Tag Archives: Alexander Pope

Plainly, it’s a case of diet reality….

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,
As the moon looked down with massive disdain, several large specimens of domestic droid came rolling down the street. Each the size of a large dog, the droids bristled with cleaning arms and brushes, rolling on a strange assortment of wheels that looked like rubber balls on racks. One by one, they peeled off from the street to move toward houses on each side of the street, most rolling around to the back to enter. The spare shadows from the moon’s pale light gave the scene a soft, romantic air, as if the droids were off to visit their own true loves. But, even in this, a deep winter night in 2088, droids didn’t yet have girlfriends, and the man watching the parade of mechanicals was not interested in fanciful thoughts of droids in love. He only had one thought, and that thought was murder…..

Well, J.D. Robb could probably use it as a start to another novel about Eve Dallas and Roarke, but who knows if Lt. Dallas will still be a cop in 2088?…. She would only be in her late fifties to early sixties, and given the state of medical science, most likely would still be on the job. But, maybe Roarke will have convinced her to retire with him to another planet, where they’ll raise exotic food plants and little Roarkes and Eves…. Just as well, as this intro paragraph is well away from her usual opening chapters, which generally start after the murder is done…. But, it got that stuff out of my head, and that is all that really matters at this point….

Today will be another oddly constructed pearl, as I still haven’t finished the poem, and no other material has surfaced as yet….. Thus, we must begin the day searching for something about which to write. With the election so close, it might be time for a rant on politics, to drive home the need for everyone to make sure to get out there to cast their opinion, wrong-headed though it may be…. Just let me ask each of you heading to the polls to use your noggin to make you choices, not your fears or bigotry, should you be saddled with such.

Use that brain for something other than sitting on, and make the logical choice to vote for the incumbent. No President, good or bad, ever gets much done in just four years, and this one deserves more time to continue with the positive changes that he’s been able to accomplish, in spite of all the partisan opposition he has suffered due to the Republican party’s stated racist platform….. Don’t blame me, just go read what it says, and the racism is obvious…. even their own pundits are getting disgusted with it, as one of them so lucidly stated the other day…

Okay, wrong place to start ranting…. I’ll leave it for later, if that is what comes up in this morning’s dive…. I’ll quit fooling around now, and get on with the program…. Shall we Pearl?…..

Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul:
The mind ‘s the standard of the man.
— Isaac Watts (1674-1748) — Horae Lyricae, Book ii, False Greatness
__________________________________

“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves?  Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.” — Isaac Asimov, The New Hugo Winners

In the intro section above, I started a rant, which mentioned the four years that the current President has had to try to accomplish his reforms. In that short rant, I mentioned the partisan opposition he has suffered at the hands of the Republican party. What Mr. Asimov states above may be considered as a large part of the reason that the Republicans have been so dead set against allowing him to make any progress. Bigotry and racism are a direct outgrowth of ignorance; this is not something disputable, or subject to debate. It is fact…. and bigotry and racism are the real reasons that these people are so set on defeating Obama. They don’t care at all about how he is doing, or whether or not his policies are good for the country or not…. they don’t even attempt to address those issues, other than to create great outcries at every little issue that comes up in the news, when it suits them to make noise about it.

The Republican party has spent four years blocking all legislation proposed by the White House. This is legislation that would have created millions of jobs, and gone a long way to repairing the damage that eight years of Bush’s unlimited spending and economic disaster caused, but, his opponents have blocked all of it, in spite of the millions of Americans who might have benefited from the bills. Their stated purpose, as outlined four years ago, right after the election in 2008, was to make Obama a one-term president, AT ANY COST, and using any means, including lying. Especially lying…. they’ve reduced that particular act to a science, and are not afraid to use it to their purpose at all. In pursuit of their ignorant, racist agenda, they have absolutely no shame…. It’s quite disgusting, actually, to those of us with more than two functioning brain cells….

“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” — James Russell Lowell

I have been noticing the people on Facebook who are posting political articles for others to read, and have noted a distinct difference in the two styles each side has shown. The liberals who support the incumbent post videos, mostly, that show the Republican candidates stating one of their asinine, dishonest attacks on the President, or an inspirational message from a supporter of the President. In addition, there have been a lot of videos of Republican candidates around the country who have bee voicing their party’s war on women lately, with these idiotic statements about rape, which, quite simply, is something to which they are not even entitled to an opinion, much less policy making powers. Any who, the liberals post this kind of stuff about half the time, along with another half that is supportive stuff that shows off the progress made by Obama, with a message of unity and hope for the future….

None of the Republican supporters I see have come out with anything at all on the “rape” issues…. no comments at all. It’s like they are in total denial, and think that if they ignore it (hmm… wonder what ignoring leads to?…. could it be…. ignorance?) it won’t be true, or will go away. I also see no ads that show Romney, or Ryan, as doing ANYTHING. Period. They have stopped talking to the public, and refuse to talk to reporters. They don’t want to make any more mistakes, as almost every time they’ve opened their mouths, it has benefited the liberals, because of the depth of stupidity shown every time. There are no admiring ads touting how wonderful a leader Mitt the Twitt would be…. There are no detailed explanations of his proposed policies, because every detailed study of those policies has shown them to be totally inadequate, lacking in any understanding of the issues involved, and in some cases, pure lies…. These were independent studies, by the way, not funded by the liberals.

No, the only things the Republicans are posting are negative attack ads on Obama, for all kinds of little BS, from the recent terrorist attack in Bhengazi, to birther nonsense (yes, it STILL gets thrown out there….), to thinly disguised references to his skin color, which just goes to show their real fear…. These people are scared to death because a BLACK man is President, and they will do literally ANYTHING to get him out of that position…. One of the most highly recognizable pundits from the Republican party recently came out to express his dismay at the outright racism and bigotry of the Republican campaign, and to acknowledge the despicable nature of the ignorance that is being displayed.

Yet, the polls (which I regard as purely fictional, and merely another attempt by the media to assert their own form of mind control….. I am of the firm opinion that publishing a poll before the election should be illegal…. let us go to the polls without any precognition…. which is how it is supposed to work, now, isn’t it?…)…. the polls say that the race is close, and that it may be decided in the electoral college, rather than at the polls themselves. Which is, to me, another opportunity for the Republicans to try to work their manipulation and voter suppression techniques to try to affect the outcome in their favor…. They did it successfully with GW Bush, twice, so it’s not like it hasn’t already been tested as a viable method of winning elections. It’s just that in this case, there is a distinct danger of the entire country falling back into the middle ages, should their cheating ways prevail again….

So, what I am suggesting, to all those out there with any shred of common sense and intelligence,  is that we remove that issue, by going to the polls in such numbers as to make their ignorance and bigotry immaterial. Let us show them that there are more of us than they think there are, and we are not going to allow them to drag us back over a hundred years, eliminating all the progress in social issues that we have struggled so hard to obtain in that time. The fate of millions of seniors, women, people of color, gays, and just about anyone who isn’t a rich white male will be seriously threatened by a Republican win in three days…. so let us remove their chances of winning, by going out to vote for Obama in record numbers everywhere, and make the electoral college  a matter of form. (Then we can start the process to get rid of the college altogether…. should’ve happened fifty years ago… it’s a relic of the past, and should stay there….)

Go vote, ffolkes, and please, get it right!…..
__________________________________

Days and Nights of Eire

Wondrously comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I will find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes still live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
As Eire dons an emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid

Whew! Finally…. Well, there you go… I hope it was worth the wait…. Actually, it may grow again; it’s okay, but feels not quite done, somehow… ah well, time will tell….
__________________________________

:GIGO: /gi:’goh/ [acronym] 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out’ — usually said in response to {luser}s who complain that a program didn’t “do the right thing” when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way.  Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data.  2. `Garbage In, Gospel Out’: this more recent expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive trust in `computerized’ data. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

Many years ago, I adopted the user name gigoid, taking it from the above definition, and adding an “id” for, of course, identification purposes; with that suffix, I am assured of human status, i.e. hominid, humanoid, etc.  I chose this acronym because it is the perfect reminder of the basic integrity that is built into all computers, i.e., they can only do what we tell them to do, and cannot lie. Thus, if our results are wrong, the error lies in our input, not in the computer; this automatically cuts in half the number of places to look for the problem. I like to think that my awareness of this principle characteristic of how computers work is what has allowed me to use computers without suffering many of the common difficulties such as crashes, freezes, and blue screens of death. Only once have I ever encountered one of those on my own computer, and that was the result of a virus my defenses missed… my fault, of course, I hadn’t updated soon enough…

Oh, I’ve encountered that famous blue screen before, when I worked as a computer tech back in the late 90’s, setting up LAN’s and office systems for H&R Block…. a significant percentage of machines were dead soon after coming out of the factory box. But, on my own computers, I am very careful never to break any of the basic rules that govern those kinds of mishaps…. and I owe it all to a wise choice of user name…. Well, it’s fun to think about it that way anyway….

So, who is gigoid? Well, if you’ve hung about this blog site for long, I’ve certainly given y’all enough of my inner workings to look at, in my rants, and in my old school pearls, as well as in my poetry, which is quite revealing, to me….. but, then, if it wasn’t, I most likely couldn’t write it…. Any who, to give the short answer to that question, I’ll post below some pearls that give insight into what I believe to be true, and how I try to live…. Like any weak human, I don’t always succeed at being as moral or ethical as I can be, but, I do try, and I do feel pangs of regret when I don’t, so cut me some slack, eh? Just kidding…. What I am is all what I am, though I’m not Popeye…. and these pearls are what I see in the mirror…..

