yet, this Pearl has no obvious shape or intent, so it’s next to impossible to say what will happen… The first pearl Smart Bee shows me will often set the tone for the whole day, so we’ll see how that goes… I do know that starting with nonsense always makes me happier… I may be a reformer, and a curmudgeon, but I really do enjoy life more when my bozoid side comes out early in the day…. Who knows? We might even end up with something amusing, or elevating, rather than something depressive and dark…. I suppose, though, we’ll never know if we don’t get on with it, so….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act v, Sc. 7, 4, (1028.)

Now, see what you’ve done!…..
__________________________________

Okay, so I get it now…. The universe sometimes gives us directions we may not clue into fully…. I see, now, why reality chose to push me toward silliness and bozosity today (Bozosity is the state of being a bozo….). What we have, following this introductory blurb, is a group of aphorisms about religion…. I guess it made more sense to put it like this today, than it did to rant about it, as I normally do… Or, maybe reality is tired of my rants… either way, y’all win today, because this is just as pointed, just as accusatory, and, in its own quiet little way, as much of an indictment as are my most telling, and compelling rants on the subject…. Enjoy! And be careful, the point it makes is quite sharp, and WILL cut you if you are negligent of care…..

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 87

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” — Karl Marx

“You can’t depend on the man who made the mess to clean it up.” — Richard Milhouse Nixon (1952)

SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

— Bother! said Pooh, after he spoke the Lord’s name backward.

“If God is dead, who will save the Queen?” — Smart Bee

“True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal. The real mystery is not destroyed by reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You look at the Blonde Hero–really look–and he turns into a gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you. The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him. ‘You must change your life,’ he said. When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message. You must change your life.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

Whoa! Sorry, that last one slipped in there without telling me… but, it kind of fits, if you look at it with just the right squint to the eye…. I mean, if the first six quotes didn’t give you a clue about how religions are bad for you, the last one drives the point home, with the very last line….. I don’t know about y’all, but I LOVE THIS STUFF….. Oh, and just in case it wasn’t clear already….

“A mind not to be changed by place or time, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” — John Milton
__________________________________

It’s probably a literary law of some kind, but, when one is given a hint like the one above, one MUST take that hint…. Far be it from me to ignore a slap to the side of the head like this one…. Here, then, is the poem to which Ms. Le Guin refers, above…

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

__________________________________

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

Now you know just how I feel every morning! This is the real reason I gave up on Alpha-Bits cereal, in spite of what was published, and in spite of whatever you may have heard. I got tired of being warned every morning re: approaching Armageddon, and started eating more oatmeal, just so I didn’t have to face that every day. It’s disheartening to be reminded on a daily basis that your breakfast is significantly smarter than the majority of US citizens, at least when it comes to their government, which is completely controlled by corporate interests, as well as when it comes to society at large, about which one may confidently say the same.

We won’t even bother to mention the religious hierarchies’ connections to temporal authority, or to the shadow masters; we took our shots at them above, and wish to be fair, if not merciful. We’ll just say this on that: if you think the churches and preachers are NOT in the pockets of the corporations, well, I suggest you try to obtain for yourself a new mind, because the one you have isn’t working very well….

I mean, think about it… Who are the favorite members of any congregation, no matter what the denomination (clue: it has to do with the word “denomination”….)? Why, the men, and a few women, who contribute the most to the church roof fund, right? The ones who put the most gelt in the collection plate are the ones the church leaders ~~pander~~, er, cater to, not the ones who reach out with empty hands….

“If this isn’t war, why is CNN massing on the border?” — Smart Bee

Let us also NOT get into the culpability the media holds for its part in the farce that comprises the play put on the world’s stage by society. We could point out the numerous, obvious perpetrations of cluelessness, or lament the lack of courage in modern journalists, either of which is common in the media.

How else can one explain how sheer lies are repeated endlessly, without challenge? How can one explain why certain questions aren’t asked, or certain articles suppressed, at the request, or the legal insistence of governmental authority? It isn’t explainable, unless one remembers that the media relies on government to supply the reason for its existence, and one is reluctant to bite the hand that feeds, eh what?….. Sycophancy is not limited to dweebs, and/or acolytes…

Instead, let us indict the true culprits for today’s worldly mess…. ourselves. Pogo, by Walt Kelly, said it long ago…. “We have met the enemy, and he is us…..” We are responsible for all that is wrong with the world, because we, the great unwashed masses, allow the governments and churches, and their puppet masters, the corporations, to determine how the world will be run…. We accept all their lies, and go on with living our lives as slaves, subject to the whims and twists of fate, because we refuse to take the reins of our own lives into our hands, and assume control….

The shadowy rich assholes who are the real power behind all the governments of the world are not going to stop their self-centered, selfish hoarding of the world’s resources, nor will they ever make a decision based on the welfare of society as a whole. They will always make their decisions in relation to what is most beneficial for themselves, and what will allow them to maintain their stranglehold on the rest of the world….

That is their primary concern, and they have guarded that concern for well over three thousand years, without ever letting the rest of humanity realize to any great degree just how much they control…. No other theory holds any water, nor fits the given facts of history, as well as this, and I regard it as gospel truth…. According to the available evidence, this is not a theory, so much as it is a fait accompli….

