Tag Archives: Catholic Church

Off with their Keds!….

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Ffolkes,

“Education is the best provision for old age.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

Germany moon
Supermoon over Germany, January 2015 (UK Guardian POTD Feature)


It’s nice to know I was already following Aristotle’s advice before I even read his quote. Sometimes, we get lucky…. In this case, I think what happened with me is the best, and most important piece of luck we humans can encounter in our lives, for it takes place before we have any real chance of understanding the bet, or the nature of the risk in gambling, much less the name of the game in which we are already involved…

Like all of us, we start out in the game without any idea of the rules, or who the banker/dealer might be, or exactly how we got into the game. We are playing a game with our very lives as the only currency, in a dark room, in a game with hidden rules, and a dealer who just sits there with his marked deck of cards, and most of the bank, smiling, smiling, smiling…. The game is rigged ffolkes, and most of us don’t know how to play anything more complex than 52 pick-up….. Even if we learn to play by whatever rules we can discover, the deck is marked, and the dealer has a mirror behind your chair. The odds are not good….

Cute, I suppose, but, hardly the way to life anyone’s spirits right off the bat, is it? It’s getting harder, each day, to keep from ranting here in the introductory section; the world has gone mad, mad, mad. I pride myself, generally, on being phlegmatic, when it comes to END GAME scenarios. An old scientific saying comes to mind a lot these days, as conspiracy theories abound; there is so much believable evidence of conspiracy, by the same group of people, over and over again, it’s hard not to bring to mind, to wit: “Never ascribe to evil what can be attributed to stupidity.” There are other variations, but, it is a concept that must be considered when coming to any conclusions.

Even that paragraph is probably too much for an intro, and, all it did was try to explain the paragraph before. SIGH, this sure can get out of hand quickly, can’t it? I’m not sure why; it must have something to do with writing left to right, and down… I think the “down” part influences reality in such a way that the first section of any piece tends to droop, as gravity pulls it down the page…. I don’t know for sure. but, that SOUNDS like it might be true, so that’s what we’re going with…. See, it’s not my fault!…. It’s gravity!

Okay, I apologize. That much pure, unadulterated silly is probably also too much. I guess I’ll give up again, and use #4 to get us out of here, before this goes somewhere we can’t get back from…. In fact, we’re bailing, NOW….

Shall we Pearl?

“In specifications, Murphy’s Law supersedes Ohm’s.” — Klipstein’s Law of Specification

Oh. No wonder, then….

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I found this video the other day when I used the one about the Pool Party, with all the Labradors having a ball in the water…. This one is even cuter, if possible….. and very relaxing, to boot…. We all need plenty of that these days….

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One Hour of Funny Dogs

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Dont keep calm

“Democracy is, by the nature of it, a self-canceling business: and gives in the long run a net result of zero.” — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish historian — Chartism (1839)

“I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” — Thomas Carlyle

“Three elements of modern civilization: Gunpowder, Printing, and the Protestant Religion.” — Thomas Carlyle

At first, when I first heard the latter quote, (literally heard; I first encountered it in a BBC mystery movie, quoted by characters in Gaudy Night), I thought Mr. Carlyle was being completely straight-faced and serious, marking him as one of those who partake in all three, which are the tools, and the means by which the elite ruling class has achieved practically complete domination of the entire world. However, given the first two quotes, also attributed to the learned gentleman, it may be he was speaking in a rather more critical vein, as it should be.

Those three elements provide all that is needed to control almost every person in the world, in one respect or another. For those who subscribe to the philosophy of those in power, with their ability to rationalize any action to suit their own needs, regardless of the effect on ANY other entity, no act of cruelty, manipulation, or abuse of trust is unthinkable. In point of fact, all three of those qualities are rewarded; the more one is able to assume, and collect resources and power by lying, cheating, or otherwise breaking trust with others, the higher in the echelons of court sycophants they rise, becoming ever more removed from other people, and their own humanity.

Gunpowder to provide the physical means to intimidate, to abuse, to kill, in the name of the state, or a religion, or other principle which serves the purposes of those who make the money by keeping the world in conflict. The more wars that occur, the richer they become, because the own or control the armories, the manufacturing plants, the marketing to buyers of weapons of mass destruction. One small statistic: the US spent $750,000,000 per day to bomb the ISIS group in the middle east. That is the amount for ONE day, in ONE war, by ONE country to wage war, which sounds like a fair number to use as a base line cost for a day of war between nations, UN recognized, or not….

