Hajime…. Okay, so, if y’all can hang on a moment, I’ll find my stash of witty repartee, & we can get this slow on the toad. Have a seat, grab yourself something from the bar, & try to be patient; there’s no telling where I hid the silly stuff, as the last time I had a good grip on it, it turned on me, saddling me with several paragraphs of blather & relative nonsense. I suppose, in truth, that’s nothing out of the ordinary for around here, but, in our less coherent moments, we like to think so. On that completely insane note, we’ll go on….
Of course, doing so may make it worse, but, we’ll take the chance; otherwise, we’d be stuck here in the intro until the cows came home… which promises to be a LONG time, as we don’t own any cows, or even any naughas, from which we obtain that fabulous fashion couch covering so well-known to us here in the States. I mean, it goes so well with any sort of plastic, especially pink. Now, some of you may ask, what the hell does that do to get us further into today’s mess? Well, not much, but, it did give us one more paragraph to add to the mix, even if it makes nothing resembling sense. Go figure, eh?….
Yes, I know, I’m cheating unmercifully. That’s because, despite getting sufficient rest, and awakening at a reasonable hour, I’m still at a complete loss for any sort of mental acuity. Don’t know where I left it, & too confused to go look for it, so, I’m doing what most of us do in such instances, & falling back on our one remaining strength, to wit; a talent for blather (often called bullshit, especially when it smells this bad….), combined with a complete lack of shame or guilt. In short, this is what I’ve got, so this is what you get. C’est la vie, as we say downtown….
Not only do we say that, we often mean it. Today, we’ll ignore it, just as we are ignoring all the rules. Instead, I’ll use my executive authority to declare this introduction complete, whether it’s legal, or not. I simply haven’t any interest in the legality of any of this; there’s no point in it. What’s more, there’s less of a point in continuing, so, watch this….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Become what you are.”
~~ Buddha ~~
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Today’s musical selection could be considered a default choice, if not for the simple fact I had plenty of time to pick it, and, I’m not under any self-induced pressure to post soon. No, I simply want to listen to this man’s work today, as is my habit when I am working. It’s the perfect selection for reading, or writing, or simply sitting & listening; it ticks off all the boxes, for me, at least; I’d wager anyone with their humanity intact will appreciate it. The converse may also be true, but, I’m in too good a mood to go there. All I can suggest is, turn it on, & forget it’s playing; it will soothe your spirit any old way you choose to hear it…. Enjoy, if you will….
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Camille Saint-Saënz Violin Concertos
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A word is dead
When it is said
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
Savory
Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore
finds a niche, takes root,
tries to live longer than now, before
chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.
Feathered into fecundity, another possibility
builds a nest, hatches kin,
aims at immortality, sans responsibility,
chance manifests, as it does, again.
Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,
making tools, and lazy time;
solid signs imply such simple nativity,
as another snitch drops his dime.
Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,
covering hearts bloodied by time,
burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,
turning love to brilliant rhyme.
Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,
gaining weight with each year,
only the old men know the actual truth,
peace comes only when we lose our fear.
~~ gigoid ~~
4/9/2013
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Naked Pearls
More Notes on Process & Program….
*******
“An intelligent mind is a mind which is not satisfied
with explanations,with conclusions;
nor is it a mind that believes,
because belief is again another form of conclusion.
An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind,
a mind that is watching, learning, studying.”
~~ J. Krishnamurti ~~
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“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
~~ Anais Nin ~~
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“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
~~ Albert Camus ~~
*******
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
~~ Elrond ~~
*******
“Where pain predominates, agony can be a valued teacher.”
~~ Frank Herbert ~~
*******
“What you leave behind
is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.”
~~ Pericles ~~
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“Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.”
~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~
*******
***************************************
Such as it is, there ’tis. To avoid any of the unpleasantness engendered so copiously in the intro section, I’ll bring this to a rapid close, sans any foolish attempts to clean it up. In keeping with that sentiment, I’ll add, see y’all tomorrow, & let this die a natural death. Be strange, ffolkes; it’s one of the few rights you retain….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“Only, as long as we’re going insane, we might as well go the whole way.
A mere shred of sanity is of no value.”
~~ S. S. Van Dine ~~
Memorial for the victims & heroes of the Great Famine Exodus
Galway, Ireland
Hajime…. Opening with such a picture, when taken in the context of the quote preceding it, could, very easily, lead me into a very long rant. However, I seem to have burned off some of the built-in angst, generally so common to my persona, over the past six years of railing against the machine that passes for human society. For example, the truth of the Great Famine is, for the most part, ignored by most of the world, that truth being more shameful than most of humanity cares to contemplate; this alone could prompt at least five thousand harsh words from me, especially given my personal ties to Ireland. I’ll forgo any such rant, however, simply because I am weary of shouting into the wind, & having only a few people listen….
Ranting is also complicated, these days, by my basic inability to sit long enough to marshal the words necessary to produce a viable discussion; hard to think when one’s ass is constantly signaling its desire to get up & move, rather than submitting to gravity’s less than tender embrace. This brings out, naturally, my human tendency to allow expediency to influence our decision making process; in short, I won’t rant, simply because its too much trouble for little return. I suppose, in and of itself, that, too, is human.
It doesn’t make it any more comfortable to know this; it merely makes it tawdry, and pedestrian. Fortunately, memory is volitional, making it easy to deny the reality of any situation that challenges our morality…. Go figure, eh? No ranting is necessary to demonstrate; the act of NOT ranting, in this case, becomes an act of sublimation, designed simply to make us easier in our skin. Thus, our humanity, shameful as it may be, is verified.
Gosh…. That’s pretty much of a bummer, eh? Oh, well. I’d hoped to come up with something a bit more uplifting, but, such is life for us humans; we lift our eyes to the stars, only to have to stop to wipe our feet, having stepped in something unpleasant, from having our attention focused away from what is real. I suppose this is a pretty clear indicator of how our culture has gone so far off the rails, but, to dwell on that would, once again, lead us into the realm where ranting would become necessary, if only to keep from exploding from excessive irony…..
Since it’s way to early for that, why don’t we get on with the rest of today’s mess, before I stumble into a real rant…. We’ll do it this way, which seems to work out as well as anything else I’ve attempted over the years…. Watch your step, please; the sidewalk is rather bumpy….
Shall we Pearl?
“We shall never cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
~~ T. S. Eliot~~
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I arose later than usual, meaning we go with one of our default choices. Here is a relatively new cut from the organization, with an old country tune most of us know…. Enjoy! Then, go send them some money…. They’re doing good work….
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Playing For Change Take Me Home, Country Roads
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Unheralded Sagacity…
To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.
Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.
Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.
No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.
Illumination…..
~~ gigoid ~~
4/17/2013
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Naked Pearls
One path of many….
*******
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
~~ Elrond ~~
*******
“I have everything, yet have nothing;
and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.”
~~ Terence — Act ii, Sc. 2, 12, (243.) ~~
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“… denn da ist keine Stelle,
die dich nicht sieht. Du musst dein Leben andern.”
(“… for there is no place that does not see you.
You must change your life.”)
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” ~~
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“My friend Data, you see things with the wonder of a child.
And that makes you more human than any of us.”
~~ Yar, “Skin of Evil”, stardate 41601.3 ~~
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“The problem with the future is that it keeps on becoming the present.”
~~ Calvin & Hobbes ~~
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“When in doubt, sing loud.”
~~ Robert Merrill ~~
*******
“For how much longer can I howl into this wind?”
~~ The Cure “A Thousand Hours” ~~
*******
********************************
Well, there you go…. I can’t say it’s the best Pearl ever, but, it ain’t bad, and will do for our purposes here today. I’ll be back, hopefully tomorrow, with more fresh, if strange, material. Ooh, there’s a cut, if I ever heard one. Ah, well, self-denigration is always a good technique; it makes people think you’re honest, if nothing else. Since I am honest, as humans go, I’ll just use this opportunity to say, thanks for dropping in, & I hope you’ve enjoyed our time together. We’ll do it again, soon…. Ta, for now….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”
~~ Agent Rogersz, Repo Man ~~
No, it’s not a myth. It’s melting….
Hajime…. Our opening quote is quite appropriate, especially since it happened, to me. Well, not quite an explosion; more like a strong earthquake in my head. I’m not exactly certain of the details, as, for some reason, I seem to have lost my reason. Wait. That isn’t accurate; I still have it, but, it seems so pointless, and I can’t find the emotional energy to persuade it to even try to put a couple simple factoids together, just for fun, with no mention of profit or loss. If it doesn’t come back soon, I may have to go mundane, & start eating Cheetos, or something. I HATE Cheetos, too….
