Tag Archives: Emily Dickinson

Braided sable wigs stimulate abnormally well…

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Ffolkes,

I’m uncertain as to what possessed me to get up even earlier than usual today, but, here I am, at 0457, coffee already in hand, ready to sit down to assault another piece of paper…. No, that isn’t quite accurate, is it? We’re going to have to come up with a whole raft of new clichés to use, since very few of us are using paper anymore, until we are ready to print whatever we have written. It’s kind of sad, really, as I had a very close relationship with pen & paper, for many years. But, life goes on, and we must learn to adjust to whatever the future brings, even if we don’t always like the changes we see….

As I’ve proven already, I can blather with the best of ’em; I don’t think I even need to demonstrate my expertise, other than to point out any of the entries here for the last two-plus years. Just in case you don’t believe me, hang around a little while, you’ll see it again….. I could, of course, jump right into a rant, but, the last few days of that seems to have exhausted what I have to say, if only for the moment; I’m not currently feeling much outrage….. I have yet to look at the headlines this morning, which may explain that lack of curmudgeonly affection (or is it affliction?…. ah well, who knows, or cares?…..), but, for now, I’m clear of any intent to throw insults or epithets, deserved or not…..

What do I intend? Well, that’s classified….I have decided that it is a matter of national security, and needs to be protected from casual use or divulgence.  What? You object? So what? Object away, I don’t care…..  If the government can refuse to tell us something we believe we have the right to know, and justify it with a “classified” claim, then I can do the same….. I don’t care, any more than they do, if y’all don’t like it; you’ll just have to accept it, because, like the BRC, I’m not giving y’all any choice in the matter…..

The only difference is that I’m not elected, so that isn’t hanging over my head…. but, then, it doesn’t seem to bother them all that much, either, as they know that the fools who put them in office will buy the same old story every time, and put them BACK in office, no matter how many times they lie, or cheat, or even how many times they get caught lying or cheating… It actually drives me nuts, watching the American public keep re-electing the same dishonest assholes every time they vote….. The voting public is like sharks, with absolutely no recent memory at all to keep them from acting on impulse….

I note here that once again, I have begun to rant, before I even get started…. SIGH…. It’s a gift, I guess…. What the hell…. I think we had better get on with it, before things get wonkier than they already are….

Shall we Pearl?…
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“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.” — George Carlin

One can always count on George to cut straight to the heart of a matter. His particular genius gave him the vision to see society, and people, in such a way that he was able to express what the common man felt, fearlessly. No subject was verboten, and no public figure escaped his regard; his target was ignorance, and arrogance, and entitlement, and bigotry, and racism, and power-mongering, and every other human vice….If he saw it, no matter who displayed it, it became a target, irrespective of who might become the victim of his scorn…. You’ve gotta love a man who tells the truth, no matter what, especially when he makes it palatable through humor….

As I noted in the intro, sort of, I’m not up to ranting effectively today; the reason for this is not readily apparent, but, since I don’t really care, either, it’s all moot. Like it or not, I’m going old school again, shooting this time for a Carlinesque group of pearls, that will fill the bill in place of a well-deserved, but absent, rant from me…. Let’s see what SB can do for us, shall we?….

“Amazing how mad some people get when someone makes them think.” — Smart Bee

“You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem.” — Eldridge Cleaver, 1968

“You really have to be careful of politicians who have no further ambitions: they may run for the presidency.” — Harry S. Truman

” If you have a weak candidate and a weak platform, wrap yourself up in the American flag and talk about the Constitution.” — Matthew S. Quay

In the beginning, God created the Earth and he said, “Let there be mud.” And there was mud.
And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what we have done.”
And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man.
Mud-as-man alone could speak.
“What is the purpose of all this?” man asked politely.
“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God.
“Certainly,” said man.
“Then I leave it to you to think of one for all of this,” said God.
And He went away.

— Kurt Vonnegut, Between Time and Timbuktu”

“I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.” — Clarence Darrow

“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.” — Smart Bee

Okay, it’s a little choppy, but, it got to shore without sinking…. and, it’s all tax-free!…. Unless, of course, one allows it to tax their patience….
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When I’m feeling as I do today, which involves a lot of confusion, I always turn to a certain poetess…. which Shawna will just have to deal with….  🙂
A Dying Tiger — moaned for Drink —
I hunted all the Sand —
I caught the Dripping of a Rock
And bore it in my Hand —

His Mighty Balls — in death were thick —
But searching — I could see
A Vision on the Retina
Of Water — and of me —

‘Twas not my blame — who sped too slow —
‘Twas not his blame — who died
While I was reaching him —
But ’twas — the fact that He was dead —

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
____________________________

As it turns out, not ranting is a good thing, today…. I just spent a bit of time perusing the headlines for this morning, where I found the most controversial article to be one registering a complaint by Jack Klugman’s son, stating his belief that the Emmy’s award program was bad/evil, or at least misguided and shallow, for choosing to have a tribute to Cory Monteith (whoever he was…I mean, I know he was a young actor who committed suicide, but, that’s all I know of him…. He had no major films or TV shows, though he did have a few kudos; moreover, he had no Emmy awards in his lifetime…) rather than for his dad, (who won several Emmy’s over his 50 year career in TV and movies….). This is the story with the highest degree of emotional content that was posted today, as far as I could tell….

See what I mean, though, about NOT ranting?…. We are witnessing a singular dearth of heavy news, which, like not getting mail in envelopes with windows, is preferable to the alternative…. a front page full of controversy and danger for the world, in this case…. No matter, though, as we have a default position to which we can retreat, and suffer no loss of quality of life…. Well, no loss capable of measurement,  anyway…. Any who, all that aside, here is a random, harlequin pearl, picked by SB, with no parameters to speak of… It’s just the way it is, such as it is….

“Money is the god of our time.” — Heine (1797-1856)

“If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply, You are wrong. This method works every time.” — Henry C. Link

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” — Kin Hubbard

“In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” — Mark Twain

“Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.” — Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) — Don Quixote

“Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.” — Hippocrates (460-359 BC) — Aphorism i

“Although war is cruel and brutal, it is also dangerous and stupid.” — Yakko Warner

There are times, such as this, when I think I would do well to let ALL of the groups of pearls I post be picked by this method…. Every time I leave out the parameters, I end up with the finest pearls that can be found; they do shine, don’t they?…. Maybe I won’t commit suicide, as my sense of honor demands now and again….
____________________________

Don’t worry, ffolkes, nobody, myself included, really has a good grip on my sense of humor; I only know it’s there, and it saves me, daily, from the horrible alternative life I’d lead without it…. Let’s see what it’s been up to today….

Okay, well, somehow, it got done. As noted above, it’s choppy in places, but, hangs together over the course of time, so, it will do for now…. I’m using my newer, travel comp today, so it may take a while before it gets mailed to the email group (data needs to be transferred from one file to another, but, one is on my computer, and one is in the Internet Cloud, and I haven’t been able to figure out an easy way to do it… Later, I will do it the hard way, just to get it done, but, for now, it will be online, at my domain address, gigoid.me….)…

TMI, probably, but, hey, housekeeping must be done before the dust bunnies get too big for the vacuum…. See y’all mañana…..

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

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

Which is Why…

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

gigoid

dozer3

Wait! Don’t shoot, it’s Bob’s uncle!…..

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Ffolkes,

The life I lead now is much different from the one that I had back in the day, prior to the advent of the chronic pain with which I now live. For example, before the pain became a contributing factor, I could pretty much do anything, physically, that I wished to do. Sports, martial arts, camping, driving, cooking, virtually all of the activities I once pursued without a thought to how it might affect me are now proscribed, as being too painful to pursue.

Even activities such as walking are now limited to how long I can go without stimulating more pain, or becoming fatigued, which is the most common precursor to the upper realms of pain, otherwise known as pure agony, a state clearly distinguishable from any ecstasy, let me assure you….

I am not relating this to garner sympathy; thanks, but no thanks. I’ve had plenty of that, and would rather just get on with things, sans any more of it. No, I’m apologizing, in my own roundabout way, for my inability to sit and read the blogs I want to read, which I would very much LIKE to do….. I find, however, if I take that time to read, for more than just a few minutes, the pain takes over, and I have to get up and move around, or lie down until the spasms go away…. neither of which gets it done….. I have been hoarding the time I can spend at the computer for producing these Pearls each day; unfortunately, that is usually about the limit of what I can do, so, I end up posting, then having to shut down, or go do something else, because I am done with sitting comfortably….

Actually, sitting comfortably is what can be called a memory; there is no chair, and no position that can justify using that word, as it applies to sitting. It just doesn’t feel good after a couple of minutes, even with slight position changes every few seconds., and, unless some miracle happens to completely heal, or cure, the torn ligaments that are at the core of the issue, I can pretty much count on sitting comfortably again oh, say, in my next life, not in this one….

