Mr. Covey, in his opening line, makes a valiant attempt here; sadly, he comes up slightly short of creating a truism. While what he notes IS true, he apparently lacked full confidence in his convictions, causing him to hedge his bet a little in his statement. A more correct word, with much more scope and perspective, is available to use to increase the accuracy of the concept; that word, which fills the lack in his original quote, would more accurately be as follows:

I’ve always thought so, since first hearing it, in elementary school, but, then, I suppose one could say I started out a bit strange, a pink monkey, don’t y’know? Ah well, I’m good with it; I never could understand wanting to be like everybody else. It always puzzled me why anyone would want to be someone else; if I was, who the hell would I be? And, why am I asking you? You probably don’t have any more idea than do I, which puts both of us up that proverbial creek, sans a paddle, wouldn’t you say? I think, given the number of question marks in this paragraph, we’d best get on with something  of a different nature, or color, or, well, anything at all but more of this silliness…

Can’t think of what I was trying to do there. Oh, wait….. Okay, I know what’s happening now. It’s my subconscious again, fussing around with the routine, probably has an issue to work out. It always does this to me when it’s trying to get my attention somehow….. I guess it does make communication difficult, when the two parties involved are separated by the veil of consciousness…. Every time it wants something, it has to work out some metaphorical code, to grab my conscious mind’s attention, directing it toward whatever has been chosen as a means of getting its point across…. It even SOUNDS complicated…..

Today, though, I think we’ll just wait until after we’re done, then I’ll figure out what it wants…. For now, I think I’ve blathered uselessly for long enough. Other than the initial short discussion of the classic lesson from Socrates, we’ve managed to make our way to a legal cut-off point, without having paid the slightest attention; no bridge tolls paid, either. Of course, we didn’t cross any bridges, but, you know those stat monkeys; they want us to keep track of EVERYTHING…. Bozos, every one of ’em…

Okay, I’m done. We’ll go on to the rest of today’s effort, leaving this right here, in this lonely, deserted area, with the nearest phone two miles away at a strip mall. I hope y’all brought your survival kits; we may need them, if we can’t find our way back here to the vehicle…. Besides, it’s questionable whether we’d be able to find it anyway, as the automatic camouflage utility will cover it in a holographic image of the surrounding trees, making it virtually impossible to find, anyway. If that happens, we’ll be late getting back, for sure, as Luigi will then have to fire up the swamp buggy to come get us…. Oh well…. such is life….

Shall we Pearl?

Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, August, 2011 to February, 2015 = Slightly less than 2.5 million words (Precisely, 2,478,983, according to Open Source Software’s Word Count utility….). — gigoid, showing off his addition skills, thus, clearly demonstrating the keen appreciation of the trivial which characterizes the prototypical bozoid personality….

To a Bozo, trivial statistics are not merely food for thought; they are Meat, Potatoes, AND, a Vegetable!…. Note the number of words used to talk about one simple stat…. Now, we can spend an inordinate number of otherwise fruitful hours, trying to calculate if the number of words written, as shown above, to wit: 2,278,983, is a Prime Number! It sure looks like one…. What fun we’re going to have!

Oh, heck…. Never mind. It’s a complicated calculation, which I’m not prepared to pursue just now. I guess we can just go on to the rest of today’s post, which, if the intro section is any indication, could prove to be an experience none of us have experienced in our lives…. I’m a little nervous, but, let’s go on, shall we?…..

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

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

Hmm…. I’m not entirely certain of exactly when this statement went into the Congressional Record; the HU-AAC operated in the early 1950’s, during the era of McCarthyism, that black period of US history when the number of insane Senators elected to seats in Congress approached numbers paralleled only by the numbers we see today, when the world, and this country, have been inundated in the effects of long-term insanity, now being displayed so prominently in legislative and governmental facilities all over the world. But, I do know the statement fits in perfectly with the obvious sense of entitlement the current crop of pundits displays toward the public…

The infestation of vermin in Washington D. C. has reached epidemic level; soon the only solution will be to fumigate the whole town, moving the government to Topeka, or somewhere, until the smell is gone. Then we can send everybody left back to their jobs, minus the most egregiously stupid that were eliminated in the pogrom…. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two to treat the infestation; we’ve got some pretty good pest control chemicals available to us these days…. I’ve seen some even cockroaches don’t like….

Almost any the current products on the market should take care of a hundred Senators, a pack of Representatives, and a building or two filled with bureaucrats such as the Supreme Court and the President, etc…. They’re nastier looking than cockroaches, & definitely make a bigger mess, but, generally, they’re not as tough, or efficient at resisting chemical attacks…. Well, those obese pigs who walk around with basketballs under their suits, who eat a lot at McDonald’s, might be more poison-resistant than a cockroach, due to their diet, but, a bit of old-fashioned strychnine should deal with them just fine….

Hmm…. I detect some vitriol and resentment in my tone; I wonder where that came from? No telling, really; the number of different ways these assholes annoy me every day is something I gave up trying to count, or keep track of, long ago. It happens so often, I’ll make myself crazier than I already am if I keep counting them, & reacting every time. They fuck someone over so often, it gets hard to fit any more resentment in my craw, every time I hear of their latest act of infamy. They’re like the frigging Energizer bunny; when it comes to dirty tricks, lies, theft, massive stupidity, and greed, they just keep going, and going, and going…. You’d think they’d at least take a break to change batteries once in a while, but, it never seems as if the shit stops flowing, ever….

This means, of course there are millions and millions of Americans receiving vaccinations, which contain trace amounts of mercury, and other harmful substances not commonly known to the public, that do not serve any purpose at all…. Or, at least, no purpose that bodes well for the public. They are deliberately selling this lie for unknown purposes, that obviously have nothing to do with any sort of benefit to those being vaccinated. Who KNOWS what crap they’re injecting along with the vaccines?

