Tag Archives: Cyberiad

We’d prefer a Mallard, but, the Muscovy will do…

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Ffolkes,

Here pigs will fly,

lightning will strike twice,

hell will freeze over,

and eventually,

things will get really interesting…

~~ gigoid’s promise to his readers ~~

potd-heart-wave_3046610k

    Great picture, ain’t it? Amazing what can happen with patience, and timing. The pic itself is from the London Daily Yell (the Telegraph), from one of their Day in Pictures features a few days ago…. It also lives up to the promise just above it, or, makes a determined effort, at the very least…. Me, I’m up late again, thanks to lorazepam’s sedative effects, but, have fortunately prepared much of today’s Pearl before getting up this morning…. It’s weird, feeling this rested; I haven’t had such regular, deep sleep since before I was married & had kids…. It’s almost scary, to think of what I’ve been missing, and how my life may have been made better for having slept more….

But, that’s whining, and wishing for things that cannot be changed, a foolish effort, at best…. So, we’ll forget about the past, and get on with finding out what the future may bring. Of course, given the state of the environment, thinking about our future may not be the best way to find ourselves in a good mood. All the evidence points to the opposite, in fact, and little can be said of a positive nature about that particular subject…. If’n we want to feel good, we’ll have to come up with something completely new and different….

It seems to me I’ve again written myself into a corner…. Can’t go on without an idea or two, yet, none are forthcoming…. Damn! I suppose I’m going to have to use the new technique again; it’s sure getting a workout since arriving here; I don’t think we’ve missed a day since that auspicious day…. which goes to show, I suppose, it is needed, and is being put to use per its nature. Oh, look, there ’tis now…. Doesn’t it look all grand & pretty in its new holiday outfit? Careful, though, don’t let that naive, innocent look fool you; it’s quite ruthless… In fact, it’s here, and as of now, there’s no way to keep it from performing its function, which means….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong.” — Mencken’s Metalaw — H. L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy

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“How many lawyer jokes are there? 3, the rest are true stories.” — Smart Bee

I had intended to find some more true stories to share with y’all about lawyers,  but, instead, let’s examine the creature as it exists in reality…. Now, I, personally, know a lawyer, and, since he no longer works as one, having recovered, in my mind, both his sanity, and his honor in the process (don’t tell him though, I get the impression he’s still a bit ambivalent/unsettled at how it came about, so, we don’t discuss it…), I feel absolutely no qualms whatsoever claiming him as a friend…. He’s gotten to the point he laughs at some of the jokes now….

He is an intelligent person, of course; no other kind would be my friend for so long (Over 30 years now…), or be able to put up with my own level of insanity…. In my case, of course, that was used to AVOID ever studying law, beyond what I felt necessary to know for my own protection…. I’ve always maintained there are only two kinds of lawyers who come out of law school, no matter which it may be.

The first kind intends to help people find their way through the maze of laws, allegedly designed to to allow them to live safely and with dignity; these lawyers, those with actual morals and ethics, serve justice, and the intent of the law…. Like my friend, they often end up leaving the field, or, sadly, at times, doing the Darth Vader, by turning to the dark side….

The other type is different sort of creature; their purpose for studying law is to find an angle to work, in order to further their own personal goals, which center around money, and power….. These lawyers may end up helping some people, but, at a cost those people can rarely afford comfortably. Mostly, this sort pad their bills with absurd charges, that puff up legal fees until the courts step in, to set regulations as to how much they can charge… whereupon, they merely find another method to get around the definition of “services rendered”….

Of this second type, a certain percentage actually, over time, become so enamored of the process of acquiring money and power, they figure out the only logical course to take, if they wish to continue their upward progress (in their eyes….). So, they mutate, and become politicians (an old Greek word, from “poly”, meaning “many”, and “tics”, meaning “small, dirty, bloodsucking parasites”….), because as legislators, they are allowed to vote themselves the keys to the treasury, calling their motivation “public spirit” and/or “the call to leadership”…. Often the mutation actually begins during school, as all the nutrient factors are present there, and a certain type of sociopathic personality takes to such things naturally, as it serves their purpose so well….

Excuse me a moment, I need to curse….

Okay, I’m back…. see, I can be nice, & not subject y’all to my forays into French colloquialisms…. However, in point of fact, they’re all (all the elected officials at the national level, to be specific….), fucking crazy, loony as a mass of mixed leopards, wolves, vipers, cobras, hyenas, rhinos, hippos, and, oh, a tiger or two, all slithering, strutting, blundering, screaming, locked in a confined space, each displaying the worst characteristics of their perverted, all-too-predatory natures…. And, all of whom are convinced of their own right to tell everyone else how things should be…. I mean, they should know, cuz Jesus told them so….

Yep…. Think about it, ffolkes, and, you, too, folks…. Of the 455 people at the top of the American political heap… (That’s 1 President, 1 VP, 12 Supremes, 100 Senators, 340 Reps at the House, & 1 Armed Forces COS….I think…. He isn’t elected, but, otherwise, I’m missing somebody….), (unless I lost track of how many Reps there are…. that changes at times…)…. Regardless… it’s a small number of persons, considering they make the decisions for so many…

So, ask yourself these questions…. How many of those are lawyers? How many are male? How many are white (Caucasian, or close)? How many are of a faith OTHER than Christian?…. I think you can see the point here…. no matter what the actual numbers may be, when counting the token women and persons of color they’ve allowed to join them, for the show of apparent diversity, it isn’t enough to make any difference in the real agenda that will be forged by those people…. It WILL be according to the white, male, Christian, legally trained (i.e., avariciously self-serving) point of view….

As another point of difference between them and the rest of the population: All of them, every single one, is a millionaire, or more (except perhaps for a few Reps, newbies not yet adept at playing the lobbyist’s for their treats and financial breaks….) Yet each and every one of the named politicians, less-than-500-people, with an average income over a million dollars a year, has better health care, better retirement arrangements, and better wages than anyone else in the country, all voted in by, who else, but, themselves….

Plus, just for good measure, for the great and glorious service they have done for the country, and all the sacrifices they must make to come to Washington, live like movie stars, and decide which lobbyist they should let take them to dinner tonight, why shouldn’t they get those benefits, not just while in office, but, for the rest of their lives?! Whether they are ever elected again or not…. Pretty good deal, eh?…. Wish I’d a thought of it….

And people wonder why I often talk about buying a gun….. I only have four things left to say about lawyers, and their mutated state, politicians….As usual, other people have said it better, so, as is my wont, I turn to them, with these final words upon which to meditate….

“If it weren’t for lawyers, I think we could have invented a universal symbolic representation of reality.”– Smart Bee

(technically, it’s not a joke; it’s merely an observation….)

“It’s possible to fight intolerance, stupidity, and fanaticism when they come separately.  When you get all three together it’s probably wiser to get out, if only to preserve one’s sanity.” — Adam Dalgliesh, in Devices and Desires, by P.D. James.

“The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.” — John Locke (1632-1704)

“The measure of a man’s life is the well spending of it, and not the length.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Consolation to Apollonius

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After that, I need some soothing music, and this will do quite nicely…. Enjoy! It’s only the best….

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

http://youtu.be/eCB7c7RDmyU

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Today’s poem, appropriately enough, is from John Keats… The title of it is “Essay on Man”, an epic poem, containi perhaps the largest repository of excellent insight into Man’s true nature ever created, especially one that rhymes…. It’s a very long piece, with ten very long sections, or stanzas, each as brilliant as the one before, ending with what is called the “Argument of the Second Epistle. I have included that ending below, to give a taste of the entire piece…. but, I’d really recommend following the link, and taking the time to read the entire poem; it’s brilliance is so bright it will infuse your entire spirit, as well as, perhaps, giving you a deeper understanding of people, and why they are the way they are…. that’s the power of poetry….

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/essay-on-man/

Argument of the Second Epistle:

Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to Himself, as an Individual. The business of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself.

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state,(28)
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer,
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself abus’d, or disabus’d;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl’d:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

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Pearls, pearls, who’s got pearls?….. Hmph! Such impertinence!…. But, who really cares, ultimately? SB is gonna give me what it will, no matter how I piss, moan, threaten, or complain… So, here, take this…. it’s what I’ve got….

“Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), As You Like It — Act v, Sc. 4

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.  Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” — Giordano Bruno (1548- burned at the stake, 1600)

“We achieve “active” mastery over illness and death by delegating all responsibility for their management to physicians, and by exiling the sick and the dying to hospitals. But hospitals serve the convenience of staff not patients: we cannot be properly ill in a hospital, nor die in one decently; we can do so only among those who love and value us. The result is the institutionalized dehumanization of the ill, characteristic of our age.” — Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin, “Personal Conduct” (1973).

“Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority–literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.” — Ignazio Silone, The God That Failed (1950)

“And it does matter.  An honest man or woman is an honest man or woman more because he or she is honest in the small, everyday things that “don’t matter” individually, but which make up a well-lived life, than because of some single great temptation that was passed.  A person who is concerned about individual rights or about individual dignity makes his or her difference not because of any sweeping great statement or action, but because of the accretion of small, individually seemingly insignificant acts that spread that dignity and confirm those rights through every action they take.  It matters because every action you take, and every action I take is an expression of the human spirit.” — William Oliver (oliver@uncmed.med.unc.edu)

“Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist.  But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind.  The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact wholly unconcerned with what does exist.  Indeed, the banality of existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to discuss it any further here.  The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely different way …” — Stanislaw Lem, Cyberiad

“How often we recall, with regret, that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity, that his intentions were good.” — Mark Twain

Don’t even ask…. SB did this one all by itself…. It’s cute, but, is it good? Only you can be the judge in this case; I must recuse myself….

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

Like it or not, it’s done, so, I’m going to have to take it, as it is almost 8 AM, & I’m still just finishing the initial draft…. But, that’s done, so, all that remains is the process of posting… to free myself to go do so, I bid the a fond farewell, with the usual ending wishes…. see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, maybe even on time….

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

“The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.”

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí.

 

A maelstrom of multitasking clerics….

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Ffolkes,

I seem to have come up against some sort of wall with my writing in the last few weeks. I’m finding it harder each morning to get myself out of bed to begin, although the sheer habit of routine does compel me to pull myself up eventually, such as now…. Today, it is almost 0800, and I’m just beginning to think about what to write about today….. I’m guessing that even my prolific brain has a finite limit to how much it can produce, which now can be seen to lie at about one and a half million words, more or less…. That’s as close as I can figure, going by the average number of words per day, times slightly more than 760 posted blogs….

In looking over the last few posts, I see that my content has become a bit redundant; I’m relying on old-school pearls more, and ranting less. This has to do with living with less stress, I’m sure, but, the lack of angst isn’t helping me to produce the outrage I need to get vituperative enough for the purpose at hand, which is to chastise and indict those among us in society who are selfish in working toward their own agendas, not caring how it affects other people, or the world at large, as long as they get what they want.

I do this because the greatest number of those people are those who have sought public office in our world, and their shenanigans (for lack of a more angry word….) are going to kill us all if we don’t do something about it….. (It also gives me a chance to write long, wordy, incredibly boring sentences such as the one in the previous paragraph, that cover far too many subjects at one time, and would be better off just not existing at all, but, then what would I do, to keep myself interested in getting up each day? And, you’ll please note, the sentence just prior to this one is one of the same variety….  Whew, breathe, Ned, breathe…. Sorry, I get carried away, once I’ve had a couple sips of coffee….)

I’ve been looking at the world, and what happens in it, for a long time now, since just before I left home for college. For many years, I kept a lot of what I thought about things to myself, mostly, as it seemed to always provoke arguments or discussions of a passionate nature that never led to good outcomes; it was better in a social sense to not discuss either politics (the participants of which I hold to be primarily responsible for the mess we are in….), or religion (whose proponents and acolytes I hold to have the secondary responsibility, though only by a small margin, for the rest of our problems as a society….).

I’m not alone in my hesitation to discuss those subjects; everybody alive seems to have strong opinions on them, one way or another, and each is highly protective, and overly emotional, to my way of thinking, about all of it….. Investing one’s emotions in what is happening out in the real world is, in my experience, a sure way to have those feelings ripped apart, or turned upside down, or, in general, abused until they surrender, and either strike out, or turn within to hide….

Neither of those solutions is very practical, or comfortable, so I’ve learned to keep my emotional state separate from, and, thus, immune to the depredations of the discussion of politics and/or religion, at least, and am slow to hold any such talks in person…. Here, on this blog, I found the outlet for all the anger and frustration that builds up over time, anger at the selfishness of the politicians, and frustration at the insistent delusional support they receive from the preachers.

Each of them, in this country, and in my estimation, have lost sight of the intent our forefathers had when they created the separation of state and church that characterizes our form of government. These entities have worked, tirelessly, ever since the signing of the  Constitution, to undermine that principle, and turn our semi-democratic republic into a church hegemony, wherein all morality, as dictated by the church, becomes law, as dictated by the politicians…..

“I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith. It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.” — Mark Twain

That idea scares me to death, every day, as I read the latest nonsense in the news about the new abortion laws in Texas and Ohio, or the Martin/Zimmerman murder trial verdict. Even worse, I read of late all the latest revelations about how extensive the spying and data mining by the government has become, without any public disclosure, until exposed, with proof, by the bravery shown by Eric Snowden, the whistleblower extraordinaire, who is now, oddly enough, seeking asylum from our “freedom loving government” in that bastion of personal freedoms, Russia, or the USSR, or whichever name the government of Moscow is using now…. So far, I haven’t seen any articles that commented on the irony of THAT situation, a failure I find to be a very telling point….

I’m not sure where I’m going with this meander…. I’m not sure how much more I have in me to say. I kept my mouth shut for 60 years, and have been spouting off pretty regularly now for close to three years… It doesn’t seem like I should be running out of stuff to say, yet, though, even given my output level, so, I suppose I’ll keep on doing this for a while longer, unless I find a more compelling activity to take up my time and energy….

Moving from our apartments into a house nearby at the end of next month will probably cause at least a short hiatus, as the internet service may not get switched over smoothly…. One never knows with modern companies just how many obstacles they’ll throw up in our way…. But, if that looks like it may happen, or if I decide to take a longer break, to take inventory of what is in my head, and heart, I’ll try to let y’all know beforehand….

Meanwhile, shall we pearl?….
_____________________________

As noted above, I’ve been depending a lot on old-school style pearls to fill in these sections…. Fortunately, Smart Bee has been cooperative, to the point of giving me just the right category of quotes needed for whatever subject I’ve decided to use as a parameter for the search…. I hope that continues with today’s first pearl, as I’m so late, I may end up eating lunch before I get around to posting…. Ah well, it will be worth it to see what I can do when I’m operating during the same hours as everyone else in the 9 to 5 world…. I hope…. Let’s see what SB has to say today….

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain  Following the Equator (1897)

Oh, what a grand start! Now that we have a direction, let’s see where it takes us, shall we?….

“How do you make a cat go moo?  Ask it “Does a dog have the Buddha-nature?” — Smart Bee

Hmm…. now I’m worried….

“..  I think I’d better go back to my DESK and toy with a few common MISAPPREHENSIONS…” — Zippy the Pinhead

Aha, now I see where it’s going…. okay, here is the rest, so pay close attention, as it promises to be a good one!…..

“Moral relativism is wrong. But that’s only my opinion.” — George Jones

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality.” — Lao-Tzu

“In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman Orator, poet, statesman — De Re Publica (54-51 B.C.)

“Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Indeed…..
_____________________________

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ‘O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless–of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’ That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” — John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
 hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Today’s intro section was long, sort of rant-like, and the poem kind of went in a similar direction, so, rather than subject y’all to another long-winded self-indulgent exposition on something I can’t change, at least, not at this moment, I’ll go with another old-school pearl, one put together with fun, or irony, or sarcasm, or humor of one category or another in mind, to use as the search parameter for inclusion…. Enjoy!….

“Dope will get you through times of no money better that money will get you through times of no dope.” — Freewheelin’ Franklin, “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers”

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Years ago fairy tales all began with “Once upon a time…”, now we know they all begin with, “If I am elected…” — Carolyn Warner

“Dear Auntie Em: Hate you, hate Kansas. Goodbye. I’m taking the dog.” — Dorothy

“I don’t see no p’ints about that frog that’s any better’n any other frog.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), The Celebrated Jumping Frog

“Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist.  But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind.  The School of Higher Neantical Nihility is in fact wholly unconcerned with what does exist.  Indeed, the banality of existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to discuss it any further here.  The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each non-existed in an entirely different way …” — Stanislaw Lem, Cyberiad

Okay, so that one’s not so funny…. until you really stop to think about it, and what it says about human nature…. You may not see it, but I about busted a garter…. Any who, lastly, I give you…. (Alright, I heard those huge sighs of relief…. you could have waited thirty seconds, couldn’t you?…. Ah well, try to enjoy it anyway…. )

“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

Okay, so it takes a certain type of person to find Salinger’s depressive style funny, but, that’s nothing new, just perverted…. which I’ve never denied for a moment…. It’s okay, ffolkes, I don’t understand me most of the time, either…
_____________________________

“I have found power in the mysteries of thought.”– Euripides

Me, too, though I doubt seriously I’ll ever achieve the lasting fame for my thoughts that Euripides can claim; should that happen, well, I’ll be mighty surprised, for a lot of reasons…. Today’s effort was more original than I had intended when I began; somewhere along the way, I forgot to care about the time, which is, I suppose, a good thing…. Be right back after proofing…. Okay, so, knowing how low my standards are, it shouldn’t surprise me to see this exceeds them…. I should be resigned to it by now, but, hey, I suppose that’s at least partly why I can still do it at all….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Congruent with unpopular opinion….

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Ffolkes,
“Man the pumps! Run around in circles, yelling, “fire, earthquake, flood, pestilence!” Send the women and children overboard! Throw some fire on that pail of water! Kick the cat! And above all, DON’T PANIC!”….. Or, if you’d rather, you could just pass me the sugar there, in that bowl….. thanks. Now, where were we?…. Oh, yeah….

Buenos dias, amigos…. how’s it goin’? Or, in the vernacular, whassup? Hmm? Oh, that? No worries, it isn’t connected to anything real, so no need to pay any further attention to it. I was just practicing my alarm system…. You know, settling on the final version of what the alarm will do…. Like most ffolkes, I don’t like those beepy, loud, stridently obnoxious noises they use for most alarms. Very annoying, and no class at all…. So, I like to use other sounds…

I used to use some nice comforting musical reminder, but found it didn’t create the right sort of panic to get people moving, like when I had a soft voice, with a nice soft jazzy piano in accompaniment, saying, in the sultry tones and style of Miss Peggy Lee, “Watch out, it’s getting hot, big boy!” So, I’m having the recording changed…. This time, I’m having the above lines set as the message, in a silly, screechy Monty Python voice, I think…. That should get ffolkes going when it needs to!….

I don’t know, though…. What about a nice loud rendition of say, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”…. that will certainly get the blood moving, although people may think it’s the start of a movie, and not an emergency…. Ah well, I’ll go with the new Monty Python jobber, that will be a good one…. and it will certainly be different than your average alarm, yessirree…..

Awwww, Spell Checker doesn’t like my word, yessirree…. I don’t know why, I used it all the time when I was a kid, so it’s not like the word hasn’t been around a long time. It’s kind of like that line from “Sleepless in Seattle”, when Tom Hank’s character is talking about geography with his son, and says to him, “I don’t even want to think about what they’re NOT teaching you in school!” How could such an old word, even slangish, not be in there? Makes me feel even older than I am…. S’okay, though, I trust my own head more than I do Spell Checker…. I’m constantly having to add new words to it, that it doesn’t know, and I do…. I know, a bit arrogant, but, hey, it’s true, so….. They (whoever programmed it) should have fed it a bigger dictionary….

Well, I’ve managed to meander all over the place this morning, and have gotten exactly nowhere, in a literal sense, as well as figurative. I mean, that’s okay and all, right? I’m not getting paid for this, other than by the kind attention and regard of the Gentle Readers, so it’s not like there is any strict qualitative standard I’m held to, right? Right. At least, that’s what my copy of the contract says….. If yours is different, well, sorry, I can’t do anything about that, and you’ll just have to deal with the authorities as best you may to achieve satisfaction. That particular item (satisfaction on your part…..) is not my responsibility either, at least from a legal standpoint…. Thank goodness for small favors, eh?….

Now that I’ve completed the process of removing all sense of normalcy from the proceedings, we are officially cleared to dive. The waters look inviting, and I’m sure we’ll find something your uncle will just adore….. oops, wrong group. Sorry….. I’m sure we’ll find something YOU will enjoy…. or die trying…. Well, nobody’s ever died, but we’ll try hard to prevent any serious injury…..  Shall we Pearl?…..
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“I wanted a perfect ending … Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.” — Gilda Radner

What a lovely phrase! “Delicious ambiguity.” Such perfect contrast in the words, that together create an entirely new springboard for imagination. Such insight is also very useful in dealing with Reality, with all its innovative transformations seemingly designed to catch us unprepared. In one respect, at least, it reminds me of being a boy in Washington state, where we lived before my father mustered out of the Army.

We lived in that watery, constantly dripping paradise for four years, and one either learned to appreciate and deal with the incessant weather changes, from rain, to not-rain, to rain, or one went quietly mad (the rain drowns out any loud noises….). Aside from the rain, it is incredibly beautiful country, with the rich and varied forests providing endless landscapes of high adventure for young boys, so I got to like it…. but, not all can learn to do so, just like in many other aspects of life…..

I guess this is destined to be a short pearl, because the only other thing that occurs to me to say about this is this: Life and Reality do not always match our expectations, and it is easier to learn how to appreciate the differences in those, and accept that we can change our expectations, than it is to try to change either life or reality. We can only change ourselves, and getting uptight about having to do so only makes us feel worse…. it sure doesn’t change anything…..

“The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.” — Richard Bach
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For some months now, this center section of the three part Pearls has been reserved for poetry. This was a purely personal decision, made simply because I needed it. For much of my life as a “Man” here in Amurrica, it was not considered a manly trait to be overly fond of poetry. Even when I had grown beyond the false and ignorant reasoning that prompted such a custom, it was, by then, habitual to separate myself from frequent acquaintance with those parts of the human emotional scale that is touched by such things. Habitual as well as defensive; I couldn’t afford to be too soft hearted in many of the situations in which I found myself, without courting disaster.

For many years now, though, I’ve been able to present a more realistic face to the world, in the manner of a Samurai of old Japan, or one of the Knights of Templar, whose skills and knowledge are traditionally not restricted to merely those of war, but include Haiku, calligraphy, and an appreciation of the beauty in Life. So, here in Exploring Consensual Reality, beauty, and the magic of poetry, will ever hold a place of honor, and central meaning, whether it comes from a poem of mine (hopefully….), or of one such as this one, that I found floating around Smart Bee. It isn’t, perhaps, the most romantic or strictly beautiful pieces I’ve seen, but, the scansion and rhyme is perfect, and the language simple and clear, so the beauty comes from the structure as much as the content, for me…… Enjoy!

On a lone barren isle, where the wild roaring billows
Assail the stern rock, and the loud tempests rave,
The hero lies still, while the dew-drooping willows,
Like fond weeping mourners, lean over his grave.
The lightnings may flash and the loud thunders rattle;
He heeds not, he hears not, he ‘s free from all pain;
He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle;
No sound can awake him to glory again!

— Leonard Heath  — The Grave of Bonaparte

As a treat, a little extra, a bonus for your patience and tolerance of an old fool’s foibles….

A Drink With Something In It

There is something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant;
A yellow, a mellow Martini;
I wish I had one at present.
There is something about a Martini,
Ere the dining and dancing begin,
And to tell you the truth,
It is not the vermouth–
I think that perhaps it’s the gin.

Ogden Nash
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One of the most elemental pieces of insight I have come to understand about men has to do with our need to have a sense of purpose, a chosen duty, or set of duties, that we must fulfill to keep our self respect. The same principle is operative for women, as well, I am sure, but, not being one, I cannot say to what degree, other than what I may surmise from observation; let us say only that I see it as different, in some respects, and let it go at that…..

Men who don’t feel a sense of purpose are lost, and will find all sorts of ways to give themselves, and an objecting world, a lot of trouble. Of course, the chosen purpose can also have deleterious effects on both the man, and society, especially when the so-chosen purpose is self-serving, or deliberately cruel and ignorant. But, with a chosen duty to act upon, one that serves society as well as the individual, most men become creatures of honor, and can be trusted to do the right thing…..

One of the duties I try to serve is to think, as often and as deeply as I can, and to share what I think with others, while comparing what other historical figures and men of honor and intelligence have left for us to consider. This set of pearls is one that expresses several of my views on thought, emotion, imagination, and purpose, and inspire me to share it with others, if only for what they may find in those historical pearls of wisdom…. Virtual or real, this batch is of some note…. Enjoy!…. Oh, and no quiz today…..

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” — Patanjali (Second century B.C.)

“Any man can work when every stroke of his hand brings down the fruit rattling from the tree to the ground; but to labor in season and out of season, under every discouragement, by the power of truth — that requires a heroism which is transcendent.” — Henry Ward Beecher

“Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist.  But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind.  The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact wholly unconcerned with what does exist.  Indeed, the banality of existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to discuss it any further here.  The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely different way …” — Stanislaw Lem, Cyberiad

“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.” — J.K. Rowling, The Beginning, — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000, — spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore

“If little else, the brain is an educational toy.” — Tom Robbins

“Yow!  Maybe I should have asked for my Neutron Bomb in PAISLEY–” — Zippy the Pinhead
(Think about it!…. Neutron bombs kill people without destroying property…. Paisley markings would double the number of tourists who came to see it, thus doubling the kill rate inside  a five-mile radius….. elementary psychology!….)

On that note, I rest my case…..  Q.E.D., as Mr. Malthus might have said……
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Odd, isn’t it, that Sunday would be a day when a deadline becomes more critical than on a weekday? But, it’s a hive of bees, so it must be faced…. Fortunately, I think I’ve done it. If nothing else, it’s done, so it will have to do…. I guess I’ve done worse…. At least it’s inconsistent……   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!