I’ve learned to be okay with that; I don’t piss and moan about it all the damn time, as I used to at first. I’ve accepted it as my lot, for having been so damn physically active when younger…. Yep, that’s right….. there is such a thing as being TOO active, according to my doctor…. Anyone who pursues a lifetime of sports or martial arts is TOO active, and, according to him, will pay a price in their later years for going too far when younger…. It’s not in the manual, but, it’s true, nonetheless….. and, if I am a typical case, then, he is right….

This is where the apology part comes in, to all of the bloggers I follow, and can seldom read…. It’s not as if I don’t want to read them, I just can’t sit long enough to get caught up to all of them I wish to get to…. I know there are a few ffolkes who make it by here every day, or nearly, and I really appreciate their custom…. Those who do come by often are also some of my favorite authors, so it burns my ass big time that I cannot get to their sites as often as I wish….. and, for this, I am sorry…. I keep hoping for a clear spell of pain-free time, but, since that hasn’t been fulfilled for over 8 years now, I won’t be holding my breath…. and neither should they…. I do hope they understand, though…

Now that I’ve bared my soul long enough to thoroughly embarrass myself, I’ll get on with today’s post, hoping I can last long enough to get some of it done before having to take a break from sitting…. I’ve been up 3 times already in composing this intro, so, it’s a bit dodgy today…. I’ll get it done, but, won’t be a happy camper for a while…. C’est la vie, reader-san!

Shall we Pearl?…..

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

~~ Emily Dickinson
_____________________________

Obviously, ranting is out of the question when my back is like this; can’t sit long enough to get the outrage out onto the screen. But, Smart Bee has been pretty cooperative of late, so, we’ll let it pick out some nice pearls for your consideration…. We’ll make it a random, harlequin style pearl, with no set parameters, and see what happens….. Good luck, and don’t forget your lobster bibs….

I see my life go drifting like a river
From change to change; I have been many things –
A green drop in the surge, a gleam of light
Upon a sword, a fir tree on a hill,
An old slave grinding at a heavy quern,
A king sitting upon a chair of gold –
And all these things were wonderful and great;
But now I have grown nothing, knowing all.
Ah! Druid, Druid, how great webs of sorrow
Lay hidden in that small slate-coloured thing!

— William Butler Yeats, “Fergus and the Druid”

“All things are the same,–familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 14

“Half the work that is done in the world is to make things appear what they are not.” — E. R. Beadle

“Rights” is a fictional abstraction. No one has “Rights”, neither machines nor flesh-and-blood. Persons… have opportunities, not rights, which they use or do not use.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

Warning: Politicians can damage your wealth. — Smart Bee

The thief
Left it behind —
The moon at the window.

— Ryokan

“At this precise moment, no reproach proceeding from men or gods can affect me: I have as good a conscience as if I had never existed.” — E.M. Cioran

“The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance called “faith”.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“As God is my witness – I am that fool!” — Gomez Addams

Wow…. a nine-star pearl! I’ve never made one of those before, but,  I think it came out pretty well, especially for the harlequin style…. I hope you enjoy consuming it as much as I did producing it…..
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So far today, we’ve had Yeats, we’ve had Dickinson, we’ve had Ryokan …. it must be time for someone equally spirited….

The Loser

Mama said I’d lose my head
if it wasn’t fastened on.
Today I guess it wasn’t
’cause while playing with my cousin
it fell off and rolled away
and now it’s gone.

And I can’t look for it
’cause my eyes are in it,
and I can’t call to it
’cause my mouth is on it
(couldn’t hear me anyway
’cause my ears are on it),
can’t even think about it
’cause my brain is in it.
So I guess I’ll sit down
on this rock
and rest for just a minute…

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

from the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1974)

_____________________________

I’ve just taken a quick look at the news, and nothing outraged me enough to start a rant…. thankfully, as I’m currently not in the condition to do that without more sacrifice than I’m willing to endure…. This means y’all are the winners again today, as I’ll be going with another old-school pearl, which, though less straightforward in their approach to cognitive stimulation and/or attempted thought manipulation than are rants, they are patently less pompous by a factor of infinity; moreover, they’re guaranteed to provide fewer instances of mental heartburn…. In fact, a good group of pearls will actually cure baldness in adult males, given the right amount of faith…. or, so I’m told….

“You don’t fool me!! You’re not really an idiot!!” — Smart Bee

“The improver of knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the one unpardonable sin.” — Thomas Huxley (1825-1895)

“I’ll tell you what kind of guy I was.   If you ordered a boxcar full of sons-of-bitches and opened the door and only found me inside, you could consider the order filled.” — Robert Mitchum
(My hero!…. It has always been one of my life’s goals, to achieve this degree of “badass”….)

“I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Suppliants, 453

“After a while he realizes that she is beautiful – he just hadn’t noticed it at first.” — Lazarus Long

MAD, adj.  Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual.  It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that themselves are sane.  For illustration, this present (and illustrious) lexicographer is no firmer in the faith of his own sanity than is any inmate of any madhouse in the land; yet for aught he knows to the contrary, instead of the lofty occupation that seems to him to be engaging his powers he may really be beating his hands against the window bars of an asylum and declaring himself Noah Webster, to the innocent delight of many thoughtless spectators.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.  Half never voted for President.  One hopes it is the same half.” — Gore Vidal

Some days, SB is just better than others…..
_____________________________

I do believe I’ve done it, Olly!  It’s another fine mess, just rarin’ to get read….. well, ready to be read, anyway. Let’s see how that goes….

Well, it’s definitely a Pearl, and, until someone disabuses me of the notion, I’m going to consider it to be a relatively good one…. I like it, anyway, so that’s something…. Y’all can make your own decision on that…. See ya…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Dwelling now in the fields of Endymion…..

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Ffolkes,

I may stop looking at the statistics for my blog altogether, after the lesson I was taught yesterday….. Two days ago, I wrote a very short Pearl, to say I was taking the day off, essentially. After weeks of seeing only 4to 6 people visit the blog, and only a few Likes, the short blurb garnered 11 Likes in the first 12 hours. I was astounded at that outburst of visitors, but, even more astounded yesterday….. I wrote what I thought to be an excellent Pearl, with a rant and everything…. I just now looked at it, and ONE person has seen it…. ONE. LMAO ROFL!…. as they say in the text world…. One regular reader came by and left their mark, and that was it… total = 1. I suppose this could also be expressed as a box score, to wit: Universe 1 – gigoid 0……

Hilarious! It just goes to show I made the right decision when I stopped paying a lot of attention to the Likes that are garnered each day. I know that what I write here is a lot to take in, both from a quantity standpoint, and because there is some rather pointed, opinionated material discussed, at great and wearisome length. I know also that some of my regulars only come by every few days, and read several day’s worth at once, to catch up, as it were… That’s all well and good, but, it’s a good thing that I write for sanity rather than money, or fame, because those two characters are fickle, and hard to pin down for long…. or, so I’m told, not having a lot of experience with either one, either over time, or in great quantity.

That will teach me to even think about who is reading this stuff; it has never been the driving force behind what I write, though I’ve always paid attention to the stats. The motivation for all this remains in the realm of my angst and tendency toward a loose hold on reality, and won’t be changing soon. Now, though, this process should be even less of a bother for me, because I won’t be thinking about the number of visitors at all, and thus won’t be distracting myself from the material at hand for discussion. Whoopee….

I know, boring, eh? Well, some days, y’all just have to put up with my meandering blather…. oh, wait…. That happens every day, doesn’t it? Well, so be it. It’s my blog, and that’s the way it is, so, nyah, nyah, nyah….. Sorry, sometimes the inner child comes out in its obnoxious brat uniform…. Noting that did serve to alert me to the fact that I’ve reached a minimum legal limit for an intro, and can get out of this mess, should I so choose…. which, given the bilge that is so far populating these pages, is probably a good idea….. So, we will now get on with the regular business of the day, or, if that isn’t possible, a reasonable facsimile thereof will be provided…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“The world is a dangerous place to live — not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” — Albert Einstein
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Oh that those lips had language! Life has pass’d
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.

— William Cowper (1731-1800)

This section is dedicated today to my  high school classmate, and friend, Carole Anne Heaton Olivero, who passed out of this plane of existence last night in Texas, after a more-than-a-year-long battle with cancer. I could say a lot of things about her passing, and will, at some point, but, for now, let it suffice to say that the world has lost a bright spirit, one whose like will never be seen again. Carole lived a life filled with laughter, and love, and infused her happy spirit into everyone she met over the course of her life. She will be missed, and remembered with fondness by all who knew her…. She was my friend, and I loved her….

Her track, where’er the goddess roves,
Glory pursue, and gen’rous shame,
Th’ unconquerable mind,

— Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

Ah, the souls of those that die
Are but sunbeams lifted higher.

