Tag Archives: Carl Sagan

Custom platitudes built while you wait….

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Ffolkes,
Shadows followed, dark and fluid, as the band of silent intruders picked its way up the narrow path to the castle. Not a whisper of sound could be heard; only a slight background hiss, as the wind blew softly, rustling the leaves of trees bordering the path. No weapons clattered, no feet scraped, no harsh breath drawn; only the silent shadows slipping through the night. As the wall looms above the group, a cloud passes, and the troop is revealed as eight men with darkened face and skin, clothed all in black, bearing strangely shaped weapons that softly gleamed in the pale light cast by the half-moon, high above the eastern horizon.

Still no sound is heard, as the men spread themselves evenly across the base of the wall, facing the bricks. Each man laid the palms of his hands on the wall, and began to mutter soft incantations; power now crackles through the night air, almost a sizzle along the nerve endings. As the chanting continues, the men’s bodies begin to become indistinct, translucent, fading and merging with the wall. In mere seconds, all eight forms are gone, as if they had never been, and the night’s silence covers the now empty space of wall where they stood…..

One of these fine mornings, I’ll sit down and write a paragraph like the above, but I won’t stop writing until something actually happens to the people in the story. It may be this one; it came out pretty well, and could very easily be a good opening for a science-fantasy tale, set on some fantastic planet peopled by a race of beautiful women who need….. some kind of help…. see, there’s the problem. I get so far into a story, and it peters out on me. Oh well, this is mostly a form of self-therapy anyway; it doesn’t HAVE to mean anything, or go anywhere other than where I feel like wandering in my head. And, honestly, I kinda like it this way; I never know from one day to the next what is going to tickle my fancy, and get written about today. And that’s okay, too….. let’s get on with it, shall we?…..
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Buzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes
Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn;
Less dear than army ants in apple pies
Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn,
Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit;
Like honeybees upon the perfum’d rose
They suck, and like the double-breasted suit
Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose,
Go fly a kite, thy welcome’s overstayed;
And stem the produce of thy waspish wits:
Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed;
Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits.
Be off, I say; go bug somebody new,
Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you.

I’m sorry, but once more, there was no attribution for this. It’s too bad; I’d have enjoyed looking for more of this author’s work. It’s delightfully silly, yet strongly written. And that’s why it’s here, simply because I like it. You don’t have to, but if you find you don’t, there’s no shame…. it’s also pretty bad, when viewed from certain viewpoints. Hey, it’s free, right? What else have you done today where you can say that?…..
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“Waiting is.” — Robert A. Heinlein, ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’

Taken by itself, in this format, without the supportive structure of the book from which it was taken, this seems a bit obtuse, too inscrutable. But when one adds in the philosophical background from which this statement springs, a direction is given to the path one’s thoughts must take to find and absorb the meaning, and the lesson, that these two words hold. Even without the book’s help, using the phrase as a focus of meditation is very soothing, almost healing. It may be the shortest koan known to man; I can’t think of any I’ve seen that are simpler or deeper than this. And using it is so simple! Merely close the eyes, relax, and say the words, inflecting them as a question, and follow the march of your thoughts and images as they lead you further inward, toward the center, where balance lives…..
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“You can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in.” — Arlo Guthrie

Serendipity, by its very nature, is always a surprise; knowing that, one shouldn’t be surprised when it happens. But we always are; it’s just the way we’re built, I guess. This little tasty bite of truth becomes all the more savory for knowing it came from the same guy who wrote “Alice’s Restaurant”. In at least one respect, though, it’s not surprising at all; Arlo grew up under the influence of one of the century’s most talented artists, Woody Guthrie, a very perceptive social historian himself, so I’m certain his education and personal paradigms show the effect of that on his intellectual abilities. No matter how one looks at it though, it’s still a great quote, very perceptive and insightful…. may contemplating it bring you illumination….
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‘God says in the Bible’ carries as much moral imperative to me as saying ‘Dr. Seuss says in Green Eggs and Ham.’  Both are interesting books with some good messages, nothing more. — Anonymous

Thank goodness this quote came from such a distinguished, well-respected source; some folks might take it wrong coming from someone of less renown, such as, say, …me? No, I didn’t say it, I just found it, but I can’t dispute it either, as it has a valid point. I’ve read both books, and each is composed of a very large amount of nonsense surrounding some nuggets of truth; at least, that’s what my crap detector tells me. I’m sure Green Eggs and Ham would be just as popular as the Bible, if it also had dozens of chapters obviously written by biased people, who had their own agenda, conveniently disguised as sacred, ‘divinely inspired’ gospel.

