Typewriters, elevators, and beer; heaven on Earth….

Posted on August 2, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.

~~ H.H. the Dalai Lama ~~

The road goes ever on….

Good morning….

As I put my eye to the scope, it occurred to me I had neglected to blacken the barrel of the long sniper’s rifle before leaving base; hoping no random glare would give me away, I centered the cross-hairs on the head of the Minister of Defense, now striding out of the restaurant across the street. As he paused to wait for his car at the curb, I gently tightened my finger around the trigger, until a quiet “whoosh” sent the tiny needle, soaked in a mixture of atropine and cyanide, speeding through the air, embedding itself in the exposed neck just below the ear. Instantly, as he dropped to the sidewalk, dead, I was moving out of the room, down the hall, down the stairs, and out the door, easing through the shadows of the dark alleyway, to the next assignment, far away in a distant city….

We’ll let that die a natural death right there, I think…. It ain’t Ian Fleming, but, it’ll do for a Sunday blog, I guess. It got us this far, where we’re now, again, stuck for anything worthwhile to talk about. I was going to discuss a bit of philosophy, but, decided to go with the random fictional opening instead…. Now, I’m not sure that was the correct thing to do; I DO have a delete button, but I hate to throw away a good ten minutes of relatively sweaty writing, just because it’s bad…. I mean, that’s never stopped me before, has it? No, indeed…. But, I think, maybe, it would be best to fall back on what I probably should have done in the first place, which is best demonstrated by a moment of….

[dignified silence]

There…. That should keep the intro-nazis out of my hair…. and, yours, too. Perhaps, in the interest of sanity, and the preservation thereof in our customer base, we should go…. Luigi, do your thing…. The rest of you, look busy….

Shall we Pearl?….

“And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

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

The Divine Miss M

Image from bmi.com via Google Images

It took a while, but, I finally found a good video selection for today. The Divine Miss M has been one of my favorites since she burst onto the music scene back in the 70’s. Brash, funny, with a voice like a laser, and a heart as big as the Moon, she is indeed, one of the divas of my generation…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this is a live show, so, it’ll be hard NOT to do so….

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

Bette Midler Live

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

https://youtu.be/aF_1qH4B_W0

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

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

“I believe the moral losses of expediency always far outweigh the temporary gains.” — Wendell L. Willkie

I am repeatedly reminded of the usefulness of aphorisms, particularly to demonstrate a point much larger than what the words actually say…. This statement by Mr. Wilkie is an excellent, honorable, ethical statement, and, if true, explains in one short sentence why he was never able to get elected to the Presidency. With those sort of ethical standards, he was completely and obviously over-qualified. It also implies, once again, if true, he doesn’t lie, for such is the natural way of the who choose such a self-indulgent path, and he who only speaks truth is no match in a political contest with one who has no such compunctions. This much has been proven, 47 of 49 times in the past 240 years…. (The two exceptions? J. Carter, by direct observation, and George Washington, by tradition….)

As all of us are aware, our world has a great many problems facing us, many of which are a result of our own inability to get along with each other. We live in an increasingly dangerous world, where men of no honor, and no compassion, follow their agendas of avarice for power, in a mad rush to enslave the rest of humanity…. This group is historically ensconced in the halls of government, and in the halls of finance, where those shadowy corporate predators plot to control every drop of resources and currency in the world to sate their insane need for absolute power, while, at the opposite end of the ethical scale we find the small group of people who understand what is going on, and works to mitigate the pain and misery caused amongst the mass of ignorant, malleable slaves comprising 98% of the world’s population, people who have very little say over how their lives will proceed….

A bit over 200 years ago, a small group of such intellectuals banded together to form a nation, dedicated to principles which were actively in opposition to historical forces, placing the bulk of political power in the hands of the populace, rather than in the hands of the landed aristocracy, or professional political pundits and bureaucrats…. They had a dream, one they KNEW would be actively opposed by those who would prey on their fellow man…. They all left us warnings, to try to make us all aware of what might happen, should we fall victim to their subtle manipulations….

Each of our founding fathers, in writings they made to each other, and to the public in essays, and other publications, such as the Almanac, gave warning against big business and those who would usurp the halls of government for their own purposes. Rather than preach to the choir for what could easily turn out to be several thousand words, I’ve collected some of those statements of warning, to help us to remember the liberties we have been given, and, hopefully, provide the impetus to stand up, to speak up, to defend those rights…. for, as it has been said, with perfect clarity and truth, we only have those rights we can defend…..

Here are some of what our founding fathers said to sound the warning, as best they could…..

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but ave different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness *positively*, by uniting our affections, the latter *negatively*, by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one….” — Thomas Paine, opening lines of _Common Sense_ 1776 — *asterisks denote Paine’s use of italics*

“A monied aristocracy in our country … has already set the government at defiance.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson

“To disarm the people – that was the best and most effective way to enslave them ….” — George Mason

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have …a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the character and conduct of their rulers.” — John Adams

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

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” — Thomas Paine

“If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be … If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” — Thomas Jefferson

Using Winston Churchill’s method of making a point, we will now proceed to whack it good, a third time….

Every one of the above warnings made by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence has been shown to be a valid danger, for every single issue mentioned has come to pass in our society today. The wealth gap between the richest and poorest has grown to a point never before reached in history. Banks and corporations have bought and paid for the courts of this country, with the resultant laws protecting business and the pillaging of the poor. A constant barrage of news articles, from a media fully controlled by those in power, detail shootings and incidents of violence to frighten the ignorant, legislating more and more regulations preventing private citizens from adequately arming themselves for protection.

The police have become an arm of the corporations, and feel a sense of separation from the very public they are supposed to serve, treating them as criminals and “potential terrorists”. Our students can’t even find their own state on a map of their own country, and cannot state more than two of the 10 entries in the US Bill of Rights….

And they wonder why life is so hard….. Well, ffolkes, apparently, not enough of us listened to our forefathers, and y’all know what they say about history, right? Those who do not study it are doomed to repeat it…. As far as I can see, the history of our race is little more than a constant fight against our own nature, with the predators among us winning out far more often than the rest…. I guess we like it that way….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken.

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

One poem that was percolating got deleted; fortunately, I can feel another one in there, swirling and circling, waiting to coalesce into rhyme…. For the nonce, we’ll retreat once again to the archives….. I hope you enjoy it…

Unheralded Sagacity….

To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.

Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.

Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.

No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.

Illumination…..

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 4/17/2013

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

Our final entry today is another random pearl speaking about Life at Large…. Life can be a formidable proposition, and it behooves all of us to gather to our bosoms as much wisdom regarding the living of it as we can find…. Not that the answers aren’t all right there inside us, but, we humans have a tendency to look outside ourselves for those things we forget we already possess, such as peace, courage, compassion, and, well, everything we need…

He took his vorpal sword in hand
Long time the manxom foe he sought
Till rested he by the tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought

~~ Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) ~~

“You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.” — Malcolm Forbes

“A person is not given integrity. It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times.” — Anonymous, most ancient human sage

“Life without music would be an intolerable insult.” — Edward Abbey

“He conquers who endures.” — Perseus

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain

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

~~ Tao Te Ching ~~

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

Well, if nothing else, insomnia sure does make it easy to get stuff done…. Now it IS done, I’m unsure of what to do until the rest of the world wakes up…. I think I’ll go find some shit to disturb today…. In the meantime, I suppose it’s time to close this down for another day. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the implacable forces of history don’t reach a crisis point, and, the unavoidable, imminent revolution toward which our society is rushing, headlong, holds off a little while longer….

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….

No discounts for Pug Dogs…. Huskies, maybe….

Posted on August 1, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ward, I’m worried about the Beaver.”

~~ June Cleaver ~~

Foxy Stump

Good morning…. Wait! Scratch that…. Reverse it….

Morning. Good…. I guess. Perhaps, if it hadn’t begun at 0133, my greeting wouldn’t sound as grumpy; since it did, we’ll all have to deal with it. Not that such an event is out of the ordinary….. No, sir, around here, the hour we get up is what we call a Mystery of Life, not susceptible to prediction, or, for that matter, to any sort of consistency, beyond the simple fact we hope it will happen at all….

Now, for some, that might be considered just a little snarky; for us, it’s high hopes. I have decided to give up sleeping altogether, I think. It doesn’t seem to be working out well, so, I may as well be constructive, & try to get something done…

I know. I’ll make a Pearl!. Yeah, that’s the ticket…. Okay, let’s do this thing, before I get any more radical ideas…. Or, would that be, ideas more radical? Ah, hell, who cares? Get us outta here, Luigi….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the falsehood. One word of truth outweighs the world.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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

Although Raul Julia was also more than perfect in the role, in my mind, John Austin, WAS Gomez Addams…. He had the proper crazy look in his eyes, whenever he talked of anything gruesome or horrifying, just as Gomez should look…. Although, it must be admitted, Raul’s delivery of certain lines is destined to be legendary…. Who can deny the sheer genius of his expression, and tone, in his line, “Two, ten, eleven. Eyes, fingers, toes.”?….. Not I…. But. for all around goofiness, this cast was the best, in my estimation…. For your pleasure today, I’ve included a movie, a reunion of the cast from 1977, called Halloween with the Addams Family…. or something like that…. Enjoy!…..

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

The Addams Family

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

https://youtu.be/jlw2CFiSCgc

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

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

I’ve got nothin’…. Nada damn thing worth writing about is to be found anywhere in my head; nor is there anything particularly compelling NOT in my head pulling me to comment upon, oddly enough. The news in any one day is liable to set me off with little problem, but, today, I’m just not in the mood…. Therefore, we’ll start this section over, now….

My first blog was posted on WordPress sometime in the first week of June in 2011; the following entry is the fifth, or sixth, post I put up, in the format style then prevalent for Pearls, which evolved as an email document first…. I’ve updated, & cleaned up, the formatting a little, to bring it into line with what has evolved over time…. It’s not a rant, but, it will do….. I hope you enjoy this little peek into the early days here at ECR….

From 6/8/2011:

Ffolkes,

The morning light pours over the far hills, warming air gone still in the night’s cold, with amber drops of dew glistening along the branches of awakening trees, gilding the edges of the day. Birdsong trills, insects hum, as a meandering brook winds through the forest, rushing along in its desperate race to the sea. The water babbles as it moves, all the voices blending together into a continuous stream of just-unheard secrets, gravid with meaning. The air begins to move, heated by the burgeoning warmth swirling up through the leaves, adding it’own thoughts, dreams to the chorus thus formed. Thus does the world turn, unheralded, implacable, real. Thus is another Pearl born; ask me not how, or why, for I no longer know. Knowing I must, is all I know, or need to know….

