Can we see the blank menu, please?….

Ffolkes,

“Beware the Jubjub bird”

~~ Lewis Carroll ~~

cork

Cork, Ireland

Hajime…. While the funk in which my mind has spent the last days dwelling is lessened, I’m still not in the best of moods. There are signs I’m on a productive path, so, patience is the order of the day. Yesterday’s Pearl proved, once again, how critical the completion of this chosen duty has become to my state of mind; it literally saved me from a full day of bullshit. Since today’s Pearl will serve the same purpose, I’d best get started putting it together, before I lose either my impetus, or my fragile hold on reality….

My introspection seems finally to be approaching a degree of resolution, in the sense I am now convinced of where I’ve been going wrong in my agenda, and how to proceed. If one wishes to get somewhere, it’s a good thing to know where one wishes to go; what I’ve discovered in myself the last few days (hours) will help me keep that in focus. I cannot say, at this point, whether my chances are good, or not so much, but, at this point, I don’t care, & it won’t matter anyway. Saying isn’t doing, is it? Nope. At this point, all I’m doing is typing….

I’m getting a bit silly, as well as losing the thread, so, we’ll just give up trying to bring any real coherence into this intro, & get on with the rest of what needs to be done. I’m pretty sure coherence isn’t in the picture, anyway, so there’s no point going overboard trying to find any; I don’t feel like swimming. Instead, we’ll just go on, as if we actually had a plan, and were working on the list to get it done. Go figure, eh? Let’s pretend we are, and do this…

Shall we pearl?….

“When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago,
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow?”

~~ Rush, A Farewell to Kings ~~

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

hot tuna

Aged Hot Tuna

Image from www.bobyehling.wordpress.com via Google Images

I’m in the mood for some old style rock & roll, so here’s a classic rock band, whose members still perform together, and whose music helped define rock and roll. Enjoy, ffolkes; these guys keep getting better….

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

Hot Tuna
Live in 2015

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

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

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

Dont keep calm

Naked Pearls

Thoughts on modern living….

*******

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

~~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~~

*******

“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.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

*******

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.”

~~ Mandell Creighton (1843-1901) ~~

*******

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology,
is not only opposed to the scientific spirit;
it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking.
Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent
– slimy, sneaking and abominable.
Since the earliest days the church as an organization
has thrown itself violently against every effort
to liberate the body and mind of man.
It has been, at all times and everywhere,
the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments,
bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions.
It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery,
as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.”

~~ H. L. Mencken ~~

*******

“In our society, sometimes you have to penalize (innocent) people
for the good of everybody else.”

~~ A Pittsburgh Cop 10/16/93 ~~

*******

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned
— I support your right to enjoy it.
However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect
for the rights of those people who do not wish to share
your dogma, rapture or necrodestination.

~~ Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book” ~~

*******

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger
when the Legislature is in session.”

~~ Gideon J. Tucker ~~

*******

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

Comedy_Tragedy

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

12/13/12

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

pearls_3

Five Naked Pearls

The Path taken is irrelevant…

*****

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

~~ Zen Proverb ~~

*****

“A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears:”

~~ Montaigne ~~

*****

“And though the course may change sometimes,
Rivers always reach the sea.”

~~ Led Zeppelin, Ten Years Gone ~~

*****

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra ~~

*****

“May you live all the days of your life.”

Jonathan Swift — Polite Conversation, Dialogue ii ~~

*****

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

Damn! That was rather a surprisingly difficult Pearl to create. SB decided to go on strike when I was nearly finished, which added a lot of time; so much so, I ended up with a five-star pearl at the end, rather than our customary seven to nine stars…. Oh, well. It’s done, so, regardless of anything else, we’ll take it, and run. I hear the starting/stopping gun now, so, let’s do that. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; on that you may depend….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Advertisement

It’s all starting to wobble….

Ffolkes,

“I live in my own place
have never copied nobody even half,
and at any master who lacks the grace
to laugh at himself — I laugh.”

~~ inscribed over the door to Friedrich Nietzsche’s house ~~

kepler-k2-mission

Artist’s rendition of NASA’s Kepler Deep Space Telescope

Image from Space.com


Good morning…. Apparently, stupid is contagious. While playing with the cat, I leaned over the chair’s arm, resting my ribs on the wood of the arm. As I reached further to pick up the cat toy, my ribs slipped, and came down on the wooden arm with a lot of my weight on one rib, whereupon I felt it flex, painfully, as if it had cracked. I shot up, howling, and, after the initial rush of pain subsided, realized I had, if not cracked, badly bruised the rib, with some intercostal tissue damage. Now I have three weeks or so of painful breathing, sleeping, and moving around, to look forward to….

