Passive salivation…

Posted on June 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.”

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

This is what distracts me.

Hello, ffolkes…. Some of y’all will have noticed the last few days inconsistency in getting posted (gigoid’s long winded way of saying he missed a couple days…). The picture you see is a big part of the why, as the scene you see is right outside the door of where I’m staying…. So, the angst and build-up of inner conflict with which we live in the urban world just doesn’t have a chance to collect to any large degree…. Hence, no posts….

Today’s post will also be truncated, and tomorrow’s may not appear at all, again. But. by Saturday all should be back to normal, if only until I take off again on the road…. We’ll see…

That said, you only get what is already ready, or can be added quickly, because, I’ve got stuff NOT do….

Shall we Pearl?

“A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

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No video today; I’m not currently watching much of anything…. I can suggest going to You Tube, type your favorite artist or subject’s name into the search box & watch whatever you find… Enjoy! After all, you’ll have chosen it….

royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

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Anyone who’s been here at least twice should have known I’d use one from the archives…. Here’s a pretty standard politireligirant from April a couple years ago….

From 5/5/2013:

The thorns which I have reap’d are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed.
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.

~~ Lord Byron (1788-1824) ~~

~~ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iv, Stanza 10 ~~

Here, in a three line verse, Lord Byron has explained the flaw that exists in human nature, a flaw that will one day drive the species to extinction, if we don’t find a way to alter its effect on us, as a species. This flaw doesn’t manifest in every human, only in a certain percentage, not particularly large, but full of the people who affect society the most, i.e., the leaders, the politicians, the aristocracy (the rich, or as I call them, the bankers….), and the preachers, all of whom are supposed to be ordering society to benefit ALL of its members.

Instead, these individuals, who have this fatal flaw, have ordered events to suit themselves, hoarding the largest part of the available resources, showing absolutely no compassion or willingness to share, and dismissing as unimportant all of the pain and suffering their actions cause to other people…. This selfishness gene will eventually kill us all, because the BRC, or Beloved Ruling Class, are so focused on their goals, and so unwilling to entertain the idea that their actions are wrong, they cannot comprehend the danger they have created by their pathology, to themselves as well as to the rest of us….

That is the unfortunate thing about any mental aberration; it’s very presence tends to limit what the victim can understand, because they are unwilling to look at the evidence….. No one wants to believe they are mentally off; it doesn’t fit in with our self-image as a competent human being. These folks never understand at all that the way they are leading their lives is a threat to the rest of us; they will only accept evidence that supports their unrealistic view of reality.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, these people are also the ones who are the most willing to use violence, and weapons, to enforce their will, and they already have control of more force than the rest of the public can possibly contend with to force a change. It is a very complex, delicate problem, with no solution that I can see as practical, or with any large chance for success….

The time we have to make the necessary changes to society is growing shorter every hour, as more and more millions of tons of CO (carbon monoxide) is pumped into the air, along with other particulate pollutants. This material in our atmosphere has almost completely destroyed the ozone layer, and the amount of heat reaching the planet from the Sun has raised the ambient temperature of the planet a full two degrees…

Two degrees may not seem like much, but, the fact that the change has taken place in less than a hundred years is a clear indicator that it is quite enough, as it continues to change the climate of the planet drastically. The polar ice is melting more rapidly than ever before, and at a geometrically increasing rate. The amount of oxygen in the air is decreasing in relation to other substances; if it changes two percentage points, there won’t be enough of it for our lungs to breathe; we will suffocate ourselves if it continues. The weather is changing all over the world, as the water from the polar ice melts, and changes the chemical balance of the air everywhere…. As plants die, the process will accelerate, and it will be a toss-up to see what will kill us first….

“Whenever I see a photograph of some sportsman grinning over his kill, I am always impressed by the striking moral and aesthetic superiority of the dead animal to the live one.” — Edward Abbey

Not a pretty picture, is it? Unless, of course, you are one of the power elite, the BRC; then, you’re the one with the gun…. I’m sorry to have to bring doom and gloom into the morning, but, this is a subject that won’t go away, so I pound on it whenever I can…. The quote above, from Lord Byron, stimulated my sense of outrage at the sheer selfishness of the 1% (yet another name for those with the flaw of extreme self-interest….), so I ranted, if mildly. What bothers me the most is that what I’m saying here is absolute truth, and the people who read it are NOT the ones who need to change…. Of course, those folks wouldn’t believe it if they did read it, so it’s rather a thankless task, and relatively futile, to boot…..

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good.” — Anne Frank

I think Anne was a better person than I am, because I have lost my belief in what she says here…. I do believe that the majority of mankind is good, or at least tries to be good; I just don’t believe that those ffolkes are the ones that matter to our future, as much as the folks who are NOT basically good, for as long as the innocents allow the harm their leaders continue to cause to the environment in which we all have to live. I don’t know of a solution, other than the obvious one of becoming violent myself, and doing to them what they want to do to me, but doing it first….. But, then I become like them, and I’d have to kill myself, because I’d never be able to look in a mirror again….. I guess there’s only one thing left to do…..

Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day;
Let other hours be set apart for business.
To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk;
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.

~~ Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

~~ Tom Thumb the Great, Act i, Sc. 2 ~~

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Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 5/12/2013

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However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?

~~ Buddha ~~

You know? I don’t think this pearl needs any more; that pretty much says it all for me…

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That’s all, ffolkes…. for now. I’ll be back Saturday…. Be real, stay alert, & try not to hurt anyone, okay?…

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Terror in the breakfast food aisle…

Posted on June 1, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I had a hunch something like this would happen.”

~~Written on grave ~~

Image created by Europa’s Ice Wolf Herself

https://europasicewolf.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/let-us-go-you-and-i/

Good morrow…. Today is the day, he said, cryptically…. Change is in the air….

Shall we Pearl?

“If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” — The Cowboy’s Guide to Life

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David Bromberg

Image via pbs.org via Google Images

This artist is one many people have never seen, or heard of; during the late 60’s and early 70’s he was a favorite of the counter-culture of the time…. His music is a blend of rock, folk, and bluegrass, with a side of damn silly at times…. His song, “I Will Not Be Your Fool” remains one of my all-time favorite versions of the talkin’ blues…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is a hidden gem….

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David Bromberg

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https://youtu.be/MNzSMdGINyQ

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“Our main task for the coming era is… a radical renewal of our sense of responsibility. Our conscience must catch up with our reason — otherwise we are lost. It is my profound conviction that there is only one way to achieve this: we must divest ourselves of our egotistical anthropocentrism, our habit of seeing ourselves as the masters of the universe who can do whatever occurs to us. We must acknowledge what transcends us: the universe, earth, nature, life, and reality. Our respect for other people, for other nations, and for other cultures can only grow from a humble respect for the cosmic order and from an awareness that we are part of it, that we share in it, and that nothing we do is lost, but, rather, that what we do becomes part of the eternal memory of Being, where it is judged… It is also essential that the Euro-American cultural sphere– the one that created this civilization and taught humanity its destructive pride– now return to its spiritual roots and become an example to the rest of the world in the search for a new humility.” — Vaclav Havel, address, Harvard University, June 8, 1995

Václav Havel, (born October 5, 1936, Prague, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic] — died December 18, 2011, Hrádecek, Czech Republic), Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident, who, after the fall of communism, was president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and of the Czech Republic (1993–2003).

I thank Mr. Havel sincerely for this quote; it’s a pretty good summary of the root message I have been trying to get through to anyone who reads my work. Having concluded the same root cause to the problems we now face as a species, a culture, and as living creatures, to be found in the lack of willingness of almost every human to take responsibility for their actions. Far, far too many of those who live in today’s world have no idea of their own connection to Life, or the Universe, nor do they have any idea of how they fit into either one….

How did we come to this? Why are there so many people in the world with a sense of entitlement unlike any other creature of which we have any knowledge? Why do people think they have the right to do whatever they wish to make themselves happy, no matter what sort of effect it may have on the world around them, whether other people, animals, or the world at large…. All of it is the property of Man, as seen by these arrogant, hairless apes, who can’t even, most of the time, figure out by themselves how to keep from shooting themselves in the foot.

Well, I can explain…. But, it isn’t a popular concept; not surprising as it is diametrically opposed to most of what you, or anyone has heard all their lives…. There are those who have seen the truth; they’ve tried their best to tell people what they have seen, but, for the most part, people don’t want to hear things that don’t fit in with their longest-held beliefs… Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of this country was one such man… He pointed out the culprits as clearly as he could, with words such as these…

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

Just a few days ago, this country sold some Billions of dollars worth of arms, in the form of rockets, bombs, ammunition, and supporting technology to Israel, and another of our allies currently waging war somewhere around the world…. Now, it may surprise you to know that we, the USA, are the single biggest dealer of arms in the world; there are people in every corner of the world being killed by our weapons every minute of every day…. Yep, us, the peace-loving, freedom-bearing, rapacious businessmen from Amurica, who will sell anyone the means to fight wars, or, merely oppress their own people….

At the same time, as I read just today, here at home, in Amurica, our own police are killing two citizens, on average, every day, according to statistics gathered by the Washington Post, while video after video hits the news, and You Tube, showing actual crimes committed by police, with no charges ever brought…. My father, who fought in the Pacific Theater during World War II, for four years, would have been appalled at the state of affairs today, in this land he loved.