First, who got the money our taxes were spent on to buy guns, bombs, etc.? Why, the arms dealers, and bankers, of course. Second, multiply that huge, insane number of dollars by the number of days in the year, and the number of wars happening around the world, to get a number that will astound you…. That’s just ONE year….., and ONE day’s take. If more than one war is going on at once, well, that might add up even faster, now, wouldn’t it? Or, is my math off somehow? I was always pretty good at basic arithmetic, which is all this is…

Printing has helped the predators in our species without limit. You see, they know the power of a lie, and they know how gullible the average human is…. so, printing allows them to spread their lies farther and faster than they had ever been able to do before, in all of recorded history. Now, with the advent of computers, the misinformation and obfuscation of which they are capable becomes literally incalculable… In this process, their most favored, and most efficient, AND effective cadre of supporters, sycophants, and, quite simply, snake-oil salesmen, and shills have always come in the form of religion, of which the Protestant Religion has done more to enslave mankind than any previous organization of that nature, except perhaps the Catholic Church….

Need some proof? Hell, one of them gave us a pretty clear example of how they do it, about a couple hundred years ago. It is a statement almost everyone has read, in school, yet, nobody ever seems to remember it as it keeps happening, over, and over, and over, and over, and, well, you get the picture…. This asshole, the highest ranking member of the Church of his time, after the Pope, said once:

“If you give me six lines written by the most honest man,

I will find something in them to hang him.”

~~ Cardinal de Richelieu ~~


Uh oh…. I think I just heresied on several important religions. Oh well, such is Life. Onward….

The Protestants, though, were the strong right arm of the elite during the Dark Ages, then, continued their complete over-mastery of the public mind in the Renaissance, into the modern era; no church has ever been so strongly allied with the governments of the time, save the aforementioned Catholics… but, the Catholic Church concentrates on robbing the poor, in such a way they remain such their entire lives, all for the promise of Heaven in the next life. The Protestants do the same for the middle classes, as well as for those of the upper classes, who are directly under the spell of those actually in charge, who manipulate them all…

  I saw an interesting graphic picture the other day on my buddy Lou’s site, (https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/impressive-vs-very-impressive-gates-and-rothschild/) showing the real story behind the story of the income gap we are hearing so much about these days; the monied classes, having secured as much power as they feel they need to secure THEIR future, are not hiding their machinations quite so much, (it has become a bit harder to do with the Internet available to so many people now, which can expose those pieces of clear evidence which indicate the true state of affairs).

Check out a rather scary piece of reality, ffolkes….

Bill and Evelyn
Click to enlarge, to read the fine print. You need to read it all.


I don’t know, what do you think? Is that obscene? Or nauseating? Maybe… No, most certainly, it must be BOTH obscene, and nauseating. As well as nauseatingly obscene. Obscenely nauseating also fits…. I swear, if either one of these assholes ever showed their face in my immediate vicinity, well, there wouldn’t be as MUCH of a problem left to deal with… except, I’m sure, the Baron, no doubt, has a relative or two that will also need to be evacuated from the gene pool…. The sooner, the better, if you ask me….

Enough for one day.Ta then, ffolkes….

“If it should become necessary to fight,

could you locate me some rocks to throw at them?”

~~ Riker, “Contagion”, stardate 42609.1 ~~

We the People...

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This isn’t a poem, in the traditional sense. But, knowing something about the Hopi, I would imagine the message is intended to be sung, in a ceremony over a course of time, with attendant sobriety and dignity. So, it probably SOUNDS like a poem, even if it isn’t exactly what we would think of in that way…. Of course, those of us who read this blog are, if not exactly all lily-white, we ARE English speaking; that does give us a handicap in understanding reality, from the Hopi/Anasazi/Aleuts/Apache/Chiricawa/Cheyenne/Cherokee, okay… a LOT of other tribes’. point(s) of view, which tend to be quite dissimilar to any Western European, or any other cultural point of view, from ANYWHERE else in the world….

About Hopi Indian Symbols
Message from A Hopi Elder

Oraibi,Arizona

“You have been telling people that this is the eleventh hour.

Now you must go back and tell people that this is the hour!

And there are things to be considered:

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your Garden.

It is time to speak your truth.

Create your community.

Be good to yourself.

And not look outside of yourself for a leader.

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing very fast.

It is so great and fast that there are those who will be afraid.

They will hold on to the shore.

They will feel that they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know that the river has its destination.

The elders say that we must let go of the shore,

push off into the middle of the river,

keep our eyes open,

and our heads above the water.

