“Daft!”, he cried. “They’ve all gone daft!”

Ffolkes,

“Sic Biscuitus Disintegrat.”

~~ Adrian Ogden ~~

ukg apotw 1

Spring in England

Image from UK Guardian Animal Pictures of the Week (See the cows on the farm?)


Good morning…. Let’s have a small Quiz, shall we? No worries, there won’t be a grade, or a prize, just self-satisfaction, or, stimulation, to take the opportunity to learn…. even if it is only something about yourself, and how you react to quizzes…

If you understand the opening quote today, above the picture, and wish to participate, say so in  the comment section… Caution! Don’t give your translation, if you know, so others have the same opportunity, without being tempted to, well, cheat. If you do cheat, just say so; for example, if you used your handy-dandy translation software (What? You don’t have any? Well, go get some; it’s invaluable if you wish to see what folks in other countries have to say, without sounding dumb by asking…), say so. It’s not a shameful act; at least you were curious enough to look….

If you don’t know, well, that’s okay, too. Unless taken in school, there aren’t a lot of places these days where one can pick it up….

I was lucky to be able to figure it out; the Latin phrase you see is close enough to Spanish, (which I’ve spoken since my youth…), and Italian, (which is quite similar to Spanish), to figure it out by context and deduction… It’s a great little aphorism, chock full of traditional homespun wisdom….

But, then, maybe it’s just me who gets excited over stuff like that…. Oh ,well, it filled up the intro section, didn’t it? Yep….

Shall we Pearl?

“Frivolity is important. Frivolity is the species refusal to suffer.” — John Lahr

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

    Today, we’ll just take it easy, a bit of a break with some classical music…. Enjoy!


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Classical Break

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Glasgow-Greenock Port 041

    I’m in a place today where ranting would be impossible…. So, here’s an old one…

First posted in the first half of 2102:

“I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” — Sir Winston Churchill

“….for DEATH awaits you all, with nasty sharp  pointy teeth!” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Death. The great equalizer. Nobody gets away from it. As a matter of fact, it has been proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that everyone who breathes air, dies. So, air must not be good for us, right? That’s logic…. Of course it’s logical. It is also, however, not true, and serves as an example of the fact that logic doesn’t always lead to the correct answer to any particular question…. sometimes you gotta just go by what is real….

I like the first quote, by Winnie C., the PM…. When my turn to find out what happens after we die comes around, should the Christian viewpoint turn out to have been true, I would prefer to meet my maker with this same attitude. To my way of thinking, if it (Christianity) IS true, then God has a lot to answer for…… Seriously…. I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe in any deity who would allow his creation to show such perversions as this species has shown. Whenever I bring this point up to a priest, or theologian of any sort, all I get is “God works in mysterious ways….”

Yeah? Is that right? You say there is some hidden purpose to those actions we don’t understand? Well, fuck God then, because he’s acting like an asshole. I don’t care a whit if there is some hidden purpose; there is NO ACCEPTABLE REASON to suppose that a merciful God would condone child molesters, or rapists, or torture, (even during war). I don’t believe it; it is neither logical, nor rational…. Most importantly, it isn’t reasonable….

Claiming that God is beyond our understanding, and therefore we cannot understand his reasons for allowing such actions, is pure bullshit. If he is that far above us, why are his morals so perverted? I don’t care what you say, I won’t accept the rape of a child as being justifiable from ANY standpoint. None. And if God does have some justification, well, I ain’t buying it. No matter what it is, it isn’t right…. And going along with it, believing the lie, is just another cowardly way of avoiding responsibility….

Men are responsible for these actions, not God. Men kill, and rape, and pillage, and manipulate and coerce their fellows into performing acts of heinous nature. Numerous times in our bloody past, this killing has taken place in the name of God, as the fanatical zealots so common to Christianity, throughout its vicious history, carried their own particular brand of oppression to new lands, forcing the natives to swallow their version of reality, regardless of how they felt about it.

This blind, unreasoning zealotry continues today, with the current Republican candidate all set to bring the US right back into the Stone Age, should he. through some cruel quirk of fate, be elected as POTUS. If that happens, I’m pretty sure Armageddon will be close behind, as I don’t think the rest of the world is going to sit still long enough for him to cram his own faith down their throats.  Hell, right here at home, should he be elected, I’d be surprised if there isn’t a revolutionary upheaval within a few months of the election. I know I would certainly be considering assassination as a viable political tool…. It is now legal for us to use torture as a resource, why should we balk at assassination?

Ah me…. I guess I got too much sleep. It seems to have awakened my old hippie instincts; I haven’t talked revolution in oh, six or eight months now…. I suppose I’ll just have to wait until November, to see which way to jump…. Let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. That’s always the best policy…. for survival, anyway….  and that may become our primary goal, if things keep on keepin’ on….

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.” — Voltaire

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Comedy_Tragedy

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 4/22/2013

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socrates

    We begin today’s final old-school pearl with Socrates; hence, the picture. The point of the pearl is also one Socrates might have explored in his school, back in the day, in ancient Macedonia…. We finish with a very cogent, powerful statement from one of our greatest artists, who has obviously not limited herself to understanding just music in her life, but, has used her connection to increase her knowledge of Life at Large…. This  is all stuff that will definitely be on the Final Quiz…..

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

“It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.” — Xenophanes

“Before honour is humility.” — Smart Bee

“It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.” — Arthur Calwell

“As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. ii

“Age ain’t nothin’ but a number. But age is other things too. It is wisdom, if one has lived one’s life properly. It is experience and knowledge. And it is getting to know all the ways the world turns, so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want, you can at least get out of the way so you won’t get run over.” — Miriam Makeba

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Hmm…. Today’s was the first Pearl put together on the road, a day late & probably more than a dollar short…. But, here ’tis, so, we’ll all deal, eventually…. For now, this is what you get, and I will be back tomorrow, at a reasonable (for me) hour…. 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

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

She won’t start for toffy…

Ffolkes,

“Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.”

~~ Socrates ~~

UraMajorRoqueLosMuchahos-claro

Ursa Major ~~ The Big Dipper

Image from Space.com


Good morning. Today’s Pearl will be an extreme cheat…. There are reasons, but, to tell you would be narcissistic, and whiny, so, we’ll just say they’re compelling enough to keep me from creating anything particularly fresh, or cogent. Neither is within my grasp today, at least, not yet…. Whether I will be able to find ANYTHING within my grasp today is an unsettled question…. Let’s get on with it, while we can….

Shall we Pearl?

“Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato’s Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Cicero

If that’s true, then, me and Cicero, we’re mates…. Probably why we see so many of his quotes around here….

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

    Since I’ve got nothing in me worth sharing, we’ll go with classical music, which fills up the spirit….. Enjoy!


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Classical Music for Reading

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About Hopi Indian Symbols

    Today, given my brain’s status as a no-show, I thought Kokopelli would make a more appropriate opening thought than our usual Don’t Keep Calm logo; the content today is a bit more unpredictable than usual, and unpredictable is what Kokopelli is all about…. Here’s a piece from the archives, to fill in the necessary space today…. Enjoy!….

From 2/24/2014:

It seems the BRC has captured one of the world’s most dangerous drug cartel leaders, El Chapo, the Dude, of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico…. I have included below a link to the article announcing the capture, and included below that some “interesting” phrases and words used by the anonymous spokescops (who are never authorized to talk to journalists….. but, they do anyway….)…. The words italicized in bold are the ones I’d like to point out to y’all, with a comment or two about them as an addendum…. Read the story, then, we’ll talk…..

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Mexico-captures-Sinaloa-cartel-boss-Chapo-Guzman-5258301.php

“He was caught with an unidentified woman, said one U.S. official, who added that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service were “heavily involved” in the capture…… A federal law enforcement official said intelligence from a Homeland Security Department investigation also helped lead U.S. and Mexican authorities to his whereabouts…… Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists. ….. Mexican authorities, based on a series of arrests in recent months, got wind….. ”

“didn’t say how authorities traced him to Mazatlan……” “A U.S. law enforcement official said members of Guzman’s security team helped Mexican and U.S. authorities find him after they were arrested earlier this month. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the case by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.”….. “His arrest followed the takedown of several top Sinaloa operatives in the last few months and at least 10 mid-level cartel members in the last week. The information leading to Guzman was gleaned from those arrested, said Michael S. Vigil, a former senior DEA official who was briefed on the operation.”

Allow me to point out a few little things in this article that give us a little clue as to how things are in the REAL world, where the government has the tools to find and capture ANYONE in the entire world, by the use of their “counter-terrorism” toys, and “executive orders” and the excuse of national security to employ any and all techniques to achieve their purpose, up to, and including torture, lying at will, and the legal clearance to perform their actions in complete darkness, without any public or judicial oversight…..

“an unidentified woman, said one U.S. official, who added that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service were “heavily involved”

To my suspicious mind, this tells me that the US DEA and Marshalls used an undercover female operative to lure Guzman into an isolated position, where they could take him without dealing with his security forces…. which they did, perfectly…. In several articles I’ve seen, in addition to this one, the same phrase, “an unidentified woman” was used…. Now, do you you REALLY believe she is ‘unidentified’?… I don’t….

“intelligence from a Homeland Security Department investigation also helped”

Gee, ya think? Homeland Security is authorized to do whatever they want…. why shouldn’t they share their technology, and some of that unlimited data they are picking up from around the world with anyone who wants it…. As long as they’re giving it to another group of their insane compatriots, they’ll share it, with pride, even glee, in their own ingenuity, never caring at all about how unethical it is….

“Mexican authorities, based on a series of arrests in recent months, got wind….. ” “didn’t say how authorities traced him to Mazatlan.”

“Got wind?” Got wind? What the hell does that mean? And, since when do the police go by information they “got wind” of…..  Ffolkes, somebody is hiding something here, ya think? It’s obvious they don’t want to let the public know where they are getting their information, although in this case, they give us another clue about that….