I can see him sitting at his desk, after having a talk about the material not in the news during the Vietnam War, writing to the Department of the Army, as a retired veteran of that service, asking for explanations for some of what he was hearing…. He got a runaround, for the most part, and became an active letter-writer to the service voicing his concerns…. I can do no less…

But, how many people do YOU know who are willing to say that? Not many, I’d wager. If there were, the world would be different than it is…. No, the corporate snakes, the pundits, the preachers, all have the public, for the vast majority, completely bamboozled, into believing an entire pantheon of delusions, and lies, all of which are intended to keep them ignorant of the truth, and, to keep the money, and the power, in their hands alone….
Let me show this another way…. If I were to read the following verses to the Congress of the United States, how many of them do you think would A) understand half of it, B) agree with ANY of it, or, C) look confused, then angry….. Moreover, how many of them would NOT lie to anyone who asked them about the arms deal with Israel? Okay, I know, I switched horses too fast; I even lost myself with that one…. But, my point remains…. the people who make up our government, all 455 of them (that’s all!!!…), who have almost complete power over the rest of us, do NOT believe ANY of this is true….

Arms are instruments of ill omen… .

When one is compelled to use them it is best to do so without relish.

There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men… .

When great numbers of people are killed, one should weep over them with sorrow.

When victorious in war, one should observe mourning rites.

~~ Lao-Tzu ~~

Note, please, Lao Tzu does not say “if great numbers of heroes are killed”, or, “if great numbers of enemies are killed”. He just says “people”.

Now, how many of our Beloved Ruling Class have you ever seen, or heard, express their SINCERE regrets over the losses incurred in our wars? Especially for those valiant defenders of their own homelands, when we have bombed and invaded them, to bring them the “advantages” of democracy and freedom (read: “new markets for our corporate masters”), whom we call insurgents, or rebels, or the current bogey-word of choice, terrorists…..

“The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerably imposes its will against all others.” — Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf”

Right…. None.

I’m done. The reason for that is simple. I’m getting nauseated, thinking about those fat cats, sitting in D.C., thinking they are all that, and deciding for everyone else exactly how they are going to screw them next….

Remember, ffolkes…. you only have the rights you can defend….

“The army commander of a large State may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him.” — Confucius

gigoid has spoken, and, he’s pissed off.

So be it.

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“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal, living on land, wanting to fly in the air… Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable… Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away…” — Carl Sandburg, “Poetry Considered”, Atlantic Monthly, March 1923

I’m fairly certain very little of my poetry quite lives up to Carl’s description; I do my best, though, and, I like this one…

Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,

of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 8/31/2014

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If you want happiness…
For an hour – take a nap
For a day – go fishing
For a month – get married
For a year – inherit a fortune
For a lifetime – help someone else.

~~ Chinese Proverb ~~

“Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that fate allows you.” — Horace

“Speak in silver, reply in gold.” — Ancient Swahili saying

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

“The glory of riches and of beauty is frail and transitory; virtue remains bright and eternal.” — Sallust (B.C. 86-34)

“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” — Japanese proverb

“Truth comes as an enemy only to those who have lost the ability to welcome it as a friend.” — Smart Bee

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Okay, so, I’m not entirely sure what happened here today, but, as far as I can tell, it’s done. So be it…. though I hate to repeat myself. Ah well, it’s a day for changes, so, we’ll all just have to deal with it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, from a new locus…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Using kosher kibbles as ballast….

Posted on May 31, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Rub her feet.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

I’m hungry, mama!

Image of Wild Love from UK Guardian Animal Pictures of the Week

Good morn…. ah, hell. Who am I trying to kid? It isn’t anywhere within shouting distance of morning; I don’t believe calling 1:17 AM morning quite fits the bill, do you? Oh, technically, I suppose it is morning, but, approximately five hours before sunrise isn’t exactly what most would say is their customary time for beginning the day; would you?

I guess five hours sleep will have to do…. Rather than complain about it, though, let’s just get on with what we have to do, thus showing a bit of courage, or, at least, common sense. It doesn’t happen all that often around here, so, we’ll take advantage of the impulse while we may….

Shall we Pearl?

“It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” — Noel Coward

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Alison Balsom

Image from classicfm.com via Google Images

There is something about the sound of a trumpet that burrows straight into the human soul, to lift it up from its mundane existence into higher realms of spirit. Other instruments, in the same way, can also achieve this connection, but, there is good reason the Archangel Michael will blow the Last Trump with the same kind of instrument as employed with such brilliance by Ms. Balsom…. It hasn’t hurt her career to be gorgeous, but, like many of the fans of her music, my fondness for her talent was established before I ever saw what she looked like…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this music will definitely give you goose bumps….

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Alison Balsom

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https://youtu.be/Z0uknBJc8NI

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“The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be _tremendous and irresistible_. Who are the militia? _are they not ourselves_. Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms _each man against his own bosom_. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are _the birth-right of an American_…the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the _federal or state governments_, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, _in the hands of the people_.” — Tench Coxe 20 Feb. 1788

It’s funny…. funny odd, not funny, ha ha….. I wrote the following rant in 2012, after one of the spate of school shootings that took place that year. It’s funny how the mainstream media constantly plays up such incidents as the worst tragedies our nation faces, always prompting a huge outcry amongst the more manipulable amongst the public, demanding the government do SOMETHING to stop the violence…. Yet, nobody ever mentions all the research that has shown the shootings can only be the natural result of the overcrowding of the planet we humans are pursuing, in our mad rush to extinction at our own hands….

It’s also funny, halfway between odd and ha ha, I can still use this rant without changing a single word, unless I now know better than to use it. Everything I said in this is still true, and relevant to the situation in our society…. Go figure…. Any who, it’s a subject I believe in strongly, which is why my opinion hasn’t altered a whit in three years….

Last posted2/14/2013; first written in 2012:

The issue of gun control is currently a HOT BUTTON issue for a lot of people in this country…. At least, it is for those who enjoy over-reacting to all the violence reported in the news….. They seem to forget that there are now over 7 billion people on this planet, with more crowding on every second, and the increased violence we are seeing is a natural result of overpopulation combined with stupidity, both of which exist in ample supply in our society…. The following is a piece I wrote not long after one of the school shootings in 2012, which, to my mind, pretty well summarizes my objections to the foolish and unwarranted fear that has prompted the idiotic notion of repealing the Second Amendment altogether…. Here is my response to that notion..

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence… From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable…. The very atmosphere of firearms every- where restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” — George Washington (bogus?)(who cares? I don’t, it doesn’t make it any less true if it was said by someone else…..)

I constantly hear people these days spouting off about gun control, practically screaming how guns should be outlawed. This is a viewpoint that I have never understood, because it makes a totally unwarranted assumption (more than one actually, but one that is most important….), i.e., guns cause violent behavior; it goes on to insist if people couldn’t legally own them, violence would stop. This is naive, and unreasonable, given there is absolutely no evidence to support such a contention. There is no evidence whatsoever violence is NOT part of human nature; this is a psychological FACT, not subject to debate. People have violent tendencies, and violence is the primary response of a great many people who have never learned how to use their reason to control their emotions.

Though I’ve never owned or carried a gun, I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in its most literal sense. Without the right to bear arms in our own defense, we, as citizens, would be at the mercy of whomever was in office at the time, with no recourse at all to any redress of grievance against those officials, since they could not be forced to comply with law. I do NOT trust any elected official to act in MY best interests; human nature also decrees that they will act in their OWN interests first, with no compulsion to even consider anything else. Making it law only police and government lackeys could legally be armed is a sure way to guarantee the average citizen would be at the mercy of these so-called leaders, mercy being a quality they have never, heretofore, demonstrated in any fashion.

As I said, I don’t own or carry guns….. yet. I’ve trained myself to be dangerous without the use of them; I feel no fear I cannot deal with an armed man to my benefit; this is simply because it is the person holding the gun that is the danger, not the gun itself. Speed, power, and accuracy are the key elements to controlling a violent situation, along with forethought, preparation, and the ability to keep a clear mind when under duress. When a person is holding a gun, they feel ten feet tall and invincible, but they remain human, and humans can be controlled with superior strategy and tactics. It does no good to hold a gun, when the target won’t sit still, or even remain visible….. and in these cases, that sense of imperviousness becomes a liability to the gun-wielder.

However, most Americans do not have this sort of skill set, nor the state of mind that makes it work. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a gun becomes a dangerous weapon indeed, for it will be used to achieve the warrior’s goals, as any weapon would, and not employed to merely bully others into doing what is desired, which is the usual use of these kinds of weapons in the hands of the ignorant and deceitful. Politicians, by the very nature of their sociopathy, do get rather deceitful in the pursuit of their self-centered ends. The desire to be in public office, to me, is a sure sign of a sick mind, as a healthy one has no need to assume power over others, being content to be in control of themselves.

At this point in the narrative, I got a bit sarcastic, caustically so, directed at those shrill advocates of this kind of legal oppression, laws that attempt to legislate morality, so I’ve stopped it here to avoid offending anyone unduly. (Hah!) I agree with the need to tighten the regulations regarding assault weapons, but not as far as is wanted by the fear-mongers. I also think it is a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of children, and people who have demonstrated the lack of emotional control needed by a free citizen of this country, to own and use a gun appropriately, i.e. the mentally ill, who are characterized by a lack of impulse control…. Not a good characteristic for someone with a gun in their hands….

But, once again, I must caution people to examine any laws that do get passed closely, for going farther than the minimum necessary, which people in charge have a tendency to do, to slip stuff by the public…. I’ll try to wake up your precautionary instincts by asking this….. If the insane are not to be allowed full rights as a citizen, who is it that gets to decide who is insane? The same issues of trust are present, or absent, in that idea, as in the assumption that the Beloved Ruling Class will act in our best interests….. They can ONLY be trusted to act in their own interests, first, and we all would do well to keep that in mind…..

“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.”