“In the game of life you get to choose where you keep your brain – heads you win, tails you lose.” — Smart Bee

I guess I had a rant in there after all…. We are all screwed, ffolkes, just as often and as hard as THEY want; moreover, unless we decide, as a group, to do something about it, it isn’t going to change until we are all dead and gone, leaving this planet, and the universe, to go on without our promise, or our participation…. I hate to be a downer, but, I don’t see how we can fix it, without some serious upheaval, for which I am not particularly hopeful, given the general level of “stupid” in much of humanity…. Oh well, as Epictetus said, “Happiness and freedom depend on the realization of one principle. Some things are within your control. And, some things are not.” So be it….

“UH-OH!! I think KEN is OVER-DUE on his R.V. PAYMENTS and HE’S having a NERVOUS BREAKDOWN too!! Ha ha.” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

I am afraid I have to report that most, if not all, of the above was written while in an altered state of consciousness…. which should make for some interesting reading, you betcha…. Let’s just see….. Well, since it would be overly egotistical to call it brilliant, I’ll merely say, well done, and let it go at that…. For a morning so devoid of original direction, it seems to have found its way into the light fairy well, which bodes well for the rest of the day…. That is, if I were the type to be susceptible to precognitive signs…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

In the name of all that’s wholly…..

Posted on June 2, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….. normal. Which is to say, of course, I was having a nightmare, again. It’s a recurring theme in my dreams, to wake up without my attitudes, so carefully developed over many years. It’s fairly easy to shake off, and the attitudes can be replaced easily, but, it would be nice to not have to go through the fright and subsequent panic that ensues when I discover a shred of guilt within me, or find some piece of unwanted sympathy for the devil hanging about. It’s a sure sign when I find myself agreeing with some politician about something…. doesn’t matter what it is, if I’m going along with the public’s object of affection, I know I’m in trouble, giving-a-shit-wise….

Hmm… not too bad, considering it’s a pre-coffee blurb. I actually did wake up at what is a reasonably normal time, after pushing hard to stay up past 9 PM last night (made it all the way to 9:08, too….); I’ve been waking up at 5 or 6 AM for years, so it feels relatively common to get up at shortly after five today. Slept pretty well, too, all things considered, and feel as well as I ever do, so, I guess I can say that I’ve finally gotten past the fatigue, time-warp, and overall systemic disruption due to the changing of time zones for a two week period. All I can say is, Whew! Who knew it would kick my ass like that? I thought I’d breeze through it without any problem, but, it’s been a struggle, for certain….

I’m sure glad my next two trips are scheduled to be out of the new San Francisco cruise terminal, round trip, one to Alaska later this month, one to Mexico next March. This will keep me (us) in the same time zone the whole time, on both trips, so the time zones won’t be a factor… and that’s just fine with me. It’s a sobering thought to know that, for the rest of my life, I will need to take that factor into account in my calculations and plans for any trips. At my age, it’s nothing to be sneezed at, and, to be honest, isn’t much fun. Makes me wish I was the Doctor, and had a Tardis in which to do my toodling about the Universe….

Enough rambling for one morning… Even though it’s a Sunday, I have things to accomplish today, so I’d best be getting on with today’s Pearl… They don’t just write themselves, you know…. though it may seem that way at times. In fact, part of today’s effort will be from the archives, as it’s been kind of fun looking through them; there is so much material there, I don’t remember writing half of it, so it’s like discovering a whole new set of books at the library (which is under repair right now, and unavailable, so new stuff to read is welcome indeed….). The rest will be as it comes, as usual, which means I have no idea what it will be comprised of, or what it may resemble…. probably, that’s a good thing….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Yesterday, I took some time, finally, to go cruising through my Reader’s Page here at WordPress, to do just a little catching up to all the blogs I’ve been unable to visit recently due to my travels, and limited time to read online. As always, I found great stuff, but one new website, referred by another blogger, Lou, at http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/, is an incredibly lucky find His is a very interesting blog, always with a new conspiracy theory, a new piece of knowledge about current events or scientific research, new or old diets, cool pictures, or oddities from the news around the Internet; good news, bad news, odd news, all of that, and more, can be found at Lou’s site.

The site he to which he referred us is called Humans of New York, consisting of photos of people on the streets of the city, who agreed to have their photo taken, along with a comment, or description of their reaction to the picture, or just something they wished to say. It is a very, very interesting collection of wisdom and humor, from normal ffolkes doing normal things on the streets of that most not-normal city…. great beauty, great wisdom, great laughs, a few “aww”‘s, and a lot of fun…. It’s located here: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

That’s all, just go, and have fun…. 🙂
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I’m in the mood for Emily…. This is appropriate for the time of year…..

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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I’ve been looking through a bunch of old Pearls, from back in 2011, and found the following…. it’s a nice little discussion of something or other, and though I can’t quite remember why I chose it, it’s still pretty good, so, please, enjoy…..