“They are able because they think they are able.” — Virgil

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.  We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.  We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.” — E. P. Whipple

It is my firm belief that it is a mistake to hold firm beliefs. — Smart Bee

Computers can never replace human stupidity. — Smart Bee

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) ” — Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, that’s enough about me…. Hope this helps clear up any confusion, and if not, well, hey, life goes on…. all we can do is all we can do, and no more….
__________________________________

Odd, indeed…. and long, too. I wasn’t sure the poem was going to make it, and it may not be all the way done, but, it’s out, and will stand as is for now…. I’m not sure about it right now, I’m too close to it to judge impartially…. so, I’ll take a chance, and let it go out as it is. I’m brave, sometimes…. but,then, what can happen, besides somebody hating it? I can handle that okay, so…. any who, enough of my rambling for one day…. I see that I have possibly gone a bit overboard in that respect today. Such is life, or as the French would say, literally, c’est la vie…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Such beauty lives without shame….

Posted on by
4

Ffolkes,
I love rice. I do. It is so versatile as a food…. it can be eaten as a side dish, complementing an entree item. Add some sauce and veggies, meat, and cheese to it, and you have a lovely risotto. Dress it with a vinaigrette and some garden specialties, and you’ve got a cold salad for an afternoon lawn event. If you enjoy the nutty flavor of a good rice, it can be eaten as is, too….. And, I am sick to death of it…. I know now why so many folks in the throes of poverty use it so much, along with beans, and pasta…..

A little of it goes a long way to stretch other foods, it’s cheap, compared to many other staples, and it takes longer for the family to get tired of it, as long as one is creative in the kitchen…. But, I swear, when I can afford more food, rice will go to the bottom of the list, merely because I am so incensed at having to eat it every day to stay alive, and not giving in to the temptation to steal…. It is surprising, perhaps, to realize how quickly one’s ethics and morals can be put aside when one is hungry and angry….. bad combination, I can attest….

Ah well, life could be worse, I’m sure…. It could be that I couldn’t afford the rice, and had to subsist on beans… Now, THAT would be tragic,  not to mention the danger to the public…. I mean, I already have a pretty heavy reaction, methane gas-wise, when I consume beans… even refried beans can cause some serious toots. If I am forced to eat more beans, I’m not sure the walls of this apartment will stand up to the volume under pressure that is engendered in my bowels by vegetable protein…. and the effect of both the noise and the odoriferous output on my neighbors is bound to be considerable, given that I would have very little control over when such outbreaks would occur….. It could turn into a Keystone Kops type event in a flash…..

So, I try to stick to pasta and rice for my staple starches. It’s best for everyone if I do…. Hmmm…. I just realized, in reading back over this morning’s introductory remarks, that I may have strayed into the TMI category….. not everyone thinks body functions are funny…. Nurses do, for sure, and healthcare workers of any kind can develop such a basic appreciation for the less public aspects of our physical processes….. The rest of society, however, seems to have an objection to body fluids, and the humor they can provide….

I noticed this difference once when I had surgery, to remove a piece of evil from my midsection…. After abdominal surgery of any kind, the first thing the doctor and nurses want to see happen is for the intestines to resume function; this is indicated by the build-up, and passage of gas. Thus, it becomes a point of interest, and even enthusiasm, when the nurse is first informed of any such activity by a surgical patient… in other words, nurses are the only group people who get happy and enthused to learn that people are farting…. Kinda get ya, right here, doesn’t it?….. (points at his heart….)

Okay, that’s enough fart humor for one day, such as it is…. It doesn’t affect me negatively at all, having been privy to its charm for many years from my nursing experiences, but I know that it can affect others detrimentally. I’ve been informed of such by many folks, just before they storm out of a room in high dudgeon, miffed because the conversation turned to phlegm, or other such delightful substances that the human body is wont to produce at times. Silly humans…..

I have a feeling I had best get on with the normal business of the day, before there isn’t anyone left to read it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.  But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.” — Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

Unfortunately, Baloney Detectors became out of style….. No one listened to Carl, and we are STILL recovering from exactly what he pointed out could happen. As soon as Clinton left office, after leaving the first budget surplus ever, Bush 1 took over and proceeded to give Reaganomics another try; the first time they hadn’t stolen quite as much as the figures showed they could, so they had to go back for all that money. Along the way, they jacked the budget deficit back up a couple trillion dollars, and turned it over to Shrub 2, who decided  to spend us completely into oblivion, starting two wars, all because he was covering for the crap his father pulled to keep his theft of the 2000 election out of public scrutiny….. Whew, sorry, didn’t realize there was so much indignation to pack into one paragraph summarizing the Republican meltdowns of the American economy…. which they continue to try to blame on anybody but themselves and the Bushes, much less Saint Ronnie….. the asshole….

Don’t forget, I knew Ronnie before he got to the Presidency…. he was governor when I went to college….  I was one of the ones he was talking about when he made the remarks regarding turning student protests into blood baths…. Mind you, these were PEACE protests, against the war in Vietnam….. I was there when he and his oh-so-sweet wife Nancy made their undisguised play for their chain of facilities to garner a monopoly on the mental healthcare market, by changing the laws to turn mental patients out of the state hospitals, back to their counties, where the facilities owned by the Reagan demons were the only available places to put them…. In case you wondered, they were called Heavenly Manor I believe, and the state-registered owner of record was Nancy Reagan…. even though her husband started, supported, and signed bills to try to make it happen…. No nepotism there at all, eh?….

I never trusted Reagan, ever since he got out-acted by that ape in that movie back in the 40’s where he was the world’s most unconvincing college student (well, his ditziness in the role seemed to be an accurate display of character, but you know what I mean…. he just wasn’t very real, and looked like he was made of cardboard….) His actions as governor were clearly anti-American, and yet people for some reason loved him. It didn’t surprise me at all when it came out that his administration was one of the crookedest ever, and hid more from the public than even the rest of government was comfortable with….

None of this mentions how disastrous his economic policies were; you remember, don’t you?  Ronnie was fond of the term, “trickle down” theory, a policy he espoused in which, according to Ronnie’s strange math,  giving huge breaks to the richest would result in more money “trickling down” to the rest of society…. Well, guess what folks? It didn’t work, nor could it ever have worked, because there is no “trickle down” where it concerns money, and those who covet it…. they will hold on to every little bit they can, and cry for more if threatened….

I realize the view I am presenting is far different than what you might see in history books of the time, or even what some conservatives who idolize Reagan will want to remember, but none of what I’ve said is based on anything that I didn’t see happening myself; it’s all documented stuff, on the nightly news in somebody’s archives. What goes in the books is what all the folks in power decided to say happened, not what actually occurred.

If most folks knew, or even thought about, what actually happened for most of history, they would think they’d been lied to their entire lives…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!   They HAVE!   It cracks me up, a little bit, when I’m done being sad, just how little truth is EVER told by those in positions of power over others in society. Lying and cheating are pre-requisite habits, and sheer  necessities, in getting into the positions they hold, and they aren’t about to stop once installed in office with the treasury keys in their pockets.

So, go ahead and believe, if you will, that the beloved ruling class, epitomized so darkly and accurately by the Republican Party in the last 40 years, is on your side, and is working hard to make your lives better…. They will go on stripping you of every freedom the founding fathers gave us, along with all your money, and your hope for a brighter future, because they DON’T CARE! Not about you, or anything that you believe; they care about themselves, and how much power they can accumulate in their lifetime.  They don’t even THINK about what it may cost anyone else…. they don’t consider anyone else’s benefit or interests, at all, ever….. And that is the truth, whether you can accept it or not…..

“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Potluck Pogo
__________________________________

In my poems, I am trying to get to a point where everything extraneous is stripped away, leaving only the most powerful words to portray my meaning…. I’m getting a bit better, but I’ve a way to go yet, to my way of looking at it, which, as we know, is all that matters, since I’m the one writing it…. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good at it as I’d like…. but, the following poem, from Ogden Nash, certainly demonstrates the concept that I’m trying to get to…. If I can ever come even close to the sheer genius of this poem, I will be happy….

This was my dream;
I dreampt it.
I dreamed that my hair was kempt,
and my true love unkempt it.

— Ogden Nash

See? Sheer genius! With four tiny lines, he connected to the most lovely and compelling dream shared by ALL men…. completely amazing, and to my way of looking at things, the kind of power that literature should always have…. not that it will…. But, if everyone who writes shoots for at least the same kind of inspiration, and won’t settle for crap, at least we could conceivably see more poetry like this…. and that would be a good thing, yes?….. Yes….
__________________________________

Another old-school pearl, with some observations on Life, the Folks who inhabit the planet, and the stuff they find to keep busy…..

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

“Never mind what I said,” the Lord spake.  “Doth thou listen to every crazy idea that comes thy way?”
And Abraham grew ashamed.  “Er — not really… no.”
“I jokingly suggest thou sacrifice Isaac and thou immediately runs out to do it.”
And Abraham fell to his knees, “See, I never know when you are kidding.”
And the Lord thundered, “No sense of humor.  I can’t believe it.”
— Without Feathers — Woody Allen
(This is probably a far more accurate portrayal of what took place than what we find in either the Bible, or the Qur’an, both of which talk extensively  about Abraham, and his relations with God, or Allah, take your pick…. It seems more true to human nature, somehow…..and, if God exists, I would like to think he has a sense of humor. If not, we are in deep shit…..)

“Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth – to see it like it is, and tell it like it is -to find the truth, to speak the truth, and live the truth.” — Richard Nixon, accepting the Presidential Nomination, 1968
(I laughed aloud when he said this, but later, I cried….. in looking at it now, in retrospect, this actually rivals the crap that Romney has been spouting….. and I can see how he, and others, got the idea they can get away with this kind of shit…..)

“Liberty cannot be guaranteed by law. Nor by any thing else except the resolution of free citizens to defend their liberties.” — Edward Abbey
(This had to go here, just to counter balance the severe level of BS that Tricky Dicky raised in one sentence…..)

Extremes in nature equal ends produce;
In man they join to some mysterious use.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 205

“Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an ‘inconvenience.’   We have opted instead for an authoritarian system *disguised* as a Democracy.  We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there.” — Frank Zappa

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

Well, that should be enough…. It’s a rather meandering concept, but it gets there eventually….. and if not, well, it’s always a good time trying to figure out just what dark alleyway of the human psyche I have wandered into, or out of, as the case may be…. Here, we have a combination plate…. enjoy! Oh, and it WILL be on the Quiz….
__________________________________

I’d say this isn’t too bad, but then, I have inside knowledge of what it took to produce it….. which included a pain level rather larger than normal, by a factor of about two (i.e., double the morning dose….) I hate grunting when I stand up and walk; I feel like an ape. One with an irritable disposition, to be sure…. Growling just becomes a natural response when all one wants to do is to be able to straighten up without going into spasms…. and the thought of human interaction is just plain scary. I will have to avoid all contact with folks while on my trip to the library to post today…. I don’t think I want to deal with blood today, mine or anyone else’s….

Ah well, life goes on, and we must take it as it plays out….. My apologies in advance today, for not being able to spend any time perusing other blogs…. it will be all I can do to get this up and posted, so it will have to wait for another day…. Probably for the best anyway, my concentration is shot…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

—

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Evidence of brave new ventures….

Posted on by
8

Ffolkes,
Since global warming seems to have pretty much eliminated the previous patterns of weather we have been accustomed to see, it’s getting hard to know what to wear in the morning. From Wednesday to Thursday, the temperature here made a dramatic one-day drop of over 20 degrees. Instead of sultry heat, we had a cool, brisk breeze off the water all day, with temps about normal for this time of year.  I’m surprised that there aren’t now thousands of folks fighting colds brought on by the rapid changes…. They may start coughing & sneezing at any time, if things operate as they usually do when we get these kinds of quick climate reversals…..

Personally, I seem to be immune to such colds, as I’ve only had one I remember, back in my twenties, and garlic took care of it in two days…. great antibiotic, that allicillin…. It’s the one that exists naturally in garlic, a selective antibiotic, that will kill all foreign bugs in the human body, without ever killing the ones natural to our system…. Great discrimination, and not surprising the medical world seems to ignore it…. they’d lose a lot of money if garlic were in common use. If I’m any example of how well it works, it is pretty damned effective, as I haven’t had either a cold, or a flu, or any other respiratory disease take hold of me in over 40 years, since I first learned of the medical properties of garlic….

Whenever I feel the first symptoms of a cold, that itchy, crowded feeling in the nose, and mildly dizzy, disoriented feeling that comes with fluid in the middle ear, I start eating a clove of garlic every few hours, raw…. Taking it like that for two day seems to be enough protection; the first symptoms have never progressed beyond that stage into a full blown cold, or flu, or any other bacterial infection….. EXCEPT for the one time, when I was about 43, and got stuck for a full day without any garlic available…. I fought that cold for a week, eating 6 cloves a day, feeling miserable…. and still had it less time than most colds stick around…..

So, if you don’t believe me, just try it…. at first sign of a cold, before it is firmly established, begin taking a single clove of garlic by mouth every four hours, just like a regular antibiotic the doctor would give you. Chop up the clove (about thumb size) into a minced state; put it in your hand, have a glass of water ready, and just wash it down quickly like a pill that doesn’t taste good…. The garlic taste is a bit strong, but not too bad if you wash it down fast…..

Your friends may avoid you for a day or so, since the raw garlic will come out in your sweat, but that will only help isolate the cold germs, and keep them from spreading, or being reintroduced or restrengthened with new germs…… and, if one cultivates a healthy, natural attitude, the odor can be quite pleasant, all in all…..

Well, that turned into a small medical infomercial….. so I guess I can count this as an introductory section, and get one with the true business at hand….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“In the future, the most important work skill will be a lack of ethics.” — Dilbert, by Scott Adams

Mr. Adams probably knows already, but this future arrived some decades ago. I had made this observation regarding business ethics back in 1968, not long after getting to Berkeley, and being exposed to sources of information that the rest of the world doesn’t wish to acknowledge. Lying about quality of products, cheating the government on taxes and the public on prices, cut-throat policies toward rivals, office politics that focus on the negative for promotion, advancement due not to merit, but to despotism or, worse, nepotism. All of these practices are now the normal state of affairs in the American business world, at the top, at the bottom, and at every stage between. To be successful in business in this country, one must actively pursue activities that are certain to keep them out of any Heaven belonging to any religion…..

Hell, one of American business’s greatest success stories is now running for president of this country, and making no bones about his own ethics…. He has NONE. Not a single thing that he can point to and be able to honestly say, “this is morally and ethically correct”. He can’t say it, because it would be a lie, according to not only the religions from around the world, but according to the very religion he claims to follow.

The leaders of the Mormon church aren’t going to expose his chicaneries…. they make far too much from it…. 10% of $250,000,000 a year is nothing to sneeze at, and no way they’re going to put it at risk by chastising him in public, or anywhere else…. He is a preacher’s dream….. stupid, immoral, rich, and willing to say he believes whatever they tell him, as well as willing to say anything at all to achieve his immoral and unethical ends…. to wit: power over others…..

“A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another’s.” — Jean Paul Richter

Have you noticed at all that the focus of the Romney/Ryan campaign is not any particular issue that concerns the public, other than the one they are using?….. All they do is make up lies about the President, or about what he has proposed to alleviate the pressure on the lower and middle classes, or about one of his proposed efforts to mitigate the damage to our economy and society that was directly caused by the Bush administration (the Shrub(s) left a HUGE mess, folks, and four years is only the beginning of what it will take to fix what he did….more, likely, as the Republican party is STILL blocking all attempts at reform, meaning it takes longer to fix what they already screwed up…..).

Mitt the Twitt, and Lyin’Paul Ryan don’t go into public without some barbed comment to make about the President…. and they, and their supporters, don’t seem to care that it is all lies, or misrepresentations, or taken out of context, or just plain made up. They keep right on spouting the same talking points, over and over, even when independent fact-checking organizations have PROVEN their lies….

It seems to work on the weak-minded, because there are a lot of people out there who will repeat the same lies for them, just as if it were true…. It is actually quite a pathetic, saddening sight to me, to see so many Americans fall into this pit of inequity and shame that comprises the Republican campaign…. it is clear proof, unfortunately, that racism and bigotry are not dead in this country, despite all the progress we’ve made over the last 75 years…

Sadly, it is THAT progress that is scaring the proponents of regression that still exist here; it scares them silly to have a black President… My God, what is next, a Muslim woman as President? Or worse, a strong, passionate, gorgeous, frightfully intelligent gay person? What is the world coming to?….. Ideas such as these scare these ignorant assholes to death, and they are proving that, in pursuit of their idiocy, they will go to ANY lengths to keep reason and rationality from being a part of American politics…. because they KNOW that they will make less money off the really ignorant that way…..

When all is said and done, the most important thing to Romney and Ryan is not politics, not ethics, and certainly not public spirit…. It is money. The most important thing to them is that the society is maintained in a state where they continue to make money at the expense of the weak and vulnerable, and have the power over others that is such a key piece of their own self-image…. Can’t feel like a man, unless they’ve got women, blacks, latinos, old people, and anyone who disagrees with them under their power….. Paranoia runs deep, my friends, and they feel it all the time…..

“What is left when honour is lost?’ — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265

Nothing is left, when honour is lost. Nothing worth having anyway….. and that is exactly what will be left for all of us lower and middle class Americans, should the Romney/Ryan Gang of Thieves, Worshipers at the Altars of Gold, ever get within shouting distance of the Oval Office….. You can take that to the bank…. or they will…..
__________________________________

Semblance of Time

The dreams and visions of modern times are pallid and pale
filled with fear and loathing instead of joy and wonder.
Reality is aging poorly, submitting less data to loudly regale
Sad faded images lacking substance, or proof of thunder.

Sisters and brothers of nightly performance speak in spite
building up scars to protect, or keep a semblance of sanity.
Knowing illusion is near and dear, steeped in muscular delight
while compassion and intelligence get smothered by humanity.

Loneliness soon became the friend of many sizes of fools
stealing through mazes of social tests as if truly wise, or old
while companies of sterile opportunity are hiding their tools
from anyone who might be feeling even a little bit bold.