— Longfellow (1819-1892)
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I don’t think I need to explain this one, given my state of mind today…. All I can say is, thank goodness for Emily….

I died for beauty but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,–the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
 
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Time constraints have worked to limit the time I have today to write, so, this final section will be an old-school pearl, because they take less time to put together, as long as Smart Bee is cooperating. The point of this one is to paint a picture of politics, as we practice it here in America in the twenty-first century…..

“Most people seem to think that trampling individual rights is OK if it is “for the good of society as a whole.”  However, society is but a large number of individuals, and how can harming the individual parts better the whole?” — Andrew Ford

“For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 265

“Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle.” — Smart Bee

“I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie.  I can lie, but I won’t.” — Mark Twain

“Be careful what you vote for. You may get it.” — Smart Bee

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the Legislature is in session.” — Lysander Spooner

“What is left when honour is lost?” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265
_____________________________

“I refuse to be intimidated by reality anymore.  What is reality? Nothing but a collective hunch.” — Lily Tomlin

Ain’t that the truth? I’m not sure just how this one will look, but, it won’t matter, because it’s done, and that’s the way it will stay. Not too shabby, all in all, and well worth the money you will pay to read it. As for me, I’m done, and, I’m outta here….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Piles and piles of possum pops….

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Ffolkes,

This getting old stuff is bull… which is a polite way of showing defiance to Father Time for the crap he puts us through, as we get past the age where our bodies will do anything, into the age where we will do anything to NOT have to do anything. I’m discovering all the disadvantages that losing physical acumen presents, as I continue to try to act as if I were still 25 years old, and indestructible. SIGH….

But, I’m getting a little better at recognizing the limitations I now face, most of the time. Events like this move into a new place are the learning curves, as I find out more of the limits to what I can now do. I thought ahead somewhat, and thus, hired movers, but, SOMEBODY had to unpack the stuff, as I’m not affluent enough to have them stay the extra hours to do so. The activities involved in that aren’t beyond my capabilities, if I’m careful not to twist or bend wrong, but, I pay a heavy price for a couple of days, including poor sleep, extra pain, fatigue, and exhaustion. The price is not unbearable, but, isn’t one I care to pay too often….

Okay, since I’m out of snacks, or other appropriate foods to go with this whine, I’ll quit now, and get on with the rest of this Pearl. I’m going to try a new intro today, sort of…. This will be it; the sum total, the whole banana, the whole ball of wax…. No meandering (beyond what has already taken place….), no fiction, no rant, just a few paragraphs, where I will gently urge y’all toward the roof’s edge, to best enjoy the view. Once everyone is in place, I’ll fire off the siren, and cause everyone to fall over the roof’s edge…. Fun, eh?

Shall we Pearl?….

Oh, yeah, that was the siren…

“To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan
_____________________________

“Americans have different ways of saying things.  They say `elevator’, we say `lift’…they say `President’, we say `stupid psychopathic git’….” — Alexi Sayle

Have you ever noticed the code that politicians use when they lie to us? There are key phrases one hears all the time that, to me, are a dead giveaway that the speaker is NOT showing complete candor, and, in fact, is probably either making it up, or claiming the complete opposite of what is actually true…. “allegedly”, “have evidence of”, “reports say”,  all are phrases that are generally connected to an untruth.

They use these phrases and arguments a lot, when they are trying to fan the flames of fear amongst the populace. In this case, in Syria, our leaders want us to vilify and express our hatred for a leader who uses weapons on his own people (completely ignoring, or denying, the use of drones in America to spy on the public…. There  is documented proof of this, but they still deny it) …. Any who, I’m not up to a rant today; instead I will present two articles from the news, which give some of the latest reports, as of Monday the 2nd of September. Note the phrases in each that tell us we are being lied to, and you’ll see what I mean….

“now has evidence that the toxic gas allegedly used in strikes ”

“Neither the U.S. nor the Syrian regime, which blames rebels for the attacks, has publicly presented proof.”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Kerry-says-case-for-US-attack-on-Syria-building-4779017.php

“new physical evidence shows the Syrian government used sarin gas”

“With its credibility on the line, the United States must respond, the country’s top diplomat said.”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Kerry-US-has-evidence-sarin-gas-was-used-in-Syria-4779327.php

So, let me get this straight…. Because the POTUS made a statement that we would respond a certain way (a completely unproductive, misguided way, let me add…. “Gee, he’s a bad guy, using gas and bombs on his own people… let’s go drop some bombs on the citizenry that he’s already been gassing, and that will make them love us, and want to hear what we have to say” …), then, we HAVE to respond that way, or our “credibility” will suffer? Well, it isn’t the WORST excuse I’ve heard, but, it’s very close to what they said about Saddam Hussein, before heading off to Iraq to play with all the new techno-toys, and get rid of the bad guy…. Y’all remember how well THAT turned out, right?….

Enough for now…. this situation could conceivably lead the entire world into war again, and the BRC continues to act as if it is invulnerable, and that we have the right, or obligation, to police the entire world, whether or not they want our help. It would make more sense to me to hold back a bit, because they already hate us, and giving them more reasons to do so is NOT going to improve the situation…. Whether or not this asshole is killing his own people is NOT necessarily our business, and even if we make it so, it doesn’t give us a valid reason to start bombing them, either indiscriminately, or, with precision…

‘Nuff said, for now….

“My father was a minister. I had to make up for the lack of sin.” — Milwaukee mayor, on why he became a politician
_____________________________

I’m tired, and up late, so, Emily it is…. Here is one of her best, which I find to be good advice for our present administration….

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

I had intended to put an old-school pearl here, but, I found this old rant, first posted in late 2012, on a subject which I have tried to bring some awareness to my readers… It is a hard subject, but one that NEEDS to be made even more public, until the issue is eliminated altogether…. Please read, and do what you can to spread the knowledge around….

Miss, n.: A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

While this quote is intended to be funny, it actually perpetuates the discriminatory,  proprietary labeling of women in our society, exactly the way this says it does. By using such terms, we “brand” women according to their eligibility to be possessed by a man, to serve as his property, and think nothing of it. Indeed, a person is considered polite and well-mannered when he or she uses these societal forms of address, never even considering the implications of what they are saying.

Men are either Mister, or, as boys, Master. That’s pretty indicative of the mind-set that using these terms puts the speaker in; men are assumed superior, merely for being male. Women are either Miss, Mistress, or Missus (Mrs., probably a shortened form of Master’s Mistress… or some such….. ), automatically placing them in the subordinate position to the males.

In the last part of the 20th century, society began to use the term Ms., pronounce mizz, to indicate a woman not married, and not to be automatically considered as a candidate for marriage, in an attempt to mitigate somewhat the restrictive mental attitudes that accompany such terminology, and it has had a fairly positive effect, though in no way complete or enough.

This small change is merely one step in the direction society needs to go, and the journey is not a short one; these attitudes have been part of society for thousands of years. It will take a concerted, sustained effort to change the way people think, even partially. But none of us, men or women, can consider ourselves truly free , free to be, and free to become who we CAN be…. which makes the effort the only rational choice…..

All of this does not even touch upon how these attitudes open the way for the trafficking in human beings that continues to take place all over the world. Because of the assumed male superiority, it becomes a very short step to assuming that men may do whatever they please with women. This includes the rape and abduction of young girls and women, taking them to far away cities where they are forced to work as sex slaves by unprincipled men, who hide behind the laws that protect them; laws also written by men.

This has been going on for centuries, and continues right here in this supposedly advanced country. The public does not pay any attention to the sex trade, as long as it isn’t right in their faces; the unscrupulous, misogynistic men, and women, who run these businesses talk of “victimless crimes” as if the women involved were willing participants, while in reality, most of the women are trapped there by abusive, terrorist men who rape them repeatedly until their will to live is gone, thus making them pliable and docile.

These men, and the women who sometimes join them in their depredations, are sick, disgusting scum, and society needs to excise them from the tree of life. To my way of thinking, a long, drawn out period of torture and pain before death is what they deserve, but I am willing to settle just for death. This trade in sex and the slavery that supports it are a scourge upon society, and should be dealt with just as if it were any other type of threat against the species, with swift and complete justice, and no mercy…..

Free our sisters, free ourselves….
_____________________________

I’m very late now, with way too much to do, so, this closing will be another cliff-hanger…. See?… We’re done, bye bye….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Safely ensconced in a new/old cave…..

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Ffolkes,

No worries today, not about the intro…. Yesterday, I moved into a house with my lady Patricia…. Only a few blocks away, but, everything had to go, so, we went… Today, I’m exhausted, still, even though I spent the day watching other people do all the lifting and packing; supervision is harder than it looks, especially when you’re paying for it all.

