‘Til the last strawberry jams….

Posted on January 12, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“In those whom I like, I can find no common denominator;
in those whom I love I can: they all make me laugh.”

~~ W. H. Auden ~~

“There’s shredding to be done.”

Leelu in full PK Mode, no flash

Hajime…. I was up rather late, for me, reading and re-blogging the post you saw if you stopped by yesterday, or, today before posting this Pearl. Since I was up late, I naturally over-slept my usual time to arise, thus throwing my schedule, and, Leelu’s morning time completely off the track. I’ve given her some time, to settle her down from the change, and she’s watching the traffic through her window seat, monitoring all the threats she perceives, & keeping watch while I type.

Routine thus re-established, at least, in her mind, I now sit to finish today’s mess…. To keep the mess from growing too much too fast, I’ll make this another short intro, with no nonsense beyond what we’ve already been subjected to, thus, hopefully, gaining back a few of the points we lost in over-sleeping…. Or, maybe it’s the other way around. I don’t know right now, too damn fuzzy, still. I’m going to grab one of the Tardis toys to get us going, & leave the rest to chance…. In fact, let’s do that now, ‘kay? Okay!…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“If I do not do it now, when shall I do it?”

~~ Dogen Zenji ~~

********************************

Yesterday, a blog I follow posted a rather nice poem the author wrote, as an inspirational message for a friend, whose relative had been diagnosed with cancer. It made me think, naturally, of my own father, and brother. My father died of the disease in 1985; my brother is currently about a month from completing a cure, comprised solely of the consumption of essential oils of cannabis. He was diagnosed with one of the most virulent forms, lymphatic cancer, but, the steady diet of natural substances is working as advertised…. though not by anyone in the broken medical model we have available to the general public…. or, our own government, which has known of this cure since 1974.

Watch the video; do your own research. Watch any of the thousands of videos from people who have cured themselves. Then, spread the word, and watch the world turn to anarchy for a time, until those who have caused over 100 million unnecessary deaths worldwide, all for the sake of the trillions of dollars they have made off the people’s misery, have all been torn to shreds by angry mobs of their relatives and loved ones, who have realized just how badly, and how long they have been listening to lies…. Or, keep it to yourself, and watch people die for no reason…. Up to you, as always….

********************************

Anonymous
Cannabis cures cancer…

********************************

https://youtu.be/HaxOPEU3ecQ

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The fresh piece upon which I’m working isn’t done, so, here is an odd, but, ultimately pretty good discussion from early days on WP, about two months after I began posting here…. I hope you enjoy it; I was still finding my rhythm, but, it shows promise of things to come…. Enjoy, if you please….

From 11/7/2011:

Ffolkes,

Skyclad before the pale, he sits to write his way into the day……and in an unprecedented move, he has brought his brain with him!…..

“In a real dark night of the soul
it is always three o’clock in the morning.”

~~ F. Scott Fitzgerald ~~

Have the claws of depression ever set themselves in your flesh, slicing their way into your conscious mind to fill it with diffuse anxiety and deep despair? Have you sat, alone in a dark room, and thought of all that you have lost? Does the sunshine make you angry for being so cheerful? When depression rears its ugly head and takes over the soul, the world loses all its color and warmth; everything you see is grey and shadowed, and somehow menacing. Being alone becomes a penance, a sentence for violations of natural law, and sleep is the only surcease from the crushing weight that weighs down the mind, and soul. All the goodness in the world seems far away, and unattainable by any effort we can make. Even hope becomes uncomfortable, because of the fear it will turn out to be false. Thoughts and feelings feel out of control, and the simplest tasks can become a challenge to your reduced level of functioning. Believe me when I say, being depressed is no picnic, and you still get the ants……

Having been a psychiatric technician for so long, I know the effects of depression very well, from both sides of the therapeutic relationship, having treated many depressed individuals, and having suffered its claws myself due to PTSD. It is a difficult condition to treat, from a therapist’s viewpoint, as it is difficult to help someone find the light when they want to sit in the dark, and close their eyes against the light. And from the other side, the negative filter through which a depressed individual views the world denies any possibility of change.

For reasons which are still unclear, a person who becomes depressed is actually more comfortable in that state than they are when they are not influenced by its debilitating symptoms. And from having experienced it myself, I can tell you without hesitation that it is insidiously powerful, and incredibly hard to set aside in order to get back to a more stable mental state, one in which the world again becomes beautiful, the spirit once again takes flight, and life regains its attraction once more…….

“The sense of death is most in apprehension;
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.”

~~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act iii, Sc. 1 ~~

I usually steer clear of using Shakespeare, as his work has been over-used, and IMHO is over-rated anyway. He did write a lot of beautiful passages, and should be considered as a master of the sonnet as well as the play. But I like this one, both for the creative beauty of his phrasing and structure, and for the idea behind it, which I see as a clear observation of the interconnectedness of all life-forms. We’re born, we live, and we die, thus completing the cycle of existence as per the natural laws of this universe (or at least as far as we know those laws…..). And every other creature on this planet goes through the same cycle of birth, life, death, birth, life, death, etc…, until one can only conclude that we must be alike in other ways as well, and are thereby connected in some fashion, both to the universe, and to each other.

This connection puts us all on the same level, at least in the eyes of the universe; no form of life escapes death. We humans, though intelligent, curious, and supremely adaptive to new environments, have no advantage over the tiniest creature on Earth, for we all will face our mortality in the end. Thus our sense of entitlement, of being the top of the food chain, is not justified, for we have no more power over death than the smallest, weakest life form in our world. Species discrimination based on intelligence is foolish; we must come to terms with our own mortality and accept our position in the universe, not above other forms of life, but shoulder to shoulder. We may as well, because we’re going to die anyway; it’s best to try to approach it with some dignity based on fact, rather than unjustified delusion…..

“If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

~~ Thumper (1942) ~~

Bill Russell, the former professional basketball player, is considered by most fans to be the best defensive player ever to play the game. He played the game with studied intensity, and with complete dignity, approaching the contests with the same attitude he approached life. He was a proponent of the above attitude, one we all learned as a child, watching Bambi and Thumper inflict their terminal cuteness on unsuspecting children in a theater near you. And, as far as it goes, it is a good piece of advice, well worth considering, and useful in teaching manners. But, as with any childish conclusion, it doesn’t go quite far enough. But Bill said this, “One should play the game as a gentleman, always. But, there are times when an elbow to the chops is the only way to make a point.” (My apologies to Bill, as the quote is a paraphrase, the original being unavailable to check for accuracy; the point it makes is intact)

Yes, being nice to each other is the best way to approach living with others; not speaking never got anyone into trouble over what they said. But the rules for behavior amongst ourselves need to be very flexible, and subject to revision moment by moment. There are too many facets to the human mind to ever consider limiting one’s choices of how to react to any particular situation. This is reinforced by the nature of reality, i.e. constant unpredictable changes are normal, so once again, limiting how we choose to act is an inappropriate response, and doomed to failure. As a human, we need to embrace that part of us that is flexible, and creative, in order to have the best chance of dealing with reality while still staying sane……

Speaking of sanity, keeping mine is going to require some work today, so I’ll be off now to pursue other activities, reluctantly. I will leave you with the following thoughts…..

“All men are poets at heart”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“All poets are mad”

~~ Robert Burton ~~

********************************

Someday, Leelu and I will be going to Ireland together, to spend quite a bit of time exploring the land, the people, and the culture…. She, no doubt, will be satisfied to be able to explore the land part, and, a few people…. This poem, written before I had ever been there, tells why I’m returning, in large part…. I hope you enjoy it….

Days and Nights of Eire

Comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes yet live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
Eire dons its emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid ~~

11/3/2012

********************************

Classic 7-star Pearl

Life at Large

*******

“A man may love a paradox
without either losing his wit or his honesty.”

~~ Emerson ~~

*******

“Genius is nothing more than childhood,
recaptured at will.”

~~ Charles Baudelaire ~~

*******

“I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.”

~~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act iii, Sc. 1 ~~

*******

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”

~~ James Stephens ~~

*******

There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography,
the life of a man; also it may be said, there is no life of a man,
faithfully recorded, but is a heroic poem of its sort, rhymed or unrhymed.

~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~

~~ Sir Walter Scott, London and Westminster Review, 1838 ~~

*******

“The want of goods is easily repaired,
but the poverty of the soul is irreparable.”

~~ Michel de Montaigne ~~

*******

“A man cannot speak but he judges himself
…no man thoroughly understands a truth
until he has contended against it.”

~~ Emerson ~~

********************************

Well, it’s done, which pleases Leelu, if nobody else, but for me. I’m glad, too, because it’s a busy day ’round these parts, with stuff to do out in the BBR that can’t be put off…. On that cryptic, but, non-mysterious note, I’ll bid thee adieu, until I can pull it together enough to do this again…. Odds are, that will be tomorrow, unless something drastic takes place to prevent it…. Not bloody likely…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Acceding to protocol, he dressed in mufti….

Posted on May 21, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

~~ Albert Camus ~~

Good morning….

I have but one thing to tell you today, as we begin our daily journey OUT of madness…. Here, right before your skeptical eyes, pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice, hell will freeze over, and eventually, things will get really interesting…

Shall we Pearl?

“No one loves the man whom he fears.” — Aristotle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Image from allmusic.com via Google Images

It’s not pulling my covers to claim this band as a favorite; I’ve never hidden my history as a Hippie. In Commander Cody’s case, I have more reason than just the artwork, the attitudes, the down & dirty, funky blues, and solid rock the Airmen always played…. During my college years, I managed to hire the band for one of our cooperative residence’s parties, a great success in many respects; Yes! The Commander was in my house!….

For that reason alone they hold a special place in my heart, and my liver…. a long, sad story, involving a large quantity of cheap white rum, a quart of mai tai mix, and an eighteen year old fool…. The smell of Ron Rico white still makes me want to puke….

But, I digress…. Unless I managed to screw up the code somehow, you should be treated to all of their music available on You Tube, one after another…. If not, that’s what the link is for…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

***********************

Commander Cody
& his Lost Planet Airmen

***********************

https://youtu.be/3R7l7nDuj1o?list=PLVt6LvxDpy3O52tlP6SNOOKHPKt-L1735

***********************

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues; without courage, the other virtues are useless.” — Edward Abbey

This is SO true…. Mr. Abbey has, I believe, struck upon what I’d call a universal truth, one true in all of the ages of Mankind…. Hell, I’ve said it before, myself…. Oh, not in those exact, clear words, but, I have posted the following many times, which, essentially, brings out the same point, though it looks at it from the other side of the mirror….

All of us, at one time in our lives, or another, have been guilty of this; anyone who says differently is, well, they’re lying, whether they believe it or not…. As proof, all I need to do is ask that person the last time they watched a woman walk down the street, and did not punch out the men who whistled at her…. Such public displays of misogyny, though seemingly mild and harmless, (not to mention socially approved), are, in my estimation, a symptom of the problem, stemming from ignorance, and the even greater evil perpetrated by the major religions of the world, who encourage that misogyny in men…. for one single reason, to wit: men’s fear of women, and of their own sexuality….

To my way of thinking, it takes a pretty poor excuse for a man to take out his own childish fears on women, when a bit of courage and learning can bring them out of that fear, into a world where both men and women can work together to survive, rather than constantly being at war, instigated by the weaker sex, ie. men…. I would point out that our society’s primary response to any problem is to go to war against it, which is a typically male attitude…. Most women don’t automatically go to war when they want to achieve some end…. Men do, and have proven it for millennia….