Okay, I’ll stop. I had thought perhaps a bit of nonsense might loosen up the old grey cells, but, nothing doing. It’s a conundrum, to be sure. Here I am, prepared to create a Pearl, and there is so much nothing in my mind, it’s just plain scary in there. I mean, a full paragraph to lead up to a punch line, and all I can come up with is Cheetos. Pathetic, even if I do hate them. To tell the truth, I used to eat ’em a lot, but, something about the orange glow-in-the-dark color of the tongue after just two of them started to make my eyes water… That & the sharp, bitter taste of chemicals they leave behind, after the faux-cheesy flavor goes wherever a fake flavor goes, started to make me think about just what was in them…. I don’t recommend it…. or them…
Since there’s nothing useful in my head, we’ll have to cheat again, as I’m up late, and starting even later. So be it. At least it will be all be fresh cheating, performed this morning for your reading pleasure. Or, a close approximation of same. We’ll take what we can get. In order to do so, I think, given our essentially useless mental state, we’ll just forgo further idiocy in this section, & use what little wherewithal we have to go look for some coherence further down the page. As justification, I will retreat into a pearl, with a strong statement on the efficacy of personal choice from a surprising, if not completely unlikely source, to wit: “Did you ever notice how ‘why not?’ is always the right decision?” — Marilyn Monroe
Shall we Pearl?….
“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”
~~ Old Testament, Exodus ii, 22 ~~
~~ gigoid, April 2016 ~~
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I’m cheating today. That, of course, means we go to default for today’s music. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt….. Try to enjoy it, anyway, okay?…. Hey, if nothing else, know I pick the one with the coolest picture, so, at least you can look at that while you listen….
Everybody knows, and, apparently, loves Winnie the Pooh. And, why not, I may ask? Well, let me tell ya…. Pooh’s got a darker side, one A.A. Milne never suspected. It has recently been discovered Pooh had another life, one the public was never allowed to see. I’ve managed to collect some of the things he’s said, and/or done, that might give you an idea of what Pooh is REALLY like…. Enjoy!….
From 10/24/2012:
WARNING: X-Rated Material below…. If the following offends you, well, hey, don’t read it…. I happen to think it’s funny, so, deal with it…. *wink*
I know I’ve spoken to you before about the darker side of Pooh…. He’s actually, for a Bear with Very Little Brains, a pretty swinging guy, and stays active in a part of town that I’m don’t even go to…. In fact, he has been caught en flagrante delecto on numerous occasions, and has never shown a bit of regret, or a shred of remorse. He is an incorrigible sex addict, which is, when you stop to think about it, really, really sick…. I give you now more examples of just how nasty he has been known to be….
— Bother! said Pooh, as he lured the young girl into the bushes.
— Bother! said Pooh, with a sexy grin, as he tied up his favorite redhead!!
— Bother! said Pooh, as Macgyver ran to him with his pants down.
— Bother! said Pooh, when Christopher Robin came in his mouth.
— Bother! said Pooh, as Piglet pulled out the Anal Intruder.
— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled over and lit a cigarette.
And, worst of all…..
— Bother! said Pooh, as he flashed a group of nuns.
I wouldn’t have believed it, if I didn’t see them there in black and white….. Hey, it’s not any harder to believe this, than it is to believe some of the shit coming out of Mitt the Twitt’s mouth, now, is it?….
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Accentuated Lessons
Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.
Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.
Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.
Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.
Peace lies within, always…..
~~ gigoid ~~
9/27/2012
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Naked Pearls
Stuff to Remember
*******
“Happiness is the only good,
reason the only torch, justice the only worship,
humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.”
~~ Robert G. Ingersoll ~~
*******
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
~~ William Shakespeare ~~
*******
“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.”
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~
*******
“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.”
~~ Cynthia Nelms ~~
*******
“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.”
~~ Juvenal, Satires ~~
*******
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
~~ Elrond ~~
*******
“One final paragraph of advice:
Do not burn yourselves out.
Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…
a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.
Save the other half of yourselves
and your lives for pleasure and adventure.
It is not enough to fight for the land;
it is even more important to enjoy it.
While you can.
While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish
and mess around with your friends,
ramble out yonder and explore the forests,
encounter the grizz, climb the mountains,
bag the peaks, run the rivers,
breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air,
sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness,
that lovely, mysterious and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves,
keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body,
the body active and alive,
and I promise you this much:
I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies,
over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box
and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this:
You will outlive the bastards.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
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I did it. That, in and of itself, is a minor miracle. At this point, trying to explain or justify such a remark would be foolish, and, I can tell you, for sure and for certain, Sarge & Mom didn’t raise no fool. Okay, honesty rules here, so, y’all should know I just had to delete three lines of BS that might have kept us here for much too long. After all, this IS the closing paragraph, and, by golly, we’re gonna close this thing, and, now… See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; if I don’t stop now, we’ll be here until then. Don’t fret, I’ll be back, and so will you…. See ya….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape,
then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air”
~~ Doris Lessing~~
I deleted ALL your files….
Hajime….. If there were any method available to tell, I would tell you. Since, however, such a method has yet to be discovered, we’ll have to make do with the older version, where I just say it out straight and clean…. Okay, here goes….. Hang on…. Wait for it…. Alright, here you go….
It’s too late. I’m sorry, but, in spite of everything I was able to do, and, in direct opposition to every effort made by a number of compassionate volunteers, it’s just not going to happen…. The sign says we’d have it on sale tomorrow, but, the vendor just couldn’t get his shit together to ship it on time, so, it’s going to be late, again…. I guess that’s what we get for trying to obtain the instant gratification of desires everyone in this plane of existence seems to have to have; such a rare item is, as you can see, a bit hard to come by…. Ah well, maybe next week…
That, you might wish to note, is one of the very rare occasions in which you will ever see a reference to a title of a Pearl IN the actual Pearl it graces. I decided when I began this process, almost twenty years ago now, to never connect the title and the material in the piece. Don’t ask me why; I didn’t know then, and I care less now. Such is life with a self-defined curmudgeon of relatively advanced years, who has, through a lifetime of practice, become quite adept at doing exactly as he wishes, and reality be damned. It can get a bit crusty, but, it suits me.
I think that’s quite enough blather for one day. If I don’t stop here, this could get a bit top-heavy. Since I AM driving this bus, what I say must go, so, we’ll just pretend it’s the right thing to do, and do it. I would suggest, given the return of Luigi to the pilot’s chair today, you secure your personal safety restraints, and put your adult beverage down in the holder provided for that purpose. You might also wish to call your insurance guy, to make sure you’re up to date….. The rest of you…. look busy, the proctor’s on board today…. Hit it, Luigi!….
Shall we Pearl?….
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
~~ Elrond ~~
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Tom Waits
One of my Gentle Readers mentioned their fondness for this artist. Let it never be said I ignore the wishes of my readers…. I do, but, let it never be said, for I didn’t do that today…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is another Original…. and, it’s an album I haven’t heard yet…. Yay!….
I’m working on a rant to end all rants (so to speak), but, it’s stalled for the moment. Here is a set of rules which I haven’t posted in a while, but, is worth a repeat every once in a while. It’s a list I try very hard to live by, as it was all stuff the Sarge embedded in my persona, to my endless gratitude… These rules, if followed by ALL men, would make the world a very different place than the one in which we actually live…. Read them, and, I think you would agree…
Last posted on 11/18/2013:
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Unheralded Sagacity…
To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.
Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.
Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.
No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.
Illumination…..
~~ gigoid ~~
4/17/2013
********************************
Today’s final old-school pearl is a bit esoteric, but, not so much it’s obscure…. Mostly, it’s just good stuff to know about Life, Reality, and All That Stuff…. Enjoy!….
“By letting go, it all gets done.”
~~ Tao Te Ching ~~
*********
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”
~~ Mark Twain ~~
*********
“Silence speaks with eloquence.”
~~ R. Reiley ~~
*********
“Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’etre oblige de’en pleurer.”
(I make myself laugh at everything, in case I should have to weep.)
~~ Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais ~~
*********
“Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense”
~~ E. E. Cummings ~~
*********
“One of the sayings of Diogenes was that most men
were within a finger’s breadth of being mad;
for if a man walked with his middle finger pointing out,
folks would think him mad,
but not so if it were his forefinger.”
~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Diogenes, vi ~~
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“All authority is quite degrading.”
~~ Oscar Wilde ~~
*********
“Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.”
~~ Clarence Darrow ~~
*********
“Life without learning is death.”
~~ Cicero ~~
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At this point, undue confidence would be out of place; I’ll merely say, it’s done, and, I’m glad, for it looked a bit shaky there during the process. Since this ain’t go gift horse, we won’t peer too closely into its mouth, lest we see things we should regret. No regrets, ever….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless my insanity assumes a more significant role in reality before then….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
~~ Elrond ~~
Faded Beauty
Good morning. Maybe…. Even in the quite curmudgeon-like space currently defining my presence this morning, there is no room for nicety. When I think of the general run of people in today’s world, my teeth yearn to bite, my hands to throttle; the mere thought of their pain fills me with an sense of unbridled glee I cannot contain…. Have I gone mad in my sleep? Where is my center, my serenity? Gone, replaced with sheer, bloody rage at the machine…..