Painful momentary flashes seem to outline society’s fate
until sheltered heavy monuments to elder gods fall from grace.
We’re all getting tired of being told we’re far too late
never ever nearing tolerance, nor regaining solicitations of face.

A hard message awaits us all when we dare to even stay
of life’s dispassionate disposition and curmudgeonly faux heart.
Only with the strength of heroes can such tales make their way
Only a poet will deftly turn morbid pain, into a valid work of art.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

In the normal course of events here, I would hesitate to put the following three pieces next to a poem of my own, lest the comparison completely destroy my ego. But I’m not unhappy with today’s offering of my life’s blood; it isn’t yet as powerful as I would like, but it’s progress….. And these three little portions from three of my favorites can thereby serve as examples…. The power, the scope, the language of all three are exactly the kind of writing that I hope for to flow out of my mind someday…. The sheer artistry that is shown here is the goal I have for my poetry, and, for that matter, for my prose, as well. I could do worse……

Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,–
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 13

The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel it now: there’s a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.
I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.

— Rainer Maria Rilke, from Book of Hours
(This passage by Rilke leaves me slack-jawed in awe, every time I read it…..)

My skin is kind of brownish yellowish, white.
My eyes are greyish green.
But I’m told they’re orange at night
My hair is reddish, blondish.
But is silver when it’s wet.
And all the colours I am inside
have not been invented yet.

— Shel Silverstein

You can be the judges, if you would, and let me know if I ever make this grade….. a little kindness when I don’t would be appreciated, but isn’t necessary for improvement, so be harsh if you feel the need. I’ll just ignore what doesn’t make sense to me, anyway…. If nothing else, we all got a decent dose of good stuff today, and that can be enough, if one is prepared to accept reality as it is…..
__________________________________

In looking back over the effort today, I am not entirely displeased…. which is to say, it will have to serve. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s ramble through the crowded hallways in my head, and that nothing you’ve seen here today has convinced you that returning is a bad thing…. If nothing else, you will find here an honest approach to life, in all of its glory, and all of its sad and painful poignancy….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Only in feverish dreams do we dance….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
With all due apologies to the fish sauce, another morning dawns…. As is often the case, my head is a bit befuddled so soon after arising, yet, here I am, typing away as if I knew just what to say. Which, of course, I do and I don’t, being a child of the 60’s. Very convenient, that….. I just have to mention it once, and all kinds of sympathetic concern is generated…. Shoot, if I tell folks I was actually AT People’s Park in Berkeley in 1969, why, nobody ever expects anything normal from me, especially written; they all KNOW my brain was fried back then…..

That’s my secret, you see…. I actually was there, but I survived with mind and memory intact, and no lingering states of confusion due to drugs….. Oh, I won’t bother to tell you I didn’t use them, but I never got so far into it that it became an issue with daily living or cognitive deficits…. So far, as all the evidence clearly indicates, my cognitive powers are completely intact…. They may be ALL I have intact, for that matter, as my body continues to give out at an alarming rate, which has more to do with being too athletic than with overdoing recreational drugs. My doctor tells me NOW that if I’d been less active when younger, I wouldn’t be paying the price I am now….. NOW they tell me…..

C’est la vie, I suppose…. There isn’t a lot I can do about it now, in any case, so I just live with the pain, and try to get on…. and in that spirit, I think we should get on with today’s Pearl…. after this bit of housekeeping…..

Correction, maybe…. Yesterday, I attributed a piece of poetry to Thomas Cowper… I am currently unsure, but that may have been in error. I have evidence that suggests it may have been William Cowper. I will research, and let y’all know…. Silly Smart Bee listed it merely as Cowper, and I filled in the Thomas out of memory…. which I now find may have been wrong…. alas, I am human, damn it!…

“That was Zen, this is Tao.” — Peter da Silva, April 24, 1993

Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

I’ve been very lucky with my latest incarnation of Smart Bee…. it seems to be giving me a higher percentage of usable quotes than it did before I had trouble with it. In fact, so many quotes are worth saving that I’m starting to group them into subject lots…. Here are a significant number of intriguing and/or interestingly accurate observations on modern life in America, land of the marginally civilized….

Homosexuality is *not* a sickness.  Bigotry is. — Smart Bee

“Whether you have an abortion, what you put in your own body, with whom you have sex – these are not the affairs of the state.  A government does not exist to control the citizens.  When it does, it is a tyranny, and must be fought.  The tree of liberty, Jefferson warned us, must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.” — Gore Vidal

I swear to the Lord
I still can’t see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.

— (Langston Hughes) The Black Man Speaks

“Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We’re working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we’ve fallen easy prey to charlatans, quacks, and hustlers.” — Dr. Walter Williams

“The discovery of America was the occasion of the greatest outburst of cruelty and reckless greed known in history.” — Joseph Conrad

“Democracy is government by the people with open discussion and free speech. This allows those with no ideas to unload their thinking in the most tedious and lengthy manner. After this, a vote is taken, and the least informed will oppose the most confused. The result, inevitably, will be known as model legislation. In time, it will proliferate, and eventually a commission will be formed to review what has been done and why it isn’t working and it will recommend reforms of the previous efforts. All of this will be published in various government journals and cause great debate. There will be a veritable waterfall of newspaper editorials and Johnny Carson will use the whole thing as a part of his monologue. In the end, the reforms will be defeated. –Smart Bee

“Christianity:  Please help find the cure.” — Smart Bee

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…. A few days ago, as I sat in a shady spot outside on a beautiful California day, I began to think, for some misbegotten reason, about Christianity in this country, and I wondered about exactly how many different definitions of the word “Christian” there would be. There are so many different interpretations of the Bible, and so many different definitions of what is “Christ-like”, that I can see no hope of any consensus answer to this question. A conservative guess would be about 5,000 different churches, and varying interpretations of scripture; it’s more likely that Los Angeles and New York City alone contain that many, and the number nation-wide is probably closer to a hundred thousand….. None, I repeat, NONE, of the people who embrace the dogma associated with each of these various cults {yes, cults, by definition…look it up….} are at all willing to even consider any truth in any of the others, and they ostensibly are all worshiping the same dude…. It’s a bit pathetic, when one stops to look at the broader picture…. SIGH… ah well, back to general culture, and the caricaturization thereof…..)

— You may be redneck… if you refer to Mason jars as “the good glasses.” — Smart Bee

“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

On that note, we will go ever onward, seeking approbation, or at least hoping for poor aim….
__________________________________

First I thought, “Keats, or Yeats, or Pope” for this morning, as I don’t have a poem ready for bleeding…. Then I had the irreverent but accurate thought, “Long time no Pope….”, so, here is a selection from one of my favorite poets, whom I also consider to be possibly the best ever, from a technical and creative standpoint…. He wrote A LOT, and almost all of it is wonderful…. He definitely makes the star of humanity shine brighter in the heavens….. 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
_________________________________

“Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance folly, infatuation and darkness.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I first read the Bhagavad Gita sometime in my twenties, or possibly just before, while studying at UC Berkeley. I remember my sense of wonder at the depth of the insight into human nature, and my feeling of awe that the words I was reading were written well over two thousand years ago. Here was knowledge that, if commonly understood, could change the very face of human civilization. In my naivete, I couldn’t believe that this wasn’t the basis for everything that society believed, or that any of what I had read was not commonly held by everyone who ever went to school, or had read or heard the words spoken by Krishna to Arjuna……

The words in this little treasure-trove of wisdom had changed the world, when first written, I’m sure, with lasting effects on the culture of India at the time, effects that have carried over into modern times. Unfortunately, these effects have survived in altered state, changed to suit the priests and preachers with the same kinds of twists and perversions as happened to the teachings of a later sage, Jesus of Nazareth. The insight contained in the lessons of both Krishna and Jesus were used to benefit the only the institutions created by the icons, instead of being used to benefit all of mankind, as they were intended…..

The statement quoted above out of the ancient text, regardless of the degradations enabled by the avaricious, remains as true today as when first written. And, as proof of these assertions, I offer the following piece of BRILLIANCE….. pay close attention, it’s subtle….

I took Brad Templeton out to lunch one day, and afterwards, we stopped by a bakery to bring eleven doughnuts back to the office.  The baker offered a free sticky bun to pad our order to an even dozen, and Brad refused the bun.  After we left, I asked why.  He said that he never selects buns, especially pad buns. — Smart Bee

Sorry, I’m incorrigible. Don’t incorrige me…..  🙂    Just a little fun…. any who, if one looks closely enough, the truth is hidden in what has been said here…. hidden right in plain sight, in fact…. Like any such magical gem, it is visible to those who can see…..
__________________________________

Not bad for a Pearl with no rant…. Mitt the Twitt, and Mr. Lyin’ Ryan have obviously been told to shut the f__k up until after the debates, because they’ve been missing from the front pages in the last few days…. too many days in a row where they were pissing in their own corner, I guess, and their handlers got tired of the clean-up. It’s a nice break for my ears and my sense of outrage, but it’s probably hard on the writers who depend on politics for all their material…. Ah well, the election is almost here, and then Scary Black President can get back to frightening the poor Republicans….. stay alert, ffolkes, and make sure you know where your polling place is…..  In the meantime, y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Not only the penitent are forgiven….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,
Pinched, grim faces peer through the windows as I wash the dirty feet of the Tupperware solicitors. Leering, jeering, they make their obscene gestures in vain, rather pathetically cheering each other’s futility. Parcels of latent importance linger on the threshold, waiting for delivery, independent and proud of their clean lines and ruler-straight packing tape. In the midst of all the chaotic motion, a small, silver dreidle spins hypnotically, focused and free of the detritus so common to such games as played today. Not for nothing did they salvage their given names, to show to the inspectors, in direct opposition to the rising sun, hopeful of another hour, another day to find Reality…..