Yes, I said men were weaker than women, and I meant it…. If men were so strong, why do women live longer? Why do they give childbirth, instead of us? And, why are they seemingly, according to the evidence given by the behavior of other mammalian species, the natural leaders of each species society? I believe it is because that is the way the species evolved, the way it works best to survive, which is, after all, our primary purpose here on this planet. Our purpose is NOT to rape, pillage, and destroy, all of which seem to be the primary RESULTS of all of the male-dominated societies in history, especially when those societies were driven by Christianity, or any of the other religions whereof the former President speaks…

As far as I can see, the only way to get through to all these assholes, who would rather fight with women than appreciate them, is through shame…. Deserved shame, at that, for using the ONE advantage over women men have, i.e., brute strength, to subjugate the entire other half of our species, all because our our own innate fears, which are easily dismissed when understood…. But, most men, like most humans, even women, are lazy, and would prefer to NOT have to think, or, for that matter, to make the effort to be brave….

Sorry, guys, but. that’s just the way I see it…. So, wake the fuck up, get out of your stupid head, and get with the program here. We need to work together, WITH women, not against them, if all of us are to survive…. The way we are going now, we won’t make it to the next millennium…. Hell, unless we can come up with some pretty fancy scientific footwork here in the next TEN years, we’re all going to be in deep shit…

Believe it.

So be it.

gigoid has spoken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sublime Indifference

Faces tell such stories

as these,

we know.

No one saw,

ever.

No one sees,

ever.

But, we know.

Forgotten,

deliberately bought

with

consistent threats

of Sitcoms,

Paisley Ties,

yes, and,

Lava Lamps;

proof offered

unbidden

of Death.

Only

of Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Evolution, as it applies the development of this blog, seems to have brought this section to a place where it becomes our lesson for the day, so to speak…. Many of the pearls, and the pearls they form, of late, have told a message that, when applied by anyone to Life, in a dedicated manner, always seems to make it all work better, helping us to find, and keep, our balance, as well as the happiness, always inside us, if we can learn to feel it….

Today is another of such lessons, this time, seemingly, intended to direct us on a path to…. ourselves….

“Knowledge is the antidote of fear.” — Emerson

“Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.” — Balthasar Gracia

“Morality is moral only if it is voluntary.” — Lincoln Steffens

“A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission.” — Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) — Meditations, book 9.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” — Philo

“Be what you is, ’cause if you is what you ain’t, then you ain’t what you is.” — Satchel Paige

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too shabby, I think…. Of course, it does help the overall quality when I’m up half the bloody night with dyskinesia, which not only keeps me from sleeping, but, keeps my mind awake from the anger at experiencing it at all (the blame for that can be laid directly at the feet of two doctors and an HMO….), thus providing us with a fresh rant, and a new poem, which finally decided to creep out from where it has been hiding…. Don’t know if y’all noticed it, or not… Any who, it’s done, I’m still up, and it’s 3:52 AM…. Now what the hell am I going to do?

Ah well, I’ll work on that offline…. For now, thanks fer listenin’, ffolkes; it’s been real. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, come Hell, or high water….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

A plethora of positive paradigms….

Posted on July 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

How does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown?

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

The first time I heard Bob Dylan’s song, Like A Rolling Stone, I was half-asleep, riding in a car to go to work, very early on a summer morning in, I believe, 1963, or 1964….. Though not overly impressed by the voice that sang it, I was struck at once by the power of metaphor he employed so liberally throughout the piece…. It was the first time any of us had heard him; that was his first hit song, the one that catapulted him into fame, and the public eye…. Somehow, the plaintive tone of his voice, almost a whine, but, not quite, fit the words he spoke very well, and those words were, themselves, a new experience, as the poetry dug down into the subconscious to deliver subliminal messages, underneath the more obvious lyrical verses….

Ah well, those were the days…. Wait. Stop there….. Step back a few feet, ffolkes, let me get a better look at this….. Yep. I thought I heard some overt nostalgia in there….. Sorry, ffolkes…. We don’t often get attacks of mundane sobriety, with a strong overtone of nostalgia like that, but, we try to head them off quickly when we do come across one of them…. They can cause quite a bit of mental damage, if not caught early on; that sticky sweet reminiscence can be, not just fattening, but dangerously filling…. One small dose of it can layer a whole new coat of fat over the heart, increasing the risk of stroke by a factor of 3 or more…. not good….

So, we’ve developed a pretty efficient way of dealing with them when they come after us; we burn them, and get on with our business…. So, since this one has already been hauled off by our friendly stevedores, off to the incinerator, which will make short work of it, we can put it out of our minds, and move on to the next international incident, er, section of the post…. You’ll have to excuse me this morning, ffolkes, I’m still a bit groggy from sleep…. The picture above is what woke me…. Well, that’s not quite accurate…. hold on…. short break….

It would be more accurate to say the sight of the picture shocked me closer to the state of awareness needed to begin this missive; I’m now three or four paragraphs down the line, and still feel like my brain resembles a bowl of oatmeal more than anything fully alive…. And, see, I can’t even come up with anything remotely humorous to describe what is taking place! In a minute, I’m going to start whining again, so, it might be best to employ one of my emergency exit strategies, to take us out of here, on to where we need to go, wherever that might be…. Given this introduction, it could be just about anywhere at all….

Shall we Pearl?…..

And I’ll do you one better if you’ve got the nerve,
I’ll race you all the way to deadman’s curve.

~~ Jan & Dean ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

Below you will find an epic pearl, a rant of magnificent proportions, complete with at least two rants, both aimed in the same general direction, but coming at it from different starting points…. I spent a good portion of yesterday at the computer, having been given that boon by my massage the day before, putting my whole body in a better space…. This led me to catch up on some news sites I hadn’t been to in a while, particularly the Guardian, the UK news site that broke the Snowden Papers story to the world….

(Of course, when I say a long time at the comp, it means an hour or three, not six or eight, so, I could only read the news, not visit all the blogs I want to catch up on… If I start that, I never can get caught up, or get away before I start to regret it physically…. SIGH…. Hard decisions… Any who….)

I still find many of the more egregious activities that the US government is up to on the Guardian, rather than any US sites…. The US media seems to censor much of what the Guardian is writing about, sometimes not covering stories at all that the Guardian has unearthed. Whether this tendency is from jealousy, or fear of reprisal from the government, I can’t say, but, the stories just aren’t there as often, or, if covered, don’t get as deep into the issue as the European site does…. It isn’t just the US who gets their custom, either…. They focus their attention on their own government just as tightly, nor are the rest of the world’s leaders spared their often intensive questions about conditions in other countries….

Nonetheless, the US media has its own axes to grind, and they LOVE any story that puts the police in the spotlight, so, the first part of today’s epic rant concerns that issue, to wit: police brutality and the military bent that the police have been assuming for some time now…. Let’s see what got me going, because, otherwise, it won’t ever get done…. Enjoy, and for goodness sake, pay attention, and pass the information on to those who need it, i.e. every citizen of this country, and of the world, who are being affected by what those assholes at the top of the heap are up to these days…..

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/21/government-agents-directly-involved-us-terror-plots-report

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-calls

The latter article is from October of 2013, but, may not be known to some Gentle Readers…. When considered in conjunction with the other article’s information, the earlier report serves as prior proof of what I’ve been saying for quite a long time now, regarding how the government looks at the public as their tool, not as their boss…. If anyone at all has any evidence to the contrary, please, come forward, and we can discuss the matter…. I don’t think there are many who will come forward, because it’s all truth; they ARE spying on YOU, ME, and EACH OTHER…. The tail has begun to wag the dog, and the leaders of the world are completely insane, taking the old saw about “knowledge is power” to new extremes of meaning….

We saw above how the FBI particularly has been abusing their newly-acquired powers to create terrorist plots, involving people in them, then using the completely unconstitutional terrorist court system created after 9/11/01 to convict otherwise innocent people, to justify their own existence and continued clandestine operations…. The FBI is the top level of the police forces of society, forces that are supposed to provide protection and support for the citizens of this country; they help set the tone for the other forces, on the state and local levels, who also are supposed to, as they are fond of saying, “protect and serve”….

Instead we have, on a daily basis, though not all of them receive this much coverage, incidents such as the following, which provide examples of how, in today’s society, the police view the public as enemies, to be unworthy of possessing even the most basic rights, such as free speech, or privacy, an enemy requiring intimidation to assert authority, and threats of violence to maintain control, while the public views the police as violent, aggressive, filled with entitlement, unethical, unfair, not to be trusted, and, worst of all, continuously demonstrating their belief they are not subject to the laws they enforce….

(Note: it took SFGATE three articles to give the same information three times, without ever getting very deep into the issue… they had lots of nice photos, though, of Rev. Al and his religious cronies, taking advantage of the publicity to get photographed with the victim’s widow…..)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Rallies-planned-after-in-custody-death-of-NYC-man-5632335.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/More-studies-needed-in-apparent-chokehold-death-5635142.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/NY-preacher-appeals-for-justice-in-chokehold-death-5634035.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

“…..as four officers bring him down to the sidewalk, Garner, who was asthmatic, gasps, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” The video shows one officer using his hands to push Garner’s face into the sidewalk……” “The second video, which appears to have been shot shortly after Garner was handcuffed, shows him lying on the sidewalk, apparently unresponsive. More than three minutes in, medics arrive and one checks his pulse. Garner is lifted onto a gurney and transported to a waiting ambulance about two minutes later.”…. “A bystander asks why no one is performing CPR and one officer responds, “because he’s breathing.”” — excerpted from the last article listed, describing the events as seen in the videos shot at the scene by bystanders….

In addition to the other issues presented by the incident, I find it a telling point that no mention of any police videos of the incident have been noted by the media, nor by the police…. I don’t know if the NYPD is in step with most of the other police forces in this country, but, I’m pretty sure, by now, the majority of officers and police cars on the streets of New York have video recorders somewhere about their person or vehicle, fully capable of recording all they do, and all they encounter in “pursuing their duties”…..

If not, well, I’m thinking they wish they did have them in place; if they do, why haven’t they been used to either corroborate, or deny, the accusations of wrongdoing? Any speculative reasons as to why such evidence is not available are, naturally, going to be negatively perceived, and will not help their already tarnished image….

The NYPD, along with just about every police force in the entire world, has become what many of our forefathers warned us against, i.e., professional soldiers and/or para-military wannabe soldiers, with a sense of entitlement, and a barely restrained tendency to use violence as their measure of authority…. which, being the neurotic personalities that all-too-many of them are, they must seek out to feel any self-worth…. Only by asserting that authority can these sick, violent bigots feel in control, thus proving their “manhood”.

I’m not being hyperbolic, either…. I’m going by my own observations, and my own experiences in observing the interactions between the police, in this town, and everywhere I’ve ever lived, as well as in my more than simply copious reading of the local, national, and international news, to the tune of two news site a day, minimum…. That’s now; it used to be two news papers….

All of which is in addition to the book a day I have read since I was 10 years old, in addition to all I read in the news…. That reading, and my perceptions of this issue, have enabled me to see the police go from being one of the most admired and respected professions in the world, when I was young, to one of the most feared and mistrusted segments of government, and society….. all in the course of my 55 years or so of perception and reasoning about the world at large….