“If you want to know all about the sea, you go and ask a sailor, or a marine biologist, or an oceanographer, and they can tell you a lot about the sea. But if you go and ask the sea itself, what does it say? Grumble, grumble, swish swish. It is too busy being itself to know anything about itself.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

Leave the past behind;
leave the future behind;
leave the present behind.
Thou are then ready to go to the other shore.
Never more shalt thou return to a life that ends in death.

~~ The Dhamapada ~~

It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.

~~ Bette Midler, “The Rose” ~~

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy.” I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” — Leo C. Rosten

It may not be Art, but it is Frank, and Earnest….. y’all take care out there…..

Note from the future: I note there are only four pearls in this entry; it must have been before I decided odd numbers worked better…. Here is one final pearl to balance the whole deal…. Hopefully, it will fit in with the above….

“One of your most ancient writers, a historian named Herodotus, tells of a thief who was to be executed. As he was taken away he made a bargain with the king: in one year he would teach the king’s favorite horse to sing hymns. The other prisoners watched the thief singing to the horse and laughed. “You will not succeed,” they told him. “No one can.” To which the thief replied, “I have a year, and who knows what might happen in that time. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And perhaps the horse will learn to sing.” — The Mote in God’s Eye, by Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven

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

Picture 158

Canal Image- Poem’s Inspiration

from the National Gallery of Ireland – see link below

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=70523

Seamus Heaney was considered the poet laureate of Ireland for much of the latter part of his life, a period of time covering most the twentieth century. I discovered his work a couple years ago, soon after he died, and have loved it ever since. The poem included today, his last published work, was sent to me by a friend, to whom I’m very thankful, and not just because it gave me an entry for this section…. It’s a beautiful poem, too….

Banks of a Canal

Say canal and there’s that final vowel

Towing silence with it, slowing time

To a walking pace, a path, a whitewashed gleam

Of dwellings at the skyline. World stands still.

The stunted concrete mocks the classical.

Water says, ‘My place here is in dream,

In quiet good standing. Like a sleeping stream,

Come rain or sullen shine I’m peaceable’.

Stretched to the horizon, placid ploughland,

The sky not truly bright or overcast:

I know that clay, the damp and dirt of it,

The coolth along the bank, the grassy zest

Of verges, the path not narrow but still straight

Where soul could mind itself or stray beyond.

~~ Seamus Heaney ~~

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

This pearl, while a bit loose in association, nonetheless provides us with some pretty good ideas about how to live a life with which one might be content. I’d say that’s a pretty worthwhile goal, myself, but what do I know?…. You could do worse….

For life, with all it yields of joy and woe,
And hope and fear (believe the aged friend),
Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love,–
How love might be, hath been indeed, and is.

~~ Robert Browning ~~
~~ A Death in the Desert ~~

“The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.” — Anais Nin

“True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.” — Halifax (1633-1695)

“In those whom I like, I can find no common denominator; in those whom I love I can: they all make me laugh.” — W. H. Auden

“I grow old ever learning many things.” — Solon

“The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is …. Nothing should be able to harm a man but himself. Nothing should be able to rob a man at all. What a man really has is what is in him. What is outside of him should be a matter of no importance.” — Oscar Wilde

“Insist on yourself; never imitate.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

All things that pass
Are wisdom’s looking-glass.

~~ Christina Rossetti ~~

+ ————————————————- +
+ ———- Sic transit gloria mundi. ———— +
+ — “Thus passes away the glory of the world.” — +
+ ————————————————- +

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

I suppose there is something to be said for serendipity in disguise, when it slaps us in the face…. Of course, it’s a little hard to think of that when your face is tingling like a big dog, but, hey, can’t have everything, right? Besides, it’s done, so, we, meaning I, officially, (it’s documented) don’t give a shit any more. In fact, I’m taking my shit on the road. Not permanently; in fact, unless someone faster, bigger, or meaner than me shows up, I’ll be back tomorrow morning, no doubt bright and early, (Why is it BRIGHT and early? It’s dark as hell outside….), since sleep seems to be a thing of the past…. As many of us who have spent time on the street would say, WAKE UP, YOU BOZOS! Or, maybe we’d say, see ya….

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….

Filtered through a bold new paradigm….

Posted on June 21, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”

~~ Elrond ~~

Faded Beauty

Good morning. Maybe…. Even in the quite curmudgeon-like space currently defining my presence this morning, there is no room for nicety. When I think of the general run of people in today’s world, my teeth yearn to bite, my hands to throttle; the mere thought of their pain fills me with an sense of unbridled glee I cannot contain…. Have I gone mad in my sleep? Where is my center, my serenity? Gone, replaced with sheer, bloody rage at the machine…..

Well, that was fun… NOT. It seems all the angst I usually put into ranting has been building up inside, in the past few weeks I’ve been over-using the archives. And why not, I say? It had been a while since I ranted, but, yesterday, a short exchange with a new blogging friend stimulated a fresh rant against our beloved ruling class (I’ve stopped capitalizing it; they don’t deserve the honor….), which you’ll find below, in the appropriate section…. It felt good, too, I have to say….

Rather than wander around too much here, we’ll get on with today’s mess; in the mood I’m in, we could easily end up with two or three fresh rants, and, I’d like to see if there’s a poem in there that might bleed out. If the process of opening up a vein will let it out, cool. If not, well, we’ll see what happens… In the meantime, we’d best be on our way, before I say something that sets off a rant…. It’s a bit early yet for that…. Onward….

Shall we Pearl?

“All the secrets we may be able to keep from any and every god and human being do not in the least absolve us from the obligation to refrain from whatever actions are greedy, unjust, sensual, or otherwise immoderate.” — Cicero, On Duties

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

Image from mytinyphone.com via Google Images

In my mind, this man was one of the top three songwriters of the era in which he lived…. A true societal icon, his music did more to create a bond between the feuding races of Man than any religion has EVER done…. The love this man had for his fellow man shone through every note he played…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

Bob Marley

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

https://youtu.be/XspU6g9m2Fs

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

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

“I don’t believe there’s any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can’t completely ignore.” — George Carlin

Since I regard George Carlin as the premier social philosopher of the latter half of the twentieth century, I appreciate him giving me the perfect opportunity to speak to an issue which, to be frank, pisses me off no end…. Yesterday, during a chance reading of a fairly new blog, with a subject something to do with clowns, I made a smart-aleck comment about how clowns are evil, going off on a mini-rant about commercialism of holidays, which led to another comment about the huge elf at the top banner of the blog; you know, the one from that insane propaganda movie, about the 6 ft. tall elf in NY who saves Christmas, or something…. Will Farrell, I think is the actor’s name; can’t be sure, never actually watched anything but the innumerable commercials and trailers for it….

Well, as became patently obvious, the subject flicks my ranting mode switch; when the blogger, a very creative young woman, commented with a “Santa?”…. I went off, ranting for several paragraphs, which I include below, to begin today’s rant, which will continue the theme, if I can do so strongly…. Should be easy, this one really fucks with my sense of justice and outrage….

The comment, as shown below, can be found here, where you can read the whole comment thread, and the original article prompting the conversation:

http://livelovelaughdotme2.com/2015/06/20/childhood-destroyed/comment-page-1/#comment-18066

Oh, honey-chile, I hate to be the one to burst a bubble for you, but, although Santa Claus (as a concept) used to be fairly innocuous, mostly harmless in terms of any psychic brainwashing was concerned, the whole concept of Christmas, and Santa himself, was hijacked by the bankers and businessmen, all the way back in the 1920’s, with roots going back even further in our history; it’s part of why the Great Depression happened…. Then, all the other holidays were turned into Hallmark days, so the businesses that depend on that sort of sales could potentially sell more ‘stuff’, during those months when no ancient, or religious holidays occur….

Mother’s/Father’s Day, St. Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, President’s Day, Memorial Day, (originally just an observance for the dead in ONE battle…. Now, a person who doesn’t fall into the celebration can be accused of not being patriotic, for failing to buy beer, or watch a game of some kind, to honor all the LIVING brainwashed myrmidons, placing their lives at some risk while they’re off bombing and killing citizens of other countries all over the world, so our bankers can sell their plastic crap to the natives of those places….), virtually every holiday in every month in this country is either a complete fabrication of the government to stimulate business, or an ancient/religious holiday perverted for the same purpose….

I know many holidays are the only chance people today have, to feel good about their lives, and take a break…. So, what does the beloved ruling class do? They inundate the public with advertisements to buy this, that, or the other for the holiday, thus spending more than they can really afford, for a crap-load of stuff, all to celebrate something supposedly worthwhile, which they could easily accomplish without the costly manufactured needs…

Sorry to be a bummer, but, the subject of holidays, cute little elves, and all the other stuff used to convince people they just HAVE to participate in the ongoing economic frenzy of buying, all for stuff you will eat in one day, or throw away afterward…. Well, it just burns my ass to watch our entire society throwing money down the drain, for nothing important, except to fulfill what they BELIEVE to be the customs of the society, which have, in reality, been perverted into a travesty of anything honorable, or even reasonable…. It’s all an illusion, little one, deliberately created to convince people it’s important enough to waste their money on it….

But, then, maybe that’s just me…. It’s not Santa, young paduan; it’s what they’ve turned Santa into that lights my fuse….

gigoid, the sincerely dubious….

———————————————

I think the reason this subject angers me so much is connected to two reasons. First, it’s all so transparent, to me, yet, seemingly, there are millions upon millions of otherwise intelligent people who refuse to look at how brainwashed they have become. The opening quote from George takes on new meaning, when one considers how much strength of will it takes to deny evidence that slaps you in the face EVERY DAY….

It implies a choice. It tells me that most people in this country, rather than using their minds for what they were designed to do, have abrogated all their honor, and dignity, for the sake of a safe, secure existence wherein they are not required to think, or make any more effort than the minimum required to survive, in a world made soft and palatable, without danger, or challenge, or need for any imagination….

The second part. which angers me even more, is that we were warned this would happen, by the very men who gave their lives and fortunes to ensure we had the few rights we do…. Thomas Jefferson said it best, I think, though others of his time said much the same…. In fact, it seems Tom had something to say about just about everything happening in today’s news headlines, nailing exactly what has happened to our rights…. For those with tunnel vision, I’ll add a modern example of exactly what Tom was referring to in his statements….(in parentheses)

“A monied aristocracy in our country … has already set the government at defiance.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

(The Koch Brothers. Super PAC’s. Corporate personhood. 55% of US Senators are millionaires…. Big Pharma/HMO’s. Walmart. )

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson

(Citicorp. Bank of America. Chase. Rothschild, Rockefeller, Kennedy, Dupont, Krupp, Takahashi, Windsor, Chang, Wang, and the other 0.02% who own ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD)

“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson

(Gee, does that sound anything like the programs gathering metadata by the NSA, or the FBI, authorized by the good ol’ Patriot Act, one of the most ironic catchphrases they ever came up with….)