“The world is full of burled and gnarly knobs on which you can hang a metaphysical system. If you must.” — Edward Abbey

Here then is a logical mind. My evidence? His reluctance to impose an invented set of rules on a world that resists any such restraint, is, in my mind, eminently sensible. Why do we have to make up stuff to try to explain how the universe functions? What quality does our curiosity have that compels us to seek out some kind of system to help us to deal with reality as it is?

Humans seem to want some kind of order to their existence, and for some reason, can’t seem to come to terms with things the way they are. They seem to need to apply their own set of prejudices to the world, an impulse stemming from some unknown inner compulsion that has held back the tide of human progress for just about our entire history.

My own opinion is that human nature, being what it is, noted way back in the old days, that a man with no principles can manipulate other people through their own set of behavioral rules. By balancing a friendly, smiling face with a completely sociopathic conscience, they have been able to keep most of mankind in thrall ever since we first started farming and coming together in cities to trade. And they continue today; as a matter of fact, the news of late has been full of evidence of their millenia-long hold over the rest of humanity. We (the gullible masses, identified by H. L. Mencken by the word ‘the booboisie’) have even given them a name; we now call them the 1%.

“The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

The battle lines for Armageddon have been drawn, and the combatants have chosen their sides; the war is coming, and I wouldn’t do a thing to stop it, because freeing ourselves from the people who live for power is our only hope for survival as a species. The 1% probably believes that they will be the only survivors of a world-wide catastrophe, and odds are, they may be right. But I’ll be damned if I’ll go without putting up an epic fight, for my life, and my liberty……

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” — Walt Kelly (in POGO)
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I note that the above is overly sober in nature, generally, and feel like I should lighten things up a bit…. So, here is a fresh, random, harlequin pearl, with only the word “furfl” (no typo) in mind to use as a parameter of choice…. Enjoy! It’s not often you get a bonus pearl like this these days…..

“And o’er the past Oblivion stretch her wing.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxiv, Line 557

“I have ever held it as a maxim, never to do that through another, which it was possible for me to execute myself.” — Montesquieu

“The refusal to put away childish things may be a prerequisite of a genius.” — A. Einstein

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” — Clive James

“Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.” — George Bernard Shaw

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

“I am the shadow my words cast.” — Octavio Paz

Oops! Sorry, didn’t mean to make it scary there at the end… I have to admit, though, it certainly came out furfl, didn’t it?…..
__________________________________

I give up. I’ve lost my mind completely, and can’t really say I mind too much. I’m gonna go see how it reads now….. Well, it reads. As that seems to be all I can say for it, or against it, we’ll let it go, and see what happens…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Remember, Billy, these nascent lawyers can spontaneously ignite if mocked…

Posted on May 26, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….. in my own bed! All I can say is “yay”, no exclamation point; I’m too tired to reach that high on the keyboard. I got home about 2:30 or 3 PM, after spending a bit of time trying to connect with my ride. We found each other in relatively quick order, and he took me home, to my everlasting delight, where I almost squeezed milady Pat until she popped; I’m surprised she has any skin left after me kissing it so much….. 🙂 If you can’t tell, I was happy to be home, as much as I enjoyed the trip.

It warms me, it charms me,
To mention but her name;
It heats me, it beats me,
And set me a’ on flame.

— “Robbie” Burns

In order to try to mitigate the jet-lag effects, I pushed myself to stay up a while, until the fatigue caught up with me at about 8:30 last night, and I collapsed into bed. I slept somewhat poorly, even though every bone and muscle in my body rejoiced when I laid down in my own familiar bed. I could feel myself totally relaxing, almost orgasmic; unfortunately, my brain had other ideas, and proceeded to race like a Ferrari at Le Mans, despite having been up and functional for damn close to twenty-four hours.

At 8:30 PM in Vallejo, when I went down, it was 4:30 AM the next day, in London, where my body still believes me to be. Since I had arisen there at 5:00 AM to go catch the plane, this old body got pushed for 23.5 hours, which destroyed all my physical energy, but left me wide awake with a mind confused as to the correct time it should be counting….. SIGH…. It’s tough getting old…. though I’m still tough, getting old is tougher, I think….

My overactive mind kept me on the brink of awareness all night, adding in more strange dreams when I did manage to fall under Morpheus’ spell, eventually giving up the ghost at about 3:30 AM, when I gave up trying to fall asleep, and got up to start writing. While talking with milady last night, I found I DID have a lot to talk about on the trip, so I’m hoping some of that comes through this morning as I write…. One may always hope, n’est pas?…..

In keeping with that sense of hope, I’m going to call this an intro, such as it is, and start putting together a Pearl for today. If nothing else, it may tire me out enough to get a bit more sleep before the rest of the world here on the West Coast wakes up and gets active. It is a Sunday, and the middle of the long weekend for Memorial Day, tomorrow, so it should be fairly quiet, all things considered, and I should be able to get some stuff done (like composing a necessary letter to my doctor, who has seen fit to go all anal about my pain meds and the presence of cannabinoids in my lab work.

It promises to be quite a battle, as I pit my Constitutional rights against the legal department of a large HMO, which has his balls in their hand. I’ll need to be persuasive, indeed, to be able to get him to stand up to them and make a decision based on my medical needs rather than the company’s legal policies and requirements (which, in my view, violate my confidentiality, and my Constitutional right to determine my own welfare).

