Tag Archives: Elbert Hubbard

Paltry measures yield no benefits, milord….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,

As far as I can see, the only effect the shutdown of the government seems to have produced, is a reduction in the overall amount of noise we must endure, noises normally supplied by the busy lips and tongues of politicians…. Oh, they’re all running around, having meetings, giving interviews to whomever will listen, whereupon new articles appear, to explore the latest load of bilge that has come down the pike, shouting how this one dissed the other one, or what that one said about this, that, or, even the other…. It all gets a bit loud, for my taste, so, I’m glad the shutdown has caused a bit less of it to assault my/our tender ears….

I went to look for something to rant about this morning, but all the news writers are apparently avoiding the budget mess, in favor of other stuff clamoring for attention, such as the BART strike being threatened for this week, or Jerry Brown’s baldness, or the baseball playoffs… All of which is  important stuff, I’m sure, but, not very rantable for those of us who require a bit more actual drama, rather than mere vicarious curiosity, while having no actual need to engage in celebrity worship.

I guess it goes to show that we really DON’T need the government; all of those things that we get from it are actually not essential to our existence on an everyday basis, and NOT having it around, constantly creating issues and problems, seems, to me, to be rather peaceful…. I find it rather heartening, as well as comforting, to have heard not a single stupid remark by a politician yet today, even though I’ve already gone over the headlines once, to see if there was anything worthwhile to pick at…. I suppose you could call that serendipity, as it is certainly a boon, and certainly unexpected…

Actually, the fact that there is NOT any real news to pick at is NOT a good thing…. I know, as does everyone else, that the nation is rushing headlong into another financial crisis, spurred on by a small group of self-styled martyrs, who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, and, who have no clue that they have signaled their own demise as a political force in the future, by their intransigent insistence on pursuing this farce…. The American public is well aware of who is responsible for this mess, and they WILL make their anger clear in a month, when a number of elections will bring home to the Republicans just how stupid this has been, and just how far their alienation of voters has progressed…. They’ll be lucky to still have a functioning organization by the next national election….

The lack of news articles right now, though, points out to me an even more disappointing aspect of the matter, which has been, and continues to be, the absolutely piss-poor job done by the print media in covering all of this…. They have avoided taking shots at the people responsible, and have studiously ignored much of the public’s reaction to what is taking place. They also haven’t looked very hard at any of the stuff the whole budget mess is designed to cover up, like what is happening in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Iran, or Guantanamo Bay, or any of the other areas of the world where our political presence has led us into immoral, illegal acts of war, against people who are NOT the responsible parties for the events, far in the past now, for which we are allegedly seeking vengeance. But, hey, what’re a few deaths in the third world, if it means the politicos get the breathing room to plan their next great theft from the public?….

Okay, I guess I’ve ranted enough for one day…. I’m pretty disgusted with the entire BRC right now, and though that is nothing new, the degree of outrage I’m experiencing this go-around is much greater than usual…. Obama, Boehner, Mitchell, Pelosi, Biden, McCain, Bachman, all of them are assholes, and there isn’t a damn thing to do about it, other than be glad that, for the moment at least, they’re not making as much noise in their posturing, meaning there is less for us to have to endure…. They haven’t ceased their lies, or their delusional beliefs, or trying to fulfill any of their private agendas, which have NOTHING to do with what is good for the public….. They’re just not making as much noise at it, as they are supposed to be SHUT DOWN….. which we are supposed to believe is a big deal….

Me? I’d rather go do something worthwhile…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is no disgrace not to be able to do everything; but to undertake, or pretend to do, what you are not made for, is not only shameful, but extremely troublesome.” — Plutarch
_____________________________

Having ranted above, before I was really ready, I’ll avoid the same mistake here, and go directly to an old-school format, saving us all time, and energy that can best be used later, for something actually productive in the real world….. Well, a man can dream, can’t he?….

“Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.” — Samuel Johnson

“It is a good thing to be rich and strong, but it is a better thing to be loved.” — Euripides

“The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.” — Daniel Webster

“If 150,000 people do something really stupid………it’s still stupid.” — Smart Bee: gigoid agrees….

“Reason obeys itself; and ignorance does whatever is dictated to it.” — Thomas Paine

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” — Norman Cousins

“All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.” — Lennon & McCartney
_____________________________

I picked this poem out yesterday, when it happened to jump up in front of me, while searching for pearls for the Pearl posted then…. It just seemed appropriate, given the current issues being played out in the public arena, and Shel Silverstein’s poems are always welcome here…. Enjoy!….

Hug O’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

_____________________________

I could rant. There is enough going on right now in the public venue to provide more than enough angst for me to get started again, though, this time, I think I’d switch over to picking on the priestly hierarchies rather than the talking heads; I’ve been neglecting them of late, and they must be getting lonely for some of my charming accusations and deliberate taunting. I know I would…. be getting lonely, that is….

Any who, I’m choosing, instead, to be a nice guy today, and NOT rant any more…. Though it doesn’t necessarily make any difference in the long run, I’m feeling a bit mellow this morning, so I’ll let you, and the preachers, off the hook for today… We’ll go with a random, harlequin pearl, with little or no direction for SB on how to pick the entries…. It usually comes out well when we go that route, so…. enjoy!….

“Logic: an instrument used for bolstering a prejudice.” — Elbert Hubbard

“If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.” — Samuel Butler

“If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?” — Lily Tomlin

“The sages put great stock in saying that every ending is truly a beginning, or every beginning an ending, or insisting that there are no endings or beginnings, or remarking that there is nothing new, and we are doomed to endlessly repeat ourselves. Or have I said all this before?” — The Teachings of Ebenezum, Vol. LXXXVII

“A man who dares waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” — Charles Dickens

I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?
Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A truth and noonday light to thee.

— Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1816-1841) — Life a Duty

“And so it was, later,
as the miller told his tale,
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale.”

— Procol Harum
_____________________________

One of the best parts about creating these Pearls for me is that each one is a surprise…. I have no plan, or direction when I sit down to write, only to write as long as I can before taking a break to ease the pain… The resulting lack of consistency, while not hobbling my imagination or ability to find words, does make each day’s output as new to me as it is to y’all (a hopeful, friendly word, y’all….). I kind of like it, as it is always fresh, in that sense, if in no other…. Let’s see how this one came out…

I find myself to be unable to make a coherent decision about the quality of this Pearl; it’s much more complex than I imagined it to be, especially given the fact that I wrote it…. Since I’m unsure, I’ll do what comes naturally, which is to post it, and hope for the best….. I don’t think it will cause any significant damage, to my reputation, or anyone else’s, (more’s the pity….), so I can ask the lawyer for my retainer back in a few days, if no further lawsuits are threatened…. If nothing else, we’ve struck a blow or two against the oppressors in the name of revolution, which, after all, merely means “change”…. and, if you hadn’t noticed, change is how the Universe works…. For better, or for worse, change will happen…. see ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Save those last few multicolored polynomials….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,

Reeling from an overabundance of hyper-oxygenated brain cells, I awoke, in severe confusion. Since quitting the consumption of nicotine via the avenue of cigarette smoking, (I’m wearing the patch to titrate myself off the bloody things….), I’ve been sleeping better, due, in part, to the decrease in my coughing, and, in part, from increased oxygenation while sleeping. It has, however, presented a different conundrum for me to deal with, which consists of a period of confusion and concomitant mild fear when I wake…. I can’t say as yet just why I wake up confused, but, I do, and the mild fear is a reaction to having to face the world in that state…..

Actually, that’s all a load of BS, and I’m just talking through my hat, which is marginally better than talking through my ass…. I did  start wearing the patch, and have stopped smoking the cigarettes; it has also lessened my coughing, and increased my oxygen, thus improving the quality of my sleep…. The rest of it is all made up, just to practice two writing skills, one being sentence construction (major fail there…), and, sounding sincere and reasonable…. I think it came out alright on that part, even though it’s all just crap, in terms of facts and reality…… The sentence structure, such as it is, needs work to sound less pompous, and more ‘user-friendly’, to borrow some tech-speak….

So, how’re y’all doin’? For me, it’s been a quiet time of late, just learning the ins and outs of this new relationship, and dealing with the difficulties and issues that life and reality brings us all to deal with… For us retirees, thankfully, there is less of it, and the time limits aren’t usually so critical as when we were younger…. which is a good thing, because we move slower now, and need longer to get things done…. We have the advantage of a greater degree of foresight, and usually, a greater degree of organization and time management, though, so it all evens out for the most part….. I wasn’t sure if I would, but, I’m really enjoying being retired, now that I am more financially comfortable. The perks and advantages to being older seem to be greater, thus far, than the disadvantages, which are mostly due to the physical issues involved in the aging process we all go through…..