That agenda generally includes the unwritten but inherent assumption of entitlement that humans have over the rest of ‘creation’, otherwise known as the Universe. I’m afraid that the Biblical divine mandate that theoretically allows humans to ‘have dominion’ over everything they see, just isn’t supported by the facts in evidence. In fact, the evidence points to humanity being more of a pimple on the face of Mother Nature, and once the build-up of crud we’ve created with our foolishness comes to a head, it will burst, be drained, washed away, and the earth will continue on as though we were never here….. and in truth, were we ever really here, or did we just imagine ourselves?…..

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

This is the kind of statement that can be used to demonstrate the difference between a reasoned, rational response, with evidence included, to a concrete, relevant question, and an answer formulated by someone with a belief system based on matters of faith. The attraction of such belief is rooted in the ease of living with it; when faith provides all answers, no thought is required to find them. Nor is evidence required…. only faith.

It’s a very safe feeling, to exist with the knowledge that no matter what one does, personal responsibility never has to be assumed. Just confess, and accept Jesus, and forgiveness is yours….. and if someone gets hurt along the way, well, they’re probably heathens, anyway, and not like us…..so, treating them like animals is okay…. these are the same folks who don’t see what is wrong with Americans soldiers overseas burning Muslim holy books, or torturing and humiliating helpless prisoners, and yet want to pass an amendment to the Constitution to make it illegal to burn a US flag. What is wrong with this picture?….

I’ll tell ya what’s wrong with it…. but it will have to be another time. I don’t think I have enough left in me now to begin a whole new rant.  Probably just as well, considering my mood; I’m already wound up, and letting it out now could easily cause a rift in the space-time continuum; we certainly wouldn’t want that. Consider yourselves lucky, this time….. I’ll just leave you with this…..

“The mistake began when God was created in a male image. Of course, women would see Him that way, but men should have been gentlemen enough, remembering their mothers, to make God a woman! But the God of Gods–the Boss–has always been a man. That makes life so perverted, and death so unnatural. We should have imagined life as created in the birth-pain of God the Mother. Then we would understand why we, Her children, have inherited pain, for we would know that our life’s rhythm beats from Her great heart, torn with the agony of love and birth. And we would feel that death meant reunion with Her, a passing back into Her substance, blood of Her blood again, peace of Her peace! Now wouldn’t that be more logical and satisfying than having God a male whose chest thunders with egotism and is too hard for tired heads and thoroughly comfortless?” — Eugene O’Neill, “Strange Interlude” [1928], Act II
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I have a feeling this one may cause some flak; I see that I’ve gone a bit overboard this morning in my discussion on belief systems; it’s certainly long enough. If it helps, no offense is intended; everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. I write what is in my head at the time; some of it is not acceptable for public consumption, and I don’t bring that stuff out for review. But, I also don’t shy away from giving my take on just about any subject that concerns society at large, so those who disagree or actively dislike what I say are free to either stop reading and go elsewhere, or write back with a response. I’m happy to engage in dialogue, it’s a great way to check the validity of one’s arguments, comparing them to someone else’s take on the matter at hand.

I’ve reached the end, finally. Happy days….. now I shall sally forth and carpe that old diem! Y’all take care out there…..

 

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Even tough guys call him ‘Sir’….

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Ffolkes,
I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but mornings are,for me, an important time of the day. A lot depends on what takes place in that first few minutes, and colors what may happen the rest of the day. Today has been relatively normal, though I stayed up later than usual, and thus am up a bit later. All within normal parameters, so things are looking fairly routine. Whether or not this kind of serenity will help what goes onto the screen remains to be determined….we may as well just jump on in……
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“I’m trying to think, but nothing happens.” — Curly

I’m not sure why I wanted to include this one, except that when I read it, an image popped into my mind’s eye, and it aroused my outrage again. I could see the Junior Shrub (my own little term of affection for The asshole president Who Stole Two Terms, and yes I know the title should be capitalized; he didn’t earn enough respect to deserve it) in the now-famous video tape of GW Jr. sitting in front of that class in Florida when he was informed that the attacks had occurred on the Pentagon and World Trade Center Towers, on 9/11/01.