Well, that was fun… NOT. It seems all the angst I usually put into ranting has been building up inside, in the past few weeks I’ve been over-using the archives. And why not, I say? It had been a while since I ranted, but, yesterday, a short exchange with a new blogging friend stimulated a fresh rant against our beloved ruling class (I’ve stopped capitalizing it; they don’t deserve the honor….), which you’ll find below, in the appropriate section…. It felt good, too, I have to say….
Rather than wander around too much here, we’ll get on with today’s mess; in the mood I’m in, we could easily end up with two or three fresh rants, and, I’d like to see if there’s a poem in there that might bleed out. If the process of opening up a vein will let it out, cool. If not, well, we’ll see what happens… In the meantime, we’d best be on our way, before I say something that sets off a rant…. It’s a bit early yet for that…. Onward….
Shall we Pearl?
“All the secrets we may be able to keep from any and every god and human being do not in the least absolve us from the obligation to refrain from whatever actions are greedy, unjust, sensual, or otherwise immoderate.” — Cicero, On Duties
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Image from mytinyphone.com via Google Images
In my mind, this man was one of the top three songwriters of the era in which he lived…. A true societal icon, his music did more to create a bond between the feuding races of Man than any religion has EVER done…. The love this man had for his fellow man shone through every note he played…. Enjoy, ffolkes….
“I don’t believe there’s any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can’t completely ignore.” — George Carlin
Since I regard George Carlin as the premier social philosopher of the latter half of the twentieth century, I appreciate him giving me the perfect opportunity to speak to an issue which, to be frank, pisses me off no end…. Yesterday, during a chance reading of a fairly new blog, with a subject something to do with clowns, I made a smart-aleck comment about how clowns are evil, going off on a mini-rant about commercialism of holidays, which led to another comment about the huge elf at the top banner of the blog; you know, the one from that insane propaganda movie, about the 6 ft. tall elf in NY who saves Christmas, or something…. Will Farrell, I think is the actor’s name; can’t be sure, never actually watched anything but the innumerable commercials and trailers for it….
Well, as became patently obvious, the subject flicks my ranting mode switch; when the blogger, a very creative young woman, commented with a “Santa?”…. I went off, ranting for several paragraphs, which I include below, to begin today’s rant, which will continue the theme, if I can do so strongly…. Should be easy, this one really fucks with my sense of justice and outrage….
Oh, honey-chile, I hate to be the one to burst a bubble for you, but, although Santa Claus (as a concept) used to be fairly innocuous, mostly harmless in terms of any psychic brainwashing was concerned, the whole concept of Christmas, and Santa himself, was hijacked by the bankers and businessmen, all the way back in the 1920’s, with roots going back even further in our history; it’s part of why the Great Depression happened…. Then, all the other holidays were turned into Hallmark days, so the businesses that depend on that sort of sales could potentially sell more ‘stuff’, during those months when no ancient, or religious holidays occur….
Mother’s/Father’s Day, St. Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, President’s Day, Memorial Day, (originally just an observance for the dead in ONE battle…. Now, a person who doesn’t fall into the celebration can be accused of not being patriotic, for failing to buy beer, or watch a game of some kind, to honor all the LIVING brainwashed myrmidons, placing their lives at some risk while they’re off bombing and killing citizens of other countries all over the world, so our bankers can sell their plastic crap to the natives of those places….), virtually every holiday in every month in this country is either a complete fabrication of the government to stimulate business, or an ancient/religious holiday perverted for the same purpose….
I know many holidays are the only chance people today have, to feel good about their lives, and take a break…. So, what does the beloved ruling class do? They inundate the public with advertisements to buy this, that, or the other for the holiday, thus spending more than they can really afford, for a crap-load of stuff, all to celebrate something supposedly worthwhile, which they could easily accomplish without the costly manufactured needs…
Sorry to be a bummer, but, the subject of holidays, cute little elves, and all the other stuff used to convince people they just HAVE to participate in the ongoing economic frenzy of buying, all for stuff you will eat in one day, or throw away afterward…. Well, it just burns my ass to watch our entire society throwing money down the drain, for nothing important, except to fulfill what they BELIEVE to be the customs of the society, which have, in reality, been perverted into a travesty of anything honorable, or even reasonable…. It’s all an illusion, little one, deliberately created to convince people it’s important enough to waste their money on it….
But, then, maybe that’s just me…. It’s not Santa, young paduan; it’s what they’ve turned Santa into that lights my fuse….
gigoid, the sincerely dubious….
———————————————
I think the reason this subject angers me so much is connected to two reasons. First, it’s all so transparent, to me, yet, seemingly, there are millions upon millions of otherwise intelligent people who refuse to look at how brainwashed they have become. The opening quote from George takes on new meaning, when one considers how much strength of will it takes to deny evidence that slaps you in the face EVERY DAY….
It implies a choice. It tells me that most people in this country, rather than using their minds for what they were designed to do, have abrogated all their honor, and dignity, for the sake of a safe, secure existence wherein they are not required to think, or make any more effort than the minimum required to survive, in a world made soft and palatable, without danger, or challenge, or need for any imagination….
The second part. which angers me even more, is that we were warned this would happen, by the very men who gave their lives and fortunes to ensure we had the few rights we do…. Thomas Jefferson said it best, I think, though others of his time said much the same…. In fact, it seems Tom had something to say about just about everything happening in today’s news headlines, nailing exactly what has happened to our rights…. For those with tunnel vision, I’ll add a modern example of exactly what Tom was referring to in his statements….(in parentheses)
“A monied aristocracy in our country … has already set the government at defiance.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
(The Koch Brothers. Super PAC’s. Corporate personhood. 55% of US Senators are millionaires…. Big Pharma/HMO’s. Walmart. )
“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson
(Citicorp. Bank of America. Chase. Rothschild, Rockefeller, Kennedy, Dupont, Krupp, Takahashi, Windsor, Chang, Wang, and the other 0.02% who own ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD)
“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson
(Gee, does that sound anything like the programs gathering metadata by the NSA, or the FBI, authorized by the good ol’ Patriot Act, one of the most ironic catchphrases they ever came up with….)
“I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” — Thomas Jefferson
(Current US government debt is more than 700 TRILLION dollars, and counting….)
“…when all government… in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1821
(Need I even say anything here? Okay, just for a recent example…. Obamacare….Another? Okay. The Supreme Court decision allowing rich people to buy politicians through PAC’s…. What did one of the dissenting judges on the Court say about that? Let’s see….)
“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson
(Patriot Act again…. Secret courts. Torture as a legitimate tool. Police killings. Police militarization. Drone spying on domestic targets. All proven with evidence, yet denied by officials….)
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William S. Smith, Paris, Nov. 13, 1787
(Sadly, this one is no longer possible, I think…. Not enough true patriots of liberty left; they’ve all become zombies, or bought into the lies, and are in complete denial of their slavery….)
Okay, that’s enough…. As you can see, Tom, and others, warned us of ALL of this…. But, thanks to laziness, to the common man’s lack of willingness to be responsible for their own lives and actions, the majority of Americans not only don’t realize they are no longer free at all, but, deny it when confronted with incontrovertible evidence….
SIGH…. Fuck ’em…. I won’t go down without a struggle, you can be sure of that…. Others may do as they like…. And, yes, I KNOW the NSA will eventually see this…. So what? I’m not going to lie, and become like them….
gigoid has spoken.
So be it.
“For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.”
~~ Plutarch ~~
~~ Of the Training of Children ~~
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I’d hoped a poem was ready to bleed out, but, it ain’t happening…. Here is yet another from the archives….
When life calls, ready or not….
Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.
Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.
Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.
Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.
Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 9/10/2012.
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I put the following pearl together, but, I don’t know exactly what it all means…. I mean, I do, but, I don’t…. See what I mean? (What IS the mind? More to the point, what does the mind MEAN?….)
Ah well, they’re all such good pearls, it has to mean something good, right? Or is that a bit too Pollyanna-ish? Or, maybe, Pavlovian…. Perhaps so; I don’t think any of it will affect the Space/Time Continuum, anyway, so, I think we’ll be okay…. If not, well, see y’all in the next Universe….
