Faith is apathy of the mind….

Posted on May 13, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

At least I thought I was dancing, ’til somebody stepped on my hand.

~~ J. B. White ~~

Trinity College, Dublin

Hajime…. Generally, I don’t make any attempt to connect the opening quote to anything below; that space is for a general concept to lead into the day. Today’s selection, as it turned out, matches perfectly with my current state of mind, so, serendipity strikes again….. The past couple weeks have been a trial for me, in at least two senses. I suspect it is the barometer’s up & down dance over that time that is causing the greater part of the pain I’ve been experiencing, as the weather does it’s spring thing. Since that pain has been so ubiquitous, my PTSD decides to chime in, threatening to send me into the abyss that ever waits on the edges of my perception, down into the dark hole of my mind, where nothing seems to have any color, or life…..

Since I also have reality to deal with, which currently involves planning a trip, executing it, and maintaining the rest of my life simultaneously, time becomes an enemy, as my mind wanders in lost corridors, and things don’t get done. For one who prefers to live with some dignity and direction, it only adds weight to that which must be carried while climbing out of the abyss. The upshot of this, at least here on WP, is that my writing suffers from stultification, and, I don’t go out online to visit all those sites I like to follow, to provide the mental stimulation my mind craves. For this part, I can apologize, and say, have patience with me, as I will eventually make it by to comment, and interact.

All that said, in apology, and in hopes of climbing another step up the wall, I’ll try to put together a Pearl, which will, no doubt, get posted late, but, done. It won’t be too fresh, but, we’ll do what we can. In order to give myself the time to do so, we’ll forgo any fooling around here, and be on our way, post haste….. In fact, we’ll go right now. Watch this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“‘Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
“You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.”
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.”

~~ Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” ~~

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Yep, you guessed it. The intro should have been enough to tell you we’d be going default today. But, don’t worry, even if you missed it, you can still enjoy the music…. Abondanza!…

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/R0kl9xFVSnI

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As noted above, there isn’t anything in my head worth putting on paper, or screen. Instead, here is a collection of pearls I’ve been putting together for a rant, which, taken by themselves, work fairly well to lead one on their own private rant, in their heads. Just follow the bouncing ideas, to the obvious conclusion you find at the end…. Or, just laugh along at the Asininnies, as we take our best shots…..

“There are some jobs in which it is impossible for a man to be virtuous.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

Good Question….

“The words of the prophets were written on the subway walls.”

~~ Simon & Garfunkel ~~

“Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?” — Ramsey Clark

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” — Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

“Do not be afraid of enemies; the worst they can do is to kill you. Do not be afraid of friends; the worst they can do is betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent; they do not kill or betray. Yet only because of their silent agreement, betrayal and murder exist on earth.” — Bruno Yasienski, contemporary Soviet novelist

“All governments require enemy governments.” — Edward Abbey

“As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.” — Bhagavad Gita

“Real eyes realize real lies”

~~ wall graffiti in Palestine ~~

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Dead Hands,Typing…

Puzzled anew by anomalous blocks of pain
caught, bemused, chained to routine, insane.
Stilled within breathless beauty
Engaging epiphany, insistent, called to duty.

Knees bent in lieu of a faithful rendition
suffuses, confuses, locked into stale perdition.
Clearing corrosion with hands encased in stone
Singular frozen follicles, masked by bone.

Partial focus brings unfiltered flavors to light
coloring each particle in simple delight.
Forlorn, novel conceptual artists singing in tune
nine notes in harmony, soft as the moon.

Honed blades of carbon steel flash in rhyme,
filling sensual receptors well past closing time.
Borrowed from neighbors in a week-old game
still bloody, without a proper name.

No flooded memories can justify such cost
no simple stationery, bilious, afraid, lost.
Ten times ten will never be enough
To fill so empty a stolen trough.

Bartering simplicity takes well into the night
solidly temporary pillars turned bright.
Unknown to all the pretty children who came
none were called, none had any remaining flame.

~~ gigoid ~~

2/25/2015

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Naked Pearls

Random Thoughts on Life

*******

“Although it is tempting to resent disaster,
there is not much use in doing so…
Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

*******

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

~~ Confucius ~~

*******

“Love isn’t love until you give it away.”

~~ Buddha Bee ~~

*******

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself,
for he shall never cease to be entertained.”

~~ John Powell ~~

*******

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”

~~ Heraclitus ~~

*******

“It is good for a man to eat thistles and to remember that he is an ass.”

~~ E. S. Dallas ~~

*******

“Faboo!, Would you like to see me make bubbles with my spit?”

~~ Wakko Warner ~~

*******

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

Well…. I’m pretty sure it’s done; I’ll check, but, it feels okay; today, that will have to do. I can’t say if I will get around to visiting other sites today; I am still teetering on the edge, and have a lot to do to prepare for my upcoming trip. If I don’t please know I will return, and I’m not ignoring anyone; just gotta do what must be done. I will, for the sake of my own sanity, try again tomorrow to put a Pearl together, hopefully with less trouble and effort than was required today. Regardless, I’ll be back…. and, sorry for parroting a bad actor. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; odds remain good….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Emboldened by the intricate scrollwork….

Posted on May 5, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Fewer possess virtue, than those who wish us to believe that they possess it “

~~ Cicero ~~

Are you ever going to finish?….

Hajime…. For some time this morning, while working on what you’ll find below, I considered what might appropriately be used for an opening. Now the time has come to write one, it’s all gone. I’m a bit foggy today, having slept, again, more than expected; of course, my expectations for sleep are dead low, so…. Nonetheless, I don’t think my body, or mind, quite knows how to deal with it, which leaves me in a quandary of confused emotions. I can’t say that state is particularly uncommon, either, but, knowing that makes it no less uncomfortable. Hmph. So be it.

I confess to some nerves today, anyway; Leelu is going in to have her procedure to prevent kittens, an event for which I already am suffering guilt and remorse, even though I know it’s best for everyone. She’ll be at the vet’s until Saturday morning, so, it will be very quiet and subdued around here until then…. Can’t say now how it will sit with me; my PTSD can surprise me sometimes. But, we’ll all get through it, and, now, I’ve used up all there was in my head to put in the intro. Pretty clumsy, eh? Oh, well, we’ll just resort to a very old literary trick, and get where we need to be without further ado. It’s subtle, so, you’ll need to watch closely, or you’ll miss the change….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Mankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must also resign yourself to seeing others also happy.” — Bertrand Russell

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Yep. You got it. Classical music, just because I like it, and it’s all I want to hear today…. Deal with it, or leave it off Or, enjoy….. please.

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/UAUMY8er8Cw

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Our rant today will be from the archives, just because I said so. It is about a subject I call A Plague of Evil, which is a euphemism for the sexual abuse that men perpetrate on women every damn day, as a matter of course in this society, which is completely sexist, biased toward men. Our culture is based entirely on their cowardice, exhibiting that cowardice in every aspect of their insanely blind ignorance of themselves, and the world at large…. The simplest way to comprehend the basic flaw in the male of the species is best said this way: men are cowards at heart….

That probably won’t make me particularly popular with most men, but, that’s fine with me, because, quite frankly, I don’t like the assholes anyway…. Let me say this to any males reading this…. just read, and try to set aside your fears & prejudices, none of which you ever thought about before, and just listen up. Try to understand…. much as it strains those almost useless neurons…. And, if you have any questions or comments, use a bit of sense, and make them intelligent, okay? I don’t want to have to put it into the kind of physical message most of you understand best….

From 5/10/2012:

“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round.” — John Lennon

Men are afraid of women… hence all the jokes about them taking over, over slyly ruling us without us knowing it. Men’s fears of just that thing are what cause him to hate women, because they do not understand them, and fear arises out of lack of understanding. Here are a few examples of such lies, the lies that perpetuate the war between the sexes…..

“My notion of a wife at 40 is that a man should be able to change her, like a bank note, for two twenties.” — Warren Beatty

A lady is one who only shows her underwear intentionally. — Smart Bee

— Yo momma……so fat she has to buy two airline tickets. — Smart Bee

“A beautiful woman is paradise for the eyes, hell for the soul, and purgatory for the purse.” — Smart Bee

“Passionate kiss like spider web, lead to undoing of fly.” — Confucius say (No, he didn’t, but liars don’t care….)

Really, really sexist and paranoid, yes? Yes….

The mere existence of these jokes, and others like them, indicates clearly what men are afraid of in women, and that is their sexuality. We… well, men, not necessarily we men, because not all of us hate them… No I don’t understand them, but that doesn’t make them any less fascinating or wonderfully different. I am aware of my own self, and my own powers, and they have naught to do with what women can do; I feel no need to compare the two, or to assume one is stronger or better. They are just different, and what is different about women is not to be feared, even if not understood. It is just to be learned, that’s all….and the learning is a totally awesome trip, I assure you….

But, back to the sexuality that men fear. It is because these men have never learned to understand themselves, or their place in the scheme of things, that makes them unable to understand women, and turns their ignorance to fear, from thence to hatred and abuse against them. Men cannot stand the thought that a woman might be more important than him, and that is a certain sign of lack of confidence, and of ignorance. Men who know their place in life, and who are confident of their own ability to cope with that place and its demands, have no need or desire to be more important than anyone; they are complete within themselves….

Too many men in this world don’t come anywhere close to this kind of self-knowledge; most go through life without exercising more than two neurons at once, and those tend to lose function whenever the blood goes elsewhere than the brain (such as during an erection). Most men are so afraid of women that they spend half their life telling jokes like the above, and spreading the nonsensical lies that perpetuate this atrocity.

Yes, atrocity, because it is this fear and loathing, of both themselves and women, that leads to issues such as domestic abuse, sex trafficking, prostitution, and abuse of children. The only women who are actively engaged in these activities are those who have been brainwashed to believe the crap they’ve heard all their lives, and who have given up their own humanity; they are very few in number. Otherwise, it is men who perpetrate these vile actions on women…. all because of their own fear and ignorance…. and I say, shame on them, for they are not men, in my world…. they are vicious, unredeemable beasts, and should be put down like the dangerous creatures they are…..

“In the dark colony of night, when I consider man’s magnificent capacity for malice, madness, folly, envy, rage, and destructiveness, and I wonder whether we shall not end up as breakfast for newts and polyps, I seem to hear the muffled cries of all the words in all the books with covers closed.” — Leo Rosten

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A Seasonal Approach

Absolute stillness grips a frozen field,
anticipating dawn with such patient yield
morning burgeoning in dark winter’s hold
brings promise of tales yet to be told.

Lengthening days of pale sun unto night
slowly tell of time’s subversive flight
bringing such original songs of natural fire
with melodies complex in casual attire.

The months are certain they will always win
it is just the way it has always been.
None may argue, nor yet slow life down
Nor dim the eternal beauty of nature’s gown.

Winter evolves from fall into spring,
sending flocks and hearts ever awing.
Summer follows suit, t’other way ’round
Spring into fall, often without a sound.

Life is meant to be lived, beginning to end
choices abound, and change can be a friend.
Yielding with grace to reality’s compelling ploy
fills our plain existence with clean, honest joy.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/2/2012

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Naked Pearls

Pay attention!

*********

“Be loyal.”

~~ Things We Can Learn From Dogs ~~

*********

“Even if you’re on the right track,
if you stand still you’ll get run over by the next train.”

~~ Will Rogers ~~

*********

“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

*********

“The great thing about getting older is that
you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

~~ Madeleine L’Engle ~~

*********

“Don’t think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.”

~~ Malayan Proverb ~~

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“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

*********

“Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say,
“How many things there are which I do not need!”

~~ Diogenes Laertius — Socrates, x ~~

*********

“Deem not life a thing of consequence.
For look at the yawning void of the future,
and at that other limitless space, the past.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iv, 50 ~~

*********

“Iyam what Iyam.”

~~ Popeye ~~

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I can’t say how it happened, but, it’s done, so, we won’t complain, or even question. Instead, we’ll use the same trick we used in the intro, and be done with it for today. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless I figure out a way to stop myself….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Got a post-mortem, buddy?….

Posted on May 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be a hero! Teach your children to think for THEMSELVES!”

~~ Truly Wise Bee ~~

Ketchikan, early morning, pre-invasion

Hajime…. It’s Tuesday, I believe. I know that’s accurate, because I checked off-screen before going on to this next sentence. Rather studious of me, but, then studying is part of what I do, and, am. In order to begin today’s Pearl in the proper mindset, I’ve managed to complete the silly thing before starting this intro. Not that switching stuff around has ever worked wonders, but, sometimes, it’s matter of going with the flow, which may, or may not be present, at all. If, by this point in the narrative, you are NOT confused, I’m doing this wrong.

Distraction, obfuscation, it’s all par for the course here in Amurrica when one speaks of communication. Nobody out there in the real world is telling all the truth, ffolkes. Lying, or, in some cases, pure fabrication of factoids, has become our major means of transferring information from one to another; there is nothing on TV, and very little on the internet, which can be trusted to be truthful at all times. The pastime, or skill, however one views it, of lying has become an accepted means of obtaining one’s desires; at this point, I don’t see how it can be entirely eradicated as part of human interaction. Everybody lies, ffolkes. Even you, even me. We all do it, for we have been trained since birth to use the truth as a means of manipulation, rather than a means of education, or, of meaningful interaction.

Hmph. I see I’ve fallen into rant mode. Must have something to do with having used an older rant for that section below. Ah well, having caught myself up, I shall throttle the impulse, and, with some attempt at grace, bring this intro to a close, well before it gets out of what control we still possess. Since that will mean a rapid extraction, I’ll just use this little box right here. Watch what happens when I push this button….

Shall we Pearl?….

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

~~ Aristotle ~~

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

I’m running a bit late, and don’t feel like fussing with finding “just” the right music for today. Instead, we’ll go with what I know to be music that will grace any situation, providing soothing, relaxing music to read by. Enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/tAkHdB77u2c

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And the crowd was stilled.
One elderly man, wondering at the sudden silence,
turned to the Child and asked him to repeat what he had said.
Wide-eyed, the Child raised his voice and said once again,
“Why, the Emperor has no clothes! He is naked!”

~~ The Emperor’s New Clothes ~~

Today’s pearl for this section is a favorite of mine, for, in today’s world, we have many emperors, all of whom are naked. I’m late, & not particularly in the mood to rant, so, here is one I’ve reproduced previously, meaning I thought it was pretty good. Hence, here ’tis, again. Enjoy!…

From 1/1/13:

“If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.” — Thomas Jefferson

Oh well, so much for THAT hope! From all I can see in today’s society, what Tommy was afraid of has come to pass. If one takes almost any of the articles in the news that talk about the activities of government, religion, or society at large, it is obvious that bigotry and priestcraft have corrupted every level of those entities, and influence just about every human interaction that we see. Common sense is nowhere present, in any of those same activities under discussion. Of course, he forgot, in this instance, to include the bankers, but perhaps that is where a portion of the bigotry comes in…..

By its precise meaning, bigotry doesn’t include the idea of cheating, lying, and stealing from whomever one encounters; those activities, for a bigot, are only appropriate when done to those outside the personal group, to “foreigners, niggers, and chinks,” or some likely other group they’ve chosen to bless with their ignorant regard…… But, in a sense, bankers can be said to be universally bigoted, for they have no qualms about lying, cheating, or stealing from anyone, in any group, even their own. I guess that would qualify them as Ultimate Bigots…..

“As an ox goeth to the slaughter.” — Old Testament — Proverbs vii, 22; Jeremiah xi, 19

I would imagine this is how the bankers and preachers (either of which is capable of turning into a politician, at the drop of a hint….) view the masses of humanity who do not subscribe to their venality. In this view, they may be at least partially justified, by the apparent willingness of those masses to submit to whatever is done to them. Why should the politicians stop lying, when their lies secure for them the keys to the treasury? Why should the preachers not spread their delusions, when the masses are so willing to accept them, because it saves them the effort of either thinking about morality, or even better, saving them from having to BE moral?….. The bankers, of course, need no excuses to carry on their despicable acts of calumny upon the remainder of society; their sole motivation is based on profit for them, and nothing else concerns them at all…

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” — Thomas Jefferson

Back to Tom…. He was a bit over the top sometimes, in the force of his expression, but never, to my mind, in his sincere commitment to Truth, and his sincere love for Mankind. I would like to think I join him in this sentiment, especially today, when we are so besieged by attempts to tyrannize our minds by our own beloved ruling classes. The war against immorality continues unabated, and too many folks in the world have withdrawn from the battle, accepting the lies and delusions that are foisted upon them.

It is important, in my opinion, that the rest of us, who can see the depredations assaulting the common man every day, keep on shouting from the rooftops to the rest of our compatriots, if only to save our own sanity….. and, before the strain of the conflict brings us to our knees, and we enter Zippy’s domain, doomed to extinction…..

“I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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Choosing a Theme

Powerful words playing hide and seek in my mind,
teasing with subtle cruelty, pretending to be kind.
Grand visions and flowery verses of beauty and truth
evaded my inner eye all through the days of my youth.

Affable interludes interspersed with allegorical wit
softened the crimes, against all reason, to finally acquit.
Time became at once an enemy, and an ally
Never once compelled to provide an answer why.

Giving gifts of simple kindness are their own pay,
spreading ripples of compassion are felt far and away.
Love given freely is precious, we are ever told,
increasing love received, more than a hundred fold.

Living long and with passion has centered my soul,
allowing me room, and time, to choose my own goal.
Now that I’ve gone past any need to pretend
I love everything in life, even knowing it will end.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/21/2012

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Naked Pearls

Notes on Life

*******

“A word is dead
When it is said
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.”

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

*******

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

*******

“We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues;
without courage, the other virtues are useless.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

*******

“Keep looking. What’s lost will be found.”

~~ Fleer’s Double Bubble Fortune ~~

*******

“If what Proust says is true,
that happiness is the absence of fever,
then I will never know happiness.
For I am possessed by a fever
for knowledge, experience, and creation.”

~~ Anais Nin ~~

*******

“Life is full of infinite absurdities,
which, strangely enough, do not even need to appear plausible,
because they are true.”

~~ Pirandello ~~

*******

“.. I wonder if I ought to tell them about my PREVIOUS LIFE as a COMPLETE STRANGER?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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Done, and done well enough. I’m not even going to fuss around at all here in the closing section. It may come as a surprise, but, I do know how to exit gracefully. You doubt my word? Okay, then, here you go. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. Neither of us can stop it….. Who would wish to do so? Not me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Gravy made with drippings….

Posted on May 2, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”

~~ Agent Rogersz, Repo Man ~~

No, it’s not a myth. It’s melting….

Hajime…. Our opening quote is quite appropriate, especially since it happened, to me. Well, not quite an explosion; more like a strong earthquake in my head. I’m not exactly certain of the details, as, for some reason, I seem to have lost my reason. Wait. That isn’t accurate; I still have it, but, it seems so pointless, and I can’t find the emotional energy to persuade it to even try to put a couple simple factoids together, just for fun, with no mention of profit or loss. If it doesn’t come back soon, I may have to go mundane, & start eating Cheetos, or something. I HATE Cheetos, too….

Okay, I’ll stop. I had thought perhaps a bit of nonsense might loosen up the old grey cells, but, nothing doing. It’s a conundrum, to be sure. Here I am, prepared to create a Pearl, and there is so much nothing in my mind, it’s just plain scary in there. I mean, a full paragraph to lead up to a punch line, and all I can come up with is Cheetos. Pathetic, even if I do hate them. To tell the truth, I used to eat ’em a lot, but, something about the orange glow-in-the-dark color of the tongue after just two of them started to make my eyes water… That & the sharp, bitter taste of chemicals they leave behind, after the faux-cheesy flavor goes wherever a fake flavor goes, started to make me think about just what was in them…. I don’t recommend it…. or them…

Since there’s nothing useful in my head, we’ll have to cheat again, as I’m up late, and starting even later. So be it. At least it will be all be fresh cheating, performed this morning for your reading pleasure. Or, a close approximation of same. We’ll take what we can get. In order to do so, I think, given our essentially useless mental state, we’ll just forgo further idiocy in this section, & use what little wherewithal we have to go look for some coherence further down the page. As justification, I will retreat into a pearl, with a strong statement on the efficacy of personal choice from a surprising, if not completely unlikely source, to wit: “Did you ever notice how ‘why not?’ is always the right decision?” — Marilyn Monroe

Shall we Pearl?….

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

~~ Old Testament, Exodus ii, 22 ~~

~~ gigoid, April 2016 ~~

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I’m cheating today. That, of course, means we go to default for today’s music. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt….. Try to enjoy it, anyway, okay?…. Hey, if nothing else, know I pick the one with the coolest picture, so, at least you can look at that while you listen….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/Y4xRlnO7-Ps

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Everybody knows, and, apparently, loves Winnie the Pooh. And, why not, I may ask? Well, let me tell ya…. Pooh’s got a darker side, one A.A. Milne never suspected. It has recently been discovered Pooh had another life, one the public was never allowed to see. I’ve managed to collect some of the things he’s said, and/or done, that might give you an idea of what Pooh is REALLY like…. Enjoy!….

From 10/24/2012:

WARNING: X-Rated Material below…. If the following offends you, well, hey, don’t read it…. I happen to think it’s funny, so, deal with it…. *wink*

I know I’ve spoken to you before about the darker side of Pooh…. He’s actually, for a Bear with Very Little Brains, a pretty swinging guy, and stays active in a part of town that I’m don’t even go to…. In fact, he has been caught en flagrante delecto on numerous occasions, and has never shown a bit of regret, or a shred of remorse. He is an incorrigible sex addict, which is, when you stop to think about it, really, really sick…. I give you now more examples of just how nasty he has been known to be….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he lured the young girl into the bushes.

— Bother! said Pooh, with a sexy grin, as he tied up his favorite redhead!!

— Bother! said Pooh, as Macgyver ran to him with his pants down.

— Bother! said Pooh, when Christopher Robin came in his mouth.

— Bother! said Pooh, as Piglet pulled out the Anal Intruder.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled over and lit a cigarette.

And, worst of all…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he flashed a group of nuns.

I wouldn’t have believed it, if I didn’t see them there in black and white….. Hey, it’s not any harder to believe this, than it is to believe some of the shit coming out of Mitt the Twitt’s mouth, now, is it?….

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

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 ~~

9/27/2012

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

Naked Pearls

Stuff to Remember

*******

“Happiness is the only good,
reason the only torch, justice the only worship,
humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.”

~~ Robert G. Ingersoll ~~

*******

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

*******

“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.”

~~ Cynthia Nelms ~~

*******

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.”

~~ Juvenal, Satires ~~

*******

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”

~~ Elrond ~~

*******

“One final paragraph of advice:
Do not burn yourselves out.
Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…
a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.
Save the other half of yourselves
and your lives for pleasure and adventure.
It is not enough to fight for the land;
it is even more important to enjoy it.
While you can.
While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish
and mess around with your friends,
ramble out yonder and explore the forests,
encounter the grizz, climb the mountains,
bag the peaks, run the rivers,
breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air,
sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness,
that lovely, mysterious and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves,
keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body,
the body active and alive,
and I promise you this much:
I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies,
over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box
and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this:
You will outlive the bastards.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

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

I did it. That, in and of itself, is a minor miracle. At this point, trying to explain or justify such a remark would be foolish, and, I can tell you, for sure and for certain, Sarge & Mom didn’t raise no fool. Okay, honesty rules here, so, y’all should know I just had to delete three lines of BS that might have kept us here for much too long. After all, this IS the closing paragraph, and, by golly, we’re gonna close this thing, and, now… See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; if I don’t stop now, we’ll be here until then. Don’t fret, I’ll be back, and so will you…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Improbable causes in a sugary glaze….

Posted on April 10, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.”

~~ Plautus (254-184 BC) ~~

~~ Rudens, Act ii, Sc. 5, 71 ~~

Life Adjusting to Need

Hajime…. Having battled much of the night to achieve what small portion of the waters of Lethe I was destined to drink, the new battle this morning, to complete a worthy Pearl, assumed new parameters, as the sheer anger and fatigue which are the unnatural result of the night’s unwelcome conflict vie to assume the upper hand, thus directing the tenor of today’s mess. Since, as you see, this has created such a high level of pedantry, almost to the point of pomposity, I have to assume the anger has won…. FUCK!…. I have to say, I’m really tired of being tired…. A little break from the pain would be nice, as well….

All that said, to our normal lack of purpose, other than the value one receives from the act of venting, perhaps it would be best to just get on with the day’s business, such as it may be. I’ve got some good stuff, and some not-quite-so-elegant stuff, and, maybe even some great stuff. All that is for y’all to judge, as I am, of course, not the one to ask. Mostly, it’s all standard stuff, but for the most excellent poetry selection today, from a blogging friend who lives in Tokyo, which I will go out on a limb to predict you WILL enjoy immensely.

Other than that, I can’t say exactly what happened, as much of it was slapped together while trying NOT to think about reality; it’s been stuck in a non-pleasurable configuration for several days, as the weather flip-flops from sun to rain, causing the barometer to fluctuate madly, sending my hips, shoulders, back and neck into a series of contortions/spasms/complaints that have been, shall we say, as much a pain in the ass as they were in their own locations. Hmph.

Okay, all done, with complaints, chatty blather, and, probably, readers. What the hell; I’m gonna go finish anyway. If anyone is still there, well, I’ll see you down the page…. Now, if I can figure out how this works….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Do not be too moral.
You may cheat yourself out of much of life.
So aim above morality.
Be not simply good; be good for something.”

~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~

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

As might be suspected, its a day for defaults. Around here, that simply means we go with classical music, picked, as always, according to which picture I saw on You Tube that drew my eye…. Enjoy!…

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/R0kl9xFVSnI

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

“Now, that the sovereign power and deity, whatsoever it is,
should have regard of mankind,
is a toy and vanity worthy to be laughed at.”

~~ Pliny The Elder ~~

Okay, so, here’s the deal. I had picked out three pearls on which to base today’s discussion (read: rant…) on religion. However, as I sat to begin, my angst dissipated in the pain each shoulder screamed at me, as they popped when I moved to start typing. Rather than attempt to maintain a coherent train of thought while dealing with that, I have collected another four pearls, to try to make up for, and furnish, the proper indictment of the persistent delusions I believe have held humanity back from reaching our potential for more than 10,000 years.

To get the full effect, stretch your mind from the first pearl, above, through the second, below, on to the final pearl from one of our founding fathers; you’ll get the proper perspective on this perversion of spirit with which we have contended for our entire history. As a final treat, I’ve included a link to the blog of another friend, who lives in Canada…. It’s a compilation of memes, all of which have a cogent comment on modern life, and some good advice on how to face it with aplomb, if not serenity…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it’s probably easier than another 2000 words from me on a subject I’ve probably beaten far too often for anyone’s comfort, though, sadly, not to death….

“The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?” — Epicurus — Aphorisms, c. 300 B.C.

“Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.” — Niven’s Law

“If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Bertrand Russell

“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages–as if the savages weren’t dangerous enough already.” — Edward Abbey

“Whenever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn people.” — Heinrich Heine

“Any system of religion which has anything in it which offends the mind of a child cannot be a true system.” — Thomas Paine

https://talesfromtheloublog.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/philosophical-memes-instead-of-radical-memes-that-make-your-face-red/

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

Yesterday, on the blog of a Gentle Reader I am happy to call friend, I read his haiku for the day. It was such an excellent poem, in spite of of its brevity, I had to share it today with all who stopped by. It is below the next paragraph; if you don’t love it, your poetry gene must have been damaged. For me, this can banish the thought of every bad morning I’ve ever had, in three lines…. I hope you enjoy it. I’ve included a link to his site, where you’ll find a lot of other fine poetry and prose, well worth reading….

Afterward, you’ll find a haiku from me in response to his, and, another poem, whose title and author is, at this point in time, completely unknown to yours truly. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be me, maybe somebody else…. Thanks to the Tardis, I’ve got time to figure it out…. Enjoy!….

Sparrows trill, chirp, trill

Sparrows trill, chirp, trill
The right rhythm to wake me up
Soft light through the curtain

~~ Ashi Akira ~~

https://ashiakira.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/sparrows-trill-chirp-trill/

*********

Ashi Akira
grand master of haiku
living peace poems.

~~ gigoid ~~

*********

Serendipity Morning

My mind wants to fly,
my soul wants to hold close, the source,
strong, the moments of time;
each as precious as golden thread,
binding together such elements of longing desire.

Love hovers, always patient,
   seeking the open heart,
reaching for the promise of tomorrow…..
   only for one, only for now, only what is real….
Dreaming, the morning calls,
   heavy with mordant belief,
replete, and eternally alive…..

~~ gigoid ~~

4/1/2013

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

I was going to try to explain this pearl, at least to a degree, as it seemed to be a bit abstruse as it came together; then, I rearranged the entries a trifle, and, whoa! It works, all by itself. Go figure, eh? Now, if y’all have any trouble figuring it out, you can try one of two time-tested methods for doing so. First, read each one, without any thought of direction; let them all percolate a bit, then decide if anything floats up to give a clue. Second, read the first, and last, for a quick clue. Third… oh, right, only two. Never mind; I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, anyway. If not, well, you got to read nine cool things you can work into conversation when appropriate….

“Out of the shadow of night, the world rolls into light. It is daybreak everywhere.” — Longfellow

“All is flux, nothing stays still.” — Heraclitus

“Only a life lived for others is a life worth while .” — Albert Einstein

“Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible; but the world of pure reason knows no compromise, no practical limitations, no barrier to the creative activity.” — Bertrand Russell

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” — Ambrose Redmoon

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!” — Thomas Merton, “Seven Storey Mountain”

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.” — The Beatles, The last lyric of their last song

“There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.” — Tennessee Williams

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

~~ Robert Browning — After ~~

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

Though I cannot claim any particular credit for having reached this point, it’s done. I’ve used as many short-cuts as I could find, but, all in all, I think it works. Time, as it always does, will tell. For the nonce, I’ll take my leave, and go try to find the wherewithal to do this again tomorrow morning. If I can get through today, there’s a pretty good chance I can fulfill my chosen duty for tomorrow, and, that, in the final analysis, is always a good thing. For me, if for no one else, which is, I know, all-too-human of me. Go figure. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; I dare anyone to try to stop me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pecans? Or, Icons? Same price….

Posted on April 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“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 ~~

Where’d it go?….

Hajime…. Sometimes, one must take what one gets. That’s not too hard when what I got feels like a small, yet tasteful prize for hard work; in truth, that’s exactly what it was/is. To keep from falling into my usual chatty mode, I’ll be brusque; I got some damn sleep, after an extended battle to get there. And, I can honestly say, some is better than none. I’m gonna take it, and run….

Where to run is another question. In fact, it’s both a rhetorical, and a moot question this morning, as I managed to complete this Pearl yesterday, but for this opening section, and a few words at the end. Not bad for an old fart who can’t sit for long. Got a few mini-rants in over at my friend’s site, too, mitigated in effect by having found an excellent archived piece, a combination rant and old-school indictment, first thing, as a treat for today’s post. Since I also received a shipment of the proper treatment for some of my pain, it was a productive day, all in all.

So productive, I’m bound & determined to keep this to a reasonable size, so we can get right into the mess for today. As a matter of fact, it would probably be best to just end this now, just as if I’d planned it that way. Hell, nobody will know for sure whether I did, or not; for that matter, I’m not even sure if I did. There are some vague memories in there, but, I don’t want to take credit where credit isn’t due. Aw, crap. I’m losing it again, aren’t I? These damn threads of consistency are tough to maintain in the early morning, even WITH a half-cup of almost pure caffeine on board. To make it seem like it WAS a plan, we’ll use this switch right here to get us gone, before anyone notices. Watch your step, please…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“It is better to copulate than never.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

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

Antonio Vivaldi ~ The Red Priest

For a few years near the end of my work career as a psychiatric technician, I was working with severely developmentally disabled teens & young adults. Ninety or more percent of the individuals were bed-ridden, unable to walk or move about without assistance. As a result, they required 24 hour care to enable them to live a life with any degree of quality; in point of fact, most would not be able to survive at all without such care….

For about 11 months, I worked the night shift, during which time, as might be expected, it got pretty quiet, as none of these individuals could speak. To keep from going completely batty from the relative silence, I played music that would not disturb their sleep, of which, naturally, this piece was foremost in my regard, for its excellence, and that timeless quality that allows one to hear it time after time, and find new joy in each hearing. I defy anyone with any wit or heart to not enjoy this…. In this case, I think the correct admonition is, Abondanza!….