For seven agonizing minutes, the whole nation was able to observe firsthand how unqualified he was for the position of President. It was completely obvious that the quote above was playing in his head like an endlessly repeated loop for the entire time, and the parade of emotions across his face was painful to watch, as he obviously became more and more fearful with each passing moment.

But then, I’ve always believed that his father could conceivably had a hand in that whole mess anyway, and that the news that morning was not a surprise to Junior; it struck me right away how the attacks were very conveniently timed to draw attention from the news of the preceding day, which was focusing on the voting irregularities of the last election, the second time the results of the election were disputable.

After having read The Cocaine Papers, and personally observing his time in office, the whole scenario just stunk of the senior Bush’s talents; folks seem to forget he headed up the CIA during the time when that organization was busy interfering in governments all over the world, and was almost completely responsible for setting up the cocaine trade to the US from South America, aided by the work of CIA operatives in the area. Yes, it was an incredibly fortunate thing for GWB Jr. that we were attacked just at that time, or we just might have seen our second president go down in the glaring light of public sight, for having been found guilty of voting fraud in at least two elections, and forced to resign due to public outrage over his shenanigans….

But, as I say, he’s a lucky guy, isn’t he?……. it only cost us around 4000 American lives, give or take a few, and gave us the opportunity to hare off after the nasty terrorists, to exact our revenge from the civilian populations of Afghanistan and Iraq, to the tune of several HUNDRED THOUSAND civilian deaths. All things considered, we took more than we were entitled to, but then, it is the habit of our society to over-consume on every level, so it’s not particularly surprising. And, all things considered, I regard the period from 9/11/01 to now to be one of the most shameful periods of American history, and nothing to be proud of…….
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“One of the saddest lessons of history is this:  If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.  We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth.  The bamboozle has captured us.  it is simply too painful to acknowledge — even to ourselves — that we’ve been so credulous.  (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)” — Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

What is beginning to depress me about the state of modern society is how often I find myself in a state of outrage over the latest antics of the beloved ruling class. The above quote is absolute truth, (the telling of which is a habit of Carl Sagan’s….), and is probably the direct result of the continuous reduction taking place in the average IQ of the average human, when viewed on a society-wide basis.

We have discussed this proposition in this space previously, and have presented the scientific proof of this phenomenon, including its intrinsic inevitability; as time goes on, the species grows dumber, and there is no way to prevent it, other than population control, and humans won’t ever let that happen. The quotation below grows ever more applicable and as time goes on, approaches absolute truth; perhaps the only question remaining to be asked is “How much time do we really have to turn it all around, before it’s too late?” I don’t know about you, but I am very afraid of the answer……

“Yes, this is an age of moral crisis.  Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame.It is your moral code that’s through, this time.  Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course.  And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality — you who have never known any — but to discover it.”” — John Galt
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— How many roads must a man walk down before he finds a damn good pub?


— Let us define n to be the number of roads a man must travel before he finds the pub defined above.  We may thus define n+1 to be the first road which a man need not travel in order to reach a good pub.  Now the traversal of road n+1 is not a necessary condition, but rather a sufficient one; thus it is sufficient for n+2 as well.  Thus the statement is true for x roads where x is >= n.  Therefore, by induction, it is true for any finite number x greater than n.  We may conclude that the statement is true for sufficiently large x, or alternatively that as x approaches infinity, the number of roads that have been traveled become sufficient to have found a good pub.

Ya gotta love math! Especially as it is taught at English public schools…. Well, maybe not, but it might have been, right? Sounds just loony enough for schools that have to have a “headmaster”, presumably to lead their charges into their own mastery over the thick, nearly impenetrable British head. (Get it? mastery, British head? No?….ah, well….) And, as the above shows, the system works, sort of, so even the ones who didn’t get the math found a pub, and grew up to write for Monty Python…. those who took in the math went on to further glory in obscure positions in research on numbers theory as it applies to counting sheep….or money…..or the proper number of pints of stout for quoting from documentation manuals out of memory…..
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“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all.  How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