When I was a lad, in the 50’s, my own parents always made sure we kids knew that, if lost or in trouble, an MP (military policeman) would always help (we were Army brats….)….and that included civilian policemen…. However, by the time I was in college, in 1968, police ranks had swelled to unprecedented numbers, while the hiring standards remained set on old, outdated concepts of societal needs.

The societal disharmony that had been building up, along with the widening of the income gap, for many years, since the Depression, and before, all came to a head, erupting in the early 60’s, when society exploded against the restraints on their freedoms….The Free Speech movement, Civil Rights, Vietnam, the invasion of Cambodia, as well the beginning of the women’s rights, and LGBT rights movements, society-wide struggles that continue today, as society moves forward into a new millennium. These new, (for the time) large demonstrations by students and citizens with issues were a new phenomenon to the police forces that existed, and the conflict started to demonstrate how out of touch they were becoming with the rest of society…..

That same separation of perception has continued to widen ever since, until now, police everywhere, no matter how good or bad they are, will be painted with the brush of corruption, psychopathy, bigotry, and para-military rigidity of thinking…. and for good reason, as there are EASILY as many, or more, bad cops these days, as there are good cops….

Actually, though, it occurs to me, the whole issue is merely one facet of the overriding problem facing society at large, which is the ever-widening gap between the super-rich and the rest of humanity….

And don’t fool yourselves, ffolkes…. it’s way smaller a number than 1% that is behind the entire set of problems that face mankind, as a result of their selfishness and lack of humanity…. My guess, without actually researching, but, going by the “sincerely best-guess” methodology, is that the number of people in the world, who actually have the control over 99% of the money and resources, either directly, or by proxy, is about 5000 people, or fewer…. This small number of super-wealthy, inhumane assholes, believe they have the right to decide for all of us exactly how reality should be run, which just so happens to coincide with their vision of absolute power….

The sad part is, they have been able to do exactly that for many centuries now, ever since the major proportion of the world became dependent on the whole concept of money, compounded by the gullibility that allows them to be fooled so easily by those without any morals or ethics to restrain them…. They buy governments, without anyone ever knowing their names…. They buy churches, who spread the delusional belief in a supernatural afterlife where all life’s pain will be taken away, and they will be rewarded for being sheep all their lives, allowing those in power to tell them how to think, and how to live…. And, in the process, they are killing themselves, and us right along with them…..

Isn’t that sweet?

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Don’t worry, ffolkes…. I’m not done ranting about these people…. This one, however, has gone on long enough, and is starting to get a bit nebulous…. I prefer a more substantial target for my barbs, so, we’ll come back to this another time, when I’ve put together a bit more ammunition to use on them, and, perhaps, even identifying one or two of them for y’all ….. For now, I’ll leave you with this: Keep your head in the game, and always be ready to doubt what you hear from anyone who thinks they are in charge….. because, whether they are or not, they believe that shit, which makes them annoying, and potentially dangerous to your well-being….

Stay on your toes, ffolkes, (metaphorically speaking, of course), & don’t believe any of their lies…. How do you know when they’re lying? Their mouth is open, and words are coming out; if that’s so, it’s a damn good bet…. The tricky part is knowing exactly who they are…. they don’t come out into the light much….. You know how those evil demons of the dark are…. Besides, they have their talking heads, the pundits & politicians, to stay in the public eye, where they want to be, and are most easily manipulated…. The bottom line for those in power is to prevent, at any cost, any change in the status quo, thus ensuring their continued existence at the controls of society..

“The purpose and function of government is not to preside over change but to prevent change. By political methods when unavoidable, by violence when convenient.” — Edward Abbey

SIGH…. It’s a pretty ugly picture, and it isn’t getting any prettier…. More later, ffolkes….

“It’s getting harder and harder to act weird.” — Zippy the Pinhead

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not such an egotist that I think I’m a great poet; I’ve written some good ones, but, nothing to compare with someone such as Sylvia Plath, or Poe, or Whitman, or any of a hundred others from the past who have written many works far better than mine…. But, by using my own, nobody else has to take the blame for all the stuff surrounding it, which may or may not be of note to the Gentle Reader…. I AM enough of an egotist to keep writing it, though, and putting it here for y’all to either laugh, cry, or otherwise react in some way to let me know I’m a writer of bozoid degree…. I hope you enjoy whichever one I choose for your perusal….

Stray Cats

The veils that billow and fold
between dreams and reality
may sometimes part,
showing the visions of one to the other,
blending, bleeding as one,
only to bring us up short,
closely jammed against immovable fate.

Still, we keep our watch,
seeking to find the vision
that brings with it the mark of reality’s regard,
a humble mind, and a compassionate heart.

Events of broad impact draw us away again,
distracting with shiny glitter and tinny music,
leaving our feelings raw and bruised,
the victim of universal disregard.

Now, in the twilight of years, the music is fading,
and the glitter has all gone….
yet the memory of visions remains sharp and clear,
melancholy reminders of reality’s promises,
unkept…..

~~gigoid~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I see from the above, I got a little carried away…. To save myself from any further potential claims of abuse by overuse, I’ll throw together an old-school pearl, with simple parameters to find good advice…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’ll be quick and easy…. Well, compared to the rest, anyway….

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a saber; for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain.” — Saadi (1184-1291)

“To know much is often the cause of doubting more.” — Michael de Montaigne

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams? By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.” — Seneca, 65 AD

“In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I should know better than to say anything would be quick and easy….. Not that you care, but, finding that last pearl was an incredible ordeal, as Smart Bee went into “let’s fuck with gigoid” mode, and started throwing up all sorts of really stupid, asinine quotes for me to wade through…. I finally found that last one by F. Scott, and said, “YES!”…. I cut, copied, pasted, and am outta here, having done all the damage possible for one morning….. See y’all tomorrow, if I recover in time…..

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

Your majesty’s attire smacks of deliberate irrelevance….

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

There are times when a good round of really gross, anatomically incorrect, yet innovative, viciously antagonistic cursing does one more good than anything less vulgar can possibly accomplish, partially because of that selfsame vulgarity….. And, of course, when one breaks down completely, morals-training-wise, stooping to the forceful, heartfelt use of that crowd favorite, the time-tested, universally applicable Anglo-Saxon euphemism for the act of physical love, otherwise known as the F-word, is our only viable recourse…. We all know how much better the mere voicing of this honorable incantation can make us feel, don’t we? Well, those among us who refuse to be hypocrites do, anyway….

So, what happened today that prompted such a long-winded way to say I feel like saying “FUCK”, at the top of my lungs? Well, let me tell you…. Here on Earth, some of us have agreed to live with other species, domiciling together in a form of mutual support and honorable relationship, for no other reason than our own compatibility and liking for each other’s company….

There are several species with whom we have made such an agreement over time, a group that includes some rather exotic creatures, such as snakes, rodents, spiders, and fish of all varieties, including dangerous ones, such as sharks and/or piranha, along with the more mundane mammalian choices such as dogs, horses, etc….. Myself, I’m not sure how I’d enjoy cuddling with a piranha, or petting a python, but, to each his own..

Then, of course, we have cats….. I’m not at all certain that the relationship we have with them is completely agreeable to either party at times; there are too many instances where our purposes and/or desires come into conflict for us to ever be fully at ease in each other’s company…. I spend as much time chasing the damn cat with a squirt bottle of water as I do petting her, and that is mostly at HER insistence…. She seems to enjoy pissing me off & having me chase here around the house, spraying her with the water bottle…. Well, until I catch her anyway…. then, she tends to learn VERY quickly, whatever it was we were tussling about…. funny how that works….

So, this morning, this 4 lb. furry black menace decided that 2 AM was just the right time for me to be up….. the fucking asshole. She probably heard me making plans to go see my grandson today, & figured she could help out the most by making sure I was up in plenty of time….. Sure she did…. I mean, seven fucking hours should be enough for me to get ready, don’t you think? Apparently, she thinks that’s about right….. bloody nuisance is what she is….. Plus, she KNOWS I’m a softy at heart, and won’t actually HURT her, even if getting her wet isn’t one of her favorite things….. Like most of us do when dealing with our fuzzy companions, I bluster at her a lot, but she knows it’s all bark, and no real bite….

I suppose in her own way, she thought she was being nice, so it’s hard to get too upset…. especially given the weird hours I’ve been putting in of late. Three in the AM isn’t particularly unfamiliar to me these days, so two o’clock is hardly a handicap, or much of a change, for that matter….. So, I guess I’ll let her live…. She DID not only get me up, but provided the material for this intro, such as it is, so, I suppose I should thank her…..

I will…. after I finish being pissed off about being up at this hour, and having so much of the day to fill up, on so little rest…. At least I have good stuff to fill it with; a visit with Zack is always a bonus for me…. I only have the one grandson, so far, so I tend to savor our time together…. and, since I only get to see him a couple of times a year, they’re marked as special days on my calendar…. But, that’s not until way later, so…..

Shall we Pearl?

Cat: “A small, furry beast resembling a meatloaf…” — Smart Bee (honest, it wasn’t me!….)
_____________________________

“The gods too are fond of a joke.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

One only need look at the platypus to understand this sentiment…. or look at our current crop of legislators…. If you’re anything like me, when you think of one of them, you automatically imagine them wearing their natural coats, which either consists of a big, loudly colored ruffed collar, a harlequin suit, and huge red shoes, or will closely resemble the fur of a polecat, aka, a skunk…. Oh, I know, those are both ancient, cheap shots, but, generally, I’m so direct and insulting, I thought I’d try to slip by y’all with a bit of style and elegance…. No such luck, eh?….

Actually, when I planned out the above paragraph in my mind, it seemed a lot more….. everything…. more funny, more relevant, more gripping….. just…… more. Having failed in that…. miserably, I might add…. we should go on to something more lucrative, or at least, potentially more interesting…. But, damn it, I don’t like to give up on a good pearl…. I know…. I’ll find some others, that match the tone and direction of this one from Ari…. Maybe, just maybe, if I can find enough of them, I can turn this into an adequate old-school pearl, thus saving this Pearl from an immediate disaster…..

Not that there is much that can save it, at this point, but, we’ve got to try, Mr. President!…. It’s too young and innocent to go down like this!…. Let’s see if SB has what it takes to save the day…. again….

“Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.’ — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

“True artists scorn nothing.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960) — Nobel Prize speech (1957)

“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.’ — Voltaire

“A bare assertion is not necessarily the naked truth.” — George Prentice

“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, viii, 22

I suppose this just goes to show that sometimes you just have to dig deeper to find the jewels…. or, in this case, dive deeper to find the pearls…. Here they are, and they’re all from the deepest part of the ocean….. which may explain their relative elusiveness, as well as their esotericism….. Nonetheless, it does have a point, even if that point isn’t exactly scalpel-grade….
_____________________________

I have a feeling today is one of those days I’d best use something of my own here, so as not to bring harm to the reputation of anyone else by negative association…. So, here you go, with the first poem of mine that caught my eye, and my fancy, when I went to look for it…. It’s also one of the first I wrote in 2012, when I started writing poetry again, after a forty-some year hiatus…. This was written on 9/10/2012…..

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“We ought never to do wrong when people are looking.” — Mark Twain

For a long time now, I’ve been immersed in the study of modern society, locking myself in to the close observation of what transpires in the public arena, using, for the most part, the same criteria to pick my subject matter as do the major news organizations…. Small wonder, they’re people, and so am I…. it only figures we’d do things in a similar way…. Unfortunately, as it turns out, this includes a strong preference for morbidity, seemingly, as 99% or more of what gets published in the major newspapers and online outlets is rather negative in terms of its subject matter….. Blood sells, as they say in the game….