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

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Just because I can….

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

Everywhere is dark, and shining,
with points in dissonant pain.
Sharp, senses dull past divining,
tears burn, a torrential rain.

Escape! Flee within to cower,
find an unconscious cave.
Call on Morpheus’ power
deny reality’s beckoning wave.

Light breaks, drawing the inner eye,
leading to the slippery slope.
Risk is critical, we may only sigh,
yet welcome, for bringing hope.

Sanity seems far out of reach
Insanity’s a stronger friend.
Decisions made will merely teach
our way toward Death to wend.

Lost, while still on familiar ground,
the future yet undesigned.
Making way on paths unfound,
to Now, as yet undefined.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 2/22/2013

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Inner strength. Learning & Teaching. Kindness. Change. Honor. Happiness. Friendship. Virtue. Life. Death. Humor. Pride…. Any pearl that includes a word on each of these, if that word is anywhere near the truth (of the included pearls, ALL of them ARE truth…. I checked, according to every known test of logic, and experience….),…. well, let’s just say I don’t think we can go wrong…. What do you think?…. Well, okay, then, if you insist, you don’t have to…. But, I’m betting if you pay attention, it will work out better than just passing it over…. Wow, did we just make another metaphor for living? I guess so…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

“Once, I read that a man be never stronger than when he truly realizes how weak he is.” — Jim Starlin, “Captain Marvel #31”

“No one can teach on an empty spirit.” — William Perky

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Immanuel Kant

“Friendship should be more than biting time can sever.” — T. S. Eliot

“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” — Socrates

“I had a hunch something like this would happen.” — Written on grave

Ode to an Indispensable Man

Sometime, when you’re feeling important,
Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom,
Sometime, when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room;
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow this simple instruction
And see how it humbles your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water;
Put your hand in it, up to the wrist.
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is the measure of how you’ll be missed.
You may splash all you please when you enter,
You can stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find in a minute
That it looks the same as before.
The moral in this quaint example
Is to do the best that you can.
Be proud of yourself, but remember –
There is no indispensable man.

~~ Saxon White Kessinger ~~

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

We’ll continue our policy of not whining, in spite of the hour at which we are finishing today’s effort…. Why, I haven’t a clue. I suppose it’s for the best; nobody likes to hear grown men cry. I also haven’t a clue what I’ll do now, to pass the time until the sun rises, and the rest of this part of the world comes to life…. Ah well, I can always…. well, perhaps I’d better just keep that to myself…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should fortune favor this sad old fool….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Boiled mutton in a plastic bag….

Posted on May 16, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ask of friends only what is honorable.”

~~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) ~~

Spazosaurus

Image stolen from The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/article/fossilized-evidence-reveals-spazosaurus-was-larges-33020

Good morning…. The recent use of silence as an intro has worked quite well; let’s continue with the efficiency we’re coming to enjoy….

Shall we Pearl?

“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.” — Henry Miller

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

The Persuasions

Image from thebluegrassspecial.com via Google Images

A capella music, to me, is the epitome of performance art by humans, in the respect that nothing else but the human voice is required to produce the effects of almost any instrument, or sound produced by nature…. Mimicry in is most essential form…. Simplicity is beauty, I think, and it doesn’t get any simpler, or more beautiful than five vocal artists, harmonizing…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

The Persuasions

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

https://youtu.be/tCREnT3KabQ

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

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

Okay, so, it’s clear (to me) I don’t have the angst, the anger, or, the wherewithal, at all, to rant. I don’t like to go so long without taking a shot or two at our Beloved Ruling Class or any of the other Asininnies, but, hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Right…. Here is a discussion, of sorts, from a couple years back, to pass the time…. Enjoy!….

From 2/23/2013:

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

At this point, after reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”, an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton (1843-1901)

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..

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Thanks to the intransigence of modern HMO’s, my life of late has been filled with new levels of pain…. Here’s a poem I wrote back in 2012, during a time much like now…. It’s not, perhaps, my best, but, it’s honest…

Denial of Comfort

Baleful chairs become the enemy, heralded in red
seemingly welcome softness beckons with a smile,
waiting, content with slaughter, they are finally led
screaming in agony, deluged in venom all the while.

Desperate distraction becomes such a friendless fire
for all the patterns of autumn’s pale dismay,
leaving sincerely latent trails in spirals of twisted wire,
while memory insists, again, upon failure, palpably evil, and fey.

Fat, jaded tears would have fallen in good time,
if only the suitable suitor had scaled the garden’s wall.
Credence for discounted prices luckily in their prime
bring only fascinated eyes into such a hallowed hall.

Searching for answers is ever a clever portrayal
with studious accouterments to fulfill each common rule.
Arguably patient pictures of science and honest betrayal
shall evermore languish, in light of passion so elegantly cruel.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

An odd little pearl, but, with some valuable ideas, about life, to share with our Gentle Readers….

“The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.” — Colin Wilson

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

“Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” — Edward Abbey

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

“The stupid are deaf to the truth; they hear, but think that the wisdom applies to someone else.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.” — Pliny the Elder

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

Okay, that’s enough; I’ll cease the torture, of both of us…. It’s done, and that’s the best I can say today…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; after this one, it’s good to know I get another chance….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Turnips & aquavit; breakfast of champions….

Posted on April 21, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Nothing in human affairs is worth any great anxiety.”

~~ Plato ~~

Afternoon sun shines

brightly through the pepper tree.

Beauty strikes at will.

~~ gigoid ~~

Oh, no! Just when I thought I had this figured out, I get up to find myself again confronted by a vast white space, with nothing worth writing to be found anywhere in my mind…. Scary, and frustrating, since I had achieved a bit of success at getting them done in a timely fashion…. Y’know what, ffolkes? I’m not even going to fuss with it at all. The damn screen up here can remain blank, for all I care. I’m going to be as ruthless as I’ve ever been, even counting the time I…. no, I probably shouldn’t share that. The statute of limitations hasn’t passed yet. Ah well… Any who, I think we’ll just end this right here, before we get fully started, and before this gets any stranger than it already is…. Luigi, get us out of here!….

Shall we Pearl?

“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” — Oscar Wilde, “Oscariana”

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Image from elvinbishipmusic.com via Google Free Images

One of this artist’s peers once said of him, “He’s ain’t good lookin’, but he sure can play.” Elvin Bishop’s primary source of fun in life was playing music on stage; one could tell that by the constant grin on his face as he played. No other artist I ever saw in a live performance consistently gives his all for his fans onstage like Elvin; I’ve been to see him in a lot of different venues, and it is ALWAYS a great time…. In fact, I’m thinking of making his song, Travelin’ Shoes, my theme song…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it doesn’t get any better than this for live music….

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

Elvin Bishop ~~ Travelin’ Shoes 1975 BBC

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

https://youtu.be/nn43E7GXHwY

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

Le Penseur ~~ August Rodin

A short, but, potent rant from the intro section of the Pearl posted on 10/5/2013:

Unbeknownst to the remainder of the world, I struggle, here in the dark of the morning, waging war with the always-present, never-sleeping, force of evil, that the world calls Bob, or sometimes, Steve-a-rino….. No matter what name we use, by any other token, they are very, very bad evils, whether in their initial, merely bloody, sharp-sword incarnation, or if they’ve gone into complete chainsaw mode. Either way, somebody is in for a world of hurt….

“What the hell is he babbling about now?”, is probably the foremost question in your mind(s) right now…. (I know, assuming that more than one mind currently reading this is being, perhaps, too hopeful…. My readership has taken a severe dip lately….)…. I’m babbling because, hey, it’s what I’m best at, and nothing else seemed as if it was going to get me down the road toward a real Pearl, so, I just went with it…. It’s not as if y’all had gotten accustomed to a more elegant format around here, now, is it? No, we’ve been stuck in bourgeois mode for quite some time now, with no real change of venue in sight…

Not that there’s anything wrong with being bourgeois; it’s only when we start trying to break into proletariat mode trouble begins, as it always does in such cases….. The human animal, though it always seems to fall into some form of hierarchical society, seems to function most efficiently when categories such as bourgeois, proletarian, or any others based on financial worth, are NOT used to determine one’s relative place in society…. The only truly honorable form would be a society where one’s social standing was based solely on how much one gave back to that society…. This, however, is mere speculation, since no human society has ever been structured in such a manner that it could be considered as “honorable”…..

Society has always been structured to favor those with the most resources under their control, which is why we are seeing the issues we now have to deal with, as the effects of entropy over time wear away at the foundations upon which it is built. Money is an artificial concept, not really a part of reality, other than as we humans perceive it to be, and therefore, only has the importance that we place on it. Making it the primary social factor that determines how high up in society one rises in the estimation of peers is destined to become a problem, as human nature tends not to share very well…. in short, people get greedy, and hoard all the resources (money) to themselves, ensuring their own place, and keeping others in a place lesser than their own….

Politicians, bless their black, lying, little hearts, would have us believe we live in a classless society, that everyone is equal, and has equal rights…. Well, ffolkes, guess what?…. That’s just another of their ubiquitous lies, and society isn’t like that at all…. At every level, built in prejudices and misconceptions, guided and kept true by unseen, but iron-clad cliches, color people’s viewpoint with the brush of discrimination, based on how much money a person makes, or what color their skin may be, or where they were born, or whether or not they stand up to pee…

People use a myriad ways to decide that other people aren’t as good as they are, all of which are lies; all of those thousands of prejudices are taught by, enforced by, and continuously enabled by the BRC, our Beloved Ruling Class, who believes their place at the top of society is inherently theirs. Given this long-held delusion, and the fact that it has held sway over the rest of society for over ten thousand years, it seems clear they have no intention of ever relinquishing that place to anyone else….