Ultimately, it got done, in relative jig time, as the actual move was finished in 5 hours, total ( IMNSHO, it’s definitely worth the money to hire professionals; they packed two apartments, and moved all of it, in four hours flat, actually, the rest was set-up and breakdown, and paperwork….). Any who, all things said and done, it’s done, but, counting the cable guy who didn’t come until 1800, it took all day, beginning at 0600, and I ended up standing around a LOT…. hence, exhaustion…

But, no extra pain, so all is well; fatigue will pass over time, as I rest, my only effort being to putter around putting stuff away, or figuring out where to put stuff, or, maybe, moving it to the storage space we now have in the garage…. However, it also means this Pearl will have to come from the archives, as I just don’t have the wherewithal to create a fresh one… C’est la vie, mon amis… At least the internet isn’t an issue this time… the cable guy came late, but stayed until it all worked properly, so, we’re good to go in that respect. Gotta love technology…

I hope y’all enjoy whatever I find for reading today… I’ll be back tomorrow, with some stuff I want to say about the situation that is developing again in the Middle East, with Syria’s civil war…. What a clusterfuck that is turning out to be…  Tomorrow…. for now, here are some pearls pulled from various points in the past two years….

“I wish I was on a Cincinnati street corner holding a clean dog!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

The Pearl of Virtual Wisdom posted on 9/27/11:

Ffolkes,

Morgan Templeton watched with some small pleasure, as the sun rose majestically above the western hills, ablaze with the promise of the new day. As the light spread, he pushed away from the tree against which he leaned, and strode purposefully down to his waiting horse. Swinging lightly into the saddle, he urged the horse into a canter, away from the rising sun, toward the towering trees of the forest that lay across the horizon to the west.

Slowing the horse to a walk as he entered the trees, Morgan passed within the vale, following a slight path that wound through oak, madrone, the occasional pine or fir, meandering ever further into the woods. His eyes never stopped moving, side to side, up and down, back again. He knew it was relatively safe in this part of the forest, but long years of living in danger had taught him never to lose track of his surroundings, lest death try to become too familiar. Safety lay in remaining alert; Morgan had good reason to stay alive, very good reason indeed.

So, I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he says to me, “I just got a new computer for my wife.” I told him, “good trade, dude.” A little humor is always a good way to start the day, don’t you think? I know it always helps me to approach the day with a lighter heart.

What’s that? What happened to Morgan in the forest? Hell, your guess is as good as mine; I just write the damn stuff, I don’t pay any attention to it beyond the spell check. It got me this far, didn’t it? Some days that kind of drivel just leaps onto the screen; some days it leads somewhere, some days not so much. So today was a not so much. Remember what you are paying for this, and be content….it’s worth every penny…..

“In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.” — Yun-Men

‘You govern a kingdom by normal rules;
You fight a war by exceptional moves;
But you win the world by letting alone,
How do I know that this is so?
By what is within me!
The more taboo and inhibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons the people posses,
The greater confusion reigns in the realm.
The more clever and crafty the men,
The oftener strange things happen.
The more articulate the laws and ordinances,
The more robbers and thieves arise.’
— Tao Teh Ching #57, Lao Tzu

Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. — Hasidic saying

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry;
And, born in bed, in bed we die.
The near approach a bed may show
Of human bliss to human woe.

— Isaac de Benserade (1612-1691)

“I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep.  Mom said, “Steven, time to  go to sleep.”  I said, “But I don’t know how.”  She said, “It’s real easy.  Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left.”  So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I hung a right.  My mother was there, and she said “I thought I told you to go to sleep.” — Steven Wright

I love this one…”above all, don’t wobble.” Priceless! Perfect advice for leading the good life; don’t wobble. Good stuff…..y’all take care out there…..
_____________________________

This isn’t from an old pearl, though it has been used in one, at one time or another… It is, however, from the person whose poems I turn to whenever I am feeling…. different….

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d advertise — you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one’s name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

The Pearl of Virtual Wisdom posted on 8/28/11:

Ffolkes,

So many things going around and around in my mind, nothing wants to settle…..it occurred to me this morning that today will be the first day in over 33 years that I have lived alone. For 23 years, up until 2002, I was married and raising our kids; we spent a few days here and there not in each other’s company, but for the most part, we were together, or I was with the kids.

After my wife and I parted ways, and the kids all grown, Noah, my old Aussie heeler mix, stayed with me, and until yesterday, was my constant and faithful companion and friend; dogs never change their minds when they have chosen their object of affection.  This, then, will be a relatively new situation, one that will, I think, require some rather sweeping adjustments on my part. I have no regrets in my life, other than those natural when love chooses not to stay, yet I cannot help but wonder how different life would be had things gone otherwise than they have done.

Well, such is life; we have no choice but to take it as it comes, and do our best to live with dignity and honor. So far, I have managed to live with honor; dignity has been harder to maintain at times, in the face of the harsh light of reality. All I can really say for sure at this point is, I still live. And as long as there is life, there is hope……(thank you Edgar Rice Burroughs)……This morning’s selections were chosen with ‘mind on hold’, but in retrospect, that was probably for the best…….

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” — Simone de Beauvoir

We are not victims of the world we see, but of the way we see the world.

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

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992 (In today’s world, “often” can be changed to “virtually always”….)

“These PRESERVES should be FORCE-FED to PENTAGON OFFICIALS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.

— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

I guess all I can say at this point is, it’s all a wash. Not a do-over, but at least a start-over. Life, that is, not the Pearl…. Step by step, walking the path toward the future, eyes ahead and eager for new sights, new sounds. If I wasn’t so bummed, I’d be excited; I suppose that in itself could be considered a small life lesson. Sweet and bitter are two sides of the same bagel, and we all would do well to keep that firmly in mind as we find our way down that long road upon which we have set our feet……y’all take care out there…..
_____________________________

Okay, for a throw-together Pearl, it looks pretty good…. It went fast, anyway, and that was key for today…. As in the intro section, I’ll try to keep from getting crazy, and surprise everyone by just ending it….. here.

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Happy, carefree moments in subliminal advertising….

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Ffolkes,

Lovely, simply lovely…. It’s always a joy to find myself in the throes of an emotional storm first thing upon arising, but, I’ll tell ya, it’s a joy I could do without, for, oh, say, the rest of my life….. I should know better than to do battle with an HMO bureaucracy before I’ve consumed at least two cups of coffee, but, nooooo, I had to call Kaiser right off this morning, to find out a piece of information about a medication I ordered…..

Little did I know when I dialed the number for the automatic system that I’d be getting into a fifteen minute quest to find a human voice…. Murphy must have been grinning maniacally, dancing in place and rubbing his hands together in glee, to see me trying to find a person to talk to so early in the day, on a system where the most you can hope for is to get out without more psychiatric damage….. SIGH….

Today’s Pearl may end up somewhat abbreviated, and, possibly, more than just a little strange, for a number of reasons, which I refuse to relate, they being none of your business…. No, honest, I didn’t mean that; just fooling around. But, it will be a bit less copious than usual, as my sleep seems to have become erratic again; I was up very late, getting up quite late as a consequence, and I just can’t seem to pull my head together enough to get going here…. It might surprise you to know that getting this far into today’s post, a mere one and a half paragraphs, has taken me over 50 minutes, of struggle and confusion, as I try to cudgel my brain into doing what I tell it to do…

Of course, I could go off into a discussion of why I think it’s necessary to post at all…. I mean, my sanity is intact, (technically), and the need for this kind of blather has become less critical in order for me to stay in a state of relative normality, or, as close to that state as I ever get….. This is giving me some minor motivational fits, as I try to talk myself into the mind-set needed to compose Pearls, which, though not far away, is rather subtle and complex, and doesn’t lend itself to “simple”, or “easy” in regards to ANYTHING to do with writing, or thinking…. I’m not sure, exactly, where this mind-set resides inside me, nor do I always know the right way to get it moving when I find it…. Today is a perfect example of that…..

I’m wandering around the intro section, saying absolutely nothing that has any real meaning, or relevance, for anyone but myself, and trying to make it look as if I am a writer, performing the actions that make up the process of writing…. How am I doin’? No? I didn’t think so…. Well, regardless of how it’s turning out, it’s how it’s going to be today, so, we’ll all just have to learn to deal with it, n’est pas? Oui….

Oh, and not only abbreviated (well, sort of….), but, probably, also pulled from the archives…. I’m not up to ranting, obviously, and I’m not sure if I can even get a normal, old-school pearl done….. we’ll see, I guess. But, if it doesn’t go well, I’m going straight to the archives, because I don’t have any patience at all today….