And now someone’s on the telephone desperate in his pain
Someone’s on the bathroom floor doing her cocaine
Someone’s got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me we aren’t gluttons for our doom
~~ the Indigo Girls, “Prince Of Darkness” ~~
“Whip me such honest knaves.” — William Shakespeare, Othello — Act i, Sc. 1
“Better to have illusions of a reality where everything is real than to have a reality of illusions where nothing is real.” — Bobby Matherne
“As the sword of the best-tempered metal is the most flexible; so the truly generous are most pliant and courteous in their behavior to their inferiors.” — Fuller
“Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.” — Edward Abbey
“One idea spoken truly, even in a cave, can change the world.” — Buddha
“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)
“Of all the benefits that virtue confers upon us, the contempt of death is one of the greatest.” — Montaigne
“I say love, it is a flower;
and you, it’s only seed.”
~~ Bette Midler, “The Rose” ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I can’t do any better, or think of anything else to add; I guess that means we’re done here. Whew! It’s been a long life…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can’t think of anything better to do….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
Niagra Falls, February, 2015 ~~ Photo from Weather.com
Today’s intro section will be just that, and nothing more. I’m tired of trying to figure it out, so I’m taking a hiatus from doing so…. Our only purpose here today is to get this done, so we can get on with it. Too much going on to even explain, so, in the interests of maintaining honesty, we’ll go immediately into emergency exit #4, which, as y’all know, works like this….
Shall we Pearl?
“Pardon him, Theodotus, he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.” — George Bernard Shaw
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Spock passed from this world yesterday…. Leonard Nimoy, who became Spock in the eyes and minds of the world, died at the age of 83, having lived long, and prospered. We’ll all miss him, that’s for sure…. Here is my own small tribute, in a slightly different vein than most you’ll see today…. This one celebrates the fun he gave us, along with the wisdom… Enjoy!….
Up late; can’t think. This will do…. It ain’t up to Sartre, or Kierkegaard, but, it’ll do….
From 8/29/2013:
“But my dear man, reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.” — Alan Watts
I enjoy the words of Alan Watts, and have done so since first reading one of his books in college, many years ago. His command of English is so deep and wide that he is somewhat hard to read, due to the weight and depth of both the material under discussion, and of the words he chooses to use. But, working one’s way through to the end of what he writes is well worth all the effort, for he explains the complex, and yet simple, wisdom of the Eastern religions and philosophies, in Western terms, so they are comprehensible to those same Western thinkers, with a clarity heretofore unseen. This particular line is one of his most simply written, yet is still deep and insightful…..
With one swift phrase, Reality is laid bare for all to understand, showing its flexibility, it’s malleable nature able to become whatever we perceive it to be. Each of us has our own interpretation of what we perceive as reality, and it is often very different than what others may believe it to be. Sometimes, I am absolutely amazed at the variety of perceptions that people describe, and feel a lot of satisfaction, on one level at least. That is the level of interaction…. I think it is just wonderful, that people from so many different backgrounds, and so many different ways of looking at the same thing, can still live together on one planet in relative harmony.
It would seem apparent that so many differing viewpoints would cause a lot of trouble, and to some extent that’s true…. There is a lot of trouble on this world, and Reality is not a place for the weak or timid to hang out safely. But, mostly, all the various attitudes and outlooks on life seem to shuffle along without much conflict, at the personal level, compared to what might be expected. One of those little unexplained miracles in life that we often don’t see, or appreciate….. The phenomenon is even more pronounced in institutions such as mental hospitals, where the visions of reality are of such a nature as to seem limitless in their variety. I was always impressed at how people from so many different parts of the galaxy were able to live together in peace…. 🙂
For me, the best part about the nature of Reality is this chameleon-like quality: it can be anything we want it to be. We can accept the perceptions it sends us, and even see, and understand, what those are describing to others, thus making it convenient for us to communicate about it. Or, we can choose to alter those perceptions, either in the way we receive them, or in the way we interpret them; either method gives us control over exactly how we view what is now a somewhat questionable form of Reality.
(It occurs to me that maybe I should use the capitalization technique, as with the words ‘pearl’, and ‘Pearl’…. Yeah, that’s the ticket… Okay, so ‘Reality’, capitalized, is what we all agree to see, and ‘reality’ is what each of us sees personally, with the word ‘see’ used to indicate ‘perceive’ because it’s a shorter word, took less time to type, and allowed me to further obfuscate matters in order to create the need to clear them up….. That should help clarify where we are in a sentence, even if it doesn’t actually simplify things at all…..)
Speaking of knowing where we are, this discussion seems to have reached a point where the next destination may be out of reach. Oh, not that the reality of it is too abstruse, or complicated, or even merely disgusting. No, it’s just too esoteric for me at 0815 in the morning, after already composing a couple thousand words on human nature and and the nature of Reality. It is almost a depressing come-down to have to consider ending this, since it was flowing so well, but, the perfect closing pearl showed itself, and I’m not one to argue with Smart Bee, or Zippy….. Stay alert, ffolkes, Reality can suck, and it can bite, when it’s not being nice…..
“I guess it was all a DREAM.. or an episode of HAWAII FIVE-O…” — Zippy the Pinhead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gasp! Need something to uplift me! Quick, some Emily….
A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish,–some way back,
I could not fix the year,
Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.
But somewhere in my soul, I know
I’ve met the thing before;
It just reminded me–‘t was all–
And came my way no more.
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
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Y’all should get a clue as to the ultimate nature of what you will find below, from the picture adorning the top of the section; for the moment, I’ll pretend it’s just another elephant in the parlor….
Since today’s old-school pearl came together so easily, forming a nice, rounded description of most of the important points we all need to learn in our lives, yet, managing to maintain a not entirely straight face, I’m going to let it go without even worrying about whether it leads anywhere useful…. It was too much fun putting it together to throw out…. All of the following is good stuff, even if it lost all sense of sobriety at the end…. It fits…
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” — Plato, The Republic. Book II. 377B
“Heaven embraces the horizon. No matter how jagged the profile, the sky faithfully conforms.” — Deng Ming-Dao
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” — Albert Einstein
“Among mortals second thoughts are wisest.” — Euripides
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” — Frederick Douglass
“EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!” — Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Page 7,023)
“The virtue of all achievement is the victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.” — A.J. Cronin
“Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.” — Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet
“This life is a test. It is only a test. Had it been an actual life, you would have received further instructions as to what to do and where to go. You may or may not be issued an actual life later.” — Smart Ass Bee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having thus completed my Duty in tolerable fashion, I shall take my leave, to go forth into the day, clueless…. See y’all tomorrow, if I can find my way back home today….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“History doesn’t repeat itself — historians merely repeat each other.”
~~ First Rule of History ~~
Last night, as Orion chased his prey across the winter sky, slowly, majestically pacing toward the Western mists, sword shining at his belt, bow drawn, I thought of my children, and my grandchildren, so young, so innocent of the world, and the life they will have to face in the coming years. My thoughts, because of what I know to be true, were dark, and fearful, not for myself, for I have had my share of years, filled with equal parts joy and pain, but, for them, knowing how much of the pain they will have to know, before they have much chance at a great deal of the joy that can be found…
Still, I have hope, that I can persuade them, in my remaining time here, to look to the sky, to find a way to the stars, where they may have a better chance of feeling some of the joy I’ve felt, but, on another world, or moon, or asteroid, or…. If they can find a way to leave the Earth, they will see, and experience, what I’ve dreamed of all my life, hopefully finding their joy in the satisfaction of surviving against all odds, by their wit, and courage…. as well as in the pride of fulfilling the destiny for which our species, I believe, was ever destined…. Not by design, but by serendipity….
Or, perhaps, by accident…. Who knows, for there is no evidence we humans have ever found, or deduced, or surmised, to suggest we, and all the vast universe, are a creation, of an entity so powerful, we could, by the mere definition of such a creature, never have the slightest chance of ever understanding exactly WHAT it was…. Whatever it, or they, or she, or that word we don’t or can’t ever know, IS, in truth, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t concern itself with, or much care what we might think of all this…. I would guess, without ever knowing one way or another, such a creature most likely figures we’ll just enjoy it, try to figure out how it all works, playing with it as best we can without breaking it…. but, as I said, who knows, and, who cares?
There…. I think THAT should do for an opening section…. We’ve covered some rather maudlin hopeful wishes for a future for humanity, we’ve encouraged the conquest of space, we’ve explored a bit of philosophy and religious theory, while simultaneously mocking intellectualism AND spiritualism, in the same breath…. Not bad for off the cuff, eh? Not just that, but, it’s all PRE-COFFEE! That, in itself, is a miracle, beyond all belief….
And well you shouldn’t believe it…. because all of that last part was a deliberate LIE!… I had coffee before I started….
I’m practicing…. I decided to run for a local office, just to pass the time until Armageddon, which, according to my calendar, should be just around the corner, say, May, or April of next year…. maybe sooner. Hard to tell yet, as there is still a LOT of societal inertia to overcome before the revolution can really get rolling….
