The replacement toads are working fine….

Posted on October 17, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be slow in choosing a friend, but slower in changing him.”

~~ Scottish Proverb ~~

Yesterday gone, now, brain tired. Sleep good, not long enough. Pronouns lost. Can’t find, don’t care. Bogus, again….

Well, I’m not sure just what that means, or where it came from…. To look at it from here, it almost seems as if the poor, wee penguin lad or lassie we see here is saying all that; its expression certainly seems to fit. I happen to know, however, that I wrote the above, in perfect sincerity, at the time, so, it wouldn’t be fair, or even legal to blame the bird, even if it isn’t a member of my church (which I don’t have, anyway…. a church, that is….). There are strict laws about pinnipeds, you know…. Besides, it’s too cute to abuse….

Of course, the fact I won’t allow myself to abuse even a bird kind of sets me apart from the general run of humanity, but, that’s okay. I’ve always felt a bit out of it, in the sense that I’m different than the average bear…. much like Yogi, if you think about it…. or, maybe Boo Boo, who had several IQ points more than Yogi displayed. I suppose, if you stop to consider, even that makes me different, for most of the folks who make up humanity don’t analyze cartoons, or compare bears to people…. more’s the pity….

Don’t worry, I’m not going to use that as an excuse to rant in the intro again. I’ve given myself a stern talking-to about that, and we’re hoping for some good results from that…. It sees to be helping today’s post, at least, as I haven’t gone sober on you yet, but, hey, the day is young…. but, since we’re in the query mode, how do y’all think it’s working? Is this any better than usual? Or, is it just as bozoid, unorganized, and silly as most of my beginnings? Hmm….. I may have just answered myself….

Oh well, it worked well enough to get us this far; I see an exit opening up not far away…. Good thing, too, as my hands and shoulders aren’t holding up too well today…. even with magic cream, it’s getting hard to type for long…. I’m going to have to consider getting myself some voice recognition software for the computer, so I can speak my Pearls…. Soon enough, I won’t be able to type well enough to keep it up. For the moment, though, I’ve managed to get far enough to be in reach of that exit I mentioned…. so, I’ll use my new-found ruthlessness to get us on into the day….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.” — Frank Herbert

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“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

Let’s talk about….. stupidity. It’s a subject all humans need to be aware of, not just because it can be troublesome for them in their own private lives, but, due to having reached epidemic proportions in society at large, it has begun to affect public life, as well…. a fact which only makes sense, as human nature will, of course, always affect human society…., No matter how much we like to think of ourselves as intelligent, or competent, the power of stupidity, to make itself felt in human affairs, is enormous; we tend to forget that we have a duality of nature that allows that sort of conundrum, in almost every human endeavor….

The above statement, from one of the Shrubs (which one really doesn’t matter; the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in that family….), is, patently, false, and is obviously a result of the ubiquitous human tendency to assign meaning to symbols, and, in the process, to assume truth, when it is actually false…. The word is NOT the thing; nothing we say or do will actually change that; it is only our own human (stupid) mental habit of assuming it can, that allows such egregiously false statements to occur at all…. People WANT it to be true, so, they assume it is, just because they say it is…. typical “ipse dixit” reasoning….

“I think as long as you suffer for your sins, they don’t count.” — Calvin

Ipse dixit, “He himself said it”, is the same sort of reasoning as this little gem of immorality from Calvin, speaking, in this case, without Hobbes’ input, obviously. It arises from the set of delusional beliefs taught by almost every religion, for each one is convinced they are the ONLY right set of beliefs, because their own particular prophet, or reformer, said it was so…. This leads, every time, to a sense of false entitlement, based solely on beliefs held without any evidence of support, or, for that matter, any evidence at all, beyond the fact that it was claimed by someone to be true….

The problem we have, here in the good old US of A, is that the people who are holding those delusions as true are the sworn leaders of the country, so, when they come out with bullshit like this, a lot of foolish, gullible people believe him, and will thence act as if it is true, when, if one is at all familiar with those documents upon which this country was founded, one can see the above statement, by a former president, no less, is completely false, and gives a very clear indication of how things are going wrong for all of us….

I could rant on this one all day; there are any number of quotes and aphorisms on the subject, each of which could conceivably lead us into another aspect of the issue, thus increasing our understanding, as well as boring us to tears…. Hah! Caught y’all, didn’t I? I can feel y’all glazing over, and leaning toward skipping down to the music video, so, instead of taking this further, we’ll just drive the point home with an old-school thrashing of our beloved ruling class, with some comments/observations on politicians, preachers, pimps, myrmidons, and those of their ilk (you know, the ones we call Asininnies…. when we’re not calling them assholes….) It will be a severe thrashing, too, with nine pearls to smite them….

“Perhaps the most widespread illusion is that if we were in power we would behave very differently from those who now hold it — when, in truth, in order to get power we would have to become very much like them.” — (Lenin’s fatal mistake, both in theory and in practice.)

“Governments which suppress freedom of speech… act like children who shut their eyes in order not to be seen.” — Ludwig Boerne, _Die Freiheit der Presse in Baiern_, 1818

“Being against torture ought to be sort of a multi-partisan thing.” — Karl Lehenbauer, as amended by Jeff Daiell, a Libertarian

“I’ll put an end to the idea that a woman’s body belongs to her . . . the practice of abortion shall be exterminated with a strong hand.” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), “Mein Kampf”

(This one may seem a bit harsh, and/or out of place. to some…. But, I say, NOPE…. This is EXACTLY the same sort of attitude all too many of our elected officials possess, today…. so, nope….not too harsh as an indictment of the modern politician….) (See: Tea Party….)

“I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.” — Gerald Early, writer, baseball documentary, 1994

“Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caius Marius

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.” — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

“Never appeal to a man’s “better nature.” He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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I didn’t get to see this group when they were touring, back in the day, but, I heard this album within days of its release; it has remained a favorite of mine ever since. At 14:12 on this video, the band jumps into a song, entitled “Only You Know and I Know”, in which Eric Clapton goes into a completely insane lead guitar riff, covering almost a full minute, that I consider to one of the very finest pieces of improvisational genius I have ever heard, from him, or any other guitarist, in the entire history of Rock and Roll, which I have personally witnessed from Day One…. No shit, ffolkes…. If you play, or just love guitar, you will be amazed; it’s almost orgasmic…. The rest of the album rocks out, too…. Turn it all the way up for this one, ffolkes, it’s the only way to hear it….

Delaney & Bonnie and Friends: On Tour with Eric Clapton (1970) Full Album

http://youtu.be/BscKvUJVmLA

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This poem was written on a day like yesterday…. It’s one I don’t think I can do any better, or say any of this more accurately…. I suppose, if I were a bit more evolved, I’d be able to be thankful that my pain and misery can at least stimulate me into bleeding this kind of insight onto the page…. Can’t honestly say I am, though…. but, at least this one affords me some small degree of post-misery relief, pointing out the path to serenity….

Raging at Aging

As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it is really quite painful, and very, very cold.

The power and strength felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes over time since our birth.

As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by our will, to more arcane arts.

Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.

Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for it is true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Smart Bee seems to be trying to have some fun today; the first five quotes came up within moments of each other, in order, so, the rest must be just waiting for us…. Let’s see what there is for us to find, shall we? Careful, though, I’m letting SB have total control, so, be alert…. The only parameter I asked for was to choose from the subject of humanity, warts and all….

“It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one’s neighbor.”– Eric Hoffer

“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Where can you find a good lawyer? In the cemetery.” — Smart Bee

“Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.” — W. Somerset Maugham

“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“A reverence for life does not require one to respect nature’s obvious mistakes.” — Robert A. Heinlein

“If what the philosophers say be true,–that all men’s actions proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not, and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is uncertain,–so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that it is for their advantage.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xviii

Oops…. Smart Bee tried to lose us there, didn’t it?…. Talk about quick changes; that was like a 180º turn in mid-air at 300 mph; at the apex of the turn, one would be hitting about, oh, 6-8 g’s, I think. If we hadn’t been paying attention, it would have smeared us right up against the cabin wall in the rear of the vehicle…. and, all that for a long winded way to say people will, whenever they can, look out for Number One before anything else…. I suppose this means we need a couple more pearls, just to finish it out with a bit of smooth, to counteract the rapid mind fuck SB attempted….

SIGH…. It’s too bad…. Things were Going So Well, too….

BTW, FWIW, IMHO, yes. OTOH, AAMOF, maybe not. — Smart Bee

“A closed mouth gathers no feet.” — Finster’s Law

I guess we should have looked at the last one first; it may have saved us a bit of aggravation, if not time…. Oh, well, at least it’s the last section for today…. Gee, how did he do that?….

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Well…. In spite of myself, I got it done. Some of the above was produced yesterday, during the less miserable moments of the day, and, after I had already gone through the morning’s extreme annoyances…. I was nice today, and didn’t share all that with you; you may thank me later…. Today, I must, again, sally forth into the Big Blue Room, to do battle with the huge bureaucratic forces of evil, otherwise known as Kaiser Permanente, to try to figure out how to decrease the number of days I lose to physical issues…. Wish me luck; I’m going to need a lot of it….. At least I can feel some sense of accomplishment, for having gotten this done in a timely fashion…. even if I did have to get up early to do it….

Enough, I’m out of cheese, so I don’t need any whine…. Reality doesn’t care, anyway, so, I may as well keep the rest to myself…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pending legislation will prohibit affordable pants….

Posted on September 4, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Great truths can only be forgotten and can never be falsified.”

~~ G. K. Chesterton ~~

— Illustrated London News, 9-30-33 —

Upon opening my eyes, my first thought, appropriately enough, was, “Wow. It isn’t every day you wake up to a large, scaly, bright green gecko sitting in a chair by your window!” Then, I thought “Uh oh…. he looks pretty pissed.” So, naturally, I said, “Did you bribe the damn concierge again?”, thinking to put him at an immediate disadvantage by accusing him before he could say anything….

I should have known it wouldn’t work; not with THIS gecko…. “Why should I do that, when I can just pick the lock?”, he noted with what passed for an eyebrow raised high enough, it almost disappeared over the dome of his forehead; fortunately, this, I knew, indicated he was pissed, but, still amused by me…. I decided to work that, instead, so, I countered, “Some would consider it a faux pas to pick the lock on the hotel room of a sleeping guest, you know.” “I don’t speak French,” he noted, then, grinned evilly. “But, I know some French geckos…. they’re dead now…..”

Okay, that’s enough of that…. It’s way too early for so many bad jokes at one sitting… I don’t know what prompted ANY of that. When I sat down to type, I noted my right thumb, besides being about twice or three times as stiff as usual, with a concomitant degree of pain as a bonus, was actually a good 10-15% bigger than my left thumb, which is sort of cool, as it balances out the loss of function, and increased arthritic pain in the left hip and shoulder….

So, any who, all that, annoying as it is, coming so early, isn’t really the problem… the problem is trying to find words that are composed of, oh, I’d say about 65%, of letters from the left side of my QWERTY keyboard, so I could balance out the typing, giving the right hand a little less work, thus, able to last longer…. If you think it’s easy, you try it…. I’ve been at this for, what, two and half paragraphs, and I’m exhausted…. Sheesh…

Most of the words we have in English, flexible as it is about spellings and meanings, are composed of a relatively even balance of letters (the actual percentages of use for each one, you will find, closely resemble those percentages used by a set of Scrabble letters; the relative scores for each letter are based on those percentages….). Finding those with an unbalanced distribution isn’t as easy as it may sound, believe me…. It’s a lot like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube after it’s out…. not in what is done, but, in how frigging frustrating it can be…

Okay, so, what do you think? Have I crammed enough odd shit into one intro for one day? Have I offended anybody? Have you laughed, cried, or shaken your head in either disgust, or disbelief? Were you afraid of the gecko? If not, why not? Have you picked your nose? These are the things that I need to know, if I’m to come anywhere near to how today’s post should end up, wherever that may be….. Okay, well, you can keep what you’re doing with your nose to yourself….