HONK! (For those who don’t know me well, that was my nose, which, at the moment, is large, bulbous, and bright red!…..) Thank goodness for cannabinoids! My magic cream is going to get a long workout, for certain….

Yes, I am a Bozo, of the first degree, and I am constantly giving myself another Life Lesson like this, to be more cautious in performing physical activities, as my now almost 65 year old body isn’t as fast, or as durable as I once considered it to be. SIGH…. Time marches on, doesn’t it? Too bad our humanity is such that we don’t bother to talk to each other about it much, so, a lot of it comes as a surprise to us when it happens. Ah well, makes life interesting, what?

Today’s Pearl, as all of them recently, is being posted late, from a public Wi-fi spot, of unknown location, as yet. In fact, I have yet to pack up to get to one, so, I’ll chop this off (as it probably deserves….) ruthlessly, so as to get us on the road in a timely manner. Luigi, you may fire up and go now…. Y’all should probably hang on; the music and ranting sections today are a rather wild ride….. guaranteed….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not reach it.” — Curtius-Rufus (fl. 100 A.D.)

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

one more saturday night

Image from Dead.net via Google Images


Whenever I, or anyone, for that matter, feels their age, (i.e., old….), this is a great album to pull out of any such self-indulgence…. The title says it all, and, the music, well, speaks for itself…. Enjoy!….

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

Old & In The Way
Garcia & Grisman

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

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

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


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

We the People...  Dont keep calm

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger when the Legislature is in session.”

~~ Gideon J. Tucker ~~


As light-hearted as the above statement may sound to the uninitiated, we here at ECR know it to be all too true for anyone’s comfort. I’ve put both of the usual icons above this rant because I thought it was time to vent; fair warning, as the material I’ve chosen to discuss is liable to a) disturb or anger some readers, b) be of questionable taste, and/or, c) be of negative interest to the paranoids in the NSA, and those of their ilk.

For their benefit, I will say, I mostly speak in a non-real sense, in that I make observations about reality, and those observations are not the thing of which I speak, itself. There, that should confuse the issue well enough, while simultaneously indicating the obvious interest to those Gentle Readers who are NOT of that particular ilk….

In short, if I say a revolution is nigh, it is an observation, a prediction of probabilities, not necessarily a call to action…. Of course, I do believe it’s past time for such an event to occur, from a moral/ethical/honorable sense, and won’t act in any way to prevent any such happenstance. But, I’m a realist, and know I am too old to start any such ruckus myself; if/when it happens, the best I can hope for is to survive, and help those for whom I care do the same. That may take some rather radical steps, but, hey, we all do what we gotta do, right?

One might well ask what has prompted my angst; without too much need for thought, I can point to the latest reason for all of us to build up a bit of ‘rage against the machine’. It stems from a short video, to the presence of which I was informed of by the blog of a friend on WP; Tales from the Conspiratum’s Lou posted the video, and link to the You Tube page where he found it.

In turn, I posted it here, so, many of y’all have seen it; I’m not sure if the full implication of its message has penetrated, either your awareness, or the consciousness of the public at large. When it does, each and every one of the people who “get” the message will feel much as I do. It’s my belief the information in the video touches on a subject that has had a direct effect on the life of every single person in this country, at one time or another…,

In this space on previous occasions, I’ve demonstrated how our BRC lies to us, consistently, solely for their own advantage; news of one more lie might not seem so important. But, I think this one is an indicator, of the depth of the lies we are told, as well as an indicator of the true motives of those who achieve power in this country. Which lie, you say? Is it about spying on us? The environment? Corruption? Is it about guns? Is it about the wealth gap? Is it about health insurance, or Big Pharma, or the whole mess of a medical model? If you picked the last group, you’r warm….

“Can you trust a government that subsidizes tobacco and tries to ban vitamins to make intelligent choices about your health care?” — Pertinent Bee

The video whereof I spoke above was created by the hacking group, We Are Anonymous; in it, they make some rather pointed accusations against the US Government, specifically the office of the Presidency in 1974, when Richard Nixon was in office, and the disaster of the Vietnam War was winding down to its inevitable conclusion. According to the evidence they claim to possess, (and, have apparently posted online, though I’ve yet to find it… no service, hence, no Google….)(I’m also compelled to add, this group has, verifiably, NEVER lied about what they do, or evidence they possess, in all their history, which very few can say….), Nixon was looking for something to distract the public, and wanted to prove marijuana was worse than tobacco for people.

He (Nixon) gave a large research grant to a Virginia university medical school to investigate cannabis for its medical qualities, with the expressed desire they find some evidence to show it caused cancer, or some other nasty disease by its use. Instead, after just a few months, the report was issued, showing, clearly, the cannabinoid  components they tested acted to KILL every type of cancer they tried it on, as well as showing remarkable properties in encouraging the body’s other systems to heal themselves!

(These results, btw, have since been verified as true; the National Cancer Institute, in a very recent study, found cannabinoids can completely kill 97 types of cancer cells…. In that study, cancer cells literally exploded when they came in contact with certain components of THC….)

So, what did our beloved traitorous ‘leader’ do, way back in 1974? He shitcanned the report, swearing the researchers to silence with threats of prosecution if they ever told their story, I have no doubt….. Typical elitist behavior, but, in this case, particularly egregious, due to the implications of his act…. Some, at this point, might ask, what implications? To be perfectly clear, I will lay it out for you, clearly and simply….

Cannabis KILLS cancer. With proper research and development, the scourge of our time would no longer be a threat to the public health at large, as a cure would exist, a cure that most likely will lead to other new areas of knowledge regarding the efficacy of using plants in their natural form as our default source for medicine, rather than the chemicals with which Big Pharma and the AMA continue to poison us, in their quest for ever-higher profits, and a sicker population. Hey, can’t sell drugs to people who are well, can you?….

Moreover, think of this: If cannabis had been used since 1975 for treating cancer, how many people would still be alive? How many of YOUR loved ones would NOT have died? Personally, my father, and now, my brother both contracted cancer. My father might have lived past the age of 72, the age he succumbed to the disease, for another twenty years, at least…. Multiply the number of cancer victims each year by 40, and you will have an idea of the enormity of Nixon’s, and our own government’s, selfish act of betrayal.

(Per Google search & use of calculator: Approximate deaths per year in the US; 500,000, times 40 years = 20 MILLION people, in the US alone, have died from cancer, while the government fiddled….)

My brother is now treating his own version of cancer (lymphatic) with cannabis products, and has seen a lot of improvement, so, there is hope…. But, that does NOT mitigate my anger at the death of my father, or make me want to forgive Nixon, or any of the other government officials responsible for hiding this information from the public…. I also believe my anger will be echoed by MILLIONS of people, when they find out their own relatives didn’t have to die, at all…. Moreover, it happened because an asshole of a politician wanted what he wanted, and didn’t give a shit about the people who elected him…. But, then, he lied to get elected, (throughout most of his career; I was there…) just as they ALL lie….

Oh, I am SO angry…. I can’t write anymore, so, here are some closing thoughts, with a small instruction/suggestion to share this information with as many people as you can…. I think it’s important for the people of this country to know just how far the government will go to cover up their lies; nothing will change until enough of us feel the need for a change…..

“In fact, one thing that I have noticed . . . is that all of these conspiracy theories depend on the perpetrators being endlessly clever.  I think you’ll find the facts also work if you assume everyone is endlessly stupid.” — Brian E. Moore

(That is equally as scary as the idea of conspiracy!….. Logical, though….)

“In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.” — Bertrand Russell

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he.” — Karl Kraus

“The difference between the Pope and George Bush is that whereas Bush walks on the ground and kisses women,the Pope kisses the ground and…” — Observant Bee

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on the human face– forever . . . And remember that it is forever.” — George Orwell, ‘1984’

“If Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?” — South Carolina Senator William Draden 1828

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” — Robert Frost

“In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile-and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist — The Great Shark Hunt, Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1979)

“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig.
You get dirty, and besides,
the pig likes it.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~


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

Comedy_Tragedy

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 9/27/2012; modified in 2013.

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

pearls_3

    A classic, seven-star pearl, with the obligatory observations on Life at Large, as seen from the oyster beds of gigoid’s mind, and, SB’s database, which, I must confess, was a trifle fractious, unwilling to give up more than seven gems today. Ah, well, such is life with semi-autonomous software, that seems to have moods having nothing to do with my own…. Works for me….

“Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” — Gray

“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” — Goethe

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

“Knowledge is the antidote of fear.” — Emerson

“How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it?” — G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.” — Thomas Fuller

“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1

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

It’s done; I’m not going to even bother trying to judge the quality. I repeat, it’s done, and for us, that’s all that matters. Hopefully, it came together well; otherwise, oh, well…. I will be back, though I can’t say exactly when…. It seems there are very few honest, non-greedy ISP businesses left out there to compete against the big guys, but, I’ll keep looking…. See ya, and, I figure, that’s fair warning…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Your own, private Readme.txt….

Ffolkes,

“If you never assume importance you never lose it.”

~~ Lao-tzu~~

August 1 2014 031 (2)

Gratuitous image by gigoid


Okay, ffolkes, we’re gonna do this a bit differently today….. This is an introductory section, right? Right. So, here is today’s Pearl of Virtual Wisdom. Pearl, meet your readers. Shake hands. Good boy. Now, go & get to work…. “Okay, boss!”….

There, that was easy, wasn’t it? Now we can just get on with it…. I like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“The truth is always the strongest argument.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Phaedra, Frag. 737

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

“If you get confused, listen to the music play.”

~~ Robert Hunter ~~

syf 3


Robert Hunter, whom you see quoted above, has been the primary lyricist for the Grateful Dead since shortly after their formation, back in the early 1960’s; their 50th anniversary as a group will be celebrated this year, on July 4th in Chicago. The remaining band members will be giving a concert for three days, with Jerry Garcia, the heart and soul of the band, and, one of the most influential rock musicians ever, the only member who won’t be there, having passed in 1995, at the age of 53. The video link below, and the player, provides you with all of the collected videos for this years Dead Covers Project…. Enjoy!….

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

Dead Covers Project 2015

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

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


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


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


le penseur-rodin

Le Penseur ~ August Rodin


It’s not late, but, I have stuff to do right away today, so, here is a change of pace….

From 4/3/2014:

I originally intended to rant about this article, but, after perusing it myself, I find it’s only more proof of the prediction I made last week, as to how the pundits in Washington, (you know, those assholes who hang out at the White House, and in the halls of Congress), would be acting in the coming weeks,  after the poTUS (Please note: the word president is NOT capitalized deliberately; sufficient respect for the office to justify capitalization must be earned….) stated his intention to “ask Congress” to reform the NSA regulations on spying…. So far, the president has mouthed his lies just as predicted, and the expected response has gone exactly according to what I said would occur…. It’s a gift…..

No, really, they’re going through ALL the contortions I figured they would, just as if they were paying attention to what I said…. which makes it, sort of, lacking in virtue to rail at them right now…. They’re being so PATHETICALLY stupid, it’s hardly worth the time it takes to run them down, and, in fact, doing so might just be considered abusing the handicapped….

So we’ll do this… Read the article, so you know just what they’re up to, silly as it may be…. Right now, they’re just doing as I said, and creating more questions and confusion around the issue of the torture report Feinstein and the Senate want to see, while Obama came out with some new, toothless suggestions for changes to the regulations that don’t really change much of anything…. all of which is muddying water that was already unclear….

After that, come back to this section, where you’ll find the latter half of this pearl, which will consist of an old-school pearl, with the parameters set, once again, to shoot at our beloved ruling class, in all its ugly glory….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Demands-grow-to-release-Senate-torture-report-5369929.php

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992

“This isn’t Anarchy, this is Chaos.” — Smart Bee

“How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.” — Petrarch

MACHINATION, n.  The method employed by one’s opponents in baffling one’s open and honorable efforts to do the right thing.

So plain the advantages of machination
It constitutes a moral obligation,
And honest wolves who think upon’t with loathing
Feel bound to don the sheep’s deceptive clothing.
So prospers still the diplomatic art,
And Satan bows, with hand upon his heart.
R.S.K.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“I looked up the word “politics” in the dictionary and it’s actually a  combination of two words; “poli,” which means many, and “tics,” which means bloodsuckers.” — Jay Leno

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger when the Legislature is in session.” — Gideon J. Tucker

“By all means, take the moral high ground — all that heavenly back lighting  makes you a much easier target.” — Solomon Short

Not bad at all for a game of “pick up sticks”, post-neo-intellectual version, eh? I think, in truth, if any pundits forgot to duck, several of them COULD be bleeding now….

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

Comedy_Tragedy

    I found another triple poem, written by a classical author of prose and poetry, in the three-poems-in-one style I like immensely. The effort it takes to even THINK about making one of these is daunting, to be sure, but, some day, I’m going to try my hand at this…. This one, I think, is damn good But, then, Blake DID have a pretty decent reputation, didn’t he?

The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright          What the hammer?  What the chain?
In the forests of the night,          In what furnace was thy brain?
What immortal hand or eye             What the anvil?  What dread grasp
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?      Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

In what distant deeps or skies        When the stars threw down their spears,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?         And water’d heaven with their tears,
On what wings dare he aspire?         Dare he laugh his work to see?
What the hand dare seize the fire?    Dare he who made the lamb make thee?

And what shoulder & what art,         Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
Could twist the sinews of they heart? In the forests of the night,
And when thy heart began to beat      What immortal hand or eye,
What dread hand & what dread feet?    Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 ~~ William H. Blake (1757-1827), ~~


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

lao

Lao Tzu


This one needs little introduction….

“Life is doing things, not making things.” — Aristotle

“I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honour and my reward.” — Kahlil Gibran

“There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.” — Han Suyin, “A Many Splendored Thing”

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 43

“Faith does not offer the least support for proof of truth.” — Nietzsche

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

Although a cloth be washed a hundred times,
How can it be rendered clean and pure
If it be washed in water which is dirty?

~~ Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.) ~~


Honor. Courage. Reason. Patience. Compassion. Humility. Perspective. Not in that order, necessarily, but, all present & accounted for…. I don’t know; it all sounds like a pretty good approach to living, don’t you think?…. Well, I do….

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

Well, ffolkes, I made it. Having done so, and without any bloodshed, I’ll softly fold up my tents, and fade away into the day. See y’all tomorrow, presumably….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Featured image
À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Malcolm patented the “three days dead” look….

Ffolkes,

I cannot claim to be perfectly awake just yet, but, it’s time to get started, so you’ll just have to take what you get in that respect, because I’ve sat here diddling my brain and twiddling my fingers for a good thirty minutes now, with no real effect in terms of either feeling alert or displaying any coherency beyond what is needed to pour coffee…. Maybe if I take a few more sips of the only reason worth living for in the morning, I’ll find a little bit of energy….. I hope so…. That paragraph sucks….

I’m finding a bit of a Catch-22 connected to the use of the medical marijuana at night to aid in sleeping….. Applying some of the topical pain relieving cream is useful before lying down, as it helps relax enough to drift to sleep…. but, waking up to apply more is counter-productive, to say the least, as the act of spreading it where it needs to go causes enough pain to wake me…. I eat a high CBD chocolate about an hour & a half before retiring, which acts on pain, with added drowsiness effect, for about 4-6 hours; I have to wake up twice, minimally, to down a Norco during the night, but the chocolate often makes it less critical until it wears off…

That is the catch, the wearing off part…. If I take enough MJ to last the night, then the Norco isn’t as critical to be on time…. but, if I don’t take the Norco, I get the dyskinesia side effect after about 6 hours, right when the MJ is wearing off…. This means, at that point, even if I take what I need, I will be awake until it takes effect, whether that is 45 minutes for a Norco, , & up to 1½ hours for edible MJ…. So, I have to balance the 6 hour MJ effects with the minimum 4 hours of Norco effectiveness, and hope they work together…. It makes it tricky to get right, but, in the whole, I get a LOT more sleep than before I started using the MJ to augment the effects of the classic style pill…

There, now the medical report is over, and I’ve bored everyone to tears with my silly little personal issues, I suppose I should get on with what I actually started to do…. to wit: write the Pearl for today…. I guess I got off on a tangent there, and fell right into Chatty Cathy mode before I noticed….. Oh well, it got us enough dross and drivel to call an intro, so, that’s something, I guess….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Of course I have a smart ass attitude…. it’s a natural defense against drama, stupidity, and bullshit.” — Tweety Bird
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I originally intended to rant about this article, but, after perusing it myself, I find it’s only more proof of the prediction I made last week, as to how the pundits in Washington, (you know, those assholes who hang out at the White House, and in the halls of Congress), would be acting in the coming weeks,  after the poTUS (Please note: the word president is NOT capitalized deliberately; sufficient respect for the office to justify capitalization must be earned….) stated his intention to “ask Congress” to reform the NSA regulations on spying…. So far, the president has mouthed his lies just as predicted, and the expected response has gone exactly according to what I said would occur…. It’s a gift…..

No, really, they’re going through ALL the contortions I figured they would, just as if they were paying attention to what I said…. which makes it, sort of, lacking in virtue to rail at them right now…. They’re being so PATHETICALLY stupid, it’s hardly worth the time it takes to run them down, and, in fact, doing so might just be considered abusing the handicapped….

So we’ll do this… Read the article, so you know just what they’re up to, silly as it may be…. Right now, they’re just doing as I said, and creating more questions and confusion around the issue of the torture report Senator DiFi and the Senate want to see, while Obama came out with some new, toothless suggestions for changes to the regulations that don’t really change much of anything…. all of which is muddying water that was already unclear….

After that, come back to this section, where you’ll find the latter half of this pears, which will consist of an old-school pearl, with the parameters set, once again, to shoot at our beloved ruling class, in all its ugly glory….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Demands-grow-to-release-Senate-torture-report-5369929.php

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992

“This isn’t Anarchy, this is Chaos.” — Smart Bee

“How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.” — Petrarch

MACHINATION, n.  The method employed by one’s opponents in baffling one’s open and honorable efforts to do the right thing.

So plain the advantages of machination
It constitutes a moral obligation,
And honest wolves who think upon’t with loathing
Feel bound to don the sheep’s deceptive clothing.
So prospers still the diplomatic art,
And Satan bows, with hand upon his heart.
R.S.K.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“I looked up the word “politics” in the dictionary and it’s actually a  combination of two words; “poli,” which means many, and “tics,” which means bloodsuckers.” — Jay Leno

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger when the Legislature is in session.” — Gideon J. Tucker

“By all means, take the moral high ground — all that heavenly back lighting  makes you a much easier target.” — Solomon Short

Not bad at all for a game of “pick up sticks”, post-neo-intellectual version, eh? I think, in truth, if any pundits forgot to duck, several of them COULD be bleeding now….

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

Today we’ll go with a poem of my own, in order to save embarrassment for anyone else, ‘kay?….. Here’s one I wrote in 2012, such as it is…..

Semblance of Time

The dreams and visions of modern times are pallid and pale
filled with fear and loathing instead of joy and wonder.
Reality is aging poorly, submitting less data to loudly regale
Sad faded images lacking substance, or proof of thunder.

Sisters and brothers of nightly performance speak in spite
building up scars to protect, or keep a semblance of sanity.
Knowing illusion is near and dear, steeped in muscular delight
while compassion and intelligence get smothered by humanity.

Loneliness soon became the friend of many sizes of fools
stealing through mazes of social tests as if truly wise, or old
while companies of sterile opportunity are hiding their tools
from anyone who might be feeling even a little bit bold.

Painful momentary flashes seem to outline society’s fate
until soft, heavy monuments to elder gods fall from grace.
We’re all getting tired of being told we’re far too late
and never ever nearing tolerance, nor regaining any face.

A hard message awaits us all when we dare to even stay
of life’s uncaring disposition and curmudgeonly faux heart
Only with the strength of a hero may such tales make way
Only a poet may turn such pain into a valid work of art.

~~ gigoid ~~


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

It’s looking now as if the ol’ brain just isn’t going to fire up today….. I’ve managed to fake it so far, which is fine, but, it’s going to take a strong effort to resist the urge to include a rant this morning…. If I don’t, (resist the urge, that is….), the results could be catastrophic, to say the least…. So, because we can, we’ll fall back on another old-school pearl to fill in this final section, thus preserving both the lives, and the integrity of our passengers…..

That’s fortunate, because we just couldn’t afford another set of lawsuits…. My lawyer is getting far too rich mitigating the aftereffects of my bozoid tendencies…. For now, let’s enjoy a random, parameter-less, harlequin pearl, our finest, most popular product….

“I don’t think it would have all got me down quite so much if just once in a while- just once in a while- there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn’t, it’s just a disgusting waste of time.” — J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey

The rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he’s not a feast.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I’ll stare at something less prepoceros.

— Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

“Noise proves nothing.  Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

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

“Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms … but a *dying* culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Loss of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.” — Friday’s boss, aka “Kettle Belly” or “Mr. Two-Canes” Baldwin…. from the book “Friday” by Robert A. Heinlein

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

“Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 14

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

Well, having subjected myself to the indignity of reading this whole thing, editing for errors and punching up style, as far as possible, I can truthfully say…. I’m done. No judgments I make could be accurate, given both my closeness to the material, and my lack of brain-function this morning, which has NOT improved in the two plus hours since I began staring at the screen…. If you’ll recall, it took me thirty minutes to be able to write a coherent sentence then…. I’m having the same struggle now, here at the end….

SIGH… Okay, I’ve whined enough for one day…. Now I have to go do battle with bureaucrats and business assholes, always two of my least favorite pastimes…. I have to deal with the Kaiser Pharmacy, Pat’s pharmacy, and a large wireless company…. Oh, joy…..

See ya, ffolkes, provided I can do all of this today without having to kill anyone….. It can be a near thing, sometimes, if I happen to run across a particularly stupid bureaucrat, or one of those empty-headed millennial denizens, making less than minimum wage, part-time in a wireless store…. What is it with those companies? Do they use a reverse IQ test to pick their employees, or what?…. Okay, I’ll stop ranting in the closing section now, and be off…. Ta then….

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

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

Which is Why….


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

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Tomato rice soup again?

Ffolkes,
I took yesterday off. After writing the morning Pearl, and answering comments made overnight, I went to the library. When I got home, I read an entire book, and watched two Harry Potter movies (#2 & #4, if you’re curious…). That constituted my entire day. Not terribly exciting, but it kept my head busy, not thinking about choosing targets among the many from which I could pick. It may not have been productive, in at least two senses, but it was certainly safer than following impulse.

With that said, we come to today. I am once again in the mood to go hunting, and I don’t mean to hunt Horcruxes. But once again I will sublimate all my anger and angst into this morning’s Pearl, and those who have engendered my ire can walk around for another day or two before I figure out how to go about fulfilling my impulses rather than blocking them…. It’s not a complex strategy to formulate, but there are a lot of details that need to be addressed, if I am to succeed without unwanted attention….. the latter point is the most delicate, of course, as it is always a hard decision to decide whether witnesses should be avoided, kept away, encouraged, intimidated, or eliminated. SIGH, it’s always something!

Ah well, that will wait…. for now, I want to get this done, and catch up a bit to WordPress, which I neglected all day yesterday, in favor of burying my head in books and movies. T’was fun, but not as productive as I am used to, so I need to make it up somewhat today. In that spirit, let’s be off, shall we?  Kowabunga!…..
___________________________________

“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality the cost becomes prohibitive.” — William F. Buckley

Will Buckley imagined himself to be the poster boy for the conservative right in Amerika (I only spell it this way when I am referring to someone whose ideology most closely resembles that of 1939 Germany), and had the vocabulary to prove it. As a matter of fact, he was so impressed with himself and his intelligence, he was alleged in his own mind.  🙂 

I don’t listen much to his tripe anymore, but in my youth I found him to be an amusing way to spend some time, first to decipher his overblown language to find his intended context (the words he employs tend to obscure his meaning a LOT of the time; it is just TOO erudite for its own good….), then in chuckling over his use of logic to take his preposterous assumptions to their logically absurd conclusions….

Even in talking about him, other literary sources would become more convoluted in their word usage. When I Googled Bill’s name to research a bit (it’s been a long time since I paid him any attention) I found, as I remembered, that he had passed on in 2008. In the New York Times, the initial line reads: “Mr. Buckley marshaled a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse.”  They couldn’t have just said, “Mr. Buckley was an educated man, and a vocal proponent of conservatism in this country.” Either is arguably true, but the second is a more accurate in a realistic sense, and still gets the same information across, but much less condescendingly.

Now, to be sure, I am not the most appropriate person to chide anyone for using too many words…. Goodness knows I have a hard enough time keeping myself under some small bit of control in that arena… I’m wordy, I know it…. But, I’m wordy in the attempt to clarify what is real, and what is true, not to obscure it, so that its meaning is clear, rather than placing the blame on the reader, for not understanding the oh-so-superior intelligence of the speaker….

I’m a fairly smart guy, but I don’t have to try to prove it by making my listeners or readers feel like I’m talking down to them. Unfortunately for all of us, Mr. Buckley made a habit of doing just that…. and sadly, he convinced a lot of people that his erroneous assumptions were in fact a true reflection of reality, when, in reality, they were mere reflections of his self-aggrandizement, displayed in the mirror of his words….

As to what he says above, well, it just ain’t so…. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite of what is real, for the more people who are enthused with the ideal of something, the more talent is focused on it, and the benefits to society always far outweigh any costs of implementing the components of the idealistic concepts at issue. Simple logic, but from a different assumption…. Poor Bill….. He spent so much of his time lamenting what could never be, he missed out on what is….. He never could find the peace found as described in Buddha’s words….

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha
___________________________________

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger when the Legislature is in session.” — Gideon J. Tucker

“A society that lacks the patience to read, and loses the ability to do so, is rendered defenseless against its most profound stupidities.  As an example, consider the ease with which Americans came to regard a president known for his inaccuracy and imprecision as the great communicator, and by the tendency of American elections to give victory to the candidate who can afford the greatest number of 30-second TV spots.” — Mike Schmoker

“George Washington said to his father, “If I never tell a lie, how can I get  to be President?” — Red Buttons

“War is the last refuge of incompetent statesmen.” — Smart Bee

“A lot of people voting for Pat Buchanan (or random name from this election) say they are doing so to send a message. Apparently that message is, Hey, look at me, I’m an idiot.” — Dennis Miller

It has been said that what a culture finds to be humorous says a lot about that culture. In today’s society, and for most of my life, political humor has been much like what I have posted above. What this says about society is clear…. we do not have any respect for the politicians who are the same people we keep electing. None. We EXPECT them to lie to us. We EXPECT them to cheat, to completely ignore what is best for society in favor of what is best for them and their rich friends. It is a form of stupidity that is so firmly entrenched in society that our only relief from the pain of knowing it is to laugh at jokes that vilify those people we revere in practice.

Ultimately, we are laughing at them because we do not wish to cry over our own failure to change anything…  My reaction to this, when I can bear to look at it at all, is to experience Rage. I want to kill, or maim, or somehow strike back physically at those assholes who have no connection to the humanity of which they are a part…. and I hate them all the more for that, for making me want to do that to any creature….

O’Brien: “The only people left alive were in an outlying district of the  settlement.  I was sent there with a squad to reinforce them.  Cardassians  were advancing on us.  Moving through the streets,  destroying, killing.  I was  with a group of women and children, and two Cardassian soldiers burst in.  I  stunned one of them…the other one jumped me.  We struggled.  One of the  women threw me a phaser, and I fired.  The phaser was set at maximum.  The man  just…just incinerated there before my eyes.  I’d never killed anything  before.  When I was a kid I’d, I’d worry about swatting a mosquito.  It’s not  you I hate, Cardassian.  I hate what I became because of you.” — “The Wounded”, Stardate 44429.6
___________________________________

“Faith is much better than belief. Belief is when someone ELSE does the thinking.” — R. Buckminster Fuller

When I saw this I had to laugh…. loud….. and then I wondered what in the world was he thinking? Bucky Fuller normally had a very clear view of reality; this is made obvious by his invention of the triangular support design that allows us to build domes the size of small cities without fear of its collapse, unless by improper construction, or use of faulty materials. He also had a number of other ideas that were revolutionary in their approach to the way people think about reality, and many of his ideas have pushed the frontiers of human thought to new plateaus.

But with this statement, he misses a very important distinction when he fails to point out that, yes, believing what someone else had told us is a risky proposition at best, but, relying on faith is letting NOBODY do the thinking. … What someone else tells us is, at minimum, subject to some kind of fact checking, some verification. But faith disallows any such process, asking us to accept its premises without evidence.

Not a good idea….. at least, not in my experience. When others wish for us to believe them, solely upon their say-so, my experience is that they want me to allow them some sort of control over me. It’s not a pretty view to take of humanity, but, hey, the numbers don’t lie. How far, then, can I expect faith to provide me with some sort of defense against that sort of chicanery?

Not far, I can assure you, for I have never found that what I’ve been told by preachers, priests, or politicians to be remotely helpful to me; only they benefit from my acceptance of their information. I’m not expressing opinion here; this is what has actually occurred over the time I’ve been around on this planet.

So, let’s just give Bucky the benefit of the doubt, and say he just had a bad day when he said this…. I suppose it goes to show that everybody has off days…. just don’t forget to check what you hear against what you know, and all will turn out the way it should…. in that I have faith….  🙂

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

Behold the child, by Nature’s kindly law,
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw;
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,
A little louder, but as empty quite;
Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage,
And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age.
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before,
Till tired he sleeps, and life’s poor play is o’er.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 274

Ah, metaphor! How quaint and sharp thy wit, to give us a whole life of a man, in one graceful portion of language that supplies images in the mind’s eye to fill the gap of years. I imagine this poem has been the subject of term papers and essays by students of literature on more than one occasion, supplying the premises for hundreds of random interpretations from the various young minds that were tasked to examine its depths as part of their literary education. If not, well, a lot of teachers were missing out on a good lesson, for certain.

Have no fear, I’m not going to give you my take on this, beyond what I’ve already written above; I’m only auditing this course, and it won’t affect my GPA at all, so I won’t subject you to that. Besides, then you would have no reason to do so yourself, should you ever find yourself with a spare hour or two that needs to be filled up with something more constructive than painting your toenails again. Not that I don’t like painted toenails…. but more than once a day is overkill, isn’t it? I think so…. so, just enjoy it, and keep it for later if you wish…. it’s only a few bytes of memory…..
___________________________________

    As a public service, and to provide some relief from the ongoing seriousness that is the common state of affairs here, I offer this delightful young pup in the throes of joie de vivre; I found the picture on Facebook, posted on my wall….. Would that we all could be as carefree as this!…. Just enjoy, ffolkes, that’s all it’s here for….   🙂
___________________________________

It’s been a long road to this point this morning, but well worth it, to my mind. I hope y’all enjoyed the previous post, “Music Passion”, as well as this meander through my morning’s mindful muddle…. I’m going to stop pressing my luck, and end this here… it seems an appropriate place, sitting here at the end as it does, eh?  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you……


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

gigoid

Kowabunga!