Brilliant! This is the type of question that only occurs to someone who can be called a genius. Most folks never even consider any of these concepts; it is all they can do to keep track of their own preconceptions and assumptions, much less have the imagination to wonder what they would be able to do if they could see more clearly, clearly enough that meaning is absorbed with perception. There are many ffolkes (this is called a contextual clue) who do think about this kind of thing, but only the truly exceptional mind has the depth of perception, and understanding, to not only see the light, but to describe it to their brethren……
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Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the center of the silent Word.
— T.S. Eliot

What is the silent Word?  The Word Is……Not not, Is…..We may be, or not, but what is, is, and needs no word, but the Word remains….at the center, where it was seen and not heard by T.S…. Sometimes, powerful truth can be found in apparent nonsense, and T.S. was a master at creating very lean, very clean poetry whose very simplicity drove straight into the heart of Truth. I always feel more serene afterward, and find that reading his work brings me illumination, if not enlightenment…..
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The results are in, and we find that much of what is included today doesn’t bring much serenity, but is sufficient unto the day for its mere expression. It’s often that way; I often don’t know I needed to get something out, until it is staring at me from the screen. If nothing else, this has kept me off the streets for a time, which is always a good thing…..I tend to attract craziness out there, and it gets to be wearing at times. Probably why I live alone…..I’m old enough now to enjoy not having to worry about adjusting my self to anyone else’s standards, and have found that I’m pretty good company…… Y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Whiskey for breakfast, misery for lunch….

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Ffolkes,
Hoy, yo soy una tabula raza. Y cuando you escribo, es muy dificil. Pero, tambien soy un brujo, y la realidad es mi amigo. Andalé! Vamanos!……. Pop! Okay, whew! Thought I’d be stuck in Spanish all day; it’s all because last night I had a dream about my first real trip to Mexico, many years ago, when my partner in crime and I rode the train from Mexicali to Mazatlan, a brutal 30 hour ride. We found out an important piece of information on that trip.

Mexican beer won’t get you drunk, no matter how fast you consume it. It’s a decent way to stay hydrated, but that’s all. If not kept cool, it starts to taste somewhat like badger piss, though I’m only familiar with that on a hearsay level. Sure won’t give a buzz, though; it’s only about 1% alcohol. We forgot, it’s a Catholic country, and still rooted in the last century, minus one, in a cultural sense. Ah well, ’twas alright; we just spent the entire week with whiskey instead of beer. Jack is Jack, no matter where he travels……. Oh, I was wrong yesterday…..I didn’t lose my mind; it’s here somewhere. It’s just that due to intense mind fog all thoughts have been grounded.

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

Yesterday, one of the outstanding readers who have stumbled upon this blog sent me a comment. It was somewhat long and involved, but perhaps the best part was when he oh-so-gently chastised me for lacking faith in the goodness of human nature, and rightly so. My recent rantings have been somewhat critical of our beloved ruling class, and others, and he noted that it is entirely possible that they are merely living up to the expectations placed on them by virtue of being in the public eye, rather than exhibiting any malice aforethought.

I am compelled to agree with him, at least to an extent. It is easy to become TOO negative, and I probably stepped a couple paces over that line lately. But I also have to point out that, regardless of how tongue-in-cheek the above statements may be, they are accurate as to the basic message given in the final line. It can always get worse, and if Murphy is anywhere about, you can count on it…..I suppose all we can do is what we’ve always done, throughout history, and that is to keep your clothes, spell books, and weapons where you can find them in the dark…..
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You could say I’d lost my faith in our politicians.

But it was a small loss, considering there wasn’t much there to begin with…..I’d be willing to have a bit more faith in them, if even one of them would stop consistently lying to me. Note I said consistently; I’m adult enough to realize that, being what they are, they have to lie. If they could just learn to not lie EVERY time they open their mouths, we could reach some kind of compromise agreement. But they don’t seem to want, or seem not to be able, to do that, so I’ll just have to go on wallowing in my disbelief. That way, I’m not disappointed so often……. My mind ain’t so open that just anything can crawl right in.

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” — Paulo Freire
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‘You can’t go home again if home is a place you’ve never been.”– Ursula K Leguin

Sad it is that too many people in our society, of all ages, know exactly what this means, from cruel experience. Society has always had its poor and homeless, and repeated explorations into the reasons for it have all been inconclusive, for they all get to the same point and lose coherent credibility. When the vagaries and complexities of human nature are brought into the equation, the sheer number of variables makes the equation unsolvable.

