As I said, not to worry, ffolkes. It’s merely a pop quiz, to see which of y’all are paying attention, as well as a means of establishing a pecking order, in terms of who will receive the Grand Prize, which we will be awarding at the end of this blogging year. We’ve been fortunate, in that our sponsor, Reality, has gifted us with a really elegant trophy, to be awarded to the Gentle Reader who visits most often, and makes the most comments…. Easy enough, as long as you can plow through the nearly a million words I write each year….. and the prize is well worth it, too…

What, you may ask, is it? Well, I’d like to be able to tell you, but, Smart Bee was given the task of picking it out, and hasn’t reported back yet regarding the choice it made, from the prizes offered by Reality’s liaison, some dude named Loki….. I’m hoping we end up giving away the car, but, some of the other staff prefer the yacht….. I don’t know, the yacht, to me, seems a bit over the top, but, to each his/her/its own, I suppose….

Now we have left all sense in the dust, perhaps we should go on, to the rest of today’s Pearl. We don’t often get a morning like this, where the intro actually flowed right out, with a proper subject for a beginning discussion. No doubt, Murphy is biding his time, waiting for just the right moment to present me with today’s bit of tom foolery. I really HATE when he does that, but, whattyagonnado with an iconic force of nature who insists on never growing up? Nothing, that’s what, but slap him down when we can, and clean up after the latest episode of his childish need to fuck around with people….

Since we seem to be removing ourselves further away from Reality with each paragraph, I think this one should be the last for today, at least, in this section…. Besides, my hands are now done with typing for the time being, and would just as soon I shut the hell up, and got on with it…. So, we’ll do as they are insisting, as we could start seeing nothing but gibberish, if the  lk oijo;lnili;lnz;lknadf;oinvad;nd;ihbz;kjna;oihads ertp9jd’fg;okjapro a;Dhmg  AZPdogkb sdpgf]hns:oemhg ;a[odmgp[apkr

Uh oh. I believe we have just been told to leave this area, by the only entities which can enforce their demands…. Unless I want the rest of this to resemble graffiti, we’d best go now….. Buckle up, and I’ll tell the pilot to get us out of here, quickly…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Most people can’t think, most of the remainder won’t think, the small fraction who do think mostly can’t do it very well.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

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Yesterday, we saw this man in some of the funniest moments they had together…. Here is an example of Robin Williams, doing what he always did best…. improvise…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s hard to feel down after a show like this….

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“Since we cannot know all that is to be known of everything, we ought to know a little about everything.” — Blaise Pascal

I do try, but, today, I got nothin’…. My brain is fagged out, simply exhausted from fighting pain, EPS, and a large, soulless corporation’s intransigent idiocy for the past five weeks, since having my medication forcibly reduced. As is obvious from that sentence, I have plenty of energetic angst, and sheer anger, to rant for quite a while…. but, my body won’t cooperate by allowing me the peace to do so…. the typing today is making my hands go numb every couple minutes, making this process, shall we say, difficult? Yes, that will do nicely, as it doesn’t give away any of the absolute RAGE I am actually keeping buried, so it doesn’t explode on somebody, including me….

This, of course, means we will be going to the archives, to pick out something suitable for today….. I think I’ll let it be a surprise, as much as I can make it so…. Enjoy, ffolkes, and think of this…. at least it isn’t 1500 fresh words about stuff that just depresses us all…. It’s almost that many, on an equally dark subject, but, the patina of age it shows should make it a bit more palatable, or, at least, a bit easier to chew….

From 7/28/2013:

“A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others.” — The Wizard of Oz

I spend a lot of time addressing what I call a flaw in human nature, without ever completely putting my finger exactly on the point I’m seeking to grasp, or to have y’all grasp, whatever… The point is, this flaw is one of choice, one that each person must decide within themselves, about how they will view life, and how they will approach living, especially concerning how they live with others, including animals, and our planet at large, which needs to be considered in any question of survival as a species. I see the flaw as most obvious in those people who end up in positions of authority, but it is a flaw that all of us have, to some degree, that concerns me, because it is the one that will ultimately seal our fate, as individuals, and as a species….

The above quote can be considered as the diametric opposite of the flaw, as it manifests in us. If one holds the above as true, then acting in a manner that will cause any loss or pain to another would be acting against that belief. In order to take advantage of another person, or thing, a human must first view that person, or thing, as being less important than they themselves consider themselves to be, by whatever standards are applied. By doing so, it objectifies the person, or animal, making it easier to detach emotions from anything done to them… In short, these people, who exhibit the flaw of choosing self over not-self, in all situations, consciously and deliberately decide to cause harm to others in order to achieve their own ends, and don’t feel any compunction, or guilt, about doing so, as they feel justified, by whatever rationalizations they have adopted….

This ability to disconnect from others is one of the most common features one observes in those people who make politics a career…. It is also commonly seen in certain professions, which, because of the key importance to people who need their services, tend to attract this type of personality, as such jobs offer many opportunities to take advantage of other people’s misery and trouble…. professions such as lawyer, preacher, doctor, judge, or any other areas that provide key services to people, that deal with situations that affect their lives and well-being…. These professions all provide sociopathic personalities with ample opportunities to carry out their agendas in life, which are focused on increasing their own control of resources, and power over other people….

Over time, these folks have gotten very good at what they do, and the whole world is now organized in such a way that almost everyone accepts the idea that there is no other better way to do things than the way they are being done… Any ideas to the contrary are either buried by those in positions of authority, or are ignored, or made superfluous by the construction of imaginary enemies…. Every time I hear from a government official that I should be afraid of someone who wants to kill us, or take away our rights and homes, I start to wonder just what it is they are trying to distract me from thinking about, or paying attention to….

You see, I make the automatic assumption, when ANY government source speaks, whether an elected official, or an official spokesperson, that that person is lying to me…. If the lies are not directly untrue material, then the lie is in what is NOT said, or in what is behind whatever they are speaking of, which, I always assume, means little or nothing beyond its intent to distract or befuddle me. Once that assumption is made, that the truth is not being told, then it becomes much easier to determine just what it is they are trying to do…. and, I find that what I see is never to the advantage of the public….

“DON’T STEAL – The government hates competition.” — Smart Bee

Actually, this sounds as if George Carlin might have said it; I know he had a short comment on why one couldn’t have the Ten Commandments displayed in courthouses; he believed it was because you couldn’t have all those exhortations against lying, cheating, and stealing around so many politicians and lawyers, as it would make for an uncomfortable work environment…. He saw exactly what I am talking about in society, and pointed it out clearly, and with sublime sarcasm, for all of us to see…..

Unfortunately, most folks don’t realize how close to the truth all of his assertions were, any more than most people know that the government lies to them on a regular basis, often, it seems, just to keep in practice. For those of us who DO see what is going on, it gets to be a challenge not to go around just slapping people left and right…. but, that doesn’t make any friends, and can lead to jail time if one isn’t careful…. Besides, nobody listens anyway, and even a two-by-four won’t make someone listen, if they don’t want to…..

I guess the Firesign Theater had it right, when they claimed we are all Bozos on this Bus….. It’s too bad that only clowns and comedians are the ones who seem to know what is going on in the world, because nobody votes for the clowns…. Hmm…. maybe we could get some of the comedians to run for office?…. It’s worth a shot…..

“He who laughs, lasts.” — Mary Pettibone Poole

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In searching out the material for the above section, I came across this old poetry section, from a couple days after the above was posted…. It’s a good one, so, rather than waste a lot of time with something else, that may not be as good, here is one I know I, if nobody else, will enjoy…. You can try, though…. it’s not too shabby, if I do say so meself….

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

Hmm…. Perhaps it would be to my advantage to create old school pearls this way from now on…. Yesterday, in a moment of peace (pain level 4-5, golf ball quiescent, if present, no cramps, and my leg isn’t pounding the bass drum to Bolero….) I sat to compose a pearl for today’s post. I had no notion at all of what I might want, but, Smart Bee apparently has a direct connection to my unconscious mind, for the following pearls, in a different order you see here, all appeared in the space of about eight minutes. It took a couple of minutes to format them, then, shuffle them into the order that makes the most sense to me…. The following is the result, which seems to be a somewhat harsh, but fair assessment of my life and times thus far…. in a manner of speaking, one could say…. Enjoy, ffolkes, if naught else, it’s a nice little side trip….

“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

“He used to define justice as “a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD)  — Aristotle, xi

“Who is ever secure? Every one of us searches for security. We seek it from our family, from our friends, from our pets, from strangers and from “God.” Once in a while we experience it, only to discover that it was merely an illusion. And yet we never learn that security is an impossibility. For we are only human beings.” — Chen-It Ong

“To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.” — William Penn (1614-1718)

“Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pythagoras, xvii

“1) You can’t win;   2) You can’t break even;   3) You can’t even quit the game.” — Ginsberg’s Theorems

“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.” — Kahlil Gibran

Get it? Good…. it’s good practice, even if it won’t be on the Final Quiz….

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In the wonderful words of Hazim, the character in the movie Robin Hood, played my Morgan Freeman, “I have fulfilled my vow.” Plus, it’s done. That means I can go do something to try to mitigate the deleterious effects of my ongoing battle with the forces of CORPORATE EVIL, preferably something in the way of traveling to somewhere I’ve never been before…. Wherever I end up, I’ll have my computer, so, I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, for as long as civilization keeps producing electricity, and my hands allow me to type….