Any who, that, and some other stuff that piled up while I was away in Europe, should keep ME busy…. let’s see if I can give y’all something interesting and fun to keep your minds in trim…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“We’re going to find out tonight who the oldest lady in the audience is. And we have a marvelous present for her. When we find the oldest lady, we’re going to give her … the oldest man. The first time we tried this was about ten years ago. We had a very nice lady in our audience. She was 87 years old, as I recall. We introduced her that evening to a man from Chicago who was 96, and shortly thereafter, believe it or not, they were married. It was a lovely story. And that wasn’t the end of it either. I read in the paper recently where that woman has just given birth to a beautiful 47-year-old baby boy!” — Steve Allen

Very popular in his own time, which came at the very beginnings of television on a nationwide basis, Steve Allen was a brilliant comedian, and, in his own way, a pretty decent social philosopher and critic, along the lines of a colleague of his, in later days, George Carlin. Both had a unique, hilarious, and sharply insightful understanding of American culture of their time, and spared no one in the pointed nature of their comedic observations on that culture. This was the second offering by Smart Bee, and just tickled my funny bone, so I thought it would make a good intro for an old-school, harlequin pearl…..

As always, the random nature of this process prevents me from knowing ahead of time what will come up, or what point it will make; that point is one I prefer to leave in the competent hands, and minds, of my oh-so-very-intelligent Gentle Readers (I know, shameless, aren’t I?)…. Any who, here is a five-, or seven-star pearl, fresh from the depths of Smart Bee, all pointing at some characteristic of human nature, or human culture, if such a word can be applied to what we do on this planet on a daily basis…..

“Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo.” — Emerson

“Never try to explain computers to a layman. It’s easier to explain sex to a virgin.” — Robert Heinlein

“I am not asleep.” — Ronald Reagan
(Oddly enough, some people believed him..)

“Doing my part to preserve order in the universe.” — Smart Bee

“A society that puts equality — in the sense of equality of outcome — ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom… On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality.” — Milton and Rose Friedman _Free to Choose_

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” — J.K. Rowling, Padfoot Returns, — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,2000, — spoken by the character Sirius Black

“I understand “stressed.” It’s “desserts” backwards.”– Smart Bee, in good form…

Well, that’s seven, but with the initial quote by Mr. Allen, it’s actually eight, so, the laws of conservation of energy require one last perfect pearl, to bring it all home, and drive the point squarely on the point to be made…..

“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps on trying other things.” — Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) — Quoted in Francoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso, pt. 1 (1964)

Who then, it occurs to me to ask, is competent to judge the quality of His Art in creating us?…… Of course, this assumes one accepts the whole God idea as a higher power, but, I find this to be a useful idea, anyway, as it certainly puts us in the proper perspective…… Oh well, since it fell apart a bit at the end there, we’ll just go on….
__________________________________

I’m afraid I was a bit ruthless in the poetry section over the course of my trip, with entirely too much of it coming from my archives, egotist that I am…. So, to make up for it, I’ll find something actually worth your time to read…. Here is something from the brilliant Mssr. Pope, with a little ditty that gives a good idea of how much simpler life was in the centuries preceding the Industrial Age…… Enjoy!

Chorus of Youths and Virgins

Semichorus:

Oh Tyrant Love! hast thou possest
The prudent, learn’d, and virtuous breast?
Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,
And Arts but soften us to feel thy flame.
Love, soft intruder, enters here,
But ent’ring learns to be sincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,
Which Nature has imprest?
Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire
The mild and gen’rous breast?

Chorus:

Love’s purer flames the Gods approve;
The Gods and Brutus bent to love:
Brutus for absent Portia sighs,
And sterner Cassius melts at Junia’s eyes.
What is loose love? a transient gust,
Spent in a sudden storm of lust,
A vapour fed from wild desire,
A wand’ring, self-consuming fire,
But Hymen’s kinder flames unite;
And burn for ever one;
Chaste as cold Cynthia’s virgin light,
Productive as the Sun.

Semichorus:

Oh source of ev’ry social tie,
United wish, and mutual joy!
What various joys on one attend,
As son, as father, brother husband, friend?
Whether his hoary sire he spies,
While thousand grateful thoughts arise;
Or meets his spouse’s fonder eye;
Or views his smiling progeny;
What tender passions take their turns,
What home-felt raptures move?
His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,
With rev’rence, hope, and love.

Chorus:

Hence guilty joys, distastes, surmises,
Hence false tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises;
Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine
Purest love’s unwasting treasure,
Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure,
Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;
Sacred Hymen! these are thine.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

__________________________________

As might be expected after the night I spent, any ranting I might like to do would end up pretty obscure and relatively disconnected from anything similar to Reality, so I’m not going to embarrass myself, and amuse y’all, by trying to make any particular sense. Instead, I’ll bring my trip to a close, with a few comments, of course….