“I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” — Thomas Jefferson

(Current US government debt is more than 700 TRILLION dollars, and counting….)

“…when all government… in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1821

(Need I even say anything here? Okay, just for a recent example…. Obamacare….Another? Okay. The Supreme Court decision allowing rich people to buy politicians through PAC’s…. What did one of the dissenting judges on the Court say about that? Let’s see….)

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

(Patriot Act again…. Secret courts. Torture as a legitimate tool. Police killings. Police militarization. Drone spying on domestic targets. All proven with evidence, yet denied by officials….)

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William S. Smith, Paris, Nov. 13, 1787

(Sadly, this one is no longer possible, I think…. Not enough true patriots of liberty left; they’ve all become zombies, or bought into the lies, and are in complete denial of their slavery….)

Okay, that’s enough…. As you can see, Tom, and others, warned us of ALL of this…. But, thanks to laziness, to the common man’s lack of willingness to be responsible for their own lives and actions, the majority of Americans not only don’t realize they are no longer free at all, but, deny it when confronted with incontrovertible evidence….

SIGH…. Fuck ’em…. I won’t go down without a struggle, you can be sure of that…. Others may do as they like…. And, yes, I KNOW the NSA will eventually see this…. So what? I’m not going to lie, and become like them….

gigoid has spoken.

So be it.

“For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.”

~~ Plutarch ~~

~~ Of the Training of Children ~~

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

I’d hoped a poem was ready to bleed out, but, it ain’t happening…. Here is yet another from the archives….

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/10/2012.

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

I put the following pearl together, but, I don’t know exactly what it all means…. I mean, I do, but, I don’t…. See what I mean? (What IS the mind? More to the point, what does the mind MEAN?….)

Ah well, they’re all such good pearls, it has to mean something good, right? Or is that a bit too Pollyanna-ish? Or, maybe, Pavlovian…. Perhaps so; I don’t think any of it will affect the Space/Time Continuum, anyway, so, I think we’ll be okay…. If not, well, see y’all in the next Universe….

And now someone’s on the telephone desperate in his pain
Someone’s on the bathroom floor doing her cocaine
Someone’s got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me we aren’t gluttons for our doom

~~ the Indigo Girls, “Prince Of Darkness” ~~

“Whip me such honest knaves.” — William Shakespeare, Othello — Act i, Sc. 1

“Better to have illusions of a reality where everything is real than to have a reality of illusions where nothing is real.” — Bobby Matherne

“As the sword of the best-tempered metal is the most flexible; so the truly generous are most pliant and courteous in their behavior to their inferiors.” — Fuller

“Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.” — Edward Abbey

“One idea spoken truly, even in a cave, can change the world.” — Buddha

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

“Of all the benefits that virtue confers upon us, the contempt of death is one of the greatest.” — Montaigne

“I say love, it is a flower;

and you, it’s only seed.”

~~ Bette Midler, “The Rose” ~~

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

Well, I can’t do any better, or think of anything else to add; I guess that means we’re done here. Whew! It’s been a long life…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can’t think of anything better to do….

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….

Can you say “salivating for dollars”? Sure you can….

Posted on May 25, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.”

~~ Publius Syrus ~~

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Bucolic Romantic Picnic Site

Just add someone to romance…

California Delta

Good morning. Today, just for y’all, we have a Pearl with no ups, and no extras…. Don’t worry…. you’ll see.

Shall we Pearl?

“Learning builds daily accumulation, but the practice of Tao builds daily simplification. Simplify and simplify, until all contamination from relative, contradictory thinking is eliminated. Then one does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. One who wins the world does so by not meddling with it. One who meddles with the world loses it.” — Lao-Tzu — Tao Teh Ching

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

Picture from apkmodgame.net via Google images

Today, let’s go back to our beginnings, to listen to the artist I consider the driving artistic force behind modern music. This man had a very short career, interrupted by his death in an airplane crash before his 30th birthday. He left behind a legacy of music that will not be forgotten, and remains some of the best rock & roll ever produced…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is special….

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

Buddy Holly

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

https://youtu.be/ZVM51PJzrSM

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

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

As I’ve iterated recently, ranting seems to have become a fairly rare occurrence around here, due to a number of altered circumstances, and my own lack of angst build-up…. Today, it’s okay, because I managed to put together a pretty good old-school pearl, with parameters set to take some shots at the Predator Class, aka, the BRC, or Beloved Ruling Class….

These are mostly pure, with a couple of pearls which COULD be used for those other Asininnie category members, the Dogma Dogs, but, the characteristics of both are the same…. Any one of these will give y’all an idea of what is going wrong in this country, and why it probably isn’t a fixable issue…. I won’t say enjoy, but, I will say, THINK! I mean, think about it ffolkes…. As our first pearl demonstrates, even a blind person can see what is going on…..

We, the people, are not free.
Our democracy is but a name.
We vote?
What does that mean?
We choose between
Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

~~ Helen Keller ~~

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

“The more I study the religions of the world, the more I am convinced Man never worshiped anything but himself.” — Sir Richard F. Burton

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

“Faith, n: That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be untrue.” — Ambrose Bierce

“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.” — Robert Frost

“Patriotism is pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.” — George Bernard Shaw

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

1. No matter what they’re telling you, it’s not the truth.

2. No matter what they’re talking about, they’re talking about money.

~~ Todd’s Political Principles ~~

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

Today, we are again going with one of mine, simply because I want to… So there…. Try to enjoy it anyway, ffolkes….

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 ~~

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

This one is about Life, and some of the concepts which can make it worthwhile living….

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.
Sometimes we visit your country and live in your home.
Sometimes we ride on your horses, sometimes we walk alone.
Sometimes the songs that we sing are just songs of our own.

~~ Robert Hunter ~~

~~ Eyes of the World ~~

“Truth never hurts the teller.” — Robert Browning

“A person’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.” — Giacomo Leopardi

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” — Albert Einstein

“A man’s true wealth is the good he does in the world.” — Mohammed (570-632 A.D.)

“Men are used as they use others.” — Pilpay (or Bidpai) — The King who became Just, Chap. ii, Fable ix

“Character is that which can do without success.” — Emerson

~~ Bette Midler ~~

~~ The Rose ~~

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

It may sound self-serving, but, ffolkes, that’s the best I can do today, so, like it or not, we’re done here…. I promise, tomorrow will be… well, maybe not better, but, it WILL be different. On that uplifting note, I shall bid the a fond farewell. Adieu, adieu! Until we meet again…. Tomorrow, if I have anything to say about it…. See ya….

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….

Reality’s version of twisted flaws….

Posted on January 23, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

A man so various, that he seem’d to be
Not one, but all mankind’s epitome;
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts, and nothing long;
But in the course of one revolving moon
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.

~~ John Dryden ~~

~~ Absalom and Achitophel, Part i, Line 545 ~~

Mars Rocks ~~ NASA

Have y’all figured out the mystery of dejá vu, mentioned in yesterday’s Pearl? If any attention at all has being paid, you’d be able to answer in the affirmative, because the feeling is directly tied to the opening sights here at ECR, as well as the stimulus for the discomfort we feel at finding out we aren’t as attentive as we supposed…. Perhaps, it is more accurately described as a feeling the Universe is fucking with us in some unknown way…. which, in this case, is perfectly true…. Look again at today’s title, then compare it to yesterday’s title, and the title from the day before…. Then, you may groan, and groan again, before congratulating me on a good trick….

End of quiz…. Now we’ve settled the question of just how silly and desperate I am, we can go on, though, frankly, I haven’t a clue as to where we might go. Naturally, thanks to my large, red, round proboscis, I forgot to figure out what to do AFTER explaining about the titles…. Now, I’m at a loss for anything to do, a sensation, which, however familiar it may be, isn’t one of my favorite emotions, by any means. I’ve been stuck here so often in the past 3 years, I’ve PROVED the old saw about familiarity, and contempt.

Aha! Got it! I’ll talk about the photo, above, at the top of the page…. It’s one of the latest photos from Mars, taken by the Curiosity Rover, as it trundles its way across the Red Planet to its ultimate goal, Mount Somethingorother, chosen years ago on Earth. This particular picture is significant, but, only for the effect it has produced among some of humanity’s fringe elements. The pile of rocks in the center of the photo has some oddly shaped rocks, a couple of which lend themselves to the human brain’s tendency to “fill in” details not actually present, in shapes that are somewhat amorphous in Reality, such as when we see the shapes of animals, or other objects, in the clouds in the sky….

A number of our more susceptible minds back here on Earth believe the shapes indicate the presence of life on Mars, because they resemble carved animals, such as made by ancient civilizations here…. The close-up pictures do, indeed, resemble such carvings, but, not so much as to assume, from several MILLION miles away, we can tell whether they are the product of intelligence. But, these folks are convinced, and proceeded to trumpet the news all over the Internet, so the rest of the world could share their delusion….

In the interests of saving your ass from any such indignity so early in the day, I will NOT use this silliness as a comparison to OTHER delusions, rather more familiar to all of us…. That sort of comment could easily lead to a rant, which is already taken care of for the day, as you will see below…. No need to drive y’all off before we even get started, is there? Nope….

I notice I have distracted myself long enough to finish the intro; what we see above is definitely a sufficient supply of relatively sober discussion, all pointed at moving us along to where we are scheduled to be at this point in time. (Please remember, there is no legal requirement it has to make any sense at all….) As usual, the process to bring us to this point here was, by all evidence, fully unconscious, thus protecting us from claims of evil intent, if not from the odd accusation of deliberate emotional abuse of the unwitting, or, as we call it down at the Philosopher’s Club, screwing with the natives…. All of that, being moot, can be ignored, at which, as is patently obvious, we are VERY good….

Look! It’s our opening! Let’s all brace ourselves, bring our masks into position, grab your partner’s hand….. We’re all going to jump together, okay? At the count of one….. Wait for it…. There! ONE!…. Jump, quick, or we’re all dead meat!….

Shall we Pearl?

“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope

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

Today’s video is one I’ve seen, which shows an animated play-by-play description of how the Curiosity Rover landed on Mars, about a year or two past…. It is an incredible feat of engineering; just think of the problems that could have kept it from working! Brilliant! And, a small piece of hope among all the terrible news we have to contemplate, here on Earth…. It’s pretty cool….

NASA Rover Curiosity Landing on Mars

http://youtu.be/LiEoGUHEobo

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

“One Galileo in two thousand years is enough.”