It’s not as if we need any actual maps, but, any metadata at all can help us to find the quickest, if not the simplest, path to our goal…. Of course, I realize, it might be of some help if I would make some attempt to come even a little closer to Reality to some degree…. I’ve been a good distance away from it all morning, thus far….. and, actually, I’m quite proud of that….

I mean, here I am, sitting here, almost completely able to ignore a level of pain most folks, even some ffolkes, would be unable to tolerate at all, and, still able to type, albeit with some strain, and a rise in BP that goes with such stress…. I know, it’s bogus, but, whattyagonnado when it’s age-related? Get younger? Not happening, so, I just push through it the best I can…. which, at the present moment, is about to come to a crashing halt, so the feeling in my left hand can come back to normal…. Fun, eh?….

Okay, we’re good to go, for the time being…. thank goodness for magic cream! That being the case, I think this intro couldn’t possibly take any more, so, we’ll let it die a relatively peaceful death, and get on with the rest of this mess, with a small alteration in the plans, made necessary by ARPID. (Nothing to do with the Association of Retired Persons, except peripherally, in that both are annoying, and both age related….) ARPID is, of course, Age Related Physical Issues, Dammit….. If I go any further into that, we’d be entering TMI territory, so, we’ll just leave it at that….

Shall we Pearl?

“He is nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent.” — Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC), attributed

Oops…. good thing I’m not religious at all, isn’t it?…..

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Why are many scientists using lawyers for medical experiments instead of rats?

a) There are more lawyers than rats.

b) The scientist’s don’t become as emotionally attached to them.

c) There are some things that even rats won’t do for money.

— Smart Bee

I am compelled to confess, in my life, I have actually met two people, who were/are both lawyers, for whom I do have a significant degree of respect and affection. Of course, one of them I met while still in law school, and his own sense of honor and self-worth caused him years of discomfort until he gave it up to teach…

The other one is, quite simply, a shark, who found a sublimation for his less than stellar urges, by using his predatory instincts, and ruthlessness, to help people injured while working, to get the services and help they need to continue to live, and support their families, in spite of not being able to work, potentially for the rest of their lives….

As far as I can tell, two, out of the hundreds I’ve met over the years, is a fairly accurate representation of the actual percentage of lawyers who have even a shred of compassion for others, or perform the work they do out of a sense of altruism or common feeling…. The majority of them, by far, are predatory, ambitious, avaricious, convinced of their own superiority, (most often, without any evidence for any such belief….), and, far too often, completely amoral…. which is why so fucking many of them ultimately end up as politicians…. For the greater percentage of those I’ve met, or heard of, their primary motivation is either money, or power (control over others….)….

Those qualities, when paired with politics, are a match made in heaven, as the function of government lends itself perfectly to the type of person who NEEDS to control others. Whether they do so primarily for the power, or for the money, is immaterial to the final result, which gives them the means to fulfill their compulsion to steal, and cheat, and perform ANY act, if it furthers their agenda…. without the need to use a device such as “billable hours” to cover their theft…. Taxes work fine for that….

“How can you tell the difference between a dead lawyer and a dead snake on the road? There are skid marks leading up to the snake.” — a joke I heard in high school, in 1966, or so….

I started this rant yesterday, in reaction to the shock I felt on coming across the opening salvo from Smart Bee…. and, now, this morning, find myself unable to finish it properly, as I can’t type too well just now…. So, we’ll go into SB, to find the makings for a pearl that will provide me with sufficient sublimation of my need to express outrage at a section of society, one that well deserves any abuse we heap upon it….

How else to explain the sheer ubiquitousness of lawyer jokes in our culture, or their historical presence for so long? A new one springs up each day, it seems, in response to all the pain and misery in society, for which the actions of lawyers bear responsibility…. Let’s see if we can find some sharp sticks to poke them with, okay?…..

“Am I accompanied by a PARENT or GUARDIAN?” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” — Eric Hoffer, THE PASSIONATE STATE OF MIND (1955)

And the Lord said, “Thou shalt not leave hairs unsplit.” — Holy Bible, Clarence Darrow version

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” — Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

“Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but impairs what it would improve.” — Pope

“When one is pretending, the entire body revolts.” — Anais Nin

(Aha! Now we know why so many lawyers have that sallow, pasty look, like they never get outside to play….)

“If our behavior is strict, we do not need fun!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I always know when Smart Bee is having fun with a pearl; it starts and ends with an appropriate note from Zippy…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I enjoyed that….. and, it didn’t generate a single billable hour!…. Bonus!

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This poem has been one of my favorites, of its type, for all the years since I first read it, long before starting this blog….

First posted on 9/4/2012:

A Smile To Remember

we had goldfish and they circled around and around
in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes
covering the picture window and
my mother, always smiling, wanting us all
to be happy, told me, ‘be happy Henry!’
and she was right: it’s better to be happy if you
can
but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while
raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn’t
understand what was attacking him from within.

my mother, poor fish,
wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a
week, telling me to be happy: ‘Henry, smile!
why don’t you ever smile?’

and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the
saddest smile I ever saw

one day the goldfish died, all five of them,
they floated on the water, on their sides, their
eyes still open,
and when my father got home he threw them to the cat
there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother
smiled

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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Since today’s poem came from the post of exactly two years ago, why not do it again?… It WAS a very good Pearl…. If you recall, I used another piece of it yesterday, as well…. I didn’t realize how well it would fit in with today’s theme, until just now… It’s perfect, actually, as it also mimics the life cycle of a lawyer, from pupae (law student), to caterpillar (lawyers who have passed the bar), to butterfly (politician)…. Perfect!….

From 9/4/2012:

So there I am, cruising along in the database, and all these little pieces of observational excellence from Smart Bee keep popping up in my face. I figure that he (Smart Bee) must have something he wants to get across to the readership out there; who am I to argue? If I don’t do this, I could spend years trying to find a new quote there…. Smart Bee is very insistent when he gets a wild hair like this…. So, just follow the bouncing thought ball to the conclusion that is most obvious….

Sex! Lies! Drugs! Money! Power! Corruption! Man, I love Congress! — Smart Bee

Gun Control – the belief that government, with its great wisdom and moral superiority, can be trusted with a monopoly on deadly force. — Smart Bee

It has been determined that most teenage girls lose their virginity during the summer months. This stands to reason, since Congress is recessed at that time. — Smart Bee

Vote Democrat. It’s easier than thinking. — Smart Bee

Vote Republican. It’s easier than thinking. — Smart Bee (honest, both are in there….)

Congressional National Bank. Ours bounce higher and farther! — Smart Bee

“Crime does not pay … as well as politics.” — Alfred E. Newman

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I forgot to mention: today’s picture is from the web site of Carol Welsh (link: http://radiatingblossom.wordpress.com/ ); on her site she posts poetry, quotes, and other forms of literary beauty, as well as pictures she creates of flowers…. Her photos are the cleanest, clearest, most gorgeous studies of single flowers I’ve ever seen… With her kind permission, I have copied literally hundreds of her photos, all of which became part of the slide show I use as my desktop background, and for my screen saver… each one is yet another example of her keen eye for, and appreciation of, great beauty, in nature, and in life…. And, her photos are my quest, to produce even ONE photo that is as beautiful as any one of hers….

Well! That turned out well, for such an effortful missive…. I’m feeling better, now, a little bit, having pushed through all the obstacles to completing this; no less pain, at the moment, but, now that I’ll stop typing for a while, it’ll calm down…. I’ll be able to apply a few ounces of magic cream to strategic spots around my skeleton, and find a little peace for a time… I hope you enjoy today’s post; it cost me a little more than usual, but, still came out alright…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, come hell or high water….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

Posted on August 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.” — Smart Bee

Is that not the very face of utter devotion? Is he not completely focused on the next words coming from the person at whom he is gazing with such adoration, and hopeful expectation? This is, to me, the very best way to teach children about the joy and power of love, and the duty that comes with it, duty owed to the one who loves with such loyalty and steadfast purpose. Very few humans, in my experience, ever reach the same level of absolute trust and/or sheer devotion, motivated only by a heart innocent of deceit, or deliberate cruelty… I find most humans can rationalize almost any sort of ethical or moral failure, many do so without any sort of guilt or remorse…. But, not a dog, or any other so-called “lower” creatures in the entire animal kingdom….

Oh sure, there are some who are dangerous, or even, seemingly, harshly violent toward other creatures; but, none of them ever kills for pleasure, none of them ever make a habit of fouling their own nest, and none of them ever CHOOSE to be deliberately immoral. When they do act in a way that seems connected to a dark purpose, it is a learned behavior, and not natural to their innate nature; in fact, when they do act out of character with their inner spirits, most animals tend to display all the signs of illness, or even insanity. It is as if acting against their nature is instinctively proscribed for them…. It makes one wonder about which of the animals is really at the top of the chain of life…. Well, I wonder, anyway….

I’m not sure why I got so far into that, especially this early; I love animals, though, and regard them as better company, most of the time, than almost any human, but, that doesn’t explain how, or why, such an emotionally-charged, yet completely off-the-wall, less-than-earth-shattering subject escaped out of wherever it’s been hiding in my head, & found its way out onto the screen…. Apparently, that face, that wonderful, loving face, got to me, before I was prepared for it, with some thoughts I’d already washed clean of any sappy romanticism…. I suppose it’s just one of those things we closet romantics have to expect now and again, when we let our guard down, or temporarily put aside our training in curmudgeonry….

“But” he whined, ” now what?” After that start, ffolkes, your guess is probably as good as mine, and I have no clue…. I’ll have to put a team on that, & have them get back to me on a rush basis, okay? Let me just text over to my admin, so he can do that….. Shouldn’t take long, so, relax, grab a beer, or whatever is there, and hang for a few…. we’ll be right back with something new to ~~drag~~ ~~lure~~, um, bring, that’s it,to bring you back to your seats, and back into the grip of our will…. Bwwaaahaahahaha!….

Okay, I’m out of jail now; it only cost me about $5000 in bail, part of which I’ll get back when I show up for the hearing…. That’ll be after the lawyers take their insane percentage for whatever they do…. I once got one of their bills, in which I was charged one quarter hour of the hourly rate, which was, as it turns out, $250.00; the charge, then, for a quarter of that hour’s assigned value, was $62.50, for the difficult, complex, incredibly complicated procedure, known as, and listed as, “opening a new file”…..

Really; that’s exactly what it said….. I asked the lawyer if that meant that they charged me more than $50, for calling their secretary, having them walk to the cabinet to obtain a fresh manila folder, then making a label for it with my name on it? Or, I continued, was there something I’m missing here about how complex it is to open a file?…. I was really kind of hurt when he didn’t smile, or answer the question….

But, then, I’ve found that MOST lawyers I’ve met, at least the ones without scruples, don’t have one… a sense of humor, that is… Me, I’m a Bozo, and I don’t have any choice in the matter….funny crap follows me around….

In fact, I see some now…. let’s go see if we can make it blow water out its nose, okay?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Hello seeker! Now don’t feel alone here in the New Age, because there’s a seeker born every minute.” — The Firesign Theater

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Yesterday I walked…. a lot more than is usual for me of late, though not enough to put me down…. In fact, my recent forays seem to have had a beneficial effect on my stamina, as I slept, and now feel pretty okay…. not bad for this time of day, when massive quantities of magic cream find its way onto my body, to help the morning background of pain from hips and shoulders…. the back waits until they’re done, so that helps some, but, this writing helps as much, to distract me from the worst of it….