In other words, nobody knows for sure why society arranges itself as it does. We just don’t know enough for certain to be able to say with any high degree of confidence, “THIS is why this is so”. Thus, any and all attempts at solution to the problem have been ineffective at best. We live in a nation with more natural resources than all but a handful of countries around the world, but we still have a small but significant percentage of our population who don’t know whether they will eat today, or whether they will sleep indoors tonight. I can’t say I’m any smarter than anyone else who has looked at this issue; I don’t claim to have any magic bullets. But I can feel compassion, and I can wish……..
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“I once wanted to save the world. Now I just want to leave the room with dignity.” — Lotus Weinstock

Boy if this ain’t the truth! I can’t really add anything to this; it’s a relatively perfect observation of how our attitudes change over time. I’m just glad that dignity is still the goal. I should probably be glad that my self-expectations haven’t devolved any further, to where all I want is for it all to end. It will take a lot more pain and anguish before I even look in that direction, much less consider going there…….I’m glad to be obstinate, in this instance at least…… besides, if I aim any lower, I risk being hit myself, by a ricochet…..
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“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it if you have love, compassion, and tolerance. The clear truth of a person’s love of God is if that person genuinely shows love to fellow human beings.” — Dalai Lama

Here we have some plain common sense, in the guise of eternal wisdom. I like to think that even the most dogmatic religious devotee, of any religion, would agree with this concept. It’s difficult to object when it matches so closely the most basic beliefs of almost every sect. Though proponents of each world-view may differ greatly on the shape and nature of what they worship, none would deny that love, compassion, and tolerance are lessons taught by all of them in their study and contemplation of human nature and its niche in the scheme of things. In every face with which God is seen by Man, one may see these three attributes written clearly on their visage. If we have any redeeming feature written on the slate of our souls, love for one’s fellow man would be that characteristic…..

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan
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The only thing that makes a democracy work is the force of morality. If all that is in place is the force of law, you have a police state. The force of morality always comes from a deep belief that you are accountable for all your own choices — even those that aren’t discovered or punished by law. It is the force of morality that lets us focus on what we share working together to make a better society.” — Callan Williams

I don’t think I need to add anything to this statement either. It pretty well matches my own take on the subject, which is rooted in the concept of taking personal responsibility for one’s actions. Too many people in today’s society have never even been exposed to this concept, and to expect them to be able to live up to it is unrealistic at best. Moral action requires more than simply having an impulse toward right action; it requires that one find the courage to then act upon those impulses. Not everyone has that moral courage, as it is hard work to get to the point of understanding it and making it a part of one’s set of behavioral guidelines. Very hard work, and most folks honestly don’t have it in them to make the effort. That is a shame, to be sure; modern life would be a lot different if this morality was more common, and I can’t help but think those kinds of changes would be a good thing…..
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Well, I’d better stop here. I’ve already said more than I intended when I sat down; I guess that’s par for this course. Time now to go out and see what the day holds……y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Naturally inappropriate responses…..

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Ffolkes,
Today’s format got a bit muddled in the process of pearl diving. I found a group of political quotes that all point to the same spot on the news compass, and thus added some extra material to the first topic of dissection, er, discussion…..hope it isn’t too much for the literary equivalent of a bowl of oatmeal…..consider it as extra brown sugar and cinnamon……
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“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual & silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, Virginia Conv. 1788

“The greatest right in the world is the right to be wrong.  If the Government or magistrates think an individual is right, no one will interfere with him; but when agitators talk against the things considered holy, or when radicals criticize, or satirize political gods, or question the justice of our laws and institutions, or pacifists talk against war, how the old inquisition awakens, and ostracism, the excommunication of the church, the prison, the wheel, the torture-chamber, the mob, are called upon to suppress the free expression of thought.” — Harry Weinberger, letter to the editor, — New York Evening Post, April 10, 1917

“They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers… call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt (circa 1935)

“Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what it is you want to hear.” — Alan Coren (circa 1990)

“The treacherous are ever distrustful.” — Gandalf (The Second Age)

You will please note first that the dates of these statements are in chronological order (except of course, Gandalf’s). I put them that way to demonstrate my point, which is this: the idiots who are theoretically in charge of society as its chosen leaders are NOT good people, and this sentiment serves to demonstrate that this problem is not unique to our time. They DO NOT CARE about the little man on the street, nor have they ever done so. They DO NOT make decisions with the benefit of society in mind, and never have. They DO NOT care a whit that their actions are demonstrably responsible for the mess we are in ecologically, and the only future they care about at all is their own.