~~ Pope Pius XII ~~

“The abundance of things engendereth disdainfulness.” — Proverb

It’s almost too easy. Both of the first two pearls, one text, one text/graphic, are both rather incontrovertible, in terms of their relative Truth. Both are documented statements, since Popes, right from the start of the tradition, have always kept immaculate records, which often don’t show much sense about their desire for secrecy, as most of it tells the absolute truth, without embellishment, in spite of its origin. In short, they’ve pulled their own covers innumerable times throughout history, with statements such as these two, always with corroboration in other documents from the same period….

Thus, the importance of the third pearl climbs to new heights, for it sounds like it is a mere observation; in light of the words of Leo and Pius, the assholes, it becomes nothing less than an indictment, and a very pointed one, at that. The very corruption so blatantly spoken, and displayed by these predators of the Middle Ages, shows its effect on the populace it has oppressed, in the mildness, and simplicity of the language, in direct contrast to the opulence the Church has espoused from its beginnings… thus showing their arrogance and true natures were not going completely unnoticed….

The Catholic Church, whose public face has often belonged to folks like those two above, not merely in the Middle Ages, touts itself as the champion and protector of the poor, in such hypocritical tones of unctuous sanctimony, I often consider just slapping one of them. It enrages me when they get started spouting off about “Christian Charity”, thinking nothing of making such statements on TV, in elegant, rich robes lined with actual gold thread, standing on the steps of a palace, in which the treasures and riches collected in two hundred centuries of outright thievery from those same poor people, collected in one ten-penny per pound tithe at a time, from people who cannot buy the ingredients for stone soup.

(Now, don’t think I was raised Catholic, and have a bone to pick with them; I extend my disdain to ALL religions based on a deliberately fostered delusional belief in a powerful, supernatural imaginary friend, whose love for me is limitless, just because…. That makes up just about the whole list, as far as I can tell… still checking, so I’ll let you know if and/or when I find one…. I use the Catholics mainly because the Popes, like those above, have been so fucking obvious, and often, stupider than even those they enslave, about their disdain for the poor and downtrodden they purport to care about… I KNOW they love them: without the poor, and ignorant, where would they be?…. Dead and buried, most likely…)

The delusional system built up by the Church educators is designed to prevent any real original thinking; as any logician knows, it is not possible to reach a correct conclusion when the data is skewed in a particular direction, for a basic reason, to wit: any results of using the data will have no corresponding corroboration in Reality, anywhere…. In short, you can’t make Real out of Unreal…. no matter how often one repeats the assertion that it can, and has been done…. Honest, trust me, and you, too, can live forever!….

Pretty good grand prize, eh? Take the worst fear anyone has, fan it with stories of a burning, eternal pit of suffering for not believing, promise them it won’t happen to them if they never again think for themselves, and they will be able to live happily forever, surrounded by all those they love, in peace and everlasting harmony, by the grace of…. who? Oh, that guy nobody has ever been able to show any real proof of seeing, touching, or anything, other than by sloppy reasoning, or assumption of magic signs and portents, telling only those who can see how God’s existence is proven by the way the wind is blowing today…. Even though it has blown the same way every day of their life, without ever offering anything other than “ipse dixit” for proof of its relevance….

When I first learned the stories and justifications given by preachers, and adults, back before my fifth birthday, it all seemed rather improbable to me, not to mention downright vicious and petty, in terms of the scariness of the lessons about certain things…. Plus, death, and living forever aren’t concepts kids like to think on for long, so, when I did, it just didn’t make sense…. I couldn’t figure out why God wanted Adam and Eve to get kicked out of Eden like that; it was obvious to me he did, or why would he put the tree there, then tell them to leave it alone? I sort of felt like Calvin, when he said, to, I think, his Sunday School teacher after hearing one of the kid’s Bible tales, when she asked him if he liked the story….

“Hard to say, Ma’am. I think my cerebellum just fused.” — Calvin, Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes

Yet, people buy it, mostly because they are taught to believe it at a very young age, before they actually possess any power of reasoning for themselves…. So, those people they want to spend eternity with, who are alo victims of a millennia-old scam, based on belief in a supernatural best friend of great power, and limitless authority over all of us, because WE ARE SUCH GULLIBLE FOOLS, in their turn, pass on the very same set of delusions, using the same techniques now used by the spies, and governments, who train their agents to brainwash prisoners, or those they wish to control…. Repetition, rote, behavioral modification, based on key basic functional fears works every time…. except, it seems to a lucky few….

But, hey, to each their own, I say…. Just don’t ask me to buy into it; it leaves me cold….

“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

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

I’m working on a new poem, which, oddly enough, came to me yesterday while watching the opening of an old video…. Since it isn’t ready to share itself with the world yet, we’ll go with the work of a poet needing no introduction, whose work always hits the mark, for me…. I give you, Emily….

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

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

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

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

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

Today’s old school pearl came together quite nicely, without much interference on my part. I didn’t even have to rearrange the order in which they appeared, which is unusual. There were no parameters given, but, it seems to be a rather obvious comment on Life at Large, one of our default categories….. Enjoy!….

“If entropy is increasing, where is it coming from?” — Smart Bee

“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. ” — Lazarus Long

“Don’t count on ever having both at once; they’re mutually incompatible in practice.” — gigoid’s corollary to Lazarus Long’s Observation

“Consider well the proportions of things. It is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise.” — Mark Twain

“How many Bodhisattvas does it take to change a light bulb? One – “If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will” — Smart Bee

“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.” — Thoreau

“Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it…. Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 29

— Bette Midler, The Rose

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

I don’t want to even THINK about what it took to get this done…. It’s all sort of a blur, so, bear with me if the resulting Pearl is a bit off the norm…. whatever meaning THAT word has for us…. I’m outta here. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, hopefully with less sawdust in my brain….

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….

The White Rabbit’s waistcoat won’t fit….

Posted on June 16, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As I closed my front door early this morning, on the way out to drive to work, a large white rabbit, dressed, oddly enough, in a gentleman’s morning attire, complete with, waistcoat, pince nez, and a huge watch chain hanging from the pocket, ran quickly past me, muttering what sounded like imprecations indicative of great agitation…. Well, being familiar with Lewis Carroll, and his pederasty fantasy child, I DIDN’T give chase, not having the time, or the slightest inclination to attend any tea parties, experiment with mushrooms, or wage any battles of wit with a Cat, especially one as curmudgeonly as the Cheshire who gave Alice all that lip and grief….

Nor, as I’m sure you are aware, did I really see any rabbits this morning…. The first clue it was all fiction was in the first line, when I said I was driving to work…. which is, as you may know, something I no longer do for anyone but myself…. The second was the waistcoat, which, as you may have noted, was mentioned in today’s title, and as such, was NOT expected to be in the body of work today…. There are times, and this is one of them, when I suspect this process is not entirely under my control…. which begs the question, who’s driving this bus of bozos?….

The answer, of course, is that NOBODY is driving the bus, ffolkes…. I’ve given up, and nobody else can be persuaded to take up the gauntlet; I’ve even tried employment agencies, but, after a few stories from the few they’ve sent over got back to them, it’s been hard to find anyone willing to take it on…. I mean, it’s not like it’s a HARD job; it’s just the strangeness that gets to them, I suppose…. Well, that, and the uniforms; I shouldn’t have gone for the one with the epaulets on the shoulder; everyone thinks they look ridiculous, and hates to wear them….

Of course, I’ve had to let everyone go anyway, what with the recession and all. Even though the economy is on the mend, or so they say, (I think they really have no clue about what will actually happen; they just play the odds and guess…. like we all do since Cassandra died….), if I try to pay a living wage, it eats into my meager profits…. which are also non-existent…. All of which is why it’s a dead giveaway for me to say I’m about to drive off to work…. Hard to do with no car, and no job…

All of the above, of course, is just another distraction, a load of bilge-water, best if left to its own devices lest the smell get into your clothing…. I’m up quite late, for me, and suffering again from the usual complement of painful joints, hips, and the concomitant deleterious effect on my energy, and motivation…. I have to bust through the reluctance to move at all, in order to get past the point where it holds me down, or up, whichever direction I’m going at the time…. Then, well, let’s not get any more into that; it’s just encouraging me to whine….

Instead, I’m going to get on with what we have in store for today, whatever that might be…. Once again, your guess is as good as mine, as to what that may be, or look like…. So, we’ll use trusty method #4, and get on with it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Acquittal of the guilty damns the judge.” — Horace

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

“Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

Yarrr! Avast, ye land lubbers! Stand your ground, and pay heed!….

The pirate phenomenon came to my town this weekend, in the format of a festival…. A consumer’s delight, where about a hundred or so craft, food, & beverage vendors, singing and musical groups, stage production companies, and otherwise normal folks get together dressed up like pirates, talking like pirates, and generally celebrating the pirate culture, such as it was….. It’s all pretty romanticized, considering the whole scenario of piracy as a way of life; all of the cool, frosty stuff is kept, and all the pain, misery, abuse, and poverty that went along with most of it is ignored….

The historical period when piracy on the high seas was popular, back a few hundred years, was a lot more brutal on the general public than most folks realize, but, hey, that’s America for you…. just look at the parts you want to see, and ignore what you don’t…. They did have their priorities straight, though…. The ATM machines were quite prominent, in three locations for the consumer’s convenience, set up by the food & beer area, and in the first row of craft & clothing vendors….

This all sounds a bit curmudgeonly, of course, which is a result of my thoughts AFTER attending…. I actually had a good time, without spending a fortune, and had some decent noms (food, for those of you not current on slang….)….. I had a sausage roll, Scottish style, just as greasy as the one I had in Scotland, and the shepherd’s pie looked pretty good, too…. Sadly, the only liquor available, other than beer, was rum, which does NOT agree with me at all, due to an unfortunate incident in college, where a quart of rum and I had some issues…. I still can’t smell the stuff without a nose curl….

“And here you thought your money was going to waste. Well, a Federal Appeals Court has ordered the FDA to determine whether drugs proposed for Lethal Injection executions are “safe and effective!” — Smart Bee

The festival is one of those uniquely American deals, a consumer celebration designed to bring tourist dollars into a town that is suffering badly from the economic shenanigans of the corporate elite, who have been busily raping the American economy since the days of Ronald Raygun and his band of banker, ex-USC grad buddies, who managed to spew so much BS around, people began to think it didn’t stink…..

I mean, how else can you explain any reasonable, rational person falling for the “trickle down” theory of economics, otherwise known as Reaganomics, a not-so-hidden attempt at outright theft by the government, if ever one was seen? Only sheer, bald-faced lying could have carried that one off…. But, then, remember some of Ronnie’s OTHER moments of truth?…. Such as….

“Trees make more smog than cars.” — R. Reagan

Any who, that’s all over now, except, of course, for the hundred or so years it will take to recover from it…. In the meantime, we have these kinds of distractions to keep us busy, and having fun doing stuff that makes no reasonable sense at all, spending massive amounts of time and money to pursue a lifestyle so hard and so insane, it no longer exists anywhere but Hollywood…. But, as the pictures show, it’s fun, for all ages, and there are a lot of interesting things to see and do….. Here are some pictures that will give an idea of the day…. Enjoy!….

“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“Somewhere between real and real real.” — Senator Dan Quayle pinpointing their location to reporters — aboard the Quayle campaign plane. — (reported in Wall Street Journal, 10/21/88)

Just WHAT is that octopus doing with that mast?…..

Spare change, anyone?…..

“Oh, God, look at that!”…..

A little tough to romanticize this….. though one does wonder how the bear fits into the story, eh?….

Some people have WAY too much time, and money, on their hands….

An indicator of how strange and perverted the human race is…. This lovely character was the most popular costumed figure wandering the festival grounds, with just about every other person encountered wanting their picture taken with him….

Well there you have it ffolkes, my day hanging out with a segment of America’s most gullible consumers….. It must be the cynic in me that sees not only the romantic side of the whole phenomenon, but, its uglier, less acknowledged economic factors….. But, hey, I found a great deal on a really good dirk, in case I ever want to wear my kilt and heraldry badges….

“Cynicism is disillusioned idealism.” — Harry Kemelman

Let’s go on, shall we?….

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

The perfect poem to go along with the odd little rant in section one, here is the first stanza of T.S. Eliot’s epic poem, The Waste Land…. I have provided a link to a site where you can read the rest of the poem, which is quite long, but well worth the time and effort to peruse…. Enjoy!….

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176735

The Waste Land

FOR EZRA POUND
IL MIGLIOR FABBRO

I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

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

Okay, I’ve made it this far, which is a surprise to me…. Soon after beginning, some severe arthritic hip pain began to throb in my lower back, and has resisted all attempts to curtail its advance…. Hence, this will be old-school, and just about as quick a pearl as ever was…. I hope….

“I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things.” — Dorothy Parker, The Portable, 1944

— Bette Midler, The Rose

“Be of good cheer,” said Diogenes; “I see land.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Diogenes, vi

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

Teach him how to live,
And, oh still harder lesson! how to die.

— Beilby Porteus (1731-1808) — Death, Line 316

“If you would know a man, observe how your cat treats him.” — Smart Bee

“If you can see a thing whole… it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives…But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful a life is, is to see it from the vantage point of death.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Dispossessed

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

There it is, such as it is…. I’m going to go consume massive quantities of mind-numbing, obliviating drugs, & then take another look at the day in a few hours, once my attitude has been adjusted…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if they don’t catch me….

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

Soft pedal the soap suds; we’ll hard ball the onion powder….

Posted on December 30, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As all of us tend to find out during our lives, at some point, that knowing what to do, and doing it, are two separate events, with very little, if any, reason one HAS be connected to the other, other than by natural interest. However, the process of finding out what we know, and bringing what we know into action are essentially mutually exclusive, and one of our most important lessons is in learning to keep the two separate in our own minds and efforts….

Now, this little piece of advice on life is pretty good, and actually works to help a lot of folks…. But, it’s pretty damn obscure, too, and not something that a lot of people think about too often…. This doesn’t even mention how deliberately obtuse I’ve made this discussion of these characteristic habits of human behavior, or how I’ve made this just as thick and nonsensical as I could, just because…. This is what happens when I allow my bozoid tendencies get mixed in with my scientific training…. It only happens early in the morning like this, so you may not have noted it previously…. Wait, no, that’s backwards, again… you may HAVE noted it previously….. Duh….

Yep, that’s correct, ffolkes, this intro is another experiment, one that worked out reasonably well, all in all. My thought was to just start typing about a subject that was NEARLY real, but, not quite, then to treat it as material that would otherwise be regarded as TOTALLY real…. It was my thought that the contrast thus set into play would create an atmosphere that would encourage intellectual play, or at least a compelling literary experience…. Sad to say, though, I think it isn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, in spite of my earlier enthusiasm (all the way back at the start of THIS paragraph!….), and in spite of all the advertising-inspired language I heaped on it….

That’s okay, though, it’s working, if not exactly as I’d envisioned. I find that a lot in reality, don’t you? It works, but not exactly the way we expect it to work…. Hell, that phrase right there could be made into an internet meme, couldn’t it? “Things don’t always work the way we expect!!” Just put it to music, have some funny little animal flying by on a severely animated GIF, and it would go viral in a heartbeat, what do you want to bet? I saw where one of those made it onto a list of the Year’s Best Viral Videos, so, it’s almost a sure thing, or, as much as anything these days can be called that….

Speaking of sure things, we’ve got a Pearl to put out here, and this discussion, such as it is, and as interesting as it may be, is NOT getting us any closer to completing that process. We now have five paragraphs here in the intro, which makes it a legal document, for our purposes, and I’m taking advantage of that little section of the law to end this here, without any legal ramifications or otherwise annoying announcements….

Shall we Pearl?

“One lie does not cost you one truth, but the truth.” — Friedrich Hebbel
_____________________________

So, there I was, cruising through an archived piece, and I came across this politirant, with religirant undertones, (well, to me, anyway….) from January of this year…. I think I may have used it fairly recently, but, don’t remember for sure, and don’t feel like looking to find out (Don’t forget, I AM exceedingly lazy….. It’s a gift….).

It doesn’t matter, because it is one of my best rants, and it’s worth a do-over, just because it’s all still true, and still needs to be said…. Along with the evil selfishness of those who seek power over others in the public venue, the attitudes taught to children, and adults, by those who would have us join them in the delusions of religious dogma, are evil, dangerous, and, patently, are demonstrably responsible for the problems and issues facing our species in today’s world…. Thus, any time I can take a few shots at them, and at the BRC at large, I will…. They’re just lucky, that the shots I take are not out of the guns I don’t own…. yet….

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

From 1/21/13:

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis, dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 — U.S. 479 (1928)

Finding pearls is sometimes frustrating, but then I find one like this, which is just a perfect representation of what I want to say, and it all seems worthwhile again…. This statement, though written in 1928, could not be more relevant to the present if it were written yesterday. We are observing this principle in action, as the POTUS and Congress thrash around, trying to convince the public they are responding intelligently to the furor over gun control. Of course, there IS no intelligent response possible, but they’ve never let that stop them before, so….

Gun control will always be a hot-button issue, even after they’ve been taken away. And, you can bet your booties that day is coming, as the BRC and the unseen manipulators who control society will continue to create conditions that produce the mad ones, the ones who ultimately break free of their insanity, to let it loose on the world. This scenario suits the purposes of the ruling class very well, as it allows them to keep the populace stirred up in fear, making them easily led to the place they wish them to go. It is always easier to take away a right, when the people clamor for the government to take it away, out of unreasonable fear….

A mighty pain to love it is,
And ‘t is a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.

– Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) — From Anacreon, vii, Gold

This is often how I feel about my country. I consider myself to be a patriot, in the classic sense; I support the idea of my country, but do not necessarily support the government. I love the idea of America…. a place where men and women are free to work out their own destiny, without the interference of the system they have created to oversee the necessary societal issues, i.e., without being persecuted for their beliefs, whatever they are…. The concept is an ideal, and one that the world has never actually seen before, not in practice. There have been attempts in history, but none so bold as the one made by our forefathers, who managed to create a system with the potential to create a veritable utopia….

But, within moments of the signing of the Constitution, the bankers, the preachers, and the lawyers were all taking their shots at the system, trying to find ways to amend its protections, and weaken the defenses against the very things they are trying to do. Since the Bill of Rights became law, there have been members of the Beloved Ruling Class trying to dismantle them, and reduce the protective qualities they possess. Much of the time they don’t even bother to hide it, but just couch it in terms that distracts the public from examining their claims too closely….

That struggle, to maintain the purity and intent of the original Bill of Rights, continues to this day, and is now undergoing its most fearful threat since the initial days of this country, more dangerous even than the Communist Purge in the 1950’s, during the McCarthy era of our political history. Once again, events have been manipulated to make it appear as if there is great danger, to the public, and most significantly to our children. Emphasizing this danger to our progeny is the most powerful weapon the BRC possesses, and they are making full use of it in the media, you can be certain…. Manifest a threat to children, and the ire of the public is yours to control…. much like Pavlov’s dogs….

I also think that Justice Brandeis was being nice, when he mentions that the BRC may be acting with good intentions, but lack of understanding. I think that the BRC knows EXACTLY what it is doing when it pursues legislation such as the current limits to gun ownership, and I don’t think they care at all that people don’t really NEED their protection or their help to protect themselves from the evil in the world. What the citizens DO NEED is less intrusion by the BRC into their private, or even public, lives.

I don’t care how ethical a government official SAYS they are, I don’t think they are more ethical than me, or the average Joe…. Nor can they be trusted to act in a manner that is beneficial to me, or to any other private citizen; their actions are only concerned with their own private agenda, and anything they say to the contrary is a BIG, FAT LIE! (Sorry, don’t mean to shout at you….)….. This, I think, is an assertion that doesn’t even need me to point out the proof, as it jumps up in everyone’s face on a daily basis…. The BRC LIES TO US, every day, and it isn’t hard to catch them at it, as it happens virtually every time they open their mouths to speak….. What amazes me is that they get away with it so easily….

“I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — William Henry Harrison

As is obvious, I’m not the only one who is dissatisfied with the BRC, or as some say, the Government. I like to use the BRC, because then I can supply the defined parameters to include ALL of the various types of assholes who are part of that group; lawyers, preachers/priests, bankers, Senators, Congressmen, judges, elected officials, all are charter members of the BRC, and the targets of my ire, as well as the meat for my consumption here on ERC. I guess it would be accurate to say that the BRC consists of all those who seek power over others for their own personal gain, and just let it go at that….

“One of the most difficult of the philosopher’s tasks is to find out where the shoe pinches.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein

There is the pinch-point, ffolkes…. There are essentially two types of humans…. those who seek to have power over other people, and those who seek power over themselves. Anyone who doesn’t fit into those two categories is not living up to their full potential as a human being, and will not in any way have any say in what happens in the world. They are the cannon fodder, the unwashed masses of folks who go through life without ever directing their conscious mind anywhere but right in front of themselves, oblivious to all the evil that occurs around them, as well as unaware of all the beauty that exists.

That is their choice, and I cannot fault them for their lack of courage; it’s a scary world out there…. but, as human beings, I believe we have a duty to our fellow man, and that duty means NOT keeping quiet, NOT letting those who would do evil act with impunity. In my position, all I can do is speak up when I see injustice, or immorality, and issue my objections to what I observe…. It’s all I can do, so I’ll do it all I can…. because, as Albert sez….
_____________________________

In searching for a poem for this morning, I came across this one from my favorite poet of all time (another epiphany I just accepted as truth….). Upon reading this, I realized, all of a sudden, the reason I like her work so much, heretofore hidden from me by my own obtuseness, I suppose, is her innate and unbreakable grasp of the power of metaphor, combined with an ability to express that understanding in a way that can only be called elegantly personal.