I am, though, a bit tired still, so, here is a discussion from a long time ago, on this blog, anyway, back in the early days, before Pearls assumed their current manifestation…. The angst was there, but, it looked different….

From 12/17/2011:

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson

The Homeland Security Act, passed shortly after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, is, to my way of thinking, the first time in our history that the American people have voluntarily allowed abridgments to our personal liberties to be enacted. The way I see it, quote #1, by James Madison, called that one perfectly. Our beloved ruling class, having decided we have “too many rights” (a direct quote from the junior Shrub, btw) in the Bill of Rights, carefully orchestrated events to provoke an attack on our home shores, knowing they could then fool the public into accepting their abridgments on our freedoms. And, to proceed to Mr. Jefferson’s comment, WE LET THEM DO IT! Anyone who rose up to speak against this vile, manipulative legislation was immediately shouted down as being unpatriotic.

For most of my life, I have avoided guns. Being a fairly smart guy, I noticed at a young age that most of the folks who get shot were carrying guns; it makes sense to me to reduce the chances of becoming a target in this most simple way, i.e., never carrying this kind of weapon (though it would be a very big mistake to assume that I carry NO weapons; in fact I carry four at all times, all of different kinds, none of which are guns). However, since the PTB (powers that be) have begun to try to take away my rights, I figure I’d better grab myself a bunch more firepower, before I no longer am allowed to do so.

If worse comes to worst, I WILL fight, if they come for any more of my rights. I will not let the blood and sacrifice of my countrymen and forefathers, and my own father, for that matter, be in vain. I’m about done with putting up with these kinds of issues, and am drawing near the point of acting on my feelings. In one sense, I hope they stop and reconsider trying to further reduce our liberties, because if they don’t, I’m going to REALLY get mad, and they will find themselves with a whole new issue to deal with……I’m a Scorpio, a triple Scorpio, for that matter; I was born under the sign of the God of War. You do NOT want to make me into an enemy…..

The vultures are circling…they have the faces of presidential candidates and carry bowling balls in their buttered claws….

Note from 2014: Apparently, even back then, I was a trifle upset with the Beloved Ruling Class; these days, the same issues arise on an almost daily basis, as the second incarnation of the Homeland Insecurity Act was signed on New Year’s Eve in 2011, by our “transparent” president, who apparently didn’t want any crap from the public or the media about doing so….

Why else do it while the entire country is out drinking away the feelings of fear whipped up by the fanning of the public’s rage over the terrorist acts of that infamous day?….Which, in truth, was an act which entirely ignores our response to that terrorist act, wherein we have killed, many times more than 10 times the number of Americans who died that day, in revenge upon people who had no part in it…. In truth, our country’s response strongly resembled an enraged bull in a china shop, without the dignity of having a valid reason to be there….

I’m done now…. Obviously, this is a mini-rant, which I’ve turned into a full out, extra long rant on numerous occasions…. So, I’ll give y’all a break this time…. Next time we are supposed to go vote, you can return the favor, and don’t…. It only encourages the assholes when we do…..

“We need a president who’s fluent in at least one language.” — Buck Henry, comedian, 1992

“The bad thing about experience is that it teaches you the stuff you don’t want to know.” — Smart Bee

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Today, only one poem will do to follow that section, and it’s one of mine, from a couple years back…. It speaks directly to the relevant issues discussed above…. Enjoy!….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
we’ll take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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The following pearl, made up of randomly chosen pearls, is, sort of, unique….. Now, you may wonder how the hell something can be “sort of” unique… according to the definition of the word, things either are unique, or they are not unique, period. But, then Daniel Webster had never heard of the concept of diving for pearls of virtual wisdom, or for that matter, even cared…. which goes a long way toward explaining why he might not be the best one to make any final decisions about “connotations”, as his entire persona was hardwired to focus on the “denotation” of words….

Also, in this case, it has no real bearing one way or another, because it’s just a trick, to get you to forget about anything that has gone before….. just in case you might be thinking about a civil suit for damages…. Of course, now I’ve descended into plain silliness, and am once again wasting time and words galore in the pursuit of nonsense…. S’okay, I’m used to it, and, by now, y’all should be as well…. Regardless, we were talking about this pearl…. All of the quotes you see, all nine of them, were spit out by Smart Bee in the order you see, one right after another…..

I’ve witnessed the million monkeys, ffolkes….. they have produced the works of Shakespeare, in its entirety, right here on this blog….. The odds of what you see approach the same level as the odds of the Earth falling out of its orbit in the next five minutes…. they are astronomically small…. That said, I’m going to let them speak for themselves, especially since I know the perfect pearl awaits you at the end, in the final entry, to make it all clear….. Enjoy!…. It isn’t often you’ll see a nine-star pearl, especially one that essentially was gifted to us by the Universe…..

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 June-
To an admiring Bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

“Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.” — Romanian proverb

“I don’t think math is a science. I think it’s a religion.” — Calvin

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.” — Latin proverb

“Almost all reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.” — Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~
(1688-1744)
— Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 289 —

“MERYL STREEP is my obstetrician!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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Well, that was something…. I’ll try hard to figure out what, but, later; for now, it will do….. Since that is the case, I really have no excuse to hang around any longer, so, I’ll submit to the demands of reality, this time, and be on my way into the day…. Should be a good one, I think, it it doesn’t get too hot…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Paint all of it in flesh tones….

Posted on July 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it.” — T. S. Eliot

Okay, so, you can see the expression on the baby’s face, right?…. It’s a bit hard to identify just what is going through the baby’s head, other than the obvious bit of confusion, and the apparent disbelief… To me, the face says, “What is this, and why is it looking at me like that?”, or something equally quizzical, but, much funnier…. The baby owl doesn’t look any more confident of what is happening, although it’s hard to tell with those faces owls have, just MADE for poker…. The picture, by the way, came from the London Daily Telegraph picture section, from a group of animal pix they ran a week or two ago, with the theme something to do with unlikely friendships…..

The expressions, though, are what drew me to the picture; neither of them is quite sure of how to deal with the other, and it shows…. You can also tell there is no issue of fear, only curiosity, and it’s nice to see that, especially in very young creatures…. It means they feel safe in their environment, and are not threatened by each other’s presence…. Creatures that suffer abuse lose their curiosity very quickly, I’m afraid, so it is easy to spot….

We aren’t going to spoil this by speaking of abuse; that’s a subject for another time; this picture is far too CUTE to be used to create such a volatile diatribe, which I’m sure it would turn out to be…. Nothing infuriates me more than those who abuse the weak, who take advantage of those who cannot fight back…. but, in light of the rather more uplifting nature of this shot, we’ll forgo any such ranting for now, in favor of just enjoying the nice feeling that accompanies such a picture….. It’s just too cool for words, in my estimation…. Of course, I’ve managed to use it as the basis for several hundred words, but, that’s me, and it’s what I do, so, back off….

Not too far…. hey! Watch out, you’ll back right off the wing, and fall out of the plane…. My insurance dude would be furious with me, so, please, remain in your seats until all the cocktails have been served, okay? Thanks….

As you may be able to tell, this is starting to unravel on me….. That’s what happens when we take off in one direction, only to find it’s a one-way, dead-end street…. S’okay, though, that’s why we have four-wheel drive; we just take off cross country when that happens, and usually are able to find our way back to our appointed reality…. It’s those rare occasions we DON’T make it back to the correct reality that tend to drive up the insurance costs…. But, what can we do when reality alters itself like that? Sheesh, it’s not as if we’re all Time Lords, is it?….

No, of course not, but, the assbites who sell insurance don’t care about all that…. Don’t get me started on THAT whole scam industry…. Insurance is one of the more egregious institutions foisted upon the average man by the monied elite, a completely unnecessary, unwanted, and unethical industry that takes advantage of people’s fear, to have them betting on their own death or misfortune, so that the insurers can make a huge profit…. If y’all think there is any OTHER reason for that industry to exist, please, tell me…. I’d LOVE to hear THAT set of euphemisms and logical dead-ends…. Sure I would…. I LOVE hearing bullshit until my ears bleed….

Okay, now it’s getting completely away from me, heading fast toward rant-city, so I’d better take advantage of the ending point I see…. right HERE!…. C’mon, ffolkes, we’re jumping off here, so we can get on with the rest of today’s Pearl…. Whatever this is right here, is heading for the trash heap, so, we’d best be on our way….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The man who sees the consistency in things is a wit, the man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

If I hear a single one of you ask, “So, what does that make you?”…. I swear, I’ll make you regret it….

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“A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.” — Buddha

I am full of piss & vinegar this morning; it’s probably a good thing nobody else is around except Murphy…. Even HE is giving me a wide berth today, as the signals I’m giving off are no doubt being picked up intergalactically, thus keeping all and sundry at a safe distance from my person…. That’s safe for them, not for me…. The only danger I’m in is from my own intransigence, and if I have to explain that, well, you should just go on to the poetry section, because you’ll never catch up otherwise….

Below I’ve placed three article links, with a small excerpt from each article added just below the link, to give an idea of the thrust of the issues involved…. I’m using the R.A. Heinlein technique of gathering headlines to show just how CRAZY everything has become in our world…. For some reason, headlines seem to give the best overall picture, as they give us the highlights of the picture, thus showing the breadth and scope of the issues under discussion without having to burden people’s minds with such unnecessary items as fact, figures, or details…. A purely American invention, as is patently clear…. Any who, here are a couple of recent articles from today’s (actually, yesterday’s…) news, after which you’ll find a fine, seven-star pearl, based on the parameters implied by the articles…..

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Michael-Copps-former-FCC-commissioner-on-net-5626535.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

“This deal should be dead on arrival. We have no business doing this after Comcast 1,” Copps said. “To take this footprint that Comcast has developed over so much of the rest of the United States and impose it on so many other subscribers and so many other areas … is totally inimical to the public interest. I don’t see any conditions that would be ameliorative of that, that would make it acceptable to the public interest.”

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/The-state-of-Silicon-Valley-how-lame-is-that-5626692.php

“The drought is real. A federal meteorologist named Brad Rippey recently predicted, in an interview with Wall Street 24/7, that California would run out of water in two years. The El Niño forecast for the fall is now described as weak, with minimal effect on rainfall. Droughts don’t just last for a nice tidy two years – heck, Nevada was once an ocean…… Rippey said that the average reservoir recharge rate between 2011 and 2013 was 70 to 79 percent, while the withdrawal rate is between 126 and 140 percent of average.”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/18/nurse-guantanamo-boycott-force-feed-prisoners

“One Navy nurse at Guantánamo had refused to force-feed detainees anymore and declared the practice unethical: I have come to the decision that I refuse to participate in this criminal act, Dhiab told me the nurse said…… The nurse, Dhiab tells me, is the first staffer at Guantánamo to choose medical ethics over military logic. Like all staff assigned to force-feed detainees, this Navy nurse was initially a volunteer. But when he arrived on base this spring, he told Dhiab, he encountered something different from what he expected: The story we were told was completely the opposite of what I saw.”

There, now, don’t you feel better, just for knowing all that? I thought you would….. Here’re your pearls….. enjoy, ffolkes….

“Lamachus chided a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, “Sir,” said he, “in war there is no room for a second miscarriage.” Said one to Iphicrates, “What are ye afraid of?” “Of all speeches,” said he, “none is so dishonourable for a general as ‘I should not have thought of it.'” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Iphicrates

“He is the best of men who dislikes power.’ — Mohammed

“Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“Liberty cannot be guaranteed by law. Nor by any thing else except the resolution of free citizens to defend their liberties.” — Edward Abbey

“The world holds two classes of men – intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.” — Abu’l-Ala-Al-Ma’arri (973-1057)

“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.” — Eric Hoffer

“Liberty cannot be guaranteed by law. Nor by any thing else except the resolution of free citizens to defend their liberties.” — Edward Abbey

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Not much can be said about Charles that hasn’t been said, so, I’ll let his poetry speak for itself…. I find him to be even more honest than most poets, who are about as honest a group as can be identified…. That is what makes them poets….