See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time we are to take nothing personally,

least of all, ourselves.

For the moment that we do,

our spiritual growth comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over.

Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones that we have been waiting for.”


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Strange. Very strange, indeed. I’m not even going to comment on this one, at all…. Just play it as it lies; don’t work too hard at deciphering the meaning, and, all will be well…..

“It is more than a crime; it is a political fault,” — Joseph Fouche (1763-1820) — Memoirs of Fouche

“Get off the cross, Bob.  Somebody else needs the wood!” — Smart Bee

“A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.” — James Feibleman, “Understanding Philosophy”, 1973

“Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice but to carry on.” — Steven Stills

“If you learn something by watching the mistakes of others, it just seems fair to make some effort to return the favor.” — Smart Bee

“Accomplishment is its own reward. Pride obscures it.” — Major Briggs, from Twin Peaks

“Every institution I’ve ever been associated with has tried to screw me.” — Stephen Wolfram

“I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.” — Frank Moore Colby

“Healthy mindedness is inadequate as a philosophical doctrine, because the evil facts which it refuses positively to account for are a genuine portion of reality; and they may after all be the best key to life’s significance..” — William James

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One of my blogging friends sometimes laughs at me, calling me the champ of parenthetical remarks. Whenever she does, I think of this line:

“Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.” — Frank L. Visco, How to Write Good

I tell her, though, I’m not listening to someone who mangles English grammar & vocabulary so powerfully, (especially in ONE line), no matter how true the remark…. Also, I’m stubborn, (pretty damn serious about it, too….), so, no doubt, I’ll ignore it, and just plan on keeping her in stitches every time she stops by to read… So there…. Take THAT, milady!….

Now that I’ve completed the childish portion of the program, I’d best take my leave, before anything sillier comes over me. Y’all know how much Murphy enjoys spoiling my day. Before I become truly paranoid, let us be off, even further than we started the day…. Let us carpe that old diem!….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3

À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Reality’s version of twisted flaws….

			
						

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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

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


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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



















































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“One Galileo in two thousand years is enough.” 


~~ Pope Pius XII ~~


Pope Leo X


“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


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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 ~~




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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




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




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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


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





		
	
					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Killing time in cheerful green socks….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


Nope, not going to do it….. I won’t, I won’t do it! You can’t make me do it!….. Okay, drama over….. Originally, I had planned to re-blog one of my older pieces today, as I was not sure how I’d feel this morning…. Oh, not to worry, I don’t do New Year’s Eve any more, so that’s not an issue…. No, I just wasn’t sure how well I’d sleep, or what was happening today, or much of anything…. it was a confusing day yesterday, for some reason….


Maybe it was all the end of the year lists getting me all woozy and discombobulated; we’ve been inundated in them for days now, and I’m not sure how many more I can take….. Best New Phone Muzak, Stupidest Celebrity Arrests, Stinkiest Farts of the Year, The Absolute Best This, The Most Shockingly Entertaining That…. Every damn category the human brain could come up with gets covered by some reporter’s end of the year list….. If I wasn’t such a strong-minded individual, I would have cracked days ago… Probably just as well I haven’t, though, or they’d stick THAT on some list or another, and I have no desire to see my ride in an ambulance to the psych hospital become an internet meme, eerily contagious slick digital music or no….


So what is a struggling young author to do on a New Year’s Morn? Aside from being more honest in the choice of self-descriptive adjectives, you ask? I am neither young, nor struggling, particularly, other than in my own brain and body….. I could start like last year, with another fictional story opening…. but, then I’d be repeating myself, and I already decided not to just re-blog last year’s first post, good as it was, as it wouldn’t be fresh, and a New Year’s Day post ought to be fresh, at least to SOME degree…. I could wander and blather…. Oh, wait, I’m already doing that… Hmm…. I suppose I could go completely off the rails, and start a few paragraphs of piffle talk, complete and utter nonsense, that SOUNDS as if it might be real…. but, that’s too close to how I write already….


Okay, now we’re going to get tough…. I won’t have this kind of waffling, not to begin my third full year of blogging…. I have two documents now, each filled with a years worth of Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, for 2012, and for 2013…. Soon I will open the next one in the series, to begin taking down the Pearls for 2014, of which this, obviously, is the first. I was hoping to make it one of the best, as well, but, it’s already beginning to look as if this one may be out of control right here at the start, thus leaving little hope for much distinction by the time we reach the end….


Of course, that’s how I felt at first about last year’s New Year’s post, and look how well it turned out…. I almost re-blogged it today, just because it is so good…. Ah well, I’d hoped to avoid this, but, before this gets any further off the rails, I’m going to apply emergency technique # 4, otherwise known as the “Oblivious” method….. It involves some seriously deep denial, and a touch of grim-faced concentration, but, it always works, and its the least expensive of all my emergency methods…. A good thing to remember, since tax time will be here soon enough…. (Considering the upcoming End of the World As We Know It, taxes seem a bit like adding insult to injury, don’t you think?…..) Here’s how it (#4) works…..


Shall we Pearl?…..


Say first, of God above or man below,

What can we reason but from what we know?


— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)  — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 17

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“An hour’s perusal of our national charter makes it hard to understand what the argle-bargle is about. The First Amendment forbids infringements of the freedom of speech “except for commercials on children’s television” or “unless somebody says ‘****’ in a rap song or ‘chick’ on a college campus.” The Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” period. There is no mention of magazine size, rate of fire, or to what extent those arms may resemble assault rifles.” — P. J. O’Rourke


Now, at this point in most Pearls, you would think you’d find a good, long, vituperative rant, picking apart the arguments forwarded by the group of idiots who form the bulk of my target choices. It’s a perfect lead-in for a dual rant, on the media’s bungling of their avowed purpose, and the continuous attempted assault on the Bill of Rights, especially Amendment #2, which has had attempt after attempt made on its integrity since the first year it was printed, each one, thankfully, diverted from its intent….


In fact, the repeated attempts to curtail the Second Amendment rights we supposedly are granted have made it simpler to protect those rights, in at least one way, as those who would, ostensibly, take them away, keep providing us with a way to identify them, because of their repeated attempts to try to legislate it out of existence…. There are times when one may rejoice in the idiocy of one’s enemies…. But, they are very persistent, and they have no compunctions about screwing other people; they’re not going to cease their war on the Bill of Rights until they feel they’ve got them all under their control, just like they feel they do with much of the rest of society…. Sadly, quite sadly, they’re right about that control….


Any who, normally, a rant at this point would be not out of place…. however, it’s a New Year, and I don’t feel like being serious yet, so, we’re going with an old-school pearl, to take some random shots at those who I find it most enjoyable to set in my sights, the Beloved Ruling Class, the Priestly Hierarchies, The Police Myrmidons, and all the other Mundanes, who spend their lives with their heads firmly up their ass, making their slavery a simple matter for the formerly listed group(s) of asininnies…. (Hey, look!…. I just made up a new, GREAT word for that particular group of folks!! Asininnies…. I like it, a LOT…..) Okay, that’s the extent of the rant, let’s see what SB can do for us today…..


“The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential.” — Calvin Coolidge


I speak religion’s message clear,

I am denial guilt and fear.

I am the prayers of the naive,

I am the lie that you believe.


— |\|I|/|


If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side… when the glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time…is a very good one… — Emerson


Q: How many believable, competent, “just right for the job” presidential candidates does it take to change a light bulb?

A: It’s going to be a dark 4 years, isn’t it? — Smart Bee


“If voting actually changed anything it’d be made illegal.” — Smart Bee


I swear, all I did was set the parameters, then hit the buttons, and watch…. Some days, it’s a thing of beauty to behold, I’ll tell ya…. Not too obscure, not too bloody, and, for flavor, a spicy portion or two….. Just to show you there are no hidden agendas, or anything other than full service, non-discriminatory curmdugeonry toward ALL individuals and groups, one last perfect pearl to finish this off in the classic manner…. Stooges Style!…. But, add a bit of irony, and it becomes almost Groucho-like…. Well, it makes my eyebrows twitch, anyway…..


“Support the right of unborn males to bear arms!” — A public service announcement from Phyllis Schlafly, the Catholic Church, and the National Rifle Association


Hey, not so bad for a New Year’s Day…. you should feel lucky, eh? It wasn’t Zippy….. Zippy can make one’s head hurt…. Of course, Phyllis has been known to have the same effect on any rational man….

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“In the vacant places, we will build with new bricks.” — T.S. Eliot


I know I’ve used this little piece from T.S. Eliot in the past; he is frequently called upon as a source in this blog. Today, he’s here just because I like this quote, and just reading it is a good exercise for the brain, to get it ready for whatever follows in this section…. At this point, that is still an unknown…. I only know that it will be a good one, because I won’t settle for less on such a significant day (If that is what this is…. I suppose it is, what with being a real, actual Holiday and all…. I’m not particularly impressed myself, as a follower of the Aztec Calendar, which told us the world already ended, I think, about two or three years ago, I forget…) Any who, enjoy today’s poem, whatever it may be….


Perfect! It has been said that one should begin as one intends to go on…. What better way to begin a new year, than with Keats?….. A bit long, but, well worth the few moments in time to create this vision in the mind, and savor….




Song Of Four Fairies


Fire, Air, Earth, and Water,

Salamander, Zephyr, Dusketha, and Breama.


Salamander.

Happy, happy glowing fire!


Zephyr.

Fragrant air! delicious light!


Dusketha.

Let me to my glooms retire!


Breama.

I to the green-wood rivers bright!


Salamander.

Happy, happy glowing fire!

Dazzling bowers of soft retire,

Ever let my nourish’d wing,

Like a bat’s, still wandering,

Faintly fan your fiery spaces,

Spirit sole in deadly places.

In unhaunted roar and blaze,

Open eyes that never daze,

Let me see the myriad shapes

Of men, and beasts, and fish, and apes,

Portray’d in many a fiery den,

And wrought by spumy bitumen.

On the deep intenser roof,

Arched every way aloof,

Let me breathe upon their skies,

And anger their live tapestries;

Free from cold, and every care,

Of chilly rain, and shivering air.


Zephyr.

Spirit of Fire! away! away!

Or your very roundelay

Will sear my plumage newly budded 

From its quilled sheath, all studded

With the self-same news that fell

On the May-grown Asphodel.

Spirit of Fire — away! away!


Breama. 

Spirit of Fire — away! away! 

Zephyr, blue-ey’d Faery turn,

And see my cool sedge-bury’d urn,

Where it rests its mossy brim

‘Mid water-mint and cresses dim;

And the flowers, in sweet troubles,

Lift their eyes above the bubbles,

Like our Queen, when she would please

To sleep, and Oberon will teaze.

Love me, blue-ey’d Faery, true!

Soothly I am sick for you.


Zephyr.

Gentle Breama! by the first

Violet young nature nurst,

I will bathe myself with thee, 

So you sometimes follow me

To my home, far, far, in west,

Beyond the nimble-wheeled quest

Of the golden-browed sun:

Come with me, o’er tops of trees,

To my fragrant palaces,

Where they ever floating are

Beneath the cherish of a star

Call’d Vesper, who with silver veil

Ever hides his brilliance pale, 

Ever gently-drows’d doth keep

Twilight for the Fayes to sleep.

Fear not that your watery hair

Will thirst in drouthy ringlets there;

Clouds of stored summer rains 

Thou shalt taste, before the stains

Of the mountain soil they take,

And too unlucent for thee make.

I love thee, crystal Faery, true!

Sooth I am as sick for you!


Salamander.

Out, ye aguish Faeries, out!

Chilly lovers, what a rout

Keep ye with your frozen breath,

Colder than the mortal death.

Adder-eye’d Dusketha, speak,

Shall we leave these, and go seek

In the earth’s wide entrails old

Couches warm as their’s are cold?

O for a fiery gloom and thee,

Dusketha, so enchantingly 

Freckle-wing’d and lizard-sided!


Dusketha.

By thee, Sprite, will I be guided!

I care not for cold or heat;

Frost and flame, or sparks, or sleet,

To my essence are the same;–

But I honour more the flame.

Spirit of Fire, I follow thee

Wheresoever it may be,

To the torrid spouts and fountains,

Underneath earth-quaked mountains;

Or, at thy supreme desire,

Touch the very pulse of fire

With my bare unlidded eyes.


Salamander.

Sweet Dusketha! paradise!

Off, ye icy Spirits, fly!

Frosty creatures of the sky!


Dusketha.

Breathe upon them, fiery sprite!


Zephyr and Breama.

Away! away to our delight!


Salamander.

Go, feed on icicles, while we

Bedded in tongue-flames will be.


Dusketha.

Lead me to those feverous glooms,

Sprite of Fire!


Breama.

Me to the blooms,

Blue-ey’d Zephyr, of those flowers

Far in the west where the May-cloud lowers;

And the beams of still Vesper, when winds are all wist,

Are shed thro’ the rain and the milder mist,

And twilight your floating bowers.


~~ John Keats ~~


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“If you would make changes in the present, study the past.” — Spinoza


It may simply be this concept that compels people, myself included, to engage in retrospectives. We are told this from our earliest days (well, I was….) in one way or another, and I think most reasonable, rational people will agree its a good idea to know the past, if only to avoid the mistakes we made then in our future acts. So, let’s take a moment for some words on 2013; I won’t use the adjective “few” in re: words and me, as that is non-productive, since it probably won’t be just a few…. We’ll see, though….


2013 was, for me, a long, interesting time; in the past 365 days I have traveled on a great many different paths, all over the Western/Northern Hemispheres of the planet…. I’ve spent over a month, cumulatively, on three different floating hotels, on four separate cruises, after spending the first four months of the year in the grip of near-poverty. I’ve flown on airplanes, ridden trains, buses, and innumerable taxicabs. I didn’t ride any bikes. I’ve been to five different states, if one counts the airports, and touched foot to ground in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Mexico, and, of course, the United States.


I had the chance to go to Paris for a day, and St. Peter’s Port on the Isle of Guernsey for a day, off the coast of France, but did not go to either, as I would rather have more time than was available to explore them (Paris needs more than four hours to see, I think, especially since the Louvre was closed the day I would have been there….) 


I DID see many of the places of which I’ve read and dreamed of seeing all my life, especially in Ireland, and England…. Though I didn’t get in to see the Book of Kells ( Lines way too long…. ), I did walk around Trinity College, Dublin, and got to see a perfect pint pulled in a pub in Cork…. Found a pub in Belfast that first opened in 1635, by Queen’s charter, which served excellent bangers and mash….


I had a long lesson in humility, dignity, compassion, and love this year, from reconnecting with, and going twice to visit in Texas, my high school classmate, Carole Heaton Oliveiro…. She contracted cancer, in a particularly virulent, painful form, and went, undeservedly, but with magnificent strength and will, through treatment for over a year, only to pass away in less than a week from being diagnosed as terminal.


Her ordeal brought her very close to me, and I will always cherish getting to know her better here at the end of our lives…. Bonus: I got in touch with other old friends through her…. Also, traveling to see her, while for emotional reasons, turned out to be my most instructive trips, in terms of how my age and condition now affects all I do when on the road…..


During this entire year, I’ve also been falling more and more in love with Patricia, and find a great deal of contentment from just being together, even though the past two months have been a physical nightmare for both of us…. I’ve been fighting bronchitis, apparently for about two months now, while she, we just found out last week, has had pneumonia for the past month, at least, and possibly longer. It’s possible we both succumbed to travel fatigue, after three cruises in five months, one of eleven days, one of seven, and one of four; but, to believe that would be to give in to feeling old, and we’ve agreed to NOT allow this to affect our travel plans….    😉


Now that the chatty portion of today’s program has been fulfilled, beyond all hope or expectation, I will get to the point of this, which, though it may not seem so, was planned just this way from the start of this section…. GASP! Imagine that…. forethought by gigoid…. What will they think of next?…..


So, the point of Spinoza’s wisdom, of course, extends beyond the merely personal level on which my discussion above rests; more significantly, it can apply without effort to include the entire world, and, all of mankind’s folly, which, as we know, is legion, and imminently dangerous…. I spent a great deal of time in 2013 writing about who I think is to blame for the world’s state of impending crisis, so I won’t insult you by saying I’ll leave them alone this year…. But, what Spinoza says is true, and if we don’t start looking at what has happened in the past, we are going to continue to have a present that will eventually kill us, in a very short time, cosmically speaking….


THIS is what we need to be looking at in the coming days and years, ffolkes… Global warming is a reality that cannot be denied, or ignored any longer, not without the very real risk of suicide, for ALL OF US. If we, as a species, do not make necessary changes, to human nature, and to the way we approach Life in general as a species, in re: planetary resources and the biosphere….. well, then, in the next five decades (NOT centuries, NOT millennia, I said, and can show proof that we are talking about DECADES!…), if nothing is done, we are all going to die, and that is the “unfortunate truth”…..


Okay, for a retrospective, that ain’t bad, and you can be sure, on this subject, there will be more to come…. for now, I think I’ve done all the damage I can do for one day….. I’ll leave y’all with just this thought…..


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

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Well, there is no doubt whatsoever that I have done all the damage I can possibly do in one Pearl…. I’m not sure what that means in terms of the next year, but, I suppose we’ll see, won’t we? I’m done, ffolkes, and deserve a break, after this one…. It’s all fresh, other than the poem by Keats, so, it took a lot out of me…. well worth it, from my view…. Better out than in, right? Right!….. See you tomorrow…..


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


dozer3