Poetry, to me, is ALL about metaphor, and language, and how we humans put those two elements together with the power of imagination, to create mental images that echo with meaning…. This one, to me, echoes endlessly, revealing deeper meaning with each returning voice…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do….

A shady friend for torrid days
Is easier to find
Than one of higher temperature
For frigid hour of mind.

The vane a little to the east
Scares muslin souls away;
If broadcloth breasts are firmer
Than those of organdy,

Who is to blame? The weaver?
Ah! the bewildering thread!
The tapestries of paradise!
So notelessly are made!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

Being the sort of person who appreciates tradition, even if it is only my own, we will now proceed to the dock, where I shall dive into the deep waters that hold and protect my oyster beds….. There, swimming peacefully among the colorful denizens of the sea of knowledge, I will endeavor to find, hidden among the more delectable physically edible specimens, a worthy group of lustrous gems, to form into one strand that will encircle and encompass the wisdom of the ages….

Hmm… You don’t think that’s just a little too ambitious, for one little pearl? Or, perhaps, to fanciful an expression of the concept as metaphor? No? Good, neither do I…. Let’s see what I, and SB, can come up with today….

“No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor temperate who considers pleasure the highest good” — Cicero

Piglet of Borg: “If I weren’t such a small Borg, resistance would be useless.” — Smart Bee

“Before you have sex you have to be elected to a high government position.” — Zippy

“If an ass goes travelling he will not come home a horse.” — Thomas Fuller

“Behead a Lawyer for Allah!” — Smart Bee’s Jihadic Imam

“The major contribution of Protestant thought to the knowledge of mankind is its massive proof that God is a bore” — H.L. Mencken
(It certainly worked that way for me!…..)

When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

— Amanda McBroom, The Rose, as performed by Bette Midler

Ffolkes, I’m a fairly smart guy…. Not that that particular piece of information is terribly useful, but, it is, for the moment, relevant… I’m smart enough to see that this is a pretty damn good pearl, with shiny individual gems, some of which made me laugh out loud, and others that made me cry in both joy and sorrow. There’s even a bit of good advice from one of the ancient sages…. What more could anyone ask for, before they’ve even had any breakfast? Smart as I am, Smart Bee was smarter today, and I like it…. So should you…. 😉
_____________________________

New method for proofing…. Before starting on this closing section, proof and edit…. Seems to work okay, and certainly gives me a good idea of the total picture…. Now, what the hell do I do with it? I’m done! I don’t NEED it now I’m done…. Sheesh! I am a bozo, of this there can be no doubt…. I’ll see ya tomorrow, should I survive that long….

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

Save those last few multicolored polynomials….

Posted on August 12, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Reeling from an overabundance of hyper-oxygenated brain cells, I awoke, in severe confusion. Since quitting the consumption of nicotine via the avenue of cigarette smoking, (I’m wearing the patch to titrate myself off the bloody things….), I’ve been sleeping better, due, in part, to the decrease in my coughing, and, in part, from increased oxygenation while sleeping. It has, however, presented a different conundrum for me to deal with, which consists of a period of confusion and concomitant mild fear when I wake…. I can’t say as yet just why I wake up confused, but, I do, and the mild fear is a reaction to having to face the world in that state…..

Actually, that’s all a load of BS, and I’m just talking through my hat, which is marginally better than talking through my ass…. I did start wearing the patch, and have stopped smoking the cigarettes; it has also lessened my coughing, and increased my oxygen, thus improving the quality of my sleep…. The rest of it is all made up, just to practice two writing skills, one being sentence construction (major fail there…), and, sounding sincere and reasonable…. I think it came out alright on that part, even though it’s all just crap, in terms of facts and reality…… The sentence structure, such as it is, needs work to sound less pompous, and more ‘user-friendly’, to borrow some tech-speak….

So, how’re y’all doin’? For me, it’s been a quiet time of late, just learning the ins and outs of this new relationship, and dealing with the difficulties and issues that life and reality brings us all to deal with… For us retirees, thankfully, there is less of it, and the time limits aren’t usually so critical as when we were younger…. which is a good thing, because we move slower now, and need longer to get things done…. We have the advantage of a greater degree of foresight, and usually, a greater degree of organization and time management, though, so it all evens out for the most part….. I wasn’t sure if I would, but, I’m really enjoying being retired, now that I am more financially comfortable. The perks and advantages to being older seem to be greater, thus far, than the disadvantages, which are mostly due to the physical issues involved in the aging process we all go through…..

There, that’s done… I’m counting the above paragraph as my daily portion of bitching and whining about getting old, even though it’s more positive than not…. Consider it a gift…. 🙂 Now that is out of the way, there’s nothing holding us back from getting on with today’s post, which, given the disruptions to routine that have already occurred, and the alterations already made in the background, where you wouldn’t notice, promises to be, shall we say, unique? Well, different, anyway, and, hopefully, entertaining, if nothing else….. I see that we’ve again reached the proper amount of vacuous nonsense for stimulation, (or is that simulation?…) of the cortical processes we pursue each day….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

The headlines I read every day show me absolute proof of Mr. Asimov’s assertion, as the power of stupidity in human affairs continues to direct, no, drag us, ever closer to our own self-destruction as a species. Ignorance, and the resulting fear of the unknown, is the single most powerful issue, in my estimation, in the struggle for existence in which we are now engaged. Moreover, by its very nature, that issue, and its power, is working against our continued presence on this planet in a way that almost guarantees its success (though, in fact, if properly channeled, it could, instead, be a powerful motivational tool for survival….). It (stupidity/ignorance) does that by appealing to what every human alive has, and will give in to every time it is invoked, to wit: our own personal self-interest…..

No matter how ethical, or moral, one considers themselves, they are still making their decisions in life, about everything, based on their own self-interest. This colors every aspect of what we perceive, for it determines, in advance, how we will employ those perceptions to act. Our self-interest considers, first, what WE want to make ourselves happy, and it is only those with the will and the intelligence to subdue this impulse who can bring themselves to act out of true charity, or selflessness, thinking first of what will benefit all, rather than just themselves. Any other acts of that nature are, when examined closely for motive, performed because they somehow improve the person’s own position, either in the real world, or in the world in our minds…. Remember, ffolkes, those are two separate things, entirely, and should not be confused as being the same thing (though that is what everyone tries to do…. make the outer world conform to their inner image of that world….)

Now, I realize that it’s a bit early for philosophical discussions of such a subtle, and deep, subject…. But, this issue is what I consider to be the primary operational factor in how the world is, quite frankly, going to hell in a handbasket…. Human nature is the very thing that is killing us, and will continue to do so as long as the most fearful and ignorant among us are allowed, and even encouraged, to continually act in their own self-interests, because those little indulgences are going to end up killing us all, all because the greedy and avaricious assholes who are in charge of the world’s resources are immoral and unethical enough to feel no moral dilemma, at keeping the rest of the ignorant masses under their control, for the benefit of THEIR own self-interests….

They, the BRC, the corporate masters, and their myrmidons, the churches, the police, and the armed forces, are the ones who have no ethical compunctions against making people afraid, so they can fan those fears, promising deliverance, if only they will give up their independence, and allow others to think for them. This system gives them everything they want…. power over others, power over money and resources, and control over everything they see, so that it all is working in a way that fulfills and enhances their self-interests…. It matters not at all to these monsters that the rest of mankind suffers, or that eventually the path they have chosen will kill ALL of us; it matters not, because their sense of entitlement does not stretch to include the concept of their own demise; they don’t think they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and tend to forget that they, too, are subject to the laws of physics…. laws from which there IS NO APPEAL…..

I’m a smart guy, and I’ve seen this building up through all of my life, due to events that have taken place throughout mankind’s relatively short (cosmically speaking) history on this planet…. I also am smart enough to realize that it’s all coming to a head, because physics cannot be ignored, and the physics of the situation here on Earth says that drastic changes are coming, in terms of planetary weather, and atmospheric, and oceanic chemistry, and those changes are going to be more than we are (currently…) able to cope with, either in a physical sense, or a cultural sense…. In other words, she’s a gonna blow, so we’d best be ready to jump….

I’m personally hoping that a Martian colony can be established before I, or my children and grandchildren, get swept up in the maelstrom to come…. If so, and they would take someone of my age, I would grab my grown kids, my grandson, and Patricia, and her kids, and be off to Mars, in a heartbeat….. Otherwise, I need to figure out another way to get the world to make the inner changes needed to alter the path we are on, or, quite simply, we are all going to die…. Maybe not today, and maybe not in the next 50-100 years…. But, the physics says that it WILL happen, ffolkes, so, I’d advise y’all to at least think about what you might do when it does…..

Okay, I’m done being a doom sayer for today…. Today is a good day, or will be, if I have anything to say about it…. Oh, you say you need proof of all I’m asserting here? Okay, this should make it pretty clear…. This is a real law, I checked….

“In Lexington, Kentucky, it’s illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.” — Smart Bee

(Okay, so I didn’t really check, but, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find this to be true in fact…. We’ve all seen sillier examples that ARE true….)
_____________________________

After such a somber rant, I feel the need for something soothing to my spirit; it’s hard to be serious for so long…. Well, it is for me…. Besides, if we take the view of a solipsist, all of this. (Life, the Universe, and Everything….), is perfectly under our control, and we can change it anytime we wish, right?….. Right….

Soliloquy Of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

I’m not sure what stimulated the rant above, but, it felt good to get all that out, if nothing else…. So, I’ll indulge my own self-interest at this point, (as if that isn’t what I’ve been doing now for over a million words, a couple thousand of them daily for over two years….), and go to an old-school pearl, that is, at the very least, fresh, if not excitingly unique and perfect…. Hell, it may end up being perfect; that’s the nice thing about going in cold, you never know…. This one will be as random as I can make it, as I’m not setting any parameters, except that I like it, and it goes somewhere…. I don’t care where…. Enjoy!

“Nothing’s so weird that no one’s done it.” — Smart Bee

“I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to argue any more.” — Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid…

“It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” — Oscar Wilde

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“You can play with my mind if you let me play with yours..”– Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid, again.

“A good place to start is where you are.” — Charles Wolf, Jr.

— Bette Midler, The Rose
_____________________________

One of my strongest skills is rationalization; as someone who posts every day, when possible, I have to be flexible in what I allow to go out, because, believe it or not, I do have some pride in what I do here…. Very little, as I’m a pretty good judge of literature, as opposed to litterature, and my own efforts goes back and forth between the two…. Let’s see what has been wrought today, shall we…. I can’t be sure, but, it’s pretty close to good, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, so, I’m taking it, and I’m gonna run with it…. Like I’ve said before, a number of times, I’ve done worse…. 😆 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

He exudes substantial melancholy leakage….