As an American citizen, I am appalled at how easily the public is manipulated, and angry about the encroachment of personal liberty for the sake of increased security, a pipe dream at best. Personally, I think it is time for the Second American Revolution…..seriously….I’ll leave this subject there, and close with this, from Carl Sagan, “In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know, that’s a really good argument; my positions is mistaken,’ and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. It happens every day, but I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”  For sure and for certain……
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“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” — Mark Twain

Dogs, cats, rats, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, and even geese can all lay claim to a higher level of ethics than can your average homo sapiens. You never hear about a pig robbing a bank, or geese running a Ponzi scam; even dogs and cats, who live in such close proximity to us, are not made to act unethically by that association. They have what most people have lost, and that is integrity. Within the constraints of their intelligence and physical characteristics, their actions are always true to their nature, cause no conflict in the universe, and in turn, attract no negative karma. People, on the other hand, are at best a 50/50 proposition as to whether the decision to act will come from an ethically defensible position. I think that’s why I am more comfortable around animals than most people; they don’t have any hidden agendas……
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“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” — Thomas Paine

To me, this is the highest ethical position that a man can assume. This attitude is what drove Mr. Paine, and the other men and women who founded this nation, to acts of bravery and courage in the fight for liberty. This attitude is one expression of the most valuable part of the human spirit, the part that acts selflessly in the face of danger to fellow men, the part that makes us truly human, to my mind. It is the part of us that won’t give in to oppression; that part that yearns for freedom of expression. It is the part of us from which poetry, and the finest prose flow, to spread the word that freedom will never stand down in the face of danger, and that this freedom is the given right of every person alive. Mr. Paine’s expression of love for his child expresses the finest strengths of the human spirit, and should inspire all who read it to remember what price must be paid for personal liberty……
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“Please don’t dominate the rap, Jack, if you got nothing new to say.” — Robert Hunter

An easy sentiment to get behind, and typical of Grateful Dead musical philosophy. Music, with strong lyrics, can be a powerful force in shaping the attitudes of society, and a lot of very powerful songs were put out in the 60’s and 70’s in support of the political changes that were sweeping the nation at that time. The full effects of music on society can never be accurately measured, but it is known to be an influential tool for spreading a particular message to a large audience. So this statement becomes more of a paradigm indicator, to encourage new thoughts and new ways of solving problems. If you get a chance, listen to the rest of the song; its pretty powerful stuff, if you know how to hear it…..
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God has always been hard on the poor.

To avoid a lot of critical emails, let me just say in regards the above; funny how that works out, isn’t it? Makes a man get to thinking, about how God seems to take on the characteristics of the persons who are invoking His support, and how He always seems to be against whatever it is his worshipers are afraid of. Just an observation…..Hmmmm, I think I just heresied on several important religions.

“I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t.” — Jules Renard
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Today’s post has grown beyond all hope of regaining control, so I’m going to add one more quote, just because it fits in with most of what we discussed today. It’s another fine piece of satire from the Devil’s Dictionary, courtesy of Ambrose Bierce…..

RIGHT, n.  Legitimate authority to be, to do or to have; as the right to be a king, the right to do one’s neighbor, the right to have measles, and the like.  The first of these rights was once universally believed to be derived directly from the will of God; and this is still sometimes affirmed _in partibus infidelium_ outside the enlightened realms of Democracy; as the well known lines of Sir Abednego Bink, following:

By what right, then, do royal rulers rule?
Whose is the sanction of their state and pow’r?
He surely were as stubborn as a mule
Who, God unwilling, could maintain an hour
His uninvited session on the throne, or air
His pride securely in the Presidential chair.

Whatever is is so by Right Divine;
Whate’er occurs, God wills it so.  Good land!
It were a wondrous thing if His design
A fool could baffle or a rogue withstand!
If so, then God, I say (intending no offence)
Is guilty of contributory negligence.
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Enough already!….. y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Wayward minstrels and sleepy cats….

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

In case you couldn’t tell, I woke up with crankypants already on, and I’ve been looking for something or somebody to let it out on for the last hour or so. Feeling this way, and not having an acceptable outlet, is extremely frustrating, and as a former psych tech, I know it’s not good for me to keep all this bottled up inside. I suppose I could go out and find some unarmed idiot to get into an argument with, so I can let it all out on them. But that isn’t kosher, (kosher means anything not touched by pig blood), nor is it a good policy for improving one’s karmic burden. But then I’d feel like dirt, because one of my own pet peeves is when someone dumps crap on me that I don’t deserve. In the final analysis, that is a lose-lose situation, with both parties walking away feeling worse than when they started.

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

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

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

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

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

And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains.

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

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

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

Kowabunga!

Delusions of adequacy….

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Ffolkes,
A great confusion arose in my mind yesterday; a confusion so great I could not find a way out, and several things that should have been done were not. This missive is one of those things…..I actually had most of it done, but my ever-present extremely high level of anxiety had me out doing other things that seemed more important at the time. Turns out it wasn’t but, hey, Murphy knows me by first name, so it doesn’t surprise anymore when stuff goes wrong. Thus today I must play clean-up on yesterday’s unfinished tasks, thus keeping me from what I’d like to do, which is get some writing done. No hope there today, not when it takes almost all I’ve got to write a Pearl. Speaking of which, I finally found the little poem that explains about the Pearls, at least from a minimalist standpoint. I merely take it as proof that I am not alone, that others have walked this path before me, seeking out the finest oysters, and bringing their Pearls of Virtual Wisdom into the light of day……

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
— John Dryden (1631-1700) — All for Love, Prologue

“Nothing is rubbish if you’ve got an inquiring mind.” — Doctor Who

:sagan: /say’gn/ n. [from Carl Sagan’s TV series “Cosmos”; think “billions and billions”] A large quantity of anything. “There’s a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS.”  “The U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare — hard to say which is more destructive.”  — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar’d sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
— John Milton (1608-1674) — Comus, Line 476

Order is heaven’s first law; and this confest,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,
More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 49

“As the tempest and the thunder affect not the sun or the stars, but spend their fury on stones and trees below; so injuries ascend not to the Soul of the great, but waste themselves on such as are those who offer them.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

Lotta poetry today, yes? It’s good for the mind to stretch in different ways sometimes; keeps it flexible….y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Bumping along the path to glory….

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Ffolkes,
As a day of reckoning, today leaves a bit to be desired. More than just a bit actually. It seems that the universe could go along with the program here, but NOOOO, today’s got to be all big & bad, with overcast. If I’m going to go and humiliate myself before my creditors, the least I think I should be able to expect is a nice day, weather-wise. And though it will most likely clear up in a few hours, by then I’ll not be in a place where I can enjoy it. Sometimes I believe Murphy has taken a strong dislike to me; no other explanation fits all the evidence. Oh well, we plod onward, as there is no other choice….no viable choices, that is. There is always one or more pathways that will lead to a final solution, but we are not quite ready to throw in the towel. What’s a few more mental bruises to someone who lives in pain? Not much…..today’s group is again somewhat eclectic. Gonna have to go find me some new waters to dive in soon….these oyster beds are getting a bit thin…..enjoy!

“I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle it’s much too confining.” — Lily Tomlin

“…Another writer again agreed with all my generalities, but said that as an inveterate skeptic I have closed my mind to the truth.  Most notably I have ignored the evidence for an Earth that is six thousand years old.  Well, I haven’t ignored it; I considered the purported evidence and *then* rejected it. There is a difference, and this is a difference, we might say, between prejudice and postjudice.  Prejudice is making a judgment before you have looked at the facts.  Postjudice is making a judgment afterwards.  Prejudice is terrible, in the sense that you commit injustices and you make serious mistakes.  Postjudice is not terrible.  You can’t be perfect of course; you may make mistakes also.  But it is permissible to make a judgment after you have examined the evidence.  In some circles it is even encouraged.” — Carl Sagan, The Burden of Skepticism, Skeptical Enquirer, Vol. 12, pg. 46

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” — D.H. Lawrence

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides…
— Tennyson “The Kraken”

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

“I’ll tell you what kind of guy I was.   If you ordered a boxcar full of sons-of-bitches and opened the door and only found me inside, you could
consider the order filled.” — Robert Mitchum

Now THAT’s a curmudgeon! One can only gape in awe, and hope that one day, I too will achieve such an exalted state of grouchiness. Getting plenty of reasons to be that way building up lately, so we can always hope….y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!