If one considers the judgment of success in Life, as I do, more a matter of what has been learned, about people, the world, and hence, myself rather than what one has garnered in real goods, or acquired as property, or how many times one has been seen as a success by others, for whatever strange reason, whether it be envy, naivete, or the result of extraordinary display of skills admired by those others (athletes, actors, bankers, anyone who assumes power over the affairs of others, and others of such ilk….). Success, to me, can only be judged according to the terms I set myself, not by anyone else, and learning is what I consider the most valuable skill I can employ, to achieve my version of success…

What did I learn from this trip? I think I learned the most about myself, as usual, by noting and observing the differences in my ability to travel now, and when I was younger. My reaction to those differences, naturally, set the tone for everything else I did while away; if fatigued, I got around a bit less; if not, my priorities for things to do were affected by age, to some extent. It seems that every time I turn around, some new aspect of growing older presents itself to me, in such ways that I cannot just brush them off as unimportant.

On the other hand, being older has not slowed or diminished my mind, nor dulled my perceptions; in fact, I see more, hear more, forget little, and think more quickly than ever before in my life. This allows me to enjoy more of what I see, as well as regret some of it, for the indications of how the world is under the surface. So, there are trade-offs for the aging process…. I guess I’m saying that it has been driven home to me on this trip that the world, while flawed in many ways, is a beautiful place to live, and I wouldn’t go back in time for anything; there is too much to see right now….

On that hopeful note, (perhaps, some might say, an unusual occurrence around here….), I will, for the moment, leave Europe behind, and live in the NOW, here, where my heart is, hence, is home…. Here is the picture I took on the trip that best explains what I mean, as well as being the best photo of all of them….

Whoa! I realized, just now, how appropriate this picture is…. Can you tell, by looking at it, whether it is a picture of a sunrise, or a sunset?…. The point being, does it matter? If it is of a sunset, it is a fitting finish to a great learning experience, one in which I found great joy, and great pleasure, as well as the opposite side of that coin…. If it is a sunrise, then it also fits, as a fine prelude to a new day, in which there will always be something to learn, something to enjoy, and, if I’m lucky, someone to love…. So far, so good….
__________________________________

Well…. THAT felt good…. let’s see how it floats….. Works for me…. So much so, I won’t say anything else… except, of course,…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

If it would only wiggle, we could save it….

Posted on May 19, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
And when I woke up, I was in Ireland again….. Morning, ffolkes…. My consistency in posting has been shot all to hell by this trip, and I can’t say I’m too upset by that, because, hey, cruise ship, y’know? My sense of time is completely whacked, other than to know which meal is being served at one of the half-dozen eating venues on board. Plus, yesterday, I finally got my massage, compliments of guest services, to make up for a few little hitches in their service on the first couple of days I was here…. and it turned both my muscles and my mind to mush….

We spent yesterday in Liverpool, the home of the Beatles, and I was kind of looking forward to seeing the Cavern Club, if nothing else. However, the weather decided to turn wintry, with a temp in the low forties, or less, and a drizzle most of the day. I did get off the ship, to walk around the pier and watch the Ferry Cross the Mersey wend it’s way across the river, and the pictures I took are below in section three…. Today we are in Belfast, Ireland, which is actually still part of the British Isles, and uses their currency, the Pound Sterling, rather than the Euro, which is used by the rest of Ireland. If that is confusing to you, think how they must feel living here….

I’m enjoying the cruise much more now, as I’m learning the ins and outs of the ship, and have made my connections with certain members of the crew… meaning I charmed the hostess in the dining room to seat me alone, so I could enjoy the four course meal, with wines paired perfectly, and didn’t have to make nice with six other people whilst doing so…. As you might guess, it is a big strain on my curmudgeon tendencies to be nice to people all the time….

Of course, dining alone has its hazards, as the nearest table was occupied by a crashing bore, who was regaling his mother with every little piece of Beatles trivia he read in People magazine, and criticizing the town, the people, and everything in general at the top of his voice….. I almost got up and hit him with my walking stick…. fortunately, right at that moment, they brought the Grand Marnier Souffle and my B&B, so he got to live…

Enough rambling and boasting…. I feel like actual pearling today, so fasten those seat belts a little tight; we may hit some turbulence, and we don’t want any injuries we haven’t planned for…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“First, I’m going to give you all the ANSWERS to today’s test.. So just plug in your SONY WALKMANS and relax!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

When I say I feel like pearling, what I mean is I feel like an old school pearl, where I pick an idea, and use the quotes to lead the Gentle Reader to that general area, so they can enjoy the thrill of discovery, and hopefully, epiphany…. This group is the first since I re-loaded Smart Bee (again….SIGH…..), and could be a good one…. or not, the odds are about even…. Enjoy, mis amis….

“Expect the unexpected, for it will happen, usually when least expected.” — Smart Bee

“And the wind shall say, Here were decent, godless people their only monument the asphalt road and a thousand lost golf balls.” — T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

“I feel my immortality oversweep all pains, all tears, all time, all fears, – and peal, like the eternal thunders of the deep, into my ears, this truth, – thou livest forever!” — Byron (1788-1824)

“He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.” — Aristotle

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.” — Wilson Mizner

“Like strength is felt from hope and from despair.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book xv, Line 852

“It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another – but which one? Differences are crucial.” — Lazarus Long
__________________________________

Since both Pope and Byron were included above, it’s only right that our poetry for the day come from that era, and from the period’s acknowledged master…. Keats…. Hmm…. something is up with either Google, or the on-board network, as I can’t get it to go to Poemhunter.com, where I find most of my poetry for use here…. So, you’ll have to make do today with one of mine, written last March sometime….. I like it….