Posted on August 7, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Having left home so many years ago, he…. No, that’s not right….try again…

Never before had there been such a storm in Beulahland…. no that’s no better….again.

The shadow reached out to tap the shoulder of the man to whom it was attached….. hmm, better, but not there yet…..

Maria screamed, as the deafening blast shook the windows in their frames. Dust flew everywhere, obscuring the nightmarish scene before her eyes. Across the room, her father lay dead, eyes staring at the ceiling as if the answers were all there……

I don’t like any of them…. not even the last one, that showed a bit of promise. Ah well, it’s just as well. I’m starting way late again, having once again slept late. It’s no doubt due to having put in about 6 or 7 miles yesterday, walking to look at apartments. I can see I need a different method, as trying to walk to all these places is going to wear me out before I ever find anything. I’ve never spent a long time without a car, so this is a new experience for me, and I’m not sure I like it much…..

I’m not going to indulge in a display of whining today, though the universe is giving me plenty of reason to do so. Actually, I think that, after putting this Pearl together, I’m going to take the rest of the day off…. catch up on some sleep with a nap, listen to the Giants get beat by St. Louis again (hey, I don’t like it, but the last two games haven’t been encouraging….), maybe even cook a real meal, like on the stove and everything. Yeah, that’s the ticket….. in the meantime, shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“The evidence of the emotions, save in cases where it has strong objective support, is really no evidence at all, for every recognizable emotion has its opposite, and if one points one way then another points the other way. Thus the familiar argument that there is an instinctive desire for immortality, and that this desire proves it to be a fact, becomes puerile when it is recalled that there is also a powerful and widespread fear of annihilation, and that this fear, on the same principle proves that there is nothing beyond the grave. Such childish proofs are typically theological, and they remain theological even when they are adduced by men who like to flatter themselves by believing that they are scientific gents…” — H. L. Mencken

“One of the proofs of the immortality of the soul is that myriads have believed it–they also believed the world was flat.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“Convincing yourself doesn’t win an argument.” — Robert Half

Here is an old school Pearl, in a manner of speaking…. These three quotations all say pretty much the same thing, with varying types of expression. Each, to me, seems to express that same idea more succinctly than the one before, leaving out more and more words until the final statement gives the bottom line… which is one that is heavily argued by those to whom it most applies….

It’s funny (ironic funny) to me to hear some of the arguments proposed by the priestly hierarchies in support of their beliefs. Some are couched in formal robes, all dressed up so they appear as reasoned logic, rather than the unwarranted assumptions that they really are. Mr. Mencken’s expression above would be the most effective in engaging these wordy individuals, as it would appeal to the side of them that pretends to being a scientist. They might reject the arguments, since their own arguments are, in the final analysis, subjectively formulated, not based on observations but on induction, just as the platform of their entire argument is all based on an imaginary entity’s theoretical wishes…..

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”…. Such an innocent sounding piece of doggerel…. one would scarcely believe it is one of the most insidious examples of blatant propaganda in existence. The proponents of the “Old man in the sky” group start drumming this into the minds of children as soon as they are able to talk, and, as they well know, before they learn to doubt what their elders tell them. Children naturally accept what their parents tell them, almost exclusively for the first few years of life.

This home-schooling form of brainwashing continues once they are of an age to start looking outside their family for knowledge of the world, with teachers, preachers, and kindly old aunts who continue to inundate the young minds with stories of Bible heroes and villains, drilling into the malleable minds the sense of entitlement and elitism that will provide them with the impetus for bigotry later in life.

In addition, this period strengthens the brainwashing given earlier, teaching the kids that they should only trust certain people to tell them the truth, and that all the other religions in the world are not only not saved, but are not eligible for saving, due to their own beliefs, which are characterized as villainous, and as enemies, to be reviled and persecuted because they are different….

“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” — Oscar Wilde

This entire process, this systematic, deliberate mental conditioning, is, to my mind, pretty despicable. It denies its victims any possible way of examining the information that other systems may possess, by convincing them that all other forms of knowledge are not only wrong, but blasphemous in nature, and should be cast aside whenever encountered, without ever examining the information for its relevance, or its accuracy.

Education is learning that you did not even know what you did not even know you did not even know. — Smart Bee

The whole system is designed to continue the delusional system into the future, while keeping the congregation in the dark of ignorance. It has no other purpose…. it is not in place to help or sustain the members of the congregation, but rather to control that population’s thoughts and behavior, ensuring the power and influence of the priests, pastors, preachers, or whatever name they choose to call themselves…..

I can only count myself as fortunate, to have been raised without the brainwashing on a regular basis. We attended a Presbyterian church, probably an offshoot of the old Church of England, where the adage about “cake, or death?” was originated…. The net result of this was that I was able to include other systems in my education, and found the entire construct to be a house of invisible cards, easily knocked down with a single bite of the Apple….

“How come you never see a politician (or a preacher) laugh? Because they know what they’re getting away with, and if they started laughing, they’d never stop.” — Smart Bee

And you know what else?…. I always thought Satan got a pretty raw deal, all for exercising the free will he was given…. and so did Adam and Eve…. Even as a child of five, I always wondered why God had set them up to fail like that…. it’s like, “Here’s the apple…. don’t taste it….” and then making sure we, as humans, had a sense of wonder and curiosity strong enough to disregard the admonition…. Even then, it looked like a set-up, and I could never reconcile the image in my head of a God, supposedly with infinite knowledge, setting up his own creation like that…. it just didn’t seem very God-like, or even fair…. and I still don’t get it, even today…..

With a subject such as this, it’s hard to know when to stop…. the issue has been one that has held Mankind back for two millennia now, preventing us from achieving our real potential as a species. All the progress we, as a species, have made in the last 3,000 years or so has been in spite of the efforts of the priestly hierarchies to keep us as ignorant as possible; at every turn of the wheel of science, the powers that be have thrown sand in the works, to try to slow down the acquisition of knowledge.

“Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself; he has no desire for that of which he feels no want.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

They know that an educated populace, capable of reasoning beyond the limitations placed on the human mind by religious dogma, is the greatest threat to their continued existence as the leaders of Mankind. They know that once people are exposed to knowledge (the flesh of the Apple, remember?), the less they will submit to the brainwashing that is the lot of the common man…. and it scares them to death…..

Doubt. Question authority. Ask the next, deeper question. And never, ever, give up the right to make up your own mind…. In the final analysis, that power is the only one we all have, and the only one that cannot be taken away from us without our consent…. Viva la raza!…..

Oh, and won’t it be nice when you don’t have to give tithes anymore?…..

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
‘T is his at last who says it best.
— James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) — For an Autograph
___________________________________

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
And you its only seed.

It’s the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance.
It’s the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It’s the one who won’t be taken,
Who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dyin’
That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose.

~~ Amanda McBroom ~~

I first heard this song as sung by Bette Midler, back in the 70’s or 80’s, whenever it came out. I thought then, and still believe, that it really couldn’t have been done better, and is one of the loveliest poems put to music I’ve ever heard…..

Now, I’ve given clues before that show that I am a closet romantic, but my feelings for this song prove it without doubt. As I sit and read the verses, I can hear Bette’s voice, flying up on the high notes, and tears just come into my eyes without any warning…. The last verse, particularly, is very moving, and never fails to bring with it a lot of emotion and, oddly enough, hope…. hope for me, for the world, it’s all the same at this point in my life….. It gives me strength to think of spring, when the world is renewed and the seeds of hope that have germinated in silence all winter bloom in all their glory, driving out all thoughts of the cold, and the dark….

I miss having someone to love…. I am perfectly content with my own company, as I learned long ago how to laugh at my own folly, thus ensuring I never get bitter about being alone. But, it is lonely….. I’m glad my friend Carol posted this poem, for it is a reminder that the future has yet to be written, and that somewhere out there is a woman whom I will meet someday, and never again have to be alone, unless I choose to be so….. SIGH….. I just wish time would get a move on, as it seems to me that two plus years of solitude should be sufficient for me to appreciate…. I could use a change of direction, and some company….. 🙂 Ah, me, time will tell…..

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
Of Meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
With morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see,
For still there are so many things that I have never seen:
In every wood in every spring there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago,
And people who will see a world that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think of times that were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.

— J.R.R. Tolkien
___________________________________

“To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist–the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one’s vinegar.” — Oscar Wilde

To those of us in society who are seekers of truth, Oscar Wilde is a frequent flier, in terms of how often one of his quotes will show up. He had a way with words second to none, and in his time, touched on almost every subject dear to the hearts and minds of those who actually use both extensively. It goes without saying that this quotation is true; it is an expression often turning up in discussions of how people learn, and communicate what they’ve learned to others. “A spoonful of sugar, makes the medicine go down” is one of these expressions, one that supplies the very same dosage of truth as does the above from Oscar…..

This technique is one that everyone who wishes to share their knowledge MUST learn; it is immediately obvious when what we have to say is NOT going to be believed, as people will simply stop listening, or even react negatively to what they are hearing, because it is opposite to what they feel they know to be true. Often, one will need to duck quickly, or take to their heels, should the reaction to what is said be taken amiss…. people get testy about their deeply-held beliefs, especially if those beliefs are faith-based, rather than based on reason….. Sad, but true….

So, it becomes an important skill to be able to impart information to someone who doesn’t have it in such a way that the person can digest it, or process it in their mind without stirring those strong feelings that crop up when the message is not couched in the proper terminology. Even the non-verbal techniques used when teaching are important to learn; what one says can be negated entirely by using a facial expression that isn’t complementary to what is being said out loud…. Tone of voice, facial expression, volume, all play a part in whether or not the message given will be received, and the person who ignores this is destined to experience a lot of pain and anguish at not being able to get their message across to the ones who need it most….

So, remember Oscar’s little reminder, and use the proper amount of oil to go with your vinegar…. For a good, tasty vinaigrette with the proper emulsified consistency, you need to learn the technique of pouring the oil into the vinegar slowly, whisking briskly while adding the oil, until the proper thickness and emulsification takes place….. Only then can the person you are serving enjoy the salad fully, and take in the beneficial qualities that otherwise would be lost if the message fails…. In the kitchen, the rough estimated proportions are four parts oil to one part vinegar…. but that can change, depending on the oil, the vinegar, and the cook, so flexibility must be maintained….

When successful, it makes a great salad, all but guaranteeing that it will be consumed until the plate is empty….. the goal of anyone serving others, whether in food, or in education…..
___________________________________

Although arising late, this turned out fairly well…. at least it feels like it from this end….. So be it; it will have to do, as I’m not going back and starting over…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

It can only be cannon fodder….

