Tag Archives: G.K. Chesterton

Intent is seven thirteenths of the law….

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Ffolkes,

Unbeknownst to the remainder of the world, I struggle, here in the dark of the morning, waging war with the always-present, never-sleeping, force of evil, that the world calls Bob, or sometimes, Steve-a-rino….. No matter what name we use, by any other token, they are very, very bad evils, whether in their initial, merely bloody, sharp-sword incarnation, or if they’ve gone into complete chainsaw mode. Either way, somebody is in for a world of hurt….

“What the hell is he babbling about now?”, is probably the foremost question in your mind(s) right now…. (I know, assuming that more than one mind currently reading this is being, perhaps, too hopeful…. My readership has taken a severe dip lately….)…. I’m babbling because, hey, it’s what I’m best at, and nothing else seemed as if it was going to get me down the road toward a real Pearl, so, I just went with it…. It’s not as if y’all had gotten accustomed to a more elegant format around here, now, is it? No, we’ve been stuck in bourgeois mode for quite some time now, with no real change of venue in sight…

Not that there’s anything wrong with being bourgeois; it’s only when we start trying to break into proletariat mode that the trouble begins, as it always does in such cases….. The human animal, though it always seems to fall into some form of hierarchical society, seems to function most efficiently when categories such as bourgeois, proletarian, or any others based on financial worth, are NOT used to determine one’s relative place in society…. The only truly honorable form would be a society where one’s social standing was based solely on how much one gave back to that society…. This, however, is mere speculation, since no human society has ever been structured in such a manner that it could be considered as “honorable”…..

Society has always been structured to favor those with the most resources under their control, which is why we are seeing the issues we now have to deal with, as the effects of entropy over time wear away at the foundations upon which it is built. Money is an artificial concept, not really a part of reality, other than as we humans perceive it to be, and therefore, only has the importance that we place on it. Making it the primary social factor that determines how high up in society one rises in the estimation of peers is destined to become a problem, as human nature tends not to share very well…. in short, people get greedy, and hoard all the resources (money) to themselves, ensuring their own place, and keeping others in a place lesser than their own….

Politicians, bless their black, lying, little hearts, would have us believe we live in a classless society, that everyone is equal, and has equal rights…. Well, ffolkes, guess what?…. That’s just another of their ubiquitous lies, and society isn’t like that at all…. At every level, built in prejudices and misconceptions, guided and kept true by unseen, but iron-clad cliches, color people’s viewpoint with the brush of discrimination, based on how much money a person makes, or what color their skin may be, or where they were born, or whether or not they stand up to pee…

There are a myriad of ways people use to decide that other people aren’t as good as they are, all of which are lies; all of those thousands of prejudices are taught by, enforced by, and continuously enabled by the BRC, our Beloved Ruling Class, who believes their place at the top of society is inherently theirs. Given this long-held delusion, and the fact that it has held sway over the rest of society for over ten thousand years, it seems clear they have no intention  of ever relinquishing that place to anyone else….

Oops, it happened again, didn’t it? I fell right into another opening rant, never realizing what I was up to until I was a thousand words down the pike… I guess it’s okay; I don’t see any casualties, other than my own readership’s numbers, so, apparently nobody was standing close enough to get hit by the flying shrapnel….. The fact that there ARE no casualties is not necessarily a good thing, you know….. a couple of bodies would at least indicate that there is SOMEONE reading this stuff, but, I guess my ego doesn’t really need THAT kind of proof…. It’s all a wash anyhow, as I ran out of lime and sulfuric acid, and I’d have a hard time disposing of the corpses… so, it’s just as well….

On that note, I think I’d best get on with it…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot; by thought I encompass the Universe.” — Pascal, Pensees, n. 265

“To sit silently,  and look wise, is not to be compared to drinking sake and making a riotous shouting.” — Ono No Tabitu
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Fortunately for y’all, I’m tired today, and not really feeling up to a full-fledged rant, intro-section notwithstanding…. This is good news for you, and for me, as it means I can let SB do all the hard work…. Here is a relatively straightforward pearl, with a few pointed sticks jabbed toward the eyes of our Beloved Ruling Class, and society at large…

“Ahhhh, it’s amazing what a cheat can do!!” — Smart Bee

“A mind not to be changed by place or time, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” — John Milton

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/24

PATRIOT, n.  One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole.  The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

“There is no more mean, stupid, dastardly, pitiful, selfish, spiteful, envious, ungrateful animal than the Public.  It is the greatest of cowards, for it is afraid of itself.” — William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce?   No, that’s too grand, too considered a process.  History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes

“Mr. Coolidge is the best Democrat we ever had in the White House. He didn’t do nothin’, but that’s what we wanted done.” — Will Rogers
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No introduction needed, nor any comments…. just enjoy!….

A Song About Myself

I.
There was a naughty boy,
A naughty boy was he,
He would not stop at home,
He could not quiet be-
He took
In his knapsack
A book
Full of vowels
And a shirt
With some towels,
A slight cap
For night cap,
A hair brush,
Comb ditto,
New stockings
For old ones
Would split O!
This knapsack
Tight at’s back
He rivetted close
And followed his nose
To the north,
To the north,
And follow’d his nose
To the north.

II.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
For nothing would he do
But scribble poetry-
He took
An ink stand
In his hand
And a pen
Big as ten
In the other,
And away
In a pother
He ran
To the mountains
And fountains
And ghostes
And postes
And witches
And ditches
And wrote
In his coat
When the weather
Was cool,
Fear of gout,
And without
When the weather
Was warm-
Och the charm
When we choose
To follow one’s nose
To the north,
To the north,
To follow one’s nose
To the north!

III.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
He kept little fishes
In washing tubs three
In spite
Of the might
Of the maid
Nor afraid
Of his Granny-good-
He often would
Hurly burly
Get up early
And go
By hook or crook
To the brook
And bring home
Miller’s thumb,
Tittlebat
Not over fat,
Minnows small
As the stall
Of a glove,
Not above
The size
Of a nice
Little baby’s
Little fingers-
O he made
‘Twas his trade
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle-
A kettle
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle!

IV.
There was a naughty boy,
And a naughty boy was he,
He ran away to Scotland
The people for to see-
There he found
That the ground
Was as hard,
That a yard
Was as long,
That a song
Was as merry,
That a cherry
Was as red,
That lead
Was as weighty,
That fourscore
Was as eighty,
That a door
Was as wooden
As in England-
So he stood in his shoes
And he wonder’d,
He wonder’d,
He stood in his
Shoes and he wonder’d.

~~ John Keats ~~

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We’re going old-school again for this section, and you can thank me later…. Right now, I’m trying hard to get this done in what may be a new record time…. we’ll see if SB will cooperate long enough to do that….

“Weird enough for all practical purposes.” — Smart Bee, while accepting the award for Strangest Blog O’The Week….

“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that is behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, “Good and Bad”

“If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 2, 96, (176.)

“I feed my pig apples by holding him in my arms and letting him eat the apples right off the tree. Some people say that takes too much time, but time don’t mean nothing to a pig.” — Grandpa Jones

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” — Francis Bacon

“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.” — Nikos Kazantzakis

Not bad, all in all, even though it didn’t break through any time barriers…. But, it needs just the right finishing touch to be perfect, for which, less than that, never accept will we, as Yoda would say…. sort of…. If nothing else, this gives me the opportunity to throw in a bit of interactive fun, for at least one of my regular readers (hell, I wouldn’t mind if BOTH of them tried it out….  🙂  )….

I’ll put three aphorisms below, one of which is the perfect ending quote for this pearl… You get to pick, and whichever one you like, well, you just put it right in the comments, and I’ll look at it…. That’s all… I’ll look at it…. No prize (I’ve already spent too much this year on traveling, & have to start watching my expenditures….), no contest, just interactive fun…

Okay, okay, wait, don’t go away!!…. I’ll think of a prize…. First, somebody will have to make a comment, though, because there is little point in my going to the trouble of figuring out a reward, if nobody is going to even participate… If, however, I do get responses to this minor little manipulation (shhh!…), I WILL award a prize, of some sort…. and, since I’m not a politician, by either intent, or accident, you can trust me to tell you the truth… Sure you can, it’s easy…. If you can buy what the average politico is promising y’all, you can trust me not to lie about this…. Besides, there’s no profit in it for me to not tell the truth, so, it also appeals to my self-interest to come up with something worthwhile… so, I will… Now, look at these, and make a choice as to which one fits in the best with the rest….. if any….

“Shave daily with Occam’s razor.” — Smart Bee

“It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.” — Oscar Wilde

“By letting go, it all gets done.” — Tao Te Ching
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Having begun the day with an absolutely appropriate word, “unbeknownst”, I feel fortunate, indeed, to have survived thus far, with still enough moxie to complete what has turned out to be somewhat of an epic; for a (technically) rant-less wonder, it’s fairly involved. I’m again a trifle hesitant to proof it, lest it surprise me even more, but, typos make me crazy, so….

Well, that’s a relief! I’m not certain just how it got here, but, it definitely arrived intact; if that isn’t obscure enough for you, well, sorry, I’ll try to do better tomorrow…. In any case, this is, quite obviously, finished, and, possibly, overdone, again…. Since I have no illusions at all that what I’ve just said will cause confusion in at least one person, my duty is complete, and I’m outta here….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Once limited to peripheral accusations of pyloric incompatibility….

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Ffolkes,

I AM one of the most stubborn people alive, it seems… Hmmm….  I had thought to write that line differently, using the words “must be” where now stands “AM”, in shouting mode, but, once written, it became clear that there was no doubt at all connected to the idea, so, I went with the more positively certain incarnation…. Come to think of it, though, if I am flexible enough to accept the change in words, then I’m not as stubborn about change as I had surmised, so, the entire exercise devolves into sheer obsolescence, as its internal logic falls apart…… So much for THAT beginning…

All that remains is the original concept, that I am, or must be, pretty damn stubborn, to continue writing this amount of material each day, when there is so little response to what is written…. For over 2000 words a day, I pour my soul into this blog, usually taking a few leisurely shots at national politics, or one or more of the churches that abound in our society, all for the purpose of getting my head emptied of the stuff that might sit in there and rot, causing more trouble than it’s worth, for me, and for others who may come in contact with me, thereby suffering the consequences of being the only one there when my angst blows…. It’s not a pretty sight….

Of course, I could stop watching the news altogether…. I did that for a while, but found that it creeps in around the edges, and forces itself into one’s sphere of attention, like it or not….. Plus, as an inveterate, addictive reader, I tend to inhale newspapers whenever I see one, no matter how old; I’ll read just about anything with words on it, including, in a pinch, cereal boxes (Some of them have some way cool stuff on the back for kids, so they’re fun!….Nutritional information is more interesting than it seems at first glance, too….). It’s hard to completely keep free of all the news in this society, as it tends to push into our awareness regardless of how much we try to avoid it….

It helped that for a long time, I had no television; not being current in the events of TV-world has been quite lovely, to be sure. I never did care much for most of it anyway, and find that I don’t miss it much. Now that I do live with one again, I find myself still preferring to read, or jump on the computer to fill my need for words to eat; my brain consumes a massive number of them on a daily basis, so I need a rather large supply, in ALL sizes and shapes, to keep up with my appetite for them. A book each day has been my goal since I was about 10 years old, a goal I’ve managed to achieve, and more….

I read as much as my physical condition allows me to do, which is not as much as I would like…. I tend to prefer to sit while reading, and that particular activity has a limit to it these days, due to the insidious advent of pain, that builds up if I sit still too long, or stand too long, or walk too long, or do ANYTHING for too long… “too long” being a very short period, unfortunately…. But, I find I can go from one position to another, from sitting, to standing, to sitting, to lying down, in rotation, for much of the day, if I’m careful, and never become too painful. It makes it a bit choppy when trying to write, but, for reading, a good place marker keeps me from wasting a lot of time when I change position or activity….

I suppose one of these days, I’ll have to break down and buy a smart phone, or a Kindle, or other tablet computer, so I can do all my reading on that, wherever I am, standing, sitting, or in between….. I’ve been waiting for the technology to become cheaper, as it does over time after new items come out; the prices now for smart phones and tablets is becoming reasonable…. They still are overcharging for access, but, that, too, will go down in time, as the competition in the market increases….. Soon, we’ll all have our Google glass computers, built right into our VR glasses frames, with complete audiovisual connection to the entire world network, probably with voice-activation and virtual monitors on any handy surface….

Oh well, all that will come soon enough… In the meantime, I’ll continue to read using all the different methods I’ve accustomed myself to using, and be content with that…. And, I’ll continue to write my 2000+ words every morning, to get the crap out of my head, and onto the Net…. where, hopefully, some of it may stimulate some cogitation amongst the other denizens… I can hope, can’t I?….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion.  Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
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“Learning to look in the mirror without judging too harshly, letting the voice of society cut us without judging too lightly, letting the voice of imagination blind us, but, rather, seeing ourselves with truth and compassion, aware of who we are, where we need to get better, where we need to forgive, is the goal of a healthy life.” — Callan Williams

Oh, how sweet! A beautiful sentiment, worthy of any true knight in shining armor…. Y’know what, though?…. Fuck that…. bugger them all, and let them figure out their own shit….  Sorry, my curmudgeon woke up…. and, though I usually agree with Mssr. Williams’ ideas, I’m sorry, but this sounds really, really new-age bullshitty….. In all honesty, if I heard someone say this to me, live and in person, I believe I would probably puke on their shoes….. What a bunch of Pollyanna crap! It reminds me of the current school of philosophy that tends to look at all students as poor, or victims, and attempts to build up what they believe to be the problem, i.e., self-esteem among the students, when all that is really needed is some damn honesty among the faculty….

Our culture is not only being held hostage by one party in one house of Congress, but by one attitude that tends to become overused, i.e. compassionate uplifting of the poor and ignorant, regardless of how they feel about it…. It’s the Mother Teresa syndrome, where the only way for the person to feel good about themselves, and to feel like they are “better”, they must be offering help and sustenance to someone poorer, and less able to fend for themselves…. never stopping to figure out the simple fact that viewing the world in this way is what keeps it that way….

It is their own insistence on helping those in poverty that creates the condition in the first place…. the proper solution is to change society so there are jobs and resources for these folks to help themselves, not to give them what we feel they need…. But, too often, ignorance walks hand in hand with compassion, because the compassionate tend to allow feelings to dictate their actions, rather than reason. Feelings are important, and need to be considered before acting, but, the actions should never be based simply on what is felt, or it will never achieve the necessary relation to reality to reach the necessary goal…. which is self-reliance, not universal empathy. Empathy is a useful tool, but, not the only tool we possess, to be relied upon exclusively….

“The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein
_____________________________

I’ve never been completely sure exactly why I like the poems of Emily Dickinson so much, but, then, I’m not one to question my own taste. Whatever the exact reason may be, you’ve got to appreciate the absolute genius of her use of metaphor, so patently obscure, it is beautiful, if only for its ethereal sense of unreality….

The feet of people walking home
With gayer sandals go –
The Crocus – til she rises
The Vassal of the snow –
The lips at Hallelujah
Long years of practice bore
Till bye and bye these Bargemen
Walked singing on the shore.

Pearls are the Diver’s farthings
Extorted from the Sea –
Pinions – the Seraph’s wagon
Pedestrian once – as we –

Night is the morning’s Canvas
Larceny – legacy –
Death, but our rapt attention
To Immortality.

My figures fail to tell me
How far the Village lies –
Whose peasants are the Angels –
Whose Cantons dot the skies –
My Classics veil their faces –
My faith that Dark adores –
Which from its solemn abbeys
Such resurrection pours.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

I realize the rant today left a bit to be desired…. I just didn’t have the proper amount of anger and outrage collected to fuel it to the point of explosiveness I enjoy so much…. But, then, it’s hard to work up a lot of hard feelings over the improper use of empathy….. Hey, it got me through one section of today’s effort, so, it will have to do… They can’t all be brilliant, can they?….. Having thus forced down my portion of crow, we’ll get on down the line with an old-school pearl, my favorite excuse for actual work…. Here is a randomly chosen pearl, on a subject which is not yet clear…. Smart Bee will know what I’m looking for, to save this Pearl from obscurity, and the shame of irrelevance….

“How it is that our memory is able to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?” — Duc de La Rochefoucauld

“I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word I am saying.” — Oscar Wilde

“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy

“Never argue with a Scorpio–even if you win, you lose” — Smart Bee

“It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England. 156

“The only game that can’t be rigged is peekaboo.” — Cruickshank’s Law #4

“I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope they do get ’em lowered down enough so people can afford to pay ’em.” — Will Rogers

You know, I think this is the first time ever that SB has done this to me…. Taken together these seven pearls, each of which is relatively okay as a stand-alone thought, form a picture of an idea so outrageous, so amorphous, so irrelevant, it boggles the mind…. “What idea is that?”, you may well ask…. and that’s the problem…. I have no frigging idea where this went, or what it means…

The only part that makes any sense to me at this point is the one in the middle, because, hey, I’m a Scorpio… I guess that’s the ultimate point SB is making… If it doesn’t work for us Scorpio ffolkes, we just change the rules by which the game is being played…. It should be noted that this is far more effective when we don’t let the other players know we’ve done so… So, the rule for reading this pearl becomes, cast your mind free, and don’t expect to find a point…. It’s just a hedonist pearl, all feel-good, and no thorns…., other than those we poke ourselves with….
_____________________________

I am hesitant to even proof this one; it has a perilous feel to it…. Oh well, no whining aloud allowed…. Well, better than I’d hoped for; that’s something, I guess….. I don’t think Papa Hemingway has anything to worry about in terms of this ever being compared to anything of his, but, just in case, I’ll go ahead and post it anyway…. Sometimes, ya just gotta settle for what is, and not worry about what might have been…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Give us a piteous whimper, Number Six….

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Ffolkes,

    Today, like any other day, has yet to show its true potential, though even now, the feeling of pregnant possibility is almost palpable. It’s hard to describe, actually, this feeling of electric, buzzing anticipation of…. what?  The very unknown qualities of the future, far-distant or immediate, add a certain tingle of both fear, and burgeoning joy, to the mix of emotions that swirl as we ponder the day’s dawning….

    For some, this jittery, bouncy feeling is too much of a morning, so, they bury their nose in a paper, sip their coffee, and try not to think about what might happen… But, for others, such as meself…. well, let’s just say that there’s no better start to the day than to feel as if it will be filled with challenges, with problems, with solutions, and with both joy, and pain…. Not a bad day, for a human… It’s like Lazarus used to say….

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love

    I can do all of the above, except program a computer (I can learn, though, and am in the process of doing so, slowly….), and balance my checking account…. Well, actually, not true… I have had it balanced, once or twice in the dim, dark past; now, I just let the bank do it, and keep track of it online… So, this means I can consider myself a human, by these standards, which I consider to be an accurate summation, and much the same as the conclusions I had already come to in my life. Of course, reading Heinlein’s work since the age of 11 hasn’t hurt a bit in developing those beliefs and standards….

    Nor did it hurt to be raised by a Master Sergeant…. I always call my dad that, but, I wouldn’t want to give the impression that was ALL he was… He lived for 72 years, but spent only 20 of that in the army, so, there was more to him than that…. But, in my mind, the fact that, after those 20 years of service, he ended up at that rank as his permanent billet, (though he was promoted after retiring; that is standard. By the time of his death, he had been promoted to major….), is an indication of what kind of man he was…. It is a well-known, and accepted, fact that in the army, Master Sergeants are the ones who actually run things…. smart officers leave the bulk of their duty to the sergeants, merely giving good orders, and staying out of their way….

    But, my father was more than merely a Master Sergeant; it’s just a convenient handle to describe him, and to give an idea of what sort of guy he was…. Any who, I’ve wandered around again, without much purpose, and seem to have ended up in a place where I can’t find an easy way out, and into the Pearl… Not unusual, I suppose, merely bothersome…. Oh well, I think I’ll use emergency procedure # 1, which is in its place at the head of the entire group of techniques for saving my ass because it always works… It’s called the Bail-Out, for good reason: it just stops, and…..
_____________________________

    And, you never hear from me again on whatever subject was at hand…. Pretty cool, eh? It ALWAYS works…. So, having been dumped here in the first section, clueless as to something to write (No, nothing new in that, I know, but a PITA, nonetheless….). I guess I’ll go old-school, like I had any intention of doing anything else….  😆

“An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

“When the rich make war it’s the poor that die.” — Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), “Le Diable et le bon Dieu”, 1951

“His seat back is not in the full upright and locked position.” — Smart Bee

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

“All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers, 1917

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.” — Maya Angelou

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

    Poetry such as this needs no adornment from me…..

Love Is A Parallax

‘Perspective betrays with its dichotomy:
train tracks always meet, not here, but only
   in the impossible mind’s eye;
horizons beat a retreat as we embark
on sophist seas to overtake that mark
   where wave pretends to drench real sky.’

‘Well then, if we agree, it is not odd
that one man’s devil is another’s god
   or that the solar spectrum is
a multitude of shaded grays; suspense
on the quicksands of ambivalence
   is our life’s whole nemesis.

So we could rave on, darling, you and I,
until the stars tick out a lullaby
   about each cosmic pro and con;
nothing changes, for all the blazing of
our drastic jargon, but clock hands that move
   implacably from twelve to one.

We raise our arguments like sitting ducks
to knock them down with logic or with luck
   and contradict ourselves for fun;
the waitress holds our coats and we put on
the raw wind like a scarf; love is a faun
   who insists his playmates run.

Now you, my intellectual leprechaun,
would have me swallow the entire sun
   like an enormous oyster, down
the ocean in one gulp: you say a mark
of comet hara-kiri through the dark
   should inflame the sleeping town.

So kiss: the drunks upon the curb and dames
in dubious doorways forget their monday names,
   caper with candles in their heads;
the leaves applaud, and santa claus flies in
scattering candy from a zeppelin,
   playing his prodigal charades.

The moon leans down to took; the tilting fish
in the rare river wink and laugh; we lavish
   blessings right and left and cry
hello, and then hello again in deaf
churchyard ears until the starlit stiff
   graves all carol in reply.

Now kiss again: till our strict father leans
to call for curtain on our thousand scenes;
   brazen actors mock at him,
multiply pink harlequins and sing
in gay ventriloquy from wing to wing
   while footlights flare and houselights dim.

Tell now, we taunt where black or white begins
and separate the flutes from violins:
   the algebra of absolutes
explodes in a kaleidoscope of shapes
that jar, while each polemic jackanapes
   joins his enemies’ recruits.

The paradox is that ‘the play’s the thing’:
though prima donna pouts and critic stings,
   there burns throughout the line of words,
the cultivated act, a fierce brief fusion
which dreamers call real, and realists, illusion:
   an insight like the flight of birds:

Arrows that lacerate the sky, while knowing
the secret of their ecstasy’s in going;
   some day, moving, one will drop,
and, dropping, die, to trace a wound that heals
only to reopen as flesh congeals:
   cycling phoenix never stops.

So we shall walk barefoot on walnut shells
of withered worlds, and stamp out puny hells
   and heavens till the spirits squeak
surrender: to build our bed as high as jack’s
bold beanstalk; lie and love till sharp scythe hacks
   away our rationed days and weeks.

Then jet the blue tent topple, stars rain down,
and god or void appall us till we drown
   in our own tears: today we start
to pay the piper with each breath, yet love
knows not of death nor calculus above
   the simple sum of heart plus heart.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

    I haven’t ranted today, and I rather think I’ll not do so at all, being, as I am, in a state of mind NOT conducive to the proper critical assault of some deserving asshole in the public venue…. although, I’m certain, there is SOMEONE in the news today who deserves an insult or two as payback for their asininity…… Hell, I could easily take two or three minutes, peruse the news headlines, and come up with the name of one or two appropriate candidates…. I’m just too lazy this morning to do so….

    I’m gonna go for another old-school pearl, as you probably knew I would, once you saw the word ‘lazy’…. Let’s see what The Notebooks of Lazarus Long have for us along the lines of some ironic, or possibly sardonic, observations on that historically ubiquitous obstacle to the progress of mankind, Religion, or as we like to call it here, the Priestly Hierarchies…. All of these are from Robert Heinlein, via Lazarus, with just a bit of help from Smart Bee….

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.”

“One man’s theology is another man’s belly laugh.  “

“Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”

“The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.”

“God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends.” This may not be true, but it sounds good — and is no sillier than any other theology.”

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.”

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Smart Bee

    Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. My own personal invitation to Hell, if the Christians have their way….   😉
_____________________________

    Okay, so, they can’t all be brilliant…. Now, if only I could get ONE of them to approach that, I’d be happy…. Let’s see where on the scale this one falls….

    Okay, well, I’m impressed… I was barely paying attention, and this came out pretty good…. I’ll have to try this more often, if I can figure out whatever the hell it is that I did differently…. See ya, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Saving pennies for post-apocalyptic discount sales….

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Ffolkes,

Thankfully, the massive outbreak of pain I experienced yesterday is but a memory today…. so far. I’ve become accustomed to having my assessments of this condition undergo rapid changes, almost as if Murphy were involved. Whenever I make the mistake of commenting on its absence, it will rush back to assure me it isn’t gone altogether, but was merely hiding from me, in order to make itself more…. noticeable? Shit, what a crock! I’m not buying that, with or without credit cards….. Besides, it doesn’t matter much what I say or do, it seems to pick its own time and place to attack, always the most inconvenient it can find, of course….

I’m not sure how much y’all have had pain in your life; we all have it to some degree. My own experience with it as a constant companion tells me, it has a number of faces and body types, each of which affects our own in different ways. The “why” of that escapes me, but, since it’s one of those things that we cannot change or affect in any way, it’s useless to worry about it. Suffice it to say the different appearances it may adopt make it possible to at least describe how they may differ, and how they can be dealt with, if at all…

The kind of pain I had yesterday is such that can’t really be affected much, without resorting to drugs that turn me into a zombie…. My doctor tried me on methadone once, which, it turns out, is a pretty powerful drug…. One ten mg. dose, and I would have needed no makeup, or acting ability, in order to play the part of one of the newly-popular undead…. I couldn’t smile, or frown, or formulate any emotional response beyond a simple “oh?”…. I had no connection to my will, and found myself sitting in my chair at work, staring at the monitor, drooling, and wondering if I would ever be able to move again…. There was no pain, but there was also no life, so, I decided that a small amount of pain was preferable to being essentially dead….

Most of the time, my pain recedes into the background; the hydrocodone I take to control it has worked fairly well, so far, at putting up a wall between the pain, and my conscious mind’s awareness of that pain. As long as I can keep from increasing the number of pills I use to get that effect, I am fairly well set to live life relatively normally, if I’m careful not to overdo my physical demands on my body. If I do make that mistake, and “tweak” my back, or hips, then the pain goes to a level that the pills can’t handle, and I have to take an extra dose or two,  get myself prone in order to remove gravity from the equation, and hope that over time, the pain will lessen….

Thus far, it always does grow less, so, as long as that is true, then I can look forward to a fairly normal existence…. Once the pain reaches another level or two higher than it is now, I’ll have to make a decision, as to whether or not to start taking stronger medications, such as the methadone, or oxy-contin, or morphine…. all of which are highly addictive, and ultimately lead to a state that I really don’t want to contemplate as one I may have to enter. Life is tough enough right now, without adding in more complications due to drugs; I already feel like I’m a walking pharmacy when I travel, with the minimum of eight different drugs I am taking each day, at various times…..

Okay, I think I’m done with the bitch-fest for now. The pain has receded to a manageable level, and it promises to be a nice day, weather-wise; what more can an old man ask for from life? Not much, I’ll tell ya, because, more than just that can be hard to pin down; wishing for more is generally a waste of everybody’s time and energy, since the universe pretty much ignores anything we may want, and goes about its business without considering our needs or desires at all. Just as well, I suppose, or we humans might get a sense of entitlement, and think we’re the lords of creation, or something….

Oh, we do? Well, that’s pretty stupid, isn’t it? Oh well, people are strange, of that there is no doubt….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I can’t think about that.  It doesn’t go with HEDGES in the shape of LITTLE LULU — or ROBOTS making BRICKS…” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

“A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.” — Alfred Alder

So, I was going to forgo a rant today, giving my back, and your brains, a bit of a break, but, when I went to peruse the news, I saw the latest discussion of what is happening in the House of Idiots in Washington, D.C., regarding the budget resolutions being discussed, wherein the possibility of a government shutdown is threatened, if the Retardicans and Demobutts can’t come to some kind of compromise.

(What a wonderful dream! No government to worry about… can we get that in writing, please, in perpetua, or whatever the legal term for “forever” is?)

It seems the Retardicans are still upset about Obamacare, and the notion of helping the middle class, as well as the lower classes (gasp!), to obtain medical insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. This idea, of being fair and ethical, seems to have struck them in the wrong place, and they have been whining and complaining ever since it became law, frantically searching for ways to undermine the whole program, with the ultimate goal being to stop it altogether….

The entire issue, of course, is just smoke, to cover up the simple racism that these assholes won’t cop to…. It is STILL stuck in their craw, after over five years, that they somehow allowed a BLACK MAN to get elected to the highest public office. They have looked for, and desperately latched onto, every possible way they could find to block every piece of legislation the White House has espoused, no matter how much such legislation would help the public, ever since Obama was first elected.

The publicly stated goal of the Retardican Party in 2008, right after the election, was to make Obama a one-term President; having failed at that, their new goal became the eradication of ANY laws, or any beneficial reforms, that were accomplished during his administration…. Hence, the campaign against healthcare reform, which, ultimately, is not in their, or the country’s best interests, but, hey, who needs common sense?….

I’m almost too disgusted with the entire bunch of them, Retardicans and Demobutts both, to even continue this rant….The right wing continues to shoot itself, and the public, in the foot with their intransigent inflexibility, and their unreasoning paranoia about the POTUS, while the left side continues to wander around with a vacant expression, letting whatever the administration says or does go without question or review, as if somehow a man who was politician enough to get elected to the Senate, then the Presidency, all of a sudden became the world’s most truthful man…. Sorry, folks, it just doesn’t follow….. such trust in ANYONE who is an elected official in this country is plain silly, and doesn’t show much real common sense….

I see NO ONE in the public venue whom I would trust to make decisions for me, on ANY subject, much less those that can affect my life, and the quality of same…. Sorry, I just don’t see ANYONE who seems to be honestly interested in anything beyond their own agenda, and those agendas have nothing to do with mine, or what I see as beneficial for everyone…. They just don’t…..

I also, unfortunately, don’t have any viable solutions, which is why my rants often are short…. I mean, I do know what would help, and that is for everyone in the world who does have common sense to get together, join forces, and tell the assholes to stop…. But, they have guns, which they are practiced in using to get their way, whereas, most of US aren’t willing to contest matters on that level, so, that probably isn’t ever going to happen…. Not until more of our side are willing to use force to get our way, just as they have always done….

Since I don’t see it happening, we may as well just kiss our asses goodbye, because the eventual outcome of such idiocy is death, and I don’t mean individually, but rather, as a species…. Stupid is as stupid does, as somebody once said, and when I look around the world these days, stupid is pretty much all I see…..

Hell is the place of those who have denied;
They find there what they planted and what dug,
A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing,
And wander there and drift, and never cease
Wailing for substance.

— William Butler Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916).The Hour-Glass
_____________________________

I know it is a dream, even a pipe dream, but, if there is any poet in the world I try to emulate, it is T.S. Eliot…. His poetry, to me, is like the music of the spheres, sounding forever through the darkness, bringing beauty, light, and peace, where it is most needed, and little known…..

Sweeney Among The Nightingales

Apeneck Sweeney spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.

The circles of the stormy moon
Slide westward toward the River Plate,
Death and the Raven drift above
And Sweeney guards the horned gate.

Gloomy Orion and the Dog
 Are veiled; and hushed the shrunken seas;
The person in the Spanish cape
Tries to sit on Sweeney’s knees

Slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganized upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;

The silent man in mocha brown
Sprawls at the window-sill and gapes;
The waiter brings in oranges
Bananas figs and hothouse grapes;

The silent vertebrate in brown
Contracts and concentrates, withdraws;
Rachel née Rabinovitch
Tears at the grapes with murderous paws;

She and the lady in the cape
Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,

Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wisteria
Circumscribe a golden grin;

The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,

And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud,
And let their liquid droppings fall
To stain the stiff dishonoured shroud.

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

_____________________________

Okay, so, having no clue as to how to finish this one, I’m going with a weird version of old-school…. I’m not even sure whether it’s legally a pearl, but, I DID find it in an oyster bed, so….

:bozotic: /boh-zoh’tik/ or /boh-zo’tik/ adj.  [from the name of a TV clown even more losing than Ronald McDonald] Resembling or having the quality of a bozo; that is, clownish, ludicrously wrong, unintentionally humorous.  Compare {wonky}, {demented}.  Note that the noun `bozo’ occurs in slang, but the mainstream adjectival form would be `bozo-like’ or (in New England) `bozoish’. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

(While all the above is mostly true, it lacks complete information… In 1966, I, gigoid, first wrote down, in one of my first journals, my Theory of Bozoid Tendencies, a psychological/philosophical treatise that gave some of the thoughts behind the assertions made in the Theory, and which can be seen as a prelude to Peruaosophy, the Philosophy of Pearls, which came to me ten or twelve years later, after more observation of humans, more cogitation about their behaviors, and repeated analysis thereof…..

The theory basically states, “Every human has an innate knowledge of, and ability to, garner the complete attention of other people by the commission of a really stupid (or, “bozoid”) act, in a public venue, and, in fact, tend to CHOOSE to do so on a regular basis.” This, of course, was based on my observations of humanity up to that time, and colored by the odd assortment of literature I had consumed…. but, it works, and has been clinically proven… In addition, the term “bozoid” was more commonly known and used, than were “bozotic”, or “bozoish”,  West of the Mississippi River, especially in Northern California, around UC Berkeley (“Berzerkeley…), since the early 1970’s…..)

(“It irks me when people use the character’s name in a demeaning way.” — Larry Harmon, AKA ‘Bozo the Clown’ — after his stage name was used for political purposes by Bob Dole, 1996)

Okay, it seems this pearl has jumped the tracks, and won’t be coming back toward reality anytime soon, so I’ll have to apply emergency technique number twenty-nine, which simply involves denial of current reality in favor of the one we now will enter, just as if we meant to be here, now….

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

So, I’m bored, but, SB can usually help…. Here is a pearl, whose parameters are…. well, your guess is as good as mine, right? Right…. Don’t worry, they’re all tax-deductible….

“Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? “What muscles are those?”–A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Wherein consists the Essence of Good, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. viii

“Reality is only as the mind perceives it, where yesterday will never arrive and tomorrow has long since gone.” — Smart Bee

The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Defense of Humilities, The Defendant, 1901

“In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus

“If This Is Hell – Where Are the Lawyers???” — Smart Bee

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead — Rolling Stone magazine, (November 30, 1989)

Dharma: “What is the greatest mystery of all?”
Yudishthira: “That each day, death walks the earth, and we continue to live as though we were immortal.”

— The Bhagavad Gita
_____________________________

My goodness, but that was an ordeal!…. I had no idea when I got up what an epic effort I’d be making this morning. I’ll be right back, after I see what sort of damage I’ve done…..

Incalculable, in current market conditions…. which proves, at last, I am certifiable. Nonetheless, it’s done, and I’m still upright, so, we’ll call it a win, thus giving denial of reality one more score…. Until next 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

dozer3

Save those false pretenses for the coffee cake….

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Ffolkes,

Okay, so what’s the deal here? I get up, all sleepy and grumpy, hoping to find that all is well, and I can get on with the day, only to find that nothing has changed….

There were supposed  to be dancing girls! Yes! Right there in the parlor. And, they were supposed to be wearing matching caftans! But, no, what do I find upon arising? A parlor full of dancing engineering students, wearing togas! Boy! You just can’t depend on anybody these days!…. Since we’re having to forgo the dancing girls, we may as well get started on today’s Pearl….. I suppose I also should come back into a more realistic voice, to make sure everyone ends up on the same page, so to speak….

Hi there! Good morning, sort of… We’re here in gigoid’s parlor, dodging the guys in horn rims dancing around, and waiting for inspiration to show up…. The muses are a bit edgy when they come here, due to Murphy’s uncomfortable habit of including them in his machinations, so I like to have them met at the door, and made welcome…. I had word that they, or, at least, one of them, would be showing up here about now to deliver what I left with them some time ago….

Oh, don’t worry, it’s not anything dangerous… at least, not any more so than the usual stuff we handle here. No, it’s merely some subject lines, a matched set of aphorisms, some platitudes, and a few choice phrases I left in their office when I was there a few days ago; I’ve got others, but, they were out this way today for deliveries anyway, so… I’m almost certain that there was definitely one item they’re bringing that I can use today, but, I don’t remember exactly which stuff got left there, so I have to wait to see it before I can go any further with today’s post…..

Does this mean we’re going to be forced to listen to more of my blathering here in the intro section?…. Well, yes, sad to say, it does mean that…. State law and internet etiquette requires me to provide you with some form of mental stimulation during these episodes, so, let’s see what kind of nonsense I can come up with today…. I mean, it’s not like we’ve already wandered around with our thumbs up our….. oh, wait, yes we have. In fact, that is what we seem to be doing right this very moment, if I’m not mistaken…

No, by heavens, I’m not! We HAVE been wandering around with SOMETHING up our…. well, somewhere, anyway. And, look! We’ve done it again! If you will note, there are five legal sized paragraphs above, all of which are pointing in the same direction, if not with any clarity of purpose. The law governing such things says this is enough for an intro, and around here, we pay close attention to that law…. we have to, due to gigoid’s lack of talent in this section…. Now that my covers are completely on the floor, we’d best get on with it…

Shall we Pearl?…..

Delivers in such apt and gracious words
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished;
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Love’s Labour’s Lost — Act ii, Sc. 1

(I know, terrible rhyme, but, it fits, sort of….) (Now you know why you don’t see Will’s work here very often….)
_____________________________

Of all the causes which conspire to blind
Man’s erring judgment, and misguide the mind;
What the weak head with strongest bias rules,–
Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 1

Now, THAT’S a poem!….

Yesterday, I had a bit of time with reduced pain, so I went to cruise the net, heading off to a few WP sites to catch up with some of my favorites, and check out a couple of new ones… I ended up going to quite a few blogs, compared to my normal inability to get anywhere. In my cruise, though, I noted something I hadn’t previously been aware of, regarding the demographics of the ‘Net, in terms of the stand that people take in political matters…

What I noticed is that there is a fairly wide array of opinions, wider than I had known, and certainly wider than anticipated…. But, I also noted that there are way too few of them who seem to be aware of just how badly they are being fooled by those whom they are following in their political pursuits…

On both the right wing, and the left, there seems to be a common ignorance of just how often the BRC lies to the public, and of how little they really care about the people who are behind them on the wagon they are driving…. Not only is this the case, but, there are a LOT of people out there who either don’t care, or don’t have the moral courage to express an opinion about any of what is happening out in the real world. In fact, this latter group, those who choose to ignore the world as much as they can, is the largest group by far…..

“Stupidity may be masked by sincerity, but it is still stupidity.” — Smart Bee

This means, not only are those who are involved in the issues ignorant of the actual truth, but nobody else, aside from a few curmudgeons like me, who hate EVERYBODY, (joke… we just don’t discriminate against anyone when it comes to being critical…. in my mind, they’re ALL fuck-tards….), has any idea of how little integrity, or real knowledge of what is truth, or, for that matter, common sense, there is loose in the world today…. All three of those items, essential to a healthy society, are lacking in our current world culture…. In point of fact, all three of those ideas are not only not loose, they seem to be totally absent from our reality…. much to our chagrin….

SIGH…. This is a rather amorphous rant, isn’t it? I’m railing against human nature again, which is such a huge, slippery concept, it’s difficult to confine it to one or two simple ideas for discussion…. Suffice it to say, my picture of humanity, even that part of it that is tech-savvy enough, and independently-minded enough, to have their own blogs on the ‘Net, fails to show me any of the qualities that will ensure our survival for much longer, and, actually, shows a lot of evidence that supports our extinction within the next 100-200 years….

Once the atmospheric levels of oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and the other elements that make up what we breathe, have been altered to the point of no return, (which happened two years ago….)  it will not take long for us to succumb, as the process of degradation acts in a parabolic fashion, faster and faster the longer it goes on…. The ice will continue to melt, the seas will continue to rise, the air to get dirty, the weather to get stranger, and the people will continue to hide their heads in the sand….

It’s a sad commentary on our race, to my mind, when we, as a species, can’t even seem to pull it together long enough to make a concerted effort to stop those who have destroyed the environment we inhabit, as they have for millennia, and continue to do today, all out of their insatiable greed and utter inhumanity, aided and abetted by the ignorance embraced by most of the rest of humanity .

Hell, most of humanity isn’t even aware there is a problem, or any danger…. How does one overcome that level of ignorance?….. The BRC is a lot better at the carrot and stick routine than are the more honorable people in our world, and aren’t going to allow anyone to take away their privileges and perks; they’ve been at it for centuries, and are so good at it, most people never even realize they are slaves….

Okay, so I’ve ranted…. now I’m gonna go old-school… just because I can….

“A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.” — G.C. Lichtenberg

“What the hell, go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket.” — Smart Bee

“You cannot believe in honor unless you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.” — George Bernard Shaw

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet
— Act iii, Sc. 4

[A small difference of opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court in ‘Texas v. Johnson’ 491 U.S. 397 (1989)

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” — Justice William J. Brennan, writing for the majority

“Surely one of the purposes of a democratic society is to legislate against conduct that is regarded as evil and profoundly offensive to the majority of people; whether it be murder, embezzlement, pollution or flag burning.” — Chief Justice William Rehnquist, dissenting

(The question that occurs to me on reading this is this: how can a supposedly intelligent person, with a law degree and everything, have misunderstood the Constitution so badly?….. Astounding, not to even mention how stupid it is, to even TRY to rationalize the legislation of morality, which, in Mr. Rehnquist’s mind, or what passes for one, is confused with custom…. In spite of what many religious fundamentalists, and both right and left wing politicians, would have us believe, morality cannot be legislated, or, for that matter, influenced in any way at all by anything outside the person whose morality is under question…. Nor should morality be confused with custom; they are not the same thing…. nor should they be….)

(The second thing that occurred to me upon reading this was: Does it physically hurt to be that stupid?….)

😆

“Late in the night, we realize that the acts of our lives have not been shadow-free, that we are shadowed by curses and sins –not because we are cursed and sinful by nature, but because with the very origins of the world, one half of which belongs to night, come fearful figures who demand we know them.” — James Hillman

“What GOOD is a CARDBOARD suitcase ANYWAY?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Oops…. sorry, went a little off the rails there at the end; Zippy’s lines can do that, usually without conscious effort on my part…. But, it does rather fit, don’t you think?…. Just think of morality as the suitcase…. go ahead, it’s really not hard, and doesn’t hurt much, once you’re past the initial shock….
_____________________________

Having awakened in a “mood”, I’m trying not to let that spill over into this…. how’m I doin’?…. Oh…. Well, I’m trying, and will continue to do so, so, that’s worth something, right? Right…. Maybe this will make up for it…..

Apollo And The Graces

APOLLO

WHICH of the fairest three
To-day will ride with me?
My steeds are all pawing at the threshold of the morn:
Which of the fairest three
To-day will ride with me
Across the gold Autumn’s whole Kingdom of corn?

THE GRACES all answer

I will, I – I – I
young Apollo let me fly
Along with thee,
I will- I, I, I,
The many wonders see
I – I – I – I
And thy lyre shall never have a slackened string:
I, I, I, I,
Thro’ the golden day will sing.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

Well, gosh…. I’m not sure what to do now…. I’ve already supplied a fresh, newly minted rant, put together an old-school pearl with some great pearls, and found a great poem…. It’s not often I’m a tough act to follow, but I seem to have put myself in that position, so, we’ll apply some cosmic judo to the issue…. Here are pearls in a bunch…. not grouped, not chosen, just bunched up, into sort of a bouquet… Let’s see what happens….

“Fleas can be taught nearly everything a lawyer can.”” — Smart Bee

The Three Stooges, the sinking ship, and the lone lifeboat:

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

— the Stilt Man

“Ever notice that ‘what the hell?’ is always the right decision?” — Marilyn Monroe

Q: “How many lawyer jokes are there? A: 3, the rest are true stories.” — Smart Bee

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

LIFE, n.  A spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay.  We live in daily apprehension of its loss; yet when lost it is not missed. The question, “Is life worth living?” has been much discussed; particularly by those who think it is not, many of whom have written at great length in support of their view and by careful observance of the laws of health enjoyed for long terms of years the honors of successful controversy.

“Life’s not worth living, and that’s the truth,”
Carelessly caroled the golden youth.
In manhood still he maintained that view
And held it more strongly the older he grew.
When kicked by a jackass at eighty-three,
“Go fetch me a surgeon at once!” cried he.
Han Soper

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
_____________________________

“The sixties were good to you, weren’t they?” — George Carlin

Why, yes, George, yes, they were…. which should be moderately obvious to even the most casual observer…. Now you’ve done it… You’ve uncovered my secret plan, to confuse everyone with so many words, that make such little sense, you don’t know which ones to pick for use, and the little easter eggs I’ve strewn throughout the pages can work their clandestine, subliminal magic….

Oh, well, it couldn’t last forever…. I’ll just go back to the old way of doing things, and bore everyone to tears, but, get just as much done…. For now, though, this will have to do, so I’d best see if it’s worthy…. Be right back….

I must say, after going through it, THIS is a Pearl!…. Somehow, in spite of all Murphy and his myrmidons have conspired to foist upon me, the poor lad will be forced to consider today a major fail…. This ain’t bad at all…. It’s good enough to post, anyway, so, I’m going with that….. In fact, I’m going to get out of here, while the getting is good…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

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

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Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Diligently dancing, despite the incandescent horror…

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Ffolkes,

Shadows danced over the walls, cast by flames from the logs flickering in the ancient hearth. Savory smells of onions and meat filled the air, as the stew simmered in the pot hanging over the fire, stirred slowly by the old woman in a tattered, grey dress. Though she had lived alone for many years, she showed no surprise at the loud knock on the wooden door, only shrugging her bony shoulders as she walked across to open it. Wind and snow blew in the door, pushing into the room a huge, heavily bearded man, in grimy buckskins, carrying a long, evil rifle, and a large pack on his back.

Following the giant into the single room of the old cabin, a dire-wolf, all black, large as a small pony, eyes gleaming with intelligent ferocity, stopped in the doorway to peer behind him, into the darkness, then trotted through the door, sinking to the floor in front of the fire with a weary sigh. The wolf, glancing at the old woman, spoke, in a wheezing, gravely voice, asking, “Will they attack tonight?”……

Whoa, wait a minute, there, big fella…. attack? Where did that come from?…. Oh, hi there… and good morning. I thought I’d try my hand at another fictional opening to a story, and, all in all, I think it came out fairly well, though I have no idea from what odd corner of my brain the last line emerged. It kind of fits, though, don’t you think? I mean, it did throw in a swift change of direction, which I always find to be an interesting plot device; it always snags my attention when I read something that surprises me like that…. But, once again, it’s a story I’m not going to pursue, at least not now…. too many pearls to find and share, don’t y’know?….

Of course, this assumes there is anyone out there to read these epics, and that is not, it seems, necessarily true. It doesn’t matter, though, as I have to get this stuff out of my head, or it makes me even crazier than I already am, and that is NOT a good thing. In fact, it can get downright ugly…. and none of us wants that so early in the day, no matter what the weather is like….. The weather has been even crazier than I am lately; the naysayers who claim that global warming is a myth are being proven wrong, definitively, and completely, by the strangeness of the weather patterns, or rather, broken weather patterns, that we have been experiencing in the last month or two…..

Alaska, when we cruised there, was warm, more so than usual, according to the locals, while down here in northern California, it was sweltering, in late May, and early June… Now, for this entire month of July, the weather has been cloudy, windy, and often chilly, causing people to dress in layers as if it were the middle of winter. For the entire month, we’ve had temperatures in the 70’s, with only a couple of days of more heat than that…. People, this is JULY, in CALIFORNIA. It is ALWAYS HOT IN JULY in California…. at least, that has been my experience over the last 60 some years…. Summers are supposed to be hot, with the weather pattens in July, August, and often September, frequently climbing to temperatures in triple digits for days on end. It is almost as if we had moved north about a thousand miles, into a different climate category, due to our location in relation to the equator….

Ah well, I could go on for quite a while, cataloging all the strange new weather the world is seeing, now that the temperature of the oceans, and the planet as a whole, is rising. We, as people, aren’t doing anything that will cause that to stop anytime soon, so, we may as well get used to not knowing what the weather is going to do next…. Its’ kind of ironic, that just at that point in our history when we are finally able to predict the weather with some small degree of accuracy, we mess up our own base of knowledge by changing the rules, causing the weather to become unpredictable by any means…. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!….

If I did go on though, y’all would accuse me of ranting in the intro again, and you’d be right in that. Rather than go through all that again, we’ll just dive in, and start the search for some pearls for today’s effort….. Besides, everybody always talks about the weather, but nobody ever DOES anything about it, at least not in a positive sense… For now, I think we should let this die an unnatural death, and get on with it…..

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

Here is an example of why I pearl…. The following seven quotes were searched out with absolutely no pre-planning. I had nothing in mind when I started, and was willing to take whatever Smart Bee came up with. What I got, obviously, was an example of Smart Bee showing off, because these quotes just fell through the cracks in my mind, to formulate a precís, a summary, as it were, of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous Essay on Self-Reliance, only without all the torturous twists and turns his words built into the path to wisdom… Just let your mind float, read these, and voilá, illumination!….. Enjoy!….

“It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“That’s the effect of living backwards: it always makes one a little giddy at first, but there’s one great advantage in it, that one’s memory works both
ways.” — Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”

“I count religion but a childish toy … there is no sin but ignorance.” — Christopher Marlowe

“Did YOU find a DIGITAL WATCH in YOUR box of VELVEETA?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Krishnamurti

“Thus it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements.” — Sun Tzu

I rest my case….
_____________________________

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” — G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

This observation, fortunately, includes myself…. as will be seen by the following two poems of mine. The haiku was written during the poetry challenge earlier this year, in April; the other is from sometime in 2012…..

Haiku II

An inner light glows
shining out of open eyes;
madness or wisdom?

~~ gigoid ~~

Raging at Aging

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“One should seek virtue for its own sake and not from hope or fear, or any external motive. It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Zeno, (B.C. 335?-264), liii

Sounds simple, eh? Scholar Laertius has put his thumb print squarely on what I see as the basic flaw in human nature, the one characteristic that will eventually lead us to perdition, if not extinction. Every day, every minute, mankind, as a whole, and as individuals, are presented with a choice of actions, some of which are virtuous in nature, and others that are not…. These actions are chosen by each individual according to their own degree of virtue, or, more simply, they choose what to do according to what they believe…. What they choose to embrace as their life’s viewpoint will generally determine the nature of their choices, whether it is virtuous, or not….

I could rant about this; I do so frequently. Today, though, rather than rant, which just doesn’t seem to fit my mood this morning, I’ve put together a group of pearls that speak to this subject, at least peripherally…. Taken together, they poke a stick at the eye of humanity, trying to turn the mob back from the edge of extinction….

“The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life — the children; those who are in the twilight of life — the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life — the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” — Hubert Humphrey

“Virtue is that perfect good which is the complement of a happy life; the only immortal thing that belongs to mortality.” — Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“I’m just hoping that one day the sheep will realize that the shepherd is really a wolf in disguise.” — Sanjay Singh

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

To produce things and to rear them,
To produce, but not to take possession of them,
To act, but not to rely on one’s own ability.
To lead them, but not to master them –
This is called profound and secret virtue.

— Lao-Tzu (fl. B.C. 600)

“Make no mistake: the weeds will win.  Nature bats last.” — Robert Pyle
_____________________________

At the end of each day’s Pearl, I try to measure, if I can, how it might be received by the Gentle Readers…. I have to point out, however, that I am handicapped in these assessments, by having to do so using my own viewpoint, which rather scotches the whole concept of judging it objectively. This may explain the lack of Likes, quite plainly, so I’m going to just forget the whole issue, and just get on with it…. Let’s see now…..

Days such as today tend to keep this process alive, reminding me that I do this to stay sane, not to win prizes… It’s all strange, and a little bit obscure, but, all in all, I think it’s pretty good, for all that it is an exercise in singing to the choir (regarding the danger of extinction; I think most of my readers will agree with my assessment… If not, they’re not saying so…). Nonetheless, I like it, so, it stays, or rather, goes…. And, so do I….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Luring nuns back into the habit….

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Ffolkes,

Whereas, the production of this blog is essential to the proper functioning of my mind, and, hence, my life, and, whereas, producing said blog has saved my sanity on numerous occasions, and, whereas, nobody has stepped forward to tell me to stop, it is hereby decreed that publication will continue until death, or, more appropriately, until someone cries for mercy…….  gigoid has spoken… so be it….

Sorry, just have to make it official now and then, to appease the gods of bureaucracy, that, despite having been retired for about three and a half years now, still have some influence on my actions, volitional as they may be at other times. It’s kind of like knocking on wood, or throwing salt over your shoulder when you spill it; old habits and superstitions die hard, and one never knows when one of the elder gods will take offense at something we’ve done to unconsciously insult them. It’s best to cover all the bases, as it were, right? No point in taking foolish chances, not in reality; it bites……

Now that is out of the way, I can dive right into today’s display of temper, or outburst of creativity, or just plain drivel (as is usually the case…), searching for just the perfect pearl to start things off…. You see, it’s all a random process, and I never know beforehand just what I’ll be doing, or where we’ll be heading off to to find something worth writing about…..

I’ve been watching the news, and the usual suspects are busily carrying on the normal course of idiocy out there in the public venue; I’ve even seen a couple of items that stirred me to write, almost…. However, the afterglow of contentment I have in my attitude bag from the cruise seems to have blunted my rant mode, at least temporarily….

Who knows? Not me…..It could pop out at any time, so, we’ll see what’s up when I begin to peruse Smart Bee in a few moments…. The first viewing of that little gem is always a surprise, as I never know if it will cooperate, or pretend to be dumber than it looks. It can be a pain, fortunately infrequently, but still on a regular basis, and I have no way to determine how it will act beforehand…. yet another example of how metaphor is everywhere in life, once one learns to see and appreciate its immense variety, as well as its ubiquitous presence as part of the fabric of reality…. which  brings us around once again to where we need to be, poised and ready to dive in and begin the search for pearls of virtual wisdom…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When the ten thousand things are seen in their oneness, we return to the source to remain where we have always been.” — Seng Ts’un.
_____________________________

“Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

Since we were talking about metaphor, and the power of the Metaphorse in reality (well, I  was talking about it…..), the above is a perfect lead-in to a discussion of the finer points of how to take advantage of this phenomenon, or, at the very least, minimize the damage that NOT knowing, or not caring, can bring to those who ignore its power…..

Fortunately for y’all, I suspect my brain is still a bit too fuzzy to get into the subject deeply enough to make the correct point, or, sigh, to make the point correctly, (for any grammar Nazis out there….); making it incorrectly could conceivably cause even more damage…. Naturally, I’ll resort to my tried and true method for hiding my own shortcomings, and use the very power of which I speak, to put the message into an old-school pearl…. The point of this one should, by now, be completely transparent…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow….. To preclude any whining, this will NOT be on the Quiz…..

“Beware the man of one book.” — St. Thomas Aquinas

“The impression forces itself upon one that men measure by false standards, that everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself, and admires others who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life.” — Sigmund Freud

“Force has no place where there is need of skill.” — Herodotus

“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Cleveland Press, 3/1/21

“I don’t want to panic, but my alphabet soup says, “Forget about me … just try to save yourself.”” — Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”)

Don’t have it yet? Okay, okay, I’ll clarify…. but, you only get two more….. if you don’t have it by then, well, I’ve failed, and will go shoot myself….I don’t want to die, so, please, pay attention…..

“God may be in the details, but it is also important to know the big picture.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“There’s only one way to kill a rat…” — Robert A. Heinlein

There…. it seemed only fitting to finish with Heinlein, as I’m a firm believer in the old Irish adage of “Begin as you mean to go on….”  Whoops, it’s another metaphor…. Okay, I’m done for now…
_____________________________

I offer no apologies for the poems I pick to include in this section, but feel I should explain why they sometimes don’t fit with the rest of the Pearl, attitudinally (if that is a word….) (hmm, must be a word, because the spell checker didn’t even flinch…)…. Actually, it’s quite simple…. I use the same random method for this as for picking pearls…. If it grabs my eye and my fancy, it stays, even when it has little or nothing to do with the rest of the post… In this case, it is not altogether out of line, but, no matter, because it is one of my favorite poems….. Enjoy!…..

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

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

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

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

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

_____________________________

Whew! For a moment, I thought it was time for a rant, and I don’t have one on tap…. but, then I remembered it’s time for the next installment of the Alaskan Adventures…. Good thing!

After the intense (NOT!) experience of exploring Icy Point Strait and the booming Alaskan village of Hoonah, the ship sailed overnight to Juneau, where we spent the 4th of July, sans any overt displays of either fireworks, or excessive celebration of the holiday in a formal sense…. (Who needs a party when you’ve got some guy on board wearing a sleeveless American flag t-shirt with his used-to-be-greyish-white Bermuda shorts and flip flops, sweating his way through the buffet line?….)

A formal party wasn’t necessary, as we were docked at 7 AM, with two other huge cruise ships anchored in front of us, and another pulling in behind just after breakfast…. There was another Princess ship, a Holland American ship, and a Norwegian Cruises ship (shown below). This meant that close to 12,000 people were in town for the day; our own ship wasn’t scheduled to depart until midnight, due to a miscommunication with the town authorities….

It seemed as if at least 5 or 6,000 of them were walking around at any one time, all hell-bent on finding another 3D magnet or Tanzanite necklace…. If I’d still been in my twenties or thirties, I might have joined in the fracas at the Red Dog Saloon, one of Alaska’s oldest taverns, but, being 62, I just went back to the ship and took a nap after my (for me) extensive walk….

It seems that Juneau sets off its fireworks display for the 4th at midnight of the night before, to ring in the day with the hullabaloo rather than end it that way. (Alaskans are different, trust me…. They work at it….) Unfortunately, this didn’t get into the memo that Princess received, so we were there for the duration, with only the local stores and bars in which to while away the hours (a mistake for which I’m sure they were eternally grateful….).

I went a bit nuts again on the souvenirs, but did find all we needed to cover everyone on our lists, finding some rather cool stuff (gotta love that fake snow!….). We also overdid it on the walking, going ashore twice, and hoofing it about 2 miles each time, walking down the pleasant wharf-side path past the ships, or passing among the crowds on the sidewalks in front of the myriad of shops, bars, and restaurants that lined the streets nearby.

Having looked over the last two posts, and this one, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed in my pictures. I had thought I got more, and that they were better, but, so far they’re not up to snuff…. The next couple of days, in Tracy Arm Fjord and Victoria, will show a little better, though, as I got the hang of the camera better, and took more shots… I hope you enjoy these as much as I do, and did while taking them…..


Alaska Grand Adventure 059 Alaska Grand Adventure 038 Alaska Grand Adventure 039 Alaska Grand Adventure 053 Alaska Grand Adventure 054 Alaska Grand Adventure 055 Alaska Grand Adventure 056 Alaska Grand Adventure 057 Alaska Grand Adventure 058_____________________________

Very well, then…. I shall now go peruse my effort….. Not too shabby, but needed a bit of punch-up, now done. Therefore, with no further ado, I shall take my leave, to go forth unto the new day, hopeful…. foolishly, perhaps, but hopeful, nonetheless….. I am, after all, getting fairly adept at this living stuff…..  Now, if I can only learn to do it well…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Terrified outbreaks of uncontrolled shrugging….

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Ffolkes,
As he sits down to begin, no angels sing, no thunder rings out, the earth remains still, and silent. Only the steady tick of the mantle clock breaks the quiet, until, slowly at first, then picking up the pace, he begins to type, words that have struggled to come forth from earliest memory. Like penitent soldiers, they line up on the page, tired, dusty, line after line, turned out from where they commonly hide, to face the light of day, and the harsher light of regard….. No promises of genius, no hope of publication, no real purpose…. just words, in a row, cast up in denial of repression, and hope of redemption….. Another day dawns, bringing, as always, trepidation, layered thinly with unreasoning hope, challenging all to arise, and survive another day…..

Well, I guess Hemingway doesn’t have to worry much that I’ll be challenging his reputation for powerful prose…. I can’t say the above stinks badly…. In fact, it isn’t bad at all, just rather lacking in direction, which isn’t surprising, since it has none to speak of; none was required, nor desired. All I wanted were some pretty words strung together in a reasonably rational order, just to draw y’all in, and perhaps, give a glimpse of something darker, and deeper, than is first seen… In that respect, it worked okay, I suppose, and, it has the added advantage of being done… Done deals are much handier than stuff left undone, for sure, wouldn’t you say?…. Rhetorical question, obviously, so don’t bother to reply….. unless, of course, you’re the type of reader who talks back to what you read…. in which case, feel free….

Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah…. If this is the best I can come up with, I may as well start mailing this in…. coming into the office doesn’t seem to be working out for me…. Oh, wait, right, I’m not going in to any office…. SIGH…. Oh, well, I didn’t like having to go, anyway, so it’s just as well, I suppose, that I don’t have to go in anymore. I have a feeling that, in spite of the nasty, rude method used to force me to retire before I was ready, the actual state of retirement was the right way to go for me… As it turns out, my body was done with work; flogging myself to continue toiling away would probably have ended up being a bad idea, prolonging my misery, and making it even harder to deal with the physical aspects of getting old.

Now, I have things exactly the way I like them, with the added advantage of a secure, adequate income, an advantage I did not have, or even seek very hard, during all my previous years. Even when working, my necessary outgo always seemed to exceed my income; now that I’ve reduced my needs and wants to the bare minimum, the amount I’ve managed to retire on is entirely adequate to meet those needs, and still have enough to save up to travel on a regular basis. As long as I’m careful, I should be able to live long enough to see all the places I’ve dreamed about seeing all my life….

I almost feel guilty that things have turned out so well for me…. but, then I think back over the last three or four years, (or, in further retrospect, the last 25 years….) and realize that, hey, much of it has been a miserable time, and any good things happening now can be seen as the Universe acting to balance things out…. Karma is asserting itself, I would guess, and all I can say is, it’s about damn time… I don’t claim, even in my most feverish dreams, to be the best man alive, but, I’ve always tried my best to be honorable, to do my duty and hurt others as little as possible; that has to count for something, right?….

Okay, you can stop laughing now… I didn’t really expect an answer, but there’s no need to be rude, either…..  Just kidding, it’s all good….. I should know better than to ask for that kind of feedback; nobody enjoys feeling dumb, even me…. This intro section, I think, is getting completely out of control, and needs to be given the three finger salute, soon (Control-alt-delete…). Sorry ’bout that, it’s what happens when I get too much sleep, and try to write with a clear head…. I wasn’t paying close attention, and this section turned into a ramble of massive proportion, covering far too many subjects in way too few paragraphs (or, too many, relative to your viewpoint, I suppose….)…. I’ve hardly left any room for normal pearls, whatever those might be.

I think I stop talking now, and see what kind of mischief Smart Bee has in store for me…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Well, this is taking a long time, but, so far, it seems to be worth it…. I had to be firm, but Smart Bee finally came up with the first five pearls below, which hang together well, and make a very strong point about living well, or at least living, as opposed to ignoring life as it goes by… Then, as if by magic, the last two came forward, shyly asking to be included…. When I added them on, I was amazed, at how well they fit, and how they enhanced the given concept…. Of course, all that might be just my weird sense of humor, but, hey, it works for me….

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot; by thought I encompass the Universe.” — Pascal, Pensees, n. 265

In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes:
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 123

“From out of all the many particulars comes oneness, and out of oneness come all the many particulars.” — Heraclitus

“Truth can be a dangerous thing. It is quite patient and relentless.” — R. Scott Richards

See what I mean? Now, let the mind drift, with only that thought to anchor you to reality for the moment…. then, take in the two aphorisms below, and either grin, or guffaw, in acknowledgment and glee… I did, so I thought you should have the same opportunity….

“The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.” — Chuang Tzu

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” — Baruch’s Observation

Bang! It takes an accurate blow to drive in a nail with one clean strike…. Okay, put down the hammer now, I didn’t mean it…. calm yourselves…. Here, here’s a poem to look at, just give me the hammer, and I’ll put it away….
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If you weren’t able to tell, I’m in a sort of odd mood today…. That, in and of itself isn’t all that odd, and isn’t a problem, but, it does affect the content herein, and nowhere quite as much as in this section… To go with today’s ambiance, I offer the following gem from one of my favorite contemporary poet/artists…..

Tryin’ On Clothes
I tried on the farmer’s hat,                                                  
Didn’t fit…
A little too small — just a bit
Too floppy.
Couldn’t get used to it,
Took it off.

I tried on the dancer’s shoes,                                       
A little too loose.
Not the kind you could use
for walkin’.
Didn’t feel right in ’em,
Kicked ’em off.

I tried on the summer sun,
Felt good.
Nice and warm — knew it would.
Tried the grass beneath bare feet,
Felt neat.
Finally, finally felt well dressed,
Nature’s clothes fit me best.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

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Below you will find one of my favorite rants, regarding the events in 2001 that have caused many of the restrictions placed on freedoms we, as US citizens, formerly held, restrictions with which we now live, and regard as normal…. I see this as evidence of the accuracy of what is written below, and supports its validity today…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom.  It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt (1759-1806) speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783

I had not intended to start with a political rant, but this just came up, so here we go…. This is as true today as it was in 1783, perhaps even more so. Since 9/11/01, when those fanatic idiots carried out their insane delusions of grandeur on the world stage, the “necessity” for Homeland Security has been the watchword of the political pundits who unfortunately are in charge of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Bill after bill after bill keeps coming down the pike and bulling their way through into becoming law, or even worse, is created by executive order, without the benefit of review by Congress, useless as that may be.

The entire incident that happened that day was blown completely out of proportion by the media. Yes, it was a tragedy, in which something over 3000 American lives were lost, in three separate incidents. The videos of those planes hitting the buildings in New York must have been replayed a thousand times before noon, all over the country, until every American who had access to a TV was informed of what had occurred….

The American media, and the political machinery that manipulates it so effectively, then proceeded to flood every channel with the after-effects, making sure that the sorrow and fear of every person they could find willing to speak of it on camera was put on the evening news, and ensuring that no rational, dispassionate examination of the events would take place. Before the first day had passed, the national reaction had been whipped to a frenzy, stirring the fears of every paranoid in society, and making it seem as if the entire nation was filled with anger and vengeful righteousness. Though I didn’t join in the paranoia, I could feel it happening all around me, as normally intelligent people became so angry they lost all sense of proportion, or for that matter, all sense of truth.

In the ensuing years, whenever the politicians have wanted to distract the nation from what they were actually doing, all they needed to do was mention the word terrorism, or national security, to immediately put attention off of them, and onto the pitiful  group of fanatical Muslims they blamed for the attacks (completely ignoring all the reasons those same politicians had provided those fanatics  in the first place, reasons designed to stimulate an attack….). And thus, the Hunt for Osama bin Laden was on!

In this country, as a result of those attacks, approximately 5000 American lives were lost (that figure is larger than the actual number, purposely…. it is near enough to correct to make the point…). At this time, in the quest to find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, over 50,000 Afghani civilians have been killed. In Iraq, which we somehow decided to invade, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, well over 250,000 civilians have died to soothe our national pride. In that same period, we lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings. And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security (June, 2013 — Now authorized by what is so laughingly called the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012…. signed by President Obama on New Year’s Eve of 2011, while everyone was partying, not paying any attention to their so-called “rights”…..).

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated” — George Bernard Shaw

So, what is my point here? My point is this…. those pathetic fanatics killed more than they had ever been able to kill, one time. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation; you can call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies. It has caused every politician in this country to wrap themselves in the flag, not to proclaim their patriotism, but to manipulate the unreasonable fear they created in the public to keep them from realizing the truth of the matter.

That truth is this: we are in no real danger from Al Qaeda,  or from any other splinter faction terrorist group, nor have we ever been in any real danger. They may be able to pull off stunts such as this one occasionally, but for the most part, the world has gotten pretty good at either catching them in hiding, or stopping their plots before they actually carry them out. Governments have a LOT more resources than terrorists, no matter how rich they may be personally.

No, the pathetic, desperate people who become terrorists are created by those same political pundits who are reviling them and hunting them down. They are not a real threat to anyone, as they don’t have the wherewithal to perform more than one act of violence at a time; they cannot wage a war, they can only try to act as guerrilla forces, at best. Mostly, they are just sad schemers, planning glorious deaths, that ultimately have no meaning, other than to provide the Western politicos another unreasonable fear to use against the American public, in order to continue their raping and pillaging among their own people.

The entire issue is one that is repugnant to me; I have watched in horror, not as terrorists have been hunted, but as the rights of the American people have been taken away in the name of “security”. Security from what? We don’t need more security from terrorists; those techniques for dealing with it are well-established, and effective, as they employ the very same methods used by the fanatics to achieve their ends. No, we need more security from our own pundits, who have utilized this tragic events for their own benefit, to the everlasting regret of every true patriot….. bloody assholes, every one of them…..

“I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, Act III

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….
__________________________________

Well, there you go…. Such as it is, it is done, and I’m glad, as it took a supreme effort this morning to stay on track…. Not sure why, but, it no longer matters, as long as it proofs okay….  Which, in fact, it does…. I will reiterate…. So be it.  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Inundated in whole wheat toast points…..

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Ffolkes,
Far be it from me to complain, but…. there’s a fly in my soup, metaphorically speaking. This, in the normal course of events, would be cause for celebration, not complaint, as it isn’t often one actually finds meat, or protein of any kind, in the soup usually served up around here, especially the metaphorical soup….. It’s generally filled with more poisonous materials and/or ingredients, calculated to bring just the right degree of nausea to whomever has the courage to consume it. Yes, we’ve always had a bit of trouble with our Metaphorical Soup of Life, so the addition of a mere fly or two shouldn’t cause too much hullabaloo, regardless of how fat and disgusting the flies may be…..

Okay, I’ll get away from those images now…. even metaphorically, flies in the soup are not the best choice for pre-breakfast imagery, as they tend to put ffolkes off their breakfast, for sure….. The most hardened gourmand is leery of talk of flies, at the best of times, and before breakfast is definitely one to avoid bringing such pictures to mind…. Eggs over easy, or lightly scrambled, don’t mix well with hairy, ugly flying insects who are known to make a habit of hanging around shit…. Tends to put one right off their feed, and with good reason….

Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to do that here…. it’s a delicate line to walk, isn’t it? That line between bringing to mind some image that will turn the stomach, and one that will make the stomach growl in anticipation, is a very thin, hard-to-see line, and often gets crossed over inadvertently, by even the most careful of writers… which would NOT describe me, I’m sure….  I do try to keep from causing anyone to actually boot, but, I guess I missed it that time, eh? C’est la vie, as the Frogs would say…..

Note: to any Frenchmen, or women, who might conceivably read this…. the use of the word Frogs is in no way intended as a slight; I’m just copying my British brethren, who are known to have a large degree of disrespect for the French, dating back centuries, to one or another of the wars y’all fought with each other over whatever nonsensical issues either of you could come up with…. Any who, I just like the way it sounds, and from me you may take it as a form of endearment, okay? Okay….

Well…. I don’t know how, but I seem to have blathered long enough to make this a legal intro section…. In looking back over the above paragraphs, (I know, I could have used the simpler, “in retrospect”, but, we’re trying to fill up space here, so back off….), I see a certain lack of, shall we say, discretion, or perhaps, common sense would describe it better….

Whatever it is, there is too much of it, or not enough, or something…. But, you know what? It’s done, and I’m not going back to start over for anything, not at this point, six or so paragraphs in, even if not a single line of it makes any particular sense…. I told y’all at the beginning this isn’t for wimps, so, buckle up, hang on, and we’ll eventually get to a point where y’all can jump off…. In the meantime…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Part of being sane, is being a little bit crazy.” — Janet Long

I’ve also heard it said that insanity is a sane reaction to an insane world, which, ultimately, comes to the same thing. I’ve spoken before on this, as it is a subject near and dear to my own life, having spent many years working in the mental health field, as a therapist, and as a patient, after I contracted mental illness myself… In spite of what you might hear, it IS contagious, in a certain sense, as the constant exposure to its presence in others tends to cause stress in the therapist over time, stress that eventually brings the issue home to roost in those who either become too immersed in dealing with it, or don’t have the emotional strength to resist the pressure of the work.

“I’m probably crazy.  Either that or its just the hormones.” — Chris Pirillo (chris@lockergnome.com)

In my own case, it was a matter of immersion, combined with long term exposure to the most violent aspects of the business, that eventually broke down my ability to resist the onslaught of depression. What many do not realize about mental illness is that, once present, the condition does not, like traditional, medical conditions or illnesses, get completely cured, and then go away, leaving us with a natural inner defense, as our immune systems learn the characteristics of each disease, and the procedure to eradicate it from the body.

There are parallels, of course, both in the etiology, and in the treatment, of mental and medical illnesses, but, due to the extreme complexity of how the mind functions, and the extreme sparsity of our understanding of how it actually works, we have yet to learn how those parallels can be of use in the treatment of illnesses of the mind, at least, not to any significant degree that guarantees success. Psychiatry, and psychology, remain areas of knowledge still in their infancy, in terms of how much we understand…. or, more accurately, in terms of how little we understand….

“In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Speaker 2-2-1901

While not (necessarily) directed at mental illness, this statement describes partially how the struggle against it can be of a particularly grim nature, difficult to avoid, and once met, difficult to be rid of its imprecations. It takes a kind of inner strength, and courage, that is hard for most people to find or develop, in order to apply, and maintain, the effort needed to overcome depression, and the debilitating lethargy, hopelessness, and unreasoning fear that comes with it. It is a special kind of strength, that must be ALWAYS be on tap for use, if not constantly applied; depression, and its hold over us, doesn’t take breaks unless forced, and that force must come from within us; it isn’t to be found in drugs, or anything else outside our own awareness.

Other people cannot GIVE us this strength, but, they can help us to find it within ourselves, sometimes merely by their presence…. Dogs, cats, and other animals also know how to supply whatever it is that helps us find that little place in us where our strength lies. In a certain sense, I suppose, one could say that such interactions, with people, with animals, or with the universe at large, DO supply us with the strength we need to carry on our efforts.

The positive benefits of petting a puppy, or having a purring cat sit on one’s lap, or of a kind word from a stranger, have an effect on our inner selves much greater than would seem the case for such simple acts. I can think of no quicker way to find our way out of a depressive fog than to have a puppy start chewing on our shoelaces, or having a kitten paw at one’s face in affection, or, most effective of all, getting a hug from a loved one. No words need be spoken, no ideas exchanged, and no coins handed over…. but, our fear is soothed, our hurts are healed, and we can find the inner strength to go on resisting the pull of the darker side of existence…..

“Love is all you need….” ~~ John Lennon

Strange, isn’t it? Sometimes, John got it so right, you wondered why you ever thought life was so complicated…. The only problem is, by its nature, and by the nature of the people who inhabit reality with us, the world tends to make it very hard to keep love intact. The ways of the world are so complex, and fast, and confusing, that people lose track of what is real, and what is illusion, and end up chasing those things in life that will leave them cold and alone, instead of concentrating on what is real, and lasting, and will bring them joy for their entire life.

We all end up doing both, being aware of what is real, and what is not, to a certain degree, and to varying degrees, succeed in acquiring joy in our lives; at other times, we suffer the results of our folly, with pain and fear…. The trick, I guess, is to know which is which, and how to bring them about according to our own will, not the will of anyone, or anything, else…. With that knowledge in your pocket, and a couple of dollars, you can get a pretty good cup of coffee…..

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” — Henry Miller
__________________________________

Somewhere inside me, buried deep in my mind, in some dusty hallway where no one has gone for a long time, there is a poem. I can see it, sitting there on the table inside the room in that hallway, waiting for me to find it, and bring it to light…. I can FEEL it sitting there, calling me, but, at this moment in time, I don’t have any idea in WHICH hallway it might be, much less which room in the hall…. I really do NEED to get a poem out soon; the pressure is getting uncomfortable, but, there’s no forcing it, or it will turn to sludge, so, I’m going to have to deal with it, and so must you….

In defense, though, I’ll put in one of my recent efforts in that arena, one I particularly like, so, if you do, too, that’s great…. If not, well, just remember… Any honest criticism is welcome, any praise is lapped up like cream…. Any less than enthusiastic responses will be cheerfully ignored, and any flaming will be revenged beyond your wildest imaginings… Just so’s you know….

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me
Ah’m not even sure of mah name,
or how Ah come to be;
no idea from where Ah came.

Ah does like a mystery tho’,
puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,
good from bad fo sho,
Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.

If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,
Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,
seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,
‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.

‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,
‘n had lots of stuff go on by;
Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,
never once used it fer an alibi.

He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,
school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.
Yer own good measure you can earn,
by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.

Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,
he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,
‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,
kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.

Without ever sayin’ the word itself,
Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others
not some fake stuff from some shelf,
but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.

Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think
to get around the block at least two times.
I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink
Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

This pearl got away from me, somehow…. It started out really well, then Smart Bee took me on a tour of really bad stuff, with a few minorly shiny gems here and there. Then, when it got to the improper number of six pearls, it died out altogether, and I’m about ready to give up…. Except, I KNOW the perfect finishing pearl is out there, somewhere… the pearl that will bring these all into focus, and cure them of their apparent complete lack of relation to each other…. One more try…..

“Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all.” — Oscar Wilde

“In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to women?  They say, Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything will be all right. And what happens?  Nine months later, you’re in trouble!” — Murphy’s Discovery

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

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” — Isaac Asimov

“A man cannot be wise enough to be a great artist without being wise enough to wish to be a philosopher. A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it. A small artist is content with art; a great artist is content with nothing except everything.” — G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Well, it almost beat me, coach, but, I held my ground, and finally won through to victory…. It took what seemed like forever, but, I guess, at this hour, anything seems longer… and I did find the correct finishing pearl for this group. It was actually quite simple, as most things are eventually….

“If you are out of trouble, watch for danger.” — Sophocles

See? Easy peasy….. Well, simple anyway, and the point it all makes at the end is worth whatever it took, right? Right…. Okay, so all it really does is keep the insurance folks off my back… that’s a good thing, for me….. And, besides, being obscure and/or unfathomable is a big part of what we do around here, so, it fits right in, regardless of the risk of straining something….
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Okay, that tears it…. I have to confess my sins…. None of the above (in section three… the rest is valid….) has any real meaning, beyond its own internal structure, and I lied about the point…. there isn’t one, that I can see…. I’m just so disappointed in Smart Bee for being so…. well, for letting me down today…. I’m sure it won’t happen again, but, it kind of hurts, y’know…. I depend on it so heavily, I don’t know quite how to handle it when it goes limp on me.

I’ll get over it though, and at least there is a small degree of humor than can be wrung out of all this…. If nothing else, you can laugh at yourself, for reading it all the way to the end…. I mean, I HAVE to, since I’m writing it, and, believe me, I will, and am, laughing at myself, but, nothing exists to keep y’all from bailing any time, so I’m surprised to find you still here, reading away….  Just kidding, of course…. sort of….

Now that I’ve completely screwed the pooch, let’s see how it all hangs together…..  Okay, well, I’ve seen, and done, worse…. Besides, I’ve been up and working on this for damn near three hours now, and it’s only 0715, so, I’m not going back and doing it over, nope, not me…. We’ll all just have to deal with it, as is….  Ah, hell, at least nobody died, or took any particularly grievous hits, except maybe, my ego…..   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3