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Okay, they aren’t much, but these are the shots I took of Liverpool….

The view from the deck of the Infinity…
On the waterfront….

One of the beautiful buildings across from the docks….

And a really poor photo of the Ferry Cross The Mersey…

That’s all for today, ffolkes….
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I find the process of creating these Pearls is both enhanced and made more difficult by being on the road, so to speak. But, that is a personal problem, and has nothing to do with you, so don’t fret, all will be well, eventually. I’m off to explore today’s venue, Belfast, Ireland…. Wish me luck…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Twice around the neck should do nicely….

Posted on May 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“And then I woke up.” — Smart Bee

That, I think, is better….. I’ve searched and struggled, and tried a hundred different ways to open up these Pearls, and nothing works more than once. But, I’ve decided. if I use an ending for my beginning, it could work as a template…. I just write that first line, and follow it up with some of my favorite nonsense, or maybe a poetic quatrain…. or just some oatmeal, figuratively speaking. I may never speak in the literal sense again; things always seem to get serious when I do, so why should I put myself through that? And figurative oatmeal is a piece o’cake, so to speak, without frosting, so that works, too…. Let the Metaphorse be with us!….

I would be very appreciative if anyone can tell me what I said above, literally….. I don’t think it can be done, but I wanted to check with the experts. I wrote it with as few contact points with reality as I could, without it starting to look fake, or as if I was just putting in the time, without any real effort. If there isn’t anyone who knows what I meant by the above, I’ve accomplished my task; if it makes any sense, I’ve screwed it up, again, and we’ll have to start over….. You don’t really want me to have to do that, do you? I didn’t think so…. once through is plenty, when it comes to my intro sections, so it seems…..

Perhaps I should do this more often…. ‘this’ being a very early up, call and jump into cab, zip to hospital lab, and back again, all before starting in on this Pearl. The intro section is sort of writing itself, even though all my eyes want to do is close up shop, & go back to bed….. which could yet happen. In fact, I think that’s a good idea, and goodness knows it won’t hurt anything, as nobody is currently reading my blog anyway…. got a total of five “Likes” yesterday, matching the previous 24 hours, and making it three days now with virtually no visits from anyone, not just regulars…. Is there a WordPress vacation going on, or something?…. Ah well, since I write for me, not for anyone else, it doesn’t matter anyway…. Therefore….. NAP TIME!…. I’ll be back….

“Life eludes logic.” — Smart Bee

Aha! That explains all of it! Now we can get on with the normally scheduled activities of the day, since Smart Bee has taken over the creative process completely. I suppose I could chalk all of it up to getting up so early, but, that’s never been acceptable before, and I doubt it would fly now. Though I’m a firm believer that the worm should have stayed in bed, being the bird is usually a better bet, at least for breakfast. And, yes, we are already lost again, somewhere in the vast fields of illogic…. which, as we all know, is right next door to chaos. Rather than fall over into that realm, I think we should just rip off our clothes, and dive in….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

It turns out that my inclination to rant is connected to my overall feeling of security….. For over two years, I took shot after shot at the BRC, organized religion, the sex slavery trade, global warming, overpopulation, and whatever else came under my scrutiny that caused even the slightest degree of outrage.

During all that time, I was struggling mightily to survive in the real world, living on a small fixed income, “depending on the kindness of strangers”, and more importantly, friends, to help me get through each month. The outrage at the issues that concern me seem to have been driven, emotionally, by my economic status, and my anger at the slowness of the federal bureaucracy…..

Now that I’ve been awarded my Social Security benefits, I am no longer in danger of starving, and can look forward to retirement with a bit more positive outlook, since I’ve doubled my monthly income, into a bracket that, while I can’t be labeled as affluent, it does give me the wherewithal to be comfortable. Since that happened, my outrage is harder to find, and I am having a hard time getting worked up too much over the stuff that was bothering me for so long…. I’d hate to think that I’m so shallow as to lose my radical position to bribery…. Money, while it won’t buy happiness, certainly keeps one more comfortable while looking for it…. and, since I was relatively happy when I didn’t have it, there is no reason not to be happy now.

Since I’m not inclined to rant, Smart Bee has been quite cooperative in pulling out acceptable groups of pearls, including the seven-star harlequin variety below…. This one has a message, but, the message is more non-verbal than spoken wisdom…. You’ve got to just close your eyes, (AFTER reading them, of course….), and let them percolate in your mind…. the message will float to the surface after a moment or two…. if not, well, you’ve had a nice little nap, and we can go on….. Enjoy!….

“Remember what the dormouse said… FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick

“I don’t ask questions, I just have fun!” — Bugs Bunny

“He can’t be a man cause he does not smoke the same cigarettes as me.” — Mick Jagger

“As you believe, so it is for you.” — Richard Bach

“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book i, Chap. xxii, Of Custom

“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon Gods they’d made.” — Paul Simon

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

I keep telling you, it’s all in the wrist, see?…..
__________________________________

A poem leaked out this morning, so, here ’tis, such as it is…. I hope you like it…..