Hmm, I see we’ve retreated a bit from reality again. It happens whenever I write this much without the benefit of either rhyme, or reason…. SIGH…. I suppose I’ll have to either move the schedule up, or apply one of those old emergency closings, which cause so much havoc to our budget… No, we’ll be patient, because I see an opening right over there…. Wait for it…. wait…. hold on, almost….. THERE!…. Hah! Fooled you again! We’ve been parked for five minutes….
Nyah, nyah, nyah….. See, Paul? I AM still crazy, after all these years….
Shall we Pearl?
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.” — Elrond
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I’m up very early today, and not in the best of moods, due mostly to my reaction to the blackmail I’m being subjected to by my HMO. To say the very least, I am NOT a happy camper today…. So, we’ll go with funny, to take a bit of the edge off…. When one wants funny, who better than a comedic genius, such as these two men….
“The ignorance of the working-class and the superior intelligence of the privileged class are superstitions — are superstitions fostered by intellectual mercenaries, by universities and churches, and by all the centers of privilege.” — George D. Herron (1862-1925)
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Today, I will be ranting vicariously. Below you will find a number of links. Each will take you to yet another example of the Insanity in which the world is currently engulfed. Each one is another piece of evidence showing how the pressure of environmental stresses, under which all the life forms on this planet exist, have increased beyond our ability to either stop, or even comprehend, bringing us ever closer to becoming a Real Life example of the old experiment we all remember….
You know, the one where the rats are left in a cage they cannot escape, without the means to stop reproducing beyond their natural limits, outstripping their food supply, whereupon they begin to turn on each other, exhibiting self-destructive, irrational behaviors, complete with vicious, deadly, INSANE violence, ultimately leading to death for them all…. Not the most appetizing image for breakfast, but hey, none of it is anything we can avoid…..
I don’t know about y’all, but, I would prefer to at least see where the fatal blow is going to come; it does give me at least a chance to duck, and cover…. If it’s all too much to deal with, just consider each link as a pearl, and skip down to the poem…. which, naturally, exposes one to the risk of being considered a wimp, if only in one’s own mind….
Oh, hell, that’s enough. I don’t want to depress y’all any more than necessary. I’ll just say this…. Of the five stories I chose today to highlight some of the crazy shit happening all around us, none have any good endings, either real, or implied. Some of it may seem like hyperbole, or jumping at shadows, but, frankly, anyone who can’t see what is happening isn’t paying attention, or is deliberately denying reality. It is that simple, ffolkes. We MUST start to act now, if we are to have ANY chance of surviving into the next century. That is not a statement I make lightly; I’ve made a study of the issues, and it ALL has gone farther toward BAD than almost anyone will admit, in public, or, in private….
Which, I should say, describes WHY we are having these problems at all, now doesn’t it?
To change the mood a touch, so we can go on with a clearer mind, if not a happier heart, here is something a little lighter….. Lou is also good at finding this kind of stuff, too….. At the other end of the spectrum of human existence, we have the following example of a few of humanity’s OTHER qualities….
Today’s poem comes from my usual source, but, with a bonus. After the text version, of this all time classic, copied from Poem Hunter dot com, (which just happens to fit in with today’s theme perfectly), I’ve included a link to, and a video version of the poem, as displayed on the YT clone site, Daily Motion, with a link to the page provided as well….
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Nine excellent pearls, all for y’all…. Take them as you will…. That is what they are for, after all….
“If this material is offensive to you, and admittedly it will be offensive to someone, then you should take time out to contemplate this truth. Seriousness is the refuge of the truly shallow!” — Smart Bee
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” — Euripides
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” — Henri Bergson (1859-1941)
“As a matter of cold fact, a lot of people have no use for you because they can’t use you.” — Smart Bee
“In an insane society, the sane man must appear insane.’ — Spock
“He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.” — Giacomo Leopardi
Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo. [Drops of water hollow out a stone – not by strength, but just falling often.] — Smart Bee
“As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 17
“”Bury me on my face,” said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, “Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Diogenes, vi
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Having completed most of this Pearl yesterday during appropriate breaks from misery, and arisen very early, thanks to the gift of tardive dyskinesia (one of those “gifts that keep on giving”….), I’m done, and it’s still shy of 0430…. SIGH…. Now I get to wait for the rest of the world to wake up to get anything marginally useful done…. So be it…. Provided I’m not ensconced in hospital from the stress and fatigue building up over time, I’ll see y’all tomorrow…. Watch out for them “corporate persons” y’all; they’re getting pretty fierce….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, “Strike, if you will; but hear.”
~~ Plutarch ~~
(46-120 AD) — Life of Themistocles
I’d be willing to bang a few folks over the head, if only they would listen…. Sadly, ’tis not to be, and I am consigned to forever give my warnings, important to all as they are, to only a few diehard readers plucky enough to take my curmudgeonly style. It isn’t as if I’m saying much of anything that hasn’t been pointed out before; that is the whole problem, in a nutshell… The knowledge needed to save ourselves has been within the grasp of our hands all along, but, as the stupid, grasping, self-centered creatures most of us are, it mostly gets ignored, in favor of chasing after the latest fantasy held out by the corporate shills, which is guaranteed to make them happy….
It is as another blogger pointed out so accurately yesterday, people tend to put aside those things that aren’t palatable, or that don’t fit into their preconceived notion of how things must be, as not being real…. They believe completely in the foolishness they espouse, and will not usually even examine any evidence to the contrary; to do so they must first admit they were wrong in the first place, which is not going to happen…. ever. So, they continue to travel through their lives with blinders on, never realizing how little in their life they actually control, or that they are slaves, only living according to rules set up for them by others….
For some reason, I still love the idiots…. People are dumb, mostly, and blunder through life without much of a clue; it’s painful to watch, when I know they would have an easier time if only they would use their brain….. even just a little bit would help them make life better…. but, mostly, people ignore me, too, and go about the foolishness they’ve been accepting as truth all their lives, thus cementing further the hold the asininnies have over society, and ensuring we all will go down together, when our bill for services is presented, oh, day after tomorrow, or so….
Ah well, doing this helps a couple ways, if no others…. First, it makes me feel better… I stay saner, and that means fewer people per day are in danger…. always a good thing, right? Second, it does throw out there a lot of evidence, which, if they ever forgot, and looked at, well, it COULD do some good, if it happened to catch them in a weak moment, of which they have plenty…. I could get lucky, and one or more of them could have an epiphany, break the chains of mental bondage, and join the actual fight for survival going on out in the real world….
But, all that, no doubt, is a picture of me, fantasizing how it could, or should be, an occupation always fraught with danger, of believing any of it…. In truth, I’m fairly resigned to spouting off mostly to myself…. I have a couple of ffolkes with whom I can talk about this stuff…. Plus, there is a certain satisfaction, small though it may be, in preaching to the choir, who, at least, appreciate one’s thoughts, and for the most part, agrees…. It would be better, all around, for everyone, if the fools and idiots out there not paying attention to what is happening right in front of them would begin to pay some attention, and take some responsibility….. but, if I were you, I wouldn’t hold my breath….
Enough whining for one day; maybe there is a Gentle Reader out there waiting for today’s music, to which I can say, well, why wait? Today’s is a long concert, so, go turn it on, & listen while you read…. The rest of us can listen, as well, while I take us through some rather esoteric places today…. I also can say this….. LOOK! It’s a plane! It’s a bird! No, it’s just a pearl, waiting for us to pick it up….. It looks like a really good one, too, all about the depths of folly explored by Mankind….
Shall we Pearl?…..
IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound. This, however, is inaccurate; to impale is, properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position. This was a common mode of punishment among many of the nations of antiquity, and is still in high favor in China and other parts of Asia. Down to the beginning of the fifteenth century it was widely employed in “churching” heretics and schismatics. Wolecraft calls it the “stoole of repentynge,” and among the common people it was jocularly known as “riding the one legged horse.” Ludwig Salzmann informs us that in Tibet impalement is considered the most appropriate punishment for crimes against religion; and although in China it is sometimes awarded for secular offences, it is most frequently adjudged in cases of sacrilege. To the person in actual experience of impalement it must be a matter of minor importance by what kind of civil or religious dissent he was made acquainted with its discomforts; but doubtless he would feel a certain satisfaction if able to contemplate himself in the character of a weather-cock on the spire of the True Church. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
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From 12/20/2013:
“One of the merits of democracy is quite obvious: it is perhaps the most charming form of government ever devised by man. The reason is not far to seek. It is based on propositions that are palpably not true — and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true.” — H. L. Mencken
With this statement, Mr. Mencken has put his finger on the pulse of America, that is for certain. It goes a long way toward explaining why so many people in this country are so willing to believe the outright, egregious lies that are told to them every single day by the officials they elect every year at the polls that characterize our alleged republic…. They do lie, you know, with almost every statement that comes out of their mouths…. They begin with the most important lie they tell, from which all the others spring, and that is the lie they tell when they tell you that they want to be elected so they can work for YOU! Each and every politician learns early in their career, if they are at all to be successful, they MUST portray themselves as a public-spirited, honest, and tireless worker whose only purpose is to make life better for their constituents….
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth…. NONE of them are at all concerned with any of that nonsense; they are there to carry out their own agenda, which has very little to do with what is good for the general run of mankind…. No, they are there to serve the interests of the men and women who pay them, those lobbyists and special interest representatives who run the businesses of the corporate masters. The people on the street cannot provide them with the perks, or the cash, that the clandestine rulers are able to come up with, other than peripherally, by electing them in the first place…. Once elected, their true colors come out into the light of day, and it can be easily seen how their actions are never congruent with what they have promised to the people who elected them….
It’s all about power and money to these folks, not service. In my entire life of observing politics around the world, I have yet to see a single elected official who could be shown to be honest, not at the national level. The one who came the closest was Jimmy Carter, and his presidency was marked by how little got done, because he was so honest that the true politicians in Congress blocked every reform he tried to institute during his time in office. His actions during that time showed him to be the exception to the usual rule for politicians, which is why, I believe, he was so ineffective as a legislator….
“Invest in America — Buy Japan!”– Smart Bee
Other than Carter, I have seen concrete proof that EVERY President of this country has lied to the American people, not just once or twice, but continuously, about nearly everything. Time and time again, public outcries are heard or seen in the news about some new revelation regarding something some politician lied about, just like it is breaking news or something, when it is actually the normal state of affairs….
I don’t know why it is, but if a man on a TV set, wearing a suit and tie, makes a statement to the public, the general public will believe it, sometimes fanatically, without ever examining it for whether or not it is true…. Then, when it turns out they were lied to, they get all upset and vocalize their displeasure, never once admitting it was their own cupidity that allowed the lie to occur in the first place…. It makes me wonder what happened to people in this country, to make them go soft in the head….
“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov
Did you ever notice how many politicians were lawyers, first? Most of them, as it turns out, for the simple reason that learning to be a lawyer gives a politician two advantageous types of training…. One advantage is that law school teaches the student how to lie in every imaginable way, in order to ascertain which kinds of lies are legal…. The other advantage is their primary motivation….
If asked, a very large percentage of lawyers will tell you their reason for becoming a barrister in the first place is that it is a good way to get rich, (without mentioning, of course, that this is true only as long as one doesn’t give a shit about other people, and what that might do to them). In other words, they make their money by taking advantage of people’s misery, holding them as hostages against their own destiny, in order to gain resources, i.e. money, and its sidekick, power….
Then the lawyers realize that their training is perfect for politics…. The ability to lie with facility comes in very handy to anyone who wants to be in the public eye, as that is how one gets elected in the first place…. Tell people what they want to hear, and they will vote for you, every time, coming back to the same trough to eat, even though they get screwed, time after time…. Having the facility to ignore what happens to others, due to their own actions, is the other skill so important to the political set, and the training one receives as a lawyer fits right into that category….
“Watching the democratic party in a presidential contest is like watching a washing machine with a defective bearing: It starts up smoothly enough, but soon, it begins to wobble and shake, jumping violently from place to place, until it tears itself to pieces, spewing dirty laundry all over the room.” – Smart Bee
Some people will say that there ARE some good lawyers out there, and I won’t argue that…. but, they’re still lawyers, not politicians, aren’t they? They’re doing what they can to help ffolkes find their way through the morass of our legal system to get what they need, even occasionally finding some justice…. But, they aren’t going further, and going into public service, are they? They’re still in place, where they can help, but, they are so few and far between, they are hard to find, and so are very busy, seldom having the time or resources to work against their less honest colleagues. Plus, they really are very few in number, as altruists seldom become lawyers in the first place….
I can see that this has evolved into a full scale rant, and we’ve just begun the day, so I’ll call a halt here. I often feel as if I’m preaching to the choir, anyway, when I go through this stuff again…. It’s all familiar material around here, so it isn’t as if I’m presenting new ideas for your examination…. No, this is all old stuff, and, sadly, doesn’t seem to ever create the outrage that I feel in very many other ffolkes…. which is too bad…. I forget who said that “if you keep on doing things the same ways as you always have, things will always be the way they’ve always been….”, but, they were absolutely correct…. We are on a path to our own destruction, clearly, but, nobody seems to care.
Nobody, that is, who seems able to DO anything about it, and they are the ones who will need to make the changes…. The people in authority over the rest of us are wearing blinders in this respect…. The idea that what they are doing is wrong, and will eventually kill us all, doesn’t fit into their world-view, so they won’t believe it, and will continue to refuse to make any of the changes needed to re-direct our steps onto a path less dangerous.
It is up to the rest of us to get it done, and that may entail overthrowing the current crop of rulers, either by the vote, or by the less agreeable option of using the necessary force, while making sure the new crop will act in OUR best interests, rather than their own…. If it does happen, it will be the first time in history, which is fine with me…. just as long as it is not the LAST time in history….
“… democracy is not something you believe in, or a place you hang your hat, but it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles and falls apart.” — Abby Hoffman
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Welcome to the second day of music on ECR…. Today’s video is an EXCELLENT recording of Cream, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, their first concert in 36 years, since the band broke up in 1968…. This video, over an hour long, comprises the first half of the concert…. the second half will be aired on tomorrow’s blog, right here at Exploring Consensual Reality….
I know, it’s a lot to ask of y’all… to have to listen to three of the best rock musicians to ever play, both individually, as solo instrumentalists, but, also, as a group acknowledged one of the best ever, able to blend their talents seamlessly…. In this video, they play for well over an hour of live, brilliant, improvisational music from our past…. but, somebody has to do it, so, you’ll just have to do the best you can with it, okay?….
Enjoy!…..
Cream Live at Albert Hall Part 1:
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It’s one of those days I should probably use my own poetry, so nobody else suffers by association…. Since, of late, I’ve been beset by misery for much of each day, here is one I wrote back in 2012, about that very subject…. It usually helps, if I can focus on the last lines….
Raging at Aging
As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it is really quite painful, and very, very cold.
The power and strength felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes over time since our birth.
As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by our will, to more arcane arts.
Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.
Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for it is true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.
~~ gigoid ~~
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Here is a fresh, random pearl, plucked from the current bed of oysters in SB’s newest version…. Enjoy!…..
“But my dear man, reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.” — Alan Watts
“One of the most important parts of being smart is the ability to let go of what you thought you knew so you can understand the way things are in a new way.”
— Esther Dyson
“Morals today are corrupted by our worship of riches.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
“It’s wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” — Elrond
“By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 3
“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse.There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams
“The Osmonds! You are all Osmonds!! Throwing up on a freeway at dawn!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
Why Zippy seems to be our finishing pearl so often is a mystery to me, but, it probably shouldn’t be…. he is, after all, the work of one of the twentieth century’s finest social critics…. go figure…..
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Some mornings this process goes more smoothly than others… such is the case today. It’s long, but, it’s done, and I can get on with fighting my daily battle with my bones, and, now, my inner ear…. I’ll be back tomorrow, ffolkes…. this is the only thing keeping me going just now…..
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.
Shot to hell, it is…. bowed, bloody, completely in tatters…. Fortunately, we’re referring to my routine, and, perhaps, my mind, not my corpus; typing would be even more difficult, if that were the case. It’s complicated, and challenging enough already, what with the revolt being carried out by the physical side of my persona; it has taken me well over an hour, and more than a single cup of coffee, just to be able to get this simple paragraph onto the screen.
Without going into details that might curdle the milk you just poured over your oatmeal, let’s just say that getting this done will be an act of monumental courage and perseverance, to push through the haze veiling my mind, and put some clarity into what goes onto the page. Brilliance, or even moderate style may be out of the question; we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I could conceivably loosen up a bit, and find a pocket of energy, and/or sanity, (either will do….) that will carry me through to the end of this, but, I can’t count on it, and it’s not too likely at this point, anyway…. I’ll be lucky to get dressed all the way, much less display any real creativity in my prose….
I had no idea at the start of this blog how hard it is to write something fresh and creative every day; it gives me a bit more respect for those columnists who manage to do that for many years, maintaining a witty, accessible, and fun atmosphere in their work over periods of time far greater than what I’ve done here for the last three or so years….. Herb Caen, Walter Winchell, Grantland Rice, Jon Carroll, and a number of other daily columnists now have my complete admiration, as well as my burning curiosity, wondering how the hell they managed it for all that time…
But, long discussions of old time heroes won’t get me any further toward finishing this; it’s barely given me a start. I suppose it’s some sort of solution to the lack of freshly minted material, which, combined with my fuzzy head and overall schmeckiness, (a fine old word, that I just made up…. It sure SOUNDS like I feel…. Schmecky….), but, I don’t think it will do in the long run, except as filler, which has already shown itself to be an acceptable pathway for taking such side trips into tangential subject matter…. It may be fun, and take up time & space, but, it won’t last for more than a few paragraphs before becoming detrimental to the larger picture….
Nonesuch…. what a great word. I’m not entirely sure why it floated up to the surface of my mind, unless it’s trying to give me a hint, that it’s time to try to regain our foothold on sanity, or, at minimum, make the attempt to return to reality, before we get so far lost we can’t even find a GPS, much less our own behinds…. In fact, I’d say that y’all might do well to find your own way back to your seats, because I’m about to bail out of here, and fight my way back overland….. It’s hard to fly when weighted down by depression, as we all know, and I’m not going to sit here any longer, pretending I’m okay….
On that cryptic turn, we’ll head out into the wilds of the pearl beds, where I may be able to locate my sanity…. If not, well, I’ve been there before, so, it shouldn’t take too long to fight my way out…. In the meantime, since I’ve got nothing better to do this morning….
Shall we Pearl?…..
“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.’ — Elrond
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Panting and wheezing, I clamber to the next level, only to find another sheer rock face, the only way to proceed…. Having climbed this far, I’m not willing to go back down, and besides, I get vertigo thinking about it…. I’ll just have to go on…. I know, I’ll make an old school pearl, and that will bring me right back to earth, if I do it right….. Let’s see what we can do…
“Each man reaps on his own farm.” — Plautus (254-184 BC) — Mostellaria, Act iii, Sc. 2, 112, (799.)
“A Puritan is someone who is deathly afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun.” — H. L. Mencken
“To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” — Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881) — Sybil, Book i, Chap. v
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” — Gerald R. Ford
“A clown is a clown and will always be a clown.” — Babbaluche the cobbler
“I’m not a god, I was misquoted.” — Lister, Red Dwarf
“I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act v, Sc. 7, 4, (1028.)
Well…. I have to say this…. That’s the oddest pearl I think I’ve ever put together…. It is a bit esoteric, to be sure, but, I think the last quote, from Terence, just makes it all okay…. If you have any clues as to what he might have been referring to, or talking about, I’d love to hear them, because I don’t have one, at all….. But, I am not required to have one, legally, so, onward….
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Here is a poem I wrote to try to describe this process, of creating Pearls…. It’s not bad, and will hopefully expiate some of the potential ire that may be engendered by today’s apparent, no, today’s all-too-real fragility, of both purpose, and intelligence…. The poem describes what I go through each day pretty well, which is, after all, WHY I wrote it to begin with…. Better out than in, I always say….
How It Works….
Retreat, retreat, he cries in vain
we cannot stand such pain!
Another battle, another day’s fight
Eternally at war, both day and night.
Storms within, crashing and thrashing about,
filling each moment with fear and doubt.
Cries of anguish, hopes for a swift end
Denied with wounds that will not mend.
The crisis approaches, time will not wait.
It marches on, driven madly by fate.
We have no recourse, no other road to walk,
No great power to whom we may talk.
Morning arrives, seemingly mild and free
Until one considers all that must be
An intro, some pearls, a photo or two
Today’s magnificent Pearl, created just for you…..
~~gigoid ~~
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Due to the lack of any sort of intelligent activity going on in my mind, and the time constraints involved in my being so late getting to this, here is a religirant from the archives, with some closing comments to freshen it up a bit…..
From 5/09/2012:
“It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book ii, Sect. 20
This has always been an issue in my mind, from the very earliest times I was exposed to religious instruction, in some Presbyterian Sunday School when I was a young lad. Even at the age of five or six, I had a hard time understanding two things about God, if what they were telling me about Him was true. First, I couldn’t believe that a God, supposedly able to create an entire universe, would take the time and/or energy to care whether or not I was paying attention to His rules (I also questioned why He would make rules in the first place….)
Secondly, the whole idea of worship made me uneasy…. it seemed a bit, hmm, needy, or vulnerable, to me. I knew that the admiration of others made me feel weird; uneasy and uncomfortable with their fawning (baby sisters & brothers, little kids, and others who show such feelings for their older, more accomplished siblings….). Even the admiration I held for my older siblings, and my heroes, made me a bit uncomfortable. So, I could never understand why an all-powerful being would want any part of such a thing.
So, even then, before I had any real defenses, I suppose my ability to reason made it hard for me to accept a lot of what I was told. It never made sense to me that the pictures I saw of God made him look just like some human patriarch (hmm… no Freudian comments?); I mean, if he was so far above us, how did we know what He looked like? I didn’t remember seeing any photos of Him, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, (another questionable entity to the mind of a five-year old….) playing in the Dead Sea surf, nor did I recall any such word from God Himself. There were a lot of folks saying that the Bible is the Word of God, but the only ones saying so were people, not Gods.
So, maybe I was a bit different than the average young bear cub, but much of what they tried to foist upon my unsuspecting mind never took hold, as I found it completely unbelievable. It just didn’t make any sense, even by the rules they claimed to be those by which reality operated. If I, a little kid, didn’t like to be worshiped, why would an omnipotent being have anything to do with it? Give me a reasonable, rational answer, and I will consider the concept. But, I think you’d best bring a new and different set of arguments, because the ones that have been in play for several thousand years just don’t cut it in my book….
“Everybody has the right to be stupid, but they’re abusing the privilege.” — Smart Bee
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From the vantage point of two-plus years in the future, I’m compelled to expand upon what I wrote then…. which, advantageously, makes this a fresh rant, rather than one lazily pulled from the archives, and left to stand alone…. I can be nice, and diligent, when I want to be…. Of course, doing so only adds to my curmudgeonry when discussing the whole divinity scam, otherwise known as The Dogma Game….
In the above rant, in my attempts to make fun of the lack of logical structure which comprises, (or perhaps the word, infests, is better), the whole of the Christian credo, while not bad, fall short of hilarious…. I’m also aware that this current manifesto has assumed my pedantic, pontificating style, which is liable to put even me to sleep, should I insist on carrying it through to the arguments to follow…. or, that will presumably follow, once I get done deciding how to approach such a daunting task….
There, was that stiff and awkward enough for you? It was for me….. But, that’s okay, God won’t mind; from what I can tell, IF there is a God, even one remotely similar to the one the Christians, Muslims, et al envision in their holy writings, no matter what He/She/It wants to be called, I would guess His/Her/Its sense of humor would extend to include something like this essay will become, if it ever begins…. It (a divine sense of humor….), I would assume, by definition, would be infinite in scope, so, I’m pretty sure I’m covered….. If not, I should be….
Rather than bore y’all any further with all this, why don’t I find just the right pearl to close this off…. I’ll just leave you with this thought…. IF there is a GOD, and He is responsible for making us the way we are, then He MUST have a good sense of humor…. I mean, just LOOK at us! Ridiculously weak, physically fragile, and easily duped by our more aggressive, more unscrupulous peers; what was He thinking? Plus, we have noses, which grow red and make funny noises when squeezed…. If that isn’t funny, I’m a fire hydrant…. Not a funny fire hydrant, but, hey, what do you want from an inanimate object so early in the morning?….
And in your dreams you can see yourself
As a prophet saving the world
The words from your lips
I just can’t believe you are such
A fool.
— Frank Zappa, “Oh No”.
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Y’all are now fully aware of how strange it can get around here, so it won’t surprise you to hear that the Wise Old Pine Cone is still busy with his student, but has agreed to a photo session today…. It’s a good thing, too, as I’m starting to get a lot of fan mail on him; I’ve even received several proposals for him, from a number of traffic and ice cream cones…. Tomorrow, I promise, we’ll have more pix of him, and his handsome young paduan learner…. Who knows? Maybe I’ll devote an entire Pearl to the Old Cone’s world; we’ll see how today’s shoot comes off….
But, for now, I’m done, and a damn good thing, too, as I’m about to scream, and you don’t want to know why….. Suffice it to say, I’ll be back tomorrow, if I’m still able, and the internet doesn’t crash…. See y’all then…..
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.
Ffolkes,
A shooting star flashed across the night sky, carving its bright path, until fading out near the horizon. Heartened by this hopeful sign, four silent figures moved quietly down the hillside, mere shadows moving through the night. With hours yet to first light, the forest through which they padded slept, unaware of the passage of the silent, nearly invisible group. No night birds sang their warning, only deep silence accompanied the group as they moved between the trees. As they reached the edge of the vast savanna which lay east of the forest, the group split, two finding cover on the ground, and two climbing swiftly up two trees overlooking the path leading back into the forest from the plain. They settled down to wait…..
Hmm… I kind of wonder what they are waiting for, or who they intend to ambush. But my curiosity is not so strong as to get me any further into the story, so we’ll just leave the group there, waiting, and go on to more dignified, if not more lucrative, pastimes…. whatever those may be…..
All things considered, it was a close call, but I’ve made it to the end of the month, alive, and that is definitely worth celebrating, given the effort it took to do so without committing mayhem, or biting someone, hard….. I think I’ll treat myself to breakfast, once I’ve tortured the language enough to put together a Pearl… It may or may not turn out well, only time will tell, and yes I rhymed on purpose…. I can’t help it, I’m a sick man….
Shall we Pearl?…..
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“It’s wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” — Elrond
For those who don’t know, Elrond is the leader of the Elves of Rivendell, friend to Gandalf and hobbits, father of the elven beauty who becomes wife and queen of Aragon, King of Middle Earth. His age is unknown, but he remembers clearly the last time the Evil One, Sauron, made his bid for supremacy, thousands of years ago. How then, even if he is so wise, did he know how to best describe the state of American politics today?….. What he says above is what goes through my mind whenever I consider the possibility of Mitt the Twitt somehow being elected to the Presidency, as I make sure my rifle is clean and loaded, and my preparations complete for the upcoming target practice….
It’s kind of amusing actually. I have this image in my head, of how some true Americans might react if he is actually elected….. For example, when the Chief Justice tells the Twitt to put his hand on the Bible on Inauguration Day, 50 gunshots ring out, as the Marine color guards all open fire on the podium, with the first 50 rounds exploding Mitt’s head…. Then, when the confusion really starts, I’ll provide cover fire so the Marines can take off and get to their hiding spots, picked days before…..
I like either that scenario, or the other one, where, after the Marines put him down, the gathered crowd all surround the Marines, and pat them on the back, telling them , “good job.” Whereupon the Sergeant in charge of the squad salutes and says, “No problem, ma’am, we are sworn to protect the country from all enemies, foreign or domestic”….. The crown applauds, they break up, and the country gets back to the business of reform…. Hey, we all have our fantasies, yes?….
It is unfortunate that these kinds of fantasies are necessary these days, to keep my blood pressure under control. It tends to spike whenever I think about the disastrous results should the Twitt get into the White House…. Of course, he’d probably live in one of his own houses…. the White House would be a a bit of a come-down for him, rich as he is…. No car elevator, or room for a dancing horse…. I suppose the Conservatory could be converted to a stable, and the rose garden could be taken out and turned into pasture….
You know, of course, how they teach those horses to do that dancing they do, right? They smack the horse on their forelegs to teach them to lift them up, then progress to both legs in sequence, producing the dancing motion…. which is actually a reaction to the pain of having a metal bat strike the shin, causing a short shot of agony…. I might pick my foot up, too, right before I planted it forcefully on the trainer’s nose… Nice folks, these Romneys….
Now, in most election years, I might not worry so much about an idiot in the White House. But, two factors have prompted me to keep plugging away at this subject…. One, Mitt Romney has clearly shown that should he be President, the United States would be in serious trouble. Every one of his stated goals is contrary to what I believe is needed, not just for stability in our country, but contrary to what is needed to keep us in the 21st century. Second, there are more racist, ignorant, frightened people in this country, who have been hoodwinked by this man’s lies and manipulations into giving him their support, and on election day, their votes, than I would have thought possible. Millions of them. It’s hard to swallow, I know, but it is true, nonetheless.
This is all a pretty long winded way to remind y’all to register and vote this November. You can bet that Romney’s supporters will be; they need to be notified, in no uncertain terms, that they are a minority in this country, and the rest of us will not sit by and watch this fool destroy all the progress we’ve made in the last twenty-five years…. Hell, for that matter, the last hundred and fifty years, because if he has his way, we all will be following the rules of his religion, in which the rights of women are completely ignored…. Believe it!
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A Bronze Head
HERE at right of the entrance this bronze head,
Human, superhuman, a bird’s round eye,
Everything else withered and mummy-dead.
What great tomb-haunter sweeps the distant sky
(Something may linger there though all else die;)
And finds there nothing to make its terror less
{Hysterica passio} of its own emptiness?
No dark tomb-haunter once; her form all full
As though with magnanimity of light,
Yet a most gentle woman; who can tell
Which of her forms has shown her substance right?
Or maybe substance can be composite,
profound McTaggart thought so, and in a breath
A mouthful held the extreme of life and death.
But even at the starting-post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul. Propinquity had brought
Imagination to that pitch where it casts out
All that is not itself: I had grown wild
And wandered murmuring everywhere, ‘My child, my
child! ‘
Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall;
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave,
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.
William Butler Yeats
After writing the mini-rant above, I was in need of some poetry to smooth my ruffled feathers. What I got was this, which is not soothing, particularly, but is nonetheless perfectly and surprisingly apt…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did just now….
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“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people…” To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” — Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1791
I had intended to write here a sober, reasoned discussion of the above from my second favorite Founding Father (okay, George Mason is my fave….), but decided first to search a bit more to see if I could find something to accompany this, to lighten it up a bit…. this is what I found…..
“History records no more gallant struggle than that of humanity against the truth.” — Smart Bee
Now, while I might suggest that the word “epic” is more apt, ‘gallant” still gives it an adequate emotional index rating. With either word, it rather goes beyond the statement by T. J., into the deeper issue of basic truth. Personally, I don’t understand the issue that most of humanity seems to have regarding the truth…. I’m not afraid of it, even though it is painful more often than not. Unfortunately, much of the rest of mankind seems to not have that sort of reaction to the pain it often brings, and will go to incredible lengths to avoid having to experience that pain, even if it means putting up with another, lesser pain in the process….
You can see, of course, the immediate similarity between those folks who avoid pain, and those folks who vote conservative, or are supporting the accomplished liar, Mitt the Twitt….. Sometimes, many times, in fact, the stuff that is coming out of the mouths of Romney and his supporters is a dead giveaway, one that shows their stark, malignant fear, fear that is rooted in their racism and bigotry. Their worst nightmare came true in 2008, and a BLACK MAN (gasp!) was elected President….
Without ever considering, or even looking at, his record while in office, these ignorant throwbacks will go to ANY lengths to elect ANYONE else, even if that person is actively trying to harm them, as is the case with Romney…. They don’t care, he’s white, so they’ll be more comfortable with him in office…. or so they think…. Should it happen, it will be a rude awakening when he starts his campaign to get the rest of any money they have left, and cheerfully squashes any hope of a better life that they might have retained…..
In reality, this discussion does relate back to Tom’s statement re: the rights of the people vs. the rights of the government. We, the people, have not tried hard enough to maintain the rights we were given, and those rights continue to be eroded. More and more, government is seizing control of various aspects of our lives that formerly were our own issues to deal with. The rights in the Bill of Rights are now amended, and every amendment is another nail in the coffin of freedom….
So, here is the truth, and painful or not, it would be wise to pay attention…. like Jerry Garcia said, “Choosing between two evils is still choosing evil.” There are no heroes on the ballot. No matter which party is in office, they will continue their assault on the freedoms that Tom says are ours, not theirs. Go with what your reason tells you to do, and don’t be distracted by the lies. Put aside the fear, and the bigotry, and the cowardice. Only one of the two choices is making any effort toward transparency, and you don’t need me to point out which one. Nor would I be so rude as to suggest which you might choose; I just lay out the truth, and you pick….
The truth is Obama lies at times, for expediency, just like any politician. But, he also is genuinely invested in making reforms that will actually help the middle class, and as far as I can tell, has not overly abused his powers (there are anomalous blips on that radar screen, but another time for that….).
Romney lies all the time; time after time after time, it has been documented that he lies just about every time he opens his mouth in the public arena. In addition, he is unapologetic about the lies, and indifferent to any claims of his doing so; he lies again by denying his lies, even when they are laid out in front of him. He has made it abundantly clear that has no interest in making things better for anyone but his own core group of friends, the rich and powerful who occupy Wall Street offices, seats in Congress, and the religious right. The fact is, he is so out there, his own party is starting to get nervous….
These statements are truth. They can all be proven, if necessary, using documentation that is available to anyone in public archives. What you decide to do with that truth is up to you, as it always is…. What will you do with it?…..
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Hmm…. I guess I had some political angst built up in there, & needed to get it out. “Better out than in”, for sure…. Remember, ffolkes, the above is my stuff, and is not intended to mess with anybody else’s stuff…. Remember also what Albert said….
“I never thought that others would take them so much more seriously than I did.” — Albert Einstein, about his theories
I guess that will serve as an adequate disclaimer….. good enough for government work, anyway…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid 