Priceless moments of shared arrogance…..

Ffolkes,
That was close…. I almost began today’s missive with a song…. Not just any song, mind you, but a particularly bright, bouncy, tuneful one from a particularly perky musical that shall remain nameless, lest I get sued for intellectual theft, or chastised by my readers for excessive tackiness, either of which is unacceptable to me, especially before I’ve finished my first cuppa….. It also saves you from having to go wash out your ears so early in the day…..

Since my morning routine has returned to some semblance of its former normalcy, or mendacity, depending on your relative point of observation, it seems my initial comments are turning on me as well. Not sure what to think about that, or what I should do, if anything….. It’s not as if what I do here in the intro section is written in stone; in fact, nothing like consistency has ever come into the equation at all. It has been both a stimulant, to be more creative, and a hassle, because I’m not always in a creative frame of mind first thing in the morning. I do prefer to write then, as I seem to have more energy than later in the day, but that preference isn’t based on how creative I can be, just how awake I am, and how long I can sit.

None of this is getting me any closer to an introductory section that will do what I wish it to do, which is pull the reader into what is written, like the siren call of the muses…. Oh, well, it’s probably a good thing I can’t seem to find a template for this; if I did the same thing every day, I’d go stark, raving sane, and lose all my sense of humor, most likely, turning this into merely another mass of poorly written garbage, in spite of how pompous and extensive my vocabulary gets, or how accurate my observations…. A conundrum is what it is, and I don’t like it….

Sadly, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, my likes and dislikes have absolutely no effect whatsoever on reality, so I’m going to have to just suck it up, and get on with the business of the day, just as if I knew what I was doing, or where I was going. I suppose that could be seen as another metaphor for life in general, but, I’m not in the mood right now for logical, or practical, metaphors, no matter how close to the truth they may be. I’m currently busy feeling curmudgeonly, grumpy because I can’t have my own way, and things aren’t being amenable to my manipulation today, especially my own attitude…. I can see I need to adjust it, so, pardon me if I spilled any of it on you….

I’m going to bring this section to a rapid close now, before I get into anything that could be construed as illegal, or even immoral, which is more of how I judge things in my life…. Not that I’m such that I could be held up as an example of anything other than how to grow old gracelessly, but, I do try to make my decisions based on morals, and/or ethics, rather than laws…. Always have, always will…. Regardless, I have to go now, or “bad things” could happen….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Oooh! Did you see that? Oh, no, I guess not, since you’re not here in the room with me…. I just created a new pearl format, completely by accident, courtesy of Smart Bee, and the principle of serendipity….. The following pearl, composed of four parts poetry and three parts prose, is just about as perfect as it can be, in terms of being a clever and useful concept, artfully brought to light by the way the given quotes direct the mind’s eye, to the correct vision implied by the tenor of the presented metaphorical signs…. All a short, confusing way to say, look, look, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s not any of that! It’s virtual wisdom at its best…..

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have,–“Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost.”

— Edward Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873) — The Lady of Lyons, Act v, Sc. 2

“By the streets of “by and by”, one arrives at the house of “never”.” — Cervantes

The charge is prepar’d, the lawyers are met,
The judges all ranged,–a terrible show!

— John Gay (1688-1732) — The Beggar’s Opera, Act iii, Sc. 2

“The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s
In deepest consequence.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act i, Sc. 3

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

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

— John Donne (1572-1631), “Death, be not proud”

Sniff…. I couldn’t be prouder, and I’d like to thank the Academy, and my director, and my mum and dad, and…..
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I’m in the mood for obscure genius, so…..

Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide’s green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember the piece quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections, of what, then, were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark…. “And that is that, is that, is that.”……
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“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism:      What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either; if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokesbozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidates policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, and went off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, and show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society. His total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, and I am totally astounded at just how many IDIOTS are our there in this country supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit….  I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

And then shall many be offended,… — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!…..  I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. and so much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….
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Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation, and the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his candidate which reads, “In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).” — from the Guinness Book of World Records, 1973

I’m almost speechless. (I know, you’ll believe it when you see it…. I did say ‘almost’…. that’s something…) It’s absolutely beautiful! Perfectly priceless absolute nonsense, dressed only in legal briefs…. It is so impenetrable, I can’t tell if it is the law itself, or the judges written opinion on the law, or a passage from Nightmare on Elm Street! Which I’ve never seen, by the way….