Funny Bones

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

Since I don’t have a rant in me today, I’m going to cheat, and go with a really old Pearl, from October of 2011, before changing to the format we see today…. I like it, and so will you…. (that’s a pre-hypnotic suggestion of a subliminal nature, so you may as well just go with the flow, and enjoy it…. Resistance is futile…..)

Ffolkes,
It’s really too bad that we can’t just shoot somebody when they deserve it; I’ve got a long list of folks who do, as do all of you, I’m sure. But the cops get real upset about it, and then the neighbors will talk behind your back, even the dog probably won’t like you anymore. Plus, later on, when you’re feeling all regretful and stuff, it’s just a pain, and all in all, not worth the bother. Insulting them to their face, or sending them into financial ruin, will just have to satisfy that urge for blood; hell, make it good and nasty, & maybe they’ll go shoot themselves! That’s the ticket…..

In case you couldn’t tell, I woke up with crankypants already on, and I’ve been looking for something or somebody to let it out on for the last hour or so. Feeling this way, and not having an acceptable outlet, is extremely frustrating, and as a former psych tech, I know it’s not good for me to keep all this bottled up inside. I suppose I could go out and find some unarmed idiot to get into an argument with, so I can let it all out on them.

But that isn’t kosher, (kosher means anything not touched by pig blood), nor is it a good policy for improving one’s karmic burden. But then I’d feel like dirt, because one of my own pet peeves is when someone dumps crap on me that I don’t deserve. In the final analysis, that is a lose-lose situation, with both parties walking away feeling worse than when they started.

Ah, the hell with it. I’m just going to go out the way I am, and the world can just deal with me the best it can. I’m outnumbered, so at least it’s a level playing field to start…..I guarantee it won’t end that way……let you know tomorrow how it went……if I survive. The world at large has some pretty good crankypants, too…..

Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Bashfulness

“He is the best of men who dislikes power.” — Mohammed

“As long as there have been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” — Carl Sagan

Life must go on;
I forget just why.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay, ‘Lament’, Second April (1921)

“And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains.” — Paul Simon

So ends the bloody business of the day.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxii, Line 516

A fitting end to another gem….. y’all take care out there…..
__________________________________

All things considered, this went well…. It certainly stood up to the proofing, only needing on letter change, and one line of the poem that needed to be smoother. If I were still working for the government, I could say it was good enough for that, but, since I don’t work for them anymore, standards have to be a bit higher…. Fortunately, it does meet those standards, insofar as they exist around here at all, so…. I think if you use some oxygenated cleaning solution on that, it will come out okay….. 😀 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

I detect subtle hints of Crisco…..

Posted on April 22, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Amazing….. I’ve never seen anything like it….. Yesterday’s Pearl garnered one ‘Like’ in 24 hours. One…. Oh well, all I can figure is everybody took Sunday off, as I did, not reading any other blogs after posting…. I had the excuse of having to go do stuff to help out a friend, and didn’t get done until late in the afternoon, so I imagine everyone else had the same kind of day….. and I know my blogs are rather on the long side, so it can be time-consuming to read it…. It just amazed me to watch it NOT grow over time….. but, then, I’m easily entertained….

I’m hoping it isn’t the intro that is losing me readers…. I’ve been struggling a lot of late with that section, trying to find something, anything, I can use every day to draw ffolkes into reading further, but, all I’ve been able to come up with are these rambling, verbose monologues, that never really SAY much of anything at all. Even my fictional outbursts have been less compelling than usual, as well, and it’s getting to be a bit of a pain in the ass…. Of course, it has always been the most difficult part of the Pearls, as it is the part where I have to be the most creative, and that process, in me, is always a bloody battle, me against my brain….

Fortunately, my metabolism works fast at replacing lost blood, so I always have more to lose in these morning fights. The bleeding is especially fierce when I write a poem, and this month has seen me write several new ones, and a bunch of new haiku, so my bone marrow has been working overtime to keep up with the demand for new blood, a demand that, seemingly, comes every day now. It’s a good thing my financial picture has improved, as I now have enough to eat, so there is fresh material to make the blood out of when needed……

Oh, piffle! Splert! And other replacement words for damn, shit, and all the other curse words I’m trying not to use…. It doesn’t seem to work very well, though…. There is just something soothing about giving out a loud “Damn!” or a “shit, that hurts!” when pounding a thumb with a hammer, or otherwise experiencing a sudden shock. “Heck”, or “blast” somehow don’t quite make the grade; they just don’t FEEL as good to yell when hurt or angry, and angry is what I am, from the sheer, constant frustration of not being able to figure this out…..