Oops, it happened again, didn’t it? I fell right into another opening rant, never realizing what I was up to until I was a thousand words down the pike… I guess it’s okay; I don’t see any casualties, other than my own readership’s numbers, so, apparently nobody was standing close enough to get hit by the flying shrapnel….. The fact that there ARE no casualties is not necessarily a good thing, you know….. a couple of bodies would at least indicate that there is SOMEONE reading this stuff, but, I guess my ego doesn’t really need THAT kind of proof…. It’s all a wash anyhow, as I ran out of lime and sulfuric acid, and I’d have a hard time disposing of the corpses… so, it’s just as well….

On that note, I think I’d best get on with it…. Shall we Pearl?…..

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

“To sit silently, and look wise, is not to be compared to drinking sake and making a riotous shouting.” — Ono No Tabitu

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I found this poem from e.e. cummings hiding in Smart Bee, whereupon it was instantly chosen for today’s poetry section, because, hey, good stuff. The Kokopelli adornment above just seems appropriate; if the reason for that is unclear, I suggest googling the name for some background….

Most simply put, according to the Navajo/Hopi beliefs about Reality, Kokopelli is a spirit form, which they see as a very basic part of everything, a representation of one of the eternal principles they saw in the world; in this case, of Entropy, in flesh form…. Coyote, the Trickster is one of the manifestations of his spirit; sometimes seen as his companion, other times he is a shape-shifter who assumes coyote form… One can never tell what the Trickster might be up to in Reality, so, it’s well to plan for his presence….

jake hates
   all the girls(the
shy ones, the bold paul scorns all
ones; the meek           the girls(the
proud sloppy sleek) bright ones, the dim
all except the cold ones; the slim
     ones plump tiny tall)
    all except the
           dull ones
gus loves all the
   girls(the
warped ones, the lamed mike likes all the girls
ones; the mad      (the
moronic maimed)   fat ones, the lean
all except   ones; the mean
   the dead ones kind dirty clean)
    all
       except the green ones

~~ e e cummings ~~

Hmm…. I may have chosen better than I knew… It occurs to me, perhaps Mr. Cummings wasn’t talking about girls, at all…. ya think? Bears thinking about, I’d say….

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Today’s final pearl, in my mind, is pretty obviously a recipe…. Any ideas as to the dish it describes? Feel free to comment below….

“Each of us bears his own Hell.” — Publius Maro

“We are all captives of the pictures in our heads.” — Walter Lippmann

“I’m the one who’s got to die when its time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” — Jimi Hendrix

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” — Hermann Hesse, _Demian_, 1919

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” — G.K. Chesterton

“There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man’s life: “Know thyself”, and “Nothing too much”; and upon these all other precepts depend.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Consolation to Apollonius

“If a man remembers what is right at the sign of profit, is ready to lay down his life in the face of danger, and does not forget sentiments he has repeated all his life when he has been in straitened circumstances for a long time, he may be said to be a complete man.” — Confucius — Analects, XIV.12

When I ‘m not thank’d at all, I ‘m thank’d enough;
I ‘ve done my duty, and I ‘ve done no more.

~~ Henry Fielding (1707-1754) ~~

~~ Tom Thumb the Great, Act i, Sc. 3 ~~

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Since I managed to begin with alacrity, I shall end the same way. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, with the usual caveat…. to wit: as long as I remain at liberty….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Slinky dresses under bright neon lights….

Posted on March 3, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“No evil can happen to a good man.”

~~ Plato (428-348? B.C.) ~~

Cat

Insidiously terrifying ghosts, silently screaming in eternal agony of fear, flit past my vision, breaking my hold on Reality…. As the familiar slips away, fast-moving water under a fallen bridge, hope is drowned, slipping under a third time, never known. More painful still, is knowing this will never be finished, thanks to the sheer impossibility of typing with one hand numb….

Ah well, so much for fantasy today; I’d hoped to find a bit of it floating in my head as I began, but, no such luck. I was struggling mightily to get it done anyway, when True Reality stepped in to put a stop to it, numbing up my left arm and hand to the point where it became impractical to continue…. Ah well, such is life with arthritis, I suppose…. I guess I’ll have to talk about the Cat….

I don’t know whose cat it was; he/she was sunning prettily in a yard near where I was waiting for a bus. When I took a few pictures, it assumed a very cat-like expression of annoyance, got up, & stalked away, obviously less than gruntled at having its peaceful nap disturbed by another rude human with a camera. It reminded me of one of my favorite cat quotes, to wit: “Cats were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt. They have never forgotten this.” This one apparently has nothing wrong with its memory, as it wore a mantle of royal disdain with perfect grace….

As is now painfully clear, this intro section is kaput. It’s not going anywhere, nor can it go back anywhere useful; one cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, as we all know. Nor can I continue to type with only one hand functioning normally. This means, once again, we have to break out #4 to gt us where we need to go…. Damn, I’d so hoped for something better today!…. Oh well, fuck it. Hang on, ffolkes, we’re going in, & it looks a bit rough out there…..

Shall we Pearl?

“A man does not look behind the door unless he has stood there himself.” — Du Bois

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I’ve used this video a couple of times, simply because it is one of the best indictments of the BRC in existence. Combine that with the brilliance of George’s humor, and we’ve got a show worth watching as often as it takes…. Enjoy, ffolkes; he’s gone, but, never forgotten….

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

The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time

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http://youtu.be/6_zwB6GLpo4

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“To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.”

~~ James Baldwin ~~

James Baldwin wrote during the twentieth century, in America, a nation, at the time, embroiled in deep conflict with its own inner nature, and, the cumulative effects of more than a hundred and fifty years of hypocrisy. In truth, hypocrisy has been a greater influence on human culture than anyone who is a part of it would care to admit. In a culture in which lying is considered an art form, hypocrisy is a precursor. In fact, it is such an integral part of our culture, I would amend the above statement to read, “To be alive and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.”…..

One must, after all, decide to whom one will lie, thus, placing them in a certain order; those considered friends receive the courtesy of lying behind their back, those considered enemies are lied to as a matter of course, to their faces. Only those with whom there is no common interest are not important enough to lie to…. thus being the only ones who receive the truth, only by silence, which, if necessary, may be used to lie by omission.

If there is anyone who doubts this series of inner motivational processes, so apparent in virtually all humans, as common stimuli to our cultural behaviors, I would have to suggest it to be entirely possible, we have very likely been watching two entirely different species of human beings…. Those I’ve observed, mostly, use the given method of reasoning to decide how they will act, toward most everyone they encounter, with a certain amount filtered through whatever laws they’ve learned to obey, in order to avoid difficulties. Some cover up these impulses with religious dogma as their code, which either gives them leave to treat non-believers with the usual disdain, or forgives them when they do “out of bad impulses”….

Gee, ffolkes, do you think I’m getting a bit grumpy about most people? You’d be right, of course, and too damn bad. I’m done NOT speaking up about what I see in the world; maybe if more ffolkes spoke up, to point out what others do that is not right, when it happens, creating discussion and/or learning, maybe the world would be a little easier for everybody; there sure would be fewer racists, bigots, and/or other sub-humans running around bothering all the nice ffolkes there are…. which, sadly, in self-defense, are becoming fewer and fewer, at least in public….

Of course, that’s because the people in ostensible charge of society are the worst examples of liars, cheats, thieves, and bullies…. But, then, perhaps that’s just MY opinion. Just because I see it every day in the news doesn’t make it real, right? Right. In fact, it’s getting so I doubt seriously if there is more than 5 minutes per hour of news that is something that is NOT intended just to manipulate those watching it in some way; those five minutes are shrinking as well, getting harder to spot. Real information, usable for making life better, or just more pleasant somehow, is pretty much gone from human ken…..

Bah! You know, I’m so disgusted with the human race, so damn much of the time, I’m sick of it…. Enough so I’m even losing my taste for ranting, especially when I know very few people who need to hear this message will ever hear it…. The hell with it, I’m going to sublimate the rest of this diatribe into an old-school pearl, aimed at those who would be kings….. You know who they are, and so do they…. Here, then, is a plethora, of eleven dandy pointed sticks, all jabbing at the eyes of the Beloved Ruling Class…. Somehow, Smart Bee never seems to show any lack of this type of pearl….

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores

“To steal from one person is theft.To steal from many is taxation.” — Daiell’s Law (a take-off on Felson’s Law)

“It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target.” — William F. Buckley

“Is there a Lemon Law for Presidents too?” — Smart Bee

“Buy when there’s blood in the streets.” — Baron Guy de Rothschild

“A lot of what I say comes off as political satire. In that, I have a lot in common with Congress.” — Solomon Short

“When I see a congressman giving his opinion on something, I always wonder if it represents his *real* opinion or if it represents an opinion that he’s designed in order to be elected. It seems to be a central problem for politicians. So I often wonder: what is the relation of integrity to working in the government?” — Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988), “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”

“Eternal boyhood is the dream of a depressing percentage of American males, and the locker room is the temple where they worship arrested development.” — Russell Baker

“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee

“This is no time for consensus government. It’s a time for leadership. The average citizen doesn’t know what the stakes are in Vietnam.” — Richard Milhouse Nixon, February 11, 1965

Gee, but I’d like to be a G-Man
And go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just like Dick Tracy, what a he-man
And go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

I’d do as I please, act high-handed and regal
‘Cause when you’re a G-Man there’s nothing illegal.