When I have used articles from the news as the springboard for a rant, they generally fall into that same negative pattern; this, of course, is a natural hazard in ranting, and not entirely unexpected, or unwanted…. But, it does get old, as does any kind of negativity after a while, and it’s a good idea to occasionally give oneself a break from such anti-frivolity….

All of these contrary sort of thoughts occurred to me today as I went to look for something to rant about in the daily news…. I was pleasantly surprised to find the following article on what would be considered the front page of one of the news sites I frequent, SFGATE.com, run by the same folks who run the SF Chronicle newspaper…. It’s a charming little piece, not for its style or power of writing, but for the subject matter…. I cried, but, then, I’m a softy, with all my emotions right up near the surface, susceptible to babies, animals, & kids, and very partial to romantic interludes…. It’s such a heartwarming post, I defy anyone to read it and NOT feel at least a twinge of “Awwww”….

It also fits in with my own view on animals vs. humans as compassionate creatures….. I believe most animals on the planet to be far superior to any human, when it comes to essential morality…. Sure, they’ll obey their instinctual survival imperatives, to protect their territory, and to survive as either prey or predator, but, they’ll never do so out of of spite, or greed, or, ignorance, or sheer cussedness. (Okay, full disclosure… I HAVE known a couple of horses that were pretty fractious when it came to cooperating with people… but, they were anomalies for their species, I’m sure….I also knew this one blue jay that REALLY didn’t like people, too, but, hey, he probably had a reason…. We humans have a reputation for being assholes to other creatures….)

I have collected more than 2000 pictures from the internet over time, just for my own viewing pleasure…. A great many of them are examples of animals interacting between species, showing how the two, or more, species can get along with each other…. Also, I’ve observed animals all my life, and can state without hesitation that Man is the LEAST compassionate of ALL the mammalian species, and, really, hasn’t shown me any evidence that very many of them can be much much nicer than most reptiles, avians, or insects, in my experience (I THINK that covers the major phyla, doesn’t it?….) I haven’t studied the fish very deeply, in terms of interactive or relational skills, but, I know for sure and for certain that the sea-going mammals are ALL more intelligent, and more compassionate to other species, than is our own …..

So, I thought, for a change, I’d show a bit of compassion myself, and just give you the link to this uplifting post, then, follow it with some simple, easy-going pearls, with the only parameter being “nice”…. See? No rant, one of my poems, two old-schools, both light-hearted, and a “nice” link…. See how I can make nice when I try?…. At least as nice as a legislator, I think, and much more honest…. Plus, I don’t want anything from y’all, except your kind attention… Enjoy!…..

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Giraffe-licks-dying-zoo-worker-5340478.php

“Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

‘He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, “One soul abiding in two bodies.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.

— The Buddha

“By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love he may rule the world forever.” — Lao Tzu

“At the touch of Love every one becomes a poet.” — Plato

‘How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“…just when I had you wriggling in the crushing grip of reason, too…” — Calvin & Hobbes
_____________________________

I’m not sure how to feel about this one…. It has taken somewhat over three hours to complete all of the necessary operations to get this done, interspersed with frequent breaks, and it still, as far as I can tell, could use some work, or something….. more…. But, since it’s already longer than intended (which is NOT unusual, I assure you….), I’m going to continue to demonstrate my compassionate side, and let it go the way it is….. Lucky you, eh?….

See you tomorrow, and, yes, I know I threaten you like that every day…. Y’all should be used to it by now…. I know I’m getting pretty calloused in that respect, so, maybe I’ll think about doing something about it, some day…. Sure I will…. Well, as they are fond of saying downtown, so be it…. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Another confusing day in Paradox….

Posted on September 21, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I often wonder…. a quality which, I believe, in part, is what makes me different than most folks. Oh, I’m not saying I’m special, or better than anyone else… But, it seems to me, many of the people I see in the world today have stopped using their imagination, and never allow themselves to wonder, about anything…… Imagination is humanity’s most powerful weapon in the struggle to deal with reality, as well as our most versatile tool, yet, the world’s demands are so heavy that most people seemingly forget they have a way to deal with them, with less stress and effort than they commonly spend. If they only take the time to learn how to learn, and to use their imagination to foresee the future enough to effectively prepare for it, they would find life less of a chore, and more of a joy….

This, of course, sounds like the beginning of a rant, and, of course, it is…. but, it’s a rant that will be postponed for the moment, as I am really not ready to let out all the stuff Ive been thinking about this subject….. My disappointment in my fellow man has never been deeper than it is today, and I am incensed, and embarrassed, by the stupidity of those who continue to fall for the crap the BRC hands out, along with being enraged, at the sheer effrontery, and selfishness, of those who would have us believe they are our leaders,….. However, I have only had two sips of coffee, and if I begin what I have to say now, I’ll be overly vicious, and someone might just get offended….

Yes, I know that doesn’t matter at all; as well, I don’t give a shit whether they get offended or not…. In truth, if they didn’t, I’d think I was doing it wrong. What good is a rant that nobody gets offended by? Nothing, that’s what; a good rant should piss of at least half the folks who read it, or it just isn’t getting into the right hands, and can only be considered preaching to the choir…. But, I’m still a bit groggy, to be honest, and if I start now, it will degenerate into name-calling, and deliberately provocative statements, designed to either piss off the BRC, or show the public just how much they SHOULD be pissed off at them, thus pissing THEM off at their purported benefactors….. Or, even better, pissing them off at their own cupidity….

I suppose I COULD rant now; it really doesn’t matter…. but, I want to wait a bit, and let the arguments percolate until they’re good and strong, like good coffee must be. Maybe then I can feel like it’s more accurately targeted, and someone who needs to read it will actually come across it, get pissed, and start showing it to their friends…. I keep trying, pointing out to folks, and ffolkes, as well, just how much the assholes we elect lie to us, and how often they steal from us, and how much they actually disdain the people who elect them to office…. Unfortunately, the majority of ffolkes who stop by to read what I say are of the same opinion, and already aware of the depth of the corruption that is present in today’s governments, all over the world….

Any who, I have a specific rant today, so you’ll see it down the page a ways…. In the meantime, I see I’ve wandered around, verbally, sufficiently to make this a legal introduction. I am kind of enjoying this method of starting the Pearls; if nothing else, it gets a lot of blather out of my system, always a good thing for everyone….. I also don’t seem to have as much fear of the blank page with this method, as I seem to know it will get filled up quickly and easily, by just letting my head wander about, and trying to type fast enough to get the blather down correctly…. Of course, I’m trying NOT to be aware of just how silly it all is, but, hey, what’s a little deliberate ignorance among friends, eh?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If we don’t change our direction we’re likely to end up where we’re headed.” — Chinese Proverb
_____________________________

In order to allow the rant for today the time to percolate, hopefully to evolve into the shape I envision, I’m going to start with an old-school pearl, to get my mind lubricated, as it were….. By setting some loose, if stringent, parameters for the search through the Smart Bee dB, it brings some focus to my will, while simultaneously freeing up the imagination to interpret what I see outside the boundaries of normality…. I know, it sounds a bit amorphous, but, it works for me….

“If you follow the flock, you step in shit!” — Darkwisdom
(See, what did I tell you?….)

“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

“Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is NOT a sin–just stupid.)” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“I have always thought in the back of my mind, cheese and onions.” — The Rutles
(I LOVE this!….)

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Alexander [the Great] asked Diogenes if there was anything in the world he wanted. Diogenes, without looking up, replied: `Yes. Get out of my light.'” — Plutarch

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

Today’s poetry choice will be picked later…. I have a feeling I’ll need a bit of exposure to poetry when I’m done with the rest of this Pearl….

I was right; that was an epic rant…. (Spoiler alert: it’s a long rant, ffolkes, so be ready when you decide to dive in…. have your smartypants on, put away your guilt, and it will go over better, with less chance of neuronic indigestion……) Now I’m done with it, though, I need a poem to help me to feel a little lighter…. and I know just who to turn to, to find that very thing….. I have used both of these in previous posts; today, they are a perfect addition to the given ambiance…. Enjoy!….

À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succinct:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

A Caution To Everybody

Consider the auk;
Becoming extinct because he forgot how to fly, and could only walk.
Consider man, who may well become extinct
Because he forgot how to walk and learned how to fly before he thinked.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

Regarding the nationalization of industry or private property: “Of what importance is all that, if I range men firmly within a discipline they cannot escape? Let them own land or factories as much as they please. The decisive factor is that the State, through the Party, is supreme over them regardless of whether they are owners or workers. All that is unessential; our socialism goes far deeper. It establishes a relationship of the individual to the State, the national community. Why need we trouble to socialize banks and factories? We socialize human beings.” — Adolf Hitler to Herman Rauschning, pre-WWII — “Why Does Socialism Continue to Appeal to Anyone?”, Robert Hessen

This is a perfect lead-in to what I wish to say about the BRC today….. First, for those who are not regulars here, BRC stands for Beloved Ruling Class, a term I borrowed from an author named Joel Rosenberg, who uses it in two of his novels set in a fictional world. It is intended to denote ALL of the elected officials in this country, the hereditary ones who run the countries who are still in the feudal era of history, and those shadowy corporate entities who control them; it also includes their myrmidons, the armed forces, and the paramilitary police forces now so ubiquitous in our cities. All of these people are insane, in my estimation, just for WANTING to take the reins of power over society. Moreover, I believe they are not only susceptible to the principle of power’s corruptive qualities, but actually revel in it….

Hitler’s statement above is included as an example of how that particular group of society reasons; it is indicative to me that there is plainly not a microgram of respect for other people in this statement, an attitude that I believe…. No, an attitude I KNOW, is prevalent among every one of the people in this country who occupy an elected office. I know this because every action they take, and everything that comes out of their mouths, provides me with evidence of that disdain….. How else can one explain how often they lie to the public? How else can one explain their constant denial of what the general public wants, and their insistence that only their own agenda is worthy of being promoted.

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” — C. W. Leadbeater

This mistake, all-too-common among the great unwashed masses of humanity who live from hand to mouth, gratefully consuming everything they can latch onto, as they’ve been taught, and wondering why nothing ever seems to make them feel good, is part of why it is so easy for the BRC to manipulate the rest of humanity.

People get so busy dealing with what they see in their lives (what they’ve been taught to believe is important, whether it actually is so, or not….) they forget that there can be much more to it than just what is in their vicinity, and their sphere of awareness. Because they don’t have, or take, the time to think, or to imagine, they are easy prey for anyone who gains their trust, for those who do can tell them ANYTHING, and nobody will question it, because they can’t imagine being lied to by someone they’ve chosen to trust…..

Then, there is the rampant stupidity that is repeatedly displayed by some members of the BRC, who are also victims of this frame of mind….. Unfortunately, these particular idiots are in a position where their misconceived attempts at reasoning can actually hurt ALL of us… For example, take the recent hullabaloo over the current budget.

The Retardican Party, which holds the numerical advantage in the House of Representatives, is forcing the viewpoint of a minority of the public onto the rest of that body, by threatening to send the government into a shutdown, in order to defund laws they still can’t believe got passed in 2009, known commonly as Obamacare, (the healthcare reform laws that expanded and altered the health insurance landscape, to allow a lot of people, who heretofore were unable to do so, to get care and/or treatment for their illnesses, at a rate they could actually afford).