Well, look! It happened again! I start complaining about having to write the intro, and all of a sudden, after a moderate amount of whining, here are four complete paragraphs, sufficiently wordy to count as actual material, all ready to get on with the rest of the day…. All I have to do is finish it off with an appropriate final word, and we’re good to go for another day…. I’ve gotta get a grip on this….. this technique isn’t going to work much longer, as I don’t think I can keep this up…. Hell, I don’t even know what it is I’m doing, which makes it hard to know what to do next, for sure…. Oh well, the hell with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

So, there I was, cruising around Smart Bee, looking for pearls, when it occurred to me that I was engaged in a futile pastime, from the standpoint of the Universe…. I mean, what do I hope to accomplish with this stuff I write?…. Nobody’s mind will be changed, nobody will stop the carbon monoxide from getting pumped into the air, nobody is going to get mad enough to throw out all the assholes who are screwing us all…. This makes what I’m doing an exercise in mental masturbation, essentially, with as much hope of changing society as….. well, there is no hope for society, so I can’t think of a metaphor for it…. Nor is there any hope of anybody taking any of this seriously, even if read…

Having thus determined the absolute uselessness of our pastime, I will continue, fully cognizant of how lame it is…. I’m calling this a Pearl of Forlorn Lost Hope…. sort of…. Actually, it’s a subliminal pearl, and will worm its way into your head, where it will work on your attitudes, polishing and brightening them without you ever noticing…. By late this afternoon, you will have done a complete 180 from wherever you were, and will enjoy the rest of the day (that’s a subliminal post-hypnotic suggestion….) Enjoy…..

“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that’s too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” — Marcus Aurelius

“But whether there’s some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: to see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, once paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.” — Orson Scott Card, “Treason”

But sure the eye of time beholds no name
So blest as thine in all the rolls of fame.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xi, Line 591

” It is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had believed to be true since my earliest youth. And since that time, I have been convinced that I must once and for all seriously try to rid myself of all the opinions which I had formerly accepted, and begin to build anew, if I wanted to establish any firm and permanent structure for my beliefs.” — Rene Descartes, Meditations

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed.

— Charlotte Bronte

“There is no cure for birth and death other than to enjoy the interval.” — George Santayana (1863-1952)
__________________________________

Hmm…. In looking at what I’ve written so far, it seems my sub-conscious mind has once again inserted its own thoughts into the process, in its inimitable, insidious manner….. There seems to be a theme to the old-school pearl above, the Eastern philosophy of the the section to follow this one, and here, in the poetry section as well…. Both the haiku and the poem are fresh this morning, and don’t ask me how I did that, because I still don’t know. Maybe I should let my sub-conscious out to play more often…. If I did that, though, I wouldn’t have very much time left in the day to be consciously mindful…. Again, maybe that’s not a bad thing, all in all…. I guess we’ll see….. As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here: http://www.napowrimo.net/ I hope you enjoy them…..

Haiku XI

Mindfulness is hard
in the early morning light.
Fuzzy eyes and ears.

~~ gigoid ~~

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

“How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.” — Wilhelm von Humboldt
__________________________________

The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention for the master programmer to examine. The magician wheeled a large black box into the master’s office while the master waited in silence. “This is an integrated, distributed, general-purpose workstation,” began the magician, “ergonomically designed with a proprietary operating system, sixth generation languages, and multiple state of the art user interfaces. It took my assistants several hundred man years to construct. Is it not amazing?”

The master raised his eyebrows slightly. “It is indeed amazing,” he said.

“Corporate Headquarters has commanded,” continued the magician, “that everyone use this workstation as a platform for new programs. Do you agree
to this?”

“Certainly,” replied the master, “I will have it transported to the data center immediately!” And the magician returned to his tower, well pleased.

Several days later, a novice wandered into the office of the master programmer and said, “I cannot find the listing for my new program. Do you know where it might be?”

“Yes,” replied the master, “the listings are stacked on the platform in the data center.”

— Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

Hacker culture, from what I’ve observed, and read, is rife with Zen Buddhist, and Taoist, ideas, concepts, and philosophies, including the use of “koans”, short anecdotes or stories that, when contemplated in a mindful way, teach a lesson that helps the student find the path to enlightenment, to a deeper understanding of Reality. The above is a perfect example of such a koan, as it demonstrates a deep understanding of many levels of reality, including programming, sales, and the administrative aspects of business, as well as a keen knowledge of human nature. Since anything I could say wouldn’t add to the lesson, I’ll leave this to stand alone, and hope that it helps someone to find a part in themselves that resonates with these ideas…..

Hey, I know….. To anyone who can name four facets of human society and culture addressed by this koan, it will be worth 20 extra points, redeemable in your next incarnation…. 🙂
__________________________________

Well, once more I come to a screeching halt, caught unawares by the last section’s premature ending (hmm, haven’t had that problem in many a year…. yuk, yuk….). Let’s see what the proofing shows….. Not bad at all, considering…. Certainly good enough for the loose standards we have around here….. I’m off to the BBR again, busy, busy next four days….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

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

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Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Alexander Pope

A prodigal child no more…

Such splendid toast deserves marmalade….

Terrified outbreaks of uncontrolled shrugging….

Have the mango smoothies been certified yet?….

Parking parallel is de rigeur on Mondays….

In the name of all that’s wholly…..

Remember, Billy, these nascent lawyers can spontaneously ignite if mocked…

If it would only wiggle, we could save it….

Twice around the neck should do nicely….

I detect subtle hints of Crisco…..

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