Pull a String, A Puppet Moves

each man must realize
that it can all disappear very
quickly:
the cat, the woman, the job,
the front tire,
the bed, the walls, the
room; all our necessities
including love,
rest on foundations of sand –
and any given cause,
no matter how unrelated:
the death of a boy in Hong Kong
or a blizzard in Omaha …
can serve as your undoing.
all your chinaware crashing to the
kitchen floor, your girl will enter
and you’ll be standing, drunk,
in the center of it and she’ll ask:
my god, what’s the matter?
and you’ll answer: I don’t know,
I don’t know …

~ Charles Bukowski ~

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Here’s the deal…. Above, I came close to ranting, with a twist, then created a fresh pearl, which covers most of what we do in a day…. Rather than spend a long time searching out a fresh old-school pearl, on a day when Smart Bee has already proven to be somewhat balky, I’m dipping into the archives for a religirant, one of which I have not created in some time…. Can’t let them feel as if I’m not paying any attention to them, can we? Nope…. That would be cruel….

From 7/1/2012:

Fundamentalism: an effective form of mirth control. — Smart Bee

Smart Bee is almost always right on the money, and this one is one you could take to the bank. Have you ever noticed this? It seems that in order to be ordained as a fundamentalist minister, one must lose or destroy their sense of humor. This lack of funny bone is one of the primary characteristics by which one may recognize this fortunately rare beastie; it is often accompanied by a very strong sense of hypocrisy, and a sense of entitlement all out of proportion with Reality….. and they get all upset and frothing at the mouth when someone (like me…) points out their hypocrisy, especially if the proof is obvious.

“I see little divinity about them or you. You talk to me of Christianity when you are in the act of hanging your enemies. Was there ever such blasphemous nonsense!” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), The Devil’s Disciple

This hypocritical nature is shared with the fundies by politicians, bankers, and lawyers. Of course, the fundies dress differently than the latter three categories, who all dress the same, in power suits with white shirt and power ties. You can differentiate one from another by the type of accessories they wear. Politicians usually have an American flag pin on their lapel. Bankers, of course, have a diamond stick pin for their ties. And the lawyers will usually add a vest to the suit, or wear the scales of injustice on their lapel…… Although each claims they are different from the other, all of them are adept at lying with great facility…..

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” — H.L. Mencken

This insight is quite powerful, and very true to Reality. This characteristic of the American voting public has always fascinated me, in the same way that a poisonous snake is fascinating to study…. they’re beautiful, but very dangerous to one’s health. I suppose the public’s calm, even resigned, acceptance of the lies they hear from the beloved ruling class and the priestly hierarchies is a natural outgrowth of the hypocrisy inherent in each of them individually. In other words, because they’ve chosen to believe in a certain set of lies, ie Christianity, they are only too willing to accept being lied to by their ruling class. It’s kind of pathetic, if you ask me….

“Instead of striving to be like Jesus most Christians would rather presume that Jesus was just like them.” — Callan Williams

I guess the most ironic part of all this is the absolute cluelessness of those who choose this path. They really have no idea how insane their beliefs have become; they refuse to look at any evidence that doesn’t agree with what they have chosen to believe, other than those (often erroneous or irrelevant) passages from the Bible that they will toss out with such finality. It cracks me up when someone quotes the Bible; they act as if just referring to that book denies the truth of any other source, like once they have referenced scripture, no other answer is acceptable…. when in fact, what they’ve quoted often has no relation to reality at all. And the colors they turn when this is proven to them are fascinating…..

“I don’t mind being screwed, but the government thinks I’m a nymph.” — Smart Bee

Okay, I’ll stop harassing the poor churchies now. I know it’s dishonorable to have a battle of wits with people who are unarmed, but some days I just can’t help it. I look at all the damage that churches have perpetrated on society, and my blood boils, my brain ignites, and my fingers start typing accusatory dross and ironic drivel, without conscious volition. Besides, they certainly have it coming, and they’ve had lots of practice, at deflecting accusations, and at outright lying about their motivation. So, fuck ’em, as we like to say downtown…. they’ve been doing it to me, and us, for a long time; now it’s my turn….

Man, n.: An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

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I suppose it would be fruitful, not to mention the whole “acting with foresight” thing, if I went back over this, to see if it floats…. “Okay, be right back,” he said with misplaced confidence…

“Well,”, he said with alacrity, “I’d say it will not only float, it will swim…”…. Where it might swim TO is a question I don’t believe any of us have ANY interest in pursuing…. It would serve no purpose for any of us at this juncture to speculate, and might even cause a spontaneous fire…. I think it would be best to just to let it go, and see what transpires….

So be it….. gigoid has spoken…. such as THAT may be.

See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. Even if, like yesterday, only ONE person drops by…. It’s a good thing I’m writing to protect the world, or it might just get me depressed…. Since I write to stay sane, which is the protection I spoke of, it’s no big deal…. Ta, then, luvs…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

A Swift Kick In The Pants, Inc….

Posted on February 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, we’ll deserve every second we experience of mind-numbing, soul-chilling, petrifying terror, because, hey, we’re the ones who left the door wide open, inviting it to enter our domain, bringing with it our ultimate doom…. Yes, it’s our own damn fault, and we will know the truth of the matter, because we have been warned, having previously been given wisdom such as this….

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein

(A bit more powerful a message when combined with the graphic art, isn’t it?….)

This is not new wisdom, that we’ve never before seen or suspected; history has provided us with innumerable instances proving the truth of this particular aphorism….. Time after time throughout our relatively short span of existence on this world, we find nearly innumerable examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue of questionable morality,, and, by their silence, for whatever reason, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all….

It doesn’t make it right, knowing how common a problem it is, but, it is certainly not an uncommon issue for mankind…. Such issues are not, perhaps, of those we are given by Reality, our favorite gifts, …. In fact, many don’t look on this, or any knowledge, as gifts, and THAT is a big part of the entire problem….

Our problem, then, can be seen as a failure of spirit, that has to do with a basic virtue, one that has been claimed as the basis for all other virtues; without this characteristic, none of our finer qualities are ever seen in the light of day…. That pillar upon which all other virtue rests, then, is Courage…. Yes, plain and simple, courage….

I have found, in my fairly long life, that most of mankind are cowards…. Sad to say, but, true nonetheless, since all the evidence is clear…. I say this, as well, knowing I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve tried hard to mitigate, in order to feel I have the right to call myself honorable, and meet my own eyes each morning in the mirror…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; it’s strength, and the way it causes us to lose control frightens us…

However, that is also its saving grace, as the guilt one feels, for having given in to it, can, and does, stimulate us to greater effort, whereupon we can find that courage within ourselves, the next time we are in danger of giving in…. This is how almost everything we do, and have done, of an ethical nature, ever gets done…. because someone discovers they DO have the courage to act when there is danger, moral, ethical, or physical, threatening them, or threatening those for whom they care…..

That is what it takes, you see…. No virtuous act can ever take place, unless good people have the courage to act in the face of the Evil that exists, in spite of the fear they feel in the presence of that Evil. If they don’t summon, or find somewhere with themselves, the courage to act ethically, or morally, if that is needed, then Evil has free rein to let itself out to play in human affairs, to the detriment of us all….

Each of us has to find that courage within ourselves, the courage to put aside our fear, to carry on with what we know to be right, even though expediency and comfort are left behind in such cases…. Living with honor and integrity is never the easiest path we can take; it is always fraught with danger, because it doesn’t avoid evil, because it’s too hard, but, rather, confronts it, endeavoring to deal with it in a straightforward, upright fashion…. thus, preserving one’s own honor, when forced to have truck with what always leaves us feeling a bit dirty….

Now that we have wandered so far afield this morning, I’m not sure what will happen to this Pearl…. Minor ranting isn’t uncommon in the intro, but, I do try to limit it to no more than eight or ten paragraphs, so we don’t take forever to get into just the first section…. a resolution which, this morning, is NOT unfolding according to plan…. Allow me to sum up, and get on with it, if you will…

All of what I wrote above is true and complete, to the best of my knowledge, and constitutes a fairly accurate assessment of today’s situation here on planet Earth…. Evil is out there, and when we… that’s you, and me…. fail to stand up to it, look it in the eye, and tell it to “fuck off, you bloody sod!”, then it will continue to manifest its existence, causing untold pain and suffering for us all…. So, be brave, ffolkes, and don’t let Evil have its way without at least some token resistance, ‘kay?…. ‘Kay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi
_____________________________

Today’s pearl is one that I’ve worked on ahead of time, so, the fact that I’m up later than usual, and got a slow start, won’t have much effect on when it gets posted today…. all in all, a good thing…. It DOES mean that I’m ahead of myself, and need to slow down a little, or I’ll be bumping into myself from behind…. which is not only hard on me, but isn’t so good for the space-time continuum…. I’ve seen some pretty bad cosmic aftershocks from that kind of metaphorical/metaphysical dust-up….

To counteract any possible chance of THAT taking place, (my insurance guy told me I can’t afford ANY more repair bills for space and time…. those metaphysical construction guys charge OUTRAGEOUS prices to fix things!….), this will be an old-school Pearl, attempting to balance out the mini-rant in the intro, and the religirant from the archives in section three…. So, here is a group of fine pearls, fresh and shiny…. just for y’all….

“Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions;… that laws were like cobwebs,–for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Solon, x

(So much for the concept of legislating morality, eh?…. Remember, ffolkes, Solon was the first human to codify and bring order to the concept of the Law, so, he should know…. gigoid….)

“If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?” — Steven Wright

(I wouldn’t…. I’d want everyone to know…. gigoid)

“Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.” — Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in “Time”, 1981

(“Me, too”… gigoid again…. I guess I’m commenting on these pearls…. 🙄 )

“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

(Just as an exercise…. when was the last time you heard a modern politician use a historical basis for anything they are going to do? And, how many of them are aware they are repeating some of history’s most well-recorded cultural patterns with their own actions?…. I can answer both…. the correct number of those of our leaders who either pay attention to the forces and lessons of history, or have any idea of their own part in that, is ZERO…..)

“Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Good point….)

Enjoy the present hour,
Be thankful for the past,
And neither fear nor wish
Th’ approaches of the last.

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

“It’s all in there, don’t y’know?…. All there inside us already…. Happiness, love, serenity, peace, courage, compassion, all are waiting for us to discover them, right there where they have always been, inside us, abiding until we find them again…..” ~~ gigoid the dubious

(This last pearl is one I wrote as the final line for a mild religirant back a couple of years ago…. It is my own first attempt at an aphorism, of any real success, which makes it worth mention…. to me, and, after all, it IS my blog…. gigoid, delving deeply into egoism….)
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In cruising through the archives of past Pearls, I came across this poem, one of my own, (today only, I’ll say it…. “one of my own, of course”….) first posted in October of 2012…. It’s better than I remember it to be, which means I did something right…. It’s also got a lot of ME in it, if you know what I mean…. Enjoy….

Raging at Aging

As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it’s really quite painful, and very, very cold.

The power and strength we felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes, over time since our birth.

As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us, quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by will, to more arcane arts.

Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice;
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.

Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for, ’tis true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.