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

Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons

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

https://youtu.be/ygpf6mxTUeY

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

In recent posts, I’ve limited my fresh ranting, simply because of the time constraints I’ve found to be extant while I’m having pain issues. I have plenty of passion and angst that needs to be vented, but, not the solid block of time required to compose a coherent indictment of our BRC and the oligarchs who are their puppet masters. The little bit of time I’ve been on other sites has apparently fulfilled my venting requirements for the time being, so, for today, I’m using a rather extensive older piece, from a day in which my rage got the better of my pain… I enjoyed it, so, why don’t you?….

From 9/2/2014:

“The sunlights differ, but there is only one darkness.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Dispossessed”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Law-enforcement-employers-still-view-private-5722229.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

One coined word…. OUTFUCKINGRAGEOUS…. though, not at all surprising, the information, and quotes, in this article are, to say the least, infuriating, and, oh, I don’t know…. it makes me want to take these assholes by the lapel, and just bitch-slap them, to see if THAT might get them to HAVE A FUCKING CLUE…..

Whew!… Okay, I feel a little better… Sorry to have shouted at you, or, in your apparent direction; it was never aimed at y’all, or anyone I’ve ever called “ffolkes”… No, my anger and outrage is confined to the bloody idiots, such as the one in the article who said, and I quote, directly from the article, “Obviously, when hiring someone who will serve as a public servant in law enforcement we do a thorough background check,” Corney said. “We turn over every stone. … Even now, it’s not a perfect system. So why would we want to restrict it?”

Do you hear it? The subtext in what he states here? “why would we want to restrict it?” Well, maybe, I thought immediately, because the law says you are supposed to?. Or, maybe, your “interpretation” of the law makes the (unwarranted) assumption that police forces shouldn’t be restricted by the same laws as the rest of the populace is required to follow?… Perhaps he feels they are ‘entitled’ to not be restricted in their efforts to…. what? To know everything there is to know about everyone? It seems to me, if they were really concerned about the relative trustworthiness of their job applicants, they would have them examined, thoroughly, by a psychologist, or even a psychiatrist, to determine their reliability, their moral and ethical strengths and weaknesses, and the suitability of their persona for this kind of important work…

A psyche evaluation makes much more sense to me; it gives them the information they SHOULD be considering in their candidates, not just their weak, stupid moments, but their tendencies, their decision-making skills, their flexibility, their courage, etc…. All of that, and more, would be much clearer, without having to invade their privacy, which still should be sacrosanct….

If all those who wished to be police officers at ANY level were required to undergo psyche evaluation, I think we would see a much different, much more intelligent, more efficient, and less violent institution, whose members would, once again, be viewed as they were in the past, as the best examples of integrity, honesty, courage, and, compassion for their fellow man, that our society can produce…. Instead, in today’s society, most police are seen, by the people they are supposed to protect, as examples of arrogant, entitled bullies, flaunting their immunity from the same laws they enforce upon a fearful populace, teeming in poverty, in so many inner city communities across this nation….

Unfortunately, in the minds of today’s modern police, and the mentality of most of those who end up in that field, the laws being enforced should not have to apply to them, or anyone in their position as the “guardians” of society…. In short, the field tends to attract those who need to be regarded as special, and important, just for doing the job they’ve chosen to do, no matter their motivation, or their talent for the job…. Being large, aggressive, and able to follow orders is more highly prized than compassion, judgment, or intelligence, in today’s culture of militarization, a process affecting of all of society….

I gotta take a break…. On Memorial Day, (today) this was the first news item that drew my attention, after finishing all the steps in posting the Pearl for the holiday (as per policy, and practice, I don’t recall mentioning it at all… I never do remember it IS holiday, until I’m done… Well, most of the time, if not never….)… When I read it, and saw the incredibly asinine quote you see excerpted above, I felt like a cherry bomb firecracker going off… I damn near fell out my chair, literally, when I read those words “why would we… etc.”; I was so astounded my whole body gave a big jerk, throwing me off balance, and almost out of the chair…

Any who, break-time…. I’ve been writing straight for twenty minutes, in a rage, and need to settle…. As Arnold said, playing the Terminator “I’ll be….”, well, you know what he said….

I am. Back. But, you knew that, didn’t you? I can always count on y’all to see what is necessary…. Now that I’m back, I’ll tell you…. I’m still mad as hell, and find myself wishing very badly I could justify typing the word “fuck” a few times more, just because it releases the anger so well. But, I also typed so much on this already, my thumb is screaming, so, instead, I’ll inform you that I went to look for some pearls to go with this diatribe… One for the top, one for here, in the middle, to solidify the concepts under discussion, and provide the impetus for the remainder of the rant that is just waiting to burst out onto the screen…

But, rather than take the chance of overdoing it, I’ll finish off these thoughts with the pearls I found… In fact, an entire seven-star old-school pearl, with parameters set to find whatever seems appropriate to the theme of the now-aborted politirant…. You can thank me later for sparing y’all from the rant itself…. I’ll just go sublimate, by going out into the Big Blue Room, & finding some poor officious bureaucrat to torment…. Sounds like fun!….. Y’all enjoy the pearl, and the pearls that make it special…. Hmm…. Since the poetry is next, I think I’ll format this into the center, to blaze the path….

*******

“Earthmen like Ramses, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Lee Kuan.
Your whole Earth history is made up of men seeking absolute power.”

~~ Spock ~~

Patterns of Force, stardate 2534.7.

*******

`Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
`Mankind was my business.
The common welfare was my business;
charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business.
The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water
in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’

~~ Charles Dickens ~~

~~ A Christmas Carol ~~

*******

“People seldom improve, when they have no other model but themselves to copy.”

~~ Oliver Goldsmith ~~

*******

“I don’t know WHY I said that.. I think it came from the FILLINGS in my rear molars..”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

“Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools
and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

~~ Thornton Wilder ~~

*******

“1935 will go down in History!
For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration!
Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient
and the world will follow our lead to the future!”

~~ Adolf Hitler ~~

~~ (1889-1945), prior to confiscating all civilian firearms ~~

*******

“Between the vision and the act lies the shadow.”

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

*******

Here’s a link I found, after finishing the above…. It’s perfectly appropriate humor to serve as the final word today on this subject, and is only here to lighten the mood a bit…. Enjoy!

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/slideshow/Who-were-the-most-hated-presidents-92564.php

Note from 2016: I found out later I had my holidays mixed up; it was actually Labor Day, but, hey, they’re all just made up days, anyway, put where they are to stimulate commercial activity…. They really have nothing to do with cultural relevance, at all. But, then, that’s actually a pretty good metaphor for our entire governmental range of activity, isn’t it? Yep….

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

Savory

Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore
finds a niche, takes root,
tries to live longer than now, before
chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.

Feathered into fecundity, another possibility
builds a nest, hatches kin,
aims at immortality, sans responsibility,
chance manifests, as it does, again.

Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,
making tools, and lazy time;
solid signs imply such simple nativity,
as another snitch drops his dime.

Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,
covering hearts bloodied by time,
burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,
turning love to brilliant rhyme.

Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,
gaining weight with each year,
only the old men know the actual truth,
peace comes only when we lose our fear.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/9/2013

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

Our final pearl for the day is really old-school. I call this a Random Harlequin pearl about Life As We Know It, for, it speaks of things many of us never, or seldom consider, as well as of things with which all of us are familiar, and can feel/see/understand without a qualm. Mostly, I think it’s just stuff it’s good to know, to think about, and, to remember…. All of it, by the way, can be found in your own heart/mind.

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Ancient Sage Bee

“A good word is an easy obligation, but not to speak ill, requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.” — Tillotson

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken

“Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame.” — Thomas A Kempis

“At times the wolves howl and the moon is silent.” — Mystical Bee

“It takes a very long time to become young.” — Pablo Picasso

“Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end. It all depends upon where the observer is standing.” — Frank Herbert

“Life is cruel? Compared to what?” — Edward Abbey

“At any price that I can pay, let me own myself. And the price is worth paying if you keep what you have bought… A man may apply his independence to what is called worldly advantage, and discover too late that he laboriously has made himself dependent on a mass of external conditions for the maintenance of which he has sacrificed himself. So he may be festooned with the whole haberdashery of success, and go to his grave a castaway. Some men hold that the risk is worth taking. Others do not. It is to those that I have spoken.” — Rudyard Kipling, speech at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1923, — quoted in _Kipling’s Science Fiction_ edited by John Brunner

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

Okay, ffolkes. I did it. Big surprise, right? Okay, right, sarcasm noted and ignored, check. Since I can’t seem to find much of anything other than tricks and traps to write here, perhaps I’ll take my leave, and try again tomorrow. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll see y’all in about 24 or so hours, ffolkes. The universe seems to approve, at least to the extent of allowing me to continue, which I shall do until something makes it impossible to do so. In light of that, see y’all on the flip side…

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

From inside the pentagram….

Posted on April 8, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt.”

~~ Pliny the Younger — Letters, Book i, Letter xviii, 5 ~~

Shadow of a not-so-crooked old man….

Hajime…. As I sit to begin this morning, I am struck by just how important to my sanity this process has become. Of course, sanity is a question-begging term for most folks, Most ffolkes, too. For me, it’s not a question, at all, at all. I am crazy as a bed-bug, as the saying goes, but, rather than suffer from it, I tend to revel in it. But, then, I am strange, and have accepted it as reality. In fact, being ‘tetched’, as it were, has afforded me untold opportunities in Life, of which otherwise I might never have seen or heard, to my everlasting regret. Since I don’t believe in regrets, I chose insanity.

You see, insanity is not the boojum most folks would have us believe. It is merely another of the many states of mind we humans can adopt, a state which, in truth, is merely another method humans have developed to deal with a big, scary universe they don’t always understand. It isn’t, as we are told, a bad method, it’s merely strange, compared to what most people have experienced. Strange and different don’t always have to mean ‘bad’; if it works to help the person deal with life more effectively than their previous method, well, so be it, in my book. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But, the rest of the world doesn’t much like strange and different; those two adjectives have, unfortunately, been given a bad rap, in my estimation, and needn’t be viewed askance any more than any other such superlatives. In fact, they offer many advantages the merely sane are unable to even perceive, and, in their own way, are honorable methods for dealing with Life at Large. Well, I find them so, anyway….

I think I’m lost. I haven’t a clue how we got to this point, other than by indulging my own talent for blather. Since we’ve gotten to this point without having any real direction, perhaps it would be best to get on with the show, before we reach the point of no return. We need the return, for the deposit. Therefore, I am calling a halt to any further nonsense, sense, or blather, and will now flip this little switch right over here, which should take us directly to the oyster beds, express-style…. Hang on….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Mongo only pawn… in game of life.”

~~ Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles” ~~

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

Bonnie Raitt

The musical selection for today is an example of pure self-indulgence. I feel like listening to something both soothing, and hot. I can’t think of a better artist to cover both. Here is a live concert from the Oakland Coliseum in 1989. It just doesn’t get any better than this, ffolkes, not in my world…. Enjoy, if you will….

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

Bonnie Raitt Live

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

https://youtu.be/scokz7A4kkU

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

Yesterday, for a time, before my back & shoulders began to react to the oncoming rain we’re expecting today, I spent time commenting on a friend’s blog. He posts mostly about politics and issues in the Middle East, and can be found here: https://lobotero.com/

My comments became rather a lengthy series of mini-rants, and, apparently, have cleared out any angst that had built up. So, in today’s section reserved for such ranting, you get an old-school pearl, designed to create more angst, or, as we like to call it sometimes, stimulating our rage against the Machine…. It isn’t the most pointed pearl ever, but, it gets rather esoteric and strange in spots…. As well, it’s got some rather tasty shots…. Enjoy!….

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” — Aristotle

“In all levels of life, the sheep are safe only when the wolves are not hungry.” — F. J. Lovret

“If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic problem of human nature is — and why government keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive.” — Thomas Sowell

“When I was seven years old, I was once reprimanded by my mother for an act of collective brutality in which I had been involved at school. A group of seven-year-olds had been teasing and tormenting a six-year-old. It is always so, my mother said. You do things together which not one of you would think of doing alone…. Wherever one looks in the world of human organization, collective responsibility brings a lowering of moral standards. The military establishment is an extreme case, an organization which seems to have been expressly designed to make it possible for people to do things together which nobody in his right mind would do alone.” — Freeman Dyson, Weapons and Hope

“A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” — Paul Simon

“King Arthur and his armored goons of the Round Table functioned as the Politburo of a slave state: Camelot. Of all who have written on the Matter of Arthur, from Malory to White, only Mark Twain understood this. But Mark Twain was a great writer.” — Edward Abbey

“How many Presidential family members does it take to screw in a light bulb in the White House? Two, Hillary for her office, Bill for the rest of the White House.” — Snarky Bee

“I am quite sure that (bar one) I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed I know it. I can stand any society. all that I care to know is that a man is a human being – that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse.” — Mark Twain — Harper’s Magazine, September, 1899

“If voting could change the system it would be illegal. If not voting could change the system it would be illegal.” — Schroedinger’s Cat

“Our subjectivity
Is a mirrored,
Spiked casket.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

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

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

3/10/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Life according to Jimi

*********

“But first, are you experienced?”

~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~

*********

“[Freedom is] the power to live as you will.
Who then lives as he wills?”

~~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~~

*********

“Make haste slowly.”

~~ Ben Franklin ~~

*********

“Where no hope is left, is left no fear.”

~~ Milton ~~

*********

“If you want to be loved, be lovable.”

~~ Ovid ~~

*********

“I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm.”

~~ Calvin Coolidge ~~

*********

“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world
is to be in reality what we would appear to be;
all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves
by the practice and experience of them.”

~~ Socrates ~~

*********

“Use a mirror in difficult times:
You will see both cause and resolution.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

*********

“If I don’t meet you no more in this world
Then I’ll see you in the next one.
Don’t be late”

~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~

*********

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

Having fulfilled the minimum requirements for a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, we shall take our leave. We shall, in the interim before our return, attempt strongly to rid ourselves of this damnable royal “we” into which we keep stumbling. We are hopeful of success. We are also outta there, until the morrow. Count on 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 loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Prunes provide a moveable feast….

Posted on April 4, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A man is not aware of his virtues (if any).
Nevertheless, one hopes that they exist.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Tower of London from the Thames

Hajime…. ‘Tisn’t often I’ll begin by apologizing, but, that doesn’t cause it to mean less, to me, at least. Today, I’m doing so to explain the Pearl you will see, as it is one I probably will try to forget, if only for the cost of getting it done. Without complaint or retreat into plaintive excuses, I’ll merely say I was unable to sleep again, until late this morning, thus making me late getting started, as well as beginning another day with fatigue rather than any particular enthusiasm. Oh, well.

That said, the Pearl should, after a fashion, speak for itself. Most of it won’t be too fresh, as I don’t have any fresh on hand, or, for that matter, in mind. In fact, with what I have in mind, I probably couldn’t pass a test to get into kindergarten. I am, nonetheless, rather determined to get it done, no matter how it turns out, if only to soothe my own disappointment. One must find one’s reasons to go on oneself, mustn’t one? One must, and one has done. So be it.

Since I don’t have much, what you see is, once more, what you get. I, for one, am going on; y’all can follow if you like….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the sky.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

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

Yep. Classical music, as the icon indicates so clearly. Well, it’s clear to me; listen up to the music, and it may do the same for y’all…. or, not. So be it.

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/k353I-9GgIM

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

Since I don’t have the wherewithal to produce a rant, here is a rather extensive discussion from early in 2013, on the subject of gun control…. a subject which is rather important to ALL of us, in the long run. Me, I’m of the same opinion as Clint Eastwood, an eminently sensible man, all in all, to wit: “Gun control means, if there’s a gun in the room, I want to be the one controlling it.” Y’ll can do as you like in the matter…. Enjoy!….

From 2/9/2013:

“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

I’m rather hoping it is, in sooth…. if not, we all are in serious trouble, up the proverbial creek without a hint of a paddle. Not that it should be anything new or unfamiliar, as most of our history has been spent thus occupied. Of course, previous centuries didn’t have the distinct advantage of having either the Brady’s, or Zippy, in all his insane wisdom, as cultural icons, as well as ethical touchstones….. They had to make do with Socrates, and Plato, and stuffy old guys like that….. Aristotle was practically a rock star in his day, and remains a pretty smart dude, by all evidence, but I still prefer Carlin, I think, for the most cogent philosophy for modern times….

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 6, 1791

For a moment, I wondered what my unconscious mind was thinking when it made me copy and paste this amendment into the pearl, as a pearl…. especially as it seems to be in conjunction with the Zippy quote…. Here I am, five minutes later, still wondering what the hell I was thinking…. It happens that way sometimes…. just give me a few moments here, and I’ll come up with it…. Aha! Got it! Naturally, I only needed to go back to basics…. The answer to the question of how the two quotes are related is…. Reality….

Aye, that’s right, reality. It’s what we do here, explore reality, and all its implications, ramifications, and delineations. Also, it’s temperature. Well, perhaps that isn’t the right word, but…. Reality, as is clear and obvious to the most casual observer, exists in varying degrees (hence: temperature…. see?). The degree of reality that is included in an out-take from the Brady Bunch is clearly not the same degree of reality that is implied in the Sixth Amendment. I’d say, the Amendment would hit around 8 or 9 on the real scale, with 10 being the Reality of Amber, where all roads lead. (See Roger Zelazny’s book, The Courts of Amber…..), whereas the highest the Brady’s could hope for would be a 2 or a 3 on that same scale. They’re too oppositional in nature to be rated otherwise, as well as being on opposite ends of the scale of Relative Importance to ME and YOU…..

Now we get to the meat of this matter…. Of late, there has been a lot of public discourse regarding gun control, as a result of the media’s steadfast love of gore and manipulation. Another school shooting took place a few weeks ago, wherein some crazy idiot got hold of some firearms and used them in an insane manner. This, of course, all morality aside, is still a reprehensible act, and, IMHO, most easily solved by just taking one of his own guns and using it on him, at the time of his crime. Bang, problem solved, and since he’s standing there over the bodies he has made, no question of guilt. In such cases, the why of his guilt should not matter; whatever it is, it is reason enough to put him down, in defense of humanity. The other questions can be answered after the children have been defended….

Sadly, there are two segments of humanity who don’t agree with this logical outcome. One segment is what I term the humanitarians, a misleading term, since it usually involves the denial of much of human nature. The other, of course, is our old nemesis, the BRC…. our Beloved Ruling Class…. Neither of these groups will agree that allowing people to have guns should be allowed, or that killing the killers is a proper solution for the issue. In both of these positions, they are dead wrong, and, more, they know they are. This serves to make their arguments more shrill, more emotionally based, and, in their eyes, more valid, in some strange form of weird logic….

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

~~ Frank Zappa ~~

One of the most edifying parts of this discussion, for me, is how it makes it so easy to identify those who are wearing the uniforms, and from what camp they are from, according to their colors and insignia. You can tell the humanitarians, they’re the ones wearing the faux-camouflage pants, in support of the troops, they’ll assure you; they want the police to be the only ones who carry guns, believing, for some unknown reason, that police are somehow more moral or ethical than other people. (Of course, they also would have trouble if you asked them to define the words, “moral”, or “ethical”, in any other terms than those used in a philosophy paper they memorized in college, or in seminary….)

The BRC are always easy to spot, as their sense of entitlement provides them with all the armor against opinion, or law, they ever need. They want guns to be only held by the militia, (which they control), or the police (whom they also control), because it makes them nervous as hell to know there are guns out in the land, in the hands of people who would use them, for certain, if they attempt to perform their illegal lying, cheating, and stealing anywhere in their presence. It also makes them nervous knowing that they would be in danger for real, if the truth about what they do is ever made public with enough evidence to convince the masses to act…. They don’t want to have to worry they will be over-matched in firepower when that day comes along….

SIGH…. I’ve opened a can of worms, again, I know it….. I’m not going to claim to have all the right answers to the situation we find ourselves in today. Though it is a different world, technologically and culturally, from the time when the Second Amendment was written, deciding to abandon its precepts on that basis is not, and should never be, enough to justify any change in a law that is so important to the common man, the very people for whom the laws were created, to protect them from the self-same usurpation that is now being attempted. Once the law is amended, and weakened, the term “slippery slope” becomes very real, and a valid fear for those people.

To put a cap on it for now, I’ll say this…. Quite simply, I do not trust those who would take the right to bear arms from the people. I have seen NO evidence, in history, or in recent current events, that ANY governing body, or ANY group, or ANY single person, of ANY persuasion can be trusted to have guns, and use them solely for the benefit of the people, without turning them to their own purposes, first. NONE. You can’t show me any, either…. Go ahead, I’m listening….

I have studied people every day of my life, and I know too much of human nature to ever believe what I’m told of another person’s intentions; even the best intentions can change in mid-stream, turning its back completely on any commitments made previously. People lie, they cheat, they break in their minds, and they can’t, as a whole, ever be trusted to act rationally on a consistent basis….. at least, not any more rationally than can I myself….

“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

Such being the case, I’d rather keep my guns, thanks. I’ll accept the risks that go with that freedom, which includes the risk of bad people getting their hands on guns, and doing bad things to others. Don’t worry, if they do it in front of me, I’ll help…. and not by running away and hiding…. Life is dangerous, ffolkes, and one either learns to get along with that idea, or one spends a lot of time worrying about shit that can’t be changed…. A very unhappy state of affairs, to my way of thinking, and not very realistic in the long run….

“When the panorama of human existence becomes chaotic and confused,
it is quite soothing to watch the sun rise in the East.”

~~ gigoid~~

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

Blithely Untitled

A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.

Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.

Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.

Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.

Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, or teach us to truly know.

~~ gigoid ~~

2/7/2014

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

Today’s final old-school pearl is the only fresh material I can provide today; in spite of its relative freshness, it’s a little strange. But, it works, as it is merely giving us some stuff about living we may have either forgotten, or, overlooked in our haste to be…. In any case, none of it will hurt you, and may even help… Go figure…..

Though man a thinking being is defined,
Few use the grand prerogative of mind.
How few think justly of the thinking few!
How many never think, who think they do!

~~ Jane Taylor ~~

~~ Essays in Rhyme, (On Morals and Manners, Prejudice, ) Essay i, Stanza 45 ~~

“The hard questions always have more than one right answer. The easy questions have no answers at all. That’s the universe’s way of keeping things balanced.” — Solomon Short

“It is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.” — Josh Billings

“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.” — Kahlil Gibran

“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, viii, 22

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” — Hugh Downs

“Nobody ever died of laughter.”

~~ Max Beerbohm ~~

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

It’s done, and that’s the best I can say of it. Today is what we call REALLY trusting the process. So be it. I’ll try again tomorrow, if I can manage to rest/sleep enough to waken with a functioning neuron or two. In any case, see y’all tomorrow; personally, I don’t seem to have much choice, if I am to remain in the vicinity of sanity….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Golly! It’s exactly infinite!….

Posted on April 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Love not what you are, but what you may become.”

~~ Miguel de Cervantes ~~

Typical tourist shot of Abbey & Ben

Hajime…. Well. Here we are again, this time with a degree of reluctance rather difficult to overcome. Another very long night, with the bonus of tweaking my back good and proper right before arising. Joy, oh, joy…. Since I am determined, in spite of all that, to post today, I’ll struggle through the process, & see what can be done. And, I won’t even ask for any slack.

I will, however, take some, or make some, one way or another, for, today, I’m going to need some to get through this without any unwarranted angst build-up, nor any dead bodies, if at all possible. Leelu hates the smell. At any rate, this little short diatribe-like outburst, which is here merely to fill in a bit of space on the page, is all the intro you get today. In fact, you have already reached the end of what I’ve got, so, we’ll just be on our way, just as if we planned it this way…. Slick, eh?…. Well, I think so, but, then, we already know where from I began the day…

Shall we Pearl?….

“A man can’t get rich if he takes proper care of his family.”

~~ Navajo Proverb ~~

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

Betty Boop in 1934

Image from 123freevectors.com via Google Images

I’m feeling pretty down, altogether, so, we’ll go today with a bit of different entertainment. Here is a collection of all the various Betty Boop cartoons that got banned at one time or another, for various offenses against the public’s sensibilities, as legal at the time. None, of course, are anything perverted, other than with the usual human insanity, which, in Betty’s case, was mitigated by the size of her heart…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is all classic humor and state of the art for the time…

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

Betty Boop

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

https://youtu.be/VkG9c1yy2lg

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

There are days when I must trust the process. Today is such a day, for sure and for certain. I’m trying NOT to go into the archives for anything other than the poem, so, here is an old-school pearl, taking some shots at modern society, and a few of the things that I see we need to change, if we have any hope of making it to the twenty-second century….

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire

“It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are all brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, hypocrites, poltroons.” — Henry Miller

“The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.” — Edward Abbey

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” — Genesis 1:28

(As an aside, I would like to note, the statement from Genesis, in my mind, is the root cause of ALL our troubles here on Earth….This is not only a contemptible lie, it is sheer effrontery on the part of the one who thought this shit up…. Sheer wishful thinking, and, quite obviously insane….)

“If you close your eyes, You won’t see them dying” — Eric Bogle

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.” — Lord Acton

“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.” — Albert Einstein

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

Elemental, dear Watson….

Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.

It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.

I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….

It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….

Fuck.

It
hurts.

More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,

I say,

He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.

I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,

because

they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/14/2014

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

Our final pearl is an old-school, random harlequin variety pearl. It’s a bit more obscure than most, but, winds its way to where it should be, eventually. Try not to take it personally, okay? I’m tired, and it’s all I’ve got…. Just think of the children before you decide to vent….

“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” — Socrates

“If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there you’ll be lost.” — Yogi Berra

“Any certainty is a delusion.” — Subtle Bee

“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.” — Cicero

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” — Mark Twain

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

“And furthermore, my bowling average is unimpeachable!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

While making no claims as to quality, I can honestly say, it’s done. That, by the way, is also ALL I’m going to say about it. I will, as usual, try again tomorrow, given half a chance. For now, I shall bid thee adieu, with the hopes your day goes better than my night. See y’all mañana, amigos; I wouldn’t advise trying to stop me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Uncanny visions in sauce aubergine….

Posted on April 2, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Yow! Did something bad happen or am I in a drive-in movie?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Iconic Alaskans, Pre-Zombie Age

Hajime…. In spite of the rather excellently nonsensical title for today’s Pearl, I can make no claims to any particular excellence, as it isn’t done yet. However, having, somehow, managed to fall into some pleasant hours of actual sleep, there is hope for, at least, some degree of coherency, if not erudition. Plus, having already used up half of my most elegant vocabulary in this paragraph, the rest may suffer somewhat. So be it, as they say downtown; I’m too happy to care. Sleep is a weapon, and, for the first time in what seems like a decade, I am armed well to start the day.

It’s odd to have such clarity so early, but, let’s see if we can’t take some advantage of it, to make a decent effort at a fine, lustrous Pearl, of great beauty and value. Or, we could fake it, which may happen further down the page, as one can never tell just how cooperative SB will be on any given day, and, we must always be aware of the kind attentions of our old nemesis, one Murphy, the ultimate asshole. Oops, he doesn’t care for that epithet, but, hey, he knows how I feel about him, so, as they say in certain areas of the city, fuck it.

And, we’ll apply that attitude to the intro today, in the interests of getting on with it, since I’m rapidly running out of patter. In fact, I can’t seem to find even a tidbit left in there which might have any useful effect on what is happening. As can be observed, we are rapidly getting close to a point from which extrication may be impossible…. To forgo any possibility of derailing our purpose today, I believe I’ll use this little toy right here, which is, possibly, our most efficient toy. It’s pretty cool, and it works like this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Are people more important than the grizzly bear?
Only from the point of view of some people.”~~ Edward Abbey ~~

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

One might have guessed I’d go with a classical composer today; it’s my default. When I really want to concentrate, and be soothed at the same time, this is usually the composer to whom I turn. One of the most prolific composers of all time, I give you Camille Saint-Saënz, for your listening enjoyment….

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Camille Saint-Saënz

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https://youtu.be/eIZpyoKHhXo

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Today’s rant will be from the archives, simply because I’m in too good a mood to spoil with such vitriol as might come forth. Here instead is a relatively short discussion of the tendency of the human animal to resort to violence as a means of expressing their innermost demons…. sort of. It will do for our purposes today, which, at this point, merely involve getting down to the next section…. Keeping that in mind, please enjoy our little foray into the fairly recent past…

From 1/23/2013:

“I’ve never killed a man, but I’ve read many obituaries with great pleasure.”

~~ Clarence Darrow ~~

I really love the power of understatement; this one from Mr. Darrow is an excellent condemnation of a huge class of people, unnamed as yet, but whose names are indelibly etched on our memories, just waiting to be included in a list of people the world would be better off without…. We all have a list by that title in our heads; anyone who denies it is a liar, plain and simple, and fooling no one. As a human being, it is part of our nature to hate, and nobody is so morally chaste as to escape those kinds of feelings now and then. Nobody…..

Sometimes, what amazes me about modern life is that there are so FEW outbreaks of random violence… I’d think that, with all the pressure our society puts on people, there would be a lot more of us who crack, enough to lose control over our baser impulses, and start trying to cross names off our list of preferred targets….. The way they usually go about it isn’t the most logical, or tactically intelligent, but what do you expect from somebody in an emotional crisis? Logical thinking? Not going to happen, sorry….. I’d say it would be time to get nervous when some guy starts blasting away, then disappears, only to attack again later, in a new place…. That would indicate more planning and strategy, and a much more dangerous person…..

I’m not sure just why I started this pearl…. It might have been in response to yet another random shooting spree reported yesterday in the news, in which a teenager started firing at people because of some argument he/she had with another teen, or something like that… another totally insane reason to start killing people, but, then, do you really expect rational from these people? It isn’t rational to expect them to have an understandable reason for their insanity, it doesn’t work that way…..

But, the media will spend an incredible amount of time and energy exploring every nuance of what this idiot was doing when they snapped, until no secrets are left to the young person’s life…. In looking at the entire incident, including the media coverage, I am tempted to give a big sigh, and lament the death of society, or at least the apparent death of decency…..

Amorphous anxiety seems to be our legacy as members of today’s culture; our lives consist of a series of unpalatable events fueled by unwarranted lies, and made worse for a societal tendency toward sloth combined with a severe lack of compassion; the sheer futility of it all seems to be the only message that comes through clearly. The fatal flaw in human nature that keeps us from becoming truly moral creatures is still in control of our destiny, and any impetus toward rationality is disallowed.

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.” — Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

This is the flaw we possess, all of us, and that which has plagued us throughout our history. One of my blogging friends commented a day or two ago with a relatively famous quote, in response to another discussion around the recent spate of reported shootings…. “All that is needed for evil to succeed, is for good men to look on and do nothing.” (She didn’t report the attribution, but according to Google, it was first stated by a man named Edmund Burke, with a number of slight alterations in wording since its appearance.) This single truth has been the biggest stumbling block to human progress for our entire history, and continues today to keep us from making any progress toward improving our chances of survival in the long run.

Once more, I’ve painted myself into a virtual corner, so to speak, since I don’t have any good solutions to offer to our dilemma. Oh sure, I can tell anyone what is needed for us to start making the world into the kind of place that would be home to EVERYONE…. I think, down inside, all of us KNOW what is needed for the world to be a better place. But, until it becomes common practice for people to make decisions based on compassion and love, rather than ambition and avarice, things aren’t going to change much, because the folks who don’t care about others aren’t going to stop what they’re doing…. there’s nothing in it for them if they do. Only when good men stand up, and refuse to allow that kind of usurpation of the rights of everyone else, will any changes take place…..

So, you tell me….. When is that going to happen? And how do we convince people that it needs to happen? Answer those two questions, and we might have a direction to go……

“If you ever go temporarily insane, don’t shoot somebody, like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you’d really be surprised.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

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

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/7/2012

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Our final pearl today is a rather simple, yet definitive pearl, of the pointed variety. This points us toward a way to approach our lives with elegance, rationality, and a degree of style. If you don’t get it, just go by the final injunction, and you’ll be fine…. Enjoy!….

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” — Sagacious Bee

“But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“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

“Don’t take anything seriously except happiness.” — Albert Camus

“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” — Mark Twain

“If you get confused, listen to the music play.” — Robert Hunter

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

The smooth efficiency with which this Pearl came together makes me nervous; however, having trusted the process thus far, I must go with the flow. Since it’s also done, perhaps I’ll forgo the usual idiocy here at the end, & merely take my leave. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless somebody comes up with a weapon I can’t deal with…. The odds are good, as always….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

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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