” members of Guzman’s security team helped Mexican and U.S. authorities”

Gosh! That was awfully nice of those fellows…. These hard-boiled, vicious drug cartel security individuals had a complete change of heart, and shared all they knew with Mexican and US authorities, out of the goodness of those hearts, I suppose…. I think it is probably more likely that the word, and technique, “waterboarding” was brought into play, as both a threat, and in actual use… I don’t believe for a minute these guys gave up their boss without a little bit of a struggle…. They come from a culture where “machismo” is paramount, and they would not consider it very macho to talk…. hence, they were “persuaded to help”, and I don’t think the persuasive techniques used were verbal, or anything other than torture….

How do I come to that conclusion from this article? Easy…. they told us, in so many words….

“gleaned from those arrested, said Michael S. Vigil, a former senior DEA official who was briefed on the operation.”

How does one “glean” information from drug cartel security forces? I don’t think it was the promise of some Kool-Aid, ffolkes, do you?…. And, since this mouthpiece was “briefed” on the “operation”, what do YOU think he meant by “gleaned”? I do try NOT to be too naive….

This whole “broken rant” was created for the single purpose of demonstrating how the BRC uses its new toys, provided by us, to wit: you, and me, the not-quite-charmingly naive public, when we allowed them to pass those silly ass Homeland Security bullshit Acts after the 9/11 attacks…. In truth, I don’t really care much that they used it to bring down such a predator…. He was, and is, no doubt, someone we can all do without in our midst, since he insists on preying on the weak and foolish….

But, it seems to me, it was all merely an exercise of domestic discipline, as one set of vicious, insane power-hungry individuals, in the official, authorized, guise of law enforcement myrmidons of the ruling elite, tracked down and captured one of their own type of people, who had the bad taste to try to force his will on others without having the mandate of the public voting apparatus…. When one doesn’t automatically accept the bilge water that is presented to us as the truth, it is easy to see how little difference there is between those who hunted him down, and he who was hunted….

Governments have the backing of the multi-national corporations that control society, whereas the big drug cartels, rich and powerful as they may grow, are merely small businesses compared to them… and, we all know what happens to small business when a mega-corp wants to step into their marketplace…. The pharmaceutical companies don’t like the competition from street drugs, so they keep society amped up in arms against them, so their bottom line profit is not reduced to any significant degree….

The whole War on Drugs, (Y,know? It’s funny how our society’s rulers always deal with a problem by declaring War on it….Then, they throw money at it, and tell people that will make it go away…. Hmm…. how’s that working for ya?….), that has been raging in this country since the mid-1930’s, when the drug companies noticed how popular marijuana was becoming in the mainstream, is merely another example of how the real rulers in society don’t want the people to make their own decision about ANYTHING, not if whatever it is can make money for them….

(It’s why they are making their play for control of the Internet…. It’s a very real, but, still only potential, money cow…. if they can wrest control away, and start charging for access, they’ll essentially control all the information flow…. which also give them the wherewithal to censor information, before it gets TO the information cloud…. If they keep control in their corporate hands, you can kiss 75% of the Internet’s effectiveness as a social communication tool, free of interference, goodbye….)

Instead, the governments, at the urging of their corporate masters, spread outright lies and mountains of false information through their own media outlets, attempting to convince people of the dangers of (whatever), followed by the passage of legislation making any who decide for themselves into criminals in the eyes of society….. Even though, as in the case with marijuana, what they are fighting against is actually better for people than anything they have in the list of drugs they manufacture, (at a 2000% profit-margin, don’t y’know….), they decided to enlist the government’s influence over the people to make it illegal, since they had no actual way to stop people from finding and using it…. It grows EVERYWHERE on this planet, without much effort…. That’s why they call it a weed, you know?….

Okay, I’ve rambled, and ranted enough for one morning…. Ffolkes, the governments, the BRC, the Asininnies, the shadowy corporate slave masters, or, whatever label you wish to place upon those who actually rule this planet, don’t give a shit about me, or you, and they’re going to continue to do whatever they choose, just as long as we let them…. They make my life, and yours, a hundred times more difficult than it needs to be, all for the sake of maintaining control over the power, and resources, with which they are obsessed. I, for one, am tired of playing their game…. What game?….

“If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.” — Pentagon official, on why US military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

As far as possible, for the remainder of my life, I will be taking every opportunity I find to expose their asininity, their chicanery, their just plain evil intentions, in as loud a voice as I can muster…. I’d appreciate any help I can get in spreading that exposition around to those who need to see it…. Maybe, just maybe, if I can get this idea into the heads of enough reasonably intelligent people, we all will figure out it is time to stop them…. Then, we can join forces, to create of a large enough repository of the power of human will to overcome the physical entrenchments that have already been put into place, for their protection against that very thing….

With enough people, of good loving heart and infinite compassion, all putting their force of will behind whatever we decide is necessary, I’m sure it would be more than enough to turn the tide, and, in the process, maybe, just maybe, we’ll save our own sorry asses from the depredations we have allowed them to perpetrate in our name…..

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle.” — Lawrence Paradis

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Comedy_Tragedy

    I’ve read poetry all my life, more so at some times than others, but, it’s always been there, a part of the beauty I seek to include in my life…. When I find a poet I like, I am not shy about saying so; that’s why the ffolkes who frequent this blog, a hardy lot, to be sure, end up seeing a lot of Emily Dickinson, Keats, Pope. and other classic poets. I also, occasionally, include on from the poets I’ve discovered hidden here on WordPress. There are several excellent poets, and, “MaggieMaeijustsaythis” is one of the finest….

She recently began writing in a ‘sort of’ new style; it’s very similar to her previous work, but, it’s also different, with more scope, and more freedom, it seems… Here is another of her latest, posted just a day or two ago…. Y’all should go bookmark her site, and buy her book(s); someday, she will be known around the entire English-speaking world, should we humans survive the next fifty years or so…. Any who, forget that, just, enjoy…. Oh, be prepared for some reality, ffolkes….

Doctor, Tell Me

I am going to be. Here,
in a sticky womb,
a living room made for
madness; a sautéed fanciness.

The feast is being set,
just above the chandelier,
they call me by number,
my tattooed slumber calls.

White isn’t always padded
or strapped. Most likely
it only surrounds
the dark blue ring
around the sunburst I look at.

I think I am a painting.
Rembrandt is too gross, but
Picasso, he is enough mystery
to create me.
Half of me sprawls across the cold,
I wait for night-watch to
twist me back to form.

The other girl squats in the corner.
I smell feces and antifreeze.
Do I dream? Can I dissect the fumes of
the dead?
Her charred body crawls toward me,
she removes her teeth.
Everything glitters like a shadow.

Then, I am here. In the morning.
It isn’t the sun that tells me,
but the number, tattooed to
my skull.

Doctor, tell me, has Picasso gone home?

~~ Maggie Mae ~~

http://maggiemaeijustsaythis.com/2015/05/21/doctor-tell-me/


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A-laughing-girl-and-her-camel

    One of the reasons for cheating today is Smart Bee…. Yesterday, it decided to take a dump, figuratively; no matter how many times I uninstalled & reinstalled the program, it wouldn’t act right… I gave up, and am hoping it will work this morning when I install it yet again… If it does, fine, we’ll get a fresh pearl out of it, if I have to use whips and chains…. If not, well, we’ll dip into the archives, which you’ll know because I’ll tell you the date it was first posted…. Go figure…. Enjoy, ffolkes, whatever we end up with….. The first pearls you’ll see are the last I got out of SB before it crapped out….

Aww, wasn’t that cute? SB gave me a joke quote to start today’s search, perfect as the opener for this batch, even though it has nothing to do with the other parameters of the search…. It just…. fits…

Run out of taglines: (A)bort (R)eread (S)teal

~~Smart Bee ~~


Okay, SB. go ahead & steal them; we don’t care, as long as we get a pearl out of it….

He not busy being born

Is busy dying.

~~ Bob Dylan ~~


“In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.” — Antonio Porchia, Voces

“A candour affected is a dagger concealed.” — Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) — Meditations, book 9.

“The truth you speak has no past and no future. It is, and that’s all it needs to be.” — Smart Bee

“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” — Robert Frost

“Life is not an exact science, it is an art.” — Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

“If we lose affection and kindness from our life, we’ve lost all that gives it charm.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Not bad…. Not bad at all…. Plus, you will note, please, as predicted in the intro section, we once again see Cicero at the ending….

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Well, that worked out fairly well. Since I’m NOT going to do it over, y’all get it just as it is…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, hopefully with a bit more pizazz to offer…. At least I got Smart Bee back on deck…. Ta, then, luvs….

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….


Positive signs of disinterest….

Ffolkes,

“‘The early bird catches the worm’ just shows that the worm should have stayed in bed.”

~~ Lazarus Long, “Time Enough For Love” ~~

gravitationally-lensed-galaxy-SDP81-ALMA -NRAOESONAOJ-B Saxton NRAOAUINSF

Energy Ring: Created by gravitational dance of two galaxies.

~~ Photo from NASA ~~


I seldom make any effort to tie in the opening quote, but, today, it has more than usual significance, as I feel much like Lazarus about rising early. Sad to say, my own body gives less than a shit about what I feel about it, and got me up today at the usual insane hour of 0330. I flogged myself back to sleep, but, it didn’t matter; the extra hour did nothing but make me groggier, for longer, once I was up, with the added virtue (wrong word, but….) of rather strong vertigo to make it special….

SIGH…. This, naturally, has brought me to the point where all I want to do is kill…. anything. Anybody. I don’t care, just send me SOMETHING I can annihilate, with prejudice; otherwise, I guarantee, I’ll have bought a gun by noon…. No, I won’t actually go buy a gun; I’d be too tempted to practice on live targets, and we all know how that can complicate life. I suppose I’ll just have to, again, bite the bullet, and get on with today’s Pearl. It might be my only hope of salvaging the day….