~~ gigoid ~~

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As noted above, I was reading through some Pearls from a couple years ago, and came across some old rants I’ll be recycling, due to their continuing relevance, as well as because they’re good rants… This one is fairly mild, in all, but does hit the point to made squarely on the head…. Enjoy….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From 12/12/12:

“He who proselytizes in the cause of unbelief is basically a man in need of belief.” — Eric Hoffer

This is true…. you never see an atheist going door to door, trying to convert the pious to their unbelief. However, I would go further on this train of thought, and add that, “He who proselytizes, in any cause, in basically a man in need of a life.” I’m sure it occurred to Mr. Hoffer, but he was too busy trying to explain this statement to somebody who didn’t understand the word ‘proselytize’…..

For my own case, I have never, ever understood why people feel compelled to go door to door to try to get other people to believe what they believe; it’s one of the most persistent delusional systems I’ve ever witnessed, to believe that anyone wants to hear what they have to say, much less they will find their beliefs palatable to others, or find anyone who believes them to be superior to their own…..

“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee

Humans seem to have an immense blind spot when it comes to their own actions and beliefs. Most of them never seem to question the things they are told, even when those things are presented with no evidence other than faith. Of course, the people who are invested in the religious system, to wit: the preachers, begin their indoctrination when their constituents are very young, when they are still prone to accept whatever an adult says as truth.

This ensures a life-long predilection for being simple to control…. or, in short, mental slavery, if you will. Unless there is some sort of rebellion of spirit, where new knowledge is injected, these poor saps will spend their entire lives believing that what they have been told is real, when, in fact, they are fitting themselves with shackles, that will forever imprison their minds, and their imagination…..

“To defend one’s self against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” — James Baldwin

In my life-long quest for the truth, I’ve come to believe that religions, while originally intended to benefit people, (by their iconic progenitors, anyway…. I’m sure Jesus was a quite nice man, and wanted the best for those to whom he preached his own philosophy of compassion….), have historically been taken over by the predators who live to control others.

To be fair, some of those who become priests, or any of the other varieties of religious fanatic that prevail in our society, may indeed believe that their beliefs are true, and act accordingly, but the majority are, as far as I can tell, only concerned with maintaining status quo, thereby benefiting themselves, while never actually allowing any REAL progress in the development of the human condition. They would have society behave as if we were still living in caves, in essence, still cowering in our meager shelter while the storms and lightning are raging outside, terrified of the power of what we do not understand, and, therefore, allow ourselves to fear….

“A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives,
and Nature breeds Perverse,
all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, unutterable and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.”

— Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II

(Side note: I’ll bet Milton had a hard time sleeping….)

The Universe is a big place, and there is a lot to learn. Fearing that knowledge, or fearing what changes that knowing will always bring, is the act of a coward, to my mind, and should not be encouraged. Supernatural beings of unlimited power are not a required component to the understanding of Nature and the Universe; we need not fear that our lack of knowledge of how things work is unattainable. Just because we do not understand a part of reality does not mean that whatever it is, is beyond our understanding.

It is not necessary to ask for exemptions, or intervention by our own personal gods, for us to achieve happiness, or even contentment; that is completely within our own power, if we but acknowledge that part of us that is free, and connected to everything else we can perceive. The connections may not be fully understood, but they are there, and if we can only learn to recognize it, the power to change reality lies within us, all the time…. As Epictetus said, “Happiness lies in learning to accept a simple truth. There are some things you can change. And there are some things you cannot.” It’s really quite that easy, you know, once one learns to accept this fact of life…. No dogma required…..

“If brains were outlawed, nothing would change.” — Smart Bee
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As things turned out, this may be one of my best all-around efforts to date…. Balanced, but with enough lightness of spirit to keep it afloat, I think… Whatever the reason, I’m happy with it, and it’s done, so, hey, we know what that means, don’t we? Yep…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Seven reasons to stop gargling, now….

Posted on February 9, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Intros! We got your intros here! Get ’em while they’re HOT!…..

Hey, boy! Over here!….. Thanks….

Today, I decided to forgo the usual struggle for introductory material, and move right ahead to purchasing one from the local vendor, who hawks them on the corner every day…. I know the boy well; his mother is ill, and he works all the time to support his seven little brothers and sisters…. I like to help him out because, hey, he’s only five, and it must be tough to bed the eldest at his tender age; it’s pretty young to have to be responsible for the whole family….

What’s that? Oh, the number of siblings? Oh, yeah, I guess that could be confusing, couldn’t it…. No worries, it’s not as strange as it sounds…. Yes, he has seven siblings, and he’s the oldest, at five…. That’s two sets of triplets (one boys, one girls…) and one last little girl, to even out the score in the family…. all born about 13 months apart, before the father was killed in an accident at work…. (He fell into a vat of boiling hot caramel at the Mars factory….) The insurance, while almost adequate, isn’t enough to make it comfortable for them, so he works, as any good son would do for his family… He can use all the help he can get, so I like to pick up one of their intro’s (the triplet girls write them….), even if I don’t use it right away, like today….

Damn! You know what I just did, right? I’m writing an intro, about another intro, talking about intros, while holding on to an intro that was written by innocent hands….. This, with its insidiously tenuous connection to reality could be dangerous to the health and well-being of the space/time continuum as we know it…. To stretch the boundaries of reality to such an extent can cause unknown stress fractures to appear in strange places, and at strange times….. It can cause reality to become unstable, at best, or, if left to itself too long, can cause actual holes in the fabric of time and space, through which nasty creatures from other dimensions can creep over into ours, and cause a lot of problems until they’re caught and sent home…. Hey, what did YOU think those cats were staring at over in the corner?….

Since we don’t want any of that to happen today (I’m short on funds, and can’t afford the charges from the Green Lantern League to put things right after such an episode…. Blast it, I remember when superheros would work for free!….) But, nonetheless, that’s how we’ll have to go today, because the old bank account isn’t going to stand up to that kind of stress…. What we’ll do now is a bit hard to define, because, in these situations, we have to fall back on an emergency method to get us out of here without further damage…. We’ll go with #4, which, in spite of its brevity, and lack of style, continues to work the best…. but, then, Denial has always been one of mankind’s favorite tools….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 19
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Today’s Pearl, I’m thinking, is one that will someday be destined to be known as “that one”….. So be it….. I’m using an older religirant in section 3 today, because I can, and because I like it…. So, this section, naturally, will be an old-school pearl, but not a random harlequin…. Smart Bee keeps giving me good pearls about the BRC and their ilk, so, we’ll go with what we’re given, this time….

“Still one more thing, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal government, which shall refrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), inaugural address, 1801

“The white man is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land what he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.” — Chief Seattle in a letter to President Franklin Pierce in 1855

“The first measure of a free society is *not* that its government performs the will of the majority. We had that in 1930s Germany and in the South until the ’60s. The *first* measure of a free society is that its government protects the just freedoms of its minorities. The *majority* is quite capable of protecting itself.” — Jim Warren

“What good is it to me, after all, if there is an authority always busy to see to the tranquil enjoyment of my pleasures and going ahead to brush all dangers away from my path without giving me even the trouble to think about it, if that authority, which protects me from the smallest thorns on my journey, is also the absolute master of my liberty and of my life?” — Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), Democracy in America

“A government solution to a problem is always followed by the creation of at least two additional problems, either of which was worse than the original problem which the government set out to solve.” — Smart Bee

“And, after all, it is the 200th anniversary of the presidency. That’s something to celebrate. From George to George — in only 200 years, we’ve gone from “I cannot tell a lie” to “I cannot tell.” — A. Whitney Brown, “Weekend Update,” Saturday Night Live

“Give me the mind of a child of 4 and he’ll be mine for life” — Adolf Hitler
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Since the two other sections are somewhat somber in nature, I thought a bit of whimsy would go over well….. Enjoy!….

There Once Was A Fellow Named Nash – A Limerick Ode To Ogden Nash

There once was a fellow named Nash
He could write funny poems in a flash
But some of the time
The truth of the rhyme
Could give the poor subject a rash!

~~ Randy Imwalle ~~

I Do, I Will, I Have

How wise I am to have instructed the butler
to instruct the first footman to instruct the second
footman to instruct the doorman to order my carriage;
I am about to volunteer a definition of marriage.

Just as I know that there are two Hagens, Walter and Copen,
I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered
into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut and a
woman who can’t sleep with the window open.

Moreover, just as I am unsure of the difference between
flora and fauna and flotsam and jetsam,
I am quite sure that marriage is the alliance of two people
one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other never forgetsam,

And he refuses to believe there is a leak in the water pipe or
the gas pipe and she is convinced she is about to asphyxiate or drown,
And she says Quick get up and get my hairbrushes off the
windowsill, it’s raining in, and he replies Oh they’re all right, it’s only raining straight down.

That is why marriage is so much more interesting than divorce,
Because it’s the only known example of the happy meeting of
the immovable object and the irresistible force.
So I hope husbands and wives will continue to debate and
combat over everything debatable and combatable,
Because I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life, particularly if he has income and she is pattable.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

This is a pearl from February of 2013:

“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Hmm…. Frank’s take on matters are such that I generally find myself in complete agreement with what he says. Here, he has again put his finger on one of the more obvious facets of Christianity, one that defies all logical explanation in lieu of subservient belief, to wit: faith vs. knowledge, and the Christian’s unfortunate tendency to embrace the former, without any appeal to the latter….. To my way of thinking, that is not only foolish, but cowardly….. but, perhaps, that’s just me….

The fruit of the tree of knowledge gives mankind the go-ahead to use the brain with which we were furnished at birth; the preachers would have us abrogate that use, having us, instead, give over all our power of belief into the hands of the faithful, who, naturally, have only our best interests at heart….. Sure they do…. NOT. I’m sorry, but, no matter how many times these folks say so, I am not going to accept that they know better than I what is best for me…. Nope, not even if there were twenty Bibles out there, all proclaiming how true they are…. Oh wait, there are twenty of them, aren’t there?…. Oh, well, you know what I meant….

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe in the sacramental wine…. Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval….. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving idiocy, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguidedly so, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs. I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect, so I will move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you. In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that area than do the non-believers, which only makes sense…. The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

Basic human nature dictates these responses in people; thus, one can see how dangerous it is to remain ignorant, in the Biblical sense. Those who choose to buy into the myth of the Garden of Eden, giving up all their personal independence of mind for the comfort and safety of dogma, will always fail to act according to their own morality much of the time, generally acting, instead, out of their sense of entitlement, and the belief that all of their sins will be forgiven, merely by the act of confessing them. Only those who consciously choose their moral code have the courage to act it out, it seems, except for those few people who actually try to live according to the morality that is espoused, and is seldom embraced by their less ethical peers.

Having the strength of mind to make one’s own moral code also implies the courage to act it out…. This is why I choose to deny the dogma I’ve been exposed to all my life, as being illogical, and, ultimately, immoral…. It makes more sense to me to make my own decisions on such matters, and tell the busybodies who assume they know best for all to go jump in a lake…. Even better, just shut the hell up, and get out of the way, so the rest of us can get something relevant done, without having to put up with all the nonsense from that quarter….

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe

Note from 2014: Since the validity of the above remains strong, I leave you with the following pearl, to finish off this discussion with the proper tone of accusation, and indictment, of those guilty of this sort of crime against humanity….

“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breeds pride and arrogance.” — Eric Hoffer
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“The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.” — Assyrian Stone Tablet, c.2800BC

4814 years….. That’s how long it has been since that tablet was written…. One wonders, at times, just how much credence there is to the idea that strong forces in history will somehow have been felt long before they came to fruition…. How else to explain the proven cases of accurate precognition that are found throughout our species’ short span on Earth? This tablet could have been printed yesterday, and would be no less valid than it was over 4500 years ago….. That is, to me, pretty damn scary, and not terribly encouraging…. Of course, I’m a worry-wart, so…. Y’all stay cool, ffolkes, & I’ll see you tomorrow….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Manifest destiny has been a persistent delusion…..