Which, apparently, has retreated to the background, not wanting any part of the previous paragraph, a sentiment I can completely understand. That there paragraph is even weirder than usual, even for this space. But, I kind of like it, sort of, maybe…. it does have a certain charm to it, even if it doesn’t make any sense. And it did give me the opportunity to use the word “dreidle”, as well as “detritus”, two words that seldom see the light of day. I do enjoy getting these seldom-used words out for a workout; they’re always so appreciative…..

As you might be able to tell, my relationship with the English language is one of mutual admiration and support. We get along pretty well most of the time, and that is completely due to the fact that we are always formally polite with each other, and never ask the other to perform tricks that are embarrassing or immoral. It is a somewhat tentative and careful relationship, because we both understand each other’s needs and desires, and want to be careful to preserve the good relations we enjoy. After all, where would either of us be, without the other?  Nowhere, that’s where….

With that ringing endorsement, let us now wend our way down to the edge of the water, and begin today’s search for pearls….. shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

If they make you not then the better answer, you may say they are
not the men you took them for.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Much Ado about Nothing — Act iii, Sc. 3

A man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act i, Sc. 4

The eftest way.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Much Ado about Nothing — Act iv, Sc. 2

Like Niobe, all tears.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 2

So, there I am, cruising along in my database, searching for pearls, and what keeps popping up in front of me, getting in the way and wasting my time? You guessed it…. more drivel from our old friend and charlatan, Will Shakespeare. These four pieces of nonsense popped up one after the other, within two minutes of each other.

Taking this as a sign from the gods of literature to carry on my campaign to educate the public regarding the relative value of his works, I am reproducing them here, as a reminder to everyone to be careful with Will’s stuff. It can be dangerous to those who don’t understand the power of human idiocy.

I mean, just look at those four quotes. I consider myself to be pretty smart; if not smart, I am at least over-educated, for sure. But, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what the hell he is talking about in ANY of these quotes. Sure, they’re missing some context, but good literature should be able to provide its own context…. These only provide an excuse for scratching one’s forehead in confusion….. and don’t even do that well….

Just as a test, for the rest of today, while searching for stuff about which to write, I’ll save and put in here all the little pieces of dung from Will’s pen that get in the way…. You will begin to see why I think he needs to be downgraded as an icon, to reduce the amount of his work to which we are forced to be exposed in the normal pursuit of our life’s objectives…..

Some griefs are medicinable.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Cymbeline — Act iii, Sc. 2

Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act i, Sc. 3

Come not within the measure of my wrath.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Two Gentlemen of Verona — Act v, Sc. 4

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnets & other Poetry — Venus and Adonis, Line 145

Okay, so the last one isn’t so bad…. I guess 7 out of 8 gives a pretty clear indicator of how he SHOULD be graded…. Enjoy, so to speak…..
___________________________________

Immediately after writing the above section, I went back to my search. I felt a bit disappointed, in that the first section was teaching by poor example. This is a legitimate technique, but is less satisfying than making the same point by a good example. As I thought of this, an excerpt from one of Alexander Pope’s poems flashed up, which led me to go search out his page at Poemhunter.com, to see what else could be used…. and there it was…..

His Essay on Criticism is the perfect next act in this circus I call my blog…. It is, however, about 20 pages long, an epic poem, with several parts, each with its own introduction by the author. That is a bit much to expect you to take in in a morning read with your coffee (or, looking at the clock, as a lunch-time dessert….), so I picked out the most relevant stanza I could find on short notice, and offer it here, as a contrast to the above pile of dung from Shakespeare….

From Part II of “Essay on Criticism”

The vulgar thus thro’ imitation err,
As oft the learn’d by being singular;
So much they scorn the crowd, that if the throng
By chance go right, they purposely go wrong.
So schismatics the plain believers quit,
And are but damn’d for having too much wit.
Some praise at morning what they blame at night,
But always think the last opinion right.
A Muse by these is like a mistress used,
This hour she’s idolized, the next abused;
While their weak heads, like towns unfortified,
‘Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side.
Ask them the cause; they’re wiser still they say;
And still to-morrow’s wiser than to-day.
We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons no doubt will think us so.
Once shool-divines this zealous isle o’erspread;
Who knew most sentences was deepest read.
Faith, Gospel, all seem’d made to be disputed,
And none has sense enough to be confuted.
Scotists and Thomists now in peace remain
Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Ducklane.
If Faith itself has diff’rent dresses worn,
What wonder modes in Wit should take their turn?
Oft, leaving what is natural and fit,
The current Folly proves the ready Wit;
And authors think their reputation safe,
Which lives as long as fools are pleas’d to laugh.

Alexander Pope

There you have it…. If you have the time, head on over to Poemhunter.com to read the entire piece. It’s well worth the time taken, in my not so humble opinion…. the address for the rest of the above poem is   http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-essay-on-criticism/

Enjoy!
___________________________________

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.
— Tao Teh Ching

Often in life, we find ourselves at a point where we feel frustrated with how reality is unfolding, and allow the weight of the world to sit on our shoulders. We grasp to our breasts the complaints and insults we have heard or expressed, holding on to all the wrong things that have happened, to justify our own irritability.

It is at these times that the Tao Teh Ching can be most helpful, especially to us Westerners. Our culture looks at stress differently, at least in terms of how to deal with it. In this case, I find the Eastern way of approaching this issue works much better, allowing one to overcome the stress that builds up, offering release from the headaches and tension that can come with such feelings….

The solution is extremely simple, once learned…. just let go…. No, not just say no…. Just let go…. Don’t hang on to those feelings of urgency because your work isn’t done…. just finish the work, and be done with it….. Don’t let money determine your feelings. Don’t let your worries fill your mind so you obsess and worry; allow them to pass through you, as all feelings eventually do, if we don’t hang on to them….

Just let go…. and find yourself already serene….
___________________________________

Well, that works, I think…. It will have to do, because I’m NOT doing it over…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Measuring the Waves of Active Ingredients….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
The future has arrived, early. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not quite ready for this. Especially when it’s tied up like this with a pretty bow; it only makes it look sleazy, not classy. And, of course, there’s no user’s manual…. how are we supposed to even get this thing running without a manual? When you open the box, a process not aided by the presence of the aforementioned big bow, 277 oddly shaped parts fall out, with no diagram, no labels, no screws or other fasteners, and, of course, no manual. Says here it was shipped by the Acme Future Shock company, St. Louis, Mo….. whoever they are….

Ah well, what’s one more incomplete project laying around? I’ll just kick all these weirdly shaped pieces of plastic into the corner over here, and….. there….. Voilá, organization strikes again….. Now, where were we? Ah yes, nowhere…. a place with which I’ve become very familiar in recent months, having been beguiled into getting off the bus there a couple of times. It’s the kind of place you don’t forget, as it isn’t the most pleasant of environs, and tends to wear thin after almost no time at all…. I’m just not a happy camper without something to read, and there ain’t nothing like that nowhere, no how….

Since there is nothing here to tempt us to stay, I suggest we get on with the normal business of the day, and go find some oysters to torment…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

From an Essay on Man

Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of fate,
All but the page prescrib’d, their present state:
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know:
Or who could suffer being here below?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas’d to the last, he crops the flow’ry food,
And licks the hand just rais’d to shed his blood.
Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv’n,
That each may fill the circle mark’d by Heav’n:
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.

Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore.
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor’d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul, proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope has giv’n,
Behind the cloud topp’d hill, an humbler heav’n;
Some safer world in depth of woods embrac’d,
Some happier island in the wat’ry waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky.

Alexander Pope

Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are as random as I can make them, and today, that impulse called for me to start by bringing in something classic from Mr. Pope, one of the most quoted men in history…. Far be it from me to buck a trend…. or trend a buck, for that matter….  Enjoy!
___________________________________

What we have here is a failure to…. wait, that’s been done…. Okay, here, I found it in the script…. What we have below is an old-school Sesame Street style pearl…. Taken together, in the order given, and with a relatively open mind, these quotes will lead one to the Thought For Today. If they don’t, well, that’s okay, too…. Once again, as we are going old-school, this will not be on the test….

“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

“One sure way to determine the social conscience of a Government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent.  And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax-reaction.  Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay  for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, campaign address, — Worcester, Mass., Oct. 21, 1936.

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.” — Thomas Babington Macaulay

“When I was made presidential press secretary my father sent me a telegram: “Always tell the truth. If you can’t always tell the truth, don’t lie.” — Bill Moyers

“What is left when honour is lost?” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265

What, indeed….. on that note, onward…..
___________________________________

When it comes to learning how to get along with the differences we all have with each other, animals have it all over humans…. I know I have used this before, probably to make the same point, so….here is a picture I found on Facebook, that furnishes graphic proof of that assertion……
    Four species, all dreaming the same dream…. one of peace and beauty, with love as the basic coin of the realm…..
___________________________________

So, there is less than usual of my particular brand of drivel today…. There are reasons for that; while intensely relevant to me, listing them here would no doubt bore y’all to tears…. Better to let this go out as is…. I’ll be posting again later today, anyway….