How’s that for tangential? Any who, this was included today as a finishing touch to my Twitt-rant above. This goes to show just how the political hacks we are burdened with today work their verbal magic, to distract us from looking at things they don’t want us to see. Bureaucratese is what I’ve heard it called, a language and skill set that society has had practiced on them since the days of ancient Greece. When a document such as the one above reaches a certain level of impenetrability, the majority of people alive will either fall asleep halfway through reading it, or totally ignore it after reading the first 11 words or so. It’s a classic piece of distraction, and is probably used in courses for political science majors in college, and in law schools, as an example of how to carry off the trick.

To me, what this law indicates is that one, or more, of the people involved in writing the law have a monetary interest in being able to obfuscate the definition of “Nuts”, in order for them to achieve some financial reward owing to the indicated distinctions in that definition. In other words, a loophole or three is created, so the “Nut” vendors can make more money, charging more for each kind of Nut than could be accomplished without the legislation. It’s similar to the law in this country that was pushed through the Federal Courts back in the mid-1800’s, when a corrupt Federal judge awarded “personhood” to corporations, after being paid handsomely by those corporations for his verdict…. Same, same, alla same…. Evil is loose in the world….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he had another plate of Piglet sausage. — Smart Bee (Remember Mitt the Twitt at the NAACP?…..)

I suppose all I’m trying to say here is, once again….. Wake up ffolkes…. the beloved ruling class, the priestly hierarchies, and the corporate “persons” in the shape of banks and multi-national corporations, are continuing their campaign to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, and everything to do with screwing everyone else as much as they will allow…. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m about done with allowing ANY of it….

“I’m not tense, just terribly alert.” — Smart Bee

So, please…. DON’T ignore the man behind the screen…. he’s the one who is killing us all….
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Ollie would be proud, I think… and just in time, too. The store is now open, and I’m done with this, so, all is right with the world, such as it is today. I’m not any more certain than you are what that may mean, or even whether it SHOULD mean anything, but, obscurity is what we’re always shooting for around here, and sometimes, it’s just easier than other times….. Especially when my fingers take over the keyboard like this, and just type away as fast as they can, without any idea of what will come out….. I’d better put a stop to it, before I hurt myself, or y’all….   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….


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

gigoid

dozer3

If we must, we can use the anchovy paste….

Ffolkes,
Now, this is scary…. I never knew that a mere blank, white screen could hold so much fear….. Not only is the screen blank, so is my head, and time is passing. It’s already after 0800, due to being up until 0100 for some unknown reason, and not arising until after 0700….. No big deal, but throws me off a bit to have my schedule change again, willy nilly, just because my head wouldn’t shut up last night…..

Then, of course, there is the problem of this morning’s Pearl…. Once more, I’m completely at a loss as to how I should get going…. no fictional scenarios are floating around in there, and my sense of humor doesn’t seem to be awake quite yet, despite the rest of me being up and about, just as if I were normal….. which, as we all know, just isn’t the case….. I left that unfortunate state behind me, a long way in the past, and haven’t seen hide nor hair of it since, oh, 1958 or so…..

“We have met the enemy and they are us and you are me and we are all together.” — Walt Kelly, Lennon, and the Beatles

“When you talk to the half-wise, twaddle; when you talk to the ignorant, brag; when you talk to the sagacious, look very humble and ask their opinion.” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?” — Smart Bee

Okay, so, I cheated….. sue me. I thought, maybe, if I threw out some pearls, it might jog my brain, and something worthwhile would fall out….. I do like all three of these little gems, especially the first and last…. the middle one is one of those ‘surprise’ pearls, by which I mean that the source is a surprise….

Edward Bulwer-Lytton is the author of the book in which the line “It was a dark and stormy night….” was first used, and the opening paragraph of that book, whose title I never can remember, is used as the ultimate example of the over-blown, floridly wordy, and pompous style of writing that seems to abound in certain literary genres….. It is such a bad piece of work, that, each year, a contest is held, wherein people submit the worst opening lines for a book they can think of, to win a prize, which has grown to thousands of English pounds for the year’s winner….. Some pretty funny stuff is composed every time….