Posted on May 3, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Light and dark chased each other through the night in my dreams, laughing and playing existential tag up and down the stairs. We watched, smiling, as they cavorted, pleased to see them together again, after so many ages of standing apart, ignoring the other. Reality had assumed a more pleasing configuration, and the stars smiled…..

Such is what dribbles out when I sit to type some days. It’s not bad, but a bit amorphous, and I’m not sure where it might go. Light, dark, Reality, it’s quite an eclectic group of characters, and could be interesting to develop, were I so inclined…. Fortunately for us all, I’m not so inclined at the moment. I say fortunate because I have the feeling that what would come out of it would not be something I’d care to write…. it could get pretty sappy, or even go romantic. Shudder….. not really, just being silly. But, still, not going there this early in the morning……. it could sour my coffee…..

I think I’m dithering, and that appalls me; I do try to maintain some slight degree of dignity, most of the time, when I’m not indulging in whimsy. If I’m not careful, I can see that this could easily get away from me today, so I think we’ll just dive in and get on with it… shall we Pearl?….
___________________________________

Ladies’ Sewing Circle And Terrorist Society — Smart Bee

I chuckled mildly when I saw this; it’s pretty good contrasting of two images in one phrase, producing a delightful little intellectual shock. Plus, I figured this way I can include the word “terrorist” as one of the tags, which will no doubt draw the attention of those NSA covert information gatherers who are now keeping track of all the terrorists’ communications on the internet. Of course, this is NOT a communication from one terrorist to another, not even in code. But I figure the more times I use the word in this section, and add it to the tag cloud, it should draw their attention like a moth to a bright lamp at night…..

Why, you may ask, do I wish to draw the attention of the covert assholes who are denying my right to privacy? (Well, this is published, so maybe not privacy, but freedom of speech for sure….) I’m not certain, actually. I’ve been a little bored lately, maybe that’s it…. Naw, I never get bored! I guess I’m just feeling a bit cranky after several days of fighting my own body, and I need something outside myself upon which to focus my angst and resentment. They seem to be a likely target for venting my spleen…. and if not, well, we’ll have a chance to see if my preparations for confrontations of this nature have been effective, eh?

In at least one respect, I’m baiting them, for sure…. I’ve not said anything particularly seditious here up to this point, though it would have been simple to do so; I’m trying to be careful not to cross the line over into the actual statement of action that would trigger their overreaction. It’s another test, of sorts, to see how much they will tolerate before taking some sort of action. I post every day, pain or no pain, so if you don’t see a post from me some morning, you’ll know the experiment had an unfortunate, if not unforeseen, result, and they’ve come to take me away for questioning and reconditioning…. a thinly disguised pair of euphemisms for torture, which is now an authorized tool in the tool bags issued to our police forces, and is now an interrogation technique cleared for use on US citizens, such as you, or me….

There, that should do it. Four paragraphs should be enough to draw their attention, and I’ve been careful not to say anything that is illegal, at least not under the Constitution I know. If it doesn’t suit their new ideas of what people are “allowed” to say in public (and when has THAT phrase ever applied in this country, I ask?), well, they’ll do what they do, I suppose… So keep your eyes on this space, and we’ll have at least one picture in a frame to indicate the current health of the First Amendment in our country…. or we’ll have a missing writer, disappeared into some federal enclave, never to be seen again…. but, you’ll know where to start looking, at least….
___________________________________

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you “like hell. — Edna St. Vincent Millay

When my former wife decided to leave the family we had created, shortly before my daughter was to graduate high school, I was devastated, badly. There was also a sense of relief at not having to be confronted on a daily basis with all that was wrong in the relationship, but it was mostly overshadowed by the depression caused by failing in my duty. You see, to me, being married was not just a labor of love, it was a duty I had assumed, and I was taught that to fail in one’s duty is the worst thing that a man can do in life. Whether or not that failure was my own, or due to the efforts of others, is immaterial in the final analysis. Duty is duty. So, when I saw this from Ms. St. Vincent Millay (a favorite sf/fantasy author, as well as poetess) I felt an immediate connection to it, as it is a very accurate description of the form that my depression assumed.

“There is not so agonizing a feeling in the whole catalogue of human suffering, as the first conviction that the heart of the being whom we most tenderly love is estranged from us.” — Bulwer

And, in spite of the 12+ years that have passed, I feel this way still. She never believed me when I told her that my love for her was stronger every day; that may have been the source of the entire problem. I don’t know why, as I thought that 20+ years of faithful marriage was pretty good proof of my intentions. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the issue may have been; she did what she did, and we all know there is no going back in time.

So, I still spend some time every day walking around the hole that is still there in my world, and still spend time at night not sleeping because I have no one next to me to whom I can turn.

Though I had thought for a time that I had found another woman, an honest one, that also turned out to be not true, as she ended up removing me surgically from her life in two days, and never even bothered to give me a reason…. Though it hurt, it was so viciously dishonest that the pain of the betrayal hasn’t lasted as long.

We all have our holes to walk around, and fall into. Sometimes they never go away, and we just have to learn to make new pathways around them. But, it still hurts….. and that, too, is Life…. and in Life, Love can regrow, as it can be metaphorically equated to a Rose…. so there is always hope.

“Duct Tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together. The only difference is that “May The Force be with you” sounds a lot nicer than “May you be covered in duct tape.” — Carl Swanzig

I love this! Not just because it is whimsical, which is a good thing, but because it is a good comparison. Best of all, it lends itself to a long series (6 movies worth) of images it can create using the dialog from those flicks.

Imagine this… Luke is barreling down the pathway on the Death Star, getting ready to fire the missile that will destroy it, when Darth Vader comes up behind to threaten him. Obi-wan says, “Use the Duct Tape, Luke!” So, Luke reaches back to Darth’s Tie-fighter and telekinetically causes a piece of Tape to detach itself from the dashboard (where it had been holding together a crack) and covers Darth Vader’s helmet, causing him to lose control of his ship, allowing Luke to fire his missile…. end of Death Star, thanks to Duct Tape….

Or, when Darth kills Obi-wan, the line would have been, “If you kill me Darth, I shall become stickier that you can possibly imagine!” The possibilities are endless, and think of how much money could have been saved on special effects using Duct Tape rather than movie magic to hold things in place, or move them about invisibly. Probably a LOT….

Ah well, maybe some day George Lucas will produce a comedy re-make using the idea…. It might not be the blockbuster that Star Wars was, but I’ll bet it would more than break even…. Hell, I’d pay good money to see it today…. I could use the laughs…..
___________________________________

Wake up all you citizens, hear your country’s call,
Not to arms and violence, But peace for one and all.
Crush out hate and prejudice, fear and greed and sin,
Help bring back her dignity, restore her faith again.

Work hard for a common cause, don’t let our country fall.
Make her proud and strong again, democracy for all.
Yes, make our country strong again, keep our flag unfurled.
Make our country well again, respected by the world.

Make her whole and beautiful, work from sun to sun.
Stand tall and labor side by side, because there’s so much to be done.
Yes, make her whole and beautiful, united strong and free,
Wake up, all you citizens, It’s up to you and me.
— Pansy Myers Schroeder

No comments from me here… this is not great poetry, but it is good. It is also a very clear statement of what this country needs, period. Enough said…. for now….

“Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking.” — Lao-Tze

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” — Sun Tzu
___________________________________

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. — Smart Bee

Although this didn’t have attribution, it sounds just like something the current Dalai Lama might say. It is certainly a truism, in my world, though possibly the most difficult thing for me to actually practice all the time. I tend to indulge my curmudgeon, and let my cynicism have its way with me while I’m typing, so it probably looks like I am a fairly judgmental person.

In reality, I am not. Fortunately for us all, life is not what I type, much as I try to get close to it when I do, so my darker impulses seldom get carried into practice in the world outside my computer. Besides, as I know just how dark that side of me is, I never go there, even in my writing; just being there makes me want to take a shower, and the hot water heater is on the fritz, so I’m reduced to sink baths for the nonce.

In truth, what is above is what I shoot for when I think of other people, and the world at large. Though not perfect, I am mostly successful, unless the object of my consideration is totally devoid of any reason to offer compassion, such as a politician. It is that compassion, actually, that prompts much of my outrage at what unprincipled people do to those who know them not for what they are.

Most people, as far as I can see, are just regular, nice folks who are trying to get by in a world where almost everything is set up to take advantage of regular, nice folks. As a result, over time, their own principles become degraded, as they try to cope with the cheating and greed that is the common practice in modern culture.

Our politicians lie to us; we expect it, and keep voting for them anyway. Banks cheat us, and we have no recourse in law, because the lawmakers are “honest politicians” and stay loyal to those who have bought them, those self-same banks. Lawyers, who should be a buffer between the average Joe and the law, instead use it to their own benefit, and are reviled, mostly, by those they are supposed to serve.

Doctors are in much the same condition; even those true healers among them still must go along with the system, charging such outrageous amounts, and surrendering so much power to the giant medical and pharmaceutical companies in order to be able to treat people, they can never effect any positive changes. So, the field ends up attracting the worst sort of men and women, who are more interested in the money and fame to be attained than they are in helping other people, i.e., showing compassion….

Still, compassion is not dead in the world; there are still a lot of folks who not only feel it, but give it away freely. Many of them will read this piece, and I know this, because they all follow my blog here on WordPress, and I have proof of their existence, in their own writings, both on their blogs, and in their comments here….

A lot of compassion has been expressed to me for my pain, and for that I am truly grateful. Such is the power of compassion that receiving it like that only makes me want to show more of it in my life… and so I shall…. with the caveat that I will continue to withhold it from those who refuse to exhibit it themselves, whenever I encounter them….
___________________________________

Today’s Pearl just goes to show that one never knows when there is a rant lurking just near the exit door in my mind, just waiting to pop out and pontificate…. But, it’s all good, as I don’t think I can disagree at all with any of it, upon reflection. It will just have to fly as is, once again, fatalist that I am….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…. Don’t forget the Duct Tape, either, it’s always handy to have around….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

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

View Full Profile →

	katiemiafrederick on Are those Foster Grants to blo…
	katiemiafrederick on Funk-o-matic accessories are o…
	katiemiafrederick on Dodge those taxes with dignity…
	katiemiafrederick on Dodge those taxes with dignity…
	katiemiafrederick on But…. but…. what a…

gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Bette Midler

No discounts for Pug Dogs…. Huskies, maybe….

The White Rabbit’s waistcoat won’t fit….

Soft pedal the soap suds; we’ll hard ball the onion powder….

Save those last few multicolored polynomials….

He exudes substantial melancholy leakage….

It can only be cannon fodder….

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: