Paint all of it in flesh tones….

Posted on July 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pull a String, A Puppet Moves

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

~ Charles Bukowski ~

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

From 7/1/2012:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Songs of hearth and home….

Posted on July 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on,–
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.

— John Keats (1795-1821) — Ode on a Grecian Urn

The advent of cell phones with good cameras, along with the release of the above, a Go Pro digital camera, has revolutionized photography, in terms of who can take photos that may become famously known, on the Net, or via the news and magazine route…. The above photograph, taken from some news site, (where it was found along with many others, most of them taken by amateurs, rather than mostly professional photographers, as was the case for most of our history….), is a perfect example of another area that has changed along with the technology, i.e., language…. The new word, “selfie” has entered the language, where everyone now knows exactly what it means, and what is meant to say the above photo is one of an owl, taking a selfie….

To honor that new word, and to acknowledge its speed of acceptance as common, I have just entered it into my Spell Checker, (all three of them) because it didn’t recognize the word…. Now, it’s an officially recognized word, complete with dictionary entry, and an example (above) of how the word, and the process, have already become so ubiquitous, it can be used to anthropomorphize the owl, having it assume the human characteristic of self-aggrandizement, or overweening pride….

Alright, that’s probably enough for one morning…. I’m not accustomed to beginning an examination of language evolution so early in the day….. Hell, I’m not accustomed to much of anything, other than getting up & trying to find something worthwhile in my recalcitrant brain to put on screen…. I like the picture, though, and it meets, and/or exceeds the general standards for both cute, and compelling, so I don’t think I’ll be whining or regretting my decision to go with it today…. Besides, three paragraphs in is a little late to have second thoughts….

Now those thoughts have surfaced, however, I can’t help but wonder….. No, no, no….. I won’t do it….. I won’t go there any more; I promised myself I wouldn’t, and it never does any good, anyway…. I suppose, since I’m not going there, perhaps I should turn my ability to wonder to the task of figuring out what the hell we’re going to do today for pearls….

My brain is in the beginning stages of panic, as I have a dental appointment tomorrow…. As I may have mentioned, dentists and I are still somewhat at odds, in terms of my willingness to submit to the necessity for their assistance with my dentistry needs…. In short, I fucking hate to go to the dentist, and suffer the agonies of pre-appointment jitters for a day or two before each time I go…. I’ve even had to talk myself out of canceling & rescheduling twice, once yesterday, & once already this morning….

But, that’s tomorrow, and today still needs a Pearl…. as will tomorrow. Giving in to the panic now won’t help, so, I’ll find a way to get through this, somehow…. I am going to have to look for some kind of ending for this, first, but, that shouldn’t take too lon….. Oh, look, here we are now…. I figured we must be getting close…. Okay, then, off we go….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us in trouble. It’s the things we know that ain’t so.” — Artemus Ward aka Charles Farrar Brown

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

“Conquer your fear and you need fear no more.” — Smart Bee

Having personally tested this aphorism more than seven hundred times, in real-time, real-life episodes of physical violence, I can attest to it’s truth, and it’s applicability to almost every human endeavor…. Once we learn how to handle being afraid, it is useful to us in virtually every aspect of life, improving out basic ability to deal with whatever life has for us, with a clearer mind, and a relatively untroubled heart….

Then, of course, we turn to matter of mind, and culture, and the fear returns, seven-fold….. No matter how personally capable we are of dealing with the fear we all feel when threatened, physically, it doesn’t help when we come to deal with matters of that affect us as members of a society that is bent on self-destruction, and places such dreadful stress on its denizens each day, to deal with all the insanity and absurdly immoral events played out on the world stage, time after time….. For example, here are two articles from yesterday’s UK Guardian (a foreign news site that tends to give us much more pertinent and relevant information on American culture than our own news organizations do…. though these particular articles are concern the British public scenario….), that should give an idea of just how bad things are…. Read these, then I’ll spew….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/14/drip-government-data-retention-investigatory-powers-bill-horrors

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/14/gchq-tools-manipulate-online-information-leak

The UK government, with David the Cameron at its head, is in lockstep with Barry the Obama when it comes to slick, impressive-sounding speech patterns, that SOUND as if they are working hard to help the average joe…. when in fact, they are busily screwing them, spying unreservedly on those self-same joes, invading their privacy, essentially eradicating all of the personal rights given to both our populations by the efforts of our ancestors….. Both the UK and US spy agencies (CIA, GCHQ, NSA, etc….) are sharing information and computer hacking techniques just like twins share facial features, and lying their asses off about how far it has already gone….

Now the UK is trying to pass legislation that will make their spying more legal, in their eyes…. which is actually just playing catch up, with the proposed ~~repression~~, er, legislation merely detailing, and making legal, all the clandestine, illegal collection of information that has been taking place since 2001…. The fact of its illegality is being completely ignored, and you can bet, even if we should manage to get them (politicians) back under control, not a single politician, or spy agency official, will ever be prosecuted, or go to jail for their crimes against society…. Any wagers on that?…. I didn’t think there would be…. It’s a sucker’s bet….

I keep pounding away at this, and the US & UK citizenry continues to bury its collective clueless head in the sand, much to the delight of the BRC and the Asininnies, who are pleased to note, I’m sure, that the populace of this country, and England, are as easily fooled, and as easily led into compliance, as any herd of cows could be…. I’m getting more than just a little frustrated at the sheer STUPIDITY of the American public, and wish, strongly, that there was some way to actually get through to the stupid fools, who actually believe their elected officials have their interests in mind…. Bloody idiots, every one of them….

Bah, humbug! I’m pissed again, because it’s all so fucking stupid, and nothing is going to change…. All I can do is sit here, and watch, as our species continues its headlong rush toward extinction, merrily skipping down the path to perdition without a clue….. Oh well, I suppose my best bet is to put together a short five-star pearl, to soothe my fevered brow…. Here are some thoughts on the subject, from our old friend Smart Bee….

“When you outlaw rights, only outlaws will have rights.” — Smart Bee

“Draft politicians, not human beings.” — antidraft slogan coined by Jeff Daiell, 1979

“In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.” — Mohandas K. Gandhi

“All people are born alike — except Republicans and Democrats.” — Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxvii

This pearl, ffolkes, is deeper, and more accurate than it may appear on first look…. Look at it just right, though, and it pokes a nice hole in the invisibility cloak the BRC thinks they are wearing, when they tell their lies to us….

Onward….

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

Here is a poem of mine that speaks to the above subject….. I wrote this in September of 2012, when the imminent presidential election was on my mind a lot, along with the above material, and it’s implications, should Mitt the Twit have reached office…. It DOES give the only real answer to their chicanery…. A reminder that our only REAL defense is already in our grasp….

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 ~~

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So, here we are, in section three already…. Today’s Pearl has come together much more smoothly than anticipated, so, after a short break, I’ll put together a worthy old-school pearl, probably a standard seven-star version, with random parameters to keep it fresh and, well, reasonably under our watchful eyes, if not our complete control…. Enjoy, ffolkes!….

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” — John Lennon

“It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 322

“All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural propensities.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Reflections on the Revolution in France, — Letter i, On a Regicide Peace, Vol. v, p. 286

“[Freedom is] the power to live as you will. Who then lives as he wills?” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“It is in the shelter of each other that people live.” — Irish proverb

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

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

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I am, as usual, uncertain just how this Pearl came to be; I was there the whole time, observing closely, and still haven’t a clue as to how I got it done, especially in such a timely fashion…. I do, however, know enough not to question it, or worry overmuch about it, as it IS done, and that is the primary characteristic we look for…. Anything else that can be said of it is moot, once that is determined…. As such, I am now legally, and ethically required to say my goodbyes, or just dump you on your proverbial butt as I leave the scene, all dignity destroyed, but, content to be finished for the day…. Gotta go play out in the Big Blue Room for a while today, so, see y’all tomorrow…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Tossing beans with butter, in a bowl….

Posted on July 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Late, again…. Fuck it, I’m not even going to worry about it a little bit; whatever happens, happens. I’m too bloody grumpy to care, so, it’s just as well I’m giving up right out of the gate…. I have the distinct feeling that if I made any attempt to be normal, not only would it fail, but, the Universe at large would enjoy a huge guffaw at my expense…. with which, I’m sorry to say, I’m becoming all too familiar…. Murphy’s myrmidons must get promoted by merit, because each bloody one of them laughs harder than the last one, whenever they’re around at those moments I try for normalcy…. Bloody assholes, every damn one of them….

There, now that I’ve whined enough, we can start the day with a different tenor…. How about a bit of fiction? Let’s see….

Harry couldn’t figure out if he should knock at the front, or go around to the back door, where all the servants entered the house…. He knew, as he’d been watching all morning, screwing up his courage to approach the magnificent edifice, standing in all it’s Victorian elegance on the corner of Harper and Main…. Harper House, home to the rich, powerful Harper family, the original settlers of the town, way back in colonial days, had stood on that corner since its construction in 1802, by Hiram Harper, the first white man to settle in the valley. It was 1797, when he walked over Harper Mountain, & got his first view of the valley below, spreading out to the south, trees covering the slopes, with leaves gilded from the sun, shining down with strong promises made to the future….

Well…. that was…. something. Not particularly gripping, but, not too bad…. It sets a stage, and paints a picture, but, I’m not sure I’m happy with the flow, or the elegance…. Oh well, for an early morning throw-away, it’s not bad…. and it did get us this far down the page…. Today, that’s a big help, as my brain isn’t cooperating…. I guess I’m a little excited (and when I say stuff like that, I feel six years old again, but, hey, old age is known to cause its victims to display a retreat to a younger time, when we could actually walk to another part of the house without having to make a plan for the return trip….), because my daughter is coming by today, and we’re going to go to dinner with my son, her brother, and hopefully, his new friend(s)….

Since I am so excited about this evening, I am in a quandary this morning, as I just can’t seem to get going on this…. Oh well, this calls for the immediate application of an emergency bail-out method, and, I’m thinking, #4 is always the most effective, so…. hang on, and we’ll apply that…. NOW….