Any who, just wanted to let y’all know how it is today, and give you an opportunity to either bail, or buckle up…. Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep us out of any of the places where our survival becomes a question, at least for the first half of the trip…. Once the poem is in there, though, you’ll have to take your chances with the rest of us, because, by then, we’ll have gone too far to turn back….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Normal is boring.” — Fido Dido
_____________________________

Okay, so, not surprisingly, I was wrong…. It didn’t take long at all to put together an old-school pearl, so, that’s what you get…. The primary focus of this one should be pretty obvious, and if not, well, join the ranks of those about whom the pearl speaks…. This one is pretty straightforward, ffolkes…. don’t over think it, or it just slips away…. like trying to squeeze a fistful of sand…. And, yes, bracketing the five main pearls with two from Lazarus WAS intentional, and, yes, you can take that however you like….

“All men are created unequal.” — Lazarus Long

But evil is wrought by want of thought,
As well as want of heart.

— Thomas Hood (1798-1845) — The Lady’s Dream

“After enlightenment, do the laundry.” — Zen proverb

“Every man I meet is in some way my superior.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle, and who justly in return
Esteems that busy world an idler too!

— William Cowper (1731-1800) — The Task, Book iii, The Garden, Line 352

“Baby, after considerable thought I’ve reached the conclusion that the only conceivable legitimate answer to the Universe as constituted is a peal of hysterical laughter.” — Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long
_____________________________

When I’m in a mood such as this one, only one poet will do for me….

I felt a funeral in my brain,
   And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
   That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
   A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
   My mind was going numb

And then I heard them lift a box,
   And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
   Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
   And being, but an ear,
And I and Silence some strange Race
   Wrecked, solitary, here.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

Hard as it may be to believe, my mood is deteriorating, rapidly, and I can see that soon I’ll be unfit for human interaction…. So, in the interests of getting done, here is an old rant on gun control issues, just for fun…. The fact I can use the word ‘fun’ in the same sentence as the words ‘gun control’ goes to show just how far down in the dumps my mood has sunk….

“Gun control is not about guns. It is about control.” — Smart Bee

You had to know I couldn’t let this one go….. Yesterday, the POTUS signed several “Executive Orders” regarding the subject of gun control, addressing the issues that much of the American public is focused on directed to be focused on, by the BRC and the media….. Putting aside for the moment the issue of gun control itself, I wish to make it clear that the “Executive Orders” that were used to create the new regulations are a clear and obvious circumvention of the Constitution, and a direct attempt to bypass the checks and balances that our three-pronged government is supposed to be subject to thereby. It seems to be escaping everyone’s notice that the Executive Branch of the government is now MAKING LAWS, not just enforcing them.

The whole system that has grown up around the concept of Executive Orders is, as far as I can see, completely illegal, according to Constitutional law. The President does NOT have the right to make laws, no matter how much urgency is seen to be present, or how much expediency is needed to address a situation. Congress is the body that is supposed to make laws, and the enforcement of those laws is the responsibility of the Executive Branch, with the oversight of both to be accomplished by the Federal Courts….

That is the way it was designed, and that is the way it has worked, to protect our rights as citizens for over 200 years….Now, because of public fear, due mostly to the media frenzy at the behest of the BRC, and the manipulative dishonesty of the corporate masters of that same BRC, the rights we have enjoyed as Americans are now just about all gone.

The assholes who run this country, the corporate masters who pull all the strings from behind the curtains, have successfully created a climate of fear amongst the general populace, and have neatly manipulated events so that it is the public itself clamoring for protection….. from itself. The media have so effectively spread the fear and horror, that the people on the streets are actually asking to have their rights curtailed, “for the good of society”…… What a load of bilge!

I am amazed at times at how naive people can be. The world is a dangerous place, and always has been, as human nature is anything but civilized. Yet people expect the government to be able to eliminate all danger from the public venue. They expect there to never be people who go crazy, and start shooting at everything they see, or attacking their delusional enemies. They expect there to never be an instance where police shoot unarmed citizens, just because they can. They actually expect members of the Beloved Ruling Class to have concern for what is important to them, instead of blithely pursuing their own agendas….. Such naivete is sadly all too common, and is the reason the rest of us will be forced to go along with the repressive regulations that are surely coming….

Yesterday, in discussing the gun control issue with a neighbor, it became clear just how naive, and unwilling to think, the general populace is…. This person is, I’d say, a pretty average citizen, perhaps less educated than some, but with more innate intelligence than many I know of. She actually said “yes” when I asked her if she trusted the police to be more ethical than the average citizen….

When I pointed out the multitude of incidents that occur every day that show police officers to be much less moral than the average joe, she acknowledged the point, but still would not voice mistrust of the police over the citizenry. She actually believes that policemen and women are more capable of carrying a gun, and not using it unethically, than are average folks…. A very, very foolish assumption, to my way of thinking, based on faith, not facts…..

So, what we have now is a dual issue…

First, the government wants to limit the citizenry’s access to certain types of guns, a direct abrogation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. (Read it…. it says the right to bear arms will “not be abridged.” Period.)

Second, the executive branch of government is being allowed to make law, another direct abrogation of the Constitution, which assigns that function to Congress. If nothing else, these two subjects are going to provide the impetus for a shit-load of public discussion, for sure (Well, I can hope… I guess that’s my own form of naivete)….

The trickiest part of all this is to be able to winnow out the wheat from the chaff, for there will be a LOT of chaff thrown up, much of it by the BRC, as they do all they can to obfuscate the issues, and hide their own manipulative interactions.

You will, I’m sure, see and hear more on this, both here on this blog, and out there in the Big Blue Room. I’m not done ranting on either of these issues, you can count on that. For the moment, I’m going to go search out some pearls to use in the discussions, and leave you to chew on what I’ve already brought up. Don’t worry, I’ll be back, to chew on these bones some more…..

“I have the power to HALT PRODUCTION on all TEENAGE SEX COMEDIES!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

Well, so I was wrong about the length, too… oh, well. Breaks my heart, it does, to be wrong, but, in this case, it works out okay, so, I’ll try not to let it ruin the day…  🙂   

Actually, given my state of mind and body when beginning this morning, this came out pretty well. I’m pretty sure nobody will suggest waking up the Pulitzer Committee to let them know it’s done, but, it makes me feel good to have gotten this far without any major blood loss, which is just as good, right? Right…. Before I say something I’ll regret, I’ll bid the adieu, until tomorrow…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Did that demon just ovulate?….

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Ffolkes,

For over two years now, every day, I’ve arisen early to write this blog, missing only a handful of days, due to either physical issues, or technical glitches of some kind. The routine I’ve developed in that time works for me, in that I’ve so far been able to keep up the creative process, such as it is, to a level that filled up my Pearls to the brim every day, and sometimes, overfilling it until it spilled out all over the carpet, or your shoes….. Messy, but, effective…. I’m not going to be presumptuously silly, and claim to have written the world’s greatest novel, or even the world’s greatest blog, but, it has fulfilled the purpose for which I intended it, which was to maintain a certain degree of sanity in the face of changes in my life that were overwhelming me, coming as they did as a surprise, which, in itself, is no surprise….

Now, two and a half years later, I find myself in the morning, ready to write, but with the purpose for which I write becoming diluted. Much of that which I fought to overcome, has been overcome; I’m no longer in danger of living the rest of my life in pain and poverty, as it looked like for a while I would. I’m no longer completely alone, having found a partner who is good for my head, and for my heart, and for whom I can be a rock in their universe, when needed. My physical condition, while slowly deteriorating, is under control, and merely serves to challenge me to find new ways to perform old tricks, something us old dogs are good at, despite anecdotal and cultural wisdom to the contrary…..

What this means is that my motivation to write is blunted. I am not building up angst as rapidly, nor am I as concerned over the shenanigans of our beloved leaders, as I’m almost to the point where their idiocy no longer affects me directly. As long as they don’t mess with my retirement structure, they’re safe from my overt hostility, so I’ve reached the point of “don’t fuck with me and I won’t fuck with you…” with them, and we’re both content with that, for the time being. Without the angst, ranting is difficult; there are plenty and more subjects to rant about, as is evident every day in the news, but, the outrage isn’t as strong as it has been in the past, and bringing myself to the level of anger and outrage necessary to do the job correctly is getting harder as time goes on….

I can still use old-school pearls, but, I’m sure that most folks find them a bit obscure, as they do make one think more than most folks are accustomed to doing. Of course, the thinking required is easily done, if one learns how to disengage belief, and follow thoughts without the drag of that chain on our imagination, but, that is a technique not commonly held, so the effectiveness of old-school pearls is reduced thereby. The poetry, of course, never gets old, to me, and I don’t care what others think about that; it stays, no matter what…..

I’m not sure where I’m going with this lament, or discussion, or clusterfuck, whichever it may be. It’s actually all just another exercise in writing without cause or purpose, meandering through the fields of English to put together words in such a way that the Pearls can begin, with dignity, or with fanfare, or with nothing at all but your kind attention. In other words, another intro section filled with NOTHING, other than some self-styled prose, some dubious assertions, and a shit-load of nonsense, otherwise known as just plain crap. The discussion itself is one that really HAS no ending point; it’s a pretty moot point, anyway, because I will write, come what may….