~~ Harold Rome, from The G-Man Song, 1937 ~~

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Only one poem will do today….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I let Smart Bee have its head, while my subconscious mind monitored, from wherever it watches from, with instructions to find some carefully chosen random quotes to use for upcoming pearls…. Put most simply, SB went a bit crazy on me, coming up with more than enough pearls for three separate pearls, each grouped into a series pointed at one concept or idea…. This one is one of them; it seems to be comments on the human experience, from a number of viewpoints leading to a rather amorphous, but somehow, both realistically dubious, yet strangely comforting end point….. Go figure….

“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.”– Moliere

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” — Albert Einstein

“Great minds always meet at infinity.” — Smart Bee

“Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 723

“There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.’ — Pilpay (or Bidpai) — The Two Travellers, Chap. ii, Fable vi

“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

“The Soul is born old, but it grows young; that is the comedy of life. The Body is born young and grows old; that is life’s tragedy.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

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It’s done; at this point, NOTHING matters more. I won’t detail the struggle it took to complete today’s Pearl, having already whined to our prescribed limit for the day, other than to say, Whew!…. Moreover, I’ll show some tact, by letting this die a natural death, now it has accepted its fate. Well, we like to think so, anyway…. On that note, such as it may be, I shall take my leave, stage left…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Come, now, Malcolm….. budgies?…..

Posted on January 27, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Fear: False Expectations About Reality.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Image by Cheryl Johnson

http://twistedsifter.com/2015/01/cheryl-johnson-captures-soap-bubbles-in-freezing-cold-weather/

“Don’t lie to me, Billy.”
“Honest, Boss, I’d never do that! It’s what I saw!”
“You’re positive?”
“Yessir. I saw them, just like I told you!”
“Hmm. This could be serious. Send in my secretary on your way out.” As Billy turned to leave, a light lit up on one of the three telephones. The Boss snatched it up, barking into the mouthpiece, “What!”. As he listened, all the color drained from his face, with sweat appearing on his bald head. His secretary, entering with a steno pad, stopped to stare; the Boss was scared! She’d never seen such stark terror on a human face. As she paused, confused, he spoke again into the phone, in a voice dripping with fear, “Call my lawyer, and send a car around!” He turned to the secretary, with a face frozen in terror, to say, “Miss Freestone, bring me my monkey….”

Well, I think that will be quite enough of that…. I thought at first it might get somewhere, but, it sort of petered out there in the middle, not to mention the odd left turn at the end…. Oh well, it’s as good a way as any to test my typing, and, hell, it’s not totally useless; it got us started, right? Well, if one has no particular standards, it works, so, it’ll do just fine for this blog. We are justifiably proud of our amorphous nature, and wouldn’t have it any other way…..

Unless, of course, it would give me a method of introducing each day’s post, without straining what little creativity is lodged in my grey matter. It’s (my creativity) hard enough to find, much less persuade it to actually function normally, or even abnormally, a which is, at least, minimally possible. Asking it to do so on a daily basis would, no doubt, send it right into therapy, or a coma, whichever came first…. I’ve seen it happen, and, though it’s not actually painless, it’s not something I like to experience often….

Now I’ve slipped into the mire, in a manner of speaking, we’ll take our leave of the initial section, gladly, as always. I don’t know why, but, this section seems to give me more trouble than any other…. Even the video section doesn’t hassle me like this…. Ah well, such is life, and we’re trying to live up to our resolution to whine less often…. Let’s just take the opening now coming into view ahead, and be done with it. If y’all would kindly put down your beverages, buckle up, and smile into the camera, we’ll ease through the rather narrow opening, and be ready for our dive….. One, two, jump!….

Shall we Pearl?

“Reality is a sandwich I did not order.” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

The condition of the world today calls for a bit of light entertainment today, as contrast to the huge load of CRAP we are being subjected to in the daily news…. Here is another blast from our cultural past, with a cartoon that shaped the minds of millions of American children…. I give you, season 1 of our old companions, who taught us so well how to be Americans…. in a manner of speaking….

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends

http://youtu.be/TEPfrlDx3Ws?list=PLLiiUM_otCJutsrJ_96ovG0nXWw6bIVhD

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

“A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.”

~~ Voltaire ~~

“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

Personally, I think it’s time to clean house: I think Tom would agree, don’t you? Else, the Tree, which we have been entrusted to nourish, by rote of legacy, is under continual attack by tyrants, who would have us believe they are patriots. Those who inhabit the top echelons of our country’s government, the 555 people who get elected to be the responsible parties for our liberties, are completely out of touch with the average citizen, who has not the slightest clue they are being lied to at every turn.

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then–we elected them.” — Lily Tomlin

Consider this well: more than 525 of the above mentioned government officials have a yearly income exceeding a million dollars. The average American’s yearly income is well under one hundred thousand dollars, with the greatest majority making less than 25 thousand a year. Anyone who believes that a group of old, rich, white men (98% of the 555 mentioned…) can possibly have the same agenda as that of the average American is living in a fantasy world, probably without the proper medication…. Or, they have been brainwashed to believe they are SUPPOSED to believe any lies told to them…. I don’t see a lot of middle ground here, ffolkes, it’s a pretty clear situation…. How else to explain 55 MILLION votes for Mitt Romney in 2012, when it was common knowledge, even in his own camp, more than 50% of what he claimed during the campaign was completely false, proven to be a lie….

“For “ignorance is the mother of devotion,” as all the world knows.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Sect. 4, Memb. 1, Subsect. 2

Yet, he came pretty close to being elected; only a few million popular votes separated the winner from the loser…. But, then, it has also been proven that Barry isn’t a slacker when it comes to “shading the truth”, aka, lying…. I would point out his staunch defense of the NSA, wherein numerous statements he’s made re: their activities have been shown to be false. He promised to have the most transparent administration in history; in matter of fact, the only historical record he’s broken in that respect is to have prosecuted more journalists for publishing leaked information than any other administration in history, reportedly by a factor of ten…. His administration has created a fear of publishing the truth among journalists that is frightening to consider….

“Amazing how mad some people get when someone makes them think.” — Smart Bee

Yet when any of the above is pointed out to the average voter, they become righteously offended, not wishing to admit, to themselves, or anyone else, the depths of their own foolish gullibility; so, they remain silent, thus giving their tacit approval, while perpetuating the covert mind control applied so skillfully by those who manipulate the media even more than they do the public….. It is hard to make coherent, competent decisions when one cannot trust ANY of the sources of information one is supposed to trust…. The natural result? People simply don’t question any of it very often; it’s much too hard to think about the humiliation of being a slave, when one is busy BEING a slave…. just the way the rich old assholes want them to be….

“The history of most countries has been that of majorities – mounted majorities, clad in iron, armed with death, treading down the tenfold more numerous minorities.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes poet, novelist, physician 1809-1894

In today’s world, the “majorities” of whom Dr. Holmes speaks wear badges, or camouflage clothing, can be identified easily, marked as they are by a martial attitude of aggression in place of compassion, or even diplomacy, adopting the role of prison guard in lieu of that of a public servant. The military is used as an arm of the business interests of the elite, sent around the world wherever money needs protection, under the guise of “spreading democracy to the unenlightened”, or, “fighting injustice and terror at its roots, protecting those at home”. There is no mention of the terror and injustice our troops are consistently guilty of bringing with them, or any acknowledgment of our government’s habit of bombing the crap out of innocent bystanders to enforce its political ends, is one of the worst examples of terrorism the world has ever seen…

At home, the police, armed with the excess military armor and weaponry so conveniently “over-stocked” by their comrades in the military, seemingly prepares for revolution among the masses, with draconian legislatures passing laws making protest a crime, (specifically prohibited in the Constitution, but, apparently, there are ways around that silly old document…. the Homeland Security Act being one of them….), enjoying immunity for violations of the rights of citizens, protected by the laws passed by their masters, the legislators and monied classes, whose property they are sworn to protect from the depredations of vandals, er, unpropertied citizens. Is it any wonder the monied elite are showing their teeth more? I have a feeling they’re getting a bit worried they might have gone too far….

I hope so, because a revolution, which, after all, merely means “change”, is WAY overdue in this country…. Tom Jefferson stated on more than one occasion his belief no nation should be long without one, lest it become complacent, which he knew to be a sure path to the loss of those freedoms he and his compatriots fought so hard to secure…. We, as American citizens, owe it to Tom, and George, (both of them, Washington and Mason), Tom Paine, Patrick Henry, and all the others who gave their all for you, and me, to educate ourselves, to know our rights, to fight for them….

It is the duty of every American citizen, to speak out against those who would in any way try to harm the Tree of Liberty, whether by direct attack, or, the way it has been done, slyly, patiently, cowardly, from within, using lies and money to corrupt…. until today, when virtually every one of those freedoms listed in the original Bill of Rights has been “amended”, or “suspended”, “for the good of the nation”…. It is time to stand up for this country, & take it back from the bankers, the pundits, the preachers, the gangsters, and the myrmidons, none of whom have any interest at all in anything but securing their own power over others, no matter who gets in their way….

gigoid has spoken…..

“What experience and history teach is this – that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.” — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, “Philosophy and History”

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

Some might think I am an egotist, for using my own poetry so often…. Nope, though I will admit to having an ego; I’ll also admit it’s not tiny. But, most of the time, I put one of mine here just because I’m A) lazy, B) late, or C) trying to be polite, by not bringing any one else’s name and reputation into play where there is a chance of a poor reception… In short, to save them from being blamed for any of what goes on here, by association….. This one is also one I’m proud of, if only for the last line…. Besides, how many writers do you know who can cram the word “stentorian” into a poem, eh?….

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

My sleep pattern is once again on the fritz, so, we’re going to the archives for today’s old school pearl…. I don’t often do so, but, today, we’re settling, inasmuch as it is the most expedient method of achieving our ends…. truly, an American thing to do, wouldn’t you agree?….

From 10/28/2013:

Without even having to look, I know this is already nearing the point of the largest Pearl ever created on this blog; I must have buried more material in my brain while I was off cruising than I had imagined, because it’s all spilling out now,,, Ah well, it’s all been quite cathartic, so I’ll just make a last, quick, old-school group of pearls to make up the last pearl for today…. Enjoy, as we see what comes up on the Wheel of Philosophy, as interpreted by gigoid’s complex set of non-rules….

“No man is happy who does not think himself so.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 584

“Humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn – when they do, which isn’t often – on their own, the hard way.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Heisenberg may have slept here.” — Smart Bee

“War loves to seek its victims in the young.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Scyrii, Frag. 507

“Beginnings and endings are, for the most part, artificial constructs. You say you begin when you are born, but what of those months spent growing in the womb? Endings are hazier still, for further things may occur that extend and enlarge the earlier story. And that is my final sentence on the subject. Or perhaps this one is the final sentence. No, most assuredly what I write now is the final word on the matter. But now that I think upon it, perhaps this….” — The Teachings of Ebenezum, Vol. LVII (Abridged)

20. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. — Instructions for life

“I know things about TROY DONAHUE that can’t even be PRINTED!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Well, that’s that. I don’t even have the time, or the inclination, to do much proofing, so, if there are errors, so be it. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided my mood improves…. feeling a bit curmudgeonly today….. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Sleeveless jumpers won’t be warm enough….

Posted on December 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.”

~~ Seneca, Epistles ~~

It’s raining again here in NorCal; this makes typing somewhat impractical, as it probably bothers the neighbors to hear me screaming in pain as I type…. It’s a bit bothersome for me, as well; I don’t particularly enjoy the noise, either, even though it is MY noise…. Ah well, it’ll all be cut & paste today, ffolkes, you can take that to the bank…. Of course, the bank would tell you to take it home again, but, hey, you get the picture…. (The picture above, of the lucky grizzly bear, by the way, came from the Animal Pictures of the Week in the London Daily Telegraph…)

In spite of the now-expected relative agony of the arthritic pain in my joints, I don’t feel too badly today…. Of course, that will pass, as do all things. If only there were some way to stop the clock, just at that point when I’m feeling relatively normal, (or, as close as I get to that these days….), so I could actually spend some little period of time without the sensation of having my own skeleton screaming at me to MAKE IT STOP! If only I could…. but, I can’t, so, it must be endured…

I like the opening line today, from Seneca. It is my best answer to all the crap that gets thrown at us by our beloved leaders, when they want us to stop thinking, and just be afraid…. Myself, I refuse to be terrified, of anything…. Terror is merely another name for fear, and fear can always be overcome, if faced, and dealt with in a rational fashion…. If we let it rule our lives, as Seneca points out, it takes over, and life becomes a burden, rather than a joy…. Terrible indeed, especially when one considers it is all a manufactured issue in the first place….

Since, however, we are IN the first place (i.e., the intro section), we shan’t rant about that now… In fact, I won’t be ranting at all today, as this little bit of typing here at the front is already causing problems…. My hands keep falling asleep at the wheel, so to speak, and I have to stop, shake them out, and regain the feeling before carrying on…. Not the easiest technique I’ve come up with, to be sure… In fact, it isn’t working for me at all today, and I’m done with it…. Hold on, ffolkes, this will be a sharp turn….

Shall we Pearl?

“Ignorance can be cured. Stupid is forever.” — Smart Bee

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

Whenever I have an hour to spare, nothing provides me with more entertainment than one of these episodes from the old BBC series…. Jeremy Brett was born to play Sherlock, and, to my mind, appears to be having the time of his life whenever he is portraying the great detective…. He plays the part with such enthusiasm, it MUST have been great fun…. In turn, he makes it fun to watch…. Enjoy….

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes – S07E02 – The Dying Detective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe2lkHh5Bn8

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

Yesterday, I ranted against the Dogma Dogs…. Today, it’s raining; this precludes a fresh rant, as my hands are currently revolting, in more than merely one sense…. Here then, is an older rant, with the other major category of Asininnies as the primary target…. It’s as true today as it was almost two years ago, when it was fresh and new….

From 2/18/2013:

PRESIDENCY, n. The greased pig in the field game of American politics. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

You can’t see me, but I have this big smile on my face…. It has been there since I first read this, this morning, and has flashed on each time I see it…. I had forgotten just how funny, and how eerily accurate, as well as wonderfully sarcastic, the Devil’s Dictionary could be….. In either case, this is some funny stuff, and is a perfect example of how Ambrose somehow obtained a direct line to the future of this country, in order to be able to so exactly describe how our modern system has evolved, and demonstrate how it has become, rather than high comedy, an example of low farce….

Of late, you’ve seen me put out a lot of words on the Beloved Ruling Class (BRC), and the priestly hierarchies, those two entities I hold responsible for the miserable conditions that most of our society is forced to endure, and whom I also hold responsible for the danger of species extinction that we face… It is their narcissistic insistence on having it all for themselves that has put our entire species at risk, along with a large number of other species, who will also be affected by the mess we’ve created in the environment. I keep on shouting, even though it mostly feels as if I’m shouting into the wind, because, in all honesty, I don’t want to die…. I’d like my kids to have a chance to live their entire lives, too, and perhaps even have some hope of a future for their own children…. Currently, there isn’t much hope of that…..

Yes, ffolkes, there isn’t much time left to get this done…. Every second, more and more tons of particulate matter are being poured into the air, and the cumulative effects have actually, finally, reached the critical flash point that ecologists have predicted for years…. Soon, plants that provide oxygen to the air will begin to die, (actually, they are dying as I write this…. as I said, it is late in the game….) and the balance of oxygen and carbon monoxide in the air will start to rapidly change, until it is unbreathable for us, and for all the other mammals, sea creatures, and plant life-forms that are dependent on the levels of those substances as they are now…. This process isn’t unknown….. we have been warned about it, now, for going on 50 years, or more, since the effects were first noted….

But, nobody who cared to do anything about it was listening, and still today, there aren’t anywhere near enough of our BRC who are convinced of the risk, so virtually NOTHING has, or is being done to resolve the issue…. Instead, it is subjected to massive denial on the part of almost every government in the world. They, and most people, have no idea that the bill for our idiocy is about to be presented, and we left our wallet in our other pants….. I think it’s obvious the Universe doesn’t take checks, or give credit…..

I wish I knew the proper sequence of words to use, the words that would inflame the masses, that would inspire the world to rise up, and throw off the yoke of oppression that the 1% has fitted us with, to finally give them their just desserts, and save our own asses in the process…. Alas, I don’t seem to have them in me…. not yet, anyway…. There are probably a few ffolkes out there who agree with me, and would help, if they also knew what to do, or say, to get things started…. But, mostly, I think I’m either shouting into the wind, or preaching to the choir….

In either case, it doesn’t seem to be helping much, other than keeping me from losing my sense of perspective, and actively going out hunting, to try to at least thin the ranks of the ones who are causing the problems…. That would make me feel better, for sure, but, I’m not ready to live the rest of my life on the run, so, I’ll save that option for when things are even worse than they are now….

I’ll also keep shouting, even if it’s into the wind, because I’m also not ready to give in to despair, and loss of hope. Call me stubborn, call me irresponsible (you’d be wrong in that, but, hey, it’s a free country…. mostly….), but don’t call me late for dinner. Also, don’t call me to help you further any of the agenda items that I see on the part of those in power, because I can guarantee that would put me over the edge, and you would be right there, in the explosive field of destruction when I went off…. If you want help to work against anything they’ve started, I’m there…. In the meantime, keep your powder dry, and your field of fire clear…. This final pearl explains why….

“If we don’t survive, we don’t do anything else.” — John Sinclair

And one more, just because there must always be hope, or life isn’t worth living…

“In a just cause the weak o’ercome the strong.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Oedipus Coloneus, 880

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

The poem in my head isn’t being cooperative about coming out, so, here is one from a few months ago, that seems to fit in well with the theme from today’s rant…. I know that when I wrote this, I felt MUCH better afterward…..

A Few Words of Note

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Today’s final pearl is one that created itself, in a manner of speaking…. It is a truly old-fashioned pearl, comprised of five brilliant pearls of virtual wisdom which, together, lead one’s thoughts to a particular idea or concept worthy of contemplation…. Well, that’s the theory, anyway…. This one, brilliant as it is, is somewhat obscure, but, with the proper flexibility of mind, is well worth the effort to decode…. Enjoy, and, be aware… This one WILL be on the Quiz, which we all will be given, at the end of Time….

“As Caesar was at supper the discourse was of death,–which sort was the best. “That,” said he, “which is unexpected.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Caesar

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire

“It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.” — Lin Yutang

“For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 265

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

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

Well, there you have it…. “A drunkard’s dream, if I ever did see one!” Since we seem to be somewhere up near Cripple Creek, without the proverbial paddle in hand, we’d no doubt be wise to take our leave, while we may…. This rain has to stop some time, doesn’t it? We ARE supposedly in the midst of a drought here in California… but, you couldn’t tell by the last week or so of weather. Ah well, Life goes on, until it doesn’t. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if’n we can find our way back here….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

No sweet sorrow today for YOU, slick Willie….

Posted on September 3, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Tidal windstorm
Splits trees and rock,
Yet cannot last a day.
So much less, man’s work.