Mr. Crusher, make it so…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Has anyone felt my milquetoast?

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,
I’m not sure why, but I woke up in a foul, fragile mood, which makes me want to bite something, or preferably somebody.  I actually do have an idea why, but only the final event really matters; it is one that is not for publication. I’m finding myself enjoying (if that is the word) some newish side benefits, perks, if you will, of being the proud possessor of PTSD, in all its ugly glory…..

The last few weeks have been a bit rough, in terms of physical pain and financial stress. I’m getting really, really fed up with trying to subsist on the amount of money I was making when I was 22.  Add that stress to the pain I’ve been fighting, and you get the diffuse anxiety, depressive thoughts, and emotional fragility that causes me to burst into tears without any warning…. like right now….. S’cuse me a minute…..

Sorry ’bout that…. any who….. The latest news that has me stressed out is that my landlord is having a problem refinancing the property, and may lose it. So, as of the first of this month, I might have to move, if his refinance isn’t approved. I really don’t want to move…. I’ve grown to hate the process severely. I can no longer do most of it myself, because of my back, so I must find someone to help me. Since I live like a hermit, that will be problematic, and just adds to the stress.

“It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.” — Adrienne Rich

That’s enough self pity, I think…. I hate to indulge in it, and don’t really want to put my problems out there for all to see. But, today, I don’t care what people think about it, I just need to vent, and this is my only source for that service….. I’ll try to keep it lighter from this point, ‘kay?….

Shall we Pearl? That is, after all, what I am here for……

Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land?
All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)– Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 261
___________________________________

Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.
— Tao Te Ching

In discussing religions, I have always avoided showing a preference for one over another. It may seem like I pick on Christianity a lot, but that, I believe, merely reflects the fact that I was raised as one, so I am more familiar with its intransigences. All of them are based on false assumptions, so, to my mind, they are all delusional at their base.

Taoism, on the other hand, is NOT a religion, as it does not promote any particular concept of a dyslexic Dog, and speaks of Heaven only as a reflection of the Tao, an ideal, as it were, without supposing the presence of a supernatural policeman enforcing delusional behavior.

REPENTANCE, n.  The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment.  It is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not inconsistent with continuity of sin.

Desirous to avoid the pains of Hell,
You will repent and join the Church, Parnell?
How needless! — Nick will keep you off the coals
And add you to the woes of other souls.
Jomater Abemy
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Instead of attempting to get people to behave acceptably by offering rewards and punishments, Taoism provides suggestions and observations regarding the way to approach reality to achieve a desired result. There is no promise of everlasting life for following the rules set down, nor any threat of a fiery Hell if those rules are broached. There is only the author’s wisdom regarding his approach to life, with suggestions for behavior that lead to desirous results in reality. It is an appeal to reason, rather than treating adults as children with a mad, capricious parent, inconsistent from one moment to the next…..

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

All of the above suggestions are very good advice, and all obviously based on experience. They have been tested by reality, and found to be accurate in every case. If you have ever filled a glass with liquid to the brim, then tried to carry it somewhere, the first line is one you will agree with right away; it is actually a technique taught in food service to waitrons, to always leave some room at the top of the glass, so that it becomes easy to carry, rather than stressful, and messy. The others are equally relevant, as I can attest, and, as can be seen by reading history books, and the daily news, evidence is ubiquitous in both.

On a personal level, I find Taoism to be incredibly useful in dealing with everyday events. It requires the development of new ways of thinking, and getting rid of habitual patterns of behavior based on dysfunctional concepts and institutions, but I can attest that it is entirely worth the effort.

Using these precepts as the basis for all one’s actions is actually a soothing, uplifting process; I find today that merely discussing the differences has improved my emotional state. This can theoretically be extended into every corner of our lives, and provide us with a source of serenity and peace in a world full of strife and confusion…..

“To YOU I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the Loyal Opposition.” — Woody Allen (Well, sort of….)
___________________________________

Yesterday, I wrote one of several pieces on Will Shakespeare…. Murphy has apparently decided to be helpful, in his own way, and keeps shoving into my face more and more examples that demonstrate the extent of the crap he produced.

Rather that piss him off, I’ll put some more in today’s Pearl, to further my campaign to remove him from the pantheon of literary gods, and return him to where he belongs, somewhere in the middle of the pack of writers in the world, a worthy compatriot of Jacqueline Suzanne and the author of “Twilight”……

He arrests him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act i, Sc. 4

“Convey,” the wise it call. “Steal!” foh! a fico for the phrase!
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Merry Wives of Windsor — Act i, Sc. 3

I hold you as a thing ensky’d and sainted.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act i, Sc. 4

Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder?
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act iii, Sc. 4

Ap. My poverty, but not my will, consents.
Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Romeo and Juliet — Act v, Sc. 1

That is probably enough…. these five all strike me as nonsense. Perhaps they show more meaning if put into the context of the plays, but, are still far more obscure than they need to be…. I’ll stop now because Will has taken quite a few hits here the last two days, and is starting to look a bit bedraggled and bloody. Of course, he has a reputation that can probably stand up to that….. Ah well, my suggestion is, if you want to see a good play, go see something that Tennessee Williams wrote, or better yet, Neil Simon….
___________________________________

A Last Confession

What lively lad most pleasured me
Of all that with me lay?
I answer that I gave my soul
And loved in misery,
But had great pleasure with a lad
That I loved bodily.

Flinging from his arms I laughed
To think his passion such
He fancied that I gave a soul
Did but our bodies touch,
And laughed upon his breast to think
Beast gave beast as much.

I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes.
But when this soul, its body off,
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows,

And give his own and take his own
And rule in his own right;
And though it loved in misery
Close and cling so tight,
There’s not a bird of day that dare
Extinguish that delight.

William Butler Yeats

And now the emotional repair job is complete. A bit of light, happy making poetry from Mssr. Yeats, and all is well….. Enjoy!
___________________________________

So be it…. today’s effort was mostly therapeutic, for me, at least by intent. Hopefully, it will bring some light into your life as well…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Methodical methods for modified slavish sycophants….

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,
Today, I am a man. I was a man yesterday, too. Tomorrow, I’m turning in my papers, and will be out of the door, and well on my way to a better existence, as a cat.

Yep. A cat. I’m tired of this mankind nonsense…. this species has none of the characteristics with which I would prefer to live my life, spending it instead in mad paroxysms of idiotic warfare, abuse of women and children, and self-hatred disguised as racism and bigotry. Cats don’t do any of that stuff, and after long negotiations with the gods of reincarnation (they’re pretty nice once you get to know them), I have secured an appointment to change species…..

Day after tomorrow, my biggest decisions will involve when and where to nap, whether to annoy a human or comfort one, or whether to eat now, or later….. I won’t have to worry about Mitt the Twitt threatening to destroy all the progress our society has made in the last 100 years. I won’t have to worry about taxes. I won’t have to worry that some asshole banker wants more of my money, or that some politician is spreading more lies. None of that will have any more bearing on what I’m doing, and boy, am I looking forward to it…. After all, ignorance is bliss, right? Just ask any conservative American church-goer….. you can find a passel of them hanging around at the Westboro Baptist Church….

Today, however, I am tasked with once more heading into the breech, taking up the challenge, and producing a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom (affectionately known as “Pearls”…). Since that is a task that promises to be quite a challenge today, I’d best be about it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

What we think is less than what we know:
What we know is less than what we love:
What we love is so much less than what there is:
and to this precise extent, We are much less than what we are.
— R.D. Laing, The Politics of Experience

Psychobabble, by any other name, could not be any stupider than this. And that is a period at the end of that sentence, which means  no more that needs to be said about it. Since that goes against all the rules here, I’ll have to say this…. R.D. Laing was first caught spouting the above nonsense just about the time I was in Psych. Tech. school at Cuesta College/Atascadero State Hospital, and was one of the psychotherapists we studied in that school. At the time, he had a lot of followers, though not many in our class; our exposure to the individuals who received treatment at ASH made his techniques rather useless. But, it is another example of the power of human stupidity, and how it permeates every level of society….

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15

Any fool can read a book or two, then write one that makes fun of those books. Then, they start spouting nonsensical, meaningless aphorisms such as the one above in public, on radio and TV talk shows, and go on a whirlwind tour of bookstores to encourage more people to buy the book, and spread their nonsense out over the whole of society. This is proof of Mssr. Pope’s first line, “A little learning is a dangerous thing,”, as the little bit of learning the author has engaged in becomes his/her tower of information, their bastion of expertise,  unassailable by either logical or intuitive reasoning, until their brand of ignorance joins the top-ten list of humanity’s follies, right up there with religion, and politics…..

“How many people eat, drink, and get married; buy, sell and build; make contracts and attend to their fortune; have friends and enemies, pleasures and pains, are born, grow up, live and die – but asleep!” — Joseph Joubert

Our culture is dying, if not already dead. When it reaches the point where 20 million people, or more, will choose a man like the Twitt over the incumbent president, just because his skin isn’t white, (yes, racists, all of them. They just use the healthcare, birther, and other issues they jump on to sublimate their fear of the “darkie” in the Oval Office….), then culture is dead. If not now, it certainly will go down in flames should that fool be elected, as he tries to guide society back to the Stone Age. Should he enter that office, I shudder to think of how our image to the rest of the world will suffer, as Mitt the Twitt knows NOTHING about other countries, other than how their tax laws may favor him in his goal to become a modern Croesus….