In fact, let’s do that now. I’m not even going to ask Luigi to take us in, as we haven’t left yet. If y’all will just close your eyes, and imagine yourselves to have already flown to the oyster beds, we can take it from there…. All we need now is to turn on the the Way Back Machine (which I borrowed from Mr. Peabody), and we’ll be off to the wilds of Consensual Reality…. Okay, switch on; you all have your 3D glasses, right? Okay, let’s go…. Mind your step over the pit….

Shall we Pearl?

“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

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Day the next 013

    Today’s video has but one purpose; to soothe…. Enjoy!

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Classical Music Mix

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Dont keep calm

From 6/18/2013:

“A little sunlight is the best disinfectant.” — Justice Louis Brandeis

In the past few days, I have been ranting, albeit mildly, and without specific target, beyond some telling shots at a large group of humanity, and the moral flaws displayed thereby…. My intent in producing such rants is very aptly stated above by the good judge, showing again that someone can always say better what we try to say ourselves.  But, that doesn’t detract at all from the veracity of what I’ve written, or the need for the light to be shined on those parts of society that most need it…. to wit: the actions of our Beloved Ruling Class, and their owners, the Corporate Masters…. with the complicit support of the Priestly Hierarchies, and, the blindly obedient horde of myrmidons dedicated to following the dictates of the ruling classes, the Police and Paramilitary Wannabes….

Of late, there has been a lot of talk bandied about the internet, regarding the personal data being stolen (no other word for it….) by the government, as authorized by Presidential Executive Order, (a concept I am not sure was ever mentioned in the Constitution…), in its insane, paranoid pursuit of terrorists, and terrorism…. In fact, by writing those words here, I am guaranteeing myself an audience, because they are two of the key words used by Prism, the data mining software in use by the NSA, FBI, and, no doubt many other less well publicized agencies, to mark any communication for further review, with the intent of examination for terrorist tendencies or sympathies…

So, just by mentioning the subject, I know I will have at least one NSA geek, or an FBI agent, who will be reading over whatever I write today…. Actually, the foregoing sentences contain at least eight words that are on the extensive list of such words that will gain their attention, so I guess I’d better make this good….   😆

I am proud of what the NSA contractor did; I agree with his own assessment of his action, as intended to be of benefit to the American people, not as an act of treason, and applaud his courage. It is very easy these days to label an act such as this as treasonous, given the recent (mostly successful) attempts by government agencies to justify their paranoia. Since 9/11/2001, (See? Another key item for them to target…. I don’t know if I’m brave, or stupid…. or just old enough not to care one way or the other….), it has become the fashion for politicians to wrap themselves up in the flag, and inflame the fears of the common man about terrorism. This includes the naming of anyone who protests the loss of their rights as ‘treasonous’, ostensibly for placing America in danger, by exposing the clandestine gathering of information by government agencies… or, in simpler terms, by shining a light on things that are going on in the dark….

“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?” — George Carlin

No, they don’t ever mention that…. nor do they mention ANY of the stuff being done out of sight of the public eye. I hold it to be a very dangerous policy to allow government agencies to operate in the dark, to make legal a great number of actions which, if performed by any citizen, would cause intense public outrage, and which, in truth, are ethically, morally, and, most importantly, Constitutionally unlawful. Every one of the rights supposedly granted by the Bill of Rights has now been restricted, in favor of illegal searches and seizures, loss of privacy, rampant police intimidation, and a government that believes it can do whatever it wants, as long as it is in pursuit of “national security”….

Sorry, but, I’m not buying any of it…. But, then, I have suspected for many years that the government of this country has been hiding the biggest part of what they do from the public, for a very long time…. Remember Dwight Eisenhower? He was that President who, back in 1954, sent thousands of American troops to Vietnam, to act as “advisers” to the brave soldiers of South Vietnam, who were fighting their own “war of independence” against the ungodly Communists in the North (right next to Red China, don’t y’know?…)…. Of course, when good ol’ Dwight did this, he didn’t bother to inform anyone; he just sent them over, and ignored the whole issue in public….

Since that time, almost sixty years ago, the government of this country has pursued a policy of “what the public doesn’t know won’t hurt me” in almost every area of national and international involvement. Whenever there is too much clamor from that public about such clandestine activities, or too much light begins to shine on one or more of the shenanigans always taking place somewhere, there is, oops, some kind of terrorist attack, or another shooting at a school, or a plane crash, or an earthquake, or anything at all, some manufactured, others just serendipitous calamities that are part of our natural world…. Any of these will do to distract the public eye away from whatever it is that has been exposed….

I have always wondered a bit about the timing of the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon in 2001…. They seemed to happen right when there was a strong push in the news to investigate the election results of both 1996, and 2000, results that had the Junior Shrub in office, rather than the greener candidate, Gore. In both those elections, there were critical glitches in the vote counting process in key states, oddly enough, the two states that provided the key electoral votes to get Bush elected, despite having lost the national popular vote, twice (Florida in 1996, and Ohio in 2000….) Any who, all of that was very close to coming under intense scrutiny, when, all of a sudden, we are attacked, by an unknown terrorist group (strangely enough, a group whose leader was a member of the Saudi Royal family, who are close friends of the Bushes….)

After the attacks, there was a singularly lackadaisical attempt to ascertain the culprits; none of the information gathered on them ever examined where the money to finance the attacks came from, an omission that is contrary to ANY professional investigation…. On TV police dramas, in the news, and, in the minds of any intelligent person, it is always made clear that finding the guilty will include, if not exclusively use, “following the money”…. It is basic criminology to find out who paid for it when a crime of such a large scope is committed. The very lack of effort in that direction makes one wonder, just a bit….

Well, I’ve now discussed the issue long enough to have used just about every key word in the program that mines data for the National Security Agency, so, we’ll see whether or not any of what I’ve discussed is enough to get their attention…. I think I’ve also managed to mention just about every conspiracy theory out there for anyone to see, ….. If any official response is generated, we’ll know just how badly things have gotten, when a free citizen of this country can potentially become a target for police and security agencies of the government, merely for exercising the right of free speech…. In a way, I suppose you could say this is an experiment, designed to gauge the degree of paranoia that is so obvious in our BRC….

I’m letting it go now, both to get it done, and because it is such a depressing subject…. I think I need some poetry, to soothe my soul…..

Teacher:  “Bart, give us an example of a modern-day paradox.”
Bart:  “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

— Bart the Genius   “The Simpsons”

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Comedy_Tragedy

    Today’s poem was written in April of 2014; y’all can decide for yourselves which mask it represents….

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,
cuz I’m as confused as a man can be.
This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around
cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.

Forty ‘leven times since I was a kid, well,
I’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.
Every damn time, it all went to crap,
Forty ‘leven times I’ve felt like a sap.

‘Course, each time it happens, I forget the last;
why not? I’m havin’ such a blast….
Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,
’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up my sleeve.

Don’t want y’all to think I’m sad or blue,
life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..
T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,
is joyful love, and that ain’t at all bad.

My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.
Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,
I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.

It’s been some kinda fun, even when I’d take a fall,
and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all
Day after day, I keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;
Guess I’ll keep on doin’ that ’til I’m dead.

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid ~~


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lao

That not in fancy’s maze he wander’d long,
But stoop’d to truth, and moraliz’d his song.
 
~~ Alexander Pope ~~

~~ Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 340 ~~


“…the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as too little, nor the great as too big; for he knows that there is not limit to dimensions.” — Lao Tzu

“It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Myson, iii

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” — Albert Einstein

“Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Concerning the Epicureans,
— Discourses, Book ii, Chap. xx

“Have you learn’d lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learn’d great lessons from those who reject you and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the passage with you?” — Walt Whitman

How he lies in his rights of a man!
Death has done all death can.
And absorbed in the new life he leads,
He recks not, he heeds
Nor his wrong nor my vengeance; both strike
On his senses alike,
And are lost in the solemn and strange
Surprise of the change.

~~ Robert Browning (1812-1890) ~~

~~ After ~~


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Surprise! It’s done. Further than this, deponent sayeth naught…. In fact, deponent sayeth, “I’m outta here!”, and leaves it at that. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if Fate is kind….

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….


					

Popular hairstyles on sale, cheap….

Ffolkes,

“Climate is what you expect.  Weather is what you get.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

White Buffalo Calf Woman

White Buffalo Calf Woman

Image from Google Stock Images


This one is going to be strange; there’s no way around it. I am up on time, but, clueless. I’m confused, which is normal. I hurt, but, not so badly as the past few days. Yet, not a damn thing occurs to me to start this Pearl off with any pizazz, or dignity, or anything in between. Therefore, there is no way to predict, at all, what might happen today…. I’m not sure if I should be nervous, or filled with joyful anticipation. Since I went with the nice picture of the Lakota Spirit woman, who brought them their beliefs and wisdom, I’ll go with the latter, and hope for the best.

Such a lack of direction also may affect this intro, as is probably already obvious. I can’t think of another time when I was so out of it, mentally, after nine hours sleep…. The knife in my hip finally went away yesterday afternoon, without first giving me any clue as to A) why it happened, or B) what fixed it. I was sitting in the chair, uncomfortably shifting my weight around to get comfortable, when I realized it had dissolved, in a manner of speaking; it had simple gone away, without notice, or fanfare….. at which point, the stress and struggle of the last five days of fighting against the constant, unrelenting pain caught up to me….

So, I went to bed, at about 6:45 pm, sleeping fairly well until about 3:45 am, with only two trips to the restroom during the night…. possibly the best night’s sleep in weeks…. I’ll take it, naturally; I just wish I felt more together upon awakening. I seem to be less able to get up & begin functioning right away, as has always been my habit….. another gift from Father Time, I suppose (or, is that the Time Bitch I hear so much about from so many women?….).  Whatever the case may be, I’m up, and moving, if not exactly spinning along like a top….

Oh well, it will have to do. I’m tired, I’m confused, and I don’t even like Jesus; oh, wait. That’s already a song….. okay, well, I’m done, anyway. This intro has reached a point I can call it legal, even if it doesn’t quite cut the mustard. It will have to do, for I’m just not together enough to try any harder…. not that it would get any better for having done so, but, I would have a better excuse to blame someone else, right? Right…. Now I’ve rejoined the human race, we’ll leave that subject behind, and get on with this….. Look Ma! No hands, and no emergency methods…. Yet, we are outta here, and on to the oyster beds, tout suite….

