The only universal solvent is Change….

Posted on March 28, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Many men fancy that what they experience they also understand.”

~~ Goethe ~~

Image from Space.com Pictures of the Day, 3/23/2015

For close to four years now, I’ve maintained a routine which gave me the time and space to produce these Pearls each morning. It’s been valuable to me, in at least one sense, if not many; if nothing else, my sanity, while never completely intact, remains sufficiently strong to resist giving in to all the parts of life which might make us unhappy by their complete indifference to our sensibilities. It may not sound like much, but, believe me, being able to find a spot of peace in this life is more of a gift than many folks, or, for that matter, ffolkes, may realize…. I do, and I appreciate it….

However, as today’s title indicates, if there is one thing we all need to stay on top of in life, it is our ability to deal with changes. No matter how much we try to arrange our lives to prevent it, we are all eventually going to have to deal with it, in one part of our life or another, for it is the ONLY universal law we have, in reality; all things must change. Entropy makes sure of it, and, since we can identify it, but, still cannot point to it, there is little we can do to affect it at all.

Most mornings I don’t try to philosophize so early; my brain isn’t usually ready to even think about being organized. With this new routine, however, it seemed to be an appropriate way to start the day. I see, by my words above, I’ve again written myself to a point where I either must expand the discussion, or let it go by; since we are still in the intro section, I’ll let it go, with one final word about the new routine…. These Pearls may not show up as close to the usual posting time as in the past; I’m getting up later, and sleeping better. While both of those aren’t bad things, they do tend to make this process happen later than previously. So be it….

I’m good with it; it’s a simple enough adjustment to make, even for an old curmudgeon like me. Hell, it may even improve these intro sections, which could only be considered a good thing. In the meantime, we’ll employ one of our methods for getting us out of here, before it turns on us, becoming something more than a simple intro, to my undying regret and embarrassment. If y’all could again pull the lever under your seat, the plane will assume the proper landing configuration, and we can get on with our dive….. Thank you, now, hang on…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Anates tuas in acie instrue.” (Have your ducks all in array…) — Latin for everyday use

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Image from Walmart.com via Google stock images

If I had to pick a favorite classical artiste, it might be this violinist. She, and the group of other women violinists she has gathered into the group La Pietà, have brought imagination back into the recording of classical music, using their talents to make classical music more accessible to the common man, through movies and music. Every piece I’ve ever heard them play has produced the same feeling of peaceful, imaginative pleasure, at hearing music played as it should be played, with heart…. Enjoy, ffolkes, there are a LOT of good pieces to hear today….

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Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà – Danse macabre – Camille Saint-Saëns

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https://youtu.be/txUvlfk9BR0?list=PLws4cSjvcS5orMEDja2BF1UDoL-UNbOTT

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Image stolen from Talesfromtheconspiratum.com

I am up late; obviously, this affects the amount of time I’ve left myself to post. As a result, I don’t feel I have enough time to produce a new, fresh rant; whatever I could come up with wouldn’t make the grade, from my viewpoint, given my personal standards. What I CAN do is create a fresh new old-school pearl that takes some rather pointed shots at our usual targets…. That will ALWAYS make the grade, in my book… and, it should do the same to yours…. Now that I’ve completely confused both of us, with that remarkable statement of…. well, I can’t even think of a word for what it was…. Oh well… Let’s make a pearl, shall we? (Oops…. but, it’s okay. That’s not a royal we, just you and me….)….

This pearl takes its shots from a different viewpoint than usual; these come at the target from the side, or from behind, showing up those qualities in which our beloved ruling class FAILS to achieve any standard of ethics, or morality, or, ultimately, virtue….. Some of them show us WHY they are like they are, others merely show us where they fall short…. All are an indictment of what they are, which is, to put it most simply, complete and utter assholes, without an ounce of compassion, or, humanity, in their spirit….

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

“He knew that insofar as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_

“After the first death, there is no other.’ — Dylan Thomas

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

“… none are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” — Goethe

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” — Thomas Paine

“But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” — Declaration of Independence

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Image stolen from The Europa Ice Wolf

No, I don’t know which part of my mind decided this was the right piece of art work for this poem; deal with it, ffolkes, it’s only a picture…. Since there was no rant today, to speak of, this will have to do….

A Few Words of Note

In place of ranting and raving about assholes every day
maybe I’ll try something more fun.
Rather than throwing words at all the assholes on public pay
I’ll switch to shooting at them, with a gun….

Should I actually hit one, purely by mistake,
maybe it would wake them up.
Maybe, if they had to think, or actually cut us a break,
we’d see a chance to win at life, to take a step up.

Our nation, such as it is today, was founded by men who told the truth;
that morality disappeared long ago.
Simple ethical strength so bright, so prevalent in our country’s youth
was soon corrupted, corporate interests now run the show.

Nothing would please me more than to fire off some rounds,
if only to gain their attention.
But, I can no longer run, I’ve gained too many pounds;
so, my keyboard and intellect must serve to fulfill my intention.

I won’t stop, of that you may be sure
I love my freedoms, and the philosophy from which it springs.
Tom, and Ben, and John, and Pat, those patriots pure
gave me their example, and the inner peace it brings.

If bullets won’t persuade our elected liars to toe the ethical line,
I’ll throw my most powerful words…..
If nothing else, it will make them wriggle to escape, or voice their pitiful whine,
thus exposing themselves for what they are…. plain and simple turds.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Since I’m so late, and SB is not as cooperative as I’d hoped, here is an old, old-school pearl from a bit over a year ago…. Enjoy!…. Or, not; the choice is, as it always is, yours….

From 1/6/2014:

Today will be a normal Pearl, insofar as what we do here is able to approach normal at all; all three sections will have the regular, normal inclusions in their appropriate places…. This first section will be an old-school pearl, because I found three pearls waiting for me when I got here, and that’s just the way it is…. As you can see, curmudgeonry is also part of the somewhat random process for deciding things here at ECR….. Any who, these pearls, the ones I found here, all have a bit to say about people, and how they live…. or, in some cases, how they SHOULD live. But, as they say, you can lead a horse to water, but, you can’t make them think…. er, drink….

“Apollo said that every one’s true worship was that which he found in use in the place where he chanced to be.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

“An empty man is full of himself.” — Edward Abbey

“If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intention of doing you good, you should run for your life.” — Thoreau’s Law

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.” — Wally “Famous” Amos

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” — Robert Frost

“Go softly, for you tread on my dreams.” — Yeats

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Well, all things considered, not too shabby. Good enough for what we do here, certainly. Since that be the case, I’m outta here to go see what sort of trouble I can cause for the PTB…. See y’all tomorrow, if things go well….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

But for the glazed version, it’s done….

Posted on March 18, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

JABBERWOCKY

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And thou hast slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

~~ Lewis Carroll ~~

~~ Through the Looking-Glass ~~ ~~

Owls.

Or, are they?

The problem here is, I forgot where I got the picture; I renamed it when I saved it from the place on the net where I found it. I’m pretty sure it was the UK Guardian’s Animal Pix of the Week feature, but, might have been a Nat Geo contest winner, too. Sorry, powers that be. Hopefully, I won’t make any money off it, so, nobody will care….

So, how’s that for a fairly nonsensical follow-up to the opening poem. I realize I’ve hit Lewis Carroll a lot of late, but, I’ve just felt like wrapping myself in irony and metaphor a lot, I guess, preparing for the days to come, when I’ll be furiously trying to maintain my footing on the slippery slopes of Reality, as witnessed in the Big Blue Room…. What fun we’ll be able to say we had, me, my guitar, and my computer! Those Time Lord powers will come in handy, I’m sure….

Now that I’ve blathered sufficiently about very little, I can go on to discuss a large problem, and a small one, personal to myself only. First, the large one; I am unable to type for more than a moment or two at a time, as my back has decided today will be a day to gift me with a knife. Sadly, this knife doesn’t sit on my belt in a sheath; it’s lodged in my lower back, just above my right hip. Every time I move, in any direction at all, it feels as if that knife, which is lodged there in the hip, stabs me with pain, just about a level 9, only short of tooth or labor pain, bad enough it has me crying…. Lovely!…

This means I’ll be cheating a LOT today….

Second problem isn’t much, only to do with me and my idiosyncracies of writing; I can’t seem to keep from mixing my persons….. About half the time, I’ve noted in perusing old material, I slip into the royal “we”, forgetting so much I end up switching in mid-sentence. Perhaps I can demonstrate; it isn’t as if we think about it….

See? Just like that, it slips out. Of course, I was demonstrating, but, you see the difficulty, don’t you? Ah well, so much for honesty…. I’ll try to keep it down, but, sometimes, we just can’t help ourselves…..

Fuck it. Let’s get on with this, okay? I’m taking us in, willy-nilly, so, I’d suggest you hang on….

Shall we Pearl?

“If you cannot find it in yourself, where will you go for it?”

~~ Confucius ~~

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Richard & Mimi Fariña ~ Image from YouTube

I think everyone knows of Joan Baez, but, probably, her sister’s name escapes most people, even though during the 60’s, Mimi and her husband were as well-known in this country as was Joan. Richard and Mimi Fariña were, for a short time, the poster couple for the Free Speech Era and the folk music scene, until Richard’s death in a motorcycle accident on April 30, 1966. Wikipedia has a good article on each of them, for those who would like more information….. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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Mimi and Richard Fariña

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https://youtu.be/gWPjWh_EwBo?list=PLbr6NQ84vJ0qm8aWkGtEJMuqc9N7RSdwY

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As noted in the intro section, cheating will be the order of the day; this one, at least, makes it a bit easier to take, as it’s not too shabby, all in all…. Well, I liked it….

From 2/22/2013:

“Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I first read the Bhagavad Gita when I was about 17, and, along with the Tao Teh Ching, it has had a profound effect on my life, and the attitudes I bring to living it. The above verses are what led me to my belief in the mind’s immortality, as a form of energy like any other in this Universe, and subject to the Law of Conservation of Energy. This has served to remove the fear from Death for me, as I view it as a mere change of form, to one whose characteristics I do not know, or remember, from previous changes. Once fear is removed, Death becomes just another part of Life, and is welcome as such, for the inherent beauty it possesses as the complement to Life…..

“All anger arises out of obstructed desire.” — Bhagavad Gita

This is the second verse from the book that I found to be extremely valuable in learning to live with dignity, with honor, and without fear. This statement, by its very nature, implies that our anger is under our control, and places it into our bag of assets to be used when needed, rather than in our bag of liabilities, or, emotions that keep us from reaching our potential as humans, like fear, anger, greed, etc….. Fear can be seen as the desire to be safe from harm, obstructed, and thus becomes under our aegis of emotions that can be changed, by merely changing our desire…. By learning to deal with fear, anger becomes our ally, rather than our enemy…..

In turn, these two principles, when used conjointly, give us the emotional freedom to make clear decisions about reality’s demands and issues, without our emotional responses coloring the decisions with their negative outlook, and tendency toward denial and obstruction. We become immune to the storms that plague most people, for we know how to adjust our attitudes to suit the conditions under which we find ourselves, instead of falling prey to letting the circumstances dictate our response. True freedom, indeed…

Today, when I found this, I was immediately reminded of all of the things I had lost track of in the distractions of living, and the pain and anger I’ve been feeling since hearing the news of my brother’s illness fell away, no longer able to sustain their hold over my emotions, as I once more am able to see how this is not an issue to be angry about, but rather one to use as an opportunity to grow, and to perhaps be able to give my brother the love and support he needs, despite what he may want, in his own grief…. He is afraid, and trying to keep from either showing, or sharing that fear with his family, and I won’t allow him to die that way, or to be without his family, when it is so unnecessary…..

So, I am feeling better in that respect, and though I am still filled with sadness, I know now that is just my own self-pity, feeling sorry for myself for having to face his death…. Grief is, in truth, misplaced in looking at death, and in reality is more of a solace for the living, than it is a tribute to the dead; our grief is more a feeling of loss in ourselves than it is sorrow for their passing. But, it is not a time for sadness, ultimately, but rather a chance to acknowledge the beauty of a Universe that gives us this opportunity to experience the change in our consciousness….

I’m betting that when we change over, we are in a place where our minds are much more in tune with the very base of reality, and able to direct the formation of the next form it takes…. Hey, it makes as much sense as any of the other suggestions of what happens that I’ve heard, and has the advantage of fitting the facts of observable, recordable reality, pretty precisely….. and if I’m wrong, well, I’ll deal with that when I get there…. 🙂

I’ll tell you this quite frankly…. if the Christians are right, or the Muslims, or any of the other organized institutional churches, then I will definitely have a few words for whatever is passing itself off as God, to answer for the actions of His/Her/Its followers…. and I won’t be taking any BS for a response….

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.” — William Rose Benet

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Y’all know what happens next, right? One of my old poems, so nobody else can be blamed for any of this, or for that matter, for any of what happens today…. Hell, it even covers what MIGHT happen, as a logical result of our failure of freshness….

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

Everywhere is dark, and shining,
with points in dissonant pain.
Sharp, senses dull past divining,
tears burn, a torrential rain.

Escape! Flee within to cower,
find an unconscious cave.
Call on Morpheus’ power
deny reality’s beckoning wave.

Light breaks, drawing the inner eye,
leading to the slippery slope.
Risk is critical, we may only sigh,
yet welcome, for bringing hope.

Sanity seems far out of reach
Insanity’s a stronger friend.
Decisions made will merely teach
our way toward Death to wend.

Lost, while still on familiar ground,
the future yet undesigned.
Making way on paths unfound,
to Now, as yet undefined.

~~ gigoid ~~

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I had to go to the archives again for this one; sorry…. My back is KILLING me!…. I DID manage to find a good one, though….

From 2/23/2013:

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

After reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”, an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton (1843-1901)

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

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

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..

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One might think by this time in my life, pain wouldn’t be able to surprise me like this, giving me new fits of frustration at its ability to disrupt my life’s workings. I have reached a point of stability now, but, waking up in enough pain to cause weeping is never a good sign; days beginning that way have a tendency to go downhill from what is already a low point. If I wasn’t such a tough guy, I’d whimper….

However, since I AM such a tough guy, I can’t afford to let it stop me from doing what there is to be done, of which, this Pearl was the first item to get finished. Having done so, I am encouraged, enough to let this die a natural death, so as not to delay its journey to oblivion…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, pain, or no pain….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Ode to a Grecian fern….

Posted on March 17, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“His own character is the arbiter of every one’s fortune.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) ~~

~~ Maxim 283 ~~

3 owls in Russia-Olga Maltseva-AFP-Getty Images

Chased by all the demons of Hell, I awoke. Having spent much of the night running from the hosts of Hell, I awoke, to find myself once again deep in the throes of confusion, made worse by nausea, thanks to my traveling balance crystals, which have chosen this morning to go for a spin. Rather than return to the steeplechase, wherein I was the fox, I got up, stumbled out to boot up, and began to write…. Just my luck the only idea in my head has more to do with murder than literature…. Who do I want to murder? Oh, take your pick, it’s a long list….

I had hoped I’d gotten past this morning angst related to this intro section, but, apparently not. Oh well. I don’t have the chutzpah today to worry about it. Fortunately for me, about half this Pearl got done before I got up, so, we may yet meet our personal demands for publication by a certain hour. Of course, there’s no guarantee, given or implied, we’ll ever make it out of this section, though the odds are in our favor there. Despite all the problems I find obstructing the way during this process, we do get it done each day…. Well, it’s done, as long as we don’t try to call it anything like “good” or even “okay”….. I think “inoffensive” is the best we can hope for….

Nonetheless, here we are, so, I may as well try to make it something worth wasting a bit of time to peruse over your morning coffee or tea. In order to do so, however, I think I’m going to have to make another executive decision as to timing, to get us down to the next section. I know it’s not exactly kosher, but, I’m not of the Tribe, so, that isn’t a factor for me. Besides, I LIKE pork…. and, I like meat on Fridays, too, so, all you priestly types can just forget it…. Forget what? Hell, why ask me? I just type here….

Speaking of typing, I think I’ve typed quite enough for one morning; any more along these lines, and we could find ourselves in court again. I swear, when we started this, we never thought our legal budget was going to take up such a large part of the overall cost of business…. But, I guess that’s life in the modern world; the lawyers are entitled to their cut of my money, according to the rules we all play by…. Well, that’s how they’d like us all to behave, anyway…. Ah hell, see? I can’t even rant effectively right now…. ARGH!

Fuck it, ffolkes. I’m outta here. I can’t deal with trying to make this right, and it’s too late for that anyhow. Hang on to your hats, because I’m telling the pilot to take us in hot…. PUT THAT DOWN!…. That will be enough of that, thank you. Now, if y’all don’t mind, we will now take our leave, and go find something else to do, that won’t make us look so funny, or get us in any worse trouble than we’re already in…. Again, I say, fuck it….

Shall we Pearl?

“I’m not a teacher only a fellow traveller of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead – ahead of myself as well as of you.” — George Bernard Shaw, “Getting Married,” 1908

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Jennifer Warnes ~ Image from allmusic.com/Google images

http://www.jenniferwarnes.com/

I’m not sure how many ffolkes, or folks, will remember this lady. I know many will know her voice when hearing it, for she was part of a song duet which became a cultural icon during the 60’s, and, in fact, was one of the better known performers of that time, at least, among us hippies. This was because she was a contemporary, and frequent co-performer with many of the biggest names in music of that time, including Mimi Fariña, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, and, her best known collaborator from that era, Bill Medley, of the Righteous Brothers, with whom she sang the duet in the incredible “I Had the Time of My Life”, as revived for the movie, “Dirty Dancing”. She has also collaborated a lot with Leonard Cohen, whose work we highlighted here a short time ago… Enjoy, ffolkes; this lady can SING!….

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Jennifer Warnes

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https://youtu.be/bPlpxHhzSp0?list=PLfb5wJhuBA28GTLiTWlwzMLO8f9Z9v4na

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As noted above, I don’t have much going on this morning that isn’t tinged by a bit of incipient nausea; ranting is out of the question. This one from a few years ago will have to do for today…. Oddly enough, nothing much is changed from when this was first posted…. go figure….

From 6/6/2012:

“Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of a bitter and bloody persecution.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

See! They warned us, and we still didn’t listen! Almost every one of the men who were involved in the writing of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, at one time or another in the ensuing years, wrote a letter or essay discussing this very idea. They had just fought a long, hard battle to set up the safeguards for the freedoms we now supposedly enjoy, and were nervous that what they had accomplished would be lost in the future, due to the machinations of those among the human herd who make it their habit to prey on the rest of the group.

Corporations, and the politicians who take their money in return for legislation favoring those corporations, were considered just as dangerous to liberty as were religions; Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Mason, Adams, and a host of others all wrote their own version of warnings to their ancestors, naming rapacious corporate entities among the most dangerous enemies against which to guard. These men, who had already risked everything to create the nation we live in, had no desire to see that nation fall to internal enemies, and were careful to make sure that we would know…

But, nobody listened, and, now we are reaping what we have sown. Corporations control Congress. If you believe otherwise, you are delusional, quite simply. It is only necessary to go down the list of those who have been elected, and tally up how their votes go on issues that concern the control of corporate activities. It becomes perfectly clear that NO legislation that seriously hinders what corporations are allowed to do in their pursuit of profit will ever be enacted.

If something that appears to be beneficial to the public does get voted in, you can bet there are codicils and amendments to the bill that essentially emasculate any attempts to curtail profit. Congress hasn’t enacted any laws beneficial to the public in over 75 years, that I can see, and I invite anyone to show me one bill that did so. Just one…. then we can discuss how long it took to find it…. and what THAT little item of information means….

Back in the mid-nineteenth century in America, a corrupt Federal judge was paid by corporate interests to make a ruling that, in essence, gave corporations “person-hood”, making them legal entities entitled to all the protection of the laws that govern individuals. Essentially, this gave these businesses the “right” to a profit, and allows them to charge their customers for any expenses they wish, no matter how egregious or outlandish, and their right to that is protected by law.

Every legal decision challenging that personhood has been defeated in the intervening years, on those few occasions when anyone has tried to throw off the chains the law has placed on us all. The amount of money spent on lobbying, to control the laws that get made, far exceeds what is spent on education, healthcare, or almost any other publicly beneficial programs, and in the eyes of the 1%, it is money well-spent…..

Now, PAC’s for both the Democratic corporations, and the Republican corporations (yes, they are…. there is no real difference between the corporations and the pundits they have paid for; they’re speaking the same language, and have the same goals….) are all set to spend BILLIONS of dollars, dollars originally ripped out of YOUR pockets for stuff you don’t really want or need, to spread lies, misinformation, accusations, and prestidigitation around the public airways until we are all sick of it…..

Well, until some of us are…. I’m sick of it already, and they haven’t really ramped it up yet….. I think I’m going to go buy some aspirin to go along with my other pain medications; I can feel a headache coming on, and I don’t think it will let up until December….

“I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older.” — Michael de Montaigne

So be it.

gigoid has spoken.

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

I don’t know why, but, this one seems appropriate for today’s Pearl….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

This is what I would call a pearl of philosophy, for lack of anything more classy or brilliant. It has been specially constructed to conform to the highest standards of truth, as well as ethically and physically centered for your convenience; the purpose is to encourage using what you read, and ponder, to center your mind, and your spirit…. It can’t hurt to try, now, can it?….. I can tell you from personal experience, if you do it right, it works…. But, then, not everybody CAN do it; nothing wrong with that, as each one will work toward the same purpose in your mind, whether you know it or not…. Truth is like that; yeah, it is….

“Alone, I look down the road. Each must walk one’s own path.”

~~ 365 Tao ~~

“You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

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

~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~

“Nothing in human affairs is worth any great anxiety.”

~~ Plato ~~

“Without civic morality communities perish; without personal morality their survival has no value.”

~~ Bertrand Russell ~~

“Don’t be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it’s just death.”

~~ Lena Horne ~~

“To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.”

~~ Buddha~~

“Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

“Truth needs no flowers of speech.”

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

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

“Hopelessly lost, but making good time…” — David Letterman

Boy, that’s us, to a T! However, not only are we hopelessly lost, but, we have arrived, so, we can say we made good time, for sure… Hell, I’m not sure I’m all the way awake yet, so, I can only assume being done is the right thing to do….

Hmm… You know what? In looking back over that last sentence or two, I think it’s just as well we ARE done. Any more of this and we could be arrested for assault with an empty weapon. Since I can’t afford any more time in court, I’m definitely outta here for today. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can’t figure out a way out of it….

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 loo.se.
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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Portrait of the artist as a young fool….

Posted on March 16, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Murphy was an optimist.”

~~ O’Toole’s Commentary on Murphy’s Laws ~~

Ibiza, by Denise Anderson

Fat sausages sizzled on the grill, while loud rock played from a boom box in the corner. Pots clanged, dishes rattled, and voices raised above the din, crying out needs and curses above the frightful din, “Pick up #12!”, “Where’s my fish?” “Fool! I said sauté in HAZELNUT butter!” Nobody paid the slightest attention to the small boy, furtively sneaking around the edges of the babbling crowd, keeping to the wall as he made his way to the back door, leading into the alleyway. The boy kept his head down, silently wending his way between the fast-moving bodies like a small elephant calf among the forest of the adults’ massive legs…..

Okay, that’s plenty…. We’ll leave the boy to his business, and get on with this nonsense now…. Not that I have a single idea of how to get started…. The fictional opening wasn’t bad, but, it doesn’t seem to have landed me anywhere useful, in terms of where to go next. I suppose I COULD stop a moment, and actually THINK about it, but, what fun would that be? I need to type as fast as I can, anyway, before my fingers turn to painful lumps on the end of my arms, good for bludgeoning flies and beating myself on the forehead, and, that’s about it…. But, then, nobody cares, do they? Results are all that counts in this society, dag nab it…

Don’t worry, I’m not going to bust out into a rant this morning; I’m far to awake for that. I may, however, slip over into sheer nonsense at times, as I’m not sure just how to deal with this energy. It’s been a long while since I woke up after this many days of relatively good sleep; I’m not sure what to do with it, having gone so long without. Of course, the sleep was broken, as usual, by numerous nighttime trips up to the head, or to sit & tremble while my body adjusts to the lowering of the Norco for a while…. That’s all fairly normal, and part of getting old, I suppose; sleeping in full comfort is a thing of the past…. But, it’ll do, as it must….

Wow…. lookie there! It’s an exit! It’s been month since I saw one of the actual street signs; we generally come at them too fast to pick up on that. But, it’s a real one, with the serial number right there in plain sight (what does the number 666 mean?….). Any who, we’re going to use it, since we’re here, and have the chance. It isn’t often we make a fully legal entrance; it’s a good thing officer Willie doesn’t come by more often, or we’d be in court more than we’d like. For now, I’d suggest you put down your beverages, and hold on; we’re going in, and going in hard….

Shall we Pearl?

“Evil habits soil a fine dress more than mud; good manners, by their deeds, easily set off a lowly garb.” — Plautus

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

I yam what I yam, an’ that’s all what I yam…. I’m Popeye the Sailor Man!….

***********************

Popeye The Sailor

***********************

https://youtu.be/cq-B7lnfuhQ

***********************

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

“Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words;”

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

~~ Cleobulus, iv ~~

From 4/13/2013:

“Custom does often reason overrule and only serves for reason to the fool.” — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

This aphorism is one I think most people would accept as true, at least part of the time. It also points up what I see as a basic flaw in human nature, a characteristic that everyone possesses, and few overmaster. It has to do with our core beliefs, and the attitude we assume as our method of perception, the orientation of our world-view, as it were. We all perceive what is out there in the universe, but we are not capable, at this time, of understanding, or even noting, all that is there to be perceived, as we are limited to what we can see, hear, feel, touch, taste, or deduce, in our immediate vicinity…. We don’t yet know how to include the input of anything not in our physical presence, other than vicariously (via TV, radio, books, etc…..).

We do, however perceive what we are near, and what we do with those perceptions is what determines how the events of our lives will proceed. What is more, each one of us perceives all of this IN A DIFFERENT WAY….. Two people can look at the same article, or event, and see two entirely different things; just ask them….. We use the same senses, the same KIND of brains to process the data, at the same time to observe the same event, yet the interpretation of those events will vary, by as many degrees as there are people perceiving them. This unique ability, to process data in a completely new and different way from anyone else’s method, is, as might be guessed, both a blessing, and a curse….. It is the latter which concerns me today…..

In order to coexist in the same place and time, people have learned to accept certain perceptions as being identical, for the purposes of communication, e.g., everyone knows what “fire” is, and knows not to touch it barehanded…. (Note: in a way, this blog is all about the process of such communications…. We explore the reality that is consensual, the one we all agree to deal with as being the same for all of us…..) This is the blessing it gives, the opportunity to increase understanding, to allow people to work in tandem, making both much more capable, making two more than just one plus one….. This is a very useful tool in the real world, and has helped our species achieve the degree of civilization we now enjoy….

The other side of this characteristic has an equal part in our destiny, and, may be, in point of fact, the more important of the two, in the ultimate sense….. You see, we are all herd animals, and desire the approval and company of our peers; without it, we suffer, much more than we even know. It is not “human” to remain alone too long…. Oh, there is nothing wrong with solitude, and much great thought is achieved when one is not distracted by others….. On the other hand, a human who is alone for too long becomes a pale imitation of his/her true self, without the presence of other minds to test his/her theories, to discuss and share their feelings and accomplishments, to vent their frustrations, to experience love….. Without these things, our spirits become small, and lose their moral compass, leaving us adrift in a reality that seems dark, and dangerous….

This dependence on custom (which I define as the total construct of human society, the set of rules and regulations, all unwritten, by which all of us shape our behavior in respect to each other…..) is so strong that, as the aphorism states, one becomes willing to set reason aside, in order to keep and maintain our feeling of having a place in society. We will assume whatever mask that society demands, at times, in order to not have to wear a mask of our own devising, one that we do not find comfortable…. This is the curse of which I spoke….

‘Tis an unfortunate fact there are a number of people who have no compunctions whatsoever in using this human characteristic to their own ends….. They don’t believe in any of the crap they spew, but will say or do anything to make sure that others do, because this is how they control the general populace… They spread their lies, fast and often, until they are believed…. these lies promulgate fear amongst the uneducated and timid, who then demand that “something be done!” by those in charge…. which is exactly what those people wanted, for they can now proceed to further fan the flames of fear, while surreptitiously looting the public treasury to make it seem as if they are doing something constructive…. “Hey, they’re stealing our oil! Let’s spend a few billion to bomb the crap out of them so we can keep driving SUV’s, with great cup holders!”

Oh well, I guess that’s all the rant I’ve got in me today…. It’s kind of mild I know, but I was trying to be scholarly, rather than controversial and accusatory…. I think I’ve succeeded in that, but, it doesn’t quite give the same thrill and/or release as a good, nasty rant, with some great name-calling… Well, I can always call them assholes, because, hey, it fits, and it’s easy to type…. Any who, I’ll stop now, right on the edge of illumination, and allow the Gentle Reader to follow the train of my thought to its obvious conclusion…. For those too busy, or too lazy to do so, I’ll summarize….

Don’t listen to what anyone else says, not about YOUR perceptions. And, for sure, kick the asses of anyone who tries to convince you of their integrity in an elected capacity, or any position of authority…. A lot of people, on every level of society, are just trying to control you for their own purposes, and deserve any ass-kicking that comes their way…. Be like a cat…. cats don’t give a SHIT what anybody thinks, they just are….. No apologies, no fuss, just leave me alone, because I’m busy being a cat….. This is good advice, so, listen up, I’m trying to do you a favor….. 😆

“We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne _Essays_, bk. III, ch. 11 [1595]

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

A little change of pace from our usual reliance on my meager skills at poetry…. Enjoy, ffolkes, nonsense doesn’t get any better than this….

`Just the place for a Snark!’ the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.

‘Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.’

~~ Lewis Carroll ~~

~~ from THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK, an Agony in Eight Fits ~~

( full text at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Ws8CBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP2&dq=%60Just+the+place+for+a+Snark!%27+the+Bellman+cried,&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wssFVeqRLobtoATUpYGwBg&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%60Just%20the%20place%20for%20a%20Snark!%27%20the%20Bellman%20cried%2C&f=false

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

From 7/28/2012:

Caution: Old School Pearl Ahead. Gird Your Grids For A Big One…..

“Two babies were born on the same day at the same hospital. They lay there and looked at each other. Their families came and took them away. Eighty years later, by a bizarre coincidence, they lay in the same hospital, on their deathbeds, next to each other. One of them looked at the other and said, “So. What did you think?” — Steven Wright

A monk said to Joshu, “I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me.”
“Have you eaten your breakfast?” Joshu asked.
“Yes, I have,” replied the student.
“Then you had better wash your bowl.”

~~ Smart Buddhist Bee ~~

“TAPPING? You POLITICIANS! Don’t you realize that the END of the “Wash Cycle” is a TREASURED MOMENT for most people?!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” — Wicked Witch of the East

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

There, that should do it…. I’ve made this as clear as mud, obviously…. Don’t worry, though, it won’t be on the test…. In fact, it won’t even count toward graduation, not that we care about stuff like that…. But, it does make a good point, yes? Nod your head…..

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

I find little needs to be said at this point; it’s all fairly well covered above. If not, we’ll have to try again tomorrow, because I am NOT starting over. In fact, I’m outta here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Misfiring on all cylinders….

Posted on March 15, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.”

~~ Jules de Gaultier ~~

OMG! So SCARY!… Dragon Style Tai Chi!

So much for good intentions…. Having slept two full hours past my normal time to awake, I’m running WAY behind. As would be expected, this condition produces a mild feeling of panic, which I must throw aside, ignoring it to the best of my ability, if I am to have any hope of getting this done. Especially considering the state of mind I find myself in, which somewhat resembles a bowl of oatmeal…. Bland, inoffensive, and BORING…. even if it’s good for you…

So far as I can tell, that oatmeal isn’t overcooked, though, so, there is hope we may yet find our way into the body of today’s Pearl. Of course, that assumes I have the wherewithal to even produce something resembling our normal output. I’m not certain, exactly, how I’m getting THIS done, as I really don’t know what the hell I’m doing, or where I am going with this. More so than even our ‘normal’ state, we are somewhat befuddled, like a sloth awakened from a short sleep, blinking confusedly at the light, wondering just what or who I am…. SIGH….

Oh well. It’s been worse, I suppose, though I can’t recall when that might have been; past, present, future are all dark to me. In fact, so dark, rather than fumble around any further, with no clue as to what may occur next, I think I’ll use this handy, dandy plot device I found laying here, to get us out of this poorly conceived, yet hopefully mundane effort to distract y’all from the actual mess we’ve come to inhabit. I can’t do anything about the excessive sweating y’all had to undergo, but, I will loan y’all some deodorant to get you home without offending your car’s co-inhabitants.

In addition, we won’t charge any extra for the extra time it takes to clean off the debris from your clothing; it is, after all, our own fault, for trying to keep up with the times. Sad to say, we’ve never been able to catch up, but, it’s fun to keep trying. Since I can’t think of a single thing to do to keep this up any longer, I suggest you hang on….. this will be a very sharp, fast dive back into reality, where we may once again set our imaginations free…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Remember, ‘nowhere’ is also ‘now here’.” — Smart Bee

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

When my soul needs uplifting, there is nothing like this woman’s music to lift us up…. I have been madly in love with her for almost 50 years…. Brilliant guitarist, red hair, a gorgeous smile. and the voice of an angel…. What’s not to love? I give you the woman I call the finest female musician of the past century…. Ms. Bonnie Raitt….

***********************

BONNIE RAITT Live in Germany 1992

***********************

https://youtu.be/FeprNTw9Wcc

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

From 1/29/2015:

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.” — Johann L. Uhland (1787-1862) — Speech, May 27, 1836

Zowie! Eureka! I knew I’d heard this somewhere before, but, couldn’t remember the author’s name. In stating this observation, made not long after the US government was formed, the author takes the hand of Thomas Jefferson, who expressed his fear of exactly this happenstance, in numerous letters to friends before, and after, the signing of the Constitution. He recognized the overpowering ambition and thirst for power so obvious in those who embrace it, attempting to warn his fellow citizens, many times….

As is plain to see, nobody paid the slightest attention, whereupon the bankers, in close conjunction with their myrmidons, i.e., the pundits and lawyers, continued to pursue their evil intent, to secure their hold over government, and, thus, society…. They’ve been so successful, we see in today’s world, they control every level of the national scene; witness the number of Republican presidential candidates who have been sucking up to the Koch brothers, and the Citizens United PAC, with their unlimited pile of money, in use in today’s world buying the loyalty of every single politician they can pervert to their insane desire to make the world over in their own image…. It doesn’t seem to matter at all to them that image is a clear, crisp photograph of the worst HELL imaginable, or that it would entail oppressing 99% of the human race….

Why are many scientists using lawyers for medical experiments instead of rats?

a) There are more lawyers than rats.

b) The scientist’s don’t become as emotionally attached to them.

c) There are some things that even rats won’t do for money.

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Gee, do ya think I’ve lost some of my respect for lawyers, and their second-slimiest clients, the bankers? (First place in my hell is reserved for pimps, and those who abuse women, children, or animals…. which, of course, lawyers and bankers do by proxy, with their usual complete indifference to the suffering of others….) Why no, of course not. I’ve lost ALL of it, with what I consider damn good reason, based on 64 years of observing the human drama, along with my own personal experience with both categories of asshole…. The only respect for any of them I have, is for those who actually HELP people, without considering what they can get out of it, other than their own satisfaction for helping people find justice, and a reasonable fee for that help, whether the fee is taken in pies & chickens, eternal gratitude, or simply cash….

In keeping with today’s theme of picking on lawyers and bankers, and, to save energy for my upcoming battle, I decided to pick out an old school pearl, aimed at the former, as they’re an easier target, all in all…. They’re just SO…… weaselly! Well, there are some are exceptions, sure, but, the others infest the world so prominently, the good ones are hard to find…. Ah well, here are some observations about them, from Smart Bee, and a number of other people who feel the same as most everybody else, about those lawyers who use their skills to benefit themselves, showing complete indifference as to whether it benefits anyone else….

Liar, n.: A lawyer with a roving commission. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“A group of white South Africans recently killed a black lawyer because he was black. That was wrong. They should have killed him because he was a lawyer.” — A. Whitney Brown

“Always take a lawyer with you, and bring another lawyer to watch him.” — Bo Diddly’s Observation on the Law

“Fleas can be taught nearly everything a lawyer can.” — Smart Bee

“Here’s an amazing story. A man in Orlando, Florida, was hit by eight cars in a row and only one stopped. The first seven drivers thought he was a lawyer. The eighth was a lawyer.” — Jay Leno

“If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?” — Smart Bee

“In a man’s world…simian aptitudes are rated high, and so not too many women get in. To succeed as a lawyer, for example, a woman would have to throttle two of her chief attributes: her disdain for the petty accumulations of useless knowledge, and her sharp feeling for the truth. What men in their imbecility consistently mistake for a deficiency of intelligence in women is merely an incapacity for mastering small and trivial tricks.” — H. L. Mencken, Chicago _Sunday Tribune_, January 8, 1928

“In the Norse mythology Loki originally was on the side of the rest of the gods, helping them once or twice using particularly nasty forms of trickery. He was a cunning negotiator with a talent for technicalities. He was sort of the Norse equivalent of a lawyer, no doubt the reason they tied him down in a pit dripping acidic venom on him.” — Martin Terman

“How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? You won’t find a lawyer who can change a light bulb. Now, if you’re looking for a lawyer to screw a light bulb… ” — Smart Bee

LAWYER: A professional advocate hired to bend the law on behalf of a paying client; for this reason considered the most suitable background for entry into politics. — Definition from “THE CYNIC’S DICTIONARY”

Needless to say, I could do this forever, no sweat, or guilt; there are already nine pearls, and I’ve only used three of the ten pages of quotes I’ve collected on the subject. But, I suppose there ARE more productive things we could all be doing. This is pretty cool, but, as with all good things, it can’t last forever…. Onward, into the day….

Oh, hell…. Naturally, AFTER I’ve finished, I find the PERFECT pearl for this group. Since we’ve already completed it, I’ll just tack it here on the end, where it will enjoy its highlighted position; I call it perfect because it takes a shot at two categories at once, both of which are current players in my personal drama…. This one tells it like it is, for sure and for certain….

“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov

gigoid has spoken…

So be it.

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

In order to avoid blame, and keep to the now ruined schedule, here is another of my older poems….

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, tongue firmly in cheek ~~

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

So, I have no idea where this pearl came from…. I found it sitting here when I came down to start on this section. I’m not entirely sure what it’s saying, but, it definitely has something to say…. I’d pay attention, if I were y’all… there might be something in there more important than it seems at first read…. It won’t be on the Quiz, unless, of course, they’re lying to me, too….. Ah well, it’s a fun read, anyway, so, enjoy!….

“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.” — Plato (BC 427?-347?)

“I know now that there’s one thing you’ve all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn’t been tempered by human affection isn’t worth a damn.” — Daniel Keyes, “Flowers for Algernon”

“Everything is leaf, and through this simplicity the greatest diversity becomes possible.” — Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832)

“All cats are NOT gray after midnight. Endless variety …” — Lazarus Long

“If it is not seemly, do it not; if it is not true, speak it not.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, xii, 17

“We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.” — Seneca

“Living Dead the path is chosen; to live forever is to die forever. To not know when you’ll die is to find life wherever you are.” — Alagad

“The chief aim of wisdom is to enable one to bear with the stupidity of the ignorant.” — Xystus I

Ne te confundant illegitimi (Don’t let the bastards get you down…) (alt: Don’t let illusion confuse you…) (Literal: lest you confuse Illegitimate) — Smart Bee

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

Well…. Considering this Pearl was composed and created from relative scratch in just under 58 minutes, it came out fairly well…. I’m not going to even THINK about proofing, as it might take longer than the original creation. Y’all know what that means; you are hereby released from any further need to remain on the premises; all legal action has been canceled. Me, I’m outta here, before I change my mind…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Apricot puree, or pineal glands?…

Posted on March 11, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“What one fool can do, another can.”

~~ Ancient Simian Proverb ~~

Farm in Indonesia, formerly on dry land.

Soon to be inundated due to rising waters from global warming.

You gotta love serendipity. Well, maybe YOU don’t, but, I do. Especially when it applies to these Pearls….. Once again, my brain is on early-morning strike, in a manner of speaking, making the creation of today’s mess problematic to an extreme degree. Fortunately for all of us, the Pearls at the bottom of the page have furnished me with enough archived material, appropriate to the day, to use today to complete my chosen duty. Hallelujah!…

You see, I’ve got way less than nothing today; I don’t even have any excuses. My pain is present, yes, and so is the usual angst; this provides the impetus to go into literary trance-mode, which keeps me from giving in to depression…. it’s quite an effective routine, when it works. But, getting into the trance state can be a problem when…. well, that’s just it. I don’t KNOW when it will happen; it just does…. Thus, having material to fall back on becomes a saving grace…. and just in time, too….

But, we won’t go any further into the process now, as we need to get on with this…. I hate to use it again, but, nothing works quite so well as our old standby, emergency method #4, so, we’ll go with that, just so we can say we tried. We’re going to try a new maneuver today, a special route down into the oyster beds, which we’ve not used before; it involves a bit of aerial acrobatics that may cause some spillage, so, please make sure your adult beverages are securely fastened to the clips provided, and the lid is on tightly…. You’ll like it better if you do…. Okay, hang on, ffolkes, here we go….

Shall we Pearl?

“What Chinese prophet did we annoy? Interesting times, my ass.” — gigoid, paraphrased by SB

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Image from laughingsquid.com

Somehow, for today’s Pearl, this seems most appropriate; go figure…. Ladies and germs, I give you the world’s strangest mind…..

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Steven Wright Special (1985)

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http://youtu.be/UB8ZDrNb3B0

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From 2/15/2013:

“How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes a really long time and the light bulb has to want to change.” — Smart Bee

Boy, if it wasn’t for the power of metaphor, I would be lost!….. This statement, though presented in a manner that makes it obviously a joke, is actually quite serious in its relevance to sanity, psychiatry, and how the mind works, in general. I worked for many years in the field of mental health care, as a therapist, and I can tell you quite honestly, that this is absolutely true, in many cases of what the rest of society terms insanity….. a word, and a concept, that most of society avoids at all costs, and completely misunderstands, for the most part…. You see, every person who lives in this society on Earth today is just a little insane, with some of them reaching higher levels through their own efforts to excel…… 🙂 Society itself is insane, you see; one needs to be the same in order to effectively cope….

It may surprise some ffolkes to know that they are insane; I know it surprised me when I first became aware. We all go through our lives with a certain image of ourselves; very rarely does the image in our minds look insane. But, let me assure you, there really isn’t any visible way to be able to tell if a person is insane, as it is completely invisible, under most circumstances, as long as the person isn’t speaking, or acting in some way that provides a clue as to their inner state of mind. Even for those of us trained in recognizing its presence, through the use of observation of other defining characteristics, there is no guaranteed method for spotting someone with a mental condition, unless they give it to you up front by acting out in some overt fashion.

Sure, there are tells, as a gambler would say…. when one eye is happily spinning in the opposite direction as the other, it’s a pretty good sign of some inner turmoil…. Pacing and mumbling to oneself, back and forth in a small area, while ignoring all around them, can be another dead giveaway of someone who is experiencing a few extra perceptions in comparison to the rest of us. Sometimes, really bad grooming can be a sign that the person’s mind isn’t focused on how they affect others, and staring at a wall, holding what appears to be a conversation with oneself, can be another indication that not all is well in that person’s world….

But, without some overt signs such as these, you just can’t spot mental illness; in addition, it’s extra hard to see it in one’s own image, since we tend to clean that up before we look at it, or try to share it. And, since EVERYONE ELSE is also insane, at least a little, it can be hard to spot, for the same reason one cow in a herd is hard to pick out. You may have heard the old saw about “one in four people are insane, so if you have three sane friends, it’s you”….. What would be more accurate to say is, “all of you are insane, but three of you are coping well with it in an effective manner, and one isn’t…. ”

It’s helpful to know that the overt signs one may see are indicative of the severity of the condition, i.e., the more acting out one observes, the more severe the break in the mental state. But, that isn’t always accurate, as normally sane folks, acting in the grip of strong emotion, can show the same kind of acting out, with the difference of not having it occur all the time, but only when provoked. Thus, it can be seen, it can be very difficult to judge whether a person is insane, or merely temporarily out of control…..

This is where I bring it all together, by referring back to the original pearl…. Coping with life can drive anyone crazy; it does so, every day….. Some cope with it better than others; those are the people who are considered to be sane, as they can deal with reality without resorting to outlandish ways of dealing with their fears. Those who cannot find ways of coping with their fears, arising from what reality gives us to deal with, often end up acting in ways that are strange and uncomfortable for the rest of us. Often, as well, their behaviors become dangerous, in a physical sense, for them, and, for those around them…..

In all my experience, with every kind of mental illness I observed, in almost 30 years working in mental hospitals, the primary characteristic of those who got better was clearly due to the simple process of making up their own minds to do so…. That’s it…. Simple as it may seem, deciding to give up the methods they used, and make a change, was always based on a personal decision on their part; it was, clearly, THE key ingredient in the regime of ideas, medicines, therapies, and treatments used to combat their illness. In other words, it took a long time, and they first had to want to change….. Without that, nothing worked…. It is a well known aphorism among mental health therapists that, “they get better IN SPITE of what we do, not because of it….”

So, if you’re getting worried about your own coping skills, just keep in mind that to remain sane, it means you have to want to do so…. But, that’s all it takes, if your are sincere, for you will do whatever else is needed, once your will power has been engaged…. That’s what people do….

“Great minds think alike, apparently so do we.” — D. Bennett

“Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?” — James Thomson (1700-1748) — The Seasons, Summer, Line 67

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Here is a poem from one of my absolute favorite poets; I’ve never seen a poem from her that didn’t have a strong effect on the reader. I am not sure exactly why, but, her words are, somehow, even more powerful than they seem to be…. Whatever it is, it makes for some incredible poetry, such as this….

Mad Girl’s Love Song

“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you’d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

Brilliant! Absolutely, insanely brilliant!

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Not too shabby for random parameters, I think… Today’s final old-school pearl is comprised of some good stuff; observations on living which, if not already present in your goody bag, should be amongst the stuff you’ve learned this far into the game…. If it’s all stuff you know, well, it’s always good to remember…. and, remember also; practice helps, because the mind is much like all your other muscles and organs. It works best if used a lot, and well….

“If you don’t care where you are, you ain’t lost.” — Rune’s Rule.

“I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.” — Nikos Kazantzakis

“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) — Inscription beneath his bust in the Hall of Fame

“No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” — J.K. Rowling, The Man with Two Faces, — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 1997, — spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore

“Of all the strange “crimes” that human beings have legislated out of nothing, “blasphemy” is the most amazing–with “obscenity” and “indecent exposure” fighting it out for second and third place.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book i, Chap. xxxviii, Of Solitude

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I love it when I beat the odds; they weren’t very good at the start of today’s effort. Since it came out so well, as such things go, I’ll apply the “gift horse” theory of acquisition, & take my leave post haste. If things go anything like I’ve planned, I’ll see y’all tomorrow; if not, well, I’ll see y’all tomorrow, bloody and bowed though I may be…. 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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Probably impossible? Or, possibly probable? You decide….

Posted on March 7, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I am deeply CONCERNED and I want something GOOD for BREAKFAST!:

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Artist’s rendition of Mars One Colony’s first landing. Picture from Space.com

We all must, at one time in our lives, or another, learn to deal with disappointment. Today is one of those times…..

You see, there is no time to complete this Pearl today; I have urgent business to take care of today, and this blog isn’t QUITE important enough to take precedence over Reality. Of course, that has not always been the case, but, today we have to pay attention, if we hope for any kind of successful resolution to the issue…. All that being said, what this means is another day of cheats….

I feel compelled to point out, however, we could have said nothing about it, letting y’all believe we were being fresh and creative today, instead of merely dutiful. So, if y’all want a less honest blog, well, you’re out of luck there, as well…. Of course, such honesty has no actual effect on the issue, but, it does make me feel better about all of it, so….

That’s all, ffolkes. We’re bailing early again, using #4 method like it was candy….. I’m kind of digging it; how about y’all? Well, either way, we’re outta here for today, so, grab the closest handhold, and we’ll go directly to our destination, where we can begin today’s dive…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.” — Cicero

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Spacecraft Dawn approaching Dwarf Planet Ceres Orbit, Space.com

The exploration of our own solar system seems to be progressing nicely, in spite of all the crap going on back here on Earth, in most other areas of human endeavor, such as politics, culture, and, our mad rush toward extinction via environmental disaster, created by our own hand…. It is projects like this in which our salvation as a species exists, in my humble opinion…. We are destined for space, if we can live long enough to get there….

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Dawn Probe Orbits Dwarf Planet Ceres: Full Coverage

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http://www.space.com/28736-dawn-spacecraft-ceres-arrival-full-coverage.html?cmpid=559175#ooid=tzYWFwczo6m5bujUhVXnZSQufeSZ3kQJ

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As promised, here is one from the archives…..

From 3/2/2013:

“He who imitates evil always goes beyond the limits of the example, whereas he who imitates what is good, always falls short.” — Confucius

Perfect! If ever a quote could be applied to fit one group of people, this one would; it fits the folks who occupy elected office in this country like the proverbial glove. Ooh! Ooh! Here’s another one…

“Ignorance: When you don’t know something and somebody finds it out.” — Jethro Burns

Okay, that’s a good start…. Now, we all know that politicians lie to us…. It’s what we’ve taught them to do, by our calm acceptance of all the other lies they’ve told, from the very beginning. We expect them to lie… then, when we catch them at it, there is this huge public outcry, as if it had never happened before. Sometimes, the behavior of the American public toward the political beast reminds me of a shark…. to wit: no memory of the past to slow down their willingness to rush into dangerous situations….. For millions of years, sharks and dolphins have lived together in the oceans. For just about all that time, whenever a shark attacks a dolphin, it gets killed, unless the dolphin is injured in some way, or, it is a baby inadvertently left alone. Always, if things are even, the shark dies, because the dolphins are smarter, and faster swimmers.

After millions of years, you would think the sharks might learn to let them alone, but, they don’t, which is evidence of their lack of ability to learn. The American voting public has the same problem…. they never learn to expect to be lied to, and always seem surprised to learn that their elected officials are, shall we say, less than perfectly honest? It, quite frankly, drives me nuts…. What is it about people that does that to them? Why are they so unwilling to use the mind that sits between their ears, rather than just carrying it around from toilet to toilet, which is all most folks seem to do with it? (Almost forgot it was a question….) I wish I knew….

“There is one way to find out if a man is honest–ask him. If he says yes, you know he is crooked.” — Groucho Marx

I’m starting to feel a bit of anger, actually, and I have a hard time not letting it out on the voting public, the idiots. But, it really isn’t all their fault, as the people who run for office are the ones who are actively imitating evil, and, obviously, exceeding the limits of their example. And the voting public can’t help never being able to quite reach the good for which they reach. This is why I get angry about it…. The folks who run for office tell the public they are going to work for the people when they are elected; we all know they are lying, but we elect them anyway. Now, how stupid is that? Pretty stupid, in my book…..

On the one hand, the stupidity displayed by the politicians is deliberate, in its adherence to principles of theft and prevarication; on the other hand, the stupidity displayed by the voting public is, perhaps, not deliberate, but at minimum, misguided, and, ultimately, just as evil, in placing its trust in evil people. In the dispassionate view held by the universe, stupid is as stupid does, and the sentence of death is the same for both types of stupidity, deliberate and unconscious. It doesn’t care about why, it only looks at results….

What can be done about this? Not a damn thing…. Not only do I find that most people are unconsciously stupid, but they are stubborn about it, even when it is clear how being stupid is hurting them. Rather than use their minds to find a new way of dealing with these issues, they retreat into platitudes and dogma, and run right back out to vote for another idiot who promises them manna from heaven, or, more accurately, from Washington D.C. If confronted with their idiocy, they become even more stubborn, as they are unwilling to accept they might be wrong, and refuse to either examine any evidence of being wrong, or, will deny its existence altogether.

The politicians, who choose to live in stupidity, by lying and cheating and stealing from their own people, don’t even WANT to choose otherwise. Why should they? They’ve got it easy, with a ready supply of host bodies on which to practice their symbiotic parasitism, a body that not only accepts all their lies, but encourages them to even further depredations with their complete acquiescence with whatever the politicos want. All the politicians have to say is that the public is in danger, from this, that, or the other, and the public will allow them to do whatever they choose, as long as they feel safe from whatever fictional fantasy they have been told is dangerous…..

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein

It’s an interesting spectacle to observe from the sidelines, but it arouses in me a strong feeling of sadness, with the anger underlying, as I watch, day after day, as so many millions of foolish people get taken advantage of by a few assholes. It definitely makes me want to buy a gun, even though I would only use it if pressed; I have a feeling I may get pressed some day, if I continue to make noise about all this.

I’m fairly well protected thus far by a lack of notoriety; the BRC and the PTB aren’t going to worry about me until I have an audience a lot larger than a couple of hundred folks, of which perhaps fifty regularly read my work. If what I am saying began to gain popularity, and was being read by millions, I’d be in danger; until then, I’m as safe as I can make myself with the tools at hand… which, if I say so myself, are not entirely inconsequential…. If I said any more, I’d be giving away my precautions, and that wouldn’t do, so, just rest assured… I am ready to deal with anything short of assault weapons, with what I have on hand…..

“Many, if not all, of my presidential opponents are certifiable idiots.” — Miriam Defensor Santiago — The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1993

See? I’m not completely alone! Actually, if you pay close attention, you will note this was uttered by a politician, about their peers, so it really doesn’t count as support of what I’m saying here. What, exactly am I saying here? Hmm, okay, since I’ve already written about 1200 words or so on this, it’s a good place to wind it up…. so, here goes…

Ffolkes, you are being lied to, daily, and hourly, by those who have been elected to office to look out for your interests. I hate to tell you, but those folks never intended to do anything of the sort. So, it would be a good thing if everybody in this country would OPEN THEIR FUCKING EYES AND GET A DAMN CLUE!!!!!….. I don’t think I can say it any clearer than that….. That’s all, for now…..

“Ignorance kills daily. “– Smart Bee

So be it.

gigoid has spoken

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I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled–
Some thousands–on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,–
Death is but one and comes but once
And only nails the eyes.

There’s grief of want, and grief of cold,–
A sort they call ‘despair,’
There’s banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross
Of those that stand alone
Still fascinated to presume
That some are like my own.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Here’s a cute little pearl, a seven-star gem, which seems to be talking about Life at Large….

“There’s always a bigger fish.” — Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I

“The crash of the whole solar and stellar systems could only kill you once.” — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

“Cato said the best way to keep good acts in memory was to refresh them with new.” — Francis Bacon (1561-1626) — Apothegms, No, 247

“If a rock falls on your head it does positive harm, but shame, disgrace, reproaches, and insults are damaging only in so far as you’re conscious of them.” — Erasmus

“For some, reality is an illusion.” — Smart Bee, talking behind gigoid’s back, again…

“He that feareth is a slave, were he never so rich, were he never so powerful. But he that is without fear is king of all the world.” — E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros

“I feel better about world problems now!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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‘Tis done. Nothing else matters, though attempts are made which cannot be dismissed. Rather than do so, we will take our leave, without any sort of explanation as to why we are stuck in the royal “we”…. We will try to lose it by tomorrow…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if we get the chance….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

First the socks, THEN the shoes….`

Posted on March 6, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ~~

Terry Virts, US Astronaut, in tribute to Spock, from the International Space Station

NASA picture, above Leonard Nimoy’s home, Boston, Massachusetts

Yes, thank you, I do know I’m late. Yes, there are things I can do to mitigate that. The question remains, should I? The next question, naturally, brings with it more responsibility, and, more inner conflict, arising out of the state of concrete, the substance my brain resembles the most at this moment in time, to wit: does this mean there won’t be any toast points?

Now, many of you, seeing such a demanding philosophical euphemism, will think I’ve slipped right round the bend for good. In that, you may be correct, but, it doesn’t preclude the need to find some sort of order, if we are ever to make it out of the intro section. If nothing else, we’ll need to find all the VR helmets, to provide the alternative reality you are entitled to, according to the small print on the back of your ticket…. If we can’t find them, I don’t think we’ll be able to float this boat today…. not that the Universe gives a good fuck….

If it did, it wouldn’t make me sleep so long, or feel so confused upon arising from the almost five hours I managed to put in pounding my pillow. Since it doesn’t, we’re going to fight fire with fire, and get pissed of right back….. Oh, wait. That’s probably not a good idea; we never did find that last group, from the last time this happened…. I almost forgot about that. Well, the insurance won’t cover another lost group, so, I suppose we’ll have to figure out something else today….

I know…. I’ll just give up. I haven’t tried that yet, so, it’s worth a shot….

Hmm…. I don’t know if I actually know how to do that; I can’t recall ever doing so previously. Okay, we’ll just play it safe, and use our ever-faithful emergency method #4 again…. Y’all know how this goes, right? Right. Hang on….

Shall we Pearl?

“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

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The Red Priest ~ Antonio Vivaldi

Google Images

Today, we will go for soothing…. This piece is, without any doubt, the concerto I consider my favorite of all the classical music I’ve heard…. This is the literal truth; I can spend hours listening to it, over, and over….. It’s one of those pieces of music one never gets tired of hearing…. Enjoy!….

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Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi

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http://youtu.be/GRxofEmo3HA

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I am so late, cheating is allowed; it’s all part of the mitigation process, ffolkes…. No worries, this one isn’t too long, and is perfectly appropriate for this time of year, coming up on April 15, the date that lives in infamy…. Well, in this country, anyway….

From 12/22/2014:

“It seems a little silly now, but this country was founded as a protest against taxation.” — Smart Bee

This rant has been percolating for some time; the quotes you will see scattered throughout the text were collected over the course of several days, during Smart Bee sessions looking for other material to support different sections. These all had some connection to the same politireligirant, the same one I’ve been working on so long, my spell checker doesn’t even blink at the word any more….

The pertinence of the opening quote struck me with considerable force, as it coincided with receiving a bill from one of the huge corporate entities so familiar to us all today; the logo of this particular fake person closely resembles the Death Star, strangely enough, which is probably enough for you to identify it…. In this bill, I noted that the figures quoted to me, as pertaining to a service I ordered, had been inflated in the final tally by a number of taxes, from local, state, and federal agencies, none of which had been mentioned as part of the price…. This didn’t count the “surcharges”, or the mandatory “monthly equipment rental fee”, also added on to the price without mention.

I once read a blog post by another person which tallied up all the different taxes to which we, as American citizens, are required to pay at one time or another during our lives…. There were well over a HUNDRED taxes listed, such as Death taxes, (we get taxed for dying?….), Inheritance taxes, (a tax on the survivors of those who have died….), Sales taxes, Use taxes, from every level of government, and a host of others, some of which I’d never heard of, but, are on the books…. It’s astounding to see how we Americans have BECOME the very people our ancestors warned us against becoming, to wit: slaves of the corporations and churches….

“… men say the gods have a king because they themselves either are or were in ancient times under the rule of a king, For they imagine not only the form of the gods, but their ways of life to be like their own.” — Aristotle, Politics

Here we see, perhaps, part of the reason for the apathy most Americans display regarding the responsibility for governing their own lives; it is easier for them to just accept all the lies. Finding truth can be a difficult task, which most people learn to avoid early in life, thus giving control of those lives into the hands of any who will manipulate them…. Plus, there is a large percentage of our species who not only don’t like to think, but, spend a large portion of their time on this planet ensuring that nobody else does so, either….

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer

For the most part, though, people just don’t care, because they don’t have the time or energy to spare for anything other than the bare essentials of living; finding shelter, food, and companionship takes up 99% of their minds and attention, leaving little time to wonder about whether or not any of what they do is helpful, or will actually do anything to make their lives better…. So, they listen to anyone who will tell them what they want to hear, who will fulfill that need to have someone else do the worrying about the future…. This, of course, only gives the predators more control….

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis, dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 — U.S. 479 (1928)

I’ve been pounding this point for a couple years now, with little effect, beyond the release I feel for getting it out of my head. That’s a big help to me, but, it isn’t having much of an effect on the overall picture, nor will it, until human nature itself undergoes some radical changes…. If I weren’t such a realist, I’d hold out some hope for that, but, quite frankly, I don’t see it happening….

I’ve run out of steam; the combination of futility plus pain plus dying hope makes any further comments I might relate completely superfluous…. not that they were ever critical in any sense…. other than in their essential truthfulness. But, this is already long enough, so, I’ll just dump y’all right here, and finish off the rant with a short set of pearls to drive the point home…. IF it strikes y’all, feel free to spread the point around… It can’t hurt, and it just might help. One never knows, do one?….

“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…’ — Frank Zappa

“A statesman is what politicians call themselves.” — Smart Bee

“No matter how often a lie is shown to be false, there will remain a percentage of people who believe it is true.” — Law of the Lie

“Will Rogers never met Rush Limbaugh.”– Smart Bee

“When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.” — Max Lerner

So be it.

gigoid has spoken

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The following is not a poem, technically; however, it’s still poetry, in my book…. And, yes, I know the picture is Buddhist, and the quote is Taoist…. I don’t think either Lao Tzu, or Gautama Buddha will mind…..

Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being
You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn.
Search your own heart and see
the way to do is to be.

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

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

The following pearl is of a very special sort…. it chose itself. I have nothing to do with it, other than functioning as a pair of hands for my subconscious mind, working in close conjunction with Smart Bee, to produce a pearl of great obscurity, and great power, I suspect…. This is one of those pearls which will work on us unconsciously, in the dark corners of our minds, hiding the conclusions until the proper moment comes, then bursting into our awareness like a meteor across the sky….. Well, maybe that’s just me…. I think y’all will enjoy it, though, as long as you don’t try to fight it….

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

~~ Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky” ~~

“Tighten ’til it cracks, then back off half a turn.” — Mechanics’ Rule

“There’s something you don’t see every day.” — Ghostbusters

“Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart.” — Steven Stills

“I am not a number. I am an unbound variable.” — Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid

“When the wind blows, worship its roar.” — Pythagoras

“You cannot teach a crab to walk straight.” — Aristophanes

“In the jingle-jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.” — Bob Dylan

And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

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

All things considered, today’s Pearl can be considered a victory. Now, all we need to do is find a place to hide the bodies….. While I do that, y’all can get on with your day, knowing we’ll meet here again tomorrow, as long as the authorities don’t catch on to what we’re up to….. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Wild to be born….

Posted on March 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Thales said there was no difference between life and death.

“Why, then,” said some one to him, “do not you die?”

“Because,” said he, “it does make no difference.”

~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Thales, ix ~~

Reel Art, by Ferdinand de Faux

Mornings scuk. Or, skcu. Hell, they uksc. Damn, what’s up with that? Mornings SUCK! There, that’s better….

I haven’t a clue as to why that word refused to be typed correctly until it was shouted… It did get the point across though, that point being the suckitude we are experiencing today…. It is, perhaps, too early to be coining new words, perfectly relevant though they may be; I do like this one, though. “Suckitude” has a lot of chutzpah, telling a story of misery and blahness quite accurately…. Hey, look, it’s another new word! I’d better be careful, I think; we haven’t filed any papers on any of these, and the grammar nazis can be fierce here on WP….

In fact, I think I’ll stop taking chances right here, right now. I’m not in any kind of space to deal with those protectors of modern English; they get too fanatic for me…. In fact, I don’t have much at all today, not in the way of bright, or clever, or even rational. In fact, I’ll be very fortunate to be able to pull this Pearl into any sort of reasonable shape to get posted. In the interests of getting that chosen Duty done, I’m going to ruthlessly employ our most efficient, most eco-friendly, and, most importantly, our cheapest method for moving us along, to wit: emergency tool #4, which, as y’all know, works like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” — Groucho Marx, 1890-1977

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

Today’s video isn’t for fun; it does fine as entertainment, but, the subject matter is a bit more relevant than that…. I won’t suggest you enjoy it, but, you would do well to pay attention…

**************************

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Infrastructure (HBO)

**************************

http://youtu.be/Wpzvaqypav8

**************************

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

I have nothing. This one, from the archives, will have to do….

From 2/10/2014:

“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” — Oscar Wilde

It’s almost certain now…. I’m convinced the government is actively restraining themselves in this past week, deliberately trying to NOT do anything that makes the news…. The only articles in the past few days are all just follow-up stories on other older news, or what are called ‘fluff’ pieces, designed merely to take up space on the page, without actually serving up any real information about anything important…. Kind of like the “Dumb” Starbucks story today in the SFGATE headlines…. You know there is probably a conspiracy to control the news when the primary article on a Monday morning has to do with a corporate logo dispute in Southern California….

Now, one might surmise that this means that the psychopaths who inhabit the halls of government in this country are busy carrying on the business of the nation, out of plain sight in order to avoid distractions…. It would be more accurate, I’d think, to say they are definitely involved in the hatching of new schemes, er, making of plans, plans for making progress in their chosen task, that of total world domination…. Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh…. But, you can bet your bony ass that whatever they’re up to, will benefit themselves more than it does anyone else… They can’t help that, it’s a genetic imperative for them…. They are preconditioned to selfishness, and a complete lack of compassion for others….

Oh, these sickos we have in our elected offices are slick, though, aren’t they? To look at them, and to hear them talk, you’d think they did nothing but sit around all day and worry about how tough things are for you, and the rest of the common masses over whom they preside, with the implied purpose of spending all their time looking for ways to improve your lot…. It often astounds me just how many idiots in the mainstream of society will talk as if what I just described is the gospel truth, and goes to describe their own chosen heroes in the public eye…. They will go to any lengths to convince others of their candidate’s sterling qualities, often going so far as to claim a touch of nobility upon the brow of their champion….

I no longer bother even telling those folks how stupid they are, because they’re already addicted to the sugar that is poured into their ears, to take the place of real information, or actual intelligent ideation…. Hell, even when one speaks to them, they refuse to listen to anything that disagrees with their own misconceptions…. I used to try to convince them of how they were hurting themselves with their blind obedience to a shadow, but, I got tired of bandaging my forehead, after beating it against the wall of their stubborn ignorance….

Instead, I started making Pearls, and, in the solace of that task I found the peace my mind needs to continue to think clearly, as well as the means to say what needs to be said, even if I’m the only one who knows what the hell I mean…. Hence, it becomes clear that I have once more completely pulled wool over the eyes of those present, as all of this is merely a way of introducing the following group of pearls, forming a pearl, whose parameters, if I’m lucky, will match what I’ve written above…. and, if not, well, we can always shoot for funny…. Enjoy!…..

“Those who are clever, who have a Brain, never understand anything.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.” — David Searls

“It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England. 156

“Don’t confuse me with the facts – my mind is made up.” — Joe Average, NYC

(In a 1998 study, in which random people on a street in New York were asked to pick, out of four statements, the one that described their Congressman the best, this was the favorite, by a factor of 28…. Truth…. Yes, it is…. no I’m not lying, trust me….) (Okay, yes, I am…. but, it SOUNDS true….)

“The NY Times is read by the people who run the country. The Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country. The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive and running the country…” — Robert J Woodhead (trebor@biar.UUCP)

“Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.” — G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 9/11/09

“All cruelty springs from weakness.” — Seneca

Okay, so it came out a bit more comprehensive in scope than I first intended it to be, but, it works anyway…. The politicians are in there, for sure (See the first, third, fourth, and fifth pearls above for proof of that)…. But, the parameters widened up on me, mid-search, so, a few more ideas are included than we bargained for…. bonus!

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

Here is a poem from the archives, to keep the blame for all of this where it belongs….

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 ~~

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

Today’s final pearl is the closest to our normal material we can offer…. It’s an excellent seven-star pearl, giving us some great advice on how to live a Life Well Lived…..

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

“Make no judgments where you have no compassion.” — Anne Mc Caffrey

“The wake does not drive the boat.” — Alan Watts

“Give, expecting nothing thereof” — St. Thomas Aquinas

“A person is not given integrity. It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times.” — Smart Bee

“It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 780

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving till the right actions arises by itself?”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

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

I have fulfilled my vow. It’s done, though I haven’t a clue as to how; gladly, it matters not. With no further ado, I bid thee adieu for another day; we are hoping tomorrow is less of a challenge. Our hope, though precious, is small…. Ta, then, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Slinky dresses under bright neon lights….

Posted on March 3, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“No evil can happen to a good man.”

~~ Plato (428-348? B.C.) ~~

Cat

Insidiously terrifying ghosts, silently screaming in eternal agony of fear, flit past my vision, breaking my hold on Reality…. As the familiar slips away, fast-moving water under a fallen bridge, hope is drowned, slipping under a third time, never known. More painful still, is knowing this will never be finished, thanks to the sheer impossibility of typing with one hand numb….

Ah well, so much for fantasy today; I’d hoped to find a bit of it floating in my head as I began, but, no such luck. I was struggling mightily to get it done anyway, when True Reality stepped in to put a stop to it, numbing up my left arm and hand to the point where it became impractical to continue…. Ah well, such is life with arthritis, I suppose…. I guess I’ll have to talk about the Cat….

I don’t know whose cat it was; he/she was sunning prettily in a yard near where I was waiting for a bus. When I took a few pictures, it assumed a very cat-like expression of annoyance, got up, & stalked away, obviously less than gruntled at having its peaceful nap disturbed by another rude human with a camera. It reminded me of one of my favorite cat quotes, to wit: “Cats were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt. They have never forgotten this.” This one apparently has nothing wrong with its memory, as it wore a mantle of royal disdain with perfect grace….

As is now painfully clear, this intro section is kaput. It’s not going anywhere, nor can it go back anywhere useful; one cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, as we all know. Nor can I continue to type with only one hand functioning normally. This means, once again, we have to break out #4 to gt us where we need to go…. Damn, I’d so hoped for something better today!…. Oh well, fuck it. Hang on, ffolkes, we’re going in, & it looks a bit rough out there…..

Shall we Pearl?

“A man does not look behind the door unless he has stood there himself.” — Du Bois

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

I’ve used this video a couple of times, simply because it is one of the best indictments of the BRC in existence. Combine that with the brilliance of George’s humor, and we’ve got a show worth watching as often as it takes…. Enjoy, ffolkes; he’s gone, but, never forgotten….

***********************

The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time

***********************

http://youtu.be/6_zwB6GLpo4

***********************

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

“To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.”

~~ James Baldwin ~~

James Baldwin wrote during the twentieth century, in America, a nation, at the time, embroiled in deep conflict with its own inner nature, and, the cumulative effects of more than a hundred and fifty years of hypocrisy. In truth, hypocrisy has been a greater influence on human culture than anyone who is a part of it would care to admit. In a culture in which lying is considered an art form, hypocrisy is a precursor. In fact, it is such an integral part of our culture, I would amend the above statement to read, “To be alive and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.”…..

One must, after all, decide to whom one will lie, thus, placing them in a certain order; those considered friends receive the courtesy of lying behind their back, those considered enemies are lied to as a matter of course, to their faces. Only those with whom there is no common interest are not important enough to lie to…. thus being the only ones who receive the truth, only by silence, which, if necessary, may be used to lie by omission.

If there is anyone who doubts this series of inner motivational processes, so apparent in virtually all humans, as common stimuli to our cultural behaviors, I would have to suggest it to be entirely possible, we have very likely been watching two entirely different species of human beings…. Those I’ve observed, mostly, use the given method of reasoning to decide how they will act, toward most everyone they encounter, with a certain amount filtered through whatever laws they’ve learned to obey, in order to avoid difficulties. Some cover up these impulses with religious dogma as their code, which either gives them leave to treat non-believers with the usual disdain, or forgives them when they do “out of bad impulses”….

Gee, ffolkes, do you think I’m getting a bit grumpy about most people? You’d be right, of course, and too damn bad. I’m done NOT speaking up about what I see in the world; maybe if more ffolkes spoke up, to point out what others do that is not right, when it happens, creating discussion and/or learning, maybe the world would be a little easier for everybody; there sure would be fewer racists, bigots, and/or other sub-humans running around bothering all the nice ffolkes there are…. which, sadly, in self-defense, are becoming fewer and fewer, at least in public….

Of course, that’s because the people in ostensible charge of society are the worst examples of liars, cheats, thieves, and bullies…. But, then, perhaps that’s just MY opinion. Just because I see it every day in the news doesn’t make it real, right? Right. In fact, it’s getting so I doubt seriously if there is more than 5 minutes per hour of news that is something that is NOT intended just to manipulate those watching it in some way; those five minutes are shrinking as well, getting harder to spot. Real information, usable for making life better, or just more pleasant somehow, is pretty much gone from human ken…..

Bah! You know, I’m so disgusted with the human race, so damn much of the time, I’m sick of it…. Enough so I’m even losing my taste for ranting, especially when I know very few people who need to hear this message will ever hear it…. The hell with it, I’m going to sublimate the rest of this diatribe into an old-school pearl, aimed at those who would be kings….. You know who they are, and so do they…. Here, then, is a plethora, of eleven dandy pointed sticks, all jabbing at the eyes of the Beloved Ruling Class…. Somehow, Smart Bee never seems to show any lack of this type of pearl….

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores

“To steal from one person is theft.To steal from many is taxation.” — Daiell’s Law (a take-off on Felson’s Law)

“It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target.” — William F. Buckley

“Is there a Lemon Law for Presidents too?” — Smart Bee

“Buy when there’s blood in the streets.” — Baron Guy de Rothschild

“A lot of what I say comes off as political satire. In that, I have a lot in common with Congress.” — Solomon Short

“When I see a congressman giving his opinion on something, I always wonder if it represents his *real* opinion or if it represents an opinion that he’s designed in order to be elected. It seems to be a central problem for politicians. So I often wonder: what is the relation of integrity to working in the government?” — Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988), “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”

“Eternal boyhood is the dream of a depressing percentage of American males, and the locker room is the temple where they worship arrested development.” — Russell Baker

“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee

“This is no time for consensus government. It’s a time for leadership. The average citizen doesn’t know what the stakes are in Vietnam.” — Richard Milhouse Nixon, February 11, 1965

Gee, but I’d like to be a G-Man
And go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just like Dick Tracy, what a he-man
And go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

I’d do as I please, act high-handed and regal
‘Cause when you’re a G-Man there’s nothing illegal.

~~ Harold Rome, from The G-Man Song, 1937 ~~

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

Only one poem will do today….

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 ~~

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

I let Smart Bee have its head, while my subconscious mind monitored, from wherever it watches from, with instructions to find some carefully chosen random quotes to use for upcoming pearls…. Put most simply, SB went a bit crazy on me, coming up with more than enough pearls for three separate pearls, each grouped into a series pointed at one concept or idea…. This one is one of them; it seems to be comments on the human experience, from a number of viewpoints leading to a rather amorphous, but somehow, both realistically dubious, yet strangely comforting end point….. Go figure….

“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.”– Moliere

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” — Albert Einstein

“Great minds always meet at infinity.” — Smart Bee

“Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 723

“There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.’ — Pilpay (or Bidpai) — The Two Travellers, Chap. ii, Fable vi

“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

“The Soul is born old, but it grows young; that is the comedy of life. The Body is born young and grows old; that is life’s tragedy.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

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

It’s done; at this point, NOTHING matters more. I won’t detail the struggle it took to complete today’s Pearl, having already whined to our prescribed limit for the day, other than to say, Whew!…. Moreover, I’ll show some tact, by letting this die a natural death, now it has accepted its fate. Well, we like to think so, anyway…. On that note, such as it may be, I shall take my leave, stage left…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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Exploring Consensual Reality

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