Posted on December 19, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

You’ll have to (grunt…wheeze….) excuse the mess around here this, (oof…) morning; we had an incident during the night. Look out! Duck! Whew! That one almost got ya! Sorry ’bout that, I thought we’d gotten all of them, but, them little suckers is tricky, they is….(Snap! A fresh plastic garbage bag is unfurled for use….) What? What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m cleaning up after an attack by creatures of the night; what does it look like I’m doing? (Picks up a full garbage bag, dumps it out the window….) They showed up about 3:30 AM, when they knew I’d be asleep (damn, I just realized…. Now I’ll have to start randomizing my sleep patterns, if they’re going to be watching me again….), and tried to bust through the front door…..

It was touch and go at first; I admit it, we were caught off guard, almost enough to have lost the day, were it not for a bit of luck…. I swear, I was never so glad to see a vampire hunter as I was this morning….. I’ll also have to remember to ask him just why he so conveniently showed up here at that moment in time…. it seems a bit of a coincidence, but, we’ll see…. This one at least doesn’t have the look of a council lackey about him, nor does he stink of money…. and he was an adept killer, so, I’ll listen to him, to see how these “coincidences” happened to come together so “conveniently”….

Well, I’d ask him, if he were really here, or if I were interested in carrying on with this beginning to a story, but….. it was mostly just an exercise, to get the juices flowing, to pull y’all into the web of my interest, and hold you here while I worked my wiles upon your unsuspecting minds…. Is it working? God, I hope so…. something has to work! I’m getting pretty tired of meandering and blathering every morning, and the occasional outburst of actual fictional writing is too occasional to count on each day. I’d find and stick to a template, but, that never has worked very well for me… it works okay for the closing lines, but, here at the start, I need more…

Exactly what that ‘more’ might be remains a mystery to me, and therefore, to you as well…. I know, it’s probably just as hard on y’all as it is on me, but, I really don’t see how, as I suffer a daily dose of fear, followed by panic, followed by an outburst of writing, followed by depression…. Well, no, that’s not accurate, either…. it’s not that simple, nor that straight-forward…. In fact, I’m not sure just WHAT it is, which is probably the root of the whole issue…. If I knew what should be here, then I’d put it here… As it is, I have to conduct a search each morning, and never know just what might happen…. Fun, at times, but mostly just a worry for me, until it’s done…

Why, look, I do believe it’s done again! How ’bout that? Here I was, all worried and full of angst, and I was getting it done the whole time…. Golly Gee, Mr. Wizard! That was fun! Can we do it again? No? But,….. oh, okay, we’ll just go on to today’s effort, and forget about the intro…. damn things, always giving me fits…. pshaw!

Shall we Pearl?…..

Hompu’wIj ghorlaH ‘oy’naQpu’ je naghpu’ ‘ach jiH mu’oy’laHbe’pongpu’ — Klingon phrase, roughly translated as: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.’ — Smart Bee
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I wasn’t going to rant today, again, because I just don’t feel the correct degree of outrage to do it justice…. more’s the pity…. because they’re still at it out there in the world of politics, confusing the art of being an asshole with the governing process, and getting the dirt all over the rest of us…. I found this article, and it gave me a quote I couldn’t resist using… it will appear below the link, which leads to the article in it’s entirety….

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/12/17/silicon-valley-tech-leaders-to-obama-aggressively-reform-nsa/

“Today, the President and the Vice President met with executives from leading tech companies in the Roosevelt Room. The group discussed a number of issues of shared importance to the federal government and the tech sector, including the progress being made to improve performance and capacity issues with HeathCare.Gov. The President also announced that Kurt DelBene, who most recently served as president of the Microsoft Office Division, will succeed Jeff Zients as Senior Advisor to Secretary Sebelius who will lead our ongoing efforts to improve HealthCare.gov and the Health Insurance Marketplace starting this Wednesday. The group discussed the challenges surround federal IT procurement. The President made clear his continued focus on improving the way we deliver technology to maximize innovation, efficiency and customer service, and encouraged the CEOs to continue to share their ideas on how to do so. Finally, the group discussed the national security and economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures. This was an opportunity for the President to hear from CEOs directly as we near completion of our review of signals intelligence programs, building on the feedback we’ve received from the private sector in recent weeks and months. The President made clear his belief in an open, free, and innovative internet and listened to the group’s concerns and recommendations, and made clear that we will consider their input as well as the input of other outside stakeholders as we finalize our review of signals intelligence programs ”

This statement, the official press release by the White House in response to the meeting with the CEOs of the tech giants, disturbs me intensely, in many ways… as did the statement by the giant tech companies in a joint announcement of purpose, to wit: “We appreciated the opportunity to share directly with the President our principles on government surveillance that we released last week and we urge him to move aggressively on reform.”

Have you ever heard two more self-serving, mealy-mouthed, cowardly statements? These words were, supposedly, the best they could come up with, to discuss the most controversial issue that has been addressed in the past year? The White House’s statement is a masterful eye-fuck, that says NOTHING…. including the grammatical error created by a misspelling. It said NOTHING significant regarding the security breaches, not even to deny wrongdoing…. they pretty effectively ignored the whole question put to them, with one minor throwaway statement at the last line, that their “input” would be “considered”, after the President “listened to the group’s concerns”, along with the input of “outside stakeholders”…..

That last phrase is the most disturbing…. WHO are they referring to when they say “outside stakeholders”…. Does that refer to other countries, and the spying they’ve been doing on their leaders? Or is that US, the American public, on whom they’ve continued to spy and mine data, despite the obvious concerns the public has over this…. Are WE the ‘outside stakeholders’?….. Oh, right, we’re supposed to be soothed and reassured by their insistence that they are performing a “review of signals intelligence programs”…. Sure they are…. they’re also grooming that herd of pigs to fly, probably planning to have them take off from the White House lawn, I suppose….

These tech “giants” did NOT act in our best interests by making such a namby-pamby statement of purpose; they should have played hard ball with Obama…. but, he figures he’s got them over a barrel, because all he has to do is reveal how much those same companies have been cooperating with all the illegal, unconstitutional activities being carried on by our government, giving up the data before they were even asked to do so…. They only started making noise AFTER Mr. Snowden released all the stuff that is so embarrassing to the talking heads….

Yesterday, I mentioned how those who live life with less than the average amount of IQ points have a tendency to throw out the facts when they don’t fit the theory they favor…. and this is a perfect example of it…. The politicians in Washington aren’t mad because they were breaking the law; they’re mad because they got caught at it. They’re also still doing it, in spite of all the obvious disapproval from the public….They KNOW we don’t want them to do it, but,they know what is best for us, right? They believe that, so they just go on ignoring the Constitution, and taking away more and more of the civil rights we have heretofore enjoyed….. because nobody is stopping them, ffolkes….. We are, as I’ve said before, going to hell in a hand basket, and we have no one but ourselves to blame for it….

“Man is not disturbed about things, but by his opinion about things.” — Epictetus
_____________________________

This poem has long been one of my favorites, as it states exactly how I feel about the subject of discussion, i.e., honor, or, as they say in England, honour…. As with any true classical poem, no further adornment is necessary….

To Lucasta, Going To The Wars

Tell me not (Sweet) I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee (Dear) so much,
Lov’d I not Honour more.

~~ Richard Lovelace ~~

_____________________________

Today’s rant, above the poem, got me going pretty good; I’m still full of the angst needed to pull it off with passion…. It just pisses me off SO MUCH when these people ABUSE the power that we give them when we elect them… It also pisses me off that we continue to elect them, time after time, when it has become so patently clear that NONE of them have our interests at heart…. NONE of them.

They’re all pursuing some personal agenda, often one that is only acceptable to a tiny portion of the public, but they don’t care, as long as they can continue to rob the public treasury at will, and not have to suffer any significant consequences for lying in public, for cheating their constituents, or for actively harming their own people…. In fact, they often get rewarded for just those things….

I’m so incensed at this point, I want to bite one of them…. which is always a good sign, telling me it’s time to start gathering pearls for an old-school format, to give me the space to pull myself down from the heights of black, hot, anger, back into the lower, calmer realms of cool reason…. Let’s see if Smart Bee can find something to ease me through this emotional crisis, once again….

“The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” — Cicero

“Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.” — Rousseau

“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” — H. L. Mencken

“Believing ourselves to be possessors of absolute truth degrades us: we regard every person whose way of thinking is different from ours as a monster and a threat and by so doing turn our own selves into monsters and threats to our fellows.” — Octavio Paz

“One of the most perverse things about the universe is that it doesn’t care what you believe.” — Smart Bee

The Journey is the Reward,
Not the Destination.

— Zen Koan

You gotta love when a plan comes together…. If, after considering the wisdom entailed in the first six aphorisms, you consider the last koan as an answer to the question, “How do I live a happy life?”, all will be well in your world, as it will be in mine…. Well, the odds are improved, at the very least….
_____________________________

Well, that was something of an ordeal…. let’s see how it turned out today…. I am reluctant, at this point, to make any hard and fast judgments as to quality, but, I can definitely pronounce this as done…. or finished, or whatever concluding description you’d care to use…. The point is, I’m done with it, so, it’s done…. See ya tomorrow…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

The cost of implementing the Rules for Sanitary Operation are included in the quoted price…..

Posted on November 20, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Although my fear of the blank white screen is no longer as debilitating as it was in the past, I still feel some pangs on mornings such as this, when I awake, fully rested, but with a mind as foggy as a San Francisco summer’s day….. So far, my daily dose of coffee is working, albeit slowly, and I should probably wait to begin…. In fact, I will… I’ll be right back…

There, that’s a bit better…. Not so much on my mind, so to speak, after a session of worship at the porcelain throne…. 😉 If that isn’t delicate enough for you, well, my apologies, and here are the directions to Disney World…. It’s the best you’ll get today, around here, anyway…. I’m not in the best of moods, I guess, so I’ll apologize in advance for any curmudgeonly statements, or rough language you may encounter today….. Not that I really give a shit whether or not you’re offended…. Most of the time, I’m TRYING to offend people, to stimulate some kind of reaction…. But, today, given my fogginess, and my incipient gruffness, which is struggling to break free and dump on somebody, well, it’s probably for the best to tender my regrets ahead of any potential issues….

Now that we have that out of the way, what shall we do for an encore? It shouldn’t be too hard to top the above two paragraphs, ensconced as they are in such mundane mediocrity…. Hell, I could have done as well while still on the throne…. But, protocol calls for some kind of chatty discussion of future events at this juncture, and protocols MUST be followed, or chaos ensues…. Hmm…. Chaos, eh? That actually sounds like fun; maybe we should try…. No, no, that’s being indulgent, and liable to lead us all into places we can’t easily back out of…. especially around here, where there are so many forces of nature just bursting with anticipation of being allowed to jump and dump on some unsuspecting visitor…. No, we’ll leave the chaos for another day….

But, since we’re not going to head down that path, where should we go? I’m at somewhat of a loss, having already handed over the reins of responsibility for how this turns out, placing it firmly in the hands of the Gentle Readership, back there in paragraph 3…. Didn’t you notice? I did, for sure, as it makes it easier on me, not having to make those decisions while my brain is still functioning at around 40% efficiency….. Maybe AFTER my first cup is down, I’d be able to make such decisions with alacrity, but, for now, I’m leaving it up to y’all…. Oh, wait….

I just realized I can’t do that…. I have to finish the Pearl FIRST, then post, and only then can the Gentle Readers tell me what THEY think…. No way to get that input at this point in the process…. Oh well, I tried… Since it is now back in my court to decide what to do, I’m going to go limp on y’all…. Cosmic judo, so to speak…. I see that I’ve managed, again, to wander around without any visible purpose for almost five paragraphs…… and THAT is a legal intro, ffolkes, by every legal requirement that exists….. That means I can be done with this, and go find some other kind of trouble to cause…. Yay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 7
_____________________________

You can’t blame me for this one…. Below you’ll find a seven-star pearl, but I didn’t put it together…. Each of the following quotations picked itself; I didn’t want ANY of them, but, when I went to paste, there they were…. When Smart Bee does that, I’m helpless to make any changes; I’ve tried in the past, and it just doesn’t work out…. So, I’ve learned to just let them be, let say what they’re going to say, and get on with the rest of the Pearl…. Such is the case today… For the life of me, I’m having trouble figuring out what the point(s) is/are for this, but, as I said, it wasn’t up to me to decide, so…. just deal with it, okay? We’ll go on as soon as y’all are done….

“As Meander says, “For our mind is God;” and as Heraclitus, “Man’s genius is a deity.”” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Platonic Questions, i

“The treacherous are ever distrustful.” — Gandalf

“And Man said: ‘Let there be God,’ and there was God!” –Smart Bee

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

“Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.” — Eric Hoffer

“A lie isn’t a lie if it’s in reply to a question the questioner has no right to ask.” — Rex Stout

“The purpose is to identify not with the body which is falling away, but with the consciousness of which it is a vehicle. This is something I learned from my myths. Am I the bulb that carries the light, or am I the light of which the bulb is the vehicle? If you can identify with consciousness, you can watch this thing go like an old car. There goes a fender, etc. But it’s expected; and then gradually the whole thing drops off and consciousness rejoins consciousness. I live with these myths — and they tell me to do this, to identify with the Christ or the Shiva in me. And that doesn’t die, it resurrects. It is an essential experience of any mystical realization that you die in your flesh and are born to your spirit. You identify with the consciousness in life — and that is the god.” — Joseph Campbell

Okay, so, I can sort of see where it’s going, or where it went…. which isn’t too bad, considering…. In the interests of time-management, we’ll STILL go on….
_____________________________

This poem is a contribution from milady Patricia, my partner, my roomie, my current love…. It was written by the father of her son, in days gone by…. I think it’s lovely, and hope you enjoy it, as well….

Woman of the Night

Soft dawn
Summer light on snowy skin
Her presence, her body
warm as ocean sand and salty air,
Hard night
Winter moon caught in infinite eyes
We share the warmth, physical love.
For her winter eyes
lure her lovers
into the indifferent labyrinths
under her star-white flesh,
And she leaves them
Quickly as twilight’s slipping softly away
from a seagull’s pleading cry
echoing in the still Sierra vastness.

~~ Ryan Miller ~~

_____________________________

Below you’ll find a short, but concise, religirant, another blast from the past, as I continue to mine my archives for material I can use today, to save me a bit of time, and mental energy, which I can always use to decide where I’m going for my next trip to…. ANYWHERE!…. Any who, all personal idiosyncrasies aside, this one is pretty good, I think, so pay attention, if you please, and take heed of what it says, for it is good advice, if naught else….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From April 27, 2012

“He that doubteth is damned.” — Romans 14:23

It took a while, but it was worth the time spent searching…. This is a perfect example of how, if we let them, all those folks who would have us believe that the Bible, (or any other sacred books inspired by alleged supernatural entities), is a direct line of information from God, will go to almost any lengths, trying to trick us into doing exactly what that book tells us to do. In this case, they apply both guilt and fear of retribution in the next life if we question any of what we are told by that book, or any of what we are taught by those who hold it as truth….

I have previously written here as to the value that Doubt possesses, in the bag of tools people have to get by in this complex, confusing universe we inhabit. It is our only defense against information or events that can cause, or even intend, us harm, rather than good; such information invariably is given to us by other people, whose only intent in doing so is to achieve some sort of power or control over us. I don’t think this is a particularly hard concept to understand; its proof lies in almost every interaction we have when faced with organized religions. Anyone who has studied the psychology of humans can point out the techniques of behavioral modification used by the religious hierarchies to assert their will upon the public….

The above short little warning/threat, drawn directly from the Christian Bible, (Old Testament, if memory serves….), implies that anyone who does not bend over in submission to its decree will spend eternity in Hell. Hmm, a bit harsh, don’t you think? For merely entertaining a question regarding the accuracy of a concept presented, one with no evidence that proves its reliability? The Universe at large presents us with such false information regularly; anyone who doesn’t learn caution in such instances is liable for the consequences, which can be severe, such as in the case of being confronted by an apparently friendly, but in reality, rabid dog. Rabies is no picnic, from all reports, so, Doubt, used as a tool in such instances, is very appropriate, patently a valuable one.

However, in the minds of the folks who are selling faith-based products, Doubt is the last thing they want people to have in mind when considering what they say. It tends to cause their arguments to fall apart right in front of their eyes, and they cannot make the sale that way. If they can’t convince people to accept what they say without questioning it, their entire house of cards will come tumbling down around their ears, and they would have to give up all those nice little perks that go along with having everyone believe everything they say, like having poor people willingly give up 10% of their earnings in tithe, or getting to reside, with no rent, in a house built by the labor of others…. Did you think they would give that up easily?…. Well, then you’ve lost your strongest ally against such degradations to your sensibilities…. a healthy sense of Doubt….

“Fear not, for I have given you authority to do so.” — Smart Bee, via some random preacher’s King James version….
_____________________________

I suppose it is no big surprise that I should be done already this morning…. Having utilized a poem from home, already done, and something from the archives, putting the rest of this Pearl together wasn’t bound to take up a lot of time, unless I really, really tried to procrastinate heavily…. which, fortunately, I didn’t…. I could have, but, what would be the point? It’s MY blog, so procrastinating only harms ME, and I haven’t reached the point of self-abuse for fun, or even for profit, since there is none to be had for that….. SIGH…. blather… It’s a bane, and a gift, I suppose…. Let’s see how this all holds up under scrutiny….

I should have known…. Every time I create a Pearl without using any forethought as to direction, it seems to end up as a pretty good Pearl…. I’m not sure I even WANT to know what that means, either about me, or about the Pearls…. I guess that’s why it was extra smart of me to call them Virtual Wisdom, rather than insisting on people taking them for real wisdom…. Whatever it was, this one will do, so…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Tarzan is refusing to wear the tuxedo, Jane….

Posted on October 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Bugger it…. I’m giving up, sort of…. I’m awake, again, with beau coups energy, safely silly yet potently real subject all picked out, and ample supplies of outrage at hand, all ready to rant…. whereupon I find myself, instead, staring at a blank page, trembling in fear, and wondering how in hell I’m going to pull this one out of the fire. I had a nice, controversial subject all ready to rant on, but, somehow, it broke down about four paragraphs in, and I can’t seem to find my way back to stable enough ground from which to fire my weapons; sarcasm must be accurately aimed, or it is useless…. So, I figure I’ll go start the intro, and what happens? Frozen brain! Stare as I might, nothing pops, and the moment of potentiality stretches into infinity, with me sweating, grunting, pulling my hair, and generally turning into a puddle of angst under my chair….

I had thought I’d outgrown this; it’s been months since I’ve been hampered by this kind of freeze-up, and, needless to say, I’m not happy about it….. I’m so damn frustrated, I’m not sure yet whether to apply an emergency method to get past this, or just have faith, and hope it will straighten itself out (a method of problem solving familiar to any Windows user…) …. Not being terribly adept at that part (having faith without evidence, and hoping for a magic bullet…), I suppose I’ll have to resort to an emergency procedure…. I hate that, as they tend to cause as much damage as they fix, but, if nothing else happens in the next few moments, we’ll find ourselves with no choice in the matter…. There ARE legal standards for safety that must be observed, you know….

Those safety standards are challenged by the procedures that may be employed, however, (that’s why they call them “emergency” procedures….), so, maybe we’ll just wait a few moments here, and see what happens…. I’m going to look away for a couple of seconds, and see what it’s like when I get back, okay?…. Okay….. Hang tight…. ‘Kay, I’m back…. let’s see where we are now….

“Cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.” — Samuel Johnson

You know, sometimes, I’m just not sure how to take Smart Bee…. Times such as this, it seems as if it is laughing at us, at the very least….. Then, I remember, it’s just a software program….. Theoretically, and experientially, it is not sentient; therefore, it cannot laugh at us…. But, dammit, they’re not here, listening, and feeling the sense of shame that having a damn database make fun of them produces, are they?…. No, they’re not, so they should just shut the hell UP!….

Uh oh, I may have tripped over into emergency procedure #2 accidentally….. That’s the one where I just let my frustration take over, turning me into a cursing, offensive caricature of those folks I am currently trashing, hurling insults and deprecations with both hands, and generally making an ass of myself, in order to offer some contrast to the normally serene atmosphere that is generally in place here at ECR…. It’s all in good fun, though, and it should be remembered that none of what may be said here is acceptable in court, as it is all fictional, technically…. Even when we speak of reality, it should be noted that by doing so, we remove ourselves at least two degrees from that reality, and thus have no real claim on its structure, or direction….

Nor, apparently, do we have any further claim to anything beyond the merely insane…. I’m babbling, aren’t I? It’s a shame, I know, but, it’s my gift, and it must be acknowledged, or problems can develop in the space-time continuum that aren’t amenable to the usual types of repair…. In other words, it’s best if we all just back away slowly now, and let this proceed as it will… Any further attempts at directing today’s process will certainly meet with not just resistance, but outright rebellion, so, ffolkes, do us all a favor, and don’t touch anything until the vehicle comes to a complete stop, and I have turned off the seat belt signs…. Thanks….

“My life is a patio of fun!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” — Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

Can you think of a better description for the idiots in Congress who, thanks to their asinine insistence on having their own way, have stubbornly carried their conviction of rightness right up to the edge of Stupid, pushed it over, then jumped after it?…. I can’t…. These assholes are becoming more than just a little annoying with their undeserved sense of entitlement, and their completely misplaced elitism. In one way, I’m a bit encouraged, because this all seems like a swan song to me…. these fools have so alienated the majority of people in this country, they have sealed their fate, and I think we can consider this little glitch in things to be their last hurrah as a political force….

So far as I can tell from the news I read, the only people who continue to support these fools is themselves…. Nobody else in society is behind them, all the rest of us having become increasingly tired of the rhetoric and fanfare that accompanies all the issues these fools take up as part of their platform…. They have built their entire program on fear, and lies, producing the only result possible, to wit: more fear, and more lies…. We now see the natural result, as more and more mainstream voters recoil in disgust at the intransigence and intolerance these people have displayed. They just don’t seem to have a clue as to how out of touch with reality they are, and it is becoming increasingly obvious to the rest of society just how much their attitudes are causing trouble for all of us….

So, in that way, I am hopeful, that this entire shutdown of the government will be the straw that breaks the back of the Republican Party, and it can go the way of the Whigs, the Tories, and the dodo bird…. into extinction, where it belongs…. Hopefully, it will do so without dragging the rest of us along with them…. Oh, they’ll try; misery loves company…. But, I think, this time, they’re on their own, and they can sink into oblivion all by themselves, thank you very much….

As I just proved above, in the intro section, today’s effort is liable, at any moment, to turn on us, and become somewhat dangerous to handle without the proper equipment…. For example, this rant is now going to completely reverse direction, 180 degrees, and head off into the realm of intellectual stimulation, rather than the emotional stimulation that is the usual target for such pieces….. I’m too strange today to be logical, or organized, so, we’re going to switch horses in mid-stream, and take our shots with an old-school weapon, i.e., strangely apt sarcasm, instead of the relatively new-fangled bludgeon which comprises a proper rant…. So be it….

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

“The reported resort to astrology in the White House has occasioned much merriment. It is not funny. Astrological gibberish, which means astrology generally, has no place in a newspaper, let alone government. Unlike comics, which are part of a newspaper’s harmless pleasure and make no truth claims, astrology is a fraud. The idea that it gets a hearing in government is dismaying.” — George F. Will, Washing Post Writers Group

“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell

“Why won’t sharks eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.” — Smart Bee

“You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.” — Aristophanes c. 450-385 BC, Knights [424 BC] l. 217

“The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. But the stupid man will just lie down on some seaweed and roll around until he’s completely draped in it. Then he’ll stand up and go, “Hey, I’m Vine Man.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

(Remind y’all of anyone? Someone in a blue suit, ruthlessly knotted red tie, with a cross for a tie-pin, a flag pin on the lapel, and a dumb expression?…. Oh come on, ffolkes… This little description could apply to ANY of the Tea Party Retardicans in the House of Representatives, and y’all know it…. Hell, I’ve heard Paul Ryan claim common ancestry with Vine Man, in more than one of his speeches…. )

“The art of leadership. . . consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention. . . .” — Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf”

(Keeping the attention of the public on the manufactured enemy is essential, because then they will not be looking at the true enemy, the leaders….)

“Any statistic that can be found which is interesting can be credited to the fact that this particular statistic is a mistake. If it is not a mistake, it is a misprint, and if it is not a misprint, it is unlawful release of classified information.” — Policy & Procedure Manual, National Security Administration, US Department of Shady Ethical Rationalizations

Just in case you hadn’t heard…. Monday, when the US government shut down, the NSA proudly, and perkily, announced that this week is National Cyber Security Awareness Week! (It’s true! I didn’t make it up….) Thought you might want to know….
_____________________________

After such a beginning, and such a weird first section, I need something that can only be described as wonderful…. This works…. Powerful, there’s another word that works…

How Many Moments Must(Amazing Each]

how many moments must(amazing each
how many centuries)these more than eyes
restroll and stroll some never deepening beach

locked in feverish time’s tide at poise,

love alone understands: only for whom
i’ll keep my tryst until that tide shall turn;
and from all selfsubtracting hugely doom
treasures of reeking innocence are born.

Then, with incredible the anywhere
eclipsing of a spirit’s ignorance
by every wisdom knowledge fears to dare,

how the(myself’s own self who’s)child will dance!

and when he’s plucked such mysteries as men
do not conceive– let ocean grow again.

~~ E.E. Cummings ~~

_____________________________

It’s been a strange morning, but, then, I have to go to the dentist later, and that always weirds me out, trying NOT to think about it…. In fact, I’m so weirded out about it today, I’m going to go with a completely random pearl, picked entirely at the whim of Smart Bee, just because I have no further mental energy, of a focused nature, to spare for it…. Hope it works out okay…. remember to hold your breath until the oxygenating drugs start to work…. Last time, we had to stop the bus, and proceed directly to the emergency exits….

“If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.” — Bix Bender

“There exists in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom.” — Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805-1859)

“It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.” — Eric Hoffer

“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we should dance.” — Smart Bee

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

“I’m a solipsist and, I have to say, I’m surprised there aren’t more of us.” — from a letter to Bertrand Russell

“The old proverb was now made good, “the mountain had brought forth a mouse.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Agesilaus II
_____________________________

On at least two occasions this morning, the effort to complete this process has nearly resulted in the use of emergency procedures, and that trend, I see, continued right up to the very last entry in section three, just above…. But, the necessity for such drastic action was mitigated at the very last second, by a final find in Smart Bee that put the entire piece into perspective…. That quote was placed where it belongs, in section one, and the whole shebang fell into balance… but, you’re no doubt severely disinterested in my occasionally elusive, but ever so-sincere gestalt. Suffice to say, it’s done…. On that note, I’ll bid thee adieu….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Baldly factual assertions, drying in the wind….

Posted on September 22, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday’s outburst, one would think, would have been enough to soothe the urge to rant that comes over me at the reading of these reports on the idiocy prevalent among the elected glitterati in this country. The amount of sheer stupidity, of outright deliberate denial of facts in favor of paranoid delusions, the display of asininity and selfish, avaricious cupidity that has been reported in the news, JUST in the House of Representatives over the last two weeks, is enough to weigh upon anyone with a brain, much less a sensitive, patriotic minded fool such as myself. It is seriously painful to observe the degree of idiocy the Retardican Party has tapped into of late, while trying to justify their racism and bigotry, which they typically try to disguise as concern over what should be non-issues….

Obviously, as indicated by the tone and content of the first paragraph, all of that rant didn’t get put down on screen yesterday, and it continues to burn a hole in the bag I’m holding it in, demanding to be put out into the light of day, where it can scream epithets and derogatory statements about relatives at the idiots who keep assaulting all of us with their intransigent asininity.

I mean, are these fools living in a different world than the rest of us? Can they not see the same evidence that the rest of us see? Can they continue to deny reality in the face of all the opposition that has been generated against them by just about every other demographic category in existence? I often wonder how many of these seemingly obvious questions, so obvious they are really rhetorical in nature, can be answered with a yes, when describing the current crop of Tea Party-supported fools in the Retardican Party…. you know, the idiots causing all the trouble in society right now, with their blind, fascistic insistence on opposing any and all reforms proposed by a black man, whose very existence as POTUS is a fact they are unable to accept….

I ask you this…. How long is the rest of this country, consisting of people like me, who believe in the true American Dream, a group that includes more than merely the White, Christian sub-group as its proponents, a Dream which acknowledges the diversity that actually exists in Reality, of Whites, Blacks, Browns, Greens, Purples, Rainbows, Latinos, Asians, LGBT’s, women, and everyone else the Tea Party would like to believe isn’t entitled to participate in their delusion…. How long are we going to allow these ASSHOLES to continue to try to force their vision on everyone else?

These people, as policy, lie, and cheat, and will resort to almost any act, no matter how egregiously immoral, to keep things as they want them to be, where their desires and entitlements are the only ones allowed. This has been proven by historical fact, and continues now, as they keep attempting to legislate morality, change congressional voting districts to favor themselves, and generally do anything they can to keep the rest of the people in this country from achieving any real societal diversity….

Hmm… I seem to have let this get away from me again, but, it just pisses me off so much when I look at the news each day, and see another example of how the ignorance and bigotry of the right-wing Retardicans is being shoved into the face of American politics, with the concomitant splatters of shit flying everywhere…. Their intransigent stupidity, and arrogance, is getting very old to me, and, I’m sure, to a lot of other people, and I wish to hell they’d just crawl back in their holes, and leave everyone else alone…. Not to mention shutting the hell UP!….

But, they won’t, so we will have to continue to put up with their noise, and the sheer lies and nonsense they throw out on a regular basis, to confuse and distract, if nothing else….. Me, I’m about ready to DO something about it, but, it will have to wait until I finish this Pearl, which, by the looks of it, may not ever get started, if I can’t shut myself up…. Okay, if I can’t stop at the end of this paragraph, I’ll institute emergency procedure #5…. I hope I don’t have to, though…. #5 is a messy one….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If an ass goes traveling he will not come home a horse.” — Thomas Fuller

(The more I let this little statement echo around in my head, the more angles, depths, and meanings float up, into my awareness…. To keep from adding undue length where it is least needed, I will just say this… I wish the BRC wouldn’t spend as much time trying to convince the public that this statement is false, as they currently do. Since the statement is demonstrably and unarguably true, in so many ways, that could be construed as an impossible task… unless, of course, you help them by believing it…..)
_____________________________

Having begun my rant in the intro, I don’t think it would go over well to continue it here…. So, we’ll go old school, which, as you know, is my default position in these instances….. I’m uncertain still if that meets with the approval of my readership, but, hey, I’ve been operating in the dark here for a long time, in that respect, so, it’s nothing new, and nothing to get huffed about…. As long as I can continue to pretend to some sort of relevance, and keep y’all unaware of how little I really know, well, I’ll be doing as well as the average politician, right? Right…. Let’s see what SB has for us today…..

“The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.” — Oscar Wilde
(Ouch! Now, THAT’S sarcasm!…. At which, of course, Oscar was the master….) (You don’t think he’s…. wait!?…. He’s not talking about ME, is he?…. Nah!…. No way!….)

“I’m continually AMAZED at th’breathtaking effects of WIND EROSION!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. “God wishes,” said Calvin, “that one should put aside all humanity when it is a question of striving for His glory.” ” — Eric Hoffer

“The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing at all, for sure.” — Socrates

“Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth.” — H.L. Mencken

“Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.” — Buffalo Springfield

“If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re missing the joke.” — Smart Bee, with gigoid’s complete agreement….

When this pearl was about halfway done, I had no idea where it was headed, and still don’t know exactly how it got to where it ended up… but, then, I don’t know a lot of stuff about reality, so, we’ll just go on, as we were, no doubt, meant to do anyway…. I don’t encourage the belief that fate is unavoidable, but, when it happens, it’s best not to fight it too hard… One must learn how to “go with the flow”, as it were, or severe mental injuries may occur, even in the best of families….
_____________________________

Today’s poem chose itself…. I went searching, on the internet, for an appropriate poem for today, but, couldn’t seem to settle on anything I read, from a number of poets I visited…. until this one. It reached out, grabbed me, and said, essentially, “Use me, again….” I should have known it would know it has been here before…. so, here ’tis again….

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

_____________________________

Today’s your lucky day…. Nothing in the news this morning has prompted an upsurge of angst or outrage to parallel the rant in the intro section… which means we get to go back to old-school. I know, the law doesn’t say we HAVE to go there, but, around here, it’s what we do…. So, deal…. and, preferably, enjoy! 😆

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.” — Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

“Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.” — Mark Twain

“The beauty of a pun is in the “Oy!” of the beholder.” — Smart Bee
“Puns can groan on you” — Yep, where else? Smart Bee
(A true two-fer, that counts as one pearl….)

“Each time Time torments me, I tell myself that one of us must back down, that it is impossible for this cruel confrontation to go on indefinitely.” — E.M. Cioran

Before enlightenment, one carries water and chops wood.
After enlightenment, one carries water and chops wood.

— Zen Proverb

Ooh, ooh, Teacher! Can I answer?…. See, it shoulda used the Buddha quote, then it would all be clearer…. Teacher: “Y, know, you may be right…. but, that would be unethical, now, wouldn’t it? Resorting to Buddha, when Zippy will do?…” Sorry, Teacher…. I’ll pick two more, to fix it….

An American scientist once visited the offices of the great Nobel prize winning physicist, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen. He was amazed to find that over Bohr’s desk was a horseshoe, securely nailed to the wall, with the open end up in the approved manner (so it would catch the good luck and not let it spill out). The American said with a nervous laugh, “Surely you don’t believe the horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr? After all, as a scientist–” Bohr chuckled. “I believe no such thing, my good friend. Not at all. I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish nonsense. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not.” — found in Smart Bee, without attribution

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)
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Please save the above drivel for future reference!

At this point, there is little point in not admitting defeat, and slinking away with head bowed in shame…. or, at the very least, embarrassment for having allowed this to occur, without giving ffolkes the proper warnings…. Let’s see if it has any redeeming qualities..

I’m pretty certain none of the above is toxic, so, we’re going to let it fly, solo…. One can’t always be two places at once, can one?….. Whatever that may mean, and it may or may not mean anything, we are still outta here…. now…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Eric Hoffer

The replacement toads are working fine….

Pending legislation will prohibit affordable pants….

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

Paint all of it in flesh tones….

A Swift Kick In The Pants, Inc….

Seven reasons to stop gargling, now….

Manifest destiny has been a persistent delusion…..

The cost of implementing the Rules for Sanitary Operation are included in the quoted price…..

Tarzan is refusing to wear the tuxedo, Jane….

Baldly factual assertions, drying in the wind….

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