Shall we Pearl?

“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” — Thomas H. Huxley

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15112676-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-1756-1791-on-engraving-from-1908-one-of-the-most-significant-and-influential

Mozart, Image from Google Stock Images

    Not only am I confused, but, decision making seems to also be a problem…. Hence, we’ll go with something to soothe the mind…. Enjoy!


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Music for reading – Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Debussy, Liszt, Schumann

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le penseur-rodin

From 2/3/2013:

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

This is one of many statements of its type, some from Miss Lily, some from other comedians and social philosophers, all of whom are special to me…. They are special because they poke fun at society in the mildest way, but with clarity that is belied by their apparent simplicity and obvious humor. It is easy for a lot of folks to dismiss little gems like this, as being unimportant, or less than serious, just because it speaks with tongue in cheek… Nothing could be further from the truth, as this statement is absolute gospel to a large percentage of the adult population of this country….

“Reality is for those people who can’t handle drugs.” — George Carlin (My attribution here might be incorrect, but, George inspired the line, if he didn’t write it himself….)

Here is another line from the revolution that happened back in the 60’s and 70’s, and it points up a very definitive difference between those folks who spend their time in the mainstream of society, and those who exist at the extremes, in this case, in what is generally conceived to be on the Left end of the scale…. Those who inhabit the other end of the political spectrum tend to rely on alcohol to blunt the effects of Reality on the brain, rather than what are dismissed by them as recreational drugs, such as marijuana, psilocybin, mescaline, etc.  In some ways, you can get a good idea of the philosophies themselves by looking at how they approach the subject of drugs and alcohol, and by the differing methods of enhancing life with them….

Those who rely on alcohol are those who prefer to NOT know the truth, about anything. It seems to me that the physical effects of alcohol parallel exactly the way these folks look at life…. When under the influence of alcohol, one’s senses are depressed, and it is much harder to see the truth than at other times…. and that is the way they like it…. With consumption of alcohol, the hearing decreases, judgment is impaired, vision blurs, sense of touch is lessened, and fine muscle control is compromised, pretty much in that order of occurrence. It is the same each time, but with continued regular consumption, a certain tolerance is developed, a tolerance that slightly mitigates the effects, but certainly does not keep them from happening.

Those who use drugs to enhance or adjust their view don’t deny the truth, but they want it to be all prettied up for them in some way, so it isn’t so harsh and ugly…. Most of the effects of the drugs are in the mind, with some notable exceptions;  the perceptions of all the senses are not depressed, but altered in some way, usually personal to the user, in physical response to the chemical in the drug that causes the cognitive alterations.  Either way, whether with drugs, or with alcohol, perception of the truth is what ultimately suffers, which is what the proponents of both ends of the spectrum tend to forget, or deny….

“Have you ever wondered if taxation without representation was cheaper?” — Smart Bee

I have…. It is and it isn’t, and we are witnessing that phenomenon right now….. This may be why many people have such a hard time with reality; when one becomes aware of just how screwed up things are, and how much lying, cheating, and stealing is going on right before our eyes, it is rather daunting to take in all at once, so people do as they’ve always done, and slip into massive denial of the truth, preferring to just ignore the evidence that is slapping them upside the head…. One time, I actually sat down to do the math on the above question, and what I found was surprising…. Neither way works…. There just isn’t any logical way to govern people, and make it either profitable, or even reasonably cheap…. Well, not as long as the lying, cheating, and stealing is part of the equation, anyway….

“The word “dog” does not bite,” — William James

Boy, if that isn’t the truth…. but, try to convince the general public of that….. It is one of the basic issues to be considered when speaking to the public, one that the BRC and PTB members all know very well, as it is their chief weapon in controlling the populace…. Most folks don’t think…. when they do, it causes them pain, so they tend to let someone else do it for them, and just go along in blissful ignorance, accepting whatever they’re told without a clue. They never consider that the word itself is not the thing it describes; even worse, they don’t care to know….. It is the simplest thing in the world for the Beloved Ruling Class to fool the public, because they actively participate, with apparent glee, in their own debasement….

“As a matter of cold fact, a lot of people have no use for you because they can’t use you.”  — Smart Bee

Sometimes, I’m not sure which disgusts me more…. the callous disregard for others that is the defining characteristic of all politicians and preachers, or the deliberately blind, fawning ignorance of those who refuse to become fully human, use their minds, and take responsibility for their own life…. To my way of thinking, both are deserving of every bit of trouble that reality can give them, just for their intransigence…. otherwise known as rampant stubbornness, or more simply, massive stupidity….

I’m being deliberately offensive this morning, as I’m sick and tired of how the general public refuses to wake up and smell the gunpowder, and I don’t really care if it hurts someone’s feelings. Anyone who disagrees with my assessment is free to offer up their own take on the matter, and I’ll give it equal time for discussion…. but, if what I’ve said hurts feelings, then apparently what I’ve said strikes just a little too close to the truth for comfort, and I would suggest that the person take a look at that before setting themselves up for embarrassment, by trying to argue without a leg upon which to stand….

In the past year and a half, I’ve written thousands and thousands of words trying to wake people up to how much they are giving away by refusing to think. It is my greatest hope that what I have to say may have some small effect on the world, an effect that might in some way contribute to our chances of surviving our own foolishness. I’m afraid my hope is, sadly, rather slim, but, I am not ready to quit my campaign, nor to change tactics. I’ll keep on poking at the BRC, and the priestly hierarchies, and every other enemy of mankind (for that is how I see them….) for as long as I can, and hope for the best….

“One of the greatest advantages in the world is enjoyed by the person who says and insists that they are telling the truth, when in fact, they are telling the truth.” — Smart Bee


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Comedy_Tragedy

Image stolen from Talesfromtheconspiratum.com


Don’t ask me why, but, this poem just seems like the only one for today…..

The world is too much with us; late and soon

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~


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Morning muse

    The following pearl is indescribable; moreover, I haven’t a single clue as to what any of it means…. Anybody got any ideas?….. Feel free to comment on this one; it may need it….

“One should always be a little improbable.” — Oscar Wilde

“Few things are less enjoyable than being old enough to know better.” Smart Bee, with no argument from gigoid

“I don’t think it would have all got me down quite so much if just once in a while- just once in a while- there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn’t, it’s just a disgusting waste of time.” — J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey

“Why don’t cannibals eat clowns? Because they taste funny.” — Smart Alec Bee

“He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 598

“There’s no easy quick way out, we’re gonna have to live through our whole lives, win, lose, or draw.” — Walt Kelly

“In the words of Shankarachaya, “All impossible things can be made possible save the bringing of the fool’s mind to the point of truth.” — Hazrat Inayat Khan (Sufi writer)

“I think the dragon’s asleep.” — Famous Last Words

“And weep the more, because I weep in vain.” — Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — Sonnet, On the Death of Mr. West

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I can’t say how I did it, but, it’s done…. Though much of the pain I’ve had for the past five days has passed, the exhaustion remains, from the battle to keep from becoming homicidal. I’m taking the rest of today off…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should I survive that long…. The odds are good….

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

Featured image


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Pete thinks it shouldn’t do that….

Ffolkes,

“Belief is the death of intelligence.”

~~ Robert Anton Wilson ~~

potd-sonic-jet_ Darek Siusta
London Daily Telegraph ~ Darek Siustra


I’ve come to learn, over the past three years, there will be days like this. In my world, such days tend to defy description, even for me; I seem to have no issues whatsoever with spouting off on virtually any subject, logical, realistic, or otherwise…. Of course, part of that is due simply to my nature, which is rather crusty from the outset. When one is the middle child of five, it happens. We middle kids get the brunt of the other four siblings’ attempts at manipulation, which took the form of violence, or crying, as we are the perfect target. One can’t beat up the bigger ones because, well, they’re bigger, and can’t beat up the little ones because a) it isn’t fair, and, b) Mom & Dad would paddle ME.

So, we learn our own methods of coping, often having to do with learning stealth, with a healthy dose of our own forms of manipulation. One must, after all, maintain a certain degree of dignity in life…. Naturally, this dignity lasts only as long as we are at home; the world at large tends to alter or adjust whatever attitudes we may take on during our early years, teaching an entirely different set of lessons in how to deal with what life throws in our path. SIGH…. Sometimes, I think it really WOULD be nice if there were some supernatural entity up there somewhere in the sky, taking all the responsibility for all that happens to us; it would be more comfortable than the way the universe is actually constructed; in the real world, reality couldn’t care less what we do, or what happens to us….

I guess that’s too scary for most folks, so, they latch onto whatever religion or set of beliefs that allows them to blame the universe for all the crappy stuff that happens, completely ignoring the fact of their own culpability, or to acknowledge any such concept as Karma, which presupposes we are completely responsible for both…. we bear the responsibility for what we do, and we bear equal responsibility for what happens to us. Most folks can’t accept that responsibility, so, they give up the right to think for themselves, allowing a bunch of manipulative liars to decide for them what they should believe, even though it is one of the most unbelievable stories I’ve ever heard….

Ah well…. I’ve already come far too close to ranting mode here, without intending to do so; I think I’ll show a bit of restraint, by stopping here, so we can try to get something else done before it’s too late to get anywhere worthwhile…. Of course, we have yet to ever get to any such place, but, we do try…. Maybe this time it will work…. All we can do is all we can do….

Shall we Pearl?