Face it, ffolkes, this election isn’t about healthcare, or jobs, or women’s rights, or immigration. It is about race, and the time has come for those of us who are aware of this to speak out, to shout out, and point out the ignorance and lies that are being bandied about like candy at Halloween. The forces of Evil are at large, and have taken control of the fanatic zealots on the conservative right. In addition they have recruited all those in our culture who are closet racists, supplying sublimation issues for the real reason they fight so hard against this president. It is the responsibility of those who are on the side of Reason to fight back, as best we may without resorting to the methods used by the other side, which would put us in the same hypocritical boat.

Stay alert, ffolkes, the time is coming when hard decisions will need to be made…. be ready, or we will all be going down the road to Hell in the same handbasket….. and remember….

“It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
___________________________________

A clock stopped — not the mantel’s
Geneva’s farthest skill
Can’t put the puppet bowing
That just now dangled still.

An awe came on the trinket!
The figures hunched with pain,
Then quivered out of decimals
Into degreeless noon.

It will not stir for doctors,
This pendulum of snow;
The shopman importunes it,
While cool, concernless No

Nods from the gilded pointers,
Nods from seconds slim,
Decades of arrogance between
The dial life and him.

— Emily Dickinson

I was in need of a bit of esoterica, to bring some balance after ranting, and this little piece of Emily does the trick just fine…. enjoy!
___________________________________

Fetch the holy hand grenade …. — Smart Bee

I am perplexed. Perhaps you can help?….. This tagline popped up in front of me twice in a three-second period this morning while searching for pearls, so I figure Smart Bee wants me to use it pretty badly. Unfortunately, I can’t, as I’m uncertain as to its exact meaning.

Does the fact that it is holy come from being blessed by some earthly representative of a holy figure? Or was it created from nothing, a virgin-birth sort of thing, by God Himself? Or is it a holy hand grenade because it blows up holy stuff, or maybe because it leaves places all holy (full of holes…)? These are important things to know before I can commit to using it as basis for a rant. Ranting is a delicate undertaking, and it could be potentially embarrassing to rant for a while, then discover my subject is completely 180 degrees removed from what I thought it was; I blush easily, and don’t enjoy making such mistakes…

Ah well, it doesn’t matter in the long run, I suppose. Whether it is one, or the other, really shouldn’t matter to me; as a writer, I should be able to use it either way. But, I’m a stubborn old cuss, if nothing else, and I insist on knowing beforehand exactly who it is I am defiling, or exactly what weapon I’m using to cut through the bullshit to the core of meaning. It’s just a Ned-thing, you wouldn’t understand….

Four paragraphs of prattle isn’t too bad, especially on such short notice, so I guess we can call this a pearl, if just barely. I’m getting very close to 400 posts here on WP, and over a thousand pages of material have been created to fill those posts, so, as might be suspected, I am getting very short on material upon which  I haven’t previously expounded. Hence, fill-in material such as this, where I can waste a good three or four hundred words just fooling around, without ever approaching anything remotely important or relevant to our purpose. It’s a gift…..  🙂

Now, if you would please, sit down, remain silent, and no one will get hurt…. I don’t wish to harm anyone, but I will not be thwarted in my quest to finish this pearl on a dignified note. Just where that dignity is supposed to come from, I haven’t the foggiest notion, but, having done all I could possibly do to find some, I find myself stuck for an ending line.

Please, stop me! This damn pearl won’t let me finish. It keeps wandering from one non-concept to another, and dragging me along like a stupid dog. I guess I will have to resort to a hard re-boot. Here goes…..    Eureka! I have found it!  And I’m not giving it back….
___________________________________

Well, that was interesting….. a new method of wasting time and energy. As if I needed any more…. Ah well, c’est la vie! Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Verbal parity got sacrificed today…..

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
Apparently, what I’ve experienced thus far has just been the warm-up period; Life is really going to get serious now, and the pain and anguish that has been my lot will be as nothing compared with what is to come. Nightmarish mornings, horrific days, and terrifying nights are to be my lot, with lots and lots of turmoil and strife to fill in the slow moments…..

Okay, not really…. I’m exaggerating, of course. Life dumps on all of us, indiscriminately; the difference lies in how we react to that….

We can react with sadness and depression, or we can react with tolerance and joy. There is also a lot of ground in between those two points on the emotional scale, and we can spend it where we choose. The key is to remember that we do get the choice…. when we allow the negative to color all we see, then we tend to react negatively, and we spend our time in the emotional dumps. If we can remove the emotional content from our reaction to what occurs, we have a better chance of being able to deal with it effectively. “Steady as she goes….” as they would say on board a ship under power….

I try to choose the latter method of dealing with life, even though the negatives are what seem to be happening more of late. It’s tough, but concentrating on the good things helps…. like my daughter calling just to say hello, or my son calling to get advice on dealing with a dead battery. I figure that I’ve done something right in life, if both my kids, fully grown, not only still talk to me, but actually ask my advice or opinion on their activities. It’s a good feeling, for sure; I know a lot of folks whose kids never call, never come by, and don’t want the parents involved in their lives beyond the minimum, so I’m lucky in that respect….

Up, down, and all around, Life is a roller coaster, and there’s no getting off until the ride is done…. we may as well learn to enjoy the view from the top, while we can…. Until you can get your tickets for the next ride, though, perhaps you would care to join me in a search for pearls for today’s missive? It’s often fun, and always interesting, to see what we can come up with for dissection, er, discussion…. shall we Pearl?…..

“I feel like I’m in a Toilet Bowl with a thumbtack in my forehead!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
___________________________________

“Men know that if a woman had to choose between catching a fly ball and  saving an infant’s life, she would probably save the infant’s life, without  even considering whether there were men on base.” — Dave Barry

Normally, I try not to get involved too deeply in the ongoing War between the Sexes; I find it to be generally unproductive. (A nice way to say it’s stupid, and can lead to bloodshed….) But, this statement is just so perfect, I couldn’t resist. It is, as far as I can tell, completely accurate. I have, in fact, tested this theorem on several occasions, and can honestly report that the women who were tested chose to save the baby, every time, and no outs were recorded….

Now, one might think that this is putting too much importance into a game, to even make the comparison. But I think it is a good test, one that clearly indicates the nature of each sex, and identifies the motivation of the involved parties. I mean, hey, the guys on whom I also tested the theorem scored a 98%, only dropping the baby twice to go for the ball. That’s not bad! And they got the outs, so…..

Don’t worry, no babies were harmed in the filming of this event; they were dropped onto a small, padded patch of grass, and given a cookie if they cried…. The important piece of information here is that the male contingent scored eight outs, putting the women to shame in that category. Of course, they did lose the contest, as the penalty points for the dropped infants put their score in the toilet…. but hey, no guts, no glory, right?

So, ladies and gents, don’t get all het up because guys are different than girls; fighting against that difference isn’t going to get you anywhere, except maybe a stay in the Heart Break Hotel. Learn instead to appreciate the differences that make each of us unique. We each just need to realize that it is those differences that actually make us fit together so well.

The characteristics of the male stick out in such a way that they fit exactly into those characteristics of the female that are the complementary opposite, like two wheels with teeth that fit together to turn the hands of a clock. Neither one keeps good time by itself, but working together, time passes smoothly, like the river to which it is often compared…. and, it is much more fun to float down the river with company….
___________________________________

“There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, and resent it as an outrage to their feelings; as a religious bigot, when charged with disregarding the religious feelings of others, has been known to retort that they disregard his feelings, by persisting in their abominable worship or creed. But there is no parity between the feeling of a person for his own opinion, and the feeling of another who is offended at his holding it; no more than between the desire of a thief to take a purse, and the desire of the right owner to keep it.  And a person’s taste is as much his own peculiar concern as his opinion or his purse. It is easy for any one to imagine an ideal public, which leaves the freedom and choice of individuals in all uncertain matters undisturbed, and only requires them to abstain from modes of conduct which universal experience has condemned. But where has there been seen a public which set any such limit to its censorship? or when does the public trouble itself about universal experience? In its interferences with personal conduct it is seldom thinking of anything but the enormity of acting or feeling differently from itself; and this standard of judgment, thinly disguised, is held up to mankind as the dictate of religion and philosophy, by nine-tenths of all moralists and speculative writers.” — John Stuart Mill, _On Liberty_, Chapter IV

On most mornings, this would be enough to send me on a rant, taking aim at politicians and preachers, and at the apathetic public itself. But, thankfully, this is not most mornings, it is this one, and I am not in the mood for a rant…. well, maybe a little one….

One disturbing thought occurred to me as I read this…. Mr. Mill speaks of the bigots who commonly hold fundamentalist religious views, and characterizes them as completely self-centered in their view. The experience of the other person in the equation, whomever they may be, is, to these walking statues, irrelevant, as it doesn’t match THEIR experience. Their narcissism is so limiting, it’s as if they wear blinders, like they used to use on horses, to keep them from seeing anything which might distract them from their own view. They do not even realize the bigotry they display, even though it is in complete disagreement with the principles they reportedly follow, as outlined by their particular version of a religious icon….