These laws, which the House Retardicans have tried to vote down 42 times, unsuccessfully, and regarding which they have made numerous appeals to the court system, also unsuccessfully, have actually HELPED the American public…. and these IDIOTS won’t let go of their racism and anger at being irrelevant long enough to admit even that the law is working. So, they threaten and bluster and keep losing voters, who are getting very tired of watching them display their ignorance and selfishness….

These assholes are so focused on their own fears, of a world that includes Blacks, Gays, Latinos, Asians,strong, independent women, children who think, and adults who take responsibility for the actions, they are willing to bring the entire government to a standstill, harming incalculable numbers of people who cannot afford to foot the bill for their foolishness.

“On the other hand, it takes real moral fiber to remain a Republican when there’s no money in it. And things *are* looking grim on the financial front. Even worse for the President, they’re getting confusing.” — A. Whitney Brown

Now, of course, they won’t be able to force their legislation completely onto others, thanks to the veto powers of the Senate, and the White House…. but, the whole issue creates ill will, and further gaps between people, at a point in the history of our planet where the impetus demands we come together, and learn to live together, or we all will surely perish together…. Stupidity, selfishness, greed, the thirst for power, all will eventually lead to our demise as a species, if we don’t make major changes in the way society is structured, and the way it works.

Below you will find two links, to news articles, each of which contributed to the formation of some of the outrage I am experiencing whenever I let myself consider this issue. It’s all such a pathetic pile of crap, an issue that completely demonstrates every wrong thing about the modern American version of democracy, on BOTH sides of the political spectrum…..

The Demobutt Party is no better than the Retardican Party, when it comes to lying to the public; at the current time there happens to be a significant number of them who have seen the profit for them in backing certain ideas that actually help the middle class (look closely, though, and you’ll see the dead giveaway…. nobody admits there is a ‘lower class’…. ), so, they are in favor with the public right now, as their agendas seem to match more closely with what society’s momentum dictates…..

Nonetheless, it is necessary to remember that there are still a LOT of people in this country who actually believe what these people are telling them, without ever questioning whether it is right, wrong, or unreal…. They just nod their heads and send in money… I mean, think about the fact that the subject of the second article, Ron Paul, has the support of a great many….. well, I hesitate to actually call them people, because they exhibit not nearly enough intelligence to warrant that title….

Any who, a lot of folks believe whatever this idiot says…. and the assholes under discussion in the other article aren’t much better, in my view…. They’re more interested in how they look on camera than they are about the people who elected them…. ALL OF THEM, sorry to say, are elected officials in the highest offices in this country, and THIS is their best stuff…. I don’t even need to look for what is wrong in our society, because it shoves itself in my face on a daily basis…..

This is the state of things, ffolkes…. I wish I knew what the hell to do about it, other than write… but, that’s all I have so, there you go….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Cruz-Lee-plan-on-Obamacare-unnerves-some-in-GOP-4832241.php

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2013/09/19/ron-paul-more-women-should-sacrifice-career-to-homeschool-kids/

I feel bad…. I don’t want to bum ffolkes out, or depress anyone, or in any way cause anyone’s day to turn dark on my account… So, I’ll leave you with a bit of hope, and advice, at once…. Remember, ffolkes, as long as we can keep our health, and our sense of humor, it will all turn out okay… It’s a load of BS, but, it sounds good, and, the wisdom of the ages really does support me in this, as there are a lot of very wise ffolkes who have said the same…. to wit:

Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.” — Mark Twain

If nothing else, we could laugh them out of town, couldn’t we?…. Worth a try, I think….
_____________________________

All I can say is, I didn’t have anything better to do, so this is what I did…. so be it. I’d better go proof it, if I’m going to sign it at the end…. Be back in a few…..

Well, it’s long, and involved, and I’m sure I got it all out, for now…. It’s already caused a discussion with someone, so, I’m hopeful for the written version… Think about it, ffolkes, that’s all I ask…. Be real….

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

Apocryphal messages from Betelgeuse, in Swedish slang, ….

Posted on August 21, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl promises to be a marvel of human endeavor, if only I can get it done, a tribute to the perseverance of the human spirit. Of course, that probably sounds somewhat presumptuous, if not completely egotistical, but, it’s true, nonetheless. Just the effort of getting out of bed today reached monumental proportions, as several physical and mental issues presented themselves to my attention immediately upon opening my eyes…. Then, of course, after summoning the will to get up to an upright position, I had to go to even greater lengths to get myself up to get coffee…. Thankfully, it was ready, and I was able to drag myself over to the kitchen area, get it ready, and choke some down within a few moments of arising, a fact which has, no doubt, saved any hope of going on….

I had a bit of time yesterday when my back pain was tolerable, and got around to a few of my favorite blogs to read…. This was fortunate, in a way, as I found out where Murphy has been the last couple of days….. After reading the blog of susank456 ( here: http://birdsanddogs.com/2013/08/20/the-day-that-shall-remain-nameless/ ), it was clear he had spent the day with her, fussing with her in every possible way…. Though sympathetic to her plight, I had to smile in appreciation at my own fortune, in having at least one day without his miserable presence making itself felt. He spends entirely too much time here already, so, little as I wanted a friend to have a bad day, it was good to know that, in spite of being one of his favorites, I’m not his only target….

He’s back today, though, and though I don’t appreciate his ministrations, I accept them in the spirit in which they are presented, to wit: Life goes on, so deal… And, I will, despite the headache, despite the new knife in my neck, despite the inner ear disturbance making me stagger around like a drunk, and, despite the miasmal overall feeling of impending doom, a gift, no doubt, of my PTSD, which has deigned to leave me alone for some time, but now has decided to manifest itself in this minor way…. It’s annoying, as I KNOW I have no reason to feel unreasoned fear; everything in my life is proceeding apace, and I’m content with how it is going….. Hence, these feelings of incipient doom are just leftover nerve impulses from an earlier time, which my brain has decided to let out now, rather than back when there was need for them….

As mentioned, though, it’s minor, and fairly easily thrown aside, thanks to my basic outlook, which generally doesn’t give much of a shit about that kind of stuff; it’s too familiar to produce the same panic as it once did, so, it’s merely a matter of performing the mental equivalent of blowing one’s nose when it gets too full…. All the excess angst and fear will get blown away into the ether, using the virtual tissue we call a blog…. I hope none of it gets on your clothing; I’ll do my best to confine it to the tissue, but, one never knows exactly how it all will turn out, does one?….

So, today, I would suggest you take advantage of the accessory materials that are provided for you in the compartment just under your seat…. There is a bib, an oxygen mask, and some containers of Jell-o, in case you need a little snack…. Oh, and there’s a flotation device, too, for any water landings that go wrong…. it looks like a rubber ducky, but, when you squeeze the bill, it inflates into a larger version, which is suitable for all bodies of water…. Never say we don’t have style, eh?….

Shall we Pearl?….

But sorrow return’d with the dawning of morn,
And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.

— Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) — The Soldier’s Dream
_____________________________

What with the dizziness, and the fog through which I’m viewing the universe, this is going slowly, requiring many breaks to ease my pain… To make it go a bit faster, we’ll throw in an old-school format, which is less time-consuming, even though no less challenging in nature. We’ll even let Smart Bee take the lead on the search parameters, and see what kind of mischief it can find for us today…. Don’t forget to fasten your seat belts, please; the flight can get bumpy on these fanciful flights into the realms of nonsense and whimsy….

FOOL, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscience, omnipotent. He it was who invented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the telegraph, the platitude and the circle of the sciences. He created patriotism and taught the nations war — founded theology, philosophy, law, medicine and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican government. He is from everlasting to everlasting — such as creation’s dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existence headed the procession of being. His grandmotherly hand was warmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man’s evening meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal
grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human civilization. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Reality is an obstacle to hallucination.” — Smart Bee

“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.” — Confucius

“I’m not black, but there’s a whole lot of times I wish I could say I’m not white.” — Frank Zappa

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Oops! My bad…. we took a turn away from nonsense and whimsy, and ended up over in the critical thinking section…. Sorry, but, somebody left the map taped upside down, as a joke, I guess…. Oh well, nobody got anything on them, did they? Good… we’ll go on, and try to put this out of our minds, okay?… Please?….
_____________________________

Okay, here… I’ll distract y’all with an impenetrable poem…. It’s one I wrote a little over a year ago, and just found the other day…. I believe I wrote it in response to one of the school massacre shootings that happened that year…. It’s a bit thick, but, with some pretty fancy footwork… not too bad, altogether, and certainly worth a read, if for no other reason to get on by it to section three….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

I’m not in any condition to sit long enough to rant, and I’m overdue for one, so, I’m resorting to the archives again, since they’re there, and they have over 750 posts from which to pull stuff for today, some of which is actually pretty good, to my mind (well, I DID write it….) Any who, here is a rant for y’all, from December of 2012…. It could have been written today; the material is that fresh, and the subject is one that seldom undergoes any great changes, at least not of the nature of that part under discussion….

Oh, and consider this… I wrote this BEFORE any of the articles in the Guardian, about the NSA’s surveillance, based on the documents from the NSA itself, leaked by Eric Snowden, had been published, or heard of…. Mr. Snowden, at the time of this writing, was just making, or had just made, his decision to abscond with the information, and was busy figuring out how to get in touch with the reporters he contacted…. I guess my paranoia wasn’t, and isn’t, so out of place, now, is it?…..

Enjoy!…
——————-

“Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you!” — Smart Bee

Last week, or maybe earlier, another blogger and I were both ID’d as being a bit paranoid, (self-identified, I might add) because we happen to believe at least some of the conspiracy rumors continually floating around the internet. Each of us took comfort from the above sentiment, knowing it to be 100% true, and have mutual agreement in that belief. He seems to be pretty tech-savvy, posting a lot of different types of media on his blog, so he must have similar knowledge as I of computers, and the functions of which current technology is capable. This knowledge, along with a deep understanding of human nature, is the root cause for our paranoia, and, its justification…..

“No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.” — Aristotle

The little laptop computer upon which I type to create these Pearls of Virtual Wisdom is an amazing machine, and fairly representative of what is available to the public these days. It has, quite simply, more computing power in it than was present in the ENTIRE WORLD when the first laptop was on the design boards, when I got my first clunky 386. What this simple fact(oid) implies is this: the government, and its supporters, the bankers, corporations, and churches, has available for their use, enough computing power to record EVERY piece of communication, of EVERY type, created each day in the ENTIRE WORLD. Along with that capability, to monitor ALL communications, it has the capability of mining that huge amount of data for significant words, phrases, and patterns that will inform them of anyone, anywhere, who is speaking in a way that is potentially against their interests.

Yep…. every single piece of published communication, via phone, internet, TV, radio, or any other form of media by which humans communicate, is vulnerable to being overheard by those in the beloved ruling class…. (addendum, 8/21/13: or, for that matter, by anyone with the technological know-how….) Allow me to assure you, the reasons for which they want this information have nothing to do with YOUR rights, or YOUR interests, nor are they going to tell you, either that they are doing it, or how often, or where, or anything about it.

In many public places, with cameras and recording devices, it is possible for them to overhear even the words we speak to each other face to face. If they wish, they can even concentrate technology on a single spot, (such as your car, your living room, or kitchen…..), and listen to every word spoken there, even if they are not within miles of the place. There is, by published report, no place left on Earth where technology cannot penetrate, to listen to what is being spoken, given the opportunity, and the time to employ the needed technology.

So, my friend and I are well aware that what we write and publish here online is perfectly available to those who care about such matters, and they WILL be listening to what EVERYONE is saying, even, or, perhaps especially, us. Since I have a tendency to rant against the very people who are listening, I doubt that my name is missing from several lists of theirs. In fact, I’d be surprised if it was missing from those lists…. if it is, they’re not paying attention….. 🙂

As I’ve said before ffolkes, be alert; the world needs all the lerts it can get. You are being watched, and listened to, whether you choose to believe it or not, so it would behoove you to, perhaps, take that into account. Please, don’t fall into that, “oh, you’re just being paranoid,” attitude, or the “well, if I don’t say anything wrong, they can’t get me,” fallacy…. One of the primary characteristics of those with the power-mongering gene is a certain irrationality that is inherent in their make-up…. They have an unfortunate tendency to act on belief and faith, not on fact, so their actions, while fairly predictable, are somewhat irrationally chosen, and don’t necessarily make any sense to those of us who use our minds for other things than reclining upon…. Remember, as Lazarus Long advises, “Always cut the cards.”…..

I have read and understood the above.

X ______________________
_____________________________

Okay, I’m happy…. Considering how I felt when I got up, this has gone very well…. Now, if only it reads as well as it flowed out…. Hope springs eternal….

As usual, I was half-right (half-write?)…. It’s not bad, but, again, don’t bother calling the Pulitzer Committee…. It’s good enough for the standards we hold around here, certainly, so, I’ll be off to do that…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Pilfered hearts, buried in parody….

Posted on August 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

It’s tempting…. the urge to just give it up is getting strong, and the reasons to do so are growing more compelling each day. As I sit to write today, I’m struck by how conflicted I am inside, where one part of me wants to fulfill the routine I’ve established over the last two years, and another part wants me to just go back to bed. For those two years, the latter part of me has been meek, unable to have its way very often, if at all, over the big, blustering, powerful urge to spill my guts….. Of late, though, it has gained strength, and weight, and is now able to bring a sense of controversy to these morning battles with myself…..

Obviously, the part of me that is still dreaming in bed has lost again, as the words keep flowing on screen; I guess the meek aren’t inheriting the earth quite yet…. It does, however, create yet another conundrum for me to solve, to wit: what the hell will I do today for an intro section? I’ve used up just about every style there is, or, at least, all I can think of, and none of them have been workable as an every day kind of opening, that would stand up to the test of time. The closest I’ve come is these wandering, blathering personal commentaries, four or five paragraphs discussing the workings of my head, which, though they may be interesting at times, probably get a bit trying to the patience to read often….

I’ve tried fictional openings…. I’ve tried ranting, I’ve tried pearls. I’ve tried to be logical, and I’ve dipped deeply into the well of nonsense to draw up some humor, such as it is. I’ve even used the Keystone Kops method, and, in times of extreme emergency, made things up. Hell, I’ve even considered the use of high explosives, but, I couldn’t get the permits…. Oh well…. I did have high hopes for that one, but, city hall gets nervous at private citizens asking for permission to blow stuff up….

Oh well, by this time, I should know better than to get all worked up about it….. The struggle to decide on what to write about every day will continue, as long as I keep flogging myself to write…. It’s looking like that isn’t going to cease any time in the near future, so, I’ll have to learn to live with a daily battle in my head, at least until I learn how to live with it, and accept it as reality….. That is one answer, in truth….I could be all Zen, and call this process a koan, a learning experience, and realize that it is acceptable just the way it is…. Life is struggle, and cannot be lived without pain. Learning to accept the pain is what eventually causes one to be able to live in harmony, and the pain, along with the struggle, will pass into memory….

Yeah, that’s the ticket…. Zen rules!….. Well, it helps, anyway…. Ah well, it’s happened again, so we’ll take the five paragraphs of relative crap, and go on to the next steps in this dance macabre….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love.” — Robert Heinlein
_____________________________

“I put aside my copy of “BOWLING WORLD” and think about GUN CONTROL legislation..” — Zippy the Pinhead

You know, the most amazing thing, to me, about this whole issue with the spying on our telephone and computer data by the government? It is the absolute genuine surprise on the part of the administration at how upset everyone (i.e. the public, or, more simply, “us”…) is over this issue. It’s as if they can’t believe that people are actually upset that the government is collecting all of our phone conversations, and all of our email correspondence, in order to, according to them, “defeat terrorism”.

They, in their absolute confidence in their own rightness, are having a hard time with the fact that NONE of the rest of the populace, at least, none of those outside of the government itself, agrees with them….. For some unknown reason (well, you know it, and I know it, but, they don’t….), they think they can do whatever they want in the pursuit of their imaginary demons, and we’re all supposed to fall right in line with that…. In truth, it makes me feel a little better about things when I think about the reaction by the public; I had almost given up on them ever caring at all what the BRC did to them….

I’m not going to rant again today about this; it’s all over the news, and many people are presenting some well-thought-out, and well-researched and -written articles on the subject, probably much better than I could do. I like to think I’d be funnier, but, that isn’t necessarily of importance to such pieces, so, for now, I’m leaving it to them to distribute the information people need to be clear on the issue. Clarity is necessary, because this is one of the best opportunities we, as the public, have had in some time to bring light to bear on the clandestine activities being perpetrated on us by our supposed leaders….. I think it is important NOT to let them off the hook on this, and bring all the pressure we can to make reforms, at least in this one area….

Rather than rant, though, I will put together another pearl on this subject, because I believe that the more we hold the BRC up for examination, whether that regard is focused on humor, their (absent) virtue, their chicanery, or just their displays of idiocy, it’s a good thing to keep to keep the light focused on them as long as possible. If we don’t hold our leaders, such as they are, up for our criticism of their acts against us, then, who will? They certainly aren’t going to be pulling their own covers, or showing off their latest theft from us; it’s in their best interests to keep as much of that away from our attention as they are able to do. So, I’ll keep on making fun of them, just as long as they keep lying to us….

Therefore, here is another seven-star pearl, with the clear intent of either making fun of, or bringing unwanted exposure to, our Beloved Ruling Class, and all of their myrmidons…. (a great word, go ahead, look it up….) (No, I’m serious, you need to look it up, or the first quote won’t make any sense to you….) (Of course, none of it MAY make any sense, but, I do what I can, and no more….) (Ah, the hell with it, it means, essentially, “faceless minions in vast numbers, set to do their bidding”….)

The Bible is true this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.

— Jordan Henderson

“Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
(One of the first recorded instances of a President using computer programming techniques on the public….)

“An election year is the time politicians want to help us out of all the trouble they got us into in the first place.” — Smart Bee

“Disco oil bussing will create a throbbing Naugahyde pipeline running straight to the tropics from the rug producing regions and devalue the dollar!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Muddy water let stand becomes clear.” — Lao Tse

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

“If life is merely a joke, the question still remains: For whose amusement?” — Smart Bee

Well, there you have it…. I can’t make it any clearer than that….. Well, perhaps I can…. we’ll try later…..
_____________________________

I only have one thing to say about this morning’s choice of poems…. Take note, for you are reading the work of a genius…..

Reflection On A Wicked World

Purity
Is obscurity.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

So Does Everybody Else, Only Not So Much

O all ye exorcizers come and exorcize now, and ye clergymen draw nigh and clerge, For I wish to be purged of an urge. It is an irksome urge, compounded of nettles and glue, And it is turning all my friends back into acquaintances, and all my acquaintances into people who look the other way when I heave into view. It is an indication that my mental buttery is butterless and my mental larder lardless, And it consists not of “Stop me if you’ve heard this one,” but of “I know you’ve heard this one because I told it to you myself, but I’m going to tell it to you again regardless,” Yes I fear I am living beyond my mental means. When I realize that it is not only anecdotes that I reiterate but what is far worse, summaries of radio programs and descriptions of cartoons in newspapers and magazines. I want to resist but I cannot resist recounting the bright sayings of celebrities that everybody already is familiar with every word of; I want to refrain but cannot refrain from telling the same audience on two successive evenings the same little snatches of domestic gossip about people I used to know that they have never heard of. When I remember some titillating episode of my childhood I figure that if it’s worth narrating once it’s worth narrating twice, in spite of lackluster eyes and dropping jaws, And indeed I have now worked my way backward from titillating episodes in my own childhood to titillating episodes in the childhood of my parents or even my parents-in-laws, And what really turns my corpuscles to ice, I carry around clippings and read them to people twice. And I know what I am doing while I am doing it and I don’t want to do it but I can’t help doing it and I am just another Ancient Mariner, And the prospects for my future social life couldn’t possibly be barrener. Did I tell you that the prospects for my future social life couldn’t be barrener?

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

As often is the case at this point, I have no rantable material available for this section…. Oh, subject matter isn’t an issue, only the degree of angst available to drive it to the proper pitch. Anything less than shrill just doesn’t get anyone’s attention, or release enough of the angst for duty elsewhere…. Such is life, as we say in the blog world (like that is an actual place, with inhabitants, and all that implies….). What this means in terms of reality is another pearl of a random nature…. I’ll see what Smart Bee starts off with; that will provide me with a search parameter. Then, when I’ve got an idea in mind, I’ll do a fast cruise through the dB, and pick out the best pearls to make the point….

All this doesn’t generally take very long, but, this morning, it could take a while, as I’ve already put SB through some heavy paces…. We’ll see how it’s holding up…. You may use the first quote you see as the certificate of entitlement for the remainder of the pearl….

“What about reality, you ask? Well, as far as I’m concerned, reality can go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.” — Stephen King
(This is possibly the best single pearl I have ever encountered!…)

“How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.” — R. Buckminster Fuller
(Okay, that’s a good one, too….)

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
(Ooh, ooh! Me, too!….)

“Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the _real_ object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?”
— Patrick Henry
(Whoops…. a bit of direction change there, eh?…. Let’s see where it takes us….

“Silence gives consent.” — Smart Bee, channeling the sages of all ages…
(Yep, that’s a good one, as well… nice job, SB… That’s five, let’s find two more, to finish strong….)

“Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.” — John Updike, Couples
(Hmm….)

“Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely get your Feet wet. Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your face.” — National Lampoon, “Deteriorata”
(Oh no! What happened? You did that deliberately, didn’t you… Well, no way, Bubba… try again… Two, and both have to be good…)

“Don’t SAY things. What you ARE stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson — Social Aims

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.” — Old Testament — Exodus ii, 22

Okay, that will do…. It’s not perfect, but, it’s relatively inoffensive while still being obscurely disturbing… It had better do. I’m out of quotes…. Smart Bee went on strike after this last one, so, we’re done here; you can thank me later….
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Or, you can thank me now, as it is now completely done, and your suffering is at an end. So is mine, for today… Well, I do have to go read it again, to at least make a try to find the typos that are always there, so, I may as well get that done, too….

Whew! Well, I can see now, I’ll be handing out the E tickets at the beginning of today’s ride, as it takes off through the numberless corridors and infinitude of dead-end tunnels of my mind…. Come to think of it, I should probably check to make sure my insurance is paid up, and that all the safety equipment is in place, before I post…. Oh well, I can’t be responsible for those who don’t trouble to stick their own clouds of preconceived notions in their pocket before coming on board…. They’ll have to take their chances along with the rest of us….

That all being said, I think it came out pretty well, if a bit flagrantly scattered. Hmm, nice…. “Flagrantly scattered” might just be a new iconic phrase to describe this blog; don’t be surprised to see it again somewhere…. Sorry, distracted again; it’s happening a lot today…. Any who, I guess, since this is the closing section, I should bring this to a close, so, I will…. TTFN…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…. Oh, and, Blessed Be…. (No, I’m not Wiccan, but, I like the thought…. it fits in with my concept of “good vibrations”….)(Plus, it will, from this day on, always be there, at the end of every post, as a tribute to, and to specifically direct it to, my friend Carole, to add to her good vibrations, in her fight against the big C….)

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

If only zucchini was more charitable…..

Posted on January 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
In today’s world, it can become hard to maintain a positive outlook, especially about the future. The Beloved Ruling Class is so intransigent, and so self-centered, I can see little hope that the changes needed for us to survive as a species will ever happen. This is, of course, tragic, to say the least, and is possibly NOT the best subject with which to start the day’s effort. A bit dark, don’t y’know?. But, I got an email last night while I was asleep that was extremely touching, and have to deal with the issue before I think too hard about it…..

As a matter of policy, I’ve never given in to chain letters, of any kind, whether, as in olden days, they had stamps, or the more modern email variety. I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe in the idea that an email, or a letter, that I don’t forward to many people, will cause me to have bad luck, or that doing so will bring me good luck. Life, and Murphy, don’t work that way; this I know for a fact. But, occasionally, one will come along that has something else going for it, and for these I will break my policy about sending it on…..

I’ll be forwarding the email to my Pearl Drops on this occasion, and I’ll tell you why….. The letter, though full of all kinds of examples of the assumptions and faith-based beliefs about which I often rant, has something that the other chain letters don’t have, and that is a compassionate reason for sending it. The person who sent this to me did so because of their own compassion, for me, and for others, in spite of, or maybe because of, the fact she has cancer herself, and is currently fighting the battle to stay alive we all will face one day. Yet she has the strength of spirit to want to give to her friends, and to feel that she is helping in some way……

Now, I’m not going to tell you that I’ve changed my mind about the healing power of faith, because it is actually one of the few parts of religious activity that I do believe is real. I fully believe the human mind has the power to heal through its own power of suggestion and belief; in history there are numerous examples of healings that cannot be explained any other way. I won’t allow that the power comes from God; I believe that power already resides within us. We all have the power to heal ourselves, and others, by dint of believing it strongly enough; we may not be able to see, or describe how it works, much less explain it, but, there are too many examples to deny the evidence…..

So, I believe in the power of the human mind, and in some unknown way, letters like these can distribute that power to where it needs to be, and can help people heal themselves….. So, I’ll be sending it along, with my own wishes for good fortune to those of my friends and acquaintances who struggle with physical issues, in hope that all comes out well in the end…. And, it’s like my friend said when she sent it…. it can’t hurt……

I’ve used up my intro section for this, and will double up its usefulness by copying it into the letter I’m forwarding. If anyone would like to see the letter, please leave your email in a comment, and I’ll send it to you; I don’t really want to paste it here, as it might shock some of my regulars out of their socks to see it on my site…. It’s a nice letter, all in all, and I really do appreciate that my friend sent it to me, even though I don’t buy into their faith… it is the impulse of compassion from them that is my concern, and I really feel loved for having them in my life….. Thank you, C….

I believe I’ve managed to accomplish my purpose without falling into either sappiness, or melancholy, so that makes this a GOOD intro, right? Well, whatever it is, it will have to do, as I don’t have the energy to go back and do another one. Time, I have, energy requires a bit more regulation, to ensure I can get as far as I can with what there is to use…. an amount much smaller than in previous periods of my life, to be sure. Before I figure out some way to screw this up, I think we should begin our dive for today….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I hope something GOOD came in the mail today so I have a REASON to live!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank

Statements such as this are the saving grace of mankind, to my mind. It always astounds me how people who have been subjected to evil can react to that treatment by becoming the antithesis of evil, i.e., they simply become more good, in response to the evil perpetrated upon them. Anyone who can deny that Ms. Frank was witness to, and subject to, some of the most evil events in history is a fool; no, they’re an idiot. Probably both…. Yet, in spite of all that she saw happen to her family, her friends, and all she endured to survive in the face of the evil she experienced, her writing is filled with optimism and hope, and faith in the human spirit. It is almost enough to convince me of her insanity, but, I know that, even if considered insane, this kind of goodness is real….

The problem is that this kind of good is nowhere near as plentiful in human culture as are the more evil aspects of personality that we humans display. The kind of activities that took place in Anne Frank’s world are all too common in human history, and indicate the overwhelming majority of those who follow those precepts, of ignorance, hatred, and bigotry, rather than subscribing to more positive rules of conduct. In essence, what I’m saying is, there are more assholes out there than there are nice guys, no matter how we would like it to be otherwise, and no matter how strong our faith in human nature. It is the ugliest part of the dichotomy we experience as part of the universe that is based on opposites, to know that the evil in us, so far throughout history, is stronger than the good.

“As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.” — Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita was written a long time before the birth of Christ, so we know that the human proclivity to turn ideas to their advantage, no matter the original intent of the concepts, has been an issue for society for a long time. This is the difference between those who subscribe to improving human nature, and our understanding of life and our place in it, and those who use their talents to obtain power over others. While the former works toward the betterment of all people with whom they come in contact, the latter spend their effort to manipulate and control everyone they meet. In the real world, these deliberately self-oriented assholes (sorry, gotta let it out now and again….) are the ones who seek elected office, or go to seminary, or study law, or business, or become police officers…. not to help others, but to find every way they can to take advantage of the naive nature of their peers…..

SIGH…. (That’s a sigh as commonly sighed in County Clare, Ireland, indeed, in all the west counties of Eire; long, drawn out, slowly exhaled, complete with mournful expression, shrugging of shoulders, and shaking of head….) I don’t know the answer, though I have some ideas that might work, should they ever be considered. But, they all involve a certain degree of “giving in” to the more violent side of our nature. Though it is a soothing thought to think of all those assholes getting what they deserve, it is, to some extent, assuming the same characteristics that define them in their state of anti-humanity.

To get rid of them, we would have to become them, if only for a short time, and would thereby lose part of what makes us different in the first place…. So far, I haven’t been willing to give in to that extent. I don’t know if that shows that I have integrity, or if it means I am afraid to change to that degree, even if temporary. How to get back to the same ethical standing seems to me to be the issue, and I just don’t know the answer…. My karmic balance is no doubt too delicately perched on the cusp to risk any unreasonable violence without just cause….

But, if it gave the rest of us a chance to make some changes to society that would be of help to all of us, rather than just a few, well, I think I’d be willing to pick up a weapon and join the fray. Maybe having honorable motivation would be enough to get the job done, and still maintain some integrity…. If nothing else, it might give us a bit of breathing space, in order to come up with a more permanent, and more humane, solution to the issue…. Hard to say, as things have been the way they are for a long time, and rooting out the Beloved Ruling Class from their well-fortified position is not going to be a simple task…. As we all can see, human nature is what it is, and it doesn’t WANT to change….. None of us do…. unless, of course, we want to keep on living…..

“Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
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“A picture is a poem without words.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

And a poem is a picture of Life, with words as colors….. Here is what I think is possibly the best poem ever written by an American poet…. No other poem I’ve seen or heard of comes close to matching the depth of its simplicity…. and that phrase is precisely what I mean to imply…. Enjoy!…..

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost
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Okay, so there I was this morning, cruising along through Smart Bee, and all these pearls kept popping up in front of me, demanding inclusion without telling me why. Being the patsy I am in re: my muse, I did so…. and this is the group that ended up as the end result of my indulgence. It makes a good point, or two, actually, and I really like the way it ends, with the pointy finger and all…. The points it makes, of course, are left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader, with bonus points for knowing which parts to chuckle at, and which to guffaw….. (a thinly disguised manipulation on my part to get the word “guffaw” into a pearl…. I love it when a plan comes together…..)…..

“Love of money is the root of all politics.” — Smart Bee

“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!” — Albert Einstein

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

“Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men. — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Marcus Cato

‘And if you’ve just tuned in, we’re talking about the red-hot, tight-buttocked, hairy host of Hell.’ — The Church Lady

And there you have it, all wrapped up in a nice big bow….. Ta ta, then, luvs….
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I’ve gone over it thrice, and proof-reading aside, it ain’t too bad….. Not too bad at all…. and, it’s done. So, I’m going to now indulge myself again, and spend the next five minutes leisurely getting this copied, pasted, emailed, and posted to WordPress…. which is all the time it takes, now that I am once again blessed with home internet service.

Strange how things work out sometimes, eh? A state of existence that didn’t exist at all 20 years ago, now becomes an essential ingredient to a comfortable lifestyle….. It isn’t a surprise, so much, to those of us who grew up reading Science Fiction, as it is a gleeful sense of fulfillment that imagination and reality merged into such a powerful societal manifestation. Or, is that infestation? 🙂 Nah, it’s a good thing…. and it sure makes my day a lot more enjoyable, without a doubt….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Plain as the zit on your face….

Posted on August 13, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As the sun sets over the western horizon, we bid a fond farewell to another day in paradise….. or would, if a) the sun were setting, instead of rising, and b) we were in paradise….. I guess you can’t have everything. In this case we have nothing, so it would behoove us to try to get serious here….. and we would, if a) we wanted something, and b) gave half a damn…. neither of which is true, so it looks like we’re all out of luck, and ideas, too….

Actually, I’ve got lots of ideas this morning, but most of them are X-rated, and unsuitable for a family blog….. I could send some over to Kyle I guess; he likes to write that sort of stuff…. but he probably wants to use his own, so that’s a wash….. This batch of concepts will just have to go into the scrap pile, as do many, many such useless thoughts of mine….. uh oh, break time…

Okay, I’m back…. Don’t ask…. Once again, picking the material that will best serve to introduce today’s Pearl has become more than a mere search; it is now more of a desperate floundering, and I’m liable to start throwing out all sorts of stuff, just to see if it sticks…. We could write a poem, but we like you all too much. We could stop talking in the royal third person, and take actual responsibility for our words, but it’s so much fun to use the royal “we”, as “Thank you, we are in the pink!” ~~ Lord Peter Wimsey, from Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers….

Or, I could just get on with it, which now seems to be the right thing to do…. shall we Pearl?…..
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“There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable, for in politics there is no honor.” — Benjamin Disraeli

Considering that Mr. Disraeli was a politician himself, this becomes particularly rare; normally politicians won’t reveal their secrets like that, at least not until after the election. But, he’s dead, anyway, so what can he lose? You have to admit, you won’t see Mitt the Twitt, or Lyin’ Ryan admitting to stooping to such tactics… they do it, but they’ll never admit it….. Honesty is not one of Mitt’s strong points, as we’ve already had proven, repeatedly, and often….

It promises to be, if nothing else, a very interesting run-up to the election, now that Romney has used the biggest caliber bullet he could find to shoot his foot this time…. Not one day had passed when he (Romney) was forced to not comment (!!!!) on something his new Veep had said, as his position on that subject was documented elsewhere as in direct opposition to what Ryan had said….

“He’s racist, he’s homophobic, he’s xenophobic, and he’s a sexist. He’s a perfect Republican candidate!” — Commentator Bill Press on Pat Buchanan

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, it has become more difficult for Romney and his ilk, (which includes the Democrats; just because they aren’t as bad doesn’t mean they aren’t lying, too….) to tell their lies without a lot of preparation (otherwise known as “spin”) and denial. Websites such as FactChecker.com post daily reports on the lies that each candidate or politician utters publicly, checking the words against the Truth, as found by research and cross-checking of public records. Exaggerations, misquotes, taking out of context, all the different forms of promoting untruths are now exposed for all to see, if they wish….