“And then, last but the reverse of least, there plunged in all the people who think they can solve a problem they cannot understand by abolishing everything that has contributed to it. We all know these people. If a barber has cut his customer’s throat because the girl has changed her partner for a dance or donkey-ride on Hampstead Heath, there are always people to protest against the mere institutions that led up to it. This would not have happened if barbers were abolished, or if cutlery were abolished, or if the objection felt by girls to imperfectly grown beards were abolished, or if the girls were abolished, or if heaths and open spaces were abolished, or if dancing were abolished, or if donkeys were abolished. But donkeys, I fear, will never be abolished.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Flying Inn

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I’m in the mood for some smooth, easy listening…. here is a mix with four hours worth of that very thing…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

*4 HOURS* of Classical Music

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“Sigh… Every day I thank my statuette of Wilma Flintstone that  I was born normal.” — Zippy the pinhead

Due to circumstances completely within my control, there won’t be a fresh rant today; I’m not even going to tell you why. I will, however, supply y’all with a short discussion from the archives, just a quick indictment, and a reminder what we see happening in the world today is merely more proof of the old saying…. same shit, different day….

From 2/14/2012:

“I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she’s too young to have logged on yet. Here’s what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say ‘Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'” — Mike Godwin

This is something all of us should be thinking about, now that the Bill of Rights, which ostensibly assures us of freedom of speech, has been nullified by another homeland insecurity authorization, approved by our beloved ruling class, including the great Hope, Obama, who stealthily signed it on New Year’s Eve, when he knew nobody was watching too closely. Effective the next day, all of our protections as citizens against being unjustly accused or held in jail without cause or review, free speech, the right to assemble to protest grievances, all of those rights are now null and void. Any American citizen can now be arrested without warrant, taken to undisclosed locations, and tortured (yes, I said tortured; if you don’t believe me go read the damn thing yourself), all because they are SUSPECTED of being in, or aiding a terrorist organization. No evidence, no proof required, merely suspicion.

In addition, the authorities who are authorized to carry out these unconstitutional actions are not required to tell anyone, and there is no judicial or any other oversight; no warrants needed for any of this, and they don’t even have to tell anyone they have done so. It’s enough to make me go out and buy a gun….and prepare to use it. I guarantee that anyone who tries to do this to me will have bitten off more than they can chew; I’m not a pacifist, and I am a free man; I will protect my own rights, thank you, and I will do that until either they give it up, or they’re dead, or I’m dead. No compromises here, folks. I have no intention of being a victim of these assholes, and I suggest to all truly free Americans that they keep their weapons handy, and their powder dry…..

“….secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you may not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control  a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrarily, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything–you can’t control a free man, the most you can do is kill him.” — Robert Heinlein, Revolt in 2100, “….If this goes on….”

Note from 2015: There you go: short and sweet. Naturally, I could expand on all of that, but, I’ll be nice…. We’ll go on to our next stop…

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Here is a poem I wrote in response to one of those school shootings we see every now and again, so the BRC and the Asininnies have a chance to try again to curb our right to own guns…. It’s much easier to work people up into a frenzy when they have incidents of insanity like those to point to; I only wish people would remember those in charge only use those incidents to manipulate the public into doing what they want them to do, which is to be afraid…. of nothing much….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~


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If I were compelled to classify this pearl as to type, I don’t think I’d be able to do so; it defies explanation pretty thoroughly, from what I can tell… As far as I CAN tell, it’s merely observations of reality, with a slight twist toward how to cope with it, in whatever form it assumes…. Or not. Who cares? I’m done now…. No worries, ffolkes, they make excellent operational notes…. The last one is particularly cogent, I think….

“A rolling stone gathers momentum.” — Smart Bee

“Much may be known of a man’s character by what excites his laughter.” — Goethe

“When a man is wrong and won’t admit it, he always gets angry.” — Thomas Chandler Haliburton

“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.” — Herodotus

“A bee is not a busier animal than a blockhead.” — Alexander Pope

What we leave behind is not as important as the way we lived.” — Smart Bee

“You only live once — but if you work it right, once is enough.” — Joe E. Lewis

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As I said in the previous section, I’m done. More than done, actually; I blew past done & went straight into bail mode. That, of course, is why you see this ending right here, and right now, rather than later. We do try to at least pay lip service to some sort of routine, even if it’s all an illusion. Y’all should be used to that by now…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, and thanks for dropping by….

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….


					

Looks like a can o’corn….

Ffolkes,

“I think the Wheel of Morality needs a tune-up.”

~~ Wakko Warner ~~

Day the next 006

    ‘Tis a sad old world we live in, isn’t it? The sculpture you see above, located in a courtyard on the grounds of Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, is certainly a perfect metaphor for a lot of my ranting, wouldn’t you agree? When I took the picture, I didn’t realize it, but, looking at it now, especially with the oh-so-perfect pearl above it, really drives that point home, for me….

Since the quote and picture worked so well, I’m going to try a new method of starting these Pearls, in which the intro section does exactly what it is intended to do, to wit: introduce today’s Pearl…. Let’s see how it goes….

Today, I have much to do out in the BBR, so, the Pearl you see will be a bit truncated, if only in terms of fresh material…. A quick video pick, a modified ranting section, and some archived material should cover it all nicely, I think…. With no further need for the usual drama and build-up of angst, we shall proceed to the day’s effort, just as if we did this every day…. I think you’re going to enjoy this, if only for the change of pace….

But, please, don’t forget to fasten your seat belts, and keep your thinking caps handy, okay? Right….

Shall we Pearl?

“Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.” — G. K. Chesterton

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

This particular collection of classical music is one of my favorite compilations…. Listening to Mozart has an advantage over most classical music, in that it stimulates brain activity, while simultaneously calming the nerves, and soothing the psyche…. You will need this in order to be able to successfully navigate the ranting section today…. Trust me on this….


Best of Mozart : Ouvertures , Sonatas , Eine Kleine Nachtmusik , Concertos

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

“A friend once asked if it was true that no politician ever failed by  underestimating the intelligence of the peasants and livestock. I told him we would never know, because their intelligence was something that was impossible to underestimate.” — President Weishaupt, “Church & State” by Dave Sim

I don’t have the time, nor the energy, to rant today, though my angst really needs to be released…. It is especially powerful since seeing the following three posts on talesfromtheconspiratum.com. Read these, and you’ll get the same effect as a rant based on the above quote…. It will have to do for today….

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/01/06/the-american-people-are-utterly-clueless-about-what-is-going-to-happen-as-we-enter-2015/

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/01/06/activists-plastered-the-london-tube-with-posters-telling-people-their-jobs-suck/

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/01/06/north-korea-rebuttal-at-un-u-s-the-biggest-violator-of-human-rights-in-the-world/

Ffolkes, if you aren’t worried now, you’re simply not paying attention…. But, then, that’s part of the whole problem, isn’t it? Ah well, the following piece of truth tells us why…..

“It is human nature that rules the world, not governments and regimes.” — Svetlana Alliluyeva

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

Staying with today’s theme….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

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

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

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

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~


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

As mentioned, time is at a premium, so, we’ve gone to the archives to find an appropriate piece…. This one will do nicely….

From 4/10/2013:

In re: freshness, since the poem section is only half and half, I’ll put together an old-school pearl for this last section today…. It’s a bit shorter, and takes less time than another rant…. Here is one with a very obscure, but valid, point…. which, of course, is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader….. (that’s you…..) ….. Enjoy!

But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.

~~ Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Lalla Rookh, The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan ~~

‘Tis not the fairest form that holds The mildest, purest soul within;
‘Tis not the richest plant that holds The sweetest fragrance in.

 ~~ Dawes ~~


“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.” — Vladimir Nabokov

“In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.” — Mark Twain

“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.” — Jules de Gaultier

“It is human nature to think wisely & act foolishly.” — Anatole France

He ne’er is crown’d
With immortality, who fears to follow
Where airy voices lead.

 ~~ John Keats (1795-1821) — Endymion, Book ii ~~


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

I don’t much like giving in to expediency, but, this time, it didn’t work out too badly; moreover, it’s done, which, as we know, is all I really care about…. I’ll try to give it a bit more effort tomorrow, ffolkes, if I make it that far….. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Pushing back on all fronts….

Ffolkes,

“To conquer the enemy without resorting to war is the most desirable.

The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy.”

~~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War ~~

12-23-2013 003

“My greatest fear in life is that no-one will remember me after I’m dead.” — Anonymous

Too often, this blog begins with the word “I”…. Well, in sooth, I say, “too often”, when what I actually mean is, “too often for my comfort.” This, of course, is the natural result of a person who wishes to write, but, really doesn’t wish to indulge in much of the ego-driven parts of writing that are necessary to achieve any sort of prominence….

Ambition is required, if one wishes to become popular, whether in the blogosphere, or in the mainstream media venues, such as newspapers, radio, & TV; ambition; this is unfortunate, at least, for those of us who’d rather remain on a path with oh, let’s just say, a higher degree of spiritualism, or perhaps just less ego-driven….

But, then one must consider two things…. One, it’s MY blog, and we are often dealing with MY issues, so, using “I” becomes nearly impossible to avoid…. Second, being a pretty smart guy, with a fairly accurate sense of how smart I am compared to the average joe, I try to avoid either shoving that in people’s faces, or dwelling upon it, as I don’t view it as necessarily anything to be proud about….

All it does, actually, is saddle me with more perceptions than most, to my way of seeing it, and, that particular ability, for certain, is both a blessing, AND a curse. Factor in the simple FACT that smartness, or intelligence, has NO PROVEN SURVIVAL VALUE, and you can begin to see why I try to avoid overt egotism…. It really isn’t very nice, not to mention self-defeating….

In the past five or six days, since right before Christmas, I’ve been climbing out of a deep hole, which my mind seems to have fallen into without me even noticing I was off balance; that’s what comes from depending on vertigo to do that…. it’s unreliable, as is now patently clear…. SIGH….

Whatever the failure in my early warning system happens to be, I found myself in a position where I was bursting into tears rather frequently, due to some stressful issues I’m dealing with, which seem to have triggered some unknown, and certainly unwanted, unresolved feelings of sadness and emotional pain, left over from one of the many instances in my life where I experienced far more of them than I ever thought possible, and, apparently, stored up for later use…. Go figure…

I’m finally starting to see some light, and, I’m hoping this morning’s events will help, as I get to go do something that SHOULD shore up some of my feelings of inner conflict…. Of course, I have another appointment tomorrow morning, wherein I expect to have to fire the opening salvo of what promises to be a quite bloody battle with my HMO, and the modern medical society they manipulate and corrupt at every turn…. That, however will be, I’m sure, food for a future rant, not for now….

Ha! Thought I’d fall into that one, didn’t you?…. Nope. In fact, it would be a good idea for y’all to hold on, because, I’ve blathered and bitched enough for one morning…. We’re goin’ in, and goin’ in hard!…. Not only that, but, we’re doin’ it NOW!….

Shall we Pearl?

“Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry (NB: Circumstances can force your hand. So think ahead!)” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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

I am all about quickness today, so what you get is another day of chill-out music, from the classical music genre…. This kind is nice to play while reading, and can provide a bit of armor against splashing, after a fashion…. The page to which I am linking is one with 112 selections of various pieces by various artists, and looks like a beautiful group to pass the time with…. enjoy…..

Classical Music Playlist

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

To fill in the space quickly, here is a short rant with an attached old-school pearl as augmentation…. It is from a period when I was apparently writing better than other times; I’ve found some excellent stuff in the period’s archives…. including this one, one of several from this month… If nothing else, you can enjoy its brevity….

From 9/18/2012:

Religion has never attracted me as a pastime that led to any particularly desirable activities. From the very first, even as a small child, I always thought the people at church were trying to get me to believe something that was not only hard to believe, but they wanted me to believe it, just on their word that it was true….. What they were saying wasn’t anything like what I perceived to be true about the world at large; none of it sounded like common sense, if you get my drift…. Plus, the more I resisted what they said, and asked questions that they couldn’t answer, the more insistent they became….. Most kids have a pretty good crap detector, and the whole church thing seemed based on fluff and wishes to me…..

Any who, it seems a lot of my saved up oysters have been on that very subject, i.e., religious dogma, and alternative ways of looking at the universe, and how it works, and what it means…. (you know, all the good stuff….), so I thought an old-school grouping would perhaps help ffolkes get a clue about what I do believe….. which can, I have to admit, change from one day to the next….. gotta keep room for new data, y’know…… shall we Pearl a bit?…..

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

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1972)

“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.” — Albert Einstein

God:  What one human uses to persecute another. — Anonymous

The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.– Robert Heinlein, “Job”, 1984

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my own constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“If the lord had meant us to have faith, he’d have given us lobotomies.” — Zlatko

“A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain, then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?” — Robert A. Heinlein

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in     youth.  I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”–Albert Einstein

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

Well, there you go…. a complete mish-mash of different philosophies and outlooks, each with its own little piece to contribute to the whole, all ended perfectly with a piece of profoundly simple wisdom… not the virtual kind that is common around here, but real wisdom, that you can put in your pocket, take away with you, and use as needed…..

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

I’m using mine, only because it’s quicker, and I’m lazier than the average joe…. goes along with the smarter part…. Yep, I am aware that intelligence is merely a FACTOR of laziness in humans; one of the primary motivating factors for using our imagination is to find an easier, or quicker route to achieving our ends, whatever they are…. Think about it, ffolkes, you’ll see what I mean…. Meanwhile…. Here is one of my personal favorite poems…

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me
Ah’m not even sure of mah name,
or how Ah come to be;
no idea from where Ah came.

Ah does like a mystery tho’,
puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,
good from bad fo sho,
Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.

If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,
Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,
seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,
‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.

‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,
‘n had lots of stuff go on by;
Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,
never once used it fer an alibi.

He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,
school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.
Yer own good measure you can earn,
by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.

Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,
he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,
‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,
kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.

Without ever sayin’ the word itself,
Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others
not some fake stuff from some shelf,
but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.

Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think
to get around the block at least two times.
I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink
Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..

~~ gigoid ~~


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

Smart Bee seems to have gotten over its snit, this pearl came together in jig time, with a nice little group of pears all pointing in one direction…. Well, close enough for pearls, anyway; my Gentle Readers have seen enough of them to see what point we’re trying to make without undue difficulty. Any newbies will find it reasonably clear, as well, I think, for it’s a simple idea being promoted today…. See if you don’t agree….

“Each man is the smith of his own fortune.” — Appius Claudius Caecus

“It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past.  Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.” — Jim Bishop

“All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.” — Jane Wagner, _The Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe_  — [Performed by Lily Tomlin]

“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.” — William Saroyan

“All time in all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all bugs in amber.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Slaughter-House 5

“Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it: men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts, we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we come to be brave.” — Aristotle

“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I’m with you kid. Let’s go.”” — Maya Angelou

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

“This tagline is dedicated to my bird friend- Fred” — gigoid

Well…. considering that I’m currently in a state of mind I wouldn’t wish on an enemy, this didn’t come out too badly…. It’s also nice to have a little space from pain, which, thanks to the rain stopping for a few days, has been relatively manageable for two days now…. But, then, all is relative, is it not? I’m outta here, ffolkes… I’m gonna go see my grandson, and, for the first time in his life, be allowed to give him a Christmas present…. Now, THAT should make me feel better…. In fact, I’m counting on it…. See y’all later, ffolkes…. maybe even 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, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

A few bricks shy of a wall…

Ffolkes,

“The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was,

“The dream of a waking man.”

~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) ~~

~~ Aristotle, xi ~~

Glasgow-Greenock Port 011

    I’m marking today down on my calendar; this is the first morning all month I’ve awakened without the usual screaming in my hands and shoulder, and I can once again attest to the accuracy of the old saw that says, “true freedom is the release from pain.” Even though there is some lingering stiffness, and threat of further pain, the mere absence of the worst part of it is a welcome sign, hopefully of changes for the better…. Hope springs eternal, even when unjustified by reality’s indifference to our suffering….

That, as they say, though, is Life, so, there’s no point in getting all worked up over those parts of it we can’t change…. Our old friend, Epictetus, told us that, and, he was right…. So, I’m not going to complain about any possible pain in the future, as it is merely the lot of man, and woman, to have pain as a part of life…. Nor will I spend any longer celebrating its absence, as it will no doubt make an appearance again before the day is done…. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to be somewhere else when it gets here….

Right…. Now that I’ve gone back to my fantasy world, maybe we can figure out what we’re doing with this Pearl…. Of course, that would mean we’d need to figure out what we’re doing here in the intro, and, since that particular event has NEVER occurred, it’s rather doubtful we’d be able to pull it off today. We’ve already established the futility of trying to change anything, (well, other than my own attitudes, and those aren’t going anywhere until AFTER coffee….), so there is little point in even discussing any such useless ideas…. Instead, we’ll wait, to see if we can fool anyone into making a break for the border, and just follow them….

While we’re waiting for someone’s nerve to crack, I suggest we get on with the rest of today’s post; if we can work this correctly, paying attention to the currents, and the obvious markers on the banks of the river, we might be able to cross off one of our daily chores while we’re at it. And, if not, well, I don’t think anyone would notice, anyway, so, why not? It won’t make any difference in the final product, and I’m pretty sure we can do it without any major splashage…. It’s worth a try, n’est pas?…. I think so….  In fact, I’m convinced, so, hang on, & we’ll get right on that….

Shall we Pearl?

“Some people never learn anything because they understand everything  too soon.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

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

It’s another classical day, just because that’s what I feel like listening to…. and, so do you….

Best Classical Music Works Top 100

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

“Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.” — Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was one of mankind’s best, a shining example of how a life can be lived well, with honor, joy, and compassion foremost…. He possessed a powerful intellect, and an insatiable curiosity about EVERYTHING in the universe; combined with his seemingly limitless energy, and an abiding desire to share all he knew with others, this made him one of history’s most prolific authors, with well over 600 books, of both fiction, and non-fiction, published during his lifetime. He wrote more books of non-fiction than fiction, literally covering every science listed in the alphabet, and more….

He is credited with the coining of three of today’s most well-known words, each of which is having a huge effect on our culture; he created the word, and the concept of “robotics”, as well as “positronic brains”, another term for artificially intelligent computer/robots…. He also created the concept of “psychohistory”…. All of these are are now considered to be mainstream usage, words which describe concepts on the cutting edge of technology, and modern psychology…

His belief in Man’s future in the stars was firm, as stated above; for much of my life, I’ve been a willing proponent of the same idea, i.e, we humans MUST explore space, if we are to have any chance of living up to our potential in this universe…. This single planet is not enough to encompass our imagination, as evidenced by our entire history of literature, which explores the very boundaries of existence, not merely on this plane, but, in all dimensions, throughout the visible, and non-visible universe….

Isaac believed, as do I, as humans, if we can imagine it, we can do it…. Thus far, nothing of which we’ve dreamed has been found to be impossible, but, rather,  merely time-consuming, or currently not within our sphere of knowledge…. The only question that remains to be answered is whether our lack of moral/ethical maturity will prevent us from surviving long enough acquire the knowledge, to achieve that potential…. It is to this difficulty that Robert Heinlein referred, when he stated:

“Being right too soon is socially unacceptable.” — Robert Heinlein

Isaac also recognized the difficulties involved in getting ALL of mankind to realize our commonality…. In fact, he was a victim of the unwashed masses of the ignorant for much of his life…. as evidenced by the following:

Isaac Asimov

    The cult of ignorance is now in control of the US Senate, with a number of Republican Senators who have, as recently as the last election, expressed their disbelief in the theory of evolution, which has long been regarded as scientific fact; the same group tends to disbelieve in global warming, as well, which has also been found to be unassailable FACT…. These ignorant fools will now spend the next four years blocking any legislation put forth which might mitigate any of the effects of that warming, which is no longer deniable by any rational being over the age of three…

But, these assholes know they’re right, even if we don’t, and they’ll protect us from ourselves, you betcha…. The side effect of that, of course, is, we’re all going to die, but, hey, at least they’ll be rich when they die, right?…. Idiots…

I almost fell into ranting there, didn’t I? I promised myself I’d keep this positive, so, I’m going to leave this somewhat unfinished…. I’ll merely say this…. I believe our destiny is to go to the stars; colonizing this solar system is the first step to that destiny, and may, at this point, be our only hope of surviving our own idiocy long enough to get there…. I’d like to think that someday, my grandchild will stand on one of the moons of Saturn, looking up at the rings, and wondering if HIS grandchild will stand on the planet of another star…. Now, THAT is a dream worth dreaming….

Our destiny lies
in the stars above our heads.
‘Tis our last, best hope.

~~ gigoid ~~


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

This poem is one of my better efforts, if only for its relevance to reality…. It rhymes, too….

Seeing is Conducive to Belief

Folly sits so comfortably upon my fevered brow
one would easily believe that I would know how
to look at Life with a jaded, weary eye
seeing enough, and more, to know Why.

Such seems the case, as I will it to be,
an open book of a face, it looks so like me;
what’s known to be so, needs no close attention
familiar sights require no minding, nor mention.

The eye is drawn at once to the stark and new,
and sent back to sleep by successful review.
Once we find evidence we feel we understand,
curiosity languishes, dismissed at command.

Ancient sages knew the insidious value of illusion,
preachers and pundits know the power of confusion.
Each pair of eyes contains its own point of reference,
each mind sets its own standards of preference.

Seeing is believing, for those who live in thrall,
accepting what is perceived is all they ever recall.
Unknown to them, reality follows another set of rules,
Deeper, more dangerous, and no place for fools.

~~ gigoid ~~


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

Much of yesterday is a fog in my memory, mostly due to the copious amount of drugs I consumed in the battle against my skeleton…. Somewhere in that fog, I apparently allowed Smart Bee to put together this pearl…. I’m not in the mood to figure out if it is just me, or if it is really a very deep, very useful pearl…. But, then, y’all are the only ones who can make any final judgments on that, as it is intended for y’all to consume, not me…. If it doesn’t make the grade, or, even if it does, somehow, manage to make a statement worth repeating, let me know…. Otherwise, you should probably just keep it to yourself, and let everyone else make their own decision…. I know I will…

“I exist as I am, that is enough.” — Walt Whitman

“Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? “What muscles are those?”–A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Wherein consists the Essence of Good, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. viii

“Complaint always comes back in an echo from the ends of the world;  but silence strengthens us.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Father Brown Omnibus

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

“Whatsoever that be within us that feels, thinks, desires, and animates, is something celestial, divine, and, consequently, imperishable.” — Aristotle (B.C. 384-322)

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

“The meaning of here and now is beautifully illustrated by a Zen story of a monk who was being chased by two tigers. He came to the edge of a cliff. He looked back – the tigers were almost upon him. Noticing a vine  eading over the cliff, he quickly crawled over the edge and began to let himself down the vine. Then as he checked below, he saw two tigers waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff. He looked up and observed that two mice were gnawing away at the vine. Just then, he saw a beautiful strawberry within arm’s reach. He picked it and enjoyed the best tasting strawberry in his whole life!” — Ken Keyes

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

I’m too old a hand at this to make any snap judgments, but, I can say this…. It’s done…. Having just gone back and proofed it, I can add this: it’s a damn good thing it IS done…. If I need to explain that statement, well, too bad, because, hey, it’s done…. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, if I can figure out a good reason to do so…. Ah, hell, who am I kidding? I always do….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Visions of twisted shorts….

Ffolkes,

“A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.”

~~ Montaigne ~~

pluto-new-horizons-art

    In the past two weeks, or a bit more, I’ve been experiencing an entirely new kind of pain, to add to the already ample amount I have each day from my back, and hips…. The weather seems to aggravate the arthritis, so, during the times when the barometer is reflecting the conditions which bring us precipitation, my hands, shoulders, and skeleton at large have begun to ache, severely, for long periods of time, ultimately reaching what seems to be a crescendo of pain, where my entire skeleton sings to me of its agony, in no uncertain terms…..

This pain is quite rude, too, in that it pretty much ignores anything I take for it…. The only help seems to come from edible cannabinoids, which is problematic, in that the dose needed to deter some of the effects of the aching joints is sufficient to make me very drowsy, and ready to sleep…. That might be okay, but, it happens in the middle of the day just as often as at night, and I can only sleep so much before even THAT causes more pain, from lying down too long….

Getting these Pearls done has been a nightmare of some proportion, much of the time…. I work on them a day ahead, doing as much as I can before the morning, so I don’t have to do much but write a few lines of introduction, then cut & paste the rest into the right formats for email, and for WordPress…. It seems to me to be a choppy way to compose, but, it’s been working, mostly, so, and, since I don’t have any choice, I’m good with it, as long as my readers are…. Not that there are so many of them it would cause a huge reaction, should I cease to write altogether…. my reason for writing isn’t for them, anyway…. I still don’t know where I’d be if not for this blog; getting a lot of this stuff out of my head has kept me sane for some time now….

So, why am I relating all this, which is probably TMI, anyway? I’m not sure, unless it’s to warn y’all I may not post every day from now on…. If I don’t, it will be because I am unable to write, not unwilling; I just wanted to make that clear…. It isn’t anything anyone should worry about; my pain is here to stay, so, it’s just something I must learn to deal with, no matter how bad it gets….. There is no cure for what ails me, as it goes along with aging…. and there’s no turning back the clock…. I don’t intend to let it keep me from doing what I want to do, so, I’m the one who must learn to cope with its effects….

That said, anyone out there who feels I should do things differently is welcome to say how; I probably won’t listen, but, you’re welcome to chime in with any suggestions you may have…. I’m of an age, and curmudgeon enough, I’ll most likely ignore anything that doesn’t fit in with what I already am doing, but, I’m compassionate enough to know it is well-intended, and will try not to make fun, or be derogatory in my responses…. It’s hard to be nice right now, much of the time, so, I do try to mitigate my responses to reflect less of my mood….

This much typing has taken me almost an hour, in short spurts, and I see I could keep going for almost ever…. but, I won’t…. I’ll mention that the picture, from Space.com, is an artist’s rendition of the Pluto research satellite, which NASA launched years ago; the craft has just been awakened from its hibernation to begin its research, as it is approaching the fly-by range of its cameras, coming ever closer to Pluto, and its companion moon/satellite, Charon after a long voyage from Earth orbit, through the entire solar system…. We humans are on the verge of real space travel, with the only question remaining the question of whether or not we will be extinct before we can get there….

For now, though, I’ve got a Pearl to finish, though it be made much of older, archived material…. which is all my hands will allow today….

Shall we Pearl?

“Slight not what’s near through aiming at what’s far.” — Euripides

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Just a bit of easy listening to get me through the morning….


50 Golden Moments of Classical Music – The Best of Baroque – Klassische Musik

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Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe
That all was lost.

~~ John Milton (1608-1674) — Paradise Lost, Book ix, Line 782~~


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/09/us-usa-cia-torture-idUSKBN0JM24I20141209?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/09/truth-guantanamo-torture-abu-wael-dhiab

Due to my inability to write enough to rant today, here is a shortened rant/old-school pearl from the archives, to highlight the idiocy/insanity implied in the above two articles, just two of hundreds on the subject in the news yesterday…. SIGH…. Same shit, different day….

From 8/9/2012:

Since I have already ranted, I’ll save you from another right away by giving this old school pearl…. These quotations all point in the same direction, and will lead eventually to yet another fine reason to mistrust the beloved ruling class…..

Then came the churches,
 then came the schools,
 then came the lawyers,
 then came the rules.

~~ Mark Knopfler ~~


“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), “The Picture of Dorian Grey”, 1891

“People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.” — Hugo Demartini, in “Contemporary Artists”, 1977

“People are very open-minded about new things  — as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.” — Charles F. Kettering

The Government is my shepherd, I shall not work. It maketh me to lie down on good jobs. It leadeth me beside the still factories. It destroyeth my initiative;  It leadeth me in the paths of the parasite for politics sake; Yea, though I walk in the valley of Deficit Spending, I will fear no evil, For the Government is with me; its doles and its vote-getters they comfort me.  It prepareth an Economic Utopia for me by appropriating the earnings of my grandchildren.  It filleth my head with baloney, my inefficiency runneth over;  Surely the Government shall care for me all the days of my life And I shall live in a Fool’s Paradise forever. — The Government’s 23rd Psalm

“By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.” — Albert Camus

No matter how you vote, a government still gets elected. — Smart Bee

That should about do it, I think….. if nothing else, one may get a clear picture of how I feel about government…..

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To go along with the above (not a) rant, and today’s apparent theme(s), here is another fine poem from Ogden Nash, telling it like it is….

À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succinct:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~


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This is the only fresh pearl today; even this was picked out in that haphazard fashion necessitated by dealing with unrelenting pain…. It didn’t come out too badly for all that, I think…. but, you can make your own judgment on that, can’t you?….

“Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Speaker, 12/15/00

“Our virtues and vices spring from one root.” — Goethe (1749-1832)

“The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” — Shirley Maclaine

“It is not the one with many possessions who is rich, but the one who has no needs.” — Philoxenos

“It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A noble spirit disdaineth the malice of fortune; his greatness of Soul is not to be cast down.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.” — Seneca

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I suppose I should finish this…. By the time I finished that last pearl, I had to take a long break, to feel my hands again…. Never mind…. I’m done, and I can’t, at this point, say whether or not I’ll be back tomorrow…. I hope so, but, I’m not going to get my hopes up…. if you know what I mean…. See ya, ffolkes, some time or another…. maybe….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

We shall begin in doubt….

Ffolkes,

“Things ain’t what they used to be and never were.”

~~ Will Rogers ~~

Glasgow-Greenock Port 029

    Pelete delo sogrino, igintelete. Doftole singre ankalatuprofuto! Sporiada se kunka, tele se falluke. Protogat salumbo, te gorte so fahl…..