But, it got us this far, which makes it legal, if not compelling literature; I’m not sure if that is even possible, at this point. I’m not going to worry about it now, though, as it is getting late (it’s already after 0700), and I do have other stuff to do today. Instead, I’ll do what I do every morning, and just drop this where it is, mucking up the landscape, but, getting us down the road….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A wide-eyed, innocent UNICORN, poised delicately in a MEADOW filled with LILACS, LOLLIPOPS & small CHILDREN at the HUSH of twilight??” — Zippy the Pinhead

Yes…. yes, it is…..
_____________________________

On Monday, 8/12/13, Elon Musk, the young genius behind Tesla Motors and the SpaceX commercial space flight company, revealed his response to the need for high speed transportation from city to city, such as SF to LA. He developed his idea when he saw the proposed cost of the current high speed rail system under production by the state of California, of over 60 billion dollars. He felt he could come up with a design for much less cost, that would serve the same purpose, and at much higher speeds…. Once again, he has presented the world with an idea that is cheap, practical, and would work like a charm, using standard technologies we already possess…. A full description of his idea can be found at the provided link, which is his complete proposal……

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf

Of course, the critics are already pooh-poohing the idea, but, not very loudly, as this young man made his first million at the age of 12, and everything he has turned his attention to has thrived, despite all disbelief. He has made the first practical, and fun, electric car, and made it affordable to the average person. He has developed the technology, and the business model, to successfully offer space flight to the public, though it is still very expensive. Now, he has turned his genius to a problem that society desperately needs to be solved, and has once again come up with something that is completely workable….

So, this is not a rant, nor is it an old-school pearl… if anything, it is just a news article, passing on some rather excellent news for society, even though I know his idea will be put through the wringer of the nay-sayers, who will try to deride it as new and unworthy…. But, I don’t think there will be much of it, and it won’t last, as this is quite simply, an idea whose time has come, and will eventually be adopted as reality by society at large….

Read the article, think about it, and, a few years from now, we’ll meet in LA for lunch, and be home before the game starts a 4:05 PM….
_____________________________

I’m late, and lazy today, so Emily wins…. Given the above article, it seems appropriate somehow….

A thought went up my mind to-day

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 ~~

_____________________________

Today’s format has gotten somewhat disrupted, due to the first section’s departure from normal activity…. Well, as normal as it ever gets around here…. Any who, in this space, fashion would dictate I rant, and I actually have the proper subject for same in hand. Actually, it’s a subject that isn’t going to go away, and will continue to remain in the forefront of the news for some time to come, as the solution is one the BRC is unwilling to permit.
I’m speaking of the current flap over the surveillance of the phone records and other data being compiled by the NSA and other clandestine spying agencies….. I would have said “intelligence agencies”, but, I’m not in the habit of using oxymorons, as a rule….

I COULD rant, as I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the issue, but, yesterday, I read one of the most complete, perfectly written and researched articles on the subject that I’ve seen thus far. It is written by Jennifer Hoelzer, who was formerly the chief of staff for Oregon Congressman R. Wyden, the most outspoken critic in Congress of the spying by the administration. In responding to the President’s formation of an independent committee to examine the surveillance guidelines, in order to address “public concerns”, she outlines her part, and the parts played by all the participants, in a clear, effective manner, calling all the responsible parties to task for creating the issue in the first place.

It’s a great piece, and a must-read for anyone who wishes to have a thorough understanding of all the important major points, including an accurate timeline of the significant events….. I offer these two articles, one reporting on the President’s announcement, and the piece by Ms. Hoelzer herself. Please read them, and you’ll see what I am saying is truth….

http://news.yahoo.com/-obama-orders-panel-to-review-possible-spying-abuses–185415834.html

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130810/09240524136/jennifer-hoelzers-insiders-view-administrations-response-to-nsa-surveillance-leaks.shtml

As compensation, to me, for not ranting about this today, I offer these pearls, to speak to the issue in my own unique manner….

“Nationalism is an infantile sickness.  It is the measles of the human race.” — Albert Einstein

“A state which seeks to subordinate the citizen wholly to itself and merges the person into an impersonal mass, commits a collective murder.” — C. C. Martindale, _The Catholic Bedside Book_, 1953

“A Sept 13 1987 Boston Globe story indicated polls show almost half of Americans think the phrase ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ comes from the US Constitution.” — Chomsky’s Necessary Illusions

“Say what will convince, not what you believe.” — Bureaucrat’s Law #2

DIPLOMACY, n.  The patriotic art of lying for one’s country. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarcely in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. Remember this: They that will not be counseled cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you over the knuckles.” — Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)– Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” — Rom 3:10

Yes, the last one was used recently in another pearl, but, I do that sometimes, when it is a perfect fit…. If all this doesn’t convince you of how serious the situation here on Earth is becoming, well, all I can say is, either you didn’t read it all, or you have more resistance to the truth than is good for you…. Any comments are welcome, even encouraged, and will be answered ASAP, back pain permitting….
_____________________________

Well, it’s been real, even if a bit odd in structure…. Let’s take a gander…. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find it more consistent than I thought it to be as I wrote it… I felt a bit fractured, during, but, in the end, it seems to have come out alright…. Happy daze…. Since I lucked out like that, I’m outta here, before I lose my courage…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Now renting parodies of human existence….

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Ffolkes,

Oh. My. Gosh…. (Hmm… just doesn’t have the same punch as the blasphemous version, does it?…. Oh, well, I like to be polite, and blasphemy so early in the morning is rude, even for me….) Any who, color me both surprised and dismayed…. Yesterday, or rather, night before last, I slept so hard, I hurt  myself! All day yesterday, my left shoulder was killing me, no matter how much I tried to get ahead of the pain with an extra dose of meds. You can only go so far in that direction before being compelled to turn back, due to side effects, or overdosing concerns. No, I realized, around noon, the pain was because I slept so long on my left side, the shoulder was suffering from being held in one position for too long, and not being at all adult about suffering the pain in silence…..

In spite of the agonizing and contortions this caused during the day yesterday, you can see that it was such an unnerving episode that it’s still bothering me today…. It’s either that, or I’m being a weenie, and I don’t want to hear anything at all from the peanut gallery about that statement….. It was unnerving due to the ironic nature of the pain; if I hadn’t slept so well, I wouldn’t have been in pain…. I could easily attribute that kind of thing to Murphy, but, it’s a bit subtle for him; his sense of humor runs more to pie-in-the-face, or keystone kops, than it does to irony or subtlety…..

Hmm, I hate to say it, but, that only leaves the weenie option, which is just wrong, and doesn’t deserve the screen-time I’m giving the whole issue…. But, then, isn’t that what the intro section is for? Long-winded, barely sane, ironic, or sardonic, statements about issues that have no meaning outside my bathroom walls, for the most part, meandering for what often seems like forever through strange landscapes and even weirder concepts, all to get to some obscure, semi-intellectual question about matters that are unresolvable in light of modern technology, or modern culture, combined with some rather odd habits and beliefs about human nature….. But, think of this…. where would you be if you weren’t here?

Aha! See, you can’t answer that, not without stopping to read, and think about it…. And, the answer you’d find wouldn’t make you anywhere nearly as happy and amused as you are here, so, see? It’s not a waste of time, for you, or for me….. This concludes our exercise in the dangers of using logic before 6 PM….. I hope you have enjoyed learning about the most pressing problem faced by our society today; please feel free to take the handouts with you when you leave, and don’t forget to stop in the gift shop…. the starving children will thank you for all you purchases, 25% of which will go to their care and feeding….

How did we get there? And who was that guy? Just what is going on here? Sheesh, step away to get a cup of coffee, and two whole paragraphs appear on the screen! Ignore the last two, ffolkes, that was Murphy, doing his thing….. Though I do implore y’all to forget these excessively weird paragraphs even exist, I AM going to take them as part of the legal requirements for this section, and bring this to a close…. Alright, I can hear those of you not snickering breathing huge sighs of relief out there, so, I’ll take the hint, and get on with the business for today….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“HEY CONGRESS! What ever happened to the Constitution?” — Smart Bee

You would, as would anyone in this position, assume this to be the beginning of another rant against politics, and those wonderful examples of broken morality, our beloved ruling class. But, nope, it’s not…. Oh, it could be, if I wished it. In fact, that is what I started to do, when I first put it up there for your perusal….. But, to be honest, I’m just not in the mood for ranting today. Not that I don’t feel the outrage at their daily shenanigans…. My opinion of Obama took another nosedive day before yesterday, when he canceled his trip to speak with the leader of what’s left of the USSR, Alex Putin, because the Russians refused to extradite Eric Snowden, the former tech worker turned whistleblower….

I think that what Mr. Snowden did deserves the thanks and support of all the American people, for bringing to light still more of the clandestine activities being perpetrated by those in power. The reaction of the Obama administration has gone a long way toward destroying his image of a President who is concerned for the common man, as he continues to completely ignore the illegality of the entire issue (of the prisons, of the torture, of the internal spying, of the court with no oversight…) and refuses to even address his own part in all of it….. It’s infuriating to see a man of such patriotism and bravery (Snowden) being persecuted by his own government, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise….

Hmm….. It seems that if I allowed myself to do so, I could  put out a pretty vitriolic rant; I guess my mood is more flexible than I had assumed for so early…. But, I still don’t feel like going all the way off, because, well, getting all emotionally worked up is not a good way to start the day, at least, not today…. Any who, to avoid any further complications due to angst or emotional outbursts, I’ll let Smart Bee put together a pearl, using the political scene of today’s society as a starting point for search parameters….. Or, as they are fond of saying downtown…. whatever, dude….

“Do thou restrain the haughty spirit in thy breast, for better far is gentle courtesy.” — Homer

“I’m just here for moral support. Ignore the gun.” — Smart Bee, channeling a Senator

“I see it as a compensation. I feel like I’m doing a good job. If no one is recognizing my good job, I recognize it.” — Orlando Arias, Los Angeles county health inspector, — after being filmed accepting a $200 bribe, — as reported by AP, November 10, 1998

“Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 914

“The Three Stooges, the sinking ship, and the lone lifeboat: Ronald Reagan: “Maybe we should save the women and children.”
Richard Nixon: “F**k the women and children!”
Bob Packwood: “Gee, do you really think we have time?”

— the Stilt Man

I think “immoral” is probably the wrong word to use…I prefer the word “unethical.” — Ivan Boesky, inside stock trader

“All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately… The SS, SA and Stahlhelm give every respectable German man the opportunity of campaigning with them.   Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above named organizations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon… must be regarded as an enemy of the national government.” — SA Oberfuhrer of Bad Tolz, March, 1933

I’m going to stop there, because it’s beginning to get a bit obscure, and I don’t want to anyone to lose the message…. which, simply put, is this…. Despite all they will tell you, the elected officials in this country, from the top, all the way to the bottom, are NOT doing their jobs with YOUR best interests in mind, nor are they overly concerned with following the precepts of governing as set down in the Constitution by our forefathers. They are doing the best they can do to fill their own pockets, and the pockets of their friends, and anything other than that they tell you is a bare-faced lie…. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but, somebody has to….

Of course, the last guy who did so is now hiding out, being protected by the Russian (!!!???) government, not out of humanitarian impulses, but for political gamesmanship…. These days, it’s not a good idea to be publishing the secrets of the politicians… They get so annoyed, and swarm around, looking just like a hive of beetles under a rock, exposed to the light of day…..

Unfortunately, they’re more dangerous than beetles, because they have guns, and, sadly, the force of the laws they’ve written to protect their rights to plunder, and to allow them to lie to us….. Watch your step, ffolkes, or you may be their next target for exploitation (not that you aren’t already being screwed over…. but, it could become specific and personal, rather than just as a part of the general fucking of society that is taking place…..)

I’ll leave you with two final thoughts on the subject, just because I can….

“I don’t pick on politicians. They ain’t done nothin’.” — Red Skelton

“Truly, you are a person who speaks the truth, lives the truth, abides by  the truth. And truth is, of course, stranger than fiction, and you certainly are too.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

Strangely enough, I’m still in the mood for Emily, so, you’ll have to put up with her insane genius for another day….

I cannot live with you,
It would be life,
And life is over there
Behind the shelf

The sexton keeps the key to,
Putting up
Our life, his porcelain,
Like a cup

Discarded of the housewife,
Quaint or broken;
A newer Sevres pleases,
Old ones crack.

I could not die with you,
For one must wait
To shut the other’s gaze down,–
You could not.

And I, could I stand by
And see you freeze,
Without my right of frost,
Death’s privilege?

Nor could I rise with you,
Because your face
Would put out Jesus’.
That new grace

Glow plain and foreign
On my homesick eye,
Except that you, than he
Shone closer by.

They’d judge us–how?
For you served Heaven, you know
Or sought to;
I could not,

Because you saturated sight,
And I had no more eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise.

And were you lost, I would be,
Though my name
Rang loudest
On the heavenly fame.

And were you saved,
And I condemned to be
Where you were not,
That self were hell to me.

So we must keep apart,
You there, I here,
With just the door ajar
That oceans are,
And prayer,
And that pale sustenance,
Despair!
 
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

This section’s pearl is a tribute to perseverance; I’m tired, and just want to be done for the day, but, I must live up to my own standards, because nobody else will… any who, no worries, we’ll just do a random harlequin old-school style pearl, and all will be well…. provided SB doesn’t give me a hard time…..

“For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality. And the solution has been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. But for the contemporary mindset the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of man.” — C.S. Lewis  “The Abolition of Man”

“He is the MELBA-BEING…  the ANGEL CAKE… XEROX him…  XEROX him –” — Zippy the Pinhead

“A State which is incompetent to satisfy different races condemns itself; a State which does not include them is destitute of the chief basis of self- government.  The theory of nationality, therefore, is a retrograde step in history.” — Lord Acton (1834-1902)

“If you don’t run your own life, somebody else will.” — John Atkinson

“Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.” — Charles-Louis Secondat Baron de Montesquieu

“It is so basic. A human being is an innocent part of nature. Our civilization has distorted this universal quality that allows us to feel at home in our skin. Other animals have coats that they accept, but the human race has yet to come to terms with being nude.” — Ruth Bernhard

“If you work on your mind with your mind, how can you avoid an immense confusion?” — Seng-Ts’an

See? All in the wrist….
_____________________________

Producing these Pearls has, of late, been an epic undertaking…. but, since there isn’t anything else that is pulling at me to get done, I can only be grateful for having something that keeps me out of trouble, for the most part….. I’m not going to comment on what that may be costing me in terms of self-respect, but, whatever it is, my ego can take it…. and, no, I have no idea what any of that means, particularly…. Let’s see what kind of damage I’ve done so far…..

Okay, then…. That there is some serious business…. I didn’t realize I had come down so copiously on the BRC today, but, that’s okay by me, they deserve all the crap we can throw at them, just to keep things balanced…. Plus, it’s done, so, hey, I’m outta here…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Soused on pilfered gin, all in a good cause…..

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Ffolkes,

As much as I love it when a plan comes together, I hate even more when it doesn’t….. such as this morning. I can tolerate Murphy’s usual screwing around with those parts of life that will fuck me over the most; I even tolerate it when the asshole just won’t let up, and hits me over and over throughout the day…. But, this I won’t tolerate…. He’s trying to fuck with my computer, and that is unacceptable…. I don’t need that kind of aggravation, not any more, and I won’t put up with it for long at all….. If he continues in this vein, there WILL BE A RECKONING!!!

Sorry for the outburst, but, computer issues due to just plain orneriness is something I just won’t allow. If this were an old machine, or had a history, or was getting overloaded with too much crap software, or something explainable, I could accept a bit of mucking about on boot up….. But, the kind of stuff Murphy had it doing today just won’t cut it, not when I know there is no reason beyond Murphy’s own assholiness to hold as responsible….. Sorry, but, I’ll not have it, and if he doesn’t like it, well, he can come talk to me, and I’ll explain it, in words of no more than one syllable…. or, if that isn’t working, I can just show him with my hands….. he’ll get the picture quite quickly, in that case….

I know, I talk a big game, but, how am I going to get him to hold still? Those iconic forces of nature can be tricky to pin down, possessing those supernatural powers over the rules of space and time as they do….. But, I don’t care how big and bad he is, he fucks with my comp again, and he’s dead meat…..

There, I feel better, if only for venting. I suppose that’s why I rant…. to get all that powerful negativity out of my head, and out into the real world, where it can be better dealt with in a way that won’t harm me, or anyone else. It’s a harmless enough pastime, especially when one considers how few people actually see it in one day; nobody is going to get hurt if they don’t read it, and hopefully, even if they do read it, it won’t cause any bleeding…. I know that I hate to bleed anywhere near the computer, so I’m sure other ffolkes don’t much like it, either…. Not bleeding is a good thing, in most everyone’s world, so we’ll try to keep things such that it can be avoided….

I can’t say that I am terribly proud of this particular opening section; so far it’s even more lame than usual, even for this blog. But, we’ve already reached the point where we are over the limit for allowable deletion, so I’ll have to let it go out the way it is, sans any elegance or witty repartee. Rats! I did so hope to include some witty repartee today…. it’s been so long since I tried my hand at it….. Ah, well, I’ll just have to settle for whatever SB comes up with as pearls today, because, I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date….. not really, but, it’s time to go dive in….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

I’m in a curious mood, one that feels as if I should not trifle with it, lest it become something more suitable for a horror movie, with great gobs of blood, gore, and destruction….. None of us wants that on a Friday; it could affect the entire weekend. So, I’m giving Smart Bee its head, to see what it can come up with that will possibly turn this in a new direction, before it gets dangerous to navigate…. let’s see what it can do….

“Knowledge is a polite word for dead but unburied imagination….think twice before thinking.” — e.e. cummings

In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.  “What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe.” “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play” Minsky shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher. “So that the room will be empty.” At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.” — AI koan

“Enter freely and leave some of the happiness you bring behind.” — The Insidious Wu Han

“It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.” — George Santayana

“People who wear mirrored sun glasses should seek professional help.” — Smart Bee

“Oh Lord, grant that we may not despise our rulers; and grant, oh Lord, that they may not act so we can’t help it.” — Lyman Beecher

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

Ooh, ooh, that’s a good one…. I can’t say for certain what direction it brought us to, but, it will, I have no doubt, be better than where we were headed…. Well, one always hopes…..
_____________________________

On days such as this, where I’m living under a set of rules that may or may not be clear, I tend to look for the same kind of obscurity, or at least, semi-transparency, in the poetry that will fit in with the mood of the day. Most often, in such cases, Emily is perfect, and today is such a case…. Don’t ask me to explain this one, because I won’t…. because I can’t…. I like it anyway…..

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,–
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

It isn’t your fault, but, I was up quite late this morning; turning over to try to go back to sleep actually kept working each time I did it, starting at 0400, all the way up to 0705, when I finally arose…. I reiterate, it isn’t your fault, but you’re going to get the perk that goes along with that, which is the simple fact that I don’t have the time to put together a rant…. This means, of course, that we’ll be going old-school for this section again today, and you will just have to learn to appreciate it…. Just think about the rant you’re NOT having to read….

Now that we have successfully promulgated, and denied, the normal course of events in such cases, I am free to go on to the gathering of the pearls, always the most fun part of this process….. Well, it’s fun, as long as Smart Bee is cooperating, and it has been doing well today so far…. let’s hope it continues…. Before I bore y’all completely senseless, which would mean calling the crew in to perform the sleeping body disposals, I’m going to go diving….. see ya on the flip side, as they say….. Well, I guess they don’t say that any more, so…. hell with it, I’ll be back….

“Most of us lead lives of chaotic improvisation from day to day, bawling for peace while plunging grimly into fresh disorders.” — Edward Abbey

“Integrity has no need for rules.” — Albert Camus

“The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.” — author Robert A. Heinlein on censorship

“If you wants to get elected president, you’ve got to think up some memorable homily so’s school kids can be pestered into memorizin’ it, even if they don’t know what it means.” — Walt Kelly, The Pogo Party

“Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before taking action. Twice would have been quite enough.” — Confucius, 5th century BC

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” — G. K. Chesterton, TREMENDOUS TRIFLES

“Hello.  Just walk along and try NOT to think about your INTESTINES being almost FORTY YARDS LONG!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

What a perfectly random group! The point it takes us to is the absolute perfect representation of whatever it was we did here today, don’t you think? Of course, whatever that may be is beyond the capability of the English language to accurately describe, but, there is nothing new in that, either, not for this blog…. I like to think we push the boundaries back a little bit every day…. Oh, look, it’s quitting time!….  See ya….
_____________________________

As noted above, I got a late start today, but, managed to rush it all through without any bloodshed…. Let’s see if it’s at all palatable…. Well, it’s savory enough, even if potentially unpalatable for those who can’t, or won’t, use more than three neurons at once; that’s okay, it’s not designed for their consumption, anyway. Regardless of any of that, it will do, and, hallelujah, it’s done…. On time, too…. I’m going to count my blessings, and be on my way…. TTFN, amigos….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Yet another display of consistently obscene pathology….

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Ffolkes,

I suppose it all comes down to whether or not one is willing to put up with the universe’s demands upon our time and energy, when deciding which of the many different types of cereal to have for breakfast. I mean, there’ the question of sugar versus aspertane; the question of rolled oats versus wheat or corn flakes, the  question of puffs versus flakes, or the whole concept of cut-up fruit, and other accessories to the breakfast experience. And, then, just when you’ve decided on one thing or another, they ask you whether you want home fries or hash browns with that!…..

Life is hard, isn’t it? Decisions await the application of our will around every corner, every hour of the day; we can never really get away from the need for making hard decisions in life. Trying to do so only causes further difficulties, as Murphy has an entire department of imps just waiting to help us make decisions in life that are guaranteed to drive us insane, by feeding us false, or erroneous data about what we have to decide, thereby ensuring we make the wrong decision, thus, affording him and his minions hours of free entertainment, as we gnash our teeth and wail out our complaints to an uncaring universe….

Me, I stick to coffee in the mornings, leaving the decision-making to other folks to enjoy. I refuse to give Murphy the opportunity for any more free shots at me than he already takes. If I want to eat, I stick to pastries, or other stuff that won’t cause a big mess in the kitchen. That room is too full of too many dangerous objects; knives with sharp edges, fire, heavy pots, scalding hot liquids…. No, thanks, I’ll pass on all that in the morning, in lieu of making weekly trips to the emergency room to deal with Murphy’s latest version of what he thinks is funny, which, naturally, frequently causes me to leak one kind of body fluid or another…. another image I probably could have skipped using…. SIGH…. Oh, well, I can’t be responsible for the state of people’s stomachs ALL the time…..

Hmm…. compared to what generally passes for an intro in the mornings around here, this is pretty mild, and actually somewhat engaging, if you have any interest at all in breakfast cereals…. If not exactly your cup of tea, well, we’re serving coffee, over there in the corner, where Murphy and the gang are, of course, taking advantage of my hospitality by hogging all the condiments; you’re free to join them, at your own risk, naturally. He’s already had his way with me today, so he’ll be glad of the company. Me, I’m going to go pearling, as if it were the most natural thing in the world…..

Shall we Pearl?…..
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Yesterday, Smart Bee was a bit off center at times, but, with good grace, and a willing heart, it managed to get me what I needed, and threw in a few extras for today’s post, which I dutifully saved, recognizing them as the lustrous gems they were…. I’ll now go search out a few more, to fill out the dimensions for a proper indictment of the beloved ruling class, and the panorama of human folly we call “politics”, which, as, I believe, Ambrose Bierce pointed out, is a combination word, coming from “poly” meaning “many”, and “tics” meaning “blood sucking insects”….. a perfect description of the general run of that sport’s participants….

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” — H.L. Mencken, “Little Book in C major”, 1916

“Can there be a republic that does not slump under the weight of so much human desire?” — Michael Scully

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. . . . the human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

“‘Tis better to be alone than in the company of fools.” — Bobby Matherne, American Philosopher (1940-)

“I had too much to dream last night.” — Electric Prunes

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

“Now I’m concentrating on a specific tank battle toward the end of World War II!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, silly, I know…. but, look closely, and you’ll see how true all of them really are, when compared to reality…. Here, if it’s that big a deal for y’all…. here is a final word, that pretty much says it all… but, without the buffer of humor….

“…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
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Poetry is sometimes so powerful, it only takes a few meager lines to impart an incredible amount of inspiration, wisdom, and beauty….. Emily was a master of this principle….

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


“We have art that we do not die of the truth.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
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I’m still feeling a bit silly, so I’m going to give in to the impulse to let that out into the light of day, and go with another old school pearl, this one gathered with the idea of ‘smiling’ in mind…. Let’s see what SB has to say on the subject…..

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.” — Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900)

“Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

“If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.” — Murphy’s Eighth Law

“OH, STOP YOUR WHINING!” — Smart Bee
(ref: Peruaosophy, Axiom #6, to wit: Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said, “Quit whining!”)

* Greatest number of citizens who have actually boarded a UFO
* Many newspapers feature “JUMBLE”
* Hourly motel rates
* Vast majority of Elvis movies made here
* Didn’t just give up right away during World War II like some countries we could mention
* Goatees & Van Dykes thought to be worn only by weenies
* Our well-behaved golf professionals
* Fabulous babes coast to coast

— David Letterman’s “Things we can be proud of as Americans”

“The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.  — Jane Wagner”

“A day without a laugh is a day wasted.” — E.E. Cummings
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I love it when a plan, etc…… Due to time constraints imposed upon me by the BBR, (Big Blue Room, for those with memory impairment issues….), I had to sort of rush through this morning’s post… Sometimes that affects the quality, or, at least, the format that is employed in creating the pearl. Today, I think it went well, so, let’s see….

cute owlYes, yes, this pleases cute owl! Well, it pleases me, anyway, and that’s all that counts in the ultimate sense. Cute owl is only here as a hired consultant…. Now that I have demonstrably gone completely around the bend, I’ll leave you to treat your wounds in peace….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3