Of course, many people don’t WANT to know if they are being lied to; in fact, it often seems to me that the folks who are supporting these idiots (Romney and Ryan in this instance…. the term “idiot” can be applied to almost any politician who opens their mouth..) are deliberately ignoring the truth, for the simple reason that they don’t care… As long as the candidates are white, they want them to get elected, because having a black President is fulfilling their worst nightmares, and making their racism obvious…. Of course, they will claim that they don’t like Obama because of his record, but that generally won’t wash, as much of his record shows that he has actually done them some good, a fact they are completely reluctant to admit….

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

The fact that there are so many racists left in this country is disheartening, but I suppose it’s better to have the issue out in the open, where it can more easily be dealt with in a manner that is dignified; it’s hard to maintain dignity when slinging shit in the dark, a place in which conversations with racists often end up. However, I am still amazed that there are seniors, gays, immigrants, and women who are still supporting the conservative ticket the Republicans have decided to offer the voting public.

These men have made it clear that, if elected, they will send this country back into the middle of the previous century, in terms of societal progress, by eliminating Social Security, Planned Parenthood, making gay and lesbian marriage illegal, and completely eliminating abortion and women’s health rights, as well as curtailing all immigrant’s rights. They have promised to eliminate all of these, but the people who are supporting them seem to be as deeply insane as are their chosen candidates, and are obviously in deep denial….

“You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs (paraphrased from a quote by George Carlin….. everybody plagiarizes sometimes….)

This is obviously a subject that I could rant about for days…. but, there are still over two months until the election, and I should save some energy for the material that I know will be forthcoming on a daily basis…. I think we need some poetry, as a relief from all this curmudgeonry…..
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Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

This is a song to celebrate banks,
Because they are full of money and you go into them and all
you hear is clinks and clanks,
Or maybe a sound like the wind in the trees on the hills,
Which is the rustling of the thousand dollar bills.
Most bankers dwell in marble halls,
Which they get to dwell in because they encourage deposits
and discourage withdrawals,
And particularly because they all observe one rule which woe
betides the banker who fails to heed it,
Which is you must never lend any money to anybody unless
they don’t need it.
I know you, you cautious conservative banks!
If people are worried about their rent it is your duty to deny
them the loan of one nickel, yes, even one copper engraving
of the martyred son of the late Nancy Hanks;
Yes, if they request fifty dollars to pay for a baby you must
look at them like Tarzan looking at an uppity ape in the
jungle,
And tell them what do they think a bank is, anyhow, they had
better go get the money from their wife’s aunt or ungle.
But suppose people come in and they have a million and they
want another million to pile on top of it,
Why, you brim with the milk of human kindness and you
urge them to accept every drop of it,
And you lend them the million so then they have two million
and this gives them the idea that they would be better off
with four,
So they already have two million as security so you have no
hesitation in lending them two more,
And all the vice-presidents nod their heads in rhythm,
And the only question asked is do the borrowers want the
money sent or do they want to take it withm.
Because I think they deserve our appreciation and thanks,
the jackasses who go around saying that health and happi-
ness are everything and money isn’t essential,
Because as soon as they have to borrow some unimportant
money to maintain their health and happiness they starve
to death so they can’t go around any more sneering at good
old money, which is nothing short of providential.

Ogden Nash

Providential indeed…. What better poem to follow a rant about politics, than an ode to Bankers from one of my all time favorite poets….. enjoy!
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Don’t even bother trying to tell me that there is no magic in the world….
    Human diplomats could learn a lot from just watching dogs and cats interact, when given the opportunity…..
    They always seem to come to terms with each other….
    Dogs get along pretty good with people, too….
    In fact, they like people a lot….
    So do cats….
    Sort of…. but, cats like dogs best, as much as they like people, though perhaps not as much as other cats…. it can be close though…..
    Why is it so hard for people to get along with each other, when we have these creatures to provide examples of how to do so? Your guess is as good as mine…..

(All the pictures were found on Facebook….)
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Well, that certainly turned into an epic Pearl! And, one with so much effort put into it, that it is going out, no matter how it may or may not live up to my standards, such as they are….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Kowabunga!

Kindness and compassion are addictive…

Posted on January 24, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
T’is a fine line indeed between madness and genius; a line so fine that the two bleed into each other’s meaning, distorting the sense of reality we depend on to anchor us. It is almost as if they are inter-dependent, one not possible without the presence of the other. In a way, it makes sense, as the only progress humanity makes is when people act abnormally; one must break eggs to make a ….an omelet (I wanted to say another dish, but spell checker refused to use it).

I have long understood this, as many of my best moments in life came when I allowed my madness free rein over my perceptive judgment. But it isn’t wise to allow that too often; it has a tendency to produce concepts that alarm the natives……let’s get on with the day’s musings, eh?….
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“From stupidity there is always something to be learned, but it’s always the same thing: don’t be stupid.” — Robert M. Adams

Again, the saddest part of this is that it has to be said at all. I don’t know about you, but I stopped drinking my shampoo many years ago, and haven’t felt the urge to bite into an electric cord, or see if the stove is hot since infancy. (There are, however, a number of people I have had the urge to bite, on several occasions) But, because our society has the unfortunate habit of repeatedly passing laws intended to “save ourselves” from our own stupidity, regardless of how richly the consequences of acting so might be deserved, our beloved ruling class benevolently bestows upon us a law to “keep people safe.”

This is called legislating morality, and has been attempted by any number of governments throughout history; each and every time we end up with many more problems than the one for which the solution was created for. It’s all just a piece of human nature, (Robert Heinlein calls its proponents Mrs. Grundy, the old neighbor who watches out the window to gather gossip and judge the morals of everyone else), and has probably caused more deaths than sheer stupidity alone. Being human nature, what can one do? Well, not much…. but, ignoring Mrs. Grundy on a consistent basis can at least make her go bother someone else for a time……

“If you attack Stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life.” — Robertson Davies
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“Yes, many primitive people still believe this myth…But in today’s technical vastness of the future, we can guess that surely things were much different.” — The Firesign Theater

What, you may ask, is he talking about now? Primitive myth? What myth?……Well, lemme tell ya….. There is a commonly held belief in this country that the people who are elected to political office are honest, concerned citizens who will work tirelessly to make society a better place for all. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but this belief is sheer caca….(that word, btw, is the word most common to all languages on Earth; every single culture has this very word, or a close variation with the same sound, and they all mean the same thing…..caca) (you though I was going to say s__t, didn’t you? Shame on you….)

Oh, I’ll grant that there are a few Congressmen from small states & districts, or are new to the national scene, that still might retain some of the shiny idealism they had when they first came to D.C., but just a couple years watching everyone else getting rich, and never being able to get any real reform legislation discussed, much less passed, will generally rub off most of that shine. The great majority of the folks in power are there because they have figured out the easiest gig on the planet, i.e., ripping off the rubes, legally.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The ubiquitous ‘they’ do NOT have your interests at heart. Hell, they don’t even care what your interest are, beyond knowing what they need to lie about. Proof? Ever hear this joke? How do you know a politician is lying? His mouth is open. All humor has a piece of truth at the core… And once they are in office, it’s rather like hitting a golf ball. After it’s in the air, you can’t control it at all, no matter how you twist your hips and grimace……

“Will this never-ending series of PLEASURABLE EVENTS never cease?” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sometimes, in the hands of creative genius, prose is almost indistinguishable from poetry; this is a perfect example of that, although F. Scott can only marginally be called genius. His work sometimes seems to me to be channeled into him from some other source, as if he were merely the vessel that contains the ambrosia, not the ambrosia itself. But, who cares, eh? If you like it, it won’t matter what anybody thinks about it, so go ahead and enjoy.

My point here, though, is that this particular phrase is one of those that I can personally admit to feeling; I’ve spent many a night pondering why I was up at 3 AM, again. All too often, the reasons which make us restive at that hour have their source in despair, or fear, or even anger, all emotions that affect us strongly. But as the animals we are, we also retain a lot of leftover evolutionary habits, or species memory. Our bodies know that 3 AM is the most dangerous part of the night, and being up and awake at that time makes the body/mind nervous, for no apparent reason.

So, we awake from a nightmare, or to answer the call of the porcelain throne, and to our own turmoil is added the signals of danger, flashing across the background of consciousness, with subliminal undertones of our most ancient fears. In a corner of our soul, we cower in abject terror of the horrors in our imagination, until our mind clears well enough to throw off this unintended consequence of wakefulness. We may not live in the forest anymore, but you can’t convince that piece of you that the monsters aren’t out there, just beyond the light of the fire, waiting for us to foolishly leave the cave…..
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“The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper” — Thomas Jefferson

If we consider this to be correct, it bodes ill for our society; if it was true 200+ years ago, it’s all too true now. Advertisements are deliberately misleading; outlandish claims of superior quality are normal and completely untrue. We all know this; we’ve always known this. It’s just that most folks ignore it, and pretend to believe what they hear. So, if the ads are the most truthful, what does that say about the rest of it? Nothing very flattering, to be sure. Sure, everybody claims to not pay attention to all that garbage, and it may be partly true. But people soak up a lot of stuff they are not aware of, and won’t admit to, even when confronted with irrefutable evidence, like a video of them snarfing Cheetos while riding a stationary bike.

The other problem brought to light by this concept is that exposure to this barrage of untruth insidiously conditions people to accept it as truth. Or maybe they just rationalize it as an alternative truth. I don’t know; not a frigging clue. I’ve never understood how people can give up so much control over their minds to other people. Offhand, I forget who said “If you don’t control your own mind, someone else will”; it wasn’t me, but it is bottom line truth, in my not so humble opinion.

Through circumstances not entirely my choice, I haven’t had a television, or cable, or a DVD player other than my computer, for close to two years now. I’ve caught a few games at other folk’s places, or while I am enjoying an adult beverage at the neighborhood watering hole, but mostly, I am completely out of touch with that whole medium of “entertainment”. I don’t miss it a bit….and it cuts my crap intake by at least 40%. Makes it easier to defend against the rest of the crap, online and in newspapers, and is very helpful in reducing the number of times per day I feel like turning homicidal…..

“In our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds – that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.” — Justice Robert H. Jackson
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“Never try to out-stubborn a cat.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

This is an important little piece of advice, based on well-earned experience, backed up by ongoing physical and observational evidence. One good reason to avoid this egregious sort of error is that learning to coexist with a cat can teach one the finer points of diplomacy and negotiation. Plus, it is well to remember that cats do not own shoes that you can pee into, in the middle of night when they aren’t looking. You do, and I’ve never known a cat who was shy about expressing their displeasure with their pet human……
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Why is it that, having misplace an object we need, everyone always says that what we are looking for is always in the last place we look? OMG, tough one…..doh! When you find it, you stop looking, which automatically makes it the last place you looked, even if it is the first place you’ve looked. The only way for this statement to be untrue would be for us to keep looking after we found it….doh! But people always repeat this as if it were a new concept they just discovered, trying to give the impression it is the first time they’ve ever heard it. I guess we humans are just easily amused….. y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

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: F. Scott Fitzgerald

A plethora of positive paradigms….

Your majesty’s attire smacks of deliberate irrelevance….

Another confusing day in Paradox….

Apocryphal messages from Betelgeuse, in Swedish slang, ….

Pilfered hearts, buried in parody….

If only zucchini was more charitable…..

Plain as the zit on your face….

Kindness and compassion are addictive…

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