They’re not telling us much, that’s for sure; their silence on this issue indicates to me there is a lot more they’re not telling the public…. That, ffolkes, is simple logic…. Paranoia is justified when it becomes clear one is being persecuted and oppressed; the need for change then becomes clear, as does the need for clarity of mind, which will create in us a real thirst for justice.

I’ve made a tactical error in this rant…. I began with a good premise, & ran with it a good long way; the direction took a bit of a side-trip into a related subject, then turned again; now, I’m not sure how to connect it all back together. I think I’ll just bail for today, & let an old-school do the work to bring it to a close…. Here s a group that comments on, well, stuff…. you’ll see… It’s all related, if a bit tenuously in spots…

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

“RIP: The U.S. Constitution–one amendment at a time.” — Smart Bee

“Food will be scarce; you will have to scavenge.  Learn to recognize foods that will be available after the bomb: mashed potatoes, shredded wheat, tossed salad, ground beef, etc.” — Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence

“We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can’t do it, we’ll send in a couple of policemen.” — Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973

“They are cold-blooded. They are completely ruthless about protecting what they have. The only thing they connect to is the money aspect of life.  Let’s face it: That’s the American way.” — Jeffery M. Johnson, regional chairman of the District of Columbia United Way, speaking of drug dealers.

“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country,  it is a sure sign he expects to be paid for it.” — H. L. Mencken

“I’ve been vaccinated against rabies.  *snarl*” — Random flu vaccination recipient

“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?” — William A. Turnbow

“A guilty conscience never feels secure.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 617

Well…. If we consider the last pearl to be true, there are a great many uncomfortable people in our nation’s capital…. Evidence of it’s truth can be found in one simple fact of note: it is still being used in everyday conversation, still considered as wisdom, more than 2000 years after Citizen Syrus  made the original observation….

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

I’ve shared poems from this young lady previously; in my opinion, humble or not, she will someday be considered one of the world’s greatest. Perhaps it is the powerful obscurity of her metaphor, highlighted by the stark realism of the images she creates, often violently graphic, yet never offensive, that attracts me; I do love my metaphorse.

It could also be just the way it feels to read her work, as if she is speaking a deeper truth, from a connection to the universe she alone feels so strongly, in a language that is just on the edge of comprehension, though completely unknown…. Though you may not understand exactly what she is saying, you will know how it feels to see what she sees…. Read this, then follow the link, which will take you to her web site; besides this poem, you can find links to much of her past work, including her book, recently published…. Pay attention, ffolkes, THIS is genius at work/play….

Life at Large. We all spend time here on Earth, born to a life of physical and spiritual challenges, all of which are made more complex by the intricate patterns of atoms and molecules which, when touched by the spark of life, speak in DNA, the code of effectively infinite variety which determines the configuration of the life for which it forms the pattern. We humans are ONE of the more complex forms on this planet, rivaled, perhaps, only by the dolphins and whales, whose DNA is, in some ways, related to our own; the dolphins, it is clear, have the most complex brains of all the creatures here on Earth.

This is shown clearly in research, and by simple observation and deduction…. For example, I observe that dolphins pay no taxes, nor do they suffer the pains of commuting to work through a fog of air cluttered with particulate matter; that seems pretty intelligent to me. I also deduce their advanced intelligence, from the simple fact they can learn our languages easily (so far, any of them we’ve attempted to teach them, they can learn….); we have only learned a small part of their language, not even enough to know yet if they possess & use more than one…. Their brains, when compared to ours, are larger on average, in sheer size, and in relation to body size.

So, since I can’t tell you how dolphins talk, or share with you any of the wisdom their greater intelligence must have given them, I’ll have to settle for some of humanity’s finest pieces of advice, to those who wish to lead a life filled with dignity, purpose, and peace…. Well, we try, anyway. A lot of ffolkes in history seem to have worked out some pretty good stuff to help us learn to cope with life; it isn’t their fault if not enough people have paid enough attention to them…. Below you find a nine-star pearl full of that wisdom; Smart Bee and I both think these are some of the finest lessons of all we’ve learned….

“…to emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on Heaven is to create hell. In their desperate longing to transcend the disorderliness, friction, and unpredictability that pesters life; in their desire for a fresh start in a tidy habitat, germ-free and secured by angels, religious multitudes are gambling the only life they may ever have on a dark horse in a race that has no finish line.” — Tom Robbins, _Skinny Legs and All_, 1990, p. 305.

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.” — Plutarch

“I like that moment central to danger… when you become so thoroughly concerned with acting deftly, in order to be safe, that only reaction is possible, not analysis. You shed the centuries, and feel creatural. Of course you do have to scan, assess, and make constant minute decisions. But there is nothing like thinking in the usual methodical way. What takes place is more akin to informed instinct. For a compulsively pensive person, to be fully alert but free of thought is a form of ecstasy.” — Diane Ackerman

“Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries, knows nothing about grapes.” — Philippus Paracelsus

“Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”‘

“What a man has, so much he is sure of.” — Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) — Don Quixote, Part ii, Book iv, Chap. xliii

Well, it’s done. Again. What a let down…. No, not a let down, a bummer. No, wait. That’s not right, either. Oh, hell, I don’t know, and, what’s more, don’t care any longer, simply because we ARE done. Go figure…. Gosh, ffolkes, I have no idea what happened here, but, it does LOOK done, so, I’m going to trust my instincts, such as they are, and let if fly without even going over it for typos…. Today, in that respect, y’all are on your own. I think I’m going to go look for my mind, which seems to have taken a powder….. I’ll let y’all know tomorrow where I had to haul it home from…. See ya, ffolkes….