There, that’s done… I’m counting the above paragraph as my daily portion of bitching and whining about getting old, even though it’s more positive than not…. Consider it a gift….    🙂   Now that is out of the way, there’s nothing holding us back from getting on with today’s post, which, given the disruptions to routine that have already occurred, and the alterations already made in the background, where you wouldn’t notice, promises to be, shall we say, unique? Well, different, anyway, and, hopefully, entertaining, if nothing else….. I see that we’ve again reached the proper amount of vacuous nonsense for stimulation, (or is that simulation?…) of the cortical processes we pursue each day….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

Isaac Asimov    The headlines I read every day show me absolute proof of Mr. Asimov’s assertion, as the power of stupidity in human affairs continues to direct, no, drag us, ever closer to our own self-destruction as a species. Ignorance, and the resulting fear of the unknown, is the single most powerful issue, in my estimation, in the struggle for existence in which we are now engaged. Moreover, by its very nature, that issue, and its power, is working against  our continued presence on this planet in a way that almost guarantees its success (though, in fact, if properly channeled, it could, instead, be a powerful motivational tool for survival….). It (stupidity/ignorance) does that by appealing to what every human alive has, and will give in to every time it is invoked, to wit: our own personal self-interest…..

No matter how ethical, or moral, one considers themselves, they are still making their decisions in life, about everything, based on their own self-interest. This colors every aspect of what we perceive, for it determines, in advance, how we will employ those perceptions to act. Our self-interest considers, first, what WE want to make ourselves happy, and it is only those with the will and the intelligence to subdue this impulse who can bring themselves to act out of true charity, or selflessness, thinking first of what will benefit all, rather than just themselves. Any other acts of that nature are, when examined closely for motive, performed because they somehow improve the person’s own position, either in the real world, or in the world in our minds…. Remember, ffolkes, those are two separate things, entirely, and should not be confused as being the same thing (though that is what everyone tries to do…. make the outer world conform to their inner image of that world….)

Now, I realize that it’s a bit early for philosophical discussions of such a subtle, and deep, subject…. But, this issue is what I consider to be the primary operational factor in how the world is, quite frankly, going to hell in a handbasket…. Human nature is the very thing that is killing us, and will continue to do so as long as the most fearful and ignorant among us are allowed, and even encouraged, to continually act in their own self-interests, because those little indulgences are going to end up killing us all, all because the greedy and avaricious assholes who are in charge of the world’s resources are immoral and unethical enough to feel no moral dilemma, at keeping the rest of the ignorant masses under their control, for the benefit of THEIR own self-interests….

They, the BRC, the corporate masters, and their myrmidons, the churches, the police, and the armed forces, are the ones who have no ethical compunctions against making people afraid, so they can fan those fears, promising deliverance, if only they will give up their independence, and allow others to think for them. This system gives them everything they want…. power over others, power over money and resources, and control over everything they see, so that it all is working in a way that fulfills and enhances their self-interests…. It matters not at all to these monsters that the rest of mankind suffers, or that eventually the path they have chosen will kill ALL of us; it matters not, because their sense of entitlement does not stretch to include the concept of their own demise; they don’t think they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and tend to forget that they, too, are subject to the laws of physics…. laws from which there IS NO APPEAL…..

I’m a smart guy, and I’ve seen this building up through all of my life, due to events that have taken place throughout mankind’s relatively short (cosmically speaking) history on this planet…. I also am smart enough to realize that it’s all coming to a head, because physics cannot be ignored, and the physics of the situation here on Earth says that drastic changes are coming, in terms of planetary weather, and atmospheric, and oceanic chemistry, and those changes are going to be more than we are (currently…) able to cope with, either in a physical sense, or a cultural sense…. In other words, she’s a gonna blow, so we’d best be ready to jump….

I’m personally hoping that a Martian colony can be established before I, or my children and grandchildren, get swept up in the maelstrom to come…. If so, and they would take someone of my age, I would grab my grown kids, my grandson, and Patricia, and her kids, and be off to Mars, in a heartbeat….. Otherwise, I need to figure out another way to get the world to make the inner changes needed to alter the path we are on, or, quite simply, we are all going to die…. Maybe not today, and maybe not in the next 50-100 years…. But, the physics says that it WILL happen, ffolkes, so, I’d advise y’all to at least think about what you might do when it does…..

Okay, I’m done being a doom sayer for today…. Today is a good day, or will be, if I have anything to say about it…. Oh, you say you need proof of all I’m asserting here? Okay, this should make it pretty clear…. This is a real law, I checked….

“In Lexington, Kentucky, it’s illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.” — Smart Bee

(Okay, so I didn’t really check, but, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find this to be true in fact…. We’ve all seen sillier examples that ARE true….)
_____________________________

After such a somber rant, I feel the need for something soothing to my spirit; it’s hard to be serious for so long…. Well, it is for me…. Besides, if we take the view of a solipsist, all of this. (Life, the Universe, and Everything….), is perfectly under our control, and we can change it anytime we wish, right?….. Right….

Soliloquy Of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

I’m not sure what stimulated the rant above, but, it felt good to get all that out, if nothing else…. So, I’ll indulge my own self-interest at this point, (as if that isn’t what I’ve been doing now for over a million words, a couple thousand of them daily for over two years….), and go to an old-school pearl, that is, at the very least, fresh, if not excitingly unique and perfect…. Hell, it may end up being perfect; that’s the nice thing about going in cold, you never know…. This one will be as random as I can make it, as I’m not setting any parameters, except that I like it, and it goes somewhere…. I don’t care where….  Enjoy!

“Nothing’s so weird that no one’s done it.” — Smart Bee

“I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to argue any more.” — Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid…

“It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” — Oscar Wilde

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“You can play with my mind if you let me play with yours..”– Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid, again.

“A good place to start is where you are.” — Charles Wolf, Jr.

It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.

— Bette Midler, The Rose
_____________________________

One of my strongest skills is rationalization; as someone who posts every day, when possible, I have to be flexible in what I allow to go out, because, believe it or not, I do have some pride in what I do here…. Very little, as I’m a pretty good judge of literature, as opposed to litterature, and my own efforts goes back and forth between the two…. Let’s see what has been wrought today, shall we…. I can’t be sure, but, it’s pretty close to good, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, so, I’m taking it, and I’m gonna run with it…. Like I’ve said before, a number of times, I’ve done worse….  😆   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

Some folks never do understand fractions….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Destroy his fib or sophistry–in vain!
The creature ‘s at his dirty work again.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 91

Aye, he is, indeed. Up, that is, and at his dirty work, again…. Well, I am, anyway, even if the creature isn’t quite awake yet…. Actually, it’s a good sign, being up early, considering how early I fell asleep. I felt like a little kid, falling asleep before dark, afraid I was going to miss something. I didn’t, though, so it was okay to fall out that early, as I had already done everything there was to do, up to, and including, dinner with my lady. Eating well, good company, and a double shot of Jack will put me under every time, especially now that I’m old and frail….

Hah! Caught ya! Old and frail, indeed…. While I must admit that I am old, and I do get tired pretty fast these days, I don’t think I’m quite ready to join the Geezer Society, or to become a member of the “let’s go sit down for that” group of senior citizens, who never get out to do anything, spending their time rocking on the porch, watching the world go by…. Thanks, but I’d rather be part of the parade marching past, even if I must limp, and, even if it means getting tired all the time, eh? Fatigue is  a small price to pay, for not turning into a slug…. Besides, as a slug, you’ve got to always be on the lookout for salt….

I should know better than to start writing before I drink some of my coffee…. I AM up early again, at 0500, but, since I fell out at 8:30 last night, that is quite enough sleep, and I’ve got no worries there…. But, the content of anything that streams out of my pre-caffeinated brain is suspect, at the very least, and, potentially, toxic, at the worst. This, I think, falls in between, and isn’t dangerous, by any means….. But, then, neither is it particularly interesting, or gut-bustingly funny, and it certainly isn’t going to make anyone run out and wake up the Pulitzer Committee members…. Hell, it may not even hold anyone’s interest as far as this paragraph, and that is sad, indeed….

I must try to overcome my sadness, though, and go on…. nothing else would be honorable. Okay, well, you’re right, it doesn’t have anything to do with honor, but, I’m human, and I, too, occasionally fall prey to those human foibles, of making things up, or more plainly, lying to suit my own purposes, in this case, just getting on with it…. This lie, intended to speed things along, like the lies our beloved leaders tell us, aren’t BAD lies, they’re little white lies, and won’t hurt anyone…. right? Right? Lying CAN be a good thing, yes?….

Well, no, it can’t…. It isn’t really a good idea, even to spare someone’s feelings…. The truth, painful as it can sometimes be, is always best. We tend to forget that, because we sometimes wish we hadn’t known the truth…. But, knowing the truth, unpalatable as it may be, will never poison us, whereas lies will cause us toxic pain, one way or another, every time they are used, either as a passive recipient, or as a guilty perpetrator….. We all hate the fact that pain is our best teacher, but, we all know it is true, which is the source of the old adage about “sometimes, you have to be cruel to be kind”, one we all acknowledge as truth, though we don’t always like it….

There I go again, ranting in the intro section…. SIGH…. I wish I could get a solid handle on this stuff; it’s getting a bit frustrating….. Though, that, of course, totally ignores the fact that I do it to myself…. Ah well, I guess we’re all Bozos on this bus, so, I may as well let my humongous proboscis do its thing, and honk away…. meanwhile….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“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

Which means, by implication, all the others were not good writers….. I happen to agree with this assessment, but, then, I’m  curmudgeon by nature, and by training, so accepting an unpopular truth comes easy to me. It’s unpopular because all those other authors have agents, too, and hate to see their charges maligned, even posthumously.

Then, there is also the fact that the lies, of which the history of any historical period are comprised, are considered to be the truth of the matter, as decided by the ruling faction at the time, and with the approval of the priestly hierarchies…. Historical writings are notorious for being colored by the wishes and desires of the church leaders and kings of the periods in question; an adage commonly held by all ages is, “history is written by the winners….”

This is not supposition, by the way…. This is a proven historical fact, and one that, though everyone seems to know it, and accept it, nobody seems to want to do anything about it. Not only that, but, our modern leaders, in both the governments, and, the churches, lie to us on a daily basis, and nobody seems to care about that, either….

It’s as if over half the human race just gives up all hope of understanding the universe, or having any overt personal control over their own lives, and gives up their right to make up their own minds to those in authority, allowing them to do all their thinking for them, and accepting whatever lies they choose to tell, implicitly….. It quite simply makes me crazy….

Those in power KNOW this, of course, and encourage it shamelessly…. The church leaders all preach tolerance, and submission to temporal authority, while at the same time accepting the kickbacks and privileges afforded them by their sanctified status, with no taxes, and all the other perks that go along with being a church.

The government leaders are more obvious in their machinations, but still are allowed to lie, and cheat, and steal, right out in the open, with the full approval of those who elect them…. Until, of course, someone points out the immorality or unethical nature of something, then there is a huge outcry, and some other idiot with a glib tongue is shoved into the limelight, in favor of the liar who got caught… which, in our culture, is the ultimate crime…

Yep…. killing, stealing, violence, lying, all are socially acceptable activities, provided one does not commit the ultimate crime of getting caught doing any of it…. Our culture REWARDS this kind of behavior, with laws that protect anyone who lives within its parameters.

We have, on the books, laws that allow for discrimination, cheating others, and/or outright violence, provided one a) has a legally approved reason (i.e., government or societal sanction, such as for the police entitlements, or, such as “stand your ground” laws, or, most egregiously, laws stating that corporations are “persons”….), or b) doesn’t get caught doing it…. According to the law, if no one saw you do it, it didn’t get done…. I guess that makes sense, in an unreal sort of way…. It sure doesn’t account for reality very well, though….

Okay, I’m done ranting for now…. I rant and rave about this stuff regularly, but, very seldom does it have any real effect out in the real world, which sort of puts it in the “useless wind” category of literature. Maybe someday, someone will listen, or read it, and get a clue, and spread it around a little wider….

It would be, in my estimation, a very good thing for a lot of people to know this stuff, because, believe me, none of your teachers, or preachers, or politicians, or policemen, are ever going to tell you any of this stuff, for the simple reason that they would rather you didn’t know, and would prefer that you didn’t even think about this kind of thing…. They’re better off when you don’t….

Me, I say, fuck ’em….  I prefer to live in Reality, as it exists, to “tell the truth, and shame the Devil,” as much as I possibly can…. the Devil being defined as that part of humanity that lies to the rest of us…. Maybe I’ll just call it The Asshole Syndrome, and let it go at that…. In conclusion, I have only these comments….

“Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” — Smart Bee

“Who cannot give good counsel? ‘T is cheap, it costs them nothing.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part ii, Sect. 2, Memb. 3

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

“Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.” — Elbert Hubbard

“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.” — Mark Twain

“Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I’m rich.” — Daffy Duck, from Looney Tunes Ali Baba Bunny (1957, Chuck Jones)

And, of course, the kicker….

“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.” — George Santayana
_____________________________

What better way to show how the subject of the above rant has affected society, than to exhibit a poet who rejected the lies he heard, and insisted on describing reality the way he saw it, much to the chagrin of the powers that be…..

Cultural Exchange

In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doors are doors of paper
Dust of dingy atoms
Blows a scratchy sound.
Amorphous jack-o’-Lanterns caper
And the wind won’t wait for midnight
For fun to blow doors down.
By the river and the railroad
With fluid far-off going
Boundaries bind unbinding
A whirl of whistles blowing.
No trains or steamboats going–
Yet Leontyne’s unpacking.

In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doorknob lets in Lieder
More than German ever bore,
Her yesterday past grandpa–
Not of her own doing–
In a pot of collard greens
Is gently stewing.

Pushcarts fold and unfold
In a supermarket sea.
And we better find out, mama,
Where is the colored laundromat
Since we move dup to Mount Vernon.

In the pot behind the paper doors
on the old iron stove what’s cooking?
What’s smelling, Leontyne?
Lieder, lovely Lieder
And a leaf of collard green.
Lovely Lieder, Leontyne.

You know, right at Christmas
They asked me if my blackness,
Would it rub off?
I said, Ask your mama.

Dreams and nightmares!
Nightmares, dreams, oh!
Dreaming that the Negroes
Of the South have taken over–
Voted all the Dixiecrats
Right out of power–

Comes the COLORED HOUR:
Martin Luther King is Governor of Georgia,
Dr. Rufus Clement his Chief Adviser,
A. Philip Randolph the High Grand Worthy.
In white pillared mansions
Sitting on their wide verandas,
Wealthy Negroes have white servants,
White sharecroppers work the black plantations,
And colored children have white mammies:
Mammy Faubus
Mammy Eastland
Mammy Wallace
Dear, dear darling old white mammies–
Sometimes even buried with our family.
Dear old
Mammy Faubus!

Culture, they say, is a two-way street:
Hand me my mint julep, mammny.
Hurry up!
Make haste!

~~ Langston Hughes ~~

_____________________________

“That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!” — Calvin & Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

Now, THAT’S what I’m talking about! This is an excellent approach to living life, as it deserves to be lived (whew, almost said “should”….see yesterday’s Pearl….), one that provides a lot of good insulation against the lies and general run of bad stuff life can bring…. Well, maybe not QUITE that excellent, but, it does show a good, strong, positive ego, with all the chutzpah Calvin will ever need to get by…

Actually, I just like it, because it’s typical Calvin, and, as such, is a contains many sharp metaphors for society at large… I know, sometimes my imagination takes me right up to the edge of sanity, and peers over to view the long fall, fearlessly…. It’s the only way I can do that without suffering vertigo….

Any who, I’m feeling a bit silly, and since my own writing currently seems unequal to the task of being achingly funny, I’ll leave it to Smart Bee to find some mild hilarity for me…. I depend heavily on SB these days, and, so what? What’s it to ya? You don’t like that? Are you talkin’ to ME?….. Pardon me, while I do a Bob Hoskins in Good Fellows on you……

No, so, anyway, the following will be a randomly chosen pearl, with only a vague concept in mind, a vision of a big, goofy-looking face bearing a huge smile, and a mirthful, yet vacuous expression…. Strait, sparse little spikes of red hair on his cone-shaped head, sky-blue eyes, and a scruffy, unshaven, sparse beard…. big, ruffly clown collar…. you got the picture? Okay, let’s pearl….

“When I met th’POPE back in ’58, I scrubbed him with a MILD SOAP or DETERGENT for 15 minutes.  He seemed to enjoy it..” — Zippy the Pinhead

“We ain’t got hold of culture yet, but when we do get hold of her, we will adjust her and settler her down and make her hum and run like crazy.” — Smart Bee

“If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.” — Voltaire (1694-1778) — Epitre a l’Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs, cxi

“Remember what the dormouse said…  FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick

“You boys lookin’ for trouble?” “Sure. Whaddya got?” — Marlon Brando, “The Wild Ones”

“You can’t fall off the floor.” — Paul’s Law  “It takes children three years to learn Paul’s Law.” — Chapman’s Commentary on Paul’s Law

“It don’t mean a THING if you ain’t got that SWING!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

If you believe that I have crossed any lines, or used an excessive number of Zippy quotes (Thanks, Bill….), you are free to file a complaint with the Board of Outraged Citizens; I think you can get the form online now…. Let’s see how it came out, in toto….

Well, it’s certainly long enough, and has its moments, so, we’ll let it fly…. I suppose they can’t all be masterpieces, but, though this makes it partway there, (it DOES have rants, and pearls, and good poetry….), it’s just not worthy of that sobriquet, and, I have to admit it would be nice to see ONE of them achieve that exalted status…. SIGH…. Frustrated ambition is the pits…. I guess I’ll give it up, and save myself the angst for something more accessible… 

  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

Trite figurines in professional pants…..

Posted on by
9

Ffolkes,
Oddly enough, I still don’t have any idea as to how I should go about starting these Pearls. After more than 12 years, one would think I’d have a clue about that, but, nope, I’m still fussing around with different approaches and styles, all of which work, at various times, and none of which work, some of the time….. It’s enough to drive a sane man to drink, or a sober man to go crazy, so it should certainly be enough to turn me into a blubbering idiot…. Of course, there are those who would say, (unkindly, I might add…) that I am both insane, and often drunk…. They’re just jealous, though….

Jealous of what, I don’t know, but, that’s the way it seems….. Maybe it’s because, in spite of how it may seem, I’m always doing exactly what I want to do…. That’s something not everyone can say, isn’t it, now? I mean, most people wander through life, going to work, living their lives, but on somebody else’s schedule, not one they would choose for themselves, if they knew they could. This makes them feel a general sense of dissatisfaction with their lives, without knowing exactly why…. and they notice that I do not ever suffer that particular form of angst. It happens subconsciously, I think, kind of like how dogs know if you’re afraid…. these folks know when someone is free of influence…. We probably send out some sort of pheromone or something, that alerts them they are in the presence of someone who is different somehow…..

I’ve always been sort of a pink monkey in a room full of brown apes; it’s hard not to stand out in a crowd, when almost everything you say, or do, is markedly different than what everyone else is saying and doing…. Often, it’s an uncomfortable feeling, as the brown apes can get excitable when confronted with anomalous events, with a tendency to strike out at what, or who, they do not understand. Fortunately, they are also often rather stupid, and easily distracted from their anger by humor, or by superior reasoning, which is generally invisible to them…. It’s too bad there are so damn many of them, as they tend to clutter up the landscape, and get into everything, usually to ill effect……

Ah well, I can’t complain too much, I suppose…. Somebody has to be around to run the fast food joints, and I certainly don’t want to do it, so, I try to stay aware of the old saw that all creatures have their purpose, even if that purpose isn’t always clear to me….. Hell, as long as they don’t get any of their slime on me, I’m okay with them…. Just don’t ask me to hold a conversation with one of them; it’s too much work…..

There, I’ve been snide, and pissy, and prejudiced enough for three people, all in one intro section, such as it is…. I’d apologize in advance, but, it’s too late for that, so, I’ll just say, sorry ’bout that, and get on with the day….. I currently haven’t a clue as to what I’m going to write about, so it could prove to be a somewhat odd post, even for me…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

I’ve been ranting in the first section a lot, of late, so today we’ll switch things around, and go with an old-school pearl, leaving any potential ranting for later…. I think I’ll make this one a pointed pearl, which is to say, I’ll have one idea in my head when I search the dB for appropriate aphorisms to include…. You get extra points for figuring out the original idea that was used, and double bonus points to keep it to yourself…..

“The lessons of life amount not to wisdom but to scar tissue and callus.” — Wallace Stegner

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and bend over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Winnie the Pooh
(Pooh DOES have his good side….. in which he IS an Uncarved Block….)

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“What is becoming is honest, and whatever is honest must always be becoming.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.” — Bumper Sticker

“Although a cloth be washed a hundred times, how can it be rendered clean and pure, if it be washed in water which is dirty? — Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)

“Hold every moment sacred.” — Thomas Mann
__________________________________

I have vowed to myself that today will be the end of my almost three year hiatus from being able to print…. That’s how long ago my printer ran out of ink, and I have since been unable to afford to buy any…. I can scan, save, and fax or email documents, but I can’t print anything. Truly a pain…. So, today, I’m going to buy a new printer, as I’m done fussing around with the issue…. This means shortcuts in today’s Pearl, one of which is this poem, which is again drawn from my archives…. Too bad, so sad, I like it anyway…. so there…..   😉   I did write a fresh haiku, so that’s something, isn’t it?  As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….) (I gave up on making the logo appear on the web page; it works fine in the email version of the Pearl…. WordPress just won’t let me display it, no matter how I try….) (SIGH…..)

Haiku III

Inspiration comes
only when it feels it should.
Serendipity.

~~gigoid~~

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

__________________________________

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.” — Goethe

This is something I believe strongly; it’s one part of why my full, correct user name on the Internet, which I chose in 1996, is gigoid, the dubious….. the latter part being my professional title, as it were…. Dubious is what I do, and the reason why I read so much, and find so much of the universe to be so fascinating….. and, at times, so damned frustrating…. Of course, that is when I’ve been running up against other people too much, which tests my resolve to remain sane in the face of so much that isn’t conducive to that state….. Any who, all rationalization aside, I’m stuck…. No rant seems to be in there, and nothing coming up in SB to stimulate enough angst to fire off a few paragraphs…. So, I’ll cheat, again….

Here is a pearl, written on the last day of 2011, about a year and a half ago (almost…. 1.33333333 years, to be exact….), that speaks to the subject I was just discussing (imagine that!…. how convenient!….) Well, ALMOST the same subject…..  Any who, it’s pretty good, given its age and provenance…. Enjoy!…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few random thoughts on the meaning of insanity, and by implication, sanity…….all came from one dive. Pearl after pearl on the same subject kept presenting itself for my perusal, so after a few, I just gave up & collected them. So here they are, all with a bit to say about those among us who perceive reality from a whole different place than you or me…..

“What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.” — Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Reminiscences

If sanity were dollars I’d be bankrupt.” — Smart Bee

“I come from a long line of Southern psychotics and an environment where madness is currency and conversation is blood sport.” — Elizabeth Ashley

According to figures from the Justice Department, the average rapist serves only 5.2 years on jail, and the average murderer serves only 8.6 years. By contrast, the average time served for possession of LSD is 10.1 years, and many Americans are serving mandatory minimum sentences of 20 to 25 years for possession or sale of marijuana. — Smart Bee
(Insanity comes in many guises…… your choice as to which is real, and which is delusion….)

Avoid reality at all costs!

And who (in time) knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T’ enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in the yet unformed Occident
May come refin’d with th’ accents that are ours?
— Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) — Musophilus, Stanza 163
(Psychosis is rooted in fear, and fear also assumes many masks…..)

I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
— Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
— Oft in the Stilly Night
(An accurate description of the onset of depression…..)

Why ask me? I’m just visiting reality.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program…..
__________________________________

OMG, I’m done, and I wasn’t ready to be done…. Oh, well, so be it…. Let’s see how it proofs out….. Once more, I am surprised to find that it worked out just fine…. at least, for my rather loose standards…. Again, I don’t think we need to call the Pulitzer committee, but, it ain’t bad, so I’m going with it, as is…. Just in time, too, to go catch my bus to the printer store…. Yay….  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

Bee balm is often useful with such wounds…

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
“What we have heah, is a failyuh to obfuscate.” On that hopelessly obscure note, the tiny little alien, which looked suspiciously like a miniature orange bulldog in a green jumpsuit, wobbled what was apparently his head weakly from side to side, formed what seemed to be a smile with what seemed to be a mouth, closed what appeared to be his eyes (I think it’s a he…), and fell backwards into the lap of the fat dignitary seated in  back of the podium…. the mayor, I believe….

Everything would have been okay, but the mayor thought the alien was going to throw up on him, and proceeded to dump the poor wee beastie off the stage, into the crowd, which started using him for a soccer ball…. A real mess…. While it wasn’t the most dignified ending to a press conference I’d seen in my days in the mayor’s office, it was better than the one we tried to hold after the sewers all exploded at once…. No matter how hard we blew the fans, the smell wouldn’t disperse….

Ever since the entropy bomb went off last year, it’s been pretty crazy around here, what with the Anti-Alien groups fighting it out with the End of Timers, while the remnants of the churches are busy dealing with the twelve disciples, who ALL rose from the dead, and are now recanting their stories on the talk show circuit, with franchised copies of the shows running even on Al-Jazeera….. When the Chief of the World Police issued his proclamation of insanity, and said his officers would now be found patrolling the subways, because it was too dangerous for them on the streets, well, things really began to deteriorate….

I was sitting here, trying to think of how society might look AFTER the apocalypse happens, and came up with the above….. It was fun, but, all in all, not as smooth flowing, or as good, as I’d like…. Not enough coffee before starting, I’d wager….I’ll do it over again another time, I think, and do a better job of it…. Don’t know why I started out in a negative entropy scenario, but, then, I never do know, do I? No, of course not…. I am perhaps the world’s first unconscious writer.

That is to say, what I write is seldom connected to a subject that has been chosen consciously, and much of what gets written comes from the same unreliable well of inspiration. This is, arguably, an unusual format, but seems to work for me… It works well enough that I’m not willing to entertain the thought of going back to the way everyone else does it, unless I use the “in your cups” method of writing, wherein one creates while intoxicated on adult beverages, or recreational drugs, such as marijuana, or bourbon…. muses of choice, such as they are…. But, they have their own drawbacks, and plain old objective inattention works just fine for me…. It’s cheaper, too….

Of course, this opinion is probably not shared completely by those who read my work; in fact, I would doubt it seriously. But, I don’t write for anyone but myself, ultimately, so I’m the only one who has any investment in making it right…. For others, to wit: y’all, it is merely a matter of finding stuff to read that doesn’t waste your time. Which is why I DO try to make what I write stimulating, and interesting, or at least within shouting distance of either one of those attributes….. I’m selfish, like most people, but I try to make what I’m selfish about amenable for discussion, at least…. and, unlike many folks in this sad world, I DON’T try to push what I think on anyone else….

A statement such as the last one is obviously an invitation to rant, but, since I’m still in the intro, we’ll forgo that small pleasure, and finish up here…. As I look back over what I’ve produced so far, I see that it is, oddly enough, sufficient unto the day as another faux intro section…. Once again, I’ve crafted together six-plus paragraphs stuffed with nothing more than idle chatter, which is enough to satisfy my strange and flexible standards for this part of today’s effort. In short, nyah, nyah, nyah, it’s done…. so there!….. Sorry, sometimes the little asshole in me just has to get in his two cents…. It’s best to just ignore it, and it will generally stop right away….. Shall we Pearl?….
__________________________________

I found a pearl two days ago that I’ve saved for a religirant, but, as of this moment, I don’t have quite enough outrage stored up to pull it off…. so, I’ll save it for another day. It’s a diatribe with Mother Teresa as the target, so I’m sure you’ll all want to see that…. I may be one of the few people in the world who sees her as a force of evil, and is willing to say so…. Besides, I always enjoy taking a few shots at someone I consider to be a waste of sperm….. Her reputation can take it, I think, as she has the wool pulled completely over the eyes of most of the world….

In the meantime, I went diving for pearls to substitute for a rant, and came up with the following seven star grouping, with which I am quite pleased… The group makes a very cogent point, and finishes nicely with a well-rounded piece of nonsense to set the proper tone for cogitation…. I hope you enjoy it all, and, if not, well, that’s just too bad…. your choice….  🙂

“The truth that many people never understand until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.” — Thomas Merton

“If you think education is expensive, try Ignorance.” — Andy McIntyre

“Conventionality is not morality.  Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.” — Charlotte Bronte
(The latter claim is, it seems to me, true for both initial statements….)

“At any given moment, an arrow must be either where it is or where it is not. But obviously it cannot be where it is not. And if it is where it is, that is equivalent to saying that it is at rest.” — Zeno’s paradox of the moving (still?) arrow

“True is suffering; this is true cause; this is true cessation; this is the true path. Know the sufferings; give up they causes; attain the cessation of the suffering; follow the true paths. Know the sufferings although there is nothing to know; relinquish the causes of misery although there is nothing to relinquish; be earnest in cessation although there is nothing to cease; practice the means of cessation although there is nothing to practice.” — Buddha, The Four Noble Truths

“A man learns to skate by staggering about making a fool of himself; indeed, he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Is it NOUVELLE CUISINE when 3 olives are struggling with a scallop  in a plate of SAUCE MORNAY?” — Zippy the Pinhead
(I would answer, yes, yes it is….)
__________________________________

When I went looking for a poem this morning, I had not intended for today’s choice to be quite so heavy, or complex…. But, like much of Sylvia Plath’s work, I find this too compelling to ignore…. and, most certainly not, when it finishes like this, with a chilling bit of precognition about social media…

“The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.”

Enjoy!

Insomniac

The night is only a sort of carbon paper,
Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of stars
Letting in the light, peephole after peephole . . .
A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.
Under the eyes of the stars and the moon’s rictus
He suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessness
Stretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions.

Over and over the old, granular movie
Exposes embarrassments—the mizzling days
Of childhood and adolescence, sticky with dreams,
Parental faces on tall stalks, alternately stern and tearful,
A garden of buggy rose that made him cry.
His forehead is bumpy as a sack of rocks.
Memories jostle each other for face-room like obsolete film stars.

He is immune to pills: red, purple, blue . . .
How they lit the tedium of the protracted evening!
Those sugary planets whose influence won for him
A life baptized in no-life for a while,
And the sweet, drugged waking of a forgetful baby.
Now the pills are worn-out and silly, like classical gods.
Their poppy-sleepy colors do him no good.

His head is a little interior of grey mirrors.
Each gesture flees immediately down an alley
Of diminishing perspectives, and its significance
Drains like water out the hole at the far end.
He lives without privacy in a lidless room,
The bald slots of his eyes stiffened wide-open
On the incessant heat-lightning flicker of situations.

Nightlong, in the granite yard, invisible cats
Have been howling like women, or damaged instruments.
Already he can feel daylight, his white disease,
Creeping up with her hatful of trivial repetitions.
The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.

~~ Sylvia Plath
__________________________________

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever.  Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time–a tremendous whack.” — Sir Winston Churchill

I have used this quote previously, usually as part of a group of pearls leading to some point or another; it’s a very good quote, strong, positive, with a solid essence of meaning. It’s also damn good advice, which I try to heed at every opportunity I give myself to rant…. Winnie had a very good point here, mainly because he had the task of getting an entire island full of asses who believe themselves to be independent minded to work together to save those selfsame asses from the Germans, who were themselves displaying their own form of assholiness…. A bloody disgusting task, if you ask me, but, he was obviously the man for the job, as he seldom gave a shit about what anyone else thought, about much of anything….

The insight shown in this statement, however, is much deeper than is at first apparent…. Winnie understood that the average Englishman, as is true for the whole planet, as a rule of thumb, is pretty stupid, and stubborn to boot, being mostly unwilling to listen to anything they don’t wish to hear, whether smart or dumb, much less see any need to act on it. This, as might be clear to others, as it is to me, is NOT a particularly valuable frame of mind if one wishes to survive, and Winnie, knowing his people, was quite willing to use a two-by-four as his primary teaching tool to get his points across to the idiots he was forced to deal with during WWII….

Sad to say, this stupidity on the part of the larger part of humanity continues to this day…. Witness, if you will, the current crop of movies, if you wish to get a clue as to where the mind of humanity is focused…. It may amaze you, and will most likely depress you, to see that there is not a single movie about anything more serious than adolescent acne anywhere to be seen… Oh, there are what are termed psychological thrillers, but, they are mostly just shock literature, designed to make a good screenplay more than to explore the human psyche…. Nothing out there is remotely intelligent, because there just isn’t a market for it…..

I’m not proposing any solutions here; this is strictly a gripe session, for my benefit only. I get so tired of watching the parade of human events, because it so often turns sad, and depressing, to see how stupid and ignorant people can be…. and how cowardly most people are in asserting morality in public…. You know a society is going downhill when the police drive around acting as if they are under siege, and the people do not trust them at all to show either fairness, or restraint. In the town where I live, the worst traffic offenders I see on a daily basis are the police, who set the worst possible example for other drivers, even, and especially, when they are NOT responding to calls….

And the government wonders why nobody trusts them? Our society is sick, ffolkes, and I’m out here with my pile driver to hit that point again. That last paragraph was my second hit, and now, the tremendous whack of which Winnie spoke….

We are all responsible for the sorry state of the world, equally…. Those of us who are not actively engaged in actions which are destructive, are guilty of not speaking up often enough to get the attention of those who are, nor are we engaged in doing anything which will stop their deliberate depredations. They are guilty of being assholes, yes…. but we are all guilty of complicity in that, and can claim no less responsibility for when we fall down the hole we’ve been digging for ourselves…. And, that is the TRUTH….

“I’m amoral, and it’s been bothering my conscience.” — Smart Bee

“To escape criticism — do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” — Romans 2:1
(I’ve always maintained there is a lot of good advice in the Bible, as long as one doesn’t go all fanatic about its origin…. this is a perfect example of that contention….)
__________________________________

Lordy, lordy, what a long, strange trip it’s been!….. I shall now test the proof of the pudding….. Hmm… this Pearl is a bit hard to classify, and I don’t think I’m up to judging it for overall quality at this point…. So…

Tiny Truth, Just in Time

I’ll leave history to say if it’s a crime,
as it will always do….
Who may challenge the prerogative of Time?….
Nobody, that’s who….

~~ gigoid

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

Fully hydrogenated crankcase oil, please…..

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,
As I sit, staring at the keyboard, strange new feelings assault my senses, poignantly bittersweet, like memories of high school. I call the feelings new, though they are as old as Father Time’s beard, because they are new to me. Never before have I felt this way, both proud and sad, both joyful, and miserably mad…. Not for nothing have I lived all this time, for only a few years past, such as I am now experiencing would have shocked me beyond recovery, and I would not be here today. How, then, can I live now? With courage and resolve….. How else can I accept this? How else can I learn to be strong enough to carry on?…..

Okay, that’s not bad…. a little stiff & formal, maybe…. It doesn’t mean diddly squat, but it’s not bad….. it could use a bit of polish, here and there, but the overall effect works, I think, don’t you?…. Oh, I’m sorry, I did it again, didn’t I?….. Oops…. I don’t mean to get y’all so worked up so early…. Nor did I, when I awoke, intend to take you on a trip to nowhere, and leave you there, with no warning…. it just happened. I do these little story beginnings here in the intro to get the juices flowing, and to see what kind of stuff is floating around in there, always forgetting that ffolkes are forever telling me to finish one of them….

I’ve done a couple that I really do intend to finish one day; they are still sitting on the desktop, waiting for me to give them some time. There is one, with a talking tiger, and another, with an assassin and a little girl, that I liked a lot, and will one day get back to…. But, for the moment, I write every day mostly to get the crap out of my head, crap that otherwise will fester and rot, and don’t want to take the time to work on one story, when I have so much inside me that needs to be purged….. But, I will eventually get to them, if I live long enough….

Hmm… now what? I suppose I could just be normal, and call what I have already written a sufficient introduction to today’s Pearl…. but, normal is a word we avoid around here as much as we can, as it just makes us unhappy….   🙂   Besides, if you want normal, there are literally millions of blogs out there where you can find that….. Here, you won’t find much that fits into the normal range, and if you did, I would expect you to let me know, so we can fix that little issue…. We are quite fond of that facet of life that we call entropy, and the flexibility and strength required to stand up to it every day is considered admirable in our world….. Change is GOOD!  Mostly…..

“If you rely on Murphy’s law, everything will go as planned (but don’t count on it.)” — Sullivan’s Observation

Even if change isn’t good, since we mostly don’t get a choice about whether or not we will change, we tend to just go along with whatever the universe throws our way; it just works out better than the alternative….. Plus, we like the bonus stamps we get for cooperating…. If THAT isn’t enough, it gives us the chance to use the royal “we”….

Before it becomes any clearer that you should be calling for the doctors, I should probably dive in to today’s Pearl. I don’t have the time to fuss with talking them out of a temporary commitment to a locked facility…. Besides, y’all wouldn’t do that to me, would you? Would you?…. Well, before I get too many answers I don’t like, Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“People see what they have been conditioned to see; they refuse to see what they don’t expect to see.” — Merle P. Martin

This statement is one that will find some strong agreement here, as it is as clear an indictment of the unwashed masses as I’ve ever seen; it places some of the blame on their oppressors, as it should, but still manages to show where people are responsible for their own ignorance, in spite of how they may be conditioned…. One may not be responsible for their conditioning, but they are still responsible for what they refuse to acknowledge as truth, and Mr. Martin has given them little room to wiggle out of that responsibility…..

In some ways, y’all might think that I tend to obsess about those who are manipulating society. and the impending global catastrophes that I see as inevitable. In a way, you could be right…. it COULD be called obsession, since I do take at least one shot a day at the BRC and the priestly hierarchies; if I don’t hit them regularly, I just feel empty, and incomplete….. But, I don’t lose any sleep over it, so I think my concerns are still in the rational stages of evolution. What can be challenging is finding new ways to approach the subject, that will show the assholes for what they are, and what they are doing to the rest of us, and still not bore the reader senseless…. it’s hard to motivate someone who has fallen asleep….

“The worth of the State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it, and a State which postpones the interest of their mental expansion and elevation to a little more of administrative skill, or of that semblance of it which practice gives in the details of business… will find that with small men no great thing can be accomplished.” — John Stuart Mill, ‘On Liberty’, 1859

The other day, someone asked me a question about a statement I had made, to the effect that I believed that the usurpation of the Constitution began within minutes of it being signed…. She asked me how I knew that, and at the time, I gave her the answer that occurred to me at the time, to wit: I know this because I know human nature, and the money lenders and bankers wouldn’t have wanted to wait even a minute to try to get their two cents into the process, in order to start turning it to their advantage….. Mr. Mill has, with this statement, shown us how they went about that perversion….

During elections, and often in the time prior to the announcement of the candidates and their platforms, there is a loud lamentation that there are no GOOD candidates to be found, that the men and women who end up running for office are NOT the most qualified for the job, but merely those who WANT it for their own reasons (you can bet that altruism is NOT one of those reasons….). In fact, to my mind, the single most qualifying characteristic I would like to see in ANY candidate would be a lack of desire to get elected; in other words, in order to be well-qualified, they have to NOT want to get elected…. It’s the only way we can trust them not to steal so much….

“Intelligence has nothing to do with politics.” — Londo Molari

What we have in reality is that ALL of those who run for office are people who WANT POWER; the exceptions are too few to be statistically significant, so I use the word ALL with that caveat. Sure, occasionally, a person who really doesn’t want to be in office, but happens to be the most qualified, gets persuaded by friends that they can do some good, and they are popular enough, and intelligent enough, to get elected. Once in office, though, they generally discover that their opportunities to do good for others are severely limited by the efforts of their peers, who have no interest whatsoever in looking after the people, unless it serves their own purpose.

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” — Elbert Hubbard

It’s hard to say whether writing pieces such as this one is a part of my five minutes, or whether it is part of the other side of the coin, which prevents me from reaching my limit…. Either way, I’m starting to understand that, since I’m shouting into the wind, pretty much, with these political and social diatribes, I need to keep them fairly short, and uncomplicated, or I will lose my audience to boredom with the repetitive nature of what I’m writing. Yes, we need to be aware that most of our Beloved Ruling Class are assholes, and need to be culled from the human herd….. but railing about it too much will only defeat my purpose, which is to educate and stimulate, hopefully to action that will serve to help the situation….

So rather than exceed my limit for the day, we’ll leave this here, and hope that what I’ve written will cause at least a touch of bleeding in the BRC, even if it’s only a scratch…. Better now to go look for some poetry, to soothe my fevered brow….

“I know everything about everything, except that.” — Smart Bee
__________________________________

Ahhhh!….. Yeats! A bit long, but worth reading every line….

A Dialogue Of Self And Soul

i{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecrates blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wooden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

William Butler Yeats

If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth……. from above…. Is it not obvious why I love Yeats?…..
__________________________________

“The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.” — Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a fascinating fellow, a man of many contrasts…. His published words are usually considered to define him, as free-thinking, intelligent, and altruistic, in addition to his passion for politics. His private self was, by all accounts, sometimes less admirable, as he was prone to an aristocratic indifference that did not appear in his public persona. But, whatever his faults, he was, above all, a true Patriot of this country, and not only passionate in his defense of it, but eloquent in both the justification for its existence, and in defining its underlying principles.

He showed in his writings, both public and private, a clear understanding of how our country could prosper in the future, as well as the problems it could encounter from agencies in the world that wished to see it fail, or at least struggle to maintain the independence of its citizenry. He was one of the first to point out the danger that banks and corporations pose to the workings of Congress and the government, by their willingness to bribe and pay off whomever they could, to give themselves an edge in the making of the laws (an event that, almost unarguably, took place the first time during the Constitutional Convention itself… I have no doubt the bankers were very involved in trying to influence that body’s results, and spreading money around to do so…. Fortunately, they were largely unsuccessful, at first….)

Since I’ve already ranted once today about the BRC and their clandestine efforts to control reality, I’ll limit myself, and try to avoid repetition, by going old school from this point…. Here are some of Jefferson’s quotations on different subjects, all of which together give an idea of the range of his thoughts, and the depth of his insight….

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — Declaration of Independence (Heavily influenced by George Mason, a fellow patriot, taken almost verbatim from similar documents written by Mason, for the state in which he lived….)

“When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.” — Thomas Jefferson, Writings

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.” — Thomas Jefferson

“…this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” — John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter To Francis Hopkinson, Paris Mar. 13, 1789


“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”― Thomas Jefferson
__________________________________

I am hesitant to try to judge my own work, other than on a basic level that, hopefully, prevents me from posting stuff that is pure trash, as I am fully cognizant of Sturgeon’s Law, to wit: “90% of Science Fiction is crap. But, then, 90% of everything is crap.” Let it be known that, for my own part, I do try to keep from posting material that would be considered odoriferous in the slightest. Of course, I probably fail on a regular basis, but, so far, nobody has actually complained…. so, I’ll take it.

Today’s effort isn’t bad, all things considered, so we’re going to go with it, trusting to luck that anyone who might object to what they read will at least be civil, should it offend them overmuch…. If not, well, we’ll deal with that if it comes…. I enjoy a spirited dialogue, especially if it is stimulated by something I’ve written…. perverse, maybe, but, hey, everyone needs a hobby…. Since I can feel the babbling just bubbling, I’ll end this here, and let y’all be about your business… Thanks for stopping by, and…..  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

Fabled moments of placid acceptance….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
Halloween has always been my favorite, as far as any holiday can be said to be so, given my opinion of most of them as corporate/government  manipulations of the economy. However, Halloween has two things going for it that most holidays don’t…. One, it is patterned after real cultural celebrations from history, giving it the veneer of authenticity, and, two, it is the day before my birthday, which is the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos in Mexico (And, if you don’t think THAT was a point of pride as a child, you don’t know jack….).

As a kid, this gave it the advantage over other holidays, hands down, and that preference has carried over through my adult years, for much the same reasons…. Costumes are fun, too, but, a bit undignified to fit in with my self-image as a curmudgeon; I haven’t indulged in a costume since my kids still were enthusiastic about holidays…. I just dress as always, and tell people I’m a serial killer…. they look just like everybody else….  🙂

This year, Halloween finds me up early, for unknown reasons. Actually, my recent schedule, of sleep, write, read, lather, rinse, repeat, etc. has been all over the map; probably has to do with the stress levels that go up and down, depending on how long I’ve been in the dark re: SS and their machinations and contortions. I’m hoping this early up means something in there is clamoring to get out, rather than waiting for me to persuasively seduce it onto the screen. We shall see shortly….

It could get ugly this morning, as I’ve no real material stashed, and I never know how Smart Bee will be about providing proper quotes in a timely manner…. it tends to listen to Murphy a lot when I’m not around. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m scaring myself, and I think I should go see how it is going to be…..

While I’m doing that, y’all can take a breather for a moment…..

There, feel better?…. Hmm… I don’t know about Smart Bee…. this is what I came up with right away….

“Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.” — Elbert Hubbard

Which isn’t bad, all things considered, but, it isn’t going to make much of a pearl. It’s too finished; there isn’t any more to be said on the subject…. Well, it’s not encouraging, but it was something, which is better than nothing, I suppose. I’ll just have to take my chances…. Since there seems to be no further excuse for heading on out, I’ll bid thee adieu, until the final lines, and wish you a pleasant dive today…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

And here, poor fool, with all my lore
I stand no wiser than before.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“This instant is thine; the next is in the womb of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth; maturity of the unborn is in the keeping of the Law. Each future state is that thou has created in the present.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” — Joan Borysenko

Living life well is a subjective goal, and, as such, whether or not it we are successful in reaching the goal is purely a subjective judgment. This kind of judgment requires introspection, which makes it somewhat of a conundrum for many people, as their skills at that particular activity are severely limited from disuse. Very few people today spend much time in self-examination, from what I can see. If they did, they sure wouldn’t act the way the do, or dress the way they are, or carry on such a foolish, self-destructive course of living….

“The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. . . No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.” — Charles Mackay

Introspection, however, requires both honesty and ruthlessness, in being able to recognize those things within us that are not of value, and to remove them from our persona. As such, it is what most folks would term as “hard” or “difficult”, and they will avoid it at all cost, laziness being a rather common human trait. It is much simpler, and easier, to just take what all the powers that be, (otherwise known as either the beloved ruling class, or those most heinous of criminal manipulators, preachers/priests), are selling as moral standards, and use them, regardless of whether or not they are truly moral or not…. and I assure you, mostly, they are not….

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

I often feel like Goethe, in what he stated above, as I believe myself to be one of the few who actually do use introspection on a regular basis. I believe this because, if other folks were using this process, the world would look a lot different. Women would feel safe walking the streets; old folks would feel cared for; gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals would not suffer discrimination for their orientation; racism would be dead, and religion would join mythology as a piece of mankind’s past, rather than its current status as our jailer/executioner…..

“Being good at being stupid doesn’t count.” — Smart Bee

All of these societal problems (bigotry, racism, discrimination, slavery, entitlement, misogyny, etc. )arise from the attitude of elitism held by those individuals among us who never look within, to see just how ugly their inner selves have become, from using the sick, twisted elitism as preached by the modern religious and political leaders. We, as a species, cannot afford to listen any more to the Judeo-Christian ethic as propounded by the beloved ruling class; this kind of entitlement and aggrandizement has led us to the very brink of extinction, as we continue to treat the planet as our toy, instead of as our home. We cannot keep pouring millions of tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and expect nothing to happen, because what will happen is already happening…. our weather is changing, and not in a good way…. the planet is warming up, and when it is warm enough, the ice at the poles will melt, and everything on Earth will feel the effects….

“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people: I was saved, they were damned … Our hymns were loaded with arrogance–self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come judgment day.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As Akhenaton pointed out over 3000 years ago, what we do in the present will determine how the future will be. What our species is doing now will guarantee that most of us won’t be around to see what happens in that future, because we will be dead within a hundred years, or less, if things don’t begin to change TODAY…. Since it is unlikely that will happen, well, we may as well take the advice given to many school children in the 50’s, in learning to deal with an atomic blast…. to wit: bend over and kiss your ass goodbye….  I hate to be so cynical, but, introspection requires honesty, so….

“You were s’posed to laugh!” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

A Brave and Startling Truth

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth

And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil

When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze

When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse

When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world

When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

Maya Angelou
__________________________________

“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, utters another.” — Homer (c. 700 B.C.)

I’ve gotta say, I’m with Homer on this one…. In looking back over my lifetime, in fact, just about every time in that lifetime that I’ve been subjected to emotional pain has been the result of this very thing, i.e., dishonesty, or betrayal of trust. My most recent example of such treatment at the hands of others took place about two and a half years ago, when I received a double whammy, from my boss at work, and from the woman with whom I had been in a relationship for nine years. My boss, without ever once indicating in any way she was unhappy with my work, had me bureaucratically removed from my job as “unfit for duty” as a result of my back injury and pain. In the same week, the woman I lived with went from telling me she loved me on Tuesday, to asking me to not call her for a couple months on Thursday, as she wanted some “space”…. a euphemism for “goodbye forever”….. Both of them stuck a knife straight into my heart, metaphorically speaking, and I bled pretty profusely from that trusting organ….

Emotionally, I’m pretty much over these two incidents, though I’m still dealing with the physical reality of the first one, but, whenever I think about either one, there is still residual pain, and the tears still flow freely with the pain…. What helps is to realize that a) I’m better off being out of each situation, even if I don’t know why either one happened, other than by speculation, and b) they won’t be able to do it again, at least not from that quarter of the compass…. It also helps being the age I am, as I’ve now been through this kind of pain more than once, and I know that I am not alone with that experience, and I only have to remain alone if I wish…. There are other people out there in the world who are worthy of my trust; the trick is to learn somehow to recognize them, and to learn how to judge the strength of their commitment to honor, and truth. Like Tom Robbins said in “Skinny Legs and All”, the question that needs to be answered is, “How do you make love stay?”…..

The tricky part, it seems, is how to keep on trusting, when so often it leads to betrayal. Society teaches dishonesty and cheating as skills to use against each other; witness our entire political scene, and then tell me otherwise. But, learning to trust is essential to being trusted, so it becomes a balancing act, with one’s fear of being hurt on one side, and the need for human contact on the other.  Somewhere in the middle lies the answer, and that is when love can show its face, even if only for a time. One just has to learn patience, for the search for an honest man, or woman, has been going on for a very long time, and as far as I’ve seen and heard, there has not been a great deal of success at finding one….

“…and I get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.” — Pete Townshend
__________________________________

Well, that certainly turned maudlin on me…. I could barely write my way out of that one. Ah well, at least, if nothing else, it is honest…. perhaps, some might say, shamefully so, but I gave that up years ago, so, hey…. In any case, it’s done, which is something, given how things have gone this morning. Not to complain, but it has been tough to grind this one out…. I did start a poem, but, only got two lines in before stalling; it’s just not ready yet. The first two lines are good, though, so I’ll stick with it….

Any who, I can’t think of how to cause any more damage than I already have, so I’m going to consign this one to the place where I can’t get it back, and publish it…. Don’t hate me for it, I beg you…. And, if so, well, sorry ’bout that, but, that’s the way it goes around here….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Parsing algorithms at the Sign of the Four….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
Often times the words flow freely, tripping out lightly to rest momentarily before someone’s eye, then fluttering away to tease and please the children playing nearby. The flow grows, and the the pace increases, the words assume more urgency, more passion, more, more, more, until they are practically exploding onto the page, assaulting the eyes demanding meaning, scaring the children as they rush by, intent on mayhem. The flow then slows, reassumes the passive, lazy feeling of a late summer day, long lemonade in hand, with the only purpose of killing time, killing it so well, no charges are brought. But then, for some reason, the flow stops…… and I take another sip of coffee…..let’s dive in, shall we?…..
___________________________________

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
— Joseph Addison (1672-1719) — Ode

I don’t have any comment here, not of any great profundity. I just like this poem, for several reasons that are too personal to go into just now; it would take too much time, trying to explain something that I don’t fully understand within myself in a way that would be understandable to others. This actually happens a lot to me when I am judging art; I  don’t know much of anything about painting, or sculpting, or the finer points of writing poetry, only what I’ve read. But I do know what I like, and what I don’t, so I just go by that, and let the rest take care of itself as best it can….and I know I like this poem…….you enjoy it too, so this won’t be a complete waste of our time together, what?….
___________________________________

“I, for one, do not think homosexuality is the latest advance over heterosexuality in the scale of human evolution. Homosexuality is a sickness, just as are baby-rape or wanting to become head of General Motors.” — Eldridge Cleaver

While I can in no way agree with Eldridge’s opinion on homosexuality, I do agree with his definition of sickness, one that goes beyond the usual defined parameters of the concept of sickness, past the physical into the behavioral. Pedophilia can, I think, be placed in the category of something that everyone recognizes, as an abnormality that produces behavior that is extreme, to put it decorously. Unfortunately, we also have another subset of humanity that engages in avarice and power-seeking in the extreme, who have somehow convinced most of the rest of humanity that they are not only not sick or broken, but are just the type of folks that anyone could want in a position of responsibility.

Now, obviously, that’s a crock of BS. No rational person would ever consider taking the reins of power over others without serious doubts as to their ability to do the job well; such jobs preclude any but the most serendipitous results by their very nature. But, to those folks who want that power, it is their ticket to ride the gravy train of public service, and they will lie, cheat, and steal to whatever degree is necessary to secure their desired place atop the heap.

For the most part, we let them do it, if only because we don’t have the ruthlessness and disregard for human rights that are the hallmark characteristics of those who would be king. But then, if we did, we would be them, and that is just as unacceptable. We just need to find a way to keep them as poorly funded and poorly supported as possible, so they don’t do as much harm in their thrashing about…..
___________________________________

“Look at these three words written larger than all the rest, and with special pride never written before or since — tall words, proudly saying “We the people” .. these words and the words that follow … must apply to everyone or they mean nothing.” — Kirk, “The Omega Glory,” stardate unknown.

“No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody.” — Martin Luther

The American Dream isn’t as shiny as it used to be; the fact of its existence only contributes to the feeling that it is an unattainable dream, a lie promulgated to keep the ignorant going each day to their little job, eyes focused on the big bright picture of SUCCESS! that hovers ever out of reach. Each successive generation who is disappointed once again, who sees no fundamental changes in the way things are run in the world, soon understands that it is mostly futile to fight the status quo. Thus, the soil of American thought grows to be ever more fertile ground to nurture change, more ready to accept the fact that it is probably a good time to hold the next American Revolution, wherein the forces of reason will battle the forces of ignorance, hopefully to settle the matter, once and for all………. now that we’ve had our serious political discussion for the morning, here are a few thoughts in a lighter vein, if no less sarcastic….

“He who knows nothing, loves nothing. He who can do nothing understands nothing. He who understands nothing is worthless.” — Paracelsus
(But he can still run for President! This is like a job want-ad for a Republican POTUS, and all the current candidates fit right in there….)

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.” — Elbert Hubbard

What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.

“Congressional terms should be … ten to twenty with no possibility of parole.” — Walt Handelsman

A little sweet, a little tart, a little savory, and you’ve got a flavorful stew…..
___________________________________

“Marjoe and Doshen were meditating in a field when Doshen just went and smacked Marjoe upside the head.  “What the hell did you do that for?” asked Marjoe.  “Nyuck nyuck nyuck,” replied Doshen. At that moment, Marjoe ordered pizza.

Hackish humor can be pretty subtle. This isn’t particularly surprising, as working in abstruse fields of mathematics can cause some interesting changes to the mind, leaving it open to new vistas of previously little-known parts of reality. This koan is a clear indicator of this kind of vision; it is true to the principles of Zen thought, while immersing itself completely into modern hacker culture, with an almost calculated  irreverence thrown in for decorative purposes. The funniest part of it, to me, is that I can see myself having this interchange with some of my friends; and, yes, we are all considered a bit strange by the Mundanes. At least it keeps me off the streets….

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — Buddha
___________________________________

If reality wants to get in touch, it knows where I am.

Am I a dreamer, dreaming that I write? Or am I a writer, writing my dream? Reality is always a slippery slope, if only because taking one’s attention away from dealing with it can be either help or hindrance. And only in retrospect can one tell which took place….. I always liked the way Philip K. Dick defined reality, as “…what is left when you stop believing in it.” This viewpoint shows both insight and experience, in a man who should know; he spent much of his life struggling with a form of Schizophrenia that makes any perception suspect, even those we hold to be most familiar.

It is no picnic trying to get along in life when one’s sense of what is real is constantly being challenged by what is perceived. It can’t be easy to be in a crowd when one believes they can hear what others are thinking; we who do not suffer from this sort of delusion or hallucination cannot really understand how terrifying it is to live with this every day.

I’ve had some struggles of my own in this respect; reality takes on a very dark, foreboding aspect when one is suffering clinical depression, and the climb back into the light can be an exhausting effort. So, one learns to adjust feelings in ourselves, to make changes to the only part of reality over which we have any power to do so. We can change ourselves, if we wish, but we cannot change anything in reality, beyond exercising our means of perceiving it. In my younger days, when I knew so much more than I know now, I once wrote, “true power is control over the routes of perception.” I didn’t know then that I was closer to the mark than I thought……
___________________________________

As the words flow gently toward the final destination,let us bid adieu to another trip through the nether portions of my mind. I’m happy that I could still find my way out; we could have been stuck there for days!….. Y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!