“I can’t stand intolerant people.’ — Tore Adolfson

It is this blindness that makes it so hard to educate these folks; they won’t let go of their long-held beliefs to even consider any evidence that is contradictory to those ideas. In order to learn, one must first admit that they don’t know; these folks KNOW they know, even though their only proof is what someone wrote in a book over a thousand years ago. It has been said, with good reason, that a little learning is a dangerous thing, and this issue is proof of that pudding, for sure (nothing like mixing a few metaphors to cloud up an issue!…)…. I could only wish that the danger posed by the bigotry displayed by most religious zealots weren’t so universally extant; I don’t enjoy knowing that their ignorance will eventually kill me, too….

End of Rant….

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.
‘T is not enough no harshness gives offence,–
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 162

“If people find fault with you and try to put you into bad light, wrongly slandering and vilifying you, just step back and observe yourself. Don’t harbor any dislike, don’t enter into it any contests, and don’t get upset, angry, or resentful. Just cut right through it and be as if you never or saw it. Eventually malevolent pests will disappear of themselves. If you contend with them, then a bad name will bounce back and forth with never an end in sight.” — Yuan wu
___________________________________

A Galloway Song

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

John Keats

Ah, but I won’t be shedding sad tears, not after that…. just a little break for some “cultcha”, don’t y’know?….. Enjoy!
___________________________________

All things considered, this hasn’t turned out as badly as I had feared. Still running about 50/50 on the chances of being correct in what I fear…. Probably a very average score….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

A bond of legacy weighs heavily….

Posted on by
7

Ffolkes,
The following is a post I wrote for a site called GoodBlogs, for this holiday in 2010. You may note that a couple of the pearls were used again recently…. but they remain valid…. and this goes to show that on the subject of patriotism, my viewpoint hasn’t changed in the last couple of years; in fact it is even more pronounced now…. Abondanza!…..

Musings of an Independent Nature

Independence Day is one of the few holidays I respect, since it was not created merely to stimulate the economy, as were many of the  modern days on the calendar that we are told are “special”.  As such, I’d like to pay it the honor of recognition.

In doing so, today’s group of pearls will walk a very dangerous line, as they deal primarily with two subjects that are often unwise to discuss (especially together), i.e. politics and religion. It is generally considered to be unwise because no other subjects arouse as much passion, or as much anger as do these two when the proponents of one or another creed feels challenged by the beliefs of another.

However, lest we forget, the first, and perhaps the most important, of the reasons we fought to be free of English rule was religious freedom; our entire government is based on the principle of separation of church and state. Too often today, those who would call themselves patriots are in reality interested only in preserving their own religious beliefs, and would deny to others the same prerogative.

July 4th, to my way of thinking, is a day to celebrate the diversity of thought allowed by the Constitution, to honor Truth in whatever guise it may take. I find it immensely interesting, and satisfying  to note that the quotes I’ve chosen are the thoughts of people from a variety of different periods in our history, but all are alike in their intransigent resistance to any limits of thought or choice……

To forestall any flaming responses, or misunderstanding, I will also state at his point, that just because I have included a pearl, doesn’t necessarily mean that I endorse the same ideas. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t; as a matter of fact, I agree with most of what follows. But, most is not all, and as far as my own thoughts, they are my own; I’ve learned not to share all of them with others, as they have a tendency to make folks uneasy, or even angry. That is unfortunate, but, there it is.  Human nature, being what it is, always has the tendency to “shoot the messenger”.  I don’t mind; it keeps me on my toes……meantime, enjoy now these statements of belief by a number of important historical figures, and others…….

“But the greatest of all reformers of the depraved religion of his own country was Jesus of Nazareth.  Abstracting what is really his from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distinguished by its luster from the dross of his biographers, and as separable as the diamond from the dunghill, we have the outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man; outlines which it is lamentable he did not live to fill up…  The establishment of the innocent and genuine character of this benevolent moralist, and the rescuing it from the imputation of imposture, which has resulted from artificial systems*, invented by ultra-Christian sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him, is a most desirable object…  *e.g.  The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification, the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection and visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity; original sin, atonement, regeneration, election, orders of Hierarchy, etc.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Short, October 31 (Halloween), 1819

“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” — H. L. Mencken (1810-1956)

“However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs.  There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly.  The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent.  If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.  I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D.”  Just who do they think they are?  And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?  And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate.  I am warning them today:  I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”” — Senator Barry Goldwater, from the Congressional Record, September 16, 1981

“You know your country is dying when you have to make a distinction between what is moral and ethical, and what is legal.” — John De Armond, Performance Engineering Magazine, 1994

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State.  My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.” — George Carlin

“They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me will  be exerted in opposition to their schemes.  And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” — Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

“The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

There you have it…a veritable orgy of ideas, to do with as you please. But take a moment today to think about the historical forces that have led us to the situation we have in the world today, and strengthen your resolve to maintain that freedom that our forefathers left us as their legacy. You honor that legacy when you bend your efforts to use the mind you have been given, and reject outright any and all attempts to curtail, prejudice, or control that mind.  Y’all take care out there….and have a good Fourth!….

As a holiday bonus, I offer one final pearl on today’s subject….

“Quite frankly I admit that I am not too talented, rather under-educated, and not too up on current affairs, decidedly uninterested in sports, and additional to all of this I know practically nothing about the stock market, money management, international law, how to deal with terrorism and protective policy. These at the things that worry me, inasmuch as any day now, someone is going to come and ask me to run for President, since so few other folks are so well qualified.” — Smart Bee

Stay safe today, ffolkes. A lot of amateur drinkers get carried away by their enthusiasm, and nothing is more dangerous than a drunk, self-proclaimed patriot on the fourth of July…..
___________________________________

Profound Truth differs from simple truth in that the negation of a simple truth is a simple falsehood, while the negation of a Profound Truth may be another Profound Truth. E.g. a button with “Life is just as simple as it seems” on one side and “Life is not as simple as it seems” on the other. — Smart Bee

This is an insightful piece of information, and, as such, is one most folks never would even consider, since it requires more than a minimum of thought to comprehend. But, there is hope! I see an opportunity here…. T-shirts! 

We could, instead of a button with two Profound Truths on each side, make and sell T-shirts with the same…. add a small logo, and voilà, $35 each, 2 for $60. I smell a small fortune in sales, just at county fairs, NASCAR races, and flea markets. If one of the large chains, like Penneys, or Macy’s, gets wind of it, they’d probably offer a buy-out, or a franchise consignment contract for a medium fortune. It’s a sure winner! Want to invest?….

We could even think up more Profound Truths to put on each side…. like “Always” on one side, and “Never” on the other side. Or, “Your vote makes a difference!” and “Your vote is wasted!” on two sides. Or, “God is Dead!” on one side , with “God is Alive, and living in New Jersey” on the other side. Heck, you could hold contests to see who could come up with the best dualities to put on the shirts. Since the subject matter is Profound, you might even be able to get tax exempt status as an educational tool maker, with a dot .org domain name to boot, where the shirts could be sold and shipped online, for a modest fee.

I see a lot of potential here, with eventual growth into a multinational corporation dedicated to everything all the other corps are against, like Truth, Equality, Diversity, and Responsibility. I rather like the irony of using a corporation, dedicated to justice, to bring down the other corporations, who have long since shown their dedication to greed and oppression….

Hey, another thought…. We could go to California to incorporate, and, jointly, register as a church; in that socio-political stew, who’d notice another new cult? Then we could fight on two fronts, using corporate weapons to fight the corporations, and religious zealotry to fight the religious zealots…. A very balanced, two-pronged attack, with the added bonus of irony on our side…. Can’t lose, eh?…. It’s worth a shot, nothing else seems to be working…..
___________________________________

Vain was the chief’s the sage’s pride!
They had no poet, and they died.


— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace, Odes, Book iv, Ode 9

This is much how I react to the absence of poetry in life, so…. here are some fine examples from Mssr. Pope….

Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness

I am his Highness’ dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

Alexander Pope

Couplets on Wit
I
I

But our Great Turks in wit must reign alone
And ill can bear a Brother on the Throne.

II

Wit is like faith by such warm Fools profest
Who to be saved by one, must damn the rest.

III

Some who grow dull religious strait commence
And gain in morals what they lose in sense.

IV

Wits starve as useless to a Common weal
While Fools have places purely for their Zeal.

V

Now wits gain praise by copying other wits
As one Hog lives on what another sh—.

VI

Wou’d you your writings to some Palates fit
Purged all you verses from the sin of wit
For authors now are so conceited grown
They praise no works but what are like their own.

Alexander Pope

That should hold me for a day, and you as well…. enjoy!
___________________________________

“Honk! Honk! My nose is big, and red, my name is Ned, and I am a bozo”…. This is how all of us who attend the meetings at BA preface our remarks. Of course, I’m the only one who says “Ned”, but the rest is the same…

BA (Bozos Anonymous) is a fine organization, patterned on the AA model, that helps those of us who, for some genetic reason, easily fall into the life of a bozo, which, as we all know, is extremely bad, especially for the kids of such pathetic clowns…..

But, at the meetings, we support each other in learning to go through life without falling prey to our condition…. and, we learn not to miss having the occasional belly-laughs happen on a regular basis. As good as they feel, that much lack of seriousness can’t be allowed in a Christian society; it could lead to jokes about politicians, and lawyers, and priests, walking into a bar……

That being said, I wish you all a happy, safe 4th of July! Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!