Shall we Pearl?….

“My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.” — George Santayana

(I’m encouraged now…. finding that quote so quickly gives me hope for the rest of this mess…. I hope it’s an indication that Murphy has taken his leave for now, and the rest of this will be left alone…. we can always hope, can’t we?…. Onward, with new bravery…. Huzzah!…..)

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http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Expert-witness-in-toy-gun-case-has-history-of-5614736.php

When I saw this, I became somewhat depressed…. It’s absolute truth; you can tell. This guy, this “expert witness” is nothing more than a shill, whom the courts and the police have been using to defend the indefensible for years….. In those instances where officers use their weapons, this guy has been set up as a final judge of the events that lead up to the incidents, whose word is the equivalent to law, in essence, as it is given more credence than even scientific evidence…. which is a crock, and they know it…. It’s a disturbing thing to find out, as it gives more evidence of how the courts, the police, and the government at large is ignoring or obstructing the issue of police militarization, one I see as a distinctly egregious problem, and one that really NEEDS to be watched….

In fact, this whole idea, of having such an obviously biased individual being given priority in court, makes me so angry, I’m having trouble organizing my arguments…. There are just SO MANY moral and ethical objections to such an event, I can’t decide where to begin…. So, instead, I’ll ask you to read the article, and make your own arguments…. It isn’t hard, particularly…. they are so fucking OBVIOUSLY prejudiced, you’ll find some objections, I’m sure…. Me, I’m going to raid the archives, for something that won’t make my stomach so damned upset, or at least, that won’t offend my sensibilities so badly….

Ah, here we go….. y’all enjoy this, ffolkes, I’m going to go calm down for a few minutes, before I try to deal with poetry…..

From 12/22/2012, a very numerological day…. It’s almost a poem, stated out loud…. One two, two two, two oh one two…. pretty cool, eh? Okay, I’ll stop now…. read on, ffolkes, it’s a fun one… (a Funyun?….):

“Unknowingly, we plow the dust of stars, blown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain.” — Ihab Hassan

What a beautiful line! I wasn’t sure when I saved it last night just what kind of pearl it would make, but it creates such a beautiful image in the mind, I couldn’t resist. I suppose it makes a fine contrast to how I feel just now, and as such, can be used to demonstrate how our attitudes are under our control, if we but choose to assume it…..

I feel like shit, emotionally, for various reasons, and that is reflected in my attitude toward the day; I don’t want to face it. I’d like to be able to just turn it all off, and go visit a friend somewhere far away. But, being stuck here, waiting for relief from my financial limitations, keeps me on the edge of depression, as well as keeping me in place…. If only for the time it takes to read, and contemplate this line, beauty takes over, and my thoughts and attitude undergo a marked change for the better. All it takes is a reminder of what we always have as creatures of this reality, our potential for grace.

“Grace”. Interesting word, that…. I like what it implies, the feeling of being connected to the universe, and enjoying that tie for the joy it can bring. To live in grace means to act rightly, surrounding oneself with beauty, increasing the joy in life by living it well, passionately, with compassion and humility. I can understand how religious folks would seek to receive such from the practice of their faith, though I can’t agree with them about exactly where grace comes from. They seem to believe that it is something given to them, as a reward for their faith, when in reality, it is something they have to learn to give, and can only be found inside themselves, because that is where it always is…. It just isn’t always free to let itself be known….

“The supreme irony of life is hardly anyone ever gets out of it alive.” — Robert Heinlein

Perspective…. the proper perspective can be hard to find, and it is good when such can be provided for us by a simple phrase, like this one, and the first one, above. The first phrase tells us to remember there are two sides to life, and only one side is inherently painful. This quote, from the Grand Master, is a reminder to SEEK perspective, and is one nobody should ever lose track of, as it is universally applicable. One may, at least temporarily, find ways to avoid paying taxes, but there is no avoiding death…. none.

Mere contemplation of our own death is a sure way to gain perspective. It may not always be the most amenable, or comfortable perspective, but it is the most truthful that can be acquired, without exception. Nothing will ground us better than thinking about our own demise, as there is no room for anything but truth when dealing with the whole concept. Anything less than the truth just fails to compute….. Not the most comforting line of thought, unless one has learned not to fear death, but, who is ever very successful at that? I mean, that’s why there are so many different religions out there, all offering their own way of dealing with that fear…. they’re just not very good at it. Well, not very truthful, anyway….

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” — W. W. Zeige

I’m not sure whether I can truthfully classify this as a pearl. The criteria for that decision are pretty loose, all in all, so it will fit in that respect. But, I do rather like to make some valid point, and this one doesn’t seem to have one I can find offhand. We humans spend a lot of our mental energy on stuff like this, which may be a clue as to the whole problem of the inability of so many of us to cope with reality without some kind of crutch, or without letting someone else do our thinking for us. That isn’t a danger for me, thank goodness, but most of humanity seems to fall into that pattern, and that, in itself, presents me with perspective issues, as mine differs radically from most everyone in the mainstream of society.

Oh, there are a lot more ffolkes such as myself out there; WordPress is proof enough of that. But, the major percentage of the population of this country generally prefers not to have to exercise their mental muscles any more than is absolutely necessary. Whether the inertial momentum that is built up by such a large percentage is amenable to adjustment remains to be seen, and all we can do is our best, to spread the virus of rational thought as far as we can….. “You’re our only hope, Obi-wan!”……

“I feel better about world problems now!” — Zippy the Pinhead

And, so do I! Shall we move on?…..

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

I’m not sure yet what will go here, so, you’ll just have to wait…. Hey, I’m waiting, too!…. Okay, waiting done…. If you’ve been here with any regularity, you’ll know who I will pick, for, when there is any question about it, I always turn to her…. It’s Emily, of course…. writing on a subject very near, if not dear, to my heart….

The hallowing of pain

The hallowing of Pain
Like hallowing of Heaven,
Obtains at a corporeal cost —
The Summit is not given

To Him who strives severe
At middle of the Hill —
But He who has achieved the Top —
All — is the price of All —

~~Emily Dickinson ~~

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

This old school pearl has been collected with parameters that should, hopefully, cause some fairly steady bleeding among our Beloved Ruling Class, should any of them happen to see it…. I found the first couple of pearls sitting here, having obviously been collected previously, with that in mind… Well, so be it…. I never block any of my impulses, if I can keep from doing so…. and this one will, no doubt, be a good one, pointed and sharp, just the way I like them…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. I intend to….. Oh, also…. this will be a rare pearl, a nine-star, just because, when I use nine, the pattern of the wounds makes such a lovely design on their bodies….

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” — Samuel Johnson

(I know…. I said this pearl would be taking shots at the BRC, and asininnies in general…. But, read that line again, and tell me you don’t automatically think of politicians…. I know I do, because the phrase accurately describes no other segment of our society better, than it does those whom we have elected…. Sad, I know, but, all too true….)

“Most people seem to think that trampling individual rights is OK if it is “for the good of society as a whole.” However, society is but a large number of individuals, and how can harming the individual parts better the whole?” — Andrew Ford, forda@agcs.com

“The First Amendment does not say that there is freedom of expression provided the talk is not `dangerous’. It does not say that there is freedom of expression provided the utterance has no tendency to subvert. It does not put free speech and freedom of the press in the category of housing, sanitation, hours of work, factory conditions, and the like, and make it subject to regulation for the public good. Nor does it permit legislative restraint of freedom of expression so long as the regulation does not offend due process. All notions of regulation or restraint by government are absent from the First Amendment. For it says in words that are unambiguous, `Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.'” — Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, 1958

“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word “but” which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative–before they tell you. Thus: “I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but … ” (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” — Frank Mankiewicz

(Don’t worry about the labels here, ffolkes…. Mr. Mankiewicz seems to show a bit of bias toward conservatism…. but, it’s still true…. liberal, conservative, whatever…. they ALL do this….)

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

“If God wanted us to have a President, He would have sent us a candidate.” — Jerry Dreshfield

“A conservative is a man who wants the rules changed so no one can make a pile the way he did.” — Gregory Nunn

“Curse all his virtues! they’ve undone his country.” — Joseph Addison (1672-1719) — Cato, Act iv, Sc. 4

(I really do love irony…. and, its twin sister, sarcasm…. When both are used in conjunction with hyperbole, well…. awesome is the word that comes to mind for me…..)

“Do not speak of what men deserve. For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead Kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of *deserving*, of *earning*, and you will begin to be able to think.” — Odo, The Prison Letters (Ursula LeGuin, _The Dispossessed_)

I probably don’t need to mention (to this crowd…) that, learning to think in this fashion makes it much simpler to perceive the lies and oppression that the BRC and Asininnies spread around like the clap…. with exactly the same effect on society as that dreaded bacteria has on an individual, if not treated…. sickness, isolation, loss of self and others, and eventual death, from either the disease itself, or the loneliness it can engender in its victims….. Sadly, most of society hasn’t even a clue they’ve been infected by their own leaders, so, no treatment is even considered necessary…. which, as noted, will eventually lead to…. what was that? Oh, yeah….. DEATH….

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

It may not be the best Pearl I’ve ever done, but, it has the one primary characteristic that makes it good enough…. it’s done. I can’t do any more damage to it; it’s already dead. So, I’m going to post the corpus, and hope for the best before it starts to deteriorate…. At least I know it won’t smell bad…. at least, not until the technology advances to the point of making what we see on our comps complete with information for the other senses…. i.e. “sensies”, Virtual Reality complete with smells, touch, sounds, sights, and tastes….. Boy, once that happens, we all will need to be more careful about what we leave lying around, won’t we? Until then, this will do…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I’m not in jail….

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

Immersed in the cadence of a Treble Bob Major…..

Posted on July 5, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

SNAFU — Situation Normal, All Fucked Up

As I sat staring at the hideously all-white screen this morning, my mind remained blank for, oh, ever so long….. So long, I was afraid it was going to refuse to boot itself up at all, at all…. Not that such an occurrence is totally new; I’ve had some fairly blank days in my time, but, I’m usually a bit more ahead of the game than that when I sit down to write…. So, I retired to Smart Bee, to seek out a quote, or, as it turned out, two, to jump-start my mind…. I find if I throw something in there, the reaction to it will often stimulate activity that serves as a starting point for what passes as thinking at that time of the day….

I left one of the quotes there at the front, or top, to show what I found, and to give y’all an idea of how it is around here most of the time…. The acronym above is, no doubt, familiar to most of us…. I once read a word study of the term, giving its history, and found it was first used by the military, in WWII, I believe, as a radio call to give information on status without official approval, or in conversation, to describe a major clusterfuck, without actually USING vulgarity, as I did here…. I know, I’m shameless…

But, my idiosyncrasies aside, my kick-start technique seems to have worked rather well…. I can’t say I’m fully awake, or even mostly, but, I’ve had some coffee, and have already shown I’m able to touch on my sense of irony, with some minor humor thrown in for good measure…. Can’t ask for more than that from one small acronym, can we? I don’t see how….

The other quote I found is at the end of this opening narrative, as it is a perfect quote for this blog…. I won’t say it is one of my watch-word aphorisms, as I don’t totally agree with the old religious master, in this case…. or, at least, not in every instance where it might be applicable…. My feeling is that each case where the exercise of doubt is used must be judged on a case by case basis, with one’s own participation, or reaction, determined by the details of the issue…. There are times when abstention cannot be entertained as an option, as when one’s doubt leads to the knowledge of wrongdoing, in which case, it is our duty, as a human, to act against any such exercise of evil’s prerogatives….

Hmm…. That paragraph, it seems, sort of unbalanced this whole intro section with the weight of its concerns; it was much “heavier” than any of the rest of this…. I don’t know if I can save it from falling over, but, maybe with some further blather, I can “bring balance to the force”, and to this Pearl, by lightening things back up to where they began…. I was having fun, and all of sudden, there in that last paragraph, it all went sober and weighty on me…. I’m not even sure how, except the aphorism from the ancient Zoroaster was quite a bit more serious than the one at the top….

Ah well, I think it will all be okay; I can feel this getting more stable, the further I write…. Of course, that is most likely just a hallucination, to which I am prone at such moments…. It has to do with my PTSD, and the all-too-natural tendency to try to make reality fit my conception of it, rather than allowing that same reality to set the tone of what goes on in our lives…. It isn’t possible to force change on reality, nor is it necessary, as it will change, all on its own, and whether or not we wish it to do so…. (See Peruaosophy, Axiom #2….)

Besides, now that we’ve gone down the page this far, I’m allowed to just dump overboard anything I don’t want to take along any further, and there’s no penalty…. As if I would pay one, anyway…. All that nonsense aside, I think we’re done here, or, done with the intro, anyway…. In fact, here’s the end, right here….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When you doubt, abstain.” — Zoroaster

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

Will change the pebbles of our puddly thought
To orient pearls.

— Du Bartas (1544-1590) — Divine Weekes and Workes, Second Week, Third Day, Part i

I awoke rather late, for me, so I don’t really have time to rant about any of the following material…. But, rather than say nothing, I’m including the links, and will follow the presentation of information of some of the latest chicanery that has come to light, all because of the courage and patriotism of Eric Snowden, with an old-school pearl, instead of a rant….

It is actually becoming rather obvious that our government is completely corrupted; the complete intransigence they have shown in refusing to acknowledge the rightness of what Mr. Snowden brought to light, to my mind, is their most egregious sign of guilt…. Well, that, and the FACT they are lying through their teeth in every statement they make on the subject of their illegal spying….. Here, read the articles, then enjoy the pearls that make some fun of all those who engage in the charade that we call “democracy”…..

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Report-NSA-targeted-German-privacy-activist-5598215.php#photo-6551181

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

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/jul/03/british-soldier-david-mcintyre-mental-disorder-extradited-us

I know, I felt soiled after reading all of it, too…. Go wash up, then you can more easily enjoy and appreciate the following jabs to the governmental rib cage….

” — How many Reaganists does it take to change a light bulb? Ten: One to deny that the bulb is burned out, one to clarify the denial (“The bulb is really just dim”), one to blame the bulb burning out on the Carter administration, one to blame the bulb burning out on Congress, one to ask for a Constitutional amendment that will prohibit bulbs from burning out, one to replace the bulb with a kerosene lamp, one to borrow money from the Japanese to pay for the kerosene, one former Reaganist to lobby his old colleagues for a special favour for the kerosene importer, one to cash the cheque for investing in the kerosene importer, one to send the bill to the next generation.” — Smart Bee

“After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the cost to others, to win advancement.” — Norman Thomas

(Wow! If this ISN’T an American business man talking, I’m a tea pot…. and, let me assure you, I am NOT a tea pot…. Hell, I don’t even LIKE tea very much….)

Sicilian: “Inconceivable!” Westley: “You use that word a lot. I don’t think it means what you think it does.” — The Princess Bride

(Picture this interaction with any Senator as the Sicilian, and just about any reporter as Westley…. then use, instead of “Inconceivable”, substitute the word, “Truth!”. The entire interaction will make perfect sense, and, has the advantage of being more factual than imaginary….)

“As we anarchists say: “There’s no government like no government.”” — D’Arcy J. M. Cain (darcy@druid)

“Do you call yourself free? I want to hear your ruling idea, and not that you have escaped from a yoke.” — Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”

“Attitudes adjusted, while you wait.” — L.A. Police Car Bumper Sticker

(The fact that this is TRUE is what makes this fit in….I’ve actually SEEN police cars with that sticker on them…. It is yet another example of how the government, and their myrmidons, are not even bothering to hide a lot of their asininity these days…. It’s a bit scary to realize the attitude expressed by that sticker is not just present, but is rampant amongst almost all the metropolitan police forces in this country…)

“Americans have different ways of saying things. They say `elevator’, we say `lift’…they say `President’, we say `stupid psychopathic git’….” — Alexi Sayle

There you go, ffolkes…. I’ll have a real rant for y’all soon…. I can feel the anger/angst building up; I’ll need to let it out soon…. Until then, let’s find a poem that seems appropriate….

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

Again, I’m late, so, I have to go with one of my own poems, to save time…. Here is one that hits the right spot…. If you remember axiom #1 of Peruaosophy, which I have kindly and conveniently included below the poem, you’ll know why….

Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement,
it can happen during a downhill race,
as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement
meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk said that asshole Moe,
after poking both of Larry’s eyes,
bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe
and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along
when Murphy’s got us in his sights.
Not for money, love, or siren’s song
will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain,
as Life portions out our ration of shit.
Silver linings melt in the slightest rain,
so we may as well learn to live with it.

~~ gigoid ~~

Peruaosophy, Axiom #1 states: “I think I am. That’s close enough.”

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

Rather than cheat, by using an archived piece here, I’ll throw together a random, harlequin pearl, the fastest, most consistent kind….. Let’s see what SB can do for us today….

“You, shall I tell you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, say that you know it. When you do not know a thing, admit you do not know it. This is knowledge.” — Confucius

“Cats know how we feel. They don’t give a damn, but they know.” — Smart Bee

“I’m having BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS about the INSIPID WIVES of smug and wealthy CORPORATE LAWYERS..” — Zippy the Pinhead

“You know what it’s like to be dead. It’s just like it was before you were born. Remember what it was like before you were born?” — Evan

“Insanity, its not just a plea. Its a way of life.” — Smart Bee

“I have great faith in fools — self confidence my friends call it.” — Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

“I demand IMPUNITY!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Zowie! It’s been a long while since I made a pearl with two Zippy quotes; add in two entries from Smart Bee, and you’ve got something….. What that might be is a subject I wouldn’t touch with a FIFTY foot pole…. Actually, though, it came out pretty well…. in fact, I think we could go so far as to call it “special”….. Of course, that’s only because it’s all so damn relevant, in spite of not having tried to make it so…. Ah well, even after all this time, the process of Pearling can surprise me with some new facet I’ve never before encountered….. It must be love…..

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

Well, whatever it is, it’s done, so we can all take a big breath of relief, if not sheer exuberant joy…. In spite of myself, I’ve managed to create a half-way decent morning Pearl, so, I’ll close the horse’s mouth, and be on my way into the day…. I hope y’all had a nice, quiet, peaceful Fourth of July, which, I know, is damned un-American of me, but, hey, it’s who I am….

Some of us patriots have actually READ the US Flag Code, y’know? Next time I see someone with the flag used as a piece of clothing, I’m going to perform a citizen’s arrest, and drag their ass off to court, just for the humiliation factor, when the judge reads the code to find that such behavior is strictly illegal…. So is writing on one, like the junior Shrub was fond of doing….

Whoops, almost fell into a late rant there…. Sorry…. But, if you get the chance, read the US Flag Code some time; you’ll see that just about nobody, outside the Marine Corps, knows diddly squat about how to treat or honor the flag…. ‘Nuff said, I’m outta here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

A cornucopia of digital abundance….

Posted on July 2, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Some days are tougher than others…. we all know this….. However, the knowledge of this doesn’t seem, somehow, to make it any less hard to get up on those tougher days. It’s supposed to do so, but, it doesn’t…. Also, I have to say, I am still somewhat disgruntled over being disabled; having been athletically active most of my life, up to the age of 45 or so, it’s tough to swallow having to maintain the policy of spending my time, virtually ALL of it, thinking of ways to AVOID making my pain worse than it always is…. It’s lowering, less than dignified, and, worst of all, makes me grumpy….

That being said, today may be classified as one of the tough ones…. As I type, my pain level is slowly rising from where it was when I awoke, at about 5 or 6 on the usual scale of 10….. I keep shifting, as I can, to relieve it, and get up every couple minutes to stretch a bit…. but, I don’t think it will matter much today; it’s just going to hurt. So, I’m going to try to concentrate long enough to do this, while consuming all the extra drugs I can tolerate without killing myself…. By the time I’m done with this, I should be fairly oblivious, or, even better, unconscious….

Ah well, such is life…. thankfully, axiom # 2 of Peruaosophy, (“The Nature of the Universe is Change, etc…..”), provides me with sufficient reason to keep from falling all the way into despair; this WILL change, as the Universe moves along its path to wherever it is going…. The pain, if I can keep from doing anything to make it worse, WILL get better after a while, and life will go on, perhaps with a bit more aplomb than I’m able to appreciate just now. All I have to do is hang on to that little fact, and all will be well, in the end…..

With that in mind, I’m ending this here, well before I usually do, so I can get on with the meat of the matter…. Also, I can’t think of anything else to say for this, other than, enjoy whatever comes today, ffolkes… it cost me a lot to post it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“I can read your mind, and you should be ashamed of yourself.” — Smart Bee

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

Ranting today, while indubitably going on uninterrupted in my mind, as long as I am awake today, is pretty much out of the question; sitting long enough to type a thousand words in a row isn’t going to happen…. This means today you’ll have to settle for old-school pearls…. I’m going so far as to make them random, harlequin style, to make it faster yet….. Let’s see if Smart Bee is in a good mood today….

(I know, it’s software, but, like everything in this universe made by the hand of Man, software tends to display a number of humanity’s more obvious characteristics, such as random emotional outbursts, occasional serenity, unpredictable responses to given stimuli, and a whole lot of nonsense…. After all, the code is written by people who refer to the planet Earth as the Big Blue Room…. which is defined as everything on the other side of the door where their computer lives…..) Enjoy!

“Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, “God forbid that it should ever befall me!”” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Dionysius

“Those who cling to the untrue doctrine that violence never settles anything would be advised to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.” — R.A. Heinlein

“Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river.” — Cyril Connolly, “The Unquiet Grave” 1945

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” — Peter Drucker, American business philosopher and author

“What would happen if the President, the Supreme Court, and all members of both houses of Congress were stoned out of their gourds twenty-four hours a day? The chilling truth is, it might be an improvement.” — Allan Sherman

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” — Fr. Alfred D’Souza

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.” — Voltaire

Well, it’s a bit choppy, but, it works…. Onward….

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

Today, you get one of my old poems, simply because I don’t have to go look for it anywhere else, so it’s faster…. I hope you enjoy it….

Making Room

Our souls, they say, are like shapeless, infinite bags
in which we put all our pain, all our joyous wonder.
Broken hearts and thrilling love, riches to rags,
endless perceptions of serenity, and thunder.

‘Tisn’t simple, this spiritual journey to peace
memory is fickle, easily led astray;
darkness, ever lurking, without surcease
turning innocence to harm, from simple play.

Balance is the key.

Timing is everything.

Good can change bad, bad can change good.

Pain makes room for more joy in our souls.

The only power we need is the power to change ourselves.

~~ gigoid ~~

That went so quickly, I’m going to be really egotistical, and do it again…. Here is another one of mine, that seemed appropriate, somehow…. Okay, full disclosure…. I couldn’t make up my mind between these two, and THAT is why you are being subjected to them both…. Hah! As if poetry is a burden to you, or anyone…. Enjoy, please….

When life calls, ready or not….

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

This is another time saver, with the added message that I hope to be able to pin down the Wise Old Pine Cone today for a photo session; he did commit, but, has been a bit flaky of late…. funny how that works, eh? Any who, here is an article from the London Daily Telegraph you really should read, not to be informed about something wrong in the world, but, something right…. It’s a report about a man who, after a life of self-induced trouble and pain, found his way to an inner peace that is a beacon of hope for all of us….. In other words, in contrast to the usual fare here, and in most media venues, it’s a happy tale…. I’ll follow with the document I found on Facebook one time, that defines the parameters of the place this gentleman inhabits within himself….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10875975/The-train-dispatcher-who-defines-what-it-means-to-be-a-gentleman.html

To my mind, the most critical characteristic, and the one the gentleman in the article obviously knows, is number 5, to wit: “A Gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.” It is one I hope will be said of me when I’m gone…..

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

In the movie Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves, Morgan Fairchild, as the Moorish warrior Hasim, kills the evil witch during the final, climactic battle, by heaving his scimitar at her across a room, just in time to save Kevin Costner, playing Robin. His line, as he stands there, feeling much as I do, on his wounded, bleeding leg, is, “I have fulfilled my vow.” That is exactly how I feel at this moment…. I’m going to hurry now, to send and post this, as I want to go deal with my pain, with the application of hot, pulsating water beating on it for a time…. I’ll be back tomorrow, which is not intended so much as a threat, as it is an informational bulletin, of note only to those who have any interest…. On that note, which has a certain bureaucratic ‘look and feel’ to it, I take my leave….. See y’all around the campus, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Savory, succulent sausages slowly simmering…..

Posted on July 1, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Alliteration aside, this morning’s Pearl may get a bit chaotic…. My mind today is racing, driven by inner demons raised overnight by the specter of imminent events of a difficult nature. As a lifelong polymath, multitasking is no stranger, but, it’s never comfortable, or comforting, when the majority of what I perceive promises the necessity of painful resolution.

My sleep was delayed last night, by a late communication that disturbed my equilibrium enough to keep me up after eleven pip emma; hence, getting up at four ack emma, per my routine, was harder than I’d thought it would be…. That, of course, is not new, or unfamiliar, so I got up anyway, since the coffee was ready…. What the hell, today can’t be any worse than some of those I’ve had in my past, and already survived….

In defense against the looming depression that often accompanies events such as I’m currently experiencing, I’ll probably get a bit silly today; silliness, for me, is a very strong shield against feeling bad…. I suppose the lightheartedness required to be that way fills up all the available space in our hearts, and the less uplifting sort of emotions are unable to find a spot on which to place their ill-will.

Whatever the reason, it helps, when one is feeling sort of down, but not yet sunk, to find some silly, nonsensical activity to occupy one’s attention, until enough inner serenity has been garnered, and the peace of mind needed to effectively deal with the difficult emotional responses is present…. In essence, I squeeze my nose, until the loud honking has stimulated the inner clown, life assumes a more natural state, and I am able to once again “walk in beauty”….

Not everyone, I guess, has an inner Bozo on which they can depend, to lighten their spirit, and provide the emotional space necessary to be able to apply one’s mind and reason to whatever threatens our peace; I’m a lucky man, in that respect. Being a Bozo doesn’t always stimulate in others the highest regard for our demeanor, but, it’s better than pissing them off by taking advantage of them, as our government and churches so easily do with their sober, unsmiling outlook on life at large…. But, then, most of those involved in those two entities are more concerned with what they can get, than what they can give….

In trying to keep my own inner pain at bay, I see I’ve been pretty obscure in my introductory prose; I think I’ve gotten across how I’m doing, without providing more detail than would be prudent…. I see no need to share the more intimate details of my life…. I suppose I’m just trying to get across to y’all the message that whatever happens today is the result of a mind in turmoil, and will most likely reflect that inner chaos to some degree…. To WHAT degree, naturally, depends a lot on what I find to write about…. Perhaps if I were to try to think ahead about that sort of thing, I would have less of a chaotic time with this…. but, what fun would THAT be?….

Shall we Pearl?…. It seems Smart Bee is going to be cooperative today, so, to begin, let’s have a 3-fer…..

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

“Only through time time is conquered.” — T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”

“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?

— Buddha

Jimmy C. sez:

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/The-ancient-fun-tradition-of-all-out-war-5582571.php

Ah! curst ambition! to thy lures we owe, All the great ills that mortals bear below.” — Teckell

Brilliant! Jon Carroll has always been a favorite columnist of mine, but, with this particular essay, he achieves a new level of insight. Actually, he already possesses the insight, and has found a style of expression that brilliantly demonstrates that knowledge with utter clarity. He puts his finger on the precise spot in human nature that not only has led to the most shameful parts of human history, but, in essence, is the same part of that nature that is currently sending the entire species on a headlong rush toward self-inflicted extinction as a life form on this planet….

None of the majority of people in this world who influence the course of events have any interest at all in making the necessary changes in their persona, their world-view, or their actions to stop ANY of it…. War, both religious and political, sexual oppression of women, and children, the creation of an oligarchic society, where the rich get rich, and the poor starve…

All of what is wrong with our culture can be laid at the feet of MEN; there are very few women who lose their humanity so thoroughly as the male of our species, who have littered out history with their crimes… those women who do so are completely influenced by the same set of insane inner principles, or lack thereof, as the men with whom they share the wealth of the resources they have usurped for their own benefit….

The guilt of these men is so plain, it’s hardly necessary for me to expand further on what Mr. Carter, and Mr. Carroll have so eloquently expressed above… Instead, to save any further ranting, which may conceivably drive the less dedicated souls away, I’ll finish this with an old-school collection of pearls, all of which should give a clearer picture of the assholes with penises who have dumped their psychopathy on the rest of humanity, for too long….

I swear, I’m gonna buy a gun, or two, and use them for their intended purpose…. With my training and background, I should be able to take out a decent-sized percentage of them before I’m overcome by their always superior firepower, and resources…. But, I’d feel better, and significant number of THEM would no longer trouble anyone else….

SIGH, it’s a nice thought…. but, let’s see what SB can find for us, for now, to provide us with a bit of release from these depressive, yet never overstated discussions of the evil assholes who have taken mankind hostage for so long….

“There is nothing wrong with feminizts that reincarnation won’t solve.” — anonymous male

(This is a perfect example of how male so-called comedians propagate and spread the attitudes about women that are designed to keep them subjugated and oppressed…. Objectify them, classify them as neo-nazi-like fanatics by using the ‘z’, and imply they are better off dead…. very funny….. NOT!)

“After Mike walked out, she decided to give up Men and raise chickens. Chickens didn’t stay out all night, or come home drunk, or sleep with your best girlfriend… And if they did… you could cut off their heads and eat them…” — Stephanie Piro, in “Women’s Glibber”

(I couldn’t help it…. I laughed, really hard….)

“Coolidge is dead.” “How could they tell?” — Dorothy Parker

(Just a little word from the other side of the gender aisle….)

“She did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.” — Austin

(Good for her!….)

“I have little doubt that when St. George had killed the dragon he was heartily afraid of the princess.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Victorian Age in Literature

(See? The brainwashing began a long time ago, and is made stronger by such platitudes, that promulgate and spread the misguided attitude of male superiority…. with which they protect their actual feelings of inferiority….)

“Show feminizts how you feel — give them half a “peace sign.” — another anonymous male, from the same school of null-thought as the idiot quoted above….

(Nice guy, eh? Such a lovely attitude…. Makes me want to puke, it does….)

“If it weren’t for marriage, men would spend their lives thinking they had no faults at all.” — another idiot male

The last line is yet another example of how the lies about women, and how the male half of our species spread the attitudes and false beliefs, that women are not to be trusted, and marriage is just another way that women try to control men…. which is pure bullshit, as marriage is a ‘male’ idea in the first place, to make official their ownership of their woman, classifying them as property….

Okay, I’m mad, and distracted enough to bite something…. It’s probably a good thing for now that I’m living by myself, as I wouldn’t be the best of company just now…. I suppose as long as I stay out of church, and try not to think about politics, I can get through the day without getting arrested for aggravated assault on an idiot…. It’s a good thing the stores I need the most will deliver…. I’ll leave you with this little thought, which is just about as true as humans ever come to absolute truth….. especially when it comes to men….

“Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes, and feel with their own hearts.” — Albert Einstein

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

I’m not certain as to why, but this poem of mine, written in prose format on Groundhog’s Day in 2012, seems to be appropriate for today…. It has the advantage of being mine; nobody else can be blamed for it, or for any of what I’ve created today…. It may seem egotistical, but, in truth, I do this to keep anyone else from blame…. I can be hurt, like anyone, at undue criticism, but, as an adult, I’m well able to take care of myself, and nurse my own internal wounds…. Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy it….

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

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

This old-school pearl was created in a frenzy of multitasking, while searching out the group of difficult-to-find quotes for the first section…. Individual pearls can be hard to find when the parameters are so strictly defined as today, so it took a while…. but, in doing so, this superior group of ancient and modern wisdom kept popping up, thus providing me with sufficient material for both sections…. Bonus!…. Enjoy, this is a good one, ffolkes….

“It was a favourite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD)
— Theophrastus, x

“There’s an old saying that life begins at 40. That’s silly. Life begins every morning when you wake up. Open your mind to it; don’t just sit there, do things.” — George Burns (1896-1996)

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” — D.H. Lawrence

“All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Thing. CW. III 191

“A pun is the lowest form of humour, when you don’t think of it first.” — Oscar Levant

“In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Gandhi

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

Completing this Pearl is not merely a moral victory; it is a triumph of mind over matter…. Well, sort of…. It’s definitely done, and done as well as I can do this…. which probably isn’t saying all that much, but, we all have our own little fantasies, don’t we? Any who, since it IS done, I’m outta here for now, with an eventful day, no doubt, waiting for me to jump in…. Hasta la mañana, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Based, as always, on arbitrary parameters….

Posted on June 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I know it’s going to be a long day when taking a nap tires me out….. Yesterday was one of those days, and though I’m not precisely bursting with energy, today does NOT feel the same…. thankfully. Though, being one who doesn’t buy into the whole pie-in-the-sky routine, I’m not sure what that means…. It’s not as if I believe there is actually some bearded, white-haired old Caucasian dude sitting up there in the sky, on a gilded throne (tacky….), waiting for me to acknowledge his divinity with worship, who, I am told, will display a tantrum of childish pique if I don’t do so…. At least, that hasn’t happened thus far, so, I’m not going to hold my breath over it….

I will, however, remark that it makes it hard to feel productive when one gets up, as I did yesterday, after dozing off for a good two hours, only to feel like the only possible, logical choice is a return trip to go another few rounds with the pillow. It also makes it a bit sticky the next morning, (that’s today, ffolkes…. let’s keep up….), as I try to salvage some of yesterday by speaking of it today…. I know it takes the chance of having the entire group get lost in time, as I tend to mix my time zones when writing, which often leads to losing track of which one I’m currently inhabiting…..

Life can be tough when one wishes to pursue the quest to create the perfect Pearl; it’s not the simple, stress-free activity it appears from the outside, let me tell you…. It CAN be fraught with all sorts of danger, and/or vicious beasts, all angry at being provoked…. those preachers and pundits get a bit testy when crossed, or, worse for them, exposed for their lies and chicanery….

However, I’m not a coward, and I’ve been at this for some time now; it’s merely the morning’s ambiance that has me nervous; it feels like Murphy is lurking, and I hate it when he holds off his surprises for later…. They’re always so much more complex, and, thus, harder to spot, when he takes the time to make them that way, the butthead…. I would try to fool him into thinking I’m not ready for them, so he lets whatever it is out of its cage early, but, I’m not sure I’ve got the chutzpah today…. Hell, I can barely keep my eyes open again, so, maybe today will be more like yesterday than I’d thought…. Hmm, how can I turn that to my advantage?….

I know, I’ll trick Murphy into thinking he’s already tricked me today; if I go back to bed, he’ll get all confused about the time, and think he’s losing it…. I don’t get the chance to fool with him like this very often, so, hey, we’re going for it…. I’ll come back later, ffolkes, to finish this intro, and bask in having bested that blasted asshole, who spends so much of his time fucking with me, or with my friends….. Plus, maybe if I sleep a bit more, I’ll come up with some sort of direction for this Pearl, which, thus far, is completely lost…. Brave, and unafraid, but lost….

I’ll be back….

I’m back… I think. Enough so that I know my tricking of Murphy worked, well enough, it seems, to have dodged whatever nasty bullet he had planned for today…. and, in celebration of a successful display of cowardice, we’ll close off this intro (you hadn’t noticed that, had you?….), and get on with the rest of today’s mess, such as it may be….. Method #4 should work nicely, I think….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Human life nearly resembles iron. When you use it, it wears out. When you don’t, rust consumes it.” — Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) — Carmen de moribus

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

As noted, today has displayed a high probability of being slated for strangeness; to be frank, which is difficult, as I’m Ned, not frank…. but, if I were, I’d say we’ve already reached that stage…. I know I have, and if that’s true, it would be even more difficult to avoid having the strangeness bleed into this pearl…. Since we’re being frank, I have to say it’s too late….

To salvage what otherwise might turn on us, I’m putting in a headline here, one with some pretty good information….. Read this, if you would, please… then, we’ll talk…. That is, if I can think of anything worth saying about it…. Most all bets are off at this point, as to whether or not we can pull this off…. Myself, I think we can, though it may cost a couple of broken bones…. no big deal, as long as they’re MY bones, right?…. Okay, I’ll stop now, & let you read this….

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2014/06/23/recap-heres-30-recent-studies-on-the-effects-of-marijuana/#24367101=0

Excellent summary of recent research, almost all positive re: the effects of long-term use of cannabis and/or cannabinoids in general. I’m encouraged, both by the positive nature of all of what is brought out here, but, also by the recent court decisions right here in California, making the process of legalizing medical cannabis that much more of a done deal…. Soon, between the latest advances in the LGBT arena, and this one, American culture might just start to look as if the people were ready to enter the 21st century, along with the rest of the world….

Of course, that is partially an illusion; there are still a LOT of people in this country with what I like to call the dead-brain syndrome, characterized by bigotry, racism, misogyny, and a general refusal to use more than one neuron at a time…. They all go to a Christian church, wear blue suits with red ties and a flag pin, and spend most of their time in the modern world either closing their eyes, or their ears, so they don’t have to see or hear anything that offends their sensibilities…. Murricans, I call them, in close resemblance to their butchering of the country’s name…. These are people who cannot speak their own language without making it sound ignorant….

Sorry, got off into a minor pocket of outrage…. Stupidity is rampant in this country, and it offends me constantly…. Worse than even this stupidity is the even more prevalent attitude of deliberate ignorance, which has to be a choice…. a choice that infuriates me. When I see one of these fat, racist bigots talking on TV, spewing their ignorant hatred over all they see, it makes my fingers itch, for a bow, or a gun, or some other way to put an end to the idiocy of their existence…. It’s a bit harsh, but, there is no other cure for deliberate ignorance…. As I’ve noted in the past, stupidity can’t be helped, and has a certain charm; deliberate ignorance is ugly, and deserves any harsh treatment it engenders from me, or anyone else with any honor in their veins…

I see that I’ve managed to spew now for quite a while, without ever settling in to one theme, other than a very general poking at white Christian bigoted misogynists… of which there are millions of unpleasant examples to witness, in this country alone…. and they breed like fricking rabbits! Oh well, what the hell, it makes for more targets, eh?….. I am not sure exactly how we got into all this, as we started this section relatively positively…. Somewhere along the line, it turned on me…. which is okay, as it got all that built-up vitriol out of my head, where it has obviously been festering for some time…. Better out than in, eh?….

I think what I’ll do now is drop y’all like a stone, off the edge of the precipice upon which we just poised ourselves…. but, we’ll pad the landing area with a group of pearls, which will close off this section with some dignity, or, if nothing else, a bit of pointed humor…. Well, we can hope, can’t we?…. I think a five-star pearl will do nicely….

“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

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavour after a worthy manner of life. — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“Intelligence has nothing to do with politics.” — Londo Molari

“…this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no”religion in it.” — John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, “Not to unlearn what you have learned.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Antisthenes, iv

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

Here is one of mine that I haven’t reprinted in a while; it’s not bad, IMHO….

Dreaming, I wait….

In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.

Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.

Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.

Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.

Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.

When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.

Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art….

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I’ve been cruising my archives again, and keep finding rants or discussions worth reprinting; this fits in perfectly with my lazy nature, as well as providing me with material I know is already proofed….. It’s not much, but, it helps….. Plus, I’m finding that much of what I wrote in this period has a certain sharp edge I have trouble matching these days…. I was, at the time, living a much less comfortable life, and it shows in what I wrote during that period…. For now, it fills my need for something to finish this Pearl with panache, or, the closest I come to it…. Enjoy!…..

From 5/7/2012:

I don’t have an attitude problem–it’s supposed to be like this. — Smart Bee

I like this. It’s what I’ve said in response to any number of folks who have challenged me regarding my intransigence in the face of ignorant behavior. I am always tempted to add, “I am an American citizen, and it is not only my right, but my duty to challenge authority,” mainly because I believe it to be absolutely true, thought not an attitude currently favored by most of society, more’s the pity…. We’d be a lot better off if more folks took their duties as citizens more seriously….

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.” — Thomas Paine

All of our founding fathers were convinced that only an educated populace had a chance of maintaining the freedoms they secured for us. They knew firsthand how unscrupulous churches and governments, working hand in hand, had oppressed and subjugated the people for centuries, and they were determined that it should NOT happen here. So they engineered a system whereby each citizen has the opportunity, and the right, to a complete grounding in basic knowledge, in order that they could make informed decisions regarding the laws with which they would be living….

“The Church hates a thinker like a criminal hates the police.” — Smart Bee (So do politicians…)

For over 200 years now, the beloved ruling class and their hidden supporters, the prelates of the churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, have been repeatedly and subtly attempting to undermine the purpose behind educating people, trying to limit the amount spent on education, or luring people into believing the nonsensical alternatives that religion offers in lieu of independence of thought, thus minimizing the effects of the education received outside their influence. They (the politicians and priests/preachers….) continuously bombard the public with lie after lie, until the lies are accepted as truth, just because there is nothing else offered. They then use those lies to further confuse the public as to what is really happening, and go about their business of stealing and grabbing power wherever they find the opportunity….

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.” — George Carlin

So, my attitude is not the problem…. the problem is that not enough of us have this attitude, and the PTB have virtually no competition in their fight for our attention; there is nobody allowed on the political stage who is singing a different song than the one approved for public consumption by those who control such matters…. Hell, we’ll know we’re making progress if even one such person ever gets the chance to even speak…. In the meantime, all we can do is to have those of us who know our duty keep plugging away, calling them out for their lies, and making as much noise as we can, to try to draw some attention to those places where it isn’t appreciated, but is needed the most…..

“Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast and you ask me what you shall put in its place?” — Voltaire

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

This one kind of got away from me a little…. That’s what happens when I have too much energy; it comes into conflict with my bone-deep, inherent laziness, and we end up with an epic pearl, which will surely drive the easily intimidated elsewhere…. So be it…. It’s way too late to go back & do it over, and, besides, I like it…. such as it is…. It will do, and that is the essential ingredient…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

In the name of all that’s roly-poly….

Posted on June 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Bare bones…. that’s all you’re going to get today, ffolkes…. or, that’s what my brain, pre-coffee, has to say about it. That could change, given enough liquid blood-saver, but, even if we get more complicated, it will be minimally so… I can tell. It isn’t that there isn’t enough coffee, it’s just arriving late to the party, as I discovered I was when I glanced at the clock a bit ago, to find it was already 5 AM…. When I sleep longer like this, it has a tendency to slow down the wake-up process…. All the above may now be dumped, wherever seems most appropriate….

I take no credit for the above paragraph; even if I wrote it, it isn’t something I want associated with my name…. either of them…. I’d start completely over, or over completely, or something, but, I have the feeling that I shouldn’t waste any words today, any more than is necessary, that is, to maintain some of the quality we shoot for here…. I’m guessing, though, that’s out of the question anyway…. quality, that is. If the above, and, hell, THIS paragraph are any indication of how it’s going to be today, it might be best for me to just re-blog an older pearl….

However, I AM awake, even if a bit late, and I told myself when I began this whole deal that I wouldn’t allow myself to fall prey to any sort of depression caused by a mere lack of inspiration…. You see, I know that such motivation is merely a self-induced manipulation of emotion, generally provided by a sense of duty, and as such, is programmable, according to what we choose as our duty. In this case, the chosen duty is more of a self-indulgence than a sacrifice; it only does me good to get all this out, while the effect on the outer world is flexible, variable, and, to be honest, about as random as can be….

Random? Hell, the effect this has probably approaches the very edge of chaos, with a side of confusion…. which is fine. I mean, there’s not a damn thing wrong with causing confusion among the natives; it’s a time-honored tradition in this country….. It’s not as if reality itself isn’t trying to reduce us all to quivering jelly, abjectly cowering in the face of what faces us each day on this sad old ball of mud; reality shits on us all, my friends. The actual quality of our lives, of which I spoke above, if only laughingly, depends entirely on how we deal with that shit; we can wash it off with rational, productive actions, or we can let it dry in place, thus adding odoriferous aggravation of our peers to our more obvious attributes….

What any of this has to do with this Pearl, as is patently clear by now, would, by nature, be considered a deductive event, having been duly examined for its value and level of appropriate connection….. which makes it completely idiotic to try to claim it came from my mind. Nothing in THIS blog ever makes it all the way through that sort of examination, mainly because I simply don’t care that much…. I mean, it’s not like they can fire me, or anything, so, I don’t fret about that sort of nonsense…. I have my own nonsense I can bring out, if I want some….

Having thus firmly established today’s theme. (Insane, misguided outbursts of faux rationality…. my favorite….), I think we can bring this particular mess to a conclusion, if such be at all applicable to what has obviously grown beyond the bounds of all decency….. Conclusions imply some sort of logical structure to what has been presented, and that certainly can’t be claimed in this instance, now, can it? No, not at all…. Of course, we don’t care, but, hey, it says here in the manual we’re supposed to mention it…. I’m just following orders, see?….

On that completely bizarre note, I can see there’s no more hope of salvaging any sort of dignity, so, I’ll just sign off here, and get on with whatever is going to happen today…. I’m not sure I want to know what that will be, but, hey, it can’t be any worse, or harder, than this has been…. I’m having a bit of a problem stopping, so, hang on…. I’m grabbing emergency method #4 from the box…..

Shall we Pearl?….

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.

— Emily Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Ah….. that’s better. A bit of Emily fixes it all…. Now, we can go on….

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

“Representative government has broken down. Our politicians represent not the people who vote for them but the commercial interests who finance their election campaigns. We have the best politicians that money can buy.” — Edward Abbey

Over the next few days, in order to concentrate on pictures of and with the Wise Old Pine Cone, I’ll be using a number of older rants, mostly from 2012….. Not all that many, actually; at this point, it’s only one politirant, and one exploration of reality and human nature that turned toward being a Plague of Evil rant, against human/sex trafficking…. For today, to counter-balance the older material to come, I’ll try to deliver a fresh rant, with the above piece of insight, and clear sight, from Mr. Abbey, one of our most frequent contributors of most excellent pearls….

This one particularly hits home today, considering the state of the American government in re: the blatant corruption implied by the ubiquitous presence of lobbyists and corporate representatives to Congress, the White House, all of whom, of course, are supported by the vast army of lawyers, employed by “corporate entities” to protect the bottom line, by exerting undue influence on the judicial system….. not to mention elections….

This influence over the courts is how we ended up with the decision by a Supreme Court, (who lived up to the definition of a “good politician” by staying bought, once they were paid for….), that allows the formation of Super Political Action Committees, whose stated purpose is to use virtually limitless supplies of cash money to influence the outcome of elections, appointments, and, by extension, placing virtually every level of government under the control of these corporations, whose only purpose is to control all the resources they can possibly possess, no matter what effect it has on regular flesh and blood people….

“You can fool all of the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people all of the time; and that should be sufficient for most purposes.” — Smart Bee

To be honest, ffolkes, my current level of disgust with the sham that is the government of this country is so high, I’m having trouble fashioning my thoughts into a sharp enough weapon to use…. None of what I’m currently feeling…. no, that isn’t correct…. ALL of what I’m currently feeling is so huge, so angry at the segment of humanity that preys on society, no words I write seem to be harsh enough, nor is any of it sufficiently compelling to create the outrage in others I seek to stimulate….

This means we’ll switch horses here, right in mid-stream; it’s one of the few times that procedure is safe enough for us to pull off without putting y’all in any further danger…. The following old-school pearl will, I hope, give y’all some idea of where my thoughts and feelings about the state of our Union….

“For too long, those who play by the rules and keep the faith have gotten the shaft, and those who cut corners and cut deals have been rewarded.
— Bill Clinton, 1992 Democratic Convention

(A fine example of one of the politician’s most useful techniques; a large black pot, pointedly calling a kettle black, just as if it meant something…..)

“Well, I would — if they realized that we — again if — if we led them back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds, or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they they couldn’t afford it, that would hold them off.” — President Ronald Reagan, on the MX missile

(Yep…. the Great Communicator, with yet another example of complete and utter BS….)

Mythology, n.: “The body of a primitive people’s beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“An empty stomach is not a good political advisor.” — Albert Einstein

(One might surmise, to watch Congress in action, that elected officials suffer from a state of constant hunger….)

“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

(I can show you three buildings in Washington D.C., today, where somewhere around 400 demagogues spend much of their time, composing the latest doctrines to preach…..)

“Modern broad-mindedness benefits the rich; and benefits nobody else.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Church of the Servile State Utopia of Usurers

“To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.” — Plautus (254-184 BC) — Mostellaria, Act iii, Sc. 2, 104, (791.)

Well, there you have it; it isn’t the clearest water I could find, but, that’s a tough job when dealing with politics. The water is always so damn muddy….

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

At this moment, I have no idea what to put in this section…. I’ll come back to it, at the end…. Okay, so…. Here is one of my own poems, written in April of 2013…. I don’t recall the process, but, the result isn’t too shabby, and will do for today’s purpose…. Enjoy!….

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I’ve stalled long enough, so here is the latest episode in the Life and Times of the Wise Old Pine Cone…. I had to go to the dentist the other day, and the Wise Old Cone was nice enough to accompany me, to obtain a car to get there, then, going along with me to the dentist to help me stay calm…. I’ve previously mentioned that dental visits are sheer hell for me, due to my mother being frightened by a dentist while pregnant with me…. It’s the only thing I can come up with to explain my unreasoning fear of them…. Well, that asshole who tried to poke me with a needle as big as my head when I was six didn’t help, either….

Any who, here are some pictures I took that day, such as they are, while I was, first, operating with a haze of pain and drugs, and then, with a numb, drooling mouth, after the extraction…. The Wise Old Cone was a big help, cracking jokes, and generally keeping things light, so as to keep me from reacting too heavily to the adrenaline that courses through me whenever I think of getting poked with a needle in my mouth…. It helped enough that it’s now just a memory…. even the residual pain has passed now, so. let’s show these pix, and get on with life, eh?….
On the way to pick up a car from a rental agency, we stopped, me for coffee, and the Wise Old Pine Cone for his weakness, razz berry scones….
The Old Cone’s paduan came along for the ride…. Above, we see the two Cones talking with a another pair of cones, who were at the rental agency as part of a job….
Here is the Old Cone, helping me get a multi-layer, multi-subject shot, to help distract me…. The old cone is pretty compassionate, for a pine cone….
Above we see the Old Cone, strapped in for the ride to the dentist….. He looks comfy, eh?….

Here is the Old Cone, demonstrating for me that nothing untoward will happen by just sitting in the chair…..
Of course, he was then smart enough to wait there, to make sure I didn’t bolt from the chair…. He watched the entire time, save for when the dentist actually pulled out the tooth…. He isn’t fond of seeing blood, it seems….
Of course, on the way out, he had to make a joke about the odd figure on the monitor, and how he looked like me…. back when I had hair on top of my head…. What a wise guy!….

Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. Not an adventure, but, hey, it got us both out of the house, and my jaw feels much better now, so, it was a good day, all in all…. plus, it DID fill in this last section…. Now, all I have to do is find a good poem….

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

This turned into an epic…. and continues to drag itself out…. So, to bring balance to the Force, I’ll use this final section for its intended purpose, to wit: an ending…. See ya, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

These weren’t buffed OR polished!…..

Posted on June 20, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

It was a beautiful morning…. The bright, friendly sun was shining brightly out of a deep blue sky, dotted here and there with a few puffy cotton ball clouds. From where I lay in the hills above the town’s main thoroughfare, I could see the entire valley where it lay spread out before me, looking just like one of those advertisements in a travel magazine, offering 3 nights & 2 days in a beautiful country setting…. To look, one might think nothing could disturb the bucolic serenity that lay over the whole scene, covering all that lay before one’s eyes, like a haze of smoke from distant fires….

Little did the peaceful residents know of the horror that would soon be unleashed; the dark shadow of fate fell upon them without notice, or heraldry, allowing this little time of peace before all hell broke loose…. With a small sigh of regret for the peace about to be shattered, I reached down, gave the all-clear signal, and began preparations to move…. In a few short hours, the scene below would change drastically, and the beauty and grace that once lived here would be gone forever, blasted into the depths of memory by the march of time…. and a few well-placed artillery shells….. It was a shame, really, but, nobody can stop time…

Okay, enough…. I’m tired of that one already, which is unsurprising, to say the least…. I have to admit, it ISN’T one of my best….. It’s funny how my mind turns almost automatically to this sort of fictional opening…. A lot of them that I’ve done all seem to focus on the same sort of scenario, which is the beginning of some sort of military action, or spy mission, or assassination, or some other sort of situation in which guns, bombs, or other war-like implements play a major role, or act as a silent, unseen threat…. I suppose that is just an unconscious expression of human nature, falling into the habit of violence, and/or war…. Our species has a long history of involvement with such issues, he said with an ironic smirk….

Once again, though, the creation of such common tales from human experience, even though completely fabricated, has brought us this far down the page, where we (I) have a better chance of moving this along toward the day’s offering, such as it is…. I can only say this; it seems to work for me, and, although I really don’t feel like I have this process under control, it does get me somewhere close to where I need to be to get this done…. The usual obstructions are have been set aside, for the moment at least, and I’m thinking we might just as well take what we’ve got, and make a break for the border…. Hey, it can’t possibly get any more absurd, can it? No, I didn’t think so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
down the foggy ruins of time
far past the frozen leaves
the haunted frightened trees
out to the windy beach
far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Ah, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
silhouetted by the sea
circled by the circus sands
with all memory and fate
driven deep beneath the waves
let me forget about today until tomorrow.

— Bob Dylan —

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

I’m afraid today is going to be one of those days around here…. A lot of reasons come to mind, none of which make for a good story, so, y’all will just have to suffer, and wonder…. However, to ease the pain, here is a rant, from early in 2013…. It’s been used before, and may be familiar to some of my more regular readers, at least, those who have been coming by for a while…. It’s also one of my best, all in all, which is why I use it so much…. Enjoy, please, and more importantly, pay attention, & pass the word, right after you pass the salt, please…. These hard-boiled eggs are just too bland without it….

Originally posted in January, 2013:

“Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.” — Oscar Wilde

One may always trust Oscar Wilde to be both elegantly witty and intelligently insightful, though, to be sure, many of his most closely held views were somewhat divergent with what was commonly held to be true, philosophically. This divergence was, I believe, mostly deliberate on his part, as he tended to mock that which he did not respect, and he never had much respect for…. well, anything to do with human nature vs. reason and rationality. He mistrusted most people to act morally, and was unafraid of saying so; this, of course, made him both famous, and infamous….. His infamy, I’m sure, ultimately was his undoing, much to society’s loss; as is said so often about our brightest minds, “only the good die young….”

I often wonder, (well, maybe not so often, as much as I’m wondering now…) what the world today would be like, if somehow, some of those bright stars in history had lived to an age where their accomplishments, in relation to the advancement of human thought, and the betterment of the human condition, had a broader, and more lasting effect than their absence has left us. What if Keats had written poetry until he was 85? How many more inventions would have come to us from Nicolas Tesla, had he lived long enough for the rest of the scientific world to catch up to him, instead of hounding him to an early grave? How much more good music, and art, and literature would be available to all of us, if not for this tendency for the best of us to live as a burning meteor, flaming brightly through the sky, until burned out and lifeless?

It is a sad commentary for society to know that it is often the very brilliance of these people that brings about their downfall, at the hands of the ignorant, and the avaricious…. What is even sadder, to me, is that this demonstrates another part of human nature that is responsible for almost every issue in human history, and current society, that causes people to suffer pain, oppression, perpetual struggle, and will most certainly ultimately lead to the extinction of our species, on this planet, at minimum, if not completely…..

That piece of our nature is the unfortunate characteristic, in a number of humans, to be able to put aside all conscience, and act solely in their own self interest. All of us, of course, possess this to some degree; it is an outgrowth of having a will to survive. To these few others, it is their primary modus operandi; they simply do not take other people, or their concerns, into account when deciding what they are going to do, and are not hampered by the consideration of any suffering they may cause other people, animals, or things.

As is patently obvious, to my mind, every elected official, every high level preacher, every corporate magnate, and a great many lawyers, are all of this ilk, and have, for nearly 230 years now, been quietly and efficiently plundering the pockets and rights of the American people (and those of every other country in the world, for that matter…. it is a HUMAN condition, not just American…. Ours are just some of the most obvious about it….), while simultaneously lying, cheating, and otherwise acting to secure their stranglehold on society.

Anyone who disagrees with this assessment, quite simply, isn’t paying enough attention to the world around them….. Sorry to be so blunt, but the facts are all laid out, right there, almost every day in the news media, if one knows how to look at the larger picture it presents, rather than the individual facets of that picture. Focusing on the little shit is just what those in power wish for people to do…. it keeps them busy not noticing other, more incriminating stuff they are carrying out, in the darkness where they mostly live….

“… change depends on individual acts of courage and commitment. Most such acts are private, invisible, and uncelebrated. But some find a place in the public spotlight; and their influence goes far beyond mere example.” — Arthur C. Clarke & Michael Kube-McDowell, The Trigger, 1999

Each and every one of us, in the face of what we know about reality, is responsible in some way, and to some degree, for both the way things are, and the way they will be in the future. If you don’t believe that, well, discussion is, for you, probably useless, and little hope remains. For anyone with moderate insight, however, this is plain, clear truth, and we all need to accept it before any significant progress can be expected against those who are sociopathic, which I define, and hereby name, as homo suicidus, those who would kill us all…. But, it is imperative that we act soon, for the damage we have done, and continue to do to our world, is at a point where the effects are nearly irreversible, and even if we manage to wrest control from the beloved ruling class,it may be too late to save our lives….

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

It is my hope, small and pale though it be, that we WILL speak up, that the rational among us will rise up, and take back the control of our destiny from the hands of those who would see us all die, rather than give up their own control. It will only happen when men of courage, as defined by Mr. Emerson, stand up to those who would render us all impotent, for their own benefit. The only hope that exists for the rest of us lies in enough of us showing this kind of courage, and overcoming the fear that keeps us in thrall…..

“I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.” — John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica

Myself, I don’t want to die ignominiously, gasping for breath, because I didn’t have the courage to speak up, and to fight back against the immoral, avaricious assholes who dominate society….. Instead, let’s create a whole new world, without a beloved ruling class, at all….. Who knows? We might just find out that anarchy works!….. Worth a try, I think….. And, if it doesn’t work, well, we can always try a technocracy, which we have yet to do in history….. With a bit of foresight and planning, it might just be what we need to survive our own foolishness… Maybe, Richard Brautigan had the truest prophetic vision, when he wrote “All watched over, by machines of loving grace….”

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” — Pablo Picasso

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”

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

Once again, to save the reputation of anyone else who might be associated with any of this, here is one of my older poems….

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 ~~

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

I was up a little late today, which probably shows in the intro section; it gets that way when I feel rushed….. Also, I tend to go to the archives more often, though, in today’s case, that’s not a bad thing, given the state of creative juices this morning…. To prevent feeling like I completely abandoned all routine, I’ll put together a fresh random, harlequin pearl, just so I can say some of today’s piece is fresh….. Boy, the things we put ourselves through to maintain our own good graces…. Try to enjoy it anyway, ffolkes…..

“The earth hath skin, and the skin hath diseases. One of these…is called man.” — Nietzsche

“There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xi, Of Cruelty

“Every public action which is not customary, either is wrong, or, if it is right, is a dangerous precedent. It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time.” — Francis Cornford (1908)

“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 16

“Even very young children need to be informed about dying. Explain the concept of death very carefully to your child. This will make threatening him with it much more effective.” — P. J. O’Rourke

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How’s that again? I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

“Reality is what bumps into you when you stand still with your eyes open.” — Solomon Short

Hmm…. a bit esoteric, but, nice….. I like it, so, it stays…..

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

Some of y’all were probably hoping for a new episode of the Life and Times of Wise Old Pine Cone…. We actually DID get some pix taken, but, I didn’t have time to get them organized, so, it will have to wait until tomorrow…. Deal with it, you’re all adults…. I’m smiling, to take off some of the curmudgeonly crossness of that statement…. can you see it? It’s a big, happy smile….. Honest, trust me…. Well, if you’re going to be like that, I’m outta here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

We’ll need more coffee for this…..

Posted on June 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m tired of staring at this blank screen…. Since that’s all I’ve done for the last 20 minutes or more, I’m guessing my creative juices have yet to become unblocked this morning…. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb, and guess that not only am I blocked, I’m impacted, in its truest sense…. In fact, the only blockage consistent with my mind’s right now is one I should be hesitant to discuss in public…

(Hmm…. I just noticed that word, ‘discuss’…. it’s very close, one letter off, of being the word ‘discus’, which is also something that gets tossed around…. sorry, got distracted…. t’was the only shiny object to be seen, in the vast featureless plain that is my mind in its current bloated state….)

Okay, I’d best take a vote here…. Do you think that paragraph is too much? I mean, is it too, too fractured, too flipped? I need to know, before I go much further in this direction…. Any voters out there? Well, it seems nobody wishes to give me any help yet (It IS early yet, not yet 5 AM….), so I’m on my own, as per usual…. I’m at a handicap here today, I think, between my foggy brain, my lack of preparation, and the usual degree of incipient terror I’m experiencing in the back of my mind, as my subconscious does it’s terrified child routine ahead of my dental visit later this morning….

I am an adult, and have learned to endure my visits to the dentist, as, intellectually, I know it is best for me; I have experienced the worst pain possible, an impacted molar, infected and throbbing just inches away from the brain….and know that visits to the dentist only help prevent that….

But, that knowledge has never been enough to completely overcome my experience as a six year old, when some gigantic Army dentist about scared me out of my skin, on a visit to have a tooth pulled…. The dentist, back in 1956 or so, was a huge, surly man, not pleased to be looking into the mouths of Army brats and soldiers, instead of his private rich folks, and his callousness and indifference to my fear managed to frighten me out of my wits…

To make a long story short, here it is, 58 years later, and I still get the serious yips before a visit…. even though my dentist now is a very talented, beautiful young woman, who has the gentlest hands I’ve ever known…. She has this trick she learned in dental school, where she does this little manipulation of the cheek while giving a shot, that, somehow, completely negates the pain of getting the needle inserted, which brings down the anxiety level like a charm…. But, no matter how often I tell myself it will be fine, I still get this rush of adrenaline, starting about six hours prior to whatever time I must be there for my torture session….

I had hoped the process of Pearling would alleviate some of my anxiety, but, it doesn’t seem to be working very well…. It’s a hard thing, to be this age, and still be suffering unreasonable fears rooted in childhood… but, it’s like those damn bees….

“YES! Living in today’s complex world of the future IS much like having a hive of bees live in your head! But…. there they are!” — Firesign Theater, “I think we’re all Bozos on this bus!”….

Since there isn’t anything I can do to remove the bees just now, I guess I’ll just ignore them, or put out some flowers as a distraction, and get on with the rest of this mess….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Remember what Simonides said,–that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Rules for the Preservation of Health, 7

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

“… so long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.” — Voltarine de Cleyre

The Wise Old Pine Cone is off somewhere today with his Paduan, doing whatever they do at these times…. This, of course, means I’m supposed to rant here, if I’m going to stick with what we usually do…. I can do that; there is plenty of stuff to get worked up over in the news, although most would say its rather a slow news time, in some respects…. At least, nothing is going on domestically at the moment; we seem to be in a limbo between random shootings….

Oh, there is plenty of other stuff going on I could talk about, if I was so inclined…. For example, because of the latest round of violence in Iraq, the potUS, Barry the Obama, is sending some of our military personnel back there, although I’m not sure exactly what 275 soldiers, even Special Forces, and a contingent of the ever-so-powerful ‘consultants’, can do in the face of the extent of the insurgency going on there…. But, then, we aren’t expected to be able to count, I guess, or be allowed to know exactly what is going on…… We’re supposed to accept whatever they tell us, no matter how suspiciously dumb, or egregiously immoral/unethical….

I think what frightens and annoys me the most is what is NOT being written or talked about much… The NSA, and all the other agencies that get data from them, continue to carry out their illegal, unethical, obscenely paranoid surveillance of the world’s population, ( I don’t think they are limiting themselves to just us….), without any sort of oversight, and without any restraint by any outside regulatory agencies…. much less Congressional, judicial or (gasp!) public oversight…. They haven’t stopped, or slowed their vacuuming up of every bit of data they can access; if you think they have, or have any evidence thereof, please, tell me…. I’d LOVE to hear of ANYTHING anyone might be doing to try to curb their insanity…. but, I don’t think you can, because they haven’t stopped at all….

They just keep coming up with new, outrageous justifications for doing what they plan to do anyway, in court, and in the public eye…. For example, the link below, from the UK Guardian (the same news outlet that first published the Eric Snowden revelations….), tells us about the latest bit of justifying bullshit being put out by the British spy agencies, to try to convince the public that a) they aren’t doing anything wrong, and b) they’re legally allowed to do wrong anyway…. For me, the most telling point is the sheer bold effrontery that gives them the chutzpah to even SAY this stuff… It’s all so outrageously DUMB, not to mention self-serving, reeking of false entitlement, and, essentially, giving the finger to the public….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/17/mass-surveillance-social-media-permitted-uk-law-charles-farr

Another part of this that bothers me is the lack of any coverage at all in the US news media; to find this kind of stuff, I have to go to overseas web sites, like the Guardian, to find out what my own government is up to, even if it’s only what they’re up to in England, by handing over all kinds of British metadata to their spy compatriots, and egging them on in their war against their own citizens….

A week or two ago, here in the USA, there were one or two articles, about some piece of legislation that passed the Senate, that was SUPPOSED to be the law designed to put the reins on the NSA…. Of course, the actual wording of the bill they passed does nothing of the sort; it didn’t even address about HALF the issues involved, and did NOTHING to halt any of the data collection… Mostly, it just dealt with what is to be done with the data once collected, none of which was actually restrictive to their activities….

Bah! Humbug! It all pisses me off, and what with the adrenaline already coursing through my system, I’ll be jacked up for hours now…. I’m going to halt this rant here… Y’all know it pisses me off, so I won’t dwell on it any more today…. I will, however, find a pearl or two to finish off what I’m trying to say, which essentially boils down to this….

Ffolkes, the government is lying to us, you know it, I know it, and so do they…. The only question remaining is, what are we going to do about it? I’ll leave that question hanging for the moment, to see if it garners any responses… and, in the meantime, go find a pearl or three to close the issue for the day….

“A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.” — Georges Pompidou

“Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Twelfth Night — Act iii, Sc.

“A Lie is still a Lie, even if you believe it.” — Smart Bee

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

When I’m in this mood, only one poem will do, and it’s mine…

Geezer to Congress, with Love

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

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

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

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Y’all know what comes now….. I’m in a hurry now; my adrenaline level is rising, and I need to get up and going, to work some of it off…. If I don’t, I’m going to have to take the option at the dentist to have them put me completely under, if I hope to get anything done in my mouth…. At the moment, sitting still is NOT an option…. So, here’s the quickest, random pearl I can put together…. Wish me luck….

“Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 333

“One who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao-tzu, _Tao Te Ching_

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” — Marcus Aurelius

“If you are a host to your guest, be a host to his dog also.” — Russian Proverb

“Everything may happen. [Omnia fieri possunt.]” — Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium, Epis. LXX, 9

“Never be boastful; someone may come along who knew you as a child.” — Chinese Proverb

“For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of things and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed.” — Blaise Pascal

Well!…. That went extremely well; quick, with an elegant, sturdy result…. I like it…..

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

“Heisenberg was wrong, I know exactly where I am and where I’m going.” — Einstein

Sadly, me, too…. and, it’s somewhere I DON’T want to go…. But, I’m a big boy, and I can’t afford another cancellation fee, like the last three times I bailed at the last minute…. Star, unreasoning feelings of panic, when rooted in events over 50 years old, make for a fearsome challenge, which I tend to fail to meet as often as not…. SIGH…. But, I’ll make it today, and, hopefully, be back tomorrow, in less of an internal mess….. 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 the dubious

gigoid

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

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Global Warming

Paint all of it in flesh tones….

Songs of hearth and home….

Tossing beans with butter, in a bowl….

Immersed in the cadence of a Treble Bob Major…..

A cornucopia of digital abundance….

Based, as always, on arbitrary parameters….

In the name of all that’s roly-poly….

These weren’t buffed OR polished!…..

We’ll need more coffee for this…..

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