I’m not going to rant here… in fact I’m going to just abandon all attempts at making this a real intro, and just dump it on y’all in its current state. I don’t think it will splash, or cause any permanent damage, so, I’ll take my chances, since it’s way too late to start over…… In the interests of self-help, and to make at least one strong attempt to regain control of this missive, we’ll leave this alone now…. Shall we Pearl?…..__________________________________

“This song of the waters is audible to every ear, but there is other music in these hills, by no means audible to all…. On a still night, when the campfire is low and the Pleiades have climbed over rimrocks, sit quietly and listen … and think hard of everything you have seen and tried to understand. Then you may hear it – a vast pulsing harmony – its score inscribed on a thousand hills, its notes the lives and deaths of plants and animals, its rhythms spanning the seconds and the centuries.” — Aldo Leopold

Mr. Leopold’s fanciful flight of imagination is lovely, and true, as well. Without mentioning it by name, he gives a fine description of what has been called the Music of the Spheres, or, as I like to call it, Star Song…… I’ve found, over the course of a moderately long life, that some folks can hear this music, and some can’t. It doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence, per se, though more intelligent ffolkes seem to hear it than those who are less endowed with that characteristic. But, it isn’t essential…. I believe the ability to hear it has to do with two factors; one is imagination, and one is curiosity, both of which are somewhat dependent on having been developed in childhood.

Babies all hear this music, but learn, as do we all, to tune it out as they become more concerned with other aspects of growing. If imagination and curiosity are encouraged when young, a child will again learn how to tune in to this universal music, but, if not, they may never hear it past the age of 10 or so, losing along with it much of their sense of wonder, and many of childhood’s most important lessons. These losses can affect the course of their lives for all their days, keeping them unaware of much of the beauty in the world.

I am forced, at this point in this narrative, to make a confession…. I’m lost. When I started this pearl, I had a specific argument I was going to present, with evidence, suppositions, and conclusions all laid out in logical order for your examination. Now, however, I am faced with the simple fact that, while composing the above two paragraphs, that argument has flown completely out of my head, and gone off to wherever such ideas go when Murphy gets hold of them like this….

If I knew, I’d go kick his ass and get them back…. SIGH…. I don’t, though, so I’m going to make one try to salvage this space, and fill up the remainder of this section with an old-school group of pearls…. I’ll try to keep them in the same general genre, or near the same area of thought as above, but, obviously, no guarantees are possible…. Lloyd’s would never cover it…..

“It’s hard to face tomorrow, but it’s easier than facing no tomorrow.” — Smart Bee
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A novice of the temple once approached the Chief Priest with a question. “Master, does Emacs have the Buddha nature?” the novice asked. The Chief Priest had been in the temple for many years and could be relied upon to know these things.  He thought for several minutes before replying. “I don’t see why not.  It’s got bloody well everything else.” With that, the Chief Priest went to lunch.  The novice suddenly achieved enlightenment, several years later.

Commentary:

His Master is kind,
Answering his FAQ quickly,
With thought and sarcasm.    ~~ Smart Bee
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“Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.” — Edgard Varese
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Against those skilled in the attack, the enemy does not know where to defend.
Against the experts in defence, the enemy does not know where to attack.

— Sun Tzu
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— Bother! said Pooh,  as Eeyore missed another period.
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Like. if guns are outlawed, the lawyer population will explode out of control. — Smart Bee

Bloody brilliant, if I do say so myself…. but, then, I’ve always said Smart Bee was much more than just your average database….. There IS a point to the group of pearls included, but, don’t bother trying to figure it out, you’d only get a headache…. It’s kind of the same idea as the old saw about “Never try to make a pig wear shoes…. You’ll both end up dirty, and the pig still won’t dance….”
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I’m in the mood for a bit of mad genius…. so, here is one of the maddest genius’s ever, by acclimation….

Thalidomide

O half moon—-

Half-brain, luminosity—
Negro, masked like a white,

Your dark
Amputations crawl and appall—

Spidery, unsafe.
What glove

What leatheriness
Has protected

Me from that shadow—
The indelible buds.

Knuckles at shoulder-blades, the
Faces that

Shove into being, dragging
The lopped

Blood-caul of absences.
All night I carpenter

A space for the thing I am given,
A love

Of two wet eyes and a screech.
White spit

Of indifference!
The dark fruits revolve and fall.

The glass cracks across,
The image

Flees and aborts like dropped mercury.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. {2} If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. {3} If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. {4} Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. {5} It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. {6} Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. {7} It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. {8} Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. {9} For we know in part and we prophesy in part, {10} but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. {11} When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. {12} Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. {13} And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13 NIV

It is such a shame that the Bible has to be regarded as divinely inspired, in my mind. There are a number of passages in the various books by different authors that display a deep insight into human nature, and, like the one above, beautifully give to man words of such truth they can form the basis of one’s entire world-view. Insisting that such ideas are only possible to God, to me, isn’t realistic, nor is it true. I’ve known a number of people I would consider very wise, who have never even heard of the Christian God…. so, where does that fit into the picture?….

No, from what I can tell from reading it, most, or, okay, I’ll be fair, much, of what is written, most especially those parts intended as dogmatic proclamations, are more human in origin, obviously, than they are divinely inspired. The premises all favor the church over the individual, and submission of each individual to dogma is required of the faithful; that much is apparent in every statement that asserts God’s authority over Man as Creator.

It’s obvious to me, anyway…. I could never figure out why God, who could make universes, needed me to fall down on my knees and humble myself….. What kind of sick thrill does he get from that? I know that anyone who acts in a subservient manner to me makes me uncomfortable, and feel like I want to kick them, and tell them to stand up and show some pride…. or at least some dignity….

Any who, in the Bible, there is all this good advice, and good ideas, like the one above…. but, in order to find them, one must wade through all the nonsensical stuff that the priestly hierarchies would have us believe is “written by the hand of God”…. Much more likely t’was the hand of Guido, or Etienne, I would think, at the insistence of assholes like Paul, and Peter, those evil men who barely waited until Jesus was underground to start perverting his teachings…. I’ll bet they were a bit surprised to have to wait until after he rose, and left again, before getting down to the business of altering texts, twisting meanings, and generally setting things up to suit themselves, all with the convenient authority he so trustingly gave them….

Not for nothing is it said that Jesus was an innocent…. he believed he could trust his disciples, forgetting entirely they are human, and will act out of self-interest FIRST, every time, when it comes to morality…. Hell, soon after he died, all twelve of the disciples went their own ways, and began the task of creating the thousand and one different sects based on the teachings of Christ that exist today…. or at least, setting the stage for their creation…. There WERE only twelve of them to start with…. Even with that, it takes a while to split it all up to the point we now see today, with thousands of separate churches, all based on one or another of the basic core principles Jesus left behind as legacy, and all interpreted through the lenses of each person’s glasses, colored in self-interest….

Ah well, at least if one has the patience to look, some good things can be found in the Bible…. I just wish that people would learn not to take it so seriously… because, I’m sorry to have to tell them this, but, God doesn’t publish books, nor does He (as I understand the concept of Him….) use ghost writers….. In fact, I should think that, if such an entity had something to tell us, He might make it pretty obvious where the message came from, and what it meant…. otherwise, what would be the point? If nothing else, I would expect a God to be, at minimum, logical…..

Okay, I’m done….

“Due to intense mind fog all thoughts have been grounded.” — Smart Bee
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Whew, what an ordeal! I wasn’t sure I’d ever get done, but, once again, the perseverance I learned at my father’s knee stood me in good stead…. It’s done, and you can’t make me do it over…. Well, I suppose you could, but, you wouldn’t, would you? Would you? Hmm…. I think, before you have a long time to think about that, we’ll take our leave, until tomorrow….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..


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

gigoid

dozer3

Intrusion of the Dubious….

Ffolkes,
As the brightly colored dreidle spins, mesmerizing, laughter rings out above the noise of the crowded plaza. The sun beat down with heavy indifference, laying a mantle of sticky humidity on the poor, and on the not-so-poor denizens wandering listlessly among the filthy stalls. Occasionally, soldiers from the palace would stride past, looking neither left nor right, in squads of eight; any fewer would be an easy target for the bands of mercenaries purchased as protection by the criminal overlords of the city.

The crowds parted once again, and filled in behind, as a stranger, dressed in strangely colored garments, marched steadily toward the Speaking Stone. He reached the Stone and vaulted to the top; the crowd gathered around, and fell silent. As the sun began to sink behind the minarets to the west, the stranger looked out among the crowd, and spake thus, “Did you believe the lies? Did you doubt my words? If so, the proof of your mistaken choice stands before you. I have returned, and there will be a reckoning!” The crowd, still silent, fell back as the stranger quickly departed the plaza. Neighbor looked at neighbor, with baffled mien, until one shouted out, expressing the mutual confusion, and said “What! What the hell is that supposed to mean?”……

Sorry folks, just had to get that out…..we will now return to our regularly scheduled nonsense…..
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Alone!–that worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing and grief hath known
Of hopes laid waste, knells in that word ALONE!
— Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1805-1873) — The New Timon, (1846), Part ii

It is interesting sometimes to see how the world works; there is always some piece of it that is stranger than we can imagine. This poem, though not of top notch quality, is nonetheless saved from total obscurity by the power of its plea. What interests me is that this gentleman is the same one who wrote the famous passage from the beginning of one of his books; it begins with “It was a dark and stormy night….” and proceeds to go downhill from there. It is considered by experts to be so bad that there is now a yearly literary contest, with a pretty hefty prize, called the Bulwer-Lytton Award.

The award is bestowed upon the author of the written passage that best exemplifies just how badly people can write. Each year, the winning pieces lend new meaning to Theodore Sturgeon’s Law of Everything, which tells us that “90 percent of science fiction is crap. But, then, 90% of everything is crap.” It’s all just another way for us to laugh at our best source of humor in life, ourselves and our personal struggle with our oh-so human nature…….
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“It is your resistance to ‘what is’ that causes your suffering.” — Buddha

In the movie, The Lion King, there is a scene wherein the young lion king-to-be is receiving a lesson from his shaman/mentor, the anorexic orangutan. The shaman would ask a question, and when the young lion answered, the shaman would hit him over the head with a stick, and say “Forget about it! It’s in the Past!”, carrying on with that until the point was obvious, to wit: Don’t hang on to baggage you can leave in the past, or you’ll drag it with you into the future.”

This is actually the only scene from the movie that I remember, so I guess my crap detector was on full alert. But this one scene makes the movie worthwhile for me, because this is a lesson that more kids (and adults) in this country need to have drilled into their heads. However, such a subtle concept as this is generally incomprehensible to westerners, who are conditioned from birth to avoid using their minds at all cost….to their eventual regret, and everyone else’s chagrin…..
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By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord Hymn

“Our safety, our liberty depends on preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate.  The people of the US are the rightful masters both Congress and the courts – Not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution” — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.’ — Former US President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 — letter to Col. William F. Elkins — printed in “The Lincoln Encyclopedia”, — ed. Archer H. Shaw, Macmillan, 1950, NY

“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency… Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded.  Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” — General Douglas MacArthur, 1957

This section of quotes hearkens back to the early days of the Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. The four quotes above, when considered as a continuing evolution of observations of American society, show an increasingly strong sense of impending threat to the freedoms our forefathers attempted to guarantee for us. The threat is getting even stronger as time goes on, and I can only hope that enough folks out there are aware of how close to the edge we are skating, and make a joint effort to pull us all back from danger…..but, then, I AM an optimist by nature…..
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Thou wast that all to me, love,
For which my soul did pine–
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.
— Edgar Allan Poe

Poe didn’t live long, but he loved, and lived well, miserable though he was. To love well is to live well; perfect logic trimmed with Occam’s Razor. I have loved, so I can say I have lived well. I still love, and seek more. It is, after all, our most defining emotion. Robert Heinlein, of course, said it the best, as far as I can see, when he said that “Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” That’s a goal worth living for…..
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No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 3, 1791

This is your daily reminder of what is now missing from your life…..no joke…..
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The above posting may seem like insignificant rubbish at first glance, but if you read between the lines, you will be surprised to discover the annals of Burt Bachrach, world peace, Oxford Advanced Readers Dictionary, quantum physics made easy, and an easy-to-use step-by-step walk-through on how to make a time traveling device that actually works. — DISCLAIMER

I can’t do it any better than that; not today. Today, I’ll be lucky if I can see my way clear to tomorrow. Matters at this point are, shall we say, unsettled? Good thing I refuse to be bored; to admit that is to admit I’m tired of what is in my own head. Not gonna happen in this lifetime…..meantime, y’all take care out there…..


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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!