— Deng Ming-Dao

Have you seen this photo? By now, it’s all over the web…. I found it in the Week In Pictures feature, London Daily Telegraph, for the week of 8/29/2014. Taken by one Kristjan Madalvee; he shot this at the port of Vergi, one hour from his home in Talinn, the capital of Estonia….. Where the fuck is Estonia? Brilliant fucking shot, regardless of where it is…. So good, it almost, almost, puts the lie to the quote above it, from the Taoist master, Sifu Deng…. If naught else, the photo shows that we, as humans, with a sense of wonder and beauty, can appreciate that which we cannot fully comprehend, or emulate by the power of our will…

Sounds pretty highfalutin, doesn’t it? Even more amazing, that word, “highfalutin” IS IN MY SPELL CHECKER DICTIONARY! Wow…. I’ll have to use more words from the period and genre it came from…. not bad….. Any who, it’s a bit early, anyway, to start with such a deep, potentially controversial subject, so, we’ll just wander somewhere else in my head, to find a bit more amenable, or, at least, more malleable idea to play with for now….

Hmm…. this looks like an interesting corridor; let’s see what’s down here… Oh, my…. look at that. Over there, against the wall…. Do you see it? Aw, isn’t it cute? It’s a little haiku, missing the last two syllables, just waiting for us to find, so it can fulfill its destiny…. We’ll send it down to section two, where it can go on public display, once I finish it off…. Well, that was nice, eh? I don’t often get so lucky when looking for poems; usually they create such a turmoil inside me, it’s a vicious battle, with lots of attendant blood loss, to get them all the way out of my head…. so, this was a rather more pleasant way to find something I can use for that…. Bonus!

Serendipity seems to be hanging around today, so, I’m going to take advantage of that, and jump into today’s dive for interesting stuff to chew on, or look at, or just feel…. I have a feeling myself, that it could turn out pretty well, according to our usual loose standards, anyway…. I think, in fact, we’ll take the upcoming opportunity I see, right there at the end of this paragraph, to dive right into the day’s search…. Okay, almost there…. wait…. wait for it…. okay, NOW!….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Ignorance can be cured. Stupid is forever.” — Smart Bee, being logical again….

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

“It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 1, 9, (54.)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/US-military-targets-Islamic-extremists-in-Somalia-5727512.php

Oh… why, look there! It’s us, bombing people again, without a declaration of war from Congress. I don’t know about you, but, I’m getting more than just a little perturbed, not to say infuriated, by the American public’s acceptance of these completely illegal (under our own laws….), immoral, unethical, and fucking useless in any humanitarian, or practical respect, completely unwarranted attacks, on whomever we decide is a threat to our…… our what? What were these, no doubt, evil people doing that threatened us, here in our big houses, across the big ocean, with our big airplanes ready to bomb anyone foolish enough to annoy our corporate masters?….

Oh, right, didn’t I mention? I have no doubt whatsoever that, whomever we’re bombing now, if we examine the expressed reasoning closely, we will find that, somehow, in some way, these people were disrupting the smooth flow of money into the coffers of one, or more, of our corporate masters, er, patriotic businesses… It wouldn’t be supportive of the government to NOT protect the interests of those paying for the bombs, now would it? Of course not…. Naturally, since it costs about $75 million/day to bomb them, at least the arms makers are showing a good profit, yes?….

Did you detect just a little smarmy disdain in the above? If you did, you got it; if not, you’re not paying attention… Not unsurprising, given the brainwashing from which most Americans suffer; the media has helped the Beloved Ruling Class, and their employers, the corporate snakeheads, to spread their manipulations and distractions… oh, hell, let’s just call them what they are…. the lies they use on a regular basis, to distract the public from examining any true facts of what they’re up to, to manipulate the public and the media into believing those lies, as well as believing the other lies they tell, just because they can’t help themselves… just as if it were true, or legal, or had anything to do with helping the common man….

“I wish everybody would have to have an electric thing implanted in our heads that gave us a shock whenever we did something to disobey the president. Then somehow I get myself elected president.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

Hmm… the New American Dream, I’d say…. already half-true….

You may be certain of this… whatever spun-sugar the administration, which (who?) ordered and carried out this bombing, (An act which, again, was initiated without informing either Congress, or the public, anything about it beforehand….), in their Olympian fashion, deigns to tell us in this instance, about why we must bomb the Somalians, whatever THEY are up to, (oh, right… the article explains, they are “extremists”…), will NOT be anything resembling the actual truth, or anything that would help to resolve any real issues…. It will merely be whatever their information spin doctors have told them will fool the public into backing them, and fool the media into reporting all of it as if it were legitimate in any respect…. Count on it….

“The NY Times is read by the people who run the country. The Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country. The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive and running the country…” — Robert J Woodhead

You may also count on the fact that, most likely, this is all about somebody’s profit line, and protecting a small group of “corporate persons”, aka “the men who would be kings”, who tend to feel that the money flowing into their pockets is theirs by right of entitlement; they firmly believe they are entitled to make a profit, no matter the cost to anyone else… Accept that, believe that, and you’ll have made a start, at finding out the actual truth behind most of what our government does, in any situation that comes to the attention of the public, and the media…. It’s all about covering the corporate ass, you betcha….

Now, you may think I’m being an obsessive conspiracy-monger, but, I doubt that, seriously. I don’t think it is a conspiracy; it’s simply the way it is…. The assholes to whom I refer are the same assholes who have had this country, and, for that matter, the world, in a stranglehold since the dawn of the concept of money…. They are just men, canny, strongly self-centered, and completely amoral, who have made it their habit, and lifestyle, for millennia, to take advantage of the way the system works, which is exactly how they have arranged it to work, with them as the only people in a position to control the whole shebang, from the shadows, where they are safe from those upon whom they prey….

Now, the system has grown to be so ponderous, so huge and unmanageable, that, while still protecting their identities by the very size of the system, it’s getting away from them a bit; a lot of information is now floating around out there on the Web they would rather stuff back into the box…But, sadly, not enough, yet, to make a difference in how things work, or, to change where we are headed, as a direct result of the insane machinations of mankind’s most amoral members… It may be too late altogether, to prevent their deliberate perpetration of the inequities they’ve built into our culture from leading all of us, them included, down that path followed already by so many failed species that have lived, and died, on this ball of mud over the last few epochs, since life began here on Earth….

I have a suspicion that we Humans won’t make much more of a splash, or have any more effect on reality, than did the passing of the Dodo, when Homo horriblus’s (our) voracious appetite for destructive insanity, and our failure to live up to our potential , led us to killing the last of the defenseless birds, just a couple hundred, or so, years ago…. When we have, in our turn, passed into memory, the Earth will, with a resigned sigh, in sorrow for the potential beauty that will never be, shrug its mountainous shoulders, shift around some basic elements, and begin the long slow process of healing the wounds we will have left behind us, in the final cataclysmic throes of our death-song…..

“As Caesar was at supper the discourse was of death, -which sort was the best. “That,” said he, “which is unexpected.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Caesar

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

We’re in luck; but, then, you already knew that, as long as you read the intro section today…. Here is the haiku we found while wandering the back corridors of my mind…. along with another haiku, which I found, down another corridor I had entered, in trying to find the way back to the bus….

I love haiku, most likely because they are the only poems that don’t cause me any pain to write… In fact, I always enjoy the process with them…. It’s a bit like building myself a sundae, choosing the right ice cream, the right syrup…. and, with haiku, I can still eat the peanuts!… Yay! Here are the two for today…. Another reason to like haiku, in relation to the rest of this blog…. they aren’t long at all…. makes a nice contrast, doesn’t it? Enjoy!….

Luck at dawn

Swiftly, words float up
to the surface of my mind.
Serendipity.

~~ gigoid ~~

Sailing to Babel

Memory pulls hard
on reality’s anchor.
Anchor’s away, mate!

~~ gigoid ~~

Ah, hell, one more, just because I can….

Uncertainty

Save for the last time,
this time would be the first time.
Maybe, maybe not.

~~ gigoid, dubiously ~~

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

The Pearl that was posted on tomorrow’s date two years ago, in 2012, was a very good Pearl…. In that post, there was an excellent photo, found on Facebook, that I thought was hilarious…. I had posted it a week or so previously, then challenged my readers to come up with their own captions… This time, I know how to include their links, to the blog sites they have, all of which are well worth a visit, or many….. Enjoy!…..

From 9/4/2012:

I have collected the captions submitted by readers, and they all are so good, I’ve decided to list them all…. or most of them…. some were submitted by ffolkes with a strange look in their eyes; those were deemed inappropriate for a general audience, and were left out. Actually, I burned them, as the mental equivalent to toxic waste….. But, these are funny…..

“So what if they say we’re a strange couple! Just ’cause we like different food doesn’t mean we can’t eat from the same table….” ~~ Carolyn of ABCSpirittalk

Link: http://abcofspiritalk.net/

“I’m sorry, how was I to know it was a gay bar. ” ~~ Willowdot21

Link: http://willowdot21.wordpress.com/

“Ned’s friend, Murphy, has struck again… in the form of a feathered companion. ” ~~ Carol Welsh

Link: http://radiatingblossom.wordpress.com/

“Cat, are you sure we’re going about this the right way? I distinctly remember the saying being ‘as the crow flies’, not ‘as the cat,walks’.! ~~ odie mama

Link: http://eyesofodysseus.wordpress.com/

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

Some days, when blogging every day like this, it is necessary to accept the gifts we are given, without questioning why…. that’s why they’re called ‘gifts’…. In that spirit, today’s Pearl is hereby declared to be finished, complete with a number of gifts from whatever gods are currently on duty, fulfilling the universal requirements for serendipitous activity in this galactic sector….

gigoid has spoken…. so be it. …. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

Posted on August 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.” — Smart Bee

Is that not the very face of utter devotion? Is he not completely focused on the next words coming from the person at whom he is gazing with such adoration, and hopeful expectation? This is, to me, the very best way to teach children about the joy and power of love, and the duty that comes with it, duty owed to the one who loves with such loyalty and steadfast purpose. Very few humans, in my experience, ever reach the same level of absolute trust and/or sheer devotion, motivated only by a heart innocent of deceit, or deliberate cruelty… I find most humans can rationalize almost any sort of ethical or moral failure, many do so without any sort of guilt or remorse…. But, not a dog, or any other so-called “lower” creatures in the entire animal kingdom….

Oh sure, there are some who are dangerous, or even, seemingly, harshly violent toward other creatures; but, none of them ever kills for pleasure, none of them ever make a habit of fouling their own nest, and none of them ever CHOOSE to be deliberately immoral. When they do act in a way that seems connected to a dark purpose, it is a learned behavior, and not natural to their innate nature; in fact, when they do act out of character with their inner spirits, most animals tend to display all the signs of illness, or even insanity. It is as if acting against their nature is instinctively proscribed for them…. It makes one wonder about which of the animals is really at the top of the chain of life…. Well, I wonder, anyway….

I’m not sure why I got so far into that, especially this early; I love animals, though, and regard them as better company, most of the time, than almost any human, but, that doesn’t explain how, or why, such an emotionally-charged, yet completely off-the-wall, less-than-earth-shattering subject escaped out of wherever it’s been hiding in my head, & found its way out onto the screen…. Apparently, that face, that wonderful, loving face, got to me, before I was prepared for it, with some thoughts I’d already washed clean of any sappy romanticism…. I suppose it’s just one of those things we closet romantics have to expect now and again, when we let our guard down, or temporarily put aside our training in curmudgeonry….

“But” he whined, ” now what?” After that start, ffolkes, your guess is probably as good as mine, and I have no clue…. I’ll have to put a team on that, & have them get back to me on a rush basis, okay? Let me just text over to my admin, so he can do that….. Shouldn’t take long, so, relax, grab a beer, or whatever is there, and hang for a few…. we’ll be right back with something new to ~~drag~~ ~~lure~~, um, bring, that’s it,to bring you back to your seats, and back into the grip of our will…. Bwwaaahaahahaha!….

Okay, I’m out of jail now; it only cost me about $5000 in bail, part of which I’ll get back when I show up for the hearing…. That’ll be after the lawyers take their insane percentage for whatever they do…. I once got one of their bills, in which I was charged one quarter hour of the hourly rate, which was, as it turns out, $250.00; the charge, then, for a quarter of that hour’s assigned value, was $62.50, for the difficult, complex, incredibly complicated procedure, known as, and listed as, “opening a new file”…..

Really; that’s exactly what it said….. I asked the lawyer if that meant that they charged me more than $50, for calling their secretary, having them walk to the cabinet to obtain a fresh manila folder, then making a label for it with my name on it? Or, I continued, was there something I’m missing here about how complex it is to open a file?…. I was really kind of hurt when he didn’t smile, or answer the question….

But, then, I’ve found that MOST lawyers I’ve met, at least the ones without scruples, don’t have one… a sense of humor, that is… Me, I’m a Bozo, and I don’t have any choice in the matter….funny crap follows me around….

In fact, I see some now…. let’s go see if we can make it blow water out its nose, okay?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Hello seeker! Now don’t feel alone here in the New Age, because there’s a seeker born every minute.” — The Firesign Theater

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

Yesterday I walked…. a lot more than is usual for me of late, though not enough to put me down…. In fact, my recent forays seem to have had a beneficial effect on my stamina, as I slept, and now feel pretty okay…. not bad for this time of day, when massive quantities of magic cream find its way onto my body, to help the morning background of pain from hips and shoulders…. the back waits until they’re done, so that helps some, but, this writing helps as much, to distract me from the worst of it….

I am, though, a bit tired still, so, here is a discussion from a long time ago, on this blog, anyway, back in the early days, before Pearls assumed their current manifestation…. The angst was there, but, it looked different….

From 12/17/2011:

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson

The Homeland Security Act, passed shortly after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, is, to my way of thinking, the first time in our history that the American people have voluntarily allowed abridgments to our personal liberties to be enacted. The way I see it, quote #1, by James Madison, called that one perfectly. Our beloved ruling class, having decided we have “too many rights” (a direct quote from the junior Shrub, btw) in the Bill of Rights, carefully orchestrated events to provoke an attack on our home shores, knowing they could then fool the public into accepting their abridgments on our freedoms. And, to proceed to Mr. Jefferson’s comment, WE LET THEM DO IT! Anyone who rose up to speak against this vile, manipulative legislation was immediately shouted down as being unpatriotic.

For most of my life, I have avoided guns. Being a fairly smart guy, I noticed at a young age that most of the folks who get shot were carrying guns; it makes sense to me to reduce the chances of becoming a target in this most simple way, i.e., never carrying this kind of weapon (though it would be a very big mistake to assume that I carry NO weapons; in fact I carry four at all times, all of different kinds, none of which are guns). However, since the PTB (powers that be) have begun to try to take away my rights, I figure I’d better grab myself a bunch more firepower, before I no longer am allowed to do so.

If worse comes to worst, I WILL fight, if they come for any more of my rights. I will not let the blood and sacrifice of my countrymen and forefathers, and my own father, for that matter, be in vain. I’m about done with putting up with these kinds of issues, and am drawing near the point of acting on my feelings. In one sense, I hope they stop and reconsider trying to further reduce our liberties, because if they don’t, I’m going to REALLY get mad, and they will find themselves with a whole new issue to deal with……I’m a Scorpio, a triple Scorpio, for that matter; I was born under the sign of the God of War. You do NOT want to make me into an enemy…..

The vultures are circling…they have the faces of presidential candidates and carry bowling balls in their buttered claws….

Note from 2014: Apparently, even back then, I was a trifle upset with the Beloved Ruling Class; these days, the same issues arise on an almost daily basis, as the second incarnation of the Homeland Insecurity Act was signed on New Year’s Eve in 2011, by our “transparent” president, who apparently didn’t want any crap from the public or the media about doing so….

Why else do it while the entire country is out drinking away the feelings of fear whipped up by the fanning of the public’s rage over the terrorist acts of that infamous day?….Which, in truth, was an act which entirely ignores our response to that terrorist act, wherein we have killed, many times more than 10 times the number of Americans who died that day, in revenge upon people who had no part in it…. In truth, our country’s response strongly resembled an enraged bull in a china shop, without the dignity of having a valid reason to be there….

I’m done now…. Obviously, this is a mini-rant, which I’ve turned into a full out, extra long rant on numerous occasions…. So, I’ll give y’all a break this time…. Next time we are supposed to go vote, you can return the favor, and don’t…. It only encourages the assholes when we do…..

“We need a president who’s fluent in at least one language.” — Buck Henry, comedian, 1992

“The bad thing about experience is that it teaches you the stuff you don’t want to know.” — Smart Bee

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

Today, only one poem will do to follow that section, and it’s one of mine, from a couple years back…. It speaks directly to the relevant issues discussed above…. Enjoy!….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
we’ll take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

The following pearl, made up of randomly chosen pearls, is, sort of, unique….. Now, you may wonder how the hell something can be “sort of” unique… according to the definition of the word, things either are unique, or they are not unique, period. But, then Daniel Webster had never heard of the concept of diving for pearls of virtual wisdom, or for that matter, even cared…. which goes a long way toward explaining why he might not be the best one to make any final decisions about “connotations”, as his entire persona was hardwired to focus on the “denotation” of words….

Also, in this case, it has no real bearing one way or another, because it’s just a trick, to get you to forget about anything that has gone before….. just in case you might be thinking about a civil suit for damages…. Of course, now I’ve descended into plain silliness, and am once again wasting time and words galore in the pursuit of nonsense…. S’okay, I’m used to it, and, by now, y’all should be as well…. Regardless, we were talking about this pearl…. All of the quotes you see, all nine of them, were spit out by Smart Bee in the order you see, one right after another…..

I’ve witnessed the million monkeys, ffolkes….. they have produced the works of Shakespeare, in its entirety, right here on this blog….. The odds of what you see approach the same level as the odds of the Earth falling out of its orbit in the next five minutes…. they are astronomically small…. That said, I’m going to let them speak for themselves, especially since I know the perfect pearl awaits you at the end, in the final entry, to make it all clear….. Enjoy!…. It isn’t often you’ll see a nine-star pearl, especially one that essentially was gifted to us by the Universe…..

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you- Nobody- Too?
Then there’s a pair of us?
Don’t tell! they’d advertise-you know!
How dreary-to be- Somebody!
How public-like a Frog-
To tell one’s name-the livelong June-
To an admiring Bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

“Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.” — Romanian proverb

“I don’t think math is a science. I think it’s a religion.” — Calvin

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.” — Latin proverb

“Almost all reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.” — Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~
(1688-1744)
— Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 289 —

“MERYL STREEP is my obstetrician!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Well, that was something…. I’ll try hard to figure out what, but, later; for now, it will do….. Since that is the case, I really have no excuse to hang around any longer, so, I’ll submit to the demands of reality, this time, and be on my way into the day…. Should be a good one, I think, it it doesn’t get too hot…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

gigoid

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

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Tag Archives: Beloved ruling class

Boiled mutton in a plastic bag….

No sweet sorrow today for YOU, slick Willie….

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

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