So, I was sitting here, staring at the screen, when the line above flowed, very gently, from my brain to the screen, transported without comprehension by fingers of steel…. Well, they felt like steel, anyway. And, no, I don’t know what it means, and, in fact, I suspect it is in a language that has been dead since before the sinking of Atlantis, many, many moons ago…. All I really know for sure is that every single word of it was rejected by Spell Checker….

Not that I’m an expert in dead languages, but, I am fairly familiar with the current crop, and this, though it resembles several language’s word patterns, is nothing like any of those I’ve heard…. If anyone out there thinks it might be one they know, please, let me know via a comment…. Google spit at me when I plugged it in to their translator, and my little translation program froze for almost an hour, before telling me to never ask that question again, and what did I think I was doing, messing with a free program like that….

I suppose, at this point, I should just give in, and give up the ghost, in a manner of speaking….. Of course I made it up. What else? You expected, perhaps, some sort of actual phrase from a real language? If so, y’all need to spend a bit more time here, to gather some more info on me, which would have told you to never trust your senses, or to ever, ever take something I say in this intro seriously…. This is where it ALL hangs out, all my weirdness, all my angst, all my silliness…. because it’s all allowed to play with whomever it finds, and to say, and do, anything at all, if it only fills in the space needed to call this legal…..

Hell, some of the crap I’ve pulled here could conceivably have been prosecutable, had any lawyers caught wind of it. Especially with some of the rants I start; they do have a tendency to be somewhat vitriolic in nature when found in this section, with little regard for saying what is legally acceptable…. I guess one could say I’ve been a bit lucky there…. Today’s little blurb is even stranger than usual, as I seem to be slipping in and out of real-time as if it were a raincoat, on a rainy day in town…. On and off, off and on, we have been teasing reality with a bit of fantasy, pushing it for all it’s worth…. In this market, that won’t be much, but, hey, we’re a non-profit organization, so no big deal, eh?

In fact, I see I’ve blathered quite sufficiently for one morning, and may now proceed to fill in the rest of this mess, with whatever comes to mind today…. That, I can tell, MAY be somewhat odd, to say the least…. I’m in an odd mood, to be sure…. For me, that’s saying something, indeed…. We do odd quite well, when we do it at all…. and, when we FEEL odd, well…. It’s probably best not to give too much warning, lest y’all be tempted to ask for a refund, before we get out of the foyer…. In fact, let’s be downright ruthless, okay?…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.” There was a long silence. “I suppose,” said Pooh, “that’s why he never understands anything.” — A. A. Milne

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It probably won’t take quite so long to read today’s post, as it would take to hear all of this collection, but, here is some pretty good music to listen to while reading this blog…. Trust me, Pearls are long, admittedly; I doubt, however, it will take eight hours for y’all to plow your way through it…. But, then, one never knows, do one?….

8 Hours best of Classical Music – 8 Stunden Klassische Musik

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“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.  Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?”” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

As many of y’all may have realized by now, I hate to be too obvious…. In light of that, rather than a rant on the mess our country has stepped into in Missouri, with yet ANOTHER asinine denial of justice, I’ll go with a rant from the archives, on another subject close to my heart…. Well, actually, in terms of how I feel about it, it’s much closer to my ass, but, we’ll go with heart for now, to maintain our dignity, such as it may be…..

It’s good to remember this issue, because it hasn’t gone anywhere at all…. In fact, it has worsened considerably, as the administration continues to completely ignore the public’s wishes in this, continuing its obsessive quest to expand the degree to which they spy on us…. If you doubt me, just read the damn news…. It’s all over the place….

From 11/4/2013:

“I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is  largely a waste of time.” — H. L. Mencken

Eric Snowden will someday be recognized as the honorable Über-geek he really is; more importantly, I am hoping that he’ll rightfully be admired as an American hero. It is already clear that he was just as brave as any soldier on the front lines of a war, for having had the courage and integrity to defy his corporate-controlled, amoral spy-masters, to reveal to the world the illegal and seemingly limitless spying tactics used by the NSA at the behest of our governmental corporate lackeys, knowing full well that by doing so, he was setting himself up to be persecuted by them. This situation is a perfect example of how the government will say one thing in public, and do another in private…. More specifically, it shows how little the government believes in its own need to follow the laws they make…. They seem to feel as if the making of the laws allows them to assume they are exempt from them….

“I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face.  Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.” — Charles Dickens

We have “whistleblower laws” in place in our country, laws which are SUPPOSED to protect people like Mr. Snowden from being prosecuted when they bring illegal activities into the light of day; theoretically, these laws keep them safe from the people they are accusing, who would otherwise try to harm them to stop the bleeding…. However, our dearly beloved ruling class chooses to ignore all that, and are trying to bring charges of espionage and treason against him, as though he were some kind of spy himself, working for another country….

Eric Snowden was not a spy, unless it was for US, the people; after all, the NSA did hire him in the first place didn’t they? He must have had some technical credibility, and must have been relatively clean of misdeeds, as an über-geek, in order to have been asked to work for them at all, right? I would assume so…. Of course, that makes the arguably incorrect assumption that the NSA has some clue as to what they are doing, as well as at least a small degree of expertise in their chosen field… I could be wrong about that, though…..     😆

I think he’s done about as well as he could to keep from helping our enemies. What he HAS done, to our own leaders, is embarrass them highly; THAT is what they will not forgive…. To a politician “face” is very important, as are all illusions of appearance; why else would they all wear those stupid ties, all of a “power” color, and that silly-ass flag pin….

They feel they cannot afford to be seen as weak, or indecisive, so they will make ANY decision, no matter how wrong it may be, just to keep from appearing as if they don’t know what to do. They’re incapable of making a decision at all if it would make it seem as if they were admitting to being wrong in any way…. To give Mr. Snowden the credit for what has done, they would have to first admit they have DONE wrong, and they are not willing to do that, more’s the pity….

http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-says-calls-reform-prove-intel-leaks-were-114707696.html

(Note from 2014: This link is still active; I checked. For much more coverage of the issue, go to the UK Guardian website, which broke the original story. They have a full archive of articles examining the subject, from the time the story broke, up to very recently published works…. It’s very thorough coverage, giving a clear picture of the timeline of events….)

I happen to agree with Mr. Snowden’s assessment of the overall effect of his information leaks; I think he has made the world a safer place for all of us, if only because he made it perfectly clear that we are being lied to, right and left, by our own leaders. This is invaluable information, that the public NEEDS to know, if we are to be able to protect ourselves….

It is a bit disheartening, to be sure, to have to protect ourselves from our own leaders, but, hey, it’s better to know than not to know, for sure…. Now that we know, we can act accordingly to bring more pressure on the government to straighten up and fly right; if nothing else, more people have learned that it is important to keep a close eye on those who would call themselves our leaders, to keep them from screwing us around any more than they already are….

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

I believe that not only is Eric Snowden NOT a traitor; I consider him to be a Patriot of this country, deserving of the Medal of Honor, or the Freedom Medal, the highest civilian award possible, for bravery and courage in the face of severe persecution by his own government, and for bringing to light the illegal and immoral acts of our government lackeys. It took great courage, and strong commitment to the truth, for him to make the decisions he made…. I, for at least one, thank him with all my heart….

“He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds.  Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him.  Most men yield to the stress of the current…  Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

(Albert Pike…. another interesting fellow…. If you have a few moments, Google his name, and read the Wikipedia article about him… It’s a pretty interesting life he led, and I wonder why he is less of a well-known figure than he is… He was responsible for a lot of good work back in the 19th century, and deserves some of our thanks for all he did to preserve the freedoms we DO have today…. Check him out…)

“To use power is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable to greater powers.” — Bene Gesserit

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As I’ve mentioned previously, this lady’s poetry is, perhaps, my favorite of all, save perhaps that of Alexander Pope…. I post this particular poem about once a year, or more, simply because it is so perfect an example of what poetry should be…. I don’t even have to say “Enjoy!”, because, if one has ANY appreciation at all of beauty, they WILL enjoy it…. Guaranteed, or, your money back…. (Hah! Gotcha there…. How much did you pay?….)

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,–
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


It occurs to me, I should add at least a token from Alex, to demonstrate why he is my other favorite poet…. Here is a very short, but clearly superior quatrain, that will give you a good idea…

Lull’d in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are link’d by many a hidden chain;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads arise!
Each stamps its image as the other flies.

~~ Alexander Pope (1688-1744) ~~


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Today’s Pearl is mostly fresh, save for the rant, which is only because I didn’t wish to get started on the Ferguson issue; I could tell, if I started, I may have never stopped…. If I did that, how would this Pearl ever get posted? That wouldn’t do, so, we went to the archives, as is our wont in such cases…. To compensate, I will see if Smart Bee is in a good enough mood to provide us with some good shots at the Asininnies this morning…. That should give y’all a hint as to the parameters, but, no worries, mates…. by the end, it will be clear just whom we are targeting….

” Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarcely in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. Remember this: They that will not be counseled cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you over the knuckles.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) — Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757

“One generation cannot bind another.” — Thomas Jefferson

“On a throne at the center of a sense of humor sits a capacity for irony. All wit rests on a cheerful awareness of life’s incongruities. It is a  gentling awareness, and no politician without it should be allowed near power.” — George Will

“The Pledge of Allegiance says ‘liberty and justice for all’. Which part of ‘all’ don’t you understand?” — Rep. Pat Schroeder (D) Colo.

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“America’s one of the finest countries anyone ever stole.” — Bobcat Goldthwait

“A truly great man will neither trample on a worm nor speak to an emperor.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Not too shabby, even if we had to resort to bracketing by Ben….. It will do…. It has to, it’s the last section, & we’re NOT starting over….

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“All right, you degenerates!  I want this place evacuated in 20 seconds!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I have to confess… It may have been a better idea to create a fresh rant; I’m not sure I cleaned out enough dross and/or drivel to keep me sane today…. Ah well, in our society, insanity is merely another option, one, which, in sooth, is a sane reaction, to an insane world…. If you followed that, you know exactly whereof I speak; if it is a bit unclear to you, well, that’s pretty damn insane of you, so, good on ya…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, whether you got that, or not….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….